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Luke 11:14-28

10 Oct

14 One day Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, and when the demon was gone, the man began to speak. The crowds were amazed, 15 but some of them said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” 16 Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

17 He knew their thoughts, so he said, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 18 You say I am empowered by Satan. But if Satan is divided and fighting against himself, how can his kingdom survive? 19 And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said. 20 But if I am casting out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has arrived among you. 21 For when a strong man is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe— 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.

23 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.

24 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ 25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. 26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”

27 As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”

28 Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”

Luke 11:14-28

Dear God, it is apparent that the idea of demonic possession was more prevalent and top of the mind in Jesus’s time than it is now. Sure, we talk about it now a little, but it was assumed back then that a lot of the mental illness people were experiencing was demon possession. From what Jesus describes in verse 19 about there being other exorcists, it was not uncommon for this issue to be addressed, for demons to be cast out, and for people to be freed from the mental/emotional state they were in.

I am sure I should think of this more when I pray for people. When I pray for people with addiction. Anger issues. Depression. Maybe even as simple as ADD/ADHD (and I say “simple” not because they aren’t real or complicated, but because the others I mentioned can be much more destructive to a person). It makes me think of Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I wouldn’t consider the “patient” in Screwtape Letters to be demon-possessed, but he is certainly demon-tormented. How much of that am I subject to? I don’t feel demon-possessed, but I can relate to a little demon torment. I can start to feel sorry for myself. Is that a demon whispering in my ear? I can have some really unhealthy eating habits. I can be judgmental. I can get anxious about thing over which I have no control. I can be insecure and needy. How much of all of this is my little demon hanging around and whispering these thoughts to me?

Father, this is why I’m here right now. I’m not trying to get fire insurance. I’m not showing up and typing these prayers each day so that I can check a box for you and make you happy with me. I’m here because I need you. I need your grace and forgiveness. I need your strength to stand against the plans of the enemy (Ephesians 6:11). In fact, I have a friend who told me over lunch yesterday that he is doing a Bible study series on the “armor of God” part of Ephesians 6. And that’s what I’m here for. I’m trying to put on the belt of truth and armor of your righteousness. I want to put on the shoes of peace and taking your gospel to others. The shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. So arm me with all of this as I move through this day. And help me to help others as they struggle against their own demons. Make me mindful of the attacks we are all under. Help me to have mercy and to pray.

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

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 10, 2026 in Luke

 

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“Does Prayer Change God’s Mind” – Slow Theology Podcast

27 Sep

Dear God, I listened to this podcast a couple of days ago, and the question alone is one of those things that I figure is an unsolveable mystery. Do my supplications change your mind? Do they empower you? Do they make you stronger? Do they influence you? Here are some random thoughts I’ve had of things I’ve heard or read over the years:

  • I remember a scene from the movie Shadowlands. It is about C.S. “Jack” Lewis and the lost of his wife Joy. Anthony Hopkins is playing Jack, and a friend is trying to comfort him and talking about prayer. Friend: “I know how hard you’ve been praying. Now God is answering your prayer.” Lewis: “That’s not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time. Waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me.” I’ve never forgotten that. But is that how it works?
  • I thought of Jesus’s parable about the persistent Widow. I think, in fact, this might be the most important thing I’m about to say–of course it is. It’s from Jesus:
    • 18 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2 “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” 6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
  • This seems to contradict what Lewis said in Shadowlands. It seems that Jesus thinks we can influence you with our persistence. Jesus thinks you are moveable. Or is that what he’s really saying?
  • I think about the book by Frank Peretti called This Present Darkness. I don’t think there is any–and I mean ANY–theological/biblical basis for this, but when were were seeing the spiritual warfare in this book, your angels would get strong when they were fighting them demons when the Christians were praying. The prayers were some kind of power infuser that loosed your power through them–kind of like Popeye and his spinach. Your people prayed and your angels got stronger. I have no idea where he got that, but I can tell you it’s had an influence, right or wrong, on my prayers.
  • I think about Jesus in John 14 telling us whatever we ask for in his name, you will do for us.
    • 12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
  • But here’s the last one I will bring up. The time you told Jesus, “No.” The time you didn’t answer his request. But there was a key to it. It was a key that Job learned by the end of his story: Not my will, but your will be done. Luke 22:
    • 39 Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. 40 There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.” 41 He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. 44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

Jesus really wanted to be spared from what was about to happen. That’s one way I know his divinity didn’t protect him from the pain. He was sweating blood. While still submitting to you, he was still pleading with you. I wonder if this scene shouldn’t be the model of my prayers. It’s a model of fitting what we want into the box of what you know we need.

So can my prayers change your mind? Can they strengthen you? Can that spur you into action in a way that you wouldn’t have otherwise acted? I think the answer is vague and ultimately not understandable with my limited human mind. I think our prayers are largely about forming us and our relationship with you. You are our Father, and you want us to communicate with you. So when I see the ambulance drive by and I say a prayer for the victim they are going to help. When my coworker texts me at 8:00 on a Saturday evening and says her daughter is in the ER and my wife and I pray for her daughter. When I am at a football game and a player is knocked out for several minutes and I pray for him while the physicians work. When I pray for Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Iran, Palestine, the President, my wife, my children, my family, my friends, my work…what are those prayers doing? Well, first, they are forming me. They are growing my compassion and love. They are encouraging me to care about others and worship you. And as far as you’re concerned, the best I can figure is that there is something in my relationship with you that is happening for you in your timelessness that I just can’t understand. You are interested in loving me in the moment in time where I am currently existing, and you are interested me loving you. You want to give me those good things, but you also know the structure of the whole world, the time it is experiencing, the events that are happening, and how they will fit together. When a butterfly flaps its wings in the southern hemisphere, you don’t figure out how it will cause a storm in the northern hemisphere. You already know. You don’t chew your nails, as I heard someone put it once. You don’t fret. You know how all this goes and works out.

Father, I’m here to worship you right now. I’m here to pray. I’m here to be formed. I’m here to be changes. You know the pain I have. The pain my wife has. We even talked a little about our pain this morning. Help her to heal. Help me to heal. Bring your peace. Bring your love, and I’ll bring you the little bit of love that I have to give. My love compared to yours feels like a preschool child bringing home an art project for their parent. It’s ridiculous and imperfect, but it’s made with good intentions. And it’s yours. Thank you for it being enough. And in the meantime, I’ll keep praying until I’m on there other side. Then you’ll teach me how to exist there as well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 27, 2026 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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The Seven Deadly Sins

14 Mar
  • Pride (Superbia): Excessive belief in one’s own abilities, often called the original sin.
  • Greed (Avaritia): Desire for material wealth or possessions, often called avarice.
  • Lust (Luxuria): Intense or uncontrolled sexual desire.
  • Envy (Invidia): Sadness at another’s good fortune or desire for their possessions.
  • Gluttony (Gula): Overindulgence or excessive consumption of food or drink.
  • Wrath (Ira): Uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, or hatred.
  • Sloth (Acedia): Laziness, spiritual apathy, or failure to act.

Pope Gregory I

Dear God, my wife and I were just at a winery visiting about a book she’s been reading that was written in 1950 called The Feast by Margaret Kennedy. I might check it out. Apparently, it is a novel about seven people who died in an accident and each of them exemplifies one of the seven deadly sins as articulated by Pope Gregory in 590 AD. Frankly, I’ve never spent much time thinking about these seven sins as standing out as deadlier than the others. I wonder if he thought they encompass the other sins we commit much like Jesus thought the two great commandments encapsulated all of God’s other commandments.

Now I have to be careful because I’m getting a lot of this from Wikipedia’s entry for the seven deadly sins, but it was pretty interesting reading. Apparently, Pope Gregory listed them in order of importance from least to most. Interestingly, Lust was his least. Here is Gregory’s order:

  • Lust
  • Gluttony
  • Greed
  • Sloth
  • Wrath
  • Envy
  • Pride

And then Wikipedia quoted C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity regarding pride: “Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that Lucifer became wicked: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” Interesting.

I guess the good news for me is that my temptations are lower in the order of importance with gluttony being probably my biggest struggle. But pride. Pride is interesting because I think it’s something we all struggle with at some point. I don’t want to be anti-God–anti-You. I want to be completely submitted to you, grateful to you, dependent upon you, and humble before you and other men. I want to be able to consider my life worth nothing to me. I told my wife at the winery that I get a lot of compliments from people through my work and during the week. It can be hard to know how to deal with them. Oh, how I want to just deflect all of the glory that people might want to see in me to you.

Father, I know I’m prone to wander, and it’s mostly my pride that makes me want to wander. I’m prone to leave you and take all the credit and glory for me. I want to be important. I want to be all in all. I confess it. That’s what I want. But I also know, thankfully, that all of that is a lie. I know that I am weak. I am fragile. I am human. I am nothing. I am your servant. Like Job, like Paul, and like anyone else, my life is to be submitted completely and totally to your will. So my I remember that without you having to take things away to remind me of it. I am submitted to you, and I love you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on March 14, 2026 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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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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