Monthly Archives: July 2012
In God we Trust…so will we?
Today’s thought and devotion:
It seems that many Christians today are on crusades. Those crusades can be very different – but they are often against our leaders, or those who wish to be our leaders. With heavy hearts and loads of anxiety we worry about our future, and our children’s. It can get to the point where we lose control – and the anxiety causes us to… well lets be honest… sin. Especially in thought and with our words, as we pass along tweets and posts that we think “zing” those we oppose. But what happens if we measure them against scripture. For instance, as Paul talks about living in joy, and being anxious for nothing he writes:
4:4 Always be joyful, then, in the Lord; I repeat, be joyful. 5 Let your good sense be obvious to everybody. The Lord is near. 6 Never worry about anything; but tell God all your desires of every kind in prayer and petition shot through with gratitude, 7 and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, let your minds be filled with everything that is true, everything that is honourable, everything that is upright and pure, everything that we love and admire—with whatever is good and praiseworthy. 9 Keep doing everything you learnt from me and were told by me and have heard or seen me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4-9 (NJB)
Those highlighted words are hard to hear – in these days were we see a sharp retort or a really smart comment, and hit “share”before we think about how the post affects us. Does it cause our faith to fail, and if so, our faith in whom? Does engaging in such boost our pride, and rob us of our peace? Does it breed more anxiety over our situation, as we continue to bear witness that is negative and fatalistic. Do our sarcastic and cynical quips stop us from discussing the true issues – and paralyze us from actually engaging in God-pleasing actions to make a difference. What is the impact of our own unrighteousness, as we encourage dishonor, and do we think what it does to that which is truly important that we bear witness to – the mercy of Christ?
I am serious, when I make the claim that our political activisim can easily work to undermine our faith, without consideration to whose “side” we are on. It as much how we battle, and how we speak, that creates brokeness as it is the issue or the person we are backing, or opposing. In the heat of the moment, as our anxiety gets the better of us, we don’t realize it.
So here is the challenge – do we look first to God, do we consider the mercy of Christ and such things as Peter wrote about the Emperor who would order his death, when he wrote – Respect the Emperor… Do we grasp what our actions will do to our witness of God’s presence and the peace it brings? Do we realize what dwelling in all this muck and mire will do to us, how it will result in even more brokenness in our lives?
DO we look to Jesus, and embrace Him, as Psalm 2 says, when it considers the schemes and plans and evils of leaders? Let us find Christ’s joy and peace and the great things Paul thinks of – then let us engage the world. From the position of His strength, trusting in His promises…
and crying our in faith, Lord have mercy!
May we be confident that He will…
The Church: Broken People healing while helping others heal
Devotional thought of the day:
It was one of those conversations I will never forget. A dad – obviously by the tatoos and mannerisms and piercings he one who had been challenged with a past. He was sitting on the planter, outside of my church, the night of a preschool graduation. As I walked by in my clerical collar, I greeted him, and asked him if he was shocked about how fast time flies and our kids grow up. His response shocked me,
“Pastor, I know with my tats and my piercings, I am not allowed in the church, but can I watch the graduation from the lobby”
I am still shocked someone would think that about any church, and even more schocked that they would think that about my church. Of course you are welcome in the house of God. Of course you can come – that’s why your child came in the first place. You see, my people aren’t anything like that, they wouldn’t care about the tats, or the piercings, they would be glad the man was there. More importantly God wants him to be welcome, to know the Lord’s presence is with him. I invited him in and told him to sit up front – where he would get a good view of it all. (People tend to stand up a lot to take pictures at such graduations, not thinking that they are blocking someone else’s view. ) But his response… really, is amazing, and it makes me wonder about our churches….the Church. How could they not know?
Luke’s story of Jesus love tells of an incident. One time, in dealing with some people that were a bit too self-righteous, he records “Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? 32 I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.” Luke 5:31-32 (MSG)
Church isn’t a place for perfect people – they don’t need to be there – they are perfect. It’s a place for broken people, people broken by the sins of this world, and yes, by their own sins as well. Its a place to heal, to have relationships fixed, to be assured of God’s love and His desire to work in our lives, as He speaks life into our tired, weary, and spiritually dead souls. As He makes His desire, His plan perfectly clear.
We belong in His presence, not because we are perfect, but because He desires us to be there, and makes it possible.
I am still not sure if the man believed me or not. I got the feeling that he had been turned away from other churches, in other times. I look at the planter daily, and often remembered our conversation. It is one of the reasons that Concordia’s mission statement, our motto, is simple…
“Where people find healing in Christ, while helping others heal…”
Lord Jesus, in our brokenness, come into our lives, bring healing, peace, rest, comfort, and open our eyes to those around us who need what You freely have given, for that is the Father’s desire, and why you came. Lord have mercy, and teach us to share that with all those around us. Lord as well, help us to never hide that brokenness, that weakness – from you or from those who need to see You working, bringing healing to us. Seeing that – may they realize it is theirs as well. †
AMEN
Prayer is not a FB update!
Thought of the day:
He has become so small—you see: an infant!—so that you can come close to him with confidence. Escriva, Josemaria
In these days of social media – it seems that we communicate more. I am not so sure of that – we may type more words, we may text and twit, we may read the updates of our friends on facebook, ut do we really communicate? There is far more to communication than words – there is body language, intonation, personality, culture, and… intimacy.
Example – if a person from group A says something to someone in group A, even if it is a very negative term for the group they are a part of, there is no issue. Yet the same exact phrase from someone outside of the group – say from group C – oh my gosh, the world is about to end, for world war three has started.
Social Media gives us the illusion of communication – but without all the things that make it comprise it, the “communication” is far more shallow, far less a dialogue, and far easier to misunderstand. I bring this up. I bring this up because I think we treat prayer like a facebook update at times. We tell God what we need Him to know – here it is – and we bulk send a ton of posts. We treat God as if He is as far as the person we are messaging (well except for those times when you message your spouse sitting 26 inches from you!) and we expect that some time later we will get a “y” or NO or a ROFL from God in return.
Prayer is intimate conversation – the most intimate. We see God’s desire for that in that He didn’t come as a great king – with thousands of guards that prevents us from coming close. He has come close, come near – come as a baby – grew up as we did, lived life with all its heart breaks, joys, sorrows, sacrifices, laughter…….He has come near… that we could be near Him, talk to Him, cry on His shoulder, be caught up in His joy as another child of the Father is revealed. He has sent the Spirit, the Comforter to abide with us, to indwell in us, a promise of our baptism, the guarantee of our inheritance, the guide and power of our lives.
Don’t mistake the tiny infant in the cradle for someone weak, someone fragile.. He was there..for you. To know how close you can come to Him……..to know how intimate our relationship is with Him
To know His mercy, to share in His peace..
So talk to Him.. know Him..adore Him, and fall in love with the God who has come near..
His Plan His Desire take II
His Plan, His Desire, His People, “in Christ”!
Ephesians 1:3-14
† In Jesus Name †
May our lives bless our Father in Heaven, as it is revealed to us that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing! AMEN!
Too personal? Yeah… so what
It is one of those things that is hard to explain, but every time I preach on this epistle passage, I overlook the obvious connection I have to it. Perhaps it is because it is too personal, to talk about what it means to be adopted, or I find a way to gloss over it. Make the connection, and move on.
The emotional overload that comes, when discussing the challenges that face an adopted kid are immense – there are incredible joys, and yet incredible questions, In my case, having met my birth mom 6 years ago this week – there is knowing the incredible love of two mothers, both of whom were intimately involved in making me, you pastor. I am truly blessed, but even more so when I realize how different, more incredible God’s adoption of all us is…
Preaching on God adopting us is somewhat challenging then, as describing God making us His children opens levels of stuff I am not used to letting people see. So, I usually don’t. I come up with other ways to explain it, but a quick online comment of my high school coach made me change this sermon this morning….
But it is important to grasp the intimacy, the intentionality in God’s choice, in God wanting to make us His children, and in paying the price to process it – the price of Christ’s blood. For if we understand God’s choice,
So be aware, this sermon may be a little rougher than usual, as I re-wrote the sermon this morning, knowing I had to bring it up this way….
For we need to grasp what it means for God to choose us, to bring us into the Family that is the Trinity, to grasp this incredible blessing
Chose us in Him
On April 1st, 1965, when Thomas and Marie Parker went to Catholic Charities in Lawrence, Massachusetts, they weren’t sure what they were getting themselves into. They had been waiting to adopt a girl, but they had been called a few days before. The couple originally slated to get me had panicked, or maybe had a vision, and bailed on the process. Some have said that April 1st date was very appropriate…
My folks came and got me, adopted me as their own, and would eventually get the daughter a few years later. I used to joke with my friends that while their parents were stuck with them, mine chose me. But they didn’t choose me, they chose to adopt, if they had only known what they were getting themselves into…
God’s a bit different. He knows all about us, every moment of our lives… and chooses to adopt us. Paul tells us that the Father has “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.”
It is in choosing us, that we find every spiritual blessing coming upon us, it is there that that we realize that we aren’t just after thoughts in God’s plan, but indeed the focus of His will, and His desire. From before the foundation of the earth, He has chosen mankind to have a special relationship with Him, and demonstrated that choice by placing us in Christ.
There, we find out what He has chosen us for, to be His children, adopted because of Jesus Christ, for it is in Christ that we are found to be holy and blameless, set apart for something special, with nothing able to mar or change that choice. To share in the life and love of God, in what sounds amazing – to become part of that relationship that exists between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. To share in such a relationship, as one of my friends has described it in a song – to join in the Trinity’s dance.
This indeed Paul tells us is no accident, it was a choice made from before the foundation of the world. It is the very purpose of His will – or as another translation explains it – it is the plan to achieve God’s greatest desire. Peter phrases it this way,
3:9 The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NJB)
The Lord’s choice, to choose you in Him, in Christ…knowing everything about you…
Riches of His gift, lavished upon us
When my parents adopted me, there was little idea of the costs, financial, emotional, the nights sitting with me in the hospital over the years, the shock of finding out I have Marfans and the complications it brings.. the challenges they faced because of the odd person I am, but they didn’t know the cost. That is where God the Father adopting us is so radically different. He did know the cost… the cost of adopting us, of making us holy and blameless was very high. Paul writes in verse 7.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
In Christ’s death, we have been paid for, our lives purchased at the price of His sacrifice on the cross. He did this that because of the great grace, the gift which he lavishes upon us, why? Even more incredibly, Hebrews tells us it was for joy that Christ embraced that payment – as He, loving each of us, embraced that cross.
Paul calls this the making known of the mystery of His will, this incredible grace lavished upon us, as God picks us up in our brokenness, and instead of throwing us away, carefully repairs and heals us, bringing us into Himself, that we might be one with Him. Imagine everything perfect, in His presence, a place where doors don’t creak and neither do our bodies, where our relationships are finally the way they should be, including our relationship with our Father, where we finally let God be God, and we rejoice in knowing we are His children, His people, His chosen people.
This is our lot for all eternity, that which God has planned for us! It is the life God has given to us, this great mystery of why He would choose us to be His children, that even as He makes this true now, we struggle to realize it, for we struggle to realize we are in Christ, we are in the Beloved son of God, and therefore share in the Father’s love.
How we got there?
We are the children of the king – waiting for that moment when we reach full maturity, when we share in His kingdom. It is true now, and yet like a child waiting to reach the age of inheritance, we struggle with it. Indeed, we need to be reminded of it often, and how and when this incredible thing happened.
Paul explains it in verse 13
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
It’s the same story throughout scripture – the way we become His children, according to His plan is when we hear the truth – the truth of His love for us, that is this gospel, this good news.
It is the message of His love that causes us to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to realize that our very lives are in His hands, and that this is a good thing!
That when we were baptized, God marked us, He sealed us as His children, the sign of the cross is what we were marked with, that even as we share in Christ’ death, we too share in His resurrection, for we live in Him.
That has been His plan all along, a plan we have only begun to realize. We are still children, waiting for our inheritance to become ours. Waiting to reach the maturity of Christ, when we visibly know we are in His kingdom.
Until that day, we have a guarantee, a down payment if you will. Something incredibly wonderful, something beyond our comprehension! The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, what Peter describes as the gift of God’s Spirit, which Paul will also describe as our being the temple – the living place of the Spirit of God, the one called the Comforter, the Lord and Giver of life…
Here, in us, even as we dwell in Him….even as we are, right now, His children. His heirs, as we live in the Beloved. Chosen by Him, chosen to be in Him, adopted as His. With all the knowledge of who we are, what we’ve done…..
He made us His.
So knowing this we can rejoice as Paul does and declare, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… for we live in Christ. AMEN?
His Plan His Desire His People in Christ
His Plan, His Desire, His People, “in Christ”!
Ephesians 1:3-14
† In Jesus Name †
May our lives bless our Father in Heaven, as it is revealed to us that He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing! AMEN!
A preposition for you!
I have a life changing preposition for you!
Two little letters that change everything in life, that change our priorities, our plans, our dreams. That gives life and meaning to life, even in these days when our world chases after all the things that are vain, that do not satisfy, that cannot make a difference.
I have a preposition for you my friends.. not a proposition – a preposition.
Remember that list you memorized, about above among around at behind before, remember those things? Well in today’s epistle, one keeps showing up – and it makes all the difference in the world,
For it is combined with a pronoun – that word that takes the place of a name? Two letters for the preposition, and three letters for the pronoun and the world is shaken, and everything made new…so radical a change in life these two simple words, these five letters, that our reaction to them is nothing less than to praise and glorify God, to bless Him, to in awe applaud His work.
The pronoun is Him, the preposition I have for you to consider is…
“In”
And when we realize what it means to be “in Him” we begin to realize how much of our life, our world has changed… even as we wait for the day when we fully understand it.
Chose us in Him
Of the dozen or so times the preposition and pronoun, (or a noun the preposition refers to) appears in this passage, we have to start somewhere to examine this incredible concept. So let’s look at one first, there in the beginning of verse four, when Paul tells us that the Father has “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.”
It is in choosing us, that we find every spiritual blessing coming upon us, it is there that that we realize that we aren’t just after thoughts in God’s plan, but indeed the focus of His will, and His desire. From before the foundation of the earth, He has chosen mankind to have a special relationship with Him, and demonstrated that choice by placing us in Christ.
There, we find out what He has chosen us for, to be His children, adopted because of Jesus Christ, for it is in Christ that we are found to be holy and blameless, set apart for something special, with nothing able to mar or change that choice. To share in the life and love of God, in what sounds amazing – to become part of that relationship that exists between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. To share in such a relationship, as one of my friends has described it in a song – to join in the Trinity’s dance.
This indeed Paul tells us is no accident, it was a choice made from before the foundation of the world. It is the very purpose of His will – or as another translation explains it – it is the plan to achieve God’s greatest desire. Peter phrases it this way,
3:9 The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NJB)
The Lord’s choice, to choose you in Him, in Christ…
Riches of His gift, lavished upon us
The next “in Him” to look at is in verse 7 and 8, as we read,
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight
In Christ’s death, we have been paid for, our lives redeemed at the price of His sacrifice on the cross. He did this that because of the great grace, the gift which he lavishes upon us, why?
Paul calls this the making known of the mystery of His will, this incredible grace lavished upon us, as God picks us up in our brokenness, and instead of throwing us away, carefull repairs and heals us, bringing us into Himself, that we might be one with Him. Imagine everything perfect, in His presence, a place where doors don’t creak and neither do our bodies, where our relationships are finally the way they should be, including our relationship with our Father, where we finally let God be God, and we rejoice in knowing we are His chosen people.
This is our lot for all eternity, that which God has planned for us, the life God has given to us, this great mystery of why He would choose us to be His children, that even as He makes this true now, we struggle to realize it, for we struggle to realize we are in Christ, we are in the Beloved son of God, and therefore share in the Father’s love.
How we got there?
We are the children of the king – waiting for that moment when we reach full maturity, when we share in His kingdom. It is true now, and yet like a child waiting to reach the age of inheritance, we struggle with it. Indeed, we need to be reminded of it often, and how and when this incredible thing happened.
Paul explains it in verse 13
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
It’s the same story throughout scripture – the way we become His children, according to His plan is when we hear the truth – the truth of His love for us, that is this gospel, this good news.
It is the message of His love that causes us to trust in Him, to believe in Him, to realize that our very lives are in His hands, and that this is a good thing!
That when we were baptized, God marked us, He sealed us as His children, the sign of the cross is what we were marked with, that even as we share in Christ’ death, we too share in His resurrection, for we live in Him.
That has been His plan all along, a plan we have only begun to realize…. For we are still children, waiting for our inheritance to become ours, for us to reach the maturity of Christ, when we visibly know we are in His kingdom.
Until that day, we have a guarantee, a down payment if you will. Something incredibly wonderful, something beyond our comprehension. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, what Peter describes as the gift of God’s Spirit, which Paul will also describe as our being the temple – the living place of the Spirit of God, the one called the Comforter, the Lord and Giver of life…
Here, in us, even as we dwell in Him….
A preposition for you my friends, a truth that is so incredible..found as we hear that we are “in”….
In Christ!
So knowing this we can rejoice as Paul does and declare, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… AMEN!
What do you pray…about?
Devotional/discussion thought of the day:
“You wrote to me,”To pray is to talk with God. But about what?” About Him, about yourself. joys and sorrows, success and failures, great ambitions, daily worries – even your weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions, and love and reparation.
In short, get to know Him, and get to know yourself – ‘to get acquainted” Escriva
Sometime I think we project prayer as some kind of duty, an obligation, a spiritual check in with Dad as we approach curfew. We pray because we are told to, we pray because we are expected to, because we are good people.
If our prayer is only that, then we miss a lot, as we don’t comprehend the heart of the God who reveals Himself as our Father. Who longs to share His life with us, who longs to be with us, Prayer is a conversation with no bounds, and requires no special dignity or formal language. The Lord’s prayer is a basic outline – consider all the things covered by it! Yet as well, there are times where we need solitude and peace, those times too are times of prayer, as are times where we complain and rant and throw a tantrum like Jeremiah, or plead as Paul does for things to get better.
Recently, Andy Griffith died, and most of us recall first the closing to his television show, and he and a very young Ron Howard walk down a dirt road, on the way to go fishing. Such is the nature of the relationship we have with God….as we walk through life together…. know He is there… share the day with Him, rejoice as He pours out His love and mercy and grace… and talk.. and listen,
That is prayer…. try it… often!
The Believer, Nascar, and Message
Discussion/Devotional Thought of the day..
Normally, I am not much impressed by car racing. For one, the speeds aren’t much faster than 30 years ago. Another is going 500 miles around in a circle, or worse, watching someone go round and round for 500 miles… well – it’s about as much fun as watching a dog chase its tail for 3-4 hours straight!
But I was thinking about our lives, all of humanity, and the message of prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah. It wasn’t cars or puppies they watched going in circles and chasing their tails, it was the people who should have known God, who should have rested in His love, depended upon His mercy and strength, and listened to God. God warned these prophets, with a warning we too should heed. People can be stubborn and set in their ways, and they may or may not listen to the message of God’s love.
Things aren’t much different today. We still see people struggling with hearing God, truly hearing – and seeing that word of God change their lives. It seems just as we finish one lap, we survive one trauma – whether natural or self-inflicted, and we have to turn back to grace. It seems endless (much like a car race! ) But a few things – that the Christian life and Nascar have in common.
1. There is an end to the race. Really, truly (and unlike Nascar – we get to share the winner circle – together!
2. The race is basiclly turning the same way – each and every time. In nascar – its to the left. in faith, its turning to Christ.
3. Survival doesn’t go to the one who finishes any one lap faster than everyone else – its a marathon….
4. Get the right equipment for the race.. (Car, Tires, and Scripture)
5. Stay hydrated and watch your intake… ( the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper – see 1 Corinthians 11!)
Ultimately this will fall short – there are accidents in nascar that drop you our of the race. But not in life, the Holy Spirit can and does repair them, helps them focus on our guide for the journey. Here is how St Paul said it.
3:13 Brothers, I do not reckon myself as having taken hold of it; I can only say that forgetting all that lies behind me, and straining forward to what lies in front, 14 I am racing towards the finishing-point to win the prize of God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. 15 So this is the way in which all of us who are mature should be thinking, and if you are still thinking differently in any way, then God has yet to make this matter clear to you. 16 Meanwhile, let us go forward from the point we have each attained.
Philippians 3:13-16 (NJB)
So do not grow weary, the race is not forever… and the victory in guaranteed – so run this race with great joy.
Knowing the Lord has had mercy on us. AMEN
Connected…
Discussion/Devotional Quote of the day:
In the introduction to a book of Josemarie Escriva’s sermons, I read this,
When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom 8: 14–17). This text speaks to us about the Blessed Trinity, which is another frequent theme in these homilies. It also reminds us that Jesus Christ is the way leading to the Father through the Holy Spirit. He is our brother, our friend—the Friend—our master and lord and king. The Christian life, then, means being continuously in touch with Christ in the context of our ordinary life, without abandoning our rightful place. How does this contact take place? Monsignor Escrivá explains very concisely: “In the bread and in the word.”
Escriva, Josemaria. Christ is Passing By
I was recently told that the only hope for the church was to be found in a “annointed man’s” understanding of the book of Revelation and the end times passages of Matthew.
I don’t think so, for Paul declined talking of such things in detail – saying it wouldn’t be of benefit to the church. What matters – that we understand His grace is all we need. (funny coincidence that I just preached on that!) That we, because of Christ, and through the Holy Spirit can cry out Abba, Father! That is where our hope lies! Not in someone’s speculation – but instead in a intimate dance with the Trinity, as they pull us into their relationship…
That comes, as the introduction tells me this priest points out – as we hear God’s logos, His word, His reason, His plan.. as we see that plan re-revealed as we come again to the feast which is a foretaste to come, as we commune with our Lord, as He communes with us. This is not just some simple ritual, this gathering of people who walk with God, it is an intimate encounter with God, the I AM – and because He is, as we commune with Him, we find out that we are…. His. It’s where we enjoy the dance, where we are reminded of the depth, height, width, and breadth of God’s love, of that fact that His peace is so incredible, that we can rest in His presence, rejoicing that we are welcome there…
God’s Revelation, the Apocalypse, the Unveiling (they are all translations of the same word) is not about the calendar – its about the relationship, the assurance that God is with us, that He is always HERE. If we can learn that… if we can hold on to that… we won’t have to change the church… we will realize that we are being changed… as we walk in Christ.
That is the reason we have hope… when we realize…
The Lord has had Mercy… on us..
Words of Life
Discussion thought for the day:
At lunch yesterday, I was reading a biography of a priest. He was serving in Spain during the Civil War that tore apart the country prior to World War II, and as he and many others were escaping across the mountains, the biographer included this…
“The student from Catalonia kept a journal of his experiences on the trip. On November 28 he wrote, “Here the most moving event of the whole trip takes place: Holy Mass. On a rock and kneeling down, almost prostrate on the ground, a priest with us is saying Mass. He doesn’t say it like other priests in churches…. His clear and heartfelt words penetrate the soul. Never have I attended Mass like today’s. “*
As a Lutheran pastor, such an impact is what I would desire – that no matter the location, a incredible cathedral, a simple chapel, a campground or on a retreat (this has happened on a few retreats I have been on – where everyone just knew… it was time to drop everything else… and rearrange the day around communion). It is not the location, by no means, but the miracle of God, dwelling in the midst of His people….
Such words as the student’s…most pastors and priests I know… would love to hear… because it means God is working through us…
To know that God could use, would use our words, much as this priest’s, much as St. Peter’s at Pentecost. To bring life and hope, to re-create the scene in Ezekiel 37, where life was generated, breathed into being… That the people would realize, not the presence of the pastor/priest, but the presence of God reaching them through the words, through the sacrament…
It brings to mind the words of Peter, as Jesus was abandoned by so many… and Jesus asks if they would desert him as well…
6:68 ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life, 69 and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.’
John 6:68-69 (NJB)
May our words, the words of Pastors and Priests in mass/service, and the words of our people so be heard… for they are not ours – but His – words of eternal life, words that are clear, and heartfelt, but that penetrate souls…
* de Prada, Andres Vazquez (2011-04-19). The Founder of Opus Dei: Volume II, God and Daring (The Life of Josemaria Escriva) (Kindle Locations 3453-3456). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
