The Word: Shapes – Day 36
Seven Wonders of the Word
“…so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:17
Today that word up there “proficient” has gotten my attention…
Proficient, to me it is one of those report card words. You know the kind where you didn’t get letter grades, but rather you got adjectives that described rather than letters that ranked. I think I liked those grades better, no I am sure of it, I do like them better. I have several reasons for this, but we really don’t have to get into my High School carrer do we? No I don’t think we will, thank you.
Think about grades in the life of faith… Oh I got an “A” in holiness. Well what does that mean? An “A” what?
But to be proficient, well that is different, to be proficient means to be; skilled, capable now that means something. Even the lesser grades let you know where you stood, if you got a NI you knew that you needed improvement, and quite frankly there is hope there! There is a purpose, a goal, there is something worth striving for, but a letter… never was all that much of a motivator for me!
The word shapes us into proficiency for a purpose too, it is there for “every good work.” We are to be proficient so that we might be equipped to do good, “good work.” To do this work you need to be prepared, you need to have a skill set developed and nurtured. If you are going to be a great musician you need to practice, if you are going to be a great ball player, the same holds true.
How this practice happens is based in the Word, but it takes on differing shapes. The tools in your spiritual tool box are uniquely your own, but like with any tools the only time they are of any use is when they are being used.
A loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese a can of lemonade and thou…
Perhaps one of the most memorable meals I have ever eaten, was not so much of a meal as it was all we could scrounge up at the time. Kristi and I had just flown into London and taken the train into town to try and find our hotel. It was a long trip, and I was wedged between the bulkhead behind me and a lady who insisted on reclining her seat. On the best of flights things are tight, but by the time we got to London, I had the two semi-permanent divots in my knee caps from the little metal bars on the seat back in front of me. Anyway… once we landed we were ready to begin our adventure. So, with luggage in tow… we wondered out of the train station and on to the streets of the first foreign country we had ever been in. Fine, I know its England and they speak English, more or less, but still!
Anyway we were trying to get our bearings and after wondering around a bit, we were still lost, but we or at least I discovered I was very hungry! So 
we found a little shop just off the Thames, bought what we thought we could afford for dinner, it amounted to a Baguette, a hunk of cheese and a big can of a lemonade-y type drink. We walked back up to the river and ate and looked and soaked it all in.
Glamorous? Not really, it was London, not Paris! Memorable? Absolutely! Would I have remembered this if I was all by myself, well maybe, but what made it really memorable was that I was with my wife!
As we looked at daily bread in our book of faith devotions today it brought up the fellowship aspect of our daily bread. It talked about all those people Jesus ate with, and the somewhat interesting fact that most of the people Jesus ate with were not, how shall I say this, hmmm… well they were people your mother would most likely frown upon you hanging out with.
Yet, these were the very people the Gospels tell us over and over again that Jesus actually invited and accepted invitations from, to share meals. There is a whole ton of cultural stuff that “breaking bread” brings with it in Jesus day and ours, and I am not going into it here. But suffice it to say many of the memories about what Jesus taught and where he taught it, revolved around food. Then there are all the comparisons between heaven and the most outrageous all you can eat buffet that you have ever seen! The best part is that everyone is invited.
With that in mind, think about the most memorable meals you have ever had. Who was there, what made them memorable. Have you had a memorable meal because someone was there that you would rather not have eaten with? How does it make you feel that person has an invitation to the heavenly banquet just like you?
Ok, more questions than anything else today, but it is Friday, my lap top is giving me fits, but the question mark key still works well! Blessings!
Built-in Time Machines
We all have things that evoke strong memories. Sights, smells, songs… other words that begin with s… um… well you get the point, we all have triggers that act as time travel devices. Once you experience one of these triggers you are instantly transported back in time.
For me one of those triggers is this picture. No matter where we lived for years this picture hung next to our dining room table. I cannot see this picture and not remember meals shared and time spent with my family.
The official name of this picture is “Grace” as in saying grace, before your meal. But it has another name as well, and it is “Daily Bread.” The themes of thanksgiving and daily bread are tightly interwoven and right fully so, but daily bread means more than just being thankful.
Our book of faith – 40 day Lenten devotions today say that as we pray “give us this day our daily bread” it begs the question, about “our” bread. We do not ask for my bread, but that our daily bread would be 
granted. So what does the our mean for you.
Frankly I think our devotions over play the justice side of this a bit. That doesn’t mean I don’t see injustices in how daily bread is handled they do exist. But when they equate this justice matter to a sacramental level by comparing it to Holy Communion, I am troubled. These lines from the devotions got me thinking: “Everyone regardless of his or her station of life, gets the same small piece of bread, the same small cup of wine. The “haves” do not get the whole loaf while the “have-nots” get the crumbs, as so often happens in the world outside the church.”
Um…I don’t get the cup nor the bread at many houses of worship. God’s justice is bigger than our human understanding of this sacrament, this wonderful gift.
You can argue that our Lord’s intent is that everyone of his baptized children should receive communion, and I believe that to be true, but it doesn’t work that way.
So in comparing the justice of “daily bread” to how humans actually handle this gift from God, may not work so well. I don’t have a complete answer to this… it is a struggle.
But in all these things I trust that God does in fact supply my daily bread, your daily bread, and daily bread for all of creation. I guess my simple prayer is that I might not get in the way of God doing what God does out of Love for all he has made, and if I am lucky, I just might get to be a part of providing others their daily bread.
Can’t get it out of my head
We went to the Choraliers Home Show yesterday; they are a show choir and managed to squish CATS into a 25 minute show. They did a really good job, but the whole event was over three hours long because the Junior High show choir performed and they had “features” in which the kids did their solo and ensemble pieces. Thus the length of show, which for me is a long haul on a Sunday afternoon! One of the songs, is one of my least favorite of all time… “Send in the Clowns.” I just can’t stomach the song. Well, as it would happen, my dear wife couldn’t get that song out of her head today… it nearly drove both of us nuts!
I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t had that happen. A song, one you like or if you are unlucky, one you are not overly fond of, sticks in your head and you just can’t shake it! Why this happens is a mystery, but it is usually a song you heard quite often. I have a number of songs like this.
One song that gets stuck in my head from time to time was one that was in heavy rotation back when I was a kid in Sunday School. “The will know we are Christians by our love.” Today in our devotions it talks about walking humbly with God, “then God’s will must be that those of us who are doing just that help others get to the same place.” We call this evangelism. But for many evangelism has gotten a bad rap.
There is a phrase that goes “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.” Back when I was in High School, there was a kid in choir that had a tee-shirt that said “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it’s yours. If it doesn’t hunt id down and kill it.” Ok, maybe it is kind of sad, but I thought it was funny at the time and still do a little because it just shows us how upside down we have it. Evangelism isn’t about dragging someone to God’s saving love kicking and screaming, it is about bring them good news for that is what the word evangelism really means. Evangelism isn’t coercion, it isn’t about power or authority, it is basically “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
One quote I also love that speaks to this loving spreading of the good news is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi who said “Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words.” Walking humbly with God does not mean we are to be bull horns for Christ, we are to show God’s love in our daily love for the other. Our devotions quoted Mother Theresa saying we are all “a little pencil in the hands of God who is sending a love letter to the world.” When you are loved, you want to let others know about it don’t you? You almost can’t help but tell those people closest to you what this means to you. When we pray “your will be done” we are asking for the strength, faith and courage to live God’s will and to invite others into this incredible relationship.
Humble Hotdishes
I smell of cheese and sausage. I have washed my hands but the smell just won’t go away! You see I just got done slicing 3 metric tons of cheese and one honking enormous summer sausage for part of our volunteer appreciation celebration tomorrow at St. John. I have lived in Wisconsin for well over half my life, but I still don’t think I could eat cheese and sausage at 9:15 in the morning unless eggs and toast were also involved.
Today the book of faith devotions talked about the walking humbly with God part of Micah 6:8. Perhaps there are no better examples of those who walk humbly with God than those we celebrate tomorrow. Ok the term volunteer and church don’t always work for me. Yes I know people volunteer their time, but the work done is ministry. Walking humbly with God is making yourself available to do God’s will. That could be setting up bars and coffee for fellowship time between services, making a hotdish
THE Tater Tot Hotdish, the gold standard of hotdishes
(that is a casserole for those of you non-Midwestern Lutheran types) for a family who is in crisis, folding newsletters so that they might go in the mail, ushering, singing in the choir, setting up tables and chairs for a potluck (an event where hotdishes are served) and nearly anything that brings the kingdom into this world.
I don’t know anyone who slices cheese and sets out the salads for a funeral luncheon who does it in hopes that someday Martha Stewart will show up and discover them so they can have their how HGTV show or whatever. Walking humbly in my view has to do with doing tasks large or small not out of any hope for heavenly brownie points, but simply standing humbly at the foot of the cross, and gazing at God’s ultimate gift to us, it is the least we can do. Walking humbly means constantly turning away from ourselves and returning our gaze to God. I think it is interesting how many times returning to God involves reaching out in love to others. It is doing things that normally you wouldn’t do on a bet, and doing them for the sake of others. The funny thing about humility is that you never really know when you are doing it. It just flows from you. The second you stop to think “am I being humble,” anything resembling true humility vanishes. Humility comes from walking with our eyes fixed on God and his will for us, trusting that God in his love will guide us and provide for us… but now I am getting ahead of myself…
Blessings and thanks for journeying with me this lent. I would love to hear if you have any comments, corrections or questions. I hope on some level to make this less about me pontificating and more about a conversation of faith, and life as we all become what we already are in Jesus Christ.
Spiderman and the will of God
I have been slaving away on my sermon for this weekend. Ok, slaving away is an exaggeration, as my daughter said; “and watching Spiderman 3 helped you write your sermon?” The kid has learned well from her parents 
Our devotions today continued to focus on the will of God particularly focused on the loving kindness part. It seems so simple, but I was reminded after watching Spiderman 3 (gotcha!) how often can we look into the face of ugliness of the world; hate, fear, violence, revenge, hunger, injustice, and pain and not curl in on ourselves in self protection? Loving kindness demands vulnerability, it calls for us to step out into this world to do God’s will not necessarily our will. We do ask in this prayer that God’s will becomes ours even as he strengthens us by his life giving spirit each day.
In doing my prep work for the sermon I came upon this next piece. It didn’t really fit the particular direction I was going but it is too good not to use someplace. It was attributed to a Dr. Ted Loder, from his book, GUERRILLAS OF GRACE. I hope it blesses you.
Humbly-mumbly
Ahhhh… peace and quiet. I love Wednesdays in Lent. Oh sure you say “because of mid-week worship, or is it the soup, bread and pie you had for supper?” Ok, fine, those things are a part of it, but what I love most is now… after all that. In the still quiet of the evening, I am alone in my house. The kids are at youth group, my wife is at choir and it is just me and the cats and right now they are not being demanding, it is lovely.
I didn’t get to the devotions earlier in the day; they had to keep until now. But it was worth it. I sat and read, undistracted, and unhurried in absolute quiet. Listening to what Micah 6:8 was whispering in my ear. Oh, I love this passage, have for years, I have read it over and over again. I have used it for devotions, sermons and to try and focus junior high kids on what it means to walk, live and breathe the Christian life.
It all sounds so simple, “God has told you, O mortal, what is good: and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Easy, right? It is all laid right out there, no complicated directions, and no long list of rules just do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Piece of cake I can do that! Oh…humbly, humbly now… oh, that’s right… humbly…
How often do we get in the way of doing justice, or if not outright obstructing justice, just plain old not stepping out and doing it?
How often do we get in the way of loving kindness? I mean who has a problem with being kind, well except of course to those people who don’t deserve kindness, surely God can’t be talking about them?
How often do we, when we actually get around to doing justice and loving kindness, creep ever so slowly into the “look at me” mode of existence?
Our devotions ask, what if everyone who is a Christian and who prays the Lord ‘s Prayer and says the words “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” actually did the will of God in doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. In fact it states these points should shape our every action as a congregation, church and individuals.
I can’t argue with that, but I do know people, well, at least a little bit. I know that what I consider to be justice isn’t always what God would consider justice, what I consider to be kindness, is not always the kindness that God expects. Then there is that whole issue of remaining humble, I am not going there!
The brokenness of sin raises its ugly head once again, and I have a choice to make, I can either be crushed by the overwhelming demands that these three little statements place upon me, or I can lift up my eyes to the cross of Christ, and dust off the self pity and self centeredness and trust that I and all who are baptized are all becoming what we already are in Jesus Christ. I think that each day I need to “lift my eyes to the hills” and with the cross in full view ask God to guide me as I see to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with him as I seek to God’s will each step of each day.
There… got that done, no one is home yet and I am going to sit here in the silence for a while and just soak it up!
Waiting and not waiting
It has been a busy day. First it was a Tuesday, which in my life are my Monday’s, they are always nuts. Second, Kristi was working so I was on for supper. Third, it was Council meeting. Then I got home and after 20 minuets of helping Hannah study for her APUSH test, I got a call. Hannah got the phone and sighed. The caller ID said RAMC, Hannah always sighs when it says RAMC after 5:00. A congregation member had landed in the ER. So it was down to the Hospital for a couple hours.
In all of that I was blessed enough to see the kingdom again today… in Council, despite financial struggles, they deliberated thoughtfully, about more than money, about how best to minister. In all of it I could see the trust and hope that even in these hard times God will provide. The not yet-ness of God’s kingdom are the struggles that we face day to day, but in the knowledge that God’s kingdom is already we can find hope even in the midst of our hardest days.
Then there was the hospital visit. As I sat with the family the words from one of my favorite passages kept coming to me. Ok, it was also part of doing my devotions earlier in the day, but non-the-less, it was there!
“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.
7And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
8he 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.
9It 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.” (Isaiah 25:6-9)
This reading is most often used during Advent, and funny as it may seem, at funerals. I guess it isn’t that odd. Advent is about the kingdom breaking into the “not yet” in the person of Jesus Christ. Funerals about the Kingdom already and the promises received in our baptisms into Jesus life, death and resurrection! Our hope is in this heavenly reward, kingdom life, but our hope is in what God will yet do in this world, which is also kingdom life!
In our devotions they didn’t have verse 9, but I thought that might be an oversight, as it helps us wrap our heads around the already and not yet-ness of God’s kingdom. The first part of the reading sounds a lot like heaven, perfection, a wonderful peace, and no more tears! But verse nine is all about the not-yet. Waiting! Uggg! How I hate waiting, but waiting is very much a part of the in-breaking of kingdom. Waiting in the ER, waiting for a word, waiting for healing, waiting for justice, waiting for peace, waiting for just about everything. We grow impatient and want the kingdom to come now and can’t understand why God just doesn’t get on with it! “Thy Kingdom come now!” we whine… yet this is the God for whom we have waited, let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Wait! There are wonderful things yet to be done in the “not yet” part of the kingdom, so that all might come to know the loving salvation of God and tears might be wiped from eyes even as we wait. So when we are waiting for the kingdom, we are not waiting because it is breaking in all the time and we get to be part of that wonderful event! Already and not yet, waiting and not waiting all at the same time…right?
Ok, well that was more than I thought I had me, if it makes any sense… thank God, well even if it doesn’t make sense… thank God for becoming what you already are in Jesus Christ.
Extra mustard please
The kingdom of God is like…
Isn’t it funny how time after time, complex concepts, when explained properly aren’t very complex at all. We are STILL looking at the kingdom of God in the Lord’s prayer in our book of faith Lenten journey devotions. In the Gospels Jesus lays out what life is like in the kingdom. Its like: a mustard seed, a bit of yeast, a treasure hidden in a field, a pearl of great price, and a net. Not one of those items I described do we have the least bit of trouble wrapping our heads around.
Really… These are all common items, some are a bit more pricey than others, but there is a commonality among them that we can all identify with.
- While maybe everyone doesn’t know about mustard seeds. But, I don’t know of a kid who at some point in his or her life didn’t plant a bean seed, or a flower seed in a Styrofoam cup and watched it sprout and grow.
- Yeast, well not everyone is into bread baking, but we know it when we taste it. The smell of fresh baked bread that yeasty smell, the taste of bread still warm, with a bit of butter or honey, we know what its like to be fed like this.
- Treasure, especially buried treasure…arrrrrgg… ahoy matey’s! Kids draw maps of buried treasure and go seek it, even if there isn’t anything there, the chase, the adventure, the hope of finding treasure fills our imaginations. Even adults know and love this idea, who do you suppose bought all those tickets to Pirates of the Caribbean I, II and III!
- Pearl of great price, ok not everyone is big into pearls,
of great price or otherwise. But show me a 1957 Gibson Les Gaul Gold top and I will show you a pearl of great price. We all have such pearls in our lives, not all of them are things though!
- Nets, well not much imagination here… you catch things with them, from fish to butterfly’s or at St. John Lutheran, bats! Nets are made to snag everything in their path. They are meant for catching things plain and simple.
The point is that the kingdom of God is not some far off hard to imagine thing, it is reflected in our normal everyday experiences. We can taste, see, feel and experience the kingdom of God in our everyday lives.
Perhaps the kingdom of God is celebrated nowhere else quite like eating together. If are close to Reedsburg, please feel free to stop by St. John for our soup, bread and pie prior to our mid-week services. You can come at noon, or supper starts at 5:30 (I think, I am already there when it starts so I forget!) The meals are a fund raiser for our youth, but if things are tight financially, give me a nudge and I will see to it that there is no cost for you. This is the kingdom of God! If you come on Wednesday evening, there will be a table set aside for us to talk about our devotions if you would like to join us!
One last thing. It may only be pizza rolls and a coke, but a prayer before your meal is an excellent way to celebrate the kingdom of God. In our home it is usually the good ol’ “Come Lord Jesus” (talk about a loaded phrase!) But I would like to share a special family prayer that was used at Grandma and Grandpa Braaten’s home when we would visit. If it works for you great!
“Great God we praise your gracious care, which does our daily bread prepare. O, bless the earthly food we take and feed our souls for Jesus sake. Amen.”
Love as a way of life
I have 12 weddings this summer, not a ton, but a fair number. At some point when I sit down with each couple during the pre-marriage council sessions I will tell them my philosophy on love. That is quite simply, love is not simply an emotion, or a feeling, at its core love is a way of life, love takes effort, love is the hardest work you will ever do and it is worth it!
It’s not that I don’t go in for romance, but we don’t need to go there today. But think about love even in a romantic context. It still takes work. Someone has to prepare a lovely evening on the town; clear the schedule, make the phone call to reserve a spot at the restaurant, by the tickets for the play, call the baby sitter, and the list goes on… even romance is hard work my friends!
In the book of faith Lenten Journey devotions today we continue looking at what life in the kingdom is like. Love is the norm, our devotions say that “the rule of God is the rule of love.” They go on to talk about the scribe who asks what the greatest commandment is and Jesus responds first love God and second to love your neighbor as yourself. The scribe is then gets just bubbly about how great Jesus is… and Jesus replies you are not far from the kingdom of God. (Mark 12:28-34)
I really like what comes next so I will put it here verbatim. “Not far? Why not in? Perhaps because Jesus saw a difference between knowing the right answers and living the right answers. The distance between “not far” and “in” is the distance between talking about love and loving.”
That distance can be huge for us. Loving as a way of life is hard work. As I read these devotions to day a photo I saw on the net someplace came to mind and through the power of Google… I found it.
It reminds me of Paul’s words in Romans 12 “No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
To love the co-worker who has stabbed you in the back, to love the family member who over and over and over again has broken your heart is hard work. It is the work of a way of life, it never really ends. Jesus never said life in the kingdom would be easy. In fact he sort of promises the opposite. But as we journey through lent we are reminded that in God loves us so much that he gave his only Son so that we might live in his love.
I take comfort in my stuff
The title of today’s entry comes from the band Hocus Pick called the “Comfort Song.” Honestly I don’t know to many Americans that are huge fans of Hocus Pick, they were a Christian Rock band from Canada, a collection of odd balls, with a sharp whit, and wry sense of humor. So naturally, I like 
them!
The main chorus in the comfort song is “I take comfort in my stuff.” I have to admit, I have a deep and passionate connection with my stuff. I like to think that I have a healthy relationship with my stuff, but it can get in the way some times.
In our book of faith Lenten Journey devotions today we continued our look at the phrase “Your kingdom come…” We touched a bit on a topic I think we will revisit when we get to the “daily bread” part. But life in the kingdom is about also about trusting in God’s rule.
We worry and fret about so much, ourselves, our family, our job, our future our past, yaddi yaddi yadda… you name it we can in fact worry about it. Today we worry about our stocks, our retirement funds, our jobs and our mortgages. Now don’t get me wrong, we are not to be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as it were, blissfully ignorant to the pain that is around us, but our devotions do ask us to think about an interesting question. “Is it true that we need much less than we have to live a happy, meaningful life?”
I think the answer, at least for me is yes. Often I find that my stuff gets in the way of happiness rather than promoting it. I worry about my stuff and I worry that I won’t be able to get more stuff. But Jesus asks us to trust in God for what we need.
Need, now there is the kicker… I need very little of what I actually have. I don’t need 10 guitars, but I have them, I need one, maybe two… aw dang there it is creeping up on me again! I have a house full of stuff, I have stuff in the garage, I don’t even use. My defence is always, well I might need it at some point so, there it sits unused in my garage.
Jesus comes to us and lets us know that God has provided for all we need (see Matthew 6:25-31). In fact there is one thing that is truly need-full. “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matt 6:33)
The problem is that enough never seems to be enough. The first verse of the “Comfort Song” goes this way: “I put my comfort in my stuff. The more I get, well it’s never quite Enough Life without it would be really rough I put my comfort in my stuff.”
In this light, my question is: in this day of mortgage crisis, job loss, and family strife, do we dare trust that God will provide enough? Do we step out to share out of our abundance so that the kingdom will come among us even as we pray, “your kingdom come…”
Upside right
I am sure you have seen it, maybe you have done it yourself. Reading directions, or some such thing, and once you have read it, it doesn’t make any sense. So you take the directions, and you turn them upside down hoping to gain a little clarity. Ok, mostly it is done out of humor, we know we are stuck and don’t understand things, so we act out our confusion and frustration in a silly way. I think there is truth in that silly action.
Often when theologians and others talk about how Jesus viewed the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God, they say Jesus turns the world upside down. In our book of faith devotions today the verse they use is from Matt. 20:25a-26 where he says if you want to be great you must be a servant.
But I tend to think of things this way… Jesus is not turning things upside down… he is in fact turning things upside right. Our view on power, glory, honor and position is broken by sin, and as such we see and operate in an upside down manner.
To live in the Kingdom of God is to live upside right. Oh it is easy, way too easy to be flipped back around by the way the world sees things, but there are those moments when living in the fullness of God’s love we live and operate upside right and those moments my friend make all the difference.
One of my congregation members answered the question I asked yesterday. Where do you see the Kingdom of God? Sheri said; “Every day in the eyes of the little children that surround me!” Now Sheri does daycare, God bless her indeed. This is not a job that I was gifted for, but she is and in living in her giftedness she see the Kingdom in the eyes of those kids.
Maybe she can see it there, because for the most part these kids know what it is like to be totally dependant on another. As grown ups we think we are suppose to make it on our own in everything. But the words “Your kingdom come…” also remind us that we are to trust as Brother Martin put it: “The kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself; but we pray in this petition that it may come unto us also.” It is trusting in God acknowledging our depending upon God that sets the world upside right.
Until the Cows come home
As a kid I remember grownups using the phrase “until kingdom come” when something was going to take forever to happen or would happen forever. Perhaps the only phrase that was used in this context more often was the famous “until the cow’s come home.” For example “Oh that Johnny can stack bales until the cows come home.” Ok, maybe that belies my mostly rural up bringing but the point is this, when the phrase “until kingdom come” was used it meant a forever or distant kind of thing.
“Oh, that won’t happen until kingdom comes.” Old timers don’t have a corner on this phrase either, I have seen it in the words of songs by Cold Play and Kamelot … “For you i’d wait til kingdom comes,” and “I’ll follow my heart until kingdom comes.” Very romantic I ‘spose, but in reality… the kingdom is in fact not that far off, which sort of dampens all that mushy stuff.
You see, when we pray “your kingdom come on earth as in heaven” in the Lord’s prayer we need to recognize that God’s kingdom does in fact come to us long before the cows come home.
God’s kingdom, is present in heaven, yes, true and very important to remember. But we must also remember as we pray this petition that God’s kingdom comes now even as we pray this prayer, in the here and now.
God’s kingdom isn’t just a far off thing, it is indeed here and now present among us. I have seen this kingdom, it shows up in little ways and in big ways each day. It is present when as people of faith we live our lives in a Godly way… not just singing nicely in church, but fueled by the Holy Spirit to bring that very kingdom into our lives and into the lives of others around us in loving service.
Does God rule in your life? We might cringe at this thought. We don’t much like people even God to rule over us. To that end I have a couple questions for you to ponder. Do you see God ruling like a despot, yelling out rules and punishing every chance God gets. Or do you see the rule of God as the Lord’s prayer teaches us, like a loving parent who can admonish, but also reassures, blesses and guides us each day until God’s kingdom comes fully?
Finally, what does Gods kingdom look like to you? Do you see it? If not what gets in the way? If you do see it, what enables you to see such a sight?
I yam what I yam
“I yam what I yam, and that’s not all that I yam,”
The names for God, there are a ton. I guess it makes sense. The name Father, as I have talked about earlier, I like. I have grown to like it even more since learning the Aramaic word Jesus used which is Abba, which we might understand as Daddy.
But my all time favorite I think comes to us from Exodus. In our devotions we were reminded that when When Moses asked God what to tell the Hebrews when they asked who sent him to them, God replied “Yahweh,” which can be translated as i am who i am, or i am what i am, or i will be what i will be, or simply, i am (Exodus 3:13-15). Ever since I was a kid I remember hearing that passage being read and I immediately liked it.
I Am Who I Am. Maybe I liked it becasue of popeye’s old catch phrase ““I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam.” Well, when you are young, things like that make a differance.
Ok, this may sound silly and a tad obvious, but there is a huge difference between Popeye’s “I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam,” and Yahweh’s, “I AM WHO I AM.”
Popeye’s catch phrase, is perhaps the ultimate expression of individualism. Yahweh’s “I AM WHO I AM,” is perhaps the ultimate expression of relationship. Yes, this name is a mystery, yes properly understood it should invoke a sense of awe and fear. But, as it stated in the book of faith Lenten Journey devotional: The Lord’s Prayer is an invitation to ponder the sacred, to wonder about i am, the mystery from which we came and to which we shall return.
By giving us his name, as mysterious as “I am” is for a name, we are invited into a relationship. But giving us a name, God opens up for us the chance for a relationship and in this relationship we are asked to make and keep that name holy. We have been given a gift in this name, we have been given a gift in this prayer, that we might keep God’s name sacred, as we become what we already are in Jesus Christ.
in heaven, the fine point of Both and…
The otherness of God
Yesterday we pondered God as “Father” an intimate and relational term for God. Today we follow that with “in heaven” a phrase that puts a bit of space between us and God. God is God we are not. This basic and perhaps very obvious fact is often lost on us. We like a god that is at our beck and call, one that likes the same things and people we like, says things we agree with, and generally doesn’t demand too much of us that we are not already willing to do. But this God is “in heaven” in heaven implies distance, otherness, mystery. A fancy word for this is transcendence (had to use the spell check on that one!) basically it means a going beyond; God is beyond us, apart from. So in this prayer we pray in a relational way to one who is beyond us?
In Christ God has come to us, though God in his fullness is beyond us, God chooses to come to us and become known. In this he is not beholden to us, but rather reaches out to establish a relationship rooted in love. God is not some prime-mover who set things in motion and now sits back and watches what happens to us like a bad sit-com. God comes that we might have life, and for that to happen God chooses to get God’s hands dirty. In Christ God comes and mucks about as one of us, the one who is all things chooses to identify with us, his creation and reaches out in love. No one is excluded from this love except those who exclude themselves. Maybe we have grown so accustomed the Abba Daddy image of God that we risk losing what a big deal it is that this God, amazing, mysterious and Omni everything has chosen to relate to us. Lutherans love to keep things both and… we are both sinner and saint, the kingdom is already and not yet and God is both an immanent Daddy and transcendent Awesome Creator of everything, to be feared and worshiped.
In this balance we have a God who loves us and yet pushes to move beyond who we are now to become what we already are in Jesus Christ.
That Father thing…
Today in our “book of faith – Lenten Journey” we looked at the word, Father. What does Father mean to you? What does the phrase “Our Father” mean?
Father, I guess I have been blessed, I have no problem thinking of God as an ever loving, just, merciful Father.
Others, well, not so much. Many people have issues with their earthly fathers, some petty, some huge and they say these issues get in the way of understanding God as Father.
My father, my dad… is not perfect, he would be the first one to admit this, but all in all, I have a great dad, no real complaints, no issues (that I know if anyway!). But I don’t confuse my dad, as wonderful and well meaning as he is, with God. He, like me is a pastor, and I don’t even think I confused him with God or Jesus. It happens to pastors I know. One day a 4 or 5 year old pointed at me just before a wedding ceremony and I heard him ask his mom if I was God. She told him no, and shushed him… a little later he said, “is that Jesus?” Again he was shushed. After the wedding was over he came up to me and looked at me and said: “you are a pastor!” True enough, but my demotion came pretty fast, but I am alright with that, because I don’t need or want anyone to confuse me with God or Jesus!
I also know that God is not restricted to human limitations. After all both male and female are created in God’s image so I don’t get hung up on the title Father, in some ways it is way too limiting. But it is the word that Jesus used. Maybe Jesus used this term because we can wrap our heads around that term, it is a relational term and God is big into relationships. Or maybe it was because he knew that our earthly fathers and others we are in relationship with, often fall short and we need to understand the length and breath of Gods love for us and in this relational term we find our example as fathers, mothers, children, friends and neighbors.
Don’t get me wrong I am not denying the struggles that some people have with their fathers, but I hope that we can look beyond those examples to the ultimate example of sacrfical love for us in the one who Jesus called “Abba” Father.
Ash Wednesday – mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
Yep, today is Ash Wednesday. I love it. Service was packed tonight. It is amazing who shows up when the weather isn’t horrid! We doubled the number of folks with cross shaped smudges on their foreheads from last year. Last year it was if I remember correctly snowy and icy. This year that junk is waiting until Thursday to show up.
I get all emotional on when people come up to receive their ashen cross. The words and the life experiences they are going through often get me… right… there… uff. A lady with cancer, another woman who just lost her mother, a guy with a nasty temper, but a heart of gold, little kids kneeling in front of me, not really sure what is going on, but they too are dust and to dust they shall return. In all of this darkness, still the word of promise rings all around me, in the stained glass, the cross that adorns our East wall, and the bread and wine, neatly and reverently covered on the altar, just waiting to be poured out into our lives, to feed us with the true life that is in Christ. It is just completely AWESOME!
There is a phrase we use in our confession, “we confess to you and to one another, and before the whole company of heaven, that we have sinned by our fault, by our own fault, by our own most grievous fault, in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” Some folks don’t like that so much. Makes ‘em feel bad I guess. But, I think if we are honest it is our fault, much of what we do and don’t do that harms our relationship with God, with others and the whole creation is at some level our fault. Corporately or individually we have enough faults to make California seem solid in comparison. But even with our Mea Culpa’s our own most grievous fault is not where things are left. The point of the smudgy little cross on your forehead is that on the cross Christ came and moved us beyond that deep grievous valley and into the bright sunshine of life!
Ok, enough for now… I have started my 40 day blog officially now… we will see where God leads us!
