The signal broke through the ionosphere

 It's kind of like a radio signal breaking through the ionosphere and travelling through space into eternity.

Oh how awful I am to be a slave to sin! I try to be good but fail to all sorts of temptation. You want the truth? That's the truth of it. I'm addicted to sin and can't stop it. I hate it but I keep going back to it. I'm a slave to sin, to gluttony, to sexual desires, to murder of all sorts, I covet, I steal, I judge falsely, I break every one of the commandments in some form or another. I'm a slave to sin and that's the truth of it. 

Knowing my sinful self, I live in the fear of a God that is just the opposite of my sinfulness. God never changes. God always protects me and yet I know that God hates my sin more than I hate my sin. I deserve death and eternal damnation. That's the truth of it.

I look around and see that everyone struggles with sin. Some acknowledge the struggle, some run from the struggle, some give up and run towards the sin for even more of that good stuff. And then there are those that admit their sin, realize they are slaves to sin and turn to God.

Or did God turn to us? I hear the message of the Baptist in the wilderness to Repent! Turn around. See God! See God in flesh among us. Give God glory even in the midst of our sin.

Where is the Truth in all of this? I know I sin... that's one truth, but how do I deal with my sin?

Then I hear the Gospel of John 8:31-36. Jesus is Truth. Truth leads to freedom... my freedom comes through the Truth. And real Truth is revealed from above. From the other side of that ionosphere so to speak. The Truth came down to me beneath the ionosphere.  Only with Jesus can I break through and be free for eternity. 

It's on this "other" side and then on "this" side that Jesus frees me. He frees me from my sin beneath and upon this earth to a new life in eternity. Will I live in this freedom? Will I return to my sinfulness? 

Most likely. But I can return, repent, and live in the knowledge that my Truth, my Jesus, my Savior has a place for me on my journey towards his house and his Truth on the other side... even as I live here and now.

You see, it's not just about how I get there. I go along and grow. I go along in my truth of sin and look to what Jesus Truth has done for me. 

I can't do this... but Jesus has already done this for me. Jesus is the one that frees me, the slave to sin. Frees me to live a life in joy, happiness, love, honor, service and discipleship to the One who grants the freedom and to the other people God gives me daily who are all in the same boat with me in sinfulness.

So I rejoice that Truth and Freedom and Jesus come to me, not through some ritual or some automatic descendancy. Truth comes to me and frees me to live for one another and live in the knowledge that I'm free from sin. I can leave that sinful stuff behind and respond in the joy of eternal freedom.

The signal broke through the ionosphere... came to earth and gets sent right back freeing all of us to a live a life of freedom, on and on and on into eternity.

All thanks to God for loving grace and freedom and life!

Thanks be to God... today... tomorrow... and forever!

Standing Under the Sun

 I look towards a sunrise or a sunset and begin to realize my place in this universe. It's a place before God. It's a place that needs God. 

I read in the book of Genesis... Eve produced Cain with the help of God. Eve also produced Abel with the help of God and then once again... things took a turn.

Two brothers offering gifts and one is jealous of God's acknowledgement of the other brother's gift to God. Murder... death... separation happen.

Sometimes I think I'm like Cain. I'm produced with the help of God, yet I get jealous of my brother and "kill" him, so to speak. And yes... I suffer the consequences of my sin. My brother's blood cries out to me, and to God from the very ground of this earth... but God forgives me and saves me and marks me for protection against the evil of this place under the sun. 

In my sinfulness, I am saved through the waters of baptism and marked as God's own child... even in the midst of my sin, God loves me.

You see, I can't trust myself. I'm going to sin. I can't make myself right before God. I can't... I sin! So, why do I sometimes think  that I can regard others with contempt? They are in the same situation that I'm in. All of us sin and need to take refuge in God alone. Surely I can't hide in my own good works.

Jesus tells a parable about a couple guys who come to the temple to pray. One of the guys prays about how great he is... he prays I, I, I, I, I... me, me, me... It's like he is praying to himself and how God owes him something. 

The other fella knows his place before God. He knows that he is sinful and in need of God's grace and love. This guy realizes his sin before God and prays for God to have mercy on him.

How do I internalize this parable? I realize that there is only one "Big shot" in heaven, and that's not me. There are Children of God in heaven.

So, I need to realize that I can't exclude myself from the other people around me. My sin is great and I'm no better than anyone else as far as sin goes.

Jesus does not justify my sinful life... he hates it!

There is a danger in spiritual pride.

God "owes" me nothing. In fact, everything I have comes from God. Not because I have been good and done all the things to please God, but because God chooses to.

I open my soul to God, instead of locking on myself. No matter how  good I think I am; I confess my need for God to save me from my sin. I certainly can't trust in myself to be righteous.

I turn to God in trust... unquestioning trust. I look for God's justification and acceptance of heaven's grace. I need Jesus to touch my life, my soul, my being.

And yes, I look for a second childhood before Jesus. For I am fully dependent on God. 

God loves us not for being good. God loves us because God helped  our mother make us. God loves us because we are part of a creation given by God. God loves us as children who need him and his love to survive a life not only under this sun but beyond this sun into another place and  time. God loves us because God chooses to love.

So, here I am Lord, standing under the sun, asking for mercy because I'm sinful. Only you, God, can save this your child. I cry out to you... today... tomorrow... and forever. Here under this sun and beyond this sun in your eternal realm of love, grace and glory.

I fall in the arms of Jesus and seek his touch always.

Come on already

 

Come on already! Just this week I was impatient. On my way to the drive through after sitting through a concert that my grandson Daemien played in, some one pulled out in front of me and drove slowly... Come on, you Jackass! Then I get to McD's and the person in front of me takes forever to pay. After she pays, the attendant takes forever to take my money and the food takes forever to come to the window. Come on already!

There's a parable in the book of Luke about a poor lady that wanted a judge to give her justice against her opponent.  This judge didn't really care about God or the people. The woman was probably poor and didn't have any power to hold over the judge, so she pesters the crap out of the judge so much and so many times that the judge finally grants her request.

So what do the above two paragraphs have in common for me? I think God has a message for me here, and maybe it applies to you as well. That's up to you. But here is what I gather:

Before God I hope and desire to be faithful, true, and honest in the hope that God would keep me in his care. But then I realize that all that action of mine is a little screwy and backwards. God cares for me and loves me into being faithful, true and honest with him... he doesn't love me and care for me because I'm faithful, true and honest.

But kind of like this woman going to the judge, I go to God in prayer and ask and sometimes wrestle with God to help me and guide me and show me his will and his way for my life. I wrestle with God because I want answers!

But... I don't want to wait! Hurry it up God! Give me what I want! Fix this thing or that thing and tell me what to do or how to handle this or that situation.  Pick up the pace! Don't dart out in front of me and then slow down. Don't drive up to the window of my life and take forever to grant me what I want! Come on, God! I don't have forever, like you do!

So my prayer life goes. I go back and back and back for the same thing and no answer. I persist like the woman with the judge and bug the crap out of God. I don't give up and I persist.

And then through this little passage in Luke, I think about this woman and the judge and I also think about me and God.

God teaches me to be patient. In this patience God is making me persistent and more importantly creating in me faith. God is faithful. I hear the voice of God telling me that there is more to all of this than any request I may make.

God answers my prayer through a call to me to stop being in such a hurry. Listen and respond to the call. There IS after all this forever thing going on, that goes far beyond my persistent requests. God wants to hear from me over and over and over again. Through all this prayer, God is WITH me, God HEARS me, and God responds to me and my prayer requests.

And then,,,, beyond my persistent prayer requests and the constant requests of all God's people... a Kingdom is coming. A kingdom led by Jesus. A Kingdom of Jesus' faithful gathering together with Jesus. A Kingdom where Jesus IS faith. A persistent faith of the people from Jesus. A Kingdom in which the faithful don't give up and a Kingdom where all God's people respond to the call with the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to each and every one of God's faithful people. This is a Kingdom that comes to me and to you and to all who believe and have faith in that time when all will see Jesus face to face. Jesus comes... yesterday... today... tomorrow and will be forever.

Lord, may I be like that poor old lady. May I be persistent in my requests to you, knowing all along that, you give me faith in time, you have so much more in store for me than I could ever imagine.

God will answer prayer. In a way that is beyond any expectation I may have placed upon God. Believe it!

So, Billy... get off your high horse. Settle down. It's in God's time not yours... have a little faith will ya?

How about you? Can you relate to my situation here?

Return in Faith and Believe

 

Ten lepers... all healed. Jesus sees them and loves them and has compassion on them. Jesus commands them to show themselves to the priests... but along the way... healing occurs. One of the lepers is a Samaritan, kind of a double outcast, not only is he a leper, he is spurned by Jews. 

The Samaritan didn't even get to the priest, he turned back to Jesus. I suppose the other nine strictly followed Jesus' command to show themselves to the priest.

I can identify with the Samaritan and the other nine. If Jesus commanded me to go to the priest... I go!

Also, I can identify with the Samaritan. I think I identify with the Samaritan even more. I'm a diseased outcast myself. I see Jesus... Jesus sees me and loves me. Jesus has compassion towards me and heals me. Jesus heals me in a much deeper means than from leprosy and disease to body. Jesus heals me eternally. Jesus heals my soul with his love. 

As I journey through life, as my body rots and decays and becomes diseased; I notice a healing taking place. A deep healing... from the inside out. And the healing is from the love and compassion Jesus has already shown to me, without my even making it to the priest.

Jesus loved me so deeply that he suffered and died and rose again, all for my disease and death that I am going towards in this life. Jesus loved me to death... his death and my death. 

Just as in my baptismal waters... while going under the water... I died to myself. Even as an infant... I died in my sin to rise again to a new life in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A new life free to me as a loving gift. I do nothing for this gift of love from God.

And Jesus returns to me in body and spirit each and every time I follow his command and partake of his body and blood in with and under the bread and the wine of communion. Jesus comes to me... both in my body through the bread and the wine and in my spirit through his body and blood. I take Jesus in and he is part of me, healing me for a future resurrection even after Jesus own resurrection and promise to return for me, for you, and for all who have faith and believe in Jesus.

I'm a sinful, separated leper for sure. But along the way Jesus has loved me and saved me and healed me in a much deeper sense than this rotting flesh of mine reveals. I certainly do not deserve this gift of healing on my own accord.

My response? Thanks be to God! 

Jesus didn't ask to be thanked or worshipped --- but, I think, myself and the rejected Samaritan leper, witnessed Jesus' deep love and compassion... and we return to Jesus with a thankful heart to worship Jesus. To love Jesus, to be a disciple of Jesus. To follow Jesus.

Jesus is my savior and your savior as well. Jesus saves you from sin, death and  the devil. He has done all that needs to be done to give you life, here today, tomorrow and forever! Return in faith and believe. My only response.

Thanks be to God!

(Painting by Melani Pyke)

Forgive

 

Jesus can be blunt. Jesus can seem mean. Jesus can give some really tough and brutal commands.

How am I supposed to forgive that low life neighbor of mine after all they have done to me. They lie, cheat, steal and gossip all the time about me. That neighbor slanders me and ruins my reputation. 

Forgive? No way! I want to eliminate them, kill them, be done with all they have to say. I want to hurt my neighbor in so many and various ways. How else am I to respond? I want to hurt him individually, up close and ruin my neighbor.

Lord, Jesus, you want me to forgive? No way! I'm just going to act like I forgive. I'm going to get all churchy and be all pleasant in some fake forgiveness that looks good to the public and my friends at church. Yep! That'll do it. And I'll look good too!

Then I hear Jesus tell me to forgive and forgive and forgive, over and over and over. If my neighbor asks forgiveness just keep on forgiving. I hear Jesus tell me that's what I'm commanded to do.

Jesus tells me all that churchy forgiveness crap I'm doing is just causing problems for someone seeking to follow him. My fake forgiveness is leading them astray. My churchy sin is a snare, a trap to the new disciple. I set a trap that will snap on myself. So now I need forgiveness myself for my own deceptive behavior. 

How, Lord, am I to do this forgiveness thing sincerely?

I look to you, Lord Jesus... upon the cross... you show no anger as you bleed and die... yet I see you furious when the weak are deceived, when the poor go hungry, when the old are abandoned. You seek the lost, bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong are destroyed. 

You are humble on the cross when you forgave the world and died for sin... yet you are angry when I don't forgive... truly forgive.

Lord... I need faith in this forgiveness of neighbor thing. I'm just as sinful as my neighbor, I know. Help me forgive. Give me your true humble faith.

But what is faith? Best I can figure... faith is casting that tree or even a mountain out into the sea of an unknown future with the hope that life is given. I mean really... how's that tree going to have life in the middle of the sea. And what use is that tall mountain in the sea. I don't know. But, I'll need the faith that the unknown future will take care of all the questions I may ever have. 

Lord, I need this kind of faith when I forgive my neighbor over and over and over again. I need this faith that my forgiveness is real. I need this faith based in your humility and making me humble. 

Help me to forgive like you forgave me and all the world. I know that I'm responsible for my evil and my failure to forgive my neighbor. I don't seek any reward for forgiving. It's what you expect and I'm only doing what you command. 

Lord, forgive my sin as I forgive those who sin against me.

In the unknown future of your love and grace... I forgive.

You're tough command is tough love as well. Tough, eternal, everlasting, love. I'll forgive and forgive and forgive and forgive forever, because I know what you did for me on that cross. You took care of it and made my future in you bright. I know I'm cast into that sea of everlasting life with you. I don't really care how it turns out, because it's with you and I love you.

Thanks for being blunt and brutal and sometimes mean to me. It's just what I needed.

Thanks be to God.... today... tomorrow... and forever!

Heaven and Hell

 

What's on my mind? --- Dives and Lazarus.

Dives, a rich man and Lazarus, a poor beggar.

Opposites... Heaven and Hell...

Opposites with a great big chasm between them.

I think of hikes in the Smokies. I think of looking out over form the top of one mountain to the top of another mountain. I think of the amount of effort it would take to get from the peak on which I stand to the peak on which perhaps someone else is standing and looking my way.

I confess that, in this life there have been times that I have created a chasm between myself and someone else. Even someone I love and care for... yes I can and do create chasms.

I confess that I create chasms between myself and someone that I should show compassion and love. I could feed them. I could listen. I could care. I could love... but I insulate myself from the need they have and create a chasm.

I create a chasm between myself and God when I fall into my own selfishness and believe that I don't need God. I can save myself. I can do better than this life all on my own.

Sometimes it's not a chasm. Sometimes I erect walls and push the other person back and ignore their need to the point that I don't even want to see the pain and torture that the other person is enduring. I erect a wall, so that I don't have to meet that person and confront the need.

Like Dives during his life on this earth, I become so absorbed into myself that I can't see. I can't see the need of my neighbor, I can't see the hunger, the pain, the suffering. I can't see because all I see is myself!

Lord, forgive me! Forgive me as I remember my sin. Forgive me as I pray and confess before you and all people my sin.

On this earth and in this time, all Lazarus wanted was a piece of bread, a crumb from a table. Lazarus plead to Dives for a little attention to his needs. And then...

As Dives was after this life... he plead to Lazarus for a drop of water. But the chasm was in place. One mountain to another. A chasm too deep for help. It was all too late now...

So what do I make of this? I know, here and now, that God comes to me through the Word, through the Water of my baptism, through the Bread and the Wine and the presence of Jesus. It's all here and now. God crossed that great chasm of my sin and his love for me with the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, God's son and God in flesh. Why? To save me from my sin that created the chasm to begin with because God loves me.

God loves you as well. God crosses the chasm in the here and now that we may all come to believe in the here and now. 

We are free to live in the here and now with compassion for one another. To care for one another, to feed one another, to listen to one another, to break the wall down and welcome one another and live for God and one another, crossing chasms and breaking down walls while we are still in the here and now. Why wait? God has set us free to love, here and today.

Every day is a time to love God, serve God and to love and serve one another.

Don't wait! Don't wait! Please, don't wait!

Thanks be to God!

Face the Facts

 Let's face facts. I cannot be my own savior. 

Am I casual about my soul? Do I really mean it when I profess Christianity? Do I really go at it like it's life or death? 

I tend to work harder at earthly goals than I do on my discipleship of Jesus. I talk more about ham radio, morse code, football,  this and that and the other than I do about following Jesus. Does my life with Jesus show up in daily conversation and daily living? Can people tell that I follow Jesus?

Do I plan my earthly future more than I plan for a heavenly future with God? Do I consider home to be with God or do I consider home to be with family here on earth?

Am I child of earth or heaven? Do I claim being a child of God? Even on Monday?

Do I immerse myself in this world and let heaven go by the way?

Let's face facts. I need forgiveness and salvation from God.

But God has made me a steward. I may be a steward of a pig sty, but non the less God has made me a steward. I'm not the owner. God is the owner of my life. I'm only the steward of what God has already given me.

And every day I must think back and account for my use of the gifts of what God has given me. I'm a steward with wonderful gifts given straight from God. How great is that?

I handle this world's gifts as a steward, as a caretaker and I deal directly with the God who made me and loves me to death so to speak.

I am free to live my life as a steward in the light and the sight of eternity. God frees me to live not for this world but in this world with my sights set on eternity with God. Eternity now and forever. Eternity here and there.

You see, little things matter. In the eyes of God, greatness is not size. Greatness is like intensity. Greatness is to work as a disciple of Jesus, full steam ahead with all the passion I can gather.

The cross was a small thing in comparison to the greatness of the act of love that Jesus took upon it. Jesus was intense in the gift of grace to all people.

When I think of earthly wealth it pales in comparison to what Jesus did for all people upon that teeny tiny cross. 

Wealth is in Jesus righteousness... not any earthly endeavor of my own.

But there is a choice here and now. I can't walk both east and west. I need to choose. Am I following Jesus or myself?

Will I choose to develop my life here in this earthly home? Or will I choose something else?

I choose Jesus. I choose to live with the ONE God.

In this choice, may I work as hard to follow Jesus as his disciple as I would work to save my own skin in this world. The Dishonest Manager account in Luke 16 reminds me of the passion that can be taken to save skin in this earthly place. That guy was out to make a way for himself when his life was about to change drastically. He went about saving his own skin with great passion! He was intense. Read the account for yourself... Luke 16:1-15.

So, for me, my real treasure is not earthly. My real treasure comes from my love for Jesus... here in this earth... but more so.... in paradise forever.

Sure... I'm still going to stumble along on this earth and pull some really boneheaded mistakes in the eyes of God. But my passion, my love and my following is as a disciple of Jesus.

But it will be OK. All because Jesus loves me enough to make me his steward here and now and forever with him.

So how about you?

For me? All thanks to God in Christ Jesus!

Lost

 

Boy oh boy! Is it ever so easy to get lost. As a sheep, I can eat those tufts of grass that lead me away from the pasture step by step, bite by bite, into a world of sin, temptation and evil. Bite by bite I go towards, greed, move a little further away towards gluttony, take a couple more bites and I'm off into sexual desires and satisfactions. Bite by bite, tuft of grass by tuft of grass, I wander away from my fellow sheep into a world of my own.

Sometimes I meet up with some other lost sheep and then along comes the Shepherd. The Shepherd comes along to sit with and eat right beside all of us lost sinners. He comes to us in the flesh and blood of Jesus, to sit by my side and the side of the sinners with me.

I didn't ask for Jesus to seek me or to even eat with me, Jesus just takes it upon himself to find me. Jesus is always following me as I nibble my way away from the flock. And once I think that I have found the way myself, the way to that perfect life, I realize that I have nibbled my way into a world of my own, that leads to NOTHING but me! Boy oh boy, am I ever lost now!

But Jesus sees me as precious for some reason. God looks on each one of us and tells us that earth's treasure isn't in the silver, gold or diamonds. Earth's treasure isn't in power or mighty kingdoms. Earth's treasure is each person that God has created.

For God gave it all. God turned it all upside down. God turned the earth, over and over to find one, to find each individual person... yet all people. God came to supper with us, he lived with us, he died for us, he rose again ahead of us and gave it all for us... for me... for you... for all. Each individual is precious to God and at the same time all people are loved by God.

And from God's finding me, finding you; I have joy and you have joy and God has joy. I say rejoice! God has found you and me!

The Law condemns me, It shows me how I deserve hell... yet the Law seen through the love and grace of the Gospel, leads me, guides me, and frees me to forget my sinful self in the knowledge that God has done everything that needs to be done, because God loves me enough to save me, and to find me, and to set me free to love him, and to love my neighbor. 

And to this... Thanks be to God!

Focus

 Jesus demands our focus, attention and close hearing to his word. I must give my undivided attention to Jesus even in the midst of the sinful, noisy, tempting world in which I live. Jesus demands my focus on him. And  that's a good thing. If I look away, I stray and am lost. If I focus on Jesus and listen I can hear his will and way in daily living. I will stray. I will look away. But Jesus daily calls me back. Daily Jesus grants me forgiveness and a new direction.

Jesus tells me to bear my cross. It seems funny that when he placed this demand, Jesus had yet to carry his own cross to that new hill of God. A New Testament Hill of Calvary where, like years before at Mount Sinai, God broke through to us, with the Law, but on this hill, Jesus breaks through to us with grace and love beyond anything I could do for myself or ever earn on my own.  

In Jesus day, they all knew what carrying the cross was about. It was a familiar and cruel sight to see. Yet, I suppose today we see just as many cruel sights of death and destruction as well. So, as I follow Jesus my sinful desires clash with this demand from Jesus to carry my cross and die to myself for the final joy of the gift of resurrection that only Jesus can give as a sign of his triumph for me. As I consider being a disciple of Jesus I must be serious in the act of carrying my cross out, I must see and count the cost that Jesus took upon himself for me.

It's important that I listen. I want to listen. I want to hear. I want to obey. I want to focus and listen and follow. For in the following lies not only death but life and joy in a resurrection free for me because of  the great cost Jesus paid in his, life, death and resurrection.

In joy I listen, pick up the cross, focus, and follow. How can I do anything else? It's a love given at a great cost. 

And it's all there for everyone to receive.

Great Feast

 

So, it's easy for me to fall into the sin of believing that the world and all people should revolve around me and my needs. It's easy for me to expect God to forgive my sin and restore me to myself again as the center of it all. It's easy for me to think that when I approach that Great Feast to come, that God would call me forward to the table in honor with all the disciples, prophets and leaders of his kingdom. That's easy... but it's a fantasy.

I'm not the center. The world and all people do not revolve around me. I don't deserve honor at the table because of myself. I'm the sinner that deserves hell for the terrible sins I have committed. I'm the evil person that thinks that everyone should do my will in my way and for me. Rather, I'm the poor person in spirit and the needy person that needs a hand out. 

And all of this drives me to acknowledge. My lowliness is a celebration of gratitude that springs from the depth of my spirit to God. When God has given so much through the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, my lowliness jumps out from the reverence that I am a sinful man. Sinful yet God gives me the knowledge of sins forgiven. My sins that have been labeled as reason to be stoned and killed. 

But... I live in the surprise that God has called me to that Great Feast as one he favors. I am one that God dies for. One that God forgives. My heart breaks and is contrite. I am humbled in the presence of God... yet somehow, for some reason he exalts me. What love! 

What love God has for me and for you as well. That even in the midst of sin and the fire of hell, God would pull me out, call me and gift me to sit at the Table. To privilege me to be able to work in the Kingdom, here in this place and forever to come.

Lord, I give you thanks that you heal on the Sabbath or any other moment of time, for when you rested on that seventh day, my heart swelled in praise to the goodness you show your people. 

You didn't leave me uncured. You saw me as precious and healed me when everyone thought the time wasn't right. Yes, you took the chance and went against the grain to heal me on a sabbath. your day of rest and my day to give thanks and praise you and you alone.

Thanks be to God... today... tomorrow... and forever!

Baptism

 Today, I think of baptism. Jesus baptism in contrast to my baptism specifically. 

Both are a death to self. Jesus died in obedience to the Father's will.

It wasn't easy. Jesus was human too. I don't think he wanted death. I don't think he wanted the suffering and the pain. But he was obedient to the will of the Father. So, Jesus faced the baptism of death.

And then came those few days in the tomb of his death. Under the water so to speak. Dead to the world, yet being changed and brought to life, resulting in resurrection.

I live a lifetime of baptisms of a sort. Each day I must die to myself. None of this life is about me. But rather through the gift of baptism, I find my death to self, under that water, and I see only a life in God as I arise from the tomb of those waters, to see the Light of God shining brightly into my now open eyes. 

It never was about me  and my life. It was always about God and the life given to me... even in my sin and death and selfishness. God displays to me a division in my life lived to me and his life lived in me. 

A huge division! My life, lived for me, will only result in my death and eternal damnation. God's life lived in me results in my death to self, and a resurrection to life with, in and for God.

Only through God can I live. 

And I can expect it to take my lifetime to die to myself and my sinfulness each and every day. 

But in the end... it's God who gives me life eternal... nothing about myself.  Wonderfully, a love that God has for me... and for you. And it's all free!

Thanks be to God!

Three Sheets in the Wind

Acts 11:1-18 RSV

Now the apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” But Peter began and explained to them in order: “I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, something descending, like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came down to me. Looking at it closely I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘No, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brethren also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” When they heard this they were silenced. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life.”

Three Sheets in the Wind

Three times... three seems to be a common number in the Bible. And what did God say? What God makes clean is clean... even if it was once unclean. And that ain't common... not God's words but mine as I read it. And how did the unclean become cleansed. It wasn't due to what the unclean did... hey! wait a minute... that's me! I'm an Unclean Gentile animal of sorts. I didn't make myself clean. Only God can cleanse the unclean. And that is not common!

Then the Holy Spirit drops by. Maybe that the Wind in the Three Sheets. But don't take what I have to say here lightly. It's not in jest even though I'm making it to be. Because in the end... myself, perhaps you also and the Gentiles to which "God has granted repentance unto life."  are gathered together in that sheet dropped to this earth and taken back into heaven to be with God. And that IS a big deal. I am acceptable to God not because of me but because of God. I am cleansed in the waters of my baptism through the Holy Spirit and claimed by God. Claimed, even though I come unclean. For it is through God that I am cleansed. "If then God gave the same gift to them (me... you) as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?"

That believing in Jesus. As I recall my baptism... how can I help to not respond in belief?

Thanks be to God!

Prayer

Lord... you show me in your life and your ways how to believe. How can this common man be acceptable? Only through you. I give you all thanks and praise for what you have done for me and all humanity... today... tomorrow... and forever.

Amen

Father... "Give me to Jesus!"

 John 10:22-30

22 It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me,[a] is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

Jesus... walking in the Temple and under cover. It's winter after all and the Jews are commemorating the purification of the temple by Judas Maccabaeus. It's the 25th of Chislev... our November/December time frame. I think maybe Jesus had something to say as he walked in the temple. But Jesus was met by some Jewish hecklers who wanted it plain and clear from Jesus, "Are you the Christ, Jesus? Huh?" "Come on and tell it plain to us!" 

But Jesus turns it all on them to an issue of believing. Earlier in the book of John in chapter 5... Jesus was at another festival and it was the Sabbath. Jesus approaches a man who had been sick for some time and Jesus asks the man if he wants to be made well. Jesus tells  the man to get up... the man gets up and is well. The man believed in Jesus and he the man goes on to tell others that he was healed by Jesus. He heard the voice of Jesus and followed what Jesus told him to do.

Well... this started a ruckus with the Jews... it was the Sabbath and Jesus told the man to pick up his mat and go... it's against the law to pick up his mat on a Sabbath... but... but... when I believed in Jesus and did what he told me to do... look! I'm healed!

Jesus declares the the Jews then that the Father bears witness to the Son. The Father sent the Son. Believe! 

And so now, in this passage the Jews want it plain and clear. Are you the Christ? Tell us. 

And just as with the sick man, Jesus' reflects upon his works. It's Jesus works that saved the man and Jesus' works that save us as well. If you don't believe... then you aren't listening.

Jesus sheep know his voice... they believe in Jesus as the Messiah and they follow him. Just like the man with the mat on that Sabbath.

You see... God gives and God gives abundantly. And God gives you, me and all of us to Jesus. Will you believe in Jesus as the Messiah?

If so... listen to the Shepherd... take up your mat... believe... and follow the Shepherd's voice. 

How I love how God keeps it all so simple... dumb sheep that I am.

Thanks be to God!

Prayer

My Shepherd... thanks and praise to you for taking me in to yourself. Thanks and praise to you for calling my name. Thanks and praise to you for covering me in my weakness, my illness, my sinfulness to give me a rest in green pastures beside still waters. For it's your voice that calls, you know me. I believe in your work of love, your strength of will, your salvation that your have poured abundant living water into, onto and all over me in my life with you. You are the Lamb at the center of it all. As I listen to your voice, lead me today... tomorrow... and forever with you by my side to eternal life in you.

Amen.

In the Midst

Mark 3:20-35

...and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"—  for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."  Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"  And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

Reflection

Jesus' ministry to the outcasts, the poor, the needy, the sinful people of this world has cast doubt and shock into the minds of the religious leaders of the day. Doubt has been cast even into the minds of his immediate family. What is this that Jesus is up to?

As a young lad, Jesus sat in the temple, and the religious leaders of the day were astonished at his answers. But now we see a Jesus that challenges the religious leaders, his family and the world with his questions. As Jesus gathers with the very people that the world rejects and claims to be "unclean" he poses questions that we must consider.

How can Satan cast out Satan?
Who are my mother and my brothers?

Jesus isn't Satan and those who think that he may be aren't the same people that are sitting down to eat with Jesus. Jesus came for the likes of you and me. Jesus came for the people of this world to shock us into a recognition that we all are in need of forgiveness and salvation... even and especially for those who think they don't need forgiveness. This world is full of people that are in situations that they have lost control of, and Jesus comes to the dirtiest among them and saves them through no effort of their own. Perhaps these people don't even need to recognize Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. Jesus just forgives them and saves them. I suppose if they needed to recognize Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, they may think that this action in itself saved them.

Nope! I'm not saved by recognizing Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. I'm not saved by anything that I do or choose to do. I am saved by Jesus through the Jesus.

After all...
How can Jesus cast out Jesus? Not by something that I do, that's for sure.
And... who are my mother and my brothers? The prostitutes, the tax collectors, the filthy dirty sinful people of this world, who by my side and in my presence and along with me are in need of Jesus; a Savior who saves us through no action on our part.

Being saved and called by the Holy Spirit... this changes everything! Everything!

Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord... I am called and saved by you to do your will in this world. Lead me and guide me and steer me in the direction you have for me... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen

BFF

John 15:9-17
9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Reflection
Love one another... we're all so different. I reflect on the times that I take our dog Barney to the dog park. He is a pro at loving and freindship. He runs up towards another dog and doesn't pick the ones just like himself. Nope ol Barney just picks pretty much the first dog he comes to and greets with such excitement that perhaps the two or more of them run off in joy. If the dog is apprehensive, Barney just moves on. Maybe he will be back to play later. Barney makes this whole love and friendship thing look so easy!

But for me...

It's all so overwhelming. Just look at your Facebook feed. Reflect on the news of the day. Think about all of the people you have neglected, hated or even separated yourself from due to your own opinions, judgments or differences. All of this love stuff is so overwhelming.

How can I be so lovey dovey in a world that sins against me as I sin against it?

Jesus' command to love one another just seems to be a stretch. I see Democrats that sure don't reflect love towards Republicans and vice versa. I see hate towards Muslims, Mexicans, Whites, Blacks, North Koreans, Russians, Jews... the list goes on and on and on...

How do I reconcile the passage above when I know I'm guilty on one level or another? How do I approach this command of Jesus?

In my imperfection and sinfulness; I guess the only thing to do is start somewhere. Start with friendship. Jesus mentions "friend" over and over. How can Jesus claim me as his friend when I crucify him and kill him in my sin? Yet he does. So this friendship idea must be some clue to follow for me to begin to love one another. But... to make friends with all those I mention above seems so overwhelming. And to top it off... why do I want to go make friends with people that I don't agree with, people I'm uncomfortable with, or even people that seem so different and foreign to me?

But... Jesus is giving these commands so that I may love another.

So here goes... make some friends. Discover our differences... but even more so.... see how much I'm alike and celebrate our friendship... even with those Republicans, Democrats, Muslims, Blacks, Whites, Mexicans, Russians, North Koreans or whatever wonderful differences God has created in all of his creation.

I have a notion that this friendship thing that Jesus commands is just the trick towards loving one another.

I'm sure I'll confess, forgive and be forgiven and discover so much more that I could ever imagine.

Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, thanks for claiming me as your friend. As I endeavor in the friendship thing, guide me and use me and forgive me when I mess it up. Be with me when I'm afraid and use my words as words of love and understanding that we all are your children created to love one another... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen

I Can't Imagine!

John 15:1-8

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

Reflection

Abide in me... What does this mean? Abide?

First off, abide is a verb. Abide is something that I must do. Abide gives me an action to take. Abide in me... should I take this as a command?

A definition I have seen reflects the meaning of abide to be an acceptance. How do I accept? What am I accepting?

It seems in this passage Jesus is telling us to accept him. To accept him not only because Jesus wants us to accept him but even more, to accept him because without him we are on our own to live and die, and that will be that. Jesus is offering us a chance at eternal life in him. In him and through him we can have eternal life, salvation, and a life that is beyond anything we could ever imagine on our own.

When we "abide" in Jesus we live a life and bear fruit of which we can't even begin to understand on our own. Without this "abide" we bear no fruit. We receive no nourishment to support anything. Without Jesus we can't even support our own life. Without Jesus we dry up and die and become fuel for the fire.

But what if... what if... we accept?

Jesus' words will be with us. We bear fruit. We receive nourishment. Everlasting nourishment that glorifies God, and we are disciples. We become new and refreshed and wonderful creations of God that are created for life and love, and eternally connected to the only source of life through the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Abide in me... What does this mean?

It means life with endless possibilities and endless love in the God of you and of me and of all creation. I CAN'T only imagine! Surely I will be surprised by the endless mysteries God has in store for me. And that is more than all I need.

Prayer

I can't imagine! Nope, Lord, I can't imagine, but I accept the awesome gift of life you offer as I abide in you... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen

They Gave Him a Piece of Broiled Fish

Luke 24:36b-48
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

Reflection
So there I was. Yes! I was with all of them when suddenly Jesus appeared. Where did he come from? How did he get in? I suppose at some time Jesus must have been One with that door he came through. He must have been in the door and the door in him, because here he was, right before our eyes. Surely he was like a ghost or something. Surely! Only ghosts can be One with the door! Only ghosts can go through wood and just show up after all. Yep! I was there with them.

But then Jesus says, "Nope! I'm not a ghost!" Yea... right! Even I has a hard time believing this! He came through that door after all and here he was. So Jesus goes on to show us his hands and his feet. Gross! Hands and feet that were One with the wood of that cross just a few days back. The same hands and feet with holes in them! Come on, Jesus, give us a break here. I bet, if I could, I could thrust myself right through those hands and feet just like you, Jesus, thrust yourself through that closed door. Admit it, Jesus, you're a ghost! You may be the Holy Ghost but you're a ghost!

I'm still not sure about all of this. So, just to prove that he wasn't a ghost, Jesus does something with me that nails it, pun intended. They hand me to him and he eats me! Jesus eats me! Jesus chews me up and swallows me and down I go. There I go right into the belly of Jesus! Talk about a reversal of the Jonah deal! I'm in the belly of Jesus! And the stomach acid starts to work on me and before you know it Jesus' body is making me One with his blood. OK! I believe, Jesus! You are not a ghost! You are flesh and blood.

So, I once was a fish. What am I now? I'm one with the body and blood of Jesus now. This whole situation doesn't make a bit of sense to me. Jesus came to prove that he was flesh and blood, Jesus came through this door to prove that he was real but look what he made me!

Then Jesus goes on to tell the disciples that they are witnesses! Come on Jesus! What about the poor ol' fish you just ate!

So what do the disciples do? They go and tell. Sure Jesus makes me One with him in his body and blood and the disciples go and do likewise. They tell of Jesus who gave his body and blood to save them from sin by the actions that Jesus took upon himself. Jesus makes them One with himself through his body and blood given upon that cross and resurrected to new life. Body and blood through the bread and wine  that these new believers take into their own real bodies to digest and become One once again with Jesus.

Talk about a mystery! And I'm just a little ol' digested fish after all!

Prayer
Jesus... I believe! As I tell of your suffering, death and resurrection; I know of your forgiveness and new life. A new life in the here and now, in the flesh and blood while I am One with you... today.... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen

I AM... The Champion!

Matthew 22:15-22

The Question about Paying Taxes

 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Reflection

As humans we take things and put our stamp on them. We take things and make them our own by our image or perhaps by our signature. We take things and claim them as our accomplishment. We win trophies and get certificates and claim credit for our mental, physical or maybe even shear work ethic and claim it as our own accomplishment.

When I think of what Jesus said in this passage about giving to the emperor the things that are the emperor's and the things that are God's to God; I can't help but to realize that none of it belongs to the emperor or to myself or to anyone else. We fool ourselves into thinking that what we have done is a result of how great we are. Win the race... was it due to God or to me? Get rich... was it due to my hard work or a result of what skills God has given me. Win the championship game... should I point skyward and then take the cheers for myself?

In this passage of Scripture, I hear God's call to clarify to myself that what I do and say and act, in the end, has no justification for God's loving act of sending Jesus into this world to save me and all people from sin, death and the devil. I cannot take, or even stake claim, through my own efforts, for a righteous judgment of God through my actions.

All I have is a gift from God... I owe it all to God to respond in love and joy to the gift God has chosen to give to me in Jesus. It's not because I won the game, the race, the job or anything else that makes me deserving of this love from God.

I'll give what I need to give to society in order to maintain order, but I owe all I have to God.

And that's great, if you ask me! Thanks be to God!

Prayer

Lord, I see your face all over everything in this creation of your's. I see your face alone... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen

Stop!

Philippians 4:1-9

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
Exhortations

 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Reflection

What rich words are used in this passage. What depth of meaning and human compassion is present also in these words of encouragement and direction. Even the address... "my beloved," contains the passion of  Jesus. Here we are told to keep it up, to keep on keeping on.

In this passage Paul cheers on those Christians that are struggling. Paul lays out many truths and ways that we can deal with our wrestling both with God, with one another and with the devil. If we pause and see the joy God has surrounded and wrapped around our struggles in life we can feel how close God is with us and even beside us or even wrestling with us. God's love is present. If we stop and give thanksgiving for all that God gives to us. Stop... really stop and think about it. Forget the struggle for a moment and give thanks to God. If we but stop and look around at friends, family and those God has placed in our lives and give thanks for presence of God and of people. When we stop we see God.

Stop and wait and see. Stop and wait and taste. The meal is here. The water feels so good in the forgiveness of baptism. The sweet taste of the fruit of the wine and the joy in the actions of God in the blood of Jesus bring about resurrection and joy and everlasting like.

We don't win the fight and win the prize. The prize has been set before us through the grace of God in Christ Jesus. And as we wait... we rejoice... we see... we know of  the presence of God in all of our life journey.

Prayer

Lord, as I wrestle in this life you have given me. As I wrestle with the sins I commit. Stop me and let me realize your presence, your joy, your resurrection, your body, your blood, your encouragement; that I may rejoice in love towards you and those you give to me each day. Lead me today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen

What a Feast!

Isaiah 25:1-9

Praise for Deliverance from Oppression

O Lord, you are my God;
   I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
   plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
For you have made the city a heap,
   the fortified city a ruin;
the palace of aliens is a city no more,
   it will never be rebuilt.
Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
   cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
For you have been a refuge to the poor,
   a refuge to the needy in their distress,
   a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,
   the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place,
you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;
   the song of the ruthless was stilled.


On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
   a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
   of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain
   the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
   the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
   and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
   for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
   Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
   This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
   let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Reflection

Protection and salvation... through the storms of life we received protection, relief and salvation.

But before the protection and the relief and the salvation... doesn't this imply that we will struggle, wrestle, deny and possibly turn our backs? God permits us to see our sin. God permits us to smell the stench of our sin. God wrestles with us and touches us and we feel the pain in our flesh. Yet God also heals us and protects us and saves us.

Yes, God leads us to the feast of life... everlasting life in and through Jesus after the cross and into the light of the resurrection.

In knowing this truth we respond in love towards God and in love towards one another. We respond in action and in prayer. We gladly jump right back into that baptismal waters to daily seek forgiveness and grace and new life to live each day in God.

Wait on it... believe and trust in God and wait on it. The feast is coming...

Prayer

Lord, I look forward to that great feast to come with all the saints. I look forward to Sunday and I look forward to the feast of your Kingdom come... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen