April 29, 2022 – David and Goliath  

Courage  

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9  

  

“Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start.  Courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t so tough after all.” (David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, p. 149)  

  

“Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David’s victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn’t have won. Or should he have?

In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks.”

This is the book description on the book by Malcolm Gladwell as it appears on a “Google” search on his book. I will be using his book to offer some thoughts on how much of what we see is beautiful and important in the world comes out of what looks like suffering and adversity.

Courage  

One of the things we all need a whole, heaping cup full lately is courage. We need courage to continue to live in a dangerous world, and to continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ to a world that increasingly needs to hear more about the love, mercy and Grace of Jesus Christ. But I do not have to go too far away from the pulpit of the church to see fear. I see it in coffee hour when members are afraid to talk to a visitor who sits alone at a table, probably afraid that their initial fear has come true – that no one would talk to them if they came to church. I see the fear when people from the collective churches of the ministerium attend an ecumenical service, and members of each congregation sit only with the people they know from their churches and do not dare sit with the people they do not know – and then talk to them.    

  

Talk about ironic since we think of the Old Testament and the G-d of war that often is portrayed in the Old Testament scriptures. But we also know that G-d sent Jesus to fulfill the scriptures and the law so that we no longer need to sacrifice and destroy to earn G-d’s love. G-d’s love is a gift to us because G-d created us, and Jesus died for us so that we can stop worrying about salvation and instead live into the new life we all have that was confirmed through our baptisms. And, truth be told, our Baptisms are the cup of courage we all need. It is through our baptisms where we are infused with the Holy Spirit — three dunks into the waters of courage — we die to sin and rise to new life.  

  

As Luther often said, when he felt as if the Devil had him in his sights, he would say to himself (and the Devil) “I am baptized. I am baptized!”  

Let us pray,

Lord Christ, it takes courage to get up every day and face the challenges of today. It takes courage to face off the devil who seeks to destroy my faith. Help me today to remember I am a baptized child of G-d and give me the courage I need to live, today. Amen.

Pastor Dave  

  

  

It Is A Risky Thing To Pray

April 28, 2022 – Words From Merton

It Is A Risky Thing To Pray

 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Matthew 6:5-8

“If we really want prayer, we’ll have to give it time. We must slow down to a human tempo and we’ll begin to have time to listen. And as soon as we listen to what’s going on, things will begin to take shape by themselves. It is a risky thing to pray, and the danger is that our very prayers get between G-d and us. The great thing in prayer is not to pray, but to go directly to G-d. If saying your prayers is an obstacle to prayer, cut it out.” Thomas Merton (The Pocket Thomas Merton, p. 84)

It Is A Risky Thing To Pray

I have written so much on prayer in the last two years that I feel as if I am repeating myself, yet prayer is something we need to address time and time again.  I like how Thomas Merton says that we need to be careful not to let our “prayers” become an obstacle to prayer. In other words, we need to understand that our prayers can become too rote, too routine, too forced and/or too predictable. When they do they can become an obstacle to a true conversation with G-d. And, my friends, that is what prayer needs to be – a conversation with G-d. When the disciples went to Jesus and asked him “teach us to pray”, Jesus did give them a formula, like in Luke 11:2-5.  But within that formula are places where we can adlib. For example,

“‘Father, hallowed be Your name…” we can extrapolate on how we try each and every day to keep the name of G-d holy. 

“Your kingdom come…” we can expound on where and how we are working to bring G-d’s kingdom to the places where we see trouble.

And when we pray “Give us each day our daily bread” it is an opportunity to shamelessly tell G-d how, what and when we need things today, tomorrow and forever.

And, if your prayers have reached a stalemate, then sit in silence and let G-d speak to you.

Let us pray,

Lord Christ, you want our prayers – you ache for conversation with us each day. I pray today that instead of trying to pray, I will just talk with you and with the Father with the help of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Dave