Jeremiah 15:10-21

It's been a few days since my last post here, but I wanted to make sure that I wrote something for today. This particular reading really spoke to me as I am pondering the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ during this, the most Holy of Weeks.

"O Lord, thou knowest; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors,"

I'm still having a terrible time reading Jeremiah and the great zeal with which he pursues judgment upon the people of Israel. It borders on simple for all the people who have wronged him in his life. It almost becomes a personal vendetta that, in some ways, is not unlike the two boys who went into Columbine High School to shoot all the people who had mistreated them over the years. I've struggled with Jeremiah, and last year, I struggled with a text much like this one for one of my preaching classes. Back then, I decided to paint God's vengeance, God's judgment as something much better than what we would plan for our enemies, for God's enduring mercy always seems to go hand in hand with God's judgment. God's judgment is just, but God does not abandon us and God leads us through the suffering of that judgment.

Part of what Jeremiah is crying out for here is a cry against the persecution he has been facing because he keeps speaking out against the people of Israel. Maybe that's what I'm having the most trouble with, because I have no idea what true persecution is like. But God knows what is wrong and what is right, and maybe God is simply standing up for what is right here. The people Israel simply have to live with the consequences of their actions. The wages of sin are always death. That truly is something to consider as I walk through this Holy Week.

Jeremiah 25:30-38

"And those slain by the Lord on that day shall extend from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall be dung on the surface of the ground."

I don't know what to say. God's wrath, God's anger is extensive so that no one is able to escape it. Everyone receives the judgment of God. Everyone feels the result of God's anger. This is what Jeremiah is told to prophesy - not one word should be left out. This is terrible and I don't know how I can stand in the face of this at all.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord.

Jeremiah 25:8-17

"Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it."

I was recently reminded this week as I looked at all my friends' status updates of the saying, "the wages of sin is death." This can be really hard for me to grapple with in my life, because I trust and I believe in a God who is steadfast in love and has unending mercy for the creation that God has made. I don't like to think about how our sin, our turning away from God placing our trust in whatever idols we can conjure, destroys and creates death for us in our lives. God's judgment against our sin does not pass away. Our sin condemns us and our fallible way of living. God's wrath and before it we cannot stand. But (and with God there is always a "but" when it comes to our sin), God still does not abandon us to our sin and death. God comes to us in our sin and death and still states in every possible way, "I am still your God, and you are still my people." Yes, God wrath will come. God's wrath does not pass away, because God does not want to lose us forever in our sin and death. God's wrath is a big, loud "NO!" to a way of life that does not give life but rather takes it away. I just wish that God didn't have to be a punisher and bringer of wrath. That's why I take comfort in that God also brings steadfast love and mercy.

Jeremiah 24:1-10

I've had a hard time finding direction of where to go and what to do with the Psalms these last days of Lent, so I decided to turn to my daily devotional for some guidance on readings everyday. This means that I probably won't be reading a psalm every day, but I think I will focus on the Hebrew bible (Old Testament for those who haven't gone through seminary classes and thought about what we call the Old Testament) readings as my daily (*cough*) devotional reading and reflection.

"Behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord."

You'd think that by now Jeremiah would know what God is up to whenever God speaks to him. Almost chapter after chapter, the Lord presents Jeremiah with object lessons which are in no way at all subtle. Earlier in the book, God even makes Jeremiah literally go buy a new pair of underwear, wear it without washing it, bury it the ground, and after "many days" dig it up just so that God could make a point about the corruption going on in the land. But no, Jeremiah yet again has to endure another painfully obvious object lesson from God. That painfully obvious object lesson holds some much needed truth and grace for us in our lives, though. In this lesson, God compares the people who have been uprooted and exiled from their homes as good ripe figs. In that, God says that those people are people that God will care for, strengthen, and return their homes to them. The others, the bad figs....well, I'm not sure what to do with what God says about them.

There are times when I don't know if I am a good fig or a really bad fig that cannot be eaten at all. There are times where I am good and times when I am bad. The only thing I can do is simply trust in the Lord that God is steadfast in love and mercy.

Psalm 70

"But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me , O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!"

Today, I simply opened up the book of psalms and started reading the first psalm that caught my eye. It's a little random, and I'm not sure how much you can put into it. But, there are times when random encounters with scripture can be helpful in your life. This is especially true of the Psalms.

I'm not sure how many times I've prayed this prayer in my life. I don't usually exclaim to God, "Come to me now!" But I do know that I can be a little impatient at times in my life. This is especially true when I'm confronted with the fact that no matter how much I may try, I really am still a poor and needy person who lives by the loving grace of God. It's not that God tolerates me, although I'm sure God has had to put up with a lot of the things in my life. God truly loves me and cares for me and there are times when I want God to hold me and comfort me as quickly as possible.

Psalm 107

I went on vacation last Thursday, and for number of various reasons (most of which are in fact simply excuses) I haven't made any postings since last Wednesday. Now today, I find myself trying to figure out exactly which psalm I'm going to read next. I settled on Psalm 107. It simply was the psalm for today in the daily lectionary.

"O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south."

I find myself somewhat surprised and yet wholly comforted by this psalm and what it proclaims - the steadfast love of the Lord. I don't think we truly step back and ponder what God's steadfast love truly is, and this psalm tells us of a deep and abiding love AND a steadfast love that won't let us delude ourselves with our won conceptions of power and security over our lives. God gathers us from all directions and miraculously turns the whole world on its head. Desert will become springs of water. Fruit orchards will become desert. And this happens because the Lord takes pity upon the lowly and the needy and gives them what they need - food for their hunger water for their thirst, and calm in their stormy seas of life.

I think that I should ponder the the steadfast love of the Lord much more often, especially since it doesn't always mean what I think it will mean.

Psalm 119 - Shin (vs. 161-168) & Tav (vs. 169-176)

One of the things that I have been thinking about a lot lately is about where place their faith and the church in their lives. When I say "faith," I mean a person's life centering trust in who God is (something that is only known by what God does...). When I say "church," I mean the church universal that is present in the lives of people gathered in Christ's name. Now, I'm not speaking primarily of placing faith and the church in terms of how we prioritize them in order of the things we care about in our life. This isn't a "what comes first?" placing of the church, although to be sure for many people, myself included, some serious meditation on this subject should be made. What I mean by "placing" is simply whether or not church and faith is something you put on a high and narrow pedestal in your life.

My hunch is that people have all too often held faith and church as a high and valuable virtue. We hear this happen we or others recount our mountain top experiences - those places and times where we feel the closest and most connected to God in our lives. Church and faith are very good virtues in our lives. They should be given high esteem and be a valued priority in our lives, yet but what about all the times in our life where we feel like we've fallen from that highly exalted and good place? This question is what makes me wonder about placing the church and faith on such a high and narrow pedestal.

When this happens, I've been pondering another question as of late. How can church rather be a place of support and strength for people in their bad times? How can church and faith be a place that you turn towards rather than fall from. Shame and guilt and pride can be real roadblocks for us in our lives to even begin to feel that the church and our faith are places where we don't belong. We say to ourselves, "Church is a place that I went to when things were right in my life - when things were good."

That's why the very last verse in the whole of Psalm 119 seems so important to me as I read it.

"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commandments."

We need our faith and our churches to be a place that we turn towards when bad times hit. We need to realize that all too often we are like sheep who have gone astray and are in desparate need for God's guidance and support in our lives.

Psalm 119 - Qoph (vs. 145-152) & Resh (vs. 153-160)

"The sum of your word is truth; and everyone of your righteous ordinances endures forever."

As I look upon and look through the Scripture that has been given to us by God, this statement from verse 160 in Psalm 119 rings absolutely true. The sum of God's word is truth. Also, the sum of God's word is the Word - the Word made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ the Son of the Father. All of scripture in the end points towards the truth of the Word to Jesus and what he has done for us and what he is STILL doing for us. This is the truth that brings life that endures forever. For God in Jesus Christ said, "I am with you for all ages into eternity. I have come to bring light, life and the truth that God loves you deeply and enduringly." That doesn't mean that God's Law drifts away. God does not want us to keep on in a life of sin turning away from God on a continual basis. We stand in the truth of God's Law, and Christ shows us that God still loves and cares for us deeply. That is an ordinance that has made that will endure forever.

Psalm 119 - Pe (vs. 129-136) & Tsade (vs. 137-144)

Well, looks like almost missed two straight days of trying to make sure that I do this. It get's really easy to push things like this aside. This is especially true for me when I get it in my mind that I'm supposed to be relaxing.

"My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept."

Why is it so hard to live in a world where just might actually do the right things all the time? Just this past week we heard stories tragic killing here in the U.S. and abroad. Why can't people understand that it is not okay to kill and murder? It just seems like people should know better...

Psalm 119 - Aiyin (vs. 121-128)

"I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors."

This new section of Psalm 119 can be read much more like the psalmist crying out to God. I imagine a person yelling, "I have done everything I could and everything that you wanted me to do!!!! Why are bad things still happening to me!!!???? Why am I not being rewarded for my faithfulness!!!"

That's the bargain we make with God, right? We say, "I'll be good. I'll do everything right!" But all too often what we want and what God sees that we need are two different things. We want life, security, and happiness for our lives. Yet, we need someone who will always be there with us throughout all the tough times in our life. We need the constant love and forgiveness that God brings to us.

Psalm 119 - Samekh (vs. 113-120)

There are two verses that are really sticking out for me in my psalm for today.

"I hate the double minded, but I love your law."

and

"Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually."

I've recently been reading a book where the author talks about how we live in a world where it is so easy to hate, and so hard to love. I got it from Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. He's right. It is really easy to look at the people who do wrong things and let hate well up in you, but it is really hard to love people who (and all of us are/should be convicted by this statement) who inevitably do wrong things throughout our whole life.

That's why you have to hold that first verse up with the second that I pointed out. We can only live according to God's commands and God's will by GOD HOLDING US UP and giving us the power to follow in God's way. God's way is a hard way, but thankfully God's way is a journey where God comes to us and lifts us up.

Psalm 119 - Nun (vs. 105-112)

"Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a life to my path."

There are many times when I look around the world, and I just don't understand what's going on. I see that there are plenty of people who say that they are Christian, and yet they look at all the other people around them and pass judgment upon them as if that is how we should respond to people who don't fit the way we think or the way we act.

There are many times when I see people struggling all around me. I see people struggling with pain and suffering. Maybe the person has lost a job. Maybe the person isn't getting the food that they need. Maybe the person is coming to me with a hand outstretched asking "can you spare any money?" What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to respond? I even say to myself, "I just don't have the time to think about you right now."

There are many times when all this confusion is churning about me, and I hear the gracious word of God. These words show me where I come up short. These words tell me what I've done wrong. These words tell me how I can live and act. AND...AND these words tell me of God's steadfast love for me even in the midst of everything I do or don't do. These words guide me back to the place where I know who God is. God is the one who names and claims me, staying beside me through all of life's storms.

Psalm 119 - Lamed (89-96) & Mem (97-104)

"I will never forget your commandments, because by them you gave me life."

In the creation, when God was forming the heavens and the earth, we see two very different stories about creation. The first story portrays creation a something that occurs by God saying something and having it happen. In the second story. we have an image of God molding us and the rest of creation with God's hands shaping clay and breathing life into what is molded. I sometimes forget that creation and life happen because God commanded it to happen. It's very evident in the first account, but in the second account, God commands by molding and shaping creation. God's commandments do give us life, but not in the way we sometimes think it happens. God's commandments don't give us life by giving us a rule book to win the game. God's commandments give us life because God commands life into being. God is the source of life, and God commands life into being.

Psalm 119 - Yod (vs. 73-80) & Kaf (vs. 81-88)

Wow, I totally forgot about reading my psalm for yesterday. It didn't even register until just now, which is about 8:30 pm on my clock. It's a good thing that my salvation doesn't depend on my reading a psalm everyday.

"Your hands have made and fashioned me..."

Who is God but what God has done for me and all of creation? On a very basic level, you can know nothing of who God is apart from what God does. I've said to confirmation students in the past, "the 'how' of creation is nowhere near as important as the 'who' of creation." I say this to get students to think past the minutiae of details concerning creation and to rather focus on the fact that, however it happens, God is source of all our life here on earth. But having a single God who the creator of all things brings about tough questions for us to ponder. Namely that God created a world with pain and suffering.

"My eyes fail with watching for your promise; I ask, 'When will you comfort me?'"

This is a question that many if not all end up asking at some point in their lives. I don't know the answer to it. I can only take stabs at trying to explain some of it, yet whatever explanation I come up with will fail at some point. I can only trust the promise that the one who gives life is also the one who loves and forgives life, even in its messiness.

Psalm 119 - Tet (vs. 65-72)

"The law of your mouth is better to than thousands of gold and silver pieces."

Let's face it. We are in bad economic times and things are only getting worse. I was listening to a radio program just the other day, and the person being interviewed described a graph that was pretty frightening. Imagine a graph where there are two lines. The first line is the Gross Domestic Product of the U.S., and the second line is the total debt of all businesses and people in the U.S. Since the 40's even through the 90's, our total debt was no higher than 50% of our GDP. Our total national debt is now equal to our GDP. The last time we had such a peak in our economy was 1929 - the beginning of the Great Depression.

So much of our life has been built on borrowing and lending thousands upon thousands upon thousands of silver and gold pieces. We've strove for a quality of living that has only been supported by the acquisition of more gold and silver pieces. There are definite times when the law of God's mouth is much, much better to us than gold and silver, because that money tends to get us caught in a swirl of concern for only money. Yet, the law of God's mouth is essentially concerned with relationships between people and our relationship with God.

Psalm 119 - Zayin (vs. 49-56), Het (vs. (57-64)

"Your word...this is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives life."

How very true. How very often we look to God's words for comfort in our lives. I know that I'm feeling a smidgen stressed out by everything that I have on my plate, and it's good to be reminded that God's words are a refuge of hope for me. I know other people can get into places where they are stressed out or worried or feeling as if life in general is bringing bad news after bad news everyday. And, we look to what God has to say to us to try and find meaning in all of that.

Yet...
How very often do we let that control our notions of how other people are acting and how other people live in relationship to God.

"Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, those who forsake your law."

I love that. "Hot indignation." It really reminds me that I need to guard against letting my relationship with God and the hope I find in scripture be a way that I judge other people around me.

Psalm 119 - Vav (vs. 41-48)

What is God's law? How does it affect my life? I'm here in Dubuque, IA, and I'm already having a good time hearing about the possibilities that are available for churches in rural communities. I'm also spending good time reconnecting with very good friends. I think God's laws are at the very least about living vibrantly within community. That means finding the life inside of he even where we might not see it perfectly. I think it means loving and caring for the people around you as well. If that is what God's law us about, then it definitely is something that I can speak to kings.

Psalm 119 - He (vs. 33-40)

What would life be like if I did keep God's commandments in all my life? Would I be happier? Would I feel more accomplished in my life. I just realized that I've probably picked one if the hardest psalms to journey through for over half of lent. Each new subsection us another reflection of wanting to please God in everyhing I do. I suspect that I would probably become so concerned with keeping God's laws that wouldn't be able to see all the beauty all around me.

Psalm 119 - Dalet (vs. 25-32)

"My soul clings to the dust;
Revive me according to your word."

So, this is the fourth day of my Lenten practice and my third post here on this blog. This opening line from the fourth section of psalm 119 puts me face to face with something that I struggle with daily. It puts me face to face with my continual want to strive for all the "earthly" things in my life. Now, I believe that this doesn't mean that such earthly pursuits are wrong in any way. Rather, the beauty and pleasure of nature, the caring relationships with friends and family, and even the beauty and meaning of art, music, poetry and prose are definitely good things and good things to pursue. Yet, I need the reminder that they are all the good creation of the Father who is the source of life in my life.

Psalm 119 - Beth (vs. 9-16) & Gimel (vs. 17-24)

Well, I did exactly what I was hoping I wouldn't do. I forgot to read my psalm for yesterday and make my reflection. It just gos to show you that something as simple as sitting down and listening to God's Word for just a short period of time is something that can get left undone pretty easily. You get caught up with what's going on in your life, or you get caught up with the things you are doing, and this small thing slips into the background.

So, today I will reflect on the second two parts of Psalm 119. It is fitting that I'm going through this part of the psalms right now. It's all about how the psalmist wants to observe God's commandments and constantly meditate on them. It's hard. It's hard to stay that focused on what God commands and actually carry that out in your life. The only thing I can ask at times is for God "deal bountifully with your servant."

Psalm 119 - Aleph (vs. 1-8)

Well, here the beginning of me trying to do my best to have a regular Lenten discipline. I usually haven't had much success in the past with a daily intentional reading of scripture. It usually gets pushed off to the side or even simply forgotten about as either a busy day is ahead of me or slow relaxing day that's meant to be a break from the grind.

It's funny that this journey into Lent starts with a Psalm that declares "O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!" I want this to be my prayer. I want this to be how I live my life. But, I know that I fail all too often to this. There is a happiness in keeping the law of the Lord in your heart, but like the psalmist cries, "do not utterly forsake me" when I inevitably mess up.

WELCOME!

This is where you can see if Pastor is staying up on his Lenten spiritual practice or just simply
slacking. Heck you can even read the reflections and see if they have any meaning for you!