On the Way to Wonder

1 Peter 1: 17-25

Tonight the evening news talked about two decisions passed down by our Supreme Court.  One of the questions was concerning, not whether masking is medically advised, but who gets to make the decision whether companies with over 100 employees can require vaccination and weekly testing – the US government who is not composed of medical experts OR the CDC, composed of medical expertise.  Who has the responsibility of making that call?  It was something like that anyway.  Similarly is the on-going battle between state power and federal power about decision making.  It is enough to make our heads spin.  Our news loves to interview people and get opinions from all sorts of “experts.”  1 Peter 1:17-25 deals with a similar dynamic.

“Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as a foreigners here in reverent fear. (v.17)”

Peter continues to say that God is not swayed by silver and gold.  He is not paid to redeem us.  We have been redeemed “by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”  Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God himself and walked through death, demonstrating his power over evil and he is impartial, loving all who choose to follow Christ.   We are tasked with loving each other, not because of political party, not because of ethnic heritage, not because of social strata, and not because of laws.  We are tasked to be impartial even as our God is impartial. 

         We are chosen and elected.  We have been given “living hope” and an eternal inheritance being saved for us.  Therefore we set our minds on that hope and do not conform to evil.  We can trust our God’s wisdom in the midst of suffering because he is impartial and loves us.  We live like foreigners in a world that is not impartial and does not love us.

         It might be that the challenge is to live in “reverent fear.”  The Message translates that as a challenge that we do not indulge in “sloppy living.”  I suspect “reverent fear” would mean knowing this God, searching for his meaning, and trusting his wisdom.  We are the strangers who need him to “teach us the ropes” of surviving trials.

         Maybe you have an issue you are being faced with right now.  It need not be humongous like immigration or vaccination but could be a friend who slighted you with an unkind word that cut like a knife.  Can you boil the issue down into one word – I feel…insulted, slandered, disrespected or…?  You can look in a concordance for Bible verses that deal with that exact issue.  You can go to www.Biblegateway.com and type in the word and the version of the Bible you want to read.  You can pray with a friend.  Do not let the issue stew in your heart, dragging you down but live in reverent fear of a God who is impartial and will give you good advice.  Blessings in the struggle.

1 Peter 1: 13-16

“set your hope on grace…”

“do not conform to the evil…”

Peter, a close follower of Jesus and a leader among the apostles, wrote to Christians who were geographically dispersed, disrespected as a minority, and feeling isolated.  He then writes “therefore.”  Faced with the suffering and trials of life that we all experience he now gives advice.

         “Set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. (v. 13)” What does it mean to focus on grace? A childhood acronym we were taught is that g-r-a-c-e stands for God’s riches at Christ’s expense.  We receive what we do not deserve because of another’s kindness.  We are gifted not because of merit within ourselves or because of our deeds.  Perhaps a bonus check is an example of grace except I suspect that will be paid for by taxes.  Grace is trashing my husband’s car in an accident and he responds with laughter and hugs because he loves me.  I expect a lecture and censure but receive love and forgiveness.  As Christians we believe God did not ask us to climb up to him through deeds and penance but he incarnated, became human, died a horrible death, and walked through death to show we can live with hope and trust his grace, his forgiveness.  But besides realizing that I am forgiven, I can forgive another because God cares about them.  I do not need to be defensive and revengeful.  The polarities and injustices of our world today will not be ultimately resolved by vaster laws and fighting wars of revenge.  Focus on grace.

         “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. (v.15)”  Interesting that he used the word obedience.  Makes me think of my mother forcing me to tell my sister that I’m sorry for hurting her.  Without someone to teach me reconciliation, I would live in ignorance, but I still must choose whether to obey.  I had five children born close together and when they were all learning to drive, it was not infrequent to have a running dialogue about the need to obey the speed laws and if I, their teacher, was obeying.  I find when I become discouraged that I often enjoy reading the Gospels and looking at the life of Christ.  I ask myself how he lived his life.  He healed and did not curse with disease.  He forgave and did not seek revenge.  He did not plot political intrigue.  I can choose to follow his example or follow my own selfish desires.

         So where does that leave our thinking this morning?  May I suggest we bow our heads and think of just one mistake we have made and been forgiven for.  How did that forgiveness change the path of your life?  Secondly perhaps there is a point of obedience that you struggle with from diet to speeding to other problems.  Ask God for the strength to obey and not live ignorantly.  How we choose to live our lives is important.  It affects our understanding of our suffering and it impacts others.  Blessings.

1 Peter 1: 10-12

The apostle Peter in this first chapter of his letter seems to be building a rational that helps us cope with suffering and struggling.  In writing to early Christians and us, he does not ask us to deny hard times.  He does not put suffering in the framework of learning a lesson the hard way.  Nor are the early Christians being punished for misbehavior.  He is writing to Christians who are spread out over the Roman Empire and who are facing isolation and persecution.  As Americans we might not say we are being persecuted like then when Christians went to the Coliseum to fight beasts because of their faith or were burned as torches.  We do not face persecution like that.  We face a much subtler challenge as Christianity has been integrated with politics, finances, health, and education. Faith has become measured by our social stances and not by our relationship to Christ.

         Peter tells his people that they are not “unseen,” helpless victims of fate or science or evolution.  He calls them chosen and elect.  There is a God who has his hand on them and God’s Spirit is guiding them and helping them to stand firm in faith.  Trials and struggles are not punishments and tests to see if we are really believers, but are a refining process common to life.  God does not play with us.  Gold is refined and becomes more pure in the fire and faith is refined in trials.  As we have lived through quarantines these last two years, we have had to grow as a church that challenges pastors and councils to zoom, stream, and face book.  We have been challenged to get those phone chains working to keep shut-ins loved and we keep in touch with relatives and friends electronically.  Trials challenge and refine us, perfect us and can bring out our better self.

         The truth is that we have an eternal inheritance that is far more valuable than gold and that inheritance is being kept secure for us.  Our worldly wealth changes in value constantly but not our eternal wealth and we need to focus on that.  But the truth is also that these sufferings were predicted through the prophets. Struggling is not unique to this generation or this decade.   We can look back to the Israelites in Egypt, the Babylonian and Assyrian captivity, to the plague and wars and we see faith being tested.  Great hymns and art came out of those times.  We are broken people in a broken world and need a savior who is the author of “grace and peace in abundance.”

         So who would you like to be an example for this year?  Whose life would you like to impact?  We do not know who is watching but for sure we are watched.  For sure we have come to faith and grown because of someone else investing in us.  Name two or three people that you will at least pray for this year and ask God that you can be a godly influence in their lives.  Blessings.

1 Peter 1: 2-9

The Apostle Peter wrote two letters to Christians scattered across five Roman provinces. Christians were isolated by their beliefs, by geography, by lack of Scriptures – no streaming of church services, no radio to transmit teaching, a diverse international minority group figuring out their beliefs and facing persecution.  Those days were not that dissimilar to today with political polarities, medical quarantines, and immigration challenges.  Peter addresses his “exiles” as people chosen to be God’s people and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.  But let’s keep reading.

         Peter goes on to say that these people have been given

“new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.  This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.”

“Living hope” are the words that jump out to me. Hope and living hope are somehow different and cause me to stop and think and reflect.  “I hope I pass my test,” does not sound so very confident.  Living hope gives the feeling of growth towards certainty. Living hope is something that is part of my personality, that is breathing and growing. It feels positive and not doubtful.   

         We have living hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  Living hope believes that we are not at the end of the road.  We are not defined by our mistakes but there are still future options that can open up for us.  Jesus resurrected from the dead three days after crucifixion and was seen by many. Our dark times can also be turning points that become new beginnings.  Our pasts are our foundation upon which we build by learning lessons that can prepare us for the future.  Living hope develops as we grow in faith in a God who walked through death.

         Secondly we have an inheritance that is kept secure for us and unlike interest rates that fluctuate, property that devalues, or wealth that can be lost, we can look forward to an inheritance that is secure for us to collect for eternity. We can leave behind old habits and fears because there is something ahead.  Someday there will be rewards and life will be fair.  That gives hope, living hope.

         Now at the beginning of the 2022 we can look back on 2021 and perhaps name some of our mistakes.  Perhaps take a moment to pray and chat with God about how you would like to grow in living hope this year and be a sharer of hope with those you love.  Blessings.

Greetings

1 Peter 1:1 “Grace and peace be yours in abundance.”

We start the Epiphany Season this week and start to look at the life of Christ, God incarnate, entering flesh and bones like us.  We do not climb up to God but he came down and revealed his character in Christ.  Who would have had a “bird’s eye view” of this Jesus character, seen him under the microscope of life’s pressures and really known how Jesus ticks?  My suspicion as we start 2022 is that an on the spot responder might be the Apostle Peter, one of the 12 who traveled with Jesus from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to Peter’s own death, supposedly crucified upside down under Nero in the 60s – not the 1960s!  Peter was at most of the major events like the transfiguration, the trial, resurrection, ascension and Pentecost.  Most of the epistles, the letters that follow the four gospels and Acts were written by Paul who writes in long complicated sentences and who was not an eye witness.  So I want to spend the next while starting our reflections and devotions in 1 and 2 Peter.

     Peter lived during the early days of Christianity when Christians were a minority and subject to many kinds of isolation.  Now there is a word we recognize as we deal with Covid and political polarities and ethnic changes in our country.  Where will we find hope this year in the doom and gloom of our culture?  Early Christians were not a subgroup of Jews but separating from them.  Romans definitely enjoyed throwing Christians to the beasts in the arena or using them as human torches at night.  Pagans thought of Christians as atheists because of their focus on one God, rejecting other deities.  How did they survive that period?  Let’s start 1 Peter 1.

         Peter uses some interesting words to greet the audience he is writing to.  He addresses them as “elect,” as exiles scattered across at least five Roman provinces, “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God,” and obedient to Jesus through the “sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.”  That was a long sentence with a lot of ideas. 

         As believers we are elect and chosen.  I have never won any contest but those words imply I have value in the eyes of my creator.  I am not a biological accident.  Regardless of how my parents felt at my conception, there is a God who has his hand on me in the midst of my struggles to become.  Not only am I valuable, I am not alone.  The Holy Spirit is walking with me when I feel like a stranger and different from “public polls.”  The Holy Spirit is helping me become my better self.  As I do my self talk this week, let me never forget that there is a God who values me where I am and whose Spirit is helping in the choices I have to make. 

         Peter’s conclusion: grace and peace.  Grace is the ability to forgive myself and others when we fall short because we both have eternal value and peace because I know God will bring justice and carry me through the shadows to the light.  That’s good news to start 2022.  Grace and peace to y’all scattered across the States reading this.

We come to the end of the Christmas Season today.  This week we focused on the Magi, their journey, their quest, their stop in Jerusalem and their arrival to worship “the new born king.”  The hymn “We Three Kings of Orient Are” celebrates this story and the gifts that they brought with them to give the baby.  It was written by an Episcopalian pastor John  Henry Hopkins in 1857 for a Christmas pageant in New York City.

         This story is beloved because it reminds us that Jesus was sent for all people, not just the Jews.  We are in the story.  These Magi recognized and followed that star.  God was working outside “the box” and that gives us hope that God is working outside our boxes in our lives even today.  These Magi looked with eyes of faith at a baby and could see beyond to believe Jesus was God incarnate to be worshiped.  We need to look at life with eyes of faith to see God working in ways that are not so very obvious.  The Magi were important enough to be visited by an angel.  We are important.  These Magi were willing to commit to a journey and stick with it over time so that they could worship and bless this new born king.  My prayer is that we will step into the adventure of 2022 keeping our eyes open to see a God who leads with prophecy, who guides with stars, who speaks through all tribes, and who is worthy of worship and our gifts. Blessings as we enter the Epiphany Season and look forward to epiphany, ahaaa, moments getting to know our God revealed in Jesus!

Luke 2:11

“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.”

What is worship?  We have been following the journey of the Magi who followed a star to find a new born king “to worship him.”  The star led them towards Jerusalem and they looked in the palace of the king, king Herod.  But Herod was not the father of the new born king.  The religious teachers pulled out the prophecies of Isaiah written centuries earlier saying a babe would be born in Bethlehem.  “Out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”  Ironically the people of Israel are not following the star but Magi from the east, non-Jews we surmise, are.  Yesterday we celebrated this event that we call Epiphany because the Christmas narrative is not just about the Jews but about “peace on earth” available to all people.  Our gym coach told me that in his tradition they call it “Three Kings Day” and wake up to worship and give gifts!

         The Magi find the babe in a house, so possibly up to two years has passed since the birth.  Luke is jumping the details of the stable, the shepherds, Simeon and Anna.  The Magi enter the house and worship.  They did not seem to be bothered by Jesus being a baby.  They saw with their hearts and not just with their eyes.  Worship is not just the response to receiving answers to prayer or even to tingly feelings and ecstatic experiences.  Worship can be defined as “show reverence and adoration for a deity.” Worship is a multifaceted response to standing in the presence of God.  David danced.  King Hezekiah upon receiving a threatening letter, lays the letter on the altar and cries out to God.  Hannah was perceived to be drunk as she fell before God begging for a baby – Samuel.  Some services are quiet and reflective while others are loud and joyous.  There is no set pattern.  The eyes of faith see beyond the trappings of religion to the reality – the baby is God incarnate, a new king – and the heart worships.

         So what sort of happenings draw you into worship?  A beautiful sunset?  A quiet church where you can lament and pray?  A fun group gathering with good music?  This year may we like the Magi see with eyes of faith the baby Jesus resurrected and active in our lives and may we find many opportunities to worship as we are led by his Spirit.

Luke 2:30

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

We are following Magi, from the east, journeying, led by a star, in the Christmas narrative. They were on a spiritual quest to worship the new born king indicated by the star.  Coming to Jerusalem they encountered Herod, the king.  Was he the father of the new king?  Nope.  This detour of stopping to check at the palace did not produce the babe they were looking for but it did produce information from the chief priests and religious teachers who were called in by Herod.  The scholars referred to the prophet Isaiah who said that the babe would be born in Bethlehem.  As the Magi continue their journey, they again see the star that now leads them to Bethlehem and the house where the baby was staying.   Their response as they resumed their journey was joy, “overjoyed.”

         “Overjoyed” is a strong word.  Can you think of a time when you were overjoyed?  Those are special moments when we know we have received a blessing and more than we deserve.  It makes me think of James 1:2:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,”

That seems very counter intuitive.  The examples I think of are the birth of a baby after nine months and hours of labor.  I think of the thrill of skiing down a slope after hours of falling and learning and trying and then successfully completing the run.  I think of the hours put in by an artist carving  a figurine or finishing a painting they are happy with.  Joy often comes at very unexpected times.  We received a digital photo frame and sit and remember with joy the pictures our kids are sending and somehow the trials that surrounded the pictures have faded.

         Where will we be surprised by joy this year?  Perhaps in nature-a sunset, a glimpse at an animal at play, a snowflake on the window, We will receive gifts of joy as we follow the star to Bethlehem and Jesus.  We will be givers of joy as we bless those around us with love and kindness.  Joy came after the journey for the Magi and for us it comes often after the hardships.  May we faithfully look for the hand of God in the trials that test us and trust him to lead us.  Blessings.

Matthew 2: 3

“When King Herod heard this he was disturbed,

and all Jerusalem with him.”

Magi from the east travel for perhaps two years to Jerusalem, following a star that they believed preceded the birth of a new king of the Jews.  “We have come to worship him.”  I suppose it would be logical to look for a new king in a palace of a king, perhaps thinking the king has sired a son.  Surely Herod would know.  Do you hear a shift in the story?  The Magi have taken their eyes off the star and are looking to King Herod for direction.  This news disturbs Herod and consequently all those lives he touches.

         How many stories do we know where the distress of the king reverberates through society.  Might we turn on our news right now as we are still struggling in the aftermath of January 6.  Dictators have led their armies into wars resulting in the death and ruin of many.  The book of Esther hangs on King Xexes unable to sleep, being disturbed and calling for the book of records.  Thus begins the downfall of Haman and the salvation of the Jews.  I do not believe the Magi intended to cause a problem but loosing focus on their guiding star was fatal for many innocent children and families.

         Two questions come to mind from this text.  What distracts us from following our goals as we enter 2022?  Secondly, how do we handle our frustration when we are disturbed?

         My New Year’s resolution to stick to my diet is derailed by a social gathering where people are eating and I want to join in.  My resolution to exercise is compromised by a late night or a task deadline.  My desire to be more loving in my response to my irritating friend is forgotten in the heat of an incident that touches something dear to me.  Yes, we get distracted by power, by wealth, by popularity and by so much more.  I have a choice.  I can blame myself and give up the goal or I can seek forgiveness and learn from my mistake.  The Magi discover that the babe is predicted to be born in Bethlehem and they return to their goal, to worship the new babe.  The star reappears.

         Herod does not learn but develops a devious plan of asking the Magi to report back when they find out just where the baby is.  When he is defeated he uses his power to send soldiers to slaughter innocent children.  Anger that does not seek relationship restoration is destructive and impacts and hurts many lives.          This year we will make mistakes and we will be disturbed.  In the movie “Lion King”, Rafiki the wise sage monkey hits Simba, the young lion over the head with his stick.  Simba cries, “Ouch, that hurt.”  Rafiki responds, “Yes, But the way I see it, you either learn from it or you run from it.”  May we pray for a teachable and forgiving heart in 2022 and may we run to the Lord when we are disturbed.  Blessings.