Daily Lesson for July 10, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 10 verses 9 through 16:

9 About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. 13Then he heard a voice saying, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 14But Peter said, ‘By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.’ 15The voice said to him again, a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 16This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

Peter’s dream must have been absolutely abhorrent to him. The last time I preached this text I said that with all these unclean animals being brought down — four-footed creatures, reptiles, birds of many kinds — it must have looked like lower Louisiana was coming at him. Is it any wonder he said, “By no means!”

Actually, he said something else too. He said, “By no means, Lord.”   Which means on some certain level within himself he understood that the dream came from a place of authority.  

Yet still, he still resisted. It was too much.  Too different. Too radical a split from his understanding of the given categories of his world — “clean” and “unclean”.

So the dream had to happen three times. Even though it came directly from the Lord, it still didn’t happen suddenly. He had to be told thrice.

Our old prejudices die hard. Our old categories for ordering the word — Jew/gentile, slave/free, male/female, white/“colored” — are trenchant.  Even when we know what is right, our process of acceptance is usually long and stubbornly resisted. 

Yet, the Lord does not give up. The dream persists. Lower Louisiana keeps coming down. It keeps knocking on our door, disturbing us in our sleep.

And, finally, our “By no means,” becomes, “Here I am, Lord; send me.”

Daily Lesson for June 9, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 9 verses 36 through 43:

36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.37At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs.38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, ‘Please come to us without delay.’ 39So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, ‘Tabitha, get up.’ Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. 41He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. 42This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.43Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

Here is a story of a woman whose small acts of love and care ended up having a huge impact on her community and, eventually, all of Christianity. 

Dorcas, also called Tabitha (not a bad idea if your name is Dorcas), was a faithful servant who cared for her community through simple gifts of kindness, compassion, and presence. When she died, all the community of widows spoke of her love and care for them. 

Peter was called to Joppa because Tabitha was ill. When he raised her from the dead her room was filled with all the tunics these widows had brought to bear witness to all she had done for them.

But that was not all that happened in Joppa. Afterward, Peter stayed with a man from the village named Simon, a tanner. And it was in Simon’s home that Peter had his dream about accepting unclean foods and also received an invitation to come and share the Gospel with gentiles. 

That encounter changed the course of Christianity. It was a dramatic and life-altering moment for Peter and for all the Christian faith. But it happened because Tabitha had been quietly knitting all those tunics for the widows for all those years. 

And to me, that is what heaven will be like.  One day, we too will be awakened from the dead. And our room will be decorated with all the good works we have done on earth and we’ll get to sit back and watch how our small acts of care and compassion turn out to have a huge impact in the whole kingdom of God. 

And I don’t know about you, but that inspires me to go out and do something kind and loving for somebody today. 

Daily Lesson for July 8, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Acts chapter 9 verses 26 through 30:

26 When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. 28So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. 30When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

People can change. The gospel can change them. Christ can change them. 

This may well be one of the most important points to keep in mind in this present age. We live in an age of such polarization and demonization and everybody seems to want to get the goods on their political or religious opponent. It has become a winner takes all world; and the saddest thing is that a whole mass of Christianity on both left and right has joined in a thirst for vanquish and retribution. 

But the Gospel is not about vengeance. It’s not about retribution. It is about accountability.  It’s about truth. But truth and accountability are never supposed to be separate from grace and the invitation to change.

A question: have you prayed for your enemies in a while?  Have you prayed for the politicians whose policies you can’t stand?  An even harder question: have you prayed for those who have done harm to your community?

Saul persecuted the church vehemently. He was even complicit in the stoning of the early followers. But Saul was changed. By the mystery of God’s grace he was changed. And the early church had also to change its opinion of him. I’m sure that was a very hard thing to do. 

“Vengeance is mine,” says the LORD. And,

“it is not the will that any should perish.”  God’s hope for this world is redemption. May God keep working on us until that’s our hope also. 

A Poem for Independence Day

O, Say Can You See?

This morning my little girl asked me

Why does the National Anthem end in a question?

I had to hum it in my head to bring it to mind:

“O, say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave . . . ?”

I was surprised

It does end in a question

I had never noticed that before

And then it dawned on me

There’s probably a lot more I never noticed also

But today my little girl is teaching me to notice

To pay more attention

To ask questions — Hard, but good questions

About a song

About a flag

And the Republic for which it stands

Daily Lesson for July 3, 2019

Yesterday evening our family was driving to pick up something for dinner and the discussion turned to theology and the latest brouhaha in Fort Worth. An atheist group has made use of a city policy which allows private-paid advertising banners to be set up all over downtown to promote upcoming Fort Worth events. Since discrimination with respect to religion is explicitly outlawed by the Constitution now downtown Fort Worth is festooned with a regiment of matching banners declaring boldly, “In No God We Trust”.  And apparently nobody thought to tell the Mayor that this was coming down the pike. 

We talked about all the shocked Facebook posts. I shook my head at the kerfuffle. A tempest in a teapot. Irie, however, took the time to talk to the children about freedom of religion and the freedom we enjoy as Americans to practice religion or not. I thought that was pretty good two days before the Fourth of July. 

We parked the car; and when we were getting out our youngest Bo asked, “But is God real?”  

“Well, what do you think I think?” I asked. 

“Yes,” he said. 

“Yes,” I said, “I think God is real.”  

“But how do you know?” he asked. 

“Well,” I said, “I guess I believe in God because others believe. 

“ you know, Jesus believed in God,” I added. 

He shook his head. 

“And Desmond Tutu thinks God is real.”

“Who is Desmond Tutu,” he asked. 

“Somebody I admire,” I said. “And somebody else was Maya Angelou’s. She believed in God. And so does Aunt Opal. And Grandma Eva. And Malkhaz Songulashvili.”

“Bishop Malkhaz?” 

“Yes; Bishop Malkhaz.

“And also Amy Butler.”

I knew he wouldn’t know who Amy either, but for my own reasons I wanted to add her name. And I think my point was clear. We believe because of others. We believe because the church believes. We believe because those who’ve gone before us believed. We believe in the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Maya, Opal, Amy, and . . . 

And you add your own names . . .

In the God of our fathers and our mothers and our brothers and our sisters and our mentors we believe. And their witness is far, far more powerful than some sign somewhere downtown that either says or doesn’t say something about the existence of God.

Yes, we believe in God. And we believe because those we believe in believe. We believe and trust in them; and in their God we trust also. 

Daily Lesson for July 2, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 122

1 I was glad when they said to me, *

"Let us go to the house of the Lord."

2 Now our feet are standing *

within your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built as a city *

that is at unity with itself;

4 To which the tribes go up,

the tribes of the Lord, *

the assembly of Israel,

to praise the Name of the Lord.

5 For there are the thrones of judgment, *

the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: *

"May they prosper who love you.

7 Peace be within your walls *

and quietness within your towers.

8 For my brethren and companions' sake, *

I pray for your prosperity.

9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, *

I will seek to do you good."

Today’s Lesson is a word about our cities and our need to pray for them. 

We know so many of our cities are so plagued by violence and crime. They are plagued by generational poverty, lack of quality education, insufficient resources, systemic injustice, and deep mistrust. The summertime sees tensions rise. 

The Psalmist this morning prays for his city. He inspires us all to pray for our own cities also— to pray for peace, for prosperity, for unity, for justice, for all neighborhoods, and all residents. 

I pray this morning for my own City of Fort Worth. I ask that you pray for you own city.  And this July 4 week I ask that we all pray for the National City, Washington, DC. 

“Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity with itself,” the Psalmist wrote. So, too, may our cities be built and rebuilt also. 

Daily Lesson for July 1, 2019

Today is the Feast Day of Pauli Murray (1910-1985) who was one an American civil rights lawyer and one of the first females ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church. Murray was also the very first African American woman to be ordained an Episcopal priest. Thurgood Marshall called Murray’s book States' Laws on Race and Color the "bible" of the civil rights movement. Her book was an essential resource in the argument which overturned segregation. 

Murray was feisty and determined. In an age when there were few female and zero other black female lawyers, she had to fight for her place in society. She fought for herself when no one else would fight for her. One of my favorite quotes comes from her determination as a fighter.  “One person plus one typewriter constitutes a movement,” she said. 

Murray also was one of the early pioneers in regards to our understanding of gender as a non-binary biological and social concept.  As a gay woman who sometimes dressed in men’s clothes — slacks! — Murray helped knock the door down to the men’s only world she was born into and opened the hole for millions of others. 

Pauli Murray plus a typewriter began a movement. And now that she is gone the question for us is who is willing to put their fingers on the keyboard next?