Our Father in Heaven...

Deuteronomy 4:39  (NRSV)

39 So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

Sometimes I think we forget that God is not just “in heaven above”.  I mean, we’re taught from an early age that God is up there.  When a loved one is gone, we tell children that they have gone to be with Jesus up in heaven.  When things are going really well, we say “Somebody up there must like me.”. When we pray some of us lift our hands and our eyes up to the sky, and speak as if God is above us, above the clouds.  Even the prayer that Jesus taught us begins by addressing “Our Father in heaven”.

So it’s probably not that surprising that sometimes we wonder where God is when stuff is hitting the fan.  “Where is God?” we say as we look up to the sky.  “Can God not see what is happening here?”  When that happens we may get discouraged and stop trying to do the right thing.  We may feel overwhelmed and alone. I think that is most likely to happen when we insist on seating God on a throne somewhere above the clouds, basking in the worship of the citizens of heaven, enjoying the music as choirs of angels sing Alleluias all the live long day.  

I believe that our God is a working God, sustaining the movement of the universe, paying attention to all of creation.  God not only sees what is happening, but stands right next to us, sharing our troubles and our joys while looking over our shoulders at whatever we are facing.  Not controlling the situation, but lending us strength and supporting us as we go through it.  

Sometimes it feels like Christians are all about how to get themselves into heaven by and by instead of doing the work of reconciling the world to God.  That’s what Christians are supposed to be doing, so that the earth can be like heaven, a place where abiding by God’s will is the rule not the exception.  We are supposed to be about the business of building the Beloved Community, a world where no one suffers oppression, and God’s justice and mercy rule.  God is our partner in that work, sometimes whispering suggestions in our ears, sometimes finding it necessary to hit us upside the head with a “God by 4” to get our attention.  

Where ever we are, God is with us, and we can take heart from that knowledge.  We are never alone, never abandoned, never neglected.  No matter what is going on, God has our backs, and all will be well.

Loving God, who lives in the heavens and on the earth, we are so grateful that you stand with us through the ups and downs of our lives.  Help us, we pray, heal the world, so that all persons can come to know your love and your peace.   Amen.

Boils and Locusts and Frogs - Oh My!

 

Exodus 9:10-12 NIV

So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. 11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. 12 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

I was scrolling through Facebook and noticed a post from a young friend that said,  “Rewatching the Prince of Egypt because its a masterpiece and also brings up fun religion stuff. Like how it is literally worded that god hardened Pharaoh’s heart for no other reason than to torture the people of Egypt with plagues. Like yeah dude thats messed up. Even if it was real, that is not okay 🙃 why would you think god is good when he did mostly evil things?”. 

She has a point.  She’s talking about the God I learned about growing up.  The big Old Testament stories we tell about God are filled with examples of God’s anger and  ruthlessness.  God destroyed all the humans and animals on the earth except those on the ark.  God told Joshua to tear down every city in the Promised Land so the Hebrews could have it, killing everything living and destroying every single item they found there - to wipe all the people living there right off the face of the earth.  God regularly punished the people of Israel for being unfaithful by having some other nation defeat them in battle, then helped them when they came crawling back.  And let’s not forget Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities with all their occupants - even babies! - totally destroyed because they broke the law of hospitality. These are pretty ugly stories, and it’s easy to see why that God, the one we tell those stories about, doesn’t really look “good.” 

The stories were written from the perspective of the people God saves.  The stories were told to remind the people just how powerful their God is.  “Look - our God loves us so much he will kill for us!  Our God is so powerful that even mighty cities cannot stand before him. Our God is so powerful that even the Pharoah, the most powerful human we know about, must bow to God’s will.” And, “Our God loves us so much that even when we do everything we are told not to do, we are forgiven and rescued.”. When those people were telling the stories, they weren’t thinking about the other people as anything other than the enemy, the oppressor.  This was their God, after all. Not the god of all those other people.  When they told these stories, they were only thinking about making it really clear that their God loved them, and favored them above all others.

The stories we don’t tell as often are the quiet stories, the stories of God answering the prayers of infertile women, or God telling the people they must take care of the widows, orphans, and alien residents among them, or God’s constant reminders to the leaders of nations that they were responsible to care for all of their people. God said, “I don’t want your sacrifices, I want you to be just and merciful.”  We talk about God kicking Adam and Eve out of the Garden, but don’t mention the part about God making them clothing to protect them from the elements.  We talk about God smiting the enemy, but not about God’s instructions to love the enemy, even to give them food and water.  We even talk about God sending his own son to be killed for us, without mentioning that Jesus was not just God’s son, not just human, but also divine, also God.  We don’t usually remember that God was willing to die in excruciating pain  for us.

Dear God, we do love to tell the stories from the Hebrew Bible of you smiting and punishing evil doers, or just people we think of as the bad guys.  Help us remember to tell the less exciting stories of your forgiveness and mercy, and your compassion for those who suffer, so that everyone hearing will know that God is good.  Amen.

Look! Trees!

 

Jeremiah 17:7-8  NIV

7 But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

    whose confidence is in him.

8 They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

that does not fear when the heat comes

    its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

    and never fails to bear fruit.

In pretty much any movie or book that includes a group of people traveling across either a desert or seemingly endless plains, at some point one of them will look up and say, “Look!  Trees!  That means there is water!”  It might be a stream or a well, but whatever the water source is, the sight of those trees in the middle of miles and miles of miles and miles brings new energy to the group.  The water their roots reach toward keeps them alive even in the midst of drought, when all the plants around with short roots have died.  When the water table moves deeper, so too do the roots of the trees.

Trust in God is like that.  Even when things seem to be all going wrong, just as the tree reaches more deeply toward the water we just reach deeper to find our life giving sustenance in God.

A friend was in a serious auto accident some years back.  She had some injuries but nowhere near as bad as you would think from photos of the car.  When she was talking about it later she said that, even when she saw the accident coming, even as the car spun and flipped off the freeway, she had confidence that everything would be ok.   If she lived through it, God would help her recover.  If she died, she would be with God.  Either way, she would be ok.

There are times when it is really hard to remember that God is always right there for us.  When things are going sideways - like now - we might wonder where God is in all of this.  Why isn’t God doing something when around the world millions of people are dying in this pandemic?  God is doing something - providing the scientists and doctors with the inspiration and intellect they need to find a cure and a vaccine, offering hope to the rest of us that they will succeed, giving strength to the health care workers who face unprecedented and unrelenting illness and death.  God is right here, holding on to us when we need to be held and encouraging us when our courage runs out. 

When we have confidence in God, then no matter what happens in our lives, just as the tree by the water survives drought, we will get through difficulties one way or another, and we will be ok, sustained by God’s life giving love.  

Loving God, let us be like the tree near the stream, green and thriving in the knowledge of your loving care for us.  Let us trust with confidence that you are always there when we need you, always ready to reach out your hand to uphold us in times of trial, for you are our God and we are your people.  Amen.

Did you say something?

 

Psalm 32:8 (NIV)

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 

God speaking.  Me listening.  That’s the way it is supposed to work, and when it works that way God does instruct me and teach me and counsel me.

But then there are the days when I have no desire to listen to God. Or maybe the desire is kind of there but I am distracted by a million other things, so God can’t get through all the static in my mind.  On days like that it is hard to settle down to pray or meditate - especially meditate! 

Prayer is usually fairly easy.  Prayer is the asking part and even if all I can say is, “God, help me!” the prayer is there.  Even if it is simply groans or sighs, with no words available, the prayer is there, and God hears it.

But meditation - the listening part.  That can be difficult.  It’s not that I think my mind has to be completely still in order to hear God.  We are designed in such a way that we can  hear one conversation in a crowd if we are paying attention to that one.  That’s how we manage to converse while we are in restaurants and other public places, when sounds are at normal levels.  But sometimes it is rock concert loud, in which case no one can hear anything.  The same thing happens inside my head.  Most of the time I can focus my attention on listening for God’s voice even though there is a lot of other noise going on in my head.  But sometimes all of the things going on in my life - the busy-ness and the worried-ness and the confusion and the feeling that there is so much to do I have no idea where to start - are just so loud that I cannot hear that still, small voice in the back of my mind. 

When my mind gets that loud, one of two things will happen.  Either I will find a way to settle myself, or God will.  When God has to get my attention it comes in a particular way that I call a “God by 4 upside the head” - something that forces me to slow down and pay attention whether I want to or not.  Sometimes these are events, sometimes they are things other people say, sometimes it is simply a matter of running into the same phrase or idea multiple times in vastly different places.  Whatever form it takes, it feels like an “I could have had a V-8!” moment.  

Because those are often uncomfortable events, I do try to keep from letting all the things on my mind from getting so loud I cannot hear God.  I make time to allow my mind to relax.  My life is much easier when I can hear that still, small voice and allow it to instruct and teach and counsel me.  

Teaching God, may I always be willing to listen for your voice letting me know which way to go.  May I learn to keep the noise in my head to a minimum, so we can have that intimate conversation, just Thee and me, without distractions.  Amen.

Now is the time for worship

 

Psalm 105:1-2. NRSV

O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works

It is Sunday morning, and it is nearly time to go to our YouTube channel for worship.  On my gratitude list today one of the first items was being able to worship with everyone else on this Sunday morning.  I mean, I know that online worship is not the same as in person worship, but being able to just be part of the congregation on Sunday morning is seriously something to be grateful about.

When we have in person worship and I am sitting up front, I really don’t get to worship. I’m busy doing so many other things.  

I am constantly watching what is going on in the congregation.  I am looking to see who is here and running a constant body count.  (I really don’t like counting, but there’s this whole annual required record keeping thing.). I am wondering why This One isn’t sitting with That One as they usually do.  I am noticing that we haven’t seen or heard from Someone Else in a while.  I am noticing that That Guy doesn’t look like he feels well, and that That Lady can’t keep from smiling.  I am listening to the prayer requests and hoping I remember them after worship.  

I am keeping track of what comes next in the order of service.  You can tell when I am not doing that well because I will skip a part or get up to talk when it’s not my turn.   I am praying really hard the the New Presider feels good about what they are doing, because that can be pretty nerve wracking.  I am hoping the Presider reads the same translation of the Bible that I am preaching from.  I am watching to see that the Young Acolyte lights the candles without too much trouble - sometimes they are too short to reach the Christ Candle easily.  I am praying that whoever signed up for Children’s Sermon actually shows up because otherwise I have to come up with something on the fly.  (I don’t do “on the fly” well.). I am kicking myself for not having written the Pastoral Prayer in advance - again.  I am watching the slides and the Tech Guy who is in charge of making sure the next slide shows up on time.  I am anxiously going over my sermon in my head. . .

Finally, it is time for the Lord’s Supper.  I have these very few moments to breathe and pray, while I share the bread and cup with everyone present. 

And then I am on again.  Why didn’t I write out an Invitation to Discipleship?  Or a Benediction?  *sigh*

When we are worshipping online, I don’t do any of those things.  I simply worship.  I praise God.  I sing glory to God’s name.  I enjoy the Lord’s Day.

Lord, sometimes it is really hard to actually worship you.  I give thanks for the opportunities to worship that have been put in my life, through Jesus Christ, my Lord.  Amen..

Good old what’s her name.

 

Matthew 8:14-15. NRSV

14 When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; 15 he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him.

Every time I read these two verses my first thought is, “Yup.  Gotta make sure the woman is up and ready to cook for company.” Women do that, you know.  We can be half dead in bed, feeling really too miserable to get up for any reason, but let a child or husband act like they are hungry, and we are up and fixing food for them.  Bring a guest into the picture, and nothing will keep us in that bed.

There is so much more I want to know about Peter’s mother-in-law.  I mean, she only gets one full sentence.  Like the vast majority of women who appear in the Bible she doesn’t even merit a name.  The sum total of our knowledge of her is that she is Peter’s mother-in-law, and Jesus heals her rather casually - he touches her and she is well. That’s it. No fanfare. No crowds.  Nada.  Just, he touched her, the fever left, she got up and she served him. 

I want to know more.  I want to know why she lives with Peter and, one assumes, Peter’s wife.  Is it that her husband is dead and her son-in-law has generously taken responsibility for her care and support?  I want to know what the women and (probably) children in that family have been doing to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table since Peter left the family business behind in order to hit the road with Jesus for three years.  

 We can’t know anything more about her than is written here.  We can make some educated guesses about her life and situation, based in what we know about the lives and situations of all women in first century Palestine, but we cannot know anything more specific about her.   Hers is just one story amid all the stories of the women who exist at the edges of the lives of the men whose names live in our histories. 

Holy One, chances are that are stories exist on the edges of history.  We know that doesn’t make us any less important to you.  We know that you will touch us with love and heal our ills, even as Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law - without fuss or fanfare - so that we may continue to serve you.  We thank you for that, Lord.  Amen.

Choices

 Galatians 5:13 (NIV)

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 

My senior project as a Religious Studies Major at Chapman University was on the topic of Free Will.  I said to my advisor one day “everything happens as God wills it to happen.” He stopped, looked at me, and asked whether I believed that God has given us free will.  When I said yes, of course I believed that, he suggested that those two beliefs really don’t work well together and that I should probably research Free Will.

By the time I had finished that project I realized that he was right.  It is impossible to see God as a puppeteer and believe I have freedom of choice at the same time.   Eve and Adam made a choice in the Garden.  God did not force their disobedience to happen.  I believe God’s will would have been for them to remain happily in Eden for ever, but they chose not to do God’s will.  Rather they let the snake manipulate them into doing exactly what they had been told not to do.  

When a person asks me “Why did God plan for my child to die in a drunk driving accident?” I tell them God did not plan that.  But the person driving drunk had exercised their free will by getting behind the wheel, which interfered with God’s plan for their child.  God knows everything, yes, except - God does not know what choices we will make, and whether we will follow the path God has chosen for us or take a detour.  Throughout Scripture we are reminded that we have a choice to choose God or not, to do God’s will or not.

We are called to be free.  We are given the choice to use that freedom as we please - right or wrong, for good or evil, to help others or to indulge ourselves.  No matter what our choice, God loves us, but our choice to freely serve others makes God happy.

Loving God, we give you thanks for the freedom to choose.  May we always choose to please you by using our lives to serve all of your children.  Amen