Open Your Hands and Hearts!

Scripture:

Revelation 22:12-17

12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”14 Blessed are those who wash their robes,[g] so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.16 “It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”                

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

Observation:

Jesus is speaking (through a messenger).  Our Saviour promises to be here soon.  

He will arrive bringing along rewards and repayments according to everyone's work. 

It's enough to make any works-phobic Lutheran faint. :)

Does this passage mean that salvation is a transactional matter requiring a certain quantity and quality of good works on our part in order to "earn" God's favour?

No.

The promise is to "repay according to everyone's work."  In Jesus Christ, God - our Creator and Heavenly Father - chooses to stand among us as one of us.  As such, Jesus' work is counted among our work; and, the rewards of Jesus' atoning work overflow to all who would but hold open their hands and hearts to receive them.  Note the invitation for all to wash in the waters of baptism (verse 14).  Hear Christ's yearning that anyone and everyone might join the Spirit and the Church in crying out, "Come, Lord Jesus!"

Does this passage mean that our works, good or bad, do not matter?

No.

Verse 15 makes plain that there are actions that are themselves the manifestations of hands and hearts clenched willfully shut.  Such actions offend instead of honouring God while they truly love neither the self nor the neighbour.  I do not like this.  It offends some of my post-modern sensibilities and makes me uncomfortable.  I want all to be saved regardless of merit or will.  It seems God desires that too, but is unwilling or unable to force the mutual love and respect of right-relations upon those who stand resolutely resistant.

Application:

I am tempted to focus here upon how my hands and heart are still closed at times. Surely, I have come no where close to perfection in this walk of faith.  However, I have been blessed and nurtured by my time inside the imperfect yet healing arms of the church.  I have faith in the promise that the rewards of Jesus' work to reconnect us to the heart of Parent God overflow to me whether I earn them on a given day or not.

Standing in this faith, to entertain the accuser's assessment of my shortcomings unduly is to become complacent with respect to the real work Revelation 22 calls me - and I will be so bold as to say "you" and "us" - to.  We are to join in the call we have heard from the Spirit: "Come!"  

It is a prayer of invocation: "Come, Lord Jesus, Come!" 

It is invitational proclamation: "Come! Let everyone - be they dog, sorcerer, fornicator, idolator - let everyone who thirsts for love that is true and mutual come!"

The fruitful challenge for me today in this text is not, "why do you resist receiving God's grace?"

Rather, the Spirit stirs in me saying, "why are you so reticent to share the grace you have received?"

Prayer:

Come, Lord Jesus, Come!  Do not let us fail to see and hear you present and at work amidst those of little worth according to the kingdoms of this world.  Rather, let us join your saving work of extending grace to all who would receive it.  Forgive us where we fail and deliver us from obsession with faults to a true faith in your unconditional love for us, that we may be increasingly bold in our service to You and our neighbours as disciples.  Amen.

Epiphany? Yes, please!

Today I am pondering.
I am thinking about another year gone by.
I am imagining how I'd like to live in the year to come.
I am trying to remember all I've learned about shaping SMART goals and time management.
I am planning for New Year's Eve in light of Epiphany.

In what was perhaps not the brightest move - it certainly wasn't the most liturgically pure - I planned for the congregation I serve to mark Epiphany this coming Sunday (January 3rd) instead of the Second Sunday of Christmas.  This means (gasp) I haven't taken my own advice and have given short shrift to the 12 days of Christmas.  Then again, it also means that we will mark Epiphany whereas we wouldn't otherwise.

But here's what's really cool about my geeky liturgical guilt:  

God has worked through it to provide an epiphany just for me.

In common parlance an epiphany is a, "revelation, or insight".  When Christians talk about Epiphany they usually say, "ummm" and look at their shoes.  But the wisdom of our faith tradition lifts up Epiphany as a specific example of a "divine manifestation"; namely, the incarnation of the Word of God in the fleshly birth of Jesus Christ.  Our oldest and best stories tell us that this history altering occurrence came along with all the requisite signs and wonders, including a bright, shining star and the veneration of an itinerant band of wisdom seeking heathens.

Anyway, here I sit, pondering the past, planning for the future, and mostly feeling ill-equipped for the task when a small still voice inside me chimes in, "maybe you should start with the present."

I take up the book I have been reading devotionally,
Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations by Matthew Fox
and here is what I read:

"I ponder much and reflect in my human sense how wonderful my soul is! - Mechtild of Magdeburg"

"How often do you ponder the wondrous nature of your soul?  How it gives life and meaning to your senses?  Do you stop once a month, once a week, once an hour to appreciate your inner self - the joy and beauty, the wonder and delight, the thoughts and dreams that go on inside of you?  Can you remember the last time you did this?  If not, take a break from whatever distracts you - television, work, compulsive habits - and do so.  It is time well spent."

With a New Year upon the horizon, I am tempted to fantasize about being someone I am not.  I sit and daydream about being more fit, more important, more punctual, more capable.  It is a fixation on more that constitutes a consumptive perfectionism that is violent in no small way to my soul.  And, I think I am not alone in this.  There is a large cultural movement that urges us to think about New Years Eve as a giant reset button for our lives.  It is appealing because it holds out the (mostly false) hope that anything is possible, but it comes at the expense of pushing "delete" on so much that makes us ... well ... us.

Which brings me to my epiphany about New Year's in light of Epiphany (about time, I know):

An ever descending spiral of self obsession - what I like to call the tyranny of the self - is no road to a brighter future, even if it masquerades as a plan to be more and better.  The real gift of the magi to us is neither gold, nor frankincense, nor myrrh.  Their real gift is an example we can follow.

First, they engage in the active pursuit of wisdom.  In their particular case, they are students of astronomy, although I would argue any wisdom discipline will do because the key is not the particular knowledge gained but the experience of being opened up to that which is outside of the self.  

Second, once these "wisemen" receive the gift of an epiphany from outside of themselves, they have the good sense to drop their routines and to pursue it for a time.  Having glimpsed a divine manifestation - or "Holy Moment" - they seek to draw more fully into it, not simply to understand it but to more fully experience it in every way.

Finally, arriving at the source of their epiphany, these guru's take time to give of themselves through praise and the giving of thanks - sharing some of their material resources as the last and least part of the process, I might add.

Simply put, today God has shown me that Epiphany really is about an invitation into a more life-thriving pattern of responding to the Good News and Great Joy of Christmas - the choice of the Divine Light to dwell with and even within the least and lowly.  My job isn't to make myself more of anything.  Our job is to celebrate regularly, with awe and thanksgiving, the Light that has already broken upon us.

For now, I am going to focus on a more regular pattern of celebration, praise, and thanksgiving of God: among, within and above.  For now, I'll leave off on Fox's invitation to "take a break from the things that distract" from the essential work.  It seems to me that Lent will provide a good opportunity for some of that work.

Epiphany is Always,

Phil

Ever Pet a Porcupine?

Scripture:

2 A jealous and avenging God is the Lord,

the Lord is avenging and wrathful;

the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries

and rages against his enemies.

3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power,

and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

Observation:

A lot of well intentioned ink has been spilled trying to apologize for parts of scripture that testify to God as anything other than gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

I can identify with that impulse. I know God to be gracious and merciful. I also know that I have been and continue to be in need of Divine grace on a daily (o.k. lets get real ... hourly) basis.

Part of me would like to pretend that I am morally offended by any God who is "avenging" or "wrathful" and that is why I don't like passages such as Nahum 1. That part of me nods along with the sentiment, "if that is who God is, I can do better without God."

What strikes me today most clearly is this small detail:

"the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries..."

Note: the LORD is not a hired gun who is sent to deal harshly with my adversaries.

This distinction helps me clarify two things:

1) It is not so much the idea that God "rages agains [God's] enemies that I cannot abide as the all too human temptation to assume that my enemies are God's enemies too. In fact, I yearn for God's justice - we pray for it each time we say the Lord's prayer, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." The full and final arrival of the Reign of God on earth is going to come as a great and comforting joy to those who are allied with God, but as a crisis for those who's character and actions defy God.

2) A domesticated God, who defers to my notions of what is or is not nice is no God at all.  

If we are going to confess and worship the one true God - creator, redeemer and sanctifier of all, then we must accept God's terms for relationship not the other way around.  

A god who's character and actions are subject to my approval is about as misguided as a porcupine in a petting zoo: 

in either case one goes looking for comfort 

only to end up stuck.

Application:

Today I am learning to let go of my cowardly and idolatrous desire to hold a petting-zoo god of my own making. Instead of worrying about the wrath due to the enemies of God, I choose to lean into the promise that, through Christ Jesus, I am not adversary to God, but companion to the Lord; not scornful enemy, but (hopefully) obedient child of God. Finally, I am mindful of the temptation to paint my enemies as God's enemies.

Prayer:

Holy One, You are both merciful and just. You are wrathful and loving. That freaks me out a bit. Maybe that's because You are God and I am not. Thanks be to God! Grant me the grace to accept how you decide to deal with your enemies even as you grant me the grace to pray for my own enemies. Amen.

Walking, Talking Thanksgiving

Scripture:

Colossians 3:17
"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Observation:

Whatever I do!?! Seriously?
Do you mean to tell me that God actually takes an interest in my mundane chores ... my leisure activities ... the tv I watch ... my work ... my family life ...?
If so, what does that look like? Is God a helicopter parent, always hovering within range for the divine approval or disapproval over my activities to register? Or, is God the boss that expects I am always working, always answering the phone and keeping up with emails? Or, might God be the curious type who is always ready to ask an extra question in order to find out more about me and what excites me?
As always, the type of God we serve makes all the difference to the ways we serve.

Now, let's just say I want to take Colossians up on its advice: how would I go about it? Do I put crosses on my shoes ... make sure I sign off my emails with a Pauline quote ... put a Jesus bumper sticker on the car? In answer to this question, I appreciate the proverbial wisdom of this quote (sometimes mistakenly attributed to Martin Luther), 

"The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, 

but by making good shoes, 

and selling them at a fair price.”

Application:

I am challenged by this passage to deeper accountability for how I speak and act, especially during "my down time". I don't believe that being a follower of Christ Jesus means that I can only watch "christian movies" (whatever those are), but I do have the sense that some of what I watch would be awfully hard to watch "in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

I also want to share that I have been richly blessed by the Advent discipline I took up this year - walking home the long way from the bus stop, beginning by saying, "O.K. God, here I am, where are You?" This intensely simple practise - done in a spirit of hopeful expectation has provided me with so many clear experiences of God at work close-at-hand in mundane chores ... leisure activities ... in animals, people, and nature. The experience has been truly enriching. Today, it even led to me praying for my neighbours and our neighbourhood - something I've been told is a good thing to do, believed, but never did much about.

Maybe this is what Colossians 3:17 is about at its core. The point is not that we ought to bring God into our daily work, rest and play. Rather, we each enjoy a standing invitation to join God who is already at work, rest and play in, over and through us at all times.  When we accept that invitation we do so to the glory of God and the benefit of the neighbour.

Prayer:

Here I am God. Where are You? Amen.

Seeing Through God's Eyes

Scripture:

1 Samuel 16:7

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Observation:

In this passage, the LORD is correcting his prophet, Samuel, with respect to the selection of the one to be anointed king over Israel in Saul's place. Having seen David's oldest brother, Eliab, and noticing that he was tall and strong, Samuel thinks he looks like kingly material. However, the LORD is less impressed by Eliab's physical stature and more concerned about quality of character and the depth of his faith.

This passage makes me wonder about Samuel's process of discernment.

Did Samuel hear audible corrections from God?

Did Samuel know another discipline whereby he could test competing leadings or feelings within himself in order to determine the will of the LORD?

Do you and I know and practise skills for discerning when and where God is correcting and coaching us?

However it occurred, 1 Samuel16 tells the story of how David - the youngest and least outwardly impressive of Jesse's eight sons - came to be chosen by God to lead and to serve the people of God as their earthly king. Though not a perfect person, David came to be celebrated as the greatest king in the history of Israel because he learned to occupy himself less with appearing to be strong or competent in the eyes of others and more with aligning his heart to the Divine Heart. Thus, David came to be known by God as,

"A man after my own heart." (1 Samuel 13, Acts 13)

Application:

Today I take a step back to reflect on my actions, priorities and behaviours. As I do this, I am asking what motivations or considerations are rooting these actions, priorities and behaviours? At the most basic level, am I working to impress others with the appearance of my achievements and activities; or, am I propelled forward by seeking after God's heart of gracious justice?

Lately, I've been realizing that the way in which I draw boundaries around my work needs some attention. The pattern I have developed served well for a time. It helped me learn to draw some healthy boundaries between rest and work - between abiding in holy, playful relationships and bearing fruit in the world through the active use of my God given gifts. However, today that same pattern seems to have me more focussed on the hours I am putting in as opposed to the quality and anticipated outcomes of that work. Where I stand today, an hour spent filing or answering email is the same as an hour spent leading a bible study or preparing for worship. It seems the outward appearances of work have become more important than the heart of the matter. So, I am looking for a new way to set daily, long, and short term goals that focuses me more on the quality of the work being done than the quantity.

I wonder if you have any ideas? And, I wonder where the Lord is coaxing you to make a change in the interest of putting the things God is most concerned about first in your rest, work and play?

Prayer:      (John of the Cross)

O blessed Jesus, give me stillness of soul in You.

Let Your mighty calmness reign in me.

Rule me, O King of Gentleness, King of Peace.

Amen.