Exodus 20:12-17

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” vs. 16

Martin Luther, the sixteenth century German reformer, wanted parents to take the lead in teaching their children the basics of the Christian faith. And since many of the parents in his time lacked the knowledge to do proper training, he wrote a small catechism as an aid. That Small Catechism, covering the Ten Commandments, the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism, has been used to train millions of youth in subsequent centuries. Written in an easy to understand question and answer format, Luther’s explanations are still the gold standard for believers. In particular, the meaning he attached to the eighth commandment deserves even wider circulation, especially in this election year. In discussing false witness he wrote: “We should fear and love God, so that we do not lie about, betray, slander, or defame our neighbors, but apologize for them, speak well of them, and put the most charitable construction on all that they do.” Wow, just imagine how the climate of our social interactions would change if we put these simple instructions into practice! There’d certainly be a wholesale change in the tone of our social media posts. And the speeches of politicians would get a lot shorter! Why can’t we do this? It’s so basic! And there’s nothing that would change our culture more!

Thought for the Day: Why is it so hard to speak well of and apologize for others?

Exodus 20:1-11

“Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work…” vss. 6-10a

Of all the commandments that the Israelites brought with them out of the wilderness and into the promised land, the most important was probably the first, “You shall have no other gods before me.” This commandment established them as a monotheistic people, an identification that they have held proudly to this day. But the commandment that had the most significance for them in their daily living was “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.” No work was to be done and through the centuries various rabbis established extensive lists of permitted activities for this holy day. When Jesus began his ministry, his repeated violations of the sabbath were the major cause for the rift that occurred between him and the religious leaders. They just could stomach his lackadaisical attitude! Of course it’s not just the Jews who have rules for the sabbath. There was a time when church leaders had their own lists of things you could or couldn’t do on the sabbath. Since it’s a blessing for humans to have a holy day every week, we can understand the intention of the lists. But it’s been getting harder to get any consensus for community wide standards. Every family is on its own, and blessed are those who are able to establish a day of rest for themselves, and to follow through!

Thought for the Day: Why is a sabbath day a blessing?

Mark 8:34-38

“He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” vs. 34

Through the years many have come to think of themselves as followers of Jesus. It works better for their self-understanding than the word “Christian,” a broad term that has come to mean a variety of things in our contemporary culture. They like being able to say in describing their religion or faith, “I’m not a Christian. I’m a follower of Jesus!” In their minds this distinction conveys their convictions without connecting them to an oft misunderstood set of religious beliefs. But what some have come to recognize is that the word “follower” suffers from its own inadequacies. Being a follower is essentially a passive enterprise, almost a thoughtless journey along a well-traveled path. It’s a sheeplike behavior, one that can be easily distracted or hijacked. Now some would argue that this is entirely appropriate, that we really are sheep and that our call is to follow the shepherd, Jesus. But there is a better word, one that early believers readily adopted, and that’s the word “disciple.” Being a disciple is a step up from being a follower and involves training, study, and discipline. Many people followed Jesus and some of them became disciples, and as they grew in knowledge and commitment, his ministry was put in their hands. So it’s good to be a follower, but even better to be a disciple!

Thought for the Day: Am I a disciple or a follower?

Mark 8:31-33

“But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’” vs. 33

In a very short time Peter had become the leader of the disciples. He had believed the good news of God proclaimed by Jesus and had committed himself to his mission. But there was a problem! Peter believed that he knew the scope of the messiah’s mission better than Jesus did–and he wasn’t at all shy about pointing out where Jesus had gone astray. And in Peter’s words Jesus heard Satan speaking, the same adversary he’d encountered in the wilderness. We really can’t be too hard on Peter. Countless followers of Jesus have run into the same issue. We try to recalibrate the message of Jesus to fit the culture and the times. For the sake of being relevant we move away from the clear message of the cross, and propose that our congregations become more involved in social or political issues. Even worship services are tainted by their pastors’ movements to the right or the left in an effort to be the “Church of what’s happening now.” Jesus has entrusted to his Church a gospel that has everything to do with our relationships to God, neighbor, and creation. We are called to love unconditionally and to serve sacrificially, and put aside our obsessions with wealth, power, and privilege. And as we lose our lives for Jesus’ sake, we will find them.

Thought for the Day: Where do I get off the track in my discipleship?

Romans 4:18-22

“No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God…” vs. 20

When Paul says that faith rather than obedience was the key to Abraham’s righteousness, he wasn’t blowing smoke. It’s faith that draws us into a relationship with God and it’s faith that causes us to “hope against hope” for the fulfillment of God’s promises. Most know what it is to hope, but hoping against hope is hope on steroids. It’s the hope that keeps us going in the face of the impossible. It’s the hope that says, “not yet,” when the doctor says “no more.” We see that kind of hope occasionally on our journey, and maybe we’ve felt it ourselves. It can be a powerful gift, but it’s no shame if we don’t have it. After all, Genesis tells us that Sarah actually laughed when she heard the promise of a child. But faith is about the relationship with God, and sometimes, a lot of times, when we are weak, God is strong. In the course of a lifetime faith will ebb and flow. Sometimes we can get in a groove and go for years with no tests or doubts, and there will be no occasions for testing the strength of our hope. But then comes the challenge, and hope kicks in big time. In those moments the Spirit, who has faithfully been standing by, gives us all the strength we need, and we breathe, “Thank God for faith. I don’t know what I’d do without it!”

Thought for the Day: Times when I’ve “hoped against hope”.

Romans 4:13-17

“For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants…” vs. 16a

It was obvious to Paul that the covenant that the Lord had made with Abraham and Sarah did not rest upon obedience to the Law. How could it? Moses hadn’t shown up until 800 years later. No, the whole promise rested on grace, and there were no restrictions on who could receive it. Anyone who trusted in the promise was a descendent of Abraham and Sarah, and that could include anyone. There’s a risk associated with making grace the basis for our relationship with God. Because we are broken humans, we love a bargain, and grace doesn’t have much power when we shop for it at garage sales. That kind of cheapening of God’s most precious gift has been our bane forever. Cheap grace empties congregations and shuts the door on the cleansing and restorative power of the Holy Spirit. We remain in our sinful ways, oblivious to how wonderful life can actually be. Paul battled that attitude through his entire ministry but he never backed down on his grace-filled message. For him turning back to the Law would have negated the power of the cross, and there was no way he would let that happen. And because of his stubbornness we too can know the beauty of a power-laden, graceful life!

Thought for the Day: What is cheap grace?

Psalm 22:26-31

“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

When Jesus came into Galilee after the arrest of John the Baptist, he proclaimed the good news of God, which is exactly what the psalmist was doing in the temple some hundreds of years before. He knew that no matter what was going on in Judea, no matter what was happening in the lives of believers, the Lord was already active in the world. Moreover, the psalmist tells the people that the message of deliverance would be proclaimed to future generations, a people yet unborn. And what was the message? “He has done it!” At its core this is a message of grace and can be compared to what Jesus proclaimed in Galilee when he announced, “The kingdom of God has come near!” There’s an important teaching here for 21st century folks too. Not only are we dealing with personal afflictions, we’re being overwhelmed by divisive partisan politics, an election campaign, and a sense of apprehension about an AI controlled future. For many it’s a scary time! So it’s good to know that our deliverance has already come and God’s kingdom is already among us. And Jesus says to us, as he said to the people of Galilee, “Repent and believe in the good news!” What a great message for the season of Lent!

Thought for the Day: What does repentance have to do with believing?

Psalm 22:23-25

“For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.” vs, 24

The anguish of the psalmist is vividly expressed in the first part of this psalm, and according to the gospel of Mark, Jesus remembered it as he hung dying on the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” he cried out, and we sense his pain. But in this section of the psalm we get a different message. God had not been absent during the times of affliction, and ultimately the psalmist realized that his prayers had been heard. He reacts by offering hymns of praise and thanksgiving in the temple–he wants the whole congregation to know the blessings that God had visited upon him. That’s how it works in the kingdom. Sometimes, but not always, our cries of pain and anguish are heard, and our affliction is taken from us. In those moments we are all too willing to share our stories of thanksgiving and praise. We tell everyone who will listen that God is good, and that our prayers have been answered. The problem is that it doesn’t happen every time. Occasionally, the suffering continues, just as it did for Jesus on the cross. That does not mean that God is absent. In fact people have reported that in their deepest pain they have experienced an amazing intimacy with Christ. Again, that’s how it works in the kingdom. In seasons of joy and suffering, God is!

Thought for the Day: What relieves my suffering?

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

“I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” vs. 16

Not that many years ago publishing companies that specialized in producing curriculum for Sunday Schools were careful not to include too many stories about women. They didn’t want to offend the men who made decisions in congregations or undermine the patriarchal systems that governed nearly all denominations. It was simply understood that men should be in charge of anything having to do with faith! It’s puzzling that such a system could come to dominate thinking among both Jews and Christians, when Genesis plainly indicates that God’s covenant was made with both Abraham and Sarah, and the identical blessing was given to each. We can be grateful that those cultural prejudices which have grown up through the years, and resulted in the subjugation of women, are being set aside in many of our denominations and congregations. Not only does the old patriarchal system not work in modern society, it’s a gross misunderstanding of the new life we have in Christ Jesus. As Paul put it so well in his letter to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” There is still a lot of change needed–many men are reluctant to relinquish their favored status–but at least we seem to be moving in the right direction.

Thought for the Day: Why is patriarchy so firmly embedded in our culture?

Mark 1:14-15

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’’ vss. 14-15

Many believed that John the Baptist was a prophet sent from God and perhaps even the messiah. He had an enormous following and when he openly criticized King Herod’s illicit marriage, he was arrested and thrown into prison. Doubtless his followers throughout Judea and Galilee were traumatized–some likely spoke of rebellion. Yet according to Mark, at that very moment Jesus came into Galilee from Judea, proclaiming the good news of God. Think of it! There was a political crisis and Jesus preached the gospel of God! He said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.” We live in a time of deep political division and the accompanying passions can easily destroy relationships and wreak havoc in our congregations. Perhaps this is a time to follow Jesus’ example and focus on the good news of God. We won’t be able to put aside our strong feelings about candidates and policies. That’s not how we’re wired. But we can know that the kingdom of God lies neither to the right nor to the left, but in the good news of Jesus Christ. Our Lenten journey calls us to repent and return to the Lord, and now is a good time to start. 

Thought for the Day: What is the good news of God?