Monthly Archives: January 2014
A Day filled with memories… yet that word…brings to mind
Devotional thought, late in 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)
I started this morning by heading out to visit my mother. Along the way, I stopped for breakfast a a place I worked during college. Five years or so ago, they remodelled it. I guess the did recently, restory the walls tables and dining counter. It was like being at home, after a long time ago. (the hostess figured out how long ago… nice girl reminding me how old I am!)
On the way, I stopped at my dad’s gravesite, or more exactly, the National Cemetary columbarium – the wall in which his ashes are now kept. The picture here is of his plaque.
Then my mom and I shared quite a few memories over lunch, which in and of itself brought other memories. Dad’s been gone 4 months tomorrow, and yet… it doesn’t seem like its been that long.
Then one of the first songs I leared on the guitar, (gulp 42 years ago) came on among the music they played in the restaurant. Thoughts of the catholic brother who taught me came to mind. Then, I looked up at the television hanging off the ceiling behind my mom, and there was a game at Pepperdine, where i worked for most of the 1990’s. Without a doubt, that University is fhe finest place I’ve worked for, and watching basketball games in the fieldhouse there was always great. In the 14 years since i’ve left, I haven’t seen them on television once, yet this day, on a television in a restaurant some 100 miles from the campus, in a retirement town, there they are?
Then came the news, a reminder that 20 years ago, (while I was at Pepperdine) we suffered the Northridge Earthquake. At the time, Kay and I were living in this cute i bedroom apartment. Memories of seeing the carpent and linoleum ripped in half – the early morning spent on Topanga Blvd with 600 other victims. We would not live in that place again, save for a night without water, electricity, etc, when they said it was safe – only to wake up the next morning with signs we had to rip through, telling us the building was again red tagged and you weren’t allowed to enter. (nice of them to let us know when they made the decision sometime around midnight!)
Memories abound,,, some are good… some are… well, let’s just say some are. They mean something because of the time we invested, the people we knew.
One of the things that really comes alive in Lutheran theology is the understanding of remembering and the sacraments. Luther’s words about starting and ending each day remembering that you are baptised are often repeated, not because of the act itself, but because of the promises given to us,
Even more, the passage above is precious, for it is more than just memories – it is the process of re-living the moment, of our minds dwelling on and in the moment. All of those memories of past times are very important, but this time with Christ, with comprehending with heart and soul as well as mind – that He is with us, that His love meant dieing for us, and bringing us through that death so that we will live with Him….
There are memories, then there is doing this…
May it be ever more than a distant memory….May it be our lives, lived in communion with Him. AMEN
A Prayer for Souls Thought to Be Dry and Barren
Devotional and Discussion THought of the Day:
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Ezekiel 37:7-10 (ESV)
St. Aidan’s Prayer for the Holy Island of Lindisfarne
Lord, this bare island, make it a place of peace. Here be the peace of those who do Thy Will. Here be the peace of brother serving man. Here be the peace of holy monks (servants) obeying. Here be the peace of praise, by dark and day.Be this Island, Thy Holy Island Lord, Thy servant make this prayer, be it Thy Care. AMEN (taken from the Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community)
Yesterday I wrote a blog about the feeling we can sometimes get that leaves us feeling that we are spinning our wheels. Where we become so desperate that we question our holiness, and try to motivate change by heeding to old ways and traditions that would make us seem holier, or changing everything up to try and manipulate effectiveness. There are times in ministry for those things – both of those things, but when we feel ineffective, when we feel like we are spinning our wheels isn’t the time.
It seems my devotions are stuck in this vein of thought, this what do we do when we feel dry and barren, when our work is not producing what we expect it too. The days when we feel like giving up. I”ve had those days, and sort of on the border of them now. Some would just pick yourself up and spin a positive feeling and get moving. It’s funny how many people on Facebook are posting things like that, not to anyone, but just as their status. Makes me wonder how many are tryingto find the motivation to get up – to get moving themselves.
But a barren peice of land, and a barren heart have much in common. Someone has to come along and bring life where there isn’t. In Adian’s prayer, the One that can make this happen is God. It is no less in our lives and in our ministry/spiritual life. It is God who comes along, God who takes the brokenness, the dryness, the lifeless and breathes His Spirit into us in our baptism, and calls that promise to mind – along with the promise He will never leave or forsake us.
in the Old Testament, they had these times as well – which is why they were called to hear and remember the entire covenant often – not just the law, but the covenant including the promises. It is why Luther calls us to remember our baptism, not just the actual act of it, but the very work of God as He cleansed us, as the Holy SPirit was given to us, and therefore life breathed into us. It is what when we take and eat His body and drink His blood He comes to mind, His presence, HIs love. It has been done.
It is in those remembrances that we realize He is present, even if the turmoil has distracted Him from our presence.
And then we realize that perhaps we’ve mistaken a time of God given rest, as a time of barrenness… Breathe in deeply, and with that breath, know His love, the Spirit’s presence, His work through you.
For the Lord is with you!
And rejoice!
He will bi
Does It Seem Like You Are Just Spinning Your Wheels in Life? in MInistry?
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Week:
3 He said to me, “You’re my dear servant, Israel, through whom I’ll shine.” 4 But I said, “I’ve worked for nothing. I’ve nothing to show for a life of hard work. Nevertheless, I’ll let GOD have the last word. I’ll let him pronounce his verdict.” Isaiah 49:3-4 (MSG)
657 Sometimes the immediate future is full of worries, if we stop seeing things in a supernatural way. So, faith, my child, faith… and more deeds. In that way it is certain that our Father God will continue to solve your problems.
658 God’s ordinary providence is a continual miracle; but He will use extraordinary means when they are required. (1)
One of the better professors I had in my Master’s program taught young pastors to be to never change anything in their churches, until they could mourn the loss the change caused.
His idea was two-fold, the first that we need to work in ministry patiently, not just changing things, whether to make them more tranditional or more missional (which I don’t think are contrary – though I admit many do). Things will not become more successful just because you change how you go about things. Far too often we have the attitude, the view of the servant in Isaiah, we look around and do not see any results for our labors, for our sacrifice. So we get desparate to see results, and we react by changing eerything to produce the results we want. We may try to become “holier” to do things in a more regiemented, disciplined way that seems to have worked at some point in the past. Or we may try to throw off the past, and do tings that get back to the “core” of the early church, far more missional/apostolic.
In both cases, we are not trusting in the providence of God, but rather in the direction we feel should be set, often without looking to see where we are at, what we are doing. We want results now, great, glorious results, results that are undeniably miraculous, and to which we can point to a place in time and say, it was at this point, when we discovered, revealed, made this change… that it all happened.
I would contend that our desire to change things – either to restore the practices of the past (romantically viewing them as the solution because the church was so perfect or to make them cutting edge to see better results) can be driven by despair, by frustration, by the feeling that we are simply spinning our wheels in ministry. I am not saying we shouldn’t evaluate what we are doing, or that there shouldn’t be a standard that includes both scriptural integrity and pragmatic effectiveness (does our preaching Christ crucified communicate) but that spinning our wheels may only be in our perpspective.
So the first question we should ask – are we trusting in God in doing what we are doing now? Are we working form the assumption that God is already working within us, within our lives, within in our ministries? Do we see His hand in our present situation, providing for us, caring for each of us? Or are we seeing the “spinning of wheels” as evidence to the contrary? Do we see the supernatural miraculous, the sacred that is already occuring in our midst?
You see, its easy to see the lack of our effect easily, it is almost our default – our impatience, our self-determination taking over, but faith demands seeing God at work, even when we don’t see it in our own lives. To know He is there, listening comforting, strengthening. He is at work through HIs word, which never returns void, and in the sacrament, the word combined by God with water, with bread and wine, through the hands and voices of the people of God. THat His work is always beneficial, that it always provides results, including the greatest of results, calling us into His presence.
From that position, we perceive our work differently, we trust in His judgment more, we rely on HIm, more, and ours plans are synthesised into His will.
Breathe, be still and know that He is God…. then having heard, realize His glory will be seen in your life, in your work. AMEN!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2419-2423). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
In Christ, we are victors, (even on Mondays)
Devotional and Discussion Thought of the Day:
18 But the LORD says, “Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago. 19 Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already—you can see it now! I will make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of water there. 20 Even the wild animals will honor me; jackals and ostriches will praise me when I make rivers flow in the desert to give water to my chosen people. 21 They are the people I made for myself, and they will sing my praises!” Isaiah 43:18-21 (TEV)
20 But you, my friends, keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, 21 and keep (guard/treasure) yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life. Jude 1:20-21 (TEV)
616 Our life—a Christian’s life—has to be as ordinary as this: trying every day to do well those very things it is our duty to do; carrying out our divine mission in the world by fulfilling the little duty of each moment. Or rather, struggling to fulfil it. Sometimes we don’t manage, and when night comes, in our examination, we’ll have to tell Our Lord, “I am not offering you virtues; today I can only offer you defects. But with your grace I will be able to count myself a victor.”
As I was working through my devotions this morning, I struggled with it, you see, I need to get a jump on things. Part of today I lose to a doctor’s appointment – so I have to jam 10 hours of work in 8, and now that I am running late, make that 6 or so. Plus get a jump on tomorrow, because i host a pastor’s gathering here. I had to send a fax off – which made me look at my dad’s funeral bulletin, and I realize again, how much I miss him.. On top of that. and on top of that,, (what was the old song, rainy days and mondays ALWAYS get me down!) and I am to distracted to do my much needed time of thinking, and meditating – which is really what the blog’s devotions are about – my processing, more with heart than mind, what I am hearing from God….
And the distractions and business of the minsitry would quiet that voice, or at least distract me from it. God didn’t just make me a pastor, a husband, a father. Or make you to hold the vocations you have as you interact with church, and family and work. We were made to be God’s people, to relate to Him, to know His love…. You are made for Him, to be His people, to share and revel in His glory, as His children.
Pause. breath,… ralize that is who you are, this Monday… this day which seems to overwhelm us.
Keep praying, not within your own strength, but as the Spirit leads, as He moves you, we hear from Jude, and do this while treasuring your time in God. For that is where we find rest and joy and peace and realize God will sustain us, even on the busiest of Mondays.
The last think I posted, the comforting words of St Josemaria, which remind me that I am not perfect, there are going to be Mondays I fall flat on my face. But in Christ, even my defects, even the times I can’t get it all done… God will use, GO=od will redeem, God will somehow, miraculously make things right and holy. For that is what He does for His children. For In Chirst, we are victors, even on Mondays…
For we were made for God, to be His people, His children, and even mondays can’t steal that from us!.
In my Old Testament reading, the underlined words cause me to stop…
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2277-2282). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
616 Our life—a Christian’s life—has to be as ordinary as this: trying every day to do well those very things it is our duty to do; carrying out our divine mission in the world by fulfilling the little duty of each moment. Or rather, struggling to fulfil it. Sometimes we don’t manage, and when night comes, in our examination, we’ll have to tell Our Lord, “I am not offering you virtues; today I can only offer you defects. But with your grace I will be able to count myself a victor.”
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2277-2282). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Alleluia He is Risen….therefore We are Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
Alleluia, He is Risen! Therefore
We are Risen Indeed!
† IHS †May you rejoice as you realize the gifts of God our Father, poured out on you in Baptism, as we are united with Christ’s death and Resurrection!
It’s not just for Easter Season!
For someone whose been to church for a while, some phrases we say are as automatic as responding to someone who sneezes.
They sneeze, we say, “God bless you”
For those who’ve been around this church and many others, if I were to say, “The Lord is with you”…. Hahaha… I knew some of you would not wait to hear me respond…so please – don’t respond to this next one…
“Alleluia! He is Risen@” you would normally answer, “He is Risen Indeed!”
Not today, today I want you to respond, “Therefore we are risen indeed! Alleluia!”
Let us try it – “Alleluia – He is Risen!”
“therefore we are risen indeed! Alleluia!”
One more time?
“Alleluia – He is Risen!”
“therefore we are risen indeed! Alleluia!”
We desperately need to understand this – that because He died, and He rose, we too with the church in Rome, can consider ourselves to be dead to the power of sin, and alive to God, through Christ Jesus.
That has to become part of our daily thought, to realize we are dead to sin, and alive to God through Christ. As it does, we become more and more aware of His love for us, and His walking with us through life.
How we would want to live
With 15 years of being a fulltime pastor now, I think one of the greatest challenges that exist for people is to understand the Doctrine of Justification personally, in their daily lives. Or to put it clearly – to get the connection between the phrase Alleluia! He is Risen, and “therefore we are Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
We know how God expects us to live, loving Him, loving those around us. We understand that is God’s salvation is His gift to us, and it is found in trusting Christ, not in our works. Many of us have known these truths as long as we can remember.
Yet when we look at our lives, we struggle, because there great truths aren’t always seen in our daily actions, We know what’s good, but can we live that way throughout our lives? It’s a paradox, one that can make us question whether God really is active in our lives. Or take the opposite tack, and try to excuse and defend our sin, rather than seeking the comfort
Though we think more of Romans 7 and 8 when we talk about our struggle with sin, it really begins here, in the first verses of chapter 6. Here Paul begins to address sin, and our being declared without sin, because of Jesus. We lose our ability to just dismiss it, or justify it’s constant presence in our lives. First, he deals with the dismissal, that sin isn’t that big of a deal, because God is glorified as He forgives and cleanses us of sin. Therefore, more sin equals more glory, so no big deal?
He says we can’t let that attitude even be born in our lives, because, we’ve died with Christ. Having died with Christ, why should we go back to it?
Paul strips away our excuses for our sin, by reminding us of what happened. Being in bondage to sin isn’t our normal way of life anymore.
Hear the Message!
That’s the key to this passage, sin and its power over us is history, sin doesn’t have the power we once knew it to have. It cannot, for we have been baptized into Christ, joined with Him
And as we have been united with Christ – the words are incredible there – we are nailed to the cross with Christ, they are compound words – syn-staurothe – crucified together with Christ, Synthapto, buried together with Him. The prefix syn indicating a communal aspect – all together in this, sharing in it, one with Him in His death.
These picture us so untied to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection that we can’t be separated from it, Paul then goes on to say, if this is true regarding being one with His death, we will be one with His resurrection, in His tossing aside death, in His leaving sin so powerless – that we are considered dead to each other.
For Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Therefore?
Consider yourself…
So what do we do? We realize what Paul is saying to the church in Galatia as well,
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Galatians 5:24 (NLT)
That is what living in Christ is all about – about leaving our sin, our passions and desires, nailed to the cross – and when we struggle with sin, to bring it back there and leave it where it belongs.
You’re dead to its power – and alive to Christ. Because God claimed you in baptism.
When we said earlier that God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, that’s what we know, yet it is something for which we need daily reminder. It’s why we pray that God would lead us away from temptation and deliver us from evil, so that we will know He does. It is why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and hear St Paul say that every time we do this, knowing Christ, we proclaim His death until He comes again.
Because in proclaiming His death, we are proclaiming the victory, the liberation of us from the power of sin. Delivering us into a life filled with the Father’s love and mercy and comfort and peace.
So you sinned this week, God’s dealt with it, and when you face temptation, your struggle is not to overcome it by your own strength, but to look to Christ, know you are in His presence, flee to His side, to the cross, and know that sin cannot defeat you there. Remember you are baptized into Christ’s death, and raised with Him, think of the body and blood given to you in this place, and know God has separated you from your enemy sin.
That’s what this service, and Sunday School, and our Bible study are all about.
To help us know this.
That we are dead to the power of sin, and alive to God through Christ.
For Praise God, He is Risen, and therefore we are risen indeed, Alleluia?
Getting Past Betrayal: Finding Healing for That Which You Broke.
Devotional Thought of the Day:
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. 7 For a dead person has been absolved from sin. 8 If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Romans 6:6-8 (NAB)
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; 7 for he that hath died is justified from sin. 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; Romans 6:6-8 (ASV)
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. 19 In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, 20 who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. 21 This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. 1 Peter 3:18-22 (NAB)
613 God has a special right over us, his children: it is the right to our response to his love, in spite of our failings. This inescapable truth puts us under an obligation which we cannot shirk. But it also gives us complete confidence: we are instruments in the hands of God, instruments that he relies on every day. That is why, every day, we struggle to serve him. (1)
In my devotions today, I read of Peter’s denial of Jesus, and the grief that he dealt with, in realizing that he betrayed the promise that was made with all his heart, in realizing he betrayed Jesus.
How do you go on, after betraying someone you depend upon, someone you care for, someone you told you would die for? Do we just let the relationship fade into our past, even while we deal with the haunting guilt and the shame?
It maybe a family member you betrayed, or maybe an old friend, that person who you stood beside all those years. Definitely, all of us have betrayed God, some perhaps as tragically as Peter did, the night before Christ’s crucifixion. At some point in most of our lives, we’ve cried those same tears as Peter. We felt the pain and crushing anxiety of knowing that things will not be the same, ever again. In order to deal with this, we find distractions, new relationships, new hobbies, we work more, even things that would numb us from our pain.
We need hope, even when we feel things have gone beyond any reasonable expectation of hope.
Peter found such hope, and restoration, a complete transformation. Paul did as well.
Most translations in Romans 6:7 use the phrase “freed from sin” in translating dedikaiwtai apo tes amartias. I believe that this is a serious error, given the use of the root word’s ( dikaios ) multiple appearance in chapters 3-5. There it in its various forms is translated as righteious, made righteous, just or justified. It is more than being freed, it is God’s judgment, saying that you have been counted not guilty, that He views you as righteous, a view that is possible because Christ took upon Himself our guilt. This is more than just being freed from sin, it is declaring that sin has no claim on us, whatsoever.
The old ASV gets it right in saying we are declared justified, the NAB I think even makes it clearer with absolved from sin. We are cleansed and declared righteous, just, because of what. God has done.
In both passages, this answer is our baptism. Baptism, not as our work, but the appeal to God because we’ve been unifed to Christ’s death and resurrection. When we look at what God does, what He promises in baptism, we find the source of healing, of cleansing. We’ve died with Christ and live in Him. We have been absolved, counted righteous, cleansed, healed…
And it does something wonderful, it shapes us into God’s instruments, Our response to this work is to become God’s people, created to do good works, for we dwell in Christ.
How does Peter go from tears just before dawn on Good Friday, to the one who responds to others grief at their own betrayal of God? How can Peter point them to Baptism, and the transformation of their souls?
Because of the confidence that dieing with Christ, and being raised with Him brings. A confidence not in our ability to absolve us from sin, but His.
So rejoice in your baptism, may you grow in your knowledge of the extent of His love, mercy and healing given to you there.
Does How You Give Matter to God?
Devotional THought of the Day:
1 The LORD says, “Shout as loud as you can! Tell my people Israel about their sins! 2 They worship me every day, claiming that they are eager to know my ways and obey my laws. They say they want me to give them just laws and that they take pleasure in worshiping me.” 3 The people ask, “Why should we fast if the LORD never notices? Why should we go without food if he pays no attention?” The LORD says to them, “The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers. 4 Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight. Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers? 5 When you fast, you make yourselves suffer; you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on. Is that what you call fasting? Do you think I will be pleased with that? 6 “The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. 7 Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives. Isaiah 58:1-7 (TEV)
1 Our friends, we want you to know what God’s grace has accomplished in the churches in Macedonia. 2 They have been severely tested by the troubles they went through; but their joy was so great that they were extremely generous in their giving, even though they are very poor. 3 I can assure you that they gave as much as they could, and even more than they could. Of their own free will 4 they begged us and pleaded for the privilege of having a part in helping God’s people in Judea. 2 Corinthians 8:1-4 (TEV)
Two passages, two groups of people, both of whom “gave” to God.
Yet one is judged, harshly, the other is applauded.
It doesn’t matter if the gift is money, or time, whether it is setting aside your pride, or your needs. What matters a lot is our attitude, as seen in both of these passages. In the Old Testament reading, those who were giving seem to be giving in view of what they would get back. They would go without food, if God would give them what they wanted in return. THey kept fasting thinking if they could just do it enough, they would earn God’s favor. When they were disappointed – they took it out on those around them, and they saw their sacrifices as “suffering”. Rather than use what they would offer to God to help others, they abused and neglected them.
The Macedonians however, begged and peladed for the opportunity to help – they gave more than they had, And with great joy!
They worked to free the oppressed, they sacrificed that others could be free.
This isn’t a Old Testament versus New Testament issue, both the Corinthians and Phillippians had to be encouraged to be those who invested in others. Even today we struggle to give of ourselves, we have to guard against our own cynicism, our own judgmental nature and pride. ANd our own expectations. If we give, if we sacrifice, are we doing it because we are simply living like Christ, or are we expecting something? An answered prayer, a better home, anice position, or maybe even a better seat in heaven?
The only way I know of, to give freely, is to not look at the giving, but focusing on the one who gives to us.
To realize the extent of His love, of His sacriifice, not using His behavior as a law to be fulfilled, but being completely aware of how He looks at us, and letting His show us how He has sent us to be there for others, in His stead.
That’s were the Macedonians were at, that is where the people Isaiah prophesied to needed to be at….
To realize the attitude of Jesus, and to allow the Spirit to mold us into His likeness….ever while we adore the Lord who has come into our lives.
Lord have mercy on Us…. we cry… knowing that mercy is promised and given…
Be a Missionary: Serve All People, including the most broken around us?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
8 He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, 9 letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, 10 a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. Ephesians 1:8-10 (MSG)
22 On the contrary, we cannot do without the parts of the body that seem to be weaker; 23 and those parts that we think aren’t worth very much are the ones which we treat with greater care; while the parts of the body which don’t look very nice are treated with special modesty, 24 which the more beautiful parts do not need. God himself has put the body together in such a way as to give greater honor to those parts that need it. 25 And so there is no division in the body, but all its different parts have the same concern for one another. 26 If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it; if one part is praised, all the other parts share its happiness. 1 Corinthians 12:22-26 (TEV)
“It’s easy to love the people who are standing hard and fast, pressing on to meet their higher calling.
But the one’s who might be struiggling? We tend to judge to harshly, and refuse to try and catch them when they’re falling.
We put people into boxes and draw our hard conclusions, and when they do the things we know they should not do we sometimes write them off as hopeless and we throw them to the dogs. Our compassion and forgiveness sometimes seem in short supply.” (1)
600 Serving and forming children, caring lovingly for the sick. To make ourselves understood by simple souls, we have to humble our intelligence; to understand poor sick people we have to humble our heart. In this way, on our knees in both intellect and body, it is easy to reach Jesus along that sure way of human wretchedness, of our own wretchedness. It will lead us to make ‘a nothing’ of ourselves in order to let God build on our nothingness. (2)
On my mail pile, and about to be in my discard pile is a small poster, challenging people to “become a missionary.” It saddens me in a way, because the it focuses mission somewhere “out there”. It is of course, and there are those God is calling to be a missionary in places that are far different, far more “extreme”. But it overlooks the fact that we are all missionaries, we are all “sent” as the apostles were, to take the gospel into places where only we go. To our families, to our neighborhood, to our work places.
We are missionaries when we determine to love those that are struggling, when we reach out to those that are falling, when we patiently work with them, helping them take each step, being there when they cannot. Being willing to look at their situation, their actions, their lives, not to condemn them, but to realize how much they need God’s love, and how they will have to be nursed back to spiritual health.
Make no mistake, ministering to the broken takes time and effort, patience and endurance, and mostly, trust in God. Know that God has given us all we need to minister to them, He has provided all that is needed to see them brought into His family. They are the ones to whom we are sent, even though the work may bend us over, and we feel like we will break. If not break, that we will lose our patience, succumb to frustration, or even despair.
Yet that is our calling, they aren’t just a mission field, they are the mission, they are the ones God has loved enough to send Jesus to die for, and to send us to serve, to minister to, to bring God’s love so that they can find healing.
Perhaps the challenge in doing so is that we have to confront our own brokenness, our own inability, our own failures. Indeed we must, for it is then we see the power of God at work in our healing, that leads us to the confidence that God desires that they, yes, even they, can come to know that healing. It is through our weakness, that we see the power of God unleashed, and trust Him enough to do what others see as impossible, There, in our humility, we find the very things they need, the mercy, the comfort, the peace, the love of God, who delights in making us His own.
SO do not fear, do not hide. cry out Lord Have Mercy, and go tho those He has sent you to, that they may learn the cry as well!
(1) from Celtic Daily Prayer, Harper One Publishing, pg. 307 (attributed to Chuck Firard)
(2) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2220-2224). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Church, Stop Shooting your Wounded- Bring them healing instead!
Devotional Thought of the day:
Now if your experience of Christ’s encouragement and love means anything to you, if you have known something of the fellowship of his Spirit, and all that it means in kindness and deep sympathy, do make my best hope for you come true! Live together in harmony, live together in love, as though you had only one mind and one spirit between you. Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility think more of each other than you do of yourselves. None of you should think only of his own affairs, but should learn to see things from other people’s point of view.Philippians 2:1 (Phillips NT)
Don’t shoot the wounded, they need us more than ever! Sometimes we just condemn them, and don’t take time to heart their story. Don’t shoot the wounded, some you might be one. (Chuck Girard)
Four conversations I have been in recently were about the chruch mistreating people, or in one case, I watched it occur. End result, people lost the chance to minister to people who are wounded, and needing comfort. In at least two of the encounters, i am not sure the people are aware of their action, in one, the oppressor knew, but didn’t care? In one case, a necessary action was taken, but the way it was taken, left the person feeling unloved, unwanted betrayed. Even writing this is challenging, for those who shoot “the wounded” are often “wounded” themselves. That means this has to be a call to healing, to reconciliation, not just to stop them from injuring others.
But how do we care, and make it known that they are cared for, when the situation is complicated, when action must be taken that will cause change?
How do we love the wounded, without shooting them. How do we minister to them, when the pain they are in makes it difficult? When we too hurt, to notice their agony? When we are too self-consumed, to realize their need for our peace?
How do we stop driving people away from the love of Christ?
St. Paul is clear in the passage above, we find this ability as we realize we are of one mind,,, soemthing that happens when we have fellowship, communion with the Holy Spirit. When we are focused on the love of God, and His presence, when we know His will> When move past ourselves to embrace the God who has embraced us, and see the world as He does.. people needing life, reconciliation, healing, care, love. That is part of the change that occurs, as we realize the change going on in us, because of that grace. When we see each other, rather than competitors, but as one.
It isn’t easy, so cry our “Lord have mercy!” knowing that God will answer, for He never shoots His own… save the One wounded that we could be made whole.
He Loves It When His Plan Comes Together!
He loves it When His plan Comes Together
Ephesians 1:3-14
† IHS †
May you understand the pleasure that God finds, in pouring out His grace, mercy and love on us as we are drawn into Christ!
A-Team
Sometimes as I watched the show, I thought it was a comedy, sometimes a action adventure epic, other times a serious drama where people were rescued from oppression. The characters played their roles, the Colonel, Faceman, B.A. and the possibly crazy pilot Murdock…so well.
Yeah – I am actually talking about the old show A-Team. Because there was a line in every show that came to mind as I prepared to share what is revealed in the Epistle reading this morning.
The line of the colonel, when the people are rescued, as the team regathers, as he sits back and exclaims, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Not that they planned anything better than I planned how the last five years would go. We aren’t God, our plans.. well.. their our plans.
This passage causes me to picture our Father in heaven watching as Jesus is born, and ministers to people, dies, rises, ascends, as the Spirit is poured out into our hearts. As He sees what has been planned before there was even the earth, our Father in Heaven, with a twinkle in His eye, uses similar words. Hear again how Paul describes God’s attitude? Reaction? How God responds to the completion of His plan.
5 This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure.
Hence the title of this sermon, “God loves it when His plan comes together!”
Look at God’s work (we have a better a team)
I want you to hear some of the passage again.
Verse 4: God loved us and chose us
Verse 5: God decided in advance to adopt us, and This is what He wanted to do and it gave Him good pleasure
Verse 9, God has now revealed His mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill His own good pleasure
Verse 11 – He chose us in advance, and then, He makes everything work out according to His plan
Verse 12 – God’s purpose was
Verse 13 – He will give us the inheritance He promised
Verse 14 – by giving you the Holy Spirit whom He promised long ago
Do you see how these words, over and over tell us that this is God’s will, His plan? Do you see the great desire Paul describes that God has a plan in place from before time?
Even more incredible, can we begin to understand that this plan isn’t just a last minute thing – but He desires to do it, that God takes incredible pleasure when this plan comes together?
Look at “In Christ” I-R Stuff (they have a real mission)
So what is the plan? Well that is well laid out as well… and always comes down to the fact that we are in Christ.
God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ
Because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,
we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.
when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit,
14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.
Nine times in this passage’s eleven verses, we hear about our being in Christ, about us being brought in and adopted as the children of God. About God brining us into a relationship. A relationship that is defined by His love and desire…
His plan to save us is to deliver to Himself a people, a people to love, a people to care for, to share life with for eternity, a people with whom to have a relationship deeper, freer more complete than any other.
Us.
To do this brings Him pleasure.
Each time one of us comes home, each time a sinner trusts God, each time a life is made whole.
No wonder Peter can write to the church and say,
always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have. 16 But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear conscience, 1 Peter 3:15a-16b (NJB)
What a hope – to know God has always had this plan, a plan to find us in Jesus Christ, and place the Spirit in our hearts, so that we will always know we are God’s people.
That we are forgiven, freed, adopted, chosen,
Think on this for a moment – God’s work & Plan and desire and what gives him pleasure = You in Christ!
Going to read those verses describing God’s plan again, this time I want you to hear it being said to you….. and listen and hear them, for they are about us, and all who trust in God…
God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
At the right time he will bring (US ) and everything together under the authority of Christ
Because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,
we (Jews) who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.
when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit,
14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people.
That is what happened when God saved us, when verse 6 became true on the cross, and at our baptism, and when we take and eat His body and blood in and under the bread and wine,
6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
It is beyond words, this love of God that we know, that is the fulfilment of His plan and promise, a plan that He takes great pleasure in seeing come to fulfillment in everyone of our lives… as we are brought together in Christ…
A place where we indescribable peace, the indescribable peace of God, in which we are kept by our Lord Jesus Christ…. AMEN?
