Lenten Love #40

It seems that all my bridges have been burnt

But you say that's exactly how this grace thing works

It's not the long walk home that will change this heart

But the welcome I receive with the restart

-“Roll Away Your Stone”, Mumford and Sons

Every time I hear this song, I think about the Resurrection story.

Christ Is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter!

Be Blessed this Easter Season!
Peace,
Brad
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On Waiting

On Waiting

To start, let me say I am a huge fan of Dr. Suess.  Many lessons can be learned from his writings.  And one of my favorites is Oh, The Places You’ll Go!. But I have huge beef with three pages of the book.  And on this day in particular, a day that we are commanded to ‘wait’, it seems to heighten my disapproval.

“You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place. The Waiting Place...for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting. Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting. NO! That’s not for you! Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying...”

And so on a day in which we have to wait, these words seem hollow to me.  I feel this way during Advent too, a time in which we have to wait for the coming of the Messiah, despite the fact that most of society celebrates his coming immediately following Halloween (a different discussion for a different day).

The thing is, we are all waiting on something.  

Some good things, some not so good.  

My family has experienced an extreme amount of illness this year.  Every time one person comes down with something, we wait for the rest of us to catch it. Seriously, three major viruses since the turn of the year, and my youngest was diagnosed with Flu, Type B just this morning.  She won’t be celebrating Easter with her church family tomorrow.  I suppose we are waiting to see if any of the rest of us catch it.

But there is other waiting too.

I’m waiting for my son to settle back into a solid sleeping pattern, which means I am waiting for more sleep for me too, which means I am waiting to resume my hobby of running, which means I am waiting to feel more healthy myself.  

I’m waiting for my children to get old enough so that we aren’t spending an insane amount of money on child care, which would mean more money to give away and to spend on my severally lacking golf game.  I’m waiting.  

After seven years of living in a place I’d called home, I’m waiting for these roots we’ve planted in Charleston to take hold, so that it too will start to feel like home.

I’m waiting for the weather to warm up, so we are relegated to the house all the time. 

And on top of all of this, I’m waiting to finally hear some good news from some friends of mine who are battling some pretty ferocious shit (excuse the language) right now.  Because in reality, all the stuff that I am waiting for right now, pales in comparison to the stuff they are waiting for.

So, in all due respect to Theodor Giesel, the Waiting Place is a place of value and worth, because we are all there, and we are people of value and worth.  And waiting three days for the best news the world ever received doesn’t seem to be useless at all.

Lenten Love #39

In Psalm 88, the writer asks of God, “Do you work wonders for the dead? Do ghosts rise up and give you thanks?  Is your faithful love proclaimed in the grave, your faithfulness in the underworld? Are your wonders known in the land of darkness, your righteousness in the land of oblivion?” (vss. 10-12)

On this day, Holy Saturday, it is with hope that we answer, “YES!”.  As we wait ever-so, but really not so much, patiently for tomorrow and Resurrection, Jesus had some unfinished business to attend to that answers the Psalmist’s questions.  

As far as details go, I’m not sure we can be certain.  But according to the part of the Apostles’ Creed that we Methodist leave out, Jesus descended to the dead or to hell.  I would like to think that he was bringing a reckoning for all those who had gone before him, settling some unpaid debts if you will.  Maybe even taking the keys to hell and death, like a person taking ownership of newly purchased house.  Where once another had reigned, Jesus was now in charge, forever.

So as we wait, still sitting with the fallout from Good Friday, may we trust in a God that will go to extraordinary lengths for each and every one of us, going literally ‘to hell and back’ for all of humanity.

Be blessed and be strong friends, Easter is coming!
Peace,
B

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Lenten Love #38

My morning devotion took me to Psalm 22.  I've included it below.  The first lines make it obvious why it is a Good Friday text, but I don't think I've ever realized just how much of it relates to this day in particular.

Be blessed and stay strong friends,

B

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My God! My God,
    why have you left me all alone?
    Why are you so far from saving me—
        so far from my anguished groans?
² My God, I cry out during the day,
    but you don’t answer;
    even at nighttime I don’t stop.
³ You are the holy one, enthroned.
You are Israel’s praise.
⁴ Our ancestors trusted you—
    they trusted you and you rescued them;
⁵     they cried out to you and they were saved;
    they trusted you and they weren’t ashamed.

⁶ But I’m just a worm, less than human;
    insulted by one person, despised by another.
⁷ All who see me make fun of me—
    they gape, shaking their heads:
⁸     “He committed himself to the Lord,
        so let God rescue him;
        let God deliver him
        because God likes him so much.”
⁹ But you are the one who pulled me from the womb,
    placing me safely at my mother’s breasts.
¹⁰ I was thrown on you from birth;
    you’ve been my God
    since I was in my mother’s womb.
¹¹ Please don’t be far from me,
    because trouble is near
        and there’s no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
    mighty bulls from Bashan encircle me.
¹³ They open their mouths at me
    like a lion ripping and roaring!
¹⁴ I’m poured out like water.
    All my bones have fallen apart.
        My heart is like wax;
        it melts inside me.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up
    like a piece of broken pottery.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you’ve set me down in the dirt of death.
¹⁶ Dogs surround me;
    a pack of evil people circle me like a lion—
    oh, my poor hands and feet!
¹⁷ I can count all my bones!
    Meanwhile, they just stare at me, watching me.
¹⁸ They divvy up my garments among themselves;
    they cast lots for my clothes.

¹⁹ But you, Lord! Don’t be far away!
    You are my strength!
    Come quick and help me!
²⁰ Deliver me from the sword.
    Deliver my life from the power of the dog.
²¹     Save me from the mouth of the lion.
    From the horns of the wild oxen
    you have answered me!

²² I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    I will praise you in the very center of the congregation!
²³ All of you who revere the Lord—praise him!
    All of you who are Jacob’s descendants—honor him!
    All of you who are all Israel’s offspring—
        stand in awe of him!
²⁴ Because he didn’t despise or detest
    the suffering of the one who suffered—
    he didn’t hide his face from me.
    No, he listened when I cried out to him for help.

²⁵ I offer praise in the great congregation
    because of you;
    I will fulfill my promises
    in the presence of those who honor God.
²⁶ Let all those who are suffering eat and be full!
    Let all who seek the Lord praise him!
        I pray your hearts live forever!
²⁷ Every part of the earth
    will remember and come back to the Lord;
    every family among all the nations will worship you.
²⁸ Because the right to rule belongs to the Lord,
    he rules all nations.
²⁹ Indeed, all the earth’s powerful
    will worship him;
    all who are descending to the dust
    will kneel before him;
    my being also lives for him.
³⁰ Future descendants will serve him;
    generations to come will be told about my Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim God’s righteousness
        to those not yet born,
        telling them what God has done.

Lenten Love #37

“The messenger said, ‘Don’t stretch out your hand against the young man, and don’t do anything to him. I now know that you revere God and didn’t hold back your son, your only son, from me’.” - Genesis 22:12

This is how the story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac ends.  Abraham is asked to do an act that simply repulses many of us today.  I’m really not sure I’ve met anyone who has kids who can stomach this story.  I know I struggle with it.

I cannot imagine having to go to such lengths to prove ourselves to God that we are that faithful. Maybe we are asked, and maybe not many of us live up to it.  Maybe we aren’t asked it such grand terms, yet we still fail.

But here’s what I know with a great deal of certainty: While Abraham proved himself faithful to God and his son was spared, God proves God’s own faithfulness to humanity in the very act of NOT sparing his Son.  That’s all I know.  And even trying to explain the theological meaning behind it all causes my brain to start to hurt. 

So on this Good Friday, let’s give thanks for the sacrifice of both the Father and the Son. For today, that’s enough.

Blessings,

B

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Lenten Love #36

“Being a servant means giving up the right to control your schedule and allowing God to interrupt it 

whenever God needs to.”

Someone recently showed me this quote from a devotion book he was reading.  I thought it was fitting for today.  Today is Maundy Thursday.  We get the word ‘Maundy’ from the old Latin word meaning ‘mandate’ which was a reference to Christ’s command found in John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (NRSV).

So, as we remember Christ’s mandate made long ago, may we ponder the ways that mandate impacts the way we live our lives today.

Happy Holy Thursday!

Peace,
B
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Lenten Love #35

The journey we began 43 days ago picks up steam today.  The build up has been long.  It’s like we’ve been slowly climbing to the top of the roller coaster, and it will come flying down the hills and loops in the next two days.  I hope you are ready.

But the reality is this: it doesn’t matter if you and I are ready or not, it’s coming.  Good Friday is coming, and as painful and hard as it is, we cannot stop it.  And then Easter is coming, and no matter how tough life is in these moments, it will not matter that we ‘don’t feel like celebrating’.  Because these days are not based on us at all.  They are all about Jesus.  

Yesterday, Megan preached a beautiful sermon at the Lenten service that reminded us of that fact.  She talked about the woman who anointed Jesus’ body with the perfume, whom the disciples got angry with because of the waste.  She talked about how alone Jesus must have felt.  And how that small act would have given him a glimmer of hope about the days ahead.  Some scholars even believe Jesus would have still been able to smell the perfume that the woman used as he was hanging on the cross, reminding him, that in spite of what his eyes told him, there was reason to hope, that God was still breaking through in this world.

So as you walk through these next few days, as you attend services, prayer walks, prayer vigils, and other such religious activities, take a little time to focus on your relationship with Christ and what he means to you, but also spend some time giving honor to Jesus, sitting with and thinking about who he was and what he went through as a living, breathing human being.

Blessings,
B
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Lenten Love #34

“I, the Lord, probe the heart and discern hidden motives, to give everyone what they deserve, 

the consequences of their deeds.” 

- Jeremiah 17:10, CEB

This verse from Jeremiah spoke to me this morning.  This, like many passages written before Jesus Christ, demonstrate one of the aspect of humanity’s relationship with the Almighty.  God is judge and jury, finding us guilty and then leveling punishment that fits the crime.

But because of Jesus, things changed.  Sure we still have consequences for our actions and there is still suffering in the world because of harm that we do to others.  We are still human after all.  However, Jesus took on the punishment that all of us deserve because of the sin in our lives.  That sin caused separation from God.  Jesus came to be our Advocate and to plead our case before the judge and jury.  This is no more evident than on the cross as Jesus says, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

And with his body he bridged the gap that we had created between ourselves and God and with his arms opened wide on the cross, he invited all to come in.

Friends, Good Friday is coming, but so is Easter. Thanks be to God for both.

Peace,
Brad
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Lenten Love #33

Ok, so I saw this quote today from a Lutheran minister who I have a lot of respect for named Nadia Bolz-Weber.  I think this was from a sermon she preached: 

"So go ahead. Don't wait until you think your motivations are correct. Don't wait till you are sure you believe every single line of the Nicene Creed (no one does). Don't worry about coming to church this week for the right reasons. Just wave branches. Shout praise for the wrong reason. Eat a meal. Have your feet washed. Grab at coins. Shout crucify him. Walk away when the cock crows. Because we, as we are and not as some improved version of ourselves...we are who GOD came to save. And nothing can stop what's going to happen."

We are exactly, our brokenness and pain, are who Christ came to save. I'm not sure there is any better news than that!

Have a great night!

B

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Lenten Love #32

“So all of us who are spiritually mature should think this way and if anyone thinks differently, God will reveal it to him or her. Only let’s live in a way that is consistent with whatever level we have reached.” - Philippians 3:15-16

As a have thought about these words more and more throughout the day, I believe that Paul’s teaching has a strong relevance to Christians today.  I find some are constantly concerned about ‘others’ and how they are living and acting.  And they become so focused on what someone else is or isn’t doing, that they lose track of where they are in their personal walk with Christ.

I find Paul’s words refreshing.  If I may paraphrase him, I think he is saying, “Listen, live like you know you should, don’t focus so much on other people.  Let God worry about them.  Instead, live your life the way you feel like God is calling you to live, and maybe then God can use you as an example for others.  Maybe, just maybe that is how God will reveal God’s own self to others, when you set a good example.”

And for us to live as a light to others because we have a relationship with the Light that is Jesus Christ will go a long way in revealing God to a world that is in desperate need.

Blessings,

B

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Lenten Love #31

“No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends.”

John 15:13

I have heard or read this a thousand times over.  It just seems different to gaze upon it at the start of Holy Week.  To think that by the end of the week, we will be grieving Jesus’ death, well, because we have to.  We have to go through Good Friday to get to Resurrection Sunday.

So as we look upon Jesus’ teaching about self-sacrifice in light of what he is about to do, and before we even think about how we are to respond, maybe we should just sit with it for a little while.  He says, “This is what love is” and while it is one thing to just talk about it, he goes further and says, “Now let me show you.” And indeed, there has never been a demonstration more powerful than that.

Thanks be to God for the words, for the words that were shown and for the Word made flesh.

Peace,
B

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Lenten Love #30

“Who can ascend the Lord’s mountain? Who can stand in his holy sanctuary? Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart; the one who hasn’t made false promises, the one who hasn’t sworn dishonestly.  That kind of person receives blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God who saves.” - Psalm 24:3-5

As I read these words this morning, I thought to myself, “That’s Jesus!”  As the psalmist asks who can stand before the Lord and then proceeds to describe said person, it dawned on me that this is exactly the direction Holy Week is about to take us. We celebrate the fact that while none of us is worthy to stand before the Lord because of our transgressions and sin, one has come and willingly laid down his life to give us a chance.  

This week will be a hard one. Looking back to the cruelty and pain that are levied upon Jesus is, at times, tough to bear.  And to think that he willingly did what he did, just so people like you and me have a chance to live.  And not just to live, but rather to have life abundantly!  That is some mighty good news and something we should remember, no matter how tough this week is or how tough our life may appear.

Have a great Palm Sunday!
Blessings,
Brad

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Lenten Love #29

“Every day, close to 1 billion people wake up to another day without safe drinking water. Children are sick and weak. There is a constant struggle to find the most basic of human needs. Generations of poverty grip millions and won’t let go. The lack of safe water and adequate sanitation worldwide is a crisis. This crisis steals the lives of 5,500 people each day - more than war, natural disasters, AIDS or hunger. This crisis rarely makes the headlines. It is today’s silent killer.” – from Water Missions International

Today, I had the privilege of joining with thousands of others as we walked in downtown Charleston, in support of our brothers and sisters the world over.  Much of the world has a water crisis. And so we walked to raise money and awareness of this epidemic.  Now, Water Missions International is not the only organization that is involved in fighting the good fight when it comes to providing clean water to the world.  It just so happens that this organization was founded in Charleston, so it is the easiest for me to support.

The walk went like this: we walked half way with empty buckets, at the midway point we filled our buckets with dirty water, and then turned around and walked back with our dirty water in order to then put it into a pool that was attached to a purification system.  It was a way for us to experience what many in the world live with every day.  The experience was eye opening. 

But while many marveled at the length and distance that people would go, I was more humbled by the ease at which I waste water in my life.  I am constantly washing my hands, my dishes, my clothes, using the restroom and at least once a day taking a nice long shower as well as giving my kids a bath.  The water comes in and out of our house with ease.  To live in a place that lacked the availability is unimaginable to me, it really is.  I think today reminded me about how thankful I am to live where I do and how I do, with water so easily available.

So my response is two-fold to blessed experience of my day.  First, I look forward to doing more things like this.   However, to participate in things that raise awareness as well as efforts to be a practical solution for those in need is not enough.  The second part is trying to change in my own life.  My hope is that I will start doing things differently by not trying to be wasteful when it comes to when and how I use the water that I have been blessed with.  It sort of ties into that notion of ‘live simply so others may simply live’.

May God bless our efforts, both large and small, as we seek to be the people God calls us to be and that the world needs us to be.

Have a great Sabbath tomorrow!
Peace,
B
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Lenten Love #28

“Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other disciples, ‘Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus’.” John 11:16

Just a bit of background. Jesus has been chased out of Judea by the religious authorities who are threatening to kill him.  He learns that a friend, Lazarus, is ill and dying/dead/sleeping.  So he (Jesus) wants to go back.  He tells his friends that he is returning to Bethany which is in Judea, very close to Jerusalem, to visit Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  Then we have Thomas’ line.

Now, most of us know Thomas as ‘Doubting Thomas’ b/c of the scene after the Resurrection in which he won’t believe the others about Jesus coming back, until he sees it himself.  But with the quote above, there almost seems to be a tone of sarcasm as Thomas speaks. Now, I’m not sure there is sarcasm in the Bible, so it is probably more that he is fiercely loyal to Christ.  The reality is when we fast forward about a week or so, we realize that when push comes to shove neither Thomas nor any other disciples for that matter are going to be found near Jesus when he is crucified.  So for Thomas to say, ‘Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus’, we probably should chalk it up as, ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’.

I find a strange comfort in all of this.  I think all of us at some point in a time or another have gotten ourselves in over our heads when it comes to our faith walk and commitments.  We get on fire and we say, “I’m going to do this, that and the other” only to realize that things aren’t as easy as we thought or we don’t get as much cooperation and help as was promised.  And so we lose heart. And backslide. And lament. And when all of this occurs, we realize we are in good company because the original disciples were no different.

Through those early followers, God changed the world.  Through followers today, God is still wanting to do some amazing stuff.  So how about it, as we start thinking about next week, anybody want to “go too so that we may die with Jesus”?

Be blessed,
B
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Lenten Love #27

After playing catch up the last few days, I spent a few minutes reading one of my favorite writers, Wendell Berry.  His poem called “Manifesto: A Mad Farmer Liberation Front” particularly spoke to me. Here’s part of it:

“So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.”

Blessings,
B
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Lenten Love #26

“You are only a human being.  Who do you think you are to talk back to God? Does the clay say to the potter, ‘Why did you make me like this’?” Romans 9:20

Paul’s admonition to the Christians at Rome comes off as sounding harsh.  I’ll admit, it rubbed me the wrong way when I read it this morning.  Then I found myself scolding my son after he angrily yelled at me, “NO!” “You do not talk to daddy like that” I found myself saying. As these words left my lips, I thought, “that sounds familiar.”

We often times like to think of God as the unconditionally loving parent.  And while I will always stand by that image, there are still consequences and repercussions for our actions when we go and do things that are not pleasing to God.  A gentle reminder, or not-so-gentle in Paul's case, is needed from time to time.  Lent offers us a wonderful opportunity, as we hold our lives up to the Light of Christ, for us to remember that there are times in our lives in which we act ‘too big for our britches’ as the old saying goes.

May we heed the gentle as well as the forceful reminders, as we continue to grow into the people that God wants us to be and that the world needs us to be.

Blessings,
Brad

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Lenten Love #25

“In tight circumstances, I cried out to the Lord.  The Lord answered me with wide-open spaces.” Psalm 118:5, CEB

So I’m trying out this new translation of the Bible, the CEB that the UMC has helped put out.  Up until I read the above passage yesterday, I just liked it.  Now I love it.

Who cannot relate to this thought?  And who could come up with a more beautiful image to the depth, width, and expanse of God’s love for us? 

I hope you have a blessed week!
Peace,
B

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Lenten Love #24

“God turns rivers into desert, watery springs into thirsty ground, fruitful land into unproductive dirt, when its inhabitants are wicked.  But God can also turn the desert into watery pools, thirsty ground into watery pools, thirsty ground into watery springs.”

-Psalm 107:33-35

These words from the Psalmist give a beautiful example for why I love the Bible so much.  In a matter of three verses, we get both a word that humbles and a word that provides hope.  

While most of us would love to only read the second part of the passage, the reality is that we cannot.  We have to acknowledge that there is a certain way we are supposed to live and when we don’t live that way, there are consequences.  And those consequences often times seem harsh.

But the joy of the faith in Jesus Christ is that no matter how severe those consequences may seem, they pale in comparison to what we deserve.  With Jesus coming and doing what he did, or God being God and doing what God does, the worst word is never the last word.  And even the driest of grounds becomes a watering hole.

Have a blessed Sabbath tomorrow!

B

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Lenten Love #23

“Don’t worry about having a great day. Just have some great moments. 
LOVE.

G”

This was the way Glennon Melton closed her latest entry at her Momastery blog (which I highly recommend).  I like it for several reasons.  As I look towards at least one more day being confined to a house because of an illness, I’m not sure I can even imagine a ‘great day’.  It will be much more feasible to have a few great moments.  At this point, that sounds doable.

But even on good days, when life goes well and we feel God’s presence ever closer to us, it only takes a little thing to sidetrack us.  Maybe a harsh look or an unkind word spoken by someone close to us.  But it happens.  And then our whole day is shot.  However, if we viewed the goal as having some great moments each day and give thanks to God when those moments come, then maybe those small blips of disappointment won’t feel nearly as heavy when they come.

So friends, "don’t worry about having a great day. Just have some great moments".

Blessings,
B
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Lenten Love #22

“Jesus replied, ‘I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you at all the food you wanted.  Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.” John 6:26-27, CEB

I once had a professor in divinity school that challenged us as pastors to help guide our congregations to move from “maintenance to missions”.  The idea was that churches like status quo and being comfortable and missions challenges that mindset.  I would argue that we as individuals are not much different.  We like the things we like and we do not want our ‘boats’ to be rocked.  Add to that mentality to idea of busy-ness of life and the truth be told, the best that the majority of us can accomplish is to just get by or maintain.

I’m convinced that God wants more for our lives.  God wants us to dream big and to accomplish and succeed even bigger things.  Jesus came to give us life and to give it to us abundantly.  Maybe the challenge for some of us this Lenten season is to quit working ‘for the food that doesn’t last’ and instead strive after all the dreams that God is dreaming for us.

Have a blessed day!
B
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Lenten Love #21

“I didn’t know I inadvertently was giving up my health for Lent.” –Megan Gray (my wife)

           

So while she only meant it jokingly, the truth is that is exactly what it feels like.  While I have attempted to put a good front for the better part of three weeks, we have absolutely been gutted by sickness.  All four of us are on the same antibiotics right now for Strep Throat and the stomach bug has made multiple visits, sometimes staying much longer than just 12 or 24 hours.  Every time we turn around someone is calling to be picked up from school or to come home from work.

            

So I’ll admit it, I’m weary.  I hate being the one always talking about being sick and down.  I hate even thinking about comparing my life to so many others who are hurting and are in pain. Our sickness is so small in the big scheme of things.  Others are dealing with much worse.  But in truth, I feel like I am being pecked to death by ducks.  And it is exhausting, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. 

Even in this high holy season of Lent, I’m having a hard time staying on track.  My morning devotion and Bible reading time, time I dedicate to God, has become nothing more than repetitious endeavor to placate my guilty conscience.  I’m finding the Psalmists words about ‘revenge’ and Paul’s ramblings about ‘the Law’ to be less than inspiring than I had hoped. Even as I lament this fact, I come to the realization that I have turned God into nothing more than a self-help genie.  I need something and I expect to find answers just by opening up a random devotion book and/or scripture passage. Just like Aladin, I’m rubbing the lamp so I can make my wish.  “Dear God, make me feel better, speak to me and my pain, help me out.” Me. Me. Me.  And I can just hear God say, “I know about you, what about me? Have you ever thought about stopping all the reading and looking, and just simply taking time to be with me? That’s what I really want.”  Isn’t that how God appeared to Elijah, as a still, small voice?  And to Jonah, in the quiet, desperate isolation of the belly of a fish?  Or to Saul/Paul, in the extreme loneliness of blindness?  So in our brokenness and sickness, may we draw ever closer to the heart of God, finding something even bigger and better than we could have ever imagined.

Blessings on wherever you find yourself,

Brad
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Lenten Love #20

In my daily devotional reading the other day, I was working through the Gospel of John’s 8th chapter.  So one day’s reading ended with verse 32, which is widely popular and often quoted, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (CEB).”  And like I sometimes do, I read it through the lens of my current situation and thought, “How freeing is that concept. What an amazing idea!”

So the next day, I picked up the reading at the very next verse and found these words, “They responded, ‘We are Abraham’s children; we’ve never been anyone’s slaves.  How can you say that we will be free (v.33, CEB).” You can imagine how disappointed I was.  What you and I consider a wonderfully inspiring message originally fell on ears that were not ready to hear it.

I think as Christians we can relate to this in a way.  We find ourselves in a world that is distancing itself from the church more and more each day, for a variety of reasons.  Whether it’s our friends and family, neighbors and acquaintances, or complete strangers, folks are looking for truth in places other than the Church. Without assigning blame for why this is happening, the end result has caused a lot of people to fear.  “What will happen to the church and to our faith?”

Personally, I’m not worried a bit because we worship a God capable of some amazing stuff.  But more so, what I take away from these readings in John is that maybe we are in a time in which the ears of the world are just not ready to hear about the transforming power of God’s love.  Maybe some of our loved ones are going through a dry season and will have to spend some time searching elsewhere.  That should never deter us from sharing the Love of God that we find in Jesus Christ.  Remember, our job is not to reap the harvest; our job is to simply plant the seed and do our best to tend the soil. And we do that by living into Jesus’ ultimate teaching of sacrificial and servant love.

Have a great Friday and Happy Gardening!
Peace,
B
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Lenten Love #19

“One of those with Jesus reached for his sword. Striking the high priest’s slave, he cut off his ear. Then Jesus said, ‘Put the sword back into its place.  All those who use the sword will die by the sword.” - Matthew 26:51-52, CEB

 A few years ago, I realized these were the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples before his crucifixion.  And I wasn’t in seminary when this fact came to my attention.  Instead, I was in Bethlehem, Israel, in the Palestinian Territories or the West Bank as we call it.  It hung on a wall of a school, reminding the occupants that Christ commands us to be people of peace.

Again, in a strange sort of way, this is one of the scenes I enjoy the most about the Passion story.  Christ easily could have called multitudes of angels to help him, like Matthew goes on to say, but he doesn’t.  He doesn’t react in violence.  Instead, he shows us a better way.

I know there are plenty of things that get my blood boiling.  I get fired up over the most insignificant details of life at times.  But the reality is that I follow a Savior who never used violence against another human being, not even in that scary situation in which he had to defend himself.  Instead, he trusted God.  May God continue to grow and I, so that we too would have that level of trust.

Blessings,

B

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Lenten Love #18

“We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory.  But no only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This hope doesn’t put us to shame.” Romans 5:2-5a

I remember teaching this passage to a group of middle schoolers many years ago as a college student working in a church.  I wanted the kids to know that their troubles were not in vain and to endure the difficulties they faced.  I’m hoping that a few of them took that teaching to heart.

Thirteen years later, I think to myself, what crazy problems must I have been thinking about as a college student talking to middle schoolers?  I’m sure at the time they were huge and intimidating.  But in perspective, my problems back then, much like many issues that I face to this day, pale in comparison to what many others face.

This fact does not help us in the moment of our struggle and suffering.  Perspective is only gained over time.  And in due time, with the right perspective, our issues are changed.  I think this is exactly how and why Paul could write what he did to the church at Rome.  He knew that in time the issues that those faithful people faced would produce faithful followers, either those who would lay their lives down as martyrs or those that would live laying the foundation that we now stand on.

For us and our issues, what will be said about the way we handled them when we look back?  With the right perspective, and the grace poured out upon us by Jesus’ sacrifice, may we too be people of Hope!

Blessings,
Brad

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Lenten Love #17

“Their hearts weren’t firmly set on him;

they weren’t faithful to his covenant.

But God, being compassionate,

kept forgiving their sins,

kept avoiding destruction;

he took back his anger so many times,

wouldn’t stir up all his wrath!” 

Psalm 78:37-38

I love these reassuring words of the Psalmist.  I wonder how often our hearts aren’t firmly set on God.  I know mine strays a time or two daily.  And when I realize how much grace and love is extended to me, I have nothing more to say than “Thank You Jesus!”

Have a blessed night!
B

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Lenten Love #16

“I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out the rest of your family, all the people of Ephraim.” - Jeremiah 7:15, CEB

I’ll admit, I struggle when it comes to passages like the one above that are found in the Bible.  They seem more prominent in the Old Testament of course, where God appears vengeful and wrathful. In reality, the God of the Old Testament is the same God that we find in the New Testament.  But when it comes to these passages of a judgmental God casting aside my fellow human beings from centuries ago, it sort of hurts a little bit.  I’m no different than anyone else, I prefer to think about God as loving and caring, a God whose heart breaks when we turn away, a God who runs like the father in the Prodigal story to greet his wayward children who return. 

At the same time, we cannot escape the fact that God laid waste to many people in the Bible.  We cannot just throw those stories out.  They are just as much a part of our story as any other part of the story.  But, in light of these events, it demonstrates the depth of love that was poured out upon the world on the cross.  The same God, who often cast people out of sight in the past, loved the world so much that he put on the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ.  And instead of sending us where we all deserve to go, he opened his arms, spread them out on the cross, and embraced the whole world for all eternity in grace and love.

That fact should make any day, even a Monday, more bearable.

Have a great week!
B
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Lenten Love #15

Practicing the disciplines in Lent is hard work.  It is not supposed to be easy or else we would be doing it all the time.  Hopefully, during Lent, we learn a thing or two, and then carry that into our lives post Easter and beyond.  

For the last few years, I have challenged myself to writing like this everyday.  This does not come naturally to me.  I am not a writer.  I managed to get by in school, never excelling at putting my thoughts on paper. Knowing this, is it any wonder that I hit a ‘dry spell’ in my writing the last few days?  It seems I had about 12 good days in me, then nothing, so much so that I sat in front  a blank screen for a few minutes yesterday.

No words came.  And so I decided to wait until today.  I figured making up for my lack of thoughts yesterday by posting twice today. We’ll see how that goes. But I was drawn back to a passage in Romans 8 that says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray (or speak or write or do anything for that matter) as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words (26 NRSV).”

It gives me hope that when the words don’t come at the right time, that God’s Word is always there to pick up the slack.

Have a great Saturday, sorry for the delay, and hopefully you’ll hear back from me later today!

Blessings,
Brad
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