"When I tried to understand these things, it was too hard for me; Until I entered the sanctuary of God ..."
Oh wicked wind, you would blow me over with arrogant huffs and puffs, and yet, I stand.
I might have fallen in my envy, but I entered the sanctuary of God and caught a glimpse of the longer story.
How ruthlessly you rage against the righteous and the oppressed.
How blindly you assume that it shall always be thus.
But I have drawn near and entered into the Presence and in that glow, have come to know my Refuge, the strength of my heart.
This, then, shall be my evening prayer ...
Psalm 73, Quam bonus Israel!
Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pain; their bodies are sound and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not plagued like other people. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes swell out with fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against heaven, and their tongues range over the earth.
Therefore the people turn and praise them and find no fault in them. And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Such are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and am punished every morning.
If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,” I would have been untrue to the circle of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! They are like a dream when one awakes; on awaking you despise their phantoms.
When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was stupid and ignorant; I was like a brute beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me with honor. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Indeed, those who are far from you will perish; you put an end to those who are false to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, to tell of all your works.
We are not starting from a place of being entirely OK.
We have been soiled by our choices, wounded by our transgressions, compromised by our surroundings, oppressed by our conflicts, and damaged by life itself.
We have responded badly sometimes. We have acted out of our pain and distortion of reality. We jerked our knees. We have spewed the venom that was spewed upon us.
We have been judged by our own harsh judgment.
We have deluded ourselves into believing that we carry no fault, blame, or responsibility for how we have thought and behaved.
We see no relationship, in our addictive blindness, between our persistent choices and our consistent consequences.
We swim in the river of denial cursing the God of heaven rather than changing our course to float with the flow of grace. How odd.
“ … People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.”
(Revelation 16:10–11 ESV)
But for grace, I’d have no place to stand, no way to live, no heart to beat, no eyes to see, no hope to continue, no mercy to erase the face of disgrace.
My own stubborn insistence upon my way and my view of all that I think I see is clouded by dust and polluted by every attitude I have acquired in the dungeon of shame. I am swimming in a consequential pool of arrogance.
I need a taste of grace.
I need a fountain of its sweet refreshment.
I am sometimes afraid of judgment, but judgment is what brings salvation. We plead with God to judge so that we may be saved.
“From heaven you pronounced judgment; the earth was afraid and was still; “When God rose up to judgment and to save all the oppressed of the earth.”
Excerpted from Psalm 76
We desire, deeply, to swim in the deeper depths of the river of justice or the river of grace, or the river of love, or the river of peace. We soon discover that it is one river from one source.
We dive in.
Grace is a big river. It can accommodate the masses. It is best enjoyed when all are included.
So, we gather.
Our individualized shame and sorrow become a shared shame and sorrow. Our joy and hopes, likewise, come together. We are a community of swimmers splashing around in communal joy.
We are earthbound for the time being and we are knit together in a common destiny and a common humanity. We cannot separate the earth from Heaven or the material from the spiritual.
Everything is fully engaged in our experience.
We cannot receive grace without giving grace. The same is true for peace, love, justice, forgiveness, and compassion.
The fight for love, peace, and justice is not just a human battle. It is a spiritual conflict. We may feel alone, abandoned, and misunderstood, but far more is going on than meets the eye. God has us all and all things in His hands. Do your part and trust God.
We are all together, climbing a stairway to Heaven.
The good news is that God is present and involved in the process. The transcendent God is among us. The far-off, unreachable, undefinable, non-corporeal, sovereign God of creation is resurrected flesh and spirit living in temples not made with hands, in tents that are pitched on this planet and any other planet that he desires to inhabit.
God is everywhere.
God holds everything together.
“All things are your servants.”- Psalm 119:91b
All things … all people … all ideas … all truths … all atomic relationships and realities … every universe of energy, matter, or thought …. everything … all things.
God’s grace resolves the unresolvable. It forgives the unforgivable. It restores what is permanently damaged. It overcomes our resistance, denial, and refusal. God’s eternal grace triumphs over every temporal act of defiance.
As I type these words, it is Sunday, November 3, 2024. On Tuesday, America will elect all of its members of the U.S. House of Representatives, thirty-four Senators, assorted state and local officials, and one President who will bring his or her assemblage of department heads and staff members to form a new Executive Branch.
The nation is divided in its support of one candidate over the other and more so than any time I can remember. It has actually sparked severe hostility in families and communities.
The results are consequential.
However, when the results are tabulated, those who are happy with them and those who are unhappy with them will need to find a way to work together, because, in our country, we have a government of, by, and for the people. No people; no government.
The king is us collectively.
I am looking toward Wednesday. While I am praying about the election itself and praying for the right leader to be chosen, I am also preparing to work with and pray for whoever the people choose. We will get our choice and what we ask for, maybe what we deserve.
We will have three tasks for sure:
One, pray for that person. Two, support that person’s righteous policies. Three, oppose and speak out against unrighteous policies even from our own side of the political spectrum.
There is also a fourth assignment. That is to start talking with each other.
Wednesday will matter. I am calling for a national conversation I am calling Wednesday in America.
But first, we still have Tuesday to get through.
Our psalm for today is 146. I am going to walk you through that and Psalm 72 as a sort of Tuesday and Wednesday platform for voting, praying, and acting as a people in response to our chosen leaders.
Psalm 146 NRSVU
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
In contrast to trust, dependence, reliance and subjugation to human leadership that always dies, even our own leadership with its termination date in the future, God models leadership that lasts.
Do you want to leave a legacy? Check out the priorities of God from Psalm 146. To the extent that our leadership, and any sphere of influence, reflect and honor these, something lasts when we are dead.
These are the things God does:
God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them. (We cannot add to that, but we can respect it and respect His creation.
God keeps faith forever. (We can be leaders of integrity.)
God executes justice for the oppressed. (He is always for the "underdog."
The LORD sets the prisoners free (America leads the world in mass incarceration.).
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down.
The LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the sojourners.
God upholds the widow and the fatherless.
God brings the way of the wicked to ruin.
Here is a model for people/leaders who want something to survive after their plans perish with them.
"Don't bank on the power brokers of this world" is what the compiler and editor of the psalms identifies as the core message of Psalm 146.
They can neither make you nor break you.
God is on the side of the powerless.
The powers of this world are temporal and finite. The best they can do is bestow upon you some fading glory or wealth.
The worst they can do is kill you.
They cannot destroy you.
Nor can they preserve their own power forever.
God's power is over all and He sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, loves the righteous, watches over the sojourners, upholds the widow and the fatherless, and frustrates the ways of the wicked bringing them to ruin.
There is no hope intrinsic in our political system or in any system of human power.
There will be seasons of righteousness, but they cannot command our ultimate trust and confidence.
Good people come and go and represent various political philosophies, but they are and shall remain, human.
We are admonished not to put our trust in princes.
This is from the Psalms. The founder and first sponsor of the Psalmist Institution was, himself, a prince. So, he ought to know the limitations of power as well as the responsibilities of power.
His successors would also know that, for they would live to see princes who, unlike God and those who do have a heart for God see every plan of their lives perish with them. They do not create something out of nothing.
Evil, earthly princes, who lust for power, have no power to save.
Nor do they keep faith forever. Human powers are always beset with integrity issues. Even David struggled with serious character flaws.
They do not execute justice for the oppressed.
They do not give food to the hungry.
They do not set prisoners free.
They have no concern for opening the eyes of the blind.
They do not lift those who are bowed down.
Ungodly, human princes have no bias toward the righteous, but expediently align with those who can help them achieve their own ends.
God is a true independent. He is not swayed. He loves righteousness and aligns with the righteous because the righteous align with righteousness.
Evil, earthly princes have no regard for sojourners (AKA: foreigners/aliens).
They do not uphold the fatherless (AKA: those without a guardian/spokesman/protector - the powerless).
They do not thwart the ways of the wicked.
God, on the other hand, can be trusted to do the right thing and to win!
Hear the Word of the LORD and let us model our leadership after His example.
Here is a great pattern for praying for leaders:
Psalm 72 NRSVU – of Solomon
Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son. May he judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice. May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness. May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.
May he live while the sun endures and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.
May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. May his foes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.
For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.
Long may he live! May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all day long. May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May all nations be blessed in him; may they pronounce him happy.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.
The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.
First, is to acknowledge that justice is a gift from God. It is imparted, as is righteousness. It is not inherent in leadership or position. Grace makes us just and right and we want that for our "kings." Pray for it.
Second, once given, justice and righteousness are to be tools for the good of the people. Judges, in the Bible, refer to leaders and decision makers.
Righteousness means to be right with God and man and on the "right track." It embraces reconciled relationships. Justice means fairness and equity.
Therefore, and third, the prayer is really that our leaders will be enabled to make good decisions that bring people together, right decisions that treat the poor fairly.
Verse 3 leads us to pray for the prosperity of the people flowing from the natural resources and the land itself. What would that look like? What if all the people benefited from the resources around us that we share?
What if we made sure that everyone had equal access to the means, from our commonwealth, to build a life for their family?
Just praying here.
So, the leader, in the fourth place, must sometimes be a defender, as in verse 4.
That person must defend the cause of the poor because the poor so easily are forgotten and passed over. That leader must also give deliverance to the children of the needy because the voice of the children is so often silenced.
Oppressors, or at least their power to oppress, must sometimes be crushed.
Yes, oppressors are people too. Yes, God loves all people. Yes, sometimes, oppressors don't even know they are oppressors or oppressing; they are just caught up in an oppressive system. In that case, the systems that oppress must be crushed.
It is easy to miss one phrase, "May he judge YOUR people."
Leaders must remember that the people are not theirs, but God's.
What if all of our systems of leadership and elected shepherds would understand that the people do not exist to serve them? The people are not theirs; the people are God's people and all the people they serve are precious to God.
And God goes out of His way to mention the poor and the children - not to be given favoritism, but special attention that they not be forgotten, trampled, or oppressed.
May he live while the sun endures and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.
Leaders like those for whom we are praying help to create an atmosphere of reverence for God. "Reigns" like that are like rain from the heavens.
People praying for their leaders like the psalmist prays in verses 1-4, can be instruments of grace for those leaders and days where the righteous flourish and peace abounds are possible.
We pray for days like that. We pray for leaders like that. We pray for our leaders to be like that.
May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. May his foes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.
We pray that our leaders will be held in high esteem. We pray that they might evoke the respect of other leaders. This, we pray, will not come through oppression, but righteousness and justice.
We know this, because it is spelled out in verse 12-14:
For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.
How well we prayerfully back up and encourage our leaders to do what is right by the needy and helpless, coming to the aid of the oppressed is what determines the prestige of our own nation, state, or city - wherever we live.
We ought to pray the same for the leaders of other nations and this ought to be what drives our policies toward the nations more than our own self-interest. Jesus taught us to expand our view of neighbor (and, I think, "countryman," to include all people).
Long may he live! May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all day long. May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May all nations be blessed in him; may they pronounce him happy.
Look at these words, "May prayer be made for him continually ..."
I wonder how well I have followed this path. Actually, I know. I have not prayed continually for my leaders. At times, I have been silenced through intimidation by those who think it is more righteous to berate them and criticize them.
My bad.
God grant these prayers of the psalmist apply to those whom we have elected locally, statewide, and nationally to represent us.
We hold them accountable, but we also, and more so, hold them up in prayer.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.
This honors God - to have leaders like this and to have people who pray for leaders like this.
The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.
The last verse is important because it reminds us that the leader himself is asking for such prayer.
Take a moment to pray for your President, Governors, Congress, Councils, Courts, Mayors, Leaders and Legislators of other nations, and all those who represent and lead you today - judges, sheriffs, supervisors, civil servants - all who come to mind. Include those elected, to be elected Tuesday, and those who are now moving through the ranks.
Commit to be a part of local and national conversations.
Remember your key obligation in acting out the gospel in this world is a two-part proposition: Love God; love your neighbor. Live it.
Follow Jesus.
Remember that your primary citizenship is Heaven, but pray and live, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
As I type these words, it is Sunday, November 3, 2024. On Tuesday, America will elect all of its members of the U.S. House of Representatives, thirty-four Senators, assorted state and local officials, and one President who will bring his or her assemblage of department heads and staff members to form a new Executive Branch.
The nation is divided in its support of one candidate over the other and more so than any time I can remember. It has actually sparked severe hostility in families and communities.
The results are consequential.
However, when the results are tabulated, those who are happy with them and those who are unhappy with them will need to find a way to work together, because, in our country, we have a government of, by, and for the people. No people; no government.
The king is us collectively.
I am looking toward Wednesday. While I am praying about the election itself and praying for the right leader to be chosen, I am also preparing to work with and pray for whoever the people choose. We will get our choice and what we ask for, maybe what we deserve.
We will have three tasks for sure:
One, pray for that person. Two, support that person’s righteous policies. Three, oppose and speak out against unrighteous policies even from our own side of the political spectrum.
There is also a fourth assignment. That is to start talking with each other.
Wednesday will matter. I am calling for a national conversation I am calling Wednesday in America.
But first, we still have Tuesday to get through.
Our psalm for today is 146. I am going to walk you through that and Psalm 72 as a sort of Tuesday and Wednesday platform for voting, praying, and acting as a people in response to our chosen leaders.
Psalm 146 NRSVU
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
In contrast to trust, dependence, reliance and subjugation to human leadership that always dies, even our own leadership with its termination date in the future, God models leadership that lasts.
Do you want to leave a legacy? Check out the priorities of God from Psalm 146. To the extent that our leadership, and any sphere of influence, reflect and honor these, something lasts when we are dead.
These are the things God does:
God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them. (We cannot add to that, but we can respect it and respect His creation.
God keeps faith forever. (We can be leaders of integrity.)
God executes justice for the oppressed. (He is always for the "underdog."
The LORD sets the prisoners free (America leads the world in mass incarceration.).
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down.
The LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the sojourners.
God upholds the widow and the fatherless.
God brings the way of the wicked to ruin.
Here is a model for people/leaders who want something to survive after their plans perish with them.
"Don't bank on the power brokers of this world" is what the compiler and editor of the psalms identifies as the core message of Psalm 146.
They can neither make you nor break you.
God is on the side of the powerless.
The powers of this world are temporal and finite. The best they can do is bestow upon you some fading glory or wealth.
The worst they can do is kill you.
They cannot destroy you.
Nor can they preserve their own power forever.
God's power is over all and He sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, loves the righteous, watches over the sojourners, upholds the widow and the fatherless, and frustrates the ways of the wicked bringing them to ruin.
There is no hope intrinsic in our political system or in any system of human power.
There will be seasons of righteousness, but they cannot command our ultimate trust and confidence.
Good people come and go and represent various political philosophies, but they are and shall remain, human.
We are admonished not to put our trust in princes.
This is from the Psalms. The founder and first sponsor of the Psalmist Institution was, himself, a prince. So, he ought to know the limitations of power as well as the responsibilities of power.
His successors would also know that, for they would live to see princes who, unlike God and those who do have a heart for God see every plan of their lives perish with them. They do not create something out of nothing.
Evil, earthly princes, who lust for power, have no power to save.
Nor do they keep faith forever. Human powers are always beset with integrity issues. Even David struggled with serious character flaws.
They do not execute justice for the oppressed.
They do not give food to the hungry.
They do not set prisoners free.
They have no concern for opening the eyes of the blind.
They do not lift those who are bowed down.
Ungodly, human princes have no bias toward the righteous, but expediently align with those who can help them achieve their own ends.
God is a true independent. He is not swayed. He loves righteousness and aligns with the righteous because the righteous align with righteousness.
Evil, earthly princes have no regard for sojourners (AKA: foreigners/aliens).
They do not uphold the fatherless (AKA: those without a guardian/spokesman/protector - the powerless).
They do not thwart the ways of the wicked.
God, on the other hand, can be trusted to do the right thing and to win!
Hear the Word of the LORD and let us model our leadership after His example.
Here is a great pattern for praying for leaders:
Psalm 72 NRSVU – of Solomon
Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son. May he judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice. May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness. May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.
May he live while the sun endures and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.
May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. May his foes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.
For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.
Long may he live! May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all day long. May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May all nations be blessed in him; may they pronounce him happy.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.
The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.
First, is to acknowledge that justice is a gift from God. It is imparted, as is righteousness. It is not inherent in leadership or position. Grace makes us just and right and we want that for our "kings." Pray for it.
Second, once given, justice and righteousness are to be tools for the good of the people. Judges, in the Bible, refer to leaders and decision makers.
Righteousness means to be right with God and man and on the "right track." It embraces reconciled relationships. Justice means fairness and equity.
Therefore, and third, the prayer is really that our leaders will be enabled to make good decisions that bring people together, right decisions that treat the poor fairly.
Verse 3 leads us to pray for the prosperity of the people flowing from the natural resources and the land itself. What would that look like? What if all the people benefited from the resources around us that we share?
What if we made sure that everyone had equal access to the means, from our commonwealth, to build a life for their family?
Just praying here.
So, the leader, in the fourth place, must sometimes be a defender, as in verse 4.
That person must defend the cause of the poor because the poor so easily are forgotten and passed over. That leader must also give deliverance to the children of the needy because the voice of the children is so often silenced.
Oppressors, or at least their power to oppress, must sometimes be crushed.
Yes, oppressors are people too. Yes, God loves all people. Yes, sometimes, oppressors don't even know they are oppressors or oppressing; they are just caught up in an oppressive system. In that case, the systems that oppress must be crushed.
It is easy to miss one phrase, "May he judge YOUR people."
Leaders must remember that the people are not theirs, but God's.
What if all of our systems of leadership and elected shepherds would understand that the people do not exist to serve them? The people are not theirs; the people are God's people and all the people they serve are precious to God.
And God goes out of His way to mention the poor and the children - not to be given favoritism, but special attention that they not be forgotten, trampled, or oppressed.
May he live while the sun endures and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may righteousness flourish and peace abound, until the moon is no more.
Leaders like those for whom we are praying help to create an atmosphere of reverence for God. "Reigns" like that are like rain from the heavens.
People praying for their leaders like the psalmist prays in verses 1-4, can be instruments of grace for those leaders and days where the righteous flourish and peace abounds are possible.
We pray for days like that. We pray for leaders like that. We pray for our leaders to be like that.
May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. May his foes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, all nations give him service.
We pray that our leaders will be held in high esteem. We pray that they might evoke the respect of other leaders. This, we pray, will not come through oppression, but righteousness and justice.
We know this, because it is spelled out in verse 12-14:
For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.
How well we prayerfully back up and encourage our leaders to do what is right by the needy and helpless, coming to the aid of the oppressed is what determines the prestige of our own nation, state, or city - wherever we live.
We ought to pray the same for the leaders of other nations and this ought to be what drives our policies toward the nations more than our own self-interest. Jesus taught us to expand our view of neighbor (and, I think, "countryman," to include all people).
Long may he live! May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all day long. May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field. May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun. May all nations be blessed in him; may they pronounce him happy.
Look at these words, "May prayer be made for him continually ..."
I wonder how well I have followed this path. Actually, I know. I have not prayed continually for my leaders. At times, I have been silenced through intimidation by those who think it is more righteous to berate them and criticize them.
My bad.
God grant these prayers of the psalmist apply to those whom we have elected locally, statewide, and nationally to represent us.
We hold them accountable, but we also, and more so, hold them up in prayer.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.
This honors God - to have leaders like this and to have people who pray for leaders like this.
The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.
The last verse is important because it reminds us that the leader himself is asking for such prayer.
Take a moment to pray for your President, Governors, Congress, Councils, Courts, Mayors, Leaders and Legislators of other nations, and all those who represent and lead you today - judges, sheriffs, supervisors, civil servants - all who come to mind. Include those elected, to be elected Tuesday, and those who are now moving through the ranks.
Commit to be a part of local and national conversations.
Remember your key obligation in acting out the gospel in this world is a two-part proposition: Love God; love your neighbor. Live it.
Follow Jesus.
Remember that your primary citizenship is Heaven, but pray and live, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Will we be incapacitated if we lose? Will we be vindictive if we win?
Will still be all Americans whatever the outcome?
I am making known my views and preferences this season as a citizen and a voter, but someone is going to win, and someone is going to lose on Tuesday, and many will be very unhappy.
Wednesday is coming whether we are ready or not. We may not know the outcome of the election, but the election will be over.
The American experiment and experience are too important to abandon for any ideology that is lesser than the whole.
Wednesday is coming.
At that point, we will have some choices we must make:
Build consensus where we can, or say, "Forget it."
Rebuild relationships or just be angry.
Compromise or calcify.
Negotiate or stalemate.
Listen or keep talking over each other.
Speak freely or freeze in silence.
Work for the common good or sabotage the process.
Seek reconciliation or retribution.
Contribute or just complain
Love our country or hate our political enemies.
Speak and seek truth or believe misinformation.
Find solutions or create an impasse.
I think who we elect is important.
I think one outcome will be very difficult and will send the wrong message to the world about Christianity and democracy. I will be depressed and discouraged if it turns out one way.
However, the country may make that decision and will have to just learn from it and deal with it.
But I will not reject my neighbors with whom I arduously disagree.
I plan to keep loving God, my neighbor, and my country and working for a better America where all people are treated with dignity and given opportunity to grow.
Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all; and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived; and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.
How easy it is to venerate dragons and beasts. They are remarkable ... or so they seem. They purport to be more than they are, and they put on a good show. God puts on a far better show, but we say, "Oh that is just nature; I want super-nature." And the super nature has never held a candle to the wonders of nature itself, and nature itself is subservient to something far greater than itself. Beasts and dragons are mortal; yet we worship them.
How odd.
How odd.
Temporal power is so often an illusion.
One beast bestows it upon another. None of it is eternally real. It is a deception. Big explosions fall short. A six is one less than the number of perfection. Three sixes are a trinity of imperfection, missing the mark, and falling short.
Evil corruption of power approximates righteousness without achieving it
Jesus used signs to point people to truth, but he always emphasized that it was not the sign that mattered. It was the truth. It was the lesson.
Evil uses signs to accumulated power. Evil pretenders use signs to gain power. Jesus used the power he already had to do good, to heal the sick, to deliver the oppressed, forgive sin, and to point people toward God.
Rulers of Rome claimed divinity as a part of their reign. They demanded worship and participation in the imperial cult. Not participating had social, economic, and sometimes life-threatening consequences.
The symbols and metaphors of this part of John's vision speak to the reality of on-the-ground persecution and oppression of the people of God by those who wield and seek to acquire more illegitimate power for themselves.
"This calls for wisdom ..." - Revelation 13:18
Rather than trying to figure out who the ultimate and last deceiver, trickster, miracle worker, and enslaver of souls is, one might be better informed to ask, "Who or what is it now?" What seeks to overwhelm me with something short of awe and wonder, something more like being extremely impressed. What is it and who is it that wants me to think that he or it is greater than God and calls for my loyalty, rewarding it with access by cornering the market on materialism.
Buying and selling can be restricted to those who are marked with loyalty to false gods. It has happened throughout history. "You want in? Join our club. Accept our ideology? Surrender your freedom before God? Align with our cult? Be wowed by our power? Take our mark."
Our choice to participate in the deception, temporal enticements, and inducements of the power systems of this world and age will reflect what we truly believe and value.
We can stand apart.
We can resist.
We can align with the Kingdom of God.
We can insist upon truth. We can embrace eternity. We can proclaim our loyalty to the movement and person on Jesus. We can decide to live radical lives of nonconformists. We can commit to loving God and neighbors and practicing the upside down ethics of God's rule. We can trust God and follow Jesus, living by grace and faith.
We can live as citizens of Heaven.
But it may cost us.
It is six - not Seven.
Seven is perfection. Six falls short.
Seven-Seven-Seven would be the genuine, real, and eternal God-head -- triple perfection! The word for "sin" in Greek is missing the mark - even by an inch. Six-Six-Six is triple that!
The rulers of deception form trinities of mark-missing, impressive systems that attract masses who want the instant gratification or fear being left out.
This word was not meant just for the generation that first received it - but it was meant for them. It is certainly not meant just for our generation or any last generation. It is meant for every generation that is apt to take some mark, some easy road to access and commercial inclusion.
It is meant for me. It is meant for you - no matter what time it might be on some eternal "clock."
The Apocalypse is now; it always has been; it always applies to any generation, some, historically, more than others it seems. Yet, it is always an eternal reality breaking through i time and space. It is a spiritual battle in the material world.
It a world of cheap imitations and false heroes, luring us with their bright and brilliant sixes, choose seven, God's perfect and completeness.
I hear a lot about so-called angry voters this year and frankly I either have not met them or have been insensitive to them so that I did not notice their seething or the steam coming out of their nostrils.
Angry?
Anger is not a primary emotion. It comes from fear which is a darned poor motivation to nurture. It is an even worse basis for decision making - especially for people about which it is said, "perfect love casteth out all fear," and to whom it is often said, "fear not."
Perfect love. I have not fully appropriated it yet, but it is available to me by faith. Sometimes I get afraid - fearful that unwise people will be placed in positions of great responsibility, fearful of change, fearful that fear will rule over good thinking.
But then, I remember to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I remember to turn the dial in my own thinking. I remember that I am only, ultimately responsible for my own choices and that I can choose faith, hope, and love.
Faith, hope, and love abide and the greatest is love.
Jesus said that loving God and loving our neighbors was our entire duty in fulfilling the law. Every law that was worth anything (God's for instance), hung on those two.
There is really not much room for anger in that system and those who spend all of their time prodding people to be angry and act on anger in their decision making are doing no one favors.
Critical thinking is to be applauded. Criticism can be a part of that. Dissatisfaction is often legitimate. The urge for change is natural. It can also be loving. Conservatism grounds us. Liberalism challenges us. Moderation balances us. There is a place for all sorts of thinking as long as it really is thinking.
I voted as soon a I received my ballot in the mail and mailed it back. I have been immune to all the silliness around me ... but still, troubled by the vitriolic utterances and yelling contests.
I vote every day on the choices presented to me. More and more, every day, I strive to act, not in fear and anger, but in faith, hope, and love - especially love.
It is liberating and it is godly and it is that for which I strive with God's help.
I don't know how you should vote on anything. I do think you should vote intelligently, rationally, and in accordance with your own values, but I also think you might consider consciously and conscientiously taking the longest and sharpest view possible through the lenses of faith and hope and, especially, love.
Weeping for ourselves is honesty. Weeping for others is empathy.
Sometimes we are embarrassed by our own weeping. We are uncomfortable with the weeping of others. It is so real, so vulnerable, so raw.
"Jesus wept." John 11:36)
No two words are as precious as these. The Lord of glory so identified with our suffering that He came to weep with us - and those tears led directly through Jerusalem and his triumphant entry on Palm Sunday to the Mount of Olives where he prayed through the agony of humanity, to the cross where he bore our sins.
There was a church hearing two prospective pastors or two consecutive Sundays. Neither had a great deal of time to prepare sermons, as they were farmers.
So, without realizing it, both discovered the same old sermon by a pulpit master about the judgment of the wicked.
On the first Sunday, the farmer-pastor presented his message with great skill. He was sure that the church would call him as pastor, and he would be able to leave his plowing and preach the gospel full-time. However, to assess the “competition,” he showed up and sat semi-disguised in the balcony.
To his utter shock, the second preacher had “borrowed” the same sermon on hell and preached it adequately if not with all the smooth inflections of the first.
The church met and called the second preacher who inquired as to why. “I happen to know that he preached the same sermon as I did and not as well.”
“That is true,” replied the pulpit committee chairman, “I have that book of sermons on my bookshelf, but the second man preached it with a tear in his eye.”
Weeping for ourselves is honesty.
Weeping for others is empathy.
When we take the pain of the world into our hearts, excluding none, not even the wicked, we are entering the realm of Jesus' suffering and empathy. We are standing with Jesus and Jesus is living in us.
Weeping.
Our Savior weeps with us and for us. He knows our sorrows and cares. And His heart is broken over every lost or broken soul.
There is no gloating over our troubles. There is no ridicule. There is no lording over our weaknesses. There is no glossing over our journeys through the valley of dark shadows or the loneliness of the grave.
It is easy to say, "Jesus cares," but it is deeply personal to know that Jesus wept and that Jesus weeps.
Some Thoughts on Time Between Woes Revelation 11:14-19
“The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon. “
We are always between woes. Some may be judgments; some may be attention-getters; some may be growth opportunities; some may be the cycles of creation; most will be combinations of some of these depending upon how we experience and incorporate them. All will be inevitable.
Be ready for the woes and faithful during them, but always look for the respite time.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever."
In the time between the woes is a moment of reminder. The Kingdom of God is God’s and is given to the Messiah. His reign does not come in segments, spurts, or interrupted outbursts of tragedy. His kingdom is forever. His reign is consistent. His triumph is eternal.
Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, singing, "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty, who are and who were, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath has come, and the time for judging the dead, for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints and all who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
Changing the scenery, we find ourselves back in Heaven, where eternity has its own clock and calendar. In the timelessness that transcends time and space, is a pause. It is a reorientation of our thinking, It is a perspective check. It is thanksgiving and praise that is aware of God and God’s transcendence.
The elders who represent us before God’s throne, sing
Rage is overcome by wrath because wrath is hitting your head against the brick wall of truth or swimming against a current that will not change at our command. That is how it looks to us, but to God, it is about not bending or relenting in divine truth, authority, justice, mercy, and peace.
If you choose to fight that, you are up against a formidable foe and you will soon know it. That is judgment.
Time enters the mix. It is time. That was a present reality in John’s time and in ours. Judgment vindicates and indicts, but all long for a final pronouncement, a setting straight of the record.
The flip side of judgment is reward for those who have served, the prophets, the saints, all who reverence the name of God. That includes the small and the great.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ is a letter of encouragement for those who suffer under the whip of injustice and persecution. It takes strong language to lift those who are beaten down so severely.
Destruction and destroyers are about to be destroyed.
When?
In earth time, we do not know. In heavenly time, now.
Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
With great power comes the vision and assurance that God’s covenant with God’s people, extended by grace to all nations and tongues, is still settled. God is in God’s temple and surrounded with all power and might. Nothing can infringe upon that power or the love of God for those God gathers into the fold.
מזמור לאסף אל אלהים יהוה דבר ויקרא־ארץ ממזרח־שמש עד־מבאו׃
"The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting." - Psalm 50:1
El, who can just be God, but is also the God of all that purport to be lesser gods, imaginary or some spiritual entity, this God who is personal and named with a name that indicates pure, undefined, undefinable existence that needs no definitions, this God has spoken.
Two basic tenants of theology are addressed in this one brief statement.
God is..
God speaks
And, when God speaks, it is from the rising of the sun to the ending.
That is, not to endorse a particular cosmology, but to affirm that God speaks from the beginning of all you comprehend of reality to the end. God is before; God is during; God is after.|
God is eternal.
God is YHWH, the "I am."
God is the very essence of all existence, the very definition of all definitions, the Eternal.
"And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way." - Mark 10:52
What sort of faith can make us well?
What will raise us up and send us on our way?
There was a blind man. He could not have gone his way because he could not see the way. He had been led around for many years. His was a life of dependency that robbed him of his dignity. There was no” Americans with Disabilities Act” to insure him equal treatment, a level playing field, or a chance to live with dignity and independence.
Yet, he had an ability to see that far outpaced the vision of his neighbors. He could see Jesus through the eyes of faith. He could see a better future.
"And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me."
He cries out to Jesus, using a messianic title, Son of David. He cries for mercy, trusting that the one to whom he cries is merciful.
Jesus recognizes this desperation as faith and responds with the mercy requested.
The man who had been led by the hand now had another hand to lead him. Now, it was not because his eyes could not see. He was free. He could go his way. He could become all that he was made to be. He could earn a living, make a home, build a family, and watch them grow. Yet, when his eyes were open and he was sent to go his way, he chose to follow Jesus.
What could you do if you had more faith?
What could you see?
What could you become?
What could you be?
God, grant us deeper faith to cry to you for mercy. Open our hearts and eyes. Give us a vision of the path before us. Awaken us to go our way, the way that you have prepared for us. Set us free. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Believing Is Seeing
NOTES
Mark 10:46-52
“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” - Erasmus
What is in a name?
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.
What did Bartimaeus see?
When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
What did the “many” miss seeing?
Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
Take heart – a three-point sermon in a three-part sentence.
Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take heart;
get up,
he is calling you."
His last possession – Another three-parter
So throwing off his cloak,
he sprang up
and came to Jesus.
A searching question and a simple answer
Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."
Believing is seeing – three more points
Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well."
You clean up, fix up, or straighten up and it goes well for a while and then ... you relapse into a worse state than before.
There is a futility in constantly cleaning up and not dealing with the roots of what pollutes us, corrupts us, and manipulates our thinking into even deeper futility. An interruption in a cycle that is empowered by its own forces will only be temporary. Christian faith and spiritual transformation are not about momentary behavior modification or immobilization of peripheral demons.
To repent is to recognize the difference between where we are going and where we can go and to change direction.
We have been invaded by the Kingdom of God and the King Himself has come to invite us into transformation, liberation, and deep significance. This is no passing matter or minor deliverance. The enemy that seeks to entrap and destroy the soul is sinister, persistent, and patient. We can choose a different master and step away from the "generation" bent on destruction. We need more than subtle reformation.
We need re-FORM-ation in all of its implications.
Jesus speaks to the frustration of the human condition and its resistance to transforming grace when He says
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” -Matthew 12:43-45 ESV
Emptying ourselves of the dysfunctional elements of our lives is great. But we must fill those gaps with something.
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. - Luke 11:28
Jesus could handle controversy. He had just demonstrated that He could do so. He could handle direct attack. Now He faced an even greater challenge – how to handle praise. “Blessed is the womb that bore you,” seemed innocent enough, but Jesus knew that compliments could be dangerous and manipulative. He also knew that the greatest compliment that could ever be paid to His ministry would occur when people heard God’s Word and did something about it.
Proverbs 27:21 says that we are tested by the praise we receive. Jesus passed the test without being rude or ungrateful. What he did with that opportunity was zero in on the real issue with which He was confronting the people. It was not about how wonderful His words sounded or how magnificent His works appeared. The issue was that the people had the opportunity to hear the Word of God and the urgency to respond.
Hear and obey. It is that simple. It is the way of blessedness. It is the path of peace. It is the Jesus way.
Jesus had dealt with a difficult issue in the manner of a master teacher. He had confounded those who had accused Him of alliance with Satan. He had destroyed their argument and exalted the truth. At least one woman had been spellbound by the spectacle and profoundly impressed with His skill. She shouted out a compliment of the highest order.
So often we hear sermons and songs that are so beautiful in language and musical presentation that we are tempted to linger over them and pour out endless praise to those who have performed masterfully. Not to diminish their efforts, we must remind ourselves that it is the truth presented that carries more weight than the skill and artistry of the presentation.
Then, the real proof is in what we do with what we have heard. Having heard the Word, shall we obey? Therein, lies true blessing.
History. I read it every day. I take, at least, a shallow dive into the history of events on the day of the month I am experiencing, looking back over the centuries.
It helps keep everything in perspective.
I quote from Wikipedia and footnote its sources:
History (derived from Ancient Greekἱστορία (historía) 'inquiry; knowledge acquired by investigation')[1] is the systematic study and documentation of the human past.[2][3] History is an academic discipline which uses a narrative to describe, examine, question, and analyze past events, and investigate their patterns of cause and effect.[4][5] Historians debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects. Historians debate the nature of history as an end in itself, and its usefulness in giving perspective on the problems of the present.[4][6][7][8]
History records major events on this day in October related to our present times.
You don't have to like everything they do.
The fact that there are disagreements between nations is the reason we unite around the things that we do value. Foremost, would be peace, dignity, and the welfare of humanity.
If we forget that in order to posture and abandon the forum because we do not get our way, we are abandoning principles that we cannot survive without.
One might argue that the crash came due to irrational choices, greed, and an overabundance of self-interest.
Or, perhaps it was just a correction.
What have we learned?
From Wikipedia:
Alice Hamilton (February 27, 1869 – September 22, 1970) was an American physician, research scientist, and author. She was a leading expert in the field of occupational health, laid the foundation for health and safety protections, and a pioneer in the field of industrial toxicology.
Today, some cry out against "over-regulation" of businesses and production, forgetting the past and abandoning a sense of history. The larger problem of under regulation was the constant danger of health threats, injury, and abuse for those whose only goal each day was to earn a living for their families while supporting our economy.
Best practices in foreign policy did not develop overnight. They took centuries to emerge. Best practices came in response to worst practices. They promote peace, self-determination, incentivized progress. and decency.
Shortsighted leaders and potential leaders with no appreciation for history, theory, or the rational of how we came to where we are, would abandon sound foreign policy in favor of populist rhetoric and flippant slogans.
It was the beginning of the modern age of communication.
We would not be having this conversation if that had not happened.
There have always been entrepreneurs and always will be. Read about one lady who went to extremes to carry the entrepreneurial torch.
We need reliable help from someone who knows us and our circumstances.
"You, O Lord, are near at hand, * and all your commandments are true." -Psalm 119:51
In this body of a much longer prayer, the psalmist makes two affirmations that stir our souls and comfort our hearts.
He says to God, "You are near at hand."
In other words, "You are close; you are reachable; you are available."
There is a peace that comes when know that God is near. An children's chorus by Marie Ingram said it this way,
"When I pray, soft and low, When I pray, this I know: God is very near; God is very near."
The second thing is that God's commandments are true.
One may ask, "How can a commandment be true or false? It just is. It is a command.
But God holds a higher standard for divine direction. God's command are founded in and surrounded by truth. God will never command or decree that which makes no spiritual sense or does not point us in the direction of what is right, true, good, loving, and eternal.
We can trust God's decrees and direction.
So, God is close at hand, knowing our hearts and our circumstances, and God is giving us clear and reliable direction for life.
And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. – Luke 9:51
Have you ever made up your mind with such decisiveness that nothing could change your course?
When did the passion of the Christ begin in earnest? One might suggest that it started in eternity or at His birth or even later, intensifying in His baptismal identification with sinful man as the sinless Savior. However, if we are talking about that segment of His life where all of time begins to crescendo into an explosive event of redemption, it might be at this moment of turning. He set His face toward Jerusalem and all those who would be His disciples began to follow Him there. It was a point of no return.
There was no turning back for Jesus. The time had come. He knew what He had to do and He knew where He had to do it. Even though it meant suffering the likes of which no man had ever known, He would face it. He would follow the Father’s plan. They had planned it together and agreed from eternity that this would be the way.
It was the way of the cross.
“Jesus walked this lonesome valley;
He had to walk it by Himself.
Oh, nobody else could walk it for Him.
He had to walk it by himself.”
In the most profound sense, He was alone, even though others followed Him there. Though He taught us all to follow in that costly way of the cross, He led the way alone. There comes a point of no return in our lives where we must choose to stand along with Jesus whatever the cost.
“You must go and stand your trial;
You have to stand it by yourself.
Oh, nobody else can stand it for you.
You have to stand it by yourself.”
We know we are never alone in the most profound spiritual sense. God is always with us. As we follow Him steadfastly and with resolve, we are His yokefellows. Yet, we come as individuals and we make the choice in the same lonely place of our individual hearts as He did. We will go it whether or not our friends come along. We will do so with or without the support of our families or the favorable treatment of history.
Homeless
And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. - Luke 9:58
A certain man wanted to follow Jesus as have many through the centuries and into our time. Perhaps he thought it would be an adventure – and following Jesus is.
Perhaps he thought discipleship would bring a new dimension of meaning to his life – and it does.
Perhaps he longed for the camaraderie and acceptance that was so evident among the disciples of Jesus as it often is today in authentic Christian communities.
He may have been attracted by the laughter and awe of the other followers as Jesus taught them with such vivid realism.
But he was failing to consider one very important point: to follow Jesus would mean leaving all that he had ever counted on for security.
Follow Me ... But
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. -Luke 9:59
“I want to follow you, but...”
Was it an excuse, a delaying tactic, or a simple statement of ignorance? Have you never interjected, “but first” into your commitments with God? How often we have come to the Master with non-negotiable conditions.
Let the Dead Bury the Dead
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. -Luke 9:60
Jesus’ answer to the man who cried, “but first” demonstrates the profound contrast between life and death. Discipleship is about dying to the old that we might live to the new.
Excuses
"And another said, 'Lord, I will follow, but ...'"Luke 9:61a
Erstwhile followers of the Master make a series of irrelevant statements in this great movement of scripture. They are irrelevant because they are merely excuses, postponements of discipleship, weasel-ways of saying “no” without having to actually commit to the word.
In the world of promoting where one’s lifeblood is getting people to show up somewhere for something, there is an adage: A “no” is a “no;” a “maybe” s a “no;” and a “yes” is a “no” half the time. Nothing is as reliable as a rock-solid commitment and even that may falter. Humanity is infected with a disease for which David Schwartz coined the phrase, “excusitis.”
Moses had them: “ I am unworthy; I am unlearned; I am unable; I am unbelievable.”
But then he got to his bottom line, “Send someone else.” In other words, “I am unwilling.”
Here is the question: Are you willing to follow Jesus anywhere and in any way – NOW? If not now, when? Will it be as the old despot told the Apostle Paul, at a more convenient season? Are we “almost persuaded?”
Jesus has no time for nonsense. He calls to us through the waves of time, “Follow me.” And He means for us to drop everything – every excuse, every fear, every reservation, every other aspiration of our lives and follow. Half-hearted commitment is no commitment at all. Every reason Moses gave for not doing what God was calling him to do was basically true, but God’s power made them irrelevant.
No Looking Back
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. - Luke 9:62
All the man wanted to do was say, “goodbye.” At least that is what he said, but Jesus knew what was in his heart and that he was not truly ready to say, “goodbye.” Otherwise, he would have and would not have just talked about it. He was looking back with the longing gaze of one who was not truly leaving.
Let us set our faces toward Jerusalem.
It will not always be an easy path, but it will lead us home.
"And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:" - Mark 10:39
I do not know what I can do.
Nor do I really understand the price of the things I desire and require.
The disciples were posturing and negotiating. Who was most important among them? Who would be entitled to sit with Jesus in his throne room? They still assumed it would be like Herod’s throne.
It was a rather immature exercise. Yet, we still do it, even when we are more subtle about it.
We flash our credentials and flaunt our titles. We brag about our accomplishments and list our achievements as often as possible. It may be insecurity; it may be self-doubt; or we may just be prideful.
We try to leverage our relationship with Jesus and our spiritual insights for material wealth, prestige, and power.
Jesus says directly to them that they have no idea what they are asking. They have no notion of the depth of suffering he must face. They do not get the concept of service and sacrifice. They assume that Jesus is going to march into Jerusalem, take over, and need a couple of associates to help him run things.
They answer that they are willing to suffer and even die. They will drink whatever cup is necessary. They will take whatever baptism is required.
Indeed, you will, is Jesus’ response, but not yet.
“ Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.”
We can’t choose how or where we will serve if we are sold out to Jesus. We sign up for service at his discretion and pleasure. We must be made ready to serve, ready to suffer, and ready to rule whatever he places under our responsibility.
There is a cup for each of us to drink. Can we drink it?
Lately, I've been signing up for things - mostly free, but not always.
You have to sign up first; then you can sign in whenever you like.
I have noticed that if I don't sign-in for a while, I sometimes have to sign-up again.
It is really nutty ... I am trying to find parallels to participation in the Kingdom of God here and the easy ones come easily ... but the really hard ones ... are really hard.
Something about the whole thing of an easy sign-up and a simple sign-in seems incongruent.
Something about that long list of affiliations sitting somewhere in my in-box and databases ... many forgotten, just strikes me as qualitatively different than the call to oddity that is the essence of holiness.
If being a disciple is nothing more than signing up and signing in, then I am reading a different four gospels
Absolutely. Discipleship is a consuming passion leaving all other passions in the dust by comparison.
That is the nature of consuming passions., Look what people leave behind for passions and consider that eternal significance asks no less than a temporary "burn." The hand is to the plow. Looking back is not part of the deal.
What consumes you?
"As they were going along the road, someone said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' To another he said, 'Follow me.' But he said, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' And Jesus said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home'” Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'” -Luke 9:57-62 ESV)
On October 15, much of the Christian Church remembers Teresa of Ávila (St. Teresa of Jesus), a church and monastic reformer and contemplative Christian.
In one of her classics, "The Interior Castle," she wrote that the treasure of heaven lies buried within our hearts, and that there is an interior part of the heart which is the center of the soul.
She described mystical prayer as taking the participants through four stages:
Devotion of the heart Devotion of peace Devotion of union Devotion of ecstasy
Her last words were: "My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time to meet one another."
I would not mention this except that, my pastor friend may need this because many of us hate confrontation.
We'd rather subject an entire congregation to a 30-minute sermon about something that one member needs to work on - just to avoid one difficult conversation.
On a serious note, difficult conversations, in love and with grace, can have some powerful and bonding results.
But we need the courage not to be passive-aggressive.
"I can't Feel at Home in this World Anymore" is both mournful and hopeful. We all long for home. For a time, we may be content with the values, hopes, and benefits of this world. As we progress, we find ourselves outside the mainstream or, perhaps, fading in our capacity to adapt and thrive.
It could be the loss of our own health, or our friends and family. It could be the growing sense of a better home.
What then, is the attraction of home?
H - At home you HANG your hat.
You hang your hat, your hopes, and your baggage on the racks of home. You take off your shoes. You recline. You identify. You give out your address as your place of residence. On a good day, it is where you can be found. When you are at home, you are not wandering.
O - At home you OCCUPY your environment.
You can roam around the house when you are at home. Things feel familiar. The people are familiar. You can find your favorite mug. Your favorite foods are in the cupboard. Your home has been fashioned around your needs and preferences.
M - At home you MINGLE your vision with those with whom you dwell.
There is a commonality with your home folks. You may not all have the same habits or preferences, but you have been able to mingle and merge your needs and work together to build community and life. Your common life has been defined in agreements and understandings.
E - At home, you are at EASE, you rest, and you are comforted.
You relax at home because it is home. When you walk in the door, it all fits. You belong. There is peace.
So, when the singer says, "I can't feel at home in this world anymore, she or he implies that those things are no longer true of the world.
Part of it is a longing for an eternal home. With that comes the sense that, in some ways, we no longer belong here. We can't fit in. We can't relax. We cannot merge our values. We cannot adapt our identity. We cannot share our vision of truth.
When we say we are not home yet, we are saying, with hope and expectation, that we are on our way.
Many cities and states are observing the day. Here’s some of the history behind it.
Three years after President Biden became the first U.S. president to formally commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, more than a dozen states recognize some version of the holiday in lieu of Columbus Day.
More than 100 cities have adopted the holiday, choosing to heed calls from Indigenous groups and other activists not to celebrate Christopher Columbus, the Italian navigator after whom the holiday is named. They say he brought genocide and colonization to communities that had been in the Americas for thousands of years. Many around the country, however, still celebrate Columbus Day or Italian Heritage Day as a point of pride.
"Lord, you have assigned my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure." - Psalm 16:5
God is righteous. That means that everything about Him is fully integrated into His holy character – He is 100% pure truth, love, goodness, and holiness.
There are no contradictions in God – except those that we contrive in our own misunderstanding of Him.
God loves justice.
God's heart delights in seeing things set aright.
God loves consistency in our lives. He takes joy when His truth is integrated into the loose dimensions of our lives and we come into right relationship with Him.
There is a promise in this verse, that the upright will see His face. What a glorious affirmation!
The more we seek God, the more our hearts are changed by His power within us and the clearer our vision of Who He is becomes.
We can see God. God's grace in Jesus Christ removes the scales from our eyes so that we may have a glimpse in this life and the hope of full disclosure in the life to come.
Let that truth sink into the pores of your being today and celebrate it as you walk through the maze of confusing messages and distorted truth.
Entering the Kingdom of God is hard because it involves a change of values. We discover that the things we think we own may own us.
But Jesus, looking at us with love, invites us to go, and get rid of our false masters so that we might come and follow him.
It is hard and we are sad when we think we cannot do it. Jesus says, that while such a reordering of our lives is hard and impossible, with God, all things are possible.
The origins of life? I believe it all comes from God, but that is only part of the story.
It came from God originally and it continues to come from God, is sustained by God, and is brought to its end by God. Life is both fleeting and enduring, but this life gives way to other life and that life must also, some day, to passed to others and to God Himself, the source of life and all that sustains life.
Nature "gets it" without contemplating it.
We contemplate it "to death" and don't "get it."
Life is a circle. Things go around and come around. We begin in the middle and endure past the end. We flow from one and into another.
Life is a line. We have a start and an end and the line continues. Someone began what they could not finish. We continue, but we do not finish either. The line goes on.
Life is every shape imaginable and beyond imagination. It is every color. It is every sound.
Life is a vapor, only because we cannot grasp a better word and the concept takes us into the realm of the undefinable, invisible, incomprehensible nature of things.
Life is life itself.
That is enough to say.
Life, in all of its cyclical, chaotic order and beauty. really is a good thing, but we are so preoccupied with our perception that it is imperfect and that we must control it and cling to our understanding of it that we miss it.
Sometimes we just need to get out of the way and let God renew things.
Live life, life itself.
"These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
In English, it is two words and a recurring New Testament theme, "Rise Up."
Sins are forgiven, weights are lifted, and impediments are rendered irrelevant.
Rise Up!
Matthew 9:1-8
And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town. And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."
Then some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming."
But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, ’stand up and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"-- he then said to the paralytic-- "Stand up, take your bed and go to your home."
And he stood up and went to his home.
When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.
"How shall we sing the Lord’s song upon an alien soil?" - Psalm 137:4
It was the key theologically reflective question of the period of Exile,
It became the foundational question for a faith that was not centered in place or in a priesthood, but in Word and teaching.
It would not obliterate all theology of place and space, nor of ritual, praxis, or priestly ministry, but it would move the center.
Even after the people returned, reestablished Jerusalem, and the Temple, they would have the Synagogue, gathered around the Torah. Rabbis/Teachers took on new prominence and a great role in shaping faith.
So, when the Romans, centuries later, once and for all, destroyed the Temple, they could not destroy the faith of the people which endures to this day.
"How shall we sing the Lord’s song upon an alien soil?" - Psalm 137:4
Joe Hill was executed for a murder he most likely did not commit. However, he came to believe he was worth more to the labor movement dead as a martyr than alive.
As a result his last words to the firing squad were, "Go ahead, fire."
Just prior to his execution, Hill had written to Bill Haywood, an IWW leader, saying, "Goodbye Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize ... Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."
Hill's will was written as a poem beginning with: "My will is easy to decide/for there is nothing to divide".
Not only was he an organizer and agitator, but he was a song writer and poet. His songs often were to the tune of popular songs and hymns of the time. He coined the phrase "pie in the sky" in his song "The Preacher and the Slave" (a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet By-and-By"). He also wrote "The Tramp", "There Is Power in a Union", "The Rebel Girl", and "Casey Jones—the Union Scab".
My will is easy to decide For there is nothing to divide My kin don't need to fuss and moan "Moss does not cling to rolling stone"
My body? Oh, if I could choose I would to ashes it reduce And let the merry breezes blow My dust to where some flowers grow
Perhaps some fading flower then Would come to life and bloom again. This is my Last and final Will. Good Luck to All of you Joe Hill
Too many "hills to die on" make too many people dead. ----------------------------------------
Dogmatic people do not like compromise.
Bullies do not like compromise.
Most people do not like the "everyone loses something" part of compromise.
Most of us prefer it over the "everyone loses everything" possibility and most like the "everyone gets something" side of it.
Since no system exists where everyone agrees, when the people come together to make policy, it is called politics and politics is the art of fair compromise where everyone wins as much as possible.
Too many "hills to die on" make too many people dead.
If we are to live in a community of mutual respect where we want what is best for each other, we will grit our teeth and learn to compromise.
Jesus brought a perspective on religion that placed people over ritual and humanity over custom. He did not abolish custom, ritual, religion, and piety, but endowed them with renewed rooting in the relationship of God to humanity. It is a recurring theme in the gospels and is easily lost from generation to generation where we are always only a few steps away from institutionalizing faith to the exclusion of vitality and authenticity.
"On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”"
" On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus."
"Unamuno was an early existentialist who concerned himself largely with the tension between intellect and emotion, faith and reason. At the heart of his view of life was his personal and passionate longing for immortality. "- Britannica
"Unamuno's philosophy was not systematic but rather a negation of all systems and an affirmation of faith "in itself." He developed intellectually under the influence of rationalism and positivism ... " - Wikipedia
"It is sad not to be loved, but it is much sadder not to be able to love."
"It has often been said that every man who has suffered misfortunes prefers to be himself, even with his misfortunes, rather than to be someone else without them."
"Man sees, hears, touches, tastes and smells that which it is necessary for him to see, hear, touch, taste and smell in order to preserve his life."
"Is pure thought possible, without consciousness of self, without personality? Can there exist pure knowledge without feeling, without that species of materiality which feelings lends to it?"
"The vain man is in like cause with the avaricious — he takes the mean for the end; forgetting the end he pursues the means for its own sake and goes no further. The seeming to be something, conducive to being it, ends by forming our objective. We need that others should believe in our superiority to them in order that we may believe in it ourselves, and upon their belief base our faith in our own persistence, or at least in the persistence of our fame. We are more grateful to him that congratulates us on the skill with which we defend a cause than we are to him who recognizes the truth or goodness of the cause itself. A rabid mania for originality is rife in the modern intellectual world and characterizes all individual effort. We would rather err with genius than hit the mark with the crowd."
"My idea of God is different each time that I conceive it. Identity, which is death, is the goal of the intellect. The mind seeks what is dead, for what is living escapes it."
"To believe in God is to yearn for His existence and, furthermore, it is to act as if He did exist."
"The attacks which are directed against religion from a presumed scientific or philosophical point of view are merely attacks from another but opposing religious point of view."
"Love personalizes all that it loves. Only by personalizing it can we fall in love with an idea."
"This Consciousness of the Universe, which a love, personalizing all that it loves, discovers, is what we call God."
"The knowledge of God proceeds from the love of God, and this love has little or nothing of the rational in it. For God is indefinable."
"Faith is an act of the will — it is a movement of the soul towards a practical truth, towards a person, towards something that makes us not merely comprehend life, but that makes us live."
"Act so that in your own judgment and in the judgment of others you may merit eternity, act so that you may become irreplaceable, act so that you may not merit death."
Paul was stirring the truth pot urging people to seek God.
By Gid, Paul meant, the self-actualizing, self-sufficient, self-defining God of Abraham, God of the nations, God of the universe who had been sub-divided by divine characteristics into thousands of sub-deities in the kinds of the peoples. Their gods had been tribalized, trivialized, and memorialized in objects made with hands.
A solid income had been developed by those who were skilled at crafting hand held deities. Religious merchandise had a life of its own.
Paul's unorthodox preaching was resonating with the hearts of the people and threatened a lifestyle of privilege that gathered around a civil religion. Demetrius stirred the artisans with a chant that appealed, on the surface, to their local religion, but was really about their money and power.
One fears this sounds familiar in any time or generation when we must examine our centers of faith.
Genuine God-seeking can drift into regions of commercial, civil, or political self-interest. When that happens, something drive theology other than the Theos.
When we stop seeking and commence repeating repetitious chants designed to silence people's thinking or attentiveness to the Spirit, we reveal our true motives.
Do money, empowerment, and leadership have no place in matters of spirituality, religion, or faith?
No, that is not the message. But they are subservient to the ultimate. They are not gods to be worshipped and served. They are life worthy motives for lifetime commitment. They are incidental accoutrements to facilitate, but not dominate.
God does not need us to exist or receive glory. and religion that merely exists to provide wealth for an elite few is idolatry.
No wonder Demetrius and his friends felt threatened.
Acts 19:21-41 New International Version
After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.
About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.” After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.
Life is a process. Real life is no shallow exercise of mundane motions, but an interwoven tapestry of threads that journey through, across, and deep within the relationships of many threads and weaves until a unity emerges.
Here is Psalm 90 (KJV) with an Ives setting to listen to as you read if you can read and listen to Ives at the same time. Charles Ives is not for musical cowards or spiritual wimps. He captures the ambiguities and resolutions of faith at a level that is often contradictory to the cursory view, but is, in fact, in perfect harmony with the realities of divine providence and direction.
Life is not a steady slope. Nor is it always a clear path, but the Lord is our dwelling place in the midst. He teaches us to number our days. He multiples the works of our hands.
He is with us.
Hear the Word of the LORD as sung and reflected upon by the psalmist:
''Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.''
''Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.''
''Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.''
''For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.''
''Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.''
''In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.''
''For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.''
''Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.''
''For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.''
''The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.''
''Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.''
''So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.''
''Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.''
''O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.''
''Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
''Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.''
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it."
I never tire of this piece and your presentation has transported me beyond this tired realm of dust and decay. I hope that someday, I can ascend from this place to my permanent home with such beauty in my ears. I am trembling now in anticipation and joy.
Let us glorify God in our bodies.It is a difficult thing when our appetites, cravings, and desires shout with such fever pitched shrills seeking to drown out the quiet and still voice of God whose voice is even more pronounced yet deep.
We tune to the frequency of perishable fading sounds and tune out that which is truly refreshing and life-giving love. It is our journey and our struggle, but not ours alone.
'“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.''
(1 Corinthians 6:12-20 ESV)
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I have been taking a stroll through Isaiah this morning and sat down at a bench in chapter 7. God is using Isaiah to speak truth to power. God says that He expected more justice for the poor. God reveals His glory and His intention to rule supreme and to bring all peoples and nations to Jerusalem to worship One God as one people. But we are arrogant and exercise whatever power we grab with that arrogance and sense of absolute autonomy.
So, He zeroes in on some specific kings who are sure of their own success based upon their own strategies, armies, and arms.
To one He says:
"...Unless your faith is firm,
I cannot make you stand firm.” (Isaiah 7:9b, New Living Translation)
We do not outgrow our need for solid faith in our lives.
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"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant." - Robert Louis Stevenson
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We are to give, pray, and fast, not to draw attention to ourselves, but to draw our attention to God. Sharing here is a dangerous balance of allowing the blessings and challenges to bless others, of being authentic as a fellow struggling soul, and to squash the temptations toward pride. It helps when you are another ragamuffin among many with more questions than answers. But it is so important to dwell most, in the secret place of the Most High.
No one, but God knows your truest, deepest prayers or struggles.
Your most satisfying reward is that God knows and invites you into intimacy with Himself.
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.''
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.''
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.''
(Matthew 6:1-6 ESV)
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.''
(Matthew 6:16-18 ESV)
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“The grace of God should lead us to see the truth about ourselves, and to gain a certain lucidity, a certain humor, a certain down-to-earthness.” -Gerhard Forde
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Have you ever said, "I had to pinch myself," because you wondered if you were really alive, awake, or experiencing what you were seeing or hearing?
One of the closest cognitive experiences we have to mimic death might be anesthesia. Apart from the reality of the spiritual realm our brains do not record pain, pleasure, or any other sensation.
After experiencing and learning to cope with bouts of severe pain, I came to appreciate the quote below:
"Pain is a kindly, hopeful thing, a certain proof of life, a clear assurance that all is not yet over, that there is still a chance. But if your heart has no pain -- well, that may betoken health, as you suppose: but are you certain that it does not mean that your soul is dead?" - Arthur John (A. J.) Gossip
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Takeheed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them ..." - Deuteronomy 12:30a
"Tom, you're not useless.We can always use you as a bad example."
Have you ever seen a want add for a bad example?
HELP WANTED Badly flawed, underqualified, low-motivated, mid-level manager to take responsibility for counter-intuitive training and institutionalized scape-goating for corporate inadequacies. No-experience needed. Apply in person. First in line gets the job. Tenure and top level salary with full benefits on day one.
There now may be some scientific basis for that light hearted insult.
How do we use this in our own self-management? Are there some skills we can introduce?
Or might it be better to set a high bar and expect the best from all?
We're more likely to behave ethically when we see rivals behaving badly : Cognitive Daily - from 09/24/2009 by Dave Munger
"As an undergraduate, at my school it was practically a requirement to steal silverware from the campus cafeteria. There were students who'd commandeered full sets of china. The desk clerk at my dorm used to say that the only thing we were learning from our college education was 'how to steal.'"
"Somehow it didn't seem wrong to us to steal from the cafeteria (though I drew the line at a single setting of silverware). Plus, we'd heard that at other schools, students used the cafeteria trays as sleds after the first winter snow. At least we weren't doing that (though arguably this was only because there are no hills in Chicago)."
"All work takes time. When it becomes clear to us that prayer is a part of our daily program of work, it will also become clear to us that we must arrange our daily program in such a way that there is time also for this work, just as we set aside time for other necessary things, such as eating and dressing." - Ole Kristian O. Hallesby
Ole Hallesby (1879-1961) was one of Norway's leading Christian teachers and devotional writers. During World War II he was imprisoned for his resistance to the Nazi regime. He worked as a seminary professor in Oslo until his death.)
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I am no fan of Cortez, slightly more of Julius, basically, a pacifist by conviction. However, we are always engaged in some sort of spiritual, emotional, and ideological warfare where the principles of such apply. Struggle is a constant companion. What can Sun Tzu teach us?
A Prayer for Love to the Lord of Love
Art: "God the Father" by Cima da Conegliano, circa, 1515
I am weak, Lord.
I am lowly.
I bring nothing in my hands. I offer no credentials, no reputation, no resume worth reading.
My track record is checkered. My focus is scattered. My mind is here and there and everywhere. I am easily distracted and frequently tested to the core.
Yet, God, you are my God.
Yet, God, you love me, value me, invest in me, and show grace and mercy to me daily.
I am unworthy. You are worthy.
All my value is that you regard me.
Why, oh why?
It does not matter why because You are the Why of all things and of my existence and You have engraved Your love into the fabric of the universe.
Your love, Oh LORD, is the only true reality, standard, and truth that bleeds through all of our opinions about ourselves and others.
Your wrath is against all that is not love. Why then, if I am not judged, can I ever stand in judgment against my neighbor?
I shall not.
He and she are Yours. You see in them that which is precious even as You see something precious in me.
Give me glimpses today of the wonder in my neighbors eyes and the love in his or her heart that I may view my neighbor through the lenses of Your redemptive and reconciling grace and lay all of my prejudices and agendas aside.
And may my neighbor join me in this cause and his neighbor and her neighbor.
I pray this, as the only solution to our divisions in the Name of Jesus who divided us in order to unite us, who showed us hard truth in order to reconcile us to Himself and to one another, who bore all pain, sin, and alienation upon Himself in order to introduce us to You as Your long lost children who have come home.
Give us the heart of the prodigal's father.
Give us Your heart and the heart of Jesus, Your Son. Amen.
Jesus’ ministry to his disciples was one of instilling and deepening belief in their lives.
The Transfiguration was part of that.
The vision of transfiguration comes in the days of preparation for intensifying opposition, humiliating disgrace, and unmerited suffering.
How could it be that one, illuminated in glory and endorsed by God, the Father, could be delivered to the hands of conniving men, beaten, scorned, falsely accused, and murdered?
How could it be?
Jesus counters that one's character, calling, and nature do not prevent suffering and unjust treatment in the world, rather, they reveal the truth about ultimate reality, character, and vindication.
Three men needed this vision of what was real to carry them through the fog that was to come.
Cling to the moments when God discloses Himself in your life because there will be long days of dark haze in which those moments may be your only guiding light.
Mark 9:2-13
"Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"
Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
He said to them, "Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him." "
"Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice,..."
"This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!"
Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.
The disciples knew Malachi's words about Elijah coming before the Messianic Age could commence.
For them it was a barrier.
For Jesus, it was just a matter of fact. There is always an Elijah. In fact, he seems to be referring to John the Baptist as having most recently fulfilled that role.
There is nothing that keeps people from turning around, turning to God, turning to their parents, their children, their loved ones, their friends, their neighbors, and their enemies in love, forgiveness and restoration.
There is nothing that keeps God's people from doing righteousness.
There is nothing that keeps the wicked from turning from sin and oppression and deeds that make them stubble to a new life.
There is nothing that any of us need to wait for before we can answer the call of Jesus to stop doing as we please to the messengers of truth and start following the one to whom the message points.
The day and age of fulfillment has come and any hesitation we have is all on us.
"I believe; help my unbelief!"
Mark 9:14-29 (NRSV)
When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?"
Someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so."
He answered them, "You faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me."
And they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, "How long has this been happening to him?"
And he said, "From childhood. It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us."
Jesus said to him, "If you are able!-- All things can be done for the one who believes."
Immediately the father of the child cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!"
When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!"
After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead."
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"
He said to them, "This kind can come out only through prayer."
Here is the key to the lesson Jesus is teaching His disciples when they asked why they could not help the man and his boy. After all, they believed, and Jesus had said that all things were possible to those who believed.
But the man did more than just believe.
He believed and prayed.
Jesus said that deliverance from the oppressing demon that tormented the boy required prayer. Some manuscripts include, “and fasting.”
Prayer requires belief, but in this case, belief is verified and amplified through prayer. After all, the man declares, in His prayer to Jesus, that he does indeed believe, but he doubts the power of his own, weak, feeble, capacity to believe. He is honest, but he is also desperate.
His trust is like the one who believes enough to jump into the darkness even though he is still trembling with shades of uncertainty.
What took his belief beyond its own ability to believe was the declaration, “I believe,” followed by the prayer, “Help my unbelief.”
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. - Mark 9:23
To this challenge, a man in need replied that he believed, but he needed help with his unbelief, those edges where belief was still developing.
In ministry, we are in the business of helping people believe—first in God, then in the possibilities of God working in and through them to accomplish His purposes.
Belief is the most powerful attitude in the universe.
It is essential for realizing God’s promises and our own potential under God.
It is the great missing component of people’s lives who are defeated, discouraged, and frustrated by the details of life.
Belief precedes reality because it is rooted in faith: “the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 1:1).
Faith is substantive.
Therefore, we can build it on a shoestring. We don’t need any resources other than substantive belief to build belief.
As we share our faith, we lend our confidence and hope to people who are operating on a deficit. The wonderful story of Stone Soup illustrates the power of positive belief when it is shared and multiplied in the lives of people and in communities.
To recognize more fully the power of belief, observe the consequences of unbelief.
Take note of the despair, hopelessness, and cynicism prevalent among those who have chosen the path of the skeptic.
Observe the parade of dejected masses who travel along the highways of routine existence fearful of change and suspicious of any radical call to absolute discipleship.
Do you believe in God enough to believe in His potential for the people among whom He has called you to serve? If so, start communicating that faith and instilling it in others.
Then, step back and see what He can and will accomplish through you.
It one corner, we have the pressure to conform to the gods of this world that govern the marketplace of necessity and pleasure. On the other, we are pressured to conform to systems of religion and pseudo righteousness that have frozen grace into a form of rigid compliance that does not resemble the good news of God's grace.
Both poles require resistance and from both, Jesus offers liberation.
We are caught up in a tug of war over what it authentic discipleship and what is extra baggage that we have inherited from our culture, our desire to fit in, and our fear of standing out and being persecuted. It requires constant reexamination of the claims and call of Jesus in every fresh context as we wrestle with timeless truth and shifting concerns. It is not new to our generation. It was happening in the early church and decades later among the band of ragtag disciples who had begun to follow Jesus.
It is as if we are constantly being torn between the poles of secularism and religiosity.
Galatians 6:11-18 (NRSV)
See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised-- only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! As for those who will follow this rule-- peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
There was a brief moment in the history of the early church where a protection against Roman persecution existed. It was circumcision as a mark of one’s Judaism. The Romans had thrown up their hands in frustration and had relented in their push to introduce polytheism and emperor worship in all parts of their domain.
Every other conquered nation had complied, but the Jews would not, no matter how much pressure was applied, fall down and bow before the shrine of the imperial cult.
So, Rome made an exception. Everyone had to comply except Jews. As long as the Jesus movement was a sect of Judaism, the church was safe. Once it came out from under that protection, she was subject to harsh treatment, pressure, and even death.
As the gospel and the movement moved into the gentile (non-Jewish world), the question first came from the Jewish Christians and the church had its controversy internally. Do followers of Jesus first have to become Jews, be circumcised, and submit to the law before becoming Christians or are they exempt.
Once that was settled in favor of the latter option, the pressure came from Rome. No longer seen as a branch of Judaism either by Jews or by Rome, Christians, who held the same monotheistic convictions as their Jewish brethren, were not longer protected by affiliation. They were expected to make their sacrifices at the altar of the imperial cult, worship Caesar, and acknowledge the gods of Rome.
To declare that Jesus was Lord and not Caesar was cause for persecution. Even short of death, the state could close the doors of commerce and apply great hardship on vast numbers of believers. Some among them would go to prison and some would die.
I think this is what Paul is referring to when he refers to the pressure to submit to be circumcised as way to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
It was also being held up as a cause for boasting and pride.
“See! I am a five star believer! I have all my bases covered!”
Paul takes everyone back to the cross and obliterates any cause for boasting, pride, self-righteousness, or nationalism.
“I won’t boast about anything but the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through it and Him, I have died a crucified death too everything else and it has died to me.”
He reaffirms his love and blessing for Israel and shakes off the criticism of the self-righteous church folks.
In so doing, he raises a banner of defiance and embrace.
He defies all fear of persecution from the world and embraces the possibility of suffering from Christ. He will not hide who he is and what his core commitments are. The easy way out is not an option.
He defies the internal pressures of the church to conform to anything but what God has called the followers of Jesus to do and to be. He rejects any cultural, racial, nationalistic, or ritualistic identification of what it means to be a Jesus follower and goes for the essential commitment of the gospel – Jesus Himself, crucified and resurrected.
He backs up everything he says with the credibility of his own life, even his own body, marked with the scars inflicted upon him by the whips of his persecutors. What he says is verified by his life and his own suffering. Even as a circumcised Jew, he refused to call upon his affiliation as a way of denying his faith. He took the blows and he gloried in them.
Today, we are still pressured from outside and inside of the church to conform to some standard other than the call of Jesus. On one hand, we are pressured to deny Him. On the other, we are shamed into squeezing into boxes not of His making.
What Jesus is calling us to do, is to lose ourselves in Him, be who he has made us to be, and follow Him in total identification, sold out to His kingdom, and relying only on His grace. It is a dangerous adventure, but it is an adventure indeed.
Now, look back to a scene from Jesus’ ministry.
Rather than looking back on the cross as a defining moment, He is looking ahead with his original disciples. He is warning them of suffering. He is preparing them for its inevitability. He would go first and He would die at the hands of men.
Mark 9:30-41 (NRSV)
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again."
But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?"
But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."
Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us."
But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.”
Even as He is seeking to engage their hearts in this radical teaching, whenever they had the chance, they began to engage in petty disputes over trivial concerns.
One of those concerns was which of them would be the greatest!
Pride, competition, boasting, power. None of these ever have been compatible with the Jesus walk, but they are the way of the world.
What Paul dealt with was just another manifestation of what Jesus encountered. It was a clash of cultures and values. The culture of power and human greatness was coming face to face with the gospel of peace, of love, and of service.
The suffering servant as king of the kingdom flew in the face of the prevailing view of the culture. It was an insult to the sensibilities of godless Romans and godly Jews. All had been drinking from the same well of grandiosity.
“You have to be more like children,” Jesus admonishes them. “You have to be more like slaves.”
“You have to give up this notion that you can be great by putting others down or dominating them. The greatest among you will be the one perceived, by the world’s standards, to be the least.”
And if you want to really serve me and identify with me, start handing out water.
In a simple rebuke and encouragement, He turns the tables on everything and rights the course of our thinking.
But that thinking must be renewed often. It had to be renewed with every new context such as Paul’s circumcision controversy in Galatia and it has to be renewed today as we confront our gods of materialism, safety, comfort, American exceptionalism, and parochial bigotry.
We are always having to shake loose extra baggage we accumulate along the grace highway. Some of it has become deeply embedded in our psyches, our rituals, and our conversation. It has become intertwined with our way of speaking truth so that it is not easy to extract from the truth. It has permeated our culture and defined our false boundaries, but it is not the gospel and it never will be.
Like Paul, we must be daily crucified with Christ to the world and to that, which is of the world, but disguised as Christianity.
It was costly then and it is likely to be costly today.
Instilling Belief
Let’s go back a moment to recap a central idea.
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (Mark 9:23)
In ministry, we are in the business of helping people believe—first in God, then in the possibilities of God working in and through them to accomplish His purposes. Belief is the most powerful attitude in the universe. It is absolutely essential for realizing God’s promises and our own potential under God. It is the great missing component of people’s lives who are defeated, discouraged, and frustrated by the details of life. Belief precedes reality because it is rooted in faith: “the SUBTANCE of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 1:1).
Do you believe in God enough to believe in His potential for the people among whom He has called you to serve? If so, start communicating that faith and instilling it in others. Then, step back and see what He can and will accomplish through you.