Books and Blogs by David W. Jones
Jesus said, “Do not worry…” Did Jesus know how hard that is? To not worry, to try and force yourself to not worry, to command your mind to not think about the future, is like telling yourself, “Don’t think about pink elephants.” Try it, tell yourself, “Do NOT think about PINK ELEPHANTS!” As soon as you make such a demand, it’s hard to think about anything else. The pink elephant in the room becomes the pink elephant in your brain. Continue reading “Don’t Worry, Dorothy…”
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!
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”
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:
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.
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.
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?”
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?”
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:
Matthew 18: At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a child, whom he put among them, 3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
When I forget the distinct personality, the particular possibility and potential each person has, my children remind me, like when my son, Nathan, showed me the possibilities of a trashcan when seen through his eyes. Continue reading “The Potential of Imagination”
The story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis has always raised a lot of questions for me. The encounter at the tree begins like this in chapter 3: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 but God said…
The two questions I have at the outset of the story are: 1. Where is God? 2. Why don’t they go looking for God to find out the answer to their questions instead of just talking to the serpent? It’s often said that this is the beginning of Theology, talking about God but not to God. It doesn’t go well for Adam and Eve, instead of searching for God before the end of the chapter they’ll be doing their best to hide by camouflaging themselves into their surroundings. Hide and seek, sin style. Continue reading “Does God Play Hide and Seek?”
Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” and he replied with this famous story in Luke 10,
30 “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii,[b] gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
While the Samaritan has been called ‘good’ while we’ve looked down on the priest and Levite for two thousand years, I’d like to offer them a little sympathy. By nature of their roles as a priest and Levite, they had somewhere to go. They were likely in a hurry. Continue reading “Slow Down to See Your Neighbor”
Looking at the Baptism of Christ presents some deep theological questions.
Consider this painting by Pheoris West, what images do you notice?
Can you see:
a rigid image of John the Baptist to the right?
the dove?
the face and arms of God?
why does Jesus face turn? What is he looking toward following his baptism?
Continue reading “Baptism – Just How Long Would John the Baptist Dunk You?”
A friend and I were discussing our favorite writers, those who offered an amazing phrase, art in a sentence. After discussing our mutual admiration for Norman McClean’s masterful, A River Runs Through It, he suggested I read Wallace Stegner starting with Angle of Repose. When I got the novel, I didn’t have time to start the book, but I did want to know what words he chose for his beginning. I opened the cover and read the dedication, For my son, Page. My response was, “Really, you’re an author, and you name your son, Page?” I was stuck. I did move on, and so far, Stegner has delivered as my friend promised. My fixation on first words did lead me to pick my top five first lines of novels, though my list is subject to change without notice.
Continue reading “Great First Lines or “This is just the beginning…””
Macland Presbyterian Church. March 29, 2020
You can watch the service below, fast forward to sermon, or read the sermon text at this link: https://davidjonespub.com/wp-content/uploads/Matthew-6-Why-Worry-Macland-Presbyterian-March-29-2020.pdf
The Way is like the sower scattering seed everywhere.
Some falls upon the road eaten by the birds.
Some falls upon rocks and never takes root.
Some falls upon thorns and are choked out.
Some falls upon the good soil and brings forth a healthy crop.
The sower is not concerned for seed that is lost.
He does not worry about seed that is eaten by birds,
that takes no root upon rocks, or is choked out by thorns.
The sower understands life.
Life grows exponentially.
Life always wins over roads, rocks, and thorns.
So it is with The Way.
The Way is like a mustard seed tiny but large in life.
The Way is like kudzu, once it starts growing in your field,
you’ll never get it out.
The Way is like yeast, a small amount does much
transforming a lump of dough into a loaf,
and all who eat of it are filled.
If you see people as problems and not persons, perhaps you need a PARADIGM SHIFT.
You can’t buy love or joy. You’ve got to bring it.
Instead of trying to buy the right gift to bring joy, bring joy as the right gift then any object can be a joy handle.
Galatians 5: 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
Compare tradition and memory to scripture in this short Bible Study.
