Daily Lesson for November 30, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 20 verses 

‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place;4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went.5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?”7They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,12saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” 13But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’

The way we read and interpret this text has a lot to do with where we’re reading it from. If we’re gainfully employed then we like the laborers who labored all day are probably inclined to read the landowner’s action as grossly unfair to those who worked all day long. But if we’re unemployed and cannot find a job, then we are more likely see the parable about the right ordering of things — the world being harsh and unfair and the actions of the landowner setting things to right.

A lot of how we see the world depends on our experience and perspective. A lot depends on whether or not we or somebody we care for has ever beat the concrete and couldn’t find a job or even consideration in the general workplace or the LORD’s vineyard, the church.  Some will read this as a story about unmerited grace. Others will see it as a story about justice. It really depends on whose reading. 

How do you read this story?  Where do you read it from?  And what do these words mean to you: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Daily Lesson for November 29, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 19 verses 27 through 29:

27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’28Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. 

I have a beautiful photo from one of our family’s last days at Second B which means so much to me. It’s a picture of our youngest in profile looking up somberly into the eyes of an old Korean War veteran who is seated with a cane in his hand. The old man is looking back down, the glimmer of a tear refusing to be held back from his eye. On the outside he’s an old, hardened Marine, but on the inside he’s tender and loving. They are both saying goodbye.

Church can be hard. It can be demanding. Sometimes staying in church can be downright costly. I have friends who have had to part ways with family, friends, and even their jobs in order to remain a part of their church and what it stands for. 

Today’s Lesson promises that no one who has worked for, lived in, and loved the Church has ever received less than what they put into it. “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,” Jesus says. 

My picture proves it’s true. 

Church can be costly. There’s no denying it. And belonging to a good church will be. A good and faithful church will demand something significant of us. Yet we receive so much in return — so much love, and friendship, and care, and community, and casseroles!

“And in the age to come, eternal life.”

Daily Lesson for November 28, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 19 verses 16 through 22:

16 Then someone came to him and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ 17And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ 18He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness;19Honour your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 20The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these; what do I still lack?’ 21Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

There was a young man who came to Jesus and said, “Good teacher, what good deed must I do to inherit eternal life.”  Jesus said to him, “Good?  Why do you call me good?  There is only one who is good. If you wish to find life live as I live. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Sell your possessions, give unto the poor, and help take care of your neighbors.”  The young man said, “I have done all these things and am ready to come and follow you.”  “Not quite so fast,” Jesus said. “First, you need to go back home and help take care of your folks.”  When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he really wanted to follow Jesus. 

May those with ears to hear let them hear. 

Daily Lesson for November 27, 2017

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

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,5who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 

Faith has to be tried in order to be found true.  The journey through the wilderness is not happenstance in our lives. It is necessary that character might be formed and revealed. Pure gold has to bear the heat of the refiners fire. 

This means that struggle and even suffering are not optional in life. They cannot be altogether avoided. If they are avoided, then we can be assured that our faith has become dull and complacent.

Through struggle and testing it is the glory of God that is revealed in us (Romans 8:18).  This is the Christ within us, whose strength of character was manifest in the wilderness, whose faithfulness was revealed in the darkness of Gethsemane, and whose resurrection would not have happened without death. 

The testing of our mettle is a part of life. When it happens we can trust that God is not punishing but purifying us. For no saint can be made without first passing through the fire. 

Daily Lesson for November 24, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 18 verses 10 through 14:

10 ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. 12What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.14So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

When I used to do youth ministry, we talked about learning to love the hard to love kid. This was the youth who was not easily likeable but was often incredibly annoying and sometimes even cold and disrespectful. Sometimes the kid was just odd or different. Always he or she was very, very demanding. God sent this child to us so that we could learn patience.

And, make no mistake, God did indeed make and send the child.

It’s so easy as a youth minister or teacher to slip into despising a child. Some kids just get on every single nerve in our body. We think life would be so much better if they weren’t around or if they weren’t a part of the group. Some days we just wish they’d transfer. Sometimes our actions towards them either explicitly or implicitly tell them they should transfer.

In today’s Lesson, Jesus warns us against our own contempt. He reminds us that the hard to love kid has an angel who speaks face to face with God every day. He reminds us that God loves the hard to love kid. And, Jesus reminds us that it is not the will that any one of these little ones be lost.

Not one. Not even that one. Not even that annoying little one who grew up to become an even more annoying big one. No, not one.

Daily Lesson for Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Deuteronomy chapter 26 verses 1 through

When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.3You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ 4When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lordyour God, 5you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, 7we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. 11Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

It is Thanksgiving, and today is a day above all days for recounting God’s great deeds among us. It is a day for remembering God’s faithfulness.

Great is God’s faithfulness.

I hope that today amidst all the busyness of preparing the meal beforehand and then sleeping it off afterward, we all might take some time to remember how far we’ve come and good God has been to us. I hope we’ll all take some time to recount the story of God’s faithfulness to us all. Thanksgiving is a day for recounting the story.

Let me begin.

There was a day when my family would not have been possible. I descended from Mississippi slave owners who lost everything in the Civil War. And Irie descended from slaves, who though they had nothing to lose during the War had  freedom to gain. Somehow, in the goodness of God’s faithfulness loving kindness, God made a way out of no way.  Deliverance came, for Irie’s family, and also for mine. And with deliverance finally came the freedom to marry.

If you are looking for a sign and wonder of all that has been done in this nation, you can come eat pecan pie with us some Thanksgiving. It is the dream of Dr. King come true, the sons of slaves and and the sons of slave owners sitting together at the table of brother — the family table even.

When, amidst that dreadful Civil War, Lincoln very rightly issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation, he closed the proclamation with these words about God’s faithfulness in times past and hope for times to come:

“And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.”

The wounds of the nation are still being healed. All has not yet been healed. We have not yet arrived in our land flowing with milk and with honey. There’s still work to be done.

Nevertheless, Thanksgiving is a day for me to look around the table and see and wonder at just how far we’ve come.

Thanks be to God.

Daily Lesson for November 22, 2017

November 22, 1963 is mostly remembered as the day President John Kennedy was assassinated. Lost in the shadow of Kennedy’s tragic death was the fact that it was also the day C.S. Lewis died. The Anglican Church commemorates November 22 by remembering Lewis in its liturgical calendar.

I am commemorating this day by reposting a reflection on Lewis from my trip to his church [and pub] in Oxford, England. You can find the reflection and some great pictures at the link below:

https://ryonprice.blogspot.com/2015/08/british-evasion-10-august-8-2015.html?m=1

Daily Lesson for November 21, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson is a personal reflection.

Yesterday I lost a young friend to a young and tragic death. My friend leaves behind a mother and father and other family members struggling and dismayed. We all wonder if we might could have done something more or different that he might still be with us. We grieve, and we mourn, and we wonder why we did not have the power to save him.  We wonder if even the faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain why our faith could not save this child from death.

The answer is that death and its power is mightier than 10,000 mountains. The stronghold of death is great and mighty and even demonic. No ordinary human power can break its grasp; and sometimes its grip is so great that neither can even our spiritual powers. Sometimes prayer, and faith, and even love just aren’t enough to save someone from their demons.

This is sobering, but true reality. And we remember the Gospel words which say that not even Jesus could perform the miracle in his own hometown and among his own people.

In times like these, we struggle and we mourn and we remind one another to trust in the goodness and mercy of God. We remind one another of God’s great strength, and we remember the promises that beyond this first, mortal death there remains a fountain from which flows the water of life — a water which is promises to heal us of all our darkness and have the power to spare us from death eternal.

I believe my friend is drinking from that fountain even now.

There is an old hymn I think of in times like these. It’s called “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” and I find great solace in its first stanza:

“There's a wideness in God's mercy,
like the wideness of the sea.
There's a kindness in God's justice,
which is more than liberty.
There is no place where earth's sorrows
are more felt than up in heaven.
There is no place where earth's failings
have such kindly judgment given.”

May you find now your healing, my friend. And may you drink forever from the font of God’s wide mercy and love.


Revelation 21:1-8;
Matthew 17:14-21

Daily Lesson for November 20, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 and 12:

11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life.

We are coming now to the end of the Church’s liturgical year. On Sunday following Thanksgiving, we will celebrate Christ the King Sunday. This is the Sunday when we think on the end of history, last things, and the final judgment.  The readings on Sundays and throughout the weekdays have been preparing us for this day for sometime now. This is all a part of our great reminder of God’s rule and Christ’s ultimate victory over all the powers of darkness and sin. 

Today’s Lesson says, “The dead, great and small,” will stand before the throne with their lives set before them in a book — with our lives set before us in the same book. 

This shall be a moment of fear and of trembling for all. It shall be a day of accountability.  We shall have to come clean. 

On that day, nothing within our own power shall be able to save. The mighty and powerful shall be as humbled as the poor day laborer. The wealthy shall have no pockets for their riches. We shall all come empty handed, with only our deeds before the throne of history. 

On that great and terrible day, I plan to beg the court for mercy. I hope to demonstrate penance. I trust in the promise that the Judge desires to offer grace.

As someone who was once a chief of sinners, the last day fills me with trepidation. It also keeps me humble and helps me to remember that the measure I give shall be the measure that I get. 

Daily Lesson for November 17, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 88 verses 13 through 18:

13  But I, O Lord, cry yto you;

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

14  O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?

Why do you hide your face from me?

15  Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,

I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.

16  Your wrath has swept over me;

your dreadful assaults destroy me.

17  They surround me like a flood all day long;

they close in on me together.

18  You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;

darkness is my only companion.

In his book "A Cry of Absence" Martin Marty writes of the terminal cancer diagnosis of his wife Elsa in 1981 the days leading up to her death late that her.  In a very touching scene in the memoir Martin tells how each night they would lie together in bed and read the psalms, he reading the even and she the odd. One night, when it came his time to read Psalm 88, he passed over it. "What happened to Psalm 88?" Elsa asked.  "I didn't think you could take Psalm 88.  It's a bleak psalm."  Elsa then said very lovingly to her husband, "Who do you think you are to decide what I can take?  The light ones don't mean anything if you haven't walked through the dark ones."

Psalm 88 is, in Martin Marty's words, "a wintry landscape of unrelieved bleakness."  It does not end all neat and pretty with a bow on top. It does not end in the light of hope. It ends in darkness. It ends in verse 18, with darkness as the psalmist's only companion.

We might wonder, why is this psalm there in the Bible?  What place does so bleak a word have in the canon?  

It is there because sometimes some of us are there, because at sometime we'll all be there -- with a diagnosis that is terminal, with a loved one who is dying, in a bleak and wintry place from which there is simply no escape.

It's times like these that darkness is our only companion. Reading Psalm 88 teaches us to accept the darkness as part of the journey -- an unavoidable part of the journey for us and also for others. Reading Psalm 88 reminds us there are some things we can’t just “fix”.

Sometimes in pastoral counseling, when someone is deeply sad or depressed or hopeless, I will read to them Psalm 88, with its pain and loss and at end sense of abandonment.  "Now why," I ask, "would the Biblical writers include this in the Bible?  Why would they allow this to remain without any sense of resolution?"  The person across from me usually shakes his or her head in an expression of not knowing or understanding. A long silence follows. And then I lean in, "Because, I think, the Bible knows that a person like you needs this word, this voice, this word of irresolution. Because this voice belongs."

Who am I to say anybody can't take reading Psalm 88? This dark psalm belongs. The darkness belongs.  The darkness belongs because people in the darkness belong.  The dark psalm belongs because God is a companion to all — even those living in darkness. 

Daily Lesson for November 16, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 34 verses 15 through 22:

15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, 

and his ears are open to their cry.

16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, 

to root out the remembrance of them from the earth.

17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears them 

and delivers them from all their troubles.

18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted 

and will save those whose spirits are crushed.

19 Many are the troubles of the righteous, 

but the Lord will deliver him out of them all.

20 He will keep safe all his bones; 

not one of them shall be broken.

21 Evil shall slay the wicked, 

and those who hate the righteous will be punished.

22 The Lord ransoms the life of his servants, 

and none will be punished who trust in him.

“The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous.”  They cry, and the LORD hears. The LORD acts. 

We do not believe solely in a distant, creator God. Our God is more than a clock maker, winding up history and letting it go. Our God is more than the Unmoved Mover, the first actor in a chain of often catastrophic events. No, we believe in a more active and personal and responsible God. We believe in a redeemer God. We believe in a God who hears and acts and comes near to save.

These are unsettling times. We read once more of talk about nuclear weapons and war and irrational state actors. The possibilities of chain reactions left unto themselves are terrifying. 

Yet, “the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous.”

Evil and wickedness have the seeds of their own destruction within them. One destroys the other. They root and grow and strangle the earth, but in the end they destroy themselves in the pride of their own conceit.  God has ordained it so. God promises. The people hold onto the promises. 

God is not too distant now. The LORD will not leave us to our own devices. The LORD will not abandon us to evil.

Things may get worse before they get better. Darkness may set in before we see any light. But the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. 

“Many are the troubles of the righteous, 

but the Lord will deliver him out of them all.”

The LORD delivers. God saves. The people take heart. 

Let all the earth take heart. 

Daily Lesson for November 15, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Nehemiah chapter 8 verses 14 through 17:

14And they found it written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the people of Israel should live in booths during the festival of the seventh month, 15and that they should publish and proclaim in all their towns and in Jerusalem as follows, ‘Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.’ 16So the people went out and brought them, and made booths for themselves, each on the roofs of their houses, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. 17And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them.

Jews have a special week-long festival at the end of the harvest season called Sukkot, when Jews build and live in small huts or “booths” in commemoration of the temporary domiciles the Israelites dwelled in during the 40 years.  The festival is a time of remembering the exodus experience and God’s provision in the wilderness. 

Sukkot is a humbling experience, as even the wealthy live in very modest domiciles. It is a reminder of all the people’s humble origins and their absolute dependence upon the mercies of God to set a table in the wilderness. 

Thanksgiving may be America’s closest thing to Sukkot. Yearly we remember the exodus experience of those early pilgrims as they sought greater religious freedom in the New World and we commemorate God’s provision for them and for us in whatever wildernesses we have come through. Like Sukkot, the season of Thanksgiving is a reminder of just how fragile life for our forbears once was and how faithful God was to provide in their time of need.

Thanksgiving is nearing. Shopping is being done. In two days many schools will dismiss for the week. It’s going to be great. 

But let’s remember the reason for this season also. We’ve come through the wilderness. We’ve pilgrimed through the barren land. We’ve come to a place of freedom. God has delivered us. 

God has been good — to our forbears, and also to us. 

Daily Lesson for November 14, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 78 verses 15 through 20:

15 He split the hard rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as from the great deep.

16 He brought streams out of the cliff,
and the waters gushed out like rivers.

17 But they went on sinning against him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

18 They tested God in their hearts,
demanding food for their craving.

19 They railed against God and said,
"Can God set a table in the wilderness?

20 True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the
gullies overflowed;
but is he able to give bread
or to provide meat for his people?"

God buried the water of life deep within us long ago. This is a part of God’s prevenient grace in the world — that the rains fall thousands, hundreds of thousands, an eternity before the people travel the wilderness road.

The water is hidden and very, very deep. A well must be dug. The Rock must be tapped. The Rock is the living Christ within us all.

Trust the Rock. Trust that there is water and water enough in the cliffs which surround you and beneath the path that is before you. The wilderness is dry and daunting. The wilderness is terrifying. Yet the wilderness path is the only way to discover the water within.

The LORD told the prophet Hosea, “The wilderness will lead you to your heart where I will speak,” (Hosea 2:14).  The wilderness is the way. It is the only way.

We have to take it.

Daily Lesson for November 13, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 15 verses 16 through 19:

16Then he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 

The mouth is a window into the soul. What we say says a lot more about us than it does whomever we are talking about. When we speak about others we tell on ourselves. 

Here’s some questions for considering what we say and what it says about us:

— Do the words I use reveal hidden aggression, envy, or jealousy inside me?

— Do my words reveal secret sexual desire?

— Do I use Race as a dog whistle when describing someone’s morality?  Do my words betray other kinds of prejudices I am unaware of in myself?

— Does what I condemn in others actually reveal my own internal and unresolved issues?

We need to watch our words because they may be saying a lot more than we think. 

Daily Lesson for November 10, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 14 verses 13 through 21:

13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ 16Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ 17They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ 18And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

We and many other churches are now in the midst of the stewardship season and we are asking the faithful to consider their pledge commitments for the upcoming budget year. 

As I read the Lesson today and think on stewardship, I think of the line many preachers use about this time of year. “The good news I have to tell you is there is plenty of money in this congregation to do all the things we need to do in order to be a faithful and vibrant church next year. The bad news I have to tell you is that all that money is in your pocketbooks.”

There is a lot of truth in humor. 

The story of the feeding of the five thousand tells us there is plenty to go around. We have plenty. We have plenty to share. And there will be plenty left over. In Jesus’ hands there is always plenty.  But right now, it’s still in our  hands, in our wallets, in our pocketbooks, purses, and bank accounts. The miracle can’t happen until it’s put into Jesus’ hands. 

Augustine said, “That which does not give out when given away is never properly preserved when not given away.”

There are some things which in order to be stewarded correctly must like the bread must be taken, blessed, broken, and given away.  It’s only then that all can fed and only then that all can be satisfied. 

For God has so ordered creation that the miracle never happens unless the bread is offered up.

Daily Lesson for November 9, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 71 verses 1 through 3:

1 In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; 

let me never be ashamed.

2 In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; 

incline your ear to me and save me.

3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe;

you are my crag and my stronghold.

As we prepare for this coming Sunday, we continue to have on our minds the horrific events of last Sunday’s shooting in First Baptist Sutherland Springs. The attack of worshipers at church is an especially heinous act of evil, and it disturbs me to wonder whether evil is growing more bold in these unsettling times.  That is a disturbing thought. 

Today’s Gospel Lesson is the story of John the Baptist’s beheading — another especially disturbing image which I have spared us from reading.  And then there is the Psalm, which I offer as the meditation for us all to consider as a word of prayer amidst the unsettling events of the week and world. “Be my strong rock,” the psalmist asks of God, “a castle to keep me safe.”

As we all prepare for Sunday, I hope that we will plan to come to church with boldness. We must not allow evil to deter us from worship. We must not allow the world to dismay us with its evil. We must not be afraid. 

“A Mighty Fortress is Our God” we sang two Sundays ago on Reformation Sunday. God is still our mighty fortress, our strong rock, our castle, “a bulwark never failing”.

Daily Lesson for November 8, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 12 verses 7 through 12:

7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.9The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him . . .

12 “Rejoice then, you heavens

   and those who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea,

   for the devil has come down to you

with great wrath,

   because he knows that his time is short!”

Sunday was All Saints Sunday and we began the service with the magisterial hymn “For All the Saints”.

Sunday was All Saints Sunday and we began the service with the great, magisterial hymn “For All the Saints”. William W. How’s 19th century original hymn was eight stanzas long — a bit much for 21st century tastes. In paring it down, we skipped stanza three:

“Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,

Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old

And win with them the victor's crown of gold.

Alleluia! Alleluia!”

All Saints gives us this great picture of two regiments of Christian faithful.  The first is the Church Triumphant, those who have gone before and have now entered into their glory and also their rest. The other is us, the Church Militant, still on the life’s battlefield. 

Today’s Lesson continues with the All Saints theme. The devil and all his angels have been cast out of heaven; yet their fall to earth means the battle is still strong. 

The days are growing short in early November  and the spiritual darkness has seemed to set in along with the physical. A hail of bullets fired into a Church, while the faithful were at worship. Twenty-six of the faithful now dead. It is unfathomable. 

But let us not be dismayed.  For the devil has already been cast from heaven, and he is now in the last throes of his life. He is fighting tooth and nail to kill and to destroy. But his days are numbered.  His defeat is sure. 

Those who were so ruthlessly killed Sunday are part now of the Church Triumphant. All their pain and fear has now departed. In this we take some solace. 

We are left a part of the Church Militant. The battle goes on for us. We, as St Paul said, must “not be overcome with evil, but must overcome it with good” — good works, good neighbors, good organizing, good policing, good electing, good mental health care, good schools, and good public policy.  This is how the devil is defeated down here. This is how we keep from being dismayed. 

Another one of the stanzas we left out on Sunday is one which tells us to take heart and as we are going about all our goodness also to be of good courage. I let its wonderful words be the last:

“And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long,

Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,

And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.

Alleluia! Alleluia!”

Daily Lesson for November 7, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 13 verses 44 through 48:

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;48when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.”

For anything to be bought something else must be sold. For anything to be taken hold of, another thing must be let go. For anyone to truly have and hold another, they must forsake all others also.

We truly cannot have it all. We cannot take all roads and all paths all at the same time. We cannot go and also stay. Saying goodbye is a part of the journey. Letting go is necessary.

In the story of the Rich Young Ruler, Jesus tells the man that if he wishes to be perfect he must sell all he has, give it to the poor, and come and be a disciple. The Bible says he hung his head and went away sad. 

I want to suggest that the young man was not as is usually suggested. He was not bad. He was grieved. And, perhaps, he was also going — just as he’d been told.

The pearl of great price is beautiful and lovely and a joy to behold — but what a price it costs. 

Daily Lesson for November 6, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson is from Matthew chapter 13 verses 36 through 43:

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ 37He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!’

Today’s Lesson reminds the faithful that evil has its day and its season in the sun. But at some point the season ends and the day of judgment arrives.

The Lesson speaks of “the end of the age”. I think we ought not to put this too far off into heaven or the afterlife. For it also speaks of “the harvest”, and there can be many seasons of harvest in a century. In fact, that is how the ancients counted one’s age, by the number of harvests one lived to see. 

Those who have now lived through enough harvests have the wisdom of experience to know that evil regimes and “ages” do indeed come, but they also go. Their presence is always with us, in every season, whether merely in seed form or full bore.  This means there is always evil among us, and so too wars and rumors of wars. It is utopian to dream of a time where evil is not. Yet, evil is also always undermining itself. As it grows, it’s prevalence and destructiveness becomes more visible. This is a moment of crisis and even terror; yet it is also the nearing of the end of the age. 

The Lesson today is not to be mistaken as counsel for doing nothing. As I read just yesterday, Jewish historian Yehuda Bauer, whose Czechoslavakian family escaped the holocaust, has said there are three commandments to obey with respect to violence and oppression: 'Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.'

What the Lesson is is a sobering reminder that evil is always lurking at our door — even in times of apparent peace and prosperity, and also a word of promise that in the end it shall never win out. 

Evil has its time and its season; but, ultimately, it’s days are numbered. 

And then the day of harvest and reckoning comes . . .

Today’s Daily Lesson

Today’s Lectionary to Life reflection, “FakeBook,” is drawn from 2 Peter 2:1-3 and comes from Ryon Price.

The Ministers of Misinformation have been hard at work. This week Facebook  announced 126 million users saw adds purchased by the Russians and intended to sway the 2016 U.S. elections.  And they only paid for 29 million.  We “shared” the rest.

Fake news is and its consequences are real. 2 Peter says, the way of truth has fallen into disrepute and we’ve been exploited “with fabricated stories”.

We didn’t know we were being exploited. We didn’t know we were vulnerable. We didn’t know the Russians were preying on our fears about law and order, race and religion. We didn’t know we could be had so easily.

We never thought how hitting the “Share” button we were actually breaking one of the Ten Commandments — the one about not bearing false witness. How could we have known that it was a lie? It was the internet; it had to be true. We were only passing along what we’d received. It sounded so good — because it confirmed what we thought. It tickled our ears and all the prejudice bones in our bodies also.

Now we wonder if any of it was true.

Let’s covenant not to share stories on social media that we haven’t tried to verify as facts. That’s a small step in the right direction when we’re talking about something as serious as one of Ten Commandments, not to mention the future of our democracy.

We should schedule a workshop or two in our Church on implicit bias, so we can understand just how susceptible we are to all manner of topics ripe for Russian exploitation – like Race.

Peter’s letter says those who sow deception into the community have condemnation “hanging over them”.

I take that as a warning – and not just to the Russians.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. You can read his Daily Lessons blog at ryonprice.blogspot.com.

Daily Lesson for November 2, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 6 verses 3 and 4:

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, ‘Come!’ 4And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.

This morning I read about all that the Russians did to effect the 2016 elections specifically and sow discord in America more generally. 

I was knowledgeable about the hacking of various private emails — including those of various Democratic and Republican leaders and a long list of government contractors — especially defense contractors. Scary stuff. 

What I didn’t know about was the apparent Russian-operative-organized rally and Russian-operative-organized counter rally which took place at the exact same time in the streets of Houston. 

According to U.S. Senator Richard Burr, the now-infamous Facebook ads Russians purchased last year in the run up to the elections included promotion of a May 21, 2016 noon rally called “Save Islamic Knowledge”.  At the exact same time and place another rally called “Stop Islamification of Texas” was also sponsored on Facebook by —that’s right — the Russians. 

Same time. Same place. Same Russians. 

Probably not a coincidence. 

There’s an old game called, “Let’s you and him fight”.  These Russian agents are great at it. And it’s right out of today’s Lesson from Revelation: A bright Red horse, whose rider is given a sword and whose intent is to bring the people to war with one another.

It’s working. 

And if we don’t wake up to see it we will allow it to destroy us. Or, more accurately, we will allow it to get us to destroy ourselves. 

A terrible act of violence and terrorism took place this week in Manhattan. This is to be grieved and mourned and the perpetrator and any collaborators must be punished.  

We must be careful, however, that in times like these we do not permit the sword of the red-horsed rider to take peace from us all. 

For he is surely trying. 

Daily Lesson for All Saints Day, November 1, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 21 verses

22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

Today is All Saints Day, a day for remembering all those beloved saints who have now departed on to be with God in glory. In the Protestant tradition, All Saints commemorates not only the great Saints officially beatified by the Church, but also all the more minor saints who have gone on before us. It is for me a day for pausing to reflect on the lives of those faithful persons who made such a difference in my own journey of faith. For me, the minor saints in my life are all quite major.

I remember my former pastor Charlie Johnson used to say that the Church teaches us how to die. I think of those saints whose names will be read this coming All Saints Sunday at Second Baptist Church and the way so many of them faced the reality of death with courage and with grace and with the peace that surpasses all understanding. They not only taught  us how to die, but even how to live in dying. 

Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, who wrote the seminal book “On Death and Dying” once compared people to stained-glass windows. “They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,” she said, “but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”

Those saints I remember today, shone with a beautiful light within, even as the sun’s rays began to wane on their mortal lives. Now, the great promise has come to pass; these saints have entered into that place where there is no need of sun, for the glory of God is now their perpetual light. 

May God bless and keep them; may God’s face shine upon them — and us too, until we all live together in glory.