ELCA Presiding Bishop, Other Church Leaders Call for Moral Budget in 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America(ELCA), along with leaders of four other Christian denominations,sent a letter March 28 to members of the U.S. House Committee onthe Budget, calling for a budget in fiscal year 2007 "that meets the moral test of serving 'the common good'." The letter was signed by Hanson; the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church; the Rev.Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly,Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); the Rev. John H. Thomas, general minister and president, United Church of Christ; and the Rev.Beverly Shamana, bishop and the president of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society.

"We are leaders of five Protestant denominations representing close to 20 million Americans who believe in the biblical imperative to care for the 'least of these,'" the Christian leaders said in the letter. "This year we again raise our voices of concern as Congress begins the budget process anew." Last year, the same group of faith leaders wrote several letters opposing the fiscal year 2006 budget, which threatened cuts to food stamps, Medicaid and other services that benefit the poorest in American society. The most recent letter was written in response to President George W. Bush's fiscal year 2007 budget request, which was released in early February and is currently in the markup process in the House Committee on the Budget. "We see clearly that again this year there is economic injustice and an indifference to those most in need," the Christian leaders wrote in the letter. "This budget not only continues the trend of last year in cutting programs for those most vulnerable but contains even greater cuts in the years to come."

The Christian church leaders enumerated their specific concerns:
+ Treatment of children: "Domestically the president's budget cuts education funds as well as funds to states for special programs for children with disabilities. Internationally it cuts programs for child survival and health."
+ Treatment of women: "The president's budget cuts international family planning and domestically cuts the WIC program (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children)."
+ Treatment of working families: "The president's budget cuts food stamps for working families and funding for child care assistance for low-income working families, and for families in which a parent is in a welfare-to-work program."
+ Treatment of the elderly: "The president's budget cuts housing for the elderly and cuts block grants that provide funds for those needing nutritional assistance and who are vulnerable to abuse."
+ Treatment of God's creation: "The president's budget cuts funding from programs for clean and safe water projects."
+ Treatment of those suffering from HIV/AIDS: "The president's budget cuts funding to the most effective multinational global program for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria."
+ Treatment of development assistance: "The president's budget reduces traditional international development assistance and the Community Development Block Grant program for affordable housing and public infrastructure projects."

"We remember the words of Isaiah 58," the letter concluded."'If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.' We pray that during this budget process, light will indeed rise and that Congress will not only remember the hungry and afflicted but will respond to them with justice and fairness for all."

Is it getting hotter in here?

By ANDREW C. REVKIN Published: March 24, 2006

Within the next 100 years, the growing human influence on Earth's climate could lead to a long and irreversible rise in sea levels by eroding the planet's vast polar ice sheets, according to new observations and analysis by several teams of scientists.

One team, using computer models of climate and ice, found that by about 2100, average temperatures could be four degrees higher than today and that over the coming centuries, the oceans could rise 13 to 20 feet — conditions last seen 129,000 years ago, between the last two ice ages.

The findings, being reported today in the journal Science, are consistent with other recent studies of melting and erosion at the poles. Many experts say there are still uncertainties about timing, extent and causes.
But Jonathan T. Overpeck of the University of Arizona, a lead author of one of the studies, said the new findings made a strong case for the danger of failing to curb emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat in a greenhouselike effect.

"If we don't like the idea of flooding out New Orleans, major portions of South Florida, and many other valued parts of the coastal U.S.," Dr. Overpeck said, "we will have to commit soon to a major effort to stop most emissions of carbon to the atmosphere."

According to the computer simulations, the global nature of the warming from greenhouse gases, which diffuse around the atmosphere, could amplify the melting around Antarctica beyond that of the last warm period, which was driven mainly by extra sunlight reaching the Northern Hemisphere.

The researchers also said that stains from dark soot drifting from power plants and vehicles could hasten melting in the Arctic by increasing the amount of solar energy absorbed by ice.

The rise in sea levels, driven by loss of ice from Greenland and West Antarctica, would occur over many centuries and be largely irreversible, but could be delayed by curbing emissions of the greenhouse gases, said Dr. Overpeck and his fellow lead author, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

In a second article in Science, researchers say they have detected a rising frequency of earthquakelike rumblings in the bedrock beneath Greenland's two-mile-thick ice cap in late summer since 1993. They say there is no obvious explanation other than abrupt movements of the overlying ice caused by surface melting.

The jostling of that giant ice-cloaked island is five times more frequent in summer than in winter, and has greatly intensified since 2002, the researchers found. The data mesh with recent satellite readings showing that the ice can lurch toward the sea during the melting season.
The analysis was led by Goran Ekstrom of Harvard and Meredith Nettles of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y., part of Columbia University.

H. Jay Zwally, a NASA scientist studying the polar ice sheets with satellites, said the seismic signals from ice movement were consistent with his discovery in 2002 that summer melting on the surface of Greenland's ice sheets could almost immediately spur them to shift measurably. The meltwater apparently trickles through fissures and lubricates the interface between ice and underlying rock.

"Models are important, but measurements tell the real story," Dr. Zwally said. "During the last 10 years, we have seen only about 10 percent of the greenhouse warming expected during the next 100 years, but already the polar ice sheets are responding in ways we didn't even know about only a few years ago."
In both Antarctica and Greenland, it appears that warming waters are also at work, melting the protruding tongues of ice where glaciers flow into the sea or intruding beneath ice sheets, like those in western Antarctica, that lie mostly below sea level. Both processes can cause the ice to flow more readily, scientists say.

Many experts on climate and the poles, citing evidence from past natural warm periods, agreed with the general notion that a world much warmer than today's, regardless of the cause of warming, will have higher sea levels.

But significant disagreements remain over whether recent changes in sea level and ice conditions cited in the new studies could be attributed to rising concentrations of the greenhouse gases and temperatures linked by most experts to human activities.

Sea levels have been rising for thousands of years as an aftereffect of the warming and polar melting that followed the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. Discriminating between that residual effect and any new influence from human actions remains impossible for the moment, many experts say.

Satellites and tide gauges show that seas rose about eight inches over the last century and the pace has picked up markedly since the 1990's.
Dr. Overpeck, the co-author of the paper on rising sea levels, acknowledged the uncertainties about the causes. But he said that in a world in which humans, rich and poor, increasingly clustered on coasts, the risks were great enough to justify prompt action.

"People driving big old S.U.V.'s to their favorite beach or coastal golf course," he said, should "start to think twice about what they might be doing."

4th Sunday in Lent

John 3:14-21

Lifted up amid the people
Lost and wandering
On their way
--to wherever God would lead them
full of hope
--and wonder
but lost
--without a country
--or land
--or a life
and at time illness would come
in this land far from any land
--that could be called their own
--or home
and for those people
--feeling so lost
--and ill
God gave them hope
That if any should look upon the serpent
Raised up amid the pain of their existence
They would be healed
Made whole
--through the gift of God
--to live again
--to love again
--to praise again

and for us
wandering in our desert
--of loneliness
--and pain
living so far from our longing
God has given
That part
That life
The Messiah
Christ of us all
Lifted up upon the cross
In an act that was meant to bring death
To Christ
--to hope
but instead
--brings life
to all who gaze upon
this love of God for the world

and the beacon shines bright
in our lives of pain
illuminating the darkness within
and filling our lives
with the love of God
and forgiving us our sin

So you wanna go back to Egypt?

Sunday March 26th Numbers 21: 4 They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled. 5 They spoke out against God and Moses: "Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water--we can't stomach this stuff any longer." So you wanna go back to Egypt where it's warm and secure. Are sorry you bought the one way ticket when you thought you were sure? You wanted to live in the land of promise but now it's getting so hard. Are you sorry you're out here in the desert Instead of your own back yard? Eating leaks and onions by the Nile, Ooh what breath for dining out in style, Ooh, my life's on the skids, building the pyramids. Well there's nothing do but travel and we sure travel a lot, 'Cause it's hard to keep your feet from moving when the sand gets so hot. And in the morning its manna hotcakes, we snack on manna all day, and we sure had a winner last night for dinner flaming manna soufflé. From Keith Green’s song, “So you wanna go back to Egypt” Some people just want to complain no matter what God gives them.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/artists/keithgreen.html

Hell is truth seen too late

Monday March 27th Numbers 21: 8 GOD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live." 9 So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived. The first thing to do with a life threatening issue is to face it. Only then can you start to deal with the issue. Today there is a debate going on about whether or not global warming is caused by humans and if so how much is caused by human behavior. Time to face the issue. Whether or not there is a natural cyclical pattern that is contributing to global warming, dumping millions of tons of garbage into the atmosphere, rivers and oceans is not helping. Hell is truth seen too late. When our great grandchildren are living in a cesspool and dying of diseases we can’t even imagine, telling them of the good old days when we got to drive our Hummers won’t help. Hell is truth seen too late.

"all" saved by grace

Tuesday March 28th Ephesians 2: 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. The “us” God has great love for and saved by grace is not just the “you and me” us, it is the “all” of us. One of the real tragedies during times of military conflict is the loss of the “all” feeling in the word us. When the young man tried to get Jesus to define who the neighbor was, Jesus told him the story of the Good Samaritan and asked who acted like a neighbor. It is not about who they are, it is about who we are. When we find ourselves defining “us” in the narrow sense, it is because our hearts can only conceive of love in a narrow sense. God loves all creation, all cosmos, all children. The reality is that God deals will all of God’s children with grace. Our job is to not narrow the focus.

Because we are saved

Wednesday March 29th Ephesians 2: 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. What good works has God prepared in advance for you to do? It is true we are saved by grace. The next step is to reach out and be graceful to others. In the midst of every crisis is an opportunity. The crisis we are now facing is a global crisis of climate change. Can we, as those who are aware that we are saved by grace, gracefully cut back, just 1%, on the garbage we help to create? For the sake of our brothers and sisters in Christ we have never met, and never will meet, can we give up 1%? In the story of the Good Samaritan, who do you want to be remembered as, the one who passed by or the one who stopped to help? We are saved by grace it is true, but it is not, as Bonhoeffer would say, Cheap Grace. It is Costly Grace that compels us into action. Not action to be saved, but action because we are saved, because we are the children of God, because we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

God so loved the cosmos

Thursday March 30th John 3: 16" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. A better translation is that God so loved the cosmos that he gave his one and only Son. It is not just about us, it is about the whole world. When we give little heed to the destruction of this planet, we give little heed to the cosmos God so loved. When we allow our addiction to oil to drive our ways and wars, killing not only our brothers and sisters in Christ over there, but also our own grandchildren and great grandchildren right here, we give little heed to the cosmos God so loved. God so loved the cosmos, and we are called to do the same.

The light sometimes hurts

Friday March 31st John 3: 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. Christ came into the world to bring salvation to all of humanity. God so loved the cosmos he gave his only son. Humanity still finds ways to live in the shadows. It is the shadows where we can justify a “first strike” option as something good. It is in the shadows that we reject the Kyoto accords and cover it with talk of how we are doing better in a few areas. It is in the shadows that we can pretend that what is happening in the mid-east and in the Sudan is not about maintaining a good supply of cheap gas for our cars. Looking at something in the light sometimes hurts, but as with the snake Moses held up in the wilderness, looking at it in the light is the only way we can begin to be cured.

One thing

Saturday April 1st John 3: 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." The call for Christians is to come into the light and look around. As you view all of creation as important to God, and as you view all of humanity as important to God, and as you view every generation as important to God, what one thing would you do to show God’s love and grace in the world. Change one thing in your life for the sake of the cosmos God so loved.

3rd Sunday in Lent

John 2:13-22

So pure was the water
So clean and pure
As Jesus came out of the river Jordan
And the dove came
Landing there
So pure
So simple
Was the moment
And the words
----this is My Son

so pure was the mist
so clean and pure
as the Light enveloped Jesus on the mountain
and the voice came
and was heard there
so pure
so simple
was this moment
and the words
----this is My Son
--------Listen to Him

Listen to Him
Can you hear amid the drone
Of the voices calling
And selling
--the doves
----and oxen
------and sheep
on the steps of the temple
dedicated to the worship of God
turned now into
a respectable place
where budding capitalist can ply their trade
turning the burning desires of humanity
drawn to a closeness with God
into a reasonable profit
----in their definition
in the name of love

This Is My Father’s House
But you have made it into
A temple of human desire
And lust
For power
----(money)
and it will fall
fall from the weight of those
--------on top
weighted down by the greed
of an honest living
amid the poor

so pure was the air
so clean and pure
as Jesus’ life slipped from him
and a world changed
as Christ arose in three days
the temple rebuilt
so pure
so simple
and the words
were remembered
This is My Son
Listen to Him

It's a promise

Sunday March 19th, Exodus 20: 2 I am GOD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery. 3No other gods, only me. We like to say this. We like to let the words roll off our tongue and even talk as if we believe them. When it comes to the bottom line however, “GOD your God” ends up taking a back seat most of the time. This is what the temptation in the garden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was all about. Which comes first, your desires and wants or God’s desires and wants? You can get at the answer by answering some other questions. How many hours a day to you spend in study and prayer? Have you ever taken a Sunday off from church? Do you invite more than 50% of the people you meet to join you in worship? Do you go out of your way to serve others, knowing that in doing so you serve God? The list goes on and on. The promise for GOD to be our God also goes on and on. We all fall short, God always come through. I am GOD your God is the promise of grace in the midst of our humanness.

Sabbath rest

Monday March 20th Exodus 20: 8 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Work six days and do everything you need to do. 10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to GOD your God. Don't do any work--not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. 11 For in six days GOD made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore GOD blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day. The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath. When we don’t take time to rest and reflect on God’s love in our lives, life just seems to start loosing meaning and beauty. You won’t go to hell for ignoring Sabbath rest and refreshment, but you will make your life, slowly, one week at a time, a living hell. This is another one of those laws that is really grace in disguise.

Lust

Tuesday March 21st Exodus 20: 16 No lies about your neighbor. 17 No lusting after your neighbor's house--or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don't set your heart on anything that is your neighbor's. This is the covet thing that gets us all in trouble. The problem is that our economy is based on getting people to want something they do not have, or even need and then selling it to them. That is what advertising is all about. And if we don’t want what or neighbor has, we want something better. What God is trying to warn us about is how easy it is to move from lusting to action. It doesn’t matter if it is drug addict, David and Bathsheba, Enron or the couple that lives at the end of the street, in the movement from lust into action we are all capable of mowing down anyone or anything in the way of something we lust after. It is all too easy to justify our actions and not even see our ethics or the other guy lying in the dust when we are through. Lust is the desire for salt from someone who is dying of thrust. In the end we only make things worse for ourselves.

WWJD

Wednesday March 22nd John 2: 13 Not long before the Jewish festival of Passover, Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14 There he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. He also saw moneychangers sitting at their tables. 15 So he took some rope and made a whip. Then he chased everyone out of the temple, together with their sheep and cattle. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins. I wonder what Jesus would do in today’s world where religion and the state go hand in hand cutting $12 billion from student loans, cutting billions from food programs, heating assistance programs, medical assistance programs, and on and on and on, only to use them to pay for tax breaks for people who already have more than they could ever use? This story is about what he did when he saw government and religion hand in hand for the sake of money in the temple in his day.

Convenient

Thursday March 23rd John 2: 16 Jesus said to the people who had been selling doves, "Get those doves out of here! Don't make my Father's house a marketplace. The doves and all the other animals were used to sell to people who had traveled to Jerusalem to make a sacrifice at the temple. It was convenient. They did not have to travel a long way with the sacrificial animal. The money changers also helped because they could exchange the people’s money for coins that did not have the face of one of the various local rulers on it. To use such coins was considered a form of idolatry. All the systems in place were for very good and helpful reasons. They also made a good profit off the poor who had traveled long distances. The system worked so well no one ever thought about how it worked against the down and out of God’s creation. That is until Jesus came along. What conveniences are in our systems that only hurt the ones we don’t see or hear from?

Balance

Friday March 24th John 2: 18 The Jewish leaders asked Jesus, "What miracle will you work to show us why you have done this?" 19 "Destroy this temple," Jesus answered, "and in three days I will build it again!" In trying to trivialize Jesus the temple rulers tried to set the rules of engagement. Jesus caught them off guard with the “destroy the temple” thing. They had replaced God as the balance point in their life with the temple. They couldn’t control God, but they could run the temple. Jesus was just trying to give them a hint about rebalancing things. After the resurrection some even got it.

Ah Ha!!

Saturday March 25th John 2: 20 The leaders replied, "It took forty-six years to build this temple. What makes you think you can rebuild it in three days?" 21 But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple. 22 And when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered what he had told them. Then they believed the Scriptures and the words of Jesus. Have you ever had one of those Ah Ha! Moments? The world was out of balance, Jesus set things running smooth again. Not even the disciples saw it coming. How could your world improve by centering it on Jesus?

2nd Sunday in Lent

Mark 8:31-38

These words are so hard to hear
So hard
Why?
--why must our master walk in this direction
Why?
--when we have left our families and work
do we have to hear these words of doom and death
Why?

This talk makes no sense
We could have it all
We could live
We could live in a world so kind
With none of the pain
We left behind
A world far better than any have seen
A world that for many is just a dream
We could have it
We could have it all
The power that comes with the ones
Who lead
And show the way
That people want to follow
They really want to follow you
Away from Romans
--and poverty
----and hardship
we could be a great power
A Nation
--that is looked up to and feared
----by nations
Master!
--Rabbi!
-------listen to what you senses
-------and to what the people are saying
-------listen

and Jesus turns
and faces all
--who have come this far
--and hung on every word
--and lived on every morsel of life
----dropped from his lips
--who have lived as they have never lived before
--with a hope they had never known
Listen, this is my Son
His eyes said
As he looked through the crowd
In a stare of ice
And the thoughts turned to those unexplained moments
That raised the questions
And the hearts raced with fear
--as they knew
----once more
they were in for something more
than they had ever known
--or dreamed
----or bargained for
in the collective memory of all creation

GET--------THEE--------BEHIND--------ME
------(take)---------(up)---------------(thy)--------(cross)
with you temptress minds of humanity
and live
LIVE
--beyond the limits of your perceived reality
and a world that
-----changes
--hatred for hatred for hatred
until all see only the gain in their world.
See and feel and hear that glimmer
That goes beyond the mere pretense of happiness
And see the children’s faces
--for what they could be
LIVE
--(and follow me)

Lord, You've got to be kidding!!

Sunday March 12th, Genesis 17: When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord came to him and said, "I am God All-powerful. Obey Me, and be without blame. 2And I will keep My agreement between Me and you. I will give you many children." 3Then Abram fell on his face. Did he fall on his face because of the joy that the promise would finally be true or did he fall on his face because of the fear that the promise would finally be true? I must say that I do hope and pray that the Lord does not visit me when I am 99 and tell me I will be a new father. But that is that old control thing going on within me again. God made the promise and was true to that promise. The wait for Abe and Sarah was to show that it was God who was doing this great thing. What we can take from this is to trust in God. Trust in God always, even when it seems impossible.

One step from a mis-step

Monday March 13th, Genesis 17: 7 I will make My agreement between Me and you and your children after you through their whole lives for all time. I will be God to you and to your children's children after you. We often see a “God and I” thing. God often sees a “God and all people” thing. Here the promise was less about the covenant with Abraham and more about God’s promise for all humanity for all time. That promise extends to us also. Ever since that tree in the Garden thing, we tend to get hung up on the old “What’s in it for me” thing. When we do that, we are only one step from getting out of step. Remember God cares for all of God’s children. All of them!!!

Sarai to Sarah is a life changing experience

Tuesday March 14th, Genesis 17: 15 Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, do not call her name Sarai. But Sarah will be her name. 16And I will bring good to her. I will give you a son by her. I will bring good to her. And she will be the mother of nations. Kings of many people will come from her." Here is where the priestly writers during the Babylonian captivity moved from one set of stories about Abraham and Sarah from Israel to another set of stories from Judah. In the languages of the two kingdom, they pronounced and wrote the names differently. The priests inserted these transitional phrases to move from one set of stories to another. They also explain how God can change our lives. When God enters, everything changes. You might not change your name when God enters, but God will change your heart.

Not a "Sunday only" thing

Wednesday March 15th, Mark 8: 31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Peter was scared. What he have envisioned was a Messiah in which all would ride into town on a white horse to the praise of the crowd and the kingdom would be established on earth with great fanfare and little cost. What he was to find out was that the cost of discipleship was and always is, high. If we allow God to be ruler of our hearts, the cost will be high for us also. Following God is not a “Sunday Only” thing. It is a life changing, life altering thing that brings about change in the world.

the Tempter

Thursday March 16th, Mark 8: 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Satan is seen not as the harbinger of evil as we see Satan today, but as the tester. After his baptism, Jesus was tested by Satan out in the desert for 40 days. Here Satan comes as a tester in the form of Peter’s desire for the easy way out. For Jesus however, the path ahead leads not to the easy way and to his own personal salvation, but to the salvation for the whole world. When we seek only our own satisfaction, we tend to short circuit what God has in mind for our mission.

Crosses of imperfection

Friday March 17th, Mark 8: 34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. We are called as the children of God to be aware of our cross and to be aware of our brothers and sisters crosses as well. We are asked to carry them not to feel somehow humble and therefore noble, but to carry them to help others. This may come as a shock to some, but this is not a perfect world. The greatest imperfection humans have is the pretense that we need to appear perfect to others. When we carry our imperfections, bathed in the insight we have from facing them and bathed in the forgiveness we receive through Christ, then they can become the instruments through which others may receive blessings. Take up your cross today and follow Jesus.

What happens when you assume?

Saturday March 18th, Mark 8: 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? One of the paradoxes of this life is that the surest way to get to the end of the line is by trying to get to the front of the line. The essence of sin is the desire to be like God and therefore take over for God. This is your choice daily; trust God, even if you have to wait until you are ninety-nine years old like Abraham, or assume that you are smarter than God and trust yourself. Just remember what happens when you assume.

1st Sunday in Lent

Mark 1:12-15

The old has passed
With a final test and purging
That has set the stage
--in this plane
for eternity to break in
to a world
--still the same
--and yet new
(repent)
a world that has seen
--its future dashed
------again
-----------and again
------by the mindless strivings
of humanity
--trying so very hard
(for the kingdom)
---------to make it alone
standing in its toddler steps
and facing
----life
(of God)
in the hopes and dreams
---of making it
--------with an eye toward the God who was and is
on their own
but the air smells different now
(is at hand)
with a newness
--------and a freshness
that seems to come from beyond time
(Life)
and there is an excitement
(has come to a fullness)
in the air
(that has not been known
on this earth
since God looked at what had been made
and said
It is good)

The promise is that we are not left behind

Sunday March 5th, Genesis 9: 8 Again, God said to Noah and his sons: 9 I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you. 10 This includes the birds and the animals that came out of the boat. 11 I promise every living creature that the earth and those living on it will never again be destroyed by a flood. Those who would profess the theology of the “Left Behind” series would see this as one of God’s trick statements, sort of a “I won’t use water next time, I’ll use fire ha ha ha!!!” statement. I see it more of a promise to all of life on the planet earth that God will love them and keep them in a loving relationship. In other words, there will be love, grace and Jesus. What do we make of this? God is concerned about and loves all of creation. Global warming is a concern, The Sudan is a concern, the Middle East is a concern, Warfare is a concern and you and I are a concern. Our job is to get our concern in line with God and care for all the world, not just our own back yard.

Rainbow promise

Monday March 6th, Genesis 9: 12-13 The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. We can explain the science behind a rainbow but not the beauty or how it makes us feel when we see one. It is God’s signature, a sign to us and every living creature. Just maybe there is an explicit warning there also, that it is a promise to us and every living creature. How we care for this world, this creation of the God who created us, can be implied in our end of the contract signed by that rainbow. Is this planet and the people in it there for our use and taking, or are we called to nurture and care for one another and the creation from which we came? What does the rainbow tell you?

Planet community

Tuesday March 7th, Genesis 9: 16 When I see the rainbow in the sky, I will always remember the promise that I have made to every living creature. 17The rainbow will be the sign of that solemn promise. When we see the rainbow it is a reminder that we are called to live in community on this planet. The old ways of tribalism, racism and nationalism are not part of God’s intent. We are called instead as stewards of this world and brothers and sisters with one another in it. What does that mean in your life today? What are you doing to help save the planet? What gas mileage ratings should you insist on in your next vehicle purchase?

Not Magic

Wednesday March 8th, Mark 1: 9 At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. So the question is, why did Jesus have to be baptized by John? The question stems in part from our own view of baptism. If it is seen as fire insurance to take away sins, then the question indeed is valid. If however it is seen as an ushering into a relationship with God and with one another, then Jesus’ baptism becomes the symbol of his ministry. Through the love and teachings of Christ, we are all called to view ourselves and one another as brothers and sisters in this world. Christ came to bring salvation to all, being baptized by John ushers him into our world. It’s not magic, its relationship.

The Collective voice of God

Thursday March 9th, Mark 1: 10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." The voice of God is also heard on the mountain when Jesus is transfigured and in the heavens when Jesus is born. It marks the transitions in the life of Jesus from birth, to ministry to the movement down the mountain as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem and the cross. In our lives, we may not hear the voice of God speak “you are my child” but we hear the community of God say those words. In our congregation, when someone is baptized, they are brought into the midst of the congregation and with the laying on of hands, are blessed and welcomed by the congregation. It is the collective voice of God. You are my child, whom I love; with you we are well pleased, and with you we will journey through life together, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Wilderness life

Friday March 10th, Mark 1: 12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13and he was in the desert forty days, news!" being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. No time for rest. In Mark's gospel everything happens fast and with power. Being a child of God is no special protection for Jesus or for us. Being a child of God is to take on the awesome responsibility of being there for one another. As we enter the Lenten season, it is our calling also. These brothers and sisters of mine in the kingdom, God wasn't just kidding when God asked us to reach out and care for one another, and God wasn't kidding when the most care was given to those who hurt the most. Watch out for one another in this wilderness called life.

The Kingdom is near

Saturday March 11th, Mark 1: 14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news. And the good news is??? The good news is that the kingdom of God is near. To each and every one of us, the kingdom is near. What we do in life, who we are in life, even our thoughts in life ripple through the kingdom. The good news is that Jesus is never far from you and that the kingdom of God (salvation) is a gift from God.