I've Moved!!!

Hi all!  I'm moving my blog to http://www.lakesidefellowship.org/?i=15065&mid=25.  I hope you'll join me there and tell a friend or a gazillion about my blog!  Thanks for reading!  I hope it has helped you explore or deepen your faith! 

Cameron

Passing On The Mantle

There are moments when we stop, when we are quiet on the inside and a voice emerges, "Treasure this moment because your life is flying by!"  What difference are we making in those around us?  What are we passing on to our children and friends that will lead them more fully into life with God?  Legacy, legacy, legacy...

Prayer

Gracious Jesus, give us eyes to see our day to day tasks and challenges from your eternal perspective.  You have called us to spread your loving Kingdom in this world.  Help us keep this purpose ever before us in our work, our parenting, our marriages, our day to day living!  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

2 Kings 2

Comments

A mantle was a garment worn in biblical times on the upper body.  It was most often worn at night and during inclement weather as a protective garment, keeping in warmth and shielding one from precipitation or excessive sun.  In some cases, it also was an embroidered garment symbolic of authority or power.  Priests, prophets, and Kings sometimes wore these.

Elijah's term of service for God as a leading prophet is about done in today's text.  Elisha persistently follows Elijah on his final tour to visit other prophetic groups under his leadership.  Elijah keeps telling Elisha to leave him, but Elisha does not.  Boldly, Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, probably meaning his prophetic spirit given by God.  After Elijah is swept up by the heavenly chariots of fire, Elisha picks up Elijah's mantle, his power, his prophetic ability.  God appoints Elijah's prophetic successor.

It's so easy to be consumed by the busyness of daily tasks that we lose sight of the fact that the world can and will go on without us one day.  Someone else will do our job and live in our home and take up our volunteer positions.  None of us is irreplaceable in the positions we hold. Not many of us will have statues made of us or have books written about us or have our names remembered in history classes.  However, each of us is called to shape the world our children will inherit.  We each have a call to mentor those who will replace us. 

People seeking to follow Jesus must teach others to live in God's ways just as Jesus did.  He taught and lived by example.  His life showed people the Kingdom of love and healing and justice by doing love and healing and justice.  What kind of mantle are we passing?  Who is God calling us to pass his life to?

Prayer

Help us to seize the moments in our relationships as opportunities to mentor people Godly living so that they may find wholeness and eternal life in you Jesus.  Help us to persistently follow you, our mentor and God, as Elisha followed Elijah.  We must have the life you give so that we can share it with others!  Amen.

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Honest Faith

Just paste a smile on your face.  It's easier that way.  Then maybe no one will ask.  You can pretend that everything is fine.  People of faith are always supposed to be happy, right? 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we really want things to be fine.  We want to be Barbie and Ken, the perfect people with the perfect lives, but we know better.  Can we come to you with our terrible dirt, the choices we made when we thought no one was looking, the daily hurdles we must overcome?  Can we be honest with you when we wonder where the good is in life? Give us grace to be real with you.  To be free of pretense.  Give us grace to seek you and give you praise by the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Psalm 30

Comments

So the great warrior faced the clanging of swords, the thunder of horses, the burn of scissored flesh, the fear of death in battle, the loss of comrades in arms, the potential shame of loss to one's enemies. When injured and suffering and afraid, he called out to God saying, "What good will I do for you when I'm dead? Keep me alive and I will sing your praises!"

Interestingly, the psalmist equates his time of suffering with the absence, the "hiding" of God in his life. He can't feel God in the pain, though he reaches out for God anyway. Then in the joy of healing, of new life, of victory, he gives praise to God and proclaims that he will do so forever.

If this song was used to dedicate the temple, it would have called forth the collective memories of Israel, the times of enslavement, loss, and suffering when they wondered where God was. It would have also called forth the memories of how God broke the bonds of slavery, freed them, and led them to victory and to the promised land.

What do we do when we struggle and suffer? God, through the psalmist, encourages us to call out to him for help. What do we do when we find healing and joy? God, through the psalmist, encourages us to sing and share with the world what great things God has done for us.

Life is a mix of joy, sorrow, suffering, and delight. A life of faithfulness does not gloss over the tragedies and horrors. It cries out to God. A life of faithfulness does not exalt its own efforts when times are good. It sings and dances and points to the Lord who is gracious and good. Faithful lives look to God honestly, in good times and in bad.

Prayer

Thank you for freeing us from the need to pretend everything's fine when it isn't.  Thank you for being a God who can take the messes and struggles and failures of our lives and resurrect us!  Thank you for bringing joy from sorrow, life fron death, and hope from hopelessness!  May our lives give you praise!  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

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Sin and Simplicity

Complex.  Complicated.  Confusing.  Dynamic.  These are words I have heard used to describe our rapidly changing times.  Can life be simple anymore?  What relevancy can simplicity be to our multi-tasking selves?

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we are often a fractured people.  We feel torn apart by competing needs, split into our many roles and goals in life.  Give our hearts and minds focus, our souls integrity, and our lives the simplicity of your Kingdom so that we may be free to deeply live. Amen.

Isaiah 40

In today's reading, the people of God are in exile in Babylonia.  They were taken from their homeland, split up into groups and scattered among the lands and cultures of Babylonia.  Isaiah tells the people that God is going to comfort them and renew their strength.  God who is more powerful than all the armies of all the nations will restore his people.  He tells them they will be moving from captivity to freedom, from being shattered and scattered as a people to being reunified and freed to follow God.

As I read verse two "her sin has been paid for," I was struck by the serious costs of sin!  The theology of Isaiah and other prophets sees the conquering of their nation as a result of their unfaithfulness to God!  The cost of their sin is the loss of a homeland, loss of life, the dispersion of the people, and the captivity of their hearts, minds, and souls.

Then I started thinking, "what are the costs of our sins today?"  "What are we captive to as a result of our sins?"  I know that in our heads many of us realize the Sunday School answers to this.  Our sin separates us from God and each other.  It causes problems in our relationships, and brings death and disorder into the creation and into our lives.  But if many of us are pressed to identify our sins and their consequences, we might struggle a little more with our answers. 

Many sins seem innocuous, part of "normal" life in 21st Century American culture. They often escape our attention.

We are part of a system, a way of life that encourages overconsumption, greed, fear, protectionism, and selfishness. Even though the economic struggles of recent years have opened our eyes to see that we don't need as much as we think, we live behind gates, eat more than we should then exercise to "work it off."  We work too much and are stressed about all of the things we "must" do. American life is often a study in the costs of excess! Our expectations are so large about the houses we should live in, the cars we should drive, the "perfect" schools or sports teams our kids should be on, the "perfect" figures we should have, the hobbies and vacations we deserve, and the amount of activity we can stuff into 24 hours that we are crushed underneath their weight as we go into too much debt, sleep deprivation, impatience, and stress!

Though recent economic struggles have been devastating to many families, particularly the poor, for others they have been a wake up call to consider simplifying their lives.  Indeed, practices of simplicity and fasting are in order to help us become more aware of the costs of the sins of excessive expectations.  I find them hard to practice, but I love some of Richard Foster's practices of simplicity from the book Celebration of Discipline. "Buy things for their usefulness. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. Develop a habit of giving things away. Refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry. Timesaving devices almost never save time. Learn to enjoy things without owning them. Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. Look with healthy skepticism at all "buy now and pay later" schemes. Obey Jesus' instructions about plain honest speech. Reject anything that breeds oppression in others. Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the Kingdom of God."

Thank God for the promise of restoration for his people!  We are called to turn from our ways of life that lead us into captivity to things and people and our own expectations, find forgiveness in our gracious Lord, and enter a new life of freedom through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Thanks be to God!

Life Questions

1.  What is holding me captive that I need the cross of Jesus Christ to free me from?
2.  How can I practice greater simple focus on "seeking first the Kingdom of God" by the grace and power of Jesus?

Prayer

Loving Father, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever, amen!

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Love and Truth

"You say you love me, but that doesn't make it real."  How many love songs have been written about that?  What we call love these days often tilts toward the extreme of "love avoids all conflict because it is nice" or toward the extreme of "love means telling you the truth about yourself when I am right!"  How do we share our deepest, most passionate beliefs about what is right and communicate our love and care at the same time?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we are not good about communicating.  It's our selfish desire to look good, to be right, to  be superior to others that gets in the way of love.  Love us past our brokeness.  Teach us to love others so that they may come to know your love, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

I Corinthians 8

Comments

So some Corinthian Christians wrote Paul a letter or two regarding problems they were encountering, practical issues of day to day adventures learning to follow Jesus together and teaching pagans to become Christians. The question in chapter 8 that Paul picks up goes something like this,"Why can't we eat the meat from Temple Zeus? They always use the best sauce, and since we now know that their idols aren't real gods anyway, what difference does it make if we eat the good meat?" The reasoning is "since we know what it is true, we don't have to worry about it because we know our actions are right in God's eyes." And, "Why should we care what other people think of us?"

According to Paul, and through Paul according to God, there is more to following Jesus and helping other people follow Jesus than just the right answers. There is loving application of our knowledge. We need to understand where the people we are discipling are in their faith, what their current beliefs are, and where they are most vulnerable. We need to sensitively think about how our words and actions, no matter how correct they are, will impact our impressionable young Jesus followers.

In this case, it was not loving to simply grab a slab of ribs off the table at the market from a vendor in front of Temple Zeus and, knowing like everyone this was leftover sacrificial meet offered to an idol, proclaiming, "Since there are no idols I'm going to thoroughly enjoy these ribs!" To a person who once believed in Zeus, worshipped in that Temple, ate that meat for years while thinking it was to honor their god, and who had just begun to see that Jesus Christ is Lord and that Zeus is not, this would have been difficult and confusing. It might have even caused a crisis of faith and doubt. "Am I sure that Zeus won't hurl any thunderbolts at me? Is Zeus even real? What about this Jesus I am learning about? How can I know? Now that I am his follower, how can I do anything that even remotely resembles my old life?"

According to Paul, and God through Paul, though our theology may be sound, we must lovingly, carefully consider that tender, early shoots of faith in Jesus are easily trampled and uprooted. They need tending and thoughtful care. They need building up and gentle encouragement. Without this love and concern for our Christian family, especially our newest, youngest members, we may be right in mind but wrong in heart, and that is a sin.

The alternative way of teaching Jesus invites us to is to "speak the truth in love." Love takes into account where another person is compared to where God wants them to be, and it considers the best way forward for that particular person. Truth is communicated best through a loving relationship of trust and encouragement. Loving application of the truths of life in Jesus is what builds up his Kingdom. Let's be good builders then, shall we?

Prayer

Holy Spirit, enable us to tie love and truth together for the sake of our salvation and the salvation of your creation.  Amen.

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New World Order

January is the month of establishing priorities.  New eating and exercise plans are made to "get healthy."  Some people are more determined than ever to get their spiritual lives "together," so they start attending church.  People are making plans on their calendars promising "not to let our schedules get too busy this year!"  Everyone's looking for a new order.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, when our lives feel like they're being spun in a blender, and we are gasping for a better order, give us grace to turn to you, to allow you to put our pieces back into the places where they belong, so that peace may reign within us and life may be at its fullest in you.  Amen.

Matthew 1: 14-15

Comments

Understanding that Jesus came to crash the Kingdom of God back into time on earth is essential for his followers. The life order of God broke fully into time and space in the person and life of Jesus! He came to reorder the lives of those who would follow him, live with him and in him and thus live in the Kingdom of God.

"Turn around and have faith and you can enter the Kingdom! Your life can be reorganized by the giver of life!" This is the great invitation! Who doesn't want messed up relationships to find health, joy, love and peace? Who doesn't want to find work that is satisfying, makes a difference, and provides sustenance for their families? Who doesn't want their ailing bodies to be made healthy again? Who doesn't want peace on earth, and end to war, greed, and suffering?  Good news, the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of love, justice, and mercy is present in Jesus Christ.

Our work, the work of Jesus' followers is to assist God in advancing this Kingdom way of life on the earth, and we do that by living our lives in the grace of Jesus in the Kingdom order and by extending an invitation to others to enter this Kingdom through Jesus.

Life Questions

1.  What parts of my life are in need of reordering by the graceful touch of Jesus?

2.  How can I point others to Jesus who need to find life and health and peace?

Prayer

Gracious Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you invite us into your Kingdom by the graceful love of Christ through his life, death, and resurrection.  Give us courage to give up our disorders so that we may boldly live in your new order.  Forgive our sins, heal our brokeness, give us power to show others the life-giving ways of Jesus!  Amen.

Listening and Leadership

"Me? I'm not a leader.  I don't lead anything," you might be saying to yourself.  Like it or not, we are all examples to someone!

Prayer

Give us grace to follow your lead, Lord Jesus, into good living that brings healing and peace to this broken world.  May others be drawn to your salvation when they see your light shining in us.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

I Samuel 3

Comments

It is a well known fact that effective human communication involves a) what verbal and non-verbal cues are sent and b) how the listener interprets the verbal and non-verbal cues.  A break down in either a or b does not allow people to connect and creates misunderstandings and issues that deteriorate relationships.

Our relationship to God is no different.  How effectively we listen to God's cues determines how well we follow God's lead in life.  It also determines how well we lead others.  So much of our prayer lives is spent talking to God about what we want and what we need and what the world wants and needs.  It is far more challenging to practice listening to God.

Eli, a priest for God, had begun focusing more on the benefit of getting to eat the choicest cuts of meat from the sacrifices the people were offering to God than on listening and obeying God's commands.  He was even allowing his sons to practice the priesthood in ways that did not honor God without correcting them.  I interpret the sentence, "The word of the Lord was rare in those days" to mean that God wasn't being listened to much in those days! 

So God called forth Samuel to be his servant, his leader of the people.  And one of the most important phrases of this whole passage is how Samuel is taught (ironically by Eli!) to address God by saying, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."  Good listeners of God are good spiritual leaders.

You may believe that you are not a leader, but I assure you that you are.  Everyone is an example, albeit a good or bad one, to someone.  Thus, everyone is a leader, like it or not.  The question for all of us is, what kind of a spiritual leaders are we?  The answer to that question rests on how well we listen to God. 

Set aside some time each day, even multiple times a day to pray this prayer, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."  Then be silent for a few moments and see what the Lord says.  THEN go work, parent, husband or wife, play, and lead by how well you follow the Lord.

Life Question

1.  How am I doing listening to God in his Word, the bible, and to his Spirit as it speaks to me in prayer?
2.  How am I doing following God's lead?

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Opportunists

The moment comes.  It surprises you.  You didn't realize these possibilities could become reality, but here you are, on the cusp of dreams being turned into flesh and blood, dirt, air, grass.  Are you prepared to take advantage of what is before you?

Prayer

Gracious Lord Jesus, we confess that the crush of daily responsibilities keep us focused on survival and maintenance.  Help us make time to slow down long enough to look up and see visions of new reality, new life, and the opportunities to realize them by the grace you give.  May Your Kingdom come into our hearts and lives and into this grand creation you have made! 

Matthew 25

Comments

We are in the waning days of Advent, the season of waiting and preparing for Christmas and for the eventual return of Jesus our King who will judge the living and the dead and bring the fullness of his Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  That's why the text for today is particularly appropriate.  It deals with the second coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. 

There has been a great deal of conjecture about the last days of the world in the past few years.  Truthfully, though, humans have been obsessed with this topic since forever!  A classic Hollywood joke played out in movies and tv shows is the person wearing a billboard on the sidwalk which reads, "THE END IS NEAR!"  These projections about the end were especially prolific at the end of 1999 as the new millenium approached.  Earlier this year, a pastor projected that the end of the world and judgment day were to happen, but here we are.  Jesus has yet to return. 

So what does Jesus tell us in Matthew about his return and final judgment?  He tells us stories and gives us imprecise, spacious images filled with questions and mysteries to deal with.  Isn't Jesus great!?  He does enjoy leaving plenty of room for the mysteries of God to unfold in ways that don't fit in our boxes!  There are three things we can grab hold of about the end times, though.

First, Jesus affirms that no one knows when his return will be.  The bridesmaids didn't know when the groom would return to claim his bride.  The stewards didn't know what day or time the Master of the house would return for an accounting.  We don't know if Jesus will return on Tuesday or in the year 3,000, when we are asleep or caught doing something we shouldn't be doing.  Guessing when Jesus will return is clearly not something Jesus wants us to spend our time doing.  So, with due respect to my brothers and sisters who publish and preach about these things, I recommend we follow his lead and focus on number two.

The second thing Jesus tells about the end times is that we need to be prepared for them, whether he returns before dinner or in 32 years.  The bridesmaids who had the foresight to bring plenty of oil for their lamps in case the groom was delayed got to go into the wedding banquet and celebrate the marriage.  Those who weren't thinking ahead, made no plans, and just showed up got shut out of the party. 

Third, Jesus clarifies for us how we can be prepared.  The good stewards were found using their Master's things in ways that expanded the Master's resources.  They were prepared.  The bad steward did nothing with the Master's things.  He was unprepared.  The sheep in the last parable fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the imprisoned, and cared for the needy.  They were found using the time, energy, money, and personal resources helping the helpless, and so were prepared for the day of Jesus return and judgment. 

How shall we prepare for Christmas and the ultimate return of Jesus our King?  Don't waste time worrying about when he will come, and be ready by caring for the least, the last, and the lost of this world. 

Life Questions

1.  What part of our lives do we need to ask God for the grace to get ready for his return?
2.  In what ways can we serve the imprisoned, hungry, naked, and lost? In other words, how can we serve Jesus "in his most distressing disguise (Mother Theresa)?"

Prayer

Give us grace, dear Jesus, to turn our yearly holiday focus on helping others into a lifestyle that reflects your boundless love for the least, the last, and the lost of this world.  Enlarge our love and generosity by your grace, so that we grow to be more like you!  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.

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Go Ahead, Be Judgmental

When asked what they think about Church and Christianity, many non-Christians levy this charge, "They are so judmental!"  On the one hand, they are right.  On the other hand, the alternative to making judgments about life is paralysis and indecision.  Every choice demands a judgment.  What are we to do?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, we confess that we spend too much time criticizing others and not enough time criticizing ourselves.  It's less painful for us to point out others' faults than it is to own up to our own.  Give us grace to acknowledge and confess our own sins so that we might experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom.  Then give us grace to share your joy and freedom with all others who need it!

Matthew 7: 1-5

Comments

This reminds me of the phobia we Christians often have of being "judgmental." The truth is that we are all judgmental, not in the ugly sense we often use the word, but in the sense that we must make judgments about things and people and situations everyday in order to make choices. Every decision is between good and evil, right and wrong, good and great, not good and very bad. We must measure things to see how they stack up to what God's desires are.

Where judging goes wrong is when we are comparing ourselves to others. It is a good idea to judge others next to God in order to decide whether we will follow their example or leadership. If what they propose lines up well with God's ways, then our judgment should tell us to follow them. If what they propose is off of God's ways, then our judgment should tell us not to follow. The moment we place ourselves in God's shoes and judge others as though we were God is the moment we are in real trouble for the real root of sin is idolatry, our desire to be God. That's what got us in trouble in the garden of Eden in the first place.

We don't get to decide who gets in the Kingdom of Heaven and who stays out. We don't get to decide who God loves and who doesn't (for God loves everyone and everything God has made).  We don't get to decide who can come to church and who can't. Our real job is to point people to Jesus who is the measure of all that is good and life-giving. God will do the convicting and the heart and life-changing. After all, we should be so busy yanking planks from our eyes in the grace of Jesus that we don't have time to look for the faults of others.

Prayer

Give us the guts to see ourselves for the broken, angry, greedy, hurtful people that we sometimes are.  Forgive us, we pray.  Free us for joyful obedience to you, loving Jesus!  Then use us to point people to you so that they too may be judged by you and saved by your grace!  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

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For Those That Need It

"I need help!"  It is so hard to say that sometimes.  That's like your tongue having an intense wrestling match with the words "I'm sorry" before they can be thrown out of the ring of your mouth!  We are taught to be self-sufficient in America.  Jesus teaches us that his grace is sufficient to give us the gift of life in his Kingdom.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, who humbled yourself on the cross in obedience to your Father's command to lovingly save us, give us the courage to be humble, to see ourselves clearly, to see our desparate need of your grace for our every moment!  We are too proud and hardened and much poorer for it.  Open our hearts to humility so that we can receive the life-giving flood of your saving grace!

Matthew 5: 3-6

Comments

It seems as though Jesus was contrasting the spiritual pride of many religious leaders around him with the spiritual hunger of regular people who knew they were weak and tired and needed God's help.  This contrast between the spiritually proud and the poor in spirit helps me see more clearly what Jesus meant. It's not that Jesus wants us to be spiritually poor. He is correcting a problem. Those whose spiritual lives have led them to believe they are self-sufficient and superior to others are those who cannot inherit the Kingdom way of life. Those who recognize they are in need of grace and are no better than others have the Kingdom open to them.

This reminds me of the old Smith Barney commercial during which an old scratchy person's voice says, "We make money the old-fashioned way, we eeeaaarrrnnnn it!" In the Kingdom, we can't earn it. We must humbly accept it as a gift. Life with God, the way God intended is a gift, not a right, not an accomplishment. It is a gift. All of our effort goes to remind us of our need for grace and to respond to that grace with our greatest effort to love God and others.

This past weekend we talked about the humility of Mary who came from a poor family in a "nowhere town" called Nazareth.  Why did God choose her to be the earthly mother of Jesus, to carry the King of Kings into the world through her body?  It's possible God did this because Mary's poverty meant that she knew her dependence on God and she would have had fewer dollars, social commitments, and important appearances to weigh down her commitment to do as her God asked her?  For those of us who have much, let us ask God to free us to be obedient no matter what it may mean we have to give up!

Life Questions

1.  What comforts, things, reputations, self-perceptions do we have that might be difficult to give up to

     follow where Jesus leads?

2.  Where does pride keep me from acknowledging my need for God?

Prayer

"Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free, tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, and when we find ourselves in the place just right, 'twill be in the valley of love and delight.  When true simplicity is gain'd, to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed, to turn, turn will be our delight, till by turning, turning we come out right ("Simple Gifts", Elder Joseph Brackett).  Thank you for calling us to the freedom of humility.  We need you, the grace you give, the Kingdom you offer.  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen!"

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Justice, Really?

We like to think we want justice, but do we really?  When the same measuring stick we use to evaluate others is applied to us, do we still want justice to be done?  That's when we all recognize our need for grace!

Prayer

Generous God of overflowing grace, we thank you for giving us far more than we deserve!  Remind us that apart from the gifts of your hands we have nothing good, and we would have no hope of growing better.  Your grace sustains us, forgives us, makes right what we have done wrong, and brings peace and good living through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Thank you! Amen.

Matthew 20: 1-16

Comments

"That's not fair!"  How many times have we said that in our lives?  How many times as parents have we heard the words shoot out of our mouths like water out of a pressurized hose,"Who said life is fair?"  Yet, part of the reason we say that with such vigor is because deep down we want life to be fair and just and equitable.  When I became a teen ager, my mother confessed to me that she would buy an equal number of gifts for my sister and I at Christmas because she knew we would be counting them to see that we each had the same amount! 

But do we really want justice to reign supreme?  Do we really want everything to work according to the letter of the law?  That would be fine, I suppose, if we were perfect.  Then we wouldn't worry about the consequences of our bad behavior, and we would have the added benefit of being able to say to others who make mistakes, "Well, you got what you deserved."  But we aren't perfect.  We are flawed, every last one of us.  We just can't seem to get life entirely right.  Think about your day today thus far.  Hurt anyone's feelings yet?  Do anything you shouldn't have?  Think of anything you shouldn't have?  Hmmm...

Enter grace and our generous God to bring us great news that he gives us more than we deserve and even forgives us when we have broken the law and been unjust!  Jesus Christ, born into the world to save sinners like us! 

To be honest, the part of me that wants the world to be just doesn't like Jesus' parable today.  "What do you mean the landowner paid the people who worked only an hour the same as those who worked all day?!?  That's not right!"  And when Jesus says that in the Kingdom "the last will be first and the first will be last" I want to say, "What, that can't be!  We work hard to get first in line!' 

But then, I don't get on track with God everyday until late sometimes either, and in those moments I am grateful that God gives me way more than I deserve.  And after all, it's not like those who worked all day didn't get what they were promised.  God gives more to those who need it because he is generous, good, and merciful while not taking away from the needs of others.  In my bad moments, I am grateful that there is more to God than justice.  There is gift, grace, generosity.  How about you?

Prayer

Gracious Jesus by the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to be as generous and graceful to others who are flawed as you are to us.  Give us your strength and love to forgive as we are forgiven and to give to those in need as you have given to us on the cross.  All this so that the world may know of your goodness and give you praise!  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen!

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The New Great

Children have been in the spotlight the past few weeks, sadly, in the role of victims.  Jesus lifts them up as role models for his Kingdom that we all are called to follow.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, giver of all good things, as we enter this week of Thanksgiving, help us to slow down long enough to actually see the many gifts you have given us.  Remind us that our place and importance is yours alone to assign to us.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Matthew 18: 1-5

Comments

As adults and parents, we often think of the importance of teaching our children how to live and live well.  We teach them manners, math, and how to pray.  According to Jesus, however, there are important things we need to learn from them about living in God's Kingdom. 

We, like the disciples, tend to think of greatness in terms of whether we make the all star team, are the top earners in our companies, get promotions, or gain recognition.  Jesus, however, points to a vulnerable, trusting child, whose everyday existence is an exercise of trust in those around her and says, "Now that is true greatness to my Father."  Greatness in the Kingdom seems to be measured by how much we trust and depend on God, not in the accomplishments we acheive on our own power.

So many of us are control freaks, living our daily lives as though we were the ones solely responsible for our survival.  Parker Palmer uses the phrase "functional atheists" to describe all of us who may say we believe in God but live as though God has left us alone to fight for our own survival.  Life in God's Kingdom looks very different.  It looks like a peaceful, trusting, response to God's continual provision and care. 

Jesus lays down a great challenge for us.  He says that no one can even enter the Kingdom of God unless we have the kind of deep trust that we see in the lives of children.  That kind of trust is foreign in our world where the vulnerable are often exploited.  That's probably why Jesus was so ticked off when he warned anyone who causes a vulnerable one's trust to be damaged that it would be better for them to jump off a bridge with a stone around their neck.  So...

Life Questions:

1.  How can we humble ourselves and trust more fully in our Heavenly Father? 
2.  May God give us grace to be worthy of the trust of our children and of the God who gave them to 
     us to help raise in faith.

Prayer

Precious Jesus, who heals the sick, feeds the hungry, forgives the sinners, frees the oppressed, and whose grace sustains us every single moment of the day, give us larger faith to trust in you.  When we see children, let us see our relationship to you through their eyes.  Thank you for your love.  Amen.

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Keys To The Kingdom

Ever get lost in the mundane tasks of daily living?  Ever wonder how significant your life is while you are changing diapers, stuck in traffic on the interstate, or washing dishes?  The mundane and seemingly "insignificant" are of more eternal value than you think!

Prayer

Jesus save us from our blindness to the magnficence of daily tasks!  Open our eyes to see the potential in every moment for love and grace, to see that all time is an opportunity for Your Kingdom to break into time, to crash into this broken world of ours.  Help us acknowledge Your presence in the kitchen, at work, in bed, in our cars, and everywhere we go.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray, amen.

Matthew 16: 15-19

Comments

Remember the first time you had car keys dropped into your hands with that thrilling jingle?  You had the power and authority to take the car!  You were the master of the engine, telling it where to go, how fast to go.  You had freedom and power, and your world of possibilities grew exponentially!  If you were like me, you also had to pay for gas and $3500 for the car! 

Jesus says some astounding things in today's passage.  He says to Peter,"I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind (tie to/connect) on earth will be bound (tied to/connected) in Heaven, and whatever you loose (untie/disconnect) on earth will be loosed (untied/disconnected) in heaven."  Peter has been given a measure of authority and power in the Kingdom of God!  The Church, the followers of Jesus on earth, in fact, have been given the authority and power to expand the Kingdom of God or to expel destructive influences from the Kingdom of God!  What power and freedom and possibilities open up for us, and what great responsibilities we now bear!

So what does this mean for people learning to follow Jesus today?  Among many things, it means there are no fans, no observers, no Jesus followers who can sit in the stands of life and cheer on "those other Christians" who are confronting sin and the evil powers of this world.  When we say "yes" to Jesus' invitation to "come follow me" we say yes to being participants in advancing his Kingdom.  That means we point out and celebrate what is good and right with the world (bind on earth what is heavenly!).  It also means that we confront sin and evil where we find it with the saving love of Jesus (loose on earth what is not of the Kingdom). 

We have an obligation now, a calling.  Our daily lives possess a great significance.  When we see love expressed in a thousand tiny ways (a kiss on the cheek, taking the garbage out, working to secure a livelihood for our families and to serve others, showing courtesy and kindness to others, putting a hamburger in the hands of the man with the sign near the overpass, a visit with a lonely person), we point it out and celebrate it, for it is a sign of the Kingdom of God among us.  And when we see abuse, dysfunction, destructive conflict, hunger, pain over a lost job, disease that causes suffering, greed that takes from others, we are called to point it out and help offer a counteractive solution. 

Unfortunately, this week's events at Penn State remind us of how vitally important it is to oppose sin.  With proper intervention and reporting of the alleged cases of abuse, it is likely that further abuse could have been prevented, the integrity of an institution and its people could have been preserved, and deeper trauma could have been avoided.  May God help all of us be more attentive to protecting the weak and powerless among us.

One final word about the passage this week that is vital for the hope of all creation is that the powers of death will not overcome the love we find in God's Kingdom.  Love really does win in the end.  Paul wrote "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, 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 (Romans 8: 38-39)." 

Life Questions:

1.  Where do I see sin and evil around me that I need to stand up to?
2.  Where do I see beauty and love and service to those in need in big or small ways that I need to celebrate?

Prayer:

Your Kingdom is at hand this moment!  Give us grace to enter it and grace to help you bring it more fully into this day we live in and into the lives we interact with!  Come, Lord Jesus!

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Breaking Open

Your work bag or brief case is over-stuffed.  You stand on it, stretch it, pull it to try to get it closed.  Your smart phone calendar is colored in.  There is not white space in which to breathe.  Does your life ever feel to small to fit in all of your expectations and the expectations of others? 

Prayer

Dear Jesus, what if we are the ones trying to shrink You and the life You invite us to down to a manageable size?  What if our hopes and dreams of life are much smaller than Yours?  Free us, break us open wide to enter a bigger life of love and grace than we can imagine right now.  Give us courage, hope, and faith that You want to use us to expand Your Kingdom of love in this world of darkness.  Amen.

Matthew 12

Comments

I enjoyed shrinky dinks as a kid.  My friends and I would color on the plastic animals, people, and objects, then place them in the little oven to shrivel and shrink down into hard plastic art.  Sometimes I wonder how often we try to shrink God down to our size.  God is so big, so unmanageable for us, and, frankly, God's ways can overwhelm us.  "Love your enemies...really?  Forgive...really?  Sell all we have and give to the poor...really?" 

It's much easier for those of us who try to follow Jesus to try to shrink his teachings and way of life down to our size.  One of the ways we do that is to distill his mind-blowing, heart-changing, disquieting, and freeing stories into a list of things for us to do or not do.  While this process is important for us in order to "flesh out" how Jesus' teachings transform how we live, it is vital that we don't get so wrapped up in our "answers" that we stop listening to Jesus, stop allowing his teaching to challenge us.  When we start defending our small ideas of Jesus' Kingdom against Jesus, that's when we find ourselves in trouble. 

Matthew 12 shows Jesus to be like a crazed, sledge-hammer wielding God-man in a china shop, happily wrecking the misunderstandings and rituals the religious leaders came up with to try to shrink God's ways down to a manageable size.  Unfortunately, the religious leaders, in their attempts to faithfully live according to God's laws, made many rules for "not working" on the Sabbath out to be more important than healing others or receiving God's provision to satisfy hunger.  The Sabbath, intended to be a time of rest, renewal, and being in worship with God, became a huge, burdensome, fretful series of rules.  Jesus broke those open as he broke open the heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath and as he extended his hand to heal the man with the withered hand.  Several times in this passage he said, "I tell you, something greater than the ______ is here." 

Anytime our vision of God's way of life (the Kingdom) gets to be too small, Jesus has a way of breaking our vision open and expanding it!  Though that process can be a disturbing one, calling us to acknowledge where we are wrong and turn back toward Jesus' ways, it is life-giving!  It is expanding.  For love, mercy, and healing are greater than rules, laws and regulations, thank God!  And we will know when we are following Jesus when we see the fruits of love, mercy, and healing. 

Life Questions

1.  Who is it that we don't want to be around, that we just don't like?  This person might be our opportunity to see how big God's love is.  How can we be at peace with them or reach out to them?

2.  Where are we focusing on the "minor" issues of life while neglecting love, mercy, and healing?

Prayer

Gracious God, thank You for not allowing us to get too comfortable, for breaking us open when our love needs to grow bigger like Yours.  Thank You for being slow to anger and rich in mercy.   Give us the power of the Holy Spirit to love, heal, and forgive so that the world may know You are the Lord of heaven and earth and everything in them.

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Jesus Is Good News

"I can't let them see me this way." "I've got to get cleaned up and put some make up on before we can go."  "God couldn't possibly love me. Do you know what I've done?"  "I can't go to church like this because everybody there is always so happy."  Hmmm...Jesus challenges us to rethink these thoughts!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, let's just call a spade a spade.  You know we are quite a bit less than perfect.  We struggle with our obesessions, our impulses, our anger, our fears.  And our closets have bags of bones in them!  But we're looking for some good news today.  Help us find some hope, some good, some beauty.  We need your help.  Amen.

Matthew 9

Comments

What did we expect God to be like, the meanest boss we've ever had, the school teacher who seemed to look forward to punishment, the moody friend who made us wonder if they ever liked us?  I've met many people who seem to think that God only loves perfect people, and God is lurking behind every corner excitedly waiting to pounce on all others.  This is not the same God that we find in the Bible!

Here is Jesus, fully God and fully human, showing us that God is love.  Jesus is not waiting impatiently with a stormy red face and a tapping foot for us to "get it right."  Jesus goes to the outsiders, the irreligious, the sinners, the diseased, the demon possessed and gives them great news!  Following Jesus by faith will lead them toward health, forgiveness, freedom, and the true religion of love for God and others!  This is great news!

For all of the bad news we hear about in the media and all of the "dirty laundry (reference Don Henley's song by the same name, it's a great song!)" aired out through our tv's, mobile phones, and iPads, finally, we have some good news!  Jesus invites us broken, dirtied, sinners to follow him into new life.  There is hope!  "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."  Jesus invites you..."Come, follow me!" 

Prayer

Heal us, Great Savior and friend!  Make us whole where pieces of us have broken off and where shattered pieces of others have gouged us.  You are the hope, the good news to the world, that all can be made whole through your cross and empty tomb.  Thank you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we pray.  Amen.

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Small Faith, Big God

This is a time of disillusionment.  The American dream is crumbling around the edges and cracked in the middle.  The life we thought we would have is not the one we’re living.  Who has the power and authority to bring us new life?

Prayer

God of endless love and mercy, help us find our way!  Jesus, you grab our face in your hands, look us in the eyes and say, “Trust me.  I alone have the power to bring salvation.”  We are weak and doubtful, give us faith in your power and your Kingdom.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

Matthew 8

Comments

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).” 

Each of the short story “clips” in this chapter raise a question for us:  “Do I have faith in the power of Jesus to change my life?” Some in the stories believed in Jesus’ power more than others. 

The man with leprosy sought Jesus out and kneeled before him believing that if Jesus only willed his healing, it would happen.  He did not doubt Jesus could do it.  He had faith in Jesus’ power to heal him.  When Jesus commanded, all heaven and earth moved to fulfill that command.

The Centurion, an important man who gave leadership to many soldiers, came to Jesus with faith that Jesus’ power could act by “remote control!”  He believed Jesus didn’t even need to be physically present to heal his servant!  He believed that Jesus’ power was accessible anywhere on earth or in heaven! 

The demons even acknowledged the power of Jesus and trusted that his command could make them move. 

And then there were the disciples, panicking over the wind storm they were enduring on the sea of Galilee in their boat while Jesus slept.  It’s ironic how outsiders and  people who didn’t grow up in church seemed to have more faith in Jesus’ power to bring new life than his close followers and future leaders.  It’s not that the disciples had no faith at all, it was simply insufficient, not large enough to see the blue sky and flat seas of the day after the storm.

What disease, death, or storms are we facing that invite us to have faith in Jesus to bring new life through?  The economy?  Splintering relationships? Cancer?  Death?  I’ll be the first to admit that it can be hard to have faith in the face of such difficulties.  Thank God Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves even though the disciple’s faith was too small!

Prayer

Lord, help us in our unbelief!  Give us greater faith in you, our loving God who rose from the dead, unconquered.  Come, Lord Jesus, bring your Kingdom to full flower!

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Undivided Heart

Integrity.  Wholeness.  Peace.  Unity.  Hmmm...what does Jesus have to teach us about these?

Prayer

Like 63 voracious pirhanas, the world comes nibling furiously at us, wanting to take our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.  Advertisers clamor for our attention, time, and money.  Bosses squeeze us for productivity like toothpaste , and our entertainment options lure us into worshiping them with our time.  Give us strength, dear Jesus, to stay focused on You and Your peaceful Kingdom way of life in the midst of cymbal crashing world!  Amen.

Matthew 6

Comments

The question always comes up.  The CSI team stands around the crime scene, weapon clearly identified, the chalk outline of a body on the ground near gruesome stains, and someone asks, "We've got the method, but what's the motive?"  This is a great question, not just for solving crimes, but for those who desire to follow Jesus into eternal life. 

What is our motive?  Why do we do what we do?  Does it count in God's eyes if we do the right thing for the wrong reasons?  Is God interested in our reasons?  Read Matthew 6 and we get a resounding "YES!"  According to Jesus, we can pray, share, serve, fast, and work for all of the wrong reasons and miss out on the Kingdom way of life God intends for us to have. 

In my mind, all of chapter 6 is about asking "How completely devoted are our lives to the love of God?"  If we are going to worship, giving our time and money to church functions, even to helping the poor, so that other people might think highly of us, then we aren't pleasing our Heavenly Father.  We are still devoted primarily to ourselves and to building an image of ourselves that other people might worship.  We are not wholeheartedly focused on honoring God in our worship, prayer, work, sleeping, eating, husbanding, childrearing, playing, etc. 

The alternative life, filled with the rich provision and abundance of God is a life whose one desire, one aim, one purpose is to love and honor God above all else in its every aspect.  When our lives are purely devoted to God in this manner, we become people of integrity, wholeness, and peace, because every part of our lives is brought into order by the one supreme purpose of our lives, the worship and love of God.

That Jesus invites us to lives of wholeness, peace, and integrity is great news, for one of the terrible symptoms of living in this age is how divided our hearts are, leaving us confused about our priorities and unclear about our purpose.  His power alone can knit us together.  Let's call upon him for help that we might be saved!

Prayer

"Save us from the many things that might distract us.  Please take them away and purify our hearts.  We don't want to lose the eternal for the things that are passing (One Thing, Rich Mullins)."  Lord Jesus Christ, we worship you above all other things and through the proper use of all others things today.  You are the Lord of our time, our work, our relationships, our money and things.  We offer it all to Your use and disposal.  May Your Kingdom come!  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen!

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Grow Up!

Want to improve, get better, maximize your potential?  See what Ephesians says about growing up.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, be patient with us.  Sometimes it's hard to notice that we are growing and changing for the better.  Sometimes it feels like we are just revisiting the same issues in our lives over and over again.  Remind us that, with faith and trust in your grace, you are refining us, reshaping us, remaking us in your amazing image!  Give us great faith!  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Ephesians 4: 14-16

Comments

When I finally gave up baseball, it was largely because of the post-game "chats" that the coach held for 33 minutes after each game.  He would go on ad nauseum about our many mistakes, telling us repeatedly that if we wanted to win we needed to try harder to do things differently.  His vision of Little League baseball was to make us all fit for the World Series.  My vision was to have a good time with my friends and learn a little baseball.  It's no surprise that at the end of that season, I moved on to drumline and track. 

Looking back on that experience with 27 years of hind sight, I can see the value in pausing to review what is working and what isn't.  Sometimes after a project, we need to step back and take time to improve our awareness of what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong.  It's good to check your way points once in a while to see that you are still heading the right direction. 

Life with Jesus is no different.  Yes, it is fun and enjoyable, filled with many rich blessings of relationships and opportunities to make a difference in people's lives for the Kingdom.  And, yes, we still need to stop, take a good hard look at ourselves next to Jesus, and confess the ways that we live that still are not in line with his.  Then we need to receive his life-changing grace again and the power of his Holy Spirit, and move forward in his footsteps.

We need to be told the truth about ourselves, however painful or glorious that is.  That's how we will grow up to be like Jesus.  "We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.  But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ..."  Let us give thanks to God for those in our lives who help us see the truth about ourselves next to Jesus.  They may annoy us, but they are God's grace in action, perfecting us in Jesus Christ. 

Life Questions

1.  Do I come to God in worship, prayer or Bible study open to knowing the truth about how I am a sinner in need of grace or do I come merely to be justified, comforted, and pumped up?
2.  Who is in my life that tells me the truth about myself?  How can I purposefully ask them to help me be accountable to my life with Jesus?

Prayer

Fairest Lord Jesus, who sees through our every deception and pretense with eyes of blazing truth and love, burn away our impurities so that we may be more pure in your sight, more empty of sin and full of love.  In the powerful name of Jesus, amen.

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We've Been Adopted!!!

Feeling unattached, disconnected, unloved, alone?  Find out how God has adopted you into his family!

Prayer:

Hi God, it's us again, the ragged people who are trying too hard to hold everything together.  We need you to tie our loose ends together, to make us whole again in heart, mind, soul, and body.  Only you can do that.  So here we are, Jesus, save us, make us whole again in the power of your Spirit and love.  Amen.

Ephesians 1: 1-14


Comments

My son and I were reading a mystery the other night in which orphans were secretly being forced to work in a secret mining operation and in secret labs where strange experiments were being done.  The sad orphans were carried from place to place hidden in the back of sour smelling garbage trucks.  They were barely fed and clothed and without anyone in the world to know they were in trouble or to protect them.  These kids longed for someone to welcome them into a family where they could be loved and cared for. 

It amazes me that there are more people on our planet than ever before in recorded history, and we have more ways to communicate than ever before and yet millions of people still feel alone, unappreciated, unknown, and unloved.  To those feeling alone, orphaned, or in destructive family situations, there is great news from the Bible today...you've been adopted into a loving family!  "He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1: 5-6)."

The Bible reveals that one of the consequences of our sins is that we are cut off from God, alienated from his family.  In a sense, we all have orphaned ourselves by choice.  Thankfully, God's love stretches beyond justice into mercy and grace.  God lovingly offers himself in Jesus Christ on the cross as the atonement for our sin, satisfying the just penalty of our sin, and providing the way for us to be adopted back into his family.  The height, depth, width, and length of God's love for us cannot be measured!

What does it mean to be adopted?  First it means we have a new relationship with our God who loves us.  Secondly, it means that we are given the right to inherit the fullest life in God's Kingdom.  Third, it means that we have the responsibility to represent the family name and to enter the family mission to draw all things to peace with God through Jesus Christ. 

Let's give thanks to God for the riches that his grace freely gives us in Jesus Christ!  Let's live in and for our Heavenly Father and for His family above all.

Life Question

1.  In my work, my home, and where I go every day, how can I represent Jesus Christ and my
     heavenly family well?
2.  November is national adoption month.  Pray about adopting a child into your family or about
     helping mentor someone near you who needs some direction.

Closing Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for loving us enough to die for us and for welcoming us back into your family.  Give us grace to live as your representatives in our day to day lives.  Help us work with you to bring others into your ever expanding family, the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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God's Special Forces

Do you have a greater purpose in life than trying to survive and have a little fun along the way?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus save us from the constricting visions of what our lives are about that are given to us from the world!  You have called us to be more then consumers of goods and services, more adventurous than safety conscious, more useful to Your Kingdom than comfortable.  We are made in Your glorious image and nothing less!  Give us the grace to see ourselves in light of You!  Amen

Ephesians 1

Comments

I got bored with the daily reading plan I was using, so we're all going to Ephesians for a little while to see what God says to us there!  Boredom is not really a part of the spiritual life, because God is always being creative, always moving toward the salvation of his broken creation, and always enlisting us on the mission.  If you find yourself bored when you're following Jesus, it is a signal that it is time to pray and ask for the direction of the Holy Spirit!  Trust me, you won't be disappointed!  I did that this morning and was directed to Ephesians.  And what did I find?  Amazing stuff!

As followers of Jesus Christ, God reminds us through Paul that we are set apart (saints) for special use, destined for God's glory (the fullness of salvation), adopted into God's family, forgiven, and redeemed from the eternal consequences of our sins by grace!  If your self-esteem needs a shot in the arm, this is it!  Look what Jesus has done for us!  We, like the Israelites before us, have been chosen by God, in spite of our sinfulness, to be God's special forces, used by him to be a blessing to the world, to point the sin-sick world back to God, to be living examples of the life-changing, grace-filled love of Jesus Christ!  That's our job today and every day. 

I saw a tv show about the Navy Seals Special Operations training requirements.  Absolute dedication is required.  Prospective Seals push themselves to absolute extremes of physical endurance going without sleep, exposing their bodies to freezing temperatures, running past the point of vomiting for weeks at a time.  God invites us to nothing less than the absolute dedication of our lives and resources to loving God and others through acts of worship and service.  

Life Question:

1.  How can we dedicate our every moment to loving God and serving others at our work, in our 
     homes, at the grocery store, in our neighborhoods today?
2.  Are we honoring any other powers and authorities in our lives above Jesus Christ, the King of
     Kings?

Closing Prayer:

Lead on great King Eternal!  We await your command to spread Your Kingdom in the hearts and lives of people today.  Give us eyes to see their needs, energy to respond in compassion, and Your Spirit to draw our lives more fully into Your Kingdom!  Amen.

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