Daily Lesson for December 1, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 13 through 17:

13 Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you;16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.

Jesus said, “If the light in you be darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:23).

Those who long and work for a better and more just world are beautiful in spirit and blessed by God. For as Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice,” (Matthew 5:6).

They are blessed indeed; and they are also perpetually at risk of bitterness and despair and the sins which follow.

Sometimes we can become so put out, frustrated, and angry with the way the world is and is not we can end up reaching a breaking point, the point of crossing a line. The light in us can be turned to darkness. 

Ephesians says, “In your anger, do not sin,” (Ephesians 4:26). To be angry at the world and the way it is is understandable. But to cross the line is not good. And to have the light in us turned to darkness and to be willing to do dark things for the sake of victory is not good either. If we allow ourselves to become beasts in fighting the beast then beastliness has won. 

Today’s Lesson tells us to remain gentle and reverent and keep our consciences clear. This is a reminder that in our own efforts to cleanse the world of its transgressions, we need very much also to be constantly seeking to purify ourselves of our own.

Dr. King said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Or, as Paul put it, we cannot allow ourselves to be “overcome by evil” but must “overcome evil with good”.

We are to overcome the evil that is in the world — and also the evil that is in us. 

Daily Lesson for November 30, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 20 verses 

‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place;4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went.5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?”7They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,12saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” 13But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’

The way we read and interpret this text has a lot to do with where we’re reading it from. If we’re gainfully employed then we like the laborers who labored all day are probably inclined to read the landowner’s action as grossly unfair to those who worked all day long. But if we’re unemployed and cannot find a job, then we are more likely see the parable about the right ordering of things — the world being harsh and unfair and the actions of the landowner setting things to right.

A lot of how we see the world depends on our experience and perspective. A lot depends on whether or not we or somebody we care for has ever beat the concrete and couldn’t find a job or even consideration in the general workplace or the LORD’s vineyard, the church.  Some will read this as a story about unmerited grace. Others will see it as a story about justice. It really depends on whose reading. 

How do you read this story?  Where do you read it from?  And what do these words mean to you: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Daily Lesson for November 29, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 19 verses 27 through 29:

27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’28Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. 

I have a beautiful photo from one of our family’s last days at Second B which means so much to me. It’s a picture of our youngest in profile looking up somberly into the eyes of an old Korean War veteran who is seated with a cane in his hand. The old man is looking back down, the glimmer of a tear refusing to be held back from his eye. On the outside he’s an old, hardened Marine, but on the inside he’s tender and loving. They are both saying goodbye.

Church can be hard. It can be demanding. Sometimes staying in church can be downright costly. I have friends who have had to part ways with family, friends, and even their jobs in order to remain a part of their church and what it stands for. 

Today’s Lesson promises that no one who has worked for, lived in, and loved the Church has ever received less than what they put into it. “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,” Jesus says. 

My picture proves it’s true. 

Church can be costly. There’s no denying it. And belonging to a good church will be. A good and faithful church will demand something significant of us. Yet we receive so much in return — so much love, and friendship, and care, and community, and casseroles!

“And in the age to come, eternal life.”

Daily Lesson for November 28, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 19 verses 16 through 22:

16 Then someone came to him and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ 17And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ 18He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness;19Honour your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 20The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these; what do I still lack?’ 21Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

There was a young man who came to Jesus and said, “Good teacher, what good deed must I do to inherit eternal life.”  Jesus said to him, “Good?  Why do you call me good?  There is only one who is good. If you wish to find life live as I live. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Sell your possessions, give unto the poor, and help take care of your neighbors.”  The young man said, “I have done all these things and am ready to come and follow you.”  “Not quite so fast,” Jesus said. “First, you need to go back home and help take care of your folks.”  When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he really wanted to follow Jesus. 

May those with ears to hear let them hear. 

Daily Lesson for November 27, 2017

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

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,5who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

Faith has to be tried in order to be found true.  The journey through the wilderness is not happenstance in our lives. It is necessary that character might be formed and revealed. Pure gold has to bear the heat of the refiners fire. 

This means that struggle and even suffering are not optional in life. They cannot be altogether avoided. If they are avoided, then we can be assured that our faith has become dull and complacent.

Through struggle and testing it is the glory of God that is revealed in us (Romans 8:18).  This is the Christ within us, whose strength of character was manifest in the wilderness, whose faithfulness was revealed in the darkness of Gethsemane, and whose resurrection would not have happened without death. 

The testing of our mettle is a part of life. When it happens we can trust that God is not punishing but purifying us. For no saint can be made without first passing through the fire. 

Daily Lesson for November 24, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 18 verses 10 through 14:

10 ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. 12What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.14So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

When I used to do youth ministry, we talked about learning to love the hard to love kid. This was the youth who was not easily likeable but was often incredibly annoying and sometimes even cold and disrespectful. Sometimes the kid was just odd or different. Always he or she was very, very demanding. God sent this child to us so that we could learn patience.

And, make no mistake, God did indeed make and send the child.

It’s so easy as a youth minister or teacher to slip into despising a child. Some kids just get on every single nerve in our body. We think life would be so much better if they weren’t around or if they weren’t a part of the group. Some days we just wish they’d transfer. Sometimes our actions towards them either explicitly or implicitly tell them they should transfer.

In today’s Lesson, Jesus warns us against our own contempt. He reminds us that the hard to love kid has an angel who speaks face to face with God every day. He reminds us that God loves the hard to love kid. And, Jesus reminds us that it is not the will that any one of these little ones be lost.

Not one. Not even that one. Not even that annoying little one who grew up to become an even more annoying big one. No, not one.

Daily Lesson for Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Deuteronomy chapter 26 verses 1 through

When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.3You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ 4When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lordyour God, 5you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, 7we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. 11Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

It is Thanksgiving, and today is a day above all days for recounting God’s great deeds among us. It is a day for remembering God’s faithfulness.

Great is God’s faithfulness.

I hope that today amidst all the busyness of preparing the meal beforehand and then sleeping it off afterward, we all might take some time to remember how far we’ve come and good God has been to us. I hope we’ll all take some time to recount the story of God’s faithfulness to us all. Thanksgiving is a day for recounting the story.

Let me begin.

There was a day when my family would not have been possible. I descended from Mississippi slave owners who lost everything in the Civil War. And Irie descended from slaves, who though they had nothing to lose during the War had  freedom to gain. Somehow, in the goodness of God’s faithfulness loving kindness, God made a way out of no way.  Deliverance came, for Irie’s family, and also for mine. And with deliverance finally came the freedom to marry.

If you are looking for a sign and wonder of all that has been done in this nation, you can come eat pecan pie with us some Thanksgiving. It is the dream of Dr. King come true, the sons of slaves and and the sons of slave owners sitting together at the table of brother — the family table even.

When, amidst that dreadful Civil War, Lincoln very rightly issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation, he closed the proclamation with these words about God’s faithfulness in times past and hope for times to come:

“And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and 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.”

The wounds of the nation are still being healed. All has not yet been healed. We have not yet arrived in our land flowing with milk and with honey. There’s still work to be done.

Nevertheless, Thanksgiving is a day for me to look around the table and see and wonder at just how far we’ve come.

Thanks be to God.