Friday, December 19

Today’s Readings: Psalm 43; Malachi 4:1-5; Matthew 25:1-13; 1 Corinthians 2:1-6; Psalm 44

There is definitely a shift in people’s consciousness when it comes to living out their faith these days. This shift seems to have caught individuals who live their faith lives on each of the extremes a bit off guard. Folks on the far right, for instance, were used to presenting their faith as something contained primarily in their mind – a set of doctrines to believe in and a set of rules to profess. “That’s all you needed in order to live a life of faith,” they would say. Folks on the far left were also use to presenting their faith as something contained primarily in their mind - a willingness to question authority and a willingness to profess the sacred worth of all of God’s creatures. “That’s all you needed in order to live a life of faith,” they would say. Over the course of the twentieth century, folks from each of the extremes started to increase their bickering with each other about whose approach to living out their faith was right. Much of the bickering involving everything from abortion to homosexuality to the role of Scripture was the result of people living out their commitment to what I would call “conceptualized” faith: faith tailor made for one’s head. Folks outside these two camps started longing for a different way of engaging one’s faith: a way of translating one’s faith from thoughts into actions - a way that involved both head and heart. I am one of these folks who developed such a longing. Folks like myself who long for this different way of engaging one’s faith would draw much encouragement from Paul’s words to the Corinthians in today’s reading for here Paul wrote: “You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple” (1 Corinthians 2:2 from The Message). My question for your consideration today is this: if folks who knew you were asked to characterize your faith, what words would they use: words like plain and simple or some other words? Til next time…

Thursday, December 18

Today’s Readings: Psalm 56; Malachi 3:13-18; Matthew 24:45-51; Romans 11:33-36; Psalm 73

While I have never had a child of my own, I have had the opportunity to walk with friends, family members, and parishioners as they went through the process. I noticed that many of the days during the pregnancy had a variety of stresses associated with them. Those stressful days were full of things like enduring morning sickness, anxiously waiting for doctor’s appointments to make sure everything was okay, filling out the family medical leave request forms to get time off, buying furniture to fill the baby’s room, etc. There were moments when the soon-to-be-parents wondered if they would survive the pregnancy. All of those doubts fade away, however, the moment things culminate in the delivery room and they can see the baby for the first time. In that single moment, everything finally makes sense in ways that they never did before. The psalmist notes that we people of faith can have a similar moment when everything finally clicks for us as well. In talking about facing the rhythms of life, the psalmist observed, “… when I tried to figure it out, all I got was a splitting headache … until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I saw the whole picture” (Psalm 73:16 from The Message). In essence, for the psalmist the sanctuary provide moments like those in the delivery room where everything finally came together and made sense. Those moments when one loses oneself in the awe and wonder of God help us make sense of things in ways that our head never will. In these final days before Christmas I would ask you, “When was the last time you lost yourself in moments of awe and wonder of God?” If it’s been awhile, take some of the time and energy you might otherwise be tempted to pour into shopping for material goods for yourself or others and put some of it into pursuing opportunities to experience that sense of awe and wonder. Til next time…

Wednesday, December 17

Today’s Readings: Psalm 103; Malachi 3:6-12; Matthew 24:32-44; James 5:7-10; Psalm 46

I began taking piano lessons when I was 10 years old from a wonderful piano teacher back in my home town of Deer Park, WA. She taught me many things including how to read music, how to develop the technical skills necessary to play the piano, and some basic music theory that helped me broaden my ability to create music. There was one aspect of music, however, that she could not teach me. That aspect was how to incorporate my life experiences into my music. For instance, she would often say things like, “Technically, your interpretation is good - but when it comes to the rests, you probably won’t understand long to hold those rests until you turn 40.” I hated it when she said things like that, for I wanted to think that I could master each and every aspect of playing the piano immediately - at the tender age of 10. I couldn’t bear the thought of having to wait 30 more years to get something right! Now that I’m 41, however, I understand what she meant by her statement. Over the course of one’s lifetime, you acquire insights into life that instinctively help you know just how long to hold a rest in order for the music to really come alive. There was no way I could have acquired that knowledge when I was 10. Today’s passage from James makes a similar point when it comes to leading our spiritual lives. The author wrote: “Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong” (James 5:7-8 from The Message). I had to learn this lesson to be patient over and over in the early days of my ministry. So often I expected to issues to resolve themselves immediately. When I was counseling those in broken relationships, for instance, I expected them to reconcile immediately. When I was investigating opportunities for mission, I wanted to implement the options immediately. And when I was pursuing new visions of what worship could be, I wanted to implement those visions immediately. Over time, however, I learned that I couldn’t force things. Things worked best when I let “the rain do its slow but sure work”. Perhaps there are areas in your life where you have been tempted to try to force things. If so, I would urge you to ground yourself in the awareness of today’s words from James so that you can pull back and let things unfold: not in your time, but in God’s. Til next time…

Tuesday, December 16

Today’s Readings: Psalm 99; Malachi 3:1-5; Matthew 24:15-31; Jude 1:17-25; Psalm 112

As a child in the late 1970’s, I remember being fascinated by the work of Hal Lindsey. I was fascinated with his work because the leaders of our youth group at the time were obsessed with him. As I look back on that phase of my childhood, I’ve realized that I wasn’t so much fascinated with Lindsey’s work as I was freaked out by it. In case you aren’t familiar with Lindsey’s work, he was an individual that was totally preoccupied with predicting the end times. He took isolated pieces of Scripture and pieced them together in an attempt to do so. No one ever bothered to explained to me why someone who would consider him/herself a biblical literalist would ever waste his or her time trying to predict the exact date of the end times and Jesus' return when Jesus himself was quoted in the Gospels as saying, “But of that day and hour no one knows” (Matthew 24:36 from the New American Standard Bible). I wish now that my youth leaders would have put their energies in a different direction. Instead of putting their energies into trying to scare us into being ready for the Son of Man's unannounced return as spelled out in today’s reading from Matthew, I wish they would have invested their energies into encouraging us to regularly live in ways that would be pleasing to God so we would be ready whenever the Son of Man reappeared. The difference between the two approaches might sound subtle to some people; but to someone like me, that difference would have helped tremendously. As I think about that difference in approaches, I realize we could take the same principle and apply it in to the way we approach Christmas. We could ask ourselves this Advent season, "Am I living my life by trying to frantically prepare for the arrival of the Christ-child on a specific date (i.e. December 25), or am I living my life in such a manner that I would be ready to receive the Christ-child each and every day of the year? Til next time…