Thirsty!

Exodus 17:1-7 Click to read passage

Reflection:

Have you ever had that feeling of extreme thirst? Maybe it was after a great workout, or after mowing the lawn in the heat of summer….but have you ever come in, grabbed a glass of cold water, and not been able to drink it fast enough to quench your thirst?

Can you imagine being in the company of the Israelites in the desert? They’ve been freed from slavery, but at times they think it would be better to go back, because at least as slaves, they had enough to eat and enough to drink. They are hungry, thirsty, and tired.

The thing that Moses knew, and that the people continued to forget, was that God had promised to walk with them, even through the desert – even through the thirst. The spring of living water we will hear more about this Sunday is actually travelling WITH them through the driest time of their lives! All they have to do is ask, and this spring of living water can even break forth from a rock!

Do you trust in the same promise? Whatever is happening in your life that has you thirsty for grace, acceptance, and unconditional love, do you trust that your God travels with you through the desert? Or do you think God is trapped in religious buildings, rituals and rules?

Come this Sunday to hear more about the God who travels with us through the desert, and brings the living water we seek from the most unexpected places.

Prayer: God of grace, you have promised to be a ‘god on the move’ travelling with your people wherever they go. Help us to trust that even in the driest and thirstiest times in our lives, you will never leave us without the water and grace we seek. Amen.

Free Food?!?

Isaiah 55:1-11 (click link to read passage)

Take a moment – close your eyes – and think of the best family meal time you can remember. Maybe it was during a holiday celebration. Maybe it was a birthday. Maybe it was at a reunion. What is the best memory you have of a meal with your family?

Now answer this question: how much did you pay for that meal? My guess is – it was free – and it was more satisfying than any meal you’ve paid good money for.

My meal memories swirl around Christmas, when uncles, aunts and cousins from far away would come. If I close my eyes, I can still smell the fresh bowl of chilled shrimp; I can still hear the loud sounds of kids playing and adults laughing. Those are some of my most treasured memories, and they surrounded a meal – not one bought at a store, or one that came in a package – but a meal that only existed because of the people who gathered around it.

The same image is present in the passage from Isaiah. This word of hope is coming to a people who are in exile in a foreign land. They are in crisis, and in times of crisis, often people return to the things that matter – to family, to friends, to relying on a community of others.

As I listened to the news on the radio this morning on my way into church, there was a report about the incredible suffering in Japan. One man who was interviewed had a very stoic and realistic approach, however – he said, “this is the time you return to the things that matter.” Japan’s economy is faltering. Money isn’t useful if the stores aren’t open. But the houses of neighbors, family, and friends are always open.

So maybe you can hear those opening words of Isaiah 55 a little differently now – “everyone who thirsts – come to the waters – and you that have no money – come buy and eat!” This is about family – God’s family – where the meals and the grace are always free.

Prayer: God of love, you invite us to step out of our consumer mindset to recognize that you don’t charge us for your gifts. Help us to humbly receive, and freely share the amazing life you have provided. Amen.

The Light Meets the Dark

John 1:1-5 (click link to read passage)

Reflection:

Have you ever turned on a flashlight in a dark room and been afraid it wasn’t going to work? Not because the batteries are dead, but because you’re afraid this time, the darkness will be stronger than the light? Of course not! That’s not how flashlights work. Even a dim flashlight scatters the darkness.

From a purely scientific point of view, darkness is not its own “thing.” It is merely the absence of light. Darkness cannot be strong, powerful, or deep enough to overcome even the smallest light. Darkness has no power. By definition, it is the void left when power and light aren’t present.

So why is it that so often, we think our own personal darkness has power? Why is it that we think somehow, our pasts, our secrets, our pains are strong enough to choke out God’s love?

The opening words of the Gospel of John, linked above, remind us of this powerful truth. The same God we hear about in Genesis speaking LIGHT and LIFE into the void shows up on the cross. The same God who showed up on the cross breaks into our daily lives as well.

Whatever is going on in your world today, take heart that God’s Light shines in the darkness – and the darkness CANNOT, WILL NOT overcome it…

The video I placed in this blog today is of a song by the group Tenth Avenue North entitled “Healing Begins.” The lyrics are printed below. Pay particular attention to the refrain: “This is where the healing begins…when you come to where you’re broken within – the light meets the dark”

LYRICS:

So you thought you had to keep this up

All the work that you do

So we think that you're good

And you can't believe it's not enough

All the walls you built up

Are just glass on the outside

So let 'em fall down

There's freedom waiting in the sound

When you let your walls fall to the ground

We're here now

This is where the healing begins, oh

This is where the healing starts

When you come to where you're broken within

The light meets the dark

The light meets the dark

Afraid to let your secrets out

Everything that you hide

Can come crashing through the door now

But too scared to face all your fear

So you hide but you find

That the shame won't disappear

So let it fall down

There's freedom waiting in the sound

When you let your walls fall to the ground

We're here now

We're here now, oh

This is where the healing begins, oh

This is where the healing starts

When you come to where you're broken within

The light meets the dark

The light meets the dark

Sparks will fly as grace collides

With the dark inside of us

So please don't fight

This coming light

Let this blood come cover us

His blood can cover us

This is where the healing begins, oh

This is where the healing starts

When you come to where you're broken within

The light meets the dark

The light meets the dark

Prayer: God of Light and Life, give me the trust I need to let your light shine even into the deepest darkness I keep secret from others. Heal me with your Word, your Light, your Life. Amen.

Flaws like Gold

2 Corinthians 12:7b-10 (click link to read passage)

Reflection:

Paul had some sort of issue – we are not sure what it was. Maybe he had a stutter. Maybe he had chronic migraines. Whatever it was, however, it was disruptive enough for him to call it “a messenger from Satan.” He begged God to remove it from him, but God’s response was simple; “my grace is enough for you – for power is made perfect in weakness.”

At first glance, God’s response seems at once uncaring and unintelligible. What in the world does it mean that “power is made perfect in weakness?”

If we dig a little deeper, though – all of us can recognize a place, sometimes buried deep within ourselves, that recognizes the truth behind these words.

When, in your life, have you felt emptied out and ready to give up?

When, in your life, have you been forced to admit you couldn’t handle it all?

When, in your life, were you moved to humility and dependence on the divine?

Even though these times might be difficult to remember, they are often the times we are closest to the truth of God’s words to Paul. We like to put up a façade of self-sufficiency, but it is actually the cracks in that façade that most powerfully point others to the presence of Christ in our lives.

For me, my “cracks” surround childhood sadness, and my own intimate experiences with the “messenger from Satan” called depression. But oh, those cracks shine so bright with God’s grace and light! Those times show so brilliantly that God’s grace really is sufficient for me – and for you, too.

The picture above is of an ancient Japanese bowl repaired with gold filling. That’s how they did it back then – not to hide the cracks, but to make them shine all the more. I have no doubt that this is what God is doing in our lives, too.

So don’t be afraid to let God’s grace shine through the cracks in your façade. Odds are, those cracks are the very places others feel most comfortable around you because there are no pretentions – and because if you’re not perfect, maybe they don’t have to be perfect to be around you.

I want to close with a song by my favorite acoustic guitarist, Peter Mayer (www.petermayer.net) called “Japanese Bowls.” The lyrics say it all:

I’m like one of those Japanese bowls

That were made long ago

I have some cracks in me

They have been filled with gold

That’s what they used back then

When they had a bowl to mend

It did not hide the cracks

It made them shine instead

So now every old scar shows

From every time I broke

And anyone’s eyes can see

I’m not what I used to be

But in a collector’s mind

All of these jagged lines

Make me more beautiful

And worth a much higher price

I’m like one of those Japanese bowls

I was made long ago

I have some cracks you can see

See how they shine of gold

Prayer:

God of grace, when I can’t, you can. Shine through my life today – and help me to graciously accept my flaws as places where you can shine even brighter. Amen.

God Scatters Snow Like Wool...

Isaiah 55:10-12 (Click link to read passage)

Reflection:

It was hard to see any good in it. Snow was everywhere. We don’t own a snowblower, so it meant hours and hours of shoveling. I was scheduled to leave for a conference out of town, so it meant cancelled flights and non-refundable hotel rooms empty.

It was hard to see any good in the massive storm that hit the Midwest yesterday, and Spring seems so far away.

And yet, as neighbors emerged from their houses to help one another out, a sense of community developed in my neighborhood like I haven't seen in the two years we've lived there. Everyone was helping everyone else out. My kids were playing in the middle of the street while neighbors talked and joked. It was a blessed, peaceful moment in the midst of an otherwise crazy day.

In the passage linked above, Isaiah is reminding his listeners, and us, that whether we can see past current obstacles or not, God is busy bringing about new life. Isaiah is reminding his listeners, and us, that even when it isn’t obvious, God is weaving all things together to accomplish his purposes.

Isaiah uses the image of snow, which speaks to me today. Just as I can’t yet see the new flowers and grass that will sprout in months thanks to the healthy dose of water, so sometimes the “good” in some situations in our lives seems buried beneath a mountain of obstacles.

So I’m rejoicing in Isaiah’s words today -

Don’t forget – Spring is coming!

Don’t forget – Easter is coming!

Don’t forget – Jesus is coming!

Prayer:

God of every good gift, help me to put my trust in you today so that I might not miss the buried blessings springing forth all around me. Amen.

Dawn is Breaking

Luke 1:67-79 Zechariah’s Prophecy

Reflection:

I sing to my kids all the time.

But I’ve never sung like that.

In the passage linked above, you heard one of the greatest songs of praise in the New Testament, as Zechariah sings to his new little boy, who we will later meet as John the Baptist.

About halfway through his praise song, he starts singing directly to his son…

“You, my child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways…”

The most beautiful line, however, is right near the end. In it, Zechariah – priest, father, prophet – uses one of the most beautiful images in all of scripture to describe what Jesus will be for the world;

“The dawn from on high will break upon us…”

Indeed, Jesus’ light breaks forth in the darkness of human brokenness.

Jesus’ light breaks forth in the darkness of human pain and suffering.

Jesus’ light even shines THROUGH the darkest human experience of death, shining all the way to the glory on the other side.

So, today, no matter how short winter makes your days, or how dark your everyday struggles feel, know that just as each morning brings the brightness of the sun, so each moment brings the brightness of the Son.

The dawn from high breaks upon us!

Prayer:

God of light, shine through my darkness today. Help me to see beyond the barriers right before me – guide my feet into the way of peace. Amen.

Would you leave?

Luke 5:27-32 Jesus Calls Levi - Click here to read passage

Reflection:

Have you ever wondered why the folks in the Bible seem so ready to just walk away from their professions to follow Jesus?

I mean, if you trained for years to be a mechanic, let’s say – and your livelihood depended on what you brought in from that work…and then some wandering preacher comes and tells you to follow him, learn from him, and be part of his movement – would you leave it all, trusting that this was the right thing to do? Of course not!

This highlights the difference between the culture of Jesus’ day and our own. Back then, rabbis were well-respected members of the community…and to be a “follower” of one of the rabbis was a distinct honor. It meant that you had excelled past your classmates in knowledge of the Scriptures. It meant that you had memorized the Scriptures. It meant that you were the best of the best. Only the ‘cream of the crop’ got called to be a rabbi’s disciples.

Except this rabbi did things differently.

He went to those who were ‘not good enough.’

He went to those who had not excelled past their peers.

He called regular, everyday folks like you and I to be part of his radical movement of good news, joy, and peace.

That’s why the disciples dropped everything and followed him – because it meant that before they even believed in him, he believed in them. He believed in their ability to carry his message. He believed in their ability to be a vehicle for his love. He believed that this rag-tag group of “anybodies” could change the world. And they did.

They still do. Now you and I are a part of that rag-tag group as well. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: God of all people, you call us to be your followers and to echo the love you show to us. Help us to rest secure in the fact that before we even believe in you, you believe in us and our power to let your love flow through us to others. Amen.