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Dealing with the Pain of Betrayal….
Devotional Thought fo the Day:
Now please forgive us the wrong that we, the servants of your father’s God, have done.” Joseph cried when he received this message.
18 Then his brothers themselves came and bowed down before him. “Here we are before you as your slaves,” they said.
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid; I can’t put myself in the place of God. 20You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened. 21You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts. Gen. 50:17-21
Consider, in particular, the sin of ingratitude towards God, which is a general sin, and extends itself over all the rest, making them infinitely more enormous. Consider, then, how many benefits God has bestowed on you, and how you have abused them, turning them against Him, to dishonour Him. And, in particular, how many inspirations you have made unprofitable. But above all, how many times you have received the sacraments, and where are the fruits of them? What is become of all those precious jewels, with which your dear Spouse adorned you? They have all been buried under your iniquities. With what preparation have you received them? Think on your ingratitude; that God having run so far after you, you have fled from Him to lose yourself.
Joseph forgiving his brothers is a great story of grace. It is also, for one such as I am, very convicting.
I have to admit that I am a hold a very advanced certification in resentment, and am accomplished at being merciless.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate grace, or struggle to depend on the grace of God that is demonstrated in my being counted righteous and forgiven. I depend on that daily, and it provides hope for this sinner that I am.
I find myself likewise confronted by the parable of the debtor is forgiven millions and has a very definite style of collecting the $150 bucks owed him the very same day.
Do we have to grow into people that imitate Joseph? Can’t we just count on God’s mercy, even for our mercilessness? Does it not extend out that far? Surely Jesus understands the pain of being betrayed, the agony of being hurt, the horrible hurt that comes as someone sinning against us.
After all, I am just a broken sinner, one He is healing gradually, how can I be expected to be the Messiah or one of the great faithful people in scripture? How would I find the strength, the inner power to desire to be, and to become that merciful?
I think St Francis de Sales comes up with a reasonable explanation for our inability. It is because we don’t take the time to consider God’s actions in our lives that deserve gratitude, from our Creation, Redemption and Sanctification to His daily present that waits for our prayers, to His revealing His presence through His word and sacraments and those we encounter, as we think somehow we are ministering to them. When in reality, we are simply exploring the incredible dimensions of His love.
As we begin to appreciate the amazing love of God who comes to us, who picks us up and begins to heal our brokenness, as He invites us to dine with Him, and are welcome into His peace, that is when our resentment breaks, when the tears flow, when we look to Him and ask if these relationships, as dry as dry bones can live.
It is only in understanding that He has brought us back to life, that He is healing us, that He is making us whole, that we find ourselves allowing the resentment to slip away, our grip on the anger and pain to painful to keep up. Looking to Jesus – seeing His love, how His plan has blessed you, even the sin committed against you, leads resentment a burden to cold, too hard to bear into the light of His glory.
Devotion to God who loves you more than you can imagine, or hanging on to the pain?
As we come to Advent, as we find the need we have fro Christ’s presence, as we begin to desire more and more the peace and love He he has to share with us, may we desire to set aside those things that would drags us down, and with joy, may we hold out our hands for those who once betrayed us, to join us in the journey.
Francis de Sales, Saint. An Introduction to the Devout Life. Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, 1885. Print.
What Causes Us to Desire Mercy….?
Devotional Thought fo the Day;
24 “Then the servant who had received one thousand coins came in and said, ‘Sir, I know you are a hard man; you reap harvests where you did not sow, and you gather crops where you did not scatter seed. 25I was afraid, so I went off and hid your money in the ground. Look! Here is what belongs to you.’
26 “ ‘You bad and lazy servant!’ his master said. ‘You knew, did you, that I reap harvests where I did not sow, and gather crops where I did not scatter seed? 27Well, then, you should have deposited my money in the bank, and I would have received it all back with interest when I returned. Matthew 25:24-27
We must then, Philothea, increase our contrition and repentance, as much as possible, to the end that it may extend to the least and remotest consequences of sin. St. Mary Magdalen, in her conversion, so utterly lost the contentment and pleasure she had found in sin, that she never more thought of it. And David protested not only that he abhorred sin, but also all the ways and paths of it. In this point consists the renewing of the soul, which the same prophet compares to the growing young of an eagle. (1)
536 Receive. It’s not a lack of respect. Receive today precisely when you have just got over that “bit of trouble.” Have you forgotten what Jesus said? It is not those who are well but those who are sick who need the physician.
There was a time when I thought those who preached “hellfire and brimstone” were those who missed the point of preaching. I’ve also seen where those who preaching nothing but the benevolence of God also seem to miss the point. Both extremes are wrong, yet as I’ve grown more experienced in ministry, I am coming to realize they both also have a good ingredient to preaching.
The problem is not that they are entirely off, the problem is they are unbalanced. If you combined the most severe legalist preaching that causes people to despair, and the preacher who only talks of how blessed we are, you would actually have a fairly competent sermon!
As I was reading the passages this morning, this came into focus again. The words in blue, from the writings of St Francis de Sales, point out our need to treat sin and the temptation that leads to it as that which is the most revolting thing we encounter. Whether it is a temptation to gossip, or the being jealous, or the temptation to forget prayer and praising God, these things we have to learn to hate.
We need to see the damage it causes, to how we view ourselves, to how we interact with others, to the rest that we would find, if we realized we dwell in Christ’s presence.
We need to find sin revolting, we need to hate temptation more than a 9-year-old hates cooked broccoli!
For it is in comparison to that, that we stand in awe of God’s grace. That we find salvation so sweet, so wonderful, so…. alien to who we are as sinners. You and I, we are the servant who fails his master, who doesn’t use what God gives us, what God blesses us with each and every day. We need to realize that and hear the disappointment and grief…..
and then, we need to hear the mercy. For mercy is given to sinners, not to those who are holy. Souls who need renewal have known the grief and sorrow and condemnation of sin. We don’t need to dwell in the guilt and shame forever, but we have to admit it is there, that we have failed, and we need to confess that sin, trusting in the promise of grace and mercy.
And as we do, we will desire to know the mercy, as we recognize it is our life in Christ.
And the power of sin, shattered at the cross, will be shattered in our lives as we are united to His cross once again.
(1) Francis de Sales, Saint. An Introduction to the Devout Life. Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, 1885. Print.
(2) Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 1296-1298). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
May the Lord Lead Your Hearts
May the Lord Lead Your Hearts
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
† I.H.S. †
May the grace, that incredible gift of God’s love, mercy and peace, lead you to share His message in a way that it spreads, and where it is heard and rejoiced in by all you share it with!
Rescue From Wicked People?
This week has been, to be honest, very trying. My patience hasn’t been all that strong, neither has been my endurance.
It has been challenging, mostly because I wonder if we truly understand the love of God, and how He works in our lives.
I would love to say the election was the cause of it, but I think it only revealed what was hidden, as many of us identified those we thought we needed to be freed, or delivered from; the people Paul asked the Thessalonian people to pray he would be delivered from,
Those wicked, evil people who are not believers.
We think we know what that means; we probably have various people in mind. Until I remind you that the word belief here is as often translated faith. So, the people we are talking about are those who do not have faith, who do not trust in God. People who do not depend on Him.
Uhm – is this too close to home for you? It is for me.
Because while I will easily say I believe in God, it is another thing to ask me whether I trust Him, or whether I truly depend on him.
Especially this week, as I have watched some of my closest friends call each other, and the people we are supposed to love and pray for, well, we haven’t done that this well in America.
Rather, we identified them as the enemy, because we don’t understand how they are different from us… until we realize they are “us.”
When it came to us
Paul is making a similar plea here in verse 1.
He wrote, “Pray that the Lord’s message will be spread and honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you!”
Which leads to a question – is the Lord’s message being spread and by us?
Or has that taken a back seat as our anxieties, and our fears about what other anxious people will do dominate us?
Is God’s message spread and glorified among us still?
Surely it can, yet there are moments where we gossip about our neighbors or fail to put things, as Luther explained, in the best construction. That’s not easy to do, it sometimes takes time, to sit with them and find out their fears, their concerns, their pains, and positions.
It takes communication, and we often damage the opportunity for it.
Can we return to the joy that we had when God’s message of grace we understood with our hearts, souls, minds and strength for the first time?
Can we see the message of God honored again, as it did when we first heard it? And then can we dare spread it to those, who like us, find themselves broken in this world?
Can we do as Paul was confident the Saints then would, doing and continuing to do that which he taught us to do?
How we do and continue to do what God commissioned
The answer is, yes.
Yes, even though we sin, we can still be restored, the awe at the love of God can be found again. It was why we remember our baptisms, where sin, all our sin, was washed away by God’s command, because of our connection to Jesus and His death and resurrection. To restore that joy of our salvation is why we gather here, to remember and reveal again the love of God through the words of scripture, and through sermons like this.
It is why we come to the rail, and receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ as we take and eat, as we remember the words of Jesus that established the covenant, as we are renewed by the gifts He gives us here.
We need this, all of us, from every demographic you can think of, from every political persuasion, we need to be refocused, revived, delivered and saved from the evil. That happens one way,
Hear again the blessing of Paul,
May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.
There it Is, there is what we need, this incredible love of God, revealed to us. Then trusting in Him, depending upon Him to save us, to strengthen us and guard us against evil becomes our nature. Doing and continuing to do what we’ve been taught through scripture becomes not only our action; but our desire. This all happens because God leads us, leads our hearts into understanding and expressing His love for us. That love, as it is revealed, causes us to trust in Him, to depend on Him, no matter what else happens.
For knowing how much he loves us, that is beyond anything. What that loves is everything, it is glorious, and wonderful, joyful and enables us to endure anything.
We’ll even realize how many people that word “us” contains, and knowing that will cause this love, this message of God to spread rapidly, and be honored and glorified.
For it contains us all, for God so loved us all, and we all need to for Him to lead our hearts into a full understanding and expression of His love.
Here, he is doing that exact thing… may we realize it. AMEN!
Raising Cain! A sermon on Genesis 4
Raising Cain
Gen 4:1-16
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be heard in every part of you and transform your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength.
Raising Cain – What if….
As you look at this title and think back on the words from Genesis we heard read a few moments ago, I wonder what you are thinking.
I mean if I gave your “permission” to think about raising Cain, would you think I was encouraging you to do something evil? To cause great trouble, to be rebellious, to behave ( as one person said) like loud protestors at some protest rally?
Or is there another option to raising Cain?
And what you do you think about Cain? Is he another like Judas that is beyond redemption, that is condemned because of the evil he committed? Do we write him off like Pharaoh, or like King Saul or Ahaz and that rotten women Jezebel?
Aren’t we glad that we certainly aren’t a sinner like that Cain…?
Or like that tax collector,
Are we more like that Pharisee than we want to admit, thanking God that we aren’t sinners like everyone else, picking our sins we are proud we didn’t commit and proud of the things we do that “prove we are righteous?”
Could it be that instead of encouraging riotous living, the idea of Raising Cain is about trying to see how God called Cain to repentance and offered him hope, and life?
When we can see God working in Cain’s life, it will give us hope, as we struggle in our brokenness, in the midst of this broken world?
Look at the chances!
One of the things I see in this passage is that God doesn’t easily give up on Cain. Nor will he give up easily on us, and we need to know that.
But consider a few of these things.
As Cain is upset about the offerings, God comes to him and says,
6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
And like Cain, God comes to us, as we are struggling and says similar things. He tells us we are His, which we are accepted. But Jesus also warned Peter about potential sin, and then Peter would describe Satan this way…
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.. 1 Peter 5:6-9 (NLT)
Does that sound familiar?
God knows his heart, knows that Cain is being eaten up by the sin, by the jealousy, by the nature he inherited from his folks and made his own.
And as God prophesied – sin caught him, his anger and jealousy and attempted to devour him,
He killed his brother. He did something only God has the right to do, to take a life.
What happened next, he could never have foreseen.
Instead of God taking his life, he comes back to Cain, and calls him to repentance,
9 Afterward, the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!
As I read this, I had to ask, why does God ask where Abel is? God is omniscient, isn’t He? God asked the same question of Adam and Eve, where are you? What have you done?
And of Peter on the beach, as Peter couldn’t get over denying Jesus three times, and three times Jesus asked, Simon Peter, “do you love me?”
We have to realize this; God didn’t give up on Cain. He didn’t just take his life, as He should have. If God were only merciful and not just, he would have just taken Cain’s life.
But God cares for him, and for you and I when we fall into sin when we are trapped and in bondage.
Even when we realize we deserve to be punished for our sin and utter those words Cain did…
13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
If we didn’t have a pharisaical bias towards Cain, would we hear this any differently? Would we notice that Cain added in something God didn’t say?
14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence;
God didn’t – he is still with Cain. God is talking to Him. God is with him, there, and Cain is in the very presence of God.
Whether we hear those words of Cain as complaining, or fear, or pleading for mercy, they are said to a God who is there, who is listening, who is both just and merciful…
Just as He heard us a few moments ago, when we confessed our sin, when we pleaded for God to show us grace…
Even as He did to Cain.
Look at the grace – and what it pictures
We don’t see it if we just skim the passage, but it is there,
15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.
I think we usually see that mark as one of punishment – a stay away from this evil person.
But it is there to protect Cain, to let people know that he was under God’s protection, that (gulp) God was with him. That no one had the right to condemn him, no one had the right to punish him. Just like the woman caught in adultery.
Just like the mark of our baptism,
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Titus 3:3-6 (NLT)
You and I, we were no different than Cain, we were rebellious and sinned, despite God’s warning it devoured us. God came to us again, and called on us it, showed us what we deserved, and then reminded us we are marked….. in our baptism, and no one has the ability to condemn us. Nor will we ever be banished from His presence.
You are forgiven, just like the tax collector, and Peter, Paul, David, and me.
So go, and live in God’s peace, for Christ will guard your heart and mind in that incredible peace. AMEN!
Don’t Know it All? What an Incredible Blessing!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
8 *Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. 9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. 12 At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.g 13 *So faith, hope, love remain, these three;h but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. 13:8-13 New American Bible. Revised Edition.
152 Don’t you sense that more peace and more union await you when you have corresponded to that extraordinary grace that requires complete detachment? Struggle for him to please him, but strengthen your hope.
As our Wednesday Night Bible Study has been meandering through the Acts of the Apostles, the last two weeks have encountered people with partial knowledge. Apollos and the 12 Ephesian disciples. In both cases, they were missing significant, I would even say critical knowledge about Jesus, about His death and resurrection, and about what it means to depend on Him in life.
Yet they were still called believers, disciples, knowledgeable.
They had people lovingly correct them, Priscilla and Aquilla, and Paul. Things were corrected, and God was revealed to them, so much more graceful, so much more loving.
But it, and today’s readings. got me thinking about how easy it is to idolize knowledge, especially theological and spiritual knowledge.We expect that it will protect us against heresy and heterodoxy, that it will cause us to mature, to grow in our ability to enter into discussions and win them (the discussions/debates – not necessarily the people) for Christ. I’ve been there, done that,offended people, been condescending and arrogant, as I’ve strived to know it all. I’ve had to repent, and on more than one occasion apologize and confess and pray for forgiveness.
Yet scripture is clear, and we need to understand we can’t know it all. I can’t learn it all, nor keep tomes and tomes in my brain. I won’t be the next Augustine or Pascal or Melancthon.
To realize this, is a blessing that is incredible.
To realize that I won’t have every answer, that I will continue to grow, that my sight will always be indistinct, that my knowledge will always be partial is so freeing!
It frees me from an idol, one called knowledge. It stops me from becoming thinking that knowledge is the highest of virtues, and reminds me of something I need- to depend on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.
Coming face to face with my own inadequacies leads me to search out for Jesus Christ more than to search out for another theological guru, another academic tome. For His grace is communicated through His word and sacraments, through the Lord’s supper, and in the promises poured out with water in baptism, as the burdens of sin and unrighteousness are relieved as I hear the words,”Your sins are forgiven!”.(2)
It is Christ that protects us, it is the Holy Spirit that lifts us up, whether we can adequately diagram the text, or explain the communication of magisterial attributes. (these are actually helpful – but they ain’t God, nor do they automatically make us more godly!)
Knowing we don’t know it all, that we can’t, drives us to the cross, brings us to walk humbly next to Him, depending on His as a disciple, and this is good.
It is a great blessing – for as we lean on Him, as we trust our Lord, this is where we find peace, and the greatest knowledge of all.
That is this:
“The Lord is with you!”
AMEN!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 488-490). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) I would recommend reading the Apology of the Augsburg Confession for a partial list of other sacraments, such as prayer, and helping the poor.
It’s Monday, Are You Ready for a Good Cleansing?
Devotional thought of a Monday
And this is what he (John the baptist/cleanser) proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. 8 I have cleansed you with water; he will cleanse you with the holy Spirit.” Mark 1:7-8 – my paraphrase
Faith, hope, and charity will come into play in your professional work done for God. The incidents, the problems, the friendships which your work brings with it will give you food for prayer. The effort to improve your own daily occupation will give you the chance to experience the cross which is essential for a Christian. When you feel your weakness, the failures which arise even in human undertakings, you will gain in objectivity, in humility, and in understanding for others. Successes and joys will prompt you to thanksgiving and to realize that you do not live for yourself, but for the service of others and of God. (1)
It’s Monday, and many of us on Monday’s are suffering from the toxicity of life.
Maybe it is because we overdid it on the weekends. Some have a tendency to enjoy some things a little too much, and what is good in moderation affects us when we move past the line of moderation into levels of excess. It can become toxic.
Others aren’t enjoying their weekends, the dynamics of what might be called their “home life” is the source of the toxicity. Broken families, broken relationships, broken lives. Or maybe those we love, are suffering from this, and we spend our free time anxious on their behalf. Our inability to do anything we consider tangible leads to a toxicity that is paralyzing.
Or maybe the toxicity is what we spend our weekends dreading, the return of Monday and the toxicity of our workplaces. Maybe our work situation forces us to be too competitive, to unethical, or to take on burdens and scars we are tired of facing.
I have a bunch of people who are into various cleansing diets. They purge the bad stuff from their system with shakes or drinks that basically cleanse their digestive tracts, and maybe their bloodstream as well.
I think we see our baptism as such – a spiritual cleansing – a purging of all the sin and unrighteousness that oppresses us. Confession and Communion, as sacraments, have a similar effect.
Oddly enough, my devotional reading this morning lead me to believe a similar blessing is found in that dreadful thing known as Monday. For in the suffering, in the toxicity, we find the cross, we find a reason for prayer, we find the need to depend on the Holy Spirit’s presence. For the Holy Spirit, often through the oddest people, brings comfort and cleansing to the toxicity. The Spirit enables us to know peace, unexplainable peace, that comes from being assured of the presence of God, and His cleansing, the power of His blood poured out for us in death, and his body, in which we are raised to life. Abundant life.
This is the work of the Spirit in our various vocations, the roles we take on, often just for physical survival, yet which the Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, uses to bless us, and those around us. For in exercising our faith our trust in God, we come to hope, to expect, that His love sustains us, even on Monday.
For if in the midst of all the toxicity that surrounds such a day, we can know peace, then we realize His presence is with us, not just in church on Sunday, but in the moments of every day.
So rejoice, it is Monday! God is with you! The Holy Spirit is drawing yo into the glory of God, intoHolinesss, into that moment of peace!
And remember – when you are given food for prayer because of the incidents and problems, when the suffering helps you be aware of the cross, and the need for Christ’s love, cry out Lord Have Mercy on Us!
Know He will!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria. Christ is Passing By (Kindle Locations 1477-1481). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Ministry Of Reconciliation: A Great Untapped Power…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
35 They will say, “This once-desolate land has become like the garden of Eden. The cities once ruined, laid waste and destroyed, are now resettled and fortified.”s 36 Then the surrounding nations that remain shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was destroyed and replanted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken: I will do it! (NABRE Ezekiel 36:35-36)
24 Suppose, now, that the invitation (to confess our sins and receive absolution) were changed into a command that all beggars should run to the place, no reason being given and no mention of what they were to look for or receive. How else would the beggar go but with repugnance, not expecting to receive anything but just letting everyone see how poor and miserable he is? Not much joy or comfort would come from this, but only a greater hostility to the command.
25 In the same way the pope’s* preachers have in the past kept silence about this wonderful, rich alms and this indescribable treasure; they have simply driven men together in hordes just to show what impure and filthy people they were. Who could thus go to confession willingly?
26 We, on the contrary, do not say that men should look to see how full of filthiness you are, making of you a mirror for contemplating themselves. Rather we advise: If you are poor and miserable, then go and make use of the healing medicine. (1)
That is the way you are, too, he says; that is the way you are interiorly, if we look attentively at ourselves we shall know that this is true. We are interiorly stunted and crippled. We lack interior strength because we live only exteriorly. “Everyman”, who abounded in health and life, was interiorly completely crippled, but he did not know it. In his efforts to draw all life to himself, he had failed to learn what life truly is. There appears now on stage a second female figure, who teaches the dying Everyman how to pray again. Thus faith helps to give strength to his works. Supported by faith, his works can move, and he, too, can move—to move along the right, the true road to salvation. Faith gives him from Christ’s strength what Everyman does not have of himself. (2)
A pastor or priest sits, and hears people unburden their lives, and we see a miracle happen. Those crushed by guilt and shame are healed, they are made whole. They are restored.
We can often see it with our eyes, yet the perception goes far deeper, as the grace of God bursts from their hearts and souls through their eyes. It is such a thing that Ezekiel describes as he calls watching a once desolate land become the garden of Eden. Or a city laid waste, that has been restored.
Pope Benedict wrote of it as Everyman learning to pray again – the line of communication between God and man cleared of all that blocks it from our inattention, as guilt and shame are flushed away, and we can live again. Luther talks about it as a great treasure, this healing medicine of hearing God speak.
But we would rather look in the mirror and see the filth; we would rather look at works, poor and feeble, no better than filthy rags. Because we’ve let confession (and I mean the entire church) and the precious words of absolution be neglected, we struggle to believe them, to perceive the grace we should look for, the guarantee of mercy we should desire!
This is why pastors and priests must return to teaching about this precious sacrament. So that its power to heal and restore people no longer sits unused, misunderstood, untapped. Our people need to have this – they need to be able to share the joy of their salvation, to celebrate that God isn’t far off, but in Him we still live and move and have our very being! This is amazing grace; this is proof of His unfailing love… these words of absolution, these glorious words that we are free…
God is merciful, the world needs to know this, you and I need to know this.
As we are absolved, let our awe turn into praises and celebration, as God throws us a feast, and as we know we are welcomed in His presence. AMEN!
(1) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 460). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
(2) Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (I. Grassl, Ed., M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.) (pp. 233–234). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
* ( DIsclaimer: While it may be true that some in the RCC in Luther’s day are accurately described in his comment, the priests of the Roman Catholic Church I know and admire urge people to go, not just out of obedience, but because of the joy that awaits them as Christ assures them of His forgiveness – there are such pastors in every church body, even as there are those who would deny people of the joy of reconciliation)
The Possibility of Effective Confrontation?
Devotional Thoguht fo the Day:
1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:1-2 (NLT)
455 You will only be good if you know how to see the good points and the virtues of the others. That is why when you have to correct, you should do so with charity, at the opportune moment, without humiliating… And being ready yourself to learn and to improve in the very faults you are correcting. (1)
There are times in our lives as believers that we need to correct others. To call them to repentance, to help them understand the grace of God with greater clarity.
It isn’t easy, and i think that shows up in the way we go about this divine task. The first is to come in with condecension and even anger at those who just don’t get it. We become crusaders, giving our opponents a chance to repent or be left as our road kill. Let’s be blunt, such coercion rarely results in true repentance.
The other option is simply to be apathetic. To assume there is no option but the former tactic, and to give up trying, leaving the person to suffer without the hope of the gospel. This is not proper either, for the obvious reason, how can we love our neighbor if we are willing to leave them to struggle in sin and in error?
Paul calls us to do such correction with gentleness and humility. And with the concern that we don’t fall into the same trap into which the enemy ensnared our beloved brother and sister. St. Josemaria notes this as well, encouraging us to self-examination and to improve our own lives.
I think the reason for this is that the reason the sin that irritates us, that concerns us maybe in the very same family as the sin we struggle with in our own lives. Whether it be pride or lust or some form of idolatry, we need to be aware of the grace that delivers us from the power of that sin, We have to become aware of the grace that covers our sin, that heals us of the damage it does.
As we consider our own need for grace, and the joy of being rescued, as we kneel before the altar and given the most incredible feast, then we are prepared, with humility and the gentleness needed to confront our brother or sister. And so prepared, we have a chance to see the miracle that happened in our lives, happen in theirs, the blessed gift of repentance and reconciliation.
This indeed is our ministry. This indeed is a gift of God.
Lord Jesus, help us be aware of the mercy you have on us. AMEN.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 1743-1746). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Inconvenient Truth about Being God’s Children
Devotional Thought of the Day:
13 We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us. 16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us. God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. 17 Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ’s. 18 There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment. 19 We love because God first loved us. 20 If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen. 21 The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also.
1 John 4:13-21 (TEV)
282 Practise a cheerful charity which is at once kindly and firm; human and supernatural. An affectionate charity, knowing how to welcome everyone with a sincere and habitual smile, and how to understand the ideas and the feelings of others. In this way, gently and vigorously, and without concessions in matters of personal morals or in doctrine, the charity of Christ—when it is being well lived—will give you a spirit of conquest. Each day you will be more eager to work for souls. (1)
5. We cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we refuse to treat in a brotherly way any man, created as he is in the image of God. Man’s relation to God the Father and his relation to men his brothers are so linked together that Scripture says: “He who does not love does not know God” (1 John 4:8). (2)
He chose to stay there. He had to stay there. He had to absorb their hatred and return love in its place. They physically tortured Him, and He called on God the Father to forgive them anyway.
One of his followers said, Imitate me, as I imitate Christ!
Are you ready to do that? Are you ready to face hatred head on, and meet it with love? Are you ready to surrender your pride, your rights, your position or reputation, your family and even your life, if that is what is needed, that your enemies and adversaries could be afforded the opportunity to be reconciled to God the Father through Christ?
Some would say we aren’t supposed to put ourselves in the place of Jesus, that there is only one mediator. That God can’t expect us to love like He did, that such is not possible for sinners such as we are.
And so they refuse to love their neighbor, nevermind their enemy.
We can’t do that anymore, it is so contrary to what Paul talks of, when he talks about our being united to Christ’s death and resurrection, when he says we can use grace as an excuse for not trying to restrain the sin in our lives. (For Lutherans, check out Article VI of the Augsburg Confession)
There is a new life in Christ. There is the life in the Spirit; there is the life breathed into us, when we were spiritually dead, dry bones.
But this life is one that begins in the sacraments, as the word of God results in God taking root in our lives. It is encouraged in prayer, and in times of devotion, those times of quiet awe and adoration when we realize He is God, and He is here… It is a life where any fight is not over power or authority, but a fight to see people reconciled to God, rescued and healed from the damage of sin and hell.
To see their hearts turned to God, to see them be drawn to the cross, for there we have found hope, for there we have found life.
This is our ministry, whether pastor or priest, deacon or any other servant of God. Yes, it takes great faith, great trust in God, that He will raise you from the dead, that He has given you this life, He has given us the Holy Spirit to comfort and empower us and transform us into the image of His Son.
In this faithful life, we come to love our brothers who we can see, and so demonstrate our love for God our Father.
This is the baptized life. Don’t accept any other ….
(1) Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 1144-1148). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) Catholic Church. (2011). Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate. In Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Will God, Really? or Does the Church need to be there?
Will God, Really?
1 Kings 8
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen your dependence upon Hi m and help you pray, knowing God is here.. for you dwell in His presence.
Is it good enough for…
Twenty-seven years ago, I was looking in display cases in a store in San Dimas, Ca. I had already spent a lot of time in other stores, trying to find the perfect ring to go on Kay’s hand, when we got married on July 1st.
Although I didn’t have a lot of money, that wasn’t the issue as much as finding a ring that would make her smile, that she would proudly wear and that she would show off, saying, look!
I found it, got out my life savings… (which was last week’s paycheck) and purchased the ring. I remember thinking, until the time I saw her smile, will she find it good enough? Will it be good enough!
I have to think my anxiety was nothing compared to what Solomon was going through as he dedicated the temple. Can you imagine the pressure, for the dream was not just his dream, but King David’s dreams, and the fulfillment of a promise that went all the way back to Egypt and Moses, and even before that 4 centuries to the time when God made a covenant promise to Abraham, having him look up into the sky, to see the number of his descendants.
All of the Israel was there, to dedicate a sanctuary, the temple, to be the place where God would dwell with man.
And as he looks out on the people of God, his nervousness causes him to ask a question.
But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!
We could, no, we should ask the same question here today, for this place, as we stand in this place, where God has put His name.
How can Concordia contain the presence of God, who cannot even be contained?
The answer is found in why the Temple was dedicated as the house of God, and to see this place dedicated to the same purpose!
Why Solomon had Faith God Would hear.
It is amazing to me sometimes, when people take a question like Solomon’s and only read the question, assuming that God would not answer, or that because Solomon asked, it meant the issue would be in doubt. I’ve heard people say that churches and sanctuaries dedicated to being the place where God meets people are no different than a forest, or a beach. Because God is everywhere, and therefore, any place is as good as another.
But Solomon doesn’t ask this in a rhetorical manner. He asks it because he knows the answer, the very character of God is to dwell with His people. He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and was close enough to know Cain and talk to him. Enoch walked with Him, as did Noah, and of course Melchizedek, the prince of peace who would help Abraham know the prophecy about Jesus, the incredible Prince of Peace. He walked with Isaac and wrestled with Jacob. He met Moses, and dwell on Mount Sinai, and led His people as they struggled to be faithful in the wilderness.
And as Solomon mentions, God kept the promises made to David, Solomon’s father. That God always keeps the promises He binds himself to in covenant.
God always shows love to those He calls to be His own; that is why we are devoted to Him. It is because He doesn’t fail us.
And he doesn’t’ fail us because He dwells with us, not just because He is everywhere. He makes His home with us, in our midst, to care for us, love us, reconcile us to Himself
That we struggle to believe that is the nastiest side effect of sin, the belief that God won’t care about the people He created to be His own.
Which is why we put up buildings like this one, it is why Solomon built the temple; it is why Jesus cleared out the money changers and those who made a profit selling sacrifices in the temple.
Because these places where God has said, “My name is there”, where He urges us to call upon His name, is to be a place of peace, a refuge, a sanctuary.
Which is why we can pray here, which is why we feel at peace here at the rail, as God strengthens us, for He hears our cry, as He hears our Kyrie…our plea for His love and mercy.
Will God Really Hear my Prayer?
It took me a while to understand this passage, this prayer of Solomon. Because the very first thing he asks for is that God would hear all of the prayers prayed in the Temple – actually within the temple courtyards, and area 8 times the size of our Concordia property! A million people could easily fill the courts, and can you imagine how they would sound singing the Nunc Dimittis? How they praises would ring as they realized that God was welcoming them, drawing them into His presence!
What is so amazing, what needs to be realized is that when the people of God pray, the promise isn’t to give us the American Dream of Life, liberty, wealth, fame and the pursuit of happiness, the promise is to give us…
Mercy
Forgiveness,
Pardon,
To give us the loving comfort of realizing God doesn’t walk away from us, that He will cleanse us up, that he won’t bar us from heaven, but He will make us as clean and share His glory with us!
If we are devoted to Him, this only ensures a deeper devotion. A more single-hearted adoration of the God who comes and dwells among us. There is no great answered prayer than this,
You are my children, and I will love you and care for you, by the stripes Christ wore on His back, you are healed!
Will God Really Hear Theirs?
That is there in the prayer of the heathen that Solomon would have God really hear as well. We get distracted by the “grant whatever they ask”, in fact, I sometimes wonder if I can be a unbeliever for a day, get 400 or 500 prayers answered, and then believe again. ( We’ll talk about that in Bible Study!)
But they are to pray so that they can be in awe of God’s presence as well, so that can know and fear God, even as His people do. That is what Solomon prays for those who aren’t the people of God, who aren’t in the covenant, that are drawn to God by the work of the Holy Spirit.
That they would know Him, and come into this relationship, this wonderful relationship where God answers Solomon question with smoke so thick that they priests can’t do anything.
Smoke that testifies to His presence, just as the bread and wine, body and blood testify to the presence of Christ in this place.
Solomon asks, “will God really dwell on earth?”
God answers, “Be at peace, I am with you…” AMEN!
