10w for March 5th, Ash Wednesday.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 5th, Ash Wednesday.   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: "Create in me a clean heart" by John Michael Talbot from the CD "The Painter" http://www.catholicmusic.us/the-painter-john-michael-talbot-terry-hymns-songs-cd.aspx

10w for March 2nd, Transfiguration.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 2nd, Transfiguration.   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 "Suddenly, Up on the Mountain" by the Jay Beech Band from the CD "Everyone who is Thirsty, Come" which can be purchased HERE 

10w for March 2nd, I Saw the Light, NL.

The following is a 10 minute worship for March 2nd, I Saw the Light, NL.   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 "If You See My Savior" by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee from the CD "Just A Closer Walk With Thee"  http://www.amazon.com/Just-Closer-Walk-Terry/dp/B000000XYF

 

Poem based on Matthew 17:1-9 The Transfiguration

All that talk about crosses

It’s kinda creepy

It just feels good to get out

(led them up)

Go for a little hike

Where I don’t know

But good

And we all strive to stay on top

(three shelters)

Up

Out of the way

Longing for the easy way

Out of the dust

(this is my son)

Dirt

(whom I love)

Streets

(listen to him)

If only we could stay here

Have the people come to us

Visit the place it all came together

(he led them)

A holy place

(down the mountain)

A sign of the kingdom

Opening Litany based on Psalm 29

Pastor: Give everything to the Lord all you heavenly beings. Give to the Lord all the glory and strength due the holy name of the Lord.

Congregation: We will worship the LORD in the splendor of the Lord’s holiness.

Pastor; The voice of the LORD is over the waters; full of glory it thunders over all the mighty waters of the earth.

Congregation:  The voice of the LORD is powerful and majestic able to break even the mighty cedars of Lebanon.

Pastor: And yet, the Lord brings joy. 

Congregation: The Lord makes Lebanon leap like a calf and Syria like a young wild ox.

Pastor: The voice of the LORD strikes like flashes of lightning and shakes the Desert of Kadesh.  The powerful voice of the LORD twists the mighty oaks and can strip the forests bare.

Congregation: At the might of the Lord all the people cry Glory!

Pastor: The Lord sits enthroned as King forever over all creation

Congregation: The LORD gives strength to the people and blesses them with the ability to live in peace.

raggin’ Pelagians

Sunday March 2^nd, Exodus 24: 12 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction."  In the Gospel for today, Jesus goes up on the mountain, but doesn’t stay there.  God’s love for all humanity then goes down into the dusty streets of humanity where love becomes a verb.  In Exodus, Moses goes up to the mountain to spend some time with God before coming down with the law, an earlier version of God’s love for all humanity.  Today, modern raggin’ Pelagians want to put the Ten Commandments on the walls of the court houses, making sure everyone “knows” what they should “do” to live right.  In the process they forget the most important part of the commandments, the Promise.  I am the Lord Your God and you are my people.  Moses brings the law down out of the mountain; he comes down from the clouds with this sign of the promise of God.  Peter, James and John come down out of the mountains with Jesus, the sign of the promise of God’s love fulfilled for the whole world.  Now it is our turn to come down out of the mountains, or at the very least down off our high horse, and bring the good news to the streets.  We are not called to be Bible toting raggin’ Pelagians in the face of great human need.  We are called to be the hands, feet and voice of God bringing hope to a hurting world.  We are called to be love in action.  

Yes!

Monday March 3^rd, Exodus 24:  15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.  The symbols roll one upon another in this description.  The connections to the Glory and Majesty of God in the clouds and fire, the six days of the new creation followed by communing with the Lord, the consuming fire of purification and the forty days and nights of Jesus in the wilderness or the forty years of the wanderings in the desert. They are all rolling around in these few simple verses.  They all are meant to connect us to these stories and the God connection in each.  Something new is starting, something big, and all these signs let us know that God will be the main part in it.  This is a liturgical moment of the N^th degree.  It lets us know that humanity will be blessed with the presence and the promise of God.  How many times in our lives do those liturgical connections, in whatever form they may take, punctuate a new beginning or a Holy moment in our lives?  The birth of a child, a long darkness ended either emotionally or in the cosmos, a simple leaf falling from a tree but connecting with us in an amazing way, an amazing sunrise, or some event or observation that often has meaning only for you.  In these moments God is there.  The history of God’s relationship to all humanity is there.  Your life is punctuated with a “yes” and you go on knowing life will never be the same.  For those who have their eyes and hearts open, life is liturgical, and God’s nearness is known in the sign and the symbol.  May you this day have such a moment.  

reflection

Tuesday March 4^th, 2 Peter 1:  19 Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Sometimes the message of God’s love has been proclaimed by the prophets, sometimes by the saints in our lives, sometimes by aunts and uncles, parents and children, friends or strangers, but through it, you know that at that moment it is God who is speaking to your heart.  In the darkness that sometimes invades our lives, the simple illumination is sufficient and you can find your way.  What you find your way to is the light of Christ, the Morning Start that brings hope after a long night of darkness of our soul.  Listen to the words of the children of God in times of your darkness.  Be the words of God for others in the midst of their darkness.  Even if the light we shine is only the dimness of the reflected light of Christ, the light of the Morning Star can bring hope to a heart in need.  

sell the farm

Wednesday March 5^th, 2 Peter 1: 20 Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, 21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.  One can profit from listening to the prophets, but there is a danger in listening to just one.  Many can reflect the light of Christ; whether they be the prophets of old or the old lady down the street.  The light of Christ can be seen in the children playing or asking seemingly unanswerable questions or the learned scholar offering insight that opens a whole new way of thinking.  Sometimes however, someone shining their own light in the midst of darkness can seem so holy we never notice that the holy comes with a small ‘h.”  You can pretty much count on the prophets of old having been vetted through the years and their connection with God and the people.  Modern day messengers are a little trickier.  It is always best to test what you hear from those who seem to have the inside track with God these days with some of those older vetted prophets before you sell the farm and give them the money.  

light

Thursday March 6^th, Matthew 17: 1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.  4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." Oh, the moment!!!!  To stay up on the mountain top and enjoy the moment forever would be the greatest of bliss.  To bask in the light from on high and stay out of the dirty dusty streets and away from those crosses we were asked to pick up and carry, that is the life.  You and I too would most likely want to stay up there and build the booths.  We could remember the festival of Booths and the time when God abided with us on our journey.  Those were the good old days and as we remember them there is a most blissful feeling.  They don’t call the street drug ecstasy for nothing and staying up there in that “religious high” has anything you can buy beat ten times over.  You and I too would rather stay in the sanctuary and sing the songs, hear the preaching and sing God’s praises.  Only, sometimes, light in order to be light, must shine in the darkness of the dirty and dusty streets.  After six days in the streets the new creation is done, on the seventh we come into the presence of Christ, and even then it is time, time to leave the mountain tops behind and shine the reflective light of Christ at work in the world and through our lives.  

Listen

Friday March 7^th,  Matthew 17:  5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"  Amid the commotion and emotion of the moment comes the pure voice of God.  It not only claims Jesus as the loved one and the Son, but more importantly the one who is to be listened to.  Sometimes amid the clamor of our own voices and programs and self-importance, we fail to hear the voice of God.  This is Jesus, my son whom I love,……………..  LISTEN TO HIM!!!!!!!   Listen as he leads you to the dusty streets.  Listen as he leads you to the poor and needy.  Listen as he leads you to a life of prayer.  Turn out your own lights, turn down your own volume, turn down the static and noise of day to day life, and listen. And what does the Lord require, that you seek justice, show mercy and walk humbly before your God, and Listen!!!

go!

Saturday March 8^th,  Matthew 17:  6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.  Fear not, for the spirit of God is upon you and you will bear a son, and hope was brought to the world.  Fear not, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a son, and hope was brought into the world.  Get up and don’t be afraid, and they saw Jesus ready to lead them into the towns and villages below, and hope was brought into the world.  Fear not, get out of your pews and into the streets, and hope is brought into the world.  Fear not, and go!!

10w for February 23rd, Prayer for Enemies, Ep7.

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 23rd, Prayer for Enemies, Ep7.   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 The Prayer by Celtic Woman from the CD A New Journey http://celticwoman.com/shop/celtic-woman-a-new-journey-cd/

   

Many Biblical implications

Does Money make you mean? Try this TED Talk

10w for February 23rd, Water of Life, NL.

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 23rd, Water of Life, NL.   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 Water of Change by Dakota Road from the CD Build Up http://www.dakotaroadmusic.com/index.php?p=product&id=83&parent=4

Jesus offering a little living water

Opening Litany based on Psalm 119:33-40

Pastor: Be my guide in life O Lord and teach me the ways you would have me live, that I may walk by your side my whole life long.

Congregation: Help me to understand your plan for the world that with your help I may walk in your ways and take all your teachings to heart. 

Pastor: Direct me in the paths of your ways for it is there I find my delight.

Congregation: Turn not just my head, but more importantly my heart toward your ways and away from selfish gain.

Pastor: Turn my eyes away from worthless things and fill my life with your word.

Congregation: May your ways be seen in this world so that you may be seen by others with the awe and wonder with which I see you O Lord.

Pastor: Remove the shyness and awkwardness that sometimes keeps me from being a child of God in this world; help me to show that all your ways are good.  

Congregation: I long to walk in your ways this day O Lord, Help me each and every day to walk in your ways, for it is You O Lord who bring life to my world.  

Poem based on Matthew 5:38-48 An Eye for an Eye

You have heard it said

You have lived with the truths

Handed down from generation

To generation

To generation

Born to limit revenge

Now used only for an excuse

And eye for an eye

And a tooth for a tooth

Becomes a life for a life

And a war for a war

Victims all

And Jesus, with authority spoke

But I tell you

Resist not evil

Nor let it go on

For in doing so you risk not only your life

But you soul as well

Turn the cheek and let them see their charade for power

Give them all they steal from you

But mostly

Give them back their shame

But I tell you

Pray

Love

Help

The very ones who wish to hurt you

Hold the mirror before them

Till they see

They too

Are a prayed for

            Loved

                        And helped

Child of God

then you may begin to grasp the

Perfect

            Love

                        Of Christ

"H" "h"

Sunday February 23^rd, Leviticus 19:  ¹ The LORD said to Moses, ² “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. ³ “‘Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God. ⁴ “‘Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.   We are all called to be holy.  That is with a small “h.”  When we try to be holy with the capitol “H” we run into the problem of making idols, though not of metal, but of the self or our tribe, which in modern parlance is often our politics, ideologies and social fetishes.  The difference between the big H and little h holiness is that big “H” holiness is all about “Me.”  Little “h” holiness is all about God.  Little “h” holiness is fully aware that we don’t always, or even often, have it all together, but we still live in the joy of walking with God.  Life then becomes a dance, and the music we dance to is “the music of the spheres” and the voice that spoke them all into existence.  Big “H” holiness is a solo performance as we spin around humming loudly to ourselves and then looking to see if anyone notices.  It is closer to reality TV than walking with God.  It may give a thrill for a while until you look around and see half the people laughing and the other half thinking it was sooooo last year.  When you do the little “h” dance with God that noise you hear is the saints cheering you on from the wings.  

poor farmer

Monday February 24^th, Leviticus 19:  ⁹ “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God. ¹¹ “‘Do not steal.   “‘Do not lie.  “‘Do not deceive one another.  ¹² “‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. ¹³ “‘Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.  “‘Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.  ¹⁴ “‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD. ¹⁵ “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.  ¹⁶ “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.  “‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD. My father was not the best farmer.  He always found time to take a short nap before supper.  The fields were not stripped clean and there was always a little left over for the deer, birds and whatever else was part of that web of life.  Sundays were always more about rest and family than about production and profit and as a dairy farm; there was always enough milk to feed the cats and dogs.  The machinery was old and there was always room to make things more efficient, but good enough and time to enjoy the day usually ruled.  In our profit driven world, often times what is driven are the poor and needy, and where they are driven is out.  Pull yourself up by your bootstraps we tell the one with no shoes and we are convinced that somewhere in the Bible it says that god helps those who help themselves.  God calls us to be poor farmers, leaving enough along the path for others and remembering that good enough and time to enjoy the day and one another and God is always better than the death that comes from the striving for more and more followed by a casket surrounded by things. 

self

Tuesday February 22^nd, 1^st Corinthians 3:  ¹⁶ Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?  One element common in earlier religious thought, but not so much in our modern religious thought, is the dominance of community identification over individual identification.  Before the time period from the reformation to the enlightenment, a person’s identity was as part of a tribe, city, nation or community.  Post enlightenment, the individual took precedence over the community.  As with any social change the lines are not so clear cut and you can always find examples to the contrary, but in general there is a vast difference between one’s self identity in relationship to the group between the time of Christ and now.  Since the time of Reagan’s presidency, we see the economic component to that, with the winners winning more and more and the children of God scrambling to survive.  What we miss most in this transition is the responsibility the one has for the many, as well as the responsibility the many has for the one.  In community, there are the “well to do” and “not so well off,” but in true community no one has too much at the expense of those who have too little, and everyone at least has enough.  The modern libertarian concept of individual rights over the common good is contrary to the teachings in scripture and any attempt to fit them together is square peg and round hole mechanics.  The message is not that we are our brother’s keeper, but rather that we are our brothers brother and our sisters sister.  The scriptures call us to live a life where rights, responsibility and relationship go hand in hand and where power, prestige and pilfering profit are an anathema.  Free market libertarians are simply trying to boilerplate community economics onto international anonymity.  The results are rights, power, prestige and pilfering profit without responsibility and relationship and a landscape strewn with victims.  

community

Wednesday February 23^rd, 1^st Corinthians 3:  ¹⁸ Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”  ²⁰ And again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise; he knows they are worthless.”  ²¹ So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you—²² whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, ²³ and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.  Once again the “you” everything belongs to is not the individual “you” but the community “you.”  The community “you” implies responsibility, one to another.  The wisdom of the world is to shop till you drop and the one with the most toys wins.  It is foolishness to God and folly for humanity.  Later in 1^st Corinthians Paul will bring forth the image of us all being part of the body of Christ.  Right now he is just laying the groundwork for why we can’t all consider ourselves to be a finger, and one who is giving it to the rest of humanity.   

Jesus 3rd way

Thursday February 24^th, Matthew 5: ³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  The laws of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth were meant to limit revenge reactions.  In a community, it stopped the Hatfields and McCoys from taking it out on each other for generation upon generation.  All too often however Jesus’ “but I tell you” in this text has been used as justification for victimization.   Walter Wink unpacks this text in a way that gives us a glimpse of Jesus third way.  (http://www.cpt.org/files/BN%20-%20Jesus%27%20Third%20Way.pdf) Turning the other cheek was a challenge to the master who would abuse the slave.  Giving over your coat might leave you butt naked, but the whole community who was judging you is caused to confront their own sin.  And walking two miles instead of one will make the whole battalion of solders forcing you to do so, nervously expend their energy wondering what you might be up to.  For a full understanding of this read the linked article by Walter Wink.  

enemies

Friday February 25^th, Matthew 5: ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and all of humanity and called it good.  Since that time humanity has been trying to prove that they or their group was better than someone else or someone else’s group.  Ever since Cain and Able there have been enemies, and as a result, there has been sadness.  Christ calls us to love our enemies because they are more like us than we would like to admit, sharing the same DNA and the breath of God.  Enemies are a human construct.  Community and family of God, is a God construct.  And the God who created us and calls us good, loves us all.  

Perfect

Saturday February 26^th, Matthew 5: ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  Being perfect could be construed as doing your best to live as a child of God, basking in the grace of God.  It is not looking down on others or other tribes or other communities or faiths or nations; it is simply loving God and living as a part of God’s great creation call good.  Being nice to friends is easy.  Being nice to relatives a bit harder.  Being nice to enemies might be the hardest, but it brings you closer to God.  So be perfect, which means, live your life surrounded by the grace of God and try to see the world through God’s eyes.  Then perhaps you will hear the words that started this whole dissertation in Matthew 5, Blessed are you.  

10w for February 16th, Bread for life.

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 16th, Bread for life.   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: “The Well” by Casting Crowns from their album “Come to The Well”. You find this album and learn more about the group at their website: www.castingcrowns.com.

10w for February 16th, Inevitability

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 16th, Inevitability.   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: “Setting up the Pins” by Sara Groves from the album “The Collection”. You learn more about this album and the artist at her website: www.saragroves.com. 

 

Bread of Life

Jesus and Larry King discuss Jesus as the Bread of Life

Poem based on Matthew 5:21-37 Murder Adultery Divorce

I am just trying to get to worship

Packing the kids and all their things in the car

Rushing out the door at the last moment

And then some jerk

Some stupid jerk

Pulls out in front

Of ME

And goes

So

Slow

So

Slow

So

Slow

I could just kill him

(you have heard it said)

How do you expect me to keep this family together

Teach the children their lessons

(but I tell you)

Provide a good example

With jerks like that on the road

There ought to be a law

(leave your gift)

We need a bit more law and order around here

More laws

More cops

More prisons

To control

Others

(and reconcile)

I just can’t believe the stupid jerk

(and do not)

Has such a hot wife

I mean

(cause)

Hot

I can’t wait to see what little number

(others)

She is wearing today

No wonder I never

Hear

(to sin)

The sermon

Opening Litany based on Psalm 119:1-8

Worship Leader: Blessed is the one who is blameless and walks in the ways of the Lord.

Congregation: Blessed is the one who follows the word of the Lord and seeks the Lord with all their heart, for they do no wrong in following the ways of the Lord.

Worship Leader: You have laid down before us O Lord the way we are to go, and oh that I were strong in following your ways.

Congregation: Were I to live in your ways O Lord, I would never be put to shame.

Worship Leader: I will praise you O Lord as I learn of your ways.

Congregation: and with your help, I will walk in your ways my whole life long.

life well lived

Sunday February 16^th, Deuteronomy 30: ¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.   Isn’t everyday a day that is set before us with choices that may lead a little way down the path to death and destruction or a little way down the path to life and prosperity?  Then of course, we must define prosperity.  Is it an abundance of things or an abundance of love?  Each day God sets before us the opportunity to connect with God and with God’s people in a Kingdom way.  When we fail, we lose a little bit of our promise and what might have been.  You cannot measure it, but, if you search your heart and soul, you know it is gone.  What has the Lord set before you this day?  How will you bring the Kingdom to that encounter?  In what way will you grow from that experience?  The Kingdom is near,…. Go and announce it through your life well lived. 

you will pass it on

Monday February 19^th, Deuteronomy 30:  ¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.  When we choose life, it is not just we who come out ahead; it is our children and our children’s children.  I remember the first time I became aware of the multigenerational dimension of dysfunctional family systems, all of a sudden it came to me.  That horrible text in Exodus 20, “the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,” was not a mean vindictive God who just wanted to squash anyone who did not follow his ways; it was a loving God who was warning us of the consequences of our actions.   The shit we pull does not stop with us; it flows down, and down and down until someone breaks the chain of dysfunction.  One can only assume that the converse is also true and good flows down to the generations, to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren etc.  Amo Ergo Sum, I Love, therefore I am.

them is us

Tuesday February 18^th, 1 Corinthians 3:  ¹My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That's why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned. ²So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot, ³because you are not yet spiritual. You are jealous and argue with each other. This proves that you are not spiritual and that you are acting like the people of this world.  Not a common text for preachers in the US.  Especially not a common text for preachers in Suburbia US, where I am serving.  It is important to read the rest of the text to see what infantile behavior is being referred to.  Low and behold it is played out quite well in the US house and Senate.  But look just a bit further and we have a Pogo moment; we have met the enemy and he is us.  It has become common place to blame our congress for their infantile behavior.  It is all part of the FOX news and Reaganest plan to paint government as a “them” instead of an extension of us.   As a representative government, remember that any criticism of government, is by extension a criticism of you and I, the us of the world.  Perhaps if you do not like the infantile behavior of Congress, the ones who need to become a bit more adult are you and I, the ones who elected them in the first place.  Government is not a “them,” if it were perhaps it would behave a bit more mature.  Alas, it is merely an extension of us…  and we have met the enemy.  I read that here in Alaska the Koch Brothers are pumping lots of money into the elections.  I assume that as businessmen, it is because in the long run they will see the benefits of doing so.  What I find interesting is how that money equates to votes.  Just how easily can we be bought off?  What is the going price for your integrity today?

brass ring

Wednesday February 19^th, 1 Corinthians 3:     ⁴Some of you say that you follow me, and others claim to follow Apollos. Isn't that how ordinary people behave? ⁵Apollos and I are merely servants who helped you to have faith. It was the Lord who made it all happen. ⁶I planted the seeds, Apollos watered them, but God made them sprout and grow. ⁷What matters isn't those who planted or watered, but God who made the plants grow.  It all goes back to the garden and the desire to be like god, little “g.”  When will humanity give it up and claim the glory of being a servant of God, big “G?” With all the TV preachers and the Mega-Churches, a mile wide and an inch deep we do have to wonder.  And then we are forced to look at our churches and at our preaching and teaching….. do we give only milk?  Do we seek the theological or ecclesiastical brass ring of a full church and finances in the black?  Are we simply an extension of what Paul was warning us about?  If we are honest the answer is yes and no.  It is not a matter of perfection, it is a matter of trying to overcome our drive for perfection as designed by the business models of the world.  

murder

Thursday February 20^th, Matthew 5: Murder:  ²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.  You have heard it said, but I say to you….. How many of us, though we deny it to others, really resent others?  I personally find those who claim the tea party as their ideological base to be quite annoying.  My sister on the other hand, a proud member of the tea party, may find me, a democratic socialists a bit annoying.  Perhaps it is not our person, but our affiliations that are the problem.  As we identify ourselves as other than children of God, we all tend to be a bit annoying to someone, and yes even if we identify ourselves only as a child of God we are annoying to a few, but I will accept that that is their problem.  

seducing

Friday February 21^st, Matthew 5: Adultery: ²⁷ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery  ²⁸ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  What an interesting dilemma!!!   If I say I am attracted to beautiful women, I have committed adultery.  If I say I am attracted to beautiful men, I have committed adultery, (sorry fundamentalists, it really is nothing different than what you are all guilty of, whether you are male or female)  So perhaps the problem is not the “who” we are attracted to, but the “how” we are attracted to them.  As a heterosexual male, I must admit, I love beautiful women, which is why I married one.  Does that mean I do not lust after other beautiful women?  Perhaps I wish that might be true, but it would also mean I was dead.  Is not the same true for our LGBT brothers and sisters?   Perhaps the issue is how we create objects in our lives; The government is wrong not me, instead of the government as an extension of us, or; they are seducing me, instead of I do have a weakness for beautiful sexuality.  Perhaps the problem is not in the “them” but the “us.”  When we recognize that, we can move forward, though never perhaps totally beyond.  

to act brings death

Saturday February 22^nd, Matthew 5: Divorce:  ³¹ “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.  I hate the fact that I am divorced.  I hate the fact even more that I am divorced twice.  Death of a spouse seems much easier to deal with, there is a finality to it.  Divorce is ongoing pain.  Divorce is hell!!!!, let me say it again, Divorce is hell!!!!!!. The pain stops not at one generation, or even two.  It goes on and on and on until someone has the balls to stop the pain and break the cycle.  I would like to claim that I was the victim, and perhaps I could justify saying so, but it matters little, if at all, to the real victims, the children.  Knowing that, I would still recommend divorce in some cases.  Cases where the pain of staying together is greater than the pain of separating, but there is no doubt, it is pain, and it is real, and it is damaging.  Jesus was giving rights to the victims of divorce in this culture, the women.  Rights not being the same as the lack of pain.  The next time someone catches your eye, it may spark a bit of life, and that is OK… to act on it brings death to everyone involved.   

10w for February 9th, Holy Rest, Holy Healing, NL.

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 9th, Holy Rest, Holy Healing, NL.  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 today is a new setting of the hymn, “Love Devine, All Loves Excelling” written by Howard Goodall and performed by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.  It is found on the album, “Eternal Light” (C) 2008 EMI Records Ltd.   It is available in a MP3 format from Amazon found HERE
 

10w for February 9th, Salty Righteousness, Ep5.

The following is a 10 minute worship for February 9th, Salty Righteousness, Ep5. 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 today is a new setting of the hymn, “Love Devine, All Loves Excelling” written by Howard Goodall and performed by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.  It is found on the album, “Eternal Light” (C) 2008 EMI Records Ltd.   It is available in a MP3 format from Amazon found HERE
 

a little holy healing

Poem based on Matthew 5:13-20 Salt and Light

You are the blessed children of God

Blessed as the poor in spirit

Blessed as the meek

Blessed

As the children of God

Blessed

Now

Go

Be a blessing

(salt)

In this world

Let others know of the blessedness

(light)

Not only of your life

But more importantly

Thiers

Blessed

In spite of all the are

            Were

                        Will be

Going through

Let the shinning glory of the Savior

Shine

            Shine

                        Shine

To all those around you

Let them know that they are blessed

And called to live blessed

And called to pronounce blessing

And bring forth all the God flavors

            And God Colors

                        And God sounds

In this blessed world

Let it shine

Let it shine

Let it shine

Opening Litany based on Psalm 112

Pastor: Let us all Praise the LORD. 

Congregation: Those whose lives are steeped in awe of the Lord and who find delight in the ways of the Lord know that their lives are blessed.

Pastor: their children and the generations to come will be blessed by the lives of the righteous and will be considered great in the land. 

Congregation: They will live their lives knowing that true wealth and true riches surround them and that the righteousness of God will be with them forever. 

Pastor: they will live their lives blessed knowing that even in what seems like darkness, the light of God shines through the children of God who are gracious and compassionate. 

Congregation: Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely and who conduct their affairs with justice. 

Pastor: Surely their righteousness will never be shaken and they will be remembered for generations. 

Congregation: We too will live as the children of God and will have no fear of bad news; our hearts remaining steadfast, always trusting in the LORD. 

Pastor: with no fear, we will look to the Lord

Congregation: We will freely scattered our gifts to the poor, our righteousness will endure forever; and our horn will be lifted high in honor.

humbly

Sunday February 9^th, Isaiah 58: ¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.    Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. ² For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right a and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. ⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. ⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?   Perhaps today the self-righteous would cry, We have opposed abortion and supported gun rights so the gun manufacturers can make more, we have supported tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of everyone else, including ourselves, how much more humbling can we get?  What more do you want Lord?  Although what Isaiah describes is anything but humbling of the self, it is exerting your own self-interest above the needs of others, especially the least, lost and lonely.  Let us not be confused, abortion is not and never has had anything to do with God’s plan for the world, but then neither has subjugation of those who find themselves between a rock and a hard place to the draconian laws of the self-righteous. It seems no one has suggested that the father of the child is to be responsible for raising the child in addition to the costs involved with bearing the child and some compensation for the pain and suffering involved.  As someone who was a single father of three difficult children, I can begin to understand some of the difficulties faced by those who all too often find a hand across the face instead of a hand up.  But more important than raising difficult children is how one cares for the workers.  We worship capitalism in our country and the push by many is for the free market to do its magic.  In order to do its magic however it must ignore the needs of those who dedicate their lives to the cause to make this magic happen, the workers.  Shipping a job overseas is often seen as a financial decision.  In labeling it as such it ignores the tremendous cost to the families, children and communities involved.  Is this the kind of fast I have chosen?  That the chairman or CEO has his wage tripled while worker after worker finds their house upside down in the mortgage market and their job shipped overseas?  Is it not to loosen the chains of free market indifference and care for those who work for you?  Is it not to support those who have suffered so long to find a job after the rich you supported with your tax cuts have given them all away?  This is what the Lord requires of you, to show mercy, seek justice and walk humbly before your God.  

us

Monday February 10^th, Isaiah 58: Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, ¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Many followers of the tea party I have met have been very generous people.  They are kind, loving and caring.  Their Achilles heel is that they consider the government a “them” instead of a collective “us.” Their generosity extends to those they know personally, leaving the many, those unconnected, to fall through the cracks. In considering the government a them they can easily be bought off by the likes of the Koch brothers into believing they are helping one another by making things harder on everyone except their idols of wealth.  The reality is that in the current day and age, that in decreasing the power of the government, the collective us, we are increasing the power of the corporation which has great regard for profit and little regard for the “us” in this world.  Most in the tea party unknowingly find themselves working and fighting against themselves and their own self-interest.  Satin often works that way, alas, We have met the enemy and he is us.  

minister

Tuesday February 11^th, 1 Corinthians 2:  ¹ And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. It is not about me fixing things; it is about letting God into your life and letting God be the fixer in your life.  Many in the family of faith (members of the Church) feel awkward about ministering to others.  Often it is because they feel “they” need to be the preachers, the carrier of the words, rather than the ministers.  What we are called to do as the children of God is to simply “be” there.  You don’t have to say much, or even anything, you simply have to be there and let the spirit of God work through your presence, your touch, you hugs, and yes, sometimes even your words. Our call is not to fix, but rather to comfort. It is in weakness that you are most strong, because it is in your weakness that God is most strong.  So go, minister, and let the Spirit of God flow through you without the insistence and interference of You shining through.  It is not only easier, it is much more effective.