Luke 6:27-31

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

A women's group I am part of meets each week for prayer, meditation, and discussion on common (and uncommon) spiritual themes. Most weeks we take turns leading - each person leading choosing the topic. Often it is from an article or book or podcast that we get inspired by.

This week our topic was forgiveness, and the discussion was started by an article by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, based on his book, The Book of Forgiving, which he wrote with his daughter.

I have read and loved the book and was already feeling inspired when I saw the text for today.

This is from Jesus' Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke. It follows the Four Beatitudes in that Gospel (as well as the four woes). And it ends with that thing we all learned even before kindergarten: the Golden Rule.

And there - right at the beginning in this part of the text - is that phrase that gets to the heart of what we just keep practicing and not getting right over and over and over: loving our enemies.

For Desmond Tutu, forgiveness was the key for him in real, tangible ways. Think of the Truth and Reconciliation commission in South Africa. Love your enemies played out in practical ways there.

As we move forward to the election next week, it occurs to me that loving one's enemies, forgiving, and doing unto others as we'd have done to us, are going to all be things many of us are going to need to wrestle with. We are going to have to find practical ways for them to play out ourselves.

Maybe you don't have any enemies, but I'm guessing there's a person in your life right now you are struggling to forgive. And it can be a struggle. And it is a process.

Loving your enemies, as well as forgiveness, takes patience, practice, and hope. Sometimes it has to be done from a distance. Sometimes it may need to be tried again and again. 

You may not be ready.

Maybe not yet. But hopefully eventually.

And if you are looking for practical ways to get started, Tutu's book is a wonderful place to go.

Holy one, free me from the pain of anger and resentment. Help me to love those in my life who I find it most difficult to love. Amen.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”

So, I almost gave in to the temptation not to write about one of the daily lectionary texts.

And as you read this one, I'll bet you can understand why.

Or at least I hope you do.

As important as the Apostle Paul is for us as the founder of our Christian theology, every now and then he can be oh, so unhelpful.

This, I believe, is one of those times.

You may have noticed that Paul doesn't often quote the Historical Jesus. He is often more concerned with the Cosmic Christ: the one who "In the beginning was the Word" and was "with God" and "is God."

Paul didn't often have much to say about the words of Jesus of Nazareth, the man.

That Jesus of Nazareth didn't quite qualify his "Do not Judge" statement as Paul does here.

Instead he said it that simply: Do not Judge.

The reality is that daily we both eat and associate with people who have committed sexual sins. Or who have been drunk. Or greedy. 

Or been idolatrous. 

And many of those folks are in our communities. Our churches.

Our homes.

Our selves.

Yet, instead of "drive them out," Jesus said: "This is my body given for you."

He says: you are forgiven.

Set free.

Now, Paul had his reasons to tell the Corinthian church what he did. This new church, just setting out, needed boundaries.

But don't mistake Paul's qualifying words to them as the same words from our savior.

Those words were "Do not judge."

Those words encouraged us to be together, united, forgiven, free.

Instead remember Paul's other words to the Romans, words we heard on Reformation Sunday. 

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

All.

Me.

You.

Us.

Them.

All.

Lord of all, forgive me when I judge. Help me to see the log in my own eye before I try to take out the speck of someone else's. Amen.

Job 23:8-17

“If I go forward, he is not there;
    or backward, I cannot perceive him;
on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
    I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.
But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
My foot has held fast to his steps;
    I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
    I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.
But he stands alone and who can dissuade him?
    What he desires, that he does.
For he will complete what he appoints for me;
    and many such things are in his mind.
Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
    when I consider, I am in dread of him.
God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me;
If only I could vanish in darkness,
    and thick darkness would cover my face!

I'm going to say something that isn't especially uplifting or popular.

If your faith has never been challenged, or if you've never felt that dark night of the soul, or questioned your faith or changed in your faith...

Or even lost your faith...

Expect it to happen.

Even hope for it to happen.

Job certainly has his faith challenged in the Book of Job. God seems to completely abandon him and leave him lost.

Yet Job is not lost. Not forever. Not completely.

And his faith, tested and stretched, will survive that.

The first time I really felt my faith tested as an adult was right after college. I was far from home, in a bad relationship, and in a job I was unsure about and unhappy with. I missed my friends, my parents, my home.

Someone recommended that I read the book The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck. It's a famous book, that starts with a famous line: "Life is Difficult."

True that!

One of Peck's great offerings in that book for me was on his own spiritual growth. In essence he believed that he could not have grown in his faith had he not had a period of "atheism." He had to un-believe what he had previously believed before his faith could really blossom.

In later books he demonstrated this as four stages of faith development: "chaotic, antisocial;" "formal, institutional;" "skeptic, individual," and "mystic, communal." You can look those up for more information here: Scott Peck Spiritual Development.

Maybe this was something Job learned millennia earlier.

Maybe the learning we can get from Job isn't one of fear of our faith being tested, but instead hoping that it is. Hoping for that place of growth and movement.

Deconstructing our faith before God can reconstruct it again.

If you are there now, there is hope.

If you aren't there yet, there is hope.

And if you've made it already though that phase, maybe there is someone that you can give that hope to.

Lord, Life is difficult. But you are there always. Help me not to be afraid of the tests that come my way, but to be strengthened by them. Amen.

Psalm 32:1-7

Psalm 32:1-7

Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
    you get a fresh start,
    your slate’s wiped clean.

Count yourself lucky—
    God holds nothing against you
    and you’re holding nothing back from him.

When I kept it all inside,
    my bones turned to powder,
    my words became daylong groans.

The pressure never let up;
    all the juices of my life dried up.

Then I let it all out;
    I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.”

Suddenly the pressure was gone—
    my guilt dissolved,
    my sin disappeared.

These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray;
    when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts
    we’ll be on high ground, untouched.

God’s my island hideaway,
    keeps danger far from the shore,
    throws garlands of hosannas around my neck.

For some reason today I thought I would look at The Message Bible for this reading. Sometimes with Psalms especially I find that The Message makes them just that much more relevant.

Today, maybe especially so. It isn't really super common these days to talk about transgressions and iniquity and the guilt of sin.

I mean, yes, we confess them in church and yes, you might read in news and other places about "other peoples' sins" - usually of the sexual type.

But for most of us Mainline Protestants, we don't really talk much about confessing on a day to day basis. 

We don't often think of confessing to a person - much like our Roman Catholic brethren do.

But there is something wonderful about confession. Something freeing and glorious, and Eugene Peterson in The Message captures that so clearly.

Imagine getting fresh start every day. A clean slate.

Do you remember what it feels like to have pressure dissolve?

To let it all out and then feel free of it?

Confession isn't just good for the soul. It's good for the body as well. It's good for life and health. It's good for relationship. It builds trust and it creates bonds.

Might it be something freeing for you today?

Lord, let me not be afraid to confess the hurts and darkness in my heart. Show me where to turn! Amen

Matthew 21:28-32

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

This is the OTHER parable about two sons.

And like the other more famous story, I find myself able to identify with both sons.

Early on in my life - as an older child and perfectionist, control freak - I remember saying "yes" to everything asked of me. It was, I believed, what was expected of me. Just say "yes."

Sometimes the "yes" was easy to accomplish. 

Sometimes not.

And it was during those times - those heavy, hard 'yeses,' that I began to grow in anxiety. Eventually I learned I couldn't do everything. Not everything I wanted to do, and certainly not everything everyone else expected me to.

The disappointment in myself - by me and by others - was not something I relished. And it happened. More than I liked.

And the weight of that loss of control, and loss of "perfection" was crushing.

So I learned to say 'no' sometimes. It was difficult at first. Boundaries are almost always tricky to first establish. No one wants to disappoint someone.

The cliche "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" has some realistic grounding. Good intentions are fine, but they get you nowhere in and of themselves.

But repentance - the changing direction; the moving from "no" to "yes" can be salvation. The realization that we can do more than we thought possible saves not just those around us, but ourselves. It brings us to new, richer life: one in which we recognize that it isn't our perfection that makes us closer to God and each other, but our willingness to change direction when called to.

Lord, help me turn my "noes" to "yeses" and when I say yes, help me to follow through. Amen.

I Samuel 2:1-10

1 Samuel 2:1-10

Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the Lord;
    my strength is exalted in my God.
My mouth derides my enemies,
    because I rejoice in my victory.

“There is no Holy One like the Lord,
    no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly,
    let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
    and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
    but the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
    but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
    but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
    he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
    he brings low, he also exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
    he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
    and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
    and on them he has set the world.

“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
    but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
    for not by might does one prevail.
The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered;
    the Most High will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
    he will give strength to his king,
    and exalt the power of his anointed.”

Right before Christmas during Advent, we hear Mary's Magnificat: the beautiful song of praise and thanksgiving that Mary exclaims after being told by the angel Gabriel about the blessing that is about to befall her for the sake of the world.

Mary's song echoes this similar prayer by Hannah, the mother of the priest/prophet, Samuel. As the members of my Thursday morning Bible Study can tell you (since we just talked about Samuel last week), 1 Samuel is one of my favorite books in scripture. Part of what I love about it is the great drama unfolds between some of God's greatest characters: Samuel, Saul, and David. It's really Shakespearian in its unfolding.

But before these giants take the stage, a humble woman begins the story. It all starts with Hannah - a woman who wished to have a child.

For both Mary and Hannah, their children were unexpected. Mary's because she was young and unmarried; Hannah's because she was barren. And yet both women rejoice in God's faithfulness in similar ways.

They both see God's dream for the world unfolding in the act of their surprising pregnancies. They both acknowledge God's power and God's desire for justice. In both prayers we see God's love for the lowly. The humble. 

God doesn't act in the ways we expect. Turn on the TV and see how our political system lifts up the powerful and the rich.

But God, according to two lowly, humble, women, surprises us by mixing it up. By showing power in ways we don't expect.

Up to and including through the birth of small, helpless, unexpected babies.

We often think we know what to expect with God.

But God will surprise us over and over again.

Can we, like Mary and Hannah, sing praise to God for that?

Lord, you surprise me daily. Thank you! Amen.

Break Time

"Gone fishin'"

Taking a short break from the blog because of travels. Will return at the end of October.

Numbers 5:1-4

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Command the Israelites to put out of the camp everyone who is leprous, or has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with a corpse; you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp; they must not defile their camp, where I dwell among them. The Israelites did so, putting them outside the camp; as the Lord had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.

It is a good thing I think that yesterday's daily text was about sound teaching being centered in the faith and love through Christ.

Because honestly, without that, how do we read texts like this?

I know of many texts from the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament) that are used as "teaching" moments. 

Could this text be used as a teaching moment for our times?

I suppose. There are certainly rationales we can make - even valid ones - to explain why the Israelites were instructed to keep lepers outside of their communities.

And if we tried really hard we could find a way to use that to keep certain people outside of our communities today.

But yesterday we have a letter to Timothy telling us to ground sound teaching in faith and love.

So something is different.

Whatever the reason that the Hebrew people were told to keep lepers out of their communities at their time and in their place may very well have been sound and right and guided by God.

But that doesn't make it sound teaching for us any longer.

So when we see outsiders being kept outside by scripture, we ask ourselves: how is faith and the love of Christ present here?

And I'm pretty sure we'll discover that in our time and in our place, love and faith no longer mean keeping people on the outside.

Lord, help me to reach outside of myself to those who are kept at arms length by the world. Amen.

2 Timothy 1:13-14

Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

What is sound teaching?

I've been a part of many different congregations in my lifetime, with all different levels of Christian Education (or my preferred term: Faith Formation). And teaching is important. 

What we learn about God and our faith is important.

But I've also seen how sometimes what we learn can be lost in minutia. It can become an intellectual exercise that sometimes seems to be an end unto itself.

And while the WHAT that is being taught is important and even sound, the WHY might get lost in the shuffle.

Here we learn what the "why" is.

The faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

WHY we learn is because of faith and love centered in Christ.

Teaching without faith and love is missing the point.

And honestly, that's sometimes hard for me to remember. Hard because I love intellectual stimulation. I love learning new things just for the sake of it.

Learning about "sound" theology has always excited me.

But that sound theology is more than just doctrine or dogma or correct thinking.

If it is sound, it is bound up in the faith and love of Christ.

And that is a treasure: that we have a God who can both tickle our brains AND our hearts.

Lord, in all I teach and learn, help to faithfully seek your love first before all else. Amen

Matthew 20:29-34

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. There were two blind men sitting by the roadside. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd sternly ordered them to be quiet; but they shouted even more loudly, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!” Jesus stood still and called them, saying, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him.

In this story of healing is one of what I think is one of the most perfect prayers:

Lord, let our eyes be opened.

Lord, let MY eyes be opened.

So often in stories of Jesus, I have found that blindness is not always literal. Or at least not only literal.

Blindness is something we all suffer from.

There's something right now in your life that you aren't seeing.

Something you are missing.

Sometimes we miss things willfully. Willfull blindness.

Sometimes we can't help our blindness because we haven't been exposed to that which will help us see yet.

Either way, we need our eyes opened - and the eyes of our heart opened - for sight to come.

What are you blind to that you are missing?

Lord, let me eyes be opened. Amen