Some random thoughts on the resurrection.

The resurrection is a verb rather than a noun. It is the difference between going home and going house. A house no matter how spectacular or no matter how simple is still just a building; it protects us from the elements and dangers out there. A home is made of memories, smells, relationships, cookie crumbs etc…. all of which and smell and feel like love. All attempts to describe heaven are attempts to describe just the house, the place, the noun. Sitting around the throne, the holy city with no need of sun or moon because Jesus is the light, the river of life flowing through the middle of the city bringing health to the nations, the twelve gates to the city each encrusted with jewels and pearls larger and more magnificent than any we can conceive of, floating on clouds playing harps, streets of gold, they are all just things, they are all just house. Heaven is going home, it is the created returning to the creator, it is the ying and the yang united, it is nestling in the bosom of our mother God, it is that timeless moment and that timeless eternity of being surrounded by and engulfed by the immensity and the simplicity of total pure love. The closest we can come in this earthly existence is to wrap together the experiences of holding your new born baby, and being held as a new born baby, falling asleep with an infant in your arms, your first kiss, the first time you drove a car, your first airplane ride, your first date, a Saturday morning in bed with nothing to get up for, the taste of your favorite ice cream on the back of your tongue, your grandchild throwing their arms around you and saying they love you, the first cup of coffee in the morning,……. All these and more wrapped up into one timeless moment.

It begins now (Luke 17:21) the reign of God is already in your midst. It is dynamic and egalitarian (Luke 13:21) the smallest amount of yeast can affect the whole loaf of bread. It is new (somewhere near Luke 13 where the kingdom of god is like a mustard seed) where the old dies and becomes something larger, more dynamic and more alive than before. It is not something that begins out there, but begins now, it is not separate from life, but it is life surrounded by God’s love (John 17:15, 18)

It is the idyllic return to the source, the return to the Garden of Eden, surrounded by the fullness of love from every person who ever was and will be.

All attempts to speculate fall short; all attempts to speculate are limited by our ability to conceive rather than the limitlessness of God.

The closest we can come is to just sit down; eyes wide open and just say wow!!!!

God invites us to live in a part of that realm starting now. Wow!!!!

This is most certainly true

For the week of July 31st through August 6th

For the meditations for this week, I thought it would be good to look at Luther’s small Catechism and his comments on the Ten Commandments. Often we see them as a list of what not to do. Luther sees them as a list of what to do. For me this opens up the way scripture is to be used. Not as a tool to see what someone else is doing wrong, but a tool to help us improve our lives. Some of the translations are from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. While it might not be Lutheran, it is a very good translation so I have chosen to use it. The meditation is not set up by day this week, that is ok, I am sure you can handle it. Enjoy, think and ponder.

Pastor Dan

The Small Catechism of Martin LutherPart One: The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, is found at Exodus 20:1-20 and Deuteronomy 5:1-22.
The Lutheran numbering of the Decalogue differs somewhat from other systems. Often the Second Commandment is You shall not make for yourself any idol, which is not to be found in the Lutheran reckoning. The remainder of the Commandments are shifted by one. Commandments 9 and 10 (Lutheran) are often joined as You shall not covet.
Three translations of the commandments are given below. BCP refers to the Episcopal (USA) Book of Common Prayer.

The First Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
BCP Traditional: Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
BCP Contemporary: You shall have no other gods but me.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect, love, and trust God more than anything else.

The Second Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
BCP Traditional: Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
BCP Contemporary: You shall not invoke with malice the Name of the Lord your God.
Alternative: You must not misuse your God's name.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that we will not use God's name to curse, swear, cast a spell, lie or deceive, but will use it to call upon God, pray to God, praise and thank God in all times of trouble.

The Third Commandment
Traditional: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.Or: Thou shalt sanctify the Holy Day.
BCP Traditional: Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
BCP Contemporary: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that we will not look down on preaching or God's Word, but consider it holy, listen to it willingly, and learn it.

The Fourth Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
BCP Traditional: Honor thy father and thy mother.
BCP Contemporary: Honor your father and your mother.
Alternative: You must honor your father and mother [so that things will go well for you and you will live long on earth].

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that we will neither look down on our parents or superiors nor irritate them, but will honor them, serve them, obey them, love them, and value them.

The Fifth Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt not kill.
BCP Traditional: Thou shalt do no murder.
BCP Contemporary: You shall not commit murder.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that we will neither harm nor hurt our neighbors' bodies, but help our neighbors and care for them when they are ill.

The Sixth Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
BCP Traditional: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
BCP Contemporary: You shall not commit adultery.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that our words and actions will be clean and decent and so that everyone will love and honor their spouses.

The Seventh Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt not steal.
BCP Traditional: Thou shalt not steal.
BCP Contemporary: You shall not steal.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that we will neither take our neighbors' money or property, nor acquire it by fraud or by selling them poorly made products, but will help them improve and protect their property and career.

The Eighth Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
BCP Traditional: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
BCP Contemporary: You shall not be a false witness.
Alternative: You must not tell lies about your neighbor.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that we will not deceive by lying, betraying, slandering or ruining our neighbors' reputations, but will defend them, say good things about them, and see the best side of everything they do.

The Ninth Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
BCP Traditional: Thou shalt not covet.
BCP Contemporary: You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Alternative: You must not desire your neighbor's house.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that we will not attempt to trick our neighbors out of their inheritance or house, take it by pretending to have a right to it, etc., but help them to keep and improve it.

The Tenth Commandment
Traditional: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
BCP Traditional: Thou shalt not covet.
BCP Contemporary: You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Alternative: You must not desire your neighbor's spouse, servant, maid, animals or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Q. What does this mean?
A. We must respect and love God, so that we will not release our neighbors' cattle, take their employees from them or seduce their spouses, but urge them to stay and do what they ought to do.

Jesus wept

Saturday July 30th, John 11: 35Jesus wept. There is no greater vision of the humanity and the Holy brought together in the person of Jesus than this, the shortest verse in the scripture. The compassion of God and the vulnerability of humanity are one in Christ. That Jesus wept at the passing of a friend. With all of our wars, our hording while others are starving, our destruction of the environment for a buck, the death after death after death that we bring upon others in this world, Jesus does a lot of that, Jesus must cry a great deal. In the resurrection we will come face to face with that starving child in India or Africa, or the bombed and burned child in Iraq, and be forgiven, and receive life together with them. Then we will see God face to face. The resurrection.

the very presence of God

Friday July 29th, John 11: 25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Jesus is the resurrection. Jesus brought the gift of God’s grace to the world. The gift of the resurrection is the most powerful thing in the world, it is love. Life here is life because of this gift. Death here is but a fleeting moment of transition because of this gift. Jesus is the manifestation of that gift, the very presence of God with us. Holy, Immortal, Omnipotent God in the midst of humanity, that was Jesus, that will be the resurrection.

Just a glimpse for now

Thursday July 28th, John 11: 23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Martha had hope, Jesus brought something more. Life in the resurrection is not something that is put off until then, is something that begins now. Living the resurrection is what we are called to do, and at our best, we get a glimpse of what living it will be like then. The birth of a child or grandchild, a couples “I do”, a beautiful sun set, music that just carries you away, they are all glimpses of what will be. God is behind them all. Knowing those two things puts us in the middle of them and the resurrection now.

Chaos is gone

Wednesday July 27th, Revelation 22: 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. In Genesis the vision of the world was a flat land floating in a vast sea, surrounded on all sides and above and below with water. Seas and darkness are signs of chaos in the scriptures. In Revelation, the sea is gone, the water is a controlled river of life and there is no more darkness. Chaos is gone in it’s place is fellowship with God and with one another. When Jesus described the commandments as loving God and loving one another, it was simply a foretaste of the resurrection to come.

Wow!!!!!!!!

Tuesday July 26th, Revelation 22: 1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. There are many visions of heaven and the resurrection. The vision in Revelation ties back to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. Its fruits are for all nations and its leaves are for healing. Is this an accurate description of what the resurrection is like? Probably not. Is it an accurate vision of what the resurrection is like? With the emphasis on life and healing and wholeness for all people, it probably is. When we can step out of our preconceived ideas and understand that all descriptions are attempts to explain but a small snippet, we begin to get the idea that the resurrection is beyond any ability of ours to even conceive of. What is the resurrection going to be like? The best answer is, Wow!!!!!!!!

Strings, strings and more strings

Monday July 25th, Genesis 1: 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Science also tells us that all matter is made up of vibrating strings of energy. Interesting, God said and it was. Speaking involves vibration and who knows in what manner God speaks. Light is a form of moving energy. When science and religion fight, God must see it as a couple of little kids arguing over whose dad is the strongest. Neither one sees with real eyes. Science studies what is and what is, is from God, and both are saying the same thing and just don’t know it. The resurrection is a new life with God, all else is speculation.

From Nothing

Sunday July 24th, Genesis 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. When we deal with the resurrection to eternal life, we need to deal with the beginning of life and of time itself. In the midst of nothingness, and out of nothingness, came everything. God is the author of all that is. Science tells us we are but a small part of that all there is and I believe that to be true also. We live in a three dimensional universe that is bound by time, science tells us there may be as many as eleven dimensions, one of which is time itself. Our attempts to describe what it is like in the resurrection are sort of like a five year old describing nuclear fusion. Some general concepts may be close, but you are not going to get the reactor to work. The resurrection is you and I being united with God, aside from that, it’s just speculation.

One person at a time

Saturday July 23rd, Matthew 28: 18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Doubts or not, here we come. This is the great commission, this is what we are supposed to do. We have a ways to go. Many have not heard of God’s love. Many today only hear of God’s judgment and what we as the children of God are supposed to do and be like. Love is the key. That is how the word is spread. That is how life is given. One person at a time.

Some Still doubted

Friday July 22nd, Matthew 28: 16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. After all that, they were still not ready. Some were still doubting. We are all part of a doubting church from the very beginning. That’s OK, as the baptized children of God we are surrounded by other doubters. God used the first disciples, God can use us also. It is not about knowing, it is about living in the spirit. You can have doubts, you can even be wrong, but if in the spirit, you are still headed in the right direction.

On his way rejoicing

Thursday July 21st, Acts 8: 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. A new child of God was given a new life and an new direction. The Coptic church exists to this day in Ethiopia. Sometimes, when the one being baptized is a baby, it needs the whole community as a part of the family of God, to be there, lead, teach and guide. Sometimes, when God is leading the ministry, the community needs to get out of the way and let God rule. The eunuch never gave Philip a second thought, God was now in charge. He went on his way rejoicing.

New life for both

Wednesday July 20th, Acts 8: "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?" 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. But, but, but…………… all the rules. Time to act out of love instead. Our baptism is an act of love. God come to us and ushers us into the kingdom, a kingdom that starts now and goes on and on and on. The eunuch was given the gift of baptism, Philip was given the gift of breaking through the rules and seeing what his own baptism really meant. New life for both. Isn’t God grand?

Who's protocol, rules and normality?

Tuesday July 19th, Acts 8: 30Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. 31"How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. God sent Philip and Philip went with the flow. Never mind that there were rules against associating with an Ethiopian Eunuch, never mind that they did not know each other, never mind that the guy didn’t know anything about the scripture, Philip opened his heart to God and God’s love and helped him. In doing so he also opened the Ethiopians heart to God. Perhaps we can learn from this that all the protocol, all the rules, everything that is considered normal, though not bad, are not always God’s protocol, rules or normality. Perhaps what God needs from us is to be more open to the God side of the equation.

so why are we fighting??

Monday July 18th, Genesis 17: as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. We don’t hear much about Ishmael, but Abraham loved him and so did God. In the Koran, Ishmael is the one blessed by God, maybe they are both right. Ishmael is considered the one through whom the blessing was passed down to the Arab people. Isaac the one through whom the blessing is passed down to Jesus. Both children of Abraham, both blessed. So tell me again why we are fighting, I don’t understand.

Plan B

Sunday, July 17th, Genesis 17: Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. Calling and commissioning often come on God’s terms and timing, not ours. Our baptism is a calling, not magic. We are called, but we also have free will. Sometimes our free will choices get in the way of God’s plan A. When that happens God usually goes to plan B. Ishmael was plan B. Has there been a time in your life when you just couldn’t wait for God to act any longer? What did you do, and how did it work? Then again, perhaps what God is waiting for is our action. My advice, pray your hardest and then do your best. If it is a mistake, God will go to plan B.

You're never alone

Saturday July 16th, John 14: I will talk to the Father, and he'll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can't take him in because it doesn't have eyes to see him, doesn't know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you! You are never alone. The spirit of God goes with you in the mountain top experiences in your life. The spirit of God goes with you in the deepest valley experiences in your life. Sometimes we don’t see God on the mountain tops because we are too wrapped up in our own light. Sometimes we don’t see God in the valleys because our spiritual eyes are too downcast to look up and see we are surrounded by a loving God. Our spiritual vision does not affect God’s presence, only our perception of it.

Free will, the freedom to love or not

Friday July 15th, John 14: From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. Our prayers are not always answered. Children get sick, cancer exists and too often persists, I don’t always win the lottery and sometimes my children misbehave. When my children talk to me they don’t always get what they want, sometimes that is because they ask for stupid things, sometimes it’s beyond my control. It’s hard to think that there are things that are beyond God’s control, but the gift of free will necessitates that. Without free will we would not be able to love or feel love. Without free will we would just be instinctual animals going about our preprogrammed existence. Let us create humanity in our image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. The image of God in which we are created is that ability to love, to care, to create, to nurture, all good things, but for them to exist their opposites must also exist. What God promises is his loving presence no matter where life carries us.

Jesus way is grace.

Thursday July 14, John 14: Thomas said, "Master, we have no idea where you're going. How do you expect us to know the road?" Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. All of our attempts to make it on our own just don’t make it. When Jesus says he is the way (road) the truth and the life, he is referring to his way of grace. We are saved because God loves us, not because we have eloquent prayers or live exemplary lives, we are loved because we are. Jesus calls us into a loving relationship. The killer of any relationship is the lack of communication. Talk to God, listen to God’s calling, read God’s word, build that relationship and the way will unfold before you. Greg Wilson reminds me that the call to pray unceasingly is the call to remember that we are praying unceasingly. Everything we think, do and say is a prayer to God. We just have to ask ourselves, “Is this a prayer I want to be praying?”

aaaaaaugh!!! Amen!!!

Wednesday July 13th, Romans 8: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Some of our best prayers are when we don’t know what to say. They come in the form of shouts for joy, tears, groans, deep breaths, big smiles and shaking heads. They come at times when we just don’t know what to say or how to say it. They are prayers of the deepest kinds, they are the words of the spirit escaping beyond our conscious control. They are loved by God.

God's creation above our recreation

Tuesday July 12th, Romans 8: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. The redemption of Christ is not just for us. It is not just for our family. It is not just for our nation or those who believe like us. It is not even for all of Christianity. The redemption of Christ is for the whole creation and everyone and everything in it. That global warming thing and the polar bears dying off, God hurts for them also as well as the hundreds of millions of people who will suffer because of the climate shift. One of our fervent prayers should be to open our hearts to the needs of God’s creation beyond the desire for our recreation.

Sometimes I feel so naked

Monday July 11th, Genesis 3: Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Well there you have it. All that knowledge, all that understanding, all that being in charge, and what do you get? Shame. They could see they were naked and felt shame. What a great analogy for a life without allowing God to be God in our lives. What we get is a feeling of nakedness and shame. With God however, life may not always be perfect, but at least we are never alone. We are always surrounded by the Love of God.

Pssst!! wanna be your own god?

Sunday July 10th, Genesis 3: "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' ““You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." This is the basis of sin, the basis of our separation from God. It is the desire to be like God, to be in charge and to call the shots. The result of course is that God is simply our pawn who job it is to respond to out beck and call. It really doesn’t work that way however. God is and will be God not our own personal prayer vending machine. What we get is not always what we ask for. Sometimes what we get is not even what God wants. But we always get the presence of God in our lives. Everything else is secondary.