What's in yoru bowl?

There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.  1 Timothy 6:6

We come into this world alone, and we leave it alone. What matters, is what we do between those two events: birth and death. Think of an empty bowl. That’s what you arrive with: nothing. During our lifetimes, we add stuff to that bowl. Things like relationships, money, possessions, children, cars, experiences, and probably lots more stuff. 

Our bowl will ultimately be empty again as our lives here draw to a close. It matters what we put into our individual bowls. Relationships matter. Experiences matter.  Ultimately, we must make an accounting. What’s in your bowl? Is it filled with nourishment or an ever-increasing pile of superfluous clutter?

And where is God in your bowl?

Blotted Out

Remember not our past sins;
let your compassion be swift to meet us; *
for we have been brought very low.  Psalm 79:8

Simon Berger

“Remember not our sins, O God; let your compassion be swift to meet us.”

How often do you think about your own sinfulness? Have you ever wondered if you’re “good enough?”  It seems that, in spite of trying to live a good life, we often succumb to sinful thoughts, behaviors, and actions. It is why we say a confession every Sunday during celebrations of the Eucharist. Having that time to confess, to take stock, keeps us in relationship with God. Our sins are forgiven whenever we return to God and face the truth about ourselves. Scripture tells us that every sin, except one, can be forgiven.*

God’s love is that complete; God’s compassion, boundless. So no matter where you are, no matter how far you have strayed, no matter how many relationships you have broken, you can be pretty sure that when you decide to mend your ways and turn back to God, God will be right there beside you waiting with outstretched arms.

It’s not too late. Return. You are loved. You are safe. You are God’s. 

* ·        For the unpardonable sin, see Matthew 12: 31-32.   

Rejoice

 `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.   Luke 15:6-7

The Parable of the Lost Sheep is a story of  God’s love. It reminds us that even when we have strayed and fallen, sinned and sinned again, God will pursue us.  God is not so much interested in judging us as God is eager to welcome us home. God follows us, waits for us, and celebrates with profound joy when we return.

God does the same for those the world deems incorrigible:  the really lost, the really corrupt, the really hateful.  As Christ’s hands and feet in the world, we welcome them too.

Who craves our attention?  Who silently longs for it? Who does not deserve it?
For I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous who need no repentance. 

Marvelous!

I will thank you because I am marvelously made; *
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.       Psalm 139: 13

S.L. Lowry

Can we thank God for being marvelously made? It’s hard for most of us. Prayers are generally petitionary, and thanksgivings often remain unsaid.  It is challenging to thank God simply for oneself. To wonder with awe at the very being of ourselves: that we respire automatically, that we communicate with one another, that our minds can perceive colors and solve problems.

Try it. Just thank God for you. For you are marvelously made. Thank God for the miracle of you, in spite of all the complaints you may have about the shape of your eyes or the color of your hair.  Leave the complaints for another day.

I will thank you, God, for I am marvelously made.    

Where is God?

What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me,

and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?

They did not say, "Where is the Lord?”

The priests did not say, "Where is the Lord?"            Jeremiah 2: 5-6,8

Searching                        Agostino Arrivabene

Are we guilty of this?  Jeremiah accused the people of Judah of wandering far from God and not even noticing. Neither the priests nor the laity asked,               “Where is the Lord?” And therein lies the problem.

As we seek to follow Christ, it is important that we become bearers of the question, “Where is the Lord?”  Where is the Lord in the midst of our triumphs? Our tragedies? In the midst of everyday life? For it is in asking the question that we become more attuned to the presence of the Holy One.

This week, as you interact with the world and with your co-workers or partners, ask yourself, “Where is God in this?” In being intentional, we discover how close God really is. 

Standing Tall

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.         Luke 13:10-13     

Farmers at Work                                                 Georges Seurat

On Sunday, we will encounter the passage of the woman who has been bent over for eighteen years. She comes to the synagogue to worship, encounters Jesus, and is healed. This is one of Jesus’ lesser known miracles, but a miracle nonetheless. 

How old were you eighteen years ago? Do the math. Imagine being in some sort of pain for that long. Pain that crushes you to the point of bending you in half. And while the woman's pain is of a physical nature, your pain may be psychological. Or spiritual. Pain we carry around with us (whatever the kind) will ultimately cause us to bend. Our pains weigh us down and less able to become what God dreams for us. 

What causes you to bend? What are you carrying with you that weighs you down? Guilt? Grief? Broken relationships? Lay these burdens at the foot of the cross and allow God to carry them for you. 

And stand tall.  

Reflection and Hope

What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?

When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;

I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.   Isaiah 5: 4-5

Harvest             Duc De Berry    Samur, France

 

The prophet Isaiah tells the tale of his friend who worked hard at planting a new vineyard:: tilling the soil, removing the stones, planting the vines…. But, alas, when the vines finally started producing fruit, they did not produce the luscious, sweet grapes his friend had envisioned; it produced sour, wild grapes. So, vengefully, he vowed to tear it down, to let it be trampled and ultimately, be destroyed.

Life is full of disappointments. Our children may not turn out the way we hoped, or our career paths may have swerved of the beaten track. Our fortunes may have grown and then waned out of existence.  And our health, similarly. How do we deal with disappointment in our lives? How do we respond to unmet expectations?

We have two choices. We can trample down and destroy all that we have strived for, and reap bitterness and regret all our days, or we can turn and reflect and try to understand what happened, and learn from the experience. Bitterness and regret? Or reflection and hope? Where in your life do you harbor pain and bitterness? What does it cost you? And how might you leave that path behind and choose the better way?

I lift up my prayers. 

Treasure

“For where your treasure is, there your heat will be also.” Luke 12: 34

Sri Chimoy - c. 2005

Have you ever purchased something – a new car or a new brand of shoes -- and suddenly start noticing a lot more of that particular brand?  Once you’ve spent your money on a BMW or on Birkenstocks, you start seeing BMWs or Birkenstocks everywhere.  Our hearts and minds are hard wired to respond that way. I remember my first car was an Opel Kadett – never a lot of those around – but whenever I saw one, I felt like pulling the other one over and inviting the driver over for a cup of coffee.

So it is with wherever we place our treasure.  If we start donating more money to the poor, for example, we will soon start noticing the plight of the poor more acutely. If we spend a lot of our discretionary income on concert tickets, chances are, we’ll start listening to music more attentively. On designer clothes? Designer clothes.

To really discover what we treasure and where our hearts lie, we need only take a look at our credit card statements or at our checkbook registers. Where does our money go? This is what Jesus is asking his disciples this week.  Where are our hearts? On what do we spend our time, our talent, and our treasure?

Greed

"Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."   Luke 12: 15

Kathryn Cook

Let us not split hairs about greed. We are all wealthy by the world's standards. Greed is a different animal. It is an attitude.   

Jesus is speaking of the pernicious infection of greed upon the human soul. Its vorcious appetite can never be satisfied because greed is insatiable. The Roman poet Horace said, “He who is greedy is always in want.”  Greed is never quenched; never satisfied. It consumes our energy and blocks goodness and mercy from entering our hearts.

Jesus offers us the vaccine that inoculates against this infection. It is none other than the two Great Commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor.  As we live in the shelter of those two commandments, greed can never enter in.
   

     

"The highest wealth is the absence of greed."  – Seneca                                                                                   

"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."      – Ghandi                                

"Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction."  – Erich Fromm

Our Father

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father, hallowed be your name.                      Luke 11:1-2

                           Painting 45E                           K. Robinson

In this land of rugged individualism where evangelical preachers beseech us to develop a “personal relationship with Jesus,” I am struck by the fact that our Lord, when he taught his disciples to pray, instructed them to say, “Our Father.”  It is as though Jesus was reminding them that God is not property – and entity held in the hands of the most pious, but a mystery to be held corporately, to be worshiped corporately, to be praised corporately.

“Our Father,” suggests that we are not beseeching God alone, due to our own merits or piety, but as a unifying act on behalf of humanity. It recalls the church “catholic” – small “c” – wherein we are all a part of something must larger than ourselves. When I pray with others, I feel the kinship and love of God as it links us together in a unifying mystery that makes relationships stronger, compassion more visible, and faith more visceral.

For this I give thanks.   

Fussing

The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it……” 

Luke 10:42    from Eugene Peterson’s The Message

Martha and Mary               JesusMafa - Cameroon

On Sunday, another of Luke’s perennial favorites, the story of Martha and Mary. Many of us have self-effacingly called ourselves “Martha” from time to time – and many preachers have extolled the virtues of aspiring to be like Mary – but the essential message of this charming tale is in how it speaks to perspective.

Most of us have responded as both Martha and Mary in different situations. There are times when we are busy and fussing and overwhelmed – and there are times when we are calm and intentional and focused. Each of us can exhibit both.  Jesus reminds us that focus and calm is the better way to attend to life.  

Frazzled nerves, hypertension, and nervous activity only exhaust and distract us, but if we bring God into  our daily tasks, the journey will be easier and more life affirming. How might we attend to mowing the lawn, preparing the meals, and preparing spreadsheets in ways that might honor Christ’s presence with us?  

We have choices. 

Semantics

But the lawyer, wanting to justify himself asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"  Luke 10:29

Beth Shemesh, Israel                    August, 2014

On Sunday, we will listen, again, to the parable of the Good Samaritan. Most of us have heard it many times before, and most of us understand that the “good” Samaritan did what was right for a bleeding and wounded man lying by the side of the road.  There’s the moral: be like the Samaritan.

But as I think about the story, I am struck by the lawyer’s initial question to Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” The lawyer did not want an answer. He sought to quibble. He sought to spar with rhetorical questions; to argue for the sport of it. 

Jesus is not interested in semantics. Jesus seeks to give us sight so that we, too, might see the world through the eyes of God and respond as God would have us respond. Quibbling about how much or how many serves no purpose; it only delays delivering assistance to those who need it. 

Let us not be quibblers.