e-vo for week of December 23

Dearest e-votees-

I hope and pray that this e-vo finds you happy and well. The wait of Advent is just about over and Christmas time is soon upon us. For some this means it is time to be done with work or school for a few precious days—a time to linger with loved ones. For some this means it is finally time to open up all the presents and see what has come by way of gift. For some this is a time when we get to be with family and friends we don’t see often enough. I hope and pray that all these times come wonderfully alive for you.

The appointed epistle for Christmas Eve also brings an anticipated time into focus.

Peace, Karl

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For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Titus 2:11-14, NRSV

God’s grace has appeared in the form of the babe of Bethlehem. He came not just to reset the sin-o-meter that was ticking away in our lives. Jesus came to show us how to be pious in a way that is different than that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus came to show us how to be free but not to use that freedom in service to our sinful desires. Jesus came to help us be upright and godly.

We are given time in our lives. From birth to death we have only so many days. During holidays we are given only so many days. Perhaps part of how God would have us bide that precious time is to give some away to someone or some cause that needs it. Perhaps we could read to a youngster—or serve in a soup kitchen—or lovingly listen to a story told for the fourteenth time by a dementia patient. It matters what we do with our time.

We are given gifts and blessings in our lives. We are equipped with gifts from birth, skills carefully cultivated over the years and resources from the generosity of others. In our lives we are given so many things. During holidays we are given so many more things. Perhaps part of how God would have us deal with all the gifts that come are way is to give them away. I am not speaking so much of re-gifting as much as blessings others with the blessings that we ourselves have received. Perhaps we could sing at a church service—or encourage and pray for a friend who is struggling—or give some of our piles of stuff away so others might be able to thrive more this winter. It matters what we do with our gifts.

We are given families and loved ones in our lives. By birth and by choice dear people become folded into our hearts. In our lives we are blessed with so many people who are crafted in the image of God. During the holidays we are blessed to gather for feast and fellowship with our beloved people. Perhaps part of how God would have us live as community is to embrace them and welcome the stranger. Perhaps we could set an extra place at our table and welcome the stranger—or perhaps we could dare to love the estranged member of our family—or perhaps we might move closer to the one we think has wronged us. It matters what we do with our family and our friends—and those who have yet to become our family and our friends.

God, you came into this world because we mattered to you. Help us resolve to live lives that matter. Help us carry ourselves in ways that please you and blesses many. Bless us in these matters. Amen.

e-vo for week of December 16

Dearest e-votees-

May your quickly disappearing days of Advent be blessed and may your time around the manger this year be still yet more blessed.

Peace,
Karl

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And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

Luke 1:46-55, NRSV

Mary and Elizabeth are together in Luke. They are sharing joy as they engage the pregnancy of the other. Elizabeth is one who is advanced in years and barren. Mary is rather young and not married. From the world’s view neither seem particularly significant nor likely candidates to bear such sons of significance as they did. Elizabeth will bear the Elijah (see Matthew 17:10-13). Mary will bear God incarnate, Jesus.

Both Mary and Elizabeth could be construed as lowly servants but God blessed them both. John and Jesus dismantle the power structures of this world through their lives, their testimonies and their deaths. Jesus does more of the same through his resurrection. The haughty are dethroned and the fortunes of many are reversed.

Promises made to Abraham and his descendants find fulfillment in and through John and Jesus; Elizabeth and Zechariah; Mary and Joseph. We, too, are Abraham’s descendants as we have been grafted into the promise. In John and particularly Jesus our hope and our deliverance is revealed.

God, we thank you that your power and your promises look nothing like those of the world. Your power conquers through love, humility and peace. Your promises come true--always. We thank you for faithful servants like Mary and Elizabeth. Help us to sing songs like Mary and allow you to have your way in our lives—all to your glory. Amen.

e-vo for December 9

Dearest e-votees-

As we draw near the halfway mark of Advent I hope that your preparations have been holy and good. I pray that the days ahead for all of us would be full of joy and lacking anxiety.

Peace,
Karl

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Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7, NRSV

Paul offers three positive exhortations and one prohibition.

We are to rejoice. This is not the same thing necessarily as to be happy but we are to find joy. Not all circumstances draw smiles from us (Paul’s life was no bed of roses) but it is possible with God’s help to be joyful no matter the circumstance. That was Paul’s testimony. Would that it would be our testimony too.

We are to be gentle with others. This is not the same thing as being a pushover or a doormat but we are to approach others in gentle ways. Not everyone is as sturdy as they appear. They have weaknesses and vulnerabilities. That was Paul’s testimony. Would that we would see the frailty in others and treat them as the treasures fashioned in God’s image that they are. We are earthen vessels with treasures of immeasurable worth inside. So are our neighbors.

We are to seek our desires through God with thanksgiving and prayer. This is not the same thing as treating God as a divine gumball machine—pop in a prayer and out pops the desired result. Not every prayer gets the green light. Some are fraught with sin and injurious to us or others. Paul didn’t get his prayer to have the thorn in his flesh granted. Not all of our prayers will be affirmatively answered either. We are called to pray and be thankful but we do much better when we let God’s wisdom drive the answers.

We are not to worry. This is not the same as being inattentive and negligent and uninterested. We are to pour ourselves into life with passion. This draws us to have concerns and issues. This stokes our emotions and our cares. We are not served well when we let those things blossom into worry and anxiety. God knows our every need and will provide for us in all circumstances. That was Paul’s testimony. Would that we could speak those words too.


God help us rejoice. Help us make our way through this world gently. Help us pray with thanksgiving and humility. Help us not worry but trust that you will indeed finish what you began in us and will provide for us—all along the way—our daily bread. Amen.

e-vo for week of December 2

Dearest e-votees-

My apologies, last week escaped me. Here is a very belated devotional piece based on the appointed epistle text from last week.

Peace,
Karl

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I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:3-11, NRSV

These familiar verses are some of my favorite in all of scripture. They speak deeply of Paul’s deep affection for the saints at Philippi. It communicates the communal nature of doing ministry. It communicates that God’s grace is what binds us together. It communicates the sure and certain hope that God will complete what was begun.

How are we with our deep affection for our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus? Do we pray with joy constantly for them and their partnership in the gospel? Do we live in the reality that ministry is a communal venture or do we try to strike out on our own? Do we allow ourselves to be built up into the church with grace as the mortar or do we try to build on the shaky foundations of our own achievements and ambitions? Do we rest securely knowing that God will finish what God began in our baptisms or do we fret?

Paul’s prayer is one that suits us well too. We need to be a community founded on love. That love is not to be frothy and shallow but deep and abiding. That love is to be informed by knowledge and depth of insight. That growing in knowledge and wisdom is a communal venture as well.

As we wait for Jesus to liturgically come again in the manger and to definitively come at the end of all time to usher in his kingdom let us rest secure. Since our fates have been sealed by God’s grace we can dare to live lives of love, service and increasing knowledge. These things don’t save us—they are evidence that we have been saved. God began it and God will bring it to completion.


God, mold us into the people you would have us be. Help us love one another more than we could ever deserve because that is how you first loved us. Amen.

e-vo for week of November 25

Dearest e-votees-

I hope and pray that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. As you gather around tables with loved one and are sorely aware of those you wish were there be blessed. May deep connections and joyful laughter fill your conversations. Be loved and be loving.

Peace,
Karl

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How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13, NRSV

The appointed text for this Sunday (the first Sunday of the new church year and the first Sunday of Advent) is one that is most fitting for Thanksgiving as well. Paul is longing to be reunited face to face with the saints in Thessalonica. Their relationship has been sustaining.

As you receive or go and visit people (family, friends, siblings in Christ) who have given you joy and sustained you over the years be blessed. Thank God and savor the moments. Take your shoes off and linger on that holy ground. Allow God to shape and create holy reunions. Abound in love for God and for one another.

Allow God to stir your love for those who cross your path as you go about your celebration of these days set aside for Thanksgiving. If you go out shopping on Black Friday take with you an attitude of love and charity. Perhaps you could stop by the Salvation Army kettles or find your way to a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter or a Thanksgiving dinner for those dining on the “Island of Misfit Toys”. Let your heart grow a few sizes this year and set an extra setting of roast beast out just in case someone happens by the door.

Jesus says it pretty clearly in Matthew 25:40: whatever we do unto the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters we do unto Jesus.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving with friends, family, loved ones and Jesus.


God, how do we begin to thank you for all you have done for us? Even the things in our life that are not from you that we cling to and imperil our intimacy with you are things that you graciously endure and extract from our lives. Thank you. You work all things for good in our lives. Help us cherish your kindness and steep in your love and extend them both to the hurting world in which we sojourn. Amen.

e-vo for week of November 18

Dearest e-votees-

As we draw near to the end of our church year (Christ the King Sunday is the last Sunday of our liturgical calendar), Thanksgiving and the end of the calendar year I thought we might engage a tone of reflection and thankfulness for the past year.

May you be blessed. May the frantic scurrying of holiday shopping and baking and black Friday fade in comparison to the joy of loved ones, deep and abiding promises and new starts.

Peace,
Karl

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But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22, NRSV

I am a cinephile. (I am a lover of movies). I suppose I could confess that I am a sinphile too (one who loves to sin?) but that goes without saying and is, of course, why God stooped into the world to save us. One of the things I love to do in regard to my love of movies is savor the Oscars. There is something that is lovely and engaging to me as the best performances of the year are celebrated including newcomers and beloved favorites. I realize this whole event smacks of theology of glory and idolatry but what can I say—I love the spectacle. By far the most moving part of the night is when they flash “In Memoriam” on the screen and then linger over those who have departed from their earthly existence.

There is something good about lingering over the lives and achievements of those who have stirred passions, who have challenged the status quo, who have portrayed what we struggle to describe and who inspire hope and courage when our natural inclinations are to wallow in despair.

I would encourage you to reflect back over this past year—longer if you like—and think of those who have made a deep impact in your life. Who have put flesh and bones for you on the skeleton of the Thessalonians text above? Who has encouraged you when you were faint of heart? Who has been ceaselessly praying for you? Who has stirred and stoked the Spirit in your life? Who has shown you patience beyond your deserving? Who has admonished you when you have stooped into mediocrity?

In the middle of the Thessalonians text is the exhortation to “give thanks in all circumstances”. This does not say to give thanks for all circumstances. That is very different and perhaps ill-informed. But as followers of Jesus we know all things work towards the good (see Romans 8:28). I hope and pray that your year ends and your thanksgiving could be full of joyful “In Memoriam” moments as you think of those who have laid down their lives (literally or metaphorically) for you.

If you have the opportunity, give thanks directly to those who have blessed you so richly. And, of course, the source of all blessings and the model for how to truly live out our Thessalonians text is Jesus. Celebrate Christ the King Sunday and Thanksgiving well knowing that Jesus gave his life freely and has freed us all. That is the true “In Memoriam” moment. The cup and the loaf are the true banquet where we remember and where we actually engage Jesus’ body and blood. That beats the stuffing out of turkey and yams and stuffing any day. Savor the feast and make room for others who are hungry.

God, thank you. Amen.

e-vo for week of November 11

Dearest e-votees-

Today is the day set aside to commemorate the service of veterans in our country. I thought it fitting to swing away from the assigned lessons for this Sunday and choose one particularly appropriate for the day.

Blessings to you as you enjoy your hard-earned freedoms this day.

Peace,
Karl

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This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

John 15:12-17, NRSV

There are two deep threads that run through these words of Jesus.

Jesus talks about the deep nature of sacrificial love. He is preparing his disciples for the cross. He is assuring them that the deep sacrifice he is making is to establish and affirm their friendship. God stoops to us creatures and washes our feet and then goes on to die the shameful death of a criminal. We didn’t take Jesus’ life from him so much as he laid it down. Through the agony of Gethsemane Jesus opted to endure the cross on our behalf.

Jesus talks about the hope he has for his friends. They are to bear fruit. They are to live in love. They are to be about the Father’s business. The call on them is “to love”. This text is where Maundy Thursday gets its name. Maundy derives from the latin root that means “to command” mandatum). We are commanded to love. We are not only to love those who love us and who provide for us and who are appealing to us. We are commanded to love our enemies and those who wish to work us harm and those who are repugnant to us. Jesus shows that in his willingness to die for us while we were yet sinners—see Romans 5:6-8. He shows that to us when he prays for his executors from the cross—see Luke 23:34.

Honorable veterans bear out these two threads as well. They offer themselves fully knowing that at any time they might be called to make the ultimate sacrifice. They do it for love of country and love of humanity. They do it to help purchase freedoms and liberties for some who don’t even begin to deserve such a sacrifice on their behalf. The sacrifices made are in order that peace and love might be the final outcome. There is a hope that war might become obsolete when all are set free. We ought to be deeply thankful for those who have braved awful conditions and hazardous circumstances that we might never have to know the terrors of war.

Today also happens to be the day when Søren Kiekegaard died in 1855. Here is a quote of his that seems well-suited to a day where we give thanks for freedoms paid for in blood and deep sacrifice:

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.

Either/Or, vol. 1, "Diapsalmata" (1843)

God, we thank you so much for the service of our veterans. Comfort the families who grieve untimely deaths—particularly those who grieve the massacre at Fort Hood. Help us cherish the hard won liberties that are ours. Help us especially cherish the hard won freedom we have from Jesus’ work on the cross. Help us love our enemies and make war a thing of the past. Amen.