Walk humbly with your God.

Humility comes with walking hand in hand with God. It is humbling to be correctly related to God. It is when we rely on the self-righteousness of our beliefs and works that we exalt ourselves above the Holy.

Our conceit and rebellion cannot be redeemed with our sacrifice.

Micah 6:6,7 With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Especially contrasted with the awesome power of God to deliver the people from Egypt. The Holy God acts ferociously in his mercy. In addition to his holy transcendence, this also shows his grace. He wants to lead us out of captivity. He wants to walk with us! It is possible to be Holy as He is, if we walk humbly with him.

Do I love Justice? Do I love mercy? My self-exulted heart cannot, it is hard and blind. When I revel instead in the light of his Glory and Grace, my heart melts. The things God requires are internal, heart maters. O Lord! Tear through the shield I have put around my heart and humble me! Batter My Heart Three Personed God!

Cliff said that the gospel is there, it is wonderful knowing exactly what God requires.

Tribulation

MT 5:3

"Blessed are the poor in spirit… those who mourn… the meek… those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness… the merciful… the pure in heart… the peacemakers…
those who are persecuted because of righteousness. Blessed are you when
people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you
because of me.”

Imagine those words coming from Jesus who with heart heavy sees the persecution of the future church.
“Honored are those who go through the fire to come.”

Ray said today that it took him forty years to realize this truth unifying the beatitudes.As I meditate on this, tears come to my eyes, how bout you?

Righteousness, Mercy, and Humility (Epiphany A4)

You mortals, the LORD has told you what is good. This is what the LORD requires from you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to live humbly with your God*

These statements are radical to us. As a whole the statements of Micah, the ethics of the psalmist and the blessings of Jesus are all counter intuitive. Righteousness is foreign. Our sinful nature cannot really accept perfection as a real possibility. Human wisdom while searching for Good still cautions, "Nice guys finish last."

But Jesus at the end of the chapter sums it up: "Be holy as your father in heaven is holy."

Righteousness and holiness are the order of the day.

Paul brings two important truths into focus: this is not the wisdom of the world, nor is it the work of man that any should boast.

It is our weakness and destitution that reveal the glory of Christ in perfection.

Righteousness. Mercy. Humility. They stand as a quaint hermitage in our lives. Do we really believe them attainable? Put together they go beyond the list of external don'ts common to my holiness roots. This is a tender and merciful and heart perfected through discipline and most of all grace.

Lord break me open and let your grace make a perfect heart, humble and compassionate.

Thoughts on fishing for men

So often our idea of fishing for men involves the entrapment of lures. The kind of fishing the disciples were used to was the harvesting of a ripe sea.

Fishing is essentially pulling the fish out of the water and killing them. Fishing for men involves throwing them into water and killing them.

I know my thoughts here have little to do with what the disciples heard from Jesus, but my own concepts need to be challenged sometimes. The fishing for men is like a mixing of metaphors anyway with this week's emphasis on light. I so like the imagery of gazing at the Lord, my light and my salvation, that I'll probably focus on that this week.

Then again, I betray my aversion to my evangelical roots of lures and worms. I like to focus on growth in intimacy… the effect the light has on a soul. But still there is the ripe sea teaming with those who walk in darkness.

Lord I pray that the light in my soul will shine, and I will not keep it bottled in a selfish desire to keep you to myself. Remind me that in spreading the light, my intimacy with you does not decrease, but rather I learn to find you in greater measure.

the Great Light! (Epiphany A3)

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." The Gospel gives the fulfillment of the prophecy. Even the place-the repopulated people near Galilee have seen the great light in Jesus and his ministry.

David declares the Lord is my light! With beauty and longing he says

"One thing I ask of the LORD ,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple."

Paul is harder to figure out in the lectionary context. After talking about the baptism of the Lord and the aftermath, "he says I am glad that I didn't baptize" and "the Lord didn't call me to baptize." Eugene Peterson put it, the lord "didn't call me to gather a following for myself." That seems true to the meaning Paul was getting at. He apparently saw salvation effected through the gospel, not baptism. The message he preached was not one of logic and rhetoric, not one of sound philosophy, but a ridiculous truth that salvation comes through the torture and death of the savior.

Here is where we come back to the light of Christ. The wisdom of the world makes sense with all its logic and rhetoric, Socratic method and Platonic depth, but the wisdom that is out of this world must be experienced, must be gazed at, must light up our whole being brining to wholeness in its wake.

the seeking disciple (Epiphany A2)

One peculiarity to John's Gospel is his glimpse into the lives of the men who would become the disciples. Mark emphasizes Jesus' authority as he walks along the sea and calls to the fishermen to follow him. No questions, no conversation, no hesitation, they follow.

John presents us with seekers. Followers of The Baptist who are anxious to see this Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, follow Jesus. John becomes less as he sees the One and says look there he is! His disciples leave and follow Jesus.

Jesus turns around and asks, "What are you looking for?"

What was going through their heads? What are we looking for? Just what John said to look at, the long awaited messiah? Are you he? What will happen now? So many questions.

"Rabbi, where are you staying?"

That's all they could muster, but their meaning is clear. We will follow you anywhere. There excitement is palpable as they find their friends and bring them to see Him.

What kind of commitment are we offering him? What will we do?

Though lest we become wrapped up in the doing and devotion, the Psalm reminds us there is nothing we can do to ransom our lives. Seek you seeker! for your salvation rests in the grace of this One.

The Redeemer (Epiphany A2)

Redemption, salvation, sanctification and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, these words hold the same meaning. Rich and expressive, the readings give us a glimpse at the beginning of his ministry what the end will be.

Those called by him are purchased by a great price, too great for any rich man. It is interesting that the Psalm ends before the psalmist expresses his confidence that God will redeem his life from the grave. The reading offers us only the understanding that death is final and beyond the bribe of any man. We are set up for our need for a savior and how great the price will be.

Isaiah points out that Jesus-the servant of God-is too valuable to be only for one people. All the world will benefit from the salvation of this Redeemer.

Those who heard John's words, "look the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world," followed him only to find him calling them to follow on. We too are called, set a part to be holy.