Blog Archives
Changing a Facade Doesn’t Change Anything… but….
Devotional Thought of the Day:
9 Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else. 10 “Once there were two men who went up to the Temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there. 12 I fast two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.’ 13 But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, ‘God, have pity on me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you,” said Jesus, “the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great.” Luke 18:9-14 (TEV)
440 Your character is so uneven! Your keyboard is out of order. You play very well on the high notes and on the low notes… but no sound comes from the ones in the middle, the ones used in ordinary life, the ones people normally hear. (1)
As I was driving to breakfast this morning, I notice the shopping center’s construction was well underway. They weren’t building new stores, or making major renovations to the facility. Just updating the frontal facades of all the stores. Trying to make it look less like the 1980’s-1990’s and more modern. The stores themselves won’t change, still a supermarket, a good mexican restaurant, a couple of banks, yogurt shop, coffee shop, etc. The substance will stay the same, only the packaging is changing, and probably at a significant cost to someone. Eventually it will cost the tax-payers and customers of those businesses.
At breakfast, I read an article about the restaurants that get a “make-over” by Gordon Ramsey, the chef and entrepreneur. Over 60 percent of them still fail, even as he invests money in them, making over the restaurant, the menu, the staffs. Even so, there are things he cannot address in one week, the heart and soul of the owners and employees. The substance still stays the same.
Then I read St Josemaria this morning, and the passage from Luke popped into my mind…..
You see, we all put up facades, even those of us who trust in Jesus, and the work He did when He saved us. We put them up, trying to make people think (or even worse – make ourselves think) that everything will be all right, that everything is fine, that all is well in our world. That business as usual is good and prosperous and everything will be all right.
The problem is that facades don’t change the substance, and they don’t really change the image we have of what lies behind it. What was there is still there. If it is poor business practices, it still will be. If it is lousy customer service, well then, that will still be the case. If it is sin, it is sin. Or if it is the missing strings that betray a weak faith in the basic areas of life, then those two will be missing. The pharisee will still be the pharisee, the hypocrite will still be the hypocrite.
Don’t bother changing the facade….it won’t change you! To cause true change, the building has to be leveled, Death must come, and re-birth has to happen. Faith is trusting God to kill us off, and to raise us to life in Christ. Faith is trusting that this is what the cross is all about, that are being unified to that cross in baptism is what this is all about. To know the new creation we have become, is because God has done this. To walk away, knowing that because of His love, God has declared us innocent, clean, His.
He removes not just the facade, He changes more the menu, He takes those who are pharisees and tax-collectors, cuts our their heart of stone… and replaces it with one of flesh. He puts in us His Holy Spirit, who transforms us…..He declares us justified, and holy, cleansed and set apart to walk with Him….
Lord, have mercy on us, poor sinners… and thank you for making us saints! AMEN!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1957-1959). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
What Life is About…..
Devotional Thought of the Day:
8 Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’” Luke 4:8 (NLT)
424 Your relatives, colleagues and friends are beginning to notice the change, and realise that it is not a temporary phase, but that you are no longer the same. Don’t worry, carry on! Vivit vero in me Christus—it is now Christ that lives in me —that’s what is happening.(1)
The picture accompanying is this blog is on of the high points of a trip I took a few years ago. My wife and I were wandering around Rome, on a trip that was an incredible gift. As we were, we came across this building, with lots of excavation around it. It was rough, worn, old, and we wondered what it was….
As we rounded the front, we realized it was the Pantheon, a place built and rebuilt for the Roman Cultic worship…. a place were ritual sacrifice was done, a place of martyrdom as well. The Roman Pantheon, perhaps the best kept of all of the ancient buildings of Rome…Re-built early in the 2nd century, it is amazing.
But for nearly 1500 years… it has been something more significant – it has been a church. A place where God is glorified, a place where His peopel have been gathered, and blessed. A place that has over time been redeemed, been blessed, and amazed people for its grandeur, for its arts and craftsmanship, for the history and skill it contains, skill that speaks of something greater… the work of God. The meeting of God and His people to celebrate a love that is beyond measure….for His people to return that love, as they lay their lives down as living sacrifices to Him, giving of themselves to love Him, including loving Him by loving those He’s brought into our lives. That place where other gods demanded their sacrifices, for a longer period of time celebrated that God sacriced Jesus… for us.
This love of His changes us, completes us as we walk with Him. St Josemaria is correct – there is a change in us, even as there was in the use of the Pantheon, We cannot know God’s love and be the same. The Westminster Catechism as it right as well – our purpose in life changes drastically, as we realize who God is, and how He relates to us.
Worship becomes more powerful, as we realize it isn’t a duty, something we must do, but as it becomes a reaction to God sharing everything with us, including His glory. How can we read St. Paul’s words to the church in Colossae and not rejoice?
27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. Colossians 1:27-29 (NLT)
This is what life is about, this is the abundant life…
Lord have mercy, and help us to share Who makes us who we are…
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1898-1902). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) Westminster Larger and Smaller Catechisms; Electronic Edition, Wordsearch
Another Thought About What Jesus Would/Did Do…. as Did His Followers
Devotional Thought of the Day!
40 They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free. 41 As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus. 42 And every day in the Temple and in people’s homes they continued to teach and preach the Good News about Jesus the Messiah. Acts 5:40-42 (TEV)
7 “He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a word. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheared, he never said a word. 8 He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about his fate. He was put to death for the sins of our people. Isaiah 53:7-8 (TEV)
2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God’s throne. Hebrews 12:2 (TEV)
11 “Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted. Matthew 5:11-12 (TEV)
123 Do you see? With Him you have been able. Why are you surprised? Be convinced: there is nothing to be surprised about. If you trust in God—really trust!—things work out easily. And, what is more, you always go further than you imagined you could.
Right before Easter, a bunch of FB Memes appeared, asking the “What Would Jesus Do” question, and reminding people of Jesus’ clearing the Temple. As if to justify Christianity on the offensive, a militant form of beat them into submission, a warrior version of Protestantism that confronts and boldly takes on the world and those who oppose the faith. Maybe we don’t want to go to physical war with them, but we want to win the battles of words, the debates.
Sunday, as the first reading ended in church with the quote above from Acts 5, I thought about the fact that the apostles were doing what Jesus did. They didn’t fight back, they didn’t revile their persecutors, they rejoiced!
Even as Jesus embraced the cross for the joy that was waiting, the apostles rejoiced that because they bore the name of Christ, they were whipped and beaten and brought before authorities – because there, they could share about the love of God, proven at the cross. They knew, because they heard the words on the sermon on the mount, the blessing that such persecution was, not because they loved pain, but because of the gospel.
It is not as if our suffering merits someone else’s salvation, or even ours. But if we are truly persecuted for our faith, it shows our connection to the one whom we bear witness to.
How many of us are willing to endure persecution, or allow others to do that in this day and age?
How many of us are willing to serve others by sharing about Christ, if that means persecution, pain, suffering, even death? And yet, even as we go through it, rejoice?
Will we embrace suffering and persecution, knowing that it too testifies of our trust in God? Or will we fight, complain, slander and disrespect?
Will we do what Jesus’ did? Will we do what the disciples did, with the attitude they had – one of joy?
In order to do so, our trust has to be in God, we have to know He reigns, that we are His people, and that everything – even that which is meant for evil (like the cross) will work for good. That is asking us to trust Him in a way most of us are uncomfortable in trying. We would rather fight, we would rather plan strategic countermeasures, But simple rest in Him, trust Him while others role over us? Heck even our own people may think us wimps and join in the persecution, mocking us.
That takes a level of trust only possible if we abide in the presence of God, or more precisely, if the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Because of our baptism, we know that promise is true… He dwells in us, He is transforming us,
Transforming us into the image of Christ, St Paul teachings in 2 Corinthians 3, into the image of the Lord who loved enough to endure punishment, to bring those who persecuted Him into the family of God.
May we learn to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us, and realize that even under persecution we bear witness to the Love of God.
Lord have mercy on us!
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 706-709). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Not Separating That Which Goes Together: God & Religion, Faith & Works, Justification & Sanctification
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. 18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” 19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. 20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? James 2:17-20 (NLT)
27 What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world. James 1:27 (TEV)
11 I am copying this example of cowardice from a letter so that you will not imitate it: “I am certainly very grateful to you for keeping me in mind, because I need many prayers. But I would also be grateful if, when you ask Our Lord to make me an ‘apostle’, you would not insist on asking him to make me surrender my freedom.” (1)
This morning as I was looking on Facebook while waiting for the shower, I saw another “meme” that thought you could separate God and religion. It had the usual accolades, the usual slams. Comments about religion not being loving, that religion causes wars, that it is hypocritical, and so on. Not one of those comments defined “religion”, not one of them quoted scripture. But they universally condemned religion.
I guess they find caring for widows and orphans, and not bringing yourself down by involving yourself in sin, something that is very negative. Though I expect that it is more the latter issue, than the former. That and the people who are a bit insistent that others follow God’s commands, without teaching first of His grace.
Religion is putting into practice the love of God in our lives. It is understanding His love is what gives us the Two Great Commandments, the Decalogue (aka the Ten Commandments), the Beatitudes. the directions given in the Epistles. Living those out, isn’t possible without the presence of God, with His love and mercy, with understanding that He desires what is best for us.
Dividing God from what He considers to be pure and genuine religion, is the same as dividing faith and works. Even though it is trusting in God (faith) that saves us, James (and Hebrews, and Paul and Jesus ) is clear. A person who trusts in God will live a different life from those who do not. A religious life. As will those whose first thoughts are to praise Him for His work in their lives, a work that becomes theirs. Yet there are people out there who says we don’t have to follow God’s plans for our lives. That they are outdated, that they are too restrictive, that they don’t make sense.
And they call for a relationship with Him, where what we do should be right in our eyes, not His. It’s still a religion folks, it is just that the deity we are in a relationship with, has been replaced. It is now us that rule, and God who does our bidding.
There is one last “break-up” that goes with the first two. I use theological terms for it, Justification and Sanctification. But I could easily use other theological terms, conversion/forgiveness and abiding in Christ/transformation/repentance. In each case we divorce salvation, God delivering us from our brokenness (sin) and healing/restoring us to what should come naturally. We make excuses, we blame others, we basically determine that we can’t live any better, that we can’t struggle with sin, and so we don’t.
And we toss God’s way of life out the window.
During lent, we take a breath, and see the need for God to put back together the lives we shattered, our own, and those we’ve had a hand in breaking. Not that we shouldn’t do this year round, but taking 7 weeks here, helps a lot. We see that religion – God’s plan, does have a purpose in our lives, it is a way of life we can abide in with Him. That we can know and show mercy, love, forgiveness, that we can redeem that which was tossed aside, that we are called and chosen to do this very thing.
That we can get off our own pedestal, that we can stop playing God, and that we can know His peace.
AMEN
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 282-285). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Change: A Lenten Journey
Devtional THought of the Day:
2 Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect. Romans 12:2 (TEV)
2 May your behavior and your conversation be such that everyone who sees or hears you can say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ.
This morning, I found out a good friend of mine is going to be experiencing a massive change this summer, as he returns to the U.S.A from the mission field. His children were born on the field, all they know is living in Asia. It will be a massive challenge to readjust to life here.. Another friend, a Catholic priest, will be also changing parishes, leaving behind people he loves, and taking on some challening responsibilities. Many I know are going through changes of life, as they get older, as they are married, as they leave school and enter the workforce. The change that happens as health crisis threaten.
Change – it is challenging, it is frieghtening, it is ocverwhelming, and based on a lot of experience, it often simply, sucks.
Maybe that is why Lent is such a challenge for us. Because of the changes that we will undergo as we consider our lives. I am not talking about giving up chocolate, or not eating meat on Friday, or of committing to do a good thing every day. These actions, taken with great sincerity, are simply symbolic of what we hope and fear to see coming out of a Lenten season, our of a life that is, to use a fancy church word penitnent. (More than just being sorry, but grieving over sin and the brokenness it causes.
Lent is a season of change. A season of transformation, a season of realizing our desperate, yes desperate need for the presence of God in our lives. For Him to come into our life, into our brokenness, into the deepest parts of our lives. The parts we would rather not face, the pasts we are scared to revisit, He comes there, and takes on the sin, the pain, the brokennes. He consumes it, there on the cross where it is with Him. This is a change as fierce, as daunting, as radical as anything we can undergo in life. For it is death for that part of us, the part we cannot cope with, the burdens we need to be freed from, for they crush the life out of us.
It could be said that this process of facing our brokennes is hard, is extreme, is a process of change that goes beyond our ability to bear. For we have to die to self, and trust that we will coem alive in Christ. It is a re-living of our baptism, for it happened there as well. Unting with the death of Christ………the strkness, the cruelty of the cross.
Yet, on the otherside, there is light and peace… and joy.
For there is God, there is Christ, there is the gift fo the Holy Spirit who walks us through this valley of the shadow of death, to celebrate Christ’s feast.
That is our journey of lent, our journey that changes us, as we walk with Jesus to the cross, and to the resurrection.
May you embrace the change this year, knowing God’s mercy, and allowing Him to clean out the places in your life where you fear to go.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 174-175). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Only Requirement to Come to our Church. Do you, or have you ever taken a breath…
28 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)
“I was once asked by a young man with a myriad of tattoos if he could watch a pre-school graduation service (in our sanctuary) from the front doors of my church. SHocked I asked him why he wouldn’t just come in and grab a seat up front. (he was early) I was shocked to hear him say he didn’t think he would be allowed in with all the tattoos and his past.
So let me be clear – if you have a past – you are more than welcome here.
If you have a present… you are welcome here…
If you don’t know about your future… you are welcome here.
This congregation has seen God at work in all types of people, through all types of trauma, as we are gathered together by God.
So come on this morning to Concordia Lutheran Church in Cerritos, come in, grab a seat… and know that God is with you….” (facebook post 9/1/2013)
43 likes to the above simple invitation to church that I posted on FB ….I am a feeling little overwhelmed.
I know quite a few pastors, priests and ministers here in socal, and around the US and the world. There are more like me in this than not…one of the challenges for pastors and priests is waiting to see Christ’s heart develop in our people. We want our people to see every other human being as those who Christ. We want to see the prostitute, the tax collector, the politician, the gossip, the music star who acts like a harlot, and yeah… the worse sinners of all.. us,… all gathered around the altar, all rejoicing in what Christ has done in our lives, and in bringing us together…
The challenge is to see all people in need of Christ’s grace, in need of His love, in need of healing of that which is broken inside us. That is as true for the first time visitor with a dark past, as it is for the elder whose been in leadership for longer than we can remember. I think, sometimes it takes longer for people to change who have been around a while… or perhaps the change isn’t as noticeable. Or perhaps because we expect others to be more mature in Christ…we are less tolerant? Not sure…. just sure all need Jesus, just sure we all need to know how patient Jesus is with each of us. And if we are ministering on His behalf… how patient we need to be with each other.
The thing is, it is not what a pastor/priests/deacon/minister says that causes the transformation in any of us. It’s not something we can plan or put on a schedule. It is the Holy Spirit, working through word and sacrament. It is the grace that is poured out, the faith and trust we are given that grows as we learn of His promises, the love that has to be empowered within us… and can only be empowered, when at our weakest, we find Him, loving us, feeding us, repairing what we have managed to break within us, or what the world has crushed…. and again, we all need that.
If you breath*, you are welcome at the church I pastor. We welcome everyone here… including pastors…
Like I said – it doesn’t matter where you have been, or where you are, even now. Simply put… all of us are damaged by life, by our decisions, by the crap we have to deal with…. and here is a place where we see God dealing with it, lifting our burdens and placing them on Christ…. that we can live… that we can “learned the unforced rhythms of grace”…that we can walk with God… not just here..but throughout our lives.
Godspeed!
* Note: If you recently stopped breathing – your still welcome here one more time. We’ll tell people about God’s love and faithfulness to you, feed them, comfort them, help them know God’s peace…….let them know Jesus is there for them as well.
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Understanding Christ in the Old Testament
Old testament window (Photo credit: Henry McLin)
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day
16 “Therefore, tell the exiles, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I have scattered you in the countries of the world, I will be a sanctuary to you during your time in exile. 17 I, the Sovereign LORD, will gather you back from the nations where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel once again.’ 18 “When the people return to their homeland, they will remove every trace of their vile images and detestable idols. 19 And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, 20 so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:16-20 (NLT)
WHILE our Saviour’s Redemption is applied to us in as many different ways as there are souls to be saved, still love is the one universal channel of redemption, without which it can never be applied. And so the gates of this earthly paradise were kept by the cherubim with the flaming sword, that we might learn how there is no entrance into the Heavenly Paradise save to him who is transfixed by the sword of Love. Therefore it is that the Dear Lord Who bought us with His Blood so greatly desires that we love Him in order to our eternal salvation; and that we attain that eternal salvation so as to love Him eternally; His Love effecting our salvation, that salvation His Love. “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled.”1[i]
I recently took a class that was supposed to discuss teaching pastors how to preach Christ from the Old Testament. I struggled with the class, and eventually dropped out of it because of the underlying perception that Christ could be seen in the Old Testament without the lens of God’s love. The authors of the text book had all academic methods to find analogy and typology and all sorts of literary devices to inject an understanding of Christ.
Personally, I didn’t think it was that hard, I didn’t think finding Christ in the Old Testament was an academic excercise, as much as it is one of trust, one of seeing the very promises of God and trusting them, for they will always lead us to Christ, for He is our way, our truth and our life. So that which points us to the Father, points us through Christ. You look for the relationship – as in the great passage from Ezekiel above – the removing of idols, the new heart, the new Spirit, You look for this relationship this love that would exist between God and His children, a relationship described in essence by the word love.
It is as de Sales says – though one person may be brought to Christ through the work of a child, and another through the work of a priest, and another by passing by a church, hearing the words of a man being read – and that man came to know God’s mercy because of a brush with death – each comes to find God revealed to them, as God’s love shines brightly upon them. But the one common way is that the love is revealed, the work of that love as Christ was nailed to the cross, bleeding and broken, to heal that in us which is bleeding and broken because of sin.
But what we often don’t realize, or perhaps meditate upon enough is that this is the greatest desire of God, to see His love revealed to us and thereby transform us. I’ve mentioned it before – this incredible desire of Jesus the Christ to embrace the cross – that His love would be revealed to us, and that His love would indeed save and transform us. It is mind-boggling to look upon, it is mind boggling to realize, it leaves us quiet and in awe….
And this desire of God is all over the Old Testament. It is on every page – for even as Luther was reported to note, Christ is found on every page of the Old Testament. More importantly is what He does to us as we encounter Him. Encountering Him in the scriptures, encountering Him in our church family gatherings as we worship Him in His presence, and as we meet Him in prayer, encountering Him in the sacraments of Baptism and Absolution and of course in the community celebration of the Lord’s Supper, All of this – seen in the Old Testament relationship of God’s people, all of this seen more clearly as Christ walked among us, all of this more seen as we gather as God’s people,
In the Old Testament, the people of God are His people because of Christ. In the time since.. the same is true. Where God’s love is, where the people of God are, there is Christ…even as He has promised.
Let us today find our rest as He and His love are revealed to us! AMEN
1 Luke 12:49.
[i] Francis de Sales. (1888). Of the Love of God. (H. L. S. Lear, Tran.) (pp. 55–56). London: Rivingtons.
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Welcome Holy Spirit?
Icon of the Pentecost (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
5 “I am telling you the truth,” replied Jesus, “that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. 7 Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. 8 The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:5-8 (TEV)
24 I will take you from every nation and country and bring you back to your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you. 26 I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. 27 I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you. Ezekiel 36:24-27 (TEV)
“Get to know the Holy Spirit, the Great Unknown, the one who has to sanctify you. Don’t forget that you are a temple of God. The Paraclete is in the center of your soul: listen to him, and follow his inspirations with docility.” (1)
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the beginning of Pentecost. The beginning of the church, it’s birth in water and Spirit, that simply confounded Nicodemus, that incredible pouring out of God that started then, and continues during every worship service, with every baptism, with every remembrance of the work of the Spirit.
While many churches pull out all the stops for Pentecost Sunday, do we realize that Pentecost isn’t a day. It is not even a season of the church year, but the era in which we, and so many have gone before us in, and who knows how many will follow in, in our stumbling steps. It is Pentecost that we are in, as we take every breath, as we struggle with every sin, as we pray in desperation those prayers our hearts wonder will be heard, and be responded to by God with action.
If we really contemplate this, do we welcome it, or do we shy from it.
CS Lewis once described Jesus, using the picture of Aslan the lion, and stated that Aslan isn’t a tame lion, that Jesus isn’t a tame God. I think that is the nature of the Holy Spirit as well, the wind isn’t tamed, it can’t be. He is in control, and if we have any sense, that should begin to scare us, for we know the Spirit’s goal, it’s mission – to cleanse us as Ezekiel prophesied and rid us of our sin-hardened hearts.
But do we want that, more than one day a year? Are we willing to hear God, do we want to know His presence continually? Are we willing to listen to His voice, to those He calls around us? Are we willing to let Him cleanse us? Are we ready for that? Are we ready for the Holy Spirit to ready our Heart, our spirit, our mind, and our strength to be separated from all that would hold us back from walking with God?
Or would we rather look at theology, or politics, or morality, or anything other that what God will do in our lives? Will we welcome His fire purifying us? Will we welcome Him removing the dross from our lives?
A hard question…
May we be willing to trust in His mercy, even as He does it!
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 299-301). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Pantheon, An Example of Redemption and Transformation and Vocation
Devotional and Discussion Thought of the day:
A post on Facebook this morning brought memories of our trip (dare I say our pilgrimage) to Rome last year.
We were walking down a street – just trying to get a feeling for the city. An amazing city, and dare I say it had a sense of both home and holiness. It is hard to explain – but it was there, not just in the churches, but among the very streets. We came across this building from the back, obviously a place that was old and needing more restoration. As we rounded the front – it was the Pantheon – the incredible temple built for sacrifices to be offered to the pantheon of Roman Gods – its oculus – the hole in the center of the dome – even on an overcast day lit this ancient magnificent structure incredibly. The huge iron doors, amazing.
Yet what astounded me the most, this incredible building, built to worship false gods, built as a place to appease them, was transformed, sanctified, set apart centuries later to be a place of like transformation, a place to celebrate the Light pouring into lives.
What I never read of, what I never realized – is that this building is now a church – an active place where people are baptized, and transformed by the Love of God. A place where the Body and Blood of Christ is the only sacrifice that matters, the only one that could be used to redeem and revive and restore.
A place that was redeemed, that was set apart (sanctified) to be a place where redemption and sanctification of man occurs, because of the love of the One, True God, who does that which we cannot. He buys us back, He redeems us, He cleanses us, He sets us apart….for Him.
As I walked into the Pantheon, as I saw the altars, the paintings, the incredible dome, the oculus, a sense of awe overtook me – much different than the awe at the forum, or at Triumphant Arches, or looking at the wall, or even as we walked through the ruins of Pompeii. It wasn’t just a historical reminder of our past, of the culture we’ve lost.
It’s a place where faith is strengthened, where life in Christ begins, where redemption is seen and known.
A place where God has come.
A place where I have hope – for if God can transform such a place – I realize that I too can be transformed – and that I too can be a place where God dwells, where He abides, where with other believers, we form a temple not made with hands… and our sacrifice is not to die, but to live. Where as this building gains the identity of being a place of God, such is my vocation and life. Yours as well.
Such is the wonder of walking with Christ.
He makes all things – whether ancient temples dedicated to man’s glory, or men themselves…new.
May our lives praise Him, and may people glorify Him more as they see His work in and through us. AMEN
How Important is our Salvation?
English: Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
How Important is our Salvation?
Psalm 30
† Jesus, Son and Savior †
May we realize how precious this love and mercy is, which we have been given by God our Father, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
What Changes Men
In the gospel reading this morning, and in the one from Acts, we have too long narratives, the stories of the conversion of Paul, and the renewal of Peter.
Amazing stories – as men who struggled with God, find themselves, and the healing of a relationship that no one would have ever thought possible, heck most of us wouldn’t even think they had a chance of making up for what they did.
The man who murdered and imprisoned believers… and the man who, when given a chance to confess his friendship, his relationship with Christ, betrayed him…not just once – but three times.
And they were changed, their lives, as Paul would write to Titus, were re-vitalized – quickened – born again – and renewed. Everything changed in a flash of light, in a moment, as the darkness they dwelled in, was dispelled by the love of Christ, by His mercy, by His presence and comfort in their lives.
Such a great salvation, such a great deliverance and rescue of their hearts and minds. How sad would it have been, if they had just dismissed it, and went about their daily business, as if nothing had happened.
Such is the experience of David as well, the one who wrote our other reading, Psalm 30. A Psalm whose words describe this incredible work of God, as God saves David, as God brings healing to David’s wounds, as God restores him…
As God has promised to do in our lives, as indeed He is doing.
Sing Praise – Remember what the Holy One Has done, and give thanks!
David starts the Psalm out in such an upbeat manner – he’s seen God’s had at work, freeing him from what oppressed him, freeing him what is against him. No one can point out David’s shame, no one can gloat over the situation he has found himself in, God has rescued him from the situation. He hasn’t just been revitalized – he has been completely renewed – as He himself testifies to in verse 2 –
“I cried to you for help, O Lord my God, and YOU healed me!”
He was healed, He was delivered, saved, everything changed – life changed, it began anew – David was given a new life! In verse three, we see that, for David thought his life was heading for the death and hell. God restored David’s life, – we call it being “born again’ these days, and it was brand new. A life unmarked by the strife, by the sin, but dwelling secured and safe.
Of the ways David describes God’s delivering him, my favorite is found in verse 4, as we worship Him – remembering what He did, and giving Him thanks. For those words are the ones we find – even as we will hear in a few moments – as we hear Christ’s words about the true nature of the bread and wine, the Body and Blood. Echo His praises, give thanks, and when you do this.. remember me. Know me, Know intimately my presence, my love, my promises, my presence – know me.
David understood the way that God works, even as he points to the day of the feast – of the celebration of God’s goodness!
So with Jesus, let us give thanks – and we comprehend, as we remember He is here….
not quite yet… for David reveals something next…that is shocking… for its clarity.
But what about the terrifying days…when we don’t see God?
King David a number of his times experiences the trauma that he describes in verse five to seven. They aren’t part of his life before God revealed his love to him, but were very much a part of his life as a believer, as one who trusted in God – who walked with the Lord and was given the ability to address God by His name, Yahweh, the IAM.
Hear again verse 5-7
5 His anger lasts only a moment, his goodness for a lifetime. Tears may flow in the night, but joy comes in the morning. 6 I felt secure and said to myself, “I will never be defeated.” 7 You were good to me, LORD; you protected me like a mountain fortress. But then you hid yourself from me, and I was afraid.
There is a famous, probably in the history of the United States, entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards. Having known God’s love, having known how He delivers those He loves, those who trust in Him, it is not being in God’s presence that scares the life out of me, it is when I think God has abandoned me, when He has looked away. That is when the tears – can last through the night, when sleep fails, when as David says – “I was terrified”.
O, how my anxiety soars, when I’ve lost sight of the fact that God has me, not just in His sight, but in His son, We can, we indeed do walk with God through just about anything. I can look around this sanctuary and see incredible saints, who have walked with God through incredible challenges. Yet it is the times, where we aren’t sure God is with us, that drive us to despair, that rob us of the life God’s given us. Or at least Satan would like us to think that God has abandoned us, that God has forsaken us…
That’s when we play games like David mentions. Our version goes like this. “Hey God – remember me? I’m the one you saved so I could worship you – do you want all your hard work to go to waste? Who’s going to go out and save the world? Who’s going to teach my grandkids about you, Lord? or make sure this place stays open to proclaim your faithfulness.”
It is in the darkness of night, the sleepless night that we ask those kinds of questions. Forgetting that God can raise up the rocks to praise Him. It is when we get what it must have been like for Peter… why he had to run to the tomb, and why it took a few weeks to sink in, Until Jesus took him on a walk along a beach and reminded him… I am with you… and reminded Peter that Peter knew this – because Peter loved him!
Hear me – o wait… you did!
That is why there is such a quick transition from the whining of David, into the rejoicing. He remembers…well what He was supposed to remember – that God has changed everything.
From the mourning that exists in the depth of your soul, the grief that causes those tears to last all night, into the joyous dance that comes as dawn breaks – that joy that comes as we hear God’s joyous cry of jubilation! That’s the reason we dance – that is why we are changed from clothes of mourning, into that fit for a celebration, a time of great praise –
Because God commanded – everything is restored, everything is renewed, life is given!
I love how a pastor 15 centuries ago described this psalm,
John tells us most fully how and when this appearance took place. But the Lord rose in the morning from the sepulchre in which He had been laid in the evening, that those words of the Psalm might be fulfilled, Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Ps. 30:5)[i]
It is that moment – the moment of the stone being rolled away, the empty tomb, the cry He is Risen, that we need to comprehend – for it was then our salvation was made sure – it was not just a guarantee – it was real.
That tomb – it is …
That means Praise God – He is risen!
and that means – The Lord is …
and if the Son has set you free – you are free
So rejoice – praise Him, glorify Him, never be quiet – always know, even when you don’t feel it, that you dwell in His undescribable peace…
For He keeps you there… your heart, your mind… AMEN!
[i] Thomas Aquinas, S., & Newman, J. H. (1842). Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers, Volume 2: St. Mark (340). Oxford: John Henry Parker.
Related articles
- The Tomb is Empty? Yeah! He is Risen and The Lord is With us! (justifiedandsinner.com)
- When Darkness Hides God’s Face…and all hope (justifiedandsinner.com)
