Have you ever done something for someone else and found yourself feeling good? This exchange doesn’t always occur, but when it does, it is reminiscent of Solomon’s words in Proverbs 11:25. “A generous soul is enriched. The one who waters will be watered.” A holy exchange occurs when we act on God’s will on another’s behalf. Be watered today by giving away the living water with which you have been made alive.

REMEMBER

This Sunday, we will spend some time as a community remembering and honoring those who have gone on before us. In Jewish practices, the act of remembering is a holy thing. In fact, their calendar is filled with remembrances. Our U.S. calendar has a couple of these like Veteran’s Day. The Sabbath (a day of rest) is something God told us to remember and to keep separate (holy). With each celebration of Holy Communion, we are reminded to remember Jesus and everything that accompanies remembering Jesus. 

Remembering is a two-edged sword in that remembering can bring joy and remembering can bring hurt. I, myself have felt both as I prepare for All Saints Sunday. I smile when I remember the family members, I have lost to death, but it also brings a tear to my eye. 

I pray that you will be gentle and kind to yourself as you remember this week. Allow yourselves to feel both the join and the pain. I also pray that at the end of it all, you will wrap yourselves in the promises we have from God that death is not the end and that there will be a glorious celebration in which we will all be reunited.

Peace be with you all.

Pastor Yolanda

Holy Breathing

The theologian Charles Spurgeon said prayer is breathing in the very air of Heaven, and praise is breathing it out again. Imagine seeing every breath you take as an opportunity to pray, even if that prayer is “Thank you, Lord” or “Help me, Lord.” That interaction, that exchange with holiness, revives your spirit, spurring you onward. Now, imagine your exhaled words of alleluia as the natural expression of having experienced that holy exchange. It puts a whole new spin on breathing, doesn’t it? Have a blessed rest of the week and weekend.

Pondering the Tasks of Educating and Learning; of teaching and being taught

 

Prayer: Dear Lord, as I approach today or any day, thinking about what needs to be accomplished, help me to settle my anxieties and center myself in you. Let me breathe in and breathe out these words. Your "grace is sufficient for me" (2Cor. 12:9). I know if I truly believe that knowing how overly abundant your grace is, I will walk through my days buoyed by that race, not weighed down by the cares of any given day. Amen.

 

Devotion: As the week turns me toward a new month, my mind is filled with planning, the start of new activities, and of projects which have now become due. As it is the beginning of not only the secular academic year but of the sacred academic year of Sunday School, Confirmation, and Bible Studies, I have needed to ponder the role of the teacher and the act of teaching; and the role of the student and the act of learning. As a teacher in both worlds, reflection is critical on these topics. While carried out in some form or another all summer long, the conclusions based on reflection become more pointed as summer ends because it is the conclusions from those reflections that will guide the planning and the assessment process. Assessment activities should not be designed until I have decided what it is I am teaching and what it is I want to observe as learned.

 

    The teacher King David wrote Psalm 119 to teach his son Solomon the alphabet (abc's) and also a way to learn about God and how to live within God's law. The fifth stanza includes what we might call the alphabet E (verses 33-40) begins "Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end (or the appropriate rewarding outcome)." As a teacher, David is teaching Solomon (1) who to ask for help, (2) what help to ask for, and why this teaching should be requested. Ask Yahweh for help. Ask Yahweh to teach the ways of God's laws, statutes, decrees, rules, principles. Ask Yahweh to teach His principles so that they can be followed to their rightful conclusion. The rightful conclusion spelled out throughout the Psalm is being in a state of blessedness.

    It is undoubtedly a simplistic teaching pattern, but it is this simplicity that makes the lesson easy to learn, memorize, practice, and embody. Would that all teachings were so clear and so precise! I can well imagine that this way of teaching that raised the type of man who would ask God for wisdom when offered anything. I could go into David's harmful teachings and those effects, but I will leave that for another devotion.

 

    God teaches us through the written word, through the spoken word of prophets, ministers, teachers, parents/guardians, friends, neighbors, and members of our worshiping community. God also taught and teaches us through modeling, whether it was through the life of Jesus or his disciples or those listed in the earlier sentence. 

 

    We are all teachers, whether we want to admit it or not. Ask yourself this week; what am I teaching by my words, activities, or lifestyle? What am I learning from those around me? Is there anything I should change so that the end product is being in the state of blessedness?

 

Prayer: Lord, there are many paths offered to me. Help me to hear and to embody the teaching that will lead me to your blessed side. Amen.

Being a Sacrfice that Brings Life

 

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Romans 12: 1-2

    Most sacrifices are viewed as having to do with death rather than life. And, this view is rightly so, sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible involved the killing of an animal. In modern day language, the word sacrifice at the very least means something that is painful. "Give until it hurts" is the age-old moniker. It was at some point changed to "Give until it Helps." The good news is that being a sacrifice in Paul's mind and in Jesus' theology is that sacrifice of our bodies or our essence or substance should be life giving....life-giving to you and to those around you.

    The elements of this living sacrifice that is us, is described as "holy, and pleasing to God." What is holy and pleasing to God? Jesus summed it up like this in Matthew and in Luke. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself." The sacrifice of our substance and our essence should be based on, filtered through, and motivated by agapé love. This is the love spoken of in the familiar 1Corinthians verses read now primarily at weddings.

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails I Cor. 13:4-8a

    I must confess when I look at agapé love as the kind of love God has for me and therefore, the love I give back to God, to myself, and my neighbor I am a big staggered by the immensity of the responsibility. But it is in understanding this that I can understand how something once considered unto death becomes something unto life. It is now clear how living a life in which agapé is the essence of motivation, the filter, and the foundation is not only "holy and pleasing to God" but will bring about "true and proper worship."

It becomes easier to be transformed because my mind is continually renewed as I progress in aligning everything in my life so that it expresses the agapé with which God approaches me, so that I can in return approach God, myself, and others in the same way.

    Finally, transformed, I can "test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

This process is slow and is not always completely forward moving. As human beings there are certainly going to be times when we fall backward, or stand still. This is normal and is to be expected. It is our desire to move forward, closer to God's love. It is our desire to develop the discipline of seeing, hearing, acting, and believing using God's love that is important.

Prayer: Lord, I know you are with me. As your child I come to you both humbly and boldly seeking your help that I may experience your love and in turn use that experience of love to love you, myself, and others. I offer all that I am as a living sacrifice that transformed by your love, I may grow to agapé myself and others. Amen.

Pondering the Blessing of Change

 As we enter this last month of summer, at least as understood by anyone in school, my heart is filled with gratitude. I have been and continue to be warmly received by Glenwood United Parish and Glenwood's people. The parsonage has been a Godsend offering respite from the typical noises of the urban life. I am also already seeing spiritual growth in our congregation. This and much more make my heart feel full. Thank you! My heart is also full because I am daily reminded of the steadfastness of the God we serve. Who knew even four years ago when I was completing my Ph. D. and planning on seeking a tenured position at a university or college that I would be turned back to God's first commitment, that of full-time service? At the time, I was still ministering, for sure, but it was not at least during the week a public ministry. I considered myself in those days an uncollared minister. Students at the community colleges and universities needed prayer and spiritual support as much as anyone I have met, but this is not allowed unless a student specifically asks for that kind of help. I spent, in one position 28 years navigating the “separation between church and state” so that I could be faithful to my calling as a teacher in the public realm as well as my calling as a Christian to be a representation of God’s love and grace. It is quite freeing to be able to proudly wear a collar, whether visible or not! This is something for which I am also very grateful.

 

               Looking forward to the Fall, I am reminded of verses from Psalm 145 in which David sings, “The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.” (verses 13b-18; NIV) My pondering for this time, which ends one season and begins another, is focused on these verses. What would it mean to live our lives as if we truly believed God was faithful and trustworthy? How have you experienced being lifted up? In what ways have you been nourished in the past season? What are nourishment needs do you Have for the next season? As you ponder these questions, I pray that God will open the eyes of your understanding and that you might fully experience refreshment, and having your desires satisfied be strong enough to enter into the next season, whatever season that might be.

 

            I welcome your comments, questions, and any prayer concerns or needs for a conversation that this pondering might have elicited. Feel free to contact me via:

email: glenwoodunitedparish@gmail.com,

by postal mail PO Box 7010 17th Ave NW

Glenwood MN 56334

or by phone

 (320) 634-3712 (non-emergencies) or (320) 334-3124 (emergencies).

 

Prayer: Please pray with me. “God who hears my needs and is quick to answer be with me and work in and through me to inspire, to heal, and to bring make your heavenly kingdom a reality. Amen.

Justice and Want

Opening Prayer: Dear Lord, open my eyes and ears that I may see and hear want. Open my heart that I respond with justice. Amen.

 

Scripture(s):  Psalm 23: 1 (NRSV) “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” and

Ezekiel 34:11-24 (NRSV) “For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

 

Message: There are many bible verses that give a Christian pause. This verse from what is probably the most well-known Psalm in the book of Psalms is one of those. The Hebrew sense of “I shall not want” is more appropriately I shall not be in lack or I shall not be in a state of decrease. It makes sense why all of these translations would give anyone cause for pause.

It is clear there is want, that there is lack, and that there are many who are in a state of decrease. 

            A typical answer offered is that this verse refers to spiritual lack. While this is some of what this verse means, I think this verse refers to all of our needs, not just spiritual needs. I conclude this because verses regarding Jesus and God as the shepherd can be found not just in the New Testament but also in the Hebrew bible. The Ezekiel verses offer some clarification.

The Hebrew prophet Ezekiel prophesied not only the destruction of Jerusalem but the restoration as well. YHWH’s role in human history is not to be a distant all-powerful God, but to be a present, intimate shepherd. This shepherd seeks, rescues, gathers, and feeds his flock. Emphasis on making sheep into a flock. The last verses of this passage are essential. “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” God calls us to rest so that we can be refreshed. God heals our wounds and strengthens us. Finally, God feeds us with justice.

             When I consider God the source of my rest and of my health, it is a little easier to feel as if I have all I need. When this also includes justice from God as my food, I can imagine not being in a state of decrease. This is all fine and good until we look at reality, the reality of need, want, lack, and injustice. How do we then make sense of the two? This is the way I am choosing to make sense. I am not in lack, want, or decrease when I am being fed by God. This world though is not accepting the feeding of God. It is because of this that the world, suffers due to lack, want, and decrease. It is our calling as sheep and members of God’s flock to offer as God’s representatives rest (respite), healing, community (bring back the strayed), and strength. Most of these needs can begin to be fulfilled when there is justice. Inequities in food, access to health care, and not having clean drinking water make it impossible to enter into rest. Rest beside still waters is only possible when justice is present.

            Justice reigns in the kingdom of God. It is our calling as Christians to bring the kingdom of God to the earth. Our calling and God’s power fuels our work. When justice rolls down like waters (Amos 5:24), then there will be rest because there is not lack, no want, no decrease. We can and should be part of seeing that this reality exists.

 

Closing Prayer: Lord, forgive me when my actions and words or the lack thereof make me part of the problem. Help me to be part of the solution. Amen.