Summertime – and the living is easy… or should be. I intend Water Daily to be a little shorter and hopefully sweeter. I’ve even shortened the chunk of Gospel we are going to consider this week – there are two sections, the first of which requires a lot of unpacking. So let’s just go with the second, especially as it contains Jesus’ beautiful invitation to “come to me, all ye who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Perfect for a holiday week, right?
In the section we are skipping, Jesus inveighs against the faithlessness of his critics, chiefly the Pharisees and their ilk. He is also ticked off at the fickleness of the crowds and lack of faith he encounters among his own people relative to that shown by Gentiles. He’s in a mood.
“At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”
Sometimes our knowledge can get in the way of our understanding, our expectations cloud our ability to see the surprising, familiarity obscure the fullness of revelation. People talk about those who have a “simple faith,” an ability to say “yes” to the story of God’s revelation in Christ, and to participate in that. Blessed are the simple-hearted – for they are often better able to get on with living by the Spirit.
And yet the Gospel is also received by those of us who think too much. it's just that we sometimes make it harder for ourselves. In the final analysis, analysis is not going to yield full understanding, any more than playing with the food on our plate is going to get us fed. The Good News is a gift to be taken and received, ingested, allowed to play in our minds, hearts and spirits.
Is the life of faith simple or complex for you?
How do you most fully connect with God – through your mind or your emotions or both?
If your analytical self gets in your way spiritually, you might try on a prayer practice of inviting Jesus to make his presence known, and just be with him, letting your feelings become known.
And if you find you shy away from theological thinking, you might try a bible study and let your mind play.
Thanks be to God, even the most “wise and intelligent” among us are also invited to be “infants” in Christ, to put all our weight on the One who made us, loves us and renews us.
6-27-14 - Summer Spirituality
Having pretty much exhausted the themes I could dredge up in our very short Gospel reading this week, I would like to change the subject. (Yes, there are other readings appointed for Sunday; for a variety of reasons, I don’t wish to explore them here.) Today, I invite us to consider how the gifts of summertime can help us refresh our connection to God.
The long days and warm weather which most Water Daily readers are enjoying in the western hemisphere offer occasions for spiritual connection, on our own and in groups. I don’t know about you, but my spirit is fed and expanded by being outdoors, feeling a breeze, watching the sunlight play on leaves, admiring the strength and beauty of trees and flowers, observing the antics of animals large and small. The form of praise called exaltation rises in me more readily, and gratitude becomes a more dominant theme in my prayer.
Summer often offers more time for spiritual activities as well. Whether we sit outside or enjoy a long walk after dinner (or before breakfast…), we can talk to God, and listen, because we’re not rushing as much. Long dinners with friends or lounging on a beach or boat allow time and space for conversations to get spiritual. Here are a few spiritual practices we might try on this season:
Mindfulness walks – take a walk in the woods or in a meadow or anywhere that you find beautiful. Pause before you start to breathe deeply and to attend to each of your senses, ending with the eyes. What do you hear? What do you feel on your skin? What do you smell and even taste? Finally, what do you see? Take your time to tune each of these senses, and as you walk try to notice and appreciate without engaging your thoughts – and when you find your mind is busy, come back to the "now" by noticing with your senses again.
Gratitude journal – if this is not already your practice, you might try it for a season. Choose a time each day to sit, preferably outside, and note what you are thankful for. Write it down if you can. Do any of those things prompt you to want to go deeper in prayer? Sometimes noting what we’re grateful for reveals to us something we yearn for – talk to God about that. And give thanks!
Love feasts – I love summer eating, and since I’ve finally expanded my appreciation of vegetables and fruits, I find making food and eating it, alone or with others, an increasingly delightful adventure. Food makes real the overwhelming abundance and variety of God’s creation, and variety and abundance seem particularly vivid in the summer. I suggest inviting the Holy Spirit to fill you as you plan a menu, acquire the ingredients (especially if it can involve a farmer’s market), grill if you like that. I love to sauté on my grill’s extra burner, even chopping the vegetables outside; my deck becomes a kitchen and dining room all in one. Praise the Creator with each phase of preparation; invite Jesus to join you as you eat – he was no stranger to dinner tables or kitchens. Savor the taste and distinctiveness of each food and the gifts of each guest – and know that God is in the midst of it.
There are many more spiritual practices particularly wonderful to embrace during the summer, but those three are enough for today. As we move into the vacation season, I pray you will have many opportunities to draw near to God and experience the presence of the Spirit in this season of growth.
The long days and warm weather which most Water Daily readers are enjoying in the western hemisphere offer occasions for spiritual connection, on our own and in groups. I don’t know about you, but my spirit is fed and expanded by being outdoors, feeling a breeze, watching the sunlight play on leaves, admiring the strength and beauty of trees and flowers, observing the antics of animals large and small. The form of praise called exaltation rises in me more readily, and gratitude becomes a more dominant theme in my prayer.
Summer often offers more time for spiritual activities as well. Whether we sit outside or enjoy a long walk after dinner (or before breakfast…), we can talk to God, and listen, because we’re not rushing as much. Long dinners with friends or lounging on a beach or boat allow time and space for conversations to get spiritual. Here are a few spiritual practices we might try on this season:
Mindfulness walks – take a walk in the woods or in a meadow or anywhere that you find beautiful. Pause before you start to breathe deeply and to attend to each of your senses, ending with the eyes. What do you hear? What do you feel on your skin? What do you smell and even taste? Finally, what do you see? Take your time to tune each of these senses, and as you walk try to notice and appreciate without engaging your thoughts – and when you find your mind is busy, come back to the "now" by noticing with your senses again.
Gratitude journal – if this is not already your practice, you might try it for a season. Choose a time each day to sit, preferably outside, and note what you are thankful for. Write it down if you can. Do any of those things prompt you to want to go deeper in prayer? Sometimes noting what we’re grateful for reveals to us something we yearn for – talk to God about that. And give thanks!
Love feasts – I love summer eating, and since I’ve finally expanded my appreciation of vegetables and fruits, I find making food and eating it, alone or with others, an increasingly delightful adventure. Food makes real the overwhelming abundance and variety of God’s creation, and variety and abundance seem particularly vivid in the summer. I suggest inviting the Holy Spirit to fill you as you plan a menu, acquire the ingredients (especially if it can involve a farmer’s market), grill if you like that. I love to sauté on my grill’s extra burner, even chopping the vegetables outside; my deck becomes a kitchen and dining room all in one. Praise the Creator with each phase of preparation; invite Jesus to join you as you eat – he was no stranger to dinner tables or kitchens. Savor the taste and distinctiveness of each food and the gifts of each guest – and know that God is in the midst of it.
There are many more spiritual practices particularly wonderful to embrace during the summer, but those three are enough for today. As we move into the vacation season, I pray you will have many opportunities to draw near to God and experience the presence of the Spirit in this season of growth.
6-26-14 - Sent
I didn’t think I could squeeze one more word out of this this week’s Gospel passage, but I might just manage one: Sent. It is implied in what Jesus says about people welcoming those who come in his name as prophets and righteous folks, that they are sent, as he was sent. “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
What does it mean to be sent? Messengers are sent, ambassadors are sent, representatives are sent, teams are sent out on the field, troops sent to war, ambulances sent to accident sites… To be sent means to be deployed for a specific purpose. Most often in life our being sent bears some relation to our skills or connections.
Jesus sent his disciples to proclaim Good News of God’s activity in the world, to announce freedom to the poor and those in captivity, to heal the sick and raise the dead. Those are still pretty much the reasons he sends his followers out today. Do you feel sent to any particular place or people? Where do your skills and connections and passions point you?
For some time, I have been feeling sent to establish spiritual community among young professionals in the rapidly growing city where I live. Perhaps it is because people reached out to me when I was a young adult in New York; perhaps because I know so many people in that age group have a spiritual thirst and little or no experience or access to spiritual connection. I am finally moving forward on that sending, led by the Spirit.
That's the thing with God - the One who sends also leads us and equips us. Unlike a courier who goes out and reports back, apostles of Jesus Christ get to carry his presence and power with us as we go. It takes off some of the pressure, if we can only allow the Spirit to do the work and stop taking it on ourselves.
When have you felt sent by God, short or long-term?
What inner urges are you discerning – or trying to push down?
Where would you like to be sent?
Where are you afraid to be sent?
Being sent starts, like everything in the Christian life, with relationship. We strengthen our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that we can better understand God's prompts. They come through our own desires, sometimes, or through discerning a need or a lack. Sometimes God makes it really clear through dreams and “coincidences” that cannot finally be denied. We can check with others if a calling seems really odd or risky – and if we go forward, it will only be fruitful if we are aware of going with God, not for God.
And wherever we are sent by God, when we get there, we find God there too. Funny how that works.
What does it mean to be sent? Messengers are sent, ambassadors are sent, representatives are sent, teams are sent out on the field, troops sent to war, ambulances sent to accident sites… To be sent means to be deployed for a specific purpose. Most often in life our being sent bears some relation to our skills or connections.
Jesus sent his disciples to proclaim Good News of God’s activity in the world, to announce freedom to the poor and those in captivity, to heal the sick and raise the dead. Those are still pretty much the reasons he sends his followers out today. Do you feel sent to any particular place or people? Where do your skills and connections and passions point you?
For some time, I have been feeling sent to establish spiritual community among young professionals in the rapidly growing city where I live. Perhaps it is because people reached out to me when I was a young adult in New York; perhaps because I know so many people in that age group have a spiritual thirst and little or no experience or access to spiritual connection. I am finally moving forward on that sending, led by the Spirit.
That's the thing with God - the One who sends also leads us and equips us. Unlike a courier who goes out and reports back, apostles of Jesus Christ get to carry his presence and power with us as we go. It takes off some of the pressure, if we can only allow the Spirit to do the work and stop taking it on ourselves.
When have you felt sent by God, short or long-term?
What inner urges are you discerning – or trying to push down?
Where would you like to be sent?
Where are you afraid to be sent?
Being sent starts, like everything in the Christian life, with relationship. We strengthen our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that we can better understand God's prompts. They come through our own desires, sometimes, or through discerning a need or a lack. Sometimes God makes it really clear through dreams and “coincidences” that cannot finally be denied. We can check with others if a calling seems really odd or risky – and if we go forward, it will only be fruitful if we are aware of going with God, not for God.
And wherever we are sent by God, when we get there, we find God there too. Funny how that works.
6-25-14 - Cups of Water
“…And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."
People often take Jesus’ remark about bringing cups of water to “these little ones” as a prompt to do outreach. While Jesus is big on caring for people in need, that’s not his meaning here. He is saying that those who do ministry with us, “in the name of a disciple,” are to be blessed.
When my church does its monthly meal at the Men’s Shelter in Stamford, I bring my guitar and sing a few songs while the crew is readying the meal in the kitchen. The gentlemen waiting for dinner are generally very appreciative; “dinner and a show!,” some have remarked. But I like it best when someone there can play. I hand over the guitar and let him entertain the group.
People need to be invited to participate when we’re out doing “good works.” We can offer ministry to, or we can offer ministry with – and “with” is much more inclusive and empowering. Just think which you would prefer if you were in need. Inviting other people to join us as we go about ministries of help and transformation is one of the most powerful ways to share the Gospel with others. It makes the Good News visible as people see a community of Christ-followers in action – that witness is often as vivid and appealing as the work being done.
Many churches today find they connect better with people by giving them opportunities to serve than by trying to entice them to worship. That puts the onus on us to be open to relationships as we go about serving meals and delivering clothes and visiting those in prison, to get out from behind the counters and talk to the people we are serving, find out what their gifts are. I dream of a church where the well-fed and the hungry worship and serve together in one diverse community. I know such congregations exist.
What forms of helping or outreach or volunteering are you involved in? Is there room for inviting recipients of that help to participate in helping others? Can you think of ways to form community with the givers and the receivers until we are all aware of being both?
In what ways do you sense God inviting you to work with God in bringing light and life to someone? Have you had a conversation with Jesus about that? Want to bring that up in prayer today?
It makes sense to do ministry with the ones for whom we offer our time and resources, because God has invited us to do ministry with him. We don’t work “for” God either – we work with God, at the direction and power of the Spirit moving through us. If we give someone else the opportunity to offer a gift to someone in need, we have given them a chance to live more deeply.
From God’s perspective, we are all “these little ones,” and we are all in need of the water of life.
People often take Jesus’ remark about bringing cups of water to “these little ones” as a prompt to do outreach. While Jesus is big on caring for people in need, that’s not his meaning here. He is saying that those who do ministry with us, “in the name of a disciple,” are to be blessed.
When my church does its monthly meal at the Men’s Shelter in Stamford, I bring my guitar and sing a few songs while the crew is readying the meal in the kitchen. The gentlemen waiting for dinner are generally very appreciative; “dinner and a show!,” some have remarked. But I like it best when someone there can play. I hand over the guitar and let him entertain the group.
People need to be invited to participate when we’re out doing “good works.” We can offer ministry to, or we can offer ministry with – and “with” is much more inclusive and empowering. Just think which you would prefer if you were in need. Inviting other people to join us as we go about ministries of help and transformation is one of the most powerful ways to share the Gospel with others. It makes the Good News visible as people see a community of Christ-followers in action – that witness is often as vivid and appealing as the work being done.
Many churches today find they connect better with people by giving them opportunities to serve than by trying to entice them to worship. That puts the onus on us to be open to relationships as we go about serving meals and delivering clothes and visiting those in prison, to get out from behind the counters and talk to the people we are serving, find out what their gifts are. I dream of a church where the well-fed and the hungry worship and serve together in one diverse community. I know such congregations exist.
What forms of helping or outreach or volunteering are you involved in? Is there room for inviting recipients of that help to participate in helping others? Can you think of ways to form community with the givers and the receivers until we are all aware of being both?
In what ways do you sense God inviting you to work with God in bringing light and life to someone? Have you had a conversation with Jesus about that? Want to bring that up in prayer today?
It makes sense to do ministry with the ones for whom we offer our time and resources, because God has invited us to do ministry with him. We don’t work “for” God either – we work with God, at the direction and power of the Spirit moving through us. If we give someone else the opportunity to offer a gift to someone in need, we have given them a chance to live more deeply.
From God’s perspective, we are all “these little ones,” and we are all in need of the water of life.
6-24-14 - Prophets
“Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous.”
I’ve puzzled over these words – what sort of axiom is this? Then I realized Jesus was telling his followers before they went out “on mission” that they were the prophets, they were the righteous whom others would be welcoming, or not. By giving people the opportunity to welcome them, they were giving those people a chance to be greatly rewarded.
If we don’t think we’re offering a gift when we share our stories and our prayers with other people, of course we’re going to fear rejection. Many churchgoers are so afraid of “bothering” people who don’t go to church; it doesn’t seem to occur to them that they are withholding from others something that is so precious to them they’re willing to make significant sacrifices for it. That’s all that is asked of us, that we not hide under a bushel the light we feel comes into our life through Christ, that we not keep to ourselves the healing, restoring, transforming love of God we share in our communities.
When we speak God’s message of love and forgiveness and justice, we are acting as prophets – and we give people the opportunity to receive us as prophets, and thus to receive a prophet’s reward themselves (whatever that is...).
Prophets are simply those who convey messages for God. Who has functioned as a prophet for you, reminding you of your belovedness, or calling you to amend your thinking or behavior in some way? Who invited you to consider a relationship with Christ – maybe in words, and maybe just by living with a kind of hope and light and peace that you found compelling? They gave you that gift of welcoming a prophet, and so receiving a prophet’s reward.
For whom may you have functioned as a prophet? In prayer today you might ask God whether God has a message to share through you with someone in particular or a group in general. The message may be given through a conversation or writing a poem or article or blog, or by something you post on Facebook… there are all kinds of ways.
Let’s give people the opportunity to receive a reward by giving them the chance to share in a gift we have been given, without trying to pressure or persuade. That’s not bothering someone; it’s honoring their spirit by sharing your own.
I’ve puzzled over these words – what sort of axiom is this? Then I realized Jesus was telling his followers before they went out “on mission” that they were the prophets, they were the righteous whom others would be welcoming, or not. By giving people the opportunity to welcome them, they were giving those people a chance to be greatly rewarded.
If we don’t think we’re offering a gift when we share our stories and our prayers with other people, of course we’re going to fear rejection. Many churchgoers are so afraid of “bothering” people who don’t go to church; it doesn’t seem to occur to them that they are withholding from others something that is so precious to them they’re willing to make significant sacrifices for it. That’s all that is asked of us, that we not hide under a bushel the light we feel comes into our life through Christ, that we not keep to ourselves the healing, restoring, transforming love of God we share in our communities.
When we speak God’s message of love and forgiveness and justice, we are acting as prophets – and we give people the opportunity to receive us as prophets, and thus to receive a prophet’s reward themselves (whatever that is...).
Prophets are simply those who convey messages for God. Who has functioned as a prophet for you, reminding you of your belovedness, or calling you to amend your thinking or behavior in some way? Who invited you to consider a relationship with Christ – maybe in words, and maybe just by living with a kind of hope and light and peace that you found compelling? They gave you that gift of welcoming a prophet, and so receiving a prophet’s reward.
For whom may you have functioned as a prophet? In prayer today you might ask God whether God has a message to share through you with someone in particular or a group in general. The message may be given through a conversation or writing a poem or article or blog, or by something you post on Facebook… there are all kinds of ways.
Let’s give people the opportunity to receive a reward by giving them the chance to share in a gift we have been given, without trying to pressure or persuade. That’s not bothering someone; it’s honoring their spirit by sharing your own.
6-23-14 - Triple Welcome
Last week I wrote about religious violence… now I would seriously like to commit some toward the crafters of the Sunday lectionary. Grrr. Yesterday’s Gospel was 315 words of dense, challenging, provocative, hard-to-find-the-Good-News-in teaching from Jesus. And next week’s? 82 words in 2 sentences, four clauses, saying not all that much. Come on!
Okay, end of rant. Let's dive down and welcome the gifts of this very brief passage… which is all about welcoming. After Jesus gives his followers hard instructions about going out to proclaim the Good News and heal the sick, he softens a bit, saying, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
Welcoming was a big theme in Jesus’ sending talk, because his followers were to go out to villages and towns taking nothing along, no extra tunics, no clean underwear, no toothbrush, no money. They were to rely on the hospitality of those who welcomed them – and if they were not welcomed some place, they were to move on, save their breath.
This is important for us to hear. So often people express anxiety about discussing faith with others; they assume that conversation will not be welcomed. Well, so what? Some will, some won’t. Move on, Jesus says, because you will find someone who does welcome that conversation, and will welcome you, and will be grateful that you had the courage to engage them in a matter close to the heart.
Our culture makes little room for the spiritual, though it is starting to work its way in from the margins into corporate retreats and yoga weekends (maybe because Christians have left such a vacuum?). When we introduce spirituality and faith into a conversation, whether with a friend or stranger, we are making space for a holy connection. And we rely on the hospitality of the other person to welcome us into that space. If the other person doesn’t want to, no problem. Try again with someone else. Be open to the conversation if someone else introduces it. Let’s invite people to see our connection to God.
Do you anticipate rejection when you contemplate talking about God with someone, or do you anticipate welcome? Either way, we can be surprised…
Can you think of a person with whom you might want to start that conversation? What do you think his or her reaction would be if you raised a spiritual subject?
Here’s the thing: we don’t have to go out cold-calling people. We can respond to the Spirit’s prompts about who might be open. We can ask God in prayer, even over a period of weeks or years, “Shall I talk to that person about my faith? What’s the right approach? When do you think I should do it?” I think that’s a prayer that God will answer… maybe with a sign of some kind, or by our getting a feeling of “wait” or “go,” or there being an opening to talk. That very prayer will open our spirits and prepare us.
Jesus implies that someone will welcome us as we go about the mission of God to restore all things and all people to wholeness. And when they do welcome us, as we go in Christ’s name, they are welcoming Him, and in welcoming Him, they are welcoming our Father in heaven. It’s like a CEO showing up on a sales call, or the chief of surgery administering a shot. We get to be the advance folks; God does the work.
Okay, end of rant. Let's dive down and welcome the gifts of this very brief passage… which is all about welcoming. After Jesus gives his followers hard instructions about going out to proclaim the Good News and heal the sick, he softens a bit, saying, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
Welcoming was a big theme in Jesus’ sending talk, because his followers were to go out to villages and towns taking nothing along, no extra tunics, no clean underwear, no toothbrush, no money. They were to rely on the hospitality of those who welcomed them – and if they were not welcomed some place, they were to move on, save their breath.
This is important for us to hear. So often people express anxiety about discussing faith with others; they assume that conversation will not be welcomed. Well, so what? Some will, some won’t. Move on, Jesus says, because you will find someone who does welcome that conversation, and will welcome you, and will be grateful that you had the courage to engage them in a matter close to the heart.
Our culture makes little room for the spiritual, though it is starting to work its way in from the margins into corporate retreats and yoga weekends (maybe because Christians have left such a vacuum?). When we introduce spirituality and faith into a conversation, whether with a friend or stranger, we are making space for a holy connection. And we rely on the hospitality of the other person to welcome us into that space. If the other person doesn’t want to, no problem. Try again with someone else. Be open to the conversation if someone else introduces it. Let’s invite people to see our connection to God.
Do you anticipate rejection when you contemplate talking about God with someone, or do you anticipate welcome? Either way, we can be surprised…
Can you think of a person with whom you might want to start that conversation? What do you think his or her reaction would be if you raised a spiritual subject?
Here’s the thing: we don’t have to go out cold-calling people. We can respond to the Spirit’s prompts about who might be open. We can ask God in prayer, even over a period of weeks or years, “Shall I talk to that person about my faith? What’s the right approach? When do you think I should do it?” I think that’s a prayer that God will answer… maybe with a sign of some kind, or by our getting a feeling of “wait” or “go,” or there being an opening to talk. That very prayer will open our spirits and prepare us.
Jesus implies that someone will welcome us as we go about the mission of God to restore all things and all people to wholeness. And when they do welcome us, as we go in Christ’s name, they are welcoming Him, and in welcoming Him, they are welcoming our Father in heaven. It’s like a CEO showing up on a sales call, or the chief of surgery administering a shot. We get to be the advance folks; God does the work.
6-20-14 - Family Values
I am often amused when “family values” are equated with a 1950s American two-parent nuclear unit, as though that were a perfect reflection of Christian virtue. After all Jesus dissed his own mother publicly when she showed up with his brothers to quiet him down and bring him home. Jesus also said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Jesus clearly redefined family; he said it wasn’t our blood kin, it was those who followed him – and he said loving God comes first, no matter what.
As a pastor frequently frustrated as the claims of nuclear family trump involvement in church family activities, I read those words with a certain grumpiness. Sigh! It’s been a hard week in Water Daily Land, trying to interpret one hard teaching about priorities after another. Making a priority of following Jesus is more counter-cultural all the time. Our culture says family comes first, no matter what. And we are much more formed by our culture than by what Jesus taught.
You may be familiar with the Jesus Doll, a rag doll with brown hair and a beard, a tunic, coat and sandals. He's soft and squishable and great for kids. We let them bring Jesus the doll home for a week. They are encouraged to take Jesus everywhere they go, and to write in the journal that goes with him. Where did Jesus go this week? Gymnastics class? The swimming pool? Walking the dog? Kids love it. Mothers find it more wearing.
“Oh my God,” one said, “It’s unbelievably stressful having Jesus! I was afraid the dog would eat his sandals, or him. I was afraid we’d leave him somewhere!” Another, unable to get Jesus back to us for about three weeks, wrote an apologetic email. She’d been sick, the kids had been sick, her husband had been away on business, some other things happened… she concluded, “It just wasn’t a good week to have the Son of God at our house!”
News flash: it’s never a good week to have the Son of God around! Life is a whole lot easier with the priorities the world presents us: “Take what you want, when you want it, with whom you want it.” Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have already decided that is not your choice. Maybe you’ve entered the relationship into which Jesus invites you, or you are curious and exploring it. Maybe you’ve already discovered what Christians have known for 2000 years, that life is infinitely richer – though no less painful – when we are aware of having the Son of God around our house.
Jesus did not come to make us feel better about our lives – Jesus came to draw us closer in the one relationship we will have for eternity, in intimacy with God. Starting that relationship here and now makes our lives more purposeful – and often more stressful. “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it,” Jesus said at the end of this teaching.
What are some of the ways Jesus’ claims have caused you to “lose your life,” or at least to give up some patterns that felt easy but were not life-giving?
What are some of the ways you are resisting putting God in first place in your life?
Who or what would have to be moved to second or third?
Can you offer that to God in prayer, inviting the Spirit in?
The gift – which we can only discover by doing it – is that when we move our God-life into first place, we engage our other priorities more fully, because we don’t try to own them. We appreciate them as gifts, and can stop ranking them. Maybe that’s what Jesus means by “finding our life…”
As a pastor frequently frustrated as the claims of nuclear family trump involvement in church family activities, I read those words with a certain grumpiness. Sigh! It’s been a hard week in Water Daily Land, trying to interpret one hard teaching about priorities after another. Making a priority of following Jesus is more counter-cultural all the time. Our culture says family comes first, no matter what. And we are much more formed by our culture than by what Jesus taught.
You may be familiar with the Jesus Doll, a rag doll with brown hair and a beard, a tunic, coat and sandals. He's soft and squishable and great for kids. We let them bring Jesus the doll home for a week. They are encouraged to take Jesus everywhere they go, and to write in the journal that goes with him. Where did Jesus go this week? Gymnastics class? The swimming pool? Walking the dog? Kids love it. Mothers find it more wearing.
“Oh my God,” one said, “It’s unbelievably stressful having Jesus! I was afraid the dog would eat his sandals, or him. I was afraid we’d leave him somewhere!” Another, unable to get Jesus back to us for about three weeks, wrote an apologetic email. She’d been sick, the kids had been sick, her husband had been away on business, some other things happened… she concluded, “It just wasn’t a good week to have the Son of God at our house!”
News flash: it’s never a good week to have the Son of God around! Life is a whole lot easier with the priorities the world presents us: “Take what you want, when you want it, with whom you want it.” Chances are, if you’re reading this, you have already decided that is not your choice. Maybe you’ve entered the relationship into which Jesus invites you, or you are curious and exploring it. Maybe you’ve already discovered what Christians have known for 2000 years, that life is infinitely richer – though no less painful – when we are aware of having the Son of God around our house.
Jesus did not come to make us feel better about our lives – Jesus came to draw us closer in the one relationship we will have for eternity, in intimacy with God. Starting that relationship here and now makes our lives more purposeful – and often more stressful. “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it,” Jesus said at the end of this teaching.
What are some of the ways Jesus’ claims have caused you to “lose your life,” or at least to give up some patterns that felt easy but were not life-giving?
What are some of the ways you are resisting putting God in first place in your life?
Who or what would have to be moved to second or third?
Can you offer that to God in prayer, inviting the Spirit in?
The gift – which we can only discover by doing it – is that when we move our God-life into first place, we engage our other priorities more fully, because we don’t try to own them. We appreciate them as gifts, and can stop ranking them. Maybe that’s what Jesus means by “finding our life…”
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