Devotion - Wednesday, November 20

Ezra, Nehemiah - these are far from household names, even for regular church attendees.  A Sunday School Teacher was asking me for help in putting together a study about Ezra.  "I always thought Ezra was a woman." was one of the discoveries of the research.

Ezra and Nehemiah were present when Israel returns from captivity.  They had been in a strange land, separated from their way of life and their religious practices for 3, maybe 4 generations.  Much of how God had instructed them to live their lives had been forbidden, forsaken, and forgotten.

In Nehemiah 7, Ezra sits among the people from morning till noon and reads from the books of The Law.  The people hear the words eagerly and set about righting their lives to match the words they hear.  

We have not been carried off to a foreign land.  Our places of worship have not been destroyed by an invading army.  But as I read Nehemiah I wonder about the possibility of our having forgotten or forsaken God's instructions.  The push in the last century to adhere to orthodoxy in thought and speech seems (to me) to have overshadowed God's insistence that our faith be expressed in our compassion and care for others.  Have we forgotten or forsaken the instructions on be blessed so that we might be a blessing?

There are a lot of weird names and unfamiliar practices in the book of Nehemiah.  But rather than get weighed down in the details and get lost in the search for who and what - i take from there a reminder that we must always take a look at our practices and ask how faithfully we are following the Word of God.  Not just the words we like, or the instructions we find easy.  But the Word.

Devotion - Monday, November 18

In Matthew 15 Jesus has another of his encounters with the religious folks.  We tend to lump the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes together, but they were distinctive groups.  Each had their own agenda; each were unhappy with Jesus; but sometimes for differing reasons.

In the end it will be the government of Rome which puts Jesus to death, but it was his arguments with religious leaders which brings him to the attention of those political leaders.

In Matthew 15 Jesus points out that what the religious leaders are teaching as doctrine is their own thoughts.  Drawing from the practice of giving credit for honoring one's parents by making gifts to God's Temple, Jesus shows how they have substituted their gain for God's instructions.

I read this and I think, "How could they do such a thing?"

Then I realize that what seemed to Jesus to be an outrageous decision had probably come into being as a result of some smaller, more subtle choices.  Knowing that the Pharisees and the scribes were attempting to serve God, I cannot believe that they intentionally started a practice which is so blind to God's directives.

With all that going on, I turn my eye to the practices which we take for granted; which we teach in our congregation.  And I wonder....

I worry.

I become concerned as to how Jesus would respond to the teachings of my church.

Nothing is as important in the life of a servant of Christ than to constantly be evaluating and re-evaluating our teachings and our actions.  Nothing in the traditions of our ancestors is to become as essential as the teachings of our Messiah.  To be part of a Reformation Church is to continually reform and re-consider what we have taught and what we teach.

This does not mean we become timid in our witness.  But as we share what it is that God has given us, we remember those words of Martin Luther.  They are often spoken as a declaration.  They are more appropriately said as a prayer and a request: "Here I stand.  I can do no other.  So help me God."

Devotion - Monday, November 11

Nehemiah is a book to which we seldom turn, or from which we rarely hear verses being quoted.  I am reading from it this week.

The basic story of Nehemiah is the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.  The captivity has ended; the Israelites are returning to their home; but the city has been destroyed.  Along with Ezra, Nehemiah works to see that the walls of Jerusalem are rebuilt.

The reading is somewhat dry.  There are a lot of names of persons who have become forgotten even by the most studious Bible scholar.  But through it all comes the amazing realization that God is directing the establishment of His city and that God is giving direction to how his people are to live.  And, more amazing still, is the realization that the people are turning to Nehemiah to seek instruction from God as to how they are to build and to live.

Who is guiding such decisions in our lives?  From what source do we derive the standards upon which we will establish our future?  

I hear that in some Quaker communities there are "Clearness Committees" which help individuals make important life decisions.  The one facing a decision invites a group of fellow believers to sit with them and help them think through what course should be taken.  I find that process to be very attractive.

We are constantly and continually building and rebuilding our lives and our fortresses. How are we involving God and God's servants in helping us to make those decisions?  Nehemiah lifts up an example of how strong a city becomes when it is built with the guidance of God's Word.

Devotion - Thursday, November 7

The parable in Matthew 13, which gave rise to the disciples asking Jesus why he spoke in parables, is that of the sower and the soils.

Jesus tells them of the sower whose seed falls - some on the path, some on the rocky ground, other among the thorns, but some on the good soil.  The fate of those seeds varies, depending upon the soil upon which they fell.

On Tuesday, Pastor Bryne spoke of this parable's invitation to sew the seed freely - that God provides ample seed and we need not be constrained in our sharing, that we should never pre-judge or evaluate the "soil" before extending the word of God and the promises of God.  Such a focus on the sower is helpful.

In those churches where entry to heaven is the central teaching, more emphasis is placed upon the soil - on asking what type of soil we are.  Will we be like the path were the birds (the evil one) comes and snatches the seed away.  Or like the rocky soil where no depth of root prevents a strong and vibrant faith.  Or, as suggested in the camp song we often sing, will our hearts be the good soil in which the word takes root and grows and produces.

My prayers this week, as I have repeatedly encountered this parable and the talk around it, have brought me round and back to those who for whatever reason are unable to believe that our loving and gracious God has shared seed with them.  By some twist of mood or attitude or circumstance they cannot see the good soil in them which has allowed them to share marvelous fruit.  I worry that they have become so pre-occupied with comparing themselves to others that they are blinded to the grace and mercy falling into their own lives and desperately attempting to flow to others.

Nothing I can say will convince them otherwise.  Maybe, from this week's readings and reflections, I might be able to tell them a story; a story of God's attempts to love us and care for us and save us.  Then, I will hope and pray that they might be allowed to some to see themselves in that story.

Devotion - Wednesday, November 6

In Matthew 13 the disciples ask the question that we continue to ask, "Why do you speak to us in parables?"  In another account, they add, "Why don't you speak to us plainly?" Jesus' reply suggests that there is no way to speak other than in parables.  Clear, precise pieces of information are seldom received as such.  Statements of truth are often refuted or at least debated.  

Parables set forth an image or a vision.  Parables leave open the application to my own life.  I can hear a parable and think, "That is a nice story," and never be offended.  We can discuss the meaning of the parable, but it is a difficult thing to challenge.  The most critical statement would be "That story has no connection to reality!"  (Maybe not to the reality of the one who speaks in opposition.)

Perhaps this is part of the difficulty contemporary evangelists encounter.  Do we speak too often in doctrine rather than in parables?  Are we quick to state what we have come to accept as universal truths, rather than lifting up an image of how God might be speaking in the lives of the one whom we are currently encountering?

The parables of Jesus invite persons to see themselves in the story.  It leaves open the option of walking away and not becoming entangled - should the person so choose.  Those who desire to understand will come to see how the parable is lived out in their lives; those who had rather not do so are given little reason to be offended.

Tuesday Devotion - November 5

Today's devotion is from Pastor Bob Bryne, St. Paul's Lutheran, Aiken, SC.

Freedom to Share

Matthew 13:1-9

All three of the Gospel accounts that share a likeness; Matthew, Mark and Luke contain the parable known as the Parable of the Sower.  All three also give us the meaning of the parable in terms of the type of soil upon which a seed may fall as being determinate to the germination and flourishing of the Word of God in the human heart.  It is a classic parable that seems to call on us to provide in ourselves good soil in which the Word of God may grow. In a parable we may put ourselves into the story as different and less than obvious characters.  As this happens meaning changes.  Today  try putting yourself into the character not of soil but of sower.  As the sower the parable changes from yet another demand on our lives and our conduct; to a freeing gift for our lives as disciples of the living Word.  The role of the sower is simply to sow the seed.  The seed is cast far and wide; carried by the wind and energized by the sower to wherever and whomever it falls.  The responsibility of the sower is simply the activity of casting out seed. Daily as one of God’s sowers each of us is energized to share our story of how the Word has been sown in us, has grown, bloomed and is enriching our lives.  This is our act of sowing; our sharing of the story of the Word growing in us. We share without a burden or responsibility to make sure of the growth.  This is God’s work and the work that will be done in God’s time. We sowers simply  thank God for and respond to the opportunity to sow the seed; to share the Word that frees us.  AMEN

Devotion - Monday, November 4

In my cycle of readings, I am currently starting on the Revelation of St. John.  It is also referred to as "The Apocalypse", or simply "Revelation."  (Sometimes, in error, it is referred to in the plural - as if it contained many revelations.  There is only one thing revealed in this book - God's care for us demonstrated by His victory over all that would oppose us.)

 

The opening chapters of Revelation address the seven churches.  These were actual, real churches.  In the words John writes to them, he exposes his understanding of what life was like in these congregations.

 

Too often, we allow the words of scripture to become a philosophy or a doctrine or a collect of abstract truths.  It is a collection of letters sent by real people to actual persons.  The events in the lives of those who send and those who receive affect the content.  They reveal a God who interacts with us, rather than send directives to us.

 

In preaching class we learned that if we prepare a sermon intended for everyone, no one will hear what we say.  If we prepare a sermon with 3 or 4 persons in mind, the majority of those in attendance will leave thinking the message was directed at them.

 

God speaks through scripture to us, to the real life situations we face, and to the very real challenges which come our way.