Tag: god’s grace

Nativity of the Lord (Luke 2:1-20)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Nativity, by He Qi, 1998

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 

All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.

Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 

So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them, and Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told them. (New Revised Standard Version)

The Birth of Jesus Christ, by Woonbo Kim Ki-chang, 1953

Overwhelmed. That’s the word I imagine the characters in this story had, for various reasons.

To have spiritual or emotional overwhelm is to feel overpowered by several circumstances at once. It’s experiencing a lot of emotions all at the same time.

The sense of overwhelm can come from many different things, including complicated grief, relational distance, and too many responsibilities. Depending upon why we are overwhelmed, it will likely either leave us stuck and chronically tired, or free and forever rejoicing.

A good sense of overwhelm is awe and wonder. A bad sense of overwhelm is despondency and dejection.

Mary probably experienced the full range of overwhelm. An angel showed up and announced to her that she would give birth to a son and name him Jesus, meaning that God will save the people. He will fulfill the promise of being the Son of the ancient King David who has a permanent reign.

In other words, Mary would give birth to the Messiah. That sounds like the very definition of overwhelm, in both its good and bad sense.

Despite the temporal worldly power of the Roman Empire, Mary’s child would have a kingdom without end. And in spite of the Romans, God’s will and purpose would prevail.

And yet, Mary and Joseph were still subject to Roman authority. That meant they needed to be registered, along with everyone else in the Empire, so that the government knew about their tax base, and who was going to pay it.

The decree from Ceasar meant that, even though Mary was quite pregnant, she and Joseph would have to travel to Bethlehem, the family’s ancestral town, in order to be properly registered.

Jesus would not be born in the city of overwhelming power and control in Jerusalem. Rather, Bethlehem, a small non-descript town south of the city, is the place for an overwhelming birth experience to happen.

It’s appropriate that from the beginning, the life and ministry of Jesus would be more about the smaller and less powerful place and people.

And so, the new king, from the line of David, is born in the most humble of circumstances. It is fitting that the humblest of persons were the first to receive the birth news.

Shepherds were literally out on the margins of society. Their typical reputation was not good. They stink. They drink too much. They’re on the lower rung of cultural power.

Yet, a huge angelic delegation was sent from heaven to shepherds to announce the birth. It was an overwhelming experience, no matter how you view it.

Seeing Shepherds, by Daniel Bonnell

Angels showed up, and the shepherds were nearly paralyzed with fear. But their terror turned on a dime to awe, wonder, and joy.

What’s more, the good news shared with the lowliest of persons, is for everyone. All the overwhelm and awe is contained in a savior who has been born, Christ the Lord.

Overwhelming feelings were a regular experience of people in the Gospel of Luke who encountered angels – fear being the initial response. But it’s then followed by an assurance that God is extending grace to them, not judgment. No one need be afraid, because God is with them.

It’s not a new message; but it is a message that is newly focused in this savior of a baby. He is Immanuel, God with us. The presence of God is here, because the attention and love of God are here.

Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
    the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
    What can mortals do to me?
The Lord is on my side to help me;
    I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. (Psalm 118:5-7, NRSV)

The real genuine authentic power of the universe is here – not found within political empires or governments, nor with the wealthy and influential – but discovered in the arrival of the actual savior, who holds all power and authority, and wields it according to proper justice and righteousness.

All along, God is the true deliverer who backs up the needy and oppressed. It is demonstrated in the angelic proclamations of good news about this Savior, the Christ, the One anointed and chosen by God, the son of David, the deliverer from ancient enemies.

The angel’s proclamation erupts with the sudden appearance of a multitude of God’s heavenly messengers praising God, declaring God’s glory, favor, and blessing of peace on the earth. The emphasis is upon God’s grace rather than human action.

In response to the announcement they received, the shepherds went to see if what they had heard was true, and indeed, it all was. When they saw the sign for themselves, they could not keep silent about all they had heard and seen.

The shepherds praised God, out of an overwhelming sense of amazement that the Lord had paid attention to them.

Praise is still the reaction in the life of the person touched by all that they have seen and heard.

Creator God, by your greatness you became small; by your power you became powerless; and by your limitlessness you became limited. Through the birth of your son, we can live in the divine light that shines on a world transformed by the limitless power of your love. Amen. Praise the Lord!

The Gospel Is For Everyone (Acts 11:1-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
The Preaching of St. Peter In Jerusalem, by Charles Poërson, 1642

The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story:“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

“I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

“The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’

“As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (New International Version)

In this Advent season, the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings for Year C direct us toward the good news that Christ’s incarnation is not only for Jewish people; it is also for everyone.

But Peter needed some remedial teaching about this gospel. He had to get the reality that God grants repentance leading to new life for Gentiles, firmly into his Jewish head and heart.

The first advent of Jesus Christ – his incarnation as the God-Man on this earth – was meant for the world, and not exclusively for the Jewish people. Sometimes, however, it takes a vision or a dream to really get the message across.

And God is gracious to do whatever it takes in order to gain our attention and bring us to a point of changing our minds about things we are in error about.

The Gospel is for everyone.

The Gospel is Jews and Gentiles. The Gospel is for you and for me. It’s for your grumpy neighbor and your crazy uncle. It’s for that obnoxious co-worker and the persnickety church lady. It’s for the Grinches and Scrooges of this world, as well as for the already convinced.

Yes, indeed, the good news of Jesus Christ is for everyone, without exception.

I do so hope that you don’t have to learn that truth the hard way. I do rather hope that you have a wonderful experience of discovering a Cornelius of whom you had no idea even existed, until the mercy of God led you otherwise.

It is my prayer that you have (or will have) a story to tell, much like Peter’s, in which you found that the grace of God has no limits, that there is plenty of Christ to go around for everyone.

There is no need to stand in God’s way, because no one can stop God’s grace. When the mercy of God starts moving, it becomes a giant snowball gaining speed and strength and size going downhill. And when it hits, you’re going to feel it!

Grace overcomes and overwhelms everything. 

One of the most scandalous truths of Christianity is that God graces common ordinary people who seem as dead as a bowling ball with the Holy Spirit and gives them life. 

The Apostle Peter had to learn this with some difficulty, but he embraced the work of God among the non-Jewish Gentiles. “The Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning” was Peter’s plain account and confession of the reality that God grants repentance that leads to life for all kinds of people no matter what their race, ethnicity, gender, class, or background. 

It is a wondrous and astounding spiritual truth that God’s gracious concern is not limited to a certain type of person.

Along with Peter and the other believers so long ago, let us rejoice in the work of God that brings deliverance and transformation. 

Grace is and ought to be the guiding factor in how we interact with people. 

Losing sight of grace leads to being critical and defensive. Whereas, embracing grace leads to the humility of seeing the image of God in people very different from ourselves. 

Grace tears down barriers and causes us to do away with unnecessary distinctions between others. Our appropriate response to such a grace is to glorify God for his marvelous and amazing work. 

The Gospel is not only a gift to receive; it is also a wonderful gift to give.

Gracious God, just as you brought deliverance and salvation that leads to life for people from ancient times, and gifted them with your Holy Spirit, so today continue your mighty work of transformation in the hearts of people that I share the good news of Jesus with. Amen.

From Adversaries to Allies (Isaiah 19:18-25)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment

In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.

In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 

So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” (New International Version)

Yahweh is so much more than an ancient local Israelite deity. This is the Lord God almighty, creator of heaven and earth. God is the Lord of the universe, and Israel is not just a sliver of land in the Middle East.

As such, all peoples belong to God. And God is concerned for all the nations. In the ancient world, the Lord was even concerned for places like Egypt and Assyria – two nations which historically treated Israel with contempt and oppression.

The Lord God, Yahweh, as the prophet Isaiah stated, will be revealed to the Egyptians, so that they, too, will worship the Lord with sacrifices and offerings. They will revere God with a monument to Yahweh’s saving power.

The Egyptians will make religious vows and fulfill them. And there will also be relations with Assyria. Israel will exist alongside – and literally geographically in the middle – the powers of Egypt and Assyria. And Israel will serve as a blessing between them.

In other words, God will choose to bless, bringing both religious and political balance and peace. It is rather extraordinary that the Lord speaks of Egypt as “my people” and Assyria as “my handiwork.” God’s vision is always much larger than our own puny human sight or imagination.

In a biblical book filled with sad visions of judgment and God’s wrath, today’s Old Testament lesson is a beautiful vision of hope and peace. This, my friends, is what can be! It doesn’t have to be a pipe dream that various peoples who are historical enemies of one another can walk together in the peace and wholeness of God’s blessing. This is no impossible, although it appears highly improbable.

It takes little effort to hold onto hate and enmity; but it takes a great deal of energy to work on peacemaking, and loving those who have harmed others so terribly.

The fact of the matter is that Yahweh responds to every people who cry out in their oppression – even those who were once oppressors themselves.

That is called “grace,” and it is why grace is so scandalous, because a lot of folks don’t want to see grace extended to those they dislike, hate, and even want dead.

God will do for other nations what God did for Israel, in delivering them from their harsh slavery. The Lord’s ears hear everyone on the earth, and not just some people.

All of the hard-hearted resistance of the past, personified so stubbornly in the Pharaoh who would not let go of Israel, is remarkably overcome and reversed.

This is how it always seems to operate throughout history, including today. People cry out and are delivered, then worship the God who granted them grace and freedom. We very often come to believe because we were in some sort of awful trouble, which caused us to cry out and acknowledge the God who saves.

God both strikes and heals, attacks and helps. God moves people from rancorous relationships to robust reconciliation.

People, however, are not passive in any of this process. Those who are already blessed and enjoy God must relinquish any sort of exclusive thoughts or practices and be willing to share their identity and privilege with others who were once enemies.

Unity, harmony, wholeness, and a true ecumenical spirit and vision will bring people together. The benefits are wonderful, yet let it also be acknowledged that reconciliation and relationships require giving up any sense of being better than the other, or holding on to primacy of positions and power.

Stated positively, it means that we embrace a diversity of people, including them in every way possible, because we discern them as being equals, and not so different from me.

God has other chosen people besides me and you. Can you accept that?

“Egypt comes home to its true self only as Israel opens its sense of privilege to its adversaries.”

Walter Brueggemann

The Lord opposes the arrogant and proud, but gives grace to the humble. God will gladly deliver and welcome all peoples.

If we have the spiritual eyes to see, we will notice and observe that the world is God’s chosen people.

O God, hear our humble prayer, so that we may serve you in holiness and faith, giving voice to your divine presence among us until the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.          

Immortal God and Mortal Humanity (Psalm 90)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
Digital artwork by Bruce Butler

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn us back to dust
    and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
For a thousand years in your sight
    are like yesterday when it is past
    or like a watch in the night.

You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning;
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are consumed by your anger;
    by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    our years come to an end like a sigh.
The days of our life are seventy years
    or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Who considers the power of your anger?
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
So teach us to count our days
    that we may gain a wise heart.

Turn, O Lord! How long?
    Have compassion on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us
    and as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be manifest to your servants
    and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us
    and prosper for us the work of our hands—
    O prosper the work of our hands! (New Revised Standard Version)

All of the psalms are prayers. Most of them are prayers of David. Today’s psalm is a prayer of Moses.

Moses acknowledged and affirmed that God is eternal, and we humans are not. We are frail and in need of God. We are dependent upon God for health, hope, and happiness in life.

There are observations to notice in today’s Psalm lesson, that are then followed by prayerful petitions which arise from those observations.

First Observation: God Is Eternal

God is immortal. God has always been, and will always be. Therefore, the Lord’s rule and reign existed way before this world was ever created, and shall extend way beyond the lifespan of creation. God’s dwelling place is without beginning or end – which means that God isn’t going anywhere. That is a great comfort to me.

Second Observation: Humans Are Finite

Whereas God is immortal, we humans are mortal beings. We are creatures with limited time on this earth. We all eventually die. Everyone returns to the dust from which they came – which isn’t even a blink of an eye when compared to God’s eternal existence.

This isn’t meant to be a downer for us, but rather to help us. It is necessary to work within our limitations while living in this world. To live as if we are immortal has grave consequences (pun intended).

Third Observation: The World Is Broken

Our world is fundamentally messed up. Another way of saying this is that everything in creation is under a curse. Things are not as they should be. And that’s on us, not God. Because of our own human proclivity to sin, our world is beset with a great deal of suffering and toil.

Hopefully, in the best scenario, people learn to understand the brevity of life, and gain wisdom on how to live a humble, just, and good life with one another, and with their God.

Now notice the petitions which Moses offered to God, based upon the observations of God’s nature, human nature, and the world’s situation.

First Petition: Turn, O Lord!

Moses was pleading with God to turn away from divine judgment and wrath, which was more than deserved for a group of people who were chronically complaining and disobedient. Moses was well aware of all Israel’s sins, and was counting on the Lord’s mercy for God’s covenant people.

Second Petition: How long, O Lord?

Moses was asking one of those questions that we ask, knowing that he wasn’t really going to get an answer. Yet, in the asking, there is an understanding that human misery won’t go on forever. Our suffering is temporary.

In this petition of Moses, he was also calling for a change, for God to deal with the people in a different way. Moses wanted gladness to replace affliction, and the sufferings of this life to give way to the joy of living in a good world.

Third Petition: Prosper the work of our hands

This wasn’t a petition for God to simply make everyone healthy and wealthy. It was a focused prayer that God’s work and our human work would be one seamless activity. That is, this is a prayerful longing for what we do in our lives to completely synchronize with God’s law in this world we all inhabit together.

Whenever we sin, we cause damage, not prosperity. Yet, with a divine/human cooperative in which we acknowledge and affirm God’s sovereignty over our lives, and take up our own human responsibility, then humanity thrives and flourishes in the goodness we were meant to enjoy as God’s creatures.

Christian Observations

In Christianity, the immortal and invisible God comes to us in the mortal and visible life of Jesus. In Christ, the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of humanity is not only synchronized; it is perfectly united and harmonized so that there is deliverance from the power of evil and from God’s judgment.

God’s steadfast love is brought to us with skin on.

For the Christian, Jesus is the answer to the prayers and petitions of Moses. Christ is the prophet foretold by Moses who was to come:

I [Yahweh]will raise up for them [the Israelites] a prophet like you [Moses] from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. (Deuteronomy 18:18, NRSV)

The incarnation, life, ministry, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of Jesus Christ has dealt with the weeds and overgrowth of guilt and shame that has taken over the garden of this world.

In Christ, we can begin to hack through all the stuff, in order to see the beauty underneath all of the spiritual neglect which has occurred for so long.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the steadfast love of God the Father, and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit be with you, now and forever. Amen.