Dumb luck?

Acts 1:21-26New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

This passage has always struck me as a bit odd.

First, Matthias might be the one picked, but he certainly doesn't get mentioned with as much flourish as Joseph (or Barsabbas or Justus, whichever you prefer).

And second, it seems perhaps that this whole endeavor might be premature. This happens before the coming of the Holy Spirit, and later we will find out that the Christ's choice for the twelfth apostle is none other than Saul, who becomes Paul. 

Is that the point? That the Holy Spirit hasn't come yet, and so Matthias gets his place at the table by dumb luck (or drawing lots)?

It makes we wonder if perhaps sometimes we do the same things.

There probably wasn't anything wrong with Matthias. Likely he served well (although we are never told one way or another). And yet, this group gathered rather hastily to get the correct committee in place with the right number of folks...

Before the Holy Spirit came.

I wonder if sometimes we are in such a hurry to get things done - with meetings, deadlines, constitutions, budgets and the like all nipping at our heels - that we forget to slow down and discern the work of the Spirit in our midst to see which way the wind is really blowing?

Lord help us to discern your plans by looking and listening for your Spirit's work in our lives. Amen.

God's Word

Deuteronomy 11:18-21New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

What is it that reminds you of God's word?

What is it that reminds you of God's Word?

This passage always calls to my mind the Jewish mezuzah: the piece of parchment attached to many doors of Jewish homes.  On it is the Shema, the prayer that begins with the words: "Hear of Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." Words that are commanded in Deuteronomy 6:9 to be inscribed on the doorposts of the home.

And it makes me wonder where we inscribe God's word?

Where do we remind ourself that our God is Lord?

That our God is one?

Where do the words come back to remind us over and over until they are bound to our hearts, souls, and minds?

How do we teach them to our children?

How to we keep them with us always?

There are places in the world where God's word is so precious that people die for it. We have the luxury of that not being the case for us.

What is it that makes it so precious do you think that some would write it on their doorposts?

Or inscribe in on their hearts?

Or die for it?

Lord God, your word is good. Bind it on my heart and in my soul and in my mind. Amen.

Something new

Isaiah 42:5-9New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Thus says God, the Lord,
    who created the heavens and stretched them out,
    who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
    and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
    I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
    a light to the nations,
    to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
    my glory I give to no other,
    nor my praise to idols.
See, the former things have come to pass,
    and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
    I tell you of them.

God is always doing something new.

Let me repeat that.

God is always doing something new.

If you get nothing at all from the whole arc of Scripture, let it be that: that God is always doing something new.  God is always creating and re-creating. Renewing.

Resurrecting.

Rebuilding.

Redeeming.

Making the dead alive again.

Turning outcasts into princes.

Healing the sick.

Bringing to life the dead.

Freeing the captive.

Releasing the prisoner.

Just when we think things are comfortable.

Easy.

That we understand it.  That it makes sense. 

God will upend your plans and surprise you.

God is always doing something new.

If you can banish any sentence from your life, let it be this: "We've always done it that way."

Because God is always doing something new.

The church is changing. 

My church, your church, THE church...

It's becoming something new. 

Rejoice and be glad in that.

It means our creative, redeeming, loving Lord is causing life to spring forth where there was none before.

Lord of life, help me to be part of your creative process. Amen.

No partiality

Acts 10:1-34New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.” He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.

About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the gate. They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them.” So Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?” They answered, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” So Peter invited them in and gave them lodging.

The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him. The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him. But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.” And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?”

Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. He said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.”

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,"

Another one of my favorite New Testament stories. In fact, I think one of the most important stories of our Christian heritage.

It is on this story that really everything turns. It's in this story that the trajectory of "the people of the Way" moved toward global event.

There is no way to be emphatic enough about the outrageousness of a Roman Pagan military man being baptized as a follower of Christ.

No way to emphasize enough how outrageous Peter would have thought it was to break every Jewish law he loved by bringing Cornelius into the fold.

The entire Christian story shifts here.  Peter moves from being a man completely sure of his righteousness and the righteousness of his laws to being a man who baptizes the most outsider of outsiders and realizes that God shows no partiality.

No partiality.

Who might God be calling you to change your mind about? 

Who is the most outrageous person or persons you are being called to love?

Lord you know know partiality in your love. Move my heart and mind to love without partiality as well. Amen

More peace

John 14:27New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

What is peace?

When you hear Jesus tell you that he gives you his peace, what is it?

What is deep, abiding Shalom?

It is more than the opposite of war.

It is more than the opposite of unrest.

It is more than harmony.

In a time frame where we've seen unrest and disharmony in Baltimore, and are bombarded daily with images of ISIS and other terror organizations, we might long for peace that is the opposite of war and the opposite of unrest and that is harmony.

But Jesus' peace is much more than that.

Jesus' peace makes amends.

Jesus' peace restores.

Jesus' peace heals.

It is a state of being.  It is a place you reside.

It is wholeness.

It is abundant life.

When someone says to you "The peace of the Lord be with you," it should knock your socks off.

When you say it to someone, it should knock their socks off.

What would it mean if every time we said it to each other, we meant: "May the Lord Jesus restore all that is broken in your life. May the Lord heal all that breaks your heart. May you live constantly in a state of well-being and abundant life. May you be whole."

What would that be like?

Lord, may your peace dwell within us and knock our socks off every time we imagine it! Amen

Peace

James 3:17-18New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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.

Martin Luther famously was said not to be a big fan of the Epistle of James. If it were up to him, according to some scholars, it wouldn't have been been included in New Testament canon. 

Rightly or wrongly, since then, James has gotten some bad press in Lutheran circles with it's heavy emphasis on law.  We're gospel people after all!

And yet, James has always drawn me in. Here from him is as succinct an explanation of peace as there is.

James, regardless of whether you consider him law-driven rather than gospel-driven, knows how to draw a fine point. 

He knows how to describe truth.

He knows how to describe how things appear and how they are. 

True wisdom begets peace, not war.

It begets gentleness, not anger.

It begets mercy, not vengeance.

And don't you know when you are in the midst of true peace? Can't you sense God then in a way you can't when you are angry, ticked off, vengeful, hypocritical or scornful?

You don't need the law to tell you when true peace reigns.  God's given us the means to sense it.

Of course, sometimes we still fight against it, because honestly sometimes we like getting our own way.

Even if our way is a complete disaster for us!

Peace may not always beget peace - just ask Gandhi and MLK.

Just ask Jesus.

Yet righteousness reigns when peace reigns.

And we know it. Even when we can't seem to live it.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Amen.

Spirit and Flesh

Galatians 5:16-26New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

Those who follow along with Richard Rohr's devotions might know what he has to say about Paul's unhelpful habit of contrasting "flesh" and "Spirit."  I won't go into it all here, but I will say that we do need to remember that God is creator of all things "flesh" and has declared creation to be good.  

So there's a lot to unpack here, and it would be easy or even tempting to read this passage from Galatians as bad news. Maybe you look at his works of the flesh list and think to yourself: "well, envy, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels...maybe even an occasional drunkenness.  Uh oh!"

When we think, however, that Jesus said that the Kin-dom of God is at hand. That it is now, we might begin to see that those times we've taken part in some of the actions in that list, we know from experience that we feel quite apart from God.

And we also know that when we live in love and joy and peace and patience and kindness, etc, that something else entirely happens in our lives.  We can literally touch the Kin-dom.  We can feel a part of it.

If we look at life as an evacuation plan where our goal is to get out of this "evil flesh" we live in, the this passage seems pretty cut and dried.

But if we remember that God wants abundant life for us not only in the future - and not only for eternity - but also now, then we already have the experience we need to know that Paul's "works of the flesh" don't serve us well and that life - full, abundant life - happens when love happens.

When joy happens.

When peace happens.

When patience happens.

When kindness happens.

When generosity happens.

When faithfulness happens.

When gentleness happens.

 And yes, even when self-control happens.

Lord make me an instrument of your love.  Amen.