Friday, September 3, 2010

Luke 13:33
So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

*      *      *       *      *       *       *        *
It is one of those Biblical statements that makes a person snap their heads up.  It is a call for complete committment, not the comfortable-clothes kind of Christianity.  In a small group discussion I was in yesterday, I heard the questions posed to us  – “If others could only watch you spend your time, how you spend your money, what you love, who you love, do you think they would see that Jesus was risen from the dead? – If people only had your life as the only example to look at and they were asked the question, ‘Has Jesus risen from the dead?’ how would they answer?” The kind of follower of Christ I want to be would want to answer unequivocally “Yes!”  The kind of follower I am more often than not is one who hesitates, slows in their step to search for answer that isn’t a luke-warm pile of empty excuses for not being more absolutely committed in every area of my life.  To follow Jesus for this time and place, in this age, means to be committed to a movement that exploded out of a dead man’s tomb so that all would know a love greater than any affection toward any thing that has ever owned us.  May our lives this day look more like an explosion of life-giving love than a tomb of possessions.
*       *       *       *       *       *      *      *

Lord, give us again the vision of your mission in the world so that we might get up and join you in making it happen. Amen

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Philemon 1:7-9
I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother. For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love.
*        *        *        *         *         *         *    
In a recent book, the author describes the faith of a teenagers today as mostly “fake” because most of the youth included in the study could not articulate what they believed about God, faith and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  The author pointed the finger at churches that are spoon-feeding the flock with a watered-down version of the Gospel for the purpose of bolstering delicate self-esteem.  A feel-good Gospel for a culture that values feeling good. The study’s findings caused me to evaluate the messages of my sermons, ELOGOS, individual conversations. I don’t feel as free as Paul did to say to a brother or sister in Christ, “Do your duty!”  Pushing people into lives of discipleship seems to only produce guilt or resentment or even anger. Pushing people who are on the verge of falling apart is next to cruel. So we back-pedal and soften up the message for the sake of love.  There is a point at which we have to love the stranger more than we need to be loved ourselves.  Christian brothers and sisters, for the sake of the one who died for us, let us do our duty.
*        *       *       *         *       *        *      

ord, give us the courage to change so that our hearts may be open to the needs of all. Amen

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Psalm 139:4-5
Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

*        *     *     *      *      *     *      *      *
So, here is my rant-du-jour. We can replace knees and hips.  We can transplant organs.  Why can’t we find a way to replace that filter that keeps things from flying out of our mouths?  Clearly, these filters are sometimes faulty or have been used by the owner for so long that they need replacing.  I wish there was a filter that could be implanted and regulated like a pace-maker or lap-band surgery.  We can relax the filter around trusted friends and tighten it up at work or with the spouse’s relatiives.  Alas, we are left to hem in our own words.  We could go the extra step of bouncing the words off God first.  Sounds like a good plan but in the nanosecond of time between the thought and the vocalized word, we rarely go through that much effort. We are left to trust the God who knows our heart, our intentions and will be there with us to pick up the pieces of what our words might have shattered so that we can learn and live to speak another day.
*       *       *       *       *       *      *      *

Holy God, make me an instrument of your peace. Amen

Monday, August 30, 2010

Jeremiah 18:4-6
The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *      *     *
One of tragedies of the hurricane that hit Galveston a couple years ago is that the old oak trees that stood as stately living architecture lining streets were killed by the salt water surge that flooded the island.  We mourned to see the strong centinels of island history felled.  The woodworkers, furniture builders and artists swarmed over the wood to give it new life as an replacement oak for ship restoration, furniture and craft items.  Even the large stumps were crafted into incredible carvings. What we offer up to God may feel as lifeless as a hurricane-ravaged tree, but in God’s hands we can be reshaped, restored, re-purposed for God’s mission in the world.
*        *     *     *      *      *      *     *

Holy God, take our lives that they may be ever, always, all for thee.  Amen

Friday, August 27, 2010

Luke 14:11
For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *      *     *
When it comes to humbling oneself, I don’t think the Lord meant the act of brushing off a compliment.  Who or what humbles us?  I am humbled when I witness love between a wife and a husband that involves herculean strength and somehow even in their own frailty they find such strength.  I am humbled by single parents who never have an ounce a time for themselves, who drain themselves dry so that their children with know wholeness instead of brokeness. I am humbled by those who move through their lives with deep joy and are incomplete unless they can help others find joy too. I am humbled by those who choose to live more simply for the ability to serve others more effectively. I am humbled by those who know what their gifts are, give them and don’t lose too much sleep over the gifts that they don’t have to give.  I am humbled by a child in a parent’s arms because just when I feel the envy of wanting to be as comfortable and as comforted as that child, it occurs to me that to God, I am that child. So are we all.
*       *      *      *      *       *      *      *     *

Forgive us, Lord, when we get too much in our own way.  Amen

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hebrews 13:3
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.
*       *       *       *       *        *       *   
There are 33 miners trapped alive in a Chilean copper mine.  It will be months before they can be rescued. It takes my breath away just thinking about what they and their families must be going through.  Whether the prison is accidental, intentional, mental or physical, we all know people in prison. To enter into a person’s prison is a risky and compassionate act.  We risk the exhaustion and anxiety of being entrapped with them.  We carry with us the freedom of the Spirit of God alive in their lives.  One day, the prison walls will fall away forever, but until then we brave the darkness for the sake of the light.

*      *       *       *       *        *        *

Holy God, grant us the courage to enter one another’s prisons to breath hope into spaces of despair. Amen

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Psalm 81:11-12
But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.

*      *       *      *       *       *        *      *
The youth know that one of their behaviors that “pushes my buttons” is the side conversations they have while I am talking or while one of their peers is speaking to the group. It is disrespectful.  It doesn’t help with their learning process and it disrupts the class. The adults do the same thing and we are more difficult to chastise. I have had my own moments of failing to keep my own rule and have been “shushed” by people sitting around me because they could not hear over my chatter. The solution of yelling louder just adds more noise and never solves anything.  God could shatter our eardrums if he wanted to.  Instead, he leaves us to listen to whatever voices we choose.  God continues to talk to us when we finally get around to listening. That he doesn’t give up completely is the stuff of miracles.
*      *        *       *       *       *      *       *

Holy God, help us to turn our ears in your direction. Amen

Monday, August 23, 2010

Jeremiah 2:12-13
Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

*        *        *        *         *         *        *         *
A noted author recently made a small headline that declared she had given up Christianity.  Given the hatred, the intolerance, the perpetuation of bigotry and injustice and consumerism that has found rich soil in the Christian Church for centuries, it is a fairly understandable decision.  Religion is out, spirituality is in.  Institutional dogma is out, authenticity is in.  We are in the midst of a great new kind of “course correction” – a reformation of a sort.  We are being called back to what is important.  We are questioning what we have adopted over the years as tenets of the faith that have just created more walls than highways. We can make long lists of what we don’t like the Christian Church today, but what do we believe is true?  What holds water?  We could spend our lives building something that is more likely to leak than hold water or we can believe in the water that holds us.
*        *       *       *       *       *       *       *       *

May we splash and serve in the waters of our baptism, now and always, Lord. Amen

Friday, August 20, 2010

Luke 1:43
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
*      *      *      *      *      *      *      *     
My dog loves to be close to me.  She does not, however, like to follow me.  She likes to walk ahead of me.  She lingers just a few feet ahead of me with her head cocked toward me trying to anticipate my moves. When I commit to a direction, she charges ahead with tag wagging and ears flapping.  The last thing she wants is to be separated from my presence.   There are times when we need to lead and when we need to follow and it isn’t always clear when we should do what.  There are worse times when we want to do neither and we spin our wheels going no where.  The risk involved in being the leader all the time is that we are doomed to fail sometimes. The risk of following is in choosing who we follow and what that leader will do with us when we fail and we will fail. Jesus doesn’t offer us an easy road. He offers his presence and a promise.  He will give us everything we need for the journey and he will not leave us behind.

*      *    *     *       *      *       *       *

Holy God, we will follow you. Please don’t walk too fast.  Amen

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Luke 13:14-15
But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?

*        *       *       *        *         *        *         *
Last night a group of teenagers and a few adults were discussing plans for the coming year.  The largest group of youth were gathered around a table, talking among themselves more than sharing with the group,  and too distant from the main focus. The group felt scattered to me and so I asked them to move their chairs and get closer together for our conversation.  One youth didn’t see the point and so he just move the table a few inches closer but stayed in his seat.  He had been obedient to the letter of the law I was requesting but failed to see my purpose. I thought I was right in trying to get them to focus more, but I missed the point too.  I should have moved my chair closer to where the youth were gathered.  Wherever there are laws, there are those who are trying to find loopholes. Wherever there are people trying to follow every rule, there are those who forget to love.  God save us from our own lovelessness.
*       *       *      *       *       *       *        *

Holy God, forgive us our arrogance and warm our hearts into rivers of compassion. Amen