"Do not fear, for I am with you;"

I was watching the hurricane destruction on last evening news.  I just bowed my head and prayed what I did not know how to pray.

I told God I was unable to pray about such awful destruction, such personal loss.

        Damaged lives,

          damaged homes, 

             damaged electrical systems,   

                agricultural fields once planted with such hope.

And so much more I don’t even know about the hurricane’a violent process.

I just prayed for it all and left it with God.

Then again this morning I felt distressed with the words of the President last night.

And I prayed.

Realizing those two event actually overshadowed the pandemic of Covid-19.

And I prayed.

It has been a heavy morning for my heart.

Then I got up, to pour myself another cup of coffee, and I was reminded again of God’s promise: 

But now thus says the Lord,

   he who created you, O Jacob,

   he who formed you, O Israel:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

   I have called you by name, you are mine. 

² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

   and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

   and the flame shall not consume you. 

³ For I am the Lord your God,

   the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

   Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. 

⁴ Because you are precious in my sight,

   and honored, and I love you,

I give people in return for you,

   nations in exchange for your life. 

⁵ Do not fear, for I am with you;

   I will bring your offspring from the east,

   and from the west I will gather you; 

⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’,

   and to the south, ‘Do not withhold;

bring my sons from far away

   and my daughters from the end of the earth— 

⁷ everyone who is called by my name,

   whom I created for my glory,

   whom I formed and made.’ (Isaiah 43)

All we ever have, after all is said and done, has in the end to be enough.

⁵ Do not fear, for I am with you;

Does God Talk To Us Today?

Another Prophet that spoke for God was Jeremiah. 

¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them,

   and your words became to me a joy

   and the delight of my heart;

for I am called by your name,

   O Lord, God of hosts.…..If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. (Jere. 15)

I wonder if you get the phrase that caught my mind this morning?

The commentator, Steven L. Cook, wrote something which caused my mind to say “WOW:”

"To ‘stand before’ the Lord, as Jeremiah does, is to take in God’s perspective and live it out.  It is to be the Lord’s confidant, a member of the inner circle of heaven.  To serve as God’s ‘mouth’ is too swallow the divine word and unite with it in substance.  One receives it directly, hand delivered, just as Mose did….….

As God’s confidant and mouth, Jeremiah so incarnates the divine life that he experiences unbearable pressures.  God’s word flares within his bones, driving him to extremes of emotion….”

(Feasting on The Word, vol. 4 year A, p3)

How often have you asked, or heard people ask: “Do you think God really communicates with us today?”

For many years I was hesitant to speak to such questions directly.  I think I was afraid they would think I was off-in-left-field somewhere.  

I had been in the ministry for about nine or ten years before I felt  free to speak what I was sure I knew.

It was at a women’s retreat, with women I had grown to know, and mostly trust; when I told them of my first experience of knowing God was speaking to me.

It was in the summer of 1988. Just after I graduated from Seminary.  A time filled with much excitement, and still a lack of confidence in my abilities, and I heard in my thoughts: “I don’t expect perfect.”

It was a totally extraordinary  moment.  At first I didn’t know what to do with that fragile feeling.

So I just lived with it.   Keeping it close to myself for along time.

When you think about it, there is evidence that God communicated with His people throughout the Old and New Testaments.   

From the time of Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3;  To the bright light that struck Saul in Acts 9.  We read of these, God to person, conversations.  

The Gospels are full of the activity of the Holy Spirit’s ability to communicate with those who believe.  And even those who are not so sure.

To be as clear as I can, God’s communications with me have not been long entailed conversation. It is more a thought that comes into my mind at a time when I am either strugglingly with something, or studying during sermon preparation, or having a particularly challenging conversation with someone.

Often these tiny epiphanies come out of quick prayers I mentally verbalize; or when reading scripture and a verse pops out at me.

¹⁶ Your words were found, and I ate them,

   and your words became to me a joy

   and the delight of my heart;

for I am called by your name,

   O Lord, God of hosts.

No matter if you are an ancient prophet, or an ordinary person living in the world today.  God is  always trying to get us to hear his word.

Invitation To Wonder

A Few years ago some one asked me:  “How do we know what God truly wants?  And as I read these words from Isaiah I thought: It is pretty clear what God want.

In Isaiah God’s vision was spoken: A vision of creation where the lamb and the lion (wolves) lie down in peace together.  

Imagine

The wildest of beast together with the gentlest of beast. 

A vision of the impossible? 

Check out the two passages below from Isaiah nine and eleven.

⁵ For all the boots of the tramping warriors

   and all the garments rolled in blood

   shall be burned as fuel for the fire. 

⁶ For a child has been born for us,

   a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders;

   and he is named

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

⁷ His authority shall grow continually,

   and there shall be endless peace (Isaiah 9)

⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb,

   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

   ..and a little child shall lead them. 

⁷ The cow and the bear shall graze,

   their young shall lie down together;

   and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 

⁸ The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

   and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. 

⁹ They will not hurt or destroy

   on all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

   as the waters cover the sea.(Isaiah 11)

Now, use your imagination to wonder.

Wonder about:

⁹ They will not hurt or destroy

   on all my holy mountain;

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

   as the waters cover the sea.

Wonder about:

⁶ The wolf shall live with the lamb,

   the leopard shall lie down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together,

   ..and a little child shall lead them.

Wonder about:

⁷ His authority shall grow continually,

   and there shall be endless peace

What God wants is clear to me. Then God came in Jesus’s skin to make it perfectly clear.  

God wants people to live in peace.

What are you thinking?

To Listen or Speak?

“The word prophet,” said Jacob, holding his pace, “is created from two words before speaking.  A true prophet is someone who spends more time listening to God than speaking for God.”  (p. 69 Jacob’s Ladder)

How often have you heard someone say: “God gave us two ears, and only one mouth, because it is more important to listen than to speak.”

A simple little phrase that carries a hard truth.

I am thinking about people I have observed in a conversation and the person not speaking is just itching to put in their two-cents-worth.

I have found myself guilty of that need to speak from time to time.  How about you?

As I have grown older I try to stop myself from interjecting in a conversation instead of listening.  Partly because I realize that my offerings, into the conversation, are not all that astounding. 

And I find myself later thinking about why I have this rude mentality that thinks I might know ‘better’ or ‘more.’

It is mostly an arrogant attitude that to me is undesirable.  

So why do i do it?

God only knows.

However, it is something that I have desired to change in myself.

Because what I know for certain is that the best way to be a friend, and a pastor, is to listen first.  And then, if helpful, speak.

Our Only Source of Strength

As I walked outside this morning I thought: ‘The world seem so peace-filled and good.  It is hard to believe that there is such chaos moving across the earth.’

And then the thought: ‘Life is not always as it appears to be.’

This feeling of peace reminds me it is good to remember, in the midst of all that's challenging — and sometimes awful, God gives us moments like this one.

And I began to think about how it was during my separation, and divorce, after twenty-four years of marriage.  It was a most tumultuous, most painfully awful, time in my life.  I felt like a 1000 piece puzzle that had been thrown on the cement and not one piece fit together.

And yet, in the midst of it all, there was this never failing place of grace and peace that continually engulfed me.

It is quiet comforting to have such, hindsight, reminders in our day-to-day life.

  

Most especially in times like this, when the pandemic still silently moves across our country, our world. 

And then the not so silent political storm raging so loudly; and unkind.

With unprovable fraud lurking in the mix of deceitful,  infectiously damaging  outcomes, makes us all unable to believe much of anything.

Though it all, there is this extraordinary promise to hold onto:

 “…remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:29)

“…..pray always and do not lose heart.” (Lk. 18:1) 

  

You see, I believe that all we ever need to do, in any mess — large or small, is to keep our focus on the one main thing.  

The main thing is our trust and faith in an amazing God. 

A God who, though invisible, is an extremely awesome presence in the doings of His human creature.

So as we are willing to find peace in the quietness of our own tiny worlds; let us leave the rest to God.

Our only sources of strength and protection.

"Lord Save Me!"

Peters focus

So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ (Matt. 14)

I am having a, continuous circular, conversation with myself about Peter’s focus. Or Lack of.

Actually the conversation is about the general population’s lack of focus.

Peter was doing fine walking towards Jesus on that turbulent sea.  He was.  

However, likes the seeds that fell on rocky ground, Peter got side tracked.  

Instead of keeping his focus on God, in Jesus’ skin, he started to pay attention to the turbulences under his very human feet.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I would probably not even be willing to step out of the boat.  Let alone walk on a stormy sea.

However my mental conversation is trying to figure out how so many people today have found it impossible to focus on the God of history who created us to focus on His original design — plan — for his human creatures.

The plan to have us live focused on His will.

The plan to live very-good, kind and compassionate lives here on this earth.

There are millions and billions of good people living in this world. Good honest people who strive to measure up to God’s plan. His plan for the people to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with Him.

That is just the truth — a wonderful truth.

BUT 

But there is a, not-so-slient, minority that make all kinds of not-so-Godlike noise.  Stormy noise that distracts us.

And  some of those folks dare to speak in God’s name.

Was that a judgment?

                             Absolutely.

May God forgive me if I am being unfair in my assessment.

Do you know what I wish?  

I wish the millions and billions who are working diligently to keep their focus on this Loving God -- who is walking towards us in this turbulent time; will not lose hope.

It is soooooooo easy to lose sight of the strength God give out in such abundance.

Water

²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ (Matt.14)

In water we have the flooding ability to destroy. Rivers flow, lakes ripple with little waves; sometimes not so little wave.  Oceans , seas, flow with the motions of the earth beneath in huge waves.  Sometimes with tsunami force. Rain comes down form heaven to water the earth bringing life to the soil.

There are many ways the water can destroy; however,  sometimes it has an amazing ability to calm, and soothe, the soul

When I returned to finish my undergraduate education, I attended Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  It is located at the edge of Lake Michigan. A  wonderful place to study; and just sit enjoying the beautiful water.

The lake was so interesting with all of its various moods — quiet and calming, filled with diamond on a sunny day; gray on stormy days when the waves would roll up on the land with great force.

Any way it was, somehow it brought me a certain peace; and yes gratitude.

When Jesus came to the frightened disciples, in that tiny boat being tossed about in the angry wave of the sea, it reminded me of Lake Michigan on stormy day.

And I can’t imagine even being in a boat on water like that; let alone walking calmly on it.

So I try to imagine how the disciples felt as they saw Jesus coming toward them.

What divides my ability to imagine today, and how they might have been feeling thousands of years ago.  I cannot ever begin to understand.  They understood a very different theology about God' and how He worked

First of all, I saw Lake Michigan from a safe distance.  It was no threat to me no matter how stormy it was.

However, the disciple had been raise to believe in a theology, formed by the Hebrew tradition, which understood water meant something more than simply threatening weather.

To them the storm represented “all the evil powers which oppress and resisted the salvation intended for the people of Israel.” (Karl Barth 1958)

The Hebrew religions agrees with Barth’s understanding of water.

In my simple mind there understanding was,  anything that attempts to threaten God’s plan is doomed to fail.

  

Those disciples must have believed that God was somehow acting in the stormy water to either punish them; or teach them something.

When we, then, consider the reaction of the disciples — mostly former fishermen — it makes sense that they had fear of the storm. And to top it all off  is the “ghost” that was coming toward them walking on that rough water.

And so Jesus, bring aware of their theology, calls out over the angry waves:  “ego eimi — it is I” — God.

Surely a divine manifestation approaching their fear.

The LORD triumphs over water.

What Is Jesus Really Saying?

Last week, Sunday, Jesus spoke as the human God.

This week we heard Jesus speak as God Himself — a first epiphany statement:

Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’

When Jesus speaks the English words “it is I,” we immediately  assume that he mean ‘the man Jesus.’

However in this story he uses the Greek phase ego eimi; which is the same phase, used to translate the Hebrew for the name of God, revealed to Moses at the burning bush.

Now Jesus uses the same phrase to reveal his presence.    

 ‘Take heart, it is I,.....’

It is Alrighty God coming to you, don’t be afraid.

In the Old Testament story from, 1 Kings 19:9-18, we heard a similar story about Elijah, hiding in fear, prays to God for help.

And God came to him in “sheer silence.”

That message causes me wonder and great peace. 

A sound of sheer silence.

It is astounding what silence can create. 

When all of life’s noise stops.  And we are alone, we can become acutely aware of God’s presence.

When we stay tuned, in the sheer silence, we can learn the most precious things. 

Things that can bring you a calming peace.

Between God and Human sheer silence.  Is a tissue-paper-thin moment of amazement.

God intervened in the stormy sea and calms the terror living within the disciples. 

God comes into the fear controlling Elijah; and in sheer silence calmed the frightened Prophet.

God will do the same for you and me.

Matthew 14 continues

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat 

and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. ²⁵And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’28 Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ ²⁹He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came towards Jesus. ³⁰But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ ³²When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’   (Matt. 14)