Lectionary poems and daily meditations along with other thoughts and reflections of Pastor Dan from Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church: Where we are Inspired by God's Love to Praise, Nurture and Serve...Permission given to use in any way that advances the ministry of God's love and grace in this world. A Donations link is provided for those who wish to support the ministry of Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church
Pastor Rick Warren, after weeks of avoiding the issue, has publicly condemned a Ugandan law that makes it legal to give people the death penalty just for being gay.
Addressed directly to the pastors of Uganda, Warren's video message said he "completely oppose[s] and vigorously condemn[s]" the bill.
Warren also defensively suggested he would prefer to work behind the scenes, but he was forced to go to the media due to accusations that he was associated with the effort in Uganda. He said "this terrible bill" is "unjust, it's extreme, and it's un-Christian."
The following clip is from the Rachel Maddow show which has been doing some segments related to a book, "the Family" which details some of the exploits of some of the legislators staying at the "C Street" house in Washington. This clip also looks at Pastor Rick Warren's ("The Purpose Driven Church", and "The Purpose Driven Life") connection to a proposed bill in Uganda that calls for the execution by hanging of practicing homosexuals and imprisionment for those who know about homosexuals and refuse to turn them in to the government. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KVb8PaH3f0&feature=player_embedded
The Good News comes and brings freedom hope but to me? Who have I been fooling in a world filled with the screams of hunger in a world filled with the screams of pain in a world I have helped to make ----the way it is I feel uncomfortable with your message John! I feel uncomfortable with the way it points to me I wanted only a feel good God the Messiah who loves little children and maybe that is why I feel uncomfortable in this world I helped to make because the Messiah does love little children who choke on my greed! Give me the strength to share my two coats ----and food and hear the Good News of You Lord
Sunday December 13th, Zephaniah 3:14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. This is good news only when you are aware of the judgments against you and the enemies at your gates and within. Step one; honest introspection. Step two; realization that what you found in step one has been taken away by God. Step three; Rejoicing. Note; the enemies at your gates are also the children of God, treat them as such, it is most likely your problem not theirs, and even if it is theirs, you can’t fix that; you can only fix your stuff. Note two; the enemies within are far more problematic and personal, you will need prayer and God’s help on them, and sometimes the help of others. Note three; this is not a onetime thing but rather a daily occurrence. Therefore, singing aloud and rejoicing are also not limited, but an all day, every day event for a child of God. P.S. please note that the “enemies” at the gate are becoming, one by one, friends, God’s love works that way sometimes.
Monday December 14th, Zephaniah 3:18 I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. 19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. Which side do you want to be on? Do you want to be with the lame, outcast and mourners, or do you want to be with the oppressors? There doesn’t seem to be a third option in the kingdom of God does there? We all tend to see ourselves in that third place, the innocent observers, the ones that don’t exist in the kingdom of God. Desmond Tuto once said, “if an elephant has it’s foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say you are neutral in that situation, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” There are lots of tails being stepped on in this world and your neutrality is not appreciated. Sometimes some of those who mourn, and are gathered, are the ones who have just realized what they are stepping on and have removed their foot from an innocent tail. Note: tails can sometimes be called carbon footprints.
Tuesday December 15th, Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Ahhhhh!!! Living in the Kingdom. Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel, God with us, is coming, and is already here. Your response? To let your gentleness be evident to all. Wow! No holy warrior, no hell, fire and brimstone, no righteous fire, only gentleness. Living in the presence of God’s grace is to live in the presence of gentleness; a gentleness that will extend out to others. Welcome to the kingdom and rejoice in the Lord always. The way of the Lord is: Amo Ergo Sum.
Wednesday December 16th, Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This is known to some Scandinavian Lutherans and the “lutefisk” text, the piece of cod that transcends all understanding. But rather than an old piece of fish, it is the love and grace of God that sometimes seems beyond human understanding. It does not fit with our view of the way the world should run. Conventional wisdom tells us to beat the other guy, or at least use him or her and come out on top, win-win can be an option, but usually only if I will a bit more. Conventional wisdom tells us to take care of old number one. God’s wisdom tells us to sit down and share a little fish and bread with someone and know you are blessed. Conventional wisdom tells us that the one with the most toys wins, God’s wisdom tells us that the one with the most toys has wasted most of their life with toys instead of joys. Be counter-conventional, seek God and find joy.
Thursday December 17th, Luke 3:7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. John was not someone you would want your daughter to bring home to meet the family. Under his seemingly gruff manner however was the truth. When God comes into our lives, our lives are changed. That is the nature of being in a loving relationship with God. It is not always instant, it is not always complete, but it always nudges you closer to what God wants you for you in your life. The crowds coming indicate that for some it was nothing more than a fad, and anybody who was anybody was doing it. Some were looking for a way to bypass the temple in Jerusalem and get right with God by a simple dunking. What they were not after was life change which would lead to system change. But just like faux pearls, faux fur, faux diamonds, and faux anything in fashion, it just didn’t wear well. John was very up front about saying, “Get Real!!!!” and then come. Advent is a call for us to “Get Real!!!!” with our faith also. No faux religion with the once or twice a year drop in to the local worship service, but hearts open to God’s vision for your, for society, and your part in it.
Friday December 18th, Luke 3:10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked. 11 John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" 13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. 14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." They were not all called to go start a church or follow as disciples. What they were called to do was what they were already doing, except they were now called to do it in such a way that it reflected God’s plan of justice and righteousness. John did not even ask for “good works,” but rather a cessation of “bad works.” John’s call is for a return to grace filled living. It may not be rocket science, but it is the beginning of living.
Saturday December 19th, Luke 3: 15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. 16 John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.Water goes on the outside, the Holy Spirit goes on the inside.It is not a matter of being baptized again, or in the proper way, or after an ecstatic experience, it is a matter of letting God into your life each and every moment of each and every day.It is a matter of renewing your baptism each and every day.Baptism is our outward response to the relationship God has already established.Just as relationships are renewed each and every day, so is our relationship with God.Often it is God that is doing the renewing.That is what those constant little “I Love You” signs that surround us each day are all about.Open your eyes to them and feel the spirit burn within you, and know that you are loved.And not just loved, but loved by the God who created you and calls you to be a part of God’s love in this world.
Sunday December 6th Malachi 3:1 "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. The old song, “Jesus Loves Me” for the most part, is wrong. Instead of “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so” should be, “Jesus loves me this I know, for God’s People tell me so.” The message of the Bible is in the relationship. John was a messenger, sent to prepare the way into the hearts of humanity in a hurting world. You also are a messenger, sent to prepare the way in the hearts of humanity in a hurting world. Live your life knowing that you are a messenger. Live your life letting the love of God flow through you. Live your life letting people know “Jesus loves them, this they know, for you as a child of God, simply letting God’s love flow through you, showed them so.” The message is in the relationship, and you and I are called into relationships with one another and with others “out there” who need to “see” the Jesus Loves Me in our lives. Of all the things we can do in this world, it is our highest calling.
Monday December 7th, Malachi 3: 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.When you refine gold or silver, it requires a bit of heat.In the process of purifying the impurities separate out from the metal and the purity and beauty within can now shine for all the world.When it is our heart, our soul, our life that is refined, it also requires a bit of heat.No one said the life of a follower of God was easy or without difficulties.The desire to walk with God and be a child of God means that eventually we begin to dig down a little deeper in our lives and with God’s help and a lot of prayer pull out and get rid of some of the bigger hunks of junk.Without prayer the difficulties produce only heat and tear up the road to the heart, hence the potholes in our life.With prayer, the heat generated by getting rid of some of the big hunks of junk, also gets the heart, the soul, the self, to glow with the purity of God’s grace shining through.This somewhat cleaner heart, resembling at least in part is what God sees in you and why God loves you.It is also what others see that draws them to a God life of prayer.Our lives tend to display either potholes or luminescence, the difference is all in the prayers.
Tuesday December 8th, Philippians 1: 5 There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. The day of the Lord’s appearing will come to each of us. It is that day when we transition from this life to the next. Up until that day, the work goes on. The refining of who you are as a child of God and the roadwork into the hearts and minds of others as an ambassador for God’s love and grace continues. If we are really into living as a child of God, full of hope, full of passion, full of caring and confident in forgiveness and status as a called and redeemed child of God, it will seem like such a natural transition that we will hardly notice. If we are filled with anxiety, fear, hopelessness in the midst of normal doubt, the transition will happen none the less, perhaps just not so smooth. Either way, the path has already been prepared. Our choice is how to live on this side of the transition.
Wednesday December 9th, Philippians 1:9-11 So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much, but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.What a wonderful baptismal blessing, may you not only love much, but well.That is what we are called to do as the children of God, love much and well.Make love your aim.To rephrase and correct Descartes, it is not “Cognito Ergo Sum” (I think therefore I am) but rather “Amo Ergo Sum” (I love therefore I am) that makes life a life worth living.Let “Amo Ergo Sum” be the motto of your life today and from now on.It will be a Christmas gift to yourself and to all around you that will never fade, and will always bring joy and life.
Thursday December 10th, Luke 3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. Very specific times and places are mentioned in this text. We also live in a specific time and place, and the Lord is coming to us in our specific time and our specific place in this world. The Lord comes into your life where you are at. Your life is not some “Left Behind” distortion of scripture, it is a celebration of the Lord walking with you in this life, now, this day and tomorrow, and the days after that. Second Advent is about preparing the way, and yet, the Lord comes into your life in the here and now and guides you in the ongoing process of preparing the way. That is the good news of Immanuel, God with us. Preparing the way starts with the Lords help in the here and now filling our lives with grace, and leads us into a world of grace forever and always.
Friday December 11th Luke 3 :3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.When a King was coming to town, the town’s people went out of the way to make the road presentable.It was time to pick the stones out of the path and fill in the ruts, take the edge off the steep hills and use it to fill in the gullies at the bottom, a time to make straight the paths.Advent is a time to clear the path to our hearts.Prayer is the way we pick up the stones and fill in the ruts, mellow out the peaks and fill in the gullies.As with any road maintenance, it is ongoing.Left unattended, the troubles of life tend to produce potholes in anyone’s road to the heart.It’s the adversaries’ way of trying to trip us up.Prayer smoothes the path and sooths the soul and makes straight the path to the heart created to love the Lord.
Saturday December 12th Luke 3:5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "When we fix for roads to our hearts with prayer, our lives take on a new look. It is that “God dwelling in our hearts” look and it causes others to sit up and take notice. You will never see the others looking, but they are, and when prayer has fixed the road, they will notice something. You will become a beacon of God’s grace. If what they see is you tootin’ your own horn, all they will see is a harsh glare. If what they see is a reflection of God’s luminescent love, then they see hope. That is how all humankind will see God’ salvation, it’s that luminescent love of God, not some made up, pumped up, tongue speaking imitation, but God’s luminescent love flowing through you they seek. It is what God seeks also.
How can we stand Lord? We know of your awesome power (love) to create ----and bring to a close all of this ----beyond our ability to conceive ----world. How can we stand in this world filled with all the powers of temptation we can muster? How can we stand and be ready even when we see the signs? (God gave) In our world full of everyone is doing it and that’s the way things are (so loved) we have so many one more things to do here in this place. (the world) Even when I try to focus on you alone (He gave his only Son) I fail. Even when I try to focus on you alone I am unable to truly be who you call me to be. (that whoever believes in Him) When I look at the end coming I am afraid I will perish. (will not perish) and lose my (but have eternal life) life!
Sunday November 29th, Jeremiah 33:14 " 'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 15 " 'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land. An olive tree is almost impossible to kill.There are some in the garden of Gethsemane that they believe were around at the time of Jesus.I believe it was the olive tree this text refers to.In the midst of life going sour, God drops a sprouting branch, new life.The barbarians were at the gate and the nation was about to fall, and in the midst of it, life, and the promise is renewed.When the barbarians are at our gate, whatever form they may take, the promise is there for us also.Immanuel, God with us, life, comes into our darkness and announces that the light that is coming, and in fact is already here.Lift up you heads, stand up straight, wipe the tears from your eyes, because in the midst of your darkness, there is hope, there is light, there is love, there is life, there is your God, with us.
Monday November 30th, Jeremiah 33: 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.' It is not military might that brings hope or righteousness. It is not radical law hugging that brings righteousness. It is not seemingly simple common sense or pithy statements that bring righteousness. It is the Lord that brings us hope and righteousness. It is through our relationship with the Lord that we experience righteousness. It is the way that righteousness from God manifests itself in how we live together as “we” not “me alone” that we experience this righteousness in the body of Christ. It is not our doing that brings it about, it is our receiving what has already been done for us. In the midst of the darkness in your life, embrace the light that comes from God and know you are never alone.
Tuesday December 1st, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10 What would be an adequate thanksgiving to offer God for all the joy we experience before him because of you? We do what we can, praying away, night and day, asking for the bonus of seeing your faces again and doing what we can to help when your faith falters. What a wonderful example of a healthy view of church.What if you had not seen someone in worship of late and called them and expressed this sentiment?I have missed you lately and have been thinking about you.What if everyone had the same view of the body of Christ?What if everyone felt that loved and that missed when they missed worship for some reason?What if………….?I think these two simple verses, put to use in a congregation, could double or triple the worship attendance in that congregation in one year.What if church became ………well………..church, the “body” of Christ?????Hello Toe, this is thumb speaking, boy have we missed you, hope everything is ok.I pray we will see each other again soon…
Wednesday December 2nd, 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers. This text is a good one to ponder as I recall my ordination anniversary. December 2nd, 1990 at Christ Our Savior Lutheran, and I am still here. We are called as the followers of Jesus to love one another and to be in relationship with one another. It is not always easy. I know there are times when I am not exactly the most lovable person around, and my wife can most likely site times and places. When we are called into community, into relationship with the rest of the body of Christ, we are not just called to love the lovable; we are also called to love those who we would just as soon pass by on the road. This Advent season, Jesus calling reminds us to stop, as did the Good Samaritan, and be an active part of the loving body of Christ. In the process, Jesus will clear the path to those we are to love. We will also discover that the path has been cleared to our door. Relationship is a two way street of caring and loving the sometimes unlovable.
Thursday December 3rd, Luke 21:25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."Recent reconstruction of the Apocalyptic writings in the Bible, like the popular “left behind” series, tend to focus on how terrible things will be for those who do not believe correctly (correct belief as defined by those same reconstructionists).It’s the old, “you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m tellin’ you why, Jesus Christ is coming to town----and he is pissed” theology.That theology has about as much to do with the Gospel as does Santa.It has a Santa purpose also, to sell book and make money for those writing and selling that trash.The Gospel however focuses on verse 28.When it seems that all hell is breaking loose, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption, Immanuel, God with us, is drawing near.Remember this holiday season, you are never alone.As Jesus said, remember I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth.
Friday December 4th, Luke 21: 29 He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near.31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.When things get rough, the Kingdom of God is near.When you are living in fear and doubt, the Kingdom of God is near.When you care for one another, the Kingdom of God is near.When you are cared for, the Kingdom of God is near.Read the signs that are all around you and know that, the Kingdom of God is near.
Saturday December 5th, Luke 21:34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."Live your life in the presence of God.Show your love in the presence of God.There is a tendency to compartmentalize our lives.Sunday morning for church, Sunday afternoon for football (more often, that is Sunday morning also), Monday for work, Tuesday evening bowling, Thursday go out to eat with the family, Friday is date night, etc.The trouble is that we tend to leave God back on the Sunday morning compartment and work to keep him out of the rest of our compartmentalized lives.If Christ is the light of the world that means the rest of our compartmentalized lives remain in the dark.It is in the darkness that the fear mongers, like “left behind” and some politicians and preachers ply their trade.Immanuel, God with us means that God goes in all the compartments of life and begins with the words, “fear not.”
My name is Francis Tolliver.I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here,
I fought for King and country I love dear.
It was Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung.
The frozen field of France were still, no Christmas song was sung.
Our families back in England were toasting us that day,
their brave and glorious lads so far away.
I was lyin' with my mess-mates on the cold and rocky ground
when across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound.
Says I "Now listen up me boys", each soldier strained to hear
as one young German voice sang out so clear.
"He's singin' bloddy well you know", my partner says to me.
Soon one by one each German voice joined in in harmony.
The cannons rested silent.The gas cloud rolled no more
as Christmas brought us respite from the war.
As soon as they were finished a reverent pause was spent.
'God rest ye merry, gentlemen' struck up some lads from Kent.
The next they sang was 'Stille Nacht"."Tis 'Silent Night'" says I
and in two toungues one song filled up that sky.
"There's someone commin' towards us" the front-line sentry cried.
All sights were fixed on one lone figure trudging from their side.
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on that plain so bright
as he bravely strode, unarmed, into the night.
Then one by one on either side walked into no-mans-land
with neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand.
We shared some secret brandy and wished each other well
and in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell.
We traded chocolates, cigarettes and photographs from home
these sons and fathers far away from families of their own.
Young Sanders played his squeeze box and they had a violin
this curious and unlikely band of men.
Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more.
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war.
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wonderous night
"whose family have I fixed with
in my sights?"
It was Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung.
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung.
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war
had been crumbled and were gone for ever
more.
My name is Francis Tolliver.In Liverpool I dwell.
Each Christmas come since World War One I've learned it's lessons well.
That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame
and on each end of the rifle we're the same.
During the last few days, Psalm 109:8, a Bible verse in the form of a “prayer for Obama,” has topped the Google trends chart: “May his days be few; may another take his office.” Evidently, a bumper sticker emblazoned with this verse has popped up in various parts of the country. It is a sort of right-wing Christian equivalent to the old “01.20.09″ stickers looking forward to the end of the Bush era.
It was, most likely, intended as a joke. But it isn’t really very funny. Especially since the next verse reads, “May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.” The passage goes on the same way — asking God to pulverize this poor fellow — that he lose all his worldly goods, that his orphans be abandoned, that his father be remembered as a sinner, and finally, that “his memory be cut off from the earth.”
Thus, the “Prayer for Obama” does more than anticipate that he leaves office; it entreats God to destroy the president.
Psalm 109 belongs to a special category of the psalms known as “imprecatory” prayers — it is a lament in the form of petition to destroy one’s enemies. It is the personal prayer of an individual, someone who has been dealt an injustice by another (usually more powerful) person. The words of Psalm 109 are those of deep agony, the longings of a victim for retribution and justice. This psalm is considered one of the most difficult of all the psalms — full of violent images of vengeance and death. Many a biblical critic has struggled with its words, and not a few — including Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant theologians — recommend it not be used in public worship, much less as a bumper-sticker political slogan.
In his marvelous book, Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis observed:
In some of the Psalms the spirit of hatred which strikes us in the face is like the heat from a furnace mouth. In others the same spirit ceases to be frightful only by becoming (to a modern mind) almost comic in its naivety. Examples can be found all over the Psalter, but perhaps the worst is in 109 (p. 20).
Lewis suspects that it may be best to leave such psalms alone. But then he says that we must face “facts squarely.”
The hatred is there — festering, gloating, undisguised — and also we should be wicked if we in any way condoned or approved it, or (worse still) used it to justify similar passions in ourselves (p. 22).
Lewis refers to these psalms as horrible, devilish, cruel, hateful, and evil. He believes that Psalm 109 — and the poetry of its kind in the psalter — should point us back to the evil we carry within and teach us each how to behave with goodness, humility, and love.
According to the venerable C.S. Lewis, then, a “Prayer for Obama” is really a prayer for ourselves to go beyond “festering, gloating, undisguised” hatred. ”If the Divine does not call to make us better, it will make us very much worse,” he reminded his readers. “Of all bad men, religious bad men are the worst.”
Sunday November 22nd, Daniel 7: As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.This is one of the visions of the end times in Daniel.It was a vision that helped put in perspective the power and force of one of the mightiest nations in the world.This nation had power, and weapons and might, and was to be feared by all on earth and it ruled by use of that power, military might, influence and money, does that sound the least bit familiar?Compared to the Ancient of Days, the Lord God Almighty however, its power is nothing.This section of Daniel is a call to place ones focus not on the power of this world, but where this world will ultimately be when God is through with it.It is a call to catch the vision of the future and live in that vision now.All of scripture can be summed up in the words, love God, love others.That is the good advice and the God advice for today.What is God’s all inclusive vision for your future?Now live it in your life today.
Monday November 23rd, Daniel 7: Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.The horn is the mouthpiece of the power of this world, the mouthpiece of military and monetary might.In God's vision there is no place for it in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of the future, the kingdom of our future.Other temptations are all still around us, but their time is limited.When we catch this vision for God's future world, it is hard to get all caught up in the power plays of this world.God's future is a world of peace; a world where all live as the children of God, a place where there is healing and wholeness.God's call is a call to start living that vision now, in our lives today.
Tuesday November 24th, Daniel 7: In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, Immanuel, God with us has come to be with us.The Prince of Peace is given the authority, glory and sovereign power over all people, nations, rulers and multinational corporations.The Prince of Peace, who went to the cross to bring forgiveness to all the world brings true peace to you, here, today.The Prince of Peace, the lamb who was slain for the forgiveness of sin for all people.Catch the vision and live starting now.
Wednesday November 25th, Revelation 1: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. 7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. The Revelation vision is one of the Prince of Peace coming to bring peace to all the world.This Prince of Peace is the beginning and the end, a part of, and yet beyond all time who freed us from our sins.All who pierced him, all the people of the earth will mourn because of him.Mourn because our sins will be laid out before us.Not in judgment, but in purification.The manifestation of all the sin in our lives will bring about a great deal of mourning, the forgiveness of those sins is the vision of the New Jerusalem, God’s presence with us all.
Thursday November 26th, John 18: 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"I imagine Pilates voice to be half mocking, half wondering, and yet with a hint of hope.In the midst of our mocking and wondering at the prospect of peace in this world, are we too are filled with hope?Hope that the message of Jesus is true.Hope that the forgiveness if sins is true.Hope that the gift of grace, the forgiveness of sins and life eternal, is true.Hope!!Are you the one, Pilate asks?There is a part of each one of us that wonders and asks the same question.But also within us, in the very core of our being there is the small seed of hope that yells out, YES!!!!!And gives us a reason to live.
Diana Butler Bass is pretty much a postmodern progressive. In addition to blogging here, she also blogs at 