Monday, January 12

Today’s Readings: Psalm 15; Isaiah 66:12, 22-23; John 9:1-12, 35-38; Revelation 3:14-22; Psalm 16

In working with lots of families over the years that have lived through the loss of a loved one, I know there are many stress points along the way. These stress points often produce fights over a variety of things ranging from when it is time to discontinue life support systems in the hospital to what hymns should be sung at the memorial service. One of the more powerful stress points, however, lies around issues of inheritance. The greater the material worth of an estate, often the more intense and prolonged are the disputes. Today’s second psalm got me to thinking about the issue of inheritance. In verses 5-6, the psalmist noted: “My choice is You, God, first and only. And now I find I’m Your choice! You set me up with a house and a yard. And then You made me your heir!” (Psalm 16:5-6 from The Message). It would be fascinating to hear what individuals think they are due when they hear they have been made an heir of God’s. Some would hear those words and assume it means they’ve been handed ultimate power over others. Other would hear it and conclude they have been promised a life of comfort and ease. I don’t think of being God’s heir that way. Since God is one who regularly practices things like mercy, grace; I tend to think that God’s heirs are drawn into those practices as well. And I tend to think we don’t simply receive those things from God – we are expected to do what God does with them: give them away to others. That concept makes the entire notion of being one of God’s heirs much more challenging. Today, I would ask you to think about what it means to you to be one of God’s heirs. Once you have a handle on it, then go forth and lead a life that embodies your understanding of what it means to be God’s heir. Til next time…

Sunday, January 11

Today's Readings: Psalm 29: Genesis 1:1-5; Mark 1:4-11; Acts 19:1-7

Here is my reflection/sermon for the day...

On April 1, 2000 a small book by the title “The Ultimate Gift” - written by Jim Stovall - was published. The book told the story of a gentleman named Red Stevens. Red was a man who had a humble beginning in life – and yet he was a person who knew how to make the most of the opportunities that presented themselves to him. He turned a small herd of cattle that he acquired as a young man, into an impressive cattle-ranching business; then he turned around and parlayed those resources into a variety of investments that stretched across several continents.

By the time Red passed away several decades later, about the only regret he had in life had to do with the way he had raised his family. You see Red’s children had known nothing but wealth and extravagance throughout their lives. As a result, they were not only unappreciative of the many blessings they had – each of them had come to expect those blessings.

The story that Jim Stovall told started in the most unlikely of places: at Red’s funeral. And if you had asked any of those attending Red’s funeral that rainy afternoon why someone would call Red’s story “The Ultimate Gift”, they probably would have said the Ultimate Gift represented the huge payout they were expecting to receive at the reading of Red’s will.

Little did they know!

For when the family members arrived at the attorney’s office for the reading of the will, they were in for a rude surprise. For each of them received just a pittance of what they thought they had coming.

This was particularly true for one of Red’s grandsons – a young man by the name of Jason Stevens. Jason had been estranged from his grandfather for years – ever since Red had taken Jason’s father on expedition in which Jason’s father had been killed. Jason blamed Red for his father’s death. Because of that, Jason had shut Red out of his life.

Jason was the last of the relatives to show at the law offices that day. In fact, by the time he arrived – nearly all of his relatives had left. When he finally sat down the attorney slid a plane ticket toward Jason and said, “Your grandfather left you a series of gifts. Here is the first of them.”

Jason was surprised by the attorney’s words since he - like the rest of his relatives – had come to the office expecting his payout to be two things: immediate and complete. It was neither.

What transpired over the course of the story was a series of journeys that Jason’s grandfather took him on posthumously around the globe. Jason spent a month doing manual labor on a cattle farm in Texas, for instance, learning the value of doing an honest day’s work. Jason returned from that first lesson only to find both his condo and sports car repossessed – thrusting him into his second lesson about taking things for granted.

Of all the lessons Jason learned, it was the third lesson that perhaps changed him more than any other. You see in watching Jason from afar over the years, Red knew that Jason had no true friends – only folks that used him for his money. So Red asked the recently impoverished Jason to do the unthinkable: make one true friend in the next thirty days. During that month Jason found his way to a little girl by the name of Emily. It was through the context of that friendship that Jason’s heart was truly opened and his life was transformed.

So by know, I know that by now most of you are wondering what – if anything - Jim Stovall’s story has to do either with today’s theme of baptism or the reading that Marcia shared with us from the Gospel of Mark. Let me take a moment and see if I can help you understand the parallels.

You see when many of us think about the sacrament of baptism, we do so in ways that reflect the attitude of Red’s family members that showed up that rainy afternoon in the attorney’s office. We show up with our hands open, expecting the immediate payout we think we are due.

What we get at that moment of baptism, however, doesn’t usually look like we expect. For the reality of our baptismal experience is that the payout we receive looks a whole lot more like what Red’s grandson Jason experienced – a payout that unfolds slowly over the years through a serious of life lessons to which we are exposed: experiences into which those baptismal waters seep, and quench the thirsting roots of our faith.

The truth is that while we come to the baptismal font expecting to find an ending – what we find in those precious waters is just a beginning.

Think about the baptismal moment in today’s Scripture and what it represented in Jesus’ life. Did it represent an ending of Jesus’ public ministry? No, it represented the beginning. And think of where Jesus’ was swept immediately after his baptismal experience at John’s hand? Was he swept into the heavens for a moment of adulation and glorification? No. He was swept into the desert for an extended period of testing. Those realities can help us think about the role of baptism in new – and challenging – ways.

Friends, on this Baptism of the Lord Sunday, we have an opportunity to think about our own baptisms in new ways. We have a chance today not to try to re-create our baptisms as we might do if they were simply a historical event from our past. Today, we have the opportunity to center ourselves in the on-going work that baptismal water is still doing within us. To use the language from Jim Stovall’s book, we have a chance to contemplate that Ultimate Gift toward which those baptismal waters are carrying us.

To do that, I have a simple request of those of you who have already had your experience at the baptismal font. In recognition of that experience, I’m going to ask you to come forward to the baptismal font at the front of the sanctuary. In that baptismal font you’ll find several rocks. Those rocks represent the rocks that Jesus might have found on the bed of the River Jordan into which he stepped. I’ll invite you to come forward to the font, reach into the water, and take one of those rocks as a reminder of the work that God continues to do within you – the work that you and your loved ones became conscious of at the moment of your baptism. As you pick up that rock, I’ll lay my hand on your forward and give you a word of blessing…

In this moment of remembrance let us do what Jesus did on the day of his baptism: open ourselves to the ongoing work that God is doing within us.

Amen.

Saturday, January 10

Today’s Readings: Psalm 93; Isaiah 65:1-9; John 6:1-14; Revelation 3:1-6; Psalm 11

It’s easy to take a story like today’s story from the Gospel of John where Jesus feeds the crowd of 5,000 plus with just five barley loaves and two fish and turn into a platitude like: “God will provide what you need when you need it”. It’s especially powerful, however, when you have a lived experience of such a story. My own lived experience of today’s parable came back in 1999. That year I had just finished my first campaign for elected office. I had had a great experience! Folks were already talking with me about next steps in my new political career. Having lived in the community of Spokane for nearly 10 years (and in the area for 28), I had my roots firmly established. So what happened? Did I do what most people in their right mind would have done – hang around and continue to establish my life there? No. I answered my call to go to seminary 1,100 miles away. As I filled out my application to attend seminary that winter, I remember thinking: “What are you thinking? You have no money left in your savings account after the campaign – no way of paying for your education or supporting yourself once you’ve moved down there. Why would you even consider doing this!?” And yet I knew I couldn’t say no to my call. When I arrived Denver, I had a part-time job in a local church within five days and – after my first semester – paid for my seminary education through scholarships that I could never have anticipated. I watched as my meager supply of loaves and fish were turned into basketfuls. I would note, parenthetically, that those basketfuls didn’t appear overnight. It was a day-to-day process that took 3 years to fully play out. What sustained me through the experience, however, was living in a place of thanksgiving and sufficiency from one day to the next – trusting that while I may not have always had what I wanted, I had what I needed. That experience transformed my life and forever changed the way I live out my faith. Perhaps you are living in a place of real or perceived scarcity. If you are, my advice would be to focus on whatever manifestation of loaves and fish you currently have at your disposal – even if all you have is a crumb and a bit of a fish tail. Once you have identified them, then take a step of faith and intentionally invite God’s presence into the circumstance as you watch those loaves and fish multiply. Til next time…

Friday, January 9

Today’s Readings: Psalm 83; Isaiah 63:1-5; John 5:1-15; Revelation 2:18-29; Psalm 62

As someone who grew up in a small town whose population was less than 2,000 at the time I lived there, I learned a saying that has stayed with me my entire life: “You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution”. The saying made sense because within the context of small town life, you didn’t have a lot of resources at your disposal to have things fixed for you. You either rolled up your sleeves and got to work fixing the problem yourself, or you sat back and allowed the problem to continue due to your complacency. I may have moved out of that small town when I turned 18, but that principle has guided my life ever since. When I moved to larger cities, I realized that principle wasn’t very popular. Most folks much preferred sitting back and complaining about things over taking the time to actually get involved and do something. You can see a little of this tendency evident in today’s reading from Isaiah. In the passage, the prophet starts by noting, “I’ve been treading the winepress alone. No one was there to help me … I looked for someone to help – no one” (Isaiah 63:3 & 5 from The Message). So what did the prophet do when he realized he was in it alone – at least from a human perspective? Did he give up and simply grow more bitter toward those who refused to fix his problems for him? No. He went ahead and did it himself. (For the sake of time, I’ll conveniently choose to ignore that he was motivated to do so by the fact that he was “fed and fueled by rage.” That will be fodder for another day’s entry.) Anyway… perhaps there is an area in your life where you have been sitting on the sidelines – hoping for change and yet unwilling to invest the time and/or energy to bring about that change. If you have such an area, I would encourage you to take some of the energy you spent complaining and invest it in actually trying to effect such change. With God’s strength and support behind you, you’ll be thrilled to discover that you’re no longer part of the problem – you’re now a part of the solution! Til next time…