Tag: god’s mercy

Looking for Mercy (Isaiah 63:15-19)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Divine Mercy, by James Janknegt, 2009

Lord, look down from heaven;
    look from your holy, glorious home, and see us.
Where is the passion and the might
    you used to show on our behalf?
    Where are your mercy and compassion now?
Surely you are still our Father!
    Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us,
Lord, you would still be our Father.
    You are our Redeemer from ages past.
Lord, why have you allowed us to turn from your path?
    Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you?
Return and help us, for we are your servants,
    the tribes that are your special possession.
How briefly your holy people possessed your holy place,
    and now our enemies have destroyed it.
Sometimes it seems as though we never belonged to you,
    as though we had never been known as your people. (New Living Translation)

Desperation takes many forms – financial straits and grinding poverty; chronic physical challenges; the horrors of war; homelessness which never seems to end; and continual harassment. And that is only a short list of the destruction, death, and grief we have experienced and will encounter in our lives.

The penitent person who looks to God for help and strength through such times faces the possibility of divine disappointment. God’s timetable is not the same as ours, not even close. So, it is understandable that we can become upset with God. It can even appear as though God knows nothing about our situations.

Nevertheless, the penitent believer still prays, still hopes, still insists on faith, and even keeps up a steady stream of loving God by loving the people God created. But none of that means we never question God, never pour out our raw emotions and palpable hurt toward the Lord whom we have known.

The spiritual life has never been one of unending upward ascension toward the divine. Rather, the spiritual life is filled with continual ups and downs; three steps forward and two steps backward; and wondering if the spiritual journey of faith and patience is worth it.

I myself am in one of those ponderous times in which both my physical and mental health are in a place where I can see no way out. It’s as if God has taken his summer vacation somewhere on the other side of the universe, and left me to fend for myself.

Yet, I am one of those stubborn penitent believers who knows better. I have walked with God for nearly 50 years, and I’m not about to let go of faith, hope, and love, just because my life has several adversities and challenges. The truth be told, God owes me not a single thing, and yet, grace, mercy, and peace have been liberally and lovingly given time and time again.

But I admit, I long for those kind of glorious times once again. I’ve seen far too many genuine and unexplainable miracles in my past ministries to ever lose hope or ever believe God isn’t really there. I just don’t know why God is presently aloof, or if I’m too hard-headed to observe all the little graces He’s been tossing my way.

Yet, me, along with the ancient Israelites of old for whom Isaiah prophesied, who have experienced goodness from God, have our times of complaint, as well as penitence.

Today’s Old Testament lesson is filled with prayers and petitions, complaints and laments, confessions of sin, and confidence in the great Yahweh we have served for so long.

These heartfelt petitions are meant to move the passion of God to our deliverance and the meeting of our needs. Remembering the past commitments given by God is like the firewood of prayer we are trying to kindle and bring to full strength and heat.

In difficult circumstances, God seems much more transcendent than immanent. That is, God is understood as high as the heavens, and not so much as close as a friend. The Israelites pleaded with God to just give at least a glimpse toward them – to look down for just a moment so that divine mercy can quickly assess what’s going on.

The Lord is a gracious and compassionate God; it’s not in God’s nature to have no zeal for the ones who are devoted to that divine nature. God is reliable, right!? God will do what is right for us, if God sees what the heck is happening, right!?

The Israelites remind God of the past relationship which was an intimate connection of care and well-being. Father Abraham may have been the original Hebrew, but he isn’t around – Abraham is not God. Just as Abraham counted on God during his earthly life, so the Abrahamic community of Jews are depending on Yahweh for help.

The people knew something was awry, and they were not about to accept that. They want to understand what’s going on, and why they are in such a dire predicament. The Israelites even go so far as to blame God for leading them astray in some way. That’s the level of wondering and hurt they were under.

Charging God with neglect is a bad path forward for anyone. Just because things are bad does not necessarily mean that God is aloof, and that one’s enemies will take advantage of the supposed power vacuum.

It just gives us the sense of hopelessness, anxiety about the present, and worry about what will happen tomorrow. What they, and we, know about God is that without divine help, we are nothing, and going nowhere. So, that’s why we pray so fervently.

Yet, methinks we take ourselves far too seriously, as if the world would crumble without our divine connections. In reality, God doesn’t need us, yet chooses us for loving our neighbors in our world. It’s a privilege. Yet, one with a high cost. Love and mercy are a commission which will take everything from us and out of us to do.

As the people we are, there is a tendency to look for continual divine kudos and the accolades of others for our good work. But to be humbled and overlooked is a good thing, not a bad one. For we are being taught to disdain all the broken systems of this world. If we do that, we shall not continually be grieved, because God is our everything.

We are easy victims of vanity, and really have no reason to give God a list of complaints about how things have shaken out of our favor. Peace – real and sustaining peace – comes not from having everyone like us or get along with us. Peace actually comes from having others despise us, slight us, and have some contempt for us. This is when we become spiritually enlightened and learn to enjoy a full and rich connection with the God who once seemed remote.

As for me, I’ll take me and Jesus any day over any other relationship. For no other friend or foe can ever take away something that is living and permanent.

The grace of the Holy Spirit is always seeking the humble heart, and is always on the lookout for those seeking to liberate themselves from systemic and structural evil in order to do the greatest work of love. Wherever there is desperation, there is where God does His best work of mercy.

Grant to me, Lord, I pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, so that I, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ my Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Christ the King Sunday (Luke 23:33-43)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
The 118 feet high Christ the King statue in Świebodzin, Poland

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (New Revised Standard Version)

I’m glad that the Gospel text on this Christ the King Sunday is the story of Christ on the cross with the two criminals on each side also crucified. Why?

Because our cultural contexts tend to associate power and authority with high level earthly positions. But, in reality, Christianity is a paradoxical religion full of truths which seem antithetical to each other; yet they are not.

Many people (including many Christians) believe that, in order to influence the culture, Christians must have prominent positions in society. This leaves the majority of Christians feeling as if they have nothing to offer the world. After all, they have no important title at their job, in the government, or within the church.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Christ, in the lowest earthly position possible by being nailed to a cross, was a king who had the highest heavenly position in the universe. One will never come to grips with Jesus apart from understanding that Christianity is an inherently paradoxical religion.

The Sanctuary of Christ the King in Almada, Portugal

One of the criminals crucified with Christ discerned this reality well; the other criminal did not understand at all. One demonstrated the reality that humility is the powerful key to all things, whereas the other criminal remained full of himself.

The scene portrayed for us on Golgotha’s hill shows us what the kingly reign of Jesus Christ truly looks like: It is characterized by the power of humility and sacrifice. It highlights Christ’s authority by giving mercy to those hanging on a cross alongside himself.

True power is not found in the halls of earthly political power, but rather in the elevating power of God’s grace and Christ’s self-sacrifice. Therefore, Christians can best demonstrate their own power and authority by extending grace and mercy toward others, even when it’s hard to do.

It can be difficult to wrap both our heads and our hearts around this reality of possessing power without actually having positions and titles of authority in the world and the church.

Many a church pastor bemoans the fact that a number of their parishioners fail to be active servants in the wrongheaded notion that the clergy are supposed to do all the work. The laity may believe that the clergy are the ones with the educational, experiential, and positional power to influence culture and society.

What’s more, it can be even harder for those who once had positions of power to believe they themselves can no longer effectively work for the good, because they are now nobodies. They may ask, “Who would listen to me?”

The answer is: A lot of people. God uses all sorts of persons in all sorts of places and situations. What we all need, whether clergy or laity, is the willingness to be humble and to sacrifice one’s time or talent in showing mercy to another.

Christians must take their cues from the Lord Jesus. In the setting of the interaction between Christ and the other two crucified men in today’s story, Jesus is the innocent one sandwiched between two guilty persons. Christ’s humiliation is on full public display. The crowd of onlookers mock him, along with one of the criminals. Because of the apparent incongruence between being ‘King of the Jews’ yet not freeing himself from his awful situation.

Whereas most of us might avoid being humiliated in public at any cost, Jesus embraced the rejection and the suffering, knowing that he was offering a sacrifice for the benefit of the whole world.

Even though Jesus was extremely vulnerable, and in emotional, spiritual, and physical pain which we can only imagine, he nonetheless chose to use his kingly power and authority on behalf of others – including those who blatantly rejected and mocked him.

Grace and mercy were demonstrated by submitting to an ignominious death, and by willingly acting to be the bridge connecting others to God. Relationship is at the very heart of the divine will; God would do anything to restore broken relations with his fallen people. No one is beyond the reach of grace.

In a contemporary culture of polarized relations and angry vitriol toward one another, the ordinary Christian without earthly title or authority is in the best position to provide basic human kindness by extending mercy to “enemies” and demonstrating humility in all things.

Christ embodied love and forgiveness. He used his power for mercy, not judgment;  and for grace, not revenge.

Jesus demonstrated for us how grace is the greatest operative force in the universe.

To love and forgive another is the best demonstration of power and authority that anyone could ever show.

God’s action in Christ through the cross is what can move us to true acts of love and selflessness. We participate in Christ by giving grace through acts of mercy in comforting, encouraging, and helping others.

The only way we can give grace is to receive grace. It is God’s action in Christ through the Spirit that moves us to true acts of love and selflessness.

Personally, I am encouraged with the image of Christ as King – the One who is both sovereign over all creation, and yet is with me and knows my every need, giving grace and mercy and unconditional love.

For me, the idea of both God’s transcendence and God’s immanence is the perfect lead-in for the Advent season.

Earthly leaders can be capricious, petty, enamored with earthly power, and wield authority only in ways that serve themselves and not the common good of all. No wonder there is so much corruption and injustice in this old fallen world of ours.

Such hateful leadership has no problem leaving us beaten, bruised, and hanging on a cross. In our pain and our suffering, what will we do?

Hopefully, we will let Jesus transform our understanding of power and authority.

Ideally, in our worst situations of suffering and confusion, we will remember Jesus lifted-up on the cross, lifted-up as sovereign over all things. We will find our own true power in self-giving-love to a world which appears it has given itself to hate and selfish judgment of people they don’t like.

A participation in Christ’s rule and reign over all things means that his crucified power has given us grace and forgiveness, so that we might pass it on, pay it forward, and work for that which is just, right, and good.

May it be so, to the glory of God.

Almighty God, you rescue us from our enemies, so that we may serve you without fear. Strengthen us, that we might share in the inheritance of the saints in your kingdom of light. Amen.

Return To the Lord (Amos 4:6-13)

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

I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities
    and lack of bread in all your places;
yet you did not return to me,
            says the Lord.

And I also withheld the rain from you
    when there were still three months to the harvest;
I would send rain on one city
    and send no rain on another city;
one field would be rained upon,
    and the field on which it did not rain withered;
so two or three towns wandered to one town
    to drink water and were not satisfied;
yet you did not return to me,
            says the Lord.

I struck you with blight and mildew;
    I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards;
    the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
yet you did not return to me,
            says the Lord.

I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
    I killed your young men with the sword;
I carried away your horses;
    and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
yet you did not return to me,
            says the Lord.

I overthrew some of you
    as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
    and you were like a brand snatched from the fire;
yet you did not return to me,
            says the Lord.

Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
    because I will do this to you,
    prepare to meet your God, O Israel!

For the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind,
    reveals his thoughts to mortals,
makes the morning darkness,
    and treads on the heights of the earth—
    the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name! (New Revised Standard Version)

“Luxury often leads to forgetfulness. As for you, my beloved, if you sit at table, remember that from the table you must go to prayer. Fill your belly so moderately that you may not become too heavy to bend your knees and call upon your God.” St. John Chrysostom, On Wealth and Poverty 

Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord.

Lamentations 3:40, NRSV

Again and again, century after century, Israel’s God, Yahweh, sent prophets and calamities in order to shake God’s people from their wayward path.

It was expected that observance and faithfulness to God’s covenant would bring times of goodness and prosperity. Conversely, times of disobedience would elicit misfortune. It seems the people forgot that infidelity to the covenant leads to calamitous circumstances.

Through it all, Israel and Judah were unfaithful. All Yahweh ever wanted was for the people to return to their God, and enjoy all the blessings and benefits of being in a divine/human harmony. But the people weren’t having it.

Amos, throughout his prophecy, made it clear that personal transgressions, social injustice, religious infidelity, and national sins were at the heart of the trouble.

There was a tremendous wealth inequality which existed in ancient Israel. The people lost sight of the reality that everything belongs to God. Therefore, any resources they were blessed with should have been used to help the common good of all, especially the poor and needy.

It was from the prophets like Amos that the great early church preacher, St. John Chrysostom, developed his understanding of personal responsibility, church ministry, and national concern.

In sermon after sermon, Chrysostom argued and established that excessive wealth is dangerous to the soul. He continually warned his parishioners that those who accumulate exorbitant wealth are actually storing up a great retribution for themselves in the next life.

He insisted that the proper response to the extravagance of one’s possessions and money is to return to God and give liberally to others. One must understand, St. John argued, that all things belong to God. Thus, to acquire more and more is, in reality, a form of stealing from the poor.

Kindness and charity to the poor is imperative. Otherwise, a society cannot expect to realize ongoing blessing from God. Chrysostom constantly advocated for people to be generous in giving, not only to help the poor, but also to spur one’s spiritual growth and spiritual wealth. Building treasure in heaven, rather than on earth, was St. John’s basic orientation in life.

In today’s Old Testament lesson, after rehearsing seven different calamities which were meant as warnings, the eighth calamity would be to meet God face to face. We get the gist of the argument as a meeting that wouldn’t go so well for the filthy rich… that is, unless they willingly return to God and submit themselves and their stuff to the Lord of all.

Every one of us must ultimately come to grips with the fact that mercy and wrath are very real concepts that look one another in the eye. There is both hope and warning.

Will we return to the Lord, or will God effect a great visitation upon us?

Will God save us at the eleventh hour, or will the Lord bring devastation?

Either way, there is a meeting coming. Prepare to meet your God. It’s up to us how that meeting is going to shake out.

There is yet hope for those who are penitent, even and especially for those who finagled to obtain power and wealth for themselves. But if they are stubborn, they will find out what is the face opposite of mercy. This is the era of return, because it is still possible to change.

Yet even now, says the Lord,
    return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
    rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
    and relenting from punishment. (Joel 2:12-13, NRSV)

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.

For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)

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.