Growing in Wisdom and Stature

And Jesus increased 

in wisdom and in stature, 

and in divine and human favor.

 (from Luke 2:41-52)

If you were searching among a massive crowd for three days and couldn't find your 12 year-old son, what would you be thinking? 

It probably wasn't a happy greeting when, after 3 days of anxious searching, Mary finds Jesus in the temple. She says, Where have you been? What are you doing here? 

Jesus replies, "Well, where did you expect to find me?"

LUKE 2:35 describes Jesus as growing in wisdom and stature. "Growing in wisdom and stature" means having the ability to perceive God's kingdom and act on those perceptions.

As the new year begins and as the tensions and divisions of our society continue, we will need to grow in wisdom and stature. 

Surely today's tribulations increase our need to be building on the foundation of our faith for spiritual strength to perceive God's kingdom. 

Perceiving God's kingdom begins with growing in our understanding of what it means that Jesus is the Son of God. 

Doesn't that mean asking questions about evil, injustice and oppression as Jesus did in the temple?

Perceiving God's realm also means what John Wesley calls "searching the Scriptures." 

Doesn't that mean regular Bible reading, study and conversation to strengthen our spiritual foundation for growing in wisdom?

Reading the Upper Room Disciplines with lectionary based scriptures, reflections by the author, and Sunday's sermon strengthens our the foundation of our spiritual base. 

I asked a 90 year-old widow with a heart condition how she was doing. The strength of her spiritual base enabled her to confidently reply, "Fine. I read my Bible every day." 

The Power in Singing

And Mary said, 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."

(You can read Mary's Song here)

What I appreciate most about The Magnificat (Mary's Song) is its poetic form. Her song provides an unusual and surprising insight into the power and goodness of God. For me, Mary is a model of faith by completely accepting her part in God’s salvation plan. Her singing celebrates receiving that role in God's plan. 

I particularly like the poetic form because, biblically, it represents singing and singing is powerful.

Singing is powerful. It moves our souls.

For example, Psalms, such as laments (see Psalm 79), help cope with the difficult emotions of grief and fear while removing their crippling capacity. Songs of praise and thanksgiving (see Psalm 34) unite us to God. And canticles, such as the Canticle of Simeon (see Luke 2:29-32), describing courage, promise, and hopes as they become real.

Singing is powerful. It has transformational power.

For example, at the Berlin Wall the citizens of Leipzig gathered in peaceful protests on Monday evenings around St. Nikolai church. In a candlelight vigil, they would sing songs of hope, protest and justice. Their numbers grew constantly to hundreds of thousands of voices. Finally, their singing shook their nations' powers  and changed the world.

Singing is powerful. It voices our collective desires to God.

"Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” sings with the same confidence and hope of Mary. "Joy to the World" sings of celebrating and participating in Christ's arrival in the flesh.

Singing is powerful.  It is, as St. Augustine, is credited with saying, "Those who sing pray twice."

Singing our carols as we gather on Christmas Eve, especially in today's tensions, singing includes us in God's plan to save and redeem the world. 

Like Mary, it is our "praying twice" for God's mighty acts of salvation that includes us in the plan.

Sing, Daughters, Sing

The Singing Daughters of
Dingmans Ferry UMC

Sing, Daughter Zion;

    shout aloud, Israel!

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,

    Daughter Jerusalem!

The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;

    never again will you fear any harm.

Zephaniah 3:14-15

When it comes right down to it, I think the most moving, significant part of a worship service is the singing. 

Singing for me is a soul-conversation between God's people and God. It's in singing that our souls express their greatest joy, deepest longing, and most hurting pain. 

For example, "O for a Thousand Tongues" sings of the greatest joy for God's redeeming Grace. While "Just as I am" is a song of longing for acceptance and the Lord's forgiveness.

Right now, it seems to me, people are craving for some joy. The pandemic and its consequences have dragged on like a dirge. School shootings by children seem to constantly repeat. 

How are we going to be glad and rejoice with all our heart? 

Why don't we have anything to fear?

Zephaniah's word from the Lord says Israel has been sinning by including beliefs from other religions (1:4-6); complacently thinking the Lord will do nothing as punishment(1:12); her officials, prophets and priests are corrupt (3:3-4); that Jerusalem is a soiled, defiled, oppressing city!

Why should daughter Zion sing? Because God is a forgiving God. Because the Lord has taken away Zion's punishment. The Lord is right there in the thick of it singing with them and they don't have to fear anymore.

Why should we sing like daughter Zion? Why don't we have anything to fear?

Because God is a forgiving God who forgives our sinning and comes among us singing and rejoicing as we are doing.

As Zephaniah says, "The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you."

The Lord sings with us as we sing our greatest joy:

"Hail to the Lord’s Anointed,

  Great David’s greater Son!

Hail, in the time appointed,

  His reign on earth begun!

He comes to break oppression,

  To set the captive free;

To take away transgression,

  And rule in equity."

UMH #203  James Montgomery

Seeing Salvation

Death Valley

  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

    ...and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

See Luke 3:1-6

Does is sometimes feel to you like we're living in a wilderness? Not the hot, barren type like Death Valley.

More like the wilderness faced by the Delaware Valley Board of Education. 

At a recent Board Meeting a heated exchange took place between a Board member and an audience member accusing some school teachers of Gestapo-like tactics in enforcing mask-wearing. This provoked a response causing immediate adjournment of the meeting.

Or the wilderness faced by a Board member who resigned due to death threats against himself and his family.

This is a wilderness where violence seems to be the rule of the day. Here people wander in an injustice of scarcity, isolation, and hunger. 

It doesn't take much for any of us to ask, "God, are you at work in this wilderness?"

The wilderness place of vulnerability and danger is exactly where God is at work. Isaiah describes valleys filled, mountain and hills leveled, crooked roads straightened, and rough ways smoothed. 

Exodus says God guided Israel by a pillar of cloud by day, fire by night, and daily manna. The wilderness is how and where they learned to depend on God. 

When John the Baptizer says, "prepare the way of the Lord," he was reminding people to get ready because the Lord is coming. Prepare yourself. Change is going to happen. The world will be set right. 

Prepare yourself. You shall see the salvation of God.

God will break into our time, space, and history and transform this world from of scarcity, isolation, and hunger to one of abundance, community, and satisfaction.

God will transform violence into peace.

The Lord says, hold on to your hope. 

You shall see the salvation of God!!!

The Coming Righteous Branch

"In those days and at that time 

I will cause a righteous Branch 

to spring up for David; 

and he shall execute 

justice and righteousness in the land." 

Jeremiah 33:15

I waited with hope in an emergency room on a Friday afternoon. The bandages for my dermatology surgery were coming loose and I felt needed attention. I checked into the emergency room and waited. I knew triage was how the system worked and that I was low on an emergency need. I waited for intake from the triage nurse, then for the room, then for the NP to examine the situation, then for the issue to be resolved, then for the discharge papers. 

I knew from the moment I entered the emergency room that I would be taken care of, but not how long it would take.

I waited with a blessed assurance.

Jeremiah waited with hope, a tenacious hope, for a righteous Branch from the line of David.

For Jeremiah, imprisoned by his own government for prophesying doom is bad enough, but it gets even worse. He's forced to serve his prison sentence in the middle of a foreign invasion. 

He speaks a tenacious word of hope, of a coming righteous Branch, to counteract all of the depressing, despairing conflicting evidence. And that is its power.

We wait with an Advent hope.  

Maybe the saving act of God isn't all that obvious to us. Maybe we can't see beyond the darkness of the violence or the despair of injustice around us. Maybe we don't experience great losses such as job, security, of home. 

God's promise through Jeremiah
says in the midst of darkness, light is about to break in. In the midst of despair, hope will erupt. After long tenacious waiting, a branch will sprout. 

God’s promises haven't happened yet, but a righteous Branch is coming.

Like Jeremiah, we need to speak these words of hope! Especially this Advent!

Between Two Kingdoms

Acadia NP trail marker

"Then Pilate entered the headquarters again,

 summoned Jesus, and asked him, 

“Are you the King of the Jews?”

John 18:33

In 1925, Pope Pius XI established a new liturgical tradition, the Feast of Christ the King.

The Pope felt that the followers of Christ were being lured away by the growing secularism of the world. They were choosing to live in the “kingdom” of the world rather than in the reign of God.

This scripture (available here) for the new liturgical tradition is the scene of Pilate before Jesus. 

The scene is tense as Pilate tries navigating between understanding his empire and Jesus's kingdom.

Look at two contrasts:

On one hand: Pilate’s authority comes from the will of Caesar and is always tenuous.

On the other: Jesus’ authority comes from doing the will of God, and is eternal.

OR

On one hand: Pilate’s rule brings terror, even in the midst of calm.

On the other: Jesus’ rule brings peace, even in the midst of terror. 

We live in a culture intensely divided by politics, social status, race, gender, and religion probably becoming more intensified. 

This seems like a good time for a checkup to see which kingdom has a greater influence on us.

John Wesley's asks:

• Am I doing all the good I can, 
• by all the means I can, 
• in all the ways I can, 
• in all the places I can, 
• at all the times I can, 
• to all the people I can, 
• as long as ever I can.

Or as Prof Lucy Hogan from Wesley Seminary asks:

• How do I live in the realm of God following the faithful servant?
• How do I reach out to the least and the lost?
• How do I seek to serve rather than be served?

As we navigate between the commercial kingdom of Christmas Shopping and Jesus' Realm of Peace, which one is having the greater influence?

The Cloak of Value

“What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man said to him, 

“My teacher, let me see again.

Go,” said Jesus, 

“your faith has made you well.”

Mark 10:51-52 I

The Call 

Blind Bartimaeus is sitting on the side of the road, cloak spread in front of him, begging.  He's lower social status and therefore powerlessness. He hears that Jesus of Nazareth is coming. Bartimaeus begins to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

He persists, even when people around him tell him to be quiet.

Jesus calls him. 

He springs up, throwing off his cloak, representing his his only possession providing warmth, sleep at night or, spreading out, collecting money. 

Jesus asks, what do you want me to do for you?

Bartimaeus says “My teacher, let me see again.

Go,” said Jesus, 

“Your faith has your faith has made you well”

Bartimaeus' Faith.

This is a story about Bartimaeus’s faith and his absolute conviction that Jesus, the Son of God, can and will rescue him from his need. 

He is expecting transformation, to be changed.

So, he jumps up, comes to Jesus asking for mercy so to see again. 

Jesus says, "Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.”

Bartimaeus immediately regains his sight and follows Jesus.

The Healing

This story is about much more than Bartimaeus seeing again. 

It's about conviction, the expectation of transformation, and mercy. It's about persistence in asking despite the noise around us.

The healing is about times when we feel like Bartimaeus sitting beside the road in need of something to heal our brokenness. 

With persistence, we cry out to Jesus for help in complete confidence that something will be changed. Perhaps our despair will be changed to hope, our brokenness into wholeness, or our blindness into understanding.

Jesus hears us and heals the brokenness in our faith.

We can "go" and tell the story bringing the Good News of Jesus to  other people in need. 

Living A Salvation Lifestyle

Carriage Road
Acadia N.P.

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8

My lifestyle.

My lifestyle included hiking and walking outdoors. BSA 50 milers, Hudson Falls feeder canal path, carriage roads, National Park walks and trails.

Faith Lifestyle.

I think John Wesley would describe a faith lifestyle as one of holiness of mind with acts of mercy, fasting, prayer, Bible study, and attending to the sacraments.

Micah's prophetic lifestyle.

Micah's lifestyle begins when God has an dispute with God's people and chooses Micah's prophetic voice. God calls the mountains, hills, and earth’s foundations to hear the debate.

God recites the magnificent gifts provided as a brief salvation history with God as liberator, savior, and provider.

God then says, “What exactly have I done wrong? I am constantly saving you so you always remember my righteous deeds.” 

The people have no answer. They just want to know the best sacrifice to offer.

God, what do you require?

It turns out God doesn't want a specific type of offering, but specific type of person.

God is clear about that. God wants someone who:

    does justice.

    loves mercy.

    and walks humbly with God.

Christian lifestyle. 

Through Micah, God has been clear to us. The difficult task is to live this lifestyle as God’s people. Justice may not be our default operating system. Humility is not second nature. It's more than putting an offering it the offering plate, making a donation, or working on a ministry team.

Salvation Lifestyle.

The sacrifice I want is a salvation lifestyle.

That's a lifestyle lived in the Lord's name bringing the hope of salvation.

Doing justice brings the hope of salvation to the unjustly treated.

Being merciful brings the hope of salvation to the oppressed.

This is what I require.  

God's Whirlwind Answer

"Then the Lord answered Job 

out of the whirlwind:

'Who is this that darkens counsel 

by words without knowledge?

Gird up your loins like a man, 

I will question you, 

and you shall declare to me.'" 

Job 38:1-2

I love a reading a good mystery by authors such as Martin Walker, Louise Penny, and Tana French. 

Each of their stories follow a pattern. There is a crime, a cast of characters, and a solution to the crime.

Life  can be like that.  A tragedy occurs, a cast of characters surrounds the victim offering comfort, and a resolution appears.

Sometimes, though, there doesn't seem to be a conclusion and we ask ourselves, "Where are you God?"

When Bad Things Happen to Good People is a book by rabbi Harold Kushner whose son, Aaron, who died at the age of 14 of the incurable genetic disease progeria. Rabbi Kushner asks the question most of us would ask during a tragedy, "Where are you God?"

That's what the Book of Job is about: tragedy, characters, resolution.

The mystery begins as Job, a righteous man, loses everything and endures suffering and chaos. Three friends tell him he deserves the suffering because of his sin. 

Job doesn't buy into this. 

Job, protesting to God, lists ways he's a righteous man demanding an answer from God. "What's Going on God? What have I done to deserve all this?"

God's whirlwind answer asks Job where he was during Creation when God created an order and structure in the universe. There is meaning in the order and structure.

Job realizes that, because he isn't God, he doesn't know or understand everything. First he heard, now he sees.

Sometimes a tragedy is a mystery because it's part of being human. We don't know or understand everything.

God's whirlwind answer to us is this: 

    Whatever the tragedy, I am with you. 

    When you protest, I am listening. 

    In your chaos, I am structure.

In your darkness. I am light. 

Soaking in God

Huntington Beach State Park

 "God called the dry ground “land,” 

and the gathered waters

 he called “seas.” 

And God saw that it was good." 

Genesis 1:10

For many years Elaine and I would spend 10 days in Acadia N.P. walking the carriage trails and climb some of the easier mountains. 

The Wonderland section for us is the most refreshing, spiritually renewing, aspect of our time.  At Wonderland we would sit on the rocks beside the ocean watching and listening to the breaking waves. Sometimes they would break gently other times they crashed ferociously. 

Recently we spent a weekend with family who live in Murrells Inlet, S.C  We visited Huntington Beach State Park, toured Atalaya Castle and had a glimpse the beach.

Before catching our flight home, we spent time at the park enjoying a light picnic and standing at the edge of a sandy beach. 

What a contrast between the rocky coast of Maine and the smooth sands of Huntington Beach! 

God's gift of contrast between the Lord's sky and sea can be a deep, soul renewing experience. 

God's gift of the difference between sitting on Maine's  rocks and South Carolina's sand provides a time to soak in God. 

These are experiences I call "Soaking in God".

Soaking in God happens, it seems to me, is possible at a beach or place where the dry ground meets the gathered waters. This is the place God said is good.

God is not limited to the sky and sea. Who can limit God?

This means Soaking in God may happen in a variety of ways. Perhaps in a time of meditation with inner quiet or a place of beauty. 

Soaking in God is your soul listening for the Lord saying, "Here I Am".

And God pronounces it good.

Pilgrimage to Wonderland

Wonderland, Acadia N.P.

"Now Jesus parents went to Jerusalem

 every year at the Feast of the Passover.

 And when he was twelve years old, 

they went up according to custom."

Luke 2:41-42 

The story of Jesus' parents making their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a familiar story. Mary and Joseph are in Jerusalem for three days. It's time to leave. They travel a days journey only to discover Jesus isn't with them or any other family members. They return to Jerusalem to find him in the temple listening and commenting to the rabbis. 

Pilgrimages have similarities.

What strikes me about this pilgrimage is its similarity to any pilgrimage. The destination is a sacred or holy place. A pilgrimage may well have some confusion or disorientation. There may be an unexpected epiphany related to the sacred place.

Our Wonderland pilgrimage has those similarities.  

For us, the Wonderland section of Acadia N.P. is a sacred place where we experience God's presence. The beauty, the radiant sun, the rhythm of the waves are signs we are in God's presence. The two day Interstate journey is a stressful event in itself with road construction sometimes causing disorientation. Sometimes sitting on the rocks and "soaking in God" has led to insights.

Our lifetime pilgrimage, it seems to me, has similarities.

Our destination is being enfolded in the loving presence of God. Our journey along the way may be confusing as we observe or experience human interactions. Disorientation may occur in relocation as we move from one place to another or experience the unexpected.

The Good News of a pilgrimage says:

God was with Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to Jerusalem.

God was with Elaine and me.

God is with you on your lifetime pilgrimage. Whatever the unexpected events or confusion or stresses, God is with you.

Strengthened by the Lord

"Surely God is my help;

    the Lord is the one

 who sustains me."

Psalm 54:4

I don't know about you, but for me the pandemic has put a strain on my spiritual life. I keep up with my daily Bible study, devotional reading, centering prayer, and meditation.

Sunday worship is where there is strain.

Gathering in the church with people I know, having scripture read, prayers prayed, hymns sung, sharing communion, is diminished. Giving adequate thanks to the Lord in the sanctuary is diminished.

A diminished relationship to the Lord is one main consequence of not being able to sufficiently give thanks in God's sanctuary.

As I searched the scriptures, Psalm 54 spoke to my concern.

 

Psalm 54 is a prayer beginning as a plea to God for deliverance and vindication from arrogant foes and ruthless people making murderous threats.

The prayer expresses confidence that God is listening and will sustain his life and repay his enemies justly. 

The psalm ends with a prayer praising God for deliverance from every trouble because the name of the Lord is good.

God's Grace fills this psalm for me.

For me, God's Grace allows us to speak confidently knowing the Lord listens and hears deeply. This grace helps us to grow in our faith by realizing God has given us an inner strengthening spirit. This inner strengthening spirit assists us in coping with and interpreting diminished feelings wisely and accurately.

I recently read this: "First we pray. Then we wait."

As I lift my  prayer, I am confident the Lord hears and understands deeply and will strengthening me while I wait.

I am also confident the Lord hears, understands deeply, and strengthens each of us while we wait.

Surrounded by Grace

Bass Harbor, ME

"I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;

I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.

You have delivered me from all my troubles,

and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes."

Psalm 54:6-7

Harry is a sternman on a lobster boat. His job is baiting traps, measuring each catch and throwing back undersized lobsters. Like all sternmen, he wears oil coveralls, oil jacket, and muck boots. To get to the boat he's working on, he rows his dingy out and climbs aboard.

One Spring morning, he slipped from the dingy into the icy, bitter water. His boots and oiled overalls filling quickly so he was facing death by drowning or hyperthermia. As a very heavy man rescue is a difficult task

Try as he might, pulling himself into the boat became impossible and he began sinking.

It's not hard to imagine the fear he's experiencing in the icy Spring Atlantic waters. 

Several other captains and sternmen see his situation and rescue him by dragging him through the water to the shore.

Harry was, by the Grace of God according to Psalm 54: "delivered from all his troubles".

I listened to the telling of Harry's story and began reflecting on God's Grace surrounding us.

I am aware of Wesley's teachings about Prevenient, Justifying, and Sanctifying Grace defining God working to free us to live lovingly for others even in our imperfect lives.

I reflected on Harry being surrounded by Grace and considered God's Grace living in the hearts of his rescuers prompting them to act.

It seems to me that just as God's Grace surrounded Harry, so it surrounds each of us.

Therefore, with confidence that God's Grace surrounds each of us, even if we are unaware of it, prompts me to realize our need to act according to Psalms 54:6

"I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;

I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good."

Self-denial, Cross-bearing & Jesus

Cocoa Farmers

“Whoever wants to be my disciple

must deny themselves

and take up their cross

and follow me."

Mark 8:34

Chocolate. Really, really good chocolate is one of my weaknesses. I'm talking about Godiva, Lunt, and from the Equal Exchange Co-op. I'm also talking about Snowflake Chocolates, Jericho, VT, and Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Ice Cream. 

When I announced to my congregations I was giving up chocolate for Lent, it seemed like a significant sacrifice. 

However, Jesus never meant denying something as trivial as chocolate. 

Deny Yourself

Jesus is laying out what's needed to fully grasp ones identity as a disciple.

Jesus says denying ourselves is separation from what defines us and embracing a new understanding of our identity. 

For example, when  the disciples followed Jesus they became a community defined by association with Jesus. Self-denial means you have completely redefined your identity.

Take up your cross.

Taking up your cross implies rejection. In Jesus day, if you carried a cross it indicated you were rejected by society and its leaders. Jesus was, after all, living a life that was a threat to the world's corruption and misguided values.

Follow Me

Just knowing Jesus’ identity is a useless concept. Jesus calls his followers to an action-journey with him in a specific direction ending up at crucifixion and resurrection.

Want to learn who Jesus really is? Follow him. Do as Jesus did.

I know, following Jesus with its self-denial and cross-bearing, is a difficult, risky way of living, but it is how the rest of the world gets to know The Kingdom of God.

That's worth it in the end.

No, I don't still give up chocolate for Lent. 

I have taken on a new identity based on my baptism vows to resist evil, injustice, and oppression. There are two scripture verses that are the core of that identity: Micah 6:8 and Amos 5:24. 

Lifting the Cup of Salvation

What shall I return to the Lord

 for all his bounty to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation

 and call on the name of the Lord.

PS 116: 12-13

Lifting the Cup of Salvation during Holy Communion is, for me, a way of giving thanks to the Lord. It is a sign to me of the Lord's saving activity both in the Exodus story and the cross-resurrection story. 

 

When I hear the "Great Thanksgiving" in holy communion, I am reminded of the Lord's saving activity, not just for me, but for all humanity. 

Read the story of the psalmist's story of salvation which gives the reason for lifting the Cup of Salvation.

In  my 30 years of pastoring, I have had many people ask for prayers for friends, family, or neighbors during the Joys and Concerns in worship. I don't recall anyone saying, “Let me tell you all how my prayers were answered."

Prayer Changes Things. Don't give up on  prayer. It seems to me the poet is telling folks to not give up on prayer. Or as Paul says, "pray with out ceasing." 

Prayer Changes Things. Don't give up on  prayer, even though we all know of times when we’ve prayed alone or with others at a sickbed, and the one for whom we are praying is not healed. We know of situations or conditions we would like the Lord to change such as hunger, homelessness, or disasters, yet everything seems unchanged.

Prayer Changes Things. Don't give up on prayer. The Lord is reminding us that finally prayer is a mystery and we need to live with the of reality seemingly unanswered prayers.

When I see the Cup of Salvation lifted and the Great Thanksgiving spoken, it is not only a sign of unceasing prayer, but also of answered prayers beyond my awareness. 

The lifted cup is assurance that prayer changes things.

Teach Your Children Well

But take care so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life;

 make them known to your children and your children’s children—

Deuteronomy 4:9

Teaching Confirmation to 12-15 year old's is challenging. 

Confirmation class isn't cool, its an expectation, spoken or implied. If you ask a confirmand from a previous year about something remembered, you are likely to get a blank stare or an answer they think you want to hear. The teachings have "slipped from their mind".

Moses the Mentor was parked on the edge of the promised land.

He has led Israel through the wilderness where God provided food, water, smoke by day and fire by night. Moses instructs the people to hear and follow the God's decrees and laws and teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Hold fast to the Lord, Moses says. 

Remember and do what you have been taught. Survival in the Promised Land depends on this knowledge.

We are parked on the edge of Covid-19. 

Like a tide that ebbs and flows, the virus ebbs in one place and flows in another. Memories have slipped from our minds. Images of the 1912 pandemic, pictures of children in iron lungs are forgotten because they were unseen by our grandchildren.

Hold fast to the Lord.

It seems to me we need a new hearing of God’s instructions. God's teaching of the decrees and laws promote a vision of a righteous community, a different community that has become a sign of hope.

Hold fast to the Lord. 

Teach your children well so they become radiating signs of God's saving grace. Teach this generation well so when they are parked on the edge of a crisis, they will know salvation comes from the Lord.  

Being Strong in the Lord

Finally, be strong in the Lord

 and in the strength of his power. 

Put on the whole armor of God, 

so that you may be able to stand 

against the wiles of the devil.

Ephesians 6:10-11

Here's Ephesians 6:10-20

I think it is an understatement to say we live in violent times. 

I believe that's especially true for groups experiencing the evils of the systemic powers of racism, sexism, nationalism, and classism. We live with the increasing potential for demonizing enemies and even average folks who simply disagree with us on politics and religion. 

Righteous people, I believe, are  attempting to live a life worthy of the Lord  within the evils of these systemic powers. 

John Wesley would urges us to, "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can and as long as you can."

What, then, is it that empowers the righteous people to "do all the good you can" when surrounded by evil systemic powers?

Know the gospel of peace. Paul tells the Ephesians, wear God's armor to withstand the attacks of evil. That means to wear the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, (God's Word), and pray in the Spirit at all times.

Persistence in prayer, besides being our main resource, is also is a hallmark of trusting in God’s care and not on our own abilities. Prayer is how we remain open to the promptings and guidance of the Spirit. 

Remember, you are baptized. Recalling your baptismal covenant of renouncing the spiritual forces of wickedness, rejecting the evil powers of this world, repenting of your sin, and finally accepting the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

Paul's instructions to Ephesians are as relevant and empowering to today's Church surrounded by evil systemic powers. 

Sticking with Jesus

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood

 abide in me, and I in them.  

John 6:56

As a former Scoutmaster, one responsibility was teaching scouts how to tie knots. This meant teaching a scout a knot, then having him tie it. If he didn't get it, I showed him how again. If he still didn’t get it, I showed him again. Teach, reteach, and reteach again.

That's the principle in this passage. Jesus teaches he is manna, the "true bread of life". Just as manna gave life in the wilderness, so Jesus gives life.

Jesus then teaches he is the bread from heaven. 

Now he says abide in me. "Abide," from the Greek word “meno”, meaning "to continue, to dwell, or to endure." 

Jesus is saying, stick with it guys. Learn that discipleship is a long process, a long road. Stick with my teachings and you'll understand them.

The disciples get it. They stick with Jesus because they see that his words are life giving. They show us what it means that God will provide manna. 

With the ongoing pandemic its, hills, valleys and seemly everchanging data, and I feel like a scout needing to be coaching. I need something reminding me to stick with it.

It seems to me the breaking of the bread and pouring of the cup is God’s reminder through Jesus to stick with it. Stick with Jesus’ teachings and you will be able to endure what’s next in the pandemic.

Stick with Jesus who abides in you and be fed manna, the bread of life, through the wilderness of everchanging data and protocols.

Stick with Jesus who abides in you giving the hope and strength you need to make it through this difficult time. 

As you gather around the Lord's table again, Jesus abides in you as you abide in him

Where Are You Going?

Bread of Heaven

"I am the living bread that 

came down from heaven.

Whoever eats of this bread 

will live forever;

and the bread that I will give 

for the life of the world is my flesh."

John 6:51

There's a story about a bishop asking an ordination candidate Wesley's historic question, "Are you going onto perfection?" The candidate wanting to test the system said, "No!" Without hesitating the bishop asked, "Then where are you going?"

Where are you going?

 

The Israelites were going through the desert.

Manna, the Bible says, is something edible God provided during their journey through the desert after the Exodus. For them, manna was God's life-giving power to sustain them as they traveled. God was caring for them.

The disciples were going wherever Jesus went. 

They need manna, so Jesus tells them "I am the living bread."  Jesus claims to be God's manna, life-giving power extending forever. That's not just a future heavenly life. It's available now, so Jesus says “those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life” Jesus cared for them as they followed him.

We’re going through a pandemic pandemonium.

The pandemonium is learning of a new Delta variant to the Covid virus spreading faster than the original. Hospitals and staff are overwhelmed, doctors are saying booster shots may be necessary. We need manna now and in the future. 

In John 6:51, Jesus reminds us of God’s enduring care for Israel in the Exodus and invites us to understand ourselves as ones who receive this same life-giving care. 

When we are going to the Lord's table and receiving Jesus’ loaf and cup, we are receiving the life-giving body of Christ sustaining us through the pandemic’s pandemonium. Going to the Lord’s table is, God through Christ, feeding us manna which sustains us now and in the future. Jesus cares for us.

Where are you going?  

Wherever your life journey takes you with its deserts or green pastures, know that at the Lord's table you will be fed life-giving bread to sustain you. Jesus care for you.

Gathering at the Lord's Table

Our Pandemic Chapel

Jesus said to them,

“I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,

and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

John 6:31

I am looking forward to gathering at the Lord's Table again.

I miss Holy Communion. I miss the pastor taking the bread, blessing it and giving it. Sure, during the pandemic, communion is served in wafer/juice cups. The Great Thanksgiving is said with appropriate responses and prayers. But this is like a slim-fast communion. 

In attending a memorial service recently, the altar was set, the bread broken into small pieces, and the cup present for dipping. The next day, a Sunday, I attended worship at a church where the congregation came forward to receive the wafer/juice cups. After both services I was able to catch up with friends from each church. 

I felt a strong presence of the Holy Spirit as we gathered at the Lord’s Table. The pastor saying, "pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine... make us one with Christ and one each other". This was very moving for me.

After seeing the miracle of the bread and fish, Jesus has left the scene. The crowd goes looking for him. They follow him around the lake to the other side. They are demanding bread so Jesus tells them he is the bread of life. Jesus is saying the only food that can last for all time is the bread that Jesus himself is, the true gift from God. 

There will come a time when we gather with Jesus, the bread of life, and with the Holy Spirit, and will never be hungry or thirsty again.

This is my source of hope that having endured with Jesus and come this far, we will gather again around the Lord's table and share the bread of life.

"I Am With You"

And David became greater and greater,
for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

2 Samuel 5:10

Here's the complete reading

This is John, a 90+ year-old Maine lobsterman. Like most lobstermen, he's up around 4 a.m. checking the weather then heading to the docks. Around 6 a.m. he's picking up his stern man, buying bait and heading to sea checking some of his 150 traps. Some traps will be empty others will have a decent haul. By late in the day he's headed to the docks again selling his catch.

John also knows of lobstermen whose boats sank and had to swim ashore. He knows of others that never returned home.

John returns at the end of the day "for the Lord was with him."

"I am with you," says the Lord. Beginning with Moses (Ex.3:12), continuing through David, then through Jesus (Mt:28:20). The Scriptures assure us, "I am with you." 

We may behave like David and Bathsheba or Judas. The awareness of our own sin may leave us feeling as though we are drowning in our own shipwrecked life unable to make it ashore. 

"I am with you" says the Lord. Read the story of Paul's shipwreck and the lives saved. Read again the story of Jesus calming the sea and rescuing the disciples. Reread some of the other stories of salvation in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.  

"I am with you," says he Lord as you live each day or as face life's greatest challenges. Whether you come home with empty traps or a decent catch, "I am with you."

Thanks be to God.

Living Like Jesus

“Come away to a deserted place 

all by yourselves and rest a while.”

Mark 6:31

Elaine loves cooking. She loves getting out a recipe, going over the ingredients, and assembling them. She loves mixing the ingredients and putting them in the pot or pan to correctly cook them. Most of all, she enjoys placing the finished dish on the dinner table with its enticing aroma salivating everyone's palate. After grace, comes enjoying the delicious meal.  

But Elaine does other cooking. In one church she prepared a monthly meal for a homeless shelter. In another, she was part of a team that prepared 16 pans of ziti each month which were distributed to several shelters. She was also part of a team that prepared sandwiches for a "Midnight Run" to Manhattan for distribution to street people. In several churches, she was involved in the CROP hunger walk (including co-coordinating one for 13 years). She is an active member of Bread for the World for over 40 years. Currently, she takes our church's food donations to the local food pantry.

Elaine is sustained and energized because she is living like Jesus.

Living like Jesus means having compassion for "the least of these" and acting to care for them. Jesus spent time "Searching the Scriptures" as Wesley called it. Living like Jesus is coming to the Lord's table and be refreshed. Living like Jesus includes times of quiet rest in a deserted place to listen to God.

Each of us has been called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live like Jesus by using God's gifts to work at building God's kingdom. 

Reflect on how you can use your unique gifts to live more like Jesus.

What kinds of practices have helped you live more like Jesus?

God's Healing Love

Acadia Morning

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness."

Lamentations 2:22-23

Click here to read the complete text.

Near the end of July, the Charlottes Rhodes Butterfly Park releases hundreds of Monarch butterflies. Children watching this are filled with excitement and wonder seeing these Monarchs launch into an awakening world. It's an awakening world pretty much like their own. The beauty of the fleeting butterfly and the innocence of the child.

In the real world there are sin-sick souls struggling with alcoholism, drugs sometimes resulting homelessness. The real world has faithful disciples coping with broken marriages, poverty, and addiction. These are wounded, barren, desert-like places.

Lamentations describes them this way:   

"Your wound is as deep as the sea.

 Who can heal you?"

Lamentations also declares God’s healing love and mercy as renewing sin-sick souls just as the morning sun faithfully rises. 

That's Michael's story. He came to church occasionally. Folks recognized that he was struggling with addiction issues and homelessness. One Sunday, for joys and concerns, he announced he was clean and sober. The folks praised him for this achievement. 

A few weeks later, he came to Tuesday's Bible Study with his head bloodied. He'd been assaulted at a shelter. “I can’t live this way no more,” he cried. “Nobody is supposed to live this way.” 

The Tuesday Bible Study group recognized this as a real-time Prodigal Son story. They surrounded him with prayer, love, and offers of support. 

After his assault, he returned to the place of hope in God’s steadfast, healing,  love. There, among the people of the class, he found God's love with mercies never ending. 

It is my firm conviction that in our wounded, barren, desert-like times, God's healing love touches us restoring our wounded souls.

God's Grace in Catastrophe

“My grace is sufficient for you,

for power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:9

Click here to read 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

My heart sank as I watched the condos in Surfside Florida collapse trapping and crushing residents. It was heart breaking to see the rescue workers valiantly searching through rubble trying to find survivors. The sight of the impromptu memorial wall is certainly one that weighs my spirit down.

What the tragic collapse makes very clear are the limits of human endeavor which show us our limitations and failures. We are reminded that in the overall scheme of things, we can feel small and powerless. 

And so, we pray. We pray for the first responders, for the grieving, for those awaiting answers. We pray for solutions so that similar disasters are avoided. 

Paul prayed three times that his "thorn in the flesh" would be removed. It wasn't. The Lords answer was, "My grace is sufficient for you." 

We may never understand all the implications of the Surfside Condo collapse, but "God's Grace is sufficient. God will come through for us, for the hurting, the mourning, the anxious, the searching. God will find a way to soothe souls trying to understand tragedy.

Of one thing I am certain, God’s amazing grace is present as people experience compassion in the catastrophe. God's grace is present as people express sympathy and caring concern.

God's Giving Gift

Then he took a loaf of bread, 

and when he had given thanks, 

he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 

“This is my body, which is given for you. 

Do this in remembrance of me.”

And he did the same with the cup after supper.

Luke 22:19-20

United Methodists practice open communion, meaning all at worship are invited to partake. The church proclaims that the table of Holy Communion is Christ’s table. The table is open to anyone who seeks to respond to Christ’s love and seeks to lead a new life of peace and love.

Communion is God's gifts to God's people given through Jesus Christ which Methodists call a "means of grace". 

My Pastoral education taught me that who does or does not receive communion is not up for discussion.  Communion begins with God’s grace and love as seen in Jesus Christ who didn't make any decisions about who received God's gift. All the disciples present, Judas included, received. He just gave. Period. End of discussion. 

That's what Paul did in 1 Corinthians 11:23: "For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you." He gave. Paul was aware that the churches role is to receive from the Lord what we have been given and pass it on.

Jesus' sharing the bread and wine have been linked with Isaiah 53:12 which refers to a blood sacrifice that, as recounted in Exodus 24:8, Moses offered in order to seal a covenant with God. Jesus' actions began with God. 

God's gift of communion is a means of grace, therefore, the church doesn't decide who receives it.

One last thought. Sometimes when communion is served using a broken loaf, people will take from the center because they don't like the crust. 

    Jesus gives, we don't take. 

    One is fussy about the gift Jesus gives because it has a crust?

Oh, come on.

No Ordinary Boat Ride

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 

He woke up and rebuked the wind,

and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!”

Then the wind ceased, 

and there was a dead calm"

Mark 4:38-39

Click here to read the complete story here.

People go down to sea for many reasons. Some for recreation; making a living; escaping oppression; a ferry for transportation. 

In this familiar story, Jesus and the disciples get in a boat to cross to the sea. A storm nearly swamps the boat as Jesus sleeps. They wake him. He rebukes the sea. The storm ends.

However, this isn't a story about "the storms of life" or and facing them by trusting Jesus in your fears. 

The deeper story is Jesus silencing the storm and rebuking it. Those "silence" and "rebuke" are exorcism words Mark often uses in Jesus’ ministry. As strange as it sounds, Jesus is not offering therapy for our fears but an exorcism for a world out of whack.

The point of this story is a revelation. The stilling of the storm tells us something  about the Kingdom of God and Jesus himself. The fact that Jesus stills the storm with the word "rebuke" also tells us something about him. To the ancients "rebuke" was a word used for exorcism.

After experiencing this, the disciples are terrified. "Who is this that even wind and sea obey?" (Here's the answer in Mark 1:1)

The stories setting is significant. There has been a great cultural trauma. The destruction of the temple caused deep questions touching on life and the forces threatening to upend everyone.

The Good News is, whatever terrors and revelations are ahead of us in this apocalyptic boat ride with a world out of whack in this cultural trauma of the moment, we will notice God's saving power in Jesus Christ. We will see there is the living God among us in Jesus Christ.

Praise in the Sabbath

"It is good to praise the Lord

    and make music to your name, O Most High,

proclaiming your love in the morning

    and your faithfulness at night,."

Psalm 92:1-2

(Read all the verses here)

Liturgy was a passion in my ministry. The passion included finding ancient prayers, prayers from other cultures, and contemporary ones. I would dig deep into the history of hymns, chants, and songs and their best uses in worship. For me it was and continues to be an ongoing journey. Part of that ongoing journey includes several learnings. 

• For example, what is acceptable in one church is not in another. 
• It's necessary to explain the meaning of an addition to the worship service or it will be misunderstood. 
• For some, the Sermon most important part of worship, for others its the singing of hymns.

What liturgy provides is a structure in the midst of crisis. The world may literally be falling around you, but the liturgy in Sunday's service is the same. Fear and anxiety may abound, but the liturgy is a safe structure pointing beyond now to a future in God's hands.

On the Sunday following 9/11 a Peace Candle and "Let there be Peace on Earth" was added to a worship service. This was a safe structure in a time of fear and anxiety.

Psalm 92 begins by stating that praising the Lord is a good thing. This seems obvious, but when God’s people worship because of deep gladness coming from recognizing God’s mighty works of salvation, the praise will be lively and flourishing.

The conviction of Psalm 92 is that God is faithful, that the Lord reigns on high forever and the Lord is present just as the sun is new every morning.