Monthly Archives: February 2015
A Joyful Journey! or One To Be Sacrificed? YES!
Devotional Thoughts for this Day:
5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. 7 They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem. 8 O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. Psalm 84:5-8 (NLT)
51 As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 (NLT)
882 To be a Christian, and in particular to be a priest—bearing in mind, too, that all of us who are baptized share in Christ’s priesthood—is to be at all times on the Cross.(1)
The Book of Psalms has many verses that talk about the journey toward Jerusalem. Often, we picture the journey as one of great joy, one where people are excited, because of the feasts, because of the nature of the “homecoming”, and because that journey would be spiritually refreshing.
They were going to witness the sacrifice that would assure them that they were still God’s people, that as they prayed toward the temple, even as Solomon prayed centuries before, they sins would be forgiven. They would find rest…and peace beyond understanding.
For Jesus, the journey was different. He set out resolutely, for He knew He wasn’t going to witness the sacrifice, but to be the sacrifice. He was going to bear our sins, to unite us to His death, and to His resurrection. Yet the author of Hebrews tells us, that this too was a journey for the joy set before Him. A journey that was so much a paradox, as life dies and lives. As shame gives way to joy, as Holiness absorbs evil, as Sacrifice brings healing.
For us, going to church is a joy as well, but it is also a great sacrifice. Not His again, rather we are joined to His. We die with Him, we rise with Him, we gain a share in the precious Body which was given, and the blood given out. We love our lives, and gain them, all in one moment. Our sinful nature killed off again, yet in doing so, a precious life comes into view.
Our lives become living sacrifices, that is the result of our journey to Jerusalem….It is no long us that live, but Christ that lives in us. We are told in Philippians 2:5 to have this mind of Christ, the mind that sets aside everything else, to sacrifice everything and serve. This is something that can only happen if we are in Christ!.
So let us go to Jerusalem, with joy anticipating the cross, and our being made a living sacrifice…. as we are joined with Jesus.
.
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3114-3116). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Death, Grief, Sports, and the Company of Heaven
Devotional Thought of the Day:
2 This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began. Titus 1:2 (NLT)
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)
“with angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven, we praise Your gloriously name” (words of our liturgy, prior to singing the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy)
It was October 28th, 2004 about 8 o’clock in the morning. I was listening to Jim Rhome’s show on the radio, driving up Palms to Pines Highway, heading to a meeting at my church in Anza. I had to call into the show, but even as I wanted to tell the story about my grandfather playing catch with me and telling me stories of the red sox greats…. I was overwhelmed, and missed my grandfather. The grief was hard to bear… even now remembering the grief that flooded….
Friday, two of my friends and I went to see the move Sniper. Watching the PTSD build up in Chris Kyle made me think of my dad. No movies were made about him, but he too saw things, did things, that would haunt him.
Sunday, after an incredible morning in church, my son and I watched our family’s favorite football team, the New England Patriots, come from behind to win a superbowl. I put on facebook my feelings a few moments after, as I walked through the bedroom and saw the flag presented to me at my dad’s service. How he would have loved the game. How he would have loved watching my son throwing a ball back and forth with me during it. Flashbacks to our driveway in New Hampshire, and my dad and playing catch. More and more emotions… more and more grief….
Being raised in a Irish/Italian home, I tend to sentimentality. Even more though, I was raised not to bury grief, but rather to embrace it. As I say the words in blue above, as I look out over my congregation, faces comes to mind. I can almost hear their voices as well, part of the great company of heaven. Those we’ve lost for the moment, those we’ve said good by to over the years. Guys like Dale, and Richard, my first vicar Clyde and his buddy Armando, Rich B, who helped me define a vision for my present church, and Warren, who helped that vision become reality. Others who’ve placed great faith in me, like my wife’s grandmother, or Joseph, a dignified retired pastor from Guyana, who pastored “his pastor” with encouragement. Or Harley, a man who proved I could be his friend as well as his pastor. And yes, my dad…
Grief upon grief, we face a lot of it in life.
Some is quite poignant, the bitterness of not being able to play catch anymore, or watch a game together, arguing about referees calls, or trying to break the record for the most consecutive throws and catches. (football with my dad was 232 – don’t know why I remember – with my son yesterday… it was 33)
The experience as we get a sense of the great cloud of witnesses, the whole company of heaven is different. Yeah, I wish I could commune my dad one more time, or either of my grandfathers just once. Or have a service with all those guys mentioned above…..and yet I know there will be a communion, that lasts eternally, that lasts forever. And this celebration here, is a small sense of the one there.
For all who believe in God, who trust Him for what He promises will be gathered together again. We can have confidence in that, because it was promised, this plan of God that even preceded creation. This promise is the joy that Christ focused upon, even as He was crucified by us, for us.
We will all share eternity with God, our Father, ou Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I can’t tell you what that will look like, because it will beyond anything we’ve ever seen, heard, even thought of, but it will be with Him.
As we hear those words, grief becomes… blessed… it transforms into yearning, and hope. Not just to see them again, but to be together in the incredible presence of God. He’s promised it, this family gathering that will be forever. We take that hope into the world, an share it with those who need it as much as we do. we share it with those who know it, as we celebrate it together, and with those who do not…as we minister to them, where ever we encounter them in life.
even as we play catch with them…. or watch a game with them… or argue about which team is the best in history….
God’s peace to you… in
Truth Building Confidence
Truth Giving Confidence
Titus 1:1-9
† IHS †
May these words reveal the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, the grace that assures you of His love, His mercy and His desire that you spend forever with Him!
Eucharist Dismissal
As people prepare to stand up from this rail, having received the very Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament we call the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, or simply Communion,
I follow a pattern, words long used in churches from here to Siberia, and on every continent, and even heart in space.
May this precious body and blood of Christ, strengthen your faith unto everlasting life. Depart in Peace.
I may adjust it a little here, and there, to match what God has revealed to us this day, through the readings, the worship, and the prayers. For example this day, it may sound like,
Dear friends, may this precious body and blood of our Lord, shed for you, build your confidence in God’s desire and promise to share eternity with you… and until that day, He will sustain you in His peace1
For what the Lord’s Supper does, it builds and strengthens our confidence in God. That is how the Lord’s Supper teaches you about Christ. For He is the truth that will give you the confidence that you have an eternity to spend with God.
That is the faith that Paul shared with Titus, his true son in the faith, and it the trust we have and share, in Christ Jesus.
It is the message we have been entrusted with sharing, as we journey through this life, as God’s promise of living with Him forever comes more into view.
The Guarantee of the Promise
As I look at scriptures like those we’ve heard and sung today, as you consider the words, you realize that the core message is a promise. A promise that we’ve been entrusted with, all of us, to share with the world. Chris and I can lecture for hours, days, weeks (?) on the promises of scripture that God has made. How He has bound Himself to those promises. That’s what the covenants are about, every agreement God makes with man in scripture.
They all boil down to one simple concept, to one promise. It is about the parties to the covenant. Not SuperBowl parties, but the participants, the community established and bound together in the covenant. Think about marriage, there are many promises made, many facets of it, but what really matters is the husband and wife are together, bound together as one, So it is with Biblical covenants.
Every covenant God has made has looked forward to one thing, that God would make us His people, that we would realize He is our Father, our God. That is the promise! We would live forever with Him, in that incredible relationship.
This is a incredible promise! Because we have done things that would ruin the relationship. We’ve done things we can justly be blamed for, that we may still struggle with guilt over. As we’ve confessed, we’ve not done things right, we haven’t loved our neighbors, or even our family.
Yet God’s promise, seen at the cross, is that sin won’t keep you away from Him. Yet those who lead in the church need to encourage you to live godly lives, and show those who oppose God’s ways where they are wrong. We’ve got to live lives that don’t compromise that – that testify that we believe God’s rule is the rule…..
But we always have to reveal that God will not just wipe us out, pour His wrath upon us, but rather will reach out to us, reveal His message of love, to reveal the promise – you are His people… He is your God.. forever!
At this right Time, it is revealed….
That is what was revealed at the cross! That is where Jesus died for all our sins to be forgiven. That we don’t have to live with anxiety caused by guilt or shame, where we don’t have to live, bound by resentment.
As we take this bread, this body of Christ and eat it, we know it was given for us. As we take this cup, this blood of Christ, we know His life was given, in order that all the debt of sin would be paid.
That this precious Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior, is given to strengthen our faith, this faith that all who share, Paul, Titus, you and I share. His body, given and shed for us, the promise of spending time with God, forever.
Agnus Dei / Nunc Dimitis
As we get closer to communion, as you rise from the rails and return to you seats, hear the words of we sing before and after…..
This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the World… Grant us peace!
and
I have seen my salvation….a light to guide the gentiles, the hope of all Israel.
As you do, may you faith, your confidence that comes from knowing the Truth, the Truth about God our Father, revealed it Christ grow, and may you realize His peace.
AMEN.
