Daily Lesson for November 30, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 15 verses 7 through 13:

7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,

   and sing praises to your name’; 

10and again he says,

‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’; 

11and again,

‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

   and let all the peoples praise him’; 

12and again Isaiah says,

‘The root of Jesse shall come,

   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;

in him the Gentiles shall hope.’ 

13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The early Christians were known — and often despised — for their welcome and treatment of outsiders. They went against the ways and customs of their own communities as they welcomed the stranger and embraced the foreigner.  This often earned them charges of treachery amidst their own people. 

Justin Martyr, the early Church father who was put to death for not following Roman customs, protested his treatment and the treatment of other Christians in an apology to the Emperor:

“Formerly we hated and killed one another because of a difference in nationality or custom and refused to let strangers into our gates. Now since the coming of Christ, we all live in peace. We pray for our enemies and seek to convert those who hate us unjustly. So that, by living according to the noble precepts of Christ, they may partake with us in the same joyful hope of obtaining our reward from God, the Lord of all.”

God is LORD of all. Christ opens our eyes to see God in all. And it is “the glory of God,” Paul says, when we “welcome one another . . . just as Christ has welcomed [us].

This kind of moral imagination may make us different in the world. It may not sit well with our neighbors or communities or our national policies. But “since the coming of Christ” into our own lives, we understand what it means to be welcomed as aliens and strangers and know the transformative power of love and embrace. It is the gift we were given in Christ — an open door; and it is one we must keep open for others. 

It is one of the grave evils of our time that such a spirit of racism and xenophobia now pervade our land. But God is Lord of all; and we Christians, of all people, have to say so. 

Daily Lesson for November 29, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Zechariah chapter 13 verses 1 through 5:

On that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

2 On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more; and also I will remove from the land the prophets and the unclean spirit. 3And if any prophets appear again, their fathers and mothers who bore them will say to them, ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord’; and their fathers and their mothers who bore them shall pierce them through when they prophesy. 4On that day the prophets will be ashamed, every one, of their visions when they prophesy; they will not put on a hairy mantle in order to deceive, 5but each of them will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the soil; for the land has been my possession since my youth.’

It is better to have no prophets at all rather than prophets who lead the people astray.

When the prophets become purveyors of hatred and abuse and they bless all manner of evil in God’s name then it is better that there were none in the land. And when the prophets fail to watch over and protect the people, but rather lead them down paths of unrighteousness for purposes of their own political and economic increase or leave them exposed at the hands of predators then they have no right to the office or title of prophet. For they have bring shame upon the office, and blaspheme against the LORD, calling evil good and good evil.

Now is a time for discerning the prophets. It is a time for deciding whether those who are said to serve the LORD actually do so, or if rather they really serve the purposes of the State, or the Party, or business, or their own personal gain.

Seminaries are drying up left and right. There aren’t enough students to keep the lights turned on. Catholic dioceses are having to pull in priests from all over the world to serve North America. It seems very few people want to enter the ministry. And we might think to ourselves whether this might not all be a kind of judgment upon the kind of priests and prophets and Christianity we have created in America. 

It’s something to think about. 

Daily Lesson for November 28, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 19 verses 1 through 10:

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ 9Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

Jesus truly saw no one as beyond God’s salvation. That was welcome news for the blind, the lame, the leper, and all the poor peasants who became his followers. But when Jesus opened his arms to the tax collector also he drew suspicion and criticism and stirred up a great deal of hostility amongst that throng of followers. It was the first hint that the great crowd which surrounded him would soon turn its cheers to jeers. 

I came to understand just how vilely hated a tax collector like Zacchaeus was when I once heard the confession of a friend and dying Vietnam War veteran.  As he sat dying of cancer, with just a few weeks to live, he shared with me an experience he had in war that still deeply troubled him. He and some other American and South Vietnamese soldiers had been in a small South Vietnamese community when a group of armed men pushed another man into the center of the village. The people surrounded the man, spit at and hit and in other ways brutalized him. After 10 minutes or so they then executed him in front of the whole village. The men in the village cheered.  So did the South Vietnamese soldiers. The American GI’s did nothing to intervene. They simply stood and watched while smoking cigarettes. 

My friend told me that the executed man was a North Vietnamese operative. He would often come into the village and demand money in exchange for not raping and pillaging and burning it. He was an extortionist in the first degree. The people hated him. They wanted him died. He had made the mistake of showing up when the American soldiers were present. This had been his last mistake.

And the real kicker for me in the story was what the people called him. My friend said they called the man a “tax collector”.

There’s the children’s song about Zacchaeus being a “wee little man, a wee little man was he”.  But that’s not what I think of when I read this story. I don’t think of children at all. I think of grown men brutalizing one another. I don’t think of a wee little man; I think of a dead man. 

And, I think of how appalling it must have been to the villagers in Jericho to hear Jesus say that the tax collector was a son of Abraham also.

Daily Lesson for November 27, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 10 through 17 and 21 through 23:

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If the work is burned, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple . . .

21So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

I have an old friend back in Lubbock who says, “You don’t join preachers; you join the church.”

It’s his way of reminding people that preachers come and go, but the church remains. The foundation remains. Christ remains. 

The church at Corinth joined preachers. Some joined Paul. Some joined Apollos. Some were wanting to join Peter (Cephas).  But Paul tells them they joined the church. They joined Christ. They belong to Christ. And so did the church. Not the preacher. 

Preachers and priests do come and they do go. They build. But Paul says the real test of their work is made visible after they’re gone.  It’s then that the fire comes. It’s then when the floods rise. It’s then that the mettle is tested. It’s then that everybody will know whether what was built was built to last. Whether it was solid stone built on the firm foundation of Christ or measly straw sure to be blown down by the winds of change.

We don’t join preachers. We join churches. We join them and we help to build them. And we pray we can build them to last. 

Daily Lesson for November 26, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Galatians chapter 6 verses 1 through 5:

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. 2Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. 4All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbour’s work, will become a cause for pride. 5For all must carry their own loads.

We are to take no pride when others fall. It is no cause of delight or what the Germans call “schadenfreude”.  It is also no time for shaming.  For shaming is usually a form of distancing.  But the word says we are not to distance ourselves, but to draw near.

So long as we are distant and pointing fingers, we can delude ourselves and others in thinking we are better than or somehow set apart. But as we draw near, we touch their humanity and also our own.  It is here that we realize no one else is quite so bad and that we are not so good as is perceived from a distance. 

“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” It is the law of Christ we are to fulfill, not the law of condemnation. It is the law of love, the golden rule of which is to treat others as we would wish them to treat us. 

We really aren’t any better than or worse than anybody else. When others stumble, it’s time for us to thank God for the grace we’ve been given to this make it this far stay on our two feet and, also, a time to reach down a hand and help the other guy or gal up, and help them bear their load for a little while. Because the truth is life’s a long journey and nobody will make it alone. 

Daily Lesson for November 21, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 101 verse 6:

“My eyes are upon the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me.”

I think sometimes God gives us little signs along the path just to let us know that in spite of whatever present doubts we might have about ourselves and our lives, we’re on the right path, going the right way, traveling with a whole caravan of angels and saints unseen, and absolutely being watched over and cared for.

Yesterday I received one of those signs. 

On Sunday, at the church’s annual Thanksgiving dinner I talked about my favorite teacher of all time, my fifth grade home room teacher, Mrs. Jamison, and how she would always tell us, “Count your blessings.”  It’s a phrase I think of every Thanksgiving and it always takes me back to Mrs. J’s class and how loved and cared for she always made me feel and also how witty and how wise she always was. 

Then yesterday I received a surprise package in the mail from.  It was a big canvas Christmas Grinch along with the words “Count Your Blessings”. And who was it from?  Mrs. Jamison.  

And along with the picture was a short but very touching note:

“Three good things about teaching are June, July, and August, and, may I add having special children and memories to carry me in my old age.

“I saw this poster and could not get it out of my mind. I just wanted you to have it and know that even the Grinch believed in God.

“Once again, counting my blessings!

Love you,

Mrs. J”

I’m counting them too, Mrs. J. 

I surely am. 

Daily Lesson for November 20, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17 and 18:

17 Though the fig tree does not blossom,

   and no fruit is on the vines;

though the produce of the olive fails

   and the fields yield no food;

though the flock is cut off from the fold

   and there is no herd in the stalls, 

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

   I will exult in the God of my salvation.

Today’s Lesson is the text John Newton, writer of the hymn “Amazing Grace”, took as his text on the occasion of his wife Mary’s funeral.

It is a steadfastly and even defiantly faithful word of praise to God.

“though the flock is cut off from the fold

 and there is no herd in the stalls, 

yet I will rejoice in the Lord”

That “yet” makes this a strong and suitable text for the week of Thanksgiving.

It was the year 1863, the Civil War raged on with many hundreds of thousands lives already lost, and the Lincoln family was still in grief over the death of their 12-year-old son Willie. “Yet”, President Lincoln saw things to still be thankful to God for and so issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation.

Paul said, “Give thanks in every circumstance.”  

We give thanks this week. No matter where we are and no matter how much we have or how much we are missing. We give thanks for something. And even though we aren’t where we hoped we’d be, and the losses of loved ones still grieve us, and though maybe the crop didn’t make like it was supposed to, and our political party didn’t win the election, “yet” we still rejoice. For we still have much to be thankful for. And God is still worthy of our praise. 

Daily Lesson for November 19, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Habakkuk chapter 2 verses 15 and 16:

15 ‘Alas for you who make your neighbours drink,

   pouring out your wrath until they are drunk,

   in order to gaze on their nakedness!’ 

16 You will be sated with contempt instead of glory.

   Drink, you yourself, and stagger!

The cup in the Lord’s right hand

   will come around to you,

   and shame will come upon your glory!”

It’s Thanksgiving Week and a time for counting our blessings, praising God for God’s goodness, and thanking God for our bounty. This is the season for gratitude. And it’s a season we can pretty well all in unity agree on and observe.

But the forces of division roll on. They never stop their posting, pandering, tweeting, talking headedness, intended to divide and conquer — either the office, or the airwaves, or the Emmys.

So the Prophet Habakkuk comes today giving warning to those who wish to make us drunk on their wrath. There is no future in wrath or hatred; and what they make others to drink will one day be their end. For the cup that goes round comes round also.

As for the rest of us. Again, here we have a word of warning to be on guard against our own exploitation. We should not be complicit in our own poisoning. We must resist the cup of hatred and wrath. We must say no to all the anger others would have us to consume and be drunk on. 

And the way to resist the cup of wrath is surely indeed gratitude and Thanksgiving and sharing a table this week with someone who sees the world a whole lot differently, but is still in the end still our very own flesh and blood and also human too. 

Daily Lesson for November 15, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Joel chapter 2 verses 21 and 22:

21 Do not fear, O soil;

   be glad and rejoice,

   for the Lord has done great things! 

22 Do not fear, you animals of the field,

   for the pastures of the wilderness are green;

the tree bears its fruit,

   the fig tree and vine give their full yield. 

The Scriptures speak again and again of a world where the earth produces without disruption and degradation of humankind. It is world at harmony with itself and a part of the blessedness of God’s command which was told not only to Adam and Eve but even to the whole creation: “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Today’s Lesson speaks a word of consolation and hope to the earth. “Do not fear, O soil,” the LORD says to the earth. I believe this is more than a poetic device. The earth literally fears its destruction and demise. It shudders at what humankind does to it out of ignorance and arrogance.

We have come to the harvest season. It is a time for thinking upon our need to live in harmony with the earth. It is a time to think of being not only its stewards but also its friends. It is time to hear the LORD of us all speak a word to the earth and tell it to, “Be not afraid.”

Daily Lesson for November 16, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 16 verses 1 through 9:

Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.” 3Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” 5So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” 6He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” 7Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” 8And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

Now here is a puzzling parable, and one that is impossible to preach to people wholly committed to Jesus only telling stories with good guys and bad guys and clear moral lessons.

This isn’t so much a moral lesson. This is a lesson about friendship. It’s a lesson about making friends while we can and with what we have. It’s a lesson, Jesus says, the children of darkness understand.  They understand that in life we’re going to need others. It’s also a lesson, Jesus says, the children of light need to learn — for life and for life to come.

Even crooks know they’re going to need others. And even crooks do what it takes to make friends with their dishonest wealth. 

How much more then are the children of light to do the same. 

Daily Lesson for November 14, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Joel chapter 2 verses 12 through 19:

12 Yet even now, says the Lord,

   return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 

13   rend your hearts and not your clothing.

Return to the Lord, your God,

   for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,

   and relents from punishing. 

14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,

   and leave a blessing behind him,

a grain-offering and a drink-offering

   for the Lord, your God? 

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion;

   sanctify a fast;

call a solemn assembly; 

16   gather the people.

Sanctify the congregation;

   assemble the aged;

gather the children,

   even infants at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,

   and the bride her canopy. 

17 Between the vestibule and the altar

   let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.

Let them say, ‘Spare your people, O Lord,

   and do not make your heritage a mockery,

   a byword among the nations.

Why should it be said among the peoples,

   “Where is their God?” ’ 

18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land,

   and had pity on his people. 

19 In response to his people the Lord said:

I am sending you

   grain, wine, and oil,

   and you will be satisfied;

and I will no more make you

   a mockery among the nations.

Just this past Sunday we commemorated the end of World War I — a war that was said to end all wars. Today, however, marks the 78th anniversary of the Blitz bombing which destroyed Coventry Cathedral in Coventry, England just two short decades after the signing of the Armistice. The two wars together brought more destruction and death upon the earth in one century than all the other centuries of the world combined. Our inability to end the horror of war is a story of national and international hubris and the fundamental unwillingness to repent of pride and arrogance.

Today’s Lesson from the book of Joel comes today to show us another way. Here is a prophet calling upon its people to repent of its way, to lament its own dehumanization and cruelty, to accept its own complicity in evil. Here is the Prophet showing the people the way out of its self-destructive hubris and towards a saving humility. 

These are not just lessons for the past. These are lessons for today. Arrogance is never the way forward. And neither is vengeance. These things are not life living. They always end in destruction and self-destruction. Jesus said, “In those days the hearts of many will turn hard.” Our hard hearts must be softened and rended, that we might let love, and mercy, compassion, and forgiveness come in. These are things which make for peace.

We enter now this season of national Thanksgiving, proclaimed by our great leader President Lincoln who knew much about war and death. At the end of his Thanksgiving Proclamation Lincoln referenced the “the lamentable civil strife” in which the nation was engaged, and encouraged all citizens to pray for “the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation”  that the country might fully enjoy “peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

These things are gifts from God above.  And yet even now, they can still be ours should we humble ourselves and together seek them as a nation and as a people. 

It is never too late. 

Daily Lesson for November 13, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 78 verses 1 through 7:

1 Hear my teaching, O my people; 

incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable; 

I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.

3 That which we have heard and known,

and what our forefathers have told us, 

we will not hide from their children.

4 We will recount to generations to come

the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, 

and the wonderful works he has done.

5 He gave his decrees to Jacob

and established a law for Israel, 

which he commanded them to teach their children;

6 That the generations to come might know,

and the children yet unborn; 

that they in their turn might tell it to their children;

7 So that they might put their trust in God, 

and not forget the deeds of God,

but keep his commandments.

The Church is a treasury of wisdom. When we are at our best, we we bring forth from our storehouse all the knowledge of God’s faithfulness and provision. We bring the stories forth from our Sacred scriptures and also from our own personal and familial histories and we tell them to the generations.  We teach the children, that they might in turn teach their children and their children’s children. 

This is one reason why, in spite of all the church’s sometimes failures to live up to its charge, I still believe in and can say the words of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the holy Catholic Church”.  I do; I still believe in its charge and its gift and the storehouse of its wisdom. 

A hymn comes to mind, “Now Thank We All Our God”. It is a Thanksgiving hymn.  The church taught it to me. And every Thanksgiving Sunday we sing it; that we and our children might be reminded of God’s goodness and faithfulness to us as a people, and that we might from remember and be thankful and hold fast our hope from generation unto generation.

Here are the lyrics in their entirety:

Now thank we all our God

with heart and hands and voices,

who wondrous things has done,

in whom his world rejoices;

who from our mothers' arms

has blessed us on our way

with countless gifts of love,

and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God

through all our life be near us,

with ever joyful hearts

and blessed peace to cheer us,

to keep us in his grace,

and guide us when perplexed,

and free us from all ills

of this world in the next.

All praise and thanks to God

the Father now be given,

the Son and Spirit blest,

who reign in highest heaven

the one eternal God,

whom heaven and earth adore;

for thus it was, is now,

and shall be evermore. 

Daily Lesson for November 12, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke 14 verses 12 through 23:

12 He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

15 One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ 16Then Jesus* said to him, ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. 17At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” 18But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.” 19Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” 20Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” 21So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” 22And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” 23Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 

One of the tremendous gifts of pastoring a church like Broadway is the mix of community which comes to us week by week, and especially Sunday by Sunday. With a crown jewel for an organ inside the sanctuary and a temporary emergency shelter around the side, we draw from all walks of life. 

Yesterday I saw something beautiful in the narthex. An elderly member in our church was having trouble getting a cup of coffee before Sunday School. A homeless man from the community, who stays somewhere near Broadway and comes to worship almost every Sunday, always arriving early for the warm coffee, was there in the narthex. He saw she was struggling. He got up, went over to the coffee station and poured the coffee for her, took a sugar and a creamer and a stirrer, and then carried it all back for her to her seat. He was so kind and gentle and she was so grateful. It was all a simple gesture of humanity, but I thought somehow it carried all the kingdom of God in it. 

I wonder where else that happens except at a church like ours. I wonder if we didn’t have church or other houses of worship if it would ever happen anywhere. I wonder if we really know what we have here and how beautiful and special, and life changing it all is for all of us. 

Daily Lesson for November 9, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 17 verses 1 through 8:

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgement of the great whore who is seated on many waters, 2with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk.’ 3So he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication; 5and on her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of whores and of earth’s abominations.’ 6And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly amazed. 7But the angel said to me, ‘Why are you so amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.

This scene in the book of Revelation is full of hidden political meaning and message. It references now obscure, yet at the time very oppressive political leaders and regimes. The message is intended to prepare the faithful for the need for endurance.

The faithful ought not to wonder at or dismay at the persistence of evil in the world. The beast seems to ascend again and again from the bottomless pit. Its tenacity appears unconquerable. Those “whose names are not written in the book of life” are “amazed” by its seeming invincibility. This is why so many were even more taken with Hitler when he was able to survive so many assassination plots. He gained an aura of indomitability.  The beast seemed unbeatable.

Yet, the faithful hold out. They do not wonder, or marvel, or give themselves over to dismay. They hope and they trust. They know the beast is strong — enduringly so. But they know something else also. They know that in the end, the Lamb wins. 

Daily Lesson for November 8, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 13 verses 18 through 21:

18 He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? 19It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’

20 And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? 21It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

The God Movement is small and hidden at first and yet amazing in its potential, stunning in its potency. Just a little yeast leavens the whole loaf. A tiny seed is planted and in time it bursts forth through the ground, even the foundations of the mightiest edifices. 

Jesus is teaching his disciples to begin to see and believe in the power within themselves. The power of organization over oppression. The power of truth over falsity. The power of love over hate. It’s all hidden — underground, in the loaf — but it’s active, and it’s potential is incredible. And it’s power is unstoppable. 

Daily Lesson for November 7, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 72 and serves as a prayer on the morning after a hard-fought election:

1 Give the King your justice, O God, *

and your righteousness to the King's Son;

2 That he may rule your people righteously *

and the poor with justice.

3 That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, *

and the little hills bring righteousness.

4 He shall defend the needy among the people; *

he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.

5 He shall live as long as the sun and moon endure, *

from one generation to another.

6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown field, *

like showers that water the earth.

7 In his time shall the righteous flourish; *

there shall be abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more.

8 He shall rule from sea to sea, *

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Here the priest offers his prayers on behalf of the King. It is a sincere prayer to God, asking for blessings of peace, tranquility, tenure, and prosperity. It is also a reminder to the King of his responsibility to protect and watch over the poor and vulnerable against the cunning of the oppressive.

Verse 3 strikes me as particularly poignant:

 That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, 

and the little hills bring righteousness.

It is not enough for the nation to be prosperous; it must also be righteous. It is not enough to be great; it must also be good. 

We offer prayers for all who have been elected to govern our states and Nation. We ask God for blessing upon the land and people under their governance. We pray especially for peace, and for the poor and vulnerable, and for the work that is necessary for the making of a better world for all people everywhere.  And in all these things, we ask God for the grace to bring bounty to our fields and a harvest of righteousness within our Soul.

And for anthem to close we take the hopeful and uplifting words of America the Beautiful:

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain 

For purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain 

America, America, God shed His grace on thee 

And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea 

Daily Lesson for November 6, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 14 verses 17 through 20:

17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, ‘Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.’ 19So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press, as high as a horse’s bridle, for a distance of about two hundred miles.

The word for “Revelation” is “apocalypse”, meaning “showing”.  John the Revelator gets his apocalyptic vision as in a dream and shows it by writing down what he sees. The whole book of Revelation is an apocalyptic vision, shown to the faithful in a time of tremendous persecution and suffering. It is meant to encourage and strengthen their resolve with through the vision of another world on its way — a world of truth and justice and the raising of the dead. 

Today’s Lesson is probably most familiar through the lyrics of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, a song whose lyrics were written by abolitionist Julia Ward Howe and inspired the North amidst the terrible struggle and suffering of the Civil War. The lyrics which correspond to today’s Lesson begin the song:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: 

His truth is marching on.

The song is about God’s anger at human injustice and oppression, and ultimate judgment on behalf of the causes of Liberty and Justice for all people. 

The hymn is at or near the top of the pantheon of all American patriotic songs, and was sung round the campfires of Union soldiers and quoted before 25,000 marchers by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the steps of the Alabama State Capitol in what is commonly referred to as his “How Long? Not Long!” speech.

There is injustice in the world. There is oppression. But the revelation is given to show another world on its way, a world that is not long away, a world we cannot stop dreaming of, believing in, and working towards. 

How long? Not long. Not too long anyhow. And those who keep hoping, keep striving and do not give over to cynicism or dismay will see no longer through the eyes of another, but behold with their own eyes and sing with their own lips:

Glory, glory, hallelujah! 

Glory, glory, hallelujah! 

Glory, glory, hallelujah! 

Our God is marching on!

Daily Lesson for November 5, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 12 verses 49 through 53:

49 ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53they will be divided:

father against son

   and son against father,

mother against daughter

   and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

   and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

I think a lot about the politics of division and often decry what has become of our political landscape. I think the division it is largely a symptom of our vastly different experiences relative to young and old, urban and rural, white, black, and brown, and wealth and working class. These divisions have been with us in some ways since the very beginning of our Republic. They have been exacerbated with the decline of rural farming, the political ascendency of people of color, and the advent, stratification, and mobilization of social media.

When I look at this it’s hard to imagine the situation getting better.  The tensions seem only to be gaining force. The center will not hold. It might well be cause for deep pessimism. 

And yet, here is Jesus in this morning’s Daily Lesson speaking of division as a work God — a burning, a refining way of purification.  Though it’s hard to see or even really imagine, it’s a hopeful word to remind us that God is in this somewhere, working God’s purposes out. 

Amidst a time of tribulation it’s a hopeful enough thought to make a semi-Calvinist out of me. 

And speaking of Calvinists and politics, I’m thinking here of the deeply-Calvinistic Lincoln, who after defeat in the Second Battle of Bull Run:

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God can not be for, and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party---and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose.

Contrary to what the media might lead us to believe, we are not at a point of Civil War. We thank God for this. But we may very much at the point of division between:

“father against son

   and son against father,

mother against daughter

   and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

   and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Perhaps it would behoove us then this Thanksgiving after this election that either way God is working God’s purpose out through this all and that there is a very good chance that neither of our parties knows or acts in accordance with the complete will of God. 

That will be a pretty good thing for everyone at the Thanksgiving table to remember — no matter who’s holding the carving knife.