And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Do you know the name Auguste Bartholdi? You should. Back in 1856 he had travelled to Egypt. There he met a man who was trying to sell an idea to build a canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea (eventually called the Suez Canal). Bartholdi conceived of an idea to build a light house that would stand at the entrance of this canal. But this light house would be no ordinary light house. It would symbolize the light of Western civilization flowing to the East. In the ten years it took to build the Suez Canal, Auguste drew plans, made clay models, and scrapped plan after plan. Finally he came up with the perfect design. There was only one problem — no one was interested in building the lighthouse, or paying for such. The Suez Canal was opened—without a lighthouse. Auguste went back to France defeated, ten years of toil and effort wasted.

Now, you may recognize his idea for the lighthouse. He conceived a colossal robed lady that stood taller than the Sphinx in Egypt. She held books of justice in one hand and a torch lifted high in the other. Sound familiar? After Auguste returned to France, the French government came to Bartholdi asking him if he would use his artistic services to design a gift to America. The Statue of Liberty today stands in the New York harbor — and has been a beacon of light for western civilization for those coming to America seeking opportunity. The idea that Bartholdi finally got to share his vision of a “lighthouse” demonstrates what happens when in the midst of disappointments, along can come good things beyond our imagination.

Using this image of a lighthouse as a beacon for those seeking new paths or opportunity, we know that Jesus himself said he is the “light of the world”. Jesus also said he is the “way, the truth and the life” and he is “the resurrection and the life”. Jesus, like a lighthouse, is a path forward toward better times, safer passages, and straighter roads. This is how we can move forward in times of trouble, or when the devil begins to tempt and test us in life. In all things, we have to believe that G-d uses each situation as a process of our “Life education” — and as our “spiritual development”. Each of us is a work in progress. Though G-d loves and accepts us the way we are, G-d also sees all that we can become. Pleasure has a way of making us satisfied with ourselves, while pain catches our attention so that G-d can develop us and our path in life. Behind the scenes of our life story is the hand of G-d — moving, changing, limiting, applying pressure, providing strength, rearranging. G-d is the one working all things for our good.

Once we understand how the process works, we always have to come back to God’s purpose: to conform us to the image of His Son.  Anything that will bring us to a more reflection of the “Christ-like Life” is good — though it may not feel good at the moment.

Think of a time you experienced a season of disappointment or despair. How did G-d work through that process to conform you a little closer to the image of His Son?

Perhaps you are going through a painful process right now. What aspect of the process is most encouraging to you—that is all-encompassing, continuous, or divinely inspired? Ask the Lord to give you patience as you feel the Holy Spirit guide you through the process, and look forward with anticipation to the outcome yet to be! (Some of the thoughts in this devotion were taken from a devotion by Joe Stowell, Strength for the Journey, website.)

Pastor Dave

6After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 10Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” 13So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

15When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. 16When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.” John 6:1-21

Let’s start by putting ourselves in the place of the crowds following Jesus. In particular, let’s imagine just how disappointed and confused those folks must have been when Jesus left them. Disappointed because they had just witnessed an incredible miracle and so expected such great things from this young prophet only to have him abandon them. Confused because they could not understand why Jesus would leave them, why he would run away in response to their appreciation and adulation.

 Disappointment, confusion, misunderstanding. It’s a strange way to start John’s sixth chapter, a chapter so rich in its imagery and important in its theology concerning the Holy Communion. Or is it? Disappointment, confusion, misunderstanding. How clearly, I wonder, do these words reflect our own sense of Communion and of the sacraments in general? Do we really comprehend the theological and existential significance of pouring water over a child’s head or gathering around the altar, the Table of the Lord?

 And if we don’t understand these things, is it really any wonder? I mean, debate about the meaning of the sacraments rages within the Church, both between different traditions and within them. So the sacraments hold this unusual place in the Church, in that they are both central to our life of faith and yet also can be so very confusing. In an attempt to clarify the connect between the sacraments and our daily lives, I’ll start with a phrase from St. Augustine: “visible words.” I find this phrase attractive because it helps me appreciate Baptism and Communion as the visible, physical counterpoint to the preaching and teaching of the church. That is, the sacraments are the embodiment of the proclaimed and heard gospel in physical form, the gospel given shape in water, bread, and wine. They serve us, then, as physical reminders of what we have heard and believe simply because we are physical creatures and remembering and believing can be so hard. And so we have the gospel preached to us so that we may hear it, and we have the same gospel given to us so that we may taste and touch and feel it with our hands and mouths and bodies.

 Visible, physical words for visible, physical people. Now, if this is true, then the sacraments will share the same character as the proclaimed gospel. That is, the sacramental word, as with the preached word, will be primarily about one thing: telling the truth. And perhaps this is where our difficulty with the sacraments begins, because to do this — to tell unflinchingly the honest-to-goodness truth — is rarely easy and almost never welcome.” (Visible Words, David Lose, “…in the meantime” website, July 20, 2015)

Tell the truth. We say this so often to our kids, our grandkids, even our kids from the neighborhood. We want to encourage everyone around us to tell the truth. And yet, we know how hard it is to always tell the truth. In fact, none of us can say that we have always told the truth, in every situation in our life. There is telling the truth — and there is having some decorum in our relationships with others where telling the truth will do more harm than good — and in those words I have now explained why we do not always tell the truth.

If we are in the court of law, we swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In every other situation, all bets are off. Even in the offices of the Mayor, the Governor, and the President of the United States, telling the truth is often something akin to a Ponzi Scheme…it appears that something is there, but in the end there is little of substance.

This is where we encounter the Sacrament of Holy Communion — at the intersection of intangible and tangible — where the words of the Gospel promise can be felt, touched and taken into our bodies. In the story of the Feeding of the 5000, there is a sacramental element of Jesus breaking the bread and sharing it with the people. The truth of this story is the element of Jesus’ presence in the miracle — just as we trust in the presence of Jesus in the elements of bread and wine in communion. In the act of Holy Communion, experience “visible, physical words of truth from Jesus for visible, physical people”.

Pastor Dave