Daily Lesson for December 29, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 18 verses 3 through 17:

3 I will call upon the Lord, 

and so shall I be saved from my enemies.

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 18 verses 3 through 17:

3 I will call upon the Lord, 

and so shall I be saved from my enemies.

4 The breakers of death rolled over me, 

and the torrents of oblivion made me afraid.

5 The cords of hell entangled me, 

and the snares of death were set for me.

6 I called upon the Lord in my distress 

and cried out to my God for help.

7 He heard my voice from his heavenly dwelling; 

my cry of anguish came to his ears.

8 The earth reeled and rocked; 

the roots of the mountains shook;

they reeled because of his anger.

9 Smoke rose from his nostrils

and a consuming fire out of his mouth; 

hot burning coals blazed forth from him.

10 He parted the heavens and came down 

with a storm cloud under his feet.

11 He mounted on cherubim and flew; 

he swooped on the wings of the wind.

12 He wrapped darkness about him; 

he made dark waters and thick clouds his pavilion.

13 From the brightness of his presence, through the clouds, 

burst hailstones and coals of fire.

14 The Lord thundered out of heaven; 

the Most High uttered his voice.

15 He loosed his arrows and scattered them; 

he hurled thunderbolts and routed them.

16 The beds of the seas were uncovered,

and the foundations of the world laid bare, 

at your battle cry, O Lord,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

17 He reached down from on high and grasped me; 

he drew me out of great waters.

We are delivered, as out of great waters, again and again. From birth to baptism, which is a figurative death, we discover again and again that God rescues us from the confines of where we are, piercing the womb of all that we have yet to experience and know, and delivering us from a place of darkness into a new place of light and sound. This is life — birth and rebirth. For a man must be born.  And he must be born again. 

And birth is hard. Labor is arduous, grueling even. Before the birth takes place a death first occurs. It is the death of who we are. Who we are is dying. We have grown too small for the womb, what had been the cord of life until now  becomes an instrument of death. It entangled, strangles, and finally suffocates.  We must leave where we are. We must leave who we are. The womb must be breached. The waters must be torn open. We must be born.  And we must be born again. 

It is a leaving home. It is a parting of the Red Sea. There is slavery on one side; freedom on the other. There is salvation on the other side of the water. We must cross. We must be born. And we must be born again. 

Born of water and blood, the dying and the birthing never cease. We were born yesterday. We are born today. We shall be born again tomorrow. Mother earth shall push us out once more. Light shall kidnap us from darkness. New occasions shall teach new duties. New experiences shall make old opinions obsolete — cruel and confining, even. The Truth shall overtake truths. The death-entombing Letter shall be pierced by the sword of the life-giving Spirit.  We shall breathe.  On our own, we shall breathe. We must be born. And we must be born again. 

We must be born again, and again, and again. 

Daily Lesson for December 28, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 2 verses 13 through 18:

13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ 14Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.17Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
   wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

Today in the Church is the Day of Holy Innocents, the day we remember Bethlehem’s children who were killed by wicked Herod.  We remember also victims of violence in other times and other places. As the Collect for today asks in its plea for them to God: “Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims . . .”

Only the Bible remembers the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem.  On the cruel and brutal edges of the first century Roman Empire, violence was a way of life. It was the way the world’s problems were solved. It was the way powerful people retained their power. There was so much blood shed by Herod, in fact, when the historians didn’t even write down what happened to the children of Bethlehem. It was lost to the history books.

But it was not lost to the Bible.  Nor were the children lost to God. For God remembers. God remembers every single innocent victim lost to the cruelty of violence. As Jesus said, “in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father”. Jesus was saying that his Father is their Father also; and the Heavenly Father never forgets.

That cruel world of the first century Roman Empire is not altogether unlike our own. Violence is still with us — domestic, gang, gun-related, and political. Rachel still weeps today, refusing to be consoled.

May Rachel’s consolation come in the knowledge that Jesus’ Father has received her children the arms of His tender mercy where there is no more violence or fear.

And may we commit ourselves to doing what Joseph — whatever it takes to protect and watch over the children entrusted to our own tender care.

Daily Lesson for December 27, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson is in commemoration of the Feast of St John.

I have great admiration for John, the brother of James. Amidst all the hyper masculinity of his time and the community of the disciples, there was in John a certain tenderness. He wrote of love, and our call to love one another. He wrote of himself as beloved. He wrote of our ability to love others because we know we are first loved by God (1 John 4:19).  When I think of John, I think of the image of the Last Supper, with the beloved disciple reclining next to Jesus. Or as Longfellow described it, with “his head upon the Saviour’s breast”.  There is intimacy in that image, there is trust, there is love and being loved. 

After the Resurrection, John lived what must have been a kind of lonely and solitary life. Many, if not all, of the other disciples were martyred for their faith and John was sent into exile on the Isle of Patmos. The Church has remembered him as “a martyr of intention”.  He was not martyred. He did not die for his faith; he did not receive that glory. Instead, he dreamt, and he wrote and he passed on the faith to the next generation. He shared with others the beauty of love and of being beloved. He shared with them first hand the beauty of meeting and falling in love with the one who is Very Love of Very Love. No, he did not die for his beloved Jesus; he lived for him.

The old Chasidic master Rabbi Zusya once had a dream wherein he saw the heavenly court on the Day of Judgment that is to come. The Rabbi described what he saw and heard, saying that God did not ask him, “Why weren’t you Moses?” but rather, “Why were you not Zusya?”

We are each and all beloved. We each have our own calling and journey. We have to take our own way. We each have to live the life of the beloved in our own way, and not somebody else’s. 

St John shows us how.

Daily Lesson for December 26, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson on the Feast Day of St. Stephen, the Church’s first martyr, comes from Wisdom chapter 4 verses 7 through 15:

7 But the righteous, though they die early, will be at rest. 

8 For old age is not honoured for length of time,

or measured by number of years; 

9 but understanding is grey hair for anyone,

and a blameless life is ripe old age.

10 There were some who pleased God and were loved by him,

and while living among sinners were taken up. 

11 They were caught up so that evil might not change their understanding

or guile deceive their souls. 

12 For the fascination of wickedness obscures what is good,

and roving desire perverts the innocent mind. 

13 Being perfected in a short time, they fulfilled long years; 

14 for their souls were pleasing to the Lord,

therefore he took them quickly from the midst of wickedness. 

15 Yet the peoples saw and did not understand,

or take such a thing to heart,

that God’s grace and mercy are with his elect,

and that he watches over his holy ones.

On this day of commemorating St. Stephen and his martyrdom, the Church gives us these words from the book of Wisdom which remind us of the meaning of a full life.

Struck down in the prime of his life, Stephen did not live long.  Yet he lived fully. His lived well. He lived a life not great in length, but in depth — not in quantity, but in quality. He lived a life of wisdom and meaning beyond his years. 

Stephen was a model for us — not only in dying, but in living. 

A month before his own martyrdom, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached a sermon with words which may well have been Stephen’s also:

“The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important. If you are cut down in a movement that is designed to save the soul of a nation, then no other death could be more redemptive.”

The martyrs remind us there is something worth giving our lives for, something worth living and dying for. It is always greater than the quantity of our days. For it has within it the quality of eternity. 

As we make plans for our New Year’s Resolutions, we might resolve to find that one thing — so that whether we live or whether we die, it might be said that we’ve done well.

Daily Lesson for December 22, 2017:

Today’s Daily Lesson on the last weekday of the Advent:

It’s almost here. 

The stockings are all hung. The presents are wrapped and placed underneath the tree. The company has arrived. The lights beckon the arrival of the day.

And now we wait upon the mystery — the miracle of the coming of Christmas.

And parents turn their hearts towards their children. 

And children turn their hearts towards back home. 

The Lion and the Lamb in the family sit down at table together and talk.

The mighty mountain and the lowly valley both come forward to eat from the same loaf of grace. 

The Light is taken from the Christ Candle and passed to those without light.

And with the Light come Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love also.

And the soul feels its worth. 

I hope that wherever you are the mystery and miracle will make their way to you and yours this Christmas. 

Daily Lesson for December 21, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 25 verses 1 through 13:

‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”7Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” 9But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” 10And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” 12But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” 13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Here is a question for your consideration: why, if the bridegroom is near, did the bridesmaids with the extra oil for their lamps not share it with those without?  

The answer: Because he was not near. 

Oh yes; there was lots of loud shouting about his imminent arrival. Someone had seen him just on the edge of town and the like. 

But the wise know what the bridegroom said, “No one knows the hour or the day.”  No one. 

Somebody right now is writing a book to tell us all how the end of the world is coming soon and very soon: The Russian Bear is on the rise. There is some oligarch just being groomed to step into power. He is the anti-Christ.  Gas prices are the sign. Trump is the sign. Jerusalem being recognized as the capital of Israel is the sign. Did we know about those blood moons?

But the wise in the parable say, “No!”

Nobody knows the day nor the time. Nobody.

Don’t believe the shouts about the bridegroom’s coming.  Do not concern yourself with things too great.  Do not add borrow tomorrow’s troubles today. Do not add anxiety into your life. Rise. Eat. Study. Pray. Love your neighbor. Rest. Keep your lamps trimmed and burning — and not burning out.  When the bridegroom comes everyone will know.  Until then, nobody does. 

Daily Lesson for December 20, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 4 verses 6 and 7:

And round the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.

Around the throne of heaven, there are four living creatures, representative symbols of all created life on earth. First there is the Lion, symbol of courage and might.  There is the Ox, symbol of strength and determination.  There is the human face, symbol of wisdom.  There is the eagle, sign of grace and spirit.

Some are fierce lions. Some strong as oxes. Some wise and others spirited. But a well-rounded spirituality embodies all four of these qualities. To lean towards one is to know and live into ones own personal spiritual giftedness. But to have only one is to lose balance and spiritual harmony. 

A lion without wisdom is not only fierce, but outright vicious.  An ethereal spirit without the groundedness of the ox can burn in the sun. 

True godliness brings harmony and balance into our lives and character. 

Daily Lesson for December 19, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 24 verses 15 through 23:

15 ‘So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),16then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 17someone on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; 18someone in the field must not turn back to get a coat. 19Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! 20Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. 21For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23Then if anyone says to you, “Look! Here is the Messiah!” or “There he is!”—do not believe it.

There are times when we should not delude ourselves with expectations of rescue.  They are false expectations. They are cruel expectations. They end only in greater suffering for the innocent and weak; they do not end in deliverance.

In today’s Lesson Jesus prophesies the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Many were proclaiming another message; they prophesied deliverance. They said God would fight Jerusalem’s battle. Jesus said no. He warned his followers that when they saw the armies march in and the Roman powers setting up government in the holy Temple, then they were not to stay in the City but they were to head for the mountains of Judea. 

Sometimes we have to give ourselves permission to head for the hills. Discretion really can be the better part of valor. It is not cowardice to flee a harmful and abusive situation. In fact, making a decision to go and stay can be the most courageous decision anyone ever makes.

And it can be the decision between life and death. 

Daily Lesson for December 18, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 24 verses 36-37 and 42-44:

36 ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man . . .42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

The time of Advent is a time of waiting. It is time for anticipation and preparation and making ready. For the Son of Man comes at an unexpected hour and in unexpected ways. 

He comes knocking on the door, a stranger whose strange spirit begs something in us to let him into our lives. 

He comes as a child, looking for a mentor, a teacher, a parent, a friend. 

He comes as an old woman lying in a nursing home bed, her eyes looking out into the hall, hoping for a some visitor to stop and bring conversation for Christmas.

He comes as a friend in the midst of sadness and grief here at the holidays, for whom lunch provided or a load of laundry done would be the most blessed of miracles.

He comes as person whose story or viewpoint begs to be heard and taken seriously. 

He comes as some “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner” like Ebenezer Scrooge, who somewhere down deep also has the light of Christ within, and is just waiting for someone to help him find it.

He comes.  He is coming. He shall come again. 

He may very well come today. 

Daily Lesson for December 15, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 2 verses 26 through 28:

26To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,

I will give authority over the nations;

27 to rule them with an iron rod,

   as when clay pots are shattered— 

28even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star.

The morning star most commonly refers to the planet Venus when it appears in the east just before the rising of the sun. Those who see its light know that the first morning rays of dawn shall soon break the dark hold of night upon the earth. 

So too, today’s Lesson reminds us that one who “conquers” — who keeps the faith, who holds on, who does not surrender to fear or dismay, who continues to hope all things and endure all things — this one shall see the coming of the morning star.

The morning star is not daybreak. It is not dawn. It is not the end of night altogether.  There is still darkness. But there is also light; and there is the promise of more light to follow. It is the promise of very light of very light that is to come.

Let the morning star come. And if it tarries wait on it. And if you see it, if you can catch just feint glimmer of it in this dark and crooked age then rejoice; I say again, rejoice!  For your light is coming. And those who have waited in deep darkness shall soon see a great dawn. 

Daily Lesson for December 14, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 2 verse 17:

17Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.

One of my now-gone mentors in the pastorate had a funeral sermon tradition of giving a new name to each departed person he buried. This was his way of telling of the significance of the departed’s life to him, to the family, and to this world. 

In the age that is to come we shall be given a new name. We shall be given a white stone with a new name. No one else knows the name or its meaning save the one who receives it and the one who gives it — out Lord. The name will be just between us, our significance to him, a name that conveys the meaning of the story we shared together. 

Here’s a few names that might be given:

Survivor

Healer

Encourager

Hopeful One

Tender One

Faithful Servant

Champion

Rock

Mighty Warrior

Nurturer

Son

Daughter

Blessed

Redeemed

Daily Lesson for December 13, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 38 verses 1 through 10:

  O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath!

2  For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.

3  There is no soundness in my flesh

because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones

because of my sin.

4  For my iniquities have gone over my head;

like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

5  My wounds stink and fester

because of my foolishness,

6  I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;

all the day I go about mourning.

7  For my sides are filled with burning,

and there is no soundness in my flesh.

8  I am feeble and crushed;

I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

9  O Lord, all my longing is before you;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

10  My heart throbs; my strength fails me,

and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.

I have a friend who not long ago celebrated 40 years of sobriety. Sometime back, he spoke to a group of us about alcoholism and recovery and he told us that when he first got sober and returned from a long-term treatment facility his mother came to see him and said, "Your eyes are looking out again."

The road of recovery is the journey towards looking out again. It is the journey from isolation to community, shame to redemption, and sickness to health.  It is the journey from darkness back into light.

The psalmist in today's lesson is living in the darkness isolation.  By my count he uses the words "I", "me" or "my" twenty-six times in only 10 verses.  His eyes are all inward. Or, as he puts it, the light from his eyes is gone from him.

It seems hopeless. Yet, ironically, it is the hopeful moment. Suddenly he sees!  He who has no light can nonetheless see that he has no light.  All therefore is not lost because he still can see with the light of the memory of light.  He is seeing himself now with the flickering, yet doggedly defiant light we call hope.

The writer of Psalm 38 is living in darkness.  He is sick and not well. He is alone and not in community. He is thinking only of himself and not others.

But don't give up on him, because he is still talking to God, still remembering God, still remembering the Very Light of Very Light . . .

Daily Lesson for December 12, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 28 verse 10:

“The Lord is the strength of his people, 

a safe refuge for his anointed.”

We cannot do this on our own.

The mountains we have to climb are too tall and our own abilities too weak to make it through without real, supernatural strength. 

This is the first, bedrock principle laid down as a part of any legitimate spiritual endeavor, whether personal or communal. The spirit of God must be the animating force. The sabbath of God must be the place of the soul’s deep rest. And the strength of God must be what is relied upon to knock down the gates of hell.

The LORD is with us. The LORD is working in and will work through us. The LORD has called us to this place at this time — for this time. 

Trust the LORD. 

“Trust the LORD and lean not on your own understanding.”

Why do I have to keep learning this Lesson?

Maybe because it’s THE LESSON. 

Daily Lesson for December 9, 2017

Today’s Daily Office comes from Revelation chapter 1 verses 4 and 5:

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

Have you watched It’s A Wonderful Life yet this Christmas?  Do you remember George Bailey’s haphazard angel Clarence, who still doesn’t have his wings?  If I’m ever in the kind of trouble George was in I hope God sends an angel who has already earned his wings!

There is an old Jewish tradition found in the book of 1 Enoch which tells us seven angels who watch over creation. Their names are Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sarakiel, Gabriel, and Ramiel.  Likewise in today’s Lesson, the book of Revelation tells of the seven spirits who stand before the throne of God, ready to be sent into the world when given the word. The point is that the angelic beings and all of the powers of heaven are on our side, eager to come to our aid. 

God will not leave us to fight our battles alone. God sends angels, winged or not, to come to our side and help, to bring us messages of hope and assurance, to encourage and empower us to keep on keeping on, to tip the balance of spiritual warfare.

There’s more to this war and this world than what we can physically see. Revelation pulls back the curtain that we might spiritually see and believe. 

Daily Lesson for December 8, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson is the Parable of the Wedding Feast from Matthew 22:

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:2‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.4Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 ‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”14For many are called, but few are chosen.’

Now here is a difficult story. It is one about sin and judgment and exile. When it rolls around in the Liturgical Calendar we conclude its public reading with these words: “This is the Gospel of grace.”  It could well be phrased as a question, “This is the Gospel of grace?”

It is. 

It is the white hot, searing truth of judgment and penalty that drives us to God’s grace. 

The grace is not cheap. It is costly.  It demands repentance. It demands change of heart and change of mind. It demands life change.

The man without the wedding robe was unwilling to change. He was unwilling to think or act differently. He was stuck in his ways. He still carried the same old prejudices inside hisself. He thought he could still behave with impunity and without consequence. He thought he could show up and act like boar at a wedding he either didn’t approve of or respect. He was wrong.

For these mistakes in judgment he now found himself in the outer darkness where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth —and also opportunity to think about a real change.

December 6, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 8 through 10:

8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.9The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

And Matthew chapter 21 verses 28 through 32:

28 ‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” 29He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. 30The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

It’s not too late for change.

A day of revelation is coming, of which what we are witnessing now in the public domain is just a precursor. We have different words for this day. Some call it the the Day of the LORD, some call it the Day of Judgment, some the Day of Reckoning, some the day we hit bottom. In any case, it’s coming. 

Now then is the time for humility. Now is the time for repentance. Now is the time for a change of attitude and life. Now is the time to confess sin, fall upon the mercy of God, get up a new man or a new woman. 

God wills that none should perish, but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). The door of repentance remains open. It’s still ajar. It hasn’t closed. God just keeps it open. And so it’s still even now not too late to be repent, be saved from myself, and start being a much better me. 

Daily Lesson for December 7, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 18 verses 8 through 15:

7 The earth trembled and quaked,

    and the foundations of the mountains shook;

    they trembled because he was angry.

8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;

    consuming fire came from his mouth,

    burning coals blazed out of it.

9 He parted the heavens and came down;

    dark clouds were under his feet.

10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;

    he soared on the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—

    the dark rain clouds of the sky.

12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,

    with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

13 The Lord thundered from heaven;

    the voice of the Most High resounded.

14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,

    with great bolts of lightning he routed them.

15 The valleys of the sea were exposed

    and the foundations of the earth laid bare

at your rebuke, Lord,

    at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

There is now a great shaking of the foundations.

Congressmen stepping down, entertainment stars fired in disgrace, the integrity of governmental agencies being called into question.

It is indeed a fearful time. But we are not to be dismayed.

The LORD is purifying our nation and testing our integrity. A great purging is taking place, a mighty cleansing. The foundations of our society, our values as a people, and our national constitution are all being put on trial. It is an act of God. 

Things may get worse before they get better. There may be more uncertainty and foreboding. There may even be greater crisis. It’s hard to know what God is doing in the darkness. 

But we are to hold fast.  We are to keep trusting that the foundations of our democracy are true and noble and will stand the test.

I have been thinking of what Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said after the police shootings in Dallas last summer. We are a people of “Faith, Hope, and Love” —having faith in the integrity of our institutions, hoping that we can endure all things, and choosing to love our neighbors and also even our enemies. 

Those are strong and steadying words for unsettling times.

Daily Lesson for December 5, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 21 verses 12 and 13:

12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, ‘It is written,

“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;

   but you are making it a den of robbers.’

There is, as the hymn says, “Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild”, but this is not Him. 

This is Jesus angered at injustice. This is Jesus intolerant of spiritual abuse. This is Jesus indignant at those who take advantage of people in God’s name.

H. Richard Niebuhr said the the 21st century American Church proclaimed:

"A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."

Jesus was not put to death for being gentle, meek, and mild.  Jesus went to the cross because He cleansed the Temple. 

If our Jesus is only meek and mild and never angered enough to cause a scene, or disrupt the status quo then our Jesus is probably a nice guy but he’s not the Christ of the cross. He’s not our Savior. 

The Christ who saves us is sometimes meek, sometimes mild, and sometimes just downright indignant with man’s inhumanity to man — and woman. 

Daily Lesson for December 4, 2017

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 5 through 11:

5For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, 7and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. 8For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. 10Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. 11For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

Guilt and shame are great hindrances to wholeness and witness. The devil is hard at work seeking to drag us back into the shame of our past transgressions. He would like nothing more than to see us again like Adam and Eve hiding behind the fig leaves, ashamed of our nakedness and afraid of exposure.

Prayer and training in Godliness help us to overcome our shame. It is a wonder what an antidote study of the Bible and the doing of good works can be. They remind us of our best selves and the rich mercies we’ve been given in God. These mercies far outweigh the sins of our past.

None of us is Lilly-white. All have fallen short of the glory of God. These are things we can and should freely confess, and not deny. But to dwell past mistakes so much that they rob us of our present and future cheapens the price for which we were bought at Calvary. We have been redeemed; we must not allow the devil to keep us from remembering that it is so.

Nearing the end of his life, John Newton former slave ship captain turned clergyman and author of the hymn “Amazing Grace” wrote these words, “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

That’s something worth remembering, alright. In fact, we must do all we can to never, ever forget it.