Belonging, Behaving (Becoming), Believing.

Scripture:

Psalm 105:42-45

42 For he remembered his holy promise,

and Abraham, his servant.

43 So he brought his people out with joy,

his chosen ones with singing.

44 He gave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,

45 that they might keep his statutes

and observe his laws.

Praise the Lord!

Observation:

Psalm 105 has been tracing the sweeping stories of Genesis and Exodus, celebrating God at work through salvation-history to bring about the re-creation and redemption of the world. Too often we understand this divine mission as primarily concerned with our beliefs and behaviour. This error is born out of our sinful bent towards attempting to manufacture our own identities out of the building blocks of our actions and beliefs.

This Psalm (indeed the whole epic of salvation history) reminds us of a better way. This way prioritizes identity (belonging) over deeds or creeds. We are to remember that before Moses received the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai came the rescue of the people of God from slavery; and, before that exodus rescued Israel, God first created that people through a promise to Abraham.

Identity comes first. When who we are is clear, our thoughts and actions have a way of flowing naturally out of that essential centre.

Application:

I believe that we are all precious in the sight and vision of the Father. In the first case, we are beloved of our Creator and sustainer - labours of love. In the second case, we are precious because God has a vision for how we are to use our gifts to participate in the blessing and redeeming of all of creation. That is to say, God's plan is for each of us to fulfill the role of minister in service to God and neighbour. If we ignore or shirk this holy calling, then the divine kingdom will be poorer for it.

Today, I am reminded that no matter what I do (or fail to do); no matter what I believe (or lack in faith), my identity is secure. I have been adopted into God's family. As a child of God and an heir with Christ Jesus to the Kingdom of Heaven, I am never alone. I am part of an eternal community of loving justice and just love. Out of this is born a bold, brand of freedom.

Prayer:

Holy Three-in-One, thank you for your gracious, redemptive love. Thank you for your Gospel, which soothes the soul and resurrects us where the Law can only limit and kill us. Help me to be humble when that is what is needed to serve you. Teach me to be bold and confident in the real gifts, and calling you have invested in me when that is what is needed to serve you. Amen.

I've Got You Covered!

Scripture:

Jeremiah 34:17-18

17 Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me by granting a release to your neighbors and friends; I am going to grant a release to you, says the Lord—a release to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.18 And those who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make like[a] the calf when they cut it in two and passed between its parts: ...

Observation:

Good luck figuring out what the above verse means unless you are either: a) an expert in covenanting rituals in the Ancient Near East, or, b) at least familiar with Genesis 15.

On the surface, it sounds like a mafia style threat against those who would betray or defy God. But such an interpretation misses the point of covenant, namely: two (or more) entities (individuals or nations) are joined in a manner that creates or births a new entity. So, the blood involved in the various ceremonies is not meant to signify death, but birth. To drive the point home, the slaughtered animals are cut in two and the covenanting parties pass through them in a manner that evokes the messy and holy birth process itself. Sure, death is present in the ritual, but it is being subjected as opposed to being elevated.

Being heirs of the covenant between God and the whole people of God, we stand under the powerful covering of divine protection and providence. Its a pretty sweet deal. Our part of the covenant is to offer our full allegiance and devotion. God does not break covenant. So, when we fail to live up to our part of the relationship, we are not punished or threatened by God. We through our own broken free will, foolishly step out from under God's covering and are subjected to the attacks of the enemies of God.

Application:

Today is a rainy, decidedly fall-ish day where I live.  

The passage has me picturing walking with God in the rain.  

My Father faithfully holds his umbrella over me: 

covering me, protecting me, even guiding me using the 

boundary between wet and dry created by his loving efforts.  

I am free to step away from this sanctuary, and I do more

often than I care to admit. When I do, I get wet.  

Each time I find myself soggy and fearful, 

I look to God and am beyond surprise that the invitation 

remains open to walk once more.

Prayer:

Lord, grant me the good sense to stay warm and dry by your side this day and always. I rather listen to your songs and stories than go puddling about anyway! Amen.

Refugee Crisis. Where to begin?

Scripture:

Jeremiah 33:10

Thus says the Lord: In this place of which you say, “It is a waste without human beings or animals,” in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without inhabitants, human or animal, there shall once more be heard the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, ...

Observation:

The predicted conquest is upon the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem is under siege. Defeat is imminent. This will be no negotiated surrender with favourable terms (of course the King will survive as is often the case with Kings...).  

Utter ruin will follow shortly. Suffering and desolation will rule the day.

What does God speak into the midst of this scene?

There is no heavenly taunt, 

"I told you so! This is what happens when you betray or fail me."

There is no last minute wincing rescue, 

"Ok, now that you know I'm serious about the rules ... just one more chance."

There is only a promise. Silence will not persist. Destruction is not the end.  

Death will never have the last word.

I place my faith in the God who promises thusly and works tirelessly, at times visibly yet often in hidden ways, to fulfill them.

When the situation is dire and our faith fails, we can turn to God who is always faith-full to overflowing.

Application:

I have been pondering the plight of refugees during the past 36 hours along with many of you. I have been trying to understand how to respond. In conversation with others, the suggestion has come up to rally our congregations and sponsor a family of refugees through one of the organizations the ELCIC is partnered with. It is one thing to cry out in general for our governments to accept more refugees, it is another to ask ourselves honestly what we are personally willing to commit to.

I am embarrassed to say sponsorship seems to me an overwhelming task, 

to start a sponsorship group, to commit to raising about $20 000... 

It's not possible, is it?

Our congregation is struggling to meet our annual budget while at the same time participating in no few mission initiatives both locally and globally. I recognize that this feeling stems from a perspective of scarcity and that the kingdom of God is an economy of abundance, yet I am afraid of bringing such a bold (and quite frankly prophetic) challenge to the congregation I serve. I suspect I am not alone in these feelings.

The situation, as has been so powerfully encoded in the haunting photo of Alan Kurdi's 3 year old drowned corpse, is dire.

Our actions, to wage hope and justice and peace in this world with a special eye to the foreigner, the widow; the least and the lowly do matter. They are vital because they express, no matter how imperfectly, the love of God for all creatures and indeed all of creation. But, to begin with or focus too narrowly upon our actions is to set ourselves up for failure before we begin.

We must begin with the promise. It is as old as Jeremiah - far older in fact. The promise has been perfected in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We do not own or possess the promise, in fact, we have been commanded to share it freely.

So, we must begin and persist in the promissory Word of God. 

This relationship, makes us bold and ready to act: 

full of hope, yet tethered by the humility of knowing what we are and are not capable of.

Prayer:

Visible and Hidden God, You make and keep your promises. Help us to see that, and as we do, we ask for transformed vision to see what you would have us do in Your service in the world. I long for the silencing of the drums of war around the globe. I ask for peace and rest for all those fleeing violence of many kinds. Even more, I long for the promised resumption of joy and mirth as Your promised reign breaks forth. Until then, grant me good courage and humility to act in ways becoming of Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Word of God, Word of Life; Thanks be to God

Scripture:

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All scripture is inspired by God and is [a] useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Observation:

I often hear verse 16, above, dealt with on its own. It has become somewhat of a proof text for those who want to argue for scripture as inerrant and exhaustive in its revelation of God's definitive will with respect to every possible circumstance.
What stands out for me today is how verse 17 qualifies very 16. It seems to say that teaching and training in righteousness is not an end in itself (to be reached by the proper use and understanding of scripture which functions as the answer key for all life's questions), but a means to an end. The end is not that we would be set apart from the world for righteousness sake (getting a perfect score), but that we will receive continually the capacity and the character to participate with God in the world in goodly ways. In this way, scripture becomes less an answer key and more an ongoing conversation with the Teacher.

Application:

Someone said to me yesterday, "Pastor, I believe that we are saved by grace alone, but what is grace, and how do we know we have it?"

Good question, right!?

My first (and only completely honest) answer is that God's grace is not a thing that can be possessed, but an epically deep and wide place in which we stand. We are promised by God that we have been put into this grace place not through any action of our own, but through God's sacrificial and faithful love. But we are invited to explore the grace place. The work of faith is not achieving or possessing grace, but exploring its depth and breadth. It is worthy work and can never be completed in this lifetime.

Grace is God's gift to us, freely offered. 

As a gift, grace cannot be possessed or had. 

Grace is far more able and likely to take hold of us than we of it. 

This gift is meant to animate our activity in the world 

while enriching our relationships with God and neighbour. 

Grace does not paralyze us, but gets us going and keeps us moving.

I wonder how you would answer those questions put to you:

i) What is grace?

ii) How do you know you have it?

Prayer:

Creator, your providential love brings forth everything we need to grow and flourish under Your continuous care. Today I am thankful for the holy scriptures and for Your standing promise to meet us there anytime so that we might converse with your Living Word. Thank you for the big space of Your grace! Grant us good courage to explore boldly and to invite outsiders in. Amen.

Jars of Clay

Jars containing scrolls of the Hebrew scriptures (what Christians refer to as the Old Testament) were discovered in 1947.  The scrolls they preserved have been dated to 68 AD and even earlier.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 32:14-15

14 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. 15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

Observation:

Here's the scene - Jerusalem is under siege by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah has been jailed by King Zedekiah because of his stubborn refusal to prophesy anything but defeat and doom for Judah - the city will be sacked, the kingdom overthrown and much of the people exiled. Just then, a shady relative of Jeremiah's offers to sell him some land. At the Lord's instruction, Jeremiah goes through with this ridiculous real estate deal, buying land that he himself predicts will soon be attacked, plundered and seized by the King of Babylon.

Once the paper work is all drawn up and witnessed, Jeremiah makes provision for them to be stored in the closest equivalent to a safe-deposit box in his day - an earthenware jar. Such a vessel could protect documents made of primitive paper, papyrus, or even prepared animal skin from the elements over the long term.

(For an idea as to just how effective this approach could be, try looking up the Dead Sea Scrolls.)

In his role as prophet, Jeremiah resolutely refuses to speak falsely in the name of the LORD. As such, he proclaims only the warnings, verdicts and promises he receives. In today's passage he offers a word of hope. This word is neither naive nor trite. Jeremiah rejects the prosperity prophets of his day who promise that no defeat or harm can ever come to God's chosen people. So too, he avoids patting us on our heads in the midst of our suffering saying,

"God never gives us more than we can handle, dear."

I imagine that most of Jeremiah's contemporaries thought he was crazy. Maybe that's even why so many of his prophesies were recorded - for entertainment sake. Eventually though, because he faithfully heard and responded to what the LORD said to him, those who were indeed exiled began to see him as a true prophet. At that point, I can almost hear them asking each other, "Well, if he got all the bad stuff right, couldn't he be right about the good stuff too?" And in the midst of their waiting and longing, someone finally made the connection that they were not the first generation of God's people to be conquered, enslaved or exiled ... nor would they be the first generation to have their pleas heard by God ... nor would they be the last to be claimed, set free, and returned home.

Application:

I wonder if Paul had this section of Jeremiah in mind when he wrote to the church in Corinth:

7 But we have this treasure [the gospel of Jesus Christ] in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed...[2Cor 4:7-9, ESV]

Holding on to faith in the midst of trials and tragedies is difficult. Encouraging others in the midst of such struggles can sound hollow unless they know that we have passed through similar difficulties and learned to see God's presence and activity all along the way. This is exactly the context of Jeremiah. God know's the people are in for a rough ride, so God sends them words of hope meant to remind them of the many and various ways their God has worked through the ages to preserve and redeem their ancestors. In this way, Jeremiah 32:15 is revealed to be more than a cliche. It is a promise from God who has proven time and time again to be faithful.

All this begs a few questions:

1) What tangible signs of God's faithfulness have I been given to share and preserve?

2) What am I doing to share these signs now and to preserve them to be shared with future generations?

How about you?  

What is the best way you know of to make sure your loved ones will have access to signs that God's power and will to save are real when they need such signs most?

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, I give thanks that I know your calming, correcting, inspiring touch. You are the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecied new covenant living within us, written upon our hearts. Thank you for your presence in good times and bad. Work within me to embolden my imperfect faith, so that others might be aided by my sharing what you have so freely given. Amen.

"I am God - and I approve this messenger."

Scripture:

2 Timothy 2:12-15

12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he will also deny us;

13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself. 14 Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

Observation:

Verse 15 jumps out at me today. The mentor's encouraging instruction to his protege is, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth." This verse is the obvious next step from 12-13: 

God's faithfulness is not limited by or a response to our faithfulness to God. Rather, our capacity for being faithful towards God and neighbour is set free and super-charged by the unshakeable foundation of God's grace.

This word comes to me today as both invitation and challenge. I am learning to listen carefully when the word sounds both unconditionally affirming and risky at the same time as it is often the mark of a call from the LORD (a kairos, if you will).

Application:

Sometimes, in the name of being relatable or humble, I play small. I play up my weaknesses, failures, and sins in the hopes that others will see that none of us are perfect and that perfection is not a requirement for walking with the LORD. Experience shows this can be a useful strategy for engaging people who don't see themselves as particularly "godly". That said, experience also reveals that it is too easy to get stuck in this mode of playing small and so avoid the scary and awesome work of following where God is leading.

...

I have just spent 30 mins trying to put into words the sense of leading and correction I am experiencing today in this "kairos".

I'd like to have this post polished and complete for my sake and yours; but, sometimes discerning a word from the LORD isn't as tidy as I'd like. I can hear God saying clearly, "I approve of you."

I know this unconditional promise is as true for me as it is for each of you reading this.

The question remains: what would God have me/you/us do in response?

It is a question worthy of chewing on today. Care to join me?

Prayer:

God, the noise of our lives is too often a distraction from hearing your call clearly. Today, I lift up especially the "back-ground noise" of past failures and enduring character flaws that make it so difficult to believe I am worthy in your sight. Grant respite from this unholy din, and new ears to hear, so that I might say with the faithful throughout the ages: "speak, Lord, your servant is listening!" Amen.