May 12, 2024 – Easter 7B

“[Jesus prayed:] “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:6-19

Have you had some times in your life where you wish you could have just escaped? Or, have you had some moments where you wish you could have just been taken out of the world – lifted above all of your problems, your debt, your conflicts and worries? A lot of people today live in the fantasy world of escapism. I am sure you have said to yourself once or twice in your life “I just wish I could escape.” You know those moments:

You say something off color in a crowd

You say something that is considered sexist or elitist

Other moments where you have stuck your proverbial foot in your mouth.

There are different ways we try to escape those moments or try to escape life in general. One of the ways we can escape those moments is we just determine to disappear in the crowd – we try to blend in and become anonymous. Another way people try to escape life is to play “role playing games” – games like “Dungeons and Dragons” (I am betraying my age) – dressing up in costumes and playing out there wishes or fantasies. VR or Virtual Reality glasses do that for the wearer – they allow people to escape their current reality. By putting on these glasses, the wearer enters a different place, a different reality – and they can do this for hours. Or you can just buy Calgon – take me away……..

Jesus understands that life is not easy – for his disciples – for you and me as well. That is why he prays for us all. Jesus understands the weaknesses of the human psyche. After all, Jesus is human – fully human – so he understands the human condition. His humanity allows him to witness the reality of being human – and so he prays for us and expresses his love for all of his disciples. But it goes deeper than that, this prayer we call Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. He seems to be making a statement about the world – his world, and our world. If you count, he uses the word world thirteen times in this text we have today, John 17. He is worried about the world.

Truth is, I am worried about the world, I don’t know if you feel the same way. Our society is becoming unhinged – it is becoming unhinged. Have you noticed? Mature faith comes from enduring the trials and tribulations of this world. If Jesus had prayed that his disciples would be removed from this world, or completely protected from all evil, our faith would be immature – and so would we. Of course, we cannot endure on our own. We need the Holy Spirit – the power of the Holy Spirit so we can endure the refiner’s fire. Just like steel is hardened in the fire, and impurities are burned away, our faith is hardened and sin is purged as we follow the winds of the Spirit.

Pastor Dave

May 11, 2024 – The Dollar Spot Devotions: Chalk – The Semi-Permanent of Writing Implements

“Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the wall of the royal palace, next to the lampstand. The king was watching the hand as it wrote. ⁶ Then the king’s face turned pale, and his thoughts terrified him.” Daniel 5:5-6

“Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.” John 8:6

In one of the bins of my dollar spot travels, I spotted some chalk. Sidewalk chalk is one of the greatest inventions of all time. Forget the cotton gin invented by Whitney, forget the printing press invented by Gutenberg, sidewalk chalk has been one of the greatest tools for getting your children out of the house to spend some time outdoors using their creativity. Think about it, I have seen some great sidewalk chalk drawings. I have watched people walk around a sink hole that was drawn in chalk on the sidewalk. 

In the bible, we have examples of things being written by either the hand of G-d or by Jesus himself. Sometimes we have no idea what is written, but it always plays a role in the story. For the king in the story of Daniel the handwriting on the wall spelled out doom and gloom, for the king Belshazzar. The story is that the king used the vessels of gold and silver taken from the Temple and drank wine to their gods of stone, wood, etc.  Daniel was called in to interpret the writing, and here is the meaning:

“And this is the writing that was inscribed: mene, mene, tekel, and parsin.This is the interpretation of the matter: mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; tekel, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”  Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed in purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made concerning him that he should rank third in the kingdom.” (Daniel 5:25-29).

Sometimes I wish I had a prognosticator who might be able to tell me how things are going to go in my life. But I don’t. Nor do I ever expect to receive one. But I do know that G-d has given us the Ten Commandments to teach us how we should relate to G-d and to each other. And I know that G-d has given us the Gospel of Jesus Christ – where we are told that through the cross of Jesus, everyone has the promise of a place in G-d’s kingdom for eternity. It is as clear as the handwriting on the wall – as the noses on our faces – and yet we often see only as in a smoky mirror. I get it. I don’t always understand, and sometimes when I think I see a pit opening in front of me, it just turns out to be a chalky fake.  But this is why we have faith.  We read for understanding and we serve and love and forgive for faith-filled living.  And that you can print – even in chalk.

Pastor Dave