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Tag Archives: C.S. Lewis

Luke 19:11-27

19 Nov

11 The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away. 12 He said, “A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. 13 Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’ 14 But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our king.’

15 “After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. 16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’

17 “‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’

18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’

19 “‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’

20 “But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. 21 I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’

22 “‘You wicked servant!’ the king roared. ‘Your own words condemn you. If you knew that I’m a hard man who takes what isn’t mine and harvests crops I didn’t plant, 23 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

24 “Then, turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’

25 “‘But, master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten pounds!’

26 “‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. 27 And as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them right here in front of me.’”

Luke 19:11-27

Dear God, I learned just a few years ago that Jesus is actually comparing his own kingdom (your kingdom) to the new young King Herod. The local crowd would have known how young King Herod went to Rome to request his father’s throne after he died and how locals went to implore Rome to not give it to him. And how he killed the locals who spoke out against him when he got back. So it was an interesting move for Jesus to say, “Yeah, I’m not too dissimilar than Herod.” It’s weird for me to even type those words.

It makes me think of the line I happen to vaguely remember from The Chronicles of Narnia describing Aslan when Lucy asks if he’s safe: “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver.” Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” Mr. Tumnus also says, “He’s wild, you know. Not a tame lion.” (Copied from Sally Clarkson’s blog) Jesus will not fit into the box I want him to fit into, and that’s a good thing. There is nothing in life that is safe. It’s not meant to be. And Jesus can’t be just a pushover God who gives everything and demands nothing. That doesn’t work. That’s the kind of God I’d love to have. But it makes no sense to have a God like that. It makes no sense for you to be that way. I’m impressed that Jesus made it clear through this parable that kings have a natural responsibility to demand things. They can be good and still not be safe.

Father, help me to completely embrace the idea of the hard things you call me to. You have called me to be accountable and a steward over resources in my personal and professional lives. Help me to do that well. I don’t know to what extent I should be good but not safe. I’m not a king, but I am in a position of leadership. And I tend to steer into safe–perhaps too much. Help me to find that line. This is a challenging word for me this morning. It’s probably something I need to stew on the rest of the day. Am I being the steward you need me to be over the resources you’ve given me, and am I too preoccupied with being safe for those who work under me? Explicitly guide me in this for your glory’s sake and for the sake of your kingdom coming and your will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 19, 2025 in Luke

 

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Psalm 31:1-2

21 Mar

Psalm 31

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Turn your ear to me,
    come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
    a strong fortress to save me.

Dear God, I was talking with a relative yesterday, and she was recounting a conversation she had recently had with a friend. The friend was telling her about a lot of therapy work she’d been doing over the last year and uncovering and dealing with a lot of childhood trauma. Ultimately, she told my relative something to the effect that she didn’t believe in you anymore because she didn’t know why you don’t stop things like that. How can a good God allow so much pain?

It’s an age-old question. Job asked it. His friends errantly told him that his suffering was a result of his sin, and he rejected that explanation. But he fussed at you. He demanded you answer him and explain yourself. Funny, how I keep coming back to the whole thing about people expecting you to explain yourself to them. It’s starting to reveal itself as a theme during these Lenten journals. C.S. Lewis wrote a whole book about it called The Problem of Pain. I think it’s something we all struggle to answer because we want to be a good and loving God would never allow such things.

So what was my answer to my relative? Well, I hope it was okay. I simply said that one question to ask her friend is what she would have you do. How would she like for God to respond to pain in the world? Should you kill bad actors? Should you stop all natural disasters? If this were a Bruce Almighty situation and she had your power for a day, how would she use it? And once you decide to start killing bad actors who do the worst of crimes, where do you draw the line and what are the limits? I guess the ultimate question would be, why did you create any of this at all? Why did you create us just to have us suffer?

Sister Miriam had a nice paragraph today in her book Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation. She said, “As painful as life has been for us in moments, God is not our enemy. God is only good and offers goodness. He understands our pain and sorrow, our anger and rage. He is not afraid of it, disgusted by it, or deterred by it.” I like that.

Father, help me to represent you well today. Help me to show everyone around me how good you are. Help me to offer reconciliation with you to them. It starts with my own heart loving you well, worshipping you, and being wholly yours. So, I offer myself to you today. I am yours. This day is not about me or what I can get out of the day. It’s about what I can give to this day. Help me to offer you as a refuge for those who are scared and hurting. Help me to remind others who worship you of how good you are. Use me, Father. I’m here to offer myself to you as best as I know how.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 21, 2025 in Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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John 8

15 Feb

8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

13 The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.”

14 Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me. 15 You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone. 16 And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. 17 Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. 18 I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”

19 “Where is your father?” they asked.

Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” 20 Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.

21 Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.”

22 The people asked, “Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?”

23 Jesus continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. 24 That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they demanded.

Jesus replied, “The one I have always claimed to be. 26 I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won’t. For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is completely truthful.” 27 But they still didn’t understand that he was talking about his Father.

28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I am he. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me. 29 And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” 30 Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”

34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. 37 Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”

39 “Our father is Abraham!” they declared.

“No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example. 40 Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. 41 No, you are imitating your real father.”

They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.”

42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! 46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.”

48 The people retorted, “You Samaritan devil! Didn’t we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?”

49 “No,” Jesus said, “I have no demon in me. For I honor my Father—and you dishonor me. 50 And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge. 51 I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”

52 The people said, “Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died, but you say, ‘Anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

54 Jesus answered, “If I want glory for myself, it doesn’t count. But it is my Father who will glorify me. You say, ‘He is our God,’ 55 but you don’t even know him. I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But I do know him and obey him. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.”

57 The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?”

58 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!” 59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.

John 8

Dear God, before I do my final preparations for tomorrow’s Sunday school lesson on John 9, I wanted to go back to John 8 and see what the immediate stories were leading up to Jesus healing the blind man. When I read the second half of this chapter, I was struck once again by the incendiary things Jesus said to the people as recorded by John. It reminded me of what I’ve said about John’s Gospel before. John 1:1-18 is the thesis statement for the entire book. If you don’t believe those 18 verses then Jesus is either a liar or a lunatic. But if you do believe those first 18 verses of John, then he definitely is you incarnate. “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!” Not a lot of wiggle room there. It falls neatly into C.S. Lewis’s line of Jesus was either a liar, lunatic, or Lord.

It’s such an amazing thing to consider. I am dependent upon two things for my faith in you, and and am wholly at their mercy. First, that John, Matthew, Mark, and Luke recorded their accounts accurately. Second, Jesus was who he said he was. If the first is true, then the second has to be true. If the second is true, then I need to think seriously about every word Jesus said and consider what he would say to me/us now. If he were to be in our town, outside any of our churches on a Sunday morning, and discussing any number of issues with us, how would challenge our assumptions, our actions, and our faith? I can be pretty confident in my opinions. And I am sure I am wrong about a good number of things. I just don’t know which things. So how can I be very confident about anything?

Father, you know I’ve been kind of sad this week. I haven’t lost my faith. I haven’t lost my peace. But I have been sad. I see a lot of things happening in the world that grieve me. They are all focused around people being callously harmed. I would say thoughtlessly, but it honestly seems like some thought has been put into it. And there is simply nothing I can do about it. But as I’ve said over the last couple of weeks, while each soul is precious, in the history of earth, human life is cheap. So I offer you simply my service to do my best to love the souls that touch my life and pray that my life might ripple into other souls. “It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around ca warm up to it’s glowing. That’s how it is with [your] love, once [I] experienced it. [I] spread [your] love to everyone. [I] want to pass it on.” Shout out Kurt Kaiser.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 15, 2025 in John

 

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Mark 9:30-37

28 Sep

Leaving that region, they traveled through Galilee. Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there, for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant. After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”
Mark 9:30-37

Dear God, Catholic or not Catholic, Christian’s could do a lot worse than to listen to Fr. Mike Schmitz Sunday Homilies. I listened to the one from last Sunday this morning and it was quite good. What stuck with me is the difference between humble ambition and selfish ambition. He said selfish ambition requires sold preservation and self defense along the way while I achieve my goals. Then he looked to C.S. Lewis in his book The Screwtape Letters to describe humility. Apparently Lewis described it as the person responsible for building the greatest chapel in the world walking in and being just as pleased with it as of someone else had built it. Humble ambition is about your call on me and my life. Selfish ambition is about my call on my life.

It made me think about the facility expansion and corresponding capital campaign we are going to do at work. If I approach donors with selfish ambition then it will be an icky process. However, if I approach them with humble ambition then I will be giving them a vision of what I believe your call to be and inviting them to participate.

Father, I want my life to be one of humble ambition. That is to say, I would love to not care about any admiration I receive. I confess to you that I do, indeed, care. I do, indeed, like glory. But I confess that right now and offer you my life, my heart, and my ego. My utmost for your highest!

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 28, 2024 in Mark

 

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“The Gentle Slope” By Fred Smith

23 May

Dear God, I woke up this morning and read Fred Smith’s blog post for today. He titled it “The Gentle Slope” which referred to the slope we are all tempted by. The most succinct description is the quote he used by C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters: ““It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

My favorite part of his piece, which mainly focused around the Israelites’ experience in going back to the Promised Land after Egypt and not completely purging the Canaanites and their customs, was when he said:

There was no law in their hearts. They could not master themselves. They did what was right in their own eyes and, predictably, having no common standard for what was lawful, society disintegrated into small factions often at war with each other. What is right for you may not be right for me. Who is to say? What is right is set by whoever has the most votes. What is right is up to who can make people believe it is right. I read a good description of the Higgs Boson particle this week. It is the egg in a bowl of flour that makes it all stick together. A society with no common values is a bowl of flour with no egg.

A society that has no accepted standard of Law and a use for idols will always find itself in the same condition as Israel. Instead of being bound together we will inevitably be in bondage to the delusions of seductive idols. Israel could not resist the corrosive power of the idols around them and so disintegrated from within long before being conquered by others.

So this is what I want to pray about this morning: the egg that holds the flour together. I’d like to say that, as Americans, your church could be what holds us together. But Satan even seems to have successfully divided that. The church has lost its saltiness and so now there are parts of it that are trying to force itself on the unchurched which only drives the unchurched farther from you. A church built on worship of you, love for each other, and service to the world would be influential in making people want you. Put another way, I heard Andy Stanley say a few years ago (my paraphrase), “I understand people not being able to believe the story of Jesus from the Bible, but I don’t understand anyone who wouldn’t want it to be true.” Jesus on earth, even before the crucifixion and resurrection, was amazing. The only people he disappointed were the people who expected him to be in their image and not yours. If we were all like Jesus–if I were like Jesus–the world would be an amazing place.

Father, you are the egg in our batter. You are what ties all of the little pieces of flour together and make us one. Help me to be an instrument that brings peace, unites people to you, and then to each other. And let it start with me being united with you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on May 23, 2024 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Lent Day 31

15 Mar

Dear God, I feel like my ship is leveling out a little. Thank you for walking with me this week. Thank you for being with me here this morning. Thank you for answer prayers, even when you say no.

I found out yesterday about another friend who is facing some personal challenges and scrutiny. I feel for them. Please help them. Please speak directly to them. Comfort them. Guide them. Love them. Help them to completely sink into your arms and feel your love. I know they love you. They have one of the most well-developed faiths for a fairly young person I’ve ever seen in person. Help them as they go through this.

And, of course, help the family of the woman who died two days ago. She has a son who turns 20 today. I don’t like that, for the rest of his life, he will likely relate his birthday with her death. Please redeem that somehow. And help his family and friends know how to love him today.

Here are the verses from Sacred Invitation: Lenten Devotions Inspired by the Book of Common Prayer.

  • AM and PM Psalm: 107
  • Jeremiah 23:1-8
  • John 6:52-59
  • Romans 8:28-39

Psalm 107 – This psalm kind of reminds me of what C.S. Lewis said in The Problem of Pain. Not that this is a new concept, but it’s simply that you use trials that come into our lives to bring us back to you. We get so sinful and self-capable. But we are not as strong as we think we are. I am not as strong as I think I am. This week has been hard. I’ve needed you. Frankly, at times I haven’t even felt that comforted, but I still know I need you. With no trials I would never know I need you. But I need you today, Father. Jesus, and Holy Spirit. I need you today.

Jeremiah 23:1-8 – The part at the beginning about “the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of [God’s] pasture.” But you will send “a King who will reign wisely and do what is jut and right in the land.” I can’t help but think of Christian Nationalism here. I feel like there are some pastors whose hearts are in the right place, but they are scattering the sheep by making an idol out of political power. Help me know how to respond to this, and, if I am incorrect, help me to see my errors and teach me.

John 6:52-59 – Well, this passage makes me think of my difference in opinion with my Catholic friends and family regarding transubstantiation. But that difference really doesn’t matter. I tend to think the point of this passage is to thin the herd a little and find out who is really in and who isn’t. I’ve confessed many times that, had I been there, I’d have been out. But I want to be “in” today. I want to be totally “in” with you, your Kingdom, and what you are calling me to do.

Romans 8:28-39 – All things working together for good is something I’m incapable of evaluating. Going back to my need for suffering to draw closer to you and keep me close to you, I cannot say that I am a good judge at any given time of whether or not you are working things out for my good. Sometimes, it certainly doesn’t seem so. I’m sure my friend who just lost his wife doesn’t think this is working out for his good. And maybe he never will. And maybe I’ll never see it either. But our faith tells us that you are bigger than anything we can see. Please, work all of the different things that are on my heart out for the good.

I offer all of this to you out of gratitude, love, and submission, and I pray in Jesus and with the Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 15, 2024 in Jeremiah, John, Psalms, Romans

 

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Who is God’s Neighbor?

18 Nov

“A few days later the university team gathers for a prayer meeting, as we do every Wednesday. We follow a consistent pattern: Joe prays, Craig prays, Chris prays, then all three pause politely, waiting for me. I never pray, and after a brief silence we open our eyes and return to our dorm rooms.

With the essay deadline looming, I join the team grudgingly for the requisite meeting. Joe prays, Craig prays, Chris prays, and they wait the usual few seconds. To everyone’s surprise—most of all my own—I begin to pray aloud.

“God…” I say, and the room crackles with tension. A door slams down the hall, interrupting me. I start again.

“God, here we are, supposed to be concerned about those ten thousand students at the university who are going to Hell. Well, you know that I don’t care if they all go to Hell, if there is one. I don’t care if I go to Hell.”

I might as well be invoking witchcraft or offering child sacrifices. Even so, these are my friends, and no one moves. My mouth goes dry. I swallow hard and continue. For some reason I start talking about the parable of the Good Samaritan, which one of my classes has just been studying. “We’re supposed to feel the same concern for university students as the Samaritan felt for the bloodied Jew lying in the ditch,” I pray. “I feel no such concern. I feel nothing.”

And then it happens. In the middle of my prayer, as I am admitting my lack of care for our designated targets of compassion, the parable comes to me in a new light. I have been visualizing the scene as I speak: a swarthy Middle Eastern man, dressed in robes and a turban, bending over a dirty, blood-stained form in a ditch. Without warning, those two figures now morph on the internal screen of my mind. The Samaritan takes on the face of Jesus. The Jew, pitiable victim of a highway robbery, also takes on another face—one I recognize with a start as my own.

In slow motion, I watch Jesus reach down with a moistened rag to clean my wounds and stanch the flow of blood. As he bends toward me, I see myself, the wounded victim of a crime, open my eyes and spit on him, full in the face. Just that. The image unnerves me—the apostate who doesn’t believe in visions or in biblical parables. I am rendered speechless. Abruptly, I stop praying, rise, and leave the room.

All that evening I brood over what took place. It wasn’t exactly a vision—more like a vivid daydream or an epiphany. Regardless, I can’t put the scene out of mind. In a single stroke my cockiness has been shattered. I have always found security in my outsider status, which at a Bible college means an outsider to belief. Now I have caught a new and humbling glimpse of myself. In my arrogance and mocking condescension, maybe I’m the neediest one of all.

A feeling of shame overwhelms me. Shame that my façade of self-control has been unmasked. And also shame that I might end up as one more cookie-cutter Christian on this campus.”

Philip Yancey from Where the Light Fell

Dear God, I was praying this morning about what I will preach about tomorrow. Nothing was coming to me. My wife was surprised I didn’t have football on and I told her I didn’t want the distraction. I wanted my mind to still be seeking you. Finally, I decided to lie in bed and read the memoir I’ve been reading by Philip Yancey, Where the Light Fell. That’s when I came across this story, about 80% of the way into the book.

The set up is that Yancey lost his father to polio when he was one year old, and his mother raised him and his older brother in an ultra conservative version of being Baptist. Fringe enough that Southern Baptists in the 50s and 60s thought they were weird. His parents intended to be foreign missionaries, and his mother put enormous amounts of pressure on her two boys to fulfill their father’s ambition in life. It’s a long story that takes 240 pages to tell up to this point, but by the time we arrive at the scene above, Yancey is a sophomore at a Bible college he disdains, he is in a romantic relationship for the first time in his life, his older brother has left the college and experienced serious mental breakdowns, and he cynically realizes that he’s had enough of you, Bible college, and everything else. I don’t think he would put it this way, necessarily, but reading it makes me think he’s just completely burned out on structured religion and the games religious Christians play. Now he’s going to be smarter than everyone.

Then you show up. A professor he actually respects assigns his class to “write an essay about a time when God spoke to you through a passage of the Bible.” It’s the rolling around of this assignment in his mind that set the context for what I copied above. It’s almost like Job 38 when you’ve had enough of Job going on and on and you decide it’s time to set him straight. In fact, Yancey references Job in the report he gives to his class as a result of his experience: “In the words of Job, ‘I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear. But now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.‘”

So I think this will be the core of my sermon tomorrow. When Jesus is describing the Samaritan who shows boundless compassion in his story, he isn’t only asking us to rise up and be better people. He is challenging us to be more like you.

Like me, Yancey made professions of faith and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior several times as a child, thinking maybe he hadn’t done it right. For Yancey, this experience above was new. He describes it as follows:

Part of me–a rather large part–expects this, too, to pass. How many times have I gone forward to accept Jesus into my heart, only later to find him missing? I feel a kind of sheepish horror at regaining faith. But I also feel obliged to admit what has taken me unawares, a gift of grace neither sought nor desired [emphasis mine].

I think one of the things that frustrates me so much about the current American Evangelical church is that it is selling the wrong thing. It is selling some sort of puritanical life that, if achieved, will enable you to claim victory and then stand in self-righteous judgment over those around you. But that’s not what Jesus told us. Yes, he was harsh when he described how there would be a sorting that comes at the end of the age. Yes, he was harsh when he talked about separating parents and children and all kinds of people over himself. But he never called us to be judgmental or mean. He never called us to be unloving. He called us to love you with everything we have and then love our neighbor as ourself? Who is our neighbor? Well, that’s when he gave us this story of a man of a certain nationality beaten. The nationality is only important to set up that this man would have natural alliances and enemies. Two people who should have helped him didn’t, but a natural enemy did. A natural enemy cared for him extravagantly. Are you my natural enemy? Yes, I suppose you are since I am so insufficient in my sin. But–and I can’t believe I’ve never seen this in this story before–you chose to be extravagant with me, your natural enemy.

One unique thing about Jesus is that he didn’t see enemies in the usual way. He didn’t see a Roman centurion as an enemy. He didn’t see Caesar as his enemy. He saw anyone who misrepresented you as the real problem. And the stories he told about you are amazing.

So I am going to try to put an outline for tomorrow morning here.

  • I. I think I am going to read the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
  • II. Set up Yancey biography and background
  • III. Read Yancey’s telling of his story
  • IV. Expound on this different way of looking at the Samaritan in the story as representing you and the beaten man representing me
  • V. So we have to ask ourselves: in coming to church, reading our Bible, being on committees, etc. why are we doing it?
  • VI. In honest self-reflection, how do we feel about envisioning ourselves as being the beaten man/woman and accepting God’s help
  • VII. Is there anyone in our lives who God wants to use us to reach on his behalf, not by accomplishing righteousness so we can use it as a weapon against the unrighteous, but so we can be the Samaritan in their life?
  • VIII. Read the CS Lewis quote by Yancey: “God sometimes show grace by drawing us to himself while we kick and scream and pummel him with our fists.” Is there anyone today who needs to stop resisting God, kicking and scream. Is there anyone here who would like to let go and accept the gift of Jesus?

Father, I consecrate this sermon to you. Holy Spirit, please use me. Love through me. Through my flawed delivery and possibly even flawed theology, reach those who need you and draw them to yourself. Oh, Lord, be merciful to us all.

I pray it in the name of Jesus, my Lord,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 18, 2023 in Luke, Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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“Keep Me in the Moment” by Jeremy Camp

14 Jun

I’ve been thinking ’bout time
And where does it go
How can I stop my life from passing me by, I don’t know
I’ve been thinking ’bout family and how it’s going so fast
Will I wake up one morning just wishing that I could go back
I’ve been thinking ’bout lately, maybe
I can make a change and let you change me
So, with all of my heart this is my prayer

Singing oh Lord, keep me in the moment
Help me live with my eyes wide open
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Singing oh Lord, show me what matters
Throw away what I’m chasing after
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Keep me in the moment
Oh, keep me in the moment
Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me

When I wake up in the morning
Lord, search my heart
Don’t let me stray, I just wanna stay where you are
All I got is one shot, one try
One go around in this beautiful life
Nothing is wasted when everything’s placed in your hands

Singing oh Lord, keep me in the moment
Help me live with my eyes wide open
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Singing oh Lord, show me what matters
Throw away what I’m chasing after
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Keep me in the moment
Oh, keep me in the moment (Keep me in the moment)
Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me

I’ve been thinking about heaven
And the promise you hold
So, it’s all eyes on you
Until the day you call me home

Singing oh Lord, keep me in the moment
Help me live with my eyes wide open
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
(I don’t wanna miss, I don’t wanna miss)
Singing oh Lord, show me what matters
Throw away what I’m chasing after
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me

Keep me in the moment
Oh, keep me in the moment
Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me

Keep me in the moment (Keep me in the moment)
Oh, keep me in the moment (Keep me in the moment)
Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me (What you have for me)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Matthew West / Jordan Sapp / Jeremy Camp

Dear God, I guess I have a mixture of emotions processing through right now. I’ve traveled to help some loved ones out. They are having some physical challenges, and I am helping them get packed up and moved home. While I’m here, there is that typical mixture of emotions, as I said before, that you experience when you have a lot of history with people. Of course, there is love, which is the foundation. But then you cannot help but bump up against the scars every once in a while. Past hurts. Current hurts. They are all part of this experience as well as the job at hand—to help, love, and encourage.

So why this song today? I’ve done it before. I’ve prayed to you about the lyrics before. But like a piece of scripture that I’ve journaled on multiple times and almost always gotten something different out of it, so is this song special and meaningful.

It’s funny because I don’t like the actual music video to this song. I intentionally chose the lyrics video so that their interpretation of the song in music video form doesn’t taint what I’m thinking here. The music video I don’t like focuses on the idea of enjoying each moment with your family and such and savoring them. That’s all good and fine, but the song, for me, is much deeper than that.

It reminds me of the 15th letter in Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In the 15th letter, the demon Screwtape tells his apprentice nephew demon Wormwood that one of the ways to torment his human “patient” is to keep him, essentially, out of the moment. Make him think about the past and his hurts and resentments. Make him think about the future and what he thinks he’ll dread or what he’s anticipating that will be better than today is. But don’t let him be solely in the current moment because the current moment is the only place in time that touches eternity and you, God (referred to by Screwtape as “The Enemy”). The moment is where I find you.

Father, as I go through this entire day, thank you for this reminder to find you in each moment. In this moment, when I am sitting in bed and typing this. In the next moment, when I get up and do what’s next. In each moment, keep me completely in your presence. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Love through me. Bless through me. Heal me and heal through me. Forgive me. Help me to forgive. Lead me not into temptation and deliver me from Satan’s plans. You are my great God, and I have nothing without you.

I pray all of this through the grace and authority of what Jesus did for me and the world,

Amen

 
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Posted by on June 14, 2023 in Hymns and Songs

 

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“Keep Me In The Moment” by Jeremy Camp

10 Jan

“Keep Me In The Moment” by Jeremy Camp

I’ve been thinking ’bout time
And where does it go
How can I stop my life from passing me by, I don’t know

I’ve been thinking ’bout family and how it’s going so fast
Will I wake up one morning just wishing that I could go back

I’ve been thinking ’bout lately, maybe
I can make a change and let you change me
So, with all of my heart this is my prayer

Singing oh Lord, keep me in the moment
Help me live with my eyes wide open
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Singing oh Lord, show me what matters
Throw away what I’m chasing after
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Keep me in the moment
Oh, keep me in the moment
Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me

When I wake up in the morning
Lord, search my heart
Don’t let me stray, I just wanna stay where you are

All I got is one shot, one try
One go around in this beautiful life
Nothing is wasted when everything’s placed in your hands

Singing oh Lord, keep me in the moment
Help me live with my eyes wide open
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Singing oh Lord, show me what matters
Throw away what I’m chasing after
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Keep me in the moment
Oh, keep me in the moment (Keep me in the moment)
Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me

I’ve been thinking about heaven
And the promise you hold
So, it’s all eyes on you
Until the day you call me home

Singing oh Lord, keep me in the moment
Help me live with my eyes wide open
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
(I don’t wanna miss, I don’t wanna miss)
Singing oh Lord, show me what matters
Throw away what I’m chasing after
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me
Keep me in the moment
Oh, keep me in the moment
Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me

Keep me in the moment (Keep me in the moment)
Oh, keep me in the moment (Keep me in the moment)
Keep me in the moment
‘Cause I don’t wanna miss what you have for me (What you have for me)

Songwriters: Jordan Sapp / Matthew Joseph West / Jeremy Camp

Dear God, I have been singing this song all morning to myself, so I thought I would dig into it a little. I linked to the official video for it above, but, to be honest, the portrayals kind of went in a different direction than I expected. Not that I disagreed with them, but they were mainly about family and not missing the relationships that we have. And while that is important, I think there is something more that is missed by not living in the moment and being distracted by the future or living in the past–you.

One of the things I read that has had the most impact on my life was from The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In the 15th letter, Screwtape (mentor demon) gives his nephew Wormwood (apprentice demon) some advice about keeping his human “patient” away from God:

Our business is to get the away from the eternal, and from the Present. With this in view, we somethimes tempt a human (say a widow or scholar) to live in the Past. But this is of limited value, for they have some real knowledge of the past and it has a determinate nature and, to that extent, resembles eternity. It is far better to make them live in the Future. Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear. Also, it is unknown to them, so that in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities. In a word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity.

This is brilliant on Lewis’s part, and if they were still adding to the Bible today I’m not so sure some of his writing wouldn’t have been added to it. But I think it also plays to the lyrics of this song, if not the message of the video. There is a lot more that you have called me to than just family, although family is the most important call. But I don’t want to make an idol of them. They are not my ultimate joy. They can’t be. It’s not fair to my children or my wife to ask them to be. No, my ultimate joy is you, in this moment, as a 50-year-old male. A year from now, when (if) I’m still here typing these prayers to you, I will be a 51-year-old male and you will still be the same God. I’ll be different, but you won’t. I won’t find you by worrying about the future. I won’t find you by living in the past. I’ve tried to do both of these things. I’ve tried to go back and recapture the times when our family and our children were younger and things were easier. I’ve tried to fast forward life to get to a place where I want it to be. Instead, the thing for me to do is just live in this moment and ask you, What do you want me to do today?

Father, keep me in the moment. Help me live with my eyes wide open because I don’t want to miss what you have for me. Oh, Lord, show me what matters. Throw away what I’m chasing after because I don’t want to miss what you have for me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 10, 2021 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Emails to God – Interfacing with God in the Present (Proverbs 27:1)

04 Oct

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

Dear God, there are times when I am just like a little kid. I get some amount of good news and I want to share it with people. I want to celebrate. And, truth be told, I also want to point at myself a little and at least imply the role I played in getting the good thing done.

I watch a lot of football. Probably too much. One of the things that always amazes me is when they put the camera on a coach during a critical time of the game, and they will show his reaction to either a really good or really bad play. Now, there are some coaches who wave their arms and go nuts, but I am always surprised at how many of them take in what they just saw and simply move on to the next thing without letting their expression change. After the game, they might talk during their press conference about the emotion they felt at the time, but their expression and body language didn’t betray any of those feelings. There is a part of me that wishes I were like that, and a part of me that wonders if a little more exhibition of emotion isn’t necessary to lead.

I think that the big problem with allowing yourself to exhibit too much positive emotion as a leader is that there will be a tendency to exhibit too much negative emotion when those who are following you need a lift.

Father, the truth is that this verse is about not getting too far ahead of myself, but taking like one moment at a time. As C.S. Lewis said in the 15th letter of the Screwtape Letters (my paraphrase), the present is the only point in time that interfaces with you. While time means nothing to you, it means everything to us, and we cannot interact with you in the past or in the future. We can only interact with you in this moment. Well, this Proverb is about staying in the moment. As I go through the challenges of my day, help me to stay in whatever moment I find myself and not drift into fear or great expectation of the future. That includes my parenting, my husbanding, and my leading at work.

 
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Posted by on October 4, 2012 in Miscellaneous

 

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