Lent: Just Do It!
We are into the season of Lent. One of the topics of discussion around this time of year for folks of faith is a Lenten discipline. In other words what are you doing, what will you do during this season to reflect on the nature of Christ’s sacrifice for you and for all of humanity?
Historically Roman Catholics gave up meat on Friday’s, and I have given things up for Lent in the past. Chocolate, caffeine – particularly coffee, and other things are often high on the list of things that people forgo as a personal sacrifice, and to tune themselves into a deeper spiritual reflection.
But a few years ago, I began to reflect on this practice, though it can be a deeply meaningful one it can also be window dressing. If you really like fish, (which I don’t) is giving up meat on Friday’s a spiritual discipline? Giving up chocolate or sweets or coffee, yes these things can be sacrificial, but mostly they are good for me, so… does this really work for the intended purpose?
I then began taking things up for Lent, things that I do in to be more intentional in my faith and how it works itself out in my daily life. Many of these practices have woven themselves into my daily life.
I think the key for Lent as it is with faith on the whole is, does it change your life? This weekend we will be looking at integrating the Bible into our lives. The key here is as the old Nike ad puts it is: “Just do it!” If by giving up something it causes you to ponder your faith and to put it into action, great! If by taking up something, it causes you to do the same, wonderful…
For Lent to be Lent, and faith to be faith, the key maybe just to DO IT!
The Word Creates – Day 3
Seven Wonders of the Word
… and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – John 1:1
A gentleman who has become a dear friend of mine came to my office a number of years ago. He was to say the least in the midst of a pretty major life change. One of the things that emerged from our conversations was a growing interest, in Christianity. You see my friend was Jewish, not just in culture, but also in faith, albeit a faith that ebbed and flowed fairly dramatically over the years.
Long story short, he came to faith in Jesus Christ, was baptized and well, lets just say it was all part of a pretty interesting story. But one of the things that was so hard for him was the concept of the Trinity. As a Jew, he had no issues with Monotheism, that is the faith in only one God, but oh did he struggle with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. When he would speak of God, his conversation was pointedly directed to God the Father. I say this because when we spoke of God, or when we prayed or talked of prayer he would say something like, “God and Jesus” or “Jesus and God” or “God and the Holy Spirit.” God as one but in different persons just made his logic circuit’s spark and a grey haze form above his head (ok not really, but it came pretty close some times!)
Clear?? Ok, there is only so much one can do with lines and words, it is God we are talking about here after all!
Now I am not picking on him, not at all. The Trinity it isn’t easy to grasp, in fact I don’t know if anyone ever does, well at least fully. Some make a fuss because the Trinity is not directly mentioned in the Bible. The Trinity as we (more or less) understand it comes from the witness of Scripture and how people of faith have experienced God through that word. The church has ultimately left the Trinity in the realm of “mystery.” But mystery does not mean unknown or unknowable.
I have never had huge issues with the Trinity, because that in part is how I have always known God. I think that is what I liked about today’s reading the author Kathryn A. Kleinhans writes “Trinity is not just how experience God, but names who God is.” During the season of Lent I am reminded of my limitations, but I am also reminded, that God’s Word creates. Our devotion touches on some of Luther’s work on the Apostles Creed. “What does faith in the Triune God mean? It means that God created me. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, has redeemed me. The Holy Spirit calls, enlightens, gathers and sanctifies me.” This is something that is true for all Christians, and I too am brought into this relationship. I don’t know if I am on shaky theologically ground here, but God may in part be the way God is so that all people might be personally involved in this relationship. From the very beginning, God has been in relationship and continues still to be…. More on that tomorrow… yea, I looked a head, it’s a great passage from Genesis!
Jr. High Madness!
Tonight was our Jr. High lock in… Thank God for Ben and the group leaders who are staying up so I can go to bed by one… and get up by six, which means 5 more hours of sleep than they are getting. Tonight we looked at sacraments; Holy Communion and Baptism.
The focus of these is well, forgiveness… kinda neat how this all fits together. We are given these gifts, promises from God attached to earthly elements and the command to “do this” not as a burden, but as a blessing.
One thing that has filled my head lately is the difference between being right and being in right relationship. I can be right about something and my relationship with others can be way wrong. Now I am not saying you need to abandon your moral compass… but what I am saying is you can stress your rightness, or you can let the road of right relationship bring you to a place of forgiveness and healing where you being right isn’t at the core.
Put it this way… Sin is real, and as Paul says “the wages of sin is death.” Then we God would be right in toasting the whole lot of us. But God chooses right relationship and so sends his Son, so that all might have life. Right relationship costs more, takes more time and the out come well, from our vantage point the outcome is in question. So for us we would much rather be right, and sometimes that boils down to the old, eye for an eye justice.
God doesn’t have the same limitations we have and so sees the whole picture. It is in this vision that Jesus commands us to forgive as God has first forgiven us.
Well the communion bread is about ready to come out of the oven for Holy Communion before breakfast, and I am shot! So… if any of the above makes sense, wonderful, if I have erred in any way, or if I have stated a heretical position, please don’t call my bishop, forgiveness might be in order.
Be careful if you are on the roads in Reedsburg, WI tomorrow morning at 6:30ish… a groggy pastor with fresh Communion bread will be on his ay to church!
Let them eat cake.
People seem to love cake. I don’t.
Cake is fine and I think I know why people like it, it is just I wouldn’t cross the road to get a piece of cake, with the exception of a German chocolate cake with my grandma Glesne’s fudge frosting, for that I would cross a four lane highway. Daffodil cakes, coffee cakes, bunt cakes, fancy wedding cakes, birthday cakes, cakes made in bakery’s large or small thrill me not at all.
I am not a pastry snob in any way shape or form. However one of my first jobs as a kid was working at Fosdal Home Bakery in Stoughton, Wisconsin. No I did not bake, I did not frost, I did not decorate, I cleaned up. I washed hundreds upon hundreds of cake pans, cake, sheets, and angel food cake forms. Granted I was in Junior High at the time, but the experience has left me scared for life! Ok, that is a bit dramatic, I think it is just that I plain old don’t like cake that much, give me a just baked loaf of bread any day!
But people do tend to make a fuss about cake, they love cake they go on and on about cake. I have heard people say “oh, they have cake, well I guess I will be there!” I guess the thing about cake for most people is 
that it sets the occasion apart as something special, you just don’t have cake every day! Marie Antoinette aside… Bread is a staple, it is the basic building block of many of the world’s daily diets. Cake on the other hand is well… ummm… well in the realm of our daily bread, cake is the icing on the cake… uggg… I don’t believe I just wrote that… well you get the point.
But here is my thought. In the book of faith Lenten Journey Devotions today we continued our look at daily bread. They highlighted Luther’s explanation of daily bread. “Everything that nourishes our body and meets its needs, such as: Food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, yard, fields, cattle, money, possessions, a devout spouse, devout children, devout employees, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors and other things like these.” A pretty big list, in fact our devotions seem to expand that list even further with things like; the arts, health care, freedom from political and military violence (I wonder what Luther would have thought about the additions to the list!) I think I get the point, daily bread goes way beyond a loaf!
But as I looked at the lists Luther’s, which is a bit more basic and grounded, and the list from our devotions, very modern and quite a bit more specific, I began to wonder… when does praying for and accepting our daily bread become and expectation for daily cake? Even for those folks who come into St. John and get a bag of groceries are getting way more than just the basics of bread. Now no one is going to get caviar in their bag of groceries, but we do a fair job of going beyond the basics, to add a loving touch to the basics that many people so desperately need. Daily bread is in fact more that the basics just needed to keep a pulse going, daily bread is also relationships, and life, and not just life, but as Jesus puts it abundant life.
But the question just what is our most basic daily bread, and when do we if in fact we do, cross the line from daily bread to daily cake? Because there is want in this world, there are those who do not receive for one reason or another their daily bread, be that food, or relationship or the life that God intends for us in Jesus Christ. Maybe, as it state in our devotions, it is a distribution problem, too much cake for some not enough bread for others…
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.
Buzzie and flaps are talk’n theology.
Conflict of Interest
One of the great perks of being a parent is that you get to watch children’s’ movies, with no social judgment. Not only do you get to watch the current ones, you get to re-watch the ones you might have seen when you were a kid. I know I watched “The Jungle Book” when I was a kid, most likely on “The Wonderful World of Disney” as I have no idea where the closest movie theater might have been. Anyway… I don’t remember it being particularly funny as a kid, but there are lines in that movie that as an adult, I find a riot! One of those lines is a dialog between the buzzards as they hang out on branch. It
goes like this:
Buzzie: Hey, Flaps, So what are we gonna do?
Flaps: I dunno. What’cha wanna do?
And on and on it goes… It is perhaps only funny, because; as an adult I can’t think of the times when there wasn’t anything on our schedule and my wife has turned and said to me “So David, what’cha wanna do? And I say I dunno. What’cha wanna do? And on and on it would go!
Today we continued the look at the “your will be done” phrase in the Lord’s Prayer. I have found often that it isn’t that we don’t know what God’s will is, it is just usually, we have other ideas. These ideas are not on the surface evil, or even bad, but they are not always God’s will. I mean, how many times have you turned to God in prayer and said, “What’cha wanna do?” Well…
Technically every time we say the Lord’s Prayer that is what we are doing, but do we really mean the words we are saying? Our devotions say we should take a look at Paul’s words in Philippians 2:4-7.
Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was* in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
If God’s will is that we empty ourselves and serve others, to have the same mind as Christ Jesus we may hit re-dial and ask “um… are you sure that’s what you want us to do?” In this world of “look out for Number 1,” and “you deserve a break today,” we are called to care for the other. Every Christian, from the smallest to the tallest, pastors, plumbers, homemakers, the whole lot of us are all in this together.
It seems like a pretty big conflict of interest. Our will vs. God’s will. God’s will seems to be a pretty big challenge, it can seem so much easier to go with our own will and hope that God doesn’t mind too much. But Jesus doesn’t teach us to pray “your will be done, if it isn’t too much of a bother for me.”
The good news is that six verses later Paul writes “It is God, who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure”
Wow! God is at work in us! That is news we all need to hear. We are not doing this on our own, it is not just a human thing, it is a God thing, and that is why we can pray with confidence “your will be done.”
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.
My will be… er…ummm…
Not gobs of time for reflection today. Like so many days, I start off with many goals, dreams and ambitions. I make plans, lay out ways to achieve these things and at the end of the day I pour myself into bed with nary a check mark next to my haughty plans and wonder what happened to the day.
Oh, I am not perfect when it comes to single minded pursuit of my goals. I get distracted way to easily. But often what distracts isn’t the unnecessary flotsam and jetsam of life, it is something more. It just might be the will of God breaking into my life. But there are days when that doesn’t seem very fair.
I have a friend Mike who helps keep me centered even if he is Norwegian too! One of Mikes favorite things to say is; “want to make God laugh?? Tell him your plans.” There is much truth to this, but it is also true about our “wish lists.” Our devotions today focused on the passage from Micah 6:8 we talked about yesterday. Today they looked at the justice thing a bunch. Part of doing God’s will is doing justice, and part of justice is that everyone would have enough, for in fact God has provided enough.
But even in the midst of our economic struggles, we still suffer from “Affluenza.” My will is for more stuff, good stuff, stuff I like, and short of that stuff in general will do as long as I have more than the next guy. A thought that comes to mind in this area of justice is that we often equate justice with well… equality, sameness, uniformity and fairness. But this isn’t always the case.
Ok for instance, it would perhaps be fair that everyone get the same clothes so that no one would be without. Sounds just doesn’t it? Sounds fair. But take me and my associate pastor. I am 6’6″ she on a good day is at the 5′ mark. We could both own the same alb to wear for leading worship. However, if it was made to fit her, it wouldn’t work so well for me, or if it was one size fits all we would both look silly. (its late and it has been a long day so forgive me) Justice is not always about equality. It is about getting enough. Sometimes that means that others may get more than I have because they “need” it. I may want it, but it doesn’t mean I “need” it.
Ok, back to the will thing. Gods will is that we have enough, not more than, and not the same. But enough. So how do you know when enough is enough, and it isn’t too much… Uggg… exceptions and problems are popping up all over with this … maybe I need to get back to praying! Your will be done… ok, Lord please let me see and be a part of that will unfolding into this world each day for Jesus sake.
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!
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.
Little Words
Sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference. It might sound trite, but it is true. One little fuse pops and my little Mazda pickup doesn’t run, its just a little thing no bigger than my thumbnail… ok I have big thumbs but hang with me here… but without it my truck is only so much metal and plastic sitting in my driveway.
Today I was working through the “book of faith – Lenten Journey” many at St. John are using as a corporate (big word but I use it on purpose, you’ll see!) devotional and the focus was on small words. In life, in the reading of scripture we often focus on big words, words in large quantities; books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, paragraphs, sentences, phrases and then the big words themselves draw our attention.
But it is the small words that often do the heavy lifting in our verb-age. In this case it is the word “our” as in Our Father… Our is a small word, I know the Lord’s Prayer in two other languages, ok, they are similar languages, but they are different… Norwegian and Icelandic. The Norsk version starts out “Fader vår” and the Icelandic is “Faðir vor” similar, but the point is a little three letter word in each of these languages. Icelandic Our Father
Vår, vor, our… it is a small word that is laden with implications. Our is the possessive form of we, another very small word, that expresses a commonality, a bond between two or more people.
We pray “Our Father…” “If God is our Father, then God is not only my Father.” It is a corporate prayer, in other words a prayer that is never prayed alone, even if you are, in fact, all by your self.
In praying Our Father, we recognize that we are all part one big very unique family with all the joys and struggles that brings. In the devotional I felt it stressed that this should bring us some kind of unity as we seek to be responsible for each other. I do in fact understand that point, but I also feel that it explains allot of our behavior that isn’t quite so loving.
Now, I grew up in a wonderful family, great parents and siblings, but, ummm… things are not always smooth in these relationships. But I do think think this sence of family does help in understanding our lives and our lives of faith. Yes, God is “Our Father” but that doesn’t mean we are all one big happy family skipping down a yellow brick road with rainbows over our heads on the way to OZ. Families; love, live, fight, fuss, struggle, forgive and learn each day. But it is something that we do in relationship, there is no way to be family all on your own, it is always OUR family.
There are no first person pronouns in this prayer either. The Lord’s Prayer can never be “my prayer” it is always “our prayer” in this way we need to remember that we are created to be in relationship, to God and with eachother. Even as we pray this prayer in times of our individual need, there is a sence of community here. We are not alone, we pray this prayer not only on our behalf but on behalf of all our brothers and sisters and yes even all of creation itself.
Oh, and yes, the weather came today… it slushed out.. about 3 inches. Not snow, not rain, not ice, slush… tomorrow morning might be a real treat!
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!
