pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: healing


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Forgiveness

Reading: Psalm 32:1-7

Psalm 32:3-4 – “When I kept quiet, my bones wore out… your hand was heavy upon me.”

Psalm 32 is a song about forgiveness. While the concept of forgiveness is simple, our human nature can complicate this practice in many ways. In the opening verses David lifts up the benefits of forgiveness. The one whose sin is covered by God and who is guilt-free before God is “truly happy.” When nothing separates us from God and God’s love, yes, we are truly happy! The same can be said of our other relationships. When nothing separates us from our love of family, friends, teammates, coworkers… we are truly happy.

We’ve all experienced this place of joy in our relationships. From this experience, you’d think we’d always be swift to seek and offer forgiveness. Unfortunately, we are often like David. In verses 3 and 4 he writes, “When I kept quiet, my bones wore out… your hand was heavy upon me.” Too often we do not seek or receive forgiveness and the weight of this choice begins to feel heavy upon us. The angst or anger, the guilt or the grievance can fester and grow as we let the unresolved tension continue. We come to the place, too, when God’s hand feels heavy upon us. The gentle nudge of the Spirit feels like a hard shove. This is a good thing. It leads to verse 5: “So I admitted my sin…”

Confession begins the healing process – at least as far as God is concerned. God is quick to remove the guilt and shame, swift to rescue and redeem us and our relationship with God. Sadly, we can struggle with these steps sometimes. Our pride or the hurt can get in the way. We can want to nurse a grudge. We can have a hard time admitting we were wrong. When we are struggling with these or other issues, may we remember that we are made in the image of God. Doing so, may our forgiveness be quick and gentle, honest and complete.

Prayer: Lord God, in the arena of forgiveness, make us more like you. Guide us to be practitioners of grace and mercy, humility and love – the key ingredients to living in right relationships with you and with one another. Amen.


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Grounded in Love

Reading: Matthew 17:7-13

Matthew 17:9 – “Don’t tell anybody about the vision until the Human One is raised from the dead.”

Reading the second half of this week’s gospel lesson, Jesus puts God’s admonition about listening to work. Jesus first tells the disciples to “Get up.” These first words are practical. To go back down the mountain, to return to the world, they must get up. Often the first things we need to listen to are the simple things: go visit, make the call, cover the rent, make the meal, send the text, but the groceries… Taking the first step of faith leads to the next step.

Jesus then says, “Don’t be afraid.” To not be afraid requires trust and belief. This second step goes beyond the practical. It requires stepping out or into a situation that might be tense or emotional or difficult or sorrowful or… Going to the home or to the hospital or to the jail or… can raise up fears, doubts, anxiety, worry, unease. When Jesus tells us to “go,” we can be assured that he goes with us.

Lastly in today’s passage, Jesus says, “Don’t tell anybody about the vision until the Human One is raised from the dead.” Many in the world are not ready to hear that Jesus is indeed the all-powerful and all-mighty God-in-the-flesh. After miracles some have flirted with the idea of making Jesus their earthly king. This is not Jesus’ purpose. He is not on earth to destroy and exert power over others. His kingship is grounded in love, in lifting others up, in healing our lives and world. His way of love transforms us, most often working from the inside out. As we listen and follow, Jesus offers us guidance and direction, comfort and strength, peace and assurance, hope and joy, and love. As we walk with Jesus in Spirit, we share these gifts with the world.

Prayer: Lord God, help us first to see where you call us and then to be willing to go where you send us. Fill us with your Holy Spirit power, easing our fears and doubts, giving us the words to say and the actions to take. Go with us as we bear your love as our light. In and through us, transform our world and our lives with your love. Amen.


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Alignment

Reading: Isaiah 58:1-9a

Isaiah 58:6 – “Isn’t this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the rope of a yoke, setting free the mistreated…?”

As we delve into the words of the prophet today and tomorrow, we do so recognizing the truth in Isaiah’s words yet today. God instructs the prophet to “shout loudly… Announce to my people their crime.” This echoes Micah’s words from last week. The people of Isaiah’s day seek God, yet abandon God. How does this work? Just as it does today. They want to be close to God but they live as if they did not know God. They are focused on self. The people of God “oppress all your workers… You quarrel and brawl.” These actions do not reflect a heart aligned with God’s will and way.

Starting in verse 6, God describes alignment: “Isn’t this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the rope of a yoke, setting free the mistreated…?” God desires a fast that changes hearts, that brings alignment with God’s heart. God’s kingdom on earth will not limit access to community, will not mistreat the other, will not keep people enslaved. It will be a place where all eat, where all are housed, where all are clothed, where all are included. This is the kingdom here on earth that I long for. Do you long for it? What am I, what are you doing to help make this kingdom a reality?

Isaiah looks forward, beginning in verse 8. The prophet shares the outcome of true alignment with God’s heart. Our light will “break out like the dawn” – spreading far and wide, touching every soul. Healing will come quickly and righteousness will guide all of our ways. Aligned with the heart of God, when we call out, God will quickly respond, “I’m here.” God will be with us as we are with God. O Lord, bring the day.

Prayer: Lord God, continue to unsettle us. Continue to open our eyes and hearts to the injustice, oppression, and violence of our time. Continue to raise our awareness of and response to those who live without the basics: food, clothing, shelter, safety, community. Continue to align our hearts with your heart, O God. Walking in step with you, use us to heal our broken land. Amen.


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What a Blessing!

Reading: Matthew 5:1-9

Matthew 5:9 – “Happy are people who make peace, because they will be called God’s children.”

Turning to this week’s gospel lesson for today and tomorrow, Matthew sets the scene: crowds gather so Jesus goes up a mountain, sits down, and begins to teach. Matthew tells us, “his disciples came to him.” We don’t know if the crowd came along too. This leaves us to wonder: if you’d been in the crowd that has heard the good news proclaimed and has seen the healings, would you hike up the mountain too?

Verses 3-9 hold the start of the “Beatitudes.” These statements begin a long teaching known as “The Sermon on the Mount.” Running through chapter 7, this is the longest teaching from Jesus found in the gospels. Traditionally the Beatitudes are seen as gifts or blessings. Other translations begin each statement with “Blessed are…” Perhaps these phrases are also invitations. Seen this way, these statements lay out Jesus’ desires for his followers. Marching orders!

So, who are those that Jesus identifies as “happy” or “blessed?” They are hopeless in this world, so must rely on God. They are mourning and grieving, so they are fully present to one another and to the pain of this world. They are humble and peaceful, so they will inherit God’s kingdom, even here on earth. They are seeking, hungering, thirsting for righteousness, so they will be filled and they will come to see God – in one another and in the world. And they are merciful, so they will receive mercy in return.

Those who are happy see and live by values that are different from the world’s values. They seek to make the good news of the kingdom of God a daily, present reality. And in the seeking, they will come to know God intimately just as they are intimately known by God. What a blessing!

Prayer: Lord God, attune our hearts to your will and way. Draw us, day by day, deeper and deeper into your love, filling us with hope, comfort, peace, humility, righteousness, and mercy. Fill us so that we, in turn, can be these things to the world. Amen.


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Called Yet Today

Reading: 1st Corinthians 1:26-31

1st Corinthians 1:27-28 – “God chose what the world considers foolish… weak… low-class and low-life…”

Turning to our Epistle again this week, Paul invites the believers in Corinth to remember their old selves. This is a good exercise to practice every once in a while. Take a few moments right now to think back to significant events in your faith journey. This might be a conversion moment, a light bulb experience, a time of support or comfort or strength in a difficult time or season in your life… Take a moment to remember and give thanks to God…

In today’s passage, Paul reminds these believers that they did not generally come from the ranks of the “wise… powerful… upper-class.” This reality began in the incarnation and continued in the call of the disciples – and continues yet today. In verses 27-28 we read, “God chose what the world considers foolish… weak… low-class and low-life…” Through such people, God took what the world saw and sees as wise, strong, important… and reduced all of this to nothing. These worldly titles, accolades, desires – they are really nothing in the kingdom of God. That is why fishermen and tax collectors and prostitutes were called. And it is why mothers and emergency room nurses and pastors and shop keepers and… are called yet today to bring peace and healing to our divided and broken world. It is why God calls you and me.

This work of making earth “as it is in heaven” began with Christ. Then through death, God raised Jesus up, defying the two things that all the power in the world cannot defeat: sin and death. Since then, God has called the faithful to defeat the present evils of this world: hate, violence, division, injustice, poverty, power over… God doesn’t just call. God also equips and prepares. Those moments we recalled at the start of this time, the roiling that you feel in your gut right now – all ways God is equipping and preparing us. God makes us “righteous and holy” and God will “deliver us,” some to bring peace and justice, some to pray and love, and, yes, some even unto death.

Prayer: Lord God, help us to hear your call. Open our ears and eyes to the ways that you call every single one of us to resist evil and to fight for justice. Empower our prayers, our words, our actions – whatever we have to offer to bring about peace and wholeness in our world. Grant us the courage and strength to do your will. Thank you, Lord. Amen.


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Shine the Light

Reading: Isaiah 9:1-4

Isaiah 9:2 – “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.”

Once again we return to a text that we read earlier in the week – just two days ago. The passage begins with encouragement: “Those who were in distress won’t be exhausted.” God will be present. The community will be present to one another. Strength and hope will begin with God and will ripple down through the community, touching even those outside of the family of God. As human beings and as people called to follow Jesus Christ, we are called to care for and serve and love all of God’s creation.

The prophet writes these words in verse 2: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.” Today the light is the light of Christ that burns within each of us. The light shines into darkness of all kinds. It shines into the darkness of violence and oppression. It shines into the darkness of injustice and marginalization. It shines into the darkness of prejudice and targeting. It shines into the darkness of grief and death. The light of Christ brings hope and comfort, guidance and direction, peace and presence, healing and new life.

The light of Christ also shines forward. In the midst of darkness, the light declares victory – in both the near and one-day future. The light shines beyond the present difficulties. It reveals the way to a better future. It points towards a place of glory and joy. May the light of Christ shine brightly in each of us. May it sustain and encourage us and those who see the light shining for all people.

Prayer: Lord God, our world needs the light of Christ to shine brightly. So stoke up the holy fire within each of your children. Together may we blaze forth into our broken and hurting world, bringing healing and wholeness, unity and justice, love and peace. Amen.


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Engage Daily

Reading: Matthew 4:18-23

Matthew 4:23b – “He announced the good news of the kingdom and healed every disease and sickness among the people.”

Earlier this week we read and pondered Jesus’ move away from Nazareth, moving to Capernaum in Galilee. This move distanced himself from the threatening worldly powers but it was not an attempt to isolate. The first thing Jesus does in this new place is to call the first disciples: Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Jesus invites them to leave all that they know behind to “Come, follow me.” As these four fisherman respond to the call, Jesus is building a new kind of community, a fellowship of believers.

Today our charge is to alter this invitation slightly, calling to people, “Come, follow Jesus.” This too is an invitation into belonging, into community, into fellowship. In our modern world, one filled with loneliness and division and unease, people are longing for meaning and purpose and for a place to find worth and to be loved. As humans, we need connection. We need to be part of something that matters. So let’s invite others into our circles of faith, whenever and wherever we have the opportunity to engage today.

In verse 23 we gain a model for how to be invitational. Simply inviting others to church is good, but it is not enough. One can be just as lonely, just as lost, just as broken, in a room full of people. Jesus taught a new way of living and being in the world. We have his words. We can share them with others, teaching them and showing them the way of love. We also have the ability and gifts to “heal” others. Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit we have all that we need to help free others from many forms of sickness and disease. This walking alongside others, sharing the good news, it helps them to strip away all that hinders them, opening the way to the new life that Jesus Christ offers to all people. To this end, may we engage today in this ministry of healing and wholeness.

Prayer: Lord God, open our eyes, free our tongues, guide our steps. As we encounter the hurting, the lost, the lonely, the broken today, empower us to make connections, to meet a need, to share the words of life, to offer words and acts that bring healing and wholesome to people’s lives. With Christ as our model and example, use us today to lift others up as we invite them into a relationship with Jesus and into our communities of faith. Amen.


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God in All of Life

Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – “God has made everything fitting for its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts.”

Photo credit: Diego Gennaro

As we turn to 2026, we turn to Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. These words are familiar to us. In the secular world these words were made famous in the 1965 song by The Byrds, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” If you’re not familiar with this song, the chorus ends with these words: “And a time to every purpose under heaven.” This was the songwriter’s rephrasing of verse 11, which reads, “God has made everything fitting for its time, but has also placed eternity in their hearts.”

Looking at verses 2-8, each phrase balances two distinct parts of life: birth and death, searching and losing, killing and healing, keeping silent and speaking… As we turn to the new year and think ahead, most of us would prefer to experience the “positive” of the two options in each phrase. We like planting, building up, laughing… These are the things that bring us joy in life.

The reality, though, is that all of these things are part of life. In death and uprooting and mourning and tearing and throwing away and… God has a purpose. This purpose often leans into the eternal. Yes, as the teacher says, doing good and enjoying ourselves are the goal in life. But we do learn and grow the most, it seems, in the valleys of life, in the hard times. In those moments and seasons, it feels like God is most present and doing the most “work” in our hearts and in our faith. The good and the bad – both can be gifts from God. So today we thank God for all of life.

Prayer: Lord God, in the highs and the lows, you are present. In the in-betweens, you are there too. Thank you for the peace and joy, for the hope and love, for the comfort and guidance, for the conviction and forgiveness. In all things, we trust in you who are with us always. Amen.


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Steadfast Presence

Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-9

Jeremiah 31:9 – “With tears of joy they will come… I will lead them by quiet streams and on smooth paths so they don’t stumble.”

Photo credit: Lili Popper

Jeremiah proclaims a glorious future for the people of God in chapter 31. We pick up today in verse 7, where the prophet calls on the “remaining few” to sing with joy because God will save them. Speaking to those scattered during the time of exile, God declares that they will be brought back “from the ends of the earth.” For a nation living in exile, grieving all that has been lost, sorrowful over their present but seemingly unchangeable reality, the promise of God acting to redeem and restore them offered great hope.

Life will make us feel like the exiles felt. At times we will grieve – over the loss of a loved one or a career, over the ending of a relationship, over the changes caused by aging… We feel scattered and often all alone during these seasons. It is good to be reminded that God’s plan is to save us, to restore us, to redeem us, to bring healing and wholeness back to our lives.

Turning to verses 8b and 9, we see that God will bring back all of the people of God, including the blind, the disabled, the pregnant… By naming those on the margins and those who are most vulnerable, by including them specifically, God is emphasizing that “all” means ALL. This is good news for the “least of these” and it is for us when we feel this way too. Tears of joy and prayers of thanksgiving will both flow freely. God “will lead them by quiet streams and on smooth paths so they don’t stumble.” God will guide the way, making the return peaceful and safe, two essentials when healing from grief and loss. God will comfort Israel as a parent comforts a child. In our seasons of need, God will bring us peace and safety, comfort and healing too. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: Lord God, we rejoice in your steadfast presence in the past, with us now, and in the future. Your love never fails. Your mercy and compassion always meet us in our times of need. Your grace brings us peace. Your strength lifts us up and guides our journey. Thank you for being with us always, especially in our times of grief and sorrow. Amen.


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Light and Love

Reading: John 1:1-14

John 1:5 – “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.”

On Christmas Eve day we turn to John 1. While not a birth story in the sense of Matthew 1:18-25 or Luke 2:1-20, our reading today is very much a “birth” story – the birth of our world, the birth of light, the birth of welcome and belief, the birth of God in the flesh, the birth of glory, “full of grace and truth.” Throughout the passage, John uses the image of light again and again. This light is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh.

Each time I read and study and meditate on this passage, something new is learned, applied, realized. This is often the case when we return to a passage. God’s word is alive and active. It meets us where we are at and takes us where we need to go each time we engage a passage. Today as I read and reread these verses, this one stood out: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.” My first thought centered on the idea that the light enters the darkness, pushing it away, so to speak. My second thought focused on the idea that light goes as far as its power allows it to go. A small light like a candle will light up a small space. A big light like our sun will light up whole worlds. The light of Christ can make the sun seem like a candle. The light of Christ will shine everywhere and forever, if we allow it to do so.

In today’s Disciplines devotional, Rev. Dr. Dottie Escobar-Frank shared these words: “The true light shines into our hidden spaces, our dirty places, our wounded spots, and illuminates them so that healing and wholesome can be ours.” Christ’s light will shine into our souls, if we allow it in. Christ’s love will make us whole again, if we allow it in. May we say again and again, ‘Come, Lord Jesus, come.’ May it be so. Shine your light and love deep into our hearts and lives.

Prayer: Lord God, so much of who we are desires to walk always with you. This is who you created us to be. The Spirit always leads and guided us in this desire. But the darkness is ever there, too, ready to seep back in. So, Lord, we ask you to fill us with your light and love. Filled, the darkness is held at bay. Thank you, God. Amen.