Skillful Living

Teresa of Avila once prayed:

Govern everything by your wisdom, O Lord, so that my soul may always be serving you in the way you will.

Wisdom for the ancient people of the Middle East, had very much to do with “skillful living.” That was the better translation for the Hebrew understanding. Not learning a bunch of facts and impressing people with profound knowledge, but practicing a life that works as God intended. To live skillfully, interacting with people and the world in a way that was graceful, calm, generous, kind and compassionate.

As we share together in this Lenten journey, let us continue this ancient quest. May your journey this week be wise, one of living skillfully together with the world you encounter and the people who encounter you. In this way, our souls will be serving God as Teresa of Avila so hopefully prayed. May it be so. Amen.

The Ferocity of Love

We begin with the premise: Love is tough. In that toughness, we understand that love is hard. This is true for countless reasons, especially related to hatred, competition, fear and hurt. These looming obstacles create shadows where the love Jesus calls us to falters within our own human frailty. Most of us need extra doses of assistance to move past the pain.

On the other hand, our scriptures declare and our spirits often discover another clear truth woven into the intimate fabric of our lives: love is strong. Often, we are surprised to discover a resiliency we did not anticipate and a grace we did not expect.

Love is tough because it’s hard. It’s tough even more because it’s strong. This love is stronger than we know or can even imagine. It could even be called “ferocious.” That reminds me of Mary Olivier’s poem of the Loaves and Fishes in her work “Logos:”

Why wonder about the loaves and the fishes?

If you say the right words, the wine expands.

If you say them with love

and felt the ferocity of that love

and the felt necessity of that love,

the fish explode into many.

Perhaps the continued miracle that Jesus works in us is that ferocious love expands wine, explodes fish into many, and convinces us that ministry to the world is still a most beautiful gift to us all. Yes, love is tough because it can be truly hard. And thankfully, it is tough because God’s love is more than strong; it’s ferocious. May you feel love’s true ferocity today and throughout this lovely February week. Amen.

If you have not had a chance to experience our latest Sunday worship and sermon, I encourage you to join us for that either on Facebook or on our website: www.fbcdecatur.com. There you will hear in the sermon additional important, and I hope helpful details from “Love Is Tough.”

Love,

David

Greetings Everyone and Happy Friday:

Our theme for the service and the title for my sermon this Sunday is “Love Is Tough.” The timing is important. It’s Super Bowl Sunday. Toughness will be alive on the field. And we are in the middle of the Olympics. The toughness of training, discipline, and intensity is abundantly evident.

We are also sharing together this Sunday the day before Valentine’s Day. While these cultural events linger in the background, they also serve as the perfect backdrop for the eternal relevance of our scriptures.

Let’s begin with our Old Testament passage: Psalm 37:1-11:

Do not fret because of the wicked;
    do not be envious of wrongdoers,
² for they will soon fade like the grass,
    and wither like the green herb.

³ Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
⁶ He will make your vindication shine like the light,
    and the justice of your cause like the noonday.

⁷ Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
    do not fret over those who prosper in their way,
    over those who carry out evil devices.

⁸ Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.
    Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
⁹ For the wicked shall be cut off,
    but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

¹⁰ Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more;
    though you look diligently for their place, they will not be there.
¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the land,
    and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

Our New Testament passage comes from Luke 6:27-38:

²⁷ “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹ If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.^[a] Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; ³⁸ give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Notice the connections between what Jesus says in Luke 6 (this is part of what is known as the Sermon on the Plain; it is very similar to what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew). What Jesus shares is hard. And his words emerge right out of Jewish tradition and the heart of Hebrew scripture. He is emphasizing God’s deepest desire for how we can and should treat one another.

So we can say with clarity: Love Is Tough. It is very hard to live out this kind of love. We will also emphasize on Sunday: God’s love, the love the Jesus is calling us to, is always up to the challenge. This love is strong. With God’s love alive in our hearts, may we be as well!

I look forward to sharing with you on Sunday, and I hope to be seeing as many of you as possible in person again very soon!

Love,

David

The State of the Church

Psalm 71:1-6; I Corinthians 13:1-13

Read between the lines of our Bible and we discern bitter stories of hardship. The psalmist in chapter 71 addresses an audience in physical danger; and that danger understandably generates a spiritual turmoil: “Rescue me O God, from the hand of the wicked” (vs. 4).

In the New Testament, Paul’s soothing words in I Corinthians 13 paint a vast, intimate portrait of love’s breadth, depth and necessity; but the context he spoke to reeked of prejudice, hurt, anger and resentment. His was a broader reprimand of the highest order. But the poetic language about love extolls the powerful gift we have at our disposal. Love in the face of chaos. Love in the midst of turmoil. Love overturning exclusion. Love healing brokenness. Love critiquing injustice. And love, breeching the walls of division.

Both Psalm 71 and I Corinthians 13 remind us of our spiritual heritage, of people like you and me throughout church history. Like them: we struggle. We wander. We wonder about meaning and purpose and what the future holds. These passage remind us of God’s steadfast love for all time in spite of our confusion and the craziness that too often transpires in spite of our best effort.

Feel the heartbeat of history beating as we view our context against the larger backdrop of our long and rich spiritual heritage. We have much to be thankful for. We also have significant responsibilities. We hope together that our efforts align with God’s hopes; and God’s hopes, we pray, will continue to intersect with the dreams of those upon whose shoulders we now stand.

Exploding Fish

Mary Oliver, in her poem “Logos,” offers this on the power of love and community:

Why wonder about the loaves and the fishes?

If you say the right words, the wine expands.

If you say them with love

and the felt ferocity of that love

and the felt necessity of that love,

the fish explode into many.

I’m glad we are on this journey together. With God’s guidance and with the hospitality of Jesus, as we join in “the felt ferocity” of that love that will not let us go. I look forward to sharing with you the expanding wine and the fish that will explode into many. Amen.

Skillful Living

Teresa of Avila once prayed: Govern everything by your wisdom, O Lord, so that my soul may always be serving you in the way you will.

Wisdom for the ancient people of the Middle East, had very much to do with “skillful living.” That was the better translation for the Hebrew understanding. Not learning a bunch of facts and impressing people with profound knowledge, but practicing a life that works as God intended. To live skillfully, interacting with people and the world in a way that was graceful, calm, generous, kind and compassionate.

May your journey this week be wise, one of living skillfully together with the world you encounter and the people who encounter you. in this way, our souls will be serving God as Teresa of Avila so hopefully prayed. May it be so. Amen.

Discovering Fire

I have always appreciated the life and wisdom of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. A strong, insightful Christian philosopher and a scholarly anthropologist, he once said:

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.

May you begin that discovery today, exploring again the subtle nuances, the wide spaces and the vast depths of this sacred power. It comes as a holy gift. Let us not only treasure it; let us utilize it to the limitless bounds of God’s hopeful design. In doing so, let us once again discover fire 🔥. Amen.

As many of you know, I continue to be so proud of my mother, Diane Jordan. Her love of music and her passion for the gospel keep joining together for our benefit. Well into her eighties now, she is still composing music and writing profound, inspiring lyrics. Her following words emerged out of a time of devotion where it occurred to her how profound two of the shortest verses in the Bible were. Here are her thoughts in “Love that Weeps.”

LOVE THAT WEEPS

(Thoughts on the shortest verses in the Bible)

“God is love” and “Jesus wept” –

these are verses that we’ve kept

in our hearts since we were young,

verses memorized and sung.

Since they’re simple, short, and sweet,

they are easy to repeat;

But we didn’t really see

all the meaning there could be

in those words, profound and deep –

Love that weeps??

Jesus wept because He knew

what his friends were going through;

felt their sorrow, loved them so,

more than they could ever know.

It was love that caused his tears,

grieving with them, conquering fears;

Still today in darkest hours,

sending rays of light and power,

Love eternal, constant, deep –

Love that weeps.

Now we see – God’s tears are love.

This is what we’re speaking of

when we teach our kids to say

these two verses.  Now we pray

they will learn what we have found –

meaning that is so profound –

Love that led to Calvary,

crying tears for you and me,

grace-filled love, forgiving, deep –

Love that weeps!

Diane Owen Jordan

A Song of Elegance

Harold Best once said:

God makes things beautiful from the inside out while we usually make things look good on the outside … The down-deep interior of a redwood or a geode or the DNA molecule or, for that matter, our own body is a song of elegance.

I like that. A “song of elegance.” The remarkable science using DNA for the COVID vaccines has entered into that mysterious song. May you move through today swaying along to the quiet rhythms of God’s song of elegance and be thankful to the countless health workers and dedicated scientists who have shared so fully in this music of hope. Amen.

Your Good Life

Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom (James 3:13b).

Not a bad reminder. The life you have is good. Sometimes it seems really hard; sometimes sad; often stressful. But it is always good. Therefore, may how you live, in spite of whatever else is going on, reflect God’s wisdom in the gentleness of how you share your good life with the world. Amen.