Daily Lesson for February 11, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 10 verses 28 through 31:

28 Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ 29Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news,* 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’

I received a call a couple months ago from a woman who lives out of town. Her parents were formerly members of our church but left sometime back because of conflict over various social, theological, and political issues. The daughter was calling in deep distress after the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, deeply distressed and completely disagreeing with her parents' position on the protests and a whole list of other things. They were all angry and on the verge of complete estrangement from one another.

For me, it was an affirmation of where I stood and also a reminder of just how polarized not only our nation is but also our people. We talk about the country being torn apart, but its also families. It's mothers and daughters and fathers and sons and son-in-law. That is tough.

I encouraged the woman to keep on loving while at the same time keeping her convictions. I quoted Brene Brown who says we have to have "soft faces and firm backs".

Many relationships can be lost in times like these. Many gained also. A lot of children have gained surrogate grandparents in the gathered community called church. But no matter the gains, the pain of loss is still severe and the pain raw. That is why we take consolation from Jesus and his words about this being the way it must be sometimes, knowing that he knew the painful truth of what it was he spoke.

I pray for this woman. I pray also for her family. And I keep coming back to the words of Julian of Norwich, "It was necessary . . . but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

I hope so; I really do.

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

Daily Lesson for February 10, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 59 verses 15 through 16:

15 Truth is lacking,

and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him

that there was no justice.

16 He saw that there was no one,

and was appalled that there was no one to intervene.

This word intervene is a powerful one. When I read I think of Alan and Nancy Bean and the group "Friends of Justice". This is the group that intervened after scores of black folks were arrested by the witness of a dirty law enforcement officer in Nancy's hometown Tulia, Texas.

Intervening wasn't popular. The officer had earned Texas Lawman of the Year for his uncanny ability to find drugs on poor people of color. And after the arrests the town newspaper ran a story headlined approving of the arrests: "Tulia Streets Cleared of Garbage". Only it was the witness of the lawman which was garbage; and the Friends of Justice dug through it. That didn't make them popular at all; but they intervened and finally truth had its day in court.

That was a pretty exceptional case. But there's lots of other ways to intervene also -- big and small.

Only the thing is, in order to do so we have to open our eyes and our ears and then our mouths -- which is a really hard thing to do. And that's probably why the Lesson from Isaiah today says there was "no one to intervene."

And that also probably why we read Isaiah say elsewhere, "Here I am Lord, send me."

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

Daily Lesson for February 9, 2021

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 2 Timothy chapter 1 verses 5 through 7:

5I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; 7for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

Several years back Irie and I went up to Michigan to visit her grandmother, a strong and pious woman and pillar of church — the same one where Aretha Franklin’s funeral took place. 

While in her home, I saw her Bible along with a prayer list which one of the cousins said she prayed daily. It had the name of the President, the Governor, the Congressional leaders, the Mayor, friends and every member of the whole extended family from child to great-grandchild all listed by name. It was pretty powerful to read and to know that my children whose names were all on the list were being lifted up to God. 

One of these days the children and grandchildren are going to need aid, and they will draw strength and spiritual sustenance from “the effectual prayers of the faithful”; for Grandma Eva’s prayer list is long and the power of its legacy will be even longer. 

I believe that. 

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

Daily Lesson for February 8, 2021

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 9 verses 33 through 37:

33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ 36Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

I have to laugh at this text because though after the disciples were fighting over who was the greatest and Jesus uses children as example of humility, I nevertheless spend about a third of my days as a father breaking up the fights my children have over which one of them won a game.

Proof that Jesus wasn’t a parent?

Well, not quite. The child Jesus pointed to was younger than mine — that is clear because the child was small enough to lift up and hold. In other words, the child was young enough not yet to have been “self-differentiated”, as the psychologists call it. In other words, the child was still young enough to know that it needs and belongs to others. 

We must become young again — young enough to realize once more that we need and belong to others. And we need to be humble enough to see that no matter how “great” we think we are we can’t be truly great unless we are good — together. 

And that’s a life-long Lesson.  

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

Daily Lesson for February 5, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 69 verses 31 through 37:

31 As for me, I am afflicted and in pain; *

your help, O God, will lift me up on high.

32 I will praise the Name of God in song; *

I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.

33 This will please the Lord more than an offering of oxen, *

more than bullocks with horns and hoofs.

34 The afflicted shall see and be glad; *

you who seek God, your heart shall live.

35 For the Lord listens to the needy, *

and his prisoners he does not despise.

36 Let the heavens and the earth praise him, *

the seas and all that moves in them;

37 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; *

they shall live there and have it in possession.

My dear friend and sacred music legend Dr. Al Travis played the largest pipe organ in Texas and one of the largest in the world at Broadway for a quarter of a century. Though he was magisterial in his musicianship, Al says that his approach to the organ bench has always primarily been one of accompaniment. He says his first and foremost duty was always to accompany another instrument in the room -- the human voice.

The human voice is first and foremost. It is the instrument of all instruments. And it has the power in a simple song to stir the spirit, awaken the soul, and cast out the darkness.

Sing a song of praise today, friends. It will make your heart glad. And no matter how good or bad you sing, it will make God glad also.

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

Daily Lesson for February 4, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 55 verses 10 and 11:

10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

If there is one thing I wish I had known earlier and wish I still knew completely is that life in God is to be trusted.

What I mean by that is whatever God gives to us we can trust as something good, and plentiful, and even more than that for good measure. It is trustworthy; and I shouldn't doubt it or try too hard to coax or manipulate it. Life happens in its own time and in its own way; but it does, ultimately, happen.

So I would say to somebody interested enough to sit with me for a cup of coffee:

Trust yourself. Trust the Word. Trust what's happening now, and will happen, and what won't. Trust your heart, and your gut, and all the ancient rhythms of seedtime, and harvest, and fall's necessary end, and winter's sleep, and the spring that is sure to come.

Trust all these things. And, above all, trust that God is in them all.

And God is in you.

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

Dream Team

 Tonight we had a great meeting on important social justice-related matters and the kind of deep spiritual transformation we need to honestly engage and sustain. My heart was so glad as I thinking was about what a great team I am a part of and how incredible it is to watch people put in the hard work to transform themselves, the church, and the community. 

After the meeting Bo asked me to sign his folder. I had to initial where he had completed the assignee to tell someone on his “dream team” he is thankful for them.

“Who’s on your dream team,” I asked him. 

“You, mom, some friends from school, and Dr. Martin Luther King.”

I’d say it’s a pretty good team and I too am thankful.