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2 days Blog: You Can’t Handle His Truth…… or can you?
Discussion and Devotional Thought of the Day:
WARNING THIS BLOG POST MAY ANNOY THE HELL OUT OF YOU!
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?” 22 “No, not seven times,” answered Jesus, “but seventy times seven, 23 because the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who decided to check on his servants’ accounts. 24 He had just begun to do so when one of them was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 The servant did not have enough to pay his debt, so the king ordered him to be sold as a slave, with his wife and his children and all that he had, in order to pay the debt. 26 The servant fell on his knees before the king. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay you everything!’ 27 The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt and let him go. 28 “Then the man went out and met one of his fellow servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and started choking him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he said. 29 His fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!’ 30 But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into jail until he should pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very upset and went to the king and told him everything. 32 So he called the servant in. ‘You worthless slave!’ he said. ‘I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just because you asked me to. 33 You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you.’ 34 The king was very angry, and he sent the servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back the whole amount.” 35 And Jesus concluded, “That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:21-35 (TEV)
569 If you are annoyed at being told the truth, then… why do you ask? Is it perhaps that you want to be answered with your own “truth” so your errant ways can be justified? (1)
It seems the number of FB and Twitter posts recently that talk about how to treat those who sin against you, those who don’t meet your standards f behavior, those that just tick you off are on the rise.
Most don’t called for a counter-attack or revenge, or so it seems. But they do, as they justify walking walking away, as they justify completely terminating the relationship, as they call for you to slam the door in the face of the one hurting, disrespecting, annoying and sinning against you. They might even say that they forgive, but can never forget. Or they talk about forgiveness, but not allowing the person to hurt or disappoint them again.
But that leads to a question – what good is it if there is forgiveness, if there is not the possibility of reconciliation? If you cut someone off after the 7th sin, how in the world can they sin against you 69*7 more????
Undoubtedly, some are thinking – what about in cases of abuse, where violence has erupted, where there have been criminal acts like murder or rape? What about where there are atrocities like genocide? Are you saying that we must reconcile with “those” people? Do we have to provide them the option of hurting us again? Do we have to encourage something that we know could end in more pain?
That’s a good question, a very hard one.
But it is one we have to ask!
We have to realize that true forgiveness requires and hungers for reconciliation, for restoration. It may not happen, but we have to desire it.
What can reconciliation look like? Can it be done with gradually, rebuilding that which was lost? Can we diligently work to restore that which was broken, to see it healed? ( Not just tolerating the brokenness) If our absence is necessary (and sometimes it is until repentance manifests) can we grieve over that, rather than triumph in it? Do we weep as Christ wept over stubborn Jerusalem?
Jesus never said following Him would be easy. Paul talked about it in terms of suffering like/with Jesus is necessary here – because of the glory we will share with Him there. So there will be sacrifices we will have to make, especially to our pride, especially to our expectations. We will have to have the attitude of a servant, for we serve God, even as Jesus did. Our work isn’t to promote ourselves, but to work at seeing His desire fulfilled… the desire that all come to repentance, that all come and are reconciled and restored, that all are presented perfect in Christ.
Look at the servant – forgiven by God of millions, who wouldn’t forgive such a small debt! He’s talking about us when we separate reconciliation from forgiveness, when we pull back – not to urge repentance, but out of a desire to save ourselves, to guard our pride, or even our reputation. We have no problem seeing the servant as evil and wrong, yet do we see the same lesson in our own lives. The truth of this parable stings, it hurts, when we realize we aren’t really forgiving, because we demand with the forgiveness that reconciliation isn’t possible. That’s not forgiveness – that saying they don’t have to pay the debt – but we will still remember they owe us. That isn’t right. It isn’t the way of the truth.
If we know this is true, Mercy must reign in our lives. That we effectively use both God’s law and the gospel correctly to witness redemption occur.
It’s a very tough calling – living this way. Yet it is His call on our lives, it is the truth that we see in Christ. In fact, it is the truth that we can’t see outside of Him, and without the Holy Spirit’s help – it is impossible to see this truth revealed in our lives. But we need to see it, it will imprison and slowly kill us until we do.
Lord have mercy on us! Help us handle the truth, that we are called to live a life of forgiveness… as those who forgive and reconcile, and those forgiven and reconciled!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 2433-2435). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
God, and the Problem of Evil
Discussion and Devotional Thought of the Day:
6 When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. 7 Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. Matthew 24:6-7 (MSG)
54 As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God’s glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!” 57 With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, 58 threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. 59 They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died. Acts 7:54-60 (TEV)
Yesterday was a hard day for so many around the world, and many closer to me.
There were the stories that made the news, the Malaysian plane shot down, the conflict in Israel, the conflicts in Sudan and Nigeria.
There are the other stories as well, that will not make the news, My friend whose memory is failing him. The family of a lady I visited in the hospital, whose heart is beating…yet whose body is shutting down, leaving her family without the one they count on for strength. There are parents whose children are facing procedures to could reveal the possibility of a lifetime of pain,
And yes, there are the martyrs like St. Stephen, and St Paul. Men whose faith is testified to, even by their enemies. Men of peace, who would give people the hope found in trusting Christ.
Which brings about a question, how do we survive the evil we encounter in the world? How do we cope with news that shatters hearts, that could shatter our faith? That could make us cuss and scream and yell at God. How can we imitate the faith of those who the Letter to the Hebrews describes,
33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. Hebrews 11:33-38 (NLT)
As a pastor, as someone who has served as a chaplain in jails, hospitals and with a hospice and homecare medical group, I’ve seen people do survive in such hard times, and not only endure, but be a blessing to those around them. Do they have some secret? No, save that they know Christ They know Him so well, they realize His promises.
They walk with Him,
We can even see them go through the stages of grief
Abraham bargained with God, even as he realized the evil of Sodom and Gommorah
Jeremiah was angry with God, even accused God of deceiving him, because of the ministry to His people.
Jonah deal with depression over God’s work to save people he didn’t like or trust
Job’s friends were awesome at encouraging denial of the truth,
just because we trust in God doesn’t mean we avoid evil – that we avoid the horrible days… but it means we move with Him through them. Guarded by Him, comforted by them, knowing His promises will be fulfilled.
For as they moved through the valleys of the shadows of darkness (evil) they learned not to fear, for God was there… and He will be with us.
That is how we deal with God and the problem of evil.. with the problem that things are wrong, messed up, screwed up, painful.
We look to Jesus, the author and One who perfects our trust in God.
How To Deal with the Stress of God’s Mission!
How to Deal with the Stress… Of His Mission! 
Matthew 10:5a, 21-33
† In Jesus Name †
As you go out, bringing the news of God’s loving us enough to take responsibility for our lives, may you endure, knowing the grace of Christ!
The Mission
There were some words I read this week by a priest that resonated deeply with me.
I am going to paraphrase them here, putting the thoughts in words that would make sense to us…
In our visits to the sick, in our administration of the sacraments, in our teaching of the catechism, and in all the rest of our priestly (pastoral) activity, we are collaborating (serving) with Christ in establishing Christian hearts. At the same time and by that same means, that is, by the work we do, the Lord is establishing and rooting our hearts in his own. (1)
What he is describing is what we are sent to do, to bring Christ to people. We all do it differently. Dane does it while going and checking on a good friend, Joanie does serves in such a way, at the Korean grocery Store, where she invited Jenny to Bible Study. It is what Rainbow does at Hope International University, and what Wanda and Kay do as they interact in the office with all who come into see them.
This is our mission, the same one that started among us when Jesus sent the twelve out to a certain group – but now sends us to the entire world.
It is the same mission, to bring the gospel, the news of the Kingdom of God coming among them, or as the pastor said, seeing “the Lord establishing and rooting our hearts in His own!”
This incredible mission is ours, but, you need to be warned, as the apostles were, it might not be the easiest…
The Challenge…..
One might read these verses in our gospel reading and wonder what you’ve gotten yourself involved in, following Jesus, hearing and trusting Him and sharing your faith with others.
I mean what is this about, breaking up families, even to the point of one handing over another to be executed. Why would people hate us? And real persecution, the kind of persecution where people zealously hunt us down and enslave or oppress us?
There are a number of temptations to dealing with such opposition.
The first is simply to be okay with their sin, to not see their sin, or ours as something we have to worry about. Christ died for all those sins, right? For jealousy and envy, for gossip and sexual immorality, for wanting to kill people, well at least with our thoughts and words, for not honoring those God placed in authority, or those who dismiss the times of rest with which God desires to bless them. Or maybe we become comfortable with people using God’s name wrongly, or even worse, with their not using it at all.
The reading of Paul’s epistle should straighten us out on that….
Don’t be slaves to sins, and don’t let others continue to dwell in spiritual death as their reward,
Don’t weaken the message of God’s mercy, by pretending we don’t need it. That will not free you from persecution. Don’t be cowed by those who would dismiss you from doing God’s work, by saying it isn’t necessary to treasure the life God has given us.
But that doesn’t give us the right to just stand up and act as jerks condemning people as sinners left and right. We can’t combat the opposition to God’s word, by getting ready to wield the rock with which to stone them. We can’t use the idea that using the Bible offensively is the best defense of the gospel.
We are called to love, and yes, sometimes to suffer, for the sake of those who need to hear of God’s love and mercy. As I heard yesterday, a basic summer of the gospel, that they know God matters, and that people matter to Him.
So how do we do this, in the face of opposition from friends and family and those that would rather not hear of their need for God, and His desire to show them all His love?
How do we deal with the stresses of the Mission that God has given us, to take His message to the world, that they would be saved?
The Key – the Relationship We Have with Jesus
If you could see the verse that precedes the bulk of our passage, you would hear how we deal with it.
19 … don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. 20 For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Matthew 10:19b-20 (NLT)
How can this be? That as we focus on God, the words we speak are not ours, but those of the Holy Spirit? Who are we to speak for God, to utter not our words, but His?
We aren’t apostles, are we?
Hear verse 24 of the gospel again:
24 “Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master. 25 Students are to be like their teacher, and slaves are to be like their master. And since I, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, the members of my household will be called by even worse names! Matthew 10:24-25 (NLT)
We are His students, His disciples, His slaves, He is our Teacher, our Master, the One into whose image the Holy Spirit is transforming us. It should be natural, the more we think about His love, the more we contemplate the cross, and realize the link their to our unity with Him in baptism, and how we testify to that death for us, as we eat His body, as we drink His precious blood in communion, that we take on His nature, That we understand His desire is that not one of the people around us would perish in Hell, but that all would come to know His love and mercy.
The very unity we have with God in Christ, will see us through any discomfort, ever persecution, even as it did Jesus as He started this mission.
We are so His, that nothing can separate us from Him, and so we should go, and do that which He has sent us to do, to preach the gospel to all creation, to do so with each of our talents, with each of our gifts, abilities, to see this as the reason we are here, even as He came to us.
For that is the greatest miracle of this, that we dwell, we find our life, as St Paul said, in Jesus.
Or as the pastor I quoted at the beginning of this wrote,
In our visits to the sick, in our administration of the sacraments, in our teaching of the catechism, and in all the rest of our priestly (pastoral) activity, we are collaborating (serving) with Christ in establishing Christian hearts. At the same time and by that same means, that is, by the work we do (in Christ), the Lord is establishing and rooting our hearts in his own. (1)
hear the last line one more time… as you go into the world to share Christ in such a way that people’s hearts are established in Christ…. Then know
At the same time and by that same means, that is, by the work we do (in Christ), the Lord is establishing and rooting our hearts in his own. (1)
Established there, we know the incredible, indescribable peace of God our Father, the peace we know in Christ… in which He guards our hearts and minds. AMEN?
(1) Pope Francis; Jorge M Bergoglio (2013-11-18). Open Mind, Faithful Heart (pp. 39-40). The Crossroad Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
Being Blunt and Honest With God….. A Necessity..even when I am ticked off
Devotional Thought of the Day:
7 LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than I am, and you have overpowered me. Everyone makes fun of me; they laugh at me all day long. 8 Whenever I speak, I have to cry out and shout, “Violence! Destruction!” LORD, I am ridiculed and scorned all the time because I proclaim your message. 9 But when I say, “I will forget the LORD and no longer speak in his name,” then your message is like a fire burning deep within me. I try my best to hold it in, but can no longer keep it back. Jeremiah 20:7-9 (TEV)
333 Think about this carefully: being transparent lies more in not hiding things rather than in wanting things to be seen. It is a matter of allowing the objects lying at the bottom of a glass to be perceived, and not trying to make the air visible. (1)
it has been one of those weeks. The kind I have had far too often recently, but this one is up there.
Six years ago, even though I read the verses above from Jeremiah many times before, I actually preached on it. I was at the time deciding to accept a call to the church I presently serve. Leaving behind friends and a church that was described by my predecessor as the nicest church he had ever encountered in 50 years of ministry. So why would I leave? And what did it mean that I would preach on this dark passage from Jeremiah?
Weeks like this one. Where I started the week praying for friend that was likewise moving from one parish to another, at the choice of his supervisors. Trying to grieve the change, while ministering to those he was coming to serve. Difficult. Very difficult. Another old friend this week revealed that he was also moving from one church to another – re-assigned by his supervisors. A challenging move for him as well, and then another friend last night, was told it was time to move in his ministry.
I am praying for one of the men I had a part in training for ministry, he has brain cancer and is fading fast. Another friend I found out this morning, who I also trained as a deacon, had a heart attack. Last night, out of the blue, I found myself discussing the death of one of the best friends in my life, who ministered at my side for far too long. There as well was another of my best friends, who lost his dad a month after I lost mine, and a few months later, his mom went to be with God as well.
Tomorrow, as our children wish us Happy Father’s Day, for the first time we can’t go to lunch with our dads, or talk to them on the phone. Some 15 of our friends lost dad’s or a granddad after ours passed.
This is not counting the trauma of those around us, which dwarfs our own. Dear friends with health problems. Families torn apart and going through death, others through divorce, family facing issues with those they love who are in bondage to drugs or alcohol. People dealing with financial crisis, people dealing with disabilities, including those of the mental health variety. Missionaries who are trying to deal with poverty that makes our headspin, or with violence and threats and potential martyrdom. Other people making decisions that will wreck their lives, decisions they know are wrong, but justify with justifications that…
It is enough to make you want to scream “stop”, or yell out in anger and frustration.
And if we admit it, if we are honest and transparent, the One we want to yell at …. is God.
Couldn’t He do something? “In only you had been here Lord,”the sisters of Lazarus has said. Whose fault is all of this suffering, all this pain? Why can’t life be simple and pleasant and without all this…. painful crap… (I wrote something else there.(shit).. but edited it)
It took preaching on Jeremiah’s hitting the breaking point, to be able to realize that it was ok to yell at God. That you can say that God tricked you, deceived you, to cry out like a 5 year old, “That’s not fair” or “This sucks…. That transparency with God, about our feelings, our frustrations our pain is a good thing, and I will dare say, it is necessary.
Because being that transparent with God is a matter of faith, it is necessary if we are to trust Him to bring us through the situation, if we are going to allow Him to walk us through the fire, through the storm, even through the valley of the shadow of death. It is necessary to grieve, because then acknowledging the pain, we can let Him, ask Him, count on Him, to bring healing, to bring peace, to flood our lives with His love, and comfort.
You can’t do that if you are hiding it, if you are bottling it up, letting it turn to resentment. Pouring it out on those who become you victims, because you won’t let the frustration and anger be turned on the One who has shoulders to bear it, shoulders that bore the stripes of whips, the very stripes that Isaiah prophesied would heal us, cleanse us… save us.
Have to admit, I don’t like writing this blog. Have to admit – I would love to just spend tomorrow walking along Lake Ossipee, with my son, and yeah – with my dad.
It needs to be written, for my own sake, but perhaps for yours as well. To give us the confidence to say,
Lord have mercy…. which can only be said… when we know we need it… even desperately need it.
Amen.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1555-1557). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Dare We Speak of Wanting to Leave God???? We must??
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
67 Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?” 68 Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. 69 We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:67-69 (MSG)
257 The Lord, the Eternal Priest, always blesses with the Cross. (1)
Last night, as we gathered in Bible Study, we talked about Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12. We talked of how he had a thorn in the flesh, and how he begged the Father in Heaven to remove it, not once but three times. Each time he received an answer. Peter had a similar discussion once with Jesus as well, three times having to hear an answer. We all laughed, knowing that some of us need to hear what has to be said 4 or 5 or even 211 times. Jeremiah accused God of deceiving Jeremiah. St Josemaria tells us that Jesus always blesses with the cross…. but that means there is a cross.
Yeah, there are days like that. Days were we have to give voice to that which flows from our hearts. The pains, the doubt, the brokenness. We can’t bury it, we can’t just ignore it, and let our hearts harden, for then they will surely shatter.
There are times where you have to exhale the poisons in your system, before you can breath in the Spirit. You have to let it go (O gosh – not that phrase! 🙂 ) Prior to seeing the answer that is there.
In the gospel reading above, the crowds have abandoned Jesus. They don’t want to admit the depth of their need, a need that can only be met through the body and blood of Christ be given and shed for us, to be more than just those who observe, but those who are joined to Christ’s death, that we would be joined to His resurrection. With all abandoning Jesus, He turns to the last dozen…..and offers them an opportunity to leave the pain, to leave the discomfort of the message that challenges their nicely fabricated holiness.
Somehow Peter gets it right, No, not somehow rather by God’s grace.
Where else could we go Lord? The best hope we have, the only hope, is to walk with you, through whatever it is that opposes us. It’s the cry of faith, that God is God, we aren’t, and so we trust in Him. Or like a paralytics father cried out, “Yes I trust in you Lord, help me to trust in you!” As odd as it seems, we need the times in Elijah’s cave, we need to have rants like Jeremiah or Moses or David. We need to have the times like Peter on the beach, and like Paul struggling to really hear God, distracted by a thorn in the flesh.
I think that cry of faith can only come from the point where we know nothing else, Where we are broken and weak, the place and time we’ve given up on trying to do it by ourselves. It is then we look up and see that God’s been there all the time. It is then we hear His words, and know they are the words of life. It is then, as we feel His embrace, that we know His mercy, love and peace are endless. Sometimes we don’t realize the value of that, until we face walking away from it.
And then – our hearts lifted by the the words of life, we find ourselves given that life, dwelling in it, for we walk in the presence of God.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Location 1254). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Encouragement for those who wonder “if it is worth it”
Devotional thought of the Day:
1 I urge you, Timothy, as we live in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus (whose coming in power will judge the living and the dead), to preach the Word of God. Never lose your sense of urgency, in season or out of season. Prove, correct, and encourage, using the utmost patience in your teaching. 2 Timothy 4:1 (Phillips NT)
110 Rest assured: when you work for God, there are no difficulties that cannot be overcome, nor discouragements that will make you abandon the task, nor failures worthy of the name, however unfruitful the results may seem. (1)
There are times life seems to difficult, the challenges to overwhelming, making progress seems impossible, and even maintaining where we are at, doubtful.
This is especially true for those who walk with God, who look at the world that Jesus sends us to bring the message of His love to, even as the Father sent Jesus.
We hear stories, like that of the lady in Britain who will have an abortion, so that she can appear on a reality television show. ( She’s publicized it, which will put the reality show in a tough spot – will they re-issue the invite? It will gain them publicity – but…)
But I don’t even have to go that far to see the challenges faced in this world. The couple that gets married, but brings too much baggage from prior relationships, the person who is dealing with so much resentment in one relationship that it poisons other relationships, the pastor who is challenged by not seeing any changes in his people., that they haven’t grow in the two, or ten, or twenty years, Is there a point where we should give up? Where we stop giving them the answers that point them to Jesus Christ? Is there a point where we come to the conclusion that it just isn’t worth the sacrifice anymore?
Or do we turn to “life coaches”, new programs, spend great deals of money trying to find a way to have measurable success? There are enough programs out there, enough guru’s and experts and consultants, to last a lifetime.
Or do we stick to our guns, keep things just the way they are, taking great pride in our stubbornness, even in the face of defeat. After all, one can serve faithfully even if it makes us miserable, the point is being faithful, right?
Faithfulness on our end is not about giving up, or finding the miracle program/person, or even sticking to our idea of being faithful. It is about having faith, trusting that God has told us to go, but that there will be seasons of life, and seasons of ministry that are barren like winter, some are like the rapid growth of spring, others like the dog days of summer, and others where the beauty of fall shows the glory of God, and the value of being patient. In each of those seasons, our work is to point to Jesus, to His love, to correct those that are veering away from it,
We should evaluate our messages, our work, how we prove and correct and encourage others to look to Jesus. To trust in Him, not in us or to a style of ministry or worship. But all that work has to be done with patience, knowing that in each of us, there is the struggle of sinners and saints. That is our key, patience that is born in our faith in God, in our confidence that He is reigning, that He is in charge.
It’s hard, very hard. We are like the rest of the world, we want to do what we want. But when we trust in God, when we know we can focus on Him, we begin to see those promises revealed in our midst. Luther, a man who struggled through many dry seasons, and many were life seemed forgotten said it well, as he wrote about the Lord’s prayer:
Truly, God’s good and gracious will is accomplished without our prayer. But we pray in this request that is be accomplished among us as well. (2)
His will, will be accomplished. It will, we have that promise. Yet we need to know it is being accomplished here, in our midst, in our presence. (and it helps a lot to see the role we play in this -even if minimal) We have to trust God – and keep focused on Him – even if that simply means praying the Kyrie.
Patience is the same kind of trust we have in the Lord, that He will deliver us, it is the faith that sees God revealing to us His love and mercy…
Struggling? Look to Him. things not working our – Look to Him…
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 661-662). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) Luther’s Small Catechism: Developed and Explained.
Is There a Time to Be Numb?
The church seems to be always threatened and challenged by storms…yet… He is here.. and He is its Fortress and rest
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 4 (NLT)
9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NLT)
829 The thought of what has happened to you burns within you. Christ came to you when you were only a miserable leper! Until then, you had developed only one good quality, a generous concern for others. After that encounter you were given the grace to see Jesus in them, you fell in love with him, and now you love him in them… (1)
I sit here in my office, wondering how I will finish my sermon tomorrow.
It doesn’t help that the above passage from Ecclesiastes ran through my heart over and over in the early hours of this day.
It doesn’t help that yesterday I ended up grieving three different times, as I interacted with two friends who are suffering, and then wasn’t really able to interact with another close friend, whose husband, a pastor who has sacrificed much, passed away suddenly.
There is time, a season for everything, and it seems I’ve been in the midst of a season of trauma since September.
It’s to the point where I wonder if there are any more tears, even as they flow. It’s where I hesitate with phone calls, relaxing when I see it’s my pharmacy that is telling me my refills are ready.
I wonder to myself, if there is a time to simply be numb……to be so drained that there is nothing left, just a soul that seems empty….
Then I look at the clock and realize, I’ve a sermon for which I have to compose the final manuscript, a congregational meeting to prepare for, a son who waits for me to take him to see Hobbit II in 3d in just 5 and a half hours…Time to kick into high gear…. even as the engine seems to cough and sputter.
Keith Green’s “my Eyes are Dry” comes on my rhapsody player… perfect song for a day like this….
What can be done for old heart like mine…. soften it up with oil and wine, the oil is You! Your Spirit of Love, please wash me anew, in the wine of your Blood.
It’s what I need to hear, this song will get a lot of play today. For there is nothing I can do, to find the strength I need today. It’s going to have to be Him, if it is to be anything at all, if there is to be letter on the screen, if there are going to be words to hear tomorrow… He will have to be the strength I don’t have, for the trauma isn’t being removed. The pain I’ve witnesses will be in places tomorrow, even distant places. How to speak to it? How to show them the journey of History, of Abraham, of Jesus, is about God being here, in these times of numbness, or trauma.
For if I am numb, then He can minister to me, a sort of enforced rest, a time to just let God be God. To slowly arise out of it in awe. To realize the depth of His love, His care for these friends of mine is far more than I can have – but He shall surely show it. And Jesus shall indeed comfort my friends, my dear friends. As He will me. Whether Keith realizes it or not, that last line, the wine of His Blood will have so much to do with it. As we receive His Body and Blood, as we realize once again that we are united with His death, and His resurrection, as we remember the height of His love, and its breadth and width, and that its depth can reach us.
And once again, I realize I don’t have to play God… that He dwells in these friends of mine, and that God will be there for them. Even as He ministers through all of us, in our weakness….
The odd thing is that as I realize this, the numbness begins to recede… it’s time to work….
But may I never forget He is God… and I am not…and that its His work…not mine.
(oh and here is Keith Green’s song – if you aren’t familiar with him, He passed away when I was in high school – but his music still nails me to the cross…. which is good!)
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3408-3412). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
What Kind of Peace Are You Looking for?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
15 But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, 16 but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will become ashamed of what they say. 1 Peter 3:15-16 (TEV)
“No, what I meant was to wish you a good evening,” Arthur would say, or rather, used to say. He soon learned to avoid these conversations. “I mean that I hope you have a good evening,” he would add. More puzzlement. “Wish?” the Bartledanian would say at last, in polite bafflement. “Er, yes,” Arthur would then have said. “I’m just expressing the hope that …” “Hope?” “Yes.” “What is hope?” Good question, thought Arthur to himself, and retreated back to his room to think about things. On the one hand he could only recognize and respect what he learned about the Bartledanian view of the Universe, which was that the Universe was what the Universe was, take it or leave it. On the other hand he could not help but feel that not to desire anything, not ever to wish or to hope, was just not natural. (1)
One of the reason I love Douglas Adam’s five book trilogy (besides the obvious – it is a five book trilogy) is that it makes us question our thoughts and desires, and the framework in which we live and love. A great example is the passage above in blue, which I was reading this morning at breakfast.
There are times where I wonder why things cant be simple – can’t be easy and smooth sailing through life without a concern, My idea of peace – just walking down shore road at Lake Ossipee with my wife and son, pushing a stroller with the new baby. Rather than me sitting here, writing a blog, thousands of miles away from them, while the baby is at risk. Can’t anything ever be easy, simple – without a desperate desire for things to be better? Is that my expectation of heaven? A placebo of existence?
As I sit here – learning things from God, with the help of Douglas Adams and others that I am reading… I wonder.
The people Arthur Dent encountered had it made – life was a breeze – they had no desire, no hope,, everything was peaceful and idyllic on their little planer. Dent was someone who had saved the universe, sort of – been through all sorts of hell and trial. So this planet he idealized and searched for, this life of peace and contentment? Living in a situation without hope, without desire, without,Dent would discover, life. His judgement, one philsophers and poets could state, boiled down to this.
It sucked.
The more I consider God’s peace, the more I realize it is a peace known throughout every aspect of life, the good, the bad, the painful. It is, as Jesus tells us, a peace the world cannot give – even if we were to have a lifetime vacation in the Bahamas (or preferably Osippee, NH) The reason we treasure it isn’t because of the lacks, but in view of them, even as we walk with Jesus. This isn’t some twisted praise of pain, suffering or lack. It is instead of the realization that those situations can help build a hunger.
The question is hunger for what? Change? The kind of peace that seems desiable but sucks? Or the presence of God?
One of the other books I’ve been reading (was dared to read actually) I found these words in,
“But the most serious problem with the spirit of sadness is that it bears within itself the sin against hope. Bernanos says it well in his Diary of a Country Priest: “The sin against hope … is the most mortal of all, and yet it is the one most welcomed and honored. Much time is needed for us to recognize it, so sweet is the sadness that announces and precedes it! It is the most precious of the devil’s elixirs, his ambrosia.” IN RESPONSE TO THIS, Paul VI states: “Joy which is properly spiritual, the joy which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 14: 17; Gal 5: 22-23), consists in the human spirit’s finding repose and a deep satisfaction in the possession of the Triune God, known by faith and loved with the charity that comes from God. “Such a joy henceforth characterizes all the Christian virtues.”
A complext thought there, but one that resonates with me. It is when we lose hope, when we lose the expectation of God’s presence, that trust (faith) is deteriorated, when we stop looking to God, when we stop expecting Him to take our burdens, when we stop finding ourselves as His posession, and that we poessess their presence.
Exclude hope, and the need for it and Life changes – the desire for peace becomes a search for nirvana, a search for nothingness. Yet our hope – our expectation, our desire to be in the presence of God is what sustains us. It is what gives us life in Him, it is what builds our faith. Serenity, deep peace we can avail ourselves at in any time, any situation, Deep peace that comes – not from absence but presence. A peace that is ours, because we are in Christ.
It is when we cry “Lord have mercy…” and wait…knowing the answered will be revealed, even as it has been revealed in Christ.
(1) Adams, Douglas (2010-09-29). The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (p. 709). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
(2) Pope Francis; Jorge M Bergoglio (2013-11-18). Open Mind, Faithful Heart (p. 16). The Crossroad Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
The World is my Monastery, the World is my Cross…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
It was to this that God called you, for Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge. Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:21-24 (TEV)
785 If we join our own little things, those insignificant or big difficulties of ours, to the great sufferings of Our Lord, the Victim (He is the only Victim!), their value will increase. They will become a treasure, and then we will take up the Cross of Christ gladly and with style. And then every suffering will soon be overcome: nobody, nothing at all, will be able to take away our peace and our joy. (1)
Yesterday I wrote of the challenge of making the world my monastery, a place where even amidst the chaos, the anxiety, the pains and sufferings, I found the refuge, the rest, the sanctuary I need. That the things I would do in solitude, writing music, reading and writing, could be replaced with people-craft, watching God work in the lives of those around me, even as perhaps He would accomplish some of that work through a poor tool like me.
It is funny – among those who liked the blog were a man that appears – by dress to be a Budhist monk, and another whose penname leads me to believe that though they like the idea, they don’t understand how I see this happening. Specifically, the world can only be my monastery when it intuitively is lived in Christ Jesus. When I am following His steps, not from a distance but in jounreying with Him, Being carried in Him, depending on Him, Jesus Christ who was crificied for our sins.
Not just some ethereal form of community with all things, Not just in being one with nature, nor some primeval thought. But being with Jesus, the One in and through whom all things were created, and who redeems us by bearing our guilt, our iniquity. A person, a presence, a life, lived in and with us. Given to us, not just so we could be better people – but that we too would be considered God’s most incredible work – as God redeems us, re-creates us, shows us that we walk with Him.
It happens to su when we take up our cross – when we realize that God is in charge, and we trust in His promises that all will work for good for those who love Him. When we see our entire lives wrapped up in Him and we are joined to His cross, to His work.
It is hard to explain, because it is intuitive. But to know His presence, to know Him. Deeper than we know anything else. For to know Him is to know love and mercy and joy, and peace. Know not as in data, but as in living with Him.
Then our cross, is our monastery, is our life…now and is in Him.
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2808-2811). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Death, Grief, Season of Darkness and the Lord’s presence.
Devotional Thought of the Day:
I should honour Christ with the utmost boldness by the way I live, whether that means I am to face death or to go on living. For living to me means simply “Christ”, and if I die I should merely gain more of him. I realise, of course, that the work which I have started may make it necessary for me to go on living in this world, I should find it very hard to make a choice. I am torn in two directions – on the one hand I long to leave this world and live with Christ, and that is obviously the best thing for me. Yet, on the other hand, it is probably more necessary for you that I should stay here on earth. That is why I feel pretty well convinced that I shall not leave this world yet, but shall be able to stand by you, to help you forward in Christian living and to find increasing joy in your faith. So you can look forward to making much of me as your minister in Christ when I come to see you again! Philippians 1:18 (Phillips NT)
879 Death comes and cannot be avoided. What empty vanity it is, then, to centre our existence on this life. See how much many men and women suffer. Some suffer because life is coming to an end and it pains them to leave it; others because it is going on, and they are sick of it… In neither case is there room for the mistaken view that makes our passage through this world an end in itself. One must leave that way of thinking behind and anchor oneself to another, an eternal one. A total change is required, to empty oneself of self-centred motives, which pass away, and to be renewed in Christ, who is eternal. (1)
When I realized what I needed to write this morning, I wanted to not write it. I sat at my desk trying to find a reason not to write it…
But write it… I must?
This season is so incredibly hard, as I look around me and see the damage that death can do. The family agathered around a bedside, waiting for what they know is coming. A friend dealing with the family struggles that have appeared as they grieve the loss of a family member. Trying to think of ways to bring the Holy Spirit to them, and to all who are grieving, even while grieving myself. Other friends whose grief is not found in loss, but found in their present existence. The darkness so well described by the words of St. Josemaria Escriva, the people who are struggling with life coming to an end, and those who struggle with living life, and want Jesus to return, because life is too full of pain. I know that feeling – even somewhat joke about it, “Lord can you come back NOW!?”
Perhaps it is not always as much of a joke, as a cry of pain, or tiredness, of trying to see where God is working, and not even realizing that He is working at our side, in us, through us. Yes, I want Christ to return, but do I want Him here just so the suffering ends. I want His return so we can enjoy His presence… well – at least that is what I want… to want.
Apparently Paul knew these words as well – the passage quoted above echoes those feelings well. They speak comforting words, words that mean we can reveal the challenge of life these days, in the manner He did, and come to the realization that Paul did. To realize that this life isn’t just about “us”, our wants, our “comfort,” That peace comes from living in Christ, not avoiding the challenge, not avoiding the pain, but allowing Him to strengthen us and lift our weary heats. I like St. Josemaria’s words here as well, “A total change is required, to empty oneself of self-centred motives, which pass away, and to be renewed in Christ, who is eternal.” To realize that this change has already begun, as the Holy Spirit calls our lives to be united with Christ’s death on the cross, that we can be share in His life, that we share in His ministry. That when we go to someone’s aid, and do not have the words, His presence with us, will be there for them. That our prayers and study will prove fruitful in those moments. That we can bring joy and peace to those who need. Often it is at our weakest, that we see God’s presence the clearest, or that others see His presence with us. To know that our burdens are exchanged at the altar forHis Body and Blood, an echange of “burdens”, on that drags us for one that brings us aware of His peace, the peace in which we do live!.
It is in those moments, when Christ’s presence is so… evident, as His work in our lives we can perceive, that we find the strength in Him to keep going. to keep serving, to keep being present… even as He lifts us up.
which will fire our desire for His return, not because of what we are enduring – but simply because He is… our God.
“Lord have mercy” we cry… listen and hear His answer… “I am with you!”
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3592-3597). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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