People who long to embody the love of God and be called the followers of Jesus within our day must be a people who look at life and put names on actions and themes that are vital to our life together. This happens in many ways. We may call an accident or rename a tragedy - a blessing - an opportunity. It has to do with how we see the events of our lives and how we see ourselves within those events. The people of Israel were to see themselves as a light to the nations. When you come right down to it, that is a mission statement . A small group of people are called - named - and sent out with a life script...be a light for life that demonstrates the reign of God. Stanley Hauerwas offers a fine example of how we are a people who must be very intentional about who we are and how we see our life. He writes: For again we are reminded that God's salvation is not simply knowledge, even the knowledge captured by a story, but rather salvation is the creation of a people who have the capacity to be timeful. To be timeful means to be capable of rest, of worship, in a world bent on it own destruction.
The simple definition of terms used to describe our lives is at the very core of how we begin to define the vision of God's reign as it is contrary to the warring ways of our world. Our time is "filled" with the vision of God's love for creation that is merciful, forgiving, and just - to mention a few attributes. To see our time as focused on this character of God's reign, has the power to transform our lives and offer a life that is not the same-old vicious cycle of winners and loser...war and more war.
Connection: We do not need to buy the line that the "special interests" of one country or one family or one group of people is the word that will lead us through our day. That thinking has always resulted in war and destruction. We can re-view the day and see it within the broad domain of God's passion for the welfare of all. That may be a light for us to shine as we journey through the events of our day.
Lord of Light, you bring us into your future by offering us this present moment to begin our lives. Transform us and give us the vision to see the ways of your peaceable reign and thus bring us new life in the midst of all that is old and broken around us. Amen.
Monday, September 30, 2002
Monday, 30 September, 2002
From the Psalm for this past Sunday - St. Michael's and All Angels
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless the Lord's holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all the Lord's benefits.
The Lord forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities;
The Lord redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and loving kindness;
The Lord satisfies you with good things, and your youth is renewed like an eagle's. (Ps.103:1-5)
This is a Lord who does not forget you. We don't know who did the writing or what the conditions of life may have been for the writer...but we know the writer will make sure that the Lord God is placed in the position of being the life-giver and hope-maker. The first thing people of faith do is bless the Lord...give thanks...acknowledge that our God will be with us and will be the source of our begin-again lives. We all face those days and moments within the day when we need to gumption to simply begin-again. To praise our God - as the first thing - sets the framework for the building of the holiness of this day. From that point on, the meeting we are entering, the trip we are about to take, the situation we have trying to avoid...is set upon the creative and redeeming power of the one we say makes all things new. Remember, making all things new does not mean fixing things so that we can go back to what was. Making all thing new...resurrection...starts up without the conditions or biases of what was. The Lord God promises to set us into new life...life that is indeed full of opportunities to be renewed...and fly!
Connection: Sometimes a Monday can be a tough time. It can be difficult to push out into a day that will demand much from us on many fronts. I am always amazed to see people who look at what is ahead and as they move into the day, they are not shy about giving thanks to God for the very breath they take. It is as though they are becoming ready to look at everything in a whole new light. Breathe. Bless the Lord.
Maker of All Things, you awaken us with the wind of your Holy Spirit touching our lives and reminding us of your great kindness and steadfast love. Life up our hearts that we may see you hand touching us throughout this day and bringing us to new life among others. Amen.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless the Lord's holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all the Lord's benefits.
The Lord forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities;
The Lord redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and loving kindness;
The Lord satisfies you with good things, and your youth is renewed like an eagle's. (Ps.103:1-5)
This is a Lord who does not forget you. We don't know who did the writing or what the conditions of life may have been for the writer...but we know the writer will make sure that the Lord God is placed in the position of being the life-giver and hope-maker. The first thing people of faith do is bless the Lord...give thanks...acknowledge that our God will be with us and will be the source of our begin-again lives. We all face those days and moments within the day when we need to gumption to simply begin-again. To praise our God - as the first thing - sets the framework for the building of the holiness of this day. From that point on, the meeting we are entering, the trip we are about to take, the situation we have trying to avoid...is set upon the creative and redeeming power of the one we say makes all things new. Remember, making all things new does not mean fixing things so that we can go back to what was. Making all thing new...resurrection...starts up without the conditions or biases of what was. The Lord God promises to set us into new life...life that is indeed full of opportunities to be renewed...and fly!
Connection: Sometimes a Monday can be a tough time. It can be difficult to push out into a day that will demand much from us on many fronts. I am always amazed to see people who look at what is ahead and as they move into the day, they are not shy about giving thanks to God for the very breath they take. It is as though they are becoming ready to look at everything in a whole new light. Breathe. Bless the Lord.
Maker of All Things, you awaken us with the wind of your Holy Spirit touching our lives and reminding us of your great kindness and steadfast love. Life up our hearts that we may see you hand touching us throughout this day and bringing us to new life among others. Amen.
Friday, September 27, 2002
Friday, 27 September, 2002
When I am out and about in my daily life and fear or anxiety seems to be pressing in on me I long for a place to rest...a place to steady my stance...a power outside of myself that will fortify me even though I am most convinced that I am about to be overwhelmed. Many times, the place and the power that comes to stand with me is in the form of other people. Not that I want others to try and fix my wavering life, rather I find that the "company of saints" has the ability to remind me of the power that is available from our God...for all the moments of our lives. Again, I will draw from "The Hauerwas Reader" as he quotes Aquinas in regard to courage...or, as Aquinas calls it, fortitude. ...fortitude is about fear and daring, as curbing fear and moderating daring."
We will experience fear and we will become anxious. That's life. We are also given the power to face our fears and respond to them in a way that can be called courageous without being reckless. When we turn to other people in order to re-view what frightens us or what cause our hearts to be anxious, we enter the possibility that we will be transformed...even as we are afraid...into daring people.
Connection: It may two or three people to help us be courageous today. Rather than sit back and be owned by fear, we can dare to reach out for those who will stand with us and encourage us to walk out into the midst of what seems to be threatening our day.
Encourage us, O Lord, so that we find within the breath we share with those around us, the marvelous power of your Holy Spirit whipping around and making this day full of new adventures in grace and peace. Amen.
We will experience fear and we will become anxious. That's life. We are also given the power to face our fears and respond to them in a way that can be called courageous without being reckless. When we turn to other people in order to re-view what frightens us or what cause our hearts to be anxious, we enter the possibility that we will be transformed...even as we are afraid...into daring people.
Connection: It may two or three people to help us be courageous today. Rather than sit back and be owned by fear, we can dare to reach out for those who will stand with us and encourage us to walk out into the midst of what seems to be threatening our day.
Encourage us, O Lord, so that we find within the breath we share with those around us, the marvelous power of your Holy Spirit whipping around and making this day full of new adventures in grace and peace. Amen.
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Thursday, 26 September, 2002
We pray ourselves into LIFE. If we are to be people of courage and loving kindness and mercy and peace....etc., we must make that the content of our prayers. In our praying we set the groundwork for our living. Don't think of praying as some formal task. Think of praying as breathing...breathing in air that is full of life that is courageous, loving, merciful, peaceful...etc. Praying in this way is within all of our capabilities. No words are needed...no correct language...no proper sentence structure...simply call upon our God to let loose the Spirit of God's reign and let it reign...let it reign...let it reign. Stanley Hauerwas writes about courage and being virtuous in life. For me he does this with a sense of prayerfulness...deliberate focus that gives birth to the many signs of the reign of God that come through the people of God. He writes:
...being virtuous involves not only having dispositions for appropriate action, but also a right "attitude" that includes having the appropriate emotions and desires. This is one of the reasons virtue requires such training, for we become what we are only through the gradual buildup of the appropriate characteristics.
The training includes the simple exercise of prayer. The training also includes the many ways we stumble and fall and continue on the way....praying. There are no quick fixes...no easy roads...no pills to take. Prayer is like day to day living. Prayer tends the ground of the garden that comes to blossom and bears the names of saints of God like you...and me.
Connection: Take note...you may have just prayed and simply did not put that name to it. Throughout the day, you may be praying and need to name it. Even in the wordless tear that may trickle out of your eye or the deep sigh that passes between two insignificant moments in the day, we utter prayers that help to build us up as God's beloved. Beyond those prayers, also remember to give space and time to deliberate prayerfulness.
Lord be present in our breath and our sighs for we often do not know how to lift up the concerns of our lives and yet they are many. Make us a prayerful people that we may be a people of purpose and deliberate action in our lives. Amen.
...being virtuous involves not only having dispositions for appropriate action, but also a right "attitude" that includes having the appropriate emotions and desires. This is one of the reasons virtue requires such training, for we become what we are only through the gradual buildup of the appropriate characteristics.
The training includes the simple exercise of prayer. The training also includes the many ways we stumble and fall and continue on the way....praying. There are no quick fixes...no easy roads...no pills to take. Prayer is like day to day living. Prayer tends the ground of the garden that comes to blossom and bears the names of saints of God like you...and me.
Connection: Take note...you may have just prayed and simply did not put that name to it. Throughout the day, you may be praying and need to name it. Even in the wordless tear that may trickle out of your eye or the deep sigh that passes between two insignificant moments in the day, we utter prayers that help to build us up as God's beloved. Beyond those prayers, also remember to give space and time to deliberate prayerfulness.
Lord be present in our breath and our sighs for we often do not know how to lift up the concerns of our lives and yet they are many. Make us a prayerful people that we may be a people of purpose and deliberate action in our lives. Amen.
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
Wednesday, 25 September, 2002
This Sunday is the feast day of St. Michael and All Angels. It is not often that we in the Lutheran church acknowledge such festival days and as it is on a Sunday this year, we will be giving it some play in Sunday Worship. But how in the world do we deal with angels. I certainly do not want to do it in the way it is handled in "Touched by an Angel." Nor do I want to play with the images from the comic series "Family Circle" in which the grandfather, who is dead, is now an angel swooping down to oversee the lives of his grandkids. The images of angels in scripture are not numerous. In Hebrews, the "Son" is said to be superior to the angels and we are the ones who are inherit the life of the Son...and angels are "sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation." We do not become angels! We are inheritors of the reign of God and followers of the One who defeats the power of evil completely. Now...back to angels. One commentator notes that the whole encounter with Michael, the angel in the book of Daniel, takes place in the midst of daily events. Does that mean angels pull us from the pathway of cars or literally guide the hand of a doctor in surgery? I hope not. If that was the case, do some people have lazy angels who don't stop tragic events in our lives? What a horrible thought. Instead, it would do us well to think of angels (if you choose to do that at all) as something more powerful. Carol Dempsey makes this kind of comment about the part angels play in our lives. "Thus divine revelation becomes part of the fabric of ordinary life, helping to inform it and direct its present and future course." Divine revelation takes place each and every time the Good News from scripture and/or the Good News from those in the community of Christ, causes us to turn our heads to the way of the Messiah throughout the ordinary times of life. Is it magical? No. It is inspiring...like the wind that takes our breath away only to give it back to us within an urgent gasp for more air...more wind...more spirit.
Connection: Breathe. The vision of the reign of God whips around us attempting to pull us into its gracious life that has no end and includes all God's beloved. You may not see anything whipping about. It may be the simple Word of love passed on from the most basic story of God's claim on us. It may appear to fly around...just out of reach...and yet...it is here...on our lips...in our hearts...where two or three gather. Breathe.
Lord of all Hopefulness, you bless us with your constant presence in ways we do not yet understand or see fully. Teach us to pray...to be diligent in the ways of your love so that your love will be visible among us.
Connection: Breathe. The vision of the reign of God whips around us attempting to pull us into its gracious life that has no end and includes all God's beloved. You may not see anything whipping about. It may be the simple Word of love passed on from the most basic story of God's claim on us. It may appear to fly around...just out of reach...and yet...it is here...on our lips...in our hearts...where two or three gather. Breathe.
Lord of all Hopefulness, you bless us with your constant presence in ways we do not yet understand or see fully. Teach us to pray...to be diligent in the ways of your love so that your love will be visible among us.
Tuesday, 24 September, 2002
From The Hauerwas Reader -articles and/or chapters written by Stanley Hauerwas
...our moral language does not just describe what is; it describes how we ought to see and intend the world. ... Our metaphors and stories entice us to find a way to bring into existence the reality that at once should be but will not be except as we act as if it is. Morally the world is always wanting to be created in correspondence to what it is but is not yet.
My first note for today is to simply read this quote again. Pie-in-the-sky morality, that is, a morality that we attempt to feed to one another as though such feeding will make our lives moral, is a lost cause. As followers of Jesus, we are invited to "find a way to bring into existence" the life Jesus led...before us. I love the image Hauerwas sets up when he writes, "Our metaphors and stories entice us..." It is an invitation for each of us to pick up the scriptures and follow the themes and images and vision that continue to bubble up and offer us a way of life...right now. There is a tension between what is and what is "not yet." To be in such a position is to be in the middle of a great gift in life. When I use the phrase "an adventure for life" to describe the life of sharing God's love with all, I want all of us to see each step of our day as being in the middle of the tension that offers us a direction for life that at times will be contrary to the prevailing winds of our culture.The adventure comes into play when we are invited to walk along ways that may not fit in with the self-centeredness and self-interest that is so pervasive in our society. Stories pull us beyond ourselves...and, you could say, pull us into being who God sees in us. Morality need not be a rigid set of rules...it may be a blessed invitation to life that blossoms within the grace of the reign of God.
Connection: Today is an adventure. It is breaking in to our lives in the most mundane and boring avenues along which we may walk. Sometime during the day consider what adventure is unfolding in your life and what it will mean to how you live as a follower of Jesus.
Lift us up, O God, and open our eyes that we will see the vast beauty of your blessed reign. Remind us of the vision of justice, peace, mercy and grace that challenges us to step out into our lives boldly embracing our Lord's command to follow. Amen.
...our moral language does not just describe what is; it describes how we ought to see and intend the world. ... Our metaphors and stories entice us to find a way to bring into existence the reality that at once should be but will not be except as we act as if it is. Morally the world is always wanting to be created in correspondence to what it is but is not yet.
My first note for today is to simply read this quote again. Pie-in-the-sky morality, that is, a morality that we attempt to feed to one another as though such feeding will make our lives moral, is a lost cause. As followers of Jesus, we are invited to "find a way to bring into existence" the life Jesus led...before us. I love the image Hauerwas sets up when he writes, "Our metaphors and stories entice us..." It is an invitation for each of us to pick up the scriptures and follow the themes and images and vision that continue to bubble up and offer us a way of life...right now. There is a tension between what is and what is "not yet." To be in such a position is to be in the middle of a great gift in life. When I use the phrase "an adventure for life" to describe the life of sharing God's love with all, I want all of us to see each step of our day as being in the middle of the tension that offers us a direction for life that at times will be contrary to the prevailing winds of our culture.The adventure comes into play when we are invited to walk along ways that may not fit in with the self-centeredness and self-interest that is so pervasive in our society. Stories pull us beyond ourselves...and, you could say, pull us into being who God sees in us. Morality need not be a rigid set of rules...it may be a blessed invitation to life that blossoms within the grace of the reign of God.
Connection: Today is an adventure. It is breaking in to our lives in the most mundane and boring avenues along which we may walk. Sometime during the day consider what adventure is unfolding in your life and what it will mean to how you live as a follower of Jesus.
Lift us up, O God, and open our eyes that we will see the vast beauty of your blessed reign. Remind us of the vision of justice, peace, mercy and grace that challenges us to step out into our lives boldly embracing our Lord's command to follow. Amen.
Monday, September 23, 2002
Monday, 23 September, 2002
From The Hauerwas Reader
Morality and virtues are words we hear quite a bit these days.
...moral principles do not serve as the "essence" of stories, as if they might be abstracted from the story and still convey the same meaning. Rather, our principles are but shorthand reminders necessary for moral education and explanation; their moral significance is contained in the stories.
This may seem like a drastic turn from what you might expect in a daily devotion. On the contrary, we are a people who continue to go back to stories. That is what is contained in the scriptures. We read about stories from life. Today we are too often told about how we need to stress morals and teach virtues. I would agree. But then again, we do that teaching best by pointing to stories within life...our lives. To be a follower of Jesus in today's world means we live...and we live out of the story of Jesus that becomes our own story. We can attempt to teach one another about the great virtue of loving one another or caring for one another, but it is really handed down through our communities when those "concepts" are turned into flesh. We build character not by talking about what would make for good character in a person. We build character by walking along the way...daily putting words to life. In some ways, we need to practice...to embody the life of the followers of Jesus...today...and tomorrow...and the next day...
Connection: Never stop putting the "word" to life. It begins with the things within this day no matter how small they might seem.
Lord of all Life, you have brought us to this day and you call us to share the gifts we each have been granted. Inspire us to see the path of new life that is always placed before us at the brink of each day. Amen.
Morality and virtues are words we hear quite a bit these days.
...moral principles do not serve as the "essence" of stories, as if they might be abstracted from the story and still convey the same meaning. Rather, our principles are but shorthand reminders necessary for moral education and explanation; their moral significance is contained in the stories.
This may seem like a drastic turn from what you might expect in a daily devotion. On the contrary, we are a people who continue to go back to stories. That is what is contained in the scriptures. We read about stories from life. Today we are too often told about how we need to stress morals and teach virtues. I would agree. But then again, we do that teaching best by pointing to stories within life...our lives. To be a follower of Jesus in today's world means we live...and we live out of the story of Jesus that becomes our own story. We can attempt to teach one another about the great virtue of loving one another or caring for one another, but it is really handed down through our communities when those "concepts" are turned into flesh. We build character not by talking about what would make for good character in a person. We build character by walking along the way...daily putting words to life. In some ways, we need to practice...to embody the life of the followers of Jesus...today...and tomorrow...and the next day...
Connection: Never stop putting the "word" to life. It begins with the things within this day no matter how small they might seem.
Lord of all Life, you have brought us to this day and you call us to share the gifts we each have been granted. Inspire us to see the path of new life that is always placed before us at the brink of each day. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)