8-30-19 - Who You Gonna Sit With?

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

I’ve been wondering why Luke calls Jesus’ social advice here a “parable.” Parables are usually little stories or examples. Then I remembered – parables are devices Jesus used to explain God-Life to his listeners. They often begin, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”

And they often feature wedding banquets and feasts. Jesus not only instructs his followers about how they are to regulate their social interactions in this world – he’s also talking about eternity, the “larger life.” At that party, it is God who says to us, “Come up higher, to this seat of honor,” no matter how deserving we are. It is God who will repay us “at the resurrection of the righteous” for our generosity and inclusion of those on the margins.

I don’t spend much time thinking about the afterlife – there’s plenty of life right here. But the Bible is full of references to our life in God as a banquet or a feast, tables laden with wonderful foods (no calories!), fine, aged nectars, and wonderful people. All kinds of peoples. ALL kinds. It’s safe to assume that we’ll be at that table with people we might not choose to sit with in the here and now – and if heaven is all it’s cracked up to be, we’re going to be just fine with that. Because no one will be more or less important than another, and we won’t value any one person over another.

A clergy colleague once overheard me say this, and was horrified. “You mean, I’m going to have to sit with so-and-so for eternity? I’m planning to hang out with my loved ones.” I replied, “If these promises we claim are true, and in eternity we find ourselves in the presence of Love itself, how would we love one more than another? How can there be ‘less love’ in the presence of pure Love?” He did not look pleased.

As I reflect on people I find difficult, officials often come to mind. So God has given me a new practice: when I read the news and feel outraged, I pray right then for that person to be blessed, whoever he or she may be. If God’s blessing brings good, that prayer can’t hurt, right? (Probably good for my blood pressure too…). Part of the reason Jesus encourages us to break through the cultural and ethnic and economic and temperamental and all the kinds of barriers we set up between ourselves and others, is to practice this equalizing kind of love now, so we can enjoy it eternally.

So let’s practice: we’ve been praying for and about people we find challenging. 

This weekend, let’s take it outside: Find a way to offer friendship or kindness to someone who is difficult for you to love.
Let’s go further: Let’s be the one who says to someone at the edges, “Come on, sit here with me in the good seats.” Who might that be for you?
And let’s think of someone we really don’t love, with whom we would not want to sit at table, and ask God to share God’s love for that person with us.

I mean, why wait? Really, why waste one precious day in this incredible life NOT loving?

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8-29-19 - Gifts of the Other

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

“When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind…” – Jesus.

My parents had a habit of inviting what we called “stray cats” for holiday meals, often foreigners far from home. As an adult, I’ve done that too. But as a child I would cringe at what I perceived to be the awkwardness of some of our guests. While a long way from inviting in the homeless and lost, it still seemed too far a stretch. I couldn’t get past the “other-ness” to relax into their company.

Part of why we see some people or groups as challenging is that our vision gets distorted by whatever “offending” characteristic we focus on. We fail to see their full humanity, to remember that a mean-looking biker is somebody’s son; a resource-squandering 1-percenter someone’s sister.

I was once in a wedding in rural England. After the festivities, I traveled to see to friends in north London. There I was in the Tube, still in my bridesmaid’s dress, holding my bouquet along with my luggage, when a group of very “tatted,” black-leather clad, loud and boisterous young men got on the car I was in. “Oh, please don’t notice me,” I thought – but sure enough, one of the biggest, baddest-looking came and loomed over me. “Oh Lord…,” I thought, my heart pounding. “Is them frezhas?” he asked. “Wha-what?” “Frezhas. Frezhas.” I had no idea what he was saying. “Is them frezhas?” he asked again, pointing to my bouquet. “Look, mates, frezhas. My nan used to grow these…” Ah. Freesias. He smiled, I smiled, they smiled – there we were, bonding over flowers in the subway, no longer strangers. (And I learned what a freesia looks like…)

Jesus spent a fair amount of time with people we’d be scared to run into on the Tube or on the street. Many of them became his friends and followers. So it still is, I’ve discovered by praying with people in homeless shelters. Some manipulators, sure, but mostly people who want to be whole and productive, to feel God's living water splashing through their lives and hearts. And Jesus suggests that these, people on whom we’d rather bestow charity than offer hospitality, are the ones we should invite into our lives. “And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you…”

I don’t want to argue with Jesus – but I think those people can repay us, do repay us. When we stop seeing those who frighten or annoy us as “those people,” or view those who are in need or debilitated as “victims” or “needy,” and rather as people with assets and talents and gifts to offer, it becomes a lot easier to think about having “them” in “our” space. We enlarge our space to accommodate them. Our reading from Hebrews on Sunday reminds us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Yesterday I invited you to imagine in prayer having someone you find really challenging at your table. Today, let’s bring up the same person or group of persons, and just hold that image in your mind’s eye.
Now, invite God to show you more about who they are – their gifts, wounds, defenses, connections.
Look for what you have in common – that’s often where we start to enlarge our space.

The realm of God is one of radical social equality (maybe that’s why so many decline to dwell there). “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, woman nor man, slave nor free,” Paul wrote into the future. All our superficial differences melt away as we become part of the family of God. And you do meet the most amazing people hanging out with this family.

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8-28-19 - Jesus' Guide to Etiquette

(You can listen to this reflection here.)
Who knew that Jesus was the Emily Post of his day? In this week’s story, we find him awfully concerned with the etiquette and protocol of party-going – and giving.

Having been raised in Foreign Service life, I know how critical protocol is – where each guest is seated, according to social rank and significance at that event; how each is to be addressed. These matters are particularly important in Middle Eastern culture. I once attended an interfaith event and a Lebanese friend was outraged that I was not seated at a table befitting (his view of) my importance.

So Jesus was attentive to the etiquette at the Shabbat dinner to which he had been invited – at the home of a leading Pharisee, no less (quite a social coup, to be invited to such a home...). Watching his fellow guests subtly and not-so-subtly try to snag “important” seats, he offers his spin on etiquette and protocol. And once again he turns things on their heads.

“Don’t try to sit in the good spots, near the 'important' people,” he says. “Take the most humble seat; let someone else single you out for honor.” And he doesn’t stop with correct behavior for guests – he also advises on how to go about giving a party. Addressing his host directly, he says, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.”

What a faux pas, telling your host who else he should have invited! And what guests! The poor, crippled, lame and blind… Wait, did he really say, the poor? They couldn’t possibly have the right clothes, my dear. And they might smell. And… what on earth would we talk about? And it might not be safe…. And the crippled, lame and blind? Doesn’t he know that as followers of Moses’ law we can’t consort with the blemished? Good Lord!

Okay, it’s easy to make fun of that unknown Pharisee. But doesn’t this teaching challenge all of us? I tend to invite people I know and like, whom I think will like each other. Sometimes I even like to invite people I think are important, with whom I’d like to become friendly so I feel important.

We keep coming back to this: that Jesus was always crossing boundaries of difference to bring the Good News, as he did in coming to us in our time and space in the first place. As his followers we also are called to go beyond our zones of familiarity and comfort to reach out to the Other.

What kind of “Other” most scares or bothers you? (think age/ethnicity/profession/style…)
In prayer, can you imagine inviting one of those people into your home, to sit at your table? This is a way we can pray for and about people – in our imaginations.
What would you serve? Try to sit with this in your imagination, really feel what you would be feeling.
What might you say? What might your guest say? Who else might around that table?

I can think of at least one person I KNOW will be there – the One who told you to cross that boundary in the first place. You didn’t think he was going to leave you at that party by yourself, did you?

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8-27-19 - Humblest of Them All

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

“Mirror, mirror on the wall – who’s the humblest of them all?” It’s funny to think of humility as a virtue at which to excel – if we truly succeed, no one will know. But that’s the upside-down-ness of the Life of God – it’s all backwards from the way we naturally think.

“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted,” Jesus said. So, does that mean as soon as someone has noticed your humility and pointed it out, you go back to square one?

Humility is to be a characteristic of those who follow Christ. It’s worth spending a little time on. Let’s start with what humility is not: Humility is not humiliation, which is exposure of our worst attributes or actions. Enduring humiliation can sometimes lead us into true humility, but it’s a twisty, most undesirable road that can lead to despair and destructiveness instead.

Nor is humility self-abasement or self-denigration. Talking about how awful and unworthy we are is, spiritually speaking, pride; pride being that tendency to think ourselves equal to God. When we run ourselves down, we are setting ourselves up as judges of God’s work. That’s pride. Sure, we can judge our actions, and repent of destructive words, thoughts, behaviors – but to judge ourselves innately less worthy than another is as prideful as to say we are innately better than another.

We might best define humility as the art of seeing ourselves clearly, seeing God clearly, and knowing which is which. Humility includes rejoicing in our gifts and talents, in who we are as unique creatures made in God’s image. It includes enjoying being the best at what we do – and delighting in that as a gift from God, a gift enhanced by God’s life moving in us. (For a powerful reminder of this, watch the first 1.44 minutes of this clip from the movie Chariots of Fire…)

Humility includes loving ourselves despite our shortcomings, which creates space for those shortcomings to be transformed. Humility helps us love other people better because we see them as neither more nor less important than we are. Humility helps us invite the love and grace of God into those parts of ourselves that are not as we wish, so that we become transformed from the inside.

Yesterday, I invited you to make a list of things about yourself that you’re not thrilled with, and another list of things you are proud of. Go back to the first list, and invite the Holy Spirit into each one of those things, asking for a glimpse of what it might look like transformed. (Temper into a passion for justice? Sadness into a greater capacity for compassion? Over-shopping into more proactive generosity?)

For the second list, remind yourself how each attribute makes the portrait of you more true. Give God the credit.

And if you are among those who have had a habit of self-abasement, ask God’s forgiveness and help in seeing yourself more clearly. “Mirror, mirror on the wall – show me true, not too big or small.”

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8-26-19 - A Place At the Table

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

I have seating issues, “place at the table” issues. If you invite me to a meeting, make sure there’s only one circle of chairs or a big-enough table. And if you invite me to a wedding, please don’t seat me in outer darkness at the edge of the room, at a table of strangers. There might be weeping and gnashing of teeth – from me.

Guess Jesus might have a thing or two to say to me, as he did to those Pharisees studying his table manners so closely. He turns the tables on them: “If you’re invited to a wedding, go sit at the place furthest away from the action, where you feel the least honored. Then you might get upgraded, maybe to a table with the bride or groom’s family. But if you pick out that better seat…look out. You might be asked to move. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Pecking orders. Jockeying for position. Honors. Credentials. Where is your office and how many windows does it have? With whom are we on a first-name or peck on the cheek basis? Why do we so often let external things and people tell us what we’re worth? Perhaps you don’t – but I can put far too much weight on affirmation and indications of status.

Worrying where we sit or whether we’re acknowledged as important is human, at least to humans who feel some insecurity about their place in the world. But if you’re already royalty, do you need a place card to tell you so? As part of Jesus’ family, we are royalty – sisters and brothers of the King. How might it feel to move through today with that knowledge? How might you walk differently, look at people differently, talk to people differently, use your gifts differently, if you remember your true status as an heir to the Kingdom of God, a beloved son and daughter of the Creator? A princess in disguise, a prince under wraps?

If royalty, is not your thing, pick a status that resonates with you – a brilliant athlete, entertainer, author, elected official. Or maybe you don’t have to pretend to be anyone other than YOU, an utterly unique, gifted and wonderful child of God growing into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

Today, list the things that make you feel insecure about yourself. 

If there are people in your life who make you feel insecure, list them too.
Then list the things that make you feel proud about yourself, the things you wish everyone knew. 

If there are people in your life who make you feel more secure, list them too.

Now – pray over all four lists. 

Pray for the people who make you feel less than yourself, that they would be blessed. 

Same for the people who make you feel great about yourself - you might thank them.
Pray about the things in you that make you doubt your status as God’s unique and wonderful child. Give thanks for the things you’re proud of – and invite God to keep working in you.

And then spend some time exalting God – a fancy word for praise. Know that God delights in you – when we rest in that, we’re sitting pretty no matter where we are.

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8-23-19 - Spreading God-Life

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

Tradition tells us that Luke the evangelist was a physician. He could have done well as a political publicist – in both his gospel and its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, he offers summaries that tell us how Jesus just won the latest debate, and how enthralled the populace is: 

“When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.” 

Jesus was not out to shame his opponents, though gospel accounts of his life reveal quite a few “gotcha” moments. And we know that the “entire crowd” didn’t stay rejoicing for long – soon enough, many were calling for his blood. Neither was he out to win popularity contests, then or now. Jesus was about proclaiming the Life of God released in and among humankind, and about demonstrating that Life in healing, forgiving, challenging corruption and injustice, and setting people free from evil, wherever it is manifest.

That’s exactly what he invites his followers, then and now, to join him in. What if the statement read, “And the entire crowd joined him in all the wonderful things he was doing?” Rejoicing is only a start. Following Christ is not a spectator sport or an academic pursuit – it’s an invitation to full-on engagement in heart, body, mind, spirit. We don’t have to argue against opponents of the Way of Christ; we just have to live out that Way in fullness, and let others see for themselves why we choose this God who has chosen us.

Mahatma Gandhi is famously quoted, when asked why he “rejected Christ,” as saying: “Oh, I don’t reject Christ. I love Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike Christ. If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.”

Following Christ is about more than merely following his teaching – it includes becoming conscious of his Spirit in ours in relationship. Yet I do not argue with the premise of that statement. We are called to demonstrate this Love we have received, and to share it liberally in the world. Tomorrow a team from my church will offer healing prayer to passersby at a street fair; Sunday, we will pray for one another during the service. That’s one way to spread the Life of God throughout the world. That is how many can rejoice in all the wonderful things Christ is doing even now, through us.

In what is your spirit rejoicing today? What joy is burbling up from deep inside you?
To what longtime sufferer are you being invited to offer a touch of healing grace? Ponder a moment and see what names come up in your mind. Bring them to Jesus in your imagination. That’s a start. If you’re supposed to pray with them in person, the Holy Spirit will give you that nudge.

Keep looking for signs of God-Life around you this weekend. The more we look, the more we see. The more we see, the more we rejoice!

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8-22-19 - When Being Right Is Wrong

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

Don’t you hate it when you know you’re right and find out you’re wrong anyway? 

“But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’” 

This synagogue leader knew he was right. “Who is this rabbi to come into my synagogue and call me a hypocrite? This commandment is one of the Big Ten, for Christ’s sake…” God’s law clearly stated that one day out of seven people were to cease from work. This Sabbath commandment is one of the wisest of God’s gifts to us – not only does a day off allow people to recharge, even work animals get some rest. Servants get a break. The whole economy slows down (omg!) for one day a week, a day to be set aside for community, for worship, reflection, walks, meals, conversations – anything unproductive and lifegiving. It is a day devoted to freedom.

Yet most of us would agree that Jesus is more right than the synagogue leader. He pushes the leader’s logic to its illogical conclusion. Of course people feed and water their animals even on the Sabbath, or haul their sheep out of wells, an example Jesus gives in a similar argument elsewhere. If we do farm chores, or rescue valuable livestock, why wouldn’t we heal and bless people on God’s special day?

When we try to live by “the rules,” it often turns out we’ve focused on one rule to the exclusion of another, or we haven’t looked at the implications for other people of our adherence to that rule. A huge part of Jesus’ message was that all the systems we set up to regulate our lives need to be checked against the greater commandment to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. He doesn’t toss out the whole Law – he tries to correct misinterpretations of the Law which result in a brittle, legalistic, condemning religious system instead of a living faith in a loving God.

It is in the nature of religious systems to become brittle, legalistic and condemning if we are not constantly open to the fresh winds of the Spirit. When we lock into any one interpretation, we close off opportunities for God to lead us to new ministries, new people, new blessings. The action of God as we see it in Christ’s life, and in the lives of Christ’s followers since his resurrection, is usually across boundaries of difference, often into zones of slight discomfort – that’s where we learn who God is. That’s a lifetime’s learning. Maybe an eternal lifetime’s learning.

Where are your beliefs are more rigid, and where they are more pliable? What are the “codes” or “contracts” by which you live? Did those actually come from God?

There’s a fine line between conviction and dogmatism. We might say that line is faith, which is a living affirmation of what we deeply believe but can never be absolutely sure of. Once we know it, it’s not faith. Jesus invites us into a living, growing, doubting, testing, adventurous, loving life of faith in the unseen yet present God. Where is he challenging you today?

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8-21-19 - The Better Way

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

In this week’s story, Jesus releases healing and praise in a woman who has been bent over, crippled, for eighteen years. Can we get an “Alleluia?” Not from the local religious leader – he is outraged that Jesus performed this “work” on the Sabbath, “saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’”

Jesus was himself a rabbi, steeped in Jewish law and tradition. Shouldn’t he have known better? The whole gospel record of Jesus’ ministry and teaching could be summed up: He knew better. Certainly, he claimed to know better what God asked of God’s people – which did not endear him to the religious establishment. And there was authority in the way he taught the “better way,” and in his demonstrations of that “better way” that also made him wildly popular with the people, further alarming the leaders.

The Jewish religious system of Jesus’ day had grown rigid, hierarchical, focused on performance of sacrifices and rituals, and adherence to rules and regulations (that’s the natural tendency of religious systems…). Jesus constantly challenged the leaders to reclaim God’s love and compassion for the poor, the weak, the meek; to not stand arrogantly on their “righteousness.” He was not averse to picking fights with these leaders who constantly scrutinized him, and many of these fights were about healing on the Sabbath.

A rigid interpretation of Sabbath laws suggests you do nothing, not even a good thing, on the Sabbath, if it can be construed as "work." But Jesus said, “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” God’s laws are intended to bless us and make us blessings to the world. They are to be a yardstick by which we measure our growth in spiritual maturity, not one to hit us with when we fail.

That synagogue leader thought he had God figured out, contained. Isn’t that so often our temptation? “God heals six days of the week, not seven.” But who is to contain the Holy Spirit? If the very nature of God is wholeness, healing will break out whenever and wherever God is … and in that synagogue that day, God was there, in Christ.

So it is today, in any and every place where the Spirit of God is present through the Body of Christ. That’s us, folks, Christ’s hands and feet and eyes and ears and voice of love in the world now. We have been given tremendous power through our access to God in the Spirit. When we encounter someone who is afflicted in body, mind or spirit, we don’t have to think, “Oh, this isn’t the time or place for prayer,” or “I’m not the right person.” We can just go, “Oh yeah, I know the right person. And he’ll show up anytime I invoke his name. Come, Lord Jesus.” That is the ancient prayer of the people of the better way, “Maranatha.” Come, Lord Jesus.

Today, keep inviting God to release healing love and power in you, where you’re hurting. And keep praising. And add a third thing: ask God to show you today someone for whom you are to pray, for whom you are to invite Jesus to release healing graces. It might be a person close to you, or someone you see on the news. You don’t have to offer to pray with them, though that’s always great. You can simply say, “Come Lord Jesus – here’s someone who needs you. Be here. Release your power and love in him, in her.”

God is with us seven days a week, 24 hours a day, at all times and in all places. God cannot be contained or constrained. The more we pray in faith, the more God’s life breaks out and restores the world. Every day.

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8-20-19 - The Power of Praise

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

“When Jesus laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.”
Oh, if we all saw such immediate outcomes to our prayers, there would be a lot more healing prayer around. Of course, the reverse might also be true: If there were more healing prayer around, we might see many more dramatic outcomes.

Happily, the Life of God is a both/and kind of place. We are invited to pray at all times and in all places, and I can testify that the more we approach infirmity with prayer, the more often and more quickly we see healing. It has become second nature for me to release God’s healing power and love in my body when I stub a toe or burn myself in the kitchen, giving thanks for all the cells rushing to do their healing thing, inviting them not to overdo it – and I see burns and bruises heal much faster without scarring. As I practice my faith on smaller things, it’s stronger when I need to pray for bigger, scarier things, when I want God to release peace and power into a huge complex of anxiety or illness.

If you are praying God's light and love into about some chronic issue, keep it up. And add an ingredient: praise. I love how this woman, as soon as she felt the flow of Jesus’ power in her, stood up straight and began praising God. Praise is one of the best conductors for healing power there is. When we’re praising God, it’s really hard to focus on how sick, scared or miserable we are. Those realities may still be there, but they’re not where we’re putting our energy.

I believe praise releases endorphins – spiritual, if not chemical. (Really exuberant praise – like we do at ball games or rock and roll shows – may well release the chemical kind.) Episcopalians could afford to be more exuberant in our praise – we tend toward the hushed tones of an announcer in a golf tournament… “Yes, well played, Lord…” And when we release ourselves in praise, it spreads good feelings to the people around us. There is no downside to praising the One who made us, who heals us, who loves us.

Praise is an act of choice, an act of will – we choose to praise God for everything we know and believe about God, no matter what else is going on in our lives. Praise is an act of will that opens us to the power that makes us whole. So today, let’s practice praise. It’s kind of hard to do with words, because we quickly run out of them. It can feel funny to just repeat over and over “God, I praise you. I honor you. I exalt you….” We don’t talk that way to people in our lives – we don’t have to be so stiff with God either.

So maybe we try it without words. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and praise through you. (If you find yourself praying in tongues, just go with it…) You might sing g a hymn or song you love, or bring up an image of beauty or love in your mind and thank God for that. And when something negative intrudes, just gently say, “Not now. It’s praise time…”

Maybe by the time we’re done praising God, there won’t be any room for those negative things anyway.

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8-19-19 - The God Who Heals

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

Our story this week finds Jesus inside for a change, teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. What could be more proper than that? Plenty. Jesus didn't do “proper” very well.
“Just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and unable to stand up straight.”

Now some, seeing such a sight, might say, “Oh, isn’t that too bad. She must suffer a great deal.” Others, with a meaner bent of mind, might even think, “Hmmm… wonder what she did wrong to be punished in such a way?” Jesus saw someone who needed to be set free and given new life. 

“When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.” 

The leaders of the synagogue were not pleased – more on that as this week goes on. Today, let’s stay with this woman, bent over for eighteen years.

The Gospel writers often tell us how long people were afflicted before Jesus healed them. Eighteen years is a long time, a long time to not be able to look people in the eye in conversation, or to admire a night sky. But if you don’t think anything can be done for you, you live with it, for eighteen years or more. That woman probably thought she would always be like this, and got on with her life.

Jesus said, “Here’s something we can heal.” It is his first instinct – “Come here, let’s deal with that.” He doesn’t deliberate and wonder if it’s “God’s will” – he knows illness and disability are not God’s intention for us. Healing may not always be as immediate as in this story; sometimes it’s more gradual. But we can trust that wholeness is always the will of our God whom we call One and Perfect. How could such a One desire less than wholeness for us?

What conditions and limitations do you endure because you don’t think anything can be done? (Which is like saying that thing is more powerful than God…) A physical pain or disorder? Long-term depression? A tendency to anger easily? Addiction or inability to lose weight or be as fit as you’d like? Even lack of faith can feel like something we’re stuck with.

If the Good News about Jesus that we find in the Gospels tells us anything, it is that we don’t have to be stuck with anything, from personal failings or physical disease to injustice and systemic corruption. Jesus came to announce our freedom from everything we feel we’re stuck with.

What do you think you’re stuck with that God can release you from? Make a list. In prayer, invite the power and love that made the universe to be released in you, in your body, your mind, your spirit. And expect that the living water of God is flowing and bringing new life to you wherever you need it most. And then the next place, and the next place.

If you’re scared to pray this way because you’re afraid “nothing will happen,” do it anyway. What do you have to lose? What you have to gain is a deeper relationship with God, more peace as you move into wholeness – and a whole lot more life as you are set free.

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8-16-19 - The Cloud

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

As we end this week, let’s touch on one more reading for Sunday, the great passage from the New Testament letter to the Hebrews. It explicates the writer’s definition of faith:
“… the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The passage lists a host of God’s people who persevered in faith despite persecutions and trials, never seeing the fruit for which they worked. The writer suggests these departed heroes and heroines of dogged faithfulness constitute a cloud of encouragers to inspire us to righteousness and Christ-centered living:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Faith can sometimes feel like heavy work in the face of the world’s ills and evidence of human destructiveness – but remember, faith is not a solitary undertaking. Faith is to be practiced in community, and our community stretches beyond what we can see, even beyond the breathing. Episcopalians, with other Christian traditions, affirm the communion of saints, those alive today and those who have gone before us. How might it strengthen your faith to cultivate a greater awareness of that cloud of witnesses surrounding you, upholding you in prayer?

I want to be clear – the cloud of witnesses is not about ghosts. Whatever ghosts may be, they seem to be spirits not yet at rest. The spirits to which the writer to the Hebrews refers are saints in light, existing in the presence of God, emanating love, not direct communications with the living. When we get messages from the heavenly places, it is from the Holy Spirit. If we think a person is communicating with us from beyond, that is a different matter, and one I do not consider spiritually healthy for Christ-followers to engage with. The Spirit of Christ is the only spirit we need.

When we undertake God’s mission in the face of uncertainty, and when we face setbacks in ministry, we can call to mind that cloud of witnesses and set our successes and failures in the light they shed. We can even, in prayer, invite strength from that holy number, and draw on their store of faith when ours feels insufficient. God invites us to believe the impossible; the communion of saints helps us do that.

Sometimes, when facing a church with way too many empty seats, I remember there are others worshiping with us, filling the air and every available place, our space thick with their faithfulness and love. That is a “cloud-based resource” at the highest level, and it’s absolutely free, forever and ever.

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8-15-19 - Wild Grapes

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's reading from Isaiah is here.)

I recently discovered wild raspberries growing by one of my churches. It’s always a delight to come upon fruits or vegetables growing wild. Often they seem all the sweeter for being unexpected. So what’s the problem with wild grapes?

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

The prophet Isaiah is speaking for God – that’s what prophets do, deliver a message they believe God has entrusted them to carry. He was writing in a time of impending crisis for Israel, as attempts to play off competing empires against each other were failing and yet another foreign occupation loomed. Jerusalem was threatened; Israel’s way of life and faith was in peril. Many of the prophetic writings attempt to explain how these dire times had come to pass. The prophets usually located the cause in Israel’s unfaithfulness to the One God; the charges most commonly cited were failure to honor the Law, failure to exercise economic justice and care for the poor and vulnerable, and diluting the religious tradition.

This is what is meant by “wild grapes,” not simply free-spirited non-conformists, but people and communities who have turned from God’s way. Isaiah asserts that the community has now turned so fully away, it stands in opposition to God – “Judge between me and my vineyard.” The God he poetically reveals is having a moment of frustration – “What more was there to do that I have not done?” and lament - “Why did it yield wild grapes?”

This is certainly a very human depiction of God, yet it invites us to imagine a process by which the incarnation of the Son came to be. Was it the plan from the “beginning of the ages,” as some scriptures say, or was it a response by a loving vine-grower unwilling to walk away when his crop came up wild? “What more was there to do?” We can imagine the next thought, “I will send my son…”

Jesus later told a parable, jumping off from this passage, about a vineyard rented to tenants who abused their relationship with the owner, beat his representatives and finally killed his son. The grapes were still wild in his earthly sojourn. But he knew that was not the end to the story. He knew that the death of the son was not the last word, that Life would triumph over death, over sin, over despair.

In that Life, which we receive in baptism and renew in holy communion and prayer, we have the capacity to lose our mouth-puckering wildness, to become sweet and juicy, wine to gladden the hearts of those we meet. We can grow on the sides of paths where people will come upon us, maybe even think we’re wild. But we’re God’s grapes, bearers of Life.

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8-14-19 - The Vineyard

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

Few images are more evocative of life and fruitfulness, mystery and joy than vineyards. All over the bible we can find vineyards, literal and figurative. Today, let’s go to the vineyard depicted in Sunday’s reading from Isaiah – a place of cultivation and care, which yielded a surprising crop:

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watch-tower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

In the gospel passage set for this week, we find Jesus in “scorched earth” mode, speaking of the fire he has come to bring upon the earth, wishing it were already kindled. There is historical context for his divine and righteous rage in this prophetic poetry of Isaiah’s, which tells in a few short lines the whole history of God and God’s people. It speaks of this world as a vineyard carefully cultivated by God in a fertile place, cleared and planted, with structures for protection and wine-processing.

So might we see God's creation – a beautiful world prepared for us, a place of fertility, with everything provided so that we might thrive and produce good fruit. It even has a watch-tower – an image of God’s vigilance protecting God’s beloved from evil. And this creator is also named as beloved. It’s all set up to enable humankind to produce vats of wonderful, life-giving, joy-inducing wine.

But – there’s always a 'but' in a good story – the choice vines (chosen people?) did not yield cultivated grapes. What grew were not smooth, sweet wine grapes, but wild grapes. Wild grapes might have some virtues, but they’re not reliable and often bitter. What a great metaphor for what theologians call original sin – a hard-wired proclivity toward self-gratification that results in thoughts and actions that do not honor God, neighbor or even our truest selves. God expects us to be sweet grapes, and often we can be wild, destructive.

This is the wrong Jesus came to right, the condition he came to heal, the conversion he came to empower. Because of Jesus, we are not stuck in “wild grape” mode; we can become fruit-bearing, life-bringing grapes. As we actively participate in God’s mission to reclaim, restore and renew all of creation to wholeness in Christ, we attach ourselves to vines that carry that mission into every place and person in pain and need. Where is that vine leading you today?

Our story of salvation is the story of God’s restoration of that vineyard. God invites us to be a part of bringing that work to completion, until the Creator’s intention is reflected in our world. That is worth raising a glass to.

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8-13-19 - Reading the Weather

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

When I need to know how to dress for the day, or whether or not to close my windows, I check weather.com. I can get a detailed forecast 48 hours ahead, or a more general one ten days out. In former times, and today in less Web-connected places, people had other ways of predicting the weather.

He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"

In this week’s reading, Jesus talks about an impending crisis. 

"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!"

He does not clarify the exact nature of this crisis, but is furious that his followers seem unable to discern what is happening. From where we stand, he appears to mean his spiritual battle with the forces of evil, and the human structures and systems that allow evil to have its sway. His mission to burn away the chaff of sin and release captives bound to it. And the way he will do that, this “baptism with which to be baptized,” is his passion and death.

Okay, so Jesus accomplished that liberation. Is there more discernment for us? 

Do we need to scan signs to predict what is to come? How are we to read this troubling passage?

Jesus did accomplish the redemption of the world on the cross, and confirmed that in his rising to new life on Easter morning. Yet his work is still being brought to completion. The devil’s days are numbered but, we can see, sin and evil are still having a pretty good run. And God seems to have chosen to engage these final skirmishes through us. We don’t need to battle evil – but we do need to see it, name it, and call in the spiritual forces of God to overwhelm it, like calling in an air strike.

Paul writes that one of the gifts given to Christ-followers is the ability to discern spirits – to know when evil is present, to know when God is present. We are called to pay attention to the clouds darkening our land, the prevailing winds blowing in the world, and to pray all the more when the signs indicate bad weather ahead. We don’t need to shrivel up in a heap when things look bad, or tuck our heads into the sands of our many modes of distraction and avoidance – we can stand firm on the promises of God, the saving work of Christ, our identity as redeemed sinners and saints of the Realm of God.

Evil cannot stand against the name of Jesus. It is our work to invoke his name and his power, early and often.

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8-12-19 - Division

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

Reading the prophets of Israel can feel like watching an abusive relationship. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” “Wham! You’ll get what you deserve.” “Oh, but I love you and one day it’ll all be wonderful…” These writings tell the story of a broken relationship between God and God’s chosen people, who seemed incapable of fidelity despite God’s gracious provision and forgiveness. And the way the prophets rendered the words of God (and/or the way those who later wrote down those words conveyed them) often make God sound like a petty tyrant as well as a thwarted lover.

We get a sense of danger as well as deep disappointment. “Here is what I wanted for you, what I did everything to secure for you – but you could not stay with me, and now I can’t protect you from the consequences of your choices.” It’s often a bitter message, and I confess as I read both the gospel appointed for this Sunday and the passage from Isaiah, I can’t help but think of where our country is and seems to be headed. I’m caught reading these texts through that lens this week.

Let's start with the Gospel, which shows Jesus in a dire mood, speaking of fire and division. He has just been telling a parable about being prepared for God’s appearing, and he seems pretty ticked off: "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!:

If division is what Jesus was after, he’d be happy in America at this moment. We are defined by many things other than our divisions, but lately our fault lines are getting more pronounced, the fissures widening. This cannot possibly be God’s will for us, can it?

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, as the angel foretold at his conception. He is the source of peace for us, and the power for us to be peacemakers. But let’s not forget: Jesus did come into this world to do battle with the powers of evil – that is the fight he was itching to engage, the fight in which he wants his followers to join him. Each time his followers capitulate to injustice, tolerate intolerance, turn a blind eye to violence (until it comes to our neighborhood…), benefit from systems set up to favor the wealthy and white, fail to love our neighbor as ourselves, we recede from that fight.

And every time we make a different choice, an inconvenient or even sacrificial choice to stand with the oppressed, speak for the silenced, bring light to darkness and healing to our planet and all its denizens, we help usher in the reign of true peace Jesus brought into this world.

How does this scripture sit with you? Where are you being called to draw the line, to pray for the conversion of those who seek only their own good to the harm of others?  We are called to stand with Jesus against evil and hate-mongering. That’s a division too, if you will, yet it is one that can lead us to unity.

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8-9-19 - Living Ready

(I'm told yesterday's audio link was for Tuesday's reflection; here is the correct link for Wednesday. You can listen to today's reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

Jesus’ last instruction about being ready has a more ominous tone – “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

Theologians often speak of the Kingdom life of God “breaking in” to our temporal reality – but not quite this literally. Who wants to think of the in-breaking life of God as a home invasion? Why would Jesus use such a negative analogy for something he invites us to anticipate as beneficial?

Maybe to get our attention? To remind us that the life of God comes to us in ways we cannot plan, predict or fully defend ourselves against? The coming of God includes judgment – both Peter and Paul, in New Testament letters, refer to the day of judgment as an event that comes “like a thief in the night.” And the coming of God brings blessings, benefits we don’t want to miss by being “asleep,” unaware. The way of following God in Christ involves tuning our senses and our spirit to become more and more aware of God’s life in, around and through us.

Jesus is telling us to be alert to something we cannot control. We cannot control when God will show up – can’t even guarantee an appearance between 8 and noon on a Sunday morning, though we expect one. Sometimes it seems that God has not shown up at all – and then we see God has.

I once found out I had to move out of an apartment in 72 hours rather than the month I’d been promised. I had a new place lined up but it was not yet available. I panicked – then started working the phones. Soon I’d found storage in an empty church school classroom, two friends with trucks and six with strong backs. They showed up at 9 on the given morning and by noon my stuff was safely stowed and I was on my way to a lunch appointment I had thought I’d have to cancel. The solutions had come faster than the problem.

“Where were you?” I had asked God when this little crisis first hit. “How could you let this happen?” As I saw I wasn’t even going to be late to the lunch date, I had one of those epiphanies: “Oh yeah – you rarely prevent the mess. You show up in it, bringing unexpected grace.” (As a friend once pointed you, you can't get a bigger mess than Good Friday... but that wasn't the end of the story.)

You may have far more heart-breaking examples of times you sought signs of God’s activity and couldn’t find it. That is a hard mystery. Yet, if we focus only on where we don’t see God, we miss all the places God is. God is rarely in the last place we perceived him – the movement of God is always forward. And God does not hide from us – more often, our assumptions and preconceived notions cloud our vision.

Here are some prayer prompts to become more spiritually alert:

• If you have unfinished business with God about times you felt God did not show up, speak it. Relationships require honesty, and there is nothing we feel that God doesn’t want to hear. 
• Ask God to give you a clue today of where you might perceive her life around you. 
• Invite the Holy Spirit to awaken your ability to perceive his life in you.
• Pay attention to inner prompts you might get about someone or something, or to where you feel peace or do not feel peace. 

The more we become aware of the life of God around us, the more we become aware of the life of God around us. And there's a lot of life!

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8-8-19 - With, Not For

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

We're not often rewarded just for showing up – but that’s what Jesus suggests happens to those who are ready for God: "Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them."

This is like a boss finding a clerical worker in the middle of an all-nighter of copying, collating, and stapling, saying, “Wow! You’re doing your work! Hey, sit down – I’ll take it from here. In fact, let me order you some dinner.” It’s like the Earl of Grantham making breakfast for Mrs. Patmore or a farm-hand (if you’re a follower of Downton Abbey).

We tend to hear a word like “servant” or “slave” and file it with everything we know about human servanthood and hierarchies. But the Kingdom of God is always upside-down from the way human affairs work. (Maybe even “Downstairs/Upstairs,” if you remember PBS before Downton Abbey…)

We think being a servant means working for someone. The way Jesus describes it, it’s more like working with. In this analogy about the master serving dinner to the tired servant; in his invitation to “Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will refresh you”; in his parables, Jesus tells us again and again that we don’t have to work to please God. We are invited to be open to what God is doing in, around and through us.

I often receive this message from God – “It is my work. I am doing it through you, through my people, but it is my work. Come and be a part of it.” One day in prayer, I heard simply, “Instrument.” Instruments don’t play themselves – the music-maker plays them. They need to be tuned and in good shape, but they don’t make the music. Neither does the music-maker make music without them.

God has songs that can only be heard through you. Are you in tune? That’s what time in confession and praise, prayer and contemplation does – tunes us up so we’re ready to play. The time we spend opening ourselves to the presence of God is how we receive the power and passion and purpose and peace to participate in what God is inviting us into. Taking care of ourselves through eating well, resting, exercising and being creative we might call “instrument maintenance.”

Today, spend a little time just getting quiet in yourself. Maybe ask God, 

“What are we going to do today? Who are you bringing into my path who needs your blessing through me? What in me needs tuning? What’s the new song you want to teach me? How can I be more open?” An idea might form then and there, or you may notice something through the day. Be alert. 

Don’t rush away – wait a little longer; let some stillness gather; see what you hear. The rests in a song are as important as the notes.

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8-7-19 - Dressed For Action

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

The next sections of Jesus’ discipleship training talk deal with being ready for God to show up. We often assume this means the final, apocalyptic “God showing up” at the end of time – because the church has been overly preoccupied with “then” and “later” in interpreting Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom. That emphasis can cause us to miss the present “here” and “now” activity of God.

Jesus tells us God has drawn near to us “here” and “now.” There is an immediacy to his teaching:
"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks."

This language, archaic as it is, presupposes a master/servant relationship. Yes, we are children of God – beloved, gifted, inheriting children of God. We are also servants of God, waiting for our master to come home from the party, ready to serve in whatever way is needed. Jesus invites us to live expecting that God will show up at any moment – and, indeed, God does. As we tune our spiritual senses, we start to perceive that action of God around us more and more.

Being dressed for action means being spiritually prepared, tuned and toned – no sweat pants for us.
Having our lamps lit is a metaphor for being spiritually ready, wicks trimmed, ready to be lit up, to shine a light into the shadow places we encounter. (Suddenly I’m getting a picture of the Holy Spirit as Tinkerbell, flitting around, lighting us up – and if we believe, we hear the little bell.)

The Holy Spirit is not a fairy, of course. The Holy Spirit is the power and passion and peace and presence of God made known in our bodies, minds and spirits, and in our world. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, is HOW God shows up in our lives.

So today, let’s choose our action wardrobe. First, what do we un-choose? 

What are the factors in your life that keep your focus away from God and what God is up to? Busyness? Stress? Complacency? Numbness? Link each “distraction” with an item of clothing you do not associate with action. Want to tuck those away in closet? Or toss ’em?

Now, what does being dressed for action, spiritually, look like? Connected in prayer? Grateful? 

Aware of what people around you are feeling? Of joys and hurts in the world?
Aware of your gifts and open to being used by God – open to being lit up to shine God’s light?
Paul writes, "As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12)

If you can envision your list as action clothes, imagine putting them on. Play “dress up” in your mind. Prayer can be playful.

We don’t have to generate the action – we’re just asked to be ready to participate in it. You ready for where God is going to show up today? I want to hear about it.

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8-6-19 - Sell Your Possessions

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

“Sell your possessions, and give to the poor.” 

After assuring his followers that they are recipients of all that the Maker of heaven and earth has to offer – quite an extravagant gift, right? –that is the next nugget of advice Jesus gives his followers.

“Sell your possessions, and give to the poor?” Easy for you to say, Jesus – you didn’t have any possessions. Oh wait, you were a carpenter, weren’t you, and – oh yeah, you walked away from your home and your trade…

The way of following Jesus is likely much simpler and richer when we’re unburdened of possessions and all the responsibility they entail. Still, the idea of giving away everything we own is so radical and unthinkable to many of us, we stop listening right there, feeling either affronted or condemned. I do not believe God is interested in condemning or insulting us. God is interested in loving us into wholeness. So let’s breathe, feel our feelings, and read on.

Jesus suggests we invest not in things that pass away, “purses that wear out.” (Guess he never heard of a Coach bag, huh? …OMG, a Water Daily product placement! Maybe I can monetize this baby…) Instead, he suggests we build our IRAs on eternal funds. And then comes the “money shot” – “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

They say the quickest way to assess our priorities in life is to look at our bank statement and our calendar. Where we put our time and money tells us what we care most about – or what we worry most about. When we do that analysis, we often find that our highest priorities don’t have enduring value. Our to-do lists, bank balances, career moves, the things we buy for our children and houses – they might matter, but not as much as we seem to think in the moment. When we step back and include God in the picture, those emphases often begin to shift, and we might gradually simplify our lives as we reorder our priorities God-ward.

Jesus’ principle is also true when we flip it – where our heart is, there is our treasure also. As we cultivate our relationship with God in Christ, the things and people that matter to God start to matter more to us. Giving to help children we've never met in other lands starts to seem more important than acquiring yet another glittering piece of electronica.

Today, take a few minutes and draw a treasure map (did you do that when you were a kid?)
Draw where your treasure is today – and label it. What is most precious to you?
Where in the picture is your treasure? What do you spend most of your money, time and anxiety on?
Where in the picture is your heart? What do you most delight in?
Where in the picture is God? Do you want to turn your heart more God-ward?
What in that picture do you want to chat with God about? What does God say?

However these answers come to you, remember this: YOU are God’s treasure, God’s delight – and so you know that you are in the heart of God. Walk today like you know that.

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8-5-19 - Do Not Be Afraid

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

Next Sunday’s Gospel reading is not a story, but a list of instructions Jesus gives his followers. We’ll look at a section each day this week. Some of his images may connect better than others with us disciples in 2019 - we'll see!

The first invitation we encounter is: "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Jesus has been telling his followers not to worry, especially not about what they’re going to eat or wear (alas, the lectionary skips the poetic bits about sparrows and lilies). His “do not be afraid” is aimed at a clearly anxious bunch, many of whom have left families, communities and jobs to follow Jesus, never sure where they’ll find sustenance, sleep or safety.

Notice how often in the Bible people are told “Do not be afraid?” Anxiety runs in the human family, part of human nature. Jesus tells us, “You’re not stuck with human nature – your heavenly Father has given you a gift of God-nature.”

That’s as good a way as any to describe the Kingdom of God – the reality of God. The Kingdom of God, Jesus says, isn’t the kind you can see, but it’s realer than anything we call reality. I like to call it the “energy field of God. This “God-Reality” our God has seen fit to give us is something we become aware of by how it makes us feel, and by how we see it affecting things and people around us, just as we “see” the wind by the movement it causes in trees and objects. It’s a reality we perceive by faith. We help bring it into focus for each other by naming whenever we experience it.

Those early disciples saw that reality in the works of power that Jesus did – healings, miracles – and in the way people responded to him. How do YOU see the energy field of God at work in your life?
Where did you last brush up against the peace or power or presence of God that was beyond human nature?

And what about this gift – how does it feel to acknowledge that the power and presence and peace of God are already ours? At our fingertips? Here and now, not just “there” and “later?” How does that change what you have to do today?

Today as you pray, after some thank yous, bring up in your mind each of the things that worry you – and visualize an energy field. In your mind’s eye, place each of these worrying things into that field, to be transformed into blessing. Can you trust that each thing or person is in good hands? That you’re in good hands? I believe you are. Already. Welcome to a new week of blessedness.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are here.

8-2-19 - Giving To God

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

Sometimes Jesus told his parables with no interpretation or explanation. Other times he gave the cheat sheet, as with this one. At the end of his story about the rich man and his barns, he says, 

“So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.”

That’s an intriguing command. What can we get for the God who has everything? How can we “be rich” toward the One whom we see as the Giver of all good things?

The Christian way of life holds that everything we have is a gift from God – life, health, relationships, possessions, housing, food… you name it, all entrusted to us to enjoy and nurture and grow. Even what we earn is a result of our God-given abilities and networks. The very magnitude of our indebtedness can make it difficult to see ourselves as rich enough to be rich toward the Maker and Giver of all.

So one way to be “rich toward God” is to see ourselves as rich. As blessed. As gifted. Focus less on what we believe we “owe” God and more on accepting the showers of blessings God desires to give us. The Good News says that God desires abundance for us. As we’re more open to being blessed, we experience that more often and more fully.

Another way to be “rich toward God” is to be extravagant with our time and resources. One hour and a few dollars a week are all some people are willing to spare, figuring they need the lion’s share for living in this world. What if we flipped that and offered God all our time and money, and allocated a portion for what we need to live on? Hmmm. Numbers might come out the same, but we’d live out of a place of abundance and trust instead of scarcity and anxiety.

Pastor Rick Warren (The Purpose-Driven Life) and his wife live on 10 percent of their income and give away the other 90 percent. At their level of wealth, I’m sure they still have plenty. Even so, it’s an inspiring choice, one we might begin to move toward. If we give away the biblical standard of 10 percent of our income (gross or net, you choose), we still have 90 percent to play with. That’s a lot!

Being rich toward God also means being rich toward God's children who have less than we do, who are in need of food and clothing, housing, justice, jobs, healing, peace – and friendship, company, hope. The man in the story thought only of himself and his own supposed security. What a waste of resources! Jesus’ story invites us into a better relationship with our abundance, neither feeling guilty nor clutching it tightly, but trusting in God’s provision, in our blessedness; eager to share it because clinging to it doesn’t make us more secure, and letting it go makes us infinitely richer.

Where in your life are you holding tightly to what you have, afraid of losing it? Invite God into those places of tightness… and then practice relaxing your grip. The antidote to greed is generosity. As we excel in giving, we will delight in God’s grace. No need to sock that away - it never runs out. 

God desires freedom for us, above all. When we are free to give ourselves away, we are free indeed.

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