Tag Archives: Morning Office

How We Treat One Another

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Today was one of those cool days when I was reading and I noticed a theme emerge in the texts this morning. First, from Psalm 72, talking about the King:

1 Give the King your justice, O God, *
and your righteousness to the King’s son;
2 That he may rule your people righteously *
and the poor with justice.
3 That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, *
and the little hills bring righteousness.
4 He shall defend the needy among the people; *
he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.

Then, from Leviticus

9 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.

And, finally, from 1 Thessalonians

12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

What is this common theme?  What stood out?  In each of these passages, as Christians, we are called to do something. Help those less fortunate. Care for those in need. Love one another.

Basically try, as best we can, to love God and love each other.

The light of Christ within us must make a difference not just in how we live.  It must make a difference in how we treat one another.

The Christian life is not only a life of moral stands, but it is a life of love and service to God, AND to each other.

The Christian life is not a life lived in an ivory tower.  It is a life lived among each other. It is a life lived in an imperfect world with imperfect people.  It is life lived in among challenges and trials and work and worry and sweat and tears.  It is a life that is sometimes very hard.

And, it is a life that calls us not to be just “good” people, it’s a life that calls us to make the world a better place. We are called, we are commanded, to work for good.  To care for those that are weak, to give our lives for something greater than ourselves.

To live for God and live for each others.

In the end, our love for God is seen in our love for each others.  If I say I love God, but hate my brother or sister, what good have I done?

The Christian life, in the end, is so much concerned with theology or belief or opinions.  The Christian life is concerned with our love for God Almighty. And with how we treat one another.

Rest

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As I was reading the Old Testament lesson this morning, one verse just jumped out to me, from Exodus 33:

14 He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Just a short verse, but it says a lot to me. One of my favorite quotes is by St. Augustine, where he says, talking about our relationship with God,

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

As the father of two small children, I can assure you rest is a pretty awesome thing.  I do think, though, that many of us are restless.

We are restless with work.  With family.  With leisure.  We are anxious. We are stressed. We are worried.  We are afraid and frightened. We are angry. We are whatever. . . . .

We are not rested.  We are not resting.

Why?  Because we are seeking our rest, our comfort, our peace in places other than God. At least I tend to.  We tend to place so much worth on these other things.  Our status, our position, our reputation, our worth.

Your greatest worth comes from none of that.  You are not your job.  You are not your bank account.  You are not your position.

Today, you are a child of  God.  You are His.

Rest in that knowledge.  Rest in that truth.  Everything else, it will leave you restless. Everything else will leave you empty.

Only in God, do we find the rest than we really need.  And then, when we are well rested, we find that the rest of life is even better.

When we find our identity in God, we know our identity in everything else.  And, when we know we are His, all other things fall into place.

And even if they don’t, it’s ok. Because we are His.

Today, find your rest, no where else but in God.  Our hearts are restless until we find that rest in God.

Not Me!

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As I was reading through the scriptures for today, something from Exodus 32 really stood out to me.  It was the conversation Moses had with Arron after the golden calf.   They were talking, and this is that conversation:

21Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” 22And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. 23They said to me, ‘Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” 25When Moses saw that the people were running wild (for Aaron had let them run wild, to the derision of their enemies),26then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.

One of the things we see a lot in the Old Testament stories is this notion of – not me!  I didn’t do it.

Adam – did you eat the fruit?   Nope, the woman you gave me gave it to me.

Eve – did you eat the fruit?  Nope, it was the snake that made it happen.

Arron – did you let the people lose their minds?  Nope, they came to me and made me do it.

It’s a refrain I hear a lot from my two kids.  No me!  I didn’t do it!  Not me!  Not my fault!

It’s always someone else’s fault.  We see that in the Bible. We see it in our kids.  We see it in ourselves.

I know me, it’s easier for me blame others than to look within.  I don’t want to look within.  I’d rather blame you than work on me.  It’s less painful for me to lay my problems and my mistakes upon someone else than for me to look within myself and see what I need to fix.

Or rather, allow God to fix in me.

Sure, none of us are perfect. All of us fall. All of us make mistakes. That’s ok.  Instead of pretending like we are perfect, it’s better to admit our mistakes, take responsibility and work on what we can fix.

And know that even in our mistakes and failures, God’s love never, ever ends.

He doesn’t love us because of what we’ve done (or not done).  He loves us because it’s who He is.

He is love.

In spite of our mistakes.  He loves us.

Not our fault? I don’t know about that.

Being loved by God?  I do know about that. We are. Today, and each day.

How Could They Do That?

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One of the things that is most shocking about some of the passages in the Old Testament is this.  Really, Israelites?  You thought that was a good idea?  Really?  I mean, really?

Take for instance the Old Testament passage from today’s morning reading, Genesis 32: 1-6

1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD.” 6 They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

Really?  You thought that this was a good idea?  I mean, where do we start with this?

First, when Moses delayed coming, they said, well, who knows where this Moses fellow went off to?

All they had to do was look up at the mountain. WHICH WAS GLOWING.  I REPEAT, WHICH WAS GLOWING.

But they didn’t.  They just said, well, he’s gone and not coming back.

And Arron, said, ok, I’ll make you a calf, sure. And then he said, he’s the god that lead you out of Egypt!

I mean, think about all they had seen with their own eyes. All they had seen God do. All they had seen God change. Save. Deliver. All they had experienced.

And in one moment, they said, nope, Moses is gone and we want golden calf!

How could they do that?

One small problem.

We do the same thing.

Maybe we haven’t seen God bring plagues against the Egyptians or part the Red Sea.  But, we’ve seen Him move. We’ve seen Him do awesome things.  We’ve seen Him change lives, including our own.  We’ve felt Him in our hearts, known Him with our souls.

So, maybe we haven’t seen what they saw. But we’ve seen a lot.

And, while we may not have melted down our jewelry and built a golden calf, we’ve done the same thing.

We’ve all put our hope in something other than God.  Our job.  Our family.  Our status.  Our wealth.  Our reputation.  Our whatever. . . .

In this text, they said the calf had led them, not God.

In our lives, we can say, these other things, they lead us, save us, take care of us.

We do not need to make that same mistake they did.

We need to trust.  Our life, our hope, our safety, our future, they all come from God.  No where else.  From God.

They didn’t always trust God.  How could they do that?

We don’t always trust God.  May we learn from their mistakes.

And today, and always, may we trust God, knowing that He is our life, our hope, our safety.  And, above all, thanks be to God, that in spite of their mistakes, He still loved them, and didn’t give up on them.

In spite of our mistakes, He still loves us. And will not give up on us.

Thanks be to God!

Worthy Fruit

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This morning as I was reading today’s readings, the words of John the Baptist, in Matthew’s readings stood out.  He is confronting the Pharisees and Sadducees as they come to him.  He says:

8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

This got me to thinking about fruit worthy of repentance. What is that?  What does that mean?  

I imagine the fruit being talked about here is the Fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, etc. But, that was not what really got me to thinking this morning.

How do you bare that fruit?  How is the fruit produced?

To get more personal, how will I make sure that I bare that fruit?  What must I do today, and each day, to make sure that I am barely fruit worth of repentance?

So, I thought, how do produce fruit?  I’ve found that for me, the way my life is fruitful for God is when I am walking closely with God. When I am praying, reading, listening, seeking God, I find that I produce the fruit of joy and peace and love and mercy.

But, when I am not. When I’m too busy. When I don’t seek. When I get bogged down in my schedule. When I turn my attention to what I have to do; what is next, it is in those times I am not patient and kind and loving.

The fruit in my life is worthy when I am walking with the Lord as I ought. When I turn away, towards myself and my stuff, my fruit is not as it ought to be.

So, for me, I have to make myself slow down.  Pray.  Breathe.  Listen.

Today, no matter how busy you are.  No matter what your schedule is, you can take a few moments every so often to stop.  Breathe.  Pray.  Listen.  You don’t have to pray for 30 minutes.  But, you can stop.

And, if for nothing else, become aware to the reality that God is there with you, even then.

In short, I think the key to producing worthy fruit is to live with that awareness that God is there with us. Every moment.

Even now.

Humility and Leadership

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It seems like the readings each day from 1 Peter are really speaking to me. Today, as a I was reading, 1 Peter 5 spoke to me:

1 Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you 2 to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it -not for sordid gain but eagerly. 3 Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away. 5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for
“God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time.

As I was reading through this, what spoke to me was this notion of humility. That is a virtue that our culture doesn’t really care for. And, honestly, its a culture that we as Christians don’t always care for.

And I’ll be even more honest its a virtue that is easy to forget.  I do a lot of reading in Church Leadership. I’ve been through a lot of teaching in Church Leadership. And I’ve very thankful for it, because I think it’s made me a better leader.

And the think that being a leader (either in church, in work, in your family, in the school, wherever) can whisper to you is this – “It’s all up to you!”

We can buy into the myth of our own self importance.  We forget to humble ourselves.

With all that I’d been taught, I’d forgotten that.  I’m not really all that important.  I’m really not.  The fate of the free world is not upon my shoulders. The future of the church is not dependent upon me. Sometimes, I forget.  I forget those things.  I think it all depends upon me.

We need to remember who we are.  We are not as strong or as important as we think we are.  We are not.  None of us.

Now, that sounds depressing, doesn’t it?  That sounds like we are not much.  Quite the contrarey. Since we aren’t much, there’s a freedom there that comes from just depending and trusting in God.  A freedom that says, I’m not much God, but I’m yours.  I’m not much, God, but I am who you want me to be.  I’m not much, but I’m your child.

And, if we are child of the King, what more could we want to be?

It isn’t until we submit the King, though, that we remember that we are His.

Today, remember, God is bigger that you. And it’s not all up to you.  Humble yourself. Trust.  Depend.  Listen.  Pray.

God is bigger.  May we humble ourselves before Him.

Cravings

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As I was praying the Daily Office this morning, the New Testament reading for today really caught my attention.  Today, 1 Peter 1: 1-5 says:

1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Two things stuck out to me today, and made me really look within myself today.

First, we are told to crave (or long) pure spiritual milk.  We are supposed to crave that time with God. We are supposed to crave being with God.  Do you?  Do I?  Do we crave time with God like we would crave our favorite treat?

And, if you can’t get what you crave, you will go to any length to get it.  If we can’t get that chocolate, or whatever, we’ll sneak off, we’ll hoard, we’ll do whatever we can to get it.

Do we do whatever we can to spend time with God?  Do we crave it?

Do we crave spending time with God? Do we desire it?

Or, do we see it as a hassle at worst, or something we have to do at best?

Just a baby craves it’s bottle, so we should crave being with God. Do we?

But notice why we are to crave.  To grow.  Just a milk causes a child to grow, this spiritual milk we receive from God will cause our faith to grow. Just like we are made living stones, like the true living stone, we are made such to be build into something greater.

You are not made to stay as you are.  You are called to be more. You are called to be something more than you are right now.  God has something great for you. God has something awesome for you.  God has amazing plans for you.

He wants to transform  you into something awesome.

But, His work with us is often driven by our craving for Him. The more time with spend with Him, the more He can transform us.  The less time, the less He can transform.

Do you crave Him this morning? Do you desire Him?  Today, may we realize that life is found in Him, and no where else.  May we crave Him, and the life that He gives.

Forgetful

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Today in my morning prayers, what spoke to me the most wasn’t a verse of scripture, it was one of the prayers I prayed out of the Book of Common Prayer.  It was the collect for guidance and it reads as follows:

O heavenly Father, in whom we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray thee so to guide and govern us by thy Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget thee, but may remember that we are ever walking in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The reason this spoke to me is that it forced me to address and think about what can be one of the greatest hindrances to my walk with God. I can forget.  

Not forget about God, mind you.  But, forget to pray throughout the day. Forget to turn my thoughts to Him. Forget to keep Him my primary focus. Turn my attention, my heart, my passion, my desire, my everything to something other than God.

And, in doing that, I get myself in trouble.  I can just get so busy in my day that I forget.  I forget about God.

And I’m going to guess I’m not the only one.  This prayer today made me look at myself and realize that I need to make God my primary focus all day long.  And I know that.

But, I forget.

Lord, help us to remember to keep you in the front of our thoughts and minds today.  Let us not forget you.

The Long View

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I had a professor of mine that used to always talk to us about the notion that the Christian faith is not just a future thing, it is a now thing.  It is a present thing. I’ve always liked that.

We’d don’t follow Jesus to simply get into heaven.  We don’t follow Jesus to avoid hell.  Now, both ofthose things are good things and things I’d like to do!  But the great thing about the life found in Jesus Christ is that it is life that is found today.

Right now.

In this moment.

As Christians, we aren’t just living for the future. We are living for today.  We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to experience the power and joy and grace of God. We can experience that right now.  As Jesus taught us in John 10:10 – we can have that abundant life. Today.  Right now.

And that’s kind of my default position.  I know heaven will be great and awesome and all that. But, I don’t worry too much about it at this point in my life.  I feel like this life, lived to God, is pretty awesome too.

But, Paul gives us (and especially me) a very healthy reminder today in 1 Corinthians 15

30 And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? 31 I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you-a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
33 Do not be deceived:
“Bad company ruins good morals.”

If there is no life beyond this life, than this make this life all that matters.  If there is no life beyond this life, then where is the need for bravery?  For courage?  For doing what is right, no matter what?

In this life, we need the courage to do what God calls us to. Sometimes it’s scary. Sometimes its terrifying. Sometimes we don’t want to do it, we are afraid of the results, we are afraid of the response people will give us.

We are just scared.

That’s when we need to take the long view.  This life is not the end. There is something greater and better for us. There is a true life, beyond this life, we are a peace with God completely and know the life He has truly intended for us.

And to me, that gives me even more courage and desire to fully live here on the earth!  For I know that God is with me, and I have nothing to worry about!

And this moment, whatever it is that is just killing you. That is worrying you.  That is taking your joy, you sleep, you life, you hope.  It will pass.  It is not the end of your life.  Don’t take the short view. The view of only today.

Take the long view.  There is life beyond this that you made for.  Live fully!  Live boldly!  God is with you!  You have nothing to fear!  You were made for more than this moment.  You were made for eternity.  May that knowledge  help us to live for God with all that we are, in this moment.

Why am I so Stupid?

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Today I was praying and thinking about the inability to stop doing stupid things.  You know how it is, you know what I mean. We, as humans, don’t learn our lessons well sometimes. We keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again. We keep falling in the same holes, we keep getting tripped up by the same things.

As I asked God this morning when I was praying, “God why am I so stupid?”  That’s how I feel sometimes.  I think we each feel that way sometimes too.

Then, I was reading the assigned Psalm for today’s morning office, Psalm 103.  Here’s the part that most spoke to me:

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, *
and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, *
and forget not all his benefits.
3 He forgives all your sins *
and heals all your infirmities;
4 He redeems your life from the grave *
and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;
5 He satisfies you with good things, *
and your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.
6 The LORD executes righteousness *
and judgment for all who are oppressed.
7 He made his ways known to Moses *
and his works to the children of Israel.
8 The LORD is full of compassion and mercy, *
slow to anger and of great kindness.
9 He will not always accuse us, *
nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, *
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, *
so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, *
so far has he removed our sins from us.
13 As a father cares for his children, *
so does the LORD care for those who fear him.
14 For he himself knows whereof we are made; *
he remembers that we are but dust.
15 Our days are like the grass; *
we flourish like a flower of the field;
16 When the wind goes over it, it is gone, *
and its place shall know it no more.
17 But the merciful goodness of the LORD endures for ever on those who fear him, *and his righteousness on children’s children;

There seems to be two refrains. We are weak and frail.  Our lives are but a whisper. We are the grass of the field. We are temporary. We will not be here for long. We are weak.  We are clumsy.  We fall down.

God is eternal.  God is love. God longs to show mercy to His children.  Why we are here for just a moment, God was here before we got here and will be here after we leave.  He is before and after us.  He is God.

And, He knows we are frail and weak.  He knows we are clumsy.  He knows we fall.  He knows we get tripped up.  He knows we are from the dust.

And He loves us anyway.  He loves us in spite of our weakness.  He loves us.

His love is greater than our mistakes. His strength is stronger than our weakness.  His mercy is deeper than our sins.  No matter what we’ve done.  He loves us.  He loves you today, no matter if you’ve done the same dumb thing yesterday that you’ve done for years.

He might not like what you’ve done.  He might not delight in your sin.

But He loves you.  He delights in you.  You are loved, no matter what.

I don’t know about you, but I needed to hear this Psalm today. It’s a good thing to know that I’m loved, no matter what.  So are you today.  You are love, in spite of it all.

Live in that knowledge.