Blog Archives

Thursday, February 26

2/26/2015

Genesis 17:1-4
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
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God says, "I am God. Walk with me." Abraham falls on his face. In fact for the most of this chapter, God does most of the talking. By v.17 Abraham must have gotten up again because it says he fell down on his face, laughing this time. Or maybe he was rolling around on the ground busting a gut the whole time. Yep, there is the one who faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness" rolling around in the warm dust. What is truly amazing is that God doesn't let Abraham off the hook. If God used a 99 year old guy rolling around laughing at him to move people toward a right relationship with God, let's remember that when we are thinking up some bogus reason not to do what God needs us to do.
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May we dust ourselves off and pay attention, Lord. Amen.

Wednesday, February 25

2/25/2015

Psalm 22:26-27
The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
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If we want to get closer to God, we need to find someone who is hungry and feed them. In the space between the hunger and the gift is the face of God.
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May the poor eat today. Amen.

Tuesday, February 24

2/24/2015

Romans 4: 22-25
Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
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I talked this morning with a friend whose father had died. She didn't know what her father believed. Faith was not something she ever witnessed in his life or heard from him. Faith is a part of her family's life nevertheless. Faith can happen through us or it will work around us. God made certain that there would be no obstacle in our relationship. We may choose not to be the vehicle for the Good News of Jesus Christ but that will not stop the grace that always finds its way to us. I would rather be a leaky vehicle of faith riddled with doubt than a dam in the river.
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Let the river flow, Lord. Amen.

Monday, February 23

2/23/2015

Mark 8:34
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."
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Recently I had a person ask me point blank what this verse means. She knew what it says. She has heard those words many times and is very knowedgable in Biblical studies. We can test the pool of words and determine any nuances of interpretation, but eventually, if we are serious, we want to know what these words, in particular, really mean. What does it mean to deny ourselves? What does it mean to take up our cross? What does it mean to follow Jesus? As often as I have encountered this verse, at different times of my life it has meant different things. It may mean something else to you today. For me, today, to follow Jesus means to lean into his suffering. I am not one to believe that following Jesus is the Golden Ticket for a happy life. Somewhere along the way, I stopped looking for "happy." Now I am good with whatever life the cross of Christ offers.
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Lead on, Lord. Amen.
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ELOGOS readers are invited to particpate in the 40 Days of Lent Extra Challenge to raise funds to build a well in Africa through Water to Thrive. Donate here

Thursday, February 19

2/19/2015

Genesis 9: 12-13
God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
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When I traveled across the Pacific Ocean on a freighter, it was remarkable how the atmospheric and surface water conditions changed rapidly. Rarely was there ever a day when those conditions were exactly the same. The weather determined how much I could sit or walk about on deck. One day the conditions were a strange mix. The sun was shining, the ocean was white-capped and wind-driven, and the air was thick with humidity and ocean spray. And then the most amazing thing happened....a rainbow appeared on the deck in front of me. I stepped into it and I reached my hand out, yes, touched the rainbow. I was alone on the deck when it happened and in an instant, it was gone. I grinned like a Cheshire cat for the rest of the day and kept looking at my hand as if I had shaken hands with someone really important. I did.
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For the promise of your hand in our lives, Lord, we give you thanks. Amen.

Ash Wednesday, February 18

2/18/2015

Psalm 25: 1
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
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The entertainment reporter looked into the camera and said that one of the secrets of a good "Red Carpet Look" is knowing what to do with your hands. Celebrities have their pictures taken a bzillion times while they pose on the red carpet laid out for them as they enter some festive event. The rest of us are simply those who watch or choose not to watch. Today we enter into the season of Lent and more intentionally into the presence of God. No red carpet but there is blood. And it is still important to know what to do with our hands. We use them to pray. We choose to look at our hands, imagine them filled with our souls in need of grace and forgiveness and lifted up to the one who is worthy of our celebration.
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We remember we are dust and to dust we shall return. Amen.
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Author's Note: ELOGOS will continue but I wanted to invite ELOGOS readers to participate in an EXTRA challenge for Lent. If I can find 125 people to commit to giving $1. a day for the 40 days of Lent, we can together raise $5000. to build a well in Africa through Water to Thrive. The funds are paid directly to Water to Thrive. My campaign page is: 40 Days of Lent Challenge - Water to Thrive

Tuesday, February 17

2/17/2015

I Peter 3:
But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you
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When was the last time anyone demanded from you an accounting for the hope that is in you? There are people who seem to walk around in haze of sugary optimism that appears so disconnected from reality that we don't even bother to ask anything more serious than "What planet are you from?" And then there are those who are battle-scarred but still offer up a cool drink of water in the heat of hopelessness. We want to know where that water came from. We want to know what makes that person tick because we want what they have - hope that is rooted in something beyond ourselves. The next time you see that person, ask them to account for the hope that is in them. When someone who needs hope sees it in you, may you have the wisdom and the courage to say Jesus' name.
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May others see Jesus in us this day. Amen.

Monday, February 16

2/16/2015

Mark 1:13
He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
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It's Monday. I confess that, in reading this verse, my head went immediately to "where can I get me one of those angel waiters?" They wouldn't even have to be a winged angel. I would be thrilled with a butler. And then I try to get my head back into the scripture and my head goes to, "Oh, sure, Jesus was dealing with Satan and wild beasts but he had these angels waiting on him." In my mind, this is not exactly the deep end of the pool. But maybe that was exactly the point for Jesus. Maybe the experience early in his ministry was meant to say to Jesus, "The deep end of the pool is coming. This is just the beginning of the tough stuff. The hosts of heaven are in your corner." It's Monday and there is scary stuff in front of me. I don't have a butler or angels, but there is a scarred guy in my corner and your corner that will make sure that it's going to be a fair fight.
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Help us to fight the good fight, Lord. Amen.

Wednesday, February 11

2/11/2015

Psalm 50:7
Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
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Again, the news crawls across my screen of young lives ended. Sometimes dozens, sometimes one or two. We are endowed with the spirit of our Creator with the power to cherish life, to love heroically and yet we don't consistently. We are free to turn ourselves inside out as weapons of mass destruction or servants of the Living God. What, then, must we do? What, then, must we do? Blaming others hasn't worked. John Donne wrote, "Every man's death diminishes me..." The only place that feels right at all is the message of the cross of Christ. Our best hope to live together in peace is to be together in our suffering.
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Have mercy on us, O Lord. Amen

Tuesday, February 10

2/10/2015

2 Corinthians 4:5-6
For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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The transition from childhood to adulthood is a bumpy ride. Yes, there are those adults who immediately come to mind who see no good reason to stop being a child. We go from a life in which it is all about us to a life where it is not about us. We go from being children to having children. From carefree to woefully responsible. We are the center of the world or we are the matter spinning around someone else's world. There seems to be very little middle ground. We can visit our "inner child" but not too long. As the poet said, "The world is too much with us." So it matters who or what is at the center of our life. It matters who we choose to follow. Being the slave to the one who puts us at the center of his heart seems to me a really, really good route to go.
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Shine your light, Lord, that I may see your face and follow. Amen.