Listen

Genesis 12:1-4a

2 Timothy 1:8b-10

Matthew 17:1-9

Divine Inspiration

The common thread in the New Testament reading – Paul’s second letter to Timothy – and the Gospel is basically, “Be still and know that I am Lord.”  Did that stand out for anyone else?  It’s subtle, but it’s there.  Paul writes, “He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to His design and grace.”  In the Gospel, Peter sees Jesus talking to Elijah and Moses on the mountain top, and what’s his reaction?  He immediately wants to take action, to do something, and he offers to build three tents.  God’s response is to say, “This is my Son.  Listen to Him.” 

Humans are action oriented.  Action seems to be our natural response to anything.  When someone is hurting, we ask, “What can I do?”  When someone has something great happen for them, we automatically think about planning a celebration.  In every area of life, we are constantly looking to do.  But that’s not what God is telling us.  His instruction was very clear – to listen.  Just listen.  It’s not through works, but by His grace that we are saved.  Never underestimate the powerful good that simply listening to God or to one another can do.  It’s also one of the most difficult things for humans to do.  It’s in our nature to fix things.  But that’s not our job; it’s God’s.  God will fix everything in time (His time!).  He doesn’t need our help.  What He needs from us is stillness, quiet, space to listen and hear His guidance in our lives.  It’s the same between friends and loved ones.  The most precious gift we can give someone is our full, undistracted presence to simply listen. 

The next time you’re tempted to do or take action, take a deep breath and pause.  Listen.  Focus.  And pray.  The outcome will be far better than anything you or any one person can do.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, March 16, 2014.

Scrutiny

1 Samuel 16:1B, 6-7, 10-13A

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41

Divine Inspiration

Today is the 2^nd Scrutiny.  The word scrutiny tends to conjure up a negative feeling.  We may think of our words and actions as being scrutinized by others, and the possibly criticized or judged.  And few of us like that.  But the word scrutiny here isn’t about looking with the purpose of criticizing.  It’s really about looking deep, deeper than you typically look or see on a normal day.  In the Lenten Season, it’s meant to encourage us to look deep into ourselves, our hearts, our words and our actions. 

In the reading from the Old Testament, the Lord said to Samuel, “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart.”  God sees into our hearts every day, whether it’s Lent or not.  What does he see?  Do we know?  Have we looked into our own hearts recently to see what’s living there?  And if we have, do we like what we see?  This is what scrutiny is all about.  Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and the Gospel are all about seeing, coming out of the dark and the blindness and really taking a look at ourselves.  And then, once we see, it’s time to make the change that we want in our lives.  It’s not about changing out of fear of judgment.  It’s about making changes out of a love of God and others that helps us to love ourselves. 

Lent is half over.  But that doesn’t mean we can go back on auto-pilot.  No, we need to take this time to ask God to open our eyes, to give us the courage to really look and see deep into our hearts, and the strength to work on the dark areas we want to clean up.  Only God can help us with this.  It’s a reminder to us of just how much we need Him – with all our hearts, souls and minds.  And through this time of scrutiny, of asking God to open our eyes and work on what we see, we will come through with a deeper, richer loving relationship with God, with each other and with our own selves.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, March 15, 2015

Breathe Out Compassion

1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41

Divine Inspiration

Today’s reading from the Old Testament involves Samuel making a judgment about Eliab.  It says that, “Samuel looked at Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before him.’  But the Lord says to Samuel, “Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature.  No man sees as God sees.  Man sees the appearance, but God sees into the heart.”  This is a tremendous reminder of the old adage not to judge a book by its cover.  It seems logical, and we all may be thinking to ourselves, ‘Well sure, I know that!’  But knowing and doing are two different things.  How often do we hear about political or wealthy figures in the news coming upon a hardship and we think, ‘Oh, well, I’m sure he or she can afford it?’  Or, the opposite can happen, such as what happened to Samuel – we see someone who appears to be great at what they do or beautiful or just have it all together, and we think, ‘Wow, that person must have a great life!’  And again, it’s just our perception.  We don’t know what that person is dealing with inside, in their hearts.  But, God does.  He is the only one who does.  Even those who we call our closest friends and family have issues on their hearts that only God sees, not us.

When we feel that moment of judgment coming on, you know – the eyebrows start to go up, a sigh of exasperation starts to form in the back of our throats – we can catch ourselves in that moment.  We can give compassion instead of judgment, even if the other person looks like they’re not in need of any.  Take a deep breath and replace judgment, any type of judgment – for better or for worse – with the belief and mindset that we DON’T see everything, and breathe out kindness and compassion.  This continual practice of giving kindness and compassion to everyone around us will make us softer, gentler, more accepting and loving people filled with God’s love.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, March 10, 2013.

Our Own Transfiguration

Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18

Romans 8:31b-34

Mark 9:2-10

Divine Inspiration

Today is about transfiguration.  Jesus took three friends with him up the mountain where he knew they would have a direct experience with God.  This is rare.  We meet up with God in prayer, in our hearts.  But, how many times have we actually encountered him on a physical level?  Thankfully, we don’t have to meet up with Him physically to know that He’s there for us – always.

Whenever we suffer through a particularly difficult time or situation, wither it’s positive or negative, we come through it changed – transfigured – in some way.  We look at life differently after.  It is in that transfiguration that we see and hear God most clearly, if we are listening.  The challenge is to listen, to focus on God, to pray and meditate, rather than focusing on the experience itself.  God speaks to us in so many ways, but in those moments during and after a tough time, we are most vulnerable and therefore most open to hearing God’s voice.  If we listen and open ourselves completely to His will, we will be forever changed and transfigured in the Light of the Lord.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, March 4, 2012

Covenants And Signs

Genesis 9:8-15

1 Peter 3:18-22

Mark 1:12-15

Divine Inspiration

God made a covenant – a promise – to Noah that never again would life on earth be destroyed.  And, after He made that promise, God gave Noah a sign of his promise – his bow set in the clouds, so that Noah could see it when the clouds rolled in.  There were two key things here:  God’s promise and God’s sign.  At what other time have we received a promise from God?  It’s when Jesus says, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’  And the sign he gives us is his rising from the cross; once again, a very powerful covenant along with a sign of that promise.  However, at times, it can be difficult to remember this promise of Jesus.  We can feel so alone, so in the dark, that if we do remember, we may not truly believe.

Lent is a time to renew our belief and faith in Christ Jesus.  It is a time of self-reflection, of quiet.  It can even seem dark.  We are meant to pray, to connect as deeply with God as we humanly can.  I’m not talking about the typical prayers we say on a daily basis, but to actually ask Christ to fill our hearts, and then be quiet and observe the fullness that follows.  That fullness that we will feel is a sign that God is with us.  In fact, there are many signs of Christ’s promise to us.  We’ll see them if we just quiet ourselves and observe.

I was walking into my building at work after lunch last week, and among the winter flowers – all the lovely yellow and purple pansies, was a single red tulip about to open.  And, I was so busy walking and thinking about stuff I needed to do, that I almost missed it.  Fortunately, I didn’t.  I stopped, looked at it, and thanked God for sharing that sign with me.  It could have been a sign of the coming Spring or a sign that I wasn’t alone.  The specifics aren’t as important as the fact that it was a sign from Christ and I felt that love and fullness as a result.

I guess the point of all this is to remember that God and Jesus have made us promises – covenants – and that they give us signs of those promises every single day.  We just have to be quiet, watch for them and let them fill us with His love.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, February 22, 2015

Moments of Clarity

Deuteronomy 26:4-10

Romans 10:8-18

Luke 4:1-13

Divine Inspiration

Moments of clarity – we all have them.  They don’t come often.  But when they do, they are so powerful, so impactful, that they overrule all distractions, temptations and day-to-day chaos in our lives.

Jesus had clarity in all he did and said.  When he was up on the mountain, hungry, tired and lonely with the devil whispering in his ear about all he could give to Jesus, Jesus was completely, totally 100% clear about who he (Jesus) was and why he was there on the mountain and what he was meant to do here on earth.  He was not here for the power or to prove anything to anyone.  He was here to show people how to love one another; he was here to show people how to love God.  And, he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was and is the Son of God.

Have you ever had a moment of clarity like this in your own life?  If so, when was it?  What were you doing or thinking or involved in at the time?  It certainly is not a requirement, but often these moments of clarity come when we’re in the midst of trouble, sorrow or suffering.  Jesus was alone; he was fasting; and in a sense, he was suffering.  But because of that, he was able to be very clear about his purpose here on earth. 

This is what Lent is about.  It is not meant to be a time of purposeless denial or suffering.  It is meant to be a time of clarity, and the way to achieve that clarity is to turn off all those things in life that distract us – things like mindless TV, gossip, junkfood.  Yes, some may look on giving these things up as suffering and denial, but that’s ok.  It causes us to turn even stronger to God to get us through that time.  And, in doing this – turning to God in our time of suffering – the moment of clarity will dawn upon us.  It’s not something we can control or will to happen.  It just does by the grace of God.  And, when it does, it’s important for us to recognize it, to be in the moment, and to thank God for the vision and clarity he has bestowed upon us.

This Lent, as you deny yourself the worldly pleasures and indulgences, pray for the clarity and vision that God wants you to have.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, February 14, 2016.

“Practicing” Our Faith

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8

1 Corinthians 1-11

Luke 5:1-11

Divine Inspiration

Today’s Gospel is about going deeper.  Simon, who is a professional fisherman, has been fishing all day.  And, he has caught nothing.  After a long day of preaching, Jesus decides to get into Simon’s boat.  Simon was probably thinking, “Well, I’m not doing very well as a fisherman.  I may as well be a boat chauffer.”  But, Jesus asks him to put out his nets.  Simon, who truly is a professional fisherman and knows what he’s doing, tells Jesus that he’s been at it all day and caught nothing.  He might have even thought, ‘This Jesus is a great preacher, but he’s no fisherman.”  But, Simon figures he’s got nothing to lose and says, “As you command.”  He goes out to deeper water, puts out his nets, and the result is astounding – he catches more fish than the nets can hold.  He’s so amazed that, afterward he says he’s done as a professional fisherman and going to follow Christ full-time.  Just think how close he came to missing out on this because he thought he knew more than Jesus.

How often in our lives do we hear the little voice in our head or heart telling us what to do, yet we ignore it because we think we know more or we know better?  And, in that moment, what wondrous experiences with God are we missing out on?  The thing of it all is that God has blessed us with brains to think.  But, sometimes, those brains get in the way.  We might even go as far as to tell God that He doesn’t understand the circumstances.  But not only does he understand them, he will pull us through them with flying colors if we only let him, if we listen to Him and not ourselves, if we have FAITH.

This is the very essence of faith – thinking we may know better or want to do something different, yet yielding to God anyway.  It takes practice.  It doesn’t just happen.  Well, maybe after lots of practice, it just happens naturally.  But, it takes a daily – even hourly – recognition that in that moment when we think we know what we’re doing, we take a step back and ask God what is HIS will, and then we do THAT instead.  The more we do this, the more natural it becomes and the deeper our faith and our relationship with God grows.

Amen.

Readings and Divine Inspiration from Sunday, February 10, 2013.