pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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The Narrow Road

Reading: Luke 10:25-37

Luke 10:36 – “What do you think? Which one of the three was a neighbor to the man?”

Photo credit: Jan Huber

Today we turn to the parable of the Good Samaritan. This is very familiar ground. The lessons Jesus taught remain as relevant today as they were the day that he told the story. The religious continue to try and limit who is acceptable and worthy. We continue to see and define others by arbitrary things like ethnicity, race, gender, religion, education…

As the passage opens, a legal expert tests Jesus. The opening question is just to set up the second question. Any 5-year-old Jew could’ve answered the opening question. It’d be like asking a 5-year-old in one of our churches, ‘Who died on the cross for our sins?’ The second question has the meat on the bone. Jesus has been preaching that God’s kingdom and the salvation that he brings is for all people. He’s been eating with tax collectors and touching lepers. Clearly Jesus’ understanding of who a good Jew’s neighbor is needs some correcting.

The story unfolds and Jesus picks a most unlikely hero. A Samaritan would be about as far from a Jew’s neighbor as anyone could be. And he does not just stop and help. Maybe the legal expert could’ve tolerated that. Like, it might’ve been okay to stop and talk to Zacchaeus, but to go to his house and to eat with him? The Good Samaritan goes way above and beyond too. He shows mercy to the one in need. He is the one who sets for us an example.

Of this story, John Wesley writes, “Let us renounce that bigotry and party zeal which could contract our hearts into an insensitivity for all the human race, but for a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much our own.” From about 31 AD to the late 1700s to today. May it be so.

Prayer: Lord God, encourage and empower us to walk the narrow road. It is narrow. Our faith is assaulted on both sides – culture on the one side, “religion” on the other. The path of Jesus, the way of love, is a narrow lane. As you held back the waters of the Jordan, hold back these evils, O Lord. Be with us each moment as we seek to build your upside-down kingdom of love in this thin space. Amen.


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Stepping Beyond Easy Love

Reading: Romans 12:9-16

Romans 12:13 – “Contribute to the needs of God’s people, and welcome the strangers into your home.”

In Romans 12:9-16 Paul calls us to love. He emphasizes loving without pretending. Other translations say “love without hypocrisy.” Paul is calling for genuine, sincere love, not fake or false love. Some of the time we can be tempted to love in ways that are superficial. We might, for example, say that we’ll pray for someone but be unwilling to take the obvious step that would be the answer to the prayer.

Paul connects this “pretend” love to cursing those who harass us and to thinking we’re better than or smarter than others. Genuine love would work against us being two-faced and against being arrogant. We are called to “hate” these evils and to “hold on to what is good.” Paul also lays out what it looks like to hold onto the good.

We are to love and honor one another. We are to be enthusiastic as we serve one another. We are to meet each other’s needs. We are to welcome in the strangers. (What a call to be the church both inside and outside the walls of the building!) We are to rejoice with the joyful, and we are to cry with those in sorrow. We are to bless others. We are to consider everyone as equals. We are to associate with those “who have no status.”

Much of what Paul writes in today’s passage parallels Jesus’ challenging words from yesterday in Luke 6. In essence both tell us to love those who are hard to love. There is also the same counter-cultural element to Paul’s words today. Love the stranger, love those without status or voice. There is risk in this call. Genuine love often involves risk.

Prayer: Lord God, as we’ve been reminded, sometimes it is easy to love. It is good and right to genuinely love our family, our friends, our church. Yet you call us to so much more. Encourage us to step beyond these familiar and safe circles of love. Guide us out into the unknown waters of the stranger. Lead us to stand on the uneven and rocky ground of the marginalized. Remind us, Lord, that in these places, we stand with you. Amen.


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Love Your…

Reading: Luke 6:27-36

Luke 6:35 – “Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return. If you do, you will have great reward.”

Our passage today comes from a section titled, “Behaving as God’s Children.” The title alone alerts us to the fact that Jesus is about to lay down some serious expectations. Verse 27 reveals the challenge inherent in the word to follow: “But I say to you who are willing to hear.” So our question as we begin: Are we willing to hear these words of Jesus?

Diving in, Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” For Jesus this entails doing good, blessing, and praying for those who hate, curse, and mistreat us. Reminiscent of Saturday’s reading from Matthew 5, here too Jesus says to go above and beyond, offering the other cheek or the shirt off our back. Summing up verses 27-30, Jesus says, “Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you.”

As if the first instructions were not enough, Jesus next asks some questions that speak to loving our enemies and treating others as we want to be treated. If we love those who love us or if we do good or lend to those who do good or lend to us,  Jesus asks, “Why should you be commended?” He points out that even the sinners do these things. Continuing, Jesus advises us, “Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return. If you do, you will have great reward.” Expect nothing in return. Act as God acts, being kind and compassionate.

These words, these instructions, are very challenging. They are counter-cultural. As the notes in my study Bible say, “This love is never conditioned upon the other person’s behavior; it is motivated and empowered by its giver and not its receiver.” May we love well from the deep reservoir of God’s love that resides in each of our hearts. May it be so.

Prayer: Lord God, you speak words today that are hard to hear, hard to really live out. Your words to love our enemies call us deep into your upside-down kingdom. These are world- and life-changing words. Walk with us, O God, transforming both our lives and our world. Such is the great reward – becoming more like Christ. Amen.


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Rule and Cleanse

Reading: Psalm 18:7-8 and 12-13a

Psalm 19:13a – “Save your servant from willful sins.”

Psalm 19 celebrates who and what God is. The psalmist speaks of God’s order and power. The writer acknowledges, by contrast, our disorder and powerlessness. In verses 7-8 we focus in on the Law. God’s “rules” for living out our faith are “perfect… faithful… right… pure.” God’s Law reflects God’s character. If we follow God’s will for how we are to live and be in the world, then we are “revived… gladdened… made wise… given light.” This is all in alignment with this understanding amongst God’s people: live according to the Law, experience goodness and blessing. People of faith today hold to this basic understanding. And, for the most part, this extends to our relationship with civil law too. There are times, though, when our faith will call us to hold God’s Law above common law.

In verses 12-13 the psalmist acknowledges and addresses those times when we do break God’s Law. Because of our human nature, we will sin, hurting or harming ourselves and/or other(s). At times these are “accidental.” Some of the time we become aware of these sins. Someone will let us know or the Holy Spirit will bring conviction into our hearts. And sometimes we don’t know; we won’t ever know. In these cases the psalmist asks God to “clear” him of sins. General confession is good for us to practice periodically too.

Our reading today closes with this petition: “Save your servant from willful sins.” At times we will know what we’re about to do or say or think, we’ll know it is sinful, and we will proceed forward anyway. We’ll cross the line. We’ll cause harm. We’ll damage a relationship. The psalmist asks God to not allow these sins to “rule me.” May this be our prayer as well.

Prayer: Lord God, we admit that it is not always easy to be faithful. Our human nature comes out at times, eclipsing the divine within. But even then your Holy Spirit whispers and nudges, calling us to faithfulness, calling us to walk once again with you. Welcome our confession, O God, cleanse us through your grace. Bring healing and wholeness to our lives and to our relationships. Rule in our hearts. Amen.


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In the Name of…

Reading: Colossians 3:12-17

Colossians 3:17 – “Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In chapter 3 of Colossians Paul is encouraging the church to clothe themselves with the attitudes and practices of Jesus Christ. Verse 12 reminds the church that they are “God’s choice, holy and loved.” This is quite the status to have! The apostle goes on, inviting the church to “put on” Christ’s attitudes: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These attitudes (and others Christ exemplified such as welcome, mercy, grace…) should be lived out in all of life, 24/7.

Paul then invites the church to be tolerant and forgiving. These are ‘response attitudes.’ When someone is different from you or sees things from another perspective or when someone hurts or harms you or someone you love, respond with tolerance and forgiveness. How countercultural this invitation is, especially in our world today! Our human instinct, our gut-level reaction is to ignore or ridicule or exclude those who are different, to get even with those who hurt us. These are selfish responses. Christ was not selfish.

As our human nature is to be selfish, Paul encourages the church to put love over all of these attitudes – see everything, speak every word, through the filter of love. From the framework of love, God’s peace will fill our hearts. Christ’s word and Spirit will dwell richly in us. And one last piece of encouragement: “Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is Paul’s early version of the modern slogan, WWJD? It is choosing to filter all that we say and do and even think through the example of Jesus, he who was love lived out. It is the place that we must begin if we are to do good and not harm in our world.

Prayer: Lord God, clothe us this day and every day in Christ. Clothes thusly, empower us to live our compassion, kindness… When life challenges us in our efforts to follow Jesus, when others seek to harm or negatively influence us, raise up the voice of the Holy Spirit. Call us back to the way of Jesus. Whisper tolerance, forgiveness, grace, acceptance, and understanding into our hearts. In all things, use us to reveal the love of Christ to the world. Amen.


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Conform to Christ

Reading: Romans 8:26-29

Romans 8:28 – “We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Photo credit: Robert Linder

As our passage today begins, Paul speaks again of God’s presence in our lives. The Spirit – God’s constant, indwelling presence – helps us in our moments of weakness. In those times when our trial or hardship or suffering is so great that we cannot even form the words to pray, it is then that the Holy Spirit takes up our case. The Spirit “please” for us before God, lifting us up before God. We too can pray in this way. When we hear of the time of great suffering of a friend, we can lift their case before God.

Because God is three-in-one, the Spirit prays for us “consistent with God’s will.” In this way we and our need(s) are brought before God in the best possible way. There is no selfishness, no fear or worry or doubt, no greed or envy in the Holy Spirit’s prayers. This idea connects to verse 28, where we read, “We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.” God is good and loving and kind and caring and compassionate and merciful and… God desires that our lives be filled with these things too. Yes, the world and this life will bring death and illness and sin and tragedy into our lives, but God works even these difficult and hard things towards good and into alignment with God’s plans for our lives.

The Spirit and God do all of this in order to “conform” us more and more into the image of Jesus. God conforms – and forms and reforms – us into the image of Christ so that we can be goodness, love, kindness, care, compassion, mercy… to one another. In this way we bring Christ to the world. Thanks be to God.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the example that Jesus set for us. He revealed what it means to be fully present to one another, to love without condition, to give selflessly to the other. That is not always easy for us. So thank you also for the Spirit, that constant presence that points us towards and forms us into Jesus’ witnesses. Lead us to be people of presence, people who pray, people who show up, people who give of ourselves. Amen.


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Pour It Back Out

Readings: Romans 5:1-5 and 12:18-21

Romans 5:3-4 – “Trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

Paul begins chapter 5 by reminding the Roman church (and us) that they (we) are made righteous through Christ’s faithfulness. We are made right because of and through Christ’s work on the cross. We cannot do anything to restore ourselves to righteousness before God. But Jesus can and does. That brings us peace with God. And because we are forgiven through grace, we can and should be gracious to others. Through our own radical acts of love, others can experience and then claim the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.

Paul then rejoices because we experience hardship, trials, suffering. What?! Paul is not celebrating that we experience these things. He is celebrating how God uses them in our lives. Trouble builds endurance which builds character which builds hope. As we endure faithfully, we model Jesus and through this process take on more of Christ’s character. As we are made more Christlike our hope in God deepens. In turn we receive more of God’s love, poured into our hearts.

Shifting to chapter 12, Paul focuses in on those times when evil is the cause of hardship… He encourages an attitude of peace even then. The apostle encourages us to allow God to be the one in the punishment business. Paul then asks us to do just the opposite: give your enemy, the one doing evil to you, give them what they need. Give them food or drink or burning coals. (This last one refers to actually giving them coals so that they can rekindle the fire, bringing them warmth.) By taking the love of God that is poured into our hearts and pouring it back out into our relationships with difficult others we will “defeat evil with good.” May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: Lord God, we thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ – he who not only became the atoning sacrifice for us but also set before us the daily example of love. In the times when it is most difficult to muster up love, grace, mercy – in moments of hardship… – remind us of your great love for all of us. In gratitude and faithfulness lead us to pour these out, blessing others. Amen.


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Trust and Belief

Reading: Job 2:7-10

Job 2:7 – “The Adversary… struck Job with sores from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.”

We enter Job’s story at the point of his second “test.” In chapter 1 Job loses all his livestock and all of his sons and daughters. Job says, “The Lord has given; the Lord has taken; bless the Lord’s name.” Job is known as the wisest and most faithful man in all the world. The Adversary’s argument is this is because God has blessed Job. Yet when all of this was lost, Job remained faithful to God.

Test two comes next: “The Adversary… struck Job with sores from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.” Afflict Job himself, the logic goes, then he will curse God. Covered top to bottom in oozing sores, Job sits on an ash pile and scrapes his sores. Job’s wife sees his condition and says, “Are you still clinging to your integrity? Curse God, and die.” (Some translations read, “Bless God, and die.”) She believes Job is being assaulted by God. Her life has also completely fallen apart. Likely because Job has sinned – which he hasn’t. She thinks God is against Job. She’s saying, ‘Enough already!’

Job tells her she is being foolish. He is right with God and he knows it. He asks her, “Will we receive good from God but not also receive bad?” Put another way: ‘If God does reward and punish, we must accept it all, must we not?’ Job’s trust in God is sure. His suffering is unjust and undeserved. Yet God is God: all-powerful and all-knowing. Job does not understand why he is suffering. His understanding of God and how God normally works is the same as his wife’s: be good and be blessed by God, do evil and be cursed by God. And here he sits in a pile of ashes, covered in oozing sores. Job chooses trust and belief over his reality. In those moments when life makes no sense to us or to our faith, may we, as Job did, trust faith and belief in God.

Prayer: Lord God, at times we will find ourselves where Job did – life making no sense. What’s happening doesn’t fit our understanding of you or of how things “should” work. In these times and places of disorientation, draw us to you. Help us to trust and believe in your wisdom that is beyond ours, in your plan that goes far beyond our vision, and in your love that is much greater than we could ever imagine. Amen.


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God at Work

Reading: Mark 2:1-12

Mark 2:2 – “So many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the door.”

Photo credit: Milo Weiler

In Mark 2 we find a story that is not directly about prayer but can speak to us about prayer. We’re early in Mark’s gospel. According to what’s written, Jesus has healed people and is beginning to draw a crowd. Of those who packed out the house in today’s reading, how many do you think prayed on their way there?

The story first focuses in on four people who have brought their paralyzed friend to be seen by Jesus. Surely all five prayed in the way to see Jesus. So great was their perseverance, so strong their love for their friend, they tore open the roof to get their friend before Jesus. And Jesus’ initial words? “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Likely not what these five were praying for. Great for the man, but…

Jesus then perceives the thoughts of the legal experts. He calls them out. What prayers do you think they quickly muttered? They certainly were not praying to be put in their place by Jesus. Yet they are. Their thoughts opened the door for God to work good in many ways. It is at this point that the man is healed, answering the prayers of the group of five. In this moment, the crowd is amazed and praises God.

While many prayers went unanswered this day, God was still very much at work in the lives of all of these people. We hold hope for the legal experts. Maybe this humbling experience led to growth in their faith too. God’s desire was and is to draw all people to a saving knowledge of God. So may we continue to pray faithfully, trusting in God to work good in our lives and in our world.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the reminder to ever seek your presence, to linger in that space, expecting good from you. Help us to ever be open to what you are doing, especially when it is beyond our limited vision or understanding. Draw us closer to you, moment by moment, encounter by encounter. Amen.


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For All People

Reading: 1st Timothy 2:1-4

1st Timothy 2:1 – “First of all, then, I ask that requests, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made for all people.”

As we begin 1st Timothy 2, Paul encourages Timothy (and us) to offer prayers for everyone – “for all people.” Paul assumes that Timothy will pray for the regulars: family, friends, people he knows who need specific prayers. This is likely familiar territory. Maybe you, like me, have a standard list of people and situations that you pray for every day plus a few that are in your prayer list for a time or a season.

Paul next singles out praying for “kings and everyone who is in authority.” Why would Paul do this? Well, look no further than our current reality. In Timothy’s day it was the Roman authorities and the Jewish religious leaders who were persecuting the church. What prayers might Timothy lift for those in authority? What prayers might help lift that are in alignment with God’s will and heart? May our godly thoughts on these questions guide our prayers for our leaders.

In verses 3 and 4 Paul gives Timothy (and us) the “why.” Paul reminds us that it is “right” and that it “pleases” God when we offer prayers for all people, especially for those that are hard for us to pray for. It is our charge. First and foremost, it should be so because God desires for “all people to be saved” and to come to “a knowledge of the truth” – to understand and know God’s will and heart for themselves. Second, to pray hard prayers, that changes and empowers our hearts too. As our prayers become better aligned with God’s desires, our world will better reflect God’s kingdom here on earth. May our prayers work towards this goal and hope.

Prayer: Lord God, open our hearts wide, enabling us to pray as you call us to pray. And, Lord, open wide the hearts of our leaders, filling them with what fills your heart: mercy, grace, compassion, love. Guide all of our leaders to be leaders for and of all people, working for the good of all people. Amen.