The Wedding Pt.2

 6 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus ordered the servants, "Fill the pots with water." And they filled them to the brim.

8 "Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host," Jesus said, and they did. John 2:5-8 (The Message)

An act of compassion, known only to a very few. It wasn’t his time, and yet......

The Wedding in Cana Pt.1

  1 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples were guests also. 3 When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus' mother told him, "They're just about out of wine."

4 Jesus said, "Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn't my time. Don't push me."

5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it." John 2:1-5 (The Message)

Jesus’ answer appears almost rude, yet Mary says ‘do what he tells you’. How do you think she knew what Jesus would do?

Romans Road: Everyday Life

“ So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.“ Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

Do you think God is interested in your everyday, ordinary life? Why, or why not?

Atonement or Passover

On this day when we turn our thoughts to the last supper, let me give you a few points to ponder. If the cross was (strictly) about atonement, why wasn’t Jesus crucified on the Day of Atonement? Why does Jesus celebrate this Passover and infuse it with new meaning? Passover was the first of three great pilgrimage festivals-Pentecost the second, Booths the third. These were mainly agricultural festivals; Pentecost was first or early harvest; Booths late harvest. (Many Jews today celebrate Booths by building ‘booths’ or lean-to’s in their yards). How should we understand the fulfillment of these festivals in relation to one another? How are they fulfilled in Jesus? In ourselves?

 “If you only know what [Jesus] has done for you you have not a big enough God...”My Utmost for His Highest

Fake News

This morning I read a Facebook post that said a Virginia pastor who said or wrote or posted covid-19 was media-driven mass hysteria intended to hurt Trump had died. I did a little checking; evidently the story is true but incomplete. But fact checking, important as it is, is not what prompted this response. The story is heartbreaking for at least four reasons. 

The first heartbreak is that the death occurred at all.it happened at all. I found this pastor seems to have picked up covid-19 ministering in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Here is part of a story from The New York Post, which I also found on Facebook. 

“As he battled symptoms, he shared a controversial meme on March 13, comparing coronavirus deaths to swine flu deaths, Patch reported. The meme is no longer visible on his Facebook page.

The meme decried the public reaction to the pandemic as “mass hysteria” and suggested the media was using the outbreak to hurt President Trump.

In the comments, the pastor said he believes the coronavirus “is a real issue, but I believe the media is pumping out fear and doing more harm than good.”

“It will come and it will go,” he wrote, according to Patch.”

So the post I read was correct but incomplete, which leads me to the second heartbreak. There will be some-including Christians-who will jump all over this. Some who will be pleased, if not delighted, by this mans death simply because he appears to have supported Trump. I shouldn’t have to say this but I will anyway. This is not the way of Christ. 

Which leads to the third heartbreak. We must-all of us-be very careful whom we follow. Christians by definition follow Messiah Jesus. That means having a world view influenced first last and in between by the Gospels, which show us what Jesus actually taught. Far too many today have allowed their political and economic views to influence their theology. It should be the other way around. Our world systems are about money and power. Christ is not. Think deeply about this before you respond. 

Which brings me back around to the beginning, and the fourth heartbreak. Concerning social media posts, do your due diligence. I don’t care what side you’re on stop spreading lies and half truths. This is not the way of Christ either. You, me, none of us posts in a vacuum. Our words have power and influence. It seems to me far too few of us stop to consider the effect words have. Remember, once the word is released it will, to paraphrase Isiah, not return until it has accomplished its purpose. A purpose which is not always intended.

Finally, a brief word about death. It hurts those left behind. I know this. So do you. But remember-Jesus was dead on Friday but alive on Sunday. To quote some radio preacher whose name I have I long forgotten- “Friday may be here but Sunday’s coming”. Let be so. 

Hope in Trying Times Pt 2

Jesus says ‘There’s only one sign I’m going to give you: the sign of the prophet Jonah’ (Luke 11:29; Matthew 12:39; 16:4). Sooner or later life is going to lead us ...into the belly of the beast, into a situation we can’t fix, can’t control...That’s where transformation most quickly happens. That’s when we’re uniquely in the hands of God. It’s God’s waiting room.” Richard Rohr; Just This.

“I live by the faith of the Son of God.” This faith is not Paul’s faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith that the Son of God has imparted to him — “the faith of the Son of God.” It is no longer faith in faith, but faith which has overleapt all conscious bounds, the identical faith of the Son of God.” From My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition

Once again Chambers and Rohr arrive at the same place by different routes. The goal is always “to destabilize the imperial ego” (Rohr); Chambers calls this ‘giving up my right to myself’. The goal is always identification-oneness-with our Lord and Life. 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Philippians 4:4-8

 Transformative words of comfort and hope for our trying times. 

Hope in trying times

A couple hours age one of my Facebook friends shared a post that said something like “why isn’t anyone reporting 80,000 people have recovered from Coronavirus. I did a little checking and that number appears to be accurate. I also discovered the worldwide mortality rate is 4%. The nationwide mortality rate is 1.7%. 

Yes I know people die from auto accidents but auto accidents are not contagious. And yes more people die from flu but right here, right now we are not dealing with flu. We are dealing with Coronavirus. And yes I firmly believe God will deliver us from this pandemic the same way He delivered us from polio, measles, swine flu, HIV/AIDS and the rest-by sending us women and men of faith and science who have the ability to discover cures. 

In the meantime, while we wait, we will do well to take all necessary precautions, to be kind to and look out for one another. If this virus teaches us anything it is that we are all connected. Finally, I would remind us that Jesus, when confronted with the temptation to fling Himself off the Temple Mount, replied “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” (Matthew 4:7). Words of wisdom for today from Wisdom Himself.