We struggle with having enough time:
to see all of the people,
to be all of the places,
to do all of the things
that we need to do, much less
the things that we want to do.
Jesus, being human, felt this, too.
Yet he is in each moment, eye-to-eye
with us, not distracted by things, but
paying deep attention to, and loving,
the people around him.
Listen for this in the gospel:
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side,
a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea.
Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and,
when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly,
"My little daughter is at the point of death.
Come and lay your hands on her,
so that she may be made well, and live."
So he went with him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.
Now there was a woman who had been suffering
from hemorrhages for twelve years.
She had endured much under many physicians,
and had spent all that she had;
and she was no better, but rather grew worse.
She had heard about Jesus,
and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,
for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well."
Immediately her hemorrhage stopped;
and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him,
Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"
And his disciples said to him,
"You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say,
'Who touched me?'"
He looked all around to see who had done it.
But the woman, knowing what had happened to her,
came in fear and trembling, fell down before him,
and told him the whole truth.
He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well;
go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
While he was still speaking,
some people came from the leader's house to say,
"Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?"
But overhearing what they said,
Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue,
"Do not fear, only believe."
He allowed no one to follow him
except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue,
he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.
When he had entered, he said to them,
"Why do you make a commotion and weep?
The child is not dead but sleeping."
And they laughed at him.
Then he put them all outside,
and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him,
and went in where the child was.
He took her by the hand and said to her,
"Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!"
And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about
(she was twelve years of age).
At this they were overcome with amazement.
He strictly ordered them that no one should know this,
and told them to give her something to eat.
Blessings,
Ron
Mark 5:21-43 – NRSV
Thursday, July 2, 2009
My portion ...
One of my favorite songs of praise
Actually comes from Lamentations.
You probably know the words altogether
too well, so slow yourself down as you read;
speak the words softly or sing them, but imagine
what the psalmist might have been thinking.
Hear the word of God:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,
to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it,
to put one's mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
to give one's cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults.
For the Lord will not
reject forever.
Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve anyone.
Blessings,
Ron
Lamentations 3:22-33 – NRSV
Actually comes from Lamentations.
You probably know the words altogether
too well, so slow yourself down as you read;
speak the words softly or sing them, but imagine
what the psalmist might have been thinking.
Hear the word of God:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for one to bear
the yoke in youth,
to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it,
to put one's mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope),
to give one's cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults.
For the Lord will not
reject forever.
Although he causes grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
for he does not willingly afflict
or grieve anyone.
Blessings,
Ron
Lamentations 3:22-33 – NRSV
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Who could stand?
Hear the word of the Lord:
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!
To be down in the depths is to be in over your head,
Buried in things to do, responsibilities to cover,
Jobs that get missed, commitments that fall short.
Anyone with any sense would cry out to God;
plead with him for help,
pray for his undivided attention.
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.
If God really were a cosmic traffic cop,
there would be so many warrants for our arrest
that Dillinger would blush for looking the amateur.
If God were the kind of judge some of my brethren
expect to meet “on the day”, then I would advise
that they go stock up on barbecue sauce, because
they’ll be on the rotisserie soon enough. Yet,
Somehow God knows of our iniquities, and
We’re still standing as if nothing happened.
Something significant has happened, though;
God has been true to his real identity:
He cleans up messes that Hercules wouldn’t touch.
He is helper of the certifiably helpless.
He is the redeemer of those who have indebted
themselves into a slick pit of slavery.
He is the savior of lost people in lost causes,
and the praise of our lips, our lives,
is all that we can hope to offer him.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
That is not to say that this Holy One, this Other,
will jump to our whim, our whistle, or our whining.
Sometimes he seems even to miss when we’re
really in need, really victims, really righteous.
We had best understand that we don’t understand
how he works, or when he works, at all.
We are not told to understand, though,
but to be found faithful, to be found waiting.
Sometimes the wait is long, as long as the night
watch in the hours before dawn: dark, dark,
and dark until a soul is dizzy with the dark.
Yet no matter how dark the dark, or deep the dark,
or long the dark, we must not lose hope.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
His steadfast love will save his people;
that is why I want to be found waiting among
his people, today, and in the day.
Blessings,
Ron
Psalm 130 – NRSV
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!
To be down in the depths is to be in over your head,
Buried in things to do, responsibilities to cover,
Jobs that get missed, commitments that fall short.
Anyone with any sense would cry out to God;
plead with him for help,
pray for his undivided attention.
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.
If God really were a cosmic traffic cop,
there would be so many warrants for our arrest
that Dillinger would blush for looking the amateur.
If God were the kind of judge some of my brethren
expect to meet “on the day”, then I would advise
that they go stock up on barbecue sauce, because
they’ll be on the rotisserie soon enough. Yet,
Somehow God knows of our iniquities, and
We’re still standing as if nothing happened.
Something significant has happened, though;
God has been true to his real identity:
He cleans up messes that Hercules wouldn’t touch.
He is helper of the certifiably helpless.
He is the redeemer of those who have indebted
themselves into a slick pit of slavery.
He is the savior of lost people in lost causes,
and the praise of our lips, our lives,
is all that we can hope to offer him.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
That is not to say that this Holy One, this Other,
will jump to our whim, our whistle, or our whining.
Sometimes he seems even to miss when we’re
really in need, really victims, really righteous.
We had best understand that we don’t understand
how he works, or when he works, at all.
We are not told to understand, though,
but to be found faithful, to be found waiting.
Sometimes the wait is long, as long as the night
watch in the hours before dawn: dark, dark,
and dark until a soul is dizzy with the dark.
Yet no matter how dark the dark, or deep the dark,
or long the dark, we must not lose hope.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
His steadfast love will save his people;
that is why I want to be found waiting among
his people, today, and in the day.
Blessings,
Ron
Psalm 130 – NRSV
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Contribution or commitment ...
At first, this scripture may seem remote from us;
Paul is reminding the Corinthians of a commitment
that they had made to a relief effort for others.
But there is something challenging here for us, too.
How do we gauge our part in a work?
What is the difference between a contribution and a commitment?
Paul claims Jesus as the ultimate standard; Jesus is the one
who emptied himself of everything (kenosis) so that we might have
anything worthwhile spiritually or physically.
Are we worried about what we get out of ministry here in Hollis,
or is our concern whether or not those who are without have
what they need. Where are we with that?
Hear the word of the Lord:
Now as you excel in everything —
in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness,
and in our love for you —
so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.
I do not say this as a command,
but I am testing the genuineness of your love
against the earnestness of others.
For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.
And in this matter I am giving my advice:
it is appropriate for you who began last year
not only to do something but even to desire to do something —
now finish doing it,
so that your eagerness may be matched
by completing it according to your means.
For if the eagerness is there,
the gift is acceptable according to what one has —
not according to what one does not have.
I do not mean that there should be
relief for others and pressure on you,
but it is a question of a fair balance between
your present abundance and their need,
so that their abundance may be for your need,
in order that there may be a fair balance.
As it is written,
"The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little."
May God help us to open ourselves to his word.
Blessings,
Ron
2 Corinthians 8:7-15 - NRSV
Paul is reminding the Corinthians of a commitment
that they had made to a relief effort for others.
But there is something challenging here for us, too.
How do we gauge our part in a work?
What is the difference between a contribution and a commitment?
Paul claims Jesus as the ultimate standard; Jesus is the one
who emptied himself of everything (kenosis) so that we might have
anything worthwhile spiritually or physically.
Are we worried about what we get out of ministry here in Hollis,
or is our concern whether or not those who are without have
what they need. Where are we with that?
Hear the word of the Lord:
Now as you excel in everything —
in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness,
and in our love for you —
so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.
I do not say this as a command,
but I am testing the genuineness of your love
against the earnestness of others.
For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.
And in this matter I am giving my advice:
it is appropriate for you who began last year
not only to do something but even to desire to do something —
now finish doing it,
so that your eagerness may be matched
by completing it according to your means.
For if the eagerness is there,
the gift is acceptable according to what one has —
not according to what one does not have.
I do not mean that there should be
relief for others and pressure on you,
but it is a question of a fair balance between
your present abundance and their need,
so that their abundance may be for your need,
in order that there may be a fair balance.
As it is written,
"The one who had much did not have too much,
and the one who had little did not have too little."
May God help us to open ourselves to his word.
Blessings,
Ron
2 Corinthians 8:7-15 - NRSV
Monday, June 29, 2009
Joy comes in the morning ...
Hear the word of the psalmist speaking to God:
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
It is unfortunate that so many think that heaven and hell
are both future tense. As if delaying their enactment
denied in some way their reality.
Yet this psalm clears up this wrong thinking;
Sheol, hell itself, is something that we can experience,
even now, even in this very time and place in which we live.
Sometimes circumstances place us there, and only
the love of God can restore us from the Pit.
Yet in my experience, more often we confine ourselves
to hell on this earth by our own attitudes, our own choices,
our own refusal to let go of paralyzing pain
and putrefying grudges from the past.
We have to want to get well for the healing of God to help.
The good news is that God wants to help if we want to heal.
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment;
his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
There is a time for tears; we may even baptize ourselves in them.
Yet even that implies a rising, a resurrection to a life,
Full of joy for us and full of favor with God.
Only tears of joy are appropriate to paradise –
there’s no crying in heaven …
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By your favor, O Lord,
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
The extent of my wealth doesn’t matter;
if I have the favor of God, then I am prosperous,
prosperous enough to praise God until I leave
whatever heaven I have to earth to find
the more permanent version.
What pain do you need to let go of?
What personal hell do you need to vacate?
The grace of God calls you to be in his presence
and know the joy of being content in his providence.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Psalm 30 – NRSV
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
It is unfortunate that so many think that heaven and hell
are both future tense. As if delaying their enactment
denied in some way their reality.
Yet this psalm clears up this wrong thinking;
Sheol, hell itself, is something that we can experience,
even now, even in this very time and place in which we live.
Sometimes circumstances place us there, and only
the love of God can restore us from the Pit.
Yet in my experience, more often we confine ourselves
to hell on this earth by our own attitudes, our own choices,
our own refusal to let go of paralyzing pain
and putrefying grudges from the past.
We have to want to get well for the healing of God to help.
The good news is that God wants to help if we want to heal.
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment;
his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
There is a time for tears; we may even baptize ourselves in them.
Yet even that implies a rising, a resurrection to a life,
Full of joy for us and full of favor with God.
Only tears of joy are appropriate to paradise –
there’s no crying in heaven …
As for me, I said in my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By your favor, O Lord,
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
The extent of my wealth doesn’t matter;
if I have the favor of God, then I am prosperous,
prosperous enough to praise God until I leave
whatever heaven I have to earth to find
the more permanent version.
What pain do you need to let go of?
What personal hell do you need to vacate?
The grace of God calls you to be in his presence
and know the joy of being content in his providence.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Psalm 30 – NRSV
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