Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the LORD, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth." (Psalm 47:1-2) Sometimes, riding my motorcycle on a beautiful spring morning, it is impossible to miss the grandeur of God's creation. It is impossible not to feel joyful. And I have had to do nothing to experience this joy but to be there. It is a wondrous gift, not of my or anyone else's making.

"Thank you." That is what most of us have learned to say when we receive a gift. Most of us probably do not say it enough, but most of us know what it means to feel deeply grateful. Most of us at times take stock of the ways others have blessed our lives. And I think I feel the most pity for people who are unable to feel gratitude, who think of everything as deserved or earned, who don't know the sheer joy of feeling truly thankful.

Theologically thinking, all that makes us who we are is a gift. Our talents, our quirks, our personality, our capacities are all given to us. We may use them well or poorly, but none of us created ourselves. How does one say, "Thank you" for all that we have been given?

The word repent has some baggage, some bad connotations. But I think that John the Baptist's call for people to "Repent" can be read as a call to realize how much we have to be thankful for, and, in gratitude, to live differently. How? John suggests, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." His list goes on, but you get the picture.

I wonder what opportunities I will have to say, "Thank you" this day.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre. God covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills. God gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry. (Psalm 147:7-9)

I don't suppose anyone thought about Earth Day when the Daily Lectionary readings were chosen. If they had, perhaps Psalm 24 would be today's morning psalm. "The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." But I suppose the same is implied in the few verses culled from Psalm 147 above.

Sometimes when questions about the environment, global warming, pollution, and so on are discussed, a basic assumption of these psalms seems to be missing. People speak as though the earth was ours. But the earth is not ours. It does not belong to us so that we can simply decide what to do with it. It belongs to God. And we have been called to tend it as stewards.

You can witness human arrogance and hubris on both sides of environmental debates. And certainly there are sometimes complex scientific issues that resist easy answers. But if the earth truly is God's, perhaps we would do well, when dealing with these issues, to ask ourselves whether God would be happy with our actions. If the earth is the LORD's, and if God is indeed pleased and delighted with this good creation, shouldn't we want to please God in our calling as earthly stewards?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Whoever says, 'I am in the light,' while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness." (1 John 2:9-11)

Presbyteries, the regional governing bodies of the PC(USA), are nearing the ends of votes on whether the ratify a change to our constitution that would remove an ordination requirement that church officers be either chaste in singleness or faithful within a marriage between a man and woman. While the current rule obviously bans from office singles who are sexually active, the real intent of the requirement is to keep out gays and lesbians who are in relationships.

This question of who may be ordained has raged in our denomination for years now, and it can be terribly contentious. There are people of deep and committed faith on both sides of the issue, and it can be all too easy, not only to disagree, but also to feel a deep loathing for those who cannot see what is so obvious to me. People on both sides of the issue can fall into a downright nastiness toward their opponents, which begs the question of how the reading from 1 John applies. And I don't think an easy out can be found by claiming that my opponents have so badly misunderstood scripture that they shouldn't be categorized as "believers."

Love is easy when we all agree, but what about when we don't, and especially when our disagreements are about things that are very important to us? And for that matter, what about loving our enemies as Jesus calls us to do?

Lord, show me how to love.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." These words from 1 John are often used as a "call to confession" in Presbyterian worship. I've always been struck how these words connect with AA and other 12 step programs where the starting point of recovery is admitting that you're an alcoholic, or drug addict, etc. If you've ever seen an AA meeting, you'll know that people often introduce themselves with, "Hi, my name is Joe, and I'm an alcoholic."

I think it strikes many of us as odd to constantly remind yourself of your problem, to claim it so openly and frequently. I know that many worshipers would prefer not to have prayers of confession each week in our worship. They have told me so. "It's such a downer," they say.

John Calvin, the theological parent of my theological tradition, wrote in the opening of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, "Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves." The recovering alcoholic had discovered that true wisdom includes never forgetting that he is an alcoholic. And those who are in Christ discover that true wisdom includes never forgetting that they are sinners.

Like those alcoholics who refuse to admit their problem, many of us don't want to claim the label sinner. We like to think that human beings are basically good, that those who are "bad" must have had something go terribly wrong in their lives. We are loathe to admit that we have within us the capacity for evil, that it seems to be a part of our makeup.

Strange that recovering alcoholics find claiming their identity as alcoholics to be so helpful, an integral part of their recovery, while so many Christians find claiming our identity as sinners to be so distasteful. I wonder how often I distance myself from forgiveness and salvation because I want to insist I don't need them.

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Sunday Sermon - "Church: Proclaiming the New Age"

The story of the remarkable community of believers found in Acts 4:32-35, is about the power of resurrection ushering in a new age. In Acts, the Church is proof that Jesus has really been raised, shattering sin and death's power, and inaugurating the Kingdom of God.

Sermon 4-19.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth." Jesus speaks these words to his disciples just prior to his arrest. And the subject of truth arises again during Jesus' trial. Jesus tells Pilate, "For this I was born... to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Pilate responds with a question that receives no answer. "What is truth?"

What is truth? Modern people are prone to think that truth is a matter of facts and figures. Many who insist that the Bible must be literally true get caught up in this modern understanding, imagining that the truth of the Bible rests on it being reliable from a historic or scientific standpoint. I find it mildly amusing that the very people who understand faith in opposition to science, nonetheless have a scientific understanding of what truth is.

If it takes the Spirit of truth to guide us into the truth, then it seems likely that the nature of this truth is much more than facts and figures. I wonder what truths the Spirit it trying to teach me that cannot be discovered simply by learning the right Bible verse or Church doctrine?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones..." So goes the spiritual rooted in today's reading from Ezekiel 37. In that passage the dry bones are Israel, and the picture is bleak. The scene is horrendous, an apparent battlefield where the dead have been left as they fell, with no burial. It is a scene of utter devastation in which God raises the question, "Can these bones live?"

In a day when the membership numbers of traditional denominations seem to be in perpetual decline, when reports of the waning influence of religion in America are cover stories in Newsweek, and when some are writing the Church's obituary, it is easy to transfer God's question to our day. "Can these bones live?"

Too often, however, this question is primarily about institutional survival. And much energy is expended talking about what venture or program or new worship gimmick might inject life into dying churches. But of course the dry bones live only because Yahweh acts, because Yahweh bestows the life giving Spirit on them.

I'm all for doing new things, for trying new programs and so on. But I hope we don't forget that it's not about us. It's about what God is doing.

Lord, show me where your Spirit is at work, and draw me into that work.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

When I was young, my grandparents had several grape vines, scuppernongs and muscadines which we would sometimes use to make jelly. But these vines were no longer producing by the time I was an adult. One time when I was at my grandparents with my toddler aged daughter, I said something about how it was too bad she couldn't eat those grapes or help make jelly. My grandfather responded by telling me that the vines probably just needed a good pruning. He had not kept up with that as he had gotten older. He couldn't prune them any longer but he said he could show me how.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit." (John 15:1-2)

It was the time of year for pruning so my grandfather found the shears and we went outside. I never would have done enough pruning had he not been there. He kept insisting that I needed to cut away more vine. It seemed a harsh and severe task to me, but I did as he directed. Later that year we had a huge crop of grapes, and with my grandmother's tutelage, my daughter and I made grape jelly.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit." More often than not, I want God to be there for me, to work in my life, but not to cause me any problems, not to make things difficult for me, not to change anything very much. Pruning sounds harsh and severe, not what I want done.

May God help me be a little more trusting of vine-grower's skill.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments," says Jesus just prior to his arrest and death in today's reading from John. There is a lot of talk about love in the Bible. We hear that God is love and that God loves the world. We are told to love God and neighbor. But I wonder if our understanding of love isn't sometimes overly colored by our culture's notions of romantic love, of love as an intense feeling.

As a pastor, I regularly conduct weddings where couples ask me to read from 1 Corinthians 13 with its soaring words about love that conclude, "and the greatest of these is love." These words are certainly appropriate at weddings, but often not for the reason that couples assume. Paul, like Jesus, is not speaking of a warm and mushy feeling, but of an absolute commitment to another, of doing what is best for the other even when you don't feel like it.

In Jesus, we are called into relationship with God, a relationship built on love. But I know that I often attempt a very childish relationship with God where I expect God to give me lots of things in return for my occasionally saying, "I love you." But Jesus shows us the meaning, the depth, and the cost of love.

Help me, O God, to love you with more than my words, to do as Jesus calls me to do.

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Sermon for April 12, Easter: "More than a Story"

Sermon, 4-12.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me,
from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.

These words from Psalm 22 are certainly appropriate on Good Friday, even if Jesus only speaks the opening line. On this day when many Christians contemplate Jesus' suffering and death, I also wrestle with its meaning. I've shared here before that I am not much comforted or impressed with mechanical, formulaic understandings of Jesus' passion. The notion that Jesus had to suffer terribly in order to pay enough of a price for all of us has never seemed a very compelling one to me. And while there are scriptural passages that will support such a view, I don't see the bulk of scriptural witness doing so.

As I've pondered this, it strikes me that viewing the cross primarily as a formula for providing personal salvation can become a way of minimizing Jesus' call for all his followers to embrace the way of the cross. If the cross is the preeminent example of God's power made perfect in weakness, then the cross is much more about the ways of God than it is about formulas.

If the cross is God's ultimate weapon against sin and death, what does that say about how we are to bear witness to the victory that God has won?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ...Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." Psalm 27 is once again the morning psalm in today's readings. But to me its words take on more profound meaning when I consider Jesus celebrating a final Passover with friends, knowing what the next day would bring.

Today many of us will in some way reenact that "Last Supper." And as we do, I am drawn to today's epistle reading from First Corinthians. Paul is speaking of the Lord's Supper, the only time he mentions it in a letter. He has been prompted to discuss the meal because of abuses of it at Corinth. The wealthy folks who could come early were sitting down to eat without waiting for the poorer members. They were enjoying their food and wine, often to the point of there being none left to share when the poor finally arrived. In this context Paul writes, "For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves."

Now it is easy to see how these words can be read to speak of a mystical presence in the meal, of discerning the body of Christ in the elements. But read in the larger context of Paul's instructions to the Corinthians, the body mentioned here is clearly the body of Christ that is the Church.

As we gather for Maundy Thursday services this evening, I think it is all too easy for American Christians to think about these events mostly from a personal perspective: Christ dying for me, the Spirit giving me strength to follow Jesus and not be afraid, etc. But I hope to sense the body that Paul calls me to discern. May tonight's service join me, and you, to the great story of God's salvation, and to all those who are part of it.

(Click here to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.)