Category Archives: Sacraments
A Father’s Proudest Moment? Yeah! A sermon on Luke 23:32-43
By My Hands, for My Sake
A Father’s Proudest Moment
Luke 23:32-43
† I.H.S. †
May the grace and peace of God our Father assure you that you too will be in paradise (though not today!)
- St Dismas Church.
It would be centuries after his son died, but a beautiful church would be named after his son. Hand carved sones make up the walls, and the pews and all the word work done by members of the community. Even the stain glass windows were made onsite – by another member of the community…
It is a beautiful place, a sanctuary for those who can climb the hill to enter the church, where the grind of their daily lives would be lost in the peace, and even the joy of such a beautiful church.
I could imagine the dad’s smile, thinking what a blessing it was…
One former member of the community wrote,
I can honestly say that the only breath of fresh air in that wretched environment was that church. An absolutely gorgeous structure which does grant reprieve from the drudgery of every day life.
Sounds like an impressive place! He goes on…
Clinton correctional facility is the embodiment of hell on earth. Nevertheless retired Priest (Father Bill Edwards)and ,Deacon Dibeck are truly blessed man and will always hold a place in my heart. Imagine signing up to take a job in a maximum-security prison as a Priest and a Deacon.. I would otherwise refer them to seek psychiatric help but they are clearly blessed by the Lord and are carrying the good word to those in need. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVuftGUjRBE)
Oh, did I mention the man’s son was the only person in scripture who Jesus said would see him in paradise, thus declaring Dismas a saint?
And the church named after him is a church set placed in a maximum-security prison named after him?
St. Dismas Church…
As we’ve looked at various hands throughout this lent, tonight I want you to consider what went through the mind of the father of the man who died alongside Jesus, who shared the crucifixion…
And the day that was undoubtedly the proudest day, and the most meaningful day possible for a dad.
- Did my sin lead to his?
But let’s go back and put our feet in the shoes of this man on the cross’s father. Can you imagine the pain of hearing that sentence being placed on your child?
We don’t know how long the son had been in trouble in life, but crucifixion was for capital crimes. It was for someone who committed such a horrible act that society, both the Jews and the Romans, wanted to publicly torture him on the cross for hours, even days.
This was a crime they wanted no other person to think of, never mind commit.
I doubt this was a onetime loss of focus, and I don’t think he was stealing a nice BLT from the local sub shop.
I don’t think the father’s distress was all caused by the sentence either. Sure, I doubt he talked to his neighbors about that, I am sure rumors were spread, and the family felt shame and hurt because of their son.
But I can imagine the father’s shame was more personal. I can imagine him questioning how he failed his son. Was he not there enough, did he not pray with him enough, did he not send him to the right synagogue, the right school, did he not train him up in the ways he should go?
Not all thieves and murders had parents who did the same, yet I can easily imagine the man’s father lying in bed at night, wondering how his own sin, how his sin influenced his son. Did the things his son saw him do set such a bad example that his son thought there was nothing wrong with sinning? After all, the son must have thought- if my dad didn’t care if he sinned, if he didn’t feel remorse, why should he?
Did the dad see in his son’s sentence to death his own failure, his own guilt, his own shame?
Was the weight of his own sin crushing him even more as he looks on his condemned, dying son, as he realized its impact on the son he held as a baby…. And wanted the best for?
He knew what his son had in him, he knew his heart – and yet what happened… and did he take on the blame?
- The Proudest Moment—and one that gives hope for me..
As the son hung there with the son of God, the interaction reveals that hearts of both sons,
The one son, who is sorry for his sin, who confesses it, much as Judas did last week. God was working in his heart—and the compassion he showed there, showed that he, like most of us, was not completely corrupt, his sin—while strongly gripping him—did not own him past the point of redemption.
Those words may have helped the dad a little, but the words of Jesus to his son, oh how glorious those were…
“today, you WILL BE with me in paradise.”
Ultimately, I do not think there is anything more incredible to know about anyone we love who has struggled in life, than to know God’s love has broken through—and that they will be in His presence eternally. That they will finally know the peace we want them to know, even as they seem so hardened by sin.
The proudest day—far more important than a wedding day, far more important than a graduation, it would even overshadow the death on the cross…
His son was going to heaven…to walk boldly before the throne of God pure, holy, sinless… godly.
The prodigal saved into the arms of His heavenly Father.
I am making the assumption here that the father was at least a nominal believer, history tells us he was—though not much more than that..
But I can imagine him, as the weight of his sin and guilt was lifted as well, as he saw in his son’s salvation. The guilt and shame for not raising his son well enough disperses but so does all the other sin, for Christ’s death secures the promise of forgiveness for all who believe.
It may take even to Pentecost to sink in, until the father is baptized, but the joy and its healing began then, even as the skies darken, as first Christ dies, and then his son.
This gives us hope, as we pray for our families and for our spiritual families. For those who think they can avoid God, or dismiss Him… and those of us who wonder what we could have done differently.
This is the power of the cross, the ultimate victory, the ultimate moment of glory—as God proved that He loves us, and the people we love whom we worry about, who frustrate us….
Keep praying for them, and remember the story of Dismas and his dad… and the Lord who loved them both… and loves us.
AMEN!
The Search for Freedom’s Necessary Question: From What?
Thoughts which draw me closer to Jesus, and to the Cross!
51 God, be merciful to me because you are loving. Because you are always ready to be merciful, wipe out all my wrongs. 2 Wash away all my guilt and make me clean again. Ps 51:1– 2. NCV
We know in how many places it (the church and the smallest unit if it – the family) has been torn already; we know how many predatory fish have worked with might and main to tear it to pieces, allegedly in order to free people from their imprisonment in it. But it would be an empty freedom into which they would sink: the freedom of death, of loneliness, of the darkness that comes when truth is lost. It would be a liberation from the Kingdom of justice, love, and peace—from that new dimension into which the net is drawing us.
Defend and protect me against the wiles and deceptions of the evil one and all his power, and against the perversity of his servants, that their pride, hypocrisy and unrighteousness may not obtain over me nor bring harm upon me. Teach me to watch and pray, lest I enter into temptation, and grant me to hear with mine ears and see with mine eyes. For Thine, O Lord, is the glory, Thou only Source of all Grace
At the beginning of the United States of America, freedom was sought. Originally from outrageous taxes, but then a large group of other things were laid out as well. Freedom for religion, freedom of speech, freedom from injustice and others the Bill of Rights well defines what they sought. Over time, more calls for freedom were heard, and acted upon.
In my childhood, the cries for freedom once again were heard across the land, as the freedoms won in the civil war, had not yet become reality for many. Again, these were defined in various documents, such as the Civil Rights Act, and various court decisions.
We’ve learned to cry for freedom well, but we do not awlays engage wisdom and logic, asking the one critical question that needs to be asked.
From what do we want freedom from?
In far too many cases, we want freedoms that have unintended consequences that cause more pain and heartache. Some of these are religious freedoms, or freedom from religion. Free speech is awesome, until it allows for gossip and slander which hurts reputations, and causes damage to relationships. Sexual Freedom was so wanted, yet the damage it has done to marriage – even to those who are faithful once married, is beyond explanation. As a pastor,
As a pastor, I’ve helped many people heal from brokenness caused by the pursuit of freedoms that are ill-advised. For there are some that talk of casting off all bonds, all things that restrict us in any way, that freedom may take its course. They would rip the net God has established in the church, not realizing that it is primarily a safety net, to be there when a fall is immanent. That net draws us closer to Jesus, the course of our healing, the refuge we need, when all seems broken.
For His word is the answer to the Psalmist’s prayer mercy, it is the answer to the cry for our brokenness to be dealt with, for us to be restored. His word is the hope we have, when faced with temptation, when faced with decisions that could result in major trauma, to ourselves and to others.
And as such, it brings about the greatest of freedoms, the freedom from guilt and shame, the freedom to love, the freedom to know that we are the children of God, welcome in His presence, and that we can ask Him to help us with any burden, any situation.
This is the one freedom we cannot give up, the freedom found in our baptism, and reignited every time we commune, eating and drinking the blood of Christ. The freedom from sin and brokenness, won for us as Jesus gave up His freedom, and came and was born of Mary, and loved and died for us.
This is our hope for this Lent, to cause us to think of what we need to be freed from, and to cry out to Lord who makes that freedom possible. AMEN!
Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Edited by Irene Grassl, Translated by Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth, Ignatius Press, 1992, pp. 69–70.
Lœhe, William. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Translated by H. A. Weller, Wartburg Publishing House, 1914, pp. 189–90.
They Need Jesus, not just words about Jesus! (A Sacramental Discussion)
Thoughts which draw me closer to Jesus, and to the Cross,
10 There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses. The LORD knew Moses face to face 11 and sent him to do signs and miracles in Egypt—to the king, to all his officers, and to the whole land of Egypt. 12 Moses had great power, and he did great and wonderful things for all the Israelites to see. Exodus 34:10-12 NCV
That’s essentially the same joke as the one about the theologian who died and was given the choice by God between going to Heaven or going to a theology lecture about Heaven, and he chose the lecture.
Constricted by our finitude, driven by restlessness, and induced by unfulfilled longings we go about our lives in frantic search of our true home, true love, and true identity. We cling to ideas, people, experiences, relationships, or professional identities that we hoped would fill the gaping hole within us. The cycle of restlessness, reaction, and rapaciousness is the breeding ground of human suffering. The creation narrative exposes this daunting yet redeemable reality.
Yesterday in reading Peter Kreeft’s excellent apologetic treatise, I came across the line in blue above.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be a joke unless it bore some resemblance to truth. Unfortunately, I think this vocational risk for academic theologians has infected the clergy and leadership of the church. We hear more about the church, and more about apologetics, and more about the nature of God than we do being introduced to God and interacting with Him. I am as guilty of it as any, but while we should be hearing Him, while we should be know God, as Moses did, face to face, we talk about Him.
And then we wonder why our churches are lifeless, why they are more and more empty, why our lessons and sermons fall on deaf ears, why pastors will spend saturday afternoons surfing the internet to find a sermon that might make a difference! (I’ve seen it, some weeks I will have 400 hits on searches find a sermon from 6 or 9 years ago! I think about Nolasco’s words about the people searching, and I don’t believe they will find that which fills the holes that cause such mental, psychological and spiritual anguish if all we do is tell them about the doctrines of Christ.
They will just move on to try and find some hope, somewhere else. They will find some other substitute to cling too, some other remedy, or more likely, something to deaden the pain.
Our Lord isn’t dead. We don’t have to talk about Him as if He was!
They need to know Him, they need to experience His love! They need to walk with Him on the side of the lake, or through the streets surrounding Union Station in KC (if you read this in the future, there was a gun battle there yesterday) They need to realize His presence in courtrooms, and rehab facilities.
They need to experience their reality redeemed, and reconciled with how God exists in their life.
They need Jesus…and so do you and I.
That is where word and Sacrament ministry – that is the sharing of God’s word in scripture, and the sacraments being the conduits of God’s merciful blessings are all about. The word of God, the gospel that tells you that is was always His plan to be in relationship with us, and detail what that looks like (what is called the law) and ho He creates and restores in (the promises of the gospel) The sacraments bring us into that relationship – that union/unity with Jesus. Each in its own way, not only assuring us of our forgiveness, but welcoming us into the presence of God, That is what baptism, confession and absolution, and the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper promises and delivers!
The chance to experience what Moses did and better, the opportunity to have God dwell in us, and us in God.
This is what matters, this is what our family needs, our churches, our communities, our countries… our world.
Lord, help us draw people to You, where they will find life.
Kreeft, Peter. Ha!: A Christian Philosophy of Humor (p. 57). St. Augustine’s Press. Kindle Edition.
Nolasco, Rolf, Jr. 2011. The Contemplative Counselor: A Way of Being. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
The Art of Listening to a Sermon/Homily/Bible Lesson
Thoughts which draw us to Jesus, and to His cross
45 I will live in perfect freedom, because I try to obey your teachings.
73 You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. 74 May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy, for I have put my hope in your word. Psalm 119:45, 73-74 (NLT2)
Though I hear but a human being preach, even as I am human, yet do Thou so rule and govern my mind that I may regard him as the servant of Christ, and hear him as a messenger in God’s stead, for by him Thou instructest me. Therefore, make me to have desire to the word which falls from his lips, and though all that he says may not please me, let me be mindful of other hearers beside me, who may find which I least regard, as most necessary and beneficial to themselves. Meanwhile do Thou Thyself speak within my soul when he speaks to my ears. Cause my heart to burn within me like the hearts of the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. Open my heart as Thou once didst open the heart of Lydia, the seller of purple, that I may give heed to what is said unto me. Grant me such measure of grace that I may rightly judge and divide all that Thy servant says: the words of the text which he explains, the doctrine which he draws therefrom, the truth which he thereby shows forth, the errors which he therewith opposes, my own self-examination which he may provoke therein, the sins which he condemns, the good which he commends, the instruction unto godliness which he gives, and the comfort which we may receive against every care of this miserable life. Grant, O God, that I may hear all this with diligence, receive it with joy, understand it rightly, consider it carefully, know Thy will therefrom, feel the power of Thy Word within me, and so, become ever more perfect and ready unto all good works.
In summary, buried beneath our exterior self is a seed of contemplation waiting to grow and flourish. The seed of contemplation within us is a function of God’s deep desire to be in communion with us. Our open and receptive response to this gentle and sweet invitation transforms our life in all ways.
As I read Loehe’s words, a prayer he recorded about preparing to hear a sermon, I thought of how much time we in preparing sermons, from learning how to study scripture, to learning how to write and deliver that sermon. 36 units just in preaching classes, if I include Theology and Bible courses, add another 60-80 units. Not to mention books read, and sometimes reread 16-20 hours a week – 48-50 weeks a year, not talking midweek services! A lot of polishing of student sermons and deacon sermons along the way as well.
And I never gave much thought to how I prepare my people to hear a sermon.
I guess I didn’t consider it the same as medidating on the word of God, which Loehe develops the thought of in the prayer. I know we are proclaiming Christ, and Him cricified as the hope, yet how do we listen, and dwell and let it sing in, as Loehe suggests? is hearing the word proclaimed a form of the mediation that Nolasco desire should flourish? It certainly includes the message of God’s deep desire to be in communion, intimate communion with us!
That is all Psalm 119 is really about – this deep meditation on the word of God – deep as engaging heart and soul as well as mind–the word and the word- enfleshed sacraments causing us to be drawn more consciously into the presence of God, where we dwell.
This is how the word heals, as it is communicated through the lips of broken men like me, and takes up residence in those that hear it.
Oddly enough – that is how our Lord chose to make this work….
May our common meditation reveal the Lord, our Rock, our Savior.
AMEN!
William Lœhe, Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians, trans. H. A. Weller (Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House, 1914), 126–128.
Rolf Nolasco Jr., The Contemplative Counselor: A Way of Being (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011), 51.
What Is Needed for Reconciliation and Real Peace?
Dawn at Concordia
Thoughts that draw me closer to Jesus, and His cross.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will now be Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with people, and you have won.”29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But the man said, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.
30 So Jacob named that place Peniel, saying, “I have seen God face to face, but my life was saved.”…
3 Jacob himself went out in front of them and bowed down flat on the ground seven times as he was walking toward his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and put his arms around him and hugged him. Then Esau kissed him, and they both cried. 5 When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Genesis 32:28-30, 33:3-5, NCV
For the minds of these people have become stubborn. They do not hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might really understand what they see with their eyes and hear with their ears. They might really understand in their minds and come back to me and be healed.’ Matt 13:15, quoting Is. 6:9-10 NCV (emphasis mine)
The culture of individualism, consumerism, and quick fixes continues to creep into the work of the counselor whenever performance and quick results are the primary motivations. Often we get so extremely busy and preoccupied by our compulsion to quickly remedy “problems” that in reality require an unhurried transformation not only of the head but of the heart, that we grasp for the next best treatment available or hold onto tried and tested modes of intervention. Yet at the end of our therapeutic work we somehow get the sense that something is amiss and unfinished, that somehow all these theories and techniques have fallen short of responding to the soul ache that comes from a deeper, more primal place.
It is taught among us that the sacraments were instituted not only to be signs by which people might be identified outwardly as Christians, but that they are signs and testimonies of God’s will toward us for the purpose of awakening and strengthening our faith.
2 For this reason they require faith, and they are rightly used when they are received in faith and for the purpose of strengthening faith.
I do a bit of counseling now and then, sometimes in groups, and sometimes with individuals. Almost always, it is because of conflicts and strife, even if that is because of an internal conflict.
Having that occur more often as the holidays come near – I saw something in this morning’s devotion that I’ve overlooked before. Jacob/Israel’s dramatic change in dealing with his older brother Esau. Jacob left his homeland, fearing for his life, as he scammed his borther out of everything – his birthright, his blessing as older (and therefore chief of the tribe) son. His fear was obvious, as he sought to buy forgiveness, sending gifts on a head.
But his encounter with Jesus changed all that…he was drawn back to God, even fighting him–as stubborn as ever–refusing to submit. But that fight and blessing changed him, even as he “triumphed,” and was saved. For it was only by engaging God that this could happen, it was only then that reconciliation, true reconciliation was possible for Jacob/Israel.
That is what Jesus points to, in quoting Isaiah’s ordination warning. Only by engaging God can sin be dealt with, and the person healed. Just as the Lutheran Confessions talk of the sacraments being the place where we are healed as our trust/dependence on God is strengthened and made our foundation of life.
That is the primal place where Nolasco notes the soul’s ache originates. The healing necessary to pursue healing with others can only be seen when God’s peace is known, when He is depended upon for a deeper healing. It is there the transformation takes place – even if the transformation takes 20 years. (some of us wrestle with God longer than others!) That of course means that pastoral counselors and shepherds, and regular counselors as well as we need to be patient, and let God draw us to himself. It means trusting in the promisess given to us through His word, and through the sacraments He instituted and blesses us through.
It is not a quick fix, even though the road starts with a dramatic change of heart. That change was being caused by God for a lot longer period of time than we can see, for it was planned for from before the cross, from even before time.
But God will make it happen – He will complete the work He began in us, showing us miracles of reconciliation, miracles of healing, even as we wrestle with Him through it.
So hang on, and let the Spirit cut open your heart (see Ezekiel 36:25 and Acts 2:36-37) and bring healing…and then, rejoice for you well in a peace beyond comprehension… even though you may not always see/feel/know it.
Rolf Nolasco Jr., The Contemplative Counselor: A Way of Being (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011), 7.
Augsburg Confession – XIII The USE of the Sacraments; (emphasis mine) Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 35.
Why I Believe It Is Time For the Church To Stop What It’s Doing…
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to The Cross
21 “Not all those who say ‘You are our Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. The only people who will enter the kingdom of heaven are those who do what my Father in heaven wants. 22 On the last day many people will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, we spoke for you, and through you we forced out demons and did many miracles.’ 23 Then I will tell them clearly, ‘Get away from me, you who do evil. I never knew you.’ Matt 7:21-23 NCV
I pray Thee, O God, pour out upon me Thy Holy Spirit,—the Spirit of prayer,—that I may ever love and desire to pray; being daily free to approach Thee, with all confidence, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ; to bow the knee before Thee in every time of need, as a child well beloved.
And so we go about our lives almost mechanically with little or no awareness of the seed of contemplation buried deep within. This is as true of many, if not most, Christian counselors as it is of their clients.
We live by default, doing what we have been programmed to do. We have been conditioned to believe that busyness and multi-tasking are a mark of effectiveness, that human efforts and plans speed up positive change, and that vitality is acquired by activity. The cultural focus on doing as opposed to being that society privileges tends to strengthen this conditioning.
For the past two months I have been thinking about the church, mine, those in my district, those in my denomination and those across the USA.
For a dozen years or more, people have been saying we are in the Post-Christian Age, though I think they mean the post church and post congregational age. Experts are telling us to redefine minsitry away from preaching the Gospel, and administrating the sacraments, and to do something, anything – to bring people into community. Old programs are being reinvented, redefined and placed out there as the hope for what they didn’t deliver in the first place. Others lament and want to go back to the systems and practices of the 1950’s or earlier, as if the church was perfect back then. We panic when this then doesn’t work, and hop into the next hope–often written by someone in the midst of their own efforts to overcome the slump their church is in….until the next book comes out, the next magazine or blog that promotes this or that…
I think we need to stop…seriously stop what we are doing.
I think if we don’t, the church is going to find itself as the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecty above – a church that spoke for Him, delivered people out of bondage, and even did miracles, but never knew Him, and were not known by Him.
I believe Nolasco describes this place we are at as well as any… we do things – even mechanically, but we aren’t away of what God has planted in His church. We don’t spend time contemplating it in prayer. We ,measure our effectiveness, and now be-moan it…without considering what we know – that the Holy Spirit is in charge of the harvest. Our books on leadership, even in the church, push this – and we buy into it. We miss the chapters on prayer and devotion written by those who planted and replanted churches before us, to get to what “we have to do!” But because we lack a seriously intimate relationship with Jesus, we don’t have the foundaiton of worship and prayer that all renewal and revival is based.
Let me take it a step further, the church no longer cares about preaching about the sin its own people need to be delivered from, because it doesn’t treasure the intimate relaitonship with Jesus found at the cross.
Lohe’s prayer, translated in 1914 can be prayed (maybe translated first!) today. That all the church, from its pastors to the newest visitor need to spend time in prayer and contemplation of the presence of God! We need to receive and treasure the comfort and mercy we have, the peace that comes upon us, the moments we know that He is here…for us.
It is only, by stopping, being silent, finding our place in His refuge and knowing what it means for Him to be our Lord and God, that we will ever realize the ministry we’ve been given… it is only because of experience the burdens of sin and all its corrolary effects that our freedom in Chirst ever becomes something of glory. It isonly then we can approach Him confidently, as children approaching the One they know loves them…
and then, aware of what He does nin our lives, we begin to see the needs of the world, for that sae revelation, for that same intimate relationship.
For that same joy…
William Lœhe, Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians, trans. H. A. Weller (Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House, 1914), 7–8.
Rolf Nolasco Jr., The Contemplative Counselor: A Way of Being (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011), 1–2.
Tips on Getting the Best Deal…. don’t
Thoughts that draw me to Christ – and to the Cross
20 You have nothing to do with corrupt judges, who make injustice legal, 21 who plot against good people and sentence the innocent to death. Ps 94:20-21 GNT
Yet popular Christianity has as one of its most effective talking points the idea that God exists to help people to get ahead in this world! The God of the poor has become the God of an affluent society. We hear that Christ no longer refuses to be a judge or a divider between money-hungry brothers. He can now be persuaded to assist the brother that has accepted Him to get the better of the brother who has not!
Too often, individuals and organizations look to get the best deal. How can their actions benefit themselves, or the group that they owe allegiance too. Even within orgranizations, there is competition between divisions and departments. It exists in churches and denominations as well. We want ours to get what it needs, even at the cost of others. Even if it means they shut down.
There is a name for this in scripture,
Covetousness.
We can justify it all we want, but covetousness is contagious. It starts out small, like the man who tells the pastor that he doesn’t care what happens to the church – as long as it is their to do his and his wife’s funerals. There is little care for the people around him. It then extends out to churches and denominationals that see other churches as places to prey on – and so welcome and recruit people from other churches, offering them “more” of this, and ‘more” of that–to meet their perceived needs. It can go on, to people pushing agendas that prey on needed ministries to fund those agendas.
THis isn’t new, Tozer’s words acknowledge it 30 years ago.
You see it in the scriptures as well, as people go against the work of Ezra and Nehemiah, as the Kinsman passes his right to Boaz (who gets to slap him in the face with a sandle!) so his son gets the full inheritance. In the apostles who are jealous of others ministering in Jesus’ name.
Here is the option.
The word cHesed in Hebrew, often translated as love, loving-kindness, has the sense of loving loyalty. It is the word used in conjunction with a covenant, to express the attitude that one should do everything in their power, not only to keep their end of the covenant, but to help the other party keep their end of it.
Even if it means death.
This is what compelled Jesus to die on the cross, the promise ot help mankind receive all the promises made to Adam, and to Abraham, and the promises given to all naitons through Moses.
This is the heart of the matter in Luther’s understanding of the 7th commandment as well. In explaining it to dads, so they can explain it to their children, Luther wrote, “but help him to improve and protect his income and property.”
To do otherwise is to disobey God by stealing from one’s neighbor.
But when we do help them, when we invest in them, when we strive on thier behalf, we see God at work in them and we see God’s blessings upon them, and we get to share in their joy.
Is such easy? no!
Is such perhaps met with suspicion and reluctance? yeah… because of past history.
Is it worth it? Was it worth it to Christ.
Our being in Covenant with God means we are in covenant with all of mankind, and so cHesed – this loyalty/love/kindness compels us to these kinds of actions. May we welcome such compulsion, and turn our back on coveting that which God gave to someone else.
A. W. Tozer and Gerald B. Smith, Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2008).
Martin Luther, “The Small Catechism: The Ten Commandments”, Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 343.
Are You Where You Are Supposed to Be?
Thoughts that drive me to Jesus, and to the Cross.
10 One day spent in your Temple is better than a thousand anywhere else;
I would rather stand at the gate of the house of my God than live in the homes of the wicked. Psalm 84:10 GNT
For the entire gospel testimony is unanimous that Jesus’ words and deeds flowed from his most intimate communion with the Father; that he continually went “into the hills” to pray in solitude after the burden of the day (e.g., Mk 1:35; 6:46; 14:35, 39). Luke, of all the Evangelists, lays stress on this feature. He shows that the essential events of Jesus’ activity proceeded from the core of his personality and that this core was his dialogue with the Father.
Thus the spiritual life of the minister, formed and trained in a school of prayer, is the core of spiritual leadership. When we have lost the vision, we have nothing to show; when we have forgotten the word of God, we have nothing to remember; when we have buried the blueprint of our life, we have nothing to build. But when we keep in touch with the life-giving spirit within us, we can lead people out of their captivity and become hope-giving guides.
A good deal of my time this year has been spent contemplating the question that is the title of this post. I’ve had three distinct possibilities, three times I was a finalist for a position, and once I received a call to pastor a different church. All three interested me, and I dread the idea of having to decide between my present call and them.
But the question about where I am supposed to be is far deeper than a geographical location, or what vocation I have. In fact, the locations where we live and what we do are meaningless without the insight of “where we are” offered by the psalmist.
We have to imitate Jesus, and rely on our location in response to our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our identity is determined by our awareness of our proximity to God. If we know we are in HIs presence, everything else takes on a new dimension, a new meaing. Our families, our workplaces, our hobbies all become a way in which to experience God’s love, and to see the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
This is essential for the entire church – and it resolves with all of us taking our positions as ministers, as those who serve people, that they might know Jesus. Intimacy with God is the core of our spiritual leadership–it is also the core of our spiritual lives. Without interaction with God prayer, meditating on the gospel and the sacraments, there is little that we can and should attempt to do. Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI ) is correct – all we are and do flows from our intimate – yeah – intimate connection with God.
I believe that is what the psalmist knows, and puts into words… it is being there in God’s presence that is the most desirable place to be.
And then we can give people the hope we find there, with Jesus,… as they are called and drawn to the One lifted up on the cross.
Joseph Ratzinger, Behold The Pierced One: An Approach to a Spiritual Christology, trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 17–18.
Nouwen, Henri J. M.. The Living Reminder (p. 73). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Now… at last! We Celebrate!
Thoughts which bring me to Jesus, and to His cross
10 And then he said, “I have here a book that Hilkiah gave me.” And he read it aloud to the king.
21 King Josiah ordered the people to celebrate the Passover in honour of the LORD their God, as written in the book of the covenant. 22No Passover like this one had ever been celebrated by any of the kings of Israel or of Judah, since the time when judges ruled the nation. 23Now at last, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem. 2 Kings 23:10,21-23 GNT
It is in the intimacy with God that we develop a greater intimacy with people and it is in the silence and solitude of prayer that we indeed can touch the heart of the human suffering to which we want to minister. Do we really believe this? It often seems that our professional busy-ness has claimed the better part of us. It remains hard for us to leave our people, our job, and the hectic places where we are needed, in order to be with him from whom all good things come. Still, it is in the silence and solitude of prayer that the minister becomes minister. There we remember that if anything worthwhile happens at all it is God’s work and not ours.
Something happened to King Josiah as the gospel, contained in the word of God was read to him. It went far beyond doing church, “right,” and being good, ethical stewards of the money entrusted to their care.
He didn’t have a time of silence and solitude as we normally think of it, but as the gospel was read to him from the word of God, the miraculous happened.
The Holy Spirit created the intimacy with God which made King Josiah unlike any other king, including Hezekiah and David.
He became a king who was also the pastor of his people. He realized part of his work was to free them from bondage to false idols, to bring them to the point of celebrating the Passover–something long forgotten among the people.
They celebrated it, in a way that reflects on their hunger and thirst for the presence of God, and to see and celebrate the work of God in their midst…now!
The people of God came back to life, they realized again what God was doing! Revival broke out–not because they were running the business of church right, but because their time was dominated by God’s revelation of His presence and care.
Nouwen is correct though, it is not our work that makes us pastors, priests and ministers. It is not from our agendas that we find the strength and ability to minister. It comes from the time when our darkness was invaded by the glory of God’s love, where His comfort and peace sought us out to heal us.
It is time, to gather around the gospel, to hear it–to realize the intimate presence of God–who loves us, cares for us, comforts and heals our brokenness..and then uses all of that, as we serve and minister to those around us…. as we guide them to the Altar– to our Passover…
Lord, may it be said of our time, that our moments of being gathered together and celebrating Your work in us is unlike any other, as You revive Your church as you did the people in Josiah’s day!
Nouwen, Henri J. M.. The Living Reminder (p. 51). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
The Reminder…. is our Ministry
Thoughts which drive me to Jesus, and to the Cross
And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham’s father died, God made him move to this land where you now live. God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square metre of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children. Acts 7:4-5 GNT
So it is in keeping with the core of Biblical tradition to look at the ministry in the context of remembrance. Therefore I will discuss our spiritual resources by looking at the minister as a reminder: first, as a healing reminder, second as a sustaining reminder, third as a guiding reminder.
We are a people who have been taught to live in and for the present. That we need to be free our past, and we cannot let our anxieties about the future color our present life. We only live now, in this moment… ( o wait – that moment is now passed..hmmm…)
There is a point to it – that things past and future should not handicap our present life.
That doesn’t mean that we should divorce ourselves from either. We need the lessons from the past, the remmbrance of God’s promise to work in our lives, to intimately be involved in healing what is broken, in sustaining us in the present, and in guiding us into the future. Fr. Nouwen was right – our ministry is based in these reminders, both from the scriptures, and in the promises given through the hands of priests and pastors who baptize, absolve and give us the Body and Blood of Christ!
Abraham is a great example of counting on such promises. Stephen talks of his trust, his faith in God such that it was generations before the promise would be realized. It didn’t matter, the faith was there. Abraham depended on God being faithful to His promise, even thought he wouldn’t see Moses guiding people to the Holy Land, or Solomon’s Temple, or the death, burial and resurrection of His Lord Jesus Christ.
He would pass that faith on through the generations, some would have it, some would neglect it, but it was there, as God called people back, to bless them, to continue the promise. To trust and walk with God, sieing tht the promise is not just for us in this moment, as Peter notes, “39 For God’s promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away—all whom the “‘Lord our God calls to himself.'”
This is our ministry, facilitating the trust and dependence people have on God. It is not done with the strength of our character, rather by our ability to remember His presence, as He fulfills His promises to us, and those who come after us. And using the phrase, “our ministry,” I am referring to the church, not just to pastors, deacons and the like.
God’s promises will make the difference, and knowing about them is critical.
Lord, help our faith to grow like Abraham’s, and help us to minister to others – helping them remember Your promises and recognize Your presence! AMEN!
Henri Nouwen, The Living Reminder: Service and prayer in the memory of Jesus Christ. Seabury Press; 1977, page 13
