Psalm 55
Our peace seems always precarious – both in the world and within. What is particularly troubling to the Psalmist is that one with whom he had enjoyed special friendship has become an enemy. And he already had enemies. It’s too much. He is overwhelmed, and basically just lashes out at everyone. Even his own thoughts trouble him (verse 2).
Being troubled at his thoughts may be the beginning of hope – that, along with the content of verse 22, which appears as a little oasis of true spiritual longing in the midst of this sea of bitterness. Even the final sentence, expressing trust in the Lord, leaves things unsettled, when you know there is still this angst in his heart. I mean, he expresses trust in contrast to what others do (verse 23). In the light of Christ, your expression of trust in God would not be complete without going right back to dealing with what is unsettled in relationship with others – in the Psalmist’s case, particularly that former friend.
This is not a piece of Scripture that you would read before bedtime for peace of mind before falling blissfully asleep. Like so much of God’s Word, it disturbs. I am working on an outline for a message series in the fall on the God who disturbs, and Christians as a disturbing force. It will be dangerous, and probably disturbing. There will be those who will tell me it is the wrong kind of message to appeal to people. It will need lots of different elements and media, and it will take a team to do well. But then that is in keeping with God’s disturbing and cinematically (what rating?) powerful Word to the world, and to our minds and hearts.
Prayer:
Lord, I am often disturbed at my thoughts. Thank for for not making me complacent about what is in my heart and mind. There is much yet to be redeemed in me. This world is of course far from redemption, even though it is so close at hand. Help me do my little bitty part to close the gap, starting with me. Through Christ. Amen.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Honestly
Psalm 54
Psalm 53 is almost identical to Psalm 14.
We might not regard Psalm 54 as one of the noblest of expressions in Scripture. But then, we are in the Psalms, and they are full of raw honesty. What point is there in being otherwise before the Lord?
That honesty is combined with a sense of being part of a community and its history with God. It comes with the very calling upon the power of ‘the name’ (verse 1). Within the apparent selfishness of verse 5, there may be the recollection that God is a God of justice and has shown that in the history of his people. Even in the prayer of recoiling of evil on his enemies, there may at least be the recognition of a God who is not far off, but who intervenes and acts in the midst of history and our personal stories.
Prayer:
Lord, in the light of your Son’s revelation, I might question the Psalmist’s prayer concerning his enemies. But am I so different? Thank you that your Son showed a higher way, a generosity of spirit that becomes possible with the gift of your Holy Spirit. Refining my view of others, give me something of the Psalmist’s sense of expectancy of your intervention in everyday life. Through Christ. Amen.
Psalm 53 is almost identical to Psalm 14.
We might not regard Psalm 54 as one of the noblest of expressions in Scripture. But then, we are in the Psalms, and they are full of raw honesty. What point is there in being otherwise before the Lord?
That honesty is combined with a sense of being part of a community and its history with God. It comes with the very calling upon the power of ‘the name’ (verse 1). Within the apparent selfishness of verse 5, there may be the recollection that God is a God of justice and has shown that in the history of his people. Even in the prayer of recoiling of evil on his enemies, there may at least be the recognition of a God who is not far off, but who intervenes and acts in the midst of history and our personal stories.
Prayer:
Lord, in the light of your Son’s revelation, I might question the Psalmist’s prayer concerning his enemies. But am I so different? Thank you that your Son showed a higher way, a generosity of spirit that becomes possible with the gift of your Holy Spirit. Refining my view of others, give me something of the Psalmist’s sense of expectancy of your intervention in everyday life. Through Christ. Amen.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Flow
Psalm 52
There are two forms of strength, as we would discern here.
One form is self-generated strength of will. In this, strength itself is the thing that matters most. If the point is strength, any expression of strength will do, and will be considered the desired good. So, in the psalm, there is even boasting of malice (1,7). There is no morality here. The only sin is weakness.
The second form of strength is that which flows through the individual, or group of individuals. There is inexhaustible power that comes from the Lord, flowing through those who surrender to him. Compare John 3:8. Strength and love are equated in the beautiful word-picture of verse 8. True strength flows; it is not possessed.
Prayer:
Lord, pare me down to what you can really use. Through Christ. Amen.
There are two forms of strength, as we would discern here.
One form is self-generated strength of will. In this, strength itself is the thing that matters most. If the point is strength, any expression of strength will do, and will be considered the desired good. So, in the psalm, there is even boasting of malice (1,7). There is no morality here. The only sin is weakness.
The second form of strength is that which flows through the individual, or group of individuals. There is inexhaustible power that comes from the Lord, flowing through those who surrender to him. Compare John 3:8. Strength and love are equated in the beautiful word-picture of verse 8. True strength flows; it is not possessed.
Prayer:
Lord, pare me down to what you can really use. Through Christ. Amen.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Fill In the Blank
Psalm 51
It is wonderful beyond words to know that we can have sin blotted out. But God doesn’t stop at that. He goes a couple of stages beyond it. Not only does he readily act on a request to “blot out all my iniquity” (verse 9), he brings purity and a new spirit (verse 10), also at our request. In other words, he doesn’t leave us blank. The vacuum could readily be filled up with the same old stuff. Jesus would say that to follow him means daily to take up our cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). Every day a bit of our old self should die and be filled with what God want to fill us with.
Even more, we have mission beyond ourselves to those other ‘transgressors’ (verse 13) with whom we share a common need, and opportunity.
Prayer:
What shall I get rid of, Lord, maybe today, so you can fill me with something better? Through Christ. Amen.
It is wonderful beyond words to know that we can have sin blotted out. But God doesn’t stop at that. He goes a couple of stages beyond it. Not only does he readily act on a request to “blot out all my iniquity” (verse 9), he brings purity and a new spirit (verse 10), also at our request. In other words, he doesn’t leave us blank. The vacuum could readily be filled up with the same old stuff. Jesus would say that to follow him means daily to take up our cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). Every day a bit of our old self should die and be filled with what God want to fill us with.
Even more, we have mission beyond ourselves to those other ‘transgressors’ (verse 13) with whom we share a common need, and opportunity.
Prayer:
What shall I get rid of, Lord, maybe today, so you can fill me with something better? Through Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Why Your Heart Beats
Psalm 50
For those who identify themselves as part of God’s family, outward religious observance can be a way of avoiding personal encounter. Ritual is emotionally safe. Verses 7-15 address the religious. The beginning of God’s covenant with Israel was signaled by sacrifice (verse 5), but what God desires of his people is that they would be open to his powerful, empowering, life-changing presence (let the power of verses 1-5 soak in). To depend on outward sacrifices for the expression of life as God’s people is a sad mockery of God’s power. The essence of life with God is relationship, encounter. God deems to make his presence known and felt to us. That’s astounding. How do we respond to that? In any way he makes possible for us: worship from the heart, actively loving those with whom we share this life and this planet, drawing others to him, deepening bonds with other believers … the possibilities are endless. To tend to some religious observance and be satisfied, with that, that we are right with God is so sad.
Tremble for those who actively mock God with a pretense of faith while doing the opposite of his will (verses 16-22). Actively working for their rescue (the basic meaning of ‘salvation’) will fuel all the more the energy of our life beyond mere religion.
Prayer:
How amazing that you choose to reveal yourself to us, God! Your Psalmist has expressed something of your power and might that would no doubt just obliterate us if we were fully exposed to you – whatever that might mean - in our earthly state. Yet you have chosen to make your power and purpose known to people – like to Moses as well as to Pharaoh in order to bring about a people to love and work with and through to the world. In time you sent your Son the Way we could know you in a fully human way even while you remain fully God. How can we ignore this? How can the world ignore this? How can anyone mock this? How dare we reduce this to ritual? Show us how to make the most of your revelation, as a matter of our very life’s breath and knowing it is why our hearts beat. Through Christ. Amen.
For those who identify themselves as part of God’s family, outward religious observance can be a way of avoiding personal encounter. Ritual is emotionally safe. Verses 7-15 address the religious. The beginning of God’s covenant with Israel was signaled by sacrifice (verse 5), but what God desires of his people is that they would be open to his powerful, empowering, life-changing presence (let the power of verses 1-5 soak in). To depend on outward sacrifices for the expression of life as God’s people is a sad mockery of God’s power. The essence of life with God is relationship, encounter. God deems to make his presence known and felt to us. That’s astounding. How do we respond to that? In any way he makes possible for us: worship from the heart, actively loving those with whom we share this life and this planet, drawing others to him, deepening bonds with other believers … the possibilities are endless. To tend to some religious observance and be satisfied, with that, that we are right with God is so sad.
Tremble for those who actively mock God with a pretense of faith while doing the opposite of his will (verses 16-22). Actively working for their rescue (the basic meaning of ‘salvation’) will fuel all the more the energy of our life beyond mere religion.
Prayer:
How amazing that you choose to reveal yourself to us, God! Your Psalmist has expressed something of your power and might that would no doubt just obliterate us if we were fully exposed to you – whatever that might mean - in our earthly state. Yet you have chosen to make your power and purpose known to people – like to Moses as well as to Pharaoh in order to bring about a people to love and work with and through to the world. In time you sent your Son the Way we could know you in a fully human way even while you remain fully God. How can we ignore this? How can the world ignore this? How can anyone mock this? How dare we reduce this to ritual? Show us how to make the most of your revelation, as a matter of our very life’s breath and knowing it is why our hearts beat. Through Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
In the Twinkling of an Eye
Psalm 49
The Psalmist is troubled at the prosperity of those who “boast of their great riches” (verse 6).
There is more here than just wrestling with his own lack of riches. There is honest spiritual reflection here on what an eternal perspective on relative material wealth should be.
The reflection hinges on the trust factor. Those who trust in their riches will find they have put all their eggs in the wrong basket. Rich and poor alike die. But then that’s not quite the issue. Being rich is not wrong. Trusting in riches is. By the same token, poverty itself is not a virtue. On the contrary, it is an urgent aspect of ministry and mission. The spiritual poverty that Jesus would later commend (Matthew 5:3) means we know our strength lies in someone other than ourselves. That attitude of need may be more elusive for those who feel themselves to be self-sufficient. The Biblical perspective is that this is a danger more for the materially rich than the materially poor.
A further thought, one that doesn’t come directly out of this text, but is prompted by it: Why is it when we speak of heaven we tend to think of its delights as being extensions or fulfillments of earthly enjoyments? You know, the golf course to end all golf courses, and when you play it your slice is gone - that kind of thing. All we really know is that we will be with God and enjoy complete union with him and all those who have trusted in him. It’s about an indestructible relationship, in and through his Son Jesus Christ (Romans 8:38-39). As for what we will be like, Scripture focuses on the complete change in us, rather than any sort of continuation of what we now know (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:35-53).
There is a truth in this Psalm that is a commonplace observation: Death is the great leveler. But Scriptural faith goes beyond that to something more powerful. We are made for eternity. What kind of eternity that will be depends in no way on the values we get from life in this world. That’s a hard lesson for the rich of experience, the rich of knowledge, the rich of wisdom accumulated through life. For the mature of faith, all those things are tools of service, perhaps means of edification and enjoyment in life. They count for nothing for eternity (see Philippians 3:7-9). We all depend on one thing and one thing only: belief in the risen Lord Jesus (Romans 10:9).
Prayer:
God, give me a right perspective on, and enjoyment of, the things of this world. Through Christ. Amen.
The Psalmist is troubled at the prosperity of those who “boast of their great riches” (verse 6).
There is more here than just wrestling with his own lack of riches. There is honest spiritual reflection here on what an eternal perspective on relative material wealth should be.
The reflection hinges on the trust factor. Those who trust in their riches will find they have put all their eggs in the wrong basket. Rich and poor alike die. But then that’s not quite the issue. Being rich is not wrong. Trusting in riches is. By the same token, poverty itself is not a virtue. On the contrary, it is an urgent aspect of ministry and mission. The spiritual poverty that Jesus would later commend (Matthew 5:3) means we know our strength lies in someone other than ourselves. That attitude of need may be more elusive for those who feel themselves to be self-sufficient. The Biblical perspective is that this is a danger more for the materially rich than the materially poor.
A further thought, one that doesn’t come directly out of this text, but is prompted by it: Why is it when we speak of heaven we tend to think of its delights as being extensions or fulfillments of earthly enjoyments? You know, the golf course to end all golf courses, and when you play it your slice is gone - that kind of thing. All we really know is that we will be with God and enjoy complete union with him and all those who have trusted in him. It’s about an indestructible relationship, in and through his Son Jesus Christ (Romans 8:38-39). As for what we will be like, Scripture focuses on the complete change in us, rather than any sort of continuation of what we now know (e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:35-53).
There is a truth in this Psalm that is a commonplace observation: Death is the great leveler. But Scriptural faith goes beyond that to something more powerful. We are made for eternity. What kind of eternity that will be depends in no way on the values we get from life in this world. That’s a hard lesson for the rich of experience, the rich of knowledge, the rich of wisdom accumulated through life. For the mature of faith, all those things are tools of service, perhaps means of edification and enjoyment in life. They count for nothing for eternity (see Philippians 3:7-9). We all depend on one thing and one thing only: belief in the risen Lord Jesus (Romans 10:9).
Prayer:
God, give me a right perspective on, and enjoyment of, the things of this world. Through Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
What's a Meta Phor?
Psalm 48
When trying to express the inexpressible, we make use of what is available. When trying to convey some big reality, I fumble around for an “It’s like” – otherwise known as a metaphor. I find myself doing that in trying to explain something my sons ask me (although I find more and more they are helping me understand at lot!).
There is a concern within this Psalm to pass on what is most valuable to the next generation and beyond. What is most valuable is to know the Lord. After a celebration of the Lord’s power in history and over against the world’s mightiest rulers, the scene focuses in on Jerusalem and the temple, where the people gather to experience God together. This gathering together has always been vital to the Judeo-Christian community. In early years of the church, Christians gathered in homes, or wherever they could, for teaching, communion, and empowerment. But the apostles still went to the temple. This was at this point still a part of Judaism. But it became just as important for those little groups with their own worshiping lives and learning and serving to come together for the celebration of worship together as it was in Old Testament times. Christians might say there was even more to be called together to celebrate. The traditional Presbyterian worship service begins with a “Call to Worship” – and we still need to acknowledge somehow that we are called together in this way.
Anyway, having that kind of experience in the temple and looking around at its impressive features, this became the “It’s like” for the older worshipers instructing the younger ones. It was intended to point to the limitless power of the God acting on earth. And even in the pre-resurrection faith expressed here, it hints at the eternal life we are intended for with Him (verse 14).
Prayer:
Great God, expand my perception of you in the multitude of ways you reveal yourself. You make the impossible happen by allowing us to see and experience in tangible ways what is your glory. Help us develop ways of celebrating you and sharing you with whatever means that can help. About the worst sin your church could commit, apart from outright heresy and hypocrisy, would be to be boring. Let us do our utmost to give expression to the wonder of you in this generation, and for the next. Through Christ. Amen.
When trying to express the inexpressible, we make use of what is available. When trying to convey some big reality, I fumble around for an “It’s like” – otherwise known as a metaphor. I find myself doing that in trying to explain something my sons ask me (although I find more and more they are helping me understand at lot!).
There is a concern within this Psalm to pass on what is most valuable to the next generation and beyond. What is most valuable is to know the Lord. After a celebration of the Lord’s power in history and over against the world’s mightiest rulers, the scene focuses in on Jerusalem and the temple, where the people gather to experience God together. This gathering together has always been vital to the Judeo-Christian community. In early years of the church, Christians gathered in homes, or wherever they could, for teaching, communion, and empowerment. But the apostles still went to the temple. This was at this point still a part of Judaism. But it became just as important for those little groups with their own worshiping lives and learning and serving to come together for the celebration of worship together as it was in Old Testament times. Christians might say there was even more to be called together to celebrate. The traditional Presbyterian worship service begins with a “Call to Worship” – and we still need to acknowledge somehow that we are called together in this way.
Anyway, having that kind of experience in the temple and looking around at its impressive features, this became the “It’s like” for the older worshipers instructing the younger ones. It was intended to point to the limitless power of the God acting on earth. And even in the pre-resurrection faith expressed here, it hints at the eternal life we are intended for with Him (verse 14).
Prayer:
Great God, expand my perception of you in the multitude of ways you reveal yourself. You make the impossible happen by allowing us to see and experience in tangible ways what is your glory. Help us develop ways of celebrating you and sharing you with whatever means that can help. About the worst sin your church could commit, apart from outright heresy and hypocrisy, would be to be boring. Let us do our utmost to give expression to the wonder of you in this generation, and for the next. Through Christ. Amen.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Dig This Whole
Psalm 47
So at certain times the people would have this big celebration like they were putting God on his throne. Only they knew they weren’t really doing this, and couldn’t. This was one time to say, “It’s about me.” By ‘putting’ God on his throne they were putting themselves in their place: “He’s God and we’re not.” Also it would serve as a way of putting together the two parts of their national life. Israel was, after all, both a religious and political entity.
So by ‘putting’ God on the throne of my own life, by this gesture of submission I also necessarily have to look at the various parts of my life to try to make sure they are parts in function only, and not compartments of varying subjection to God’s oversight and will. That can be ethically convenient, but disastrous to living.
In personalizing this song, though, I should not overlook the call to the nations to clap their hands. Even a s figure of speech, it’s tantalizing to conjure up what that would look and sound like: All peoples, all leaders, putting hands together to praise rather than to strike or to grab (as in grabbing supplies meant for cyclone victims).
For you, me, and for all peoples, the key to integrity is acknowledging who has charge of life as whole.
Prayer:
God, have I made you the Lord over my whole life, so that my life will be therefore whole? In Christ. Amen.
So at certain times the people would have this big celebration like they were putting God on his throne. Only they knew they weren’t really doing this, and couldn’t. This was one time to say, “It’s about me.” By ‘putting’ God on his throne they were putting themselves in their place: “He’s God and we’re not.” Also it would serve as a way of putting together the two parts of their national life. Israel was, after all, both a religious and political entity.
So by ‘putting’ God on the throne of my own life, by this gesture of submission I also necessarily have to look at the various parts of my life to try to make sure they are parts in function only, and not compartments of varying subjection to God’s oversight and will. That can be ethically convenient, but disastrous to living.
In personalizing this song, though, I should not overlook the call to the nations to clap their hands. Even a s figure of speech, it’s tantalizing to conjure up what that would look and sound like: All peoples, all leaders, putting hands together to praise rather than to strike or to grab (as in grabbing supplies meant for cyclone victims).
For you, me, and for all peoples, the key to integrity is acknowledging who has charge of life as whole.
Prayer:
God, have I made you the Lord over my whole life, so that my life will be therefore whole? In Christ. Amen.
Friday, May 09, 2008
He Who Is Closer than Chaos
Psalm 46
It’s like there are three stanzas here, with a refrain appearing in verses 7 and 11 – once also after verse 3 but lost through handing down?
The first stanza of this song (verses 1-3) celebrates resistance against the one-step-away-from-disaster sense about life. You know, one more unexpected bill and you’re done; one more fight between the kids and you’re going to really lose it. Or maybe every time you hear about an illness you think you’ve got it or will get it. Or every time your spouse commutes to work you think of the last crazy driver you encountered or heard about. Chaos is ready to pounce on your life with just one little opening.
No, the Psalmist says, we don’t give in to those fears, however real they may be. Why? Because
The Lord almighty is with us (read ‘me’ if you like);
The God of Jacob is our/my fortress.
The God who held back the watery chaos to make a place for creation to flourish (Genesis 1) intended life for us from the beginning, and he’s not about to give up that purpose and desire for us. Trouble may come, but chaos and darkness will not overtake us.
Similarly, (verses 4-7); the rage of the world can assault the center of our faith (in this case seen as Jerusalem, the City of God), but the powerful forces of nations and history cannot prevail against a people who trust in the Lord and his purose and destiny for them. Try reading verses 4-5, substituting “my heart” for “city of God.” This doesn’t speak of a geographical river anyway. So try it, yes now … “There is a river that makes glad my heart …”
And, for a people embattled by spiritual warfare and the struggle of their basic humanity rising up within their redeemed life …
The Lord almighty is with us;
The God of Jacob is our fortress.
And then (verses 8-11), there is this great summation, anticipating the living of life now in the character of the life to be brought by the coming Lord, the effect of kingdom life lived in the midst of the chaotic world: Yes, it is living hope. Why? Because of our unrealized potential? Because we haven’t yet used what is within us? Because there is a basic goodness we just have to let loose from within us? No. It can be realized because
The Lord almighty is with us;
The God of Jacob is our fortress.
And throughout cyberspace God’s people say,
“Amen.”
It’s like there are three stanzas here, with a refrain appearing in verses 7 and 11 – once also after verse 3 but lost through handing down?
The first stanza of this song (verses 1-3) celebrates resistance against the one-step-away-from-disaster sense about life. You know, one more unexpected bill and you’re done; one more fight between the kids and you’re going to really lose it. Or maybe every time you hear about an illness you think you’ve got it or will get it. Or every time your spouse commutes to work you think of the last crazy driver you encountered or heard about. Chaos is ready to pounce on your life with just one little opening.
No, the Psalmist says, we don’t give in to those fears, however real they may be. Why? Because
The Lord almighty is with us (read ‘me’ if you like);
The God of Jacob is our/my fortress.
The God who held back the watery chaos to make a place for creation to flourish (Genesis 1) intended life for us from the beginning, and he’s not about to give up that purpose and desire for us. Trouble may come, but chaos and darkness will not overtake us.
Similarly, (verses 4-7); the rage of the world can assault the center of our faith (in this case seen as Jerusalem, the City of God), but the powerful forces of nations and history cannot prevail against a people who trust in the Lord and his purose and destiny for them. Try reading verses 4-5, substituting “my heart” for “city of God.” This doesn’t speak of a geographical river anyway. So try it, yes now … “There is a river that makes glad my heart …”
And, for a people embattled by spiritual warfare and the struggle of their basic humanity rising up within their redeemed life …
The Lord almighty is with us;
The God of Jacob is our fortress.
And then (verses 8-11), there is this great summation, anticipating the living of life now in the character of the life to be brought by the coming Lord, the effect of kingdom life lived in the midst of the chaotic world: Yes, it is living hope. Why? Because of our unrealized potential? Because we haven’t yet used what is within us? Because there is a basic goodness we just have to let loose from within us? No. It can be realized because
The Lord almighty is with us;
The God of Jacob is our fortress.
And throughout cyberspace God’s people say,
“Amen.”
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
With the Caring of the Lord
Psalm 45
The psalm celebrates a king who is divinely appointed and fulfills his role in such a way that he can been seen as a representative of Lord, with the Lord’s own care and love for the people. God gave humanity this kind of care over the life of the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). This is a more specific kind of stewardship of a people.
It would now seem sexist, if not also an example of nationalistic chauvinism, that the king’s foreign bride is told to forget her own people and dedicate herself totally to her husband and her new setting (verses 10-11). In the context, it is a sign of the worthiness of the king. The ancient church saw this marriage as a sign of the submission of the church to the authority and purpose of Christ as King over the church and the world.
The kind of genuine care for people in modern government seems only to be evident in a time of tragedy. The ruling generals of Myanmar (or Burma, whatever it is most properly called), hardly fit the description of kingship in the psalm. We can help, through, among other avenues:
The Presbyterian Church in Canada
Red Cross
World Vision
On another plane, in times of such a monumental tragedy, there is the “why” or “why them or us” type of question. With some discomfort at being overly reflective in the midst of down-to-earth human misery, I recall something I wrote after the Asian Tsunami, which came to mind again in thinking of all the thousands devastated by this cyclone.
Each beating heart got its start from You,
There’s no life apart from Your power and your cue,
But this is one cry through a sudden wave’s wall:
Why them, not I; do You love us all?
Some suffer more from the powers of earth,
What is this for, are there some of lesser worth?
How do you choose who will get the call,
Are some meant to lose, or do You truly love us all?
There’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as You love us all.
Your power can move in any latitude,
Show us your grace of greater magnitude.
By loving mighty fire and your reign installed
May no one need inquire, or ever doubt, if You love us all.
‘Cause there’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as You love us all.
Though the earth will quake, skies will be torn,
Our bond will not break with a new world that’s born
‘Cause there’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as you love us all.
As You Love Us All, Copyright © 2006 James Kitson
Prayer:
God, thank you that you hear the cries of your children throughout the earth. You are the unchanging God, but you are not unaffected or unmoved by the circumstances of people, when they call out to you, or others call to you on their behalf. Thank you for those who care; speed the efforts of those seeking to help people now undergoing disaster. Through Christ. Amen.
The psalm celebrates a king who is divinely appointed and fulfills his role in such a way that he can been seen as a representative of Lord, with the Lord’s own care and love for the people. God gave humanity this kind of care over the life of the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). This is a more specific kind of stewardship of a people.
It would now seem sexist, if not also an example of nationalistic chauvinism, that the king’s foreign bride is told to forget her own people and dedicate herself totally to her husband and her new setting (verses 10-11). In the context, it is a sign of the worthiness of the king. The ancient church saw this marriage as a sign of the submission of the church to the authority and purpose of Christ as King over the church and the world.
The kind of genuine care for people in modern government seems only to be evident in a time of tragedy. The ruling generals of Myanmar (or Burma, whatever it is most properly called), hardly fit the description of kingship in the psalm. We can help, through, among other avenues:
The Presbyterian Church in Canada
Red Cross
World Vision
On another plane, in times of such a monumental tragedy, there is the “why” or “why them or us” type of question. With some discomfort at being overly reflective in the midst of down-to-earth human misery, I recall something I wrote after the Asian Tsunami, which came to mind again in thinking of all the thousands devastated by this cyclone.
Each beating heart got its start from You,
There’s no life apart from Your power and your cue,
But this is one cry through a sudden wave’s wall:
Why them, not I; do You love us all?
Some suffer more from the powers of earth,
What is this for, are there some of lesser worth?
How do you choose who will get the call,
Are some meant to lose, or do You truly love us all?
There’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as You love us all.
Your power can move in any latitude,
Show us your grace of greater magnitude.
By loving mighty fire and your reign installed
May no one need inquire, or ever doubt, if You love us all.
‘Cause there’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as You love us all.
Though the earth will quake, skies will be torn,
Our bond will not break with a new world that’s born
‘Cause there’s your Child, arms spread out so wide
So defiled, His tears a mercy tide
Swept along in His wave heavens’ tall,
I join the throngs You will save as you love us all.
As You Love Us All, Copyright © 2006 James Kitson
Prayer:
God, thank you that you hear the cries of your children throughout the earth. You are the unchanging God, but you are not unaffected or unmoved by the circumstances of people, when they call out to you, or others call to you on their behalf. Thank you for those who care; speed the efforts of those seeking to help people now undergoing disaster. Through Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
The Only Power Over You
Psalm 44
The Psalmist reflects that in times of victory, the real power was the Lord’s, fulfilling his purpose. Things have turned sour in the context of writing. There’s been some sort of national defeat. The intensity of the anguish involves seeing the Lord in this turn of things (verse 9). He protests that the nation has not turned on or away from the Lord.
The hope in this comes at the point of the most pain. This situation might be easier to wrestle with if it were not seen as the hand of the Lord. But where would that leave him? Where would it leave us if the attacks in life were things the Lord were completely separated from? It would mean those things would be what have power over us. As it is, he at least is acknowledging God’s control over things. If there is to be any hope in circumstances beyond our control, where is strength, help and hope going to come from? From the circumstances? From us? What/Who does that leave? Exactly.
The reason for trials is usually and frustratingly impervious to our perception. We yet have the Lord. Even if he has had a hand in our trials, the maturity of faith knows that that ultimately can only be good.
Prayer:
Grow me up Lord, to trust in your workings, and to begin to see even the outline of your shape in my life. Through Christ. Amen.
The Psalmist reflects that in times of victory, the real power was the Lord’s, fulfilling his purpose. Things have turned sour in the context of writing. There’s been some sort of national defeat. The intensity of the anguish involves seeing the Lord in this turn of things (verse 9). He protests that the nation has not turned on or away from the Lord.
The hope in this comes at the point of the most pain. This situation might be easier to wrestle with if it were not seen as the hand of the Lord. But where would that leave him? Where would it leave us if the attacks in life were things the Lord were completely separated from? It would mean those things would be what have power over us. As it is, he at least is acknowledging God’s control over things. If there is to be any hope in circumstances beyond our control, where is strength, help and hope going to come from? From the circumstances? From us? What/Who does that leave? Exactly.
The reason for trials is usually and frustratingly impervious to our perception. We yet have the Lord. Even if he has had a hand in our trials, the maturity of faith knows that that ultimately can only be good.
Prayer:
Grow me up Lord, to trust in your workings, and to begin to see even the outline of your shape in my life. Through Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
until the answer comes
Psalm 43
In Psalm 42, from a setting of exile, the psalmist has poured out his longing to experience God in the Temple. Now he prays that God would deal with those circumstances that prevent him from being present at the Temple. He commits to praising him there as the joy of his life. Then the last verse of Psalm 42 is repeated (43:5). In these lines the psalmist addresses himself (“my soul”). But, with what builds within the psalmist in these few verses, it seems to me that the note of hope at the end now comes with more power than when the verse appeared before (42:11). The dialogue of longing bears fruit with the gift of inner assurance and even quiet joy. This inner transformation happens independently of external circumstances, even while he prays for change in those circumstances.
The lesson I take in this is that if we converse honestly with our Lord, he will, even before our outward circumstances change, give us inner encouragement and strength to persist until the outcome he has in mind is fulfilled. I love the term blogger Kim Heinecke of Edmond, Oklahoma, has adopted: deliberate hope. That’s what earnest dialogue with the Lord brings within us.
Prayer:
Lord, I pray for … , who I know is struggling with a long-time problem. The resolution is visible, but seems very far away. Give … your encouragement. May your Holy Spirit prompt a conversation with you to bear fruit in hope. Through Christ. Amen.
In Psalm 42, from a setting of exile, the psalmist has poured out his longing to experience God in the Temple. Now he prays that God would deal with those circumstances that prevent him from being present at the Temple. He commits to praising him there as the joy of his life. Then the last verse of Psalm 42 is repeated (43:5). In these lines the psalmist addresses himself (“my soul”). But, with what builds within the psalmist in these few verses, it seems to me that the note of hope at the end now comes with more power than when the verse appeared before (42:11). The dialogue of longing bears fruit with the gift of inner assurance and even quiet joy. This inner transformation happens independently of external circumstances, even while he prays for change in those circumstances.
The lesson I take in this is that if we converse honestly with our Lord, he will, even before our outward circumstances change, give us inner encouragement and strength to persist until the outcome he has in mind is fulfilled. I love the term blogger Kim Heinecke of Edmond, Oklahoma, has adopted: deliberate hope. That’s what earnest dialogue with the Lord brings within us.
Prayer:
Lord, I pray for … , who I know is struggling with a long-time problem. The resolution is visible, but seems very far away. Give … your encouragement. May your Holy Spirit prompt a conversation with you to bear fruit in hope. Through Christ. Amen.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Longing
Psalm 42
The consensus among Bible scholars seems to be that Psalms 42 and 43 are one composition. But for some reason they are in Scripture as Psalms in their own right so we will treat them as such.
In the dry season, the deer longs for flowing streams. That’s how the psalmist longs for God in the temple, an experience denied him due to a condition of exile. Note that he is not without God. He’s conversing with God (verse 8). But he longs for experience of God in the Temple. I would make this comparison: You play an musical instrument, you sing, just for the joy of it – in the shower maybe (well, not with your guitar, I hope). Or you sing to yourself when you’re out gardening. You pick up your oboe and play a Mozart melody. Or you’re pretty good at shooting hoops, or picking a top corner of hockey net with a tennis ball in the driveway. You can do this on your own.
But then you just long all the more to use that guitar in a band, to blend your voice with a couple of others in a vocal team, to sit down with your oboe in a chamber ensemble – and to experience the merging of the love of music, on the part of individuals, into a unified sound – all the more glorious in its unity for the variety within it. There’s something even mystic about it; on rare occasions you become like one in mind and spirit as you no longer play the music, but rather the music plays you, or through you: an appropriate and fitting use of the word medium.
Or you take that love of the feel of the hard surface of the basketball briefly touching and releasing as it presses into your hand, the roll of the ball off your fingers; and you add to that the sound of the ball on the gym floor, the squeak of your shoes joining others, the sweat building, the back and forth, the reaching for rebounds …. so much more than shooting hoops in your driveway.
Or you take that hockey stick and your bag and … well, you get the idea.
The Psalmist knows God. But he longs for something more than picking or singing or pressing his lips to that double-reed on his own. He longs to merge his voice and heart in a setting where God has been experienced as meeting and joining people together as one in him. But it’s about so much more, or less, than just looking for an experience, or “The Feeling,” as some call it. It’s not about what you get, but what you bring. That’s what so much worship strategizing misses: Everyone longs to give what they have to give. Most of us are tired of the whole ‘getting’ thing, I think, whether we consciously identify it or not. We sense that our real dignity is in giving, in offering, in losing ourselves in some way. Our worship needs to work to give people the opportunity to do that.
Maybe a part of the problem is that a lot of us who are already Christians have lost the longing. That’s sad. But I say all this by way of confession. When I read the following recently, it convicted me:
“Did it ever strike you odd that in contemporary Christian jargon, it’s the pre-Christians who are called seekers? Where does that leave the Christians? Shouldn’t Christian leaders be the lead seekers?” - Brian D. McLaren, in Adventures in Missing the Point, by Brian D. McLaren and Tony Campolo
Prayer:
God, I acknowledge with humility and relief that our knowing of each other is not an equal matter. Forgive me when I forget that. Every week I read about you, I study you, I analyze you, but I don’t know you at all, except as you choose to reveal yourself to me, through conversation that you allow. But whatever you choose to reveal is more than enough for me. And so I go on both knowing you and longing for you. In this is life. Through Christ. Amen.
The consensus among Bible scholars seems to be that Psalms 42 and 43 are one composition. But for some reason they are in Scripture as Psalms in their own right so we will treat them as such.
In the dry season, the deer longs for flowing streams. That’s how the psalmist longs for God in the temple, an experience denied him due to a condition of exile. Note that he is not without God. He’s conversing with God (verse 8). But he longs for experience of God in the Temple. I would make this comparison: You play an musical instrument, you sing, just for the joy of it – in the shower maybe (well, not with your guitar, I hope). Or you sing to yourself when you’re out gardening. You pick up your oboe and play a Mozart melody. Or you’re pretty good at shooting hoops, or picking a top corner of hockey net with a tennis ball in the driveway. You can do this on your own.
But then you just long all the more to use that guitar in a band, to blend your voice with a couple of others in a vocal team, to sit down with your oboe in a chamber ensemble – and to experience the merging of the love of music, on the part of individuals, into a unified sound – all the more glorious in its unity for the variety within it. There’s something even mystic about it; on rare occasions you become like one in mind and spirit as you no longer play the music, but rather the music plays you, or through you: an appropriate and fitting use of the word medium.
Or you take that love of the feel of the hard surface of the basketball briefly touching and releasing as it presses into your hand, the roll of the ball off your fingers; and you add to that the sound of the ball on the gym floor, the squeak of your shoes joining others, the sweat building, the back and forth, the reaching for rebounds …. so much more than shooting hoops in your driveway.
Or you take that hockey stick and your bag and … well, you get the idea.
The Psalmist knows God. But he longs for something more than picking or singing or pressing his lips to that double-reed on his own. He longs to merge his voice and heart in a setting where God has been experienced as meeting and joining people together as one in him. But it’s about so much more, or less, than just looking for an experience, or “The Feeling,” as some call it. It’s not about what you get, but what you bring. That’s what so much worship strategizing misses: Everyone longs to give what they have to give. Most of us are tired of the whole ‘getting’ thing, I think, whether we consciously identify it or not. We sense that our real dignity is in giving, in offering, in losing ourselves in some way. Our worship needs to work to give people the opportunity to do that.
Maybe a part of the problem is that a lot of us who are already Christians have lost the longing. That’s sad. But I say all this by way of confession. When I read the following recently, it convicted me:
“Did it ever strike you odd that in contemporary Christian jargon, it’s the pre-Christians who are called seekers? Where does that leave the Christians? Shouldn’t Christian leaders be the lead seekers?” - Brian D. McLaren, in Adventures in Missing the Point, by Brian D. McLaren and Tony Campolo
Prayer:
God, I acknowledge with humility and relief that our knowing of each other is not an equal matter. Forgive me when I forget that. Every week I read about you, I study you, I analyze you, but I don’t know you at all, except as you choose to reveal yourself to me, through conversation that you allow. But whatever you choose to reveal is more than enough for me. And so I go on both knowing you and longing for you. In this is life. Through Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
In Big Letters
Galatians 6:11-18
Paul writes this last part in his own writing and with big letters, like he's saying, get this. We’ll conclude our walk through this letter by focusing on what Paul says counts: “What counts is a new creation” (verse 15b). What does not count? “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision mean anything” (verse 15a).
The new creation in Christ is a personal experience, but it is not an individual experience, at least not only an individual experience; it belongs to, is experienced in, and lived out in, a community of faith. So variety of humanity is wonderful; divisive distinctions are intolerable. The circumcision controversy was not about just one ritual among many, a tradition as other traditions can be difficult to leave behind.. This was a particular matter of identity. But the new identity is with Christ. Along with identity goes commitment in love and service to others.
I’m in a church that has, in the past, been big on tradition and not so much on personal encounter. It has been good, in more recent times, to have an emphasis on the latter. But we should not be absorbed in an individualistic approach to faith – as some songs get caught up in - as if it’s just about “me and Jesus” and the rest of the world can go where it’s going.
God’s fervent desire is for all to be saved. The witness together of the faith community, focusing on Christ alone as its head, can and will bring real hope to all with ears to hear and eyes to see.
Prayer:
Thanks, God, for this honest outpouring of Paul to people he loved but was not happy with. Let your church today speak the truth in love, wherever needed. For Christ’s sake. Amen.
Next in Open Journal: We'll continue the Psalms, with Book II.
Paul writes this last part in his own writing and with big letters, like he's saying, get this. We’ll conclude our walk through this letter by focusing on what Paul says counts: “What counts is a new creation” (verse 15b). What does not count? “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision mean anything” (verse 15a).
The new creation in Christ is a personal experience, but it is not an individual experience, at least not only an individual experience; it belongs to, is experienced in, and lived out in, a community of faith. So variety of humanity is wonderful; divisive distinctions are intolerable. The circumcision controversy was not about just one ritual among many, a tradition as other traditions can be difficult to leave behind.. This was a particular matter of identity. But the new identity is with Christ. Along with identity goes commitment in love and service to others.
I’m in a church that has, in the past, been big on tradition and not so much on personal encounter. It has been good, in more recent times, to have an emphasis on the latter. But we should not be absorbed in an individualistic approach to faith – as some songs get caught up in - as if it’s just about “me and Jesus” and the rest of the world can go where it’s going.
God’s fervent desire is for all to be saved. The witness together of the faith community, focusing on Christ alone as its head, can and will bring real hope to all with ears to hear and eyes to see.
Prayer:
Thanks, God, for this honest outpouring of Paul to people he loved but was not happy with. Let your church today speak the truth in love, wherever needed. For Christ’s sake. Amen.
Next in Open Journal: We'll continue the Psalms, with Book II.
Monday, April 21, 2008
The Practice Field
Galatians 6:1-10
Paul’s urging to “do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (verse 10) is not so much a ‘charity begins at home’ kind of thing, as an antidote to the dynamics of competition that can and do happen in the family of believers. The emphasis is on doing good to all. We need to keep in mind that in the background is a churning power and control struggle, and, specifically, the controversy over the attempted imposition of certain rituals. Genuine caring for one another is a sign of faith life that is a free and joyful response to God’s grace in Christ, rather than a matter of adhering to rituals, or getting one’s way. The faith community has to get that right, or the mission to do good to all is jeopardized before it begins. We also take the context seriously if we see the last bit of advice as being connected to the concern about restoring one another in the faith community with gentleness and caring (verse 1). That is, at the time of writing, evidently, a pressing issue, and a very practical and important example of what it means to do good within the family of believers.
Prayer:
Wonderful God, of all the things that can wear me down, it is good to know that I can never be worn down by doing good. Thanks. Through Jesus. Amen.
Paul’s urging to “do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (verse 10) is not so much a ‘charity begins at home’ kind of thing, as an antidote to the dynamics of competition that can and do happen in the family of believers. The emphasis is on doing good to all. We need to keep in mind that in the background is a churning power and control struggle, and, specifically, the controversy over the attempted imposition of certain rituals. Genuine caring for one another is a sign of faith life that is a free and joyful response to God’s grace in Christ, rather than a matter of adhering to rituals, or getting one’s way. The faith community has to get that right, or the mission to do good to all is jeopardized before it begins. We also take the context seriously if we see the last bit of advice as being connected to the concern about restoring one another in the faith community with gentleness and caring (verse 1). That is, at the time of writing, evidently, a pressing issue, and a very practical and important example of what it means to do good within the family of believers.
Prayer:
Wonderful God, of all the things that can wear me down, it is good to know that I can never be worn down by doing good. Thanks. Through Jesus. Amen.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Choose
Galatians 5:16-26
You have been called to be free, Paul has just been saying. There is a picture of what that freedom looks like. It’s called service, to God and other people.
Now Paul gets to the power behind that freedom and service: the Holy Spirit.
This power is not an “it” but “he”. This power is so personal, so powerful. he has an enemy. That’s what happens when you are on to something that is really of God: you attract opposition, resentment, jealousy. Paul calls the enemy ‘the flesh’ – variously translated also as sinful nature, selfishness, selfish desires. It is just the world’s usual standard and way of doing things (flesh > physical > of the world). It can seem innocuous, even good. But the way of the Spirit and the way of the world are so opposed, that if we live only according to the physical nature, the outcome is not just less than what it could be, but rather it is actually and actively opposed to God’s purposes. That leads to the list of unsavoury things (verse 19-21) that are the ultimate fruit of this approach to life.
My take? This calls for daily immersion in the Spirit. We are so easily caught up in the standards of the everyday. We need to be aware that there is a daily battle going on over our loyalty. The Spirit and the ‘flesh’ are not components of human nature, but they are cosmic realities that use human lives as their battleground, and seek us as their trophies. The question is – for the church as for individuals – are we going to live according to the Spirit, and be fully open to his engaging, dynamic, impossible-to-fail power; or are we going to base our decisions, direction, and lines of authority according to the ‘realities’ of the ‘real’ world – a world which, in case you didn’t notice, is passing away.
What will you choose? What will you choose, church?
Prayer:
Purify my mind, heart and spirit in your Holy Spirit, Lord. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
You have been called to be free, Paul has just been saying. There is a picture of what that freedom looks like. It’s called service, to God and other people.
Now Paul gets to the power behind that freedom and service: the Holy Spirit.
This power is not an “it” but “he”. This power is so personal, so powerful. he has an enemy. That’s what happens when you are on to something that is really of God: you attract opposition, resentment, jealousy. Paul calls the enemy ‘the flesh’ – variously translated also as sinful nature, selfishness, selfish desires. It is just the world’s usual standard and way of doing things (flesh > physical > of the world). It can seem innocuous, even good. But the way of the Spirit and the way of the world are so opposed, that if we live only according to the physical nature, the outcome is not just less than what it could be, but rather it is actually and actively opposed to God’s purposes. That leads to the list of unsavoury things (verse 19-21) that are the ultimate fruit of this approach to life.
My take? This calls for daily immersion in the Spirit. We are so easily caught up in the standards of the everyday. We need to be aware that there is a daily battle going on over our loyalty. The Spirit and the ‘flesh’ are not components of human nature, but they are cosmic realities that use human lives as their battleground, and seek us as their trophies. The question is – for the church as for individuals – are we going to live according to the Spirit, and be fully open to his engaging, dynamic, impossible-to-fail power; or are we going to base our decisions, direction, and lines of authority according to the ‘realities’ of the ‘real’ world – a world which, in case you didn’t notice, is passing away.
What will you choose? What will you choose, church?
Prayer:
Purify my mind, heart and spirit in your Holy Spirit, Lord. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Free to Serve
Galatians 5:7-15
Back when we went through Exodus in Open Journal, we found that when God directed Moses to speak to Pharaoh, the Lord said,
"Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me" (Exodus 9:1). Other versions say, “… that they may serve me.” I guess we catch the double meaning when we talk about the worship service, or serving God by worshiping God in our lives.
The connection here is really important, and runs against the grain of the way much of the world thinks and operates. Freedom is connected with service, particularly serving/worshiping God and serving others. This runs naturally into Paul’s quotation in verse 14 of our present passage.
Freedom is not, as it seems some thought, liberty to act without responsibility, but to have a direction in life that is focused on the Lord, since he knows what is best for us, and works for our true fulfillment in the life that he has loaned us to share with others.
I’m going to make a point of serving someone today in some intentional way, and experience the freedom of God.
Prayer:
Lord, give me discernment to see, and the love to act on, someone’s need today, not just so I can experience the freedom that is connected with service, but so that they ultimately will find that freedom as well. Through Christ. Amen.
Back when we went through Exodus in Open Journal, we found that when God directed Moses to speak to Pharaoh, the Lord said,
"Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me" (Exodus 9:1). Other versions say, “… that they may serve me.” I guess we catch the double meaning when we talk about the worship service, or serving God by worshiping God in our lives.
The connection here is really important, and runs against the grain of the way much of the world thinks and operates. Freedom is connected with service, particularly serving/worshiping God and serving others. This runs naturally into Paul’s quotation in verse 14 of our present passage.
Freedom is not, as it seems some thought, liberty to act without responsibility, but to have a direction in life that is focused on the Lord, since he knows what is best for us, and works for our true fulfillment in the life that he has loaned us to share with others.
I’m going to make a point of serving someone today in some intentional way, and experience the freedom of God.
Prayer:
Lord, give me discernment to see, and the love to act on, someone’s need today, not just so I can experience the freedom that is connected with service, but so that they ultimately will find that freedom as well. Through Christ. Amen.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Knit It But Then Live It
Galatians 5:1-6
It is good to be reminded at this point that the Law certainly has its role. Christians revere the 10 Commandments as God’s certain will for us (not the 10 Suggestions). The danger of the law is as a means of salvation. The Law can’t save. And the more precise point here is that any rite that would lead to a religion based on law is to be shunned. But now there is a new, positively expressed note in this theme: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal. 5:6). This is the freedom Christians have been set free for (verse 1). In other words, because of Christ, we do freely what the law would have compelled us to do! Jesus himself said the greatest command – the sum of the law and the prophets - is to love God above all and my neighbour as myself (Matthew 22:34-40). The “new command” John records is to love one another (John 13:34-35). The gracious effect of following love as a command is that we keep loving with sacrificial love, putting others ahead of ourselves, even when we don’t feel like it. In fact it is all the more love then. So much for love as mere emotion or sentiment. The worst thing that could happen with verse 6 is for it to be put into needlepoint (speaking for myself, of course, with apologies to all the crafty types!).
Prayer:
Lord, let my faith be expressed in love that puts others first. Through Christ. Amen.
It is good to be reminded at this point that the Law certainly has its role. Christians revere the 10 Commandments as God’s certain will for us (not the 10 Suggestions). The danger of the law is as a means of salvation. The Law can’t save. And the more precise point here is that any rite that would lead to a religion based on law is to be shunned. But now there is a new, positively expressed note in this theme: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal. 5:6). This is the freedom Christians have been set free for (verse 1). In other words, because of Christ, we do freely what the law would have compelled us to do! Jesus himself said the greatest command – the sum of the law and the prophets - is to love God above all and my neighbour as myself (Matthew 22:34-40). The “new command” John records is to love one another (John 13:34-35). The gracious effect of following love as a command is that we keep loving with sacrificial love, putting others ahead of ourselves, even when we don’t feel like it. In fact it is all the more love then. So much for love as mere emotion or sentiment. The worst thing that could happen with verse 6 is for it to be put into needlepoint (speaking for myself, of course, with apologies to all the crafty types!).
Prayer:
Lord, let my faith be expressed in love that puts others first. Through Christ. Amen.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Love and Leadership
Galatians 4:21-31
Paul's analysis from history serves as background to a pressing leadership issue at Galatia: what to do about those who insisted on ritual under the law for all Christians?
His history lesson draws puts the natural birth of Ishmael to the slave woman, Hagar, in association with Mount Sinai (where the law was given) and the earthly Jerusalem. On the other hand is Isaac, born by the promise of God to Sarah in old age. He is associated with the Jerusalem “that is above” (see Revelation 21:1-2). The implication is that those who align themselves with the new covenant of promise are both free and part of the larger family of God. The Sinai/earthly Jerusalem tradition is connected with one people; the heavenly Jerusalem with all those who trust in Jesus on the basis of grace.
All this is background Paul sets out as he deals with a leadership issue: what to do with those who are taking away from the purity of the Gospel and its inclusiveness in the local setting? The painful conclusion is that it is better for them to be put out of the church than contaminate the whole. That’s the point of the reference in verse 30. It should be clear, however, that the contamination is in their thinking, not in their persons. This may be one of the first instances where church leadership had to act in a difficult way in recognition that members of the church are to be held accountable for their beliefs and place and conduct in the Body of Christ. In our marketing-oriented world, it is good to remember that church members are just that: members, not customers. We love and serve one another and our Lord as servants of God – first God - and one another.
Prayer:
Lord, let us serve one another in your church on the basis you provide: on the basis of love. We may find Paul’s thinking odd at times, Lord, but we thank you for his example in seeking a Biblical basis in all things. Let us be diligent in shaping life and practice according to Scripture and not the other way around. Through Christ. Amen.
Paul's analysis from history serves as background to a pressing leadership issue at Galatia: what to do about those who insisted on ritual under the law for all Christians?
His history lesson draws puts the natural birth of Ishmael to the slave woman, Hagar, in association with Mount Sinai (where the law was given) and the earthly Jerusalem. On the other hand is Isaac, born by the promise of God to Sarah in old age. He is associated with the Jerusalem “that is above” (see Revelation 21:1-2). The implication is that those who align themselves with the new covenant of promise are both free and part of the larger family of God. The Sinai/earthly Jerusalem tradition is connected with one people; the heavenly Jerusalem with all those who trust in Jesus on the basis of grace.
All this is background Paul sets out as he deals with a leadership issue: what to do with those who are taking away from the purity of the Gospel and its inclusiveness in the local setting? The painful conclusion is that it is better for them to be put out of the church than contaminate the whole. That’s the point of the reference in verse 30. It should be clear, however, that the contamination is in their thinking, not in their persons. This may be one of the first instances where church leadership had to act in a difficult way in recognition that members of the church are to be held accountable for their beliefs and place and conduct in the Body of Christ. In our marketing-oriented world, it is good to remember that church members are just that: members, not customers. We love and serve one another and our Lord as servants of God – first God - and one another.
Prayer:
Lord, let us serve one another in your church on the basis you provide: on the basis of love. We may find Paul’s thinking odd at times, Lord, but we thank you for his example in seeking a Biblical basis in all things. Let us be diligent in shaping life and practice according to Scripture and not the other way around. Through Christ. Amen.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
