Daily Lesson for September 28, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 7 verse 6:

"Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you."

"Never quit on a Monday," and "Don't try to make friends with a mad dog."

These are two words of advice from my great friend and mentor in the ministry Hardy Clemons; and I have pretty well heeded them thus far. I haven't quit out of anger or frustration, and that may be because I haven't tried to make friends with made dogs.

Some people bite, and we need to give ourselves permission not to be subjected to abuse. And, as Maya Angelou used to say, "When someone shows us who they are we should believe them."

When someone shows up as a mad dog at the office, believe them. Beware! And do not feel that it's your responsibility to have to feed, tame, or let them hurt you.

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

Daily Lesson for September 27, 2021

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 through 29:

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”

Earlier this summer we got word that Pedro died.  Pedro was one of our most consistent Agape Meal friends.  He showed up almost every week, sat at the same table, offered the same thanks and praise for wha “the Broadway Baptist Church”, and was always styling in the most wonderful, color-coordinated suites and hats. Every week a new get-up, usually pink or yellow or glossy blue. 

“Nice suite, Pedro.”  

“Oh, you liiike?” he would say. 

He never once led on where he found this stuff, but I tell you not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like Pedro. 

I miss him. 

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

Daily Lesson for September 24, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew 6 verses 9 through 13:

9 ‘Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,

but rescue us from the evil one.

"A day at a time."

That's what I like to tell friends who are on the journey but still have a long ways to go. We can only get there a day at a time. And we only need the strength and sustenance to make it through a day at a time.

We don't have to forgive any more than a day at a time.

We don't have to stay sober any more than a day at a time.

We don't have to stay alive any more than a day at a time.

We don't even have to pay the bills any more than a day at a time.

One day at a time. One thing at a time. One little move at a time.

God sends us our daily bread. It ain't much; but it's probably all we can carry while we're walking the wilderness road.

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

Daily Lesson for September 22, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 5 verses 43 through 47:

43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The hardest word to speak in the world is probably a simple "Hello" to someone we are at odds with.

The words stick not only in our mouth but in our gut. We want walk, run, fly the other way. We want to avoid. We don't want them to have the simple acknowledgment of cordiality. We don't even want them to have the acknowledgement of humanity. We also don't like the awkwardness.

But awkward as it is, they are human. And Jesus tells us we should not avoid or shun. We greet. It may not change them. It might not change the fact of estrangement. But it might just change us.

God greets the whole world with sunrise every morning -- the just and the unjust. That's mighty big of God.

A simple "Hello" ain't nearly as hard.

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

Daily Lesson for September 21, 2021

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 78 verses 13 through 16:

13 He split open the sea and let them pass through;

he made the waters stand up like walls.

14 He led them with a cloud by day,

and all the night through with a glow of fire.

15 He split the hard rocks in the wilderness

and gave them drink as from the great deep.

16 He brought streams out of the cliff,

and the waters gushed out like rivers.

In the way that you are going there are waters hidden in the rock for millennia.

From the time before time, when the waters covered the face of the deep and there was no Pangea or even island, the waters were seeping in. They buried themselves in the rocks. They hid themselves in the foundations of the earth.

On the way that you are going!

Do not be afraid, beloved. Keep walking your path. Keep one foot in front of the other. Do not worry if it does not rain.

The water is within; and you will find it.

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

A Poem for My 45th

In celebration of my 45th birthday, here is a poem which I had some fun writing. It is titled “Wild Hair”:

Where did it come from — 

this wild and unexpected will

to suddenly stand up all by 

YOURSELF

and no longer 

simply be content

to lie down and be prostrate 

just like all the rest?

I guess that’s what 

a little gray will do.

And maybe there are others too

who will go their own way also

now that they’ve seen your courage. 

Daily Lesson for September 17, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 5 verses 11 through 13:

11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

Jesus spoke to his followers assuming they would find trouble for following him. He took it as a given that they would be reviled and maligned for what they and He stood for. He said they would receive the prophet's reward -- trouble, good trouble.

William Sloane Coffin said we speak of the "priesthood of all believers", but need to rediscover the "prophethood of all believers". Priests get invited over for dinner; prophets get cut out of their parents' will.

Phil Strickland, the head of the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Christian Life Commission when it had a prophetic spine, once said we Christians too often leave salt in the saltshaker.

The world needs a little of our prophetic salt right now -- and pepper too.

Let's don't be too timid about using them.

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

Daily Lesson for September 16, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 3:

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. . . 9For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If the work is burned, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

I have been watching some videos on the building of the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi's great basilica in Barcelona. Construction for the church began in 1882 and is still ongoing today. Generations of builders -- many from the same families -- have come and gone, giving their brains, brawn, blood, sweat, and tears to the building of the church without seeing its completion. They have built, block by block and generation by generation, knowing that they would never see the completed project. This generation may be the one to finally see the temple's spire rise to its ultimate height.

We build. Some are genius visionaries. Some are laborers. Most names are altogether forgotten. Even some of the greatest names are forgotten just in a generation. Yet the building rises, and still stands. Even after all these generations, the Church still stands.

And Christ is the chief cornerstone.

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

Daily Lesson for September 15, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 22 verses 13 through 18:

13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, ‘Look, the words of the prophets with one accord are favourable to the king; let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favourably.’ 14But Micaiah said, ‘As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak.’

15 When he had come to the king, the king said to him, ‘Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?’ He answered him, ‘Go up and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.’ 16But the king said to him, ‘How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?’ 17Then Micaiah said, ‘I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said, “These have no master; let each one go home in peace.” ’ 18The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ‘Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy anything favourable about me, but only disaster?’

Four hundred false prophets gave the green light to the Kings of Judah and Israel in the runup to battle with Aram. But the light was actually red. Talk about group think.

Only Micaiah, a disciple of that troubler of Israel Elijah, spoke the truth. Though others tried to sway his report, he was determined to prophesy what the LORD told him to prophesy. And for it he received a prophet's reward -- he was beaten and imprisoned.

But Ahab the King of Israel must have feared what Micaiah said was true. When he went off to war with Aram he disguised himself as a common soldier. But the disguise did not work and Ahab was killed. I am sure that as he died Ahab wished he had listened to Micaiah.

It's hard to dissent against the crowd -- especially in a runup to war. And it maybe even harder to listen to dissent. But 20 years after the runup to our own nation's longest war, I think we can see the truth in the minority report.

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

Daily Lesson for September 14, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 21 verses 4 through 9:

4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ 6Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. 8And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ 9So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

Behold a great mystery.

The serpent is a dreaded thing. Anytime I read this story, I think of that scene in Indiana Jones' Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indiana is throne into the pit of vipers hidden in the desert floor. "I hate snakes," he says. We all do.

But in the snake is not only terror but also salvation. And in staring at the snake, that most dreaded of all creation, the people find their healing. Do not ask me how this works! It is mystery.

It is also metaphor and symbol. That which scares the hell out of us, we have to face. Thus the ancient Caduceus -- two snakes wrapped around a pole -- is the symbol for the medical profession. That which terrifies us -- our illness -- must be faced in order that it be healed.

Today is Holy Cross Day. The Cross was a terrifying symbol of oppression, social control, and murder. It was the lynching tree of its time. It was the symbol of death for all living under the shadow of Rome.

Yet the Cross became in Christ a symbol of life and hope and God's victory over death and fear. This is the hope of our Gospel.

Many things may make us afraid right now. They may make us hide in holes like snakes in the ground. But our deepest fears must be faced. And in facing them we are saved.

I hate snakes. But it is down with the snakes where the secret to our salvation is found. It is in facing our fears that we find our courage.

And the mystery is beheld: all who dare to look and see are healed.

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

Daily Lesson for September 13, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 21 verses 5 through10:

5 [Ahab's] wife Jezebel came to him and said, ‘Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?’ 6He said to her, ‘Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, “Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it”; but he answered, “I will not give you my vineyard.” ’ 7His wife Jezebel said to him, ‘Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.’

8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. 9She wrote in the letters, ‘Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; 10seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring a charge against him, saying, “You have cursed God and the king.”

It's an old trick. Whenever someone wishes to assassinate someone else's character they can do so by calling into question their fidelity to God and country. Say they are enemies of both religion and the State.

These were the same charges brought against Jesus, if you'll recall. He was accused of blaspheme and sedition. And just like poor old Naboth in today's Lesson, Jesus too was sat between two scoundrels on the cross.

Watch out the next time you hear someone call into question someone else's religion and patriotism. Scoundrels will surely join in. Make sure you're not one of them.

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

Daily Lesson for September 10, 2021

 In observance of 9/11, I’m using my Friday Letter to Broadway as this morning’s Daily Lesson:

Dear Beloved Broadway,

As I am sure we are all aware, tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11. We who remember that day can all recall exactly where we were when we heard that the towers had been struck. We also remember how our hearts were so heavy and fearful.

Twenty years on, the fear has dissipated but the heaviness of heart remains. The almost 3,000 lives lost in the September 11 attacks plus the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq bring both sadness and sorrow.  It is important that we take time to recognize and lament these losses. 

In that vein, Broadway’s Fleming Chapel will be open tomorrow (Saturday) from 9 to 11am for anyone wishing to come and pray in silence in this sacred space. Building entrance will be available at the W. Broadway Ave Chapel doors, and masks will be required. 

Another positive response can be made by volunteering to assist with the needs of Afghan refugees coming to our community. Broadway is planning to serve as a friendship church for two Afghan families, helping to meet their initial needs upon their arrival in the Fort Worth area. Additionally, Broadway will be assembling various welcome kits for these and other Afghan refugee families. More information on these programs can be gained by reading next week’s Broadway Window or by emailing Broadway’s Community Ministries Director Peter Nelson at pnelson@broadwaybc.org. 

On September 14, 2001 a service of prayer took place at the Washington National Cathedral. Billy Graham preached the service. His opening remarks included these words:

“We come together today to affirm our conviction that God cares for us, whatever our ethnic, religious or political background may be. The Bible says that He is ‘the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles.’”

On this 20th anniversary of 9/11, I pray that the God of all comfort will bring comfort to all everywhere. So may it be today and tomorrow, always and forever.  Amen. 

See you Sunday,

Ryon

Daily Lesson for September 9, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Philippians chapter 2 verses 19 through 26:

19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you. 20I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21All of them are seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22But Timothy’s* worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me; 24and I trust in the Lord that I will also come soon.

25 Still, I think it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus—my brother and co-worker and fellow-soldier, your messenger* and minister to my need; 26for he has been longing for all of you, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27He was indeed so ill that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.

When we think of the Apostle Paul his tenderness and affection are usually not the first things that come to mind. Paul could be gruff, and hard-headed, a prophet in the army of God.

Yet in today's Lesson we see him speaking tenderly and with affection for two others in his Church. Timothy he says is "like a son. And Epaphroditus is a "brother". Paul's love, affection, and appreciation, and concern for them is genuine. And, contrary to the stereotype, he is willing to show it. He writes it, and presumably he speaks it also.

These men matter to Paul. They strengthen him. They encourage him. They worry him! And he loves them. And he says so.

One of the great gifts the Church has given me is the gift of being able to tell other men I love them. It's no small thing. And no one should say the words don't matter. The words are true; and they come from the heart.

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

Daily Lesson for September 8, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 17 verses 17 through 24:

17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18She then said to Elijah, ‘What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!’ 19But he said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20He cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?’ 21Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ 22The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, ‘See, your son is alive.’ 24So the woman said to Elijah, ‘Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.’

This is a hard Lesson to speak to this morning.

Yesterday we lost a friend, whose life is too soon gone. A bright and shining light was lost. He will be missed.

I take some solace this morning in Jesus' commentary on this Lesson this morning. "Were there not many other widows?" Jesus asked.

Yes, many other widows, and orphans, and sons, and daughters, and children, and families worried sick for someone they love and care for.

Many. So many. Too many.

Too many for one man of God to save all.

So, the prophet saved one. He healed one. He healed where and whom he could.

There are so many struggling now, beloved. So, so many. So much suffering, and pain, and hurt, and illness. Too much.

Perhaps there is one whom we can love and care for. Perhaps there is one we can help to heal. One we can hold onto.

One is not many. But to this one mother it is everything . . .

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