The Phone on the Wall

Posted on by Betsy

Younger readers probably have no concept of what a phone on a wall is, but for the rest of us, the image is clear. It was probably beige, pink, or possibly mint green (if you grew up in a “mod” house) and it had a corkscrew coiled cord that was likely to be twisted a few times over. In my childhood, push buttons had already replaced a rotary dial and we thought we were fancy. The phone functioned properly as a means of communication, but a phone on a wall meant one thing: anyone could answer the phone, and everyone in close proximity could hear your conversation because you were stuck there.

My father was active in the local masonic lodge and as he “rose in the chairs” i.e. moved up in the tiers of leadership, the phone calls to our house increased as men called for guidance or information. One such fellow introduced himself and asked to speak to the “Worshipful Master,” which sent my sister and me into giggling fits. To this day she swears that he asked to speak to the “Wash Your Old Mustard.” It must have been that heavy south Jersey accent. In any case, nobody had any privacy in our house at all!

The first chapters of all of Paul’s letters to his churches are like standing in the kitchen, overhearing greetings and salutations at the beginning of a phone conversation. Paul was a master rhetorician, and his letters quickly set the tone for what was to follow. Take a look at the beginning of his letter to his church at Thessalonica:

1 Thessalonians 1 (Common English Bible)

2 We always thank God for all of you when we mention you constantly in our prayers. 3 This is because we remember your work that comes from faith, your effort that comes from love, and your perseverance that comes from hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.

Paul certainly knew how to set a table, didn’t he? The spirit of thanksgiving and appreciation is the first thing he laid out, reassuring them that he was aware of their great work and their greater faith. At this point he hadn’t seen them for months, but he jumped right back into the relationship with the first sentence. Flattery got Paul everywhere.

4 Brothers and sisters, you are loved by God, and we know that he has chosen you. 5 We know this because our good news didn’t come to you just in speech but also with power and the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know as well as we do what kind of people we were when we were with you, which was for your sake. 

By reminding them of the power of the Holy Spirit and the conviction it brings, he may be using this as a teaching moment in case they had fallen off the track. It is like a parent saying, “I’m sure you remembered to clean up your room, didn’t you?” to their child.

6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord when you accepted the message that came from the Holy Spirit with joy in spite of great suffering. 7 As a result you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The message about the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia but in every place. The news about your faithfulness to God has spread so that we don’t even need to mention it. 9 People tell us about what sort of welcome we had from you and how you turned to God from idols. As a result, you are serving the living and true God, 10 and you are waiting for his Son from heaven. His Son is Jesus, who is the one he raised from the dead and who is the one who will rescue us from the coming wrath.

This affirmation is strong and sincere. Paul was genuinely grateful for their ministry and the impact it has had throughout the land. Their work was so impressive, he heard about them as he continued to travel. He praised not only how they were serving the living God, but how they were waiting for the Second Coming. Paul truly loved this church.

I think this passage invites us to consider how we approach people. Are we open and winsome, or do we take relationships for granted? Are we keeping up with our friends even when we are apart? Do we take the time to encourage and praise the people around us?

All of this takes effort. It took Paul a lot of effort to write these letters by hand and it took a lot of effort to see that they reached their final destination. I bet you have your phone within reach right now. It might even be in your hand. You don’t even have to get up and walk to the wall in the kitchen. Why don’t you take a moment and share a word of grace with someone right now? Maybe just a quick text that says, “Thank you for being part of my life.” They’ll be glad you did.

And so will you.

Share the Love by Michelle Robertson

True Vine

Posted on by Betsy

I am working on a writing assignment for a publisher that has me exploring the seven “I am” statements of Jesus. You may have noticed this already! These statements are all found in the book of John and were Jesus’ way of revealing God to his followers in manageable metaphors. They speak to our spiritual needs as we seek to understand our Savior. In practical terms, these statements represent a kind of resume, or CV, that quickly outlines the attributes of our Lord. Of course as you experience each one, you delve farther and farther into the very heart and mind of God. Here are the seven “I am” statements:

I am the bread of life.

I am the light of the world.

I am the open gate.

I am the good shepherd.

I am the resurrection and the life.

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I am the true vine.

When I read that last one, I immediately thought of the vines that keep threatening to overtake our house. We have a neglected and abandoned raised flower bed that grows vines and weeds with great purpose and vigor. Over the winter, I considered cutting it all back but then I noticed that it seemed to be filled with sleepy bees. I read that such places are wonderful habitats for bees in the cold weather, and you shouldn’t cut them back until after the temperature is over 50 degrees and the bees have somewhere to go. I even thought about getting a sign that read, “Betsy’s Bee Garden” to explain to the neighbors why this eyesore of a mess was bee-ing left alone. I’m not lazy, I’m simply doing my part for the environment!

Thinking of my wild and wayward vines as a dwelling place for the bees gave me comfort. It also falls into line with today’s Scripture. Notice that as Jesus described being the true vine, he invited us to remain (or dwell) in him:

John 15 (Common English Bible)

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. 2 He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit. 3 You are already trimmed because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself but must remain in the vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything. 

Jesus is very clear about what our purpose is. We are to produce fruit. If we stay attached to the vine, if we dwell with Jesus, we will perform our function as the branches from which the fruit grows. But woe unto us if we don’t remain in Jesus:

6 If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into a fire, and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples.

And what fruit are we to be producing? Paul gives us a beautiful list in Galatians 5:

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.

Notice that love is the first thing on the list. Everything begins and ends with love. Read the rest of Jesus’ “I am the true vine” statement:

9 “As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. 12 This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I don’t call you servants any longer, because servants don’t know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because everything I heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you could go and produce fruit and so that your fruit could last. As a result, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 17 I give you these commandments so that you can love each other.

“I give you these commandments so that you can love each other.” In a world that spends so much time spewing hate, we need to grow the fruit of love everywhere we can, like a wild vine that has gone completely out of control. Where can you be the branches of love for someone today?

Go and bear fruit.

Bee-utiful by Kathy Schumacher

The Way In

Posted on by Betsy

This summer was a wonderful time of family visits for me. Both daughters came to the Outer Banks for a week and we re-enacted their childhood vacations. We took their children to all of their favorite places: the Currituck lighthouse, the sound beach in Colington, the Jolly Roger restaurant, the aquarium on Roanoke Island, the Christmas Shop … I lived those days through the present lens of introducing my grandchildren to their mother’s favorite spots while looking through the lens of the past, remembering their mothers as little girls all those many summers ago. It was heaven. I pray that no matter where my grandchildren live when they grow up, they will always return to the Outer Banks and bring their own children.

As I prepared the house and their bedrooms for their visit, I was washed in the nostalgia of my time as a young mother. I still have the bedsheets and some of the furniture from my children’s rooms growing up, and making the beds and decorating the rooms for their visit brought me such joy.

John 14: 1-14

14 “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. 2 My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? 3 When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too.4 You know the way to the place I’m going.”

Thinking of Jesus preparing our rooms for our trip to heaven is a glorious thought. I wonder if it brings him the same joy it brought me as I anticipated my family’s summer visit. Does he smooth out the comforters and carefully arrange the throw pillows? Is he humming while he vacuums?

One thing is for sure … I bet the Son of God knows how to fold a fitted sheet.

5 Thomas asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”

Jesus is the way to the Father just as surely as the front door is the way into the house. Because of that one, single, profound action of taking the sins of the world upon himself, Jesus is the only way. Without that moment on the cross, our sins would never be forgiven. In its essence, sin is separation from God. Without Jesus, there is no entryway of repentance/forgiveness/grace/faith. All who believe in him will be saved.

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father; that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been with you all this time? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I have spoken to you I don’t speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Trust me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on account of the works themselves. 12 I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the Father can be glorified in the Son. 14 When you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.

We can see in this passage that even toward the end of his ministry, Jesus still struggled with his disciples for understanding and acceptance. He was not the Messiah they had been looking for, and so they still were unsure about exactly who Jesus was. The mystery of the incarnation was still confusing to them. How could Jesus really be the Son of God?

The disciples didn’t yet know the end of the story, but we do. We see all the promises of God, the foretelling of the prophets, and the works of Jesus himself come together in this passage and we know without a doubt that Jesus made good on his word. He returned to the Father to get the house ready for our arrival.

And because he lives, we shall live also.

I hope that brings you a moment of joy today. Even when things seem very dark in this world, knowing that Jesus is holding the front door of heaven wide open gives us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. What is God asking you to do before you go? Is there someone you need to forgive, a friend you need to witness to, a task yet undone, or a loose end to tie up? Best get to it. You know the way.

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow by Rena Farrelly

Gated Communities

Posted on by Betsy

I live in a gated community. Every day, people drive past a guard shack and chose either the right lane, where residents can trigger a green light with a bar code attached to a side window, or the left lane, where you have to stop and get a paper pass from the guard that allows you to enter. There is no actual physical gate, however, so anyone with a fast car could just blow right through. It seems in this situation, the “gate” is more for appearances than for providing an actual barrier to prevent someone from coming in. Perhaps its real benefit is in making people feel safe rather than actually keeping people safe. But it is a false sense of security.

When Jesus declares that he is an open gate, he is offering himself as a real place of refuge and security. The sheep who follow him know that when threatened, he would actually lay down his life to defend and protect them. Indeed, that is exactly what happened on the cross.

John 10 (Common English Bible)

7 So Jesus spoke again, “I assure you that I am the gate of the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and outlaws, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.

The safety of entering through Jesus’ gate is an eternal promise of salvation. If you consider this illustration as referring to the gates of heaven, it makes sense that Jesus is the gate. In John 14:6 we read: 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” But for his first followers, he was offering himself as the way back to understanding the Father, something that the outlaw Pharisees could not do. They had forgotten about God in their never-ending pursuit of the Law. They were the thieves who were bent on destroying the abundant life that Jesus offered.

We understand verse 10 to represent Satan for modern readers. The Evil One hovers above us with the sole intent of stealing, killing, and destroying. Jesus is the only gate that can keep Satan out. Only the Good Shepherd can protect us.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. That’s because he isn’t the shepherd; the sheep aren’t really his. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13 He’s only a hired hand and the sheep don’t matter to him.

Sometimes we put too much trust and hope in hired hands. When we elevate politicians, news commentators, television personalities, and even pastors to positions of leadership and influence, we risk putting our lives in the hands of someone who will easily leave us to the wolves.

This illustration of gates opens up a question for us today. How open are the gates of the church? Do people feel as though they can come in, just as they are, or do the “gatekeepers” of doctrine and tradition prevent people from entering? What does Jesus, our Open Gate, want?

May our lives reflect the openness that Jesus offers the world.

Live Life to the Fullest by Michelle Robertson

The Lightness of Life

Posted on by Betsy

Many years ago I had an opportunity to go spelunking. For those who don’t recognize the word, spelunking means cave exploration. I was a student at Penn State and had just been hired as a Resident Advisor for a women’s dorm. The team of RA’s from my dorm and the nearby men’s dorm RA’s were taken on a “team building” weekend that included exploring one of Pennsylvania’s famous caves. We dropped down a large hole on a rickety ladder and begin walking, squatting, crawling on all fours, and finally belly-crawling through underground passages that got tighter and more narrow as we proceeded.

Did I mention I am claustrophobic? This is actually where I found that out.

I was struggling to hold my panic at bay as we approached the last “room,” which was accessed through a slender crevice in the rock that was so narrow, you had to go in feet first and twist your shoulders to fit. A larger male RA was right in front of me, and he got stuck for a moment and had to wiggle around a few times before he made it through. That did me in. I turned to the advisor behind me and told her I was done, finished, caput, and bloody well over it. We backed up a bit so that she could shimmy past me, and she told me to wait in the passageway while they explored and returned.

As she left me, I only had my tiny head lamp to illuminate that cold, black space. I felt that I could hang on a few more minutes until they came back out and we could go back through the passages up to the surface. My logic was that since I had made it that far, going back would easier because the passages would get larger rather than smaller. All of that reasoning worked in my brain right up until the moment that my headlamp went out.

There is nothing darker than a cave. The black is the blackest black I have ever seen, and my brain was confused by the fact that I had my eyes wide open and could not see even a sliver of discernible light anywhere. It was like being in a waking nightmare.

We continue our study of John’s “I Am” passages where Jesus used beautiful metaphorical language to teach the people about his true nature. In today’s passage, he explained that he is the light of the world:

John 6 (Common English Bible)

12 Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

What a word of hope for us today! We don’t have to live and walk in the darkness of sin and death but have a guarantee of eternal life that will illuminate our way through even the blackest moments.

Of course the Pharisees objected. They defaulted to their faulty understanding of the law and claimed that his testimony wasn’t valid.

13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “Because you are testifying about yourself, your testimony isn’t valid.”

14 Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, since I know where I came from and where I’m going. You don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You judge according to human standards, but I judge no one. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I’m not alone. My judgments come from me and from the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the witness of two people is true. 18 I am one witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me is the other.”

The truth of the matter was that Jesus stood in the witness box with his Father as co-defendant.

19 They asked him, “Where is your Father?”

Jesus answered, “You don’t know me and you don’t know my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” 20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the temple area known as the treasury. No one arrested him, because his time hadn’t yet come.

The Pharisees’ love of order, law, and the minutia of little rules had led them far astray from the love and grace of the Father. Because they had lost touch with their creating and sustaining God, they could not recognize God’s redeeming son. They walked in spiritual darkness, blinded to their own blindness.

I obviously made it out of the cave and into the light and don’t ever want to be in such a dark place again. How about you? Are you in a dark place of despair, sin, hopelessness, abuse, or grief today? Do you need the light of the world to come in and show you the way?

Jesus is the light of the world, a light no force on earth can extinguish. Open the eyes of your heart and behold him.

Let There Be Light by Michelle Robertson

Everyday Bread

Posted on by Betsy

My husband and I switched to a low-carb diet several years ago, which means we don’t eat bread. We are actually quite fond of bread, so this was a major adjustment. We used to eat bread every day, and bread is something that makes life a little easier. Think about how easy it is to make toast in the morning and then throw a sandwich in a lunchbox and get on with your day! Bread is life. Occasionally we will allow ourselves a day off from our low carb adherence, and bread is the first thing I want. I recently had a wonderful pretzel roll in a restaurant and I was pretty sure I had expired right there at the table and gone straight to heaven. That roll was a taste of the bread of heaven, I’m telling you!

Bread plays a very important role in the Scriptures. It was something that sustained the people in the desert and in the towns. Bethlehem was known as the “house of bread” and look what it produced! Manna played a huge role in the Exodus story. Elijah gave a poor and desperate widow a miracle of a never-empty jugs of flour and oil so that she would have bread for the rest of her life. (1 Kings 17:7-16). Communion is a sacred act of remembrance where we break the bread just as Jesus’ body was broken, and drink from the cup, remembering his blood that was poured out for the forgiveness of sin.

In his first “I Am” statement in today’s reading, Jesus declares that he is the bread of life. John records seven “I am” statements that help us understand exactly who the son of God is. In Jesus’ time, it was not safe for him to speak too often about being the Messiah, as it riled the authorities. So as their rabbi, their teacher, and the Son of God, Jesus used these seven statements to reveal God to them, beginning with “I am the bread of life.” How clever to speak about something as essential as bread.

Jesus is essential to life.

John 6 (Common English Bible)

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus replied, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. 27 Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One  will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.”

The crowd had followed him to Capernaum just after he had fed the 5,000 with bread and fish. Jesus knew exactly what they were asking for. They wanted material bread from him. He was offering spiritual sustenance instead.

28 They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?”

29 Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.”

30 They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

How clever of them to quote Psalm 105 to him. They were hoping to manipulate him into providing daily bread as Moses had in the wilderness in the form of manna. But Jesus wasn’t having it. Bread wasn’t a thing; it was a person.

32 Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 They said, “Sir,  give us this bread all the time!”

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen me and still don’t believe. 37 Everyone whom the Father gives to me will come to me, and I won’t send away anyone who comes to me. 38 I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of the one who sent me, that I won’t lose anything he has given me, but I will raise it up at the last day. 40 This is my Father’s will: that all who see the Son and believe in him will have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

What does this mean to you today? Jesus being the bread of life is a sign of God’s sustaining and providing presence in our lives. It means we will never go spiritually hungry if we fill ourselves from his bread basket. We are assured that if we drink of his Living Water we will never thirst again. This is the word of hope this starving, parched world needs!

And to know that he won’t send anyone away who comes to him is a reminder that there is nothing that can separate anyone from God’s love. All we need to do is come. This is a reminder to the church to keep the doors open to everyone.

So today, when you have a bite of bread, think of Jesus, the bread of life. He is the only one who will fill us, satisfy us, and sustain us. Thanks be to God!

Heavenly Bread

Three Things about Loss

Posted on by Betsy

So many people I know are dealing with loss right now; a dear friend lost her mother a few weeks ago, another is in the final death moments of a long and happy marriage, a third is grieving her daughter moving out of state, and yet another was just laid off from a job he loved for many years. What is God’s perspective of these things? How can we negotiate losing people and situations that we think we can’t live without? How can we manage our grief?

Here are three things to consider if you are grieving today:

One: this time of painful separation is only temporary. While the rest of your earthly life will be spent without the one or that thing that you love, the rest of your life is but a blink of an eye in the scope of eternity. These events are hardly a blip in the scope of an eternal lifetime. 

The problem with grieving is that it slooowwws down time. We become suspended in an artificial reality that is all too real. Days are long and nights are longer because we are stuck in the moment of our crisis like a fly caught in tree sap. Grief can make us feel as though we are swimming in tar, trying to reach a distant shore that keeps moving farther away and the swim is taking forever. Embracing God’s perspective that death and mourning are only temporary states can begin to help us shake off our sluggishness and get on with what is the rest of our short existence here.

Hear these words of Psalm 90 that offer us a perspective of how God measures time: 

A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4, NIV 1984) 

In God’s perspective of time, a thousand years are like a day; so, 70-80+ years of an average life span are just a blink of an eye in the scope of our eternal life span.  In our eternal state, this very real grief will become a distant memory.

Two: loss and death aren’t the end. What joy can fill our hearts to know that! If we take on God’s perspective that death isn’t final, then we can begin to process our loss as more of a kind of misplacement rather than a permanent loss. Sometimes in life, we lose things that we know will never be found again. When you lose one earring after a night out, you can look for months and know you will never find it again; it is gone forever. But other times we simply misplace things, like car keys and sunglasses. We are sure they are somewhere in the house, in a purse, or in a pocket, but we have to look in a couple of places before we find them. Understanding death from God’s perspective is more like that; our loved one is not lost forever, just in another place, waiting to be reclaimed when we die and join them in eternity. 

And comfort comes from knowing that they are never, ever misplaced from God, for he is present in life, in death, and in eternity.

Three: when we lose someone or something, we are never alone. Even though we might feel alone, abandoned, and forsaken, there is never a moment when the God who was present before time is not present with us in our anguish. Even Jesus felt abandoned, but he was not. Upon his death, he experienced the power of resurrection and was reunited with the Father. Sin is the only thing that can ever separate us from the Father, but death never can, and so we can find comfort in knowing that in the depth of our loneliness, God is near. 

Jesus came in the flesh to embody the love of the Father for the world. He is the incarnate Lord, the walking-divine who instructs us about the intentions and perspectives of our eternal God. He experienced earthly life, earthly death, and heavenly resurrection. He appeared to His disciples just before his final ascension into heaven. Hear what Jesus had to say about abandonment: 

And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV 1984) 

This is Jesus’ reminder to you today that he is with you in your grief walk. He will never abandon or forsake you. There is no deep, dark place of sorrow that you can go without him. There is no level of anger that he cannot withstand from you; there is no place of hopelessness that he will not traverse by your side; there is no place of loneliness that he does not occupy. 

You are not alone. Thanks be to God.    

In our end is our beginning
In our time, infinity
In our doubt, there is believing
In our life, eternity
In our death, a resurrection
At the last, a victory

Unrevealed until its season
Something God alone can see. (Hymn of Promise, Natalie Sleeth, United Methodist Hymnal #707)

Unrevealed Until Its Season by Michelle Robertson

Come Home, Rebel

Posted on by Betsy

Today’s reading takes us into the mind of Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet who was tasked with an impossible job: to preach to a rebellious people saying things they would not hear or heed. Have you ever had to deliver a harsh word to people you love? If so, you can feel his pain. This passage is a little long, but hang in there.

Jeremiah 2:5-13, 29-32 (New Revised Standard Version)

5 Thus says the LORD:  What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?  6 They did not say, “Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?”  7 I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.  8 The priests did not say, “Where is the LORD?” Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.  

9 Therefore, once more, I accuse you, says the Lord, and I accuse your children’s children.  10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing.  11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods?  But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit.  12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, Therefore once more I accuse you, says the LORD, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

29 Why do you complain against me? You have all rebelled against me, says the LORD.  30 In vain I have struck down your children; they accepted no correction.  Your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.  31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD!  Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness?  Why then do my people say, “We are free, we will come to you no more”?  32 Can a girl forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?  Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

 If this is your first time reading Jeremiah, you might be feeling like you just took a sip of water out of a fire hydrant. It’s a lot to take in! Jeremiah was a prophet in a time of great apostasy, when the entire nation of Israel had turned their backs on God in every possible way. Having been safely brought out of slavery in Egypt and delivered into the lushness of the Promised Land, they now worshiped the false gods of their pagan neighbors and turned to Baal for divine guidance.

Did you pick up on the “living water” reference in verse 13? What a beautiful tie-in with Wednesday’s reading, where Jesus offered himself to the world as the Living Water that so completes us, we will never thirst again. In this passage, God described the living water he faithfully offered Israel, only to be rejected. People had chosen to dig out cracked cisterns for themselves that hold no water.

 Why do we make things so hard for ourselves? Why not just open our mouths wide and drink in living water? Yet we demand our own way and labor at the unprofitable task of grunting and digging out a useless and broken cistern of secularism and world things that can’t possibly sustain us.

 When we chase after the ungodly, when we follow the dictates of the secular world in pursuing what is popular, cool, admired, sought after (status, wealth, beauty, celebrity, material things, inappropriate relationships, etc.), we turn our backs on God and bow down to false gods.

Where have you rejected God? Where has something been so tempting, so appealing, that you lost your mind and flew after it, forsaking the One who brought you out of your own desert?

Come home, rebel. Come back to God. Remember who you are.

Come to the Waters by Michelle Robertson

A Touch of the Bubbly

Posted on by Betsy

I have a friend who is best described as “bubbly.” Her demeanor is always positive, glass-half-full, and joyful. I don’t know how she does it, as I know that she has had tragedy in her life and things haven’t always been easy. But the bubbles well up in her and escape, infusing their celebration into every encounter. She is a woman of deep faith, and I think that is why.

Today we read about woman who encountered water that was so lively, it ended up being bubbly:

John 4:1-26 (New Revised Standard Version)

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John”— 2 although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized—3 he left Judea and started back to Galilee. 4 But he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

 In fancy restaurants in Europe, the first question you are asked upon being seated is, “Still, or gas?” This startled me in Italy, as I don’t ever want gas from a meal. (!) But of course they are offering two different types of water: still, which is flat, or gas, which is bubbly and effervescent. The still water is what comes out of the tap. It is the mundane, ordinary alternative to the sparkling exuberance of gas water.

 Jesus is the latter. He is lively and brings life. Once uncorked, he explodes onto a scene and changes it for the better. Remember his first miracle at the wedding at Cana of Galilee? He transformed still, flat water into the best wine ever served. I wonder if, in keeping with his nature, it was actually a sparkling rose, or a lovely Prosecco….

Jesus is the essence of life, and he is necessary for life, but not just in the way he sustains it. Rather, he brings effervescent joy to your life. Living water is ours to indulge in whenever we open ourselves wide and take it in. He reminds us that he came to give life, and the life he gives is “abundant life.”

This is a cause for reflection if you find yourself today in a state that is joyless and lacking in that abundance that Jesus promised. Sometimes life situations can knock you off your pins and bring sadness, doubt, anxiety, depression, and ennui. When that happens, it is good to remember that there is a time for every season and every matter under the sun, as we read in Ecclesiastes 3. This reminds us that God is the master Timekeeper, and those low places are under his control just as surely as the high places are. If you are low today, know that you are not alone. Jesus has walked the lonely valley and he walks with you in your desert, too. The psalmist reminds us that joy comes in the morning, but sometimes it is a very long night.

 Your challenge today is to find a moment of pure, abundant, sparkling life, even if you are feeling a little down. Perhaps the best way to find it is to give it to someone else. So go ye therefore and sparkle up someone’s day! Be the abundant joy for someone else, and see what effervescence comes back to you.

Living Water by Michelle Robertson

Sole Soul Vision

Posted on by Betsy

A recent sermon series had me studying the history of the beautiful Irish hymn, Be Thou My Vision. Do you know the story?It begins in ancient Ireland with St. Patrick. When he was just sixteen years old, pirates kidnapped Patrick and sold him into slavery in Ireland. Thus he entered adulthood knowing the Gaelic language and Irish customs. He also became a Christian during this time. Years later, he managed to escape and return home to his family in England. While most would have stayed home forever, Patrick chose to go back to Ireland and become a missionary  It was during this second trip, around 433, that the inspiration for Be Thou My Vision began.

The king of Ireland was King Laoghaire. He was a great Celtic High King, renowned for his ferocity and brute strength. He resided on a hill called Tara. Every year at the time of the Beltaine Festival, which occurred at the spring equinox, King Laoghaire a fire ceremony for the druids and his subjects called the Feast of Tara. The highlight of the feast was when he lit a sacred fire at the top of the hill to honor the pagan sun god, and it was left burning for a number of days.

The Hill of Tara was a cultic center where people worshiped the Celtic god of the sun, Lugh. In pagan society, the sun was given exalted importance because it is the main source of light and warmth, and it makes the plants grow, providing sustenance. Consequently, pagan sun worship was deeply embedded in the fabric of the Celtic people.

The king strictly prohibited any other fires that could be seen from Tara during the entire duration of the festival.

But there was another hill in the same region about ten miles away called the Hill of Slane. When visibility was good, it was possible to see from one hill to the other. 

St. Patrick was not intimidated by the king’s pagan festival, and defiantly disregarded the king’s order. St. Patrick lit a Paschal (meaning Easter) fire and an Easter Candle during the Vigil Service on the night before Easter. The fire was left burning and could be seen clearly from the Hill of Tara. King Laoghaire was either impressed or intimidated by Patrick’s devotion and, despite his defiance, Patrick was permitted to continue his work as Ireland’s first Christian missionary.

St. Patrick made an emphatic statement: Jesus is the light of the world, and none other, not even a pagan sun god, could hold a candle to him.

John 8 (New International Version)

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

We are called to have the same vision that Patrick had. To be a beacon of light on a hill, proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That is the vision for the church: to act with love, justice, and righteousness as we shine the light of Christ into a dark and hurting world (Jeremiah 9:23-24). 

I am thankful that my denomination has sought to be a headlight in some of the major social issues of our time rather than a brake-light. Evangelism and social action are the two sides of a whole Gospel. Without vision, we will lose both. The church has a vision to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world and to bring God’s steadfast love, justice, and righteousness to all of God’s children. This is a huge task. But a church that has a vision does not ask for tasks equal to its power. A church that has a vision asks for power equal to its tasks. And this is the task we have been assigned.

Vision in this context is not just about seeing God’s vision for our church and our own lives, but also being the vision that others can see, like Patrick’s Pascal fire on that hill. When we make God our sole vision…i.e. when we say, “Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art” … we reflect his light into a world that desperately needs him.

See the vision? Be the vision.

Be a Beacon of Light