Devotion - Thurday, October 3

Today's Gospel reading is Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18.  It is the text we read on Ash Wednesday - a warning about practicing our piety before others, in order to be seen by them.  Jesus warns us that if being seen by others is the reason we are praying or giving offerings then when others have seen us we have achieved our goal.  Having achieved our goal, why would we expect anything more - like God taking notice and responding to our praying/giving?

I am never one to argue with Jesus.  However, I might ask him to re-speak this portion of his Sermon on the Mount.  I am no more tolerant than he of showy demonstrations of piety, but in our day and age too many have taken his words as justification for the privatization of religious practices.

It is easier for me to get responses to questions about cheating on exams than to questions about prayer-life.

I have more discussions about alcohol abuse than about scripture reading.

Yes - we should read our bibles and say our prayers and give our offerings in order to reflect the role that God has in our lives, not so that our friends or our campus pastor will think more highly of us.  No - we should not then infer that my faith is between me and God alone.  Our faith changes the way we live in the world.  Our faith alters the way we talk and act around everyone.  Our faith can never be a private thing.

Devotion Wednesday, October 2

At last night's LCM Bible Study, we turned to the middle chapters of Deuteronomy and browsed all the "laws" which were commanded through Moses.  Some were pretty funny; others were appealing.  

One of the females pointed to the law about taking a "willful son" to the gate of the city and asking the Elders to assist in stoning him to death. 

The instruction to take a female captured in battle to your home, shave her head, then wait 30 days before making her part of your household met the response, "I hadn't realized this was a possibility!"

There are a lot of interesting, seldom repeated commands in those chapters of the Bible.  But what of the commands in the books of the Bible which we read more often?  What do we make of the instructions Jesus gives?  

This morning I read Matthew 5:38-48.  Here is where Jesus tells his listeners "Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you."

If you hang out in the LCM Lounge, you have no doubt met Arnold.  Arnold lives in a tent, somewhere toward Sandy Springs.  He rides his bike or the CAT bus.  He cooks with kerosene, which is why his skin is so covered with soot.  He never asks for much, but he is usually asking for something.  $3 for kerosene; $2 for a new can opener.

Have I come to read Matthew 5 much the same as I read Deuteronomy 23:1?  As some sort of a law that applied in ancient time, but not in the modern world?

God forbid!

Tuesday Devotion

Today's offering is from Pastor Zach Parris.  An LCM-Clemson alum, Zach is now campus pastor in Boulder, CO.

 

 

 

This Sunday’s gospel of Lazarus and the rich man appears to be a classic Lukan reversal where the last shall be first and the first shall be last. In the world to come the rich man and Lazarus have switched places, except for one significant detail.

In his pleading the rich man doesn’t request to join Lazarus alongside of Abraham. No, what he wants to do is go back and warn his brothers, so that they might avoid a similar fate. The difference is that there is opportunity in the present, that now is the time God has given us to live into God’s presence into the world. This story proclaims a God and a people who are empowered to work and love, to bring and receive life not in careers or seasons that await us, but right now.

I am tempted to allow this gospel to drive the anxiety that ceaselessly checks my smart phone in every mindless moment. You see, I think we know the truth of this gospel. We know how incredibly gifted we are in each moment. I can travel in a shiny aluminum tube 30,000 feet in the air, going 500 miles per hour AND I can write a powerful/witty/transformational sermon at the same time. I know that at any second of the day, I can be virtually present to a student. Instead of being held captive in a lecture, I can also be effectively advocating for campus ministry to the wider world on Facebook. More than at any time in history we hold the potential to be powerful and immediate parts of God’s work transforming the face of the earth.

Truth be told that's a rather demanding standard to meet. The good news of the story of Lazarus and the rich man is that God is not calling us to make each second of our lives go viral. Rather, in every moment that finds us, simple or complex, anxious or relaxed, there is enough for us and for God to bring life and wholeness. So whether it’s an hour in a church sanctuary or an earbudless moment connecting with a friend or a stranger on the bus or even in a smile provoked by a tired meme on your newsfeed, know that there is enough, for us and for God.

Devotion - Monday, September 30

One of the stories in the Old Testament worth knowing is the encounter between Naaman, Commander of the army of the king of Syria, and the prophet Elisha.  You can read it in 2 Kings 5.

Naaman has found favor with God, and his commended for his valor.  However, he suffers from leprosy.  In a raid a young maid from the land of Israel is taken.  She suggests Naaman go to Israel to be healed of his leprosy.  

Much like the story of the birth of Jesus, the Kings are the ones to whom they go.  But it is not the Kings who speak for God or accomplish God's purposes.  It is the prophet, Elisha, who saves the King of Israel from humiliation (and perhaps even destruction.)

The part of the story I want to focus on this morning is what happens when Naaman gets to the house of Elisha.  With his mighty army and with his ten thousand talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and his ten festal garments he waits outside.  Elisha sends a messenger - yes, sends a messenger - and tells Naaman to go take a bath in the river Jordan.  

That is it.  That is all he says.  Bathe seven times, "and your flesh shall be restored."

Naaman is enraged!  "No shouting to the heavens?"  "No waving of his hands over the infected flesh?"  Naaman storms off to the rivers of his homeland.  

It is Naaman's servants to say to him, "If the prophet had asked you to do some great and difficult thing would you not have done it?  How willing then ought you to be to do this little thing."  Naaman does; and he is made well.

God does not demand great feats from us.  God does not set up difficult entrance processes.  God welcomes us into His family and says, "Live life fully; live the kind of life that is going to make you happy and bring joy to those around you."  "Love me," Jesus says, "and love your neighbor as if your neighbor were yourself."

Maybe, if God gave us a more difficult task, more would follow. 

Naaman's encounter with Elisha reminds us that while some may come looking for a show - the real deal is the small, simple acts done to please God and to help God's people.

Friday Devotion

Today's offering was prepared by Ryan Song:

Topic: God as your Father
Here are five points about God that I know personally as I’ve gotten to know him.
1)       God is a Community of Relationships

God desires to have relationships, and fundamentally the concept of God itself should bring forth some notion of community and fellowship. A triune God (Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) with separate entities and yet at the same time are one says it all. God himself is a community of relationships. Genesis 1:2 says “the spirit of God swept over the face of the waters” and later in Genesis 1 every time God speaks, something is created which means God’s word has some form of agency and according to John 1 it says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Eventually John reveals this “Word” became flesh and was the father’s only son. Note how John describes the Word and God as two different beings yet with one identity. So even in the beginning of creation you have the community of God working as one.

2)       A Personal God

Now if God is a community the question becomes what community is he inviting us to? Incredibly God is inviting us to him, his own personal relational community. He is our savior, shepherd, king, servant, lamb, spouse, and father among other things.  

3)       God as our father

The Lord’s prayer says it all (Matthew 6:9-13, note this is Jesus saying the prayer). “Our Father in heaven…” there are two things to note. The word “our” is a personal term. First to say something/someone is my, mine, or our, it means it is personal to you by definition. For example, to say this is my crew, my possession, my friend, my mother, it is a specific and unique relationship to you. Second when we pray to God we should pray as if he is our own personal and unique father who understands our needs, wants, and pains. Basically we should be comfortable talking to him as if he is our Dad.

 

4)       God being our father means we have rights

Contrary to popular belief, being a child endows you with great power. When I was a little kid there were times I would wake up at 1 AM and wake my parents up and ask them to get me milk or go buy me ice cream. The person who catered my needs was my father. Drowsy and wearisome, he went and got me my milk and ice cream and it was doubtful that he would do such an act for any child, or even now but because I was his child he got me what I wanted. Thus it is important to know that not only is God your Father, but you are also his child. Thus, being his child endows you with exclusive rights.

5)       Conclusion

For those who are fatherless, or didn’t really have great parents, know this; God more than anybody in the world pursues a relationship after you, and it’s just not any relationship, it is the most intimate relationship possible. God is a Father to the fatherless, and for those who never knew God as a father, well stop reading this because you have some major catching up to do with your Dad. 

Devotion - Thursday, September 26

This morning's reading from I Corinthians 2 spoke to me.  In verses 14ff, Paul addresses bickering among the faithful.  They seem to be attempting to boast over who it was that shared with them the word of God.  Was it he, Paul, or did they owe their conversion to Apollos.  Paul reminds them that it makes no difference.  Whomever it was that planted the seed or watered the seed, it is God who brings the growth.

Too often we see the one doing the planting or the watering.  Too often we identify ourselves with that individual.  We talk about being "Lutheran," or "Methodist," or "Presbyterian."  As if that really matters.

Luther once wrote (I will paraphrase a bit - working from memory), "Do not call yourselves 'Lutherans'.  Who is Luther than any one should be known by that name.  There is but one name by which we ought to be known and that is the name of Christ."

I wear my Lutheran badge proudly.  It identifies my theological sensibilities.  It becomes shorthand for those who start up a conversation with me.  But it is not the name which brings me salvation.  That name is the name of Jesus.

Devotion - Wednesday, September 25

I love working with college students.  You are at a critical juncture in your life; set sufficiently free from your family of origin so as to be able to construct your own life path, yet tethered to the communities which have magnificently brought you thus far.  You are eager to learn, and willing to explore.

You are at the exact point where I can say to you, "Not every word which comes from the mouth of the Lord is true," and you will ask what I mean rather than dismiss anything more I may have to say.

Read I Kings 22:1-28.  It is another story about King Ahab.  In this story, even God has had enough.  God is so ready to be rid of Ahab that God entices the prophets to speak an untrue word.  Ahab wants to know if he should go to war.  When the prophets ask God's word, they are instructed to tell Ahab to go up.  Only Micah seems to have the whole story.  

The attempt to find in the Bible some simple legal code are confound by this story.  But the Bible isn't a legal code - it is the witness of God's people to God's activity among us.

The seemingly conflicting words of God's servants may cause some to say, "If you all can't agree, then why would I want to be a part of the community of faith."  But the life path we are constructing allows us to celebrate the diversity of voices - prayerfully considering how the seemingly confusing divergent voices blend into symphonic harmony.  

Life is complicated; and so is God's participation in our lives.  God's intentions toward the earth never changes - God loves what God has created and God will go to any ends (even death on a cross) in order to communicate that love to us.  If God's interactions with us were not complex, how would we have confidence in God?  Given the complexity of the lives we live?