Monthly Archives: October 2016
Would You Give Up Your “Rights” for….
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
So turn from youthful desires and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord* with purity of heart.s 23 Avoid foolish and ignorant debates, for you know that they breed quarrels.t 24 A slave of the Lord should not quarrel, but should be gentle with everyone, able to teach, tolerant,u 25 correcting opponents with kindness. It may be that God will grant them repentance that leads to knowledge of the truth,v 26 *and that they may return to their senses out of the devil’s snare,w where they are entrapped by him, for his will. NABRE 2 Tim 2:22-26
.299 Christ died for you. You …what should you do for Christ?
31 6. In line with the above, churches will not condemn each other because of a difference in ceremonies, when in Christian liberty one uses fewer or more of them, as long as they are otherwise agreed in doctrine and in all its articles and are also agreed concerning the right use of the holy sacraments, according to the well-known axiom, “Disagreement in fasting should not destroy agreement in faith.”
When we think of “doing” things for God, we tend to think of big things. Things like becoming a missionary, or selling out prized possessions and moving into the inner city to run a rescue mission. Becoming the next Billy Graham or Greg Laurie
In my devotions today, another option is given, one we could do for God if we dare accept the sacrifice called for, the painful self-denial that it will require.
Giving up our “right” to speak what we believe is right.
The right to quarrel. The right to argue, the ability to prove we are “right.”
Instead of coming with guns loaded, reading to unload our intellect, our well thought out slogans and the meme’s we memorized because they destroy (or so we think ) our opponent, our adversaries, our enemies…..
Instead of being the victorious spiritual warrior, crushing those who mistakenly thought were our enemies, we are asked to remember we are humble slaves, tasked by God himself with loving them, not quarreling, but gently serving them.
We are asked to love them, to teach and correct them with patient kindness, so that they come to Christ, that they are granted repentance, which His mercy and love be revealed to them, changing everything.
This whether they are of another religion, the Muslim, the Jew, the Mormon or Sikh, or whether they are simply a member of our denomination who stands on the other side of the worship wars
This is an area I need, desperately need transformation in, as do most of us. Too often we consider our positions beyond question, our logic undefeatable.
In Christ, we find not only the model for this, but we also find as we have been united to Him the passion, the desire and the power to subject our will, our pride and see the miracle of our transformation, our repentance, and prayerfully, theirs as well. This is part of the impact of our baptism, and as we kneel and eat and drink of His sacrificed body and shed blood.
Lord Jesus, help us love them more than we love to be proved right. Send your Spirit to heal our brokenness that we might see theirs healed as well. † AMEN †
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 780-781). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print.
As Unavoidable as Mondays…
Discussion Thought of the Day:
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. 14 And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Colossians 3:12-15 (NAB)
The genuine sacraments, therefore, are Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and absolution (which is the sacrament of penitence), for these rites have the commandment of God and the promise of grace, which is the heart of the New Testament. When we are baptized, when we eat the Lord’s body, when we are absolved, our hearts should firmly believe that God really forgives us for Christ’s sake
292 Your interior life has to be just that: to begin …and to begin again.
Mondays are unavoidable. The next begins in less that 160 hours.
Two other things are as unavoidable.
The first is sin. Or at least it seems to be. In thought word and deed, we fail. We fail to love our brothers and our sisters. We fail to love God, and we often live life without Him, going without His assistance, without calling on His name.
Sin is like Monday, it will happen, even if we don’t want it to happen! (not that we should use this as an excuse!)
It is depressing, as Paul admits in the 7th chapter of Romans. What a wretch I am!
Given similar despair, the words of Saint Josemaria give us hope. It is time to begin again! To approach God’s throne of mercy and ask for what seems impossible, to ask for forgiveness again!
But forgiveness is as ubiquitous, as omnipresent as Mondays! ( Ubiquitous and omnipresent simply mean “always there” )
The Lutheran Confessions note this when they talk of the sacraments and urge us to firmly believe that God forgives us! Because of Christ! He does! The one who told Peter to forgive Andrew 7 times 70 demonstrates it 1000 times over with you and me.
He forgives us!
The cross was for you and me! He did it for the joy He would know, as we are called
That is what St. Paul means when he says we are called into the Body of Christ.
Bring confident of this mercy of God, knowing He will forgive us is the evidence of Christ’s peace controlling our hearts, assured that guilt and shame do not have a place in our life That we don’t have to keep a record of sins against us and let resentment eat away our soul.
It’s Monday. You will probably sin, but you can begin again,
9 If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. 1 John 1:9 (NAB)
So let us confess, and depending on the promise of God, begin again, dwelling in His peace! AMEN!
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Location 765). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
† I.H.S.†
May the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, breathed out into you as the scriptures are read, remind you that you dwell in His peace!
A Cute and False Statement about the Bible
Maybe 20 years ago I started seeing bumper stickers and tee-shirts with one of those cute Christian slogans on it. The slogan is pretty popular, and somewhat cute, but it is wrong, and spiritually, it is not just false, it is deadly.
Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth.
It is wrong because it reduces the exhaled words of God into a rule book, a guide by which we could live the perfect life.
Yet many of us, including me, have used the inaccurate acronym a time or two, not thinking that it could lead people to frustration, and turn them into either hypocrites, or worse, causing them to give up on the church.
First – if you look at it as a rule book, a guidebook, it is anything but “basic”.
I mean the Old Covenants has over 613 commandments, – that doesn’t sound, “basic”.
And the summary found in the New Covenant – Love God with every part of you – heart, soul, mind and body, and to love your neighbor, not the one you like, but the other one, as you love yourself.
Does that sound like easy, simple instructions?
And do you think you can achieve that level of maturity prior to leaving earth?
So I think we need to understand what it means that God gave us His word, and what He makes it useful for.
What Paul sees as an urgent need
In the second paragraph, Paul urges Timothy and all who read this letter to announce, to proclaim, to teach others the word of God. To bear witness to it, because of the hope it gives to those who will hear it.
He is insistent on it, he urges us to do so because the need to hear it is urgent. We don’t urge people to do something that is common and simple. We urge them to do something that is critical, that is needed.
And he urges us to be ready, whether it is convenient or not, even when it requires us to patiently correct people, to even rebuke them, and to encourage them with our teaching.
Not easy tasks, but ones we are urged to do, because this is why we have scripture, and it will make a difference in their life, and ours,
A difference that God wants to bring about urgently.
Because He loves us, and He wants us with Him, to know His love, to share in His glory.
By “us” I mean us all!
All, no matter what language we speak, no matter where we were born, our what languages we speak, or what political candidate we support or criticize.
God would have them hear of His love, and Paul reminds us of this and urges us to do it, for these are people Jesus died to save.
What scripture does – Gives specific wisdom
This is the message of scripture, the message that Timothy learned, the lesson that made him wise, and that wisdom was for a purpose –
to be saved.
Saved from, but more importantly saved into a relationship where we can believe in, trust, and depend on Jesus Christ.
This is what scripture teaches that we are to remain faithful to, the very things that were passed on to us, and o which we pass on to the next generations, even if it means we suffer in order to do it.
This isn’t basic, and it isn’t just some instructions – as if you have to assemble it.
It is revelation, an unveiling of reality, that affects our lives here and now, and from this point forward into all of eternity. The Holy Spirit uses these God-breathed words to breath life into us, to give us faith.
This salvation is worth it, this being brought into the presence of God is that amazing.
Not just to be cleansed of all sin and shame
Not just to be freed from all guilt and resentment
To know we are loved
To know we will spend all eternity with our beloved Lord and Savior.
And that is guaranteed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, our comforter.
This is what scripture teaches us, this is what we rejoice in, this is the life which God reveals to us, as He breathed out the scriptures, and they breathed life into us.
This is where we remain faithful, depending on these promises. This is where we stand, whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether we prosper or suffer.
For in Him, we have found a peace that is beyond all understanding, and we are guarded, our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
AMEN!
Tired at Work? of Work? Me too! Yet….
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17 (NAB)
23 Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others, 24 knowing that you will receive from the Lord the due payment of the inheritance; be slaves of the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24 (NAB)
277 You ask me, “Why that wooden cross?” And I quote from a letter: “As I raise my eyes from the microscope, my sight comes to rest on the cross—black and empty. That cross without a corpus is a symbol; it has a meaning others won’t see. And I, tired out and on the point of abandoning my work, once again bring my eyes close to the lens and continue. For that lonely cross is calling for a pair of shoulders to bear it.” (1)
It is Friday, and I am sitting in my office, trying to get my act together, to prepare an inspiring sermon. I’m tired, my allergies are not helping! Neither is a sore back. I want to whine and complain and go home and escape into a television show, or more likely a book.
And I know even those who aren’t tired are counting down the hours until the work day is over, and then get that rush of energy which signifies that it is the weekend!
O wait – the laundry needs, to be done, the garage cleaned, the …..
The energy drains and we are back to being tired.
As I was reading this morning, I was reading the book of Colossians, lots of good rich teaching in that work of Paul. Could have written about anything from preaching and baptism to the fact we dwell in and for Christ. IN fact, I was thinking about writing on the incredible song of praise that starts in 1:15, until I got to Josemaria’s writings, and the quote in blue above.
“Tired and abandoning my work….”
Uhm, yeah – I have not only been there, I am there.
And the ministry waits… and yet the cross has no body…
Will I bear my cross?
Part of me wants to say no, I’m too tired. I hear the invitation to bear the cross as one demanding more sacrifice.
Then I remember the other cross, the one where I am there, and His body has taken it up. There love is revealed in all of its fullness, where I find hope beyond belief. Where joy is the focus, not the shame (see Heb 12:1-3) Where I am invited to die with Him, that I may live with Him.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether my work is writing a manuscript from which to preach from, or listening to a co-worker, or a friend. “Whatever you do” Paul reminds us – all of it do in God’s name, for His glory, knowing we have already been guaranteed a reward of all of eternity, sharing in His glory.
To run to bear our cross, to embrace the work, even the suffering is not just a challenge, it is an opportunity to experience God, to know His presence that sustains us. For while we were nailed to a cross with Christ, He is with us, as we bear our cross.
Knowing that, the work takes on a new meaning, a time of contemplation, a time where His peace overwhelms my brokenness, my tiredness.
God is with you, share the work with Him, as a child shares their work with their dad.
Have a blessed Friday!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 735-738). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Another Urgent Task for the Church for Today!
Devotional Thought of the Day
2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche* to come to a mutual understanding in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you also, my true yokemate,* to help them, for they have struggled at my side in promoting the gospel, along with Clement and my other co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. NABRE Phil. 4:2-3
174 Don’t say, “That person bothers me.” Think: “That person sanctifies me.”
Yesterday I wrote about the church being urged to work for unity at every level. That scripture urged us to do so, even as we find ourselves in opposition to others. That unity is found int he presence of God, in a sacramental (some would say incarnational) presence of God.
In my devotional reading today, Paul is again urging unity, but this time we aren’t the one’s who are divided – we are urged, as the church, to help bring two people back together, to help them reconcile and know the unity that can only be found in Christ.
Paul urges us to help them, and while we probably don’t have these names in our congregations and parishes, we have people that stand apart, that divided over something. People that we might classify as good people, people that work hard in the church, that minister to those hurting, that feed those who are hungry, that care and teach people about God’s love.
Let’s face it, we all have stubborn streaks, we all can be more than a bit irritable and irritating. We can all struggle and in those struggles, get a bit defensive, and bit anxious, a bit territorial. We all struggle with sin, and sin can divide people, even as it separates us from God.
Our sin, and the unrighteousness of the sins committed against us need to drive us to the altar, to the cross where the blood of Jesus cleanses us. That is where the healing between two who find themselves divided and antagonistic can happen. For there, face to face with sin being forgiven, with mercy being extended, we see what happens.
It is in the presence of God that we find that mutual understanding in the Lord. It is where love overwhelms us and where healing begins, as God heals us, as God draws into unity together.
And sometimes – the two parties need the third to remind them of this – that there they are together, that there they are both cleansed, and whatever divided them fades as quickly as their own sin does.
There, at the altar, where we celebrate the New Covenant, there is where they are reconciled. There, they find peace, and the joy of community united in Jesus is restored! AMEN!.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Location 534). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
:
Give Thanks!
Give Thanks!
Luke 17:11-19
† In Jesus Name †
May the compassion of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be so revealed for you, that you hear Him as He tell you to rise up!
Jesus Frustration:
Jesus asks, “where are the other nine?!” and I can’t imagine hearing that without hearing some frustration in His voice, and maybe even a little pain.
Where are they?
Don’t they realize what I’ve done for them? And don’t they know that this is only the beginning?
Where are the other nine?
I don’t know how you read it any differently, though it may seem odd to hear God being pained by our inattentiveness, by our being ungrateful, by our not being aware of the incredible mercy and compassion that goes neglected.
But consider this.
God describes himself in Exodus 34 with these words,
14 You must worship no other gods, for the LORD, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you. Exodus 34:14 (NLT)
and in Hebrews we find this,
3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? Hebrews 2:3 (NLT)
This is the God who weeps over Jerusalem, who compares himself to the man whose beloved wife whom he rescued from a horrible life cheats on Him.
Now can you hear the pain in his voice, as he asks, “Didn’t I heal ten? Where are the other nine?
is it enough to color between the lines?
Where are they? Why at the priest’s, showing them the healing so they confirm it. They are obeying Jesus, but isn’t that enough? Isn’t’ that the point of scripture, and the commandments, to get us to obey the commandments?
A quick illustration why it is not enough might help.
Think of a children’s coloring book – with pictures of great masterpieces in it.
Forgetting the parental requirement to love every piece of art your child or grandchild colors in; is it enough to color between the lines? Can a Van Gogh be as beautiful or a Mona Lisa look as stunning if the colors don’t make sense?
Or to use another illustration – if we stay in our lane on the freeway, does that mean we can travel as fast as we want?
Of course not!
So in this case, while listening makes sense, what they didn’t hear was that Jesus had heard them, and answered.
A quick background – these lepers were supposed to cry out when people approached, “UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!” They were to warn people to not come close, their disease was not only devastating, it was contagious.
Instead, somehow this group recognized Jesus, they recognized that though he wasn’t their Lord, He was one with authority, and they called out to him have mercy, to have compassion on them. Mercy and compassion aren’t just about feelings, but love so full that it acts, it finds a way to relieve the burdens, to bring comfort and peace to lives that were broken, that were shattered.
As Jesus speaks, he offers them something they could only have dreamt of – to go and show themselves to the priests, to be declared free from the ravaged brokenness they knew, to be welcomed back into the community of the people of God.
And as they left, they were healed physically, miraculously. Bodies that were more rotting than whole, bow showed skin that was a whole and new and vibrant as any.
This was the Master that spoke, that commanded this. The Master, the one promised and sent by God. This is the Messiah, the one who would not just restore bodies, but souls. That would cleanse not just skin, but hearts and minds. Who would make them His people for eternity!
And we walked away. We neglected the salvation, we obeyed the letter of the law, and missed something more important. The Spirit, the messiah, Fellowship with God.
Even though they obeyed to the letter of the law – they missed what the law was given to do, to show them they were in fellowship with God.
Rise up! Not only healed – but saved.
There is Jesus, and we’ve just heard him ask where the other nine was, when he focuses on the man again, lying there on the ground in front of him. Who voice, which was loud when he cried for mercy, was mega loud when cried out God’s praises, when he offered great thanks – using the very word Jesus will use as he starts the last supper and gives thanks.
And what Jesus says is lost in almost every translation.
In this one it says this,
“Didn’t I heal ten men?” Then it says, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.”
A few others say, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:19 (NASB)
But a few say it this way – reflecting the Greek, ‘Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’ Luke 17:19 (NJB)
Not just made well, not just healed, his faith, his trust in God demonstrated in the return to praise God was the trust, the dependence that saw a much greater gift given – and invitation, and the recognition that he was no longer an alien, no longer a foreigner, but a part of the people of God.
Jesus was now this man’s Lord, this man’s master. Salvation, like the healing that was for so long only a dream, this salvation was now his.
And Jesus tells him to stand, he doesn’t have to grovel, he doesn’t have to lay there in the dirt. He was made whole and saved, therefore he was welcome to stand!
If there was gratitude when he only knew the healing, can you imagine the gratitude when salvation was what was given? When eternity, in fellowship with God, given the ability to stand in His presence, to truly live life.
Can you imagine how incredible the mercy, the compassion he cried out for was revealed?
Yet that compassion, that mercy, that love, that acceptance of God is ours.
It is time to revel in it, to give thanks and praise.
And to hear, as Jesus look at the table, and considers the bread and wine, the gratitude he shows the Father, who will allow Jesus to give His body and blood for us, to save us.
For it our time to hear those words, you trust in God has saved you,,, for He has had compassion on you. AMEN!
Do We Realize an Urgent Need in the Church?
(
(TEV)Devotional Discussion Thought fo the Day:
1 I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, 3 striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: 4 one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:1-6 (NAB)
Not only by the reception of the sacrament but by the words associated with the sacrament the heart will be encouraged to believe and be quickened. For it is in the words that God promises the forgiveness of sins: “This is my body, given for you.” “This is the cup of the new covenant,” is the new promise, the promised righteousness, eternal life, “in my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sin.”
Thus they obtain the forgiveness of sins not through any outward act but through the faith which is awakened by the word and the sign.
Also the people are to be taught that this sign has been instituted not only to awaken faith but also to instruct us in love, as St. Paul says in I Cor. 10[:17]: “It is one loaf and it is one body, for we all partake of the same loaf.” We are not to harbor envy and hatred, but each is to care for the other, to help the other with alms and every kind of service which God has commanded us.
This teaching shall be repeated often. For what else is it than dishonor of the body of Christ when we harbor envy and hate and want to show no love and yet want to be considered a part of the body of Christ
First of all, that the Last Supper of Jesus is recognized as the authentic occasion of the founding of the Church: Jesus bestows on his own this liturgy of his death and Resurrection and, in doing so, bestows on them also the feast of life. At the Last Supper he repeats the covenant of Mount Sinai—or better: what was there initiated only in signs becomes here the full reality—a union of blood and life between God and mankind. When we say this, it is clear that the Last Supper anticipates both Cross and Resurrection yet at the same time necessarily presumes them, for otherwise everything would be but an empty gesture. That is why the Fathers of the Church could say, in a very beautiful image, that the Church sprang from the open side of the Lord, from which there flowed blood and water. That is, in reality, only another way of formulating the thought I express when I say: the Last Supper is the beginning of the Church. For it always means that the Eucharist unites mankind not only with one another but with Christ and so constitutes humanity as the Church, thus giving, at the same time, the basic constitution of the Church: the Church lives in eucharistic communities
Some people are afraid of it, for they assume unity means compromise.
Some people are afraid of it because they know that such unity does mean change, and requires us to submit our will, our right to grievances, our resentment and even jealousy to God’s desire for His people.
Some are simply afraid of it, no let’s be honest, we are afraid of “them.” Of those we’ve been taught to stand opposed to, even as we recognize that we confess the same creeds ( or if we are “anti-creedal – we cover the same ground in our faith statements.)
And yet, in the New Testament, there is a definite call for the church to be “one,” to be unified, to be about the ministry of reconciliation. It is part of Jesus prayer, where He asks the Father to bless us, that we would all be one. It is a major them in the 2 letters to the Corinthians, and to the Galatians, it is obviously here in Ephesians, and the great passage in Philippians 2 describing in Christ’s ministry to us, is to urge us to unity, to submit our personal desires and even needs to serve those who need it.
Even our enemies, even those we are afraid of, even those who cause anxiety.
This kind of unity is not worked out in theological dialogues, or debates. It is not fostered by blogs and vlogs and podcasts. In fact, those monologs, even ones like this urging unity, don’t foster the unity.
That is done in the sacraments, where God shows unity not only to be possible, but to be created. Some will hopefully wet our appetite for such a unity, while I fear far more urge greater division, greater separation because of a false understanding of holiness and purity.
In our mutual baptism, we are each joined to Christ. Where we are so united, we share in His death, and in the resurrection. But even as we individually are drawn to Him, and find that He has united us to Himself, we find we are united together.
We also see it as we kneel and commune, as we share in the body and blood of Jesus together. Where each of us is reminded we are part of the covenant, and we commune with the Body and Blood of Jesus, together. Here are the words of St. Paul on this,
16 The cup we use in the Lord’s Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ. 17 Because there is the one loaf of bread, all of us, though many, are one body, for we all share the same loaf.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (TEV)
It is in these things where we not only encounter God, but are joined to them that we find we are joined. Where the urgency that Paul observes finds not only hope, but the reality of what it means to be “one, holy (pure/set apart), catholic (universal – there is only one) and apostolic ( the church with a mission, a church that is sent into the word) Church.
A mission that is seen as people look at His church, His people and say, “see what love they have for each other!” and thereby are drawn to Jesus. AMEN!
Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 40: Church and Ministry II. Ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann. Vol. 40. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999. Print.
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Ed. Irene Grassl. Trans. Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992. Print.
Is Modern Chirstianity too Easy? Is That Why the Church Appears Dead?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
5 But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you. 2 Timothy 4:5
165 You, who for an earthly love have endured so many degradations, do you really believe that you love Christ when you are not willing to suffer—for him!—that humiliation?
Go back a few years, to the first time you felt like you were falling in love.
You thought constantly about the one you were in love with, that you were enchanted by. You would do anything to gain their attention, to see them smile. You would invest time, and your hard-earned money. You would overlook the challenges, the problems that would separate you from them. You would tolerate the friends and families that didn’t just understand.
or think about the investments we make in children, our pets or anything else we love. Consider the 17-year-old, washing and polishing their first car. Or the musician who prizes their new instrument, spending hours playing it, learning everything to make the instrument sing.
If we don’t consider the things we do for earthly love a sacrifice, then it would be logical that we don’t have to consider our sacrifices for God, who loves us more than we can imagine, and whom we fall in love with, because of His love which is revealed.
I wonder though if we haven’t robbed our people of the blessing of loving. If we’ve made being saved too easy, to friendly, that we’ve taken away the challenge of responding to God with a love that embraces the work that love is?
Here it all is, here’ s heaven, and forgiveness, and mercy. Now just sit there and soak it in, and don’t worry about changing. You don’t have to be changed, you don’t have to face your fears and anxieties, you don’t have to share this incredible hope you’ve been given, and you don’t have to forgive. ANd life will be normal and amybe even perfect.
Except it isn’t.
There is a temptation at times – to soften the sermon, for we know a person who will struggle with it, who might even be plagued by their own emotions and the issues which oppress them. We want to spare them, and yet we realize the message is for all our people. But we cannot, for their sakes and ours.
CHristinaity isn’t easy, he doesn’t stop the hard questions from being asked, it doesn’t put us to sleep, but encourages those questions to be asked, those sermons to be preached, the reality to be lived within, even as we don’t have the strength. People need to know Christ meets them in the hardest part of their life, and sustains them. It isn’t a faith for the healthy- but hope for the broken.
The call to preach, to teach, to ask those hard things can’t be ignored. Those issues will draw them to the cross, to the place where they will encounter a compassionate God, who loves them. A God whose love overshadows our afflictions and suffering.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 515-516). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Presidential Elections, Culture and the Church
Concordia Lutheran Church – Cerritos, Ca , at dawn on Easter Sunday
Devotional & Discussion thought of the day:
1 I mean that as long as the heir is not of age,* he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under the supervision of guardians and administrators until the date set by his father. 3 aIn the same way we also, when we were not of age, were enslaved to the elemental powers of the world.* 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,b 5 to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.c 6 As proof that you are children,* God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”d 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. New American Bible. Revised Edition. Galatians 4:1-7
The history into which Jesus enters is a quite ordinary history, marked by all the scandals and ignominy that are inherent in humanity, all the advances and good beginnings, but also all the sinfulness and baseness—a totally human history!… We may ask: Is this the context into which the Son of God could be born? Holy Scripture answers: Yes. But all this is meant as a sign for us. The Incarnation of God does not result from an ascent on the part of the human race but from a descent on the part of God. The ascent of mankind: the attempt to bring God forth by one’s own efforts and to attain the status of superman—long ago in paradise this attempt failed utterly. One who wants to become God by his own efforts, who reaches arbitrarily for the stars, always ends by destroying himself.…
58. There are many ties between the message of salvation and human culture. For God, revealing Himself to His people to the extent of a full manifestation of Himself in His Incarnate Son, has spoken according to the culture proper to each epoch.
Likewise the Church, living in various circumstances in the course of time, has used the discoveries of different cultures so that in her preaching she might spread and explain the message of Christ to all nations, that she might examine it and more deeply understand it, that she might give it better expression in liturgical celebration and in the varied life of the community of the faithful.
In writing this post, perhaps I go where angels fear to tread.
Entering the place where politics, religion and culture interact, in that place we called life.
There is a part of me that wants to flee from any political conversation; there is another part of me that wants to call out those who are acting contrary to their relationship with God, as they criticize that candidate, or defend this candidate. For what good is it if “our” party gains the majority in Congress or the Presidency, but in the process we lose our soul, we neglect salvation, we turn our back on God?
In my devotional reading today, three times I come across the same answer.
Jesus comes to us, as we are, in our brokenness, in our broken world. As when He was born of Mary, the leadership of the world isn’t righteous, and our culture is challenged. Our nation is so immersed in immorality that we don’t even see it affecting our lives.
Instead of struggling like a man drowning, I need to see Christ here, descending to us, coming to rescue us who try to reach for the stars, or think we’ve arrived among them.
This Christ, who descended once to be crucified, is still here, (see Matt 28:20) reaching out to us who are drowning, reaching the world through the people among whom He dwells. Reaching out in every cultural context, reaching out to those paralyzed by anxiety, by doubt, by a distinct lack of hope.
Ultimately the answer is not going to be found in November, but in what we know and celebrate in Advent, as we look for hope, as we anticipate what God has promised, that we will dwell with Him, that we do dwell with Him, that we can cry out Abba!
And here His voice calm us, give us hope, and freedom as He softly says, “I am here! Do not be anxious… I with you.
AMEN!
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Ed. Irene Grassl. Trans. Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992. Print.
Catholic Church. “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium Et Spes.” Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011. Print.
The Scientific Method, Agnosticism, and Finding Hope in Misery
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement,* 4 who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.c 5 For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ* does our encouragement also overflow. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your encouragement and salvation; if we are encouraged, it is for your encouragement, which enables you to endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement. 2 Cor. 1:3-7 NABRE
20 For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.l 21 *But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God;m 22 he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.1 Cor 1:20-21 NABRE
Indeed today’s progress in science and technology can foster a certain exclusive emphasis on observable data, and an agnosticism about everything else. For the methods of investigation which these sciences use can be wrongly considered as the supreme rule of seeking the whole truth. By virtue of their methods these sciences cannot penetrate to the intimate notion of things. Indeed the danger is present that man, confiding too much in the discoveries of today, may think that he is sufficient unto himself and no longer seek the higher things. (1)
When the holy apostle St. Paul wanted to console his Corinthians he began by saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may also comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” [II Cor. 1:3–4]. With these words he teaches us through his own example that the afflicted are to be comforted and that this comfort comes from God and not from men. St. Paul emphasizes this to avoid that false and pernicious comfort sought after and handed out by the world, the flesh, and also the devil. That [kind of comfort] slows down and stops all the benefits and the fruits that come to us from suffering and cross.
One of the cardiologists I had was a world class doctor. Indeed, among his other patients were a former president and a king. Though not a Christian, and perhaps only nominally religious, he used to tell me that God would keep him humble. God did this every time he accomplished something extraordinary by simply giving him a head cold. With such, he could not perform surgery, he wasn’t supposed to see patients in poor health and was rendered miserable physically, and because of his inability, miserable because he was useless.
I think the quote in blue helps us understand the problem. The ability to observe suffering, to encounter that which makes one miserable is undisputed, The ability of hat observation to do something about, something even as simple as providing comfort and relief is not always possible.
We can do so many things medically and scientifically, but not everything. We count on our doctors, our pharmacies, science and sometimes the liquor store to provide the answers to every ailment, to every problem, to every struggle. They can’t, and what is worse if our hope has been placed solely in their provision, we’ve lost faith and trust in something higher.
We’ve become agnostic, and in doing so, we’ve lost the comfort and peace the Holy Spirit brings in those moments of horrid, miserable brokenness.
Luther points us back to scripture, to the fact that such comfort does come from God, that secure in HIs presence, we find the comfort when life seems to crush us. I could have put 12 more quotes from 2 Corinthians, or tossed in Job and Ecclesiastes and Hosea, for that truth is throughout scripture.
Where man’s brilliance fails, God is there, providing comfort and peace. There is compassion, the mercy, the comfort, all that comes through the power of the Holy Spirit, who raised Christ from the dead and works within us. (it is tempting to wax theologicial here) But the Holy Spirit, whose presence was a gift to us in our baptism, who gives us life, real life, and heals our broken hearts and souls, there is our hope, there is the guarantee that eternity will not be life as we know it.
As one who has had a share of physical pain and suffering, illness and disease, I share this as well, in Christ Jesus, you will find hope. Reminded of my physical brokenness with the very ticks of my heart (two artificial heart valves) and struggling with back pain, and worst of all, these stupid, miserable, nose reddening, sinus pounding allergies, I know this.
The Lord is with you (and with me – as my beloved congregation reminds me very often!)
Hearing that, I find the answer to my quest for mercy; I find the comfort and peace that the Spirit reveals that gives me hope, and I find the strength to share that hope with you.
Scientific method, Agnosticism, and Atheism will not answer the cry for mercy.
But when we cry, “Lord have Mercy!” God answers, for He is our beloved Father.
AMEN!
(1) catholic Church. “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: Gaudium Et Spes.” Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011. Print.
Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 43: Devotional Writings II. Ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann. Vol. 43. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999. Print.
