Devotion.al

Tag: internet

  • Too Busy To Live

    Too Busy To Live

    Exodus 5:7-9; Romans 8:5-8, 12-17

    Recently, there was a song going around the internet called the “Rich Men North of Richmond”. It mostly speaks to the anguish of a working man who is striving and working and is not making ends , and, yes, there are some digs that many are questioning, and sometimes just questioning those who are supporting the song.

    There seems a lot of truth, or a lot of perception of that this is the truth, that below middle-class wage earners (and many middle-class ones, too) are working their fingers, bodies, souls, minds off to make ends meet. How many are the like the Hebrews at this point in Exodus, who are trying to make ends meet without a basic component previously supplied, and now not.

    In a culture that has idolized working hard to the nth degree, why are we surprised that rest and are viewed as a measure of luxury and a sign of laziness. There is, of course, too much rest, but our culture, at this point, does not value rest.

    COVID seemed to have reset the rest aspect, but we are now watching it fade away. Mindfulness and meditation apps were all the rage during COVID. It doesn’t seem so now. As worship, especially the type depicted in the Pentateuch of no work (arguments over what defines normal, aside), is not normal work (which, of course, is the point), it must be rest, and rest is not to be trusted.

    As the culture turns away from organized faith, it appears to diminish and deride worship as well. We can see this among people who used to the church a home. We know that the body itself cannot function without rest. Neither can the human mind. Binge-watching television, youtube, or tiktok, isn’t resting, or relaxing. It is, in so many words, medicating. It is helping us bury our lack of rest.

    I wonder if many people are so leery of rest and so leery of a set time of difference, that times of gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts (i.e., sermon or homily), are to be avoided. It may be that we are watching even many of whom were thought to be Christian walk away from gathered worship because it is different. And we avoid the different, and different includes worship and rest.

    Whether it is the drive to make money, for person or corporation, would have fill our lives with activity without rest, we can see that we do not value rest, and that we are no different than pharaoh and looking at rest and worship it’s nothing more than laziness.

    We can see it in the old (in internet ) FOMO ( of missing out) and YOLO (you only live once). FOMO has fear in its . YOLO is really the same, just with a positive twist. It seems we almost might fear rest.

    Whether we’re looking at the world or reading the , fear is not always fully understood (or desired to be understood). The fear noted in Romans may seem different that the fear of FOMO and YOLK, but the fear is still fear. The paarticular type of fear of YOLO and FOMO can lead to parents, meaning well, burying their children in activities so that they don’t miss out on something. What if my child is a hidden talent? What if my child is the greatest gift to humanity in something? They must know!

    However, perhaps they are missing out on what is most needed, us. What if, too, we keep them busy because we are to fearful of rest? True rest.

    ⁜ Reflection ⁜

    • How do you view and experience rest? How does worship (gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts) fit into that?
    • Who in your circle of influence do you see as needing rest? How can you encourage them to take rest?
    • What activities in yourself and do you see as attempting to be rest, but actually aren’t?

    ⁜ Prayer ⁜

    Jesus, you didn’t call us to work to the bone. You called yourself the Lord of the Sabbath while telling your disciples that Sabbath was made for humanity. Help us to continue to recover what it means to rest as was intended for us, not for how we see it. Give us the courage to say, “no” and help us not self-condemn when we seek rest. Amen.

  • Enduring Soil

    Enduring Soil

    4 Now while a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from every city, he said in a parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, were trampled on, and birds from the sky ate them up. 6  fell on stony ground, and as soon as they came up, they dried up because they had no moisture. 7 Others fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes grew with them and choked them. 8 But others fell on good soil, and when they came up, they produced 100 times as much as was planted.” As he said this, he called out, “Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!”

    9 Then his disciples began to him what this parable meant. 10 So he said, “You have been given knowledge about the secrets of the of God. But to others they are given in parables, so that

    ‘they might look but not see,
        and they might listen but not understand.’”

    11 “Now this is what the parable means. The seed is God’s word. 12 The ones on the path are the people who listen, but then the Devil comes and takes the word away from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 The ones on the stony ground are the people who joyfully welcome the word when they hear it. But since they don’t have any roots, they believe for a while, but in a time of they fall away. 14 The ones that fell among the thorn bushes are the people who listen, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries, wealth, and pleasures of , and their fruit doesn’t mature. 15 But the ones on the good soil are the people who hear the word but also hold on to it with good and honest hearts, producing a crop through endurance.”

    Luke 8:4–15 ISV

    Reading the Scriptures (i.e., The Holy Bible) daily continues to bring my joy. It fills some of my curiosity, and often drives my researching desires. As a habit, I read a different translation each year for my daily readings (versus sermon prep). This year it is the ISV.

    Part of my rationale is that I believe it helps me see the same Scriptures differently. Whether it’s phrasing or vocabulary or punctuation, something gets triggered (in a good way) in my brain.

    I’ve read the Parable of the Sower many times. I’ve preached on it. Heard plenty of sermons on it. Verse 15 hit me today.

    What struck me this time, in particular, was “endurance”. When you go back and re-read the parable, endurance makes sense. It may indeed be the point of the entire parable (not saying it is).

    Endurance

    Endurance and resiliency are the new corporate buzz words coming out of COVID lockdowns and remote work. The church has started to focus on them, too. It’s not a bad thing. Developing resilience might actually make the world a better place.

    Perhaps, instead of feeling attacked or belittled, instead…we endure. The good soil is the soil that endures.

    In church, we’ll often talk about the “good soil”. What is the “good” soil? We’ll talk about the Christian that overcomes adversity. We’ll talk about the one that doesn’t contain thorns and briars. We’ll about the one that doesn’t contain stones.

    Even when we talk about the good soil, we don’t often focus on the endurance. It’s not the soil’s fertility that is the source. It is the endurance.

    We don’t like to talk about endurance, because generally that comes along with difficulty. We see on the internet (and even, gasp, in bookstores) the latest book with the latest vital skill set that we must have today. There is the latest shortcut (with and without AI), so that we can get what ever it is done faster, and so we can minimize the time we experience difficulty.

    In other words, we avoid requiring endurance.

    Training

    Athelete’s train. Anyone who regularly participates in physical activity trains. Training produces endurance. We seem to get that when it comes to physicality. We actually do get it mentally with our focus on education. Even that, though, is often about regurgitation and not thinking. Rote and regurgitation do not produce mental endurance.

    We are truly awful about endurance when it comes to emotional, and (especially) spiritual. I’m still trying to figure out what happend with the emotional part. I don’t think that the “stiff upper lip” (British) or stoic (Germanic) tendencies and patterns were always healthy. Often they led to people burying their feelings. So, for those that claim “those were the days”…I disagree.

    It’s easy to blame the internet (currently) or television (previously), but is that really true? Have we really forgotten how to healthily emotionally endure, or did we just have yet another mask we wore?

    We have mental health counselors as a growing field (need far outweighs practitioners). I do think they are necessary because we have done such a poor job of being trained and training others.

    This also pours over into spiritual endurance. This is not about spiritual abuse, but just the straightforward character to endure trials, perceived unanswered , and the horrors of a fallen world, without one’s faith being crushed.

    Just Believe

    Just believe is very similar to rote and regurgitational mental learning. It does not produce endurance. We struggle with endurance. I know I do. It’s okay to acknowledge that you struggle with endurance.

    The beauty of the current cultural emphasis on endurance (or resilience) is that the community of faith (i.e., the church universal) can talk about it, too. Think about it. We have the ability to faithfully talk about God and an enduring faith, while the world is also struggling with endurance. There’s the open door…will you walk through it?

    Prayer

    God, we know that we are called to endure. We see throughout the Scriptures you provided examples of enduring faith from flawed beings just like us. We know through the of , that you understand our struggles, including our struggle to endure. , please help us be the enduring soil that produces faith in ourselves and others. Amen.

  • Good Fire. Bad Fire.

    Good Fire. Bad Fire.

    Psalm 142; Amos 5:1–9; Acts 21:27–39

    Depending on who you talk to, the ability to make may be the most important invention of humanity. It kept creatures of the night away. It allowed the cooking of food, purification of water, and it kept people warm. Fire was used as a tool to burn forests to encourage grazing lands for food source animals such as bison and deer.

    As time moved along, humanity’s ability to harness fire grew. Humanity learned to melt metal. Then it learned to metal through more fire. Then there were things like glass and steam-powered. All through fire. Even in today’s metal smelting industries, fire is one of the key pieces of refining and purification.

    In the , fire performs primarily two kinds of cleansing. The most destructive is the burning away of everything. We might it “scorched earth”. The other type is purification. This is where high heat is held for a sustained time to draw out the impurities within.

    In the context of Amos, the fire could be either form. Despite the ultimatum nature of Amos’ words, there is still a measure of choice and optimism. “Seek me.” Those simple words and simple actions were what God was looking for. Note that it wasn’t even follow. Just seek.

    Thus, the fire could be different, depending on whether the Israelites sought God, or chose not to. One path would lead to a (proverbial) cleansing fire that burned everything away, both good and bad. In hopes, like the aftereffect of a forest fire, new healthy growth would take its place. Should the Israelites choose to seek God, there would still be a fire, and it would still hurt, but there would be purification.

    Sometimes only purification is needed. Sometimes a clean slate is needed. The same can be said about our lives. The same can be said about our actions.

    Sometimes we think we’re doing one when we’re doing the . Sometimes we just want to watch things burn. Fires of prophecy can take many forms. Many people have claimed that we have been seeing exactly that over the last few years.

    Except what is at the end?

    In Jerusalem, people made assumptions about and stirred people up. The Jews of Jerusalem made no thoughtful inquiry. They jumped to conclusions and became the fire. Others joined, probably many ignorantly, and the fire grew.

    So, out came the firefighters. The Roman soldiers were commissioned to deal with out-of-control people. Often they did it through bloodshed. The Romans also made assumptions. An Egyptian? This is madness!

    It doesn’t take a stretch to see “those” people making “those” mistakes and stupid decisions, and starting a proverbial fire. We’ve seen such similar things ourselves. The Jews and Romans couldn’t blame the or social media, though. We try, but history shows that even in the first century the flames of presumption, assumption, and ignorance can still overtake people. It only takes a spark.

    ※Reflection※

    • What “fires” have you experienced, and how were they fires?
    • How might the fires of madness (Acts) resemble refining fires and cleansing fires?
    • Why is present in each of these types of fires?
    • What is the most Christ-like way to deal with each type of fire?

    ※Prayer※

    God, the of is in the flames. Lord, may we be on fire for you. Amen.

  • Faithfully Wise

    Faithfully Wise

    Psalm 92:1–4, 12–15; 1 Kings 10:26–11:8; Hebrews 11:4–13

    We often will use the word in regards to King Solomon. He was granted the gift of wisdom for the benefit of the people, and they greatly benefited. With the being built, on the surface, it would seem that they were benefiting spiritually (or at least religiously) too. Except that all the benefits were short-lived. Eternally, they were of minimal or no value.

    While calling the US a Christian (whether from the beginning or up until now) is really a mischaracterization, it is helpful to think of the US as Solomon.

    Through the inheritance of conquest (Israel took the land, right or wrong, as the US took it from the previous inhabitants) and also hard work, there was financial, societal, and personal security. Everything was going well. Then certain things pulled the US away from its origins. The US, for example, went from a nation needing outside help, to be being one of the dominant (and at times the only dominant) countries that “gave” support (with the general expectation of benefits, even if only figurative).

    The US has chased after TV, space, the moon, computers, the , and you can probably add more to the list. Each of these things, for a time, became more important than the country itself.

    The (and thus us) fell into this same trap. We had the “wars”, attractional, missional, Sunday School, discipleship, and even digital. Churches chased after these things. Could they serve the kingdom? Yes. Did they server the kingdom? Not always. Where this gets really messy is that some of these may have been beneficial for the kingdom for a time and place (and perhaps still), but at the same time, many churches have stuck to their models rather than their mission.

    And in case you think that I want the “good old days”, I can easily add “fire and brimstone sermons”, liturgy (which I do love), rural, urban, poor, rich. Anything can inhibit the church—and the people called the church—from fulfilling its mission. Then we are no better than old Solomon.

    Solomon had wisdom, but his had waned. Contrast this with the listed in Hebrews. Some of them may not have had wisdom, but they had faith.

    Often this is where the church and its people can sidetrack. When we lose faith and only in wisdom (particularly worldly wisdom), we will often make decisions that we believe are correct (they certainly may be wise), and yet do not align with faith or trust in the will of God.

    ※Reflection※

    • What kind of things/thoughts/“wisdom” have you had/experienced that led you away from God?
    • How do you when something good is taking you away from God?
    • What do you think is the mission of the church and the people of the church? How will you use that to filter your actions and the actions of your church?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, may we grow in wisdom AND faith, that we are your faithful people on your mission. Amen.

  • Field Work

    Field Work

    Psalm 130; Genesis 2:4b–14; Luke 8:4–15

    Regardless of where you are concerning the continuum of evolution to creationism, humanity is unique. Many of those who look at humanity from the evolutionary standpoint are less than impressed with the result of evolution. Many of those who look at humanity from the creationism standpoint are less than impressed with that result, too. Humanity with all its beauty, difference, and creativity, is a complete mess. If you need any convincing (doubtful), there is the news (from any source), the , and even basic interactions with people in the neighborhood that will likely convince you. If you read the , they’ll convince you, too.

    The Scriptures, whether First/Old or Second/New, also revolve around the acts of agriculture. The Israelites come from livestock handlers. Part of the of Joseph was the area of Goshen, which was ideal for livestock. While we often focus on the bricks and straw of Exodus, we cannot exclude the previous generations and their animal husbandry. Most of us a fairly removed from the practice of agriculture. Some of us have gardens that some vegetables (and even fruit). go hunting (to eat not for sport). Others get on a whole cow and among families. Still, these are all really shadows of a way of .

    Thus when we read the story of the seeds being sown, we can miss a lot of the context. A farmer doesn’t just toss seed anywhere, but the sower did. It is symbolic of the of God, sowing the seed of the to the entire world.

    The Garden of Eden, according to Genesis 2, had not yet had crops when God created humanity. As a fertile land, though, the implication is that humanity didn’t exactly need to farm crops. The wild abundance was enough.

    Even later in Genesis 2, humanity was to work the crops. We are made to work. It is what we work at that makes all the difference to God.

    All of us cast seeds. That really isn’t the question. It is the kind of seed that matters. All of us work the fields. It is the kind of fields that we work in that matters.

  • Loving Presence

    Loving Presence

    Psalm 20; Exodus 25:1–22; 1 Corinthians 2:1–10

    “…so that I am present among them.” (Exodus 25:8)

    It seems like a strange statement to us as Christians. Our theology talks about God’s omnipresence (God is everywhere), so a tent doesn’t really change that. The tent was, however, the place for meeting God. As part of the rhythm of the post-Egypt for the Israelites, the Tent of Meeting was the center of movement of the entire for 40 years.

    After the clearing of the Promised Land, the Tent had a semi-permanent place, and still remained the primary place of . The aspect of being present may have been more along the lines of the focal point. Many years later, there were seers and prophets that didn’t necessarily reside near the Tent. They met with God in their own way. Ultimately, they too had to go to the Tent of Meeting for the annual worship events.

    It reflects the reality that humanity needs that kind of center. As our lives become more digital, it is still to be determined whether humanity can really separate its psyche from the physical reality of existence.

    The , its digital relatives, its predecessors (TV, radio, telegraph) were not the first extended form of communication. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was also extended communication. From the ancient perspective, the written letter was considered representative of the person themselves. The barriers in the ancient world (education, distance, cost) actually increased the “” of a mere letter. Not quite an ancient Zoom meeting.

    Diplomatic letters didn’t always have a physical meeting before. A personal letter, such as Paul’s, usually did, and we can see that it certainly did. Paul’s words to the Corinthians would be treated more seriously and intimately than an email, tweet, or Facebook post.

    Paul doesn’t shy away from his insecurities in this letter. We Christians often think of Paul as some great person (he was), but avoid his statements regarding his weaknesses. Without question, Paul would have been a champion blogger and writer of our day. He would not have likely been a convention speaker or YouTuber. Based upon his own declarations of his weaknesses, regardless of his writings, he may have never qualified to be a lead pastor of a church.

    Lead Pastor doesn’t seem to have been his gifting, so this is not a bad thing. Through his presence, though, churches and communities were launched. Through his letters, churches were built up, disciplined, and discipled. Through his life, he brought up the next generation (Timothy) to lead. We often evaluate our ministry and giftings through the lives and gifts of . Perhaps we ought to just evaluate them on whether we were present in others’ times of trouble when we had the opportunity to them.

    ※Reflection※

    • Who is one Christian that you wish your ministry or Christian life resembled? Why? How does your life resemble theirs? Are your spiritual giftings the same as theirs?
    • Who has made the biggest difference in your life? A famous Christian, or someone who you through your darkest times?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord Christ, helps our lives to be one of presence to others that they can sense your love coming from us and pouring into them. Amen.

  • Divided Beauty Multiplied

    Divided Beauty Multiplied

    Psalm 104:24–34; Genesis 11:1–9; 1 Corinthians 12:12–27

    The US is not the biggest country in the world, not by landmass, not by population. Just like other countries our size and bigger, there are some weird things that happen as you change states, regions, and sometimes even counties. There is a certain section of Washington that adds an “r” so that Washington becomes Warshington or washing becomes warshing. It’s an oddity that has even of those born and raised in Washington confused.

    There are certain things one can say in the Western states that one avoids saying in the Eastern states. There is definitely a divide between the Northern states and the Southern states in regards to language. Sometimes the differences are functional, sometimes they are just some differences that bubbled up as languages and peoples came together or divided.

    Sometimes, even more strangely, is that when a number of people come together and form a new language, that becomes even more confused and nuanced. The internet, and all things connected through it, is like that now. New ways of communicating (emojis and abbreviations) are being used and often very misunderstood. There are even manufactured languages (Esperanto, Klingon, for example). We are constantly looking for new ways to communicate.

    The fall of the Tower of Babel echoes this need but in reverse. Humanity had this universal language. Humanity could communicate apparently quite well. Humanity, however, had lost its praising of God and now wanted to become God. Perhaps, even more than the story of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, this short story of the Tower of Babel illuminates the fallen heart.

    As with many things in the Scriptures, though, still breaks through. comments that the church (the Body and Bride of Christ) is made of many parts. Humanity is made of many parts and many languages. God is not limited by “the many”.

    Arguably, God is actually more glorified by the many differences that make up humanity and its languages. There are a few (sadly, too few) worship songs that can cross language barriers, where one can translate the original language into a different one, and still keep the meter and rhythm. Hearing a song you know sung in a different language and still being able to sing along is a beautiful of what God can do.

    It is humanity that is divided by language, people, skin color, nation, or ideology. The speaks through all of God’s people that they can sing praises to God from the depths of their hearts the best way they know how.

    ※Reflection※

    • Where are places you have seen the division of humanity bring to God?
    • How do you see divided humanity overcome its divisions?
    • Do you think artistic activities are better able to overcome the differences than non-artistic? Why are why not?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, we recognize that we are divided. Through the we are not called to be united, we are united through. Transform our lives so that they match what the Spirit has done. Amen.

  • Follow Through The Veil

    Follow Through The Veil

    Psalm 98; Isaiah 49:5–6; Acts 10:1–34

    It’s not enough to restore a backslidden, rebellious, unloving, non-grace-filled, unjust people who either don’t acknowledge or hate God. On top of that, the whole world that doesn’t know God is going to look to you for the of God. No pressure.

    Or how about a valorous warrior, who lead 80 soldiers from the front, a Gentile (dirty to Jews) who followed the Jewish (dirty to Greeks) . A person used to pressure was visited by an angel. Military? Yes. ? Probably. Messenger of God?

    Or how about a simple fisherman, who met this wandering carpenter, followed him, befriended him, deserted him, experience a transformative experience of his friend into the of God (and resurrected to boot), going from a simple follower to a of leaders of a new faith tradition, and then receive a vision overturning his entire dietary understanding and eventually his understanding of who died for (everyone).

    You and I are not Isaiah, Cornelius, or Peter. We are not going to be written of in the Scriptures (they’re closed). Our dreams and visions may be remembered by the and perhaps friends and family. No one else. Not like Isaiah.

    Some followers of Jesus may turn out to be very much like Cornelius, faith-filled followers of Jesus (eventually in Cornelius’ state) who are also valorous soldiers. However, having a personal meeting with an angle and meeting someone greater than any pope, archbishop, bishop? Probably not.

    While most of us can see aspects of ourselves in Peter, his life is beyond ours. He physically walked with Jesus. He learned directly from Jesus. He met Jesus after the (embodied). Not going to measure up to that.

    We’re not called to that. Maybe. What we are called to is a better and deeper relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the power of the .

    If you’ve been baptized, it is hoped that you understood (if you were an adult) or were taught (if baptized as an infant or child) that baptism is God’s seal on you (from one ) and a public tying of you to the faith. Baptism is only supposed to be at the beginning of the journey. It isn’t the end.

    As we look at Peter’s life, he was transformed day by day. He did not remain the same. That is truly one we can be like Peter.

    ※Reflection※

    • How have you changed since you first followed Jesus?
    • What is the biggest part of you changing in submission to Jesus now?

    ※Prayer※

    Lord, change us into the followers you see us to be, rather than the ones we are. Amen.