Daily Lesson for December 26, 2014

Today's daily lesson for the Feast of St Stephen comes from Acts chapter 7 verses 59 and 60:

59 As they stoned Stephen, he called upon God, saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Today is the Feast of St Stephen in the liturgical calendar. St Stephen was one of the first deacons, and the first Christian martyred for his faith.  He is a model for truth told in love.

We are all called upon at times to speak a hard word of truth.  Most of us refrain from doing so because we are too co-dependent to say anything which might jeopardize how we are perceived in others' eyes.  In short, we like being liked so much that we end up tolerating some pretty deplorable situations -- situations which may down the road actually end in our own demise. That's how sick some of us are -- we would rather be liked than have to tell the difficult truth which will keep our marriage, or our organization or even our country alive. 

St Stephen shows us another way.  He is confident enough in his self and secure enough in his God that he is able to speak hard, difficult, and ultimately-rejected truth.  He is despised by his hearers. Yet their spiteful rejection does not cause Stephen to cower or stumble in his words; nor does it cause him to despise them in return. Even when they seek to take his life by stoning him, Stephen prays for them with a countenance which was said to be angelic. In that last moment where his attackers hover over him and cast their stones, Stephen acts demonstrates honor and a supernatural love for his enemies.  He is free; even in death he is free.

Our task is to find that kind of freedom in life -- so whether our message is well-received or totally rejected, and whether we are loved or hated, we ourselves can speak our truth in love -- always.

Special Announcement: Daily Lessons will be on break until the New Year so I can rest and enjoy the reflect some over the remainder of the holiday.  Look for another lesson in 2015!

Daily Lesson for Christmas Day, December 25, 2014

Today's daily lesson for Christmas Day is from 1 John chapter 4 verse 7:

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God."

Last night was a wonderful evening. The sanctuary was packed with people, the voices of children could be heard throughout the service (including the sermon -- which actually underscored all I was trying to say), and the light of hundreds of candles lifted high into the air on the last verse of Silent Night was just pure beauty:

"Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth"

At midnight I received a text from a friend who has come back to church after being gone many years. It has been a difficult journey for him and his family, but last night they were all at the Christmas Eve service for the first time. His text said this:

"Beautiful service tonight. Your deep love of others is bringing folks to and back to 2nd B. We love you guys."

I texted back with words from St. John the Apostle, "We love because God first loved us."

The great gift of Christmas is God's love. When we receive it, when we truly take it into our hearts and come to know that we are God's beloved then we are filled with a love so deep that we can do nothing but share it with others.  For it wells up inside us and spills outward. 

May your Christmas be filled with the knowledge of God's great love for you. You are beloved. May you be loved.  And may you in turn love others as you yourself are loved.

Merry Christmas. 

Daily Lesson for Christmas Eve, December 24, 2014

Today's Christmas Eve Lesson is from Luke 1 verses 78 and 79:

78 By the tender mercy of our God,
   the dawn from on high will break upon us, 
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
   to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Auden's Christmas Oratorio "For the Time Being" has a stanza that puts into words the wonder and mystery of Incarnation:

"We who must die demand a miracle.
How could the Eternal do a temporal act,
The Infinite become a finite fact?
Nothing can save us that is possible:
We who must die demand a miracle."

The message of Christmas is that when we could not possibly save ourselves God came to save us. The miraculous happened:

A light-filled star appeared from nowhere and nothing in the night sky.

A virgin conceives.

He who is beyond time stepped into time.

He who is spirit took on flesh.

God became a child. 

In the words of the great church father Irenaeus, "God became like what we are so that we might become like what He is."

Jesus means "God saves".  In the end nothing can save us from the darkness and shadows of sin and death than God alone. Only a miracle can save us; and thank God a miracle has!

Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.

Daily Lesson for December 23, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 11 verse 12:

"He will raise a signal for the nations
and will assemble the banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth."

In October of 1943 Bing Crosby released his soon-to-be famous "I'll Be Home for Christmas".  America was of course at war in 1943 and my grandfather was on a troop transport ship somewhere in the Pacific at the time. He thought the Japanese would never give up and that he would never come home.  When I hear Bing, I think of my grandfather and what it must have been like to hear that song in those war years. It's especially the last verse that always chokes me up:

"Christmas Eve will find me
Where the lovelight gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams"

Most of us will be home this Christmas. Let's don't take it for granted.  Laugh, hug, speak, take pictures, smile, delight in the wonder and joy of the children - yours and others, go to church together, stay up way too late waiting for Santa, stay up even later just visiting.  

Let the lovelight gleam.  

It's more than just a dream; we're home for Christmas.  Let's be home for Christmas.

Daily Lesson for December 22, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 11 verse 1:

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit."

In these last days before Christmas, we begin to hold more tightly to the promises:

When the mighty oak is razed and its strength of beauty cut down, 
we weep from sorrow at what is lost and shall not be seen again. 
The last of a generation lost. 
Our place of refuge cut down and destroyed.  
The mighty oak of generations -- felled finally by common death.

After the burning, there is nothing left.
No branches to swing from with laughter,
No leaves to delight or take shade in,
No trunk to wrap our arms around.

There is nothing now to behold, run towards, or hide in.
All our hope now is beneath the ground,
In a shoot from the stump of Jesse

Daily Lesson for December 19, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 19:

"They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved."

Some years ago, Will Willimon the chaplain of Duke Chapel  commented on the crisis of the party culture at Duke University and the need for faculty and administrators to play a stronger role in shaping and guiding the lives of the university's students.  "Leaving them to themselves," Willimon said, "they become the willing victims of the most totalitarian form of government ever devised, namely, submission to their peers, obeisance to people who are just like them."

There is a crisis on a lot of our college campuses. College is a time of freedom from the authority and rule of parents.  But Godly freedom never means license. As Augustine put it, true freedom is the "freedom to choose the good."

The so-called freedom a lot of young people are exercising will end up shackling them later in life -- if it doesn't kill them first.  They need and deserve teachers, administrators, mentors, clergy and other adults who care enough to teach them what real freedom is all about.  That takes time, energy, and the guts to tell these young people the truth.

I say they and their lives are worth it.

Daily Lesson for December 18, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 3 verses 11b and 12:

11b He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

All of us have a true and also a false self. The true self is who we are when we are when we feel completely at home in our own skin. It is the self which is spontaneous, alive, and without judgment. It is the self we act out of when we dance and make googly eyes before a baby. We do it for he pure joy of it -- and because we know they will not tell.

The false self is a facade built up around the true self. Like the chaff which encases a kernel of wheat, the false self is there to protect and shield us from harm. That is an important and necessary task -- protecting the soul from the wounds of this world. But ultimately, the false self ends up being a kind of protective prison -- one the true self must be freed from in order to give to the world what is was made to give. And what it was made to give to the world is also what the world needs from it - the kernel, the essence, the true self.

Christ comes to reveal our true self to the world. Though hidden in a protective chaff-like shield, Christ comes to give us the courage to risk living without the shield. Yes, this makes us more vulnerable and at greater risk to the world and its wounding ways; but it also makes us more, well, alive.

I want to be my true self -- my joyous, compassionate creative, playful, funny, goofy, singing and sort-of dancing and always intelligent self. I want my children to be raised by this true self. I want my wife to laugh with me at this true self. I want the whole world to know and be blessed by this true self. And I know none of that can happen so long as I'm hiding it behind my false self.

Daily Lesson for December 17, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from Psalm 119 verses 58 and 59:

58 I entreat your favor with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
59 When I think on my ways,
I turn my feet to your testimonies.

Last week our church hosted a conversation with one of our former ministers who is now dying of cancer. Always straight to the point, he titled the evening: "A Conversation About Death and Dying with a Dying Man". It was holy ground with a holy man.

At one point in the evening I asked him what we should do with regret. He became very serious, and said he believes there is no place for regret, as regret is a form of recondemning and repunishing ourselves -- the very opposite of grace and the acceptance of grace.

He was absolutely right. Christ has died for us. He is risen, and he sits at the right hand of God, interceding on our behalf (Romans 8:34). He does not condemn us; how dare we condemn ourselves!  No, let us turn our feet to His testimonies -- away from ourselves and our self-loathing, and toward the one who is the "Father of all mercies" (2 Cor. 1:3). His grace really is sufficient (2 Cor 12:9).

There is no place for regret in our lives. When it creeps in -- as it shall always try -- let us turn and run to God's promises. God is greater than our sin; and his mercy far outweighs our misdeeds.

Daily Lesson for December 16, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 9 verses 2 and 4 through 7:

2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The Prophet Isaiah spoke hose words in a time of deep darkness for his people and nation.  A noxious mix of political criminality, oppression of the lower classes, entangling alliances with corrupt foreign governments, and the spiritual decadence of all the people, had cost the nation it's soul.  Finally, the inevitable happened; the nation fell and the people were carried off into bondage in Babylon. They thought there could be no darker day than the one when the people were forced to sing the songs of Zion, while Zion itself burned behind them. Yet, the darkest days of Babylon itself were still to come.

It was to such a dark time and people as this that Isaiah spoke his words of light:

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.

It is a word of light from on High to a people who had lost all light within -- a word of hope from God to a people without hope in this world.  And two and a half millenia later, it is a word for us.

Our country struggles to hold on to its soul. Divisions within seek to pull us apart. Threats from outside leave us desperate for whatever will make us secure.  All while our people live in the decadence of richness of things and poverty of spirit. We swing between a totalitarian police state, where government is everywhere, and mere anarchy. Our Babylon is not far; perhaps it is already here.

And to this time the word from Isaiah comes. At the darkest season, the light comes. And when both oppression and lawlessness threaten a child is born, a Son comes,

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

He comes just when we need him most. 

Daily Lesson for December 15, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 22 verses 41 through 43:

 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.

There is absolute freedom of petition in the presence of God.

Most of us are afraid to pray for what we wish.  We are afraid because we are anxious about bringing our own desires before God. We are anxious about ourselves and what it is that we desire and, if it were known, how it would be received. 

The saints, on the other hand, seem to pray freely.  They speak honestly and pray for what they desire. The act of exposing themselves and their desires does not create anxiety in them. And even the prospect of praying for something that is not in the will of God does not trouble them. They are free and at ease in their prayers and petition and they try to teach others that it is okay to be the same. This is why St. Paul wrote the church at Philippi saying, "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God," (Philippians 4:6).

We are free to bring our requests before God. We are free to pray our heart's desire. We are free even to pray for things to happen which are not in the will of God - because even while our prayers may not always be in accordance with God's will, prayer itself always is.

Daily Lesson for December 12, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 35 verses 21 and 26:

21 They open wide their mouths against me;
they say, “Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
26 Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
who magnify themselves against me!

The Germans have a peculiar word, Schadenfreude, which literally means "harm-joy" and is the name for the feeling of delight one gets from the misfortune of others.

Now you might wonder just what kind of people would have a word for such a sick delight? My answer, an honest people.

The truth is we've all done it.  We've all taken delight in somebody else's misfortunes, mistakes, mishaps, misadventures, and missed opportunities.  Something happened to diminish them and we felt bigger. We said we hated it for them, but the truth is we delighted in it; that's why we picked up the phone to tell somebody else. It gave us pleasure to tell of somebody else's misery. It gave us delight to tell on them. And we did it under the pretense of "a prayer concern". Come on; we are only deceiving ourselves. We definitely aren't deceiving God.

God knows our hearts; and God knows there is no place for Schadenfreude in the hearts of His people.

Daily Lesson for December 11, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 37 verse 4:

"Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart."

The transformation of desire is one of the central processes of the spiritual life. As we grow in the knowledge and love of God and depths of God, God gives us the desires of our hearts.

Notice what the Psalm does not say; it does not say God gives us what our hearts desire. For that there would be no transformation necessary. God would be a giant slot machine, dispensing whatever we ask for. Spare us the God who gives us what our hearts desire! That is idolatry in the first degree.

No, God actually transforms our desires. God takes our old desires and buries them in the Paschal mystery of death and resurrection. In God, our desires are no longer the same because we are no longer the same. God gives us new desires within our hearts because we ourselves are new people in God.

So how does this happen? Where does it begin? We are told it begins in delighting ourselves in the LORD. I take that to me to learn to delight in the eternal things of God - what remains when all shall be said and done. Ultimately, this means to delight ourselves in love because love never ends.

To receive the gift of God's love, to accept it, and delight in being beloved transforms the desires of our hearts. It makes us desire to be not only recipients of God's love, but also givers of it as well. In other words, it changes us to be like God Himself. 

We love because He first loved us; and He gives us the gift of being able to delight in His love, and the desire to share it with others.

How beautiful.

Daily Lesson for December 10, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 6 verses 8 through 

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump remains
when it is felled.”
The holy seed is its stump.

Here's a Scripture I've had trouble with. The LORD sends his Prophet to go and preach a word which is obviously going to be rejected. He is to keep on preaching to the people until their cities are razed by foreign armies, and their inhabitants carried off into bondage, and their nation destroyed like a mighty oak burned to the ground. In fact it seems like the LORD is actually telling the message to keep on preaching in order to actually make the people turn a deaf hear to him. Disturbing!  Even worse, Jesus quoted this very same passage, saying he came to do the same -- "to close the eyes so they will not see and the ears so they will not understand."

What?  Why would God send His messenger to do that?

This passage really bothered me until about a year ago when I was listening to a friend who is a drug and alcohol counselor in a panel discussion on addiction.  Someone asked the panel if we ought to keep reaching out to people trapped by addiction and try to get them in recovery, even though they are obviously not yet ready to get clean. My friend said yes, definitely we should keep reaching out and trying until they hit bottom. "Then, when they finally hit their bottom," he said, "they will know where to find help."

It was after hearing my friend talk that I saw something in this Scripture I had never seen before; I saw the grace in it.     It is there at the very end -- after the mighty oak is cut down and burned. The tree is felled; and yet a seed remains. A tiny, little seed that is probably invisible to they eye. Yet a seed, nonetheless. A a "holy seed", no less.

If you are tired of reaching out, tired of having the same conversations, exhausted and without hope that anything you're saying will ever get through, well, keep trying.  They may have to hit bottom.  They do have to hit bottom. and in doing so, they may have to lose everything. But keep trying. Keep trying, because when all is lost they may have nothing left except an idea of where to find help. And that shall be enough; because that shall be the seed of their salvation.

Daily lesson for December 9, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 14 and 15:

"14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone."

There is a quote I really like that has been attributed to Plato, Philo of Alexandria, and even a fictitious person named Ian MacLaren. (Perhaps one day you'll attribute it to me.) But it actually comes from a 19th century Presbyterian minister named John Watson.  Here's the quote: 

"Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

If we knew what others were going through we would be a lot kinder; we would have more patience and give more encouragement. We would know why others have lashed out and wounded us, and so we would not in turn lash out at others. Instead of talking badly about others behind their backs, we would tell the truth to them. And we would tell it in love, and with grace, and with a genuine hope for growth all around.

Everyone we will encounter today is fighting a hard battle. They are carrying burdens at work and home, they are in grief, they are still trying to survive traumatic events which happened decades ago, they are wondering if they can go on -- or even if they should. 

Be kind to them.  Get to know their stories, if you can.  See them as the God-loved people they are.

Daily a lesson for December 8, 2014

Today's daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 21 verses 20 and 21: 

20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it. . ."

We have it on good authority -- Jesus -- that sometimes we just can't do a dang thing about it (whatever "it" is), except head for the hills.

He was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. He knew that it would come. Rome would simply not tolerate rebellion amongst the Jews forever. The Roman army would march in and those who staid to fight, or hold out for a miracle would all be killed or hauled off into a miserable form of slavery. What they needed to do, Jesus told his disciples, is get out.

There are things in life we just can't do anything about; and praying for a miraculous intervention from God isn't going to change the circumstances either. It is what it is. What we have to do is accept it. Live with it.  Or we have to get the heck out. Run away even. Jesus gave us permission. And He did so because staying and fighting is going to end up getting us killed.

A prayer for this morning:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Daily lesson for December 5, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 16 verse 3:

"As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight."

Back in the late 80s and early 90s there was a Saturday Night Live skit where Dana Carvey played "The Church Lady", who was an overly-pious, judgmental, Holier-than-Thou Christian lady with a thing for pointing out everybody else's sins.  Carvey said he based the Church Lady on the uptight ladies in the church he grew up in.

Well, let me tell you about the ladies in my church. They write prayer cards to my children telling them how beautiful they are and how much joy their singing brings them. They sew dresses for little girls in Haiti. They laugh and dance with homeless men right in the center of the soup kitchen floor. They crochet prayer shawls for the bereaved and hurting -- and taking their names from their crochet hooks call themselves the "Happy Hookers". They throw parties for teenage parents. They bring communion -- to the pastor! They weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. They care for widows and orphans. They care for the less fortunate. They talk about it, they think it through, and then do something about it. They welcome strangers and Aggies.  They sing with a smile. They come early, they stay late; they do it without complaining. They take poinsettias to shut-ins and then take the shut-in out on joy rides. They forgive and ask for forgiveness. They show up with casseroles, and pies, and cards; and they keep showing up. They don't just read the Bible, but they study, and preach, and live it. They pray. They serve. They love.

They are an absolute blessing to me, my family, and to this world. And so are the men.

And that makes me think Dana Carvey was in the wrong church. 

Daily Lesson for December 4, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 18 verse 2:

"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

There is an old Bob Seger song "Like a Rock" which is about a man looking back 20 years to the lean and rock-solid body and spirit of his 18-year-old teenage self, whose convictions are strong and dreams great, and is not yet weighed down by life. The chorus has these words:

"Like a rock, I was strong as I could be
Like a rock, nothin' ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock."

In our youth we are something to see, strong and invincible -- like a rock. But at some point life takes hold of us. The weight of the world begins to take hold and have its effect on us. Convictions get tested, hard bodies turn flabby, and dreams get broken.

That is the moment of salvation -- when we look up toward a Rock that is stronger than we are.

Richard Rohr says that in the second half of life failure has more to teach us than success does. Failure, frailty, broken dreams, atrophying and even dying bodies -- these are not what we would wish for ourselves. They are certainly not what we imagined for ourselves when we were young and strong; but they are necessary.  They are necessary because though we may have at once been young and strong, we were never invincible -- not really. And life has a way of revealing that to us, and driving us to the One and the only One who is truly like a rock.

A prayer:
    LORD, when my strength and my body fail me and the indomitable spirit of my youth gets crushed, may I find the way to you, my rock and my salvation.

Daily lesson for December 3, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 20 verses 21 and 22:

21 So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?"

"This is a test." 

A long, annoying, foghorn-like sound followed by those words, "This is a test," and we know the Emergency Broadcast System on our favorite radio station is working.

But most tests these days aren't so obvious; and they weren't in Jesus' day either.

To test Jesus, the religious authorities sent spies to him saying,  "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God." (I read that and suddenly begin to smell a rat?) "Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?"

Taxes to the emperor -- that was the test in Jesus' day.  To pass the test you had to be on the right side of that issue. You were either "fer or ginst it."

Here's some more tests we're supposed to be either for or against today:

Taxes (still)
Abortion
Gay marriage
Muslims
Palestinians
The grand jury decision in Ferguson

Don't you hate tests?  Don't you wish everybody did?

A prayer: 
   LORD, help me to realize that even in my sincerity on many issues, I can end acting like a spy putting others to a litmus test that you have not asked me to give. And when others do the same to me, may I have the clarity of vision to see the test and the courage of heart not to take it. 

Daily lesson for December 2, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 20 verse 17:

"The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone."

Later this week will mark the first anniversary since the death of Nelson Mandela, who after serving 27 years as a political prisoner was elected president in South Africa's first free and fully democratic election. Following Mandela's death Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote a touching eulogy in which he said his friend's imprisonment was "a crucible" which made Mandela the man he is remembered world-over to be -- a statesman whose moral voice was won through suffering and whose 27 years in prison "gave him the authority to say, let us try to forgive."

Mandela was a Christian -- or "little Christ"; and he followed in the forgiving way of His Lord.

Rejected, unjustly condemned, and executed, it was Jesus' forgiving spirit even from the cross which still gives him a moral respectability across the world, amongst Christians and non-Christians alike. Though spurned by the leaders of his own nation, Jesus himself became the ultimate symbol of moral goodness. As the lesson says, the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone.

Mandela faithfully followed in the Christian way of his Lord Jesus of Nazareth. It is the way of forgiveness, the way of compassion, and the way of reconciliation. It really is the only redemptive way through "the crucible" of man's inhumanity to man.

And right now, we really need to find this way.

Daily lesson for December 1, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 4 verse 4:

"Be angry, and do not sin."

Wow, now this verse has to be in the running for one of the most surprising things the Bible has to say. We just don't wake up expecting the Bible to tell us to go ahead and be angry. But maybe that's because the Bible knows us better than we know ourselves.

The truth is we all have anger issues. For some folks that's obvious. Their anger is white-hot and boiling and when something upsets them they fly off the handle. Everyone knows they have an anger problem.  But for most of us, our anger is more low-grade. It seethes just beneath the surface and seeps out silently and indirectly - in passive aggression, cynicism, and bitter (yet unvoiced) resentment. We cannot see it in ourselves; but those around us see it very clearly - for they have to deal with it in us every day.

The Bible tells us to go ahead and admit it - we are all angry. In fact, it tells us to go ahead and "be angry".  I take that to mean it gives us permission to feel our anger, to let it move through us, and to name it as it goes by. In psychological terms, we are to become "conscious" of our anger. And in doing so we become more able to positively deal with it as it flows through us and fall less prey to its destructive tendencies.

So, let's go ahead and be angry - let's name the things which hurt, wound, frustrate, and disappoint us. And in naming them, we begin to take control over them rather than they over us. In other words, we are to be angry, but not sin in our anger.

A Prayer:

LORD, I admit that many things in my life anger me and oftentimes this anger comes out in destructive ways - sometimes without my even realizing it.  LORD, today I give you the things which make me anger to you, and ask you to help me deal with them in more positive and constructive ways. Amen.

Daily lesson for November 28, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 19 verses 29 through 31:

29 He sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’”

Today's text is the prelude to what is called the Triumphal Entry of Jesus. Just before entering into the city of Jerusalem Jesus told his disciples where to find him an unbroken colt in order that a prophetic scripture might be fulfilled.

I often wonder about the colt's owner. Some have said perhaps what transpired was planned. Jesus had previously arranged that the colt would be there for Jesus' use on a particular day and had instructed the colt's owner in a password phrase -- "The Lord has need of it" -- to signal the appointed time.

But what if this were not arranged?  What if, instead, the colt's owner was asked and something inside of him told him it was what he needed to do? What if he was asked and his own spirit within him said yes.

A few years ago a friend called me from his law firm. "Parson, he said -- he always called me parson -- "I guess your sermons are really getting to me because a guy just walked into my office about to be evicted from his apartment. I don't know him from Adam; but I told him he can stay at my house.  I just felt like I was supposed to."

Sometimes the spirit within us tells us to do the most surprising and boldly generous things. It can tell us to do things we never would imagine doing except that we sense a call to do it. When it happens, when we hear the voice inside us saying, "Do it; just do it," I pray we say yes. For the Lord has need of it.

Daily lesson for November 27, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from 1 Thessolonians 5 verse 18:

"Give thanks in all circumstances . . ."

Today we give thanks in the midst of plenty.

Today we give thanks in the midst of loss.

Today we give thanks for our parents who loved and provided for us and did so much to make us who we are. 

Today we give thanks that though our parents were not everything we desired or even needed, they did give us life.

Today we give thanks for our children who give us joy and laughter and hope for the world.

Today we give thanks that though the thought of children during the holidays brings up deep pain and grief within us, we know they are a blessing to this earth.

Today we give thanks for faithful friendships which bless our lives with rich connection and a place and people to belong to.

Today we give thanks though deep friendship is something we have not found, or have lost, or moved away from and we hope to discover or re-discover soon.

Today we gave thanks for a full table where all whom we love will be gathered around us. 

Today we give thanks that though those whom we love or loved most dearly cannot be present this Thanksgiving they know we still have a place for them in our hearts and look forward to a future Thanksgiving with them whether on earth or in heaven. 

Today we give thanks; in all circumstances we give thanks.

Daily lesson for November 26, 2014

Today's daily lesson is from Luke 19 verse 5:

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

One of my great-aunts used to say that Jesus came not only for the down-and-out but also for the up-and-out too.

In the tree, Zacchaeus was literally up-and-out. But he was also up-and-out in the community. A wealthy man, Zacchaeus earned his living from a morally dubious enterprise. For that people despised him and labeled him a "sinner".  When Jesus came to Zacchaaeus's hometown, it was said that Zacchaeus was so short that he had to climb a tree in order to see Jesus over the crowd. But I wonder if the reason why Zacchaeus himself could not be apart of the crowd was because he was profoundly rejected by the people. Though he was rich, he had no friends and no fellowship and no one who might take the time to know him. He was up the tree and out of community.

And as the children's Sunday school song says it,

 "As the savior passed that way
He looked up in the tree.
And said - 'Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I'm going to your house today!
For I'm going to your house today!'"

I don't know why it is we sing the last line of the song twice, except maybe this -- perhaps it has to be said twice just to be believed. As the crowd says in disbelief, Jesus "has gone to be the guest of the sinner."  He has gone to be the guest of Zacchaeus.

Whether we are down-and-out in the gutter or up-and-out in a penthouse separating and protecting us from the world, there is no one beyond the love and reach of Christ. As the Magnificat says, "He lifts up the lowly and bring down the rich." He lifts some up and brings others down and does so because his desire is to be with all and for all to be with each other.

And what He creates is called the kingdom of God.

Prayer: LORD, help me to see others as Jesus sees them. Help me not to be haughty toward the poor nor hostile toward the rich. May I, like Jesus, seek to create fellowship and community with and for all. Amen.

Daily lesson for November 25, 2014

A lesson on the day after a jury's decision and ensuing rioting:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

Daily lesson for November 24, 2014

Today daily lesson is from Galatians chapter 6 verses 9 and 10:

9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone . . ."

There is a saying in life that nice guys finish last. There may very well be some truth to that. There are a lot of people on the top rungs of the ladder who lied, cheated, and stole their way there while the nice guys have been passed up.

But nice guys know that there are actually two ladders being climbed. One is the ladder of success. The other is the ladder of character. The nice guys are climbing the ladder of character, which means they will not lie, cheat nor steal, nor even despise those who do. Nice guys may finish dead last going up the ladder of success; but it turns out that ladder is only half as high as the ladder of character.

I've said it before, there is no good in winning the rat race if it turns you into a rat. Stay on the ladder of character. Climb, slow if you have to, but climb. 

And keep climbing.

Daily lesson for November 21, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from James chapter 5 verse 7 and 8:

"7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient."

There is an old West Texas saying: The effectiveness of a rain dance has a heck of a lot to do with timing.

There are some things in life we just are not control of.  Farmers know that. They go out every day. They plant and they water. But they know they have to wait on God for the good rains and depend upon Him for things to grow.

There are many things beyond our control. Success is one of them.  But we are not called to be successful; we are called to be faithful.

Get up and plant today. Water if you can.  Work.  But be not anxious about the yield. 

Instead of a doing a desperately frantic rain dance, learn prayer and patience. And trust in the LORD of the harvest. 

Daily lesson for November 20, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 17 verse 32:

"Remember Lot's wife."

At some point, many of us find ourselves in negative situations, relationships, jobs, and even cities, which on the face of things we should obviously leave yet are afraid to do so. Ultimately, we can end up stuck in these negative and even abusive situations for too long and it can cost us our emotional and physical health and sometimes even our very lives.

Jesus took Lot's wife in the story of Sodom as an analogy for people who let themselves get stuck in negative situations. When Sodom was destroyed, Lot, his wife, and his daughters were fleeing the city, yet Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.  For whatever reason the pull of the Sodom -- negative, abusive, and even evil as it was -- drew her back into the city she needed to get out of. She ended up stuck, an object of destruction in a city of destruction.

There are some situations we just need to get out of. Leave and don't look back. Remember Lot's wife.

Daily lesson for November 19, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 17 verses 17 through 19:

17 Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Jesus sent ten lepers to the priests and along the way the lepers were healed.  Only one of the lepers returned to say thanks. Why?

My guess is its because he was a Samaritan -- an outsider. What bound the ten together originally was their leprosy. So long as all of them had leprosy they were all equals. But when the priests pronounced the other nine clean the nine stayed right where they were with the priests. The Samaritan went back to Jesus.  Jesus told him that his faith had saved him.

I wonder if this might be a parable about the church. We get cleansed of our sins and then form church based on our little social cliques, affinity groups, racial compositions, and socioeconomic status.  This becomes our salvation.  But the social outcasts -- the alcoholics, the addicts, the parolees, the poor, the gays, the transgendered, the tattooed, the racially mixed, the publicly humiliated -- find no salvation in the group. They are still unclean according to the world. So in desperation they turn back to the only place they can turn. They turn back to Jesus. And like the Samaritan, in Jesus they find that they are not only cleansed, they are actually accepted and made whole.

Daily lesson for November 18, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 17 verses 5 and 6:

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

We already have all the faith we need to face all that we must face in life.

One day, the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. Facing all that they were about to face they wanted more courage, more conviction, and greater trust.  Jesus told them if they had faith the size of a tiny mustard seed they could tell a whole tree to uproot itself and be replanted in the sea.

That must have left them wondering, "Do I not have faith at least the size of a mustard seed?"

We lack courage, conviction, and trust at times.  We wonder if we have all that is necessary to face the demands of the day.  We wish that we were stronger, braver, and not so afraid.  We wish for greater faith.  But Jesus' words come today to remind us that while we do not have all the faith that we would wish for, we do have a mustard seed's worth - a tiny little mustard seed's worth. And that is enough.

We do not need any more than what we already have to face all that today will bring us. Let us have faith in who we are, in where we are, in what got us here, and in the One who will get us there when the time is right.

Daily Lesson for November 17, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Habakuk chapter 2 verse 3:

3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.

We are in the midst of a visioning process at Second B and were scheduled to have a very important meeting yesterday.  This was the last of three congregational meetings and the one we were all looking forward as we were to intentionally dream about the future together at this meeting.

Alas, we were snowed out. Snowed out, and given the holidays coming up, I know this meeting will have to be delayed beyond the New Year.  It was disheartening.

And then appears this lesson from the daily office this morning: "the vision awaits its appointed time."

A good reminder that the times are in God's hands and that I cannot and need not dictate that things come about on my schedule. I can control neither the snow nor the vision.  What I can do is relax, breathe deeply, pray, and trust God is in this.  That is sufficient for today; that is sufficient for everyday. 

The vision awaits its appointed time; if it tarries we wait on it. What else can we do?

Daily Lesson for November 14, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 16 verse 9:

"And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth,so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings."

Wow. I have heard of the trickle down economics, but this here is the trickle up economy.  If we make friends with our money here on earth, those friends will welcome us into heaven.

But note it says, "Make friends."  It doesn't say send a check. It doesn't say happily pay your portion of the entitlement program tax.  It doesn't even say volunteer to serve Thanksgiving dinner at the shelter. It says, "Make friends."  That may well be the most demanding commandment in the Scriptures, because friendships take time, energy, and intimacy.  In order to be a friend you first have to be willing to be close.

Sometimes when I am visiting a friend out of town we'll have lunch or dinner out at a restaurant.  After the meal, I will reach for my wallet.   "No," he says, "you're money is no good here."

When we get to heaven the first thing they are going to say is, "You're money is no good here." And the only currency we'll have left are the friendships we've made.

As I said at the beginning -- wow.

Daily Lesson for November 13, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from the old and familiar words of the 23rd Psalm.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Sometime ago I was talking to an old pastor and I asked him about what he did when somebody had come to the final days of their life. He told me that if there was one thing he would change about the way he did ministry at the end of life he would seek to be more of a "priest".

Now I consider this guy to have been one of the finest Baptist pastors I've ever known, but his word "priest" surprised me. When I asked him to explain, he said what he meant was if he could go back be would do less informal visiting and instead seek to do more traditionally ritualistic things like hear confession, pray the Lord's Prayer, and recite the 23rd Psalm.  

"In my old age I've discovered those things are a lot more important and a lot more meaningful than just visiting," he said.

It was a good reminder that the words which bring the greatest peace and comfort at the end of life aren't my words -- they're the LORD's.

Daily Lesson for November 12, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 15:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes agrumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and ceats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable . . . 8 “[W]hat woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

On Monday I lost a $100 bill. It just vanished into thin air somewhere between my office at church and the store where I was going to spend some of it.

I looked everywhere. I checked the floor board beneath the seat of the car. I walked the parking lot. I thumbed through books I was reading. I asked the janitor and the financial secretary. They hadn't seen a thing. 

The whole time I had this sick, sick feeling in my stomach. 

Then I found it, crumbled in the trashcan -- in the men's room.  You bet I looked there. And then I came out rejoicing and took it and threw it down on the financial secretary's office. I burst through the door and did a little jig. "Found it," I said.

Later on I wondered why I'm not that consumed about lost people and joyful when they're found.  Jesus sure was.

Prayer: LORD, give me a heart for those who are spiritually lost and when Jesus brings them to church may I raise my voice in celebration rather than my eyebrow in judgement.

Where Does America Go from Here?

As Missouri prepares for Ferguson Grand Jury Decision, I post a link to my thoughts on the situation my August 31 sermon, "Where Does America Go from Here?"


Link to Sermon: Where Does America Go from Here?

Daily Lesson for November 11, 2014

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 14 verses 25, and  

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them . . . 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

Last night we had a deacons meeting and we recognized our newest deacons who have been serving for a year now. Prior to their ordination, they went through six months of training and  I told them I hope they felt that we had prepared them adequately for all that the task of being a deacon at our church demands. The word deacon means "servant" or "minister" and being a deacon is often inconvenient, always time consuming, and just plain hard work. Servanthood always is.

And so is Christianity.

When the crowds came in masses to Jesus he explained to them what would be demanded. "Count the cost," he said.  In other words, he wanted them to know that following him would not be a walk in the park. 

A man willing to turn the crowd away by speaking of the cost of discipleship is a truly free man. He knows his legitimacy in this world is not based on the size of his following, or the roar of the crowd, or really being successful in the way the world thinks of it at all. His legitimacy is based on faithfulness to the call of God; and so he wants his disciples' to be also.

There's an old hymn, "I have decided to follow Jesus . . . Though none to with me, I still will follow."

Jesus will take that one faithful follower over a crowd of half-followers every time. Every. Single. Time.

Daily Lesson for November 10, 2014

Today's lesson come from Matthew chapter 25 verse 1:

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom."

Yesterday's lectionary text was the story where Jesus said the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  Five were wise and took extra oil for their lamps, Jesus said, while the other five were foolish and took none.  When the bridegroom finally arrived, the foolish virgins' lamps had run out of oil.

Though it has most often been interpreted as a story about awaiting the second coming, it is really more broadly a story about perseverance and hope.  It is a word of encouragement to keep your light shining though the night be dark and the journey long. That point was brought home by our choir which sang an African American spiritual "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning".  The power and the pathos of the words, "Children, don't you grow weary," speaks of something indomitable within the human spirit -- light which darkness cannot destroy.

As part of my sermon I referred to Tuesday being Veterans Day and how our community is asking us to leave our porch lights on tonight in remembrance of all those who are currently serving our country and have not yet come home.  We want them to know we are keeping our lights on for them.  And even for those who have made it home physically, but are still living in "the fog of war", we want them to know that the light is still on for them to fully come home also.

Leave your porch light on tonight - for a soldier, or a veteran, or anybody else who needs the light to make it through a long night.

Daily lesson for November 7, 2014

Today's daily lesson is from Revelation chapter 17 verse 14:

They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

Last night we gathered with Christians from other parts of Lubbock and the region to pray together about this ongoing ISIS crisis in Syria, Iraq, and now Turkey. There were not a lot of people present, but the prayers were powerful and affective we trust. We prayed for those martyred, for the living victims, for the perpetrators themselves, and, finally, for God to act. I told someone afterward that what we did seemed to me the faithful thing to do at such a time as this.

We concluded the service with a brief homily which I delivered. I talked about the situation in Iraq and how ISIS has spread like wildfire and how its ongoing appeal threatens security in neighboring countries and indeed the whole world. Yet I reminded those gathered that God will not leave His world to evil.  He hears the prayers of His people, and at some point will act in some way.  We know that good will prevail over evil, that ultimately love will cast out hate, and light will drive out darkness.

I closed by telling the story of a small sign which was put up in the churchyard of a small church in Prague, Czechoslovakia after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The sign simply said, "The Lamb wins."

In the end the Lamb will win; and no matter how strong the hosts of evil may be, they shall not prevail.