Psalm 68:1-10

“Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds—his name is the Lord— be exultant before him.” vs. 4

When our ancient ancestors watched the clouds roll across the sky they sometimes imagined them as chariots of the Lord, the God of the storms who had the power to vanquish hated enemies and provide relief for the oppressed. It’s an impressive image–in all of the natural world there’s no greater display of power and might than in the towering clouds, the winds, and the lightning of a massive thunderstorm. Of course, most of us have a more expansive view of God than did the psalmist–we certainly have a more scientific understanding of storms and weather events. While God can be observed in the wonders of nature, we know that God is bigger than that. We’ve come to know God as the Divine Presence which permeates all that exists, and that is even present in every person. But even though our perception of God has changed, it’s still appropriate for us to lift up songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. Some of us make it a practice to get out-of-doors each day. That’s a perfect time for us to take a look around and exult in the wonders of mesquites, grackles, and the beautiful bougainvillea. We might even catch a glimpse of a chariot drifting across the blue of the sky and be reminded that God is in charge–and breathe a song of thanks.

Thought for the Day: In what setting am I moved to praise God?

Acts 1:6-14

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” vs. 8

Many people have given up trying to understand the ascension of Jesus in a literal way. It doesn’t make any sense to their logical scientific minds. But for Luke it has enormous significance as a transition point between the ministry of Jesus and the mission of the Christ. It was a way for him to describe in concrete and physical terms the transformation of power that had taken place in the world. After the resurrection, “something” had happened. The Risen Jesus was loose in the universe. The earth could no longer contain him! From now on the power of God was not confined but would be distributed among the disciples and used to bring the good news of life, love, and forgiveness to the ends of the earth. Rather than get hung up with Luke’s image, how much better it is to use this Ascension week to celebrate this incredible, impossible mission that has now passed to us. Even though the gospel has been heard in every part of the world, there’s much to be done. Our work is plain! We are to continue as witnesses with every breath, word, and deed…all the while knowing that the power of the Holy Spirit is in us and with us. We cannot fail!

Thought for the Day: How’s my witnessing going?

John 14:18-21

“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” vs. 21

John’s powerful and affirming words of love in this portion of his gospel have lifted the hearts of Christians for centuries. It just feels so good to know that Christ dwells in us and that love is the ultimate mark of God’s presence in our lives. These are words to share with those who feel unloved and disconnected from God. This is the good news of the gospel. Unfortunately believers have also used these words as a hammer and a wedge in their dealings with the world. They’ve given these words of love a wooden interpretation and tell the broken that God’s love is contingent on their behavior. “Unless you obey the commandments of scripture,” they say, “you will not be loved by the Father, and you will never know the Christ.” And then they proceed to outline all the rules of proper Christian behavior, and imply that obedience is the first step in any relationship with God. The reasoning is logical and airtight and has enabled the establishment of any number of exclusive faith communities. What they fail to consider is that our response to God is not the first step in the relationship. Everything begins with God’s universal love–and there are no strings attached. And where Jesus is concerned, there is only one commandment, that we love one another, for it is in loving that we know God.

Thought for the Day: What part does obedience play in the Christ life?

John 14:15-17

“This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” vs. 17

Spirit talk is almost always mysterious–it’s the language we use when we try to describe the everyday nearness of God, and that’s close to an impossible task. Some people, many people maybe, never seem to get what we’re saying and sometimes we can even confuse ourselves. John gets at that difficulty as he mentions the connection between loving Jesus and receiving the Spirit of Truth. The world, which has been created and loved by God, doesn’t get it, not because the Spirit is so far from them, but because the world can’t recognize what’s already in the world. Only when love begins to flow from within do we see and know the internal source of love that is already in us. The promise is clear. The Spirit of Truth abides in us now, and will be in us forever. There will never be a time when the Spirit is absent from us–oh, there will be times when it feels like that, but those moments are only an aberration, and happen precisely at those times when we imagine the absence of love. The Spirit is of course Christ, the One who is Truth, Way, and Life, and who is our partner in loving–and Christ is in us always.

Thought for the Day: What does the absence of love feel like?

1 Peter 3:18-22

“in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.” vss. 19-20

Peter reminds us that in the early years of the Church, believers gravitated toward the image of the ark as a metaphor for the meaning of baptism. It was easy to understand: just as the waters of the flood lifted the ark and preserved the lives of Noah’s family, so the waters of baptism bring new life in Christ. And thus the ark became a favorite decoration for the walls of the places where Christians worshipped. And Peter also has an answer for those who wonder about the salvation of those who are not baptized. In his world, they aren’t left out! In fact that was Christ’s Saturday mission after his redemptive death on the cross! Peter’s  teaching even made it into the Apostle’s Creed with the words, “he descended to the dead”! Those who missed the boat in Noah’s day heard the good news from the Christ, even though they had not obeyed. What happened on the cross is for all people of all times! That’s what makes it the greatest news ever told. Peter is not intending to disparage baptism, not at all, he wants only for us to see it as grace, a symbol of life and salvation for all.

Thought for the Day: What’s the best age to be baptized?

1 Peter 3:13-17

“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” vss. 15b-16a

The people Peter was addressing were living in turbulent times and their situation was quite different from ours. Believers were very much a minority group and regularly faced questions and even persecution from their adversaries. Peter advises patience in suffering but also a boldness in responding. And then he adds a phrase that could be useful for us. “Do it with gentleness and reverence,” he says, and we need to pay attention. We do occasionally have opportunities to have faith conversations with others and we should not be shy about sharing what we believe and describing the hope that faith gives us. But sometimes those exchanges get out of hand–religious differences can bring deep animosities to the surface and even rupture relationships. There’s a tendency to express faith convictions in strong and forceful ways–even when none of us have concrete proof for what we are saying. We’re passionate and quick to slide into making distorted claims in defense of our positions. Such debates are seldom helpful and often divisive. How good it would be if we could be gentle in our conversations–and show reverence for those having contrary opinions. We’re all just doing our best in this complicated world to make sense of life, and it’s wonderful when our thoughts can be helpful to others–and the kinder we are, the more likely it is that this will happen!

Thought for the Day: Why is religion a forbidden topic for conversation in some homes?

Psalm 66:8-20

“Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.” vss. 8-9

We still don’t know when or if life will return to normal as we continue to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. For some the middle of May is seen as a time to loosen restrictions and begin to open up the economy. Others are more pessimistic and believe the virus will be a part of our lives for months, or even years to come. Regardless, decisions will be made–and we can pray that they will be wise and informed. And what else can we do? The psalmist has a suggestion. He writes, “Bless our God…let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept us among the living…” Not all have been affected by the virus in the same way. Many have been able to escape it by virtue of their station in life or occupation. It has had a disproportionate effect on the poor and the aged, and those working in crowded conditions. Health care workers have been hit hard. But if we are among the living, certainly there is room for thanksgiving and praise. There’ll be other days for debating the mysteries of why bad things happen to good people. For now, we are alive, and that’s worth a boatload of alleluias! And there’s no good reason to keep our “thank you’s” to ourselves!

Thought for the Day: How has this virus changed my life?

Acts 17:26-31

“For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’” vs. 28

Luke remembered that Paul’s debate with the Athenians on Mars Hill contained a couple of apt references to Greek poets, and that Paul seemed to share their perspectives on the Divine Presence. Paul taught, as did those ancient philosophers, that all people are the children of God, in biblical terms he’s saying that we’re all born in the image and the likeness of God. Using a modern metaphor we could say that we have a Divine genetic imprint, God’s DNA, flowing in our blood and finding a home in the cells of our heart. Paul goes on to say that because we are God’s offspring, much is expected, that it’s our calling to stop living like runaways, and turn our attention to being God’s hands and feet in the world. In a word, Paul says that all people should repent, (his message is exactly the same as that of Jesus) and start giving their lives to acts of service and love. Of course not many paid attention to Paul that day on the Areopagus, and his call to repentance fell on deaf ears. The Athenians enjoyed the speculation and philosophical conversation, but they quickly lost interest when Paul called on them to change. A lot of us are like that. It’s fun to debate and share ideas about God, but when it comes to following the Jesus Way, whole bunches of us prefer the cheap seats on the sidelines!

Thought for the Day: Why do folks enjoy speculating about God?

Acts 17:22-25

“For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” vs.23

The people Paul encountered in Athens were proud, sophisticated, and tolerant of a variety of religious views. They had a long history of debate and philosophical conversation and loved to hear scholarly presentations with a universal perspective. Of course, Paul is no slouch himself–he had sat at the feet of the finest Jewish teachers and likely was familiar with the Greek philosophers. Like a skilled debater he starts his presentation at the Areopagus by reporting observations made during his tour of popular tourist stops. He has noticed an interesting altar inscription and reports that he has astounding information about their unknown god. He agrees that the Lord of the Universe is invisible to human eyes but goes on to say that this God is the creator and sustainer of all that exists. His statement of faith continues to be our own basic understanding of the Divine Mystery. We may not be able to find words to adequately describe God’s awesome presence, but we do believe that this God is the Ground of all Being. This basically unprovable truth is undeniably believable, and people of faith for many generations have continued to depend upon it for their healing and hope.

Thought for the Day: What do we miss if we deny the existence of God?

John 14:7-14

“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” vs. 12

Those who put their trust in Jesus in this world shouldn’t have to spend a lot of time figuring out how they’re going to spend their lives. John’s gospel makes it very clear that disciples will do the works that Jesus did, and in fact, will do even more. This doesn’t mean that we’re going to do even more spectacular miracles, we don’t have to do that, but together we’re going to touch many more lives than he did with healing love and forgiveness. It’s a matter of scale. He was one person and we are the Church, we are many people, and we have the capacity to transform humanity. And more than that, we’ve got a special God connection in Jesus. His Spirit informs, enlightens, and sanctifies us on the way, and with his power our power is unlimited. It is true that we will spend some time figuring out the particulars of our calling; we all love to be able to use our peculiar gifts and talents in ways that will be useful and give us joy. We might even be able to serve in a series of occupations or professions–but whatever it is that we choose, our primary calling is to do the works of Jesus. And it’s pretty obvious that there’s a lot of loving that’s left to be done!

Thought for the Day: What works of Jesus am I doing?