You get what you set

Mark 11:12-14, 20-24 (NRSV)

Faith that moves mountains

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it. ...

In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Then Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered." Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 

I've read this passage I don't know how many times before, but this is the first time I've noticed exactly how Jesus phrases his directive about prayer:  "believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Not believe that you shall have it or you'll get it, but believe that you have received it - as in you already have it.

For someone looking for something specific in a prayer, this is perhaps frustrating, but as someone who as a parent is constantly wanting her child to believe that she is strong and capable and intelligent and most importantly, loved, this is everything.  It's kind of like the cliche I used to tell the sales people I trained in my days as an Insurance Sale Rep trainer:  "You get what you set."

Where we are emotionally and spiritually has a lot to do with how we approach prayer.  If your starting point is: "I believe I am a loved child of God," that comes from that faith that moves mountains.

But the truth is for me that's not always where I am when I pray.  Sometimes what I'm experiencing in the moment isn't God's love but my own desperation or sometimes my own entitlement.  In those times, I really don't believe I already have it, and I probably also don't believe I'm going to have whatever it is I seek because I either see myself as unworthy of it, or in that moment of entitlement, worthy of more than I need.

Faithful Lord: You want us to believe what you know to be true - we are your beloved children. Help that be our starting place in all of our prayer life and in all of our interactions with each other.  We believe that we have received the most precious gift of all from you.  Remind us always that that gift is already ours.  Amen

Flimsy Security

Habakkuk 2:5-11 (NRSV)

Those who heap up what is not theirs

Moreover, wealth is treacherous;
the arrogant do not endure.
They open their throats wide as Sheol;
like Death they never have enough.
They gather all nations for themselves,
and collect all peoples as their own.

Shall not everyone taunt such people and, with mocking riddles, say about them,
"Alas for you who heap up what is not your own!"
How long will you load yourselves with goods taken in pledge?
Will not your own creditors suddenly rise,
and those who make you tremble wake up?
Then you will be booty for them.
Because you have plundered many nations,
all that survive of the peoples shall plunder you
because of human bloodshed, and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who live in them.

"Alas for you who get evil gain for your houses,
setting your nest on high
to be safe from the reach of harm!"
You have devised shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples;
you have forfeited your life.
The very stones will cry out from the wall,
and the plaster will respond from the woodwork. 

The last verses of this reading remind me of the gated communities that dot the landscape of the US.  Mansions and McMansions hidden behind iron gates.  I live in such an area and have a house that could easily be called a McMansion.  No gate, but there are things in my daily routine that keep me safely ensconced from seeing the real life that so many other Americans face.  Ones without safety nets or gates or 401Ks.  

Wealth is treacherous.  It keeps us from seeing reality.  It keeps us hidden behind a veil of flimsy security that can easily be taken away, as many learned during the bubble burst of the real estate market.  

So what do we do?  How do we pull that flimsy veil from in front of our eyes so we can see clearly?  So we can stop trusting in nests on high and instead trust in the Lord on High?

It's a daily challenge for those living in my country and in my county specifically.  We need to remind ourselves of that challenge each day so that the real life experienced by those without those safety nets becomes the challenge we don't ignore but instead take on.

Generous God:  You have given this world your bounty.  Help us not to hoard it but to share and share generously so that we can feel the security that only you provide.  Take the veil from our eyes so that we can see the real plight faced by those we don't always see.  Amen.

Fish caught in a net

Habakkuk 1:5-17 (NRSV)

The wicked swallow the righteous

Look at the nations, and see!
Be astonished! Be astounded!
For a work is being done in your days
that you would not believe if you were told.
For I am rousing the Chaldeans,
that fierce and impetuous nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
Dread and fearsome are they;
their justice and dignity proceed from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more menacing than wolves at dusk;
their horses charge.
Their horsemen come from far away;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
They all come for violence,
with faces pressing forward;
they gather captives like sand.
At kings they scoff,
and of rulers they make sport.

They laugh at every fortress,
and heap up earth to take it.
Then they sweep by like the wind;
they transgress and become guilty;
their own might is their god!

Are you not from of old,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
You shall not die.
O Lord, you have marked them for judgment;
and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment.
Your eyes are too pure to behold evil,
and you cannot look on wrongdoing;
why do you look on the treacherous,
and are silent when the wicked swallow
those more righteous than they?
You have made people like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.

The enemy brings all of them up with a hook;
he drags them out with his net,
he gathers them in his seine;
so he rejoices and exults.
Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and makes offerings to his seine;
for by them his portion is lavish,
and his food is rich.
Is he then to keep on emptying his net,
and destroying nations without mercy? 

There's always a catch to these warrior references from the OT.  The reality is that on most of my days, the enemies I face are much more subtle than this.  And I also think there is danger in taking this prophets poem about enemies of Israel and transferring them to enemies of of the United States.  The United States is not God's chosen nation in the same way Israel was, no matter how many ways we like to think so.

But there ARE days when groups of people and individuals feel caught up like a fish in a net of no mercy. That metaphor strikes me as the perfect one to describe how institutional evil sweeps people up into it's snares.  What else to think when cuts in spending affect the most vulnerable while the growing gap between rich and poor gets greater and greater?

This particular passage doesn't end up the note of hope and promise that many do.  The question to the Holy One is left hanging at the end:  is he then to keep on emptying his net and destroying nations without mercy?

But in the middle of the reading the promise is there:  O Lord, you have marked them for judgment; and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment. Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on wrongdoing; 

There is faith and trust that God will not let this matter stand.  God's true nature is known and every now and then one of God's people reminds the Holy One that we do remember that nature.  And it is there that our trust lies.

Oh Holy One:  Many suffer like fish caught up in a net of despair.  Remind us always that that is not your will.  Move us to be your hands in this earth to help free them and let your justice be known.  Amen.

Believe in...

Revelation 2:12-29 (NRSV)

Call to faithfulness

"And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword:

"I know where you are living, where Satan's throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication. So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.

"And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze:

"I know your works -- your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call 'the deep things of Satan,' to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden; only hold fast to what you have until I come. To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,
I will give authority over the nations;
to rule them with an iron rod,
as when clay pots are shattered --

even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. 

As I said yesterday, Revelation is not my favorite text.  One of the reasons I think is explained by my looking something up this morning on it.  I was looking for something on Luther and Revelation and Google did that thing where it guesses what your question is going to be.  And what Google said was this:  Did Luther believe IN Revelation?

Did Luther believe IN Revelation?

Therein lies my problem with Revelation.  You don't often hear folks saying "Do you believe IN Acts?  Or IN Ephesians?  Or IN Philemon?"  Revelation is given an idol-like status that unfortunately rivals that of believing IN Jesus Christ.  

However…that all said.  There are some beautiful texts in the book of Revelation.  There are images of glory and right worship and there is both command and promise.  So, I wouldn't throw it out and do think it needs careful study.

So…my suggestion?  The texts pulled out of the entire context for daily reading by the ELCA aren't all that helpful on their own.  Read the entire book with others.  Talk about it.  See what it meant for the people if was written for.

But believe IN Jesus Christ.  Not the book.

Gracious God:  You command and promise.  You destroy and you resurrect.  Help us to see that pattern in our lives and be swept away by it into a glorious relationship of life with you.  Amen

Be Faithful Unto Death

Revelation 2:8-11 (NRSV) Be faithful until death "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life: "I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death.  Like I said on my first day of writing these devotions, the ELCA is certainly giving us a mixed bag (for good or ill!).  Revelation is certainly one of the tricky ones for me, but as many times as I read through this reading from the book (and I just read through it quite a few), only one sentence jumps out at me: be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life. I think it is sentences like this that contribute to the ongoing fixation of many Christians with this life being simply a prelude to the heavenly bliss that it to come.  Certainly there is a place for hope for the hereafter.  But it is easy to take too much away from John's writing to the persecuted people that the book of Revelation is meant for.  It's easy to forget Jesus' consistent message that "The Kingdom of God" is now.  We often tend to merge the two - heaven and the Kingdom of God.  They are not the same.   I'm not sure what apocalyptic writing in the 21st century would look like.  While we are not in the US a persecuted group, there are Christians around the world who are.  And for them - and even for us when we are suffering - it is comforting to imagine the great by and by where all our sorrows will disappear. But until that time comes, we have one thing that will sustain us, no matter what is happening in our lives: the gift of faith.  Being faithful unto death isn't a thing to do to make sure we get to heaven.  Being faithful unto death is living into the Kingdom life now.  The "crown of life" image can sustain us both now and not yet.  Let's not forget the now part. Comforting God: You have given us the gift of faith to sustain us both now and in the age to come.  Help us to cling to that faith in times of hardship and trial not simply so that we can imagine life in heaven with you, but so that we may also live fully the richness of the life you have given us now.  Amen.

Jesus Loved Him

Matthew 19:16-22 (NRSV)

Treasure in heaven .

Then someone came to him and said, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Not my favorite version of this story, I have to admit.  And interestingly, not the one that pops up in the lectionary.  When we get this story of the "rich young man" it comes from the Gospel of Mark - the first gospel written.  It's a story that's well known and is the one that gives us the famous image about camels going through eyes of needles (not given to us today).  It's a story that appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

But the one thing that is missing from Matthew and Luke's versions may be (I am guessing...without any inside knowledge whatsoever!) the one thing that causes Mark's version to be the one we get in the lectionary.

In Mark's version, after the young man says to Jesus that he has kept all the commandments, Jesus "looked at him and loved him."

Jesus looked at him and loved him.

It's easy to use this text as a threat or a club to tell people they aren't giving enough or doing enough to help the poor or giving enough through stewardship to the church.  A lot easier when using Luke and Matthew's versions.

But we need to remember that what Jesus is offering this young man isn't a nice cushy cloud in an eternal heavenly life...one that comes not until he's dead.  

Jesus is instead offering him a kingdom life that is rich and full both now AND not yet.  One that will give him a freedom from possession and slavery to his "stuff."  He's opening the possibility of a life of love and fulfillment from that moment on.

And he's doing so because he loves him.

I'm not sure why Matthew and Luke left that part out.  But I'm going to guess it's a big part that we always want to remember.

Generous and loving God:  Help us always remember that the love you bear for us is the love that we are meant to share with others.  That letting go of the baggage that gets in the way of that love not only frees others, but frees us as well!  Amen

Hope in Times of Fallow Ground

Hosea 10:9-15 (NRSV)

Reaping injustice

Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel;
there they have continued.

Shall not war overtake them in Gibeah?
I will come against the wayward people to punish them;
and nations shall be gathered against them
when they are punished for their double iniquity.

Ephraim was a trained heifer
that loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck;
but I will make Ephraim break the ground;
Judah must plow;
Jacob must harrow for himself.
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love;
break up your fallow ground;
for it is time to seek the Lord,
that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

You have plowed wickedness,
you have reaped injustice,
you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your power
and in the multitude of your warriors,
therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people,
and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle
when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
shall be utterly cut off. 

The first thing that I saw this morning when I got onto the internet was the announcement of the government shut down.  And the next thing I read were these words from that voice of cheer, Hosea.

"You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies.  Because you have trusted in your power and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people and all your fortresses shall be destroyed."

It isn't a stretch to read that through the the lens of what's happening in our nation's capital.  Lies, injustice, power are all words that we often see associated with the leaders in Washington.  It isn't hard to see the ruins of peoples' lives - mothers dashed at least metaphorically in pieces with their children.  It's easy to see leaders in this country trusting their own power and then to feel rather depressed about it.

But our God lets us know that their is hope.  God wants to rain righteousness, not sorrow.  

We seek God not in the powers of this world.  Not through government and strength.  We seek God in the small places.  The unexpected places.  Hope comes through fallow ground.  It comes when the powers of this world fail us, as they have today.

It comes because the power of the cross doesn't fail us.  New life comes from fallow ground.  

Seek God today in those places that don't fail.  

Good and gracious God.  We are reminded over and over again not to trust in powers and principalities.  We are reminded also that through death you bring new life.  Bring new life to us today.  Give us hope and remind us ever to trust in you even when the ground before us seems fallow.  Amen