On the Way to Wonder

June 6, Proverbs 6, verse 6, “Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” This verse always intrigues me because the ant is respected. I can hear myself mutter at the little fellow, “How did you get there? Where did you come from?” This week as I sat drinking a cup of coffee for my morning break, I noticed a huge black ant crawling on my sleeve. I was on a lawn chair at the end of the garage, not touching anything. That ant just appeared. He was assisted as I flicked him over to the grass and muttered. The ant is not like the bee that has workers hunting and reporting where the pollen is. Indeed it always seems to be seeking randomly. Is it following a smell, a trail of unseen spilt food, or what? I don’t know but it crawls across my counter. Let me make some wild connections.

The ant has no commander or leader that we can see. Likewise, the motives driving a person’s heart are unseen and often misunderstood. Our leader as Christians is not seen either and our actions as people in this world “should be” counter cultural. Following the voice of the Holy Spirit, Christians have appeared in all sorts of places working in ways the world does not understand. I think of Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta. I think of Florence Nightingale and the nursing work that grew from her activity. I see the volunteers helping clean up after the riots. Orphanages to care for unwanted children. Perhaps to many the activity makes no sense and is irksome but perhaps like the ant, God sees and understands.

The second thing mentioned is that the ant stores food. Perhaps today we are challenged to reflect on what we are storing up in our hearts for the harvest. If we store hate and bitterness then the harvest is bleak but if I collect gratitude and dwell on good memories, I know I am a happier camper. It does not make injustice go away but I am stronger to make my little contribution. I suspect, I often see myself as that tiny little ant scurrying across the counter or down the sleeve, looking leaderless, looking random and wondering if the little I collect today matters, but Proverbs calls us to ponder the ant and “be wise.” Blessings as you go about today!

“Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another. It is the instrument by which God reveals in each of us the beauty of all the others. (C.S. Lewis)” What a poignant statement on my calendar to start today as all the demonstrations cool, cleanup is under way and as I tackle a sermon. Sunday is Trinity Sunday. The God we Christians understand and worship is triune, “three distinct Persons in one divine Being, or Essence” according to Luther’s Small Catechism. What does this mean? We are created in the image of a triune God, each one of us distinct and yet part of a whole we call the “human” race. As we look into the eyes and face of another, we learn something about the God who created that person, gifted that person, and allowed that person to come into our lives. When we think of the Trinity, we do not think of hierarchy or value, one being more important or impressive. The Godhead works together in unity, supporting and enriching each other. Perhaps one grief of these days is that we battle for visibility, for significance, for value. We want to be seen as essential in some way. We want to feel our lives matter and that we are contributing in some way to life. Isolation hurts. “Church” is our “safe place.” We are valued and “sheltered” under the wings of the Almighty, and there we meet with friends who are different from us, with different gifts and points of view about life, from different parts of town and socio-economic levels, all with a common purpose, to worship the God who made us all. I pray as we return to worship together in our sanctuary that we will see it not as a reward for our wonderfulness but a gift from a Triune God who draws all of us together to be the body of Christ. Let us rejoice in our differences. And let us rejoice in the technology that allows those who are not able to come, to be safe at home and connected. Blessings!

Solomon waxes eloquent in Proverbs 4 about the value of wisdom. “Wisdom is supreme. v.7” He shares some of the values of wisdom. Wisdom is defined as “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment…” That seems to imply that it takes time and it takes reflection and it takes insightful friends to converse with. I would add that in the reflection process, opening my spiritual ears to God’s Spirit. Solomon goes on to say in v. 23, “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” Wellspring means “original and bountiful source of something.”

The breaking of dawn, for me, is one of the times of the day that I set aside to reflect as the day starts. I remember being in the former famine relief camp and waking to the sound of cattle lowing and people organizing to go for their eternal search for water in the desert and wood for fuel. Later as a teacher in the agricultural area of Kenya, I would wake and sit on my porch praying, a twin wrapped in a shawl on my lap, as the light crept brighter and brighter over Mt. Elgon. My favorite is watching sunrise over the ocean, seeing boats on the horizon, crabs ooching on the sand, coffee and kids warming my heart. Finding a time and place to seek wisdom is important.

We are in the midst of two major societal dynamics right now with restrictions from Covid-19 being lifted but fear remains, with clean up from riots going on in many places with the demands for justice ringing in our ears. Let us take time today to reflect and to seek wisdom. Perhaps the present throws us into our past experiences with illness or injustice or isolation that can give us empathy for what people are struggling with today. We do have knowledge and know that God has brought us thus far. Life is not fair but we can keep improving. We can remember what helped us cope before. Good judgment is perhaps how we evaluate our experiences and knowledge in light of the truths of God’s word. Let us guard our hearts and allow God to bubble up His love and comfort as we grieve for our troubled world. He cares and He is present working out a plan we do not understand even as He did at the cross. Blessings as we journey together for a better world.

“Discernment” is the word that caught my attention as I read Proverbs 3 this morning. So many verses touched me but his one stood out today, “v. 21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight, they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid, when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster…” As we slow down from the rage that burned and all the emotion of last week, pictures of peaceful marching, neighbors of all colors helping to clean up the mess left in the wake of riots, and pleas for discernment in the face of injustice. I note in this passage that discernment has the fruit of safety. My neighbor of a different background is not the enemy but the evil that plants seeds of suspicion. As curfews continue, I can sleep. As people slow down and think, fear of sudden disaster diminishes. Today, as I continue to mourn the ruin that is left from the path of rage, hatred and anger, I pray we can discern real causes and the ways we can deal with systemic evil after the primary and that we can be honest with ourselves about how we contribute for good and for bad to the lives of the people we live with – and need. We are the body of Christ and need eyes, ears, and toes! Blessings as we continue our pilgrimage of discernment. Lord, give us eyes to see and hearts and hands to help.

During times of deep national mourning, outrage at the injustices of life, and stark realization of individual helplessness, it is hard to know which way to turn. I opened Proverbs 2 and did not find comfort so turned to Psalm 2 but that felt dry too. The thought of going to Matthew 2 came to mind as we are in the year of Matthew, looking at the life of Christ through the report of Matthew. Sunday we will celebrate Trinity Sunday, open the doors of the church with safety precautions in place, and our texts for Sunday will return to Matthew. We enter Pentecost, “the long green season,” 27 weeks long after the Easter season. It is the second half of the Christian liturgical year. The first half we look at Scripture to learn who our God is. The second half we return to many of the same passages to reflect on what those same passages mean for our lives. So looking to Matthew 2 might not be so random.

In Matthew 2 we find the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem and the Magi, the wise men, searching for him. Herod’s men pull out prophecy that sends them to Bethlehem. They give their gifts, worship and in a dream are warned to flee. Joseph too is warned in a dream and flees with his family to Egypt. Herod’s soldiers arrive and slaughter all male children under age two. We read the quoting of a prophecy from Jeremiah 31:15, “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.”

Talking with a friend yesterday, we reflected on the many who identify with the injustice being demonstrated against – the injustice of racial profiling, for many the injustice of divorce, for others the injustice of untimely accidents that brutally robbed their futures; the list is unending as we grieve today. As I read on in Jeremiah 31 after verse 15, “This what the Lord says: v. 16 “your work will be rewarded,” v.17 “there is hope for your future, v. 18 “I have heard Ephraim’s moaning,” and finally in v. 20 “Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I till remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,’ declares the Lord.”

Whatever the burden your heart carries today, our God hears our mourning and hears our cries in the midst of our chaos. Blessings as together we live through these days of confusion.

We wake up this morning to scenes of protestors, burning, police, and social upheaval followed by reports on illness followed by weather of the anticipated heat wave by Wednesday. On the news this morning I saw pictures of the riots last night in some of the cities where my children live. But as this continues I also noticed people of good will, finding their voice to speak the truth without violence. I turned to reading Proverbs 1 for June 1. I have always thought of Proverbs as mostly speaking about avoiding “the loose woman” or being “foolish” but reading the first chapter today in the light of rioters, boarded up windows, destroyed shops and so many lives ruined and thrown into chaos, I bring different concerns to God’s word.  It seems to me that verses 8 to 19 cries out against the temptation to be involved in stealing, looting, and vandalism. In the face of injustice and in the shadow of Pentecost , I plead for the fire of the Holy Spirit and cry out with George Floyd, “I can’t breathe.” Lord, breathe on me and my world with your Spirit that we can release vengeance to you for you promise to repay. Breathe on us your Spirit to turn the other cheek, to forgive, and to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Lord, in your mercy, hear my prayer.

Combining Calendar wisdom and Proverbs 30 today, I stretched my imagination. “By the work one knows the workman. (La Fontaine) Father, please work Your will in my life so that others will see You as the Workman. Amen. (unknown)” from the calendar and Prov. 30:18,19 reflecting on three things the writer does not understand, “the way of a ship on the high seas” caught my thinking. So many movies involving ships come to mind: Titanic, Captain Phillips, Darkest Hour pop into mind. I must admit that I marvel at how they sail the seas without a mountain to steer by. You see, I learned to drive on the Los Angeles freeway and I always knew which way I was going because the mountains surrounding the area were landmarks. I never learned to trust a compass as it seems magical and the position of the North Star is somehow different south of the equator than north and for sure just the time I need it, a cloud covers the sky! Like the writer of Proverbs, I must admit I do not understand the way of a ship on high seas.

Life feels a bit like that now. We are living in a time of multiple opinions on how to protect ourselves from the virus and how to reopen to a “new normal.” Political opinions tear us apart about how to live out our beliefs in “democracy.” Social chaos was stage-front this week as I watched the riots in Minneapolis over the tragic death of a young black man. We lived in Minneapolis an walked those streets.  I cry out to the Lord that the North Star is not shining as the clouds of doubt cover mountains, compass and stars.

It is appropriate that tomorrow is Pentecost when we celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to the disciples who cowerd in fear in a room in the midst of people from multiple nations and in the aftermath of a cruel and brutal crucifixion. The Spirit hovers over those people giving them courage to speak, words to communicate, and works that gradually change the world. As we again turn to the Holy Spirit tomorrow as our source of direction and inspiration for the works that testify to the reality of our beliefs, I pray with our readings that others will marvel at the God that helps us navigate on the seas of life. Blessings as we wait to worship tomorrow.

Today I am not inspired. My calendar and Proverbs 29 did not grab my imagination. So I turned to Psalms 29. The whole psalm starts with the mandate, “Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.” The psalm then continues on to personify the voice of the Lord like a mighty storm with lightning, thunder, winds sweeping across forests and deserts. The psalm ends, “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. The Lord gives strength to his people, the Lord blesses his people with peace.” Yesterday I woke to a cloud burst of heavy rain and there were several more cloud bursts through the day. The weather man calls it “thunderstorms” but the Psalmist sees the storms as a dynamic similar to God moving through his world. The news of the death of George Floyd and the resulting violence in Minneapolis continued to unfold yesterday. As the waves of storm hit, waves of memories touched our hearts and lives. It did feel like the mighty oaks were “twisted” and the forests were “stripped bare.”   In the midst of the storm, chaos and upheaval, the psalmist reminds me that the voice of God is working. Like the wind, we cannot see God’s acting. Like the rain, history impacts the little plants as well as the mighty oaks. In the midst of a storm, we can only take shelter…and there we have it. Where do we shelter as God’s voice works? Yup, where do we shelter in the storm of viruses and lockdowns, storms of injustice and violence underserved, during times of uncertainty? The beach does not save us. Shopping and re-opening restaurants does not give our soul eternal joy. As we live through this time of change, we turn to the God whose voice is working unseen but ever active in our world. Lord, grant us grace to see beyond the storm to the God who holds all our lives in his hands and heart.

It’s raining! What a wonderful sound to wake up to. In Kenya, the tribe we did Bible translation with would say, “Waakh aderr.” God is crying. It is always a sign of blessing and it is always good. During El Ninya, the water was up to our knees on the roads and travel was dicey. I asked my Kenyan friend, “Is it ever appropriate to ask God to stop the rain?” He looked at me in shock. “We never ask the rain to stop! We pray, ‘God, thank you for the rain but please remember that we are but dust!’”

The calendar for May 28 shares, “He who plants thorns must never expect to gather roses. (unknown) and then ‘…every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Thus, by their fruit you will know them. Matthew 7:17,18’” I looked the verse up and it is set in the context of being careful of false prophets, deceitful people. Today we call it the scam. If it is too good to be true, it is too good to be true.

Perhaps we can say that ultimately God sends the rain (all your scientists must realize I am not talking scientifically but drawing a parallel) but the plant that grows will depend upon the seed that is planted. So as I ponder the garden of my life, today I pray to be more aware of the seeds I plant. Do I spread gossip and despair and hate or do I encourage and nourish with seeds of future hope. In spite of this pandemic, the Bethany Community Garden is growing vegetables, have new wire frames for the plants to climb, and bring hope of a harvest, not of thorns and perhaps not of roses but vegetables to nourish the hungry. Thanks guys! Blessings

“That silence is one of the great arts of conversation is allowed by Cicero himself, who says there is not only an art, but an eloquence in it. (More)” “Be still and know that I am God; (Psalm 46:10)” Calendar wisdom for today fits the mood at our house. Sometimes words fail to express the turmoil of the heart. A young man died in a police encounter in Minneapolis, our former home, and the city erupted in demonstrations around my daughter’s old high school. We are speechless and helpless, receiving texts from friends, searching the news for reports and grieving. According to Wikipedia, Cicero too lived at the end of Rome’s glory and this quote comes from his work Brutus, tracing oratory in face of its demise.

Proverbs 27 opens with the reminder “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth, someone else, and not your own lips.” We do not know what today will bring, much less tomorrow. So perhaps we stand in silence before the God of the universe with our heads hanging down and our palms opened out. Others must tell our story. We are still in submission to the God of the universe who holds our lives and knows our days. We have no words sometimes and perhaps that is ok. God was there with the young man who died and God knows the big picture; we don’t. We grieve in the face of death, political chaos, editorial finger pointing, and human frailty. Guard our mouths Lord and comfort those who are grieving today for many reasons. Lord have mercy.