With Patience …

Monday, March 25, 2024

It May Have Seemed A Good Idea,

But Then We Find Ourselves Out on a Limb

of A Tree

Ready to Tip Into the Waters

of Death!

Second Chronicles 18:13

But Micaiah said, ‘As the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak.’

2 Timothy 4:2

proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.

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Words of Grace For Today

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Proclaiming the Good News ought, it seems, to be a wonderful experience,

but

humans don’t like to have their ‘apple carts upset’, ‘their cheese moved’, ‘their boat rocked’!

Surprise surprise

not!

Most often the Good News messenger is ‘shot’, vary rarely with a camera,

or hung

or burned at the stake

or buried alive

or crucified.

So do we really want to follow Jesus?

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Well, to whom else shall we turn.

For only Jesus has the message that brings life,

true life to all who hear and follow

a rather humbling path

of service to God’s will

in service to others.

It’ll take all the patience we can muster to face down the opposition and derision others will throw at us,

but God walks with us,

and there is no greater blessing.

So onward, One Step, One Word at a time.

And Ever??

Sunday, March 24, 2024

it may seem the horizon of life goes on forever

past the moon setting orange and down ….

First Chronicles 17:27

… therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue for ever before you. For you, O Lord, have blessed and are blessed for ever.

Matthew 25:34

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…”

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Words of Grace For Today

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Ahh, the hubris that would make a human think their kingdom could continue without end!

If ever there were a true saying about everything in life it is simply, “this too shall pass.”

Only God continues without end.

So we know, our sufferings

and our joys

shall pass.

Until one day God gathers us into the home created for us.

Meanwhile there’s much to be done to surrender our wills to God’s

and work to give the essentials

of life to the millions

starving, who face

sure death

today.

Like GREEEEEED are not so small!

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Isn’t It Time, To Recognize Reality,

Sins and All!

Jeremiah 16:20

… mortals make for themselves gods? Such are no gods!

Colossians 3:5

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).

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Words of Grace For Today

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Greed is certainly a long-lived godlet, an idol that we embrace so hungrily. This godlet like all idols eats at our hearts from the inside out, starting with fake insecurities and fears that we then try to buy our way free from. Stupid, but very seductive, widespread, and destructive.

Jesus addressed these insecurities. The people are enthralled and filled with exuberant hope as Jesus enters Jerusalem to put an end to the corruption, the tyrannies, the wild insecurities and fears that rob all the people of life.

But with God everything is not as it seems.

Insecurities, Real and Faked

We may not fully grasp the insecurities the people suffered in Jesus’ time. It may even be difficult to fully understand the insecurities we suffer today.

What author Astra Taylor had to say may help. She wrote about the dangerous insecurities of our times which threaten our future, even as a species. In particular she points to false and manufactured insecurities planted in us, and nurtured among us every day by our consumer society.

Guarantees of safety from great dangers pour over us, like use this shampoo to save yourself from dandruff, use this antiperspirant to save yourself from career and relationship ending stink and stains, buy this car to save yourself from the dangers on the roads. It’s not just one message. Together the accumulation of them all, our collective responses, and the unspoken expectation that we will “keep up with the Jones’s” subvert our ability to see where real dangers actually threaten us.

Yes. It’s a paradox – we live in the most prosperous era in human history, and the greatest disparity ever between the rich and the poor keeps growing. Because the wealthy people buy into it with gusto, guaranteeing their ability to make mega-luxury purchases of fake security at the cost of the basics of life for the rest of us, millions of people struggle to survive until the next day.

With the burning of our energy inheritance of fossil fuels, nature’s timekeeping becomes increasingly confused causing plants and animals to fall out of sync. In a world so out of joint insecurities multiply exponentially, as does self-righteous anger.

Taylor says to counter that destructive anger “We need to … acknowledge and embrace our [real] insecurities, while resisting manufactured ones. [By facing reality, especially our real fears, we can foster] a wisdom that can guide … our personal lives [and] our collective endeavours.”

CBC Ideas Newsletter for 18 March 2024, Astra Taylor’s Massey Lectures of 2023, rebroadcast this past week on CBC radio’s Ideas. Adapted 2024

By Faith

That maybe a lot to take in. Yet we know by faith that we cannot escape all insecurities. Every generation has heard scriptures teaching us to put aside false insecurities and fears, maybe not in those exact words. We practice the confession of sins as the beginning of worship and prayer. Confession includes recognizing and letting go of our false and manufactured insecurities and fears.

Our faith has also taught us that things are not always what they seem!

The Whole Shooting Kaboodle-dom!

Not for us! But for Christ!

Friday, March 22, 2024

Just When We Thought

It Was All Ours!

We Pass Away Into Oblivion.

Psalm 102:26

They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing, and they pass away;

Colossians 1:16

… for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.

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Words of Grace For Today

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We’ve taken dominion over the earth

and darn near ruined it into being an inhospitable wasteland, wherein we cannot survive much longer, or maybe we’ve crossed over the point of no return and it’s a done deal.

Our error, made new each day, is to assume God made it all for us.

But

God created it all for Christ!

Even us.

So that’s our place, not rulers but servants.

And once we surrender to that truth,

then Christ shares the blessings of life with us,

first and foremost the blessing of being blessings for others.

Smarts

Or Smart-ss, or rather Wisdom?

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Finding Our Way,

Following the Path of …?

Daniel 2:21

He changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31

He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’

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Words of Grace For Today

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Oh, we try!

We try to be as smart as we can, but

the results are often that we are just pretending, having missed the boat on wisdom and instead having jumped aboard the ship of fools.

God, by comparison to our futile efforts, gives some great capacity for knowledge and others for wisdom. Seldom do the two overlap, but when they do …

Then we enjoy pearls of wisdom that are precious, and never do they call attention to the one so gifted, but rather point to the giver of everything, especially wisdom, – God our Creator, Saviour, and Sustainer.

To give God thanks, pointing to all things evil and life ending for others, is a sign of true evil and foolishness.

To give God thanks, and point to God for all things good, this is a sign of true wisdom.

Let us pray today we may be gathered in by the Holy Spirit in the second category, able to share all we are and have with those in need.

Memetic Desires

Or God’s Way?

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Dreary Woods, Wishing For Someone Else’ Life?

Living in God’s Country, a Paradise?

Psalm 116:12

What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me?

Luke 17:15-16

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan.

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Words of Grace For Today

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While so much of what goes on around us, towards us, and finally in us has to do with insecurity, and our fruitless efforts to escape its ugly claws on our hearts and minds, there is nothing so refreshing for our souls as to

a) take a vacation to a warm, sandy, sunny beach in the Caribbean?

b) win an all expenses paid ski vacation to a destination of our choosing and at a time of our choosing?

c) inherit $100,000,000?

d) move into one’s dream house with views to the mountains out the front windows and over a river valley where the sunrises each morning, with no mortgage, a gift from a secret admirer?

e) …

Oh, stop that crap produced by generations subjected to memetic desires through advertising and others ‘possessing’ what we come to want and then need, until we use innocent scapegoats to resolve our misunderstood desires.

What God offers is life, life at its best!

All we need to wish for is the continued ability to be thankful for all we have already, gifts from God’s good hand and gracious dealings with us undeserving, sinful people.

Filled with thanks, our days progress with less outrageously unfounded covetousness and conflict – outward with other people, and inward with our own hearts and minds.

Thank God for thankfulness,

and may we have a greater dose of it each day, if you please.

Today, Come

Home

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

In the Darkness Look Not Out There Far Away,

But Close By,

For There Your Home Is Ready, Waiting,

Just for You.

Deuteronomy 33:27

He subdues the ancient gods, shatters the forces of old; he drove out the enemy before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’

John 14:1-2

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

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Words of Grace For Today

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Driving out the enemy and destroying it,

sounds like finally all will be set right.

Until

we realize that we are that enemy, we are the ones creating false gods, and giving our lives in worship of them, so that

if-when we destroy those enemies,

that in us that would so worship other than our God

will be destroyed.

Are we ready

for that!?

But do not let our hearts be troubled, for by Grace alone, God will save us

and

give us a home

like none other,

especially prepared and reserved for us,

where love flows freely

and all ills are cured

and we are finally

set free from our own sin.

Ready?

Start today living in that place already prepared for us.

Answer the invitation to Come

into the heart of God’s love for each of us.

Walk On

Toward Justice and Love

Monday, March 18, 2024

Take a step in the right direction,

Towards the Light and Love

of Life.

Isaiah 10:1-2

Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey!

Matthew 7:12

‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

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Words of Grace For Today

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What do we want?

What can we do?

Is it so hard to do for others, what we would want for ourselves,

and to do it first for others,

before expecting it will be done (by us or others) for us?

A small step away from injustice and towards the love that holds the universe together,

and gives life to every heart.

Ready

march

or rather walk on

by Grace alone.

Freely Flow The Waters

Of Salvation

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Let the Waters Flow, To Us, and From Us

To All In Need

Isaiah 44:3

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.

John 7:37-38

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’

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Words of Grace For Today

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Water pouring over the thirsty land!

Streams on dry ground!

Anyone who is thirsty go to Jesus, for all who believe can drink for free!

In the drought struck prairies and woods around the world, for us starting in our backyards, this is great news,

even as we read that wildfire season has started even before the snow has melted, so little of it that there is, but

then the forecast calls for a dump of 15-45 cm of snow this coming week,

for which we are thankful.

The thirst that is more pronounced and dangerous is the thirst for meaning, purpose, and worth in life. There are so many people and international conglomerates and criminals who have worked with un-regulated ‘free’ press to instill fear deep into the hearts and bones of so many people, and they can not help but look to have this fear relieved.

Of course what is offered them is more and more dictatorial politicians, who will promise to ‘save them’ from all they fear, but in truth will serve the interests of power and wealth with total disregard for their well-being.

And from this we can only turn to Jesus and beg, come, pour the saving waters on these ‘thirsts’ that will enable others to destroy us.

Come let us drink, today, the waters offered freely by Jesus: a faith that knows God’s promises and trusts them, which no conjured fear can steal from us.

Let us remember the many saints of the past, like St. Patrick, who gave so much to bring that faith, solid and clear, to us even in these days of troubles and challenges.

Let us drink

the water

of our salvation.

And let that water flow freely, abundantly to all who thirst.

Good Words

& Deeds

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Dark Shadows Cross Our Paths.

Do We Trust the Word That All Is Well Ahead?

Psalm 105:1

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.

Romans 10:17

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.

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Words of Grace For Today

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The Word

created in the beginning

and

continues to create every minute thereafter

always faith grows or dies from what one hears (and reads – a kind of hearing from others).

So Jesus calls us to share the Good News, with words if necessary, but first with acts of love and kindness, meeting people’s real needs, so that the Word spoken will already be validated by our actions.

And that is an impossible task on our own, for we always mess up our actions and motivations with self-interest and selfish concerns.

Thank God, the Holy Spirit can create faith in us, and in our thoughts, words, and deeds, so that the Good Word is heard

in our actions

and then

in our words.

Get talking after doing good!