Today, a prayer:
Your are God and we praise you,
you are the Lord and we acclaim you;
you are the eternal Father,
all creation worships you.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
cherubim and seraphim sing in endless praise,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of the apostles praise you,
the noble fellowship of prophets praise you,
the white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you,
Father of majesty unbounded;
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
Te Deum
Grace and peace,
Ron
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Power and suffering ...
Hear Paul speak to the Corinthians:
For instance, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don't know if this took place in the body or out of it; only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise — again, whether in or out of the body, I don't know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard. This is the man I want to talk about. But about myself, I'm not saying another word apart from the humiliations.
If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I'd still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I'll spare you. I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size — abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
Well, now I've done it! I've made a complete fool of myself by going on like this. But it's not all my fault; you put me up to it. You should have been doing this for me, sticking up for me and commending me instead of making me do it for myself. You know from personal experience that even if I'm a nobody, a nothing, I wasn't second-rate compared to those big-shot apostles you're so taken with. All the signs that mark a true apostle were in evidence while I was with you through both good times and bad: signs of portent, signs of wonder, signs of power.
Over time, I’ve come to believe that Paul was not alone in his life of great giftedness and great suffering. As I get to know more of God’s people, the clearer my understanding that so often, great strength emerges on the other side of unspeakable difficulty. If we can imagine a great warrior, gifted in that horrible art, we can only guess the hardships, the pain, the loss, the separation that such a life might require. Or, if we considered a great athlete, would we see only her grace, her skill, the moves honed to a beauty, precision, and speed that no machine can imitate? Or would we imagine the disciplined suffering through which she took her body in order to be able to experience this kind of power and performance?
Why do we disrespect greatness? Often we are distracted by the new, the exciting, or the well-marketed without considering, “What is the fruit of this?” The fruit of Paul’s life was immeasurably beyond that of the ”super apostles.” The super apostles were just better at singing their own praises (and can’t we tell that it provoked Paul to sarcasm to have to respond in like kind?).
The reality is that greatness is around us all of the time. We fail to see it, to praise it, to thank God for it, but that does not change the reality of its presence. Every human being bears the image of God. Every human being has the potential to help us see and understand God in some way that is unique to them, even if they deny that gift. Yet every human being also has a struggle, often directly proportionate to their potential to become a great instrument in the hand of God.
Let’s show a little respect and love for each other, and for the mixed bag of giftedness and suffering that each one of us represents.
Grace and peace,
Ron
2 Co 12:2-12 - THE MESSAGE
For instance, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don't know if this took place in the body or out of it; only God knows. I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise — again, whether in or out of the body, I don't know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard. This is the man I want to talk about. But about myself, I'm not saying another word apart from the humiliations.
If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I'd still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I'll spare you. I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.
Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size — abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
Well, now I've done it! I've made a complete fool of myself by going on like this. But it's not all my fault; you put me up to it. You should have been doing this for me, sticking up for me and commending me instead of making me do it for myself. You know from personal experience that even if I'm a nobody, a nothing, I wasn't second-rate compared to those big-shot apostles you're so taken with. All the signs that mark a true apostle were in evidence while I was with you through both good times and bad: signs of portent, signs of wonder, signs of power.
Over time, I’ve come to believe that Paul was not alone in his life of great giftedness and great suffering. As I get to know more of God’s people, the clearer my understanding that so often, great strength emerges on the other side of unspeakable difficulty. If we can imagine a great warrior, gifted in that horrible art, we can only guess the hardships, the pain, the loss, the separation that such a life might require. Or, if we considered a great athlete, would we see only her grace, her skill, the moves honed to a beauty, precision, and speed that no machine can imitate? Or would we imagine the disciplined suffering through which she took her body in order to be able to experience this kind of power and performance?
Why do we disrespect greatness? Often we are distracted by the new, the exciting, or the well-marketed without considering, “What is the fruit of this?” The fruit of Paul’s life was immeasurably beyond that of the ”super apostles.” The super apostles were just better at singing their own praises (and can’t we tell that it provoked Paul to sarcasm to have to respond in like kind?).
The reality is that greatness is around us all of the time. We fail to see it, to praise it, to thank God for it, but that does not change the reality of its presence. Every human being bears the image of God. Every human being has the potential to help us see and understand God in some way that is unique to them, even if they deny that gift. Yet every human being also has a struggle, often directly proportionate to their potential to become a great instrument in the hand of God.
Let’s show a little respect and love for each other, and for the mixed bag of giftedness and suffering that each one of us represents.
Grace and peace,
Ron
2 Co 12:2-12 - THE MESSAGE
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The limits of our capability ...
Hear the word of the Lord:
He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet,
and I will speak with you.
And when he spoke to me,
a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet;
and I heard him speaking to me. He said to me,
Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel,
to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me;
they and their ancestors have transgressed
against me to this very day.
The descendants are impudent and stubborn.
I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them,
"Thus says the Lord God."
Whether they hear or refuse to hear
(for they are a rebellious house),
they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
As the servants of God, some days we feel adequate,
and some days we don’t.
We might feel as if we have been the only one
to have ever experienced this inadequacy,
but that just isn’t so.
If we read the first few lines of this scripture with care,
we find that even God’s great servant Ezekiel
struggled with his task, with even standing before God
to hear what his task would be.
Those who stretch themselves to meet the calling of God
will find themselves continually bumping up against
the limits of their human capabilities.
That’s been my experience.
I think I know why.
I think that God wants us to always remember that
it is his power that stands us up to speak and to do.
It is his work in us to keep us growing into a soul,
that is body and spirit together, working toward
becoming a being that is more closely conformed
to the unmistakable and holy image of Jesus Christ.
We must remember that it is his power that enables
us to do any good thing that we do, not ours alone.
To take the stress from our worrying, mortal minds,
God also makes it clear what it is that he expects.
He clearly defines the terms of our success.
“Whether they hear or refuse to hear …
they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”
Whether people do what God asks of people through us,
or not, is not our responsibility; it is theirs.
Our job is to be God’s people and do what he asks of us.
That’s all. That’s it.
Yes, we can and we ought to care about whether
people are obedient or not, but that does not define our
obedience and success before God.
Faithfulness is success.
Not counting people who become Christians,
because God does that.
Not counting buildings erected for God’s use,
because God does that.
Not counting how much money we gave or raised,
because God does that.
What counts is faithful journey in a faithful direction.
Faithfulness is success.
May God help us to be faithful today.
If we struggle with little faith,
may God give us the faith that we need.
Grace and peace,
Ron
Ezekiel 2:1-5 – NRSV
He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet,
and I will speak with you.
And when he spoke to me,
a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet;
and I heard him speaking to me. He said to me,
Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel,
to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me;
they and their ancestors have transgressed
against me to this very day.
The descendants are impudent and stubborn.
I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them,
"Thus says the Lord God."
Whether they hear or refuse to hear
(for they are a rebellious house),
they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
As the servants of God, some days we feel adequate,
and some days we don’t.
We might feel as if we have been the only one
to have ever experienced this inadequacy,
but that just isn’t so.
If we read the first few lines of this scripture with care,
we find that even God’s great servant Ezekiel
struggled with his task, with even standing before God
to hear what his task would be.
Those who stretch themselves to meet the calling of God
will find themselves continually bumping up against
the limits of their human capabilities.
That’s been my experience.
I think I know why.
I think that God wants us to always remember that
it is his power that stands us up to speak and to do.
It is his work in us to keep us growing into a soul,
that is body and spirit together, working toward
becoming a being that is more closely conformed
to the unmistakable and holy image of Jesus Christ.
We must remember that it is his power that enables
us to do any good thing that we do, not ours alone.
To take the stress from our worrying, mortal minds,
God also makes it clear what it is that he expects.
He clearly defines the terms of our success.
“Whether they hear or refuse to hear …
they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”
Whether people do what God asks of people through us,
or not, is not our responsibility; it is theirs.
Our job is to be God’s people and do what he asks of us.
That’s all. That’s it.
Yes, we can and we ought to care about whether
people are obedient or not, but that does not define our
obedience and success before God.
Faithfulness is success.
Not counting people who become Christians,
because God does that.
Not counting buildings erected for God’s use,
because God does that.
Not counting how much money we gave or raised,
because God does that.
What counts is faithful journey in a faithful direction.
Faithfulness is success.
May God help us to be faithful today.
If we struggle with little faith,
may God give us the faith that we need.
Grace and peace,
Ron
Ezekiel 2:1-5 – NRSV
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The one and only ...
Today, a prayer within a prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven.
And in the hearts of those who love you.
Hallowed be your name,
Especially among those who are weak in faith
and those who have been kept away
from their Savior by their circumstances.
May your kingdom come,
Among those who have denied their Christian values
out of fear or because of a greater dependence
on material things.
On earth as it is in heaven,
Especially among those who are oppressed
and deprived of their human rights and dignity.
Give us this day our daily bread,
Especially among those who will go to bed hungry today,
to those who are starving to death,
to those caught in earthquakes, storms, and accidents.
Forgive us our trespasses,
Our laziness and lack of commitment,
our mistrust of one another,
the lies we sometimes tell to preserve our position and pride,
the selfishness which sometimes motivates our actions.
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
All those who have oppressed us and taken advantage of the poor;
who have denied their freedom because of the inconvenience
they may have caused them.
And lead us not into temptation,
Into either too great or too small an estimation of ourselves,
into a complacency based on a false sense of security,
into pointless anger which leads us to treat others
in a way we would not want to be treated ourselves.
But deliver us from evil,
From all those things which threaten our faith in ourselves,
our hope in the final revelation of your kingdom,
our love for every part of your beautiful creation.
For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.
And so we pledge against to you this day our
bodies, minds, souls, and spirits.
Now and forever.
In this world and the next your are our God
—the one and only—and we are your handmaidens.
Beulah Shakir
Blessings,
Ron
Our Father who art in heaven.
And in the hearts of those who love you.
Hallowed be your name,
Especially among those who are weak in faith
and those who have been kept away
from their Savior by their circumstances.
May your kingdom come,
Among those who have denied their Christian values
out of fear or because of a greater dependence
on material things.
On earth as it is in heaven,
Especially among those who are oppressed
and deprived of their human rights and dignity.
Give us this day our daily bread,
Especially among those who will go to bed hungry today,
to those who are starving to death,
to those caught in earthquakes, storms, and accidents.
Forgive us our trespasses,
Our laziness and lack of commitment,
our mistrust of one another,
the lies we sometimes tell to preserve our position and pride,
the selfishness which sometimes motivates our actions.
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
All those who have oppressed us and taken advantage of the poor;
who have denied their freedom because of the inconvenience
they may have caused them.
And lead us not into temptation,
Into either too great or too small an estimation of ourselves,
into a complacency based on a false sense of security,
into pointless anger which leads us to treat others
in a way we would not want to be treated ourselves.
But deliver us from evil,
From all those things which threaten our faith in ourselves,
our hope in the final revelation of your kingdom,
our love for every part of your beautiful creation.
For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.
And so we pledge against to you this day our
bodies, minds, souls, and spirits.
Now and forever.
In this world and the next your are our God
—the one and only—and we are your handmaidens.
Beulah Shakir
Blessings,
Ron
Monday, July 6, 2009
Not without honor ...
Hear the word of the Lord:
He left that place and came to his hometown,
and his disciples followed him.
On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astounded.
They said, "Where did this man get all this?
What is this wisdom that has been given to him?
What deeds of power are being done by his hands!
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of
James and Joses and Judas and Simon,
and are not his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at him.
Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor,
except in their hometown, and among their own kin,
and in their own house."
And he could do no deed of power there,
except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.
And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Have you ever wondered why this is true,
“Prophets are not without honor,
except in their hometown?” I know that I have.
It is so counterintuitive that, honestly, I used to doubt it.
Not anymore.
When you think about it, it makes sense.
These people know Jesus. They know his folks, and his brothers
and sisters still live right there in town.
A couple of them probably have tables, or chairs,
or yokes for their oxen that Jesus has made.
When he reads from the scriptures in the synagogue,
Jesus reads from the same text, and he stands in the same place,
looking substantially the same as he did just a few years ago.
Yet he sounds so different. Can you imagine what they think?
We know this place.
We know this person.
We know this book.
We even know these words.
But we’ve never heard these words put together like this.
Not ever.
The people of God at Nazareth know their Torah.
They know it so well that they have an answer for every hard text.
Now this Jesus comes and reads this text totally differently.
What kind of new way is he reading the Prophets?
How can he disregard the old way of reading he was taught?
Where does he get this stuff?
They are partly right; the old readings of the prophets were true.
What they fail to take into account is a change in context.
Their interpretation was true before Jesus started his ministry.
Before this, Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of those prophecies
was still in the future. Not anymore. God is here in the flesh.
Can we imagine what it might be like to read about someone,
to look for someone your whole life, and miss him when he comes?
The people in Nazareth know him too well to recognize
who he really is.
I wonder what we miss when we fail to listen to the ways that
our children read the scriptures? Think about that.
On the other hand, can we imagine the frustration of Jesus?
His own people didn’t know him, didn’t recognize who he really was.
Now they’ve become people that he can’t recognize either.
Where is the giant of faith alongside of whom he used to chant,
“Shema, Israel – Adonai elohenu, adonai ehad.”
Where are the loving souls who embraced him when he was young,
praising him, “You read so well from the Torah today!”
No wonder Jesus is heartbroken; no wonder he is powerless
to do any miracles here; here, home, an oasis of faith turned desert.
Jesus is amazed, but for all the wrong reasons.
So, because this community will not hear its own child,
that child leaves them to go teach those who will listen,
those who will believe. The blessing that could have been theirs,
will now be given to others. If you don’t think it’s good news,
then it’s not gospel to you; it's tragedy.
A community that will not honor the prophetic voice
of its children loses:
Its children,
The honor that it has before God,
The prophetic voice that connects it with truth.
Think about it.
Blessings,
Ron
Mark 6:1-6 – NRSV
He left that place and came to his hometown,
and his disciples followed him.
On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astounded.
They said, "Where did this man get all this?
What is this wisdom that has been given to him?
What deeds of power are being done by his hands!
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of
James and Joses and Judas and Simon,
and are not his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at him.
Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor,
except in their hometown, and among their own kin,
and in their own house."
And he could do no deed of power there,
except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.
And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Have you ever wondered why this is true,
“Prophets are not without honor,
except in their hometown?” I know that I have.
It is so counterintuitive that, honestly, I used to doubt it.
Not anymore.
When you think about it, it makes sense.
These people know Jesus. They know his folks, and his brothers
and sisters still live right there in town.
A couple of them probably have tables, or chairs,
or yokes for their oxen that Jesus has made.
When he reads from the scriptures in the synagogue,
Jesus reads from the same text, and he stands in the same place,
looking substantially the same as he did just a few years ago.
Yet he sounds so different. Can you imagine what they think?
We know this place.
We know this person.
We know this book.
We even know these words.
But we’ve never heard these words put together like this.
Not ever.
The people of God at Nazareth know their Torah.
They know it so well that they have an answer for every hard text.
Now this Jesus comes and reads this text totally differently.
What kind of new way is he reading the Prophets?
How can he disregard the old way of reading he was taught?
Where does he get this stuff?
They are partly right; the old readings of the prophets were true.
What they fail to take into account is a change in context.
Their interpretation was true before Jesus started his ministry.
Before this, Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of those prophecies
was still in the future. Not anymore. God is here in the flesh.
Can we imagine what it might be like to read about someone,
to look for someone your whole life, and miss him when he comes?
The people in Nazareth know him too well to recognize
who he really is.
I wonder what we miss when we fail to listen to the ways that
our children read the scriptures? Think about that.
On the other hand, can we imagine the frustration of Jesus?
His own people didn’t know him, didn’t recognize who he really was.
Now they’ve become people that he can’t recognize either.
Where is the giant of faith alongside of whom he used to chant,
“Shema, Israel – Adonai elohenu, adonai ehad.”
Where are the loving souls who embraced him when he was young,
praising him, “You read so well from the Torah today!”
No wonder Jesus is heartbroken; no wonder he is powerless
to do any miracles here; here, home, an oasis of faith turned desert.
Jesus is amazed, but for all the wrong reasons.
So, because this community will not hear its own child,
that child leaves them to go teach those who will listen,
those who will believe. The blessing that could have been theirs,
will now be given to others. If you don’t think it’s good news,
then it’s not gospel to you; it's tragedy.
A community that will not honor the prophetic voice
of its children loses:
Its children,
The honor that it has before God,
The prophetic voice that connects it with truth.
Think about it.
Blessings,
Ron
Mark 6:1-6 – NRSV
Look to the hand ...
Hear the words of the psalmist, spoken to our God:
To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
As the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
until he has mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
To us, it may seem obvious why we would lift up our eyes
in order to look upon the throne of God.
He is above us, so infinite, so other, so beyond our thought,
our grandest imagination, or fondest hope.
Yet – as a people who pride ourselves, too much perhaps,
on our freedom – do we understand what it means to look
at the Lord’s hand, for the maid, for the servant?
What does that mean to you?
It might mean that we look to the hand of God
for our providence, for our care – after all,
that is where a servant receives all that they have.
It could mean that we watch the hand of our Lord
to know what we ought to be about next, to seek the
signal that sends us on our next mission, the next task
that allows us to feel a part of the missio dei:
the work of God in this world.
Perhaps it is that we look to the hand of our master
for a sign of divine judgment – are we a good servant?
Are we virtuous, does our life have meaning?
At least in God’s eyes, we believe that we will see neither scorn
nor contempt, for God is not at ease, and God is not proud;
we know because we know Jesus.
It might mean that God is not so far away;
Our Lord is close enough to us for us to receive
something from the very hands that made the universe.
Consider this today:
How do we look to the hand of God to be alive and active
In our lives today?
Blessings,
Ron
Psalm 123 – NRSV
To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
As the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
until he has mercy upon us.
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
of the scorn of those who are at ease,
of the contempt of the proud.
To us, it may seem obvious why we would lift up our eyes
in order to look upon the throne of God.
He is above us, so infinite, so other, so beyond our thought,
our grandest imagination, or fondest hope.
Yet – as a people who pride ourselves, too much perhaps,
on our freedom – do we understand what it means to look
at the Lord’s hand, for the maid, for the servant?
What does that mean to you?
It might mean that we look to the hand of God
for our providence, for our care – after all,
that is where a servant receives all that they have.
It could mean that we watch the hand of our Lord
to know what we ought to be about next, to seek the
signal that sends us on our next mission, the next task
that allows us to feel a part of the missio dei:
the work of God in this world.
Perhaps it is that we look to the hand of our master
for a sign of divine judgment – are we a good servant?
Are we virtuous, does our life have meaning?
At least in God’s eyes, we believe that we will see neither scorn
nor contempt, for God is not at ease, and God is not proud;
we know because we know Jesus.
It might mean that God is not so far away;
Our Lord is close enough to us for us to receive
something from the very hands that made the universe.
Consider this today:
How do we look to the hand of God to be alive and active
In our lives today?
Blessings,
Ron
Psalm 123 – NRSV
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