This has been a week full of troubling news reports and seeing many inflamed facebook opinions. I will always address issues which I believe are gospel issues – the separation of children at the border is one of those. How you solve immigration may have many partisan answers, but we must never sanction the separation of kids from their parents. Remember, these are parents fleeing from violence and hoping for a better future. However, I try and refrain from addressing partisan issues (I am not weighing in for or against Trump or Obama. I pray and have prayed for both. I am not weighing in for or against a particular idea on securing borders, etc.) because I never want to cut off someone from hearing from me what is really important – and that is the gospel.

With all that has been going on these past few weeks, I have taken great solace in two facts. The first is from Revelation 4:2. In that chapter, John is invited up into heaven. Here he is imprisoned on the island of Patmos, having witnessed the death of all his friends and fellow disciples. God says John – I have news for you – there is a throne that still exists in heaven – and there is one who is seated on that throne. It is not Nero, or any other human being – but King Jesus! How thankful I am for that reminder.

The other passage that has been resonating with me is that of Lamentations 3:22,23

22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 

23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

Regardless of what I hear on the news or on my Facebook feed – the one constant each day is that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. In fact, his mercies are new every morning! Now, that is worth shouting about!

Holy Thursday is upon us – the mystery of the Paschal Lamb is near. This night began with the most humbling and powerful events – Jesus washing the feet of the disciples (including Judas).

I hear His words commanding us to love one another as He has loved us – to wash one another with waters of grace and forgiveness.

At the end, Mark reminds us that they sang a hymn and went out into the night (Mark 14:26). What hymn? Psalm 113 through Psalm 118 are the Great Hallel Psalms which were used at various points in the Passover.

Let me share some of the Hallel and I want you to imagine Jesus singing these words as he heads out to the Garden to pray and be arrested.

Psalm 116: 3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. 

4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!” 

5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful. 

Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. 

Then hear these powerful words from Psalm 118 extolling the steadfast love of the Lord:

1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! 

2 Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 

3 Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 

4 Let those who fear the LORD say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 

5 Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free. 

6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? 

7 The LORD is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. 

8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. 

This is a good book written by a friend, John Armstrong, who has walked a similar journey as me. In chapter 5 John reminds us of the words of Luther – “From faith flows forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love, a cheerful, willing, free spirit, disposed to serve our neighbor voluntarily, without taking any account of ingratitude, praise or blame, gain or loss.”

He employs a metaphor from De Mello who maintained that a holy and loving person is like a rose. “Have you ever heard a rose say, “I am going to give my fragrance only to good people who smell like me, and I am going to deny my perfume to evil people? No, it is the very nature of the rose to spread fragrance.”

Paul talks to us of spreading the fragrance of Christ with similar ideas in mind. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the essential question is “Who is my neighbor” or perhaps better – “To whom am I being a neighbor?” The challenge, according to N.T. Wright is clear: Will you recognize everyone is your neighbor and then respond with true, unconditional and costly love?

Some of my dear friends think Ash Wednesday and Lent are not for the Reformed church. I could write much on this idea, but want to simply focus on Ash Wednesday since that is today.

Do we need to be reminded of our mortality? Scripture bids us often to be heavenly minded. We are exhorted to not set our affections on things on earth. We are told that while God is eternal, this life is a vapor. We are told to number our days that we might apply our heart to wisdom.

In a day when society is enamored with beauty, fitness, living longer, and a quest for the “fountain of youth”, I find the need to be reminded of the brevity of this life a very necessary thing.

I can get so focused on this life and the stuff of this world that I forget. I forget that there is an eternity to live for and to live in light of.  I forget that things and stuff are passing away, but there is that which remains.

Here are the words of Psalm 90:

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 

3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” 

4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. 

5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 

6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. 

It is January 2 today and I love the idea of a new year full of opportunities. Yes, I am one of those who always looks for the positive. My mind always runs to Psalm 90 at this time of year.

There the Psalmist contemplates the eternality of God and his own mortality and concludes with these words:

12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

From there he prays that the Lord will establish the work of his hands. In other words, let what we do count for the kingdom!

I am also reminded of the tyranny of the immediate in my life. Who’s got time for God in this busy world we live in. We are bombarded by opportunities, noise, opinions, technology. It all gets rather overwhelming if we are not careful.

To make matters worse, we know we should carve out time with God but we feel guilty that we do not do that often enough. That very guilt compounds and builds between us and God.

Some years ago I read a book by Gordon MacDonald in which he advocated for the creation of Sabbathing moments in the middle of our busy lives to allow time for our souls to catch up with our bodies.

What is a Sabbathing moment? It is an intentional use of 5 minutes (can be any length), in which you shut down and spend time talking to God. That time may be prayer, it may be reading His Word, it may be quiet meditation.

Who’s got time? You and I do. We have 86,400 seconds to spend each day. Time we will never get back. How will we spend that time this day? Let’s make some Sabbathing moments in our busy lives to quiet ourselves with God and to be reminded that He is still God.

I love Advent as it is a great antidote to the chaos of the Christmas Season. In amongst all the shopping, plans for dinners, and many end-of-year obligations sits Advent, with its call to us to wait in hope.

Advent is a call to us to wait in hope for the Christ to come again one day in power and great glory. Advent reminds us that Jesus is coming again one day and He will set all things right!

When I read my newspaper or listen to the evening news, I realize how desperately we need that to happen. Thankfully the Prince of Peace will come one day and the fullness of His peace will be realized. The lion will lie down with the lamb. Peace will rule.

Yet, the call of Advent is to wait in expectant hope. It is not a call to resignation that this world is awful and we just need Jesus to come again. It is a call to us to be people of peace, mercy, grace, civility, and justice in our world NOW!

If you want a good read this Advent, pick up “Costly Love” by John Armstrong. You will enjoy the read!

Jeff Binder writes:

“How is your heart these days? What obstacles in your spiritual life would prevent God from entering into your daily life? No matter how much work you do to prepare, no matter how many or few obstacles you may have in your life, the message from Isaiah is pretty clear: “There’s a new sheriff in town!,” and you and I will be witnesses together to God’s saving love.”

Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

For me, the season of Advent is a wonderful antidote to the cultural Christmas we have seen develop around us. I, like you, was bombarded with ads for Black Friday. Then we had Cyber Monday which set new records.

I am not one to lament the commercialization of Christmas. I don’t get worked up if someone wished me Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. I do not think that Starbuck’s design of cups at Christmas is something to be bothered about.

I do not expect the world around me to embrace my Christian faith, though I work and pray for the advancement of the gospel! I think Advent is the perfect solution to all of those concerns. Advent invites us into the narrative of waiting in hope.

Yesterday, in a Bible Study, we were reflecting on the statement by Simeon that the soul of Mary would be pierced by her son. I imagine that every day for the first few years Mary had to wonder – “Is today the day my soul will be pierced?” As the years progressed, perhaps the questions came less often.

But the message of Christmas connects us to Holy week and there, as her son hung on the cross, her soul was pierced. In Acts 1 we have the last statement about Mary in our Protestant Bibles. There we read that she was with the disciples in the upper room and they were praying. Praying that the mission of her son might be realized. Praying that his death would not be in vain. Praying in the hope that she would one day see her son again.

That is Advent. Waiting in hope that one day we will see her son again!

In our church, we pray the Lord’s prayer on a weekly basis. It is a beautiful prayer that Jesus used in response to the request by his disciples that He might teach them to pray. I love this prayer and yet I find it deeply convicting.

For instance, we pray: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on EARTH as it is in heaven.” While those words come easily to my lips, they haunt me with their profound implications. Those words remind me that being heavenly minded has a lot more to do with the here and now than with the “sweet by and by.”

The news of the Kingdom of God is the good news of the gospel. The good news the disciples proclaimed is that Jesus frees us from the reign of sin and enables us to live to the glory of God in the present. The Kingdom of God has come, is here now, and will be fully present in a day yet to come.

But, this kingdom is unlike anything we have ever seen. It is a kingdom of mercy, grace, hope, and justice contrasted to the kingdoms of power, wealth, and might that we are so enamored with.

What would it look like if we, as Christians, tried to be the answer to the prayer “on earth as it is in heaven?” I think our words and our actions would be marked by humility, our pocketbooks opened to help the hurting of our world, our arms ready to embrace, our lips filled with grace rather than hate-filled and blustering words, and our hearts enamored with the good news of the gospel.

Regardless of the specific solution in the area of healthcare, we would be overwhelmed with the desire that we provide decent coverage for the sick and hurting of our country. Rather than focusing on kneeling or not kneeling at trivial football games, perhaps we might hear the cries to speak to racial tension and division in our country.

Kingdom living is messy – it is hard – it is inconvenient. It is denying self, taking up the cross daily and living the glory of God in our communities and neighborhoods. May God help us!

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.

We are surrounded by sound bites and strong opinions. We are bombarded with loud voices and not much listening. I was at a local restaurant here in Sarasota the other day and I could not help but listen in on a conversation in which the four had very different opinions that were shared. These viewpoints were strongly held and vigorously defended, but at the end there was the idea expressed about how thankful they were that they could do that with respect and dignity.

This is increasingly rare in our day. Paul exhorts us with these words:

⁵ Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

We may not be able to change the landscape of our modern world, but we can begin by practicing grace filled speech with those we come across today.

We read that the disciples went about proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Whatever we make of the idea of the Kingdom of God it is clear that it is radically good news for us.

The gospel of Matthew gives us a clear picture of what the kingdom looks like and what it is about. It shows us the ethics of the kingdom and paints a picture of what kingdom living looks like.

We pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, ON EARTH as it is in heaven.” This is challenging and transforming. What does the kingdom look like? It is unlike anything we have seen. It is not a kingdom of might, armies, power, and politics. It is a kingdom in which the poor are blessed, in which mercy is valued. It is a kingdom of peacemakers and righteousness.

If these are kingdom values, then this is what we are to be about as the people of God. In a day of threats from North Korea, tweets from Trump, and unrest in many parts of the world, we need to proclaim the good news of Christ – the good news of the kingdom – that the leaders of our world might have hearts that long for peace because they are in love with the Prince of Peace.

“Those who believe in ‘redemptive violence’ – that the kingdom will come through shedding the blood of enemies – will be disgusted. Those who believe that the best path is to compromise and adapt to the status quo will find Jesus’ words unsettling and therefore unsatisfactory.”

I know, this sounds impossible. But with God all things are possible. What would it mean if we began to think that this kind of kingdom is not only possible, but the only path to joy, the only authentically saving message that we have?