Daily Lesson for April 28, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Daniel chapter 3 verses 8 through 18:

8 Accordingly, at this time certain Chaldeans came forward and denounced the Jews. 9They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘O king, live for ever! 10You, O king, have made a decree, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, shall fall down and worship the golden statue, 11and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. 12There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These pay no heed to you, O king. They do not serve your gods and they do not worship the golden statue that you have set up.’

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in; so they brought those men before the king. 14Nebuchadnezzar said to them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? 15Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, well and good.* But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?’

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defence to you in this matter. 17If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. 18But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.’

One of the great mentors in my life used to say, "It is more important to be faithful than it is to be successful."

The three Jews Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could not in good conscience abide by the executive orders of the King. King Nebuchadnezzar had ordered all the people to bow down to his power and authority.  They heard the order, but they could not abide.  For to do so would be a betrayal of their own convictions.  They would resist. They would resist -- come what may.  They would resist and hope God would intervene, but even if God did not intervene they would still not bow down to the King. 

We are all faced with decisions where our convictions are tested.  Resistance may mean opposition, rejection, ridicule and the loss of social position. It may not be popular or acceptable or "successful" in any way. But my friend is right; we are not called to be successful. We are called to be faithful.

Dr. King said, "Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But, conscience asks the question, is it right?"

That's a quote to write down and tape on the bathroom mirror. 

Daily Lesson for April 27, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 3 verse 9:

"Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

Earlier this week I received an email in my inbox from one of our local arborists telling me all about the subterranean world that exists just outside my backdoor and the deeply connected but hidden ecosystem that links tree to tree beneath the visible topsoil of my yard:

"Under the surface of soil is an interconnected web of roots and fungi. In particular, mycorrhizal fungi are incredibly beneficial to trees. These fungi colonize the root systems of a host plant, and provide increased water and nutrient absorption, as well as increased protection against certain pathogens. In return, the host plants provide the fungi with the energy to continue this cycle."

The email went on to say that not only do the root systems of same-species trees connect beneath the ground, but so too do different species trees connect and form a kind of neighborhood of life together.  The scientific word for this is ecosystem; but a more common name for it is community.

We all live in community, ecosystems of communal life shared in ways that aren't always apparent but are nevertheless vital for our own livelihood and that of our neighbors. Just as disease or drought or infestation in one place threatens the whole ecosystem of trees, even across species, so also does sickness in one part of our neighborhood threaten the wellness of our whole communal life together. 

When John the Baptist talked about the "ax lying at the root of the trees" he recognized the subterranean affects of one sick tree on the whole neighborhood of trees.  He drew upon the image as a metaphor for the all-corrupting power sin has to destroy a whole community.

Original sins like sexism and racism and the degradation of creation are mostly hidden from our eyes. But beneath the surface they threaten our whole community. They have to be taken out down to their very root lest they destroy our whole life together. 

Daily Lesson for April 26, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17:

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever.

"Greed is good."

That's what the character Gordon Gekko infamously said in the 1987 film "Wall Street".  Everyone watching knew it was a deceit.

Or did they?

For 2,000 years greed has been seen as a universal vice in Western culture. Yes, there were plenty greedy people, but nobody liked a greedy person and very few wanted to admit to being greedy. 

But then, somewhere around 1987, a lot of people started thinking that Greed is good. 

Why?

When sociologists look back on the latter part of the 20th and early 21st centuries and they see what happened with the rise of wealth disparity and and the mess that was created with the Great Recession, they will point to greed. And the really astute ones will make the connection between the rise of Greed and the decline of regular religious attendance.

If you go to church or synagogue and hear the Bible read week in and week out then there's really no way you can in good conscience ever say, "Greed is good."  If you can, then your church is skipping over a whole lot of pages in the Bible.

Wealth in and of itself is not bad. But Greed is not good. It's not good for the community.  And, it's not good for the greedy either. In fact, it's absolutely destructive to both.

"Greed is good."  Gordon Gekko said that.

And so did the devil. 

Daily Lesson for April 25, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 John chapter 2 verses 9 through 11:

⁹Whoever says, ‘I am in the light’, while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. ¹¹But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.

Whenever we think we may be right about something -- "in the light" is what the Lesson calls it -- yet we are hateful or embittered towards others then we are not at all in the light but in deep, deep darkness.

It is dismaying to me how many Christians have allowed themselves to come to hate whole classes, parties, news channels, and political families with no sense of shame or even compunction. The wolf of anger no longer has to even put on the sheep's clothing and people from all four corners laurel as a virtue and no longer a vice. 

And Jesus wept.

There's something we used to say around here that ought to be remembered:

"You can be all right and still be dead wrong."

Daily Lesson for April 24, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 1 verse 3:

3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season . . .

St. Paul said, "One plants, another waters, but God causes the increase."

Fruit naturally comes in its own due season so long as conditions are right.  The increase is a byproduct of sunlight, and water, and good soil temperature. A plant grows and bears fruit because life is in it.

We don't need to worry about the fruit of increase. Our job is to remain rooted in soil well nourished by the living water of the spirit. In due course we will blossom and we will grow and bear our fruit, all in God's good time.

Daily Lesson for April 21, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from John 16 verses  1 through 7 and 12 through 15:

16‘I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. 2They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. 3And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. 4But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?”6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate* will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you . . . 12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

We each have our own lonesome valley to walk, a journey not revealed until its own time comes.  

We wonder if we have the courage to walk the path which leads into the valley of shadows. We do not. Not yet, anyway. Courage is a grace and like our daily bread  it comes only just when we need and not before, lest we should learn to trust in our own strength and not God's. 

Our time is not yet here; but our time is coming. And then the Spirit  of truth shall come to be our guide through falsehood and shadow and the way of death and into the meadow of the Everlasting. Then and only then.

Tomorrow will have its own worries and there is no need to borrow from them. As for today, we wait, and we trust, and we delight in the singing of birds and the smell of honeysuckle blooming and we trust that tomorrow will have its own worries and there is no need to borrow from them. For God will take care of us also. 

Daily Lesson for April 20, 2017

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ezekiel 37 verses 1 through 4 and 7 through 10:

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2He led me all round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ 4Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. . .7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ 10I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

A body without breath is only a corpse. It is without vigor or substance. It's life force is neither present nor active. Bones and sinews are not enough to bring the body alive. 

This is true not only for the human being but also for all manner of organized bodies. It is not enough to have the structure, bylaws, constitution, order of service, and building. You must also have the spirit, the breath, and animating life force. You have to have soul.

In other words, you have to know not only that you are alive but also why you are.