The angel showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal. The river flows from the throne of God and the Lamb. It flows down the middle of the street of the city. The tree of life is on each side of the river, and it produces fruit every month, twelve times a year. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations. – Revelation 22:1-2
I understand that growth is a natural process, and that part of the definition of life necessarily involves change, but sometimes I’m blown away by how dramatic biology is when it runs rampant in the garden and beyond.
We’ve had good rains over the past couple of weeks, plus sunshine in between. The result has been green, and lots of it, leaves bursting forth, and Wake Forest turning pretty much into Wake Jungle overnight.
It’s hard to witness this kind of vitality and not think about how we measure up as Christians compared to the constituent markers of real life. In case we’ve forgotten, here are a few:
Life is revealed by change, by growth, by an active metabolism, and by replication. If an organism is alive, then we see evidence of all these processes.
The same question is telling when it comes to the Body of Christ, the church. We are often afraid of, and resistant to, the very processes that turn out to be signs of life.
Change is often considered an enemy;- Growth can threaten our sense of identity and control;
- An active metabolism (the processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life) requires a steady diet of exercise, fresh air, sunlight, and nourishment;
- Replication can make us nervous because it demands an active interface with the world around us.
Many faith communities die because change is evidence of the breath of the Spirit of God, and that’s not something that fits tidily into our club rules. We say “no thank you” to living water because it’s not something we can control. We hide ourselves from the light because we have become too used to the dark. And we neglect to feast on the bread of life because – as Jesus said – “My food is to do the Father’s will,” and we’d rather starve than follow Jesus outside the safety of our church fortress and take his kind of life into the world of pain and need.
Consequently we don’t breath, we won’t drink, we can’t bear the light, and we take a pass on real food. Churches like that fail to exhibit signs of life because they’re hardly breathing. They die because we won’t change, don’t grow, fail to metabolize, and refuse to replicate.
The very things Christian communities often resist are the exact things that will ensure we do more than simply survive, they will help us to thrive!
When we insist on remaining rooted to our own dogma to the extent that we shut out the Spirit of God, then we have failed the “vital signs” test of life. We can protect the status quo if we want to, but in the final analysis the status quo is always ours, not God’s.
Lightly Christianized religiosity will no more earn us a berth in God’s kingdom than any other religion, or any other anything that’s not animated by living water, the bread of life, and the breath of the Spirit – and marked by the evidence of life (change, growth, an active metabolism, replication).
“The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations….”
Cairo, for me, was such a study in contrasts. On the one hand there is the touristy wonder of the Great Pyramids – travel glam in its highest expression. Then, the other side of the metropolis, is Garbage City, where a sub-class of Egyptians eke out a living – barely – literally from garbage hauled out there day after day after day.
On to Sinai, probably my signature moment of the journey. Click here – 
Then, crossing over into Jordan, we experienced the overwhelm of Petra. The magnificent archeological site, strewn over several square miles of rugged terrain, remains one of the most remarkable places Rebekah and I have ever witnessed. A flourishing civilization inhabited the valley until it was finally abandoned after one more crushing earthquake in the Middle Ages.
All – absolutely ALL – of Israel is worthy of a million photographs. But this post is limited to Galilee and Jerusalem. Galilee is where Jesus spent the majority of his public ministry, all within the parameters of a day’s walk. That fact alone is worth mulling over. Jesus is the single most impactful teacher in the history of the world, and – other than his years as a refugee in Egypt as an infant – Jerusalem is likely the farthest he every traveled from home.![@[670927216:2048:Rebekah Maul] at Pool of Bethesda](https://derekmaul.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/dsc_0666.jpg?w=362&h=241)
Well I’m not absolutely sure about that last one, but I am one hundred percent certain Jesus would have inserted “duh” in many places had the word – or it’s Aramaic equivalent – been invented two thousand years ago.
I have already written about this past weekend’s deeply meaningful wedding – 
The location of the reception was beyond spectacular. The mansion – a mega-lavish American version of the classic Tuscan villa – commands a wonderful view of a large lake with open vistas to the west, the south, and the north. Expansive terraces easily accommodate more than 100 guests, and lush lawns lead down to the water.
So enjoy these photos. They tell a little of the story, and I know they will make you smile. I certainly know that Rebekah and I are smiling.
I believe it’s all about the underlying aspect of gratitude, of owning the fact that we are God’s children, and of being willing to receive the grace that underlines this truth. Paul puts it like this, a little later in the same chapter: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Or, “In all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one who loved us!” (CEB)
Coming back from the weekend wedding, Rebekah and I were not present with our church family at WFPC for worship. So, as we were hitting the Raleigh area late morning, we attended church at St. Andrews Presbyterian. The first Sunday in May happened to be their annual “Kirking of the Tartans” celebration. The church engaged the services of the NC State bagpipe troupe, along with drums. St. Andrews is a beautiful church, the pipers were made an impressive parade, and it was quite the spectacle.
My songs went off well – but I was helped by three little girls who decided to dance around me while I played. One song – Somebody’s Praying” – included the line “Angles are watching, I can feel them…” So I changed it, on the fly, to “Angles are dancing, I can see them.” And, “Angles are dancing around me….”
Of course the real miracle is how Jesus brings new life, and a new flavor to our lives, each and every day. That’s not just a nice story, or a look back into history – it’s a present reality that we can continue to celebrate.
Both Kaitlyn and her soon-to-be husband, Jacob, have family roots around Stokesdale, so the weekend is like a big southern family homecoming.
The marriage feast is a lot like the kingdom of God. There is generosity, lavish celebration, wide open arms, welcome, faithfulness, commitment, renewal of hope, and promise for the future – all brought together in the context of extravagant love.
“It’s about engaging the Spirit because we are hungry for God. It’s about becoming disciples so that Jesus can pour his life into us. It’s about learning to love God with our heart, mind, body, and soul. It’s about having the courage to actually follow Christ – to place one foot in front of the other, to dare to live a life of grace” (
In consequence, my catalog includes a lot of open doors, archways, open windows, passageways, paths, roads, and bridges. At first I didn’t really think about it, they just caught my eye. Now I believe I understand why. You see I have noticed that I engage life as a journey; open windows and doorways – especially where there is light or something beautiful the other side – communicate ideas to me such as “invitation”, “hope”, “possibility”, “exploration”, “journey”, “adventure” – “come and see”.
And then, in an almost comical indictment of the legalism that dominated the teaching of so many religious leaders (and still does to this day), Jesus said this by way of contrast, pointing out that, while he is an open invitation, they slam the door in people’s faces: 
