Monday March 15, 2021

Let’s Talk about Faith

Hebrews 11:1-12 “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see.” (vs. 1)

Years ago, I was participating in a ropes course with a group of youth. I was very close to this particular group of youth and they really wanted me to be able to conquer my fear of heights. I participated in all the elements with them, but when we got to a thirty-foot pole I was to climb and jump from, all my fears began to creep in. As I climbed the pole, my legs began to shake. When I got to the top, they were shouting from below, “you got this!”

There is video of this moment that demonstrates the way my fears kept me from the “leap of faith,” which is what this element of the course was called. I eventually jumped, but I missed the trapeze and hung suspended in the air. Afterwards, I processed this reality of being held suspended. I was never in real danger. I was always going to be caught by either the trapeze pole or the rigging that held me safe.

The Hebrews text captures us in the story of the faithful. God meets those who dare to take leaps of faith and catches us up in a grand story of participating in the ongoing work of bringing wholeness and healing to the world. In our leap we get to we witness that we can do far greater things together with God, than we ever could on our own. In our leap, we get to witness God weaving together all of humanity into God’s people of faith, trusting in the power of God over every other power in the world.

It is important for us to work to conquer the things that hold us in fear and doubt, for in doing so, our confidence grows, and our trust grows. The thing God desires from us is trust in this way he marks out before us that leads to life, eternal life for all. Each time we take a step in this way, we live more and more into our faith, into what we say it is we believe. I am still afraid of heights. I still get a little shaky looking over tall ledges. Yet, I try and remind myself when I experience fear, “Why am I so afraid right now. Is this a moment where God is inviting me to take a leap in my faith?” There is no better place to be caught, than in the hands of God.

Prayer: Holy God, You meet us in our point of need and wait with us there, even till we take needed steps. Continue to strengthen our ability to work through our fears, so that we find our way to you. Amen

Tuesday March 16, 2021

Hearts on Fire

Jeremiah 31:31-34 “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on my hearts; and I will be their God and they will be my people.” (v. 33)

The very first scripture that I memorized, was memorized unintentionally. During my early years as a child, I loved sitting with my grandmother at her kitchen table in the mornings. She would make me a cup of coffee to share with her, only my coffee had a lot of milk and chocolate and a little coffee. I always say she made the original café mochas! As we sat and talked in the mornings, she would share things with me and sometimes she would say the same things over and over.

“Trust in the Lord, with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and God will make your paths straight.” I always thought these were my grandmother’s thoughts, her words. Later, when I began to read the bible, I found that my grandmother’s words were words that flowed from her to me. Those words had been etched within her heart; through the living she did in the word of God.

There is a point in God’s relationship with all of humanity, where God no longer wants a people who are working to be obedient in all that they do. God communicates a longing for God’s people to be swept up into the heart of God, by allowing themselves to trust that the word of God, the law of God is meant to unite their hearts to God. When our hearts change, our wills re-orient to God’s ways, not because of a desire to follow rules, but because of an awareness that God’s ways are what are good and right and true.

The second scripture I memorized was intentional. I woke one night from sleep and opened a bible in a bed side drawer and opened it. The pages landed on the 23rd Psalm. I remember reading it over and over and over again until the words could flow from on my mouth on their own. When I preach on that psalm now, it is alive in me, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” We are not left alone to find our way; we have a Shepherd who guides us every step of the way into the light.

Prayer:

God of goodness, mercy, and grace,

Meet us on the journey, fill our hearts with love that lights a fire in our lives for you. Grow that love, so that it is our guide. Amen

Wednesday March 17, 2021

Clean Hearts, Clean Hands

Psalm 51:1-12 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” (v. 10)

Anyone who has children, has watched them make a mess of things. I love getting pictures of kids with spaghetti all over their faces, birthday cake smashed in their hands, or chocolate all over them. It’s cute. Our mess is not as cute, but God is willing to do for us the same thing that any parent would be willing to do. God is willing to help us clean our mess up. God does not need us perfect, God invites us to come into a relationship, with all our mess and do the work with God, to clean it up.

The thing about our mess is, it is similar to children with their chocolate covered hands. It is not only their hands that need to be cleaned up, but all of the places they went with those dirty hands also have to be cleaned up. Parents walk around the house with a wet cloth cleaning all the little chocolate smudges off of tables and walls and glass. It can take hours to clean and once the cleaning seems complete, the chocolate is like pine needles from Christmas trees, it appears in places no one would think a child’s little hands could find.

God does not need us to be perfect, God needs us to be moving towards perfection in God. The psalmist today cries out for a clean heart. There is an awareness that without God, they will live a messy life. The psalmist cries out for a new spirit, recognizing the disconnect in themselves from God. There is never too far for us to travel, for God’s hands. God searches for God’s children. God leaves the ninety- nine to find the one. God’s love is a searching love, that seeks to draw us into the wholeness and healing of God’s love.

God has the power to deliver us a clean heart and a new spirit. It is important that we understand with our minds, the ways of God. It is important that we seek to make right decisions, moving our will into the will of God, but all of that becomes easier for us when our hearts are broken open in love for God and all the world, for that love is the fulcrum that leverages us to the place we need to be. Love reminds us that we are God’s children. Love reminds us that we are family with all those we share this earth with. Love reminds us of the good that God calls us into.

God of Love, Draw us into your great love and like the psalmist cries out, we cry out, make us clean hearts and give us new spirits that are lost in love with you. Amen

Thursday March 18, 2021

Meditation is a good thing

Psalm 119: 9-16 “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.” (v. 15)

One of my favorite ways of meditating on the scriptures is a practice called Lectio Divina. There are many websites that can teach you the practices more succinctly, but most will open up four movements to travel through in reading the scriptures. This practice can be done individually or in a group setting.

The movements are as follows:

Lectio (Read) As I practice Lectio Divina, the first movement for me is a gentle reading of the scripture, that is open to words or phrases that might rise from the text, but not focusing to much on this. I enter in, simply allowing the words of the scripture to become a living thing of beauty for me.

Meditatio (Reflect) The second reading of the scripture passage, I listen to which words or phrases begin to rise, as if they are speaking directly to me. As the words or phrases rise, I don’t try and figure out what they mean, as much as I begin to listen for what God might be saying to me personally.

Oration (Respond) The third reading of the scripture is where a response begins to formulate on what it is I believe I am hearing from God. How do we respond with our lives, to what it is we believe God is speaking to us in the scriptures? Some people find it to be helpful to write down their responses.

Contemplatio (Rest) After the readings, spend some time in quiet, so that the Holy Spirit can do the Holy Spirit’s good work in you. Quiet is a place of regeneration for us.

I invite you today to do some meditating on your favorite scripture. Read through it in a Lectio Divina practice and allow God’s word to become more alive in you through this text.

Prayer: God of Deliverance, Meet us in your word today. As we meditate, speak, for we your servants are listening. Amen

Friday March 19, 2021

Ordering is a good thing

Hebrews 5:5-10 “Having been designated by God a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” (v. 10)

Some of us can manage in chaos better than others, but the truth is all of us respond to a bit of ordering. The good news for us is that God has ordered the world we live in, in such a way that if we live into God’s ordering, we experience the Kingdom of Heaven drawing near and being built all around us, right here on the earth.

Jesus is able to heal the world because he is the embodiment of healing power, God’s healing power. He is the High Priest. He is Prophet, Priest, and King. The Priest role that Jesus plays is how he can meet us in our point of need, see us for who we are, and heal the places that need healing, so that we can experience the fullness of life.

Trevor Hudson, in his book, A Mile in My Shoes, shares that “everyone has their own pool of tears.” It is a true statement. In my work with the Institute for Healing of Memories, I was able to witness people across great divides in communities come together in healing circles. People who had committed murder would sit across from people whose family members were murdered, and in those circles, they would listen to the stories of pain and everyone had one.

Because there was a desire for healing in the communities we served, healing flooded in across those divides. It was one of the holiest works I have been a part of to witness healing waves enter a person, a community. To know that Jesus desires healing for all of us, is a monumental thing. All pain cannot be erased, all consequences cannot be lifted, but we remember that God so loved the world, not to condemn us, but to heal us. Enter into the story and allow healing to come into your life through the love Jesus extends on the cross and beyond.

Prayer: Loving God, Meet us in this Lenten season, help us be open to the healing power of your love, wash anew with the healing waters that rush in when we drink of this life with you. Amen

Saturday March 20, 2021

To Serve is to Follow

John 12:20-33 “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also.” (v. 26) I love getting lost in new cities. I like the process of wandering and finding the beauty of a city. Tallahassee has been one of the best cities for this. This is in part because I absolutely love trees. Trees help to anchor me in my spiritual life and the more I learn about them, the more I recognize them to be mystical beings with so much wisdom to lend. Tallahassee is full of beautiful roads that are lined with the beauty of the city’s trees.

If I am having a hard week, I make a point to drive down one of these beautiful roads and allow the trees to breathe into me a sense of peace. It’s a choice I make, and I try to make it over and over again, so that it becomes a pattern in my living. Following Jesus is a choice we make as well, and the choice is before us every day. The great thing about Jesus is he doesn’t judge us for getting lost and having to make U-turns. Jesus meets us anywhere we find ourselves on the road.

To serve Jesus, is to follow him to the places he goes. “Where I am,” he says, “there my servant will be also.” Jesus does not hide from the brokenness in the world, Jesus enters into those places of divide and he stands in them. Jesus invites us to do this in the ways we can as well. The question we have lived with, “What breaks your heart the way you believe it might break the heart of God,” is a question that helps us to find our way to standing with Jesus in the world around us.

We don’t have to hold all the problems of the world, that is for Jesus’ hands. Yet, we can make a difference by doing the things we can do, to hold some of the world’s problems with Jesus and the others Jesus will invite us into relationship with along the way. Following Jesus means we will find ourselves a part of a community of people who get what it means to serve in this world. We give ourselves to the greater good of God’s Kingdom come, God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer: God of Goodness, Meet us on the road and as we seek to follow you, rise us into the disciples you call us to be that serve the vision of your Kingdom being born right here on the earth. Amen

Sunday March 21, 2021

Drawn into Love John 12:20-33 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (v. 32)

The love of God is like a magnetic force that draws us in. Jesus shares that our lives are meant to be lost in this love. The more we lose ourselves in the love of God, the more aware we are of the life we are meant to be living. God’s love is so counter cultural to what we see and what we witness, that an incredible leap of faith is required for us to enter into it. Jesus demonstrates for us all the reasons we should take the leap of faith into eternal life with God.

One of my favorite stories in the bible is the story of the Samaritan woman in the fourth chapter of John. Samaritan women were considered to be untouchables and Jesus sits next to this woman at a well and actually accepts a drink from her. He acknowledges this woman as having something to give, when everyone else acknowledged her as someone to avoid. Jesus has all the insights to her soul and names the secrets about her that she would like to keep hidden from the world.

One would think this would make her want to turn away from him, but she is drawn in. When we are accepted for who we are, with all are quirks and quandaries that make us our unique selves, we are drawn in. The woman at the well believes in Jesus, because he saw her for who she was and accepted her still. She gets drawn into this love that Jesus lives, and she runs to tell others they should be drawn into this love too. “Come and See,” she says, “come and see.”

The love of God is a circling love, it is not only extended to one, it is extended to all those who believe. As we are circled into this love, and as we lose ourselves in it, we become united with others and in this union, we become the symbol of this love for all the world. We become the body of Christ. Jesus draws us to himself and unites us in a love that binds us together in the will of God. Faith is the leap we need to enter into the story of God. Have faith, believe, and enter in.

Prayer: God of Power & Might,

Draw us into your life-giving love. Keep us united in the journey with you and the others we are blessed to share this earth with. Amen