Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left during the night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod died. This was done to make come true what the Lord had said through the prophet, “I called my Son out of Egypt.” (Matthew 2:14-15)
The child Jesus holds a wooden beam, foreshadowing his coming crucifixion and sacrifice. Joseph leans into his work with the child, perhaps sensing the sacrifice that is to come. In responding to the angel of God, Joseph saves his small family from immediate death, and preserves Jesus for the journey ahead that leads not only to Calvary, but to eternal life for all. Today we reflect on the fact that we cannot know what is to come. It is for this reason all the more important that we rely on God’s counsel and love.
Over the next few weeks we will be away from easy internet access but we will be pausing to read scripture and to pray and reflect at noon, keeping those in The Noontime Circle in mid-day prayer. You may want to click on the Connecting at Noon page on this blog at: https://thenoontimes.com/connecting-at-noon/ In these posts, we will have the opportunity to reflect on a scripture verse and an artist’s rendition of that event. Wishing you grace and love and peace in Christ Jesus.
When we recover from cataclysm and struggle to establish a new balance, there is always the temptation to withdrawn from a world that has disappointed or damaged us; but rather than listen to those who encourage a life of bitter regret, we hear the call to light and truth. The call to union, healing and love. What do we do with this invitation?
God says: The stories my chronicler has captured are lessons of my love for you. The ups and downs, the joys and disappointments of these ancient people are modern stories of my fidelity in remaining with you. I never tire of bringing you back to me. The verses my servant records are words of hope and healing for you. The pain and celebration of these long ago women and men are the same emotions experienced by you today. I am never wearied by the healing actions I take on your behalf. The words of the figures in these books are templates that you might use in your modern life. The curses and praises are songs of lament and delight that you might also sing. I will never give up on the plans I have in mind for you – plans for your good and not your woe. Remember this as you move through your obstacles, as you rely on me, as you spend time with me in your thoughts, actions and prayers.
Our shared history has stories we will want to hide because they bring us pain, and stories we will want to shout from the rooftop because they bring us reality and hope. Our collective narrative tells both the ugly and the beautiful because it describes the broad cloth of all humanity. Our mutual chronicle tells of a people who in their search for the Living God find this living, sacred person within, calling all civilization to union, serenity and love. Are we willing to share this most amazing of stories? Are we ready to tell the world this wonderful story of love?
The two books of Chronicles have four major portions that show us very human leaders; they illustrate the rise and fall of a people and nation. These verses tell us how division and exile can lead to forgiveness and return. Our sacred history shows us how we will want to learn to replace pride with humility. Our shared story guides us in moving from fear to love. These holy stories are treasures we will want to share with the world.
It is never too late to return to God. Never too late to give or ask forgiveness. There is always time to listen, to share, to commune, to re-visit, to believe, to hope, to love. A people in exile return to the source and summit of faith. A people hoping in darkness see a great light. A people created in love to bear witness to the strength of the threads of their lives that weave together in the great sacred history of humanity.
Today we take time to open our minds to the possibility of miracles. We open our hearts to the great love God has in store for us. We discover, in this weaving, believing and hoping just how and why we have been created . . . in and for God’s great love.
The two books of Chronicles have four major portions: a genealogy of our leaders beginning with Abraham (1 Chronicles 1-9), a description of the monarchy under David and Solomon (1 Chronicles 9 – 2 Chronicles 9), the divided kingdom (2 Chronicles 10-18), and the period from Hezekiah to the Babylonian exile (2 Chronicles 19-36). This story of divine promise interwoven with human commitment and infidelity tell a story that we might see reflected in our own personal sacred history. This story is worthy of our time.
God is in charge. This is what we know. We might rail against this fact, thinking this requisite of life a restriction but still, this is what we know.
God is present in our suffering as well as our joy. This is what we feel. We might doubt God’s existence and question God’s fidelity, thinking these truths to be myth but still, this is what we feel.
God wants us to be happy and peace-filled. This is what we experience. We might wonder why God allows pain and sorrow but still, this is what we experience.
Can we ever live up to God’s expectation? Of course we can. All we need do is to take God’s open hand.
Can we ever admit that God is in the smallest microbe and at the same time in the immensity of the multiverse? Of course we can. All we need do is to accept God’s invitation to transformation.
Can we ever admit that God’s wisdom is enduring and inevitable? Of course we can. All we need do is to relax into God’s enormous heart.
And so we pray.
Good and loving God, you have entrusted all that you are to humanity’s hands. May we communicate your love in all we say. You have taken the dare to believe in us. May we return your love in all we think. You have gathered us up, taken us in, and made us your own. May we return this infinite love in our own small way in all we do. We ask this in Jesus’ name, together with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Job’s friends believe that he is guilty of some crime against God; why else does he suffer so heavily? Job’s friends do not understand that God has taken a dare from Satan (Job 1), trusting that Job will remain faithful no matter the circumstances. Bildad does not recognize Job as an instrument in God’s plan; he cannot imagine that God calls to the potential place in Job at his conception . . . or that God calls on the potential placed in each of us to respond to God’s immense love in such a steadfast manner.
Reeds can’t grow where there is no water . . .
God says: Send down your roots into my Word each day with confidence.
Evil people sprout like weeds in the sun, like weeds that spread all through the garden. Their roots wrap around the stones and hold fast . . . But then pull them up—no one will ever know they were there . . .
God says: Place all your hope in the promise of my mercy.
God will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy.
God says: My joy in you is endless and boundless.
Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.
God says: I have great plans for you. Plans for joy and not for woe. When evil visits you, remain in me. I am the only force that can bring about the miracle of your transformation. Take the dare that Satan hands to you by trusting me more than yourself. Follow me. Rest in me. Trust in me. Remain in me. Take up the great dare that my love for you can bring about the impossible.
When we spend time with these verses and reflect on varying translations, we begin to see the depths and breadth and height of God’s love for humanity. Use the scripture link and drop-down menus to explore.
We have reflected on God’s home and God’s foolish message. We have watched Paul and Barnabas use sinew and muscle to share the good news of God’s mercy. Today we consider how God’s goodness and love nurture and shepherd us.
Adapted from a Favorite written on April 5, 2008.
Today some of my children have gathered to help me with the chores that are too much for me to accomplish on my own, and I know that my parents are happy about this. I also know that Mother and Dad are here in spirit, continuing to shepherd from the next world, even as they shepherded in this one. They loved to call together “work parties” with the ostensible purpose of accomplishing some task, but which always resulted in more bonding than any of us could have imagined.
Shepherds protect and guard in many fashions. My parents led us to the nourishing springs Ezekiel describes that rejuvenate even dead bones. How do we lead others? How do our actions speak to others? How do we demonstrate our willingness to love as Jesus loves?
For my part, I will allow God to call me and mine as God sees fit . . . and I rejoice to see my children and their children live lives that are happy not because they are satisfying themselves, but because they are doing what they know to be the work of God.
In good times and in bad, in celebration and in sorrow, it is my constant prayer that my children, grandchildren and I might continue helping one another to keep our eyes fixed on the the one shepherd who cares for his sheep so well.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15)
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Click on the shepherd image above, or enter the word shepherd into the blog search bar to further explore how God leads, supports, and loves us.
Today’s reading is designed to astonish us. Paul writes: God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world to shame the strong.Reading other versions might give us further insight to the inversion God uses in relating with creation.
God says: When you look for things in your life to be sensible and logical you may miss their reason for existing. Indeed, you may miss their very essence. When observing the world, consider whose value complex you use as a measuring stick. Is it yours? Or is it mine? You see where Jesus spent his time, do you not? When he saw that the scribes and Pharisees were not open to his truth, he instructed them and then moved on, shaking their dust from his sandals.
Then he returned to the lost sheep who need his healing and guidance. Jesus lives with the shunned, the lonely, the rejected and abandoned. Can you see why my servant Paul describes my kingdom as inverted? All that is powerful in the world is nothing to me. Rather, I prefer to abide with those who live in pain. My mercy is great enough, long-lasting enough and deep enough to heal all the injustices of the multiverse. And despite this enormity, I see you as precious and as worthy of my love. Remember this today when you are the last. Remember this today when you are the lowest. Remember this today when you are weak and sad. Remember this today and always. My love for you is never-ending and mighty. This is my foolish message that I send to you today.
Use the blog search bar to explore the God’s Yardstick posts. Use the scripture link to compare other versions of these verses.
James Tissot: Simon the Cyrenian Compelled to Carry the Cross with Jesus
There is an inexorable force which drives our existence. Some of us identify its scientific origin, others of us focus on its spiritual origin. Some of believe that God drives this science; others of us believe that synchronicity and evolution direct our existence. But no matter the origin of our thinking, and no matter our circumstances, we all see the predictable: those of us born into human flesh will come to a very human end. This is an inevitability we cannot avoid. This is the greatest gift ever offered. This is a promise none will want to doubt. Ezekiel’s audience turned away from his prophecy because they could not bear to hear the truth which they saw as terrible but which was, indeed, wonderful. Today when we hear the good news that we are loved beyond measure and that all our worries and woes can be put into God’s hands we will want to choose to trust God and the inevitability of God’s love?
Yesterday we reflected on the certainty of Ezekiel’s prophecy and how history tells us that his predictions held true. We also made a connection between the unavoidability of this prophecy and the persistent nature of God’s promises to us, the unrelenting presence of God’s love for us as shown by the birth of the Christ. The ancient oracle foreshadows the promise kept.
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying out, Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. (Galatians 4:4-7)
Whether we want to admit this fact or not, we are in intimate relationship with God. This is something we cannot change.
Whether we feel God’s presence or we do not, we are in constant union with God. This is a concept we cannot reject.
Whether we feel God’s love for us or we do not, we are the center of God’s focus at all times. This is the reality we cannot rebuff.
God is so good, so generous and so overpowering that we cannot avoid closeness with him. God is so patient, so forgiving and so compassionate that he waits with us as we struggle against the fears and anxieties of the world. God is so caring, so tender, and so loving that he allows us to behave as we like as he continues to offer this gift of self to us. God has known us from our origin and God knows our path. And God waits. God persists. God loves. Inevitably.
Jerusalem fell and God’s people were taken into exile. This was predicted. This came to pass. This was inevitable. This we now know.
Jesus is among us to deliver us from all that pains us. This was predicted. This has come to pass. This too, is inevitable. This too, we can know.
As we enter the last week before Palm Sunday and Holy Week, let us consider God’s inevitable gift and promise.
As we anticipate the miracle of Easter resurrection, let us rejoice and be glad.
And as we draw nearer to the Good News of the Easter Story, let us act as if we believe in these good tidings. Let us give thanks for this wondrous and profound gift of God’s inevitable love.
An adapted re-posting of a reflection written on December 25, 2011.
William Holman Hunt: The Finding of the Savior in the Temple
Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 19, 2023
Today’s familiar story foreshadows the conflict that will take place in Jesus’ adult years when his message of God’s mercy brings the wrath of leaders against him, and lays the fate of creation in his hands. As a child, Jesus remains in Jerusalem after Passover to converse with temple elders. Discovered by his parents, he goes home to live obediently with them. The child Jesus dazzles leaders and yet lives in humility. The child Jesus knows that God is in charge.
Coptic Icon: Transfiguration of Christ
The man Jesus goes up to the mountain to experience his own transfiguration, but he does not go alone. He takes two friends who later testify to this beautiful experience on the mountain top. The man Jesus confounds his friends and yet delivers the expectation that his kingdom is here and now. The man Jesus knows that God’s outrageous hope is essential to human existence.
The prophet Jesus brings healing and confidence to the marginalized and forgotten. He escapes the crowd by disappearing over the brow of the hill. He slips through the fingers of those who would obliterate him. He challenges our beliefs and our doubts. The prophet Jesus knows that God’s enduring faith is critical in the human journey.
The risen Jesus defies all laws of physics and logic to bring hope to the abandoned and faith to the desperate. He hands himself over to the authorities who despise him. He suffers meekly at the hands of his enemies whom he calls to goodness. He offers the gift of healing and solace to all of creation. Christ Jesus knows that God’s enormous love is crucial in our human lives.
As we approach Palm Sunday and its story of Christ’s Passion, let us remember our Lenten practices while we journey up to Jerusalem. As we near our Easter home, let us pray, meditate and remember that once we were fearful, and now we rest in Christ. Once we doubted and now we believe. Once we were lost and now, like the child Jesus, we are found.
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