Saturday, June 10, 2023

While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up. They were outside trying to get a message to him. Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak with you.” ^48-50 Jesus didn’t respond directly, but said, “Who do you think my mother and brothers are?” He then stretched out his hand toward his disciples. “Look closely. These are my mother and brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys my heavenly Father’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

       Obedience is thicker than blood!  For many years, ministry took me away from family.  For 7 ½ years, I was 12 hours away.  For 4 years, I was 3 hours away.  For 5 years I was 4 hours away.  For 11 years, I was 5 hours away.  During this time, I often told my churches that they were my family, that we shared a bond that I didn’t share with my birth family, a bond that was stronger and more lasting than DNA.  Then, God gave me a gift, mom came to live with me and for 18 months, I renewed my relationship with mama.  

       Jesus had a similar experience.  The bonds of his childhood were stretched and broken as He traveled around Galilee and Judea proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom.  Along the way, He picked up a group of men and women who followed Him everywhere, who listened to Him intently, who served Him to the best of their ability.  Meanwhile, His father (we presume) had died; His brothers didn’t understand Him or express faith in Him; and only His mother, a woman without power, prestige, or position, seemed to know.  Now, who was closer?

       O God, I long to be family, to be so attuned to You – Your thoughts, Your ways – that I reflect You to the world.  I want to obey, to know Your Word so intimately that I follow You completely without hesitation.  Make it so, Lord!  Amen!

Friday, June 09, 2023

²⁰ “I’m not praying only for them but also for those who believe in me because of their word.²¹ I pray they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. ²² I’ve given them the glory that you gave me so that they can be one just as we are one. ²³ I’m in them and you are in me so that they will be made perfectly one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you loved me. ²⁴ “Father, I want those you gave me to be with me where I am. Then they can see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world.²⁵ “Righteous Father, even the world didn’t know you, but I’ve known you, and these believers know that you sent me. ²⁶ I’ve made your name known to them and will continue to make it known so that your love for me will be in them, and I myself will be in them.”

       Two billion in One!  I’m told that there are 2 billion people in the world today who claim the name of Jesus.  On the map of humanity, we are deeply divided … by continent, by nation, by denomination, by socio-economics and a myriad of other things.  We are so unlike the prayer Jesus prayed over us.  Here in Blakely, denomination and race have the church divided.  For 31 years of ministry and for 5 years here, I have preached unity; I have joined with others across boundaries for fellowship and ministry; yet, we are just as divided today as any other time.  Of course, I’m not in favor of bulldozing all church buildings in town and erecting one huge place where we can all worship, but isn’t there something to be done to bring unity?

       One family, united in Christ!  One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism!  Unity of passion (devotion)!  Unity of purpose!  I want to re-double my efforts to form friendships, brotherhood and sisterhood, with pastors across all boundaries.  I’ll do that starting today.  I’ll continue to preach and proclaim to all who will hear that the old boundaries are inadequate for the people of God and that we must reach across the lines!  O God, enable me; empower me.  I need your help to cut away any evidence of racism in me.  Help me to see You in the face of my brethren.  Amen!

Thursday, June 08, 2023

¹² Then Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves. ¹³ He said to them, “It’s written, My house will be called a house of prayer.  But you’ve made it a hideout for crooks.”

¹⁴ People who were blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and legal experts saw the amazing things he was doing and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were angry. ¹⁶ They said to Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

“Yes,” he answered. “Haven’t you ever read, From the mouths of babies and infants you’ve arranged praise for yourself?” ¹⁷ Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

       A Hideout for Crooks.  People often repeat the age-old statement: “The church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.”  It’s a way of reminding ourselves and others that the nature of humanity is brokenness and sinfulness, and we bring it all – the filthy rags of our lives – to the Lord’s House, expecting that our encounter with Jesus will lead to forgiveness, freedom, healing, wholeness.  That’s what we expect when we go to church.

       And that’s what Israel expected too.  The people of God brought all their filthy rags to the Temple, seeking to encounter the God who dwelled among His people, looking for love and compassion from those who had been charged with shepherding them.  What they received instead was extortion from what Jesus called “Crooks.”  So, Jesus cleansed the temple.  He turned everything upside down or right-side up.  And then, He went about doing what the Priests should have been doing, ministering to the hurting and the hounded, the lost and wounded sheep of Israel.  O God, make me more and more aware of the ways I can offer your freedom and healing to the wounded sheep before me.  Amen!

Tuesday, June 06, 2023

1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. ² The more I called them, the farther they went away.  They sacrificed to other gods – the Baals, and they burned incense to idols. ³ I was the one who taught the people of Ephraim to walk.  I took them by the hand.  But they didn’t realize that I had healed them. ⁴ I led them with cords of human kindness, with ropes of love.  I removed the yokes  from their necks.  I bent down and fed them.

⁵ “They will not return to Egypt.  Instead, Assyria will rule them because they have refused to return to me. ⁶ War will sweep through their cities, demolish their city gates, and put an end to their plans. ⁷ My people are determined to turn away from me.  Even if they call to the Most High, he will not pardon them.

⁸ “How can I give you up, Ephraim?  How can I hand you over, Israel?  How can I make you like Admah?  How can I treat you like Zeboim?  I have changed my mind.  I am deeply moved. ⁹ I will not act on my burning anger.  I will not destroy Ephraim again.  I am God, not a human.  I am the Holy One among you, and I will not come to you in anger.                            Hosea 11:1 – 9 

I’m so glad I’m part of the family of God.  Hosea speaks forth for God, comparing God’s relationship with Israel to that of a father and his son.  God is Father; Israel is son.  God birthed Israel, fed Israel, led Israel, and taught them to walk.  Certainly with the New Israel too.  Yet Israel rebelled against their Father and went their own way like the Prodigal.  And God’s first reaction is to punish Israel again, to use the aggression of another nation (Assyria) to punish Israel.  But God changed His mind.  He will not mirror the actions of a human father; He is the holy Father who will respond in love, not anger.

I have a Father.  He birthed me into this world.  He has fed me when I was unable to feed myself.  He taught me to crawl and walk.  He has loved me, nurtured me, corrected me, challenged me.  And at times, I have failed to fully appreciate my sonship.  I have weighed myself down with the sins and follies of this world.  I have let go too soon of my Father’s hand and fallen flat of my face.  Yet, He has seldom “punished” me.  Instead, He has come to me as the Holy Father, a Father of a different breed.  He picks me up, brushes me off, and we walk together hand in hand.  O Holy Father, I’m grateful for your nurturing.  I’m unworthy of it all, but I need it more today than ever.  Walk with me; hold my hand; lead me; feed me until my journey with You is made complete.  Amen!

Monday, June 05, 2023

           ^1-3 “Come on, let’s go back to God.  He hurt us, but He’ll heal us.  He hit us hard, but He’ll put us right again.  In a couple of days, we’ll feel better.  By the third day He’ll have made us brand-new,alive and on our feet, fit to face Him.  We’re ready to study God, eager for God-knowledge.  As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is His daily arrival.  He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground.”

^4-7 “What am I to do with you, Ephraim?  What do I make of you, Judah?  Your declarations of love last no longer than morning mist and predawn dew.  That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention, why my words cut you to the quick: To wake you up to my judgment blazing like light. I’m after love that lasts, not more religion.  I want you to knowGod, not go to more prayer meetings.  You broke the covenant—just like Adam!  You broke faith with me—ungrateful wretches!                                                                                                                   Hosea 6:1–6

       The Prophet Hosea pleaded with Israel (Judah) to return to the Lord.  Returning to the Lord will bring restoration and revitalization.  Yet, through Hosea, God declares what returning should look like.  Returning means authentic love, not religious rituals.  Returning means knowledge of God, not religious gatherings.  Returning means faithfulness to the covenant, not willy- nilly covenant keeping.

       The tendency to turn relationship into ritual is real.  As someone who loves the liturgy, the rituals, it takes great effort to make sure they do not become a substitute for a loving relationship with God instead of a means of grace, a means through which the relationship with strengthened and deepened across time and space.  Even prayer can become a rote observance instead of a date with the Lover of my Soul.  O God, may my love for You always be fresh and new.  May Your work in me keep me faithful to Your commands and faithful in keeping my love for You real.  Amen!

Monday, June 05, 2023

           ^1-3 “Come on, let’s go back to God.  He hurt us, but He’ll heal us.  He hit us hard, but He’ll put us right again.  In a couple of days, we’ll feel better.  By the third day He’ll have made us brand-new,alive and on our feet, fit to face Him.  We’re ready to study God, eager for God-knowledge.  As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is His daily arrival.  He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground.”

^4-7 “What am I to do with you, Ephraim?  What do I make of you, Judah?  Your declarations of love last no longer than morning mist and predawn dew.  That’s why I use prophets to shake you to attention, why my words cut you to the quick: To wake you up to my judgment blazing like light. I’m after love that lasts, not more religion.  I want you to knowGod, not go to more prayer meetings.  You broke the covenant—just like Adam!  You broke faith with me—ungrateful wretches!                                                                                                                   Hosea 6:1–6

       The Prophet Hosea pleaded with Israel (Judah) to return to the Lord.  Returning to the Lord will bring restoration and revitalization.  Yet, through Hosea, God declares what returning should look like.  Returning means authentic love, not religious rituals.  Returning means knowledge of God, not religious gatherings.  Returning means faithfulness to the covenant, not willy- nilly covenant keeping.

       The tendency to turn relationship into ritual is real.  As someone who loves the liturgy, the rituals, it takes great effort to make sure they do not become a substitute for a loving relationship with God instead of a means of grace, a means through which the relationship with strengthened and deepened across time and space.  Even prayer can become a rote observance instead of a date with the Lover of my Soul.  O God, may my love for You always be fresh and new.  May Your work in me keep me faithful to Your commands and faithful in keeping my love for You real.  Amen!

Saturday, June 03, 2023

           ^1-4 “I am telling you this now so that your faith in Me may not be shaken.  They will excommunicate you from their synagogues.  Yes, the time is coming when a man who kills you will think he is thereby serving God!  They will act like this because they have never had any true knowledge of the Father or of Me, but I have told you all this so that when the time comes for it to happen you may remember that I told you about it.  I have not spoken like this to you before, because I have been with you; ^5-11 but now the time has come for Me to go away to the One who sent Me. None of you asks Me, ‘Where are you going?’ That is because you are so distressed at what I have told you. Yet I am telling you the simple truth when I assure you that it is a good thing for you that I should go away. For if I did not go away, the Divine Helper would not come to you. But if I go, then I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convince the world of the meaning of sin, of true goodness and of judgment.  He will expose their sin because they do not believe in Me; He will reveal true goodness for I am going away to the Father and you will see Me no longer; and He will show them the meaning of judgment, for the spirit which rules this world will have been judged. John 16:1-11

       In this passage, in preparation for His departure, Jesus speaks to the Disciples about three Persons – “the Father,” “Me,” and “the Divine Helper.”  We often hear “Well, the Bible never uses the word, ‘Trinity’” and that is an accurate statement.  However, this is one of those passages where all Three Persons of the Trinity are mentioned as “Co-equals” and cooperating.  And this passage also identifies different roles or different functions for each of the Persons.  The Spirit comes to “reveal true goodness” and “convince the world of the meaning of sin” and “show the meaning of judgment.”

       When I consider sinfulness, I tend to downplay my involvement.  Certainly, I think, I’m not a sinner.  I don’t have sin in my life.  Yet, sin is there and one of my sins, pride, is revealed by such thinking.  Like the man who said: “Yes, Lord, I’ve sinned, but I have several good excuses.”  The Holy Spirit’s presence – if realized and listened to – reveals a lot about the believer’s private life.  Thoughts and motives are laid bare through the work of the Spirit.  Spirit of the Living God, search my heart today; see if there is any hidden wickedness, any ignoring of Jesus the Messiah; and lead me to true repentance and holiness of heart and life.  Amen!

Friday, June 02, 2023

^1-2 Paul, messenger of Jesus Christ by God’s will, and brother Timothy send this greeting to all faithful Christians at Colossae: grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! ^3-6 I want you to know by this letter that we here are constantly praying for you, and whenever we do we thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because you believe in Christ Jesus and because you are showing true Christian love towards other Christians. We know that you are showing these qualities because you have grasped the hope reserved for you in Heaven – that hope which first became yours when the truth was brought to you. It is, of course, part of the Gospel itself, which has reached you as it spreads all over the world. Wherever that Gospel goes, it produces Christian character, and develops it, as it had done in your own case from the time you first heard and realized the amazing fact of God’s grace.

^7-10 You learned these things, we understand, from Epaphras who is in the same service as we are. He is a most well-loved minister of Christ and has your well-being very much at heart. As a matter of fact, it was from him that we heard about your growth in Christian love, so you will understand that since we heard about you, we have never missed you in our prayers. We are asking God that you may see things, as it were, from his point of view by being given spiritual insight and understanding. We also pray that your outward lives, which men see, may bring credit to your master’s name, and that you may bring joy to his heart by bearing genuine Christian fruit, and that your knowledge of God may grow yet deeper.

^11-14 As you live this new life, we pray that you will be strengthened from God’s boundless resources, so that you will find yourselves able to pass through any experience and endure it with courage. You will even be able to thank God in the midst of pain and distress because you are privileged to share the lot of those who are living in the light. For we must never forget that he rescued us from the power of darkness and re-established us in the kingdom of his beloved Son, that is, in the kingdom of light. For it is by his Son alone that we have been redeemed and have had our sins forgiven.

       Known by Love!  The new and improved version of the old commandment was given to His Disciples by Jesus.  “Love one another the way I have loved you.  That way, everyone will know You belong to Me.”  I imagine Paul received regular reports from various places around the Roman Empire about the spread of the Gospel and its growth among the people.  Yet, at the same time, he was hounded by the spread of falsehood.  Judaizers followed him everywhere.  Thus, Paul had to be cautious about the reports he received.  Was the spreading of the Gospel authentic?  And how did he know this?  Love!

       I’m wondering today if my faith could be authenticated.  Would Paul or any other who heard or saw my life in Christ be able to say, “I’ve been rejoicing because I’ve heard about your love”?  I would certainly hope so, but love expressed is not always love received.  Love intended is not always love expressed.  So, I wonder.  Perhaps today what I need is for God to love others through me so that I learn to really love.  When I encounter another – Christian or non-Christian – in that moment I should submit to Christ within me and allow Him to love through me.  Then, they will know Whose I am.  O God, love through me today!  Amen! 

Thursday, June 01, 2023

           ^3-7 Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is our Father and the source of all mercy and comfort. For he gives us comfort in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in theirs. Indeed, experience shows that the more we share Christ’s suffering the more we are able to give of his encouragement. This means that if we experience trouble we can pass on to you comfort and spiritual help; for if we ourselves have been comforted we know how to encourage you to endure patiently the same sort of troubles that we have ourselves endured. We are quite confident that if you have to suffer troubles as we have done, then, like us, you will find the comfort and encouragement of God.

           ^8-11 We should like you, our brothers, to know something of what we went through in Asia. At that time we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end. Yet we believe now that we had this experience of coming to the end of our tether that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God who can raise the dead. It was God who preserved us from imminent death, and it is he who still preserves us. Further, we trust him to keep us safe in the future, and here you can join in and help by praying for us, so that the good that is done to us in answer to many prayers will mean eventually that many will thank God for our preservation.

       Ministry isn’t pretty.  It is sometimes like driving down a street with potholes.  Some of those potholes were caused by the faults and failures of others.  Some of those potholes were caused by me the last time I drove down that street.  But they are there and I’ve hit every one of them more than once.  I’ve suffered a lot of pain over the last 31 years.  I’ve been hounded by people who didn’t agree with me.  I’ve been drug through the mud.  I’ve been ignored by the very people Jesus sent me to shepherd.  It hurts.  It still hurts.  Sometimes, I wonder why.  I know the potholes I caused by youthful ignorance and determined zeal.  But what about the others?  Why?

       For 31 years, I’ve served God’s church as a United Methodist Pastor.  Now, I’m one of the old guys with a story to tell.  Problem is there’s no one to tell it to.  I’ve been through the trials and I’ve been comforted many times by the Lord, but no one comes to me for comfort.  I haven’t pastored Albany First, Porterfield, or St. Luke; so to many, I don’t even know what I’m talking about.  But I have been through the potholes.  Hit every one more than once and I have a story to tell.  Perhaps someone, somewhere will need me, someday.  O God, lead me to Your hurting shepherds that I may share in their pain and give them the comfort You’ve given me.  Amen!

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Brothers and sisters, I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding concerning spiritual gifts. ² You know that when you were unbelievers, every time you were led to worship false gods you were worshiping gods who couldn’t even speak. ³ So I want you to know that no one speaking by God’s Spirit says, “Jesus is cursed.” No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. ⁴ There are different spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. ⁵ There are different ways of serving, and yet the same Lord is served. ⁶ There are different types of work to do, but the same God produces every gift in every person.

⁷ The evidence of the Spirit’s presence is given to each person for the common good of everyone. ⁸ The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak with wisdom. The same Spirit gives another person the ability to speak with knowledge. ⁹ To another person the same Spirit gives ⌞courageous⌟ faith. To another person the same Spirit gives the ability to heal. ¹⁰ Another can work miracles. Another can speak what God has revealed. Another can tell the difference between spirits. Another can speak in different kinds of languages. Another can interpret languages. ¹¹ There is only one Spirit who does all these things by giving what God wants to give to each person. ¹² For example, the body is one unit and yet has many parts. As all the parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

Light is light!  In seeking to defend the doctrine of the Trinity, John Wesley used the illustration of three lit candles in a room.  The room is filled with light in every corner, but which candle did the light come from that lit a specific corner?  That would be impossible to determine.  Thus, light is light and so, God is God, “Three Candles” – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – shining forth into our darkened world.  The same, yet different, yet with indistinguishable brilliance.  

I have never really focused on the doctrine of the Trinity.  I merely accepted it as reality.  It has never taken up a huge amount of my time; it just is!  Kinda like God just is.  I could never be an apologist for monotheism the way I am an apologist of the Christian faith.  From the earliest days of my life I have believed in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, perhaps from hearing and saying and memorizing the Apostle’s Creed in Methodist Worship.  O God of Three Candles, shine upon Your creation today so that we might know You in all Your brilliance, illumining our darkness, without and within.  Amen!