Daily Lesson for July 28, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 74 verses 16 and 17:

16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
Psalm 74 is a plea by someone who feels cast away, a people forgotten of God. The sanctuary has been destroyed, the nation in tumult, the city of God in ruins.

"How long, O God?" he asks.

And then the words from our lesson: "Yours is the day, yours also the night."

In the midst of his own fears and turmoil and the foreboding of what is to come, the psalmist holds fast to his faith -- that God is near and present and holding things fast, even in the darkness.

Many of us saw the movie "The King's Speech", based on the events leading up to the radio speech King George VI of England gave to his nation on Christmas Day 1939, in those bleak and terrifying days just at the break of WWII. In the speech he quoted from Minnie Louise Haskins's poem "God Knows":

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

God knows; in day and night, summer and in winter, God knows and God will guide.

Daily Lesson for July 29, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 73 verses 25 and 26:

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

A year and a half ago Ted Dotts, one of Second B's former pastors and one of the great mentors in my life, came back to for an evening talk which he asked to title: "A Discussion on Death and Dying with a Dying Man".  Ted was indeed dying with cancer and would pass away within a month.

The thing that made that night so holy was Ted's honesty about his death, his courage in facing it, and his abiding faith in the God of resurrection life.

In the end, Ted said that the gift death gives us is the knowledge that, "Only God can save us."  Ted then went on to name a litany of things that we trust in life as if they will save us: money, possessions, reputation, retirement accounts, medical care, and even our own morality.  The gift of death is the disillusion that any of these things can be trusted for ultimate security.  In the end, only God can save us.

Our Lesson today reminds us as much. Our flesh and our hearts and all the relationships and "things" of this world will fail us. But God is our strength and portion forever.  In other words, in Jesus' words, it is "the one necessary thing -- the thing that cannot be taken away."

To watch the extraordinary conversation with Ted from that evening go to: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg0S9mlE7c8

Daily Lesson for July 27, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 72 verses

 Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice!
3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor!

Here is the prayer offered by the priest at the coronation of King Solomon of Israel.

It begins with a plea for just leadership, Justice being both individual and also social. The priest prays that the king will make decisions which flow out from his own just and right character, which then in turn yield a more just community and nation. The court is to be a place of equality and justice for all people.  Fair standards and equal weights for all are the cornerstones.  The wellbeing of the poor is to be especially considered in the public square.

Prosperity of nation is prayed for. There is hope that the country's storehouses will be full.  This prosperity is not seen in a strictly economic harvest. The harvest of righteousness is also prayed for. The priest knows that in order for the nation to be great it also must be good.

Again, the interests of the poor are lifted up. Their children are remembered also.  These are the most vulnerable in society.  The king is charged to protect their interests, to care and watch over them, and to protect them from harm and exploitation.  The king must be a strong faithful champion and defender against all the enemies of his people -- foreign and domestic.

This is a prayer not only for King Solomon in his time; this is a prayer for our time and for our next leader also.

Daily Lesson for July 26, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 27 verses 39 through 43:

39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

This week at camp out Bible memorization was Hebrews 12:1b-2:

"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

It's interesting to talk to kids about scorn and shame and ridicule because they are so present to it in so many ways. Whereas we adults, having learned to keep our heads down and avoid standing out, have become masters at avoiding shame and ridicule, children on the other hand are still exposed.  The kids I was with last week are still being mocked and terrorized by playground bullies and "mean girls".  Because of that a week at camp involves talking about the cross on an entirely deeper and more challenging level than most of us adults ever experience.  These children, seeking to hold onto themselves, their dignity, and the dignity of Christ's way, challenge and inspire me.

The last night of camp we sang a song called "The Summons", a line in which says:

"Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare?"

The children I was with are risking hostile stares in their schools.  They're risking hostile stares to love science, to dance, to befriend the disabled child in the class, to embrace having two moms, to read their Bible at lunch.  They're risking hostile stares in order to live the lives to which Christ is summoning them.

We must become like them.

Daily Lesson for July 25, 2016

Today's Daily a lesson comes from Matthew chapter 27 verses 24 through 26:

24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of bthis man's blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

There is a quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. that I think of when I read this passage about Pilate acquiescence to the crowd:

"Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?
Expediency asks the question, is it politic?
Vanity asks the question, is it popular?
But, conscience asks the question, is it right?"

Day in and day out we all have our little questions about what we should or should not do; how much we should get involved, whether or not we should speak up, what good it would do if we did. We are not that different from Pontius Pilate. We all have within our spheres the choice between sticking our necks out or keeping our heads down, getting our hands dirty or washing them clean.  We ought not to throw stones at Pilate. I dare not. He turned over Jesus to prevent a riot; I have turned him over for a mess of pottage.

Earlier this year during Lent I kept saying to the church that Jesus has set his face hard towards Jerusalem and the Cross and we are trying to follow as far and as faithfully as we possibly can. Few set out at all.  Others quit when their mother calls. The rest scatter when the authorities arise. All fall short.

And so, in the end it's true: only grace can save us.  We can't save ourselves -- not even when we save ourselves.

I know today I will give up, I will give in, I will give out. I'll wash my hands in some way to spare myself the ire of the crowd or the misery of the cross. But for now, I see the Galilean on the Hill and I hear his words, and I think to myself maybe I can get a few yards closer . . .

Daily Lesson for July 22, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 51 verses 15 through 17:

15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Humility is the path to our redemption.

The word "humility" comes from the same word we get "hummus" from. It is the Latin word "humando", meaning "of the earth".  To be humble is to think of oneself as being of the earth.  Humility keeps us "grounded".

I once heard Richard Rohr say he prays for a daily dose of humiliation, some daily reminder that he is human and not God.  It's a pretty radical practice to pray to God to be humiliated today. It's an even more radical practice to pray it again tomorrow.

There is an old story of a young man who came to a monk saying he feared his sins were too much for God to forgive.  The monk replied, "God is an artist; and his favorite medium is mud."

When we finally get it they our real name is mud, that we are sinners, and that all our sanctimony and sacrifice and playing church won't change it, then we're ready.  Then it's time for the artist's hands to get hold of us, and make us into something new and beautiful.

Lord, give me the humility to let it happen today.

Daily Lesson for July 21, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 15 verses 5 and 6:

5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Over the last few weeks I have been gathering with a number of pastors from across our city to discuss and seek to positively and proactively respond to the events now afflicting our nation. We are both interdenominational and interracial in makeup, important characteristics for a group trying to model unity in a time of so much division.

"We need to be in harmony with one another," one of the pastors said.  "We can all be singing the same words to the same hymn from the same hymn book, but unless we are in harmony with one another it's just not going to sound good."

In music, harmony is the mixing of varying, yet simultaneous pitches or chords.  You need the sopranos, the altos, the tenors, and the basses all singing to reach harmony.  Each voice has its place and it's pitch; and knowing just how and when to pipe in is the art of making harmonious music.

There's a debate going on right now across our country about the place  of certain slogans like "Black Lives Matter", "Blue Lives Matter" and "All Lives Matter".  Let me suggest that all these slogans belong. They make up our chorus and each is important in its own right, in its own place, and with its own volume.  They each belong in their own right; but they also belong to and with and for one another.  They each and all belong; but they belong together -- in harmony.

In his "I Have a Dream"speech, Dr. King used the metaphor of music when he encouraged us to "transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood."  That's the dream. And even if we haven't heard it yet in chorus, we read it on paper and hear it in our heads.  Harmony. It's music to our ears. And our hearts. And God's heart also.

Now, who wants to join the choir?

Daily Lesson for July 20, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson

Four or five years ago Kathleen my friend from church had been down at St Benedicts Chapel for a Sunday morning service with the homeless community downtown. After the service, one of the homeless guys came and put a $100 bill into the collection plate. Now, $100 can go a long ways on the streets but this person said he wanted the money to "go to feeding the poor."

Kathleen came back to Second B for our late service and told me about what happened earlier that day at St Benedict's. Then, that night I had been asked to go over to an anniversary service for another church on the other side of town. They took up the collection and I reached for my wallet to kick in a $10 spot. It was then I realized that all I had was a $100 bill.

I tell you, the LORD does sometimes work in MISCHIEVOUS ways.

May those with ears to hear let them hear.

Daily Lesson for July 19, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 26 verses 47 through 52:

47 While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. 51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

A couple of years back Reza Aslan, a former Christian turned Muslim religious scholar, wrote a bestselling book titled "Zealot" which basically implied that Jesus was a revolutionary figure who was put to death for fomenting a violent insurrection against the occupying Roman military and political power.

Indeed, these were the charges leveled against Jesus by those who sought his execution. Jesus' followers, however, were adamant in their defense of Jesus, stating consistently again and again in the documents we would later know as the Gospels that though the State's charge against was inciting violence, Jesus in fact categorically rejected violence -- even to the point of refusing to defend himself.

Jesus taught that violence is not only wrong, but also ineffective and ultimately even suicidal. "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword." What we have witnessed in recent days in both Dallas and Baton Rouge are cases in point. Those who take up guns die by guns.

Jesus was a brown-skinned man from Galilee, a region known for its hostile and rebellious defiance against Roman authority and abuse. He had among his followers zealots, people who had studied and trained and were prepared to die in revolt.  Yet Jesus taught another way.  He too was willing to die, but not with a sword in his hand. He too was willing to give his life, in an act of love and not in of hate.

Jesus tried to teach that other way; and he is still trying to teach it now.

It is the only way that makes for peace.

Daily Lesson for July 18, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 13 verses 8 through 10:

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Mother Teresa once diagnosed the world's ills: "If we have no peace, it's because we've forgotten we belong to each other."

Now is a time for remembering that we belong together:

-- for remembering that we're neighbors

-- for remembering that we're friends

-- for remembering that we're brothers and sisters and all children of the same Heavenly Father

Both Jesus and St Paul each summed up the law with the command to love neighbor as we love ourselves. That means to wish the best for our neighbor, to look out for our neighbor, to walk the extra mile with our neighbor, and never ever seek to wrong or harm our neighbor -- nor tolerate those who do.  Neighbors don't tolerate the violence against people who belong to them.

All those who have lost their lives in recent weeks belonged to us. These were our sons and our brothers. And it was our mothers and our sisters kissed who kissed them on the head at the door as they left and fretted over them when they they didn't call or text.  Black or Blue, White or Brown, that is true for every family; it's true for our country's family.

"Who is my neighbor?" the lawyer asked Jesus. And his response was the Samaritan -- the man of another race and ethnicity.  He was the neighbor because he was the one who crossed the tracks to act with care and compassion. He was the neighbor and in being a good neighbor he became even a brother.

We should go and do likewise.

We belong to each other. We are neighbors. God longs for us to be sisters and brothers. When we remember this we shall have.

"And blessed are the peacemakers."

Daily Lesson for July 15, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 12 verses 9, 10 and 14-21:

9Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor . . . 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.2 Never be wise in your own sight. 17 jRepay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Another terrorist attack.  And so many people now calling for retaliation.  Against who it's not exactly clear.  But that's what terror does to a people -- it makes us so weary that our clarity of distinction gets lost. They're no longer meaningful in a time of war.  This is how we come to accept the ravages we call collateral damage.

My heart is heavy.  I'm weary with the terror. And I'm frustrated by Christians who think a good response would be to just bomb a bunch of people back into the stone age. I'm keep trying to think what Jesus would do and that has me actually remembering what he did. I don't know that I'm ready for that. I desire sacrifice, not mercy.  I prefer to blame -- Obama, Bush, the Muslim religion, the hawks in Washington -- than I do to try love somebody near -- somebody who sees it different from me, somebody who is also afraid and wondering what to do.

There's a scene in Wendell Berry's novel "Jayber Crow" which is living with me yet again today.  Jayber Crow is a small-town barber and while cutting his frenemy Troy's the two get into a fight over those protesting the Vietnam War.  The story is told in Jayber's first-person voice.

"One Saturday evening, while Troy was waiting his turn in the chair, the subject was started and Troy said – it was about the third thing said – 'They ought to round up every one of them sons of bitches and put them right in front of the damned communists, and then whoever killed who, it would be all to the good.'

There was a little pause after that. Nobody wanted to try to top it . . .

It was hard to do, but I quit cutting hair and looked at Troy. I said, 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.'

Troy jerked his head up and widened his eyes at me. 'Where did you get that crap?'

I said, 'Jesus Christ.'

And Troy said, 'Oh.'

It would have been a great moment in the history of Christianity, except that I did not love Troy."

I keep thinking about that story this morning, thinking to myself that the one thing I know Jesus would do and have me to do is try to love Troy.

Daily Lesson for July 14, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Joshua chapter 3 verses 14 through 17:

14 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), 16 the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. 17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

More on the Joshua Generation's crossing of the Red Sea.  This reflection is a companion piece to yesterday's Lesson which can be found here: http://ryonprice.blogspot.com/2016/07/daily-lesson-for-july-13-2016.html?m=1.

When the priests first dipped their feet into the Jordan we are told then the waters rose into a dammed wall "very far away".  The stopped water would not have been seen or felt at first. As far as the priests would have first known, nothing seemed to be happening because they did not know what had been done upstream.  Yet they remained in the rushing river, trying to ford, trying to cross.

"Faith," we are told by St Paul, "is the substance of things hoped for, yet not seen."  Faith is the substance of those downstream who keep walking in the hope that God is doing something upstream that they cannot yet see.

There is an old Midrashic story that says that the Red Sea did not part until the Israelites were in over their heads.  The point then is that sometimes we not only have to be in, but all in even before we can see what God has done up the stream.

Daily Lesson for July 13, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Joshua chapter 3 verses 7 through13:

7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” 9 And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” 10 And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. 13 And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”

Every generation has its own parting of the waters.

The LORD parted the waters in the great Exodus and all the Israelites who had been slaves in Egypt passed through the Red Sea. With God the impossible became possible as the the Israelites were brought into a new land and a new destiny.

But the Exodus generation passed away; it was now the Joshua generation's day under the sun.  They too would need to cross over the waters and come into their own new land and time.

With each generation there is a crossing over. The LORD calls forth a few priests to step into the waters first. It appears impossibly dangerous and unwise. Indeed it would be, if the LORD was not on their side. But the LORD always is. And He calls them forth into the rushing waters. They struggle step by step at first. They are nearly swept away. But then suddenly their feet settle, they gain their balance even amidst the rushing waters and they stand firm.  And then some courageous soul watching from the banks of the Jordan looks out and says, "Let us follow."

And so another generation finds its Promised Land.

May those with ears to hear let them hear.

Daily Lesson for July 12, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 25 verses 14 through 29:

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.3 You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

Biblical scholar Tom Long says the way to understand this parable in the book of Matthew is through another of Jesus' aphorisms spoken at the Sermon on the Mount and recorded in the same book: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"(Matthew 6:22-23).

How we see and perceive always shapes our understanding of what we see and perceive. We see what we expect to see.  We hear what we expect to hear. Our reality outside us is shaped by our reality within. This is true of our perception about all manner of people, places, and things; and is an important part of the ongoing national debate over implicit and unconscious biases we may have towards people of color which we need to be made aware of so as not to be led astray.  It is also true about our perception of God. When we expect God to be vindictive and mean-spirited then that becomes the God we worship and serve.  As Jesus said also in Matthew, "The measure you give becomes the measure you get," (Matthew 7:22). The God whose wrath outweighs His mercy becomes the God we judge ourselves and everyone else by.

"What you see is what you get," we say.  But what we see is always shaped by how we see. And so it's true; the eye is the lamp of the body and if the eye is dark then everything else will be dark also.

Daily Lesson for July 11, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 25:

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’12 lBut he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

This parable is one of the last things Jesus said in the last week of his life. In a week which began with fanfare and expectation and a sense of imminent salvation on Palm Sunday, Jesus wanted to speak to the disciples about the long night and the long road ahead. Salvation would not come as quick or as easy as some were hoping. This would lead many to a point of despair. Only the ones who endured to the end would be saved.

"Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" the old spiritual says. This is a song and word for our time.  As our country continues to strive towards Liberty and Justice for all and reconciliation between, Jesus would have us to know just what a long night it may be before the dawn of these things truly comes.  It is a word not only about not giving up, not giving in and especially not giving out. Today is a day for replenishing the oil, for taking the time to gather the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual strength necessary to hold on to our faith, our hope, and our love.

I often quote my grandfather: "Remember son, you can go just as far on a full tank of gas as you can on a half."  That was his dry, West Texas way of telling me to get all the gas I can while I still can.

"Walk together children, don't you get weary," another spiritual says.  The night is dark and the journey is long and we need to be ready.

A Pastoral Letter after Dallas

The troubling events of this week in Baton Rouge and Falcon Heights and the horrific violence of last night in Dallas combine to awaken us this morning to the disturbingly dark time in race and community relations we live in.  We offer our deepest prayers for all the families who have lost loved ones on the cross of fear and enmity.  Our prayers are also offered for those serving to protect us as a people and working to bring about peace, justice, and reconciliation within our communities.

Evil wishes to alienate, divide, and eventually destroy us.  The book of Genesis tells us "its desire is to consume," (Genesis 4:7). Surely, this is what happened to the perpetrators of the heinous acts in Dallas. They were eaten up by evil.  But evil will not be satisfied with consuming them and their victims; evil's real desire is to destroy us all. As Jesus said, "Seeing lawlessness grow, the hearts of many will turn cold," (Matthew 24:12). This is the ultimate aim of evil, to turn our hearts so cold towards one another that we are willing to go to war. Last night in Dallas was the first act of a war perpetrated not only by a few individuals but by evil itself.

Evil's next act will be to so shock so many of us with the violent end in Dallas that we turn cold to the peaceful purposes of its beginning. Hearts will be further hardened to the truth that needs to be heard in the Black Lives Matter movement. This will only serve to further alienate and fracture us.  Afterward, evil's next step beyond that will be to have some calling for us to weigh the lives of those police officers lost at the hands of the gunmen last night against the lives of blacks unjustly lost at the hands of police over all the course of our nation's history. This is what people at war do -- they tally and compare casualties and weigh blood shed by one side and measure it against blood shed by the other.  When we begin to weigh blood shed ounce by ounce, black against blue against white, then we will be at war.  Our hearts will have completely frozen towards one another and evil will have won.

St Paul gives us the ancient words, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good," (Romans 12:1).  Today is a day of awaking to the reality of evil among us and a time for resolving our commitment to do good. Today is a day for prayer, for lamentation, for confession, for action.  Today is a day for showing up at vigils, listening to neighbors, walking across the tracks, crossing racial boundaries. Today is a day for doing something beautiful, something surprising, something good -- anything good.

Just a year before his death, at a moment of deep racial tension and unrest in our nation, Dr. King asked this question: "Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community?"  A half century later, we find ourselves at a very similar place, confronting very similar issues and asked now the exact same question,  "Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community?"

We know the answer; and we know that the way we will find it is together.

Daily Lesson for July 7, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 24:

3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

When I attended the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship meeting in Greensboro, NC I had the opportunity to play a small role in the worship service the great preacher and teacher of preachers Dr. Tom Long gave the sermon. Because Dr. Long was our adult retreat leader in Santa Fe a couple years back I knew him and took the opportunity before the service to visit with him about preacher and church.

"These are interesting times to be a preacher," I said then I quoted the ancient Chinese curse, "May you have interesting times to live in."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I quoted Jesus' words from today's lesson.  "'Because of lawlessness the love of many will grow cold,' those are the times were living and trying to preach in," I said.

Dr. Long responded with a nod and then said, "Yes, if the church hadn't spent the last century investing so much in buildings and retirement plans then these could be really exciting times."

I'v reflected on those words a great deal over these last two weeks. I pastor a church with a really beautiful and big building which the church has dedicated the last 15 years to really working hard to pay off. And I personally like the idea of a retirement plan so that I will have some measure of security in my old age.

But Tom was saying something about this time we have here in history. He was saying the same thing Jesus to his disciples about their time and what his words were written down in order to say to many other times not dissimilar. We live in a moment very interesting -- a moment of crucible.  Lawlessness and evil seems on the rise, historic relationships between allies are shifting, and most in our country and the world wonder about leadership.  For fear of the lawlessness and evil the hearts of many have already grown cold; the faithful struggle to endure, to hold on.  This is the moment, the moment for faithful witness, the time when truth and love are most needed and yet most desperately in jeopardy because the truth about Jesus' Way of love is hard to speak and too much for some to bear. This is the time where faithful witness is most necessary and even most effective, and we don't want to miss it prioritizing bricks and mortar and security in some other time to come.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no radical and I'm not going to advocate for selling the building, nor am I going to discontinue my enrollment in our retirement benefits program. But I am thinking -- where are my priorities? Where are my church's priorities?  Where is my witness -- in such a moment as this.

The world has given us interesting times to live in; and the LORD has given it to us to make the most of them.

May we find the courage.

Daily Lesson for July 6, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 23 verses 29 and 30:

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

Let me tell you about one of my heroes, Homer Price Rainey, a distant cousin of mine on the Price side of the family. His mother was a Price from which he received his middle name. 

Homer Price was born in 1896 and grew up in Young County, Texas. He attended Austin College in Sherman, played professional baseball, and was ordained as a Baptist minister before going on to get both a master's and PhD at the University of Chicago. After serving as the youngest college president in the country at Franklin College, he then served as president of Bucknell University in Ohio.  In 1939 he became 12th president the University of Texas at Austin.

Cousin Rainey's tenure at UT was swept up in a long controversy with the University of Texas regents over issues of academic freedom in the public university classroom. This was the beginning of the Red Scare hysteria in America, and the regents did not like the fact that Rainey had refused to fire a number of economics and English professors whose curricula was accused of being Anti-American or having communistic ideas.  

But that was just the pitched battle. The real war was between the regents and Cousin Rainey, whose ideas academic freedom, race relations, and other social issues were seen by the regents to be too radical and threatening to the social order.  By refusing to back down his support of the university professors Rainey knew he was sealing his own fate. On November 1, 1944 (All Saints Day) the regents met in special session in Houston and voted to fire Rainey.  

Days later, 2,000 UT students marched from the university to the state Capitol in a mock funeral, protesting Cousin Rainey's firing. When they got there they demanded that the legislature act to reappoint Cousin Rainey. Beneath the shadow of the Capitol dome the students then sang "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You".  But neither the regents nor the legislature would be moved.  Cousin Rainey was seen as "a friend to the negro" and even "sympathetic to homosexuals".  Those were seen as indictable offenses in 1944 Texas.

Cousin Rainey went on to run for governor and then serve as president of Stephens College, an all-Womens school in Missouri, and then teach at the University of Colorado until his death in 1985.

Fifty years later, a campaign was begun amongst the class of 1944 to have one of the buildings on the UT campus renamed in Cousin Rainey's honor.  In 1994, at the 50th anniversary of that class's commencement, the old Music building was renamed Homer Rainey Hall.

In today's lesson Jesus says, one generation kills the prophets and the next generation builds their monuments.  Go down to the university campus in Austin and visit Cousin Rainey's building, and you'll see it's true. 

Daily Lesson for July 5, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 23 verse 13:

13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in."

There is a mostly white, Southern country church I know of which some years ago suddenly found itself being visited by a black family who had moved into the little town. That this family would chose a white church to come and worship with was something of a surprise to many and still a shock to others. Soon the boy in the family wanted to be baptized.  This was yet even more shocking to some -- namely a group of men in one of the Sunday school classes.  These men got together and decided that if a black boy were baptized in their baptistery then they themselves just weren't going to come to church anymore.

Never again would that church see them -- neither on Easter nor on Christmas.

Let those with ears to hear let them hear.

Daily Lesson for July 4, 2016

Today's daily lesson is a reflection on the meaning of America:

In a 2002 address, the former chair of the National Endowment of the Humanities delivered a speech in which he said:

"A nation that does not know why it exists or what it stands for cannot be expected to long endure . . . We must recover from the amnesia that shrouds our history in darkness, our principles in confusion, and our future in uncertainty.  We cannot expect that a nation which has lost its memory will keep its vision."

Independence Day is about reclaiming memory.  It is a time set aside to observe not only the fact of our nation's birth, but also its meaning. We set aside July 4th to protect us from amnesia as a country and to behold yet again the vision set before us in the Preamble to our Declaration of Independence-- to be a nation which honors and protects the right to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" for all its people.

In his famous 1852 Independence Day speech, runaway slave turned famous political activist Frederick Douglass said this of those famous words of our Declaration:

"I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ringbolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost."

If we read beyond the Declaration's Preamble and we see the "saving principles" Douglas was speaking of: a high regard for individual civil liberty, a strong commitment to representative government, and the value of independent judiciary.  These stood in direct contrast to despotism and tyranny when the Declaration was signed in 1776. They still do today.

Douglass called these principles our nation's "ringbolt". A ringbolt is the bolt which fastens a ship to its anchor.  Having worked as a slave in the shipbuilding industry in Maryland Douglas knew the importance of a strong ringbolt.  To call these principles our ringbolt is to say they are what will keep us anchored when the storms threaten.

We live in a time of storms, an era when foes domestic and foreign threaten our way of life. Independence Day is a day set aside to help us remember our ringbolt -- a day set aside to help us remember what anchors us as a nation, and what we as a people would be lost without.

Our forefathers had a vision that we would be the land of the free. That is why we exist; and that is what will enable us to endure.

Daily Lesson for July 1, 2016

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 22 verses 15 through 22:

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

July 4 weekend is always a tricky one in the church -- or at least it should be.

On the one hand, everyone has fireworks and cookouts on their mind and if they come to church -- a big if -- they don't exactly remove the patriot's hat at the door. A church that expects that is probably kidding itself. While the liturgical banners will be green this Sunday, it is guaranteed that a lot of the ties will be red, white, and blue.  Some acknowledgment of our country and its meaning is warranted -- whether in sermon or prayer.

On the other hand, what is not needed in the House of the LORD is a patriotic parade. The Church of Christ is universal -- meaning it is comprised of people from all races and nations and the people who show up to worship on July 4 weekend show up to worship God and not country.  A pastor and his or her people need to have that clear every Sunday -- including this one.

Bent on setting a trap for Jesus, it was the Pharisees who presented him with the false choice between God and Caesar.  The choice is not "either or" and it's not even "both and". In fact, it's not really a choice at all.  We live under Caesar; and we live under God.  As Christians we are called to honor both. Caesar's honor is not to be slighted; but neither is it to swell.  It's always "God and country"; but God is always first.

It's July 4 weekend.  Let's celebrate and give thanks for the great country we live in and let's go to church and pray for it to grow into the full measure of its creed of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness for all.  And at the same time, if when we go to church we discover that the preacher happens to be preaching on the lectionary text about a foreign, enemy general named Naaman who the prophet cleansed of leprosy, let's hear that too. For it is good to be reminded that God's will is indeed to bless the USA and the whole rest of the world also.

God and Caesar. It's not a choice for us; let's don't make it one.