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Life: God’s version of Take Your ChIld to Work Day” – Set Up to Succeed – A sermon on Luke 12:22-34
Life: God’s version of Take Your Child to Work Day”
Set Up to Succeed
Luke 12:22-34
May the grace and peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ remove from you all anxieties and fears, as you go with Him about His work, every day!
-Was there stress going to work with Dad?
As we look at the idea of God taking his children to his work, to learn His craft, to work side by side with him. As I look back on those days, I realized something was missing from working with my dad. Something that has been part of every workplace I have ever have been at.
That lovely thing called stress….
Or maybe call it anxiety, or we simply worry about work.
I don’t remember that kind of stuff, as I worked alongside my dad, there was just the work. At least for the children that accompanied their dads—what their dads are going through is a different matter.
For us, being away from our normal world of school, the chance to be with our dad, and share in His work made for a day to be savored and enjoyed.
Just like we should savor and enjoy going to work with our Heavenly Father sd we daily go to work with Him.
What Stresses us out? Why?
When I was running bookstores, we have two kinds of audits, our annual audit by our company’s internal auditors, and several times a year, our regional managers did, called “zero defect” audits. Even though 2 of the 3 RM’s I worked with were really nice, sweet people, the specter of their audits haunts me even to this day.
The auditors from Chicago could be bluffed, could be distracted, they didn’t know us well enough to know where to look. They just knew they couldn’t go homne without finding something… so we would leave one little error…aand then thery would smile and go “gotcha” and then we would take them to lunch in Malibu. Anna and Peter though, knew us and our staff, and knew our weak points. And as they wanted us to succeed, that is where they focused their attention
Look at the gospel, here are the points where Jesus knew we were weak:
Fhe first area is large – “everyday life” and includes the really big things – where we will live and what we eat, or whether we will have good looking clothes, whether we we live to 100, or merely 61. We aren’t going to add time to our life just by worrying.
But we do it!
I do it all the time, and this week was harder than most. Between my surgery and needing more students, and the stresses of watching people in pain all around me, it was really easy for me to lose track of working with God!
Mark Jennins used to ask my why we need to, as pastors, live in the middle of our sermon. That is me this week. How do you balance all of this? How do we adress all the what ifs and what if it doesn’t…. And we consumed by our fears, urworries, our anxieties and doubts. TO the point where we are not thinking clearly.
And Jesus says
That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—
We know this, we believe it, so why are we unable ot stop the stuff that chase us in the night? Does that mean we are failures, does that mean we don’t believe God? Or that we get His promises wrong…
Then Jesus goes on, and says, “25 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 26 And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
And I feel nearly condemned, like the apostles did when Jesus confronts them with, “You have so little faith!”
Been there, done that, and to be honest – it is exhausting – physically, emotionally, spiritually….and if not careful, it can paralyze us, dividing us from those we love and care about…forgetting God put them there… to pray and support us in times like this!
Why can’t life be like when our dad or mom took us to work, and we just did the work they delegated, and enjoyed their company? Why can’t I just enjoy seeing what God is doing, and just relax – counting on His promises/
- Where does faith come in?
When Anna and Peter gave their seemingly brutal debriefing on the zero defect audit, there was something different than the games played with the auditors from Chicago. Those guys didn’t care, it was their job to point out what was wrong. Anna and Peter however, had more invested in us – their success was judged by how we improved – their bonuses tied in part to it. For them to succeed, for them to hit their goals, we had to improve!
They had to invest in us.
Jesus would have us look at how the Father invests in their world. The beauty He creates, the care He takes of birds and wildflowers. All these little things, that he barely cares about, that He created four our enjoyment,
If he takes such care of these things, how will God take care of that which He cares the most for – the people He calls His children.
Jesus says don’t worry, and often I hear that part and get fixated on that…and let it be addded to the weight of the day…
But Hear it in context.
Don’t worry about such things. 30 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. 31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
Hear that….the Father knows what we need!
As we work with Him, we can concentrate on the tasks at hand, knowing He is there to make it work, to cause us to grow, to help us succeed. He would rid us of every little thing that would hinder us, that would cause us worry.
After all, Christ didn’t die on the cross to provide for ravens and daffodils. He died on the cross for us, to forgive our sins, to bring us to the Father, and we get to go to work with Him!
We still do the work, but with a freedom that God is in control, that He is the one who promises that all will work for good for those of us who love Him.
That freedom is what allows us to set a different se of priorities, focusing on things of heaven, realizing our treasure is there, with Him. AMEN!
I Don’t Care Which Side You Hate or Adore…are Afraid of or Have Faith in, you need this!
Thoughts that carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the Cross…
“Do not fret when wicked men seem to succeed! Do not envy evildoers! For they will quickly dry up like grass, and wither away like plants. Trust in the LORD and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! Then you will take delight in the LORD, and he will answer your prayers. Commit your future to the LORD! Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf. He will vindicate you in broad daylight, and publicly defend your just cause. Wait patiently for the LORD! Wait confidently for him! Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner, a man who carries out wicked schemes!” (Psalm 37:1–7, NET)
I will confess to being very depressed this morning.
I should have known better, as I picked up my phone and checked my FB, and Twitter feeds, I grew angry and depressed and I grieve. I still do, even as I write this.
People i know and people I love, whose political views are all over the map, spewing hatred and anger that is unrestrained as a East Coast Hurricane or a California fire. Church leaders, both ordained and lay leaders, believing and pushing double standards from both sides of the political spectrum. People who are intelligent, compassionate and giving, now tearing at others throats as if they are pre-teens deserted on an island in The Lord of the Flies.
The accompanying commentary so vile, so violent–on both sides–that I cannot even appreciate the numerous examples of the pot calling the kettle black. One of my favorite pastimes was showing people how the standard they judge one by, condemns the one they favor as well! Even if doing so means I will be attacked and mocked…
I finally dragged myself to my devotional reading… Ishould have started there! The Psalm above encountered early in the readings, and some incredible things from Luther and Ratzinger about the Liturgy, about the treasure that is the Lord’s Supper, passages I would normally rejoice in, fell flat.
I went back several times to this Psalm, and it tempered my earlier desire to give up social media and all contact with the people whose posts are so toxic to themselves, our communities and our nation and world. But how in the world do I convince this world to give up on the hatred, to fulfill the call to peace that this day was also dedicated to, How do I speak peace to a world that is so divided. so willing to believe their sides version of propaganda, so unwilling to reconcile and see relationships redeemed and restored.
That is a depressing thought as well, for even though there is always a remnant, we seem so weak, so inept, so lacking in the charisma or influence to really make a difference!
The Psalm reminds me what I need to knwo, what I hope is communicated… there is a time to take all our anxiety, all our fear, all our pain and set it aside, and look and find rest in the God who would die for me. That their one the cross He died for the sins of very follower of Biden and Trump.
It is not that He will still act on our behalf – vindicating us, anymore.
He has done so, on the cross, it has been finished for a long time. We can find our peace in Him – we can only find our peace in Him. Only He is righteous – all others are broken sinners. Only Jesus is our hope – and no one can steal that from us. (Romans 8:28-38)
So please, find your rest in Jesus, find your hope there… and do not go to war against those you think are your enemies, Find in Jesus the strength to love them, pray for them, and then, be still and know that Jesus is God.
Advent Take-Aways: Fears and Anxieties A sermon based on Zephaniah 3:14-203
Advent Take-Aways:
Fears and Anxieties
Zephaniah 3:14-203
† I.H.S. †
May the peace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Chirst drive away all the fears and anxieties in your life, that tell you that you don’t belong in God’s presence… for you do, you are His child!
Introduction
I had to have been fourteen or fifteen at the time, and if I was normally extremely self-consicous, that evening I was that times 100. I don’t even remember the event, it could have been one of the dances my folks, or a wedding of one of my aunts, or my grampie De’Luca’s seventy-fifth birthday, but I had to get dressed up… in a tuxedo.
I remember feeling so anxious and nervous, and afraid that I couldn’t eat or drink. I didn’t belong in a tux, in a fancy hotel ballroom, surround by al these adults all dressed up. I kept on thinking someone was going to come over and tell me, “Kid – go home, you don’t belong here…”
To be honest, there are a lot of times I geel like I don’t belong—especially at celebrations, and especially if I am considered one of the V.I.P.’s.
I imagine the shepherds would feel that same way, as they were buzzed by ten of thousands and tens of thosands of Angels, and sent to witness Jesus laying in the manger – what me? I can hear the shepherds voice, eerily echoing the attitude of Moses as he encountered the burning bush,
6 I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. Exodus 3:6 (NLT2)
Or Isaiah’s cry, 5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.”
Isaiah 6:5 (NLT2)
To use the words of Zephaniah, they “felt the hand of God’s judgment,” and because of that, were more uncomfortable in the presnce of God that I was in a tuxedo….
And the reason for joy is that, hand, that discomfort would be removed!
- LAW – the hand to be removed
Of all the impact of sin described by Zephaniah, the one that strikes me as the harshest is seen in verse 18—as people mourned over the high feasts…they were a disgrace
So great was idolatry and immorality among the people of God that there was no joy, heck there was no desire to hear the incredible words that God accepted the sacrifice, that they were forgiven.
The temple went through the motions, and the ceremonies became boring, just a ritual, without any faith, without any expectation of God’s mercy in the eyes of those who were participating in the sacrifices.
Let me explain it this way, imagine that we are having church, and during the words of confession and absolution, we had a football game up on the screens, or a cartoon, or a soap opera. And then during communion a numch of people went up in the choir area and started dancing while in the back in that corner a poker game was going on and that side a wineand cheese tasting event…
Or maybe that is just where our minds and hearts are…
What good would absolution do, if no one really heard it? What good would it be? How could we share in the blessing of Chirst’s body that was shed, and theblood that was spilled if we don’t take it and eat in faith….
We don’t have to imagine it, the Apostle Paul addresses it clearly.
“That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.” (1 Corinthians 11:28–30, NLT)
That sounds like a disgraced feast, one to grieve over! One that brings no joy, just a box we checked off on some list of obligations.
The concept is the same, as we sin, as we do not look for God’s grace to cover or make excuses for our sin, we neglect God’s love, and what He would give us…
Just to make sure we all understand, the idea of examining oneself is not about passing or failing and examination, or having to look at yourself and anazlyzin every little detail. It is about looking at the tux in the mirror and realizing it isn’t right, and crying out to the One that Zephaniah and all the other prophets spoke of,
- Gospel – The hand is on the cross – where al are gathered – where all are named
Let’s go back to Zephaniah’s prophecy and the hand of Judgement… hear the promise again,
14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 For the LORD will remove his hand of judgment…
I lovethe picture of the Lord removing His hand of judgment from us, for I know that hand’s next movement, to stretch itself out on the harsh wood of the cross, and for this we shouldsing praie and shout We should rejoice with all our heart, because knowing what happened on the cross enables us to experience the feast of God, to make our time at the altar more than just an empty ritual.
It becomes the place of joy, for until we are in heaven, this is the fulfilment Zephaniah’s words, “I will bring together those who were chased away. I will give glory and fame to my former exiles, wherever they have been mocked and shamed. 20 On that day I will gather you together and bring you home again.”
This is home, this is the family feast., this is the place to rejoice that God has given us the chance to be his, This is the place where God takes away our fears and anxieities, making us comfrotable in His presence, because Christ has taken his hand of judgment away, and clothed in His righteousness – and comfortable in those clothes…
And then Paul’s words to the church in Phillipi will describe you,
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT2)
AMEN!
God Takes our Loads: A Sermon on Psalm 81:1-10 (Part 3 of the series God at Work in Our Lives)
God at Work in Our Lives
God Takes our Load
Psalm 81:1-10
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be revealed in your lives, as you are freed from your load of burdens!
- Why We Praise Him
I want you to hear the words you just sang again…
So take me as You find me,
All my fears and failures,
Fill my life again!
It is as we realize this prayer will be answered that we move from crying out for God’s mercy to crying out His praises:
Savior, He can move the mountains!
My God is mighty to save!
He is mighty to save!
Forever, Author of salvation!
He rose and conquered the grave!
Jesus conquered the grave!
The last song we will sing in the service has a similar format –
My sin O the bliss,
Of this glorious tho’t:
My sin not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross!
And I bear it no more,
What comes after that?
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
As we look this summer at how God is working in our lives, we will see that as He works, our praises just erupt. To see God removes that which crushes us, as He heals that which rips our hearts in two, as He restores us after life breaks us into a million pieces it is unbelievably powerful! And our hearts just sing His praises…
This is why we praise the Lord who is here…
- Jubilee Worship
The psalm this morning starts out encouraging us to do something:
Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Jacob. 2 Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp!
In other words- rejoice! Praise Him! Glorify Him!
Side note – to glorify something means to establish and recognize how valuable/invaluable Someone is in your life!
Get that definition again – in fact read it.. to glorify something means to establish and recognize how valuable/invaluable Someone is in my life!
Why – it will sound silly, but because of what is described in the next verse:
Blow the ram’s horn at new moon, and again at full moon to call a festival! 4 For this is required by the decrees of Israel; it is a regulation of the God of Jacob.
A brief explanation here – it is the blowing of a ram’s horn at the monthly feast, and especially at the 50 year sabbath, that results in the praise. You see, that Horn was used as a alert to not only the presence of God, but the pouring out of his mercy—which was celebrated at an incredible festival giving thanks to God.
It signified the cancelling of debt – and at the 50th year – the restoration of all that was lost, sold off, surrendered to others. It required the restoration of relationships long thought dead.
In other words—the removal of every burden that could weigh people down….which is described in the next two verses,
5 He made it a law for Israel when he attacked Egypt to set us free. I heard an unknown voice say, 6 “Now I will take the load from your shoulders; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
That is why we worship our LORD Jesus Christ—that is why “The is with YOU is so an incredible statement
It is life changing.
- No foreign gods –
He is a God who listens! Unlike the foreign gods that were worshipped at the time and the ones people entrust themselves now, God cares! He listens. Hagar, the servant girl of Sarah, who Sarah forced to sleep with Abraham her husband, and then drives her and her son away in jealousy describes it better than any other:
13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the LORD, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” Genesis 16:13 (NLT2)
To see the one who sees you… who knows you, who listens to your cries!
That is why the psalmist writes on God’s behalf, the law part of this passage:
8 “Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me! 9 You must never have a foreign god; you must not bow down before a false god.
God is clear—He will invest all the power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead. SO what sense does it make to entrust your life, your soul, your heart to some other “god?” For that is what a god is, who are what you entrust yourself to, depending on that to help you live. Whatever you decide to invest your time, your talents, your happiness, your life. It is what you turn to when the burdens of life are more than you can bear….
And only one God can do anything about those burdens. Only one God can lift them, and remove the burdens from your hands!
- Burdens relieved, filled with Good things!
Again, hear the promise:
“Now I will take the load from your shoulders; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.
That is what the cross is all about—for Jesus frees us from the heaviest of burdens there!
He washes them away here – something we need to remember.
Here, at the altar, He lifts the burdens off of your shoulders, He frees your hands from these heavy weights…. All of these hurts, all of the scars, all of the the crud in your life.
This is why we worship Him, and this is the time and place to remind you of this in a tangible way that Ihope you remember. So this is what I want you to do.
In your bulletin, there is a sheet of paper with the word burden on it.
To often we hang onto these burdens to long, we think we have to deal with them. So when you come up for communion- bring the piece of paper. Hold onto it, grasping onto it like we do with our brokenness.
When you are here at the rail, I will take it from you, exchanging it for the Body of Christ, and Deacon Bob will give you the Blood shed for the forgiveness, the removal of allt he weight of your sin…Try to see God at work in this, for this is what He’s promised to do, to remove those burdens, to care for all you care deeply about…
And you will leave the paper here… and the load it represents…and walk away free of it…try not to take up the burdens again, but be confident in His love and care.
For God promised to fill you with good things – even as He removes the load off your shoulders, and what filled your hands..
For He sees you, and lives with you- determined to overwhelm you with His peace that passes all understanding – for you are His… you are Christ’s
Let’s pray!
Cry out! “The Lord is With You!” A sermon on Gabriel and Mary from Luke 1:6-28
Cry Out:
For He has answered!
“The Lord Is With You!”
Luke 1:26-38
† Jesus! Son! Savior †
May the grace and peace of God which passes all understanding enable you to ponder the depth of His love. For you and your world. Amen!
- Hail Mary… full of grace, the Lord is with thee..
As someone who grew up Roman Catholic, hearing the gospel this morning seemed, well, a little off.
I mean, I know it is perfectly accurate when it says,
“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
but I will always hear this passage in the way I memorized it as a kid,
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee….
It means the same thing – and we have to understand what it means, and more importantly, why it means that….
It is not for us a prayer to her, but as with so many in scripture, an opportunity to contemplate the work of God in her life, that we might comprehend His work in ours.
The reason for this is clear, though we don’t carry Jesus physically for 9 months, we are still united to Him, because “we are favored by God”, or to use the old words, “we are full of grace!”
- Confused and disturbed – at a message from God?
Before finding out she was about to become pregnant, Mary reacted to the presence of the angel, and his opening line about being favored—filled with grace.
It isn’t a bunch of “praise the Lord!” and “Alleluias.” She was in shock. The older translations say she was “greatly troubled,” but the modern translation does a good job—she was “confused and disturbed and she tried to think what the angel could mean!”
If she was confused and disturbed by an angelic being telling her she had been found in favor with God, that she would be blessed beyond belief, how much more would she be confused by the idea of carrying Jesus for nine months and giving birth to the One who would die to save mankind?
But we have the same confusion when it comes to God visiting us. We have the same reaction when God is calling us to something – especially if it is difficult and may leave us open to ridicule, or lead to uncomfortable conversations.
Who me God? How can this be? I have never done anything like this before!
Or maybe we answer like Moses, I am to shy, I can’t speak, I don’t have the charisma, I am not the right age, I don’t want to go live in the desert, I don’t….
It’s not that we don’t believe in God, but we struggle to depend on Him when what He has planned for us is beyond our imagination, beyond our comfort zone.
It would so easy to say “no”, it would be so easy to say, “that’s impossible, it would be so easy to dismiss the call of God on our lives.
Or so we think….
- Our Response to the Word of God not failing
The angel gave her an answer, this is how it will be, and here is a great thing you can do to confirm this, go check with your cousin Elisabeth, she’s got some interesting news… even though she’s over 75-nearly 80- she’s pregnant! You remember her – the one everyone gossiped about because she was considered cursed and barren…
Now I would suggest – even hope that none of our 70 plus year olds would have to get pregnant for God to make His point about your life being one that is special, but if it has to happen….
Seriously, we have a promise that proves it, the presence of the Holy Spirit given to us as we were born again with Him in baptism. The Holy Spirit who Jesus promised will “teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26 (NLT2)
It is the same thing that Paul taught about when he wrote,
“18 I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, 19 and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength 20 which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world.” Ephesians 1:18-20 (TEV)
That Holy Spirit, who came upon Mary and resulted in her pregnancy and our salvation, is at work in us- blessing us, filling us with His grace – as much as He filled Mary with grace, and because of the same death and resurrection that makes this all possible.
So as we transition from Advent to Christmas in this service, as we celebrate God coming into the world to dwell with us…
You may find this confusing and overwhelming – as much as Mary did, when the Angel spoke those words,
But Greetings my friend, the grace of God is poured out on you, for the Lord is with you!
Now bring Him into the world – and let God’s word determine your life, for you live in Jesus… AMEN!
Knowing Jesus Means Letting Him Deal with the Anxieties Caused by Having Relatives. A Lenten Sermon
Jesus: The Pathway to Peace
Knowing Jesus Means Letting Him Deal
with the Anxieties caused by having relatives
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus strength help you see the blessing of God’s faithfulness even in the midst of family related anxiety.
- Dysfunction Junction
I love when I find in scripture people struggling with issues similar to what you and I do. It is said there is nothing new under the sun, and that includes all the things that stress us out, that cause us anxiety, that cause our minds to overthink and fear how bad reality is….
And that includes the stress and anxiety caused by family!
Look at the family in the gospel! They could stress out anyone! First you have the helicopter mom, who drives her kids insane, wanting them to be successful! She demands that Jesus give them the top two spots in the kingdom of God! Can you imagine how embarrassed they were? I can still hear their muttered whisper echo through time….. “mom… please don’t, mom please stop! Mom!!”
And they could not, could not disappoint her when Jesus asks them if they can suffer the way He will…
Of course, the boys…. Err men weren’t something to write home about either. So argumentative they were that they are recoded for history as “the sons of thunder.
I imagine all three stressed each other out, quite a bit. Maybe that is why dad was always out fishing!
- Serious harm
We all have stories about some crazy uncle, or some cousins who seemed to thrive on being a pain in the neck. There are other relatives that cause real stress, real pain, and therefore real anxiety. The kind of thing of hurt that starts when we are kids, that affects us until we retire.
This is what Joseph dealt with, the fights and betrayals and failures. King David’s children were even worse in how they treated each other, something that destroyed him as he watched them.
The hardest part of addressing the anxiety and stress caused by relatives is not what they say, or do, or do AND say. That hardest part is our sin. Paul talked about that with the church in Ephesus when he wrote, “26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Ephesians 4:26 (NLT2) It’s our reaction to the sin, to the betrayals, to the pain caused by those who should love us more than the rest of the world.
Our kids, our parents, our brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces can do things we don’t like, that cause us to worry, that cause us heartache. We can’t control that – but sin can occur when we loose our ability to control our reaction.
And it is often our sin, or our desire to sin, that causes us as much anxiety and stress. Our feeling that we have to do something, anything…that leads to sin in thought, word and deed. I mean how many of us are willing to let those things go for a couple of months, or years, or even a decade without letting it anger us, hurt us, or just frustrate the hell out of us. How do we deal with their sin, without wanting to sin ourselves? And that causes even more anxiety and stress….
- God lifting the burdens
- Gospel Answer
- OT Response
As we go through this Lent, the purpose of this series is not to face our anxieties and things that cause us stress. It is to shed those anxieties off, to let Jesus remove the burdens they cause, to heal the wounds they leave behind.
That is what Jesus means when He says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
That is His response to the disciples’ arguments about who is the greatest. He doesn’t point at this one or that, he points out that He is hear to serve, and to pay off the debt we find we are in to God and each other.
He does away with the sin and its punishment, leaving us free….
This is the work of God that Joseph witnessed, the reason he would weep when his brothers were expecting vengeance.
He knew God would work it out, and His trust in God allowed him to say those incredible words, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.”
That is where forgiveness and reconciliation begins, in seeing what God can do with the situations that cause anxiety and pain. Sometimes we need to be patient and faithful waiting to see God’s plan work out – hopefully it won’t be a decade like Joseph and His brothers.
God did what He promised. He always does. That is what the cross is about, healing the broken relationships now, and forever.
AMEN!
Dealing with despair….
Thoughts encouraging our devotion to Jesus… as we are reminded He is devoted to us!
And if the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. 9 Do not rebel against the LORD, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the LORD is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!” Numbers 14:8-9 NLT
Nor can godly minds be fortified against despair unless they think that through mercy on account of Christ and not on account of the law they with certainty have both righteousness and eternal life. This conviction consoles, uplifts, and saves godly minds.
It seems to me that having watched the Egyptian army drown in the Red Sea, the descendants of Abraham should have been ready to see God defeat the giants. That they would be prepared to follow him, abiding in His presence.
My view is unrealistic, those people struggled just like we do today, and while they had the pillar of fire and the cloud with them, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
It is when we forget He has declared us righteous and given us the promise of everlasting life that our eyes look to what they see below.
Too often, we forget Jesus and His promise to never abandon us. That is when our anxiety runs rampant, when our fears overwhelm us when we fall, as Israel did.
This is nothing new; Solomon wrote, “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed. Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)
There is the key to surviving when we know we are up to the challenge. It sounds so easy, so elementary, to simply know that God has promised our righteousness and our eternal welcome into His presence. A presence we boldly enter because of Jesus and the cross. If He has made that sure, then the rest of life’s challenges become acceptable, tolerable, endurable.
One last thing – even thought those people in Numbers did not enter the Holy Land in this life, they were still God’s people. Christ would die for their sins as well as ours. While they didn’t see the promises in this life, He never left them, never stopped providing manna for them, and walked with them through it all Even in ths midst of their wounds… He was there… and at the cross, they truly became righteous, and entered into His rest.
He is here, and will be during our journey, until we are home…with Him. He will walk with us, through our troubled times, and He will bring us home. For we are the people He has declared righteous….and He is faithful to that promise.
Apology of the Augsburg Confession: Article IV Justification, Kolb, Robert, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand. 2000. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
What Are You Used to Seeing (Maybe it is time to stalk God?)
Thoughts to encourage you to love and adore Jesus…
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT2)
It is related that a pious hermit, one day while the king was hunting through the wood, began to run to and fro as if in search of something; the king, observing him thus occupied, inquired of him who he was and what he was doing; the hermit replied: “And may I ask your majesty what you are engaged about in this desert?” The king made answer: “I am going in pursuit of game.” And the hermit replied: “I, too, am going in pursuit of God.” With these words he continued his road and went away. During the present life this must likewise be our only thought, our only purpose, to go in search of God in order to love him, and in search of his will in order to fulfil it, ridding our heart of all love of creatures.
We get used to getting up every day as if it could not be otherwise; we become accustomed to see violence in the news as something inevitable; we get used to the usual landscape of poverty and misery while walking the streets
of our city.
We get up, we check out email, our twitter/facebook/newest social media feed and go on. We listen to the news, we fet in our cars and go about our day. It doesn’t matter what form of music we listen to, rock, emo, country, edm – the lyrics are anything but positive. And even if they are encouraing our overcoming, whose cost is it at?
Is it any wonder we become pessimistic? Is it any wonder we become anxious?
Pope Francis notes how accustomed we are to conflict and violence. It becomes what we expect. The stories talk of bigotry and racism, greed and hatred, sexual and sensual perversion, so we don’t think anything else exists in the heart of man.
We become acclimatized to these things – they become our norm, and we don’t expect anything else.
For an option to getting beat down by what we see, what if we were DeLigouri’s hermit – looking here, there and everywhere, but expecting to find God? What if we were, with St. Paul, willing to press on, to focus on, to even stalk God, for He has called us, and Jesus pressed on with everything we are…
How different would our outlook be in life?
How different would it be, if our focus was on the God who we depend on for life, and we knew all His promises that fill our lives? If we looked for His touch in every part of each day?
There is part of my daily prayers that helps…. especially if I slow down and hear the words, rather than just saying them. It is a modificaiton of a old Celtic prayer, that helps me realize I will see God at work today.
Here it is, ( the link is at the boottom)
Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day, realize the Lord is all around you – and stalk Him. Look for His work in others, and in your actions. See even the hard times as a blessing – as you reach out to Him, even in desperation.
God is with you…
Alphonsus de Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, ed. Eugene Grimm, The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori (New York; London; Dublin; Cincinnati; St. Louis: Benziger Brothers; R. Washbourne; M. H. Gill & Son, 1887), 376–377.
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), 246.
https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-prayer/
RIght Now, the Church Is Like An Anxious Bride…
Devotional Thought of the Day
1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. 2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart. Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 (CSBBible)
We have been accustomed to hear of the Creation, Incarnation, Redemption, of Jesus born in a stable, of Jesus dead on the Cross. O my God, if we knew that another man had conferred on us any of these benefits, we could not help loving him. It seems that God alone has, so to say, this bad luck with men, that, though he has done his utmost to make them love him, yet he cannot attain this end, and, instead of being loved, he sees himself despised and neglected. All this arises from the forgetfulness of men of the love of God.
O Thou dealest so mercifully with us, and ascribest to us all Thy merit and righteousness; and in Thee the Father himself accounts us as righteous, even as though we were like Thee, Thou Mediator of the New Covenant; and through Thee the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and quickens us to newness of life.
The hands of God are blistered with love and accompany us on the path of life. Let us entrust ourselves to the hands of God, like a child entrusts himself to the hand of his father. This is a safe hand!
As we come out of COVID, the Church is like an anxious bride moments before
the wedding begins. Anxiety-driven by the moment, as concerns over everything
being perfect, everything fulfilling her dreams comes into play. Anxiety over
how the Church will be renewed, how we will get all our people back, and the
anxiety paralyzes us.
I asked a newlywed about her wedding last year, and she summed it up by
saying that she was walking down the aisle one moment the next moment she was
getting kissed. With that a common thought, why is so much time spent in
anxiety needed? If only I could rid them of the anxiety and allow them to savor
every word, every vow, every promise, every indication of the love that is
shared. Some women get caught up in the moment and are terrorized by it.
I see the same thing in de Ligouri’s quote in blue above. We know all about the
work of God; we can even enter into theological disputes about it. The
masterpiece of creation and every moment that God has formed is there to ponder!
To meditate on His love for us that is revealed. Yet instead of that, we worry
about life, we try to find the latest book to read and recommend to others,
that their lives and churches might be full. So we don’t look for His love; in
fact, we abandon Him in search of other, more immediate answers and fixes.
As God stands there with blistered hands and a pierced side so our anxiety
would be replaced with peace! So that our sin would be replaced with His
righteousness! so that the Holy Spirit would quicken us to new life! He would
care for us with such mercy, like the groom who tenderly holds his wife’s hands!
He is caught up in the moment as well – but caught up in the moment because he is with
her. (By the time the sermon is over, even the most anxious bride is caught up
with her groom, in the moment)
That is where we need to be, fully aware of God’s love, fully aware of His
presence. This is where Solomon’s wisdom comes into play and why he says mourning
is better than feasting. It focuses on the transition rather than ignore it. As
we realize the shortness of this life and what comes after, we should long for
that day and the incredible life that follows! We need to hear Jesus, we need
to hear the vows He made to us, we need to see our hands held in His, and
forward to our eternal life spent with Him.
As we do, the anxiety will fade, and the miraculous happens as the Holy
Spirit breathes life into us. We begin to have hope again as we realize the
love of the God who is here… with us.
As we come out of COVID, together, we need to focus on Jesus, on His love that has sustained and comforted us, and the promise of life with Him. As that is our focus, then church will not just come back to normal, it will revive!
Alphonsus de Liguori, The Holy Eucharist, ed. Eugene Grimm, The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori (New York; London; Dublin; Cincinnati; St. Louis: Benziger Brothers; R. Washbourne; M. H. Gill & Son, 1887), 252.
William Loehe, Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith, ed. J. Deinzer, trans. F. C. Longaker, Third Edition. (Newport, KY: n.p., 1902), 133.
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), 147.
Saul, David and the American Political Season
Devotional Thought of the Day:
3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave! 4 “Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the LORD is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe. 5 But then David’s conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 6 “The LORD knows I shouldn’t have done that to my lord the king,” he said to his men. “The LORD forbid that I should do this to my lord the king and attack the LORD’s anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him.” 7 So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul. After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 1 Samuel 24:3-7 (NLT2)
You became a bit frightened when you saw so much light, so bright that you thought it would be difficult to look, or even to see. Disregard your obvious weaknesses, and open the eyes of your soul to faith, to hope and to love. Carry on, allowing yourself to be guided by God through whoever directs your soul.
I have to admit that I am more than a little hesitant writing this blog this morning. Yet I have seen to many people who believe in God who struggle to live in the peace God has given them.
Fear, anxiety, anger, even hatred have done this damage to people’s souls. And as I see those emotions pouted out on social media, my heard aches. People look for scapegoats to blame for hurt they even struggle to identify. We look for that one person, or that one group that causes our pain.
David knew that pain. Heck, it wasn’t just projecting his problems on King Saul, Saul was out to kill him. He was hunting him down, and David had to live off the land, and dwell in caves. People who helped him were punished, and rewards were out for his life, and those who served beside him.
And yet, as he tweaks the king, (when he could have assassinated him) he feels guilt. He knows the pain, the betrayal, and et, part of him knows he should not have even tweaked the king….
As I read this, I wondered what it would be like, if we had that much respect for our leaders, that we bathed them in prayer rather than mocked them, or critiqued them and spewed hatred at them behind their back? What would happen if we treated them as we wanted them to treat us? If we didn’t use their actions to justify our own.
What would happen if we loved them as Christ loves us?
This is the kind of light we struggle with entering , this glorious love of God that takes away sin… This is the glory that realizes God’s at work, somehow, in all of this. This is the kind of trust, that comes from knowing God. Not just knowing about Him, knowing Him.
That will change us, even a it impacts the country.
For if we enter into a time of revival, it will not matter who wins the election.
Lord, reveal the work of the Holy Spirit in this world, Help us to trust you more than we fear, more than we are hurting, more than we have learned to hate…and heal us . AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge . Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
