Psalm 119:129-136

Psalm 119:129-136

English Standard Version 

  Christians haven't always given Christianity a great name.  Christians are imperfect, like everyone else.  We lie, we cheat, we steal, etc.  When Christians end up in the headlines for the wrong reasons, we cringe, because even when we know that most Christians aren't like that, many still jump to conclusions and turn their back on the church.  I get it.  I don't like it, but I get it.  Christians, like everyone else, get tempted by competing loves, and sometimes temptation overwhelms resistance.  

  The Psalmist is saying that he weeps because people do not keep the law.  We've all wept these tears in some way.  We've read the news and seen the rich taking advantage of the poor, the powerful taking advantage of the weak, etc.  We've seen children and immigrants and the elderly not treated as they should be.  Every picture from the war in Ukraine makes us weep.  

  All of these tears are because people do not keep the law of God.  God calls us to live in peace, to serve the weak.  True religion, the letter of James tells us, is to care for widows and orphans.  Jesus teaches us about the good Samaritan, who sacrificially cares for someone regardless of their social status.  God designed humans and teaches us how to live together, but we can't follow that law, and so we end up weeping.

  So what can we do?  

  When it comes to international conflict, likely very little.  But we can reflect on how we follow the laws of God in our own lives, and how we advocate for that in our communities.  Can we better love selflessly?  Can we give more generously?  Are there conflicts in your life that need to be addressed?  Have you taken advantage of someone, intentionally or not?  Have you held grudges?  Gossipped?  Lied?  There are ways each of us fall short, every day.  May we confess those in prayer, and when we recognize the ways it impacts others, may we work to remedy that, letting God shed light on our next steps.

Psalm 119:121-128

Psalm 119:121-128 

English Standard Version 

  It's interesting how throughout this Psalm, the Psalmist is working their way through a situation.  It's not always a direct line from A to B.  You can tell that bad things are happening, and the Psalmist isn't always certain why, and the Psalmist wants a certain outcome, but isn't sure of the timing and exactly what that outcome will be.  The Psalmist is certain of ultimate vindication, but in the short run, it's unclear exactly how this is going to go.

  Which means that you and I have much in common with a Psalm from over 2,000 years ago.  We think modernity can explain so much, but at the end of the day, there is much confusion and uncertainty in our lives.  We have the same trust in God, and we have the benefit of seeing the fullness of God's love in Jesus Christ that the Psalmist didn't see, but we're also moving forward with imperfect information.  There is much we don't know.  (It makes me wonder if anyone ever tried a talk radio show where the honest answers to questions were given. "We don't know" and "Maybe" probably don't play really well in the talk radio space, so if so, it probably didn't last very long!)

  Just because we don't see the outcome that we expect, that doesn't mean God's commandments and precepts aren't right.  Remember, there was a time when the apostles only had a tomb to look at -- but just because they couldn't foresee the resurrection doesn't mean that God wasn't working and that the future wasn't still secure.  

Psalm 119:113-120

Psalm 119:113-120 

English Standard Version 

  When there is opposition in our lives, we're usually trying to find a way out of it.  When we see a problem, we want to figure out a solution.  We figure if we work more or work harder, then a solution will reveal itself.

  Verse 114 reminds us that God is our hiding place and our shield.  It's interesting to me that using God as a hiding place and a shield creates a passive role for us, and an active one for God.  And when it comes to true evil that is opposed to us, I think that's right -- it's God who ultimately defeats evil, and it is God who shields us from the worst that evil would do to us.  There are some problems that we cannot find a way out of -- only God can bring us through.

  This doesn't free us from all responsibility.  We're still called to be active in the world -- Peter's epistle calls us to resist the devil.  But it reminds us that ultimate responsibility belongs to God.  As the Psalmist tells us in another Psalm, in many ways, we are like a weaned child, curled up in our mother's lap, enjoying the safety that only God can ultimately give.

Finding the Mother Tree

  I've learned a lot about trees in the past 18 months.  I read Richard Powers' The Overstory back in 2020, which was a captivating combination of fiction and fact, learning about the ways trees communicate and how interconnected the forest is.  I have a tendency to think of the forest as a collection of individual trees, but Powers opened my eyes to see that it is a far more intricate thing.

  I recently finished Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard.  Simard starts the book with timber-industry clear cuts, a somber scene as one pictures a clear cut devoid of what had only recently been a vibrant forest, alive with noise and movement.  Simard introduces the reader to the concept of how fungus works to weave together the roots of trees.  Trees in the forest don't survive on their own, and even different species are working together to share the carbon necessary for growth.  While trees and plants are certainly competing for light and resources, they're also working together.  A tree doesn't survive on its own.  

  By the end of the book, Simard has introduced the concept of a mother tree.  A mother tree is an old, established tree that is pushing resources to saplings around the mother tree.  Their roots are interconnected, and it seems that the mother tree can differentiate between trees that are her own offspring and those that are not.  The mother tree shares her resources, and in her dying, she pushes carbon down into the roots of those trees with which she is interconnected, supporting life even in her dying.  

  One doesn't have to look very hard to see the connections with the church.  This story is one we've been singing for centuries, perhaps because it is the truest story that has been told, one that echoes through every corner of space and time, through the pages of history, and even in the natural world.  We are not on our own.  We exist to support the life and growth of one another.  We are called to live sacrificially, to share selflessly, because we have grown through the sacrifices of others.  

  Even in death, we find life.  The death of Christ is what pushes life to us.  

  So may the beauty of a tree and the beauty of the forest be to us an astounding reminder of what God has done for us and the challenge of discipleship that Christ has set before us!

************

An update on the quest for 15,000 pages:  In finishing this book, I'm at 12 books & 4,488 pages for the year. 

Psalm 119:105-112

Psalm 119:105-112 

English Standard Version 

   At some point in all of our lives, we've wandered through a dark room, confidant that we know where all the furniture is, only for our shins to discover that some piece of furniture has been moved or something has been left out.  It's a painful reminder that things are not always the way we think they are!

  As we go through life, we often have similar revelations.  We think we know how things are going to go, or what a relationship is like, or what the next year of our life is going to be like.  And then, sometimes painfully, we discover that things are not as we think they are.  We're in the dark.

  God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.  When we follow God's word, the promise isn't that things will be easy.  The promise is that we'll have the confidence of children of God to adapt to changing circumstances.  When we anchor our lives in Christ, then the things that we stub our toes on in life aren't as damaging, because our true treasure is in heaven.  When we've placed the fullness of our trust in God, then we are better able to deal with the storms of life, even the most painful ones.  We incline our hearts to God, committed to the end, because that's the only way we survive through the end and find ourselves in eternity, as we reach the end of the path and discover that the end is only another beginning.

Sermon for March 27, 2022

Psalm 119:97-104

Psalm 119:97-104 

English Standard Version 

  Have you ever tried to kayak in the ocean?  It's easy when you start, as you paddle and the kayak cuts through the waves.  But as you go along, the current starts to push against the bow of the kayak, gently pushing you off course.  You try and correct, but you're fighting against something powerful, something steady, and as soon as you relax, the front of the kayak begins to turn and you're drifting off course.  You have to be constantly vigilant, or you'll never be able to go in a straight line.

  Following Christ every day is a hard thing to do.  There are so many cultural forces that slowly push us off course -- it might seem negligible at first, but little by little, that drift starts to add up.  If you try and guilt yourself into doing right, you can resist some of the current, but over time you'll be exhausted.  Guilt won't do it.

  Love will, however.  When we fall in love with God, and recognize that the laws given to us are given because God loves us, and because God wants the best for us, then we're willing to fight to stay on course.  Love is strong enough to keep us pointed forwards.  We don't have to be perfect -- Christ assures us of that -- but when we love God and turn to the Gospel as something sweet for us, then we go to God out of joy, every day, seeking to praise God.

Psalm 119:89-96

Psalm 119:89-96 

English Standard Version

  Yesterday was National Puppy Day.  I'm somewhat glad our children didn't know about this -- they've been pushing for a dog, but Caleb's allergic to dogs, and the last thing we need in our household is more noise!  

  I've had both puppies and kittens in my life, and they're adorable and wonderful and all sorts of great things, but they don't always think things through.  They start running, and because they're still learning their bodies, they sometimes run into things at full speed when they can't stop in time.  

  This verse makes me think about that.  When we're left on our own, humans have proven an ability to crash into one another, into the environment, into ourselves, in destructive ways.  I'm in the middle of reading a book about how ancient trees in the forest nurture younger trees, and I can't help but think of all the ancient trees that have been cut down and turned into toothpicks.  Sometimes, it's like we can't help ourselves, like a puppy running headlong downhill and completely out of control.

  Fortunately, we worship a God that is never far from us.  Without centering ourselves in God, without finding our delight in God, we'd perish on our own.  Things fall apart without God, but in God, they hold together -- even better, they'll reach a culmination one day where things will be in order and there will be peace.  We'll dwell in peace with one another, with the renewed earth, with ourselves -- no more tears!  No more death!  No more fighting!  

  Only in God.  Through God's faithfulness, the earth stands fast, and we endure because God is watching over us, like a caring person looking over a puppy, raising us into the future set before us!

Psalm 119:81-88

Psalm 119:81-88 

English Standard Version 

  The image of a wineskin in the smoke is haunting to me... there's a sense we so often get, when we're overwhelmed by it all, uncertain and afraid, seeing enemies around us.  In that valley of the shadow of death, when the next step seems perilous, God's steadfast love is something to cling to.  When will God judge those who persecute?  I don't know the answer to that, but the confidence in God to sort things out in the end allows me to press on, to believe in the reality of dawn even in the dark of night.  

  In God's steadfast love, we find life.

Psalm 119:73-80

Psalm 119:73-80 

English Standard Version 

  There's a simple connection made in the beginning of this section -- because it is God who made us, then we want to learn how God would have us live.  Otherwise, we're trying to follow in the instructions for life from someone who did not make us -- it's like choosing to learn how to drive from a person who built a car or someone who has never seen one before.  Which would you choose?  From the way the roads work when I drive on them, it seems as though there are all sorts of choices people make regarding that!

  When we know where we begin, then learning how to live is easier, because we understand the why at the root of it all.  Once we've accepted that, it's far easier to follow where that road may lead, and when we come up against things we don't fully understand, there's a measure of trust built in that we understand that our Creator is leading us someplace good!

Psalm 119:65-72

Psalm 119:65-72 

English Standard Version 

  Sometimes, you have to get in trouble to learn your lesson.  As a parent, it's hard to fully know when to let a child learn the hard way and when to step in.  I know some of the most effective lessons from my life have been the ones I've learned the hard way.  I wouldn't have chosen that upfront, but looking back, I understand the benefit.  

  Here, the Psalmist says that it's good that he was afflicted, because in being afflicted, he learned God's statutes.  We can learn from the valleys in life, whether we walk in them by our own choice or end up there due to things beyond our control.  We have to trust that God is there, that God is working, and we're not alone.  By enduring, we learn that God's Word is better than thousands of gold and silver pieces!  Such riches are beyond what we can imagine.

Sermon for Sunday, March 20 -- Give us this day our daily bread

Psalm 119:57-64

Psalm 119:57-64 

English Standard Version 

  What keeps you up at midnight?  Is it desperation, because you're searching for any possible thing to hope for?  Is it dedication, because that's the time you can find to pray and you keep it faithfully, because everything else is taken?  Could be any number of reasons, but to pray at midnight is no small thing -- it's to cling to God.  

  How would you do such a thing? Possibly because you know you're not alone, because you are a companion to so many faithful witnesses across every time and place, because the earth is full of the steadfast love of God.  

  It's not an easy thing to remain faithful to God day in and day out.  But you are not alone, and God has done and will continue to do great things, covering you in grace, this day and forevermore.

Psalm 119:49-56

Psalm 119:49-56 

English Standard Version 

  Let's be honest with one another -- life can be challenging, and other people can be challenging.  Think of all the people you've come across that have frustrated you.  Maybe you feel hot indignation, maybe you're just in a place of mild frustration, or perhaps you're veering towards apathy.  Either way, we're bound to run into opposition along the way, but when we have our comfort in God, we discover that we are filled with life and comfort.  When we have joy from God's presence in the depths of our hearts, we discover it's like a keel in a sailboat, preventing the waves from knocking us over.  Then we can let the challenges of other people slide by, because no matter what they say and do, we're wrapped in the embrace of God.

Psalm 119:41-48

Psalm 119:41-48 

English Standard Version 

  Imagine the calmest setting you can.  Picture walking in the surf on a perfect beach.  Or maybe relaxing in the pool on a warm summer day.  Maybe it's curled up next to a fire with hot chocolate.  Do you know that feeling?

  Peace even better than that is what God wants to give us, so that even when our enemies surround us, we are at peace, because when we are taunted, we know that we do not need to rely on our own strength, but can rather turn to the enemy and know that the salvation of God is a guard around us.  Our hope lies not in our own cleverness, but rather in the security granted through God.  When we trust in that, then we lift up our hands and praise God for the ways we are held in the midst of life!

Psalm 119:33-40

Psalm 119:33-40

English Standard Version 

  All the wisdom in the world may well be contained in these 8 verses.  Prayers for life, for humility, for delight -- it cuts through everything and teaches us where our truest treasures lie.  When we learn the Lord's law, when we truly understand what God has given to us, we turn from ourselves, we turn from the worthless things we so often waste our energies upon, and we find the truest life there really is.  

  With my whole heart, I pray for the wisdom to want the things of God.  With every ounce of my being, I want to order my loves correctly, to be afire for God, that I may not be lukewarm but every day turning more and more towards the true sun that brings true life and true light.

Psalm 119:25-32

Psalm 119:25-32 

English Standard Version 

  Two amazing things are true here -- the Psalmist's soul is clinging to the dust, and yet the Psalmist is praying for life.  His soul is melting away, and yet being strengthened as well.

  As Christians, we can hold these concepts together -- when the entire world is falling away, we're still claimed by God, saved by grace.  Even when the outside world doesn't seem to match how we should feel, we can rejoice and be grateful that we are claimed and saved.  The banner of God's joy can fly in the depths of our hearts, because the truth of God's Word never changes, which means we are always beloved, always saved, always treasured.

Sermon for Sunday, March 13, 2022

Psalm 119:17-24

Psalm 119:17-24

English Standard Version 

  So in America, we often just want to be treated fairly, right?  We want a fair shake, a fair chance, and when we're kids, what do we most often cry during games?  THAT'S NOT FAIR!  We say it all the time, and we want fairness.

  But God doesn't give us fairness. 

  We pray here for God to deal with us bountifully, but we don't want God to deal with us fairly, because if that were true, we'd all be destined for hell.  To get what we deserve from God is the opposite of what we want!  Of course, to accept this means to accept that we are all flawed, that we all fall short, and that we cannot find our way forward.  This is a hard thing to accept.

  But when we do accept it, then we are consumed with longing for God's rules, because we recognize that God's rules lead to flourishing, lead to life, lead to selfless love.  When we are consumed with God's laws, the laws that call us into lives of selfless love, then we delight in God and find that God and God alone can truly satisfy the deepest longings of our soul.

  So may we give thanks for the radical unfairness we receive from God!

Psalm 119:9-16

Psalm 119:9-16 

English Standard Version 

  Augustine talks about our problem being one of disordered loves.  We love the wrong things too much and the right things too little.  In doing so, we divide our hearts, often placing the majority of our heart's focus on the wrong things.

  Here in the Psalm, the Psalmist is praying for the ability to seek God with his whole heart.  In doing so, we delight in God as much as in all riches.  If we're completely honest with ourselves, most of us would say that the thought of winning $500 million in the lottery would be the most exciting thing that could happen to us -- that's because we have disordered loves.  We love the things money could buy us, because that's concrete to our minds, and the eternal love and peace and security that comes from God can be amorphous and hard to grasp -- it takes a lot of work to get those things centered in our hearts.  The reward with God is always greater, though, and certainly lasts a lot longer than any lottery winnings!  May we delight in what God offers, praying for the wisdom to order our hearts well!

Psalm 119:1-8

Psalm 119:1-8 

English Standard Version 

  We all fall short of keeping the commandments.  I think most of us simply accept this as reality at this point, giving thanks for the grace of God.

  But there's a sentiment expressed in the Psalms that we are wise to heed -- the desire to keep the commandments, for in doing so we bring glory to God.  In the keeping of the commandments, we praise God with upright hearts, and so we should long to be able to keep the commandments.  We don't earn God's love, but in keeping the commandments, we express our gratitude to God and accept that God, and God alone, knows the best ways we are to live.  

  We don't keep the commandments out of obligation, toeing the line so that God will know how good we are, but rather we accept the limitations God gives to us because we acknowledge that God knows the best ways for us to live, and so we receive the commandments and the limitations because they keep us on the path to rich living, knowing that we are practicing now what we will be living for all of eternity.

Daniel 6:19-24

Daniel 6:19-24 

English Standard Version 

  What does it say about the king and his belief in God when he has a person cast into his execution pit and yet he comes out the next morning with the hope and expectation that Daniel might be alive?

  Does he have no confidence in his own methods of execution?  Or has his time around Daniel taught him such amazing things about Daniel's God that the king is prepared to expect the miraculous?

  I don't know what Daniel did when he was serving the king, but clearly the king was prepared to accept that the miraculous was possible with Daniel's God.  Daniel must have been a pretty amazing witness to teach the king that God could do such things.   

  What kind of stories do we tell?  How do we talk about God?  Would the people around us expect God to do the same?  Do we communicate a story of a God who can do such wondrous things?

Sermon for Marh 6, 2022

Daniel 6:14-18

Daniel 6:14-18 

English Standard Version 

  One way to read this story is to think about how we should all be more like Daniel, willing to risk anything, even if it means we're thrown into the lions' den.

  The other way to read it is that Daniel's story is looking ahead to Christ's story.  Jesus is the true Daniel who goes into the lions' den that we deserve -- we've broken laws that cannot be changed, and there is a punishment to endure for that.  Jesus faces down the lions that would devour us, the lions that would snatch us away.  Jesus endures the den, so that we might be set free.  

  The king endures a restless night, uncertain of how the story will end.  It wouldn't be such a great story if it ended here, would it be?  

  In the same way, if the Gospel story ended in the tomb, with the lions winning, it wouldn't be such a great story.  But that's not the end of the story, is it?  After the night, no matter how restless, there is a dawn that breaks, and our hope rises.

  What does it mean to you that the Son of God endured the true lions on your behalf?

Daniel 6:10-13

Daniel 6:10-13 

English Standard Version 

  There are any number of people eager to try and sell a message that if you're religious enough, bad things won't happen to you.  It's a curious message, because some of the most devout people in the Bible have some really bad things happen to them.  Daniel is so devout that his prayer life will not be changed even under threat of death, but he has a den of lions awaiting him.  Jesus, certainly the most devout person who has ever lived, had an even worse fate awaiting him.

  So bad things happen to the devout and non-devout.  The hope is that by establishing a life rooted in prayer in the good times, we've trained ourselves to understand that the challenges of life do not mean that God does not love us, it simply means that evil has not been completely banished yet.  The challenges in life come regardless, but if we are prepared, we can recognize that God has suffered for us on the cross and therefore understands our pain, be it physical or emotional, and has the strength to deliver us through it.

Daniel 6:6-9

Daniel 6:6-9

English Standard Version 

  The moral of the story, as always, is to think twice before signing any documents that make people pray only to you for thirty days or more, right?

  Darius is manipulated into signing this document so that the officials and satraps can work to be rid of Daniel.  Darius goes along, unaware of the immediate consequences of his actions, but he sees this document as a way to cement his legacy at the top of the heap -- he can't imagine anyone more powerful than he is.

  God has a way of helping us see how the universe is truly ordered.  In some way, big or small, all of us spend portions of our lives trying to build our own kingdoms, thinking we can protect ourselves against forces that oppose us, be they aging or vulnerability or illness or poverty.  We build walls with our own hands and think they can hold back forces far larger than ourselves.

  On this Ash Wednesday, we remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.  Fortunately, it's not a morbid thought for the Christian.  We were formed out of dust with intention by one who has power to use a creative Word to mold us, shape us, and also preserve us.  God shows us God's power over death throughout Scripture, and God also shows us God's desire to save.  God is the only one with both powers, and so we are wise to turn to God, recognizing our mortality, our humanity, but knowing that the limitations on us do not limit God, and God chooses to use that power for us, to preserve us, to invite us into the eternal dance in the Kingdom of God that has been going on forever between the members of the Trinity!

Daniel 6:1-5

Daniel 6:1-5

English Standard Version 

  Some people may argue that Christians shouldn't be involved in government, but rather withdraw to ensure we're not tainted by the constant striving for power or influence that you may see in government.  The Bible teaches us otherwise -- it says that we should involved ourselves in government when appropriate, that we should enter the marketplace, but it tells us to do so in a way so that others can find no fault or complaint in us.  We can work in those places, but we're to be faithful there, serving as our capacity allows, representing the people of God in the halls of power.  

  The officials who despise Daniel seek to find another way to destroy him, since his work has not left any path or error they might exploit.  May we all do work in such a way, seeking to serve God by doing great work in whatever capacity we are in.