Daily Lesson for April 30, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 6 verse 45:

"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

If we want to know what is in our hearts we need only listen to our words; for it is out of the heart that our words are spoken. 

If we speak words of blessing and peace and encouragement to others then we are at that moment living and drawing from the fullness of our own hearts. In fact, this is what the word "encouragement" means -- to "enhearten" another. When we speak words of encouragement and love we always speak them from the fullness of our own hearts. 

At the same time, when we speak words of discouragement, belittling, and anger these too come forth from within our own hearts. When we come home and scream at the kids or our spouse or the dog, it is not the kids, spouse, or dog who has made us angry. Anger existed inside us before we ever made it home; it was just looking for a self-justification for erupting. 

Yesterday I spoke harshly to one of my sons, "You are really frustrating me right now."  That was not a true statement. The truth is I was frustrated; and I spoke out of my own frustration. To blame him for my frustration was an abdication of my own personal responsibility for myself and an act of self-deception. The unconscious mind is a master at this. 

In the same context of this teaching Jesus also said, "First remove the log from your own eye so that you can see clearly how to remove the speck from your neigh it's eye." When we rebuke others in anger and frustration and any other spirit other than that of peace and love then we can bet we are examining their specks in their eyes, but the log is in our own. 

What is going on in our hearts?  We can tell in the substance and tone of our words. For out of the abundance of our heart, our mouths speak. 

Daily Lesson for April 29, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke 6 verses 37 and 38:

37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Surely the saying is true that we reap what we sow.

There is a cosmic energy in the world which returns to us that which we give out. Buddhists and Hindus call it "karma"; but it is a part of the spiritual teachings of all major religions and deeply a part of the Christian understanding of the mystery of the universe.

What we release into the world -- whether bad or good, beautiful or ugly, life-giving or life-depleting - returns to us. When we act with kindness kindness finds us. When we enter a room and say, "Peace to you," peace is returned to our spirits. When we act generously and loving, blessings of generosity and love find us. As Jesus said, "a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap."

It's true with bad measures also. When we release energies of negativity and hostility then they come back to us as well. This is why depression is so dangerous; because a dispirited heart fuels itself and consumes the soul. It is also why suspicion and mistrust are so self-fulfilling. Judgment, condemnation, and contempt have a way of blowing up in our faces. As my grandfather would say, "Our chickens always come home to roost."

Our nation and world so needs peace now. Peace begins in the heart of peaceful people. So let us today put off negativity and provocation and incitement, and seek to be peaceful people. And as the Apostle Paul said, "[W]hatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy" let us "think on these things."

Let us think on these things indeed; and in thinking them also become them. 

Daily Lesson for April 28, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Matthew chapter 24 verse 12:

"And because of an increase in lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold."

For decades we are pushed up against the wall, stopped cold in our tracks of progress and frisked for whatever reason, and the increasing sense that those sworn to serve and protect us are in fact against us, and our love grows cold. 

We wait and we watch and we trust justice to be done by 12 jurors of sound mind in a town we never heard of called Ferguson; but when the verdict is reached and there is no indictment a city erupts in violence and anarchy, and watching at home we we fear for the future of our country and our love grows cold.

We watch as our brother is gunned down from behind, shot five times in the back as he ran away, and when we watch it and see the ugly truth that it was an officer of the law who pulled the trigger our love grows cold.

In Baltimore -- a city everybody's heard of -- a man is taken into police custody alive and comes out dead, and the full knowledge that this could happen to any one of our sons -- is happening to our sons -- and our love grows cold.

The city's streets burn, cars smolder, police officers are wounded, and the talk of needing to give space to rioters makes us wonder if we have descended into a place of absolute lawlessness, and our hearts grow cold.

LORD, may we find within us the warmth of love once more. May we love ourselves , our neighbors, our communities, and even our enemies enough to work together for nonviolent redemptive change.  May we love enough to listen to and not dismiss the hurt and anguish hidden in the broken glass of riots.

Warm our hearts O God, Father and Mother of us all, so we might know the truth of Dr. King's words : that we "must learn to live together as brothers and sisters lest we perish together as fools." Warm us in the darkest and coldest places of our hearts that we live also the truth of St. Paul's words: that "where lawlessness abounds grace must abound even more."

Daily lesson for April 27, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke chapter 6 verses 9 through 11:

 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

How in the name of keeping holy can we become so unholy?  How in the name of God can we become so unlike God?

Jesus healed on the sabbath and there was conflict over keeping the sabbath holy; yet those who took offense went out back and plotted to get rid of him. We do the same today. On a small scale someone brings a coffee cup into the sanctuary; and a member of the worship commission seethes with anger over the disrespect. But which has profaned the sanctuary more, the coffee or the anger?  Or in a more global context, a murderous war of jihad is waged in order to protect the name of God against some satirical cartoonists. But the murders do more to desecrate the name of God than did the cartoonists. 

It makes me wonder if maybe what gets offended in us isn't really our sense of holiness, but rather our desire for control and for domination. That seems to be what Jesus unmasked when after he did something good and life-affirming on the sabbath the sabbath keepers went out and plotted to do something dastardly and deathly.

Keep the sabbath holy. Do not take the name of the LORD in vain. Don't bring coffee into the sanctuary. Sure. But also, watch your holy indignation for it may not be as holy as you think. 

Daily lesson for April 24, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Psalm 105 verse 41:

"He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed through the desert like a river."

Within each human soul there is a rock, that when struck has within itself a great rush of living water which is human flourishing.  In various religious traditions the water within has been called "charisma" or "awakening" or "enlightenment" or "the Spirit of God".  It gushes forth, slaking our deepest thirsts and spilling out to water not only ourselves but also both the people and the place around us.  It is the water of pure joy. And the rock where the water is found is the Christ (1 Cor 10:4) -- eternal, universal, and waiting to be tapped in every human being.

The unleashing of the water in the rock cannot be manufactured. We cannot drill for it.  We cannot discover it. In some sense it must discover us. It must be revealed as to where it is. As the LORD said to Moses, "Strike the rock."  Before that moment, the rock looked just like all other rocks -- massively solid and impenetrable.  But once revealed, the rock is discovered to be the capstone entryway to life abundant. We cannot find this rock ourselves; we do not need to find this rock ourselves. All we need to do is trust that it is present and that when we are thirsty enough (that is to say, ready) its capstone will be revealed and its water will gush forth.  This may happen while reading a book, or hearing a sermon, or being struck suddenly by some new insight.  But once found, then suddenly it is seen that every rock around us. (that is, each human soul) has the same hidden water within.

Once opened, the rock's water is a constant source of life. It spills forth and turns a desert into a fertile field and makes what once was a wilderness blossom with love and beauty. It is a blessing to all around. It is living water.

At the festival which commemorated the Israelites' journey through the wilderness and how God provided them with water from the rock, Jesus "stood and said in a loud voice, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.'"  This wonderful invitation must be heard!  Even in the desert the water is present. It is alive. It is within. All we have to do is hold out and wait for its Christ-rock source to be revealed.  And once the Christ-rock is opened, the water is for anyone who is thirsty is invited to come and drink, live, and flourish. 

Daily Lesson for April 23, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Daniel chapter 5 verses 

17 Then Daniel answered and said before the king . . . “I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. 18 O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. 19 And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. 20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. 21 He was driven from among the children of mankind . . . until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. 22 And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, 23 but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven . . . And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.
Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.

It is so easy for all of us to get so caught up in the issues of the day that we lose our sense of human kindness. In these anxious times we are now living in it is so easy to get caught up in making enemies of people on the other side of the political aisle. Sensational media constantly fuels the whole drama, profiting off of its own 24/7 demonization of political leaders.  It is a type of warfare; and just like in any other war the first casualty is truth and the mortal risk is the human soul. 

Just like in all generations, there are substantive issues to be addressed in this one.  But they should be addressed civilly and without resort to our calling one another Godless, soulless, demon-possessed, or whatever other manner of evil will surely be heard on tonight's news.  There has to be another way.

Thich Nhat Hanh, one of the great workers for peace in both this and the last century, once reflected on what kind of change is necessary in how we see and speak to those in power and those on the opposing side of an issue:

"The people in the movement can write very good protest letters, but they are not yet able to write love letters. We need to learn to write to the Congress and to the President of the United States letters that they will not put in the trashcan. We need to write the kind of letter that they will like to receive. The way you speak, the kind of language you use and the kind of understanding you express should not turn people off.  Because the people you write to are also persons like all of us."

The prophet Daniel did just this in today's lesson. He told the king the hard truth that because the king was arrogant the kingdom would be taken from him. Yet, because Daniel spoke his truth clearly and without malice, the king respected him and actually even honored  him.

To be right on an issue is one thing; but to be honored even by one's opponent is quite another. This is something to be strived after today. For as Jesus said, "Love your enemies; bless and do not curse."  These are words found in the Bible; and these have a far great chance of changing our world than whatever vitriol we will hear tonight on the news. 

In fact, they are the only words which have any chance at all. 

Daily Lesson for April 22, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke 4 verses 42 and 43:

42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, 43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”

A pastor friend of mine told me that saying no is always necessary in order for us to then say a deeper yes.

Most of our lives are filled with constant demands on our time.  It's one thing after another -- work, kids, grand kids, ball games, volunteering, church.  It's one incessant demand on our time after another. And it's all good stuff. It's very god stuff.  But is it our stuff?  Is it what we are supposed to be doing with our lives right now?

Jesus came preaching and healing in the little village of Capernaum just beside the Sea of Galilee. He had a great little ministry going with enough to say grace over a thousand times. It was great work and people loved him for it. It would have been enough to keep him busy for all his life.   He would have been the best thing that ever happened to the little village of Capernaum.

But there must have been something inside of Jesus telling him that this wasn't it -- that there was something else. He was doing what he felt called to do thus far, but something in his spirit told him it wasn't what he was called to do next. 

So, the text says he went away to a desolate or deserted place. He found some stillness. He sought quiet.  He sought God. And when those with their needs came to him to beg him to come back Jesus had the courage within himself to say in order to say a deeper yes.

The "tyranny of the urgent" is what most often stands in the way of the important. In order to do what is important, we have to step back from purports to be urgent; for anything and everything will insist on its urgency. The truly human task is to step from the incessant demands of what we are doing now in order that we might discern and discover what we are called to do next. This involves distance, disengagement, and probably the disappointment of others.  Only those with the courage to say no to today will be able to say the deeper yes to tomorrow.

I know Jesus must have disappointed all those back in Capernaum with all their legitimate human needs. But I'm also glad he said no to them, so that he might say yes to the world. This was his purpose in life. Among many competing voices he listened for this purpose and found us. May we do the same. May we find the courage to say no so that we might also say a deeper yes.