Christmas Eve's Great Mystery

 O great mystery,

and wonderful sacrament,

that animals should see the new-born Lord…

 O Magnum Mysterium, Morten Lauridsen

 At his birth, Jesus feels at home in that stable. Animals. Humanity.

With His Creation.

 Allow the music (links/lyrics below) to stir your heart, meditating on this night’s great mystery. Bathe in its warmth, light, hope.

 Merry Christmas!

Pastor Bill

 P.S. Thank you for being faithful readers. I pray some of the 417 writings in these 14 volumes stirred your faith, compelling you to love God and your neighbors.

 The Manger is full.

The Tomb is empty.

The best is coming!

Alleluia!!

Amen!!!

 Video: King’s College Choir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KvrbYZB2vY

 Music: Nordic Chamber Choir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn5ken3RJBo

 Latin text

O magnum mysterium,

et admirabile sacramentum,

ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,

iacentem in praesepio!

Beata Virgo, cujus viscera

meruerunt portare

Dominum Iesum Christum.

Alleluia!

English translation

O great mystery,

and wonderful sacrament,

that animals should see the new-born Lord,

lying in a manger!

Blessed is the Virgin whose womb

was worthy to bear

our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Alleluia!

Christmas is Near!

 “Advent is a period of preparation for Christmas but, unlike Lent, it is not a period of penance. It is a period that focuses us on joy….We come to realize more each year how…beautiful is a life lived in concert with the Jesus who came to show us the way. We learn the joy of anticipation, the joy of delighting in a sense of the presence of God all around us, the joy of looking for the second coming of Christ, the joy of living in the surety of even more life in the future.”

–Joan Chittister, The Liturgical Year, p. 66    Source: inwardoutward.org

 Perhaps waiting for Christmas is one way we never grow up.

 Maybe we’ve figured out who Santa is, but we still love to anticipate surprise gifts, right?

 Or maybe for you it’s the anticipation of a once-a-year family gathering, even if it does mean a little added drama for a few days.

 This last weekend of Advent waiting is precious because we know that if Christmas is near, Jesus is near.

 That’s an eternal truth, of course, but it’s good to have a reminder that joy is being born anew.

 Christmas is near! Hallelujah!

Surviving Blizzards

 Honey Bees Wait

…(T)hey’re clustered together inside (an oak tree), queen at the heart of their sisterhood. The fine, transparent wings they beat hard in summer’s heat—a constant buzzing fan to keep the hive from cooking—they hold, now, folded and still. The tiny muscles to which those wings are attached shiver. One honey bee shivering her flight muscles does not make much heat. But twenty thousand, huddled together, shivering, can keep the queen and the colony’s honey supply at their core at a tropical ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit, even as blizzard winds, inches away, flail the trunk.”  –Gayle Boss, All Creation Waits: the Advent Mystery of New Beginnings, p. 14

Surviving winter’s darkness, waiting for spring’s light, is a hard part of life for most of us.

In a time when our culture expects us to be merry and bright, we are feeling sad and dull.

Perhaps December need not be the busiest month. Maybe this isn’t the season to eat and drink more than a body really needs. Buzz around less. Cuddle more.

Say ‘no’ to some invitations. Tell the truth: tonight, I am spending time holding still, staying warm until the blizzard passes.

Indestructible Root

 Isaiah 11:1,10 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. …The Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples….

 The key to a seed’s survival is the success of its root taking anchor.

 “Science writer Hope Jahren shares how the roots will face frost, drought, and greedy jaws (but) ‘If the root takes root, then the plant becomes all but indestructible: Tear apart everything above ground—everything—and most plants can still grow rebelliously back from just one intact root. More than once. More than twice.’”

Adapted from Hope Jahren, Lab Girl (Kopf, 2016), pages 45-46

 Our Advent Hope is built on the promise that the Root of Jesse, Jesus Messiah, has taken such deep root in our lives that we cannot be shaken, no matter the storms that assail us.

If your world feels like a windswept tree being torn apart,  remember that the Root of Jesse is so firmly embedded in your spirit that you will survive. More than once. More than twice.

 The key to your survival is the Root’s firm anchor.

 The Root of Jesse will stand as a banner. So will you.

 

A Friend Like Steve

 A friend loves at all times,

    and a brother is born for a time of adversity. Proverbs 17:17

 That’s Steve.

 At Steve’s funeral his son, Chad, offered three words to the large gathering of Steve’s family and friends which sum up Steve’s character:

Kindness, Respect, Love. 

 My experiences with Steve through his too-brief life proved those words to be true. Our last meeting gives you an idea. As I walked to the first tee for my first competitive golf match since my stroke five months earlier, Steve greeted me with his trademark smile and soft voice with the kind of welcoming words that put my nervousness at ease. Now I knew that if my first shot went sailing across the road, well, Steve understood. It was my second shot that sailed wildly into the ditch, and off he went, hunting through weeds I couldn’t traverse. “A brother is born for a time of adversity.”

 I am blessed to have many friends like Steve, but Steve was a model friend. In losing a friend like Steve I learned anew how important it is to have and to be a friend like Steve, born to be with friends in times of adversity.

"Are You Catholic?"

 John 17:20-21a “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one…”

 Friday closed with a nurse’s call, asking if I could pray over a dying man.

 I entered the hospital room to the greeting, “Are you Catholic?” I told the grieving family, no, I am a Protestant minister, but I was the only available minister/priest. The dying man’s wife looked in my eyes, ‘Well, I guess God hears your prayers too.” My heart-felt reply was, “Yes,  God doesn’t have all these barriers that we have erected between us.”

 The family looked at each other, then nodded.  Together we prayed their dying husband and father into the arms of his Savior, Jesus Christ.

 Why has the Church of Jesus Christ so miserably failed to live into Jesus’ final prayer? Why do the ‘people in the pews’ understand the truth that in Christ we are all one so much better than the religious leaders who teach them?

 Truth is, I am ‘catholic’, believing in ‘the holy catholic (of all times and places) church.’ (Apostles Creed) May human-bound denominations learn to live what we profess.

Spirits and Saints

 Halloween is my least favorite holiday. Sorry kids, small and big. I am not opposed to costumes (I was a theatre major); nor candy (have you seen my shape?). I loved saying “Trick or Treat for UNICEF” when I was a boy.

 What bothers me is that we celebrate only half of what Halloween represents. Halloween started to keep the spirits away on October 31. People dressed up in disguises to avoid detection by roaming spirits.  Churches held “All Hallows Eve” services to ward away the spirits until the dawn of All Hallows (Saints) Day on Nov. 1, which was the celebration of the saints in heaven. 

 Along the way we lost the superstitions but still celebrate only the darkness. We stopped remembering the light on All Saints Day, November 1, a day set aside to remember all those who truly did die in Christ and now live and reign with him. (Cue “For All the Saints”, and if you don’t know it, find it on YouTube!)

 Yes, call me Halloween Scrooge. I wish all of you ghosts and goblins a safe and happy Trick or Treat, but, please, on Tuesday, remember a saint you love who lives in light.

Tick Tock...Tik Tok

 Luke 18:8 “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

 I believe the church exists to tell the next generation that Jesus alive.  Then I read the Gallup world-wide survey of teens which reveals that while 47% of all teens believe Jesus was crucified, only 33% believe Jesus rose again. Among Christian teens, only 50% say that Jesus is resurrected. Read that again.

 Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. Now is the time to get our Message to the next generation. Why do we have difficulty engaging teens in conversations which explore the basic, faith-defining, Christian truths? How do we share the faith today?

 Learn to live like Jesus is alive. If Jesus isn’t alive, then Christianity is dead.

 Check out Christian Tik Tok influencers, young Christians expressing their faith in ways that I never could imagine. Teens learn faith in something every day.

 If Christianity has a future, then the Church needs to learn how to communicate truths to teens in methods that reach their eyes and ears.

 Parents, grandparents, churches, are we truly committed to doing what we can to make sure Jesus finds faith on the earth when he comes looking?

"Essential Prayers"

 When the circumstances of life change faster than we can comprehend.

 When the world in which we live seems to be falling apart at the seams.

 When you cannot think of one word to say to a God whose existence, perhaps, you wonder about.

 Then, when words escape you, here are two prayers you can memorize and draw upon to lift to God:

 “Help me, help me, help me.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

She has a third prayer for those rare times when everything goes just right, maybe even better than you dared hope. Memorize this one too:

 “Wow!”

 God is listening. Every day. Pray.

 Sources: Anne Lamott (2012). “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers” Penguin; Anne Lamott (2000). “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith”, p. 75, Anchor

 

 

Mountain Rescue Team

 Luke 15:4 “ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”

 If Jesus was teaching near the mountains of Colorado:

 “Suppose one hiker on a nearby mountain is lost or falls. Wouldn’t my people race into the mountains find him, expending all their strength and skill to bring him home? I tell you, there is no greater comfort to loved ones than to know their lost son has been found.”

 On September 7, 2022, the Alamosa Volunteer Search and Rescue Team received a distress call from hikers that Justin, a young but experienced mountain hiker, tragically fell 300 feet to his instant death. Caring hikers marked the place, standing watch until the rescue team arrived. Today, because of their caring acts, and the brave, heroic efforts of the Alamosa team to carry Justin’s body up from the place he fell, the family has the comfort of knowing he is not lost.

 We can send Justin home to Jesus.

 We, the church of Jesus Christ, are called to search the wilderness, the mountains, bringing the lost home.

What God Sees in You

 1 Samuel 16:7b “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

 Sometimes God’s ‘ask’ seems impossible for us. But God does not ask you to do anything, to take on any task or responsibilities that you cannot do with God’s help.

 If you judge your capabilities using the standards the world uses, you may feel inadequate to the task. Perhaps on your own you are. But when God chooses you, anoints your head as God’s servant, you will find the courage and strength to accomplish God’s call.

 Doing God’s will is rarely easy or ‘fun’ in the worldly sense.  Yet faithfully doing God’s will brings rewards that the world cannot offer.

 What does God see in you that the world does not see? Your heart. Your heart for God’s people. Your heart for the disenfranchised, the lonely, the mourners, the little children.

 If God is calling you into a new or a difficult role of service examine your heart.

 Saying ‘yes’ to God means ‘putting your heart’ into the call. God knows the strength of your heart. Do you?

Where Alan Waits

 Leaves of Grass/Song of Myself, 52, by Walt Whitman (excerpt)

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

 My good and faithful friend, Alan, I miss you. I miss your stories and secrets. You prepared your beloved wife and sons and, oh, that grandbaby, for this day. But they miss you, more than I know. Your many friends, such dear, dear friends you had, they miss you. You and they know why. We all miss you, gone too soon from this earth.

 We will all be inspecting the fibers of our boot-soles for evidence of the place you have stopped to wait for us to find you. Until then, my wonderful friend, Shalom!

"The Place God Is Calling You To"

 Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

 Frederick Buechner wrote, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

 I encourage to take reflect on these questions:

     1.    What is the one thing I do in life that brings me deep gladness?

Not necessarily happiness, but something like joy, something that makes you so glad you want to sing.

2. What can I do with that something that brings me deep gladness to meet a deep hunger in the world?

Not save the world by yourself. Not change the world by yourself. Just fill some deep hunger with that one thing that gives you deep gladness.

 To be a disciple should not be a matter of hard, unrewarding work that makes you weary.

 It is a matter of service, yes, but when we figure out God’s call on our lives it is done in places where your gladness finds its ultimate purpose.

 That good work you do for Jesus is going to reap a harvest. Servants of God, be deeply glad!

Praying Like a Mother

 1 Samuel 1:13,15 “Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. ’I am a woman who is deeply troubled….pouring out my soul to the LORD.’”

 Hannah desperately wanted a baby. She turned to the LORD in such fervent prayer that she appeared to her priest as a drunken woman.  Hannah didn’t care about her appearance; what she cared about was pouring out the troubles of her soul to the LORD.

What troubles your soul today? Is it something so dear to you that you are willing to start praying like a mother prays for her baby to be conceived?

If you are praying for some new opportunity, or healing, or for a child to find her way in life, start by earnestly praying in your heart.

 Hannah’s prayer was answered in the person of Samuel (‘Because I asked the LORD for him.’), and she prayed again:

 “My heart rejoices in the LORD…There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no Rock like our God.” (2:1,2)

 May God hear your heart’s petition and praise as you pray like a mother.

 Dedicated to our great niece Robbi Jean, b. 7.8.22

"For Heroes Proved"

 “O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!” America, the Beautiful (Katherine Lee Bates)

 Independence Day.  While we, as a nation, cannot agree on much (anything?) these days, perhaps on this holiday weekend we can agree that those who put their names to the Declaration of Independence are heroes. With the stoke of a pen they set in motion the creation of a government of, by and for the people.

 The signers understood that their mission was urgent, and that they would die…either together or separately for their beliefs. Heroic courage.

 These are they who more than self their country loved.

 Who are today’s heroes? Who rises up to risk their life and security for the sake of preserving freedom? 

 For this grand experiment in forming a more perfect union to continue heroes are still needed.

 But the hardest part of preserving democracy is persuading ‘we the people’ to follow heroes, not pretenders.

 On this 4^th of July,  pray for God’s blessing on our nation: that we the people will be wise enough to know and follow the heroes proved in the struggle to keep America beautiful.

Knowing Your Own Strength

 Judges 16:20 “Samson, the Philistines are upon you! ”He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

 Who are the “Philistines” in your life these days?

 Perhaps the news of the day has brought you to despair, and you feel like the ‘Philistines’ have won.

 Or perhaps the ‘Philistines’ in your life are health, finances, addictions, even old age’s creakiness. Perhaps you are beset by doubts, grief, shame, or guilt.

 The real lesson of Samson’s story is that he gave in to the wiles of the world, trusting in his own strength, which was too weak to defeat the enemy.

 Are you trusting in your own strength to overcome your enemies? Are you despairing of your future because you refuse to dwell with the Lord?

 We all have enemies which we need to defeat if we are to become the person God intends us to be.  Don’t rely on your own strength. Draw on the strength of the Lord through prayer, worship, community.

 Invite the Lord to be with you today, to provide you with the inner strength to defeat your ‘Philistines.’

God? Test, Test (pt. 2)

Judges 6:17 Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.”

After the first sign God gave to Gideon, God sent Gideon to destroy the false gods Gideon’s neighbors worshiped. (See ‘God? Test, Test’ Pt. 1)

 Gideon’s second request for a sign is the famous fleece test. Gideon set up a test to see if God was really with him as he was going into battle against Israel’s enemies. (Judges 6:36-40)

 If God played along with Gideon’s test, there was every expectation that Gideon would lead an army into a battle in which he could very well lose his life. Before you ask God for a sign you had better be ready to go to work for God.

 You cannot say ‘no’ to God’s ‘go.’  If God has confirmed that God is with you in the battle into which God is sending you, then you need to gather up the courage to confront the enemy.

So, before you decide to do a little microphone check on whether God is really there, be prepared to say ‘yes’ if God answers,  ‘Here I am. You will go.’ 

God? Test, Test (pt. 1)

 Judges 6:13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?”

 God’s people felt abandoned.  Their 401k’s were drying up. The streets weren’t safe.  Running away and hiding seemed like the only good option.

 Why had this happened? God’s people forgot their identity. They worshipped false gods. They expected all of God’s blessings, but they refused to live lives that showed their gratitude to God. You couldn’t tell God’s people from their neighbors.

 The people abandoned God.  But God is more faithful to his people than God’s people are to God. God appointed Gideon to lead God’s people in battle to restore peace and prosperity.

 The first step was to get rid of the false gods people were worshiping. If we expect the Lord to be with us, shouldn’t we be willing to demonstrate with our lives our own loyalty to God?

 The second step was defeating the enemies.

 Gideon wasn’t so sure that God was really the One giving orders.  He didn’t want to go out and engage the enemy unless it really was God who was speaking.

 How do you know if God is speaking to you?

 

 

When Women Lead God's People

 Judges 5:7 Villagers in Israel would not fight;

    they held back until I, Deborah, arose,
    until I arose, a mother in Israel.

 On Pentecost Peter quotes the prophet Joel to make the point that the Spirit of God falls on both women and men. (Acts 2:18)

 The people of Israel knew this truth because of Israel’s “Mother Deborah”, their Judge who led God’s people in a victory over their enemies through her willingness to lead the men into battle.

 Is one reason for the Church’s current decline because so many refuse to see that women as well as men are called to lead God’s people? Many in the Church are intentionally deaf to the leadership voice of women, to their songs which brings wisdom and courage to the battle against the enemies and evil that surround us.

 My prayer on this Pentecost weekend is that the Spirit of God will open the eyes, ears, and minds of the worldwide Church to the truth of God’s Word: when women lead God’s people, offering up God’s prophetic words, God’s people are victorious.

 I thank God for all the “Deborahs” with whom it is my privilege to serve God’s people. Lead the way!

You Have a Choice

 Joshua 24:15 “…Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve….But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

 Don’t you love that you get a choice?

 God doesn’t force anyone into service. You might say that some are ‘strongly encouraged’, but no one has the final choice made for them.

 The LORD loves us so much that the LORD desires a voluntary response motivated by a reciprocal love for God. “We love because God first loved us.”

 You have a choice. You can serve the gods worshiped by society, gods like profit, ego, possessions. Or you can choose the LORD, who commands love as his servants first and second priorities.

 Choices have consequences. That’s why we get to decide.

 Choosing to serve the LORD means that we make room to actively participate in worshipping communities. If our lives are so busy that we do not ‘have time’ to attend worship, whom have we chosen to serve?

 Serving the LORD means that we choose to love our enemies, care for the poor, and walk humbly.  Or do we prefer the choices society’s gods are offering: revenge, selfishness, and pride?

 Don’t you love that you get a choice?

Courage for the Journey

 Joshua 1:7a “Be strong and very courageous.”

 Second on my ‘power walking playlist’ is Bad Day (ironically, by Daniel Powter).

 One of the lines is “You're faking a smile with the coffee to go”. Who cannot relate to that picture? Then the song works toward the chorus:

'Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around…

 My playlist moves on to other, happier lyrics. But I keep Bad Day second because it reminds me of how I sometimes feel at the start of a day or a walk.

 After Moses died God passed the baton of the leadership relay to Joshua.  Joshua had been in training, but now he had to lead.  God didn’t promise him it would be an easy journey, but he did promise, “I will give you ever place where you set your foot.” (v.3)

 God’s next instruction was critical: ‘be strong and very courageous.’  Very. Courageous.

 You, my dear friend, may be having a bad day, walking a very difficult part of your journey. God encourages you: listen for the reminders to keep on movin’ and groovin’. Very courageously.

 The songs get better. Alleluia.

"Out of the Depths"

 Psalm 30:1a I will exalt you, Lord,

    for you lifted me out of the depths…

 I didn’t understand the poet until 2:00 a.m. on Easter morning, April 17, 2022.

 40 hours after a stroke, lying in a hospital bed unable to sleep, unable to feel most of my right side, I finally grasped the poet’s meaning.

 In seminary I read a textbook titled Out of the Depths. In all the years since, I hadn’t experienced ‘the depths’ until that morning. Then, out of the depths, I cried out to God, “Jesus, what is the point of going on with my life?”

 Then, out of the depths, Jesus answered. Not with an audible voice, but with an answer my brain, my heart, my soul, heard as clear as a bell. “There’s more work to do, Bill.”

 Understood. My call to work with the beautiful people of Hope Church, feeding and caring for the sheep, was not over. We have more work to do. And I should be there to help.

 I understand what it feels like to be lifted by the Lord out of the depths.

 This is resurrection life.

     Lord my God, I will praise you forever. (v. 12)

Amen.

 

Hopes for the Donkey and You

 Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!  Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey…

 Dear Readers, as you approach your Palm Sunday and Holy Week,  I am hoping for you as the poet hopes for the donkey.  Be brave. Trust Jesus. Serve Jesus. Love Jesus.

 The Poet Thinks About The Donkey by Mary Oliver

                On the outskirts of Jerusalem

the donkey waited.
Not especially brave, or filled with understanding,
he stood and waited.

How horses, turned out into the meadow,
   leap with delight!
How doves, released from their cages,
   clatter away, splashed with sunlight.

But the donkey, tied to a tree as usual, waited.
Then he let himself be led away.
Then he let the stranger mount.

Never had he seen such crowds!
And I wonder if he at all imagined what was to happen.
Still, he was what he had always been: small, dark, obedient.

I hope, finally, he felt brave.
I hope, finally, he loved the man who rode so lightly upon him,
as he lifted one dusty hoof and stepped, as he had to, forward.

An Aroma Pleasing to God

 Numbers 28:24 In this way present the food offering every day for seven days as an aroma pleasing to the Lord….

 2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

 Name an aroma or two that is pleasing to you. What does just the thought of that aroma trigger in your mind?

 What aromas awaken in our minds pleasing memories and an invitation to all whose senses are awakened by them?  Buttered popcorn, freshly baked bread, a baby’s powdered skin, a brat fry.

 The aromas of Israel’s food sacrifices were ‘pleasing to the Lord.’ because they were acts of obedient worship.

 Christ’s obedient act of worship, his sacrifice on the Cross,  produced an aroma pleasing to God, reminding God of the salvation of God’s children.

 We are not the sacrifice. We are the aroma the sacrifice produces, a daily reminder to God of Christ’s sacrifice.  A daily affirmation to ourselves and those we meet that Jesus loves us.

 Is your life an aroma pleasing to God and inviting to your neighbors?

 May the pleasing aroma of Christ fill every room.

Seeing Grasshoppers

 Numbers 13:30 “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Numbers 13:33 “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

 When God offers you a blessing that requires a step of faith to receive there are two ways you can respond: in faith or in fear.

 The people of Israel were at the doorway to the Promised Land. The exploration team came back with two reports. The minority saw a land of milk and honey, just as God had promised (verse 30). The majority saw a land filled with giants, compared to whom the Israelites were grasshoppers. (v. 33)

 The majority’s bad report grew out of fear. The minority report was built on faith in God’s promise: God will deliver us.

 Because the majority saw grasshoppers instead of the Promised Land the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness.  Choices have consequences.

 When God offers you a blessing don’t consider yourself inadequate or unworthy. Grasp it with a courageous faith in God who is greater than your challenges.

 Go up in faith and possess God’s promise to you. You certainly can do it!

"When You're Smiling"

 2 Corinthians 8:2 “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”

 What are you smiling about?

 After 2 years of heavy blows to the world’s health,  political factionalism, economic uncertainty, and now a war that grips our senses, is there anything to smile about?

 Yes indeed! The United Nations issued The World Happiness Report and found these signs:  “’Donating to charity, helping a stranger and volunteering are all up,’ especially the help to strangers in 2021, relative to either before the pandemic or 2020, by a very large amount in all regions of the world,"  (https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-happiest-countries-2022-wellness/index.html)

 Generosity is a sign that you are, on balance, a happy person. Here’s your thought experiment for the day: Does being a happy person make your generous, or does being generous make you happy?

 If you are feeling like you have nothing to smile about in these days (years), may I suggest God’s ancient remedy to the ‘frowns? Give something away. Donate clothing; donate money; donate time. Find a way to make someone else smile.

 Be generous. Be happy. Start smiling.

 

Deliver Us From Putin's Evil

 Psalm 7:14-16

Behold, the wicked man conceives evil
    and is pregnant with mischief
    and gives birth to lies.
   He makes a pit, digging it out,
    and falls into the hole that he has made.
   His mischief returns upon his own head,
    and on his own skull his violence descends. ESV

 God of the heavens and earth, you who are holy and hate evil,

Today, as we witness the rise of evil birthed in the mind of Vladimir Putin, we implore you to destroy the evil to which he gives birth.

Stop in its tracks the violence and destruction created by this Putin’s wickedness.

We, your people, confess that our instinct is to be silent, but we have seen the result of the church remaining silent and weak in opposing pure evil: Hitler rises.

Give us the courage to use whatever tiny drop of difference we can make in the vast ocean of opinion to spur the world to persist in defeating Putin.

God of Mighty Armies, bring swift judgment on Putin’s head. Avenge the wrongs done upon the innocent people of Ukraine.

Deliver us from Putin’s evil.

For yours is the power. Show us your glory.

Amen.

(Inspired by Tish Harrison Warren, “Go Ahead. Pray for Putin’s Demise.” www.christianitytoday.com, March 8, 2022)

Tempting Shortcuts

 Luke 4:3-4 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

 Maybe you are a baker making bread today. This is not evil. Jesus loved bread and so do I.

The devil’s temptation is not about bread. It’s to solve Jesus’ problem with a shortcut instead of trusting God.

Jesus could have rationalized saying ‘yes’.  The temptation is to do something easy (for Jesus) and, in the process, prove to the wily devil that Jesus really is the Son of God.

But to do that would be to disobey God’s plan for his life. Jesus could be the chief baker for Israel but not the Savior of the world. Hence his reply: life is more than bread.

What shortcuts in life are you tempted to take? The world offers many paths to fill our hunger for money, power,  fame. But if we take those shortcuts, we frustrate God’s plan.

God has a plan for your life. Resist the temptation to follow the devil’s easier plan.

Stay true to your calling as a child of God. Don’t settle for shortcuts.

Sabbath Prayers in Kyiv

 Sabbath, February 26, 2022

“Outmanned Ukrainian forces are holding on to their capital after hours of street fighting that included explosions and bursts of gunfire. Smoke was billowing from the sites of some clashes, but as the Kremlin assault entered its third day, Kyiv was still in Ukrainian government hands.” The Washington Post

 As the battle unfolds outside, imagine the people gathering inside. Surprised. Thankful. Accompanied by the sounds of explosions and bullets, the worship leader rises and reads:

Psalm 31

²¹ Praise be to the Lord,
    for he showed me the wonders of his love
    when I was in a city under siege.
²² In my alarm I said,
    “I am cut off from your sight!”
Yet you heard my cry for mercy
    when I called to you for help.

²³ Love the Lord, all his faithful people!
    The Lord preserves those who are true to him,
    but the proud he pays back in full.
²⁴ Be strong and take heart,
    all you who hope in the Lord.

And they pray. Really. Hard. Prayers. All God’s faithful people, let us pray…

God is Smiling

 Numbers 6:26 “The LORD said to Moses… ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

“the LORD turn his face toward you

     and give you peace.”’

 Think of a quarrel, perhaps even a fight, you had with someone you love. Someone who loves you too.

 One way to express anger is to turn away your face from each other. “I can’t even stand to look at you when you are like this!”

 Then one of you decides that the love you have for the other one is stronger than your anger. That person turns their face back toward you. What is the expression on their face when they turn their face back toward you? The beginning of a smile, perhaps moistened with tears? A look that says, “I forgive you. We are made to be together.”

 “Peace” happens when God turns back toward us, not with anger, but with love, having intentionally forgotten that which we did to cause God to turn away from us.

 How can you know the peace, the shalom, with which God desires to bless you? Turn back to God and see God’s face turned toward you. God is smiling.

 

Like a Shower of Sun

 Numbers 6:25 “The LORD said to Moses…’This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

the LORD make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you…”

 It is a spectacular morning. Bright sun making paths of light across last night’s bed of snow.

 Even the feral cat took up her place on the east-facing front stoop to take a shower of sun.

 What better way to start the day, face lifted up, eyes closed in meditation, the sun’s face warming your face, allowing you to forget for a moment or three that it is 3 degrees.

 God’s face is like the sun. it is always there, watching, following, smiling, weeping with us.

 But then some days, some moments, the clouds are gone. God’s face shines. On you.  As if you found the perfect place to rest in a shower of bright, warming light.

 Like on that first day when the look from God’s face shines in affirmation to the earth that winter is gone and spring’s promise blossoms.

 Wherever your journey takes you this day, this week, may you know the grace of the LORD’s face shining upon you. Like a shower of sun.

 

Blessed Like One Snowflake

 Numbers 6:24 “The LORD said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, ’This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

 “The Lord bless you

  and keep you.”

 I am watching a snowflake reach its final resting place.

 Against the silver-gray January sky, I watch the snowflake complete the final part of its long silent journey. Multitudes of snowflakes fall, but none touches this one on their downward descent. As if God molded it, held it, released it to gravity’s pull. Alone but not alone. Finally, it lands, not with a thud, but like a small child gently laid onto a bed, barely making a dent. Kept safe all the way.

 Imagine God molding you, releasing you, watching you, floating like a feather on the quietest of breezes, falling toward your most gentle of landings into the waiting arms of the saints.

 “May the Lord bless you and keep you.”

 One snowflake floating home.

 

Your Land is My Land

 Leviticus 25:23  “‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.”

 God instructed the Israelites about how they were to treat the Promised Land which God was giving them. (Lev. 25:1ff.)  The highlight was the Year of Jubilee. God declared that after every 49 years, the 50^th year brought liberty, redemption, and release for both the land and the people.

 People could possess land temporarily; they could never claim permanent ownership. Everyone was always, in essence, a guest, residing by grace on God’s land.

 When we think about the Creation over which we are supposed to be stewards, how would our usage change if we viewed ourselves as God’s guests? Would we not want to return it back to God as we received it, minus normal wear and tear?

 Not all ‘land’ is the same as the Promised Land provided for Israel. But all land was created by the finger of God.

 Might this be God’s message to us today: treat the land which God give us to live, work, and play upon as if the God who holds it in his hand is returning.

And Then the Birds Vanished

 Leviticus 16:22 “The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.”

John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

 In the first light of the morning, I saw the flock of gray birds enjoying the thorn tree’s winter berries prepared for them by God.

 Israel was assured on a regular basis that their sins were taken away, out of the sight and memory of God as the priest ceremonially places his hands on the scapegoat’s head, confesses the sins of all the people, and then gives the goat to someone who releases the goat and their sins in the wilderness. Gone forever.

 Centuries later a prophet announced the arrival of Jesus not with his name but with his title and his mission.  The Lamb of God bears the sins of the world on his head. Your sins. Gone forever.

 When the morning light grew, as if someone had sounded a cue, the entire flock of birds lifted their wings as if they were one bird and then they vanished.