Blog Archives
Come and See – His Day
Come and See: The Day!
Jer. 33:14-16
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God, the love and mercy and peace that is yours in Christ Jesus, be that which is most evident in your life, until the day
He returns in Glory for us! AMEN!
Come and See!
Yesterday afternoon, a man named Michael was standing right here, with his dad standing next to him. He was as anxious as any man I have ever stood beside as they prepared to enter marriage.
As the doors back there opened, as he looked upon his fiancé, dressed in white, there was the loudest gasp I have ever heard from a man, as he commented, in awe of how beautiful she was, at how her beauty exceeded every expectation he had, every dream of how this moment would be.
During the wedding, it was kind of cute – as he looked upon her with such adoration that she often looked away – almost embarrassed to see the look in his eyes! A couple of times during the vows I even had to remind her to look at him!
That kind of mindset, that nervous anticipation of the bride and groom, the moment before the doors open and they look at each other, that ½ second when time slows to a crawl prior to the doors opening – that is the mindset of advent.
We know He is coming, we know what has been promised. We have desired the day to finally come, the moment, the time that is drawing closer. Maybe we’ve even dreamed about it, as we hear the descriptions of what it will be like.
There is a sense of awe, and a sense of anxiety, a feeling of doubt as we wonder “how will I live up to His expectations?”
As we walk through this advent together, as we look to the day when Christ comes again, fulfilling the promises that were first fulfilled when He came 2000 years ago, it is my hope that we realize that our situation is not unlike the situation Mike’s lady found herself in, as we realize the love of God and the way that Christ sees us, the church, His bride.
For that is what that day is all about!
The day when we have come to see, as we come to adore our Lord.
What do we expect of the Messiah?
In my more self-righteous moments, I wonder how the people of Israel could overlook all of the prophecies about the Messiah. How could they have been so far off in what they expected Jesus to be like, how they expected Him to come. How could the experts have been so…wrong?
Those errors had incredibly serious implications, for example – if Herod’s advisors had known that Jesus didn’t come to establish some mere political kingdom, that he wasn’t going to overthrow Caesar and Herod, would he have bothered to slaughter all the innocent male children? Would the Pharisees have reacted to Jesus if they had spent more time in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations and Ezekiel, rather than just seeing the promises of a new Moses, a new David?
What about our expectations today, as we look at the church around the world – does it still expect the kingdom of heaven to be established on the earth? I have mocked the television-evangelist types, when they promise wealth and health and happiness, yet there are times, I have to admit, when my expectations are just as self-centered. And that leads to trouble, for false expectations can create a let down of massive proportions. When our expectations are shattered, no matter their basis, how do we react? Are we like the young couple that sees their life in the harsh reality that occurs when the bills are piling up, the in-laws are becoming more critical, and the pressures of work and household are taking their toll? Do we spiritually “fall out of love” with God at times?
How do we balance off promises like “all things work for good for those who love God,” with the things we don’t understand, like economy, like disease, like death? How do we hear passages like Jeremiah, that promise a day coming… when we’ve been waiting so long, when we’ve heard that Jeremiah’s promise was about the coming of the Messiah? – the first coming? When those promises, supposedly fulfilled by the baby in the manger, now seem to be as naïvely received as the promises of how perfect a young couple thinks their marriage will be?
Has God let us down? Will the second coming also be…more of the same?
What is promised?
As we enter Advent, as we take a moment and light an extra candle, and then two and then three, and then four, and then, in the right moment, at the precise time, this fifth candle is lit, the one that really matters, the one that makes hope and peace and joy and faith possible, we need to learn that lesson – these candles only find their meaning in that candle.
So to do the promises of God, found in the Old Testament only make sense when we, the church, the bride of Christ, are looking at our groom, at our Lord.
Hear Jeremiah’s words again,
14 “The day will come, says the Lord, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them.
In Sunday School, we are going to talk about who Israel and Judah are, and who they aren’t. For us, in this moment, I am going to tell you – what matters is that you are, one way or the other, included in that group.
God will do what He has promised, in His time, and it will be good.
What will done? What will God do?
He will raise up a righteous servant. One of David’s line. He will do what is just and what is right – throughout the land – that is what Jeremiah tells us.
Isn’t that why Christ came? To set everything right, to fix it all? TO make life perfect?
Was not the Messiah to bring healing and light to the nations? To bring glory to Israel?
Even as I look around at the broken world in which we live, I can in truth say, yes, I believe Christ came to do that, and has done it, and is doing it still.
Except that we don’t see the work all that clearly, in fact, only with a little more clarity than those awaiting the Messiah the first time. For in Jeremiah’s promise, we see that the righteousness – the perfection comes, not in us, but in Christ. It is His work that establishes what is just and right – it is His work.
At the cross, that work was done. At that time, we were saved, and indeed the people of God live in safety. We have been delivered my friends, from all that threatens us. Sin has no power over us, for God has given us the keys of the kingdom, the responsibility to nullify sin through the authority to forgive it, to dismiss it, to negate it.
Likewise its compatriots, Satan and death, though they seem to loom powerfully in this world, are but illusions and fraud. They cannot separate us from God, they cannot diminish His love for us. They cannot remove His guarantee that all will work for good, because He stands behind that.
That is what it means, for the city of God to be named, The Lord is our righteousness. Yhwh-tsidkenu. It is He that is perfect, righteous, holy.
And we, the church, are His bride. Joined to Him, one, even as a husband and wife become one…
He Has Come, He is Coming!
In many ways, life is like the wedding ceremony, with the life that will become true, only hinted at, even as we wait for the life that is to come, afterward.
We haven’t begun the life together yet… even though the joys of the moment are here. We still struggle to look our Lord in the eyes, to see His love there, to know that He sees us as His beautiful, clean, glorious bride.
Yet that too is part of advent, the reminder that life is yet to truly begin.
We are in the presence of the bridegroom, who has paid every price to bring us to this point. We see Him in His glory, and wonder whether we truly belong here.
There is the message of advent as well – we do, we’ve been called here, we’ve been called to live eternally as the bride of Christ, as the people of God.
Soon, the wedding will become the feast, and then the life…
May we live in this moment, looking to Jesus, the Lord who chose us to be His, who brings us into life and shares His life and His righteousness and holiness with us.
Come my friends. Come and see your Lord, the One who shares it all with you. Come and see your Lord, look into His eyes of love, do not look away.
I’d leave you with two promises, found in the writings of the Apostle Paul, to churches like us…
If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:1-4 (NAB)
1:6 I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the Day of Jesus Christ comes.
Philippians 1:6 (NJB)
Your Lord awaits… it is time to celebrate, for you have been saved, your life with Him is lived safely and peacefully, for in His righteousness, you are guarded, your heart and mind always in His care. AMEN.
Adoration- is it part of your worship?
Devotional Discussion of the day:
In a few days, the strains of familiar music will fill your ears, if it hasn’t already. The sounds of Christmas (even though it is not advent.)
But as I plan out our special services, one chorus keeps resounding in my mind, echoing louder and louder, as it does as we sing it on Christmas Eve.
Venite Adoreum – Come! Adore Him! ( Or as we sing it, O Come let us Adore Him)
It brings a question to mind, how much of our music – whether traditional choir cantatas, or contemporary pieces spend time in adoration, in awe, in realizing that this isn’t just another holiday to be happy, but this in God. present, real, here. God coming in weakness yet fully in glory, God whom the angels in heaven cannot but praise, God whose reflection carried by angels causes incredible fear, (why else are their first words – Be not Afraid?)
Do we adore – with every fiber of our being – God in our midst? God incarnate? Do we pause to consider the enormity of this event, the blessedness? The beyond all imagination glory of a humble stable, a young lass, and her fiance, lookng down and knowing beyond all doubt..that this was God?
Maybe we don’t want to.. because if we do… we have to realize how much we need Him, desperately need Him.
Not just then…. not just on the cross…. but now.
Come my friends, let us adore Him!
Come Holy Spirit, that They May Live
“Come Holy Spirit, that They May Live”
Ezekiel 37:1-14
† In Jesus Name †
In these days, when we look around at our world, may our faith not be shaken, but instead may we heed God’s call to pray, and to ask the Holy Spirit to enter those who need to come to life in Christ!
The hand of the Lord has Brought us here..
Like the prophet Ezekiel, we have been brought to this place, by the hand of God. We have come from three or four different continents, and having possibly a dozen languages between us. Children and young adults, parents and grandparents and even a great grandparent or two…
God has brought us here to this valley, to the Los Angeles Basin, with a purpose not unlike Ezekiel’s vision that was shared a few minutes ago by Dr. Wang.
Indeed, the words of Ezekiel not only describe the time in which he lived, but describe our time as well. They also describe a time in between, when Jesus was the son of Man who fulfilled the prophecy, who brought healing to the dead bones of those who struggled with God.. and whose Spirit was poured into them, that they would live.
What a tremendous vision! What tremendous work God does!
What an incredible blessing it is, to be involved in such a vision, to be taken a hold of, and brought to a place where sin and death’s damage is so visible, and see God reverse it all!
That is why we have been gathered, to bring this hope to this place…
Do our hearts break, for what has left these bones so dry and brittle?
When my mom’s dad came to America from Italy, it was because this was the land of promise, looked at much as Israel looked forward to the promised land, and in the time of Ezekiel, looked forward to returning to it. Generations have come here, expecting blessings and freedom and the chance for a life. I believe strongly, that as revival sweeps our land, just as it has in the past, there is a chance those dreams of freedom will be restored, that the blessings of God can return to this or any other country, which for a moment has turned away from God. The entire Old Testament bears witness to this truth, for again and again, this was what happened, and God fulfilled the promises – He would be faithful and patient…even when they were not. Even when spiritually they were as dead as the bones in Ezekiel’s valley.
Spiritually, while there is still a remnant in America of those who trust in God, who turn to him, a great deal of our country is spiritually dead, as is this valley in which we live. A great evidence in this can be seen on our recent LA County ballot, where measure B mandated how an immoral industry was to provide “protection” for those in the industry! No longer are we as a nation, we as a people finding such industries immoral, but we are creating laws that would mandate that their immorality is “safe”?
It is hard to realize how far this country has fallen, how far, like Israel – whose name means “they who struggle with God” have gone astray, each doing what is right in their own eyes, with no thought to God’s ways, or the forgiveness He offers!
Such are the days when we should be crying Lord, Have Mercy!
And knowing that He will!
Time to Prophesy over these bones! Time to see them Heal!
The Son of Man was told to prophesy over the valley, to speak to it words of life, the words of hope that tell of the Spirit’s washing of renewal and regeneration as Paul tells Titus in our second reading.
That happens as the Gospel was lived out in the life of Jesus, as He came and healed the lame, the broken hearted, as He brought healing to those physically deaf and blind, and spiritually deaf and blind. As the gospel is poured out in the life of Christ, as the prophesy’s found in Ezekiel and Isaiah and Jeremiah and even Leviticus and Numbers are lived out in the life of Christ – the damage of sin is reversed, the bodies devastated and devoured by the sin of this world, and our own individual sin is reversed!
As we are united with Christ, as the Holy Spirit regenerated us, that healing, that restoration occurred in our lives….
As we proclaim God’s love, shown in Christ to this valley of bones, we will witness what occurred in the vision, what happened in the lives of every person called and claimed by Christ – we will watch the miracle of people being born again, born of water and Spirit!
For God’s word, the words we speak forth to those lost in darkness, are never uttered in vain…
Prophesy once more.. for the Spirit will bring them to life!
In our reading from Titus, there are two stages mentioned – regeneration – building up that which was ravaged by sin, and renewal – the restoration of life. They are not two processes, but one – as God justifies us by erasing the damage of sin, and sanctifies us – making us holy, setting us apart to His purpose.
IN the same manner, as part of the same prophecy, the son of Man in Ezekiel is directed to complete the prophesy, to called the Spirit to breathe life into these bodies, that they may live!
In Christ – this is one seamless promise – the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 as they are called to be cleansed in Baptism – a natural act as the cross and the empty tomb result in the Spirit falling on the people and breathing life into lives crushed by their own sin. In Ezekiel – verse 5, that is the first thing promised – the Spirit being breathed into them – and the restoration of their bodies! It is one movement, one act of God, one look at His work of Art, as He revives and renews His people!
Even so, as we look upon those who God speaks through us to- whether the pastors in gatherings like this, or the Bible Study leaders, or as you are talking to someone sitting at the next table at lunch, that is what is occurring – a change that will bring them to life, free them from sin, and pour out blessings that could never be seen, living under the rule of any man, of any system… but is seen as the norm for those who live in Christ, united to our Lord and Savor, cleansed by the power of God
Time to celebrate – as we live with Him, for we know He is our Holy Lord
My brothers and sisters – this is why we are gathered here. This is vision of the work of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit demonstrated in our midst – in our valley of dry bones, in this place where dreams need to be fulfilled- even as they need to be clarified.
Our graves have been opened, the Spirit has poured into our lives, we have been raised from the dead, for we were crucified with Christ that we may live with Him forever!
For that is our homeland, whether our biological family is originally from Taiwan, or China, or the Phillipines, or German, or Italy, or Ireland….
Our homeland is where we live with God… no matter the geography..
For We know He is the Lord, we have heard Him speak the words of life…we have received His Spirit in our lives, and we know we are His people, called to speak to the Spirit to ask it to come into the dry bones of this valley, that they may live as well.
May, even as the Lord speaks through us, may we know the peace that comes from the Spirit of God, dwelling within us, the peace that we are kept in, our hearts and minds secured in, guarded by Christ Jesus.
AMEN?
Abandoned…into Grace
1Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in exchange for his life? Matthew 16:24-26 (NJB)
cross, “Today once again I prayed full of confidence. This was my petition: “Lord, may neither our past wretchedness which has been forgiven us, nor the possibility of future wretchedness cause us any disquiet. May we abandon ourselves into your merciful hands. May we bring before you our desires for sanctity and apostolate (mission), which are hidden like embers under the ashes of an apparent coldness…” ”Lord, I know you are listening to us.” You should say this to him too.” (1)
It was one of those exercises on leadership retreats that caused me the greatest concern. Standing on a ladder, with ten people below me, the retreat facilitator ask me the cross my arms, close my eyes… and fall backwards – trusting the ten people (including a couple of petite ladies) to catch me.
My thoughts went to my own wretched condition, significantly overweight, tall and awkward, the idea that they would catch me? Really? I looked back, thinking about my peers, and their…err…reliability. I heard the coach’s assurance – everything will be fine…..
Yeah, sure….
Eventually, the frustration overcomes the fear and I fell into the arms of my friends.. who didn’t let me crash on the ground, they were able to bear the weight.
Trusting God is a lot like that – for part of trusting Him is found in trusting that He can deal with our past struggles, and our future failures. That He can overcome the hindrances in our lives, that He will sustain us, heal us, bring us to completion. We have to abandon ourselves, let God strip us of the pride that leads us to self-preservation.
It isn’t easy….
It takes a lot of time with the cross – seeing that Jesus did that same thing …. He abandoned His life, His Spirit, into the hands of the Father.
Now it is our turn – with a difference…. The Spirit’s presence, coaching, encouraging, bringing us life….
Father, help us to abandon ourselves into your Hands…. Help us to trust…
AMEN
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1637-1641). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
No Retreat….No Escape.. but no need…You are Holy
Devotional Thought of the Day…
“God is not removing you from your environment. He is not taking you away from the world, or from your condition in life, or from your noble human ambitions, or from your professional work… But he wants you to be a saint—right there!” (1)
Well, we made it to Saturday! The week is seemingly over for most of us, and we can enter a moment of rest for our weary bodies. If you look at the freeway last night, or this morning, there were people on their way out of town. Some were in RV’s, others pulling toy haulers, others on their way to the bright lights of Vegas. All working at a feverish pitch to escape, to get away, to escape. Some are leaving on more nobler causes – a weekend retreat in the mountains with other people who trust in Jesus. Even so, there is a sense of haste, a sense of a need to escape the world.
Throughout the centuries, people of faith felt this need as well. Whether it was the acetic monks finding caves in Egypt, or the orders that built monasteries that looked more like castles, some of talked of the need to escape the world to pursue holiness. And they did. To tell you the truth there is a great temptation there for me, to escape the distractions, to escape the conflicts, to escape the temptations and the problems of life. That was the thought then, that holiness and full concentration on God could be attained if we only gained enough separation from the world. What they tried to do for a lifetime – we have sped up – and seek the same things in a weekend!
I know myself though, and it is my nature that anything could become a distraction from God. Instead of a charged comment on Facebook, it could be the ant trail. Instead of the commercial with scantily clad models selling a hamburger, or a phone, it could be hunger. Jesus understood what makes us tick, and He said “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Mark 7:20-23 (NLT)
So if our reason for escape is to avoid temptation, to avoid sin, to pursue holiness/sainthood, then we can’t succeed by simply running away, or finding a remote place.
Another reason to try and escape the world would be “rest”, yet I’ve seen the work it takes to get my camper ready for the weekend. The stress of driving through traffic, and then the stress of setting up, and taking down, camp. Not an easy thing! For 20-25 hours of rest we add 12 more backbreaking hours of work and driving!
The quote got me thinking practically today.
If escaping the world (for months/years) and its “input” doesn’t help us find either great rest or achieve holiness, then what does?
I believe the answer is found quite simply, in being transformed into the likeness of Christ just in the place we are. For there is no place on earth where we cannot find Christ’s peace, where we cannot find rest and holiness as we abide in Him. Jesus said we are not of the world, yet He also said we are in it. Our vocations are found in life, in work, in our marriages, in being parents and children, in being friends, in being part of a community. In being apostles, sent by God to share the hope of His love and mercy and presence.
It is here, as we live in Christ, that we find our rest. It is here, that we find out our holiness, our being set apart.
For He is here, because the Spirit has gathered us, because we have been united with Christ, and causes us to abide in Him.
You have no need to escape, no need to retreat from the world you know, save for short periods of time to pray, to study His word, to Worship. but those things must be part of your daily life here. Pray unceasingly, find your focus in your devotion to Him.
Know that you dwell in His peace!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1428-1430). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Sainthood
Devotional/Discussion thought of the day….
” Tell Our Lord constantly and sincerely that you desire to be a saint and to do apostolate… Then the poor vessel of your soul will not get broken. And should it do so, it will be put together again and acquire an added attractiveness, and it will continue to be of use for your sanctity and the apostolate.”
This morning, as I prepare for Sunday’s sermon, I am thinking about those I know who have passed away in the prior year, and the names just seem to keep coming.
Some I know well, Warren, Joseph, Shirley, JoAnn, Frank and Peter. Other’s I know of, because I know their families or friends. Janice, Melanie, LaVonne. There are other friends that I still can’t believe are gone, Clyde and Armando, Rich, Richard, Dale, These people make a mark on our lives, and among those names above are some people whose lives spurred an increase in my faith, as I watched them live, even as their bodies were betraying them. The lessons they left me are invaluable – the faith they modeled inspired.
Today is All Saints’ Day, and depending on one’s church traditions, it is celebrated differently. I remember preparing for it as a young student, looking through the lives of saints and seeing how different they were. Francis, Bonaventure. As a Lutheran pastor, we look to those who have gone before us, to join the “great cloud of witnesses” as described in Hebrews 12, or in the words of our liturgy, the whole company of heaven. It is rare that in reciting that line that I don’t think of some of the names above, or other names that have impacted my life over the years.
But if there is a reason to consider those who have gone before, it is to remember how God sustained them. How God worked through them in so such diverse ways. Some where, as the quote from St Josemarie notes above – broken, yet in their brokenness, they found God’s beauty in ways we can never explain, except to agree – it demonstrated how God had set them apart, how God had made them holy, and how that holiness was such that it called people to them. As we see what God did through them, even though they were bed-bound, even thought their bodies were broken, we realize that God can do such in our lives, He can and does work to heal our brokenness. He can bring us into places, where we are His representatives, His apostles, brought there to share His mercy and grace.
We are called to be holy, we are called to be saints. we are called to be His children.
Learn to desire it, looking to those who have seen it happen in their own lives, imitate them, even as they imitate Christ.
Lord, teach us that you do have mercy on us, even as You had mercy on those who have gone before us….
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1413-1415). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A Long Week to Endure? That’s not always a bad thing!
Today’s devotional though”
“Allow God to lead you. He will lead you along “his path”, making use of innumerable adversities… possibly including your own sluggishness, so that it may clearly be seen that your work is being carried out by him.” (1)
It’s only Tuesday, my mind tells me as I enter the office. Maybe a ten hour day today, interrupted by a quick check in at the ophthalmologist. Lots of things to do on the to do list, planning services for the next three weeks, framing up plans for Advent series, maybe squeezing in a visit or two, and some fun with the couple I am doing pre-marital counseling with this evening. (that’s always kinda fun for me.. for them) Already four more names added to the prayer list- including a cousin back east who was in a accident when a tree fell on his car while he was driving by, another parishioner’s recovery from surgery, and a coupe of serous things that are serious, but cannot discuss.
Sometimes I feel like life is one adversity after another – and sometimes they come in pairs and trios. It is as if everyday is like another Monday, that there is little time to rest, and too many things that cannot get done.
I used to think it was about depending on God when I felt overwhelmed – at some point I would finally realize that He is there, and that I need to depend on Him if I am to survive. It’s like the footprints in the sand poem, and I get too proud of the times where I didn’t need to be carried, where I could walk on my own.
If I am honest, though, I can’t walk on my own strength. I need Him to not just walk with me, but to let me lean on him constantly, to let Him carry me, to know His support, His presence, His love.
Paul explain it this way: “2:19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:19-20 (NLT)
I fear I am not phrasing this well, but the idea is simple – it is not just when I am weak that I require His strength… it is constantly. He’s there – He’s promised to get us though for being united to Him, we find our lives take a shift in meaning. The sooner we realize that, the more we can enjoy the trials we endure.
Lord, may our lives cry out for, and receive Your mercy..
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1339-1341). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Reformation is only about this: The Lord Almighty Is With Us!
The Reformation is only about this:
The Lord Almighty Is With Us!
Psalm 46:1-11
† In His Name †
May the peace of God, the peace which comforted Martin Luther and so many others who struggled with their own sin, and the sin of their time, bring you comfort and peace and stillness….
Luther’s Nightmares… do we have such?
Are our dragons… less?
It doesn’t matter which movie about Martin Luther’s life that you watch. There is always a scene which people find troubling,
Luther, not long after his ordination, is in his monk’s cell. It is late at night and time to sleep. Even though his confessor tells him there is nothing interesting in his confessions, Martin is tormented spiritually and emotionally. He rages against satan, and in grief and shame, against his own weakness.
The scene is violent, as Luther storms around the room, flailing and yelling, screaming at Satan, weeping over his own brokenness. He feels God’s wrath for the existence of sin in his life. In the movie made a little less than a decade ago, as Luther faces his own inability to overcome sin, he questions God. How can a just God create us so weak that we cannot overcome sin in our lives? Luther only saw God as just at the time, for that is how he was taught.
His mentor, His confessor, tries to share with Martin that God is love. The Augustinian Abbot sends Luther to Wittenberg specifically to study the New Testament, hoping that as Martin does find God’s mercy and love, and when he does, that which torments him will be replaced with peace.
It is the reading from Romans today, that Fr. Martin Luther finally realizes God’s love, and that Luther’s life has been entrusted to God, and therefore he can live in that trust.
Later, coming across the Psalm we chanted, in awe of the incredible grace and providence of God, Luther writes the incredibly Hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God.
I think there are days, where I am much like Luther, I look at the challenges people face, in life, the challenges of lives hampered and damaged by sin, the anxiety, the suffering there are days where for a moment, the despair that Luther knew seems all to real.
Our hope is the same as Luther’s this Mighty Fortress, this incredible Lord of Heaven’s Hosts is with us. We will grasp
1 God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.
2 Therefore we will not be afraid,
As the Psalm moves on from that crucial first phrase into the second verse, I am reminded of a conversation this week. I had commented, “it’s simple – if you can’t run from your problems, you also can’t run from the One willing to bear those burdens.”
The response was that my comment was beautiful, but I wonder, if in thinking of the beauty of such thoughts, we reduce them to something not real, not practical, not for us.
I think we do this with Psalm 46, as well – we know we need to stop – give pause to the anxiety the world tosses at us, yet we find such a pause… disturbing, and we fill the silence, rather than stop… and stop our fighting God…and know peace.
The World is being tossed aside.
But Compare that to the Heavens streams
As I was saying the Psalmist moves from this brash statement, that because God is that refuge and strength, we need not fear – he has something in mind. He doesn’t get to it directly. He talks of a world devastated by natural disasters, of earthquakes and floods that we should have no fear of, of the disasters that make prior disasters we have seen look like summer rain showers, and 2.0 tumblers.
Even as violent as these storms are, as much as the world shakes, as the mountains collapse, the Psalmist calls our attention to a different body of water, instead of disaster though, this other seen is pastoral, peaceful, glorious.
4 There is a river— its streams delight the city of God!
the holy dwelling place of the Most High!
5 God is within her; she will not be toppled!
God will help her when the morning dawns!
Given the pause, the “selah” the break in the meter and psalm, the shift goes from the traumatic, the terrifying, to the peaceful, to the pastoral, to that which is kept and protected by the power of Almighty God – for it is where He dwells. That is the purpose of the Selah – a time and moment to pause…
To realize what this means – that God dwells in a place of peace, a place that cannot be toppled, a place that cannot be moved….
Could the Psalmist, looking forward to the promises of God, realize what God would have Paul write to the church in Corinth?
3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (ESV)
As we deal with the pause, the Selah, the interlude, can we realize that it is there – to help us transition from the trauma, from the pain, from the brokenness of the world that would send an overwhelming flood into our lives?
It is there the psalmist goes next, to reveal that the shaking and storms aren’t caused in the physical world, but in people, and in their lives.
The Nations Rage, and are tossed aside….
But like the world, all is shattered,
It’s time to be quiet, to stop fighting..it’s time to be still
6 Nations rage, kingdoms topple;
It is here that we begin to see the truth, it is not the mountains and oceans that cause us to be shaken, but people and kingdoms – whether we are talking about kingdoms as in nations, or the kingdoms of our homes.
It is therein we find our greatest shaking, our greatest pains, the greatest storms, and the storms that make us question life … and make us struggle – even as Luther would struggle in his cell.
How do we deal with our sin, with our failing when tempted, with our humanity, and the humanity and sin of others…as our earth quakes, …as they are shattered, even as the evil seems to surround us, to even drown us…
Not just evil as in slavery and murder..
But the evil of gossip and hated, of wanting to get revenge, of the pains of being betrayed, never mind the pain that comes from suffering from the overall weight of sin – even the things we are sure are sin, yet we feel guilt and shame as we endure them…
We might question our hope, our life, our salvation, we might even despair or fight God – accusing Him of unfairness because of what we must endure.
Luther knew this…feeling, this despair…
It is why Romans 3, and the concept of our living, trusting in God was such a revelation – it is not up to us to become the solution to our sin, to the brokenness of the world.
You see the context of that favorite beautiful sentiment, “Be still and know” is not just about being calm in the middle of external struggles, but our struggle with God.
Hear another couple of other translations….
46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 (NASB)
46:10 “Stop fighting,” he says, “and know that I am God, supreme among the nations, supreme over the world.” Psalm 46:10 (TEV)
and I love what the great English pastor wrote n this..
That is the great theme of Psalm 46. The nations and their princes are all being addressed; these people who are arguing against God and querying whether there is such a God. ‘And listen’ says the Psalmist, ‘here is the God who makes wars to cease; this is the God who arises and vindicates himself.’ Then, having displayed his case, he says, ‘Be still,’ give up, give in, admit, ‘that I am God.’[i]
Be still, become, look, here is Almighty God! Here is the Lord of the Heavenly Host! He is here in all His power, in all His glory! Realize this with awe, even as He feeds you His broken body, and you drink His blood,
He is here for you, to protect you, to keep you, to guard your hearts and minds… for He dwells, not in a city made of hands, but among His people.
And therefore – we do not fear, we live in His peace….AMEN
[i] Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1987). Revival (120). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
An Incredible Prayer, Disguised as a Camp Song
Devotion of the Day
My first reaction was to wonder when he learned the song that was being sung with the enthusiasm that can only be generated within the heart of a five year old.
KUMMM BY YAAAAAA my Lord… KKKKKKKKKumn by YAAAAAAA
My immediate reaction was to think ill thoughts of whoever taught him that camp song! And I thought of all who mocked the song, at first agreeing with them in my mind. Especially as I heard my five year old – feeling much better after two days of being sick, sing it with all of his might. (and if you know him…. well – you can picture this.)
I eventually thought back to my youth, to when the song was actually popular and not mocked, and I remembered the translation of the song. Someone’s singing/crying/working/praying LORD BE WITH US. ( or literally Come by hear!)
As I thought of these words, it became apparent to me, this simple song, once written by a simple people who knew desperation, who knew anxiety, who knew pain, is truly a very deep hymn – one of great comfort and deep spiritual truth. For no matter the vocation, no matter the action, it is always appropriate to cling to the One who is here – to cry out to Him, asking Him to reveal Himself – for He is always here… always ready to respond always ready to care and bring mercy and peace.
Kumbaya –is simply another way of praying the Kyrie – another way of reaching out and realizing we were not alone..for He is with us.
May we cry out both, in sincerity and in recognition of our need, and may we know we have been heard….
Overlooking The Gift….
Devotional/Discussion thought of the day: (why do I write discussion – in the hope someday this is discussed, of course)
“If all those people became so enthusiastic and were ready to acclaim you over a piece of bread, even though the multiplication was a very great miracle, shouldn’t we be doing much more for all the many gifts you have granted us, and especially for giving us your very self unreservedly in the Eucharist?” (1)
In view of these days, when we are arguing and doing battle over what the government can, can’t, should or shouldn’t do for those it governs, this quote by St. Josemarie seems incredibly important. For indeed we get excited about what is physically/financially provided for us, and because of the similarities of those running, the only real argument I can see is about whether people are given to, or have taken from them, money and that which it can buy.
It is never miraculous, the government cannot turn 5 loaves and 2 fishes into enough to feed 12,000 people. And we applaud or crucify those who promise to do something about it, based on its perceived short term affect on us. Yet we waste more time contemplating politics than the ministry of Jesus in our midst. We get more excited about a juicy bit of gossip that we can copy and paste to bash “the other guy” than we do about the word of God which reveals to us that we aren’t alone, that we are loved, that this world isn’t a random and without a purpose.
We aren’t alone.
We are loved…
A little bit of bread, a small sip of wine, a gift that changes everything, that fulfills a promise, that indeed reminds us of the greatest gift, and is a gift that is worth more than any thing,.
Celebrate it, think about what is given you there, as you Take and Eat the Body Broken for you, and you take and drink, the blood outpoured for the forgiveness of sin. All sin.
And may you live, as those God would call to His feast…
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1228-1231). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
