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ELOGOS for Thursday and Author's Note

12/21/2017

2 Samuel 7:15-16
But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
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After witnessing the destruction of a flood to houses and businesses and my church, the idea of "your house...shall be made sure" has a different ring to it. Of course, I know that God is speaking about the lineage of David and the foreshadowing of the coming of Christ, but my eyes and heart are focused a little lower these days than these sweeping promises. I see gentle, sweet people moving sadly through exposed studs waiting for walls, paint, flooring, furniture, and being able to cook in their own kitchen. They don't have to be reminded of greater priorities. They understand that a house is not established with drywall but in the tender relationships of those who walk with them. God promised us and delivered to us what we would most need for the living of these days. Love.
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Holy God, you who love us so well may we be quick and generous with that love that courses through us. Amen.
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Author's Note: As always I am humbled and honored by those who read ELOGOS regularly. May the God of Love visit you with joy and surround you with love.
ELOGOS will take a break until after the first of the year. A Blessed Christmas to you.

ELOGOS for Wednesday

12/20/2017

Psalm 89:1-2
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
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I sat at a table talking to the woman. The cane she needed was propped against the table between us. She hated needing it. She was always leaving it behind in public places because she didn't want to be seen with it. But she did need it. She could not stand firm without it. I said to her that "It" needs a name - a name that would help it mean more to her than the loss of her independence. I asked her to think of a person who has been steadfast in her life, someone whose love she could always count on, someone she leaned on in her life. Her eyes twinkled. Her wrinkles danced with a name: Ella Mae. She told me a story and together we christened the cane, "Ella Mae." We all need help to stand firm in this life. Such help is easier to embrace when it comes with a name and a face that means steadfast love to us. O come, O come, Emmanuel.
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I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord. Amen.

ELOGOS for Tuesday

12/19/2017

Romans 16:25-26
Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith
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Mysteries. A Robert Frost poem has been walking through my head the last few days entitled “Revelation” It goes like this “We make ourselves a place apart behind light words that tease and flaut but oh the agitated heart ‘Til someone finds 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. And so with all the babes that play at hide and seek to God afar, so those who hide too well away must speak and tell us where they are.” At Christmas God revealed the great mystery to us - the face of God- and it looked a lot like you and me. Now the next step of growth is ours to take out of hiding into whatever God has in store for us.
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You who did not hide from us, coax us from our hiding place. Amen

ELOGOS for Monday

12/17/2017

Luke 1:30-32
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.
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In the context of answering who is doing the heavy lifting in every way in the Christmas story, Mary has it hands down. No amount of pretty words of "finding favor" compare to the major glitch in her relationship with Joseph and public scrutiny. Then there is growing a human who is shoving aside her internal organs, sitting on her bladder and swinging its weight off her spine for months. And oh, yeah, he will be great - divine - destined for the best of the best. No pressure. Forget the halos and the soft glow and the porcelain complexion that often depicts the Mother of Jesus. This was a gutsy girl who persisted, gave birth and with Christ damp and hungry slung on her hip delivered a savior for a world that needed one. She stood with angels, shepherds, and kings and kept doing her job. You go, girl!
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For all the strong women we have ever known, we give thanks. Amen.
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ELOGOS for Thursday

12/14/2017

Isaiah 61:1 -2
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn
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Despite the glittery nature of this season, it is unquestionably a time of sorrow that lurks like a heavy fog on the surface of land unwilling to set us free. We have pieces to pick up. We have loved ones we are missing. Changes are looming that rattle the baby-thin membrane of our ability to trust. We need the tidings of joy in this season but comfort as well.We wait for the one who was born to die to release us into the freedom of God’s grace. I wish it wasn’t so hard, but such love is a comfort when the fog of sorrow squeezes at our hearts.
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Holy God, May we comfort one another with the promise of Christ’s unending love. Amen

ELOGOS for Wednesday

12/13/2017

Psalm 126:5-6
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
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My Old Testament professor on the first day of class picked up a piece of chalk(yes, I am that old and no, he didn't turn to write on a cave wall). He drew a squiggly, horizontal line the undulated up and down. He put down the chalk and announced that this is the history of the people of God. Highs and Lows. Times of weeping and times of joy. We do sow in tears. To do anything less is not to be human. To do anything less is to deny our divine spark - the Spirit of God within us that hates death, suffering and injustice, that weeps and rages against it. We do bear the seed. We carry death, like a lifeless seed, with the hope and trust that the eternal will spring forth from it. We shout for joy lifting life over our shoulders so that all may see and believe. I wish these days did not feel so overwhelmingly Old Testament with devastating lows and breath-taking highs, but just to be on the same road with the saints before us and the saints with us now is an incredible privilege. Yes, it is a bumpy ride, but oh, the company with whom we share it and bear it makes all the difference.
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We shall come rejoicing. Amen.

ELOGOS for Tuesday

12/12/2017

I Thessalonians 5: 12-13, 16-18
But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.....Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
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I have a friend and colleague who uses the following words for the closing dismissal of worship: "Life is short, and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who journey the road with us. So be swift to love, and make haste to be kind. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!" These words do not do justice to the way in which I have witnessed her deliver them. She floats halfway down the aisle with vestment wings flapping and tossing the words over heads into the sanctified rafters like a renaissance juggler lofting brightly colored balls. Now THAT'S the way to do liturgy - the work of the people. Rejoice aways....for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
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We give thanks for all those who labor among us. Amen.

ELOGOS for Monday

12/11/2017

John 1:6-8
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
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I often think about what I leave in my wake when I move through a person’s life. I don’t know and that is most likely for the best. We do experience the turbulence that some people create. It can be disturbing and unsettling- leaving you off your feet needing to sort through what just happened. Others can be a gentle but fleeting breeze. A rare few, however, leave you breathless as if every note of a great symphony enfused your soul with music. John the Baptist created a turbulence for a sleepy world. For some it was disturbing but for others it would create the melody for the Word of God.
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May we cherish the turbulence of your Grace, O Lord. Amen.

ELOGOS for Thursday

12/7/2017

Isaiah 40: 4-5
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
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So, let me see if I have this right, Lord. Landfill the valleys. Bulldoze the mountains. Level just about everything and THEN, we will see what we have been waiting for....basically YOU. The planet feels like it is being shaken like a snow globe in a child's hands. The resulting impact of the shaking feels less winter-wonderland-ish and more frightening. But that is because we are inside the globe looking around as if this is all there is to this story. Some of us, like Isaiah and John the Baptist and just about anyone along the Way of Christ have smashed our noses against the glass waiting for the snow around us to settle, the ground beneath us to still so that we can get a glimpse of something wonderfully bigger than our tiny lives. Until the day of that revealing, there is comfort and strength is discovering there are others standing near us, with a hand on our shoulder, leaning in with their noses smashed against the glass, looking with us.
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Cleaning the glass, Lord, so that those who need to see thee more clearly will know it is you.

ELOGOS for Wednesday

12/6/2017

Psalm 85:6-8
Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
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Every morning since the storm, I have woken either to the sound of my alarm or to the awareness that my mind was already up and waiting with the clipboard checklist for Reality Orientation: Name, rank, serial number, date and oh, yes, you are in the middle of disaster recovery. Yesterday and today I am reminded again of how much I am clinging to words that ring true to me and I want to believe them, I need to believe them. This morning I read a devotion from a person who was ordained within a year of me. She remembered her naivete so many years ago, no accomplishment, only her mistakes but ended with saying "God is very good." I took in those words like the first breath and taste of morning coffee. There are days when I think we all need a kinder reveille. Mornings when we are not jolted into our brokenness, but mornings when we can wake up to knowing we are loved, that God is Good, that joy is real and we can trust it.
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May we be the ones who bring God's love and truth to those who are hungry to hear it. Amen