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Author: David Jones
Lenten Devotional: Day 4
i thank You God for most this amazing
e.e. cummings
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
Pray: Joyful
Joyful, Joyful,
I adore Thee
God of glory
Lord of love.
My heart unfolds
a flower
before Thee
opening to
the sun above.
Melt my clouds
of sin and sadness
drive my gloom
and doubts away.
Giver of
immortal gladness
fill me
with the light of day.
Lenten Devotional: Day 3
Risk everything
Rumi
Risk everything
for love.
If you do,
you’re a truly human.
If not,
why bother?
Halfheartedly
you’ll never reach
majesty.
You’ll set out
to find God,
but then
hinder your journey
at mean-spirited
roadhouses.
Pray: Prayer for Peace
St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where there is hatred,
let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood,
as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning
that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying
that we are born
to eternal life. Amen.
Lenten Devotional: Day 2
Travelers
Basho
The moon and sun are travelers through eternity.
Even the years wander on.
Whether drifting through life on a boat
or climbing toward old age leading a horse,
each day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
Pray: I Need Thee
Annie Hawks
I need Thee
every hour
hours of joy
hours of pain
come quickly
abide
without You
my life
I live in vain.
I need Thee
O I need Thee
every hour
I need Thee
O bless me now
my Savior
I come to Thee.
I come to Thee.
I come to Thee.
Lenten Devotional: Day 1
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Audience of One
In the theater to the right, where would you place the following?
Preacher
Choir or Singers and Musicians
Congregation
God
The common response is to place the preacher, choir, and musicians on stage, the congregation in the audience, and God everywhere. We discuss worship as in any theater. Soren Kierkegaard challenged our thinking of worship and said that we have the audience wrong. The congregation is not the audience. God is the audience. Those who gather for worship are on stage. The preacher, singers, and musicians are all backstage prompting the congregation. It is not our pleasure which is the final judge but God’s. It is not whether or not we consider a service meaningful but whether God finds meaning in our service, in church and out, on holy days and every days. God is our audience of One.
Continue reading “Audience of One”Word of the Day: Poorly
When I was growing up, I learned that anything worth doing is worth doing well. However, I learned very young that I could do very little well. To learn to do something well, I had to start out doing it very badly, even poorly. I invited a couple of basketball coaches to help me illustrate.
For more video parables, go to:
The Parable of Picked
We speak of God in egocentric language, “I found it!” “I took Jesus as my Savior, you take him, too.” However, the Bible is full of stories of people God picks whether they like it or not. From Abraham and Moses to Mary and the Messiah, they don’t pick their roles in God’s story – they are picked for them!
Mary’s Faith in a Painting
This week, we celebrate Mary and her faithful response to the Angel’s visit. We know the story so well, we often miss the power of not only an angel’s visit, the transforming words he offers, but Mary’s response. There is no request in the angelic proclamation. He does not ask, “Mary, God has a job for you to consider.” The only consideration is her response. Here is a painting which helps me capture the power in Mary’s choice.
Here are the details, their possible symbolism, and parts of the story we may have overlooked. Continue reading “Mary’s Faith in a Painting”
GET IN THE GAME!
In this era of specialization, we have a professional for every area of our lives. If you want someone to fix your car, go see a mechanic. If you are feeling ill, go see a doctor. If you have a legal question, go see a lawyer. If you want someone to educate your children, take them to a school of teachers. If you have a Bible question, go see a pastor.
The result of such specialization is that we have turned church over to professionals. Like football teams, movies, restaurants, music celebrities, churches seek someone to draw a crowd. In comparison, as a measure of life in a church, “How many people were there on Sunday?” or “How many members does your church have?” Joseph Campbell said the worst mistake in the history of the church was when the priest turned from the altar, speaking to God on behalf of the people during worship, and turned toward the people speaking to them on behalf of God. Gauging by our behavior, if our actions were the only testimony to our faith, one might think Jesus called disciples to, “Come and watch me,” instead of “Come and follow me.” As a friend told me, we are fans of Jesus, not followers.
Imagine you came to Nashville and went with me to a Titans football game. Three running backs are injured and the coach comes into the stands and says to you, “We need you. Come play running back.” Thinking about the size of these athletes, chances are, you’d reply, “I just came to watch.”
Then we go to The Grand Ol’ Opry for a show. The guitar player is sick. The organizer comes out into the stands and says, “We need you to come up on stage and play.” Likely, you’d say, “But I just came to watch.”
Then we go to a large church with a professional band and leaders, and during the service, Jesus walks up and taps you on the shoulder, and says, “Follow me.”
You say, “But I just came to watch…” you wait for a moment, hoping Jesus will go away. You’re regretting taking the seat on the aisle. It would have been much safer in the middle. Jesus says again, “Let’s go.”
“But I just came to worship,” you say. “I love you. I believe. I’ve read your book. Big fans… me and my whole family…” You lift your hands and move them in the church version of “The Wave.” Again, you’re hoping he’ll go away. Hoping he’ll say, “Okay, have a nice day. See you in heaven.” But he doesn’t. Sure you might become so blinded by the crowd, unable to see anything without an affirmation, asking others, “Do you see what I see,” not making a decision until everyone in your family agrees or all on your committee vote, “Aye!” But he keeps coming, calling you out, onto the stage, onto the field, into the moments of your life, becoming all God intends for you to be and become.
Does God Have a Sense of Humor? (Just look in the mirror…)
An ancient philosopher said, “God is a comedian with an audience that never laughs.”
Learn about the absurdity of the Biblical narratives (today is Sarah and Abraham), then when the absurdity of your life shows up, you’ll see that it’s just part of God’s wild and woolly story.
Here are a few days in the absurd life of a pastor in this week’s sermon:
Is God a Morning Person?
I often find poets make the best preachers. They focus on each word and every line to provide in often-succinct fashion interpretation of life and scripture. Along with the images of creation in Genesis and Psalms, I hold this version of our beginning by Vassar Miller dear to my heart.
Morning Person
Vassar Miller
God, best at making in the morning, tossed
stars and planets, singing and dancing, rolled
Saturn’s rings spinning and humming, twirled the earth
so hard it coughed and spat the moon up, brilliant
bubble floating around it for good, stretched holy
hands till birds in nervous sparks flew forth from
them and beasts – lizards, big and little, apes,
lions, elephants, dogs and cats cavorting,
tumbling over themselves, dizzy with joy when
God made us in the morning too, both man
and woman, leaving Adam no time for
sleep so nimbly was Eve bouncing out of
his side till as night came everything and
everybody, growing tired, declined, sat
down in one soft descended Hallelujah.
Whether the creation stories of Genesis or poets like Miller or James Weldon Johnson, the great ones point not just toward what God has done but what God continues to do daily. This week take Miller’s poem and perspective with you. See each day, each encounter, each dynamic moment as a work of an ever creating God.
Pray to Your Audience of One
Some
where in the recesses of my mind, I have a vague memory from my childhood when I prayed in a family or other group gathering. Someone, perhaps a sibling, snickered at the words I chose in my prayer. My mother, the ever protector, responded quickly, “He wasn’t talking to you.”
Jesus taught that prayer was never a public performance but a private one.
Rules, Rules, Rules – Love Rules!
script:
Our word for today is Rules.
Everywhere we go there are rules.
Pick almost any word, and it is amazing how many rules you can come up with like the simple word ‘keep.’
Keep in touch.
Keep it in mind.
Keep up the good work.
Keep on trying.
Keep out of my way.
Keep out of this.
Keep quiet.
Keep still.
Keep smiling.
Keep this to yourself.
Keep your chin up.
Keep your mouth shut.
Keep your nose out of my business.
Keep your shirt on.
All those rules for one simple word, ‘keep’.
Rules are everywhere.
Rules are basically commands, do this or do that, and most rules are basically negative, don’t do this or don’t do that.
Don’t ask.
Don’t tell.
Don’t stay out too late.
Don’t go.
Don’t be gone to long.
Don’t look at me.
Don’t look at me like that.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
Don’t get up.
Don’t let it keep you down.
Don’t hold your breath.
Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone.
Don’t give in.
Don’t give up.
Don’t speak so loud.
Don’t speak too soon.
Don’t be so naïve.
Don’t be so sure.
Don’t even think about it.
Don’t give it another thought.
Don’t bother.
Don’t bother me!
Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
Don’t put all that in your mouth.
Don’t make me tell you again.
Don’t make me get up.
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t you tell me what to do!!!!!!
Rules. Rules. Rules. Everywhere there are rules.
Jesus said in JOHN 13
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Above all other rules is this one…
love one another.
Above all else…
Love rules.
Why?
All You Need Is Love
Love is all you need.
You can buy me a diamond ring my friend,
But you can’t buy me love.
No, no, no.
No.
I like it.
I love it.
I want some more of it.
More of what?
This crazy little thing called love.
You might as well face it.
You’re addicted to love.
I Want to Know What Love Is
I know you can show me.
People of the world, join in.
Join a love train.
Love train.
Love rules.
Jesus said
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you,
you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.
Love rules.
Accident or Not?
I have friends in Orlando who live this as their philosophy,
We go nowhere by accident.
Wherever we go, God is sending us.
Wherever we are, God put us there for a purpose.
Christ who indwells us has something to do through us wherever we are.
Though I try to share their conviction, I am often the one of little faith. Walking through our yard last week, barefooted, on the phone, I have to wonder, was what I stepped in an accident? A gift from our dogs? A gift from God?
I make lots of mistakes. They seem to be life’s learning lessons for me. Only God, perhaps, never blunders, though the duck billed platypus makes me wonder. That being the case, I take this paraphrase of Psalm 53 that I came across this week as no chance reading but an assignment to study. See if you don’t agree. Continue reading “Accident or Not?”
Expect God in the Shadow
Psalm 23 offers a significant linguistic change that is often unnoticed. See if you notice the change in the way the writer speaks of God in the Psalm here in the familiar King James Version,
1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
In the beginning of the Psalm, the writer speaks of God in the third person, “The Lord is my shepherd…,” “He maketh me…,” “He leadeth me…,” but in the “valley of the shadow of death,” the Psalmist changes tenses to the more personal second person. God is “You,” or in The King James, “Thou.”
I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.
Pray this practice by praying this line multiple times reminding yourself that God is ever present in all the moments of your life, but especially in the shadow times.
Pray this practice by putting personal words to God rewriting the whole Psalm. Here is my version as an example.
Lord, You are my shepherd.
You guide me down the right path,
to green pastures, by quiet waters,
where You restore my soul.
I trust and am not afraid,
even in the darkest valley
where death seems all around
I trust and am not afraid
because You comfort me.
You prepare me a table,
You anoint my head,
You fill my cup.
I trust and am not afraid,
because in Your house
I will dwell forever.
Lord, You are my shepherd.
Why Not Sell Your House?
Through the years as a pastor, I’ve counseled a lot of people about their children, especially their teenagers. Imagine you are Kevin Salwen. He picked up his fourteen year old daughter, Hannah, from a slumber party and was driving her home. At a red light, Hannah looked out their windows and saw a homeless man on the sidewalk holding up a sign asking for money to buy food. On the other side of the car, in the lane next to them, Hannah saw a black Mercedes. She looked from the Mercedes, back to the homeless man, and from the homeless man back again to the Mercedes. Then she said to her father, “If that guy didn’t have such a nice car, then that guy could have a nice meal.” It made sense to her. A less expensive car for one person could keep another off the street. Continue reading “Why Not Sell Your House?”
God is Love?
When I was a youth, we learned a song that made memorizing 1 John 4:7 & 8 quite easy. The verse is,
Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God; and everyone that loveth
is born of God and knoweth God.
He that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love.
Beloved, let us love one another. 1 John 4:7 & 8.
Through the years, I have not forgotten the song, but I have had to work on trying to begin to comprehend what God is love might mean and have to do with me in my day to day living, and when I can, loving.
I gained help from some who reflect on our human experience in deeper ways than I can. One is Frederick Buechner. In Beyond Words, he wrote of love’s stages:
We’ve Got to “GO!”
Churches focus on buildings, addresses, monuments, and memorials. However, Jesus’ focus was different. While he did use the word ‘build’ (in gospels 11 times), there is another word he used far more, “Go…” (111 times). Followers of Christ, you know what you have to do…
Live to Express Not Impress
Fresh from his baptism, Jesus is sent by the Spirit of God into the desert to face the devil. What he heard from God at his baptism, his naming, the core of his identity, the love of God, the devil challenges immediately, “So, if you are God’s beloved, prove it.” Because he was beloved, he told the devil to, “Be gone!”
We often live hoping that God will love us – such a lack of faith! We live not to be loved but as beloved. Etta Britt and Jon Coleman expressed the liberating power of God’s love in their song, You Don’t Have to Impress Jesus,
You don’t have to impress Jesus
with diamonds or a Cadillac car
You don’t have to impress Jesus
He loves you just the way you are
No, he don’t care what you wear
All that matters is in your heart
Yes to him, is all you gotta say
and its never too late to start
So come on down to the river
Down to the river and pray.
Walk on into the water child
And let him wash your sins away
You don’ have to impress Jesus…No
You can’t impress Jesus
He loves you just the way you are…
The good news of the gospel is not just that we see the heart of God in Jesus, but that God’s heart is full of love for us. With God’s love we have nothing to prove but much to express.