Dec. 27, 2015 Christmas I

John 1:14

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

 Christmas is past; and the celebration which begins earlier each year, will soon be over.  Yet Christmas is never over.  It never ends.  It is hidden in every day, every word, every deed of our lives.

As we celebrate the Word which became flesh and lived among us, we also celebrate the Word becoming flesh - our flesh - and living still in our midst.

We are to live our words and live The Word so that even our flesh becomes a presence of the God who became human and dwelt among us in Jesus.

For God’s living word - God’s best word to us - is seen before it is heard. felt before it is known, experienced before it is understood, lived before it can be spoken.
God became flesh and lived among us so we could best know God in the most human way possible.   And that is also how we share God - by living God’s word of love.

 “The most important question for me is not, ‘How do I touch people?’  but, ‘How do I live the word I am speaking?”  Henri Nouwen:

Indeed, Christmas is not just once a year.  It is never over.  It is yesterday, today, and forever, as the Word becomes flesh - in us -  and lives among us.
Indeed, Christmas is every day!












Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me keep Christmas all year long, with joy and thankfulness.”

Dec 20, 2015 Advent 4

Luke 1: 39-45

    39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Mary is called “blessed” because she allowed herself to be used as a blessing.  She humbly believed what the Lord said to her and let it be accomplished.

God needed Mary to do God’s will.  God couldn’t have done it, at that time, in that way, without Mary.

God needs us to do God’s will in our world.  As unbelievable as it sounds, there are some things God can not do at this time without us.  To follow God’s lead is to discover God’s blessing.  It comes in the doing, for blessing is a serendipity.  Something which happens in the process of surrendering to God’s will.  There will always be a blessing in doing God’s will.

“And Mary said:
 ‘My soul glorifies the Lord
 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has been mindful
 of the humble state of his servant.
 From now on all generations
will call me blessed,’”  Luke 1:46-48





Prayer thought for the day:  “Lord, what is it you cannot do without me?
Bless me that I might be a blessing and do what only I can do.”

Dec 16, 2012 Advent 3

Luke 3:7-18  (The Message)

7-9 When crowds of people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do, John exploded: “Brood of snakes! What do you think you’re doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God’s judgment? It’s your life that must change, not your skin. And don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’ Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it’s deadwood, it goes on the fire.”
10 The crowd asked him, “Then what are we supposed to do?”
11 “If you have two coats, give one away,” he said. “Do the same with your food.”
12 Tax men also came to be baptized and said, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He told them, “No more extortion—collect only what is required by law.”
14 Soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “No shakedowns, no blackmail—and be content with your rations.”

John got their attention.  He broke through their blindness, pricked their conscience, penetrated their hearts so they asked, ”What then shall we do?”

It is a question we must ask too, for it is never enough to talk the talk; we must walk the walk.  We must let God get to our hearts and change our way of being, or at best we are just sincere hypocrites, “honoring God with our lips while our hearts are far from God.”

And what is it we are to do?

We are to “To be authentic from the inside out”.  How?
We are to “Share… be fair…be kind.”
That’s it!  Simple yet profound.
A challenge which will lead us to repent often as we seek to live lives which
reflect something of God’s love.

"Three things in human
life are important.
The first is to be kind.
The second is to be kind.
And the third is to be kind."
Henry James








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me mindful that kindness is next to Godliness.  And being fair and sharing is too!

Dec 6, 2015 Advent 2

Luke 3:1-6
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar…the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

   “A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
   make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
   every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
   the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”


Our preparation for Christmas is distracted by the litany of commercialism and the litany of indulgence.  To offset this we need to “discern what is best” about this celebration by going deeper and deeper into the mystery which is Christmas.  This means we look for Christmas to happen in human acts of love wherein we also see “God’s salvation” in action.

This is what Advent is all about.  Discerning.  Getting ready!  When I am ready, I am more able to experience, more able to see.  Ironically, I can also be more spontaneous, more open to chance; call it planned spontaneity; prepared enough to be free to be spontaneous.

A song writer once said,  “Tunes simply pop into my head all the time.
But of course, your head has to be arranged to receive them!”

Are you getting ready to “see” Christmas?  To see it happen again and again hidden in happenings you never expected?  And celebrate the mystery of God’s love incarnate in human flesh?  This is what is coming!
Get ready for a surprise!










“Chance favors the
prepared mind.”
     Louis Pasteur,











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to not miss Christmas
as it comes over and over and over again, Your love incarnate in human flesh.”

Nov. 29, , 2015 Advent 1

Luke 21:25-28  (The Message)

25-26 “It will seem like all hell has broken loose—sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking.
27-28 “And then—then!—they’ll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style—a glorious welcome! When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!”

The issue of when Jesus is coming again is mute; it is a dead end street.
What is important today is not the content of our text, but the mood set by the text.  For our mood is vital to our relationships.

And the mood of our text is a “positive, joyful hope of redemption.”
Celebration - the mood of the Gospel!

There is great heresy in correct theology without correct mood.
The power of ”Jesus Christ Super Star” and “Godspell” is the mood they set.

To celebrate life at all times and in all places.  To see the good surrounded by the bad.  To be thankful when all is going wrong.  To be hopeful when all seems lost.  This is the mood of the Gospel.  This is the mood of Jesus.  Celebration of life, for it is good.

“We communicate best
when we celebrate most.”













Prayer thought for the week:  "Lord,  help me to be hopeful no matter what.  For it is all in your loving hands, and it will end up good."

November 22 2015 Christ the King Sunday

John 18:36 (The Message)

36 “My kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But I’m not that kind of king, not the world’s kind of king.”

Jesus kingdom is not of this world.  It is a kingdom where things are reversed in a strange yet powerful way.  The first are last and the last first.   The great are the lowly and the masters are the servants.  The little is much and the poor are rich.  The widows mite is much and the rich peoples much is little.

A Kingdom where money is not as important as love and relationships;  where nothing can happen which is beyond becoming a blessing, redeemed by God’s love.  It is a Kingdom which cannot be destroyed and will never end.

“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I (Napoleon Bonaparte) have built great empires. but upon what did they depend?  They depended on force.  But centuries ago Jesus started an empire that was built on love, and even today, millions will die for him.”






“All the armies that ever marched,
all the navies that ever sailed,
all the parliaments that ever sat,
all the kings that ever reigned,
put together have not affected
the life of man on this earth
as much as the one who was born
to be a king...of another kingdom.”
Author unknown







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, may your Kingdom indeed come on earth, and help me to be a part of it.”

November 15, 2015 25th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 13:1-8 (The Message)

 “As he walked away from the Temple, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at that stonework! Those buildings!”
2 Jesus said, “You’re impressed by this grandiose architecture? There’s not a stone in the whole works that is not going to end up in a heap of rubble.”
3-4 Later, as he was sitting on Mount Olives in full view of the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew got him off by himself and asked, “Tell us, when is this going to happen? What sign will we get that things are coming to a head?”
5-8 Jesus began, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When you hear of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history, and no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. But these things are nothing compared to what’s coming.”

Let me pass on to you these words from David F. Watson, New Testament professor at Union Seminary, Dayton, Ohio.

“These are complex (words), deeply rooted in Old Testament language, history and theology.  Yet, despite the difficulties that they present, they are also powerful (words) that teach us not to follow false messiahs and prophets.  The dangers of overzealous nationalism and reactionary violence are clear in this  passage.  Violence begets violence.  (Amen to that!)  Followers of Jesus are to trust in God’s providential care even if the world around them seems to be falling apart before their eyes.”

And that takes a lot of faith courage!
All that we know is that Jesus will be there at the end and no matter what, it will be good!  So watch, keep awake, stay alert, and don’t worry about it!

"Concerning that day or hour
nobody knows.”
Mark 13:32











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to live today with love and kindness, not worrying about the end which is in your hands and will be good.”

November 8, 2015 24th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 12:41-44 The Message

41-44 Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. One poor widow came up and put in two small coins—a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.”

The story of the poor widow reminds us that we are called to live and give beyond our means.  We can give even out of our needs and all will be well.

Fear of not having enough makes it hard for us to hear and believe that giving is so important.  We should do it even when we can’t afford to do it.  It is the greatest joy in life, whether we have little or much.  To give much because we have been given much, we have been loved much.

She was in the hospital, dying.  She had lived a simple life; devout wife, faithful church worker, loyal friend.  She hadn’t asked for much and she was happy with what she had.
I stopped to see her and she asked me to get her purse out of the closet.  She opened it and gave me some bills.  Later I discovered that it was over $400, probably close to all she had.

Then I remembered the look of joy in her eye as she gave me the money and said,  “use it in the church.“

When she died all she had was auctioned off and added to this as a memorial to spread God’s love in our lives.  It wasn’t much but it was all she had.  And it was given with joy!






"That which is given away is not wasted."
City of Joy










Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, make me thankful and generous.
Then my faith will indeed be ‘active in love’.”

Nov. 1, 2015 All Saints Sunday

Matthew 5:1-12

1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
    He said:
   3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
   for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
   for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
   for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
   for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
   for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
   for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
   11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


Most of us do not consider ourselves to be saints.  In fact, it is almost an insult to be called a saint.  It means you are not in touch with real life.  As the agnostic Robert Ingersoll describes, you are someone who is “...not quite sick enough to die nor healthy enough to be wicked.”

This is a gross contradiction!  A saint is someone who is very human and very much alive.

 A saint is someone who wants much out of life but refuses to crush life to get it.
Who is passionate enough to not hurt others as he/she drinks deeply of life.

A saint is someone who dares to live as a human with an eye towards heaven.
Who can be “poor in spirit” because he/she doesn’t have to pretend.
Who can be “meek” because he/she doesn’t have to always be right.
Who can be” merciful” because he/she doesn’t have to judge others.
Who can “hunger and thirst after righteousness” because he/she doesn’t have to have all the answers all the time.

A saint is a very human person who can “rejoice and be glad” amidst persecution, suffering, grief or pain because he/she lives on earth with an eye on heaven; and the love of God which comes from above.





“I am not a saint,
unless you think of a saint
as a sinner who keeps on trying.”
           Nelson Mandela







Prayer thought for the week:  "Lord, help me live as a human with an eye towards heaven."
                                               

October 25, 2015 Reformation Sunday

John 8:36  (The Promise)

“36 So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.”

To be set free is not to be able to do what ever I want to do when ever I want to do it.  To be free is to be a different person than I was, with a heart open to being willing to forgive;  willing to encourage;  willing to help;  willing to be a servant of compassion in a world of hate, bringing light in the darkness.

To be set free by the love of God is to become, as Luther once said, “Little Christ’s” who go about doing good, not because this is the way to earn heaven but because this is the way to show that we are free from the fear of losing heaven and to show not only that we love God, but that God first loved us!

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, let your light shine through me;  set me  free to love!”

October 18, 2015 21st Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 10:23-31  (The Message)

23 Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who 'have it all' to enter God's kingdom?" 24 The disciples couldn't believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: "You can't imagine how difficult. 25 I'd say it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for the rich to get into God's kingdom." 26 That set the disciples back on their heels. "Then who has any chance at all?" they asked. 27 Jesus was blunt: "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.

Having it all - and we all have much more then we need - makes it difficult to say I need help, I need something money can’t buy.  I need to be saved.  I need the grace of God.
We are so used to being in control that we find it difficult to “let go and let God.”  Yet that is the key not only to the AA way of life but to the life of faith.  It is hard to see how poor we are when we have so much that hides this truth from us.

As  Rudyard Kipling said to a graduating class of medical students.

“You’ll go out from here and very likely make a lot of money.  One day you’ll meet someone for whom that means very little.  Then you will know how poor you are.”

“Let go and let God!”  is more then a nice cliche;  it is a way of life which opens the doors of the Kingdom of God to us.  It is the way in - for all!




!

“The problem is not that we’ve tried faith
and found it wanting,
but that we’ve tried mammon
and found it addictive.”
Arthur Simon,
    Founder of Bread for the World









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to not become addicted to things money can buy,
and miss out on what money cannot buy…the grace which is free and the love which is eternal,
and the happiness born of faith, hope and love.”

October 11, 2015 20th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 10:17-22 (The Message)

17 As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?" 18 Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. 19 You know the commandments: Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother." 20 He said, "Teacher, I have - from my youth - kept them all!" 21 Jesus looked him hard in the eye - and loved him! He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me." 22 The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.


What is going on in this story is a battle of the wills, not just the pocketbook.  A confrontation with addiction and a call to surrender.  It is your story and mine!

The question is sincere for the man is sincere.  But he wanted to be in control.  He wanted to do it his way.  “Just tell me and I’ll do it!” might well be a correct paraphrase of his dialogue with Jesus.

Jesus loved him.  What follows comes out of love not judgment.  He enters the man’s life at the one place where he does not want God to be, the one place he does not want to surrender.

This is always where God seeks entrance into our lives.  For until we surrender where we least want to surrender, we are still in control and doing it our way.  We are still seeking to be saved by good works rather than grace.  We have to reach the place where we know we can do nothing, then God can do everything.






“By grace we are saved, not works!  Let go and let God!
"








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord help me to surrender what I most want to keep and accept Your love as enough…enough to make the journey joyful beyond measure.”

October 4, 2015 19th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 10:13-16  (The Message)
13 The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. 14 The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. 15 Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." 16 Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.

The Kingdom of God is ours as a gift - all we have to do is accept it,
openly, freely, confidently, joyfully, like a child.

It isn’t difficult for a child to accept a gift - it is a natural response, often with joy.  The child doesn’t think about deserving the gift; the child just accepts the gift.

A child also has a great capacity to trust.  When we trust we believe the offer of a gift, and  accept the gift without thought to why or how or why me?  The gift doesn’t depend on me.  It is freely given out of love; like a child I can accept  it, in love.  And live in confidence knowing no matter what, I am loved!

Prayer thought for the week:
“Lord, keep me mindful today and every day
that I am loved as a child and can trust in
your never ending grace.”

September 27, 2015, 18th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 9:38-41  (The Message)

38 John spoke up, "Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn't in our group." 39 Jesus wasn't pleased. "Don't stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath cut me down. 40 If he's not an enemy, he's an ally. 41 Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice.

No one can bottle God up and keep God contained.  God manifests God’s self in unexpected places and people;  God’s spirit blows where it will and we know not where it comes from or where it goes.

Any effort on our part to try contain God is futile.  God is with those who know not God as well as those who claim to be for God.  In fact, they may well be some of God’s best servants!

This is part of the mystery and miracle of God’s spirit at work in our world.  We can be astonished by the irregularity of God.  It is not ours to judge others; it is ours to recognize the love of Jesus at work where ever it happens in whom ever it comes.


 

“It has been my experience that what
 makes us the saints of  God is not our
ability to be saintly but rather God’s
ability to work through sinners.”
         Nadia Bolz-Weber











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to remember that there is something of Scrooge in me too, and you can still use me in ways beyond my daring to believe.”

September 20, 2015 17h Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 9:33-35 (The Message)

33 They came to Capernaum. When he was safe at home, he (Jesus) asked them, "What were you discussing on the road?" 34 The silence was deafening - they had been arguing with one another over who among them was greatest. 35 He sat down and summoned the Twelve. "So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all."

 We all have a desire hidden within us to be a celebrity.  We would like to do our thing in a big way.  Yet it is as a servant that we have been called, to do our thing in a small way, often unnoticed but by God, and maybe those who are on the receiving end of our serving.

We are called to be servants and to get lost in doing good, without keeping score.  

To be a servant is to place oneself last and not worry about what I am going to get out of it.
It is to be like Jesus who “did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.”
Phil. 2:6,7

Prayer thought for the week:  "Lord, help me to get myself out of the center of life so
I can be a servant, with you at the center."

Sept. 13, 2015 16th Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 9:14-29  (The Message)

14 When they came back down the mountain to the other disciples, they saw a huge crowd around them, and the religion scholars cross-examining them. 15 As soon as the people in the crowd saw Jesus, admiring excitement stirred them. They ran and greeted him. 16 He asked, "What's going on? What's all the commotion?" 17 A man out of the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought my mute son, made speechless by a demon, to you. 18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and goes stiff as a board. I told your disciples, hoping they could deliver him, but they couldn't." 19 Jesus said, "What a generation! No sense of God! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here." 20 They brought him. When the demon saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a seizure, causing him to writhe on the ground and foam at the mouth. 21 He asked the boy's father, "How long has this been going on?" 22 Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!" 23 Jesus said, "If? There are no 'ifs' among believers. Anything can happen." 24 No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, "Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!" 25 Seeing that the crowd was forming fast, Jesus gave the vile spirit its marching orders: "Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you - Out of him, and stay out!" 26 Screaming, and with much thrashing about, it left. The boy was pale as a corpse, so people started saying, "He's dead." 27 But Jesus, taking his hand, raised him. The boy stood up.

This is one of my favorite confessions in the New Testament:  the farther of the boy who says honestly, out of the depths of his heart, “I believe; help mine unbelief!”

It’s like it is too much to swallow so fast yet it is so vital to his deepest needs that he lets Jesus know that he does have faith, even though he still has questions.

Don’t we all!

Faith is always accompanied by doubt, questioning, wondering, speculating, even uncertainty.
Contrary to the Message translation of the text, there are “ifs’” among believers.  That’s being human which is something none of us can shake.

I think this is the most honest expression of faith in the New Testament!  And much more true to the human condition then blind certainty can ever be.  Listen to these words from Ellie Wiesel, who lived through the fanaticism of the Holocaust born of the blind belief in the superiority of the Arian race.

 “I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God....My experience is that the fanatic hides from true debate...He is afraid of pluralism and diversity; he abhors learning.  He knows how to speak in monologues only...The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests....A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations,(and ) as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it, (it’s) ‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty’.”
                                               Parade Magazine, April 19,1992

Something to wonder about as we wander out under the stars.




‘Madness is the result not of uncertainty
but certainty’.” Friedrich Nietzsche








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, I believe….with lots of uncertainty.  With the leap of faith (and love) I confess more then I can ever understand or be certain about.  Walk with me and love me with all my uncertainties.”

September 6 2015 15th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 7:31-37  (The Message)

31 Then he left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Ten Towns. 32 Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him. 33 He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man's ears and some spit on the man's tongue. 34 Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, "Ephphatha! - Open up!" 35 And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain - just like that. 36 Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more, 37 beside themselves with excitement. "He's done it all and done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless."

They couldn’t keep quiet about it; but they didn’t say all there was to say..

They missed the most important point - that these miracles, as with all miracles, means that salvation has come to our earth!  God has come to dwell with us in human from, in the man Jesus to heal ALL our infirmities, not just of the body but of the spirit as well!

There is a healing and a wholeness which is deeper then the physical.  He has come that all might be saved (be made whole from within) and come to the knowledge of the truth.

To be so saved is to be open to God’s love moving in our lives and through our lives into our world.  It  is to be able to smile, no matter what, and to be a beautiful, healing person for others.  Physical handicaps cannot keep a ‘whole person’ down.  They simply radiate joy and love, and bring healing into living.  This is Christ in us, the love of God making us whole!

“It isn't easy, but I believe that God
is in all of this.  With every obstacle,
a way has opened up to provide what
I have needed through this entire ordeal.
God keeps amazing me! “
                 A cancer patient







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to see your love in all that happens to me, not always in ways  I like, but in ways which keep amazing me.”

Aug 30, 2015 14th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 7:6,7

6 He (Jesus) replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites;
as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips, 
  
          but their hearts are far from me. 

          7 They worship me in vain; 
  
          their teachings are merely human rules.’"


No one sets out to be a hypocrite.  We too easily become one when we let our greed, jealousy, pride, folly keep us from being congruent from the inside out.

Maybe the best way to be religious is to not try to be religious.  Be spiritual! Open, loving, sensitive, kind, gentle, compassionate, etc.  To be religious is to be a warm caring human being who lifts life up for others.  It is to have a secret - God loves me and everyone - and it is to live out that secret in the ordinary affairs of life.





A man once said to Mother Teresa,
“I wouldn’t do what you do for a million dollars.”
To which she replied, “Neither would I,
but I will for the love of God!”










Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to not be so heavenly minded (religious)
that I am no earthly good.  Give me strength to live what I believe -
and help me to believe that You love me and everyone.”

Aug 23, 2015 13th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 7:1-8 (The Message)

1 The Pharisees, along with some religion scholars who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around him. 2 They noticed that some of his disciples weren't being careful with ritual washings before meals. 3 The Pharisees - Jews in general, in fact - would never eat a meal without going through the motions of a ritual hand-washing, 4 with an especially vigorous scrubbing if they had just come from the market (to say nothing of the scourings they'd give jugs and pots and pans). 5 The Pharisees and religion scholars asked, "Why do your disciples flout the rules, showing up at meals without washing their hands?" 6 Jesus answered, "Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull's-eye in fact: These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn't in it. 7 They act like they are worshiping me, but they don't mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy, 8 Ditching God's command and taking up the latest fads."

“The most apparent meaning of this (text) could be summarized as a criticism of surface things and a call for deep things.” (Source unknown)

Religion is not meant to be something we play at; it is not meant to be superficial, mechanical, ritualistic. It is meant to be something which comes from the heart - a heart touched by the love and grace of God.
Observing the traditions of the elders is not what is important.
Living as one who has been touched by the love of God is.

We have enough religion
to make us hate,
but not enough to make
us love one another."
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)



Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to not be so heavenly minded (religious) that I am no earthly good.  Help me to love, even when it flies against my religious certainties.”

August 16 2015 12th Sunday After Pentecost

John 6:51-58  (The Message)

51 I am the Bread - living Bread! - who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live - and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self." 52 At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: "How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?" 53 But Jesus didn't give an inch. "Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. 54 The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. 55 My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. 57 In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. 58 This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always."

This is a troublesome text.  As one theologian said of it -
“The language in this text is raw and probably ought to shock our sensibilities.”

What ever we do with these words, we dare not take them literal - for then we will miss the point of what Jesus is saying - as is often the case when the Bible is take literally.  We end up with a distorted, disconnected message which leads to distorted and disconnected living.

So what is it Jesus is trying to say to us today?

Robert Kyser, a Biblical scholar of today makes a good point as to what Jesus might be getting at here, in his book “Preaching John”.  He suggests that Jesus is telling the hearers that they literally need to take Jesus into themselves, make him “part of their essence”

Too which another theologian, adds:  “No arm’s-length relationship here, no safe distance between us.  As (those) who long for the abundant life, we have no other way to such a life except by taking Jesus in, having him become so intermingled with our own being that we cannot separate one from the other. “  Adele Resmer

Then we will no longer be able to live indifferent to the urging of the spirit to place faith, hope, and love at the center of our living and let nothing push in aside.







Faith is  “a power and passion in authority
 among the powers and passions of life”
P.T. Forsythe,














Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to be passionate about faith and life, empowered by your love to do good no matter what.”

August 9, 2015 11th Sunday After Pentecost

John 6:35,36,41,42 (The Message)

35 Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. 36 I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don't really believe me…. 41 At this, because he said, "I am the Bread that came down from heaven," the Jews started arguing over him: 42 "Isn't this the son of Joseph? Don't we know his father? Don't we know his mother? How can he now say, 'I came down out of heaven' and expect anyone to believe him?"

Jesus was too human for the people of his day.  He was Joseph’s son who lived in their midst.  He was too human, too real, too common for them to believe he was God’s Son.

We also struggle with things of God being too human.  The truth is, the most spiritual (God like) things we can do are often the most human.  We dare not be afraid to be human for that is the essence of what it means to be spiritual (eat of the Bread of Life).

Every time we touch intimately, lovingly, compassionately in the midst of the pain and joy of being human, God is there with life giving bread to impart eternal life.  This is how human God is!

”To be human is to be spiritual;
to be spiritual is to be human.”
Ron Hinriichs








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, you created me ‘human’, with your spark of life
in me.  Help me to discover the joy of being human.  And discover how spiritual it is
to lovingly bring joy to others in our human journey. “

Aug. 2, 2015 10th Sunday After Pentecost

John 6:26,27  (The Message)

26 Jesus answered, "You've come looking for me not because you saw God in my actions but because I fed you, filled your stomachs - and for free. 27 "Don't waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last."


The people in our text were looking for the easy way out.  They had a free meal (the feeding of the 5000) and they wanted a free meal;  a life without difficulty, pain, suffering.  They came to Jesus for the wrong thing.

They wanted Jesus “not because (they) saw signs, but because (they) ate their fill of the loaves.”

They wanted Jesus for the wrong reason - and so often do we.
We come not because we want to be “renewed in our spirit”.    We come because we want to have our bases covered. We want Jesus as an insurance policy against bad things happening to us.

But this is not how it is with Jesus.  God did not send Jesus to dwell among us so life could be a bed of roses.  God sent Jesus to dwell among us so that life could be different - strangely, powerfully, eternally different!  For strange as it may sound it is true:  “The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.”





“I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.”
                         Jesus











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, feed me with your eternal love so I never hunger or thirst no more, ever.”

July 26, 2015 9th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 6:53-56  (The Message)

53 They beached the boat at Gennesaret and tied up at the landing. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, word got around fast. 55 People ran this way and that, bringing their sick on stretchers to where they heard he was. 56 Wherever he went, village or town or country crossroads, they brought their sick to the marketplace and begged him to let them touch the edge of his coat - that's all. And whoever touched him became well.

Jesus did heal.  Miracles did and do happen.  But they are not always obvious, because some times they happen in a different way.

“A miraculous healing of a physical illness is wonderful. But even more impressive … is the way God's grace gives some people the courage to live creatively, and even joyously, within their suffering. The profound faith of those who live with crippling affliction or disease-ridden bodies does not look spectacular to many. But their confidence in God and love for others are as beautiful a miracle as any physical one you're apt to ever see.”
Peter W. Marty





"There are two ways to live:
you can Iive as if nothing is
a miracle; you can Iive as if
everything is a miracle."
            Albert Einstein







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, sometimes it seems that miracles never happen.
Help me to see the miracles that do happen, even though they seem hidden.”

July 19, 2015 8th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 6:30-32  (The Message)

30 The apostles then rendezvoused with Jesus and reported on all that they had done and taught. 31 Jesus said, "Come off by yourselves; let's take a break and get a little rest." For there was constant coming and going. They didn't even have time to eat. 32 So they got in the boat and went off to a remote place by themselves.

We need to spend time alone so we can truly be with others in compassion.
Alone time feeds our souls; energizes us; fills us; renews us.
If I don’t take time for myself; I don’t have much to give you either.

For as Henri Nouwen writes in “The Way Of The Heart”,

“Compassion is the fruit of solitude and the basis of all ministry. …(for)
solitude molds self-righteous persons into gentle, caring, forgiving persons who are so deeply convinced of their own sinfulness and so fully aware of God's even greater mercy that their whole lives become ministry.”
 pp. 20,22




“Compassion is the fruit of
solitude…”  Henri  Nouwen










Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to find some “time alone” in my busy week,  so I can hear your “still small voice” and be more loving when busy.”

July 12, 2015 7th Sunday After Pentecost

Amos 5:21-24  (The Message)

21 "I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. 22 I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. 23 I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? 24 Do you know what I want? I want justice - oceans of it. I want fairness - rivers of it. That's what I want. That's all I want.

Amos’ words had a bite to them which left him less than popular.
He spoke the truth no matter how much it hurt.  He didn’t do it to get rich; he had a sense of calling and mission.  He did it because the Spirit of God compelled him to do it!  And he was asked to “go away to the land of Judah”…to get out of the country lest he disturb the comfortable.

God interrupted his life and compelled him to speak a word of truth.

We need a prophet like Amos today, lest we are lulled to sleep in our idolatries and injustices!  We need to be confronted with the evil in our midst - even in our lives - lest we are deceived into thinking that we know God’s will for all things and know what is best for all people.






It’s hard do be humble, and to face the truth of our own prejudices, hypocrisy, self-righteousness.  Yet it is only as we do that the Word of God transforms our lives and turns us into instruments of grace in a world of hate.








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me humble so I don’t miss opportunities for grace in a far from perfect world.  Help me remember that I need grace first, last, and always.”

July 5, 2015 6th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 6:1-6  (The Message)

1 He left there and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. 2 On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. "We had no idea he was this good!" they said. "How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?" 3 But in the next breath they were cutting him down: "He's just a carpenter - Mary's boy. We've known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. (And they took offense at him.)  Who does he think he is?" They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further. 4 Jesus told them, "A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child." 5 Jesus wasn't able to do much of anything there - he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that's all. 6 He couldn't get over their stubbornness.”


When God comes to us in too human a way (Jesus) and challenges us to change our ways, we too “take offense at Him”.
We like to keep God boxed up in our rituals where we are in control.
But God will not let us do that.  God is not a rabbits foot, a good luck charm, an easy way out of the difficulties of life.
God desires to enter into the changes and chances of life with us, and there make a difference,
not by offering new power or easy answers which eliminates all the bad and protects us from suffering, but offering a power make perfect in weakness - the power of love…of grace which is sufficient for all our needs.

                                                                                                                             
“God desires to enter into the changes
and chances of life and make a difference”









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, be with me in the ‘changes and chances’ of this week and
help me make a difference in someone’s life.”

June 28, 2015 5th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 5:22-34 (The Message)

22 One of the meeting-place leaders named Jairus came. When he saw Jesus, he fell to his knees, 23 beside himself as he begged, "My dear daughter is at death's door. Come and lay hands on her so she will get well and live." 24 Jesus went with him, the whole crowd tagging along, pushing and jostling him. 25 A woman who had suffered a condition of hemorrhaging for twelve years - 26 a long succession of physicians had treated her, and treated her badly, taking all her money and leaving her worse off than before - 27 had heard about Jesus. She slipped in from behind and touched his robe. 28 She was thinking to herself, "If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well." 29 The moment she did it, the flow of blood dried up. She could feel the change and knew her plague was over and done with. 30 At the same moment, Jesus felt energy discharging from him. He turned around to the crowd and asked, "Who touched my robe?" 31 His disciples said, "What are you talking about? With this crowd pushing and jostling you, you're asking, 'Who touched me?' Dozens have touched you!" 32 But he went on asking, looking around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before him, and gave him the whole story. 34 Jesus said to her, "Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you're healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague."

It is easy, with a text like today's, to make faith something magic rather than deeply human.
The power to heal was not in Jesus garment.  It was hidden someplace in what happened between the woman and Jesus.  Had she not reached out, she would have never known this healing.  Had she not risked doing what was both forbidden and scary, as well as a bit selfish, nothing would have happened.

Miracles happen when we believe in them enough to make them happen.  This doesn’t mean we create the miracle;  it could mean that we have something to do with being open to the possibility of a miracle happening in our lives.  The miracle begins and ends with God, yet it also includes us.  We have to want it bad enough to even risk doing what is forbidden to get it!

Don’t wait for God to create a miracle for you and lay it at your feet.  Create the possibility of a miracle and lay it at God’s feet.  This is what faith dares to do!  It dares to believe that God can and will make miracles out of our efforts.  God will create the miracle of reconciliation as we open our hearts and mind to being reconciling.  God will create the miracle of forgiveness as we confess and become forgiving.  This in no way diminishes God’s power.  It makes God even more real, and intimate.  Not a magician who does things we cannot do; but a Friend who walks with us and enables miracles to happen.




Miracles are impossible                                                            
things that happen anyway.”  
Lin Jennewein

                                                                             













Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me be a miracle this week.
Keep me open to the impossible happening in, for, and through me.”

June 21, 2015 4th Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 4:35-41  (The Message)

35 Late that day he said to them, "Let's go across to the other side." 36 They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. 37 A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. 38 And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, "Teacher, is it nothing to you that we're going down?" 39 Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, "Quiet! Settle down!" The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. 40 Jesus reprimanded the disciples: "Why are you such cowards? Don't you have any faith at all?" 41 They were in absolute awe, staggered. "Who is this, anyway?" they asked. "Wind and sea at his beck and call!"

We look for signs of God caring for us by how God uses his power for us - in miraculous ways.  Perhaps we need to look again at how God cares for us, not in miracles, but in the miracle of our faith.

What if the disciples had fought the storm rather then wake Jesus, trusting that they could do it? What if they had made the miracle happen (getting through the storm) by trusting that Jesus did care about them and trusting their own God given strength to overcome?  It would still have been a miracle!

This is not to diminish the uniqueness of what Jesus did; and the sign it is for who he is!
It is to say that there are miracles of God in the ordinary, not just the extraordinary things of life.

Jesus calls for the faith which empowers one to believe strong enough to create one’s own miracle, by not letting fear immobilize and paralyze; by daring to believe against all odds that God is for us, not against us. always!
Don’t wait for God to do it for you.  Ask God to do it with you and see what miracles can be created when you dare to believe that asleep or awake, God does care for you.

There are miracles of God
in the ordinary, not just the
extraordinary things of life.










Prayer though for the week:  “Lord, help me be a miracle this week, in ordinary ways which help get through the storms of life.”

June 14, 2015 3rd Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 4:30-32  (The Message)

30 "How can we picture God's kingdom? What kind of story can we use? 31 It's like a pine nut. When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go, 32 yet once it is planted it grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches. Eagles nest in it.”

The Kingdom of God seems terribly insignificant and insufficient in the affairs of the world, yet it has the dynamic that can make the difference even in our world.

That dynamic is the love of God as known in Jesus Christ.  A love which is individual and universal.  “If Christianity doesn’t begin with the individual it doesn’t begin; but if it ends with the individual, it ends.”

The parable of the “pine nut” (mustard) seed reminds us that God often works God’s purposes out through the insignificant.  In the Kingdom of God, it is not bigness which counts, but making a difference in someone’s life.



"All gestures of love,
however small they be,
in favor of the poor and
the unwanted, are
important to Jesus."
     Mother Teresa






Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, it sometimes seems like it is too small to make a difference -my smile, my kind word, my gift.  Help me remember
that no matter how small, it counts in your eyes, and makes a difference.”

June 7, 2015 2nd Sunday After Pentecost

Mark 3:24-26  (The Message)

“24-26 A constantly squabbling family disintegrates. If Satan were fighting Satan, there soon wouldn't be any Satan left.”

Revised Standard Version
“24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

A divided Kingdom is sure to fail.  A true Kingdom is one where all are brothers and sisters.

Dare we say it?  Jesus words regarding a divided kingdom remind us of what is happening in our country and world right now.  This is no way to live in our earthly kingdom and it no way to live in the Kingdom of God.

We are called to live in harmony, letting the spirit of goodness, mercy and respect lead us to decisions which must be made for the good of all.  For we are family!  And only as we live as family will we be able to stand, and standing,  be a blessing to others.






“Hatred paralyzes life;
love releases it.
Hatred confuses life;
love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life;
love illumines it.”
Martin Luther King










Prayer thought for the week:  "Lord, help me to live as part of one family and be a blessing."

May 31, 2015 Trinity Sunday

John 3:1-8  (The Message)

1 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. 2 Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it." 3 Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to - to God's kingdom." 4 "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?" 5 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation - the 'wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life - it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. 6 When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch - the Spirit - and becomes a living spirit. 7 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above' - out of this world, so to speak. 8 You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.

"Nicodemus wanted to believe Jesus,
but his head got in the way of his heart.

His heart said, “Go for it!”
“Follow Him!”
“This is the One!”
but his head asked, “How can these things be?”

He tried his best but he couldn't figure Jesus out.
Not yet anyway.  He did become a secret believer and he was with Joseph of Arimathea when Jesus body was buried.  But today he is wondering what it is all about, and asking “How can these things be?”

 How can it be that we have to be born again...and again...and again...and again?
Born from above;  of the Spirit;  of the one God sent?

It can be because we do not make it be.  God does!
And because we never get it all at the first time, or the second, or third.
We have to be born many times, over and over again as it slowly sinks in that God’s “love never ends and dazzling grace always is’.  And it is for all!  All!
In religion, Issues of the heart are deeper and more powerful than of the head.  We don’t think our way into faith;  we are captured by that which penetrates into the depths of our souls and there creates peace, joy, love, and hope, enabling us to say, “Lord I believe;  help mine  unbelief.”

It was with the heart more than the head that the unknown person spoke when it was written on the wall of a cellar in Cologne Germany during World War II -



“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining.
I believe in love,
even when I feel it not.
I believe in God,
even when He is silent.”
                  Unknown











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, let my heart take me where my head cannot go.  And believe against all odds!”

May 24, 2015 The Day Of Pentecost

John 15:26-27
26 "When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes - the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father - he will confirm everything about me. 27 You, too, from your side must give your confirming evidence, since you are in this with me from the start.”

The Holy Spirit is about power.  Power to believe; power to show mercy and kindness; power to live in hope.  Power to change and be changed.  It is an energizing power.

God gives us his Spirit to be creatively alive, creatively different (sometimes disturbingly so) and creatively compassionate.

This is what is needed in our world today - revolutionary and redemptive activity!

Forging a new humanity in Jesus name.
A humanity which erases distinctions between people. which regards none from the human point of view, but Jesus’ point of view where forgiveness is paramount.



“To think of changing the world
by changing the people in it
may be an act of great faith;
to talk of changing the world
without changing the people
in it is an act of lunacy.”
Lord Eustace Percy








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, empower me with your Spirit that I might be creatively compassionate in all…yes all…that I do.  And forgive me when I am not, so I can try again.”

May 17, 2015 Seventh Sunday of Easter

John 17:14-19  (The Message)

14 I (Jesus) gave them(the disciples) your word; The godless world hated them because of it, Because they didn't join the world's ways, 15 Just as I didn't join the world's ways. I'm not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One. 16 They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world. 17 Make them holy - consecrated - with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. 18 In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. 19 I'm consecrating myself for their sakes So they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

Prepositions are important little words.  They hold the big words together and give them direction.  i.e. “…that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the face of the earth.”

We are called to be IN the world but not OF the world.  This does not mean we negate the world, have no fun, know no joy. It means we have a different perspective by which we see the world.  It means we are being consecrated in the truth that God loves us, calls us, challenges us to live so that in all we say and do something of God’s love is present.




"Let us astound them,
before all words,
by our way of life."

John Chrysostom, 4th century







Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, make my life astounding…to others.”

May 10, 2015 Sixth Sunday of Easter

John 15:9, 12-15, 17  (The Message)
9 "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love…12 This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you.  13 This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. 14 You are my friends when you do the things I command you. 15 I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father… 17 "But remember the root command: Love one another.

God is love.  This is the first, the last, and the best we can say about God.  This is the bedrock of our faith.  This is enough to live on and enough to die on.
Alan Jones, in “Soul Making” has a chapter titled “Love: God’s Wild Card.”
Here are a couple of quotes from that chapter.

“All I know is that love of some kind has got hold of me and will not let me go.  That is why I describe myself as a believer and put up with the embarrassment of being seen in some dreadful company.  And I am grateful for the many people (both friends and strangers) who don’t mind being seen with me!”  p. 127

“I began to happen in a new way (my soul comes to life) when someone says, ‘Alan, sometimes you’re a mess, often your infuriating, and I love you!’  The soul cannot breath when a persons says, ‘there are some problems we have to iron out - in fact, you’re the major one - before I can tell whether I love you or not.’”  p. 134

God is love.  And God’s love is unconditional.  It is always waiting for us to open our hearts and let it have at us.  Then we also can love one another in a powerful and life giving way.

“God is love.
This is the first, the last,
and the best we can say
about God.”











Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, let your love fill my heart and be expressed in my deeds.”

May 3, 2015 Fifth Sunday of Easter

John 15:1-5  (The Message)

1 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. 2 He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. 3 You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. 4 "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. 5 "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant.

There is no doubt about it; by our fruits we are known.  Actions speak louder than words. Believing and doing always go together.  For “demand is laid on us the same moment grace meets us.”

Good fruit is a natural part of being “in Christ”.  When we remain in Him good things will come from our living.  For the fruit of the spirit - the fruit of His love and energy - will flow through us and enrich the lives of others.

“It is no use walking any where
to preach unless our walking
is our preaching.”
St. Francis of Assisi

Prayer thought for the week:  "Lord, may good things come from my living this week.  Let your energy of love move my heart and hands to do good, something which enables someone else to smile and be glad."

April 26, 2015 Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:14  (The Message)

14 "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me.

Life is not discovered in things, objects and possessions; life is discovered in all its fullness in being known and in knowing, in relationships!

Herman Wouk, author of “The Caine Mutiny” wrote after his seeming success in finding the fullness of life,
“It was my lot to reach quite young what many people consider
the dream life of America:  success by my own efforts,
a stream of dollars to spend, a penthouse in New York,
forays to Hollywood, the companionship of pretty women,
all before l was 24.  There I was in the realms of gold.
But even as I lived this conventional smart existence
of inner show business and dreamed the conventional dreams,
IT ALL SEEMED THIN.”           (Sept, 21, 1959, Time Magazine)

Life is relationships.  It is knowing and being known.  The fullness of life is discovered in the touch of others, and in the touch of the One who came that we might have life. Who calls us by name and knows us intimately, so we can be totally honest with him.  When we hear his voice and follow him we discover life all the way up.






“There are people who use up
their entire lives making money
so they can enjoy the lives
they have entirely used up.”
Frederick Buechner









Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, keep me in touch this week with what is really
important, people not things.  And You!”

April 19, 2015 Third Sunday of Easter

Luke 24:36b-48  (The Message)

36 While they were saying all this, Jesus appeared to them and said, "Peace be with you." 37 They thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death. 38 He continued with them, "Don't be upset, and don't let all these doubting questions take over. 39 Look at my hands; look at my feet - it's really me. Touch me. Look me over from head to toe. A ghost doesn't have muscle and bone like this." 40 As he said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 They still couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was too much; it seemed too good to be true. 42 They gave him a piece of leftover fish they had cooked. 43 He took it and ate it right before their eyes. 44 Then he said, "Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled." 45 He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. 46 He said, "You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, 47 and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations - starting from here, from Jerusalem! 48 You're the first to hear and see it. You're the witnesses.

Good news as well as bad news is hard to believe.  It is too good to be true.

To “disbelieve for joy”, as some versions depict the disciples reaction to the risen Jesus, is to believe that which is too good to be true.  It is perhaps the most honest way to hear and respond to the Easter message.

As Eugene Kennedy, says in his book, “Believing”, the disciples here are
“experiencing an impulse to believe more deeply...a passionate need to believe as richly and profoundly as possible.”  For “believing cannot be activated by force or by fear.” It happens when we encounter the mystery of the resurrection.  And discover a truth which is too good to not be true!






"The great challenge of faith
is to be surprised by joy."
Henri Nouwen










Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord surprise me again, and again, and again
with that which is too good to not be true.  Open my eyes to see the resurrection
which happened and happens again and again and again.

April 15, 2012 2 Sunday of Easter

John 20:19-31  (The Message)

19 Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." 20 Then he showed them his hands and side. 21 Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you." 22 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. 23 "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?" 24 But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples told him, "We saw the Master." But he said, "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it." 26 Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." 27 Then he focused his attention on Thomas. "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe." 28 Thomas said, "My Master! My God!" 29 Jesus said, "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing." 30 Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. 31 These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

Be a doubting Thomas!  It is a part of healthy faith.
It will keep you honest and open to change; open to God’s will for your life.
It will keep you humble - you will not get so easily caught in the idolatry of certainty.  Faith will be a voyage of discovery, often disturbing, yet also fulfilling.
For the terrible truth we are saved from by doubt is, as Alan Jones says,  “the persecuting personality (which) is marked by clarity and precision.  (In which) there is no room for indecision... no room for guilt... no room for doubt.  Such are the distinguishing marks of a totalitarian state or totalitarian church (or totalitarian individual).  (It is ) the divided mind, the uneasy conscience, and the sense of personal failure (that is, our own uneasiness and doubt) which brings us... to the place of faith (where we become not blind believers) but one of God’s spies trying to make room for hope (in a world of hopelessness and despair.)”  (Soul Making,pp.117,119)



“In a world where there is no room for  doubt,
ambiguity, or questioning, there is no room
for genuine faith.”
Alan Jones








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.  Help me to doubt my way into a living active faith.  And be one of God’s spies making room for hope in my world.”