Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.                                                                                 Hebrews 12: 1-3

Christianity, as a religion, has been around since the first century of modern times. The followers of Jesus were named Christians by others in that first century. Indeed, those early Christians literally changed the known world by their loving behavior toward others both inside and outside the faith. Ancient Greek and Roman, and even Zoroastrian religions present at that time were not particularly focused on ethics and treating other people with compassion and care. They were focused on understanding nature, and pleasing gods that were often capricious and angry. To be sure, there were many people who had compassion and care for other people, but that was not necessarily due to the influence of a particular religious system.

The Hebrews had been given many laws by their God, Yahweh, and ethical treatment of other people, even animals, was written out in a series of mandates handed down through the centuries. Jesus, a Hebrew rabbi, perfected those laws by explaining to people how we should live together and honor God.

As a human institution, Christianity- the Church- has gone through many iterations over the past twenty centuries. As any human institution, it is flawed, and has had its share of dark times through those centuries. From fostering destructive colonialism, through the Inquisition, forced conversions, and submission to worldly empires, the church has not been unscathed by the world it is trying to enlighten.

By focusing on Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation, we can weather those dark times. We can own the triumphs and failures of Christianity because loving means to accept and own wrong behaviors as well as salutary ones.

Our Christian faith flourishes as we show humility and honesty about our history. Following Jesus is the way forward.

Prayer: Lord, we lean upon Jesus as the One to follow in any historical period, Amen

As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
 for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.                                                                                                             Psalm 103:13-14

Our pastor had a strong message yesterday about God’s patience with us. He talked about self-forgiveness, and the overwhelming forgiveness given to us by a merciful and patient God.

It got me thinking again about Psalm 103, a Psalm I mentioned in my “Mt. Rushmore” blog a couple of weeks ago. This reassuring Psalm has a picture of God as the patient Father, encouraging us with the words, from the Psalm above, As a father has compassion on his children,  so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

I have this picture of God down on one knee, encouraging a child trying to take her first steps. He doesn’t yell at her for falling down (repeatedly). He beckons her to join him, then triumphs with her when she takes those steps. She is smiling and giggling back at him as they relish the triumph! That is the picture that was called forth for me- one that a friend had shared with me decades ago.  

Just like children, we are required to grow up, and to become responsible. We need to mature in our love of God and our fellow travelers here on earth. Knowing that we have a gracious God as Father makes that process possible.

Prayer: Lord, we are grateful for your patient presence in our lives, Amen

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us                          I John 1:8

I recently had a discussion with a client about taking an honest inventory of our broken areas. Such self-awareness exercises are healthy and important aspects of not only maintaining good mental health, but of accepting our personhood.

We cannot hide from ourselves. If we try, it always comes out badly in the end. Being honest with God and ourselves about our resentments, our hurts, our disappointments etc. is a healthy exercise.

The paradoxical result is that we, having come to some better understanding of our broken areas, feel better about ourselves. We can be honest with ourselves. We can recognize some resentments that have become grievance narratives that we tell ourselves that have become the basis for negative images of our situation.   

Sometimes, we have grievances toward God that we do not want to admit or acknowledge. But let’s face it- God already knows our heart, so why not admit those disappointments? Phillip Yancey wrote a book many years ago entitled Disappointed With God. In that book, he simply acknowledges that as human beings, we have a mind and will that have expectations of God that will simply not happen the way we want.

So, my friends, the truth sets us free. Let us have a look at ourselves, and take that inventory that sets us free.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for making us beings that can question ourselves, Amen

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.                                                                                John 12:24

 The Law of Conservation of Energy states that mass can neither be created nor destroyed, although it may be rearranged in space, or the entities associated with it may be changed in form.

For my long-time readers, this tree may look familiar. Every year, around this time, I take a picture of this tree which has been planted over the remains of two very special creatures. My long-time pet dog, Maggie, and my son’s dog Griffey. If my daughter’s dog, Einstein, had been in Ohio when he passed, I would have buried him here too, but Einstein’s remains are with my daughter and son-in-law in Kansas. Actually though, there is no way they would have parted with the remains of their beloved Einstein.

You see, we loved our dogs, and we honor them, even when they are gone. In fact, Maggie who died in 2005, and Griffey, who passed in 2024, are a part of this tree. Their remains have become part of the molecules that nourish this lovely living monument to them.  God’s plan of renewal, death giving life, is an amazing part of nature’s way. Ever since I read the poem, Thanatopsis, I have been intrigued by this beautiful fact of life.

We just celebrated Easter, the day that Jesus rose again form the dead to give life. So too does death in nature give life to succeeding generations. Not one atom has ever disappeared from this earth. Rather, it is transferred into another form, another life. There is no destruction of matter- there is only a transformation into another form.

So, we are encouraged by this. I can look out on the Maggie/Griffey tree (indeed, I am while I write this blog!), and know that life is not ended, just transformed.

Prayer: Lord, we are grateful for your plan of life springing from death. We are encouraged that you are the author of life, Amen 

Depends on How You Look at it…

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.   

Isaiah 53:1-3 (NIV)      

I have always been struck by this passage from Isaiah. The writer anticipates the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, and he paints a picture of him that many would not recognize. This Messiah is one who “had no beauty or majesty.” Nothing in his appearance would draw people to him. In short, he is not the one people were looking for to redeem the land of Israel and Judah. 

In fact, he was “despised and rejected” by mankind. He was a man of suffering, familiar with pain. In other words, he was not the typical ruling king who would claim a land from the Roman Empire- (especially since that wasn’t really the plan anyway). People held him in low esteem and rejected him. Yes, he was a surprise Messiah!

He was exactly the opposite of what worldly standards demand of a conquering hero. And, of course, that is exactly what we should expect from a God who confounds the proud and lifts up the marginalized. God is not interested in the outward appearance. He is interested in a transformed and humble heart.

I think that is pretty awesome.

Prayer: Lord, you confound the proud in order to determine hearts attuned to your plans, Amen

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.                                                                 Psalm 147:3

“A healed femur.” That was the response to a question posed to famed anthropologist Margaret Mead when she was asked about the first signs of a civilized society. She stated that a healed femur showed evidence of a society that cared for the feeble and injured among themselves. In a society where a member had a serious injury, such as a broken long leg bone, the femur, they would need care to survive. They could not hunt or gather, or be much help to the rest of the group, so an uncivilized society would cast them out or leave them for dead.

But a caring, civilized society would help to feed and care for the wounded among them. Thus, evidence of a healed femur meant that those around that victim had worked to save them and restore them to health.

We take such care for granted, and I trust that such compassion remains a standard in a society that seems to be drifting toward less care for one another.

Prayer: Lord, continue to remind us of our duty to care for one another, Amen.