Daily Lesson for July 23, 2020

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 40 verses 28 through 31:

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
29
He gives power to the faint,
    and strengthens the powerless.
30
Even youths will faint and be weary,
    and the young will fall exhausted;
31
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
    they shall walk and not faint.

“And not faint . . .”

These are the words I want us to hear this morning. “And not faint,” and also “Wait”.

The road ahead is long. We are eager to get going and get there; but perhaps we don’t know how far “there” is. As the crow flies it may not seem that distant. But as humans walk, we are talking a long, long time.

So we wait on the LORD. We renew our strength. We prepare spiritually. We prepare for a long, long walk.

The death of Congressman John Lewis on Friday was a tough loss for our nation.  He knew about the long walk.  He knew about the long march. I shared a quote from him in Sunday’s sermon which I want to share here now:

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime.”

It’s a long road we have before us. And it won’t be easy. We will die of despair later if we don’t realize that now. And we will keel over from spiritual exhaustion if we don’t wait and walk with the LORD’s spirit — or, as John Lewis said, “walk with the wind”.

The eagle flies with the wind. And we shall mount up with eagles’ wings.  And if we can’t do that then we’ll run.  And when we can’t do that anymore we’ll just walk.

But we will never stop going . . .

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow’s Lesson comes from Isaiah chapters 44 through 48.

Daily Lesson for July 22, 2020

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 37 verses 8 through 20:

8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king[a] heard concerning King Tirhakah of Ethiopia,[b] “He has set out to fight against you.” When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods, but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Back in the 1950s two of the great white pastors of the City of Austin, Texas — Carlyle Marney and Blake Smith — were advocating for justice and equality, including equality in the Church house. When Blake Smith opened the doors of University Baptist Church to black membership, he received a letter notifying the Church’s dismissal from the local Baptist a association. So, Blake and Marney, did exactly what King Hezekiah did in today’s Lesson; they took that letter, laid it on the steps of Church, and prayed over it and over the City in which they pastored — calling, like Hezekiah, upon the LORD to alter the future of Austin just as had been done in Jerusalem.

Do you have your letter — something that if it isn’t changed will bring calamity and/or judgment on the community?  Is it an email from a superior? Is it a City Policy?  Is it a Law? Is it a Presidential Order?

Print it. And take it to the steps of the LORD’s House in the LORD’s city. Print it and pray over it.  And say what Hezekiah said:

“O Lord our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

NOTE: We are reading the Bible through this year. What a year. Tomorrow’s Lesson comes from Isaiah chapters 40-43.

Daily Lesson for July 21, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 35 verses 8 through 10:

8

A highway shall be there,

    and it shall be called the Holy Way;

the unclean shall not travel on it,

    but it shall be for God’s people;

    no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

9

No lion shall be there,

    nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there,

    but the redeemed shall walk there.

10

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,

    and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

    they shall obtain joy and gladness,

    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

In the Bible the word "holiness" means whole, complete, or full of integrity.  It comes from the word "holo" which means complete or whole.  A hologram is a full, complete, and whole. three dimensional picture.  A holocaust is a full, complete, and whole burning. Holiness is the state of being a full, complete, and whole person or community.

William Sloane Coffin used to say during the Vietnam War that the way forward for us as a nation was not purity but holiness, not innocence but integrity.

It is too late for us to feign innocence.  Look at us.  Look at our ambiguities, our compromises, our original sins.  We are not an innocent people.  And our religion does not make us so.  It's promise rather, as Carlyle Marney said, is not to make us innocent, but to make us responsible.  "Responsible sinners," he said, is what God can make of us.

It is too late to be innocent.  But we can still be whole.  We can be complete.  We can have integrity.

"And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Integrity".

And it's high time we take it.

It's time we take it and time we expect it also.

NOTE: We are reading the Bible this year all the way through.  Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Isaiah chapters 37-39; and Psalm 76.

Daily Lesson for July 20, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 33 verses 5 and 6 and 14b-16:

The Lord is exalted, he dwells on high;

    he filled Zion with justice and righteousness;

6 he will be the stability of your times,

    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;

    the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.

14b “Who among us can live with the devouring fire?

    Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”

15 Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly,

    who despise the gain of oppression,

who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it,

    who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed

    and shut their eyes from looking on evil,

16 they will live on the heights;

    their refuge will be the fortresses of rocks;

    their food will be supplied, their water assured.

Isaiah speaks of hardship to come.  The ground shifts and the earth shaken.  Yet those who set their feet on the firm foundation of the God of justice and righteousness will find their "stability" for their "times". 

The day of reckoning comes.  But it is not a day to be feared.  They who walk upright shall find in it a day of salvation.  They who have not built their houses on lies and bribes and the oppression of others will find in it a peace.

And the one who fears the LORD shall find in that great day a day of hope, comfort, and provision for all people and be glad. 

And the fiery furnace the people have had to endure will turn out for their purification; and the righteous shall be saved for the sake of the Beloved Community which is being born.

That is the promise; and I'm holding onto it today.

NOTE: We are reading the Bible through this year.  Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Isaiah chapters 35 and 36.

Dear John

Dear John

Hearing her whisper and trusting the words You walked with the Wind in courage and in hope Across bridges of trouble -- good trouble And onto busses of travail -- bloody travail You first knelt Then walked Then rode And now you fly

Always with the Wind Which carries your mantle now On to the next One that is to come

Daily Lesson for July 17, 2020

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

1Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel;

for the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or loyalty,

and no knowledge of God in the land.

2Swearing, lying, and murder,

and stealing and adultery break out;

bloodshed follows bloodshed.

3Therefore the land mourns,

and all who live in it languish;

together with the wild animals

and the birds of the air,

even the fish of the sea are perishing.

The prophets do not relent.  The times are too evil.  And the trial too serious.  The LORD has brought an indictment against the people; and the indictment are the works of their own hands:

Swearing false oaths; because false accusations against political opponents in the public square became a norm

Lying; because Truth telling was no longer seen as a vital virtue

Murder; because lives that mattered were taken again and again and again without justice or redress

Stealing; because swindling people and robbing the earth was seen as how you play the game

Adultery; because nobody really cared about vows any more

Therefore, the Prophet Hosea say, the whole land mourns.  All creation languishes.  And the whole ecology is defiled.

It is an indictment; and the counselor's advice is to plead guilty, to acknowledge and confess, and to repent -- which means to change.

But change is hard.  And humility has to come first.  And that's why we usually have to hit rock bottom before we find it.

And the people are still a long ways away from rock bottom.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year.  What a year to be doing so.  Tomorrow we will read the rest of Hosea, chapters 8-14.

Daily Lesson for July 16, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Kings chapter 18 verses 19 through 25:

19 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you base this confidence of yours? 20 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me? 21 See, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 22 But if you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God,’ is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’? 23 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 24 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 25 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.”

King Hezekiah "did what was right in the sight of the LORD.

That is a tremendous statement in the Bible, and the opposite of so many of statements laid against the other kings of Israel and Judah.

King Hezekiah did what was right. 

And yet, here is, his city surrounded by the Rabshakeh and the Rabsaris, representatives of the mighty Sennacherib, King of Assyria, who demands the surrender of the city of Jerusalem.

Why has it come to this?  How did they get here? Is there any way out of it?  Is it really the LORD's doing, as the Rabshakeh says?

No answer is given to these questions in today's reading.  And I think it is best to leave them unanswered this morning.  This is where they were.  This is  where we are -- surrounded, confused, distraught even.

What got us here is the same thing that got Judah where it was -- poor choices, bad public policies, poor leadership, a people bent on doing what they desired.   Few foresaw how unprepared the nation was in to confront such an overwhelming enemy.  And, no matter that our institutions -- whether they be churches, or schools, or hospitals or city governments --  may now have some good leadership; the lot has been thrown, and Sennacherib is at our gate.  And we are not really sure what to do next, except pray and be not dismayed.

NOTE: We are reading the Bible through this year.  We are doing so in chronological order.  Multiple things are happening all at once, so we move from book to book sometimes.  We do tomorrow.  Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Hosea chapters 1-7.