Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 8 verses 31-35 and 38-39.
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? . . .38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I had a dream. I was waiting in the holding cell outside the courtroom. I was sweating and queasy in my stomach and my saliva was thick with the taste of metal on my tongue. I was not handcuffed; but I knew I should be. Waiting there I thought I soon would be. Though I had not yet been in or even seen the court, I somehow knew instinctively what the process was to be. The file would be opened for public view and the prosecutor would call me to the dock and have me to read the damning evidence of my life. I shook now for fear of what was to come upon me. They called my name and the front part of my quadriceps were so jelly-like that I could hardly stand. Motion through the hall took the queasiness away for the 20 or so steps but when I passed into the courtroom and glanced up at the gallery a sense of sheer terror now gripped me. I felt the blood empty from my face. This was the moment of terror.
The judge was seated and nodded to the prosecution and my attorney -- someone I had never seen or met but intuitively trusted. They approached the bench and then began to read the file. I was still standing alone. Without saying a word then the judge nodded and the prosecutor and my attorney took their positions on opposite sides, my attorney to my left.
With the file opened thick before him, the judge spoke loud enough for the courtroom to hear. "The man before us is not innocent. He has offered the plea of guilty. The court has accepted the plea. The defense asks for mercy. It pleases the court to accept this request and the prosecution agrees. Is there anyone who wishes to object to the court's decision?"
For three long seconds the courtroom was silent and still.
"Hearing none then," the judge said, "there is then no condemnation for this man."
He then looked at me and spoke directly to me for the first time. "You have been saved by grace. You are free now to join the gallery of witnesses."
Friday, March 31, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 30, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans 8 verses 26 and 27:
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints.
What a great word of comfort and consolation for our prayer - knowing we really don't have to get it right in order to get it right.
Let me be honest, three years of seminary plus another what 12 years of ministry and I still really don't know how to pray or what to pray for.
I bet you really don't either.
We face a decision - should we go left or should we go right? We have a preference, a desire - but is it God's desire for is? Do we dare pray for it to come to pass? Would it be selfish? We carry a burden - it weighs us down. We wish to lay it aside altogether, to run free of it. But is it God's will that we carry this burden? Is it God's will for us that this burden be our thorn in the flesh? We desire liberation, resolution, an end to our struggles; we want to be set free from many troubles, predicaments, relationships, stages. Yet we wonder if this is the way for us - what God has planned for us, and what is necessary.
The Lesson today frees us from fretting too much about all this. It reminds us that we really can overthink things. We can be too logical. We can be so worried about getting everything in right sequence and order and so afraid to make a mistake when talking to God that we end up saying nothing. Today's Lesson basically says to quite worrying about all that and start trusting. Trust that we have a Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, who will intercede for us not only when our words fumble but also even when what we desire is not what God desires for us.
If we don't believe that then we need to remember Jesus, who poured out His heart, made His request to God, petitioned for help, and then said, "Not my will but thine be done."
God's will will be done in our lives when we start trusting Him enough to ask anything of Him and begin to discover that even in His "No" there is a great and liberating "Yes".
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 29, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 1 through 6:
18:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."
The clay in the potter's hand really has no say over what it shall be. It may want to be one thing, but the shape of its future is in the potter's hands. The clay is not in control. It's properties -- earth and water -- make it inherently flexible and compliant. It yields to the hands of its maker.
We too are earth and water. And we too are in the hands of God. Life for us is a learning to give up control, a learning to yield to the hands of our maker. We are here to be shaped and formed and fired into what God would have us to be. Worked, and reworked, and altogether worked over, we are not in control. Life for us is learning to yield to and trust the hands of the potter.
"Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still."
Like the clay, our future is in the hands and not our own. Life is a process of learning to trust the potter and accept what he has willed for us to be and do.
The word for this is surrender.
18:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."
The clay in the potter's hand really has no say over what it shall be. It may want to be one thing, but the shape of its future is in the potter's hands. The clay is not in control. It's properties -- earth and water -- make it inherently flexible and compliant. It yields to the hands of its maker.
We too are earth and water. And we too are in the hands of God. Life for us is a learning to give up control, a learning to yield to the hands of our maker. We are here to be shaped and formed and fired into what God would have us to be. Worked, and reworked, and altogether worked over, we are not in control. Life for us is learning to yield to and trust the hands of the potter.
"Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still."
Like the clay, our future is in the hands and not our own. Life is a process of learning to trust the potter and accept what he has willed for us to be and do.
The word for this is surrender.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 28, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 24 through 27:
24 "But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, 25 then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. 26 And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched."
Work is good; but work all day and every day is not. God has made for us a day for sabbath and we ought to seriously consider setting it aside to rest. We need time for our souls to catch up with our bodies. We need time set aside to remember that we are more than what our bodies can produce.
Keeping sabbath requires a community. It is very difficult to keep sabbath alone when everyone else just assumes you'll be available to work. And for the working poor, it is impossible to keep sabbath when six days of wages still isn't enough to make ends meet. We recall that sabbath was given after the Israelites came out of Egypt. In Egypt Pharaoh was the task master over the Israelites. He demanded more and more from the Israelites. "Work, work, work," was his motto; but work never made them free. Sabbath was given as a protection against that kind of exploitation. A community which has lost the concept of sabbath rest and sabbath protection edges towards the fate of Pharaoh's Egypt.
Today's Lesson has the LORD warning the Jews that if the sabbath is not kept holy and set apart but becomes a day of burden like all other days then He will set a fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will never be quenched. This is still a word of warning for us also. For if we create a community where the sabbath is only a luxury for some but for the rest a day for work or chores getting ready for more work then the fire of consumption and exploitation and the demand for more, more, more will be lit and will never be quenched.
This kind of life destroys the human soul and the human community. We have been given sabbath to guard against it. That is why it is holy and why we need to work (less) hard to protect it.
24 "But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, 25 then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. 26 And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. 27 But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched."
Work is good; but work all day and every day is not. God has made for us a day for sabbath and we ought to seriously consider setting it aside to rest. We need time for our souls to catch up with our bodies. We need time set aside to remember that we are more than what our bodies can produce.
Keeping sabbath requires a community. It is very difficult to keep sabbath alone when everyone else just assumes you'll be available to work. And for the working poor, it is impossible to keep sabbath when six days of wages still isn't enough to make ends meet. We recall that sabbath was given after the Israelites came out of Egypt. In Egypt Pharaoh was the task master over the Israelites. He demanded more and more from the Israelites. "Work, work, work," was his motto; but work never made them free. Sabbath was given as a protection against that kind of exploitation. A community which has lost the concept of sabbath rest and sabbath protection edges towards the fate of Pharaoh's Egypt.
Today's Lesson has the LORD warning the Jews that if the sabbath is not kept holy and set apart but becomes a day of burden like all other days then He will set a fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will never be quenched. This is still a word of warning for us also. For if we create a community where the sabbath is only a luxury for some but for the rest a day for work or chores getting ready for more work then the fire of consumption and exploitation and the demand for more, more, more will be lit and will never be quenched.
This kind of life destroys the human soul and the human community. We have been given sabbath to guard against it. That is why it is holy and why we need to work (less) hard to protect it.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 27, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 6 verse 15:
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Last night as a part of a series we are doing on saints past, I spoke to the youth about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young German pastor whose resistance to Nazism resulted in his hanging for treason. It was pretty serious stuff for these youth -- some of whom are only 12 years of age. But man, they were with me the whole time. I went home thinking, "Now where was I when I was 12?" Certainly not studying Bonhoeffer.
We looked at a radio address Bonhoeffer gave just days after Hitler came to power in 1933. The address was titled, "The Younger Generation's Altered View of the Concept of 'Fuhrer'. At not even 27 years of age, Bonhoeffer said that the younger generation of his country could see how the concept of "leader" (Fuhrer) could become a "misleader" and that a leader who promised to be and do all that the people desired would eventually end in idolatrizing himself for the sake of the people's worship.
The radio transmission was cut off mid-speech.
Jesus refused the kingship the people wanted to give him. He refused their idolatry. He refused to be and do all that they wanted. He chose to be their leader through service rather than kingship. I am sure this gravely disappointed many. He would never be all that their eyes dreamed of him being. The day of coronation would not come -- not until Calvary.
I have hope for the youth I was with last night. Twelve, thirteen, fifteen, and eighteen -- they are now the younger generation; and they too have an altered view of "leader"and a wary eye for the "misleader".
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Last night as a part of a series we are doing on saints past, I spoke to the youth about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young German pastor whose resistance to Nazism resulted in his hanging for treason. It was pretty serious stuff for these youth -- some of whom are only 12 years of age. But man, they were with me the whole time. I went home thinking, "Now where was I when I was 12?" Certainly not studying Bonhoeffer.
We looked at a radio address Bonhoeffer gave just days after Hitler came to power in 1933. The address was titled, "The Younger Generation's Altered View of the Concept of 'Fuhrer'. At not even 27 years of age, Bonhoeffer said that the younger generation of his country could see how the concept of "leader" (Fuhrer) could become a "misleader" and that a leader who promised to be and do all that the people desired would eventually end in idolatrizing himself for the sake of the people's worship.
The radio transmission was cut off mid-speech.
Jesus refused the kingship the people wanted to give him. He refused their idolatry. He refused to be and do all that they wanted. He chose to be their leader through service rather than kingship. I am sure this gravely disappointed many. He would never be all that their eyes dreamed of him being. The day of coronation would not come -- not until Calvary.
I have hope for the youth I was with last night. Twelve, thirteen, fifteen, and eighteen -- they are now the younger generation; and they too have an altered view of "leader"and a wary eye for the "misleader".
Friday, March 24, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 24, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 8 verses 33 through 37:
33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you."
John chapters 8 and 9 have Jesus speaking about blindness and enslavement. The blindness of the sighted and the enslavement of the free are his primary points -- points hostilely received by those who were absolutely certain that they could see and were free.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once famously said, " . . .there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns."
No truer statement has ever been uttered.
It is what we do not know that we do not know which makes us blind. It is what we are certain of is the sin in others which is often so deeply the occasion of sin in ourselves. It is the certitude that we are free even Biblically justified to behave as we wish that ends in our own enslavement to sin.
We can think here of those who owned slaves in antebellum America or those who have used the Bible as a weapon against the LGBT community. I am a descendant of these enslaved slave masters and I was at one time actively complicit in creating a culture that was homophobic and anti-gay. And like my forebears before me I did so not out of a sense of unrighteousness but righteousness.
This is a cause for deep humility. As Jesus said, "Because you say that you see your sin remains." The moment we think we see and know is the moment we are often most misguided. It is the unknown unknowns that get us.
Harriet Tubman is purported to have said, "I freed a thousand slaves; I would have freed a thousand more if they had known they were slaves."
I wonder which slaves she was talking about -- the chattel or the so-called free?
33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you."
John chapters 8 and 9 have Jesus speaking about blindness and enslavement. The blindness of the sighted and the enslavement of the free are his primary points -- points hostilely received by those who were absolutely certain that they could see and were free.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once famously said, " . . .there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns."
No truer statement has ever been uttered.
It is what we do not know that we do not know which makes us blind. It is what we are certain of is the sin in others which is often so deeply the occasion of sin in ourselves. It is the certitude that we are free even Biblically justified to behave as we wish that ends in our own enslavement to sin.
We can think here of those who owned slaves in antebellum America or those who have used the Bible as a weapon against the LGBT community. I am a descendant of these enslaved slave masters and I was at one time actively complicit in creating a culture that was homophobic and anti-gay. And like my forebears before me I did so not out of a sense of unrighteousness but righteousness.
This is a cause for deep humility. As Jesus said, "Because you say that you see your sin remains." The moment we think we see and know is the moment we are often most misguided. It is the unknown unknowns that get us.
Harriet Tubman is purported to have said, "I freed a thousand slaves; I would have freed a thousand more if they had known they were slaves."
I wonder which slaves she was talking about -- the chattel or the so-called free?
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 23, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 5 verses 18 and 19:
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
There is a fairly new genetic field called epigenetics, where scientists have discovered how certain events in the life of one generation can affect the genetic coding of generations to follow. For example, a traumatic event like a famine in one generation can actually cause genetic alterations in the bloodstream of not only the generation which endured the famine, but also the bloodstream of their unborn children and their children's children. This is the reason scientists speculate certain traumatic events in one generation can have lasting consequences such as the development of psychological disorders like schizophrenia in not only the generation which endured the trauma but also generations to come.
When Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the Garden it was a traumatic event of universal significance. Every generation has since been affected by the tragic decisions of the couple and the resulting consequences. This primordial event literally altered life for all generations to come. This is the concept now of original sin -- no one of us is born now without the genetic memory of what it meant to sin and know that we are naked and ashamed. One generation's decision has affected all other generations to follow -- even down into our genes.
And yet, while this logic of solidarity is true from generation to generation, it is not always tragic or even altogether negative. We are not only trapped by the loved which befell other generations. We can also be freed by them as well. One generation's adaptation or ability to overcome can also affect generations to follow. Just as the genetic bloodstream can be negatively altered so also is their a possibility for positive alteration as well. For example, one generation's ability to overcome certain traumas and tragedies and provide stability can in fact not only change the environment their children will be raised in, but even effect their genetic makeup. For example, a person suffering with PTSD who gets help early and stabilizes may be less likely to have children who suffer from psychological disorders as well.
In other words, in Biblical language, there is hope; and we have the power to overturn generational curses.
"For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous," Paul writes. This is the heart of his idea of how we -- all humanity -- were first cursed but then atoned for. One generation may have indeed cursed us -- even in our blood; but another had the power to bless and redeem.
This is the good news of salvation. We are not altogether imprisoned by the sins of our fathers. For we have also been set free my the righteousness of our brother.
Thanks be to God.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 22, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 5 verses 3 and 4:
3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
We usually think of hope as what we start with that gets us through whatever struggles and trials we go through. But in actuality hope is what we are left with after having gone through the struggle. We don't start out with hope; we end up with it.
Paul, who knew a thing or two about struggle and trial tells us where our hope comes from. "Suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character" and then he said, finally, "character produces hope." This is why the most hopeful people we know are people who have struggled and endured and whose character has been shaped by the pain of life's trials. They are the hopeful ones; they are the ones who give us hope.
Optimism is what we start out with in the morning, when the sun is rising, the dew fresh, and what the day will bring is yet unknown. Hope, on the the other hand, is what we're left with when the sun is setting and the day has been long and full of toil and the prospect for tomorrow being any easier is very, very dim. Conceived in struggle and born of survival, that's when hope arrives to keep us from despair -- right when we need it most.
3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
We usually think of hope as what we start with that gets us through whatever struggles and trials we go through. But in actuality hope is what we are left with after having gone through the struggle. We don't start out with hope; we end up with it.
Paul, who knew a thing or two about struggle and trial tells us where our hope comes from. "Suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character" and then he said, finally, "character produces hope." This is why the most hopeful people we know are people who have struggled and endured and whose character has been shaped by the pain of life's trials. They are the hopeful ones; they are the ones who give us hope.
Optimism is what we start out with in the morning, when the sun is rising, the dew fresh, and what the day will bring is yet unknown. Hope, on the the other hand, is what we're left with when the sun is setting and the day has been long and full of toil and the prospect for tomorrow being any easier is very, very dim. Conceived in struggle and born of survival, that's when hope arrives to keep us from despair -- right when we need it most.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 21, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 7 verses 45 through 52:
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring [Jesus]?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
To listen to ones own voice of conscience,
To listen and not be silenced by fear or intimidation,
To open the throat and let your truth march out on a brave steed
Or hobble out on a donkey, or the foal of a donkey,
To stand up and go on record,
"This is not acceptable.
He deserves a hearing.
We do not try and convict without evidence or hearing.
A man is innocent until proven guilty.
This is above the Law.
This is wrong."
Thank you Nicodemus; you tried.
You tried.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring [Jesus]?” 46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? 48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
To listen to ones own voice of conscience,
To listen and not be silenced by fear or intimidation,
To open the throat and let your truth march out on a brave steed
Or hobble out on a donkey, or the foal of a donkey,
To stand up and go on record,
"This is not acceptable.
He deserves a hearing.
We do not try and convict without evidence or hearing.
A man is innocent until proven guilty.
This is above the Law.
This is wrong."
Thank you Nicodemus; you tried.
You tried.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 20, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Jeremiah chapter 7 verses 1 through 7:
7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’
5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever."
God will not be flattered by a people who take His name in vain. A people who call themselves a Godly nation and who build temples and churches in the name of the LORD, yet who have no regard for justice for the vulnerable and oppressed is a Godly nation in name only. It shall not endure the fire of God's judgment.
God does not abide a people who are cruel to the sojourner, or do harm to those being raised without fathers, or take from widows, or is lethal force without cause, or worship mammon. It is very clear from today's passage that these are serious sins. God is not flattered by a nation which has taken on His name but not His justice.
Writing in 1941, amidst Nazi Germany's so-called 'Christian' ascendancy, the great Lutheran theologian Reinhold Niebuhr spoke warningly against Germany's hubris. “No nation is free of the sin of pride,” Niebuhr said, “just as no individual is free of it. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that there are ‘Christian’ nations, who prove themselves so because they are still receptive to prophetic words of judgment spoken against the nation."
A nation truly under God is not only under God's name but even more importantly under God's will. A truly "Christian" or "Godly" nation is the nation that has heard the prophetic words and, having listened, truly then repents in both heart and also action.
‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord," the people of ancient Israel said. And it was.
But it would not always be.
7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’
5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever."
God will not be flattered by a people who take His name in vain. A people who call themselves a Godly nation and who build temples and churches in the name of the LORD, yet who have no regard for justice for the vulnerable and oppressed is a Godly nation in name only. It shall not endure the fire of God's judgment.
God does not abide a people who are cruel to the sojourner, or do harm to those being raised without fathers, or take from widows, or is lethal force without cause, or worship mammon. It is very clear from today's passage that these are serious sins. God is not flattered by a nation which has taken on His name but not His justice.
Writing in 1941, amidst Nazi Germany's so-called 'Christian' ascendancy, the great Lutheran theologian Reinhold Niebuhr spoke warningly against Germany's hubris. “No nation is free of the sin of pride,” Niebuhr said, “just as no individual is free of it. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that there are ‘Christian’ nations, who prove themselves so because they are still receptive to prophetic words of judgment spoken against the nation."
A nation truly under God is not only under God's name but even more importantly under God's will. A truly "Christian" or "Godly" nation is the nation that has heard the prophetic words and, having listened, truly then repents in both heart and also action.
‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord," the people of ancient Israel said. And it was.
But it would not always be.
Friday, March 17, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 17, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 95 verses 1 through 5:
95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Today is a day worth rejoicing over. It is a day to sing on and be glad about. Today is a day to make a joyful noise!
For today wasn't promised. We weren't guaranteed it. By sheer grace the LORD woke us up this morning and we ought to praise GOD for it.
Yes; today may not be perfect. Today may have its bad news -- even its struggles. Today we may be dry as a bone and low as a slug. Yet still, all these things are His. God created heights and the depths, the sea and the desert. What comes my way today is still His. And I am still alive and kicking and I can still kick pretty good -- for my age!
Sometimes I go to black churches. Invariably, the preacher gets up, "Somebody ought to praise God. Somebody ought to give praise God." The people stand and begin to clap and say, "Yes." The preacher speaks again. "Ya'll ought to praise the LORD. Ya'll ought to get up and give him some glory. For the LORD woke you up this morning. And you ought to make a joyful noise unto Him today."
That's a tradition that really has something to say to us today.
Make a joyful noise! Make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation!
95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
Today is a day worth rejoicing over. It is a day to sing on and be glad about. Today is a day to make a joyful noise!
For today wasn't promised. We weren't guaranteed it. By sheer grace the LORD woke us up this morning and we ought to praise GOD for it.
Yes; today may not be perfect. Today may have its bad news -- even its struggles. Today we may be dry as a bone and low as a slug. Yet still, all these things are His. God created heights and the depths, the sea and the desert. What comes my way today is still His. And I am still alive and kicking and I can still kick pretty good -- for my age!
Sometimes I go to black churches. Invariably, the preacher gets up, "Somebody ought to praise God. Somebody ought to give praise God." The people stand and begin to clap and say, "Yes." The preacher speaks again. "Ya'll ought to praise the LORD. Ya'll ought to get up and give him some glory. For the LORD woke you up this morning. And you ought to make a joyful noise unto Him today."
That's a tradition that really has something to say to us today.
Make a joyful noise! Make a joyful noise to the Rock of our Salvation!
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 16, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 2 verses 17 through 24:
17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
A study released a couple of years ago by the Barna Research Group found that much of the church's troubles with connecting with Millennials has to with negative perceptions that generations has about church people. Our reputation is bad, the research said, and in my opinion we've mostly done it to ourselves.
More than one-third of Millennials say moral failures in church leadership have undermined the church's credibility. Hands down, the vast majority of Millennials who don’t go to church view Christians as judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), anti-gay (91%) and insensitive to others (70%).
Not good. We've got a major PR problem and we've done it to ourselves. In my experience, it's not Jesus Millennials have a problem with; it's us. In the words of Bon Jovi, we've given love a bad name.
We can do better; we need to do better. For the name of God we need to do better.
17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
A study released a couple of years ago by the Barna Research Group found that much of the church's troubles with connecting with Millennials has to with negative perceptions that generations has about church people. Our reputation is bad, the research said, and in my opinion we've mostly done it to ourselves.
More than one-third of Millennials say moral failures in church leadership have undermined the church's credibility. Hands down, the vast majority of Millennials who don’t go to church view Christians as judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), anti-gay (91%) and insensitive to others (70%).
Not good. We've got a major PR problem and we've done it to ourselves. In my experience, it's not Jesus Millennials have a problem with; it's us. In the words of Bon Jovi, we've given love a bad name.
We can do better; we need to do better. For the name of God we need to do better.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 15, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 5 verses 5 through 9:
5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
The invalid man was there 38 years, waiting and waiting for someone else to come along and help him. The pool, if someone else would just help him get into the pool as it stirred up for healing. But no one ever came in time to help him -- not in 38 years.
Then Jesus appeared with a straightforward and searing question, "Do you want to be healed?" And then a command, "Get up."
Sometimes we just need to be leveled with. Excuses can cripple us -- forever if we let them. And waiting on others will never get us anywhere. "Get up," Jesus says. And then we realize that we don't need anyone else to make the first move; we have within the power and agency self-sufficiency to rise up and walk ourselves. We can't afford to wait on anyone or anything else. No more excuses. No more waiting.
"Get up, take up your bed, and walk."
And do it today.
5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
The invalid man was there 38 years, waiting and waiting for someone else to come along and help him. The pool, if someone else would just help him get into the pool as it stirred up for healing. But no one ever came in time to help him -- not in 38 years.
Then Jesus appeared with a straightforward and searing question, "Do you want to be healed?" And then a command, "Get up."
Sometimes we just need to be leveled with. Excuses can cripple us -- forever if we let them. And waiting on others will never get us anywhere. "Get up," Jesus says. And then we realize that we don't need anyone else to make the first move; we have within the power and agency self-sufficiency to rise up and walk ourselves. We can't afford to wait on anyone or anything else. No more excuses. No more waiting.
"Get up, take up your bed, and walk."
And do it today.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 14, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 1 verses 24 and 25:
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Sin is it's own punishment. To get what we covet is to be given over by God to our own crooked and unholy desires. The fruit was pleasing in the eye of Eve. Her punishment was to taste of its bitterness; only then were her eyes opened to see the fruit for what it really was -- spiritual death.
Throughout the Biblical witness God again and again gives his people up to the lusts of their own hearts. It began with Eve and with Adam and continued through the story of Israel. This is again and again God's way of getting at God's people. Given over to their idolatrous lusts, they again and again discover the bitter fruit of rebelliousness. Sin does become its own punishment. They get what they want only to discover they really do not want what they've gotten. This drives them, finally, back into the arms of God. And God's arms are always open. God, who will never force Himself upon us, stands waiting like the Prodigal Son's Father. Having given us up to our prodigal ways, now He stands waiting at the door for humble return. This is not so much the fall from grace but the fall to grace.
I love the theology of Julian of Norwich, who unlike so many of the male theologians of the West saw the Fall not so much as tragedy but as gift. "First the Fall and then the redemption," she said, "and both the grace of God."
Or, as a certain other prodigal Brit once put it:
"You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need"
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Sin is it's own punishment. To get what we covet is to be given over by God to our own crooked and unholy desires. The fruit was pleasing in the eye of Eve. Her punishment was to taste of its bitterness; only then were her eyes opened to see the fruit for what it really was -- spiritual death.
Throughout the Biblical witness God again and again gives his people up to the lusts of their own hearts. It began with Eve and with Adam and continued through the story of Israel. This is again and again God's way of getting at God's people. Given over to their idolatrous lusts, they again and again discover the bitter fruit of rebelliousness. Sin does become its own punishment. They get what they want only to discover they really do not want what they've gotten. This drives them, finally, back into the arms of God. And God's arms are always open. God, who will never force Himself upon us, stands waiting like the Prodigal Son's Father. Having given us up to our prodigal ways, now He stands waiting at the door for humble return. This is not so much the fall from grace but the fall to grace.
I love the theology of Julian of Norwich, who unlike so many of the male theologians of the West saw the Fall not so much as tragedy but as gift. "First the Fall and then the redemption," she said, "and both the grace of God."
Or, as a certain other prodigal Brit once put it:
"You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need"
Monday, March 13, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 13 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 56 verses 8:
8 You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
We just set our clocks forward and my mind, strangely, went to the Deists and their clockmaker God.
The Deists believed in God as a Supreme Creator, but left that God in the creative act -- or, more correctly, thought that God left us and our universe to our own devices after creation. Like a clockmaker, God set the hands of time and then stepped back to let the gadgets and gears run in their own way without intervention. This was a God separate and distant from his creation.
The psalmist today provides such a very different and far more personal picture of God. Here is a God who is counting sleepless nights, a God treasuring tears, a God diarying about us. This is a personal God -- a God who cares.
My life is not like clockwork. The gears aren't smooth and I'm mostly out of sync. I'm always, always at least a few minutes late and sometimes I feel a few decades so. Because of that I need more than a Creator. I need a friend.
God is my friend. God is my dear, dear friend.
8 You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
We just set our clocks forward and my mind, strangely, went to the Deists and their clockmaker God.
The Deists believed in God as a Supreme Creator, but left that God in the creative act -- or, more correctly, thought that God left us and our universe to our own devices after creation. Like a clockmaker, God set the hands of time and then stepped back to let the gadgets and gears run in their own way without intervention. This was a God separate and distant from his creation.
The psalmist today provides such a very different and far more personal picture of God. Here is a God who is counting sleepless nights, a God treasuring tears, a God diarying about us. This is a personal God -- a God who cares.
My life is not like clockwork. The gears aren't smooth and I'm mostly out of sync. I'm always, always at least a few minutes late and sometimes I feel a few decades so. Because of that I need more than a Creator. I need a friend.
God is my friend. God is my dear, dear friend.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 10, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 40 verse 6:
"In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear."
To give an open ear is first above all the other offerings we might render unto the LORD.
An open ear to listen and try to understand.
An open ear to listen and be open to having our mind changed.
An open ear to listen and let someone else feel heard.
Other translations for today's Lesson are, "you dug out my ears" or "made a hole in my ears". To listen, to really hear and seek to understand is hard, hard work.
Let's try it today.
"In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted,
but you have given me an open ear."
To give an open ear is first above all the other offerings we might render unto the LORD.
An open ear to listen and try to understand.
An open ear to listen and be open to having our mind changed.
An open ear to listen and let someone else feel heard.
Other translations for today's Lesson are, "you dug out my ears" or "made a hole in my ears". To listen, to really hear and seek to understand is hard, hard work.
Let's try it today.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 9, 2017
Today's daily lesson comes from Deuteronomy chapter 10 verses 1 and 2:
“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and mmake an ark of wood. 2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’
There is an old Jewish midrashic tradition that says as the Israelites traveled through the wilderness, they carried with them in the ark of the covenant two sets of tablets of the Ten Commandments. The first set was carved and etched by God, yet broken by Moses in the face of the Israelites' idolatry with the Golden Calf. The second set was that which God instructed Moses to carve out of the mountain rock himself.
The spiritual meaning of this old midrash tells us that we each have two tablets within us. The first set is pure gift, carved and etched by God -- yet broken by our own selfish rebellion. We keep its broken pieces as a reminder of what was once pure and undefiled, but now shattered in each of our lives. The second set did not come so easily, it took work -- hard, painstaking work on our part. This set too is just as fragile as the first set, so we lay them together -- one to remind us of the precious fragility of the other. We treasure both; for we know that without the broken we would not have the whole. One was first, the other was second, but they are both present; and we carry both into our future.
"First the fall, and then the redemption," Julian of Norwich said, "and both are the grace of God."
May we learn to treasure both the fall and the redemption, the broken and the whole, in the ark of our own souls.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 8, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Deuteronomy chapter 9 verses 13 through 21:
13 “Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. 14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ 15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. 20 And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
Fascinating.
Here we have the infamous story of the Israelites and the Golden Calf, the molten image they created to alleviate their anxiety over God having kept them in the wilderness without a word for so long.
This story has been abused by non-Jews over the centuries to highlight Israel's disobedience. As a guard against this the Jewish writer Josephus left the story out of his History of the Jews, lest he give ammunition to those who already despised the Jewish people. But this is not a story solely of the faithlessness of the Jews. This is a story about the anxieties of all the people of God and the ways in which we, in St Paul's words, "exchange the worship of the immortal for images of the mortal". None of us is immune from treachery against God. The wilderness can make a people do really crazy and disobedient things. This is why we pray, "Lead is not into temptation."
But here's the really fascinating part:
This isn't actually the only account in the Bible of the Golden Calf episode. The other is found in Exodus and in that account Moses comes down off the mountaintop and goes absolutely ballistic at what he sees the Israelites doing with Golden Calf -- bedlam, revelry, singing, and even (LORD forbid) dancing. Seeing this Moses immediately draws a line. He slays 3,000 men. Then he crushes the Golden Calf and makes the still-living Israelites to drink the gold mixed with water. They drink it to the dregs.
Notice any differences in that story in Exodus from this story we have in today's lesson in Deuteronomy? In the one there is penalty and vengeance and death for many and absolute horror for all. In the other there is still deep regret and pain and heartbrokenness on Moses' part, but no killing and no vengeance. Their is prayer and lamentation. As my friend Jim Beck says, there is not so much anger but anguish.
Of course, it may be that they're all the same story with the gory details left out of the one and included in the other. Okay, that's definitely one way to read it.
But here's another way to read it: Read it by asking ourselves which is the better story? Which is the more Godly story? Or, as Christians might ask, which of these two Moses stories would be the story Jesus would have lived -- did live?
These may be the most important questions in the world. How do we read these two texts? How do we read the Bible? Through what lens do we read the Hebrew Scriptures? Which is the better story?
How you answer these questions will tell you a lot about your Moses, your Jesus, and your God?
How do you read?
13 “Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. 14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ 15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. 18 Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. 20 And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
Fascinating.
Here we have the infamous story of the Israelites and the Golden Calf, the molten image they created to alleviate their anxiety over God having kept them in the wilderness without a word for so long.
This story has been abused by non-Jews over the centuries to highlight Israel's disobedience. As a guard against this the Jewish writer Josephus left the story out of his History of the Jews, lest he give ammunition to those who already despised the Jewish people. But this is not a story solely of the faithlessness of the Jews. This is a story about the anxieties of all the people of God and the ways in which we, in St Paul's words, "exchange the worship of the immortal for images of the mortal". None of us is immune from treachery against God. The wilderness can make a people do really crazy and disobedient things. This is why we pray, "Lead is not into temptation."
But here's the really fascinating part:
This isn't actually the only account in the Bible of the Golden Calf episode. The other is found in Exodus and in that account Moses comes down off the mountaintop and goes absolutely ballistic at what he sees the Israelites doing with Golden Calf -- bedlam, revelry, singing, and even (LORD forbid) dancing. Seeing this Moses immediately draws a line. He slays 3,000 men. Then he crushes the Golden Calf and makes the still-living Israelites to drink the gold mixed with water. They drink it to the dregs.
Notice any differences in that story in Exodus from this story we have in today's lesson in Deuteronomy? In the one there is penalty and vengeance and death for many and absolute horror for all. In the other there is still deep regret and pain and heartbrokenness on Moses' part, but no killing and no vengeance. Their is prayer and lamentation. As my friend Jim Beck says, there is not so much anger but anguish.
Of course, it may be that they're all the same story with the gory details left out of the one and included in the other. Okay, that's definitely one way to read it.
But here's another way to read it: Read it by asking ourselves which is the better story? Which is the more Godly story? Or, as Christians might ask, which of these two Moses stories would be the story Jesus would have lived -- did live?
These may be the most important questions in the world. How do we read these two texts? How do we read the Bible? Through what lens do we read the Hebrew Scriptures? Which is the better story?
How you answer these questions will tell you a lot about your Moses, your Jesus, and your God?
How do you read?
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 7, 2017
Today's daily lesson comes from John chapter 4 verses 47 through 50:
47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
If you have ever worried yourself sick over the wellbeing of a child, then you understand the father in this story. If in the middle of the night you have pleaded with God for the miracle of your child's healing or salvation then you know this father.
The man's son is gravely ill, near even to the point of death. And hearing that this Jesus with the power to work miracles is up in the mountain village of Cana, the father makes the desperate decision to leave his son in his town of Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee and make the day-long journey up to Cana.
Arriving and finding Jesus there in Cana, the father begs him to come down to Capernaum and perform a miracle. But disappointingly Jesus refuses to come, and even speaks suspiciously about miracles. “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” Again, the father begs Jesus to come down before the child dies. But again Jesus says no; instead Jesus tells the man to go back down himself and trust that his son will live.
At some point every parent begs for Jesus to come down, out of heaven to do something miraculous to heal or save our child. We travel up the mountain in desperate prayer to Him to come back down with us. But for whatever reason -- and this is a mystery hidden with Him in God -- Jesus cannot or will not come down to do the miraculous. Instead, He tells us to go back down, to be with the child, and to trust Him that though no sign or miraculous wonder is to be done our child will indeed live.
Jesus asks us to go back down the mountain without the miracle in hand. It is an act of faith to trust Him at His word, that though we don't get what we would wanted going up the mountain, we got what we needed -- his promise to us that our children will be will, in life or in death they shall be well.
And all manner of things shall be well.
Monday, March 6, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 6, 2017
Today's daily lesson comes from John 4 verses 28 and 29:
28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man jwho told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
It's a small detail in John's story of the woman at the well; but that's what grabs us because John really doesn't give a lot of details -- and he gives no insignificant ones. Everything means something; and this means everything.
But first the story:
She had come back to the same old well for the umpteenth time. She had five husbands we are told; and a sixth man she was living with was not her husband. And she was back at the well in the middle of the day when no one went to the well looking for -- water.
A new man is there a the old well. "Give me a drink," he asks.
"You, a Jew ask of me a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" She acts surprised, but my hunch is there have been other Jews here at this well before.
"If you had known who it is that asks, he would give you living water," the stranger says.
"You give me water? But you have no bucket and the well is deep." It's an interesting word -- "well". Its only used a few times in the Bible, and usually not for a water well but rather for a pit -- specifically, the very pit of hell. What well is she speaking of? The water well or the well of her own life? Is she saying her life is a living hell?
The stranger answers, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
"Sir," she says, "give me this water."
They talk longer and intimately. She probably can't believe it herself, but she trusts this stranger -- more than she has ever trusted any man before. In fact, the John says she trusts him so much that she tells him everything about herself -- the good, the bad, and the ugly; she tells him stories from the very dark bottom of her well.
And by the end of the story, when the stranger's disciples show up at the well, the woman goes off back into the city to tell all its people about this man at the well -- this man who is no longer a stranger. And then comes John's detail:
"She left her water jar behind."
It's John's little way of telling us that whatever it was she was looking for out there at the well, she had found it and so much more. She didn't need the jar to draw water from the old well anymore. She had the water inside her now. The woman at the well had become a well herself, and the font inside her was flowing up and out from the deepest her story and bringing water to whomever else might drink.
Friday, March 3, 2017
Daily Lesson for March 3, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Jonah chapter 4 verses 6 through 11:
6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” 10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
The LORD giveth and the LORD taketh away.
And when the LORD takes away; we like the Prophet Jonah whine and fume and brood and do all manner of other things to show our dissatisfaction in our entitlements not being met.
But the whole point of the Book of Jonah -- a farce about a preacher who doesn't want to preach to a people he doesn't want to hear -- is that there is no such thing as entitlement. God doesn't owe us anything. Nobody has earned God's favor over anybody else. No people are more than others to hear the good news and be saved, spared, pardoned, reprieved, or forgiven. All is grace.
A little shady vine for Jonah. The trip to the gym for me. Rain on the just and the unjust alike. We didn't earn any of it. It doesn't have to come our way. We don't deserve it. And so we ought not take it for granted. It's grace -- unmerited gift and favor.
"Count your blessings," my 5th grade teacher Marilyn Jamison used to tell us. And we should; we should count them one by one.
6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” 10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
The LORD giveth and the LORD taketh away.
And when the LORD takes away; we like the Prophet Jonah whine and fume and brood and do all manner of other things to show our dissatisfaction in our entitlements not being met.
But the whole point of the Book of Jonah -- a farce about a preacher who doesn't want to preach to a people he doesn't want to hear -- is that there is no such thing as entitlement. God doesn't owe us anything. Nobody has earned God's favor over anybody else. No people are more than others to hear the good news and be saved, spared, pardoned, reprieved, or forgiven. All is grace.
A little shady vine for Jonah. The trip to the gym for me. Rain on the just and the unjust alike. We didn't earn any of it. It doesn't have to come our way. We don't deserve it. And so we ought not take it for granted. It's grace -- unmerited gift and favor.
"Count your blessings," my 5th grade teacher Marilyn Jamison used to tell us. And we should; we should count them one by one.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Daily Lesson for Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 18 verses 9 through 14:
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Today is Ash Wednesday in the life of the church, a day for reflection and penance as the people come for the imposition of ashes on the forehead. This is an outward and visible sign of our inward life. It is as if the church says to us, "We know what you are made of inside. Dust thou art and to dust thou wilt return."
Morally, we are dust and we are ashes and Ash Wednesday calls us to see and consider this truth about ourselves. "None is righteous -- no not one," (Romans 3:10).
That word was spoken from the pen of St Paul, who like the Pharisee in today's lesson did indeed at one time consider himself righteous. He also considered his people righteous -- his nation holy and righteous and just and altogether exceptional.
But the reminder of Ash Wednesday is that there really is no exception. We have all fallen short. None is righteous. None is just. For as Reinhold Niebuhr insightfully phrased it, in the end God must not only overcome the wickedness of evil, but even more the injustice of the just and the "unrighteousness of the righteous". This is the power of sin and death -- that it has corrupted even the so-called good persons and so-called good nations. Without exception, all stand in need of redemption.
The people stand, they file down the center aisle, heads bowed in penitent expression. They come reminded of their sin and need for grace. The church has told them the truth. As the Prophet Isaiah put it, "Even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags." And now the priest or pastor with ash upon his or her fingers will tell them one more truth, "Dust thou art and to dust thou wilt return."
God knows what we are made of. The church knows what it is made of. And now the so-called righteous know what they are made of all.
And now we begin to understand the depths of our own unrighteousness and the extraordinary mercy of God's good news.
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Today is Ash Wednesday in the life of the church, a day for reflection and penance as the people come for the imposition of ashes on the forehead. This is an outward and visible sign of our inward life. It is as if the church says to us, "We know what you are made of inside. Dust thou art and to dust thou wilt return."
Morally, we are dust and we are ashes and Ash Wednesday calls us to see and consider this truth about ourselves. "None is righteous -- no not one," (Romans 3:10).
That word was spoken from the pen of St Paul, who like the Pharisee in today's lesson did indeed at one time consider himself righteous. He also considered his people righteous -- his nation holy and righteous and just and altogether exceptional.
But the reminder of Ash Wednesday is that there really is no exception. We have all fallen short. None is righteous. None is just. For as Reinhold Niebuhr insightfully phrased it, in the end God must not only overcome the wickedness of evil, but even more the injustice of the just and the "unrighteousness of the righteous". This is the power of sin and death -- that it has corrupted even the so-called good persons and so-called good nations. Without exception, all stand in need of redemption.
The people stand, they file down the center aisle, heads bowed in penitent expression. They come reminded of their sin and need for grace. The church has told them the truth. As the Prophet Isaiah put it, "Even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags." And now the priest or pastor with ash upon his or her fingers will tell them one more truth, "Dust thou art and to dust thou wilt return."
God knows what we are made of. The church knows what it is made of. And now the so-called righteous know what they are made of all.
And now we begin to understand the depths of our own unrighteousness and the extraordinary mercy of God's good news.
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