Not Fair-You-See

Posted on by Betsy

This morning we return to the story of a blind man who was healed by Jesus by mixing dirt and spit together and putting it on the man’s eyes. Our focus today is on the blindness of the Pharisees. You will quickly see that they live up to their name and are not fair-you-see. (Google “I Just Wanna Be a Sheep” for further explanation.)

John 9 (The Message)

13-15 They marched the man to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the paste and healed his blindness was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled him again on how he had come to see. He said, “He put a clay paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “Obviously, this man can’t be from God. He doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others countered, “How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?” There was a split in their ranks.

17 They came back at the blind man, “You’re the expert. He opened your eyes. What do you say about him?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

24 They called the man back a second time—the man who had been blind—and told him, “Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor.”

25 He replied, “I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I was blind . . . I now see.” 26 They said, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 “I’ve told you over and over and you haven’t listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?”

28-29 With that they jumped all over him. “You might be a disciple of that man, but we’re disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from.” 

30-33 The man replied, “This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he opened my eyes! It’s well known that God isn’t at the beck and call of sinners but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn’t come from God, he wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

34 They said, “You’re nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!” Then they threw him out in the street.

So immediately the crowd started to buzz about the miracle and begin to deny what was evident right before their very eyes. “Wasn’t this the blind man?” “No, it couldn’t be the blind man. It just looks like him!” So even though he gave a clear account of what Jesus had done, they couldn’t see it for what it was and dragged the man before the Pharisees.

The Pharisees, you recall, suffered with their own kind of blindness. It was a spiritual blindness to the needs of the community due to their laser point focus on the Law. The word Pharisee comes from the Hebrew word “perushim” meaning separated. They separated themselves from everyone else by living in strict accord of the sacred writings and the oral traditions that laid down very exact rules for living. They hoped to keep their religion pure and wanted to ward off any influence of pagan and gentile thought and culture.

But it isn’t an overstatement to suggest that sometimes they carried this too far and their rigidity blinded them to the acts of God that were happening all around them. Because of this blindness, they were highly offended that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, which broke the Law, even going so far as to proclaim that this alone disqualified Jesus from being a “man of God,” for surely someone truly sent by God would have let the blind man remain blind in order to honor the Sabbath. In their self-righteousness, they were totally blind to compassion, humanity, and God’s priorities for his people.

The story ends with Jesus finding the man again after his argument with the Pharisees has landed him out on the street. Now we need to remember that the last time they were together, the man walked away to the pool with mud pies on his eyes, so he had not seen Jesus until that very moment. When he put the voice to the face, he recognized that he was seeing Jesus for the first time, he cried out “I believe!” Seeing is believing, but also believing is seeing.

Friends, Lent is all about seeing God more clearly. Lent is a good time to do an “I” exam. Lent teaches us to look for God in ordinary places and things like mud and spit and water. Lent adjusts and sharpens the lens of God’s healing power and what we must do to help ourselves get better, physically, spiritually, relationally, and nationally. Lent invites us into a pool of purification so that we might be cleansed and sent. Do you see what I’m talking about?

What are you being blind to? What situation in your family, your workplace, your neighborhood, or your nation are you deliberately not seeing that is crying out for your help? Where do you need corrective lenses so that you can see what God sees?

Today is a good to open your eyes. May God bring clarity and direction to our sight.

Do You See What I See?

The True Meaning of Family

Posted on by Betsy

I need to confess to you that there have been times in my ministry when I let frustration get the better of me. One time in particular stands out in my memory. A week before Thanksgiving I received a phone call from the adult daughter of one of our elderly couples. She called to inquire about our Care Ministry and asked if someone could go to her parent’s house on Thanksgiving and take them a home cooked turkey dinner. Our Care Ministry is always responsive to any kind of need, but I was hesitant to ask someone to leave their family on Thanksgiving day to do this task. The parents were mobile enough to attend worship every Sunday, so I asked if one of them was sick or if something had happened. No, she responded, I just want them to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

I knew that this daughter lived in Virginia, less than an hour’s drive, so I asked her if she had plans to see her parents over the long weekend. She responded that she was hosting Thanksgiving dinner for her golf buddies and their spouses and couldn’t possibly get down to her parent’s house. She got a little annoyed at my questions and said, “I thought that was what the church is for!! I just want them to have a nice home cooked turkey dinner on Thanksgiving day!!” I told her that we would deliver a meal on Wednesday, but if she wanted them to have a nice home cooked dinner on Thursday, perhaps she could drive down and get them so they could join her party. I’m pretty sure she hung up on me at that point.

She thought that is what the church is for. I thought that is what family is for. I found out the following Sunday when I saw the parents at church that they had enjoyed a Thanksgiving buffet at a local restaurant and their daughter had surprised them on Friday by bringing them her leftovers. As pleased as they were, I was sad that all the daughter could muster was dropping off day-old leftovers.

John 9 (The Message)

6-7 Jesus said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.

8 Soon the town was buzzing. His relatives and those who year after year had seen him as a blind man begging were saying, “Why, isn’t this the man we knew, who sat here and begged?”

9 Others said, “It’s him all right!” But others objected, “It’s not the same man at all. It just looks like him.” He said, “It’s me, the very one.”

10 They said, “How did your eyes get opened?”

11 “A man named Jesus made a paste and rubbed it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ I did what he said. When I washed, I saw.”

12 “So where is he?” “I don’t know.”

While the town was buzzing about who this man was and what was happening, Jesus had simply seen the man’s anguish and mixed some dust and clay and spit together and made a miracle happen. He sent the man off to the pool at Siloam to wash. This was the pool that was used to purify pilgrims before entering the Temple. The word Siloam means “sent”… here is Jesus, the one sent by God, sending the man off to the pool to then be sent back bright-eyed into the world to bring a word of testimony. And it is significant that the man has to actively participate in his healing. He has to accept the help offered and collaborate with Jesus in his miracle. 

The disciples and the crowd made a lot assumptions about the man’s identity and were totally blind to the need that stood before them. But I found it very unsettling to read in verse 9 that there were relatives among the crowd. And then later in the chapter in verse 18 we discover that this blind beggar has parents in town. This makes me pause and wonder why nobody in the family could house and feed this man so that he didn’t have to beg for a living. Like the daughter at Thanksgiving, they acted like it was somebody else’s job.

And that then makes me wonder if there are times in our lives when we are deliberately blind to a need in our own families that we could potentially meet but decide instead to just look away. It is a good moment right here to ask yourself if you are choosing to be blind to a relative who needs your help, and what could you be doing do to alleviate their distress? Are you going to be like this crowd, or like Jesus?

Open your eyes.

Glad I Saw Him Before He Saw Me

Blame Game

Posted on by Betsy

For the brave among us, turning on any of the “news” programs is like watching an extended version of the blame game. It is never anybody’s fault anymore. Actions and words that are on film and on the record are denied the minute the tide changes and what was said or done no longer fits the current agenda. It boggles the mind how callous and deceitful people can be. Rather than stand up for what they said or did, the finger immediately comes out and they point to their enemy with emphatic “It wasn’t me. I didn’t do it. They are the ones that did wrong.” Like two young brothers trying to avoid punishment for hitting each other, they deflect responsibility and falsely accuse the other of the crime. And it’s just as childish.

In our Scripture today, we witness the miracle of Jesus’ healing a blind man with the simple elements of dirt and spit. One would think that this incredible, mind blowing thing would have people on their knees in awe and wonder. But other things take precedence, like trying to figure out who to blame for his blindness.

John 9: 1-41 (The Message)

 1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

We need to remember that in those times, disabilities like blindness were thought to be the result of sin. The Jewish understanding of the Levitical blessings and curses detailed in Leviticus 26 led them to believe that disobedience to God’s Word resulted in physical impairments. But even with that background, it is very disappointing to read that the disciples’ first reaction was to try to assess blame rather than to see how they might be able to help the man. They imply that the sin that led to the man’s blindness might even be the result of his parent’s sin, since he was blind from birth. 

I love Jesus’ immediate reaction. His sharp response left no room for interpretation. “You’re asking the wrong question.” They tried to impose their faulty theology on the situation when what the situation actually called for compassion and action.

I’m sure all of us are guilty of asking the wrong question from time to time. I remembered a scene from the old Pink Panther movie that illustrates this and still makes me laugh. Inspector Jacques Clouseau is checking into a hotel and there is a dog at the registration desk. 

Clouseau asks, “Does your dog bite?” The Hotel Clerk responds “No.” Clouseau bows down to pet the dog. “Nice doggie.” And immediately the dog barks and bites Clouseau’s hand.

Clouseau says,  “I thought you said your dog did not bite!” The Hotel Clerk responds, “That is not my dog.” Poor Clouseau! He asked the wrong question.

When we come upon someone who needs our help, maybe it is better and more Christ-like to ask, “How can I help” rather than, “How did you end up in this situation?” What we see can be severely clouded by our assumptions. We hear that someone has lung cancer, and we assume they are a heavy smoker. We see a teenager get arrested and we assume it is a result of bad parenting. We hear that someone got fired, and we speculate about what they did something to deserve it. We read a bad review of a doctor on Facebook, and we assume they are at fault.

Blame-casting and making assumptions have very little value when they replace just looking at situations with unbiased eyes and trying to see what God sees.

The challenge for us today is to be better than the disciples in this story and start asking the right questions. Next time you see someone in need, ask God to show you what he sees, and ask him to show you how you can help. Lent asks us this question: Can you see what God sees? Or do you need God to heal you of your blindness?

I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me by Michelle Robertson

The Privilege of the Rich

Posted on by Betsy

Several years ago I was flying home from a trip and witnessed a funny exchange between a passenger and a Flight Attendant. Our plane had been reassigned from the one that had been scheduled, and the seats were not configured the same way. This meant that all of our boarding passes had to be reissued with the new seat numbers. For the most part, people were assigned the same seat they originally had, but one lady had lost her economy class window seat and was given an aisle seat. She was furious and argued with the Flight Attendant that she deserved the window seat and how dare they give her an aisle seat! She would not sit down until her needs were met, blocking the aisle and delaying the boarding process. The Flight Attendant apologized and tried to calm her down, but the plane was full and there were no empty seats available. Finally a second flight attendant came from the back and leaned over to speak to a gentlemen seated at the window seat that was a few rows behind the lady’s row. The man got a big smile on his face and agreed. They swapped seats and the crisis was over. I looked up at the row numbers and instantly saw why he was smiling: the woman’s new seat had been upgraded to Comfort Plus. She now sat in Economy while he enjoyed the free drinks, upgraded snacks, and free entertainment that was meant to be hers. Did I mention that this happened at night? What could she possibly see from her window?

Today’s passage comes from the book of Luke and has a mysterious story that Jesus told in an effort to school the Pharisees about their self-justification about their wealth, status, and privilege. While not a parable, this story is intended to be educational and confrontational. Some scholars suggest that Jesus is sharing a scene that he witnessed during a mystical and divine visit to the afterlife. They believe that it is a story he observed from his eternal perspective. In any case, the rich man he described is meant to represent not only the Pharisees, but all who feel entitled to their riches on earth. And so it offers us a chance to consider our own sense of superiority.

Luke 16 (Common English Bible)

14 The Pharisees, who were money-lovers, heard all this and sneered at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before other people, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued by people is deeply offensive to God. 16 Until John, there was only the Law and the Prophets. Since then, the good news of God’s kingdom is preached, and everyone is urged to enter it. 17 It’s easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest stroke of a pen in the Law to drop out. 18 Any man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and a man who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Luke sets the scene beautifully from the very beginning, calling the Pharisees money-lovers who sneered at a parable Jesus had just told about a shrewd manager (found in Luke 16:1-13). Jesus ended that lesson by reminding the hearers that no one can serve two masters, stating that you cannot serve both God and wealth. The presumably wealthy Pharisees derided his teaching and turned their noses up at its implications. Jesus responded by calling out the Pharisees’ practice of justifying why they deserved their riches and how pious they were in their strict adherence to the Law while ignoring the needs of the people around them.

We remember that Jesus came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. The common practice of divorcing a wife for reasons that included her burning a meal was detestable to Jesus and he reminded them of the law of the marriage vow. Laws could not be bent and twisted to suit their whims but must serve to bring righteousness and justice to God’s people. Notice how he sandwiches his comments about the law and the prophets around this story about a rich man and a poor man. This pericope intentionally demonstrates that he himself is now the Law and the Prophet to end all prophets. As heralded by John the Baptizer, Jesus is the new order and the new covenant.

19 “There was a certain rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted luxuriously every day. 20 At his gate lay a certain poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores.21 Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, dogs would come and lick his sores.

22 “The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 While being tormented in the place of the dead, he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance with Lazarus at his side. 24 He shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I’m suffering in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received good things, whereas Lazarus received terrible things. Now Lazarus is being comforted and you are in great pain. 26 Moreover, a great crevasse has been fixed between us and you. Those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot. Neither can anyone cross from there to us.’

27 “The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father’s house. 28 I have five brothers. He needs to warn them so that they don’t come to this place of agony.’ 29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They must listen to them.’30 The rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will change their hearts and lives.’31 Abraham said, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, then neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”

One of the reasons that we know that this story isn’t a parable is because the poor man is named. Parables did not include names. The name Lazarus is from the Hebrew word Eleazar which means “God is my help.” It is interesting then that Jesus did not name the rich man. Do you suppose the reason is because he wanted the hearers of the story to see themselves in this character?

There is a beautiful symbolism in the use of the distance between the rich man and his gate, where Lazarus begged, and the distance between them in the afterlife. Remember that Jesus had not been resurrected yet, so this place was not the heaven of eternity that we anticipate today. instead it was a kind of Hades or Sheol that had two sides: one for the righteous who experienced its comfort and one that was a place of torments. Notice that even while the rich man was being tormented in the place of the dead, he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to bring him cool water, treating Lazarus like a servant. Apparently, entitlement follows us to the afterlife.

Abraham was right that the brothers, who have access to the teachings of Moses and the Prophets, won’t listen to anyone about the fate that awaits them. So too are those who have access to the teachings of Christ and refuse to believe. This is why it is imperative that we who are the church not just preach the gospel but also be the gospel in our communities.

This passage challenges us to examine our own behavior, something that we are serious about during Lent. Do we act like entitled and spoiled children who deserve the blessings God bestows, or are we humble and grateful for God’s grace? Do we demonstrate that humility by taking care of those around us or are we stingy and oblivious? Are Christians today sometimes guilty of using Scripture to justify our selfish actions?

Tonight, as you sit at your table to feast luxuriously in your warm, comfortable home, take a moment to thank God and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the Lazarus’s in your community. Then go and do something about it.

Foggy Morning by Lola Hilton

Becoming God’s Dwelling

Posted on by Betsy

Many years ago I went on a pilgrimage to Israel with a group of people who wanted to experience God’s presence first hand in the land where Jesus walked. The highlight of the trip was a visit to the Temple in Jerusalem where we were able to place our hands on the remaining Western, or “Wailing” Wall to pray. The facade of the wall was filled with cracks and crevices between the large stones, and we were invited to stick rolled up pieces of paper with prayer requests there that we had carried with us from our families and our churches back home. There were people all around us praying out loud in their native languages: Hebrew, French, German, English …pilgrims from every corner of the globe had come to that sacred spot to pray. The minute my palms touched the ancient stones, something happened to me. Suddenly all the surrounding noise dulled in my ear and became a singular harmonic hum. I could feel a spiritual current of energy travel from my fingertips to my forehead and toes. The yip yip yips of the nearby women celebrating a teenager’s bat mitzvah faded into the background and all I could hear was a vibrating resonance that was other-worldly. There is an ethereal sense of God’s spirit in those stones, and I could envision the angels themselves descending to sing along with us. It was a moment of feeling connected to God that I will never forget. God dwelt among us that day.

We remember that God designed humanity with the purpose of dwelling with us in the perfection and sweetness of the Garden of Eden. But when sin happened, that fellowship was broken and God has been searching for a dwelling place ever since. In the book of Exodus we read that God instructed that a movable tabernacle be built in the wilderness of Moses’ time. Instructions were given to construct an Ark in which God would reside. When the people finally settled down in the Promised Land, the glorious temple was built in Jerusalem in Solomon’s time, and the Ark was moved there permanently. But then came the destruction of the Temple when the people rebelled and rejected God. Israel was sent into exile by the Babylonian king. Many years later, Cyrus of Persia allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and later still, King Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple in Jesus’ time, but the Ark was lost.

But by then, the Temple was unnecessary. Jesus was sent to be our temple, our priest, and our sacrifice. Jesus was God’s dwelling incarnate and became the new and forever temple. His sacrifice on the cross makes all the rituals of the former priesthood obsolete. As he told the woman at the well in John 4:23-24,

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in Spirit and in truth.” (New International Version)

Paul continues this teaching in Ephesians, proclaiming that all in whom Jesus dwells are now being built into a holy temple in the Lord. God dwells in us!

Ephesians 2:21-22 (New International Version)

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

How is your temple doing? Are your walls strong and able to withstand invading conquerors or is your faith weak and in need of some mortar and stone to shore up your foundation? Do people see the light of Christ shining through the stained glass windows of your actions and words? Are you pursuing holiness this Lent with your spiritual disciplines? Would God want to dwell in your temple?

Lent is a reminder that our temples are fragile and require daily upkeep. May God bless our building and re-building efforts as we move along toward Easter.

The Wailing Wall by Faye Gardner

Psalm 95 The Warning

Posted on by Betsy

And now, the warning.

The first 7 lines of Psalm 95 are a joyful rendering of what it is like to gather together in an assembly of worshippers and bow humbly before God in worship and adoration. Indeed, God created us for worship and this natural outpouring of admiration and appreciation for our maker is the very least we can do. David highlights the blessings that come when we sing and shout for joy to our incomparable God.

Then his tone shifts with the admonition to “listen to God’s voice right now.” He refers to Meribah and Massah, two places where the children of Israel displayed open rebellion and mistrust of God’s plan to deliver them to the Promised Land. After the miracles God had bestowed on them, after helping them escape Egypt, after bringing them through the Red Sea, destroying Pharaoh and his army as they tried to pursue them, after everything God did through Moses to save the people, their response was rebellious, unbelieving, and dismissive. They rejected God’s intervention, complaining that they should have been allowed to either die in Egypt where at least they had food, or die right there in the wilderness.

God offered them the choice to take the Promised Land by faith, and they responded with hearts that were hard with unbelief.

Psalm 95 (Common English Bible)

If only you would listen to his voice right now!
8     “Don’t harden your hearts
    like you did at Meribah,
    like you did when you were at Massah,
        in the wilderness,
9     when your ancestors tested me
        and scrutinized me,
    even though they had already seen my acts.

God won’t suffer our rejection for long. Refusing God’s ways is a sign of a twisted heart that has gone astray. As Spurgeon put it, “be not willful, wanton, or repeatedly and obstinately rebellious.” God honored their choice and left them to perish in the wilderness as Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land.

10 For forty years I despised that generation;
    I said, ‘These people have twisted hearts.
    They don’t know my ways.’
11 So in anger I swore:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest!’”

The question this poses for us today is, are you resisting God’s will for your life? Are you rebelling against his voice and refusing to hear him? Are you putting God to the test? Take a page from Israel’s book. Bow down in trusting acceptance and sing songs of joy, or rebel against God at your own risk. Listen to God’s voice right now.

The Promised Land by Lola Hilton

Psalm 95 The Promise

Posted on by Betsy

Today’s lectionary passage is the beautiful Psalm 95. Hebrews 4:7 attributes this psalm to David. It is filled with both promise and warning. Today’s reading will focus on the hopeful aspects of David’s writing in verses 1-7a. Be sure to log on for the next devotional, which will delve into the warnings found at the end of Psalm 95 in verses 7b-11.

As I read this psalm today, my thoughts immediately went to the many and varied worship experiences I have participated in over the years. I was raised Methodist (we did not become “United Methodist” until I was about 9 years old) and so of course most of my experience has been formed by my denomination. But I have also worshipped in a “black box” non-denominational church where a fog machine and heavy metal guitars were dominant. As a kid I attended services in camp settings, where church was outside and we sat on logs and scratched bug bites on our ankles. And then there was that transcendent Christmas Eve service in Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral where the service was in French. And Catholic. Of course we have all done church online thanks to the pandemic, and as I travel, I either visit nearby churches or log into my home church in Kitty Hawk to worship there.

Of all the ways I worship, I honestly have to confess that online is my least favorite. I am grateful for the fact that online is available to us when we can’t physically get to a church and for many folks, it is the only option. So while it enables me to stay in touch with my church family at home, something is always missing, and that “something” is the community of people around me, singing, laughing, shaking hands, smiling, making eye contact … things I can’t get at home on my couch.

David begins his psalm with a tender invitation to come and sing out loud to the Lord. See, that’s the problem with online worship. I have never sung with my computer during a church service. Even though the words are on my screen and I can hear the congregation singing, I can’t bring myself to sit on my couch in a quiet room and burst out in song. Maybe it’s just me, but singing has got to be communal. Raising a joyful shout to the rock of our salvation from my living room seems weird and unappealing, not to mention how much it might startle the neighbors.

Psalm 95 (Common English Bible)

Come, let’s sing out loud to the Lord!
    Let’s raise a joyful shout to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let’s come before him with thanks!
    Let’s shout songs of joy to him!

David recognized that singing allows us to express our thoughts emotionally, especially as we experience joy. And the songs of joy are sung to God, not for the pleasure of the gathered people. We are reminded that when we gather, God is present and it is his presence that deserves our thanksgiving. When worship becomes performative and when worships leaders focus attention on themselves, everyone loses the real purpose of worship: To come before God and God alone. This cannot be pleasing to the Lord.

Pure worship directs our attention to God’s attributes. God is great. God is greater than any other god. God’s mastery of creation is to be celebrated. God’s ownership of his creation, including us, is to be remembered. Nothing around us came from human ingenuity or hard work. Everything and everyone comes from his hands and belongs to him.

In the Hebrew language, verse 3 highlights three aspects of God’s nature. God is EL, great, mighty, and strong. God is JEHOVAH, the great I Am through whom all things are made. And God is ELOHIM, expressing the covenant relationship to humankind as something that belongs to him.

3 The Lord is a great God,
    the great king over all other gods.
4 The earth’s depths are in his hands;
    the mountain heights belong to him;
5     the sea, which he made, is his
        along with the dry ground,
        which his own hands formed.

The invitation continues with a call to humility. Worship in essence is a bowing down to the Lord. By submitting to a prostrate position, whether physically or just in our hearts, we signal our acceptance of our place before the Lord. We kneel in acknowledgment that we are but frail sheep in his hands. We depend on his care. We exist because he keeps us safe, fed, and nurtured in the pasture. We are his, and he is ours.

6 Come, let’s worship and bow down!
    Let’s kneel before the Lord, our maker!
7 He is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the sheep in his hands.

We will tackle the warnings that follow in verse 7b next time, but for now, take a moment to worship God wherever you are. Sing, pray, kneel, and bow down. The Lord is here, even online.

The Lord is Here by Becca Ziegler

Old School Lent

Posted on by Betsy

Over the last few Sundays I have worshipped at St. Luke United Methodist Church in Orlando, Florida. This magnificent church boasts a large and well-rehearsed choir and a full orchestra every Sunday at their traditional service. I find myself being drawn to tears by the music at least once every service. I hope and pray that if you are ever in that area, you will make a plan to go there. I am a music geek/nerd and music speaks to my soul in ways that words can’t. But be assured that every spoken word of prayer, liturgy, and sermon in that church Is spellbinding and as moving as the music.

I am such a nerd that if a hymnal is available, I reach for it. Yes, the words are displayed on two huge screens at the front of the chancel area, but this girl likes to do it old school. I can read music, so part of the attraction is to watch the notes and see where they go. Sometimes I sight-read the alto just to hone my rusty skills (apologies to those who sit near me!). Another advantage of using the hymnal is that you can see the theology build through the entire hymn. You can’t do that with screens. Songs like “Lord of the Dance,” which so beautifully tell the story of Jesus verse by verse, aren’t nearly as effective on the screens. Next time you’re in church, pick up a hymnal and see what I mean.

The selection for the first Sunday of Lent was “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” found on page 269 of the United Methodist Hymnal. This hymn is five verses of perfect teaching about the meaning and purpose of Lent. While we all know that Lent is the 40 day season of preparation (or, as the preacher put it, “rehearsal”) for Easter, we tend to forget the nuances of what Jesus did in his forty days in the wilderness. We focus on our own disciplines, and hopefully grow closer to God through our fasting, praying, repentance, and study, but it is easy for us to be me-centered instead of Jesus-centered in this season. While focusing on our spiritual growth is truly part of Lent’s goal, we miss out on the deeper and richer story that surrounds us.

“Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days” reminds us of the truth at the heart of Lent. Jesus fasted and prayed for us in his forty days. He calls us to mourn our sins and remain close to him. He contended with Satan in the wilderness and won that battle, enabling us to also withstand the temptation to sin. He was hungry and thirsty, setting an example for us to die to self as he did for our sake. He lived by the Word of God so that we might live by the Word. He abides with us through our penitence, our life, and our death. And thus when Lent has fulfilled its purpose, an Easter of unending joy will be ours.

Look, Easter is coming regardless of your participation. Easter is a force beyond anything our obedience or disobedience can control. Ignore it and it will still come. But will you experience unending joy? Or will that day just be filled with bunnies, eggs, and candy and then it’s all back to life as normal?

Lent is an invitation to rehearse and prepare for unending joy. But you have to be all in for it to work. I pray that today you resolve to finish these forty days as you started, with serious contemplation and dedicated time spent in repentance, fasting, praying, and immersion into God’s Word. And if you haven’t started any Lent practices, start now. When we do this, Easter will usher in the unending joy that Jesus died for.

Read it and weep

Hot Chicken Salad

Posted on by Betsy

Have you ever resisted someone’s help? Thinking that you had everything under control, did you ever reject the kind ministrations of friends and just plugged along in your misery? False pride, embarrassment, stubbornness, and a sense of not wanting to appear weak can turn our heads away from the compassionate offering that a friend is trying to make. When we do that, we miss out on so much.

Many years ago, my daughter had to come home from college when she was diagnosed with cancer. She lived with us for nine months while she underwent daily chemotherapy, surgeries, and procedures. We were overwhelmed with her care, and our loving and supportive church tried to help. I was serving as a pastor on that staff and really resisted any assistance. Cards and gifts for my daughter were welcome and appreciated, but any offering of help for her father and me as caregivers was rejected. “We’re okay, we’ve got this, we’re good” became my mantra when any kind soul offered support for us. How foolish I was! Talk about stupid and unnecessary pride. Finally I realized that my pride was preventing the church from being the church to us, so I began to accept meals. We’re Methodist, and casseroles are our love language! I was inadvertently stopping people from loving on us and doing the acts of ministry that God was calling them to do for our family.

The first delivery was something called “Hot Chicken Salad.” This casserole dish of pure heaven was not a salad as such, but a culinary adventure in beautiful white chicken chunks, crunchy slivered almonds, and a saucy sauce that made my eyes roll back in my head. And for that moment, I was uplifted by the gift of a friend and church member who was also uplifted to be able to do something tangible in our fight against cancer. I still make that recipe today.

In our passage today, we see Jesus offer an act of ministry to a man who was born blind.

John 9 (The Message)

 1-2 Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

Right from the bat we see that the disciples asked the wrong question. They were focused on trying to figure out the theology behind the blindness, proving that they were blind to his need. Jesus focused on a compassionate response.

3-5 Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light.”

We often hesitate to step into places of helping a stranger. We ask how the unhoused person ended up that way. We question if giving the person on the street some money might enable them to go off and get high. We question how the mother with a lot of kids in tow ended up on food stamps. We hesitate to support the veteran found sleeping in the freezing rain because we don’t trust the GoFundMe that a community member set up.

We ask the wrong question.

6-7 He said this and then spit in the dust, made a clay paste with the saliva, rubbed the paste on the blind man’s eyes, and said, “Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “Sent”). The man went and washed—and saw.

Dust and clay played an important role in Genesis 2:7: 7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Common English Bible) Jesus’ use of dust in this healing miracle harkens back to the power of creation. Indeed, Jesus created sight in the blind man. What is he trying to create in you today? What are you blind to? Where is God hoping to open your eyes so that you might offer a compassionate response?

The last sentence reminds us that when we are offered healing, we need to participate. The man went and washed and he saw. I accepted a gift of a meal and ate of the bread of empathy that night, and it made me stronger. Is God calling you to participate in your own miracle?

Say yes to the Hot Chicken Salad. It will change your life.

Soon by Kathy Schumacher

On the Basis of Grace

Posted on by Betsy

I had a conversation with a young woman last week who was unsettled by a sermon she had recently heard. The preacher recounted his cancer journey and made several statements that led the listeners to believe that he was cured because he was a preacher, and that if you pray hard enough, God will heal you. Thus, if you weren’t healed, it is because you didn’t pray hard enough. This rankled the woman, also a cancer survivor, because she doesn’t think God works that way. She does not believe that God arbitrarily chooses to heal one and condemn another to die. She does not believe her healing came from any action on her part. Many prayers were offered during her treatment, but that is not why she was healed. She believes God healed her through grace and good medicine. She believes that things just happen as they happen.

What do you think?

Understanding the concept of grace is fundamental to understanding the concept of God. Many faith practices emphasize righteousness by following a long set of rules, complying with the Law, or performing enough good deeds to “get in.” But we know that it is only by grace that we are saved.

Let’s take a look at Paul’s thoughts on righteousness, following the law, earning things on your own, and grace. This passage does not answer the question of how healing happens but helps us understand the basic issue of grace.

Romans 4 (Common English Bible)


4 So what are we going to say? Are we going to find that Abraham is our ancestor on the basis of genealogy? 2 Because if Abraham was made righteous because of his actions, he would have had a reason to brag, but not in front of God. 3 What does the scripture say? Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.  4 Workers’ salaries aren’t credited to them on the basis of an employer’s grace but rather on the basis of what they deserve. 5 But faith is credited as righteousness to those who don’t work, because they have faith in God who makes the ungodly righteous.

Paul was clearly in the camp of those who believe that one can’t claim to be able to work for their righteousness. No, he contended, faith is the result of the righteousness credited to us by the gift of God. Read how Eugene Peterson described it in the Message:

Romans 4 (The Message)

4-5 If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.

“Sheer gift.” In other words, you can’t earn it, you can’t work hard for it, you can’t be entitled to it based on your status or profession, you just have to be willing to receive it as a sheer gift. No strings attached, nothing to do on your part, money back guarantee with no questions asked gift. Our salvation and our inheritance as children of God are grace-based offerings that are freely given to all.

Romans 4 (Common English Bible) continued

13 The promise to Abraham and to his descendants, that he would inherit the world, didn’t come through the Law but through the righteousness that comes from faith. 14 If they inherit because of the Law, then faith has no effect and the promise has been canceled. 15 The Law brings about wrath. But when there isn’t any law, there isn’t any violation of the law. 

16 That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. In that way, the promise is secure for all of Abraham’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us. 17 As it is written: I have appointed you to be the father of many nations. So Abraham is our father in the eyes of God in whom he had faith, the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that don’t exist into existence.

You see, the preacher was wrong. He was the blessed recipient of something he couldn’t earn and didn’t deserve just because he is faithful to his calling. He is a walking example of the sheer gift of God’s unmerited favor and love.

May we all embrace this wonderful gift.

Sunrise Gift by Dustin Daniels