Daily Devotions

“One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 

Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the slave returned and reported this to his master.

Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.”  Luke 14:15-23

Is there a difference between an excuse and a reason? What does a dictionary.com say?

Reason: a basis or cause, as for some belief, action, fact, event, etc.

Excuse: an explanation offered as a reason for being excused

To the invited guests, buying land, buying oxen, and getting married were all reasons for not attending the banquet. To the host of the dinner, they were excuses. And the owner was not at all pleased. So who is right on this one?

Maybe it isn’t about being right or wrong. Maybe it isn’t about excuses or reasons. Maybe instead this is a story about the status of the relationship between the host and the invited guests. The host made an assumption – that attending a dinner at his house would be high on the priority list of his guests. They had all invited. It seems they all accepted the invitation to attend. In effect, they promised to be there. So the host planned the meal accordingly. Then they didn’t show. They thought of themselves and their own needs first rather than their relationship with the host.

In the end, it turns out that their relationship was more of an acquaintance than a friendship. Friends don’t stand each other up. Friends show up for one another. Friends are there for one another. Friends prioritize their time together. If they were really friends of the owner, they would have postponed their own plans and attended the dinner.

But the host had all that food! What was he going to do? Let it spoil? No, he wanted to throw a great dinner. So he sent his slaves out to gather people who were not invited to anyone’s dinner. The poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, and anyone else they could find who were hungry and might appreciate a great meal.

When children are baptized, their parents promise God that they will bring them to worship, teach them to pray, to read the Bible, to seek justice, and be servants. The invitation was given long ago, the promises said at a baptism say “I accept. I’ll do it. You can count on me. I’ll be there.”

No Christian decides to attend worship on Sunday morning. That decision was already made in the promises of their baptism. The decision is never “Are we going to worship today?”, it is always only “Are we going to keep the promises of our baptism today or not?”

After the recent flooding in Louisiana, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge decided to invite hungry people in for an evening meal. They weren’t ready. They didn’t have enough food. But they issued the invitation anyway and soon people started showing up. And food started pouring in. Night after night people showed up to eat. One night last week they served dinner to over 300 people. This, by the way, is a congregation with an average worship attendance of 90.

Maybe Jesus in on to something here.

Let us pray: Dear Jesus, by the power of your Holy Spirit, drive this story into our hearts. Not only that we might look closely at the differences between reasons and excuses in our own lives, but that we might become willing to invite as many hungry people as we can to the great dinner you throw every weekend in the building where we worship. Thank you again for those who invited us, and those who held us to the promises of our own baptisms. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”

He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” 

When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:20-28

Often when I read a passage from the Bible a memory will instantly pop up in my head. I usually take that to mean that my memory remains in need of attention – maybe healing, maybe learning, maybe re-thinking and re-framing. But, at least for me, that is a very important part of what listening to the voice of God feels like when I read the Bible.

So with this text I remember the Sunday that I was able to be away from my own church to finally attend worship at one of the huge mega-churches we have here in Houston. No, not Lakewood! This was the text the pastor chose to preach on. In his sermon, he praised the mother of James and John as the real hero in the story. She truly believed her sons were special and that they therefore deserved to sit at a special place in God’s banquet hall. The pastor said that all mothers should be like her. It is good for kids to know they always have their mom in their corner.

Frankly, I was shocked.

That pastor preached the exact opposite of what Jesus was saying that day. He was apologizing for the classic “me first” thinking that gets us into so much trouble, that turns our culture upside down into a motley assortment of the have’s and the have not’s. I was really shocked. I left that morning thinking that if that is what it takes to grow a large and “successful” church – telling people exactly what they love to hear, blessing their ungodly ways of social climbing – then I want no part of it.

Mark was the first gospel writer to tell this story (Mark 10:35-45). In his version, it is James and John who come to make this request of Jesus. Matthew, who wrote his gospel with a copy of Mark in front of him, evidently thought that was far too pushy of the disciples…so he put their request in the mouth of their mother. This does not make her a hero…it just makes the disciples look better. Because Matthew also realized how out of line the request was.

The world in which Jesus lived, like the world in which we live, was marked by severe lines between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. Every time that Jesus bumped up against those lines he stepped over them. He noticed those that the world ignored. He blessed and healed those that the world judged and exploited. He calls us to do the same.

Jesus doesn’t call us to success, he calls us to serve and to share. And when success comes our way, that simply increases our ability to serve and to share. That, rather than seeing the corner office and the garage full of toys as our ultimate goal, is what our lives are to be about if we are truly following the footsteps of Jesus.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, give us opportunities to serve today. In our daily work, in our day at school, in our interactions with other people, give us opportunities to be kind, respectful, encouraging, generous, and compassionate. May those we encounter today see your love shine through what we do. And in that, help us seek first to serve, rather than to be served. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.” 

Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered up burnt offerings and offerings of well-being, and provided a feast for all his servants.” 1 Kings 3:5-15

Solomon is becoming the third king of Israel. The first, Saul, started out OK but then started slipping. He was disobedient to God and often became depressed and withdrawn. Eventually God picked David to replace Saul. David was a honorable person and was torn regarding Saul’s leadership. Saul became jealous of David and paranoid that he would lose his kingdom to him. Under Saul, and later under David, most of the time Israel was battling its enemies, always seeking to consolidate their territory.

When David died, Solomon became king. By that time, Israel had become a secure and increasingly successful tribe. Their success flourished under Solomon’s leadership.

In today’s text, the initial secret of Solomon’s success is explained. He asked God to make him a wise and discerning king. This was a very wise request and God honored it by saying that Solomon would also gain great power and wealth.

Wisdom is a great virtue. To be wise is to possess great understanding and make good choices. To be discerning is to be able to tell the difference between options and choices. Solomon’s wisdom served him well in the first years of his reign. He did remarkable things. Israel flourished under his leadership.

By the end, though, Solomon’s wisdom was buried under the trappings of his success. Solomon became wealthy beyond measure – and the wealthier he got, the less wise he acted. He became a great collector, collecting far more than he needed. More chariots and horses. More foreign wives and other women who all brought their foreign idols and gods into Solomon’s palace. All of that led to a sudden and dramatic downfall in the lives of the people of Israel.

After Solomon died, the kingdom was split between two of his sons and Israel never again saw the prominence that they enjoyed under Solomon. Solomon’s excesses proved harmful to himself, to his family, and to the people he served. He remembered the gift of God’s wisdom but he forgot the part about “If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments…”

Let us pray: Dear Lord, Solomon prayed for wisdom and you answered his prayer in a dream. Wisdom is a gift that we all need but we realize that wisdom is a gift we receive over a lifetime of learning and experience. Keep our minds and our hearts open to life that we might become wise. Let love be the key principle in our discernment. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground.

He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”

And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.” Genesis 18:1-8

What happens at your home with you have first-time guests coming for dinner? You make sure the house is clean and orderly. You prepare a meal, a special meal, something other than what you might normally have for dinner. Then you wait for their arrival.

When the doorbell rings you greet your guests at the door. You smile, even laugh, as you shake their hands and welcome them into your home. You might say something like “Did you have any trouble finding the place?” They might say “You have a beautiful home.” Then you step back away from the door.

You let them know where the bathroom is. You offer them something to drink. You might show them around a bit in the main rooms where you’ll be together. You sit down for a conversation as the final details of the meal are put together. Then you share food together at the table. Afterwards, you spend some more time talking until it is time for the guests to leave.

What you might not be aware of is that through all of this you have been practicing the informal rules of your culture’s sense of “hospitality.” If all goes well, you don’t even notice what you are doing. But if the guests are rude, let’s say that as you show them around they ask to see what is in your closet, or if at the table they say, “I’m sorry but I really don’t like how this food tastes”, you will have a sharp and sudden sense that the “hospitality rules” have been broken!

When Abraham greeted these three strangers he was carefully following the hospitality rules of his culture. He rose to greet them, bowed in respect, cared for their needs, provided food and water. This was “desert hospitality” at its finest. In the stark arid world of the desert, such hospitality was often a matter of life and death.

The rules of desert hospitality went beyond providing food and water. In welcoming someone into his home the host was also assuming responsibility for their safety and the well-being. This was a very serious matter and it was taken seriously for thousands of years. Thus the idea of showing hospitality to strangers, of seeing to the needs of foreigners and wayfarers, appears again and again in the Bible. It was written into the laws of the Torah. It was spoken by the prophets. It was practiced by Jesus.

Remember this the next time you receive Holy Communion – that Jesus, the Host of the meal, has welcomed you into his home, has provided you food and drink, and now assures you of his continued protection.

Remember this as well as you read stories in the news about how international refugees or undocumented workers are treated. Hospitality remains a matter of life and death for many people. And, as we heard yesterday in Hebrews, by showing hospitality to strangers we might have entertained angels without knowing it.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, Abraham welcomed three strangers with kindness and respect. That could have been dangerous but he did it anyway. As we seek to do your will in our lives, give us opportunities to welcome and engage people who are very different from us. Help us treat strangers with respect. Bless those who depend on the hospitality of strangers as they seek new lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.

Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

This past Sunday we kicked off a new year of learning in the life of Faith Lutheran Church. No matter how long it has been since I was in school (no, we didn’t have the Internet or cell phones), my body clock still clicks in with the beginning of a new school year. And we also started a new year of confirmation instruction which has long been one of my favorite things to do as a pastor.

This year we will focus on the major themes of the Bible, from the beginning to the end. I am hoping, by the end of the year, that all of the people involved in confirmation, both children and adults, come away with a new appreciation for the scope of the Bible and for listening regularly to what God has to say to us.

Today’s reading is from the New Testament letter we call Hebrews. Hebrews is basically a long sermon. It is called Hebrews because it is filled with themes that would have been very familiar to a first century Christian audience with some experience of, or familiarity with, Judaism. No one knows who wrote it. Quite likely, the first readers were also people who had experienced some of the rejection and hardships – note how it asks that we remember those in prison and those that are being tortured – that the first Christians knew very well.

Notice also that the readers are encouraged to be faithful to their wives, and to not be greedy about money. Those are also very good words for us today given our fascination with sexuality, the sexual temptations of the Internet, and the constant focus in our culture on money and materialism.

It is interesting to me how differently I read these words today compared to how I might have read them when I was in middle school. Back then, dedication to Christianity meant that I wouldn’t have been able to have any fun. Much of what I was really interested in seemed “against the rules” for Christians. But today they sound entirely different in my ears.

I look at the all of the ways that people are divided from one another, how we are so quick to put others down, how uneasy we are about people who are different from us – and Hebrews challenges us to show hospitality, not hostility, to strangers. Wouldn’t this be a much better world if we did more of that? In the same way, strong and healthy marriages are good for everyone. Being content with what we have rather than always feeling like we need and want more seems a much more peaceful way of life. To do good in our lives, and to share what we have…who can complain about that?

Maybe the Bible is onto something. Maybe it does have something to say to us about the best possible ways for us to live our lives.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, thank you for those who have shown hospitality to us, who have welcomed us and taken us under their wing. Thank you for those who have been there for us when we have been down. And thank you for the relationships in our lives and all the ways that you take care of us. May we in turn share what we have been given with others, that life might be better for everybody. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.” Genesis 2:1-3

People who study public education have noticed the remarkable advances that have occurred in the past twenty years in Finland. Finnish students have moved from the bottom to the top in assessments of academic improvement. The United States is stuck in the middle. Why? That is what everyone is trying to figure out. This is one paragraph from the above linked article:

“Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?”

How is it that children are learning better when they play more, when they are given very little homework, and when their formal education is delayed until they are more physiologically equipped to learn? How is it that teachers are more effective when they spend less time in the classroom, when they are freed from focusing on preparing students for standardized tests to spend more time giving individualized instruction?

The answer is the power of Sabbath rest.

Athletes are beginning to understand this. You don’t get stronger when you are lifting weights. Lifting weights, or any other type of athletic exertion, actually tears you down. The improvement comes when you are recovering. Eating the right foods and getting plenty of rest rebuilds your body and prepares you for the next period of exertion. Without such rest and nutrition, you quite literally burn yourself out. Rather than getting stronger, you get more brittle and injury prone.

Rest is holy activity. And when we rest, we need proper nutrition. Thus it is that we set one day aside to gather together in public worship, to be fed with the Word and the Meal. In this we connect to God, the Universal Power Source. Worship is not a sign of our weakness but of our strength. Worship rebuilds our communal connective tissues. It gives us resilience and courage. Doing yard work on Sunday morning does just the opposite – it binds us ever deeper into a world intent on appearances, keeping up with the Jones’, worrying about what the neighbors will think, and disconnecting us from the rest of the family.

Too harsh? I don’t think so. Not only does this creation story end with a day off, God cares enough about our need for rest that it made the list of the Ten Commandments. Check those out again – show me where getting high scores on standardized tests, winning football games, or getting a high paying white collar job are commanded of us?

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, thank you for the gift of rest. Every day and throughout the day, encourage us in setting aside time for play, for quiet, for pondering, for imagining, for recovery. I pray that everyone reading this will make time this weekend to attend a public gathering of people seeking to center the meaning of their lives around you, your Word, and your Meal. And in those gatherings, let your love guide us that we not miss the point of Sabbath rest which is your desire to give us salvation, healing, wholeness, and life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“One sabbath while Jesus was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?”

 Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?” 

Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” 

On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” He got up and stood there. 

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.” Luke 6:1-11

When we watch the contentious interactions that Jesus had with religious leaders around the observance of the laws of the Sabbath we do well to remember that no one was trying to dishonor God, to destroy traditional practices, or to damage the faith of the faithful. Everyone was doing the best they could within their own sense of what counted as the “best”. That matters.

The Pharisees came at Jesus from a place of suspicion. They were “watching” him. They were watching him in the same way that journalists attend political rallies or listen to political speeches – they look for words, phrases, and ideas they can pounce on in order to attack the speaker. The attack is waged from the point of view of the journalist. That becomes the story. The Pharisees do the same thing.

So do we. We all carry our own sense of right and wrong that has been informed by our own particular education (both formal and informal), histories, life experiences, and prejudices. We “watch” each other, waiting for the other to slip up so we can pounce. We might not pounce physically or even obviously but we all carry an internal guest list and the capacity to cross names off.

Jesus also “watches” very carefully. But notice what he sees as he does so. He sees his disciples plucking the heads of grain to snack on as they walk. Such gleaning was completely accepted, and even expected. It was an ancient form of stopping at a convenience store on a long road trip. He saw hungry friends having something to chew on.

Jesus was well aware of the Sabbath restrictions on working. He just thought that extending those laws to prevent hungry people from eating missed the deeper, and defensible, point of the Sabbath.

Jesus also saw a man with a withered hand enter the synagogue. The Pharisees also saw the man. In their minds, his affliction was a sign of God’s punishment. In Jesus’ mind, there was good to be done and he did it. What better time than the Sabbath to restore a person to wholeness?

In the end, one man left that day rejoicing that God rescued him from the bondage of tying his sandals with one working hand. Another left with more work to be done. And still others left plotting how to punish Jesus.

Here’s the simple question for us – who is our Lord? Whose example will we follow in our lives? Who will we trust in the interpretation of the meaning of religious rules, practices, and traditions?

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, let us never lose sight of keeping the main thing the main thing. Of seeing that your love, poured out in Jesus, drives us to compassion and care rather than condemnation and criticism. May we also see those in need and do what we can to provide relief and release. May we never lose hope that you alone can restore us to wholeness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 58:6-14

Here is what I don’t like about many modern so-called “study Bibles.” I know that people love them and I know that they sell like hotcakes. But I worry that people put more trust in the notes on the bottom and the stuff on the sidebar that they ignore the plain and obvious words of the Bible itself. So there is that.

And that is also a danger I recognize in writing daily devotions. (Or just about daily devotions given that I didn’t write one on Monday this week) I worry that people skip over the Bible reading to get down to whatever I say. I hope that doesn’t happen. And I certainly hope that it doesn’t happen today.

Isaiah is a major book of the Jewish Bible. It is absolutely foundational in that it reflects the experience of Israel before, during, and after the Babylonian Exile. In that it captures the heart of the faith. It was incredibly important to the life and ministry of Jesus. It is quoted frequently in the New Testament. If it was the Word of God to Jesus then it certainly ought to be the Word of God to us.

Why do I point that out? Because when voices in the Christian church speak up against injustice, point out evils of oppression, argue on behalf of feeding the hungry, care about finding indoor spaces for homeless people to sleep, challenge Christians to begin every week in corporate worship, or questioning those who constantly apologize for the morality of looking out for our own self-interest – the church is not being political, it is being Christian! It is being who we are because of Whose we are.

That is what it means to be a “repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets to live in.” Israel had just come out of a horrible time in their history and the writer of Isaiah was self-reflective enough to ask “What was our part in what went wrong and how can we order our lives so it doesn’t happen again?” That stance is so much healthier and helpful than playing the blame game or the victim game or the vengeance game. It also works much better as a job description for the church and a prescription for what ails us in our common life in the world.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, we pray for enough. Enough for all. Enough and not too much for anyone. We pray today, in the middle of the week, that we might have the grace to keep the main thing the main thing in our lives. To discern your voice, your still small voice, sounding forth through the din of the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“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—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.” Exodus 20:8-11

There were two drugstores in my hometown. They took turns being open on Sunday. Virtually everything else was closed. As a kid, that officially made Sundays the most boring days of the week.

Most of the businesses on our main street closed at 5:00 PM. Except on Thursday nights when they were open until 9:00 PM. That made Thursday nights the best nights of the week.

Did those old blue laws (so named, according to Wikipedia, because the word blue was used in the 17th century as a disparaging reference to rigid moral codes and those who observed them) keep the Sabbath any holier? Was our country any less violent, racist, greedy, or materialistic back in the day?

The Thor was the first electric-powered washing machine. It was introduced in 1908 by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois. The Thor was a drum type washing machine with a galvanized tub and an electric motor. A patent was issued on August 9th 1910. The first washing machine I remember in our house wasn’t much more advanced. You had to wring the clothes out by hand. I once tested the wringer with my finger. The wringer won.

People used to wash their clothes when they were dirty. Maybe once a week for the clothes that sat next to the skin. Maybe never for sweaters and outerwear. Now we wear it once and wash it. (Actually I don’t and Kelley thinks that is disgusting but I grew up having to wash my own clothes and old habits die hard.) Are we any better off now when we wash everything immediately?

I remember one phone mounted on the kitchen wall. If no one was home, it didn’t get answered. Now I sleep with my cell phone as my alarm clock. Does this make me a better pastor?

Henry Ford was a revolutionary when he suggested a 40 hour work week, down from 48 hours. He wasn’t the first to recognize that productivity went down with too many work hours. No doubt those accustomed to 10-16 hours a day, six days a week, welcomed the change…and no doubt those who paid their workers resented the cost. Today I don’t know anyone who works 40 hours a week. Instead, I know people who get to the office at 6:00 AM in order to get something done so they can work until after 7:00 PM so the traffic dies down for their commute home. Has this added to our quality of life?

God creates us. God knows best. God knows that rest is as holy as work. And when we rest, God wants to have some time set aside to spend with each other around hearing God’s Word, being a part of the life of a community, and remembering what matters in life. Is that really too much to ask?

Just because the stores are open doesn’t mean we have to go shopping.

If you are too busy for worship on Sunday the problem isn’t Sunday.

And if a service that starts at 10:50 AM doesn’t leave room for you to sleep in, then you were out far too late on Saturday night.

I’m just saying….

Let us pray: Dear Lord, thank you for setting aside time in our lives for rest. Thank you for the holiness of rest and the holiness of work. Thank you for opportunities to remember that we are human beings, not human doings, and that we do have the freedom to manage our time with balance and care. And please forgive those of us who have to work on Sundays. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25

When we read a passage of scripture like this one I trust that we have the same reaction. We think, “Wow, the more things change, the more they stay the same.” This passage was written nearly two thousand years ago and yet it could have been written yesterday.

In the face of all of the bad news that constantly streams into our lives, all that we hear about terrorist attacks and natural disasters and economic uncertainty, the writer encourages us to “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.”

When Christian leaders wonder what the heart of the faith is, when even Christians seem so divided, when we look out into the culture and wonder where the faith fits, the writer reminds us to keep it simple. “Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds…”

When we look at the life of a local congregation, what people actually do with their time, from Sunday worship to finding opportunities to bring people together in groups, the writer cautions us to “not neglecting to meet together…” Which is a challenge today just as much as it was already a challenge in the 1^st century, “as is the habit of some…”

And still, to “encourage one another” which is very different from shaming and blaming.

All of this is so timely…until it gets to the idea of “all the more as you see the Day approaching.” And then you can almost hear the brakes squealing to a stop.

In the 1^st century the work of the church felt like rushing someone to the emergency room because the End was right around the corner. There was no time to waste. There was a deep sense of urgency. No one wanted to be that lazy servant surprised when the master of the vineyard showed up. Clearly people like Paul expected Jesus to usher in the end of time before the end of their lifetimes. But it didn’t happen.

So it is that in large segments of the Christian church today it feels more like encouraging people to brush, floss, and remember their annual check-ups. Any sense of urgency feels like it is attached more to the survival of the “church as we know it” rather than urgency to do what followers of Jesus are called upon to do. Which is to do what Jesus did.

We will have a funeral this morning at Faith Lutheran Church. In this I am reminded yet again that life on this earth does not last forever. I am reminded, and I will remind those attending, of the hope of eternal life made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Of Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

But then he goes on to say, “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

There it is. A word from the Lord. Just what we need to hear, just when we need to hear it.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, you have welcomed us into your life. We are your hands, feet, eyes, ears, and heart. Inspire us, not with fear or shame but with faith, hope, and love. Help each of us do our part and encourage us with the certainty of your promises. In Jesus’ name. Amen.