Daily Lesson for June 30, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson is a personal reflection from the life of our congregation:

I have a friend at church who, though he walks a little hunched over a cane, is nevertheless one of the funniest and most alive men I know.  

David Pinson is a great encourager.  On occasions he has written me some of the kindest and most affirming I have ever received.  And they have come at important times, which tells me the Spirit is upon David and uses him. 

David is also funny as all get out. He's a retired pharmacist, but his famous line about his personal relationship to his profession is, "Drugs are for selling, not for taking."

A few weeks back on Pentecost David was the Scripture reader during worship. He hunched on his cane over to the Bible and then carried it over and set it down upon the lectern. Then he looked up at the congregation. The day's reading was from Exodus, where Moses needed help so he appointed 70 others for the Spirit of the LORD to fall on. The 70 came out to the Tent of Meeting, the Spirit fell upon them, and they began to prophesy. But not them only. It also fell on two others who were back in the Israelite camp and they too began to prophesy.  Joshua, Moses' Lieutenant, would have stopped them; but Moses said, "Would that all of Israel were prophets."  Looking over the congregation David prefaced his reading with a brief comment as he sometimes does.  In a loud serious tone which struck a perfect balance with the twinkle in his eye, David said, "This story is about a bunch of do-gooders and a couple of ordinary Joes."  Everyone laughed. 

Lately David has been busy around the church. Turns out David is handy with metals and has been making and giving away some of the most beautiful decorative iron and stainless steel crosses. I have one hanging proudly in my study; and as I go around visiting people in their homes I look up on their walls and recognize David's work. On Monday, I was at Helen Mosses. She was turning 90 years old, and lol and behold she had a new cross hanging on the wall along with the pictures of her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. "How wonderful," I thought, "how wonderful is this woman and that man."

And then I got home and received a text from my mom. On Sunday, I had told a story from her childhood and something of its struggle and hardship. The text read: 

"David Pinson gave me a beautiful cross yesterday. I hung it in entry. Blessed friend."

I don't know if David Pinson is a do-gooder or just an ordinary Joe; but I can tell you the Spirit is in him and I am glad. I am exceedingly glad and honored to be his pastor. 

Daily Lesson for June 29, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 22 verses 24 through 27:

24 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. ²⁵But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. ²⁶But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. ²⁷For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

When I was in seminary we had a professor in church history who on the first day of class each semester would pull out one of those large hanging maps of the world and then turned it upside down. Her intent was obvious.  She wanted us to see the world differently.  She wanted us to look at church history from another perspective -- an upside down perspective.

In today's Lesson Jesus turns the world upside down. He tells his disciples they need to think from another perspective. They need to see the world from another perspective.  Specifically, they need to look on whatever they think it means to be "great" with totally new perspective. They need to turn it upside down. For the one who is great, Jesus told them, is not the one who rules from the top but the one who serves from the bottom.

Here's an experiment for today. What if we were to go through the day thinking about all those who serve us as great, as people on top, as royalty. How would we treat the man who shines our shoes?  How would we talk to the woman who takes our breakfast order?  How much time would we give to the blue collar guys on the ladder in the hall or the ladies making the copies for the staff meeting?

What would it be like to turn our world upside down today?

Daily Lesson for June 28, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 101 verse 3a:

"I will set no worthless thing before my eyes."

I don't know about the wisdom of a devotional about the harmful effects of technology and social media whose readership is 100% comprised of people using technology and social media. Nevertheless, I think it's true; technology and social media are wonderful but they can also suck us, rewire our brains, and absorb our days. In other words, they can become all-demanding gods. 

If sociologists from another planet were to come and observe earthlings in the 21st century, they would note how much time we spend on our phones and computers. In their report they would conclude that we are a very religious people and in their interviews with us what we say would confirm that. "We take our religion very serious."  And then, in the report the sociologists would describe our religion: how much time and energy we "devote" to gods called Apple and iPhone.  We are so devoted to these gods, they would conclude, that we're even willing to give up everything else: our relationships with nature, and neighbors, and family. How religious we are. 

"I will set no worthless thing before me," the Psalmist says. There's a lot of good stuff on social media.  But there's also a lot of worthless consumption -- hours and hours of it. It can take over our whole lives. 

It really can be a religion -- a bad religion. 

Daily Lesson for June 27, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 100 verse 4:

For the Lord is good;

his mercy is everlasting; 

and his faithfulness endures from age to age.

Yesterday I went to a party at an assisted living community for one of the great ladies of our church, Helen Moss -- or "Saint Helen" as I like to call her. We gathered with the other residents and had ice cream and cake and sang songs from days gone by and hymns eternal. We sang songs Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire danced to along with the Yellow Rose of Texas. The hymns included "The Little Brown Church" and "Swing Lo Sweet Chariot".  Our song leader refused to say goodbye to the residents but insisted we end with Roy Rogers's and Dale Evans "Happy Trails" instead. Helen and I then went back to her room and visited awhile. She was turning 90 years old. 

And today I will go to hear one of the great ladies in my life my great aunt Opal speak about her experience as a part of the Navy WAVES, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, the first group of women to serve in the Armed Services during WWII.  She is 95, the matriarch, graceful as a bird and stronger than onions. She is the one I go and visit when I am worried or afraid or uncertain about anything. She is the rock from where the water  of wisdom can always be drawn. 

These women remind me that the LORD is good, that the LORD is true, and that amidst all the struggle and change and conflict of this world the LORD is faithful.

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, great is God's faithfulness. 

Daily Lesson for June 26, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 21 verses 29 through 36:

29 Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.34 ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly,35like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

The kingdom of God cannot be hastened, rushed, or pulled into our presence. It has come and is always coming, but it's arrival is always like a thief in the night. We do not know when it will all happen in our lives; so the most we can do is be ready and be present in the moment we are in. 

Jesus said the leaves of the fig tree tell us summer is upon us. It's arrival is a surprise. "I can't believe it's already summer again," we say.

The kingdom of God is like that, Jesus says. Without the shooting of a starter pistol or the ringing of a bell, here it is out of nowhere. A small child asks us, "Where is God?"  A young person asks where we think his dad is now. An old woman in a nursing home asks us to help comb her hair.

There it is, upon us, without any warning.  And when we see these things we know that the kingdom of God is near.  Here and now. Today.  A total surprise. 

Daily Lesson for June 23, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 2 verse 42:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

What was true in the beginning to make church work is still true today. It's not gimmickry or false promises about prosperity or some universal formula for doing church that is being peddled at the next big conference. 

It's simple.  It's basic. It's fundamental. It's a small group of people doing life together in such a compelling way that they end up attracting others to come and take part also. 

The group is authentic, its self-sacrificing, and its faithful.  And, it's dedicated to those same shared practices that the early church started with: to study, to shared time and mutual belonging, to eating and drinking and genuinely being in one another's presence, and to praying for and over one another and one another's families. 

This community isn't perfect or ideal; I know.  My former pastor and good friend Charlie Johnson used to say, "This ain't heaven; it's church."  And as Bonhoeffer said, those who idealize the church will end up destroying it. 

It's not heaven. But it is that place and that people that God has chosen to bring the kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. It's church. And it needs you.

Daily Lesson for June 22, 2017

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 21 verses 1 through 4:

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; ²he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins.³He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; ⁴for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’

If you pastor for long enough you know the widow. You see her Sunday by Sunday. You get a glimpse of her checks coming in faithfully week by week, month by month, and year by year. The amount of any one check is not impressive; but the amount year by year is. And so is the steadfastness.  It's her consistency that stuns and honors and humbles.

Because I am her pastor I know what the widow gives up and does without. She still drives the same old car. She still lives in the same old house. She does not take lavish vacations. She lives meagerly; she walks humbly.  She is a model faithfulness. 

The widow will never have a building named after her. She will never be honored with an endowment in her name. She gave all her money to the church and because it's church we didn't trumpet it. We weren't willing to let the left hand know what the right hand was doing.

But there is one who does know. He knows.  He sees. And one day, maybe not too far away, she'll receive her reward.