Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13 - 53-12

Psalm 22

Hebrews 10:16-25, or

Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

John 18:1 - 19:42

For many years I considered it a near-mortal sin to start reading a book and not finish it. As a reader, writer, English teacher, I held that stories engage our being so thoroughly that we owed the teller a chance to finish because it is the twist at the end that gives meaning to even the banal events leading to it. I read many bad books over the years that I knew I should have put down at the end of chapter one because the character, plot, and descriptions did nothing to engage me; you cannot judge a book by its cover, but you can by chapter one. There are a handful of books that I re-read because they so capture my mind I enter that world with my entire consciousness for hours at a time. The passages in Isaiah and John have the qualities that bring me into the deep contemplation appropriate for today and the coming days.

John takes us through a stunningly rapid succession of events that climax with Christ’s death on the cross just hours after being arrested in the garden. We are challenged in every verse to consider our own response. We have the gift of nearly two centuries of hindsight to question and judge the actions of every individual involved that day. Put yourself as a dissident in the midst of a mob of illiterate faithful who only know and understand what their religious leaders tell them. The unfamiliar streets in this city where you are a visitor resemble what we call alleys. Their leaders, the teachers they have trusted for years, declare that you and your leader are the latest in a long history of heretics determined to eliminate God’s law rather than fulfill it (the truth does not matter to them as both eliminate their authority and social standing). Peter’s courage at even being in the crowd offers some mitigation to the often taught cowardice of his denial. Where were the rest of the Apostles? We cannot have a greater security barrier than the two millenia separating us from the event, but before we judge them, consider how you would have functioned as one on whom there was a bounty, jostled in a crowd of potential captors, with only rumors for news. It might be time to share some of the grace we have been extended from the events of this day.

As powerful as the John passage is, the imagery of the man in Isaiah fills my mind with a picture of a man so damaged we would struggle to know him as a man, yet so overwhelmingly powerful even the strongest are brought to utter submission in his presence. The vibrant, often violent narrative interwoven with so much peace and beauty challenges my mind to see the connection - to see both as one. Violence and calm. Disdain and adoration. Crudeness and refinement. The juxtaposition of such concepts challenges us at the core of human thought. We struggle when those things we have defined as opposites coexist. Every time I read this passage I am disturbed by injustice and buoyed by hope. To me, this is faith- asking, “What?” and declaring, “Thank you!” at the same time. We must do that with this passage or we get overwhelmed by one or the other sides of the picture he presents.

The great stories bring us back and we find something new each time. Today’s Scriptures do that. In every reading we gain a new insight. Every insight shapes our faith. Our faith sustains us.

July 7 Ordinary Time

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C 2 Kings  5:1-14 Isaiah 66:10-14 Psalm 30 Psalm 66 Galatians 6:1-16 Luke 10:-11, 16-20

Today’s Reflection: A few years ago the Staples office supply stores began airing commercials that featured the “Easy Button” that solved all the world’s hard problems. The catch-line being that there was no such thing, but they (Staples) made it easy to get all the office supplies you needed for your home or business. In the faith traditions we often focus on the challenges to overcome in order to follow God’s direction. We often preach that there is no easy way, but the passages today offer some relief from those teachings. When we realize the work comes from an all-powerful God, the work suddenly becomes much more doable. The account of Naaman in 2 Kings is one such story in which the participants sought the challenging way. Upon learning that healing could be possible through a prophet in Israel, his king sent Naaman and a sizable “offering” of silver, gold, and robes to the king of Israel. The expectations of that time were that 1) it would cost something (an offering), and 2) the king, being king, was the prophet of God. Those assumptions nearly provoked a war as the king of Israel saw the offering and message as a taunt. Fortunately, the prophet Elisha recognized that it was an act of faith that sent Naaman to Israel and called for him to come to his house. Elisha’s next actions dispelled the protocols of the time. He gave directions for a very simple action that would cure Naaman’s leprosy - no offering or sacrifice required. He also refused to meet Naaman face-to-face, instead sending a servant to deliver the directions. He wanted it to be clear that rank in society had nothing to do with the ability of God to act through a person and to show that Naaman’s faith led to the cure, not some miraculous power contained within the prophet himself. To put it directly: God is present even when the prophet is not. Naaman’s challenge was accepting something so simple. As a man of his time, and one in high position, he expected experiences to play out in a certain way. Elisha’s actions violated all those expectations. It took the wisdom of those in lesser positions to convince Naaman that he should at least try what the prophet said. When he accepted the advice and bathed in the Jordan, God healed him. Sometimes it is just that easy. God’s commands are not always hard for us to follow, but we focus so often on the trials and tribulations of being Christian that we develop a mindset that anything God calls us to do is going to require some great sacrifice. As with Naaman, the sacrifice may be a preconceived notion. We may have to sacrifice some of our “beliefs”  because we have always been taught that his how to believe only to have God whisper a different message in our ear. We do not often consider changing a mindset as a great sacrifice, but the Bible is filled with stories, like Naaman (and Paul!) who had to adjust the way they believed to match the mind of God. Our deeply held beliefs guide our words and actions; changing those beliefs can be one of the biggest challenge any Christian faces. There is no “easy button” when faced with such decisions; we can only open our heart and our ears to the message God gives us now.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

June 30 Ordinary Time

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 Psalm 77 Psalm 16 Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62

Today’s Reflection: These days everything in life seems to come with conditions. People often ask their leaders to make a decision – something cut-and-dried, black-or-white – when what they really want is some shade of gray. We want the wiggle-room of indecisiveness. We like changing our mind when the circumstances change. In today’s passages, we learn that God does not give us the option: our response must be yes or no. After Elijah fled to the desert to escape Jezebel’s threat, the Lord revealed his replacement prophet – Elisha. He found Elisha busy in the work of the fields, passed by and put his mantle over him. Elisha requested that he kiss his parents goodbye (translated: finish the work before him) and then he would follow. Elijah made it clear that was not what God wanted, so Elisha instead killed his oxen and cooked them using the wood of his plow to irrevocably cut his ties to his past. In the same way, Jesus gives cryptic answers, yet ones that called for immediate action in direction to his followers. A response cutting someone off from burying his/her parent or saying goodbye to family seems harsh on the surface, but in reality, the response was, “I will follow you when it is convenient,” and Jesus was not asking them to follow him, “maybe.” Elisha and Jesus’s followers were all in the middle of living their day-to-day lives when they received the Lord’s call. We are all in the middle of living our day-to-day lives. I have commitments booked months in advance on my calendar: “Oh just let me finish _________.” will always be a line I could use. Life will always be an obstacle in doing that which God calls us to do, so he does not allow us a “maybe” or “later” response. The only answers he takes are “yes” or “no.” Fortunately for us, when God calls us, he only has good things in store for us. While we may have to give up a certain good thing (our present circumstance) on faith for a better good thing (found in God’s call), we do know that it will be good. Our first task, though, is to say, “yes!”

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

June 23 Ordinary Time

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C 1 Kings 19:1-15 Isaiah 65:1-9 Psalm 43 Galatians 3:23-29 Luke 8:26-39

Today’s Reflection: In a lifetime of working with others I have seen that some characteristics of human nature never change: we have a short attention span and we anticipate everything into a catastrophe. The prophets in Kings, Isaiah, and the people in Luke all encounter threatening situations and react as people do flee and/or whine. Despite the failings of human nature, God remains steady and his presence through the encounters shows us more about his care for us. Elijah had just completed his miracle of the wet altar when he found out that Jezebel declared war on him for defeating her priests and “killing them with the sword.” The passage showed the power of a woman scorned and the power of an oath. By declaring Elijah’s fate with the oath, she was bound to carry it out. Elijah laced up his sandals and headed for foreign lands. Just like Elijah, the prophet in Isaiah declared that the people do not want his message. He despaired at the situation in the same way Elijah did when the Lord’s messenger and the Lord came by. Elijah went from a manifest victory of the Lord’s power to hopeless despair within days. They catastrophized the situation by being certain the worst that could happen would happen. God responded to both, “Do your job and everything will be fine.” Consistently when Jesus came across a demon, the being from the spirit world recognized Jesus identity, power, and consequences for the contact. In the case of Legion, after the thousands of spirits fled into a heard of swine and free the man, the people in the area partially got it – they recognized Jesus’s power, but they did not see the opportunity in it. Instead they responded in fear and asked Jesus to leave. The spirits knew wholly who Jesus was while the people only understood partially and the responses showed the level of understanding. Jesus’s response to the man who desired to go with him was much like that of God to the prophets, “Stay here, spread the word, and all will be fine.” Regardless of the human nature response in each of the situation, the God presence in each passage remained the same: “Here is my way. Stay on the course I have given you and all will be fine.” That is the comfort we take in our relationship with the Lord. It does not matter how frantic we become, God’s stability and calm provides a way through the panic. Yes, the British were on to something: Keep calm and carry on – and all will be fine.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

June 2 Ordinary Time

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Revised Common Lectionary Year C 1 Kings 18:20-39 Psalm 96 1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43 Galatians 1:11-24 Luke 7:1-10

Today’s Reflection: I watch too many reality cooking shows. As I began reading the story of Elijah and his battle with the Baal priests, I couldn’t help but title it: Iron Priest – Israel! The secret ingredient: FIRE! with the announcer greeting the crowd, “Welcome to altar stadium.” Anyone who has ever tried to build a fire with wet wood knows what a disaster it can be. It generally ends with lots of smoke, and frustration. That may be, for me, why the story of Elijah’s battle with the Baal priests remains so fascinating: if God can set wet wood on fire, then he can do anything! Today’s passages help point us in the direction that guides the power of God with humankind. The themes that resonate from the 1 Kings passages as well as the other passages for me are the proximity of God and who can call on the Lord. Elijah mocks the priests when Baal does not respond to their loud cries. He wonders if the god has “turned-off (meditation/sleep),” or “wandered away.” The priests’ increasingly frantic (and increasingly bloody) cries continue to go unanswered; their ordinary offering remains untouched. Elijah ups the challenge by making his offering extraordinary through the soaking of the wood, and his request is immediately answered; everything present, including the altar is gone. Elijah’s mocking of the priests with the suggestion that their god has wandered away is turned on its head in the Luke passage. The faithful centurion realized that Jesus did not have to be “present” in the physical, tangible sense to accomplish his wishes. All he had to do was declare it done and it was. The element in both stories is faith: no matter who you are, a powerful prophet called by the Lord or a foreign military leader, true faith allows the Lord to work his will in the circumstances of our lives. When we accept the “Godness” of God faith can become a lifestyle. This does not mean we have to understand the “Godness” of God for that exceeds human understanding; we are called to believe it exists and act accordingly. Each passage confirms that anyone who has this belief, Israelite or “foreigner,” can call on the name of the Lord. Although I do like my reality cooking shows, I tend to be analytical and struggle with a demand to understand God’s being rather than accept that it is. Today’s passages give a perspective to accepting the nature of God, and at least for this week, help me live in the way of faith.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org

November 4 - Ordinary Time

Today’s Scriptures: Lectionary selections from the Book of Common Prayer Psalm 24, 29, 8, 84 Ezekiel 20:27-44 1 Corinthians 12:27 – 13:13 Matthew 18:21-35

Today’s Question: How do we love the way God wants us to?

Today’s Reflection: A few years ago, I spent a few years studying the minor prophets in the Old Testament. It was one of the most fascinating studies I have ever undertaken – and it certainly opened my eyes to how we throw around the terms prophet and prophecy, and how we cite ancient prophesies in relationship to events today. We can take lessons from them, as the scriptures today provide, we just have to be careful what we say.   We have a living language that alters meaning over time, but applying current meaning to ancient language gives us a warped understanding of that time. The prophets in Israel’s history were specific people and they delivered a specific message for a specific people at a specific time. God did not speak a warning intended for centuries in the future. Those who connect the events of prophetic history to events today, fail to understand the specificity with which they were delivered. One can easily cite some great disaster as a threat if things are not done a specific way: that disaster has come and gone.   What we need to focus on comes in the verses preceding the disaster. How did the people fail God? Are we doing the same thing? What we know from the prophets is that God will act for those who do not follow his command and under the New Covenant that command is love God and love your neighbor as yourself. The passages from Corinthians and Matthew reinforce that concept emphatically. Throughout the Old Testament prophets when God’s people failed to care for the needy (their brothers and sisters, fellow Israelites, strangers in the land), when the wealthy let their means isolate them from the poorest rather than become a tool to alleviate desperation, when idols – both intentional and accidental – took the place of God, God takes action.   The recent trend crossing my news feed from religious groups carries the theme of how the church is failing and what can be done to change it. My news feed from secular press regularly reports on religious figures who make inflammatory, controversial statements. Largely, the religious groups find that people are turned off by the vocal message promoting a legalistic, agree with me or-else, image of Christianity. The secular press finds that people mock inflammatory statements and see the church as an arcane joke. People are right to be turned off against that church – it is not the church of Christ, or even Paul. Both of them focus on love in the passages from Matthew and Corinthians today.   Paul’s listing of spiritual gifts – then calling them worthless without being used in love demands that we consider our language of faith, our view of others, and our own belief of who God loves. Instead of polarization and judgment, unity and compassion may be the key to revitalizing the church. Threats of Hell never saved anyone; ministrations of love saved everyone who has been saved.   Loving, as God wants us to do, is incredibly hard. If it were easy, the command would not repeated so many times in Jesus’s lessons and the apostles Epistles. Loving, as God wants us to do, requires that we get out of our own head and into God’s head. If we really believe God sent his son to be tortured and killed for our sin, our shortcomings, is there anyone we should not love in his name? Failing to love will bring a response from God. The prophets of the Old Testament give us dozens of examples when that happened. The calamities they foretold will not be the punishment God sends our way, but as God created all things, he will find the punishment that is right for us.

Today’s Prayer: Let us love with the heart of God as he has given us that love.