Daily Scriptures First Thoughts May 22 2007

Morning: Psalm 98:1-9
Ezekiel 7:10-15, 23b-27
Hebrews 6:13-20
Luke 10:1-17
Evening: Psalm 66:1-20

Jesus' words in Luke do not reconcile with the contemporary view of Jesus - who taught peace, love and kindness. Healed everyone. Gentle and compassionate. Most Christians have not read the Bible to learn all Jesus said - they do remember the good stories though. Yes, he did, call all unto him. But as he send the 70 disciples out, he spoke of judgment for those who do not heed the truth they brought:
¹⁰But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' ¹²I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

¹³'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades.

¹⁶'Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.'"

It is not fashionable today to speak of the wrath of God, of the judgment awaiting us all, and the damnation for those who do not accept Jesus, who ushered in the Kingdom of God and has drawn near to save us and set us straight. We want to love everyone into feeling OK about what they believe, what they do, how they treat others, even if it doesn't include Jesus. Hebrews refers to Jesus as the only hope we have to be saved. The word hope used by Luke in Acts 26 means "a cord, a connection" - Jesus is the cord to God. Without the cord, we are doomed.

I believe that, because Jesus said so. Not because I'm a bigot or hate atheists or am a fundie whacko. I find it difficult to preach to a congregation that needs to hear "a good word" not fire and brimstone. But it's true; it is part of the truth of the gospel. The flip side. Even as Jesus cured and loved and showed kindness to all, as he died for everyone, even those who rejected him - it did not take the sentence of hell away for those who did not believe. Personally, it breaks my heart to have to preach that - to friends and family, who are outraged by a judging Jesus, a harsh exclusive religion.

But I wonder, what are people afraid of if they believed in the only One who could save them? What if Jesus was right?

Daily Scriptures First Thoughts May 21 2007

Morning: Psalm 97:1-12
Ezekiel 4:1-17
Hebrews 6:1-12
Luke 9:51-62
Evening: Psalm 124:1-8

It's Monday and my day off. For this pastor, it means sleeping late (at least 6:15 instead of 5:30), fixing my husband's breakfast for him (at least Mondays it's a hot breakfast...), laundry, visiting my mother, and shopping. I even try to take a break from this blog on Mondays, as one of my pastor friends encouraged me. Rest my brain and spirit, if you will.

I really enjoy the shopping part of my Mondays. There's a song from the musical "Carnival", that has lyrics that I sing to myself on Mondays as I breeze through TJ Maxx:

Break away
Kick your heels up and spend a day
Buy a new feather with figora bead
Buy yourself something you really don’t need
Something sweet like
Beautiful candy
Too pretty to eat

Treat yourself
To some dreams from the upper shelf
Buy something someone to kiss to produce
Something you’re sure is of no worthly use
Try a treat like"
Beautiful candy, to pretty to eat.

Stop living for reason
Time to start living for rhyme
I’m on a spree and I’m
Going to make sure it’s a perfectly good waste of time.

Sometimes, though, I feel it WAS a waste of time. I feel guilty when I think of all I could be doing for the Kingdom on my day off. I read the labels on the clothes I buy, and think about the sweat shops where they were manufactured. I always have more reading to catch up on - and I really should exercise so I can present a healthy body to God. Instead I go shopping.

I read the scriptures today, and wonder if, as in Hebrews I am producing only thistles on Mondays with my fall back to shopping, and should have done "things that belong to salvation." Jesus himself in Luke's reading today tells a questioning disciple, wanting to have it all, if you're following me, it's all or nothing; you're putting that all behind you - especially the beautiful candy no one would eat. People are starving for heaven's sake!

But I must say, my Monday marketplace jaunts do get me out in the world. Otherwise, I can live in the church, feeding only on church work and sermon preparations; carrying burdens and breathing my congregation's lives and spirit, whom I love dearly. They are like family. But forgetting there is a world out there, of strangers behind the counters and in the streets with whom I can share the love and hope of Christ with a smile. Who wait on me, when I need care. The $2.99 bargain on something I really don't need helps me lighten up, remembering there are sweet and simple pleasures, that on the surface seem useless. But they can bring perspective, and lighten a heavy load. When we feel we are not doing enough or producing enough or loving and caring and being enough - treating ourself to something from the upper shelf - without guilt - is just what a day off can be about. A new bird feeder, a geranium plant, a bar of foo-foo soap, a jar of imported jam, a bathing suit. Because maybe, just maybe, God has put it there for such a moment, as a glimpse of heaven, where whimsy and worth and purpose meet and it is all valuable and beautiful. Maybe it's because God wants to say, you're beautiful and you're worth it.

I will finish this blog, I'll thank God for you all, and pray for the world. I'll throw in another load of laundry, before I take Mom to lunch. And then I'll stop off at TJ Maxx. There's some really silly things on the upper shelves there that would make God smile.