Monthly Archives: April 2017
What Did the Apostles Do Today…?
Dawn at Concordia
Devotional Thought of the Day:
7 It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we talk, the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began. 8 None of the rulers of the age recognised it; for if they had recognised it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but it is as scripture says: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualise; all that God has prepared for those who love him; 10 to us, though, God has given revelation through the Spirit, for the Spirit explores the depths of everything, even the depths of God. 1 Corinthians 2:7-10 (NJB)
318 Place yourself before the Lord each day and tell him slowly and in all earnestness, like the man in the Gospel who was in such great need, Domine, ut videam! —Lord, that I may see!; that I may see what you expect from me, and struggle to be faithful to you. Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge
Yesterday they saw Jesus humiliated, they saw the results of the beatings, the interrogations, the whipping. They heard the crowd cry out, “Crucify Him”; whipped into a frenzy, a desire for blood that scared a Roman Governor to the point of submission.
They watched Him carry the beam, and then fall, and then when He wasn’t able to carry it any longer, they watched a stranger carry it for him. They didn’t volunteer, they didn’t go near Him. They rejected Him.
Just like we do at times.
But what did they do today? Where they so stunned they just sat behind locked doors? Did they spend time in prayer, as they had been taught? Did their fears and anxieties oppress them? Did their guilt complete the job, leaving them depressed and in despair?
What did they do?
I ask this because I think we live in a similar situation today. Jesus hasnt’ returned yet, and while we know scripture teaches it, while we know the prophecies and promises, there are days where it all seems like a nightmare, and the promises, well they are diminished by our grief, our pain, our anger, our denial. our guilt and shame. We live in this time, where our minds should remind us, but our hearts and souls are overwhelmed.
We need to see Jesus. As St. Josemaria advises we need to remember we are in HIs presence and ask Him to help us see that which we perceive. We need to let the Spirit reveal to us the depth of the wisdom of God, the wisdom that planned for our salvation, that planned to and did raise Jesus from the dead.
And with Him, we died and rise as well….
† Lord, have mercy upon us, and in these days when we are brought low, when we struggle to see Your face, open our eyes, remind us of your promises. We pray this in the name of the Father, † the Son, and the Holy Spirit, AMEN!
It is Finished…Finally ( A Good Friday Sermon)
The Sixth Word
“It is Finished”
John 19:30 and Isaiah 49:6
† IHS †
May these words cause your heart to dwell on the grace, the mercy, the peace that God our Father gives to you, even as by Christ’s stripes you are healed…..
A long night and day
I cannot imagine how tired Jesus is at this point, how weary, how broken. There isn’t a muscle in his body that isn’t crying out in pain, and yet, how weak he must seem.
And yet, he realizes that His work is done, for he cries out those words, “It is finished”
Part of me hears those words echoed in my dad’s voice, as we worked building stone walls on our property back in New Hampshire. We would get up early, and mix the cement in a wheel barrel, and find the rocks on the property and build these walls, four foot high or so,
At the end of the day the shoveling of sand, the fighting the wheel barrel, the carrying of stones would leave our bodies beaten, our minds weary, and then as my dad ut the last stone into place, we would hear my dad utter the words,
It’s finished. Let’s go back up to the house.
O wait, there is one more thing to do…
And we would each take a nail, and carve our initials and the date into the cement.
The hard work was finished, the creation complete, it was time to relax, to rejoice for the work is done.
The Scope of the Work
My dad, as he walked our property, would envision the walls He wanted to create. Some were retaining walls, a way to level a section of the property, and strengthen it so it wouldn’t erode away. Some were for planters, some were simply there, to divide this section from that one.
He could picture what he wanted to create, even though it could take an entire summer to make it happen. Likewise, Jesus looks at our lives, and sees what we can not see, and heals us and declares us holy and righteous.
He saw the places where we are weak, where our hearts and souls fail and fall for temptation. He sees the sins which erode our spirit, the temptations that have eroded and broken us, making us unstable and unable to grow anything.
We see this in the prophecy in Isaiah 49:16,
Always in my mind is a picture of (your lives) Jerusalem’s walls in ruins. Isaiah 49:16 (NLT)
sees this, not just for what it is, but for what it can be. And in embracing the cross, he took on the work, and the pain and the crushing of his life, of His soul.
Jesus Creation
Jesus didn’t create a wall of stone and cement, like we did, but all his energy, all his life was for this moment, when He would build a temple made of us, as the Book of Revelation describes, A temple built of those who would trust and depend on Him, of those who would walk with Him.
We are His work of art, the recreation that is holy and righteous, not because of our won work, but because of His work on the cross, and through us, as He calls and draws more people to Himself.
Hebrews tells us that Jesus looked to the cross for the joy set before him, for this moment, when despite the agony, despite the pain, despite it all this moment when He could look and see His work, making us new creations would take place.
This is his moment, as he looks out on the Centurions, the crowds, the priests and Pharisees, people so oppressed by sin, but in a moment, even as His blood spills onto the ground, they are saved, redeemed, healed and restored.
Then He could say, it is finished, it is done. It is time to rest… almost
I said that one of the things we did when finished a job was to carve our initials into the wall. It was a sign of our pride in our work.
In that passage, I quoted from Isaiah earlier, about always seeing our brokenness, Isaiah says on God’s behalf something similar
16 See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Isaiah 49:16 (NLT)
He’s marked us as His own, He’s completed our re-creation, We are His…
Good Friday isn’t good Friday unless we realize our part in His death and resurrection. It isn’t Good Friday until we realize the declaration that “It is Finished” is talking about us, our salvation, our rescue, our being made new in Christ.
This is about you and Jesus… and His holding you, etched into His hands…
It is finished! AMEN!
Our Suffering, our Doubts, and Jesus’s Struggle at the Cross. A Good friday Devotion
Devotional Thought for Good Friday:
1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? 2 Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. Psalm 22:1-2 (NLT)
22 Here’s the story I’ll tell my friends when they come to worship, and punctuate it with Hallelujahs: 23 Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshipers; give glory, you sons of Jacob; adore him, you daughters of Israel. 24 He has never let you down, never looked the other way when you were being kicked around. He has never wandered off to do his own thing; he has been right there, listening. 25 Here in this great gathering for worship, I have discovered this praise-life. And I’ll do what I promised right here in front of the God-worshipers. Psalm 22:22-25 (MSG)
He is pleased to withhold from us the milk and honey of his consolation, that, by weaning us in this manner, we may learn to feed on the more dry and solid bread of vigorous devotion, exercised under the trial of distaste and spiritual dryness. 3. That as violent temptations frequently arise amidst these desolating drynesses, we must resolutely fight against them, since they do not proceed from God; but nevertheless, we must patiently suffer them, since God has ordained them for our exercise.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was tested in every way we are, that he faced the same issues, the same temptations, the same situations which can cause us to doubt, or to want to run.
We see that today, in the passage that Jesus quotes from the cross.
He too had moments where the Father seemed to far away, where the illusion of being abandoned was strong. Where the feeling that God has left us on our own to struggle dominated every other feeling we have.
I’ve often wondered why God allows us to go through these times. Surely they don’t come from God, yet St Francis de Sales indicates they are ordained by God for our exercise. God allows them to come upon us, as He did Job and Jesus, for a purpose.
IN Jesus case, the abandonment was seen for what it was, a pouring out of wrath that far exceeded the wrath of the Pharisees, Sanhedrin, and the Roman guards. A wrath that one taken upon Jesus would kill him, yet like the grain in the sand, it would give life to us, and to all those who believe and are baptized.
In our case, the suffering intended to defeat us, intended to drive us away from God can and does (eventually) ordain for us to be drawn toward Him. De Sales calls this being drawn a vigorous devotion, I beg to differ a little. Like the psalmist I look at my own pain, my own suffering to early, to often, being drawn down into the darkness, being overwhelmed by the pain. But there He rescues me, He reminds me of HIs love, He shows me that He was always with me.
This is the point David is making in the Psalm, which starts out so dark, which so describes the pain of being crucified or struggling today. The point where we can see as the light shatters the darkness, as our faith, no even more sure of God’s presences testifies to naturally, without even thinking. read it again,
22 Here’s the story I’ll tell my friends when they come to worship, and punctuate it with Hallelujahs: 23 Shout Hallelujah, you God-worshipers; give glory, you sons of Jacob; adore him, you daughters of Israel. 24 He has never let you down, never looked the other way when you were being kicked around. He has never wandered off to do his own thing; he has been right there, listening. 25 Here in this great gathering for worship, I have discovered this praise-life. And I’ll do what I promised right here in front of the God-worshipers. Psalm 22:22-25 (MSG)
When we are struggling, when Satan and his minions are oppressing us, when all seems dark, this is what is true. He is with you, He loves you, and you will soon be praising Him as the Holy Spirit convinces you of this reality. Like the cross, the victory, the depth of God’s love is revealed in these trying moments, in the midst of the pain, and the darkness. We then see the truth;
You weren’t abandoned, He was there… and you will tell others about this!
AMEN!
Francis de Sales, Saint. An Introduction to the Devout Life. Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, 1885. Print.
Do We Choose our Crusades/Battles Wisely?
1 When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. 2 For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2 (NLT)
14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.
Galatians 6:14 (NLT)
One word should suffice, that is, the cross itself. The cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the cross of Christ: a word that is love, mercy, and forgiveness. It also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us.
A thousand years ago, there were crusades. Men fought for land, urged on by those who would use religion as the promise of reward.
Now we have crusades to correct what we think are injustices. And like those who fought a thousand years ago, we often do so without completely understanding what we are getting into, without having the whole picture, without understanding the cost to those we crusade against, or to ourselves.
I’ve been there, getting all excited, getting all ready to do battle, working strategically on the arguments and planning the step by step approach to annihilate the opponent. The energy that ramps up is amazing, as our hearts feed on the competition which can quickly turn to hatred.
And then, whther victorious or shot down in defeat, we realize the emptiness, the quickly fading glory, as we see the cost in the bodies and relationships that are broken. Including our own.
I would suggest that in the quotes from the apostle Paul above (in red) is a great guideline to help us choose wisely what we invest our heart and soul in, a way to measure whether a crusade is good, moral, beneficial. Simply put, does it lead to the cross of Christ?
There we find the answer, God’s answer, to injustice. There we find an answer to the brokenness of the world which we experience. There we find the hope that sustains us, and the glory of God which brings us peace. For He was broken so that we didn’t have to remain broken. He died, so we could live.
Does what we do help people know about Jesus, does what we speak, tweet, post, do these things show His love?
People need an answer, we have one that will bring peace.
There is a crusade worth involving ourselves in… one that will cause our own peace to grow.. and will never leave us empty.
Pope Francis. A Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections from His Writings. Ed. Alberto Rossa. New York; Mahwah, NJ; Toronto, ON: Paulist Press; Novalis, 2013. Print.
A Forgotten Prayer? A forgotten desire?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
10 Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence; do not take your holy spirit away from me. 12 Give me again the joy that comes from your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
Psalm 51:10-12 (TEV)
326 Invoke the Holy Spirit in your examination of conscience so that you may get to know God better, and yourself also. In this way, you will be converted each day.
71 The old man therefore follows unchecked the inclinations of his nature if he is not restrained and suppressed by the power of Baptism. On the other hand, when we become Christians, the old man daily decreases until he is finally destroyed. This is what it means to plunge into Baptism and daily come forth again.
The words sound familiar, they have been part of the liturgy for centuries, They were sung over and over in the 80’s and 90’s, as they were one of the beloved praise songs.
Yet I wonder if we’ve forgotten the words, forgotten the consuming desire to be holy. We’ve forgotten the fear and the wonder which comes from finding ourselves on Holy Ground.
We need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, not just so we can see miracles and manifestations that are supernatural, but because we need the Holy Spirit to make us Holy, to cut away the shame, the grief, the hatred, the anger to remove from our hearts the sin that so easily oppresses us and robs us of life.
This isn’t something that happens in the theological classroom, it happens in the midst of brokenness, as we realize that without the Holy Spirit’s intervention we are hopeless. It is the cry of a heart weary from injustice, from the weakness of our heart in regards to temptation.
It is both a cry of despair and a cry of that keenest faith. Despair because we realize what we’ve let fade away, and faith, because we know, to see our hope and joy restored.
The church needs this, each one of us who calls themselves a Christian, a follower of Christ needs this, More than just a quick prayer at the beginning of our services, or after a sermon that tugs on our heart strings. Escriva and Luther tie this into the work of the Holy Spirit, the promise of our Baptism (also see Titus 3:2-8), a work that goes on every day of our lives.
That is critical to know and understand – this work of transformation isn’t a simple snap of a finger, although the promises are ours. This is why Paul tells us to strive, to work out our salvation, why Peter warns us to be on guard because the Devil is wandering about trying to find someone to devour.
Even as I write this blog, names and faces come to mind, people who need to see the Spirit working in their life, bringing them to the point where they are cleansed, where they are healed of their brokenness, where they are comforted because the Holy Spirit is at work, overcoming their sin.
SO let us pray, asking God to renew our hearts, asking Him to cleanse us, asking Him to remind us of His presence.
And let us rejoice in our salvation!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 1296-1297). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print. LARGE CATECHISM
The Paradoxical Mystery of Confession
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
14 Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death, 15and in this way set free those who were slaves all their lives because of their fear of death. 16For it is clear that it is not the angels that he helps. Instead, he helps the descendants of Abraham. 17This means that he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order to be their faithful and merciful High Priest in his service to God, so that the people’s sins would be forgiven. 18And now he can help those who are tempted, because he himself was tempted and suffered. Heb 2:14-18 TEV
261 God is with you. The Blessed Trinity dwells in your soul in grace. That is why, in spite of your wretchedness, you can and should keep up a continuous conversation with the Lord.
Growing up Catholic, the thing you learned to fear was that once a week meeting with your priest. For us at St. Francis Elementary School, the parish priest would come to the school, and though he never made eye contact with you, his presence intimidated you.
You were afraid to mention your sins, and logically, I do not know why.
He wasn’t a mean.
He wasn’t known for asking outrageous acts of Penance, (the usual was 5 Our Fathers, 10 Hail Mary’s and 2 acts of contrition – you could say that much on your way back to class)
But there was something intimidating about confessing to another person, even to a man God put in place to remind you that you were forgiven because of Christ’s death on the cross!
Now some forty years later, and being a Lutheran pastor who absolves people of sins, I realize there is no difference. People are still intimidated, still anxious, people still struggle with guilt and shame.
Even though we know the solution is found in our merciful high Priest Jesus, we shy away from Him, we put up our defenses, we deny we have done wrong. We try to hide our wretchedness, the wretchedness that eats us alive, that causes our souls to wither, our hearts to break.
We need to learn to trust, to depend on this God who came to us, to be like us, to free us from that sin, that shame, that oppression. We need to let Him help us, to speak through those He’s called and ordained to do this very work.
We need to hear, “you are forgiven”
There is the paradox, the One we fear the most, the One we want to hide from the most, is the Lord who can do something to cut away our sin,,,to cleanse and purify us.
This is what we need, this is what we’ve been promised, this is what we should run to in hope, this time where God dwells in our heart with all His grace and love.
So don’t hesitate. There are pastors and priests waiting, desiring to do their job, to tell you that which is the best news you will here today, or any day….
Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 1092-1094). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Surviving Cloudy, Dark, Hopeless Mondays
Concordia Lutheran Church – Cerritos, Ca , at dawn on Easter Sunday
Devotional Thought of the Day
24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. 25 Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls. 1 Peter 2:24-25 (NLT)
241 If the outlook in your interior life, in your soul, is darkened, allow yourself to be led along by the hand, as a blind man would do. In time the Lord will reward this humble surrendering of your own judgment by giving you clarity of mind. (1)
I took a class a year ago on the text of St John of the Cross’s spiritual classic called Dark Night of the Soul. It was a hard read, not because of the language, but because it opened parts of my life where I need to let the Holy Spirit bring comfort and peace, cleansing them and helping us find God. Yes, even there we can find Him.
As the Apostle Peter says, He is the Guardian of our souls.
In these days where everything seems broken, we need to understand that role that Jesus has in our lives. It doesn’t matter whether the brokenness that clouds our Mondays is global, national, in our community or our church, or simply in the depth of our heart and soul, He is there.
Despite our sin, despite the injustice that oppresses us. He is there.
It doesn’t matter if it is 2:30 AM, and we can’t sleep, or Monday morning when caffeine doesn’t seem to help us overcome our…. Mondayness.
He is there, guarding us, protecting us, providing for us, caring for us and bringing us the healing our souls so desperately cry out for, whether we allow them to do so audibly, or bury it and let it cry through our bodies.
He is there. He is caring for you, for me.
St Josemaria explains this using the idea of our being blinded – and there are times where surely I am spiritually. The spiritual equivalent to the wasteland of a Monday, where nothing makes sense, nothing motivates, nothing is hoped for or planned for in our lives. Where we might be in that wasteland, and so deprived of hope that we don’t care it is Monday. The key then is to allow Him to shepherd us, to guide our steps.
This is faith, the trust, the dependence on God. It requires knowing those promises He has made us, that nothing can separate us from Him, that He will complete the work He began in us, that He will never leave us, never forsake us.
Here He is, guarding our hearts, our minds, our souls. He is guiding us, and as we feel the warmth of His glorious mercy and love, we find peace….and hope.
Even on a dark, cloudy, Monday….
Lord, have mercy upon us, and reveal Your care and work as our guardian!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 1021-1023). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Then You Will Know that… A Lenten Sermon on Ezekiel 37
Then You Will Know
Ezekiel 37:1-14
† In Jesus Name †
As you know the miraculous work of God in your life, as the grace, mercy, and love become reality, never forget that this is your LORD who walks with you!
In the midst of the miraculous
There is a part of me, the geeky part, that would love to see a movie made out of the Old Testament scene today, with the skeletons coming together, with the tendons and muscles crawling up the bones, the faces going from skeleton to muscle to flesh…
It would be like watching a horror movie in reverse….
And then the miracle of the wind, roaring across the valley, visibly entering each body’s nostrils, entering their mouths, their eyes snapping open, amazed by the life that now pumps blood through the body that surrounds the formerly dry and brittle bones!
What a wonder it would be!
A great crowd of people, awake and risen from the graves, brought back to the life they were always meant to live!
What a great movie, what complicated special effects, probably even beyond the imagination of Spielberg or Lucas!
And the most miraculous thing that happened would be overlooked in such a movie…
The incredible miracle of the chapter, found in these words,
“Then you will know that I am the LORD!”
“Then you will know that I am the LORD!”
Even as we see everything else happen, not just as a movie in our lives, but here and now, will we hear those words? Then will We Know?
Yea – those are our bones…
The first thing that might take away our knowing is looking at the bones, our bones.
Like Israel, most of us can see how we’ve withered and dried out. We can see where our faith is challenged, where temptation has turned to sin, where the first cracks happened that left us broken, that made us outsiders.
It may have been the sin of jealousy and coveting that got you, or some juicy piece of gossip that you had to pass on. Maybe it was a desire that caused you to be unfaithful in your words or thought, or anger that caused you to hurt someone you should have loved. Or maybe the sin was not honoring parents or authorities, or not recognizing the need for time with God, or using His name in a way we shouldn’t, or not using it when we should.
It doesn’t matter the sin, whether it was in thought or word, or action that we took, or knew we should and didn’t.
Those bones in the story are ours, as much as they were Israel’s.
And seeing them, we can lose our hope, we can lose our focus on God, and see only our own sin.
But that isn’t the story here, nor is it where our thoughts need to dwell. Can our dried bones live? Can we, despite our sin and shame find life? The LORD knows…
It’s time to stop focusing on your sin, your history
Yea – that is the Quickening
Our dry bones can take much of our attention away from God. So can our being brought back to life, the miracle of God covering our sin, our nakedness, and putting His Spirit within us.
It is truly a miracle, this work of God, this thing that theologians calls the quickening, this miracle were a sinner is declared and becomes righteous by God’s command. This miracle where sin is stripped from us, and laid on Jesus at the cross. Where we are brought to life with Him and His resurrection.
This is a wonderful thing as God saves us from our hopelessness, and causes us to rise again.
But it is not the greatest thing, not even close…
But here is what you need to know.
Go back to that phrase, “Then you shall know that I am the LORD!:
We may skip over that far too quickly. For the other things, our sin and our being brought to life seem to capture our attention, they are more graphic, more visual, and knowing that Jesus is the LORD, that is something we might just assume, or take for granted.
But know here isn’t just about knowing the facts, it is about knowing God as LORD, as the I AM. To know him deep down into our heart and soul, the part of us that seems hidden. Hidden not only from those who know us but deep down into the parts of us that lie beneath our character, that truly define who we are.
We also have to remember that when we see LORD in all capital letters, it is not His title, it is His name, YHWH, or Jehovah, the I AM that Moses was told to use to introduce Israel to Him with. The Name we are to call out to God with when we are in despair, the Name of God we are to use in our prayers and our praises, the God who communes with us here.
This is knowing at our deepest part, knowing Him in the most intimate of settings in our heart and soul. Knowing Him at a point where brokenness is healed, where love is known, even if we can’t explain it. Where peace is found, for there God has put His Spirit. For God has breathed into you life, a life that is abundant.
This is the real miracle in the valley of the dry bones, the revelation not just of salvation, not just of the Love of God, but of knowing Him, and realizing how well He knows and loves us.
For as that is revealed – we become more and more aware that we dwell in His presence, and are safe there… for He is our LORD, He is YHWH, our God. AMEN!
The Great Escape That is our Faith
Devotional Thought of the Day:
13 Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (TEV)
As soon as you perceive that you are tempted, follow the example of children; when they see a wolf or a bear, they at once run to the arms of their father or mother, or at least they call out to them for help. It is the remedy which our Lord taught, when He said; “Pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). If you find, notwithstanding this, that the temptation still continues, or even increases, run in spirit to embrace the holy cross, as if you saw Jesus Christ crucified before you. Protest that you will never consent to the temptation, crave his help against it, and continue still to refuse your consent, as long as the temptation continues.
But in making these protestations and in refusing to consent, look not upon the temptation, but only on our Lord; for if you look upon the temptation, especially whilst it is strong, it may shake your courage. Divert your thoughts to some good and pious reflections, for good thoughts, when they occupy your heart, will chase away every evil temptation and suggestion. (1)
And this understanding is necessary for the church, so that it may know that God is daily at work in His world and embracing with His fatherly care especially those to whom He has given His Word, and He is defending them, watching over them, nourishing and freeing them from all dangers and troubles, and is unwilling to do anything which would take away anything good from those who seek the Lord, Ps. 34:10
Often times I hear the Bible passage above quoted in regards to the problems of life, that God doesn’t give us challenges that we can’t handle. As if God wants us to take on the challenges using our own wisdom, our own strength of character, our own power.
But that is not what the passage is about, if we look at the verses that come before and after the passage. It is a transition sentence, moving us from the sin of those in the Sinai with Moses, who grumbled and overlooked the care of God, and a powerful section about the communion we have with God, as we take and eat His Body, as we Drink His Blood that was shed.
It is the escape God provides, the way past temptation and sin that comes as we trust, as we depend on God to provide for us. That is our way out, carried in the palm of His hands, carried through death and the cross, through the resurrection and life in the glory of God.
Depending on the truth we hear Martin Chemnitz states so well, that God is at work, and won’t take away anything good from those who look to Him. It is what St Francis de Sales states as well, that our hope is found as we run to and embrace the cross, looking not at the temptation, but focusing on Jesus, on HIs presence, on HIs love, on HIs mercy.
This is our great escape – through Christ, from darkness to light, from guilt and shame into the very glory of God, from brokenness to being healed and life abundant in Christ. TO have the mindset of Christ, to focus in on the love of God our Father, to explore that love, as the Apostle Paul tells the church to, this is our safe place, our sanctuary, our refuge.
That is why the Kyrie Eleison (Lord Have Mercy! ) is such a powerful prayer, for it directs our hope to Christ, where it finds the proof that sustains it.
We must go back, and see where Paul finds that escape, in the communion of people and God. In the sharing of the Eucharistic (the Blessing) Cup, in the Body of Christ which we share. In that sacramental meal, we find ourselves so in the presence of God. This sacrament, this time of being with God, is so precious, so needed!
This is Christianity, our religious dependence and trust in God, the path of walking with Christ, being the place where the Spirit dwells, where the people of God are lifted up.
So look to Jesus my friends, and find the escape we all need. AMEN!
(1) Francis de Sales, Saint. An Introduction to the Devout Life. Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, 1885. Print.
Chemnitz, Martin, and Jacob A. O. Preus. Loci Theologici. electronic ed. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999. Print.
