Tuesday, February 19

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 63; Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Matthew 10:34-42; Galatians 5:13-18; Psalm 15

Today’s readings offered what I feel are two foundational principles of our faith. The first principle from Galatians 5:14 is pretty self-explanatory: “For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself.” Of course, while the first foundational principle is simple and rather straightforward, most of us spend our lives trying to put that principle into practice. The second foundational principle, however is a bit more difficult to grasp. The principle comes from Matthew 10:39: “If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me” (both passages from The Message). In an American society that teaches us to worship the individual and participate in NOTHING that limits the freedom of the individual, let’s face it: the words from Matthew are offensive. For those words challenge these societal notions to the core. As a result, we find clever ways to rationalize why those words should no longer apply to us modern folks. We tell ourselves things like, “Forgetting yourself means becoming a doormat. That would set you up for abuse or neglect so I can’t do that.” While I would agree that forgetting yourself for the sake of another person IS very dangerous, forgetting yourself for the sake of God is entirely different. For most (if not all) persons would exploit someone who forgets him or herself, God – the very source of life and love - would never do that. This Lenten season I invite you to start doing the unthinkable – start forgetting yourself a little bit. Stop filtering every thought, every idea, and every instinct through the filter of “what’s in it for me” and start listening for the Spirit with an open heart and mind to see where God is leading. The irony is that through this process, you won’t just find God – you’ll find deeper and more authentic pieces of yourself. Til next time…

Monday, February 18

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 106:1-23; Deuteronomy ; Matthew ; Galatians ; Psalms 27

There was a word that really jumped out at me from today’s reading from the 106th Psalm. That word was “remember”. The context for the use of the word is that the Psalmist talks about all the ways God had been active in saving ways in the peoples’ lives. And yet, how did the people respond to God’s gracious presence? Each time they forgot how God had been present in their lives and went back to a “business as usual” approach toward life. Of course, it’s not just the ancient Israelites who had this tendency. As a pastor I see this happen a lot. I visit people in the hospital who are feeling scared and vulnerable while they are sick so they draw near to God. When they recover and get back to life as usual what happens? They often forget God’s role in their healing process. I see couples in the throes of relationship struggles – struggles so deep they know they can’t get through them on their own. Frequently they invite God into their relationship and ask for healing. And what happens when some of the healing comes? They forget. I could give you lots of other examples of how we do what the psalmist decried – how we forget – but I’m sure you get the point. Through the words of the psalmist I see God calling us to do at least one thing today in our faith journey: remember! Remember God’s empowering blessings in our lives; remember God’s healing presence in our lives; remember God’s unconditional love for us. Til next time…

Sunday, February 17

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 105; Genesis 12:1-8; John 3:1-17; Romans 4:1-17; Psalm 32

Early in my preparations for ministry, one of my mentors – Tom – shared with me one of his keys to a successful ministry. The key he shared surprised me greatly. Drawing upon a wonderful book by the title Christmas is for Celebrating, Tom said that the key to a successful ministry in not an individual’s ability to give; rather, the key is the individual’s ability to receive. What he meant by this is that a ministry should be rooted in our ability to receive things like God’s love, mercy, and grace. For that love, mercy, and grace will – in the long run – carry us further than our own resources would otherwise. The more of God’s grace we receive, the more we will be able to give. I had never thought about it like this. Of course Tom’s insight is reflected in the spirit of Paul’s words to Romans in today’s reading. For in the passage, Paul writes, “… if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust God to do it – you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked – well, that trusting-God-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God” (Romans 4:5 – The Message). While Paul’s formula sounds easy at first (trusting God), letting go of your desire to give and opening yourself to simply receive can be more challenging that one would think. That’s because receiving means letting go of our control issues. Today I invite you to think about what is the foundation of your faith: giving or receiving? Til next time…

Saturday, February 16

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 31; Deuteronomy 9:13-21; Matthew 10:16-23; Galatians 5:1-6; Psalm 85

Each January, most mainline churches spend a great deal of time and energy completing their annual reports to their member denomination(s). Most churches only have to prepare one report since they belong to just one denomination. As an ecumenical church, however, the chuch I serve has the “joy” of filling out three reports - one for each of the denominations we belong to (The Presbyterian Church (USA), The United Church of Christ, and The United Methodist Church). While I understand the purpose of the reports (generate data so that the denominations can make statistical reports that summarize the content of their membership), I always get frustrated because the reports rarely – if ever – ask for the information that most important in the life of the local church. So what information is most important to the life of the local church (and certainly its individual members as well)? That is spelled out for us in today’s passage from Galatians. Eugene Peterson paraphrases the end of the passage to read: “For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior; faith expressed in love” (Galatians 5:6 – The Message). It may be easier to count the folks who sit in our sanctuary each week, or the number of zeroes in our annual budget. Thank goodness, however, for Paul’s admonition to never lose sight of what REALLY counts: the faith expressed in love. Til next time…