Here I Am Send Me

 I have often wondered what change occurred to dull the faith in God through the centuries.

Well, reading Isaiah 6:1-13 has given me pause.

⁹And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:
Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.”
¹⁰ Make the mind of this people dull,
   and stop their ears,
   and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,...

For whatever reason God chose to dull the hearing and shut eyes to the truth of God.

My mind is not able to comprehend the why.  Why God would want this to happen.

But, if you look back over our countries patterns, in the last twenty or thirty years, you can clearly see it happening in most visible areas of human life.

However, Isaiah does not leave us in complete darkness.

No — hope is offered in verse 13: The Holy Seed is in the stump.

There will be a time of healing, renewal, and new growth for new listening, hearing.  A new age of seeing and seeking the will of God.

I could be wrong, but I believe that time, the time for the seeds possibilities, began in the years 2020-2021.  

A time when our nations rose up and proclaimed a huge NO to the political and social system that had taken hold of the hearts and minds of many in our nation.

Now we, like Isaiah, are asked to do our part to help God bring about a new, and influential voice, to the very real possibilities for that tiny seed in that stump to grow bigger and better life for God’s people to finally hear a still more excellent way. 

It is now our turn to answer God with Isaiah’s words:

⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’  And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ²Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³And one called to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory.’
⁴The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ ⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ ⁹And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:

Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.”
¹⁰ Make the mind of this people dull,
   and stop their ears,
   and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
   and turn and be healed.’
¹¹ Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said:
‘Until cities lie waste
   without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
   and the land is utterly desolate;
¹² until the Lord sends everyone far away,
   and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.
¹³ Even if a tenth part remains in it,
   it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak
   whose stump remains standing
   when it is felled.’
The holy seed is its stump. (Isaiah 6)  

A More Excellent way

 Paul makes a profoundly pointed statement in -- 1Corinthihans 13 -- before launching into his famous disputation on love.  When he writes: 

"And I will show you a still more excellent way."  

Jesus could have said the something to his hometown critics as they questioned his authority.  And then tried to eliminate him; because he attempted to show them a more excellent way.

Paul was writing this statement to the community In Corinth; because of their tendencies to be quarrelsome, self-consumed, rude and intolerant of differences.

Jesus was telling his hometown peers that just because he had grown up with them; didn't mean they had special favors.

He was telling them that longevity of relationship is not the key.

Rather, he was, not so subtlety, suggesting that his power is only unlocked by open hearts and open minds. That seek truth and light  -- not privilege .

He is basically telling them if you want to listen, instead of reject, I can show you a more excellent way to live with each other.

You see, Jesus is telling them that outsiders are just as valuable as they are.

He does this by giving two examples:

Elijah going to the widow at Zarephath to show her God's favor by making her small amount of oil and handful of meal more than enough.(1Kings 17:1-16)

Elisha's healing of Naaman of leporsy. (2Kings 5:1-14)

Both the widow and Naaman were considered unacceptable foreigners.

"Outsiders."

Jesus was making clear, to that gathering in the synagogue, that God's gifts of love, mercy and acceptance were no longer limited to the Jewish people. 

Jesus was confronting them face-to-face with God's radical Inclusivity. 

This "better way" will eliminate a ton of their most precious views and belief systems.

Thus abolishment of all self-consuming behavior, arrogant attitdites and intolerant rudeness.

Those town folks could not bear the thought that God was actually concerned about, and attentive to, "those other" people.

Imagine it for a moment -- the absence of arrogance.

Talk about a more excellent way.

This Gospel is going to be heard in chuches all over the nation this Sunday.

What are the people in those pew going to resist?

What are the radical changes that God is asking of us?

²¹Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’²³He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’ ²⁴And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepersin Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. ³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.(Luke:4)

What Helps Us to Hear God Most --- Words? Or Silence?

 Once again I my focus is on the Psalms. This time it is Psalm 19.

¹ The heavens are telling the glory of God;
   and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
² Day to day pours forth speech,
   and night to night declares knowledge.
³ There is no speech, nor are there words;
   their voice is not heard;
⁴ yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
   and their words to the end of the world.

This Psalm it telling of an extraordinary truth about how the world connects with, and witnesses too, God’s glorious presence all around us.

It goes from how the heavens display God’s created beauty. 

To the sunshine lighting up the earth’s full array of natures life of living foliage and all the various living creatures.

The entire earth brings forth its previsions of food and animal life.

All these things that silently make God’s Glory known

We are just one tiny part, a speck, in Gods’ creation.

We have the majority of God’s Heavens and earth to inform our smallness.

Then the Psalmist tells of the laws of God which informs, and keeps, order within nature's offering.

Now I want to draw your attention to the very last verse of it amazing prayer:

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Even as small, and as insignificant, our lives are in the mix; we have an important part in letting God’s presence be known in our tiny ways. 

¹ The heavens are telling the glory of God;
   and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
² Day to day pours forth speech,
   and night to night declares knowledge.
³ There is no speech, nor are there words;
   their voice is not heard;
⁴ yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
   and their words to the end of the world. 

In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
⁵ which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
   and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
⁶ Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
   and its circuit to the end of them;
   and nothing is hidden from its heat. 

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect,
   reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
   making wise the simple;
⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right,
   rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
   enlightening the eyes;
⁹ the fear of the Lord is pure,
   enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
   and righteous altogether.
¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
   and drippings of the honeycomb. 

¹¹ Moreover by them is your servant warned;
   in keeping them there is great reward.
¹² But who can detect their errors?
   Clear me from hidden faults.
¹³ Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
   do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
   and innocent of great transgression. 

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.   (Ps. 19)

Just Imagine!

 

Through out the centuries the Psalms have served as a prayer book.  

Their draw, to the human heart, is their ability to relate to all sorts of emotion and human drama.

Reading the Psalms can often spark something, in one’s mind or heart, that will begin a conversation with God.

David, who is the composer of most Psalms, wrote — or rather prayed — what he knew.

He knew about people and life; and what he somehow knew about God.

It seems he was a man of great personal experience. 

He wrote of great joy, deep pain and tradgity.

He very seldom, hardly ever, left God out of the mix.

He was quite confident in God’s loving kindness, supportive compassion, all-knowing wisdom and passion for justice; and his dislike of evil — mean — of any kind.

It must have been an extraordinary life David live; knowing, believing, having faith that no matter what he faced God was alway present to right a wrong and bless the good.

It makes me wonder what David would write about today.

How would he perceive God working in all the greed, and power struggles in our world.

I wonder because it is difficult to hold tight to the idea that God is as present to us, in this gun happy, mud slinging, money worshipping world, as he was to the people of David’s time.

Even though we are told that there were power mongers then too.   People who perform all matter of evil, unkind, acts. (read verses 1-4 )

It just seems God was more actively present.  That people had more of a connection, the natural ability to communicate and hear God.

Communication with God, and giving God honor, was the main focus in the majority of people, of that culture.

Still today, in that nation, the call to prayer is public.  Three times a day, for all people to hear a loud siren, like sound, fills the air in every town, city and village; calling people to stop.  Stop what they are doing and pray.

Imagine, in the United States of America, if all people were publicly reminded --  three time a day -- to stop and pay attention to God’s presence.

Just imagine how that might effect our cultural focus.

Here is what I am sure of: if we all stopped trying to be in control of life; and simply began to try — just try — to be open to God. 

Taking time to have a small conversation with God.

Just telling him our doubts and fears.

Asking him to help us to trust him. To strengthen our faith. Asking him for his wisdom and guidance.

                                            Things and people would change.

Personally, what I do know is that when we communicate with God — how ever that is — we are preparing our hearts to receive the wonders of God’s movement within our being.

Jesus tell his followers: you will need to lose your learned logical minds; and recover a-child-like-mind. An uncluttered mind not filled with all sort of assumptions. And claim a child-like willingness to learn — to be open —to the possibilities of God.

When we do that there is, in time,  tiny steps toward a spiritual release that occurs. 

A transformion, if you will, in our ability to begin to perceive God’s closeness in our daily live.

This release of control does not happen over night.

It is a gradual growth that was actually begun long ago when we were children.  Somehow stunted by life.

We grew up and became capable, self sufficient.

Sadly life’s growing responsibilities stole away our child-like freedom — our pure, innocent imagination 

And we misplaced that child-like-wonder. Wonder that allowed us to sit, or run, or jump, or giggle with God.   

Just glad to know he loved us just because we were told it was true. 

Free to just simply be in God’s amazing grace. 

                                                                   Thats all, just be.

⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
   All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house,
   and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light.

¹ Transgression speaks to the wicked
   deep in their hearts;
there is no fear of God
   before their eyes.
² For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
   that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
³ The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
   they have ceased to act wisely and do good.
⁴ They plot mischief while on their beds;
   they are set on a way that is not good;
   they do not reject evil. 

⁵ Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the clouds.
⁶ Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
   your judgements are like the great deep;
   you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. 

⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
   All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house,
   and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
⁹ For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light. 

¹⁰ O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
   and your salvation to the upright of heart!
¹¹ Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
   or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
¹² There the evildoers lie prostrate;
   they are thrust down, unable to rise. (Ps.36)

What Is The "Life" That Jesus Came to Bring?

 

Logos (The Word), Light, and Life are filling my brain with all kinds of wonders these last few days. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it….(Jn. 1)

The Word brings the true Light.

Light is linked with Life and knowledge.

The term that has sought my attention, in this well known text, is “Life.”

At first glance it is ,seemingly, quite well defined, in the human mind.  

Life is life — right?

We all know that we have life in this body we live in.  

You might say DAAAA.

However it isn’t quite that simple.

Paul J. Achtemeier suggests, in his commentary (Feasting on the Word, Year C, volume 1, p.191) 

“The word life, in this Gospel, does not refer to the quality of animated beings so much as to the life God give only through Logos, namely, eternal life.  In verse 4, such life is identified with the “Light” providing again the clue to the significance of Light in this Gospel. Where light is spoken of, eternal life is also present.”

The Word, logos, brought Life and Light into the human, life of darkness, on this world.

Jesus, the Logos made flesh, came into the world to bring Light and a new kind of Life,

He came to manifest the true qualities of the invisible God who had never been seen or touched before.

Well, except for Moses who saw the bright burning Light of God in a bush, that is.

Or Job who stood before God to be questioned by God (Jobe 42:5-6)

In the 14th chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus is quite clear about who he is: 

⁶Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (Jn 14)

Life is not a thing, but the vitality that characterizes all living things.  

This Life is an extension of natural existence.

Light is meant to illumine, reveal, make known.  

This Light is God in action. 

The knowledge of this Light creates faith.

Any questions?  

A Profound Thought

 

I read this thought from Kenneth L. Sehested in Feasting of the Word,Year C, vol.1, p.186:

“This prologue (Ephesians 1) testifies that a new order is unfolding, despite the chains that shackled the apostle even in his writing; that the very foundations of creation are inscribed with our names: 

That our mistakes

do not 

make us mistakes in God’s eyes.”

Just sit and wrap your minds around that thought. 

January 6 One Year Later

 Last night I watched a special on the year university of January 6, 2021.  It was informative and at times moving.

Some spoke about a nation that began with a vision of a people who could live in freedom and walk, talk, think and as they chose.

 A nation, of people, working together for the betterment of a free nation.

I heard, from a panel of politicians who were in that chamber room on that terrible day.  They spoke of seeing some who were fearful, of their own live, praying to survive whatever was going outside the walls that surrounded them.  

And how those same people now dismiss the action of the rioters. 

I heard of the hope of a nation’s majority who were “good people” concerned about our democracies future.

One of the conversations was clear that the people of the Unite States saw, with their own eyes, what was happening to the Capitol that day.  

It was wide open for all to see the hate and fury of a tribe of unmanageable people.

Yes, there was a lot of politics involved in the special I am sure.  

However there was also a dream.  A dream that things will be better.

And I thought of Jesus.

I thought about when Jesus was about to leave this physical world he taught his disciples the most critical of lessons: 

He wash their feet.

And then he gave a new commandment to love.  

That is he taught them of humility and kindness.

Then asked them to do the same as he had done among them.

This morning I am reading again from Ephesians. And I can’t help but compare the world in that ancient culture with our culture today.

I’m thinking, we tend to forget, that the messed-up world we live in is not the worst of times.  

When in truth, the hospitably and benevolence of people, and nations, have never quite measured up to God’s plan for peace and harmony; and taking care of our earth.

The real glitch in God’s plan is the basic nature of the human ego is less than justice minded.

That truth becomes unquestionably clear, right from the beginning of time, from the Garden right to the end of the Old Testament history and beyond.

Individuals want it their way!

Jesus’ was born into such problematic human cultures to break down the walls of power and hostility, ugliness-of-mind and arrogance.

Walls built by human minds was one of Jesus’ biggest challenges.

And that, very power hungry, need to be in charge was the thing that ended Jesus’ life on the cross.

The main things we need to trust, in all the mess and awful of our time, is that God didn’t — doesn’t — stop moving in and around the mess to make it better.

So instead of wring our hand, and worrying our mind into knots, remember the promise of God’s never-failing, faithful presence in it all.

An in the long run, the Herod’s never really win.  They just make it difficult for a time.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. ...

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) ¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (John 1)

What we can’t see, or possibly imagine, is God’s possibility in the darkest places.

The Plan? Harmony In Our Differences

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,⁴just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹²so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1)

The Second Sunday of Christmas continues to lay out God's plan and purpose for us.  

With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 

Did you get that?  to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 

All creatures large and small, animal or human, rocks and hill and all nations; are to  be gathered unto God's plan for all creation.

There will be neither Jew, or Greek, male of female.

No separation, no social levels, no language barriers to divide anything.

All belong to God to work together for the good of all.

All our part, in this intimate relationship, is to:  live for the praise of his glory.

All have been made to worship, witness and praise God; as we live and grow in his name.

Even "The Heaven are telling of the glory of God."

Though the years there has been much discussion about the idea that we must "do" things -- work -- for God's approval.  

That work is, supposedly, what makes us right and good and acceptable, in God's sight, are our "good works."

Not true.

 ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

What is confusing, in this flawed picture, of good works, is that what we "do" most always comes from God's guidance through the Holy Spirit. Even though we do it, we do it at the prompting of God working in and through us.

We can take no credit, receive no special reward.

God is soooooo opposite of the human mentality.

The only thing that makes sense, in this quandary, is that we are saved by grace through faith.

Thanks be to God.

⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. 

Do You Know What Sanctification Is?

When I graduated from seminary I told my advisor that I would not be one of those theologians who constantly threw around the ‘big words’: justification, sanctification, redemption etc. 

They are terms that live somewhere in the universe; only understood by those who study theology — the scholarly types.

However, since I have been dwelling in the truth of the Holy Spirit; and since this weeks New Testament reading  was from Colossians 3.  I am faced with one of those ‘big words’ — sanctification.

One of those scholarly types wrote this: 

“This is one of the classic New Testament passages that speak, in effect, of “sanctification,” that is, of new life that the Holy Spirit works in us.  This sanctification is a work of God in us; it flows from the purely divine work of “justification” — the act whereby Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, a work of grace alone, in which our actions have no part…it is a work of God that also involves us….We participate in it.  But how?  What is our role? How does God’s action relate to ours in this matter of new life? (Feasting on the Word, vol.1. Year C; John W. Coakley p.158)

I wrote in my last blog:

The Holy Spirit is conceived in us — lives in us — becomes pregnant in us.

And then enables us to be God’s word, God’s light.

We are to reveal, to the world, the love of God, His peace, His will.

So here we have an example, In Colossians 3, of the things God does in us that change us from the inside out.

We are clothed — our heart is clothed — by the Holy Spirit — to be: 

compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³Bearing with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive… thankful… forgive…

Just imagine.

We are to, in all of these way, emulate these qualities that are alive in  Jesus.

In other words we are to “Love” as Jesus loved; in all of those wonderful qualities.

Coakely then would have us wonder: 

“….We participate in it.  

                                     But how?  

                    What is our role? 

How does God’s action relate to ours in this matter of new life?”

Well, let me add my simple answer.  We don’t, consciously “do” anything  — not really.  We have faith, and the desire to live as God would have us live.

We have faith in what God can do in, and through. us.

But it is not an instant, quick, thing that happens BANG!

No, it is a gradual process over many years.

The Holy Spirit takes us from Baptism to adulthood — and beyond — consistently molding us to be.

Some of the qualities that Paul mentions can be built into our hearts faster than others.  

Even as tiny children innately have a sense of what it mean to be kind, or have compassion toward others.

The most difficult qualities might be humility, or patience, forgiving, or even thankful.   

Most certainly forgiveness.

Those all take a bit more works.  Especially when we grow older and our egos take over.

Now, I want you to try something.  I want you to think back over your life and reflect on how you have grown from being one person to another through all the circumstances of your living.

I am thinking that that exercise will reveal to you some interesting changes in your faith growth and ability to be less navel-centered.

I truly believe that as we move from life experience to life experience God moves us closer to his plan for our present moment right now today.

Example:

When I was a young mother I see myself as somewhat impatient with myself and my children.

Today I cringe at that truth. 

By the way I have apologized many time to my daughters for that.

12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.(Col. 3)