Saturday, September 13

Today’s Readings: Psalm 19; Exodus 20:1-20; Luke 17:11-19; Romans 15:14-17; Psalm 119:153-176

Back in 2001 I underwent a significant transition in my life: I switched the denomination to which I belonged. I realize for many Protestants this doesn’t sound like a big deal since many of us don’t spend much time thinking about the various ways the denomination to which we belong shapes our spiritual life. We figure it’s only our local church that does this. Well for me that switch was momentous for a couple of reasons. First, not only had I belonged to my previous denomination for my entire life; but I was the fourth generation of my family to belong to that denomination. Second, because of this long association I never had to think a great deal about church related things since everything from church structure to theology was already put together for me. When I changed my membership, however, I couldn’t take any of those things for granted. I had to deeply explore my own values and vision of the church and see where I best fit. This soul-searching was very painful. In fact there were times when I wondered if I would ever find a place where I would fit. Thankfully, I did. When I arrived at my new denominational home I had a tremendous zeal and a passion for my new faith tradition. That passion was so strong that I couldn’t understand why others who shared my faith tradition didn’t seem to have that same zeal. Having lived in my new “home” for 7 years, I can understand why. It seems there is a natural part of us that gets acclimated and comfortable to our new “home” and starts taking things for granted. I’ve certainly been prone to this dynamic myself. This aspect of our nature spoke to me in today’s reading from Luke. In that passage we were introduced to ten lepers who were looking for healing. Nine of the lepers had a connection of some sort to the religious traditions of the area while one did not. Once Jesus affected their healing, guess what happened? The nine lepers who had a connection with the religious traditions of the area went on largely as if nothing happened. They couldn’t even find a moment to stop and give thanks for their healing! It was only the one individual who was new to all who bothered to stop and give thanks. The story reminds me how easy it is to reach that point in our faith journey where we come to feel entitled to certain spiritual experiences or insights – so much so that you stop realizing what a blessing those things are and even stop giving thanks for them all together. So where are you on this continuum? Are you at a point in your journey where you are like the 9 lepers and often forget to stop and count your blessings; or are you at a point where you are like the 1 leper and are still bowled over by the abundance of blessings you experience? May God help each of us hold on to the wonders that we first felt when our faith was so new and so real so that we never stop giving thanks for all that we have been given. Til next time…

Friday, September 12

Today’s Readings: Psalm 119:97-152; Exodus 19:16-25; Luke 17:1-10; Romans 15:7-13

As someone who was born and raised in a small town with a population of less than 3,000; I can tell you there are many positive things a person picks up in such a setting. For instance, growing up in a small town teaches you that everyone has to jump in and contribute in order for the community to succeed. Small town life also teaches you the importance of learning a wide variety of skills since you don’t have many experts in small towns to take care of things for you. While these first two lessons are helpful, there’s another thing you learn growing up in a small town that has proven invaluable in my life and ministry. That lesson? Never burn a bridge. Let me unpack that saying for you. You see in big cities, it’s easy to get mad at someone and tell them off since – chances are – you won’t see that person again unless you want to. In small towns, however, that’s not the case. If some ticks you off, chances are your paths will continue to cross for many years to come. The person who abruptly pulls in ahead of you and takes that prime parking spot very well could be your child’s soccer coach. Or the person that pushes in and takes the last gallon of milk in the cooler at the grocery store might be your boss. And the person who accidentally backs into your mailbox and knocks it over probably sings with you in the choir at church. Consequently, you can never let an emotion completely take over and put important your relationships in jeopardy. On those rare occasions when you did lose control, there was one - and only one - thing that could bail you out and maintain your relationship: forgiveness. I was reminded of this piece of my small town wisdom when I read Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel reading (“If you see your friend going wrong, correct him. If he responds, forgive him. Even if it’s personal against you and repeated seven times throughout the day, and seven times he says, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,’ forgive him” – Luke 17:3-4 from The Message). Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel reading point us toward the pivotal role forgiveness plays in our lives. It can keep us in right relationship with our sisters and brothers; it can keep us in right relationship with God! So the question I’ll leave you with today is this: what role does forgiveness play in your daily life? Is it something you regularly sacrifice in order for you to have the personal satisfaction of lashing out at others; or is forgiveness for you a spiritual discipline that helps you maintain bridges that help connect you – to other people and to God? Til next time…

Thursday, September 11

Today’s Readings: Psalm 41; Exodus 19:1-16; Luke 16:19-31; Romans 15:1-6; Psalm 119:73-96

Today’s reading from Luke is one that makes many of us VERY uncomfortable. I suppose that’s because it seems so unlike the God whom we know to be full of unconditional love and grace. The more I sit with the passage, however, the more I realize that perhaps the teaching was meant to say more about our nature than it does about God’s. Let me tell you what I mean by that. One of the biggest challenges spiritual leaders face these days is the extremely low priority people give to God in their lives: that is until something serious happens. As soon as people face a difficult circumstance (a circumstance such as a divorce, an illness, a death) suddenly God jumps to the top of the list. Nothing wrong with that! For awhile, in fact, God remains at the top of their list. Then time passes and the pain heals. Guess what happens to God? Once again God drops toward the bottom of their list. This reality suggests that faith born primarily out of a situation or circumstance is often very shallow. Maybe that’s why - when the deceased rich man asked if he could go back and warn his brothers - his request was refused. The sad reality is that in the long run it probably wouldn’t have mattered much in the lives of the deceased rich man’s brothers. So where are you at with your faith? Are you on a roller coaster of sorts where you turn to God in the midst of crises and form an intimate bond, only to ignore God when things get better; or do you stay connected with God on a regular basis – through both bad AND good? Hopefully we can use this disturbing and challenging teaching from Jesus to move us toward a more sustained relationship with God. Til next time…

Wednesday, September 10

Today’s Readings: Psalm 34; Exodus 18:13-27; Luke 16:10-18; Romans 14:19-23; Psalm 119:49-72

There are a whole lot of things that many people consider to be mysteries of our faith that I’ve come to terms with a long time ago: things like the nature of Jesus, the question of theodicy (“Why do bad things happen to good people?”), and what the notion of the Trinity means. Maybe resolution to these things comes easier to me since I’m not smart enough to complicate them. Whatever the case, I know that many people wrestle to come to an understanding of what’s most important in our spiritual lives: faith or works. Those who are advocates of faith being most important point toward Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves…”; those who argue for works is most important would point to scripture like James 2:20 that says, “Faith without works is dead…” This whole “faith vs. works” debate has been raging for centuries. For me the answer is clear: it’s both. If you have genuine faith, works flow naturally from that faith – works aren’t things you do in order to get faith. If you think about it, it’s kind of like falling in love with someone. When you truly fall in love with someone, you naturally do things for the other person like buy them flowers, take them to dinner, and spend time with them. You don’t buy them flowers, take them to dinner, and spend time with them in order to fall in love with them. Today’s passage from Romans addresses the issue of how our faith informs our behavior from a slightly different angle. I especially love Eugene’s Peterson’s paraphrasing of the passage because it makes Paul’s point so clear. “You’re fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you’re not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe… then you know that you’re out of line. If the way you live isn’t consistent with what you believe, then it’s wrong” (Romans 14:22-23 from The Message). Paul’s words provide us a wonderful opportunity to stop and examine ourselves. In light of this, I have a provocative exercise for you to do today. Instead of starting by asking yourself, “What do I believe?” and then examining your behaviors in relation to your stated beliefs; I would invite you to start by examining your behaviors (how you use your time, where you spend your money, with whom you spend your time) and then see what those behaviors suggest about your faith/beliefs? You might be surprised at the results of the exercise. Til next time…