Daily Lesson for January 31, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from John chapter verse 12:

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Today is the last day of 2018 and tomorrow we’ll step off into 2019.  What this New Year will bring to us, our families, our church, our community, and our nation we know not.  Yet though the road be dark and uncertain, we know we must go; for we can’t stay here in the present which will soon be past. So tomorrow we step out into the future — with blind faith that somehow we’ll find the way.

Jesus said that he is the light of the world, and that even though we may step in pitch blackness we who walk with Him share in an inner light which shines even amidst utter darkness.  This is the light which allows us to put one faithful foot in front of another and be not afraid.

I’ve always loved the excerpt from Minnie Louise Haskins’s poem “God Knows”, which was made famous when quoted by King George VI of England in what we’ve come to know as “the King’s Speech” amidst those first fearful and uncertain days of WWII:

“I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,

‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’

And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way.’”

We may not have a light for walking the path into 2019. But we hold the hand of the one who is the Very Light of Very Light; and with Him we step with courage through the gate of of the new year whose way only God knows . . .

Daily Lesson for December 28, 2018

Today is the commemoration of the Holy Innocents and our Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 18 verses 1 through 14:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ 2He called a child, whom he put among them, 3and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

6 ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block comes!

8 ‘If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.

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.

Today is Childermas, a day set aside to commemorate the killing of the Holy Innocents.  On this day we remember what Herod did to the children in and around Bethlehem. And we remember also all the children harmed by the heinous and vile.

We remember too the children harmed by the heinous and vile within the church. 

We read today’s Lesson and it speaks of a shepherd who leaves the flock and goes out to find and bring home a lost sheep. For too long we have misread this to be a story about the Church’s duty to do all it can to restore the vilest of sinners. But in its context the parable comes after Jesus warns against doing anything to harm “one of these little ones”.  It comes amidst a long discourse about his disciples need to watch over and protect the weak and most vulnerable and the consequences for not doing so. In that sense then the concluding parable about the sheep being returned to the fold is not about the search for and redemption of a grave sinner but rather the search for and restoration the sinner’s victim.

For too long we have misread this parable, risking the flock for the sake of a lost priest or church leader. But in fact, this story is about the need to risk the security of an institution for the sake of reconciliation with those the institution and its surrogates have harmed. It’s about restoring the vulnerable sheep, not harboring a dangerous wolf. 

We are finally just beginning to come to terms with all the harm the Church — Catholic and Protestant — has done to the Holy Innocents in its failure to protect them from abuse and also its efforts to cover over the misdeeds of their abusers. We are now beginning to repent of the perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands of incidents in which we as a Church have failed these children. And maybe we’re finally ready to read this parable rightly also. 

LORD have mercy.

Daily Lesson for December 27, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson is in observance of the Feast of St John Daily Lesson is from John chapter 13:

34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

St John comes to remind us this morning of the one essential thing: Love.

All Christians everywhere ought to dedicate themselves to love in this coming year. Love of friends. Love of family. Love of neighbors. Love of the Church. Love of enemies, and immigrants, and refugees, and homeless. Love even of politicians and heads of state and all people in places of authority. Love of self that makes love of others possible. 

Soon we’ll be taking down stockings and packing up the tree. Christmas comes and it goes. But love remains. Love never ends. 

At the end of A Christmas Carrol Ebenezer Scrooge pledges, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

Let us honor Christmas by trying to keep love alive all the year long. 

And by this everyone will know that we are His disciples . . .

Daily Lesson for December 24, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 1 verses 78 and 79:

78 By the tender mercy of our God,

   the dawn from on high will break upon us, 

79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

   to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Into this darkest time of the year the star appears; and to those who fumbled their way around desperate and searching in the dark the light shined. 

This is the way we are always saved — in the depths of our deepest darkness, when we can’t save ourselves or anybody else and we finally realize how silly it all is to even try. 

We stop where we are. We sit down. We look up. And right there, out of nowhere a new light comes, just enough light to get us up again. 

In the dayblindness of the sun’s light we would never see the star.  We would never know we need it. But in the pitch of dark we’re desperate for it. And into the darkness the light shines. 

Christmas comes at the darkest time of the year. It comes when we’re most desperate for the light. And when the star appears we rejoice. 

We rejoice because the very light of very light has come into the world just when we needed its gift of grace. 

And so the Hallelujah Chorus began . . .

Daily Lesson for December 21, 2018

Today Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 11 verses 7 through 11:

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

   who will prepare your way before you.” 

11Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The old age closes with the Prophet John.

John was the greatest of all the prophets. Fearless and austere, John lived what he believed. No one ever accused John of hypocrisy.  No one ever accused him of being too subtle either. 

John was the hell, fire, and brimstone preacher’s preacher. 

Yet, Jesus said, the very least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. 

Why?

Perhaps because in all his moral conviction and convicting, there was one word that was never used by John the Baptist: Love. And another word also: Grace. 

Now is the time of the Prophet.  There is much wrong with the world. There is plenty to be angry about. The Prophet comes to tell us the truth — whether we or our leaders will hear it or not. 

But there will come a time when the age of the prophet will end. And when it does there will need be much grace and much. It will be the only way to move forward together. 

St. Paul said we can do many moral things but if we have not love we are nothing.  We can be moral. We can be right. We can be great.  But if we have not love we are still less than the least in the kingdom of God.

The old age is passing away. It’s dying slowly; but like all things it too will succumb,eventually. 

And then, we shall behold a new age — the age of the Messiah, whose law is love and Gospel is peace.

And it will be just in time. 

Daily Lesson for December 18, 2018

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

But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 

2 The people who walked in darkness

   have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

   on them light has shined. 

3 You have multiplied the nation,

   you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

   as with joy at the harvest,

   as people exult when dividing plunder. 

4 For the yoke of their burden,

   and the bar across their shoulders,

   the rod of their oppressor,

   you have broken as on the day of Midian. 

5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors

   and all the garments rolled in blood

   shall be burned as fuel for the fire. 

6 For a child has been born for us,

   a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders;

   and he is named

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

7 His authority shall grow continually,

   and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom.

   He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

   from this time onwards and for evermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

At the time Jesus was born the whole region of Galilee was war-torn.  According to the Jewish historian Josephus the Roman Governor in Syria Varus burned resisting towns, crucified hundreds and maybe even thousands of  Jews, sold the rest into slavery.

So these words spoken of the coming messiah were words of promise to refugees. They were words of the promise of rescue and deliverance — promise of an end to oppression and a beginning of good governance.

“And the government will be upon his shoulder.”

If we read these Scriptures closely enough and pay attention to their context, then it’s as if God just won’t let us forget about the refugee during all the run up to Christmas. It’s as if God is saying, “Who is the Galilean now?  Where are they?  Where is Zebulon and Naphtali — the place looked upon with contempt by the rest of the world?  Do you know where that is?  Because that is the place where the messiah will show up. Guaranteed.”

“The people who walked in darkness

   have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

   on them light has shined.”

Daily Lesson for December 17, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 9 verse 1:

But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The Advent comes with hope for the people who were said to be not a people. It comes for those living on the borders. For the refugees. For the homeless. For the nationless. For the tired and hungry and yearning to breathe free. For los pobres de la tierra. 

Sometimes we forget who it was that Jesus came to, where he did his ministry, and who with. The poor do not forget. They hear the promises of the Bible that the good news shall be preached to the poor and they believe. They hope. Perhaps they hope and believe because they have so little else to hold onto. 

Last night we went to the home of some friends for church in order to commemorate Broadway’s 19th annual live nativity. For city kids — and adults — it’s always more than a 30 minute car ride. It’s a whole different kind of world, where donkeys kick and you have to watch your step because the cattle are “lowing”.  

It’s a whole different world, where people are so poor they can’t get into motels and the only things they have for their baby are some old towels to wrap him in. 

It’s a different world. It’s the world that Jesus was born into. It’s the world most of the earth is still born into. 

And the Advent marches it right up to our doorstep.

Daily Lesson for December 14, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 7 verses 10 through 

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

This is an obscure Scripture, but one important to understanding the risk-taking demands of faith.

Ahaz, the King of Judah, is afraid of war with the threatening Aramites. But he is not to be afraid, he is told; and the Prophet Isaiah is sent to tell him so. And to prove it, the Prophet tells Ahaz he is to ask for a sign from God. 

But Ahaz interprets this challenge as an act of disobedience, as putting God to the test.

Ahaz’s fear confounds him. It makes him see good as evil and an act of obedience as disobedience. It’s his fear cloaked as fidelity that keeps him from taking the leap of faith. 

Significantly, this is the Old Testament Lectionary text that is paired with the text from Matthew about Joseph and Mary in the New Testament. Again, Joseph like Ahaz, is afraid to take Mary as his wife as she’s been found to be with child. This, to Joseph, is a grave sin. But in fact, it’s not a sin; it’s the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. It’s an act of God. And as if to underscore the point, Matthew the writer quotes from today’s Isaiah Lesson:

“Behold, the young woman shall conceive and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”

Immanuel, “God is with us.”  So we must not be afraid.  And we must not allow our fears, cloaked in religion, to keep us from acting with faith. For the life of faith demands that we listen not only to what somebody has said God said, but what God is saying. It’s about taking chances, and risking boldly, and having the guts to say yes to the sign of the times. It’s what Joseph did in the Bible and what more of us ought to do now. 

There’s a popular benedictory prayer I like, attributed to William Sloane Coffin and used weekly by my predecessor at Broadway, Steve Shoemaker, with lines I really like:

“May God give you the grace

never to sell yourself short;

grace to risk something big

for something good;

grace to remember that the

world is too dangerous

for anything but truth and

too small for anything but love.”

May God give us this grace; and may we in turn accept it. 

Daily Lesson for December 13, 2018

Daily Lesson for Isaiah chapter 7 verses 1 through 

In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it. 2When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, 4and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, 6Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it; 7therefore thus says the Lord God:

It shall not stand,

   and it shall not come to pass.

Fear paralyzes us.  When we are afraid we tighten every muscle in our bodies and brace ourselves for impact. Or, we just run like hell. So we’re either stiff as a board or hiding under a rock. Or we’re both. Some people spend their whole lives like this. 

The Prophet comes to show us how our fears are often self-fulfilling. We’re afraid of defeat, so we don’t enter the battle. We’re afraid of losing what we have, so we hunker down, bury our treasure, and wait out life. We are afraid of being hurt, so we never put ourselves out there to love or be loved. We let fear take the wheel while we cower in the backseat; and we’re 20 years down the road before we realize we’ve been kidnapped. As Jesus said, we lose our life in trying to save it.

We can be our own worst enemies, fulfilling our own prophecies of loss defeat. The Prophet comes to us saying, “Do not fear; and do not let your heart be faint.”  It’s a message we have to hear over and over again.  

And this is the reason why Advent comes every year, to remind us again and again that in the new year there will be many things to fear, but the greatest of them is fear itself. 

Daily Lesson for December 12, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 through 13:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory.’ 

4The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph* touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ 9And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:

“Keep listening, but do not comprehend;

keep looking, but do not understand.” 

10 Make the mind of this people dull,

   and stop their ears,

   and shut their eyes,

so that they may not look with their eyes,

   and listen with their ears,

and comprehend with their minds,

   and turn and be healed.’ 

11 Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said:

‘Until cities lie waste

   without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

   and the land is utterly desolate; 

12 until the Lord sends everyone far away,

   and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. 

13 Even if a tenth part remains in it,

   it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak

   whose stump remains standing

   when it is felled.’

The holy seed is its stump.

The “Comfort, Comfort” has not been spoken, and it will not be spoken for some time. For the people are not yet ready.  They still have eyes that will not see and ears that will not here. 

And the word for this is Denial. 

We all live with some level of denial all the time. We are not yet ready to accept the full story set before us. We fool ourselves into thinking we have things under control. It was “just a phase”.  It won’t happen again. We can still manage it all. We don’t realize or acknowledge just how unmanageable our lives have become. 

The word of the LORD comes to the Prophet. It burns his lips like a hot coal. The truth is painful — painful to speak and painful to hear. That’s why the people shake their heads. They just aren’t ready. They will have to lose more before they get ready. It turns out their rock bottom is somewhere around China.

So the people aren’t ready. And they can’t be forced. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. 

But all is not lost. For the truth has been told, and a seed planted. And when the house falls in and all else is laid desolate, that seed of truth will be the thing with the power to set the people free. 

Daily Lesson for December 11, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 5 verses 14-17 and 24:

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite

   and opened its mouth beyond measure;

the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down,

   her throng and all who exult in her. 

15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,

   and the eyes of the haughty are humbled. 

16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice,

   and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness. 

17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture,

   fatlings and kids shall feed among the ruins.

24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

   and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so their root will become rotten,

   and their blossom go up like dust;

for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts,

   and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 

Yesterday a friend reading these Lessons from the Prophet Isaiah said something to the effect of, “Wow, these Woe Unto Yous are getting heavy; I’m ready for some good news.”

I know what she means. 

But the Lectionary writers are doing something very intentional. They are doing what those in the 12 Step Program must do in order to work at sobriety — they are administering a complete moral inventory in order to acknowledge “the exact nature of [their] wrongs.”

Isaiah does seem bleak. But his imagery of a fire purging the land all the way to its roots is helpful. He is talking about purification at the moral root, all the way down into the exact nature of the people’s wrongdoing.

It’s harsh imagery; yet there is some good news here. The clearing razes and destroys; yet it also purifies and cleanses.  The land, scorched in the fire, now grows again. It produces again. And the lambs come and feed upon it. The symbolism in these verses is actually stunning. The nobility of Jerusalem, who took advantage of the poor and vulnerable in the City with cold and callous contempt are now sent into exile, while the land is left safe again for the most vulnerable to come again and graze.

The Prophet’s Lessons are difficult.  But they’re also necessary. Purging is necessary. Purifying Fire is necessary. Hitting bottom is necessary. It’s all necessary in order that the people can take a good and hard look at their lives and make a change. 

This is what the Advent is about. 

Daily Lesson for December 10, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah 5:8-12,18-23:

8 Ah, you who join house to house,

   who add field to field,

until there is room for no one but you,

   and you are left to live alone

   in the midst of the land! 

9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

Surely many houses shall be desolate,

   large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. 

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,

   and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.

11 Ah, you who rise early in the morning

   in pursuit of strong drink,

who linger in the evening

   to be inflamed by wine, 

12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,

   tambourine and flute and wine,

but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord,

   or see the work of his hands! 

18 Ah, you who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,

   who drag sin along as with cart-ropes, 

19 who say, ‘Let him make haste,

   let him speed his work

   that we may see it;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfilment,

   that we may know it!’ 

20 Ah, you who call evil good

   and good evil,

who put darkness for light

   and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

   and sweet for bitter! 

21 Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes,

   and shrewd in your own sight! 

22 Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine

   and valiant at mixing drink, 

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

   and deprive the innocent of their rights!

The Prophet brings warning this morning to a nation on the brink of collapse.

The wealth gap is too great, with the rich adding wing onto wing of their homes while the poor get further and further displaced.

The decadence of wine and entertainment leaves no thought to God and the things of God. 

Good is called evil and evil called good; and darkness has been set up in the place where the nation’s light is supposed to shine. 

Blind Justice has been kidnapped, and partiality and favor have stolen the rights of the people.

This is a warning. This is a Woe.  The Prophet calls the nation to pause and consider its state, to repent of its misguided ways, and to return again to its calling as a beacon of light for all the other nations of the world.

The Advent is coming. The LORD is at work. It is a Woe; but it is also a promise. For a change is coming over the land. The nation shall regain its former glory and witness. Good will be good again, without vileness and corruption. Light will be light again without shadow of darkness. 

And the “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

Daily Lesson for December 7, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 3 verses 8 and 13 through 15:

8 For Jerusalem has stumbled

   and Judah has fallen,

because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,

   defying his glorious presence. 

13 The Lord rises to argue his case;

   he stands to judge the peoples. 

14 The Lord enters into judgement

   with the elders and princes of his people:

It is you who have devoured the vineyard;

   the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 

15 What do you mean by crushing my people,

   by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

The rulers of Judah have come to a point of shamelessness. No longer is there embarrassment about the existence of the poor among them.  Now the poor have become something to be exploited and blamed. And, brazenly, the leaders brag of the advantage they take. 

What we see here is a vile state of normalization of exploitation and oppression.  The nation has become inured to it — like a frog sitting in increasingly scalding water. Soon the water will boil the frog to death; but the frog just shrugs its shoulders. 

Yet God does not simply shrug God’s shoulders. God rouses. God stirs. God cares. 

God cares enough to intervene — to rise up and thwart the plans of the vile and evil, to shake the nation from its complacency, and renew its righteous light.

This is the meaning of the Advent. God comes to intervene, and set the nation on a more righteous path. 

Daily Lesson for December 6, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 2 verses 12 through 17:

12 For the Lord of hosts has a day

   against all that is proud and lofty,

   against all that is lifted up and high;

13 against all the cedars of Lebanon,

   lofty and lifted up;

   and against all the oaks of Bashan; 

14 against all the high mountains,

   and against all the lofty hills; 

15 against every high tower,

   and against every fortified wall; 

16 against all the ships of Tarshish,

   and against all the beautiful craft.

17 The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,

   and the pride of everyone shall be brought low;

   and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.

The Prophet foretells of a day of coming leveling. All the mighty and great shall be felled.  The haughty will be put into their place. 

On this day money and riches will not save.  Nor shall walls.

“For the Lord of hosts has a day.”

It is a day for us all. 

There is a powerful imagery in a sermon on death by John Donne, no doubt preached to some of London’s mightiest in the early 17th century.  In it, he reflects upon the Church and the cemetery out back:

“When a whirlewind hath blown the dust of a churchyard into the Church, and the man sweeps out the dust of the Church into the Churchyard, who will undertake to sift those dusts again and to pronounce, This is the patrician, this is the noble flowre, and this the yeomanly, this the Plebeian bran? So it the death of Iesabel expressed. They shall not say This is Iesabel; not only not wonder that it is, nor pity that it should be; but they shall not say, they shall not know, This is Iesabel.”

Neither Queen Isabel, who was buried five centuries ago nor President George H.W. Bush who shall be buried yesterday nor any of us all are any different. We all have the same fate before us. We are all mortals before God; and in the end God’s words will be true.  Dust we are; and to dust we shall return.

And remembering that ought to be enough to pretty well keep everything in perspective for the time being.

Daily Lesson for December 5, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 2 verses 2 through 4:

2 In days to come

   the mountain of the Lord’s house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

   and shall be raised above the hills;

all the nations shall stream to it. 

3   Many peoples shall come and say,

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

   to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

   and that we may walk in his paths.’

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 

4 He shall judge between the nations,

   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,

   and their spears into pruning-hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

   neither shall they learn war any more.

Here is a vision from the Prophet Isaiah of the world as it ought to be. It is a vision of the rule of law governing the world and its global citizens.  It is an alternative vision to the chaos of anarchy, the destruction of war, and the enmity of nations.

It is not a vision without conflict, but a vision in which conflicts are settled through means of just peace. It is conflict well-arbitrated by means of sound jurisprudence and equal justice. It is conflict transformed into justice.

The institution of justice and the rule of law are vital to the stability of the nation and the world. Every generation must affirm them and strive to uphold their foundations so that the nations might still come to the mountain and learn.

Daily Lesson for December 4, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 1 verses 21 through 27:

21 How the faithful city

   has become a whore!

   She that was full of justice,

righteousness lodged in her—

   but now murderers! 

22 Your silver has become dross,

   your wine is mixed with water. 

23 Your princes are rebels

   and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves a bribe

   and runs after gifts.

They do not defend the orphan,

   and the widow’s cause does not come before them. 

24 Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:

Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies,

   and avenge myself on my foes! 

25 I will turn my hand against you;

   I will smelt away your dross as with lye

   and remove all your alloy. 

26 And I will restore your judges as at the first,

   and your counsellors as at the beginning.

Afterwards you shall be called the city of righteousness,

   the faithful city. 

27 Zion shall be redeemed by justice,

   and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

We are in the Advent and the prophet Isaiah foretells the promise of coming deliverance. We shall hear his famous words of hope throughout the days ahead:

“And there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

And as today’s Lesson says, “Zion shall be redeemed.” 

Redeemed by what?  By Justice, the Scripture says. 

And so with today’s Lesson we see the the need for redemption. It is a redemption which includes, but is not limited to, the personal sins of individuals. The whole community has fallen into unrighteousness; and the community itself is the victim. The community has failed to care for one another — especially for the most poor and vulnerable. And the leaders of the community consort with rogues and thieves. Even judges are crooked and partial. Everyone has a hustle.  Righteousness and justice have left the City.

It’s into this time and place that the Prophet speaks. God’s judgment comes. It is the day of wrath. It is also the day of salvation. 

 And, “Zion shall be redeemed by justice,

 and those in her who repent, by righteousness.”

Justice and righteousness are the people’s salvation. This is the way to redemption. It draws nigh. 

“And a voice is heard in the wilderness.”