God's Blessings

The Reading:

The earth has brought forth her increase; *
may God, our own God, give us his blessing.  Psalm 67:6




I've been visiting the Morton Arboretum 2-3 times a week this month. The landscapes change daily at this time of year, from the spring beauties that quietly creep into bloom and litter the forest floor with their delicate petals to the glorious abundance that explodes onto the landscape when the crabapples begin to bloom.  A profusion of miracles -- every day, when we take time to notice. 

This verse from the psalm reminds us to look for God's increase and to seek out God's blessings every day.  For it is the spiritual side of ourselves that births transformation. Crossing items off our temporal  "to-do" lists may bring temporary satisfaction, but will never transform us.  Transformation occurs only when we remember that God is the author of all miracles and the provisioner of the grace which blesses us every day. . 

May God, our own God, bless us this day. 

Labels

The Reading: So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying,..Three men from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.  Acts 11: 2-4, 11-12

“The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.” We are so human; so prone to labeling others. It starts when we are young, as we naively become aware of who “brings” vs. who “buys” lunch. During this election year, the candidates use separatist pronouns such as  “they” or “them” to garner support. Those fundamentalists. Those Muslims. Those immigrants. Those liberals. Those rednecks. Labels make it easy to dismiss entire groups of people, and we are lured into forgetting that each person is a beloved child of God.  Taken to its extreme and most nefariously, labels have been used to assign value to human beings, defining who is  “in” and who is “out” as happened in Nazi Germany and in Rwanda.  Yet each one of us is made in God’s image and beloved by God. This lesson from Acts makes it clear that it takes neither the mark of circumcision nor a special diet to enter into the Body of Christ. There is great freedom in Christ. Love God. Love one another. That’s it. Every time we find ourselves dismissing and labeling a group of people, we must examine our motives. For we are all one in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit calls us “not to make a distinction between them and us.”

Recognizable

The Reading: 
My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”   John 10: 27-30

I struggle with this passage. There have been times when I’ve not been sure of the Shepherd’s voice — or known, exactly, what I’m listening for. There have been times when I’ve sat primly in a pew and wondered whether the shepherd knew me at all. But then? Then that still, small voice whispers: “No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Hindsight is 20-20. There have been incidences when I was ripe for snatching and times when I probably deserved it. I’ve been retrieved from those gaping jaws and drawn into the arms of the holy of holies more than once. Grace led me there.

To know the sweetness of the nectar when we come to believe that the Shepherd recognizes us is the culmination of a life in faith. To gulp thirstily when we recognize the Shepherd’s voice is primal. And when God carries us through times of trial or dances with us during times of celebration? That is like drinking from God’s own cup.

It is the nectar of Truth that bids us return.

Blindness

Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Acts 9: 8-9

Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus, met his fate as he approached Damascus. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

You’ve heard the story: Suddenly Saul’s eyes were covered with scales and he was blinded for three days. During this time, he realized his utter dependence on others; realized his helplessness. It became a moment of conversion.

God calls to us in our faithlessness and in our blindness. Let us not assume it is not God calling. Let us, in faith, recognize the call so that the scales might fall from our eyes and that we might see where the Lord has need of us.