1 John 4:14-21

“Those who say, ‘“I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” vs. 20

Occasionally we run into people whose piety is unmistakable–it fairly oozes out of them as they regularly invoke the name of Jesus in their conversation. They know the marks of holiness well, and make sure that such attributes are always on full display. It’s a bit of a surprise then, as we begin to get further acquainted, that some such folks harbor deep and abiding contempt for those who are different from themselves. Many don’t even attempt to conceal their prejudices and animosity. And yet they would consider themselves to be fine faithful Christians. If it weren’t so sad it would be a joke! The depth of our love for God is measured by the depth of our love for the least among us. It is impossible for us to love God and despise our neighbor. Admittedly we are not going to like everyone that we meet on the Way–some folks are jerks and there’s no way to sugarcoat their behaviors. It even pains us to be around them. But loving them is different, and if God can love them, so can we. Obviously this is one of the huge challenges of our faith walk–and we won’t always succeed. But loving the difficult can become habitual–and with practice God’s love will be regularly seen in us even by our enemies.

Thought for the Day: What folks are hard for me to love?

1 John 4:7-13

“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” vss. 11-12

Religious folks love to complicate matters of faith. We develop intricate rituals and profound doctrines designed to standardize worship practices and unveil the mystery of the Trinity. Not only do our efforts fail to draw us close to God, in reality they serve to separate us from one another. Convinced of the purity of our efforts we are drawn into increasingly smaller pods of so-called true believers. And it’s such a waste! God truly is the great mystery of the universe, but none of our efforts draw us one step closer to divine understanding. If only we could relax and realize that we don’t have to do anything other than love one another. Paul said it best, “If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” 1 Cor. 13:2 We don’t have to go to God, God comes to us, exists in us, and is known through the sacrificial love that we show one another. And that’s the life in Christ in a nutshell! There’s nothing complicated about it! God is the self-giving love that we experience every day in our human interactions. And that’s the truth!

Thought for the Day: How do we complicate the simplicity of love?

Psalm 22:25-31

“Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.” vss. 30-31

Twenty-five hundred years ago the psalmist declared to his congregation that future generations would be told about the Lord and hear the good news of their deliverance. And he was right! The good news of our gracious and merciful God continues to be heard all around the globe in ways that the psalmist likely never imagined. Sometimes it’s hard to maintain that kind of optimism about the future. Given the current state of tensions and an underlying feeling of doom, it’s much easier to be pessimistic. Could it possibly be true that in the year 4600 A.D. people will still be hearing a message of unconditional divine love, hope, and forgiveness? Given the rapid changes brought on by technological advances in the last hundred years, most of us haven’t a clue about what life will be like then. Will there be colonies on Mars? Will robots have taken control? What about artificial intelligence and medicine? Will all diseases have been conquered? Will humans even exist any longer? Will they believe in God? Of course there’s no way to definitively answer any of those questions–we don’t have a crystal ball. But neither did the psalmist, and perhaps we would do well to imitate him, and confidently trust that God is eternal, and that humans will never tire of being told that they are loved!

Thought for the Day: What will it be like in 4600 A.D.?

Acts 8:32-40

“As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’”

The Ethiopian had been reading Isaiah 53, a passage that early Christians believed told them everything they needed to know about Jesus, which is exactly what Philip proceeded to do. By the end of Philip’s explanation the eunuch is convinced and asked to be baptized. Philip, unencumbered by denominational restrictions, does what is requested, and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. In those exciting Spirit-filled days this is how the good news of Jesus was spread, one person at a time, and soon there were believers in all the known world. In our jaded, religion saturated times some of that enthusiasm for spreading the good news has been lost. But not always! Even now there are people who are meeting Jesus again for the first time, and as they realize what they’ve been missing they crave inclusion, and are thrilled to find out that they’re already loved by God. Like the eunuch some are baptized and it’s always a joyous affair, a time for praising God and giving thanks. Many would describe the experience as a new birth or being born again, and they hang on to the memory. It becomes part of their story, and they’ll share it whenever they can. Some say that’s what the eunuch did, and that’s how the Ethiopian Christian Church was born. And even if the eunuch didn’t, somebody did–without the sharing of stories the church would have died!

Thought for the Day: What faith origin story do I like to share?

Acts 8:26-31

“So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.” vss. 30-31

The Ethiopian, evidently a descendent of Jews who had settled in Ethiopia centuries before, had come up to Jerusalem to worship at one of the festivals. And now, as he was going home, he was reading a scroll that he had perhaps picked up during his visit. It was Isaiah, and, like us, when we dig around in the prophets, he was having a tough time making sense of it. Fortunately, the Spirit-led hitch-hiker, Philip, bummed a ride and offered to be his guide. There are days when we’d love for that to happen. No matter who we are, there are times when we just can’t figure stuff out, and it doesn’t only happen with the bible. In those moments what a blessing it is to have a trusted friend or counselor, maybe even a pastor, who is willing to offer us guidance and a new perspective! These are indeed Spirit moments, unexpected times when just a few words can bring clarification and understanding. It happens with faith issues, relationship problems–it could even happen with a golf swing gone bad. Sometimes, like Philip, our guides show up out of nowhere–at other times it might take a search. None of us have all the answers–and often the wisest thing we can do is ask for help.

Thought for the Day: When has a guide been a God-send for me?

John 10:16-18

“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” vs. 16

The early church had an expansive view of Christ’s flock. The disciples loved the good shepherd imagery and they realized that Jesus had come for the whole world and not just his early followers. There were never any limits on the size of crowds during the years of his ministry and there would certainly not be any after his resurrection. The Spirit would blow wherever it wished and everyone who heard the murmurings of the Spirit would know the love of God. And after 20 centuries we can see how effective that Spirit-led ministry has been. There are billions of people of a variety of faiths and religions who know the God of love and who practice loving in their daily living. Unfortunately not all understand that we all belong to one flock and one shepherd. We forever are bickering about rights and rituals and waste precious energy in trying to prove that our particular little group of sheep is particularly favored by God. It may be that one day we’ll get beyond that pettiness and focus on celebrating our unity–in the meantime, our call is to treat the varied and strange people in our neighborhoods as our flockmates. And when that happens our blessings will be magnified!

Thought for the Day: Who are not part of the one flock?

John 10:11-15

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.” vss. 14-15

Shepherds were a familiar sight to the people of Jesus’ day. Someone had to watch the thousands of sheep that wandered the rocky hills around Jerusalem, and everyone knew that some shepherds didn’t give a rip about the sheep. They would lead the sheep out to pasture and then spend their day messing with the first century equivalent of smart-phones, anything to avoid the tedium of caring for the flock. And if there was trouble, their first thought was for their own safety. They were bad shepherds! Jesus was a good shepherd. He knew his sheep by name and they knew him–and he was willing to die to save them! That metaphor stuck in the early church. Some of the earliest representational Christian art, found on the walls of the catacombs, shows Jesus as a shepherd carrying a lamb across his shoulders. We like that image too–even if we’ve never seen a live shepherd in the fields. For us it’s the perfect image of sacrificial love, the kind of love that God has for us, and that we are to have for one another. We may be smarter than sheep, but we can still get lost, and we know what it feels like to be known by name, embraced, and carried home. And so it will one day be for us all!

Thought for the Day: A time I was shown sacrificial love.

1 John 1:8-2:2

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” vss. 8-9

For some these are familiar words. They were once said by pastors as an invitation to confession in nearly every regular worship service. We might not have known them as bible verses, but we accepted that they were true. At the core of our faith, this is what we believe. First of all we are sinners–all of us–there are no exceptions. And secondly, if we confess our sins God will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It all seems straightforward and true–and yet we wonder. We wonder about the “if”! Is God’s forgiveness really contingent upon our confession? And does the rote repetition of the same words Sunday after Sunday really constitute a genuine confession? Shouldn’t the experience be more wrenching and humiliating? Sometimes we’re not even thinking about what we’re saying! And yet the words are true. There is forgiveness in God–that’s really the best news ever. But maybe the forgiveness is there even before our confession! That’s what Jesus said in his parable of the Prodigal Son. It’s what we discover when we turn back to God–before we’ve even said a single word. This doesn’t mean confession is unimportant–of course it is. It’s good for the soul. But forgiveness does not hang on it! That’s God’s gift whether we confess or not!

Thought for the Day: What part does confession play in my life?

1 John 1:1-7

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” vs. 5

Some of those who have experienced what are sometimes called “near death experiences” report having had a sense of being drawn to a light, and that it gave them a great feeling of peace. Skeptics, upon hearing those stories, dismiss them quickly, saying that this is just what happens when our brains start shutting down. Others are not so sure! Our faith ancestors have uniformly attested to the significance of light, and have connected it to the presence of God, both in creation and in the life of Jesus. There is no doubt that light is a mysterious force having a primal presence in the universe. It was present in the beginning and is the source of life for all that is. Humans, from ancient times, have known the significance of light and have taken pains to mark its coming and going, with some choosing to worship the sun as a god. While such worship now is primarily limited to those who like to work on their tans, we do continue to link light with goodness and the promise of new life in the face of death. And those of us who have struggled to make sense of this world and its decaying forms can find comfort in the knowledge that one day even we will see the Light! And it will be a glorious day indeed!

Thought for the Day: How do I feel about near death experiences?

Psalm 23:4-6

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.” vs. 4

It’s no mystery why Psalm 23 is so frequently read at funerals and memorial services. Death is probably the darkest valley that we can endure. No matter what our religious beliefs might be, or even if they’re non-existent, death packs a powerful punch. Our friends and loved ones leave the land of the living and enter a new dimension, and no matter what our convictions about the afterlife, we feel the pain of their absence. It’s in those moments of tears and despair that this psalm comforts us. Its direct and simple words point us to a singular truth–the Lord is with us! And like a good shepherd the Lord is equipped to protect and guide, particularly when the shadows of death are creeping in. And we find comfort! When we come to the end of our power, and weakness grips our souls, the power of God kicks in, and we are sustained in our weariness and will have our joy restored. And as we continue on the journey set out for us, we discover that goodness and mercy, the prime attributes of God, are our daily companions–and they’ll be there for the rest of our lives! Our shepherd will never leave our sides–even when we wander!

Thought for the Day: How have I been comforted when death comes near?