On the Way to Wonder

Psalm 18

I love you, O Lord, my strength.
² The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
    my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³ I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
    so I shall be saved from my enemies.

David wrote Psalm 18 after being delivered from Saul, the first king of Israel who was attempting to eliminate David as a potential threat to his kingship.  David continues to share how he felt overwhelmed and sure he was about to die.  It was like being trapped by a horrible storm.  Some of us remember Hurricane Ian but perhaps you remember a tornado, drought, fire or other catastrophe that you passed through.  David said that God reached down from his heavens and rescued him like being tossed a life vest that supported him and helped him float to a safe space.  David reminds me that God is faithful to the faithful and responsive to the humble who cry out to him.

Deliverance in times of trouble is worthy of thanksgiving.  Living in this world means we will have problems and God is not just here to make our life easy.  Sometimes we make mistakes and bad choices and must pay the consequences but we know we never go through those experiences alone.  God journeys with us  Please write for your acrostic today words that remind you of God’s help in times of need, then listen to the song.  H….., E….., L……, P……  Thank you Lord for being with me.

Psalm 100:4

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him, bless his name.”

Before Halloween is over, our culture seems to be skipping Thanksgiving and jumping to Christmas carols.  We are exhausted from the polarization of politics and we face going to the poles tomorrow amidst the defaming of the “other” and with a loss of confidence in the validity of the results.  A deep cynicism seems to have settled like a fog that is refusing to melt away.  Oh yes, we now realize we are going into a recession to prevent a depression.  Us elders remember the tales our parents told us about the Great Depression.  I will not mention our own personal challenges we are living.  Sounds to me a lot like the first Thanksgiving.  I know we discuss the politics of history but we do know new people to the Americas fled countries where they did not feel welcome to face a new life that resulted in the death of many.   How do we survive those dismal times when life is so hard?  One solution is to call a time out for Thanksgiving, go to the house of worship for our faith, and look at the blessings amidst the trials.

         One of the lessons of Lamaz training for childbirth was that the mind can only focus on one thing at once so being able to focus on a good memory or a favorite Bible verse and then breath and relax, will shorten the “labor” and help needed.  I find that to be true spiritually.  I cannot focus on praise and grumbling at the same time.  Sometimes it is a battle as my grump keeps creeping into my mind but if I can stay focused on praise, my mood will lift.

         The author of Psalm 100 wrote what is called the Psalm of Praise and shares where he put his thoughts as he entered the Temple.  He starts with the goodness of God who is creator and reminds himself that we are God’s sheep.  Perhaps you would prefer a different animal but sheep bring up the image of helplessness and dependency.  Then he remembers that God’s love is eternal.  It is not like human love that can change with our moods, or can shift if someone better comes along.  God is committed to his people.  And thirdly God is faithful through the generations.  As I age I find it comforting that God is keeping his eye on my children and grandchildren, not to mention friends.

         Today let us think of words that start with T….. that either describes love or the things we love and then spend a moment thanking God for your list.  Here is a clip of Psalm 100 put to music.  Enjoy and blessings!

In 1864 Bishop William W. How wrote the words to this hymn that is so closely related to All Saints Sunday tomorrow.  Bishop How was known because he chose to work in poor, not so prestigious congregations and was affectionately called “the children’s bishop,” “the poor man’s bishop,” and “the omnibus bishop,” the latter designation for his frequent travel among the people of his parish.”  The hymn originally had 11 stanzas, possibly naming people we often don’t think about as saints.  This simple presentation shares many of those verses.  May it be a blessing for you as you prepare for tomorrow.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,

 and let us run with perseverance

the race that is set before us,”  Hebrews 12:1

Another popular saint is Valentine.  We have a video that our family loves and watched each year of his life.  Valentine was a Roman nobleman who became a Christian and legend has it that he did marriages of soldiers who were not permitted to marry.  Some of the couples he married were caught and imprisoned.  The story goes that he tore red paper into the shape of hearts, wrote messages of encouragement to his people and had them delivered by the blind jailer’s daughter.  The girl was caught and Valentine offered to face the arena as a nobleman instead of his people.  The jailer’s daughter was healed and Valentine died a martyr on Feb 14, 269.  The West world celebrates Feb. 14 and the Eastern church celebrates July 6 in memory of Valentine’s love for his people and the little blind girl.  Valentine is the patron saint of lovers, of epileptics and of beekeepers.

         When we think of St. Valentine, we think of love and giving expressions of love.  John 15:12-13 says “¹² ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  Love seems like the foundation supporting St. Francis of Assisi’s love for animals, St. Christopher’s  desire to serve the greatest king, St Patrick’s desire to return to Ireland and share his faith, and St. Valentine’s sacrifice for his friends.  1 John 4:19 shares, “We love because he (God) first loved us.”  As we come to All Saints Sunday this week, let us reflect on all the people living and deceased who have loved us into being our better selves.  L is for ……, O is for ……, V is for ……, and E is for …….   Blessings.

St. Patrick is one of the best-known saints to people because on March 17 around the world, people celebrate his birth.  Chicago plumbers dye the river green for five hours.  People wear green or orange, march in parades and celebrate Irish culture.  But who was St. Patrick?  He was actually born of Romanized British parents in Scotland or Wales in 385 and died 17 March 461.  He was not Irish!  He was captured as a teenager and taken to Ireland as a slave, working among pigs.  He escaped being warned in a vision and returned home but after another vision returned to Ireland to tell people about Christ.  Legend has it that he raised people from the dead by prayer, prayed a herd of pigs to appear for staving people, and explained the Trinity, the three-ness of the one true God by using the shamrock.  It is less likely that he rid Ireland of snakes.  He was not well educated but wrote Confessio in Latin with a vulnerability about his faith second only to Augustine.

     The shamrock with its three leaves but one stem is usually on the icon of St. Patrick.  The word diversity comes to mind as I think about the shamrock.  Our God made trees but in many different shades of gree.  People are born in all shades of color with so many different languages with which they communicate.  Who is to say a rose is more beautiful than an orchid?  The shamrock speaks not only to the Trinity, the Three-in-One God but also to the multiple and diverse ways that God speaks into our existence and makes himself known.  And perhaps as amazingly, many varieties of trees can live together in a forest.  Many varieties of vegetables grow side by side in a garden.  Many kinds of birds and animals bless our life each day.  Our God is able to speak and resolve the issues in our lives in ways we have yet to image.  Today I thank God for reminding me of that truth seen in the shamrock.  D is for ….., I is for ……, V is for ….., S is for….., and E is for …….  Many blessings as you journey with a God who is Creator, Savior, and Enlightener today.

One of the popular saints that I have heard of is St. Christopher.  I have never known his story.  He died mid 200s and there are various stories.  The most complete one by Wikipedia is that he was a Canaanite, 7.5 ft tall and had a fearsome face.  He wanted to “serve the greatest king.”  So he went into the service of his king but saw him cross himself at the mention of the devil.  The devil must be greater!  So he found a robber who claimed he was the devil and served him but the man who called himself the devil avoided a wayside cross because he feared Christ so Christopher found a f hermit that taught him about Christ.  The hermit told Christopher he could serve Christ best by using his gift of size to help people cross a dangerous river that many people died crossing.  Christopher helped many people cross.  One day he carried a child who felt tremendously heavy.  After crossing the child identified himself as Christ carrying the cares of the world.  Later Christopher traveled to Lycia where he refused to worship the local god.  Two women were sent to entice him but he converted them.  Ultimately he was beheaded, a martyr.  St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers.

         As I read the life story of St. Christopher, his quest to serve the greatest king, catches my eye.  That his quest ended with serving Christ by using his God-given gifts reminds me of the beatitude in Matthew 5:6, “ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  1 Timothy 6:15 also urges obedience to: “he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.”  The question of who we serve and honor with our lives, I suspect, is different than the question of salvation.  How our gifts and talents are employed is indeed a life long journey with God.  We all have gifts.  I pray as you journey today I pray your eyes are open to the presence of God guiding your steps as you seek to serve him.  S is for ……, E is for ….., V is for ……, and E is for ……  Blessings.

 Born in Assisi, Italy, in late 1181, St. Francis is one of the most popular saints.  This coming Sunday is All Saints Sunday and so I thought I’d look at the lives of some of the most venerated saints.  St. Francis is near the top.  Born into wealth, he enjoyed a secular life style when young but rejected his worldly blessings of wealth, good looks, and talents to embrace the life of a monk.  He is famously known for going to Egypt in 1219 to try to end the conflict of the Fifth Crusade.  I did not know he arranged the first Christmas live nativity scene!  I did know he was the founder of the Franciscans.  St. Francis is often pictured wearing a robe with a rope for a belt and is at peace with animals and his environment.  His feast day is October 4 and he is the patron saint of Italy.

         As a non-Catholic, I am inspired by the peace that I have always associated with St. Francis as he communes with animals.  Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  Proverbs 16:7 says, “When the ways of people please the Lord, he causes even their enemies to be at peace with them.”  In our world of conflict and polarization, we deeply need people who nurture peace with God, with humanity, and with nature

         Let us take our spiritual temperature today and ask ourselves if we are running hot or cold.  Are we people of peace?  To help us think about peace in our lives, let’s quickly do an acrostic of the word peace.  P is for ______, E is for _______, A is for ______, C is for ______ and E is for ______.  Thank you Lord for people who are peacemakers.  May we too be people of peace on our journey.

Today is the second largest commercial holiday in the United States, second only to Christmas.  Where did Halloween come from?        

         About 2000 years before Christ, The Celts of the British Isles celebrated Samhain on November 1 as their New Year’s day, end of harvest, and beginning of the dark time of the year.  It was considered a “thin place” or time when the boundary between the material and spirit world could be crossed.  The ghosts of dead people could visit the living.  Large bonfires were built and sacrifices offered to appease these spirits.  By 43 CE Romans had overtaken the British Isles but they too had celebrations that became incorporated with the Samhain celebration of the Celts.  The Roman holiday, Pomona, celebrated the passing of people.   The symbol of the goddess Pomona was the apple (bobbing for apples?). Those two celebrations combined. In 609 CE Pope Boneface IV declared May 19 as the day for the celebration of the lives of martyrs.  This date was moved to November 1.  By the 9^th century All Saints Days was firmly established as November 1.  The “eve of All Saints Day” or Halloween was October 31.  Costumes were worn in these celebrations to hide from the spirits of the dead who were believed to roam around seeking “treats” or threatening “tricks.”

         On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the Wittenberg church door calling for public debate.   He opposed the belief that the dead could return to life and seek help in their after life.  He opposed indulgences as acts of good deeds to help the dead spend fewer years in purgatory.  He opposed the authority of the Pope in selling indulgences.  Last week we pondered “Grace alone,”faith alone,” “Scripture alone, “Christ alone” and “Glory to God alone,” the pillars of the reformation.  We are saved by God’s grace because God is good not because we become good. Faith is how we relate to God directly.  We do not have to go through in-between places like pergatory or saints. Scripture, is the ultimate authority and not councils and traditions that have contradicted each other.  And ultimately Christ is the only name that saves us by his work on the cross. The newly invented printing press spread Luther’s challenges and so the Protestant Reformation is dated to October 31, 1517.  Today we celebrate Reformation and Halloween.

         As Christians we do not believe we need to wear costumes to hide from evil.  We do not believe deceased ancestors return to play tricks on us.  We do believe evil was defeated on the cross.  And we certainly believe in welcoming the children in our neighborhood and getting to know people.  We need not fear for we know Christ is alive and that is not a trick.  It is a treat!  Blessings.

Psalm 46:1-4

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
³ though its waters roar and foam,
    though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

One of the favorite hymns that came out of the Reformation, we celebrate tomorrow, was written by Martin Luther.  Luther wanted to make scripture accessible to his congregation and so took this favorite tune and fashioned a song that picked up the tensions we experience in this world and the truth that opens Psalm 46.  Perhaps you don’t see life in the images of struggle lime the hymn but for many life is a battle with evil and a struggle to find a loving God.  Let us listen and then read the words and meditate on their truth for our day.  Blessings.

1 A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal.

2 Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing.
You ask who that may be?  Christ Jesus, it is he; Lord Sabaoth his name,
from age to age the same; and he must win the battle.

3 And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.

4 That Word above all earthly powers no thanks to them abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still; his kingdom is forever! 

To the four pillars of the Reformation (Scripture alone, Christ alone, Faith alone, and Grace alone) was added a fifth “Alone” that summarizes and connects the four pillars.  To God alone be the glory.  The central question of the Reformations was justification –, how can people be made right with an unseen and seemingly distant God when we are so prone to sin and doubt?   What is the point of our mortal life and how does it relate to the unseen, eternal world?  It is answered by a theology that that does not focus on me, my works, my beliefs, or my life but focuses only the role of God.  God created, incarnated, atoned and calls us to relationship with himself for eternity.  God alone inspired Scripture.  God alone incarnated in Jesus.  God alone responds to our faith.  God alone graces us with the gift of eternal life.  Ultimately God gets all the glory.  That’s the point.

         Please enjoy this Andrea Crouch rendition of the song,  “To God Be the Glory!”

1.  To God be the glory
Great things He has done
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin
And opened the life-gate that all may go in

CHORUS:  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord
Let the people rejoice
Come to the Father
Through Jesus the Son
Give Him the glory
Great things He has done

2.  O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood
To every believer the promise of God
The vilest offender who truly believes
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives

CHORUS

3.  Great things He has taught us, great things He has done
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our worship, when Jesus we see