On the Way to Wonder

Proverbs 14: 4 for May 14. I found a funny proverb for sheltering! “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest.” I have never said “amen” to that one and probably let my eyes slide over it many times. But it caught my eye today. Where there are no workers, there is no need to feed them but it is also true that with the strength of the workers comes profit. At face value I ponder the drop of expenses because our shops are closed but I also grieve for the many unemployed and then the problems that brings the economy. I can remember my father saying, “You need to spend money to make money!” But perhaps, as I ponder, there are other arenas to which this applies. I ponder the empty nest dynamic. The children have left and are doing well but I need not fix big dinners, the conversation is “different,” and my energy does not rise as there is no challenge. As church buildings are closed, people worship in homes but the harvest of fellowship and music and corporate prayer is being gathered differently now. I grieve. Oxen are needed for work, for a good harvest, and perhaps the lesson is that, it is a privilege to feed them properly. As you go about today, may you be blessed in caring for the oxen in your life and may there be an abundant harvest of gratitude. Blessings.

Proverbs 14:7 for May 14, 2020, “One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.” This caught my heart this morning. To pretend is to “speak and act so as to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not.” The etimology suggests I act before (pre) in such a way as to stretch forth (tend) into action. The word often suggests a game of deception. As a child, I might have pretended to be a princess in my daydreams in hopes of being beautiful or wealth when the ugly duck grew up. Perhaps as adults we “put on our masks” to face the challenges of navigating culture. Oh no, now pretend is resonating with “masks” and that is a big word today. Could we write the proverb to be- one person wears a mask to protect his wealth now while another does not wear a mask in the presence of many friends, his wealth. Masks function to protect us from unseen or anticipated harm that is always present and to protect others from that which I don’t want to be known. When we go to church, the building, whether we wear masks or not, there is a God who sees through our pretenses and our defenses and who meets us without pretending. God sees, hears and knows all about us and the challenges that we will face and in fact, goes with us into those challenges. Today we will look in the Daniel Bible study at how Daniel, confronted by the executioner at his door, takes his case to the higher powers. Sunday we look at the promise of the ever present Holy Spirit that is with us as we act. So, I ask myself in what ways I am pretending today as I prepare to face the challenges? May we be genuine and never forget that God walks with us as we prepare to stretch forth into this day. Blessings.

Proverbs 12:25, “An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.” This is the verse that jumped out to me today as I wait for a zoom meeting with the Bishop about reopening church services. Certainly we are anxious about how to be kind to those who have compromised health, who are isolated, who might be endangered by our actions. I looked up kind to stimulate my thinking. “Kind” as a noun refers to groups with common traits. Lutherans are a kind of Christian characterized, in part, by our belief in communion as a sacrament. Yesterday I learned that Lutherans believe that the full blessing of communion is in either element, either “kind” ie bread or whine, so I may encourage congregants to only take one element if they are anxious about either and they will receive the full blessing! As I read, I was reminded that sometimes we pay our bills in “kind,” ie not cash but something of value. In Kenya we could pay a debt with a goat. Perhaps the gift of salvation is a payment in kind. In any case, we are a kind of Christian and practice a kind of communion expressing our faith in a “kind” God who pays our debts in kind. Ooops, now I have used “kind” as an adjective, describing the nature or essence of a person or action. Micah 6:8 reminds us, “He (God) has told you, O mortal, what is good’ and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Whatever kind of sheltering you are doing today, may you be kind to yourself and perhaps use the phone to call a friend and share a kind word that cheers the heart during these times of anxiety.

Calendar wisdom: “Yielding to the will of God is not bondage-it is blessing.” Hmmm. It seems to me should focus on “yielding” and “blessing” a a challenge rather than trying to figure out “the will of God” in a situation. I talked with my high school friend Saturday. We were Mutt and Jeff. Her goal was to weigh 100 pounds so we shopped in the garment section downtown LA to find sizes small enough for her! When she was pregnant with her first child she reached her goal and we celebrated. Saturday we cried together. Her husband died after a five-year battle with ALS. She, a Director of Nursing, could not longer minister to her husband due to Covid-19. She stood on the other side of the window, one blink meant no and two blinks meant yes. The visitation is today. Of their vast family system in the town, not to mention friendship circle, they must choose ten representatives to view. Tomorrow they will go to the cemetery and she must watch the burial from the car. I cried. As I read the saying today, I cannot reconcile isolation with the communal nature of God and communal nature of people with “the will of God” . But, I can see that yielding to the realities that surround these days and focusing her heart and being on the blessings of their marriage, the vast family and supportive friends network she has, will indeed carry her through these days. She knows her husband is with the Lord and no longer suffering and hopefully, when it is safe, they will plan a memorial that will honor his life and the Lord they both love. May we not confuse some of the very difficult and seemingly unjust circumstances we find ourselves in with God’s will. May we focus on blessings as we work with systems for a better world. Blessings as you navigate your challenges today.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6)” replies Jesus to Thomas’ honest admission in our Gospel text tomorrow that he does not know “the way to the place” Jesus is going. Thomas, it seems is often admits his doubt or confusion. I suspect we, or at least I, stand with Thomas as the world around me is debating the way to “reopen” now with the virus still claiming lives. Deaconesses are sharing via email how each of their states is reopening and, for sure, each one is different. In Proverbs 9 for today wisdom sits at her door and invites the simple to enter, “leave your simple ways and you will live, walk in the way of understanding. v.6” By v.13 we meet the woman folly, sitting at the door of her house at the highest point in town, inviting the simple to enter…stolen water is sweet.” We will start our virtual worship tomorrow with a prelude, “Waymaker” by Michael W. Smith, a modern Christian musician my kids greatly admire. It’s a bit “active” but catchy and makes me wonder as I enter worship and lay my heart open, asking God to reveal what is His way. That may not be the popular way, or the expedient way, or the obvious way as like Thomas I am often praying, errrr, Lord, could you explain that again or send a text! But I do know the right way is not the stolen way, leading to pleasures enjoyed in secret. I post the service later and invite you to join us virtually in public worship as we celebrate the Waymaker.

Oswald Chambers advises, “It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, but another thing to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, no one paying the remotest attention to us.” That sure sounds like one of the challenges of “sheltering in place” during this pandemic, crisis! Proverbs 8 meanwhile focuses on wisdom, ending the chapter, “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself, all who hate me love death.” That’s pretty intense! So I looked up, on the internet of course, how Jewish thought formed about wisdom. Kaufmann Kohler wrote about wisdom that it is “practical intelligence, the mental grasp which observes and penetrates into the nature of things, and also the ability skillfully to perform difficult tasks. The former faculty is intuitive, the latter creative.” Wisdom connects deep understanding with artistic skill and is a more universal concept than Torah or knowledge. Hence, Daniel whom we are studying was one of the wise men while captive in Babylon. How does this apply? As we shelter in this crisis and feel perhaps isolated with partial contact with friends to share the journey, and as we long to gather together to hear God’s word shared and explored, may we have grateful hearts to have time to ponder the wisdom written in his Word, shared through the media, and inscribed in nature outside our window. May we be wise and embrace life as it comes to us today! Blessings!

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere,” says my little calendar for today. Proverbs 7 is quite descriptive of a young man being enticed by an adulteress. Steamy! Her husband is gone and they have all night for fun. The advice, v. 25, “Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths.” Again we meet the word “path” and ponder obstacles. We are beginning to loosen up our restrictions from Covid-19 but there are so many obstacles that irritate: masks, distancing, fear of contamination perhaps not from an STD but from “the virus.” The writer’s advise is to guard our hearts, what we consider the source of our desires. What desires drive us today? The prayer on the calendar is good, “Lord, help me to see obstacles as stepping stones on the path to greater dependence on You. Amen.” Amen means, even so let it be! Blessings as you tackle your obstacles and desires today. You are not alone. The Holy Spirit walks with you.

Benjamin Franklin warns on my calendar today, “Well done is better than well said.” The related Bible verse, “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things (Matthew 25:23).’” Proverbs 6, my reading for today, has much to say also about “the sluggard” and the folly of adultery. The sluggard is too lazy to act and the adulterer acts too quickly, violating another. It seems that just “doing” is not the point of Mr. Franklin’s quote but our doing must be done in faithfulness. Notice, faithfulness is not tied to riches ie doing a lot to accumulate a lot. Faithfulness in the little things that are so easy to slip past or put off until tomorrow or perhaps as with the case of the adulterer are so available to do to fulfill the desire of now rather than wait and work out the long term relationship with a partner. As we chaff at the restrictions of sheltering against an enemy we cannot see, perhaps these quotes are actually very applicable. The sluggard does not act, counting on tomorrow and time. The adulterer grabs the time now for the desire of the moment. Faithfulness implies action over time, tempered with commitment to the other, in small and large tasks. May we be found faithful today in the small or large challenges we face but may the words of our mouth also be gentle and turn away wrath. Blessings as you are faithful!

(I will post the Daniel study at noon.)

Feliz Cinco de Mayo y Taco Tuesday. Having spent high school to young adulthood in Los Angeles, Cinco de Mayo was always a fun excuse to go downtown L.A. and sample food, admire clothes, and experiment with being cross-cultural. Youth trips were to work at orphanages in Tijuana. My first mission experience was passing out hand-crank record players along the northern Mexico border with the USA. Like many Americans, I thought today celebrated independence from Spain. Nope! Cinco de Mayo remembers May 5, 1862, the Battle of Puebla, when a small group of mestizos and Mexican Indians trounced the French army descending on Mexico City.

Today is an opportunity to be grateful for the people of Spanish descent that have added so much to American culture. Yesterday I was at a meeting discussing the opening of church, end of May, beginning of June. We paused to reflect on pre-cell phone times, pre-instant news when our parents waited weeks for letters from soldiers in WWII or from relatives in the “homeland.” I am aware that most all our ancestors were once “new” to the USA and were “the little guy” facing a huge trauma. They have added to the flavor or us.                 Where is your battle today? Calendar wisdom shares, “No one is so self-sufficient that he does not need God (author unknown),” and I would add, need a friend. As we perhaps have a taco today and face the challenges life presents us, may we never forget the God who is present and defends and protects us and the “other” who travels with us. Blessings.

Today is the first day of “Sheltering, Phase 2.” Judging from traffic, I am guessing it started last week. For those of us “over 65 with underlying health conditions,” it makes little difference – perhaps more temptations to go out! Proverbs 4 (May 4) starts with the word, “Listen.” The calendar has advice from Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf from childhood, “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.” Where are my ears and eyes pointed today? Am I listening to others who have the freedom to travel and perhaps visit or am I listening to the sound of the robin and cardinal in my yard and the cell phone in my hand? Am I watching the statistics on the news of the deaths and the confusing reports on the state of our world or am I facing the sun, Son? Helen Keller could not see or hear and so the position of the sun was probably a very orienting experience. Perhaps on good days she felt the warmth of the rays on her face. But rainy days require a back up strategy…for sheltering. She had no cell phone but she had friends. She may not have had a TV but she had prayer. As today starts, it may look brighter because of less restrictions or it may look like “same ole, same ole,” but may it start with listening to God through His word, through music, through a friend. Let us keep our face to the sunshine and may we not be scared by the shadows. Blessings.