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Lord, You Really Want Me to do this? Don’t you have a better option?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
17 When the seventy-two n came back, they were very happy and said, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we used your name!”
18 Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Listen, I have given you power to walk on snakes and scorpions, power that is greater than the enemy has. So nothing will hurt you. 20 But you should not be happy because the spirits obey you but because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20 NCV
10 We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life. Ephesians 2:10 (NJB)
I think that the hands of a priest, rather than expressing routine gestures, must tremble with excitement when administering baptism or giving the absolution of sins or blessing the sick because they become instruments of the creative power of God.
For priests, pastors and all those who minister to others, there is a fine balance between humility and confidence. And if we are honest, it is when we are struggling with the latter that we don’t act all that humble. I imagine there may be one or two of us that think they are God’s gift to the church. (In a way they are0 But many of us still wonder why God has put us here, why God has entrusted to us this incredible, sacred, beautiful, demanding ministry.
I love Pope Francis’s words about our ministry. He nails it when talking about the awe that hits you when you pray over someone, or see their body loose every bit of tension and anxiety as they realize God’s forgiveness, as they realize He is present. I still can recall the eyes of people after I have baptized them, or their children. (Two incredible “devout” atheist/agnostic types come to mind as I baptized their children – eyes bright and full of tears… and God isn’t done with them either!) But his also occurs when we pray with someone over breakfast, or see people having an “aha” at work, as they realize another dimension of God’s love because we said something.
It is in those moments that our lives do feel like a work of art, as God weaves our lives with others, and creates something wonderful. If it iis awe-inspiring to consider sinners in the hands of an angry God, how much more incredible is it to see God work through the hands of a repentant sinner who trusts in Him?
Still, my heart cries out… why? Why me? What did I do to deserve this?
Nothing of course.
Which is where the first gospel reading helps us maintain some manner of balance. As wonderful it is that God can use us, the even more wonderful thing is that we already are certain He’s got us, we are HIs, our names are written in the Heaven,
That is even more amazing. As broken, as sinful, as able as I am to screw up something, God has claimed us as His.
SO tomorrow, as you go to preach, or lead worship, to distribute communion or work with the children’s ministry, or just tell the person next to you – God is with you, indeed, you are being used by God, you carry His presence within you, and it is blessing others. Remember though, that is simply proof of a greater mystery, a greater blessing. You are one of God’s people, He is your God, and He loves you! (me too!)
Pope Francis. A Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections from His Writings. Ed. Alberto Rossa. New York; Mahwah, NJ; Toronto, ON: Paulist Press; Novalis, 2013. Print.
Preparing for Christ’s Return by asking Why Me?
Preparing for Jesus Coming:
We Need to ask:
Why Me?
† IHS †
May Your Christmas Celebration be one where you get the answer from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, of why me?
Parker Parable – Advent = Sleeplessness nights
It is time for a pastor parker parable, one that is a more serious note.
The parable will help us understand this advent season as it grows to a close, and help us be patient for just a few more days, until we can break loose with hallelujah’s and gloria’s and the most abundant praises our voices and hearts can sing…..
So here is the parable:
Advent is like a sleepless night!
You know, the nights where you toss and turn, and your body finds trouble resting. The same nights when you mind is working fast than lightening, as you process every possible outcome, and how those will complicate life in the days to come?
Yeah – that kind of sleepless night.
We know these nights….
Advent is like that…..
It’s like a question we ask…
Why Me?
Advent is that time where we look to the sky, and ask that question. “Lord, why me?”
Over the years, I’ve asked that question a million times, it’s even caused those sleepless nights, as I’ve pondered why me…..
It’s the question of Advent, as are those dark sleepless nights.
We ask in regard to tragedy, trauma and “bad luck”
We usually ask, “why me?” in those times when it seems like life overwhelms our trust in God.
Maybe we are asking the “why me?” question because we have to deal with the consequences of sin. We can even know God’s forgiveness, and know our eternity is secure, yet we have to deal with the brokenness of things.
We ask because of the broken hearts, broken relationships, things broken by our jealously, envy, hatred, and desire. Often we don’t sleep because of our inability to deal with temptation by our own strength or reason. Sin is a horrid thing, and we think we have two options in dealing with it. Either we struggle against it, or we begin to harden our own hearts, so we don’t feel judged or condemned. Either way the guilt and shame can cause us to question our existence in the dark hours of the night.
Maybe we are asking, “why me?” because we can’t see that God is working in our lives. When we don’t doubt His existence, but we wonder if those promises are for other people.
You know, that promise we hear, that all things work together for good for those that love God?
Or that God will never leave or forsake us?
Paul talks about the fact that God’s plan was kept secret from the beginning of time, and then was revealed. Asking “why me?” is sort of like wondering if we missed that moment when God’s plan from the ages was revealed to everyone else.
Did we miss it? Because we did, did God forget to include us in it?
I’ve had those moments, the wondering, the questioning, the trying to make heads and tails of life. Where you don’t know why you have all the bad luck.
I hate those kinds of sleepless nights, those times of asking why me. Why did I grow up with a genetic issue that affects my heart and spine? Why did I get in a motorcycle accident, or drop out of school, or have a cardiac arrest, each of those times I’ve asked that question, just as all of you have asked those “why me’s”
Just like I’ve had times where I needed to face my sin and confess it, because if dealing with the consequences now is challenging, those same sins have an eternal consequence. Just as we all have….
Good thing that Advent isn’t like those kinds of sleepless nights, that it isn’t about those times of asking “why me?”
That there is another reason for sleepless nights and asking “Why me!”
We need to ask in view of blessings.
Advent is like the sleepless night, or about asking “why me?” But not in the sense of those traumatic nights I’ve mentioned. It’s the kind of sleepless night where your joy and expectation is building up.
Like that restlessness you feel before you go on vacation with dear family and friends you haven’t seen in a while, or the night before you get married.
Or like the night before Christmas when you are a child, and try to stay up, imagining what gifts you are going to get, and who you are going to tell about it, and who you are going to share it with, and how much you are going to enjoy it!
The excitement, the expectation, the joy of the next morning is keeping you up.
When we realize what Jesus coming into our world means, we should ask, “LORD, WHY ME?” in joy, even with a little disbelief as we struggle to believe that God would love us that much!
What have we done to deserve the presence of God? What have we done to deserve these promises that the prophets and apostles reveal to us? What have we done to be included in this plan…
YET WE ARE!!!
Jesus the Messiah came into this world, to live and die, for us.
He died on the cross to free us.
He rose again that we should rise with Him, and even live through this life, every moment in His presence.
When scripture talks about the gentiles being included in His plan, it’s talking about all of us who breathe, who walk, who have been baptized. Who have been made His children? Do we realize it is talking about us?
Advent is like the time, when we can’t sleep, because we are thinking about His gifts, about His presence (and his presents!)
it is the attitude of Mary, as she hears, ““Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God!”
It is the joy King David, the repentant adulterer and murdered knows as he hears Nathan say, “Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings!
“Why Me?” they surely asked… and we would do well to ask as well.
Why God, why did you choose me?
While we wait
It is as he begins knowing the depth, the height the width and breadth of this love that Paul can say something we need to hear from this passage, that God is able to sustain us, to keep us strong, not with our strength, but surrounded by His care.
It is the message that must everyone, everyone who doubts God would love them, that believe they are separated from Him need to hear.
To make us strong there, it’s not by causing us to be spiritual superheroes. It’s to support us, confirm us, to establish us and set us in place, to bring us to a state of peace. To know that our place in Christ cannot be challenged,
The “why Me” changes dramatically, from why would God allow this all to happen to me, to “why would God choose you, or me, or cause Jesus to die, for us.
To answer this “why me?” sustains us in those other “why me’s” and reminds us to rest in His strength, to find mercy in His peace, to look forward to His second coming with the anticipation of children awaiting Christmas morning, but doing so, not restless with anxiety and stress… but with joy… and hope, and peace… for we know His love!
AMEN!
