ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 20, 2019 Scripture: Psalm 7:17 But I will thank the LORD for his righteousness; I will sing praises to the name of the LORD Most High. Thought for the Day: Take note – the name of God is in all caps: LORD. Most translations, when translating the Hebrew name of God, Yahweh, do so with the designation: LORD. Righteousness is the characteristic associated with the LORD, yet so often people interpret the word righteousness as some form of self righteous arrogance that belittles and disparages people, usually based on some perceived immoral behavior. This is a misguided understanding of righteousness, a word in the original Hebrew language that was very similar to justice. To simplify, righteousness could be understood as the rightness of God or the right ways of God. And since it is attached to LORD, the name of God associated with the exodus from slavery in Egypt, then we can assume that righteousness has a lot to do with liberating individuals from people and systems that are destructive, hurtful and confining. To thank this LORD is to express gratitude no matter which side of the situation you might find yourself. Some will say, “Thank you, LORD, for liberating me from that which enslaved me.” Others will say, “Thank you, LORD, for setting me right when it comes to exploitation of other human beings.” It is the second that is a bit more difficult to express, yet in today’s world where we knowingly and unknowingly participate in and benefit from the exploitation of human beings, we should be seeking God’s assistance in our own liberation from all kinds of exploitation. Remember, God’s judgment on people and systems of exploitation is never very kind. Prayer: Wherever I find myself, wherever I exist in the structures and systems of this world, O LORD of Liberation, guide me to the side where I not only express my gratitude but reflect your righteousness. Amen. _ via WordPress https://ift.tt/346uBll
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ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 19, 2019 Scripture: Mark 7:24-26 Jesus left that place and went into the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know that he had entered a house, but he couldn’t hide. In fact, a woman whose young daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard about him right away. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was Greek, Syrophoenician by birth. She begged Jesus to throw the demon out of her daughter. Thought for the Day: Jesus was a Jew, and Judaism was always in conflict with its neighbors and other religions. It’s hard to be yourself when there are other influences, including some who would rather see you dead. Jesus had a very interesting approach to the other. He did not shy away from the Greeks or the Samaritans. He engaged them, even seeking them out. This woman that approached Jesus in this story from Mark was Greek, and it’s noteworthy that Mark includes her specific ethnicity: Syrophoenician. The story of their encounter has been debated by most every scholar and preacher throughout Christian history. What I find interesting is how Jesus treated her once he made the decision to heal her daughter. He didn’t ask her to believe in him or to change her ways. He didn’t even reference her faith or lack there of. Her quick whit pleased Jesus, and he responded by telling her that she could go home for her daughter had been made well. Jesus did not seek to convert or get her to commit to seven basic tenants of a religion. He just healed, and seemed to enjoy the engagement – the surprise back and forth. Maybe it’s a bit of a reach, but I find this to be an enticing model for how we approach people who are from a different tradition or religion. At the end of the day, we do whatever we can to make sure everyone is healthy. I don’t believe you can justify withholding the most basics staples of life because of a disagreement. Once the basics of Maslow’s Hierarchy are met, then engagement can begin. Follow the lead of Jesus who appeared to be delighted when the woman called him to task. How much better would our world be if we made sure everyone had the basics – food, medicine, clean drinking water, security and access to education. And once that was covered, we could converse and debate and maybe even enjoy some good bantering. Like Jesus, someone unexpected might challenge us in a way that calls us to task. Prayer: People are different, and so often our differences have given way to fear that has provoked hate and violence. Forgive me, Merciful God, when I am too quick to allow my insecurities to rule my convictions. I trust in your love, and if that love is all I believe it is, then I should feel comfortable in engaging others. And if the engagement includes love, then I trust it will do whatever you need it to do. Amen. – via WordPress https://ift.tt/333ow7U ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 18, 2019 Prayer for the Week: In the single most impactful moment of human history, when all hope appeared to be lost, you did not send a Rambo figure or even call upon the elite Roman Infantry. The cross was the reversal of every hero adventure; the upending of every story of courage; the dismantling of every myth on which Empires had been built. Your Embodied Love hung upon the cross while the powers and principalities of this world were gleeful, arrogantly jubilant in their perceived victory. Your Love, O Breath of Creation, did not raise a finger in his own defense; not a call for violent revolution; not a hint of vengeful reprisal. The cross represented the turning point, the marker at which humanity was given a choice to continue to live a false narrative of egotism or to give itself to something holy-other. The adventures of old, the stories and myths once told, still claim their superiority today. For that reason, the choice before us remains just as real as it was on Golgotha. Come, Holy Spirit! Come among us and reveal to us the fullness of the Jesus-Story. Let us see the beauty of his life that discredits every false prophet who claims your name while epitomizing the very evil that put your Embodied Love upon the cross. We make this prayerful plea in the name of the Peaceful One, Jesus. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/359W0TA ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 17, 2019 Scripture: John 14:16-17 I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you. Thought for the Day: Jesus announced how the Parakletos would soon arrive. This is the Greek word that is translated as Companion, Helper, Friend, Advocate, Intercessor and Counselor… just to name a few possibilities. It is one of those interesting words found in an ancient language where the meaning is a bit fuzzy. This could leave some folks frustrated, especially because we are talking scripture. But I find this vagueness of meaning to be revealing – revealing something that is rich, fertile and alive. It is the Holy Spirit, and it’s a little like trying to determine where the breeze becomes a gust. Could it be that the Spirit avoids being tied down? Whenever we try to define something, we are adding parameters to it. At every moment when we feel confident in our capacity to nail down God’s Spirit of Truth, it slips from the confinement to announce, “I am so much more.” In the life of faith, this is probably a good thing. Prayer: The moment I think I’ve got you all figured out, O Spirit of God, is the moment I am no longer able to perceive a part of you that I might need at some point in the future. Amen. – via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QrovI9 ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 16, 2019 Scripture: Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Thought for the Day: On this day in 1940, the Nazis closed off the Warsaw Ghetto from all outside contact. I’ve read a great deal of history, and watched plenty of History Specials on the Holocaust, but it remains impossible for me to imagine what it must have been like. Maybe it’s good that I cannot imagine, yet if I really take the time to reflect on what I have learned, I am horrified and ashamed at what the human species is capable of doing. Good people, a lot like you and I, put together a string of YES’s to a hateful ideology that did not necessarily need to become reality. Clearly there were historic and outside influences that helped to set the stage, but it required an amassing of blind affirmations to give it power. There were a handful of Christians who put Christ above the cancerous doctrine that Hitler proclaimed, and most of them died for it. Yes, they are martyrs for the faith. But why was it such a small community of Jesus followers who said, NO to the Nazi Party, while a majority of those who read the Sermon on the Mount, the Golden Rule and the Parable of the Good Samaritan were somehow capable of justifying White Nationalism that resulted in the murder of millions of innocent lives? I would like to think we have evolved, and there are moments when the human species shows amazing compassion and generosity, but I remain fearful of what is possible. Reinhold Niebuhr left Germany before WWII and came to the United States. His vision of humanity’s goodness was crushed in the years that followed. He would later write, “Evil is not to be traced back to the individual but to the collective behavior of humanity.” We must be strong in our proclamation of the Gospel, and not some flimsy, feel-good, power-grabbing, get rich quick, blessings found in material objects kind of gospel even if someone has attached the name of Jesus to it. If we lose the Jesus of the cross – the Jesus who gave his life in love – to this nonsense, we can so easily become an instrument of that which is destructive, hateful and violent. I do not intend to depress anyone with my words today, but we must be vigilant in asking ourselves, “Are we following Jesus whose love embraced all of humanity or are we embracing an ideology that someone describes as Christ-like but does not resemble the Jesus of the Gospels?” Prayer: Let every morning begin with a humble heart that seeks your ways of love, O Lord. And let every evening end with an honest confession for those times I did not live your love. Amen. – via WordPress https://ift.tt/2OfZ3mk ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 15, 2019 Scripture: Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Thought for the Day: These words may sound familiar to you. They have been said, and continue to be said, as a benediction in many churches and Jewish Synagogues. They came at a time in Israel’s story when the people were preparing to leave Mt. Sinai and continue the journey toward the Promised Land. It was given to them as a blessing for their journey and a daily prayer to be offered along the journey. I’m drawn to the language of the Lord’s face shining upon us. I hear it as a symbol of God’s concern, benevolence and love. What shines upon us is a gift, and for that reason, we must acknowledge that we are recipients only. We have absolutely no control over whether it shines or not. Imagine you are about ready to embark upon this journey, and the destination is sketchy at best. There is fear as you do not know what or who you might meet along the way. Yet every morning these words are spoken over you, maybe even as the sun is rising. It is to be understood as symbol, yet to feel the warmth of the sun and to see it break open the darkness of the night would have reinforced how the Lord’s face (concern, benevolence and love) was truly shining upon you. Prayer: Lord, I seek your blessing that holds me; I ask for the glory of your smile to be visible to me; I love how your Spirit is with me always, and how you provide me peace. Amen. _ via WordPress https://ift.tt/2KqXL6T ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 14, 2019 Mid-Week Prayer: O Prince of Peace, continue to teach me the ways of peace. Assist me as I do what is necessary for my life to resemble the vision of faithfulness, holiness and shalom revealed throughout scripture. Allow for your Spirit of Peace to reside within me so thoroughly that not only am I at peace, but those around me find both their anxiousness and hopelessness waning. This is not my doing, but your gracious decision to dwell within me. May this peacefulness become my life-attitude and spiritual-orientation. Amen. _ via WordPress https://ift.tt/33O1HpQ ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 13, 2019 Scripture: Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thought for the Day: Yesterday during staff meeting, we discussed this passage from Romans – a discussion that was both lively and fascinating. Individual staff members offered insights that were often very personal and profound. One person said, “I don’t know if I have experienced overflowing hope?” It was an exceedingly discomforting thought, for though I had read those words numerous times, I can’t say I have ever really pondered what overflowing joy looked like or felt like. Yet I believe there was agreement among the staff that if a congregation truly embodied overflowing hope, it would be more than noticeable. It would be electrifying and magnetic. For many of us, we simply need to work on filling our spiritual tanks slightly above empty. At the same time, hope is not something we create, but something we receive. Since I believe hope is poured out in abundance, the work within us is about availability and receptivity. It is our willingness for the Spirit to embed within us a conviction of the end that is so evident that it becomes true in who we are. Prayer: My hope rests in the love made real in Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit, and immerse my life in your love so that who I am and how I am and all the other ways I am formulate a clear image of love’s victory over death, hate, guilt, injustice, despair and all the other principalities that seek to undermine the ways of Jesus. Amen. – via WordPress https://ift.tt/2CFxL3t ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 12, 2019 Scripture: 2nd Corinthians 9:2 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Thought for the Day: Anne Frank wrote the simple words: No one has ever become poor by giving. In our modern day – money-driven society – we tend to hear those words in terms of giving our resources away. I’m not going to pretend to know exactly what Anne Frank was thinking, but there were multiple people who risked their lives to try to hide Anne and her family. Some of those people were arrested for what they had done. Those who are willing to sacrifice beyond their bank accounts are the ones who are subversively transforming the world. Don’t get me wrong, the sacrifice can impact the bank account as well, but too often our fear of economic poverty conceives an insolvency of the soul. Prayer: Provide me peace of mind and spirit, O Merciful God, as I seek to be generous wherever the potential for generosity exists within me. I may not yet be ready as fear or insecurity encourages me to horde, yet I trust in your Spirit to continue to make within me a heart that desires to give. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/2O1Oe7u ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS November 11, 2019 Prayer for the Week: We are living complex lives in a complex world while trying to follow the simple example of Jesus who invited us to love everyone. No exceptions! Holy and Magnificent Creator, the world around us is growing more complicated, yet this amplified existence stands in opposition to your values. The poetry of the Genesis 1 story provides both a pattern and rhythmic beat to the cosmos. Day One – Life emerges, a vision is woven into the fabric of creation, a declaration of goodness is made and there is rest. Day Two – Life emerges, a vision is woven into the fabric of creation, a declaration of goodness is made and there is rest… It is as if the poet has united our breath and heartbeat to the ongoing evolution of your holy vision, bringing all into the design phase of your loving reign. Forgive us, Merciful God, when we try to portray the necessary work as beyond our capacity. Forgive us as we use the immensity of our earthly predicament as an excuse to create our own self-serving patterns, patterns that ignore the life-giving and life-transforming rhythm of your Creative Spirit. Realign us with the life of Jesus; return us to the simple and exquisite design of love; reconnect us to all life. Amen. via WordPress https://ift.tt/2NC4VXT |
AuthorRev. Bruce Frogge Archives
April 2024
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