Passing Along

Luke 4:14-31
As we read scripture, we are apt to think of Jesus in a lot of ways: as a teacher, a preacher, and a healer; as the Son of God and the word of God incarnate; as the Messiah and the chosen one. All of these titles, and so many more, lead us to think of Jesus as interacting with the people of his day, meeting needs and sharing God’s love. Even when he was filled with righteous anger, it was for the purpose of leading people to God’s will. But do we say when Jesus simply walks away from a situation? Our gospel reading for today offers an example of Jesus doing just that. “They got up,” Luke tells us of the crowd in the synagogue, “drove [Jesus] out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way” (Luke 4:29-30). Faced with the prospect of being killed, Jesus merely excused himself and took his leave.

On the one hand, this part of the story points to the God-given charisma that Jesus possessed. When he decided that things had gone far enough, Jesus was able to stare down the mob that threatened him and to “pass through the midst” of them. He could never have done that were he not filled with holy authority. But more importantly, we should recognize that this account points ahead to Jesus’ passion and crucifixion. He might have been killed by the crowd in Nazareth that day except that it wasn’t his time to die. Then again, he clearly could have avoided death in Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans had it not been God’s will for him to die. Jesus was never merely a victim of the events going on around him, nor was he ever swept up in what was happening. He had a role to play in the work that God was doing, and he accepted that role, and he lived it to perfection.

The crowds at the synagogue in Nazareth that day were unaware of the events that would later unfold for Jesus. But if, in hindsight, they associated what they had witnessed with the crucifixion of Jesus, then they may have wondered how the same man who had walked away from his encounter with them could have been put to death later. The answer lies in the love of God who sent a Son to die, not in a capricious way, but according to the divine will and at the right time. This is why we can also refer to Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” and know that when Jesus suffered it was not by accident.

Prayer: Almighty God, we thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners and in whose name we offer our prayers of gratitude. Amen.

Words of Comfort

2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5
It is difficult at the best of times to comprehend a tragedy of the magnitude that struck in Connecticut today, but during the season of Advent the death of so many people—most of them children––is even more crushing. And while there is no easy word of comfort that can be spoken to those who grieve, we remember that we live in the presence of a God who has suffered the death of a Son and whose love for us is boundless. Today’s epistle reading includes these words: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).

As we struggle with yet another act of intense violence may the dawning of God’s coming reign draw us closer to one another in our suffering even as it draws ever nearer in its proximity. And may the Christmas season be filled with genuine acts of kindness and humility as together we seek the blessings of God for ourselves and one another.

Prayer: Lord, be with people of Newton, Connecticut. Lift them through their grief and despair and give them hope in these days of pain. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Happiness

Today my father, the Rev. Dr. David R. Freeman, celebrates his eightieth birthday. I am not only dedicating today’s post to him, but addressing it to him as well. I invite others to listen in.

Psalm 84
Hi Dad, and happy birthday. I’m sorry that I can’t be with you to celebrate the occasion, but you are in my thoughts. One of the readings for today is Psalm 84 which is very appropriate. As you know, I have a great affinity for this psalm and what it says about community and faith. But I don’t think I could have understood these ideas were it not for the way I was raised. Since my childhood, you and Mom have helped me to know the Lord and to trust in God’s will for my life. As a minister, you have led congregations and individuals to embrace the power of God to transform their lives. As a father, you have demonstrated love and patience. The opportunity to witness your faith at work is a tremendous gift for which I will always be thankful.

I don’t remember you using these exact words, but I know you agree with the psalmist’s affirmation, “Happy are those whose strength is in (God), in whose heart are the highways to Zion” (Psalm 84:5). It isn’t about us, the psalmist is saying, not about how powerful we are or how much we can accomplish. It is about us in relationship to God and to one another. It is about the purpose we find when we gather as a community and rejoice in God’s presence. When I am able to grasp this truth, I find that life begins to make more sense. I may not be exactly happy about what I am facing, but in time I find contentment and hope. This is the sort of happiness I wish for you today and all days, Dad, the contentment that comes from knowing that God is at work in your life in real and substantial ways. You and a lot of other people helped to teach me that and I believe it to be true.

So, the very “happiest” of birthdays, Dad, and a sincere word of thanks from someone whose faith you have helped to nurture. Debbie, Lindsay, and William join me in sending all our love.

You son,

Jim

Prayer: Lord, bless all our relationships this day, that they may reflect yout love to the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What Love

1 John 3:1-10

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are” (1 John 3:1). What a great message to receive! God loves us enough to claim us, not just as a part of creation or even as servants, but God loves us with the love a caring parent has for a child. And that is what we are, children of God. What we receive from our Creator is divine involvement in our lives, sustenance for the journey, light for the darkness, hope for the crisis, encouragement for the challenge, shelter from the storm, and so much more.

Our world has a great many definitions for love. Too often it has come to be associated with lust or desire, overshadowed by the need to control one another, seen as a sort of narcotic. But the love that God has for us is a self-giving love, one that seeks what is best for us and what is best from us. Imagine Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 13 set alongside those from 1 John. We are God’s children and so we experience God’s love as patient and kind, not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. We discover that God’s love bears all things. We are assured that God’s love never ends.

No, we are not specs of cosmic dust or grains of sand on some universal beach. Not in God’s eyes. We are loved, and that is the greatest news of all.

Prayer: Lord God, we cannot fully understand your love for us, but help us to embrace it and to share it with others that all may know you as a gracious parent. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

From Beginning to End

John 13:20-35

Our gospel reading from John takes place on the Thursday of Holy Week. Speaking to the disciples Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). On this the second day after Christmas we are being reminded of the culmination of Jesus’ ministry. We’ve seen God’s love in the giving of a Savior at Bethlehem, and now we hear Jesus speak of love as the key identifying trait of his followers. From beginning to end, then, the message of Jesus Christ is love and the work of Jesus is that of shaping a community of love.

Of course love can mean different things to different people. The word is often misused by our culture to describe far less noble emotions or attitudes. We say things like “I love it,” about a new television, or “if you really loved me you would do what I ask,” when we are talking to a friend or family member. This is not what Jesus is describing, nor is it what Jesus demonstrated in his life. The love that Jesus wants us to share is a self-giving love, a willingness to care for each other and to support and nurture each other without fear or manipulation or greed or other motivation. The baby born in a manger, “born that we no more may die,” is the man who now tells us to live for each other and as such to be an example to the world.

It’s a consistent message. Jesus shares it from the beginning to the end of his earthly life. The challenge for us is to live the same way.

Prayer: Lord, we do not always love one another as we should. Help us to be the people you have called us to be so that we may share your love with the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Is There Really A Choice?

Romans 13:1-14

Luke 8:16-25

At first glance we might see a contradiction between our New Testament readings for today. In Romans Paul says, “(the commandments) are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:9-10). Meanwhile in Luke’s gospel Jesus is told that his own mother and brothers are trying to see him but cannot get through the crowd. Jesus’ reply seems almost dismissive. “But he said to them, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it’” (Luke 8:21). So what gives? Are we to ignore our own flesh and blood while showing compassion to the wider community? I think not.

In Luke Jesus does not deny his family, he instead expands it exponentially. Not only are Mary and her other children of concern to him, but so is everyone else who strives to do the will of God. Then, lest we turn ourselves inward, Paul reminds us to do no harm even to those who are not a part of “the family.” There are no limitations in these passages. Far from it! In Jesus there is a community available to anyone who would be a part of it, and compassion for those who are not. This is something to think about today as we go about our lives, interacting with friends and strangers, loved ones and those who we do not know. Will we make sharp distinctions between the two? Or will we show love and kindness in each case?

Prayer: God of love, help us to share that love with friend and stranger alike, that your will be done and your name glorified. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

"Love Will Keep Us Together"

1 John 4:7-21

In the summer of 1975 the musical act Captain and Tennille released their cover of a Neil Sedaka song, “Love Will Keep Us Together.” The song was the number one hit of the year. The author of 1 John might not have appreciated the comparison, but I thought of the song as I reflected on our readings for today. “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 John 4:16b), we read. In other words, it is in love that we are united in God. If we are to exist as a community it must be with love for our brothers and sisters. Love alone – God’s love – can and will keep us together. The emphasis of the passage is on the source of love. In its truest form love is a gift from God. The author of this passage does little to define love except to contrast it with hate. But it is clear that where hate dismembers, love builds up, and this “building up” is what God wills.

Perhaps it is left to Paul to more fully define love as he does in 1 Corinthians 13. There the demands of love are made clear: patience, kindness, endurance, forbearance, etc. This is the love demonstrated in the life and death of Jesus Christ. This is what God desires from God’s people. To do otherwise is to separate ourselves from those around us and, more importantly, from what God is about in the world because “God is love….” Captain and Tennille may not have been thinking about 1 John 4:16 when they recorded their hit, but I suspect that whenever I hear that song in the future I will regard it differently, as a reminder of what God wishes from me and from you.

Prayer: Help us to love one another, O God, just as you love us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hey, Over Here!

Isaiah 65:1-12

One of our dogs escaped briefly from the backyard this morning. I became aware of the situation when I heard our son calling the dog to come out from under the neighbor’s deck, which she did eventually. Then I read our passage from Isaiah for today and I now have a mental image of God, arms outstretched, calling a wayward people to come home. But the people are more interested in what is to be found elsewhere, among other gods and religions, in places they should not go, so they are slow to respond. “I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,” says God through the prophet, “to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that did not call on my name” (Isaiah 65:1).

Yesterday we read about God hardening hearts. Today we encounter God doing anything but. How poignant it is to think of God calling and no one responding. God who wants so badly to claim us and to care for us must first convince US to trust God! On my best days I believe I do think about what it means to seek God and to respond to God’s work in my life. But on those other days I am too much like a wayward Scottie, crouching under the neighbor’s deck, wanting to go places I know I should not go and do things that I know are not appropriate. “Here I am,” says God. “Come home.” And I know that God means it, and I know that in Jesus Christ God demonstrated the measure of divine love once and for all. I’m so glad that God keeps calling, that God remains concerned for us. I’m so glad that there is a way home and that even if we return as prodigals the Father waits to receive us in love and mercy.

God’s hands are outstretched. God’s call is heard throughout the land. May we always strive to respond. May we always do our best to go home.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we wander and seek a false sense of freedom. Help us to hear your call and to respond in trust. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

That's a Long Time to Love Anyone

Isaiah 54:1-13

At the beginning of his book, “The Story of Mankind”, Hendrik Willem van Loon offers this illustration:

High up in the North in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock. It is a hundred miles high and a hundred miles wide. Once every thousand years a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak. When the rock has been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by.

I thought of that story as I pondered our second passage from Isaiah for this morning. There the prophet promises that, “…The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10). Even if the process of erosion does not take as long as what van Loon describes, the idea is profound. Longer that it takes for mountains and hills to disappear, that’s how long God promises to love and have compassion for us. And that’s a very long time.

There’s another interesting point here, though. The removal of mountains and hills represents a great deal of change, and change is something that we experience on a regular basis. And though any change can be disconcerting and scary, it does not in any way effect the way that God loves and care for us. We may no longer recognize the neighborhood, but we are safe at home, nonetheless. In a world of change and uncertainty God remains steadfast and faithful for eternity…and longer.

Prayer: Gracious God, help us to embrace your love for us and to share it with one another. Amen.

The True Meaning of More

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Luke 20:41-21:4

“Let’s be honest. No one ever wished for a smaller holiday gift.” At least that’s what the makers of Lexus automobiles say in their recent TV commercials. Maybe they know something I don’t, but I’ve got to believe they are wrong. According to Luke, of all the people who were contributing gifts to the temple in Jerusalem the one who Jesus pointed to as exemplary was a widow who gave only two copper coins. This was the greatest of all gifts, Jesus said, because she had given “all that she had to live on” (Luke 21:4). She could hardly have afforded a Lexus, but she gave all that she had anyway.

On the other hand, in 1 Thessalonians Paul writes, “…you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another…. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more…” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10). And I’m quite certain that Paul is not talking about larger “holiday gifts”. He’s talking about the love of God, the love “that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19), the love that is patient and kind, that bears all things, believes all things, and hopes all things (see 1 Corinthians 13:4-7). No, you can’t park it in the garage or cruise the neighborhood in it on Christmas morning, but it will make your life and the lives of those around you profoundly better. And when the Lexus has found its final resting place in the junk yard, the love of God will continue to sustain and encourage those who share it.

So what is the true meaning of “more”? In reign-of-God terms it means more of ourselves offered to others, and all of the heart, mind, soul, and body given to God. Let’s be honest. No car company could ever pull that off.

Prayer: Lord, help us to love you and to love each other more and more, this season of Advent and beyond. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Real Dr. Love

Hosea 3:1-5
Luke 5:27-39
With apologies to the rock band Kiss, I think our readings from Hosea and Luke teach us something about love that the band’s song (and current Dr. Pepper commercial jingle) “Calling Dr. Love” can’t even begin to touch. In Luke Jesus calls a tax collector named Levi to become a disciple (Luke 5:27-28). Levi then holds a banquet in Jesus’ honor to which other tax collectors and “sinners” were invited (v. 31). When the Pharisees raise concern over the type of people with whom Jesus associates Jesus replies, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (v. 32). Jesus is not excluding the Pharisees from his circle, they are essentially excluding themselves by failing to recognize the love of God in Jesus’ actions. And what about Hosea? At God’s direction he had already married the prostitute Gomer. Now he must buy her back, out of adultery and prostitution, and with love and discipline demonstrate his devotion to her. This, of course, is symbolic of God’s love and devotion for a wayward people, Israel, who have gone after idols and other gods and who now, with judgment based in love, will be “bought back” by God.

Of course, Kiss is not the only group or individual to misrepresent love. We see it movies and on TV all the time. Romantic love seems to equate exclusively with sex. Love for our enemies, for those in need, even for our neighbor seems like a quaint notion reserved for “religious types.” But Jesus, and Hosea before him, makes very clear that love for others should be neither quaint nor drenched in hedonism. God’s love is the kind of love that seeks out tax collectors and sinners and says “Follow me. Leave your sinfulness behind and I will show you a better way of life, one worth sharing with others, one with purpose and meaning, one that safeguards dignity and values the other as a child of God.”

While most people of faith have little trouble dismissing songs like “Dr. Love” as indicative of nothing but sex, we still must guard against going too far in the other direction such as limiting those with whom we associate, as if God’s love is only for the pure of heart and the blameless. In such circumstances we forget that we, too, are prone to sin and in need God’s healing love. Thanks be to God that in Jesus Christ we find a physician whose love overwhelms us all.

Prayer: Lord, help us to accept your healing love and to share it with others so that the circle of faith may grow and your light be shared with all people. Amen.