By Deb Grant

ELOGOS for Tuesday

5/22/2018

Romans 8: 18-19
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God
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These two verses juxtaposed are a wonder to me. Sufferings of this present age are ENORMOUS! So the glory about to be revealed has got to be over-the-top STUPENDOUS!!! And then the curtain is drawn back to reveal.....the children of God? Wait, what? The glory that is to be revealed is....(looking over shoulder, left and right)... US? Eye roll. You've GOT to be kidding me. I have a friend who on a regular basis embellishes my name with lofty titles like "Exquisite" or "Magnificent." My reaction is always the same: looking over the shoulder, left and right.....Eye roll....you've got to be kidding me. On a variety of occasions, I have said similar things to this friend and to others. When I do, I am speaking the truth of something I see. Something that has been revealed to me. I am not at all comfortable with being called "Magnificent" but coming from a person whose vision I trust....it is hard to brush it off and sometimes when I am quite alone - I peek at the mirror in my soul and try to imagine what "magnificent" might look like on me. I don't see it but what if it is not for me to see right now? What if, it is just for me to take it as my friend's word? What if the glory that is about to be revealed to all is that we all take after the One who created us all so magnificently? Maybe while we are bearing the sufferings of this present time, we can hope that who we really are is peeking out for the sake of others.
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GIve me the wisdom and the vision to see you, O Lord, in every person I meet today. Amen.

ELOGOS for Monday

5/21/2018

John 3: 7-9
Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
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I am so grateful for Nicodemus, the Jewish scholar-leader, who lurked on the edges of Jesus' ministry. He is so every one of us. He was sent to sniff out a troll...an invader into their space ...someone that had no sense of purpose besides throwing an idea-stink bomb into a stuffy, suppressed society pretending to be free under the Roman thumb. Jesus was an explosion but not the type that Nicodemus expected. Imagine discovering that the tiny room - the only space you have ever known for your whole life - a space where you were comfortable, protected and nurtured suddenly constricted its walls upon you and spewed you out into the gondola of a hot air balloon suspended between the heavens and the earth. In a blink, you see the expansive truth of love. I am convinced that Nicodemus caught a glimpse of that new way of being and found it impossible to be comfortable in the shattered ruins of his puny room ever again. This is the tortured and magnificent vision awaiting those who inherit the Wind.
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Dear God of the Wind, comfort your people. Still our anxious, shattered lives. Bring peace quickly and so completely that we know immediately the truth and love of it.
Amen.

ELOGOS for Thursday

5/17/2018

Acts 2: 11b-12
"...In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
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The first Pentecost is that moment when Christ's ragamuffin followers who were mostly blue-collar workers with little academic or public arena experience received something that lit them all up that Jerusalem day. They were able to communicate beyond their own ability. They sent a fire with so much energy that people on the other side of the planet and centuries away are still warming themselves in the flames. The Spirit of the Church has never been extinguished. It has been reduced to embers from time to time, but all it takes is a good wind to see, to hear, to feel the power of a Spirit that calls us together to understand one another for starters.
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Bring on the fire and the wind, Lord, show us what we can do together with you. Amen.
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ELOGOS for Wednesday

5/16/2018

Psalm 104:24-25
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great.
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Once in a while, to gain some perspective on my life I zoom the lens of the universal camera out from my me-filled realm to the point of view where humans are ant-sized though perhaps not, ant-like. Before the flood waters receded, I happened to stand near the waters' edge. I watched a colony of fire ants floating by. They were constantly moving on top of each other, like a flame without a wick. Those on the bottom formed a raft for the others and then the other ants took a turn at what seemed like the impossible task of risking their lives in order to bear the weight of the whole. At first, I was more annoyed that such resilience would be so sublimely built into such a heinous creature as a fire ant. And then I recalled my place on this planet. A creature, bigger than an ant and more complex and even, dare I say with confidence, more divine imagination. And yet, even these fire ants were imbued with enough holy fire to live sacrificially for the sake of the greater good. One cannot insult a work of art without doing damage to the artist. It works the same with praise. I forget. I can be very insulting of fire ants and humans. I live in the Louvre of the Universe - a collection of magnificent works floating by me and through me every day. To ignore the art is to ignore the Artist. What a tragic way to live.
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Wow! Amen.

ELOGOS for Tuesday

5/15/2018

Romans 8:26-27
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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I don't like asking for help. I don't like being weak. I don't like being vulnerable. I don't like not knowing what I am doing. Everything I loathe about functioning as a human being has been the story of my life since the storm and, if I am honest, long before the storm. I have had to ask for help. I have had to admit to being weak. I have had to be vulnerable. And every prayer has included the phrase: "I have no idea what I am doing." Why do I get the feeling that the Spirit hears that with an explosion of glee? Well, at least I know how to create laughter out of thin air.
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The Spirit blows as she wills and takes me with her. Amen.

ELOGOS for Monday

5/14/2018

John 15:26-27
”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
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Here it comes! The greatest baton-pass in divine history. The Risen Christ passes the baton to the Holy Spirit. Wait, what? Hmmm.....that makes us the baton. Let's think about this. There are certainly days when I am good with being an inert wand that looks on televised track meets like a piece of PCV pipe waving around in the hands of lightning fast runners. But what if....the Spirit is the baton and we are the vehicle for the grace of God to have hands and feet alive in the world? Perhaps it is not either-or but both-and. As the baton being carried by the Spirit or the one carrying the Spirit, the goodness of God has never, ever left us. God is with us. I am discovering anew what power we have when we are quite simply "woke" to who we are as a part of creation and who we are with.
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Fire us up, Spirit, and let us run the race set before us. Amen.

ELOGOS for Wednesday

5/9/2018

Psalm 1:
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
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I have always heard that at least 70% of our internal speak - the thoughts in our heads - is negative. It is a toxic swill of judgment, prejudice, criticism, despair, and distrust. It is focused on others and it chews at our own souls. I have no idea how anyone determines a percentage, but I leave that to brighter minds than mine. I do testify that it sounds true. The poisonous puke that stirs its acid bath while I am trying to be a proverbial tree planted by streams of water is a daily reality. But the battle is joined. I have met the wicked, the sinner and the scoffer and it thrives in my cerebral caldron of criticism. And then there is the law - this law that says LOVE - think about it day and night, delight in it, drink it up. It has the power to dilute, absorb, or render the poison harmless. Love heals. Love fosters growth. Love produces sweet things. It does not happen without struggle. But it does happen.
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Holy God, you are the best thought by day or by night. Amen.

ELOGOS for Tuesday

5/8/2018

I John 5:13
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
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So do YOU believe it? Do you believe in Christ you have eternal life?
If not, good luck then.
If you do believe you have eternal life, what are you doing with it?
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That's what I have today, Lord. Questions. Amen.

ELOGOS for Monday

5/7/2018

John 17: 13
But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.
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When reading scripture, I was taught to pay attention to "so that." What comes after "so that" most often reveal the heart and the purpose the actions taking place. Time and again I am learning that joy can be discovered flourishing in the midst of deep struggle. This joy is not naive or in denial but blissfully defiant and radiant. It is an energy source that compels life to slough off the shroud and embraces those who are covered in the mire of the circumstances. I have most often tried to mine joy by comparing my circumstances to someone in a much more dire condition. But that only serves to separate me from them. Those in those dire conditions are the ones most likely to radiate their joy without finding someone yet lower. When Jesus spoke these words, he was on the way to his own death and here he is speaking of joy. I have no system in which I can produce, manufacture, conjure up joy. It just happens. The clink of a glass. The lyrics of a song. The sound of child play. The taste of cookie dough. A text message that pokes us with the effervescent spark of traveling companions. Joy just appears like a stream of bubbles in a champagne flute and the joy is made complete when it splashes out of us for others.
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Lord, May we this day risk joy. Amen.

ELOGOS for Thursday

5/3/2018

Psalm 98:8-9
Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
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The presence of the Lord means justice. God will make things right. We who are incapable of treating one another equally can stop what we are doing. We can stop building walls around our property, our tribes, our hearts driven by fear in the name of keeping the peace. That is not peace. That is arrogant cowardice. We can stop trying to fix everything because we just can't. There will be joy when we can stop and let God be God. There will be joy when God turns the mirror of our self-loathing into a window on our neighbors looking for justice. One way or another, there will be joy because God is here. God's justice is happening. We can build a wall or a dam or fortress or circle our wagons in the name of fear. Perfect love casts out fear. God is here. There will be joy. There will be justice. One way or another. We can be in the way or on it.
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May this day be one in which we remember God is here. Amen.