Daily Devotions

He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!

And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!

And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Luke 12:22-31

I usually spend time on the first Thursday morning of every month with a wonderful group of interesting, smart, and faithful women. We use that time to catch up with each other, I try to teach something interesting, and then everyone has lunch. The hostess of the day always brings a sandwich for me. I always look forward to these mornings. But sometimes I struggle with what would be helpful to teach. So I often reach out for help.

Often that means asking one of the participants ahead of time what would be interesting or helpful to them. This week the suggestion that came my way was to go around the room, asking each person to describe the most frightening experience of their lives, reflecting on how the church helped them to feel better in the midst of it. Anticipating today, I’ve been thinking about that question. Since we are having air conditioning issues at church, our meeting has been postponed until next week. So, when I read the Bible verses assigned for today, I’m thinking about that question now.

I’m wondering both “What IS fear?” and “Where do we get the idea – that most of us share – that the purpose of the church, or even of the Christian faith, is to help us feel better, more comfortable, less fearful?”

What lies beneath and beyond the rush of body chemicals that create the sensations we experience as fear? Isn’t it always tied to some type of loss, some type of pain, eventually drilling down to the ultimate loss of death?

Didn’t Jesus repeatedly tell his disciples “Fear not!” and “Peace be with you” and “I will never leave you” and “I will be with you always”? Isn’t the heart of the matter the good news that Jesus cares not only for the daily challenges of our lives, that human suffering be alleviated and hungry people be fed, and in that birthed a movement dedicated to helping, to comforting, to reassuring people? And this all the way to the cross and the resurrection and the promise of eternal life – all of which recognize the real pain and loss of death but ultimately swallow that up with the promise of something more and beyond?

Yesterday I spent some time with a person who is struggling with what other people might explain away as irrational fears. But, to her, they are very real fears. We talked. We prayed together. And before I left I wrote a note to leave behind for her to read. It was a reminder that God would protect her through her fears, that God was stronger than her fears.

I’m thinking that is behind today’s Bible verses. Not only Jesus’ comforting words which alleviate our worries, but also the invitation to hear those words in the company of others.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, worry, like guilt, often feels like an overwhelming emotion. The world and our own lives constantly stir the pot of worry and guilt. Especially today when information comes to us from so many sources, we can lose ourselves in the worries of the world. Fear has become a weapon of manipulation. So this morning, if even for just a moment, thank you for the vision of ravens and flowers and the reassurance that you know what we need and that you will walk with us. May we seek you first, in all things, that worry and fear might be swallowed up in your love and promises. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today.

When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good.

 Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

 If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.  Deuteronomy 8:10-20.

When I first moved to Houston the church I served had an excellent Mother’s Day Out program. One of our parents, Ezra Idlet, had partnered with Keith Grimwood to form a two man band they named “Trout Fishing in America.” (They are still making music together today.) I quickly became a fan.

One of their songs that comes to mind to me most often is entitled “No Matter What Goes Right.” The repeated line is “I’ll still be loving you, no matter what goes right.” The idea behind that lyric is the same idea behind today’s text from Deuteronomy.

It is easy, it is natural, to turn to God when times are tough. “There are no atheists in foxholes” is a cliché born out of that desperate tendency to turn to God in hard times. To turn to the God of the last resort. Which then gives rise to the common but widely discredited idea of the “God of the Gaps.” We turn God into a fire station – out of sight and mind until the house is on fire – instead of seeing God in, with, and under all of the moments and places of our lives.

God wants more from us, and with us, than that. God invites us into a trusting relationship in all times, good and bad.

That desire is emphasized in the harsh words of warning in this text – you can’t get any stronger than “If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.” Are those words intended more as a powerful deterrent than a quid pro quo for gratitude and obeisance?

The good news is that Jesus helps us see that God is more lover than landlord. God doesn’t keep score. God doesn’t foreclose on our mortgage or ask “what have you done for me lately?” in hearing our prayers. The bad news is that just as we might eagerly turn toward God in hard times, we just as quickly turn away from God when times are good. We might think that makes God all the more vulnerable to our fickleness but the deeper truth is that we are far more vulnerable than we realize to our self centeredness.

Another famous oldie but goodie song asked the question, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” This is Deuteronomy’s question as well. Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, all that we have, all that we are, our gifts, our abilities, our passions, and our possessions are gifts from your loving hand. Our lives are sacred trusts, signs of your love and instruments of our capacity to be a blessing to others. In good times and in bad times, may we never lose sight of you, even as you never lose sight of us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity. When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much; but the excesses of the rich will not let them sleep.

There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands.

As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands. This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go; and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind? Ecclesiastes 5:10-16

Money and wealth are just like drugs. The danger is hidden within the pleasure. The very drug that can be immensely useful – like a post-surgical morphine drip – can take on a life of its own when the drug begs the user for more.

Like that old line from AA: First the man takes a drink. Then the drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes a man.

Ecclesiastes is the dark Jerry Seinfeld of the Bible. It is written as a form of “observational humor.” It is not very cheerful nor hopeful. The poet behind Ecclesiastes calls it as he sees it. “The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain.”

Why won’t money satisfy the lover of money? The same reason that more drugs won’t satisfy an addict. Because neither drugs nor money are ends in themselves. They are means to an end that is often an unconscious driver.

The drug addict might not be able to identify their insatiable need to squelch their feelings, their inability to be honest in relationships, or the deep losses they have suffered which have made real human connections possible. They only know that they hurt and they don’t want to feel anymore.

A person who is too invested in their own investments, who is never satisfied with what they have, enters a life clouded with worry and uncertainty. How do they trust that others value them for who they are rather than just a piece of what they have? How can they experience a sense of satisfaction when there is always another higher peak just out of reach of the peak they’ve reached?

I admire entrepreneurs. I admire people who are willing to take risks to try something, to create value for clients and customers, to provide jobs for themselves and others. A friend once told me, “People don’t understand the way that entrepreneurs think. It isn’t about the money. It is about the challenge to do something new.” The world needs such entrepreneurs. Especially ethical ones.

I also admire those folks that the poet calls “laborers.” These are the hard-working people who have jobs, who show up for work, who give it their best, and who sleep “sweetly” after a long day of a job well done. Entrepreneurs might create jobs but laborers create profits. The world needs both.

And the great corrective – for both rich and poor – is the balance that comes from putting God first and living a spiritually centered life. To see God at work in creating value, God at work in people using their gifts and capabilities to do their part for the good of their neighbor, protects us both from the money chase and the quiet desperation of meaningless work.

To see God at the center opens our eyes to everything and everyone else that makes life beautiful. That’s why the journey from addiction to recovery is a spiritual experience.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, when you sent out your friends to do what they saw you do you sent them out with nothing. No tools, no equipment, no purse, no stuff. We find that terrifying. Impossible. We can’t imagine life without stuff and thus we are always hungry for more. Stop us short today. Stop us short, and in our hearts and imaginations, make yourself known to us. In that, may we find peace, meaning, and purpose. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.

But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! Colossians 3:1-11

Notice how this passage begins. The first phrase “if you have been raised with Christ” is passive.  “Being raised with Christ” is something that happens to us. But then comes the verb, “seek.” To “seek” is an active verb. It requires action on our part. It is followed by several other calls to action.

Set your minds on things that are above…

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly…

But now you must get rid of all such things…

Do not lie to one another…

Today is Monday. I trust that I’m not alone when I say that I usually wake up on Monday with a fairly long list of what I hope to do this week. Included in that list are things that I know I need to accomplish at work and things that I know I need to be doing for myself. And, judging by past experience, some of those things will happen and some will go undone.

What I am noticing this morning is how the passive precedes the active in this text from Colossians. I think this is a pretty good snapshot of the Christian faith. Before we get busy on our “doing”, God has already “done” something in us. That changes everything. All of our busyness isn’t about chasing God down, it is about responding to what God has already done in us.

Because Jesus has raised us from the dead, we can be productive at work. Work that matters because of the difference it makes in the lives of others.

Because Jesus has raised us from the dead, we can trust in God’s love and become loving to ourselves in our diet, exercise, rest, and relationship lives.

Because Jesus has raised us from the dead we can actively seek to minimize and eliminate behaviors that are self defeating and detrimental to our lives and the lives of others.

We just have to remember that we can’t live Thursday on Monday. We can’t even live Monday at noon when it is Monday at 7:14 AM. That means we can’t do it all at once. Live comes to us one moment at a time. Realize then, in each moment, that God has already done something in us, which frees us to do what only we can do.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, we come to the beginning of this week praying that you keep us mindful of the continuous work of your Spirit in our lives. May we pay attention to how we speak, how we act, how we use our time. Help us be responsive, responsive, mindful, one moment at a time. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said:

“O Lord the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed.

So now, O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.” 2 Kings 19:14-19

The heart of the story of King Hezekiah of Judah runs from 2 Kings 18-20. He was a good and consequential king. He came to rule at a time when 2/3’s of the land of Israel, the northern kingdom, had fallen to the Assyrian armies. A time when idolatry had turned the heads of the people of Israel. When faith in the living God had been traded for faith in idols made by human hands. It was a dark time.

But King Hezekiah was a man of faith. He tore down the sites of idolatrous imagination. He even destroyed the pole and bronze serpent that took the people back to the time of Moses, signs that were no longer signs of the power of God but signs that had become ends unto themselves.

When the scene opened captured in the verses above, the Assyrian army stood ready to attack and destroy Jerusalem. For a time Hezekiah had held them off by paying the tribute they demanded. But feeding idols is a waste of time. They are never satisfied. The Assyrians weren’t satisfied and now warned King Hezekiah that the time was near when they would finish off Jerusalem once and for all.

So what did King Hezekiah do? In 2 Kings 19:1, he went to the temple to pray. And now here in these verses, he again prays to God for protection. Again and again, the voice of the Assyrians mocked God and mocked King Hezekiah’s naïve faith that God would act. God would intervene. God’s will would be done. The idols and enemies would be swallowed up and God’s people would survive and prosper.

Again, as the Assyrian leader sent Hezekiah with mocking reminders of Assyrian power, Assyrian success, Assyrian dominance, Hezekiah turned again to prayer in our verses for today.

Hezekiah relied, not on the help of friends for Egypt proved untrustworthy, but on the help of God, the Lord of Lords. He relied on prayer, not to escape the darkness but that through his prayers, God might open the eyes of the blind, thwart the evil designs of the wicked, and save those destined to carry the story to the generations to come.

It was prayer, trust in God, that turned the tables. The Assyrian leader went home and met an untimely end. The Assyrian army was overcome by the supernatural power of God. In the end, God’s story continued and Hezekiah came to the end of a long and fruitful life.

I’m reminded here again of that great line from Psalm 37:4, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Every time we read that line we should take not that it is not saying that God will give us everything our heart desires, but that God will implant in us godly desires themselves. That God’s will might become our wills. That God’s ways might become our ways. This was Hezekiah’s hope and realized dream. It is our hope as well.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see… As your ears open to us, open our ears. As your eyes open to us, open our eyes. May we remember today that the future is yours and that we shall not be moved. Your will, your ways, seen most clearly in the death and resurrection of Jesus, are the hope of the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord indeed is God; the Lord indeed is God.”

Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” Then they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon, and killed them there. 1 Kings 18:36-40

Sometimes people will write and ask me how I choose the Bible readings for each day. That varies every week, it all depends on what comes to me on Sunday nights. But this week I’m using the texts assigned to each day from a Taking Faith Home bulletin insert that we make available to people in worship. These are really wonderful tools to help parents experience the Christian faith with their children.

I felt the need to tell you that so you don’t think that I am “cooking the books” with the Bible readings this week. I’m just responding to the texts as I’m seeing them. And I find it remarkable that today’s story, the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal follows what I shared yesterday in response to the murder of Father Jacques Hamel in France. Specifically, what it means to truly hear the scriptures in our world today.

We could come at this story from many angles. We could notice that, although the political world of Israel was in turmoil and disobedience, God hadn’t wiped God’s hands of the people that God loves. He was still there and he was still showing up in and through Elijah.

We could talk about the role of idolatry in our lives. We all have our Baals. We’ll never run out of Baals. We chase our Baals – which always feels like chasing our tails – but they never deliver the goods and they always lead us to places we ought not go.

We could talk about how available God is to us in prayer. The power of prayer. The efficacy of prayer. The way that turning to God in prayer involves surrendering ourselves to God’s will, in the trust that God – unlike the Baals – will not lead us astray.

All of that and much much more lies in this story.  But here is where I will not go and I think no one ought to go: I’m not going to use this story to plug modern day Christianity, even my own tribe, ELCA Lutherans, into the role of “Elijah” and cast every other person outside of my tribe as a prophet of Baal.

And I’m not going to honor the idea of the religious genocide, the so-called religious cleansing, that concludes the story with Elijah murdering 450 prophets of Baal. I doubt the historicity of the whole story in that I seriously doubt that, had I been there with a video camera, I would have captured anything close to what the writer of 1 Kings imagined in telling the story in the first place.

The barbaric ending to this story teaches us about the dangers of idolatry. It does not suggest how we ought to treat people of different faiths. God has nothing to do with those who kill the innocent in God’s name – they are not following God, they are following an idol of their own self-centered delusions.

Which brings me back to the big idea behind Taking Faith Home. God’s primary delivery system for nurturing spirituality and a God-centered worldview are called parents. The rest of us are here to help parents. I pray that we are all mindful of how we talk about the world, and how we teach about the world, in these troubled days.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, in good times and bad times, we turn to you. We offer prayers of gratitude, we ask for help, for direction, for comfort, and for strength. We ask for wisdom and discernment, for courage and conviction. And we pray that you might lead us not into temptation, that you might deliver us from evil. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”

As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.”

But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.”

Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. 1 Samuel 1:9-18

The Rev. Jacques Hamel was 86 years old. He was accompanied by three nuns and two church members, saying Mass, when their worship was interrupted. Two heartless, murderous young men forced Father Hamel to his knees in front of the altar, profaning both the altar and their own faith with memorized Arabic phrases, then ended his life, spilling his blood in that space built to remember the spilled blood of another godly and innocent man.

As story after story appears of the wicked cowardice of deranged killers spreading death in the name of a perverted interpretation of their Islamic faith, we wonder how can this happen. The next story comes out and the next and again and again we find ourselves shocked, repulsed, horrified, and enraged.

Abducting hundreds of girls from a school. Driving a truck through a crowded festival. Another exploding car or exploding vest. Knives and bombs and guns and throwing people from buildings. At some point this will either be stopped or it will become a new medieval normal. Which will it be?

The Bible records many periods when God was all but forgotten and people handed themselves over to evil thoughts and actions. It also records times when the people of Israel, the people of God, did horrible things in God’s name. We have learned to listen closely to such texts, to temper their harshness, to consider the self-serving ways that survivors write history. Angry and reactive though we might feel, Christians will not resort to reading stories of the full-scale slaughter of villages as if that is the godly path to restoring peace and order. And if any do, or feel so inclined, voices of reason and compassion who have heard the words of Jesus will rebuke such ideas.

I hope, I pray, and I trust, that there are Moslem imams the world over exhorting their people to see the difference between the violent tribalism recorded in the Koran and its timeless calls to honoring God, self-restraint, peace, hospitality, brotherhood, and compassion.

The story of Hannah and her experience before another aged priest, Eli, is also written out of a time of despair. Not only Hannah’s personal despair but a time when people were turning their back on God. But God was still at work. The child promised to Hannah would be a blessing and a turning point in the story. The star of the story isn’t Elkanah, Hannah’s husband, or Eli, the aged priest. The star of the story is a woman who prayed to be a mother with the guts to say to that priest, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.”

Maybe the message we need to hear today is that we have had enough of men with narrow views of faith, enough of husbands and sons killing others for their short-sighted cause of the day. Maybe it is time to see and to listen to the voices of mothers, strong and loving women, who seek not to end lives but to bear them into the world and nurture them in love. Mothers like this, and this, and this. If not now, when?

Let us pray: Dear Lord, we thank you for the long, fruitful, and faithful ministry of Father Jacques Hamel. We pray for those who grieve his death, for his sisters who stood by his side to the end, and for all of us who see in his death our own vulnerability and need. Thank you for the persistent faith of Hannah and we pray that her courage might be made incarnate in the mothers of the world who seek to save their sons from themselves and their own twisted ideas. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything.

On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.

All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth. They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.

For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. Psalm 138

Again and again, throughout the Bible, we are reminded of the upside down nature of the kingdom of God. “For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.” Why is that?

Why does God regard the lowly and yet perceives from far away the haughty?

Could it be as simple as this: The lowly, the humble, realize that they are not God, and realize that they need God while the haughty, the proud, are just fine doing their own thing with nary a thought about what God wants?

And then what do we do: We read about the lowly and the haughty, or the sheep and the goats, or the weeds and the wheat, and we immediately judge in our own hearts which team we play on. We usually put ourselves on top. We get it better than anyone else. We categorize and demonize and then go to the mirror to see who is the fairest one of all.

The deeper truth is that we all have a little bit of both in us. Our hope lies in which wolf we feed, in how open we are to the guidance of the Spirit.

I was writing last Sunday’s sermon when it occurred to me that my prayer life is a really great barometer on the degree to which I am doing my own thing in life or relying on God for guidance, direction, and strength. On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul. Do you see the same in your life? Do you realize that is how God has wired us?

Down through the ages, the Christian church has been criticized for having an edifice complex. For being all about the building. At its best, caring about the spaces in which we worship is tied to “I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness…” At its worst, it is simple earthly “our church building is better than yours.” It is a fine line and a spiritually dangerous game.

But I appreciate church buildings. I live in Houston. I like air conditioning. But what I really appreciate is that buildings don’t move. The Bible says that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, wherever we go, God is there. But buildings stay in one place. What I appreciate about that is knowing that, whenever God seems far away, it is clear that God is not the one who has moved. So it is that the haughty God perceives from far away.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, we constantly face the temptation to be gods unto ourselves, to do our own thing, to consider only what is in it for us. Yet you have shaped us to rely on you, to turn to you, to surrender to you, to trust in you, to lean not unto our own understanding. Fill us with the grace to be real, to be honest, to be humble, to be who and what you created us to be, that we might do our part in our little corners of the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

I once had a friend who was really into throwing darts. One night they invited me to “league night” at a pub here in Houston. I was amazed. The place was packed. I hadn’t seen anything like that since the smoky crowds at the night leagues at the bowling alley in my hometown. There were a lot of people who were really good at throwing darts.

Kelley and I look at our boys in wonder. Both of them grew up with wide ranging interests and they always ended up being pretty good at what they did. They both just had a knack for picking things up quickly and developing a passion for them.

I’m sitting out the Pokemon Go craze. This isn’t hard for me to do. But millions of people jumped right in, creating yet another sub-culture of people who get really good at doing something that cause others to just shake their heads.

People have the capacity to get good at doing lots of things. And, in this world, they get rewarded for that. So it only makes sense that we would bring the same mentality into our practice of Christianity.

Some people get really good at it. It seems to come easy for them. Sunday mornings come and they are in worship. Every week. They volunteer for things. They give time and money. They continue to learn. Their lives have integrity. These salt of the earth people amaze me. I don’t know where the church would be without them.

But the trouble is…and this is hard to say but I’m going to say it anyway….like anything else, getting good at something, in and of itself, doesn’t say all that could be said. I can well imagine someone who is very good at all things “church” and yet, deep down inside, has never let the Holy Spirit budge them an inch. The faith is not challenging to them because they have learned how to “manage” it to fit their own best interests.

There’s some of me in that. There’s some of all of us in that. And there was certainly some of that in the prayers of the self-righteous person who didn’t impress Jesus. Notice how he “stood by himself” in his prayers. He was praying, but he wasn’t connected.

I need to hear that. We all need to hear that. Because hearing that is precisely what drives us to the honest, humble, personal, and direct plea for mercy of the prayers of the tax collector. He too stood by himself but he was different. He stood “far off.” And that is precisely where Jesus found him.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, break our hearts of stone. Open our wax-filled ears. Heal our blindness. Help us drop our merit badges and signs of success and call us on the temptation to measure ourselves over against others. Bring us, just as we are, into your presence and heal our broken souls. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

O how abundant is your goodness that you have laid up for those who fear you, and accomplished for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of everyone! In the shelter of your presence you hide them from human plots; you hold them safe under your shelter from contentious tongues.

Blessed be the Lord, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was beset as a city under siege. I had said in my alarm, “I am driven far from your sight.” But you heard my supplications when I cried out to you for help.

Love the Lord, all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful, but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. Psalm 31:19-24

Lorne Ahrens, Philando Castile, Brad Garafola, Matthew Gerald, Montrell Jackson, Michael Johnson, Michael Krol, Gavin Long, Michael Smith, Alton Sterling, Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa.

These are the names. These men, their families, their friends, their communities – these are the ones that I have encouraged us to pray for each day this week.

These are the names of those who have suffered, or caused, a sense we share that we are a city under siege. In this list are police officers who were doing their duty with professionalism and courage, men denied their day in court by their own actions or the actions of others, and men who projected their hate and vitriol through the guns and bullets that took the lives of the innocent.

Among these names we can see the latest ones to bear family names in long lines reaching back to the various places from which their forebears came, all with a dream to make a new life in the United States. Among these names we can see the latest ones to bear the name of a long forgotten slave holder who stamped their forebears with his sign of ownership after they endured the death of their dreams in being forced to a land they knew nothing about.

All of these are the names of our brothers. All of these are the names of God’s children, God’s creation, God’s beloved.

“Love the Lord, all you his saints” the Psalmist encourages us. Later Jesus would flesh out the full meaning of that phrase when he tied it to loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Everyone is born in love. No one is born in hate. We have to be taught to hate. No one is born with a sense of their own identity. That sense is shaped by the family and the culture into which they are born. To LEARN the love of God and love of neighbor, and then to LIVE the love of God and love of neighbor, is God’s will for us and it is the hope of the world.

One way we learn such love is to pray. To pray for our loved ones. To pray for our enemies. To pray for our communities and those given responsibility to lead, to serve, and to protect. To pray for the broken, the grieving, the now-powerful, and the now-powerless. To pray thy will be done, thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, may the names of these our brothers be added to those that would teach us that your ways are the ways to life at its best and life everlasting. We claim the promises of our faith for them, for their families, and for our communities. Give us strength, give us courage, give us compassion, and give us hope. In Jesus’ name. Amen.