Daily Lesson for October 31, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 13 verses 5 and 6:

5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.

The things God does are always hidden at first. They are small, they are unseen, they are beneath the surface.  They are off the beaten path in a little town called Nazareth, where people wonder if anything good can really come from. They are buried in a borrowed tomb from a rich man given to a poor. They are meeting quietly into the long hours of the night as a part of “the underground”.  They are taking their roots in long hours of study and prayer amongst the faithful.

Trust there is now more than meets the eye. Trust God is at work in hidden places. Things take time. They take root. Then they take off. 

What is happening beneath the surface is necessary for strength and substance. And when the stalk shoots up, then the head, then the full grain appears, the sun shall not scorch it. For its roots are deep, and strong, and ready.

Daily Lesson for October 30, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 1 verses 5 through 11: 

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 

7 Look! He is coming with the clouds;

   every eye will see him,

even those who pierced him;

   and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.

So it is to be. Amen.

8 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. 

9 I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11saying, ‘Write in a book what you see . . .’”

John the Seer is writing from a place of exile on the isle of Patmos. Great are the powers on the throne of the nations and the faithful people of God wait and long and wonder if hope is to be born again. They wait. They wonder. They endure. 

And then John sees the vision and shares it with the people in waiting. The LORD God is not only Alpha, but also Omega — the first and the last, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come.”

For all who live in exile, for all who wait for a more hopeful day, for all who wonder if things can or will ever change, for all those who now endure, the vision of John the Seer speaks yet again: God is Alpha and Omega.  

In other words, God finishes what God starts.

And I remember that old African American spiritual:

“Walk together children, don't you get weary,

walk together children, don't you get weary,

walk together children, don't you get weary,

there's a great camp meeting in the promised land.”

Daily Lesson for October 27, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Ezra chapter 3 verses 10 through 13:

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel; 11and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

‘For he is good,

for his steadfast love endures for ever towards Israel.’

And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away.

Even when we come to a place of seeing what is to be, there is still grief over the loss of what was. This grief is genuine and real and should not be denied its mourning.

The move from a home of 35 years into something smaller and more manageable

The moving of a church from a very dear and sacred place to a new location with no memory

Having to say goodbye to a beloved church in order to move closer to the children and grandchildren

Leaving our earthly Temple to enter into our home in heaven

There is joy, but there is also sadness. Both are true. Both are real. Both are a part of the story. 

Daily Lesson for October 26, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verses 1 through 4:

Now concerning the collection for the saints: you should follow the directions I gave to the churches of Galatia. 2On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save whatever extra you earn, so that collections need not be taken when I come. 3And when I arrive, I will send any whom you approve with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem. 4If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

“Now concerning the collection . . .”

We’re half way through October and the traditional pledge season of many churches and many pastors are writing letters concerning the collection. And admittedly, some pastors are in fact concerned about the collection!

Learning to give is an important part of becoming a faithful member of Christ’s Church. To learn to give sacrificially requires some hard decisions. The people my age who give sacrificially are foregoing really cool vacations, living in more modest homes and neighborhoods, and eat at home a lot more than they eat out.

They do this not out of a sense of guilt-induced obligation, but because they believe in the Church and in the way of Jesus. They live simpler lives because they want to live more generous lives. They give much because they’ve been given so much.

I am grateful for them. They inspire me. They are the people I want to raise my children around — because they love the LORD and seek to live out their values.

Here’s a noble saying I picked up from John Wesley while sojourning with the Methodists in Divinity School:

“Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then give all you can.” 

Those words to live and to give by. 

Daily Lesson for October 25, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 51 through 53:

51Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

John Donne had a tremendous way with word and imagery and offered this vivid picture of the end of us all, high and low:

“When a whirlewind hath blown the dust of a churchyard into the Church, and the man sweeps out the dust of the Church into the Churchyard, who will undertake to sift those dusts again and to pronounce, This is the patrician, this is the noble flowre, and this the yeomanly, this the Plebeian bran?”

When all is said and done and the last rites have been spoken over our mortal flesh and a year passes or a 1,000, all the high and mighty kings of this earth shall not outweigh even the lowliest of the day laborers. 

That should put everything mortal into perspective. That should pour contempt on all our pride about all manner of things. That should rid us of all haughtiness and pride. Arrogant?  Envious?  Here is the cure: imagine yourself and all those around you as dust. Imagine the future. 

It’s all terrifying.  It’s literally humiliating — humando, being Latin for the word “burying”.  It’s also freeing. 

We are human. We shall be buried. So shall our president. And our boss. And our nemesis. And our children. And our children’s children. 

And then we shall wait.

And when the perishable puts on its imperishability and the mortal it’s immortality, it shall be God alone with breath. 

It shall be God alone who will save us. 

Daily Lesson for October 24, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 through 30:

28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Saint Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until we find rest in God.”

Jesus came to help us find our souls’ deep place of rest. He came to help us lift up our hearts. He came to help us bear the burdens of life.

“Take my yoke upon you,” he said. “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

His yoke is well-fitted for us. A master carpenter has shaped it. It’s arch is snug and it’s plane is smooth. It’s easy on us. 

And ours is only one side of the yoke. There is another side. It’s God’s side. God helps us to pull the load, to bear the weight. We cannot bear it alone; but God pulls with us. God pulls for us. 

“Come unto me . . . My yoke is easy my burden is light.”  It all looks so harsh, so difficult, so impossible. It looks like it’s too much for us to bear. But Jesus says, “Come.”  “Come and see.”  “Come and find out.”  “Come and trust me.”

We cannot bear the load alone. It’s too much for us; it’s beyond our strength. Then we hear the invitation. “Come.” And we realize only a power greater than ourselves can get us unstuck, can take us any further. 

And we say, “I come.” 

Daily Lesson for October 23, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 11 verses 20 through 24: 

20 Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. 21”Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.22But I tell you, on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you.23And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.24But I tell you that on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.”

I thank God for His “Woes”. 

I know that I don’t usually like a bunch of hell, fire, and brimstone in a sermon and I particularly don’t like it when it comes with spit. Hell, fire, brimstone, and spit is a sermon I will pass on every time. Woe unto those who have to endure them week by week.

Yet, it was a woe that saved me. At a definitive moment, when my life could have gone one way or the other, it was the woe that saved me. 

It wasn’t so much hell that I was afraid of. I believed in God and God’s graciousness in Christ. I wasn’t scared that God was going to torment me for all eternity. But I could see that my own choices were going to torment me in life and then in death I would have to stand before God with the shame of having chosen to do life my own way. 

I surrendered. 

There’s a couple of lines in the hymn “Amazing Grace” I deeply love: 

“‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved”

God’s woes were a grace to me— a way of salvation.

I thank God for them because I know I wouldn’t be who I am without them. 

Daily Lesson for October 20, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 8 through 10:

8Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain.

Last month we ordained new deacons into the service and ministry of Broadway.  It was a very touching service, as the whole congregation was invited to come forward and lay hands upon the ordinands. 

I thought of my own ordination, and how twelve years later they might still be drying up my tears from the altar carpet at Lowe’s Grove Baptist in Durham. I thought of how long my hair was back then and how it looked like an old wet mop after I stooped there crying for a straight 30 minutes as the saints of that little church streamed by. I remembered the first voice I heard coming to lay hands over me, “Ryon, this Hardy.”  I thought also of what he said after the service, as Hardy Clemons remembered his own ordination, “In that moment something ontological happens.”  

My tears were the tears of the woman with the alabaster jar — the deep, ontological tears of one who knows she has been redeemed. The tears of one who knows he or has has been forgiven much. The tears of one unworthy, yet saved and even called by grace. 

I have no right to be here ordaining others. I was such a mess. I was so full of pride, arrogance, chauvinism, and supremacy. I was lost and hurting and I hurt others. In John Newton’s words, I was a “wretch”.  Yet, God’s grace did save me, spare me, ordain me.

I am so grateful for this life.  I am so thankful for God’s mercies. I do not think they have been in vain. 

Dr. King used to say something that really resonates:

 “We ain't what we oughta be. We ain't what we want to be. We ain't what we gonna be. But, thank God, we ain't what we were.”

Thank God, indeed. 

Daily Lesson for October 19, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 10 verses 34 through 39:

34 ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 

35 For I have come to set a man against his father,

and a daughter against her mother,

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 

36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. 

37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

We are nearing now the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Door.  For all his personal foibles, Luther is a reminder to us that sometimes reform is necessary, and sometimes it is very painful. 

And the sometimes are always. 

There is always, in every generation a kind of reformation. There is always in every age a reconsideration of suppositions, values, prejudices, and practices. There is in every present a kind of parting with the past and reforming of the future. 

This is never easy. It is painful.  It often requires a break from home. Sometimes, as in the Apostle Paul’s case, it requires a break from tribe altogether. As Jesus said, this is not peace, but sword.

Jesus is very clear that there is a price to discipleship.  Sometimes the price is peace.

But then we remember the prophet Jeremiah’s words, “Woe to them who say, ‘Peace, peace,’ where there is no peace.”

Daily Lesson for October 18, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 10 verses 24 through 28:

24 “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

26 “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The distance from the private closet of prayer where convictions are whispered, to the open rooftop of public declaration is the longest trip in the world.

The Lesson again today is about speaking the word that’s been given us. The word is laid upon our heart. It’s in our gut. We know the truth and we know the truth will set us free. We are convicted. 

Yet we are also in turmoil. The word in us will bring conflict. The truth will trouble the waters. It would be easier to remain silent. 

But silence is also betrayal. It betrays the voice within. It betrays the soul. 

To choose not speak is oftentimes an act of privilege. The word is a challenge to the status quo and we know it will not be received well. It would be easier not to speak, especially if speaking up would risk my own status quo. To remain silent would be easier. To be able to remain silent and not be affected is an exercise of privilege. 

But Jesus did not exercise this privilege. He could have left things alone. But he spoke up. He got involved. He used the voice God gave him.  He spoke up even though he knew it would cost him his status quo with a lot of people. 

And, he said his followers should be willing to do the same. 

Like I said, the distance from the inner closet of conviction to the public forum of the board room is the longest trip in the world. As followers of Jesus we’re supposed to take that trip. 

We’re supposed to speak when spoken to. 

Daily Lesson for October 17, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 10 verses 19 and 20:

19When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

God will give us the words.

Moments come to all of us when we are called to speak up.  It can be terrifying. We can feel very uncertain and afraid. We tremble at the thought. We have not the courage or the words. 

But God will give us the words to say and the courage to speak them. We do not have to have them today. We do not have to worry over them today. Today will have enough words and worries of its own. But when the time comes, the LORD will provide and we shall speak our truth. 

I’ve always liked what was said by Maggie Kuhn, advocate and activist on many fronts including that of elder rights:

 “Leave safety behind. Put your body on the line. Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind--even if your voice shakes. When you least expect it, someone may actually listen to what you have to say. Well-aimed slingshots can topple giants.”

Even if our voices shake, the Holy Spirit still speaks. 

So then let us not be afraid. 

Daily Lesson for October 16, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verses 1 through 3:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

We can do many tremendous things in the name of God and God’s kingdom, but if we do them without love we miss the mark entirely. 

Charity without love breeds contempt. Service without love yields resentment. To serve the poor while loathing the rich only pretends to bring in the beloved community. 

One of my favorite scenes in all of literature comes from Wendell Berry’s novel “Jayber Crow”.  Jayber is a small town barber struggling to come to terms with his Christian faith and the so-called Christian community around him in 1960s Kentucky. The scene is told from Jayber’s first-person perspective and describes a heated argument he has over the Vietnam War with his frenemy in town Troy.

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

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

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

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

“I said, ‘Jesus Christ.’

“And Troy said, ‘Oh.’

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

That scene comes across my mind at least once a week just about every week. I figure there is a reason for that. 

Daily Lesson for October 13, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 9 and 10:

9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain.

Two nights ago I was on the phone with one of my long-time and very best friends, Robert.  We have been friends since high school and though distance has kept us apart we’ve never lost touch and we still get together once or twice a year. 

Robert came into my life after our youth leader Scott got us to start leaving an open chair in our Bible studies and praying that God would bring to us “the worst kid in the school”.  Now that’s a prayer I do not encourage unless you’re truly ready for it to be answered. Anyways, in walked Robert. 

My cousin introduced us. He was Robert’s psychologist and he sort of took a chance and broke protocol by introducing us. He just thought Robert needed a group like the one I  was in. So my cousin took a chance. 

When they both came by the house, it was real formal. My cousin explained to me and my parents what he was thinking and gave some caution. “But, I think this kid needs a chance.”  My parents and I were both there and Robert and my cousin rang the doorbell.

When I opened the door and saw Robert’s face, my first thought was, “Oh no, not this guy.  He’s a bad dude.”  If he wasn’t the worst kid in school he was very, very close. I knew he was a troublemaker. Later I found out he had a wrap sheet. My grandmother told my cousin she was going to kill him if it all went badly. I couldn’t see how it could go well. 

But, twenty years later here we are talking on the phone night before last. Robert is a mechanical engineer in the oil industry, married, and the father of three boys (God’s way of getting even, we say).  And, he’s gotten really involved in prison ministry, going into prisons and sharing the same good news he found in our youth group two decades ago, when our youth group leader told us even the very worst can be changed and my cousin said we ought to give the kid a chance. No, when my cousin took a chance on the kid. 

Robert’s going back in to another prison next week. He’s been asked to share his story. Pray for him. 

Pray that God will send him the worst offender in the prison. 

Robert will be just fine with that.  

Daily Lesson for October 12, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson is from 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 4 through 11:

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

Faith is a gift given by the Holy Spirit.

Faith comes to us solely by and through God. This means will power cannot gain us greater faith. We cannot will ourselves to believe more or trust more.  

This is how we know the disciples were beginning to understand the secret of Jesus’ power when they asked him, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5). They had come to the limits of their own natural abilities. They knew that if they were to stay the course and keep following Jesus they were going to need something supernatural to sustain them. 

Jesus’ answer: to trust the faith that has been given. “If you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this tree, “Be uprooted and thrown into the sea.”

In a letter Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to others in the German confessing church which was resisting Hitler, Bonhoeffer wondered if he would have the faith to endure the trials ahead. He sponsored if he had the faith within him. His answer, surprisingly, was no. No, he did not yet have what he might one day need. And this too was a gift from God.  For what he would need in the days ahead he would have to depend upon God to provide, lest he trust in his own sufficiency.

To be of little faith is not a shame. The faith we have is sufficient unto the day. Should we need more in the days ahead we should pray so. For faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit, that we might know our sufficiency comes only from the LORD. 

Daily Lesson for October 11, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 27 through 32:

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 28Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgement against themselves. 30For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. 32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

Here is a great irony of our faith. Jesus said, “Judge not lest you be judged,” whereas Paul tells us we will not be judged so long as we do judge — ourselves. 

Paul says this is how we are to take communion — in judgment of ourselves. We might also call this a state of introspection and penitence. The Lord’s Supper is a reminder of our fallibility and and our need for grace. We come to the table always as beggars in search of bread. 

Paul is serious about this. He says some have fallen weak and ill and some have even died because they took the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner. Yikes. 

The last time I preached on this, we were in our worship planning meeting reading Paul’s warning. I looked up, “Wow, have you ever eaten the Lord’s Supper unworthily?”  My very insightful pastor friend Stephanie chimes in, “Every time.”

Stephanie got it and helped me to see it. 

If we think we are worthy then we are unworthy and if we think we are unworthy then we will be made worthy. 

This is the meaning of the table — the miracle of the bread and the cup.

Let all who are unworthy come and take the water of life as gift. 

Daily Lesson for October 10, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 20 through 22:

20When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. 21For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk.22What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!

What happens at a Wednesday night fellowship meal or a potluck dinner can tell you a lot about a church. 

Yes; I know you have your same table with your same seven other friends. But sometimes eight isn’t enough. Sometimes a ninth needs to be let in. 

And what about space for the late and newcomer?  Is there room for someone with children?  How are those without money to pay or food to share treated?  Was anything left for the working mom trying her best to pick up kids and make it to church after a long day’s work?  She got stuck in traffic and almost didn’t come. But she’s here. What about the screaming child?  What about the child on the autism spectrum?  What about the woman with the gluten allergy?

Like I said, what happens at a church supper can tell you a lot — maybe everything. 

Daily Lesson for October 9, 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 churchly or worldly. 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. 

Daily Lesson for October 6, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 24 through27:

24 Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.25Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. 26So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified. 

So last Spring I was all excited because Gabrielle had her first track meet. I gave it good odds that she was going to do really well because my parents were fast, I was fast, and Irie is still fast. Gabrielle was running the 800 meter run and I arrived there in time to get a really good seat for the start. My stomach was all butterflies.  I had not had that same feeling since I was last in cleats. 

The runners went to there marks.  They got set. The gun went off. And Gabrielle jogged around the track two whole times at about the speed of molasses in winter.  She wasn’t the last turtle to cross the finish line, but she was in the turtle section for sure. I kept shaking my head and thinking, “What’s wrong with this kid; she can’t be that slow.”  

After the race, I tried to be positive but did want to know, “Gabrielle, did you give it your best shot?  Is that is fast as you can run?”

“No. But they said it was hot out there and we shouldn’t push ourselves too hard. So I just wanted to make sure I could finish.”

I wonder if some of us run the race of life that exact same way. 

Daily Lesson for October 5, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 105 verse 41:

41 He opened the rock, and water flowed, 

so the river ran in the dry places.

And Matthew chapter 7 verses 28 and 29:

28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching,29for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Yesterday I read that a woman named Mary Hatfield died in Lubbock. A friend shared her obituary on Facebook and I recognized the woman in the obituary photograph. She was my first professor in college English and the first person I remember who made me think I might be a good writer. 

In my first thesis paper for Dr. Hatfield, she gutted it with her merciless red sword.  I had not followed any of the format rules for paper assignments in her class. I had not even known there were such rules. But then, at the bottom of the last page, Dr. Hatfield wrote in the same blood-red ink that she thought I had some interesting ideas and asked if she could keep my paper to show other classes. I did not much think of myself as a writer. All I really wanted to be was a Phi Delt. But that small little word of affirmation from Dr. Hatfield, that calling out, was the first step down to the path of the devotional you are now reading. 

In today’s Psalm the LORD opens the rock in the wilderness and water pours forth. Who knew there was even such water within?  No one, until it was called out. 

And in today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks as a teacher with authority. The Greek says he spoke from his “ousia”.  “Ousia” is the same word from whence we get our word “essence”. Jesus spoke from his essence, from the substance and well-spring of his own being. This is what gave him authority as a teacher. 

Whether at school or church, good teachers speak from the deep place of their own being. They speak from a place of inner authority, from an inner well-spring, from a place of having lived in and with the material they are teaching. And, they see the inner well-spring in their students and call it forth. Good teachers help their students to discover the water of life within them. 

Dr. Hatfield was a good teacher. I am grateful for her. 

Daily Lesson for October 4, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 7 verses 15 through 20:

15 ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus you will know them by their fruits.

One of the hardest lessons we have to learn in life is that not all people are good and some  wish us real harm.

We may wish very much that a person may or situation may change, but our wishing only results in greater pain and disappointment for us. Like the person out looking for figs among thistles in today’s Lesson, we end up only hurting ourselves. We have to learn to recognize the thistles and quit walking into them. We have to learn to quit letting ourselves be hurt, taken advantage of, or betrayed. We have to learn to recognize wolves in sheeps clothing.

There’s an old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

None of want to be anybody’s fool. And part of our growing up means seeing that we don’t have to be either. 

Daily Lesson for October 3, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 7 verses 1 through 4:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but udo not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?” 5You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.

6 ‘Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.”

When I was in high school football was everything. Friday Night Lights and all that.  And I was captain of the team and garnered a lot of accolades.

In the parking lot after a practice our senior year one of my best friends told me he was sick and tired of football because he never got to play in the games. He said he couldn’t much more stand coming out and getting beat on in practice and then not playing. He said he didn't care if we made the playoffs.  

When I heard that I let him have it.  It was because of him and others on the team like him that we weren’t winning, I told him.  I was so disgusted; and came within inches of punching him square in the face.

But do you know why I was really so angry?  Because truth be told, I actually hated football.  I couldn't stand it's pressures and anxieties and the fear I went through every Friday night.  Secretly, I had wanted it all to be over since the very first day of high school.  But that was my secret; and I had to do whatever it took to hide it.  What I was fighting in my friend, I was actually fighting inside of me.  And I needed to put up a good fight.

It took me 20 years to see that. For my friend, who never got to play it was a speck; for me, captain of the team, wanting it all to be over was a log. It took 20 years for me to see and admit I had a log — and the log was my own pride.  I had given my pearls — my whole identity — to Texas high school football and I had a hard time admitting just how ambivalent I was about that. I had a hard time admitting how unhealthy it all was. Twenty years. 

We often see the specks in other people's eyes out of proportion because they are distorted by the logs in our own eyes, the dis-ease in our own souls.  The "sin" we are so quick to judge in others is often actually much greater in us.  Our turmoil about our own selves reveals itself in them. We fight them because it's a lot easier than fighting ourselves - or better, making peace with ourselves.

Daily Lesson for October 2, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 through 34:

25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

Reports this morning of another mass shooting, this time with 50 plus dead and who knows how many wounded. What a day of sadness. What a season of sorrow. 

Evil is now armed in very powerful ways. Whether it be with assault rifles, or bombs, or even vans, terror is armed. 

This morning's Daily Office includes words from Paul writing at the end of an age. He says, "The present form of the world is passing away," (1 Corinthians 7:31).  Indeed it is.  We live in a vastly different time than we did before 9-11. We live in a vastly scarier time. We live in the age of armed madness. The old world has passed away, and some feint from foreboding of what world may be coming. 

And then Jesus comes to us also in today's Daily Office with words of Gospel. "Do not worry about tomorrow."  "Watch the birds migrating in October."  "Consider the grass still alive as the world slips into Fall."  In other words, Jesus says, "Do not be consumed by evil on the news. Do not be dismayed about tomorrow. Be where you are today. Be present to your today. Be alive today."

After the mass shooting in the Pulse night club in Florida, I was separated from my family at a camp and weighed down by fear about all that was and was to be. I was standing in my room, reading the wall, when suddenly I saw a poem by Wendell Berry. It seemed like a poem for the day at hand. It seems like a poem for this sorrowful day also.  

It is called "The Peace of Wild Things":

When despair for the world grows in me

 and I wake in the night at the least sound

 in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

 I go and lie down where the wood drake

 rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

 I come into the peace of wild things

 who do not tax their lives with forethought

 of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

 And I feel above me the day-blind stars

 waiting with their light. For a time

 I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.