These verses remind us that the beauty surrounding us does not occur through coincidence.
I give thanks to God with everything I’ve got – wherever good people gather, and in the congregation. God’s works are so great, worth a lifetime of study – endless enjoyment! Splendor and beauty mark God’s craft; God’s generosity never gives out. God’s miracles are God’s memorial – this God of Grace, this God of Love.
These words remind us that God’s miracles are gifts from a loving creator.
God gave food to those who love the LORD, God remembered to keep God’s ancient promise. God proved to the people that God could do what God said. God manufactures truth and justice; all God’s products are guaranteed to last – never out-of-date, never obsolete, rust-proof. All that God makes and does is honest and true.
These verses remind us that God’s authority and works are authentic and sustaining, and last forever.
God is so personal and holy, worthy of our respect.
These verses remind us that God’s love is intimate and transforming, bringing with it the healing of our woes, the blessings for a lifetime.
The good life begins in the love of God – do that and you’ll know the blessing of God. God’s Hallelujah lasts forever!
These words remind us that we might join in with God’s great Hallelujah.
The ten Hallelujah Psalms are numbers 106, 111-113, 135, and 146-150. When we spend time with these songs and compare differing translations, we find renewal in the Spirit of Pentecost.
Fr. Richard Rohr speaks of psychologist Erik Erikson’s (1902-1994) description of a generativeperson as “one who is eager and able to generate life from his or her own abundance and for the benefit of following generations”. (Rohr 160)
When we reflect on this topic and how it links with Old Testament thinking, we might spend time with these verses from this ancient book of wisdom. The commentary in the HARPERCOLLINS STUDY BIBLE tells us: “The ancestors are glorious because of their recognition by God, their honorable achievements, their recognition by their own generations, their godliness, their legacy to their children, and their lasting name and memory”. (Meeks, 1601)
We consider what it means to be upright in God and we look at Acts 2:36-41: For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.
All generations – from our distant ancestors to our childrens’ childrens’ children are known to God.
All generations – from the beginning of time to its ending – are well loved by God.
All generations have the opportunity to be upright in and with God.
Rohr continues: “The God [of generative people] is no longer small, punitive, or tribal. They once worshipped their raft; now they love the shore where it has taken them. They once defended signposts; now they have arrived where the signs pointed. They now enjoy the moon itself instead of fighting over whose finger points to it most accurately, quickly, or definitively”. (Rohr 160)
And so we ask ourselves . . . What raft do we steer, and on what shore have we landed? What signposts do we hold up, and which do we follow? On what moon do we set our gaze, and what do we do with the gift of God’s promises?
Tomorrow, whose gaze do we follow?
Adapted from a reflection written on April 26, 2017.
As we move from the Advent to the Christmas season, let us decide to make our hopes tangible, our dreams a prayer for our reality, our faith unwavering and our love secure. Let us cleave to the Creator, follow the Redeemer and rest in the Spirit. This week let us give one another the gift of preparing for the very real promise of eternity.
The Old Testament prepares us for a child born in dangerous circumstances who will later save a nation.
When the daughter of Pharaoh opened the basket, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” (NRSV)
The story of the Hebrew captivity in Egypt prepares us to be a people in exile.
The princess opened the basket and saw a baby boy. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.(GNT)
The story of the Hebrew Exodus to a place of promise prepares us to be a pilgrim church.
She opened the basket and looked inside, and there in front of her was a crying baby boy! Moved with pity, she said, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children.” (CJB)
The story of the foreign princess nurturing a child who will rescue a nation prepares us for God’s promises.
Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the Nile to bathe; her maidens strolled on the bank. She saw the basket-boat floating in the reeds and sent her maid to get it. She opened it and saw the child—a baby crying! Her heart went out to him. She said, “This must be one of the Hebrew babies.”(MSG)
Behold, God uses the marginalized to reveal the false security of the center.
When we reflect on other translations of the Moses story, we understand that God speaks to always with stories of inversion. And we realize that our own story must stand on its head if it is to align with the story of Christ.
It is too easy to exclude those with whom we do not get along. It is too simple to reject enemies and assume negative thinking. It is too simple to form ourselves with dualistic thinking, creating tribes of those for and those against our way of thinking. Paul tells us that there is another way to behave when faced with the real meaning of the Gospel.
So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!
It is so difficult to put down our fears to extend a hand to those who announced our destruction as their intent. It is so disruptive to invite discordant voices into the symphony. It is so chaotic to have to explain ourselves yet again to those who will not listen.
Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them.
It is so simple when we place out trust in God. It is so authentic when we live as Jesus does. It is so refreshing to witness truth to lies by responding with patience rather than anger
As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God.
It is so surprising when we discover what God has in mind for us. It is so uplifting when we allow God’s will to transform us. It is so salvific when we do as Jesus asks and as the Spirit directs.
Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do!
It is so promising when we allow ourselves to reach out to others, even our enemies . . . especially our enemies. It is so rewarding when we stay true to the Gospel Jesus lives for us. It is so comforting when we rest in God’s enormous, wise and immutable hands . . . that reach out to bring us into the fold.
Yesterday Isaiah gave us clear evidence that God can and will do the impossible in our lives. Today he tells us that God’s bounty promises more than we can imagine.
I will speak out to encourage Jerusalem; I will not be silent until she is saved, And her victory shines like a torch in the night.
Images of marriage, of building, and of sentinels watching for the coming of one who saves are all familiar to those who read scripture. They will not be disappointed in today’s Noontimereading.
I will speak out . . . I will not be silent until she is saved . . .
I am thinking of the emotion we feel when we anticipate reunion with a loved one, when we enter into a new project or we feel the coming of change in our lives. Sometimes we can smell or taste or even feel a shift in the air. Sometimes these changes are good, sometimes not. In either case, change will arrive and although we have little or no control of what takes place, we do have control of our own behavior and of our own reactions to change. Isaiah here predicts something good in the offing. The fulfillment of a promise made by God, a promise that is certain to be kept, a promise that builds up and does not take away, a promise that brings light rather than dark, hope rather than despair.
I will speak out . . . I will not be silent . . . And her victory shines like a torch in the night.
And so we pray . . .
O God of justice and of love, you care for your people in every time and place, despite our tendency to stray from you in foolishness. Keep us in your care from morning until evening, that we may come to rest safely in the shadow of your all-powerful wings. We ask through our lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Adapted from a reflection written on Wednesday, August 25, 2010.
Visit the I will not be silentpost on this blog by entering the words in to the blog search bar.
And the Apostles said in reply: We must obey God rather than men . . .
Do we see Jesus’ Apostles as only the twelve who followed him? Do we believe that Jesus’ followers were men alone? Can we stretch beyond any narrowness to believe that we number among Jesus’ Apostles today? Are we willing to stand during difficult times to say . . . we must obey God rather than men . . .?
When we read these verses in their varying translations, how do they speak to us of Jesus’ remarkable gift of resurrection? What do they reveal to us about God’s generous promises? And why do they call us – or perhaps not call us – to become one with the Spirit that wants to heal a troubled world? When we use the scripture link to explore this story of the Apostles who carry out miracles in Jesus’ name well after his death, we find new life and new energy to carry out the Gospel in all we say and do. When we allow God’s goodness to settle into our bones, we find new courage and new patience to smile in the face of adversity.
A video presentation of Acts 5:17-42 may be of interest. While we may not be in accord with all the speaker tells us, we are invited to reflect on this story of the importance of obeying God. Click on the image above or go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MiSr5yx9nA
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.
Baruch 2: The Road to Destruction or Redemption – Part I
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
The apocryphal book of Baruch tells us how to live in exile; and in particular Chapter 2 gives us an important, two-fold message. It reminds us that God alwaysfulfills promises, and it also gives us an outline of how we might make our way back to the covenant we have chosen to abandon.
In Chapters 16 to 18 of Revelation we come upon something that reminds us of the infinite forgiveness and mercy of God. We see once again that in God all things are possible. We have understood the importance of being faithful in small ways to God. We have understood that closed, exclusive groups which stultify possibility and potential, darknesswhich hides and subsumes potential, and silencewhich conceals and enables deceit. . . will never conquer opennesswhich spawns universal communion, light which calls forth authentic life lead in integrity, and praise of Godwhich magnifies truth and joy.
In the end, God’s will of universal openness and light leads to jubilation. The dark world which opposes this truth germinates in envy and ends in destruction. And those who work so hard at building up a closed empire of selfrather than an open kingdom of all, bring about their own destruction at their own hands. We see this countless times. What is the allure of the darkness and deceit that is so tempting? It is the same siren call of Satan to Adam and Eve in Eden, You will be like gods . . .
There is something about the road to perdition that answers our human need to control. There is something about this broad highway leading to the wide gate that brings comfort to those who travel it in their closed special groups. The aching longing to be the bride who is rescued and loved by the steadfast, powerful groom is universal. Yet we insist on filling this yearning with superficial, finite relationships which ironically do not satisfy, and which ultimately destroy. We must respond to the summons of the road and choose redemption rather than perdition.
I willlead the blind by a way they do not know . . .
God says: Never doubt that I am with you.
In paths they do not know I will guide them . . .
God says: I know that anxiety and fear too often govern you.
I willmake darkness into light before them . . .
God says: Believe it or not, I love you and will not let you go astray.
Andrugged places into plains . . .
God says: What look like insurmountable obstacles are opportunities to draw close to me.
These are the things I will do . . .
God says: I always keep my promises. This trust I ask of you may at first seem foolish, but in the eternity of my wisdom it is prudent and wise.
And I will not leave them undone . . .
God says: Of this you can be certain. This is the mystery of wisdom. Trust it, and you will flourish.
Tomorrow, wisdom from Jesus.
Use the scripture link to explore this verse in other versions of the Bible. Or enter the words God’s promisesor trustinto the blog search bar and reflect on the mystery of wisdom and promises.
Click on the image above for another reflection on Isaiah 42:16.
The Noontimes 