Receive and enter ....

Hear the word of the Lord:

Mark 10:13-16

People were bringing little children to him in order that
he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.

But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them,
"Let the little children come to me; do not stop them;
for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.

Truly I tell you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God
as a little child will never enter it."

And he took them up in his arms,
laid his hands on them,
and blessed them.

Victory to the king ...

It has been the habit of God’s people to pray for their king.
Imagine Israel singing this psalm for David or Solomon:

The Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary,
and give you support from Zion.
May he remember all your offerings,
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices.
Selah

May he grant you your heart's desire,
and fulfill all your plans.
May we shout for joy over your victory,
and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty victories by his right hand.
Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.
They will collapse and fall,
but we shall rise and stand upright.

Give victory to the king, O Lord;

As I hear this psalm,
I hear it as a prayer for our king:
For Jesus, the ruler of the kingdom of heaven.
Read the prayer again,
and imagine what it will be like for God to hear this prayer,
For God to bring the answer to this prayer for our king.
Imagine what it will be like to see these things come to pass.

May God bless his people until the day that Jesus comes again.
May the Lord bless you and keep you until then,

Ron

Psalm 20 – NRSV

Standing right in front of them ...

It is sometimes difficult to really hear the words of a song that we know well. Even though you may have heard many times the lyrics that we consider today, slow down to read and meditate on the words as if you were encountering them for the first time. There are many good songs from Acappella, but one stands out because of its words:

The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Victory

As the King of Kings was questioned by Pilate long ago,
He declared His kingdom different, not of this world;
A kingdom for the side of truth, like none has ever been -
Pilate asked, “What is truth?”
He was standing right in front of him.

Truth was standing right in front of him,
As plain as anything could ever be.
Truth was standing right in front of him,
He was standing there for all the world to see:
The Way, The Truth, the Life, the Victory.

Stephen, first beloved martyr, gave up his life for Him,
Being stoned by angry people filled with revenge.
Where was God when all this happened?
Stephen looked into the sky, he was never alone,
God was standing right in front of him.

Truth was standing right in front of him,
As plain as anything could ever be.
Truth was standing right in front of him,
Revealed to him for comfort and to see;
He was standing there for his delivery.

Now the quest for truth continues until this very day,
But the source that we should seek is not of this world:
A truth that is revealed by God, the Spirit's made it clear.
If you ask, “What is truth?” He is standing right in front of you.

Truth is standing right in front of you,
As plain as anything could ever be.
Truth is standing right in front of you,
Standing there for all eternity:
The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Victory!

He is standing right in front of you,
Showing love for open eyes to see.
Jesus is standing right in front of you,
Standing there for He will always be:
The Son of Man, the Son of God,
The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
The Way, the Truth, the Life, the Victory!

We might pray with the words of Clara Scott’s song:
“Open my eyes, that I may see,
Glimpses of truth thou hast for me …”

We might ask, “How are our boys to see this truth?”
I think the answer is,
“We have to live this truth right in front of them.”
We are not Truth as Jesus is Truth.
Yet if we are to be his people, we must reflect his image.
We must do this as accurately, as truthfully as possible.
We must enact his kingdom in our little spheres of influence
so that our boys get a glimpse of that kingdom and the God
who calls us to it.
We must do this standing right in front of them.

Holy God, use us to bring your kingdom, to enact your will.

Blessings,

Ron

For such a time as this ...

Today, we will dwell one last time in the word
within Esther, but
considering a different question.

Remember:
Get in a quiet place.
Close your eyes.
Still your mind and body by “centering down.”
That is, breathe in for 3 counts, and exhale for 5 counts.
After a moment of silence, read the text.

As you read the text, ask yourself:

How does this text orient us to the coming reign of God?

After you read the text,
close your eyes and meditate on it and the question.

After several moments and you have a clear and
complete view of the text in your mind,
write down your thoughts.
Now that I have changed some settings on the blog
you may, If you wish, post your thoughts underneath today’s
devotional.

Hear the word of God:

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; he went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. In every province, wherever the king's command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.

Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law — all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days." When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."
Esther 4:1-16 – NRSV

Grace and peace,

Ron

Kingdom fruit

Today, we end a long week with Paul’s simple but powerful call to the fruit of the Spirit.
I know that you know this passage well,
so take the time to read it slowly, savor it, and meditate upon it.
How will this fruit take shape among us as God’s people?

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh;
for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law.

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness,
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions,
envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.
I am warning you, as I warned you before:
those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

There is no law against such things.
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

Galatians 5:16-26 – NRSV

May we seek to bear godly fruit as God’s people.

Grace and peace,

Ron

The kingdom isn't food and drink ...

How do we live in the Jesus community? In the kingdom of God?

Hear the words of Paul:

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,

"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God."

So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Romans 14 - NRSV

How does this scripture shape our lives as a community today?

Blessings,

Ron

Forced to fight

As Paul talks about the life of faith, it is a thing far removed from a prosperity gospel. Many prosperity preachers quote from our reading for today, but they tend to leave out or gloss over certain parts of it.

The reality of being a child of God is that we live in the same world as those who reject being children of God. At first we might think that this is unfortunate, but in reality, for those of us who once rejected the idea of being a child of God, this is very much a God thing (fortune has nothing to do with it). Only being in a world with the children of God provoked me to reconsider my stance toward God’s kingdom. Consequently, I believe that the children of God are not supposed to use the planet Earth as some sort of escape pod into eternity, but to continue to enact kingdom thinking and kingdom action in a world that desperately needs it. The job of the children of God is to restore this world, not just spiritually, but in every other possible way.

This means that preachers need to find a way to speak the transforming word from a first century context into the context of their own century. It means that a farmer ought to leave the land in better shape the day that he is planted than on the day he first planted seed. It means that the medical professional and researcher should strive for progress by finding ways to ameliorate or cure disease. And the ecologist ought to steadily restore the health of this planet.

What about people that work with children? We deal with transformation and nurture and healing and restoration, too. But we also deal with secrets that resist truth and transformation, deprivation, sickness and toxicity. Constantly exposed to pain, we have to find a way to deal with pain. Which takes us back to our reading for today.

What if we saw the world, not as a place where we could completely avoid hurt, pain, persecution, violence, disease, disaster, or death. Not only is it a place where we witness these things; it is a place where we experience these things. If we, or those we love did not experience them, what calling, what drive would compel us to combat them?

It is not that we ought to expect to avoid these things but rather that we resist where we can, suffer where we have to, and yield only when yielding is inevitable. We will do none of these things as a victim, but rather a victor: a victor in Jesus Christ. Is this not what Paul calls us to do?

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,

"For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39 - NRSV

Grace, peace, and victory -

Ron

You open up your home

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and You gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

-Matthew 25:31-40 (NAS)

In relation to this, I would like to share a song that has encouraged me many times to keep on helping our boys:

Kingdom Comes

When anger fills your heart,
When in your pain and hurt,
You find the strength to stop,
You bless instead of curse.
When doubting floods your soul,
When all things feel unjust,
You open up your heart,
You find a way to trust.

That’s a little stone, that’s a little mortar;
That’s a little seed, that’s a little water;
In the hearts of the sons and daughters
This kingdom’s coming.

When fear engulfs your mind,
Says you protect you own,
You still extend your hand,
You open up your home.
When sorrow fills your life,
When in your grief and pain
You choose again to rise.

That’s a little stone, that’s a little mortar;
That’s a little seed, that’s a little water;
In the hearts of the sons and daughters
This kingdom’s coming.

In the mundane tasks of living,
In the pouring out and giving,
In the waking up and trying,
In the laying down and dying.

That’s a little stone, that’s a little mortar;
That’s a little seed, that’s a little water;
In the hearts of the sons and daughters
This kingdom’s coming.

-Sara Groves, Add to the Beauty

Blessings,

Julia