New perspective on the meaning of family

Morning: Psalms 24, 29; Jeremiah 1:1-10; I Corinthians 3:11-23

Evening: Psalms 8, 84; Mark 3:31-4:9

It is somewhat shocking to hear Jesus ask, when told that his mother and siblings are outside: “Who are my mother and my siblings?” Though surprising, it is not so strange in the light of what he says next: “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Jesus extends his family allegiance and loyalty to all who align themselves with the will and ways of God. There is much debate about what constitutes family these days. Perhaps Jesus’s re-definition can help us broaden our perspective on the meaning of family beyond narrow and prejudicial stereotypes.

Are you thirsty?

Morning: Psalm 55; Deuteronomy 11:18-28; Hebrews 5:1-10

Evening: Psalms 138, 139:1-17; John 4:1-26

When you are parched and your throat is dry, water helps. When your life is dry, you need more than water. Jesus tells the woman at the well that he can give her ‘living water’ to quench her soul’s thirst. After a string of failed relationships, he offers her a satisfaction that she does not know she needs. Jesus offers his Way as a remedy for the deep dryness of her soul. It is as if he is saying to her: “Are you thirsty? Are you seeking wholeness, but you don’t know where to find it? I can help.”

 

God’s wrath ... perhaps it puts you in your place?

Morning: Psalms 40, 54; Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Hebrews 4:11-16

Evening: Psalm 51; John 3:22-36

Are you ever angry? Anger is one thing. Wrath is something else ... cosmic, immense. In yesterday’s Gospel, God condemns evil, which is not obviously personal. People are not condemned, just their evil ways. Today’s Gospel is personal. People who disobey Jesus’s Way endure God’s wrath. You cannot dodge this statement or explain it away. What the experience of God’s wrath feels like is not specified. But perhaps experiencing wrath after you choose evil helps you to establish clearer boundaries, so you choose the good? Perhaps wrath puts you in your place, or in the place you should be!? 😊

 

To be whole, choose the light

Morning: Psalm 50; Deuteronomy 9:23-10:5; Hebrews 4:1-10

Evening: Psalms 19, 46; John 3:16-21

Jesus says he does not condemn us. Thank goodness! There is a problem, though, if you choose to latch on to evil. Why? If Jesus is telling the truth, I should be okay whatever, right? Well, not exactly! Evil stands condemned by all that the Cross of Jesus represents. Evil is going down. If you align yourself with any evil purpose, you will go down with it. So, the choice Jesus urges is this: Let go of evil and embrace the light. Refusing the light is choosing to go down with evil into darkness. To be whole, choose the light.

 

Spiritual ‘labour and delivery’

Morning: Psalm 119:49-72; Deut 9:13-21; Hebrews 3:12-19

Evening: Psalm 49; John 2:23-3:15

Years ago, a woman asked me, “Are you born again?” Fair question. That you were born is obvious. Should it not be obvious that you were ‘born again’? Jesus says there is a spiritual birth, through which you come into fullness of life. There is no re-birth certificate. The evidence is the person you are. Did the person who asked me that question see glimpses of something in me that made her ask? Would she now? As for me, I think I’m in spiritual ‘labour and delivery’ ... This being ‘born again’, if it is real in me, is ongoing.

 

This House, this Earth, is holy ... keep it holy

Morning: Psalm 45; Deuteronomy 9:4-12; Hebrews 3:1-11

Evening: Psalms 47, 48; John 2:13-22

Mona and I are watching ‘Scandal’ on Netflix. The real scandal is that ‘the House’ (The White House) is the focus of everyone’s desire and longing. Every scandal is connected to people’s lust for power in the most powerful nation on earth. Jesus throws the moneychangers out of ‘his Father’s house’ (the temple) because they have made that sacred place a marketplace. Isn’t the whole earth God’s ‘House’, God’s ‘temple’? So, all trading in influence here that is solely for our own profit - in government or temple - desecrates this Earth, this holy House. We must keep it holy.

 

The Way of Jesus: to live in life instead of death

Morning: Psalms 41, 52; Deuteronomy 8:11-20; Hebrews 2:11-18

Evening: Psalm 44; John 2:1-12

Ask me to sum up the Christian story in 100 words or less, and I would say something like this ... that Jesus came to confront and to destroy the power of death. The power of death is every power that dehumanizes human beings ... institutions and structures that treat people as things; customs and cultures that deny our humanity; hatred in all its forms; racism; sexism; homophobia; religious intolerance. When we live in thrall to deathly powers, we lose ourselves. Jesus comes to restore us to ourselves, to life, so that we might live in life instead of death.

 

Why fast, give or pray if you do not know why?

Morning: Psalms 63:1-11, 98; Deut 8:1-10; I Cor 1:17-31

Evening: Psalm 103; Mark 2:18-22

Fast, Give, Pray. These are recommended spiritual disciplines, but ... Why fast? Why give? Why pray? Jesus says his Way is like a new piece of cloth sewn into an old garment, or like new wine in old wineskins. His Way tears apart meaningless rituals and breaks down and replaces old, tired practices. Rigid spiritual attitudes and disciplines make people sanctimonious; people forget why they do what they do - be it fasting, giving or prayer. Jesus wants our inner life to be in tune with our public life. Why fast, give or pray if you do not know why?

 

The seeker and the sought - finding the soul’s desire

Morning: Psalms 30, 32; Deuteronomy 7:17-26; Titus 3:1-15

Evening: Psalms 42, 43; John 1:43-51

When you are searching - searching for something good or someone good, or searching for God - because you know your life or the world’s life are incomplete ... Does it occur to you that there is also One who is searching for you? When two lovers meet and find their heart’s desire in one another, which of them found the other? As in day-to-day life, so also in the life of the soul. The seeker is also the one who is sought. And O, what joy when lover and Lover meet and the soul’s desire is complete!

 

One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread

Morning: Psalm 31; Deuteronomy 7:12-16; Titus 2:1-15

Evening: Psalm 35; John 1:35-42

Famous quotes sometimes get attributed to different people. If they are true, it may not matter. David Niles, a Sri Lankan pastor is the one mostly credited with saying that the Christian life is “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread”. Andrew was inspired by Jesus; he told his brother Simon (Peter). Both brothers sought consolation and hope, they sought soul food. Andrew found this in Jesus; he told his brother. Others have been telling their siblings and friends the same good news ever since. When you find nourishment, you tell others where you found it. News spreads.

 

 

To point to the One who is greater than I am

Morning: Psalm 37:1-18; Deuteronomy 7:6-11; Titus 1:1-16

Evening: Psalm 37:19-42; John 1:29-34

“Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” - Psalm 61 prays that I will overcome my egotism and realize how incomplete my understanding really is. John, pointing to Jesus, admits that now he must give way to this One, who is greater. When I strive to be ‘the greatest’, I miss an opportunity ... to point beyond myself to the One who is greater than I am, the One who is before all things and before all time, the One who can help me find my true self and help me set right the things I must.

 

 

We all need mercy because we all mess up

Morning: Psalms 95, 32, 143; Jonah 3:1-4:11; Hebrews 12:1-14

Evening: Psalms 102, 130; Amos 5:6-15; Luke 18:9-14

Modern liberal Christianity has reacted against old-tyme religion’s fire and brimstone days by emphasizing compassion and reassurance ... God’s Love and Grace. Of course! But as early as 1973 one writer (Karl Menninger) asked the crucial question: Whatever Became of Sin? There comes a moment of truth when you must admit that you have bowed to evil or lost your way or lost interest in the good. Only admitting that will open you to receive compassion instead of your thinking there is nothing you need, nothing you do not already have. We all need mercy because we all mess up.

 

The Way home

Morning: Psalms 26, 28; Deuteronomy 6:16-25; Hebrews 2:1-10

Evening: Psalms 36, 39; John 1:19-28

Being lost is first about not knowing where you are. Once you know that, you can go anywhere you want. Life begins from where you are, here. The people of Israel are a people who are getting their bearings on the earth. They realize this is a place of exile, and we are strangers and wanderers on the earth. But then, they begin to expect, to hope, even to be certain ... that God will bring them home. John realizes Jesus is the Way home to a place of welcome, where we are no longer strangers but friends, even siblings.

 

In two hours ... Light & Life, Grace & Truth

Morning: Psalm 25; Deuteronomy 6:10-15; Hebrews 1:1-14

Evening: Psalms 9, 15; John 1:1-18

Today we begin reading John’s Gospel. Have you read it? John wants us to know that Jesus holds the keys to the mysteries of the Cosmos. Light, the source of all life, is in him. So, he is full of Life and offers people Life. Through his self-sacrificial Love, we know Grace. His Truth leads us into our truth. John’s Gospel is a worthwhile read; two hours will suffice. Then, maybe read it again, slowly. Listening to Jesus - listening deeply - may change your life. In him, you may indeed glimpse Light and Life, Grace and Truth.

 

I will not die an unlived life

Morning: Psalms 148, 149, 150; Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Hebrews 12:18-29

Evening: Psalms 114, 115; John 12:24-32

Apologies if I shared Dawna Markova’s poem before. It is my response to today’s Gospel:

 

I will not die an unlived life
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

 

If you were blind, what would you give for sight?

Morning: Psalms 87, 90; Isaiah 61:10-62:5; 2 Timothy 4:1-8

Evening: Psalm 136; Mark 10:46-52

If you became blind, you would give a lot to recover your sight, right? However, when you are blind to the truth, you are like one born blind ... you have never seen the truth. The blindness of ignorance is what Jesus heals, so that we see reality for the first time. Maybe the worst affliction is thinking you see when you don’t. To see things as they are, you must give up old perspectives that blind you. Do you think you see everything clearly? What would you give to discover whether you are right?

 

A servant’s reward is to serve the freedom of others

Morning: Psalm 88; Isaiah 61:1-9; 2 Timothy 3:1-17

Evening: Psalms 91, 92; Mark 10:32-45

Much of 21^st Century life is transactional. Its underlying value is: “You give something, you get something.” We think God’s ways are like ours, so Christian service sometimes carries an expectation of payback. Even Jesus’s disciples sought rewards, greatness in return for their sacrifice. Jesus, though, embodied in his life exactly what he taught them: “to serve ... and give his life a ransom for many.” The service and sacrifice of a servant is offered so that others will find their freedom. A servant’s reward is freedom for others. A servant’s fulfilment is to serve the freedom of others.

 

Give your heart to Love, then follow it

Morning: Psalms 146, 147; Isaiah 60:1-17; 2 Timothy 2:14-26

Evening: Psalms 85, 86; Mark 10:17-31

It is difficult for Christians to avoid thinking that faith is about morality ... what you must do to be, somehow, accepted by God. But actions are secondary to the movement of the heart. Let go of every other priority and give your allegiance to the Love that shapes the Cosmos. You are already Loved and accepted. Now you must accept ... that Love is all that matters. Once you are clear where your allegiance lies, your actions will follow as surely as Spring follows Winter. The ancient faith is this: give your heart to Love, then follow it.

 

What hope is there for divorced people?

Morning: Psalm 119:97-120; Isaiah 59:15b-21; 2 Tim 1:15-2:13

Evening: Psalms 81, 82; Mark 10:1-16

Jesus does not condemn divorced people. He does acknowledge the brokenness divorce causes. ‘Adultery’ is an ugly word ... Jesus addressed it to men who used divorce laws to serve their own selfish whims. ‘Adultery’ is an especially ugly word when applied to the innocent party. Whatever the reasons for it, divorce creates enormous hurt. We must be accountable for the hurt we cause, and, where possible, make reparation. Beyond this necessary accountability, Jesus implies that all who choose now to live in God’s ways simply and innocently, like children, experience fullness of life and redemption.

 

Saltiness is being yourself. You cannot satisfy everyone.

 

Morning: Psalm 78:1-39; Isaiah 59:1-15a; 2 Timothy 1:1-14

Evening: Psalm 78:40-72; Mark 9:42-50

Salt enhances flavour. A flavourless life is bland. Bland (If that is your name, you must live it down, or up, believe me!) ... Bland is lacking one’s own unique character. Bland is a divided self: Your left leg takes you here, your right takes you there. You do not know where you are going. One hand wants this, the other that. You do not know your own mind. One eye sees one perspective, the other’s view is different. You cannot see clearly. You are indistinct, insipid, not really yourself. Saltiness is being yourself. You cannot satisfy everyone.

How do you measure greatness?

Morning: Psalm 80; Isaiah 58:1-12; Galatians 6:11-18

Evening: Psalms 77, 79; Mark 9:30-41

Do you remember how Cassius Clay, before he was Mohammed Ali, used to declare, “I am the greatest”? If your measure of greatness is whether you can knock everybody else out and you can, or if it is about being the wealthiest and you are, then you are the greatest by those very limited measures. Alternatively, you may measure human greatness by actions that transform the world from pride and greed to ensuring a spacious place of welcome for all. Then, greatness will be measured only by service to that goal ... and by service to all, without exception.

 

Sunday Feb 7th - Drink deeply of living water until you overflow with life

Morning: Psalms 93, 96; Isaiah 57:14-21; Hebrews 12:1-6

Evening: Psalm 34; John 7:37-46

Mona and I are deeply grateful for our excellent source of water. Our well is deep, too, and never runs dry; the water probably comes from Lake Huron, filtered through layers of limestone. It is a little hard, but it tests pure and tastes sweet. Jesus calls out: “Let anyone who is thirsty, come to me”; he is the source of ‘living water’ for thirsty souls. If you trust him, you will be like a well for other thirsty souls. That is the amazing promise Jesus makes. Drink deeply of the living water and you yourself will overflow with life.

 

You cannot do it all without some help from beyond

Morning: Psalms 75, 76; Isaiah 57:3-13; Galatians 5:25-6:10

Evening: Psalms 23, 27; Mark 9:14-29

Faith leaders and people of faith are often challenged about their shortcomings. They fail to live up to others’ expectations, or even their own. What is amiss is not failure - we all fail - but the expectation that we won’t. The disciples (and people around them) thought they had failed to heal a man with a demon, and they had. Jesus said, “this kind can come out only through prayer.” In other words, you do what you can; but, realize you cannot do it all without some help from beyond. Prayer makes available the power of the Creator’s Love.

 

Fish or cut bait!

Morning: Psalm 69; Isaiah 56:1-8; Galatians 5:16-24

Evening: Psalm 73; Mark 9:2-13

Jesus’ disciples heard an invitation that echoes down the ages: Listen to him. Paul took the invitation further: Live by the Spirit that was in Jesus. In other words: Let your actions be guided by him. When you learn from a great teacher, it changes the way you live. Therefore, as well as invitations to learn, questions also echo down the ages to us: Is it time to live the life you were called to live? What more do you need? If you’ve been listening, will you act on it? Galilean fishermen might have said: Fish or cut bait!

 

The amazing Arithmetic of Love: 1-1>1

Morning: Psalms 70, 71; Isaiah 55:1-13; Galatians 5:1-15

Evening: Psalm 74; Mark 8:27-9:1

Under what circumstances do people say things like: ‘I have given my whole life to this ...”? Nearly always it’s about a valuable, noble or good endeavour. This good purpose added value to the life’s energy that they sacrificed. This is what Jesus means when he says, “Those who lose their life for my sake ... will save it.” You find yourself by losing yourself for Love’s sake. Love makes sure that you end up with more than you gave away. Love given is Love multiplied. This is the unconventional, irrational, amazing Arithmetic of Love ... 1-1>1

When will people get it!? It may take a while.

Morning: Psalm 72; Isaiah 54:1-17; Galatians 4:21-31

Evening: Psalm 119:73-96; Mark 8:11-26

Sometimes I get frustrated when people repeatedly miss this point: that absolutely nothing else matters if we do not take seriously Jesus’ command, ‘Love one another’. People say, ‘Yeh, yeh, but ...’, then spit their anger about something that can be addressed with kindness and decency. I want to demand, with Jesus: ‘Don’t you understand yet!?’ Jesus’ disciples and the Pharisees cause him to sigh, too; they are slow to understand. ‘Give us a sign’, they plead. He has already fed a multitude! Their vision is clouded. One day everyone will see. It just may take a while.

 

Saved from slavery by Truth - forgiven, loved, free!

Morning: Psalms 42, 43; I Samuel 2:1-10; John 8:31-36

Evening: Psalms 48, 87; Haggai 2:1-9; I John 3:1-8

Modern slavery exploits 40 million people for profit, with no way out. We may be enslaved, too, trapped in disordered relationships with others, the earth and God. Jesus taught that there is a way out of this predicament, that Truth restores relationships. This is not about our being good; goodness eludes us. Truth is about forgiveness. Forgiveness - God’s and ours - heals broken relationships and sets us on a good path ... forgiven, loved and free enough at last of our own distress to be able to work for the real freedom of those 40 million actual slaves.

 

One Great Spirit ... One great human family

Morning: Psalms 56, 57; Isaiah 51:17-23; Galatians 4:1-11

Eve of Presentation: Psalms 113, 122; Romans 8:14-21

Christian history is marred by a profound error. Some Christians assume that theirs is the only way to know God. This deep misunderstanding has led Christians to do terrible things. They have mocked, disparaged and erased the spiritual wisdom of so-called ‘unbelievers’, often with violent and shameful persecutions. Yet Gitche Manitou (Great Spirit) of the Anishinaabek, first people of this land, is One and the same ‘Spirit of God’ about whom St. Paul writes to the Romans: “All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” One Great Spirit ... One great human family.