Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 31, 2013

This week: God as empty tomb. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



God as empty tomb is an invitation to come and see what death no longer owns. It

is the start of .. If this was once the victory lap of death's presence, what is

it now? It is a playground. It is a place we need not feel afraid to explore with

a life that goes on even when stories of death still attempt to steer us and drive

us away from abundant life. God as empty tomb is a bold and vivid reminder of whose

creativity is endless - even beyond death's apparent victory. God as empty tomb

is filled with the sounds of laughter and adventure and a thrilling sense of joy.

It is enough to bring the dead back to life.



O God of love and new life, bring us back to life again this day. Amen.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 30, 2013

This week: God as empty tomb. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



God as empty tomb is the a comment on space and time. The space is no longer filled

with the stench and rot of death that can turn our heads away. Death is not able

to show itself as a conqueror anymore. At the same time - since no body was found

and put back into that tomb - death has no leg or life to it. That's right. Death

has no life to it. Yes, that means death cannot be involved in the life that comes

when our God hands us life as a gift. Death and all of its power - we are told -

must stand by and watch life blossom. God as empty tomb is about life that is able

to entertain a fullness that death previously attempted to cut short or completely

dismantle. God as empty tomb picks us up - even though we are as good as dead some

days - and begins to open wide the gates of life that awaits us. We live by a vision

of what this life will be like in our space and our time. It is the vision of God's

unfolding Reign that fills all of space and time with a hopefulness that will not

be shut up.



O God of love and new life, send us running around the tombs of death that attempt

to subdue us and then send us out of the tombs living under the banner of a grand

Alleluia. Amen.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 29, 2013

This week: God as empty tomb. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



Now, just because I'm at the resurrection doesn't mean that this run about God is

over. I always like to say this is how we begin. This is place when the image of

death - a tomb - a burial place - brings to mind to all of us the power of death

and its inevitable hold on us. No one gets by without facing dust again. And yet,

God as empty tomb - though it acknowledges that place of cold stone death - is the

power of God that removes the power and threat of death. This is where we celebrate

life - the life that God hands us and life that no other power can take from us.

God as empty tomb is a simple visual reminder that takes hold of our hearts and

brings us to a resting beat. Yes, death is cold and overwhelming - we all know

that in one shape or another. But we have been given eyes to see the limit of death's

power and how our God takes us beyond all the power that will try to stop the Reign

of God from coming alive among us.



O God of love and new life, continue to lift us up to see beyond the powers of the

day so that new life will enter in even when we are not ready for its arrival.

Amen.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 26, 2013

This week: God as crucifixion. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



God as crucifixion is - in a way - God at rest. Nothing else needs to be said or

done. It is God fully for us - for all of humanity. The only thing left - I suppose

- it the victory lap in the tomb before it is empty. God as crucifixion is the face

of how life will go on its way after the resurrection. The life to come to all of

us is one that is free to get put up on that cross with the God who claims us and

promises life in and through all things. God as crucifixion is the God who stands

with us and considers 'now what?' Now that the world rejects the way of love that

is to be ours and was the way of Jesus, what will take place among us as we continue

to live the way of the cross but now in the realm of resurrection where the power

of death cannot rule us? This is another one of those points that my weakness and

fear creep up on me. I know this is not a 'way' I can go on my own. I need 'encouraging'

folks - people who will either say 'go for it' or will say 'let us go for it.' That

is the church.



O God of love and new life, be the lead as you have always been so that we will

go for it all - all the love - all the mercy - all the peace - all the Reigning

glory. Amen.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 25, 2013

This week: God as crucifixion. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



I find that I want to move to resurrection and get off of the cross. Interesting.

I think that is why it is so difficult for the Church to meet the dangers and demands

and the needs of today. All of those mean that we may find ourselves up on the cross

with the God who has been there and done that. To act with mercy without considering

the worth of those to whom we are extending mercy is not a quality appreciated in

a world that wants to be able to judge all things before making a statement or a

claim or acting. God as crucifixion is God - in Christ, Jesus - acting in ways

that the various power players of the day may not appreciated. When we look back

at the gospels, it is amazing how many times Jesus 'tells it like it is' even when

he is speaking to and with the religious powers who claim to know the way



O God of love and new life, keep us moving on down the road. Even when we may find

it easier and more safe to turn and go another way. Empower us to speak up and act

up and thrive even as we are being threatened with the cross of the day. Amen.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 24, 2013

This week: God as crucifixion. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



On the cross is the fear of the world. God as crucifixion is held high above a world

that is ruled by brokenness and hatred and injustice. So there - in the place where

that deadly power rules - God hangs another reality right in front of all those

powers. God as crucifixion is the beginning of a reality no power in this world

wants to see. It is power of transformation into the Reign of peace and justice

and mercy and love - for all. Rome - just like every other power - wants to put

an end to any story that does not thrive on the power of death and hatred and revenge.

So God as crucifixion stays put until death appears to rule all things. And then

- the crucified God begins to breathe new life into all who follow on the way right

through the power of the world and its cross that means to control us. God as crucifixion

is the invitation to continue on and move into the promise even as the day seems

to be ruled by other powers.



O God of love and new life, keep us moving on down the road. Even when we may find

it easier and more safe to turn and go another way. Empower us to speak up and act

up and thrive even as we are being threatened with the cross of the day. Amen.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 23, 2013

This week: God as crucifixion. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



God as crucifixion is like hearing someone say: Is that all you got!? All the power

of the world - the greatest empire of the day, and all you have are two pieces of

wood and some spikes. God as crucifixion will unleash - expose - reveal - the God

who pulls God's people through that which tries to rule us and offers us new life.

That is not always clear to see. I know that too often, I let fear grab me and hold

me and try to make me turn around. And yet, God as crucifixion reminds me - Allan,

this is not the end - you are more than this and you will be given new life even

as this all seems so overwhelming and full of death. I really need that voice -

that reality. God as crucifixion is the beginning of the end - and the end brings

life. That is the promise. Jesus already sees it as he hangs there.



O God of love and new life, 'when we are poised at what appears to be the end or

the power that claim that they can do us in, you remain with us. Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 22, 2013

This week: God as crucifixion. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



This one may seem odd. To say that God is an instrument of death - a brutal instrument

- a death row device, may be offensive. And yet, there on that wooden sign of rejection

is God who will never leave us never. God as crucifixion shows just how off the

road of the hatred and violence is the road that moves along God's shalom. God as

crucifixion allows us to see that even at the end - even an end that was a public

sign of rejection and disgrace - God forgives. That is, God exposes the fullness

of God's Reign. If the forces of death are going to put to death God expression

of life and peace and mercy and reconciliation, then those forces will have to

hear God's reply: Forgive them. God as crucifixion is God who never stops calling

us into another life - never stops teaching us - never stops resisting the powers

of the world that cannot stand God's peaceable Reign. There is no magic on that

cross. There is death - rotten, brutal death. God as crucifixion is the power that

holds us up so that we too may face that power of death and offer the dismantling

words of forgiveness. It is there that the power of death becomes impotent.



O God of love and new life, take us right to the end and remain with us for it is

too often that we find ourselves hiding and not coming out to live within your gracious

Reign. Amen.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 19, 2013

This week: God as Glory. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



What will be the most vivid reminder of the Glory of God you will experience today?

Maybe if we go into the day expecting to see the Glory of God all around us, we

will. God as Glory is present - we often need to simple see and hear and feel and

welcome how it shines around us. That may mean we will be shocked - we may be filled

with awe - we may simple smile or shed a tear. God as Glory is waiting for us to

enter into the whole glorious project of God's Reign moving on into the everyday

stuff through which we so often simply mumble and groan. Yes, even at the end of

a work week - the end of classes - the beginning of the weekend - the heavy expectations

of daily life, God as Glory abides with us. Glory!



O God of love and new life, over and over again, set our eyes on that which you

give us each day - life - life eternal - life filled with Glory we often do not

let ourselves see. Set us free O God of Glory. Amen.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 18, 2013

This week: God as Glory. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



God as glory is visible in the bowing and bending God's people do each and every

day as we serve one another - care for one another - offer our lives up on behalf

of others. Glory! Sure we can be taken up by the Glory of God's creation that is

on display every day - it is wonderful. And yet, too often, God's glory is just

that - put off onto something other than us - something 'out there'. If not out

into creation, it is put off out and beyond death. But God as glory is God who

abides with us as us - as that other person - as me in the middle of the stuff I

do everyday. God as glory shines each time a person steps over a barrier that for

some reason has been set up to separate me from you. Glory shines when we defy our

biases and our fears and act as though the Glory of the Lord is lifting us all into

a new life. I know that it is overwhelming to me to hear and see people being a

part of this glorious presence. It is not hard to see and hear though. It is right

there when the grace and mercy and peace of God is made visible in human ways so

that glory is no longer merely something 'out there' and removed from this moment

- this day - this life that is mine and yours.



O God of love and new life, let your Glory shine among us. Amen.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 17, 2013

This week: God as Glory. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



Look around, the Glory of God is not hidden. It is a brightly lit as the people

who you will encounter today. God as glory is that which makes us come to understand

a bit of what the Reign of God is like. Therefore, it is a child's smile or big,

old weeping face - it is that unknown person walking on the other side of the street

(the one you may fear at the moment). God as glory is light that shines and gives

us the light to see the face of God entering into days that can become so routine

we cannot see God present anymore. God as glory is the power that cracks open the

day and allows us to contemplate the present wonder of God's creation and our part

in that creation as another element in the unfolding glory of God. I happen to like

"Glory" hot sauce. I like the name but I also like what it does when I taste it.

Glory - that kale just came to life as never before! Sometimes, God as glory is

the way the day gains a little spice and seasoning so that we take another look

or taste at something we may not even like. Glory.



O God of love and new life, help us taste and see your glory and the way in which

it is eternally unfolding around us. Amen.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 16, 2013

This week: God as Glory. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



"Mine eyes have see the Glory of the coming of the Lord" - I find that to be an

inspiring picture. It is also an everyday picture. It is one that is available to

us as we muddle our way through whatever this day will offer us. God as glory opens

our eyes so that we will wonder again about the grace and mercy and hope and promise

and forgiveness and new life that is being offered to us even when we sit in the

worst part of the day. God as glory is the one who offers us life and helps us

see the sanctity of life that comes as we engage one another. God as glory is a

movement into relationships for that is how we come upon the glory of God alive

and waiting for us to go for it all.



Glory! hallelujah.



O God of love and new life, thank you for glory that opens our eyes - even now.

Amen.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 15, 2013

This week: God as Glory. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



When the shepherds were up in the hills around Bethlehem, the text notes that the

glory of the Lord shone around them. Was it a light? If it was a light, aren't we

told throughout the Hebrew Scriptures that Israel was to be a light to the nations.

Was the light up in the skies or was this storytelling bringing the ears of the

listeners back down to earth - to the ordinary - to characters as simple as shepherds

in a small town? God as Glory shines all around us. Sometimes we are so involved

in what we are doing we miss the shine that is attempting to bring light into our

lives. God as Glory is the simple presence of God's presence among us and for us.

Out of the 'light' shining around them, these shepherds will see the Glory of God

and it will be in the midst of the animals of creation - in the form of the most

innocent and vulnerable of characters - a baby. When people expect the Glory of

God to come like a warrior taking out 'those' folks and setting us free so we can

now be the top gun, God as Glory keeps being anchored in nothing more than our humanity.

And yet, that is enough. God as Glory is brought into the midst of us so we are

able to see it - touch it - engage it. We do that as people in relation to others.

Here when two or three gather in the name of the God of all creation, the Glory

of God shines forth - we see that light always tied to life - real, everyday, everybody

kind of life. Glory!



O God of love and new life, when your Glory shines we often miss it because we are

not expecting the ordinary - the people and experiences we claim to know so well

- to be the center of revelation and hope. Keep our eyes open, O God. Amen.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 12, 2013

This week: God as radical revelation. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



Is the radical revelation in line with the vision and life of God's promised Reign

as we hear it in Scripture and through the witness of the faithful? We have to ask

that question when it appears as though God as radical revelation is pulling into

a way that differs from the one we are presently moving. Remember there are may

radical notions that do not follow the way of love and grace and mercy and loving

kindness and justice and peace. When a radical notion is pulling us away from those

fruits, we must do something radical in another way - resist. I think of the folks

who once followed Jim Jones back in the 70's. He started with a strong appeal to

the care of the poor and a life within a community of hope - that is always a radical

way to go. But then, all hell broke out. I mean that in a very real way. Rather

than having that church continue on the way of God's Reign, Jones turned it into

a journey of violence, self-worship, and sheer robbery. We only need to see the

horror of Jonestown to see where radical revelation can take us when it is not

a revelation of the God who by grace invites us to love and serve one another



O God of love and new life, keep the vision of your gracious Reign always before

us as we enter this day. We easily fall into the grip of that which is not the

way of your Reign and too often we settle for that. Continue to invited us out beyond

what we want into what you offer us - life eternal. Amen.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 11, 2013

Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions

This week: God as radical revelation. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com].



There are times when I catch myself in what I would call a moment of hearing God

as radical revelation. There have been those experiences when I was quite sure

I knew just where I wanted to be and how I wanted things to go. And then, someone

says something that throws me off guard. It could be a statement or a question or

an image. For a moment, I hesitate - not quite knowing how to continue. What happens

is that I know I can be guarded about where I think things should go or how things

should go. So when that guard is thrown 'off' wow - there is a call for vulnerability

that may mean something new is about to blossom even if I don't want or have not

planned for it to happen. Those can be frightening moments. God as radical revelation

is always there ready to walk with us into and through those moments and into that

for which we thought we were never prepared. There is also a bit of excitement to

such revelation.



O God of love and new life, open the door to a future within your Reign even when

it appears to be a life so contrary to our wants that we tend to look the other

way. Pull us in again. Amen.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 10, 2013

This week: God as radical revelation. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com]What if radical is more than I would consider radical? People on the 'radical left'

and the 'radical right' seem to like their position. It fits them. But then is radical

now considered expected - the norm - the way things are - the way we want things?

God as radical revelation is the power that is always dismantling what we may consider

radical and that which we love to claim for ourselves. Rather than a badge or a

bumper sticker that is an attempt to show how radical we are, God as radical revelation

doesn't need a bumper sticker - it is a life that will show itself as being quite

contrary to all the groups and clusters of folks who like life just as they have

defined it. The radical nature of God's Reign is one that simply comes to life.

We may find that other radical notions of life are really just positions we love

to hold rather than a gift of life that is handed to us by this God as radical revelation.

This revelation always comes out of a love that will not settle for love-in-part

or love-sometimes or love-for-some. This kind of a radical base reveals just how

stuck we can be in our own way of seeing and living.



O God of love and new life, continue to shake us and lead us beyond the places we

tend to settle. Bring the vibrancy of your Reign among us. Amen.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 9, 2013

This week: God as radical revelation. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com]As much as I am able to 'go with the flow', I usually have some sort of an agenda.

I'd like things to go in a way that I expect them to go. Sure I can bend and bow

and move with most things. But then again, I expect the river to keep flowing as

it usually does. God as radical revelation introduces life that does not fit into

my ways and wants. Too often, I am rooted in the things of society or family or

culture or routine. God as radical revelation is always presenting a way of life

that is rooted in the expansive grace of God's Reign. That radical grace is available

to me in all times and it is also the life that I am invited to bring to life so

that others may see something outside of the usual ways of living. God as radical

revelation keeps bringing us back to the unbounded love that does not go along with

revenge, bitterness, envy, jealousy (the list can go on and on). In other words,

radical revelation is simply God showing forth a life that open to our participation.

It is a way that may reveal a life that we are not used to living. It may be a way

that causes us to go at the things of the day from another direction and take things

in a new direction. God as radical revelation open doors we would usually simply

walk past on our way to doing our own thing and being just who we want to be.



O God of love and new life, more than likely we will be walking away from you every

moment of our lives. Therefore, we ask that you keep placing in front of us visions

of life that come within the domain of your shalom. That will be a radical change

for us. Amen.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 8, 2013

This week: God as radical revelation. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com]Radical revelation is a term used by Brian McClaren. I thought it would be a few

good words to add to this long running look at God. God as radical revelation is

both grand and common. It is always grand in that God reveals God's self. It is

common in that the grandness of God is revealed in that which is common. Did you

ever notice that all the grand revelation stories of God have to do with stuff

that takes place among the people God is wooing as God's own. Moses may see a burning

bush but it was Moses who become the one who brings the vision of what will happen

to God's people in Egypt. God as radical revelation is when this God who 'will be

who God will be' brings to life a boldness and a firmness and a liberating presence

in the form of Moses - a guy not too good with words. God as radical revelation

comes as real people are set free from oppression and war and violence through the

simple means of people who are persistently resisting all those powers because God

has promised to make a new life. So is the revelation of another time and another

place? Well, yes and no. The 'yes' part is that God is revealing a life that people

are invited to enter and take up as their own. The 'no' part is that there is no

'other place' outside of the realm of our human existence that will be the new

life. New life and its radical nature comes as a promise. We are invited to step

into it and see where we go by the grace of God.



O God of love and new life, when we are being consumed by the ordinary stuff around

us and it seems to be running our lives, you, O God, call us to lift up our heads

and take a look at the life you promise all of us even as we thin we are being run

over by the powers of the day. Blessed are you. Amen.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 5, 2013

This week: God as otherness. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com]This Sunday I will be preaching on a hymn as part of our summer series on hymns

and Biblical texts that were collected from people in worship. This is My Song has

become a standard at Redeemer around the fourth of July. The words of this hymn

remind us about this God as otherness. "Patriotic" holidays - in any and every country

- are fueled by how we are different - better - braver - stronger - more worthy

than those 'other' folks in other countries and lands. This hymn - though it speaks

of the wonder an beauty of our land/nation then unfolds to say 'but other hearts

- other lands - other nations - are quite like us. In the other we do not need

to see



O God of love and new life, just beyond what we want you wait for us to come a bit

farther and begin to see that the promise of life keeps unfolding beyond our expectations.

As promised, continue to let your Spirit of love lift us up to see your Reigning

presence. Amen.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 3, 2013

This week: God as otherness. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com]God as otherness makes all others we encounter in our lives - a part of the wild

and wonderful image of God. This means that the 'other' doesn't become like us

- rather the 'other' is already - before our judgments and decisions - just as much

of God as we claim to be. So 'other' becomes just another one of us - not enemy

- not pagan - not atheist - not good or bad - rather God with us. The question in

front of all of us is the one that simply asks: Is this the God we want? It may

not be. And yet, that is the history of storytelling throughout Scripture - is God

the god that people want or is God the God that was and is and will be no matter

what people want. God as otherness is available even in the other we find it so

necessary to reject. Too often we reject this eternal otherness of God and fall

for something less - something that can never reveal the fullness of God's image.



O God of love and new life, just beyond what we want you wait for us to come a bit

farther and begin to see that the promise of life keeps unfolding beyond our expectations.

As promised, continue to let your Spirit of love lift us up to see your Reigning

presence. Amen.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 2, 2013

This week: God as otherness. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com]I wonder if the language for God as 'other' is part of the problem that causes separation

and division. It is like this. So often, good religious folk are people who claim

to be in touch with God. If God is other, then that puts me in contact with something

other - something you may not have. That can help to create in me the notion that

I am with God - within God's blessed otherness - and you - well, you - are really

quite other - outside. And yet, God as otherness is not one that calls for us to

make things into an us and them situation. God as otherness, embraces us. That

is God takes hold of me and any and all of the 'others' that I create in my life.

God as other makes us all another part of the whole body of God's beloved. That

is a concept contrary to the way we usually operate. We like to have 'them over

there' who are not like us and maybe not quite worthy to be one of us. In the middle

of all of our 'stinking thinking' God is hauling in the others so that we will look

and live in peace with one another. God as other acts unlike us - that is meant

to be a blessing to all of us.



O God of love and new life, it is too easy to point our finger and make someone

one into something 'other'. We do it so quickly and we stick to it al Amen.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Redeemer Devotions for July 1, 2013

This week: God as otherness. If you have any comments - adebelak@redeemerluth.com [mailto:adebelak@redeemerluth.com]I do not want this to be a picture of God 'out there' or 'beyond us'. God as otherness

is the God who is pulling us to be engage with the 'other.' The Spirit of God as

otherness does not move through life causing separation that makes some people

'us' and other people 'them' - quite the opposite. We are being pulled toward the

other to know what other means - to experience other as ones our God also includes

and blesses. God as otherness moves us beyond our clans - our families - our nations

- our well-developed lives. In the midst of that otherness we come to see a bit

more of the God who seems to be so beyond us. The God of beyond and out there -

is essential present when we look around and take part in a conversation with all

that is other. That is not a comfortable place to go. I like things that are like

me - people who have similar ideas and values. But then God as otherness puts the

other in my path. When that happens, I can say 'damn it' - and yet whenever I exclude

the other I am participating in the damning divisions God as otherness is calling

us to leave behind. It is vital to remember that there is always a way that is other

than the one I want to go.



O God of love and new life, lead on and pull us along the way of your Reign. Amen.