breaking the six degrees of seperation

Today's Readings; Psalm 42,43,85,86, Jeremiah 10:11-24, Romans 5:12-21, John 8:21-32

I was struck a number of years ago about all the hype of "six degrees of seperation". What is it?

Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy and popularized by a play written by John Guare.

The play writes:
"A fascinating game grew out of this discussion. One of us suggested performing the following experiment to prove that the population of the Earth is closer together now than they have ever been before. We should select any person from the 1.5 billion inhabitants of the Earth—anyone, anywhere at all. He bet us that, using no more than five individuals, one of whom is a personal acquaintance, he could contact the selected individual using nothing except the network of personal acquaintances. "

Our readings tell us a different story today. Paul writes in Romans that the human web is connected by one of two acquaintances; Adam or Jesus and there is are not six degrees of separation, but one.

"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ!" (Romans 5:16)

Further more, these acquaintances do not cross over! "For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19)

There it is! It's not a 1:1, but a 1:All! There are not 6 degrees, but one. One you grasp this, you gain the gift Christ died for you to have; freedom. (John 8:32)

blessings
b

" Jesus is the only good thing the white man ever gave us!"

Today's Readings: Psalm 119:97-20, 81,82, Jeremiah 8:18-9:6, Romans 5:1-11, John 8:12-20

"Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?"

I was first haunted by these words when I heard them sung in a church. There is an old spiritual that sings this lament in the positive. "There is a balm, in Gilead, that heals the sin-sick soul". I have always been drawn to the songs sung by slaves. Songs of hope in the midst of hell. Songs of a future while held by chains. Songs of joy while families are ripped apart while pain is imparted by the rod of an evil man. And yet, over all the current hell, those who have found hope sing loud. Now, some of you may think (rightly) that many twisted the Word of God to fill their greedy pockets. True. But the real Jesus, the real Hope is there. This is what my friend Ruben told me once. Ruben is 100% Shinecock Indian and lives on the Res in Southampton. I caught up to him years later when I made a trip back. By them I was a Christian and I knew he was so I had to ask him. "Ruben, how can you look at white Christians knowing what many did to your people in the Name of Jesus?" He looked down at me and smiled a huge grin "Bry- Bry, Jesus is the only good thing the white man ever gave us!"

So there you go. There IS a balm, we just keep it hidden on the shelf. Do we really think He is the balm for everything? Are to telling others where the Balm is?

this dog won't hunt

Today's Readings; Psalm 78:1-72, Jeremiah 7:21-34, Romans 4:13-25, John 7:37-52

Awhile back I was watching a TV program on training hunting dogs. The trainer was nationally known and his dogs took top honors in many trials. But still, there were some that just didn't get it. They could come from the best lines and be given an inordinate amount of time, but nadda. They are trained with other dogs so they are mentored. Zip. He tossed out a phrase that has stuck with me;  "this dog won't hunt". Today God  applies this phrase to us.

Psalm 78 speaks clearly that we are (the human race)  like a dogs that just won't hunt. We may get excited in our kennel when we get to the woods. Our ears may perk up when we hear ducks. But that's all she wrote. We came from the best line (made in the image of God), we were given the best trainers (the Prophets) and the best workout (the Law) but still we didn't listen. "In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; they did not believe...they would flatter him with their mouth, lying to them tongues; their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant" (32, 36).

Yet God persisted in loving his litter. And he persists in loving us when we do the same. He won't sell us off.

God did a new thing that no one imaged. You see it's true that you can't teach an old dog a new trick, so God made us  old dogs into a new dogs.... dogs that can indeed  hunt.

Did you see how he does it? We are made new when we are drawn into Christ through His resurrection. God made a new blood-line as it were via the blood of Jesus. The old blood-line of Adam led to death. New dogs hunt, old dogs don't/

When we have faith to believe that God can do this (as we should since we have the proof of the resurrection) we start to hunt...and live faithful lives. Then we are given the Holy Spirit to train and lead us in all righteousness.

Which blood-line do you belong to? If you were taken to the fields, would you hunt? It doesn't matter if you get there first or last, just that you get there and have at it.

...are we lucky dogs or what?

Lent in East Africa

Today's Readings: Psalm 80, 77, 79, Jeremiah 7:1-15, Romans 4:1-12, John 7;4-36
Off to make a hospital run. I commend to you today my friend Leslie Hine's post on Lent. This past year she and her family moved from a small town in PA (she is a Texan) to Uganda. He husband Travis is a teacher the Ugandan Christian University. Please follow the link.
http://hinesfamily.blogspot.com/
Blessings
b

He did what? Inconceivable!

Todays' Readings: Psalms 75,76,23,27. Jeremiah 5:20-31, Romans 3:19-31, John 7:1-13
      "For not from the east or from the west
      and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
      but it is God who executes judgment,
      putting down one and lifting up another.
      For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup
      with foaming wine, well mixed,
      and he pours out from it,
      and all the wicked of the earth
      shall drain it down to the dregs."
                                  Psalm 75:6-8
By now if you have been following the readings of the Daily Office through Lent, the theme should be clear; Judgment. Mankind has and is judged and the ruling has come back. No plea bargains. No deals in the hallway. The sentence cannot be shortened for time served or good behavior.

As funny as the video may be, it has been a reminder for me since I sat in my Psalms class in seminary of what is happening in a realm we cannot see.  Dean Ulrich taught my course but the Holy Spirit was the one who brought me to a deep understanding that Christ drank this cup mentioned in the Psalm.  The wrath was unleashed upon Jesus before and during His crucifixion. It was not a game of wits played with a Sicilian. It was God and Man.  The Son of God knowing full-well what the Sons of Adam did not; He knew there was death in the cup and still  He took the cup, and drank it to the dreggs, for you, and for me.

We who have been given the gift of faith can now look back and see where He pulled the cup from our hands just before it reached our lips and without hesitation drank it deeply. We were spared the cup and given a Spring of Living Water. We put the poison in it, and He took its wrath.

Are you trying to outwith in the game of judgment? It won't work. You don't have to. The cup is empty, if you pick the one in the hand of Jesus.

happy half-a-90th birthday to my feet!

Today's Readings: Ps 85,87, Isaiah 52:7-12, Hebrews 2:5-10

Today I am exactly one-half of ninety years old. If you asked me twenty years ago what my favorite physical attributes were I would have answered; my long flowing surfer sun-bleached hair, my eyes that turned at certain times, my lats I grew from swinging  a hammer all day, and my rock-hard stomach from paddling for waves. 

Today things are different. These are no longer my favorite physical attributes and it is not because my hair is darker, short and non-existent on top. Nor is it because my eyes use one pair of glasses for distance and one pair for reading. It's not even because I no longer stare at my six-pack because, well, it is no longer there and my stomach is rounder and squishy.

But even if I still had these things they would pale in comparison to my feet. Yep, my feet.  My freckled-hairy toed-troll feet. They are not your trophy-husband-beef-cake-foot-model-looking-critters to be sure. Pretty funny looking and definitely not show stopping. How can this be? Simple. God loves my feet. He made them beautiful (read Hebrews) Whatever He loves, I love too.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion,“Your God reigns! 

For most of my life I used my feet to run away from God. Now, by His work and grace, they are waking around the world telling everyone of His love and mercy. He changed my heart and called me to himself (see today's reading on John). Seems like the old song I sang as a kid was wrong; the foot-bone is not connected to the leg-bone. It is connected to the heart-bone.

This past year my love for Him had my feet walk in African dirt, up inner-city stairs, across senior center floors, into coffee shops, across streets to neighbors' houses, next to cult-members spreading misinformation about Jesus, down hospital hallways to the sick and dying and  next to Muslims and people who sacrifice animals. They carried me to children wearing charms from witchdoctors and kids in housing projects, kids in the suburbs and kids in daycare.  They walked up to enginers for Mercedes, politicians, electricians, alcholics, drug addicts and people in recovery. They even had me walk in front of people in church on Sunday all to proclaim good news, peace, good tidings, salvation and that our God reigns! All because God gave me new feet to match my new heart. And my feet go where God wants to proclaim His message of  love and mercy.

So, happy half-of-ninety birthday to my feet. By His will and grace, He shall give them the later half of my 90 years. They  have miles to go before they sleep, and many more places to show off what God did to them. 

Where are your feet taking you? Does God love your feet? Do you?

not dead-dead, mostly dead?

Today's Readings: Psalms 70,71,74. Jeremiah 4:9-10, 19-28, Romans 2:12-24, John 5:19-29

"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." 
                                                             John 5:25
In the classic film Princess Bride the hero of the story appears to be killed by the bad guy. His friends take him to see Max the Miracle Worker (Billy Crystal), who declares that he is not "dead-dead, but mostly dead" and by his magic arts, brings him back to life.
Here ends the reading of the Gospel.

We who are in Christ, according to the readings today, are not dead-dead, but mostly dead. Those who are are apart, are and will remain, dead-dead. A chilling thought. One that is not thought about often in the American Church. One that is told throughout the Bible. I am not judging. I am stating the fact that God has put forth. Do you believe this to be true?

In Romans 12:25 he tells us plainly that we will be judged by God at the End of Days according to the "secret" things of our hearts. The Greek here is "kryptos" (we get cryptic from this) and translates in the Bible to "hidden" or "secret" here. This word is used when Jesus talks about our giving and our prayer, both of which are to be done in private and should spring forth from the depths of our hearts.

There will be no hiding then, and there is no hiding now. Our attempts to hide from God will prove just as futile as Adam and Eve's in the Garden of Eden. So repent of your sin, repent of your rebellion, repent of your self-centered life and turn to God. He is faithful and just to forgive. In His is power, and dominion over all the earth. He knows your heart. Your actions and words belie where your trust falls. If you sin and grieve and try not to again, you are on the right path. If you have no grief, but only anger or pride. Repent.

This takes the rebirth of the Holy Spirit. Pray the prayer today we say each Sunday (collect for Purity);

Almighty God, unto Whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from Whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy holy Name: through Christ our Lord. Amen

This is Lent. A time to get honest. A time to allow God to make us New. Don't pass the gift of repentance up. Don't wait. I beg you.

Today's Readings; Ps 72, Jeremiah 3:6-18, Romans 1:28-2:11, John 5:1-18

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”  The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”


In North America it is very hard to understand helpless and I would even go so far as to say that we deny it. We are a technocratic-can-do society. This is a double-edged sword.  We have been blessed to have the resources to accomplish audacious goals such as walk on the moon. This is due to the Providential hand we have been dealt inasmuch as in comparison to most of the world we rarely suffer from drought, civil war, external aggression or widespread disease. We have "disposable" income, most do not live hand to mouth. This has led, in a large part, to a distancing from God and our dependence upon Him. There are few houses in which this can be read on a computer that cry out to God to send rain, stop fire, keep the tribal wars from reaching our huts, or heal the sore on a leg.

Our sense of independence seems most prevalent in our health care. There is little that science has not attempted to manipulate, alleviate or replace. This past week we saw in the States the first full-face transplant. We use pig parts in our hearts, harvest organs from donors and grow our own cells in other species. I do not bring this up to discuss ethics. I mention this to show the degree we can and do go in North America to alleviate the helplessness and dependence on anyone one or anything but ourselves.

How many can say "I have no one to help into the pool?" Few I would argue. We have hidden the fact of our dependence behind our creativity and intelligence. We have been endowed with powerful tools, but they only work if the Creative Force (God) who designed the system we are trying to manipulate allows it. Yes? In our readings today God points out our inability to stop being faithless to Him and our helplessness in even trying. Jeremiah calls us out for our unfaithfulness to God even when we watch others in the act. We prostitute ourselves to ourselves. John gives us the clearest picture of our state. Jesus brings the healing here for two reasons; He points the nameless man and the Temple leaders to the degree He has power and say over Natural Law and the Law of Moses. He is Master of Heaven and Earth. He also gives us a vivid picture that we are like toys without batteries apart from Him. We cannot get into the pool of healing unless someone comes along and carries us. 

Do you really think you put yourself in the pool? Do you really think you are the one who keeps yourself afloat?

Jesus and the leaky birdbath

Today's Readings; Psalm 61,62,68,Jerimiah 2:1-13, Romans 1:16-25, John 4:43-54

We love to garden and take care of birds at our house. We've got lots of rocks to add texture and interest.  A number of them I've found in river beds and have been carved out by the currents and now act as birdbaths. They don't hold too much, so we have to keep refilling them....and they were a pain to bring home I might add. I lugged this one out by hand for an hour (it weighs 40 pounds or so).

I like them though, but they are not very effective. Still, I laboured hard to find them and bring them back. The reading in Jeremiah speaks to this;
"for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water"

What is the prophet talking about here? I don't have a cistern ( I do have a rain barrel). God is telling us that we, who have been made in the image of God, returned the favor and made God look like us. ...and well, that just doesn't hold water. No wonder or lives lack the power of God.

Our sinful bodies and minds cannot hold the Living water without the master well-digger. We left the River of Life and are drinking from polluted little puddles. Why? Our minds, when un-regnerated, crave dirt over clean, old over new, death over life.

Where are you drinking? Are you still thirsty?

cleanup in isle one (I made a mess of myself)

Today's Readings: Psalm 56,57,58,64,65, Jeremiah 1:11-19, Romans 1:1-15, John 4:27-42

My first job I ever had was bagger at Frank's Supermarket. I loved it, most of it. It was always the low-man on the list who had to respond to the call over the PA "cleanup in isle..."
We never know what we would find, but rest assured at times it was bad. I will spare you the details.

Now as a dad I am once again the position of cleanup man. It is my job. My children make messes. Sometimes it is because they are acting out, but most of the times it's because of an accident while they are learning how to perfect a new task....or because they are sick, or just doing what babies doo (pun intended).

Whatever the reason they need help. I am the dad, it is my house, they are my children. I cannot leave the mess. Enter in today's readings. The great cleanup in isle earth.

Jeremiah reminds up that our father is familiar with all our messes. He even knows when and where they will happen. And John shows us the great cleanup plan. To a really messy woman. There is no "pick up your mess". She knows she can't. This cleanup lasted. Not a mop and wringer bucket like I used back at Frank's, but blood and a cross.

Unlike me, The Father does not complain when he is called into the mess. He forsook it all to do so. Mess after mess after mess he comes. We just need to call on the intercom.

Happy Lent, the Master Cleanup Man is waiting with His tools. Don't stay dirty.

first Bibles

The woman on the right is Ruth. She runs the clinic that I visit each year in Tanzania. The man the left asked for a Bible last year, how could I say no. As it turned out, he can't read it but his wife can. As soon as I gave him the book he began quoting Scripture he had memorized.

Today my brother bought his first Bible at a conference were attending. He's 47.  He came back with such joy in His face.

I think this is one of the best days of my life. I love it when folks fall in in Love with God and get the fire for His word

mud wresting with a Muslim friend (as told my David, Bono and me)

Today's Readings; Psalms 40, 54, 51, Deuteronomy 10:12-22, Hebrews 4:11-16, John 3:22-36
We fed the seniors in our neighborhood and then later I called bingo in the afternoon. As I was leaving I had the most intense conversation with a Muslim I have had in my life. The guy is a casual friend and I like him alot. I've been hoping and praying to have this kind of talk, but I just got blind sided. He knows I''m a priest and that we had a dinner for Fat Tuesday for the folks in town.
"Let me ask you, is Saint Patrick and Mardi Gras the same man?" Excuse me? "In Portuguese or another language they call Saint Patrick Mardi Gras, he is the one who killed the snakes, yes?"
It would take a number of pages to land that plane, but we talked about Patrick and faith and Jesus and then I asked him about Cairo and his perspective. "The Muslim-Christian conflict is a made-up one in Egypt that was propagated by the government years ago. We do not care if you are Christian or Muslim" he told me. "We are not so different, our books are not so different, we believe in the great prophets...I have to believe in Jesus, or I cannot be a Muslim. He was a great prophet". So I asked him about Christ's (and God's) proclamation of him being God.  My friend taught me that he had learned that these were added verses. I learned much about his faith that half hour.
But, I asked, if Jesus was not God, how could he rise from the dead?
"Oh, he did not die on the cross, that was someone else. Jesus the prophet was taken up to heaven. God would never allow His prophets to be treated like that. He protects his prophets!"

I listened and prayed while he spoke. I was respectful and not looking to jump in. I was privileged to enter into a world view in a way I could never have learned from a book. Of course I disagree with it. See, we are completely different he and I, when it comes to our faith and our Holy Books. And the difference is the Cross. It was, and still remains the stumbling block that keeps many who seek after God from finding Him.

But the cross was there and it is for us. Psalm 40:1-4 gives us some insight into it's power today. It was in the deepest depths that Christ was pulled from. He entered into it, into our sin and lives, and was then exalted to the highest place in heaven. Because of this, many will see and fear God, and put their trust in Him. It is the same in our lives. When others see where we were and where we are, they will see and put trust if God.

The world needs to see the cross for all it was. The world needs to see the shame Christ endured. And we need to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work. We need to let God wrestle with His people in the mud.

So let me ask you,  how would you respond to a faithful person who says to you "God always protects His prophets".  If God allowed Jesus to endure what He did so that others would see it, how do you respond when God "apparently" does not protect you?
b

can water wash away a tatoo?

Today's Readings; Psalms 119:49-72, 49, 53, Deuteronomy 9:13-21, Hebrews 3:13-21, John 2:23-3:15
Today's readings speak of God's unwavering promises and love to people that have been beaten and killed. They have had their fields burned. Their animals had been slaughtered and left for the wild dogs. They have watched their families carted off to be sold as slaves.
And in the midst of it all, God says "don't worry, be still, I know, it will be ok".
Do you believe it?
During Lent we offer things to God, but would our hearts sing the song of Joy we read about today if we were on the high point of Japan when the wall of water came and washed it all away? Would we? How could we?

Water does not wash away tattos. Isaiah 49:16 tells us we are tatooed on the hands of God. People may assail us, the broken world may unleash against us, but He who is for, us will always be for us.

We can only live in this trust, we read, if we are born again. Have you ever really meditated on that command? As a dad of toddlers whom I adore this is a hard pill to swallow. I am telling Olivia and Hannah ( or will be, they can't grasp this one), that they need to have new parents and family. New loves and values, new desires, new bodies! Then, and only then will they have access to the family inheritence...power of the Holy Spirit now, a new heart, and in the age to come, Eternal Life. This rebirth comes after being called back into the womb as it were by God. It is a response to an invitation! And it is in this new birth that God works away at the calluses on our hearts with the pumice stone of the Holy Spirit.

Are you really reborn, are you living like the new family?

houses that will never crumble

Today's Readings; Psalm 45,47,48, Deuteronomy 9:4-12, Hebrews 3:1-11, John 2:13-22
When I first started to chase after Jesus I was given a trade and a place to live by a great family. I learned carpentry, and so much more.
Jesus was a carpenter as well and I thought of this everyday, every time I swung my hammer. But I knew everything I ever built would one day disapear. Nothing withstands time, expect for God.
This past summer during my stay in Tanzania I made bricks for a house. I was surrounded my craftsmen using nothing more than mud, sand and water. As hard as they worked, and as good a job they did, they were only building a temporary shelter.
Jesus teaches us to build a dwelling that will never depart.
When we are the temple of Jesus, we are the house built on the rock. No matter what comes, our home will not be shaken. Our homes can never be destroyed.
Look at your house today. What are you built of? The temporary, or the eternal?

How did I get here?

Today's Readings:Ps 41, 52, 44, Deuteronomy 8:11-18, Hebrews 2:11-18, John 2:1-12
"beware lest you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth"

God has never allowed this to sink into my heart, not too deep at least. How can I say that? Simple. The adage "the parts can't make up anything greater than the whole" does not apply to my life.

I am now greater than the pieces of my life, and that is an act of God. My life is a testimony to God. I boast only in what God is doing and has done in my life. I didn't finish High School because I failed US history twice. My GPA was horrible. I was pushed along and received favor because I played lacrosse and perhaps teachers wanted me out of their classrooms. I was given academic probation four times in college, was dismissed from the first one I attended. Ended up in the hospital the first month of my freshman year because of blood-alcohol poisoning. I ended up my last semester before God began to work a miracle in my life (while I was still literally blaspheming Him) with a 0.67 GPA. Then the miracle happened; I was, with my own mouth, able to admit defeat. I simply had no idea what I was doing and desperately needed help.
The next semester, thanks to some help in how to learn, I ended up with a 3.25 and was placed on the Dean's List. I have since earned my BA in Political Science and my Masters in Divinity (3.75ish) and am ordained Anglican Priest. I have two wonderful girls and  a wife who has given up all sense of a normal life for the Kingdom of God. I spend a month each summer in Tanzania and in the states I spend my life for the benefit of the poor and spiritually unaware.
All this is from God. And all I can do in response is weep with gratitude and pray for strength when I get tired.
He has made much of my life.
I want to make much of Him.
Do you? Or do you make much of yourself? Think about it, deeply. Happy Lent
b

Oh I love that dirty water....yeah, Jesus you're my home

Today's Readings;

Psalm 30, 32, 42, 43, Deuteronomy 7:17-26, Titus 3:1-15, John 1:43-51

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God."

Psalm 42:1-2                     

We don't understand this verse like we are supposed to. We like bottled water. This is healthy, to an extent. We understand that there is very little water left in the world in which you can simply dip your hand and take a drink. We know we need water. But we tend to drink it more for the "health benefits" than because we are dying of thirst. We have, I would argue, divorced ourselves from the reality of "dying of thirst". And for this I am grateful, to an extent. I also believe it has led to our lack of dependence and thirst for God. How?

I met these kids in a village called Mwakashinda, in Tanzania three years back. I was working with the mobile clinic distributing mosquito nets that my ministry had purchased and spent the day with them. I understand how scarce water is in Tanzania so I asked them to show me where they got their water. They took my hand and we ran-skipped down the path for a half mile or so until we came to their water source; this puddle, creek, thing. This is where they walk to every day and fill buckets, place them on their heads (the girls, boys carry them) and then walk back and drink it and cook with it and wash with it and everything else.

They know they need to boil it, but boiling uses up precious, expensive charcoal, so most just heat it up. It makes them sick some of the time, keeps them below optimue health most of the time, but keeps them alive all of the time. This water was what the deer was panting for. This is what his tongue was sticking out of his parched mouth about. This is what made the kids beam with pride. This is what keeps the babies of Tura alive. This is what parches the African thirst. This is life...

When you look at the picture, what is your first reaction? As a North American I would venture to say you had a combination of two feelings; 

1) you were disgusted and thought to yourself you would never drink that

2) you were filled with compassion ( I hope) and wanted to dig them a well

In either case, it proves the point I began this post with; you do not understand desperation for water. If you did, you would have said, ah, life giving water! Thank you God! If you have never understood desperation for water, you can not understand what the writer understands desperation for God to feel like.  How can I say that? 

Desperation makes you cry out. Desperation clarifies what you are lacking. Desperation screams of need. We in North America (most of us, most of the time) live without desperation.

When you can say with confidence you have experienced desperation, then you can pray with the psalmist with integrity; my soul thirsts for God. Then you will have the heart of gratitude that understands just how life-giving the well of Living Water is. Until this happens in your life, you'll keep on trusting bottled water and not the source.

This Lent, pray God shows you how to be desperate. Pray you no longer drink from the well of self-sufficiency, but from the source of Life.

we are HOLY wall-flowers called out to DANCE

Today's Readings:Psalm 37:1-42, Deuteronomy 7:6-11, Titus 1:1-16, John 1:29-34
 We read in Deuteronomy today that the Jews were the ultimate wall-flowers.  They weren't the greatest in number. Nothing special. Back then the tribes that were large got so because of their ability at life...so a small tribe was seen as nothing much to look at. Like the folks who go to a dance and get sore butts just sitting and hoping.  They have busted hearts from not getting chosen when the "important ones" walk by to find a partner. They get passed over and spend the night wishing and dreaming.

But God calls out the Jews (and Christians by adoption Eph. 3:5) onto the dance floor, that's what "holy" means, to be called out, separted for a special purpose. And that purpose is to enter into the dance with One who made the dance floor. They were called out to be God's dance partner, forever. Never again would they sit alone. They were dancing with THE morningSTAR and would never have to switch partners.

And we, in Christ are the same called out wallflowers (Hebrews 13:5)....and Lent asks us to look in the wall mirror in the dance studio of our lives...who do we see ourselves dancing with? We can only have one of three partners; God, ourselves, or the world (the tempter). Who is leading? What moves are we doing? We can't just sit still. We can't be like Kim Kardashian who froze on stage when she got called out by Prince at Madison Square Garden awhile back. She got pulled off the stage, Prince was ripped that she froze. It made him look bad. Her partner didn't show her the moves...

But our Dance Partner shows us the moves in Titus today. We are called out and shown the moves. We can't  dance like a person who just wants to leave a covenental marriage, be a jerk, hate doing good, violent, get trashed, fly off the handle when things get hard (Titus 1:1-16). Our moves must be loving, joyful, peaceful, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled (Gal 5:22-23)....no matter how anyone else is dancing around us. The moves can hard at times, but God wouldn't call us out onto the dance floor if He knew we couldn't do the moves. Yes, at times we miss a beat, that's where mercy and forgivness comes in. Prince kicked Kim off the floor when she blew it. God came onto the dance floor himself and showed us how to boogie at the Incarnation!

So, who are you dancing with? Do you think you are a great dancer because of your moves, or do you realize you are on the CENTER STAGE because the GREATEST PARTNER in the UNIVERSE (...after all He made it) called you out? Lent is here, look in the mirror, get out your dancin' shoes, check your moves...the dance party is coming.
b

Lent for the rest of us...garbage heads for Jesus

The history of the Church is full of folks most would call "saints". The heavy-hitters of the faith whose  lives loudly proclaim "this one has got it!" Sounds well and good, but with one problem. All of us who follow Jesus are saints. "But I don't have the time to live like that! I have a job, kids, a house, a car! Those guys lived in a cave and ate only twigs (not really, sort of)."
Yep, true, our lives are more complicated and full than some of theirs may have been, but the call to Holiness and discipleship are no less. We don't get off easy because we made our lives complicated.
So what about us? What can we do? Enter the blessing of Lent, a time where we are called into a state of self-denial and self-reflection and it all starts today, Ash Wednesday...garbage day, to be more exact.
That's what the ashes were (see Nehemiah 9:10). They weren't the nice clean ones we use. Nope, they didn't save their palms from the previous year (no Jesus yet) and burn them or buy a bag-o-ashes from a church supply store. Don't get me wrong, we do this and the intention behind this is good. Nope, the ashes they put on their heads came from burned garbage from the city dump. Stuff like the burnt offal from the sacrifices, the nasty profaned parts that God said could be near Him. Garbage Heads, one and all. Why? Because they were really sorry and would gladly wear their shame. If we could wear or sins on our heads, this is what it would look like.
Would you sit in garbage? Would you go to work with garbage on your head? Would you pull out rotting things from you barrel, done them and shop at Adams? Pop in to D&D? Why not? We would look like fools, yeah?
So who are we kidding? God sees what we are really wearing on our heads  even if we want to see nice clean ashes.
So that's Ash Wednesday. If you really want to get right about it, think about what garbage you wear. Ask God to clean you up. He will.
b