Isa. 55:1-13; Gal. 5:1-15; Mark 8:27-9:1

In Galatians 5, Paul returns to a central tenet of the gospel message: “For freedom Christ has set us free.”

His tirade on freedom states: “…through love become slaves to one another.  For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Yesterday was quite a day.  This morning continues that.  Let’s just say it has been WET:

• The rain continues this morning.
• Tears were shed when I learned of the death of a former congregant and friend of mine from Oklahoma City, Dan Orza – a faithful follower of these Morning Reflections, often commenting and LIKING posts.
• I washed my hands of a toxic friendship yesterday.  It was a hard decision, but one that needed to be done.  Perhaps this will allow for more room for goodness and God to work.
• Tears were again shed as I resourced a church and got telling a very moving story of Baptism and God claiming us, even though the young man in the story did not feel or understand God’s grace.  It was an example of a deep Presbyterian understanding of baptism and how GOD claims, GOD acts, GOD saves.  (I think the waterworks came because of how deep I know the reality of his baptism affected this young man – years later…it may have saved his life).
• I encountered a powerful reflection and artistic representation of baptism from a fellow minister in MVP, Rev. Cathy Johnson, a “Glimpse of Grace” that boldly declared:  Drop by drop, Hand by hand, We are claimed and named and redeemed, And sent forth to “live wet”.  If you aren’t familiar with Cathy’s powerful ministry, now is the time to plug in!  Email her if you would like to be added to her list.
• Tears flowed again as I read this morning of the death of Mother Capers of Wallingford PC in Charleston, SC, and who was instrumental in my friend and fellow GP colleague Jerrod Lowry discovering his call to ministry.  When he said “I wish that I had the chance to tell her how her words and love impacted me.  I want to feel sad.  Instead I rejoice that her baptism is complete!…Rest well, Mother Capers!” the overwhelming nature of yesterday came back again.

So it was a WET day.

Baptism is a funny thing.  We boldly declare that the old life has passed…a new life has begun.  And yet sin continues to follow us.  Pain and sadness linger.  Hurt abounds.  Brokenness of this world takes hold.  And yet we baptize.  We declare the reality that we are claimed by God.  And we await the day those vows, those promises made at baptism, can become a full reality.

For freedom, Christ has set us free.

Baptism is both a beginning, and a promise of action.

I mentioned in yesterday’s reflection how much of today’s church is being held hostage – being held by our own fear.  The yoke of this slavery is almost too much to bear.  Living in the Church of 2019 is sometimes brutal and challenging.  It is not just struggling churches, but struggling individuals — to make end’s meet, to find true freedom, to experience the new life in Christ truly when chaos, confusion, poverty all swirl around us.

Paul slams his message of freedom home when, in dramatic fashion, he jests: “If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”  If you read Paul closely you discover Paul’s primary concern is knitting up the body of Christ as a relational body, not become a bastion of demonic isolation.

Freedom in Christ means exactly that.  It means not being strangled by the prejudices of the past, but embraced by a new ethic: a Law of Love.  Wasn’t that the whole point of the cross?  Paul’s point is well taken.  Maybe what we need is a focus on what is essential: that old rugged cross.  Some may want to forget that.  But I am clinging to that cross.  It is where I find the water of baptism flowing most powerfully.  It is where the story of redemption begins.

But it is not where the story ends.

I continue to LIVE WET.

-Matt

P.S. Thanks Cathy

Isa. 54:1-10(11-17); Gal. 4:21-31; Mark :11-26

Today in Mark, Jesus speaks of the yeast of the Pharisees, and its evil.

If there is one strength we have as Christians it is that WE REMEMBER.  We REMEMBER every time we gather at the table and break bread.  We REMEMBER our story every Sunday as we read scripture together.  We REMEMBER the saints that have gone before us.  We REMEMBER well.

These days there is a temptation – a great temptation.  It is to FORGET.

…to bury our heads in the sand and forget history

…to dismiss science and FORGET what we have been taught.

The goal of many politicians today is based on fear, deflection, uncertainty and doubt.  We heard a good dose of this last night.

Fear is the opioid we are being fed.  This is today’s yeast of the Pharisees.

Mainly I think it is done to deflect us from the real issues, which is massive excesses in spending, and accepting policies we would otherwise find abhorrent.  It is to deflect our minds from the real issues – that economic inequality is eroding the soul of America.

Jesus cautions us: beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.

Today is Trayvon Martin’s birthday.  He would have been 24 today.  Let us never forget how racism and racial inequality continues to rip at the soul of our country.

Let us never forget that when leaders fail to lead it is for a good reason – to distract us from something critical to our liberty.

Jesus has some harsh words for the disciples, “Do you still not perceive or understand?  Are your hearts hardened?”

God reveals today in Mark that God is not only interested in right teaching, and right following, but in the hungry, the oppressed, and somehow the truth of the gospel hinges on the actual physical care of those around us.

This smells a lot like the “social gospel”.  And while it is not the only thing scripture doles out, we get a heavy dose of the social gospel from the gospel writers.

It is radical and untapped grace.

Be confounded today by the mystery of God, and confront the yeast of the Pharisees with me.

Let us REMEMBER.

-Matt

Isa. 52:1-12; Gal. 4:12-20; Mark 8:1-10

A familiar story comes to us today: the feeding of the four thousand.  There are many of these stories of the feeding of multitudes, and with them comes a lot of numbers: the numbers of loaves, baskets, and people are all different.  5,000 were fed with 5 loaves and 2 fish.  Now we have 7 loaves, 7 baskets, and 4,000 people, and we don’t even know how many fish.

For those who like symbolism and numerology, today’s reading becomes a sore disappointment.  We come to find out that the point of the story has nothing to do with numerology, but with grace.  The symbolism is indeterminate.  The point is that God feeds those in need – that Jesus came to satisfy the hungry – literally.

It doesn’t matter how many.  God can handle whatever, whoever, however many.

The fact is that abundance is all around us.  The miracle is in Jesus’ confidence.  He boldly moves forward by simply asking, “How many loaves do you have?”  He takes the seven loaves, gives thanks, breaks the bread, and gave it to them.

Notice that we have the same four verbs that we do at the Lord’s Supper.  Take, Offer thanks, Break, Give.  This is not only a story of abundance, but a foreshadowing of the great feeding that happens every Sunday.  The Church continues to re-enact this story of grace.  And we, like the crowds, are indeterminate.  4,000.  5,000.  It doesn’t really matter.  God feeds as many as show up.  It is not only spiritual food, but actual food, his own body.

This story also has to do with “being astounded.”  The miracle is not only in the feeding of these people, but the level of dumbfoundedness on everyone’s face.  The story before also saw the people being “astounded beyond measure.”  The profundity gets larger, as the miracle gets larger.  Then we have the story of the yeast, directly following today’s reading.  In other words, we are getting to the point where no one is understanding how or why or to what extent Jesus is doing these things.  This profundity carries us right to the cross.

The mystery is growing.  And so is the grace.  And we are going along for the ride.  See why I like Mark?

– Matt

Isa. 51:17-23; Gal. 4:1-11; Mark 7:24-37

Today is the quirky story of the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter being healed, as portrayed by one of the New Testament’s most gifted writers, Mark.

It is quirky because Jesus never meets the daughter whom he heals.  This is an exorcism from afar.  The other bizarre feature of this is the words that come out of Jesus’ mouth are almost seen as an insult or racial slur.  This woman, this Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin begs Jesus to heal her daughter.  His response?  “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

It appears that her faith turns the tables.  “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Who are the children?  Who are the dogs?  What is Jesus’ purpose in this strange statement?  I am convinced that Jesus was using this as a test.  Perhaps he was thinking, “I know how to get under her skin.  I will see what she is really made of here.”

Tests.  They are dreaded by high school students and college students alike.  There are tests to get us into the Army, into many jobs, get us out of high school.  Tests come and often serve to move us to the next level of learning or what have you.  Tests.

I hate tests.  But they are all around us.  Even when we are out of school the tests come, albeit in different ways.  So many aspects of life are test-like – job responsibility, marriage, having children.  Being in the church sometimes is a test – with the seemingly most abrasive people constantly thrust in our midst, perhaps at God’s direction to test us.  Very few experience the church as “one big happy family”.

It appears, from the Syrophoenician woman’s faith, that part of the test of this life includes standing up to injustice and racial inequalities.  She smartly puts her foot down, and from that her faith shines.  Jesus may well have been playing Devil’s advocate, impressed that this woman could hold her own.

I believe God is still testing us.

How do you see God testing us still?  Maybe testing you?  And how are we responding?  With faith and determination?

And what does God require of us, in this time and in this place?

-Matt

Isa. 48:1-11; Gal. 1:1-17; Mark 5:21-43

In Isaiah, amidst judgment, we hear how now is the time to hear new things, things once hidden.   Paul, in Galatians, starts out firing.  He attacks his readers for abandoning the gospel and following a different one.  “Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval?” he asks.  And in Mark, Jesus feels power leave him when the hemorrhaging woman of 12 years touches his cloak.  He witnessed to her faith, and declares her well.

The readings illumine disconnects.  One is isolated from the community because of her condition.  Jesus remedies that.  Paul is in the midst of the convulsions of the early church, which are experiencing much discord amidst the unity in Christ.  Isaiah, as well, has a disconnected people, who are one day going to learn of the new way of God, which is the old intention of God to be connected to his people.

It becomes very clear, as the New Testament progresses, that God is doing a new thing, and that “thing” is the dissolution of the barriers between people.  The sick are made clean.  The rabbis like Jesus are eating with sinners.  The Son of God goes to a cross to break a barrier between sin and death.

There are so many barriers in this world of ours.  There are barriers of language.  Barriers of mileage.  Physical barriers, or the temptation to build more.

I experience these and other kinds of disconnects all the time in ministry.  Personal pride and ego sometimes get in the way of Christ.  People get their feelings hurt.  Fear takes hold of a people.  We build barriers to feel safe.  But it rarely (if ever) has that effect.

The diversity of this country and our world is both a benefit and a curse.  Many languages.  Many cultures.  Many walks of life.  They all seem to collide, creating this longing for homogeneity and simplicity.

But is that really what we want?  We saw what simplicity and homogeneity got us – in the Old Testament the Chosen People were still fighting within themselves for power and prestige.  Unity in the midst of diversity is a far trickier notion.

As it turns out what God wants for us is to look beyond ourselves – beyond the simplicity of our own cultural narrowness.  This is the point of the healing of the hemorrhaging woman.  She looks beyond her illness, to a place where few can go – to faith – knowing that if she could only get within reach of Jesus, she would be healed.  Who she is gets lost in the shuffle, because what is important is what her focus is.

Let us look beyond the barriers that separate, and dream of a world where all follow the Way of Christ.

– Matt

AM Psalm 31; PM Psalm 35

Isa. 45:18-25; Eph. 6:1-9; Mark 4:35-41

Psalm 31 spoke deeply to my soul this morning.  In the seemingly ever-increasing storm clouds of doom and gloom with the current state of our government and world, Psalm 31 was a wonderful reminder for me this morning of God’s faithful presence in the midst of strife.

“In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me…. You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.”

I also sat facing east and on one of those very rare mornings you can actually see the sun in Ohio.  It is quite an adjustment having lived down South for so long where there was sun every day.  But what a sight seeing the sun rise and being reassured that a new day is upon us, a new start.

But the most powerful words of the psalm came just a verse later: “Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.”  It could be argued that Jesus quoted this Psalm from the cross at his death.

Fear does weird things.  Anger or dismay often lead us to throw up our hands and sometimes we retreat into our fear.  This is NOT what God intends for us!  We are to move forward in faith, not backward in fear.

Courage and trust are needed.

This is not the time to forget the words of the psalmist, but to claim our heritage and the faith of our ancestors.  It could be much worse.  And it was much worse.  And we as a people made it through back then.  And we will make it through now.

In whatever challenge you face today, personally or collectively, be assured that God delivered us from the hand of Pharaoh, and through the wilderness.  And God will not leave us now.

I often resource churches in trouble or in transition.  Often I encounter budgets that look just fine, but fear has grabbed a hold of the people, and a theology of scarcity has crept in too.

Often I am reminding them they have all the resources they need, namely one another, and I am looking around the table at a goodly portion of those resources – you all!  Money is not going to save us.  Now is not the time to cancel programs or reduce ministry, but to claim a genuine opportunity for new heights in ministry.

Jesus did a heck of a lot of ministry with only 12 disciples and the sandals on his feet.  How much more can we do with the energy and power of so many more?  Our communities of faith will endure any trouble.  I believe this because I believe the gospel.

We will see it through the anxiety of job loss or economic downturn, of medical bills piling up, and of community demographics declining.  We will see it through a chaotic and troubling Trump presidency.  We will see it through, because we know that God has already delivered us from the hands of the enemies.  The true enemy cannot touch us anymore.

We are the Lord’s, who is abundant in goodness, and who has taken us into the shelter of his presence.  The world around us may change, but our spiritual home is secure.

May you see the Light of God’s presence this day.

– Matt

Isa. 41:1-16; Eph. 2:1-10; Mark 1:29-45

“That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.  And the whole city was gathered around the door.”  They were in a small town in the Galilee region at the house of Simon and Andrew.  It began with Simon’s mother-in-law being cured.  Then word got out and all the sick of the town were brought here.

I have been to the archaeological site that is believed to be Simon’s house (in fact, some of you have been with me!  It is that place where an entire church is built over the archaeological garden, suspended on steel beams, with a glass floor, looking down into the house.  Remember?)

One of the things I noticed is that houses of that time were fairly small – probably only 20 feet square, sometimes divided into two rooms, a common room, and a private room, where Simon’s mother-in-law would have been.  It would have been tight.  If Jesus was in there and a few of the disciples, and Simon’s mother-in-law, it was packed.  In this very intimate setting, people are crowding around, peering in the door, looking in the windows.

There is another detail about this story that just makes me love Mark’s gospel.  They left the synagogue and went to the house where Simon’s mother-in-law was.  Here is the Son of God.  Does he heal at the synagogue?  No.  The Temple?  No.  The courthouse or main street?  No.  At someone’s house.  This is a savior who is interested intimately in us.  He isn’t disconnected from his disciples.  He isn’t shouting his message onto a big screen in a mega-church, meeting his thousands of worshipers virtually.  No, he is going into their bedrooms.

This is an intimate God who loves and cares for his followers.

This God is interested in wholeness and healing, in mending the brokenness of the world and giving hope to the hopeless.  He is not in his ivory towers, but in a room that has declared him unclean to go back to the temple.  God has made a procession to the doorstep of the rejected, the afflicting, the oppressed.  He wasn’t interested in judging or looking down on those who had “sinned”, for it was often thought that the physically afflicted had done something wrong to deserve this.

None of this meant anything to Jesus.  His only care in the world seemed to be to find the lost.

And he is still at work.  Heck, he found us!

He offers the same healing to his followers today.

Where in your life are you needing Jesus’ touch?

-Matt