Devotion.al

Tag: love

  • Perspective and Significance

    Perspective and Significance

    Psalm 144; Ezekiel 19:10–14; 1 Peter 2:4–10 (ISV)

    In the fictional universe housing the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (written by Douglas Adams), there is a machine called the Total Perspective Vortex. Originally built (per the fictional universe) to provide beings a comparison of themselves to the infinity of creation, it became a torture device to (effectively) destroy a being’s mind.‌

    ‌It sounds a little extreme, except that much of the religions over the years are concerned with is much about finding our place in the universe.‌

    ‌The (Roman Catholic) attacked Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei for proposing that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the sun (and the other planets) revolving around the earth. While the majority of the (entire ) Church now believes Galileo Galilei, we need to recognize that Galileo Galilei’s hypothesis was, for that era and theological framework, similar in effect to the Total Perspective Vortex.‌

    ‌On the other hand, in contemporary fiction and philosophy, there is a deep concern regarding the Butterfly Effect. This is the theory that if time travel were possible, a person going back in time could catastrophically affect the timeline (including the era from which the time traveler came). Many people have bought into this concept, and yet disparage the one small thing they do today.‌

    ‌Perspective matters deeply to how we function in and how we treat .‌

    ‌For me one of the most peaceful things is to stare at the night sky at the stars (most effective away from city light pollution). It brings peace to my soul and heart. It also guides me to have a better perspective of myself. I am tiny compared to the entire of Creation. I am only 1 person among over 8 billion people walking the earth at this moment.‌

    ‌For you, this may be disquieting. We have a need to be significant, but so much around us shows how insignificant we are.‌‌

    Lord, what are human beings, that you should care about them, or mortal man, that you should think about him?

    Psalm 144:3 (ISV)

    ‌‌God cares about us. No matter how insignificant we believe or are told we are, God cares for and thinks about we humans. In comparison to the infiniteness of God, we are not even microscopic, yet God loves us.

    ‌‌If we derive our significance from others, we are often emotionally and spiritually doomed. If we derive our significance from God, however, that is a solid foundation on which to place our worth and .

    ‌‌There is, though, the danger of arrogance. “I’m by God, so I can do…” We are all guilty of this to some degree.

    Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land!

    ‌Ezekiel 19:13 (ISV)

    ‌When we get too full of ourselves, or when we look too much to others, we can be in the desert of and with God. It’s not that God ceases to care, quite the contrary. We can be chasing after things that we think will water and feed us, but we end up in a desert, where receive the bare minimum to live.‌

    ‌The desert experience isn’t necessarily bad, ultimately. It can teach what is really important if we let it. On the other hand, far too many people stubbornly refuse to from the desert, and so end up dry and withered. That doesn’t have to be the end.‌

    Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

    ‌1 Peter 2:10 (ISV)

    ‌God is merciful. Yes, we’ve done stuff that doesn’t please God. We could even say that because we are fallible and fragile creatures, we will never measure up to God’s and love. God is merciful.

    ‌⁜Reflection⁜‌

    ‌To whom are you significant? Why?‌
    ‌How do you think significance and mercy are related?‌

    ‌⁜Act⁜‌

    ‌Share with someone what makes them significant to you.‌

    ‌⁜Prayer⁜‌

    ‌God, it is often so hard to see my significance to you. Help me to be understand my significance to you, and help me focus on you defining my significance, rather than leaving it to others. Amen.

    ‌

  • Untrashed

    Untrashed

    Malachi 1:6-9

    Perhaps you’ve heard an acquaintance, a friend, a member say, “God won’t accept me until I clean myself up.” Or perhaps, “if I enter the , lightning will come down and/or the church will catch on fire.”

    Behave, believe, belong has long been the order in the church. That’s likely where these saddening responses likely come from. Even worse, some church-type folks might have said to clean up their so that God loves them.

    It’s strange. Long after the Reformation brought us back to saved through faith, it amazes and horrifies me that people who claim “the faith” still believe and (even worse) tell that they must behave first before belief can kick in.

    The Scriptures don’t, I think, lead us that direction. God has long pursued those who left God behind and does so today. Which leads me to Malachi.

    Malachi’s oracle is about people claiming to God, which was (per the rules, the Law) including a healthy animal and viable grain. Instead, people were God anything besides the “good stuff”. Set aside the whole sacrifice part (that does tend to trip up we modern folks) and recognize the intent behind the actions. The people claimed to God and worship God, but deliberately chose not to, because the sacrifice of the good animal and good grain was too much.

    It could be tempting to equate the broken animals and rotten food to the people we see in the opening paragraph, but we must not. Such a person is bringing the best to God, themselves. If they are lame, God will love them. If they are blind, God will love them. If they are diseased, God will love them.

    God accepts broken people. I know this because I too am broken and was more broken still when I began my true relationship with God.

    The sacrifices that are condemned in Malachi reflect the people who brought them. They were blind, lame, and diseased. Yet, they chose to neither acknowledge it nor repent of it. In fact, it seems they took pride in it.

    The blind, lame, diseased person who comes to God saying, “here I am, broken and all.” God says, “welcome, beloved.”

    ⁜ Reflection ⁜

    • How do you see yourself in this? Do you see yourself in this?
    • Does this challenge or how you view those whose decisions (including lifestyles) and their place before God?
    • How often do we see the blindness, lameness, and illnesses of others rather than our own? Why does that matter?

    ⁜ Prayer ⁜

    Gracious God, help us to how to be gracious and welcoming to others, just as you have been to us, and because you have been to us. Amen.

  • Movie About a Christian

    Movie About a Christian

    Read: Luke 9:18–50

    One of the reasons I love and appreciate the concept of the “ year” is that we are often confronted by the hard passages, especially those that often make no sense to our post-enlightenment (i.e., science- and data-driven) minds. This is, as you probably inferred, one of those days.

    Today is Transfiguration Sunday. It is this strange day that we “witness” a strange experience that defies our everyday experience.

    Luke’s “bookends” of the Transfiguration are: before, Peter’s declaration of as Messiah, Jesus’s subsequent command to be silent, and Jesus’ of his suffering road, and his prophesy of sacrifice for and by those that follow him; after, a and Jesus’ rhetorical question of the unbelieving of the Jews (and, honestly, most of humanity). With what most of us believe about God (God has a plan) and the (the Scriptures help us interpret the Scriptures), these seemingly unrelated events before and after the Transfiguration should affect how we view the Transfiguration.

    If we view the Transfiguration and its bookends as a “movie” of the life, it disturbingly makes sense. “Who do YOU say I am,” Jesus asks. Peter responds, “the Messiah.” Sounds like a person accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (salvation).

    Jesus then says, “deny yourself. Daily sacrifice yourself. The world will demand you deny me and be ashamed of me.” One of the first struggles of a new believer (and long-time believers, too) is the realization that accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior is only the beginning. Life-giving hardship is the Christian life.

    The Transfiguration is (in the context of our “movie”), then, like the Holiness Movement concept of the Second Work of (i.e., Entire Sanctification in Church of the Nazarene verbiage). We are “transfigured”—not by our will (other than a will to self-sacrifice and submission to the will of God)—by the will and work of God to be “transfigured” into the likeness of our holy God, and particularly in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

    In A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, John Wesley (who “codified” the conception of Entire Sanctification) noted, we are to rarely, if ever, to speak of our experience of this “transfiguration”. This is similar to the actions of Peter, James, and John who kept silent about their experience. They shared it later, at the right time and to the right people, to reinforce the place of Jesus Christ in their experience of and with God.

    After this life-changing experience, then we come back to the real world (coming down the mountain) and face demands for miracles, healings, along with the unbelief of the world, and often even our own disbelief at the miracles of God. This disbelief is often not merely about “miracles”, but our transformation by God that we didn’t “earn”. We could even go so far as to say that the “unbelieving” performers of miracles (Luke 9:49–50) are like our scientists and doctors who perform “miracles” that could not possibly be imagined in the days of Jesus.

    We also have the sad, but real, argument between those who claim to follow Jesus about who is better (Luke 9:46–48). Those arguments can follow theological lines, church lines (ecclesiology), spiritual formation lines (holiness), political lines, gifting lines, and so on. This is the object lesson for denominations (even the earliest split resulting in Orthodox and Roman Catholic, long before Protestants), church splits, and church departures.

    When we read the Scriptures and find passages that we feel conflict with other Scriptures, or our experiences and understandings, perhaps it is times like that when we can best view ourselves through the lens of God.

    May God who Transfigures us poor and needy people into those that glow and reflect the glorious and holy of Jesus Christ. Amen.

  • How to Come Back

    How to Come Back

    1 Corinthians 11:17–33

    It’s almost over it seems. The time of being masked and constrained nears its end. On the other hand, already another strain of COVID is showing up, but the reality is that we, as an entire world, are at our limits.

    It seems great that we’re almost there, except that we really have a lot of things that we need to work through, and many of them may be far harder than COVID, masks, inoculations, and social distancing. The wounds that have opened over the last 2 years are far deeper, far more scarred, and far more gangrenous than many of us were prepared for.

    As we come back, it is far too easy and tempting to attempt to go back to old habits and practices and forget what has just happened and the mirror that we saw ourselves in. We, as Christians…we, as the …cannot just come back.

    Many of us will “come back” to church and be unwilling to be uncomfortable. The world has trained us to be exactly like the Corinthians…divided. And, even worse, we may be more divided than the culture at large, which should terrify and condemn us.

    was speaking on how the rich self-segregated from the poor. Instead of common , it was a separate one. Instead of a “love feast” celebrating , Communion (the memorial of Christ’s and resurrection!) shined the light on the , and it was then unworthy of the grace that had bestowed upon them.

    While we may not take Communion separately in the church, there is no question that the church is divided. Whether it is by culture, country, skin color, language, socio-economic class, or even denomination, the church is divided.

    The community that Jesus granted the world the right to judge regarding love (John 13:35), desperately needs to love one another. As we learn to love each other, looking beyond politics, borders, skin color, language, power, weakness, , shame, wealth, it will be hard.

    Learning to love beyond ourselves isn’t optional. For those that follow Jesus, it is an act of loving obedience.

    ※Reflection※

    As you prepare to go/come back to normal, is the “old” normal really what Jesus wants from you?

    What is one thing that you will do different as the situation settles into the new way of things?

    ※Prayer※

    Jesus, the craziness of these last 2 years may feel like forever, and, yet, in your eyes, it was only a . Grant us the grace and peace and love to come together as your disciples to show that your love can truly transform the heart, and from the human heart transform the world. Amen.

  • Future Tensely

    Future Tensely

    Psalm 126; Isaiah 40:1-11; Romans 8:22-25

    Have you realized that Advent is weird? I Advent, don’t get me wrong. However, the world has done a successful job of retraining us on what Advent is all about.

    Partially, I think, this is because of the image of an unthreatening baby Jesus with lambs, other baby animals, with the inferred warm smiles of (an exhausted) Mary and Joseph. This is a fairly safe form of evangelism, and it’s easy to put out little statues in our homes and on our lawns.

    We, the modern , have become very comfortable with this form of Advent, which creates this weird situation of celebrating the Advent of the birth of Jesus, which already happened. By simple definition, advent is about an event that is coming. Except Jesus came already, and Jesus went already.

    Yet, we treat this as more than a simple birthday. This is also more than the annual “discussion” of which Christmas tradition is really of pagan origin and the dispute/defense of those traditions (either way). The problem is that when we talk about the Advent of Christ, it isn’t just about the birth of Jesus. This is where it gets uncomfortable, including for the Western Church.

    The Advent Season is about the event of Jesus being born. It is also about the Advent of Christ’s . It’s that whole return thing that gets uncomfortable.

    Today’s passages are about the past. They are also about the . Psalm 126:1 talks about the past blessings of God. We can equate this to the birth of Jesus (for the sake of example, not making a theological tie-in).

    Psalm 126:4 is about the of those fortunes lost. And that’s important. God provided previously. The blessings were “lost”. So, the request is that the blessings be restored. We, too, are in that in between time. The time between blessings.

    We look back at the blessings provided and look to the blessings to come (the return of Christ). Yet, contrary to the sentimental Jesus of the manger (which was not sentimental in reality), the coming of Christ is not foretold as being comfortable.

    For both who have declared Christ their Lord and Savior, and for those who don’t, the Day of the Lord always comes at a cost. Some who thought they were saved may discover they are not. The pain of losing ones and the pangs of the world will be unpleasant. So, it makes sense that we don’t talk about it when we want to talk about baby Jesus.

    Except, the true is that this life is not the . The pain, misery, injustice, degradation, , war, pestilence, poverty, slavery that is all around is proof that all is not well. The Advent of baby Jesus didn’t solve that. Only the next Advent will solve it.

    Come, Lord Jesus, Come!

  • A Movement: Of Priest and Temple

    A Movement: Of Priest and Temple

    1 Peter 2:1–12

    We, self-included, often focus on “…But you are a generation, a royal priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:9). This is a very Protestant focus. However, it is not solely one, as both the Roman Catholic church and Eastern Orthodox also focus on it.

    Much of the focus is from the “pulpit”. In other words, the pastor/priest is talking to the believers listening that they, too, are part of the priesthood of all believers. Hence, why the second half of verse 9 is as important as the first half, “…that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of into His marvelous …”

    There is a reason for the “priesthood of all believers.” It is to be the priesthood for the world. In a number of traditions, the pastor/priest has a certain role, and that is to equip the priesthood of all believers to “…proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

    What is helpful here is to go back a few verses to “…you also, as stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5, NKJV)

    In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, tells the Corinthians that they are a to God. With Peter’s words, too, we come away with this strange duality. We are both temple and priest. Yes, it is symbolism.

    On the other hand, for a people far more reverent and religious than ours, this is significant.

    As a temple, first, we are to be clean. Unless your house, for example, is miraculous, you have to clean it regularly. We “track” the world into our house. Whether it’s sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing, or something more, we must clean our homes.

    How much more so do we track the world into ourselves, a temple of God? So, therefore, we must clean ourselves as befitting a temple of God. There are plenty of ways that clean the temple. Personally, I have found the practice of Bible reading, prayer, and small group (in my case, 3 other guys spread across the country) to be the best cleansing (doesn’t make it easy). You may find other practices to be better. Just make sure the cleaning gets done regularly.

    This isn’t just an “inside” job, either. The outside aspect of the temple is important, too. The world sees the outside of the temple. The peculiarity of being the temple is that we are very aware of the crevices that aren’t clean on the inside. If we focus too much on the inside, however, the outside is a mess. However, if we (like so many of us do) focus too much on the outside, the temple comes crumbling down, for the internal structure cannot hold up the facade (or false front) shown to the world, and we then dishonor God by our fallen temple.

    This is not about tattoos, piercings, dyed hair, or something like that. This is about how we treat , care for others, or even love others. This is about the behaviors we allow ourselves to do, and allow others to do. As the culture has made us all too aware, we have not done a particularly good job regarding the behaviors of others.

    Nor can we forget about being “the priest”. You may have experienced this, too, where someone says that all they need to do is worship God in their car or online or even at church and that’s all that matters. It’s as if the priestly aspect of worshipping God with song is the “goal” of being a priest.

    If we were to look at one of the tasks of priests (the ones in the temple), we could draw that conclusion. Except…they weren’t the only priests. The majority of priests (from an Old Testament point of view) didn’t work at the temple. They were among the people.

    Much of the Christian view has been twisted (with significant reason) to view that the entirety of the priestly class was the leadership that as described in the New Testament that followed and harassed and challenged Jesus. Yet, while the Scribes and the Pharisees were the loud obnoxious ones we read about, we know that they weren’t the only ones out there (think of John the Baptist’s dad).

    The priestly isn’t only the roles and tasks at temple that need doing. It is the healing and guiding of the world. With even a little bit of introspection, we know that we need the power of, and to be changed by, God to do either of those well.

    ※Reflection※

    • What does it mean for you to be a priest?
    • What are some of the ways that you are a temple to and of God?
    • How does you being a priest affect your understanding of also being a temple?

    ※Prayer※

    God, grant us the lamp of love that never grows dim,
    that it may shine in us and warm our hearts,
    giving light to others through our love for them,
    by its brightness provide a vision of the holy city where the true and inextinguishable light of Jesus Christ our Lord shines. Amen.
    — a modified prayer of Columbanus

  • Blazing a Way

    Blazing a Way

    Nehemiah 9:1-31

    “It’s not our fault!”

    That is proclaimed so much by so many about slavery, racism, poverty, etcetera…and they’re right. Yet, here we have the example of the Jews. It was the fault of their ancestors. However, their ancestors were dead.

    All things new

    Often, you cannot figure out the right way without figuring out the wrong way. Confessing the wrongdoing of one’s predecessors isn’t taking responsibility for it (i.e., and shame for what they did). So what? Now is the time to forge a new path. Granted, the Jews of Nehemiah’s time were the descendants of those who rebelled against God. Yet, at least I can see a recognition that this confession is also a warning to themselves that this could befall them, too.

    This passage in Nehemiah really causes me to pause and think about today in the US with our laser focus on our individuality. Perhaps our personal confession is too much about ourselves and not enough about others.

    Ours to Confess

    In the Lutheran (especially during Lent), the following is spoken by the church body:

    Most merciful God,
    we that we are in bondage to and cannot free ourselves.
    We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed,
       by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
    We have not you with our whole heart;
    we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
    For the sake of your , Christ, have mercy on us.
    Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the of your holy name.
    Amen.

    Our Forging

    We are being forged. It sounds impressive until you recognized the forging process. Tossed in a hot furnace until you’re so hot that you almost melt. Put onto a hard surface and hit with a hammer, and maybe bent with tongs. If that’s not enough, you might be tossed back into the furnace and brought back out, and hit/bent some more. Then you’re tossed into a vat of oil or water to cool off. If you come out warped, enjoy the next trip through the furnace.

    I’m not sure about you, but somehow that sounds kind of like now (and the previous couple of years).

    Forging Expectations

    As a white, middle-class, middle-aged male, I could be threatened by the riots, the challenges to my faith, the challenges to the church, the challenges to “my” culture. I might even feel threatened (or insulted) that people think that their understanding of each of these things actually represents who I am.

    Or, I follow the example of Nehemiah and the Jews. I could confess that those who went before weren’t perfect, made mistakes, and even did things I believe are wrong. I’m not taking their guilt upon my shoulders, for that is not mine to bear.

    However, leaving the wrongs things wrong just because they’re someone else’s fault is…wrong. And, because we are called to love others…it is often sin.

    Sin, From a Certain Point of View

    As someone from the Wesleyan theological family, the Lutheran confession of being in bondage to sin is irksome. It rubs me the wrong way. It superficially violates much of our understanding of being freed through Christ and can be seen to conflict with Entire (aka, Perfection).

    We are in bondage to sin. Yes, I said it. Yet, it may not be our sin that we are in bondage to, but the sin of others. I am kind of “wrecked” (in a good way) with this. It transforms (in hopefully a Christ-like way) my thinking in regards to the concept of institutionalized racism and even the gap between wealthy and poor.

    We are the church. Being free to follow and fulfill the love of Christ is our holy calling.

  • Be Our Guest

    Be Our Guest

    Psalm 111; Exodus 24:1–11; Romans 15:22–33

    If you were invited to a US presidential affair, you might be surprised. Unless you roam such circles or are connected to them, usually you won’t have any of being invited to sit at the table with the president, unless, of course, you decide to contribute to their presidential campaign and pay a lot of money to eat mediocre food. It just isn’t going to happen.

    ? ┤If you were invited and accepted that invitation, how would you react to those seated with you? Would you be on “good” behavior? Would you be yourself? Would you be absolutely frozen? What if, the president came to your table and spoke with you? ├ ?

    Most of us think that we would react just fine. Depending on which president or former president, we might even believe that we would correct them and “tell them the way it is.” We might.

    The 70 elders ate with God. They saw the floor of God’s abode. We could just write it off as some religious experience, but that sounds pretty significant to just “write off”. In fact, writing it off is just like writing off Communion because Jesus isn’t right there. Yes, people do belittle Communion when they don’t recognize the presence of God. However, based upon how this verse is often overlooked, perhaps we’re writing off the presence of God altogether.

    Yeah, I said “ouch” to myself, too.

    One doesn’t “just” have a meal with God. Culturally, a meal is a safe place; it can even be a place of transparency. Eating with God. What an amazing experience!

    ? ┤Can you imagine eating with God? ├ ?

    If you can’t, then think back to Communion. While our theology doesn’t have us literally eating the body and blood of Jesus, we are still eating with God. You eat a meal with God! Those 70 elders, and even Moses (!), will never experience what you—as a follower of Jesus—get to do regularly.

    ? ┤ Have you ever thought of Communion as eating a meal with God? ├ ?

    At Communion, we will phrases as, “you are welcome” or “a guest at the table” or “God’s feast”, but do we really recognize that means that the master of ceremonies, the Creator of the Universe, the through whom all things were made, and for who all things were made, and the Spirit of God that gives us a unlike any other…is eating with us?

    ※Prayer※

    Gracious Father, we give You praise and thanks for Communion of the body and blood of Your , Jesus Christ our Lord, the means of our redemption. We pray that the mercies of God may produce in us a grateful that finds expression through holy living and perfect to God and to people. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [The Eucharistic ending prayer for the Under Special Circumstances, The Rituals Handbook, 2nd Edition, Jesse Middendorf]