On my walk this morning, I saw a sign that begged folks to resolve to go to Sunday school every week in 2012. I was in the senior citizens wellness center , and people were there trying to get a head start on their promise to themselves of trying to work off some of the weight they gained during Christmas season.
Those two examples set me to thinking about resolutions for the New Year. I bet most of us resolve to try to clean up our diets, exercise more, and try to lose some weight. We may try to deal with a difficult habit that impedes our physical health. We do not seem as quick as to work on a virtue as we are to try to eliminate a vice. Our spiritual health certainly seems to take a decidedly second place behind our concern for physical health. (By the way, I need to explore at some point why I so consistently mistype spiritual when I am at a keyboard).
I was asked to officiate at a funeral this week. In my search for appropriate Scriptural material, I went back to the book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes. Some see it as a depressive work, as it consigns most of the things to which we aspire as being in vain, as meaningless, as futile. Actually, it looks at the big promises as futile dreams. Instead of looking for big answers to big questions, it commends keeping an eye on what is within our capacity. It commends working as fully as we can at whatever task is at hand, to enjoy our food and drink, to relish companionship, to dress as if we are going to a formal party.
One reason some of our resolutions for 2012 seem doomed to failure is that we try to take on too much in number or in size. Our wills are weak and prone to slip. Then we tend to beat ourselves up for our wills not being up to the goals we set before us. May I suggest that we lessen the chance of failure in resolve by limiting our resolutions a bit in the scope of their ambition? Let me further suggest that we do well to follow the advice of Ecclesiastes who has taken on the persona of Solomon in a “been there, done that” fashion. Instead of new deprivations, consider ways for you to enjoy your life more fully every day. I suggest to people who suffer with depression that they should have a list handy of ten easy to do things that give them pleasure as a way of short-circuiting the coming cloud.
I’m going to a conference in Indianapolis, the reformed roundtable, at the start of 2012. I have been assigned a book, Life in God, by the new president of Christian theological Seminary, Matthew Boulton. The thrust of the book is Calvin’s insistence that all of life is a training ground, a school, or our learning to live, not only with god but within the very life of God. For Calvin, our basic problem is blindness, being oblivious to the nature and work of God in everyday life. To cure this lack of spiritual sight, he commended Bible reading and regular worship. Both demonstrate God more clearly to us. I realize that both of these items may seem to contradict what I just said about finding things ot enjoy in life. To tell the truth, if they are viewed as duties, the contention would hold. If they are seen as practice toward advancing our spiritual well-being and happiness, as aids to a better life, then the objection loses force. If Christmas teaches us anything, it is that God holds body and soul together. We are of a piece, so what lifts one part of life affects the whole. May you have yes to see many blessings in 2012.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sermon Notes for Jan 1/12 Lk.2;22-40, Is. 61:10-62:3
Anna and Simeon.we say that Christmas is for children. This wonderful story makes it clear it includes all ages, including the elderly. Ana is elderly, and I picture Simeon as elderly as well, so this story frames the season well. we picture the new year coming in as an happy infant and the old year tottering away on a cane. they both are inspired with a sense that a new Spirit was to blow through, but they had no idea where or when. They live as the perfect Advent characters alert, eyes wide open to the answer to their prayers. They lived in hope, even though day after day the fulfillment of that hope had not appeared. had they missed it? they did not make a resolution as much as one was made for them.
Jesus goes through the ancient ritual of circumcision. We claim infant baptism in part though this act. Our New year’s Day as Christians is the day of our baptism, our initiation into the christian community, our citizenship papers for the kingdom of God, our passport into the reaches of heaven.
While many have taken down their decorations to keep up with the stores, our reading from Isaiah is filled with decorations. Life with god is a decorated life. The decorative elements and the need for salvation show a decorate lie with real pain. How could Simeon’s words not come back to haunt Mary in the days before Easter. What sharper sword could have pierced her own heart, even as he echos her own prophecy about the rising and falling of many.
As we start another calendar year, I do admit that I love the idea that Anna is constantly in prayer. As we grow older, time changes its aspect. when we are younger, especially now it seems to me, we are in such a hurry, trying to keep all the plates spinning,as those of us old enough to remember Ed Sullivan would remember. Especially for people in nursing homes, time becomes a burden, something that begs to be filled, that weighs down on them. When time seems to stretch endlessly but mercilessly, of crushing boredom, pray. Take a newspaper and pray for the articles on the front page. Pray the TV news. Better grab a Bible and pray it. I found it hard ot believe that we were asked to read sections of the book of Order this way, but the method for bible reading is called holy reading, lectio divina. Read a passage through three times and note what strikes you each time you go through it. As our liturgy for funerals says, God is always more willing to hear us praying, than we are to pray.
Anna and Simeon may have been old, but a new day dawned for them there in the temple. One or two of us are getting a tiny bit older, and today a new year dawns for us. In Jesus Christ, through the Spirit’s breath of new life, every day is open to being fresh and new, limitations and energy deficits can flee away. As we were reminded some weeks ago. January is Janus faced, two-faced, one to the future, one to the past. As we look at First Presbyterian Church of Alton, we do well to be Janus-faced this month: to look ot the past at what we treasure and toward a new future that may well transform us.with God’s help and the discernment processes of the spirit, where do we want to go from here? What do we need to do for a new future? I do know this. For a while let’s put the business plans on the back burner and follow the path of prayer of Anna and Simeon, answered prayers that allowed them see the newborn Light of the world come into being. Know this. That same newborn light shines for each one of us.
Jesus goes through the ancient ritual of circumcision. We claim infant baptism in part though this act. Our New year’s Day as Christians is the day of our baptism, our initiation into the christian community, our citizenship papers for the kingdom of God, our passport into the reaches of heaven.
While many have taken down their decorations to keep up with the stores, our reading from Isaiah is filled with decorations. Life with god is a decorated life. The decorative elements and the need for salvation show a decorate lie with real pain. How could Simeon’s words not come back to haunt Mary in the days before Easter. What sharper sword could have pierced her own heart, even as he echos her own prophecy about the rising and falling of many.
As we start another calendar year, I do admit that I love the idea that Anna is constantly in prayer. As we grow older, time changes its aspect. when we are younger, especially now it seems to me, we are in such a hurry, trying to keep all the plates spinning,as those of us old enough to remember Ed Sullivan would remember. Especially for people in nursing homes, time becomes a burden, something that begs to be filled, that weighs down on them. When time seems to stretch endlessly but mercilessly, of crushing boredom, pray. Take a newspaper and pray for the articles on the front page. Pray the TV news. Better grab a Bible and pray it. I found it hard ot believe that we were asked to read sections of the book of Order this way, but the method for bible reading is called holy reading, lectio divina. Read a passage through three times and note what strikes you each time you go through it. As our liturgy for funerals says, God is always more willing to hear us praying, than we are to pray.
Anna and Simeon may have been old, but a new day dawned for them there in the temple. One or two of us are getting a tiny bit older, and today a new year dawns for us. In Jesus Christ, through the Spirit’s breath of new life, every day is open to being fresh and new, limitations and energy deficits can flee away. As we were reminded some weeks ago. January is Janus faced, two-faced, one to the future, one to the past. As we look at First Presbyterian Church of Alton, we do well to be Janus-faced this month: to look ot the past at what we treasure and toward a new future that may well transform us.with God’s help and the discernment processes of the spirit, where do we want to go from here? What do we need to do for a new future? I do know this. For a while let’s put the business plans on the back burner and follow the path of prayer of Anna and Simeon, answered prayers that allowed them see the newborn Light of the world come into being. Know this. That same newborn light shines for each one of us.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Notes for Wednesday Dec.28
1) Read Mt. 2:1-12 for tomorrow.
2) Look at Is. 60
3)Look at Ps. 72.What led the early church to link these passages with the story of the Magi?
4) Why do you think the Magi-wise men in the gospel but the singular is a magician is Acts?
5) Is the story against, or in favor of, astrology?
6) Herod did kill his own children if he felt that they threatened his power.
7) What does it tell about Herod that he would use such a wide age range to murder?
8) Is he being compared to the Egyptian ruler of the Exodus?
9) The star may refer to the star of Jacob in Num 24:7, 17-19.
10) Bethlehem falls back to the quoted Micah 5:2 and Jer. 23:5. We have a negative referral to Galilee in John 7:42 that the messiah arises from a different quarter.
11) I have heard the gifts refer to royalty, worship, and anointing for death. They appear together in Ex. 30:5, ,7 and 34, 23 and 34. Notice a registration is mentioned at 11.
2) Look at Is. 60
3)Look at Ps. 72.What led the early church to link these passages with the story of the Magi?
4) Why do you think the Magi-wise men in the gospel but the singular is a magician is Acts?
5) Is the story against, or in favor of, astrology?
6) Herod did kill his own children if he felt that they threatened his power.
7) What does it tell about Herod that he would use such a wide age range to murder?
8) Is he being compared to the Egyptian ruler of the Exodus?
9) The star may refer to the star of Jacob in Num 24:7, 17-19.
10) Bethlehem falls back to the quoted Micah 5:2 and Jer. 23:5. We have a negative referral to Galilee in John 7:42 that the messiah arises from a different quarter.
11) I have heard the gifts refer to royalty, worship, and anointing for death. They appear together in Ex. 30:5, ,7 and 34, 23 and 34. Notice a registration is mentioned at 11.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Notes for Is. 61:10-62:3
Is. 61:10-62:3
1) The decorations are coming down, but not in churches. Isaiah uses decoration language to capture a sense of promise and a new future, wedding imagery.
2) The earth itself is decorated with new growth, perhaps like the image of the lilies of the field.
3) 62: starts with a challenge, by the prophet or the servant (or even god??) that the coming vindication will indeed come, with the insistence and maybe annoyance of a car alarm.
4) The promise includes a new name. Sometimes what we are called or call something is so worn or distorted that it needs a new sew name. Look at how liberal has been distorted in how time, or how tea Party arose to give new impetus to the alienated, radical right wing. Think of the change of biblical names of Abram, Saul, Simon Peter, and Jacob as well.
5) We close with emblems fit for Cinderella, I imagine a diadem as bejeweled but it doesn’t have to be.
6) Some good children’s Christmas stories involve decoration such as the spider’s gift or Gift of the traveler.
1) The decorations are coming down, but not in churches. Isaiah uses decoration language to capture a sense of promise and a new future, wedding imagery.
2) The earth itself is decorated with new growth, perhaps like the image of the lilies of the field.
3) 62: starts with a challenge, by the prophet or the servant (or even god??) that the coming vindication will indeed come, with the insistence and maybe annoyance of a car alarm.
4) The promise includes a new name. Sometimes what we are called or call something is so worn or distorted that it needs a new sew name. Look at how liberal has been distorted in how time, or how tea Party arose to give new impetus to the alienated, radical right wing. Think of the change of biblical names of Abram, Saul, Simon Peter, and Jacob as well.
5) We close with emblems fit for Cinderella, I imagine a diadem as bejeweled but it doesn’t have to be.
6) Some good children’s Christmas stories involve decoration such as the spider’s gift or Gift of the traveler.
christmas Column 2011
American like to prattle on about being religious or spiritual, but less than half of us go to church on Christmas. For those who do deign to enter the doors for worship, we can almost be guaranteed that we will hear the Luke’s Christmas story with the shepherds. If you miss it at church, you may have heard it read by Linus in a Charlie Brown Christmas. We don’t really hear it, as we often know it almost by heart. So, let’s slow it down a bit today.
Luke had a decided, subtle political agenda in the birth story. he starts out by listing the political powers of the world of Jesus. None are aware of his birth. By the time of the gospels, Roman emperors had adopted a variety of titles. The angels take those very titles and apply them to Jesus. Even the angel chorus has political overtones. The host of heaven was usually God’s military arm. Now they have been transformed into a choir for peace.
Shepherds could have been the last people who many would imagine being the only witnesses to the birth of Jesus, as they had approval rating roughly at the level of the current U. S. Congress. Under the nose of the “1%” the representatives of the bottom of the “99%’ get the word. What wonders lie at our feet unnoticed? What Christmas miracles are implanted within us and are nurtured or left to wither?
Incarnation then takes place in good walk away from Jerusalem’s temple and palace. Instead of a royal robe, the baby is laid in a manger. A feeding trough would hold the one called the Bread of Life. At First Presbyterian, the stained glass interpretation of Christmas has a manger superimposed over Bethlehem, so it connects earth and heaven.
We just read a children’s book in church, father and son. It’s set on Christmas night with Joseph looking over the sleeping baby and worrying, like any new father, but with the questions taking on special enormity. How will he teach the alphabet to a child who also is of the Creator who “whispered words to millions.” How could he tell a joke to someone who knew them all? Admittedly, it’s putting theology and poetic language in the mouth of Joseph, but he serves as a good mouthpiece for our quandaries in considering how the “fullness of God” could dwell in a baby who would grow, develop, and learn just as any baby would. How could we speak of the Creator of all, the divine Word/Plan/Logos of John 1 be a creature as well? Surely the Incarnation means God with us, Emmanuel. the astonishment is that it is more than saying Yes to us, as Paul said, but that that God is present in the human condition in Jesus.
For Luke, Mary, not Joseph is center-stage. At the end, she takes in what the shepherds say to her and treasures them, she who sang of great reversals of rich and poor in her Magnificat in the previous chapter. Again, we hear that she pondered words in her heart. The word in Greek is closer to an internal debate or discussion, with a sense of sifting evidence, of shuttling ideas back and forth. I wonder if she pondered why no choir was there at the manger. Did she have a notion that her son would call himself the Good Shepherd?
My prayer is that our eyes are open to some of the hidden wonders of life here. May we take those and connect to Christmas miracle. May the Christmas spirit live and develop within us, as did the babe of Bethlehem.
Luke had a decided, subtle political agenda in the birth story. he starts out by listing the political powers of the world of Jesus. None are aware of his birth. By the time of the gospels, Roman emperors had adopted a variety of titles. The angels take those very titles and apply them to Jesus. Even the angel chorus has political overtones. The host of heaven was usually God’s military arm. Now they have been transformed into a choir for peace.
Shepherds could have been the last people who many would imagine being the only witnesses to the birth of Jesus, as they had approval rating roughly at the level of the current U. S. Congress. Under the nose of the “1%” the representatives of the bottom of the “99%’ get the word. What wonders lie at our feet unnoticed? What Christmas miracles are implanted within us and are nurtured or left to wither?
Incarnation then takes place in good walk away from Jerusalem’s temple and palace. Instead of a royal robe, the baby is laid in a manger. A feeding trough would hold the one called the Bread of Life. At First Presbyterian, the stained glass interpretation of Christmas has a manger superimposed over Bethlehem, so it connects earth and heaven.
We just read a children’s book in church, father and son. It’s set on Christmas night with Joseph looking over the sleeping baby and worrying, like any new father, but with the questions taking on special enormity. How will he teach the alphabet to a child who also is of the Creator who “whispered words to millions.” How could he tell a joke to someone who knew them all? Admittedly, it’s putting theology and poetic language in the mouth of Joseph, but he serves as a good mouthpiece for our quandaries in considering how the “fullness of God” could dwell in a baby who would grow, develop, and learn just as any baby would. How could we speak of the Creator of all, the divine Word/Plan/Logos of John 1 be a creature as well? Surely the Incarnation means God with us, Emmanuel. the astonishment is that it is more than saying Yes to us, as Paul said, but that that God is present in the human condition in Jesus.
For Luke, Mary, not Joseph is center-stage. At the end, she takes in what the shepherds say to her and treasures them, she who sang of great reversals of rich and poor in her Magnificat in the previous chapter. Again, we hear that she pondered words in her heart. The word in Greek is closer to an internal debate or discussion, with a sense of sifting evidence, of shuttling ideas back and forth. I wonder if she pondered why no choir was there at the manger. Did she have a notion that her son would call himself the Good Shepherd?
My prayer is that our eyes are open to some of the hidden wonders of life here. May we take those and connect to Christmas miracle. May the Christmas spirit live and develop within us, as did the babe of Bethlehem.
christmas Column 2011
American like to prattle on about being religious or spiritual, but less than half of us go to church on Christmas. For those who do deign to enter the doors for worship, we can almost be guaranteed that we will hear the Luke’s Christmas story with the shepherds. If you miss it at church, you may have heard it read by Linus in a Charlie Brown Christmas. We don’t really hear it, as we often know it almost by heart. So, let’s slow it down a bit today.
Luke had a decided, subtle political agenda in the birth story. he starts out by listing the political powers of the world of Jesus. None are aware of his birth. By the time of the gospels, Roman emperors had adopted a variety of titles. The angels take those very titles and apply them to Jesus. Even the angel chorus has political overtones. The host of heaven was usually God’s military arm. Now they have been transformed into a choir for peace.
Shepherds could have been the last people who many would imagine being the only witnesses to the birth of Jesus, as they had approval rating roughly at the level of the current U. S. Congress. Under the nose of the “1%” the representatives of the bottom of the “99%’ get the word. What wonders lie at our feet unnoticed? What Christmas miracles are implanted within us and are nurtured or left to wither?
Incarnation then takes place in good walk away from Jerusalem’s temple and palace. Instead of a royal robe, the baby is laid in a manger. A feeding trough would hold the one called the Bread of Life. At First Presbyterian, the stained glass interpretation of Christmas has a manger superimposed over Bethlehem, so it connects earth and heaven.
We just read a children’s book in church, father and son. It’s set on Christmas night with Joseph looking over the sleeping baby and worrying, like any new father, but with the questions taking on special enormity. How will he teach the alphabet to a child who also is of the Creator who “whispered words to millions.” How could he tell a joke to someone who knew them all? Admittedly, it’s putting theology and poetic language in the mouth of Joseph, but he serves as a good mouthpiece for our quandaries in considering how the “fullness of God” could dwell in a baby who would grow, develop, and learn just as any baby would. How could we speak of the Creator of all, the divine Word/Plan/Logos of John 1 be a creature as well? Surely the Incarnation means God with us, Emmanuel. the astonishment is that it is more than saying Yes to us, as Paul said, but that that God is present in the human condition in Jesus.
For Luke, Mary, not Joseph is center-stage. At the end, she takes in what the shepherds say to her and treasures them, she who sang of great reversals of rich and poor in her Magnificat in the previous chapter. Again, we hear that she pondered words in her heart. The word in Greek is closer to an internal debate or discussion, with a sense of sifting evidence, of shuttling ideas back and forth. I wonder if she pondered why no choir was there at the manger. Did she have a notion that her son would call himself the Good Shepherd?
My prayer is that our eyes are open to some of the hidden wonders of life here. May we take those and connect to Christmas miracle. May the Christmas spirit live and develop within us, as did the babe of Bethlehem.
Luke had a decided, subtle political agenda in the birth story. he starts out by listing the political powers of the world of Jesus. None are aware of his birth. By the time of the gospels, Roman emperors had adopted a variety of titles. The angels take those very titles and apply them to Jesus. Even the angel chorus has political overtones. The host of heaven was usually God’s military arm. Now they have been transformed into a choir for peace.
Shepherds could have been the last people who many would imagine being the only witnesses to the birth of Jesus, as they had approval rating roughly at the level of the current U. S. Congress. Under the nose of the “1%” the representatives of the bottom of the “99%’ get the word. What wonders lie at our feet unnoticed? What Christmas miracles are implanted within us and are nurtured or left to wither?
Incarnation then takes place in good walk away from Jerusalem’s temple and palace. Instead of a royal robe, the baby is laid in a manger. A feeding trough would hold the one called the Bread of Life. At First Presbyterian, the stained glass interpretation of Christmas has a manger superimposed over Bethlehem, so it connects earth and heaven.
We just read a children’s book in church, father and son. It’s set on Christmas night with Joseph looking over the sleeping baby and worrying, like any new father, but with the questions taking on special enormity. How will he teach the alphabet to a child who also is of the Creator who “whispered words to millions.” How could he tell a joke to someone who knew them all? Admittedly, it’s putting theology and poetic language in the mouth of Joseph, but he serves as a good mouthpiece for our quandaries in considering how the “fullness of God” could dwell in a baby who would grow, develop, and learn just as any baby would. How could we speak of the Creator of all, the divine Word/Plan/Logos of John 1 be a creature as well? Surely the Incarnation means God with us, Emmanuel. the astonishment is that it is more than saying Yes to us, as Paul said, but that that God is present in the human condition in Jesus.
For Luke, Mary, not Joseph is center-stage. At the end, she takes in what the shepherds say to her and treasures them, she who sang of great reversals of rich and poor in her Magnificat in the previous chapter. Again, we hear that she pondered words in her heart. The word in Greek is closer to an internal debate or discussion, with a sense of sifting evidence, of shuttling ideas back and forth. I wonder if she pondered why no choir was there at the manger. Did she have a notion that her son would call himself the Good Shepherd?
My prayer is that our eyes are open to some of the hidden wonders of life here. May we take those and connect to Christmas miracle. May the Christmas spirit live and develop within us, as did the babe of Bethlehem.
Christmas Sermon Notes 2011 Luke 2;1-20
Under the nose of the 1% Jesus Christ was born for the 100%. That’s why Luke starts out with the parade of political figures to start the story. Under the hegemony of Roman officials, a divine intrusion by the downtrodden happened on Christmas. In Luke’s story, the only people who hear about it are some downtrodden shepherds. Remember that shepherds were not the romantic figures of our imagination from movies and Christmas pageants. Instead of occupying Rome or Jerusalem, Jesus was born a maybe a good 2 hour walk away from the temple, but it was still the city of David.
Luke places the story amid the power of the occupying Roman authority. The angels use names applied to the emperor and apply them to this baby born in an out of the way place. Even the appearance of the angels is ironic. In the OT, the angelic host were the fearsome troops of God. Now they have been transformed here into a choir. Only the rough shepherds heard songs of Christmas that evening, a small audience for the heralds of a miracle, a miracle of the Incarnation, where the very self of the Creator God, the omnipresent one, squeezed into a baby;s life in all of the divine fullness in that very human baby. When I am in a Grinch mood, I wonder if Christ is being squeezed out of Christmas. Then I remember that the incarnation has God hallowing all of creation, as the Book of Order says. Many things can point sacramentally to Emmanuel, God with us. Hear that phrase carefully this morning. God with us, connected to us, relating to us, not against us, not over us, with us. If we have eyes to see, if we have Christmas eyes, we can look beneath the tinsel to find the real treasures that lie beneath.
We place so much weight on this day. we imagine that life can look like a Hallmark card, just for today. we have been inundated with Christmas songs and decorations for weeks now, as the secular calendar collides with the sacred calendar. No holiday could come close to trying to fill the expectations and dreams we heap on this holiday. No gift, no gifts, are capable of of carrying the freight we place on them. We arrive at this day worn out from a frenzy of preparation and wearied by the constant crush of gatherings. Mary and Joseph and the babe heard no hymns. their first Christmas was away from home, in a rude shelter at best. That’s one reason our thoughts move so easily to the poor, why Dickens’ Christmas Carol has such resonance with us over the years.
Luther was impressed with the divine psychology at work in this birth. He saw God as fearsome, so we can all be brave enough to come near a baby, as he said, God became small for us. Instead of a shock and awe campaign, God chose a hidden approach, to make the work of salvation an inside job. God works from within as well as without, from the inside out. I bet the malls are already busy taking down Christmas decorations, and here is the church just starting the season. there’s the church behind again. Dig beneath the tinsel and the lights being packed away and the trees already getting dry and brittle. Beneath the glitz, the fading decorations, the self-same miracle is celebrated today. the Christmas season is just starting. May we have plenty of room in the inn of our lives, to invite the dear child to enter in. 100% of us are mangers to support the Christ child.
Luke places the story amid the power of the occupying Roman authority. The angels use names applied to the emperor and apply them to this baby born in an out of the way place. Even the appearance of the angels is ironic. In the OT, the angelic host were the fearsome troops of God. Now they have been transformed here into a choir. Only the rough shepherds heard songs of Christmas that evening, a small audience for the heralds of a miracle, a miracle of the Incarnation, where the very self of the Creator God, the omnipresent one, squeezed into a baby;s life in all of the divine fullness in that very human baby. When I am in a Grinch mood, I wonder if Christ is being squeezed out of Christmas. Then I remember that the incarnation has God hallowing all of creation, as the Book of Order says. Many things can point sacramentally to Emmanuel, God with us. Hear that phrase carefully this morning. God with us, connected to us, relating to us, not against us, not over us, with us. If we have eyes to see, if we have Christmas eyes, we can look beneath the tinsel to find the real treasures that lie beneath.
We place so much weight on this day. we imagine that life can look like a Hallmark card, just for today. we have been inundated with Christmas songs and decorations for weeks now, as the secular calendar collides with the sacred calendar. No holiday could come close to trying to fill the expectations and dreams we heap on this holiday. No gift, no gifts, are capable of of carrying the freight we place on them. We arrive at this day worn out from a frenzy of preparation and wearied by the constant crush of gatherings. Mary and Joseph and the babe heard no hymns. their first Christmas was away from home, in a rude shelter at best. That’s one reason our thoughts move so easily to the poor, why Dickens’ Christmas Carol has such resonance with us over the years.
Luther was impressed with the divine psychology at work in this birth. He saw God as fearsome, so we can all be brave enough to come near a baby, as he said, God became small for us. Instead of a shock and awe campaign, God chose a hidden approach, to make the work of salvation an inside job. God works from within as well as without, from the inside out. I bet the malls are already busy taking down Christmas decorations, and here is the church just starting the season. there’s the church behind again. Dig beneath the tinsel and the lights being packed away and the trees already getting dry and brittle. Beneath the glitz, the fading decorations, the self-same miracle is celebrated today. the Christmas season is just starting. May we have plenty of room in the inn of our lives, to invite the dear child to enter in. 100% of us are mangers to support the Christ child.
Devotions for christmas Week 2011
Christmas on a Sunday feels like cheating a bit. It eliminates the need for a special Christmas service during the week. On the other hand, I can think of few things to get at the depth of sabbath more than celebrating Christmas at the same time. Just as the shepherds came to honor Jesus, so do we when we come to church, especially on this day, where the church acts as a manger. It makes it easier to keep god in Christmas this day.
Monday We have a bit of a letdown after Christmas. The compartment of peace where we place Christmas is over. Some much time preparing seem to flee at the flick of an eye. I remember my mother getting upset that her two greedy sons could make short work of her careful wrapping.Take an imaginative moment and consider what the day after would be for Mary and Joseph on the day after the Nativity. What were their hopes and fears? Now they started to get adjusted to having a baby with them. What adjustments do you think a newborn brings?
Tuesday-I want to reflect a bit more on the miracle of the Incarnation. God is invisible, so to have the fullness of God take shape and form in a baby is all the more astounding. When we say that the fullness of God was present in Jesus, what do we mean? At the same time, we say Jesus emptied himself of power. What power, do you think? Where do you think the most tension existed in the divine and human “natures.?” What allowed Jesus to hold them together? Paul says that Jesus emptied himself of equality with God. How did that work, do you think?
Wednesday-Maybe by now you are growing weary of parties. It seems that we can take only so much celebration. I resist forced celebration as much as a sense of being forced to do most anything, I suppose. I often think of the line that art invites us to a response, and propaganda tells us what to feel. What are your favorite and less-favored elements of parties? How do you approach them, and with what expectations? To what degree should worship resemble a party?
Thursday- Christmas season can be a series of tests for love. “If you love me, you would get me this.” Worse, if you love me you would have known what I want.” Can I measure your love by the type of present I received? Do we put the love of God to similar tests? If love is given and accepted, does it require tests? If so, could we ever pass them all? Christmas then stands for the unconditional giving nature of God.
Friday -We move to have some time to think of the Wise men/Kings of song and story.The basic story has been blurred as the early church linked the gifts to Ps. 72 and Is. 60, so the Magi become kings. The early church blended the accounts with their mention of bringing gifts from afar. We attach various meanings to the gifts, but Exodus and the building of the tabernacle would suggest that they were all fitting for the presence of God.
Saturday, New Years Eve-I always liked the standard, What Are You Doin’ New Year’s Eve.” Other than Valentine's day, I don;t know if any day has the social pressures of this one. with some trepidation, I ask us to consider adding a spiritual request. Please consider making a spiritual resolution, after examining the assets and weaknesses in the spiritual quest. Indeed this is a good time of year to go over the past year and note its dimensions.
Monday We have a bit of a letdown after Christmas. The compartment of peace where we place Christmas is over. Some much time preparing seem to flee at the flick of an eye. I remember my mother getting upset that her two greedy sons could make short work of her careful wrapping.Take an imaginative moment and consider what the day after would be for Mary and Joseph on the day after the Nativity. What were their hopes and fears? Now they started to get adjusted to having a baby with them. What adjustments do you think a newborn brings?
Tuesday-I want to reflect a bit more on the miracle of the Incarnation. God is invisible, so to have the fullness of God take shape and form in a baby is all the more astounding. When we say that the fullness of God was present in Jesus, what do we mean? At the same time, we say Jesus emptied himself of power. What power, do you think? Where do you think the most tension existed in the divine and human “natures.?” What allowed Jesus to hold them together? Paul says that Jesus emptied himself of equality with God. How did that work, do you think?
Wednesday-Maybe by now you are growing weary of parties. It seems that we can take only so much celebration. I resist forced celebration as much as a sense of being forced to do most anything, I suppose. I often think of the line that art invites us to a response, and propaganda tells us what to feel. What are your favorite and less-favored elements of parties? How do you approach them, and with what expectations? To what degree should worship resemble a party?
Thursday- Christmas season can be a series of tests for love. “If you love me, you would get me this.” Worse, if you love me you would have known what I want.” Can I measure your love by the type of present I received? Do we put the love of God to similar tests? If love is given and accepted, does it require tests? If so, could we ever pass them all? Christmas then stands for the unconditional giving nature of God.
Friday -We move to have some time to think of the Wise men/Kings of song and story.The basic story has been blurred as the early church linked the gifts to Ps. 72 and Is. 60, so the Magi become kings. The early church blended the accounts with their mention of bringing gifts from afar. We attach various meanings to the gifts, but Exodus and the building of the tabernacle would suggest that they were all fitting for the presence of God.
Saturday, New Years Eve-I always liked the standard, What Are You Doin’ New Year’s Eve.” Other than Valentine's day, I don;t know if any day has the social pressures of this one. with some trepidation, I ask us to consider adding a spiritual request. Please consider making a spiritual resolution, after examining the assets and weaknesses in the spiritual quest. Indeed this is a good time of year to go over the past year and note its dimensions.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Notes for 2 Sam. 7:1-11, 16
1) we are in a crucial section of Zion ideology. My suspicious side sees this as a legitimation tool for a new political regime.the temple would be allied to the regime.
2) Note that this is an unconditional pledge. Yes, god will be angry at royal transgression, but ti does not affect the faithfulness of God. The conditional and unconditional nature of divine promise is a real tension.
3) So, when the kingship is destroyed, to protect the faithful promise, it get reworked into a messianic one.
4) House is played around as a structure, a temple, a palace, a dynasty.
5) One could do some good work on Nathan's mind changing.this adds to his appearance after Bathsheba in a few chapters.
6) What do you think of the divine preference for the outdoors. is this an indication that God realizes we are trying to contain the divine?
7) One can notice some real affinity, even dependence, on Ps. 89
2) Note that this is an unconditional pledge. Yes, god will be angry at royal transgression, but ti does not affect the faithfulness of God. The conditional and unconditional nature of divine promise is a real tension.
3) So, when the kingship is destroyed, to protect the faithful promise, it get reworked into a messianic one.
4) House is played around as a structure, a temple, a palace, a dynasty.
5) One could do some good work on Nathan's mind changing.this adds to his appearance after Bathsheba in a few chapters.
6) What do you think of the divine preference for the outdoors. is this an indication that God realizes we are trying to contain the divine?
7) One can notice some real affinity, even dependence, on Ps. 89
Sermon Notes Dec. 18-Lk.1:26-55
I was raised Roman Catholic in the old days. Part of our devotion was to Mary, where her statue was in church with candles we could light for special prayers. We had a beautiful grotto next to our little church for prayer, where we could ask for our protection of her robe flung over us for ourselves or people in our family. When my then-spouse was in law school at Notre Dame (Our Lady) students and alumni flocked to visit a gorgeous grotto on that model of a campus. I fully grasp why Protestants shy away from devotion to Mary, but I do fear that we do not pay her the Biblical respect she is clearly given, especially in the gospel of Luke. I think that we transferred some Marian devotion to Jesus, but I fear that we have neglected her words and spiritual power.
Mary could well have been very young by our standards; we are not given her age.I wonder how the angel would have reacted if Mary did not consent to the announcement made to her. I think the angel rightly has a male name as the angle seems to misread her feelings. Luke says that Mary is perplexed, not afraid. Mary is a thinker. What we say is ponder is more like tossing it back and forth, considering angles. She does not have a blind faith but she works through the meaning of events, processes them. Maybe Mary was an introvert who needed time and space to work things out on her own. She does the same pondering in her heart after the shepherds see her at the manger scene and when they found young Jesus in the temple at 12. Oh to be hospitable and open to the presence of god in ourselves and others as was mary.
Mary travels, while she is expecting, to go see Elizabeth who is also expecting by a miracle. The child in her womb reacts, actually responds in joy, when Mary greets her. Mary has been doing some deep thinking on the way. This prayer is based on Hannah's prayer, she too has a miraculous birth. More than that, Mary places herself with a list of Biblical women who have the miracle of giving life become possible for them. Then she sees herself as a representative of the poor as well. this birth is the start of a new age. This will be the start of the great reversal by and of, God. Now things will be different.
Her prayers sends chills down our spines because it could well be directed at us an individuals and certainly as members of a nation possessed of extraordinary power. When we are at the top, it is so tempting to treat those beneath with sneers and scorn. I got to see the restored silent classic, Metropolis, a couple of weeks ago. In it the people who live in a veritable Eden on the surface do so on the backs of the proles beneath. when the leader is asked about this arrangement, he replies that they are where they belong.So we treat people without the dignity and respect they deserve, as if they are the help, servants, in our own personal movie. At the same time, we have gotten so touchy, on the lookout for any grievance, any slip that may threaten our sense of self and proper position and status. People gather at holiday gatherings on edge, just waiting to judge and be judged.
The angel tells Mary that nothing is impossible with God. So much social progress has been made since she uttered ti so many years ago. Today’s young people seem to be a more tolerant lot, understanding of human imperfections, yet they retain some measure of idealism for common aims.That may well work for congregations and denominations too. One day the story of Scrooge or the Grinch may well have a social counterpart, where a village discovers Christmas generosity of spirit and peace.
Mary could well have been very young by our standards; we are not given her age.I wonder how the angel would have reacted if Mary did not consent to the announcement made to her. I think the angel rightly has a male name as the angle seems to misread her feelings. Luke says that Mary is perplexed, not afraid. Mary is a thinker. What we say is ponder is more like tossing it back and forth, considering angles. She does not have a blind faith but she works through the meaning of events, processes them. Maybe Mary was an introvert who needed time and space to work things out on her own. She does the same pondering in her heart after the shepherds see her at the manger scene and when they found young Jesus in the temple at 12. Oh to be hospitable and open to the presence of god in ourselves and others as was mary.
Mary travels, while she is expecting, to go see Elizabeth who is also expecting by a miracle. The child in her womb reacts, actually responds in joy, when Mary greets her. Mary has been doing some deep thinking on the way. This prayer is based on Hannah's prayer, she too has a miraculous birth. More than that, Mary places herself with a list of Biblical women who have the miracle of giving life become possible for them. Then she sees herself as a representative of the poor as well. this birth is the start of a new age. This will be the start of the great reversal by and of, God. Now things will be different.
Her prayers sends chills down our spines because it could well be directed at us an individuals and certainly as members of a nation possessed of extraordinary power. When we are at the top, it is so tempting to treat those beneath with sneers and scorn. I got to see the restored silent classic, Metropolis, a couple of weeks ago. In it the people who live in a veritable Eden on the surface do so on the backs of the proles beneath. when the leader is asked about this arrangement, he replies that they are where they belong.So we treat people without the dignity and respect they deserve, as if they are the help, servants, in our own personal movie. At the same time, we have gotten so touchy, on the lookout for any grievance, any slip that may threaten our sense of self and proper position and status. People gather at holiday gatherings on edge, just waiting to judge and be judged.
The angel tells Mary that nothing is impossible with God. So much social progress has been made since she uttered ti so many years ago. Today’s young people seem to be a more tolerant lot, understanding of human imperfections, yet they retain some measure of idealism for common aims.That may well work for congregations and denominations too. One day the story of Scrooge or the Grinch may well have a social counterpart, where a village discovers Christmas generosity of spirit and peace.
Dec. 18 Week devotions
Dec. 18-We had a choice of a psalm today or Mary’s great hymn of justice, in Latin, the Magnificat. From Christmas cards, we usually picture a sweet adoring mother. The Mary of the Magnificat is a firebrand. We hear a lot about keeping Christ in Christmas, Mary here wants to keep justice in Christmas. where do you see things as upside down at this time of year? How would it appear if the situations were suddenly reversed?
Monday-Many of us recall the phrase no room for them in the inn in Lk. 2:7. It is the same word we translate as guest room, for the Last Supper in Lk. 22:11. Jesus’s life was framed by seeking shelter in guest rooms. He was even buried in a borrowed grave. Jesus continues to seek a place to dwell within each one of us and in our congregations and communites. How welcoming are we to the presence of Christ? Inside, are we willing to make room for christ in the packed inns of our own selves?
Tuesday-Maybe some of you haven’t brought all your present yet. Maybe some of you are still doing menu planning. This is a generous time of year. I wish to make a brief plea for a form of frugality. please consider buying one less thing or saving some money on some items and give the money to the poor or to an organization that does work near and dear to your values. I get annoyed, too, at the constant drumbeat of charities looking for help at this time of year. Scrooge rejected their entreaties too. His Christmas miracle was in discovering generosity again.
Wednesday-We maintain continuing bonds with our loved ones, even when they have passed away. Perhaps you can compose a special toast to them. Maybe you could gather stories by or about them and place them in a stocking. Maybe you could even set out a place for them. You may find that admitting that you miss them drains some of the pain away more readily than repress all of the feelings in the name of holiday cheer. May you enjoy the communion of saints as you know that love bursts even the boundaries of death.
Thursday- I’m learning more about our blue hymnbook as time goes on. some of its carols are new to me.We sang #61, Twas in the Moon, in choir but it wasn’t in our hymnbook. The french missionary wanted the Native Americans to relate to the story, so the birth is in a rude lodging of twigs, and the baby is wrapped in rabbit skins. If you were retelling the story for 2011, what details would you make to conform to the present day?
Friday-We sing songs of peace on earth. how I crave that. the news is drenched in blood. Christmas peace get driven out of too many hearts out of anxiety, expectations, and sheer cussedness that we are determined to make as a stocking stuffer every single year. Perhaps if we are less alert for slights and more alert ot a chance at calm or reconciling we coudl come closer to the peace we crave.
Christmas Eve-I always picture this night as quiet, probably because of Silent Night. maybe it’s because I would walk through quiet streets on the way to Midnight mass. Maybe we can turn the carols off for a while, and hear the tune of our inner being. then we can hear the echo of that angelic chorus of long ago. What song do you long to hear as you practice some quiet time?
Monday-Many of us recall the phrase no room for them in the inn in Lk. 2:7. It is the same word we translate as guest room, for the Last Supper in Lk. 22:11. Jesus’s life was framed by seeking shelter in guest rooms. He was even buried in a borrowed grave. Jesus continues to seek a place to dwell within each one of us and in our congregations and communites. How welcoming are we to the presence of Christ? Inside, are we willing to make room for christ in the packed inns of our own selves?
Tuesday-Maybe some of you haven’t brought all your present yet. Maybe some of you are still doing menu planning. This is a generous time of year. I wish to make a brief plea for a form of frugality. please consider buying one less thing or saving some money on some items and give the money to the poor or to an organization that does work near and dear to your values. I get annoyed, too, at the constant drumbeat of charities looking for help at this time of year. Scrooge rejected their entreaties too. His Christmas miracle was in discovering generosity again.
Wednesday-We maintain continuing bonds with our loved ones, even when they have passed away. Perhaps you can compose a special toast to them. Maybe you could gather stories by or about them and place them in a stocking. Maybe you could even set out a place for them. You may find that admitting that you miss them drains some of the pain away more readily than repress all of the feelings in the name of holiday cheer. May you enjoy the communion of saints as you know that love bursts even the boundaries of death.
Thursday- I’m learning more about our blue hymnbook as time goes on. some of its carols are new to me.We sang #61, Twas in the Moon, in choir but it wasn’t in our hymnbook. The french missionary wanted the Native Americans to relate to the story, so the birth is in a rude lodging of twigs, and the baby is wrapped in rabbit skins. If you were retelling the story for 2011, what details would you make to conform to the present day?
Friday-We sing songs of peace on earth. how I crave that. the news is drenched in blood. Christmas peace get driven out of too many hearts out of anxiety, expectations, and sheer cussedness that we are determined to make as a stocking stuffer every single year. Perhaps if we are less alert for slights and more alert ot a chance at calm or reconciling we coudl come closer to the peace we crave.
Christmas Eve-I always picture this night as quiet, probably because of Silent Night. maybe it’s because I would walk through quiet streets on the way to Midnight mass. Maybe we can turn the carols off for a while, and hear the tune of our inner being. then we can hear the echo of that angelic chorus of long ago. What song do you long to hear as you practice some quiet time?
OT readings for chritmas continued
Is. 52;7-10
1) We are in a realm where the gods are engaged in conflict of nations. Now the people wait to hear news.In this martial context, i would think shalom means more that things have gone well more than peace. Of course, victory can and does bring peace. I think of David waiting to hearing news of his son, or the Psalmist speaking of those who watch for the morning.
2) If one sticks with peace, we can celebrate the end of the Iraq war.
3) With word of victory comes the promised comfort and redemption.It is difficult for me to see how to spiritualize this section, but one could try.]
4) Baring the arm again is a martial image. so the nonviolent baring of the arm in Bethlehem is striking.]
Is. 62:6-12- Many scholars see Is. 56-66 as a frequently frustrated prayer from a disappointed people who expected good times and found hardship on the return to Judah. One could allude to disappointments with family gatherings and presents.
1) My study bible says the sentinels are prophets announcing salvation, but I don;t see why they are not ordinary sentinels. (Matrix fans will have trouble with the word sentinels)
2) If I read this correctly the sentinels stay as reminders to god to take action, an enacted, demonstrated prayer.
3) God promises that people will enjoy the fruit of their labor, not others. OWS analogy here for those so inclined.Note though it is a liturgical celebration at v. 9
4) Now the way is prepared for home, not the way home. “Miles to go before we sleep” would be the watchword. God continues to work through us, not only in miracle.
5) Of all the titles at the end, I love the idea that they are not forsaken. Indeed they are sought out. Christmas has God seeking us out on our turf. the lonely birth in Bethlehem promises divine companionship for us all.
1) We are in a realm where the gods are engaged in conflict of nations. Now the people wait to hear news.In this martial context, i would think shalom means more that things have gone well more than peace. Of course, victory can and does bring peace. I think of David waiting to hearing news of his son, or the Psalmist speaking of those who watch for the morning.
2) If one sticks with peace, we can celebrate the end of the Iraq war.
3) With word of victory comes the promised comfort and redemption.It is difficult for me to see how to spiritualize this section, but one could try.]
4) Baring the arm again is a martial image. so the nonviolent baring of the arm in Bethlehem is striking.]
Is. 62:6-12- Many scholars see Is. 56-66 as a frequently frustrated prayer from a disappointed people who expected good times and found hardship on the return to Judah. One could allude to disappointments with family gatherings and presents.
1) My study bible says the sentinels are prophets announcing salvation, but I don;t see why they are not ordinary sentinels. (Matrix fans will have trouble with the word sentinels)
2) If I read this correctly the sentinels stay as reminders to god to take action, an enacted, demonstrated prayer.
3) God promises that people will enjoy the fruit of their labor, not others. OWS analogy here for those so inclined.Note though it is a liturgical celebration at v. 9
4) Now the way is prepared for home, not the way home. “Miles to go before we sleep” would be the watchword. God continues to work through us, not only in miracle.
5) Of all the titles at the end, I love the idea that they are not forsaken. Indeed they are sought out. Christmas has God seeking us out on our turf. the lonely birth in Bethlehem promises divine companionship for us all.
OT Notes for christmas Is. 9:2-7
Is. 9:2-7
10 Using images that fit the reading from john, the passage moves from darkness to light.
2) Words of ingathering and harvest also appear, so htis fits all of our travels this season.
3) Just as Jesus was born under oppression, all of the material on yoke refers to domination by Assyria, or other regimes as Isaiah moves through a good deal of time through different editorial hands.
4) Notice the pronoun us for the sign child of victory.
5) So instead of oppression the hope is for good governance.
6) the names are tricky the first set could be wonder, planner/counsellor, even planner of wonders (Tull,299) Might One=gibbor, a familiar designation. Everlasting Father is fine/Eternal One works too., and Prince of peace/well-being is well known.They could refer to the child or as divine attributes.
7) i would think that justice and righteous/right relations are twinned here.
10 Using images that fit the reading from john, the passage moves from darkness to light.
2) Words of ingathering and harvest also appear, so htis fits all of our travels this season.
3) Just as Jesus was born under oppression, all of the material on yoke refers to domination by Assyria, or other regimes as Isaiah moves through a good deal of time through different editorial hands.
4) Notice the pronoun us for the sign child of victory.
5) So instead of oppression the hope is for good governance.
6) the names are tricky the first set could be wonder, planner/counsellor, even planner of wonders (Tull,299) Might One=gibbor, a familiar designation. Everlasting Father is fine/Eternal One works too., and Prince of peace/well-being is well known.They could refer to the child or as divine attributes.
7) i would think that justice and righteous/right relations are twinned here.
Monday, December 12, 2011
sermon Notes 12/11 Is. 61, Ps. 126
The alarm goes off. You murmur to yourself, but I was having such a good dream. (I won’t dream of going into any detail about the content of an especially good dream for some of us) Ps. 126 imagines what it would be if life could look like a Christmas dream. We try to decorate or lives now with so much tinsel, to act as a cover for troubles. Sometimes I think we want a white Christmas to cover over our sins and disappointments with a holiday that cannot bear the weight we place on it. This is a dream not only of the future but one that would make up for a missed past, for the hurts, wrongs, pain of the past. It imagines a great reversal where tears are replaced by laughter. Instead of being paralyzed by fear, they act to do one of the great acts of confidence in a future go out and sow seed.It imagines the answered prayer, almost as if calling God on it. I served in a rural area and was always astonished how farmers could go out spending a fortune on weed killer and pesticide and fertilizer before they could even sow a single seed, not knowing what sort of return they could expect on the crop, barring of course any natural disaster of drought or flood or hail. I learned to see it as a prayer in action.
Is. 61 is the mission statement of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, the gospel from which we will read of the Annunciation and the Magnificat of Mary there and there alone. I do notice that this doesn’t say much about marketing the church. In our time, it does not say Christmas is for children; Christmas is for those in trouble. It speaks of helping people in need. It is not a listing of the economically needy alone. It mention those who are hurting in their hearts, mourners and bind up the brokenhearted. We leave the latter to alcohol with friends and the words and music of songwriters. We react to mourners by hoping that they well get back to work as soon as possible and not burden us with a repetition of some facet of their loss. That’s especially true this time of year, so we warn folks not to ruin Christmas. Of course we are called to do charitable things at this time of year, and an astounding generosity pours out of people, hard economic times or flush ones.
I am drawn today to the emotional side of the passage, of binding up different sorts of wounds, maybe even seemingly incurable ones of abuse such as the innocents taken at Penn State. What sort of oil of gladness could heal their mourning? Maybe in our time it would be going out somewhere we we splash on good cologne, (or in my case the only bottle of cologne I own, but it is good, after all I got it at Macy’s.) What difference would it make to us to wear a mantle of praise instead of the finest cloak of a faint spirit? When we are in grief, we wonder if we will ever laugh again. If we do, then we feel guilty about it, as if it were improper, inappropriate to use the baby Boomer words for forbidden).
We had a wedding here yesterday, and the passage concludes with the decorated life of a wedding, of bride and groom at their best. It uses what is on the outside to be a sign of the inside, of being placed on good terms with God, each other, and maybe hardest of all, ourselves. It imagines an Advent garden, where what we call the Christmas spirit springs up and is evergreen,just like a Christmas tree.
Is. 61 is the mission statement of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, the gospel from which we will read of the Annunciation and the Magnificat of Mary there and there alone. I do notice that this doesn’t say much about marketing the church. In our time, it does not say Christmas is for children; Christmas is for those in trouble. It speaks of helping people in need. It is not a listing of the economically needy alone. It mention those who are hurting in their hearts, mourners and bind up the brokenhearted. We leave the latter to alcohol with friends and the words and music of songwriters. We react to mourners by hoping that they well get back to work as soon as possible and not burden us with a repetition of some facet of their loss. That’s especially true this time of year, so we warn folks not to ruin Christmas. Of course we are called to do charitable things at this time of year, and an astounding generosity pours out of people, hard economic times or flush ones.
I am drawn today to the emotional side of the passage, of binding up different sorts of wounds, maybe even seemingly incurable ones of abuse such as the innocents taken at Penn State. What sort of oil of gladness could heal their mourning? Maybe in our time it would be going out somewhere we we splash on good cologne, (or in my case the only bottle of cologne I own, but it is good, after all I got it at Macy’s.) What difference would it make to us to wear a mantle of praise instead of the finest cloak of a faint spirit? When we are in grief, we wonder if we will ever laugh again. If we do, then we feel guilty about it, as if it were improper, inappropriate to use the baby Boomer words for forbidden).
We had a wedding here yesterday, and the passage concludes with the decorated life of a wedding, of bride and groom at their best. It uses what is on the outside to be a sign of the inside, of being placed on good terms with God, each other, and maybe hardest of all, ourselves. It imagines an Advent garden, where what we call the Christmas spirit springs up and is evergreen,just like a Christmas tree.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Column for Dec. 9
This Sunday, in churches that have Advent candles, we light a pink candle. Tradition indicates it stands for joy. We move from some of the frightening specters of the readings of the end times that presage the Second Advent, the return of Christ. Now the readings in church shift toward the first Advent, Christmas. Forms of the word are in the early portions of Luke for the birth of John the Baptist, the reaction in the womb of Elizabeth in Elizabeth’s greeting of Mary, and the words of the angel to the shepherds of Bethlehem.
We hear the word, enjoy, far more than we hear, or use ourselves, the word joy. It is one element of the fruit of the spirit listed by Paul in Ga. 5:22. For many of us, it is a distant dream or hope. Surely at times, we may feel a trace of it. My grandmother saw life as a vale of tears. She feared anything approaching a feeling of joy as surely that would be an indicator of harder times to come. For some of us, a sense of joy and our interior lives are born strangers. I don’t think that joy can be imposed, as in the demands of a praise song. I do believe it is best shared. Mark Twain said “grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you need someone to divide it with.”
It may well be a good emotional and spiritual practice to make a chart of some of the events or times in life when you have felt, experienced joy. Who are people in your life who embody joy? Do they share any characteristics in common?
In examining yourself, do you sense or notice obstacles toward your feeling joy? What role do expectations play in your feeling or not feeling joy? For instance, we can set our sight so high that no human experience could ever reach them. We may not expect to feel joy, or even fear it, as did my grandmother. The sheer weight of this season on us can be burdensome. Few families resemble the glowing reports on Christmas letters or in commercials. The dramas often hit the mark of family life more closely, and there joy is often discovered through reconciliation.
In the Old Testament, joy often appears with a group of people, a nation, in the face of a great event. In the Christian faith virtues may be private treasure, but they are also shared treasures, ones enjoyed in concert with one another, and indeed with God.
Hymns are meant to be sung together in the congregation. Many Christmas services start with “O come all ye faithful/ joyful and triumphant.” So, Joy to World is especially appropriate then for Christmas. Isaac Watts wanted to move away from a psalms only style of congregational singing, and we sing his words from Handel’s musical arrangements. Not only do we sing of joy to the world, but ‘heaven and nature sings. Fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding joy.” In Hark, the Herald Angels sing, whose title conveys its age, Charles Wesley intones: “joyful, all ye nations rise/join the triumph of the skies.” We sing Good Christian Men (Friends) Rejoice, why? “Now we hear of endless bliss/Jesus Christ was born for this…calls you one and calls you all/to gain the everlasting hall.”
My prayer for our Christmas season is one where we would feel compelled to sing out of the sheer joy of being together, in the face of our limitations. After all, Jesus did not come into a Christmas card world, but in makeshift shelter. There, in a rough manger, we see the joy of heaven in treasuring each one of us.
We hear the word, enjoy, far more than we hear, or use ourselves, the word joy. It is one element of the fruit of the spirit listed by Paul in Ga. 5:22. For many of us, it is a distant dream or hope. Surely at times, we may feel a trace of it. My grandmother saw life as a vale of tears. She feared anything approaching a feeling of joy as surely that would be an indicator of harder times to come. For some of us, a sense of joy and our interior lives are born strangers. I don’t think that joy can be imposed, as in the demands of a praise song. I do believe it is best shared. Mark Twain said “grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you need someone to divide it with.”
It may well be a good emotional and spiritual practice to make a chart of some of the events or times in life when you have felt, experienced joy. Who are people in your life who embody joy? Do they share any characteristics in common?
In examining yourself, do you sense or notice obstacles toward your feeling joy? What role do expectations play in your feeling or not feeling joy? For instance, we can set our sight so high that no human experience could ever reach them. We may not expect to feel joy, or even fear it, as did my grandmother. The sheer weight of this season on us can be burdensome. Few families resemble the glowing reports on Christmas letters or in commercials. The dramas often hit the mark of family life more closely, and there joy is often discovered through reconciliation.
In the Old Testament, joy often appears with a group of people, a nation, in the face of a great event. In the Christian faith virtues may be private treasure, but they are also shared treasures, ones enjoyed in concert with one another, and indeed with God.
Hymns are meant to be sung together in the congregation. Many Christmas services start with “O come all ye faithful/ joyful and triumphant.” So, Joy to World is especially appropriate then for Christmas. Isaac Watts wanted to move away from a psalms only style of congregational singing, and we sing his words from Handel’s musical arrangements. Not only do we sing of joy to the world, but ‘heaven and nature sings. Fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding joy.” In Hark, the Herald Angels sing, whose title conveys its age, Charles Wesley intones: “joyful, all ye nations rise/join the triumph of the skies.” We sing Good Christian Men (Friends) Rejoice, why? “Now we hear of endless bliss/Jesus Christ was born for this…calls you one and calls you all/to gain the everlasting hall.”
My prayer for our Christmas season is one where we would feel compelled to sing out of the sheer joy of being together, in the face of our limitations. After all, Jesus did not come into a Christmas card world, but in makeshift shelter. There, in a rough manger, we see the joy of heaven in treasuring each one of us.
Week of Dec. 11 Devotions
Sunday Dec. 11 I Thes. 5:21 says in older language: “hold fast to what is good.” When have you let the good slip through your fingers? When do you not hold out your hands to cup the good but instead clench them into fists? What good do you manage to grasp with both hands no matter what? What part of Advent virtue do you most need to hold on to right now?
Monday-Shepherds are romanticized in our time by pageants and picture books. In the time of Jesus shepherds were not considered very highly, say at the approval level of the current U.S. Congress.In other words, they would be the last group of people invited to witness the miracle at Bethlehem. In our time, President Obama invited two disputants to have a beer at the White House and is offering an ordinary couple a chance to dine there next year, what an honor. Now consider: the King of Kings invites us to join him in heaven every time we celebrate Communion.
Tuesday-Christian Science emphasizes mind over matter, indeed they deny that matter truly exists. Nothing could be further from this season that looks toward the first Advent, the Incarnation of the logos, the very vision, plan, ideas, logic of God (John 1:1, 14). Incarnation hallows, makes holy, this material world. After all, God called creation good. Christians are not called to rise above the physical, we are instead to see the physical as an intimation of the spiritual; they work together, body and soul.
Wednesday-Decorated your life. Even before thanksgiving the decorations were going up. I think the Alton mall had a visit from Santa in mid November. An old song from Kenny Rogers has been running on the tape in my mind, You Decorated My Life. Decorations try to make things prettier and maybe even cover up some flaws. They announce celebration. The culture has us set up decorations for Christmas early, and the church wants us set up for the 12 days of Christmas.
Thursday-Hymns of Christmas carry depth of meaning, partly by the union of lyrics and music.What are your favorite Christmas songs? If any of them are hymns, what are they? I love O Little Town of Bethlehem, in part, as my mother seemed to like it. I love the third verse: “how silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given/so god imparts to human hearts, the blessings of his heaven/no ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin/where meek souls will receive him still, the dear child enters in.”
Friday-The manger is in every creche. When young, we looked forward to setting up the scene. Consider: the bread of Life in a feeding stall. today, work with the image that your life, your heart, your very being is a manger, a resting place for the Christ Child. Where in your life would Jesus be comfortable residing? what would make Jesus uncomfortable in your life? How does it make you look at your own life as each of us temples, mangers, for the presence of God?
Saturday-Holiday blues afflict many of us. I’ve been writing these devotions for years and always include this. Is it possible that your holiday expectations cannot be matched in this world? Do we put too much stock in decorations and gifts to carry more freight than they possibly can? Some people suggest that a good response is to go out and do something for someone else, especially the needy. it moves us out of our focus on self and expands the diameter of our hearts.
Monday-Shepherds are romanticized in our time by pageants and picture books. In the time of Jesus shepherds were not considered very highly, say at the approval level of the current U.S. Congress.In other words, they would be the last group of people invited to witness the miracle at Bethlehem. In our time, President Obama invited two disputants to have a beer at the White House and is offering an ordinary couple a chance to dine there next year, what an honor. Now consider: the King of Kings invites us to join him in heaven every time we celebrate Communion.
Tuesday-Christian Science emphasizes mind over matter, indeed they deny that matter truly exists. Nothing could be further from this season that looks toward the first Advent, the Incarnation of the logos, the very vision, plan, ideas, logic of God (John 1:1, 14). Incarnation hallows, makes holy, this material world. After all, God called creation good. Christians are not called to rise above the physical, we are instead to see the physical as an intimation of the spiritual; they work together, body and soul.
Wednesday-Decorated your life. Even before thanksgiving the decorations were going up. I think the Alton mall had a visit from Santa in mid November. An old song from Kenny Rogers has been running on the tape in my mind, You Decorated My Life. Decorations try to make things prettier and maybe even cover up some flaws. They announce celebration. The culture has us set up decorations for Christmas early, and the church wants us set up for the 12 days of Christmas.
Thursday-Hymns of Christmas carry depth of meaning, partly by the union of lyrics and music.What are your favorite Christmas songs? If any of them are hymns, what are they? I love O Little Town of Bethlehem, in part, as my mother seemed to like it. I love the third verse: “how silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given/so god imparts to human hearts, the blessings of his heaven/no ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin/where meek souls will receive him still, the dear child enters in.”
Friday-The manger is in every creche. When young, we looked forward to setting up the scene. Consider: the bread of Life in a feeding stall. today, work with the image that your life, your heart, your very being is a manger, a resting place for the Christ Child. Where in your life would Jesus be comfortable residing? what would make Jesus uncomfortable in your life? How does it make you look at your own life as each of us temples, mangers, for the presence of God?
Saturday-Holiday blues afflict many of us. I’ve been writing these devotions for years and always include this. Is it possible that your holiday expectations cannot be matched in this world? Do we put too much stock in decorations and gifts to carry more freight than they possibly can? Some people suggest that a good response is to go out and do something for someone else, especially the needy. it moves us out of our focus on self and expands the diameter of our hearts.
Friday, December 9, 2011
First Cut Is. 61:1-4, 8-11
1) Hanson sees these words as reworking servant material from ch.42. Jesus uses some of this as a “mission statement” for his work in Luke 4:16-20.
2) anoint is related to the noun, messiah/christ/anointed one
3) good news=gospel, glad tidings, favorable message
4) all of the recipients are in trouble.
5) most of them are political/governmental victims, but brokenhearted stands out to me
6) the year of the Lord’s favor could be jubilee. the word vengeance could also be rescue perhaps???
7)We want the holidays to be free from trouble and grief, a vagrant hope certainly. Notice how mourning takes up vv 2,3
8) v. 3 and 10 have decorations of the heart and spirit for the season don;’t they.
9)repair and restoration key words at v. 4. this is a joint project. they act because they are empowered by the spirit.
10) now we have a great reversal. I am not sure who the object of derision is foreign oppressors alone or maybe internal tricksters. Notice the character of God here loving justice, hating wrongdoing.
11) this clothing image in v. ten is often picked in the NT as baptismal imagery. this reflect bridal imagery of ch. 52.
12) we have a natural image of new growth, a victory garden (see William brown in his cosmos book)
13 We may be unfaithful. god remains faithful. The God of creation is continuing to be creative and will continue to pay attention to getting people back on their feet to exercise power for themselves.Is. 61 OT lewctionary notes
1) Hanson sees these words as reworking servant material from ch.42. Jesus uses some of this as a “mission statement” for his work in Luke 4:16-20.
2) anoint is related to the noun, messiah/christ/anointed one
3) good news=gospel, glad tidings, favorable message
4) all of the recipients are in trouble.
5) most of them are political/governmental victims, but brokenhearted stands out to me
6) the year of the Lord’s favor could be jubilee. the word vengeance could also be rescue perhaps???
7)We want the holidays to be free from trouble and grief, a vagrant hope certainly. Notice how mourning takes up vv 2,3
8) v. 3 and 10 have decorations of the heart and spirit for the season don;’t they.
9)repair and restoration key words at v. 4. this is a joint project. they act because they are empowered by the spirit.
10) now we have a great reversal. I am not sure who the object of derision is foreign oppressors alone or maybe internal tricksters. Notice the character of God here loving justice, hating wrongdoing.
11) this clothing image in v. ten is often picked in the NT as baptismal imagery. this reflect bridal imagery of ch. 52.
12) we have a natural image of new growth, a victory garden (see William brown in his cosmos book)
13 We may be unfaithful. god remains faithful. The God of creation is continuing to be creative and will continue to pay attention to getting people back on their feet to exercise power for themselves.Is. 61 OT lewctionary notes
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sermon Notes Dec. 4 Is. 40:1-11, Ps. 85
I remember in English class teacher said that religion was a crutch. So, I responded, people need all the help they can get in a hard world.Comfort (where? in the signs of good, new medicines, fall of dictators,in signs of improvement, in education, in technology mapquest or GPS for those of us who get lost or the many men who can;t bear to admit it- in religious seeking,)-Here God turns a page. To the heavenly beings, God says enough of punishment, it is time for you to comfort my people.- In the midst of the transient, God’s word/message endures: do not fear. Perhaps few things require comfort as much as fear. My mother found comfort in the good shepherd image-Calvin said this passage comprehends the gospel in a few words. Comfort food-comfortable shoes-southern comfort-comfort stations-comfort zone-giving comfort (root deals with strength greatly ) Comfort is physical and emotional but it has a sense that when weakened we are strengthened to face tomorrow. Instead of nagging or warning like a prophet, now one is told to speak tenderly, like a parent to a hurt child, like a spouse to another needing some attention and affection.
2 Peter-God’s patience with us for righteousness to be present, to be at home, to be welcomed by us- Bible envisions images to touch on the end times: images not future facts, a way to peer into the future without a crystal ball. this letter finds comfort in God;’s patience, in hope that the world will turn out better than before. Veterans Day was not long ago and Christmas approaches. the Prince of peace must weep at what we do to each other in the name of security and yes, even god. How long must it seem to God that we continue to rely on force and violence to achieve our ends.Ps. 85 righteousness/right relations and peace shall kiss I have long loved this image. As I think about it, it describes the meeting of family long-separated, just as the return from exile. Maybe it describes two lovers seeing each other after a long absence, like the Warren Beatty-Diane Keaton scene in Reds or that wonderful embrace in The Best Years of our Lives. Too long have these good hopes been strangers.they are made for each other, as we used to say of couples.the end of our passage from Isaiah points us to why this psalm has an important ending. Life is too transient, too short, too fragile to waste in “fussing and fightings my friend” as the Beatles sang so long ago. In Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut wrote that on the 11th hour when the guns fell silent, and the butchery had ceased it was in the silence that men rose form the trenches and heard the voice of God.
As I was working on this, I got a rare thing, an important note on facebook. A woman from one of the churches I previously served wrote for prayer for her relative now in hospice care. She was afraid that since he was usually did not darken the door of a church that God would slam the door of heaven. I told her that Jesus came to save the lost, not the found, to save the one, not the 99 in the flock, to heal the sick, not the well. Her relative had her enough condemnation in life, and like so many addicts had condemned himself in the mirror, only to go to the bar and drink the evening meal. If anyone should hear the words of Isaiah to comfort, comfort, to speak tenderly at long last, it was her uncle and a family locked in fear and guilt and grief. In so doing we arrive at long last to the root meaning of comfort to strengthen powerfully to face the next day.
2 Peter-God’s patience with us for righteousness to be present, to be at home, to be welcomed by us- Bible envisions images to touch on the end times: images not future facts, a way to peer into the future without a crystal ball. this letter finds comfort in God;’s patience, in hope that the world will turn out better than before. Veterans Day was not long ago and Christmas approaches. the Prince of peace must weep at what we do to each other in the name of security and yes, even god. How long must it seem to God that we continue to rely on force and violence to achieve our ends.Ps. 85 righteousness/right relations and peace shall kiss I have long loved this image. As I think about it, it describes the meeting of family long-separated, just as the return from exile. Maybe it describes two lovers seeing each other after a long absence, like the Warren Beatty-Diane Keaton scene in Reds or that wonderful embrace in The Best Years of our Lives. Too long have these good hopes been strangers.they are made for each other, as we used to say of couples.the end of our passage from Isaiah points us to why this psalm has an important ending. Life is too transient, too short, too fragile to waste in “fussing and fightings my friend” as the Beatles sang so long ago. In Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut wrote that on the 11th hour when the guns fell silent, and the butchery had ceased it was in the silence that men rose form the trenches and heard the voice of God.
As I was working on this, I got a rare thing, an important note on facebook. A woman from one of the churches I previously served wrote for prayer for her relative now in hospice care. She was afraid that since he was usually did not darken the door of a church that God would slam the door of heaven. I told her that Jesus came to save the lost, not the found, to save the one, not the 99 in the flock, to heal the sick, not the well. Her relative had her enough condemnation in life, and like so many addicts had condemned himself in the mirror, only to go to the bar and drink the evening meal. If anyone should hear the words of Isaiah to comfort, comfort, to speak tenderly at long last, it was her uncle and a family locked in fear and guilt and grief. In so doing we arrive at long last to the root meaning of comfort to strengthen powerfully to face the next day.
Dec. 4 Devotions
Sunday Dec. 4 -Ps. 85 has long been a favorite of mine, especially its tender ending. I picture the ending verses as righteousness (right relations) and peace as separated lovers who see each other again after a long absence, like the reunion scene in Russia in Reds. They are intertwined concepts. They should not be strangers. When have you seen them come together in your life? Where do you wish so much for them to come together?
Monday -Carly Simon sang that anticipation is keeping me waiting.” Another word for anticipation could be expectancy. I'm doing an on-line Advent series through the Upper Room of Nashville, and they are stressing this aspect of Advent. What are you anticipating in your life? What can you hardly wait for? What do you crave in your spiritual life? Are you half afraid of desiring some virtue, some change, some dream?
Tuesday-Pause. In the midst of all of the expectations, pause. Take a little break. Breathe deeply and fully for a bit. Pray a quick prayer: breathe on me breath of God. Take a moment and examine your to do list. What could be eliminated, not lessened, eliminated? All during Advent, consider taking a mini Sabbath, a pause to collect and refresh.
Wednesday-Different virtues abound as celebrating Advent has expanded. I have seen peace, purity,joy, or consolation among others as the Second Sunday's virtues. We, through
Christian Ed’s good offices, have selected peace as the theme for the candle.Open a newspaper and pray for peace in the troubled lands. Pray for peace in communities ripped by violence. Consider praying for inner peace in oneself. Pray for inner peace to enter those whose hearts and minds are filled with rage and hate, even of themselves.
Thursday-The New York Times always asks its readers to consider the neediest at the time of year. Notice: not the needy, the neediest. Yes, we are right in helping out those in need of financial assistance. In this rich country, my mind goes toward a different definition of the neediest: maybe the mentally ill, or the heartbroken and the lonely. They too require Christmas gifts, but they are far different than what can be placed in the red buckets at WalMart.
Friday- Joseph gets short shrift. After all, he is the main character in Matthew’s Christmas story. When i was a child, we were taught that Joseph was very old. (Only later, did I figure out that they could protect Mary’s status as virgin that way). We imagine him as a carpenter, but the Greek word could cover any manual craftsman. In children’s stories, Joseph is usually pictured as an extraordinarily kind and wise father, an exemplar. maybe he was, so Jesus could use paternal language so easily in addressing God, his heavenly Father.
Saturday-This is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Its careful cadence and tone equals Scripture for many people. Here’s a little project. Compare the KJV to other Bible versions and set out your likes and dislikes. Pick a passage at random, or compare some favorites to different translations. Do different insights or interpretations emerge as you compare them? Read with a literary eye too. What is appealing about the form, movement, and word choice in different translations?
Monday -Carly Simon sang that anticipation is keeping me waiting.” Another word for anticipation could be expectancy. I'm doing an on-line Advent series through the Upper Room of Nashville, and they are stressing this aspect of Advent. What are you anticipating in your life? What can you hardly wait for? What do you crave in your spiritual life? Are you half afraid of desiring some virtue, some change, some dream?
Tuesday-Pause. In the midst of all of the expectations, pause. Take a little break. Breathe deeply and fully for a bit. Pray a quick prayer: breathe on me breath of God. Take a moment and examine your to do list. What could be eliminated, not lessened, eliminated? All during Advent, consider taking a mini Sabbath, a pause to collect and refresh.
Wednesday-Different virtues abound as celebrating Advent has expanded. I have seen peace, purity,joy, or consolation among others as the Second Sunday's virtues. We, through
Christian Ed’s good offices, have selected peace as the theme for the candle.Open a newspaper and pray for peace in the troubled lands. Pray for peace in communities ripped by violence. Consider praying for inner peace in oneself. Pray for inner peace to enter those whose hearts and minds are filled with rage and hate, even of themselves.
Thursday-The New York Times always asks its readers to consider the neediest at the time of year. Notice: not the needy, the neediest. Yes, we are right in helping out those in need of financial assistance. In this rich country, my mind goes toward a different definition of the neediest: maybe the mentally ill, or the heartbroken and the lonely. They too require Christmas gifts, but they are far different than what can be placed in the red buckets at WalMart.
Friday- Joseph gets short shrift. After all, he is the main character in Matthew’s Christmas story. When i was a child, we were taught that Joseph was very old. (Only later, did I figure out that they could protect Mary’s status as virgin that way). We imagine him as a carpenter, but the Greek word could cover any manual craftsman. In children’s stories, Joseph is usually pictured as an extraordinarily kind and wise father, an exemplar. maybe he was, so Jesus could use paternal language so easily in addressing God, his heavenly Father.
Saturday-This is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Its careful cadence and tone equals Scripture for many people. Here’s a little project. Compare the KJV to other Bible versions and set out your likes and dislikes. Pick a passage at random, or compare some favorites to different translations. Do different insights or interpretations emerge as you compare them? Read with a literary eye too. What is appealing about the form, movement, and word choice in different translations?
First Cut Is. 61:1-4, 8-11
1) Hanson sees these words as reworking servant material from ch.42. Jesus uses some of this as a “mission statement” for his work in Luke 4:16-20.
2) anoint is related to the noun, messiah/christ/anointed one
3) good news=gospel, glad tidings, favorable message
4) all of the recipients are in trouble.
5) most of them are political/governmental victims, but brokenhearted stands out to me
6) the year of the Lord’s favor could be jubilee. the word vengeance is striking. Against whom will the vengeance turn?
7)We want the holidays to be free from trouble and grief, a vagrant hope certainly. Notice how mourning takes up vv 2,3
8) v. 3 and 10 have decorations of the heart and spirit for the season don;’t they.
9)repair and restoration key words at v. 4. this is a joint project. they act because they are empowered by the spirit.
10) now we have a great reversal. I am not sure who the object of derision is foreign oppressors alone or maybe internal tricksters. Notice the character of God here loving justice, hating wrongdoing.
11) this clothing image in v. ten is often picked in the NT as baptismal imagery. this reflect bridal imagery of ch. 52.
12) we have a natural image of new growth, a victory garden (see William Brown in his Ethos of the cosmos book)
13 We may be unfaithful. god remains faithful. The God of creation is continuing to be creative and will continue to pay attention to getting people back on their feet to exercise power for themselves.
1) Hanson sees these words as reworking servant material from ch.42. Jesus uses some of this as a “mission statement” for his work in Luke 4:16-20.
2) anoint is related to the noun, messiah/christ/anointed one
3) good news=gospel, glad tidings, favorable message
4) all of the recipients are in trouble.
5) most of them are political/governmental victims, but brokenhearted stands out to me
6) the year of the Lord’s favor could be jubilee. the word vengeance is striking. Against whom will the vengeance turn?
7)We want the holidays to be free from trouble and grief, a vagrant hope certainly. Notice how mourning takes up vv 2,3
8) v. 3 and 10 have decorations of the heart and spirit for the season don;’t they.
9)repair and restoration key words at v. 4. this is a joint project. they act because they are empowered by the spirit.
10) now we have a great reversal. I am not sure who the object of derision is foreign oppressors alone or maybe internal tricksters. Notice the character of God here loving justice, hating wrongdoing.
11) this clothing image in v. ten is often picked in the NT as baptismal imagery. this reflect bridal imagery of ch. 52.
12) we have a natural image of new growth, a victory garden (see William Brown in his Ethos of the cosmos book)
13 We may be unfaithful. god remains faithful. The God of creation is continuing to be creative and will continue to pay attention to getting people back on their feet to exercise power for themselves.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Column for Friday Dec. 2
For many Christians this is the season of Advent, four Sundays before Christmas. For churches that note Advent, we get caught in a bit of a cultural bind. I think Santa appeared at the Alton mall in mid November, and the twinkling lights of Christmas cheer are already decorating houses. When do we decorate the church? When do we start singing Christmas songs? Actually, some hold that we should not sing Christmas songs until Christmas Eve and then sing then until or past Epiphany, the feast of the Magi on Jan. 6th. Yet, the radio stations stop playing round the clock Christmas music stop right after Christmas to coincide with the stores tearing down Christmas decorations on the 26th often. I remember a lady at one of the churches I served saying that I must hate Christmas songs because I insisted that we sing songs of Advent into the second Sunday before Christmas.
Hymns touch us deeply. Their merger of lyric and tune burrow deep within our consciousness. I have been touched when visiting a nursing home or a hospital bed, and people will request or hum softly a favored hymn. They enter so deeply into our memories that they seem to emerge unbidden, or you find yourself singing along to the music of a hymn in a shopping center or at home buying presents from the internet.
I suggest that we not only listen to favorite or even unknown Christmas hymns, but that we look at the lyrics in our hymnbooks and read them as religious poetry. Yes, I realize lyrics are not poems as they are tied to the music, but nonetheless, they offer us a window in the Yuletide world.
For instance, I love O Little Child of Bethlehem. the great Phillips Brooks. He had visited the Holy Land and wrote the words for a Christmas program and induced his organist to write the tune for it. How are the hopes and fears of all the years met in the child (v.1)? Notice in v. 2 how he makes all nature sing for the birth, as if he is not satisfied, or nature is left unsatisfied, by the angel chorus. The last two verses are wonders. Amid all of the noise of Christmas celebration, he now emphasizes silence. Meek souls, like Tiny Tim receive Jesus. That manger image continues, as he asserts that we all act as manger for the baby Jesus. Our lives are the birthing room of the spirit in his view of the Incarnation. From silence, we now hear the good news, the glad tidings of Christmas. He ends with the phrase Emmanuel. In Hebrew it means God with us. How that comes to new life and meaning when we claim the Incarnation of God’s own vision, God’s logos, message (John 1:1, 14) into “world of sin.” I would argue that we have a whole theological world summoned by these four verses, an entry point into a much deeper awareness of the depth of Christmas than greeting card could hope to convey.
Augustine famously said that singing a hymn is praying twice. I suggest that praying them again with attention to the words is an excellent spiritual practice for Advent to prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas. It’s easy to do, but you will note that a meditative air will come over you as you pause to work with the hymns and take a break from the frenzied rush of the holidays. after all, holiday comes from Old English for a holy day. Hymns provide a portal into the holy in the middle of everyday life.
Hymns touch us deeply. Their merger of lyric and tune burrow deep within our consciousness. I have been touched when visiting a nursing home or a hospital bed, and people will request or hum softly a favored hymn. They enter so deeply into our memories that they seem to emerge unbidden, or you find yourself singing along to the music of a hymn in a shopping center or at home buying presents from the internet.
I suggest that we not only listen to favorite or even unknown Christmas hymns, but that we look at the lyrics in our hymnbooks and read them as religious poetry. Yes, I realize lyrics are not poems as they are tied to the music, but nonetheless, they offer us a window in the Yuletide world.
For instance, I love O Little Child of Bethlehem. the great Phillips Brooks. He had visited the Holy Land and wrote the words for a Christmas program and induced his organist to write the tune for it. How are the hopes and fears of all the years met in the child (v.1)? Notice in v. 2 how he makes all nature sing for the birth, as if he is not satisfied, or nature is left unsatisfied, by the angel chorus. The last two verses are wonders. Amid all of the noise of Christmas celebration, he now emphasizes silence. Meek souls, like Tiny Tim receive Jesus. That manger image continues, as he asserts that we all act as manger for the baby Jesus. Our lives are the birthing room of the spirit in his view of the Incarnation. From silence, we now hear the good news, the glad tidings of Christmas. He ends with the phrase Emmanuel. In Hebrew it means God with us. How that comes to new life and meaning when we claim the Incarnation of God’s own vision, God’s logos, message (John 1:1, 14) into “world of sin.” I would argue that we have a whole theological world summoned by these four verses, an entry point into a much deeper awareness of the depth of Christmas than greeting card could hope to convey.
Augustine famously said that singing a hymn is praying twice. I suggest that praying them again with attention to the words is an excellent spiritual practice for Advent to prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas. It’s easy to do, but you will note that a meditative air will come over you as you pause to work with the hymns and take a break from the frenzied rush of the holidays. after all, holiday comes from Old English for a holy day. Hymns provide a portal into the holy in the middle of everyday life.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sermon Notes first sunday Advent 11
Another Advent begins. Originally, it meant the arrival of a great personage, like the arrival of air Force One or getting to meet David Frees. Just like the origin of January, and the Roman god of two faces who looked forward and back, Advent looks forward and back. It looks not only back at the first Advent of Jesus Christ but also toward the second Advent when at some point God’s vision for the world comes to a completion.
I am with the writer of this chapter of Isaiah. He is writing to people to people who were promised better days, but they have not seen them yet, and they are getting frustrated. On 9/11 I prayed aloud why the plane cold not be turned as the red Sea had parted. I get so fed up that I do wish that I could see a sing of God wiping away the injustice and pain all around and putting us on new and better footing. I pass by a sign for a bankruptcy attorney on the road and it promises a fresh start, a second chance for people drowning in unpaid bills and debts. When I am in a down mood, I review the news and want to give up. Wouldn’t it be great to see the power of god clearly on the side of right in power? Isaiah begs God to remember all of the prayers and good deeds of the people. They were promised that punishment was closing down after the terrible events of the destruction of Jerusalem.When is enough, enough? When would they see some good from God’s hand.?
We who watch movies have better sense of apocalyptic material than previous readers. we are used to images coming at us quickly, and we learn a film grammar that helps us to make sense of them. i remember when our girls were little they knew when a commercial was coming up by camera angle changes and the music.When I was a kid saxophone music and a fire signalled a romantic interlude.
Mark’s 13 uses end time imagery to once again imagine in a biblically tutored way, the shape of things to come. Rahner sees our passage looking ahead to a reality that will come without fail (without specific timetable) and a person who unhurriedly works at a task within each day granted.” Over time apocalyptic material said the new creation would be prepared by the shaking of the old creation. The order of Genesis one would be shaken. Lenin said to make an omelet the chef has to break some eggs.
Ched Myers argues well that the turn of the ages is connected to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. the new age means that the powers of the world will fall like leaves on a tree. That means any power structure, economic, political, even religious that does fit god;s vision for a world fit for human beings.the times they are a changing, as Bob Dylan, someone familiar with apocalyptic thought wrote when a young man.
Facing a new church year, or a new page on the calendar can cause affirmation, perplexity, or fear.I don;t know if I want to get pinned down that advent means that the world is moving toward God’s constant reweaving the new creation, or that God is always on the move toward us. At this point in the life of this congregation, we do well to deepen our spiritual lives with advent devotions and rituals. Together we do well to consider where we are moving to meet God. Where God is coming toward us? What is on the horizon? What would we like to see on the far boundary?
I am with the writer of this chapter of Isaiah. He is writing to people to people who were promised better days, but they have not seen them yet, and they are getting frustrated. On 9/11 I prayed aloud why the plane cold not be turned as the red Sea had parted. I get so fed up that I do wish that I could see a sing of God wiping away the injustice and pain all around and putting us on new and better footing. I pass by a sign for a bankruptcy attorney on the road and it promises a fresh start, a second chance for people drowning in unpaid bills and debts. When I am in a down mood, I review the news and want to give up. Wouldn’t it be great to see the power of god clearly on the side of right in power? Isaiah begs God to remember all of the prayers and good deeds of the people. They were promised that punishment was closing down after the terrible events of the destruction of Jerusalem.When is enough, enough? When would they see some good from God’s hand.?
We who watch movies have better sense of apocalyptic material than previous readers. we are used to images coming at us quickly, and we learn a film grammar that helps us to make sense of them. i remember when our girls were little they knew when a commercial was coming up by camera angle changes and the music.When I was a kid saxophone music and a fire signalled a romantic interlude.
Mark’s 13 uses end time imagery to once again imagine in a biblically tutored way, the shape of things to come. Rahner sees our passage looking ahead to a reality that will come without fail (without specific timetable) and a person who unhurriedly works at a task within each day granted.” Over time apocalyptic material said the new creation would be prepared by the shaking of the old creation. The order of Genesis one would be shaken. Lenin said to make an omelet the chef has to break some eggs.
Ched Myers argues well that the turn of the ages is connected to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. the new age means that the powers of the world will fall like leaves on a tree. That means any power structure, economic, political, even religious that does fit god;s vision for a world fit for human beings.the times they are a changing, as Bob Dylan, someone familiar with apocalyptic thought wrote when a young man.
Facing a new church year, or a new page on the calendar can cause affirmation, perplexity, or fear.I don;t know if I want to get pinned down that advent means that the world is moving toward God’s constant reweaving the new creation, or that God is always on the move toward us. At this point in the life of this congregation, we do well to deepen our spiritual lives with advent devotions and rituals. Together we do well to consider where we are moving to meet God. Where God is coming toward us? What is on the horizon? What would we like to see on the far boundary?
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Nov. 20 Week Devotions
Nov. 20-Some think that Psalm 100 is a closing for the kingship psalms that precede it. It is selected for Christ the King Sunday to pick up the sheep/shepherd image of this day, a biblical image for being followers and a leader. We have the hymn tune, Old Hundreth, from the paraphrase of the psalm that became All People that On earth. The original tune was probably by Louis bourgeois for the Geneva Psalter for Ps. 134. hear the tune as one that suited for royalty.
Monday-Some folks are using gratitude as a spiritual practice by noting something or someone for whom they are grateful for 30 days in a row. I like how it turns some perspective around. one woman started off complaining about having a car repair but then being grateful that she has a good car, that she has a mechanic whom she trusts, that she has the money to pay for the repair bill. Consider praying a list of things and people for which and for whom your are grateful.
consider making it a part of grace prior to the Thanksgiving meal.
Tuesday-We are hurtling toward Advent, the time of spiritual preparation for both the second Advent, the end times being fulfilled, and the first Advent of Christmas, of the Incarnation. many people are already preparing make-ahead food for the holiday.The house is getting cleaned up. the rest of the menu is planned and scheduled. what if we put just a fraction of that kind of energy and effort in spiritual work for Advent?
Wednesday-Family gatherings are stressful as expectations and image collide with reality. it’s no accident that fictional gatherings are often difficult, because the inspiration is drawn from actual experience. (I pray that we can create the desire and space for reconciliation where needed. i pray that we have some ground rules to try to avoid the hurt feelings that seem to come with holidays. i pray that we honor those who cannot ever again join us at table, in this life.
Thanksgiving-I’ve always loved this holiday. yes, i eat too much, but even as a little kid I liked the idea that this day was about gratitude. It also brings a smile about my late mother. She never properly thawed the turkey, so it was a bit slow in getting up to temperature. Not willing to admit to not giving the bird time to thaw, she announced her theory that all of the ovens that were on caused a brownout that made her oven, and only her oven, slow due to less current.
Black Friday-I’m a frugal person, well cheap on a lot of things, so I like the idea of people looking for bargains today. On the other hand, the excess of this day is a walking example of coveting , envy, and greed rolled into a consumer frenzy. we get up at hours we would never consider, but do so without complaint today. Agai always had hot turkey sandwiches, and I still love them. At the same time, that sign of abundance can get old, and sometimes they get wasted. We are given such spiritual abundance. Even the scraps from that table are fit for ron, I pray that sometimes we would have some of the same expectancy for spending time with god, for doing something kind for another person, for tending the garden of our relationships.
Saturday-Leftovers from Thursday can become an issue already. Some of us like some leftovers better than the original. Weyalty. May we never let that outpouring of divine favor ever go to waste.
Monday-Some folks are using gratitude as a spiritual practice by noting something or someone for whom they are grateful for 30 days in a row. I like how it turns some perspective around. one woman started off complaining about having a car repair but then being grateful that she has a good car, that she has a mechanic whom she trusts, that she has the money to pay for the repair bill. Consider praying a list of things and people for which and for whom your are grateful.
consider making it a part of grace prior to the Thanksgiving meal.
Tuesday-We are hurtling toward Advent, the time of spiritual preparation for both the second Advent, the end times being fulfilled, and the first Advent of Christmas, of the Incarnation. many people are already preparing make-ahead food for the holiday.The house is getting cleaned up. the rest of the menu is planned and scheduled. what if we put just a fraction of that kind of energy and effort in spiritual work for Advent?
Wednesday-Family gatherings are stressful as expectations and image collide with reality. it’s no accident that fictional gatherings are often difficult, because the inspiration is drawn from actual experience. (I pray that we can create the desire and space for reconciliation where needed. i pray that we have some ground rules to try to avoid the hurt feelings that seem to come with holidays. i pray that we honor those who cannot ever again join us at table, in this life.
Thanksgiving-I’ve always loved this holiday. yes, i eat too much, but even as a little kid I liked the idea that this day was about gratitude. It also brings a smile about my late mother. She never properly thawed the turkey, so it was a bit slow in getting up to temperature. Not willing to admit to not giving the bird time to thaw, she announced her theory that all of the ovens that were on caused a brownout that made her oven, and only her oven, slow due to less current.
Black Friday-I’m a frugal person, well cheap on a lot of things, so I like the idea of people looking for bargains today. On the other hand, the excess of this day is a walking example of coveting , envy, and greed rolled into a consumer frenzy. we get up at hours we would never consider, but do so without complaint today. Agai always had hot turkey sandwiches, and I still love them. At the same time, that sign of abundance can get old, and sometimes they get wasted. We are given such spiritual abundance. Even the scraps from that table are fit for ron, I pray that sometimes we would have some of the same expectancy for spending time with god, for doing something kind for another person, for tending the garden of our relationships.
Saturday-Leftovers from Thursday can become an issue already. Some of us like some leftovers better than the original. Weyalty. May we never let that outpouring of divine favor ever go to waste.
Nov. 27 Week Devotions for Advent
Nov. 27-I was surprised that we use blue instead of purple of Advent. It does make sense to distinguish color from the traditional Lenten color. blue, as in royal blue, awaits the presence, better, the return of Christ the King. Blue is also considered a symbol of hope, a fundamental virtue of this season, perhaps as it lends to the color of the sky, the upward. I have also heard it mentioned that it is the background of the sky for the natal star of the Magi. I realize that many reading this are burdened by the pressure of the holiday.
Monday-Every week, I get a note from the pastor and writer Ira Kent Groff. He reflected on thanksgiving as a spiritual practice last week and he contrasts it to the ancient lex talonis, eye for eye motto. It said me thinking. What if we did reciprocate for every kind deed and word with a correlative kind deed and word? This can be especially helpful when some of us dread seeing some of the relatives or co-workers at all of the gatherings for this season. Martin Seligman has evidence that this act does correlate with a better mood.
Tuesday-Advent we are told is a season of waiting. I hate waiting. when I know I have to be in line, I like to read a book to help quell my annoyance. On the other hand, when i know something is approaching, i do not mind, at least some of the time, preparing for it. when waiting is passive, I get annoyed, but active waiting is often OK. Help make your soulready for Christmas.
Wednesday-Hope emerged as the theme for this Advent week as we lit the first candle. Alexander Dumas:” the sum of the human condition is wait and hope.” With the economy still in the doldrums, hope is a most precious commodity. Hope bends down to look fear in the face and point to better times ahead. Instead of giving into the inaction of despair, we are drawn toward making a dream into reality. As Aristotle said, “hope is a waking dream.”
Thursday-I Cor. 1:3-9 was the epistle reading on Sunday. I latched on to v. 3 that Paul gives thanks to God for them always. we complain about those closest to us much more consistently than we ever give thanks. We can get operatic about complaint but tongue tied about thanksgiving for them. If that seems too much, be grateful for a small blessing. If you are being bored by looking at a relative picture son their cell phone, remember the days when we had to sit through slide shows.
Friday-Susie Delano gave me a set of devotions on the environment from Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. Rebecca Barnes-Davies writes toward the end of her devotion:” May we also take active steps to live rightly and righteously with all God’s creation so that the good news can spread to all places on earth.” We wait for a new heaven and new earth. Can we possibly leave it polluted and despoiled for our progeny and indeed the Creator?
Saturday-Ps. 80 was a reading on Sunday.It has a plaintive sound. It reminds me of the new song by Nick Lowe, House for Sale, where he moves as the love in the home has faded. so, the garden needs tending. In the psalm, the vine Israel, once manicured is left to go untended. We are given a spiritual garden, but we often leave it to lie fallow. Advent is a designated time to work with our spiritual garden as we prepare for the renewal of the gift of Christmas yet again.
Monday-Every week, I get a note from the pastor and writer Ira Kent Groff. He reflected on thanksgiving as a spiritual practice last week and he contrasts it to the ancient lex talonis, eye for eye motto. It said me thinking. What if we did reciprocate for every kind deed and word with a correlative kind deed and word? This can be especially helpful when some of us dread seeing some of the relatives or co-workers at all of the gatherings for this season. Martin Seligman has evidence that this act does correlate with a better mood.
Tuesday-Advent we are told is a season of waiting. I hate waiting. when I know I have to be in line, I like to read a book to help quell my annoyance. On the other hand, when i know something is approaching, i do not mind, at least some of the time, preparing for it. when waiting is passive, I get annoyed, but active waiting is often OK. Help make your soulready for Christmas.
Wednesday-Hope emerged as the theme for this Advent week as we lit the first candle. Alexander Dumas:” the sum of the human condition is wait and hope.” With the economy still in the doldrums, hope is a most precious commodity. Hope bends down to look fear in the face and point to better times ahead. Instead of giving into the inaction of despair, we are drawn toward making a dream into reality. As Aristotle said, “hope is a waking dream.”
Thursday-I Cor. 1:3-9 was the epistle reading on Sunday. I latched on to v. 3 that Paul gives thanks to God for them always. we complain about those closest to us much more consistently than we ever give thanks. We can get operatic about complaint but tongue tied about thanksgiving for them. If that seems too much, be grateful for a small blessing. If you are being bored by looking at a relative picture son their cell phone, remember the days when we had to sit through slide shows.
Friday-Susie Delano gave me a set of devotions on the environment from Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. Rebecca Barnes-Davies writes toward the end of her devotion:” May we also take active steps to live rightly and righteously with all God’s creation so that the good news can spread to all places on earth.” We wait for a new heaven and new earth. Can we possibly leave it polluted and despoiled for our progeny and indeed the Creator?
Saturday-Ps. 80 was a reading on Sunday.It has a plaintive sound. It reminds me of the new song by Nick Lowe, House for Sale, where he moves as the love in the home has faded. so, the garden needs tending. In the psalm, the vine Israel, once manicured is left to go untended. We are given a spiritual garden, but we often leave it to lie fallow. Advent is a designated time to work with our spiritual garden as we prepare for the renewal of the gift of Christmas yet again.
Black Friday Column
Black Friday. In the stock market that is a phrase that strikes terror for investors. Today it marks a color of hope for retailers who depend on this season to move from the red into the black ink of profit. this year some stores never closed.People who would never get up early normally are in the lines to find the promised bargains at the big box stores.
Religious killjoys love to take shots at Black Friday. for us, it is the height of a consumerist culture gone mad, covetousness in the flesh. I don’t want to be a killjoy today. It’s fun for a lot of people to go into a shopping frenzy. it has the feel of a hunt for game. One of the reasons the stores were packed early in the morning is that we are also demonstrating the virtue of being frugal..
Some of us need some time out of the house after trudging through time with family as if it were a forced march in the gulag. I had a friend who worked part-time as a bartender. he loved going into work on Thanksgiving afternoon. As he said, “by 2PM most of us have had enough of family, so the tips are really good when I can serve them a drink without giving them any advice or trying to get under their skin.”
I am grateful that a lot of new movies come out where we can find some refuge during the holiday weekend. For a couple of hours, movies provide an escape from the stress and strain of the holiday weekend. If different generations go and enjoy say, the new Muppet movie, it gives shared experience, and maybe even a bonding experience.
Some of us want some time getting after we have been hit with righteous, sometimes unctuous, demands that we must, must, be thankful, be grateful that reach a culmination on Thanksgiving day. On this day after Thanksgiving, I wonder abut the efficacy of trying to use guilt as a weapon to try to force people to be grateful.
Emerging work in social psychology demonstrates that gratitude makes us feel better and handle trouble better. A recent study found that students who had made a point of being grateful handled a poor set of remarks on an essay better. Story Corps is asking us all over the country to thank a teacher directly or posting a memory on their site. NPR ran a whole series on the project yesterday. You could hear the deep emotion from those who thanked a teacher. You could hear the shock and surprise of people who said that they never realized that they made a difference in someone’s life and were thrilled to actually hear an old student actually tell them.
I went to a rigid, punitive Catholic school. We had one teacher who was not a nun, Helen. She wanted to enter a religious order but she honored her father’s command not to do so. Instead she devoted her life to the church and class by class was able to teach. It was not what she taught us, not that she was often frustrated with us, but she was the teacher who loved us and showed a love of God every day of her life.. When I was an adult, I ran into her, and her face shone as she heard what we were doing. The stores are filled with people whose lives were touched by teachers. Teachers enable us to earn a living to be in these stores. They gave us the tools to examine consumerism or to be come literate observers of movies, and maybe even the relational tools to deal with family. I thank God for their impact, even on Black Friday.
Religious killjoys love to take shots at Black Friday. for us, it is the height of a consumerist culture gone mad, covetousness in the flesh. I don’t want to be a killjoy today. It’s fun for a lot of people to go into a shopping frenzy. it has the feel of a hunt for game. One of the reasons the stores were packed early in the morning is that we are also demonstrating the virtue of being frugal..
Some of us need some time out of the house after trudging through time with family as if it were a forced march in the gulag. I had a friend who worked part-time as a bartender. he loved going into work on Thanksgiving afternoon. As he said, “by 2PM most of us have had enough of family, so the tips are really good when I can serve them a drink without giving them any advice or trying to get under their skin.”
I am grateful that a lot of new movies come out where we can find some refuge during the holiday weekend. For a couple of hours, movies provide an escape from the stress and strain of the holiday weekend. If different generations go and enjoy say, the new Muppet movie, it gives shared experience, and maybe even a bonding experience.
Some of us want some time getting after we have been hit with righteous, sometimes unctuous, demands that we must, must, be thankful, be grateful that reach a culmination on Thanksgiving day. On this day after Thanksgiving, I wonder abut the efficacy of trying to use guilt as a weapon to try to force people to be grateful.
Emerging work in social psychology demonstrates that gratitude makes us feel better and handle trouble better. A recent study found that students who had made a point of being grateful handled a poor set of remarks on an essay better. Story Corps is asking us all over the country to thank a teacher directly or posting a memory on their site. NPR ran a whole series on the project yesterday. You could hear the deep emotion from those who thanked a teacher. You could hear the shock and surprise of people who said that they never realized that they made a difference in someone’s life and were thrilled to actually hear an old student actually tell them.
I went to a rigid, punitive Catholic school. We had one teacher who was not a nun, Helen. She wanted to enter a religious order but she honored her father’s command not to do so. Instead she devoted her life to the church and class by class was able to teach. It was not what she taught us, not that she was often frustrated with us, but she was the teacher who loved us and showed a love of God every day of her life.. When I was an adult, I ran into her, and her face shone as she heard what we were doing. The stores are filled with people whose lives were touched by teachers. Teachers enable us to earn a living to be in these stores. They gave us the tools to examine consumerism or to be come literate observers of movies, and maybe even the relational tools to deal with family. I thank God for their impact, even on Black Friday.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
OT Notes Is. 40:1-11
1) Calvin noticed that a difference in tone starts here in the book. Most of us think that much of the next chapters reflect an exilic promise, far removed from the earlier material’s major concern.Not only that we are in a sort of choral back and forth with different voices.
2) Comfort here is a verb, an imperative plural verb. I guess it is devoted to a divine audience in heaven. If earth-directed who is to provide the comfort?
3) The response is one of resignation. Why bother. Life is transient.
4) Mark uses some of this material to introduce the gospel and the Baptist.
5) Double for her sins. The punishments were more than condign, they exceeded a proper sentence. Is this not more than tough love?
6) When God promises to be the shepherd, it is a swipe at the failed human leaders/ shepherds. Is it an admission of divine failure, of misplaced confidence in human leaders?
7) does the statement about the transitory nature of life, as in the flower fades, get a satisfactory resolution or response, or did I miss it? How do you find comfort over that point, or as Bruce Springsteen says, “everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.”
8) If I remember correctly Lee Michaels had a hit with a song that started out, it;s been 14 days, and Art Garfunkel had a song 99 miles. both deal with yearning on the road. Maybe that would be a good entry point to consider the King’s highway o this passage.
9) Don;t let it slip by you in the rush to finish. There it is again: do not be afraid/do not fear.
2) Comfort here is a verb, an imperative plural verb. I guess it is devoted to a divine audience in heaven. If earth-directed who is to provide the comfort?
3) The response is one of resignation. Why bother. Life is transient.
4) Mark uses some of this material to introduce the gospel and the Baptist.
5) Double for her sins. The punishments were more than condign, they exceeded a proper sentence. Is this not more than tough love?
6) When God promises to be the shepherd, it is a swipe at the failed human leaders/ shepherds. Is it an admission of divine failure, of misplaced confidence in human leaders?
7) does the statement about the transitory nature of life, as in the flower fades, get a satisfactory resolution or response, or did I miss it? How do you find comfort over that point, or as Bruce Springsteen says, “everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.”
8) If I remember correctly Lee Michaels had a hit with a song that started out, it;s been 14 days, and Art Garfunkel had a song 99 miles. both deal with yearning on the road. Maybe that would be a good entry point to consider the King’s highway o this passage.
9) Don;t let it slip by you in the rush to finish. There it is again: do not be afraid/do not fear.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sermon Notes for Christ the King '11 mt. 25:31-46, Ezek. 34:11-25
In this famous story from Matthew, one group does good without recognizing the true identity of its recipient.they would act within the Jesus way no matter the nature of the recipient, as they regard only the need. they act without looking toward heavenly reward.
Well, we would have reacted within the Jesus Way if only we had known who was hidden behind the mask of poverty. Notice that neither party recognized Jesus hidden among the needy.(Barclay calls it uncalculating help, not disguised selfishness).Maybe the sheer weight and size of the need blinded them both. I want refuge in a sanctuary, as it feels at times that there’s not enough of me, not enough of us, to make a dent in the constant waters of need that comes lapping at the door. Another approach is Ezekiel’s disgust with those charged to take care of needy people in the community, so instead God will take the reins. Notice its violent end for the fat and strong sheep. Apparently, they have lived easily but not forever.
I am always troubled that people may use this story to illustrate the way of Jesus as some sort of command and literal picture of the way of God. This is not, not a guidepost to the citizenry of heaven, as that determination is made by the grace of the god of all mercies. This is a story to illustrate the meaning of love of neighbor and God, the hinge of the approach to life of Judaism. this is a guide to a kingdom of heaven ethic in this life. If we accept that the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of grace, then God no more totes up charitable activities than other good deeds in the divine scoreboard. It is that very vision of grace that has the charitable group having their hearts and minds expanded to act as the do, without consideration of deservering or not.
Second, I fear that this passage creates confusion between justice and charity in the mind of Christians. Yes, we are called to help out people in trouble. The problem is that they are band-aids, needed things for healing but still temporary expedients. Justice calls us to watch out for the conditions that cause the problems mentioned here in the first place. Justice calls us to notice when a social system is weighted for or against groups of people, so that people in similar situations are not treated in similar ways. Indeed injustice makes it impossible for that to happen. it is as if the race of life is rigged from the start, or that unfair obstacles and advantages are handed out during the race.
For Americans, the use of words such as king and kingdom are deeply problematic. Plus, it casts us in the 21st century to thoughts of movies about the Middle Ages, so it sets our thoughts on the distant past, not the contentious present and the bright future. Yet, Christ the boss, the CEO, the president lack something.Ephesians talks big words about the power of the cosmic Christ enthroned in heaven, but that rule can still be as dimly perceived as the characters in the story of the sheep and goats. In the end, God will sort things out, but that does not releive us of responsibility toward each other in the here and now.
I remember from Catholic school. Martin of Tours was a soldier returning home, broke and weary. A shivering beggar asked him for money. having none, martin took his sword and cut his weather-beaten and torn cloak in half and laid it on the man. In a dream he he saw Jesus in the throne room of heaven, just like the vision of John that we read on All Saints Day.When an angel asked where Jesus received the garment, Jesus replied that his servant Martin gave it to him.
Well, we would have reacted within the Jesus Way if only we had known who was hidden behind the mask of poverty. Notice that neither party recognized Jesus hidden among the needy.(Barclay calls it uncalculating help, not disguised selfishness).Maybe the sheer weight and size of the need blinded them both. I want refuge in a sanctuary, as it feels at times that there’s not enough of me, not enough of us, to make a dent in the constant waters of need that comes lapping at the door. Another approach is Ezekiel’s disgust with those charged to take care of needy people in the community, so instead God will take the reins. Notice its violent end for the fat and strong sheep. Apparently, they have lived easily but not forever.
I am always troubled that people may use this story to illustrate the way of Jesus as some sort of command and literal picture of the way of God. This is not, not a guidepost to the citizenry of heaven, as that determination is made by the grace of the god of all mercies. This is a story to illustrate the meaning of love of neighbor and God, the hinge of the approach to life of Judaism. this is a guide to a kingdom of heaven ethic in this life. If we accept that the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of grace, then God no more totes up charitable activities than other good deeds in the divine scoreboard. It is that very vision of grace that has the charitable group having their hearts and minds expanded to act as the do, without consideration of deservering or not.
Second, I fear that this passage creates confusion between justice and charity in the mind of Christians. Yes, we are called to help out people in trouble. The problem is that they are band-aids, needed things for healing but still temporary expedients. Justice calls us to watch out for the conditions that cause the problems mentioned here in the first place. Justice calls us to notice when a social system is weighted for or against groups of people, so that people in similar situations are not treated in similar ways. Indeed injustice makes it impossible for that to happen. it is as if the race of life is rigged from the start, or that unfair obstacles and advantages are handed out during the race.
For Americans, the use of words such as king and kingdom are deeply problematic. Plus, it casts us in the 21st century to thoughts of movies about the Middle Ages, so it sets our thoughts on the distant past, not the contentious present and the bright future. Yet, Christ the boss, the CEO, the president lack something.Ephesians talks big words about the power of the cosmic Christ enthroned in heaven, but that rule can still be as dimly perceived as the characters in the story of the sheep and goats. In the end, God will sort things out, but that does not releive us of responsibility toward each other in the here and now.
I remember from Catholic school. Martin of Tours was a soldier returning home, broke and weary. A shivering beggar asked him for money. having none, martin took his sword and cut his weather-beaten and torn cloak in half and laid it on the man. In a dream he he saw Jesus in the throne room of heaven, just like the vision of John that we read on All Saints Day.When an angel asked where Jesus received the garment, Jesus replied that his servant Martin gave it to him.
Is. 64:1-9 reading for First Sunday in Advent
I don’t know how popular the idea is anymore, but in the olden days in seminary, chs. 55-6 were called third Isaiah, as it seemed different from so called Second Is. that starts at ch. 40. It is considered post-exilic, but the rub was that the people thought life would be great, and it’s not. I think most people now see Is as a thoroughly composite piece through editorial hands where section seemed mixed throughout.
By the way, Patricia Tull has a series on thoughtful christian for Advent on the readings from the OT. Her erudition, writing style, and insight are highly recommended.
1) Many hold that we need to back up and read this as a continuation of a communal lament hat starts in ch. 63.
2) this is an instance of using the familial Father in the OT.
3) This can be read as saying the prayers are not forthcoming because God has been hidden. In other words, if god were more forthcoming, so would the prayers.
4) I really felt with the writer on 9/11. Why couldn’t the airplanes have moved? For that matter why not the Pentagon and the WTC? Why couldn’t the plane over Pennsylvania made a nice soft landing? Will we ever see the likes o the parting of the red Sea or the stopping of the Jordan again?:
Apocalyptic material is most alluring when we are at the end o our rope an we feel helpless to change things on our own.
5) What part of contemporary life would you like to see shaken to its core?
6) I am so struck by the sheer longing in this prayer. It does not want god to be present, to be near. it wants action.
7) It is also both plaintive and daring. It seems to say that look, you made us, so why act surprised when we act out.
8) In the Incarnation, it has been said, god meets us halfway.It fits this passage. Instead of us coming to god, the prayer wants God to come to us. It is an Advent prayer.
By the way, Patricia Tull has a series on thoughtful christian for Advent on the readings from the OT. Her erudition, writing style, and insight are highly recommended.
1) Many hold that we need to back up and read this as a continuation of a communal lament hat starts in ch. 63.
2) this is an instance of using the familial Father in the OT.
3) This can be read as saying the prayers are not forthcoming because God has been hidden. In other words, if god were more forthcoming, so would the prayers.
4) I really felt with the writer on 9/11. Why couldn’t the airplanes have moved? For that matter why not the Pentagon and the WTC? Why couldn’t the plane over Pennsylvania made a nice soft landing? Will we ever see the likes o the parting of the red Sea or the stopping of the Jordan again?:
Apocalyptic material is most alluring when we are at the end o our rope an we feel helpless to change things on our own.
5) What part of contemporary life would you like to see shaken to its core?
6) I am so struck by the sheer longing in this prayer. It does not want god to be present, to be near. it wants action.
7) It is also both plaintive and daring. It seems to say that look, you made us, so why act surprised when we act out.
8) In the Incarnation, it has been said, god meets us halfway.It fits this passage. Instead of us coming to god, the prayer wants God to come to us. It is an Advent prayer.
Monday, November 14, 2011
OT lection notes: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-4
1) The ancient near East used the shepherd image for political leadership.
2) God is often put out with the political leadership of Israel and Judah.
3) In this thick metaphor, god will move the people back to home pasture many miles away.
4) This time, God will become their shepherd. Is this an end time image?
5) We have echoes in other passage, especially John 10 and Ps. 23, Heb. 13:20, I Pet. 2:25
6) How would you amplify what it means to be led with justice?
7) what do you think sheep and goats signify here? After all, they did graze together. I have read that they were in different partitions at night. Is there a link to the scapegoat? They were both sacrificed..
8) Notice how the weakness of the sheep seems to be the concern. The best sheep, the strong will be destroyed. Why? On the other hand, sheep in pasture lie down when secure, no?
9) When we reach 20-4 it is between sheep where real trouble lies. The stronger sheep prey on the weaker ones. far be it from me to suggest that Ezekiel is engaged in “class warfare.”
2) God is often put out with the political leadership of Israel and Judah.
3) In this thick metaphor, god will move the people back to home pasture many miles away.
4) This time, God will become their shepherd. Is this an end time image?
5) We have echoes in other passage, especially John 10 and Ps. 23, Heb. 13:20, I Pet. 2:25
6) How would you amplify what it means to be led with justice?
7) what do you think sheep and goats signify here? After all, they did graze together. I have read that they were in different partitions at night. Is there a link to the scapegoat? They were both sacrificed..
8) Notice how the weakness of the sheep seems to be the concern. The best sheep, the strong will be destroyed. Why? On the other hand, sheep in pasture lie down when secure, no?
9) When we reach 20-4 it is between sheep where real trouble lies. The stronger sheep prey on the weaker ones. far be it from me to suggest that Ezekiel is engaged in “class warfare.”
Friday, November 11, 2011
Sermon 11/13 Notes for Mt. 25:14-20, Ps. 123, I Thes. 5:1-11
What do we do with the inestimable gifts of God at our disposal and expectation of stewardship, including the mysteries of God? Do we make use of them or do we tuck them away out of fear, even contempt for the gifts? We have a vast array of gifts at our disposal and we parcel them out as if we are stranded castaways with no idea about our next meal. In other words, we live like the last servant without as much and afraid of losing what he has. Even though it is mcuh, he perceives it as just a little. We have a variety of ways to estimate a talent, but it is big bucks, let’s say a low of 300K to a high of billion. Jesus selects these enormous sums as hyperbole to get attention and to make a point.
The kingdom of heaven point is that no one knows when the master will return, now or in some distant futurity.Don’t rest on the abundance given you, blossom and flourish, grow into the better future that lies before us. The last person catches our attention as his great gift, that looks small only in comparison to what is lavished on the first tow finds that the money is given over to those who used their gift wisely and well. what stopped him cold? Fear, fear of retribution, fear of being judged harshly, fear of failure stopped him and had him bury the gift as if it were dead, even more foolish than hiding it under a mattress in the face of wall Street perfidy. No risk, no change, no possibility for growth. Instead of entering the joy of the manager to do more work in partnership, instead the fearful one loses relationship too, in effect his relationship is buried, but he has placed himself into a coffin of fear Unable to see a world of abundance and grace, he acts out of a consciousness of scarcity and lack. Unable to see grace, he sees only the possibility of retribution. as Charlotte Bronte remarked that is indeed a pity “to try nothing and leave your life a blank.” As Eliot wrote of Prufrock he measured out his life in teaspoons, instead of seeing a world where our cups runneth over, where the tables are sagging under the weight of presents, where there is plenty more where that came from. As Ps 123 demonstrates it is a terrible thing to be a victim of contempt, especially when it is self-imposed.
I Thes. 5 and being sober, alert and ready be prepared the boy scouts say. Instead of saying that the condition of our experience is completely out of our hands, Paul encourages us to use what we have in this interim period between the arrival of Jesus into the world and the final consummation of the plan of God that is not known to us, as Rev. Camping again demonstrated last month. Yes, change is coming, as certain as inevitable as labor pains for the birth of the new. No matter our sophistication at this point, we still cannot say with confidence exactly when they will come upon a woman or even if they are the contractions of an intimation of labor.Notice with some care the military image drawn from Is. 59:17. Paul then uses the trinity of virtues:faith, hope, and love. Yes, it is militant language but for the cause of non-violent action and change.
None of us know the day or hour of the Second Advent or of our entrance into god’s realm upon our deaths. Both readings tell us to live as fully as we can in this world. We can squeeze every bit of life we can out of our days here, maybe especially because their duration is uncertain.
The kingdom of heaven point is that no one knows when the master will return, now or in some distant futurity.Don’t rest on the abundance given you, blossom and flourish, grow into the better future that lies before us. The last person catches our attention as his great gift, that looks small only in comparison to what is lavished on the first tow finds that the money is given over to those who used their gift wisely and well. what stopped him cold? Fear, fear of retribution, fear of being judged harshly, fear of failure stopped him and had him bury the gift as if it were dead, even more foolish than hiding it under a mattress in the face of wall Street perfidy. No risk, no change, no possibility for growth. Instead of entering the joy of the manager to do more work in partnership, instead the fearful one loses relationship too, in effect his relationship is buried, but he has placed himself into a coffin of fear Unable to see a world of abundance and grace, he acts out of a consciousness of scarcity and lack. Unable to see grace, he sees only the possibility of retribution. as Charlotte Bronte remarked that is indeed a pity “to try nothing and leave your life a blank.” As Eliot wrote of Prufrock he measured out his life in teaspoons, instead of seeing a world where our cups runneth over, where the tables are sagging under the weight of presents, where there is plenty more where that came from. As Ps 123 demonstrates it is a terrible thing to be a victim of contempt, especially when it is self-imposed.
I Thes. 5 and being sober, alert and ready be prepared the boy scouts say. Instead of saying that the condition of our experience is completely out of our hands, Paul encourages us to use what we have in this interim period between the arrival of Jesus into the world and the final consummation of the plan of God that is not known to us, as Rev. Camping again demonstrated last month. Yes, change is coming, as certain as inevitable as labor pains for the birth of the new. No matter our sophistication at this point, we still cannot say with confidence exactly when they will come upon a woman or even if they are the contractions of an intimation of labor.Notice with some care the military image drawn from Is. 59:17. Paul then uses the trinity of virtues:faith, hope, and love. Yes, it is militant language but for the cause of non-violent action and change.
None of us know the day or hour of the Second Advent or of our entrance into god’s realm upon our deaths. Both readings tell us to live as fully as we can in this world. We can squeeze every bit of life we can out of our days here, maybe especially because their duration is uncertain.
devotions Week of 11/13
Sunday Nov. 13 Ps. 123-Prays to god for mercy as they have seen too much of contempt. that is a powerful word, as it is redolent of disdain, race, of being treated as lower than dirt. I don;t know what’s worse, to be treated with contempt or to treat others with contempt. The latter is a highly developed vice among the religious, no? Perhaps the saddest thing is when love, say between a couple, transmutes over time into contempt. Thank God the Holy One does not ever treat us with contempt.
Monday-The falling leaves are often beautiful, but the trees show the transience of life. Perhaps I like autumn as it has the sense of the fragility of life coupled with the stunning, transient beauty of the leaves of yellow, rust, and red. (I just checked outside the window to look for more colors). It sounds like the reading for December 4 from Is. 40. In the midst of transience and pain, the prophet is urged to give comfort, to speak tenderly. What are your favorite sources for comfort?
Tuesday- I’m hoping to see Paul Simon play today. He worked for years with a partner, and he has had much success on his own as a singer/songwriter. His most recent release demonstrates that he feels the breath of mortality on his neck. “It seems our fate/to suffer and wait/for the knowledge we seek.” He writes of a line in heaven like a line at the Dept. of Motor vehicles. He looks at the afterlife seriously, but not too seriously. Come to think of it, that is not a bad angle of vision for the christian, is it?
Wednesday-I was accosted yet again by someone saying that we don’t hear enough about hell in church anymore.That may well be true, but part of me wants to respond that we don;t hear enough about loving God and each other enough either. Wanting to hear about hell either believes that fear is the best religious weapon or it give solace that one is not destined for hell, but others are. Maybe it’s the same impulse that likes to be scared by roller coasters or horror flicks. it takes some of the fear out of the unknown.
Thursday-I smile when I hear young people especially, say the great phrase, I’m bored. Young people post it on facebook with a thrill of discovery and publicity. Sometimes i think bored means that we are not in a relationship.Maybe it’s being lost and not knowing what to do with time and energy. maybe it’s a tactic to avoid a project, and it’s safer to take on a stance instead of action.
Friday-Peter Forsyth writes:””Isolation means arrested development...Social life, duty, and sympathy are the only conditions where true personality can be shaped....Christ comes to the rescue with the gift of faith both to an active spirit and of a society complete in Himself.” Now prayer by oneself is not isolation, as it is always communication with the Holy Other.
Saturday- I make a presentation on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible for presbytery this morning. We owe our sense of what elevated language should sound like due to its rich language and cadence. In a way, it is what we imagine God’s majesty should sound like. The danger lies in thinking that religious language can only sound like Shakespeare and not in the everyday tongues where we are unaware that we hear angles speaking.
Monday-The falling leaves are often beautiful, but the trees show the transience of life. Perhaps I like autumn as it has the sense of the fragility of life coupled with the stunning, transient beauty of the leaves of yellow, rust, and red. (I just checked outside the window to look for more colors). It sounds like the reading for December 4 from Is. 40. In the midst of transience and pain, the prophet is urged to give comfort, to speak tenderly. What are your favorite sources for comfort?
Tuesday- I’m hoping to see Paul Simon play today. He worked for years with a partner, and he has had much success on his own as a singer/songwriter. His most recent release demonstrates that he feels the breath of mortality on his neck. “It seems our fate/to suffer and wait/for the knowledge we seek.” He writes of a line in heaven like a line at the Dept. of Motor vehicles. He looks at the afterlife seriously, but not too seriously. Come to think of it, that is not a bad angle of vision for the christian, is it?
Wednesday-I was accosted yet again by someone saying that we don’t hear enough about hell in church anymore.That may well be true, but part of me wants to respond that we don;t hear enough about loving God and each other enough either. Wanting to hear about hell either believes that fear is the best religious weapon or it give solace that one is not destined for hell, but others are. Maybe it’s the same impulse that likes to be scared by roller coasters or horror flicks. it takes some of the fear out of the unknown.
Thursday-I smile when I hear young people especially, say the great phrase, I’m bored. Young people post it on facebook with a thrill of discovery and publicity. Sometimes i think bored means that we are not in a relationship.Maybe it’s being lost and not knowing what to do with time and energy. maybe it’s a tactic to avoid a project, and it’s safer to take on a stance instead of action.
Friday-Peter Forsyth writes:””Isolation means arrested development...Social life, duty, and sympathy are the only conditions where true personality can be shaped....Christ comes to the rescue with the gift of faith both to an active spirit and of a society complete in Himself.” Now prayer by oneself is not isolation, as it is always communication with the Holy Other.
Saturday- I make a presentation on the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible for presbytery this morning. We owe our sense of what elevated language should sound like due to its rich language and cadence. In a way, it is what we imagine God’s majesty should sound like. The danger lies in thinking that religious language can only sound like Shakespeare and not in the everyday tongues where we are unaware that we hear angles speaking.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Sermon for Lovejoy Vesper Service 11/6 College Ave. Pres.
One of the readings in many churches this morning was the end of joshua and memory. Here we are poised between memory and living a legacy. We cannot cannot carry on Lovejoy’s work beset by anxiety, worn out from trying to attend to too many cases of social triage as they seem to besiege us from all sides day after day. So many worthy waves of crying need lap up on the little boats of the church requesting, deserving special attention.
Even though the book of Dt.. countenances slavery, it moves toward a more human position. It shows movement in the culture, and the bible recognizes it. Sometimes, the culture can teach the gospel to the church. Lovejoy and his fellows countered its specific declaration with an overarching biblical theme, the great commandment, love god and love of neighbor. For the bible to be a living word, we cannot expect it to remain forever encased in amber in one historical period. Its ideas are flexible enough to respond to the changes in our perspective. After all, the divine light has different filters, but it always casts light on showing us a vision of how to make life a proper place for human beings to flour9sh.
We have people all through this community in need of mental health services. Their need for services is acute for a simple reason; they cannot take care of themselves. We probably did right closing the warehouse scale institutions for mental health, but we never came through with a community based system to take care of the mentally ill. we have a mental health facility right here falling into disrepair from disuse, with people sleeping on the streets. -we have permitted the resurgence of bedlam, of consigning the lost, enslaved to mental illness.
charity v. justice Good Samaritan as neighbor. We are also called to deal with the conditions that make the Jericho road a hotbed for crime. Band aids promote healing but we look to the instruments of harm, the conditions for harm, the structures that consign people to oblivion. we are better at band aids than we are doing the hard work of healing a sin-sick world of injustices.
We acquire some courage in the posture of Jesus in the boat, not the anxiety of the disciples. Peace, be still he says to the waves and perhaps to us as well. reflecting on scripture, meditating on it, praying are not substitutes for action, they mobilize hope into action. they move us from the paralysis of analysis and anxiety into seeing a far horizon, seeing the distant shore, and moving toward it with all of our might. Joshua takes courage with a goal in sight, the promised land in view. Courage is not the absence of fear. courage faces fear down when it looks it in the eye and realizes that it has to bend way down to do it. Courage has its root in taking heart. When we don;t find the courage to work for justice, we expose ourselves as heartless. Of course, e have o be aware, mindful of the need for the inner stability to discover our courage. Becoming captive to fear demonstrates that we are mindless when in thrall to it. Courage is not blind to the facts on the ground, but allied with hop, courage can see past them and catch a glimpse of the future.
the waters are rough, and we all face fear. Our anxiety builds, why doesn;t everyone see things the right way, my way/ where is the progress, why as Weber said is politics the slow boring of hard boards. we pray on earth as it is in heaven but have yet to make human life suitable for humans yet.
Lovejoy lives in this holy place. In the communion of saints, he is with us still, cheering us on. Lovejoy lives in any act of moral courage that bends history toward justice. Lovejoy lives when we discover the courage within ourselves to face down our fears.
Even though the book of Dt.. countenances slavery, it moves toward a more human position. It shows movement in the culture, and the bible recognizes it. Sometimes, the culture can teach the gospel to the church. Lovejoy and his fellows countered its specific declaration with an overarching biblical theme, the great commandment, love god and love of neighbor. For the bible to be a living word, we cannot expect it to remain forever encased in amber in one historical period. Its ideas are flexible enough to respond to the changes in our perspective. After all, the divine light has different filters, but it always casts light on showing us a vision of how to make life a proper place for human beings to flour9sh.
We have people all through this community in need of mental health services. Their need for services is acute for a simple reason; they cannot take care of themselves. We probably did right closing the warehouse scale institutions for mental health, but we never came through with a community based system to take care of the mentally ill. we have a mental health facility right here falling into disrepair from disuse, with people sleeping on the streets. -we have permitted the resurgence of bedlam, of consigning the lost, enslaved to mental illness.
charity v. justice Good Samaritan as neighbor. We are also called to deal with the conditions that make the Jericho road a hotbed for crime. Band aids promote healing but we look to the instruments of harm, the conditions for harm, the structures that consign people to oblivion. we are better at band aids than we are doing the hard work of healing a sin-sick world of injustices.
We acquire some courage in the posture of Jesus in the boat, not the anxiety of the disciples. Peace, be still he says to the waves and perhaps to us as well. reflecting on scripture, meditating on it, praying are not substitutes for action, they mobilize hope into action. they move us from the paralysis of analysis and anxiety into seeing a far horizon, seeing the distant shore, and moving toward it with all of our might. Joshua takes courage with a goal in sight, the promised land in view. Courage is not the absence of fear. courage faces fear down when it looks it in the eye and realizes that it has to bend way down to do it. Courage has its root in taking heart. When we don;t find the courage to work for justice, we expose ourselves as heartless. Of course, e have o be aware, mindful of the need for the inner stability to discover our courage. Becoming captive to fear demonstrates that we are mindless when in thrall to it. Courage is not blind to the facts on the ground, but allied with hop, courage can see past them and catch a glimpse of the future.
the waters are rough, and we all face fear. Our anxiety builds, why doesn;t everyone see things the right way, my way/ where is the progress, why as Weber said is politics the slow boring of hard boards. we pray on earth as it is in heaven but have yet to make human life suitable for humans yet.
Lovejoy lives in this holy place. In the communion of saints, he is with us still, cheering us on. Lovejoy lives in any act of moral courage that bends history toward justice. Lovejoy lives when we discover the courage within ourselves to face down our fears.
sermon Josh. 24, I thes. 4:13-18
11/6 Josh. 24, I Thes. 4
At the end of Israel’s lightning conquest of the Promised land, as much a religious procession as armed conquest, standing stones are placed as a memorial. we have a spate of them recently:MLK ,FDR, Korea, WWII. Lovejoy monument here. Cemeteries are parks of standing stones as our the old church yards. Memory brings the past into the present. Memory can be tricky, a sit is rarely accurate, an dits additions and deletions requre attention as well.
Paul writes in response to the early church in a Greek port: what happened to their friends who had died before the second coming? Would they be lost, forgotten, even by God.
With the enormous popularity of the Left Behind series of books, many Americans were introduced to a fairly recent model for coming to grips with apocalyptic material. All the word means is lifting the lid from a pot, to reveal what is beneath.It is a genre of writing for people who want god to intervene as they have no hope of winning on their own. Here in Paul’s first letter, we see him sing its symbols as a way to tell people that the age has turned in the fullness of time, a new and better age has begun in Jesus Christ.
Rapture theology is part of a fairly recent 19th century view that the apocalyptic material is a recipe book. It tries to tie material together from different places in the bible into a predictive framework for out time.Yes, this is clearly apocalyptic end time material. the word rapture comes from Latin, the word means to snatch or be caught up in Greek. The word was carefully chosen in my view as this same word is usually applied to death snatching us from life itself.
instead of seeing as present with Christ at death, we will be united with Christ, the living and the dead.the dead will not be forgotten. Rapture theology takes it all upside down and has the living separated away in their two stage second coming approach. the living are separated from what they fear would be a period of tribulation, so escape, not compassion is its ruling idea. (Joyce ending) In the end, rapture theology is for people who have lost hope in being agents of the kingdom of heaven and passively await a divine lightning bolt to change things that they have given up on.That is why it is so vital for them to see the world as going downhill, as getting worse and worse, as they want to hasten the end. for them, only a small group will be spared from the lion’s den of contemporary life.
Right after All Saints Day, it is a good time to consider these great words, do not grieve as those who have no hope. Note that it decidedly does not say do not grieve, period. The virtue of hope affects our present. it can give us energy and direction, in spite of, the facts on the ground. A basic truth about us is that we grow attached to people. We often do not have great resources to deal with the loss of someone to whom we are attached. We fear that our attachment now mocks us, as we could be absent forever.Paul offers the encouragement that in the new age we can rely on god’s faithfulness. We will be kept together through the new life in Christ, not our memory, not even the strength of our loves. In other words, Christ’s presence, including divine presence in the passage into heaven gives us ground for hope. Still, here on earth we do grieve, must grieve, should grieve; such is the depth of our attachment; such is the depth of our love.
At the end of Israel’s lightning conquest of the Promised land, as much a religious procession as armed conquest, standing stones are placed as a memorial. we have a spate of them recently:MLK ,FDR, Korea, WWII. Lovejoy monument here. Cemeteries are parks of standing stones as our the old church yards. Memory brings the past into the present. Memory can be tricky, a sit is rarely accurate, an dits additions and deletions requre attention as well.
Paul writes in response to the early church in a Greek port: what happened to their friends who had died before the second coming? Would they be lost, forgotten, even by God.
With the enormous popularity of the Left Behind series of books, many Americans were introduced to a fairly recent model for coming to grips with apocalyptic material. All the word means is lifting the lid from a pot, to reveal what is beneath.It is a genre of writing for people who want god to intervene as they have no hope of winning on their own. Here in Paul’s first letter, we see him sing its symbols as a way to tell people that the age has turned in the fullness of time, a new and better age has begun in Jesus Christ.
Rapture theology is part of a fairly recent 19th century view that the apocalyptic material is a recipe book. It tries to tie material together from different places in the bible into a predictive framework for out time.Yes, this is clearly apocalyptic end time material. the word rapture comes from Latin, the word means to snatch or be caught up in Greek. The word was carefully chosen in my view as this same word is usually applied to death snatching us from life itself.
instead of seeing as present with Christ at death, we will be united with Christ, the living and the dead.the dead will not be forgotten. Rapture theology takes it all upside down and has the living separated away in their two stage second coming approach. the living are separated from what they fear would be a period of tribulation, so escape, not compassion is its ruling idea. (Joyce ending) In the end, rapture theology is for people who have lost hope in being agents of the kingdom of heaven and passively await a divine lightning bolt to change things that they have given up on.That is why it is so vital for them to see the world as going downhill, as getting worse and worse, as they want to hasten the end. for them, only a small group will be spared from the lion’s den of contemporary life.
Right after All Saints Day, it is a good time to consider these great words, do not grieve as those who have no hope. Note that it decidedly does not say do not grieve, period. The virtue of hope affects our present. it can give us energy and direction, in spite of, the facts on the ground. A basic truth about us is that we grow attached to people. We often do not have great resources to deal with the loss of someone to whom we are attached. We fear that our attachment now mocks us, as we could be absent forever.Paul offers the encouragement that in the new age we can rely on god’s faithfulness. We will be kept together through the new life in Christ, not our memory, not even the strength of our loves. In other words, Christ’s presence, including divine presence in the passage into heaven gives us ground for hope. Still, here on earth we do grieve, must grieve, should grieve; such is the depth of our attachment; such is the depth of our love.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Josh.24 notes
1) Most see this as a covenant ceremony, a renewing or creation of a bond of god and the people, perhaps, perhaps, similar to political documents in the ancient near east of the mutual obligations of the ruler and the ruled. Shechem is a cultic site according to Gen. 12, 33, 35. this is a good place to explore bi. archaeology when it may fit biblical material and when it may well conflict with it.
The other side of the flood is literally other side of the river. Either translation could make a nice image for preaching or spiritual life on one’s boundaries.
2) why do you think we detect such a strong note of antipathy toward idolatry here? could it be a preview of apostasy?
3) How effective is the rhetorical device, for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?
4) what do you think of Joshua telling the people that they will be unable to follow god fully at 19?
5) at v. 22 how chilling do you find it to have the people be witnesses against themselves for a future divine trial? Should one generation be able to bind another?
6) I realize that I go beyond the lectionary listing here but the standing stone could be a good image, especially with the spate of public memorials we have been erecting of late.
7) why is god so jealous about rivals, real or potential?
8) Breuggemann’s considerations in the Land of in the more recent Theol. Intro to the OT (with others) is a great place to reflect on the meaning of the land as a construct, as a reality, as history, as promise and threat.
9) Listen to Springsteen in The Promised Land or his citing
The other side of the flood is literally other side of the river. Either translation could make a nice image for preaching or spiritual life on one’s boundaries.
2) why do you think we detect such a strong note of antipathy toward idolatry here? could it be a preview of apostasy?
3) How effective is the rhetorical device, for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?
4) what do you think of Joshua telling the people that they will be unable to follow god fully at 19?
5) at v. 22 how chilling do you find it to have the people be witnesses against themselves for a future divine trial? Should one generation be able to bind another?
6) I realize that I go beyond the lectionary listing here but the standing stone could be a good image, especially with the spate of public memorials we have been erecting of late.
7) why is god so jealous about rivals, real or potential?
8) Breuggemann’s considerations in the Land of in the more recent Theol. Intro to the OT (with others) is a great place to reflect on the meaning of the land as a construct, as a reality, as history, as promise and threat.
9) Listen to Springsteen in The Promised Land or his citing
Judges 4:1-7
1) Deborah means bee. could it not also mean a speaker, especially for the role she plays here? Look at an OT text such as B. Anderson, Understanding the OT,ch.6, if you want to get a better handle of this period.
2) Get used to the start of this chapter, a sit is a constant refrain of the cyclical nature of Judges. When does private or public life take on such a predictable pattern, say in marital fights? doing evil seems to refer to falling into the religious beliefs and practices of the surrounding cultures (see 2:11-15,3:7)
3) Note that the prose here is a version of a poetic account in the next chapter, possibly quite old.
4) Lappidoth, now there's a name that needs some new popularity=shining or flaming/burning like a torch
5) As a prophet, does not this affect our easy stereotypes of women being prevented form occupying public power in ancient times? Deborah judges Israel. I assume this is a person who resolves disputes, so it is a public function, another reason I wonder if her name means speaker, given that dabar means word.Judges also had military prowess as well. One could continue reading the grisly story of Jael (notice the name Yah is God)that follows.
6)I assume Jabin rules a city-state in Hazor, on trade routes north of the Sea of Galilee.
7) Some make much out of the mention of chariots of iron and assume Israel did not have that stage of development. Maybe, but that assumes we know when this material was written. Is not the number perhaps more important? "cruelly oppressed" comes from a term, lachats, to press down, to distress, to hold down and chazaq, with force/violence/power. The battle site would be near Megiddo, something that may please rev. Camping or the writers of the Left Behind series.
8) Notice she does not call out for all the tribes, just some northern ones.Look at the following poem about some of the political issues she faced.
9) In part Judges deals with the question of what human beings do with a gift. It is a political replay of the Garden of Eden story.
10) the standard phrase for reacting to oppression is to cry to the Lord. See Patrick miller's book of that name on prayer. That word can mean to shriek, to get at the desperation of crying out from under the heel of oppression
2) Get used to the start of this chapter, a sit is a constant refrain of the cyclical nature of Judges. When does private or public life take on such a predictable pattern, say in marital fights? doing evil seems to refer to falling into the religious beliefs and practices of the surrounding cultures (see 2:11-15,3:7)
3) Note that the prose here is a version of a poetic account in the next chapter, possibly quite old.
4) Lappidoth, now there's a name that needs some new popularity=shining or flaming/burning like a torch
5) As a prophet, does not this affect our easy stereotypes of women being prevented form occupying public power in ancient times? Deborah judges Israel. I assume this is a person who resolves disputes, so it is a public function, another reason I wonder if her name means speaker, given that dabar means word.Judges also had military prowess as well. One could continue reading the grisly story of Jael (notice the name Yah is God)that follows.
6)I assume Jabin rules a city-state in Hazor, on trade routes north of the Sea of Galilee.
7) Some make much out of the mention of chariots of iron and assume Israel did not have that stage of development. Maybe, but that assumes we know when this material was written. Is not the number perhaps more important? "cruelly oppressed" comes from a term, lachats, to press down, to distress, to hold down and chazaq, with force/violence/power. The battle site would be near Megiddo, something that may please rev. Camping or the writers of the Left Behind series.
8) Notice she does not call out for all the tribes, just some northern ones.Look at the following poem about some of the political issues she faced.
9) In part Judges deals with the question of what human beings do with a gift. It is a political replay of the Garden of Eden story.
10) the standard phrase for reacting to oppression is to cry to the Lord. See Patrick miller's book of that name on prayer. That word can mean to shriek, to get at the desperation of crying out from under the heel of oppression
Week of Nov. 6 devotions
Nov. 6-The readings today emphasize staying alert. I think most of us are in dire need of spiritual caffeine to be able to stay spiritually awake. Most of us see worship and prayer as boring duties, the exact opposite of spiritual stimulant. We may well demand that worship stimulate the senses or emotions so that we feel that we have been nudged into greater awareness and alertness.
Monday-After failing in trivia contests and fumbling around for a name, I realize my memory is not what it once was. At the same time, I am still making connections. I may not remember the name of someone who recently tried to sneak into a marathon race, but it did trigger Rosie Ruiz who tried the same thing in the New York marathon in 1980. In teaching a class on comparative religion, I am struck by how many faiths emphasize training and discipline in the faith. The temptation is to seek a shortcut, to try to get the benefits without going through the effort of the whole course.
Tuesday In Romans 13 Paul famously spoke of the government as an agent for God. Luther called officials the left hand of God. Calvin called government work a high calling, if not the highest calling. Where did our callous disregard for the public sphere come from? Should Christians go about judging governmental work and officials harshly? Can we assign only malfeasance to government? Where have we gotten when people who call themselves patriots seem to hate their own government?
Wednesday-I picked up on old book by Eugene Peterson on Jeremiah, Run with the Horses. Therese, the Little Flower said “talking to God is always better than talking about God....pious conversations always have a touch of self-approval about them.” Where does your prayer life fall short and where does it lift you toward the divine?
Thursday-With eye surgeries, I misread a bit. Paul wrote that we see as in a mirror dimly. Enlightenment or illumination means that our distorted vision becomes more clear. indeed, Calvin said that reading Scripture acts as as an aid to spiritual sight, just as glasses help physical sight. Our egotism is an impediment to our spiritual sight. It curves in on our self-interest, so it skews our perspective toward others.
Friday-Veteran’s Day emerges from the end of WWI, the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month. with advances in medicine, we have veterans returning home who would have been remembered on Memorial day. So many blasted bodies and minds have returned home.Lincoln’s call to find up a nation’s wounds takes on a physical aspect to help these returning ones whose long march to restoration is often kept shamefully hidden.
Saturday-We’ve been reading Romans, and it bring sup the question: when can trying to be good become distorted? Paul gives examples such as boasting, excessive zeal, and illusion about our intentions or results of our actions. Once again, Paul shows remarkable depth in his analysis of human beings. Even when we try to be good, it gets distorted and we devalue people by trying to make them objects of our viewpoints as normative.
Monday-After failing in trivia contests and fumbling around for a name, I realize my memory is not what it once was. At the same time, I am still making connections. I may not remember the name of someone who recently tried to sneak into a marathon race, but it did trigger Rosie Ruiz who tried the same thing in the New York marathon in 1980. In teaching a class on comparative religion, I am struck by how many faiths emphasize training and discipline in the faith. The temptation is to seek a shortcut, to try to get the benefits without going through the effort of the whole course.
Tuesday In Romans 13 Paul famously spoke of the government as an agent for God. Luther called officials the left hand of God. Calvin called government work a high calling, if not the highest calling. Where did our callous disregard for the public sphere come from? Should Christians go about judging governmental work and officials harshly? Can we assign only malfeasance to government? Where have we gotten when people who call themselves patriots seem to hate their own government?
Wednesday-I picked up on old book by Eugene Peterson on Jeremiah, Run with the Horses. Therese, the Little Flower said “talking to God is always better than talking about God....pious conversations always have a touch of self-approval about them.” Where does your prayer life fall short and where does it lift you toward the divine?
Thursday-With eye surgeries, I misread a bit. Paul wrote that we see as in a mirror dimly. Enlightenment or illumination means that our distorted vision becomes more clear. indeed, Calvin said that reading Scripture acts as as an aid to spiritual sight, just as glasses help physical sight. Our egotism is an impediment to our spiritual sight. It curves in on our self-interest, so it skews our perspective toward others.
Friday-Veteran’s Day emerges from the end of WWI, the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month. with advances in medicine, we have veterans returning home who would have been remembered on Memorial day. So many blasted bodies and minds have returned home.Lincoln’s call to find up a nation’s wounds takes on a physical aspect to help these returning ones whose long march to restoration is often kept shamefully hidden.
Saturday-We’ve been reading Romans, and it bring sup the question: when can trying to be good become distorted? Paul gives examples such as boasting, excessive zeal, and illusion about our intentions or results of our actions. Once again, Paul shows remarkable depth in his analysis of human beings. Even when we try to be good, it gets distorted and we devalue people by trying to make them objects of our viewpoints as normative.
friday column on grief 11/4
We had a moving, elegant choral service for All Saints Day evening at First Presbyterian this week. In a culture dedicated to repressing grief, of moving quickly through its unnerving reactions, it is good to offer a set time, rooted in tradition, for all of us who face the valley of loss.
In this issue of Christian Century magazine, it featured a number of articles on death. One explored the changes in funeral sermons of late. While they open the doors of grief to the hearers, they are often delivered in the middle of ceremonies that are declared to be “celebrations of life.”The older I get the more I think this idea is pushed by baby boomers who fear any “negative” emotions.so, we try to make funerals, of all rituals, grief and tear-free zones. The lead editorial was a memory by the publisher of stumbling through his first call on a dying member of the church and his first funeral. All has slipped away, except he recalls that he did quote Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.” Another articles wonder aloud if the church has ceded its role in being a witness to death to hospice and funeral homes, so that people lack resources to face both death and grief in a religious vein.
The book of Hebrews speaks of a great cloud of witnesses. during our service many of us rose to light a candle to remember a loved one. I like to think of another doctrine of the church then and there, the communion of saints. In Celtic spirituality, mention is made of a thin place, where we sense a closer relation, a more permeable boundary between the divine and the ordinary world. I like to think that the departed crowded around the gates of heaven to peer lovingly at the know of people praying and singing their way through grief.
The eminent writer Joan Didion has lived deep in grief’s valley of late. While their daughter was grievously ill, her husband died suddenly in her chair. Out of the maelstrom of grief, she wrote The Year of Magical Thinking. I prize the book as she is one of the few people t emphasize the feelings of grief less than its confusing assault on our ability to think straight, with any focus or clarity for quite some time.
That grown daughter has since died. Didion has once again placed her formidable talents to sharing that expected loss to death. While her first memoir of loss was coming to grips with sudden widowhood, this book tries to come to terms wit a whole life cut short. Like any parent, she grieves all of her mistakes with her daughter, regrets all of the missed chances, and misses her desperately. Yes, she has gotten “better,” as she no longer bursts into tears atht he very mention of her name.
I am so grateful that the session (our governing board) of the church continues to support an All Saints Day service. it is a poignant reminder that deep human emotion can be enveloped in prayer. When words won;t come, hymns and formal prayers speak for us. While I respect the Roman Catholic tradition of venerating people who demonstrate remarkable attributes, I prefer the Protestant extension of being “saints” across the board to those who have gone on before us as described in the book of Revelation. In our tradition saints are those who are reconciled to relationship with God. For me, they stand as witnesses across the chasm of time and dimension that love need not respect any boundary, as it persists when all else fails to recall those absent from us.
In this issue of Christian Century magazine, it featured a number of articles on death. One explored the changes in funeral sermons of late. While they open the doors of grief to the hearers, they are often delivered in the middle of ceremonies that are declared to be “celebrations of life.”The older I get the more I think this idea is pushed by baby boomers who fear any “negative” emotions.so, we try to make funerals, of all rituals, grief and tear-free zones. The lead editorial was a memory by the publisher of stumbling through his first call on a dying member of the church and his first funeral. All has slipped away, except he recalls that he did quote Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.” Another articles wonder aloud if the church has ceded its role in being a witness to death to hospice and funeral homes, so that people lack resources to face both death and grief in a religious vein.
The book of Hebrews speaks of a great cloud of witnesses. during our service many of us rose to light a candle to remember a loved one. I like to think of another doctrine of the church then and there, the communion of saints. In Celtic spirituality, mention is made of a thin place, where we sense a closer relation, a more permeable boundary between the divine and the ordinary world. I like to think that the departed crowded around the gates of heaven to peer lovingly at the know of people praying and singing their way through grief.
The eminent writer Joan Didion has lived deep in grief’s valley of late. While their daughter was grievously ill, her husband died suddenly in her chair. Out of the maelstrom of grief, she wrote The Year of Magical Thinking. I prize the book as she is one of the few people t emphasize the feelings of grief less than its confusing assault on our ability to think straight, with any focus or clarity for quite some time.
That grown daughter has since died. Didion has once again placed her formidable talents to sharing that expected loss to death. While her first memoir of loss was coming to grips with sudden widowhood, this book tries to come to terms wit a whole life cut short. Like any parent, she grieves all of her mistakes with her daughter, regrets all of the missed chances, and misses her desperately. Yes, she has gotten “better,” as she no longer bursts into tears atht he very mention of her name.
I am so grateful that the session (our governing board) of the church continues to support an All Saints Day service. it is a poignant reminder that deep human emotion can be enveloped in prayer. When words won;t come, hymns and formal prayers speak for us. While I respect the Roman Catholic tradition of venerating people who demonstrate remarkable attributes, I prefer the Protestant extension of being “saints” across the board to those who have gone on before us as described in the book of Revelation. In our tradition saints are those who are reconciled to relationship with God. For me, they stand as witnesses across the chasm of time and dimension that love need not respect any boundary, as it persists when all else fails to recall those absent from us.
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