Daily Lesson for July 31, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 16 verses 16 through 19:

16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.’ 18She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.

19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities.

In Philippi Paul and Silas were staying in the home of Lydia, a wealthy convert. Things were I would guess comfortable there and the young church was growing.

So when a slave-girl with a spirit of divinization in her began to ask Paul and Silas for help they were reluctant to get involved. They were there to preach the Gospel, I imagine them thinking, not get caught up trying to set a slave free.  That would be a distraction and would risk the spiritual mission of the church.

But the slave-girl wasn’t going to give up that easy. She kept at them.  She just would not give up, prophesying that Paul and Silas were themselves slaves of a much greater master than the one who had enslaved her. This greater master was “The Most High God” in whose name “the way of salvation” would be proclaimed. 

Worn out by this young slave’s persistence, and with his conscience finally pricked, Paul cast put the spirit of divinization which the slave-girl’s owners had been exploiting for their own gain. The spirit of divinization meant to keep her possessed — a possession of itself and her exploitative owners. But the Spirit of the Most High meant to bring her back into her own possession, and her own control. And she in fact took it upon herself by the Spirit of the God of the Most High within her to find her own voice and to demand her own freedom, even when Paul and Silas were reluctant to get involved. She found her own voice and demanded that they get involved. 

The church is too often too late to the causes of justice. Like Paul and Silas, we get comfortable enjoying the niceties of Lydia’s guest house. We get seduced into thinking we’re doing our mission, proclaiming God’s gospel. But the cry for justice can only be ignored so long. There’s a world in chains out there, millions exploited and oppressed in all our modern Philippis. And what the Spirit of the God of the Most High said there is the same thing the Spirit says now:

“These are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”

And the Spirit just won’t shut up until we do . . .

Daily Lesson for July 30, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 61 verses 1 through 5:

1 Hear my cry, O God, 

and listen to my prayer.

2 I call upon you from the ends of the earth

with heaviness in my heart; 

set me upon the rock that is higher than I.

3 For you have been my refuge, 

a strong tower against the enemy.

4 I will dwell in your house for ever; 

I will take refuge under the cover of your wings.

5 For you, O God, have heard my vows; 

you have granted me the heritage of those who fear your Name.

Paul Tillich called God the “Ground of Being” and anyone who has ever been through something — something terrifying or uncertain or anxiety-inducing, something that leaves us shaken and afraid — knows what he meant.

God is our higher ground and also our lower ground. God is the higher rock that the Psalmist prays to stand upon, and also the rock upon which he makes his plea. God is our rock of ages, our firm foundation, our terra firma in a time of great and even grave tectonic shift.

“There will be earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars” and “many shall faint from foreboding over what is coming upon the earth for the heavens will be shaken.”

But, behold, even if the heavens and the earth are shaken to their very core, we remain steadfast. We are unmoved. For our lives have been built upon a rock, with the words of the apostles and prophets about God as foundation and “Christ Jesus as our cornerstone”.

And as the old Negro spiritual says:

We shall not, We shall not be moved

We shall not, We shall not be moved

Just like a tree that's planted by the water

We shall not be moved

For God is our rock, our strength, our fortress, and the ground on which we stand, into which we die, and from which I believe we shall one day rise again . . .

Daily Lesson for July 29, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 16 verses 6 through 10:

6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ 10When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

Richard Rohr says God comes to us “disguised as our lives”.

In today’s Lesson Paul and his companions desire to travel east into the Roman province of Bithynia, the doorway to Asia. They are confident of their direction and set to go. But something prevents them from making the move. The door is shut. Instead they turn west. And as it ends up, the whole history of the church turns on that small yet fateful hinge.

Life’s roadblocks may be God’s plans in disguise. Where we think we are going and should go get changed. The door right in front of us closes tight; suddenly we have to look around and see what other doors might be open. Sometimes this means small changes. Sometimes everything changes. Sometimes, like Paul and his companions, we end up going west rather than east. 

Paul was “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia”.  Forbidden. Wow. That’s strong. Who knew that was in the Bible? 

Asia was forbidden. Shut tighter than a clam with lockjaw, as I’ve heard it said. But Europe was open; it was inviting.

And they decided to give it a try . . .

Daily Lesson for July 26, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 5 verses 24 through 34:

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years.26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ 29Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’31And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ 32He looked all round to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

For years I was in a small group which deeply changed me as a person and minister. Every week we gather and each of us shared and then each of us responded to the others’ sharing with a feeling and a question. It was astounding how hard it was at first get in touch with our feelings and not thoughts, and how difficult it was to limit ourselves to a single question rather than a lot of advice. A feeling and a question were the rules. As we learned to practice them the group was transformed and so was I as a person. 

In the Lesson today there is a feeling and a question. Even amidst all the other things going on in the scene, Jesus feels the woman’s touch.  He was in touch with his senses, in touch with others. And then there’s a question. “Who touched me?” he asks. The question then begins the woman’s full journey to restoration. At the touch she is healed of her disease. But only after the question, and then her own response does she find peace. 

A feeling and a question. The next time you’re with someone in a serious or therapeutic conversation try it. Practice it. Be disciplined about it. For it has the power to transform our whole encounter in the presence of the one across from us. 

Daily Lesson for July 25, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 28 verses 3 through 12:

3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. Saul had expelled the mediums and the wizards from the land. 4The Philistines assembled, and came and encamped at Shunem. Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, not by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 7Then Saul said to his servants, ‘Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.’ His servants said to him, ‘There is a medium at Endor.’

8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes and went there, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night. And he said, ‘Consult a spirit for me, and bring up for me the one whom I name to you.’ 9The woman said to him, ‘Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?’ 10But Saul swore to her by the Lord, ‘As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.’ 11Then the woman said, ‘Whom shall I bring up for you?’ He answered, ‘Bring up Samuel for me.’12When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman said to Saul, ‘Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!’

Saul feels the kingdom slipping from his hands. It is a time of great anxiety, which for Saul then slips into desperation. He will do anything to hold onto the seat of his power. He is even willing to break his own laws. And so in a moment of desperation, Saul visits the witch of Endor and asks her — no forces her — to conjure up the old priest Samuel from death’s slumber. The abuse of power is complete. 

Samuel is conjured; but what is he reveals dismays. Saul is revealed; he is found out. And the end of his kingdom is sealed. He shudders in fear. 

Power and the will to power can delude us into all manner of actions, deceptions, and evils. The desire to hold onto the throne or whatever its equivalent is can bring us to a place of deep, deep betrayal. As the old saying goes, “Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

But as for Saul, our own deceptions are always revealed. As is said in the Bible “[our] sins will find [us] out.

In the end, Saul loses the throne. The witch of Endor is powerless to help. For she conjures the dead, but then it is revealed that the LORD is God of both the living and the dead. And so in the end there is revelation and also judgment. 

Let us with ears to hear also understand. 

Daily Lesson for July 24, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 4 verses 35 through 41:

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.37A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

There can be no crossing over, no going over to “the other side” without chaos and fear and the uncertainty of our surviving the voyage. This is a necessary part of life’s journey. We must be  taken to a place beyond our comfort through waters beyond our control.

Of course, this is where the blaming happens. We are in chaos and out of our chaos comes yelling, finger pointing, confusion, and anger. This is the point at which sailors of long ago would have thrown a man overboard to appease the sea gods. We are not so different from those ancient mariners. How many junior VPs have been cast over the deck because the ship was not making its sales goals?  Note: it’s always the junior VPs or the assistant coaches or the youth minister who is the first to be tossed. 

In today’s Lesson we have perhaps the cruelest of all the accusations made against Jesus. It is worse than all the Sanhedrine’s lies or Pilates charges.  It is worse because it came from his friends, his own disciples.  “Do you not care?” they charged. 

Of course he cared. Of course he did not want this boat to split apart. He was in the ship with them!  He had no death wish. He was not ambivalent.  He was in this with them. He cared for them, for the boat, for the mission of the church. 

He did care. He does care. And yet even with the chaos and storm, wind and waves, and the terrifying uncertainty of drowning, he also knows there is no other way. The boat must cross over. It must reach a new place. It cannot go back. 

And then the words echoing from Jesus in that little first-century fishing boat through all eternity and landing in whatever sea-tossed vessel we find ourselves today:

“Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

And then for a time there is stillness and there is calm, and then the dawning certainty of even greater storms to come. And then the sudden realization of what it will take from us if we try to cross this water once more. 

And the word for what it will take is called: Courage. 

Daily Lesson for July 23, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 4 verses 30 through 32:

30 He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;32yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’

In Jesus’ day the mustard tree was an invasive and persistent plant species.  It was unwanted, yet doggedly determined, and impossible to eradicate. I think it was Barbara Brown Taylor who said the mustard bush in Israel was like kudzu in the South. 

What an interesting metaphor for the kingdom come — something pesty and troublesome and absolutely impossible to control.  No wonder the Empire wanted it stopped!

Authentic Christianity looks a lot like a mustard seed. It begins in a very tiny, and even invisible way.  Once it’s seen, it’s unwanted and unwelcome and the powers that be always try to halt it. They do everything they can to end it. Yet in the end, it cannot be stopped. It continues to grow and grow from a single person to a group of people to a movement of the masses. Finally, it puts off branches into other parts of the country and world. 

And before too long the birds of the air travel long distances and from far away places to come and make nests in its shade. 

May those with ears to hear let them understand.