Washed and Ready

The last novel I read included a scene that took place in a Civil War hospital. Among the horrific images the author painted of the wounded and the dying, he added a graphic description of a certain doctors surgical practices. His practice included performing amputations on a bed of sand, to better capture and absorb the massive amounts of blood. The nurse character in the story is rightfully mortified by the doctor's carelessness. She is even more taken aback by the doctor's refusal to wash before performing surgery, something we cannot even comprehend these days! We see Medical Drama's where doctors scrub and are gloved, cleaning and remaining clean while they perform a tasks that are messy at best. Psalm 119 asks this question - "How can a young man keep his way pure?" A more direct translation might be "How can a young man keep his way clean?" What this implies is that the scrubbing has already been done. The young man is clean. Yet he is, like any child, inclined to get dirty quickly. When God calls us His children, we recognize that the only way this can happen is if He cleanses us from our sin. In His grace and mercy that cleansing, that scrubbing, that once and for all bath has taken place in our baptism into the blood of Christ. We are made His children, as spotlessly clean as the Lamb who shed His blood for us. While we are clean, we are also children. We're kids who are attracted to the messier parts of life. How can we, God's messy little babies keep clean? The Psalmist answers, by God's Word. The commandments of God, His directions are not meant to DO the scrubbing, they're like the gloves that keep the hands clean in the midst of the mess. God's rules, statutes and testimonies help us through the hard times, to make choices that cause the least amount of mess. This work of the Holy Spirit keeps our hearts pure as we continually turn, listen and follow God's Word as His redeemed children in Christ Jesus. 

Holy Moses??

I love this picture! Old Chuck Heston. As time went by, I'm pretty sure he thought he was Moses!

In the classic film The Ten Commandments we encounter the life of Moses. We get a window into his tests and trials, along with the amazing feats he is able to perform under the guiding hand of God. But I wonder, is the story about Moses or about God? When I read the REAL 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, I can't help but to focus on the first words:

"I am the LORD your God."

The remainder of the text plays like a film of God's righteousness, His holiness. From His name, to His days, from His gifts to His regulations we see a being who is definitely NOT us! Psalm 19 begins with these words:

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork." the heavens do not declare the glory of man - like Moses, or any of us - but the glory of God! David goes on in this psalm to meditate on the perfect law of God, His sure testimony and right precepts, His pure commandment and true rule. The Law of God cannot and does not give us a path to God! Instead it is a picture of the ever living and everlasting -  a film clip of the works of the Father and a trailer to the coming of the Son! Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to God - seeing Holiness as His gracious and merciful quality of love!

A Psalm of David...a Psalm of PRAISE

I know, I know...it's Lent.

There's a tradition in Lent, to put away the praise until we experience the cross and bask in the glory of the empty tomb.

I'm sorry - that's a crock!

If our lives are to be "lives of worship" - that means that each day, every day we stand before the Lord we do so in repentance, forgiveness, thanks and praise.

That means every day is a "sending up" to God -  a great a glorious Hallelujah to our God!

Psalm 22 starts with these words - the very words Jesus speaks for us from His cross:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my god, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest." What a dark moment of realization for David. David has bared the deepest most raw place in his soul. David has been brought low - into the final consequences of sin - separation from a God who wished nothing else than he be a man after His own heart. Salvation seems distant. Cries go unanswered. Day and night living steeped in our own desire God is pushed out. Yet, for David and for us there is hope - 

"Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame."

David's faith in a God that will deliver is grounded in the praise lifted up by those who have been saved! How can we "put away the praise" when it is the very recognition of all Christ has done for us on the cross? We are, after all, Easter people! Those who bask in the glow of Jesus victory over sin, death and the devil every moment of every day! Must we recognize our sin? YES! But must we praise our salvation? DOUBLE YES! David reminds us in the Psalm:

"You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you offspring of Israel!" For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, He has not hidden His face from him, but He has heard when he cried to Him!" 

The Father heard the cries of the Son from the cross - as He alone was saddled with the sins of the world - the greatest praise offered by Jesus and the greatest praise we can offer in response to His love are all wrapped up into those final words on our Saviors lips...

"Father, into YOUR hands I commend my spirit."

HALLELUJAH!!!!

A Wonderful Message!

Friends - 

Check out this link to a wonderful message about the hope of Christ in the midst of the temptations of this world. The Questions and answers at the end are an interesting discussion of sharing the Word of Christ with others!

May God bless you in your hearing and living His Word!

http://media.lhm.org/lutheranhour/mp3s/7625.mp3

Called out...called off!

I admit that I have trouble with this picture.

A father, ready and willing to sacrifice his son - his only son - because God told him to do so.

WHAT? 

Why would a God who is all about love and life, a God who gave Abraham the gift of an heir in his old age, turn and tell him to commit such a barbarous act?

Those who don't believe the Bible is God's revealed word to us say that Genesis 22 is simply a moralistic story against the practice of child sacrifice. But the text really has less to do with the "why" and is more concerned with the "what". Building on the blog yesterday, Abraham is having himself a desert experience. Can you imagine the angst and doubt as a man struggles between heeding His God's command and the love he has for his son? I think you can. I know I can. What is in view here is temptation - the temptation to place the most precious gifts of God above God Himself. In our age, in the current church, one sees a sort of worship of our personal salvation and a praise of new found glory placed above worship and praise of God. How? Ignore the cross and you're left with this "theology of glory". That is to say, when it's all about me and my decisions for God, my acceptance of His gifts, my choice to follow Jesus in order to receive the crown of life, we've missed the point. The point is a sacrifice, of an only Son, made for us. The point is a ram caught in the thicket - and a place so aptly named "The Lord will provide". On the mount of the Lord, it WAS provided - once and for all. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is not for us to decide, to accept or to follow - but simply to praise a God who loves us beyond our measure of love and provides the most needful thing - shalom...everlasting peace.

Where are you?

Riding the motorcycle yesterday I was, once again, taken in by the scenery. A beautiful, partly cloudy day really highlighted the landscape. In the hills, greened with recent rain, the growth was amazing - double since my last ride toward the desert. The change is more sudden than one might think, over a winding peak and down into the wilderness. Nothing but sage and cactus, dirt and rock. No rain means no green - no growth. I've been here more than once. In fact, it seems like the wilderness is so familiar that I can fool myself into thinking it comfortable and hospitable rather than the dry and dangerous place we all know it to be. When I try to find my way, I end up in the desert. When I try to make my own path, it leads down winding peaks into the wilderness. When life becomes more about my truth and my desire I am suddenly in the sand - deep, and hot with no relief in sight. Psalm 25..."Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long." The question arose last week about Lent. What's it all about? Why observe 40 days of reflection prior to the celebration of Easter? Simple - we all wander into the desert, and it is from the desert that God calls, teaches and leads His people into the garden of His ways, His paths, His truth.  Lent begins in ashes and ends in glory. Remember His mercy and His steadfast love, they have been from old. It is God who rescued Adam and Eve from the desert of their pride, Abraham from the desert of his paganism, Jacob from the desert of his deceit, Joseph from the desert of his arrogance, Moses from the desert of his mistrust and each of us from the desert of sin, death and the devil. The cross stands at the entrance to the garden - let's walk together with Jesus as the story of His loving sacrifice of rescue is told.

So it begins...

A friend recognized that this coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday - the beginning of the season of Lent.  He asked about the significance and mentioned an interest in why this season has been historically marked in the church. The lesson from the Gospel of Mark 9:1-9 for this Sunday, the Sunday of the Transfiguration, reveals the journey we'll take for the next 50 days - from mountain top to empty tomb, the journey of our God for us. When Peter, James and John's eyes are blessed with the view of the radiant Jesus they have a glimpse of the empty tomb. They see that Jesus stands as one with the Law and the Prophets, with Moses and Elijah as the complete revelation of God. In an all to human moment, the apostles wish to remain - to hold on to the glory, not realizing that glory comes with a price. The voice of God beckons, "This is my Son, listen to Him" as He tells them not to say anything until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. Listen to Jesus. The glory we desire cannot be realized without His cross. The glory of the empty tomb of Jesus cannot be apprehended without the temptation, without reflection, without repentance and without the consequences of our sin -His suffering and death itself- being realized. Next week I'll post more on the specifics of Lenten observances. Suffice it to say that we're beginning the journey once again, the journey to the cross, the journey to the Glory of God in Christ Jesus.