Questions, Questions, Questions

Most of us want answers more than we desire questions. And yet, unless we ask questions, we tend to remain pretty much the same people we've always been.  Questions are sparks that create growth.

If you don't like questions, then don't read the Bible.  It is full of questions, implied and explicit.       In fact, Jesus is always asking questions like: What are you seeking?  What do you want me to do for you?  What is your name? Who do you say I am?  A writer, John Dear, has a book filled with the questions Jesus asked.

The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) is also full of questions.  God asks Ezekiel about the valley of dried bones:  Can these bones live? (Chapter 37)  Then there was Jeremiah in chapter 18: Can I not do with you as the potter does with the clay?

I was reading Psalm 77 this week.  It is full of questions, too.

Psalm 77 is a personal prayer of anguish.  The writer is so upset he/she cannot speak, sleep or rest.  Questions flood forth:  Will God reject me forever?  Will God ever be pleased? Has God ceased to  care for the present and future generations?  Has God cease to offer compassion?  Has God’s promises dried up?  Personal struggle has worked its way into the deep of the soul.  God’s integrity and faithful have come under intense scrutiny. God’s finger prints and footsteps have left no visible trace.

Past memory does not help or does it?   While the tension and anguish of this psalm do not seem to be resolved, remembrance does form a foundation for moving forward.  While the writer does not retreat to the past, he does remember that while God acted in the past, the visible marks of God do not linger.  Because our footprints are washed away by the incoming tide doesn’t mean we never walked on the beach. 

Questions remind us of the mystery of God’s presence and action.  So what questions has God put on your heart?

God the Great Recycler

In the course of preaching on Romans 5:1-11, I was reminded that God does not let any of our life experience go to waste but takes all the strands of joy and of pain, hope and trouble, love and grief and weaves them into the tapestry of our lives, making us who we are.

When in Romans 5 Paul talks about taking pride in troubles, I believe he is taking pride not in having troubles but taking pride (boasting) of God's ability to recycle the troubles of our lives into this tapestry being created that becomes us.

If God has the ability to transform ( read "recycle") the cross, the death of Jesus into a doorway to reconciliation and saving hope, then no trouble is safe from God's recycling power.

This begs the question:  What is God recycling right now in our lives, even in mysterious and unseen ways?

Unworthy and Faithful

Luke 7:1-10 is Luke’s account of the healing of a centurion’s slave.  A centurion is a Gentile military leader.  He sends others to present his message to Jesus. He doesn’t even dare to meet Jesus, considering himself unworthy of Jesus’ time and energy.  Yet he shows considerable concern for his slave’s wellbeing, certainly not treating the slave as disposable property. All the centurion asks is for Jesus to speak, just speak and healing will come to his servant. Jesus responds the centurion’s cry to help with compassionate response and with high praise, “even in Israel I haven’t found faith like this.” (verse 9)

In a sense, this passage anticipates Cornelius’ faith in Acts 10.  It also anticipates the situation of 20^th century Christians who believe the faith message and yet have not seen Jesus face to face.  This unnamed centurion may represent many of us who feel ourselves to be unworthy of Jesus’ time and energy.  This sense of unworthiness may be most profoundly felt on Communion Sunday when we are invited to come and receive signs of Jesus’ love for us, bread and the cup.  And we are invited to come not because we deserve to be there, but because we have needs only Jesus can attend to.

What word would you want Jesus to speak on someone’s behalf?  On your behalf?

When I look into the sky

Psalm 8 is the first hymn of praise in the Book of Psalms.  It proclaims something about God that is at the heart of the whole of scripture:  God is the creative, sovereign and life-giving force for the entire cosmos.  This sovereign God, Lord of all, has entrusted seemingly insignificant human beings with power and authority to join God in taking care of this cosmos!  While human beings may be overcome by their insignificant smallness when they ponder the vastness of the universe, the vastness of God has called upon human kind to exercise care over and for the world they have been given.

John Wesley writes of this psalm: If we consider boundless space or boundless duration, we shrink into nothing before it….whenever you are tempted to fear lest you be forgotten before the immense, the eternal God, remember that nothing is little or great, that no duration is long or short before him

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Psalm 8 reminds us that we are all made in the image of God.  The world is not here for us. We are, in fact, here for the world!

This week make time to sit and enjoy a sunrise or a sunset.  Be aware of what you are feeling as you make room in the busyness of life for the glory of God’s creation.

Dismayed by Glory

"Heavens proclaimed God's righteousness and all nations (peoples) have  seen his glory. All those who worship images, those who are proud of idols, are put to shame (dismayed).  All gods bow down to the Lord!  Zion has heard  and celebrates...."   ( Psalm 97:6-8a,  CEB)


In conversation with a friend over this passage, a truth dawned on me.  While all people may see God's glory, not every one has the same response.  Some will be dismayed (the JPS translation of the word translated above as "shame").  Others (Zion) will rejoice at the same sighting of glory.

I think God's glory is the revelation of God's very nature, the very character of God.  The glory of God is seen in God's self-giving.  Another way of saying this is:  God's glory is God's capacity of loving kindness.  Love is the very heart and heart beat of God.

The sign of God's glory is the Cross of Jesus,  his self-giving, sacrificial love. 

The love of God can evoke dismay is some of us and joy in others of us.  The love of God in and through the live of Jesus the  Christ may evoke both reactions.

Our response is shaped by where we place ourselves in relation to God.  If we are consumed by devotion to "idols", to images, and other forces that compete with God for my time, energy, resources, and commitments then we are more likely to experience God's glory as intrusive, challenging, even demanding.  If we are more focused on commitments and devotion that place us under the guidance of God's love, then rejoicing and praise are the ticket.

On some days, I experience both dismay and joy.

Reflections on Psalm 104

“Let my whole being bless the Lord!”  With those words, the writer of Psalm 104 begins and ends his prayer.  In between, the creative power of God is affirmed and acknowledged as provision for the care and ongoing nurture of the creation as home and dwelling place for all God has made.  This world is the home God has prepared for us to share with all created life; it is the place God has placed us in the scope of his creative activity.  Even destructive forces like water are used productively and creatively by God to bring forth life and abundance.  God’s hands are not clinched in a fist but are open, filled with life-giving blessing.  When God’s Spirit goes forth life is birthed, sustained and renewed.  (verse 30)

The first part of verse 35, “Let sinners be wiped clean from the earth…” seems like an interruption of the flow of praise in this psalm.  I sense these words to be the acknowledgement that those forces that would seek to undo the creative work God accomplishes will be effectively “put in their place” and their harmful intentions will not be tolerated or effective in God’s over all creative work.

Pause this week and intentionally set aside some time each day to listen to and look for the presence of God’s handiwork within the world around you.  Be observant of moments when you experience the goodness of God, God’s open-handedness of life giving care and blessing.

Heart Aches and Doorways

This past month has been a week of heart aches:  Violence at the Boston marathon, the explosion in Texas, floods in the Midwest, earthquake in China, the death of a local teenager and a pastor friend, plus just the day to day “little deaths” of hopes and dreams, of illnesses and growing limitations we all experience.  My emotional plate has been full to overflowing ; and maybe yours is too. 

There seem to be weeks when the heart aches outweigh the celebrations.

While the question of “why” is normal,  I find that “why” has no satisfying answer.  I find myself asking, “What do I/we do next?”  Given what has transpired, what do we do next?

One step is to embrace the heart ache.  It is a sign or expression that life is important.  Embrace the hurt and whatever emotions go with it including frustration, anger, tears, rage, confusion, emptiness.  Embrace the heart ache and see what it has to teach us about loving God,  others and ourselves.  Value the ache as a doorway through which God’s presence may enter.

This morning I read Psalm 103 as my devotional reading for the day.  You may (or may not ) be aware that one of my spiritual practices is to read a psalm a day, listening for a word or phrase God may have for me to ponder through the day.  Most of the time I will write a reflection or response to the psalm in a daily journal I keep.  Here is what I heard in psalm 103:8-19 (selected verses)

“The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    very patient, and full of faithful love…
 He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin
    or repay us according to our wrongdoing,
   because as high as heaven is above the earth,
    that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him.
 As far as east is from west—
    that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.
 Like a parent feels compassion for their children—
    that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him. Because God knows how we’re made,  God remembers we’re just dust…  But the Lord’s faithful love is from forever ago to forever from now for those who honor him.”

 And God’s righteousness reaches to the grandchildren of those who keep his covenant and remember to keep his commands.   The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
 and his kingdom rules over all.”

When our hearts ache, faith teaches us that God is like a compassionate parent whose faithful love gathers us in.  I am also reminded that the word “compassion” means to “suffer with” and that God’s “righteousness” is God’s power of life that conquers evil and death.

Heart aches are worth pondering as doorways for God’s suffering with us as the presence of  the power of life.