Category Archives: Theology in Practice
Do we know what Patience is? Really?
Thoughts that carry me to Jesus, and to the Cross:
“But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God. You are patient and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15, NET)
God communicates his will to humanity so that the whole human race may take part in his divine life. In his high priestly prayer in John’s Gospel, Christ prays to the Father, saying:
I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belong to you, and you gave them to me, and they kept your word. I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. (John 17:6, 20; author’s translation)
The purpose of God’s revelation to humanity is for humanity to share in his divinity
Patience.
A virtue that is quite misunderstood at its core.
We think of it as being willing to wait a time in order to see our wants and desire come to fruition. I waited patiently in line for this, or I waited patiently for my promotion, or to be noticed by that person. Too often patience is intertwined with our own self-centeredness, our own narcissistic
I think if the goal is primarily about us, while it is delayed gratification, it isn’t the fullness of what patience is, at least scripturally. I think patience, Godly patience, is waiting for the best to occur to someone else. God’s will was to bless us, for us to take part in His divinity, in His glory, in His eternal life. It was already His, He didn’t have to wait for it, but He waits for us to join Him, to share in that life He plans for us.
Does He benefit? Yes, in seeing us benefit.
Is God willing to be patient with our understanding, our internalizing His revelation? Absolutely! All scripture testifies to His guiding our individual and communal journey toward Him.
There is nothing more important in life that this, nothing more amazing to think through, nothing more important to wait for–For that is what God is patient with, turning our very lives into works of art.
This is why we praise our God, for His vision of making us one with Him and in Him, and His patience and love which makes this happen.
(and now, let us imitate God, and be patient with others whom God is working on….)
De Gaál, E. (2018). O Lord, I Seek Your Countenance: Explorations and Discoveries in Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology (M. Levering, Ed.; p. 180). Emmaus Academic.
A God Who Loves Inconvenience
Thoughts that drag me to Jesus, and to the Cross
“The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. These were their descendants: Ishmael’s firstborn son was Nebaioth; the others were Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael.”…
“The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, and (by Timna) Amalek. The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.” (1 Chronicles 1:28-31, 35–37, NET
“The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not consider ritually unclean!”” (Acts 10:15, NET)
I have known some who were interested in the deeper life, but began asking questions: “What will it cost me—in terms of time, in money, in effort, in the matter of my friendships?” Others ask of the Lord when He calls them to move forward: “Will it be safe?” This question comes out of our constant bleating about security and our everlasting desire for safety above all else.
A third question that we want Him to answer is: “Will it be convenient?”
As I read Chronicles this morning, I had to think about it as I read about Ishmael and Esau’s descendants. I mean, they were the guys that were to be forgotten about, the covenant of Abraham ran through their brothers families–not theirs. They should have been forgotten about, except to log their sin, for they were exiled, put out of the family of God.
They didn’t matter. They weren’t the chosen people.
So why are their names here? Why do we know of their descendants?
Why go to the hassle, the inconvenience of tracking them? Why should their names be in the Bible?
Think about this – this book is somewhere between 800-1000 years after them….
God didn’t forget them, nor the promises he made to their mothers and to Ishmael and Esau. While the promise of the Messiah, the Lord who would come was to be through the lineage of their brothers, there was something to remember…
Jesus was coming to save them all.
They weren’t inconvenient, they were part of the target, the focus, the reason for the cross. We, the people of God, are to seek and save their further descendants, just as God promised.
As I read this, I am beginning to take inventory of my own actions and thoughts. Who do I dare consider inconvenient, ministering to whom is not worth investing my time and heart in? Do I consider them not worth including in my story of my journey with God?’
If there are people, I need to repent…
Which is fine, because God can handle that, granting me forgiveness and changing my heart and mine – as the Spirit works within…
Maybe its time for us to reconsider who our church considers inconvenient, and then rejoice as we engage and help them know God wants them in His Book as well!
Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (2008). Mornings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings. Moody Publishers.
The Cost of Discipleship is far less than you think (or has been told to you)
Thoughts carrying me to Jesus, and to the Cross…
“And when the people saw it, they all complained, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household, because he too is a son of Abraham!For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”” (Luke 19:7–10, NET)
But hope in the resurrection allows us to take the proper measure of our brief time in this world, and this does not make us neglect our neighbor, it stirs up greater generosity. We have seen this in the lives of many mystics. The saint with a soul soaring upward into heaven does not forget the world; to the contrary, he or she is in the most radically free position to transform it. Chesterton said his first attractions to Christianity came when he realized that Christians were the only ones to preach the paradox that one must be “enough of a pagan to die for the world, and enough of a Christian to die to it.” Hope allows us to love the world radically, without practical calculation or cost analysis.
Back int eh 1980’s, there was a great focus on the the idea of the “Cost of Discipleship.”
Some of it came because of the great work by Bonhoeffer bearing that name, which many people would read and not finish! Or if they did, would struggle and give up applying it. Others would talk about it based on Jesus’ parables and stories–illustrations like the general going to war, or the warnings about following Jesus costing family, friends, and even require accepting martyrdom and persecution.
In some ways, the Kingdom of God was put forth as requiring such a sacrifice that you would be considered a “hero” of the faith, a saint because of inner fortitude and a willingness to pay any cost to be with Jesus, and it turns the Church into a rest haven for weary crusaders fighting against that “ole Satanic foe.”
Count the cost – the pastors and evangelists told us… and held up images of those who left everything to go on the mission field, or serve in the inner city, or give up the tech career to work in the church. They counted the cost, and accepted the cost, and paid for it with their blood, sweat, and relationships.
And often burnt out – for the cost analysis they did was inaccurate, and minimized the cost to one’s heart and soul. (that is another blogpost entirely!)
Simply put, if our focus is on the cost analysis, we won’t make it.
But those who encounter Christ, as Zacchaeus did, don’t calculate the cost of walking with God, he didn’t perform a cost analysis or look at his bank account when he determined where God was leading him. He did check his credit card balance before throwing a massive parry at his house, so people could meet Jesus, he did it. And as he restored and multiplied his victims wealth, there was no one at his should, laying out a payment plan.
There was no need for a cost analysis, because he could see the value God put on restoring him… and nothing could compare. Those who serve God for 40-5070 years will tell you the same thing – nothing can compare to what they have, indeed they rejoice in their hardships!
This is why Fagerberg’s saints are so generous, why we are free to love radically–even to the point of bloodshed and death. dying for the world that we had to die to.
Which brings up a last point… if we were dead in sin prior to being brought alive in Christ, what price could we have paid, and what cost is there now?
This isn’t cheap grace _He paid for it…and as we receive it – we realize that only our relationship with Him, and walking with Him as we love others with Him matters.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 96). Emmaus Academic.
The Glory that Empowers Trust: A Sermon on Jeremiah 17:5-8
The Glory that
Empowers Trust
Jeremiah 17:5-8
† In Jesus’s Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ empower and strengthen your dependence on Jesus the Messiah!
Cursed are We?
The Old Testament passage this morning starts with such a encouraging word!
CURSED ARE Those who put their trust in mere humans!
My first reaction to this was to thank God for being, well, more cynical than most – and therefore I don’t trust anyone!
Part of that is growing up in a very cynical part of the country, part of that comes from working in the jails as a chaplain, and part of it comes from being a pastor, and part of it comes, to be honest, from looking in the mirror!
But while I say I don’t trust anyone… that isn’t true!
We trust people every day, from doctors and nurses to tax advisors and mechanics and family members and friends.
Some those things we trust to them are life-affecting decisions ranging from medical advice to whether our cars are safe. And if they are wrong, there is a heavy price to pay!
But this sermon isn’t titled “It pays to be cynical…” It’s about what happens when we trust in the Lord, and let Him care for us…rather than turning to human strength.
Dried out Shrubs
Jeremiah is pretty clear about the effect of relying on mankind for answers about life the universe and everything. Hear His words again,
(Those ) who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.
On the fringe of salt flats, barren lands you find these shrubs or trees that look more like weeds. Because the water in the ground, if there is any, has too high of a salt content, the water they have access to is limited and it won’t sustain growth.
They have no hope of becoming like the tree in last week’s sermon, no chances of giving shade and respite, or having branches which would let birds rest and fruit for humans and animas to be nourished by.
The simply dry up and die, to be blown about by the wind, never having a home, never having a future.
Spiritually, that is exactly what happens when we give up on God, when we dismiss Him to trust in some human to provide for us what we need to sustain life and hope, to help us get through the challenges, to deal with guilt and shame.
That is the curse, the inability to deal with the broken relationships, here on earth and with God.
That is a curse to heavy to bear, a pain that echoes through an empty soul.
Replanted!
There is hope for those so “cursed”
“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought!
The picture here for planted is God carefully removing us from the barren, salted soil, to be in a lush valley alongside the river bank, where the ground is full of the nutrients we need to grow.
That is the relationship we have with God, where He cares for us, provides for us and puts in a place where we are hidden in Him.
That’ why we aren’t bothered by the heat or drought- for God draws us deep into His love, deep into this place where He knows our needs, and we can rely on His care.
This idea of being planted and/or replanted in a good place is important. To have the power to trust God includes the trust to know we are where we should be at, among the people we are called to be alongside – and that God provides the trust to dwell with Him there. But He is the one who plants us there, He is the one who removes from us the barrenness, the lack of love and mercy, the absolute dry bones, and gives us life!
And that is why Jeremiah can confidently state, “Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
The more we see God at work here, the more comfort He gives us, the more we realize how He is working through each of our lives. We produce life – in the leaves and in the fruit because His life works its way through us.
That’s Jesus take on this, as those He takes root in produce 30,60 and 90 times their own life as it is invested in others.
This is the effect of trusting in Jesus, of knowing we die with Him and are raised with Him, AMEN!
From Glorious to Glorious Light: The Glory FOR All – a sermon on Luke 2:22-32
The Glory FOR ALL!
Luke 2:22-32
† In Jesus’s Name †
May the grace, mercy and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be reflected through you, lighting up the lives of those captive in the darkness!
Intro – Uhmm –WHAT DID HE SAY?
This morning, I came across the words of a pastor/theologian that were so concerning, and so contrary to the very gospel reading this morning that I had to adapt, almost re-write the sermon to contain them.
He wrote,” If people don’t like the idea that we are supposed to perform acts of love more for some people than others, just wait until they find out that God loves some people more than others”(Fr. Mike Totleben on Twitter, 1/31)
I want you to think about that for a moment, what he is accusing God of, that God plays favorites, and therefore, we should as well.
He would later go on to determine who he thought God should love more, which was disappointing, because it wasn’t about helping the least of these, but rather helping the people who were just like us.
In view of Simeon’s words, in view of Jesus’s words about being there for the hungry, thirsty, stranger-(that is the word for an outsider, with different cultures, languages etc), the naked, sick and imprisoned at the judgment day, I am in shock at the pastor’s words. And what about Jesus’s and the Apostle Paul’s words about loving our enemies, and adversaries?
But it gets to the heart of today’s message – which is how we see Jesus and His kingdom. And how that imprints how we live, and think.
What Do We Want the Messiah to Be?
If it wasn’t for the presence of the Holy Spirit guiding Simeon, I think he would have been gravely disappointed that day in the Temple. All his life, and a very long one by the averages, he had been told he would see the arrival of the Messiah, the hope of Israel, the Savior of the nation. That morning, as he is walking with the Holy Spirit, he is told, “today’s the day!”
I imagine, that if he wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit, he would be looking for a mighty warrior priest, surrounded by 10,000 holy warriors, all doing their best imitation of Chuck Norris!
But he looks around, and the Holy Spirit says, there! And he looks and again, “there!” and he’s shaking his head, for all that was there was a couple with a tiny infant…all exhausted from an 10 mile hike up hill, that morning
Uhm – “God—are you sure?”
Israel had expected a savior! One who would save them—not only from the Romans, but from the powers that be within their people. The Pharisees expected a Pharisee Messiah, the Sadducees, one of their own, the Herodians didn’t care where the Messiah came from, as long as he would work with the Romans, and the Zealots and Essenes had their visions of the Messiah, made in their own image as well.
I don’t think we are any better today. We expect Jesus to be like us… not in appearance, that would be disappointing, even horrifying in my case. But with our views, with our judgements, who loves only those we love, and hates all those who aren’t like us. And who would only help those people like us, that we approve of..
We might not say it that bluntly, but we do play those kinds of games –choosing our own favorites, and expecting God to only bless them, and therefore, we only have to help…them.
And let me be blunt, assuming we know who God loves and doesn’t love, and narrowing our ministry to only them… is sin.
And we need to change…
The Hope of Simeon
The great thing in this passage is that Simeon isn’t speaking as himself, full of the Holy Spirit, he is rejoicing in the fulfillment of the promise—that this baby would change everything…far more than anyone could ever dream… well unless he was a prophet!
30 I have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared for all people. 32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Luke 2:30-32 (NLT2)
All People, to the Nations – the myriad of ethnicities, the people of Israel—the equivalent to people like us…
All people – sharing in the light and the glory—
By the way, I need to note that Simeon’s words are simply Old Testament passages—in fact 5 times in Isaiah the idea of the Messiah being a light to the Gentiles is covered!
God’s glorious love, enveloping people like us, and people we don’t think are like us. People who are completely compatible to us, and those that tick us off and drive us crazy.
That is who Jesus came to save—not just the “favorites” but all people. We don’t get to pick and choose, for God so loved the world that He gave…
To us, for there is two things everyone in this world, and everyone in history can be defined by.
The first is that we are sinners, that we’ve rebelled and disobeyed God. We are pretty good at defining who some sinners are…but we all are sinners in need of deliverance.
The second is that Jesus came into this world to be our Savior. To save us all from the sin that ensnares us.. all.
So that He could be our light and our glory, and love.
Let’s pray for His peace to be given to all He loves. The peace that comes with being delivered, being saved, that comes from dwelling in Jesus. AMEN!
Do They Know His Attitude Towards Them?
Thoughts on the One, Holy, catholic and Apostolic Church.
These three articles of the Creed, therefore, separate and distinguish us Christians from all other people on earth. All who are outside this Christian people, whether heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians and hypocrites—even though they believe in and worship only the one, true God—nevertheless do not know what his attitude is toward them. They cannot be confident of his love and blessing, and therefore they remain in eternal wrath and condemnation. For they do not have the Lord Christ, and, besides, they are not illuminated and blessed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.[1]
But even in spite of them it remains true that all who have been justified by faith in Baptism are members of Christ’s body, and have a right to be called Christian, and so are correctly accepted as brothers by the children of the Catholic Church.[2]
It follows that the separated Churches and Communities as such, though we believe them to be deficient in some respects, have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church.[3]
The irony was not lost on me, within an hour of having breakfast and a great discussion on our faith and the Lord’s Supper with a very devout Catholic Priest who I’ve known for a decade, and a Nazarene pastor who I met that morning, I was called a heretic by a catholic apologist on social media, and a similar label by another self-appointed theologian who claimed to be a confessional Lutheran.
In some very important ways, I am separated in my doctrine and practice from three of the four people. Serious divisions, one that would necessitate great care, especially when it comes to the sacraments, and how we see grace applied to our people.
But the first two, I would not hesitate to say are my brothers in Christ, nor would they hesitate to return that identification. We share something more important than doctrine, we share a dependence on Christ and the work He has promised to do in our lives. I see that faith, and realize that Vatican II has a point – none of of us are deprived of the justification by faith in Christ’s work–applied in Baptism. That is the same concern as Luther – to know we can depend on Jesus
Luther seems to agree–for he acknowledges the difference between an attempt to worship God, and knowing God’s attitude toward us. I am sure my two brothers know this! I have heard one preach, and talking to the other, I am sure that is part of his message as well. That dependence on Jesus sees them moved from the ranks for false Christians, Heathens, Turks etc. That doesn’t blind me (or them) to the significant difference in how we see Jesus working, or how we should respond to it.
And there is the core of the position – salvation not based on the sign in front of the church, but on the Lord we cry out to, confidently, to have mercy on us.
[1] Martin Luther, “The Large Catechism” Kolb, R., Wengert, T. J., & Arand, C. P. (2000). The Book of Concord: the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (p. 440). Fortress Press.
[2] Catholic Church. (2011). Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio. In Vatican II Documents. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
[3] Catholic Church. (2011). Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio. In Vatican II Documents. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
From Glorious Light to Glorious Light: The Best is Now–The Glorious Light Revealed! John 2:1-11
From Glorious Light to Glorious Light
The Best is Now:
The Glorious Light Revealed!
John 2:1-11
† In Jesus’ Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ help you realize the great miracle that was revealed at Cana!
- What a party!
Growing up in an Italian/Irish family, you learn to appreciate a good wedding reception. And the one in the gospel must have been a massive one. How do I know>
Once they ran out of wine, towards the end of the celebration, they still needed 120-180 more gallons of wine. Now I don’t know about you – but that seems like a lot of wine?
If it doesn’t, come talk to me!
It also must have been pretty significant, as not only were Mary and Jesus invited, but so where Jesus’ disciples – which was at least 14 men, and 4-5 women that travelled in their company. Considering this is before the formal ministry of miracles and teaching began – they probably weren’t the VIP’s of the event…
What a party…
But the words that seem key, are those of the master of ceremonies, who didn’t realize how true they were…
“you have kept the best till now…”
But boy was the best going to be revealed that day- as the glory of God was first seen in Christ Jesus….
And it wasn’t just the wine….
- It’s not just about the wine!
Most people are a little shocked when they hear Jesus reaction to Mary when she asks him for help. “Not our problem!” is how our translation phrases it! The original language is a little more blunt than that – “It’s nothing to me!”
And if the refusal wasn’t understood – Jesus goes on to say, “My time has not yet come!”
After all, he’s just a guest, not even an honored guest.
It’s not his wine, it’s not His wedding, it’s not His responsibility, and it’s not time to have the great mysteries of our faith to be revealed.
Of course that’s how I would have said it, my attitude read into it, with a healthy sense of cynicism. We read it into Mary, who expects Jesus to just fix stuff, as if God is some kind of Genie in a Bottle, there to fix our problems, we want to read it into Jesus’ whose words seem disrespectful to His mom, whom even He is supposed to honor. We might even want to blame the master of ceremonies or the groom’s family, for not providing for the feast better.
Sometimes, our sin in thought, word and deed shatters the 8th commandment—as we don’t come up with the best explanation, but we base it on our own experience, and our own sin. So it seems impossible for there to be a reasonable explanation, and we bear false witness, we hold onto the falsehood.
And whether we tell others about it or not, the idea sticks with us.
And we miss what is better, as we whine…instead of tasting the better wine… we miss the best that is saved for last.
- Deeper-Better (Eucharist)
It seems appropriate that the first miracle of Jesus’ ministry, and the last both are at a party, and include the drinking of wine.
If the water turned to wine was considered the best, the wine that is the Blood of Christ, served at the last Supper and ever since, is even better. It is here, at the altar, as we receive the Body and the Blood that something better happens, we are invited to feast with God, as His invitation where He is the master of ceremonies and the feast…
The one miracle is a picture of the other, God providing the wine, the best wine, which erases our shortcomings, our sin.
- Deepest (best)
Even as the drink at the first feast pictures the second, so does this wedding pictures another.
The wedding pointed out in the first reading, in the incredible words of the prophet Isaiah:
The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory. And you will be given a new name by the LORD’s own mouth. 3 The LORD will hold you in his hand for all to see— a splendid crown in the hand of God. 4 Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his bride.
In yesterday’s devotion I used the grins of a couple guys on their wedding day to try and picture God. Partially because their wives were part of the study, but also when I’ve mentioned their wedding day before, the grin they had then, returns to their faces, and they can’t say a word, they just nod.
We need to realize that Jesus sees us, His church, that way!
He ensures we are at our best, our most perfect, that is what Isaiah says, and the Apostle Paul repeats it,
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. Ephesians 5:25-27 (NLT2)
It wasn’t Jesus time, it wasn’t the wine He came to provide, it wasn’t the wedding He came to be part of…
That wine would be shared at Last Supper, and on altars all around the world. That wedding is the one still to come, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, The wedding that He would prepare us for, make us Holy, washing us, and cleansing us because His blood was spilt.
His time has come, the best wine is ready and our Lord is ours and we are His…and He delights in us.
As He ensures we will be ready, guarding our hearts and minds, even as we dwell in His perfect peace! AMEN!
Chosen for What? The Call to Shepherd God’s People! But where?
Thoughts that carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross.
2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? 3 You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. 4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. 5 So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. Ezekiel 34:2-5 (NLT2)
Therefore, holiness involves pastoral ministry. When the substance of the liturgy becomes the substance of the soul of the pastor, then his ministry will become a pastoral anointing of the Mysteries of Christ that he is ordained to apply to souls. The liturgy is the sacramental moment of mysteries, but those mysteries are not confined to the moment. The reason we receive them in the sacraments is in order that they might come to life in us, quicken us, perfect us on our journey to our final end.
So too with Christ: although he is everywhere present, he does not permit himself to be so caught and grasped; he can easily shell himself, so that you get the shell but not the kernel. Why? Because it is one thing if God is present, and another if God is present for you. God is there for you when God adds the Word and binds himself, saying, “Here you shall find me.” Now when you have the Word, you can grasp and have God with certainty and say, “Here I have you, as you have said.”
I have had the blessing of having breakfast twice this week with other pastors.
The first time, with a Roman Catholic Priest friend and a Nazarene pastor, who I anticipate will become a friend. We are all roughly the same age, with the similar sense of the ironic and a passion to help people see Jesus. And, though we differ in our understanding of the Sacrament, there was a definite tie into to each of our ministries, as we adminster this gifft to our people, and yet long for the day when all the Body of Christ will share together in it.
Come to today, and the devotional readings, a sample of which you see above–which deal with this sacrament as well, and with how it is the responsibility of the pastor – perhaps the primary responsibility of the pastor, to ensure we are feeding out sheep, that we are getting them what they need–Jesus.
It is our ministry to point them to Jesus, where He said He would be for them. That is what they hear in the words of “for you” and where they need to be encouraged to believe them. These are just words we repeat because of their poetic nature. They are the words of Christ, placed there as a guarantee of His presence, of His work in their lives. Not a matter of some kind of magic, but because of the promise of Christ Jesus.
It is, as the other quote says, the “mystery of Christ–applied to their souls.” and that application is what we are ordained to do. To welcome the broken, to apply the sacraments, to allow the Spirit to reveal Christ–as promised for them there in that moment.
For He has promised to meet them there, as they share in His Body and Blood, as it nourishes and strengthens their faith–again as promised. As we remember He abides in us, and we in Him. That is what this sweet, powerful, healing time is, and we need to lead them there, to Him.
That is the role of a shepherd, to bring His people there. Even if that means dragging them there some of the time. That is what it means to lead His church. To guide them to the peace of Christ, found where He meets them, and unites with them, as promised.
Fagerberg, D. W. (2019). Liturgical Mysticism (p. 57). Emmaus Academic.
Burnett, A. N. (1527). That These Words of Christ, “This Is My Body,” Etc., Still Stand Firm against the Fanatics. In H. J. Hillerbrand, K. I. Stjerna, T. J. Wengert, & P. W. Robinson (Eds.), Church and Sacraments (Vol. 3, pp. 213–214). Fortress Press.
FROM GLORIOUS LIGHT TO GLORIOUS LIGHT: The Light is On, and So We Come Home!! An Epiphany Sermon on Isaiah 60:1-6
FROM GLORIOUS LIGHT TO GLORIOUS LIGHT
The Light is On,
and So We Come Home!!
Isaiah 60:1-6
† In Jesus’s Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ convince you it is time to come home, and to bring your friends home with you!
- Introduction – Street lights…
Those were the days, when parents told their kids to “go outside and play” and outside had a 3 to 5 mile limit. Or at least it did in New Hampshire. Or maybe in Massachusetts it was an area several city blocks in dimension – maybe a quare mile or so.
Needless to say, whether there you were in the city, or in a town, there was one rule…
When the streetlights came on, you should be home!
Of course, we interpreted that to mean – when they came on, we had to start home! Where we would hear the rule again! When that streetlight comes on, you need to be at home!
There was the problem that on Brookdale Road that I lived on – there were only 5 street lights in 4.3 miles of road, and one of them was right across the street from our house!
But front lights and street lights growing up meant someone was home, and you would be welcome. You fell on your bike, riding in near darkness – was the Stober’s light on? The Zahn’s? the Jacksons? Or the Breen’s. If the light was on, they were home and guests—including injured kids—were welome.
- In Isaiah todey, the basic message is,
God is shinging the light of Christ on His people, letting others know it’s time, and it is okay, to come home.
The Absence of Light….
There are a bunch of cute stories going around, where a professor, or a junior teacher makes a comment about the existense of God and one of their students has to teah them a thing or two.
The basic premise of the teacher is that God can’t exist, because of negative things. If there was a God, we would only have good, and evil couldn’t exist. We would only have good health, and illness, heart problems and cancer wouldn’t exist. There would only be light, and darkness wouldn’t exist. His point was the the existence of evil, of illness, of darkness, and injustice wouldn’t exist.
The student, having thought through the words, asked to respond. Politely, she explained that those things he didn’t want to exist, only are known because they are the conseequences of removing what is good.
Evil doesn’t it exist on its own, it is simply is how we describe the lack of good. Illness is simply a term to describe the absence of health. Injustice is what happens where there is no justice. And of course, darkess is how we describe the absence of light.
For the people of God at the time of Israel, there was lacking a lot. The people of God were going into, or were already taken into captivity, their freedoms given away as they pursued sins, sins common to our society today.
You could start with the way they dealt with the widows and orphans and foreigners in their midst. You could move onto their lack of ethics and sexual morals, and in gossip and slaner. And most of all, the people of Judah and Israel were caught up in idolatry, the sin God warned about over and over in the first five books, as man created gods in their own likesness, who they asked to meet their desires.
In other words, the darkness that surrounded them was often the darkness they chose—the consequences of the sins they chose….
And in our day and age, the sins are much the same. We still struggle with dealing with those who have less, we still have trouble with ethics in business and life, and in following God’s plan for sexual morality. Gossip and slander abound, especialy as we try to find scapegoats for things that hurt us and those we love. And we create our own idols—things we count on when life is updside down.
Hear the description of their days, “”Darkness as black as night covers ALL the nations of the earth….
but….”
- They come to worhsip the Lord – because Christ shined..
but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance. “Look and see, for everyone is coming home! Your sons are coming from distant lands; your little daughters will be carried home. Your eyes will shine, and your heart will thrill with joy,
What a big but.. hmmm – what an enormously different direction the scriptures twist, as thy aniticipate the one who would be recognzied when “Vast caravans of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. And…”The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will come worshiping the Lord.”
This prophecy is part of why we call the visitation of the Magi, the Wise Men, Epiphany. Days after the birth of Jesus, Isaiah’s prophecy aabout people who weren’t the people of God coming to worship Him—something that has been happening every since, and even more since the resurrection and ascension.
The light has come, and all are welcome to come home!
Look at the joy Isaiah speaks of! The kind of joy where your eyes twinkle and sparkle with joy. Picture the joy of grandparents, seeing their grandchildren for the first time as babies.
What a glorious moment! What a trememdously incredible moment, to see people come to God, to come home, because they saw the light of Christ.
We reflect that glory, that light of Christ which shatters our darkness, sometimes even on a daily basis…
And that reflection, as we realize the glory of the Lord, as we realize that love of God, results in even more coming Home…to the Father, through Jesus.
To confidently celebrate in the glorious prsence of our Lord…the presence where we find His peace – that passes all understanding, as our hearts nad minds-for we dwell in Christ. AMEN!
God will not forget….and why that is good!!!
Thoughts that carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross…
“In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD.’ ”” (Leviticus 26:44–45, NET)
581 How humbly and simply the evangelists relate incidents that show up the weak and wavering faith of the Apostles! This is to keep you and me from giving up the hope of some day achieving the strong and unshakeable faith that those same Apostle s had later.
They were the chosen ones, the holy nation of Israel, and yet they turned their back on God and all He provided for them! They worshipped false gods, ones that promised wealth, power, sexual satisfaction–they chose the brokenness of idolatry, and all its false promises.
They are taken into bondage, the direct cause of their sin, and one would imaging God would write them off, and leave them to deal with the consequences of their actions, telling them that He and all the prophets “told you so!”
Leviticus, of all books, the book written as a manual for priests, tells of a God who is not like that, this is the God that doesn’t forget His promises, Hlove and devotion to His family, His people. This book designed to ensure doctrinal integrity and proper worship gives a picture of loyalty and faithfulness to a promise to them. As it refers to the rescue from Egypt it infers that God will rescue them from their captivity, again.
As He will rescue the Apostles,
and us.
That is the reason we see Thomas’ doubt, and James and John’s competitive temper, and Peter’s rash, unfiltered nature. It’s the reason Paul will share his despair in Romans 7, and His inability to deal with physical limitations in his letter to the holy, broken-yet-healing people in Corinth.
SO we will know this part of the nature of God, the one who desires to be our God, our Protector and Healer. So we will begin to understand wonderful words like mercy, grace, redemption, restoration…
SO we will know hope and that our faith will be based in the faithfulness of our Lord.
The one who remember us, and went to the cross… for us…
Rejoice my friends, and find rest in the promises
——–
Escrivá, Josemaría. The Way (p. 124). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
