Daily Lesson for July 31, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Chronicles chapter 32 verses 1-8 and 20:

After these things and these acts of faithfulness, King Sennacherib of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. 2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, 3 he planned with his officers and his warriors to stop the flow of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. 4 A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the wadi that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the Assyrian kings come and find water in abundance?” 5 Hezekiah set to work resolutely and built up the entire wall that was broken down, and raised towers on it, and outside it he built another wall; he also strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance. 6 He appointed combat commanders over the people, and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, 7 “Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him; for there is one greater with us than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” The people were encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.

20 Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed because of this and cried to heaven.

Saint Augustine said that we have to pray like everything depends upon God and work like everything depends on us.

Hezekiah did pray to God.  And he was wise enough to pray with a man prayer, the Prophet Isaiah. And by the what the Scripture tells us they must have prayed mightily.  And, they worked mightily also.  They built.  They fortified.  They organized, and trained, and sharpened.  They prayed like it all depended on God and they worked like it all depended on them.

Yesterday the New York Times ran a touching op-ed piece written in the final days of Congressman John Lewis's courageous life and printed on the day of his funeral.  He closed by telling us to "walk with the wind", his often-used metaphor for the Spirit which swept through America with the birth of the Civil Rights Movement and continues to blow in the direction of "a more perfect Union".

The wind blows and we walk.

We pray and we vote.

We ask God to help us and we organize.

We cry out to the heavens and we wear masks.

The Spirit moves and we move also.

And the Movement never ends.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year.  Over the weekend we will read: the book of Nahum, 2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35, and Zephaniah.

School Board Statement

Below is my statement before the FWISD School Board emergency meeting this morning.  In order to accommodate the large number of attendees the comment time was reduced from 3 minutes to 1 minute 30 seconds. These are my unredacted comments:

I thank the Board for the opportunity to speak and wish to extend my thoughts and prayers to you all, as you continue to deliberate important decisions in these extremely difficult times.

As you weigh the future of this semester, I encourage the Board to count the cost.  Admittedly, there is a cost to re-opening campuses and also a cost to leaving them closed.  This is what makes the decision so difficult.  So then, the primary thing I implore you to consider is how you will feel if more lives are lost due to a decision to re-open FWISD schools.  How will your administrators feel when it becomes evident that they were unable to assure the safety of their students, faculty, and staff?  What is the weight of life upon the conscience?

My Church has been one of many community organizations which have stepped into the breach during COVID-19 crisis.  We have partnered with FWISD to deliver food to FWISD students and their families.  We will continue to help.  Many other communities of faith, organizations, and individuals will also.  We have pulled together and will continue to do so.

I encourage the Board to continue the plan for online learning until it is clearly safe to return to in-person instruction.  Above all things, community leaders are under the injunction to preserve and protect life.  I ask that you as leaders follow this injunction, continue with caution, and work to meet the needs of students as best as able until we can more reasonably assure the safety and well-being of all the lives and futures which are in the balance.

Daily Lesson for July 30, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Kings chapter 20 verses 1 through 7:

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord: 3 “Remember now, O Lord, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” 7 Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs. Let them take it and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”

This morning the Fort Worth ISD School Board is meeting in emergency session to consider whether or not to open in-class instruction at the beginning of this Fall semester.  I cannot imagine the pressure these persons must feel as they weigh the balance of our children's future and the lives of everyone in our schools.

This morning's Lesson gives a sigh of relief.  The students are resilient.  The time lost in instruction can be regained. There will be a vaccine.  And this whole generation will not be lost.  It is not forsaken.  God is still the God of time and the time lost can be regained. 

I recognize these are not easy decisions.  It's not a cut and dry, "Choose life or choose death", black or white situation.  These officials have to weigh the social consequences of both meeting in schools and not doing so. Each is bound to have its losses.

But the Lesson reminds us that we are not alone in all this -- even when up against a terrible affliction.  God is on our side.  And God can make up for lost time.  A year can be regained.  The clock can be slowed.  And a long, extended summer we can survive -- at least until somebody finds the lump of figs which will conquer this disease.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year.  Tomorrow's Lesson comes from 2 Chronicles 32-33. 

Daily Lesson for July 29, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 65 verses 17 through 25:

For I am about to create new heavens

    and a new earth;

the former things shall not be remembered

    or come to mind.

18

But be glad and rejoice forever

    in what I am creating;

for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,

    and its people as a delight.

19

I will rejoice in Jerusalem,

    and delight in my people;

no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,

    or the cry of distress.

20

No more shall there be in it

    an infant that lives but a few days,

    or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;

for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,

    and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.

21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;

    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

22 They shall not build and another inhabit;

    they shall not plant and another eat;

for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,

    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

23 They shall not labor in vain,

    or bear children for calamity;

for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—

    and their descendants as well.

24 Before they call I will answer,

    while they are yet speaking I will hear.

25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

    the lion shall eat straw like the ox;

    but the serpent—its food shall be dust!

They shall not hurt or destroy

    on all my holy mountain,

says the Lord.

This is the world we are working for.  It is the world we believe in.  It is the world we cannot give up on.  A new heavens -- and a new earth.

Go back and read the Prophets' words.  He gives us a vision of who it is that we were meant to be -- still can and should be.

This is a community of health and of wellness.  No infant child dies for lack.

It is a community where old persons live out their lifetimes -- not sacrificed for the sake of the young.

It is a community where people can actually afford to live in their own homes, and enjoy the fruits of their own labors.  In other words, they have equity in the community.

Children will be safe -- not born to be victims of violence.

And the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, each guarded and protected by the rule of law.

And the serpent -- the one who first sowed false accusation and enmity -- shall bite only the dust.

The Prophet's vision is still out there.  It is still possible.  It is still attainable. 

And we shall reach it, if we still believe in it -- and work for it also.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible this year.  Tomorrow's Lesson comes from 2 Kings chapters 20 and 21.

Daily Lesson for July 28, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 61 verses 1 and 2a:

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

    because the Lord has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

    to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

    and release to the prisoners;

2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

These were the words which Jesus read when he was called to preach in his home synagogue in Nazareth at the outset of his ministry.  It is a word of hope and deliverance, first spoken by Isaiah at the time of Israel's exile and then picked up by Jesus in the season of his people's oppression.

The Gospel cannot be the Gospel unless it brings good news to the oppressed. 

Christianity is not just about getting people to heaven.  It is not, as someone said, "a spiritual evacuation plan from earth".  Christianity, and Judaism before and with it, are not just full of heavenly promises.  They are full of earthly ones also.  And in Jesus we Christians believe the promise has its fulfillment.

Desmond Tutu used to say, "Pie in the sky and sweet by-and-bye" didn't sound appease the South African people because a post-mortem dessert didn't sound very appetizing.

The Gospel of Jesus is not pie-in-the-sky.  It is good news to the poor here on earth, and in our neighborhoods, and our prisons, and our schools. It is the proclamation of the "year of the Lord's favor", which is now and not just sometime later.

NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible this year.  Tomorrow's Lesson continues with the prophet Isaiah as we read chapters 64-66.

Daily Lesson for July 27, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson is Isaiah 58:

Shout out, do not hold back!

Lift up your voice like a trumpet!

Announce to my people their rebellion,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet day after day they seek me

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness

and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments,

they delight to draw near to God.

3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?

Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,

and oppress all your workers.

4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to strike with a wicked fist.

Such fasting as you do today

will not make your voice heard on high.

5 Is such the fast that I choose,

a day to humble oneself?

Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,

and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Will you call this a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of injustice,

to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them,

and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up quickly;

your vindicator[a] shall go before you,

the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,

the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

10 if you offer your food to the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

and your gloom be like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you continually,

and satisfy your needs in parched places,

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters never fail.

12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to live in.

13 If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,

from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;

if you call the sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;

14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The mouth of the Lord has spoken and the words of the prophet are just about enough. This is the way back to community. This is the way out of this mess we find ourselves. This is true religion. This is the meaning of righteousness:

To remember that we belong to one another and are called to be one another's keepers.

To undo long-held bonds of injustice.

To remove the yoke of oppression.

To share (Sunday's sermon).

To care for the homeless.

To honor the Sabbath by paying a liveable-enough wage and expecting only liveable-enough work that our workers can honor the Sabbath with rest also.

To stop pointing fingers at others, casting blame, and speaking evil of one another.

We are wondering what to do now in this crisis. Our leaders wonder what to do.

Do this, the Prophet says. Do these things. Create community. Walk and build together. Oppress no one. Leave no one behind.

Do these things. And then, "You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in."

For what good is a street or a city that you can't live in?

NOTE: We are reading the Bible through this year. Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Isaiah 59-63.