Isaiah 43:8-13

Isaiah 43:8-13 (NRSV)

Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
   who are deaf, yet have ears! 
Let all the nations gather together,
   and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this,
   and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
   and let them hear and say, ‘It is true.’ 
You are my witnesses, says the Lord,
   and my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe me
   and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
   nor shall there be any after me. 
I, I am the Lord,
   and besides me there is no saviour. 
I declared and saved and proclaimed,
   when there was no strange god among you;
   and you are my witnesses, says the Lord. 
I am God, and also henceforth I am He;
   there is no one who can deliver from my hand;
   I work and who can hinder it? 

Sometimes there isn't anything I need to hear more than "I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior."

Because it seems that after all this time, we keep trying to save ourselves and failing miserably at it.  We have eyes, but are blind.  Have ears but are deaf. 

It's been a terrible couple of months with the news, and each time I read it, the blindness seems stark.  We don't "see" each other.  We don't see ourselves in our African American neighbor, or the child from Honduras, or the Palestinian family who has lost a loved one.

We don't hear the cries of protestors asking for justice, or mothers begging for mercy for their children on the border.  

Or we do hear, and we just are so overwhelmed and tired and frustrated and we don't know what to do about it.

We need a savior.  And so comes these words of hope.  Our God is still in charge.  Our God gathers the nations together and gives us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to bear the pain of our sister and brother in need.

We can't deliver ourselves.  We keep trying, but it just doesn't work.  But God delivers.  God saves. God proclaims and declares.

God gives hope to Ferguson, and the Texas border, and El Salvador, and the house torn by divorce or violence or addiction, and to the heart consumed by loneliness.  

I am the Lord, says God.  Besides me there is no savior.  In those words we rest our hope.  And in those words we find the strength we need to move out of frustrated silence and grief with eyes, ears, hearts, and hands opened.

God of all creation, open my eyes. Open my ears and fill my heart with hope in dark times.  And open my hands and my heart that I may serve as you would have me serve. Amen.

Acts 15:7-11

Acts 15:7-11New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

More on outsiders and insiders and who's in and who's not and what's in and what's not...

Paul and Barnabas have come to the apostles to report on their mission to the Gentiles, but there are some still among the group (former Pharisees) who demand that all new converts be circumcised and keep the laws of Moses before they can be converted.  In other words.  First you have to become a Jew and THEN you can become a Christian!

Peter had been a little late to Paul and Barnabas' way of thinking with the Gentiles, but here he makes his final stand: we are saved through the grace of Jesus - not through the laws of Moses.

Since that time, we still manage to come up with all kinds of ways to decide who's in and who's out; who's a real Christian and who's not.  What's a true Christian practice and what isn't.  We've gotten pretty good at some of the hoops.  And honestly sometimes the hoops aren't even completely without merit - at least for a time and a context.  They have theological basis driving them forward.

At what age we commune, might be one of these.  Churches can be all over the map on this - even churches of the same denomination.  But how strident we become on enforcing this issue can lead to it being a huge hoop that some folks might not overcome.

How we worship is another hoop.  I've spoken before about my dismay at the worship wars that still plague the church.  I have seen this particular hoop send people packing from churches.

Of course, there are smaller hoops as well.  And these can be just as divisive and destructive to the church community.  Most of them are set by tradition and practice rather than theological argument, and I'll bet my bottom dollar that most churches have at least one or two of them.

They are often so seemingly insignificant that we don't notice them: how we expect folks to dress; what the rules of hospitality are (or are not); how our Holy Communion flow or logistics are; how childcare is handled (or not); when Sunday School takes place, etc.

I'll bet you can think of some others.  Maybe take a few minutes to do so...

We aren't the first people to say "But we've always done it that way!"  Peter said it as well.

Until he didn't.  Until he remembered that we all - insiders, and outsiders alike - are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ and spreading that good news should have as few barriers as possible!

Dear Lord, help us break down the walls we so carefully construct that might be keeping us from spreading your good news for all to hear!  Amen

Isaiah 56:8

Isaiah 56:8

Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.


God gathers the outcasts.

Sunday's lectionary readings had a lot to say about the outsider - the foreigner, the other - the outcast.

An unnamed Canaanite woman stood today for all the outcasts of the world.  She stood as one with courage and determination and faith.  One who dared to remind Jesus that God calls the outcasts.

We are still a world full of outcasts.  Sometimes, as this week in Ferguson, we see how fear of the other - the outcast - can lead to violence and death.  Years after the civil rights movement began, we - whites - still show fear of the other with deadly consequences.

In Gaza, fear of the other has led to the slaughter of civilians.

On the Texas border, fear of the other has led to to citizen "militia" groups, tormenting and terrorizing children who have come thousands of miles with just the hope and dream of safety. 

The opposite of love, I have read, is not hate.  Instead it is fear.  So much of the violence and vile directed toward the "other" or the outcast in our world comes from fear.

Fear, and perhaps, inertia.  Inertia I think is also the opposite of love.

So much of the news lately has moved me to tears.  I'm not afraid of the "other," I tell myself.  And I hate what is happening!

Yet if inertia is stopping me from doing something to reach out to the other, to be a presence of good and light in their lives, then what good am I to them?

The Canaanite woman called Jesus on his dismissal of her as an outsider and he repented.  Repentance is a complete change of mind and heart.  It is to "think differently after."

God gathers the outcasts and Jesus remembered that and the rest, as they say, is history.

How can we remember to gather the outcasts?  What is needed to change minds and hearts?


God of the outcast, move me from my safe place to stand with the outsider in love and companionship. Amen.

Revelation 15:3

Revelation 15:3New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

“Great and amazing are your deeds,
    Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations!      

It's easy when reading the book of Revelation to get lost or confused or even worried or alarmed.

But when I read it I try to remember one of the things I learned years ago in a study I did on Revelation: at its heart, Revelation is a book of worship.

The choruses in Revelation sing and praise God unceasingly, and give us perhaps a foretaste of what is to come.  

As a kid, I remember thinking "Is Heaven going to be like church all the time?" (and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only kid - or even person that ever said that). 

And that made me think about what it is we expect out of worship.  What is it we are moved by in worship? What is it that worship is for?

Lately I've seen lots of blogs and posts on Facebook that seem to be keeping the worship wars going on, and it makes me sad.  Worship - the thing that Scripture seems to be moving ever toward - the ceaseless praising of God - is the thing that ultimately will bring us together.

Yet we still seem pretty divided about it.

Worship is an act of the people - it literally means "work of the people" in Old English.  So it is us - the chorus of believers - driving forward to worship God.  And I am firmly convinced that God is pleased by all kinds of work that his people do for worship.

I've felt part of authentic, meaningful worship experiences - ones where I've been connected to every person in the room - in all forms and styles:

In traditional, organ led worship with liturgy that I knew by heart;

In quiet, meditative healing services where no music played at all;

In boisterous contemporary services where praise song after praise song played;

In African Lutheran churches where I couldn't understand a word spoken but felt the Holy Spirit moving;

In sensory Emergent services where movement and art played a strong part of the experience;

And in a huge arena where I sang with 20,000 other people as Bono from U2 led us in song and prayer.

All completely different and all glorifying God.

So, it seems to me that if Heaven is going to be like Church all the time - praising God unceasingly - there's going to be plenty of variety and ways to do it!  How wonderful that we have so many different ways to practice now!

God of glory, help us to remember always that at the center of our worship is you.  Move us to find all manner of ways to praise you!  Amen.

                               

Job 36:26

Job 36:26New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Surely God is great, and we do not know him; the number of his years is unsearchable.

A couple of years ago, it was suggested to me by the therapist I was seeing, that I probably have Attention Deficit Disorder.  I had actually gone to see this therapist because I had started suffering from chronic insomnia, and was beginning to wonder if I was getting depressed because I wasn't sleeping or I wasn't sleeping because I was depressed.  Seems now like it was the former, since women my age are often prone to insomnia and it IS depressing!

During our conversations, my therapist helped me see the patterns of ADD that had been in my life all along but that I'd never really noticed.  Now, admittedly, his diagnosis wasn't an official one, made after testing, but I remember feeling quite freed by it.  I didn't understand it, but nevertheless it made complete sense.

I tell you about the ADD for two reasons.  First, because it will help explain why all of a sudden we are back today looking at Job (returning to the ELCA daily reading) and leaving the Old Testament characters mid stream.  Truth is my attention has been diverted by today's ELCA reading.  So David and the others from the Hebrew scriptures will take a breather for a little while.  I think it might be time to do something different.  So, until I can think of something else (or someone gives me an idea!), we'll go back to the ELCA for inspiration for a little while.  So now you know...my attention gets easily diverted!

The second reason I tell you about the ADD is that the quote above from Job - spoken to Job by his friend, Elihu - speaks to how I felt with knowing I had ADD and how, I think, many of us feel when we've been given news or learned something about ourselves that we might not necessarily like, but are nevertheless glad we know.

Because the truth is that as I peeled the layers back and looked at my life - one that had been confusing when I couldn't understand what was going on in my brain - God often seemed unsearchable.  Unknowable.

And as things became illuminated, God was still unknowable and unsearchable and yet...

Great.

Because through God's illumination I knew more about myself than I did before.  And while what I knew wasn't wonderful, it was better than not knowing.

We are often confronted by things about ourselves we don't like.  Sometimes those things threaten our health, sometimes they threaten how we view the world.  Sometimes they threaten how we see God.

Why God works that way is unknowable.  Unsearchable. But I know that every time I've been confronted by a new truth, the knowing has made me stronger.  Maybe not at first.  Maybe not even for a while.  Usually there's some pain that has to be gone through first.

But when I came out to the other side, I was able to see just a bit more clearly that surely God is great!

God of goodness and mercy, continue to point me to the truth of my life: who I truly am and how to travel on this path you have put before me.  Grant me patience for the journey, knowing that even when you are unsearchable, what I can always know about you is your infinite love.  Amen.

Mephibosheth

2 Samuel 9:1-7New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

David asked, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to David. The king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “At your service!” The king said, “Is there anyone remaining of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” Ziba said to the king, “There remains a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” The king said to him, “Where is he?” Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, “Mephibosheth!” He answered, “I am your servant.” David said to him, “Do not be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan; I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall eat at my table always.”

It would be really easy to go through all of 1 & 2 Samuel and repeat some of the same characters, but I told myself I wasn't going to do that (and to be honest, I kind of don't really want to!) :-)

So instead I am skipping ahead to 2 Samuel and Mephibosheth (try saying that 3 times fast!).

The story of Mephibosheth is one of those stories where Scripture definitely deviates from Shakespeare.  If this were Shakespeare, the prince (son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul) would have been dead.  In good tragedy and royal drama, the new king never lets the heir of the old king live!

And Mephibosheth's nurse certainly thought that's where things were headed when he was a child.  As soon as she heard Jonathan and Saul were dead, she fled with the boy, fearing that David would have him killed.  In her haste, she dropped him and he was crippled.

So when David asked to have Mephibosheth brought to him, there must have been all kinds of panic.

And yet David did something completely unexpected.  He not only let the young man live, but he also set him up for life, returning property that he was due.

Was their drama later?  Yes.  But surprisingly Mephibosheth seems to have made it out OK.

David had a wonderful capacity for friendship.  And a capacity for honoring his promises.  For all his failings - failings he generally owns up to and laments - his ability to surprise makes it easy to see how he became a king after God's own heart.

None of us live up to our callings.  But like David, I'll bet we are capable of surprise.  We certainly have a God of surprises, and I'm guessing that makes us people after God's own heart as well!

God of surprise and friendship, thank you.  Thank you for your forgiveness and love and mercy.  Help us to show the same to those in our lives and those in your world.  Amen.

Abigail

1 Samuel 25:23-39New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and alighted from the donkey, and fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

“Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal. And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your servant; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. When the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel, my lord shall have no cause of grief, or pangs of conscience, for having shed blood without cause or for having saved himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand! For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male.” Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace; see, I have heeded your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

Abigail came to Nabal; he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk; so she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him; he became like a stone. About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord who has judged the case of Nabal’s insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head.” Then David sent and wooed Abigail, to make her his wife.

David seems to have a thing for other men's wives.

Before Bathsheba was Abigail.  Now, conveniently for David, Abigail was married to a man who was, according scriptures, "surly and mean" so it doesn't seem that too many were unhappy when he dropped dead.

Nabal had made the mistake of insulting David, but was fortunate enough to have a smart (as well as beautiful wife) who seemed to know which way the wind was blowing and knew that her husband's ill temper, lack of gratitude, and breaking of all rules of hospitality was bound to get them all killed.  In fact, David was just getting ready for some serious blood letting when Abigail herself rode to provide the restitution for the hospitality her husband failed to show.

Abigail is known for her beauty, but also more importantly and tellingly, for her intelligence.  And in her speech to David to inspire him not to shed the blood of Nabal and his men, she is something else.  A prophet.

She knows the Lord will make of David a "sure house" and that "evil will not be found in him" as long as he lives (that part, will be debatable by some...)

She isn't often spoken of when we talk of David.  Bathsheba will come to surpass her in fame, yet here is a woman of intelligence, humility, courage, and discernment who went boldly beyond the normal script for women of her time.

It will be interesting to see how Abigail compares with Bathsheba.  Both wives of other men first, but their influence on David and their ways of becoming his wife, so very different.

It's harder perhaps to make a modern connection with Abigail other than to note her courage and humility and ability to see God's work in front of her.

Gracious God, help me, like Abigail, to be hospitable to the stranger, aware always of your awesome work in the world, and brave enough to stand up for what I know to be right.  Amen.