By Deb Grant

ELOGOS for Tuesday

10/16/2018

Hebrews 5:7
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
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Poem by Robert Frost:
We make ourselves a place apart
Behind light words that tease and flout,
But oh, the agitated heart
Till someone find us really out.

’Tis pity if the case require
(Or so we say) that in the end
We speak the literal to inspire
The understanding of a friend.

But so with all, from babes that play
At hide-and-seek to God afar,
So all who hide too well away
Must speak and tell us where they are.
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Even you, Lord, had to cry out to be heard. O Lord, hear my prayer. Amen.

ELOGOS for Monday

10/15/2018

Mark 10: 42-44
So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
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There is a story about a Holocaust survivor who sustained herself each day by hiding a piece of bread and a portion of a hair comb on her person. The bread was to give to anyone she encountered that day that needed it more than she did. The comb was so that she could attend to her hair in a gesture of affirming her own personhood. These verses that speak of a life of service that is not about power and position but comparing ourselves to others for the purpose of identifying the most vulnerable and giving them a portion of ourselves. Attending to our own stewardship of our human value means that we are not always relying on others to do it for us. It is a way of life that can be lived in the most depraved of human situations and the most privileged.
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What may I carry today, O Lord, that I can give away without being diminished so that I may serve again tomorrow?

ELOGOS for Thursday

10/11/2018

Amos 5:15
Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
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A group of clergy was hanging out in the common area of a cabin during a break at summer youth camp. We did what clergy do when they hang out together. We fret about the nature of our work and the state of the Church. Serving in ministry during a time of wide-spread decline leaves most of us gutted. We try to do things to make ourselves feel better. We can't shoulder all the blame without it being death-dealing. We know it is not all our fault. One colleague caught my eye as I spoke these things out loud and summed up the mood perfectly: "But this has happened on our watch." We take this personally. I deeply love the Church - the Body of Christ - the community of the faithful. It has taken me a long time to recognize that its' wardrobe is worn and woefully out-of-fashion for these days. It is time to slough off these clothes of tradition, institution, dogma and shiver nakedly until we find the right work clothes for hating evil, loving good, establishing justice. There may only be a few left for a while to shiver in the truth until we figure it out, but God has a long history of making new clothes from remnants.
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Lord, when you saw your creation aware of their nakedness, you clothed them. We need new clothes. Amen.

ELOGOS for Tuesday

10/9/2018

Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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The great "theologian" Don Henley asked the musical question: "How can love survive in such a graceless age?" Every day I am keenly aware of people around me who are walking embodiments of mercy and courage. Every day I am painfully aware of people around me in deep sorrow and profound hurt. Every day I am breathlessly aware of people around me who vibrate with gentle strength for justice. They all drink from the same well. There is an endless supply of grace available to all...even those who feast on the bones of their conquests. There is grace for all. Shall we gather at the river that flows by the throne of God?
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Morning by morning, new mercies I see. Amen

ELOGOS for Monday

10/8/2018

Mark 10: 21-23
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
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The rich man was trying so hard to follow Jesus and Jesus knew it. I love that it says that Jesus look at him and loved him even as the man's obstacle was so apparent. The truth is that humanity's greatest life-sucking force is that we horde power and trust wealth. In my life, I have heard my own voice define my economic position in life as "better than many, not as much as some" or that I don't have much "discretionary money." Jesus would have looked at me and loved me through my short-sightedness. ALL of my money is discretionary. I just moved from a large house to a smaller one. I threw away and donated an embarrassing amount of things I thought I needed but only wanted for a time. I still live in a house where I don't live in all of the spaces. I still have many more possessions to abandon. It is a spiritual exercise because my vision of the dominion of God is still clouded. I don't think in terms of heaven as "up there" or "after death" or a "gated community." Heaven is right here and now poking at us, ever so gently, to wake up. In my sleepy awakening, I am discovering the power of love and to trust in the mystery of God's economy.
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Ego sum pauper. Nihil habeo. Cor meum dabo.

ELOGOS for Thursday

10/4/2018

Genesis 2:24-25
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
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Dear readers, write your own response to this verses. I can't stop laughing. God just cracks me up sometimes.
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We long, O Lord, for the time when we will feel free and safe with those who were wonderfully made by you. Amen.

ELOGOS for Wednesday

10/3/2018

Psalm 8:3-8
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
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In the time after the storm, I have learned tips about psychological first-aid for myself and for those dealing with stress on heightened levels. The practices are almost childlike in simplicity. They are the kind of advice that often evokes eye rolls and muttering of "that can't work." I don't claim that they work for everyone or even all the time, but I can personally witness to their veracity. One suggestion is to walk outside and look up. Immediately I am drawn away from the maelstrom at the center of my turmoil to a sky - velvet blue-black or a gentle pool of baby blue or mysterious gray. Sun. Moon. Stars. Clouds. Me. And an awareness of something more, someone more. The teeth of the dragon that has been snacking on my bones lose their power to take my life. Another piece of first-aid is to focus on feeling your hands and feet. There is an almost immediate sense of being grounded to the earth like one would use a walking stick to steady one's balance on uneven ground. The psalmist's offering is not simply a piece of poetry, but something that might save a life to live well another day.
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Peace of the Lord be with you all.

ELOGOS for Wednesday

9/26/2018

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
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What an acid bath of words that we are living in these days. As much as I have clung to words as real, they have failed me more times than they have found their mark. It is immensely complicated to communicate with one another even on a good day. A phrase fueled with emotion is layered and confusing. A disembodied text message often needs an autopsy to understand and there is never enough time or fingertip energy for that. Even when we are motivated by affection the communication can be garbled in wishful thinking. And now, we add to this toxic verbal swill with thoughtlessness. Taking a breath for silence, for a moment to crumple the ugly words and toss them where they will do no harm, to delete and not send the first thought, may just be the best hope for our fragile discourse.
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Holy God, redeem my words. Amen.

ELOGOS for Tuesday

9/25/2018

James 5:19-20
My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
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How exactly does one bring someone back from wandering from the truth? It is beginning to be the not-so-funny riddle of the present time. Since our humanity makes truth subjective to our own filter of what we perceive as true, we try to speak in lofty terms of a truth that exists unadulterated by flesh. If we believe that there is a disembodied truth that exists outside ourselves then we will fight forever for the right to claim such highly prized real estate. When Jesus said, " I am the Truth..." he changed the conversation. When Pilate asked, "What is truth?" - Jesus did not answer. The truth was standing in front of Pilate giving him the freedom to choose to embrace it or not. What if this statement in James was not a charge for the Christians to go round up the sinners for major dividends in the kingdom of God? What if we never know whose lives we may expose to the truth? What if it is our lives that are saved from wandering by people who are wandering themselves calling us to live our lives inside out? What if truth is not something we can own or claim as a possession? What if truth is a journey with a traveling companion we are invited to grow to know? What I know today is that our traveling companions can make all the difference. What I know today is that someone may think the same thing about my company. I may not ever know how or why but the truth is in the journey and the company.
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Holy Spirit, guide my muddled journey for the truth. Amen.

ELOGOS for Monday

9/24/2018

Mark 9:41
For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
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Water. Blissfully simple. Accessible. Absolutely necessary for living. Cup. Easy to find something that would serve to deliver the water to the mouth. Even we can form our hands into a cup. Will it change the world? Depends on how we define the world. For the person who needs that water, yeah....that is the world defined in a gesture of compassion and a mouthful of refreshing life. I have a tendency to define the world in broader strokes and quantifiably enormous metrics. It tends to be how the world works, but it does not necessarily mean that is how the world lives. Jesus taught us that if we want to see God then welcome a child. If we want to give life to a world in need, perhaps we could start by not underestimating the power of a simple gift within our grasp to receive and to offer. A cup is in our hands....we are the cup. The water is within us....we are made of love. Take the next step. Give what you are made of. There is more to go around. That isn't how the world works but it is how love works. Don't be afraid.
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Holy God, Your economy of love is mysterious and wonderful. Amen.