Daily Lesson for July 31, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson is from Psalm 56 verse 8:

8 You have noted my lamentation;

put my tears into your bottle; 

are they not recorded in your book?

There was a custom in the ancient world that people mourning the death of a loved one would bottle their tears and then go and pour out their tears on the tomb's stone.  This was a healing ritual for the bereaved -- a way of passage through the journey of grief. 

When the psalmist says God places our tears into His bottle he affirms how precious our grief is to God. God does not dismiss our tears or discount our lamentation. God does not tell us to, "Get over it," or "Quit crying."  God is not afraid of our grief. Our pain and fragility do not repulse God. God let's us cry. God is gentle with our tears. God puts them in His bottle, a keepsake from life's hard way, a gift to be treasured and then given to us when the journey is through. 

Daily Lesson for July 28, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 5 verses 21 through 43:

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. 22Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ 24So he went with him.

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

35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ 37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’40And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ 42And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

This is a well known and extraordinary story that tells of two healings of two females -- a woman and a child -- who have passed one another by in the streets of Capernaum over these past twelve years and whose paths now converge on the little road that leads from the Sea of Galilee to the house of the the synagogue leader. 

The woman has been unwell and unclean over these last twelve years and has spent all she had on futile medical care. The cost of medical care has taken everything except her dignity. The little girl, 12 years of age and the daughter of the synagogue leader, has surely seen the woman on the streets of the little town and noticed or been explicitly told how the woman is not to enter the synagogue because her uncleanness is not appropriate in a holy place. And now, the little girl is unclean with sickness, a sickness unto death.

Often, this story is preached in such a way as to make a large point about Jesus stopping to heal the poor outsider on the streets while on his way to the home more powerful insider. There is indeed something to be said there. The little girl is the synagogue leader's daughter, a man whose name everyone must have known, "Jairus". But Jesus calls the unclean woman, the woman whose name no one knows or knew, his "daughter".  We might think how significant that is to know that Jesus calls the poor and the powerless and the nameless and the medically sick and the ritually unclean his own children. 

But there is something else too -- another daughter, the daughter of the leader of the synagogue where, if we're studying our Bible we know, just a few pages before the first great conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities first erupted and where Jesus first became a marked man. As leader of the synagogue, the little girl's father may well have been apart of the faction of religious leaders who had it out for Jesus. And yet, when his daughter turned up ill, Jesus came with compassion, with compassion for all. 

A few months back, a friend of mine saw a photograph of a politician with whom he vigorously disagrees sitting tenderly with his young child. He wrote on Facebook how that picture reframed some things for him. Until then, he had only seen that politician as a part of the opposing side, an opponent, perhaps even an enemy. But suddenly, with that picture, he saw him as a father, a human being, a person with the capacity to love and be loved, feel, and hurt, and have his heart broken. And suddenly, then, my friend had compassion.

Jesus had compassion for all.  He had compassion on the nameless woman whose presence was not allowed in the synagogue because of the condition of her health and also the leader of the synagogue which pushed her and also Jesus out. 

This is a compassion beyond our ordinary human tendency. It is a compassion that comes solely from the all-compassionate heart of God. And it's why we sing a hymn with lines like, "There's a wideness in His mercy."

May we with ears listen today.

Daily Lesson for July 27, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 5 verses 1 through 13:

They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. 3He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 4for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. 5Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. 6When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; 7and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ 8For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’9Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ 10He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; 12and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’13So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned in the lake.

The resilience of people holding on  and holding out against so much in life amazes me. 

Right now -- any right now -- I have so many friends fighting so hard just to stay alive. Alone, locked away inside themselves, they are barely hanging on. They are beset by what they say feels like and may even be legions of demons. Yet, they're holding on. They're holding out. They're still surviving.

There are enough demons in the possessed man to kill a whole herd of swine, and maybe more. Yet, they didn't kill him. They weren't enough to kill him. He held on. He endured. He survived. It was not pretty. It was not well. But he survived. He stayed alive. He endured. 

Then one day, a single wave washed ashore and with it came a boat.  And the boat's name was Hope, and inside it was salvation. 

Daily Lesson for July 26, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 119 verse 67:

"Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word."

Pain and suffering can be our greatest teachers in life. Hard as they are, they are often the only things that have the power to save us from ourselves. It is here that we find "a severe mercy".

Without any pain we pretty well feel free to go and do as we please. But affliction, whether of the body or of the spirit, drives us to a point of humility -- a place of prayer. There is a gift to be found in being broken.

We often hear the term "fall from grace".  But there is no falling from grace. As Paul wrote, "For when sin abounds grace abounds".  Truly what there is always is the fall to grace.  

Julian of Norwich taught, "First there is the fall, then the redemption, and both the grace of God."  

The fall is painful and harsh and does not leave us unscarred. We'll always walk with a limp.  It shall be our reminder. And, it shall get us home. 

Daily Lesson for July 25, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 4 verses 26 through 29:

26 He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’

There is an old Grimm's Fairy Tale I have always loved about a little tailor going on a long, long journey.  Along the way, the tailor encounters all kinds of challenges which he overcomes with things he's tucked away in little pockets his hand-sewn suit. 

On one leg of the journey the tailor comes upon a giant who refuses to let the tailor pass lest the tailor can defeat him in some kind of test of strength. The tailor agrees and chooses a rock-throwing contest. Overjoyed with the chance to demonstrate the might of his muscle, the giant bends down and grabs a huge bolder, spins round like an Olympic discus thrower, and then launches the bolder as high and far into the sky as the eye can see before it finally comes crashing down in a hail of dust. 

The tailor watched, nodded respectfully at the giant, and then bent down and picked up a tiny pebble. He then opened his little tailor's coat and took out a little piece of thread.  He nodded again at the giant and then opened the other side of his coat from which he pulled out a small dove. The tailor then took the tiny pebble and tied it to the foot of the small dove, raised the dove as high into the hair as his tiny stature would allow him, and then released the dove into the air. It never came back.

Jesus said, "The earth produces of itself."  Because its meant to grow. 

And birds fly of themselves because they have wings. 

But boulders are bound to fall -- no matter how high you throw them. 

Whoever has ears, let them hear. 

Daily Lesson for July 24, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 1 verses 1 through 10a and 16 through 19:

When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, ‘David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.’ 2Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to look for David and his men in the direction of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3He came to the sheepfolds beside the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.4The men of David said to him, ‘Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.” ’ Then David went and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. 5Afterwards David was stricken to the heart because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. 6He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to raise my hand against him; for he is the Lord’s anointed.’7So David scolded his men severely and did not permit them to attack Saul. Then Saul got up and left the cave, and went on his way. 8 Afterwards David also rose up and went out of the cave and called after Saul, ‘My lord the king!’ When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. 9David said to Saul, ‘Why do you listen to the words of those who say, “David seeks to do you harm”? 10This very day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you into my hand in the cave; and some urged me to kill you, but I spared you.

16 When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, ‘Is that your voice, my son David?’ Saul lifted up his voice and wept. 17He said to David, ‘You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. 18Today you have explained how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. 19For who has ever found an enemy, and sent the enemy safely away? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.

Who says the Bible doesn't have a sense of humor?

Here David has his enemy King Saul in a VERY compromising position and yet David refuses to exploit the situation. He resists disgracing the King. David allows his enemy to turn the other cheek, as it were. 

I'm thinking now of the dirtiness of our politics. Everybody is playing hardball now days. It's cut throat, high stakes, winner take all.  There are no holds barred and nothing is off limits or out of bounds. We need dirt and we'll do whatever it takes to get it. 

And yet, I heard about a local politician who was sent some very compromising information on a political opponent. I mean he really had the goods on the guy -- all the dirt.  But rather than exploiting it he decided to burn it instead. He burned it because as he said, "My mother taught me that if you throw mud you're bound to get dirty yourself."

I wish that guy would run for high office. 

Daily Lesson for July 21, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 31 verse 21:

Blessed be the Lord!
for he has shown me the wonders of his love in a
besieged city.

Yesterday I went to see an old and dear friend from church. In the bright afternoon of her life she was strong of nature and spirit -- quiet and unassuming, yet solid in self firm in conviction. She was a pioneer, on of our first female deacons, a minister unto generations, and a role model to generations.

Yet now the shadows have grown long and a dimness has set in. When I came in, she no longer recognized me; though she did smile when I told her I was from Second B. Then after the smile, she said plainly. "My mind is gone. You have to tell me what to do."

I sat down next to her and she looked at me directly. "Now, what do I do?" she asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Just sit."

"Just sit?"

"Just sit."

We sat there a few moments and she asked again what she should do. "My mind is gone," she said.

I looked at her and I thanked her for all that she has been for so many. "You have meant so much to us," I said.

"That's nice. I wish I could do more," she said. And then once more. "You'll have to tell me what to do."

"Just sit," I said."

"Okay," she nodded.

I looked around the room. There was a plaque given to her after decades of teaching Sunday School for women at an assisted living residence. There was a tell-tale iron cross on the wall, no doubt handmade by another one of our parishioners at church. There was an unopened envelope of prayer cards from the church.

"Can I read these to you?" I asked and she nodded.

There was a card from the Tuesday morning men's prayer breakfast -- a little grease stained with fingerprints after the men passed it hand to hand after eggs over easy and toast with jam. There was a card from an old friend, hoping to pay a visit. And there was a card from one of our newer members, saying thanks for the welcome into our church when she first joined.

"This is the church," I thought. "This is church."

"Now what do I do? You'll have to tell me."

"How about pray," I said. "How about the LORD's prayer."

"That would be nice. You'll have to tell me."

I kneeled before her little rocker and looked at her. "Just follow along. Our Father who art in heaven . . ."

She followed me phrase by phrase until I came to the doxology where she caught up with me. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever . . . Amen."

"Now what do I do?"

"Just sit there. Just rest."

"Just rest?"

"Just rest. Just rest a little longer, my dear friend."

And then the Lesson:

Blessed be the Lord!
for he has shown me the wonders of his love in a
besieged city.

Daily Lesson for July 20, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 3 verses 1 through 

6:

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3And he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come forward.’ 4Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. 5He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Awhile back I was at a diner in town eating with a couple of friends. I couldn't help but overhear at the table behind us a man talking about some tenants renting a place of his. 

"I mean they're or Turks or Pakis or something. I get a call on Sunday morning, right before church. They've got a leak. Of course, they're not in church. They don't care about LORD's Day. Sunday doesn't mean anything to them. They want me to come over right now because," -- and here his voice got low and real, real loud, obnoxiously loud, "MUSLIMS".

And I wondered to myself if what this guy usually did on Sundays really had anything to do with the real meaning of Sabbath -- anything at all. 

Again, if any have ears to hear let them hear. 

Daily Lesson for July 19, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 20 verses 1 through 3:

David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came before Jonathan and said, ‘What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?’ 2He said to him, ‘Perish the thought! You shall not die. My father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? Never!’3But David also swore, ‘Your father knows well that you like me; and he thinks, “Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.” But truly, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.’

And Acts chapter 12 verses 18 through 22:

18 When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 19When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20 Now Herod* was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body; and after winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. 21On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them. 22The people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!’

One of the hard truths we have to learn about life is the fact that not everyone is rational. A certain percentage of people out there are psychologically paranoid, narcissistic, obsessive, and abusive. Some of these have even managed to make it into some pretty high and powerful places in life -- perhaps disproportionately so. Those around them spend a lot of time stroking, placating, containing, and trying to convince. But in the end, it's impossible to pacify crazy. As the old aphorism says, "You can't make friends with a crocodile."

Jonathan thought he could control his father. But David knew Jonathan's father was out of control. And in the end that's what saved David's life.

If any have ears to hear, let them hear. 

Daily Lesson for July 18, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 2 verses 1 through 5:

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3Then some people came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. 4And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ 

A while back I listened to an interview with geophysicist and Catholic spiritual thinker Xavier Le Pichon, in which he reflected on some of the anthropological discoveries he has made in digging up thousands of year old human burial sites and what they tell us about human compassion and care. 

One of Le Pichon's discoveries was of a mutilated man who lived several centuries before the Common Era, and whose bones had been crushed in some kind terribly traumatic event. What was most interesting, however, was that the man was over 40 years of age though his bones had actually been injured at a much earlier time. Le Pichon says this indicated that he had lived a long time following his injury and was therefore dependent upon the care of his community for many years, if not decades. For Le Pichon, who spent time in the L'Arch Community, a home for the severely disabled founded by Jean Vanier, this man's bones were proof of a kind of human organizing around suffering, and a refutation of the Darwinian conception of early human life primarily being about solely the survival of the fittest. These people, in a society with only a modicum of technological advancement kept their friend and loved one alive for years by literally carrying him on their back and in their arms. 

Le Pichon reflected ". . . the basic thing is not why man is helping the others, but I think it’s why man has this ability to empathize, to identify himself with the suffering person, which leads him, of course, after that to decide to help him, to share the life with him. This is what’s so unique about man."

I have friends who have ordered their lives around the suffering and survival of others. I have friends whose young children bathe their paralyzed father. I have friends who share rounds each day sitting with a friends struggling to hold on amidst the darkness of depression. I have friends who spend countless hours helping their son fight for just inches of movement in his head, because they know life is a matter of only inches for him. I have a friend who gives over four hours every Sunday morning to dress his grandma and see that she gets to her church. What incredible compassion, re-ordering, and self-surrender. What incredible love. 

"And seeing their faith," Jesus said, your sins are forgiven."

Daily Lesson for July 17, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark 1:35 through 39:

35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ 38He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus prayed. 

Before all of the major events of Jesus' ministry he prayed. He prayed before leaving Capernaum and broadening his work throughout all of Galilee. He prayed before the Sermon on the Plain. He prayed before walking on water. He prayed before the Transfiguration. And He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before enduring the cross. 

Jesus prayed just before all of the seminal events of his ministry took place. Or, another way to look at it is, all the seminal events of Jesus' ministry took place after he prayed.  And he prayed all the time. 

He prayed for provision. He prayed for guidance. He prayed for courage. He prayed for strength. He prayed for the faith to surrender His own will to the will of His Father. He prayed for the power to forgive. He prayed for others. He prayed for everything. He prayed all the time. 

Now, let us pray . . .

Daily Lesson for July 14, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 16 verse 2:

"All my delight is upon the godly that are in the land, 

upon those who are noble among the people."

Not long ago someone asked me about how my preaching has changed over the years. I told them that one thing I've noticed is that after 12 years of being a pastor and after seven years of pastoring in one place and among one people my sermon illustrations come less now from Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mother Teresa and more from the people of the church. Yes, pastoring is hard and there have been some people over the years who were a challenge. But all in all, church people have been the greatest blessing ever given to me and to my family. They have shown us how to faithful.  How to be kind. How to be generous. How to forgive. How to forgive again. And again. 

I think of the man in our first church who, when we were poorer than Job's turkey, gave us not one but two cars. Not only that; he literally welcomed the homeless into his house to stay -- a client at his law firm who had nowhere else to go. The client was a chef and my friend let him stay in exchange for the man's cooking. He and I hiked the Mt. Mansfield together with the youth from the church. And we spent summer Sunday after summer Sunday at his camp on Lake Chaplain. He was not only a parishioner. He was my counselor and friend. 

There was the woman who painted a scene from Gettysburg while on her travels and gave it to Irie and I our first Christmas together. On the back she wrote these words:

"This painting is based on photos from our trip to Gettysburg. It was a gray, misty overcast day which suited the somber mood of what we were seeing and imagining. The entry trees symbolize the war and hurts while the open gate thru the stonewall hints at possibilities of true reconciliation in the many decades to come."

There was the woman who came to me and told me her story of being abused as a little girl. "I am learning to forgive," she told me. "I forgive every single morning again and again. I forgive 7x77 -- seven days a week for all the 77 years I'm likely to live."

Then there was the old man from another time who refused to vote when Irie came forward to join the church. He didn't vote against her, but he just couldn't bring himself to vote for her either. He sat silently instead, while everyone else raised there hand. I worried about that man. He was good, I knew. I saw it. But he was from another time. And then, a half-year later he showed up at Irie's and my wedding with one really, really nice gift. And later one when we left the church, he told us how good we had been for it. 

"All my delight is upon the godly of the land," the psalmist wrote. 

I think I understand what he was trying to say. 

Daily Lesson for July 13, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 17 verses 4 through 7:

4And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armoured with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 

A couple years back I read a fascinating book by Malcolm Gladwell titled "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants" which basically turned the whole David and Goliath story around by wondering if the giant's great panoply of armament might not have been an advantage but actually a disadvantage -- the source of his downfall. The whole idea was that maybe Goliath was too big and too well armed to be of any use in an actual battle -- especially a battle against someone as agile as David. Something to think on. 

It's also something to think on for ourselves. Sometimes our great strengths in our lives end up actually being our weaknesses -- the source of our downfall. 

Another book. About the same time "David and Goliath" came out, business thinkers Rob Kaiser and Bob Kaplan published another book titled "Fear Your Strengths". Their premise is that in recent years the whole management coaching world has overly focused on building on strengths, to a point where leaders have been taught to over-rely on them. Strong-minded and decisive leaders have been given the green light to be overly unilateral and even domineering while on the flip side nurturing leaders have learned the poor form of "too much" enabling.  The point of the book was to be self-aware and understand how strengths can sometimes become liabilities.  As one business executive put it, "I don’t have to give up my fastball; I just don’t have to throw it all the time!"

Our strengths are God-given and wonderful. But there is a shadow-side to them. They have their Achilles Heel. Beware. 

Daily Lesson for July 12, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 13 verses 28 through 35:

13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles* from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ 19He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ 25Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!26Was it not necessary that the Messiah* should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’ 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.34They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Seldom are our spiritual eyes opened in just one moment. It is a process and a journey, a walk to Emmaus. 

Along the way there is conversation on the road. There is a seemingly-chance encounter with a wise stranger who crosses our path. There is more conversation. There are questions which we do not have the answers to. There is talk of hope and hope lost. There is the anguish of deep grief and even deeper fear. There is the opening of Scripture. More questions!  There is the invitation to dinner.  There is food and there is laughter and there is fellowship. And there is sacrament.  There is sacrament in all its mystery from the very beginning to the very end. 

We really don't know what is happening. It's subtle and gradual -- like the rise of the road. We didn't even notice it. But all along the path, at every turn, and every bend, and every crook, and every rise and fall, and every smooth place, our hearts were burning within us. 

Our hearts were burning with the hint of Resurrection. 

Daily Lesson for July 11, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 9 verses 36 through 43:

36 Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. 37 In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” 39 So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. 40 But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41 And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

We all know a Dorcas. She was one of the good and kind women of the little seaside village of Joppa whose care for the widows and other vulnerable women in the village earned her the reputation as a saint in the community. Most of things she did were small, but they were done with much care and decency and a deep concern for her neighbors and her neighborhood.  When I think of what Dorcas did for her community, I think of something Mother Teresa once said, "If you cannot do great things, do small things with great love."

When Dorcas died all of the widows from the village came to Dorcas's home, carrying the shawls she had made for them in the last years of her life when all she could do was make shawls. Peter also came, having been summoned by those in the village to come and pray for the recovery of this woman who had done so much for the community. He entered the upper room; and perhaps because of the power within Peter or perhaps because of the power of Dorcas's good works, she was raised from the dead. When she awoke she looked down out of the upper room window onto the little village street where all the widows stood beneath praising God, the shawls Dorcas had made them draped across their shoulders or raised in thanksgiving and praise to God.

Then something else followed. That night, Peter went to stay with a man in Joppa named Simeon.  Simeon was a tanner, a unclean profession; but Simeon was so thankful to Peter for raising Dorcas that he extended his hospitality. Peter graciously accepted. And there at Simeon's house, Peter had a dream where God revealed to him that the Gospel would soon come to all the "unclean" people of the world. When Peter awoke from his dream there was a knock downstairs at Simeon's door; Gentiles had come to hear the good news.

Dorcas was a woman who did what she could to love.  She loved through her hands with the making of all those tunics. She poured herself into what she knitted. But what she could never have known was how her love and care for her neighbors would end up being what God used to open the Gospel for all the world. Without those tunics there never would have been a push to go and get Peter. And without Peter there would have been no invitation from Simon. And without Simon there would have been no dream on the rooftop nor knock at the door. None of that would ever have happened without Dorcas's love and work.

I wonder if this is how it will be for us all in heaven -- waking like Dorcas in the upper room we will look down and see the tangible evidence of the small acts of great love we have shared with our neighbors and friends. And then, like Dorcas, we will see the mysterious way God will use them to go on blessing the whole world also.

I bet it is . . .

Daily Lesson for July 10, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 9 verses 26 and 27:

26 When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. ²⁷But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoke to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. 

And Acts chapter 11 verses 22 through 24:

22 News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

In the early days of the church there was this wonderful man whose Spirit was such that whenever he was around he made others feel, and act, and look better. He was a source of inspiration and motivation and he opened the door for others to step in and up as leaders.  Now here was a man who lived up to the full stature of his name -- Barnabas, "Son of Encouragement".

Last evening, a woman from church called and left a message on my voicemail: "Ryon, this is So-and-So.  There is no need to call me back. I am just calling a few people I know to tell them how much they mean. I want you to know that the world is a better place because of you. I appreciate you; and I love you. Goodbye."

I tell you what, I thank God for sons and for daughters of encouragement.

Daily Lesson for July 7, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 9:

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ 5He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ 7The men who were travelling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Saul fell.

Proud Saul, the Hebrew of Hebrews, the golden boy of the Pharisaic movement which was to take back the land and the people and the nation for God's sake, suddenly discovered that he had been fighting the wrong fight against the wrong people. He thought he was God's man in Texas; and then a light from heaven flashed, and a voice from the clouds thundered. And Saul fell. He fell hard. 

The Bible says "God opposes the proud."  And so God fells us and then cuts our pride down to size. It hurts like hell, and the embarrassment of it we can't stand. But the good LORD doesn't mind. He knows what's good for us. A fall is good for us. 

Richard Rohr calls it "falling upward".  And I've heard others call it "falling to grace".  It's how we get broken in order to be made anew. It's how the hard heart of pride and prejudice gets cracked open.  It's how Saul becomes Paul.

"First the fall, then the redemption," Julian of Norwich said; "and both the grace of God."

Amen. 

Daily Lesson for July 6, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson is from Psalm 133

1 Oh, how good and pleasant it is, 

when brethren live together in unity!

2 It is like fine oil upon the head 

that runs down upon the beard,

3 Upon the beard of Aaron, 

and runs down upon the collar of his robe.

4 It is like the dew of Hermon 

that falls upon the hills of Zion.

5 For there the Lord has ordained the blessing: 

life for evermore.

When there is unity and collegiality and a spirit of trust in the leadership of a church or business or any other institution it trickles down. It affects the whole organization. It is like an anointing of a head with a great and generous portion of oil which then flows down upon the whole body.

Of course, mistrust, dissension, and conflict flow down from the top also. They are like pollutants that run down a mountain and poison the whole valley beneath. It's a killer -- spirit killer, community killer, fellowship killer, and life killer. 

Want to know how healthy an organization is?  Want to know how healthy it will be in another year?  Look at the relationships of its leaders. They will tell you everything. 

Daily Lesson for July 5, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 16 verses 6 through 13:

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.’7But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’ 8Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this one.’ 10Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these.’ 11Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.’ 12He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’ 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.

I love this story because what happens is so humorous. 

Samuel has been sent to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king. Samuel sees Jesse's eldest son who very much looks the part. "Surely this is the one," Samuel thinks, "the LORD's anointed before my very eyes."

But the LORD speaks to Samuel. His eyes will mislead him. "Do not look with your eyes;" Samuel is told, "for the LORD looks not on the the outward appearance but on the heart."

So, then all of Jesse's other sons are brought before Samuel, six in all. But none seem to be right. "Isn't there another?" Samuel asks in desperation.  "Don't you have any more sons?"

"Well, there is one more," Jesse says. "But he's just a shepherd boy."

"Get him," Samuel says. 

And when Jesse goes to get him, this seventh son David is clearly the one, the anointed one of Israel. 

And here's the humorous part. When Samuel sees David standing before him, he sees a young man handsome as all get out, one who absolutely looks like he was cut out to rule an army and a nation. (Shame on you if you're now thinking of Michaelangelo's David; shame on me also.)

This is where irony comes in. It doesn't matter. Physically look the part or not, it simply does not matter. Not look the part, or look the part too much, it does not matter. For LORD looks not on human appearance, but on the heart. 

And that's the one thing the human eyes cannot see nor human hands like Michaelangelo's sculpt.  For the heart can only be made known by the eyes of the Spirit within.

Daily Lesson for July 4, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson for Independence Day 2017:

In recent days there has been something of a public debate going on about church and state and the appropriateness of the Flag of the United States of America in the sanctuary of Jesus.  Or, maybe I should pluralize that and say flags.  Last week First Baptist Dallas, one of the most conservative churches with one of the most conservative pastors in perhaps the most conservative state, hosted a patriotic "Freedom" service, wherein the entire place and all of the people were decked out in red, white, and the blue.  Reportedly, fireworks literally went off while the choir sang patriot songs and the congregation waved Old Glory.  To me it looked less like true patriotism and more like a good old fashioned sugar stick.

Of course, many of my more liberal friends and even some conservative ones with deep convictions about the wall of separation between church and state were outspokenly critical. Some went so far as to call it plain idolatry.  Then yesterday, even Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religion Commission sent out a tweet seeming to comment on the First Baptist Dallas's service or perhaps more generally the theology driving it:

"The church of Jesus Christ will outlast the United States of America. If that doesn't sound like good news to you- reconsider."

That to me, while I believe indeed true, was nevertheless too much.  It  undercut the place proper patriotism and pride of country have -- especially around Independence Day. The idea that the church of Jesus Christ will outlast the United States of America and all other nations and epochs is good news, but not on the Fourth of July. Saying so is like refusing to sing "Happy Birthday" to grandma because what she should really be celebrating is dying and going to heaven.

Into all of this I add an excellent book I have just read by Philip Gorski titled "American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present".  In the book Gorski, a Yale sociologist, examines the critical role American civil religion has played as a middle ground between radical secularism -- which above all values freedom even above the idea of the common good -- and religious nationalism, which is in fact the idolatry of the state. Gorski says there is indeed a fitting place for civil religion and its religious spirit is what has been the binding force which from John Winthrop to Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King, Jr. has made America what it is today and what it still hopes to be tomorrow: "one nation under God with liberty and justice for all."

 Gorski dedicates a great deal of his book to perhaps my favorite theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.  To Gorski, Niebuhr was the preeminent theologian for America's civil religion insofar as he understood the power of religious language to summon a people to both good or evil and therefore the humility that is required as we think on what it means for humankind to be both "a little higher than the angels" and also less than God. 

It is something Niebuhr wrote that I want to share as we reflect on the proper place of patriotism this Independence Day. Writing amidst the rise of Nazi Germany and its deification of the state through religious language symbology, Niebuhr said that there is indeed something like a so-called "Christian nation" and they prove themselves so by submitting to the "prophetic judgments" spoken against them.  In other words, a Godly nation is only Godly when it is also humble.

Today is Independence Day. It is indeed a day for celebrating all that America is and aspires to be. Today let's be patriotic about all that we are; and also humble about all that we are not yet. 

Indeed, Jesus Christ will outlast the United States of America. Nevertheless, let's still wish her a happy birthday and hope for another full year of life, Liberty, and pursuit of happiness; for her, and for all her many children. 

Daily Lesson for June 3, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson is from Psalm 106 verses 14 and 15:

14 A craving seized them in the wilderness, 

and they put God to the test in the desert.

15 He gave them what they asked, 

but sent leanness into their soul.

There are two ways to be dissatisfied in this life -- to not get what you want, and to get what you want. 

The Israelites craved meat in the wilderness. They whined and begged for it. They wouldn't be satisfied until they got it. And then they did get it.  And they were full for about two seconds; and then they were hungry again.  Then they began to whine and to beg again. They could not be satisfied. 

This is the reason Jesus did not feed the crowd again the second day after he fed them the first. He knew they could not be satisfied, not with bread anyways. They would keep coming, keep begging, keep hungering and hungering and hungering, and keep being disappointed. 

The things of this world will never fill us completely. Not even the bread that Jesus gives can satiate our hungers forever. We keep being dissatisfied with work or with worship or with all manner of things of churchly or worldly things. The answer is probably not something different.  More likely, the answer is to learn to live with the hunger, the disappointment, the desire. 

For God "sent leanness into their soul."  

And leanness has something very important to teach us.