e-vo for week of June 27

Dearest e-votees-

This week we will look at the appointed Old Testament text for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost.

May we be blessed as we remember the steadfast love of the Lord which never, never ceases.

Peace,
Karl

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22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. 26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 27 It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, 28 to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, 29 to put one's mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), 30 to give one's cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. 31 For the Lord will not reject forever. 32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.

Lamentations 3:22-33, NRSV

It would be nice if we were always assuredly aware of the steadfast love of the Lord. That no matter what came our way we would know without a flicker of a doubt that all is well and that we are absolutely secure.

But sometimes come the dark nights of the soul:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Night_of_the_Soul)

Sometimes we forget who it is who truly sustains us and gives us all that we need. We place our hope in illusory supports and even trust our own strength and conniving to dig us out. We get impatient waiting. We stubbornly hunker down in our despair. We find that even youthful strength and chutzpah is no match for the yokes that can crush down so persistently on us. We find ourselves face down in the dirt, smitten and scorned. We might wonder what we have done to cause God to set upon us and maybe even reject us now and forever.

Sometimes the dark nights come but God’s mercies come in the morning. God is faithful. God’s love is faithful. So much more than our failings and shortcomings is the persistent and gracious and restorative love of God.

Sometimes we forget whose we are and who sustains us. But God will never forget us. God continues to pour manna and loaves and fishes and daily bread and everything else we need to live and thrive for God knows that we don’t live by bread alone.

Sometimes we get restless and anxious and our reptilian brains kick in. The lamenter encourages us to wait and trust and to bear the things that have come our way. We are called, with God’s help, to transcend our fears. They will pass. God’s love and good favor will not.

My hope and prayer is that these words don’t speak to you so very much because you are palpably aware that you are good and secure in God’s love. If not, however, may these words offer comfort and hope. God loves you more than you can know. That love will never, never cease. Thanks be to God.


God, continue to sustain us with your steadfast love. We pray that you would shape us into vessels that anoint the hurting world around us with that very same steadfast love. Amen.

e-vo for week of June 20

Dearest e-votees-

Our appointed psalm lesson for this week is Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32. It is certainly drawn upon to reinforce the appointed gospel lesson from Mark 4:35-41 where Jesus calms the storm.

One thing that is lost through this particular snipping of the pericope, however, is that we lose the repetition of the refrain found in verses 6, 13, 19 and 28: “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he [“delivered them” (6), “saved them” (13 & 19), “brought them out” (28)] from their distress;”

No matter the trouble whether in the desert places or in prisons or in sickness or in turbulent seas the response from God when the people cried out was always God rescuing them from their distress. Do you think God’s heart is still inclined to come to the aid of God’s people when they cry out in faith and hope?

Peace,
Karl

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1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, those he redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

23 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the mighty waters; 24 they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. 25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. 26 They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their calamity; 27 they reeled and staggered like drunkards, and were at their wits’ end. 28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; 29 he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. 31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind. 32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32, NRSV

There are two strands of salvation.

There is the salvation of verses 1-3. God’s steadfast love which endures forever (even beyond the grave). God redeems us from all troubles, all trials and afflictions. The beggar Lazarus and the repentant thief (traditionally named Dysmas) and even [insert your name here] who struggled and was afflicted with [you know what goes here] are made whole and well and healed and will spend eternity as part of the great cloud of saints gathered from all compass points. The Great Commission has brought us and many to the font and to places of learning and discipleship and to life—life eternal. We know how this story ends and it will end well. God will bring to completion what God has begun.

There is also the salvation of verses 23-31 [and 4-9 and 10-16 and 17-22] in which God’s steadfast love breaks into situations that beset us in this life. Things come our way. We cry out to the Lord in our trouble and mercy comes. We cry out to the Lord in our trouble and healing comes. We cry out to the Lord in our trouble and freedom comes. We cry out to the Lord in our struggles and failings and temptations and healing comes. Things are made right. Storms are stilled. Demons are sent packing. We are found clothed and in our right minds wanting to walk with Jesus every day. People who knew us before might not even recognize us or may even be terrified at the holy transformation that has occurred in our lives.

But as real and true and awesome and necessary the second sort of salvation is we know that it is sometimes only a temporary reset. The other Lazarus was given a mulligan but he still got to go through death again. Sometimes the storms do us in. Sometimes a part of us dies from exposure in the desert. Sometimes we don’t get spared the consequences of our wrong-headed choices. Sometimes things come our way whether merited—think Adam and Eve; think Ananias and Sapphira—and sometimes when they are not—think Job (also part of this week’s appointed lessons); think the man born blind. Something will be our undoing. Whether a literal death or a figurative death something will trump our abilities to survive—maybe storms; maybe consequences of our sinfulness; maybe desert exposure; maybe chambers and prisons—we will not survive everything that besets us. Death and mortality are part of our fallen nature.

Our job is not to heap judgment on those who might succumb as Job’s “friends” did. All of us will find ourselves among the ashes with only potsherds to bring us comfort at some point. Death will come. Healing will not always be the end of our sicknesses in this world. We do well to offer comfort and care to all who suffer knowing that in caring for “the least of these” we care for Jesus. May God’s mercy and comfort send us such ministering angels when it is our time. And then we die.

But that first salvation trumps the failings of the second salvation. Death will not win. Jesus’ resurrection is the forerunner of our own resurrections. We will be with Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. We will be with Jesus in Paradise with Dysmas. The storms will be ceased once and for all. There will be no more crying save, perhaps, tears of purest joy. Thanks be to God that we will be saved. And because of that we need not fear any storm, nor any cell, nor any illness, nor any desert, nor even any fiery furnace for “If our God who we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18, NRSV


Saving God, save us as you will in this life. Teach us to cry out to you and to wait for your salvation. You are good and faithful. And when we are not saved from our demise in this life raise us imperishable to take our place with you and the great cloud of witnesses for the truest and purest and most holy salvation you have established for your people. Amen.

e-vo for week of June 13

Dearest e-votees,

Jesus uses figurative language to tease out the nuances of the kingdom of God. This week we have a couple parables about seeds and plant growth. May God bless us all as we receive and share seeds, allow them to germinate and celebrate the growth that only God can accomplish.

Peace,
Karl

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26 He also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come." 30 He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." 33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Mark 4:26-34, NRSV

At the beginning of the 4th chapter of Mark Jesus tells a parable about seeds being sowed. After a brief recap of Isaiah 6:9-10 and the purpose of parables Jesus interprets the parable of the sower. The varieties of soils and subsequent growth are different sorts of people and how the word takes root in their lives. The two parables of the seeds assigned for this coming Sunday follow on the heels of the parable of the sower and its interpretation.

The kingdom of God gets seed scattered into our lives. The seed is certainly the word. The seed may also be the witness of faithful lives of parents, baptismal sponsors, friends and perfect strangers. The seed may also be traditions and customs and practices of the faith communities to which we belong. The seed may also be our denominational connections with their particular theological sensibilities. The seed could be whatever God chooses to use to cause the kingdom of God to grow in our lives.

In the parable it is striking that the “someone” who is sowing has no idea how the seeds are sprouting and growing.

God plants seeds in our lives. We don’t know how they sprout or grow. There are some things we can do to that may facilitate the growth: regular watering (returning to and remembering our baptism), fertilizing (put the dead and decaying things into the mix so that God can bring new life out of them—repentance, confession, etc.) and even talking to the plant (drawing near life-giving conversations and teachings—Bible studies, sermons, mutual consolation of the saints). But ultimately, it is not about what we do or do not do but rather what God began and what God brings to completion.

A very favorite Bible verse to me is:

3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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.

Philippians 1:3-6, NRSV

God begins a good work and God brings it to completion.

God will also use us to sow seeds into the lives of others. We may well be oblivious to the sprouting and growing but they are certainly accomplishing what God intended -- see Isaiah 55:10-11. The point is not us or how well we cast the seed or how faithfully we watered it and fertilized and verbally coaxed it from the ground. The point is not even if we are aware of the growth going on or not. The point it God begins the work and God brings it to completion.

Lord of the harvest, continue to cast your seeds into our lives and grow them according to your plan. Use us as you wish to accomplish your plans and cast seeds in your name into the lives of others. Help us release our frets and concerns about the crop knowing that you created the seeds to do what you intended. You begin the work and you bring it to completion. In that be glorified.

e-vo for week of June 6

Dearest e-votees-

For this week’s reflection we are going to use the appointed psalm text for Sunday, Psalm 130.

May we all be blessed as we wait and trust and cry out to the Lord in whom we find love and power and redemption.

Peace,
Karl

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1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. 8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

Psalm 130, NRSV

“It is always darkest before the dawn” is a phrase that finds its truth not in the physics but in the mathematics of the soul. We know those dark places. This psalm gets at those places of the soul as well.

Nothing seems quite so dark and quite so lonely as just before the dawn. Sentries striving to keep a city safe know the vulnerabilities of the early morning. Verse 6 of the psalm echoes that longing for the safety and assurance of the morning light. When you get up early for work or a long road trip or from a restless night’s sleep camping there is a comfort and a beauty particular to the break of dawn. There is an assurance that things will become brighter and warmer and the threats—real or perceived—will slink back into the darkness.

The psalmist cries out of the depths. The depths evoke the tumultuous seas. The depths evoke the sense of being overwhelmed and consumed. The depths evoke the earth consuming the dead. In that place of panic and stress and mortality the psalmist cries out to the Lord. Would that we all had such faith.

The psalmist is palpably aware that none can stand in the presence of a holy God save by God’s forgiveness. Invoking grace at a desperate and hard moment of the soul the psalmist cries out to a loving and steadfast and powerful God who has redeemed and who will redeem again.

Jesus came into this world. He entered fully into its dark and painful and consuming and deadly depths. He came to bring love and healing and truth and compassion to a world that needed all but knew little. He came to redeem all including us. He is that bright morning star that soothes the dark nights that plague our souls.

As we steep ourselves in this psalm… As we linger in the darknesses that are part of our journey… As we wait for and pray and cry out to the Lord... May we all know the steadfast, sure and redeeming love of God that was so clearly shining through Jesus.

God, help us wait for you Help us trust in you. Help us never tire or neglect your steadfast, redeeming love. Help us grow in accompanying others in their dark places. Shine your love and your light through us. Make us more like Jesus all to your glory. Amen.

e-vo for week of May 30

Dearest e-votees-

May 31 is the day set aside (at least in the Western church calendar) to commemorate the Visitation (when Mary went to visit Elizabeth). This is a feast day that has moved around some. If you want to know some more about how the day came to be where it is on the calendar you can point your browser to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visitation_(Christianity)

What seems to be at the core of this day is people seeing God’s promises come to pass in one another’s life and celebrating together. May God stir us to be with one another and celebrate God at work in one another all to the glory of God.

Peace,
Karl

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39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.

Luke 1:39-57, NRSV

Both cousins, Mary and Elizabeth, got word from Gabriel (Elizabeth through Zechariah, after the fact, once his tongue was unloosed) that they would receive an unexpected son. Mary would bear Jesus even though she was engaged and had not done the normal things that bring children about. Elizabeth would bear John even though she had been written off as barren. God’s glory would be made known through both of them.

Both women, Mary and Elizabeth, offer up spontaneous exultations and praises. Elizabeth’s words are source material for the “Hail Mary” prayed across the world and across time by countless faithful folks. Mary’s words are collectively referred to as “The Magnificat” and is the source material for some of the most beautiful sacred music. The words of these two blessed women have stirred and encouraged faith in many, many, many people.

How do you respond when good news comes into your life? Or the life of a friend? Or the life of a family member?

Do you visit and spend time and luxuriate in the good news with them? Do you break into song and prayer and exultations? What do you do?

For some, the temptation might be to be envious of the blessings and divine insertions that come into the lives of others…

• Why does she get to have such a beautiful voice and get asked to sing all the time?
• Why do they get the marriage that seems so solid and strong and easy?
• Why does he have a faith that seems absolutely unshakeable?
• Why can’t I be more like her?
• Why can’t I be more like him?
• Why doesn’t God bless me in that way?
• Why doesn’t God bless me as much?
• Why doesn’t God love me as much?


I think some of the best words that have been penned about how God would want things to be comes from the pen of Uncle Screwtape in C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters:

The Enemy** [**read God] wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another. The Enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favour that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbour’s talents—or in a sunrise, an elephant, or a waterfall. He wants each man, in the long run, to be able to recognise all creatures (even himself) as glorious and excellent things. He wants to kill their animal self-love as soon as possible; but it is His long-term policy, I fear, to restore to them a new kind of self-love—a charity and gratitude for all selves, including their own; when they have really learned to love their neighbours as themselves, they will be allowed to love themselves as their neighbours. For we must never forget what is the most repellent and inexplicable trait in our Enemy; He really loves the hairless bipeds He has created and always gives back to them with His right hand what He has taken away with His left.

Letter XIV (backwards speak, British spellings and masculine pronouns are all from Screwtape’s text)

God wants us to rejoice in the talents and gifts and blessings of one another. Rightly loving ourselves is deeply connected to rightly loving our neighbors. When we are blessed or when others are blessed—even our enemies—it is time to celebrate. Rightly loving ourselves is deeply connected to rightly loving our enemies too. May we see blessings and gifts and talents in one another—including our enemies—more and more readily. And, in so doing, may we grow in giving praise and honor to God.


Dear God, thank you for loving—really loving—us hairless bipeds. Help us grow in discerning blessings and talents and gifts from you and celebrating them. Teach us to sing and pray and exult like Mary and Elizabeth. Stir faith in us through their testimony and use us to stir faith in others—all to your glory. Amen.

e-vo for week of May 23

Dearest e-votees-

This coming Sunday is one of the high holy days of our church year—Pentecost. It is the day when the Holy Spirit was unleashed in an unprecedented way among the believers. Some have rightly called it the birthday of the church.

Blessings on you as the Holy Spirit blows in and through your worship this Sunday.

Peace,
Karl

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22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Roman 8:22-27, NRSV

There is nothing quite like waiting for a baby to arrive. Some take to creating an elaborate nursery. Some take to reading everything they can lay their eyes on about good and healthy parenting. Some take to sketching out life trajectories and retirement accounts for the unborn. Some just take to dreaming and hoping and praying. There really is nothing quite like waiting for a baby to arrive.

There is certainly nothing quite like a baby arriving. Not just the visceral moments in the delivery room but also every moment after a birth is infused with a new hope, a new joy and a new responsibility. You can talk about and read about and think about and plan about a birth all you want but until it happens you just can’t fully understand.

Paul uses birth imagery in the passage above talking about the pregnant pause of the church coming to fruition. The Holy Spirit is at work helping us pray and sigh and hope and plan and dream. The Holy Spirit that was unleashed at Pentecost still is blowing through God’s people to this day. God opens up our hearts to belief and our minds to understanding. God opens our mouths for opportunities to witness and our ears to hear the cries of “the least of these”. God brings about new things and renews those people that have lost the hope and the vision we ought to have.

Our lesson for this Sunday from Romans stops just before one of the most profound promises of scripture:

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28, NRSV

This does not say that all things that happen to us are caused by God. Way too much pain has been made by carelessly asserting that. What this does say is that no matter what happens God can be at work in it and through it (go Holy Spirit go!!!) and bring good even from the things that seem so very irredeemable. Thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God that the church has been birthed. Thanks be to God that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and because of that we are too and becoming even more so. Thanks be to God that no matter what comes our way God can work to bring good and life and healing.

This faith life we are living—there is nothing quite like it. Let’s give thanks to God and enjoy the journey knowing God has us and will carry us. Let’s give glory to God by sharing that message in whatever ways it takes to get the good news heard by the world around us.


Holy Spirit, you have born us anew as children of God. Continue to stir and blow and prompt and inspire. Fill our lives with your whimsy. Teach us to discern you more clearly and abide with you more faithfully. Amen.

e-vo for week of May 17 (Ascension Day)

Dearest e-votees-

Today—Thursday, May 17—is 40 days after Easter this year[counting the partial days as they do in the Bible (on the 3rd day He rose again…, etc.)]. Acts 1:3 says that Jesus gave many convincing proofs and spoke about the kingdom of God. He told them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:6-11 has the account of Jesus’ ascension.

There is another account in the 24th chapter of Luke (printed below).

Both of these ascension accounts are part of the assigned lessons for “The Ascension of our Lord.”

May you be blessed this day and may your spirits be lifted.

Peace,
Karl

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44 Then [Jesus] said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." 50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

Luke 24:44-53, NRSV

Jesus talks about fulfilling the law and the prophets and the psalms. The law and the prophets show up together fairly frequently in the New Testament. This verse 44 is the only time that the psalms is folded into that formula.

Jesus fulfilled the expectations of the law revealed to Moses and tended by Aaron and so many who sought to honor God with lives lived in a holy and reverent fashion.

Jesus fulfilled the promises and the exhortations revealed to Elijah and Daniel and Jonah and Amos and all the so many others who sought to honor God by speaking the truth about God’s hopes and God’s concerns.

Jesus fulfilled the psalms—the songs and the prayers and the exultations—revealed through David and Asaph and Korahites and all the others who sought to communicate with God through song and prayer and worship. Jesus had a deep connection with the Psalms. Bonhoeffer writes this in “The Prayerbook of the Bible: An Introduction to the Psalms”: “If we want to read and to pray the prayers of the Bible, and especially the Psalms, we must not, therefore, first ask what they have to do with us, but what they have to do with Jesus Christ.” Part of what the Psalms have to do with Jesus Christ is that he brought them to fulfillment.

Having brought things to fulfillment, it was time for Jesus to go. Knowing this was the last thing he would say to this group of disciples and to us before returning to the place that he left on our behalf he says those things that are most important:

• He came as Messiah and brought salvation through suffering
• He rose victoriously on the 3rd day
• Repentance and forgiveness for all people, beginning in Jerusalem, are found in him
• We are called to be witnesses of these things
• We abide in this call not of our own strength but with power from on high

He left them in a posture of blessing. And they gathered and blessed God.


God, help us bless you this day. Help us bless you in those we encounter—easy to love or not so much—who are fashioned in your image. Help us know the truth of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. Help us live as a forgiving and repentant people. Speak your truth through us—with words and without—all in a way that blesses you and the people. Equip us with your power from on high. Thank you for your undeserved love. Help us love others particularly those we might deem as undeserving. Amen.