Month: April 2021

Promise, Resilience OR FEAR!

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

What Do We See?

The Disappearing Light and Danger of Darkness?

Cold Water Filled with Dangerous Ice?

…

OR

The Promise of a New Day Coming in the Light of the Morning, and

Clear Water of the Summer, (both months if we’re lucky :-)?

Genesis 9:9-10-11

As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

Colossians 1:21-2

You who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him.

Words of Grace For Today

God’s great works are really two-fold. First God sets things right between us and God. Second God promises that the future is in God’s hands and God will not destroy us … at least not by flood waters.

If you have ever been in a flood, or threatened for months by continually rising waters cutting you off from the rest of the world, then you will know the fear that is inherent in even coming close to being in a flood. That fear does not go away with the receding waters. It remains, always. There are many other disasters that have the similar effect on our ability to live fear-free.

Fear paralyzes us, reduces us to instinctual beings without the ability to reason or think: we fight, freeze, or flee.

Living in constant fear, or in fear that recurs without warming constantly throughout our days, diminishes life, sometimes to a small sliver of life. Fear robs us of abundant life. Fear robs those around us of abundant life … as they deal with our fears.

The complete lack of fear, on the other hand, leaves us unmotivated to work hard, as if life will just unfold for us. The difference is the quantity and quality of fear. The first stymies us and reduces us. The second reminds us of reality and invigorates us. Where the first kind of fear leaves off and the other begins is not a constant. It varies according to our resilience.

There is one ‘disaster’ that all of us face, which nothing can take away from us: we will all die. This fear is a constant in all of us.

Knowing that God sets things right between us and God, and trusting the promises that God is with us and will not destroy us, gives us a resilience that is out-of-this-world solid … and living with which enables us to enjoy life abundant … through even the toughest times, including through Covid 19.

Life is a Blessed Adventure!

Monday, April 19, 2021

No Matter What Comes Our Way,

We Need Not Hide From Life.

God Holds Us by the Hand.

Psalm 37:23-24

Our steps are made firm by the Lord, when he delights in our way; though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.

Romans 8:37

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Words of Grace For Today

The evening dark had settled firm. My parka, long underwear under insulated work bib-overalls, cover mittens over the warmly insulated gloves and an insulate hat, scarf, hood and a prayer kept the -15⁰C and a west wind from biting. A recent storm blanketed everything with white, and high speed traffic through the day cleared tracks, though at intersections the snow was packed.

I exited town on a road that turned gravel for about a mile. Heavy trucks regularly travelled here. The week before I had found a rather smooth track just outside the regular traffic lines. The bicycle carried a heavy load of groceries from the food bank, loaded on the rear panniers and above the rack in a ‘milk crate.’

This week even with the headlight on brightly illuminating the roadway, there was not much to be seen but dark here and light there. It was rough bouncing the bike and my back with more than a little discomfort. I tried the lighter track inside the really rough tire tracks. It’s rough and slow going pushing through the snow and slush. I turn to the outside, and there turn the wheel to head straight down the road. The wheel turns easily to the left, the bike keeps going to the right far out of balance with not even a split second warning dumping me, right butt cheek to the ice, bike and groceries on top me, and my right elbow catching the weight of my upper body.

Stunned …

Stunned I slowly pulled my self out from under the bike as a vehicle went by without pause. I could move. Nothing seemed broken or damaged beyond use. I knew the shock would wear off and that might be different in a moment. I inspected the rear wheel. It was still good. The shape of the pannier had protected it from damage.

It took minutes, long minutes down on the roadway of black ice before I could get upright. More minutes before I could pull the bicycle upright and reset everything in the rear ‘milk crate’ carrier.

I did not dare ride on that ice again that night. I walked the mile until the pavement started again, and further until the traffic had cleared it down to the black pavement. Still when I peddled again, 22 km left to get home, I stayed clear of the dark black pavement-maybe-ice.

Our steps are made firm by the Lord, when he delights in our way.

I guess God did not delight in my way?

Though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds us by the hand.

Or maybe God had me by the hand and I did not fall headfirst, knocked unconcious.

It did take weeks for the deep buttocks bruise to not hurt and the purple-yellow-green to fade more to normal pale pink-white

…

In life, if we live it to the fullest and do not hide from life, there are many times we will stumble and fall, be bruised, and require time to heal.

God promises always to be with us so that

in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Life is not safe. No one gets out of it alive.

Life is not to be lived hiding from danger. God calls us to engage, to face danger, to provide for those God loves, which means all people, including ourselves. Even if that means biking 55 km or more in the cold to get food to return in the dark on questionable roads against the wind making it a 4 hour return trip instead of the usual 2 plus hours.

If we fall …

Well, let’s be honest: WHEN we fall, God is there to protect us, to help us get back up, to heal, and if it is our day to die, to receive us into heaven where we need not fall again.

Life is an adventure (all too full of enemies that would do us in) that, for God’s beloved people, always ends well.

Hallelujah!

By Grace … Still Why Us?

Sunday, April 18, 2021

There are fault-lines everywhere,

no more than in each of us.

Why then does God bless us with Grace?

2 Samuel 7:18

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

1 Corinthians 15:10

By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Words of Grace For Today

To live is good!

To live blessed by God is wonderful!

To live aware that all the good one can do is not from one own self, but possible only by the Holy Spirit working in and through one is most wonderful!

To live aware that God has brought us thus far by grace, making us what we are is to live with gratitude… and that is awesomely wonderful.

…

Being aware of God’s blessings and grace does not relieve us of the necessities of working hard. This awareness drives us to work even harder to play our small parts in God’s Kingdom come for all people.

Hard work is sweet and wonderful, when one works for God’s purposes: to bring the blessings of God’s Kingdom to all people. Some would say it is the sweetest, most wonderful sweat of all life.

Even with such Grace prodigiously poured over us, we must wonder, God, ‘Why us?!’

Help us Lord! We are so far from your kingdom even though you have brought it here long ago.

Awful Awesome

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Everything about Creation

is Awesome

Because Our Creator Strikes Awful Awe into Our Hearts!

Psalm 19:9

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

Words of Grace For Today

The beginning of wisdom is the fear and love of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord … that’s a gift that God gives us, which keeps us mindful of how great God is and how miserable we sinners are.

The Fear of the Lord is one side of faith … the Love of the Lord is the complementary side of faith.

Our response to all God gives us is simple: awe …

and every day the Holy Spirit enables us to let the Word of Christ dwell richly in us.

That is not us dwelling in the Word, which is another misguided effort on our part to reach God.

It is surrendering everything we are, to let God use everything about us to do God’s will and work in this wonderfully awesome world.

That is cause to sing for joy to God.

Hallelujah!

White Mountain of God’s Grace

Friday, April 16, 2021

White Mountain Surrounded by Lush Forest?

…

OR

an ash dump?

Inglorious As They Are

Ashes Remind Us

How Undeserving We Are

And

How Gracious God Is To All People.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12

No one shall be found among you who makes a son or daughter pass through fire, or who practises divination, or is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or who consults ghosts or spirits, or who seeks oracles from the dead. For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Ephesians 5:9-11

For the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Words of Grace For Today

For whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord; it is because of such abhorrent practices that the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Good old judgment of others who practice different beliefs, followed by exiling them.

The quality that is unacceptable of the practices that are of darkness and such abhorrent practices is that they seek to claim control of what cannot be controlled.

While these practices named in Deuteronomy are unacceptable and abhorrent practices, because they deny that we are dependent on God alone for everything, we ‘good’ Christians in the church have all sorts of practices by which we try to control what cannot be controlled, and thus to control other people with rewards for compliance and punishments for non-compliance with our ill-informed claims of what is ‘right’ and ‘good’.

Should we exile all the people from the church who practice the dark arts of controlling what cannot be controlled, that is: trying to control God’s will for creation and us people in it? Were we to do that I’m quite sure that there would only be left one person, the one devilish person who evaded being exiled by others by being the exiler of all others.

In other words: we all deserve condemnation.

Thanks be to God that God is gracious.

God is gracious to all people, even those who practice abhorrent dark practices.

Our response, so much healthier for all, is to be grateful, rather than judgmental.

Yet we so often choose to ‘get rid of the trouble makers’. Thus our churches are not filled with sinners. Instead they are mostly empty, and those that come are mostly judgmental sinners.

God have mercy on us all!

Complaints or Blessings?

Thursday, April 15, 2021

What Do We See?

Ice One Cannot Safely Walk On

or

Beauty Rarely Found?

Psalm 5:12

For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover them with favour as with a shield.

Acts 13:52

The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Words of Grace For Today

Covid 19 presses challenges on us all, unequally.

The homeless and outcasts in Canada are recognized as deserving homes and inclusion, so thankfully an effort is made to provide for them. They receive safe places to live and eat if for no other reason because not to do so would lead to an outbreak among them that could not be contained and would spread to us all. At least this care is provided in the cities … well sort of … in some cities.

Immigrants who live multi-generationally with many people to a housing unit, many people to a bedroom, are now and again provided separate housing in hotels for those who must self isolate or quarantine themselves … again for our protection.

Pastors gather to discuss their ministries … and it becomes mostly a ‘bitch’ session, complaints of how difficult life is for them and their families, though most retain full pay and adequate work, and none lack for the necessities of life, even in Covid 19 times. Humour creeps into the conversation lessening the dark tone of complaints. Yet where is their overwhelming sense of gratitude? How does one inspire people to remember how blessed they are?

How often Scriptures record gratitude and thankfulness as the most appropriate and life giving response to all of life, all that appears to be good and all that appears to be bad.

For God covers the righteous with favour as with a shield, and in the face of great threat to their lives for being Christian still the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

How then will we live this day?

Full of complaints, self-righteously expecting more from life?

Or

Filled with joy and gratitude, no matter the challenges that come our way?

Don’t celebrate? Or …

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Now Matter How We See The Wonders of Creation

and Our Work in It,

All That Is Good

Flows from God.

Ezra 6:22

With joy they celebrated the festival of unleavened bread for seven days; for the Lord had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Luke 10:20

Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Words of Grace For Today

There is great reason to be joyful when those who rule over you turn their hearts to you and aid you in your nearly impossible, but necessary work, whether that work is to provide a house for the Lord where people can gather (after Covid 19) or to provide a home for a new family (like a refugee family or a new couple) without a home or to provide a home for a homeless person.

The disciples nearly impossible work is to cast out demons, to renew the ill people’s spirits, to give life. As they work the ‘spirits submit to them’ and they are able to give life to many people. We are to follow suit today, bringing renewed life, full life, abundant life to as many people as we can.

So the people of Israel celebrated the festival of unleavened bread (the Passover?) for seven days.

We have great reasons to celebrate our festivals as well. Usually we merely take a break, a pause, and focus on our own enjoyment, or gathering our families – or we used to before Covid 19.

All this, Jesus reminds the disciples and us, is barely cause to celebrate.

At first glance we do have to shake our heads, trying to clear them of some unknown cobwebs as we try to make sense of Jesus’ words. Certainly bringing life to others is THE reason to celebrate. Or is it that the disciples and we celebrate not bringing life to others, but rather the power they and we are able to exercise in order to accomplish our tasks?

That power is not ours. We have no right to claim it, nor to celebrate as if it were ours. That power remains God’s and God’s alone. We exercise it for others, doch it is God would exercises it for us for them.

God exercises that power, like many other life-giving powers at work in the world around us, along with our efforts, because God has written our names in heaven as God’s holy workers.

Therefore our celebrations are most life-giving for us, when we celebrate not that we ‘have’ power or can ‘exercise’ power. Our celebrations are most life-giving for us and all people when we celebrate what God has done for us miserable beggars and sinners: God has written our names in heaven, claiming us a God’s holy people.

Holy … or Not?

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

See God’s Gracious Gifts

Respond with a Life of Gratitude

Jeremiah 4:14

O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness so that you may be saved. How long shall your evil schemes lodge within you?

Luke 3:8

Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

Words of Grace For Today

Just because God is gracious, does not mean we get to continue on endlessly sinning and abusing others to get ahead.

5% of the wealthiest in the world pollute more than the least wealthy 50%.

It’s not right.

People who lie in court and get away with it ruining other people are all too frequent. Excuses that the ‘loser’ is self represented, or that the court record does not support the truth is no excuse. The system is broken because people from the least to the top of the courts choose to break it.

It’s not right.

Abusively dumping your history of being abused on others, creating stress and drama that has not basis in reality is all too common, and excused as the right of the abused.

It’s not right.

Guests who behave like they own the place throw all common sense out the book. Guests ought to be grateful, not demanding.

It’s not right.

Taking more than one needs, and depriving (or avoiding knowing one is thereby depriving) others of the basics of life is how civilizations are built and sustained.

It’s not right.

God forgives. We all count on it. At times we all continue on with what we are forgiven, to our own and others great costs. People who do that all the time destroy all community and trust … and break God’s grace. God does not have to continue to forgive us if we refuse to acknowledge our ongoing need for forgiveness, and God’s sanctification of us (making us holy) so that we can amend our lives.

Life is good, when one is grateful and responsive to God’s forgiveness and grace.

That is right … always right!

Seeing the Light, Being the Light

Monday, April 12, 2021

No Matter How Dark

Our Horizons Seem

God’s Blessings Abound for Us

Jeremiah 33:9

This city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them; they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

Luke 2:29-32

‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’

Words of Grace For Today

God’s blessings …

God’s blessings are named by us humans in many and various ways.

God’s blessings often are equated with prosperity and power, independence and might, progress and children.

Except for the children, all this seems to be a complete misapprehension of God’s way of providing for God’s people.

God, rather (as so often made clear in Jesus’ story and people’s reaction to him and his story) blesses us with salvation, which God prepares in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to God’s people.

This salvation rarely looks like worldly prosperity.

It is a life coloured first with gratitude, humility, service, and grace … oh, and the wisdom to recognize God’s blessings as salvation, i.e. forgiveness (freedom from the bondage to sin) and sanctification (making us holy, set apart, to be the presence of God for all people … as the people of light who exercise God’s Grace and love for all people.)

God’s creation has a greatness in it, and we as part of creation share in that grand wonder: that God provides this as a way, place, time for us to exist and be awestruck.

God provides.

We get to receive and share …

and hope that also tomorrow will bring opportunities to be bedazzled by God’s love.

God’s Glory

Strikes Awe

into All Who See

Choosing to Be ‘in Love’

Sunday, April 11, 2021

no matter how long the shadows

old age or illness cast across our paths

God intends for us to remain ‘in love’

with God, God’s people, and God’s creation.

Psalm 62:11

Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God.

Matthew 6:21

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Words of Grace For Today

I never understood young men who spent so much time working on their old trucks or muscle cars, fixing, tweaking, and adding 8 track tapes and speakers to them. (That dates me if nothing else does!)

I had to get old to read that whatever one spends a great deal of effort and time at, one falls in love with. So those young men, who invested so much time in their vehicles, fell in love with them, which brought them to spend even more time with them, until they did things that were not reasonable or logical or purposeful. They were continuing beyond all that into the realm of love.

Who would of thunk?

Thus it is that we humans assign value to things in our lives, which in and of themselves have no more than utilitarian value, if that, simply because we invest time working on them.

I can only imagine that someone who spends a lot of time accumulating wealth, power, or fame ‘falls in love’ with that as well.

What we treasure, owns our hearts, and brings us to do things that are not reasonable or logical or purposeful.

So it is in God’s creation. We humans, like the rest of the universe, operate on the principals of love.

This is God’s love permeating through the entire universe.

There is no power equal to the power of love, to heal, to give life, to give hope, to sustain life.

Once God has spoken God’s love to us and we have heard it once or twice we come to know and trust that power belongs to God, the real power that holds the universe together and gives us our very life and breath.

We can also, by investing our time and effort into things and projects and ideas that do not give life to us and others, ‘fall in love’ with evil and destructive forces that rob us and the world around us of life.

God intends, though, that we invest our lives (every bit of time and energy we have) into providing God’s care and unconditional love to other people. Thus we ‘fall in love’ with God’s creation and God’s people.

Then our hearts are found invested in the treasure that God created for us to live for: people, and people of all kinds.

When we live for other people, life never gets dull or boring, and we remain ‘in love’ with God and God’s creation, no matter how old we get. No matter how old or tired, or ill, we remain fully alive and in love.

What a life!