Daily Lesson for March 5, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 5 verses 24 through 34:

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years.26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ 29Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’31And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ 32He looked all round to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

There is healing in the telling of our story. 

The woman in today’s story had been shunned and ostracized for a dozen years. She lived on the outside, the fringe, the place of exclusion. So much so that when she went to see Jesus she dared not talk to him, but instead simply reached out a hand to touch the edge of his garment.

Her body was healed in the touch. Her issue of bleeding had stopped. That would have been enough for her.

But in his wisdom, Jesus knew the one who touched him, who was healed by the power that went out from him, still needed more. And in finding out who she was, he also found out that she needed to talk. She needed to share her story. She needed to speak the pain of her 12 years — its pain, its fear, its bitterness, it’s financial and social ruin. She needed to speak. She needed someone to listen. 

There are stories all around us. Stories of pain and exclusion. Stories of people who have been taken advantage of because of their vulnerability. Stories of a medical system which is often calloused and even ruinous. Stories of women and men daring to reach out and trying to hang on.

It is one thing to heal the body. But the deeper healing often comes in the sharing of story. That is where we are made well. 

My goal for this new week is to listen for one story that needs to be shared, heard, and also believed. 

Daily Lesson for March 2, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson is a little piece of satire written for the Center for Congregational Ethics:

https://m.facebook.com/CenterforCongregationalEthics/photos/a.822695704564693.1073741828.800469666787297/903142376520025/?type=3&source=48

Daily Lesson for March 1, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 4 verses 21 through 25:

21 He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? 22For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. 23Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’24And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. 25For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’

We are meant to shine. 

We are meant to use our gifts and our talents and bless the world with all the goodness we have been blessed with. 

This is not showing off. It’s not getting out of our place. And really, who gets to tell us where our place is, anyway?  Sure, we can be humble and unassuming. But when the host of the banquet says, “Move on up a little higher,” we ought to move. 

We ought to move; and we ought not to be ashamed of doing so. We ought to move, and we ought to trust ourselves in the limelight.  

Marianne Williamson once wrote so insightfully:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence, automatically liberates others.”

The light in us was meant to shine. We were meant to shine. It honors neither our light nor the giver of our light for us to settle for remaining dull and inconspicuous and in the world just as we were born.

Daily Lesson for February 28, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 4 verses 5and 6:

5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.6And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away.

Often, the most important things happening are all beneath the surface, hidden from the eyes.

We marvel at something visibly growing, sprouting and really taking off. It is amazing how quickly some things can go from nothing to something everybody’s talking about.

But there’s a deeper question to be asked. The question is, “Will it last?”  And the answer to that question is found in a deeper place — beneath the surface of things, in places hidden from our eyes. 

We may marvel at something sprouting like a weed; but weeds don’t make it through the drought. They spring up and then they’re gone. I’m not interested in being a weed; and I’m really not interested in growing like one either. 

What I’m interested in is growing like something that will be around for 100 years — like an oak.  It’s not fast. It’s mostly hidden. It takes time. But it takes root. And it grows strong. And it grows solid. And when the drought comes it endures.

Daily Lesson for March 27, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 3 verses 28 through 30:

28 ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— 30for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’

This is probably one of the most misunderstood, mistranslated, and simply altogether missed passages in the Scripture. 

The “eternal sin” is often mistranslated “unforgivable sin” — as if there were a sin that is unpardonable. No, the sin is “eternal”. It is a sin that lasts for ages (the Greek word is “eons”).  From age to age the sin is passed down, and it is not forgiven because it is not known. The literal translation says it is a sin that cannot be let go of. From age to age each generation is guilty and blind to this same sin and from age to age each generation continues to hold on to it. 

And what is the sin?  What is this “blaspheme against the Holy Spirit”? It is calling evil that which is good. It is setting up opposition against the work of God in the very name of God. It is doing what they did to Jesus in this same scene in the Gospels; it is calling the liberating work of God the work of Satan. It is calling the casting out of demonic oppression the work of the devil. 

This is an eternal sin. From age to age, the so-called righteous are guilty of this same sin. It is the sin that is always with us — even now. The irony is incredible. The so-called righteous unknowingly set themselves up against the works of God while at the same time claiming to defend God! So, as Jesus says, we kill the prophets of our own time while at the same time building monuments of atonement to the prophets whom our fathers killed.

You’d think one day we’d wake up to this blasphemous madness. But it’s an eternal sin, one each generation is guilty of — including our very own. 

May those who have eyes to see let them see. 

Daily Lesson for February 26, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 3 verses 13 through16:

13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him.14And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15and to have authority to cast out demons. 16So he appointed the twelve.

Now here is something new to me in the text which though I’ve read it many times before, I never really noticed: the twelve apostles were called by Jesus not only to be sent to preach and cast out demons but also, and firstly, to be with Jesus.

That was the first and foremost thing: being with Jesus, spending time watching and learning from him. In being with Jesus the apostles were taught the things they would need once they were sent out. Being with Jesus was not incidental to all they would go out and do; being with Jesus was essential for it. 

Many of us are doers. We are ready to be sent. We are ready to proclaim the message. We’re eager to cast out the world’s demons. We’re the biggest bunch of do gooders anybody’s ever seen. 

But before we can go out and do good, first we must be with Jesus. We must spend time with him. We must listen to him. We must watch and learn from him. We must spend time with him, so that we can learn to pray and be like him.

One day we shall be sent to do mighty things. We shall be given the power to speak truth and cast out demons.  The gates of hell shall not prevail against us. But not yet; first we must be with Jesus. Now, we must be with Jesus. Today we must come and take his yoke upon us so that we may learn from Jesus and be made like him. 

Daily Lesson for February 22, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 10 through 15:

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.

The work of the builder is judged by the fire.

We look at the building and we delight in its beauty and are awed by its size on the day when the ribbon is cut. It is awe-inspiring. Everyone looks at it thinks it is awesome. 

But it’s one thing to open a building; it’s quite another to keep it open. The building is judged not on the day it opens, but on the day the fire comes. And the one question the judgment is based is this: “Did it last?”

We see many things going up all around. Institutions rise and fall. Businesses come and go. Flash in the pan preachers flash their wares for a little while on the latest YouTube Channel. It’s all very sensational; but it doesn’t last. It’s gone with the wind. 

Mae Cora Peterson is 101 years old and a member of my church. She’s sharp as a tack and has a saying I like a lot. “Been here will be here when come here has done come and gone.”

Wherever we’re building, let us build to last. Let us build so that what we’re building will be here even when we’ve come and gone.