An Old Pastor's Prayer at the Dying of the Year

 This year I have been reading various prayers and meditations from on old W.B. Phillips pocket manual of prayer. Published in 1914, it's words no doubt brought comfort and strength to those in the last pandemic; and they have done the same for me in this one. The following prayer seems especially appropriate for a pastor to share on the last day of the year a century later:

"Dear Father: The days of the dying year hold a sacredness for thy children. Thereby are they to realize that life's day of "threescore and ten" hath but seventy warning-posts, and then each must "go the way of all the earth." Gray hair and furrowed brow mutely testify, but the passing of the year seems to be a more tragic enactment. May thy servant learn well life's lesson. May he look with more awe upon the grandeur of thy "handiwork." May I also see more beauty in thy creation, the mortals who have souls, latent talents that might glorify thee if purposeful ideals were put before them. Human spirits that might be "clothed upon" with the Divine Spirit, which is immortal and infinite.

God, open my eyes, that I may see in its fullness the divine expression of my Savior's love in the "living souls" about me. Open my eyes, not to mental vision alone, but to a true vision of the real -- real life that exists about me. May I fulfill my pastoral office with true desire for thy mercy's sake, and not be spurred by any purpose or motive that is narrow, pecuniary, or of self-glory. Only thee would I serve -- thee alone. Help me, my God, to save dying men and women. For Jesus' name's sake. Amen."

Daily Lesson for December 31, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 18 verses 1 and 2:

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendor. 2 He called out with a mighty voice,

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

During the darkest days of Apartheid Desmond Tutu used to speak at funerals and rallies and say to the presidents and other high ranking leaders of the South African government, "Come, come over to the winning side!"

The very last section of the entire Bible opens with the kingdoms of the world belonging to the beast who wreaks desolation upon the earth and its people.

But then into this desolation and darkness comes the voice of the angel, who brings with it brightness.

"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!"

And then the empire falls.

We've come to the end of year. And what a year it has been. What many years it has been. Sometimes it seemed that the darkness would prevail. Sometimes it still seems that way.

But God sends us messengers -- that is the meaning of the word "angels" in Greek, "messengers". And these messengers tell us again, and again of the end, of evil's defeat, and of God's victory.

"Fallen, fallen is Babylon." It's time is up. It's reign is over. It's fate is sealed. And so the invitation goes out from the messenger to "come over to the winning side."

We've been reading the whole Bible through this year. What a year to choose to do so. We had no idea in January when we were reading about how to stop epidemic outbreaks in Leviticus just how relevant it would all be in March. And it has seemed, over and over again that the Scriptures have spoken to our times, for such a time is this. This is what is meant by the Living Word.

And the final word is this: there is a final defeat of the beast, and the adversary, and the raising and judgment of the dead, and the coming of the kingdom of heaven -- a new heaven and a new earth.

Babylon loses. And God wins.

Remember that, friends, in 2021. It will be a tough year too. But in the end, God wins. Good wins. Love wins.

And the messenger says, "Come to the winning side!"

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for December 30, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 13 verses 1 through 8:

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. 2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. 4 They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

5 The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

We have been reading the Bible through all year long; and we come now to the penultimate Lesson -- one filled with images of beasts and dragons and the sufferings and struggles of God's people. It is a struggle right up until the end.

One of the ways to read the Bible is to read it as a struggle between good and evil. What we have this morning is a coded, though also very vivid description of the struggle of the early church against the evil rulers and powers of Rome. And right here, in the very next to last section of the entire Bible, evil seems to be winning. And the beast, once thought to be mortally wounded with a deathblow to one of his heads, now rears his ugly head in a defiant stand against the forces of good. And, most shuddering of all, the beast is allowed to make war and conquer the saints for a time.

Friends, there will be no ultimate defeat of evil this side of heaven. This is the hard news that we have to understand and accept lest we despair -- there will be struggle, and perhaps even defeat, right up until the end.

But in the end -- as I said in yesterday's Lesson -- the Lamb wins.

And we will read about that tomorrow.

As for today, struggle on. For the beast isn't finished yet . . .

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for December 29, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 7 verses 9 through 14a:

9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

11 And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 singing,

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal.

We have come through a great ordeal in 2020. "Hard pressed," as St. Paul said, "but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair," we are still here, hanging on. We have endured much in not only this past year, but these past years; and we are still hanging on.

The book of Revelation is written for and to ones like us. It is a vision -- the Greek word is "apocalypso"; and the vision is of the end. There is a reward for faithfulness in the end. Those who endure will stand before the throne of the Lamb.

Peter Storey, a former Duke professor and the right hand man for Desmond Tutu in the days of the anti-apartheid struggle, visited East Berlin in the days just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He saw a little church near the Wall with a small, and understated sign out front. "The Lamb wins," it said.

In the end, the Lamb, who seemed to lose, will win. And those who endure for the sake of the Lamb will stand before its throne. We will win also.

"And the ones who endure to the end shall be saved."

We shall be saved; and, finally, we shall be safe as well.

Let us remember this when times get tough in 2021 also.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for December 28, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 4 verses 6b through 8:

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,

“Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”

In Roman mythology, the god of beginnings, transitions, and gates was Janus, whose name is from which we get our word January, and whose symbol was two faces -- one to look backward with and another to look forward.

We are coming now to the gate of the year. As we do, we find encouragement in the knowledge that the four living creatures gathered around the throne of God have eyes to see both in front and also behind. Their mission: to stand stalwart and assuring, and to sing the eternal truth of God, "who was, and is, and is to come."

We are looking forward to the New Year. The Old Year has been a trying one. It has been a scary one. And for many of us it has been a year of transition and loss. But we stand here in the last days, and we look back and we see God has been with us. God has seen us through the hard times. And God has steadied us when we might otherwise have been shaken.

We have no idea what 2021 will be like. What we can see looks promising; the vaccines are encouraging. But the eyes which look forward can never see too far ahead.

But we can be assured by this. The four creatures around the throne can see what is ahead. And most important for us to know, they can see that God is there ahead also.

So, we hear the refrain once more here at the end of the year, and we understand the words in deeper context and a more certain faith in a very uncertain time:

"Holy, holy, holy,

the Lord God the Almighty,

who was, and is, and is to come . . ."

Thanks be to God.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for December 24, 2020

Today's Lesson comes from 2 John verses 4 through 6:

4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5 But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.

It is Christmas Eve and I will be working today to put the final touches on tonight's homily and worship plans. It will be a night like no Christmas Eve other, as the doors to the church will be closed and the congregation will be at home.

This is a sad occasion, in that our wonderful traditions are disrupted; but worshiping virtually is a responsible thing to do. It is a loving thing to do.

Love came down at Christmas. And the message of the homily tonight is that this Love cloistered itself for nine months in a self-less and self-surrendering kind of love. Tonight as we cloister ourselves, we do the same in Love.

Now Faith, Hope, and Love abide -- even in a pandemic. And the greatest of these is Love.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. We are almost done! We are going to take tomorrow and the weekend off in observance of Christmas and beginning the final book Revelation Monday. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Incarnation

This didn’t quite make it into the homily for tomorrow night, but it seemed to want to be shared as a devotion on this, the last night of Advent:

“Incarnation”

What a mystery to behold,

And to lay bare; 

Light shines in darkness,

And Life enters death;

The Old Adam’s air

Now gasps a first breath.

Daily Lesson for December 23, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 John chapter 1 verses 5 through 7:

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

In his memoir "And There Was Light" French resistance Jacques Lusseyran tells about the accident which blinded him as a boy and what he learned about life in navigating the world in light and in darkness.

Lusseryran said that after his blinding a sixth sense developed within him which allowed him to sense the size and shape of objects and even "hear" the shadows of trees.

In 1944 Lusseyran was sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp for his work in the French resistance. There Lusseyran said his fear and and anger at the Nazis distorted his senses, and disoriented him in the world. He began tripping over objects and injuring himself in falls. The light which was in him, Lusseyran said, had turned to darkness.

It is a dark world out there. Still dark as I write this morning. But we have a light within us. And we must not allow fear or anger or hatred to take our light away from us.

In love and in courage we can walk in light even while in darkness. We can befriend the darkness. And if we listen closely enough, and open our souls deep and gentle enough, even the shadows will whisper to us their names.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow we will read 2 and 3 John.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for December 22, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 11:

3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. 5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. 8 For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. 11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

There is a line in today's Lesson about becoming "participants of the divine nature."

The divine nature is one of mutuality and connection. In Christianity we describe that as Triune. It is in and of itself open, and self-giving, and other-affirming. It is relational rather than transactional. It gives and receives, but never takes. It is a nature begun in hope, kept in faith, and bound in love.

C.S. Lewis once wrote of the love within the divine nature when he spoke of "Need-love" and "Gift-love" He said:

"Need-love cries to God from our poverty. Gift-love longs to serve, or even suffer for, God . . . Need-love says of a woman 'I cannot live without her' Gift-love longs to give her happiness , comfort, protection -- if possible, wealth; Appreciative love gazes and holds its breath and is silent, rejoices that such a wonder should exist even if not for him."

We all need love. And we also need to give love. And the love we give is an appreciative love -- a self-less love and relinquishing love -- which means it is one of relinquishment, and affirmation, and the knowledge that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

This is the love of God. And when we love like God we participate in the divine nature.

And the nature of the divine love never, ever ends.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow we will read the book of 1 John.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for December 21, 2020

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 through 4:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

We are coming to the end of the year. It's been a long one; and many of us are weary.

We've fought the good fight, we've kept the faith, but we haven't finished the race yet. There still a long course ahead, with so many obstacles in the path.

We are in a global pandemic. Russia has hacked our central nervous system. The President is refusing to concede the election. Many of us have lost loved ones whom we couldn't properly grieve. And in spite of the Black Lives Matter summer, the roots of racism in America have been nowhere near dug up.

We have a long ways to go. There is still so much struggle ahead. We are weary.

So the Lesson comes to us today to say, "Do not lose heart. Do not give up. Do not give in."

That's what the devil want us to do. He and all the powers of sin and evil want us to give up and give in. So let's keep at it.

Remember, beloved, Jesus is ahead of us (thank God), and the saints -- living and departed -- are around us, and the angels surround us, and we've got miles to go before we sleep . . .

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this hear. Tomorrow we will read the books 2 Peter and Jude.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.