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And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. - I John 5:14

A full week is winding down.  I think I am ready for my second funeral of the week; the sermon is mostly together for Sunday (I think). This, coming off serving at an exhilarating but exhausting Walk to Emmaus (sort of a retreat) weekend in West Virginia.  I haven’t been home much; I’ll need to reintroduce myself to Susie.

I ache for a couple of families in our church. Both lost husbands and fathers and brothers at a far too young of an age.  The sadness and stress is etched in friend's faces.  I have done my best to offer the hope of the gospel, but more than that I count on the Holy Spirit to work through me…in spite of myself.  By the way, that is my daily prayer.  That the one who is “greater than I” (to quote John the Baptist – visit Mark 1:7) will work through me…in spite of myself.

There have been many prayers, and this I know: it is not that I count on God be some sort of cosmic genie that grants my every desire; I simply trust that prayers are heard and are being answered, according to his will and drenched in his grace.  Lord, be with these families.  

He hears us.  And I work in confidence that he is good and that his will is perfect.  More of him, and less of me (paraphrasing John the Baptist –visit John 3:30). 

And all will be good.

Hike

"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” - Romans 1:20

When I was younger, I used to love those rare occasions when I got the opportunity to hike along the fire break trails in Southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains.  The trails were often quite steep, dust and rock covered, but almost always passable on foot.  The goal would be to take the fire break as far up as you could, and then just sit for an hour or two and look over the lower hills and down into the valley.  And then allow gravity to pull you back down the trails before the evening crept in.

It would be so peaceful, so majestic.  Sometimes you could hear the dim roar of the city a couple of thousand feet below you, but most of the time all you could hear was the bristling of the sage brush in the breezes and the occasional cry of the red-tailed hawk.

One time I did a hike with a friend far above Marshall Canyon, to the top of the front ridge and we wound up sitting and talking for hours about the mountains, the view, the canyons, the wildlife and the forested much higher peaks behind us. And I can remember saying, it seems odd that all this beauty is just the result of a set of random chances and forces that seem also to be far too accidental.

And my friend said, “It isn’t and they aren’t.  A creator had to have started all this.”

The conversation stuck in my craw for a few years.  About three years later, I gave my life to Christ….

The apostle Paul understood that everything we need to know about God is brilliantly displayed in His creation…yet we can’t see it, or are unwilling to acknowledge it.  As a species we are incredibly intelligent and intuitive…and at the same time we are dense as the stones on those paths and as blind as the sagebrush. 

The evidence is clear.  But without the light of Christ, we remain in darkness.

On your hike today, look around.  What do you see?  Can you see what God has done?  Or is it all just a game of chance and theory?

We are without excuse….

Sinner!

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus….”   Romans 3:23-24

Darn

Just when I thought I was getting perfect….  Paul reminds me of something.  Sometimes a little humility is a good thing. 

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

All. Me.

Sometimes we Christians get awfully high and mighty.  Let me back up.  Sometimes I can get awfully high and mighty. We feel we have something special; we have a great message that we can’t wait to tell people; we have what we trust is God’s word to explain to us and others how things are and how we should live.  We think we are special! 

We’re not.

Paul brings it painfully back home that we are sinners saved by the grace of God.  Functionally and experientially (unfortunately) believers and trusters in Christ are no better than any other person.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Sigh.

There is really only one difference between me and any other garden variety sinner.  I accept that Christ went to the cross because of my sinfulness.  I own up to that personally. Very personally. 

While we may not be functionally and experientially any better than any other person, there is one advantage:  positionally, we are held sinless. Paul says, yes even though all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” nevertheless we “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

For me.  For you.  For all those who believe. That my friends, is perfection!

Sinner?  Yes.  Saved?  Thank God!

Boston

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures….” 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4

As I sit down to write a brief reflection on this passage (that I received via email), I am in prayer for the situation in Boston.  Less than an hour after the bombing, I am reminded, yet again, of the fallen nature of humanity.  Laying blame at this moment means little to me; it is yet another hideous example of what we humans do to each other.  Too often.  Everywhere.  No land is exempt.  And no group of humans is innocent. Nothing that divides us is worth this sort of violence. 

The passage is one that ministers to me right now.  The one thing that we have to hang on to…. Is the promise of what Christ came to do and accomplished.  The gospel is what I cling to.  In times like these.  Yes I pray.  I pray for the victims and their families.  I pray also for the perpetrator(s). I do.  I’m also thankful that stories of good and heroism will come out of outrage. Sometimes we humans rise to the occasion.

All I know is that there is a truth that should be bringing us peace.  It is of first importance.  It is what drives me.  It is what causes me to love goodness and detest that which is evil. 

Let us be reminded that “light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John1:5)  And for our own personal darkness…Christ died. 

The light will win.

L’chaim!

 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  Romans 5:10

Those of us that are the least bit familiar with the musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” should then be a little familiar with the Jewish phrase l'chaim.  Great scene, great song. Roughly translated, it means, “To life!” and apparently it is said as sort of a toast when drinking in particular a glass of wine.

But there is a back story to the phrase.  Traditionally, wine had been given to condemned prisoners so that their executions might be less painful for them.  We think we see this with Jesus when he is offered a drink while he is on the cross; wine mixed with gall (bile) which our Lord turns down. (visit Matthew 27:34)  So in Jewish memory, wine was more than often associated with death, as opposed to being associated with life.

The goal of the toast, then, is to celebrate life, and frankly enjoy living.  There will be plenty of other opportunities to acknowledge the reality of death.  But for now… l'chaim!

To some extent, I think that is the goal of the passage from Romans that I’ve quoted above.  Yes, we are reconciled with God by the death of his only son, Jesus.  We cannot neglect that fact.  But.  Death did not have the final say. Post Easter, we’re still focused on the resurrection, which means that Jesus lives.  He has life! L’chaim!

Also…if you are reading this, then you are not dead yet either.  You are still alive!  Jesus life, death and resurrection happened, we are told, so that we may live life largely. Jesus put it this way: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (visit John 10:10)

Life in Christ is meant to be a joyful abundant existence.  Paul says that while we are blessed by Christ’s death, he points out that “much more” shall we be blessed (saved) by His life which continues.  In this life.  Now.

Friends.  Have life.  Have it abundantly.  L’chaim!