We continue with "Late Night" with Sophia for the Narrative Lectionary.
 This is based on Proverbs 3.

 

Poem based on Luke 10: 1-20

Wonders and Joys in the name of Christ

We all look for the wonders and joys

In a world full of hurt

---- pain

look for wonders and joys

in a world full of (my) needs

sent with nothing into the world

to heal

sent with nothing

except the God of love

to heal

and our Lord saw satan fall

as the people trusted

Fall

As they healed in the name of Christ

And begin to raise his ugly head again

When they said

---- look what I did

Wonders and Joys in the name of Christ

In the name of Christ

Opening Litany based on Psalm 66

Pastor: Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of the Lord’s name and raise your voices in glorious praise!

Congregation: O Lord, How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that those who would do evil cringe before you. All the earth bows down to you and sings your praises.

Pastor: Come and see what God has done, and the awesome works the Lord has done for us. The sea was turned into dry land and the people passed through the waters on foot, safe from the armies that pursued them, let us rejoice in our Lord forever.

Congregation: The Lord rules forever and watches all the nations of the earth who would rise up in rebellion against the graciousness of God extended to all people.

Pastor: Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of praise be heard in the land;

Congregation: For the Lord has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping from the path of Grace.

Peace

Sunday July 7^th, Isaiah 66: 12 for this is what the LORD says:  "I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."  Peace will come, not by our hand steeped in violence, or the weapons we carry in them, but from the Lord who created all people and declared all creation good.  Peace will even come to Jerusalem, not through walls and security forces and the rockets’ red glare, but through the one who returned to her to face once again the cross of anger and separation and bring to all, on both sides of rockets, security forces and walls, the gift of salvation and forgiveness.  The Lord will come and bring peace to her children who only seem to want to fight.  Perhaps we want to grow up and stop fighting now and work for this plan for peace that comes from God, not against it. It is a plan that is not only for Israel or Jerusalem, but for all people and for all time.  Then, when the party comes, it will be a much better party if we are living in the midst of Peace already. 

uncontrolled opulence

Monday July 8^th, Galatians 6:  1-3 Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. We tend to view laws as mostly about someone else. That is why it is so hard to get realistic ethics laws passed in hallowed halls of government, everyone is so busy pointing fingers and posturing politically they can’t sign anything.  What God calls us to do is the more difficult task, to govern ourselves first and foremost.  And the standard by which we are to judge ourselves in governance is how well we stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed and help share their burdens.  A society will be judged by how it treats the most vulnerable in her midst.  It is what we are to be about as individuals and as a society.  It is what we are to be about as cities and states and nations.  Most of our energy is spent on the business of controlling someone else so we can go on and on in our uncontrolled opulence, making sure the money flows in one direction, our direction.  I always looked forward to that point where my children would enjoy giving at Christmas more than getting.  God is still looking forward to that same maturity in our day to day lives as a nation.  

mission

Tuesday July 9^th, Galatians 6:  4-5 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. One of the tasks the confirmation class goes through before being confirmed is to write their own mission statement.  I use the material in “The Path” by Laura Beth Jones.  If you haven’t looked into it, do so, it is good stuff.  If we are each focusing on who God has called us to be and what we are called to do as a child of God in the creation, we, as well as those around us, will be happier.  Very few adults have their own mission statement.  For them it is getting by for today as best you can that seems to rule.  One thing to remember is that each and every one of us lives according to a mission statement, written or unwritten.  God calls us to live our mission as a child of God however, not just a cog in the wheel of someone else’s mission in life, but as a called and blessed child of God.  If you don’t know what your mission is, get a copy of “the Path” and get started writing, then get started living. 

“get” it

Wednesday July 10^th, Galatians 6: 7-8 Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.  That real life, what we call eternal life is something that starts now and is brought to perfection in the life to come.  Most of us spend our lives living and lunging in lots of directions other than the one God has for us.  Sooner or later we will all “get” it, but for most, we “get” it after most of this life is over.  That is where grace comes in.  As my children get older and off on their adult life, getting married, having kids etc., it is fun to watch them start to “get” it.  Sure would be nice if God could watch more of us “getting” it.  Most of us however spend too much of our lives in that adolescence “it is all about me” phase.  God is patient and kind, but think of what you are missing.

harvest

Thursday July 11^th, Galatians 6: 9-10 So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.  It is not about running around all frenzied and trying to save the whole world, it is about loving ourselves as the children of God and loving the others God has placed before us as the children of God this day.  No evangelism plan will work if it is not God’s plan.  Our job is to lovingly harvest, starting in the fields closest to us and working outward from there.  Don’t forget, it is the local fields that are the toughest.  

unfold

Friday July 12^th, Luke 10: 1-2 Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge: "What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.  3"On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You're like lambs in a wolf pack. Don’t ever forget that we live our lives in the middle of a wolf pack.  And don’t ever forget that the wolves don’t always look like wolves, often times they are dressed up in sheep’s clothing or perhaps designer gowns or work cloths just like us.  When someone comes to the Lord, remember, you are simply gathering what God has placed before you and blessed you with the joy of watching it unfold.   When you do the work of the kingdom of God, it helps to go in pairs, it helps keep you honest and, perhaps more importantly, there is always someone to pray with.    

T-shirt

Saturday July 13^th, Luke 10:  5-6"When you enter a home, greet the family, 'Peace.' If your greeting is received, then it's a good place to stay. But if it's not received, take it back and get out. Don't impose yourself. 7"Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don't move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town. 8-9 "When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, 'God's kingdom is right on your doorstep!'  No pastors in Cadillac Escalades or private jets, this is down to earth kingdom work.  My father greeted the new pastor in our town at the local coffee shop and asked to speak to him outside.  Once outside he wanted to know what the “h” he thought he was doing dressed like that.  He reminded the new pastor that this was a farming community and if he walked in the coffee shop in a coat and tie, the people would speak nice to him, but not honestly.  The pastor headed that advice and went home to change into blue jeans, T-shirt and everyday shoes.  That day he moved from preacher to pastor, and thanked my father for it.  

Sophia, Start with Wisdom

We continue with Late Night with Sophia joining Pastor Dan and Jesus.  This is for the first week in the Narrative Lectionary for the Summer as we start to look at Wisdom Literature.

10w for June 30th, Prejudice in Samaria, P6.

The following is a 10 minute worship for June 30th, Prejudice in Samaria, P6.  You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List." The Song for the day is "Let us go to the House of the Lord" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "Everyone who is Thirsty, Come"  which can be purchased HERE
 

Poem based on Luke 9:51-62

But first

But first just

But first just let me…

just let me find one more reason

I can’t do

that which I really need

                                want

                                                to do

one more reason to avoid

                change

one more reason to know

                have

                                hold

                                                plan

                                                                control

                tomorrow

one more reason to lay my life

in my hands

and still say I trust you

                with my words

Jesus simply said

                follow me

(Cartoon by David Hayward, www.nakedpastor.com)

Opening Litany based on Psalm 16

Opening Litany based on Psalm 16

Pastor: Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.

Congregation: We said to the LORD, “You are our Master! Every good thing we have comes from you.” The godly people in the land are our heroes and we take pleasure in them!

Pastor: Troubles seem to multiply for those who chase after other gods.

Congregation: We will not take part in their sacrifices or pretend to follow in their ways for the LORD alone is our inheritance, our cup of blessing.

Pastor: You guard all that is ours. The land you have given us is a pleasant land and a wonderful inheritance!

Congregation: We will bless the LORD who guides us; even at night our hearts instruct us to follow the ways of the Lord. Therefore we know the LORD is always with us and we will not be shaken, for the Lord is right beside us at all times.

Pastor: No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. I rest in safety knowing the Lord walks with us and will not leave us to the powers of death.

Congregation: The Lord will show us the way of life, granting us joy of living in the presence of the Lord forever.

really knew

Sunday June 30^th, Galatians 5:  1&2 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.  I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. The question for Paul and for the Galatians was whether someone “had” to be circumcised in order to be a Christian.  It is the law vs. grace argument that dominated Paul’s ministry and much of Christendom today.  Circumcision itself may not seem like much of an issue today but the world if full of “You are saved by grace and all you have to do is….” Christianity, which is really the same argument.  What is at issue today are the many other litmus test the children of God have devised to prove you are a true Christian.  Keep in mind that any litmus test is always for the other and is devised for the strengths and/or phobias of the giver of the test.  Christ made you free so that you could bring that freedom to others.  Christ did not make you free so that you could impose a new slavery on someone else and in the process burden yourself.  But all of us do it some of the time and some of us do it all the time.  Just ask your friends who don’t go to church why they don’t go to church, or if they say they don’t believe in God, ask them to tell you about that God they don’t believe in.  You will get a vast array of assumptions, true or not, about the rules and slaveries of the Christian walk.  In the face of this, our calling is to preach salvation by Grace, nothing more, nothing less.  What difference would it make in how you live your life today if you knew, really knew, Jesus loved you and you were going to spend eternity in heaven?  Now go live it in grace.  

bike

Monday July 1^st,  Galatians 5: 13 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows.  For a young child, learning to ride a bike is an exhilarating sense of freedom.  One of the essentials for learning to ride a bike is balance.  You maintain that balance by looking ahead, where you are going.  The minute you look down, where you are at, or focus on yourself instead of the ride, you lose your balance and fall.  I have the scars, both on my knees and on my ego, to prove it.  Our exhilarating freedom in Christ also requires balance, and that balance comes from looking ahead to where Christ is leading us.  The minute we look down, focus on our situation, or our needs, or our wants, or our desires, or our pity party, or our, our, our, we lose our balance and fall.  And I also have the scars to prove that.    

skeleton

Tuesday July 2^nd, Galatians 5: 14 For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself.  If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? The book, “Wishful Thinking” by Fredrick Buechner has been stolen from me more than any other book.  To date, I have purchased 27 copies and have one in my library.  I call that an excellent endorsement of the book as well as a testimony to my poor managing skills.  From that book I will share with you the definition of “Anger.”  Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun.  To lick your wounds, to smack you lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back – in many ways it is a feast fit for a king.  The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself.  The skeleton at the feast is you.  

one

Wednesday July 3^rd,  Galatians 5: 19-21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.  Paul, it sounds so bad when you put it that way, it sounds like the political rhetoric in the just say no to everything culture.  All I was trying to do was watch out for old number one.  Or perhaps all I was trying to do was insert myself as number one instead of holding God in my heart as number one, which is like putting a one way valve in the wrong way.  Here is the way it goes, love comes from God, if we are connected it flows through our hearts and out into the world around us.  If we try to put ourselves as number one, all we succeed in doing is stopping the flow that was meant for our heart.  Nothing good in, nothing good out.  We don’t stop God however and perhaps one time or another the network of God’s goodness flowing through others will come back upstream and flood our heart enough to prompt us to turn the valve around.  Until then we are set to suffer with who we are rather than live with who God called us to be.  But someday, someday, God will win and I just pray that you may live long enough to enjoy the process.    

brazen giant

Thursday July 4^th, Galatians 5:    25-26 Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original. In the beginning God created all that is and called it good.  The sin of humanity is that we are always trying to rend asunder what God has joined together (Coffin).  When we compare ourselves to others with the assumption that we, or our group, or party, or ethnicity, or religion, or, or, or are better, we are in essence saying that we are a better judge of “goodness” than God.  When we pursue policies that create second class citizens of the world or take away decision making power from minorities or women, we are in essence saying that our view of God is “second class.”  In the end, we say more about ourselves than the other.  God doesn’t do border fences and papers please, whether they be in Berlin, Jerusalem or the Arizona.  Perhaps if we see one another as an original creation of God, and treat one another as an original creation of God, and accept one another as our brothers and sisters through Christ we wouldn’t feel the need for the fences. I often hear the immigration debate sloganed as Illegal is illegal, yes tis true, but so is the phrase ungodly is ungodly and the fails, as it did with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, with the basic Godly truth, we are all brothers and sisters in the family of God whether we like it or not. Happy Independence Day America, remember most of us came from somewhere else.    On this day let us also remember the poem on the Statue of Liberty and not return to the ways of the brazen giant of Greek fame.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

sand

Friday July 5^th,  Luke 9:  51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went to another village. When Jesus got to Jerusalem, he was eventually rejected there by the powers that be also.  The Gospel is a threat to all who want to draw lines in the sand, and that is some of us all the time and all of us some of the time.  As the children of God, we are still sent into foreign territories to get things ready for the coming of Christ.  These foreign lands do not always require a passport however, sometimes these foreign lands are the neighborhood grocery, the athletic club, half way around the world, and sometimes even our own families and congregations.  Every time our anger seems to beckon us to call down God’s wrath on someone or some group, it is good to remember that none of us escape judgment in total.  Often the call for God’s wrath says more about who we are than it does about the other for whom we wish to call down the wrath.  In God’s world what you call down is far more difficult to live with than wrath, it is love..  but in the end, it is the only thing worth living for and we are not left standing there alone.

call

Saturday July 6^th, Luke 9:  57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." 59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." 60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." 61  Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." 62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."  The Call to follow God is a call to love one another.  The call to love one another is a call to put God first in our lives, ahead of our own desires.  That sounds good on paper, but don’t ever kid yourself that it is easy.  It takes a lifetime, day after day, one day, one moment at a time.  And it always requires a good natured look at our own foibles first and foremost along the way.  Being a child of God requires a good sense of humor to laugh, and sometimes cry, at ourselves most of all, and to put God ahead of self.  An interesting example comes from Pope Francis this week.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/pope-francis-concert_n_3490435.html?1372091350&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

10w for June 29th, Peter & Paul, Apostles.

The following is a 10 minute worship for June 29th, Peter & Paul, Apostles.  You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List." The Song for the day is "Break These Chains" by Dakota Road from the CD "Break These Chains" which can be purchased HERE

The following is a 10 minute worship for June 24th, John the Baptist.  You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List." The Song for the day is "Wade in the Water" by Patti Griffin from the CD "Downtown Church" which can be purchased HERE 

Poem for June 24th, The Nativity of St. John the Baptist Luke 1:57-67

Praise be the child

sent from God

who is to usher in the Kingdom

who is to announce that

the time has come

for the world to spin

Free

of the bounds that have held it so long

Free

as the tongue loosened

from the voice of Zechariah

Free

from the bounds placed

by the traditions of this world

Free

to be the pureness

brought forth by Elizabeth

into a world

not Free

and all who heard of this child

wondered

at the birth

and the wonder

to come

10w for June 23rd, Healing Demonics P5.

The following is a 10 minute worship for June 23rd, Healing Demonics P5. You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List." The Song for the day is "Free" by Shawn McDonald from the CD "WOW Hits, 2007" which can be purchased HERE 

Poem based on Luke 8: 26-39

Jesus heals a demon-possessed man

In this foreign land

Far across the lake

Where we find people of strange values

------ language

----------- ungodly ideas

We follow Jesus

And encounter

As expected

One wild and filled with evil

And as unexpected

One love by Jesus.

What have you to do with us

Jesus

Son of the Most High God?

Who do people say I am

Who do you say I am

As the disciples

And you and I stand

Not understanding what has just happened

As the many descend in uncleanness

To the depths of the chaos waters

And the followers stand in jaw dropping fear

That God’s love might

Just might

Extend

Even across the pond to the other side

Where the people react

As we react

In fear of our bottom line

What is in it for me

And how do I measure

Economy

The cost

While the disciples

You and I

Still stand jaw dropped

While the new evangelists

Gets to work in the Kingdom

Which just became visible

As near.

Opening Litany based on Psalm 22

Pastor: I will declare your name to my people O Lord and in the assembly I will praise you. 

Congregation: Let all who live in awe of the LORD, praise the holy name of God. All the descendants of Jacob and Israel, all the peoples of the world Praise the Holy name of God! 

Pastor:  For the Lord has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted ones but has listened to their cry for help.

Congregation: From you O Lord comes the very essence of my praise in the great assembly before all who live in your grace I will fulfill my vows. 

Pastor: The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will live forever in a life of praise. 

Congregation: All the ends of the earth will remember God’s loving grace and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before the Lord, who is ruler of all. 

Pastor: All the blessed of the earth will feast and worship, All mortals will bow before the Lord of all creation. 

Congregation: We will use the blessings of this world are to serve the Lord so that all future generations will know of the righteousness the Lord has done. 

we are lost

Sunday June 23^rd,  Isaiah 65:  ¹ "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.  To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' Several years ago there was a rash of bumper stickers with the words, “I’ve found it.”  I always found it to be an interesting example of anthropocentric arrogance.  It reminds me of the time in the store when one of my children wandered off.  I followed them, remaining somewhat out of sight just to see how long it would take for them to notice they were lost, and then be near and use it as a teaching moment about the need to stay near.  The goal is that when they finally realized they are lost and cry out, you can descend on the scene and use the moment to comfort and teach.  Sometimes however, my children would simply respond with “O there you are” as if they had found me and then they would prepare for their next getting lost session.  So it is with humanity.  We wander away through the aisles of life, unaware of being lost until some calamity strikes, we cry out, God appears and we assume that God was the one who was distant and we somehow, through our own holiness, found God.  The reality is that God is the one combing the aisles of life waiting patiently for us to realize we are lost and need God in our lives and then we open our eyes to see the God that has been there all along. When we open our eyes, or hearts or heads or spirits to the presence of the God who is already there, it is to us, a sign of grace.  

temper tantrum

Monday June 24^th, Isaiah 65: ⁸ This is what the LORD says: "As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, 'Don't destroy it, there is yet some good in it,'    so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all. ⁹ I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.  We can prune trees, cultivate gardens, even practice animal husbandry, but the cultivation of the human species is best left up to God.  We have tried, and we are all too familiar with the results of trying to play god by our rules.  The results are often ethnic cleansing, war, genocide, gas chambers and draconian immigration policies. The difference between our attempts of societal cultivation and God’s attempts at human cultivation is that God loves us and takes the spoils of the messes we have created and tries to work them for the good.  Humanities attempts are only thinly disguised attempts of tyranny and often look like a two year old having a temper tantrum.  

not reached maturity

Tuesday June 25^th, Galatians 3: 23-24 Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.  When our children are young, we need to deal with them with lots of love and limits, which is another way of saying the law.  Don’t touch the stove, Don’t play in the street, Don’t hit, and sometimes there is a time out or some toys taken away.  As they grow in years, they learn to make their own good decisions (hopefully).  Part of the process of learning to make good decisions is having gone through the process of making some bad decisions.  Until we as individuals, as cultures, and humanity in general, reach the state of maturity where we can freely respond in faith to the living God, there are always some of those laws to keep us in line.  It is an ongoing process.  One sure way to know you have not reached maturity is to think you have reached maturity. Maturity always knows there is more growing to do.  In the meantime, we live in the tension between Law and Gospel and are lead forward by grace. 

being mean

Wednesday June 26^th, Galatians 3: 25-27 But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise. 28-29 In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal.  If our baptism dresses us in an adult faith, most of us spend a lot of time trying to get naked.  If this sign of maturity is to recognize there can be no divisions, humanity in general spends a lot of time and energy getting naked.  Wars, vast income differentiations, health insurance discrepancies, insane increases in CEO pay while the debate for a living wage on the bottom goes on and on.  The old days of slavery may be gone in the U.S. but the new attitudes of economic slavery through vast disparities in wealth are growing. Every major religion has as one of its basic teachings some form of the Golden Rule, do onto others as you would have them do onto you.  We say it, we say we believe it, but when it comes to the rubber meeting the road it once again becomes all about “Me” which is the very essence of sin.  In Christ’s eyes there is no difference, all are the children of God.  The differences we see are the brothers and sisters being mean to each other.     

seeing these wretches

Thursday June 27^th, Luke 8:  26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  The disciples didn’t get it, the religious leaders didn’t get it, and even John the Baptist sent a message asking if Jesus was the one or if he should wait for another. It was the poor naked, demon-possessed man in the unclean foreign land that got the fact that Jesus was the Son of the Most High.  Sometimes you wonder if Jesus were to come back today, if the church would get it, or if it would be some wretch in Baghdad, Beijing or Mogadishu to say, truly you are the son of God. Perhaps we should start seeing these wretches as the children of God, as well as our brothers and sisters now.  Perhaps that would be a step toward that maturity Paul talks about in Galatians.  

damn it Jesus,

Friday June 28^th, Luke 8:  34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.  The demons were dispatched, lives were set right and salvation offered, all good God stuff, but damn it Jesus, don’t mess with the economic bottom line or we will run you out of town again.  Things haven’t changed much.  What’s next, the Supreme Court saying corporations can act as persons in campaign spending?  Oh, they already did!

changing a demon

Saturday June 29^th, Luke 8: 38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.  After all the training and seminars we go to that help us design our evangelism programs, what it really takes is the passion of lives changed.  I believe Luther put it this way; we are simply beggars telling other beggars where to get food.  Perhaps our passion should be on changing lives and letting evangelism happen naturally.  Changing a demon state of mind as well as a demon state Godly, one life at a time.  

a little more "Late Night Jesus" on forgiveness

A little Late Night Jesus as we continue our look at the Lords Prayer in the Narrative Lectionary.

10w for June 16th, Grateful, P4.

The following is a 10 minute worship for June 16th, Grateful, P4. You can listen on the flash player below. You now also have the option of receiving these notices each week and on festival days by signing up for the 10W constant contact email list on the right side of the 10W blog where it says "Please Join our Email List." The Song for the day is "Choose Love" by Dakota Road from the CD "Break These Chains" which can be purchased HERE 

Opening Litany based on Psalm 32

Start with the song, "You Are My Hiding Place"

Pastor: Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Congregation: When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "— and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

Pastor: Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.

Congregation: You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Pastor: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.

Congregation: Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Sing the opening song one more time

truth seen too late

Sunday June 16^th, 2 Samuel 12: ¹ and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had very many flocks and herds; ³ but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” ⁵ Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; ⁶ he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” David was a good and godly man, but sometimes, even good and godly men and women can get so caught up in themselves that they forget why they are good and godly people and to whom they should be giving the glory.  So David, full of himself and his own importance and power gets caught in his own trap. Oh, that we would have more Nathans in the world, those who have the ear of the powerful and important and let them know they are being duped by their own since of power and importance.  This story however also pertains to so much that goes on in our seats of power.  The ones who have so much arranging for cuts in programs who help those who have so little, so they can have a bit more.  So pray for the welfare cheats, especially the ones from Apple to Oil to Wall Street who so covet a meal of lamb chops stolen from the hope of the working poor.  

bony finger

Monday June 17^th, 2 Samuel 12: ⁷ Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; ⁸ I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. ⁹ Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.¹⁰ Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house.  Hell is truth seen too late.  It is not that David, or you and I don’t know what we are doing, but we have all mastered the ability to shield the truth from our eyes with a thin veneer of self-righteousness.  Once David proclaims judgment and verdict, Nathan tightens the noose and in one of the greatest images in scripture points that bony finger and David and says, “You are that man!”  And lest we pretend to believe that this is one of those text that pertains to that someone else in life, rest assured, it is not.  It pertains to all of us some of the time and some of us most of the time.  It is that human desire to be like gods, knowing good and evil and having our eyes opened to the shame this adventure in self-righteousness brings.  It is the essence of human sin.  But even as in the story of David, it is not a cause for God to gloat over our failings any more than we gloat over the failings of our children.  Rather it is an opportunity to learn and with the grace and forgiveness of God, move forward in life, perhaps a bit more forgiving of others along the way.