Author: T L

In the Days to Come ….

Oh, That It Were Already Today

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

When Peace Prevailed Everywhere

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A Canada goose and a bald eagle battled in Burlington, Ont., on Feb. 23. Photographer Mervyn Sequiera captured the fight and posted it on his Instragram account @msequeiraphotography. (Mervyn Sequeira)

God Does Not Save Us From Our Trials,

But In Our Trials.

Isaiah 2:2-4

In days to come …

nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

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Hebrews 12:14

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

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Words of Grace for Today –

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The World is in chaos, again, or rather still.

John reports that Jesus says he will Leave Us Peace. What a promise!

On the 8th of May Germany’s 2nd TV service (ZDF) broadcast the Worship Service for the 80th Anniversary of the End of WWII in Europe, a memorial of being liberated. In the service the Germans remembered, with thanks for the end of war in 1945, yet still with endless guilt, for war did not just break out. It was begun by Germany’s Nazi Party. Even more, they remembered the efforts made to rebuild for decades after hostilities ceased. And they gave thanks for the prosperity and peace that Europe has enjoyed since.

Meanwhile violence, destruction, and death in Ukraine, just 100s of km east, remind us all that the lack of war is not ever guaranteed.

But peace in this world, which they celebrated, is more than just the lack of war. This peace is also to have institutions that honour all people, freedom to worship as one chooses, and a social contract wherein all are free to speak their mind, but no one is free to harm others, not even with words. Where justice is striven for earnestly by all, for all. Yet, nothing can guarantee peace.

Here in Canada, as the US has thrown chaos and fear at the world order, as global powers grow in strength and threat, and as extremist militias and failed states create chaos in our world, we must remain vigilant, and continually strive for those things that make for peace in our world, our nation, our province, our communities, and in our homes. Ignorance and apathy, fake news and heated rhetoric, extreme ‘solutions’ and the status quo can have no place in our lives, if we wish peace to continue, if we hope to avoid the complete loss of prosperity that we have enjoyed for many decades. Peace requires work and sacrifice to give it to the next generations. That work begins with each of us.

Yet, John reminds us that peace in this world, peace that we must work for every day, is not the kind of Peace God offers us. God offers us a more powerful, more life-changing, more effective kind of Peace. It is the Peace that the Holy Spirit gives us and teaches us to share with all people.

This Peace is already here today. Trust it. Live it. Share it.

The One And Only

Rock Saves Us

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Again

On a Hot, 30⁰C+ Day, The Snow Looks Great!

On Any Day Of Challenges,

God’s Grace Welcomes Us In,

to a cool, life-giving hope.

Psalm 18:31

For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock besides our God?

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2 Corinthians 1:9-10

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again

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Words of Grace for Today –

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Since we keep on sinning in old and rarely in new ways, God keeps saving us, again and again.

We have reason to give God thanks many times each day.

We have reason to hope to a future formed by God, and not ruined by those who try so hard these days (as each day has had many someones ready to ruin it).

That hope does not crumble, like shale.

Rather God gives us hope that is as solid as granite or marble, even more sure than matter existing in the universe, more sure than we can wrap our hearts and minds around.

Try squeezing a piece of granite or marble.

And then trust God to be more solidly for us, for us all.

God Chooses

Spirit Over Power or Might

Monday, May 26, 2025

And Look What God Does!

Putting Light Into Our Lives!

Zechariah 4:6

He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

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Luke 1:35

The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.

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Words of Grace for Today –

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It’s too easy to try by might or power to make one’s way through life.

Or to try by manipulation or deception.

Or to try by simple surrendering to the most expedient evil.

God works by the Spirit.

God works in us by the Spirit as well.

And what God is able to do, even with us sinners, mortal and fickle and selfish and, and, and.

Wonders upon wonders.

Take time today to notice God’s great works.

Giving a Helping Hand

When and To Whom Needs It

Sunday, May 25, 2025

Freely

Troubled Waters Will Find Us All!

Deuteronomy 15:7

If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbour.

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James 2:14

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?

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Words of Grace for Today –

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Life has it’s challenges. Never ending challenges. Kind of like the rain lately. But the rain reduces the risk of wild fires and their smoke that steal days from us, now and at the end of life.

Life has it’s challenges. We never know when we will succumb and end up in great need, even on the street among the growing numbers of homeless people who just a few months ago had homes.

So, out of rational expediency we ought to help those in need, and not just a little but systematically. Building systems that help everyone in need. So that when we end up there, there will be help for us.

Even more so: the greatest challenge in life is to recognize the purpose for one’s life that enlivens one’s days each day, and builds resilience against grief and diseases ravages and faster healing from them as well. The one and only purpose in life that provides those blessing is the act of reaching out to and helping those in greatest need.

Give a helping hand. It not only won’t kill you, it’ll give you life!

Good News

God Knows You Inside and Out

Saturday, May 24, 2025

Bad News

God knows you inside and out,

like each stick of wood in a pile.

First Kings 8:39

In heaven your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to all whose hearts you know—according to all their ways, for only you know what is in every human heart.

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John 1:47-48

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

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Words of Grace for Today –

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The Good News: the poor will receive a gracious bounty from the rich!

The Bad News: the rich will lose a great bounty to the poor.

It all depends on one’s perspective and circumstance.

God knowing us all is great if we are perfect.

But none of us is!

So God knowing us is really bad news for us all.

Except God is gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love!

So God knowing us, warts, sins, abominations and everything evil, is not bad news.

Unless we want to hang on to our warts, sins, abominations and everything evil.

God’s Good News is not that anyone loses anything good. Everyone loses everything evil. Everyone wins, it’s just some us us (part of each of us) wants to hang on to the familiar if destructive part of our selves.

How does God know us?

It is not important!

It is life-giving to know, even knowing us, God forgives us, loves us, and makes us whole again. Sinner-Saints each day anew.

What news!

For The Blind and Lame

God’s Call

Friday, May 23, 2025

Includes All Who We’d Leave Behind

Feeling Like Firewood Left to Rot,

God Still Gathers In All Us Outcasts

Jeremiah 31:8

See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labour, together; a great company, they shall return here.

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Luke 14:21

So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

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Words of Grace for Today –

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The banquet table is set, the food is ready or on the last stages of being prepared, there’s even dessert, a specialty seldom enjoyed except by the wealthy.

And then no one comes.

So the master sends one or more out to call in the homeless, the rejected, the immigrants … all those we’d leave behind.

And the feast is fully appreciated by those so hungry for food, and even more to be noticed, to matter, to count for something good.

So God calls us all.

Yet those that are doing well on their own don’t seem to sense a need to show up. It’s not about being saved: as if those that don’t come aren’t saved. All are already saved. It’s living out that salvation that is tough. We prefer the comforts of being slaves to our sins, stuck in our comfort zones that the devil uses to keep us from living.

So God sends out urgent messages to those others, those we’d rather not acknowledge exist. They might not have understood the invitation was for them, for they just are not ever included in anything, so why this?

But they show up.

God’s children all.

Misfits all.

Baptized, marked with the cross, and commissioned to serve those most in need.

What a motley crew!

And aren’t we fortunate if we know we are one of them!

So what will we do this day, to give God thanks for the feast and the dessert?

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There’s plenty of others hungry to know they matter.

Giving God Praise

Along With All Creation

Thursday, May 22, 2025

At the break of dawn, to the setting of the sun,

And even all through the night of doubt and sorrow.

Psalm 74:21 (see also Psalm 67)

Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame; let the poor and needy praise your name.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. (Ps. 67:4)

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Matthew 15:25-28

But the Canaanite woman came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

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Words of Grace for Today –

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The challenges – all those under a deadline – and all besides the immediate ones to be dealt with – the challenges keep me awake, wondering how to improve the poor results methods I’ve used when I have barely anymore resources or smarts on how to meet the challenges.

And then the morning fire started,

I stood, peering, turning, overwhelmed by the music, wondering …

the geese squawked in a line, not a ‘V’ high overhead, passing in and out of the clouds covering the whole sky, calming the light …

cattle mooed insistently off down and beyond the shores adding a cacophony to the

song birds chirping, singing, swaying the air …

as loons called disturbed by something or was it just they were waking to a new day?

Wondering what great praise the music brings to the Creator, Saviour, Sustainer, 3 in 1.

The light, calm, grey, settled over the fog covered green, green grass in the lower north meadow

giving the orchestra an album cover …

before I decided the fire was probably well started, the ash door could be closed, and I could go in and take the morning medication and crawl back into bed, an opposite standing encore, laying down and letting the music of praise go on and on

and

on.

Healing the music brings, flowing freely, gently over all that is, was, and will be.

So it’s a reset to stand and wonder how

God brings all that music together as the dawn breaks

at 4:40 am.

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And how is your morning, your day, and your night going?

So Much To Fear

So Little Certainty

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

God Alone is Strong, Giving Us Strength to Be Gracious to All.

All That We Enjoy

Can Go Up In Smoke So Easily.

Destruction is Easier and Faster

than Building Goodness.

Zephaniah 3:16-17

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

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Jude 1:22

And have mercy on some who are wavering.

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Words of Grace for Today –

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These days of uncertainty remind us how little can be guaranteed, no matter how much it seems they have been ours as long as memory serves.

Many have fought, suffered, and died. Others have survived, remembered, and work diligently. Many more have committed their lives to serving, according to God’s Will. Yet the majority just take it for granted.

8 May ZDF broadcast the Worship Service for the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe, a memorial for the day of being liberated. While Asia did not see the end of the war until August in 1945, Germany remembers, with thanks, with endless guilt at having started the war and all its destruction, for it did not just break out into war. It was begun. Even more Germany remembers the efforts made to rebuild for decades after hostilities ceased. And they give thanks for the prosperity and peace that Europe has enjoyed since.

The violence, destruction, and death in Ukraine, just 100s of km east, remind them that the lack of war is not ever guaranteed.

But Peace is more than just the lack of the violence, conflict, and destruction of war. Peace, in this world, is also to have institutions that honour all people, space and opportunity to worship as one chooses, and a social contract (an unspoken contract between people) that all are free to speak one’s mind, but no one is free to harm others, not even with words. Where the balance between the needs of the community and the needs of individuals is respected, upheld, and understood to be fragile. Where justice is striven for earnestly by all. And where peace, and all that makes it, is understood to be fragile, never guaranteed, and always requiring that we work to give it to the next generations each decade, knowing it requires great sacrifice to rebuild it decade after decade, year after year, day after day, and that begins with each of us.

Here in Canada, as the US has rewritten the world order these past few months, when rising global powers continue to grow in strength and threat, when fragments of extremists and war-minded groups, militia, and failed states continue to create chaos in our world, we must remain vigilant, and continually strive for those things that make for peace in our nation, in our province, in our communities, and in our homes. Ignorance and apathy, fake news and heated rhetoric, extreme ‘solutions’ and the status quo can have no place in our lives if peace is to continue here for us. If we are to avoid the complete loss of prosperity that we have enjoyed more or less for the past many decades.

But Jesus and his followers remind us that this kind of peace, peace that we must work for every day, is not the kind of peace God offers us. God offers us a more powerful, more life-changing, more effective kind of peace. It is the peace that the Holy Spirit gives us, and teaches us to share with all people.

The Peace that God gives us enables us to work for peace in the world, the kind that brings prosperity and possibilities to all.

Servants, Happy

Birthday

Saturday, May 20, 2025

Simon

Always Storms Threaten,

Weeds Can Slow Us,

Still Jesus Calls Us

Onward to …

Psalm 119:36

Turn our hearts to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.

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Titus 2:7-8

Show yourself in all respects a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, gravity, and sound speech that cannot be censured; then any opponent will be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us.

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Words of Grace for Today –

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Jesus calls and bids us die.

Dietrich Bonhöffer

Jesus calls each one of us, to different lives of service,

always self-sacrificial service.

Not self accomplishments, nor selfishly accumulating wealth, power, or fame.

Just service,

bringing the basics of life, and the extravagant gifts of the Holy Spirit, to all people, especially those most in need.

Where of where

are you going this day?

With Jesus?

Or off into the wilderness so large it swallows up souls day after day?

Singing With Cause

For God is Good

Thursday, April 24, 2025

to each of us in God’s own way.

sometimes it’s hard to see

Psalm 13:6

I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

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Mark 7:37

They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’

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Words of Grace for Today –

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Jesus walks from village to village with his disciples following along. Dusty roads. Wise sayings and guidance, and challenges to the powers that were. And miracles healing the incurable. And giving renewed life to the worst sinners (or were they the best sinners? That always catches me.)

As we realize that, though Jesus is not healing us of our incurable diseases as record numbers of people die from disease (mostly because there are more people than ever trying to live on earth,) – though Jesus may not be healing us of diseases, Jesus is freeing us from our sins and sending us out with purpose: to provide all people with the food of life, and the living water.

For that we can sing God’s praises, each day and each night.

Pick a melody, the hills and the planets provide the harmony.