Daily Lesson for June 30, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 23, selected verses:

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.’ 12He answered, ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’
13 So Balak said to him, ‘Come with me to another place from which you may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then curse them for me from there.’
12He answered, ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.’ 26But Balaam answered Balak, ‘Did I not tell you, “Whatever the Lord says, that is what I must do”?’

Today Broadway member Aubin Petersen will receive the Barbara MacNair Award for Christian Witness at an Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists service in Dallas. I am grateful for Aubin and her spouse Mark and their strong advocacy for the welcome and affirmation of LGBTQ persons in our and other Baptist churches and society as a whole. The world is better and our church is better for their Christian witness.

We have discerned in the Spirit to bless and not curse the rainbow community of God.

We have discerned in the Spirit of Christ to welcome, affirm, and bless and not be silent.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 29, 2022

 This morning's Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 23 verses

1Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.’ 2Balak did as Balaam had said; and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 3Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your burnt-offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.’ And he went to a bare height.

4 Then God met Balaam; and Balaam said to him, ‘I have arranged the seven altars, and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.’ 5The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, ‘Return to Balak, and this is what you must say.’ 6So he returned to Balak,* who was standing beside his burnt-offerings with all the officials of Moab. 7Then Balaam* uttered his oracle, saying:
‘Balak has brought me from Aram,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
“Come, curse Jacob for me;
Come, denounce Israel!”
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?"

11 Then Balak said to Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.’ 12He answered, ‘Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?’

Balaam had learned his lesson from his donkey which we read about yesterday.

God put words put into its mouth and, stubborn as it was, it nonetheless spoke them.

Balaam learns from the beast of burden.

He will speak what God tells him to speak. He will not say what is expected. He will not say what Balak wants to hear. But Balaam will speak what God says to speak, and he will bless those others wish him to curse.

Thus sayeth the prophets also -- those who dare to say only what the Spirit speaks and not what the itching ears long to hear; those who dare to bless them who others would curse and revile.

So says the Spirit, also today.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 28, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 22:21-31:

21So Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the officials of Moab.
22 God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back on to the road. 24Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. 25When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. 26Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. 27When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. 28Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ 29Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’ 30But the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you in this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’

31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.

Paula D'Arcy says that God comes to us disguised as our lives.

Sometimes our life is a disagreeable ass.

I think that's a good time to listen to it.

When what we think should happen, where we think we should go, whom we are intent to be against, and what we are doing just keeps on kicking us against the wall like a stubborn donkey, then maybe life knows better.

Maybe the are of the universe knows better.

May the cosmos wants us to stop, consider, pray, and change course.

May God is coming to us as our life and its time that we open our eyes to see the angel with the sword.

Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 27, 2022

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Numbers chapter 22 verses 9 through 12:

 9God came to Balaam and said, ‘Who are these men with you?’ 10Balaam said to God, ‘King Balak son of Zippor of Moab has sent me this message: 11“A people has come out of Egypt and has spread over the face of the earth; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.” ’ 12God said to Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.’

I’m up early this morning looking at a new week; and the Scriptures say God is actively at work to thwart the plans of evil in this world. 

The Israelites were making their way out of Egypt and towards freedom in the Promised Land, but the forces of Midian and Moab would have stopped them. God, however, intervened; and an accomplice to the anti-freedom movement. 

Beloved, God is at work this week, weighing on the conscience in surprising places and people, convicting would-be accomplices, thwarting the plans of evil, and intervening on the side of Freedom and Liberty. 

Live with that good news this week. God is on the side of the people making their way to the Promised Land.  

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Daily Less for June 24, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Malachi chapter 3 verses 1-5:

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.* 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

5 Then I will draw near to you for judgement; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. It is the day we remember his birth, which was said to be six months prior to that of Jesus'. So, yes, that means we are six months away from Christmas. (Cue the June Christmas shopping music.)

John came to purify the priesthood. He himself was in the lineage of the priesthood, but rejected it because of its scandal and corruption. He went out into the wilderness. Thousands followed him.

We live in a time when the priesthood of our own time and place has given way to scandal and corruption.

There are always the Elmer Gantry's, peddling fear and false-salvation for the mighty greenback denomination. But now we see also clergy from both the Catholic and Baptist traditions embroiled in massive conduct coverup. We see clergy taking part in the hostile takeovers of seminaries and universities. And we see some of the most conniving of clergy still giving lie to claims of a false election and a fake presidency.

Is it any wonder why 60,000 people leave the American church every week?

Is it any wonder why so many are so disaffected?

Is it any wonder why the church has such little authority and respect and moral voice?

We sold it for sex, and for money, and for vanity, and for secular glitz, and a joyride on Airforce One.

Two thousand years ago, John the Baptist came to purify religion. May the spirit of John the Baptist be born again today.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 23, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 5 verses 3-5:

And not only that, but we* also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us . . .

How do we hold our hope in times like these?

That is a question many have asked me, and I keep coming back to the answer in this verse.

We often think of hope as something we always have with us from the outset. But, in fact, St. Paul says that hope is the reward for resilience. Hope is what comes after the suffering and endurance that forge our character. Its in the crucible of character that hope is born.

So, in that sense, hope is not something we lose, but something we earn. It's found at the end of our rope. It's the gift that is given to those who hold on.

T.S. Eliot wrote, "I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope."

For those struggling and even suffering without hope today, I pray you will hold on and wait until it comes, even if it only appears at the very, very end . . .

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 22, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 through 9:

‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage,* he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; 4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” 7They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.* 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.*

There is an old saying that Jesus' parables were "earthly stories, with heavenly meanings".

Hardly!

This is an earthly story with an earthly meaning! It is a story about unemployment, just wage, and recompense. And how embarrassed I am that I once thought this story was one about going to heaven!

We see what we are taught to see. And we read a parable through the lenses of our own experience, biases, privilege, and predilection. This has mislead a lot of us to misread a whole lot of Jesus' very earthly stories.

In fact, it is a strategy of oppression to take Jesus' words and -- as somebody said -- make them so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good."

Archbishop Oscar Romero said, "Some things can only be seen through eyes which have wept."

Anybody who's ever wept over not being able to find a job that makes ends meet can see the real meaning of this parable from Jesus -- and all the rest also.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 21, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 19 verses 27 and 29-30:

27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ . . . 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,* and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

In recent years, I have heard lots of stories of families being split apart by so much of the political division in our country.

Fathers have lost sons and vice versa. Even when families are still on speaking terms, a great feeling of estrangement colors every encounter.

Jesus did not deny the estrangements in his own family and amongst those of his followers. They were real, and they were painful.

But Jesus did tell his followers to take consolation from what has been gained, the community they had found with one another.

Families are split. Friendships are lost. Long-time members feel they must move elsewhere. This is all very painful.

But there are also new friendships to be made, and new spiritual families to be formed. A church community we truly belong to can become a new home for us.

In fact, that is what we often say, that we want our church to be a person's or family's home.

These are tough times, friends. Find consolation where you can. Find your people. Embrace them. Take care of them. Let them take care of you.

Watch out for one another -- like family.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 20, 2022

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 89 verses 8 and 13-14:

8 Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? *

O mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you.

13 You have a mighty arm; *

strong is your hand and high is your right hand.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *

love and truth go before your face.

The foundations of God’s throne are righteousness and justice, and love and truth go before God’s throne. 

Meanwhile down here in Texas, the state GOP is still falsely denying the legitimacy of the 2020 election, passing cruel judgments about LGBTQ persons, and calling for a referendum on secession from the United States of America.

Lord a’mighty, what has happened to the party of Lincoln and Douglass in Texas?

The foundations are rattled.  Righteousness, justice, love, and truth are all in peril. 

And as James Russell Lowell wrote in 1845 about the war that breach-birthed this state, half-slave and half-free:

“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,           

In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side . . .

Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,    

Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified.”

Let all people of goodwill stop fooling around with this foolish madness, and take their stand for the foundations of truth, righteousness, love, and justice for all. 

The date of the future is too precarious for us to pretend not to see all that is at stake. 

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Church in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Daily Lesson for June 3, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 5 verses 15 through 20:

15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The writer of Ephesians is worried about how we are taking care of ourselves during hard times -- "evil days" as the writer calls them. The days are evil and the writer knows that people are struggling. The word is given to encourage, to resolve, and to keep from despair.

There is a concern about drinking. This is not a puritanical word. During evil days, it's easy to lose oneself in wine and margaritas. Warm and happy for a time, they can't gladden the heart like worship and community.

We need each other, the writer is saying, and we need to be together in solidarity. That is part of the reason why the pandemic was so hard on so many, and why so many started abusing alcohol during that time. It's easy to isolate and despair; and many die deaths of isolation and despair. That's part of what makes these days so dangerous.

The days are evil, so we have to be "wise" about the way we are living. We have to make good, and life-affirming, and life-giving choices. We have to invest ourselves in positive relationships.

The days are evil, let's call it that. But there is goodness to be found, and there is goodness to be done. So let us do what is commended and sing and give thanks in gratitude for the blessings which can be found "at all times" -- including even in days like these.

We need each other right now; and we need to watch out for one another too.

So let's be sure to take care.

Note: I'm headed to youth camp next week (pray for us!). So expect Daily Lessons to return June 13.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Prophetic Witness at the office of Senator John Cornyn

 My written prayer offered yesterday before Sen. Cornyn’s office in Dallas:

Prayer for Demonstration to end gun violence at the Office of Sen John Cornyn, June 1, 2022

Gracious God, Father and Mother of all children everywhere,

We come to you today in an hour of crisis, and grief, sorrow, and holy rage. Three hundred miles south of here, yet more parents are saying their final goodbyes to the bodies of their little ones who died by the bullets of a gun legally purchased in the United States of America.

God, have mercy on us.

We are enraged. And we are also frustrated. And we are tempted towards despair.

Yet we are here; present and determined, defiantly hopeful, concerned, committed, responsible, and demanding change.

We do demand change.

Too long have we kept silent. Too long have we sat passive. Too long have we accepted the status quo — and the lie that there is no will to turn the tide.

There is your will, dear God; and we believe in it. We believe that it is your will that not one more of these your children should die or be harmed under all the heavens; and in this we join our will to yours that salvation might come, at last, to this nation.

No more will our mouth be shut. No more will we sit passive. No more will we accept the inevitability of children’s coffins being built and buried in this hallowed earth. Life and death have been put before us; and today we choose life.

So we join together now with you, God, as brothers and sisters and beloved kindred in the holy family of humanity. And we pray together in one faith and of one accord, trusting and believing that the angels and archangels, and all the saints, and prophets, and prophetesses, and mothers, and grandmas, and abuellos, and abuellas, and ancestors of all tongues, and tribes, and colors and kinds pray with us. The shedding of innocent blood must end. The gun violence must be stopped. And the weapons of assault must be banned.

We do pray this of one accord. Together as your children, we pray it with one another. Together, as your children we pray that Senator John Cornyn would come and pray it with us.

Open our leaders’ eyes, dear Lord. Soften their hearts. Lay a mighty burden upon their conscience. It is time for change. It is time for laws. And it is time to act.

We need you, Lord. We ask for your help. We plea for the sake of children, and our children’s children. In the words of the old hymn:

“Save us from weak resignation

To the evils we deplore

And may the gift of Thy salvation

Be our [children’s] evermore”

We pray all these things together, in the name of the one who is life and wills life, now, and always, and everywhere — including America. Amen.

Daily Lesson for June 2, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 25 through 27:

25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil.

Beloved, have strength today. Speak your truth. And speak it in love.

As Bill Coffin used to say, "The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love."

It is a dangerous world and these are dangerous times. Prophetic truth must be spoken. We have to speak up at family gatherings, and backyard parties, barber and beauty shops, fraternity meetings, high school reunions, school board meetings, and at the office of Sen. John Cornyn.

We can be angry. Holy rage is a sacrament of our salvation.

But like any sacrament, it can be profaned. So, as the Lesson says today, we can be angry; but we must not sin in our anger.

The world is too small for anything but love. Anything other than love will be recorded, shared, and viewed a trillion times. So we've got to temper our emotions, and channel them positively. Love must flow through everything we say and do.

Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Don't let it fester. Don't let it kill you. Find a way to channel it. Find others to channel it with you. Plan, organize, write, vote, gather and do something beautiful.

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, too small for anything but love, and too holy for anything other than what is beautiful and kind.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 1, 2022

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

2 On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4once the Lord has washed away . . . and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of burning. 5Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

In today's Lesson the Prophet imagines a great pillar stretching over the people of Israel, protecting them from all harm just as the pillars of fire and cloud protected the Israelites in the wilderness. He imagines a canopy, stretched over all the land. The bloodstains would be cleansed, and the people would be safe.

Beloved, we can still believe. We can still hope and dream and imagine and work towards a land where there is no harm, and all have a shelter and a refuge -- where the whole land itself is a shelter and refuge.

I know we're a long way off; but let us not give up the dream. A more beautiful America is still possible. And we have to be the ones to work for it.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.