Daily Devotions

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take words with you and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all guilt; accept that which is good, and we will offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”

I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily, he shall strike root like the forests of Lebanon. His shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like that of Lebanon. They shall again live beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden; they shall blossom like the vine, their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; your faithfulness comes from me. Those who are wise understand these things; those who are discerning know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. Hosea 14:1-9

Hosea, writing in the same years as the early portions of Isaiah, lived through the fall of the northern kingdom to Assyria. The poetry of the book reaches toward the suffering that was just around the corner at the hand of the Babylonians. He wrote out of a time of suffering and he suffered along the way. The prophet’s home life mirrored the betrayal of Israel.

Israel’s fundamental sin was idolatry. Chasing after gods who are not gods. Trusting in powers and forces that led people away from God and God’s will for their lives. Just as Israel was unfaithful to God, Hosea’s wife was unfaithful to him. Their children were living reminders of the unfaithfulness that marred their lives.

But Hosea comes out of that with strong words of promise and hope.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God. There IS a way back. There IS a way home. But as if often the case, the cure will feel as bad as the disease. At least at first. And like an addict who isn’t going to suffer the pain of recovery until the pain of their addiction is even worse, Israel isn’t easily or quickly going to let go and let God. They are going to go their own way as long, and as far, as they can. Until they hit the brick wall that signals their repentance and their return.

When that time comes – and just saying that such a time is possible is an incredible sign of hope – God will be waiting with open arms and a loving welcome. So God always waits for us.

The richest irony of this tragic period in the history of Israel is how it all started. In 2 Kings 16:1-20, the story is told of how King Ahaz reached out to the king of Assyria for support. Seeking to preserve his kingdom, Ahaz asked for help and then sweetened the deal by sending gold that he looted out of the temple. Later, after the Assyrian king rescued Ahaz from his enemies, Ahaz visited him. He saw the altar before which the Assyrians worshipped and then made a copy of it for the temple back home. The irony is that the Assyrians, viewed by the king as their saviors, ultimately turned against them with devastating consequences.

And that is how idolatry always works. It looks good on the outside. It looks good to those who embrace it. But it always wants our hearts and more…until it turns around and bites us. We look up and wonder what hit us. We look up and wonder what happened. How did we get here? And then we realize that God is never the one who moves. God never leaves us.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, we do love shiny things. We love power, money, fame. We think armies protect our freedom. We think putting the right people in the right offices will save us. We think that you care about us more than others. We find our security in our stuff. Hosea could write today and only the names would be changed. Help us find our way home to you. Help us come back to you, to trust only in you, and then to act out of that trust alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:1-10

“What do you want for Christmas?” ‘Tis the season for such questions. I grew up in the days of ordering Christmas from a Sears catalogue. The wish list was often generated from hours of paging through the Wish Book. The whole process had to be done EARLY to make sure that things arrived in time. The agony of anticipation was prolonged.

Today we get irritated if our Amazon Prime order isn’t here by the day after tomorrow. Our expectations have changed.

For centuries, the people of Israel suffered through one calamity after another. God’s chosen people. That is so upside down compared to the ways of the world. We carry a sense that to be chosen, to be special, sets us up for a life where we always get to be the first hog at the trough. We always get the largest share of the cookie, and we believe we are justified in that. So knowing that the very people chosen to carry the promise were also targeted all along the way is hard for us to understand.

Just as hard to understand as the mindset, the steady faith, that someday God will make things right. Someday, God is going to show up and turn the world back around. Someday, the Great Day of the Lord will greet the dawn and those who deserve to get theirs will get theirs and all will be right with the world.

They looked at the Wish Book and chose “he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

But God’s ways are not our ways. “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth…”

“What do you want for Christmas?” is a fine question. The gift game is a fun part of the Christmas season. But the real question and the better question will always be, “What does God want for Christmas?” – not just FOR us, but FROM us. The answer will always have something to do with peace, with justice, with righteousness, with equity, with enough.

The good thing is that God’s answer comes in “one size fits all” that actually fits.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, infuse these days of anticipation with a sense, not just of all the things that we have to do, but with reminders of what you are always doing among us. Align our wills with yours. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name”; and again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people”; and again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him”; and again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.”

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:4-13

I don’t know how many Lutheran congregations in the United States share a parking lot with a conservative Jewish synagogue but we do at Faith Lutheran Church in Houston. Congregation Brith Shalom is right next door; 4610 Bellaire Blvd. right next door to 4600 Bellaire Blvd.

I first showed up at Faith in January of 2011. Of all the religious institutions along our street, and in our local community, guess who was the one and only one who reached out to welcome me, invite me to his office, and take some time to begin a relationship? Rabbi Teller from Brith Shalom.

Of all the religious institutions in our community, guess which one invited me to participate this past fall in an interfaith panel discussion on prayer? Rabbi Teller as he gathered people on the eve of their High Holy Days with a desire to encourage them to make the most of the spiritually significant time they were soon to share.

Paul would smile at this.

Mutual welcoming. Mutual hospitality. Mutual encouragement. Mutual efforts to repair the torn fabric of creation. Making the world a healthier, more hospitable, more holy space. Seeing the Christian faith grafted on to the ancient stump of Jesse. Seeing the promise of God spoken first to Abraham being realized and fulfilled as people of faith are knit together by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. This is beautiful.

Consider then the disastrous results through the ages of people refusing to live in God’s will, playing divide and conquer, join our team or die. Today, of course, is December 7^th. The day that will live in infamy.

On this day, in 1941, the United States was attacked in Pearl Harbor. On the same day, also in 1941, German SS officers and Latvian firing squads began a slaughter of the Jews of Riga,Latvia.  Between December 7 and December 9, 1941, 25,000 people, German Jews and Latvian Jews, were put to death by firing squads.

Americans remember December 7^th as the beginning of our entry into WW II. At that point, European Jews had already been enduring the horrors of the Holocaust for nine long brutal years.

We wonder today how anyone could have allowed such atrocities to happen. Look around. It is never as complicated as word salad makes it. We reject God’s admonition and invitation to love our neighbor. We dehumanize and scapegoat and destroy. We can do better.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, from the very beginning your intention was to bless all the nations, all the peoples, of the world. Jesus broke down the dividing walls of hostility. Now you call us to do the same, capable though we are, and will always be, of doing just the opposite. Keep us steadfast and diligent in showing hospitality to strangers, in welcoming one another, in loving our neighbor, for only in this will the promise of peace be realized in your world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”

This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. John 1:19-28

One of the problems in reading words on a page is the lack of social context. We can’t hear the tone of voice or read the body language (the heart of 90% of our communication with one another.) So I hear the question, “Who are you?” and my imagination runs with it.

Is the question a simple search for information? “We don’t know who you are. Can you please help us know you?”

Or is the question a barbed pre-attack? “Just who do you think you are?”

That matters.

The first question would come from a place of open-mindedness and thus from a position of humility. We don’t learn anything new if we aren’t open to new ideas and humble enough for those ideas to potentially change our minds.

The second – Just who do you think you are? – is the very opposite. It is a power play. It is a threat. It is smug, self-satisfied. It is the kind of question a bully would ask.

The optional identities that his questioners offer to John are all signs that the questioners are bringing preconceived ideas and expectations. They have invested a lot of themselves in expectations around “the Messiah”, “Elijah”, or “the prophet.” If anything, they are seeking validation of what they already know and believe – again, the opposite of open-mindedness and humility. Not hearing the answers they expect, their next question is much softer. “What do you say about yourself?”

John reaches into their memories with a quote from Isaiah. And then John models the humility that his questioners lack. John is a signpost pointing beyond himself. John’s baptism is about preparation, not yet about fulfillment. That will be the work of the one standing among them, the One whom they do not yet know.

Jesus was in their midst and they missed him. As will we if we come to Jesus from a position of suspicion, close-minded, full of ourselves and our pre-conceived ideas. It is only when we let go of ourselves and surrender, let go of control and trust, that Jesus steps forth in our midst and we realize he was there all along.

Let us pray: Thank you, Lord, for John and for all whom you have used throughout the years to reveal yourself to us. Thank you for bursting through our defenses of pride, fear, suspicion, and control to take us by the hand, to put your arm on our shoulder, to gently, or even not so gently, lead us to faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:1-8

When you read through the book of Isaiah the change in tone that comes in the 40^th chapter is startling. Scholars attribute this to the life context out of which it was written. The first 39 chapters grew out of many years before, and the initial years of, the devastation that came to Israel courtesy of the Babylonian army. The remaining chapters, beginning with chapter 40, come near the end, and after, a 50 year period where the leading voices of Israel lived in exile in Babylon. Today’s reading makes sense given that background.

Israel has suffered deeply. Now, with the Persian conquest of Babylon, the end of their suffering is in sight. As written in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, it was time to return home. To rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. To rebuild the temple. To return to business as usual. Which is, of course, impossible. Suffering leaves scars and scars live on.

Whenever you have the privilege of talking to someone who grew up in the United States during the post-crash years of the Great Depression, you are reminded of the impact of their suffering. I remember how my Great Grandma Madsen saved tin foil, scraped the last piece of margarine off the paper, tended a huge garden. She was the most frugal person I ever knew. She never forgot how hard life had been. She bore the scars.

“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God…”

Both of the candidates in our recent presidential election promised to make huge investments in infrastructure. Whether that would mean providing jobs to millions of people or millions of dollars of profits to those securing government projects depends on how you look at it. But the promise remains seductive. Huge public works investments helped us out of the Great Depression, or at least helped many survive through it.

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” This originally meant preparing a way for the return to Jerusalem. But as history would show, rebuilding the city and rebuilding the temple wasn’t the answer that people were really looking for. A nice new city and a sparkling new temple will still be populated by the same fickle people of grass that we have always been. And will always be.

No, we need more than external building projects that we can feel good about. We need the internal building project of the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and minds, to align our will with God’s will. We need to learn that good times come and go, that there is more to life than getting what we can and getting out while we can, surfing along booms and busts. Who can teach us this lesson? The One who bore our scars on a cross. The One who we rejected. The One who will never reject us. There is our comfort and our hope.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, we are a fickle people. We forget you in the good times and we reject you in the bad times. Yet you love us all the time. As you brought words of comfort to people who had only known suffering, be with those who suffer today. May the scars of our lives be our teachers. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Luke 19:28-38

Juxtaposition: <noun> the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

Anyone in Jesus’ day would have realized the revolutionary nature of the shouts of the crowd as Jesus came riding toward Jerusalem on his little steed, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

They were not uncommon words. “King” and “Lord” were not uncommon titles. Parades were not uncommon events. What was uncommon was that those words, and that kind of parade, were reserved for the Roman emperor. What was uncommon was their use for someone as common as Jesus.

The triumphant march, mounted on a warhorse, followed by the Roman legion, newly captured slaves, the spoils of war – this was public theater at its finest. Carefully orchestrated. The ultimate display of ostentatious power and glory. And Luke juxtaposes all of this with Jesus riding into town on a colt.

There was an article in the paper the other day about the physical and financial impact of presidential travel. The two numbers that stuck in my mind were $236,000 an hour (the cost of operating Air Force One every time the president uses it to go somewhere) and $100,000 a day (the extra costs borne by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for a single presidential visit.) Jesus borrowed a colt.

Today is the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It remains a tragic, horrific, memory. The reason there is such intensive and expensive security around our president, and president-elect, is to prevent this from ever happening again. Even with all of that, President Reagan was nearly killed one day, although surrounded by his protective detail. Security is expensive and, too often, illusory.

No one protected Jesus. No one stood up for him. No one testified on his behalf. His own closest friends sold him out and denied even knowing him. It truly was a rigged system.

Every single day people are attacked, even killed, because of their convictions, their faith, their willingness to stand up for those victimized by worldly power grabs. An attack on a president is uncommon; an attack on a protestor hardly makes the news. The juxtaposition says much about us.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we close our eyes and we imagine the scene. But in our imagination, we think we would do things differently. We like to believe we would have stood with you, shouting NO amidst the cries for your crucifixion, but in our heart of hearts we realize how easily we continue to be swayed by the illusions of earthly power, wealth, and grandeur. You alone are King, Lord, Savior, and you alone are worthy of our devotion. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. Colossians 1:11-20

I wish I could talk personally to Jesus this morning. I wish he was sitting here next to my desk. I have a bunch of questions for him and I would love to hear his answers before I share my thoughts on this passage from Colossians.

I have always thought that Martin Luther would get angry if he knew that my tribe had labeled ourselves “Lutherans.” At least, I hope he would get angry if he knew. I like to imagine him saying something along the lines of “this isn’t about ME. It isn’t about MY ideas or MY interpretation of scripture. It is all about God, revealing all we need to know in Jesus, continuing to guide us through the Holy Spirit.”

So I would love to hear Jesus’ thoughts on that one.

And I would love to hear what Jesus thinks about all of our feeble attempts to capture his essence, his purpose, his identity, in our flowery words and our theologizing. It is a bit scary to think about this one but I would love to hear what Jesus would have to say about what we have put together (or torn into little pieces) that we call the “church” in all its forms. I like to imagine that he wouldn’t have much patience with conversation about the church. That he would much rather talk about how so many people have worked so hard to recapture his healing and teaching ministry through our hospitals and educational systems. I would love to hear what he thinks about modern farming and micro loans and the internet.

I am always carrying several people in my heart at a time. A young man questioning his faith. Another struggling to beat cancer. People grieving the loss of loved ones. People coming to grips with painful diagnoses and uncertain treatment paths. People who are so richly blessed but unsure of how to steward their lives. I would love to hear Jesus’ advice on what I should be doing today to make a difference in any of that.

I’d like to hear Jesus talk about what he sees going on now in our country. The Bible tells us that all things, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. I would like to hear his thoughts on that one. I’m afraid he wouldn’t have much patience for that topic either.

I’d like to have a personal talk with Jesus about all the questions that swirl in my head.

I think I just did.

He said to trust him, to do the next right thing, to realize that he is connected to everything, and that he loves me. I think that is all I need to know on a Monday morning.

Let us pray: Dear Jesus, speak to us more deeply than words. Draw closer to us than our own selves. Use our eyes to see our lives and then tell us what you saw. Use our lives to touch the world today and then tell us it is enough. Let it be enough. Make us strong, patient, and persistent. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; for they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.” It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions.

But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. Jude 1:17-25

So how many different branches of Christianity are there? To what degree is the Body of Christ divided? Every once in awhile someone will ask me that question and I never answer it well. It is too confusing. Just read this article and try not to get confused. Or discouraged.

Jude tells us this morning that divisions within the church are caused by “scoffers”, by “worldly people” who are “devoid of the Spirit.” Of course Jude would say that. That is what we all say. Few leaders, in any of the thousands of twigs of the Christian tree, are going to say “our fellowship exists because of the teaching of a disbelieving worldly leader who wanted to steer us away from the one true faith that existed before we came along.” But we’re not above saying (although not so impolitely) such things about others outside of our tribe. This isn’t good. It is a tendency rooted in something other than love. It soils the Christian witness to the world.

And yet these are the words from today’s reading that catch our attention. It is the splinter in our neighbor’s eye that we are so quick to notice, despite the log in our own. Thankfully Jude leads us away from judging others and redirects us back to getting our own house in order.

What are we encouraged to do? To grow in our faith and understanding, to pray for help, to rely on the love of God, to anticipate the mercy of Jesus Christ, and to lead with that same mercy in our relationships and witness to the world.

That sounds good to me.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, you are merciful to us, may we be merciful to others. You love us, may we love others. Rather than tearing down other Christians, use us to build up our common witness – that we all might grow in faith, understanding, mercy, and love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world.

Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:1-8

“Encouragement” is a beautiful word. Like the cowardly lion, we all have courage within us, even when we don’t always realize it. When people encourage us, our courage reservoir is being filled up. We need that. We all need that. I love that it was Barnabas, introduced in Acts 4 as the “son of encouragement” who took the new convert Saul, under his wing.

Today we hear from 1 John, one of the three little letters of encouragement that come near the end of the New Testament. Written out of the same school of thought that gave us the Gospel of John, I always picture the writer as an old respected leader called by God to encourage the Christian community.

He reminds us today to “test the spirits.” In John’s Gospel, Jesus said that, after he went away, he would send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to teach and guide the church (John 14.) Now in this first letter, the writer tells us that this very spirit is within us. He describes this spirit as a power greater than the spirits which would deceive us. And he tells us how to tell the difference.

The Holy Spirit confesses that Jesus is God in the flesh. That God is a “down to earth” God. It is this Spirit who communicates truth to us, and it is this Spirit within us who discerns the truth. But this Spirit is opposed by other spirits that often seem to receive a much warmer welcome in the world.

The distinctive visible attribute of the Holy Spirit working within us is love. Agape love. Self giving, self sacrificing, love. Love which seeks the best for the neighbor. Love that seeks to choose on behalf of, and in the best interests of, the neighbor. This love is supernatural, it is beyond us, because it is God’s love which flows to us, and through us, into the world.

Left to our own devices, we will follow whatever voices tell us exactly what we want to hear. We will listen to those voices that promise us a free lunch, that tell us we are better or different than others, that appeal to our basest appetites and instincts. Those are the voices of the false spirits. They might use the word “love” but the world they seek to create is anything but loving.

Beloved, let us love one another.  It was in John’s gospel that Jesus says that the world will know us by our love (John 13.)

So how are we doing? If you asked someone walking down the sidewalk today what is the first word that comes to their minds when they think about Christianity, how would they answer? If that first word isn’t “love” then God has some more work to do within us.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, you create us in love. You redeem us in love. You send us to love. Though we stray, wander, even get lost, your love for us never ends. As we move into our day, ground us deeply in your love, that we might reflect your love into the world in real, practical, down to earth ways, whether the world likes it or not. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”

The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. Exodus 14:10-20

You all know this story. Or, like me, you know the broad outlines of this story. It has been a long time since you actually read it. And the last time you read it, (when?, like me, you can’t really remember), you never paid all that much attention to the details. Well, welcome back.

The first time that the Lord rescued the Israelites (from famine) was when he sent them to Egypt, under the care of the brother they had sold into slavery. Joseph, who would be their earthly rescuer, was the first of the Israelis to become a slave. He had a nice position, he had a lot of power, he had pharaoh’s ear, but he was still a slave. He was just doing pharaoh’s bidding rather than Potiphar’s. A slave to the very rich is still a slave, even if he dresses better.

Then things changed. They always do. Pharaohs come and pharaohs go. Policies change like underwear. Israel looked up and their status had changed from honored and privileged guests to slave laborers. Thus they remained for many many years. (Click here if you want to hear the argument that their slavery in Egypt lasted about 215 years rather than the 400 years that Hollywood taught you.)

God raised up Moses, (precursor to Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas and every other slave who has sought the release of their fellow slaves,) and brought him to Pharaoh The Latest, with the demand that he let the Israelites go. The demand, not the polite request. The demand, backed up with plague upon plague. But pharaoh was stubborn. Slaves are handy. Pharaoh, no surprise here, went back on his word time and time again. Until the night that they drove old Dixie down, the Passover, the deaths of the first born, and Pharaoh the Latest had enough. He opened a window and the slaves ran through.

And then they stopped. Which brings us now to the text for today. Notice the exchange between God and Moses. Moses tells the people, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” Then God immediately replies, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground.” Moses says “just stand there” and God says “do something!”

Presidents, like pharaohs, come and go. Policies change. Realities shift. Promises are made and broken. Today, many people in the United States taste a freedom their forebears only dreamed of. Others look forward to a new freedom just around the corner, the ability to come out of the shadows and live in peace. The freedom to be is a precious thing. Once won it is hard to give back. Once glimpsed it is hard to close your eyes again.

The Exodus has many lessons to teach us. Among them, our eagerness to trade the slavery of the known for the arduous trek into the freedom that God is preparing for us. Our willingness to keep still, even to go back, rather than stand up, move forward, and trust God on the way. Moses lifted his staff and the people took one more step toward glory.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, in slavery our lives are defined by our captors. Our lives are controlled by our captors. In slavery we suffer. In freedom we are defined by you. In freedom we assume our responsibilities. In freedom we suffer too, but our suffering is growing pains rather than the ties that bind us down. Give us the courage to walk into freedom, trusting you all the way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.