Faith, Grace, and Hope

Luke 10:25-40 Over the course of my life, I have watched the focus of today’s gospel story shift. As a child, I received the most common interpretation- that the goal of our life as followers of Jesus was to be like the merciful Samaritan. We are called and equipped to stop and help. How could we do any less, given that our Savior stopped and helped us?   Good Samaritan laws and a variety of organizations are named after this interpretation. Looked at from this view, the story draws us all toward opportunities of mercy and generosity. Those are certainly two things the world could use more of- mercy and generosity. They can come from unexpected sources but should certainly come from people who claim to be following Jesus.    Then came the reflections on why the priest and the Levite did not stop. I have read and listened to countless explanations of why these two people rushed past a man in need. Sometimes the reasons seem to make sense; sometimes they are difficult to un...

 Isaiah 65:1-9; Psalm 22:19-28; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-3   Goodbye well-crafted words based on the Galatians text of the day. Reflections on unity in the early church, of social sacrifice, and mutual care across social and racial lines will have to wait for another day. Another time, God willing, we will return to Paul’s words regarding the disciplined Divine love in the law and the matching compassionate grace to be found in Christ, the inheritance of the descendants of Abraham, the children of God.   Farewell to thoughts on Isaiah- musings on people who sought power in the wrong ways and worshipped their own understanding, rather than the mystery and awesomeness of God. Delete, delete, delete over sentences regarding what it might mean for a people to follow their own certainties to such an extent that they miss the providence and guidance of God right before them. The prophet speaks of God’s impatience, but the people do not see it and we will not spend time...

A few weeks ago ,  I was using voice-to-text to compose some prayers. After I was finished speaking the whole list, I was proof-reading the document and   realized that everywhere I said “Amen”, the voice-to-text wrote “I’m in”. “Amen” essentially means  “may it be so”,  but what would it look like to end our prayers with “I’m in”. What would change if we rose from our knees, left our prayer closets, closed our devotionals, and moved with purpose toward the goals for which we had just prayed.  Lord, in your mercy:  Grant justice to the oppressed and disenfranchised (I’m in) Cast down the mighty from their thrones (I’m in)  Console the grieving and welcome the prodigal (I’m in)  Welcome strangers and attend to the marginalized (I’m in)  Grant the space for the silenced to speak… and listen (I’m in)  Fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty (I’m in)  Forgive others as I am forgiven (I’m in) Be merciful as God in h...

Readings: Job 1:1-22; Job 38:1-11; Luke 8: 22-25 10. Job contradicts Proverbs.   The writer of Proverbs offers the hope and consolation that people who live wisely and faithfully, according to the will of God, will flourish and prosper. The very first chapter of Job says: it ain’t necessarily so. You may well live righteously and with great integrity and, still, terrible things may happen. A faithful life is not an automatic buffer to calamity. Due to this contradiction between the books, both of which are categorized as wisdom literature, we are reminded of all those who have gone before us who tried to make the Bible speak with one voice. It doesn’t. The Bible has many voices, some of which are quite dissonant together, but they sing one song about the presence and providence of God.  9. Job is an old story, but a young book, relatively speaking. Since Job doesn’t mention Abraham or Moses or the laws or the Temple, some interpreters have considered it the oldest story ...

I recently read a book that contained this line, “God can only be drilled out of us, not into us. I can see that now, from a distance.” God can only be drilled out of us, not into us. The author was discussing the griefs and losses of her life, but also her awareness of the larger scope of the movement and power that carries us all, even in the difficult seasons. You do not survive these seasons by thinking there is no God unless the idea of a God who cares, who is slow to anger, who is abounding in steadfast love has been drilled out of you.   How does the idea of God get “drilled out of a person”? In today’s scripture passages, we have an example of people who have held on to the majesty and mystery of God, even in times of trouble. Then we also have a person whose awareness of the Divine has been drilled out by a desire to retain power and worldly influence.  The magi or wise men were probably Persian astrologers or maybe Zoroastrian priests from the same region, modern-day...

Everything we need fits in the manger.   Everything we need as people… whoever we are, no matter our age, our location, our vocation, our gender, our race, our diagnoses, our political affiliation, our preferred sports team, our griefs, our joys… everything we need fits in the manger.  This year has been a difficult year for most of us in this room. Almost no family in this community has been untouched by loss. Tight finances, family tensions, unexpected changes, instability in the world, and even random complications in routine procedures have affected all of us. With that level of complexity, we come here on Christmas Eve, wanting the familiar and the comfortable.  It's also possible that many of us look at the simplicity of the manger and appreciate it only for this moment, an hour or so out of “regular” time, because otherwise, there’s no way it can meet the challenges of our everyday lives.  Here’s the thing, though. You know me. I have been with you at the fune...