For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover them with favour as with a shield.
.
Acts of the Apostles 5:41-42
As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonour for the sake of the name. And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.
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Words of Grace for Today –
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The Way of following Jesus, of going where God sends us and how the Holy Spirit guides us, with righteousness, wonder, and grace for all people,
The Way of following Jesus is never without risks and challenges.
Only when we trust that God shields us from final death, giving us new life each day, and everlasting life after death itself, can we proceed confidently into and through each day, meeting all challenges as Jesus would have us,
For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock besides our God?
.
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.
What’s Coming At Us, From Behind the Trees, On the Road, Through the Woods?
Or
What a Beautiful Sunset
Over the Snow and
Through the Woods!
Isaiah 49:23
Kings shall be your foster-fathers, and their queens your nursing-mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.
Luke 12:11-12
When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’
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Words of Grace For Today
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It’s all fine and good to say do not worry, but most of us worry no matter what, sometimes even about things that deserve to be worried about.
Being brought before the authorities to defend oneself for being a Christian, when the punishment for that faith was death for so many … well that certainly seems to deserve more than a little worry. One’s life is on the line.
But then
one’s life is always on the line
if one is faithfully serving Christ
by being a servant to all, and master to none.
Only in a different life will the kings and queens bend so low as to care for us, let alone care about us, other than to wipe us out for showing the truth about their wickedness and God’s goodness.
But that worry, and that other life to come, need not consume more than passing thoughts from us. We have our work cut out for us, sharing God’s blessing and gifts with those most in need of them. Without cost they are given to us, though we certainly have not and cannot earn them. The only ‘string’ attached is that we share them. For these gifts are really only blessings if and when we share them with others in need.
That’s how God’s world works, whether we worry or not.
For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace.
Romans 12:9
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
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Words of Grace For Today
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We’ve all heard again that famous, or infamous, Rant, I am Canadian. With quiet music building to swells of patriotic music Joe states his case:
Hey, I’m not a lumberjack or a fur trader
I don’t live in an igloo or eat blubber or own a dogsled.
and I don’t know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada, although I’m certain that their really, really nice.
Uh
I have a prime minister, not a president.
I speak English and French not American
and I pronounce it about, not aboot.
I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack.
I believe in peacekeeping not in policing.
I believe in diversity, not assimilation.
And I believe the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.
A toque is a hat.
And a chesterfield is a couch.
And it’s pronounced Zed, not Zee, Zed.
Canada is the second largest landmass
The first nation of hockey
and the best part of North America.
My name is Joe
and I am Canadian.
Reality
Given Trump and his threats and actual tariffs that will do great damage to our economy, one can understand the call to be patriotic.
At the core of our problems, though, we do not find economics or politics, but good old fashion love, faith, and hope, expressed as empathy and care for all people, especially the poor.
So ours is not a rant but a chant backed by any number of great pieces of music, for example “Canticle of the Turning” (ELW 723) by Rory Cooney, to the lively Irish folk tune used as a rugby match song:
Hey, I am not a crusading knight, nor a desert ascetic.
I don’t hold exorcisms, live in Corinth or Bethlehem or Nazareth.
I have a pastor and a bishop, not a coach or a guru.
I speak many native languages, but not Latin or Sanskritic.
I proudly were a cross on a fine chain around my neck.
I believe in peace not in war or violence.
I believe in respecting and welcoming diversity, not excluding strangers or foreigners.
I believe the fish is a wonderful symbol of faith, as is the boat.
I’m not concerned with how people pronounce words, but that we share the radical Word of God.
God’s favour is not won by what we do or say or believe, but is God’s free gift given to us.
We can refuse it and we do, sinners that we are. But God keeps saving us over and over again, making us saints able to do miraculous things for others, especially the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the outcasts, refugees, strangers, and especially children.
Christianity may be worldwide and messed up in many places, sometimes even here at home, but it is the gift of life,
the gift of life abundant for all people.
We may be getting fewer in number, but being a follower of Jesus is the best part of life.
My name is not important because God knows it and everything about me and still loves me. I’m not ashamed of my name, yet it’s not what I’m proud of.
I’m proud that I bear Jesus’ cross and Jesus’ name,
You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
Acts of the Apostles 17:27-28
so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.”
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Words of Grace For Today
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Trying to escape from the Wildernesses
of poverty
of hunger
of harassment
of threats
of apathy
of depression
of other people’s wildernesses
of the desert of a parched soul;
We’ve all tried at one time or another to escape
or at least minimize the parched heat, or the soppy wet floods, or the thunder, lightening, and wind storms of an angry planet or soul that seems out to do us in.
While we may try on our own, in real desperation, as even the least of believers to seek God,
yet God is not to be found, for God is before us, behind us, above us, under us, and to each side of us, walking with us through all the deserts and wildernesses that we traverse.
For we are God’s children, also this day, with all it’s challenges and things to be rightfully feared.
No other solution is needed, and we do not escape at all. God gives us what it takes to make it through, for even if death finds us, and takes us, there God gathers us in
to a home like none we have yet known. Home.
Be nice to have a home even in the wilderness, or maybe especially in the wilderness, eh?!
Some Circumstances Demand Attention To The Good Rules At Every Step
…
In This Case Apply Heat Carefully
but Quickly and Amply!
Psalm 19:9
the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
Luke 11:28
But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’
/Jesus spricht:/ Selig sind, die das Wort Gottes hören und bewahren.
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Words of Grace For Today
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When the gifts of God are taken and reduced to
PURE FEAR and OBEDIENCE
one knows that something has gone terribly wrong.
Fear, capitulation, obeying orders (regardless of their good and right application), … and in all that allowing someone else to control what one actually does …
in the military perhaps it is necessary. But in life it is the sure bell toll of the death of all that is good.
For one must remain able to love, not just fear. Fear is a resignation of one’s soul. Love is the surrender of one’s soul in order that one has life abundant … no matter the circumstances or hardships one faces.
Luther was right to start his explanations with ‘We are to fear and love God so that ….’
Once love is part of the equation of one’s life at every turn – and how else can one rightly respond to all the gifts God gives us though we deserve none of them, for gratitude gives birth to love for God, which gives birth to love of one’s neighbour and oneself, and all creation –
once love is part of the equation of one’s life at every turn, then following the good and just commandments of God is not a capitulation but a voluntary surrender of one’s life to all that is good from God, for the benefit of others, and for creation.
The Lord is exalted, he dwells on high; he filled Zion with justice and righteousness; he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.
Acts of the Apostles 9:31
Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.
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Words of Grace For Today
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Fear is a great motivator. Some say it is precisely what brings people to seek refuge in totalitarian, fascist rulers, enter Putin and Trump and a host of others not so obvious, (and a long long long list from history) but well on their way to being rulers, not leaders,
and rulers that should be feared rather than embraced! But
what can we do?
Pray and vote, and hope.
As for God, often fear is seen as our appropriate attitude towards the Almighty who judges everyone and condemns more than a few.
But that gets us nowhere in life other than in the same old rat race trying to make our way to goodness and God’s good graces.
Thank God it ain’t that way God put it together for us.
God comes and gives us (as gifts, fully gifts) life, forgiveness, healing, and renewal …
each day.
So Luke adds, the ‘comfort of the Holy Spirit’ and
Martin Luther speaks of ‘fear and love God, so that ….’
Always not just fear, for it paralyzes us and leaves us not so much freewilled beings, but instinctual ‘reptilian’ reactionaries, by fear reducedd to choosing between freezing, flighting, or fighting. Usually not the best options, though sometimes it is.
For those times, let fear motivate us, we pray.
But for all others, let love be the stronger companion of fear,
Was it freewill that brings us to live where this is Spring time?
Psalm 121:7
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
John 17:15
I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
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Words of Grace For Today
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Coffee Grounds.
Coffee is wonderful, without power the choice every morning is a French Press.
Can’t do milk, so Silk in the coffee mellows the acids, cools it a tad, and makes a smooth, slightly sweetened hot boost to the morning, though not as much when I could drink caffeine and still sleep well at night.
Wonderful morning still, mostly decafe, a bit of the full power stuff, a small boost but still wonderful.
And then there are the grounds.
What a mess.
Try getting them out of the press’ screen using little to no water. Impossible.
Then if I use water it cannot be sent down the drain and where to then?
So I use a paper filter, which helps with the screen, but not completely.
The grounds still need to be rinsed out (or wiped out, but what a mess trying that is!)
And where to put all that water. Plastic bags to be emptied on to the ground is best. Still a labour-after-the-gotta-love-that-jo!
God probably has stories like that involving forgiving and cleansing our hearts. What a delight that people can love. Gave ‘em freewill to make it possible. But oh, what a headache cleaning up their choices not to love!
And no matter what kind of things you provide to make the clean up easier, they always find a way to make it so messy it’s just unbelievable! Or, since it’s God, not so unbelievable as rather
planned for.
Thank God for that, or we’d all be sunk in our own sin all the time, and our only salvation would be to be out of this world away from freewill, sin, and, then of necessity, love.
Or stay in the world and lose freewill, which would make us no more than bi-ped, smart but stupid animals, eh?!
On we go, freewilled, sinning, and saved, into this new day, trying to return God’s gifts by sharing them with others, as fine or coarse as it may turn out to be.
