Thankfulness and Opportunity

I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. (Ephesians 1:16-19)

As I was reading that quote from Ephesians, I kept trying to stop sooner. But it just goes on and on saying important words to us as we continue this journey together. As we approach this month of Thanksgiving, I offer sincere thanks to all of you who are part of our community. Together we continue to seek God’s direction for how we will be faithful to our faithful God.

Remaining faithful to God doesn’t mean we remain static. As the world changes around us, we have to change to meet new challenges and opportunities (emphasis on opportunities). The greatness of God’s power will be at work as together we seek a way forward. And I will continue to give thanks for you as you join the conversation about how we do that.

In other words, change is coming. I’m not saying we’re going to become completely different from what we have been, but we have to adapt so we can continue to serve and witness to God’s love. The hardest part of change is not the change itself, but the anxiety over understanding the what and why. I would encourage you to ask when you don’t understand something that is happening.

I have no interest in upsetting the apple cart just for the chaos that it can cause. But there are some ways we can do better to fulfill God’s mission in this place - or even understanding what that mission is. So we will continue to embrace what God is doing to make things new in our work. Like...a different schedule for Advent.

Together we’ll enjoy the riches of God’s glorious inheritance and experience God’s power.

Continuing what I've learned

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

This part of 2 Timothy is filled with admonishment and exhortation. The author is encouraging a young disciple (whose actual identity is probably less important than the words being shared) in life with God. It is a message that bears no small amount of law as it speaks to create right behavior and good works.

Notable in this section is where this encouragement begins. "But as for you" he begins. In contrast to those who are wicked (who are described previously in the letter, the receiver is given direction. And it's important to see where that encouragement starts. "But as for you..." keep on keepin' on. Continue in what you already know. Keep doing what you have learned since you were a child. And remember who taught you to do it. You have a heritage of faith on which to draw and depend, you simply have to do it.

It makes me think of those who have been a part of my journey of faith - and there are many:

• My grandfather, who sat with us every Sunday in church and was an example of quiet but steady faith.
• My mother, who taught me to recognize the brokenness that we live through and continue to seek God anyway.
• My father, who shows me how we can continue to grow at any point in our lives.
• My wife, who makes me remember that God is God, and I am not. And my kids who reinforce the point. :-) 
• My seminary professors, mentors, colleagues...

The list goes on and on. So many people have shared their faith with me in countless variations and styles. I can put all their words and actions up on a ledger against my own and see where I have failed to live up to what they expected of me. And I can see the ways we have all failed to live up to what God expects of us.

And then I remember the heart of what they've shared with me all these years isn't that I'm being judged for how I have failed. I have been, and always will be, offered the gift of unconditional grace. No matter how many times I mess it up and don't do it the right way, I can turn back to God and hear words of forgiveness - for me. Over and over again. Which is good. I need that.

Who is it that has taught you? Feel free to comment below, or simply use that question as a devotional theme this week. Give thanks to God for those teachers. Give thanks to God for what you have learned. Give thanks to God for the opportunity we are given to rise daily from the waters of baptism feeling clean and forgiven. 

Maybe it's time to take those words and promises we know, and tell them to a new generation. So they too can know the love that God has for us...always.

Thankful hearts and voices raise...

Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation. Great are your works, O Lord, pondered by all who delight in them. (Psalm 111:1-2)

 Sometimes it's really hard to be thankful, and sometimes you can't help but sing and shout words of thanks for all that God has done. Life has a way of pushing us one way or the other. That's a rhythm we learn to accept. 

This week I am thankful for the Wednesday morning conversations we have been having about the Psalms and how they connect with our lives today. This ancient collection of poems and liturgical songs provides a window into our relationship with God as they express the ups and downs of life in ancient Israel, which really isn't that different than our own. The enemies and challenges carried different names and levels of complexity, but life has always been challenging on this side of Eden. 

The psalms describe God's work. They describe our need for God's care and concern to be present in our day to day struggles. They describe our anger when we feel abandoned and betrayed. They give voice to our feelings of brokenness and pain as we struggle to find a way through a world of hate and anger.

It's easy to get bogged down in the abandonment and betrayal; the anger and hate. It's easy to become jaded and perpetually focused on the negative realities we encounter so often. Psalm 111, quoted above, gives us another choice. We can come together in an "assembly of the upright." We can join our voices together in a song from our heart that expresses what we sometimes forget to keep in the center of our lives: that the works of God are great. 

Even if we don't know exactly how God is going to act or if God is going to work to change a current reality, we have the ability to fall back on the grace-filled reality that we are loved - unconditionally, without question, forever and always - loved by God. If for no other reason than that (and there are times when there might seem like no other reason), we can give thanks to God for that promise. 

Today I'll choose to say, "Hallelujah. Thank you." And the mere act of voicing it will move me beyond whatever I'm facing. Thanks be to God.

JESUS MAFA. Healing of the ten lepers, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48295 [retrieved October 5, 2016].