Thankfulness

Matthew 6:25-33New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

I'm not sure about you, but generally when some one tells me "not to worry," that puts my anxiety into overdrive!

I am from a family where anxiety - the kind that gets classified by psychiatrists - is a real issue, so worrying is a really, tangible part of some of our lives.

And yet, as I hear Jesus speak these words, rather than put my worry into overdrive, instead it gives me pause and calm.

There are two truths I face in this text: first, that I have been amply provided for.  I am grateful and realize that I am also fortunate.

The other truth is that none of my worrying ever brings me the hope or joy that God's kingdom - the one Jesus came to proclaim - brings me.  That it is possible for me - even in a state of anxiety - to see the birds or the air or the lilies of the field, and know God's beautiful mystery is bigger than my worry.  Thankfulness for that beautiful mystery is what brings me hope and joy.

This year, I am thankful for so many things, but I know that it isn't necessarily being thankful for those specific things that bring me closer to God.  It is instead, living IN thanksgiving at all times - thankful for my first breath in the morning and feeling gratitude whatever my circumstances.  It is in then that I will find God's kingdom.

Grateful people, I believe, are people who are free from the tyranny of worry.  People who find joy in even places of darkness.

Happy Thanksgiving!  And may you find the joy and hope today that God's Kingdom provides.

Thank you Lord for the love and peace you offer this world.  Help me today to step into that loving embrace with gratitude and hope.  Amen.

Ferguson

Esther 8:3-8

Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king. She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to the Jew Mordecai, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to lay hands on the Jews.You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.” 

I have to admit that I almost didn't know whether to post today or not.  I'm fueled too much today by anxiety and prayers for the people of Ferguson and for our nation.

But I decided to after all, and when I saw that this reading was the assigned reading for today (I am posting this Tuesday afternoon), I was floored by the synchronicity between this reading from Esther and what is happening today.

The Jews for most of the Old Testament were an oppressed people.  Here they have been absorbed into the Persian empire and as the story of Esther unfolds, they are primed to be victims of annihilation by the order of the Prime Minister, Haman.  

A subjected people victimized by those in power.

The tables here turn on Haman, and instead, as this chapter continues, the Jewish people are allowed to defend themselves and the violence instead will be turned against their oppressors.

It's not a happy ending, even if Esther gets credit for saving her people.

The reality is that when people are subjected, mistreated, and put down over and over again, violence will almost certainly be one of the unhappy outcomes.

It isn't the outcome God wants for any of God's people.

Our nation is polarized right now after the Grand Jury's findings in Ferguson last night.  Violence has erupted.

But peaceful protests have also erupted.  And hopefully, God willing, dialogue will erupt as well.  

Regardless of how you feel about the Grand Jury verdict, whether you agree with it or disagree with it, nonetheless, systemic racism exists in this nation.  And as a white American, I cannot even begin to understand what my black sisters and brothers have to go through on a daily basis. I cannot rightfully dismiss their anger at the events in Ferguson because I have never walked in their shoes.  I cannot dismiss their calls to be heard.  I cannot.

I also know this. When someone draws a line in the sand, Jesus will always be on the other side of that line.  Instead of drawing lines, Jesus calls us instead to cross lines with open hands reached out in love and understanding.  Jesus calls us to cry out for justice for our neighbor.

Esther's story does not have a happy ending.  Whenever violence is the end of the story, the ending can never be happy.

Martin Luther King had wise words that today I've been seeing everywhere and am taking to heart:  "We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools."

Lord God Almighty, free us from racism.  Free us from violence. Open our ears and hearts to our neighbor, and remind us that our neighbors span the width and breadth of your world.  Amen.

Christ's Faithfulness

2 Timothy 2:13New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

If we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.

There are many times and in many places that our religious or spiritual life speaks to our faith in Christ, but what about Christ's faith?

Is it possible that it is THAT faith which saves us?

Time after time scripture tells us of Christ's faithfulness and here, the writer to Timothy reminds us that even when we are faithless - or maybe even just a little light on faith - Christ remains faithful.

One of the things that stayed with me the longest, and affected my scripture reading the most, from Seminary was when my New Testament professor, Dr. Erik Heen, told us that Galatians 2:16 was perhaps not translated properly in the texts we were used to hearing.  You know that verse: "yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith IN Jesus Christ."

Instead, many modern scholars have noted that the Greek is a subjective genitive, rather than an objective genitive for the word "faith."  In other words, how the phrase most likely should be translated is this:  "Yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness OF Jesus Christ."

In other words, it is not OUR faith that saves us, but it is Christ's faith that saves us.

Our faith - or at least MY faith - is shakable.  It isn't constant.  Often I identify with the father in Mark's gospel who says, "Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief."  I know that there are times when things seem dark, or the world seems inhospitable that my faith shakes and quakes and begs God for something to sustain it.

Yet Christ's faith in us, Christ's faith in God's kingdom is eternal.  And when I am falling down, fearful, sad, lonely, shaken, doubting, it is THAT faith that picks me up and reminds my that I belong to God.

To depend on my own faith for my place in God's kingdom doesn't often seem possible.  

But to depend on Christ faithfulness is something I know I can count on always.

Faithful Jesus, I believe.  Help my unbelief and lift me up with your ever present faithfulness.  Amen.

Now or not yet?

Revelation 14:1New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

Out of this short little line has come all kinds of pain, confusion, and divisiveness.

144,000 isn't a lot of people in the grand scheme of things, is it?  But for some, it's the magic number.  The number who will be saved and go to heaven to rule the rest of us down here on earth.

Now most interpreters instead take this number symbolically - as a number meaning completion or totality.

But the idea of it - as a number that divides rather than gathers is still out there.  And even without seeing the number itself as the literal amount of people who will be saved, it still has contributed to an overall sense of "us" vs. "them" in Christian culture.  There are those who cling to it, and those who push it away - but in the end, each group pushes each other away.

What would it be like if we took away the worry about who is or isn't going to heaven?  I've seen lots of heartache come out of it: people worried about a beloved non-beliving family member when they died; families torn apart by interfaith marriage; grandparents worried about grandchildren not being baptized.

I'm not saying there is no place for heaven in our lives.  And not saying we can't or shouldn't pray for God's place in the lives of our loved ones, or that we can't imagine what the life to come will be like.

But was getting us to heaven the primary reason Jesus came to this earth - incarnate, fully human, living a life where he physically touched and healed and taught?

What would it be like to imagine that God has more on God's mind then whether or not we end up in heaven?  What would the world be like if here and now became as important as not yet?

God of all time, you have called us into relationship with you both now and not yet.  Help us to live fully into the now.  Amen

This is a gift

Psalm 13 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
    and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
    my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

But I trusted in your steadfast love;
    my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The thing I find interesting about this Psalm is its movement of tenses: the beginning verses speak to looking forward to the future - of a time when God will no longer forget.  A time when God's face will appear and all will again be well.

Yet by the time we get to the end of the Psalm, the Psalmist speaks of a trust for God that appears to have been ongoing and that God has been dealing bountifully already with him.

It seems initially a bit disconcerting, and yet, that's often I think how at least my life of faith works.  I seem be able to go from one minute sighing "How long?" to God to praising God for all the good that has always been there - that I didn't notice all along.

I have been doing an "E-course" with Rob Bell where this notion seems to be at play.  The course is on finding joy in our lives, as the first session is on the notion of life being a gift. One of the suggestions Bell gives at the end of the first lesson is to write on a piece of paper - or as a tattoo if you are so bold - the words "This is a gift" and post it somewhere where you will see it often.  Somewhere where you are likely to look when things aren't going well.  Maybe at your desk at work?  Maybe on the mirror in your bathroom?  Maybe over the kitchen sink?

And there, when you are even in the midst of crying to God "How long?" you can be reminded of God's continued bounty being yours always.

And your heart can rejoice even in the midst of its wilderness.

 Generous, bountiful God, this life is a gift.  Thank you!  Amen.

Pray without Ceasing

1 Thessalonians 5:17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Pray without ceasing.

My eye kept traveling back to this verse as I looked over the whole of the daily lectionary reading.  There's a lot of good advice in this chapter from 1st Thessalonians, but none I think that carry the same depth, weight and perhaps uncertainty as this.

How do you pray without ceasing?

How do you pray at all?

I think prayer is one of those topics we hear a lot about, and yet still manage to stay at least partially flummoxed by.  I know I'm still learning the ins and outs, and I also know I've had Seminary teachers and pastors who have admitted to not having all the answers either.

Martin Luther had some good advice: We are all beggars, indicating that we should approach God with a humble heart and open palm.  

And yet, asking or begging God is only part of the issue as well.  

If I've learned anything it is that prayer is a dialogue.  It is relationship, and a dialogue is not one sided.  Talking to God is only part of it.

Listening is a whole other ball game!

What kinds of things do you do to listen to God?

Meditate?

Walking outside?

Listening to music?

Centering prayer?

There are all kinds of ways we can listen to God, and I think probably it IS the listening that's the hardest part of prayer.  How do you listen for a voice that isn't going to come from vocal chords?

God of song and silence, speak to me and help me to hear you.  Amen.

Addiction to judging

Romans 2:1New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.

If forced to choose, I would have to say that there is no single issue we need to confront daily as Christians and even simply as human beings than judging others.  I mean, we do it ALL the time, don't we?

Can you think of a day where you didn't?

I can't.

I do it all the time anyway: to the driver who cuts me off; the person whose politics are the opposite of mine; the celebrity making a show of him or herself in the press (yes...I'm thinking right now of Kim Kardashian...); my husband when he forgets to do something he said he would; the politician who breaks a promise; the "other" denomination in Christianity that has a different theology from my own...etc.

It's as easy as breathing.

But it's difficult too.

It's difficult to change as a habit, partially because there are some things in the world so insidious that we feel we must judge them, but that very practice makes it even easier to judge even the smaller things.

But it is also difficult because I really think that what it does to us as human beings is damaging and bad for your overall well-being.

Think of what your body does when you judge.  Do you feel calm? Is your heart rate steady? Do you feel a general sense of ease and peace?  Is judging good for you?

I have long been a subscriber to the notion that AA gets it right in terms of healthy spirituality and that we could all benefit from a dose of it, because the reality is that I'll bet we all would have to admit we are addicted to something.

And I'm going to hazard as guess that one of the top things we are addicted to is judging.  It's something we probably have to each day face and deal with one day at a time.

With apologies to the first few steps from the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, I want to close  with a prayer that I've found helpful to start my day with.  This prayer I think can apply to anything we are powerless over, but for today, I want to use it with judging, since I think it is something we almost all can identify with.

Holy God, I admit that I am powerless over judging others and my life has become unmanageable. Only you can restore me to sanity and to healing and to wholeness in love.  Lord, I surrender to you this day asking that you guide my heart and mind to a healthier, more loving way to be with my neighbor and to seek relationship and reconciliation rather than judgment and condemnation.  Amen.

Great!!

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 (NRSV)

Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is at hand; the Lordhas prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests. At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.” Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.

The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the warrior cries aloud there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the Lord, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Did you catch that line in the middle of this text? "The great day of the Lord is near."

Does this reading sound like it's about a great day to you?

(insert crickets chirping...)

Of course, "great" has many meanings: substantial, significant, large, imposing, absolute, impressive, awe-inspiring, magnificent, total, utter, dominant, peerless, formidable...

That's just the beginning of the list when you google synonyms for "great!"

So, perhaps in that context, there is something "great" about what the prophet is talking about here: something absolutely imposing, formidable, significant, awe-inspiring...

You get the idea.

What perhaps makes this text so "great" and significant is that all of this wrath and destruction God says is going to come is coming as a result of something seemingly insignificant.

Complacency.  Ambivalence. Self-satisfaction. Apathy

God reveals the "fire of God's passion" as an answer to a people who seem to be displaying no passion at all.

Now, there are certainly lots of ways to read this, and many of them might sounds an awful lot like: "you'd better start caring about God more, or the wrath of God is coming to come down on you."

That might have been what Zephaniah meant for his hearers, but I'm not sure its as helpful for us.

Instead I think maybe another way to see it is that God has pretty strong feelings about God's people.  About us.  About our neighbors.  About creation. 

God in fact is passionate about these things.

What would it be like if we were all just as passionate about them?

Pretty great, probably...

Great and passionate God, ignite our hearts to love this world and all its creation and creatures just as fervently as you do.  Amen.

Love letter

1 Thessalonians 3:6-13New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us—just as we long to see you. For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

For all that they are in our Holy scriptures, it is important to remember that the letters of Paul - and of the writers of other epistles - were just that.  Letters.

We don't write letters much anymore, but can you remember a time looking forward to the mailman coming because you knew that any day a letter would be coming to you? 

Maybe it was a love-letter.  Maybe it was a letter from grandparents or a thank you letter.  Maybe it was a letter from a child at camp or college.

There's really no feeling like it.  Getting that envelope and tearing it open to read the thoughts and sentiments of a loved one.

So imagine how much meaning these letters from Paul to his churches had.  You can hear the longing and emotion in Paul's words.  This is his community of people.  It is, in fact, a NEW community of people.  This is a church existing at the very birth of Christianity.  It is a church that is doing something that's never been done before.

And Paul, their founder, isn't even with them for it.  (Imagine our pastors today setting us off on our own while they lead us and communicate to us from hundreds of miles away).

This is a unprecedented letter.  It will caution and guide.  It will explain and exhort.

But most of all it is a letter of love. Paul is writing to a community built around and bound by the love of Christ.

That love is still what binds our church.  Maybe sometimes it seems hard to see it.  Maybe the newness and shine has worn off, and we don't feel the excitement that that early church must have felt.

But it is still there.  Christ's love moving us forward.  

How can we communicate that to each other and to the world?

Lord of love, move our hearts to love as deeply and abundantly as you do.  Amen.

Longing for God

Psalm 63:1-4New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.

O God, you are my God, I seek you,
    my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
    beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;

     I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

Whenever things are really bad, they often tell you to go to the Psalms.  Psalms run the gamut of emotion: they share joy, lament, anger, revenge, longing.

Psalm 63 is the one that I find I turn to the most.  The beauty of the opening verses sing to my heart when I say them.  They remind me of my need for God. 

It isn't simply that I worship God, or follow God, or love God.

I need God.

I need God as an infant needs his or her mother.  I am dependent on God for my very life.  From God I received my breath and this Psalm, more perhaps than anything else in scripture, reminds me of how much I long to be reminded of that connection.

Do you ever long for God? When are you reminded of that need? Does it happen when you are suffering or sad, or are their moments of exultation when you cling to that need with everything you have?

Perhaps these aren't the words that remind you of that need.  Maybe there are others?  Maybe there is a part of worship or a hymn or song that reminds you of that need.

But if not, I encourage you to find something - a place you can turn to - when that need envelops you.

And then let your heart sing out as the Psalmist does.

Lord, I long for you.  I need you.  Even when I don't remember it.  And when I don't remember it, remind me of our close connection.  Amen.

Lady Wisdom

Wisdom 6:12-16New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

Wisdom is radiant and unfading,
and she is easily discerned by those who love her,
and is found by those who seek her.
She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.
One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty,
for she will be found sitting at the gate.
To fix one’s thought on her is perfect understanding,
and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care,
because she goes about seeking those worthy of her,
and she graciously appears to them in their paths,
and meets them in every thought

Most members of protestant denominations don't have a lot of experience with the Book of Wisdom.  If you happen to have it in one of your bibles, it is in the middle - in the apocryphal or non-canonical texts.  In other words, the Protestant reformers (like Luther) didn't consider it canon.

While there are good arguments for that, it is a shame that we don't get to read it often so the fact that it shows up even occasionally in our lectionary is, I think, pretty cool.

Wisdom here is personified - as in Proverbs - as a woman, and there have been attempts to link Lady Wisdom with the Holy Spirit - as she is seen as coeternal with God, and God's creative agent.  

Although the connection to the Holy Spirit is probably not theologically grounded, nevertheless, Wisdom is intimately connected with God and an "associate in God's works" and for me, that connection - personified as female - is one that is important to remember.

We grow up with God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for girls, there is often a feeling of being left out - the male names and pronouns for God have long dominated the stage.

And yet here we have Wisdom - female and powerful.  

Meeting people in every thought.

Easily discerned by those who love her.

And reminding us that just when we think we know who God is and how God is defined, we realize that we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of perfect understanding.

God of Wisdom, you don't put us in boxes.  Help us not to put you in boxes either but to be open to your generous and mysterious presence, even though we cannot even begin to fully understand it.  Amen.

More about the path

Acts 13:6-10New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. But the magician Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?

The metaphor of a path on our journey of faith is a difficult one.  It would be nice to think that the path God puts in front of us is simply straight and true, without the detours and sideways and bi-ways I mentioned yesterday.

However, the truth is that the path doesn't always seem straight.  Sometimes it DOES seem crooked.  Yet here Paul has strong words for someone who tries to lead God's people on a crooked path.

So rather than try to make too much of the metaphor, instead maybe we can think about how we know when we are on a path that is of God rather than a path that is one that leads us away from God.  

Or how, when we inevitably find ourselves of a path that leads us away from God (which, have no doubt we all find ourselves on at one point or another), we can find our way back onto a path of God.

It's good to be cautious and aware of the "Elymases" out there - those people or things that draw us away from God's call to us.  It isn't that God can't reach us wherever we are, but we can certainly make it harder for ourselves to hear God's message of love and forgiveness when we surround ourselves with contrary voices and ideas.

It's worth taking time each day - time in silence, meditation, reflection and prayer - to listen to the working of God in our lives and to help ourselves discern what things or voices in our lives draw us away.

Prayer then isn't simply talking to God about our desires, wants, needs, and hopes.  It isn't even simply about praising God and thanking God. Sometimes it is about sitting back and listening and sensing and feeling.

Trying to make sure you can still feel that path under your feet.

God, enliven all of my senses to pay attention to your call and path as I walk this journey with you.  Amen.