Daily Lesson on the Feast Day of C.S. Lewis

Today is the Feast Day for C.S. Lewis. In observance, I am reposting a link to a dispatch from my 2015 British Evasion and trip to Lewis’s old stomping ground, Oxford.

https://ryonprice.blogspot.com/2015/08/british-evasion-10-august-8-2015.html?m=1

Daily Lesson for November 21, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 18 verses 1 through 7:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ 2He called a child, whom he put among them, 3and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

6 ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block comes!

Earlier this in preparation for Sunday’s sermon I went back and re-read President Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, issued on the third day of October 1863 in anticipation of a National Day of Thanksgiving set aside for the fourth Thursday of the following month. I have read this many times over the years; and I am always touched by the pastoral nature of Lincoln’s words as he called our nation to give thanks even amidst our terrible Civil War.

But what I had forgotten is in this Proclamation is another pastoral task — the call of the people to a greater humility and repentance from what he called the Nation’s “national perverseness and disobedience” which ended in the scourge of widow and orphan hood afflicting both North and South. By the time of the Proclamation, Lincoln had decided the War was a judgment upon the Union for its sin of slavery, and the Proclamation was a pastoral call to prayer of thanksgiving for God’s mercies even amidst the sword of judgment, and also a call to humility and contrition, that the victims of the Nation’s hubris be spared even greater suffering. 

One hundred fifty-eight years after Lincoln’s Proclamation, our nation is again caught up in a time of deep division. The closing words in Lincoln’s Proclamation speak to us in our own time that we might “fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.”

“Peace”, “harmony”, “tranquility”, and “Union” are wonderful words of hope for us now. But they come not without another important word Lincoln used in the Proclamation: “penitence”. We will not have the former without first having the latter.  And the wounds of the nation will not be healed, lest we see and admit what sad suffering our hubris has caused, especially for the young and vulnerable. 

This is the season for giving thanks, and also the season for making contrition.  Let us prepare ourselves for both as we make our towards the fourth Thursday of November yet again.  

Daily Lesson for November 20, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 109 verses 1 through 4:

1 Hold not your tongue, O God of my praise; *

for the mouth of the wicked,

the mouth of the deceitful, is opened against me.

2 They speak to me with a lying tongue; *

they encompass me with hateful words

and fight against me without a cause.

3 Despite my love, they accuse me; *

but as for me, I pray for them.

4 They repay evil for good, *

and hatred for my love.

Much of our nation is transfixed by the Impeachment hearings testimony now daily before the House of Representatives. I have only caught bits and pieces of the witnesses’ testimony, but have been appalled by their treatment by public officials from the highest of offices on down and by the general public. 

These public servants did not wish to be in the positions they now find themselves. They have been asked to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, which they seem willing to do to the best of their ability and in accordance with their duties as citizens and patriots. For these things we ought to give them due honor and respect. Their reward from much of our nation, however, has been neither honor nor respect but personal scorn, contempt, and tawdry insult.

They deserve better. 

So does our nation.

Daily Lesson for November 19, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson is Psalm 99:

1 The Lord is King;

let the people tremble; *

he is enthroned upon the cherubim;

let the earth shake.

2 The Lord is great in Zion; *

he is high above all peoples.

3 Let them confess his Name, which is great and awesome; *

he is the Holy One.

4 "O mighty King, lover of justice,

you have established equity; *

you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob."

5 Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God

and fall down before his footstool; *

he is the Holy One.

6 Moses and Aaron among his priests,

and Samuel among those who call upon his Name, *

they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.

7 He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; *

they kept his testimonies and the decree that he gave them.

8 "O Lord our God, you answered them indeed; *

you were a God who forgave them,

yet punished them for their evil deeds."

9 Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God

and worship him upon his holy hill; *

for the Lord our God is the Holy One.

We are coming to the end of the liturgical calendar and Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the year before the beginning of Advent. So the psalms for this week echo as a refrain leading up to Christ the King Day: “This is the King, strong and mighty to save, an arbiter of justice and equity in the world.”

I used to look skeptically at Christ the King. The monarchical language seemed both patriarchal and passé. In fact, I’m still uncomfortable with the gendered language of “king”.

But a day set aside to remember Christ’s righteous rule of the cosmos now speaks to me. Christ the King, set at the very end of the calendar, is a reminder of God’s justice and righteousness and the end of history. Jesus has set down on the throne, at the right hand of God, and to him belong the eternal judgments of this world, its nations, their leaders, and their misleaders. This is, indeed, good and hopeful news to the faint of heart. 

Desmond Tutu used to say, “This is a moral universe!”  It is!  Or, as Dr. King used to say, “The moral arc of the universe is long; but it bends towards justice.” It does. The moral arc of the universe bends towards Christ the King. 

Thanks be to God!

Daily Lesson for November 18, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 89 verses 13 through 15:

13 You have a mighty arm; *

strong is your hand and high is your right hand.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *

love and truth go before your face.

15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,

    who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.

This morning’s Psalm tells us of the governance of God and God’s kingdom. It is a kingdom built on justice and righteousness. These are its foundations. The world can trust that God’s judgments are grounded in the principle of justice for all who are judged and the virtue of righteousness in the one who judges.  The people can trust that God judges the world to the world rightly and for the right reasons. 

And how do we know these judgments are just?  Because love and truth go before God’s judgments. The roots, Eugene Petersen says, are justice and righteousness, and the fruits are truth and love.

Friends, only when we see the fruits of both love and truth can we be assured there is also righteousness and justice in our governance.  These are what give legitimacy to a nation and its leaders and what ordain and establish a more perfect and divine rule of law.

So may it be in these United States and all across this green earth. 

Daily Lesson for November 15, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 19 verses 11 through 16:

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’.

This morning’s Lesson comes from Revelation of John, or in Greek — the “apocalypse” of John. 

Apocalypse literally means “showing” or “revelation”. And apocalyptic literature is a way of writing which shows or reveals the world as it is in heaven and/or as it shall be on earth. It is a kind of window into the realm of the kingdom of God i heaven and into the future when that kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. 

Today’s apocalyptic vision gives us us a vision of the one who is “Faithful and True”, riding upon a white horse of deliverance, with all the armies of heaven. It is John’s the Seer’s way of describing to a people held in bondage by ruthless and cruel rulers a coming deliverance by the one who is “King of Kings and LORD of Lords”.

Believe the vision, friends. It will not always be as it is now. Truth and Fidelity will win out. The sharp sword of justice shall prevail. And with righteousness God will judge the nations.

So may it be.


For something fresh and new inspired by this text see:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hkCUdiP2Qsc

Daily Lesson for November 14, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 34 verses 1 through 6:

1 I will bless the Lord at all times; *

his praise shall ever be in my mouth.

2 I will glory in the Lord; *

let the humble hear and rejoice.

3 Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; *

let us exalt his Name together.

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me *

and delivered me out of all my terror.

5 Look upon him and be radiant, *

and let not your faces be ashamed.

6 I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me *

and saved me from all my troubles.

I have some friends who received some tough news this week and everyone is shaken. Yet in talking with them, their sense of God’s goodness and grace remains.  I called to console them, but they kept talking about how blessed they’ve feel.

This followed on the heels of a conversation I had with a friend’s dad who buried his wife this week. He, too, talked about grace, the grace of the life he had with his wife of 67 years and the family they made together. “The LORD knows I couldn’t handle money so He didn’t give me any,” he told me. “But He gave me 67 years with wonderful wife, and children, and grand children.  I’ve been exceedingly blessed.”

So the first words in today’s Psalm leap off the page at me this morning:

“I will bless the LORD at all times,

His praise shall ever be in my mouth.”

I think I want to live like that . . .