Rich Toward God

Scripture lessons:

Psalm 107: 1-9, 43

Colossians 3:1-11

Luke 12:13-21

“Jesus said: “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;

for one’s life does not consist

in the abundance of possessions.”

Luke 12:15 (New Revised Standard Version)

I was eight years old when I saw a fifty dollar bill for the first time. I had saved up for months, setting aside all the money I had received as gifts and whatever I had earned from doing chores around the house. I can still see the face of Ulysses S. Grant looking back at me from the crisp green bill that my father brought back from the bank when he cashed in my savings. I thought I was rich.

It is tempting to view wealth in terms of possessions and to find security in those possessions. Even if we are comfortable in our material surroundings, we may imagine how much better life would be if we had still more. Jesus tells of a man who believed that fullness of life was to be measured by personal possessions rather than in generosity towards others. Interested only in becoming rich towards himself, he left no room for being rich in the eyes of God.

Jesus did not accumulate possessions; he distributed love. He was rich towards God and others by welcoming outcasts, extending energy to the sick, forgiving those who hurt him and offering words of hope to the desperate. His generosity may not have made him wealthy. But it did allow him to become the hope of the world.

 

Prayer: God of abundance, save us from being rich in things and yet pour in soul. Help us to show the same generosity to others that we see in Jesus, that your graciousness might show forth through us as it did in him; in whose name we pray. Amen.

 

One in the Spirit

Scripture lessons:

Acts 16.16-34

Revelation 22.12-14, 16-17, 20-21

John 17.20-26

Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

Revelation 22.17 (New Revised Standard Version)

 

There is a hymn that begins with these words: “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.” Unfortunately, this celebration of unity does not reflect the reality of the church which, in America alone, has been splintered into 245 denominations.

Despite the brokenness of the church, Christian people possess a vision of being of one heart, even if they can not be of the same mind. This vision is contained in the words of Jesus, who prays to God, “May my disciples be one, as we are one.” In other words, Jesus is asking that those who follow in his name enjoy precisely the same equality of intimacy with God which he enjoyed. These words, uttered on our behalf, represent a challenge to us: are we utilizing this opportunity for a rich and intimate relationship with God, and do we encourage our sisters and brothers in the faith to do the same?

I have heard it said that while we can not know the mind of God, it is within our grasp to know the Creator’s heart. The will of that heart for us is life together. Called to live as ‘one people’ we are to exchange judgment for understanding, anger for compassion, and distance for friendship. A church united by such love is the church God needs us to be.

 

Prayer: O God of life, grant us the gift of community that we may live in unity even if we can not live in agreement; and grant us the gift of intimacy, that we might share our lives with you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Voices in the Night

Scripture lessons:

1 Samuel 3.1-10

John 1.43-51

“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli.

The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.”

1 Samuel 3.1 (New Revised Standard Version)

The author of the First Book of Samuel describes a time in the history of his people, when “the word of the Lord was rare…[and] visions were not widespread.” But then he tells the story of a young boy, Samuel, awakened by a voice in the night that called to him by name. When Samuel responded with the words, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” a new vision was born for the people of Israel.

I think we move through stretches of life when voices of vision seem rare at best. Artists speak of times of dryness, and lovers speak of losing the passion that united them. But it is also true that ideas and insights can emerge quite unexpectedly through daily experience, in ways that offer fresh vision and a way forward into richer and fuller life. God called to Samuel, Jesus called his disciples, and the Spirit calls to us, beckoning us to join with the forces that make for peace and goodwill.

The great Jewish scholar, Abraham Heschel, claimed that “God is not always silent…In every person’s life there is a lifting of the veil at the horizon of the unknown, opening a sight of the eternal.” When the veil lifts, as it did for young Samuel, may we be ready to listen, and follow the way that is inspired by wisdom and moves towards hope.

 

Prayer: O God of vision, grant us willing and receptive spirits, so that when you speak, we may hear, and having heard, may follow you with faith, hope and love; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

On the Way: with boldness

Scripture lessons:

Philippians 3.17-4.1

Luke 12.31-35

Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day, I must be on my way…

Luke 13.33 (New Revised Standard Version)

 

Words like faith, hope and love fall easily from the lips of preachers. But we do not hear as much about boldness, even though this is surely a word that characterizes the ministry of Jesus. It was the author of Second Timothy who reminded his readers that “we have not been given a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of boldness.”

Jesus spoke and acted with great boldness, particularly on behalf of the powerless. When a group of Pharisees warned him that his life was in danger as a result of his forthright concern for those on the margins, he neither thanked them for their concern nor changed the course of his ministry. “I must be on my way,” he said them. In other words,
“I have important things to do on behalf of others, and I will not allow concerns for my safety to distract me from my work.”

Jesus was bold because he enjoyed an intimate relationship with God, and because he was employed in the work of compassion. These two attributes—trust in God and love for others—are essential ingredients in the life of faith. May these qualities become as natural to us as breathing, so that we may also be “on the way” with the love and will of God.

 

Prayer: O God, grant us insight to know your will, and lavish upon us the strength to be faithful, hopeful and loving with unspeakable boldness, and boundless patience. Amen.

The Greatest Tradition

Scripture lessons:

Acts 11:1-18

But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean

you must not call profane.”

Acts 11:9 (New Revised Standard Version)

During the 1950’s a friend of mine traveled by train from New York State to a destination in the Deep South. When the train stopped in Virginia, she went to get a drink of water at a section of the platform where there was a water fountain. A station attendant politely suggested that she quench her thirst at another location. As she looked on the wall near the fountain, she saw a sign that read, “Colored Only.” She acknowledged the man’s comment, and took a full, long drink from the forbidden fountain.

Children of different races, cultures and religions can now drink freely from public water fountains. This is not to say that prejudice has disappeared, but there is clearly a greater spirit of inclusion than in that train station in Virginia fifty years ago. The changes leading to that spirit must have been difficult and awkward for everyone affected by racial segregation. What had previously been forbidden, eventually and unbelievably became achievable.

In the life of the early church, the followers of Jesus were inspired to transform cherished traditions for the purpose of making them more inclusive. Gradually they changed their diets, and ate and prayed with people of different backgrounds, so that Jews and Gentiles could join together in praising God.

Traditions can be sacred and life giving. But what matters most is our faithfulness to the God of peace and justice, who sometimes alters what is, in order to create space for what is yet to be. Thanks be to God, who can make all things new—including us.

 

Prayer: O God of resurrection power, when we begin to care more for a cherished tradition than the practice of your inclusive spirit, remind us. Help us to bear witness in our own lives to your radical hospitality that calls us to the greatest tradition of all: love for our neighbor in the spirit of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Caught in the Act of Caring

Scripture lessons:

Ezekiel 34.11-16, 20-24

Matthew 25.31-46

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you,

Just as you did it to the least of those who are members of my family,

you did it to me.’

Matthew 25.40 (New Revised Standard Version)

 

There is a beautiful pulpit in St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland that is carved from stone. On its sides a sculptor has shaped small figures in the act of caring for people in need: feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, and visiting those in prison. Along the sides of the pulpit, the stone is radiant with expressions of love.

The acts of mercy depicted on the pulpit in St. Giles’—and described in the Gospel of Matthew—are indispensable to human growth and healing. How would we survive without being fed or cared for, especially at our most vulnerable moments? Furthermore, Jesus promises that in the midst of such care we encounter him. He is as close to us as the person needing comfort, shelter, food and friendship.

“I will seek the lost,” says God through the prophet Ezekiel. A word of welcome to a stranger, a donation of time to a food pantry, letters to a prisoner and a phone call to a grieving friend, represent just some of the ways in which we, too, can care for those who have been bruised and battered by life. Through such acts of mercy we join our lives to the cause of God, and share our live with Jesus, the man for others.

 

Prayer: Forbid, O God, that we should overlook the opportunities to serve you that lie before us each day; and help us to be faithful to you in ways that are small and great; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Breaking and Entering

Scripture lesson:

Genesis 28:10-19a

“Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place,

And I did not know it.”

Genesis 28:16 (New Revised Standard Version)

Jacob is one of the great scoundrels of the Bible, a man who cheated his brother and deceived his father to gain his way. And yet God had a peculiar affection for him, as God seems to have a peculiar affection for all those whom the world defines as lost, or beyond help, or not worthy of forgiveness.

The story of Jacob is about the ways that God will find to embrace a person or nation, and Lord knows, Jacob did not leave much of a chink in his emotional armor through which God could enter his heart. In fact, God had to break into and enter Jacob’s life through the back door of his dreams, and speak to him there the good news that the lines of communication between heaven and earth are always open. So not only does God know where we are, but God comes to be with us, a fellow traveler and guide in our journey to be fully human.

Who knows how God will come to us and speak a word of truth and love, until we realize, like Jacob, that God is with us and for us? Surely the Lord is in this place, in a grief we bear, in the meeting of two strangers by a bus, in bread and water, in the new day dawning: beckoning us to rise up and be alive!

 

We give thanks, O God, for your gracious presence in the common things of life; awaken us to your joy in the ordinary moments, so that we may live with extraordinary vitality, as Jesus did. Amen.

The Power of Gratitude

Scripture lessons:

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c

Luke 17:11-19

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back,
praising God with a loud voice.”

Luke 17:15 (New Revised Standard Version)

 

The two most underused phrases in the English language are, “I’m sorry,” and “Thank you.” To apologize is to open the path for newness in the midst of a broken relationship. To be grateful for what we have received is to be thankful for the gift and, and even more importantly, for the giver of the gift.

When Jesus healed ten lepers, only one returned to give thanks. And that act of thanksgiving was built upon several movements. When the story tells us that the man ‘saw that he was healed,’ it is indicating that he took time to savor the gift of health. By turning back from his journey with the nine companions, he went out of his way to acknowledge the power of what had been done for him, as Jesus had gone out of his way to heal their disease. By giving thanks to God, this individual understood that the power of the Creator’s life flowed through Jesus and into the world. When Jesus told the healed man that ‘your faith has made you well,’ he was pointing out that the same power of life flowed through this man as well.

Gratitude is the response we make to the God who is a constant gift-giver. By giving thanks to God we acknowledge the goodness of the gifts, and come into communion with the Giver.

 

O God of abundance, we are overwhelmed with gratitude for your generosity. As we cherish all that we receive from you, may we in turn be generous givers. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

 

 

 

From Burial Ground to Birthplace

Scripture lessons:

Ezekiel 37.1-14
Acts 2.1-21

God said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’

Ezekiel 37:3 (New Revised Standard Version)

An entire valley of human bones: leering skulls, femurs and rib cages. We are not told what catastrophic event led to the creation of such remains. But Ezekiel sees this devastation and is confronted with a question that stretches belief and imagination to the breaking point. God said to Ezekiel: “Mortal, can these bones live?”

The question is a haunting one, for it has as much relevance for us as it did for the prophet. When we look at devastated inner city landscapes, or once vital churches now boarded up, or broken relationships, the ancient question appears with renewed force: can these bones live?

Ezekiel’s answer to this question is brief and humble: “O Lord God, you know.” He does not present a technique, guarantee or three-step method to assure renewal. Perhaps Ezekiel really does not know whether there is a power enlivening enough to put flesh on bones and breath back into bodies. But his reply gives God room to work, and that turns out to be all that God really needs to begin the process of resurrection.

A miracle took place in the valley of dry bones: a burial ground became a birthplace. Who knows what miracles God may fashion in the breathless places of our lives, if we open ourselves to the possibility of resurrection?

 

Prayer: O God, save us from despair when we survey the devastations within us and around us. Show us how to be participants in your healing work and to make way for the essential gift of your Spirit, which fills the world with life and love; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Plotting Goodness

Scripture lessons: Exodus 1.8-2.10

Matthew 16.13-20

“The midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them,

but they let the boys live.”

Exodus 1.17

New Revised Standard Version

 

Our daily conversations are frequently seasoned by the appearance of the word ‘good.’ Parents remind their children to be good; in the evening hours a loved one might ask us if we had a good day; and students will often speak of good teachers. It would seem that concerns about becoming a good person and enjoying the goodness of life are at the heart of what it means to be fully alive.

Interestingly enough, Jesus refused to be called good, reserving that designation for God alone. Yet surely he wanted us to express the goodness of God, as a clear glass of water allows light to pass through it. The goodness of God, radiating through the word or action of another is nothing less than an experience of sheer grace.

The Bible is full of people who are not always good in a purely moral sense, but who do uncommonly good things for others, and often without reason or hope of reward. Midwives in ancient Egypt deceived Egypt’s king and helped Israelite women to give birth to their children. Pharaoh’s own daughter rescued an infant boy who would grow to be the leader of a nation.

Where people choose the good, God is active and alive, further enhancing the goodness of a world created in love.

 

Prayer: O gracious God, restore in us the confidence that our world is a good place in which to live and share life, and help us to be for others an expression of your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.