Monthly Archives: October 2013
The Power and Mystery of the Faith…..
Devotional THought of the Day:
“And because he offers and promises forgiveness of sins, it cannot be received except by faith. This faith he himself demands in the Word when he says, “Given for you” and “poured out for you,” as if he said, “This is why I give it and bid you eat and drink, that you may take it as your own and enjoy it.”
35 Whoever lets these words be addressed to him and believes that they are true has what the words declare. But he who does not believe has nothing, for he lets this gracious blessing be offered to him in vain and refuses to enjoy it. The treasure is opened and placed at everyone’s door, yes, upon everyone’s table, but it is also your responsibility to take it and confidently believe that it is just as the words tell you.
36 This, now, is the preparation required of a Christian for receiving this sacrament worthily. Since this treasure is fully offered in the words, it can be grasped and appropriated only by the heart. Such a gift and eternal treasure cannot be seized with the hand.
37 Fasting and prayer and the like may have their place as an external preparation and children’s exercise so that one’s body may behave properly and reverently toward the body and blood of Christ. But what is given in and with the sacrament cannot be grasped and appropriated by the body. This is done by the faith of the heart which discerns and desires this treasure.”
Yesterday, two church services, very similar, yet in some ways…different.
I love watching people commune – to see them lifted up as the approach and kneel, or stand and receive the Body and Blood of Christ.
They aren’t theologians, and though those serving can ellucidate how the communication of magesterial attributes of Christ are seen in the Eucharist, in reality, it matters little to them. They know what they’ve heard – given for you, and shed for the forgiveness of sins – and that is enough. For this Body and Blood is not primarily to be discoursed about, its primary function is not theological – it theophilian – it helps us love and adore the God who gives Himself to us, in so many ways, and yes – through a simple piece of bread, and a simple sip of wine.
It is indeed a treasure..
A treasure of the heart – a treasure, not only of our faith in God, but also in His faithfulness towars us….
There is so much to say… the words could go on forever…
But I will leave you with Paul’s words this morning…
What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. (MSG)
Go…often… and know the Lord is with you!
(1) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 450–451). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Related articles
- The Eucharist and Its Effective Work on our Hearts: (justifiedandsinner.com)
Let’s get ready to rumble…. with God!
(this sermon was written by one of my vicars and good friends, Mark Jennings…. who is also an incredible artist…. check out his work at: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/mark-jennings.html )
LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!
Welcome one and all to the event of the century! Two men enter and one man will be victorious in this battle, in a wrestling match for the ages!
In this corner hailing from Haran, a farmer and shepherd and ninety plus year old man, the challenger and underdog Jacob.
In the opposite corner coming from Heaven, we have God in the form of a man or in some translations, an angel or as I was always taught the pre-Incarnate Christ.
I wonder what the line in Vegas would have been for this event?
The outcome seems like a done deal doesn’t it? I mean really, a 90 plus year old man is going to wrestle with God. How could he even have a remote chance of winning?
It would appear that God is going to give Jacob a smack down!
So let’s turn to our Old T lesson, ring the bell and get this match started and find out.
We tune in at verse 34 and it says, “This left Jacob alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. When the man saw that he would not win the match, He touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of the socket. Then the man said,” Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”
A frail, puny human is able to struggle and wrestle with God and beat Him?
Yes!
A creature that God created was able to wrestle and struggle with the Almighty to at least a tie if not the win?
Impossible? Yes! But yet possible through God!
So let me ask you this. Do you, like Jacob, wrestle and struggle with God?
Do you wrestle and struggle in what would seem like impossible situations or maybe they are possible situations that you don’t concern God with. Maybe like the undercard before the main event? They are not important enough to bother God and besides you can handle can’t you?
Sometimes it may feel like the more impossible a situation may seem the more we can be tempted to pray without hope. Is this prayer really going to do any good or do we just go through the motions.
So again let me ask you, do you struggle and wrestle with God?
Are you ready to step into the ring?
Do you wanna wrassle?
The thought of wrestling with and struggling with God is a scary one. How can we wrestle with God? Doesn’t it sound sinful and rebellious and defiant?
But in answer to that it is God who allows it to happen.
I mean really when you think about it how could Jacob truly wrestle God and win?
First off how could have Jacob done this if faith had not been given to him from God? If you don’t believe in God and are not confident in the certain hope of the relationship forged and crafted for you then who would you pray to or attempt to struggle with. Just in that very idea, you see God working for His children.
We are able to wrestle with God jut like Jacob did because our Father sent His Son to do just that at and on the cross. Jesus took our sin and struggled in pure agony and wrestled the pain of death on the cross and bought victory for all people proven at the empty tomb.
Through the Incarnate Christ you have been given faith.
Jacob wrestling God is an awesome account of God working in us and through us and as we see the struggle of Jacob wrestling God, substitute this word instead of wrestling-substitute the word prayer or praying.
If you go back into Jacob’s life you will see that we living right now have a lot in common with Jacob. He had successes and he had failures. He had a family. He had good times and bad times. He had betrayal and loyalty. He was a sinner and he had faith.
See any similarities to your lives?
Jacob had all these things but he also had faith! So much faith that he was able to wrestle God and prevail.
As he was wrestling with God, something crucial happens. They wrestle until dawn as neither will quit. Finally the man knows that Jacob will not give in or give up and he touches Jacob’s hip and it is wrenched out of the socket. I know one person here today for sure who can empathize with the pain of a broken hip ( Chet).
When this happens all Jacob can now do is hold on for dear life and grasp the man never letting go for fear of falling. Now he needed the man for support! No fancy wrestling moves like the full nelson or the flying elbow. All Jacob can do is hold on and no matter what, Jacob wasn’t going to let go! As the man asks to be let go, Jacob replies,”I will not let go until you bless me!”
Ir almost seems like Jacob’s opponent cheats doesn’t it? He knows He can’t win so he cripples Jacob.
Did God cheat? Quite the contrary, He does this so Jacob having faith now must depend on the man to even stand at this point. Jacob must depend on the man.
Jacob must depend on God.
So do you struggle and wrestle with God, dependent on Him or do you hold on to something else and wrestle with it such as false gods and false idols which wrestle you and win and take the place of God?
Your sin is trying always to defeat you and pin you to the mat like an insect pinned to a board as a specimen.
Our Lord wrestles with us and cripples us in the way that we become fully dependent on Him and that nothing else matters. When God wrestles with us it is not as an adversary trying to pin us and win the match but instead it is to build us up and empower us through His beloved Son so that we will have victory over the adversary who is prowling around trying to consume and devour us in sin.
We have been given victory. We can struggle and wrestle with God in prayer and through Him we can pin Him and hold Him to His promises to us through Christ.
As you wrestle and grapple with God through prayer in the faith given to you in Baptism, God wants you to hold onto Him and pin Him with His promises. These are the promises of forgiveness of sins, salvation and eternal life bought and paid for by the Christ with His blood.
This is the promise come to fruition in the work of our Savior who frees us and calls us to faith in Him. This faith is what allows us to take everything to Him in prayer grapple with God and depend on Him.
Jacob struggled with God and overcame not because he was a superhero or all powerful but because God was and is always faithful to His people with His promises and because he had given Jacob faith.
At the end of their wrestling match, God tells Jacob, ” Your name will no longer be Jacob. From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and won.”
Jacob, whose name meant heel or button, asks for a blessing and God changes His name to Israel meaning one who contends or struggles with God.
It is no coincidence that the priesthood of all believers is called through Christ, the new Israel. After all is there anyone here today who doesn’t struggle with God?
You see the real meaning is that yes you do struggle and wrestle with God through prayer and the Word not to gain an advantage over Him or but to take advantage of His promises given to you.
You have faith and you can trust in His promises. This wrestling match began at your Baptism.
Our Father in His love, compassion and kindness wrestles with us in order to show us that His promises are complete and ironclad. He needs to show us how all these other things that we put our confidence and trust in are and really just how useless they are.
Hold on to God like Jacob held on. There was nothing that was going to make Him let go of God in their wrestling match not even a crippling injury!
Hold on to His promises. Pin Him with His promises! This is want our Father in Heaven wants! This is great joy for Him when you who are His children pin Him with His promises so that He can call you Israel-he who struggles with God and overcomes through Christ in that life giving faith, certain hope and confidence knowing that you are His forever!
Trust and wrestle with Him who loves us so much that He gave us salvation through the sacrifice of His only Son and whose promises never fail. Wrestle with Him and know our loving Heavenly Father who wrestles with His child expecting to pinned by those perfect promises!
In other words trust and depend on Him as Jacob did!
So, do you wanna wrassle?
Alleluia, amen
Distributing Christ’s Body and Blood… a incredible burden…and gift
Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai. NB – slightly cut down – for full size see here (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional Thought of the Day
23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NLT)
Monsignor Escrivá replied, “My Mass is never the same from one day to the next. Every day I linger, in a different way, on this prayer or that offering or that other petition. The Mass, which for me is Opus Dei, wears me out; it exhausts me! I thank God that this is so. It is a wonderful, divine burden, because it is not I but he, God, who carries it. All priests, be we sinners like me, or saints as some are, are never ourselves: it is Christ who renews his sacrifice of Calvary on the altar. I don’t ‘preside over’ anything. I am Christ at the altar! I consecrate in persona Christi, in the person of Christ, because I give him my body, my voice, and my poor heart which has so often been stained but which I want him to purify.”
It came as a bit of surprise this morning, as the pastor approached me during the passing of the peace. I suppose I am on vacation… if we as pastors ever really take such, and I would say we do not… we just go on enjoyable mission trips!
His assistant was out…his wife sprained her ankle… so would I assist him in distributing the Lord’s precious Body and Blood. He could not have given me a bigger blessing – to allow me to serve his people alongside him! Yet, once again, I realize that we aren’t really serving… we are being served, just simply passing on what Paul and Peter, Matthew and Luke, passed on to us.
The gift of God, for the people of God.
And yes… even doing that little thing… was precious, and in a way wearying…as I served the chalice… as people were blessed…
Much as St.Josemarie writes, another lesson learned, another blessing received. Though our theology differs some…there is that sense of observing – and watching the Holy Spirit work as people are nourished with Christ! Even more feeling at home, in this parish I’ve never visited…in the state I was born in… The burden born, sort of… seeing the spirit of people cared for, as Christ replaces the burden they carry with His love….As He cleanses, heals, forgives…
Please, please… think as you prepare and receive the Lord’s Supper…as we who serve distribute it…what great joy there is to be called to His Supper!!!!
Rejoice, the Lord is with you!!!!
(1) (1)Urbano, Pilar (2011-05-10). The Man of Villa Tevere (Kindle Locations 2977-2988). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Proper Practical Pastoral Care… and a Pimple…
Devotional Blog of the Day:
1 Peter 5:1-3 (MSG) 1 I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. 2 Here’s my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously.[ 3 Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.
“It wasn’t that he had a fabulous memory, so that on seeing you he was reminded of the problem of that friend of yours, or your mother’s illness. It wasn’t that at all. Your friend’s problem and your mother’s illness really concerned him: he carried them in his heart, because he had a big heart. “One fine day I got up with a pimple on the tip of my nose. During the morning I met at least eighteen people who told me one after the other, without fail, that I had a pimple on my nose! At some point the Father passed by the place where I was working, but he said nothing, and shortly afterward someone brought me a tube of ointment ‘from the Father, for the pimple.’ “ (1)
I sit here this morning, looking out on a still pond, the colors of fall incredible in the glory they proclaim, the hand of the Creator, who put them here for me. The stillness is a good time to think, to reflect on where I am at in life.
Yesterday on the plane, I read the above passage about Josemaria Escriva, a Roman Catholic priest, whose writings stimulate my desire to serve God. Quoted him a bunch on this blog. The above quote is in a chapter about his pastoral nature, and of the stories – this is a favorite. It is to me eminently pastoral.
Because he doesn’t just identify the problem in the person’s life, he deals with it, and helps clear it up! (pun intended!)
That’s what a pastor, a priest, a minister is called to do, and indeed, lead the rest of the church to do. Not just to highlight sin or the problems in people’s lives…but to do something to clear them up – to apply the grace and care of God to their situation. To care for people that simply, that whether the situation is physical, or mental, or spiritual (and I believe they are all related) that we are called to do something, to help the man on the side of the road, to come alongside those who situations are without peace, to mourn with those who mourn and laugh with those whose life is filled with joy. It even means that if they are caught in sin… we care enough to be there…. To rescue them.
Being a follower of Christ, which is the example we are to set, is to love people, for in them, we love the God who brought them into our lives. That love means we often have to sacrifice our time and ourselves. It means we must be aware of them, more than we are aware of us.
Sounds a bit impossible? There are role models…. Many many of them…
More importantly, there is a God with us… who loves us enough….
Help me Lord, help all of us who serve the people God created… with that which needs to
(1) Urbano, Pilar (2011-05-10). The Man of Villa Tevere (Kindle Locations 3525-3532). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- The Blessing of Being Served… It Changes Things!! (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Encountering others on Holy Ground. (justifiedandsinner.com)
- For the joy awaiting… take up and endure your cross. (justifiedandsinner.com)
Cautionary Photographs: the Demise of City Churches
Cautionary Photographs: the Demise of City Churches.
Very few people have had as profound an impact as Dr. Willimon on my preaching. Namely only three, and all three I worked with for a lot of hours. Dr. Willimon’s work I’ve only read – and used to teach others. (I think we exchanged emails once) This is an interesting and challenging piece to read and view
500 posts, some crazy, some serious, about Christ and You!
English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
13 If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. 14 Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do. Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. 2 Corinthians 5:13-14 (MSG)
27 God’s plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God. Colossians 1:27 (TEV)
This is my 500th post. That’s kind of bizzarre.
Thinking about it is odd, especially when I look at the stats and realize people from all over the world have come here, read a blog or two. Some have even followed the blog.
I’ve thought about stopping writing a number of times, or just putting sermons up – which is how I started blogging. The writing, spiritual journaling is something that happens, so why so share it? I pray that its blessed some of you other there.
Some have been a little crazy, or self revealing, and the thoughts not well put together. Others are more serious, nearly prophetic in calling us to realize what we do in our lives, and how it relates to God and those Jesus died for along with you and I.
Many have quoted a pretty crazy and serious pastor named Martin Luther, who didn’t like Christians being identified with his name.
Even more have quoted a Catholic priest/evangelist/pastor named St Josemaria Escriva.
Both of these guys had a heart for Christ’s work, for His love and mercy being revealed to others. A heart I long to develop in myself, in my congregation, in the pastors I long to work alongside. Not a mindset that is mission, but a heart that sees people who are struggling with life and with great love comes alongside them and helps them know Christ is with you!
For both those who trust in Christ, and those who do not yet understand why He is worthy of investing your life in, need to know that. That I hope and pray is the outcome of this blog… that this sinner, justified by the love of God, has writtent words to edify and challenge you. That it has done what those verses up there have said. That you know Him, and know of the glory you will share Him, because He loves you.
That’s why this blog is here… and I would love to have some feedback, if it’s blessed you, if it’s helped you see Christ’s love. If its helped you know Him, if its made you think about your relationship with Him, that He’s drawn you into. So if it has been a help in life – please leave me a note below. It will encourage me to write the next 500..
Thanks and God Bless!
Dt
Related articles
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- Encountering others on Holy Ground. (justifiedandsinner.com)
- The Heart of Theology & the Heart of Ministry is the Heart of Christ (justifiedandsinner.com)
The Blessing of Being Served… It Changes Things!!
the second devotional thought of this day….
24 Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. Hebrews 10:23-24 (TEV)
This inner life allowed him to experience the divine everywhere: the dentist’s waiting room, traveling around the city on public transport, enjoying a get-together. He sometimes said in Italian, nel bel mezzo della strada—in the middle of the street. “The street is our cell.” One day in 1960, when the alterations in Villa Tevere were finished, Salvador Suanzes, nicknamed Pile, asked, “Father, which of the oratories in this house do you like best?” “The street!” Pile looked astonished. Monsignor Escrivá smiled. “I love all the oratories in this house. But I prefer the street. ‘Our cell is the street’ is not just a nice phrase. And you, Pile, my son, and so many sons and daughters of mine, will often have to make your prayer in the street. And it can be done really well there too! Although, whenever we can, we do it in a church or in an oratory, before our Lord who is really present in the tabernacle.” (1)
I’ve been in a funk, this last week or so… drained of most of my energy, and to an extent, my novel outlook on life. Seems like the life has been zapped out of me.
I’ve tried to write it off as simply the amount of trauma that I’ve had to deal with, and to be honest, that has been the most I’ve endured since I started serving in churches. The burdens of grieving over my dad, of friends overwhelmed with financial problems, some with medical problems, some with marital problems. Watching my right hand in ministry, or maybe I’m his… (sort of like the excellent guitarist he is, we work together like his right and left hands.. not completely aware of the others thoughts and actions.. but boy does it work well!) go through trauma with both his parents. Watching two other friends I care about – dealing with addiction issues… the list keeps going… and going…
Until lunch.
Everything changed then.
One of my usual places, where the older hispanic waiter (maybe a few years older than me) always calls me “Father”, because he’s seen me wearing my clerical collar. He knows I’m Lutheran – but says it doesn’t matter, I am a man of God. (Sometimes I think – boy do I have him fooled!!! okay more than sometimes!) The restaurant was busy – they had coupons for “bosses” day, and it was buy your lunch the boss eats free. They were very busy and short staff.
And so my friend, he couldn’t give me the attention he usually gives. Running and trying to help the other staff, trying to care for people, trying to manage large groups, I felt bad for him. Even more when he realized I was in the corner, in his station, and no one had brought me something to drink until I was almost done with my entree. Later he realized no one brought me chips and salsa ( I had the lunch buffet) Despite his busyness, he took great pains to apologize, and the hurt of his failure was clear on his face. He thought he let me down, had not done his best by me. Even as I admired him out-serving those younger than him.
About that time, i was reading a book about my favorite Catholic theologian/pastor/lover of God. (yeah it’s a little odd for a Lutheran pastor to admit he really likes a Catholic priests work…but I think there is a lot in Escriva’s work that is Lutheran in theology! Or maybe we are more Catholic than we want to admit) and I ran into the above quote. I actually downloader twitter to my phone to tweet a summary of it.
As tired as I am, as broken as I feel, I started seeing Christ’s heart in the heart of a waiter, who hated not being able to care for me. Not that Jesus ever fails to care for us, but I wonder how our His heart feels when we don’t realize His presence, and how He serves us. I saw this man, who makes his vocation caring for others, feeding them, nourishing them, making sure they know they are cared for, and that they are welcome in his restaurant.
And I changed. I am still exhausted to some extent… these last few weeks have been a physical drain as well. But my attitude is quickly changing, as what I know, what I’ve been preaching about this fall comes fully into focus. We can’t minister to others, until we let Christ minister to us. We can’t serve, share, bring healing to others, reveal to them Christ’s love and the peace which He desires to bring Him, until we experience it ourself.
Until we let ourselves be served, cared for, nourished.
My friend will get a copy of this blog tomorrow I think – though I scribbled the thoughts out on the bill… so he could know how he served me – exacrly what I needed… (far more than my diet coke!) Out there on street, I encountered Christ’s love and care… I saw His heart in work that most overlook. And in a very quiet way… that has brought joy to this wearied heart.
A good lesson – and I pray.. the begining of a new season of rest…. and serving others!
(1)
Related articles
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Having a Crisis of Faith? Come Join us!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
22 So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water. 23 Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess, because we can trust God to keep his promise. 24 Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. 25 Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer. Hebrews 10:22-25 (TEV)
324 The dust thrown up by your fall blinds and disorients you, and you have thoughts which rob you of your peace. Have you sought relief in tears by the side of Our Lord, and in confident conversation with a brother? (1)
If a pastor or priest or even lay ministers are honest, they will admit (but not often) that they have what some call a “crisis of faith” occaisonally. We aren’t perfect, and its my opinion that our people must know this. Simply put, if we are hoenst about this, then they will be as well, and we will be able to minister to them in spirit and in truth.
A crisis of faith isn’t that we don’t believe in God, but that we simply struggle to believe in God.
It may be that the trauma in our own lives is too much, or that the trauma we help others go through has taken its toll as well. It could be our sin, or temptation, which finds a spot in our weakened state and steps on through. Despising our own weakness, we try to overcome it on our own, rather than deal with it at the foot of the cross. Or it can simply be that we have fallen into a rote faith – we go through the motions, numbed by time to the words, and the God whom they reveal.
Either way, it is as our spiriutal life has become paralyzed.
There is a need in such times for each of us to have what they now call a “spiritual director”, or what I prefer to call a “father-confessor”. Someone who is able to speak for God to us, someone who will shepherd us and guide us, and help us until the fog clears. Someone who can share God’s love because they’ve known it during their own crisis, their own brokeness. (which is why I think we have to let people know we go through such times ourselves) They are the ones that can find us, and have our permission to find us, in our caves, when we choose to isolate ourselves.
We need those times, when we can hear the still small voice of God comforting us. Even so, we can’t, especially in those times, avoid gathering with others, sincere in our brokenness, yet needing the encouragement that comes from realizing we are not alone. We need to hear of God’s faithfulness, and to celebrate it together. This too is essential, a major part of our Christian life. For when we realize that God doesn’t give up on any of us, we begin to realize that His promise of being faithful includes us. The illusion is then pierced, and we realize the crisis of faith isn’t a crisis of trust, or us being abandoned by God.
It’s simply that we are tired and overwhelmed and… well yes broken.
We say at my church that we are a place where broken people find healing in Christ, while helping others heal.
The cure for such times, is not to avoid the people of God, fearing they will not understand, it is to come and be embraced by them, to join them at the altar and receive the grace of God as we receive the Body and Blood of Christ (yes – during a crisis of faith – communion, the eucharist is a blessing.. a very needed blessing!) For we all have had, and maybe even having a a crisis of faith, and the church, the people of God provides a great sanctuary during such times. Let’s lift each other up, as God calls us together, a people He will care for, a people He will comfort.
And that starts with us, those who lead in church… those who are broken, so that you may have faith, for if God can heal us… He can (and will ) bring healing to your crisis.
For the Lord will have mercy!
I know – received it over and over. You can too.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1529-1531). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- Reflections on Gethsemane (tallmonasticguy.typepad.com)
- “The Crisis of Faith” by Fr. John Hardon, S.J. (insightscoop.typepad.com)
Impatience, Broken hearts and Christian Ministry.
Dove of the Holy Spirit (ca. 1660, alabaster, Throne of St. Peter, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional thought of the day:
3 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, 4 and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. 5 In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! 6 Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. Romans 5:3-6 (MSG)
The world is cold and seems to be asleep. You often look on it, from your vantage point, with a glance that would set it on fire. Lord, may it awaken! Channel your bursts of impatience and be sure that if we manage to keep our whole life alight, we shall set every corner of the world alight, and the way it all looks will change. (1)
By no means am I naturally patient. It is not the gift I’ve been given, and this is seen quite easily. This morning, getting some lab work done, I was frustrated that there were 4 others before me. I know ther has been as many as 20 before, but this morning, with places to go, people to minister to – waiting 10 minutes seemed like a month.
I am especially impatient when it comes to dealing with pain. You know – the physical pain of them drawing blood ( 4 quart vials it seemed like! ) Or the spiritual pain of grieving, or the pastoral heart pain of watching people choose to do that which will hurt them.
“Why won’t they listen?” we ask.
“Why won’t they at least try it God’s way?”
“when will they ‘get it’?
Every minister I know has suffered from such impatience, such heart break as people continue to choose their own way.
Most of us have been tempted to hammer them, to “use the law” to crush them until they repent, until they conform to God’s plan. (or at least ours) We want to find something to do to turn them into “supersaints”, to help them overcome all their sin,, to get their acts right and for them to become the next Billy Grahams. We want that prodigal to turn for home as soon as he gets to the end of the driveway. It doesn’t always work that way though.
But can we have God’s patience, the father’s patience with them, and still pray and encourage and take the moments we have to call them back to Christ?
It’s hard… its really hard…dang it, it’s hard.
The apostle Paul notes it as well,
18 I’m passing this work on to you, my son Timothy. The prophetic word that was directed to you prepared us for this. All those prayers are coming together now so you will do this well, fearless in your struggle, 19 keeping a firm grip on your faith and on yourself. After all, this is a fight we’re in. There are some, you know, who by relaxing their grip and thinking anything goes have made a thorough mess of their faith. 20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are two of them. I let them wander off to Satan to be taught a lesson or two about not blaspheming. 1 Timothy 1:18-20 (MSG)
What a challenge this is! How our soul, itself broken and impatent, struggles with such days of ministry! Yet, learning to discern when to speak – and how to speak, and when to let the prodigal go is a skill that comes with maturity.
I find it interesting that Romans finds the solution in trusting Christ, in looking to His promises, the work we expect that He will do, in any time of trial, and that includes this one.
Escriva’s comment is similar – that we funnel our impatience into our own life, opening it up to see God work in us. TO see God eradicate our own sin, and the things that would quench our spirit. Paul mentions this proactively to TImothy as well, telling Timothy not to walk down the road where these brothers walked….
As I thought through this… I think it is an essential part of our ministry, to be ready, in season and out, whether the time is right or not in our mind. For prodigals do return home, and we need to be aware of how we’ve been welcomed back home ourselves.
For it is in realizing the grace we’ve been given, that we find the love and mercy to welcome them home.
So pray, intercede, contemplate God’s love for them and for us and be ready…
to rejoice in their home coming.
Lord have mercy!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1424-1428). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- Broken Hearts and Broken Bones (psychologytoday.com)
- Encountering others on Holy Ground. (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Dare to Be Christian Means Dare to Be Broken (justifiedandsinner.com)
Which journey, which religion, which church?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NKJV)
“For although the whole world with all diligence has endeavored to ascertain what God is, what He has in mind and does, yet has she never been able to attain to [the knowledge and understanding of] any of these things. But here we have everything in richest measure; for here in all three articles He has Himself revealed and opened the deepest abyss of his paternal heart and of His pure unutterable love. For He has created us for this very object, that He might redeem and sanctify us; and in addition to giving and imparting to us everything in heaven and upon earth, He has given to us even His Son and the Holy Ghost, by whom to bring us to Himself.” (1)
“It is a great thing to know oneself to be nothing before God, because that is how things are.” (2)
A few years ago, at the request of a friend, I taught a master’s course on World Religions at my alma mater, to a bunch of seminary students. It was a course which we had about 50 minutes to cover each of the religions and divisions of those religions in the class. Because even when you take just the big religions, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Budhism, there are differences in each of them, different focal points. FOr example – in Christianity, you have the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and some 40,000 different protestant groups. In Isalm, you have Sufi, Shia and Sunni, In jUdaism, there are Reformed, Conservative, and Hasidic branches.
And of course, how one group defines themselves is different than how others describe it. Sadly to say, most people are rarely aware of what the differences are, and why they exist, and whether or not they are even relavant to their daily lives, the burdens they carry, or their eternity. We have failed to do that which Socrates advised, “Know thyself”. For in every religion ( and those religions which claim to not be religions, or even opposed to the idea of religion) there is a basic question that attempts to be answered.
Who Am I and how do I fit?
In the course, we tried, as best as we could, to enter into the religion, or the branch of a religion, to find those answers.
What I found, personally, was a lot of despair. For in each religion I would be considered a failure, I would stand condemned, simply because I cannot keep the moral and ethical standards that underlie and are taught through the rites, rituals and teaching. Which is pretty much what Luther wrote in the quote above. Whatever the system, I cannot perceive the heart of God (or the equivelant to God) as anything but my judge. Even though we are diligent, even though we strive with everything we have for a moment or a decade, there is a point where we fall short, where we cannot maintain the standard.
I would say that is the point where religions differ. What happens when we can’t do what we should, Or we do that which we know we shouldn’t.
That discovery is the best reason for why I find myself as a Christian, in particular a Lutheran Christian, and why I am a pastor trying to help others on their journey and having the patience (well most of the time) to realize it is a journey – their journey.
You see, when it comes to the humility that all religions advise us to have, I realize that I am beyond being good on my own. There is where I find my hope, why St Josemaria Escriva (A Roman Catholic) says it is such a good thing to know we are nothing when we stand in front of God.
Because God’s plan is so simple, it is beyond our ability to understand. simply put. we find ourselves in need, and when we do, we find God there. Not in our perfection, but in our brokenness. Not there to judge, but to heal us, deliver us, make us His own, to care for us, provide for us.
As a friend says, if religion is a crutch – that’s a good thing – because with a crutch someone as broken as I can get around.
Can we comprehend all that God is? Can we discover it, either under a atomic microscope or plunging through the depths of the universe?
Nah… let’s face it – we aren’t that good.
And in facing it, let’s realize that if there is a God, He would make Himself know to us. And He has.
The journey is hard, as we try to discover God, and our relationship to Him. THe choices are beyond the number to count. So where do we start the journey? What happens if we find ourselves on the wrong path?
You know, that too is a part of the journey. Believe me, I’ve been led to make a few course corrections, because questions were asked.
You are welcome to come journey with us, or ask questions about our journey, or have us ask questions about yours. But examine your beliefs, examine the life, for the unexamined life is not worth living. Nor is the life that is based on unexamined faith… (or lack thereof.)
Start by asking God to show you His mercy… for we need it.
(1) The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
(2) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1272-1273). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
