Daily Lesson for January 31, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from John chapter verse 12:

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Today is the last day of 2018 and tomorrow we’ll step off into 2019.  What this New Year will bring to us, our families, our church, our community, and our nation we know not.  Yet though the road be dark and uncertain, we know we must go; for we can’t stay here in the present which will soon be past. So tomorrow we step out into the future — with blind faith that somehow we’ll find the way.

Jesus said that he is the light of the world, and that even though we may step in pitch blackness we who walk with Him share in an inner light which shines even amidst utter darkness.  This is the light which allows us to put one faithful foot in front of another and be not afraid.

I’ve always loved the excerpt from Minnie Louise Haskins’s poem “God Knows”, which was made famous when quoted by King George VI of England in what we’ve come to know as “the King’s Speech” amidst those first fearful and uncertain days of WWII:

“I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,

‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’

And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way.’”

We may not have a light for walking the path into 2019. But we hold the hand of the one who is the Very Light of Very Light; and with Him we step with courage through the gate of of the new year whose way only God knows . . .

Daily Lesson for December 28, 2018

Today is the commemoration of the Holy Innocents and our Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 18 verses 1 through 14:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ 2He called a child, whom he put among them, 3and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

6 ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block comes!

8 ‘If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.

10 ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. 12What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

Today is Childermas, a day set aside to commemorate the killing of the Holy Innocents.  On this day we remember what Herod did to the children in and around Bethlehem. And we remember also all the children harmed by the heinous and vile.

We remember too the children harmed by the heinous and vile within the church. 

We read today’s Lesson and it speaks of a shepherd who leaves the flock and goes out to find and bring home a lost sheep. For too long we have misread this to be a story about the Church’s duty to do all it can to restore the vilest of sinners. But in its context the parable comes after Jesus warns against doing anything to harm “one of these little ones”.  It comes amidst a long discourse about his disciples need to watch over and protect the weak and most vulnerable and the consequences for not doing so. In that sense then the concluding parable about the sheep being returned to the fold is not about the search for and redemption of a grave sinner but rather the search for and restoration the sinner’s victim.

For too long we have misread this parable, risking the flock for the sake of a lost priest or church leader. But in fact, this story is about the need to risk the security of an institution for the sake of reconciliation with those the institution and its surrogates have harmed. It’s about restoring the vulnerable sheep, not harboring a dangerous wolf. 

We are finally just beginning to come to terms with all the harm the Church — Catholic and Protestant — has done to the Holy Innocents in its failure to protect them from abuse and also its efforts to cover over the misdeeds of their abusers. We are now beginning to repent of the perhaps tens or even hundreds of thousands of incidents in which we as a Church have failed these children. And maybe we’re finally ready to read this parable rightly also. 

LORD have mercy.

Daily Lesson for December 27, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson is in observance of the Feast of St John Daily Lesson is from John chapter 13:

34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

St John comes to remind us this morning of the one essential thing: Love.

All Christians everywhere ought to dedicate themselves to love in this coming year. Love of friends. Love of family. Love of neighbors. Love of the Church. Love of enemies, and immigrants, and refugees, and homeless. Love even of politicians and heads of state and all people in places of authority. Love of self that makes love of others possible. 

Soon we’ll be taking down stockings and packing up the tree. Christmas comes and it goes. But love remains. Love never ends. 

At the end of A Christmas Carrol Ebenezer Scrooge pledges, “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”

Let us honor Christmas by trying to keep love alive all the year long. 

And by this everyone will know that we are His disciples . . .

Daily Lesson for December 24, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 1 verses 78 and 79:

78 By the tender mercy of our God,

   the dawn from on high will break upon us, 

79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

   to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Into this darkest time of the year the star appears; and to those who fumbled their way around desperate and searching in the dark the light shined. 

This is the way we are always saved — in the depths of our deepest darkness, when we can’t save ourselves or anybody else and we finally realize how silly it all is to even try. 

We stop where we are. We sit down. We look up. And right there, out of nowhere a new light comes, just enough light to get us up again. 

In the dayblindness of the sun’s light we would never see the star.  We would never know we need it. But in the pitch of dark we’re desperate for it. And into the darkness the light shines. 

Christmas comes at the darkest time of the year. It comes when we’re most desperate for the light. And when the star appears we rejoice. 

We rejoice because the very light of very light has come into the world just when we needed its gift of grace. 

And so the Hallelujah Chorus began . . .

Daily Lesson for December 21, 2018

Today Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 11 verses 7 through 11:

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

   who will prepare your way before you.” 

11Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The old age closes with the Prophet John.

John was the greatest of all the prophets. Fearless and austere, John lived what he believed. No one ever accused John of hypocrisy.  No one ever accused him of being too subtle either. 

John was the hell, fire, and brimstone preacher’s preacher. 

Yet, Jesus said, the very least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. 

Why?

Perhaps because in all his moral conviction and convicting, there was one word that was never used by John the Baptist: Love. And another word also: Grace. 

Now is the time of the Prophet.  There is much wrong with the world. There is plenty to be angry about. The Prophet comes to tell us the truth — whether we or our leaders will hear it or not. 

But there will come a time when the age of the prophet will end. And when it does there will need be much grace and much. It will be the only way to move forward together. 

St. Paul said we can do many moral things but if we have not love we are nothing.  We can be moral. We can be right. We can be great.  But if we have not love we are still less than the least in the kingdom of God.

The old age is passing away. It’s dying slowly; but like all things it too will succumb,eventually. 

And then, we shall behold a new age — the age of the Messiah, whose law is love and Gospel is peace.

And it will be just in time. 

Daily Lesson for December 18, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 9 verses 1 through 9:

But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 

2 The people who walked in darkness

   have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

   on them light has shined. 

3 You have multiplied the nation,

   you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

   as with joy at the harvest,

   as people exult when dividing plunder. 

4 For the yoke of their burden,

   and the bar across their shoulders,

   the rod of their oppressor,

   you have broken as on the day of Midian. 

5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors

   and all the garments rolled in blood

   shall be burned as fuel for the fire. 

6 For a child has been born for us,

   a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders;

   and he is named

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

7 His authority shall grow continually,

   and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom.

   He will establish and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

   from this time onwards and for evermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

At the time Jesus was born the whole region of Galilee was war-torn.  According to the Jewish historian Josephus the Roman Governor in Syria Varus burned resisting towns, crucified hundreds and maybe even thousands of  Jews, sold the rest into slavery.

So these words spoken of the coming messiah were words of promise to refugees. They were words of the promise of rescue and deliverance — promise of an end to oppression and a beginning of good governance.

“And the government will be upon his shoulder.”

If we read these Scriptures closely enough and pay attention to their context, then it’s as if God just won’t let us forget about the refugee during all the run up to Christmas. It’s as if God is saying, “Who is the Galilean now?  Where are they?  Where is Zebulon and Naphtali — the place looked upon with contempt by the rest of the world?  Do you know where that is?  Because that is the place where the messiah will show up. Guaranteed.”

“The people who walked in darkness

   have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness—

   on them light has shined.”

Daily Lesson for December 17, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 9 verse 1:

But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The Advent comes with hope for the people who were said to be not a people. It comes for those living on the borders. For the refugees. For the homeless. For the nationless. For the tired and hungry and yearning to breathe free. For los pobres de la tierra. 

Sometimes we forget who it was that Jesus came to, where he did his ministry, and who with. The poor do not forget. They hear the promises of the Bible that the good news shall be preached to the poor and they believe. They hope. Perhaps they hope and believe because they have so little else to hold onto. 

Last night we went to the home of some friends for church in order to commemorate Broadway’s 19th annual live nativity. For city kids — and adults — it’s always more than a 30 minute car ride. It’s a whole different kind of world, where donkeys kick and you have to watch your step because the cattle are “lowing”.  

It’s a whole different world, where people are so poor they can’t get into motels and the only things they have for their baby are some old towels to wrap him in. 

It’s a different world. It’s the world that Jesus was born into. It’s the world most of the earth is still born into. 

And the Advent marches it right up to our doorstep.