devotional Points for week of July 31

Sunday-Ps.107 starts the final book of the Psalms, so it is perhaps a counterpart ot Deuteronomy, a recapitulation of the Torah for a new day. Here it speaks of the continuing help of god when people cry out in trouble.consider writing it in the first person as you sought and received help over a lifetime.

Monday-This center isn't some thing. It is some one. The beloved son, Jesus Christ, is the glue, the cement, the coherence of the cosmos. For his sake alone God prevents the world from coming apart at the seams. And how do we dare believe that? Only because this cosmic Christ is at the same time the crucified-yet-risen one,

Tuesday-So many of our favorite hymns were born in the crucible of affliction. Take, for example, these beloved verses by the German teacher, musician and pastor Martin Rinkart (b. 1586). Rinkart's thirty-two-year pastorate coincided with the Thirty Years' War and the pestilence that devastated the walled city of Eilenberg. For much of his tenure Rinkart was the only pastor in the besieged city, sometimes conducting forty to fifty funerals a day. Even his wife was snatched away by the plague, and Pastor Rinkart himself fell ill but survived. The city fathers gave him little thanks for his service, and he died exhausted in 1649."And guide us when perplexed" in stanza two is perhaps the closest Rinkart comes to hinting at the chaos out of which this hymn emerged. Lawrence R. Wohlrabe

Wednesday-The most wondrous miracle here isn't that a gentle soul like Mary would sit still for Jesus in her living room--but that Jesus would sit still for Mary. We have in Jesus a God who graciously seeks us out, enters our space, pays deep attention to us--in order to speak his "I love you" to us again and again and again.  Now that is hospitality!

Thursday-Luke 10:38-42 "Don't just sit there--do something!" This activist credo has currency nowadays, especially among the young. Service to others is both an outcome of faith and a pathway to faith. The history of interpretation of this text reveals that the two sisters have been viewed as exemplars of two spiritual paths: activity (Martha) and contemplation (Mary). Which does Jesus commend here? Does he praise Mary at Martha's expense? That's much too facile. After all, Jesus and his apostles depended on the kindness and service of others. Surely the reflective and the active modes of discipleship need each other. Indeed, they feed off each other. "Don't just do something--sit there" is what we sometimes "Mary-deficient" folks need to hear, so that we remember the why of our engaged, grounded service in Christ's name. Lawrence R. Wohlrabe

Friday-The 7th day is like a palace in time with a kingdom for all, not a date but an atmosphere. - Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Saturday-Interdependence can also offer an ecological vision that integrates all aspects of creation in recognizing our mutuality and interdependence...All things are interconnected.  There is nothing in existence that is separate, fixed, or isolated.  Things only exist in relationship and connection with other things.”--- Christine Valters Paintner

Column on Vacation and Sabbath

“Sometimes I have loved the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. It is like standing in a newly planted garden after a warm rain. You can feel the silent and invisible life.” 
― Marilynne Robinson,.

Almost five years ago, my cancerous prostate was removed, and then I had 40 radiation treatments. Around that time, our youngest daughter said, at my advanced age, it was time to start checking things off the bucket list. To my surprise, most of that list included national parks. This year Olympic and Mt. Rainier National Parks were checked off the list.

For me, national parks are cathedrals of the natural world. While I have no patience for Christians who studiously avoid worship and say that they worship God by themselves outside, I do find them to be gateways of religious experience. Religion is about reaching out to  the beyond in some fashion. Years ago, Rudolph Otto called the religious experience of the divine, the holy to be the numinous. It has the sense of  placing our live sin the perspective of something larger and greater. What a pleasure to be captured within grandeur, apart from distraction and cries for attention. The parks provide such a chance for people to enter into a totally different environment, a different public space than the bustling activity of the normal day. it provides Sabbath time for the careworn soul. No campaign signs obscured vision along the trails or were reflected in the lakes.

How I have tired of the recent use of awesome as a word expressing mere approbation. for a while, contemporary church services seemed to make its constant repetition mandatory. How can a Biblically tutored viewpoint not think of Ps. 19 in Olympic? In one park one can see the glaciers off on the range that includes, yes, Mt. Olympus. Mountain goats gathered around the summit of the Hurricane ridge trail as fog from two directions started to shroud the walkways in mist. In another section at the huge Hoh Rain Forest, moss and ferns grow on 250 ft. trees. In its small section of beaches, cedar logs come crashing in with the tide and rocks of a hundred hues line the shoreline. At Rainier, if the weather is right, one can capture a  look at the mountain by peering at the Reflection Lakes. On a walkway, seals were  easily seen, and even humpback whales spouted and offered a glimpse of their enormous torso.

I am not romantic about nature. The system of aesthetic pleasure also carries cancer in it, and mosquitoes that harbor diseases, and wild animals may well attack. In Seattle, works of the glass artist Dale Chihuly are presented near the Space Needle. there his artistry fits in with garden landscapes, so natural forms are matched with human craftsmanship and artistry that fits our anthropocene age. The National Parks may have inns, often of local materials that allow tired travelers the chance to rest in comfort without the natural pleasure of sleeping on the rocky ground. So, wisdom indicates that we seek a balance between the artificial and the natural and realize that the wild and the safe in natural settings are balanced. Random events fit with predictable patterns constantly.

Human beings need and deserve Sabbath time, time to pray, rest, and reflect. Sabbath time offers recreation in the sense of re-creation. Sabbath helps us to discover, or re-discover the best parts of ourselves that get lost in the flurry of activity that we give such moral weight. “Sabbath is a period of 'trying on' God's promised completion, trying on God's future.  Sabbath is the inviting of all creation to be still and imagine the coming of God.” 

Sermon Notes for July 31 Hosea 11, Lk.12

July 31-Hos. 11, Lk. 12:13, Col. 3:1-11  

Vastly different image of God than the stereotype of the OT-when someone speaks of the OT God they haven't cracked open a Bible in a while-It  resists all attempts to rein in the God of all. God is god, not a mere mortal.According to the Torah, rebellious sons are to be stoned to death (see Deuteronomy 21:18-21). As for Israel, it deserves destruction,). But God cannot bring the divine self to follow through with what is deserved. God is even willing to break God's own Torah for the sake of the life of the beloved child/people! As Beeby puts it, "The rebel is now not Israel but the heart of God as it recoils within [Godself]." We see another facet of the divine character here that emerges from the loyalty, chesed, the steadfast love of Ex. 34.we get a sense of God as a frustrated parent at the end of the long rope that is tethered to hope.I think of god going back to the past, as the bands of love could be like those leashes parents put on small children when out in public.

Presbyterians have been the carriers of a notion that God has a plan for our lives. At times, we have fallen into the delusion that this is a detailed plan for every occurrence, every event and not the future horizon of salvation.  God’s order, god’s plan is a careful balancing of the wild and unpredictable along with the iron laws of naure.Rich fool and control, not wicked-is self-centered-no sense of gratitude-future is uncertain- The rich farmer is a fool not because he is wealthy or because he saves for the future, but because he appears to live only for himself, and because he believes that he can secure his life with his abundant possessions.When the rich man talks, he talks only to himself: “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, The rich man’s land has produced abundantly, yet he expresses no sense of gratitude to God or to the workers who have helped him plant and harvest this bumper crop. He has more grain and goods in storage than he could ever hope to use, yet seems to have no thought of sharing it with others, and no thought of what God might require of him. He is blind to the fact that his life is not his own to secure, that his life belongs to God, and that God can demand it back at any time.The rich man learns the hard way what the writer of Ecclesiastes realized -- quite simply, that you can’t take it with you.  Ecclesiastes puts it, “Who knows whether they will be wise or foolish?

New life in christ in Col.We who have heard that clothes make the person  are now clothed with a new self, clothed with what may appear at times and to some to be a life like the emperor's new clothes—we still struggle with anger, slander, abusive language (Colossians 3:8) and at times give ourselves over to impurity, evil desires, and the idolatry of greed (Colossians 3:5); but we are in fact clothed in Christ Jesus, raised with him, renewed in him. Greed as issue and needs to be stripped away Hidden life made apparent.we continue to struggle with vices that harm not only oneself but our relationships with others.We are better than our worst impulses. We ar emade to live together.

Column on Amos 7, good Samaritan charity v. justice

The gospel of Luke has some of the best stories in the four gospels. The story of the “God Samaritan” is being read in a lot of churches this Sunday. Samaritans lived in the former northern kingdom of Israel. They were a different branch of Judaism and were considered ethnically inferior by others. Ill will and even attack marked the relations between the members of a long-ago split kingdom. I notice that the city of St Louis is considering a vendor’s license to be able to distribute charity on is mean streets.

Churches have turned the parable into a plea for being charitable. It tells us not to be a bystander, but to act. Charity doles out benefits to those in need, and it provides the warmth of compassion enacted. On the other hand, charity often demeans the recipient. It may fuel or even enable the chaos that afflicts the life of so many.

The parable is a good way to approach the issue of charity and justice. Charity is motivated by compassion, and it is often an immediate response to a crying need. Charity is direct aid for a basic human need. Sometimes the Scripture calls it almsgiving. The word is ancient English and seems to come straight form Greek for mercy. In legal language we may refer to eleemosynary activity, the giving of alms. It puts mercy into action.

I do have sympathy for those who proclaim it to be a mere bandage as a temporary measure. Getting cold water for a mentally ill person is a classic gesture of charity. Charity helps a frail person across the street. Charity tries to help get restitution for the victim of crime.

Let us be clear. The Samaritan is the last person the audience expects would provide aid and comfort. The Samaritan does not blame the victim for his plight. The Samaritan does not ask if the victim is worthy of aid. The others pass by hoping not to establish eye contact and maybe resentful at the sight of yet more misery. Maybe they are rushing off as they have important work to do. Maybe they shake their head feeling that what they could offer is not enough. Maybe they are afraid that if they stop to help they will be the next victim.

Cornel West said: “Justice is what love looks like in public.” Justice is part of social structure. Justice emerges in a mixture of emotion and thoughtful comparison.
At its best, justice prevents the need for charity. Justice works against conditions that lessen people’s options to flourish. Justice asks what pushes a mentally ill person to be in need of a glass of water after we dismantled the system that cared for them. Justice creates a system of Social Security. Justice seeks safer streets under a rule of law carefully written and applied.

Justice is working on a long road indeed. Perseverance is its main virtue for its often achingly slow movements. It usually lacks the immediate emotional benefits of charity. Churches will lose members in protest if a congregation clamors for justice. Churches are vital way stations for charity, but we do not work for justice very well. Instead of relying on our religious sources to intersect with movements for justice, we either stumble along in protest or ape the current policy positions of secular activity.

So I plead for congregations to continue to do charitable work. At the more corporate level, I plead with religious people to do the hard work of linking Christina ethics to public issues. The kingdom, the realm of God’s way in the world calls for both. We continue to make strides toward both, but the road is often long, ill-lit, and treacherous for the Samaritan and all those in the story alike.

Sermon Notes July 10 Lk. 10 (Good Sam. Col. 1, Ps. 82, Amos 7

The parable is a good way to approach the issue of charity and justice. Charity is motivated by compassion, and it is often an immediate response to a crying need. Charity is direct aid for a basic human need. Sometimes the Scripture calls it almsgiving. The word is ancient English and seems to come straight from Greek for mercy I think of the movie Schindler’s  List or the recently deceased Englishman Sir Nicholas winton w who saw a whole theater stand when asked whose lives he saved (667) total.. Jesus plays s on the prejudice of the audience here.   Movies love to play on the ordinary on, even a looked down upon person, a scoundrel, who rises to the occasion. The coterie in Wizard of Oz-Harry Potter’s group-Frodo--    Bogart in Casablanca-

Good Samaritan has been made synonymous with someone who helps out in a time of need. The story is stronger, it is the last person one would suspect would ever help out someone in need. Alcoholic, womanizer-wife wrote that he was between light and shadow-less about Jews but about human beings-.the story also has become the last word in christian charity. For me, it is a plea for justice, for changes in the way things are into the way they could be. Why is the Jericho road so dangerous?

Let us be clear. The Samaritan is the last person the audience expects would provide aid and comfort. The Samaritan does not blame the victim for his plight. The Samaritan does not ask if the victim is worthy of aid. The others pass by hoping not to establish eye contact and maybe resentful at the sight of yet more misery. Maybe they are rushing off as they have important work to do. Maybe they shake their head feeling that what they could offer is not enough. Maybe they are afraid that if they stop to help they will be the next victim.

Passing by in silence when you are doing something important perhaps. Study in social psychology about stopping to help when you have an appointment.

In Amos the king passes by in essence by refusing to hear prophecy of doom. It reminds me of the House Science Committee’s refusal to listen to scientific studies , or refusal to fund research on certain topics-New Brueggemann piece on how system try to silence opposing points of view or isolate or marginalize them.we stop up our hearts from hearing as well as walk on by when we see trouble brewing or right in front of us (chapin Carpenter on not letting eyes meet)

Unlike a sword or pickaxe    ,tin or plaster,  a plumb line gives the sense that there is still hope to Most English translations of the Bible,   When we consider symbols of justice in our culture, Lady Justice likely springs to mind. This woman (sometimes with a blindfold), who carries a set of scales in one hand and a sword in the other, is everywhere--from the Supreme Court to the local courthouse. The origins of this depiction can be traced as far back as ancient Egypt, to the goddess Ma’at, whose name indicates “straightness” In a world of heartlessness,the only hope one can have is an act of mercy,an act of compassion,a completely unexpected act which is rooted neither in duty nor in natural relationships,which will suspend the action of the cruel, violent,heartless world in which we live."— Anthony Bloom, We are so small. Careful with the word just. Careful with what we cannot do because we are small in numbers or perceived resources. Mercy in motion and to whom

Devotional Selections Week of July 10

Sunday-Ps.  82 shows links to other religions with its view of god as the CEO of a string of divinities.  It schallenge is the basic Hebrew ethical challenge: to protect the vulnerable. When do you want God to be the great judge, and when would you prefer that the Holy One averts the divine yee?

Monday-"In monastic tradition, there is great value placed on both conversion and stability. I think of conversion as always being willing to be surprised by God. Conversion calls us to remember that we are always on a journey, that we are always growing, that we have never fully arrived. It calls us to great humility, and the more we grow in wisdom, the more we realize how little we actually know."

There are opportunities for breathing spaces within our days. The monastic tradition invites us into the practice of stopping one thing before beginning another. It is the acknowledgment that in the space of transition and threshold is a sacred dimension, a holy pause full of possibility. What might it be like to allow just a ten-minute window to sit in silence between appointments? Or after finishing a phone call or checking your email to take just five long, slow, deep breaths before pushing on to the next thing? Abbey of the Arts

From the Presbyterian Outlook -No one can be an onlooker, a bystander, one who passes by; everyone has an active role to play in the creation of an integrated and reconciled society - in sharing the inheritance of eternal life, life abundant, present and future life. If we don't want to be half-dead or the walking dead, then it is time we saw everyone as our neighbor and actively start showing mercy like the Samaritan, like Jesus - it is a matter of life and death for all of us.

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." ~ Confucius

“Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy.” ~ G.K. Chesterton- “Justice is truth in action.” ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Saturday-When I am able to resist the temptation to judge others, I can see them as teachers of forgiveness in my life, reminding me that I can only have peace of mind when I forgive rather than judge.Gerald Jampolsky

week of July 3 Pts to consider

Week of July 3

Sunday- Ps. 30 is rich and deep.It speaks of reversals. It realizes that we are willing to forget prayer in good times. It realizes that god is open to bargaining in prayer. Trace your prayer life with this psalm.

Monday-"Abundant blossoming is the provenance of viriditas (viridity). We are called to  tend the abundant gifts of viriditas, the creative life-giving force at the heart of everything alive. Hildegard’s wisdom is for living a life that is fruitful and green and overflowing with verdancy. She calls us to look for fecundity in barren places."--- Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Tuesday-"When people are afraid or defensive, they have no tolerance for the person at the edge of inside. They want purity, rigid loyalty and lock step unity. But now more than ever we need people who have the courage to live on the edge of inside, who love their parties and organizations so much that they can critique them as a brother, operate on them from the inside as a friend and dauntlessly insist that they live up to their truest selves."david Brooks

Wednesday-"Act as if everyday were the last of your life, and each action the last you perform." Alphonsus Liguori

Thursday-“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

Friday-“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” ― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Saturday-“It always amazes me to look at the little, wrinkled brown seeds and think of the rainbows in 'em," said Captain Jim. "When I ponder on them seeds I don't find it nowise hard to believe that we've got souls that'll live in other worlds. You couldn't hardly believe there was life in them tiny things, some no bigger than grains of dust, let alone colour and scent, if you hadn't seen the miracle, could you?” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams

July 3 Sermon Notes

July 3 Gal. 6, Ps. 30 II Kings 5 Lk. 10

Paul gives us a great function of human life this morning, to bear one another’s burdens.We are not only under the powers of the “present age” but live and die under the aegis of God’s spirit? To imagine that God, through God’s body, bears our burdens. What counts is a new creation -carefully balanced here to help each other out but also to take responsibility for one’s life mix of independence, dependence, and interdependence (EU vote).  The person or family in crisis often grows more isolated, and the community of faith is not the place of healing and restoration (like setting a bone) it is intended to be. In stark contrast is Paul's understanding of the responsibility we bear for one another. This responsibility extends to restoring one who has transgressed, but doing so in a spirit of gentleness, without judgment, without an air of condescension. It means "bearing one another's burdens,"  the responsibility for healing and restoration.WPr

We are called to be an alternative community of God's grace, mercy, healing, and restoration in an unforgiving and less than gentle  world, by the power of the Spirit, only by God remaking us a new creation in Christ.We can learn to  the burden bearing more graciously. We are privileged to hear one another’s dreams and desires,  to make room for each other  In listening,  in hospitality for a moment we catch a richer glimpse of God’s reality and find the energy of the Spirit, lest we grow weary.We can grow weary of carrying the world on our shoulders as well.(Working Preacher)

Prayer is a way for God to help us bear our burdens. Prayers for guidance and understanding help us to discern what is individual and communal responsibility, to assess and balance the individual and the communal. So hard for many of us to ask for help and not resent being asked for help..Ps 30’s does bargain with God- Prayer draws us into two intersecting dimensions. One dimension is  time lived in God's presence. We are drawn into the drama of the life of the believer with its doubts and joys, its anger and trust, its barely-suppressed fear of enemies. 2): the sacred space of eternity, in which God's favor continually heals believers and clothes them with joy. Mourning turns to dancing; sackcloth is traded for a garment of rejoicing. These are liturgical terms: we are led to perceive the "Temple," as both literal and spiritual edifice, holding together these two dimensions of faithful living.WPr.Less likely to burn out or give up.

Naaman and healing of the outsider-Healing extends beyond the chosen few. naaman resists the ritual request-Wash and baptism? Ritual acts out, often wordlessly, matters of deep importance The last person on earth Elisha would expect god to heal does receive healing..

We are not immune from pain, as if we  are healed, once and for all. That might suggest that God's redemption is a commodity that we could  manipulate liturgically. Rather, we seek God through the changeable rhythms of joyous praising and bitter wrestling. Faith is lived in a dance of mourning and rejoicing--a dance that is by turns brutal and lyrical, as the turbulent  Belief means alternately challenging and submitting to One whose power to save (working Preacher)

Even Jesus had to balance  our reception and rejection.Jesus if received heal and bless, if not kick the dust off your shoes.Sent in pairs.  Sometimes that is the best we can do. We  can keep the door open, but some relationships are not salvaged. As Jefferson said, ten thousand recollections can inhibit a relationship as well. Balanced relationship are products of healing and afford healing.

Jefferson's Declaration and church and State

When I taught government, I started with the Declaration of Independence of 1776.. It was born of a conviction that America was indeed born from ideas, or a proposition, as Lincoln put it.the declaration is celebrated on July 4, and it should not be confused with the Constitution  put before popular conventions in 1787. Contrary to recent propaganda, neither are religious documents.

Perhaps Jefferson was the progenitor of “spiritual but not religious.”Jefferson was the primary author of the Declaration.He also recoiled from the sad history of religious coercion of belief and warfare over belief.Jefferson placed two divine references in the original document, the Creator, and nature’s God. Congress added two more referenced, Providence and the judge of the world.  They were not claiming special or exalted status for the fledgling nation.

Isaiah Berlin spoke of negative and positive liberty. Negative liberty is a preventive measure that one is able to speak and act without interference. Positive liberty is acting without harm to another. The Declaration sees government as not only  to be feared but a guarantor of rights, including one would see in the first Amendment, religious liberty.

In a Virginia Religious Bill, Jefferson wrote: “no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.” In our time, he would be saying that the government must be neutral toward religious belief.

While president, Jefferson started a project of editing the Gospels by comparing different texts, including Greek and Latin.. Then before he died, he produced a collection of the teachings of Jesus, shorn of miracles."The whole history of these books (i.e. the Gospels) is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. "(Letter of Jefferson to John Adams, January 24, 1814.)

“Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights.... Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. We have solved, by fair experiment, the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries.”-- Jefferson, to the Virginia Baptists (1808) In those days Baptists were the most ardent defenders of separation of church and state. Notice too that he includes obedience to the laws. He is not carving out exemptions as in the Hobby Lobby case.

The separation of church and state led to the profusion of religious organizations in our country. It created the conditions for people to break the tether from religion to create do it yourself beliefs.Under its expansive rubric, old faiths endure and new ones rise.