Today’s American culture bombards us daily with the message that we should care only about ourselves. "You owe it to yourself," we hear in advertisements for vacation trips. "You deserve the best," we hear from people selling expensive products. However, the mark of a Christian is the love we show for one another. As the song goes, "They'll know we are Christians by our love."
In the Gospels we find the Pharisees questioning Jesus - Teacher,which commandment in the law is the greatest?" (Matthew 22:34-36, Mark 12:28-30, Luke 10:25-27)
Jesus answered by quoting from the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." "This is the greatest and first commandment."
So, what do we mean we say, "I love God?" Loving God is not having a mushy, good feeling kind of love--like loving pizza or loving a good movie. Loving God has to do with commitment. It has to do with God being first in every aspect of our lives. Loving God means, we daily build a relationship with God through talking to God, reading our Bibles, and worship.
I use to watch golf on TV Sunday afternoons with my dad and I remember an interview with Lee Trevino who was involved in an incident in a tournament. Lightning struck a tree very near to where he was standing. Someone asked Trevino what he thought when lightning struck that tree. He replied, "I learned that when God wants to play through you had better let him."
Having respect for God is one way to love God. The most important way we can love God is by making God the most important part of our lives.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Devotion for the Week of April 16, 2007
I didn’t get a lot of work done yesterday since I was trying to stay up to the minute with the news coming out of Blacksburg, Virginia concerning the shootings at Virginia Tech. And instead of a traditional devotion today, I am going to share with you some thoughts.
I am happy to report that the one young member of Emmanuel that attends VT was not wounded. And the two people I know who work there were also not harmed. However, they are shocked and deeply affected. I believe, everyone is also shocked.
As I watched or listen to the news, I heard someone say, "God is not here."
When events such as those that happened at VT happen, our sense of peace is shattered, our thoughts and lives are intruded upon. Our lives are interrupted and we are saddened and shocked by it all. And it is easy to wonder if indeed God hasn't left this place a long time ago.
So, what do we do now? On NPR this morning I heard Judy Muller on "Morning Edition" recalled a remark made to her following the Columbine shootings. A woman at the 'makeshift memorial' of flowers and teddy bears that appeared almost immediately said, "The really sad thing is that we already know what to do." Muller went on to talk about all the public rituals and so forth that we now know must follow such events. We have done it before. We've buried our children.
But what should we do beyond that? I believe that we have to continue to be good parents to our children. And I don’t just mean just our offspring - I mean all the children in our lives. We must show strong love to them - and sometimes this means telling them NO. I believe that nurturing our children and pointing them in the right direction is some of the most important work we can do. We should not allow our children to withdraw from their community or to bully others.
In a discussion I had a friend of mine last night, the question was asked, "What would Jesus have us do?"
Since I have been working on next Sunday’s service already, the Gospel lesson came to my mind (John 21:1-19). Feed, Tend, Feed God’s Sheep.
Then there is the statement earlier, "God is not here."
In a way that is true, it is the season of Easter and we are celebrating the fact that the tomb is empty. God left THAT place, he did not stand around waiting for us to come upon Him. He comes to visit us in a NEW PLACE.
The opening verse of the Gospel reading says that "Jesus showed himself again to his disciples."
THAT'S what Jesus is doing today, showing himself to us, his disciples. But there is a good chance that we will be like those disciples and not recognize him at first. Like Peter, who went back to what he was doing before he knew Jesus (went fishing) - we often return to what we were doing. But Jesus told Peter and he tells us as well, "Feed my lambs," "Tend my sheep," "Feed my sheep."
That's what we can do right now. We are all called to be feeders and tenders. It is important to respond to events such as this one as a community and to look for places where God is at work in the aftermath of violence and death. As one of the ministers in the Blacksburg area said, "We need to affirm that God always gives the gift of new life, and that God can reclaim Virginia Tech as a place for kids to grow in knowledge and faith." We also need to be with our family and friends so that we can comfort them, and they us. As Christians we should find comfort in community.
So, where is God?
He has left the tomb, but he is with us now.
PAX,
Robert Lewis +
I am happy to report that the one young member of Emmanuel that attends VT was not wounded. And the two people I know who work there were also not harmed. However, they are shocked and deeply affected. I believe, everyone is also shocked.
As I watched or listen to the news, I heard someone say, "God is not here."
When events such as those that happened at VT happen, our sense of peace is shattered, our thoughts and lives are intruded upon. Our lives are interrupted and we are saddened and shocked by it all. And it is easy to wonder if indeed God hasn't left this place a long time ago.
So, what do we do now? On NPR this morning I heard Judy Muller on "Morning Edition" recalled a remark made to her following the Columbine shootings. A woman at the 'makeshift memorial' of flowers and teddy bears that appeared almost immediately said, "The really sad thing is that we already know what to do." Muller went on to talk about all the public rituals and so forth that we now know must follow such events. We have done it before. We've buried our children.
But what should we do beyond that? I believe that we have to continue to be good parents to our children. And I don’t just mean just our offspring - I mean all the children in our lives. We must show strong love to them - and sometimes this means telling them NO. I believe that nurturing our children and pointing them in the right direction is some of the most important work we can do. We should not allow our children to withdraw from their community or to bully others.
In a discussion I had a friend of mine last night, the question was asked, "What would Jesus have us do?"
Since I have been working on next Sunday’s service already, the Gospel lesson came to my mind (John 21:1-19). Feed, Tend, Feed God’s Sheep.
Then there is the statement earlier, "God is not here."
In a way that is true, it is the season of Easter and we are celebrating the fact that the tomb is empty. God left THAT place, he did not stand around waiting for us to come upon Him. He comes to visit us in a NEW PLACE.
The opening verse of the Gospel reading says that "Jesus showed himself again to his disciples."
THAT'S what Jesus is doing today, showing himself to us, his disciples. But there is a good chance that we will be like those disciples and not recognize him at first. Like Peter, who went back to what he was doing before he knew Jesus (went fishing) - we often return to what we were doing. But Jesus told Peter and he tells us as well, "Feed my lambs," "Tend my sheep," "Feed my sheep."
That's what we can do right now. We are all called to be feeders and tenders. It is important to respond to events such as this one as a community and to look for places where God is at work in the aftermath of violence and death. As one of the ministers in the Blacksburg area said, "We need to affirm that God always gives the gift of new life, and that God can reclaim Virginia Tech as a place for kids to grow in knowledge and faith." We also need to be with our family and friends so that we can comfort them, and they us. As Christians we should find comfort in community.
So, where is God?
He has left the tomb, but he is with us now.
PAX,
Robert Lewis +
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Devotion for the Week of April 9, 2007
I recently read about some ecologists at the University of Washington who found that willow trees transmit a warning to other willows from as far away as two hundred feet. When caterpillars are attacking, the trees emit a chemical signal that travels with the wind. This enables distant trees to prepare their protection, phenol in the leaves (which is distasteful to the caterpillars). This advance warning of an attack amazes scientists. The individual trees have the ability to behave in a way that benefits not just themselves but the whole species.
Are we not a higher form of species than willow trees? Shouldn’t we behave in a way that benefits not just ourselves but all of humanity? Just as the trees did for themselves, they also did for others. Shouldn’t we treat other people as you would like to be treated.
Follow the "golden rule." Put yourself in the other person's place and ask yourself how you would like to be treated. Would you want to be discriminated against because of the color of your skin, what you wear, where you live, which school you attend(ed)? Would you want to be taken advantage of in a business transaction? People of integrity think of others.
Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31 NRSV)
Are we not a higher form of species than willow trees? Shouldn’t we behave in a way that benefits not just ourselves but all of humanity? Just as the trees did for themselves, they also did for others. Shouldn’t we treat other people as you would like to be treated.
Follow the "golden rule." Put yourself in the other person's place and ask yourself how you would like to be treated. Would you want to be discriminated against because of the color of your skin, what you wear, where you live, which school you attend(ed)? Would you want to be taken advantage of in a business transaction? People of integrity think of others.
Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31 NRSV)
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Devotion for Holy Week 2007
You would think that I would have my devotion for Holy Week written on time - but I have been struggling with what to write because I have been thinking about the gospel lessons this past Sunday (the Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday reading found in Luke 22:14-23:56 or 23:1-49). These lessons remind me of what life is supposed to be all about.
These are gospel lessons that have become familiar to me over the years - which might be why I have had such a difficulty in finding the right words to express how I felt reading it. I have heard it for most of my life - the story of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection - sometimes with interest and sometimes with wondering “When’s the Easter egg hunt?” Now I see the beauty in it because I am reminded by it about so many things.
As Jesus is dying on the cross he exclaims, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” a true statement of love for his Father. This phrase now has a huge meaning in my life. It may come as a shock to some, but yes, even as a Pastor I find myself at times struggling to keep my actions, thoughts, and feelings in line with the way that Jesus taught and lived his own life. I fall away from God too often in the course of evenone week.
But this phrase that Jesus spoke to his Father in heaven as he was dying is a completely perfect example of the importance of giving one’s own life to God today. I constantly fall due to sin, and have to find a way to get back up, usually by reaching out for the out-stretched hand of God. And through accepting that hand, I also give myself back to God.
As I was listening to the Passion narrative being read on Sunday, I was reminded how important it is to continuously give and re-give my life back to God when I slip away. Yeah, sometimes I feel like the criminal who was hanging on the cross next to Jesus who tells Jesus to rescue them. If God is all powerful, then why doesn’t God help more often. But then I realize that I am like the other criminal, recognizing the Christ for who he is; I admit my sin, and humbly ask Jesus to remember me. And he does - each and every time.
During Lent we speak of dying and rising again with Christ. No, we do not actually die when we commend our spirits to God, but we do symbolically and metaphorically die when we get rid of everything that is not of God - and sometimes for me that can be a lot
By offering myself back to God when I fail, when I lose the power to do God’s will, and when I sin against God, neighbor and/or myself - I again offer God my spirit to lead me into a deeper spiritual relationship with him.
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:44-46)
These are gospel lessons that have become familiar to me over the years - which might be why I have had such a difficulty in finding the right words to express how I felt reading it. I have heard it for most of my life - the story of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection - sometimes with interest and sometimes with wondering “When’s the Easter egg hunt?” Now I see the beauty in it because I am reminded by it about so many things.
As Jesus is dying on the cross he exclaims, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” a true statement of love for his Father. This phrase now has a huge meaning in my life. It may come as a shock to some, but yes, even as a Pastor I find myself at times struggling to keep my actions, thoughts, and feelings in line with the way that Jesus taught and lived his own life. I fall away from God too often in the course of evenone week.
But this phrase that Jesus spoke to his Father in heaven as he was dying is a completely perfect example of the importance of giving one’s own life to God today. I constantly fall due to sin, and have to find a way to get back up, usually by reaching out for the out-stretched hand of God. And through accepting that hand, I also give myself back to God.
As I was listening to the Passion narrative being read on Sunday, I was reminded how important it is to continuously give and re-give my life back to God when I slip away. Yeah, sometimes I feel like the criminal who was hanging on the cross next to Jesus who tells Jesus to rescue them. If God is all powerful, then why doesn’t God help more often. But then I realize that I am like the other criminal, recognizing the Christ for who he is; I admit my sin, and humbly ask Jesus to remember me. And he does - each and every time.
During Lent we speak of dying and rising again with Christ. No, we do not actually die when we commend our spirits to God, but we do symbolically and metaphorically die when we get rid of everything that is not of God - and sometimes for me that can be a lot
By offering myself back to God when I fail, when I lose the power to do God’s will, and when I sin against God, neighbor and/or myself - I again offer God my spirit to lead me into a deeper spiritual relationship with him.
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:44-46)
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