Part 1

Daily Office Readings

AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22
Isa. 42:(1-9)10-17; Eph. 3:1-13; Mark 2:13-22 

Mark

“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (Mark 2: 14)

In Paul trying to bring us together as the Body of Christ much of his work was in vain.  Sense the Church’s beginning there has been division and fighting amongst we Christians, the Body of Christ.  It is as if Christ’s Body has cancer, fighting against itself.

I think the all-inclusive Jesus is proud of Paul devaluing circumcision for it opens the door for women to have equal presence in the church, just as they have always had in the eyes of Jesus. But there is still “hostility between us.”

Jesus was not hostile – PERIOD. So if we are following Jesus, we the Church, should not be hostile either. I know these are strange words coming from a thirty year Marine.  While I am not a pacifist, I don’t believe one has to be “hostile” to be a defender of our American way of life. Peaceful tolerance to another’s way of life, to co-exist for the mutual benefit of all is both the Way of Jesus and the multicultural way of the United States.   The dividing wall, Paul said, is hostility.  All walls are hostile acts.  Walls infer that there are humans on one side and less-than humans on the other. That’s not my Jesus.

The fighting within the Church began because of what two groups of Christians believed about the nature of Christ (Fully God or From God).  Such fighting, even to death, makes a mockery of the very foundation of what Jesus came and died for. It is especially sad when resources are used for making war while people starve in the very presence of such violence and misuse of resources.

We, today, should be able to see past this and receive all people in loving ways just as would Jesus himself do.  For as St. Paul declares, “For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.”

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 2

 Confession of St. Peter:
Eucharistic Readings:

Psalm 23; Acts 4:8-13, 1 Peter 5: 1 – 4, Matthew 16: 13 – 20

 Matthew

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 16: 13 – 17)

There are at least two important teaching points going on here.

First, who do you say that Jesus is?  We Christians can be found proclaiming Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  And he is. We say this with the most convincing words.  What do we say about who Jesus is with our behavior, our actions, and our love?

I am sure I read a quote from Maya Angelou (who has many life-inspiring quotes) that said, and I’m paraphrasing, “I do not define my Church, my Church defines me.”  In my understanding of her words it means that she does not tell people what her church is about, but rather, as she walked her life, her church said who she was.  Who do you say Jesus is by the way you conduct yourself?

Second, Jesus points out that Peter did not “figure out” who Jesus is.  Jesus lets us know that Peter’s revelation comes from God.  All holy revelation comes from God but like Peter we have to be close to Jesus to receive it. My dear friend and one-time mentor The Rev Gene Carpenter called it a “Glimmer of Grace.”  I like that term. It fits. It’s God’s doing, not ours. Be well.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Daily Office Readings

AM Psalm 18:1-20; PM Psalm 18:21-50
Isa. 41:17-29; Eph. 2:11-22; Mark 2:1-12 

Part 1

“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5)

This action takes place after four friends tear open a roof in order to place their paralyzed friend before Jesus for healing.

I am absolutely convinced that Jesus takes the faith that is planted in us and uses it to do good works.  Almost every time we see Jesus doing a miracle he mentions the faith of the person or persons involved.  This is amazing to me because although this faith is in us we are not equipped to make use of it ourselves.  It is through prayer, in thought, word and/or deed that our request is made known to the Holy Spirit of the Incarnate Word of God and then God reaches inside us, uses the God-given spirit in us for the benefit of us.  Wow!  I have seen this in action when one of my young parishioners was in a terrible motorcycle accident.  His mother, sister, other family members, myself and even one of the doctors asked if she could pray with us. It was powerful.  At that prayerful moment we were on Holy Ground.  It was later that I heard another one of the surgeons approaching our waiting area saying “that was a strong young teenager.”  No sir, I thought to myself, that was God using our faith for the healing of this child.  Sin is not always something that we have done.  Sin is the deviation from God’s plan. Such deviation is brought directly to God’s attention through prayer, And God’s ears hears tears.  

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 2

“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic— ¹‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’” (Mark 2:10, 11)

When Jesus is challenged regarding his authority to forgive sins Jesus shows the doubters that His power is beyond the simple physical matter of nature. Jesus is Lord of the seen, and the unseen – of this world and the next.

Jesus not only forgives sins which is something we also are equipped to do, He also makes the lame walk which even with all our technology often fall short of physical healing.

Yes, I said that, we, you and I, can forgive the sins of others and our selves. It’s not easy, but it is possible.  I recall a murderous act in Pennsylvania some years back when on  October 2, 2006, a shooting occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. (Wikipedia)   Hurt and devastated to their core, the family and Amish community forgave the man who did the sin.  Amish are low tech, high faith, God loving people, and my faith heroes.

My point is that instead of making hate for the perpetrator our default emotional position, let’s use the love and calm that God in Christ has already placed inside us.  All the hate in the world will not bring back the lost one.  It is sad. But we must be reconciled to God.

We also must learn to forgive ourselves.  No matter how low we might sink the hand of God can reach us.  My favorite example of this “come to self” story is the one of the prodigal son in chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke where we read, “But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you…” (Luke 15:17-18)  Self forgiveness is so important, it cannot be over emphasized. And yet, self forgiveness can’t be a carefree dismissal of what we have done or said. Forgiveness of our own sins is made manifest by our walking from the sin renewed and repentant, vowing never to do it again. Such repentance makes us and God happy.  Be well.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Daily Office Readings

AM Psalm 119:1-24; PM Psalm 12, 13, 14 
Isa. 41:1-16; Eph. 2:1-10; Mark 1:29-45 

Ephesians

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

We are saved through faith – believing. I have always liked to look at faith as that handle by which God uses to pull our souls to God’s Self when we give up the ghost.  Just as our doing won’t earn our way into heaven, so too, our wrong doing shouldn’t keep us out.  It is all matter of faith, believing, and in believing we will do what is loving and pleasing in God’s sight. What we do then becomes a by-product of our faith.  

We are who God has made us whether we live into that being or not. We were created to do good works based on faith and for good faith-works to be our way of life. I think this is what St James is trying to tell us when he says, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.” (James 2:26)

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

More about who God made us to be: Wednesday 16 January 2018

Mark

“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’” (Mark 1 35 – 37)

This again reminds me that my children never disturbed me during my prayer time.  As the kids were growing up they would often come to ask me something while I was on the phone,  mowing the lawn, or watching the game; but never did they interrupt me during prayers like it seems Simon and his companions did Jesus.  Long story short, I was never praying.  If it’s one thing I could change while raising my children it would be that I would be found praying regularly.  Kids are funny, if parents curse, they will curse, if parents smoke, kids will smoke, it stands to reason then that if parents pray kids too will pray.  I wish I had been found praying like Jesus was when they were searching for me. 

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Wednesday Night Healing Service: 16 Jan 2019

ANTONY OF EGYPT MONASTIC (17 JAN 356)

1 Peter 5:6-11 

 Psalm 91
Mark 10:17-22

“When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.”  (Mark 10: 22)

In this narrative of Jesus we hear of a man who could have been one of the Apostles.  This is one occasion where someone was invited to follow Jesus but declined. We don’t have his name but we could have.  The man says that he has kept the six relationship commandments that deal with how we treat one another; Honor parents, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, no bearing false witness, and no coveting.  Scripture then tells us that he could not follow Jesus because he had many possessions.  But I wonder if it was the possessions that had him.

Antony of Egypt, the son of Christian parents, inherited a large estate. On his way to church one day, he found himself meditating on the text, “Sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and come follow me.”  When he got to church, he heard the preacher speaking on that very text. He took this as a message for him, and, having provided for the care of his sister, he gave his land to the tenants who lived on it, and gave his other wealth to the poor, and became a hermit, living alone for twenty years, praying and reading, and doing manual labor.  (Contributed by James Keifer)

I must admit that I too am moved when writings or words come to me repeatedly.  I look at it as if the repeating words are a sign from God that God is trying to tell me something. Conversations, in particular around money, can be toxic in relationships.  What also is meaningful for me is Antony doing manual labor.  I work at a desk.  There is a stack of papers there when I start work and there is a stack of papers there when I finish.  Whew!  I can’t tell I’ve done anything.  It is different with manual labor.  Last month it was left to me to take much needed canned food to our Fayetteville Urban Ministry. There was a lot of it.  I loaded all of it into the back of my truck and hauled it to the ministry.  They were thankful.  When I returned to the church and looked at the now empty space where the food was I enjoyed a real feeling of accomplishment. I am now taking a cabinet making class.  It is fun.  My hope is that I get a real feeling of accomplishment every time I complete a project.  I am aware that sitting with people in crisis is real work, and it is very much appreciated.  But like Antony I too would like many years of praying and reading, and doing some kind of manual labor, Jesus did, Paul did and John should.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people. bti

Some pondering on revelation from Mark McIntosh as he has written “Mysteries of Faith” for The New Church Teaching Series. The following is taken from chapter four of this book which I am mentoring in Education for Ministry (EfM) at St Paul’s in the Pines, Fayetteville, NC

Mark writes: “Think how, as you come to spend more and more time with a person, you come to know more deeply who she is. That is only possible because at the same time you are being changed by your friendship with her – sometimes brought up short, sometimes delighted, sometimes wounded in your pride, sometimes healed and forgiven.  All these changes in you are the means by which you come to know your friend more and more, because knowing someone in that intimate way is only possible through a process of transformation and growth – sometimes painful, always unsettling – by which you and your friend come to share life together.  Similarly, revelation happens when, by the miracle of God’s grace, we are brought to share in the love of the Trinity.  As we know, such sharing is risky for us in the world we have made.  God’s giving-life-in-you (usually called “grace”) leads you out of the self others have made for you by their anger or their possessiveness, and it tugs you out of the life you have  settled into as a way of hiding from what God longs for you to be.  It sends you into soup kitchens and night shelters, to hospital bedsides and communion rails, it exhausts you and gives you life, it gets you crucified and yet raises you into life itself.”  (Page 77 “Mysteries of Faith”)

Thank you Mark. What I get from this is that God reveals God’s self through the other.  We should never dismiss another person who comes to us to share a message.  If we ever say to ourselves, “I know this person and God would never use him or her to bring me a revelation,” we are not really dismissing them. We would be limiting God; we would be saying that God is not able to use him or her to reveal anything.  Have you not heard, God is able use anybody to do anything?  The lesson here is to always be open to what God might be saying to you through someone else, and further, companion the ups and downs that accompany the revelation. Sometimes God is tough, but always loving.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

Daily Office Readings

AM Psalm 5, 6; PM Psalm 10, 11
Isa. 40:25-31; Eph. 1:15-23; Mark 1:14-28 

Ephesians:

“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.” (Ephesians 1:17 – 19 NRSV)

St Paul prays that God gives us the spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know God.  We really need to ponder theses words.  We can study God all we want but until God decides to share wisdom with us we will not have it.  The same goes for revelation.  We are made aware of divine things when God shares the same.  I think the only way we can participate in this sharing is that we first believe and await God’s pleasure.  For it we choose not to believe, there is no place in us for God to put this greatness of God’s glory which contains the hope to which we have been called. We must learn to listen with the ears of our heart and see with the eyes of our heart.  I hope St Paul appreciates my explanation.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

Daily Office Readings

AM Psalm 1, 2, 3; PM Psalm 4, 7   
Isa. 40:12-23; Eph. 1:1-14; Mark 1:1-13 

Ephesians:

“In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:11 – 12 NRSV)

After studying this sentence that runs through two verses in English, from various English translations, we have the words “destined” or “predestined” and the word “might” in the same sentence. I believe God has blessed humanity with free will.  I also believe God has set a path for us in Christ Jesus to be those of God’s creation who gives praise back to God.  We don’t have to, but we ought to. We have been wired for praise. I love the doxology that sings, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise him all creatures here below. Praise Him above Ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” 

Many people avoid the Book of Revelation (to John from Jesus Christ).  However, a close examination of this book will reveal a regular round of singing praise to God from the heavenly host.  I don’t think it’s even a matter of singing ability; it’s just a matter of the heart. I don’t have any memories of my childhood as a church family but I can distinctly remember my mother singing Gospel hymns as she did our laundry. She would sing, “When I woke up this morning children, I didn’t have no doubt….”  I meet people all the time who have never heard that hymn.  But I love it.  One day I will try to find a copy of it.  I think this is who God wants us to be – God “wants” us to be, not “makes” us to be.  All we have to do is have no doubt.

So, “we who have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.” Let us practice singing praises to God regardless of what we might think of our ability to sing.  I’ve heard it said over and over again, God just wants a joyful noise. Our praising God now is practice for our eternal presence with God in glory everlasting.

 Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

Eucharistic Readings

Isaiah 43:1-7 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 Psalm 29

Luke

“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened” (Luke 3:21 NRSV)

Often missed in the Gospel is how much Jesus prayed.  This version of Jesus’ Baptism suggests that the Baptism was over and then Jesus begin to pray and at that point the heavens opened and the Son of God pronouncement came.

Prayer, in particular prayer of thanksgiving, is so important.  Nobody likes to be taken for granted, including God.  For what ever reason most of us have learned to pray for a future event.  We are not able to see far into the future of how things will turn out.  Our short future prayers include a prayer as simple as grace before a meal or a good night’s sleep.  More distant prayers are said for the healing of someone or for help for us in a serious situation.

Then we wait and in God’s time help will come only in the way God wants it to. We may not recognize it as an act of God but it is.  I remember the old story told long ago.  It goes like this: A little town was being flooded and everybody evacuated except for the town preacher.  As the water level rose the preacher’s church began to take on water.  The old preacher finally climbed to the top of the steeple.  At last a man in a boat came to his rescue.  But the preacher denied the assistance proclaiming that God was going to save him.  Later, another man in a boat came but the preacher would not get into the boat saying that God was going to save him.  Lastly a helicopter came but the old preacher still refused. He was finally overcome and drowned.  He was taken to the pearly gates and standing before God almighty. He asked, “Good Lord, I have preached in Your Church for over 47 years.  Why did you not save me?  God said, I sent you two boats and a helicopter, why did you not let yourself be saved?

For most of us when we receive blessings we are very much aware that we have been so blessed. What we need to think about is thanking God for that blessing. I like to let loose a “Thank You Jesus” when I know a blessing just happened.  I knew a service member that I served with who had the strange habit of saying the grace before and after the meal. Most of us just say grace before the meal.  This man said that he looks back and is thankful for what he has just received. 

In our church tradition we give thanks and specific prayers for events that just happened.  For example; after baptism there is the “we receive you into the household of God…” prayer.  And after, communion there is the Post communion prayer.  Prayer should be like a hard-cover book.  A hard-cover book is opened, read and then closed.  Our prayers should open for the asking, the blessing received, and then closed with thanks giving.

Let us not take God for granted,  When God has done something or just been present with you in your life and you know it to be so, pause and give thanks, and you too will realize that the heavens are opened to you.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

AM Psalm 98, 99, [100] Isa. 66:1-2, 22-23; Rev. 3:14-22; John 9:1-12, 35-38

John

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5)

I have deceased family, my cousin Rip and my Dad, other family members and some close friends that have passed who I keep alive through mimicking their words and behaviors.  It delights me to do this.  They literally become a part of who I am.  And I like showing them off. People that didn’t know them just consider what they see in me as part of who I am, and they are correct, now.

In the same way the loving light of Jesus is with us in this world wherever and whenever we model His love in all situations. He is present when we sit with the lonely, visit the sick, give a ride to those who have no transportation, or buy a meal for the hungry.  All of these acts shine as the bright light of Christ. And soon enough, these aspects of Jesus truly become who we are. These are the acts that keep Jesus with us and lights up this otherwise dark world.  Thank you Jesus for your light shining in us and we becoming who you are.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

Aelred of Rievaulx:  Abbot (12 JANUARY 1167)

Psalm 36:5-10 Philippians 2:1-4 John 15:9–17

“O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
   and your salvation to the upright of heart!” (Psalm 36: 10)

What I’m getting and sharing with you comes from James Keifer a noted writer of Anglican personalities.  About Aelred he shares that Aelred left his work as Master of the Household of the King of Scotland and joined the Cistercian monastery at Rievaulx in Yorkshire under the supervision of Bernard of Clairvaux in 1133 when Aelred was 24 years old.

The Cistercian Abby of which he was a member of forbid personal preference friendships.  They insisted on ever changing pairs of twos.  The Abby wanted its monks to see Christ in all persons. They were just as insistent about not having a preference about certain foods.

Against this view, Aelred wrote that it is compatible with the highest degree of Christian perfection to take special pleasure in the company of particular friends. He points out that we are told that Jesus loved John, and Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus, and that this probably means that he found their company congenial. 

I know that for myself, my friends have changed over the years; perhaps because I’ve changed over the years.  When I was a teenager I had some friends my dad did not approve of.  His words to me were, “Water seeks its own level.”  This has stayed with me for more than 50 years now.  I don’t think I knew what he meant when he first told me, but I soon figured out that “I am my friends.”  And, as we evolve, those we most want to identify with must also be where we are. This often means new friends. 

Water does seek its own level.  We are our friends.  Having preferred friends does not mean we do not love others.  We are made to be able to love all  people but there is still a close circle of what I like to call “frimly” or friends who are as close as family.  Jesus had John, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.  He loved everybody but he had an inner circle of comfort.  And so should we.  And from time to time those people might change.  And I think that’s okay.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

AM Psalm 148, 150; PM Psalm 91, 92 Isa. 65:13-16; Rev. 3:7-13; John 6:15-27

From Psalm 148:1,2 and 10

1 Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord from the heavens; *
praise him in the heights.

2 Praise him, all you angels of his; *
praise him, all his host.

10 Wild beasts and all cattle, *
creeping things and winged birds;

We have a parishioner in our parish who is in touch with the natural order of life all around us.  She cares about all kinds of insects and other creatures that too many of us ignore but she cares about.  Once when some of us were discussing times when we were “ridding” ourselves of pesky snakes, she boldly interrupted and declared “Don’t Kill Snakes!” She spoke with such authority that I, for one, decided maybe our minds have been poisoned by the stories of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Our parishioner and people like the late Steve Erwin (Crocodile Hunter) cared about all God’s creatures especially reptiles.  And of course, God cares for them as I have come to realize.  So Psalm 148 also reminds us that all creatures great and small praise God.  And, except for the necessary use as a food source, all animals should go on living if only for that reason. For the Psalmist says that all praise the Lord, wild beasts and all cattle, creeping things [even snakes] and winged birds.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

From Isaiah:

“Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land shall bless by the God of faithfulness, and whoever takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of faithfulness; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my sight.” (Isaiah 65:16)

In this verse in Isaiah 65 God is mentioned twice as “the God of faithfulness.”  It only stands to reason then that if we are created in God’s Image, then we are intended, by God, to be people of faith.  This particularly applies to blessings and oaths.

Often when I gather with family or friends around a meal I get anxious about saying the blessing.  It is always my hope that someone will at least suggest a blessing.  The reality is that when I see the first person reach for his or her fork I interrupt with “Let us pray.” And so it is a blessing in the land (albeit at the table) and I do bless the food by the God of faithfulness.  We often, maybe too often, think of faith as something we are suppose to have, not God. 

God does have faith, faith in us.  And even though we fail God often, God never gives up on us.  I’m glad that God is always faithful and forgiving.  I need forgiveness all the time.  I wish my faith was more like God’s faith.  I now think that in order to have faith like God’s faith I too must be more forgiving.  God always “restarts” with us.  May I can learn to restart with others, even when they forget to say their prayers.  As we say in the South, “God bless ‘em.”  

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

From John 6

“Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.” (John 6:21 NRSV)

I think it is perhaps only in the NSRV translation and maybe a few others, that if we read closely we see that it was the desire of the people in the boat that got them through the storm. We never read that Jesus actually got into the boat.  It is assumed that he did (and I believe he did) and then they all got to where they were going.

Also, unlike the other Gospels, the storm is not made to stop, but their desire, or will, for Jesus to be with them got them through their troubled situation.  This is very important.  Our storms may not end.  But our desire for the presence of Jesus is what gets us through the storms of our lives.  We just need to “want” to take Jesus into our boat, and we get there. I love it!

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through God’s people.

Daily Office Readings

AM Psalm 138, 139:1-17(18-23); PM Psalm 147
Isa. 65:1-9; Rev. 3:1-6; John 6:1-14

From Psalm 139: 3

“Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O Lord, know it altogether.”

Psalm 139 is another one of my favorite Psalms.  Its thrust is about how much God knows us and is acquainted with all our ways.  This first verse however kind of grabs me because it seems to suggest that God can, and does, go deeper than the word being formed in my mouth.

I am reminded that before I say it, I think it.  And God is there also. We have a prayer in the Episcopal Church that we say at the start of each service.  It is called the Collect for Purity and in part asks God to “cleanse the thoughts or our hearts by the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit….”  I remind my listeners that we, in and of ourselves, are not able to cleanse our own hearts, we just can’t do it.  We must ask for God’s assistance.

We must ask for God’s assistance to stop thinking that jokes against another race, another gender, another sex, another nationality, another religion, another political party, is funny. But first folks, we must want it.  God knows the heart.  We can’t fool God.  We must ask in all sincerity. We must prayerfully craft words that really express our deepest desires.  And then use words that speak to God honestly. And please remember, “Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O Lord, know it altogether.”

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.

From a Revelation of Jesus Christ to John:

“If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” (Rev.3:5 – 6)

I read this as an invitation to be like those faithful ones who have gone before us who held on tightly to their Christian principles no matter what.  Then, if we do this, we too will be honored in heaven. It seems God already has our names, our Christened names and the promise is that our names will not be blotted out.  In fact, they will be reported out among the host of heaven of the new arrivals when our time comes!  I pray I have the ear to listen to what the Spirit is saying to me.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.

From John 6

“After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.” (John 6:1)

There is nothing of great import here in the first verse of chapter six.  However when I read it I was reminded of my Holy Land visit in February of 2018.  We went out on a boat on the lake (so called Sea of Galilee) and it is from that boat that I took the picture posted at the top of my blogs.  It was a tranquil moment – a Holy Spirit moment.  From my vista I could see the three years of Jesus’ ministry.  We could see Nazareth, Magdala, Cana, and most important for me was Capernaum. This is also the water that Jesus was reported to have walked on.  Interestingly enough, this body of water is the lowest level of fresh water on the planet.  And this is where God decided to start the Christian ministry and story. I ponder what was God thinking and what else is special about this particular part of this biblically historic place?

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.

Today we remember William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury

Psalm 73:24-29) Hebrews 12:5-14  Matthew 10:32-39

“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”  (Matt. 10:32)

Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud

William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury during a difficult time in our church’s history.  He was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645 in the days of King Charles I.  He intentionally did things that he knew would upset the Puritans, a literal sect of Christianity.  He wore vestments and used candles at the Altar which he knew was troubling for a people who took the position that if it was not in the Bible, then it should not be done.

Our early, and present church did retain liturgical customs and traditions from the Roman Catholic Church.  While Laud valued these ecclesiastical practices he left no room in his heart for working with non-Anglicans and the Puritan way of holding church.  They, the Puritans, were no better and these rivalries often lead to violent confrontations and even death, including Laud.

Perhaps one of the ways we should acknowledge Jesus before others is to be tolerant of difference. Today most mainline faiths seek ways in which we can find common ground and live together in harmony.  However, I am not so naïve as to ignore the violence and hatred that takes place in our country today.  We have had acts of violence against synagogues, mosques and even different Christian faiths like Seventh Day Adventist, and Historically Black Churches many perpetrated by people self-proclaiming to be Christians.  Where is the Jesus in that?

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.