Acts 10:17-32
I like Peter’s attitude! He has been instructed by God to keep an open mind, to consider no one unclean or profane. So he accepts an invitation to visit with Cornelius and his household, even thought they are Gentiles—a breach of Jewish law. Now all he wants to know is why he is here and what’s going on (Acts 10:29)?
I’m afraid I don’t always respond that well—to God or to people. I ask questions. I resent the bother. I grumble about the inconvenience. I even challenge God’s intentions for me, or whether God is even at work in my life at all. Maybe you are like me. Maybe you hesitate or question as events unfold. If so, I think you and I need an attitude adjustment. But if you are like Peter, if you “go with the flow” (at least in this instance), then good for you.
Think about Abram and Sarai who were told by God to leave their homeland and did so out of faithfulness. Think about Joseph and Mary who were told about a baby that Mary would have and who respected the message. Think about any number of others who have accepted a challenge or stepped out in faith believing that God would explain things when the time was right—or not, but who went anyway. Clearly it is okay to question God. The psalmist made a career out of it. But what Peter did was to worry less about the details and instead to be open to God’s work in his life. What Peter would find, what all of us would find, is a lot of surprises and many signs of grace. That’s why I like Peter’s attitude. That’s why I wish I was the same way.
Prayer: Lord, you call your people to do many things. Sometimes we are slow to respond. Sometimes we offer objections or complaints. Sometimes we look for excuses not to get involved. Help us to overcome our fear, our need to control our lives, our resistance to your grace. Help us to live with open minds and hearts, trusting you to use us in ways we never expected. Amen.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Do We Have God All Figured Out?
Job 6:1, 7:1-21
Acts 10:1-16
If you’re thinking
That I’m thinking
What you’re thinking,
Well I’m thinking
That it’s funny.
That’s a bit of song lyric I’ve been working on lately. While I never intended for it to have theological implications, it may, especially in light of our readings for today. I can hear God now, seated in the divine court, saying similar words to Peter and Job. “If you’re thinking that I’m thinking what you’re thinking…” Actually, Job himself seems to paraphrase Psalm 8, only in a negative sense. The Psalm says, “What are mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4). These words are spoken with wonder and awe. “Wow, God, thanks for noticing us! What an honor!” But Job turns it around. He says, “Let me alone (God), for my days are a breath. What are human beings, that you make so much of them…?” (Job 7:16-17). In other words, “God, leave me the heck alone.”
In the Acts passage Peter finds himself confronted with an array of foods that do not fit the Jewish dietary laws (Acts 10:13-16). “Get up, Peter, kill and eat” (v. 13) , says a voice. “No thanks,” says Peter. “I’ve never eaten unclean or profane food” (v. 14). To this the voice replies, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane” (v. 15).
Peter and Job may believe that they have God figured out to some extent. They don’t. Not in the least. As we are reminded in Isaiah 55:8, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Furthermore, it is dangerous to assume they are. Our lives may have meaning well beyond our understanding. Foods (and people, too) that were once considered unclean are actually creatures of God deserving of respect. Perhaps as God’s people we should work harder at opening our minds to what is possible by grace. Think about it.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we try to force our thoughts on you while ignoring your will for our lives. Amen.
Acts 10:1-16
If you’re thinking
That I’m thinking
What you’re thinking,
Well I’m thinking
That it’s funny.
That’s a bit of song lyric I’ve been working on lately. While I never intended for it to have theological implications, it may, especially in light of our readings for today. I can hear God now, seated in the divine court, saying similar words to Peter and Job. “If you’re thinking that I’m thinking what you’re thinking…” Actually, Job himself seems to paraphrase Psalm 8, only in a negative sense. The Psalm says, “What are mortals that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:4). These words are spoken with wonder and awe. “Wow, God, thanks for noticing us! What an honor!” But Job turns it around. He says, “Let me alone (God), for my days are a breath. What are human beings, that you make so much of them…?” (Job 7:16-17). In other words, “God, leave me the heck alone.”
In the Acts passage Peter finds himself confronted with an array of foods that do not fit the Jewish dietary laws (Acts 10:13-16). “Get up, Peter, kill and eat” (v. 13) , says a voice. “No thanks,” says Peter. “I’ve never eaten unclean or profane food” (v. 14). To this the voice replies, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane” (v. 15).
Peter and Job may believe that they have God figured out to some extent. They don’t. Not in the least. As we are reminded in Isaiah 55:8, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Furthermore, it is dangerous to assume they are. Our lives may have meaning well beyond our understanding. Foods (and people, too) that were once considered unclean are actually creatures of God deserving of respect. Perhaps as God’s people we should work harder at opening our minds to what is possible by grace. Think about it.
Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we try to force our thoughts on you while ignoring your will for our lives. Amen.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
"To Whom Can We Go?"
(I'm conducting an experiment today. After you've read this entry, would you please go to the comments tab below it and post the word "yes"--or anything else you'd like to say. That way I'll know about how many people are reading this on-line. Thanks!)
Job 6:1-4, 8-17, 21
Acts 9:32-43
John 6:60-71
In a way I feel Job’s pain. In my life, as in the lives of others, conflict arises, angry words are shared, and even the important things seem too difficult to accomplish. As such times our bodies may not be covered with sores, bur our souls certainly can be. At such times I’m likely to share in Job’s lament, “What is my strength that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient?” (Job 6:11)
At such times, though, it is helpful to recall accounts such as the one we’ve read this morning from Acts. There Peter heals a paralyzed man named Aeneas (Acts 6:34) and revives a dead woman named Dorcus (v. 40). Acting in the name of Jesus Christ Peter is empowered to touch people at the very place they need healing, and while I’m neither paralyzed nor dead (thank God), I rejoice that God can and will touch me with a healing hand and give meaning back to my life. Soon we are all able to let go of Job’s lament and instead join with Peter’s confession in the gospel of John, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life?”
At the height of the storm, when our pain is greatest and the conflict is most severe, God comes to us and with the power to heal and to make calm. I encourage all who are struggling this day, whether with physical, mental, or spiritual, to embrace in your lives the work that God is doing there, and the love that God holds out to you. In this way alone can we know that our laments will be silenced and our praise amplified.
Prayer: Lord, the conflict and the anger sometimes wash over us like waves from the sea. Help us to call on you and to trust in you name in the future. Amen.
Job 6:1-4, 8-17, 21
Acts 9:32-43
John 6:60-71
In a way I feel Job’s pain. In my life, as in the lives of others, conflict arises, angry words are shared, and even the important things seem too difficult to accomplish. As such times our bodies may not be covered with sores, bur our souls certainly can be. At such times I’m likely to share in Job’s lament, “What is my strength that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient?” (Job 6:11)
At such times, though, it is helpful to recall accounts such as the one we’ve read this morning from Acts. There Peter heals a paralyzed man named Aeneas (Acts 6:34) and revives a dead woman named Dorcus (v. 40). Acting in the name of Jesus Christ Peter is empowered to touch people at the very place they need healing, and while I’m neither paralyzed nor dead (thank God), I rejoice that God can and will touch me with a healing hand and give meaning back to my life. Soon we are all able to let go of Job’s lament and instead join with Peter’s confession in the gospel of John, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life?”
At the height of the storm, when our pain is greatest and the conflict is most severe, God comes to us and with the power to heal and to make calm. I encourage all who are struggling this day, whether with physical, mental, or spiritual, to embrace in your lives the work that God is doing there, and the love that God holds out to you. In this way alone can we know that our laments will be silenced and our praise amplified.
Prayer: Lord, the conflict and the anger sometimes wash over us like waves from the sea. Help us to call on you and to trust in you name in the future. Amen.
Monday, August 23, 2010
New Bread, New Lives
Acts 9:19b-31
John 6:52-59
Good for Barnabas! While the other leaders of the church in Jerusalem were afraid of Saul and doubted his conversion Barnabas took the risk of trusting Saul and urging the others to do the same (Acts 9:27). Of course this must have taken a great deal of courage. Saul’s hatred of the church was well-known, and it had not been very long since Saul had consented to the stoning of Stephen. But Barnabas saw what God was doing and stepped out in faith to play a part.
Even in the Christian community things were changing rapidly in those days. Old foes were becoming believers. The gospel message was spreading. The church was growing by leaps and bounds. John’s gospel offers a helpful context for understanding what was going on. In Jesus Christ God was giving the world “bread that came down from heaven, not like that which (the people of Israel) ate, and they died” (John 6:58). What had gone before, even the most cherished of memories and traditions, was being reinterpreted. New understanding abounded. Saul was a Christian: would wonders never cease?
Our lives are full of traditions and memories. And while they offer us hope and comfort in many ways, these traditions, these memories, can also keep us from seeing clearly what is happening around us. To “let go and let God” sometimes means letting go of how we understand God and allowing God to reintroduce the divine self to us. This can be a scary experience, but if we respond by taking the risk, we may find that old foes and old assumptions have taken on a new meaning and that life is headed in a fresh new (and exciting) direction.
Prayer: Lord, give us the courage to move ahead by your grace, to trust in what you are doing in our midst, and to live with faithful obedience all our days. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
John 6:52-59
Good for Barnabas! While the other leaders of the church in Jerusalem were afraid of Saul and doubted his conversion Barnabas took the risk of trusting Saul and urging the others to do the same (Acts 9:27). Of course this must have taken a great deal of courage. Saul’s hatred of the church was well-known, and it had not been very long since Saul had consented to the stoning of Stephen. But Barnabas saw what God was doing and stepped out in faith to play a part.
Even in the Christian community things were changing rapidly in those days. Old foes were becoming believers. The gospel message was spreading. The church was growing by leaps and bounds. John’s gospel offers a helpful context for understanding what was going on. In Jesus Christ God was giving the world “bread that came down from heaven, not like that which (the people of Israel) ate, and they died” (John 6:58). What had gone before, even the most cherished of memories and traditions, was being reinterpreted. New understanding abounded. Saul was a Christian: would wonders never cease?
Our lives are full of traditions and memories. And while they offer us hope and comfort in many ways, these traditions, these memories, can also keep us from seeing clearly what is happening around us. To “let go and let God” sometimes means letting go of how we understand God and allowing God to reintroduce the divine self to us. This can be a scary experience, but if we respond by taking the risk, we may find that old foes and old assumptions have taken on a new meaning and that life is headed in a fresh new (and exciting) direction.
Prayer: Lord, give us the courage to move ahead by your grace, to trust in what you are doing in our midst, and to live with faithful obedience all our days. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Friday, August 20, 2010
What's the Point?
Job 2:1-13
Acts 9:1-9
John 6:27-40
What pain we encounter as human beings! Even those who worship God face times of loss, sickness, hunger, doubt, fear, anger, blindness (spiritual and physical), and so forth. God seems almost callous in allowing Ha Satan (the Advocate) to torment Job (Job 2). Saul, who was raised to be a faithful (and zealous) Jew. This led him to believe that Christians were heretics deserving of punishment. Yet on his way to Damascus Saul was confronted by the risen Lord and sent into a period of blindness and confusion. If those who seek to be faithful, who even God calls blameless (Job 2:3), can suffer, what’s the point?
The point may be that life by its very nature brings times of trial, and at those times we are best served by trusting in God’s providence and grace to bring us through to a place of peace and contentment. As Job says, “Shall we not receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” (Job 2:10) In other words, can God not be trusted throughout our lives, in good times as well as bad times? John Newton testifies to this same sentiment in his hymn “Amazing Grace.”
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
‘Twas grace that brought be safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
“I am the bread of life,” says Jesus (John 6:35). And as such Jesus is the source of grace and fulfillment we need throughout our lives, in good times or bad.
Prayer: Lord, we do not always understand what you are about, but help us to trust you and to rely on your deliverance. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Acts 9:1-9
John 6:27-40
What pain we encounter as human beings! Even those who worship God face times of loss, sickness, hunger, doubt, fear, anger, blindness (spiritual and physical), and so forth. God seems almost callous in allowing Ha Satan (the Advocate) to torment Job (Job 2). Saul, who was raised to be a faithful (and zealous) Jew. This led him to believe that Christians were heretics deserving of punishment. Yet on his way to Damascus Saul was confronted by the risen Lord and sent into a period of blindness and confusion. If those who seek to be faithful, who even God calls blameless (Job 2:3), can suffer, what’s the point?
The point may be that life by its very nature brings times of trial, and at those times we are best served by trusting in God’s providence and grace to bring us through to a place of peace and contentment. As Job says, “Shall we not receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” (Job 2:10) In other words, can God not be trusted throughout our lives, in good times as well as bad times? John Newton testifies to this same sentiment in his hymn “Amazing Grace.”
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
‘Twas grace that brought be safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
“I am the bread of life,” says Jesus (John 6:35). And as such Jesus is the source of grace and fulfillment we need throughout our lives, in good times or bad.
Prayer: Lord, we do not always understand what you are about, but help us to trust you and to rely on your deliverance. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Biting My Tongue
Job 1:1-22
Acts 8:26-40
John 6:16-27
There is a common theme in these passages that relates to trusting in God for one’s deliverance. But more than that there is a willingness to remain silent on one’s own behalf and to trust God to provide what is right and what is necessary. Job suffers such a devastating loss (actually one loss right after another) that the account ends up sounding almost farcical. How could so much violence be done to one family so quickly? Sheep, camels, oxen all killed or stolen? Children killed? Yet, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing” (Job 1:22). Likewise, it is the words of the prophet Isaiah that the Ethiopian is reading (aloud, as was the custom of the time) when Philip joins him on the road through Gaza (Acts 8:32f). In the face of humiliation and injustice the Lord’s servant, “does not open his mouth” (quote from Isaiah 53:7-8). Neither Job nor the servant of the Lord in Isaiah are willing to cry out initially, to take up their own causes, to demand that things be set right! How is this possible?
Jesus offers the proper perspective in John’s account. “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:27). Frankly, at a time in my life when I feel that my loved ones are being treated unfairly, when I see others doing what I believe to be wrong and apparently getting away with it, I want so much to cry out. I want to make a fuss, to speak words of anger and derision. I want to hurt others the way that I’ve been hurt. But neither Job nor the servant of the Lord in Isaiah resorts to such activity, and Jesus reminds me that I may well “win some battles” but that such effort is wasted because the food it produces does not endure. So I will try to bite my tongue. I will try to refrain from speaking out of anger. I will try to live as Jesus teaches me.
Prayer: Lord, I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, but my eyes have seen your grace. Help me to be a better person and to trust in the food that endures for eternal life. Amen.
Acts 8:26-40
John 6:16-27
There is a common theme in these passages that relates to trusting in God for one’s deliverance. But more than that there is a willingness to remain silent on one’s own behalf and to trust God to provide what is right and what is necessary. Job suffers such a devastating loss (actually one loss right after another) that the account ends up sounding almost farcical. How could so much violence be done to one family so quickly? Sheep, camels, oxen all killed or stolen? Children killed? Yet, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing” (Job 1:22). Likewise, it is the words of the prophet Isaiah that the Ethiopian is reading (aloud, as was the custom of the time) when Philip joins him on the road through Gaza (Acts 8:32f). In the face of humiliation and injustice the Lord’s servant, “does not open his mouth” (quote from Isaiah 53:7-8). Neither Job nor the servant of the Lord in Isaiah are willing to cry out initially, to take up their own causes, to demand that things be set right! How is this possible?
Jesus offers the proper perspective in John’s account. “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:27). Frankly, at a time in my life when I feel that my loved ones are being treated unfairly, when I see others doing what I believe to be wrong and apparently getting away with it, I want so much to cry out. I want to make a fuss, to speak words of anger and derision. I want to hurt others the way that I’ve been hurt. But neither Job nor the servant of the Lord in Isaiah resorts to such activity, and Jesus reminds me that I may well “win some battles” but that such effort is wasted because the food it produces does not endure. So I will try to bite my tongue. I will try to refrain from speaking out of anger. I will try to live as Jesus teaches me.
Prayer: Lord, I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, but my eyes have seen your grace. Help me to be a better person and to trust in the food that endures for eternal life. Amen.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Food For Thought
Acts 8:14-25
John 6:1-15
The reading from John this morning relates the story of the feeding of the five thousand (one of the accounts that appears in all four gospels). According to this passage the disciple Andrew comes to Jesus with a boy who is offering to share his bread and fish with the crowd. “But what is this among so many?” Andrew wonders aloud (John 6:8-9). For Jesus, of course, it is more than enough, and the crowd is fed with plenty to spare. As a result of this sign there are those in the crowd who would make Jesus their king (v. 15), so Jesus leaves them before they can act because this is not God’s will nor God’s plan.
In the Acts passage we read of the visit of Peter and John to Samaria. They have heard that Samaritans have come to believe in Jesus Christ, and though they have been baptized have not yet received the Holy Spirit. This may seem like a strange distinction to our modern ears. To us baptism has come to represent the engrafting of the individual into the community of faith. To be baptized is to be marked as one of God’s own. Perhaps it would help if we thought of Peter and John leading a confirmation class for those who were baptized as infants and now wish to be active members of the church. At any rate, with the actions of the disciples the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the Samaritan faithful. When Simon, the former magician who has become a believer himself, offers money for the power to grant the Holy Spirit Peter sets him straight. Simon’s understanding, like that of the crowd who would have made Jesus king, is based entirely on human ideas of power and success. The Holy Spirit is not a commodity to be sold or traded, and not a resource to be hoarded or controlled. Jesus’ true kingship is not based on ordinary politics, but derived from his faithful obedience to God’s will.
How often do we misunderstand what God is about? How often do we see things in human terms: fearing that there’s not enough to go around, looking for a ruler who will meet our needs the way we perceive them, seeking the power to invoke God’s presence? These are dangerous assumptions and desires that Jesus calls us to let go of. He wants us to accept that the truth lies in human weakness. He wants us to understand that the truth lies in trusting God.
Prayer: Lord, help us to seek your will and not our own and to let go of our feeble attempts to control you. Instead lead us to accept your grace and your presence as good gifts which lead to true joy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
John 6:1-15
The reading from John this morning relates the story of the feeding of the five thousand (one of the accounts that appears in all four gospels). According to this passage the disciple Andrew comes to Jesus with a boy who is offering to share his bread and fish with the crowd. “But what is this among so many?” Andrew wonders aloud (John 6:8-9). For Jesus, of course, it is more than enough, and the crowd is fed with plenty to spare. As a result of this sign there are those in the crowd who would make Jesus their king (v. 15), so Jesus leaves them before they can act because this is not God’s will nor God’s plan.
In the Acts passage we read of the visit of Peter and John to Samaria. They have heard that Samaritans have come to believe in Jesus Christ, and though they have been baptized have not yet received the Holy Spirit. This may seem like a strange distinction to our modern ears. To us baptism has come to represent the engrafting of the individual into the community of faith. To be baptized is to be marked as one of God’s own. Perhaps it would help if we thought of Peter and John leading a confirmation class for those who were baptized as infants and now wish to be active members of the church. At any rate, with the actions of the disciples the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the Samaritan faithful. When Simon, the former magician who has become a believer himself, offers money for the power to grant the Holy Spirit Peter sets him straight. Simon’s understanding, like that of the crowd who would have made Jesus king, is based entirely on human ideas of power and success. The Holy Spirit is not a commodity to be sold or traded, and not a resource to be hoarded or controlled. Jesus’ true kingship is not based on ordinary politics, but derived from his faithful obedience to God’s will.
How often do we misunderstand what God is about? How often do we see things in human terms: fearing that there’s not enough to go around, looking for a ruler who will meet our needs the way we perceive them, seeking the power to invoke God’s presence? These are dangerous assumptions and desires that Jesus calls us to let go of. He wants us to accept that the truth lies in human weakness. He wants us to understand that the truth lies in trusting God.
Prayer: Lord, help us to seek your will and not our own and to let go of our feeble attempts to control you. Instead lead us to accept your grace and your presence as good gifts which lead to true joy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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