Re-Design time

For a while I've been thinking about redesigning my blog to be able to maybe change the format and set up a bit.

I've played around with it a bit from time to time, but finally realized that unless I dedicate some time to it - during the time I'd normally be writing - it just won't get done.

I'm hoping that this week will be the time I need to get it done. 

So...for the time being...I'm under construction! Be back soon!

Blindness: 1 John 2:7-11

1 John 2:7-11 (NRSV)

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.

Some of the most painful disagreements we will have in our lives are those with other church members. The hurt can be so much more acute because, I think, our expectations are that much higher.

And yet, surprisingly, (or not), those disagreements are common. Very common. 

Hurt is hurt, and when coupled with high expectation, a broken church relationship can seem impossible to overcome without intervention.

We have lots of guidance from scripture: teachings on forgiveness, and verses like this from I John that chastise us when we forget who we are and when we fail to love our sister or brother in Christ.

But words only get us so far.

Rightly, here John likens that sense of broken relationship to darkness leading to blindness. When we are angry with another, we cease to fully see them for who they truly are. We become blind to the Christ in them.

And what do we do then?

When blindness strikes it is always helpful for a guide. Someone or something to lead us. That may be another person: a mediator perhaps. 

Or it may be education. Someone to teach us how to forgive if that's a skill we haven't mastered yet. At St. Paul's in Lent, we will be spending the entire season looking at forgiveness.

Because quite honestly few are expert at it!

Blindness need not be permanent. Seeing the other for who they are - both flaws and graces - first takes acknowledgment that we need to do so. 

And then it takes practice. It takes walking side by side with others on that journey.

And it takes faith.

We are not alone on this journey. And when the division strikes the heart of the community, we have others to whom we can turn for healing.

But first we must open our eyes and see!

Lord, teach me to forgive. Help me to reconcile those relationships in my life where hurt has taken root and has caused me not to see the other in their entirety. Amen.

Alien: Genesis 26:1-5

Genesis 26:1-5 (NRSV)

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to King Abimelech of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; settle in the land that I shall show you. Reside in this land as an alien, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and will give to your offspring all these lands; and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

"Reside in this land as an alien and I will be with you and will bless you."

Sit with that a minute.

Wherever you land on the ongoing debate in the US about immigration and refugees, it seems a bit shocking to see God commanding Isaac to BE an alien. A refugee.

And not only commanding it, but standing with Isaac in the midst of it.

And not only standing with Isaac in the midst of it, but blessing it.

Goes against almost everything we are used to seeing in our modern understanding of the refugee crisis.

Blessed? 

We do well to remember that our very faith is centered on refugee status. Not only do we get reminders (at Christmastime especially) that Jesus and his family were refugees, but we can look back to the beginning of the Abrahamic tradition and see that Abraham himself was a refugee sent by God.

And his people were given the land of this refugee status.

As Christians we are also refugees of a sort. "In the world, but not of the world." 

So being an alien - a foreigner, a refugee, a migrant - is a natural state for us.

A state of blessing.

A state of grace.

Even if it may not seem like it, or feel like it, God is with the refugee.

This is good news not just for the alien but for us. Because at some point in your life - even if you never stray more than five miles from your home - there will be a point in your life when you are the alien.

The refugee. The foreigner.

And God will be with you then and bless you.

Lord, open my eyes and heart to the stranger in my midst that I may love them and bless them as you do. And comfort me when I feel like that stranger - alone and lonely. Amen.

Understanding: Proverbs 2:3-5

Proverbs 2:3-5

if you indeed cry out for insight,
    and raise your voice for understanding;
if you seek it like silver,
    and search for it as for hidden treasures—
then you will understand the fear of the Lord.

    and find the knowledge of God.

Recently I was reading a book where the author (Mike McHargue) gave advice on how to find a church for those who were looking. One of the things he listed was looking for a church that will challenge you.

We live in an age where confirmation bias runs rampant. We tend to watch news programs (or networks) that back up our beliefs and we tend to worship regularly in places that follow the faith and belief practices we've grown up with or are comfortable with.

But here the writer of Proverbs gives some insight into insight.

It's like a treasure. 

And like a treasure, it is something we search for.

It isn't found in a static, unmoving relationship with our creator. Or with our faith.

It comes with being challenged, crying out for understanding, being made to realize sometimes we had it wrong.

Sometimes we have to change course in our beliefs or practices.

Some of the best conversations I've had as a church leader has been with folks who found something troubling that they didn't understand, either in a sermon, a teaching, or a reading. Out of those conversations usually comes enormous growth and insight - often for both of us!

If something seems wrong to you, or unclear to you, or confusing to you...

Before you reject it, ask about it.

Pursue it.

Sit with it.

Engage with it.

Talk about it.

And see where God takes you with it...

God of insight, help me to understand all those insights that challenge me. Help me to grow daily in my faith and not stay still. Amen.

The Path: Psalm 119:105

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.



This is one of those metaphors that I love. And love to ponder.

Note that God's word here - and I'm going out on a limb (although maybe not too far) by saying that this means scripture - is the light to the path.

Not the path itself.

Now, there are lots of ways we could twist ourselves up with that. God's word isn't our path?

What?

Then what is? The light?

Well, what is the light for?

God's word helps us to find the path. It helps us to see more clearly the things before us - and even behind us - that otherwise we might not.

The things that are of God.

If the Word is the light, then what would it mean that God IS the path? The very being that is carrying us and holding us close.

God as the journey.  

Scripture lights our way...acts as a lens to help us see it.

But is not the path itself.

If we make scripture itself the path...in other words, if we follow scripture as a guidebook, rather than a lens or lamp or light, then we probably aren't going to see the forest for the trees.

We make then, in a sense, scripture our God.

Scripture points us to God. It is not itself God.

Lord, light my path to you through scripture and love. Amen.

Rote or not: Isaiah 29:13-14

Isaiah 29:13-14

The Lord said:
Because these people draw near with their mouths
    and honor me with their lips,
    while their hearts are far from me,
and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote;
so I will again do
    amazing things with this people,
    shocking and amazing.
The wisdom of their wise shall perish,

    and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.

I was having a conversation recently with some folks about the benefits (or not) of rote memorization.

It's clear that memorizing can be good in some instances. And repetition also is good for development.

But here God is wondering what's so great about worship being a "human command learned by rote."

As in, going through the motions. Saying the right thing. Doing the right thing.

But maybe not so much feeling the right thing? Maybe not so much being present and involved and changing and growing from the experience.

The Israelites were not alone in worshiping with their lips and not their hearts. Happens to the best of us from time to time. Or maybe more than that.

And yet despite that, God will do amazing things. That's the promise.

Regardless of how we worship, where our hearts are, how rote our Lord's Prayer is, God will do amazing things.

Some of the best worship experiences I can remember were ones littered with mistakes, miscues, not the greatest singing, typos in bulletins and other imperfect liturgical gaffs.

And yet they had heart.

And yet the words were not just from the lips of the worshiper. There was nothing rote in the prayers.

There was soul.

We won't always get it right. But even when we don't, God will do amazing things regardless.

Lord, help me worship you with my whole being. Amen.

Wise? - James 3:13-18

James 3:13-18

Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Wisdom is a tricky thing.

I think we all have different ideas about it.

Sometimes it is easy to get it confused with knowledge.

Sometimes we say "wise in the ways of the world" as a counterpoint to something we see as spiritual.

There is perhaps something of that in James' description here. For James, wise in the ways of the world would include selfish gain or ambition. Knowing how to be tricky and successful. Smart.

But that isn't the only way to use the word wise.

Who is someone you think of as wise? And how do you know?

Are they smart? Savvy? Shrewd? Clever?

Or are they Sage? Judicious? Perceptive? Insightful?

All of those words are synonyms for "wise" and yet, they don't all call to mind the same exact thing, do they?

Perhaps my favorite wise character in literature is Charlotte the spider in Charlotte's Web. Charlotte knows something about gentleness and being peaceable. Her entire life is given in the service of saving another life. Not smart perhaps. Or tricky. 

Who is it then that is wise for you? Does James' definition ring true?

Is wisdom worldly? Or is it spiritual?

Or is it both?

Lord, only you are truly wise. Share your wisdom with me that I might sow righteousness and peace. Amen.