Bargaining with God

Ever notice how often people bargain with God when they pray? It happens all the time in the Bible. In Psalm 30, David points out to God that what good will do for God to let him die? No one can praise from the grave. Moses told God I can't speak so God gave him Aaron. Abraham bargained for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to be spared if enough righteous people could be found. Even Jesus prayed if possible for the crucifixion to be avoided if at all possible.

I think God lets us bargain to give us room to at least seem like we have choice. Whether we do or don't actually have a choice is a question that has occupied theologians and philosophers. God gives us leeway and I think even appreciates a little bit of back and forth.

I can't help but think of bargaining with God without thinking of the movie The End. In it Burt Reynolds tries suicide (he mistakenly thinks he has a fatal disease) by swimming out to sea. He has a change of heart and begins bargaining with God. His first offer to God to save him is extravagant -- give everything away to the poor, etc. As he gets closer to shore the offers begin to go down until he stumbles out on the shore and basically is offering nothing of consequence to God.

Now that's probably not a good way to bargain with God. But if you do find yourself praying to God and bargaining enters your prayer life, take a moment to take stock of what you offering and why you are offering it. Maybe in that moment you will learn more about yourself and what you value in life. You might learn something about yourself which is one of the true powerful moments that can happen in prayer.

Stormy Weather

I am back to blogging after a bit of a break -- no good reasons other than the every present press of life and sometimes, something has to give.

I have been reading five psalms a 5 lately for personal devotions. Take the day of the month and start their then add 30 four times to find the next psalm. Today is September 29 so the psalms would be 29, 59, 89, and 149. Oops, you will say, he skipped 119. Only attempt 119 on the 31st of the month by itself.

Okay so I was reading Psalm 29 and found the writer (David is given credit) really liked storms. Where others saw destruction, he saw God' s raw power at work. Now we might be tempted to say, "Well sure, David safely protected in your solid palace, why wouldn't you feel safe?" But David spent plenty of time in the field -- shepherd, soldier, outlaw on the run -- living in outside circumstances. I would rather think he was inspired by those times to write this.

Certainly lives are touched in sad and terrible ways by storms, but plenty of folks come out of those experiences and create wonderful outcomes. Looking for God's grace in the storms is probably one of the best ways to cope with devastation. What good can come out of this stormy weather?

If storms are blowing in your life today, I hope you find shelter and I hope and pray you can see a bit of God's power in the midst of the struggle.

Buzzed by a Hummingbird

I was sitting on the front porch on Monday morning reading the newspaper. Suddenly I heard a loud buzzing sound within inches of my left ear. I thought a cicada had found its way near my head and I brushed my hand a couple of times back and forth near my head. I'm glad I didn't swing wildly, because after a few more seconds of buzzing a hummingbird flew away.

Poor bird, confusing my head with a flower -- that's the first and no doubt the last time that will happen! More likely, he/she was eying the reflection in the window right behind my head.

Hummingbirds are beautiful little birds. I have enjoyed seeing them this year at my wife's hanging baskets on our back porch taking a drink from a flower and then moving onto the next one. According to a couple of websites, these birds have to eat all day to keep up the energy needed to keep those wings moving. These birds are native to North America and the native Americans have plenty of myths about these beautiful little creatures, all very positive and uplifting.

I like to think of that visitor as a reminder of the grace of God in my life. I wonder how many times we think, "Now what is that humming, that intrusion, that interruption?" when all along it's God visiting us with a little grace. Perhaps next time if it's a cicada, I might even be able to think of that as a visit of grace as well.

Fine Lines

The text for this Sunday I am preaching comes from Ephesians. "Be angry but do not sin," we are admonished. It tells us there is a point where anger is allowed, acceptable, perhaps even a good thing at times. And there is a point where anger has crossed into sin, where we have made room for the devil to use the writer's phrase. Where is that line? Sometimes, particularly when we come close to the edge of it, it is a fine line.

If I am going to be a bearer of God's grace in the world, I have to learn where that fine line is. I have to learn how to be angry, but not sin, not cross the line. The closer to home the issue that stirs the anger is, the harder it is to stay on this side of that line. If the source of anger is family -- threat to my family or a conflict within the family -- it is very hard to stay this side of the line. Dorothy was right, there is no place like home, especially when it comes to stirring the passions! First, knowing the source of the anger is important. Identify what is causing the anger in your life.

There is a time component built into the warning in Ephesians. "Don't let the sun go down on your anger." While an attempt to handle this literally -- take care of the conflict that day -- is ideal, the greater message here is that don't hold the anger and brood on it. Anger taken into the heart and entertained like a guest will eventually push any of us across the line. Entertaining anger in your heart makes room for another guest -- the devil.

Seek reconciliation quickly. Seek redress. If none is available turn to God and seek the redress there. Yell at God if need be. Let God know how angry you are. If you doubt that's acceptable, read a few of the psalms where the writers rail against God for all in the injustice in the world. In so doing we can stay this side of that fine line.

Do this as often as is necessary. Anger doesn't usually subside in one treatment if the hurt is deep. Let God know about the anger that remains and seek the Spirit's comfort in being angry but not sinning. Remember your anger is not the enemy. Your anger is part of what you are and part of who God loves.

The space in between the heartbeats

I remember reading in a book about the physics of the universe that one mathematical theory for the universe leaves open the possibility that creation is destroyed and recreated at each moment. Don't know if I got that interpretation quite right or not, but it does make one think about the grace of God that sustains creation from moment to moment. Our lives are lived heartbeat to heartbeat. There is grace that our hearts continue to beat and we know the stark reality of how short life can be when a friend or family members suffers a heartbeat and the beating stops. All this sets me to thinking about the grace in our lives in between those heart-beating moments, those times of silence of waiting for the next movement of life, those times when the creation ceases to exist and we are awaiting again to see if the universe will be recreated.

The times of silence are the hardest. Many folks have found themselves wrapped in those moments of silence waiting for life to begin anew. In hospital rooms. In courtrooms. In the midst of divorce. When a career is lost. Watching someone we love suffer deeply. And we ask the question of God, when will this moment of silence cease and we can hear laughter and the other wonderful sounds of creation again. God, when will the heartbeats begin again?

I can't help but think of moments of silence in the scriptures: Noah in the ark waiting for the water to subside; Adam and Eve in the garden both hoping for and hoping against the coming of God in the evening after they had sinned; the silence of the exile in Babylon awaiting God's call back to the Holy Land; the silence of those imprisoned for their faith; and of course the silence of the tomb after they buried Jesus. One has to think that even the angels wondered what exactly God had in mind.

In those long moments of silence, those moments in between the heartbeats, those times when the universe seems to have been destroyed and we await its creation anew, even then God is present. We often don't recognize his presence at the moment of destruction, but only after we look back from the newly created world and understand God was indeed there in the silence. After all Genesis 1 tells us that before creation in the beginning when there was chaos God's presence hovered there. May God's Spirit hover today over those who are living in between the heartbeats.

Beefy cheesy glory

There it was in huge letters on the billboard -- an advertisement for the world's most famous and largest hamburger chain. Hmm, they have used a theological word to advertise a cheeseburger. All sorts of thoughts spring to mind.

First, it's not kosher. Never beef and cheese together. Okay, but then I am a Protestant Christian and have eaten plenty of cheeseburgers and even (sadly I must admit this) some from this particular establishment.

One of the definitions of glory according to dictionary.com is "a state of absolute happiness, gratification, contentment"which I guess is what the advertising exec was thinking. We could argue that from a culinary point of view -- I am no chef and I think I have made a better cheeseburger at times.

I can't help but think about scriptures passages that warn us to be careful of worshiping our appetites. Satisfaction can be achieved in the short run from a good meal, but absolute happiness?

I think I would like to see the word saved for other uses. The glory of nature which speaks of the beauty of nature and can also point us to the creator. Going to my glory -- a description of our passage into the eternal and loving arms of God. Another good use -- a similar word to praise -- giving God the glory. And then the final and ultimate definition of glory which gathers up so many of the other uses - fulfillment, beauty, awesomeness, eternity, and all the other positives of glory -- the glory of God.

Ezekiel and Isaiah saw visions of it. John in Revelation witnessed it. God's glory shown through Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. Leave the cheeseburgers out please.

Happy Birthday, John Calvin!

Five hundred years ago today in France a little tike named John Calvin was born! He was of course called Jean by his parents who didn't realize the extraordinary life that awaited this little one.

For me, John's enduring legacy is to remind us of the overwhelming grace of God. John saw humans as sinful creatures. He did see the wonderful imprint of the creator upon us, but he saw that sin marred that reflection of God to the point that without intervention from God we were lost. Amazingly God chose to intervene! God's grace made it possible for us to accept the gracious offer of salvation that God gave in his son Jesus. Humans were sinful, but God's grace was greater!

Now John is probably best known for his emphasis on predestination, although I think he would be appalled by some of the ways this idea was used by his successors. In his Institutes, he spoke of this doctrine in the context of why we didn't need to spend all our time worrying about whether we were saved or not -- predestination was for him an assurance which lifted the burden of worry that was so common for the day. I think he would be horrified to think anyone would use is as a excuse for a casual approach to the faith or a way to dismiss the likelihood that others would see the kingdom.

Thank you John C, for talking so much about God's grace. Thank you so much for speaking of the actions of the Holy Spirit in our lives that make that grace more and more understandable to us each day. Thank you for reminding us that God is in charge!

Happy Birthday, John Calvin!