1 Kings 22, and Those Annoying Prophets

The kings of Judah and Israel are considering going to war with their neighbor, Aram, but first, they want to check in with God, by asking their prophets. All the prophets give the advice to go ahead, because they will win. All, that is... except Micaiah. King Ahab wants king Jehosaphat "Look, you can ask him, but it's always doom and gloom with this guy. I never get a favorable word." Sure enough, they ask Micaiah, and he's the one dissenting voice: "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains." For his trouble, Micaiah gets thrown into prison.

We humans have such a hard time receiving honest feedback. The truth hurts. We tend to shoot the messenger. We tend to want to surround ourselves with "positive people," meaning people who won't question what we want to do. Criticism is not welcome. It's ironic to me that Micaiah, the one person unwilling to deceive these kings, is the one who bears their wrath.

There's no other way to say it: prophets can be annoying. They can be brash, sanctimonious and intentionally rude. But we ignore them at our peril. They will never substitute a pleasant lie for an unpleasant truth, even though it rarely gains them friends. They need our prayers, and our listening ears. God made them that way for a reason.

God, thank you for prophets. Empower them in their truth-telling, for the good of your kingdom. Amen.

John 19:25-37 "Here is your Mother."

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It's really strange to read about the death of Jesus in the Daily Texts during Advent. Most of the Sunday readings from the prophets speak of a glorious king to come: the Prince of Peace, who will beat swords into plowshares. the Carols we hear in this season speak of a newborn king, "sleeping in heavenly peace." Not even so much as a crying infant--the most natural thing in the world--disturbs our idealized image of the baby Jesus. 

But one day, Jesus' life will end in tragedy: a trauma so etched into the minds of his followers that it is the most detailed and consistent memory re-told in all four Gospels. 

Yet even in the midst of that pain, Jesus takes time to care for others. He speaks words to unite his Mother, who rocked him to sleep as a baby, and the Beloved disciple, the only one to stay at the cross, as family. "Here is your mother. Here is your son." 

Advent is a good time to remember this declaration from Jesus: all who commit to grieving together are indeed family. This season, you will probably meet at least one person for whom the hopeful expectation of this season is more than just a nice idea: it's a lifeline. The only way they can bear the pain and grief of today. You may even recall a time when you were that person. Maybe you're even there now. If so, you are not alone. In parents grieving alongside you, you have a parent. In children grieving with you, you have a child. The community that gathers not around an idealized manger scene, but at the foot of the cross, will never lack for brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers. If your holiday season is shaping up to be a painful one, we invite you to join us there. Child, here is your family. 

Jesus, thank you for taking on flesh, knowing that to live in flesh is to know pain. Emanuel, thank you for being so resolutely with us that even death could not separate us. Be our hope in this dark season. Make us family. Amen.

Psalm 133. How Very Good.

This is probably the shortest psalm, and it's one of my favorites. All it is is one simple affirmation: being together, physically and emotionally, is good. And then the psalmist compares this good thing with other good things: a nice beard oil, the morning dew on a mountain. It's just good.

Such a perfect sentiment as I get ready to be with extended family for Thanksgiving. I am hungry, not just in body, but in my soul, for the blessed time of conversation, of catching up, of chilling out, of playing with cousins and nieces and nephews, that Thanksgiving brings.  Being together is good.

I know all too well that there's plenty to be concerned about this Thanksgiving. More than one person has noted the irony of celebrating this holiday which boded so ill for Native Americans, during the largest protest movement of Native Americans in a generation: while protesters are being sprayed with water cannons in freezing cold temperatures.

It's also true that Thanksgiving will be a tense time for many, in the wake of a contentious election season on which many families will be divided. Already strained relationships may be tested, and for many today, the goal will be just to "get through it."

Being together is not always easy. But it is always good. It is always necessary. It's just as easy to starve your soul as it is your body, and that won't do any good at all for the people and causes you care about.

The Holiday season (Advent, for us Jesus types) is a long, hard slog in a lot of ways. Just bracketing out the din of consumerism and false expectations is going to take all you've got. Just trying to love your neighbor when the whole world is screaming in your ear to love yourself, will take all you've got. It's really not the kind of work you want to set to on an empty stomach...or an empty soul.

So to those looking forward to this weekend, who will be filled up by it, I pray you can savor it. And for those just hoping to get through it mostly in one piece, I'll be praying for you too...for patience, but also that the feast you need will come find you, and people who feed your soul will surround you. We all need it so badly. Being together is good.

Dear God, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen.

John 17:20-26. Up, In, Out.

On the last night of his earthly life, Jesus prays for his disciples, and for all who will come to believe through their testimony (which includes you and me), that they would be one, just as Jesus and his father are one. His vision is that the relationship of Christians to one another would mirror his own relationship to his Father: that the Church would be molded and influenced by the Triune life, unique persons, one in purpose.

I may be reaching the point where my congregation is tired of hearing this, but if we want to be "disciples" of Jesus, we need to model our lives after his. Jesus' life was one of balance in relationships: "Up," with his Father, "In", with his disciples, and "Out", with the world. If one of those three were out of whack, all three would suffer. His unity with his Father wasn't placed on a pedestal above his love for his friends, nor his constant efforts to connect with those who did not yet know him. His prayer for each of us was the same: that we would be unified with each other and with the Father, in order to truly love the world like he does. 

Of course, nobody does this perfectly. We'll have different specialties, and different weaknesses. We'll have seasons where we are working harder on one than the others. But this triangle laid out in Scripture is a helpful tool to look at our own lives and the lives of our churches. 

Jesus, make us more like you. Connect us to one another, to you, and to the world. Show us the opportunities you place before us every day. Amen.

1 Kings 12:26-12:24. Lead by Listening.

Observation: Well, the winning streak had to end sometime. After two successive generations of unity and prosperity, founded by David's ambition and enriched by Solomon's wisdom, we get Solomon's son Rehoboam. Jeroboam comes with all Israel and asks Rehoboam to lighten their taxes and forced labor. Rehoboam's most seasoned advisors say "Yeah, we think you'd better do it." Who needs seasoned advisors anyway? Nobody tells Rehoboam what to do. So he does the opposite. More taxes. Increased penalties. The other ten tribes revolt. Goodbye, United Kingdom. Nice while it lasted...

Application: Yeesh. Leadership fail. I see many parallels in the news here, but they could get me into trouble, and the bottom line is they wouldn't be that edifying anyway. Scripture is not there to point out the foibles of others. We do a pretty good job at that on our own. Scripture is there to help us see the log in our own eye, not the speck in our neighbor's. So here it is. 

We have each acted like Rehoboam before. We have heard honest, candid feedback from people we are working with, people who have been around the block once or twice, and know the terrain. And we have utterly dismissed it. They're just out of touch. They don't understand what we're trying to do. They're just whiners. They won't be happy no matter what I do. This is my time now. I was tasked with leadership, not them. Forget them. 

Here's the thing: if you've ever been in the position of having to give honest feedback to a leader or a boss who may react negatively, you know: people do not do this lightly. It takes a lot of courage and gumption to speak the truth to power, and if it were not a big deal, you wouldn't bring it up. 

So I'm speaking to myself as much as anyone else in leadership when I say: we need to listen. Really, truly listen. Not nod your head and wait for the other person to stop talking so you can tell them why you're right. But actually create a space in your mind and heart for their experience. Think about what it must have taken for them to come to you in the first place. And honor their commitment. 

The words you hear may not change your course of action. It may be that you will still need to do what you were planning to do. But you will do it differently, knowing its impact on others. And you will be ready to bear with them and offer more support and care for them through it. In human kingdoms there are winners and losers, some get their way and others don't. In God's kingdom, the way we look for together is God's way. And the whole creation wins.

Prayer. God, open our ears. Help us listen for what is said and what isn't. Make us bold, to actively ask for the feedback we know will hurt. Help us place your mission above our shoes and our feelings. Amen.

John 15:18-16:4 The Reality Check

Observation: On the night of his arrest, Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples to be hated in the same way he is hated.

Application: Christians have been badly in need of a reality check for some centuries now. The fact is, our faith was never designed to dominate public life or public policy. To use the language of the Gospel of John, Jesus did not expect his disciples to "belong to the World". That was not part of their mission. In fact, for the sake of his mission, Jesus has pulled his disciples "out of the World", to be "hated by the World." But this has not actually been the case for many centuries. Christians--at least Christians in name--have been running "the World" for almost 1700 years, since the Roman Emperor Constantine converted and made it illegal not to be Christian in his kingdom. And I'll lay out some prophetic truth here...Christians have had it pretty cushy since then. I, for one, do not count it as "hatred" from the world that Starbucks holiday cups are not the right color, or that retail employees say "happy holidays" and not "merry Christmas", or even that in the recent presidential race, neither candidate perfectly embodied every Christian value in an obvious way.

This may seem counter-intuitive, but I think it's true: Christians may be entering an era more like that of the first Christians, in which it is more possible to exercise an authentic faith, because it is a counter-cultural faith. In this time, we may face not just loss of prominence and worldly power, but real hatred from the world--and like Jesus, we may be called to bear a hatred meant for others.

Prayer: Jesus, get us ready. Help us to be authentically yours, not the World's. Help us to value your witness and your way over human ways. Let us be able to bear the hatred of the world, the way you did. Amen. 

1 Kings 9:20-10:29. Conspicuous Consumption

Observation: Solomon was RICH. Wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of most of his subjects. As with other rulers of the time, Solomon's wealth included people: slaves, from other nations.
Application: I have an uncomfortable relationship with wealth when I read about it in the Bible. Even though in the Old Testament, it often is seen as a sign of God's blessing --Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Boaz, and of course Solomon were all very wealthy --Jesus' words ring in my head, "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." And I think about my own life...by modern American standards, part of that ever-shrinking middle class. But by global and historic standards, still enormously privileged and wealthy. And if I start to feel superior about where my wealth comes from, thinking "at least I worked hard to earn this," I remember how much of what I have--from the produce in my refrigerator, to the very phone on which I'm typing this --is likely to have come to me through at least one person in the supply chain who is not making a living wage. Forced labor was an accepted practice in the ancient world, but we kid ourselves if we think it has completely gone away. Solomon probably slept fairly well on his silk sheets. I'm not doing as well on my flannel ones.

Prayer: O Lord, have mercy. This world is so hopelessly complex. Any semblance of clean hands, of moral purity, is an illusion. Teach me how to take steps to love the neighbors I will never meet, in how I shop, consume, and give thanks for what I have. Amen.

John 14:25-15:8. On Abiding and Fruitfulness

Observation: Jesus tells his disciples they can not bear any fruit or do any good thing without being connected to him: abiding. 

Application: This is a key text and concept in Mike Breen's "Building a Discipling Culture", a book that has been influencing everything I do as a pastor and as a believer of late. 

One key "life shape" described is the semi-circle: a two-sided pendulum swinging between "abiding", or resting in God's presence, and "fruitfulness", or work for God's kingdom. We may be familiar with this as a weekly rhythm, trying to take a Sabbath Day each week. In fact, it is also a daily rhythm, with times for work, play, and sleep. It extends out to seasons of the year--there needs to be an abiding season--and even seasons of our life, where we need to focus on being a "human being", not a "human doing." 

The important thing to know about abiding is Jesus' statement, "apart from me you can do nothing." If we ignore the rhythm and never abide in Jesus, not only will we be less effective in what we do, but we'll be less likely to be doing what we're called to do in the first place. The old cliché, "a manager does things right, and a leader does the right things", holds true. You can't be either one unless you abide. 

It's important to remember that anything we can do, God can get done without our efforts. But we are blessed by the invitation to help. We don't work in order to "earn" our rest. We rest to remember why we work.

Prayer: God, we're looking down the barrel of a frantic season. "The Holidays" can really make mincemeat out of our abiding rhythm. Give us silent moments. Give us the kind of peace only you can give. Fill those moments with expectant hope. Amen. 

John 13:31-38. Look for Us Out There.

Observation: Jesus is about to be betrayed, arrested, and die a painful death. Yet he does not preach revenge or retribution. He preaches love.
Application: The fear, hatred, and division we are seeing in our nation did not start Nov. 9. It has been years of recriminations, of thinking the worst of one another, of pointing out every minor flaw in the "other" side and completely overlooking the major flaws on our "own" side. But it certainly isn't getting better on its own.

Christian, this didn't get this way yesterday. The world is already full of hurting people. People looking for safe places, where they will feel accepted. Jesus has said that they will be able to find us. They will come to us for comfort and peace. IF...they see us loving one another. If they look in our direction and see us speaking not just in behalf of ourselves, but on behalf of others. Maybe others who we haven't met yet, or will never meet. Others who may not even be born for many years. If they see us telling each other not just what we want to hear, but what they need to hear. If they see us being patient and kind and humble even when we know others around us won't do the same. That's how they will know that we are worth talking to. That there's actually something to this Jesus movement. That there really must be such thing as a Holy Spirit. If we love, not just with feelings or words, but with actions.
God, to love on the scale this world needs is daunting. I can't do it. I need your help. Show me the next little loving action I can take today. Help me take it one day at a time. Amen.

Psalm 122: For the Sake of My Relatives and Friends

Photo credit: Guy Davis 

Observation: Another Psalm of Ascent, written for the joyful journey into Jerusalem for Temple Worship.

Application: A year ago at this time, I was there. We stood in an old Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, and looked down on the 3,000 year old city where David reigned, and Solomon built, and where Jesus taught, died and rose. And we spoke this psalm: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem...Peace be within your walls...for the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be with you."
Entering the city, not all was peaceful. Every other block was occupied d by Israeli soldiers: teenagers with automatic weapons. There were stabbings in the city during our time there. Riot gear was on display as we entered the Old City, probably less to intimidate wrongdoers than to set at ease Western tourists.
And yet, as you walk the city, history overwhelms you. How many catastrophes has it outlived? How many Wars and rumors of Wars? How many times have its citizens sheltered in place, sure this must be the end? And yet it stands.
This brings me peace today. For the sake of my relatives and friends in faith--Jewish, Muslim and Christian --i still pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
And for their sake, I continue to pray for peace with justice in my own land. I pray for peace that's more than peace and quiet for some and an ongoing, silent assault for others. I pray for peace that means opportunity and quality of life for all. As long as the City--and my city--stands, for their sake I pray for peace.
Prayer: God, I pray for peace in Jerusalem and in Palestine and Israel. I pray for peace in my own land. Not peace through domination and intimidation, but peace through listening. Raise up people of peace in this next generation, to speak out and listen closely, that ALL your children may have peace. Amen.

Psalm 121: God of Insomniacs

Observation: this is a "psalm of ascent," meant to be sung on the journey "to the hills" of Jerusalem for temple worship. It was a dangerous journey: the roads were full of wild animals and bandits. Travelers turned to God for protection.

Application: My thoughts are all over the map right now. I only got a couple good hours of sleep, and I worry future nights may not hold much more. But this psalm reminds me that God works the night shift: when everyone else is resting comfortably, and it's down to just me and my worries, I'm not alone. God does not slumber. God does not sleep. God is on the job, all the time. As much of a mess as we humans can make of the world, at some point we have to pass out and take a break from our idiocy. God doesn't take breaks. Advantage: God. No matter the hour, God is sitting with us in our worry, healing us in our brokenness, working good from our mistakes. The one watching over us does not so much as blink an eye. It may not always feel like it, but God's got this. God's got you.
Prayer: God, give me rest. May we rest in you, and wake to love our neighbors even better. Amen.

Psalm 120: I am for peace

Observation: the psalmist is weary of living in a foreign land, where honesty and peace are not valued.

Application: My heart can't help but go to politics again today: tomorrow, the election will be over, but the dishonesty, the division, the "war" will go on unabated: maybe even intensified. People will continue to spread half-truths and outright lies about the "other side", and treat our civil discourse like a fight to the death. As a person of faith, I feel those words, "Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace; I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." To be totally honest, to be a person of faith, and a "person of peace" today, one increasingly may have to feel like a foreigner in our culture. But rather than roll back the clock (which is impossible anyway), my suggestion is, Okay, then let's be foreigners again. For "our citizenship is in heaven," and so our ways may be foreign to most. But let's own it. Let's be people of honesty, of reconciliation, of peace.

Prayer: God, you have given us the desire to be your people. Now give us the nerve. Amen.

1Kings 2:39-3:28, and a Wise Ruler...

Observation: God offers Solomon a blank check, "Ask what I should give you." Solomon asks for the best thing he could ask for: "an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern good and evil". Because he says this, God declares that the wealth and power other kings might ask for will come with it. It's a good day to be Solomon.
Application: I was talking with an Adult Study group yesterday about the Fourth Commandment (Honor your Father and Mother) and how Luther's Small Catechism expands "Father and Mother" to "All people in authority." It's a tall order in this hyper partisan age, to commit to "honoring" people in authority, even those we disagree with. Tomorrow, no matter what happens, following this commandment is going to get a lot harder for a significant chunk of America's population. The only question is "which chunk". A lot of people will need your prayers and compassion starting tomorrow, and it will probably not be easy to give.

It's important to remember, though, that unlike with Solomon or even the princes of Luther's day, in our country the "ultimate authority" is with the people. We make conscious choices each day, not just in how best to show honor to elected leaders, but to our friends and neighbors, from whom their authority comes. And tomorrow, for leaders up and down the ballot, for you and your community, for me and for mine, I pray for wisdom. And may the prayers keep coming long after that. We will need them.

Prayer (a paraphrase of 1 Kings 3:7-9)
And now, O Lord our God, you have made your servants rulers in place of David and other kings of old, although we are only little children, we do not know how to go out or to come in. And your servants are in the midst of a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servants, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern good from evil, for who can govern your great people? Amen.

Psalm 119:53-60, And a Law that Lasts

Okay, one more time, then I'm done whining. I am tired of reading Psalm 119. It's the longest book of the Bible. It's an acrostic about God's law, with a full poem using every single letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I've been reading this thing in the Moravian Daily Texts every day for at least two weeks now.

But I have to admit...reading it today, I feel like it's God's timing. (Who am I kidding, it always is; it's just sometimes I'm better at noticing it.)

There's something I've taken for granted all my life, that I'm just now noticing. It's the assumption that in the grand scheme of things, our system of laws, of impartial justice, of basic order, will always work. And when it doesn't, the people of our country have a recourse to change the system in a peaceful way, at the ballot box, or by making use of our constitutional right to peacefully protest.

The more of history you read, the more you realize what a gift that is. Our history is rife with wars of succession, civil wars, assassinations and political kidnappings--even in the church, there was a period of about a century when there were two "legitimate" popes, ruling alongside one another!--and in the other Daily Text for today (1 Kings 1:28-53) we have yet another example. Adonijah, sensing King David's approaching death, just goes ahead and gathers some supporters and anoints himself King. Then Bathsheba and Solomon come to David, who names Solomon as successor, and chaos ensues. This is how things used to be done all the time. You tried to back the right horse, make friends with the right people, but heaven forbid if "your guy" was ousted, all your property and rights, and maybe your life, went out the window.

I used to look at stories like this and give thanks. Give thanks that we're beyond this. That anything and everything can be worked out in our system of democracy: through elections, or barring that, lawsuits, court rulings, public protests, legislation...in a word, the people of a free republic working together to solve their problems within an agreed-upon set of rules.

My faith in that system is severely shaken right now. For the first time in my life, we have a presidential candidate hinting that there may not be a peaceful transition of power. Suggesting, without a single shred of evidence, that voter fraud is rampant at the poles, and that his followers should show up "in certain areas" and try to stop "the wrong people" from voting. We have legislators who have already broken the record for holding up a Supreme Court nomination, suggesting they may just hold it up permanently, and let our country's highest court continue to operate in a compromised state. We have peaceful protesters being violently maced and injured with rubber bullets for trying to protect their own water supply. We have citizens more afraid of the actions of the police who patrol their neighborhoods than of any crime their neighbors may commit. Every possible way our system was designed to protect us seems to be malfunctioning, and whatever happens on Tuesday, it shows no signs of getting better on its own. 

So I have to admit my privilege, realizing that from where I sat in society, I didn't have much cause to question the fundamentals of the system before now. The fear I feel now, is a fear that many who have been discriminated against based on race, creed, gender or sexual orientation, have felt all their lives. Now, we are all scared together. 

Never in my life have we needed God's law more than we do today. Now, please understand, I am not talking about a theocracy, or legislating Christian values or social agendas. What I'm talking about is a subset of the American people, however large or small, who are willing to regulate themselves when human regulations fail. Who are willing to hold ourselves to a higher standard, even when our society's standards are plummeting. Who are willing to truly love our neighbor as ourselves, even if it's not illegal not to do so. Who act in others' best interest, even if no earthly judge will sentence us for acting selfishly.

I realize it makes secular folks nervous when Christians conflate morality with faith. I agree, we should be able to be decent to each other just because it's the right thing to do, even without appealing to a higher power. But we're not doing it, are we? And if appealing to my faith--understanding that, though God's grace has saved me, I will still stand before my Lord at the end of my life, and we will talk about how I used these years I was given--will help me be part of the solution, I will use it. God's law doesn't go away, even when human systems are in danger. 

God, thank you for your law. Help us--all of us--to love our neighbors as ourselves, even when nobody's watching. Amen.  

John 11:31-44, and Healing Tears

Observation: Jesus has already told Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life." Yet when he actually reaches Lazarus' grave, he weeps.

Application: I tend to "choke up" pretty easily. It's rather annoying at times, because I don't know when it's coming. Could be something really poignant, could be a stupid puppy chow commercial. But every now and then, it's while I'm preaching. This is especially mortifying in the moment, because I feel a hundred eyeballs glued to me, and I have to figure out how to power through. Must just be the stoic, American "bro" masculine conditioning I've gotten over the years. But it's uncomfortable.

I find it interesting, though, that the idealized, super-charged Jesus we find in John's Gospel, the one who always has the perfect comeback, the perfect teaching moment, the one for whom absolutely everything is going exactly according to plan...this is the Jesus who weeps. He doesn't break down like this in the synoptic Gospels. Just here in John, here in the right place and time, when people need to see, here he cries. And what the people see is love.

Chances are, most of my "verklempt" moments will not be as well orchestrated. But I know that sermons I remember from my childhood often involve the preacher being vulnerable, and maybe getting a bit emotional. We don't just "tell" the Gospel to each other. We witness.

Thank you, Lord, for making me who I am...which is sometimes a messy heap of man-tears at seemingly inappropriate times. Help me embrace it, as Jesus did, and find strength in compassion.