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Share what you have.. and it is priceless…
Devotional thought of the day:
10 The crowds asked, “What should we do?” 11 John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.” Luke 3:10-11 (NLT)
Simple acts of love, really that is all John the Baptist is encouraging people to do, to show their love for God. Jesus of course will clarify this, He will make it a clear call to love God, and to love our neighbor, by demonstrating that.
As I read this though, I wondered how John the Baptist would phrase this today. Would he only talk about physical clothes and physical food, or because the people of God have a far greater treasure, would we be called to share something more valuable, priceless.
Even as we should share of our physical clothes, how much more should we share of our spiritual clothing…
25 But now that faith has come we are no longer under a slave looking after us; 26 for all of you are the children of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus, 27 since every one of you that has been baptised has been clothed in Christ. Galatians 3:25-27 (NJB)
And the food – even as we share food baskets with those who have less, isn’t there also a desire that they share in a heavenly feast? The one Paul talks of here?
16 The blessing-cup, which we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ; and the loaf of bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 And as there is one loaf, so we, although there are many of us, are one single body, for we all share in the one loaf. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (NJB)
We have been given the greatest of treasures, the greatest of blessings, something that is described a the light breaking through the darkness, that which brings hope to the darkest desperation, that which brings love, where the was only hate, life where there was only death. Should we not share this as well? Should we not love our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers enough?
I love the way the Roman Catholic Pope said it – in a picture a friend shared this morning on Facebook: It pretty much sums it up…
The Lord you are Seeking! Really?
† In Jesus Name †
Come and See! The Lord you are seeking
Mal 3:1-7
As you prepare to celebrate Christmas, may you welcome the Lord’s assistance in “cleaning house”, even as you realize the love and mercy and faithfulness He will do it with!
Are you ready?
Years ago, when I ran bookstores, most managers feared something. Some of the best of my peers, the people I looked up to an counted as mentors, would tremble when three little words were mentioned.
“zero defect audit”
When the news hit the grapevine that our regional manager had begun them, the panic set in, the managers would leave whatever they were doing, dive into the files and the paperwork on their desks… the staff’s would immediately go into hyper-drive cleaning and everyone’s stress levels would skyrocket.
Some managers even developed techniques, allowing a few, very visible mistakes, that would be caught, allowing the regional manager to find the errors, and they thought she would be content “getting them”, and leave the rest of their operation alone.
Somehow we missed the point – if the audit’s were done well, they would help us correct paperwork errors, help us see our weaknesses and adjust to them.. and should we learn from our errors and accept the assistance in cleaning up our acts… then our bonuses would skyrocket! It was not easy, indeed looking at our errors was sometimes…painful. Yet, the payoff was incredible.
But we were too afraid of the coming, about the required look at the “life” of our stores.
Sometimes, I think we are afraid of God, and we would rather not deal with His presence in our lives now, for very similar reasons… we need to be straightened up, cleaned up, we need to get our acts together… before the final audit..
This cleansing is part of advent… and indeed our daily lives. For we live, not just with a coming Lord, but with the One who is coming, yet is already here, incarnate, present, working in our lives.
What do we need to be cleansed of?
As we hear Malachi’s message to the people of God, as we hear him tell us of God’s covenant bringing apostle/messenger, there is a pause, something that grabs our attention, and causes us to hesitate.. Hear the words, that like “zero defect audit”, throw a shock into your system….
2 “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. 3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver,
How many of you… are ready to stand there, and watch God cleanse your life? To apply the heat – or the lye or bleach that is necessary to remove all that has marred your life? How many are willing to stand there and see the dirt of your life removed? To stand under the pressure of what it takes to cleanse them?
I remember the “debriefing” from some of those zero defect audits, as my senior staff and I were told where we fell short, the feeling as if a football was caught in my throat, the absolute powerlessness, the inability to say, but wait – you need to understand this.. the inability to excuse… And the results of that briefing were marked on a three by two foot poster, that hung prominently in my office… the results of 6 audits there for all to see…
Are we ready for that, not as our files are reviewed, but as our lives are? Are you ready to have those things which we try to hide, or worse, the things we do so often that we forget that they are offensive to God, revealed before Him, as He cleans our lives?
Sometimes I think – wouldn’t it be great if God came, and cleaned up this world in which we live? If God would come and deal with all the problems, all the pains, all of the sin an immorality? If that list, the sorcerers, the adulterers, against all those who break their word, all those who don’t treat their employees well – against all those who don’t even have the most basic sense of hospitality towards those in great need, if God would just deal with them and every other person who breaks His commandments? Wouldn’t it be great?
Then I realize, if God has to clean up – wouldn’t He start with us? With those that know best His will, who know His commands, who understand that they all boil down to two relationships – our relationship with Him, and our relationship with every person He has created.
And all of a sudden, I am not so ready for a spiritual audit, I want to hide or take a week or two off. How about you? AN audit, a cleansing, not performed by some mere pastor or prophet… but by the Lord God Almighty…
But the good..
A few months after the audits, there was always “EoY” paperwork, and the closing of a year – even as we just closed another church year, and are about to say goodbye to 2012, and eventually will see and end of the age…when Christ returns.
After the EoY review, there was the day when the regional manager showed up again – this time with envelopes in her hands. Checks were in those envelopes – and sometimes they were significant.
That is what we wait for now! The day when Jesus comes again, when the work pays off! I am not talking about our work, but the work He accomplishes in us. We are His worksmanship – His masterpiece, He is the one who takes our lives and molds them into something that is incredible. When we realize just how much filth He has cleansed us of, when we see what He does, when we realize how much love He has for us.
We rejoice, we have hope… for Joy has come to our world.
When we realize how phenomenally He deals with the injustive of the world, when we realize how He uses it for our good, when we get to the point where we pause… and look and see…
We realize the guarantee to prodigals, We realize the blessing that He never changes! A blessing that our prophet this morning tells us that we will never be be devoured, we will never be consumed. But that we can return – we can joyfully seek the Lord who comes bringing the promises of the covenant, fulfilling the work of God.
You see, God created you and I for a purpose – an eternal purpose. Not to be transformed into someone else, but His cleansing, His promise work in your lives, is to reveal in you that which has been marred, that which has been hidden by sin, by unrighteousness.
To reveal in you the child of God, to remove the labels like prodigal, or sinner, or even the name of the sin or unrighteousness that holds you in bondange.
That is the nature of advent, a time to ditch the facades, the sins, from gossip to lust to using God’s name, the name we’ve been given to use, in our vanity. To remove us and free us and given us life.
The people of the Old Testament saw this, yet didn’t. They longed for the return of the messenger, the apostle who would prepare the way for the Lord. They longed to see the Lord who would come suddenly, the one who would bring a covenant that resulted in the forgiveness of sins.
At the end of the passage, the verse asks, “how shall we return”… the answer is provided in the very promise of God – I will return to you…
They struggled with what this means, the removal of idols and sins, the cleansing of things we are firmly attached to, the sins that have their claws stuck in our hearts and minds. Hearts and minds, that like ours, were meant to live, not in bondage to sin and anxiety and unrighteousness, but hearts and minds that were meant to feast with our Father, in complete fellowship, in a relationship that nothing could mar…
and that is why He has come, why He accomplished this very cleansing, this very purification, as He hung on that cross – as every sing was stipped from us, and laid on Him.
For we were meant – heart and minds, to live in His glorious peace… and until that is revealed in all His glory, know this – you are already there – protected, guarded, kept in that peace, by the Lord who has come, in whose presence we live.
Come and see your Lord, your newborn King – and feast in His peace filled presence!
AMEN?
The most important day in your life….
This afternoon, a couple will become husband and wife, as they are married at my church.
It will be a special day for her, as every wedding day is for every bride. A day that they look forward to most of their lives, a day they dream about.
As we went through the practice for the wedding, I made the comment, that for three of the people in the room, the day is even more important, than it will be for her. Which indeed grabbed everyone’s attention, for who in a room can a wedding day be more important for, than the bride?
The answer is, for the three children of theirs, who, as the first act the family participates in as a family, will be baptized, Who will be cleansed of all their sins, pastor, present, and to come. Who will be marked and sealed as the children of God. For them, this day marks a new beginning, a new moment, a new life. It is Pentecost – for them. If you read the Old Testament prophecy of Ezekiel,36:25, you will see what I mean. You will see it as well in Titus 3:2-8.
As the couple gets married, promises will be exchanged, vows will be made. THe same is true in the baptism, as God will make promises that can never be broken. Marriage is about a loving relationship – so is the baptism. Marriage is, as the vows say, until death do us part. But the relationship that is committed to in baptism – that is eternal – He never will leave them or forsake them, He will pour out love and peace and mercy and forgiveness (those things are important too in marriage – but not a powerful or perhaps as abundant)
It’s an interesting question of course, in contemplating what the most important day of one’s life is, and any day we walk with God is incredible (especially if we realize we are!) but our lives change, they come alive, on the day when God cleanses us with water and the promises of His word.
A day to rejoice in!
A New Beginning….
Devotional Thought of the Day:
Spiritual life is—and I repeat this again and again, on purpose—a constant beginning and beginning again. Beginning again? Yes! Every time you make an act of contrition—and we should make many every day—you begin again, because you offer a new love to God. (1)
What? You thought a blog with this title was going to be about politics? Nope – something far more important.
I thought about “translating” St Josemarie’s statement into “lutheran”, but the basic concept is solid, and I will mention the change in a moment.
It is to easy to look at life as if one action, one slip up, one sin can break us. It doesn’t matter if that sin is ours, or if that sin is one committed against us. If we trust’s Christ’s promise, it is not even the 1001 first sin that becomes the “straw that breaks the camels back. For there is no such thing. In 1 John 1, God promises, “ On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. “1 John 1:9 (MSG) That promise is good, and true.
And here is where I differ slightly with St. Josemarie. Here is the one I remember from growing up:
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because of Your just punishments, but most of all because they offend You, my God, who are all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin.
The change in the modern Act of Contrition, with the insertion of “do penance” is the only real issue I have. For absolution is promised with confession, and is already promised and delivered in baptism. So I’ll stick with the old AoC. Or more simply – and perhaps with a sense of great need… cry Lord Have Mercy! ANd know with absolute assurance… He has!
We are free – we have a new beginning.
Let us celebrate the mercy of the Lord!
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1503-1506). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A Hope for Re-union as the church is Reformed
In this month, as Lutherans celebrate the 495th anniversary of the start of the reformation, it is good to read this, coming from our brothers in the Roman Catholic Church:
“The upcoming Year of Faith is a “summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world” (Porta Fidei 6). In other words, the Year of Faith is an opportunity for Catholics to experience a conversion – to turn back to Jesus and enter into a deeper relationship with him. The “door of faith” is opened at one’s baptism, but during this year Catholics are called to open it again, walk through it and rediscover and renew their relationship with Christ and his Church.” (from the USCCB website)
Christianity is not “behavior modification”…yet…
As I read tweets and posts of people these days, as they attack or defend the actions of a corporate CEO, it seems what has gotten lost in the discussion is the message of the gospel, and the reason that Jesus came to earth.
There are times I think that we forget that Christianity isn’t in the “behavior modification” business, and I know for sure that many who are offended by those who read scripture plainly, think that is our primary mission and goal. They think most of us our out to modify their behavior – or that of those they care about – and love – while not confronting our own hypocrisy, our sins of gossip, or even.. our own sins in thought, word and deed of lust.
But the gospel isn’t primarily about changing people, converting evil sinners into well behaved saints as if by the flip of a switch. It doesn’t work that way – and its not about that anyway.
It’s about introducing people to a God who cares about the broken, those broken by their own sin, and by damaged equally or more by the sins of the world. It’s about bringing them the idea that God loves them enough to care for them in their brokenness, in their dysfunction, and reach to them, cleanse them, restore life to them.
All Christians are then, are those who are on the road to healing, as they deal with their own brokenness. Well – not exactly, We realize our brokenness, and our only way to deal with it – is as the blind men so long ago dealt with it, by crying “Lord, have mercy!”
In his letter to a young pastor named Titus, Paul reminds him of what life was like, prior to getting to know Jesus, the One who comes to the broken, and heals them. He wrote:
3:3 There was a time when we too were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and dissipations; we lived then in wickedness and malice, hating each other and hateful ourselves. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour for humanity were revealed, 5 it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit 6 which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 so that, justified by his grace, we should become heirs in hope of eternal life. 8 This is doctrine that you can rely on. I want you to be quite uncompromising in teaching all this, so that those who now believe in God may keep their minds constantly occupied in doing good works. All this is good, and useful for everybody. Titus 3:3-8 (NJB)
It’s probably a pretty needed reminder to the church today. We were sinners when Christ came to us, through the message of the gospel, and through that word and the sacraments cleansed us of our sin. We still struggle with it – from a behavior perspective we aren’t less sinners that those who don’t know Christ. But we know that we are being healed, being counted as righteous, and renewed. That God does the work, and if our behavior changes, if we realize sins power is broken when it comes to the control it has on our lives – He gets the praise…. not us… He gets the credit.. not us…
and when we see those still paralyzed by their brokenness… our attitude should be one of concern, and love, and bringing them to the only One who can bring them healing…. instead of lining up to crush them some more.
May we learn to cry “Lord have mercy!” for others, as well as for ourselves!
Broken people do heal – here is the promise delivered!
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the day:
I write a lot about broken people – and even about broken churches. One of the reasons is there seems to be an endless supply of them. And every time I think I am completely healed, or those I minister to are, life comes along and seems to break us again. It really doesn’t, but boy does the agony, and the pain, feel like we are broken again.
St. Paul reminds us what it is like to be broken, even as he reminds us of our being made whole….
3 There was a time when we too were ignorant, disobedient and misled and enslaved by different passions and dissipations; we lived then in wickedness and malice, hating each other and hateful ourselves. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour for humanity were revealed, 5 it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit 6 which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 so that, justified by his grace, we should become heirs in hope of eternal life. 8 This is doctrine that you can rely on. I want you to be quite uncompromising in teaching all this, so that those who now believe in God may keep their minds constantly occupied in doing good works. All this is good, and useful for everybody.
Titus 3:3-8 (NJB)
Obviously the way we were, – very broken- you can’t but read that and realize that Paul is describing people traumatized and torn by sin. As much their own sin ( which we don’t like to face at all ) and the sins of those around us, and even the sins of those who went before us. To be blunt – life being broken sucks!
Yet, God doesn’t – He won’t leave us there. I absolutely love the description of baptism in this and those two words:
Rebirth – being born again of water and of spirit – taking what is dead, and giving it new life.
Renewal/Restoraton – to make brand new! (and it seems like He has to do this daily – sometimes hourly)
It changes everything – our brokenness – no longer is there – though it may appear that way, though it may cause us to struggle,. That is why Paul urges us to keep teaching this – without any compromise – because our hearts need to trust in God’s doing this, more than in the circumstances in which we find ourselves! We are healed – by His stripes ( see Isaiah 53) God hasn’t abandoned us, He has rescued us and we can and do praise Him as the One in Psalm 22 does, as we realize we are not abandoned – we are His!
Living in view of that is different than living broken as well…. for our thoughts become less and less about ourselves – and more about others who are broken. We begin to do good works because He is working in us. This is a promise long awaiting prior to Christ – God’s great plan – which so many testitfied to – but one of my favorite promises of it is found in Ezekiel:
36:25 I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your filth and of all your foul idols. 26 I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. 27 I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my laws, and respect and practise my judgements.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 (NJB)
God has done amazing things to those He has cleansed – as He fulfills a promise to take our weary broken, anxiety laden hearts, and transforms them into His own image….
As we cry, “Lord, Have Mercy” may we trust that He has done what He said He would do! AMEN!
The Kingdom, Letting God be God.
Devotional thought of the day:
“Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God’s saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well.” Matthew 6:33 (NJB)
Most of those who claim to be Christian, would say we attempt this, to seek God’s kingdom, and then we go on to describe that we try to love God, and we really struggle to love our neighbors, that we do good things, we go to church sometimes we make every week! (but don’t ask us to remember what the sermons were about!) We might e talk about the missionaries we support. Even with all that – are we seeking His kingdom first? Do we really want to see Him in charge, to realize what it means for Him to reign over us?
Consider this…
“A Christian always triumphs from the Cross, through his self-renunciation, because he allows God’s omnipotence to act.” Escriva, The Furrow
What if seeking God’s kingdom means something that doing what we think is righteous? What if it means embracing the cross, the suffering, the very act that takes us out of the darkness of sin, into the light of God’s glory? If it meant realizing that He took on the pain of our broken lives… What if seeking His first His kingdom – meant letting God be God – and letting Him heal us, about realizing that we are cleansed of our own sin, and the injustice of the world?
What if it meant sitting there…. quietly, in stillness, and realizing the depth of God’s love for YOU?
That is where we enter the Kingdom – through Christ, in Christ, at the cross, that we would know the life we gain, that we are raised in. in Christ.
Hear St. Paul’s words,
3 You cannot have forgotten that all of us, when we were baptised into Christ Jesus, were baptised into his death. 4 So by our baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glorious power, we too should begin living a new life. 5 If we have been joined to him by dying a death like his, so we shall be by a resurrection like his;
Romans 6:2-5 (NJB)
Joined to His death in the cross – from there to be brought to life … IN HIM. It’s His desire, it is the will of God, and looking to the cross – it begins there….and everything else – peace, joy, strength to endure, everything – comes with the life that begins in Him. It is His kingdom, His work, His will, all of God’s power – focus to act … to bring us life.
Lord Have mercy, and help us to realize what that mercy brings. AMEN
The Broken: Repair or Replace?
Discussion/Devotional thought of the day:
Last week I was at a convention of my district. As things progressed, as people were elected and resolutions considered, debated, passed or passed by, it hit me.
We live as a “reactionary” church.
Most of the resolutions seem to either try to correct past resolutions of past conventions, or strengthen that which was decided, and proven to be too week to be effective. Rather than deal with past errors – we keep treating the symptoms, rather than the cause. Examples abound, as we struggle with the vocations of laity and the pastoral office, as we struggle with having a governance which is basically a representative democracy, and how that works in a manner where those elected have pastoral/ecclesial responsibility over those who elect them.
So we try to fix what’s wrong, we elect people who we think are wise, or at least persuasive, or who we know someone who knows their pastor…and we make our judgments that way. We take that which is broken, and try to bend it back, use duct tape, whatever will allow it to function – even if it functions barely…. and we become satisfied for another three years, and pride ourselves on getting it done.
It is reminiscent of our spiritual lives as individuals, and as the church at large. Rather than deal with issues, we deal with the repercussions they cause. An example – the debate over abortion and insurance. We fight (or at least gripe about) the legislation, and battle those who pass it. What if the majority of our time and money was expressed in the teaching of God’s love, and explaining how God created us to live? If we worked for actually brining the means of grace to broken lives, which doesn’t just “cover up” the cause of things, but recreates them anew in Christ?
What if people understood what it meant to be baptized, and began to cherish that which they had been given?
What if we grasped verses like this….
5:17 So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NJB)
What if we understood that God doesn’t just repair us, but has made us new?
We pray, “Lord, have mercy!” Now go, and live this day, confident in that mercy that just doesn’t repair the consequences, but completely renews our hearts and our minds.
AMEN
