"I have to confess to you that I was silent about guns for too long.  I told Irie that I would never preach about guns in Texas, and that if I ever did  you could be guaranteed for sure that I was planning to leave the church.  That has been my approach for a long while, too long really.  And then last year the Parkland school shooting happened, and I realized that I had to say something.  I thought to myself, 'You know Ryon, it could happen here.  It could happen here in your community and in your church.  And what have you done to act responsibly today if tomorrow never comes?'" 

Rather than a Daily Lesson today I am doing something I seldom do and that is share a Sunday sermon. It is about not only the events in El Paso and Dayton but also the true fragility and ultimate meaning of life itself.


Please note I will be on vacation for the next several days and not posting Daily Lessons.


To listen to the sermon:
http://broadwaybc.org/sermon-overview/if-tomorrow-never-comes-ryon-price/

To watch service in its entirety:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf4YZMRnkZs

Daily Lesson for August 6, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 8 verses 22 through 33:

22 They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. 23He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, ‘Can you see anything?’ 24And the man looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.’ 25Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26Then he sent him away to his home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the village.’ 

27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ 28And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ 29He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ 30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

Benjamin Elijah Mays, the former President of Morehouse college, close family friend of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. family, and the one who eulogized Dr. King at his death said of Dr. King’s martyrdom and its relation to Jesus’ cross:

“Inevitable, not that God willed it. Inevitable in that any man who takes the position King did . . . if he persists in that long enough, he’ll get killed. Now. Anytime. That was the chief trouble with Jesus: He was a troublemaker.  So any time you are a troublemaker and you Rebel against the wrongs and injustices of society and organize against that, then what may happen is inevitable.”

In today’s Lesson the blind man sees more clearly what is inevitable than does the so-called sighted Peter. Peter sees Jesus triumphant, victorious in his vision without defeat. But the blind man sees what is inevitable — Jesus on a tree. 

Many feminist and womanist theologians have rightly problemitized the veneration of the cross as it has far too often given credence to the passive suffering of the abused and the oppressed.  Suffering in this way should never be legitimized. The cross of Jesus should never be used as an excuse for passivity to violence. 

And it was not. Jesus was no passive sufferer. His journey to the cross was a willful act of both self-sacrifice and also self-determination. Jesus came to the cross as a lamb in body, but also a lion in heart.

No, as Mays said, God does not will the death of any anyone — not even Jesus. God willed that the world would receive Jesus. But the world rejected him.  The powers of the Roman world rejected him yet he did not stop. He continued to demand his own dignity and the dignity of his people in what he called “the kingdom of God”.  And so in due course the kingdom of this world — Rome — did the inevitable; they hung him on a tree. This is the law of the land — that this world will inevitably oppose and perhaps even kill its troublemakers. Even a blind man can see this. 

But what the blind man cannot yet see is what happens after that — that though it may not have been God’s will that Jesus should die, on the third day it will be God’s will that he should live. And so with the touch of Jesus the faithful are made to see again — and somehow the cross of Jesus becomes a sign of hope and the death of the Lion the victory of the Lamb. 

Daily Lesson for August 5, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 18 verses 9 through 11:

9One night the Lord said to Paul in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; 10for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.’ 11He stayed there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Several years ago amidst a crisis of conscience when a number of families were leaving the church over an issue which I considered to be a matter of the Gospel, I read this passage from Paul’s time in the seemingly-recalcitrant community of Macedonia and it gave me great, great hope to keep going on the path we were on. “Keep speaking; do not be silent . . .  for there are many in this city who are my people.”

To speak is difficult. There are so many pressures within and without to keep us quiet. It’s so much more comfortable to simply remain silent, to say nothing, to let the world go on just as it is. 

But the vision tells us to not be afraid. It compels us to keep opening our mouths. “There are many of my people here,” it says, many fighting the same good fight, many longing for the same new world to be born. “Keep speaking and you will find them.

“Do not be afraid. Keep speaking, keep teaching, keep connecting, keep organizing, keep meeting, and together you will discover this old world really can be born again.”

Daily Lesson for August 2, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 17 verses 1 through 9:

After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures,3explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.’4Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the market-places they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house. 6When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, ‘These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also,7and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.’ 8The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this, 9and after they had taken bail from Jason and the others, they let them go.

Do not believe the charges. 

The charges against the disciples were that they were “turning the world upside down”.  And surely to those accustomed to and even beneficiaries of the status quo it must have felt like their world was being upended.

But not everyone was so comfortable in Caesar’s Rome. Not everyone was so pleased with the status quo. And so when Paul and Silas came preaching a new king other than Caesar — one named Jesus the Messiah — many rejoiced and were glad. For to them the world was not being turned upside down, but rightside up. 

Those who are against substantive change in this world will always accuse others of wanting to turn the world upside down. But we shouldn’t necessarily believe the charges. And in fact, we should look closely enough to see whether like in the story the people who accuse others of causing all the disturbance aren’t really themselves the ones who are stoking allmthe fear and setting the city in an uproar. 

It’s something to think about, anyways . . .

Daily Lesson for August 1, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 2 verses 25 through 40:

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. 27When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ 29The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ 31They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ 32They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. 34He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

35 When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, ‘Let those men go.’ 36And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, ‘The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace.’ 37But Paul replied, ‘They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.’ 38The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens; 39so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. 40After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.

Now here is a story straight from our current headlines. 

Paul and Silas are in Philippi.  They have involved themselves in the emancipation of an exploited person, which disturbs a lucrative part of the evil economic system in the city’s economy and upsets the powers that be. Soon Paul and Silas find themselves behind bars — taken into custody because they were “Jews” and “disturbing the city”, neither of which were actual crimes. And not only are they wrongfully arrested, they are also beaten, and their rights as citizens are completely violated by the authorities.

But at midnight, as songs and hymns and freedom songs were being sung, a mighty earthquake shook the jail. It was as if the LORD had acted to shake the very foundation of this wicked and unjust symbol of justice perverted. And then the doors swung open and all the captives were set free. 

Seeing the open doors, the jailer was about to take his own life — probably to avoid vengeful torture from the prisoners. But to his shock, the prisoners had no thirst for vengeance. They wanted, instead, to tell him about Jesus. For they knew this jailer, this deputy official was also a prisoner in this wicked and corrupt jail of a system, and they wished that he would be set free also. So, the jailer heard the good news; and he was not only spared, but he and his whole family were saved. 

Afterward, the city fathers grew scared. They had been shaken by all the happenings and so there was an attempted coverup. Paul and Silas were let go and told to leave the city without more incident. But Paul and Silas refused to just go quietly. Instead, they demand redress and reform. They will not leave until wrongs are rectified, apology is given, and public accountability is ensured. So then, the magistrates come down and publicly acknowledge the injustices done and promise to reform their ways. 

Like I said, this is a story straight from our current headlines.