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.