Daily Lesson for June 22, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 through 9:

‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage,* he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; 4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” 7They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.* 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.*

There is an old saying that Jesus' parables were "earthly stories, with heavenly meanings".

Hardly!

This is an earthly story with an earthly meaning! It is a story about unemployment, just wage, and recompense. And how embarrassed I am that I once thought this story was one about going to heaven!

We see what we are taught to see. And we read a parable through the lenses of our own experience, biases, privilege, and predilection. This has mislead a lot of us to misread a whole lot of Jesus' very earthly stories.

In fact, it is a strategy of oppression to take Jesus' words and -- as somebody said -- make them so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good."

Archbishop Oscar Romero said, "Some things can only be seen through eyes which have wept."

Anybody who's ever wept over not being able to find a job that makes ends meet can see the real meaning of this parable from Jesus -- and all the rest also.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 21, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 19 verses 27 and 29-30:

27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ . . . 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,* and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

In recent years, I have heard lots of stories of families being split apart by so much of the political division in our country.

Fathers have lost sons and vice versa. Even when families are still on speaking terms, a great feeling of estrangement colors every encounter.

Jesus did not deny the estrangements in his own family and amongst those of his followers. They were real, and they were painful.

But Jesus did tell his followers to take consolation from what has been gained, the community they had found with one another.

Families are split. Friendships are lost. Long-time members feel they must move elsewhere. This is all very painful.

But there are also new friendships to be made, and new spiritual families to be formed. A church community we truly belong to can become a new home for us.

In fact, that is what we often say, that we want our church to be a person's or family's home.

These are tough times, friends. Find consolation where you can. Find your people. Embrace them. Take care of them. Let them take care of you.

Watch out for one another -- like family.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 20, 2022

 Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 89 verses 8 and 13-14:

8 Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? *

O mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you.

13 You have a mighty arm; *

strong is your hand and high is your right hand.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *

love and truth go before your face.

The foundations of God’s throne are righteousness and justice, and love and truth go before God’s throne. 

Meanwhile down here in Texas, the state GOP is still falsely denying the legitimacy of the 2020 election, passing cruel judgments about LGBTQ persons, and calling for a referendum on secession from the United States of America.

Lord a’mighty, what has happened to the party of Lincoln and Douglass in Texas?

The foundations are rattled.  Righteousness, justice, love, and truth are all in peril. 

And as James Russell Lowell wrote in 1845 about the war that breach-birthed this state, half-slave and half-free:

“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,           

In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side . . .

Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,    

Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified.”

Let all people of goodwill stop fooling around with this foolish madness, and take their stand for the foundations of truth, righteousness, love, and justice for all. 

The date of the future is too precarious for us to pretend not to see all that is at stake. 

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Church in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Daily Lesson for June 3, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 5 verses 15 through 20:

15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The writer of Ephesians is worried about how we are taking care of ourselves during hard times -- "evil days" as the writer calls them. The days are evil and the writer knows that people are struggling. The word is given to encourage, to resolve, and to keep from despair.

There is a concern about drinking. This is not a puritanical word. During evil days, it's easy to lose oneself in wine and margaritas. Warm and happy for a time, they can't gladden the heart like worship and community.

We need each other, the writer is saying, and we need to be together in solidarity. That is part of the reason why the pandemic was so hard on so many, and why so many started abusing alcohol during that time. It's easy to isolate and despair; and many die deaths of isolation and despair. That's part of what makes these days so dangerous.

The days are evil, so we have to be "wise" about the way we are living. We have to make good, and life-affirming, and life-giving choices. We have to invest ourselves in positive relationships.

The days are evil, let's call it that. But there is goodness to be found, and there is goodness to be done. So let us do what is commended and sing and give thanks in gratitude for the blessings which can be found "at all times" -- including even in days like these.

We need each other right now; and we need to watch out for one another too.

So let's be sure to take care.

Note: I'm headed to youth camp next week (pray for us!). So expect Daily Lessons to return June 13.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Prophetic Witness at the office of Senator John Cornyn

 My written prayer offered yesterday before Sen. Cornyn’s office in Dallas:

Prayer for Demonstration to end gun violence at the Office of Sen John Cornyn, June 1, 2022

Gracious God, Father and Mother of all children everywhere,

We come to you today in an hour of crisis, and grief, sorrow, and holy rage. Three hundred miles south of here, yet more parents are saying their final goodbyes to the bodies of their little ones who died by the bullets of a gun legally purchased in the United States of America.

God, have mercy on us.

We are enraged. And we are also frustrated. And we are tempted towards despair.

Yet we are here; present and determined, defiantly hopeful, concerned, committed, responsible, and demanding change.

We do demand change.

Too long have we kept silent. Too long have we sat passive. Too long have we accepted the status quo — and the lie that there is no will to turn the tide.

There is your will, dear God; and we believe in it. We believe that it is your will that not one more of these your children should die or be harmed under all the heavens; and in this we join our will to yours that salvation might come, at last, to this nation.

No more will our mouth be shut. No more will we sit passive. No more will we accept the inevitability of children’s coffins being built and buried in this hallowed earth. Life and death have been put before us; and today we choose life.

So we join together now with you, God, as brothers and sisters and beloved kindred in the holy family of humanity. And we pray together in one faith and of one accord, trusting and believing that the angels and archangels, and all the saints, and prophets, and prophetesses, and mothers, and grandmas, and abuellos, and abuellas, and ancestors of all tongues, and tribes, and colors and kinds pray with us. The shedding of innocent blood must end. The gun violence must be stopped. And the weapons of assault must be banned.

We do pray this of one accord. Together as your children, we pray it with one another. Together, as your children we pray that Senator John Cornyn would come and pray it with us.

Open our leaders’ eyes, dear Lord. Soften their hearts. Lay a mighty burden upon their conscience. It is time for change. It is time for laws. And it is time to act.

We need you, Lord. We ask for your help. We plea for the sake of children, and our children’s children. In the words of the old hymn:

“Save us from weak resignation

To the evils we deplore

And may the gift of Thy salvation

Be our [children’s] evermore”

We pray all these things together, in the name of the one who is life and wills life, now, and always, and everywhere — including America. Amen.

Daily Lesson for June 2, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 4 verses 25 through 27:

25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. 26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not make room for the devil.

Beloved, have strength today. Speak your truth. And speak it in love.

As Bill Coffin used to say, "The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love."

It is a dangerous world and these are dangerous times. Prophetic truth must be spoken. We have to speak up at family gatherings, and backyard parties, barber and beauty shops, fraternity meetings, high school reunions, school board meetings, and at the office of Sen. John Cornyn.

We can be angry. Holy rage is a sacrament of our salvation.

But like any sacrament, it can be profaned. So, as the Lesson says today, we can be angry; but we must not sin in our anger.

The world is too small for anything but love. Anything other than love will be recorded, shared, and viewed a trillion times. So we've got to temper our emotions, and channel them positively. Love must flow through everything we say and do.

Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Don't let it fester. Don't let it kill you. Find a way to channel it. Find others to channel it with you. Plan, organize, write, vote, gather and do something beautiful.

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth, too small for anything but love, and too holy for anything other than what is beautiful and kind.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for June 1, 2022

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 4 verses 2 through

2 On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4once the Lord has washed away . . . and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of burning. 5Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed, over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

In today's Lesson the Prophet imagines a great pillar stretching over the people of Israel, protecting them from all harm just as the pillars of fire and cloud protected the Israelites in the wilderness. He imagines a canopy, stretched over all the land. The bloodstains would be cleansed, and the people would be safe.

Beloved, we can still believe. We can still hope and dream and imagine and work towards a land where there is no harm, and all have a shelter and a refuge -- where the whole land itself is a shelter and refuge.

I know we're a long way off; but let us not give up the dream. A more beautiful America is still possible. And we have to be the ones to work for it.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.