Not to impeach anyone's words, ideas, or conjectures, but I am going to play my trump card today.
Nor do I wish to trump anyone else's attempt to do SEO (search engine optimization), but I find that certain words have the power to invoke the law of attraction.
This is an experiment, not so much in content creation, but in trafficking. Human as I am, I like to have my words read.
I may indict myself with that admission, but it is an indictment I can embrace and live with.
I do not wish to create an obstruction, but justice demands free exchange of ideas.
In a world of weasel words and an environment of catch phrases, even fake news has attraction, sometimes more than real news. Weighing credibility between NPR, Fox, CNN, and The Onion, the Onion sometimes wins. That is because a juicy story is what we are searching for.
So, there is content here in the midst of this experiment.
One example of content is a prediction that I make: When I post the teaser to this blog with a headline and a picture on three social media outlets, the following will happen:
People will comment on the picture and some will comment on the headline.
A choice few will follow the link and read the blog.
Why?
We are experiencing and increasing intolerance for details, credibility, and nuance in our culture. We read headlines with the assumption that they tell us something. We scan memes as if they make a case. We believe those things that go viral and support our biases.
We skim the surface of truth and the surface of life.
I am even going to include the word, "bacon," because a few years ago, it was a sizzling hot item in the SEO world.
Truth is not always sexy (and sex is not always truthful).
Where do we go? What do we do?
Jesus said that the truth will set us free - when we know it.
When we know it!
"You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
Do we know it?
Do we want to know it?
Can we tolerate it?
Will we seek it, dig for it, read the fine print, conduct an internal dialogue over it, follow the links, seek to verify, and allow it to shape us?
If we, indeed, live in a post-truth age, who is to blame? Is it the producers of sizzling headlines, the purveyors of fake news, Donald Trump, the Democrats, the young, the old, Congress, the media, Late night television, or something else?
Could it be us? Could it be the consumer, reader, citizen who shops in the marketplace of ideas.
I don't know, by I just played my TRUMP CARD... And it had nothing to do with the POTUS.
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If influence were cash capital, you would have a finite quantity of dollars in the bank and a supermarket of important issues from which to choose.
How do you assay the relative value of each and choose where to invest your arguments?
Then there are opinions.
What's the difference between an opinion and and onion?
PI.
Pi are square and onions are round. Circle around that and you are left with an onion upon which to suck and most opinions do.
My opinions are like most people's - born out of my biases, nurtured by my selective evidence gathering, and hopefully, challenged by the facts (while being nudged by the Spirit).
Hopefully that nudging comes before I influence too many people to share them or spend my influence with them and lose my credibility.
In forming opinions, it helps to ask a lot of questions.
Sometimes I ask questions for which I do not have the answers. I am not a trial lawyer. I would like to think I want to follow truth wherever it leads.
Of this, you can be sure (most of the time): I will not ask questions to bait you or entrap you.
If we are of equal value, we do not need to play cheap tricks on each other to win.
These were all originally, individual posts on social media which hopefully fit together and advance the cause of civil dialogue in our uncivil world.
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“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” - Hebrews 9:22
Every function of creation points to the center of God's truth. The body teaches us lessons about how the Body of Christ functions in the exercise of spiritual gifts and ministry.
Every relationship can be a type of our relationship with God because that is the primary relationship in our lives. Marriage, friendship, family, and fatherhood all expound upon God’s ways with people.
Even sub-creation, the work of God through the hands of men, can teach us the lessons of life as when Jesus turned the water to wine.
Nothing remains the same when God enters in.
The lesson is that God enters into every situation to manifest His presence and to transform and demonstrate His truth. Often, there is a grand and mysterious paradox.
The men and women of Jesus' day did not understand how it was true, but they knew that the life of the body was in the blood.
Throughout their history, the Jews observed that with the shedding of blood came death. But they practiced an ethic that grievous sins must be atoned for by the shedding of blood, life for life. When they realized that all sin before God was grievous, they needed a means of worship and sacrifice whereby sins could be atoned and sinners could still live.
God provided the blood of the lamb as a worshipful sacrifice and as a reminder that unless God enters in, there is no forgiveness of sin.
Sinful men and women can be forgiven.
The slate upon which the balances of our lives are weighed can be cleaned and we can be acquitted of that for which we are guilty. There were not enough sheep in Israel, or the entire world to make this possible, however.
Even this sacrifice was a type pointing to a deeper truth.
The unfolding drama of revelation introduced the Incarnate Son of God as the Lamb. And the paradox of was and is that the loss of blood introduced the giving of life through the loss of life.
Without the sacrifice of Jesus, there is no remission. In worship, we confront the glorious mysteries of transformation and open our lives to the continuing manifestation of God's power among us.
Let us worship.
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A public person dies and we mourn even though we did not know that person personally.
We feel like we did because we knew them from a far, knew their work, and even benefited from their work.
Many people, strangers even on the public stage, die in a public or publicized way, and we mourn. We do not mourn because we knew them. We mourn because we are made aware.
An animal dies and we mourn, because we are compassionate at heart and a creature's suffering somehow touches our own suffering.
We are reminded that we have not lost the capacity to feel pain and joy, love and sweetness, laughter and tears.
Millions die daily and we feel nothing, not because we do not care, but because the awareness is not thrust upon us. Could we survive such a constant barrage of heartache?
Then, when we suffer, we scramble for perspective and lose ourselves in the chores of survival ... because we have the will to live.
Perhaps it is all confusing, but it is not an unhealthy confusion. Nor is our caring about those we make symbols of our own pain and our connected state a bad thing. Nor is it superficial. Nor is it a manipulated state of affairs.
It is our humanity at its most sensitive best.
It is who we are when confronted by a face and a name.
We need to care and the world needs for us to care.
When Jesus SAW the crowds, he had compassion on them.
Seeing evokes compassion, even for the Son of God.
John Donne was no stranger to pain and he wrestled with his own mixed emotions about death. Consequently, he left us with a body of literature to help us cope as he coped. Not the least of all is this:
For Whom the Bell Tolls by John Donne
No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend's were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.
This poem is in the public domain.
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“And the woman left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, ’Come, see a man, who told me all the things that I ever did. Is this not the Christ?’” – John 4:28-29
Are we too attached to our water pots to carry the call of Jesus to our cities? Are we so fixated on our trivial tasks that we cannot leave them to bear witness to His power, grace, and truth?
Here was a woman with the worst reputation in the village and she went to the very people with whom she had made her reputation. To the men of the city, with whom she had no credibility at all, she declared the credibility of Jesus. At least they would talk to her. And she did it without the slightest hint of intimidation and completely without distraction by the unfinished mission that had taken her to the well in the first place.
Who cares about two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen when you can have living water?
Washing clothes can wait.
Cooking can be done later.
Even drinking water can be postponed.
It’s not everyday that you have a chance to meet a man who can tell you everything you have ever done – and in such a way that you feel love, forgiveness, and acceptance rather that shame, guilt, and fear.
This woman had been summoned to a new mission, a higher calling. She received the call and bore the call with passionate conviction and urgency. The call is upon us and on our lips, but if it is to be heard by the people of the cities, we must leave our water pots and deliver it in person.
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Too late for one ... Too early for the next, We thought and acted and stretched and flexed. It is never too late and never too early. So don't get all bent and don't get all surly. Rather embrace the day that's before you. If you are an oddball, just let them ignore you. There's nothing that is that could matter more Than you getting started to get out the door.
Remember at least one of these thoughts as you head out for the day or continue your day or salvage what is left of your day.
No one is from nowhere and we are all somebodies going somewhere.
So whoever you meet today, wherever you are and wherever you are, greet that somebody as someone from somewhere who matters .
Start in the mirror.
Speaking of your day ...
Is there something better and more uplifting you can do or say today than your first thought?
Whatever it is, it is possibly more important than you think it is.
Every calling is a high calling and all work is meaningful when consecrated to an eternal purpose.
Whatever it is, it is possibly more important than you think it is.
And remember this:
"The hero is no braver than the ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Don't be afraid of disconnected thoughts and do not be afraid to connect them.
" Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!" -Psalm 31:24 (ESV)
And one more thing:
Add some beautiful music to your life for only one reason:
What possibilities may be hidden in the unexpected places of your life?
Is there one opportunity that will pass unless you act now?
Is there one victory over procrastination you can have in the next 15 minutes?
Is there one life into which you can speak encouragement today?
Is there one thing that will make today significant within the power of your choices?
Piety
Piety is the conversation that happens at the crossing light at the corner of Holiness Way and Desperation Blvd. in the City of Human Vulnerability on a foggy day in January.
Politician and Prophet
Martin Luther King taught us the difference between a politician and a prophet.
A politician is pretty careful not to go against his/her allies.
A prophet will speak truth to power even if the powerful are his/her friends or allies on some other issue.
And a prophet will do it in love.
A "Recognized" Leader
How many people have to recognize you before you can use the word, "recognized" in your title .. like ... "Recognized Leader."
Does my dog count?
Tiptoes
Standing on tiptoe in expectancy.
Living breathless in the wind.
Waiting with expectation among the voices of boredom.
Living above the storm ...
Hopeful ...
Hope.
FOLLOW
In case you need a sermon, here is the outline of one of my messages from Mark 1:14-20:
It spells the word, "FOLLOW."
F - FULFILLMENT which speaks of URGENCY because "The time has come."
O - OPPORTUNITY which brings an OBLIGATION which is based upon the SUFFICIENCY we receive to believe good news.
L - LEAVE which is one part of the good news of repentance, sometimes the dark side, or is perceived to be. It is the INSURGENCY that calls us from the ordinary, from old business, and from old concepts of a "bad news God."
L- LINK ourselves to God's new deal, the Kingdom of God, the God movement introduced by Jesus at the right moment. The Kingdom link brings LEGITIMACY to the call.
O - OPEN your hearts to good news, the second part of repentance, believing and receiving something fresh, new, and enlivening. This evokes EXPECTANCY.
W - Do it WITHOUT DELAY - This is the IMMEDIACY of the good news/gospel message of the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed. It is also how eager souls responded without coercion or manipulation.
It boils down to a very simple and uncomplicated call from Jesus, "Follow me."
When we respond to that, the other pieces fall into place and He can deal with our theology and other burning questions in time and as they arise.
The Power Grab
There was a power grab on a planet swirling through space Long ago. Chiefs, generals, engineers, and masons Deluded Thought If only If only we could add enough of What has been made Piece by piece and build upon it What has been made With our ingenuity and effort We can reach and be The creator. We can take over. All we need is the will and The energy and The creativity and The commitment To rise higher than The Originator and we can be Original. And they unified around that Big Idea and ended up In utter confusion. In spite of all their unity and Progress ... They forgot a few key Home Truths or Cradles of Civilization.
Either way ....
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.”
And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.”
So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth."
Genesis 11:1-9 (ESV)
So then ....
Where does your piety lead you out of your collision of thoughts, motives, passions, desires, and commitments? Is it to prophecy, to lead, to stand on tiptoe in wonder, or simply to follow ... or all?
And can all be one?
Consider this, the way of political expediency and grabbing of power will overflow into a confusion of soul and of direction. To settle on the One will bring the many strands into one thing. So ask the questions again and act accordingly ...
If you follow my drift ... my streaming and meandering drift into center:
One Thing
What possibilities may be hidden in the unexpected places of your life?
Is there one opportunity that will pass unless you act now?
Is there one victory over procrastination you can have in the next 15 minutes?
Is there one life into which you can speak encouragement today?
Is there one thing that will make today significant within the power of your choices?
Since we are being someone random, you can dance now!
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“ For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever beleiveth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16
It is the first verse we learned as children and the one that remains dearest to our hearts. It is the gospel in a verse. It is so familiar that it is tempting to treat it as trite.
It is a glimpse into the very heart of God and it deeply informs our understanding of His purposes and ways.
We were taught to insert our names in place of “the world.” This morning, I would encourage you to insert your neighbors’ names.
Any Christian worldview must acknowledge how God sees lost humanity. They are the objects of His relentless and unfailing love. The extent to which He will go to redeem is shown in the life and death of Jesus. \
If you and I have been invited to join Him in His work and vision, it must include such love of the lost. We cannot pass it off as theoretical or poetic. God’s love is gutsy, giving, and gregarious.
His call is to share His love with the open invitation to all to receive and believe. Visualize an individual, family, or neighborhood where lost people live. See the faces and view them through the eyes of Jesus. Imagine their lives changed by His liberating love and grace. Ask God what part you and your church play in actively and sacrificially loving them.
If we say that we desire the very heart of God to beat within us, we must love the lost. If we would be holy and consecrated people, we must filter our judgments and choices through that love. If we have any hope of becoming Christ-like, it will be as this love flows through us.
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"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." - Genesis 8:22
Harvest reminds us of continuity. The wheat in the fields points upward toward the God who brings growth year after year along with the changing seasons.
Night points to day, winter to summer, cold to heat and back again.
Earth remains as all else changes because God is unchanging and His patterns form an artistically crafted choreography set to the tune of a grand symphony of nature.
Thomas Chisolm penned it this way in his lovely hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,”
“Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.”
The message of the seasons is a witness to the faithfulness of God.
The scripture says that grass, and wheat is a grass, will whither even as the flower fades. It is the Word of God that endures forever.
My favorite radio programs tout summer reading lists where notable individuals list the books they are reading in the summer. It is a catch up time for intellectual and literary pursuits.
May I suggest going out in a field or forest, or sitting on a beach in the midst of nature and catching up on the Bible?
God is faithful and His Word never changes. Seasons come and go. Crops are planted, grow, and die. Life goes on and God keeps the universe on course with His faithful guiding hand.
I pray for you today, purpose, grace, and life that defies death.
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."- Ephesians 3:14-21 (ESV)
So them for strength emanating from infinite power, Christ, himself dwelling in you by his infinite Spirit, perceptions growing, life continually rooting, grounding, growing in infinite love - these things, for you, I pray. That you may know more than you can know, be more than you can be, and do more than you can do, infinite, eternal blessings to you - my prayer for you.
May you live until you die, in and on purpose.
"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." - Psalm 116:15 (ESV)
Something in us longs for a sense of conclusion as long as that conclusion is culmination of purpose. Sainthood presupposes purpose and closure in accordance with purpose. Let us live with the peace that in the last chapter of our lives, God has determined to bring precious meaning and to fulfill His purposes in us.
"For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
I will walk before the LORD
in the land of the living." - Psalm 116:8-9 (ESV)
We are not dead, but living. Life has overcome spiritual death. Even in temporal death, we focus on life. I pray that you may live fully today.
Death was a reality in my life. The LORD delivered me.
Tears were in my eyes. The LORD gave healed me.
My feet kept stumbling. His hand steadied me.
I was unsure where to walk. He led me and ...
I walk before Him in the land of the living.
When your heart belongs to God and is, essentially set on the purposes of God, a new shaping begins to take place.
"May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans!" - Psalm 20:4 (ESV)
None of this is perfected in time and space, but, to the extent that it is dominant reality of our lives, it does affect our desires. Our desires exist at multilevel layers. They are not all-together free of corruption, but neither are they all-together corrupt. We must listen to our emerging desires, inner stirrings, and subliminal awareness because it is often at that layer that our minds, hearts, and spirits are sorting out the scriptures and insights that God is giving us through many sources all at once. It is those desires that we want Him to fulfill because they are His desires and they are our deepest desires.
Out of those desires flow the legitimate dreams, visions, and plans for the future He purposes for us.
Listen to your desires and prayerfully examine your plans. Do not dismiss them, but dig deeper into them. Examine them in the light of scripture and prayer, peeling away the layers until you discover what God is saying to you in and through them.
Grace to you this day.
Free flowing, fresh, thirst quenching, life altering, mind bending, countenance lifting, laughter evoking, heart wrenching, heart mending, sweet, precious grace to you.
Grace to you that is greater than than sin, disappointment, and fear.
Grace to you that is so flavored with giddy God joy that no bitter words can shatter its confidence and all swords of disparagement pass through it like knives through Jello. Grace, grace, grace to you.
Grace to you that lifts you and challenges you.
May grace that cannot be contained in you, be in you and flow through you to others today.
If you do not believe as I do, that grace can come in a person and dwell within you, may grace still surround you and may people of grace be gracious unto you.
Sing grace;
dance grace;
live grace.
Grace to you.
These thing, I pray for you today.
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"And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart..."
Visit a time with me when Jesus was angry.
Jesus is both angry and grieved here, because otherwise good people with sound doctrine are adding burdens to people that stand between them and their healing and redemption.
Jesus' heart does not allow him to pass a man with a withered hand and not do all he can to help and restore. He can no less pass an opportunity to make a teaching point in his own indignation - even if it creates hostility against him.
There are many lessons here, but one strikes me today. These Pharisees, by all accounts, reformers who sought to bring the faith of Israel back to its authentic roots, had gotten familiar with power and honor and were threatened when something different came along. They had also fallen for the mistaken belief that if everyone just followed the rules as they interpreted them, they would all be "cool" with God.
They were so convinced of their calling to control the Sabbath that God had given to man and made the Son of Man in charge of, that they were willing to align with the money-grabbing, religiously antagonistic, power brokers of the day whose Herodian inclinations were secular, unjust, oppressive, and basically evil.
They had something in common - common economic and political interests that they were willing to justify with religious language.
So great was there lust for order, power, and social/religious favor and equilibrium that they made plans to destroy the voice that would upset their tentative and fragile apple cart of Roman-Jewish coexistence.
Jesus' response was to feel the indignation, grief, and compassion, recognize the risk, and do what he would do anyway.
He was not about to be intimidated.
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.”
And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”
But they were silent.
And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
- Mark 3:1-6 (ESV)
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Public people make big public blunders and big public bad choices and sometimes, their sins look very ugly amplified in the multiple media.
Sometimes they really are ugly, almost as ugly as mine.
Our instinct is to hide our ugliness. We do not want it seen, known, scrutinized, criticized, ostracized, or categorized. We don't want to be boxed in. We want to create the image that everyone sees in us and that becomes the source of our identity, strength, confidence, and purpose --- sometimes, even our income.
When a public person tumbles, fumbles, or humbles himself or herself, I hope for the best, for them, for all. I tend to look for that. I tend to withhold judgment and stand with those who declare their innocence.
It is not always possible to believe the best.
It is not always helpful.
When public people fall, they fall hard. The inclination is to scrutinize, criticize, ostracize, and categorize. Why? Because, for one thing, it is safe to do it from afar.
We don't know them. They don't know us. We are far more forgiving with those we know.
Second, and this is the best part, we want to learn from their failures and not make the same errors. We want our children to learn, "Don't do that." We want our neighbors to learn. A bad example is still useful.
Mostly, it just brings out some sense of indignation, superiority, or curiosity in us and we a tantalized by the whole thing and react.
I can understand all of that, but I am a pastor and I cannot maintain that stance for long. I've known some public people and they are people. I've known some not-so-public people and they are people too. I just assume that at any moment, I could be called upon to pastor that person and, if I were, I'd want to meet them ... really meet them as person to person.
It starts with meeting and meeting is a place of empathy, caring, and intercession.
So, I tend to be reminded ... after an occasional foray into delusional moral superiority .... that I am an intercessor and can pastor people from afar.
Any of us can.
So, I pray. I may not pray well, long, or with intensity, but I pray in my way and it brings me into a curious contact with that person and I start to really care about his or her well being.
I am a conservationist and I do not think anyone belongs permanently on the scrap heap. Everything can be used in some way. Everyone has a purpose. Everyone is redeemable and I do not want to be the guy that got in the way of that because I had something clever, perhaps true, but totally unnecessary and vitriolic to say about that particular child of God.
We do need to be occasionally prophetic , perhaps often prophetic, but we do not need to be jerks. Some old preacher said, "Brothers, tell the truth, but don't be mean for Jesus."
Sure, these folks a big targets and have big potential to lead many astray before disappointing them.
That is all the more reason to intercede for and with them.
Everybody is somebody's child ... even the meanest man on earth.
And everyone is God's child.
Let us find it in our hearts to lift up all the people we meet, and those we don't, from afar, in prayer.
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Today, your assignment it to see the spark in someone in whom you do not expect a spark. Find the spark and do or say what you can to keep it going to the next step of intensity. Protect it from the torrential rain of criticism or the inertial force of negativity. Encourage someone. Help them to discover their own genius. Affirm them in being themselves. Introduce them to others. Find some way to be a friend if only for a few seconds. Make a difference in one life today and you might just ... will just, change the world. See the genius and you might just discover that the glass through which you view this friend ... is a mirror and .... the genius is ... YOU!
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I struggled with it and still do because it represents something larger.
... not political, although it can be ...
... something holistic about violence and something inside the best of us that must be bridled, processed, understood, and harnessed for its purpose.
Two nice guys go into a movie theater and a disagreement arises.
Both lose their tempers.
Something boils up inside of one of them probably unrelated to the incident. One has a bag of popcorn; the other a gun. One throws the popcorn in frustration; other other fires his gun in some sort of misguided compulsion for self-defense.
His life is ruined; the other man's life is gone. Two families are deprived of fathers and grandfathers and are devastated.
All the witnesses are traumatized. Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture ...
It only took a second and a split second decision to change so many lives.
And because it happened in a nice middle class place with nice middle class people, we all know about it and react ...
We all have opinions.
But I can tell you that it happens all the time. Every day, someone loses a loved one over something stupid. I see it and I shake my head.
Personally --- only personally .... I do not trust myself with a weapon ... and I am a nice non-violent guy .... but so were those two guys as far as I can tell. I do not want to be violent to harm another human, even in self defense. I would rather be harmed ....
But that is one part of me. The other knows that the chemicals in my body and my old selfish nature will react rather than respond if left to their own devices in certain situations. I have the capacity to lash out with words or weapons or willfulness.
I need spiritual centering in the Ultimate, the One, the core of my life or I do not trust myself even with my own words.
I need grace .... and so do those families who have suffered tragedy .... and so do the people I meet this week who will never make the news and will hardly be noticed by the system ... victims and perpetrators who will quickly, almost anonymously, be processed and forgotten.
Not me? I'd never do that?
None of us has finished our lives yet who is reading this or living among us. We cannot know what stupid thing we might do that would bring disrepute upon all that we have been up until that point.
We need to be tidying our own houses on a daily basis, keeping our emotional lives up-to-date along with our spiritual lives. We cannot point a finger without 4 pointing back at us. "Let each man examine himself," the scripture reminds us.
"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." - Psalm 19:14
It is a daily prayer along with others ...
"May I not bring harm to another human being ..."
"Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace ..."
Every time I am tempted to be smug or self-confident, I try to remember what I am capable of at my worst and to trust the One who can prevent me from traveling that path. This One can make me more than I can be as the contemporary song goes.
There will be some positive outcomes to this public tragedy. There always are.
Some will take time.
Some will go unnoticed.
People will pontificate.
Others will meditate.
I just shake my head.
And I am still trying to decide whether or not to hit the "post" button.
Oh ... why not ... ?
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Satisfied with His likeness, Beholding His face in righteousness, Fully awakened from dullness of mind, Fully engaged, embracing this day, We move on in the spirit of Psalm 17.
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Devaluation of life is a cancer wherever it emerges, whether it it unborn life, lives of people living among us, or the lives of future generations who will inhabit this planet.
We must create a climate and community that values, nurtures, protects, and supports life and affirms its dignity.
How that is accomplished is often a matter of hot debate.
However, I believe that such a climate would take much of this out of the political arena and return it to a realm free of posturing and slogan-wielding.
Personally, I cringe whenever I overhear my grandson playing video games where players cheer whenever there is a "kill."
That is a systemic, societal, attitudinal problem that no policies can address because so many of us have adopted it.
I have been having that problem with television and movies for years.
This weekend, there will be two commemorative events. one will be the celebration of MLK Jr.'s life and another will be Sanctity of Life Sunday.
Many sincere Christians are torn between what they feel are competing convictions and commitments. For them, I am offering information on an alternative that embraces all life.
The Consistent Life Network - I became aware of this through looking into the life of actor, Martin Sheen, a committed Catholic.
I have put money and energy in to my small piece of this, encouraging those who choose life with the knowledge of safe and loving homes for children they feel they cannot raise.
Consistent Life Ethic offers a third way that embraces a kingdom ethic for all issues where life is in the balance:
What is so often lacking in an atmosphere of debate are the qualities of compassion and respect. Perhaps that is because of the sectioning off of people based upon positions and labels and the rarity of actual conversation over sensitive and potentially explosive topics.
It is also because of the importance of the issues and the passions that surround them.
Also, there is a problem with overlapping ideologies. For instance, the eugenics movement, often embraced by a racist right, but also embraced by some on the left, began to advocate for population control based upon intelligence, viability, race, ethnicity, and likelihood of disability.
Those who opposed this fell to the right and to the left.
A surprising number of people find it describes their views:
"The non-profit organization Consistent Life Network, founded in 1987 as the Seamless Garment Network, promotes adherence to the ethic through education and non-violent action. Individual endorsers belonging to the Consistent Life Network organization include Father Daniel Berrigan, theologian Harvey Cox, Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff, Father Theodore Hesburgh, actress Patricia Heaton, L'Arche founder Jean Vanier, death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean, pro-life activist Abby Johnson, author Ken Kesey, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.Rachel MacNair, for ten years (1994–2004) President of Feminists for Life, a pro-life organization, is the director of the Institute for Integrated Social Analysis, the research arm of Consistent Life Network."
"In the US, several groups have promoted the "consistent ethic of life" approach, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Democrats for Life of America, and the American Solidarity Party, a Christian Democratic political organization. Groups without a religious orientation that support the ideology include Democrats for Life of America, the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL), and All Our Lives (a pro-contraception feminist group), all of which are members of the Consistent Life Network. Other secular groups supporting a consistent ethic of life position include Rehumanize International (formerly known as Life Matters Journal) and New Wave Feminists. Other prominent authors who have written in support of the consistent life ethic include Frank Pavone,James Martin, John Dear, Ron Sider, Tony Campolo, Joel Hunter, Wendell Berry,and Shane Claiborne."
Cain and Abel, 15th-century German depiction from Speculum Humanae Salvationis
"But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." - Genesis 4:5
Have you ever felt the sting of God not being pleased with your offering? Such was Cain’s story as he displayed the hang-dog look in the presence of the Almighty. Genesis does not tell us why it happened that way. The lesson is that we are not always 100% and in those times, God still speaks to us lovingly:
"And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." -Genesis 4:6-7
Even though Cain’s first offering was not accepted, there would be more opportunities. He could learn from his error and get it right the next time. Unfortunately, the next time, he got it very wrong and killed his brother in a jealous rage.
It is one thing to be confronted with our own imperfection. It is another to be resentful of those who succeed more easily or frequently.
Anger, resentment, jealous, and bitter rivalries are toxic to the core.
Frankly, God has some lessons that can only be taught through disappointment, failure, and discouragement. In those disappointing moments, He wants us to do well, to make the right choices, and to master sin in our lives.
These are not times for excuses, but for exponential growth.
Sin almost has mind of its own. Sin's purpose is to become our master. God’s will is for us to master sin.
That comes through choice.
Cain made the wrong choice and then compounded that wrong choice with an even worse choice and it cost him everything.
What does it take to have our offering accepted?
Do the right thing.
What is the right thing for you?
The answer is found in the New Testament:
"By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh." -Hebrews 11:4
God invites us to come to Him by faith.
Whatever is not of faith is sin.
Through faith comes righteousness and we make the right choices and bring acceptable offerings. God counts our faith as “doing well” and it gives birth to all sorts of good deeds as it brightens the countenance.
The story could have ended differently, but it is enacted, recorded, and retold to explain much about our motives, our wars, and our downward spiraling relationships. It speaks to us where we are today about where we may be tomorrow.
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“… Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” – John 1:29
It is not enough to have a theoretical understanding of God’s redemption through Jesus and how He came to fulfill the Old Testament system of sacrifices as the Paschal Lamb – as important as that information may be.
No, it is of greatest importance that we behold Him.
Some translate the word, “Look,” but the meaning is the same. We must linger over the vision of Jesus and stare into His eyes.
We must be captivated by His presence so that to even blink we would disrupt the flow of His radiance into our souls.
We must drink deeply of His beauty that transcends human comeliness. We must experience Him in all His glory and behold Him.
In Jesus Christ, the Living Word, we have beheld the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. God has allowed us to glimpse Himself and touch His own incarnate flesh.
Why wouldn’t we stop everything else we might be doing and bathe in the wonder of a moment of Lamb of God?
Oh, Lamb of God Upon whose sinless shoulders All sin has pressed down its awful weight, We pause amidst the frivolous trivialities of our lives To behold You In a manger, on the cross, ascending to Your throne Coming once again in glory Amen.
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Johann Wenzel Peter: Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden / Adam and Eve in the earthly paradise (1745-1829) Public Domain
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. - Genesis 3:8
It was the cool of the day on the first day of what they had supposed to be their enlightenment. On the day when they presumed their eyes would have been opened and life would be free, they were suddenly ashamed. What they saw was not the same world of possibilities and wonder, but their own nakedness. They were exposed and vulnerable. All they could think to do was hide.
It was the cool of the day and all was at peace – except the turmoil in their souls.
It was the cool of the day and God was taking a stroll. Ordinarily, that would have been a welcome sound. It would have evoked feelings of blessed anticipation – so sweet was the fellowship they had enjoyed.
“God is coming!” they must have exclaimed many times with youthful glee. “Let’s hurry to meet Him!”
This time, they hurried to flee from Him.
They knew that they would have to have a very unpleasant conversation the next time they met God. They would have to admit that they had disobeyed Him. And to do that, they would have to admit an even more painful truth: they had not believed Him. They had taken the serpent’s word over His.
The serpent had been right about one thing: their eyes had been opened. But they had not seen what they had hoped to see. They had become like gods, but they had not become God or even like God. The only god status they had achieved was the false kind, the fodder of myth and legend. They had come to resemble the capricious, conniving, conscious-of-self kind of creature that knows evil enough to embrace it, but not enough to avoid it.
It was the cool of the day. It ought to have been the most precious time of their day. Instead, because of sin, they hid in the trees God had made. They were foolish enough to think He could not see through them or into their hearts. He sees, He knows, and He comes to confront us and to redeem us.
It is the cool of the day again.
Don’t hide.
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"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." - Genesis 2:24
June flowers allure the senses and sound the downbeat for the season of weddings throughout the land. Graduations have taken place and it is now time for another sort of graduation into adulthood, the leaving of father and mother and the entry into marriage.
Weddings are cultural events. Some are administered, sanctioned, or licensed by families, states, religious entities, entire communities.
Rules vary.
Traditions are diverse.
Meanings are subjective to the cultures or individuals involved.
Practices transition.
Is there a root to the evolving celebration of marriage? Is there some commonality flowing from its origins?
The biblical narrative gives a clue to what might be the germ of the idea – to bring together opposites into a dynamic partnership that makes two walking together stronger than the two walking alone.
A 1948 film with Bette Davis celebrates the mystique of the June bride, There is something romantic and enticing about a wedding in June as Spring gives way to Summer with an entire season of sunshine awaiting the new couple.
Romance is God’s idea. That is why He gave us the Song of Solomon which, for whatever deep meaning it might hold, celebrates the love between a man and a woman who unite in marriage and gaze forever longingly into each others eyes. That is why the great celebration that welcomes us to Heaven is called the marriage feast of the Lamb and His bride, the church.
Two become one as the bells toll, as the scriptures are read, and as they recite these words:
“I take thee to be my wedded wife (husband) to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death do us part.”
Shakespeare said, “Now join hands, and with your hands, your hearts.”
There is leaving and joining as new unions are born.
Enjoy the wedding.
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Nathan was a prophet, charged with speaking truth to power.
David was a shepherd, a pastor, charged with protecting and leading people.
Nathan was rather pro-David. However, he knew when he needed to lay aside his affection and admiration for the king and speak truth to power. It was a risky thing to do, but he did it and it saved both David and the nation.
We have had some great moments as a nation & some very dark moments. Many have suffered because of the greed and ruthlessness of a few. At times, people have felt the touch of generous compassion from Americans. We owe our best and most compassionate self to God and to the world.
We have received much. We owe much.
There is only one world and we have been disproportionately blessed with the share of it we possess.
It is not ours to hold; it is our stewardship to share and our trust to manage with care.
I am an optimist. I am a lover of people. I have met very few people I dislike and none that I cannot work at liking. I hold out hope for people though I do not trust all of them all the time. It keeps me going to believe that people can change. So, I don't give up - I can't.
I am not prophetic. I do not aspire to be prophetic. My calling is pastoral. My inclination is toward embrace and not confrontation. Condemnation is not my tool of choice for change, but I am part of a prophetic community whose voice must sometimes break the silence and speak unpopular truth to one's own people - the people we love.
That being said ...
We cannot abdicate responsibilities as citizens of a nation or of the world. Having been placed in a position of great influence, we are responsible to exercise our rights and responsibilities with vigilance and integrity. Citizenship is a big deal in a representative democracy.
We cannot abdicate our prophetic responsibilities either, even if they are not our strongest gifts and calling.
Every nation, office, and people group, is accountable to the same God, valued equally, and responsible for doing the right thing on a case by case basis. No entity, country, or person gets a free pass because of divine appointment or favor. Every deed is evaluated on the face of it.
Who is the king of the United States?
Who has authority? By our system -the electorate.
Our leaders in the three branches, hold no authority beyond what they are given and are accountable to the people who rule. They are employees, whose roles are respected, appreciated, and supervised.
We the people - we are collectively the King and we hire shepherd kings to protect and lead us.
Through it all, we must continue to speak truth to temporal power.
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I have been gruntled, so far all day. It beats the tar out of being disgruntled. If anything changes, it will be my choice. Our attitudes are always our choices. No one can "make us" feel anything.
However ...
There are things, about which, I do choose to be disgruntled. I choose to lean into the pain and be disheartened and disgusted.
Whatever degrades humanity or oppresses people offends me and I choose to be offended by racism ...not just of one man, but of society.
It is systemic.
Are you gruntled or disgruntled?
You can be both at the same time, sometimes.
Sometimes, both are needed.
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Bazile, Castera. Baptism of Jesus, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54305 [retrieved January 12, 2020]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PortAuPrinceMural.jpg.
“… and lo, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.” – Matthew 3:16b
A family of doves built a nest in a flower basket on our patio. I have mentioned this in several contexts and they taught me many lessons. With great interest, we watched as that family, and later, others, came and nested there, hatched their young, and sent them on their way. The site of doves descending is a wonder of nature. The vision of the Spirit descending is a wonder of super nature.
There was little reason for Jesus to be baptized except to fulfill all righteousness and to identify with sinful humanity in preparation for His sacrificial death on the cross. However, as He stepped into the nest of human experience and began to bear the burden of our frail weakness and disobedience, He was affirmed by the Father and knew the pleasure of His purposes.
As little birds stumble out of the nest and first began to fly, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to face temptation as we face it. He committed in His baptism to be as vulnerable as those He came to save. By the power of the same Spirit and Word available to us, He stood in the face of Satan’s lures.
The baptism of Jesus speaks of His credibility and ties to us as our elder brother, the first born of a new creation. Where He leads, we can follow, because He has avoided none of the steps we must take. As He identified with us in His baptism, so we identify with Him and His redemption in ours. As His Spirit descends upon us in the new birth, we can ascend. Because He has been in the valley of temptation, we can be victorious.
Because He has born our sins, we can be free.
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January 11, 2020
Mighty God lifts humble humanity. All knowing and poly-focused Sovereign lifts the lowly. God of all sufficiency and no need cares to rectify injustice. LORD of creation, whose thoughts are beyond our thoughts .... Knows and enters into our thinking to reveal as much of Himself as ... As we can handle.
"He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground." - Psalm 147:4-6 (ESV)
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It is the little things we do to serve that make the big differences in life and in the world.
Who can know what one kind word will mean and what the ripple effects might be in the river of life?
We are going to be given some amazing opportunities today in our daily walk.
We are going to be interrupted, distracted, and disturbed. It may only take a minute, but what f that one minute was the most significant thing in our day ... with the longest and most far reaching implications,
Would you live all day for a few seconds of significance?
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I cannot think of any human enemies that I might have at this point in my life.
Nor can I remember the names or faces or stories of any I might have had along the way.
Maybe there have been some and I either did not notice or do not remember.
That is fine with me. In fact, it is my choice.
The story of David is not my story today, but it is the psalmist's.
And, there is a way it might be my story.
Digging deeper, it might be everyone's story every day because, positive and emotionally healthy people may not have a lot of people enemies (at least they seldom notice if they do), we have a truckload of spiritual enemies.
And they bring us down and, if we allow it, we waste away.
So, it is a suitable prayer for every day - especially days of fasting and prayer.
"My eyes are wasted with grief and worn away because of all my enemies." - Psalm 6:7
Note on Art:
Illumination from the Hours of Étienne Chevalier, created by the artist Jean Fouquet in the 1450s. David, in armour, kneels in penitence before God encircled by cherubim, while in the foreground lies a corpse, with devils torturing souls. Below, in gold capitals on a blue ground, are the opening words of Psalm 6: Domine ne in furore tuo arguas me neque in ira tua corripias me - "Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chastise me in thy wrath."
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I originally told this story ten years ago, but thought it might be time to revisit it.
It was a day much like today. I was on a mission and I had a plan. There is a certain level of pride and confidence that accompanies those two ideals.
However, I had a pretty good lesson in humility and pride on that particular day. It was a moment of internal embarrassment and readjustment in my thinking.
It was one of those outdoor shopping centers with a Best Buy and an Office Depot spaced with several other stores in between. I was comparing prices on laptops and calculating insurance reimbursements in light of a recent burglary. It was the upside of getting ripped off and having good coverage.
But that is not the story.
I had taken note of the order of the stores from the parking lot and calculated that I could get a nice walk accomplished just by moving between them and within them. I left Best Buy and began to walk toward Office Depot when a man crossed my path looking a bit dazed and confused and heading toward the Target Store.
When he was unable to open the door because he was attempting to enter through the exit, I mentally prepared to point at the entrance to help him out.
I may or may not have actually pointed. I am a little fuzzy on this point because the real work was going on inside me. There was a flash of smugness and superiority.
"I can read signs," I thought. "Why can't everyone else?"
That was short lived.
At the next shop, I entered through the correct door - without a hitch. It was not an exit. It was an entrance! How proud of myself, I was. "I can read signs."
Then, I looked around and, in a moment of bewilderment, observed racks of clothes.
"Why are they selling clothes at Office Depot?"
Had the world gone mad? Had there been a shift in reality?
They were not selling clothes at Office Depot it turned out.
They were selling clothes at T.J. Maxx.
Tom Sims, the great sign reader-observer, had entered the door of the wrong store while basking in the glory of in his ability to use the right door.
"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." - I Corinthians 10:12
In The Message, the extend version reads:
These are all warning markers—danger!—in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes. Our positions in the story are parallel—they at the beginning, we at the end—and we are just as capable of messing it up as they were. Don’t be so naive and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence.
No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.
So, which was worse, the wrong store or the wrong door?
Somehow, as I chuckled inside at my own fallibility and silly pride, I knew I would have to confess this in my blog and hang it out like dirty laundry for all the world to see.
I was reminded to cultivate God-confidence over self-confidence and embrace the tests of how well I am trusting that as a step of growth.
There was also some mention of a speck in your brother's eye and a plank in ones own as I recall ...
Brightest Brilliance, Breathtaking Vision, Expanding across a grey sky Dispelling darkness in a Festival of spectral colors.
Sine unfiltered Into these eyes dimmed and Heart quenched in the Calcifying hardness of my Stubborn stillness and Persistent self-interests.
Disturb me, God of Light. Trouble my soul from false and Superficial peace and Pastel imitations of Light Until I ... Desperately Earnestly Eagerly Seek and Find ...
LIGHT in Thee.
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“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples, but the LORD shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” - Isaiah 60:1-3
As you begin a new year, you will be turning the pages of the calendar and making some decisions emotionally. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? Are you embracing the passages of time or shunning them with fear and apprehension?
For every genuine human emotion, there is a superficial counterfeit. There is a kind of optimism that denies the reality of darkness and projects a positive facade in the hope that it will become real through some miracle of manipulation. That is not what God is evoking in this call to hope.
The reality is that darkness has covered the earth from time to time in her history as a precursor of the pervasive darkness of the last days. It is also true that out of that darkness, the brightest hopes and the most brilliant sunrises have emerged. We are a people of bright prospects. We do not deny the darkness nor seek to squelch it with artificial light. Nor do we focus on its power because it is fading and receding. The true light has come and we gaze upon it with the eyes of faith.
“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, " I John 1:5.
The great spectacle of His rising over us and within our hearts is a beacon in the darkness to the nations. As the children sing, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine,” so let us live with hope and genuine optimism.
Rise heart! Thy Lord is risen. Sing His praise. Sing His praise without delays. - George Herbert
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"Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position."-Wikipedia
In short, empathy, about which theologians, philosophers, linguists, psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, and criminologists have written volumes, is the capacity to feel the pain and passion of another person. It is the ability for us to put ourselves in someone else's shoes, see through their eyes, hear through their ears, and care deeply.
It makes us civilized. It makes us human. It equips us to become more than we are. In opens our hearts and minds. It enables us to build peace and to achieve mutual good. It facilitates understanding and service.
It is at a deficit in the narcissistic. It is nearly absent in psychopathology. It is developing in the young. It is seasoned in the old who have suffered with grace.
It is empowered by spiritual sensitivity when souls are connected with a God of compassion (σπλαγχνίζομαι) and it is in full bloom among those who seek it most.
It is necessary for an active life of intercessory prayer or a ministry of mercy.
The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The thronèd monarch better than his crown. His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptered sway. It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings; It is an attribute to God Himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this: That in the course of justice none of us Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy, And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea, Which, if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.
Though it is a sign of maturity, it is often seen most vividly in children. No wonder Jesus said that his kingdom was made up of such people. No wonder he said we must enter as children.
I can be right and be all wrong, if I have no empathy.
If I do not care, I have nothing to share.
I cannot speak to the soul of any whom I do not love. God can and may speak through my mouth, by working around my bad attitudes, but it will be in spite of the obstacles I erect.
If your pain does not SWAY my heart. I have nothing to SAY to your heart.
Real intercession flows from our capacity to empathize with compassion in Spirit and Truth.
There is no correlation between genuine empathy with compassion and our points of agreement with people who are suffering. We do not need to agree to care. If we possess the qualities of compassion and mercy, they are available to all who hurt.
In fact, they are most tested and revealed by their manifestation toward those who are most distant from us geographically, ethnically, ideologically, socially, economically, religiously, or through life experience.
Besides all of that, it is our call, mandate, and lifestyle.
"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail." - Lamentations 3:22 (NIV)
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." - Matthew 9:36 (NIV)
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." - Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)
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“Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.” – Psalm 33:3
There are three things that God reminds us of today that He would like for us to offer Him in worship.
The first is newness. He wants a new song.
Now an old song can be a new song if it is fresh and quickened by new awareness of God Himself or of some spiritual insight that has captured our hearts. He is not interested in innovation; He is concerned that we are being born anew in every act of worship toward Him.
He wants us to come to Him today with the same sense of wonder as when we first knew Him.
The second thing is He wants us to play skillfully. That means He wants the best we can offer.
God is not impressed with mediocrity when we can do better. He is not enamored with improvisation when it substitutes for preparation. He loves spontaneity, but He also loves and desires our full engagement of all our abilities and senses in truly worshiping Him as One who is worthy of the best we can offer.
The third thing is volume. That does not mean being loud for the sake of being loud. Nor does it mean fake volume of the sort that can be artificially produced by turning up the dial of our amplification systems.
It means engagement of the whole instrument in praise whether that is a piano, harp, guitar, or vocal mechanism. If we sing, we are called to sing with our whole bodies and souls.
It is for God and it is to God. Let us hold back nothing.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. - Matthew 2:1-2
When Jesus was born …
How common the words, how incidental they sound. Yet, they introduce an event of such significance that all of time is measured as before and after the coming of this one child into the world and the drama of His life, death, and resurrection.
When Jesus comes, it is a new day. Governments are in place imagining themselves all powerful and enduring and suddenly they sense that they are temporal and vulnerable. The truly wise recognize the waves of change in the cosmos and once again become seekers moving in the direction of the source of that change. They that move with the currents of change come to worship.
New days and new years are best observed by recognizing God and worshiping Him.
We measure small blocks of time in seconds and move up the continuum, pausing to recognize the passing of years. In a year we circle the sun and pass through all of the seasons. We count them off and, as they pass, we find ourselves counting faster and faster.
We mark off the old and look with anticipation upon the new.
And while all of that is going on, something is being born, a new life, a novel opportunity, a fresh idea, a renewed hope, and occasionally, a burst of light. We follow that light and it leads us to a manger where, in unassuming splendor and simple elegance, we encounter the Son of God.
There we worship.
Because of that ever present possibility of meeting God in the passages of time, we peek around the corner of every new day and every new year with anticipatory wonder.
We know, as did the wise men, why we have come to this time.
We have come to worship Him.
Happy New Life!
“And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. … And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God … And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! “ - John 1:32, 34, 36
Against the backdrop of the Christmas story, we meditate upon John’s testimony to the significance of the Incarnate Word of God. The Spirit descends, the record is borne, and the Lamb of God is revealed.
It is a transitional moment of transformational power. The formative years of Jesus’ life are complete and the babe we left in the manger is now a man who knows who He is and what his mission is on earth is to be. It is the conclusion of the Christmas story and the beginning of a ministry that will culminate in His passion.
Jesus comes to John to be baptized and His baptism is a celebration of new life and new possibilities.
He stands with sinners though He has never sinned. He enters into the symbol of repentance for the sins that we have committed. He identifies intimately with humanity and in that act of identification, God sends forth His own Spirit to visibly and dramatically identify with Him.
It is a new day. In much the same way that we mark a new year with noise and celebration, God marks the ministry of Christ with John’s declaration, “This is the Son of God,” followed by “Look everyone! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World!”
The old is passing away. The new has come. From now on baptism will mean something entirely different and no one will need to be imprisoned in their despair of sin. New years had come and gone for centuries with their twin commemoration of the Day of Atonement. This was no mere new year. This announcement was of new life!
Happy New Life!
When the Time Comes
“And when the days …. were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;” - Luke 2:22
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven … ” - Ecclesiastes 3:1
Everything has a right time and season.
Even in the life of Jesus, from earliest childhood, this was true.
Farmers know this. Chefs, bread makers, glass makers, road builders, and river rafters follow this principle. For everything, there is a season. When the days or the hours or the minutes are accomplished, we do what is right for the moment.
This is in accordance with God’s purposes under heaven.
Some things take time to grow, ferment, and season. Science and history join hands to testify to this.
Our days amplify the reality. We have our coffee in the morning and our herbal tea or warm milk in the evening.
There are seasons of our lives.
We giggle, gurgle, and coo until we learn to play. As we develop coordination and skill, our games increase in sophistication. There is, then, a time to learn and prepare, then work, marriage, parenting, emptying the next, growing old gracefully, and finally, going home to Jesus and making space for another in this world of time and space.
God, who exists in fullness outside of time and space, chooses to enter into our realm to relate to us and to guide us toward His eternal purposes. He dwells here within us, acts in an orderly fashion, and though He could do so, chooses not to compress all of history into one millisecond of a moment just to get it over with.
He chooses to do what He does so well, in the fullness of time as days are accomplished. He chooses to flow through the rhythms of time.
What time is it in your life? What is so new about a new year for you? What is ready to be accomplished? What is next?
It's Christmas! Happy Easter!
What did you get for Christmas? Would you settle for some fish?
Jesus received gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but it was years late and followed by a life of rejection and a cross at the end of the road. Once he found a coin in a fish to pay His taxes and, another time, He took a few fish and some bread and fed a mob of thousands. He was particularly fond of some fishermen and called them to follow Him and fish for men. He changed one of them into a shepherd over a plate of fish.
"Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead." (John 21:12-14)
What a marvelous Christmas and Easter gift it was! The risen Christ met His disciples in the course of their lives and invited them to come and dine with Him. It was in that setting that Jesus walked Simon Peter back through the steps of rejection he had taken through a reaffirmation of his love and a new commission to feed His very own sheep.
Jesus meets us in the course of our lives along the shores of wherever we are struggling to get by. He shows us how to do what we are doing better, but interrupts us for something more important. He calls us to sit down with Him in intimate fellowship, to be fed on His sacrifice, forgiven by His grace, and sent forth in His power to feed others.
And it's the greatest Christmas, New Year's, Easter gift of all: the gift of His saving presence and His calling.
It's Christmas! Happy Easter! Happy New Year! Go forth!
Everything is new!
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