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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning RefleXion!            The Lord is with you!

When my pedicurist paints nail art on my toes, she always says don’t look until it’s finished -I try to look– she says, “not yet!”  What she means is that if I start to judge it now, I’ll want to correct it or ask her to make adjustments. 

This world we live in, this life we lead,  is full of things “not yet,” of this and thats.  We want to fix, resolve, or decide and move to this OR that, to think we can declare a “good” or a “bad” or a final answer.  “Their friend died…oh, but she’s in a better place.”  “That was a terrible fire…oh, but people came to help and the forest has new growth.”  “That is a scary procedure…oh, but God will be with them.”

It’s not this or that; it’s this AND that.  If we give ourselves time and space to sink down to the part of us that can hold this tension, the seeming polarities, we will find that part of us that is expansive, and at the same time, grounded enough to hold the full human experience.  We can hold the grief and the hope, the anxiety and God’s faithfulness.  We can hold both joy and sorrow – Jesus did. 

The image I sometimes have when I hold two seemingly opposing things is the one of Jesus on the cross.  On one side the unrepentant thief and the other who gave his heart to Jesus.  Jesus’ arms were outstretched to them both, holding the tension of his own sorrow and joy. We share in the sufferings of Christ, as well as being a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

We are living in the gap–the little pathway between this and that.  If we try to focus on one or the other, we’re up against a cliff, or shall we say a rock and a hard place.  Everything is being woven together.  Do you remember the adage about the tapestry…that we’re only seeing the tapestry of life from the underside?  And if you create anything, you probably don’t want people to judge it from the underside.  So, black and gold, rough and smooth, joy and sorrow are all being woven together.  Wait until it’s finished – and then we’ll see the whole picture.  We’ll be in glory. 

I’m reading parts of “A Liturgy for Embracing Joy & Sorrow” from Every Moment Holy for our opening prayer today:

Lord God, in one hand we grasp the burden of our griefs, while with the other we reach for the hope of grief’s redemption.  And here, between the tension of the two, between what was and what will be, in the very is of now, let our hearts be surprised by, shaped by, warmed by, remade by the same joy that forever wells within and radiates from your heart, O God.  For this is who we are:  a people of The Promise, a people shaped in the image of God whose very being generates all joy in the universe, yet who also weeps and grieves its brokenness.  So we, your children, are also at liberty to lament our losses, even as we simultaneously rejoice in the hope of their coming restoration.  Let us learn now, O Lord, to do this as naturally as the inhale and exhale of a single breath.  We turn our hearts and minds to You this morning, O God. Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
if you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
that I may pardon her Jeremiah 5:1
Then I said, “These are only the poor,
they have no sense;
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God.
I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God.”
But they all alike had broken the yoke,
they had burst the bonds Jeremiah 5:4-5

Intro: In 1989 Bob Dylan released the song “Everything Is Broken”

I’ll read some of the lyrics:
Broken lines, broken strings
Broken threads, broken springs
Broken idols, broken heads
People sleeping in broken beds
Ain’t no use jiving
Ain’t no use joking
Everything is broken
Broken bottles, broken plates
Broken switches, broken gates
Broken dishes, broken parts
Streets are filled with broken hearts
Broken words never meant to be spoken
Everything is broken
Seem like every time you stop and turn around
Something else just hit the ground
Broken hands on broken ploughs
Broken treaties, broken vows
Broken pipes, broken tools
People bending broken rules
Hound dog howling, bullfrog croaking Everything is broken

– it’s a bluesy song that I love listening to when I feel down but not out
• when something that is important to you falls apart,
◦ or a lot of unpleasant things line up in your day, this song fits your mood
◦ lots of people, in different situations can connect with these lyrics
• it sometimes seems everything, everywhere is going wrong
– this was Jeremiah’s world

Reading through most of Jeremiah is rough and unpleasant

It is everything we don’t want to hear God say
– for instance, that decisions and actions have consequences,
• and the worse our actions, the more severe the consequences
◦ also, that God has been sending his people (us) messages and warnings,
◦ but they (we) have been ignoring them
• in context, the whole culture of Jerusalem had become a trap
◦ that if you were to go up and down it’s streets,
◦ looking for a decent person, you would be wasting your time
– it’s as if God is the District Attorney, taking Israel to court
• in chapters 5 and 6, he delivers his “opening statement”
◦ his argument comes down to a question, he asks twice (first in verse 9, then again in verse 29)
“Shall I not punish them for these things
declares the LORD;
and shall I not avenge on myself on a nation such as this?”
• but before God condemns, he investigates to see if he can find a reason to pardon Jerusalem (v. 1)
◦ he’s a reasonable DA – willing to look at all the evidence

Jeremiah’s first response is to make an unwarranted assumption

These are only the poor . . .
– he makes no apology for this prejudiced view of the poor
(an assumption not based on theology but sociology)
• the poor were deprived of anything like a formal education
• the majority of the poor were most likely illiterate
• they were perhaps more susceptible to superstition and conspiracy theories
• they were easier to fool, trick, swindle
• they had less leverage to resist social trends and pressures of the rich
– when Jeremiah tested this theory, he realized it couldn’t hold water
• everything and everyone was broken

This conclusion is repeated and amplified further on

But it also comes with a surprise at the end of the chapter
An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:
the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rue at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes? Jeremiah 5:30-31
– the prophets and priests were abusing their authority
• I would expect a lot of unrest and agitation would erupt in the community
• people would be up in arms and lodging complaints – but God says,
my people love to have it so!!!
– the populace gave consent to the corrupt leadership
• they wanted prophets who would lie to them, give them false assurances and worthless promises
• they wanted authoritarian priests who were complicit with prophets

In the 1970’s, ultra-conservative Christians were denouncing “secular humanism”
– they sharply criticized “lifeboat ethics,” “situation ethics,” and moral relativism
• they argued that doing the right did not depend on circumstances
◦ theft was always theft, a lie always a lie, blasphemy was always blasphemy
• people were fit or unfit for leadership, according to their moral character
– today, people in that same religious demographic,
• turn a blind eye to the shenanigans of their politicians
◦ and it doesn’t make any difference whether we are talking about Democrats or Republicans
• these believers justify their compromise with unethical leaders with lame excuses,
◦ like, “Well, all politicians lie”
◦ it is not so difficult to slip into the lax attitude of Jeremiah’s audience

There was one major crime the people committed against God

Before Jeremiah was called to prophecy (probably before his born),
– the worst king in all of Judah’s history reigned in Jerusalem
He did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the LORD had driven from the land . . . . He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had destroyed. He constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherah pole . . . . He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them. ¶ He built pagan altars in the Temple of the LORD . . . . Manasseh also sacrificed his own son in the fire. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the LORD’s sight, arousing his anger. . . . Manasseh also murdered many innocent people . . . . (2 Ki. 21:1-16, NLT)
• although Manasseh had died, and they nation made a turn back to Yahweh during Josiah’s reign,
◦ there moment of devotion to Yahweh was short-lived
• soon they were sharing their devotion to God with other gods
– so God’s response was to give them up to other gods
And when your people say, “Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?” you shall say to them, “As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.” (Jer. 5:19)

God is relentless as he continues his line of accusations in chapter 6

You can see that I’m highlighting specific verses in each chapter
– what I will point out here, are examples of Judah’s brokenness
• there are specific social systems that must be kept in proper order,
◦ to maintain a healthy connection with God
• in chapter 6, we learn four systems that were broken
– the first two appear in verses 13-15 (note that verse 13 rehashes what we heard in ch. 5)
“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, there were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the LORD Jeremiah 6:13-15)

Brokenness Number 1: Providing simplistic solutions to complex problems
A few years ago, another pastor I had known for a long time told me, “The difference I see between us, is that you make everything complicated, while I make things simple.”
– he believed that there were no complex problems
• that from the right perspective, all problems could be solved with simple solutions
◦ for instance, no one needed therapy – “Just read Bible and have faith”
• my heart broke for the people he counseled
◦ he didn’t need to listen to them – but he preached long sermons to them
◦ he was treating cancer with band aids
They have healed the wound of my people lightly (slightly, superficially)
– just saying the words does not create the reality

Brokenness Number 2: They lost the ability to blush
There is prophetic irony in this line, they did not know how to blush
– no one tries to blush – in fact, sometimes we try not to
• it’s something the body does on its own
◦ an automatic physiological response to an emotion like anger or embarrassment
• that they did not blush, indicates their insensitivity to shame
◦ they could not longer feel how wrong their actions were

Brokenness Number 3: Their worship was broken
What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba,
or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burn offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices pleasing to me Jeremiah 6:20
Worship is where we connect with God – it is our ongoing conversation with him
– it is our prayer and praise – it is our listening and speaking, our waiting and watching
• when worship is everything it’s supposed to be, it is acceptable – we are accepted
– but incense and rituals and loud praise are empty without intimacy

Brokenness Number 4: The refining process was broken
I have made you a tester of metals among my people,
that you may know and test their ways.
They are all stubbornly rebellious,
going about with slanders;
they are bronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly.
The bellows blow fiercely;
the lead is consumed by the fire;
in vain the refining goes on,
for the wicked are not removed.
Rejected silver they are called,
for the LORD has rejected them Jeremiah 6:27-30
The “tester’s” (assayer) concern had to do with impurities
– that is because an impurity could weaken the strength of a metal or decrease its value
• God was turning up the heat on Jerusalem
• but the impurity of wickedness had merged with society and could not be removed
– silver is found in lead ore
• in this instance, even if the fire separated the ore from the silver,
◦ the silver was still not pure
◦ that is why it would be called “rejected silver”

Conclusion: There is a subtle sign of hope for Jerusalem in these chapters
Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
but make not a full end . . . . (Jer. 5:10)
But even in those days, declares the LORD, I will not make a full end of you (Jer. 5:18)

Have you ever seen the movie A Walk in the Clouds? A young man returning from military duty during the second World War, meets a young woman whose family owns a vineyard in northern California. The vineyard is exceptional for the quality of grapes and wine in produces, because of the excellence of the original vine. Tragically, a fire destroys the entire vineyard. The family stands by the burned fields stunned by the loss that will now ruin their lives. But the young man suddenly remembers something he had seen. He runs into the field and kneels down in one row where he finds a portion of a vine with its roots intact. He shows it to the family, and now it is time to rejoice and celebrate. Out of that small bit of life, an entire vineyard will return to the fields.

Read these words again:
Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
but make not a full end
That little bit that was not destroyed would be the salvation of his people
It doesn’t take much,
but if we return to God with the little bit we have,
his touch will be our salvation

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Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

If a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not that land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your vile whoredoms.
Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have the forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
Have you not just now called to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
will he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could Jeremiah 3:1-5

Intro: Every year, my dad directed a summer camp in Williams, Arizona

So that was our typical family vacation
– one year, when all the campers were assembled in the chapel,
• Dad began, “There was a murder in the forest last night
◦ he paused to let that sink in
• then holding up a carving knife, he said, “This was the weapon”
◦ and “Here is the victim” – and he showed us a twig from an apple tree
– he explained that once he cut the twig from the tree,
• separated from its supply of sap, it was as good as dead
• he then explained why it was so important for us campers,
◦ to abide in Jesus all year long – not just at summer camp
◦ that was quite the attention getter

God used attention-getters, because Israel had a history of not listening
– the previous chapter began with the early days of their courtship
• now this chapter begins with a message of divorce
◦ he starts with a question, a predicament and its consequences
◦ he isn’t looking for an answer, the question is rhetorical
• then he jumps from his legal and moral question,
◦ to a relational and personal scolding – and it’s harsh
You have played the whore with many lovers
– God says the consequences of their behavior are widespread
• a society that tolerates this behavior would become corrupt
◦ even the land would suffer (Hebrew: erets, land, earth, soil)
– in the 1960’s, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring
• in it, she alerted the world to the detrimental effects on ecology of human actions
◦ I think it’s easier today than any time before the 1960’s, to see the adverse effect of sin on our environment (especially the sin of greed)
• all of God’s creation is one vast system,
◦ we can’t destroy one thing without affecting something else

This point is made in a powerful way in chapter 4
I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
and to all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and behold, there was no man,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the LORD, before his fierce anger (Jer. 4:23-26)
– Jeremiah is an eye-witness as he reports, “I looked . . . I looked . . . I looked”
Robert Alter point’s out that Jeremiah is witnessing the devastation of war
• but the language he uses is borrowed from the creation story in Genesis
• in fact, it seems that God is “reversing the very act of creation” (Alter)
◦ if in the beginning the earth was without form and void (Gen. 1:2)
◦ Jeremiah observed the earth returning to its primordial state, without form and void (Jer. 4:23)
– if on first day, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light,”
• Jeremiah observed the universe moving backward in time until once again the heavens . . . had no light
• reading these passages, Jim Morrison’s lyrics in “When the Music’s Over” come to mind:
“What have they done to the earth, yeah?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn and
Tied her with fences and dragged her down.”

Though I’ve emphasized ecology, that is a side issue

The stronger theme is that God views his relationship with Israel as a marriage
– this takes us back to Genesis also, where we’re told,
a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (Gen. 2:24-25)
• Israel had bonded with God, but later they broke that bond
• turning to the gods of other nations, they violated their relationship with God
– why would God use an analogy like this?
• because everyone who has been committed to a close, loving relationship,
◦ is sensitive to betrayal – we can imagine its anguish
• God wanted his people to FEEL the depth of his love for them
◦ he wanted them to have the experience rather than mere information

It seems like God is saying there’s no way back from this
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?

We hear him saying, they can’t “return”
– it would be wrong, it would be outrageous, a scandal for him to return to them or they to him
• but as we read on, their return is the main theme!
• beginning in verse 6, God tells a story of two sisters
◦ Meshuba (faithless or unfaithful) Israel and Bawgode (treacherous or deceitful) Judah
◦ the story is allegorical, but there’s nothing subtle about its meaning
– Israel went into exile years prior to Judah’s exile – God says,
And I thought, “After she has done all this she will return to me,” but she did not return [so] I had sent her away with a decree of divorce (vv. 7-8)
• Judah witnessed this, but still took the same path
– Israel was unfaithful and Judah was treacherous
• but after all they had done against him and after the divorce, God cries,
“Return, faithless Israel,
declares the LORD.
I will not look on you in anger,
for I am merciful,“
declares the LORD (v. 12)
Return, O faithless children, declares the LORD (v. 14)
Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness (v. 22)
• “return” is the key word in the entire book of Jeremiah’s prophecies

God is willing to do the unthinkable

At first, God’s message is:
The only reasonable response is divorce. No one in their right mind would take this person back.
– but then he says, I will take you back, if you just return to me
– we need to know, no matter how far we slip away from God,
• we are never stuck – there’s always a way back
◦ we learn this from Jesus’ story of the prodigal son
• the turning point in the story was when he came to his senses
◦ he did not even need to finish his apology to his father
◦ he did not need to become a slave for the rest of his life
– we can begin our return with a simple prayer, “I’m back”
• when we do return, what do we see in God’s eyes?
I will not look at you in anger (v. 12)

One of my main objectives in taking you on this journey through Jeremiah
– is that we come to feel, in the deepest part of our being, God’s crazy love for us
– every day, every hour, he provides a way back

God is willing give us directions regarding how to return
If you return, O Israel,
declares the LORD,
to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
and do not waver,
and if you swear, “As the LORD lives,”
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then nations shall bless themselves in him,
and in him they shall glory (Jer. 4:1-4)

First, he reminds us we are coming back to him! (not to church, or religion, or doctrine)
• we can make use of the other instructions here too, and discern how to apply them to ourselves
• but there’s something else I want to emphasize

Begin here: Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! (Jer. 3:3)

The evidence of their prostitution was in plain view
– it’s an odd quirk of human habit, that we stop seeing things
• we notice a wall or door that needs painting, but go our way and forget
◦ after awhile, we stop seeing it
◦ it fades into the background of our everyday landscape
• we can become blind to our bad habits too
– God has many ways of getting us to see ourselves
• Jesus made a joke about us trying to help someone get a small particle out of their eye,
◦ while we have a log in our own eye
• we think we can see their speck, but we don’t see our own 2X4
◦ the things we fail to see in ourselves go uncorrected
◦ it’s too easy for me to trick myself, as Judah did
Yet . . . Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD (Jer. 3:10)
– every morning and every night I try to wake myself up
• I don’t want to be lost in my habitual thoughts and feelings
◦ I want to get behind them to the “me” that thinks and feels
◦ I am not my thoughts or feelings – they can be the “log” that blinds me
• I am the aware self – and this is where I connect with Jesus
We do not have to sit in silent meditation. Just watch what you are doing in the present moment. Watch yourself read as you read, writing as you write, walking as you walk. If you feel cold, bring yourself to that part of you that is aware of the coldness, but is itself not cold.

Conclusion: I want to share with you a prayer of Karl Rahner’s

“When I receive You I accept my everyday just as it is. I do not need to have lofty feelings in my heart to recount to You. I can lay my everyday before You just as it is, for I receive it from You Yourself, the everyday and its inward light, the everyday and its meaning, the everyday and the power to endure it, the sheer familiarity of it which becomes the hiddenness of Your eternal life.”

If we know what God wants, we can give that to him
So what does God want?
I said,
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land . . . .
And I thought you would call me,
My Father, and would not turn from following me (3:19)

God wants us to return his love
This is doable!

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Welcome to the RefleXion Community.  The Lord is with you!

There are so many examples in the Bible of men and women hearing the Lord’s voice.  For example, Jeremiah says, “The word of the Lord came to me.”  I’ve long been intrigued not only by God speaking to humans, but by our ability to hear and respond to Him.  Really, how marvelous is that.  But how?  Is there an organ in our bodies, a certain radio wave?  I’m sure many of us can say that we’ve had a word from the Lord; where did we sense it?  A thought or insight, our gut, chills, a strong emotion?  I’ve been reading a book on Contemplative Prayer by Hans Urs von Balthasar, who was, by the way, a Swiss 20^th century theologian and priest.  He asks, “How can we hear God’s word?  We can because we are in the word.” 

John 1:1 states:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning: Genesis 1:26 reads.  Let us make man in our image after our likeness. Von Balthasar says, “God’s word is himself, his most vital, his innermost self:  his only-begotten Son, of the same nature of himself.  The word need not be apprehended as something alien, something ‘other’:  it can be understood to be what is most our own.  The word of God addressed to us always presupposes a word of God within us, insofar as we have been created in the word and cannot be detached from this context.”

I think this is a marvelous concept and worth pondering. Is every cell in our body designed to hear and respond to the word.  If we are created by the Word and made in His image, then the word is planted deeply in us and indeed is in every cell in our body.  Our various senses would then receive and respond to the word.  When we hear the word, it is our natural instinct to listen, to find a resonance, and then to resound it to the world. This is the way we are made. That’s what I’m thinking about, and you may want to ponder it.  We live by every word that comes from the mouth of God.  Let His word dwell in us richly and be empowered in us by the Holy Spirit .  Can we agree to that in prayer?Lord God, we offer you our mental faculties, that we might have agreement with your ways,  our hearts that they may be awakened to You, and indeed the whole of our physical bodies to become aware and attuned by all our senses to your word to us.  As you have said “Let it be” in our creation, let our response be “Let it be to me according to Your word.”  We ask for you to enliven the word planted in us this morning.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

The word of the LORD came to me saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD,
I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the LORD,
the firstfruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it incurred guilt;
disaster came upon them,
declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 2:1-3

Intro: I always been enchanted with the way this chapter opens

If you look at the text, God’s speech is arranged in a poetic format
– Hebrew poems do not look or sound like English poems
• Hebrew poetry has a different structure and rules
◦ in chapter 1, Jeremiah had expressed his thoughts in prose (the ordinary written form of essays, etc.)
◦ but God’s messages were laid out in poems
(God’s speech is always in greater than the words he uses)
• poetry gives language greater force
◦ it’s primary objective is to communicate experience (rather than bare information)
– this chapter begins with God grieving a failed relationship
• there is more than a hint of emotion here: “I remember”
◦ it’s as if God is brooding over a cherished memory
◦ back when he rescued Israel from Egypt, he was their hero
• Yahweh remembers her youthful devotion and “bridal love”
◦ they followed him into the desert with reckless abandon
◦ they lived in the aura of his holiness
he took care of her – protected and provided for her

Unfortunately, this lovely song lasts no more than a couple of verses
– the reminiscence ends abruptly and shifts from past to present
• v. 4 – the romance died a long time ago
◦ Israel broke their marriage covenant with Yahweh,
◦ and were no longer God’s devoted bride
– we’re going to stay with this story in Jeremiah,
• but I want to comment on what we have witnessed so far
◦ close relationships require maintenance
◦ and the closer the relationship, more maintenance is required
• the fire of romance needs fuel, the life of love needs nourishment
◦ this is as true for our love of God as for family and friends
◦ as Jesus said to the church in Ephesus,
I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at the first (Rev. 2:4)

Israel allowed their love to die by what they did not say
What wrong did you fathers find in me
that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
They did not say, ‘Where is the LORD
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that none passes through,
where no man dwells?’
And I brought yo into a plentiful land
to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?‘
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the shepherds transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit Jeremiah 2:5-8

Love and romance don’t end when people argue
– but when they stop talking to each other, it’s over
• “How was your day?” “How did the interview go?”
◦ personal questions demonstrate interest and concern
• the people stopped asking about God because they stopped caring
– in this instance, the question, “Where is the LORD?” is not negative
• it is not like asking, “Where is God when you need him?”
◦ here it is the ongoing question of faith
◦ where is God at work now? Where is he revealing himself?
• it’s the question we ask when we are still seeking God and his will
Seek the LORD and his strength;
seek his presence continually! (Psa. 105:4)
◦ they were neglecting God and their relationship with him
◦ so further down, Yahweh will ask,
Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
days without number (v. 32)

Israel broke their relationship with God by what they did

God presents his accusation as a scandal – something unheard of
For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,
or send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has been such a thing.
Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for that which does not profit.
Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the LORD,
for my people have committed two evils;
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water Jeremiah 2:10-13
– nations did not abandon their gods
• ancient civilizations are remembered for their gods,
◦ as much as for their language, art, poetry, and myths
◦ their deities were embedded in their culture and minds
• about the time of Moses, a Pharaoh turned Egypt to just one god
◦ but that innovation did not survive his death
– this defection from Yahweh was especially appalling,
• because Israel replaced him with
gods that are no gods and that which does not profit
• God uses a striking analogy to illustrate this poor deal they had made
◦ a cistern is a cave dug underground to collect rain water
◦ it is not a source of fresh water, but a reservoir
◦ if it has any crack or fissure, water drains out, and the cistern becomes useless
• for Israel, Yahweh was the fountain of living waters

Israel abused their relationship with God by what they did say

The first to verses I’ll quote are found in one passage
– but the passage itself deserve attention
How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done —
a restless young camel running here and there,
a wild donkey used to the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.
Keep your feet from going unshod
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
for I have loved foreigners,
and after them I will go Jeremiah 2:23-25

This analogy is graphic and moving
Robert Alter, “The female wild [donkey] in heat sniffs for the scent of the male.”
– Israel’s lust for other gods is depicted as an animalistic drive
• God, trying to warn them, to protect them, calls to them,
“Don’t go running off barefoot, calling for those foreign gods until your throat is dry and hoarse.”
• I think their reply is the saddest sentence in the Bible
But you said, “It is hopeless,
for I have loved foreigners,
and after them I will go.”
◦ they know they are wearing themselves out,
◦ they know their desperation is harming them,
but they can’t control themselves–they can’t stop
– do you recognize what this is? Our modern term is “addiction”
• the Bible uses the word “slavery”
◦ it is what Paul was addressing in Galatians 4:8,
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
◦ you can be sure of this: addiction destroys relationships
• James Finley is a clinical psychologist,
◦ whose training included AA meetings in a Veterans Assistance hospital
Finley, “The patients in this treatment center had devised an initiation rite [that was] part of the process a person had to go through to be admitted to the unit.”
◦ the newbie is ushered into large room where fifty men sit around perimeter, heads down and silent
◦ two chairs are placed in the center about four feet apart–the newbie is seated in one of them
◦ the member in charge sits in other and asks the newbie, “What do you love the most?”
Finley, “The newcomer . . . would often blurt out something like ‘My wife.’ At which point the silence of the room would be abruptly shattered by all the men lining the four walls loudly yelling in unison, ‘Bullshit!’”
◦ they would then look down again and go perfectly silent
◦ the newbie may say next, “My children,” and the group would react with the same shout
◦ this was repeated until the newbie would answer, “Alcohol”
Finley, “. . . everyone in the room would break into applause. . . . The members of the unit would line up, single file. In complete silence each would approach the newcomer to hold him for a moment in a sincere embrace, welcoming him into their midst.”
• our addictions do not allow us to love our family more than anything else

– in one of my meditations in Jeremiah, I wrote:
“The attractions of other deities had taken such a strong hold on Israel, that even though running after them had reduced them to deprivation and unquenchable thirst, they felt helpless to rein in their passion. This is the worst stage of addiction, when addicts realize their drug is killing them, but their brains and bodies have become so dependent that them they feel helpless against the urge to use.”
Gerald May, “Everyone has addictions. Any ‘bad’ habit which we find ourselves wanting to ‘overcome’ is an addiction. Whether it is to drugs, alcohol, food, tobacco, sex, television, sports, self-importance, power or work, the basic quality is the same. One does something because it makes one feel good now. Later on there may be a price to pay, but now it feels good. And the more we do it, the more desire there is to do it again.”

What was Israel saying that was destroying their rel with God?
Verse 23, “How can you say, ‘I am not unclean’”
and verse 25, “But you said, ‘It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners.”
– facing our hopelessness is often the first step in recovery
• as long as I tell myself “I can quit any time I want,” I will refuse help
Step 1 in the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Step program is, “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable”

Other things Israel was saying that had ruined their relationship with God:
“who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth’” (v. 27)
“Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
we will come no more to you’?” (v. 31)
“you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.’” (v. 35)
– these sayings reveal Israel’s illusions, their dubious liberation from God, and their rationalizations
• and this cost them the best love they had ever known

Conclusion: Thursday I got up early to have blood drawn

Afterward, I decided to walk on the beach – the morning was perfect artistry
A seagull scavenging in the sand caught my eye
I wanted it to be tame, to welcome to me
I was longing for contact with another living creature in God’s world of nature
I desired a St. Francis experience
That wasn’t going to happen and I realized I was the problem
The seagull could only be what it was created to be,
and do only what it was supposed to do
I, on the other hand, was the creature who has a will and who can resist God
I am responsible for whatever alienation I feel in my world

So here is the test I’m recommending:
Let’s ask whether or not we are holding up our side of our relationship with God
We are we not saying that we need to say?
What are we doing what we should not or not doing what we should?
And am I saying that I should not?

And do you know what?
Your success will not be the result of how well you do,
but will come from God working his grace into you body, mind, soul, and spirit
That’s the benefit of being in covenant with God
That’s the miracle

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning, RefleXion!  The Lord is with you!

This week I heard a conversation that was punctuated by this statement:  “It was a Come to Jesus moment.”  I think they meant it was a moment of sudden realization or recognition that included a paradigm shift, perhaps a life-changing moment.  Were you ever at a revival or crusade where these words were spoken:  Come to Jesus.  What did they mean to you?  Some of us heard them and responded with a “yes” that changed the course of our lives…for sure a life-changing moment.  And oh, yes,  I think we can have more than one Come to Jesus moment!

This week, one dear one in my life realized that she actually felt guilty having to come to Jesus with her difficulty…as if she should have handled it herself.  Another thought that other people would have an answer to her problem.  Others had no hope and felt stuck.  The last time I checked, there are plenty of Come to Jesus invitations in scripture.

Are you tired, worn out, burdened by life?  Great, you’re invited by Jesus:  “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

If we don’t know which way to turn?  He’ll show us.  Jesus:  “Come, follow me.”

When a man with a withered hand needed a healing touch, Jesus said,  “Come here.”

When the disciples had been working hard and hadn’t even had time to eat?  Jesus instructed, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”

When Peter wanted to  walk on the waves,  Jesus said “Come.”

Jesus told the disciples to let the children come to him.  To the curious and to the confused, he said, “Come and you will see.”

So, what kind of Come to Jesus moments are we experiencing right now?   What are we waiting for?  He says, “Come.”  It very well could be another life-changing moment.

Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus, we come to you in praise and thanksgiving. One day we will come to you in glory—to you, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  There is no moment that we can’t come to you.  Thank you for your invitation to come boldly to the throne of grace.  We welcome your fresh work this morning, your comfort, your guidance, your strength, your healing, your rest.  We come this morning, acknowledging and welcoming your presence with us.  Come, Jesus; come Holy Spirit.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Intro: There are several words in the Bible we don’t understand

They pose a problem for us, because they’re common words,
– and we assume we know what they mean
• that is why we get confused when we come to them
◦ for instance: “name,” “fear” (“Am I supposed to be afraid of God?”), “holy,” and “sons of”
• biblical Hebrew has a small vocabulary
◦ so it has to expand the meaning of various words
◦ that enabled biblical writers to describe spiritual values and experience
– I thought a series of talks on those words might be helpful
• a short dictionary of words that confuse or upset us
But Friday night I had a dream. I approached two strangers–a father and son–bent over a small table. I approached them and asked what they were doing. They said, “We are reading the book of Jeremiah together.”
• even in my dream, it felt good to hear that
◦ after all, Jeremiah is my favorite book in the Bible
◦ when I woke up, I decided to walk you through Jeremiah’s book of prophecies
(not teaching the entire document, but exploring some of its gems)

God and his prophet are having a conversation
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying . . . Jeremiah 1:4

God came to recruit Jeremiah–not to say that he gave him a choice
– Jeremiah was drafted into God’s service
• it is Jeremiah himself who is telling us the story of what happened
◦ much of this wonderful book is autobiographical
• as a result, I get the feeling that I know Jeremiah – I can relate to him
◦ he never settles into his calling completely
◦ he gets discouraged, he complains, he wants to give up
– the truth is, God gave him an impossible job
• about forty years from this moment, Judah would be conquered by Babylon
◦ Jeremiah’s work was to warn God’s people
◦ but through this whole period, they resist him, argue with him, and plot against him
• Jeremiah has many conversations with God that some scholars refer to as “prophetic dialogues”
◦ what matters to us is that we hear two voices, God’s and Jeremiah’s

When we read that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah,
– we’re likely to think God spoke to him or delivered a verbal message
• but that is only one part of their encounter
◦ the actual experience involved a supernatural encounter
• the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures were exposed to the divine force of God’s word
– the movement of God’s Spirit and revelation of his word overlap
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath [ruach] of his mouth all their host (Ps. 33:6)
• so God is not simply sharing words with Jeremiah,
• he is at the same time creating the reality that he speaks
◦ he is making and empowering Jeremiah to be this person

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations Jeremiah 1:5

I’m going to take a risk here, because it will sound too human to speak of God this way
– but it seems like God has been looking forward to this moment
• God had been interested and involved with Jeremiah from conception
◦ even in utero God can tell him, I knew you . . . I consecrated you . . . I appointed you
• now it’s as if God could not wait any longer to activate his prophet
◦ Jeremiah doesn’t see himself as a full-fledged adult, prepared for mature service
◦ but God is eager to get his ministry started, so he recruits him while he is still green
– from his mother’s womb, Jeremiah entered the world with a divine purpose
• he was formed according to God’s design,
• and now that design has is being revealed to him

Jeremiah immediately signals for a time-out
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth Jeremiah 1:6

He addressed God by name, “Ah, adonai Yahweh!”
– rather than jump at the opportunity God hands him, Jeremiah raises an objection
• “Behold” – “Just look at me for a second!”
◦ in saying this, we are given a visual impression of the narrative scene
◦ we are looking at a youngster, not a career-age person
• Jeremiah’s reticence to accept God’s offer was a typical response to God–cf. Gideon, Saul, and Isaiah
◦ Moses, whose story parallels Jeremiah’s at this point, could have said “I’m too old” as Jeremiah said, “I’m too young”
◦ but both argued that they weren’t gifted at public speaking
(Moses went so far as to say, “Get someone else who is gifted and send them”)

God’s response to Jeremiah’s objection
But the LORD said to me,
Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord” Jeremiah 1:7-8

We could all benefit from God’s first sentence, “Do not say . . .”
– what holds us back from taking on a challenge?
• from doing something new or daring to step into a bigger arena?
• our negative self-talk: “I’ve never been good at this,”
◦ “I’m not musically inclined,” “I am only …” fill-in blank
◦ “. . . one person,” “a novice (amateur),” “I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves me”
– In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth
• when we play god, that’s where we begin, we use words to create our tiny universe
◦ we fabricate an interior reality with self-talk and then we live in its cramped space
• J. B. Phillips wrote a translation of the New Testament that was popular in 1960’s and 70’s
◦ he also wrote a book entitled, Your God is Too Small — we are our own very small gods
◦ if God challenges us with something big, we don’t have to worry about being too small ourselves
– God is less concerned about our aptitude than our integrity
• the aptitude and ability are his

God’s response to Jeremiah is exactly his response to Moses
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you . . .” (Ex. 3:11-12)
God tells Jeremiah,
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you . . .”
– every once in awhile, we have to remember, that in our prayers we are talking to GOD!
• one way or another, he will have his way
“to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak“
• God doesn’t have to accept our explanations for declining his call
– since God is recruiting Jeremiah, there’s no argument that will stand
• God didn’t promise Jeremiah that all would go well,
◦ that he’d receive lots of invitations to speak at conferences, or sell lots of books, or sign lots of autographs
◦ he only promised that he would deliver him
• Do not be afraid of them, God says–those people who could reject Jeremiah,
◦ who could ridicule and insult him
◦ we can allow ourselves to be imprisoned by others, we can become slaves to their opinion
• we will never be our whole self until we’re delivered from what others think of us and say about us

God qualifies Jeremiah for his work-related responsibilities
Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,
Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to over throw,
to build and to plant Jeremiah 1:9-10
(Notice how Jeremiah reports God’s speech in poetry and his own in prose)

I don’t know what to say about the touch on Jeremiah’s lips
– the entire episode speaks of intimacy
– and now it is God’s turn to say, “Behold”
• “Look at what I have just now done”
◦ with the touch, God put his words into Jeremiah’s mouth
• then God says, “See” – not “behold,” but a different word
◦ it means to “perceive”
◦ God is saying, “Jeremiah, be aware of what is happening”

Verse 10 is God’s prophetic “job description” for Jeremiah
– there are two stages to ministry:
• the first stage: to uproot, break down, destroy, and overthrow
◦ this has to do with popular beliefs, social behavior and practices, and bad faith
• the second stage: to build (but not on the old foundation) and to plant (new seeds)
– as time goes on,
• God will not totally abandon or destroy his people
◦ he does not send his word through prophets, in order to shut people out, but to bring them in
• but their way of life will have to be demolished, in order to become the true people of God

Conclusion: The same God we see with Jeremiah,

Is the God who is here with us this morning
– and his word enters our lives the same way – uprooting, breaking down, destroying, and overthrowing, then building and planting
• he rescues us from our illusions so we can live in his reality
• he corrects or negative self-talk with his divine word
• he liberates us from the need to compromise in order to please others
We need to learn how to receive the powerful word of the Lord
Not in Bible studies or memorizing verses–at least, not exclusively
It begins by “noticing” — being present to, and aware of the world around us,
because God speaks through sky and seas, stars and sand, the silly ostrich and stately lion
And we need to open our hearts to receive the Scriptures
in the same way that Jeremiah consumed God’s words
Your words were found and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O LORD, God of hosts (Jeremiah. 15:16)

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning and welcome!     The Lord is with you!

Last week, Chuck mentioned 2 Corinthians 3:18, which reads:  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.  One of the most beautiful verses ever.  Several phrases caught my attention, these in particular:  “are being transformed” and “unveiled face.”

Unveiled is the Greek word anakalypto, meaning to uncover, for example, by drawing back a veil. I’m sure you have heard the word apocalypse; the Greek word apokálupsis meant a revelation, disclosure, or unveiling.  Remember how the veil was torn in the temple at Jesus death?  The separation between the holy place and the holy of holies was opened.  We are invited in, and the Spirit is released to dwell in us.  As our faith grows, we believe and train ourselves to follow the new way of the Spirit.  We grow in our new environment.

We often talk about it in terms of True Self and False Self.  One way I picture it is that our True Self is like the sun, always shining.  The False Self (actually “selves” since we have true parts and false parts of ourselves) are like the clouds.  The sun is always shining, but the clouds may veil its presence. We all have parts of ourselves that were formed in our first environment. We were born into and perhaps parented in the false;  we’ve lived in the false desires of the world and its culture. We have an enemy who offers lies and deceptions. We adapted, but those parts of us are small and superficial, like clouds compared to the sun.  They are trying to maintain control, security, and esteem. 

This past week, near the Vatican, did you read that Nero’s 1^st century Theater was uncovered?  It was revealed by uncovering the layers of dirt that hid the ruins and precious treasures that were already there.   We don’t wait for the gift of the True Self; we uncover it and let ourselves shine.

Transformation is the Spirit’s work.  Following our True Self is to follow the Spirit of Christ living in us, in sync with Christ’s impulses, operating freely by Grace.  Our False Selves are parts that haven’t yet come into Truth and therefore are not free. They have not been transformed. They live in cramped spaces of control, fear, greed, violence, and shame.  Those places were developed in adaptation, the Survival Dance instead of the Sacred Dance.  But now our True Self-in-Christ is wanting to bring transformation.  Living in that truth will set us free. 

Let’s pray together:  How wonderful it is to be called the children of God; our transformation is not yet complete.  Let us not be hypnotized or paralyzed but seek the Truth of our own being.  May everything we encounter assist this deep awareness of the Spirit’s call and leadership.  We present ourselves to Your Truth and Your Presence this morning, dear Lord.  In Jesus Name. Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Intro: The book of Proverbs is a collection of pithy sayings

If you read it several times, those clever lines stick in your mind
– for instance, here is one that comes to mind regarding this last week:
Iron sharpens iron,
so a person sharpens the face of a friend (Pr. 27:17)
• you might remember, last year, Guy Gray spoke here
◦ we met up again this past week — Gut has been my friend for fifty years
◦ I was fortunate to meet him in the early years of my ministry
• he guided me to a path of greater insight and understanding
◦ his has been a lasting influence all these many years
– I think God has placed people in my life strategically
• men and women who have opened my eyes and prepared me for what was next
• however, when it comes down to what I do for you,
◦ the most important, overriding service that I provide you,
◦ that has come to me directly from Jesus Christ, through the Scriptures

I know that God wants to use me as an influence in your life
– not a great deal of influence – that isn’t necessary
• it’s not my place to tell you how to vote,
• or to make you decide where you stand on controversial doctrinal issues
– however, I won’t hold back anything that I believe is vital for you to know
• in that regard, Paul is my example
I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable (Acts 20:20)
• it is God’s desire to personally direct your path through life

What kind of influence does God want me to provide?
They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you Galatians 4:17-19

Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a fire alarm, an air-raid siren
– his passion is felt from beginning to end
• he was upset with them:
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? (Gal. 3:1)
◦ and afraid for them:
I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain (Gal. 4:11)
• the problem was that two different messages had reached Galatia
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ (Gal. 1:6-7)
– it’s good for us to know something about this controversy
• there was a dedicated contingent of believers with their own ideas regarding salvation
◦ when a large number of Gentiles formed a church in Antioch,
some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers and sisters, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1)
◦ this created an immediate conflict
And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question (Acts 15:2)
◦ when they arrived, the Pharisee believers argued:
“It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5)
• although this issue was resolved at that council, the ultra-religious followers of Moses did not quit
– Paul’s message was, through Jesus we are saved by grace
• the message of the other group was, we are saved by grace plus something else
◦ they were adding requirements for the Gentiles that God did not authorize
• I hope you can see why this is so important that Paul would fight it aggressively
◦ this has ben an ongoing danger ever since – people adding prerequisites
◦ today people will give you the impression that you are saved by grace plus something
that you read only the King James Version of the Bible
or the only authentic Bible study is verse-by-verse
or “You must become an Evangelical to become a Christian”

So in verse 17, when Paul says, “They make much of you,”
– the “they” are members of the ultra-religious crew
• “make much” is literally “zealous for you” or “over you”
Martin Luther, “Now zeal properly signifies an angry love, or as we would say jealousy. . . . such a zeal the false apostles pretended to bear towards the Galatians.”
◦ in verse 18, Paul says zeal can be good if the purpose is good
◦ he provides his own example in 2 Corinthians:
I feel a divine jealousy [zeal] for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2)
• the ultra-religious plan was to convince Gentile Christians, that their connection to God was defective
◦ they would act very concerned for the Galatians
(and they may have had a true concern–but they were still wrong)
◦ they wanted the Gentiles to feel “shut out”– “excluded”
◦ then they would offer them the way in–by keeping the law of Moses
– that’s the background for Paul’s passionate word picture in verse 19

What Paul describes here is the work Jesus has given me to do

Let’s take this line by line:
my little children
– this term always expresses deep affection
– John uses this expression many times in his first letter
• this is the only place ever in all of his writings where Paul uses this term
for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth
– the reference is specific to a woman in labor
• it seems an odd analogy for a man to use (I feel embarrassed by it)
• but the point is, Paul struggled and was in anguish over the Galatians
– giving birth is not a function of mechanical rules and requirements
• it is an organic process – it has to do with life
• life was the essence and goal of Paul’s ministry
until Christ is formed in you
– there is this strange language in the New Testament
• Paul talks about believers being in Jesus Christ,
◦ but he also talks about Jesus being in us – “Christ in you”
◦ Jesus made a similar reference, but in fruit-bearing rather than birth:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (Jn. 15:4)
– the life of Jesus within a person secures them in God
• the attributes of Jesus are seen in the person in whom he is formed
◦ in their words and actions and demeanor

For Christ to be formed in you must be the result of whatever influence I have in your life

I hesitate to refer to my work as “spiritual formation,”
– simply because that phrase is used too often of too many things
• but it is quite literally the formation of a Christian spirituality
• and it is a developmental process

When Jesus is formed in our lives:

We have a new center
– by nature, I was at the center of my universe – I was egocentric
We have new thoughts
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind (Ro. 12:2)
We have new desires, new feelings, new impulses

To have Christ formed in me, means, what is his becomes mine
– his will becomes my will
• I experience his compassion and his goodness as my own feelings
• his vision becomes my vision

As we experience this, we come to a new vision of ourselves
– an awareness of who we are and how we please our Father in heaven
• we are constantly knowing Jesus more intimately
• and knowing him intimately, we become more like him
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18)
– this doesn’t mean you become Jesus, but he causes you to become your true self
• there is a famous Hasidic story of Rabbi Zusha
◦ when dying, his students asked him why he was crying
“Because I know that in the next world they will not ask me, ‘Why weren’t you more like Moses?’ but ‘Why weren’t you Rabbi Zusha?’”
• Christ formed in you, means you become like the person God meant for you to be

Conclusion: We can see plainly how we have been shaped by life

But I feel it’s important to have a clearer view or our history
That it is not simply life with all its coincidences and contradictions that made us who we are today
or will determine who we become tomorrow
Listen to how the prophet Isaiah describes our formation:
“But now, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay and you are our potter;
we are the work of your hand” (Isa. 64:8)
Can you remember that this week?

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning, RefleXion Community. The Lord is with you!

I bring another word picture this morning, and this time I remember where I heard it.  It was on James Finley’s podcast “Turning to the Mystics,” and this has been a helpful image for me.

If you will, picture with me a man looking into a mirror and seeing his own reflection.  Now see it from the perspective of the reflection looking at the man.  One day the reflection begins a conversation with his man:  “I’ve been with you a very long time.  I know your ways.  I dress like you; I move like you.  I think it’s time for me to break out on my own.  You’ve taught me well.”  “Well,” the man replies, “You are made to be my reflection. This is your Reality.  If you walk away, it’s not going to go well for you.”  “Nevertheless,” the reflection says, “I’m going.” 

From Thomas Merton, “There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in us by our vital relation with realities outside and above us.  When our life feeds on unreality, it must starve.  It must therefore die.”  And that’s what happened to the reflection who forgot how his Real life worked. 

I don’t think any of us would purposefully walk away from our Maker, but recently I did find myself outside of that reflective light.  Do you ever find yourself frustrated, discouraged, angry—feeling the feels of the big Ego?  You, like me, might realize that you have drifted away. 

This is how it looked for me:  First, my prayer:  Change them.   Then: I’ll try harder (I’ll work at it).  Then: I’m not doing well with this strategy.  I’ll ask God to help me. (Notice that I’m still trying to get my way).  I also realized that not only was I saying, “I can do this,” I was saying, “I should be able to do this.” Then, the turning!  Turning around is to repent, a turning away and a turning toward.

When I come to my senses and return to the mirror, I am returning to be-ing.  I am brought back to the Real.  Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt once described contemplation as taking a long, loving look at the real.” A reminder that this is our way.  It’s not just a one time and done, it’s a way of living.  This is the gift of our Creator.  At times, we might find ourselves even saying, “This is Unreal.”  Ah ha!  Perhaps it is.

Pray with me, will you: Lord God, in You we live and move and have our be-ing.  Forgive us when we think otherwise.  Thank You for the gifts of the Real Life of knowing You and reflecting You.  Draw us back to long, loving looks at the Real.  Thank you for this place to listen and practice Your Presence.  May we be receptive and reflective.  For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Him [Jesus] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me Colossians 1:28-29

Intro: About twenty years ago, Barb attended a seminar at work

A psychologist lectured on Compassion Fatigue Syndrome
– it is a common condition among healthcare professionals
• their encounters with the suffering of others takes a toll
◦ if they are not treated yet continue to work, they can become numb
◦ they stop feeling empathy for their patients’ pain and grief
• the speaker provided the audience with a list of symptoms
◦ Barb said as she was going down the list checking boxes, she was thinking,
“Yes, that’s Chuck. Yep, that too.”
– I was burned out and seriously questioning whether I should stay in ministry
• one morning I told Barb I was going to fast until evening
◦ I read, prayed, listened—but did not get an answer
• so when the sun set, we went to see a movie
◦ I broke my fast with a salted pretzel and a Coke
◦ but in the middle of the movie, I could feel something big was coming
The movie was “Along Came A Spider,” and the dialogue was between actors Morgan Freeman (playing detective, Alex Cross) and Monica Potter (playing Secret Service agent, Jezzie Flannigan)
Cross: You do what you are, Jezzie
Jezzie: You mean you are what you do
Cross: No, I mean you do what you are. You’re born with a gift. If not that, then you get good at something along the way. And what you’re good at, you don’t take for granted. You don’t betray it.
Jezzie: What if you do, betray your gift?
Cross: Then you betray yourself. That’s a sad thing.
– I knew that God meant for me to hear that–it was my answer

I was going to stay in ministry, but something had to change

My vision for the church had grown old and tired
– reading through Colossians, the Lord stopped me at the verses above
• Jesus told me, “This is what you will do. This is who you are.”
– immediately, I felt totally comfortable with this arrangement
• in this instance, Paul became my mentor and example

Paul wanted these Christians to know how privileged they were

In verse 26 Paul tells them about a mystery, “hidden for ages”
– in the New Testament, “mystery” doesn’t mean a puzzle or an enigma
• it refers to something unknown and unknowable
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever . . . .” (De. 29:29)
◦ what mystery was Paul talking about? what had been hidden for centuries?
• God, the Savior of Israel would open the door to Gentiles
◦ no one expected this – not even Jesus’ disciples
◦ and when it began to happen, they still didn’t believe it
– Peter needed a vision from heaven to persuade him to go to a Gentile home to tell them about Jesus
• when he returned to Jerusalem, he “criticized” for being with Gentiles, so he had to explain
When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18)
• Paul mentions this mystery in several of his letters
For instance, Ephesians 3, When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to [humankind] in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (vv. 4-6)
◦ God had at last revealed this mystery
◦ and the Colossians were privileged to be beneficiaries of it

I wish we could hear Paul’s words the way the Colossians would have
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (v. 27, and “you” is plural)
– Christ was among them, within their community
• but he was also within each person who had received him
• Paul explains it more fully in Romans chapter 8
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you (Ro. 8:9-11)
– reading both passages I noticed Paul refers to the Lord as “Christ” and not by his name, “Jesus”
• it is not that Jesus and Christ are not the same person or entity
◦ the title Christ derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah
◦ Jesus is the unique “anointed one” of prophetic promise
• I think for Paul, “Christ” refers specifically to his spiritual role
◦ as God’s appointed representative and shepherd-ruler
◦ it’s in his role as the Christ, Jesus takes his place in our lives

Recently I have wrestled with the idea of “Christ in me”
– in me where? my brain? my bones?
• I’ve wondered if this were merely a metaphorical indwelling
◦ but I don’t think so – and I’m pretty sure Paul meant literally
• in the Romans passage I read, Paul said we have the Spirit of Christ
◦ it is not that he is located somewhere in our bodies,
◦ but that your true self is spirit – and Jesus meets us Spirit to spirit
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Ro. 8:16)
– there is a real sense of Christ being in our true self—our aware self
(and if he is in me, then he is always with me)
• the most beautiful sermon from the 20th century that I ever read,
◦ was preached by G. Campbell Morgan
Morgan, We rejoice in Jesus’ first and second coming, because of “the mystery of His personal coming into our own life. . . . ‘Christ in you.’ That is the great miracle, the great mystery, the individual fact on which all the other facts of Christianity are based, and through which the other forces of Christianity become operative in the history of [humankind]. Christ in me—the Christ light—so that I see with His eyes. Christ in me—the Christ aspiration—so that I desire with His desire. Christ in me—the Christ impulse—so that I am driven as he was driven. Christ in me—the Christ consciousness—so that the world’s sin burdens me in the same fashion as it burdens Him, and the world’s agony hurts me as the world’s agony hurt Him.”

So, back when I was wondering about my new job description,

Jesus spoke to me through these two verses — I will take them line-by-line
– “Him we proclaim”—proclaiming Jesus would then be for ever my priority
• my ministry was to present and promote Jesus
◦ this has proved to be tricky—for myself and others
◦ ministers are like everyone else, we want to know that we’re good at what we do
◦ but the truth is, there’s no way to calculate our effectiveness
• instead of simply preaching Jesus, we end up promoting ourselves (it seems like a subtle shift)
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor. 4:5)
– I enjoy talking about Jesus; telling his story, explaining his teaching
• that comes first—present Jesus, bring him into focus
• it’s a continuation of Jesus’ ministry—as well as an extension and expansion of it
◦ as such, the love of Jesus is revealed in broader dimensions (“all the world,” “all flesh,” etc.)

Then Paul says, “warning everyone” – literally, to place in mind
– to provide biblical and spiritual counsel—personal care
• answer questions if possible; give direction; spiritual training
– “teaching everyone” for me means to inform, to instruct
• to help make sense of the Bible for others and clarify things
– “with all wisdom”—in scripture, wisdom the useful application of knowledge
• some people don’t get why I study certain subjects
◦ they understand my biblical and theological studies,
◦ but why neuroscience? why psychology and sociology?
• I started studying human consciousness because I want to be as fully conscious of God’s presence as possible
◦ how were the prophets and apostles so aware of God? Is it a matter of discipline or is all grace?
◦ I want to be useful as a resource — and to know where pastoral counseling leaves off and psychological therapy begins
– “to present everyone mature in Christ” – complete
• think of working on a project until it is finished—that is what this word means
◦ and God’s finished work in us is the fullness of Christ in us, the hope of glory (Php. 1:6)

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me (v. 29)
– this is my work—sometimes it is toil and struggling
• but it is also the presence and support of God’s Spirit

Conclusion: I want to tell you to spend some time in scripture

Read, and think about what you’ve read
I want to tell you to spend some time in prayer;
pray your anxieties and sit in silence with your heart open to God
I want to tell you to spend some time in Christian conversations; with friends or our Lexio Divina meeting
I want to tell you to do these things, but I won’t
Instead, be kind to someone who isn’t doing well
As far as it is possible for you, be gracious with everyone
This is how we move toward maturity, and best represent Jesus
And remember, Christ is in you; remind yourself to enjoy him

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Welcome to RefleXion!     The Lord is with you!

A couple of weeks ago I shared a little story with my Lectio Divina group, and I referenced a book where I thought I had read it.  I went back to look for it this week, and it wasn’t in the book I thought, so I’m not sure where I heard this tale.

It’s like this…There was a young woman who lived in a comfortable stone cottage, one she had built herself and loved.  One day she found herself wanting to cross the stream that she could see from her door.  As she reached its banks, it seemed too wide for her.  She asked Jesus to help her; he brought her a stone to step on, and she took her next step.  The next time she was in the stream, the gap still seemed too big, so she asked Jesus for help again; he immediately brought her another stone to step on.  She made progress, but day after day it still seemed so far, so wide, so dangerous; and Jesus always brought stepping stones.  But one day, Jesus was late, so she turned around to look for him, in the direction of her comfy stone cottage.  To her astonishment, the cottage was being deconstructed stone by stone.  The stones she was stepping on were taken from her comfortable little place, and now she could never go back.

If you’re like me, you can look back and see the structures you had, comfortable, familiar, safe; but perhaps they  no longer a fit for your journey.  Scripture says, “all things work together for good.”  Nothing is wasted.  There’s always a bit of deconstruction going on.  Cells in our body break down and get rebuilt regularly.  In philosophy, deconstruction is the literary criticism that questions traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth. 

Many of our beliefs and ways of looking at things have changed, haven’t they? John Dewy, an American scholar in the early 20^th century, said, “All learning begins when our comfortable ideas turn out to be inadequate.”

I’ve heard people say, “Don’t look back, that’s not the way you’re going!”  But, like the young woman in the story, you can look back…and be astonished! Things are being deconstructed, but nothing is lost.  It has all had its way with you.  To deconstruct is not to destroy.  Scripture says, “all things work together for good for those who love God.” Let’s welcome the Spirit working a forward-facing work in us and take each step as it’s made possible.

Let’s pray:

O Jesus, what a marvelous, wonderful author and finisher of our faith You are. Let us not side-step our calling, but follow You, willingly and whole-heartedly.   Keep astonishing us.  Turn Your Face toward us this morning, we pray; as we turn ours toward You, in gratefulness that You are leading us in Glory .  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr. 

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” John 21:15-17

Intro: Last week, God’s question to Elijah was, “What are you doing here?”

We’ll start with that question: “What are you doing here?”
– isn’t one reason that your here is because you came to hear what I have to say?
• Okay, I feel uncomfortable when I think that or say that
◦ not only because it’s like I have to give an oral report every week
(and feel like I’ll be graded on it),
◦ but because I can’t take myself that seriously
• I’m a mediocre guy who makes more mistakes than gets things right
– However, I do take God seriously and the work he’s given me
• and I take you very seriously – so I don’t want to waste your time
• but I’m like a court jester; the silliness of what I do and who I am, causes others to think

If what I do is part of the reason you’re here, then perhaps I should explain why I’m here
– so that’s what I’m going to talk about for the next two weeks

This idea came to me Wednesday night in our Lexio Divina
(Jim refers to our Lexio Divina meetings as a “workshop on learning to listen.” We listen for the Spirit to speak to us through the Scriptures, in silence, and through each other)

The reading was in Matthew 2, and was about the birth of Jesus and the visit of the magi
– one of the women in our group said that what spoke to her was,
“The shepherd and the star” – both images are were references to Jesus
• that had an immediate effect on me
◦ and the more I thought about it, the more it spoke to me
• a few days later, it was my inspiration for these talks
– so today we’re going to ease our way into it

John tells us how Jesus reconciled with Peter after his resurrection

It’s a beautiful and complex story, but we won’t go into those details
– we watch Jesus approach Peter and patch their relationship
• Peter needed the Lord to do this for him
• after reconciling with Peter, Jesus gave him his assignment
◦ he said it three times, in three words, and mixing it up each time
Feed my lambs – Tend my sheep – Feed my sheep
– the biblical tradition of the shepherd-leader has a long history
• Moses spent forty years as a shepherd before spending another forty leading Israel through the wilderness…
• God removed King Saul and replaced him with David, whose primary qualification was he had been a shepherd
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel” (2 Sam. 7:8)
[The LORD] chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand (Ps. 78:70-72)
– Israel’s poets and prophets perceived God in role of shepherd
• the most famous psalm, Psalm 23, begins with, “The LORD is my shepherd”
◦ God leads, feeds, waters, and give rest and protection to every believer
• then we hear the prophet Isaiah announce:
He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young (Isa. 40:11)

When Jesus came, he saw people through the eyes of a shepherd
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Mt. 9:36)
– Jesus chose the shepherd as one of the images he used to describe himself
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd (Jn. 10:14-16)
– and now here, at the end of John’s gospel, Jesus enlists Peter to continue his shepherding work
• later on, Paul regarded all church leaders as shepherds
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God (Acts 20:28)

The thought of being in pastoral ministry terrifies me

One of the most famous preachers of the 19th century, Charles H. Spurgeon, said,
“If you can do anything else, do it. If you can stay out of the ministry, stay out of the ministry.”
– the writer of Hebrews said pastoral leaders:
are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account (Heb. 13:17)
• James wrote,
Not many of you should become teachers . . . for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness (Jas. 3:10)
• I’ve run into people around town who attended Capo Beach Church when I was there
◦ more than once I’ve been greeted with, “Hi, Pastor Chuck!” And I’ve answered “I’m not a pastor any more”
◦ one woman replied, “But you will always be my pastor” – that creeps me out
– there are too many ways that I can fail you
• I’ll give you one example

Suppose I assist you in deepening your life in God, but that part of your life is activated only on Sundays or only seems real when we meet together–when we pray, and enter the Scriptures–and the rest of the time and everywhere else we’re preoccupied with other things? What if every other day of the week we live like earthlings, unaware of God, and caught up in all the things of the world? What if on the weekdays we are worried about our bodies while neglecting our spirits? The the point I want to make is that I am a “supplement”! What I do is not your nutrition, your source of energy or healthy growth.

What happens when we’re here is reinforcement, a remembering, a refreshing, and refueling. Reflexion is a rest stop in this long journey and a break from the everyday pressures. We leave here and return to the road. A benefit of being here together, is that it supports our lives and gives us stamina in the trenches. Our real life in God is what we nurture and practice every day.

Abraham Maslow, a twentieth century psychologist and humanist,
– was convinced that humans have a “transcendent nature” that needs to be nurtured
• he believed there was a human need to experience transcendence
• he argued that church on Sunday could get in the way of that rather than provide it
Maslow, “The experiences of the holy . . . the divine, . . . of surrender, of mystery . . . gratitude, self-dedication, if they happen at all, tend to be confined to a single day of the week, to happen under one roof only . . . . ‘Religionizing’ only one part of life secularizes the rest of it.”
– Maslow refers to this kind of rupture between one day of the week and the other days as “dichotomizing” (dichotomy is a division of one thing into two parts)
• he argues that dichotomizing results in psychological disorders
Maslow, “Isolating two interrelated parts of a whole from each other, parts that need each other, parts that are truly ‘parts’ and not wholes, distorts them both, sickens and contaminates them.”
• St. James made a similar observation 2,000 years ago
People who are double-minded “are unstable in all their ways” (Jas. 1:8)
◦ we can break this down further and make it easier to digest
Brenning Manning, “Christianity has designated certain places more sacred than others, some days holier than others, and some actions more religious than others, giving the impression that contact with God happens primarily, if not exclusively, on the first day of the week in a building called church. Confining God’s presence to certain predictable times and places is restrictive and leads to the unspoken assumption that the rest of the week is irreligious.”
My dad used to say, “Some people have enough of the Lord in them to be unhappy in the world and enough of the world in them to be unhappy in the Lord.”

If we correct the division between sacred and secular, what is possible?

Being here together will enrich our daily experience of God
– but the reverse is also possible
• our daily experience of God will enhance our being together
– let’s say we have a day that is unusually distressing
• we pray and we call or text to share our need with a Christian friend
◦ we breathe, turn our awareness to God, and receive peace
◦ the answer may not have arrived–yet–but it’s on the way
• then we meet together here and share our hardships and successes
◦ this is what the Psalms describe when the poet says,
“I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you” (Ps. 35:18)

Conclusion: Sometime ago, a friend of mine lost his wife after a prolonged illness

When I called him to see how he was doing, he told me that a minister involved in his wife’s memorial service told him to write out his eulogy; that way he wouldn’t risk losing a thought or rambling. Also, if he were to be flooded with emotion and unable to keep reading, his daughter could finish reading the eulogy for him.
The problem was that my friend did not consider himself a writer or capable of putting together something worth reading at her memorial. He was struggling with it and getting nowhere. So I asked him if he was busy, or if I could come over to his house, interview him briefly, and write the eulogy for him. He said he didn’t want to put that on me, but I told him, “This is easy for me. It’s what I do; it’s who I am.”

There are two specific places passages in the Scriptures where Jesus spoke to me and gave me my assignment like he did with Peter.
Years passed between these two events,
but on each occasion, Jesus said, “This is what you do. This is who you are”
Next week and the week after,
I am going to share those two words with you

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning, RefleXion Community.            The Lord is with you!

In honor of Chuck’s birthday, which he will celebrate this week, I want to begin with a scripture verse that I call “the birthday verse.”  From 2 Corinthians 4:16:  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

I think I’m one of the oldest people in the room, so I will give you my perspective on aging…. it’s not for sissies!  I think we all know that from birth our physical bodies, our mental acuity, and our emotions grow in capacity and strength; and then, by some unseen clock and timing, they diminish, and we become frail and weak.  “Everything goes south, as they say.”  That’s gravity, but, as this scripture reminds us, it’s gravity and grace.   The verses that continue after the “birthday verse” say, For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

We don’t often think about our unseen spirit that is given to us by God as growing us, yet our spirit, which we’re born with, gives us the ability to search for and to know God. The Holy Spirit received reveals God to us and enlivens our spirit to become like Him.  Like a flower or a bird that is programmed on the inside, so are we.  Remember our grandmas who often said to us, “Look how big you’re getting!”  Well, maybe we all need spiritual grandmas who say, “Look how far you’ve come!”  I love this quote from Morgan Harper Nichols, who invites us to look and to see that “All along you were blooming.”

So, Chuck, thank you for letting us in on the ponderings of your spirit with these meditations in Mark.  May you never lose heart and may God bless each of your days with the Spirit’s renewal of hope and peace, and, yes, joy.

Join me to pray will you:

Lord, spare us the continuing demand for youth.  Give us instead the desire for maturity and for the wholeness of who you have made us to be.  Let the Spirit make real to us this truth from the inside out, that we might live our lives with integrity.  Thank you for our teachers, for our friends, and thank you for the way you have created us—to search for and to know you.  We welcome your work in us; let the desires of your heart be ours today.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?: And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take hi down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” Mark 14:22-39

Intro: This story is about Christ the Victim becoming Christ the Victor

I’m going to jump right into my meditations on this chapter
My meditation: “I want Mark to use his remarkable storytelling skills to enhance the details of what is depicted here. I want him to enable us to visualize it and hear every sound. It would benefit us to begin to fathom what Jesus suffered and to feel the utter hopelessness of the cross. I feel it’s important to sit in dark shadow of his abandonment, aloneness, sorrow, and death. But here, when I think the action should slow down and perhaps zoom in on still frames, Mark hurries us along at his usual fast clip, using “and . . . and . . . and . . .” to keep the action moving quickly.
But Mark has his own agenda and his own purpose. He carries us from one critical point to another, rising and falling like peaks of a wave. That is how he presents the story and that is how we must receive it, noticing when he wants to emphasize a specific sentence.”

I have several meds on verses 1-20 that I’ll run through quickly

My meditations, verse 1: “‘And as soon as it was morning . . .’ The Greek says, ‘immediately [in the] early morning.’ In scripture, to get up early signifies eagerness. Mark captures the enthusiasm of the priests and scribes to convene a meeting and rush Jesus to Pilate. Perhaps they feared losing ground if they were to wait for due process to run its course.
What inspires me to jump out of bed early in the morning? The chief priests and scribes were eager to get rid of Jesus. Am I equally eager to get up to meet with Jesus? Am I as motivated as the women who went to his tomb ‘very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen’?
Why did the pious trolls tie Jesus’ hands. Were they afraid he might Kung Fu his way to freedom? Did they do it to humiliate him or make him look like a criminal when they delivered him to Pilate? I like to think they were afraid he might try to touch and heal someone on the way, and so expose their wickedness. Jesus the innocent. Jesus the Savior. Jesus the Christ. Those hands! That touch!”
verse 2: “Mark has created a dark chapter. I find it disturbing this morning–it’s not what I think I need to read. My circumstances tell me I need a living, powerful, miracle-working Savior with me, not someone who allows the world to roll over him. Jesus is dreadfully quiet in this chapter, and reading it feels like I’m losing Jesus, my one hope. I want to skim the chapter, fast-forward to the resurrection, and move on.
I am afraid; afraid of being stuck at the ‘Place of the Skull,’ stuck in a world without Jesus in it, without my link to God, a world in which the crucifiers are in control and good things die. But this chapter is not the end of Mark’s story, and it is not the end of my story either.
And I know it’s a fatal error to think a dying Savior is not what I need.”
verses 4-5: “In the beginning of Mark’s gospel, people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching and how he spoke (with authority). Now his silence is just as amazing. I wonder if Mark intended for us to also find Jesus’ abrupt silence amazing? Perhaps Jesus fell silent because at that moment silence was the best answer (regardless of how defenseless it left him).
No doubt Pilate, who had seen many people on trial for their lives, assumed this would be the moment a person would be desperate to speak, desperate to defend themselves, when their life was on the line and many accusations were leveled against them. To witness the Lord’s absence of need to speak up, to counter his accusers, or justify his actions amazed Pilate.”
verses 6-15, “Barabbas: “I can see how Jesus appeared to be a threat to the religious trolls, but I do not know why they felt so much contempt for him. They despised and feared him so much that rather than see him released, they chose to free a murderer. Even Pilate was confused by this move, and asked them, ‘Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?’”
verses 16-20: (The Roman soldiers tortured Jesus) “These verses are hard to read and digest. The soldiers scourged Jesus because that’s what they were ordered to do—everything after that was entertainment. Perhaps they were frustrated with being posted in Israel and viewed the Jewish people as a constant aggravation. After all, the legions were not there for the benefit or prosperity of Israel, but to maintain the Pax Romana, and brutally squelch any sign of revolt.
Their brutality ‘wasn’t personal.’ Jesus meant absolutely nothing to them. Of course, it’s personal to me. Seeing him suffer all the degradations of an abused criminal, the humiliations of a hated victim, the torments of a rebel of Rome is too tragic to absorb. But to know that he was dragged to the bottom of the world in order to identify with and redeem those who live at the bottom–those he refers to as his brothers and sisters who are ‘the least’ because of their zero status in society–well, this is a revelation of his incomprehensible love.
I wonder whether I can endure my relatively lightweight burdens and put up with my aches and pains and feelings of despair, and at the same time be responsive to the needs of others. I don’t feel like I can. I don’t have that kind of strength or energy left in me. However, seeing what Jesus endured, I want to keep moving forward. His example inspires me and his Spirit enables me.”

The following meditations are from the passage above

Here we come to the crescendo of Jesus’ suffering
– he entered Jerusalem with shouts of welcome and praise
Hosanna! (or, Save now), and Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (Mk. 11:9-10)
• but here he staggers out of Jerusalem, wounded and bloody
• then, when his body is fixed to the cross,

he is jeered at, scoffed, and harassed
– for me, this is the most painful and frustrating part of the ordeal
• as a child, I was conditioned to feel foolish and clumsy
◦ for me, there was no such thing as simple embarrassment
◦ what I felt was shame, humiliation, and rejection
• for years I would get stuck in this passage because it bothered me so much
◦ it distressed me to see Jesus treated like a fool and just take it

My meditation: “Jesus was accused of being the Messiah, Israel’s Savior (14:61-62), so this became the nature of their insults. The sting was that they were not saying, ‘Save Israel,’ but ‘Save yourself.’ The chief priests and scribes joked among themselves, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself.’
No one there spoke up for Jesus. No one offered him comfort or support. Nor did the crowd allow him to die in peace. He was the laughingstock of the heartless bystanders. I imagine that the scorn of the pious trolls was most hurtful. They were responsible for engineering this injustice; responsible for bringing the ministry and life of Jesus to an end. Now that they had won their victory, they were not off gloating in a side chamber of the temple, but right there in front of his cross. They mocked Jesus and made sure he could hear them.
I have been misjudged and slandered. People who thought they knew something about me have taken potshots at me. A couple times I made the mistake of offering a friendly response to their criticism and insults, but all that accomplished was to trigger a more aggressive and demeaning reaction.
I think most people feel passionate about defending themselves, squelching rumors, and getting the truth out there. So I wonder how Jesus could allow those offensive words to be floated in front of his face and not strike back. I know it’s unrealistic to think anyone would listen to him, hanging there between two criminals, and I admit my imagination can go off the rails. I want Jesus to transform into a super hero, glide down from the cross, and kick their butts. In fact, it seems some people thought it possible that there could be a last minute rescue, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ But the Lord just takes their abuse, as if he were totally helpless–as if they were right and he deserved this horrible death. He lets them have their fun.
Can I comprehend in any way Jesus’ devotion to the Father or his devotion to us? Can I make sense of the Scripture that says, ‘for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame’ (Heb. 12:2)?”

In all the emotional intensity, we are liable to miss the impact of two events

The moment Jesus died, two miracles occurred
My meditation: “‘And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.’ This weird phenomenon, when the barrier that protected the holiest room in the temple from the intrusion of anyone but the high priest, could signify one of two things: Either the ultimate desecration of Israel’s religion or the end of our separation from God. Never again would we have to feel alone or abandoned.”
My meditation: “The most amazing word spoken regarding Jesus is heard from the mouth of a Roman centurion. Only after his death, when Jesus could not hear it, and it could not do him any good, or relieve an ounce of his suffering, was one decent thing said of him, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’ Only in his death was the full revelation of the Lord Jesus seen by someone, and that someone was an outsider to Israel’s religion and covenant. Still, this is the point that Mark has been trying to bring us from the first verse of chapter 1. He has wanted us to make this discovery. And it comes not after a noteworthy miracle, but at the end of Jesus’ life. But still, Jesus’ crucifixion was not a mistake or merely a cruel martyrdom, but the culmination of God’s victory over all the powers of evil, seen and unseen.”

There is one other direction we need to look, off in the distance
There were also women looking on from a distance . . . . When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem Mark 15:40-41

My meditation: “Why does Mark bring these women into the narrative at this point? Were they brave to venture so close to the site of execution? Or were they so marginalized as to be invisible? Was it safer for females from Galilee to be present than the males? It is easy to forget that many of Jesus’ disciples were female. We learn that these women have been in the background all along, and were associated with Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. In those happier times, the only threat to Jesus in Galilee was the risk of so many people trying to get to him they might crush him or prevent him from having time to eat or sleep. But now it seems the women are light years from those pleasant days around the lake, when Jesus brought the kingdom of God so near that disciples were beginning to stumble into it. How sad that Jesus might have been reminded of Galilee and the loving care of those women in his dying moments.
Do the women surface now because in that culture women were more involved in caring for the corpse than men? (Remember in the previous chapter, as Jesus said, ‘she has anointed my body beforehand for burial’; Mk. 14:8.) Is Mark working a theme here, in which women are last at the cross and first at the empty tomb? Was it because women had a special attachment to Jesus, being present at his birth, his death, and everything in between? Does the presence of women heighten the sentimental effect of this phase of the story? I ask, because I am always wondering What am I missing? And not just in my study of scripture, but in my life and the life of my spiritual community.”

Conclusion: The last face we see is that of Joseph of Arimathea

My meditation: The women ministered to Jesus during his life; Joseph came after he was dead. Favors shown to the dead are small compared to those given to the living. But Joseph has this going for him, he was looking for the kingdom of God. His concern for Jesus’ body tells us that he had not given up that hope, and it was still connected to this wonderful person who spoke as no one else.

From the start, Jesus’ message was, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk. 1:15).
He did not say the time is at hand, but the time is fulfilled
Jesus brought the kingdom of God into our world,
and now we get glimpses of it, if we’re looking for it!
It will appear to us in flashes this week;
the smile of a stranger,
a spray of flowers,
a light breeze brushing our cheek.
When we see anything beautiful,
we will know God is near,
if we are looking for the kingdom of God
and step through the door when it opens

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Good morning, welcome!            The Lord is with you!

Why am I here?  How many times a day do I move from one room to another and then stand there and ask myself, “Why am I here?”  Do you ever do that?  I knew what I was going to do, but even after a very short distance I lost track of it. I know even that I’m in the right room or standing in front of the right cabinet…but I don’t recall why.

Life can be like that.  We get distracted, off track; we lose our purpose.  Our minds are chattering away.  It’s often needful just to pause and ask ourselves, “Why am I here?”  Of course, this can apply to the existential “why?”—the meaning of life, our life, and that’s worth pondering.  But even just this morning, we started off knowing that we wanted to come to this place.  Now, we’ve had a lot of thoughts and conversations right up until now.  So, it’s good to pause and re-align ourselves with our “why”; and we can start by just asking the questions: “Why am I here?” “Why have I come to this place? “ 

We might have to give it some time to let the answers work themselves up to our consciousness, through all the chatter, to allow for the space to remember ourselves.  I think that’s why we do start in this place with some quiet time.

Will you pray with me?

Father, we return to the here and now, we return to Presence.  We allow the flow of Spirit to take us to where we need to be, in awareness and presence.  We remind ourselves that we have a purpose in your grand design and a place of belonging in the family of things.  We are yours, each an individual, alive and growing, known and loved, becoming whole, becoming love.  Set us in our rightful place, settle our hearts and minds, let us allow for a receptive space, that we might find ourselves, and find that you already here.  For the sake of the Kingdom.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here on stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray.”

Intro: The temple plays an important role in Jesus’ story

The one clear accusation brought against him at his trial was,
“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands’” (Mk. 14:58).
– but they weren’t certain what that even meant
Yet even about this their testimony did not agree (Mk. 14:59)
• I tend to think, if something was sacred, it is sacred forever
◦ if God visited a place, the ground would always be holy
• that’s kind of the idea people have about going to Israel
◦ “I want to walk where Jesus walked”
◦ as if I’ll experience something unique or supernatural
– when Solomon built the first temple, a phenomenon occurred
And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD (1 Ki. 8:10-11)
• but God spoke to Solomon twice, first before it was built and then again afterward
◦ the LORD was willing to dwell there, but his presence was provisional (1 Ki 6:11-13; 9:1-9)
◦ the king and the people had to remain loyal to God’s covenant with them
• years later, God stationed Jeremiah in temple gate with a warning
◦ if they did not turn and do as God desired,
◦ he would abandon temple and it would be destroyed
Go now to my place in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel (Jer. 7:12)
– not long afterward, Ezekiel witnessed the glory of God departing from the temple (Eze. 10:4, 19; 11:23)

It was in keeping with this flow of prophetic history, that Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple

My meditation on these five verses has focused on two phrases

The first phrase is “Do you see?”
(this was Jesus’ response when a disciple said, “Look, Teacher”)
– by now we could expect to hear Jesus ask, “Do you see?”
• after all the times disciples have missed the point
◦ they’ve had trouble seeing with their eyes, and hearing with their ears
• the temple was a tribute to human design, engineering, and wealth
◦ but it wasn’t as rock-solid as it appeared – it was transient
My meditation: “Jesus saw the stones and architecture of the temple differently than they saw them. He saw what they could not see. They saw a temple, he saw a den of thieves–a people who had lost contact with their God. Jesus also saw into the future, when the entire complex would be torn down. Jesus sees through facades to essence. He sees the destiny of each religious institution and each believer–a destiny that is either fulfilled or forfeited.”
– the second phrase occurs in verse 3, “opposite the temple”
“he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple”
My meditation: “Jesus positioned himself ‘opposite the temple.’ He was on one mount and the temple on another, with a valley between them. It was a stare down. The temple would either be the end of Jesus, or Jesus would be the end of the temple.”
• for several chapters, Mark has tracked this conflict between Jesus and what was going on in the temple
◦ Jesus comes as a living force, empowered by God, for God
◦ the temple, with its dead religion, resisted and opposed him — it could not tolerate the “new wine”
• after 2,000 years, Jesus is still moving in the world
◦ but the temple has never risen from its ruins
◦ dynamic movements inevitably become institutionalized
• institutions can be very impressive and attractive
◦ but life in Jesus is not something we can organize and manage
◦ religion dies in our hands

For the remainder of the chapter, Jesus answers two questions

The disciples asked Jesus about the when and the what of his prediction
– humans are possessed by a fixation with the future
• Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth – sold 35 million copies
• many Christians believe we have an exact script for specific future events
– the questions the disciples asked are sort that can lead to wild speculation
• Jesus knew that! and so he inserted warnings in his teaching

I have written more than thirty years of meditations from the Scriptures
– but rarely have I ever meditated on any verse in this chapter
• when I came to it in Feb. 2020, I wrote myself a note
“This is a difficult chapter for me, mostly because I cannot enter it with a clear and innocent mind. I have heard it taught too often, and everything explained so fully that there is no room for new insights. It feels like the door to its meaning is locked, so I cannot hear a fresh word from Jesus in it.”
• what I did observe at that time were snippets of information
My meditation: “The scenes Jesus describes occur in a world where he is no longer present, ‘like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge’ (v. 34). Yet he continues to be represented by his followers, who will be dragged before ‘governors and kings, to bear witness before them’ (vv. 9-10). And one day he will return, ‘And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory’ (v. 26). Otherwise, history will move forward through dark ages of violence, betrayal, false christs and false prophets, over an unstable landscape in an uncertain world. Meanwhile God’s work will also continue to move forward within it.”
– in many minds today, our world fits this description
• I’ve read a couple of recent reports regarding billionaires talking with consultants
◦ the want to know the surest way to survive the end of the world
• some are building underground bunkers
◦ others are looking for inhabitable planets to colonize
◦ Luke records an additional line in this talk that speaks to the growing panic
“people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world” (Lk. 21:26)

What is the first answer Jesus gives his disciples?
“See that no one leads you astray”

This is his first and most important lesson
– Jesus repeatedly reiterates this warning
v. 9, But be on your guard
v. 23, But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand
v. 33, Be on guard, keep awake
v. 35, Therefore stay awake
v. 37, And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake
– in one med. I wrote, “I wish I had Secret Service training”
My meditation: “They are trained be always alert, to see everything, quickly assess their surroundings, observe everyone. A janitor may not be a janitor, a reporter may not be a reporter. They must be able to discern the presence of a concealed weapon. And so on.”
• but sadly, I am not always on guard–and easily distracted

Last Sunday a story broke regarding an embarrassing incident that occurred in April. An inebriated man broke into the home of Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser to President Biden. Mr. Sullivan forced the man from his home, and then went looking for Secret Service agents who were supposed to be on duty, watching his home. How had they missed the intruder? They were on their cell phones.

◦ what distractions are preventing me from being “awake” in the present moment?

I want to share one quick meditation from last November

It has to do with what Jesus says regarding “false christs and false prophets”

When I was a pastor in 29 Palms, California, my friends and I were young and zealous for God. Whenever we saw hitchhikers, we would pick them us so we could share our faith with them. That is how a couple of us met Glen. Glen had traveled from Colorado to San Francisco to purchase a van full of hash for himself and his friends. On his way home, he fell asleep, rolled the van, and his cargo burned to ash. So he was returning to San Francisco to resupply and make his way home again.
Glen had been raised in a Pentecostal church until he was old enough to choose for himself whether or not he would attend. He chose not to. But when our friends began sharing with him that they had also used marijuana and LSD, but now found meaning and fulfillment in Jesus, Glen decided he wanted to God in the way they did.
Glen stayed in 29 Palms for a few weeks, hardly ever leaving the dining room of the home that took him in. Every day, from dawn until evening Glen was reading the Bible. It was a phenomenon we had not seen before. One day he announced that he had to return home to face a warrant that was put out on him. He was convicted and given a six month sentence in an “honor farm” facility. He wrote to us frequently to tell us how he was doing. After the first couple of months, he told us about several guys he had been talking with about Jesus. Then he told us that he was teaching a daily Bible study to five of the inmates. A couple of month later the Bible study was up to ten guys, and by the last month of his sentence there were twenty in mates studying the Bible together. Glen felt torn about being released, because of his ministry with those men.
Early one Sunday morning, we receive a telegram from Glen’s mother. She thanked us for the influence we had on Glen’s life, that his relationship with Jesus was the answer to her desperate prayers for him. Then she told us that he had taken a job in the oil fields, fell from a rig, and was now in heaven with his Lord.
Once, when I had been asked to speak at my dad’s church, I told Glen’s story. The next week, a man contacted me and told me that he produced Christian films. He asked for permission to tell Glen’s story in film. We secured permission from Glen’s mother and the film make went to work. However, when he negotiated with the company that was going to distribute the film, they wanted to make some changes in the story line to make it more acceptable to church youth groups. They said to change the part where Glen was hitchhiking (they had him walking down a suburban street instead and meeting a Christian who was outside his home watering his lawn). They did not want the Christian youth who would see the film to get the idea it was alright to hitchhike or to pick up hitchhikers. They also said that no one would believe that twenty men were led to the Lord and attended Bible studies while incarcerated, so they dropped the number to five (for them that was miracle enough).

• of course there are other reasons why facts are ignored or discarded in film-making
◦ sometimes it is to accommodate the short duration of the movie, or make it more entertaining, or more marketable
– now, if I tell a story based on actual events and involving the people who were actually there
• and if I present it as a “true story,” and my motive is to introduce people to Jesus,
◦ but in telling the story, I make up conversations and events that never happened, or I misrepresent the people who actually lived the true story, have I sacrificed my integrity?
◦ have I done the Lord’s work in the Lord’s way?
• can I justify misinforming people if it brings them to Jesus?
◦ if people learn the story I told them wasn’t true, will they still trust me when I tell them truth of the gospel or will they wonder if I’m fabricating portions of that too?
◦ Paul asks,
if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? (Ro. 3:7)
◦ the answer is, because in God’s eyes, the ends do not justify the means

Conclusion: The point of Mark 13 is not for us to match “the signs” with current events

It is to live in a state of wakefulness and remain on guard
– my most useful meditations on this chapter have been about staying awake and aware
• in my first conversation with Fr. Romuald, he told me to
“pay attention to what you are doing every moment, because the divine could break through at any moment. You could be brushing your teeth or preaching your best sermon. God truly does not care at what point he enters or what you’re doing at the time. Be where you are right now; that’s all you have to do. Do one thing each day, fully present. Maybe then you could begin seeing differently.”
– the normal activities of our daily lives alternate between heaven earth
• we swing from the sacred to the mundane – the awe-inspiring to the boring
◦ we set aside time to pray and we pump gasoline into our cars
◦ rarely and only briefly are we fully aware of being here, now
When I wake myself to the moment, my thinking mind slows down, quiets down
My attention becomes more focused
and if in that moment I turn my attention to God, I wake up to him
I experience the reality of his presence
And I realize that he has been here the whole time

(I did have one other meditation from Mark that I could not fit into this talk, but I can share it here. So, only if you’re interested . . . .)

“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”
The sun set last night while I was walking Kona along the San Juan Creek. I was not expecting much from the sky, because it had been rather dull all day. Even when the first few shades of yellow appeared in the diffuse grayness, there was little indication of the light show that would follow. But soon the western sky was aflame with golden light from the lowest point on the horizon and upward into the heavens above. The unevenness of the clouds created breathtaking three-dimensional effects and gradations of color. There were luminous mountains floating in the sky, flanked by light that rolled out in ripples, and stretched eastward in long streaks. I walked backward to keep my eyes on as much of it as I could absorb. I stopped and let the magnificent display thrill my body. One word escaped my lips: “glorious.”

It seemed obvious to me that I would never share so much as a spark of Jesus’ glory. Then the passage from our Lexio Divina the night before returned to me, that “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18).

No, I will never emit so much as a photon of glory. I am that dull gray mist that obscures the stars and distant mountains. But when the light of Jesus passes through me–glory.

What we experience in this world is meant to awaken us to a larger reality. Parables abound.

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Welcome and Prayer: Nancy Lopez

Welcome to our RefleXion Community!      May the Grace of the Lord be with you!

It seems someone is always talking about putting up the ten commandments in courtrooms and classrooms.  I don’t know what you think about that.  A leader I follow suggested that we might want to consider putting up the Sermon on the Mount instead, since that’s new testament spirituality.  I mean, it would be interesting; because those in a courtroom are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, some want mercy, all want a measure of peace. The law is foundational; and Jesus said he didn’t come to throw out the law, but he said that he was fulfilling the law.  The Sermon on the Mount is the fullness of the law.  John said that Jesus was full of grace and truth.  Grace and truth fulfill the law.

Honestly, it’s not always easy for me to live by grace.  Sometimes I just want the law, the steps, a measurement of right or wrong in terms I can understand.  But grace…that’s a whole different way to live.  For me, grace stands between what I have and what I need, and it’s present for everyone all the time.  It helps us to do what we could never do on our own and is distributed according to the wisdom of God.  Following the law will not save us (and it never could, by the way).  It is grace through faith that saves; it always has.

We’ll all only be saved by the grace of God. Oh, I find myself wanting to live by grace, yet I sometimes insist that others live by the law.  I think Jesus knew that, so he gave us the law, encapsulated in two verses:  Love God, love each other.  Let’s just do that, as best as we can.

Will you join me in prayer:

Oh, Lord Jesus, from your fullness we have received grace upon grace.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  Save us from the idea that we must measure justice in our terms.  We have faith that your grace is sufficient.  May we experience its life-giving power as we more and more put our trust in you.  We breathe deeply in the grace-filled atmosphere this morning, filling ourselves with your power and loveliness, truth and grace.  Amen

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give teh vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the corner stone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away. Mark 12:1-12

Intro: For the last few chapters, tension has been growing

The religious establishment has taken notice of Jesus
– in this chapter, the conflict leads to a public showdown
• this began at end of chapter 11 with priests, scribes, and elders
By what authority are you doing these thing or who gave you this authority to do them? (Mk. 11:28)
◦ so the ‘And’ at beginning of chapter 12 is a continuation of that encounter
◦ the ‘them’ in verse 1 refers to the priests, scribes, and elders
• the answer to their question is hidden in Jesus’ parable
– the climax of the confrontation comes after three failed attempts to catch Jesus in an error
(It was always a bad mistake for Jesus’ critics to try to trap him with trick questions)
• after several assaults, Jesus posed a riddle
And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions (v. 34)

This parable is a masterpiece

It is the best commentary ever written on Mark’s gospel
– it not only reveals the plot of entire story, beginning to end,
• it also reveals the mystery Mark has kept secret the whole time
◦ Jesus is the one who tells the parable – it is his autobiography
◦ he is the “beloved son” the Father sent (v. 6)
(the various “servants” he sent were his prophets–cf. Mt. 23:29-36)
• God’s vineyard was the temple and the spiritual life of Israel
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
When I looked for grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briars and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, and outcry (Isa. 5:1-7)
– I do not believe that the similarity between Isaiah’s song and Jesus’ parable is a coincidence
• in both, God appears as a very busy farmer–there are lots of verbs (planted, put a fence, dug a pit)
◦ however, in Jesus’ parable, the busy activity of the owner is matched by the busy activity of the tenants
(they took, beat, sent away, struck treated shamefully, and killed)
My meditation: “The priests, scribes and elders were placed in charge of the temple. In their minds, the only answer Jesus could give to their question was, ‘I do not have anyone’s authority.’ However, Jesus uses the parable as an indirect answer to their question regarding his authority.
The parable builds to a climax and at the climax, a question. Basically the question is: Given the circumstances reported up to this point, what will happen next? Though the audience may not have guessed the exact course the story would take, they would have drawn a conclusion close to the one Jesus provided (which is what happens in Mt. 21:41).
The core of pure religion belongs to God, but how religion is practiced he placed in our hands—it is our part of the covenant with God. What God expects of us, is that we do his work his way. The temple and what went on within its walls did not belong to the priests, yet that is how they treated it—just like the tenants treated the vineyard as their own investment income. In order to make it their own, they had to get rid of the Son. Apparently they assumed the owner himself would never return. The temple was being run under the authority of humans, not heaven (cf. Mk. 11:29-30).
It grieves me to see churches that are treated like other human institutions by pastors and other leaders. Too frequently they manage them with the goal of turning a profit, and handle the church’s assets as if they were the rightful owners. I don’t think they realize, that by taking over the church and making it their own, they have to get rid of Jesus.
Not everyone who assumes ownership of religion is part of a church staff or Board of Directors. There are many Christians who act like their little bit of biblical knowledge empowers them to condemn, boss, and abuse others.
There are several ways I can think of how I need to hear and respond to this parable. This morning, it’s the realization that Jesus has the authority to walk into my life and throw out any wrong thing that he sees.”

The Pharisee’s famous attempt to discredit Jesus (Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?)

It is almost comical the way they butter him up
Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God (v. 14)
– not swayed by appearance, literally translates do not look on faces of men
My meditation: “The praise of these posers was over the top and totally insincere. They began their question this way for effect, not respect. Had they believed what they said about Jesus not being swayed by appearances , they would have realized he would see through their dishonesty instantly.
Anyway, what they said was true, even if they were insincere and Jesus did see past their flattery. ‘But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them . . . .’ The word hypocrite is derived from the Greek word for actors, and in stage plays the actors would wear masks that represented the characters they played. Jesus saw through the Pharisees’ masks.”
– we can learn a bit of wisdom from Jesus’ response
• when someone reduces a problem to an either/or answer
◦ right or wrong, good or bad, black or white
◦ they are priming our minds to think only in those narrow terms
• I learned from Brian McLaren,
◦ gray is not the only alternative to black or white
◦ there is seeing in color – seeing more of what is there

Next, the Sadducees give it their best shot

Mark had to explain to us, that the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection
– if the Pharisees have all the characteristics of Fundamentalists
• the Sadducees appear as the intellectual Liberals
◦ they could not bring themselves to believe in what the common people gobbled up
• Jesus begins and ends his answer to them with “you are wrong”
My meditation: “Their question was wrong, because it was based on an assumption. Since in their minds there was no resurrection, they thought they could disprove it by presenting a logical absurdity. It had not occurred to them that the resurrection would usher people into a new condition of existence. The rules and norms of this life would not apply.
How did they go wrong? By not knowing either the Scriptures or God’s power. I know the Scriptures; that is, I think I do. But I would not have seen in the Scriptures what Jesus saw—for instance, the fact of resurrection in the story of Moses. My understanding of the Scriptures is mostly rational. But that is not the only way of reading or knowing what is in them. St. Augustine said that to meditate on the deep meaning of scripture after studying the surface meaning is to ‘experience awe.’ Mark succeeds in his goal as a storyteller when I find myself in awe of Jesus—for instance, when in verse we read, ‘And they marveled at him.’
Regarding the power of God, I used to think that the Sadducees did not know the magnitude of God’s power. But now I think Jesus meant they did not even know what God’s power was—they did not know its nature. It is unlike any force or energy in our universe. The example he gives is a picture of the angels in heaven, ‘they neither marry nor are given in marriage’. A reality that is unknown to us. The Sadducees did not know enough to believe in resurrection.
But how did Jesus know this, that we will be like the angels who do not marry? This future state is not spelled out anywhere in scripture. This is knowledge of an unrevealed mystery—‘unrevealed,’ at least, until this moment.
We are all mistaken about some things—maybe about a lot of things. If we are wrong about one of the basic truths, it can blur our understanding of the peripheral truths. I think it is important for me to hear Jesus tell me, ‘You are wrong.’ It is as important as hearing him say, ‘Render to God the things that are God’s.’”

What we come to now may be the very heart of Jesus’ life and teaching

Jesus was asked, Which commandment is the most important of all?
– he wasn’t asked for the first two greatest! But he gave an answer for the second greatest anyway
• a few months ago a friend introduced me to Bob Mumford
◦ in our conversation, I mentioned that the law is relational, but we’ve made it moral
Mumford replied, “Yes! And our failures are relational, not moral”
◦ Paul agrees, “love fulfills the law” (Rom. 13:8-10)
My meditation: “We are to love God with our ‘alls’. In the Hebrew Scriptures, love has two parts that cannot be separated. One part is the feeling of love, and that was important for them, embodied in visceral language. But by itself, the feeling lacked substance to make love complete, and that required doing. So loving one’s neighbor involved justice, righteousness, and showing mercy to the weakest and most vulnerable members of society—the stranger, the infirm and disabled, the widow, and the orphan. Those acts of love mean much more to God than ‘all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ Jesus reiterated the fact that loving God and others is more important than worship when he quotes Hosea, reminding us that ‘God desires mercy and not sacrifice’ (Mt. 9:13 and 12:7).”
– Jesus told the scribe, “You are not far from the kingdom”
My meditation: ‘Not far’ is not the same as having arrived. How could this scribe close the distance? The answer was right in front of him, and was the same as with the lawyer to whom Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, and then said, ‘You go, and do likewise.’ He had the map to the kingdom, he just had to get on the road.”

Jesus’ riddle ended the verbal sparring (vv. 35-37)

I’ve explained this riddle several times before, so I want to skip it for now
– the chapter ends with a glaring contrast between the scribes and a widow
Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation (vv. 38-40)
• what follows is the widow’s offering of two small copper coins
• as Jesus observed, it was “everything she had, all she had to live on”

We need Jesus’ warning about the scribes and their pretentious piety
– their true nature came out when they devoured widow’s houses
• Jesus said their condemnation will be amplified
– please! don’t imagine this is ancient history and Jesus has already resolved these issues
• last week I learned of a pious couple who cozy up to visible leaders in their church
◦ but the wife has plotted to rob a widow of her home (which she inherited when her mother died)
• I’ve never seen so much misrepresentation and misinformation as what is circulating today
◦ perhaps it seems rampant because social media gives angry, crazy and delusional people a forum
My meditation: “I think of Christian leaders who love notoriety and work at getting public attention. Jesus notices them too, and he is their greatest critic. He watched people making donations, but praised only one—a widow. She gave without drawing attention to herself, yet she drew Jesus’ attention. God knows his secret lovers.”

Conclusion:

One more parting meditation
– I was thinking about what Jesus said to the Sadducees, that they did not know the power of God
My meditation: God has no limits. What could happen today is not limited to my resources, nor constrained by my circumstances, nor by those who work with me or against me. Today is not limited to what I can accomplish or will accomplish. God’s power does not end at my boundaries. God’s grace makes possible things I am not capable of imagining.