Romans 12:2

There once was a rabbi who took a piece of dry wood and told his disciples, "Water this until it bears fruit." How bizarre, perhaps even cruel, an instruction that seems. Yet, how often does life seem very much like watering dead wood?


A woman, once, met with me about her marriage. She and her husband had been together more than 30 years and raised two kids. Now her feelings of empty nest, coupled with a kind of all-too-familiar routine in the marriage left her feeling as if her life had grown stale. She had no reason or, for that matter, desire for divorce. She just wanted hear her pastor encourage her to continue nurturing her marriage. She was watering dead wood.


A man came to me because he was discouraged with his career, not a mid-life crisis, just an increasing sense of despair that the last 25 years in his chosen profession were meaningless. The enthusiasm and ambition he once had for his work was gone, and he felt as if he had become nothing more than a puppet. He was watering dead wood.


There have been many times in my life that I can look back and identify with this notion of watering dead wood...watering with tears, and very little hope. Can you relate?


But, I can also identify times when those tears gave way to new life emerging out from what seemed like dead wood.


St. Paul had to know what it was like to water dead wood. By the time he wrote this dynamic verse in Romans he had been through decades of missionary work, suffered through prison, beatings, rejections, the Corinthians' rebelliousness, and the Jerusalem council. And through it all, over the span of a career, he continued to nurture the Christian faith for those first believers. Paul had to know what it was like to water dead wood. Yet, at the end of his life, he did not write about despair or hopelessness. He wrote to encourage transformation.


With enough water, new life emerges...even from dead wood.


May you, this day, be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
Heavenly Father, your grace moves us forward when we feel unable to go another step.  Encourage us, this day, by the promise of renewal in our minds that we may discern your will for us and follow.  Amen

Newsletter: Spring

Over the years you have seen me behave in ways that, well, may seem a bit unorthodox for pastors.  You’ve seen me preach with a variety of props,uh from the pulpit, from the aisle, and even in my bare feet.  You’ve seen me eating a donut, and using all sorts of videos to get your attention.  You’ve learned that I can, at times, appear care-free, even care-less when it seems fitting to me to do so.  I assume that some of you have questioned whether or not I am mentally fit to be a pastor.  :-) My friends, as you’ve come to know me, you know that there is always a reason for everything I do.  There is always a method to my madness.

That method is...I believe God takes great risks for our sake.  I believe God’s risk taking began with our creation.  From the beginning, we were created from God’s own image.  An image we learn from scripture to be one that has the freedom to give and receive love.  That, I find, to be the greatest gift given to us.  Unfortunately, the freedom to give and receive love is also the same freedom to not love or be loved. Unfortunately, far too often, we say no to God’s invitation.  So, instead of living in a world that loves God and one another, we live a world that hates, ignores, abandons, kills, and destroys.  God took a great risk, when we were given the freedom to love.  As we look at what we have done with that gift, it is easy to think that God must be crazy to do such a thing.

Fortunately, for we who find ourselves in the communion of Christ, we have heard the good news that God does not give up on us.  After eons of struggle with the results of sinful actions; after countless rejections to God’s loving invitation, we find in Jesus a God who remains willing to take one more big risk on creation.  In Jesus we encounter a God who desires to be with us even though we hate, ignore, abandon, kill and destroy His creation.  With Jesus, God takes the ultimate risk.  God promises to love us even if we never love back.  Even when Jesus, God’s own Son, becomes the target of our hate, ignorance, abandonment, and murderous ways, God brings him back to life, offering forgiveness, showing us by his wounds that we cannot stop God’s love for us.  This is the greatest risk! There is nothing more that God could possibly do to win our hearts.  God has already risked everything!  This God must be crazy---crazy in love, indeed!

I’ve heard it said that faith in God is simply the heart saying yes to God’s loving invitation.  I believe this, and I want others to believe it also.  The method to my madness; the reason I find it necessary, at times, to take risks as a pastor, is because I hope that in some way my willingness to do such things reveals the great risk that God took for you and me.  Furthermore, I hope that God’s risk taking inspires you to try something, maybe a little crazy, for the sake of sharing God’s love with others.

Collectively, I hope we are willing to start taking some risks together for the sake of Honey Brook and its neighboring communities.  Honey Brook, as we know, is not one community, but actually a collection of communities.  There is Tel Hai, Knob Hill, Indian Run, Valley View and several others with various different folks scattered in between.  It may sound a bit crazy, but what I’m asking us to do is begin to think about creative ways that we can take our ministry beyond the walls of our church and into these communities.

Easter is a celebration of God’s greatest risk.  He risked His Son, Jesus, for us.  Our lives, and the promise of life eternal, are our blessings thanks to this great risk of God.   What risk shall we take to carry this gift to others?



Happy Easter,

Pastor Rich

Jude 24

While on vacation in San Antonio my son, wife and I did a lot of walking together.  San Antonio offers tourists one of the most magnificent sites to walk.  It's their River Walk.  Miles of river front sidewalks filled with shops and restaurants, river boats ducks, palm trees and the serenity of the river.  It's beautiful.

During one of our walks, my son (7 years old), was a bit more focused on the ice cream in his hand than on the path before his feet.  His toe caught the edge of a bit of uneven paving, and down he went, with ice cream everywhere.  He wasn't hurt, except for the loss of his ice cream.  But, it was one of those scenes that replays over and over in my head.  I can see my son walking, unaware of the pavement edge sticking up just ahead of him.  Before he stumbles I know he's about to be tripped up, but I have no time to react.  He falls, and I am unable to even warn him of what I saw coming.  

Sometimes isn't that the way life is? 

We know our weaknesses.  We know what causes us to stumble.  Someone invites us to try something new, or gives us a great idea with proven success, and all we can see are the points along the way that will trip us up.  

Jude tells us that God is able to keep us from stumbling.  

Think about that...God IS able to keep us from stumbling.  We may not be able to keep ourselves from stumbling, but God IS.  

As disciples of Christ, Jesus is the one guiding us along our pathway through life.  Jesus is walking in front of us.  He knows the trouble, the temptation, the stumbling points.  Follow His lead.

Lord keep me from stumbling.  You know me better than I know myself.  You know my weaknesses, my temptations.  Strengthen me to stay the course you have put me on.  That success in life is really about following you.  Amen!

Proverbs 3:5-6

Clergy are now ranked in the vocational cellar in terms of trust.    According to a recent Gallup Poll, public opinion of your local ordained minister has slumped to an all-time low of 47%.  This is a continuation of a downward trend that began in 1985, when clergy ranked among the most trusted at 67%.  Even more alarming is an increase in respondents to 11% who said their trust of clergy is "very low".

What does this mean?

Gallup has said that in its analysis, the primary influencing factor is stereotypes, which often take a very long time to overcome.  Although the explanation for this specific slump in trustworthiness is unclear, Gallup has said it believes the overall drop in trustworthiness since the early 2000s is linked to various high profile revelations of scandals and crimes committed by clergy.

According to a related Gallup Poll, US confidence in organized religion has also hit an all-time low.  Only forty-four percent of Americans responded that they have confidence in the church.  One seems indicative of the other.  Trust in pastors is related to that of confidence in the religions they lead. But, what is going on here?

Isn't the deeper question whether or not we trust in God?  Since these polls are interested in the Christian church, I am referring explicitly to the God who is revealed in the three persons of the Holy Trinity.  Granted, there is a difference between trusting the church and trusting the God who is revealed within it, but the evidence does beg the question.  Is it possible to trust God without trusting the church or it's leaders?  I believe these polls indicate that most people today are beating their drums and thumping their chests with their resounding, "YES!"

But, Martin Luther would disagree.  In his interpretation of the Apostle's Creed he wrote about the Holy Spirit this way.  "I believe that by my own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith."  Without God's intervention in our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit we can not come to believe in God.  How does the Holy Spirit work this intervention?  The primary tools of the Holy Spirit's are the gifts of the church: the preached Word of God, the fellowship of believers, and the sacraments.  Claiming to trust in God, while not trusting in God's church is like expecting a carpenter to build you a house while not permitting him to use tools.  He might get the job done, but would you really want to live in such a shoddy constructed house?   Yet, increasingly, Americans are essentially doing just that with their faith.  And, keep in mind, faith isn't a luxury item in the construction of a life.  It's as essential as air, food and water.  It's our faith that guides our every motivation and informs every choice we make.   Build a strong house of faith, and your life will live securely.

In Solomon's wisdom of today's quote from Proverbs, we are exhorted to not lean on our own understanding.  These are very wise words.  Our own understanding will mislead us, it is distorted by ignorance and an inflated ego; two things when combined and given free reign create a lethal concoction for our faith.

Instead, trust in God.  The One who made you, and knows you better than you know yourself.  Trust the One who had a purpose for you in this world far before you were born.  Trust the One who freed Israel from the sin of slavery so that they could worship together according to God's design and purpose.  God gave them the commandments to bind them into a fellowship of faith, then created for them the tabernacle (church) so that they would worship together, know the forgiveness of sins and hear His Word.  God freed them from the sin of slavery so that they would never fall victim to the slavery of sin.

The same is true for us, and for all people.  God wants to free us from the slavery of sin.  To accomplish this God has provided us with the church, the body of Christ.

Trust your clergy.  God has called them to a most challenging profession.  They are doing their best in a world that is not very trusting of them or their work.
Trust your church.  God created it for your benefit, so that when the Holy Spirit moves in you there is a place to go where you can encounter the living Lord in the fellowship of believers, the preached Word, and the sacraments.  The church is the body of Christ.  The Holy Spirit's work brings us to an encounter with the Living Lord, but we need the church to enable that encounter.

And, as the words of Proverbs proclaims, trust God with all your heart.
As your trust for the clergy and for the church increases I think you'll find that your trust in God becomes much easier and the Holy Spirit's work within your life ever the more secure.

Gracious God, today we pray for your church.  Keep it holy and sacred.  We pray as well for the ordained ministers you've called to lead your church.  Keep them in your warm embrace as they work to strengthen your people in faith, hope and love for the world.  Amen.

Sermon from 3/16/14

I ran across a story about a rescued dog recently.  It is about a little terrier type, a small long haired dog.  Well, the poor little dog, with fur that kept growing, had become so matted and filthy that he was barely able to walk or even see.  The couple that rescued him nearly walked by mistaking him for a pile of trash.  But, the sound of whimpering and a bit of movement from this small heap of dirt and filth drew their attention.  Realizing it was a neglected little dog, their hearts broke with compassion.  They picked up the little guy, took him to a veterinarian and, with a little tender loving care, he became a beautiful, brand new dog.

Watch this slide show to see the transformation.

What a difference a little love can make.
One couple's small act of grace turned what appeared  to be a discarded pile of trash into a beautiful puppy that was full of life.

In the same way, our God creates in us clean hearts.
God sees beneath the ugly, sinful trash that layers our sinful souls.  God's loving mercy begins to cut away the filth of neglect layer by layer.   By trusting God, eventually our life is renewed, inner beauty restored, God's purpose for us refreshed and inspired.

Martin Luther once said, "This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. This is not the goal but it is the right road.  At present, everything does not gleam or sparkle, but everything is being cleansed."

We are not today, what we will become tomorrow.

The question for us to consider is, can we trust God to pick us up when we've neglected our souls, or do we only trust ourselves...our own individualized do-it-yourself version of spirituality?

Can we trust God to clean us up, when our sins have covered us so completely that we've grown comfortable with our own filth?

In today's lectionary, St. Paul exhorts the church in Rome to trust God.

He wrote, in chapter four, "We trust that ours is a God who gives life to the dead, and calls into existence the things that do not exist."

Bottom line is, we must let go of our sinful, filthy ways.  Like the little dog, they will destroy us.  Some may say that we all have free will.  But, when the choice is one of life in God's care of death in my own care, is there really an option?  We can trust God...we have to.  If we're honest with ourselves, we have no choice.  God has already claimed us.  If we care about the humanity of anything, if we have just an inkling of mercy in our souls...we have no choice, but to put our faith in God to restore us and to bring life back from death.  Because St. Paul is right.  Only God gives life back to our dead souls, and calls into existence things that do not yet exist.  

The couple who picked up that neglected dog are like God who picks us up when we have neglected ourselves, families, friends, community, world, and God.  When we have become so covered in our own sinfulness that the world cannot even recognize us anymore, God still sees beneath the filth to the person He created.  God washes us clean with our Baptisms, and renews our life with desire to live a life of His purpose...A life that reflects His love and grace to all people.  

What will you become tomorrow?
Trusting in God's grace...we can be assured of one thing...it will be beautiful.

Amen.

Galatians 6:9

Are you an adrenaline junkie?

Let me explain.
There is a kind of life-cycle to every church and to our involvement within a congregation.  That cycle begins with a period of take-off.  During take-off there is great momentum and dramatic upward movement.  This is when a church, or a new pastor or program see positive numbers of attendance and participation.  For members in the church this is a period when enthusiasm is very high.  There is excitement to participate and volunteer.  During take-off all things are positive, all systems go, go, go.

After the take-off there is a period when things just cruise.  The momentum that got everything moving now stabilizes, the dramatic upward movement levels off.  For the church, this is a time in which it may seem as if things are capable of running on auto-pilot.  Members know their roles and internal systems function effectively to keep the church moving forward.  This period is not exciting, and there isn't the high level of drama that existed during the take-off, but this is a period of health and stability.

The final stage is that of descent.  As you might imagine, this phase is the opposite of take-off.  In the church, this is when the systems that were working during the cruising stage begin to fall apart, and show signs of failure.  This period may have been prompted by the loss of a long-tenured pastor, but it is often due to conflict within the church.  Members begin to feud with one another, pointing blame at each other for the decline.  During the descent there is drama, but not the kind that was prevalent during take-off.  This is negative and detrimental; draining of member's energy and enthusiasm.  During descent, all things are in decline.

Adrenaline junkies are folks who crave the take-off phase.  They get bored and lose interest when things level off and begin to cruise on auto-pilot.  These are folks who jump ship when the excitement and enthusiasm stabilizes.  They never know the struggle of descent because they don't stick around long enough.  Adrenaline junkies jump from one church to another, or from one new project to another.  They are the flash-in-the-pan.  They jump in with both feet, and are the first to volunteer for something new, but when the take-off phase is over they quit and move on to another church or the next new idea.

In our Bible reading for today St. Paul reminds us of this by using the analogy of seasons.  There will be seasons we will go through, and we will reap in each of those seasons accordingly.  So, do not give up, he exhorts.  Adrenaline junkies give up, reap only from the season when everything is positive, then jump off to find the next adrenaline rush.

So, are you an adrenaline junkie?
If you are, hear the advice from St. Paul today and "do not grow weary,...do not give up."  God's Word promises that you will reap in due season.

If you are not an adrenaline junkie, but you are in a church that is in cruise control, or if you are in a church that is in decline "do not grow weary...do not give up."  God's Word promises that you will reap in due season.

In any phase of the system, trust in God and know that the single most influential and positive thing you could do is to remain faithful and respond with positive ideas, producing your own momentum in any phase. Success is not the absence of failure or periods of decline.  Success is found when we don't quit on God, on ourselves, or on each other.  Adrenaline junkies become part of the problems.  Don't be a part of the problem.  Be a part of the solution.  After all, this is what God does with you.  God never gives up on you.

Heavenly Father, help me resist the urge to act like an adrenaline junkie.  Give me the persistence to never give up.  Amen

Exodus 3:4-5

Spring is coming.  Ahhh, warmer temperatures.  After the winter we've had, Spring will be a much welcomed stranger.  But, Spring brings something other than warmer temperatures.  Flip-flops!  My wife brought home a new pair for herself last night and was sporting them around the house.  Her's are not the usual rubber thong for your feet.  To pass her standard, they have to sparkle.  :-)   Flip-flops are wonderfully comfortable in the Spring and Summer, but no matter how sparkling they are there is one enormous flaw in their design.  They expose your feet!

You can't maintain any kind of dignity when you look down and notice that God gave you those ugly things sticking out from the bottom of your legs.  Some of you out there, I'm sure, have a beautiful pair.  But, I am among the rest of the world, who do not.  I look at mine and I totally understand why cultures consider the feet unclean or ungodly.  When God created feet, He clearly put function way ahead of form.

That brings me to the point in this devotion for today.  Feet are a part of God's creation.  No matter what we think of their appearance, God created them and called them good!  It's no wonder bearing the feet is considered a sacred, or spiritual, act when entering holy ground.  Holy ground is ground where God is encountered.  When standing before God, we are incapable of hiding anything.  The act of taking off your shoes is an act of sacred honor, or respect, for the presence of God.  Shoes are dirty, and they cover the truth of our feet--which are symbols of shame, biblically speaking.  So then, taking off our shoes before God is about much more than just the need to keep the floor clean.  It is a symbolic gesture for the taking off of anything we might use to veil the truth about who we are.   Before our heavenly Father, we are naked, vulnerable---like our feet.  All our sins exposed like the ugliness of our feet.  Yet, our Father looks at us...all of us...and declares that we were created good!  God created us, and loves us---even those of us with ugly feet.

Because of God's love, we have no reason to be ashamed of anything before God.  We have flaws, this is true.  But, these only point to the fact that God isn't finished with us yet.  Today, we are not yet what God will create with us tomorrow.  Do not be ashamed, you are a work in progress.

Heavenly Father, may I never be ashamed of myself in your presence.  Encourage me to love the person your grace is helping me to become.  Amen

Psalm 51:10

Philip Yancey once said, “The only essential difference that I can tell between Christians and non-Christians isn't morality, it’s that Christians have acknowledged that we’re sinners and we can’t make it on our own. We’re failures and will continue to fail.  A thousand years from now the church will be just as full of problems as the church is now, as it was a thousand years ago."  To my knowledge, no other institutions recognize that. Governments don’t, other religions don’t. But for Christianity this is our baseline.

When we deny that baseline we aren't just telling a little white lie, we are living in the original sin of Adam.  Instead of being transformed by Christ, we are denying Christ and allowing the lie to transform us into sinful frauds.  This is the insidious, primal work of sin.  We try to put on a good face, but we fall into the trap of just trying to make ourselves look good.  

Believe it or not, the Scriptures do not bear witness to a God who is terribly concerned with whether or not we fall into sin.  God knows the truth and knows that we are sinners, yet loves us through and in spite of our sin; like a mother loves her children.  God's concern is more to do with whether or not we are humble enough to return to God with faith in Him to cleanse us of our sin.  God isn't afraid of our failure.  Just as we enter the sin of Adam, become sin and cannot free ourselves.   God entered sin with Jesus, and became sin for us so that his death and resurrection would free us from our fears, failings, and shame.  

Fear of failure runs deep within our human experience.  We fear failure so much that we actually create false images of perfection.  The result is we become weary from trying to live up to the expectations we've created for ourselves.  Have you ever met someone who seems so weary all the time that they just seem to have no life within them?  Have you ever felt that way?  

This is nothing new.  The Israelites created an idol of their own making when they lost patience with Moses and crafted a golden calf.  King David suffered from this kind of fear when he was unable to keep Israel secure enough to build the great temple he envisioned would please God.  The Pharisees and priests of Jesus' time fell deep into this trap of sin when they submitted to Roman authority rather than lose their own power.  And, it's true for you and me today, as well as the church.  Anyone who thinks they can undo this tangled mess of sin and relieve themselves of its grip all by themselves and their own effort is a fool.

The Psalmist knew this when he wrote Psalm 51.  These are words that used to be lyrics of the liturgy in every Lutheran church.  Today, we will use them as our prayer to focus our day.  

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

And renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and uphold me with you free Spirit.

Acts 1:8

We prepare for everything.
We are raised by a family who teach us such things as manors, ethics and values. They send us to school where we are educated in the foundations of reading, writing, math, history and science. All of this to prepare us for adulthood.   We participate in various extracurricular activities from sports to music where we practice and rehearse to prepare for competitions and performances.  Many of us go to college and earn a degree to prepare us for work in a certain field.  Some of us go further with education.  We earn Masters degrees or further to prepare us for work in more specific professional fields.
We spend our lives in preparation for...well...life.

But, when it comes to the preparation required for the work Jesus calls us to do.
Jesus just says, "The Holy Spirit will come."  Is that it?

Well, not necessarily.

So...what does this mean?
The Holy Spirit's work is a bit mysterious, and allusive.  What we've come to believe is that the Holy Spirit's work is always to draw us to Jesus.  So, where do we find Jesus today?  We could, most surely, say just about anywhere.  However, there is one place where Christ promises us we will find him...in the Church.   St. Paul refers to the Church as the body of Christ.  The Holy Spirit gathers us, baptizes us, and sends us as members of the body of Christ.  Collectively, the Church is the living Lord today.   There we hear the gospel in a way that is specific for us.  We receive instructions in the faith.  In other words, we are prepared for ministry by the Holy Spirit's work through the church.

I was in my final semester of seminary.  I had passed all the exams, completed all the requirements, jumped through all the hoops.  I had fulfilled all the criteria which demonstrated my readiness for ordained ministry when my faculty adviser asked me, "Do you feel prepared for ministry?"  The answer he expected was an emphatic "yes".  But, I decided to take the more honest approach.  I said, "No, but thanks to my seminary and my Church I am confident that I know where to turn for help."  He smiled a grin that told me I had answered correctly.

There is really no way to be fully prepared for what God puts in front of us.  But, thanks to the Church, we know where to go for help.  This gives us confidence and hope to face every challenge of life with God's grace.  Jesus said to his disciples, "You will be my witnesses."  But, keep in mind, they had been gathered together into the "first church" and had spent three years learning from the living Lord.  They had seen him crucified and resurrected.  Then, they received post-resurrection instruction in their new faith.  They had been baptized, and worshiping at the feet of Jesus for three years before Jesus declared them to be his witnesses.  Ascension Day was the disciple's graduation day.  Were they prepared for everything their new life was about to throw at them?  Nope!  But their community of faith, "their church" was their primary source of inspiration and confidence.  They may not have felt prepared to be Christ's witnesses, but they knew where to go for help.

The same is true for us today.  The church is our primary source when we need to know where to go for help.

The Church...that's right...that institution that is treated as if it is unnecessary today.
Statistics show that, at least Western culture, is ready to discard the Church in favor of something more spiritual.  Today, people see the church as incapable of bearing the burdens of a more pluralistic and individualistic society.  Authors and scholars are writing like prophets predicting either a total collapse of the church or the emergence of a different kind of church that is on the horizon.  Whatever the case, there are fewer and fewer people in our churches.  Churches are closing every day.  This means fewer people instructed in the faith, and fewer people teaching their children about this faith.  Fewer and fewer able to face the challenges of life with the confidence of knowing where to turn for help.

The Church is NOT unnecessary.  It may be a bit outdated.  It may need a spiritual makeover.  It may need to look beyond itself to the concerns of others a bit more effectively.  But, it is definitely necessary!  The problems with the church are far less essential than the gifts that the Church provides in spite of them.  Today, more than ever, we are people who feel ill-equipped to face the challenges that are before us.  It is no coincidence that this reality comes at a time when we've lost sight of the most essential source of preparedness for life--the blessings of the Church.

If you're reading this and you are trying to hold onto a kind of Christianity that assumes the Church is unnecessary to you---you might want to re-think that, and stop in the nearest church this Sunday.  Click here to find a congregation near you:  ELCA   I'm recommending an ELCA Lutheran church, but I'm biased---very biased!  :-)

Lord Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to gather your people to Christ, strengthen your church to bear witness to the a world that has lost sight of your church's blessing.  Amen!

1 Corinthians 3.9

The analogy that we are God's field seems so peaceful, so tranquil.

That is, until we realize what God has in store for His field.  God's field is to be a place that produces the fruit of salvation, or, translating into Lutheranese, the "grain of grace".  :-)  God does not plan to just let His field grow wild with weeds.  This shouldn't surprise us.  It goes way back...remember where this whole Biblical story began?  In a garden!   Jesus was a carpenter, but God is a gardener!

Have you ever seen what a gardener does to a field?  I'm sure it doesn't make the field very happy at first.

First, the field gets tilled.  A blade is used to cut open the green, grassy surface of the field and turn it over.  This exposes the dirt underneath.  Nobody wants their dirt exposed.  But, honest confession is the beginning to something new for the field.  Tilling is a rough and harsh process for the field to endure.  The gardener runs his blade back and forth with what seems little care or gentleness.  Tilling is a rough process, a painful process the field is reluctant to accept.  Though the field may not understand, at first, this tilling process is actually an act of the gardener's love for his field.

Once tilled, the field is ready for planting.  Into this mess of mangled topsoil and dirt the gardener plants his precious seed.  The seed gives hope to the once wild, estranged field.  From the field's perspective, the pain of the tilling process is still very raw, and the seed too small to appreciate.  But, soon the seed will grow and the soil will heal, then the field will appreciate what the gardener has done for it.

Next, the gardener waters his newly seeded field.  Spring rains baptize the field, washing into every crack and crevice cleansing it, while nourishing the seed to life.  The water brings forth the first sprouts of new life deep inside the belly of the field, still undetected by the world above.  The field remains unaware of what all this means, but is beginning to realize that it will never be the same wild field it once was.  Yet, sensing that somehow what it is becoming is much better than what it was.

In time, the entire field transforms into a crop.  The once hidden gifts that sprouted up deep in the soil begin to reach higher and higher to God, growing stronger and more noticeable to the world.  The field is now showing forth something brand new..something very good.

Then the weeds come.  Just as the field is beginning to appreciate this new life growing within, the weeds of the past return.  They once made the field wild, and they threaten to do that again.  The weeds begin to choke and kill the young crop; robbing it of nourishment and blocking it from light.  Now, the gardener comes to protect his chosen field.  Where the weeds are not too entangled with the crop, they are uprooted and destroyed.  Where the weeds are entangled, the gardener allows them to grow together so as to not risk the loss of even one of his precious little ones.

In time the crop bears the "grain of grace" (or fruit of the gospel--whichever you prefer).   It is harvested and used to feed people who are desperately hungry for it.  This makes the field very thankful to have been chosen by the gardener.  Now, the field welcomes the next tilling and trusts the gardener.

You are God's precious and chosen field.

Lent is the tilling season.  Trust the Good Gardener.

Heavenly Gardener, open me, turn my insides out, prepare me to receive your seeds of grace.  Amen.

Joel 2:12

It starts with a feeling that begins somewhere deep within the soul. It fills your body, taking over your senses; taking over your mind, your self-control. Then, like a drop of rain that signals a downpour, your eyes fill up and the tears begin to fall. You're in the grip of a good cry. When it comes, you're powerless to stop it. But, before long, your emotions are literally poured out...and, this is a good thing.

Why we cry may seem obvious.  You're happy or your sad.  But, in truth that is too simplistic.  Crying is a natural physiological response to feelings that are triggered by emotions.  For men, typically the tears do not come easy.  Up until recently, crying was seen as a sign of weakness in a man's character.  Fortunately, this myth has been debunked in this century and men are given more liberty to bawl their eyes out from time to time.  Even President George Bush's tears were seen as heartfelt when he cried over the events of September 11th, 2001.  And, any man in a service uniform who sheds a tear or two during the national anthem is given the respect of a hero.

For some of us, crying comes much easier.   Our kids cry when their feelings are injured, when we leave them with the sitter, or when they are asked to hug a relative they view as a stranger.  Some of us cry when watching a movie, listening to a song, when a passing thought runs across our minds, when we've hit the lotto jackpot, when we're slapped with a lawsuit, when our children make us proud, when the daughter gets married. We cry tears of revenge, seduction, escape and empathy; tears of pleasure and pain. The biblical history of tears shows us David crying at the death of Absalom, Abraham over the death of Sarah. Joseph bawled when meeting Benjamin. And, Jesus wept, according to that famously short verse in John's gospel.

Some even have the ability to get a little misty on cue. Jimmy Swaggart wept in an attempt to keep his ministry afloat. Sally Struthers got teary on TV when she'd plead for support for Save the Children.  And, we all remember Tammy Faye Baker's weeping escapades that single-handedly assured her favorite mascara brand a long and bright economic future.

The prophet Joel is convinced that our tears must be genuine.  Joel calls for a return to God with all your heart.  God isn't interested in crocodile tears, or any other tears used to manipulate others.  Nor is God interested in the physiological explanation for why we cry.  God wants the tears that open us up, make us vulnerable, and signal to us a necessity for an authentic change of heart.  These are the tears of repentance.  These are the tears that lead to salvation.  

Why we cry may be somewhat of a mystery, but the cathartic blessing they bring is not.  Jesus taught his followers in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are those who mourn."  Entrust your tears to God, and He will make it rain with grace and mercy.  Here is where our tears of shame and hurt are turned to tears of joy and release.  God's forgiveness knows no boundaries; His joy no restraint. When we weep the tears of genuine hurt or repentance, we are crying the tears of new life.  This is a good, indeed a very good, thing!

The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light, 

just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God.

-Victor Hugo, Les Miserables.

 Heavenly Father, on this Ash Wednesday, may I return to you with all my heart.  Amen

Romans 8:26

When I was a very young boy I would have this recurring nightmare.  I would see my parents with me.  The setting would begin as somewhere common to me at my home.  Then everything around my parents would dim to black darkness, and a feeling of emptiness would overcome me.  Next, the image of my parents would fade, as if becoming increasingly more difficult for me to be with them.  My nightmare would climax with me alone in the emptiness, wanting to scream, cry out for my parents not to leave, but I was unable to do so.  I would wake up terrified.  With my heart pounding, I would run to my parents' bedroom and wake them up.  Naturally, they would ask me what is wrong, but all I could say was I had a bad dream.  At that age, I wanted desperately for them to understand.  But, not only was I without the vocabulary, I wasn't even sure I knew what I just experienced in my dreams.

I know now that my dream represented death, or more precisely my primal fear of being left alone, helplessly deprived of the ones I love.  I have come to understand that dreams like mine are actually quite common in children.

Today's Bible verse touches upon that same primal fear.  For this reason it is part of a larger reading that is often used in funerals.  Our modern interpretation misses the mark a bit here.  The problem that Paul is describing is not that we know what we need to pray for and simply can't find the correct words to ask for it.  The problem is that we do not even know what to want, let alone how to ask for it.  The problem is the kind of helplessness like that of a child's nightmare.

There are times when we are helpless.  This Bible reading is not only for funerals.  As a matter of fact, Lent is a time for us to acknowledge our helplessness before the God whose promise it is to restore our strength.  however, God doesn't restore our strength with a new plan for us to overcome our weakness.  When we are helpless, he will send the Holy Spirit to intercede for us.  In other words, God doesn't merely strengthen us...He is our strength.  On the cross, God embodies our primal fears.  He doesn't call to us from the other side of our fears, encouraging us from afar to "buck up and get over it".  God enters our fears, dwells within it with us, and moves us beyond it.

There are times when we can do likewise for others.  Sometimes the best way to comfort someone grieving is not to try and fix it with our words or actions, but just to sit with them in it, to be present with them in their helplessness.  Such quiet empathy can convey God's strength better than anything else.  When we don't even know what to want, let alone the words to ask for it, we need the Holy Spirit to intercede with groanings too deep for words.  It is sometimes this very divine presence that we are privileged to witness when we are willing to be with a loved one in their grief.

Heavenly Father, when we are helpless, when we do not even know what to want, send your Holy Spirit to intercede for us.  Amen.

2 Corinthians 7.10

So...there is godly grief, which leads to salvation.
And...there is worldly grief, which produces death.

Such a stark reading for today.

What is Paul talking about?

Dr. Bernard Nathanson was the leading abortion doctor in the United States in the 1970’s. He had campaigned vigorously for the legalization of abortion and he himself had performed 60,000 abortions. He even believed his intentions were good and that he was doing a righteous thing by providing a service that guaranteed a woman’s right to control her body.   But something changed Dr. Nathanson’s point of view. It was a medical breakthrough called the ultrasound, introduced in 1976. This device literally opened a window on fetal development. The first time Nathanson saw an ultrasound in action, he was amazed. He could see a tiny throbbing heart inside the womb.  Nathanson's own heart became convicted.  He said that, from that point on, he could no longer use the more clinical word "fetus" over that of "baby".   Suddenly, everything he had been learning about the child in the womb since his entry into medicine snapped into focus. He had known what took place in the womb but somehow seeing it for the first time brought about a dramatic 180 degree change for him.  Bernard Nathanson, the leading abortion doctor in America, became convinced that human life existed within the womb from the onset of pregnancy. In an article he wrote for the New England Journal of Medicine he wrote, in abortion “we are taking life.”

I think St. Paul would say Nathanson suffered through godly grief upon seeing the beating heart of a child in the womb. His godly grief led to his own salvation.  Nathanson became a Christian and was baptized at the age of 70.  

Godly grief breaks our hearts with an awareness of the pain and suffering our choices have made.  Godly grief brings about a change for the better in us from the inside that is reflected in our actions on the outside.  

Worldy grief is very different.  Worldly grief is grief we suffer for the sake of maintaining our own selfish ways.  Worldy grief is like buying a radar detector instead of slowing down.  It is superficial, and bears no real change in us, our actions, or our view of the world around us.  It is no wonder St. Paul says worldly grief produces death.

As the Church prepares for the season of Lent, it is helpful to understand the distinction between these two griefs.  As Paul puts it, godly grief leads to repentance, which produces salvation.  Repentance is not merely apologizing for what we've done.  Repentance, literally, means "to turn around".  To repent is to turn around and return to God.  The best Biblical example of this is the parable of the Prodigal Son.  The son goes off and squanders everything his father gave him in sinful living.  Then, upon realizing his sin, he repents (literally turns his life around) and returns to his father, who receives him with an unexpected show of unconditional love and grace.  Lent is a time for we Christians to ponder our own sinfulness, repent and return to our Father.  According to Paul, true repentance begins with godly grief...so we might say that is where true Lent begins as well.

Every Lent, people consider giving up things as a sign of their repentance.  People vow to give up sweets, others give up caffeine, some sacrifice various conveniences.  A new one I've heard this year is the giving up of social media.  All of these could very well be considered vices and possibly even addictions.  But, if at the end of Lent those who gave up these things go back to them because Lent is over, then it was never an act of true repentance in the first place.  If we take Paul seriously, then we shouldn't concern ourselves with changing this or that about the way we live just for Lent.  Instead, we should be considering changes that we intend to keep permanently.   Giving up something just for Lent is the same as worldly grief.  Seeing the need to change something about yourself permanently is the result of godly grief, and that is the way to salvation.

In other words, Lent means nothing if it is not a time for Christians to be intentional about their Christianity.  Nobody cares if you are giving up sweets for Lent.  But, there are poor folks who desperately care if you begin a routine of giving up food to your local food bank.  Nobody cares if you give up social media for Lent.  But, your children care if you put down the smartphone and commit to spending actual quality time with them.  Whatever it is you're considering to give up for Lent, ask yourself, who cares that you're doing this?  If there are people who actually care that you give something up, then ask yourself why you would only do this for 6 weeks?

This Lent, take Paul's lesson on the difference between worldly grief and godly grief seriously.  Be an intentional Christian, not a temporary one.

Gracious God, merciful Lord, as we come near to the season of Lent, let us come near to your cross.  There, you bear the sins of all of us as you take our place in a most ungodly death. May your cross and suffering break open our hard hearts to see the world and our neighbor through your loving eyes.  Amen