Devotional

Losing Power

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 108; 150, Job 11:1-9, 13-20, Revelation 5:1-14, Matthew 5:1-12

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes – blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, etc. He concludes them by saying: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” When this happens do we feel blessed? Do we act blessed? Or do we want to dispose of our persecutors – and therefore our blessings – by legislating them away?

To follow Christ is to set oneself apart from the world in significant ways. When refer to the United States – or any country – as a “Christian nation,” we seriously dilute the meaning of what it means to be a Christian. A Christianity wielding secular power is no longer the persecuted – it becomes the persecutor. Forcing a society to conform to our beliefs is not spreading the gospel. Rather it turns a message of hope and salvation into a system of threats and artificial piety. Jesus asked God to forgive his persecutors, “for they know not what they do.” Saint Stephen, as he was being stoned to death, cried out “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” If headlines of the twenty-first century are any indication, Christians seem less interested in forgiving our enemies than in forcing creationism into science textbooks and Merry Christmas into commercial transactions. So many people understandably believe we are about forcing others to be like us, and it’s our own fault.

But the Beatitudes are still waiting for us.

We can be meek without compromising how we live our own lives. We can be peacemakers without being appeasers. We can be merciful to those who don’t seek our mercy. We can accept that being persecuted is part of the being the last, and stop worrying about making Christians the first in everything. But we can only do these things when we are less interested in maintaining power and more interesting in sharing Christ’s love.

The Sermon on the Mount ends with instructions about loving our enemies. We can’t offer them a hand while our boot is on their neck.

Comfort: You aren’t responsible for the behavior of other people.

Challenge: Over the coming week, keep a journal of opportunities you had to share the gospel, and how you chose to do so.

Prayer: Gracious and merciful God, help me to live the Beatitudes. May my life be an example of Christ in the world.Amen.

Discussion: In many place in the world, Christians really are persecuted for their faith. What should be our response?

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Holy Arguments

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 122; 149, Job 9:1, 10:1-9, 16-22, Acts 11:1-18, John 8:12-20

Great spiritual teachers are famous for telling us to seek truth, wisdom, and connection to God in silence. Unfortunately for most of us, actual spiritual silence can be really hard to achieve, especially when we are upset. Sometimes we first need to clear our heads by venting our anger and negativity. Even anger at God needs to be expressed. Job knew this to be necessary when he said: “I will give free utterance to my complaint.”

Job accuses God of setting him up with a great life so his fall will be even harder. Do we ever feel like God has set us up to fail? Or like God is testing us? A popular cliché says “God never gives you more than you can handle.” Job would disagree. With its framing narrative of a wager between God and Ha’Satan, the Book of Job can easily be misunderstood to promote the theology of a God who is constantly testing us, a God who virtually hunts us, “bold as a lion.” Rather, it is a poetic exploration of our relationship with God and suffering. Anyone who has never felt angry or let down by God is a member of a very small club. Job expresses the feelings we all share when we suffer.

Arguing with God has a long tradition among the faithful. Israel (Jacob) literally wrestled with God, and a nation was named for him. Every year during the Jewish High Holy Days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), people of great faith are held accountable for their actions of the past year – and they also hold God accountable. Only by speaking our most difficult truths can we fully express our faithfulness. God already knows what is in our hearts, so doing this is a matter of showing trust in a God who is loving and great enough to handle whatever we have to dish out.

We think of arguments as negative events, but they are inevitable when we are building any deep relationship. Sometimes an argument is a sign that a relationship is worth fighting for.

Comfort: God accepts our whole hearts, not just the happy parts.

Challenge: Find and read some articles on having healthy arguments.

Prayer: God of truth, I open my whole heart to you. Amen.

Discussion: When have you argued with God?

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Astounding Gifts

/ JJS / 2 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 88; 148, Job 9:1-15, 32-35, Acts 10:34-48, John 7:37-52

“The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” (Acts 10:45)

This verse illustrates the difference between superficial acceptance and true inclusion, a distinction sometimes lost on the most well-meaning individuals and communities. Sitting at a table with Gentiles was a major step forward for the Jewish apostles, but until the Spirit poured gifts upon the new arrivals, the apostles were unready to accept them as worthy of the same baptism in Christ.

How long do we wait until we truly include new people in our faith community? We almost always let them in the door, and eagerly recruit them for bake sales or nursery duty, but when do we stop thinking of them as the “new” people? Do we wait until they somehow earn our approval, like the apostles did, or do we start treating them as equal members of the body of Christ ASAP? Each person brings their own astounding gifts, so by keeping them at arm’s length we do a disservice to ourselves. Each person also comes with their own baggage and flaws, and we can’t be present with them in their struggles until we accept those, too. It’s not like we don’t have our own… Beyond that, it is simply the Christian thing to do.

Conversely, sometimes we withhold our own gifts until we are confident a community has fully embraced us. While it’s natural to be cautious when entering a new group, too much hesitation may send a false signal that we want to maintain distance. Our own gifts are for sharing, because life in a Christian community is a two- (and twenty- and two hundred-) way street. Being part of a community means offering support to it as we are able, as much as expecting it to be there for us.

We may not even know we possess a gift until the community invites us to take a risk. A gift is something you give, not something you hoard. Let us give and receive them with equal enthusiasm.

Comfort: Christ teaches us we are truly accepted, and to be truly accepting.

Challenge: Look for opportunities to share your gifts. Don’t be shy.

Prayer: God of truth, thank you for bestowing, revealing, and using the gifts of your people. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever been surprised to discover a gift in yourself or someone else?

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A Bigger Pan

/ JJS / 2 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 143; 147:12-20, Job 8:1-10, 20-22, Acts 10:17-33, John 7:14-36

A young bride wanted to make a roast just like her mother. To her husband’s dismay she cut off the ends – what he called “the best part” – because that’s what her mother did. When asked why, the mother who replied: “That’s how your grandmother taught me.” So she asked the grandmother who replied: “So it would fit in the pan.” Variations of this joke span many cultures, because it tells a truth about human behavior. One version isn’t so funny: the one where we cut away people who don’t fit in our church.

Peter’s action of eating a meal with Gentiles in a Gentile home – after the Lord sent him a vision about clean and unclean food – scandalized his Jewish contemporaries. Peter didn’t shatter this taboo to be outrageous; he did it because God made it clear the old traditions no longer served God’s purpose. How often do we run into this problem in our own faith communities? From the arrangement of chairs to the arrangement of the liturgy, we stick with what we’ve always done without examining whether it still serves God’s purpose. Sometimes our reluctance to change keeps people out or drives them away.

Jesus laid a firm foundation for this upheaval of tradition. For example, when Jewish leaders attacked him for healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus pointed out they themselves performed circumcisions on the Sabbath to uphold Moses’ command. We should note he never broke tradition just to shake things up, but to serve a compassionate, higher purpose.

Traditions are an important part of faith and life. We shouldn’t change them merely to be popular or current. The church must be wise enough to offer people what they need, not just what they want. We should, however, periodically examine our traditions to ask why we observe them. If we don’t know, maybe a change is needed. If we realize a tradition – for example, sexist roles – excludes people from the faith community, are we willing to sacrifice some of the best parts because someone in the past used a smaller pan? Challenging ourselves: it’s a Christian tradition!

Comfort: Many traditions exist for a good reason.

Challenge: When the reason is not so good, we must be willing to listen for God’s new direction.

Prayer: Loving God, we live in an ever-changing world. Help us to value the things you value, and to embrace the changes you would have us embrace. Amen.

Discussion: What changes  – at church, home, work, or school – really bugged you? Which turned out to be better after all?

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Double Vision

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 65; 147:1-11, Job 6:1, 7:1-21, Acts 10:1-16, John 7:1-13

Three-dimensional (stereoscopic) vision is pretty miraculous. In simple terms, each of your eyes sees the world from a slightly different perspective and your brain combines the two images to create a sense of depth and distance. When you wear 3-D movie glasses, two images are projected on the screen, and each lens is polarized so it can see only one. Without the lenses, the screen is a blurry mess. With one lens, it’s a clear but flat image. With both lenses, your brain sees amazing things.

Cornelius was a Gentile man who was devoted to the Lord. The Lord recognized his faithfulness and sent Cornelius a vision instructing him to send representatives to the city of Joppa, where they would find Simon Peter.

The next day, the Lord sent a vision to Peter, who was on the roof praying:

He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.”

The vision made no sense to Peter, who faithfully clung to Jewish dietary restrictions. The Lord had to send the vision twice more before Peter accepted it.

Taken individually, neither of these visions made sense to the recipients. Soon though they would merge, Peter and Cornelius would meet, and a whole new picture of the Body of Christ – one encompassing both Jews and Gentiles – would be revealed.

Every believer brings a different perspective to the wholeness of the Body. We can settle for the two-dimensional faith of a single lens, but that leaves us thinking everyone who doesn’t line up with our viewpoint is an incomprehensible mess, and under the mistaken assumption that we are privy to the one true picture. Like Paul and Cornelius, until we form diverse community, our vision is incomplete. The less we insist on seeing the world through only our own personal, congregational, or denominational lens, the more complete is our vision of the Kingdom of God.

Comfort: You have a unique and valuable perspective to contribute.

Challenge: You have many unique and valuable perspectives to consider..

Prayer: Lord of all creation, teach me to approach the world with an open and humble mind. May I embrace the good and learn from the bad. Amen.

Discussion: When has someone else’s perspective really changed your own?

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Getting What We Deserve

/ JJS / 2 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 54; 146, Job 6:1-4, 8-15, 21, Acts 9:32-43, John 6:60-71

Our culture finds a certain satisfaction in seeing people get what they deserve. When we say “justice has been served” we are usually referring to the sentencing of a guilty person, or the acquittal of an innocent one. We romanticize the myth that anyone with a strong enough work ethic can “pull himself up by his bootstraps” and become a success. What we can’t quite wrap our heads around is when good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people.

Job’s insistence that his suffering is unjust by such standards makes his friend Eliphaz uncomfortable. Like many of us, Eliphaz wants to believe people get what they deserve. He so desperately clings to a worldview threatened by Job’s situation that he can’t admit the reality that would comfort his friend: suffering is not always deserved. Job archly observes: “you see my calamity, and are afraid.”

Maybe questions that ask why people don’t get what they deserve are the wrong kinds of questions. Paul hunted Christians up to the moment of his conversion. What did he deserve? Jesus asks us to love and forgive our enemies. What do they deserve? What do we deserve? While most of the world works on a merit system, Jesus works with grace. “Good” people don’t need success, but spiritual growth. “Bad” people don’t need punishment, but healing. Deep down, we know this. We describe our criminal justice system as rehabilitative, though the reality is very different. Our worldly form of justice too often trumps the justice of Christ and the prophets.

What if Christian justice isn’t a focus on what we personally deserve, but on the act of providing bread and love and wholeness where none of these things are found? What if we are to temper accountability with mercy? Fairness with charity? Law with love? Suffering can’t be explained away in one or a thousand daily devotionals, but if our highest value is a life based on faith in Christ, that value is neither increased by prosperity nor decreased by suffering. In both joy and hardship we can find God.

Comfort: Grace is not earned, but given freely.

Challenge: When you read, listen to or watch this week’s news, note when worldly and Christian justice are they same and when they differ.

Prayer: God of justice, teach me its meaning. Amen.

Discussion: When are you tempted to promote worldly justice over Christ-like justice?

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If Paul could do it…

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 57; 145, Job 4:1, 5:1-11, 17-21, 26-27, Acts 9:19b-31, John 6:52-59

Lasting change is difficult to make. After we’ve found the motivation to make a positive change, we must struggle with a world inclined to keep us as we were. If we leave behind bad habits, friends who shared those habits may try to drag us back to our old ways for their own purposes. If we’ve repeatedly promised change only to let down our friends and family, they may view new declarations of change with understandable suspicion. Real change can’t depend on how other people perceive us, but on how we perceive ourselves.

When Paul did a spiritual 180 and started preaching in Jesus’ name, people who knew him were amazed at his radical change. Those in Jerusalem who did not want to accept his change plotted to kill him. On the other hand, when he joined the disciples “they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.” Many of them had been evading him for some time, and only the testimony of Barnabas on Paul’s behalf swayed them.

Paul’s old associates were invested in keeping him the same, and the people he hoped to make his new associates weren’t ready to accept him. Despite these attitudes, Paul persevered because he was dedicated to God above all others. To a lesser degree, we may experience the same thing when we make a change. If we decide to give up gossip, for example, the friends we used to gossip with will undoubtedly feel snubbed when we decline to participate. Given our history, other people will find it difficult to trust us. The same would be true of addictions, lying, spitefulness, or any host of vices. A truly penitent heart will persevere in change whether other people accept the change or not; our relationship with God will sustain us.

We can’t change any mind but our own. When we know we need to make a positive change, we must be prepared to endure and overcome resistance, and not let that resistance discourage us. God doesn’t promise us ease, but to be with us through everything.

Comfort: When we change our hearts, God knows and accepts.

Challenge: Be supportive to someone who is trying to change.

Prayer: God of truth, in you I am made new every day. Thank you for second and third chances. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever made a change people chose not to accept or support?

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Expect the Unexpected

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 67; 150, Job 4:1-6, 12-21, Revelation 4:1-11, Mark 6:1-6a

No Bible stories are about God telling a prophet: “All is well. Carry on just as you have been.” Rather, He promises to make a childless, elderly couple the parents of a nation as numerous as the stars. He appoints an adopted Hebrew into the Egyptian royal house to free slaves. He transforms a persecutor of Christians into their greatest evangelist. These stories? There are plenty of them.

When Jesus preached to the residents of his hometown, “he was amazed at their unbelief.” They asked “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” This guy? They were actually offended by his teaching. Jesus as the messiah was doubly unexpected: both a hometown boy, and a preacher of peace.

Self-proclaimed messiahs before Jesus had led rebellions against Rome. The crucified bodies of these men and their followers literally lined the road to Jerusalem for miles. Another messiah promoting bloody rebellion was expected, but not needed.
We like preachers and teachers who comfort us. We are much more skeptical of radicals, of people who make us uncomfortable, of people challenging the status quo. But these are requirements for prophets. It’s their vocation to make us question our beliefs and behaviors. People in powerful or safe situations have little motivation to question a system that works for them. Instead, injustices are brought to light by those for whom the system is not working, or those who become willing to sacrifice the privileges the system affords them.

Is every outrageous character a prophet and every outlandish claim a prophecy? Of course not. But when God demands change, He demands it for the poor and oppressed, and their voices sound jarring, unsettling – even threatening – to those in power. They call us to recognize how our actions and beliefs negatively impact the lives of others. Sometimes the voice of God is still and small because it comes from those who have been silenced. Our modern prophets are not those who comfort us, but those who challenge us.

Comfort: God doesn’t challenge us to change because we have failed, but because we can succeed..

Challenge: This week, try to learn something from people who have made radical commitments to living out the gospel.

Prayer: God of growth, show me how I can change, and bless me with the courage to do so. Amen.

Discussion: Who has challenged you to change the way you understand the gospel?

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How dusty is your head?

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 56; 149, Job 3:1-26, Acts 9:10-19a, John 6:41-51

Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, having heard of his tragedy, arrived at his home to console and comfort him. They did so by acknowledging Job’s grief: “They raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads.” Afterward, and more importantly, “They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.”

Then Job, who was faithful but not superhuman, cursed the day he was born. Anger, grief, and confusion poured out of him. He did not reject God, but he was not afraid to demand an accounting for the injustice of the world. After this his friends thought they could best help by trying to make sense of it for him. If they had been as smart as they thought they were and kept silent, Job would have been about thirty-seven chapters shorter.

When we have a friend whose suffering is great, what is our first instinct? Many of us try to make the person feel better as quickly as possible. Others want to offer advice on how to solve or get past the problem. A smaller number suffer in solidarity. And a gifted few are willing to be present but silent. A wonderful ecumenical organization called Stephen Ministries trains people to be present for other people in crisis. Stephen ministers do not fix, and do not counsel. They listen and love.

In the next chapter, Eliphaz will offer Job some unsolicited advice. Like we might, he does this as much to reassure himself as to comfort his friend. The other friends will follow suit. This helps move along the book’s exploration of the nature of suffering, but it does more harm than good for Job. Listening is a gift anyone can give, even without formal training. When someone shares their suffering with us, sometimes the best thing we can do for them is to sit in the road next to them, and let the dust settle on our heads.

Comfort: Each of us can listen, and be listened to.

Challenge: The next time you have the urge to fix someone’s problem or give them advice, spend time just listening to them instead.

Prayer: God of renewal, thank you for ears that help others heal. Amen.

Discussion: Are you a fixer? Are you frustrated by people who try to fix? Both?

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Staring at the Son

/ JJS / 3 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 130; 148, Job 2:1-13, Acts 9:1-9, John 6:27-40

Children instinctively avoid looking directly at the sun. In response to the painful brightness, they squint and close their eyes and turn their heads. Only during an eclipse do people need reminding how dangerous it can be to stare directly at it. The sun itself shines steadily. Our perception of its intensity is indirect, depending on atmospheric conditions. Out of self-preservation we respond accordingly.

Saul’s persecution of Christians was a response to the atmosphere around him. He was a faithful and (self-described) blameless Jew who sought to serve the Lord. To him, Christians were dark clouds threatening the safety and standing of the Jewish people within the Roman empire. He was not a poorly motivated cartoon villain like the Christian-haters often portrayed in Christian entertainment. He loved the Lord, and believed he was defending His faith and His people.

Then Saul saw the Son in all his glory.

On the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him in a flash of light and spoke so all nearby could hear. Saul asked who was speaking, and Jesus identified himself and told Saul to go into the city to await further instructions. Saul was struck blind, and remained so for three days.

Saul had been instinctively avoiding the overwhelming truth of Jesus. Finally forced to accept it, his world turned upside down. Saul was committed to the truth, but it took a miracle to help him understand the truth was more than he already knew.

Most people are committed to what they believe is the truth. Normally we are disinclined to seek truth where we don’t want to find it, especially if it will upend our reality. Christ asked: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Those we seek to reach often feel persecuted by Christians. So as the body of Christ, how do we shine brightly enough to reach people on their own roads? First we let go of the shadow of a false division between “us and them.” Then we let Christ’s love shine through until the people we meet can’t help but draw their own conclusions about its truth.

Comfort: A life lived in pursuit of Christ is a light in the darkness.

Challenge: When fellow believers choose to vilify rather than love, speak up.

Prayer: God of Mercy, may Christ’s light shine through me so others may know your love. Amen.

Discussion: In your experience, what are the most and least effective forms of evangelism?

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