Introduction: Recently I have longed to say something to you that I just wanted to say. It’s not about things you need to do or that you are responsible for. It’s just something I want you to know. I suppose the bottom line is that I have been struggling to know that I am personally connected to God, that He’s really there. I am not a person who depends on feeling to sustain me spiritually. I "just do it" because that’s what I am to do with out any questions. Recently I’ve been longing for just a little bit of emotion to hold me over before the next down pour could come. I have felt as dry and hard as the ground around here this summer. Many of you have been extremely and unusually complimentary of the sermons on Joseph. That is a testimony to God’s grace especially in these dry times.

Many weeks ago Julie Bishop gave me a new novel by the writer Frank Peritte called "The Visitation." The central plot revolves around a young man who looks and acts like Jesus, who moves to a small town in Washington. The subplot is the story of a pastor of a Pentecostal church who has quit the ministry do to the death of his wife and also because of spiritual and ministerial exhaustion. The book involves several flashbacks to happier times in his life and times with his wife.

One such occasion was when he began to fall in love with his wife when they were in Bible College. At a chapel service when his wife was singing with two other young women the speaker kept talking about "fresh oil, fresh oil, fresh oil." I chuckled when I read that because it was a phrase I had heard before and was typical of the Pentecostal tradition. I read a little bit more and put the book down but woke up about one and couldn’t go back to sleep. I went to a spare bedroom and read a bit more but still couldn’t sleep so I got my Bible and turned to the Psalms. I had been reading in the high 80’s or low 90’s but I couldn’t remember which so I read in Psalms 92. I read down though verse 9 and then I read this verse "But Thou hast exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil." (Psalms 92:10)

When I read that, there were no "tears running down my checks". What happened was that for the rest of the night that word "fresh oil", "fresh oil" "fresh oil" kept coming back to me. Each time I told the Lord, " I need that." No emotion, no feeling just the cry of my heart.

The imagery of the Psalmist is especially beautiful, However the translation of Psa. 92:10 isn’t easy. The psalmist is reflecting in verses 1-9 on the greatness of God and the threats posed by a variety of enemies. The first phrase of vs. 10 speaks of God giving the writer strength and power much like a wild ox. The wild ox was an ancestor to domestic cattle. It symbolized ferocious strength. The metaphor means that God has given to the psalmist renewed power in much the same way this animal finds theirs renewed.

The next phrase isn’t as easy. The problem comes from the word "anointed." You basically have a picture of these things: one is of a person who is worn out, tired and spent being renewed with fresh oil. Another is a picture of someone who has become dull and now they shine with the glistening of new oil. A third picture is of a person who has had oil rubbed into them making them ready for combat. Regardless of the confusing translations the oil symbolism is constant. Oil was essential in ancient times. The oil was typically olive oil and was used for food, medicine, fuel, cosmetics, and in rituals. Here it is a symbol of fresh energy and renewed strength. It is a metaphor of a new vitality for spiritual life.

So we can say that the psalmist claims that God takes a person whose strength is worn out and restores it and that God is able to refresh a person so much that they shine with his spirituality. Also God supplies new life to a person who is facing conflict of many kinds. Regardless God is the source for us when we are spiritually spent, emotionally flat, mentally dull and physically exhausted.

How do we get this way? How do we become spiritually spent, emotionally flat, mentally dull and physically exhausted? There are many ways: long periods of stress, demands on your resources that are endless, failure to discipline yourself for times of renewal and rest, lack of physical exercise, ignoring appeals for refilling "the well" spiritually, any one of these or a combination of them can deplete our reserves spiritually.

So what do we do? How do we get out of a spiritual rut and reconnect with the vitality of spiritual strength? How can we place ourselves in a place to be anointed with "fresh oil"? Well let me share some ideas I’m trying to put into practice for myself:

1. Get outside: There is something special about our spirits connecting with God outside. The Psalms are filled with expressions of delight and wonder at the creation of God. Far too often we don’t even notice. Your outside may be a drive or a walk or sitting out in the yard. Yet it is out where there is air and light and wind and sight and sound to begin renewing us.

2. Liturgies: During this time of spiritual dryness I have found difficult to pray. To have the words to pray. I have used John Balliie’s "A Diary of Private Prayer" as a guide. I have always been resistant to liturgy because of my tradition. However I have been drawn to the devotional thoughts of others when I seemed to have little of my own.

3. Let beauty reinvigorate you: Henri Nouwen tells of an encounter he had with Rembrandt’s " The Return of the Prodigal Son." He was so moved by it that he spent three full days siting in front of it. You may be able to look at a book or listen to a CD but the power of creativity in someone else can be the catalyst for a renewal within you.

4. Change your spiritual diet: Far too often am I guilty of giving you only what works for life rather than a more thoughtful approach. I’m a reflection of who you are: "cut to the chase!" Unfortunately those "quick fix" approaches are like an energy bar – does the job but there is no pleasure in it. I have been reading 16^th century pastor Richard Baxter recently rather than the latest book on how to beat the other churches in town in nickels and noses. Digging in to the classics may be the sustaining source to awaken you spiritually.

5. Get active: That means get your rear end out of the chair and your feet in the street physically. It means to take your faith to the streets and apply it there spiritually. It means to get your body moving physically to energize you spiritually. To fail to use ourselves in service is like always eating but never exercising.

6. Celebrate: Norman ________________ wrote a book on the power of laughter as it was used to create healing in people physically. There is a very important connection between the joy of our souls and the joy of the Lord. When we are struggling we want to crawl in a hole and stay there. What is needed is the spirit of joy, laughter and celebration to envelope us! That may be through a small group, a group of friends, a movie, a book, music – many things that can restore the "dead cells" in your soul in celebration.

7. Focus on the Cross: The last one is perhaps the hardest and yet the most simple. It’s this: Take a long look at the Cross: Throughout history God’s people have returned to the cross for spiritual renewal.

G.K. Chesterson wrote of Frances of Assisi that could apply to all of us, "It is the highest and holiest of all the paradoxes that the man who really knows he cannot pay his debt will be forever paying it. He will be forever giving back what he cannot give back, and cannot be expected to give back. He will always be throwing things away into a bottomless pit of unfathomable thanks."

How do I feel? Oh, about the same. I am ready though for new strength to replace the old, to be a little brighter and to be ready for his service.

But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

Regardless of the translation that’s what I want- "fresh oil…"