Divine Competence

2 Corinthians 3:1-18
“Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit…” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6a). These words are a great comfort to me. They remind me to give thanks to God for all that I am able to accomplish. They remind me to do my best in any situation and to trust God to bless the outcome. They remind me that it is not I who achieve, but God who achieves through me. Paul’s words free me to worry less about whether I can do something and instead to give thought to how something might be done.

The work of ordained ministers has changed in recent decades. While preaching, teaching, and pastoral care were long considered the primary concerns of clergy, we now find ourselves dealing as much with staff development, budgets, endowments, boards of agencies, volunteer recruitment, fund raising, facilities, in short, administration. There are always plenty of reasons to stay in my office even though I feel like my work should take me into the world meeting needs and touching lives. It really seems that few people can do all that the ministry requires today. But not all ministry is done by “ministers.” Much of what the church is about is best done by lay people, those with the skills and talents needed for such tasks. It is, I believe, a matter of matching the person with the right talents to the job that needs doing. Even then, though, even when we get people pointed in the right direction, it is by the grace of God that they succeed in their work.

Each of us, no matter our skill level, is dependent on God to give us the insight and wisdom, the talent and determination, the skill and imagination necessary to act in faithful obedience. “Our competence is from God,” said Paul, which means not only that we give God glory for what we are able to do, but that we should never waver in our determination, never falter in the face of difficult tasks, because until we try we will never know what God has given us the ability to accomplish. And there is no telling what the Spirit of God will lead us to do next.

Prayer: Lord, only you can give us competence, only you can give us what we need to succeed. Help us, then, to be about your work in the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

People of God 2.0

Ezekiel 11:14-25
If you are like me, you can get a little weary of the constant upgrading that goes on with computers and software. Just when I get comfortable with a program or a web site, just when I feel like I finally understand how to use a laptop or iPad, along comes a new operating system, or a new layout, or a new interface. The social media giant Facebook is famous for such changes, but even Blogger.com, the site where I post this blog, has recently undergone a revision. I want to say “Enough already. Stop with all the changing!” But the truth is that there are times and situations where change is not only desirable, it is absolutely essential. One such case is mentioned in our Old Testament reading for today. “I will give them one heart,” says the Lord, “and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20). Let’s call this phenomenon “the People of God (version 2)” because according to the prophet, God’s people are about to be completely reoriented and it will begin in the heart.

This message is profound. Though God created women and men in the divine image, over time even God’s chosen people had become hardhearted, unfeeling and unresponsive to God’s will. Hearts made for compassion and love had instead become like rock, unmoved by the needs of others. The result had been calamitous. By the time of Ezekiel’s writing, the people of God had been spread among the nations, awash in exile. God had not given up, however, and though the situation appeared dire, the Lord promised to restore the people by first correcting their innermost deficiencies. Hearts of stone would be restored to their original loving and compassionate forms. The result of this transformation would be a restored community bound together by attention to God’s will and a renewed relationship between God and humanity. Essentially, all that was wrong with the world would be corrected when the people themselves were remade.

Here the analogy with computers and the internet breaks down because with technology there are obvious adjustments that are made, clear examples of change that are impossible to ignore. But with people, change is not always certain, nor is it always obvious. Indeed, it would be difficult to point to a moment in time where God’s promise to instill new hearts was accomplished. Humanity remains afflicted with sinfulness and a lack of compassion. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, however, has proven that God is firmly committed to upholding the covenant even as God continues to call people to lives of faithful obedience. Perhaps it is in Jesus’ defeat of sin and death that you and I find our fullest transformation as humans, our most pronounced “upgrade.” For in the new thing that God is doing in Jesus Christ, we have been given a fresh start, have been recreated. Indeed, God’s work in Christ makes it clear that things are not what they once were, which is to say that compassion and love are no longer exceptions, they are the rule. For this we can say thanks to God.

Prayer: Gracious and loving God, we thank you for the new beginning you have given us through your Son Jesus Christ and for the forgiveness and hope we find in him. Amen.

Do The Right Thing

Romans 12:1-21
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:14-18). I wonder what would happen if we took Paul’s exhortations as seriously as we do some other biblical texts. I wonder what would happen if we challenged ourselves to no longer repay evil for evil with as much vigor as some people of faith use in speaking out against what they consider to be among the more egregious sins. Or if we took Paul’s directions to “live in harmony with one another” to be as essential to a godly life as we hear certain other activities to be contrary to God’s will.

I’ve noticed a tendency on my part to do some picking and choosing when it comes to standards of conduct as a Christian. I’ve also noticed that I’m not the only one. It is terribly easy to make up our own catalogue of dos and don’ts and to add what we feel is appropriate to the list while leaving off some items we aren’t as fond of. The fact is that over and over again in the words of Paul—just as in the words of Jesus before him––the focal point remains love for God and love for one another. With this love comes a willingness to suffer with and to care for those around us. Jesus said that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), a sentiment echoed by 1 John which says, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God” (1 John 4:16); Paul himself says clearly that “faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). It all comes down to love and the harmony, and the shared burdens, and the peaceable living, and the willingness to associate with folks from all classes that comes with it. It all comes down to opening our hearts to God in such a way that we also love our neighbors as ourselves.

As we ponder the word of God and God’s will for all people, we must embrace the entire scope of scripture. Yes, God does offer judgment, does seek to correct our sinfulness, does lead us to a more profound sense of righteousness. But first and foremost God calls us to build a community in love and forbearance where no one is haughty and everyone seeks to live in peace with everyone else. I just wonder what that would look like.

Prayer: Almighty God, may our lives be filled with love for you and for each other, and may we be guided in all we do to build a world full of your grace and peace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Step Right This Way

Psalm 66
Walk among the sideshows at the circus or at the fair and you may find yourself enticed by the cries of the carnival barker. A barker, of course, is the person whose job it is to drum up a crowd, to build interest, and to generate as much business for the sideshow as possible. “Hurry, hurry, step right this way. Don’t you dare miss the awesome wonder that is the four-headed cow,” he might say. Or the bearded lady, or the frozen mermaid, or the man-eating geranium. And if we are willing to let ourselves believe the unbelievable, we will pay our money and take a look at what we know cannot be true. For a carnival barker to be effective, he or she must display enough enthusiasm to overcome our natural skepticism, to make us do something that we would not normally do.

Psalm 66:5 has the ring of a carnival barker to it. “Come and see what God has done,” it calls to us. “(H)e is awesome in his deeds among mortals.” There is a great deal of enthusiasm here for what God is doing in the midst of God’s people. “Look here! Step right up! Don’t you dare miss the awesome deeds of God!” What deeds are these? Well for one thing, says the psalmist, God “turned the sea into dry land; (God’s people) passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him, who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations…” (vv. 6-7). And again––later in the psalm––we are told to “come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him… (T)ruly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer” (vv. 16, 19).

Call this evangelism Israelite style. It is a charismatic cry to the people to put aside any doubts they might have harbored and to listen to what God has done, both on a grand scale, and on a personal level. It is the sort of invitation offered by Paul throughout the Roman empire as he called men and women to hear and believe the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the sort of invitation offered by countless saints throughout the generations as they shared their own stories and called others to believe as well. It is the sort of invitation that we, too, are called on to offer to the world, baptizing and making disciples, working to overcome the skepticism the confronts our message.

The invitation of the psalmist, and of Paul, and of the church in all generations is an invitation to praise the living God. “Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth,” we read, “sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise. Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds” (vv. 1-3a). When we can respond to God with praise, when we can marvel at God’s awesome works in our midst, then for us the skepticism is less acute. When our hearts are full of praise and worship, then they are also ready to work and minister in God’s name, to feed the hungry, to revive the dispirited, to comfort the distressed, to house the homeless, then we are ready to enthusiastically invite others to come and see what God has done.

The carnival barkers do not remain in one place long. They follow the circus, or head to the next fair, and they take with them the four-headed cow, and the frozen mermaid. The God of all creation remains in our midst and invites us to remain at work with enthusiasm calling others to join in.

Prayer: Lord, guide us by your word and your will to serve you faithfully in all that we do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

No Darkness At All

1 John 1:1-10
I have to admit, when it comes time to sleep nothing beats a dark room. It is also easier to watch a movie if the screen is the only source of light in the theater. Astronomers work best when they are well removed from the ambient glow of population centers. For those who still remember pre-digital photography, a darkroom is necessary for developing pictures. These are all reasons why we should approach one of the metaphors used in 1 John 5 with care. “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Does this mean that in the presence of God there is no shade to be found? Is there no relief from the constant, penetrating glare of light? Or does this verse really point to something else?

The dichotomy between light and dark is one of the most common in scripture rising, in large part, from the Bible’s pre-industrial setting. Darkness––especially nighttime––caused fear because it was so all-pervasive. Candles or lanterns or torches were of some help in pushing back the gloom, but there was finally nothing to be done but to wait for the sunrise to illuminate the world. So darkness was perceived as evil while light was considered good. To this extent, the metaphor is apt. “God is goodness and in God there is no evil at all,” we might say. But there is a flaw in this reasoning as well. According to Genesis 1 God did create light on the first day, overcoming the darkness of chaos. But God also created evening and morning and called them both good. Night was understood as a necessary contrast to day, allowing for rest and for rejuvenation throughout creation. To this extent, the metaphor is problematic because darkness is a natural part of the created order.

But what if we take 1 John 1:5 more or less literally? What if we assume that God really is light as opposed to darkness? What does that tell us? It tells us that just as light is the source of growth, and daytime is the setting for so much of human accomplishment, God, too, is a source of growth and home to what humanity can and does achieve. And in God there is no ambiguity, natural or otherwise, no grey areas, no blurred edges, no overlapping. God is what God is: light as opposed to the absence of light; energy as opposed to a lack of energy; as central to our existence as the sun is to our being.

God is light the way that God is love, or that God is three-in-one. When we try to approximate God with words, there will always be limitations. But then we step into the glow of inspiration, the illumination of knowledge, and we begin to better understand who God really is: light without any darkness at all.

Prayer: Lord, help us to be illumined by your word and by your will, that we may dwell in the light by which we bless all people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Ins and Outs of the Gospel

Acts 2:36-47
By grace, God has formed a new community of faith in Jesus Christ. This reality is central to Peter’s message on Pentecost as recorded in the book of Acts. Indeed, it is because of this divine initiative that Peter can point to an ever widening circle of fellowship beginning in Jerusalem. “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him’” (Acts 2:38-39).

There’s a song by musician Peter Gabriel that speaks to the natural human tendency to seek out distinctions between people and to shape society along those sometimes artificial barriers. He says:

There's safety in numbers
When you learn to divide.
How can we be in
If there is no outside?

Speaking in terms of the gospel, the apostle Peter refuses to make any such distinctions, recognizing instead that all authority rests with God and God alone. He and the others who had followed Jesus from the beginning sought shelter in the days immediately following the ascension, but now the Holy Spirit had sent them out into the streets to share the good news to all people. There had been relative safety for them in the isolation of the upper room, in the ability to control those who came and went from their midst. But that safety would now be lost to the hubbub of the marketplaces and the roadsides. There no longer would be an “inside” established by the community of faith because whatever “outside” there might be would exist only at God’s will.

The contemporary church serves God best when it embraces this reality, that God’s promise is for whoever God determines. There is safety to be found in small rooms and in closed communities, but as the crucifixion makes so vibrantly clear, the gospel has never been about safety. It is a message infused with risk which sometimes leads to discomfort and even death, but which also leads to the gift of eternal life. By God’s grace the question becomes: can anyone be “out” if there is no “inside?”

Prayer: Almighty God, help us to open our hearts to your message of grace and peace and our lives to the work you would have us do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Seeing and Believing

John 10:19-42
There’s an interesting question raised in our reading from the gospel today. In John 10 we read, “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:21b). How we answer this question could have significant bearing on our spiritual lives. First of all we should note that query is rhetorical, that it concerns the words that Jesus was speaking when set over and against the works that he was performing. Those who did not accept him as the Son of God doubted his sanity and wondered if he was possessed. But others wondered how someone who was plagued by a demon could perform miracles as Jesus did.

This is the point where the passage becomes particularly relevant for our lives, for in the midst of our spiritual blindness, in the groping about that we sometimes do, seeking a way through the challenges of life, to what do we cling as a source of help? When we become lost or disoriented, what steps do we take to find the way toward home? “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Or to put it another way, can an idol of our own creation really help us to have life and have it abundantly? Can a self-help formula give us the means by which to fulfill our truest humanity in God’s image? Can self-centeredness or a “me first” attitude really lead us where we need to go for health and wellbeing? No, only God can cure this sort of blindness, for only God offers us the truth we need as well as the strength we need to accept it.

This is not to say that God is limited in means by which to help us. God can and does work in innumerable ways to accomplish the divine will. But by the same token, it is this divine will that we must seek if we are to be cured of the spiritual blindness that clouds our living. Only when we allow God to open our eyes will we truly see.

Prayer: Lord, give us eyes with which to see your work in our world and in our lives, that we may respond in faithful obedience to the call you have set before us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

It’s All About Your Mindset

Romans 8:1-11
“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). Paul’s words to the Christian community in Rome offer a challenge to all who hear them. Before us lie two choices. On the one hand we have all that the world has to offer, what Paul refers to as the flesh. Wealth, prominence, power, easy solutions and quick fixes, all that dulls the mind or numbs the senses to the presence of God: these all belong to the flesh and to follow them leads us away from God and therefore toward death. But there is hope, because on the other hand there is that which emanates from God through the Holy Spirit. To accept the Spirit into our lives, to focus on what it means for us, and to embrace all that it entails leads not only to abundant life in its fullest, but to a sense of peace and wellbeing as well. This is the promise that God holds out to us, even in the most difficult of times.

It is all a matter of mindset, of where we place our priorities, and of how we perceive the world. If we are driven by an overarching sense of competition, of looking out for ourselves first and foremost, of self-satisfaction as a primary motivation, then we have already separated ourselves from God and the community that God is building in our midst for we have embraced the flesh as our guide. But if we are mindful of others, if we give of ourselves with generosity and kindness, if we seek justice for all people and reconciliation among those who are divided, then we already standing on the side of God and God’s will for humanity. This is to live by the Spirit.

The way of the Spirit is not an easy path. It is a challenge that requires great effort on our part. But the ability to live as one of God’s people is a gift to us from God and something that God makes possible. Where will we place our focus? What will be our mindset? Will we choose the ways of the flesh that lead to separation from God, or will we be enlivened by the Spirit and the fullest life we can live?

Prayer: Lord, help us to live our lives according to the Spirit and not the flesh, so that in fullest life we may serve you faithfully. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A Journey With the Family

Psalm 34
My father-in-law's health has been less than stellar of late, so naturally I have spent time thinking about him recently, about the impact he has had on many lives as a minister and as a friend. Those lives include mine. The Christian faith really is a family in so many ways; not one of birth or marriage, but one of covenant and community. My father-in-law has done much over the years to help me feel at home in the family of faith and I think of people like him when I read words like those found in Psalm 34. "O magnify the Lord with me," says the psalmist, "and let us exalt his name together" (Psalm 34:3). These are words of invitation meant to make us feel at home in the family of faith. These are words that say "come and share in a life of purpose and joy that can only be found in serving God." They say "come and be a part of God's people, the community of the covenant. Come and belong." These are words my father-in-law has embodied through decades of ministry and discipleship.

Each of us who considers him- or herself a Christian has a different story as to how we came to have faith in Jesus Christ. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, you may have experienced conversion from a life that was leading you in one direction when you experienced a change of heart that led you in another. Or perhaps like Timothy, you may have simply grown up in the faith,  never realizing it was possible not to believe. In any case, there were others who played a part in getting us to where we are today in our journey with God, whether it was friends, co-workers, family members, neighbors, fellow church members, even strangers. Any of these may have touched us at an appropriate time and helped guide us on our way. The end result is that we stand in community, in covenant with one another and with God. We now have the opportunity to reach out to others the way that others have reached out to us, to say with the psalmist, "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together."

Obviously, we are not the source of the message; it is Jesus Christ who calls us into relationship with God. But we have a vital role to play nonetheless. The community of faith as we know it is always in flux. It is not a rigid, fixed group of people, in lockstep, marching along the road of faith. It is, instead, a changing, dynamic collection of saints at various stages of their respective faith journeys. The joyous call to discipleship, then, is not an invitation to a sit-down, black-tie dinner. It is a "come as you are" affair, a ramble along the road that leads to the coming kingdom. It is a trip that changes us from what we were into what we can be. It is a trip without much in the way of a fixed starting point, but it has a goal: full, self-giving service to God through Jesus Christ. Our words of invitation, addressed to the world, can be the starting point for someone else's trip along the road to the kingdom, and it may be the only invitation that some people ever receive. So let us magnify the Lord, and let us exalt his name together.

Prayer: Lord, on our journey of faith help us to remain open to what you are doing in and through us and to what we may do through you for others. In Jesus' name. Amen.

In the Face of Doubt

John 6:1-15
Listen to the doubts expressed by the disciples when faced by the challenge of feeding a multitude. “Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’” (John 6:7-9). We don’t have enough. There are too many needs to be met. We can’t do it all! According to John, this is what the disciples were saying to Jesus, but he was not swayed by the fears of his followers. He took what they had, a few loaves and fish, and fed the five thousand people who were gathered there…with food left over. It was an act of grace in the face of human need.

How often do we allow doubts to cloud our expectations of what God can do? How often do we look at a situation through human eyes—seeing limited resources and limitless needs––and forget that God sees things differently? We may never know how often has God gone beyond our assumptions creating, claiming, redeeming, sustaining, guiding, healing, loving where we see nothing to be done or no reason to do anything in the first place. It’s an aspect of the feeding story (one of the few that appears in all four gospels) that I often overlook. But it is vital that we allow God to work when and where God wills, that we keep our eyes open in faith, and that we do not close our minds to what is possible in the hands of the Lord.

 Prayer: Lord, ease our doubts and fears and help us to live with hope and expectation of what you are doing in our lives and in our world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

It’s Not About Us

Romans 6:1-11
Paul offers us words of great hope this morning in his letter to the Romans. “For if we have been united with [Christ Jesus] in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.…The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:5, 10-11). In the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we have been freed from the power of sin that once overshadowed our present and our future and are now able to live toward the will of God and what God is doing in the world. When we embrace this truth, when we accept it as reality, we find it to be a colossal shift in the meaning of life. No longer is it all about us. Our failings, our shortcomings, our faults are not what define us. We are now defined by the will of God and what God is doing in and through us. We are freed to move beyond our fears and regrets and to walk in the light of a new hope and a new future.

It isn’t easy, of course. We still feel the tug of our former lives clutching at us to draw us back to what we once were. But now, since we have new life in Christ, we also have ample reason to make the effort and to face the challenges. There is reason to hope; it is the certain knowledge that we live by the grace of God who claims us as God’s own and who experienced death for our sake and for the sake of the world. If we have a share in the death of Christ Jesus (and Paul assures us we do), then we most certainly have a share in his resurrection from the dead. So not only does life have renewed meaning—freed as it is from the darkness of sin—but death is no longer to be feared, for with it comes our final restoration in the life eternal, when, by grace, it still won’t be about us, but about God and God’s majestic glory. Our lives, then, belong to God, now and forever.

Prayer: God of all time and space, by your grace you have freed us from the power of sin and death and allowed us to live in and through your will. Bless us today in all that we do, that we may serve you with joy and be a blessing to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Say What?

John 7:37-52
There is a curious statement in our gospel reading today, one that at first glance seems to contradict other passages in John. “Now [Jesus] said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39). What exactly does John mean by “for as yet there was no Spirit.” Already in this gospel Jesus has made references to the Spirit, most notably, perhaps, in his nighttime conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3. There Jesus says, “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit… The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (3:6, 8). What are we to make of this? John’s reference to the Spirit in chapter 7 is very likely in terms of the events of Pentecost, when believers would be empowered to witness to Jesus and the Messianic age, of which the Spirit is a sign. At this point in the gospel account, Jesus has not yet gone through his passion, death, and resurrection, what John calls his being “glorified.” Yes, the Spirit has been at work throughout history, and is now at work within the ministry of Jesus. But the church has not yet been given birth because Jesus has not yet complete his work.

I’m sure that, for many, it is tempting to dismiss material such as this as having no relevance in life. The effort to come to terms with the meaning or the purpose of passages like John 7:39 may seem wasted when so many other issues confront us on a daily basis, matters of life or death, matters of poverty or wealth, matters of growth or decay. It is fitting, though, that the subject of this particular passage is the Holy Spirit, because it is in our struggle, our wrestling with the word of God, that the Spirit often meets us face to face and leads us to a richer understanding of faith. Indeed, we who live on this side of Pentecost and the birth of the church have no need to wonder about the presence of the Spirit; it is always at work in our midst reveling the love of God in the most interesting and challenging ways.

According to John, Jesus was, at a particular time in his ministry, pointing ahead to another particular event––Pentecost––which we have passed but which continues to color our view of the world and of God’s activity in it. But the Spirit remains active in our word and our lives in no small part because of the words we read in John through which the Spirit offers us guidance and hope. The very real aspects of these events help us to also view the coming kingdom as real and impending.

Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for your work in and through the Holy Spirit, not only in history but in our lives today, as well, and in the future which you have promised to us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

All In This Together

Jeremiah 5:1-9
Living as we do in an age of divisiveness, perhaps it is helpful to be reminded by the prophet that sometimes we are more united than we realize, and that it isn’t always a good thing. “Then I said, ‘These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. Let me go to the rich and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God.’ But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds” (Jeremiah 5:4-5). Sin is sin. Disregard for the Lord is a problem no matter where it happens or by whom it is perpetrated. Jeremiah surveyed the people of his day and found that no matter their place in the social spectrum, no matter their level of achievement, no matter how well-educated or politically connected they might be, they still fell short of God’s intentions. Interestingly, the fact that Jeremiah assumes that the poor might be less righteous based on their place in society is unusual in scripture where God continually shows great compassion for the oppressed and impoverished. Of course, the prophet quickly finds that there is no status in life where God’s will is followed consistently.

Finger pointing, it would seem, will get us nowhere. What we need is not more accusations against others, but a thorough self-examination to remind us that we, too, have fallen short of God’s will for our lives and that we, too, whoever we may be, whatever our station in life, must allow God to work in and through us to bring us to righteousness. As Paul reminds us in our epistle lesson today, “There is no one who is righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). Driving in the car earlier today I experienced a modern interpretation of Paul’s words as I passed cars festooned with stickers in support of one cause or another. I applaud these folks for standing up for their beliefs, but I also hope that in their zeal for a particular cause they do not lose sight of the fact that they, too, need the mercy and forgiveness of God as found in Jesus Christ if they are to walk in paths of faithful obedience and true discipleship.

Perhaps with the realization that sin is a part of every life we may discover a sense of unity and fellowship with others. There is no one who is without sin. No one. And here, if nowhere else, we stand united. It isn’t much, but at least it’s something.

Prayer: Forgive us when we sin against you and against one another, and help us to recognize our need for the entire community of faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Back to the Beginning…Almost

Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28
The prophet Jeremiah offers a horrifying vision of what God might do in response to the ongoing faithlessness of the people. “I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled. I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end” (Jeremiah 4:23-27). Notice the various elements of creation that are mentioned. The earth is “void” and the heavens have “no light.” There is no human presence and even the birds have vanished. There are no plants for “the fruitful land was a desert.” In so many ways this is a mirror image of the creation story of Genesis 1, for here is a virtual undoing of the acts of God at the beginning of time. All that is left is a barren, empty, deserted wasteland, very like the void over which the spirit of God passed before saying, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3).

Yet even in the midst of this vision, this threat of total destruction, there is hope, for God has not forgotten the various covenants, the promises made to Noah, and Abraham, and through Moses: “I will not make a full end,” says the Lord to Jeremiah. Indeed, there is a reminder of God’s grace even in the face of human stubbornness and disregard for the divine will. The utter bleakness of Jeremiah’s vision does not overcome the hope that God holds out, that within a restored creation the kingdom will come in its fullness. In the story of Pandora’s box, the girl, Pandora, releases all that is dreadful and evil into the world. But along with the woe there is also the last thing out of the box which is hope. Here, in Jeremiah, we find a veriation of that story rooted in God’s relationship with God’s people, a story that contains both the judgment of a just God, and the grace of a merciful Redeemer.

God’s anger burns hot, but God will not bring an end to creation, says Jeremiah. Indeed, with the arrival of Jesus Christ and his ministry some centuries later, God reaffirmed the divine commitment to humanity. In the end as in the beginning, we are blessed by the care of a loving God.

Prayer: God of all creation, look beyond the darkness of the world and lift up your light on the goodness that you have established here, that all may know your love and repent of their sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Care Instructions

Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Our Old Testament reading for today offers a good example of the tension between God’s sovereignty over all creation on the one hand and the divine concern for individuals in need on the other. “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,” we read, “the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:17-18). To live in relationship with God, then, is to live out the meaning of that tension, God’s sovereign “above-ness” that in no way limits God’s nearness. For example, when we worship God, we should hold these two aspects of God’s activity side by side. Our praise should be heartfelt and joyous, our hymns and prayers sung and spoken with the reverence that is appropriate for the Creator of all there is. But this same praise and worship is dishonest at best and meaningless at worst if it does not lead us to show care and compassion for those around us, if it does not direct our attention to a world full of need and pain. Our day to day lives as well must be guided by the recognition that our majestic God is also an imminent God. Though we might wish to move spiritually from one “mountaintop experience” to another, blinded to the world by the radiance of God’s presence, we walk a false path of discipleship if we do not also enter that world, eyes wide open to the poverty and the injustice that clamors for our attention, and which calls us to deeds of self-sacrifice on behalf of the lost and lonely.

The story of creation tells us in vivid terms that when God brought human life into existence it was as a reflection of the divine image. And the incarnation of Jesus Christ – the word of God made flesh – reveals the willingness of God to enter into human society as one of us and to live as the poorest among us, the most oppressed of our world, live. If, then, we are to give ourselves fully to God and to truly glorify God’s name, we must be willing to follow the divine imperative, recognizing God’s Lordship over all, but humbling ourselves in service to those in need. This is what it means to be the people of God.

Prayer: God of majesty and might, lead us not only to acts of praise and worship, but also to deeds of kindness and concern, that we may fully reflect your love to the world and may rightly serve you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Here’s Hoping

Hebrews 3:1-11
There are things I hope for that are, in the grand scheme of life, of little lasting importance. For example, I hope the San Antonio Spurs win the NBA championship this year. As a fan, I would be very proud of that accomplishment and it would give me a certain amount of confidence, I suppose, among other basketball fans. Besides, the Spurs are a model of consistency, led by an outstanding coach and a core group of players who understand the importance of teamwork. So I hope they win the championship. But even if they do, in a matter of months it would mean very little as my life moves on and challenges arise; challenges like providing for my family, or caring for those in need, or participating fully as a citizen of my country. Those are issues that cannot be resolved or dealt with simply because a particular team wins a title. And yet, even these aspects of my life, these challenges, do not approach the level of meaning expressed by the writer of Hebrews. In our epistle reading for today we read, “Christ, however, was faithful over God’s house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope” (Hebrews 3:6). True hope, true Christian hope, leads to a kind of confidence, a sort of pride that stands over and above the day to day aspects of our lives –– even the important ones –– because it is focused on eternity and not merely on the here and now. Indeed, to live with the sort of hope that the writer of Hebrews is talking about is to live with no fear of what challenges may confront us, but with a sense of peace and resolve that transcends even the most trying of circumstances because we know –– we know –– that something better, something more complete, something more profound awaits us.

As one whose faith is placed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, I have the opportunity each and every day to face life with all the energy, all the strength that I can muster, embracing life and all of its ups and downs. Even even if I fall well short of the goals or aspirations that my faith holds out to me, even if I am subjected to ridicule or hardship because of what I believe, I am blessed with the knowledge, the certain hope, that in Jesus Christ God has claimed me and will continue to love and guide me no matter what. And when I allow that to really sink in, when I let that enter into my consciousness in a meaningful way, I realize that I really do have nothing to fear. The confidence I feel is not in my own abilities, the pride I have is not based on anything I have done; it is all based on the fact that in Jesus Christ I am a part of God’s house and as such blessed beyond measure.

I will be rooting for the San Antonio Spurs to win the NBA title in 2013. But regardless of whether or not they do, I will be striving to live my life with the pride and confidence that comes from knowing God is at work in and through me and that something far greater than I could ever imagine awaits me. That is the nature of Christian hope.

Prayer: Almighty God, may we each live out the hope with which we have been blessed, and may we demonstrate our confidence and pride in you to those around us, this day and always. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What a Long, Strange Trip

Deuteronomy 8:1-20
“Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Two thoughts cross my mind when I read and reflect on those words from our Old Testament reading this morning. The first is the song “Truckin” by the classic rock group The Grateful Dead, which includes this refrain: “Sometimes the lights all shinin’ on me; Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been.” There are indeed times in my life when I have looked back and marveled at what a long, strange trip I’ve been on, the ups and the downs, the challenges and the accomplishments, the doubts overcome and the assumptions proved wrong, the questions answered and those that remain unanswered, the times of light and the hours of darkness. In a number of ways my life (at age 52) has been a long, strange trip, and I’m sure the people of Israel, standing on the cusp of the promised land, poised to enter and, with God’s help, to subdue it, were given cause to think in similar terms. But according to Deuteronomy God had been at work throughout, guiding and sustaining the people and testing to see their intentions. Wherever they had gone, God had been with them, and that fact had made the journey possible. Wherever we’ve gone, wherever our long, strange trips have taken us, God has been with us, too, leading us and making our journey possible.

And that leads to my second thought this morning. A minister friend of mine once spoke of his sense of call as best seen in hindsight. As he had moved from church to church in his career, it was when he took the time to reflect on events and opportunities in his life that he could most clearly recognize the hand of God at work. I’ve experienced the same reality. I’ve found myself wondering why I was in a particular situation as a minister and only after the fact, only when I’ve taken the time to ponder events and opportunities, have I recognized the real reasons that I had been there. As the book of Deuteronomy points out, the people of God finally had reached a place in their history where they could look back, reflect, and fully recognize their journey in terms of God’s actions.

Perhaps as we journey through the season of Lent each of us will be given the chance to look back, to reflect, to consider where, by God’s grace, we’ve been and how God has led us and cared for us. Perhaps we will find time to ponder the journey ahead and behind and note that, no matter how long or how strange, our trip has never been without God’s encouragement. Granted, some trips are longer and stranger than others, but the one God of Israel lies at the heart of them all.

Prayer: Lord God, make your presence known to us that we may remember we do not journey alone, but always in your presence. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Busy Work On The Mountain Top

Mark 9:2-13
The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus as recounted in Mark’s gospel gives us quit a bit to ponder. There is the lofty yet lonely location in which the events take place and the isolation of the characters involved who are eventually even shrouded by clouds. The setting of this event seems very intentional and important. There are also the various voices that speak in the passage, actually or by inference. Jesus, God, Peter, Moses, and Elijah are each quoted to the reader or are seen by others to be speaking. Words obviously play a major role in this story which is appropriate as Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh. But today I’m struck by this section of the text: “And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified” (Mark 9:4-6). All that Peter could think about at the appearance of Moses and Elijah was a building project of sorts, essentially busy work.

Peter’s fear is understandable, but there was really no reason for the three disciples to build tents or booths for Jesus and the other. In fact, Peter’s offer reminds me of the old cliché of sending someone to boil water just as a women goes into labor. It’s the sort of thing you send someone to do so that they will be out of the way. But Peter’s offer also raises an interesting question for us to consider. Are there times when our involvement in the life and work of the church amounts to no more than “busy work,” meaningless actions carried out for no real purpose? How often do we offer to build booths when we should pay attention to what is going on, to events we’ve been blessed to witness, opportunities we’ve been given to see the word of God unfolding in our midst? Are there times when we would rather tend to the day to day stuff of organization or institution when what we should be doing is touching lives by sharing ourselves? I know how easy it is to let myself get lost behind a pile of work. I also know how easy it is to miss out on real opportunities to minister.

Peter was frightened, and there is much to frighten us today as well. Peter wanted to do something – anything – rather than absorb what he was seeing. Finally the voice of God called him and the others back to the need to listen and to be involved in what Jesus was saying and doing. Day to day the voice of God calls us as well. Our response must be to stop with the busy work, and to get busy doing the real work of the coming reign.

Prayer: Lord God, guide us in our living that we may set aside that which would distract us from your will. Help us instead to serve you and to respond to your call in all we do. In Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.

Walking Trees Are Just One Example?

Mark 8:11-26
There is one of those verses in our reading from Mark today that always catches my attention. I find it fascinating, perhaps, for no other reason than it is so honest. According to Mark’s account, Jesus had just put saliva on the eyes of a blind man in order to heal him. “Can you see anything?” Jesus asked him. “And the man looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees, walking’” (Mark 8:24). Finally, Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes and the man’s sight was restored.

One thing this passages helps to demonstrate is the particularity of Jesus’ ministry, especially his acts of healing. The detail and complexity of this account remind us that the people Jesus ministered with and for were real people with real needs. This sort of detail – the dialogue between Jesus and the blind man, the failed first attempt at a complete healing, the fact that to the man in need people looked like trees walking to and fro – it all serves to remind us that no two people that Jesus met were alike. Just as they suffered from different conditions, they also had different personalities and different habits. There were men and women, young and old, rich and poor, Jew, Samaritan, and Syrophoenician, Pharisee and sinner, priest and tax collector, some were blind, some lepers, some deaf, some possessed. Some were shy or withdrawn when meeting the Lord, and others bellowed across the road at him. Everyone was different.

Nor was Jesus’ response to these people the same. As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, Jesus is reported to have healed folks in a variety of ways and under a number of different circumstances. Sometimes he touched the person in need of healing and sometimes that person touched Jesus; sometimes Jesus was nearby the one in need and sometimes Jesus never actually saw that person; sometimes Jesus accomplished the healing with mud, sometimes saliva, and sometimes with only the spoken word. In this case, of course, Jesus used two methods of healing to allow a blind man to see again, but that’s because the first method didn’t get the job done.

As Mark’s gospel makes abundantly clear, Jesus is willing to meet us as individuals right where we are and to meet our needs in the ways they need to be met, not in a one-size-fits-all sort manner, but displaying God’s love and affection for all of us, which is just what you would expect from a God who created each of us and knows us extremely well. The challenge, then, is for us to begin to see one another and our needs the way God sees them, as applying to particular individuals in particular types of need. We must never look for instant fixes or one-size-fits-all solutions to fling among cutout people. Instead we must see the world as a rich tapestry made up of different types of men and women all striving in their own way toward an abundant life. When we do this, when we see beyond the stereotypes to the things that make us who we are – as different as our fingerprints – then and only then can real ministry take place. Only then can we do the work of God in the world.

Prayer: Almighty God, teach us to know one another as individuals and to cherish one another as ones created in your image. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Who’s Making All That Noise?

Isaiah 52:1-12
It isn’t always easy to perceive the work of God in our midst. God’s grace, God’s love, God’s mercy all take interesting forms and can come at us from surprising directions. But one thing of which we can be sure is that God does remain active transforming lives and restoring creation. This is, after all, the message that lies at the very heart of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, God was – and is – reconciling the world to God’s self. The prophet Isaiah looked forward to a time when the message of God’s salvation would ring loudly and clearly throughout the land. “Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see 
the return of the Lord to Zion” (Isaiah 52:8). To me the most obvious modern version of these particular sentinels is the church, and it seems appropriate that the people of God, called to be the body of Christ at work in the world, should lift their voices with exultation in order to proclaim God’s presence so that all the world may know and rejoice.

The key, I believe, is Isaiah’s call to “sing for joy.” Normally this would be a funny thing for sentinels to do. It brings to mind images of the knights of Camelot performing their wacky dance number in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But true joy has that affect, it causes us to dance and sing and become giddy with delight until others begin to wonder why and perhaps even to join in. The church, then, is a sentinel called to scan the horizon, not in dread of what may be coming, nor in gleeful anticipation of God’s fiery condemnation of “everyone else,” but with expectation and hope, knowing that God comes with power and might – yes – but also with love and justice. And when we see signs of God’s activity, when we glimpse grace unfolding in our midst “in plain sight,” we most certainly should “lift up (our) voices, (and) together sing for joy” in response.

Worshipping with a local congregation, serving in the wider community, offering prayers, reflecting on scripture, accepting others as God’s creatures as we strive to find common cause, giving generously of our time and talents: these are all appropriate ways to “sing for joy,” to make known that the Lord is near and that the kingdom of God has dawned. As the people of God let us rejoice at what the Lord is doing and let the good news be shared.

Prayer: Lord God, give us voices to praise you and the willingness to serve you in all we do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.