Isaiah 50:4-9 Learning From Tough Times

Observation: It's interesting how quickly the the language of this Servant Song goes from teaching and learning to suffering. The Word of God is not always welcomed. But still, the servant does not retaliate when attacked. It is God who will prove the truth of the servant's words.

Application: I'm pretty conflict averse. I don't love the idea of "insults and spitting," as the prophet describes here. I tend to be a compromiser, a people-pleaser. If there's a way for everybody to be at least partially right, you can bet I'm looking for it. In this sharply divided culture, I tend to seek out common ground.

But in this text, I hear God's call to imitate the suffering servant, and by extension, Jesus. He didn't ride into Jerusalem to fight. He came there to teach. He didn't want to just shame the religious authorities, he genuinely wanted them to hear him and learn from him. But when it was clear that was not going to happen, Jesus did what I often fail to do: he stayed the course. He kept right on with his prophetic ministry, knowing there would be direct consequences. He didn't have to be omniscient to know he was poking the bear, and the bear was about to bite.

Sometimes telling one another the truth is more important than getting along. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is let someone know they're buying into a lie, and brace for impact. It's a hard lesson to learn, because it takes a lot of self awareness. You have to believe that you're simply teaching the truth when others will say you're just sowing discord. You will have to be checking in with close friends, and with God, to affirm you're on target. And sometimes, you'll have to go it alone, and pray God vindicates you some day. But even if not, we know there's grace.

Prayer: God, I flinch too easily. Set my face like flint when I need resolve. Help me learn from your son, Jesus. Amen.

John 12:20-36 Bearing Fruit

Observation: Since the beginning of John's Gospel, Jesus has been talking about "his hour," the culmination of his ministry. Now he says it has finally come. He says that unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and "dies", it can't bear fruit.

Application: We heard a great talk at lunch yesterday from Pastor Terry Wildman about Jesus' call to the religious establishment to "bear fruit". Now as I hear it again, it's sounding like a theme. But bearing fruit in our lives requires change. A grain of wheat has to give up its life in its current form in order to grow a new stalk. The grain doesn't know what that will look like, or whether it will hurt, but only that it has no control over the process, and once it's begun, it can't be reversed. That sounds terrifying to me. But then, most change does at first. Our consolation is that God knew us before we were born, and God knows what we will become.

Prayer: God, help us hand our lives over to you, so that what needs to die may die, and what fruit needs to be born can be born. Amen. 

Isaiah 42:1-9 The Silent Servant

Observation: For Monday in Holy Week, the text is from the "Suffering Servant" texts in Isaiah. It's unclear exactly who the "Servant" was meant to stand for--maybe a personified example of how God wants Israel to be in the world--but early Christians applied it to Jesus. What strikes me is verse 2, "He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street..." This makes me think of Jesus, who keeps silent even in the face of false accusations.

Application: This text is hard to hear for me as the news comes in about massive protests throughout our country in favour of some reasonable gun reform. Not everyone reading this will have the same view on how to address gun violence, but I will say I have tremendous respect for young people across this country who are making their voices heard: who are crying out in the street.

Does this text suggest crying out is wrong? Is Jesus following the Servant's example by staying silent in the face of false accusations and misinformation? I don't think so. There is a time to cry out, and a time to silently get to work. There's a time to be a bonfire, and a time to burn slow, like a lamp to get you through a long night. Right alongside the Servant's restraint, the text lifts up his persistence: "He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth."

Jesus chose his battles. He didn't take the religious leaders' bait and cry foul every time someone said something untrue about him.  He kept doing what God called him to do, no matter what. And not even a cross could stop him. He's still working.

If, like me, you sometimes feel guilty for not being more outspoken on a particular justice issue, give yourself some grace, and remember the Servant, who doesn't always cry out, but never, ever quits working for justice.

Prayer: God, sometimes I hold my tongue when I should speak. And sometimes I speak when I should be listening. Forgive me. Show me the long game, and the small thing I can do today for your justice. Amen.

Deuteronomy 16:1-8 At the Place where the Lord Will Choose

Observation: God lays out rules for Passover observance. It's interesting that the Lord does not specify a specific kind of temple or tent where this all will happen for all time, but only says, "at the place that the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his name." God won't be tied down. Passover happens wherever God chooses.

Application: Sometimes we too get tied down to particular locations when it comes to experiencing God's presence. We can only imagine God showing up in particular ways, on particular days. God has flouted our expectations before. If we keep our eyes and ears open, we may be ready when God chooses to show up in a different way.

Prayer: God, thanks for choosing special places in our lives for us to know you're with us. Help us be ready to welcome you wherever you choose to dwell. Amen. 

John 12:34-50 For They Loved Human Glory

Observation: Jesus finishes a sermon about how he will soon be lifted up on a cross and draw all people to himself. His advice to those listening is to "walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you." After his sermon is done, the evangelist says many privately come to believe in Jesus, but don't outwardly follow him because of social pressure: "They loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God."

Application: This last line is what really hits home in a major way. Following Jesus is hard enough when it seems to fit with accepted social and cultural norms. Worse yet, it almost never does. Jesus says "the truth will set you free," but it won't make you popular. If we take a good, long look at the way our culture views power, and those who have it, truth, and those who tell it, we know it's all too common an ailment to value human glory over God's glory. It's politically expedient, and frankly it's safer.  If we take a long look in the mirror, we may find that some ways we choose to move through this world are part of the problem.

Fortunately for us, Jesus' light shines even in the depths of our darkness, and we can't overcome it. What he accomplished on the cross for us cannot be undone.

Prayer: God, dwell with us and point us away from our own so-called glory, to value yours. 

Hebrews 4:14-5:4 Tested As We Are

Observation: The Book of Hebrews, as its name suggests, is written to Jewish Christians. It spends a good deal of time and effort explaining how Jesus fits into the existing religious practice of first-century Jews. In this passage, Jesus is explained as a high priest in the heavenly temple. Jesus is an ideal person to represent the people before God, because he has gone through the same trials, tribulations and tests that any other human being has. He's not some Olympian God, or an alien from another dimension. He's one of us.

Application: I get uncomfortable with the idea of "testing" language sometimes. The Lord's Prayer says "lead us not into temptation", or "save us from the time of trial", depending on the version you pray. Both of these ideas are easily misunderstood. God doesn't tempt us, if you define temptation as intentionally trying to derail someone from a path you know is good for them. God doesn't do that.

But does God "test" us? That one I'm not sure about. I definitely don't think that every awful thing that happens to us is directly caused by God. Evil is loose in the world, and sometimes tragedies happen to us that God absolutely would never wish on us. If we find ourselves broken and unable to cope due to a turn our life has taken, if we have a hard time seeing the "lesson" God is trying to "teach" us, that doesn't mean we've failed some test. In those situations, God weeps with us.

But as life goes on, and we see friends, neighbors, or family members in pain, that can indeed be a test: will we have compassion? Will we be the presence of the Lord in their lives, or will God have to send someone else? I don't see the "test" so much in how much pain we can endure, but rather how much compassion we can show for others.

In the midst of all that, we can turn to Jesus, who has been through every human trial. Even when we feel we are being tested, we're not being tested alone. Jesus is in the next desk over. His example and his guidance are always there for us. And luckily, this test is "open book". 

Prayer: God, save us from the time of trial. deliver us from evil. Help us avoid needless pain and suffering when we can, and when we can't, walk with us. And when we've been through to the other side, help us to see and have compassion for those who are walking a similar road.

Exodus 3:14 A Pi Day Reflection

Observation: Well, the "Daily Bible" Email I get every day didn't come, so I was flying blind. But I thought, in honor of Pi Day, I'd find a Chapter 3, verse 14 of a Biblical book, and see what was there. And...wow. Exodus 3:14 says, "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'" For a people who had been slaves for centuries, God reminds them that God is not just a national deity, but the ground for all existence, source of all that ever was, and the one who IS.

Application: I'm one of many who has Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time on my bookshelf and never made much headway into it. Hawking himself once joked about it being the "least read bestseller of all time." But today, as the world mourns the loss of his great mind, I remember him fondly as someone who inspired many to a new sense of awe at the universe, at what can be learned about the earliest dawning of existence, and where we and all matter came from.

I am not sure how Hawking would feel about my offering a theological reflection in his memory, and I certainly mean no disrespect by doing so. But as a religious person reflecting on the amazing things we have learned about the universe and the nature of existence in the last few generations, I am filled with all the more awe at the mind of God. We may someday know what, if anything, came before the big bang, and we may not. We will likely find new secrets revealed in the infinitely-unfolding digits of Pi, a number first discovered in ancient times. In fact, since it is infinite, we are bound to find new things, as well as things we know well--somewhere in its infinitely repeating digits is the entire Bible, in order, all of Shakespeare's works, the full human genome, and the complete works of one Stephen Hawking too--and much more.

I'm not sure if I'm making much sense today. Though I always admired science from afar, academically I tended to acknowledge her as out of my league. But as a religious leader and a disciple of Jesus, I continue to support science and to accept the new places where it will lead the minds of the future, because I know that the God who is, the God from whose existence all existence comes, has a lot more cool stuff to show us, and it would be awfully rude not to show up for that.

Prayer: God, thank you for our minds. Thanks for math, for science, for language, for teachers and students, and for all the ways we can learn more about you, on Pi Day and every day.  

Numbers 20:1-13 The Art of Falling on Our Faces

Observation: The book of Numbers is full of "wilderness narratives", where he people complain against Moses, Aaron, and God over and over again, turning to nostalgia about how great Egypt was, and forgetting the fact that they were slaves there. In this story the issue is there's no water to drink. Today I'm noticing how Moses and Aaron deal with the problem. Where many leaders might try to brainstorm a solution by themselves, or failing that, blame the problem on someone else, Moses and Aaron take their problem straight to God. The text says they "fell on their faces" at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Prayer is their first resort, not their last. 

Application: Being "prostrate," or laying on the ground, face down, is an ancient symbol of submission and worship. It is a posture of prayer used by many faith traditions, including both Islam and some parts of Christianity. Although it's clear from Numbers that Moses and Aaron "fall on their faces" intentionally, to show humility, I kind of like the double entendre, because I often turn to prayer when I've already "fallen on my face" in a metaphorical sense, by making a big, obvious mistake in leadership. 

We really don't like to fall on our faces publicly. It's humiliating. But that doesn't mean God can't use those moments...after all, the root word for "humiliation" is "humility". While it would be nice if we learned humility the easy way, by willingly "falling on our faces" in prayer, as Moses and Aaron did, sometimes (okay, for me, often) we have to learn it the hard way, by taking a fall from pride. 

In one congregation I served, as we prepared to confess our sins, there was a deafening rumble as everyone put down the pew kneelers, to get to their knees and confess to God that they have fallen short. I thought it was kind of a necessary annoyance at the time--the pews were old and well-used--but looking back, I appreciate both the posture people took the time to take, and the little "mood-spoiling" moment just before it, to remind ourselves that we are mortals, going about this the best we can, and it's just not ever going to be perfect. We will certainly fall on our faces. Maybe it's best to start out that way, before the holiness of God. 

Prayer: God, help me fall on my face before you, symbolically, every day. And when it happens by accident, help me turn the moment over to you and learn from it. Amen.     

Daniel 12:5-13 Thank God It's None of My Business

Observation: As the apocalyptic Book of Daniel comes to a close, Daniel has just seen a vision of God's people rising from death and being delivered from evil by the archangel Michael. Daniel sees two heavenly messengers on either side of a river and asks, "How long shall it be until the end of these wonders?" Their answer is...a little confusing. "A time, two times, and half a time." Daniel, understandably, doesn't get it. The messengers then give him two different lengths of time, one right after another--1290 days and 1335 days--from the time "the regular burnt offering is taken away" until the end. Finally, the message is, "Go on your way and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of days."

Application: I have a lot on my mind and my heart. I want to listen for the Spirit and follow Jesus wherever he leads. I want to be a supportive and faithful husband. I want to do everything I can to help my kids become compassionate adults who love God and care for their neighbor. I want to proclaim the Gospel to God's people and help form a community of Good News right here in Northern Michigan. I want to stand up for justice both in my community and my country. These things are my duty and obligation. I've got a lot on my plate, as I'm sure do you.

Which is why it's good news that the time when God decides to bring our current age to an end, raise to life those who have died, and establish an eternal reign of justice, is NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.

Car payments? Taxes? Keeping insurance current? Our business.
Predicting the date of the end times? Not our business.

Holding close those we care about? Making amends when we do wrong? Checking in on those we know who are having a rough time of it?  Our business.
Getting out a newspaper, a Bible, and a calculator, and updating Jesus' Google calendar so he can return to earth on time? Not our business.

Making disciples of all nations? Baptizing? Teaching? Sharing Good News that the tomb is empty and God has won the victory over death? Definitely our business.
Treating the Word of God like a GPS to give us an "estimated arrival time" for the end of human history? Definitely. Not. Our. Business.

Jesus says it himself: No one knows the day or the hour.

Daniel the prophet hears it from God's messengers: "Go on your way, and rest." We'll get there when we get there. Maybe it's a simplistic reading of the text, but it almost feels like God's messengers are calling out random numbers, like a parent behind the wheel who is sick to death of children in the back seat asking "are we there yet?"

Go on your way and rest. Your business will not change between now and then. Your job description as a child of God and disciple of Jesus will not be updated. It's the same stuff, now and always. Believe, be faithful, love your neighbor. That's it. The rest is God's job.

Prayer: Oh Lord God, help us stay in our lane. Seriously. We need help with this. Remind your people, as many times as we need it, which may be a lot of times, to stay in our lane and let you be you. Amen. 

Ephesians 1:3-6 On Slowing Down and Not Knowing All the Things

Observation: Keeping it real here...I find Ephesians to be one of the harder books of the Bible to follow. Long, involved sentences, turns of phrase that appear only there, without much explanation...it's a lot. So, "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places", not sure what that means. Destining us for adoption before the foundation of the world, makes sense enough, but it raises a lot of questions that could be a multi-week Bible study in itself. Which brings me to what I'd really like to talk about today.

Application: People seem to think that you're only a "good Christian" if you've read the whole Bible and have whole chunks of it memorized. I'm not sure that's the best measuring stick. Like many others, I've tried the "read your whole Bible in a year" thing. At times it was meaningful. Other times it just felt like cramming for an exam that never actually came, which was a good thing because I'm not sure I would have passed. 

Our community youth group has been talking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together this year, and in it, Bonhoeffer makes the point that even a single phrase or word of scripture can be a source of reflection and meditation for days or weeks at a time. I definitely think Ephesians 1:3-6 could be one of those passages that you can come back to for days and days in a row. 

My point is, Bible reading is not about quantity. It's not about quality. If you don't have your apostles or kings of Judah memorized, if you still struggle to name your "minor prophets", but you are showing up each day, asking the Holy Spirit to show you what you need to see in this text, this verse, this word, then God will help you see it. 

If you feel like you need to know your whole Bible, great. Go for it. Hit the books. There are some great reading plans out there (Might I recommend the Lutheran Study Bible?). But if you wanted to spend an entire year just really unpacking the Beatitudes, I guarantee you, you'd get a whole lot out of that as well. Blessings to you on whatever quest you're on.

Prayer: God, I pray for everyone today who is trying to figure out their path through your word. Guide them to a routine that will be edifying for them, and draw them more deeply into love for you and their neighbor, in Jesus' name. Amen.  

Mark 11:15-19 A Den Isn't Where You Do the Robbing

Observation: Jesus' driving sellers out of the temple comes with very different rationale in John's Gospel (which some may have heard on Sunday) and in Mark's Gospel. In John, Jesus says the money-changers have turned his Father's house into "a marketplace," implying that it is something about the temple system itself that is the problem: a system of for-profit forgiveness. 

But in Mark, Jesus calls it a "den of robbers." This always reminds me of the book The Last Week, a collaboration of John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg. Though I have some disagreements with their theological conclusions, I appreciate their Biblical scholarship. They note that a "den" is not the place where robbers rob. It is the place where they hide out from the law. Jesus is not necessarily calling the temple system itself into question, but like prophets before him, he could be expressing outrage that temple worship is used as a "hideout", a substitute for economic and social justice. If the people think they can rob their neighbors for the rest of the year, and offer sacrifices to clear their conscience, Jesus wants to disabuse them of that notion. 

Application: This may be the single oldest and most intractable problem in the history of spirituality. We use piety and religious practice as an escape. We use it as a way to feel like "good people", when our behavior toward our neighbors near and far might indicate otherwise. Our churches become "dens of robbers" when we go there to be comforted but not challenged, to be filled with heavenly bliss while our neighbors may still be going through hell. 

I'll admit, I get a lot out of doing this devotional blog. I hope you get something out of reading it. But if it serves as a distraction for me from the conditions of the very workers who assembled the cell phone and laptop I write it on, or the miners who dug out the heavy metals for the batteries, it doesn't help me or anyone else. Worship, prayer and Bible study should help us see our neighbors and act to help them. It should help us take a look at the mirror. It should be self-critical, in order to remind us that Christ is to be found every bit as much in the poor as in the book, the bread and  the wine. 

Prayer: Jesus, cleanse the temple of my heart. Cleanse the temples where we meet on Sundays. Remind us why we gather, and in whose name, for the sake of the world you so loved. Amen.   

2 Chronicles 29:1-11, 16-19 About Those "Good Old Days"...

Observation: Following up one of Judah's worst kings (Ahaz), Second Chronicles tells of Hezekiah, who "did what was right in the sight of the Lord". In this case, that means repairing and re-opening the doors of the temple, beginning incense sacrifices again, and removing false idols. There are a lot of reforms to be made, because as Hezekiah says, "our ancestors have been unfaithful". 

Application: It seems like all too common of a tactic when things in the present day are not going well, that we tend to romanticize a certain past period of time. Maybe it's the time of our childhood, maybe some historic era...the 1980's? the 1950's? The time of the pioneers? Colonial times? I've seen a great deal of this recently, as we face more complex problems and a more divided culture. But any period we might call the "good old days" had problems of its own. Maybe we sense that teenagers "grew up" faster in the 1940's when they helped win World War Two, but I don't think any soldier who was 18 at that time would want any other generation to have to go through that. Maybe we long for the freedom of living off the land as an early American settler, but I doubt any parent who lost children to what today would be an easily curable disease would think themselves better off than we are. 

We do this in the church all the time. We tend to enshrine a certain era--whether it's the mid-20th century, when mainline Protestant churches were busting at the seems with Sunday School kids, or the Reformation era when our forbears were getting "back to basics", or the early church--and say, "if we could just get back to that, things would be better. But I think Hezekiah and those who had to clean out the temple would remind us that our ancestors were sinners just like us. They didn't have fewer problems: just different ones. Even if we could turn things back to their time, which we can't, it would just be "out of the frying pan, and into the fire." Lucky for us, God waits for us in the future, just as God guided our ancestors through the past. 

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for the witness and hard work of previous generations, and what it can teach us--both good and bad--about our own time. Help us to greet the challenges of our present day, not grudgingly, but willingly, knowing you have made us not for any other time, but for this time, in this place. Amen.   

Acts 7:30-40 Telling and Retelling

Observation: This sounds very "Old Testament", because it tells Moses' story, but it's actually from the New Testament. It's part of a public sermon given by Stephen, an early Christian deacon, making the point that God's people have always rejected the prophets God sends. 

Application: This text goes head to head against two ideas that to me are like nails on a chalkboard. 

The first is, "Oh, I like the New Testament God a lot more than the Old Testament God." Those who are not as familiar with the Bible tend to have the perception that there are somehow two different Gods at work in the Bible, one violent, vengeful Old Testament God, and one loving, forgiving New Testament God. This is actually one of the first beliefs the Christian community rejected as false. (It's called Marcionism, for those keeping score). From this New Testament text, you can see that Stephen, who was himself Jewish and was talking to other Jews, still very much revered the Old Testament (or as he and his master, Jesus, knew it, "the scriptures," because there was no "new" testament yet). Though the New Testament does a lot of reinterpreting of the Old Testament, it clearly bases its own legitimacy on its being a continuation of that same story, of that same God. 

The second is more subtle, and tends to come even from seasoned Christians: the idea that the God of the Old Testament is "God the Father", and the Son and Holy Spirit only showed up on the scene in the first century. Nope. That's not how this works. As Christians reflected on scripture as a whole, they began seeing Jesus, who they regarded as God's Son, and the Spirit he had granted them, present in everything they read, going back to the very beginning. So as Christians, we read both Testaments and find there the God who has always been there, always in relationship, always inviting us in. 

Anyway, that's where my mind goes this morning. I hope this is useful for others. Sometimes getting our thoughts out there gives us clarity to see the situations we may face later.  

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thanks for walking with your people even before we knew who you are. Thanks for walking with us now, even though we can't see you. Amen. 

1 Peter 2:4-10 Rejected Stone

Observation: Peter uses an image borrowed from psalm 118, calling Jesus "the stone that the builders rejected," who "has become the very head of the corner." Considering that Jesus himself was in the construction business (the word translated as "carpenter" was actually more broad than woodworking), this is doubly appropriate. Just as Jesus is a "living stone" that supports the whole structure of our faith, Peter calls his readers to be "living stones" as well. We're connected, mutually supportive, all part of the same structure, and we are placed just where we are for a reason. Though the world may reject us as useless, we believe every person has value and a purpose for God's work. 

Application: I'm reminded of the old African American spiritual, There is a Balm in Gilead. 

"Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my work's in vain, but then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again."

I'm not sure if I can give specific examples, but this week I've had some attacks of feeling useless and ineffective. It's really, really hard most days to have any sense whether what I do is making a difference in the grand scheme. I'm sure for some in society, what I do would indeed be regarded as useless. These ancient words and stories, these ancient rituals, what do they have to do with modern life? Wouldn't we all be better off spending our time, money and effort moving the needle on other vital issues of our time? 

 Jesus, too, was rejected as useless. Not the strong, military Messiah his fellow Jews were hoping for. He taught some people, fed some people, healed a few, and got crucified for his trouble. And yet his story went on. He continued to show up, not just in the lives of his immediate followers, but through the generations, making the "rejected stones" of society into key elements of a holy temple of grace.

The picture above is of a building brick made of garbage. It's recycled plastic, a product our oceans are literally drowning in. It's immensely strong and it's a natural insulator. Once, it was trash. Now, it will keep somebody warm and safe from the elements. 

God can use the "trash" in our lives. We have no idea what impact our little moments and days will have, and the unfortunate thing is we may never know. But we do know that we follow one who was rejected, but who became the cornerstone of a house that has kept billions warm. If we hope in him, there is hope in all we do. 

Prayer: God, some days I really do feel useless. I wish I didn't. I wish I was positive and hopeful all the time, but I'm not. Take the garbage in my life--the garbage days, the garbage attitudes, the garbage I've said and done--and through your grace and forgiveness, use all I am to make the world whole. Amen.