The Blademaster

The following is taken from Teddy Roosevelt's Speech before the Hamilton Club, Chicago, April 10, 1899. I quote it directly for its insight and impact: “This is the tale of making a good sword, a really good one like the blademakers to the samurai made them. Damascus steel was folded a thousand times by hand and finished only with a stone-never shaped by other steel. The steel is purified by plunging it again and again into the fire-and not just any fire but the fire produced by bellows that others are pumping continually to get hot enough to melt the imperfect steel. The blade that is beginning to form is allowed to almost cool, and then it is hammered and re-plunged into the fire, over and over, and over again. Each time it comes out it is examined by the Master Craftsman to see if there is any flaw, any imperfection at all. “Each blade is thought to have a spirit of it's own and some believe that the metal tells the Blademaster when it is finished, only he knows what this particular blade will be for. Once or twice in the master's entire career comes the chance to shape metal that has a truly great soul residing in it. When that happens the Blademaster stops work and goes and purifies himself and then comes back to the work that he will not cease doing until the blade is finished-he will not eat or sleep and will drink water only. He takes up the steel again and listens to it's heart and begins again, heat... cool some and hammer, fold and heat... again and again. When the blade has been folded a thousand times or more and it speaks to him that it is done-only then does he rest. For only the soul inside the steel can say when it has been shaped enough. But the blade is still not finished. “A handle needs to be fitted so that the weapon-which now has become a work of art- can be wielded. Before the handle is set onto the blade though, the Blademaster sets his own secret emblem on the handle where it will remain hidden for all time, the handle is then wrapped and the tsuba, the guard that keeps your hand from slipping onto the blade but is more than just that is fitted. The tsuba also balances the blade and communicates the tastes and beliefs of the owner. But the blade is still not finished. For this is a weapon with a soul, one that comes singing out of it's scabbard and will not return to it without tasting battle. The Blademaster now starts to hone the blade but he does not use steel-for to abrade so great a soul against another would diminish both. He does it all by hand, and he uses a stone... a rock. Carefully he wets the stone and draws the blade across it-one way only, with the grain of the soul... again and again... sometimes for weeks while all other pursuits are abandoned he concentrates all he has on that one edge, making it sharper that any other edge. “During this process the soul of the sword tells the maker to whom it belongs, and the Blademaster gives the masterpiece he has created to that and only that person. Never anything so crass as for a fee to be paid- the gift of the blade is the most precious thing that can be given to a warrior... a person who is both a soldier and philosopher in one. The house that the warrior belongs to will bless the Blademaster with all that it has for the gift of the honor of housing so great a blade...and when the warrior dies or grows old-the sword goes back to the Master who made it and no one else.” For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV). I am convinced that we all have the opportunity to become a great blade for the Master; only you can say when you have been shaped enough and have reached the point where you feel you are finished. God will use you there, make no mistake about that. No one ever said this life thing was easy. You have the opportunity to be of great value to the Master if you let him shape you. And, as the house that receives the blade is greatly honored and blessed, so too will you bless the house you come to. Roosevelt went on to say: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat".

Shattered Hopes and Dreams

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words. (Luke 24:1-8 ESV). Shattered hopes and dreams. Perhaps you thought that you had the perfect job, and then lost it. Maybe you thought that this would finally be the right relationship for you and it ended. Or maybe your dream of having children was dashed by a miscarriage or some other unfortunate circumstance. Life throws us all kinds of twists and turns. That’s one of the stories of the first Easter. Our reading this morning is only a part of the whole story of the first Easter. The entire Luke 24 passage is beautiful in relating the story of the disciples' dashed hopes. The first story is of the women who come to the tomb early in the morning to finish the necessary preparations to the entombment of Jesus’ body. Of course the angels tell them of Jesus’ resurrection. I love the question, Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive? It is how we live our lives at times. Later in the chapter there are two disciples walking along the road disheartened at the events of the past few days. Jesus has been crucified and now the tomb is empty. It is of course empty because of the resurrection of Christ. So in their disheartened state, He comes to them and begins talking to them and hears them talk about their dashed hopes and dreams, "we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel..." Soon after, he appears to all of the disciples and their eyes are finally opened to the fact that it is Christ and they are overjoyed and feel like it's too good to be true. Now they have returned to the joy that they had and they enter into a new level of understanding and belief, so much so that they returned to the temple praising and blessing God. Just as it took the resurrection for the disciples to enter into another level of worship and praise, we need a personal resurrection of Christ in our lives. We've got hopes and dreams or we have had them and many of them were dashed. We trusted in our dreams, whether they are in job, family, marriage, or another. We believed they would be glorious and now they are in ruins. Well it's resurrection time. Christ is there for you and ready to talk about your dashed hopes and dreams just as He did with the men walking along the road. Tell Him about it. He's ready to tell you that what you thought was dead, in Christ, can be made alive again. It didn't work out according to your plan, but God will raise it up in His own timing and according to His plan. Let's begin to worship and praise Him now for the dead things in our lives because without death, there is no resurrection and sometimes it simply takes a resurrection for us to enter a new level of worship and praise.

Leading or Driving

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. (Matthew 23:1-8 ESV). There is a story from World War II about Mussolini's car breaking down in a little town in Italy. While they were repairing the car, he decided to go to the movie theatre down the street. He sat down in the middle of the crowd. They brought up an image of Mussolini himself on the screen and everybody rose, except, of course, Mussolini. The theatre manager came down and tapped him on the shoulder and said firmly, "Sir, I know exactly how you feel. I feel the same way, but it's dangerous to sit there. You better stand." When you stand or bow before any religious authority you demean yourself. And when your demeanor requires that others stand before you, you have violated the very essence of your faith. Religion leads to the placing of heavy burdens on the shoulders of others. Shepherds lead. Butchers drive. You can always tell the people of God and the leaders they have by whether they are driven or led. I can't tell you the number of letters I've received from Christians who have left the church. They left because they were tired of building an empire for someone else. The philosophy seems to be “put a saddle on the back of a new Christian and ride him 'til he dies.” New Christians are given the rules and stuff to do; soon the leader finds that everyone stands in his presence. Booker T. Washington has a great story in his autobiography. He has a wonderful reference to his older brother. The slaves were required to wear flax shirts. When they were new they were stiff and rough because it was inexpensive flax. And his Brother loved him. His brother would take the new shirts and wear them until they were soft and would then give the soft shirts to his little brother, Booker Washington. When I read that I thought, you know, that's what we're supposed to do as religious professionals. But, we give them the harsh shirts. We make them wear them until they are soft then we require them to present the soft shirts on the altar of our own self-aggrandizement. Whenever you build an empire, be very, very careful. We should be leaders not drivers! Jesus was a leader. Shouldn’t we follow his example?

“Making Bad People Good and Good People Nice”

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:1-12 ESV). I want to talk to you about the most dangerous thing in the world. It's not bad theology, it's not bad doctrine, and it's not the religious fundamental right or the liberal left. The most dangerous thing in the world is religion. In Ireland you can kill a Catholic for Jesus. In the Middle East you can bomb a church in the name of God. In India you can worship a cow, while a child dies of starvation. In the Sudan you can create a slave for Allah. In America you can kill a baby, blaspheme in the name of freedom, or hate a homosexual in the name of Christ. Peter Berger has said that the Swedes are the most atheistic unreligious people in the world. And in India we find the most religions of all nations. He said, "In America we are a nation ruled by Swedes and we're a bunch of Indians. The problem is that the Swedes bow in the name of God as a mantra to get votes." The prayer of the little boy makes the point. "Lord can you make all the bad people good and could you please make all the good people nice?" It's very hard to be right and nice at the same time. It’s not always bad to be wrong. It's very hard to be righteous and real at the same time. You should see your sin and any righteousness you have you should be unaware of it. It's very hard to be successful and godly at the same time. That's why it’s not always bad to fail. Garrison Keillor tells about a man in Lake Woebegon who was a drunk. Everybody liked him OK. He was a nice drunk and he went to AA. When he got sober they found out he was a jerk. And there was no 12-step program for jerks. It's very hard to be known as a Christian at work, or in the pulpit, the classroom, and at a church meeting, and be poor in spirit at the same time. Often it's more dangerous to be right than to be wrong because the downside of truth is truth's perversion. There is an observable and inverse correlation between true religion and necessary repentance. Don’t be too religious! Pray that God would make the bad people good and the good people nice… including yourself!

Square Pegs in Round Holes

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. (1 Corinthians 12:1-6 ESV). Sometimes it’s easy to feel like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole! A part of that is due to working outside our abilities and gifts. Often we encourage people to do things because they are willing to work, rather than honestly evaluating their gifts and abilities and placing them where they may succeed. Ed McManus, editor of The Jokesmith newsletter, has put out a booklet of humor about folks in human resources. It’s called “What is a Human Resource?” And in it he explains how people get assigned to particular jobs.  You leave them in a conference room for four hours.  Then, you go back to see what they’re doing.  If they don’t look up when you enter the room, assign them to the Security Department.  If they’re counting the butts in the ashtray, put them in Finance.  If they’ve taken the table apart, put them in Engineering.  If they’re screaming and waving their arms, send them off to Manufacturing.  And if they’ve left early, put them in Sales. I’m sure not advocating that kind of management! But, it does emphasize the difference in people. Once we find the right task for our gifts, we may give ourselves to it completely. Our responsibility is not how much talent we have, but what we do with what we’ve been given. S. D. Gordon wrote, “We have nothing to do with how much ability we’ve got, or how little, but with what we do with what we have. The man with great talent is apt to be puffed up, and the man with little (talent) to belittle the little. Poor fools! God gives it, much or little. Our part is to be faithful, doing the level best with every bit and scrap. And we will be if Jesus’ spirit controls.” Be honest with yourself and give yourself to the things God has gifted you to do. That’s the place you will find peace and happiness. Floating downstream is much easier than swimming upstream! Square pegs don’t fit in round holes!

The Special Gift

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. (Revelation 2:17 ESV). Most of us enjoy getting special gifts for no reason. A time when somebody thinks about us during part of their day and goes out hunting for something special to give us. The value of the gift is not important at all and even a gift from the dollar store is grand. When others have those types of thoughts about us, it makes our day light up. We feel special when someone thinks of us enough to put just a little energy into helping us understand their thoughts. There is a special gift that God has prepared and is waiting until we get to heaven to before He gives it to us. It might be perhaps the most special gift other than the gift of life forever in heaven. God has prepared a White Stone for each of us with a name on it. The name on the stone is a name only He knows and the name one lover calls another in private because it reveals something very personal about their relationship. God will give us a gift of immeasurable proportions a gift that gives us a name based on our relationship with Him. God is the most passionate of lover waiting for us every day to romance us. We forget and think that our identity even our capacity to receive gifts from God comes from our merit. We stay caught up in the thought of striving for everything we want or need, even love we search for daily. The most romantic lover of all is waiting for us; yet, we try to find other places that we would rather be. These other places are spiritual abiding places not of God that we go to find comfort and belonging. We often wander from place to place, thing-to-thing never fulfilled. In John 15, Jesus tells us that we must stay with Him and Him only. We must make our home with Him and He will make His home in us. To stop the wandering we must realize that our identity comes from simply "staying at home" and not trying to fill the void in other ways. It may be surprising but holiness also comes not out of doing, but staying at home. Our real home, which as Christians is Christ, remains in us. When we go out place-to-place searching for love and fulfillment, that fulfillment is as close as simply stopping to find it. Our home, our love, and our fulfillment is Christ who is in us. Where are you looking for love today? If you will turn to Christ, you will certainly find the deepest love and care that you could imagine. Nothing can compare to Him. Give yourself completely to Him and see the difference it makes in your life.

Jelly Beans

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20 ESV). The exact origins of the jellybean are lost in time, and only a part of its history is known. Most experts believe the jelly center is a descendent of a Mid-Eastern confection known as Turkish Delight that dates back to Biblical times. The shell coating is an offspring of a process called panning, first invented in 17th century France to make Jordan Almonds. The panning process, while done primarily by machine today, has remained essentially the same for the last 300 years. The French began by rocking almonds in a bowl filled with sugar and syrup until the almonds were coated with a candy shell. Today, large rotating pans do the heavy work, while master confectioners apply their true art in adding the ingredients to create just the right shell. Somehow the two processes made their way to America. The earliest known appearance of a jellybean combining the two techniques is in an 1861 advertisement for William Schrafft of Boston that promoted the sending of jellybeans to soldiers in the Union Army during the civil war. Jellybeans quickly earned a place amongst the many glass jars of "penny candy" in general stores where they were sold by weight and taken home in paper bags. It wasn't until the 1930's, however, that jellybeans became a part of Easter traditions. Over 13.5 billion jellybeans were enjoyed at Eastertime in 1996. If they were lined up end-to-end, they would circle the earth nearly 3 times. So what does the history of the jellybean have to do with a devotional? Dr. Elizabeth Bard has revealed to the American Psychological Association the results of a survey, which indicate that your choice in jellybeans may reveal fundamental traits, especially if one's choice of color has nothing to do with the flavor. The most popular color, especially among men, was black, followed by red. Least popular was purple and white. According to the experts, here are traits indicated by choice of color: Black: A man exercises great personal charm in dealing with others. A woman is considered persistent in her demands and desires recognition and control. Red: A man is capable of powerful emotional involvement; a woman has great charm. White: A woman "seeks a relationship offering peace and intimacy." A man "attempts to control his own destiny and yet needs praise and reinforcement from others to maintain self-confidence." Whether your choice of color in a jellybean reveals your character or not is open to debate. However, your actions do. Jesus’ teaching in our reading this morning gives us clear instructions that our “walk ought to match our talk.” Examine the actions of your life. Commit yourself to producing good fruit!