Category Archives: Biblical Reflection

Face of Despair, Face of Hope

Readings: Psalm 146:5-10; Ruth 1:6-18; 2 Peter 3:1-10

I read something just yesterday that broke my heart. One of the greatest football players I ever witnessed with my own eyes, pure poetry in motion, a former Heisman Trophy winner, one of the greatest running backs in the history of college football, committed suicide at age 42 in a park located on Boulder, Colorado’s west side. In 1994, he was the toast of the town, the talk of the whole country. The tragedy has set me wondering: where does happiness end and despair begin? This is a fair question in a culture dominated by youth, material success and fame, by anxiety, depression and psychotropic medication.

I think the psalm appointed for today can perhaps give us some clues. “Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! Whose hope is in the Lord their God…” (Psalm 146:4) It sounds rather cliché, don’t you think? Believe in God and everything will take care of itself? I wonder if there is more to it than simply being attentive to God. I believe what the Psalmist could be getting at is this notion that our deepest joy is found in being about what God is about, in being co-creators with the Creator. The Psalmist is clear:

God gives justice to those who are oppressed and food to those who hunger.

God is busy setting free those who are imprisoned by life’s snares.

God opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up those who are dejected and lonely.

God is about befriending the stranger and giving hope to the orphan and the widow.

God does in fact stand in the way of wickedness and all the forces at work to dehumanize and objectify.

If this is what God is about, then couldn’t we say that our joy and happiness may very well stem from joining this work in our own way and in our own context? Such work isn’t flashy and it won’t make us famous, but siding with God and God’s creatures is divine work with eternal consequences.

This is not to say that this young man didn’t join God’s work, but somewhere along the line that all got clouded over and lost in the translation. One of his teammates said, “He was so defined, I think too often by winning the Heisman Trophy and not by other things that made him a whole person, things that he loved and cared about and I think he, in fact I know he had challenges at times making that transition.” (CBS News)

If the suicide of a young, healthy and famous football player is the face of despair, then the face of hope must certainly be whatever make us whole, whatever profoundly connects us with our Creator and all of God’s beloved creatures.

O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 814)

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Offered by Dave Fredrickson, spiritual director, priest, seeker of the Christ Child.

A Pavement of Words

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Readings: Psalm 21; Genesis 15:1-18; Matthew 12:33-37

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgement you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Matthew 12:34b-37

Careless words aren’t the four letter ones I might say if I drop a frying pan on my foot. They aren’t the awkward sentences that come from nervous teens giving an oral report, and they aren’t the outbursts of cranky children well past their bedtimes. Jesus said these words to pharisees who accused him of using demonic power to heal a possessed person. He is talking about words that reveal an “I could care less” attitude, words that dismiss and diminish the one who hears them. Sarcasm that pokes fun with a barbed stick, accusations meant to shame, taunts that shatter a fragile sense of self: these are the careless words that will be given back to me and require an explanation.

My path through Advent is paved with the intentional words of scripture. They keep me on the way, and they give me a chance to appreciate the wonder of the Christ child. They lead me to life, and they ask me to love God and the God created world. They remind me that what is heard and read will be digested and remembered. They will produce fruit.

Do my words pave a path? Where does the path take the ones who hear them? If I remember to ask myself these two questions, perhaps I will no longer utter careless words. Perhaps all my words will be full of care. Perhaps the love they convey will shine a light in a dark place. For Advent and beyond, I’d like to try.

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Better suited?

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Readings: Psalm 21; Isaiah 41:14-20; Romans 15:14-21

…from Jerusalem and as far around as Illiricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ. Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.” Romans 15:19b-21

“Well, that is just sin.” This was the answer a retired pastor gave when the president of the seminary said that perhaps clergy from his denomination were called to serve educated, middle class and wealthy churches. In fairness to the seminary president, I think he meant that the training the seminary provided was geared toward those groups.

In fairness to the retired pastor, such a sentiment is just sin – sin as in missing the point in some crucial way, heading in the wrong direction even with the best of intentions. The point isn’t to find the most comfortable match between a pastor and congregation, or between the educational backgrounds of congregants and seminarians. The point is to share the astonishing truth that God loves us. The point is to encourage one another to live in that love, and to love and serve all of God’s beloved children. See God in Christ! Listen to him! Everything else is a side issue.

If I take the life and words of Jesus seriously, I have to admit that it was usually the strangers and foreigners and the needy and uneducated who recognized God-With-Us. If this is true, I suspect that those who shall see, and those who shall understand aren’t necessarily the ones who are familiar with church and its customs and leaders. If this is true, Paul served the ones best equipped to recognize Jesus when they met him. Perhaps he thought his the easier road…

Come, Lord Jesus, Come. Give me eyes to see you and ears to hear your voice. I don’t want to miss you.

A Life of Quiet Aspiration

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Readings: Psalm 21; Isaiah 24:1-16a; I Thessalonians 4:1-12

But we urge you, more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one. I Thess. 4:10-12

The world is a noisy place these days. It’s almost impossible to be in public without hearing a phone ring, sing, or yell. Motion sensitive holiday displays startle passersby in malls and on sidewalks. This external noise is often matched, sometimes even exceeded, by the internal cacophony of thoughts, feelings, and songs running through the mind. In such a world, to aspire to live quietly is as much a literal challenge as it is a lifestyle choice.

There is a big difference between lowering the volume and pace of life and muting or unplugging it. I don’t think this is recommending a life of silence or hiding. I think it’s a call to cultivating inner and outer quiet, keeping the stereo of my life at a volume that won’t frighten the neighbors or deafen me.

Living quietly brings with it blessings that a full volume life just can’t. I will hear what someone means, not just the words spoken. I will listen for God in the still, small voices of birds and crickets. I can pay attention to the inner voices of peace and compassion that often get drowned out by the louder voices of fear and worry. I can mind my own inner and outer affairs well enough to notice when others could use my help – and well enough to notice when my help is neither requested nor required.

A quiet life is a blessed life, and a life that can bless others. It’s something I aspire to. Quietly.

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Hope

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Readings: Malachi 3:1-4 or Baruch 5:1-9; Luke 1:68-79; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6

Today in churches throughout the world we light the second purple candle on the Advent wreath—the candle of HOPE. Hope has two meanings in the Bible: tiqvah—anticipation, a sense of eagerly awaiting something; and eipis—confident expectation based on certitude. I love Jim Wallis’ definition of hope as believing in spite of the evidence and then watching the evidence change.

In the Hebrew scriptures we read of the certain hope of the coming of the Messiah and the restoration of Jerusalem. One of the appointed readings for today is taken from the Apocrypha—the book of Baruch, where in stirring prose Jerusalem is told to look to the east and see the joy that is coming from God. Look, your children are coming, whom you sent away…rejoicing in the glory of God (4:36,37) and continues into today’s reading: “Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.(5:1)

In the gospel reading for today we have the magnificent “Benedictus”—” The Song of Zechariah “ (Luke 1:68-79):

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.”

The fulfillment of one thousand years of hoping is made manifest this day in the temple—giving certainty to our anticipation of the coming of the Word among us, as if to say—”Believe! The evidence is changing!”

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Offered by Bill Albritton, teacher and seeker of the Christ Child.