You can listen to this reflection here.
Let’s end our week with the epistle reading appointed for Sunday, Romans 5:1-5; specifically the last line, which says: “…God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
If we wonder how the Love we worship and rely on is delivered to us, Paul clarifies that it is a by-product of the Holy Spirit, God’s most essential gift to us. The idea that this love is inside us, ours already, rather than outside to be somehow sought or obtained – or, worse, earned – is a radical reminder to us of what grace is. Grace is unmerited favor, gift without contract or condition.
There are many gifts packed into the gift of Holy Spirit – peace, power, presence; courage, compassion, contrition; healing and hope; to name but some alliterative few. All of these are contained in the supreme gift of God’s love, God’s “yes” in the face of all the world’s “no’s.” God's love is gift to us.
And God’s love is gift through us. We are the means through which God intends his love to reach those who do not yet know him, whose hearts perhaps have not been open to receiving her love or her Spirit. It’s up to us to make the introductions, to live and speak and interact with such light and love that people around us can see that love in us, and come to want it for themselves.
Do you feel the love of God in your heart today? I do believe it is there, but I also know all kinds of things in our lives and persons can block its flow: fear, insecurity, envy, resentment, sin… Our task is to release this love poured into us so that its flow into, around and through us is unimpeded. If you are aware of an obstacle to that flow, lift it in prayer and invite the Spirit to help you move or transform it.
However you feel today, take some time to be present to the Love that has been poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit. How does knowing that pool of love is there change your day, your work, your life? Where and to whom do you want it to flow next? The prayer is simple: Come, Holy Spirit.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Showing posts with label God's love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's love. Show all posts
5-26-25 - God's Love On Board
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
The great theologian Karl Barth was once asked by a reporter to sum up his life's contribution to Christian thought. This legendary intellect and author of volumes of complex theology articulating the nature of God, man, Christ, and much more, said this, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Does it really just come down to love? Jesus said so: “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
In his prayer to his heavenly Father on his last night in human form, Jesus spoke of having made known the name of God to his followers, so that God’s love, with which Jesus had been loved, would reside in them – and further, that he himself would be in them. That is what we claim happens at baptism (and may happen in other times and ways; baptism is simply a guarantor): that we are united with Christ, and his spirit dwells within us forever. Already. Now.
That means we are filled with the Father’s love too. Do you feel filled with God’s love? I confess it’s not what I’m most aware of most of the time. I’m aware of being filled with energy or anxiety, peace or hope or fury or love for another. Rarely am I conscious of being a repository of God’s love, made available to the world, through me, through you.
Yet that is arguably our most important goal in the spiritual life: to become conscious, intentional conduits of that love that made the universe into a world thirsty for it. We need to be aware of our belovedness and share that gift with others. This is old news, and yet so difficult to live into.
We don’t have to find this love and ingest it – Jesus said it is already in us, on board, because he made God’s name known to his followers. And we are their descendants, apostles ourselves. Our job is to release this love into the world around us. How will we to do that today?
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Here are the readings for Ascension Day. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
The great theologian Karl Barth was once asked by a reporter to sum up his life's contribution to Christian thought. This legendary intellect and author of volumes of complex theology articulating the nature of God, man, Christ, and much more, said this, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Does it really just come down to love? Jesus said so: “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
In his prayer to his heavenly Father on his last night in human form, Jesus spoke of having made known the name of God to his followers, so that God’s love, with which Jesus had been loved, would reside in them – and further, that he himself would be in them. That is what we claim happens at baptism (and may happen in other times and ways; baptism is simply a guarantor): that we are united with Christ, and his spirit dwells within us forever. Already. Now.
That means we are filled with the Father’s love too. Do you feel filled with God’s love? I confess it’s not what I’m most aware of most of the time. I’m aware of being filled with energy or anxiety, peace or hope or fury or love for another. Rarely am I conscious of being a repository of God’s love, made available to the world, through me, through you.
Yet that is arguably our most important goal in the spiritual life: to become conscious, intentional conduits of that love that made the universe into a world thirsty for it. We need to be aware of our belovedness and share that gift with others. This is old news, and yet so difficult to live into.
We don’t have to find this love and ingest it – Jesus said it is already in us, on board, because he made God’s name known to his followers. And we are their descendants, apostles ourselves. Our job is to release this love into the world around us. How will we to do that today?
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Here are the readings for Ascension Day. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
12-28-22 - Use Your Words
You can listen to this reflection here. Today's gospel reading is here.
“Use your words.” I never thought to compare the God who rules the universe with a pre-verbal toddler, struggling to make herself understood, but that comes to mind as I think about the holy mystery at the heart of Christmas:
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth…
Why was the Incarnation of God’s Son necessary? In part, because of a communications breakdown. Because humankind could not understand the language in which God was communicating. We could not understand who God was. God had to use his Word – and give that Word flesh and send that Word to “pitch tent” among us and sojourn with us for a time, so that he could make God known to us.
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Jesus himself is worthy of our interest and attention and devotion. But if we forget that all that love and power and mercy and holiness and desire for justice was revealing to us who God is, we miss more than half the point. Jesus was simply demonstrating how things work in the realm of God, the Life of God. He was showing us God, making God known.
At Christmas, we celebrate God made known in the most vulnerable of states – and yet powerful enough to command the attendance of kings and angels. And, I hope, compelling enough to command our attention and love, in this 12-day season when we celebrate his wondrous birth. Christmas is just getting started.
God used his Word to make God’s love known. I pray that today, and every day, we will use our words to make God’s love known to one another, and to a world thirsty for meaning and connection.
“Use your words.” I never thought to compare the God who rules the universe with a pre-verbal toddler, struggling to make herself understood, but that comes to mind as I think about the holy mystery at the heart of Christmas:
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth…
Why was the Incarnation of God’s Son necessary? In part, because of a communications breakdown. Because humankind could not understand the language in which God was communicating. We could not understand who God was. God had to use his Word – and give that Word flesh and send that Word to “pitch tent” among us and sojourn with us for a time, so that he could make God known to us.
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Jesus himself is worthy of our interest and attention and devotion. But if we forget that all that love and power and mercy and holiness and desire for justice was revealing to us who God is, we miss more than half the point. Jesus was simply demonstrating how things work in the realm of God, the Life of God. He was showing us God, making God known.
At Christmas, we celebrate God made known in the most vulnerable of states – and yet powerful enough to command the attendance of kings and angels. And, I hope, compelling enough to command our attention and love, in this 12-day season when we celebrate his wondrous birth. Christmas is just getting started.
God used his Word to make God’s love known. I pray that today, and every day, we will use our words to make God’s love known to one another, and to a world thirsty for meaning and connection.
1-5-22 - Welcomed
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Our world is in the midst of a protracted refugees crisis, with some 26.6 million refugees as of mid-2021. The U.S. continues to see unaccompanied minors on our southern border, and to contend with violence against immigrants. Jesus’ call to welcome the stranger is hotly debated, even among those who claim to follow him.
Spiritually speaking, we are all refugees, people who have been welcomed into what Jesus called the Kingdom of God, a realm wholly separate from the realm of this world but accessible from anywhere. And the rite by which our welcome is sealed is baptism. In baptism, we are given a passport and all the rights of citizenship – insight, hope, and power beyond comprehension. There are no second-class citizens or resident aliens in the Realm of God. All have equal rights and equal status – and equal responsibility.
The reason that we, our holiness imperfect at best, can be welcomed into the Realm of God where holiness reigns, is that Jesus brought his perfect holiness into the realm of this world. In that sense, he too was a refugee from another place, needing to acquire the language and customs of an alien land. His baptism in the Jordan River was a sign of his taking on this world, submerging himself in human reality, including the reality of death.
And, as we know from the story the Gospels tell, Jesus was about as welcome as many refugees are in today’s world. The clash of values, and the discomfort both his poverty and his power caused, led ultimately to his death. Yet in that death and his rising again he opened the way for us to be welcomed into God-Life.
How does it challenge you spiritually to think of yourself as a refugee welcomed into the Realm of God? What new customs and language and ways of relating to others do you need to learn in order to thrive in this land? What support groups might you join to ease your assimilation into this Life? And how might you help others assimilate?
As we explore the gifts of baptism this week, let’s remember our dual citizenship and seek to become ever more comfortable in that land where there is no death. And let’s reach out our hands to offer Life to those seeking to join us.
Tonight I begin a new bible study on the Gospel of John - please join me 7-8 pm EST on Zoom.
Our world is in the midst of a protracted refugees crisis, with some 26.6 million refugees as of mid-2021. The U.S. continues to see unaccompanied minors on our southern border, and to contend with violence against immigrants. Jesus’ call to welcome the stranger is hotly debated, even among those who claim to follow him.
Spiritually speaking, we are all refugees, people who have been welcomed into what Jesus called the Kingdom of God, a realm wholly separate from the realm of this world but accessible from anywhere. And the rite by which our welcome is sealed is baptism. In baptism, we are given a passport and all the rights of citizenship – insight, hope, and power beyond comprehension. There are no second-class citizens or resident aliens in the Realm of God. All have equal rights and equal status – and equal responsibility.
The reason that we, our holiness imperfect at best, can be welcomed into the Realm of God where holiness reigns, is that Jesus brought his perfect holiness into the realm of this world. In that sense, he too was a refugee from another place, needing to acquire the language and customs of an alien land. His baptism in the Jordan River was a sign of his taking on this world, submerging himself in human reality, including the reality of death.
And, as we know from the story the Gospels tell, Jesus was about as welcome as many refugees are in today’s world. The clash of values, and the discomfort both his poverty and his power caused, led ultimately to his death. Yet in that death and his rising again he opened the way for us to be welcomed into God-Life.
How does it challenge you spiritually to think of yourself as a refugee welcomed into the Realm of God? What new customs and language and ways of relating to others do you need to learn in order to thrive in this land? What support groups might you join to ease your assimilation into this Life? And how might you help others assimilate?
As we explore the gifts of baptism this week, let’s remember our dual citizenship and seek to become ever more comfortable in that land where there is no death. And let’s reach out our hands to offer Life to those seeking to join us.
Tonight I begin a new bible study on the Gospel of John - please join me 7-8 pm EST on Zoom.
7-7-21 - Lavish Grace
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's epistle reading is here.
When was the last time something was lavished on you? Luxury? Hospitality? Kindness? Thanks to our Puritan forebears, we may not associate words like “lavished” and “riches” and “pleasure” with our life in God. But Paul lays it on thick when rhapsodizing about God’s generosity toward us in forgiveness and redemption:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
How we feel about being forgiven and redeemed is entangled with whether or not we feel we need forgiving and redeeming. Some people feel guilt and shame pretty easily – for them, these are words of life. Others are offended by the notion that we, good creatures made in the image of God, are characterized as “sinners,” and find the whole notion of repentance oppressive. I’ve been asked why we talk about sin in our worship services, as though the word itself conveys a wrong emphasis. Perhaps we should talk about hurtfulness; most people get that.
St. Paul had no problem talking about guilt and shame – he knew how prideful and arrogant he had been as a follower of the Mosaic law, and how violently and zealously he had persecuted the Christ-followers. He had a visceral gratitude for the forgiveness of his sins and the redemption he came to understand as God's gift through Christ’s redeeming sacrifice. Recognizing how destructive he could be allowed him to understand the true cost and immeasurable value of God’s forgiving grace.
John Newton, the repentant slave trader who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace, understood what that unmerited redemption was worth once he came to see how lost he was, how depraved in his disregard for the value of human beings. It took seeing his sinfulness to understand the extent of God’s transforming love – a love that not only restores individuals, but is part of God’s larger plan to restore all of creation to wholeness, “things in heaven and things on earth.”
Can you think of a time when you have received “amazing grace” from a person and/or from God? It can be simultaneously humiliating and exhilarating to be on the receiving end of forgiveness when we’re aware of how hurtful we can be.
And have you been called upon to forgive an extraordinary hurt? How did you come to that forgiveness? Was it connected to grace you’ve received? This is one reason we include confession in our prayers – to remember who we are, and how loved we are because and in spite of who we are.
Our nation saw grace “lavished” when members of “Mother Emanuel” AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, even the families of those massacred there, freely offered forgiveness to the murderer. Many observers took offense at that, feeling that the shooter did not deserve to be forgiven, especially as he seemed unrepentant. To which the Christian says, "Exactly." Those who offered forgiveness understood that, from the perspective of God’s holiness, none of us deserve it, yet God has lavished grace upon us.
Only as we understand that we need, and have received, that grace for ourselves are we truly able to lavish it on others. As we do that, God’s plan for the cosmos becomes ever more complete.
When was the last time something was lavished on you? Luxury? Hospitality? Kindness? Thanks to our Puritan forebears, we may not associate words like “lavished” and “riches” and “pleasure” with our life in God. But Paul lays it on thick when rhapsodizing about God’s generosity toward us in forgiveness and redemption:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
How we feel about being forgiven and redeemed is entangled with whether or not we feel we need forgiving and redeeming. Some people feel guilt and shame pretty easily – for them, these are words of life. Others are offended by the notion that we, good creatures made in the image of God, are characterized as “sinners,” and find the whole notion of repentance oppressive. I’ve been asked why we talk about sin in our worship services, as though the word itself conveys a wrong emphasis. Perhaps we should talk about hurtfulness; most people get that.
St. Paul had no problem talking about guilt and shame – he knew how prideful and arrogant he had been as a follower of the Mosaic law, and how violently and zealously he had persecuted the Christ-followers. He had a visceral gratitude for the forgiveness of his sins and the redemption he came to understand as God's gift through Christ’s redeeming sacrifice. Recognizing how destructive he could be allowed him to understand the true cost and immeasurable value of God’s forgiving grace.
John Newton, the repentant slave trader who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace, understood what that unmerited redemption was worth once he came to see how lost he was, how depraved in his disregard for the value of human beings. It took seeing his sinfulness to understand the extent of God’s transforming love – a love that not only restores individuals, but is part of God’s larger plan to restore all of creation to wholeness, “things in heaven and things on earth.”
Can you think of a time when you have received “amazing grace” from a person and/or from God? It can be simultaneously humiliating and exhilarating to be on the receiving end of forgiveness when we’re aware of how hurtful we can be.
And have you been called upon to forgive an extraordinary hurt? How did you come to that forgiveness? Was it connected to grace you’ve received? This is one reason we include confession in our prayers – to remember who we are, and how loved we are because and in spite of who we are.
Our nation saw grace “lavished” when members of “Mother Emanuel” AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, even the families of those massacred there, freely offered forgiveness to the murderer. Many observers took offense at that, feeling that the shooter did not deserve to be forgiven, especially as he seemed unrepentant. To which the Christian says, "Exactly." Those who offered forgiveness understood that, from the perspective of God’s holiness, none of us deserve it, yet God has lavished grace upon us.
Only as we understand that we need, and have received, that grace for ourselves are we truly able to lavish it on others. As we do that, God’s plan for the cosmos becomes ever more complete.
6-9-21 - The Power In Small
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
I know two people who started a school in a challenging inner-city neighborhood. They wove Christian principles into its operation, delighted in diversity, and had a huge commitment to helping the under-served, often under-privileged children of that city learn and thrive. They called it The Mustard Seed School, because they knew that things - and people - that look too small, too poor, too shabby to amount to much, can achieve greatness. That is how things work in the realm of God.
Jesus also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
This is one of many ways in which the values of God’s realm run counter to the values of our culture. We often think big is better, strong is mightier, talent prevails. There is nothing wrong with big, strong or talented, but those labels don’t tell the whole story about a person or a community – or a church. Some people are big because they come from large stock; some are gifted because they’ve been treated to a great education. These are not the values by which we are to measure one another, and certainly not the values by which we are to measure the effectiveness of our churches. But it takes a lot of prayer and reordering our values to truly look for the power and greatness in what appears small or weak.
When have you seen greatness in something that appeared small or less than desirable?
When has someone seen greatness in you at a time when you felt you had little to offer?
Where do you appreciate “small" and "unimpressive?”
There is a realm in which our culture has come to appreciate the small: technology. The smaller the item, the more we prize it – as long as it can pack a huge amount of data and deliver it at lightning speed. So maybe if Jesus were telling this parable today, it would sound like this:
“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a processor chip, which, when implanted in a device, is the smallest of all the components; yet when it is activated, it becomes the most powerful of all operating systems, and powers many apps and puts forth many gigs of data, so that whole networks can benefit from its bandwidth.”
Does that work for you? If not, try this:
“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a person of faith who seems pretty ordinary, who, when rooted into a community of other ordinary people, is the smallest contributor; yet when s/he is filled with the Holy Spirit, becomes the most powerful of all ministers and reaches out so lovingly, whole communities are blessed in ways they cannot number.”
Yeah. You and me. On our worst days. At our weakest. We provide shade and branches for whole communities. THAT’s how the kingdom of God works!
I know two people who started a school in a challenging inner-city neighborhood. They wove Christian principles into its operation, delighted in diversity, and had a huge commitment to helping the under-served, often under-privileged children of that city learn and thrive. They called it The Mustard Seed School, because they knew that things - and people - that look too small, too poor, too shabby to amount to much, can achieve greatness. That is how things work in the realm of God.
Jesus also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
This is one of many ways in which the values of God’s realm run counter to the values of our culture. We often think big is better, strong is mightier, talent prevails. There is nothing wrong with big, strong or talented, but those labels don’t tell the whole story about a person or a community – or a church. Some people are big because they come from large stock; some are gifted because they’ve been treated to a great education. These are not the values by which we are to measure one another, and certainly not the values by which we are to measure the effectiveness of our churches. But it takes a lot of prayer and reordering our values to truly look for the power and greatness in what appears small or weak.
When have you seen greatness in something that appeared small or less than desirable?
When has someone seen greatness in you at a time when you felt you had little to offer?
Where do you appreciate “small" and "unimpressive?”
There is a realm in which our culture has come to appreciate the small: technology. The smaller the item, the more we prize it – as long as it can pack a huge amount of data and deliver it at lightning speed. So maybe if Jesus were telling this parable today, it would sound like this:
“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a processor chip, which, when implanted in a device, is the smallest of all the components; yet when it is activated, it becomes the most powerful of all operating systems, and powers many apps and puts forth many gigs of data, so that whole networks can benefit from its bandwidth.”
Does that work for you? If not, try this:
“With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a person of faith who seems pretty ordinary, who, when rooted into a community of other ordinary people, is the smallest contributor; yet when s/he is filled with the Holy Spirit, becomes the most powerful of all ministers and reaches out so lovingly, whole communities are blessed in ways they cannot number.”
Yeah. You and me. On our worst days. At our weakest. We provide shade and branches for whole communities. THAT’s how the kingdom of God works!
6-7-21 - Scattering Seeds
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
A person tosses a bunch of seeds on the ground, goes to sleep and wakes up for many days in a row, and then is surprised to see plants sprouting all around. This is a description of:
A person tosses a bunch of seeds on the ground, goes to sleep and wakes up for many days in a row, and then is surprised to see plants sprouting all around. This is a description of:
a. Organic farming methods
b. A lifelong city dweller’s first experience in the countryside
c. Me with my vegetable garden (see b…)
d. The way things work in the realm of God
b. A lifelong city dweller’s first experience in the countryside
c. Me with my vegetable garden (see b…)
d. The way things work in the realm of God
What does the story suggest to you?
It is Seed Week in Bible Camp. I’ve never counted, but it seems that Jesus told more parables about seeds than any other one thing. In the passage just before this, he tells a long story about a sower of seeds and the different results he gets according to where they fall. In this week’s gospel reading we get two more seed parables, short, simple – and if we harvest them well – yielding manifold meanings and gifts. Here is the first:
“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
We meet no sower, just “someone” who haphazardly scatters seed on the ground and then seems astonished that it sprouts and grows. How is this like the Kingdom of God? Is Jesus saying that God is the careless scatterer, hoping that the kingdom values of love and faithfulness and power will take root in some? There appears to be no cultivating, weeding, tending, or watering – just “the earth producing of itself.” Does this suggest that some people are just naturally ready to grow and thrive?
Or are we the ones unwittingly scattering the seeds of the gospel, and surprised when some sprout?
Or am I wrong to equate the seeds with people? Maybe the seeds are simply the movement of “getting it,” grasping the truth that Jesus was trying to communicate about the way the Realm of God is already around, among, even in us. The truth grows in us – we don’t have to study and prepare, simply recognize and accept and live it.
Or perhaps we should focus on the sprouting plants rather than the carelessness or cluelessness of the sower. The realm of God is constantly sprouting new life, grown from seeds we scarcely knew had been sown – and day after day, night after night, this growth continues apart from any effort we make.
What do you see when you play with this one?
This is what we do with parables – turn them this way and that, try on different angles and interpretations, see what strikes a spark in us. Come to think of it, parables are kind of like scattered seeds that sprout and grow, we know not how...
It is Seed Week in Bible Camp. I’ve never counted, but it seems that Jesus told more parables about seeds than any other one thing. In the passage just before this, he tells a long story about a sower of seeds and the different results he gets according to where they fall. In this week’s gospel reading we get two more seed parables, short, simple – and if we harvest them well – yielding manifold meanings and gifts. Here is the first:
“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
We meet no sower, just “someone” who haphazardly scatters seed on the ground and then seems astonished that it sprouts and grows. How is this like the Kingdom of God? Is Jesus saying that God is the careless scatterer, hoping that the kingdom values of love and faithfulness and power will take root in some? There appears to be no cultivating, weeding, tending, or watering – just “the earth producing of itself.” Does this suggest that some people are just naturally ready to grow and thrive?
Or are we the ones unwittingly scattering the seeds of the gospel, and surprised when some sprout?
Or am I wrong to equate the seeds with people? Maybe the seeds are simply the movement of “getting it,” grasping the truth that Jesus was trying to communicate about the way the Realm of God is already around, among, even in us. The truth grows in us – we don’t have to study and prepare, simply recognize and accept and live it.
Or perhaps we should focus on the sprouting plants rather than the carelessness or cluelessness of the sower. The realm of God is constantly sprouting new life, grown from seeds we scarcely knew had been sown – and day after day, night after night, this growth continues apart from any effort we make.
What do you see when you play with this one?
This is what we do with parables – turn them this way and that, try on different angles and interpretations, see what strikes a spark in us. Come to think of it, parables are kind of like scattered seeds that sprout and grow, we know not how...
5-20-21 - The Gift Who Keeps On Giving
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's principal reading is here.
Among the Spirit's blessings promised us as saints of God are spiritual gifts. These are Spirit-given abilities that help the church carry out the mission of God. As such they are distinct from talents and abilities we are born with or train for. Sometimes our spiritual gifts overlap with our natural talents, as with musicians who also help lead worship music, or talented speakers who also preach, or naturally gregarious people who also have a gift of evangelism. But sometimes spiritual gifts are abilities we discover we have, or others notice in us. We discover them because they bear fruit.
We find several lists of spiritual gifts in New Testament letters by Paul and Peter (though maybe Peter’s list is cribbed from Paul…). The more obvious are ones like teaching, healing, preaching, evangelism. There are others, listed and not: prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, administration, compassion, generosity. Where spiritual gifts overlap with talents or traits we have, we identify them as spiritual gifts if they help the church proclaim the Good News of life in Jesus Christ, and sometimes by the intensity with which we manifest that gift. For instance, many people are generous; but someone with the spiritual gift of "giving" gives abundantly and with such joy and often in situations where their gift makes all the difference. Many people are well organized, but someone with the spiritual gift of administration is able to facilitate the ministries of the whole group for mission.
What are some spiritual gifts that you are aware of having?
What ministries do they empower you to live out? When did they surface? Sometimes when our circumstances change, such as when we retire or become empty nesters, new gifts emerge for ministries we are now able to do.
Among the Spirit's blessings promised us as saints of God are spiritual gifts. These are Spirit-given abilities that help the church carry out the mission of God. As such they are distinct from talents and abilities we are born with or train for. Sometimes our spiritual gifts overlap with our natural talents, as with musicians who also help lead worship music, or talented speakers who also preach, or naturally gregarious people who also have a gift of evangelism. But sometimes spiritual gifts are abilities we discover we have, or others notice in us. We discover them because they bear fruit.
We find several lists of spiritual gifts in New Testament letters by Paul and Peter (though maybe Peter’s list is cribbed from Paul…). The more obvious are ones like teaching, healing, preaching, evangelism. There are others, listed and not: prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, administration, compassion, generosity. Where spiritual gifts overlap with talents or traits we have, we identify them as spiritual gifts if they help the church proclaim the Good News of life in Jesus Christ, and sometimes by the intensity with which we manifest that gift. For instance, many people are generous; but someone with the spiritual gift of "giving" gives abundantly and with such joy and often in situations where their gift makes all the difference. Many people are well organized, but someone with the spiritual gift of administration is able to facilitate the ministries of the whole group for mission.
What are some spiritual gifts that you are aware of having?
What ministries do they empower you to live out? When did they surface? Sometimes when our circumstances change, such as when we retire or become empty nesters, new gifts emerge for ministries we are now able to do.
What gifts have others identified in you, that you may not have thought you had?
It’s also good to look at our “gift mixes.” Taking an inventory of our spiritual gifts and seeing how they combine can point us to ministries. (Here are Methodist, Lutheran and other online inventories; there are more.) Someone with a gift of healing and compassion (beyond the average) might be called to minister to people on the streets, or someone with a gift for teaching and music to lead choirs.
St. Paul wrote a lot about spiritual gifts, because he wanted his churches to know that God equips us for every ministry to which God calls us. He wanted them to crave the gifts – and to recognize that they are all Spirit-given and equally important. To the Corinthians, who were very keen on certain “flashier” gifts, he wrote, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” He enumerates some of the diverse gifts for ministry, concluding, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” (ICorinthians 12:4-11) No one is skipped.
Paul also reminded his readers that there’s no point being spiritually gifted if we’re lacking in love. That’s what that famous hymn to love read at weddings is really about – how to exercise the gifts of the Spirit in community, a community that is to be marked by love.
The gifts of the Spirit are gifts, not assets or rewards. We cannot buy or earn them, but we can pray for the ones we believe we want or need. We can trust the Spirit to give us what we need to live fully into God's purposes for us.
It’s also good to look at our “gift mixes.” Taking an inventory of our spiritual gifts and seeing how they combine can point us to ministries. (Here are Methodist, Lutheran and other online inventories; there are more.) Someone with a gift of healing and compassion (beyond the average) might be called to minister to people on the streets, or someone with a gift for teaching and music to lead choirs.
St. Paul wrote a lot about spiritual gifts, because he wanted his churches to know that God equips us for every ministry to which God calls us. He wanted them to crave the gifts – and to recognize that they are all Spirit-given and equally important. To the Corinthians, who were very keen on certain “flashier” gifts, he wrote, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” He enumerates some of the diverse gifts for ministry, concluding, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” (ICorinthians 12:4-11) No one is skipped.
Paul also reminded his readers that there’s no point being spiritually gifted if we’re lacking in love. That’s what that famous hymn to love read at weddings is really about – how to exercise the gifts of the Spirit in community, a community that is to be marked by love.
The gifts of the Spirit are gifts, not assets or rewards. We cannot buy or earn them, but we can pray for the ones we believe we want or need. We can trust the Spirit to give us what we need to live fully into God's purposes for us.
5-19-21 - Holy Pie
You can listen to this reflection here. The main reading for Sunday is here.
When I start reading what St. Paul has to say about the Holy Spirit, I soon get to thinking about pie. Why’s that, you ask? Because there’s a lot of talk about fruit and filling! (Yeah, no one else laughs at that either…).
St. Paul had a lot to say about the Holy Spirit – his function in the life of the church; the gifts, or charisms, given to us by the Spirit; the way the more charismatic of the charisms should be lived out in worship and community; and the fruit and the filling ("Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit..." Eph 5:18). Paul said he accompanied his proclamation of the Good News with signs of the power we're given as heirs to the Gospel: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (I Cor 2:4-5)
It is the Spirit’s power that makes our message and our ministry effective at opening hearts and making peace and calling forth justice. The Spirit also equips us with the gifts and character we need as saints of the Living God on an ongoing basis. There are personality traits that Paul called “the fruit of the Spirit”:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23a).
Human beings are capable of such attributes without God, I’m sure – but not often, and rarely in a sustained manner. When we truly allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and transform us, we find ourselves manifesting these fruits in a way that surprises us and the people around us. We can tell the difference between the Holy Spirit and Prozac when someone who's always been downcast becomes a person of joy. Likewise, when someone known for her temper develops forbearance, you know God must be up to something.
What if we were to make a list of these “fruits” Paul names, adding ones we feel are missing, like humility. Then we might do an inventory, noting the levels of each of these we feel we possess – give it a number or fill in a circle with a rough percentage. Have you experienced more of any of these since you became more conscious about following Christ? Which are the attributes you particularly crave? We could revisit the list periodically, check our "levels."
God desires that each of us experience this fruit. And we don't get the fruit without the filling. And one way we get Spirit-filled, allowing God to sow the seeds of these traits in us, is to intentionally invite the Spirit to take up residence in us. That prayer is as simple as “Come, Holy Spirit!” It is a prayer I utter frequently before and during worship, and at other times when I realize I’m trying to do something on my own, or when my spirits are low. If we could get to the point where that prayer rose up in us all through the day, as well as spending lengthier times just bathing in the Spirit’s love and peace, I think we’d find ourselves both filled and fruitful.
In my experience, the Spirit is an eager guest, but one who awaits our invitation. She does not insist or break down the door. He doesn’t even knock all that hard, just is happy when we say, “Oh, I forgot you were there. Please come in... Want some pie?”
When I start reading what St. Paul has to say about the Holy Spirit, I soon get to thinking about pie. Why’s that, you ask? Because there’s a lot of talk about fruit and filling! (Yeah, no one else laughs at that either…).
St. Paul had a lot to say about the Holy Spirit – his function in the life of the church; the gifts, or charisms, given to us by the Spirit; the way the more charismatic of the charisms should be lived out in worship and community; and the fruit and the filling ("Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit..." Eph 5:18). Paul said he accompanied his proclamation of the Good News with signs of the power we're given as heirs to the Gospel: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (I Cor 2:4-5)
It is the Spirit’s power that makes our message and our ministry effective at opening hearts and making peace and calling forth justice. The Spirit also equips us with the gifts and character we need as saints of the Living God on an ongoing basis. There are personality traits that Paul called “the fruit of the Spirit”:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23a).
Human beings are capable of such attributes without God, I’m sure – but not often, and rarely in a sustained manner. When we truly allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and transform us, we find ourselves manifesting these fruits in a way that surprises us and the people around us. We can tell the difference between the Holy Spirit and Prozac when someone who's always been downcast becomes a person of joy. Likewise, when someone known for her temper develops forbearance, you know God must be up to something.
What if we were to make a list of these “fruits” Paul names, adding ones we feel are missing, like humility. Then we might do an inventory, noting the levels of each of these we feel we possess – give it a number or fill in a circle with a rough percentage. Have you experienced more of any of these since you became more conscious about following Christ? Which are the attributes you particularly crave? We could revisit the list periodically, check our "levels."
God desires that each of us experience this fruit. And we don't get the fruit without the filling. And one way we get Spirit-filled, allowing God to sow the seeds of these traits in us, is to intentionally invite the Spirit to take up residence in us. That prayer is as simple as “Come, Holy Spirit!” It is a prayer I utter frequently before and during worship, and at other times when I realize I’m trying to do something on my own, or when my spirits are low. If we could get to the point where that prayer rose up in us all through the day, as well as spending lengthier times just bathing in the Spirit’s love and peace, I think we’d find ourselves both filled and fruitful.
In my experience, the Spirit is an eager guest, but one who awaits our invitation. She does not insist or break down the door. He doesn’t even knock all that hard, just is happy when we say, “Oh, I forgot you were there. Please come in... Want some pie?”
9-19-20 - The Boss
You can listen to this reflection here.
All week, we’ve been hearing how the different characters in Jesus’ story might have experienced that event. I thought maybe we’d look at the Landowner last. I’m pretty sure the Landowner in this story is God. Parables are open to multiple interpretations, but it’s hard for me to conceive of this character as representing anyone but the Almighty. After all, it is God’s Kingdom that Jesus is trying to convey in his stories, a realm that cannot be depicted or even described except through story and symbol.Does God come out to the marketplace of this world and invite those who are willing to work in his vineyard? Does God keep at it, knowing there’s more than enough work for everyone? Does God go after even those whom no one else has wanted to hire, or those who got there late? Does God compensate everyone at the same rate, knowing there is no “more” or “less” when you live in abundance?
If this is God, Jesus is telling us we’re in good shape. We can be frustrated, not always able to fully comprehend the ways of God, but we are also in line for more blessings than we can fathom. Above all, this story Jesus told is about blessing, blessing that doesn’t make sense, blessing that doesn’t quit.
Around the year 400, St. John Chrysostom wrote a beautiful Easter Vigil sermon, drawing on this parable to convey that, no matter what kind of Lenten fast people have kept, no matter what sin, they are welcome at God’s table. I’d like to give him the last word this week, in an excerpt:
If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.
For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first.
To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor.
The deed He honors and the intention He commends.
Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward;
rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
I pray you feast richly this weekend – it’s always Easter around God’s house, and the table is always richly laden.
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