July 31 - Matthew 14

Another Look at Matthew 14.13-21

Now when Jesus heard that John the Baptizer had been killed by Herod, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 

When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 

When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ 

Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ 

They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ 

And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ 

Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 

And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 

And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

It’s the first part of this reading that I am struck by today.  Jesus withdrew to a deserted place.  He does this after John the Baptizer has been killed by Herod. 

In the gospel story for next week, Jesus will send the disciples off in a boat, and he will go off by himself to pray.

I am struck by Jesus’ need for alone time.

It can be so very easy to get caught up doing lots and lots of different tasks, that we don’t take time to just sit and be. Or time to reflect.

I need this reminder, so that I can do the work God asks of me.

In this reading Jesus responds with compassion.

I’ll leave you with that for today.

Let us pray:  Lord even you took time to be away from the crowds.  You took time to pray.  What did you do when you prayed?  Did you run?  Did you fish?  Did you cook?  Did you simply walk?  Alone?  Remind us that life does not always consist of checking tasks off our to-do lists.  But you desire to spend time with us.  As you do that, re-fill our lives so that we can respond with compassion to the needs of people around us.  In your name we pray.  Amen. 

July 30th - Matthew 14.13-21

Hunger - July 30th

Matthew 14.13-21

Now when Jesus heard (that John the Baptizer had been killed), he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 

It has been 19 weeks since the people of Immanuel last gathered in person for worship.  Our last in-person worship was held on Sunday, March 15^th.  I’ve gone back in my head to that time recently, trying to recall what it was like as this pandemic captured our awareness and began to spread. At the time I had suspected we would be back in our building for Easter, or soon thereafter. None of us could have imagined that at this juncture we would still be facing a viral spread that continues to grow, affecting so many people not only in this country but around the world. 

As I read this reading I also remembered our first attempts to buy groceries for our family. Reluctant to enter into actual stores, for a while, we ordered groceries online.  We spent far too much time online trying to figure what to purchase, only to receive an email the next day or so discovering that some of what we wanted was substituted with something else. 

I remember wondering how long this situation would last.  I remember wondering, with four adults all who have food sensitivities and allergies, how we might obtain the right food and enough food for us.  Fortunately the supply chains have since recovered, and we feel blessed not to have struggled with hunger during these weeks.

The people of Jesus’ time struggled with hunger, though. It was a constant reality for many of them. This may be why Matthew, Mark, Luke and John remember Jesus as having provided food for hungry people. One of those memories is preserved in this week’s Gospel lesson. Matthew tells us a great crowd — some 5,000 men (10,000 people in total? 15,000?) — is gathered with Jesus in the wilderness. He has traveled there for some alone time, but arriving in that place he is filled with compassion for them and begins to cure their sick.

As evening draws near, Jesus’ disciples point out that it is getting late and the people are getting hungry. They suggest Jesus might send the people away so they can buy food (which in itself would have been a miracle — that 10-15,000 people could find food in those “nearby towns”). He suggests they feed the crowd. They are skeptical, having come up with just a bit of food. With a nod towards the heavens, and a prayerful blessing, 5 loaves and 2 fish feed upwards of 10,000 people, and the table scraps amount to twelve full baskets.

Biblical scholars have long debated how this happened. Did the generosity of a few (the ones with five loaves and two fish) inspire others to share from their supplies? Did the love and blessing of Jesus multiply those seven items until they were enough for all? These questions are unanswerable, of course, but one truth is clear: Jesus is one who cares deeply about the needs of this gathered people, healing their sick, and feeding their hunger. He cares about them as he cares about all of God’s people, including us.

In our time of need, whether it has to do with hunger, sickness, loneliness, loss, grief, unemployment, underemployment, fear of the future… Jesus is with us. He is our source of strength and peace. Just as he was 2,000 years ago, he is for us today. Let us entrust our futures to him, and work with him to heal the hurts and meet the needs of this world.

And so we pray.  Lord God, guide my feet and use my hands for your work in the world.  Amen. 

July 29 - Romans 9.1-5

Wednesday, July 29th

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

My immediate reaction to reading these words is that Paul is defensive.  It’s like someone has accused him of fake news and he replies:  “I am not lying!  My conscience confirms it!”

I mentioned last week that I often have a hard time understanding Paul’s writings.  Last week’s reading was an exception.  This week we are back to deep readings from Paul.  A little Bible study for you.  Chapters 9-11 of Romans Paul is dealing with the question:  What does Jesus’ death and resurrection mean for Jewish people who do not embrace Jesus as the Christ? 

1.   Paul wrote these words about 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  By this point it was becoming clear that the Christian gospel would not receive a positive response from the majority of the Jewish people who heard it. 

2.   Paul and other Christians at that time – most of whom had converted from Judaism – were greatly troubled by that fact.  It was not a matter of them saying:  “Good riddance to those of you who don’t believe as I do.”

 3.  The driving question was:  What is God up to? 

And so with these three main questions, Paul writes three chapters of Romans to probe the question of where things stand between the Jewish people and God.  It’s heavy reading. 

These few verses we have today don’t go into much depth here in answering these questions.  What they do for us is remind us that God did not turn his back on the promises God made first with the Jewish people.  The Jewish people have possessed and continue to possess God’s favor because God gave it to them.  The Israelites are who they are because of God’s free choice. 

As Paul wrote:  “To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs.”

I don’t know how the Lutheran church in Germany – during the time of Hitler – didn’t acknowledge these words.  You cannot be anti-Semitic and read these words from Romans 9 as a word from God.  It amazes me that we did that. 

 Sometimes the Christian church today says that we are the “new Israel.”  We can’t really do that.  Paul never says that God does away with Israel.  He does say that God grafts us in – or weaves us in, and we share the root of God’s gracious faithfulness. 

And so we pray.  Lord God, you chose the Jewish people as a means to bless the world.  We are blessed by you grafting us into your family, and adopting us, allowing us to participate in work in the world, to bless others.  Help us to do so faithfully.  In your name we pray.  Amen. 

July 28 - Psalm 145

Psalm 145.8-9, 14-21

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
   and his compassion is over all that he has made.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,
   and gracious in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
   and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
   and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand,
   satisfying the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is just in all his ways,
   and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
   to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfils the desire of all who fear him;
   he also hears their cry, and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love him,
   but all the wicked he will destroy.

My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
   and all flesh will bless his holy name for ever and ever.

I have a hard time reading that first verse without wanting to sing it.  It’s part of our worship liturgy – sung just before the gospel reading during the season of Lent. 

It is also a verse that pretty summarizes the Hebrew Scriptures – or what we call the Old Testament.  The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  This is a verse that is also found in Exodus, when Moses receives the tablets of stone from God, we hear these same words (Exodus 34.6-7).

Psalm 145 as a whole has a special place in Judaism.  It is a summary of their entire faith.  And it shapes many of their prayers.  This psalm appears in Jewish prayer books more so than any other psalm. 

It can be easy for us to glide over this psalm rather quickly.  And yet I think it is one we should take note of.  I think of Jesus, sitting on the lap of his mother as she prayed this psalm.  I think the words of this psalm probably helped to shape him as he grew up. 

Just a couple things to note here.  One, notice the universality of the psalm.  “The Lord upholds all who are falling…all who are bowed down…the eyes of all….you satisfy the desire of every living creature…near to all who call on him…all who fear him….all who love him.

A mistake we can easily make is that the blessings of God are only for us.  Or me.  Or certain people.  God chooses a people – in our case God chooses the church – so that we can be a blessing to others. 

So today I invite you to think about how God is at work in the life of the church, making a difference in this world. What is God up to through the church to bless others?

 Let’s pray: Loving God, you are faithful in your promises and tender in your compassion.  Listen to your hymn of joy, and continue to satisfy the needs of every living thing, that all your creatures may bless your name, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and forever.  Amen. 

A promise

July 24 - Matthew 13.44-52

‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’

Have you understood all of this? Jesus asks.  They answered:  “Yes.” 

I have to admit that I am a bit jealous of the disciples here, because I certainly do not understand all of these parables.  And maybe I’m just a little bit suspicious to if they really do understand, because with all the other parables they have asked for an explanation.  But I digress. 

5 parables on the kingdom of heaven.  What do you think the kingdom of heaven is like?  It reminds me of something that has gone around the internet a few times.

• GOD is like Coke...He’s the real thing.
• GOD is like General Electric...He brings things to life.
• GOD is like Bayer Aspirin...He works wonders.
• GOD is like Hallmark Cards...He cares enough to send the very best.
• GOD is like Tide...He gets the stains out that others leave behind.
• GOD is like Dial Soap...Aren’t you glad you know him? Don’t you wish everyone did?
• GOD is like Scotch Tape... You can’t see him, but you know he’s there.

What is the kingdom of heaven like?

A massive shrub that grows from a seemingly insignificant seed?

Like the most beautiful, precious pearl you’ve ever seen?

Like finding a hidden treasure?

Like the miracle of turning ground grain into bread by adding a few tiny grains of yeast?

Or like a bulging net of floppy fish of every kind that God has gathered together?

No matter, there is something here that seems just a little off to me.  Rushing out to buy a field because you know it is worth far more than the seller is aware, while perhaps being shrewd, is at least dubious, if not dishonest. 

There is a certain joyfulness in the one who sells all to buy a pearl, although few people around would have understood his actions.  It seems a little crazy, unless you are not satisfied with what you have. 

And the fish – how do I make sure I’m put into the good basket and not thrown out with the bad?

I don’t know what to do with my questions today.  Other than live with them.  Maybe the good news that I find here is that Jesus takes everyday things:  mustard seeds, yeast, a pearl, a field, some fish; and he sees in each of those things something no one else does. 

Faith is like that.  Faith is not so much about knowing how many books are in the Bible; what the longest chapter in the Bible is; even where to find the book of Amos, or who the Apostle Paul is.  Faith is about believing and trusting a promise.  It’s not about knowledge, it’s about trust.  The kind of trust that leads you to act and speak differently. 

I wonder what Jesus would have said if, when he asked the question: Do you understand all of this?  They would have said:  Not at all.

I don’t know.  But I’d like to think he’d say:  That’s alright.  Simply trust the promise that I am with you. 

Let’s pray: God of light and love, shine your face in all the dark places in your world; places that need our attention and our love.  Amen. 

The Kingdom of Heaven is like....

July 23 - Matthew 13.31-33

Jesus put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’  

Jesus told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

We are in the midst of hearing parables from Matthew’s gospel.  We had the parable of the sower who goes out and scatters seed everywhere – rocky ground, path, among the thorns, and on good soil.  Last week we heard the parable of the enemy who entered the farmer’s field and planted weeds alongside the wheat.  This week we have five parables that Matthew tells us describe the kingdom of heaven.  Today we get two of those parables.

Mustard seeds.  I have a jar of mustard seeds in my office.  They are fairly small, but they are not the smallest of all seeds.  But they are small. 

I don’t have any yeast around here.  Since the pandemic started yeast has been hard to come by.  You know that without yeast your bread will not rise.  And it doesn’t take a lot of yeast to make the bread rise. 

Both mustard seeds and yeast will lead to something much larger.

This COVID 19 pandemic has shown us how something so small that it is invisible to the eye can grow rapidly and exponentially into a destructive force that consumes all our attention and resources – as individuals, communities, nations, and as a world. 

Jesus offers a counter image to the destructive image of COVID 19.  The kingdom of heaven emerges from something quite small, and it grows exponentially, offering us something that is life-sustaining rather than life taking. 

The mustard seed.  The next mention of a mustard seed comes in chapter 17 when Jesus tells the disciples that if they have the faith of a mustard seed it can move mountains.  What is small can make an impact. 

Yeast transforms flour.  The kingdom of heaven is like that.  God’s kingdom empowers us to live as God’s people. We make a difference.   

This morning I invite you to think about your own life, and what small action another person has done, that has grown into something large in your life.  We all have mustard seed experiences in our lives – where something that seems small – grows into something large because of something someone says or does. Or maybe it is a way that God has acted that has surprised you recently. 

And so we pray:  O God, sometimes I think I know so clearly where you are at work.  I have it all figured out, and then you surprise me and open my eyes to a new thing, a new growth, and new way you are at work.  Thank you.  Amen. 

Sigh - Romans 8

Romans 8.26-39

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,

‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
   we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I often have a hard time making a connection with Paul’s writings.  This one I understand fairly well and one that connects with me.  I think it is one of the most pastoral and moving texts in all of Scripture.  These words are among the most familiar and comforting words we have from Paul. 

I’m drawn today to the first few verses:  We do not know how to pray as we ought.”  What an understatement!  I don’t know how many times I have said – I don’t even know what to pray for or pray about.  There are times when it seems to me that the prayers I utter are stopped by the ceiling in the room I am in.   And then there are times too when I don’t even feel like praying. 

 It’s times such as these that I take such comfort in these words from Paul.  Because he goes on:  “The Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes according to the will of God.” 

 Sigh.  These past four months – or is it 5 months – I have found myself sighing quite a bit.  When I read these verses I am reminded that those sighs are actually prayers.  It is the Spirit of God interceding for me.  That is so encouraging to me as a pastor, a husband, a dad – a guy who sighs a lot. 

 And just a word about verse 28:  “We know that all things work together for good, for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”  Sometimes people like to cite this verse thinking that God is orchestrating everything in your life so you have a happy ending and everything goes swimmingly well.  I don’t look at this verse in this manner. 

 The way I read this verse is more in terms of the assurance of a future with God; how what is happening now cannot unravel the relationship with God and others in the body of Christ.  And, thinking about how Joseph’s brothers throw him into a pit and sell him into slavery – and how he ends up viewing those events as God taking something evil and turning it to good – I see this verse in a similar way.  That God can use bad things that happen and bring about some measure of good from them.  Not that God is using every little circumstance and happening in my life to make sure that my life is good or fun.  If that makes sense.

 And so we pray:  When we sigh, Lord God, it is your Spirit interceding for us.  Even when we don’t know what to ask; when we don’t know how to pray, you intercede for us.  What can we say but thank you.  Thank you for being a God who loves us so deeply, that even when we don’t know what to say, you know our needs.  It is in your name that we pray.  Amen.  

Theology and Poetry

Psalm 119.129-136

 ¹²⁹ Your decrees are wonderful;

   therefore my soul keeps them.
¹³⁰ The unfolding of your words gives light;
   it imparts understanding to the simple.
¹³¹ With open mouth I pant,
   because I long for your commandments.
¹³² Turn to me and be gracious to me,
   as is your custom towards those who love your name.
¹³³ Keep my steps steady according to your promise,
   and never let iniquity have dominion over me.
¹³⁴ Redeem me from human oppression,
   that I may keep your precepts.
¹³⁵ Make your face shine upon your servant,
   and teach me your statutes.
¹³⁶ My eyes shed streams of tears
   because your law is not kept.

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible.  In fact, with 176 verses, it is the longest chapter in the Bible.  I turned to some of my colleagues who give their life to studying the psalms to try and find something that I could connect to with these words today.  And here’s what connected with me. 

 The theme that goes through these 7 verses is the Word of God, or Scripture.  In these 7 verses there are 7 synonyms for Scripture. Your decrees…your words….your commandments…your promise….your precepts...your statutes….your law.  All these synonyms for Scripture.  So there is a theological theme going on, and

 At the same time there is a bit of poetic theme going on here.  Notice the poetry that references the body:  my soul (literally – my throat)…  open mouth….my steps….your face….my eyes…

 At the center of these verses is a living relationship between God and the psalm writer. 

 “Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name.”

 Is there a more refreshing word than that?  Whoever wrote these words knew something about himself – that he could not on his own believe in God or keep God’s word, or defeat the power of sin.  That on his own he could not maintain a relationship with God.  That this person needed God.  And so do we.

 To lead us.  To guide us.  To rescue us from ourselves. 

 And so we pray:  Holy God, you are just in all your ways and your Scriptures are the greatest of treasures.  Teach us to love you with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen. 

Weeds and Thistles

17 July 2020

 He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.

27 “The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’

28 “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’

“The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’

29-30 “He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’”

You’ve perhaps heard the saying that “a weed is any plant that is growing where you don’t want it to.”  Such as a rose bush in the middle of your cucumbers, while beautiful, can seem obtrusive and obnoxious. Many of us, perhaps most of us, like things orderly.  Rose bushes where rose bushes go. Cucumbers where cucumbers go. Then we get this parable this morning about weeds that intrude on wheat.

 I think on so many levels this parable strikes at the heart of our personal fears. How do I know if I am weeds or wheat?  What about the person sitting next to me at work, or in the store, or my next door neighbor or the person who thinks politically differently from me, are they weeds or wheat? We want to know who is in the correct place!

 There is a part of us also that like to think that we can discern between who is doing God’s good work and who is not, or we think that we already know, thank you very much. And it’s always the person who thinks differently from us, or what we might call “wrong” and so we don’t want to be around them.

 It would be very comforting and escapist for us to read this parable with the mindset that this is about some who are right and some are wrong. But we know that life and people are not that clear cut and relationships are hard and messy.

 We want or need to believe that God will punish those who deserve it, and if we follow all the rules perfectly, we will be gathered as wheat.

 But parables don’t work that way.  Jesus throws this parable alongside our daily lives to stop us in our tracks and wrestle with God for a while.

 Martin Luther struggled with this dualistic thinking of weeds and wheat.  Luther said that we are simultaneously weed and wheat – or in his words – saint and sinner.  Sometimes an action that can be saintly in one setting can turn around and be sinful in another setting.  And we don’t always know when we have done that.  No matter how we try we can’t quite hit the mark. 

And so there is a sense in which this parable – this story – is one of absolute grace, in which God takes time to sort out the weeds from the wheat in our own lives. 

And so we pray:  Lord God, you are incredibly patient.  When I see that which doesn’t belong I want to rip it out and throw it away – be done with it.  Yet you say to wait.  Let it grow.  I can sort it all out at the end. 

 Work in my life so that I am not so quick to decide what are the weeds, and what is the wheat.  Help me to trust that you will figure it out.  In your name we pray.  Amen.

Unity and Diversity

July 15

Romans 8.14-17

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

There is a lot here.  One of the practices I try to do is to just take note of what it is in a reading that stands out to me.  This reading is just so rich and so full that it was hard for me to find one part to zero in on. 

I think where I find myself is in verses 14-17, where Paul writes:  All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God…

As I think about these words, I think about Christians as children of God.  If we are all children of God, then we are part of a family.  In fact Paul goes on to say that we can call God – Abba – or Daddy – Father, which is really more about an intimate relationship between parent and child than it is about defining God as male.  But I digress.

If we who are Christians are children of God, then this is a privilege that cuts across cultures, races, nationalities, genders, ethnicities, and even across political divides. We are one in faith, with God, Christ, and with one another. So if we are children and “heirs of God and coheirs with Christ,” we have an obligation to accept others who are different and to realize our common ground of unity as children of God. 

What I tend to be so bothered by are those who stake claims that only those who believe as they do are true children of God.  What I don’t want to say is that we have to unity as the family of God.  As people of God it’s not that we tolerate each other; our call is not to be right.  It’s not a call to unity. 

Usually when we call for unity it is for everyone to believe as I believe.  God gave us diversity – not only in how we look but in how think as well.  I believe that diversity is a gift.  I am better because there are qualities Stacey has that I do not have.  Our family is better because each one of us is different.  And we don’t always agree on things.  

Our call as people of God is to love one another.  To realize that we are family.  We are in it together.  In it all we are joint heirs with Christ.  And so, as Paul says, we wait in hope for what we do not see, waiting with patience. 

Let us pray:  Lord, we could ask you about many things.  How long until there is a vaccine?  Why is there so much strife and hatred in the world?  What will school look like for our kids this fall?  Could you guide our thinking on such matters? 

These are all important to us.  But are these things that are important to you?  Are there greater issues on your mind that you want to share with us?  We do indeed want to know your mind.  Share your wisdom with us.  Bring justice and mercy to weary pilgrims who do not know how they will survive.  Bring hope to our youth, to those who cannot find work; to those who cannot count on a single friend.  Bring hope to our world.  In your name we pray.  Amen. 

Undivided Heart

July 14

Psalm 86.11-17

Teach me your way, O Lord,

 that I may walk in your truth;

   give me an undivided heart to revere your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

 and I will glorify your name for ever.

For great is your steadfast love towards me;

   you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

O God, the insolent rise up against me;
   a band of ruffians seeks my life,
   and they do not set you before them.
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Turn to me and be gracious to me;
   give your strength to your servant;
   save the child of your serving-maid.
Show me a sign of your favour,
   so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame,
   because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

For the most part, I appreciate these verses.  Verse 14 takes me a bit by surprise; I wonder what this psalm writer is experiencing to say that “the insolent rise up against” him; “a band of ruffians seeks my life.” It almost sounds like a political leader speaking about those who oppose him, calling them insolent and ruffians.

Apart from that verse though I really appreciate the words of this psalm.  “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart.”  Asking God to “teach me” is a common phrase in the psalms.  There is a desire to know God’s way – not so much out of curiosity but more of a sense of commitment, so that the person can live it out. 

I am struck by the number of people who are experts on any number of topics.  One thing that social media like Facebook and Twitter have done is created experts out of anyone who wants to be an expert.  Those who have given their life to study an area – it seems particularly science or theology – are viewed with skepticism, while a “friend” who never really liked the sciences becomes an “expert” because they looked something up on the computer, regardless of the source. 

Teach me so that I may walk in your truth.  Those words bring to the conversation between Jesus and Pilate when Jesus is on trial and Pilate asks:  What is truth?  And then Jesus statement to his disciples:  “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”    How do we walk in the truth that is Jesus?

“Give me an undivided heart.”   As I often do I read this psalm in a different Bible to see how it reads.  The Bible I turned to has lots of study notes and it has a full page of about 8 point font on the word “heart” in the psalms.  Of course it states right up front that the term “heart” never refers to a physical organ but refers to the self.  The word “heart” is used some 117 times in the psalms.  This psalm is one example. 

“Give me an undivided heart.”  I think this psalm writer knows how easy it us for us as people to have divided hearts.  We say one thing, we do another.  We want one thing; we don’t want to do the work for it.  We pray for something, but don’t’ change our actions. 

It is like this psalm writer recognizes that we are in need of teaching, but recognizes that our hearts are divided and unable on their own to walk in God’s ways.  But notice that there is a confidence that God will do exactly that.  Because the next verse says:  I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart.”  No longer is the heart divided.

As you go through your day, think about the heart; times when your heart has been divided; times when your heart has been broken; times when your heart has felt full and whole.  And then think about how God has been at work in each of those times in your life. 

Let us pray:  Gracious God, when your Son called out to you in the time of trouble, you heard him and brought him out of the pit of death to the glory of the resurrection.  Give strength to your servants whom you have raised with him to new life, that with undivided hearts we may worship you and tell the glory of your name; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen. 

Climbing Jacob's Ladder

Genesis 28.10-19a

Last Monday we heard the story of Esau and Jacob being born.  Jacob being the heel grabber even as he came out of the womb, and Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. 

In the chapters between that story in chapter 25 and this story in chapter 28, Isaac is on his death bed and gives the blessing reserved for the first born son to Jacob rather than Esau.  Esau is understandably angry, and wants to kill Jacob.  So Jacob flees and leaves Esau behind. 

I find it intriguing that he is going toward Haran – the land where his grandfather Abraham was called from – when he has this dream. 

There’s the old spiritual Jacob’s ladder that comes from this reading.  Huey Lewis and the News recreated that song when I was younger – climbing Jacob’s ladder.  Step by step.  Rung by rung.  Higher and higher.  We are climbing Jacob’s ladder. 

But what I find most compelling about this reading is that this is the first time in Jacob’s story that God speaks to him. Jacob is alone, running away from his past, uncertain of his future, and it is here, at his most vulnerable moment, that God speaks to Jacob for the first time:

“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.” God describes himself as the God of Jacob’s grandfather and father though not (yet) the God of Jacob himself. This God has a history with Jacob’s family and is known through those relationships.

The Lord goes on to give Jacob the promise that Jacob already received from his father Isaac, the promise given first to Abraham: land, offspring, and blessing. And then God goes on to promise Jacob even more:

“Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:15).

It is a very gracious promise.  Jacob has cheated his brother and deceived his father and is now running for his life. Yet God promises to be with Jacob, to keep him from harm, and to bring him back home again.

Jacob’s reaction to such a gracious promise is mixed. First, he acknowledges the holiness of the moment and of the place: “Surely the Lord is in this place -- and I did not know it.… How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (28:17).

Jacob then sets up a pillar of rock, and names the place Beth-El: the house of God.

If you have time this day and are intrigued by this story, I encourage you to read it a bit further to see what Jacob does next. After God’s gracious, unconditional promise to be with Jacob and to bring him home again, Jacob -- ever the schemer -- bargains with God:

“If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you” (Genesis 28:20-22).

Jacob cannot simply accept or trust God’s promises. God promises, without condition, that God will be with Jacob and will bring him home again, and Jacob says, “If you are with me and bring me home again…then you will be my God.”

Jacob would never make an unconditional promise. Jacob is in it for himself and he cannot comprehend a God who would promise something for nothing, so he schemes and bargains with this God. The Lord may be the God of Abraham and Isaac, but Jacob will claim him as God if and only if God protects and prospers him.

Jacob is a complicated figure. On the one hand, he recognizes and commemorates God’s appearing to him. On the other hand, he cannot seem to grasp the magnitude of God’s grace, and so he bargains and wrestles with God just as he bargains and wrestles with every other person in his life.

And though this story is primarily about God and God’s gracious promises, it is worth noting that those promises have an effect on Jacob -- self-centered, scheming Jacob. Twenty years after this encounter at Beth-El, as Jacob returns home from Haran, this time accompanied by family and flocks and herds, he prays another prayer. And this time, he does not bargain with God.

From that moment on in the biblical narrative, this same God will self-identify as “the Lord…the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”

The Reckless Sower

Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23

This is a favorite reading of mine.  When I was in college it was the first Scripture reading I had to write a paper on for a college class.  It was the Scripture I chose to have read at my ordination. It is such a lovely story. 

As with most stories in Scripture, there are at least a few good ways to read the story, and probably a few not so good as well.  I’ve done both. 

I’ve read this story from the perspective of the soils.  Seeing myself as a type of soil. 

There are times in my life when I have felt like the soil on the path; walked on, the soil become hard. 

There are times when I have been rather rocky.  With all the rocks inhibiting much growth of anything.

There are times when I have been rather thorn infested, and weeds have choked out attempts for life. 

And there have been times when the soil has been good, and what has been planted has taken root and grown. 

I’d like to think that I am always “good” soil.  I’m not though, and to tell you otherwise would be a lie.  The reality is that I don’t really like to focus much on the soil; or on the type of soil that I am.  What I love about this passage is the image of the sower. 

When I was an intern way back long ago, I decided that I would try my hand at planting a garden.  One of the things I decided I would plant was green beans.  So I read about how to plant green beans.  Prepare the soil.  Plant each side two inches into the ground, and then 3 inches apart.  So I very carefully went outside with my ruler in hand, dug down two inches, put a seed in the ground.  Measured 3 inches, got another seed out, dug down two inches to plant it.  It took forever to plant that garden. 

Notice how this gardener or farmer plants:  A sower went out to sow.  He throws some seed on the path, some on the rocky ground, some among the thorns, and some on the fertile soil.  Why doesn’t he just plant on the good soil?

Because this reading isn’t so much about the soil as it is about the sower.  It’s as if this sower is worried that there is some spot that won’t get some seed on it.  Which I believe then this reading tells me everything I need to know about the mind and the heart of God.  God is never measured; God will stop at nothing; God is not worried about waste even. 

I like this reading for that reason.  But I also like it because it then challenges the church – the people of God – to do the same.  To be exceedingly generous in everything we do. 

As you go through this day watch for examples of how you see this reading played out on the news, on a TV show, or wherever you find yourself today.  Maybe you won’t see it played out in this same way, maybe you will see the direct opposite of it, with careful, precise measuring.  Take note of how you see it. 

Let’s pray:  Almighty God, thank you for planting in us the seed of your word.  By your Holy Spirit, help us to receive it with joy, live according to is, and grow in faith, hope and love, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen. 

Statues and Flags

Rather than a Scripture reading today I want to offer a few thoughts regarding statues, flags, and monuments.  This is the fourth of July weekend, and over the course of the past 5 – 6 weeks now there has been all kinds of divisiveness going on.  Statues and monuments have come down; flags are changing; and people have either celebrated or demonized those who have taken those actions.  At a speech at Mount Rushmore our president derided those who have removed statues calling them "angry mobs,  trying to tear down statues of our Founders" and "deface our most sacred memorials."

I wonder what does Jesus think of statues we have removed.  Flags that have been taken down? I can’t say for sure. I think of Joseph Heller’s humorous thought in his little book God Knows where he envisions King David in heaven complaining about Michelangelo’s statue of him in Florence: “It doesn’t look anything like me” he says. 

There are beautiful statues, and then some really not so beautiful ones of Jesus himself.

We are a polarized country, and there are some who celebrate the removal of statues and some who are mortified by it.  Some say "Symbols matter!" Others say,  "It’s just a statue."  I remember a certain delight we all experienced when Saddam Hussein’s statue was pulled down. 

When we witness assaults on monuments, and the reflex to save them, what we see isn’t so much about this or that statue or person. It’s rage at a whole world that has failed us – on both sides of the divide. Half of us are afraid that the world we’ve known and treasured is crumbling around us; the other half are afraid that the world they dream of will never actually dawn. If we just fix this, or save that, we'll hold off all we fear.

My question is one I think Jesus would ask us: How do we reflect on public images and their hurtful or helpful impact on people?  How do we preserve history while understanding why and how it matters? History matters. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, reminding us that the most common word in the Bible for “sin” is to “forget,” declares that “the guardian of conscience is memory… Civilizations begin to die when they forget.”

Should we forget Robert E. Lee? When his statue came down: many were glad, many were miffed. Was he evil – as a person? Or in the cause his life was defined by? By all accounts he was a noble genius – who fought to preserve southernness, including slavery. He was a pious person; but who symbolizes the systematic oppression of black people more than Lee?

Does seeing a statue of Robert E. Lee traumatize people? Some, yes. Famously, the Sunday after the war ended, Lee alone responded well when a freed slave walked to the altar of the St. Paul’s Episcopal church in Richmond, Virginia. Other worshipers were appalled, but Lee knelt next to him at the altar. Not surprisingly, this story is disputed. Should we learn about him, and ponder such a life?

The truth is, all people are deeply flawed. If we remove all statues of people with some embarrassing flaw, we’ll have no statues. Abraham Lincoln – rather than wanting to incorporate blacks into American life – wanted to send them to another country.  Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. The Boston Tea Party was looting, the wanton destruction of somebody else’s property. Martin Luther said and wrote some very awful things about the Jewish people.  The history books are jammed with anti-Semites, racists, philanderers, oppressors. Nothing but us broken sinners down here, O Lord.

I totally get that symbols can be hurtful, and can insidiously prop up what is not of God. We have good cause to abolish some symbols. In Germany, if you raise a flag with a swastika, you go to jail. Yet in America, we say the Confederate flag is freedom of speech. But we agree as a democratic people that not every freedom of speech can pass. Nudists can’t express themselves in public. And I’ve found that some of the people who wave a confederate flag and claim freedom of speech rage against a ballplayer taking a knee during the National Anthem.

Does Jesus favor taking the knee or standing at attention?

I feel sure Jesus wants us first of all to dig beneath the surface and confess we are all broken. We are all hypocrites. We all have blind spots. And then that no image or statue will save us, or destroy us. As the Bible says over and over again, the only image of God’s goodness we can trust is the image of God in Jesus, and the image of God in every person. It’s in me, in you, in the other person you think is amazing and the one whose viewpoint drives you crazy. 

Let’s pray:  Lord, as we celebrate our countries independence this weekend, remind us that we are all broken.  There is much that we have to love and celebrate about this country that we live in, and there is much that falls short of your ideals for us.  In the midst of everything, remind us of the promise we receive in Scripture – that our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are awaiting a Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray.  Amen.