We are moving – not a long move. We are moving across town to a different house. We are both excited and tired of packing. Just living the dream!

I am reminded of a song by Delbert McClinton entitled “Too Much Stuff”. Boxes everywhere – packing material – too much stuff.

In my reading today I read Luke 9:1-6. Jesus sending out the twelve. He sends them out to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God and to heal. I am struck by several ideas from this.

First, the news of the Kingdom of God is good news – it is great news. The news of the Kingdom is not news about what will happen to you one day when you die – it is about the good news that the Kingdom of God is here – it is in us – it is among us. It transforms us as we live out the grace, love, mercy, holiness, and justice that our Lord lived out and gave witness to in His life.

What would it look like if God were truly in charge of our lives – our churches?

But in order to fulfill the mission Christ gave them, they had to pack light. That is something my wife and I are not always good at. It seems like we always come home from a trip with clothes we never wore and I vow to pack lighter the next time. I am especially reminded of that as we “thin out” in this move. Pack light…

We need to “pack light” if we are to be free to do mission. We need to rid ourselves of unnecessary baggage and focus on proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom. That may be baggage of unnecessary opinions and ideas – it may be baggage of toxic relationships – it may be baggage of ancillary theological opinions, it may be the baggage of treasured political opinions. Pack light…

What do I need to pack in order to be laser-focused on proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom?

While there will always be some disagreement as to what happened when during these days of Holy Week, Mark 14 links to stories together that frame the events of the week.

The first picture Mark paints is that of a woman who comes to the house of Simon the leper in Bethany and anoints the head of Jesus. Now, there are several things about this that I find fascinating. First, Jesus goes to eat with Simon, a leper. This had been the pattern of Jesus throughout his life, no reason for that to change now. He is always going to those on the margins of society and extending grace.

This woman takes a costly jar of nard, and she breaks the alabaster jar and purs out the ointment on the head of Christ. Extravagant, yes! But such was the depth of her love as she had obviously experienced the grace of forgiveness which was beyond cost.  Her deed continues to be told!

The second picture also continues to be told. Judas plots to betray our Lord. Here is what I find surprising. Much of our discussion about Judas centers on his motive. He did it for the money; he was a thief; he had become convinced that non-violence was not the right path; he was afraid for his own future….

But Mark’s emphasis is not on Judas’s motive, but on his membership among the twelve. For three years he had been among the twelve. For three years he had seen the miracles. For three years he had observed grace in human flesh. For three years…

For three years Jesus had treated Judas no differently. For three years Jesus had loved Judas as he had the others. When Jesus announces that one will betray him – they do not look at Judas. Instead, they ask “Is it I?”

Holy Wednesday gives us two stories that could not be more different. Such is the wonder of this week. May the grace and the love of the woman be yours this day and in the days to come. May we bring to Jesus all that we are and all that we have!

Today is Tuesday of Holy Week. While there is some question as to what exactly happened on what day of this week – today was filled with Jesus teaching.  Luke 20 begins with the words “One day”. Mark seems to indicate that this event took place on Tuesday of Holy Week. In amongst the teachings Jesus would give concerning paying taxes to Caesar and the resurrection, the Pharisees come and ask Jesus, “Why do you do what you do?” By whose authority?

The response of Jesus is to simply point to His baptism. The public ministry began with the Baptism of Jesus, and here at the end, he declares that he did what he did because of His baptism. He was not pointing to a symbolic act but declaring that he did what he did because He was living out his purpose and fulfilling His mission.

In our baptism, we bear witness to the reality that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. We declare for all to see that our lives are claimed by God – we are his. We too, spend the rest of our days living out our baptisms. Why do we do what we do? Our response should be, “I am a baptized child of God.” I am God’s child, owned by Him. In life and in death we belong to God and we live out our baptisms, not to earn God’s favor, but because in Christ we have God’s favor! We are His loved children.

On this Holy Tuesday, let us remember to “live wet.”

Power washing – what does that have to do with anything? At Northminster we are having a workday on Saturday. We are picking up trash and we get to do some power washing! Nothing better than an opportunity to use some power tools! We want the church to look good for Palm Sunday and Easter, after all!

In my reading today I read Luke 11:37-44. This is about Jesus eating with a Pharisee and Jesus does not wash up before dinner. Now, my momma would not have been happy. We were to wash before every meal – after all, who knows what we had been handling.

But, this failure by Jesus was, I suspect, intentional. He had a point to make. He wanted it to be clear that the Pharisees had done a great job cleaning up the outside of things. But they had neglected that which was truly necessary – they had neglected justice and the love of God.

So, what truly matters? Is it more important to look good or toe BE good? It is more critical to appear righteous or to live with integrity? What does the Lord require of us? The answer of the prophet is – Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our Lord. It is good and fine to clean up the outside – but let us not neglect that which truly matters. May God give us hearts that long for Justice and hearts that reflect His love for us through Jesus our Lord!

Luke 9 is an amazing passage. The 12 are sent out – then they return full of excitement. The 5,000 are fed and Jesus goes up the mountain to pray. We get the amazing declaration of verse 20 when Peter declares Jesus to be the Messiah of God.

Then we have v. 21 – where Jesus sternly ordered AND commanded them not to tell anyone. Really? We are to witness and tell of Jesus, right? But, now was not the time – it would come in a bit.

That is followed up with the exhortation to take up their cross daily and follow him – to deny themselves. Living life in the shadow of the cross. Is that not the call of God to all of us? Denying ourselves and living for God. Denying ourselves and living for others. Living life in the shadow of the cross. This is what our Lord did every day of his life. His life was an inexorable march to the cross.

What does it mean for us to live life in the shadow of the cross?

 In my reading today I read Luke 9:1-6. This is the portion about Jesus sending out the twelve. He sends them out to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God and to heal. I am struck by several ideas from this.

First, the news of the Kingdom of God is good news – it is great news. The news of the Kingdom is not news about what will happen to you one day when you die – it is about the good news that the Kingdom of God is here – it is in us – it is among us. It transforms us as we live out the grace, love, mercy, holiness and justice that our Lord lived out and gave witness to in His life.

What would it look like if God were truly in charge of our lives – our churches?

But in order to fulfill the mission Christ gave them, they had to pack light. That is something my wife and I are not always good at. It seems like we always come home from a trip with clothes we never wore and I vow to pack lighter the next time. Pack light…

We need to “pack light” if we are to be free to do mission. We need to rid ourselves of unnecessary baggage and focus on proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom. That may be baggage of unnecessary opinions and ideas – it may be baggage of toxic relationships – it may be baggage of ancillary theological opinions, it may be the baggage of treasured political opinions. Pack light…

What do I need to pack in order to be laser-focused on proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom?

Finding the Holy in the ordinary. I think this is one of the great benefits of Lent. It is a call to us to renew ourselves in the spiritual disciplines and find God in the ordinary events of life.

Luke 9:28-36 is the quintessential mountaintop experience of transfiguration. We know the story. But, I want to draw your attention that this experience began with Jesus going to the mountain to pray with two of his disciples. I do not think that connection should be lost on us.

It is in prayer that we find ourselves connected to the Holy. It is in prayer that we find ourselves aware of the presence of God in the ordinary parts of our lives. For the Christian, there is not secular and sacred – everything is sacred for God is with us in it all! Prayer is a means of grace because it connects us with the God of all Grace. “May we seek to hone our sensitivity to God” in order to find the Holy in every part of our day.

During this journey of Lent, I have been reading and writing in my journal, as is my practice. In my reading in Luke, I have been met with the idea of how often Jesus went to a quiet place to spend time in prayer. The more demanding and chaotic life got, the more Jesus understood His need to get in a quiet place and communicate with His Father.

Psalm 46:10 reminds us to “Be still and know that I am God.” I truly believe that it is only as we are still before God that we can truly be reminded of who He is and how He is at work in our lives.

Deserted, quiet places seem non-existent in our connected world. Email, text messages, FaceBook, Twitter – the list goes on an on. Sometimes I feel like I am a slave to my cell phone. In a society that values multitasking and instant responses the call of God to be still and to pray hangs heavily before me.

Many years ago I read of the value of creating Sabbathing moments in our days – time when we put everything on hold and just spend time with God. If Jesus felt the need to pray – how much more do we need to do the same?

Our choir at Northminster Presbyterian Church in Sarasota, FL sang our Christmas Cantata a few weeks ago. One of the songs we sang was about waiting and longing.

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!

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!

In Isaiah 43 we find a word from the Lord through his prophet to his people in exile. God reminds them, that against all odds He is doing a new thing!

There are so many times it appears that God is absent, or out of touch with our realities – we wonder: is he faithful? is he loving? is he forgetful? is he really omnipotent?

God reminds his people in exile –  people who have lost their land, their livelihoods, their families, their God – that he is still at work, and He is doing a new thing.

But, do we really believe that? Are we listening for that? Are we ready to do what is necessary to be a part of that? In the midst and confusion of our national political stage and our struggling churches, I hear the reminder of our Lord that He will build His church and that nothing shall prevail against it!

What a delight to join Him in this new thing He is doing!