Focus-Shifting, Reflection on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

How much is Paul asking us to forget? Be careful in how you read his advice that married people act as if they weren't married. He is not suggesting licentiousness. Rather, he is asking to shift our focus outward, to be concerned about more than our own happiness or sorrow.

Being a Christian means being interested in what Christ is interested.

Who's Included?, Reflection on Jonah 4

How about for us? How inclusive do we want God's care to be? Here's a reminder of my posting from September 19, 2008

Jonah was unhappy not only about the forgiveness but also because the forgiveness was of foreigners. We are still wrestling with this notion. Here are two opposing views:

Pro Immigration Amnesty

Against Amnesty for Illegal Aliens

The Freedom of God to Destroy or Save, Reflection on Jonah 3:1-5 (6-9), 10

Upon rescuing Jonah, God repeats the command to to to Nineveh, "Tell them what I told you to tell them." This time Jonah obeys. They believe him and repent.

How comfortable--or uncomfortable--are you with the idea that these people in Nineveh, who didn't know anything about God, responded immediately and positively when Jonah, who did know about God, had also responded immediately, but, in his case, negatively?

Who can recognize God? In Chapter 1, sailors; in this chapter, the king and citizens of Nineveh. What they have in common is despair and fear. Is it harder to recognize God (or to feel a need to) when our lives are running smooth?

The lectionary omits verses 6-9. Read them anyway. They repent because they believe that it will change God's mind. Remember they hadn't had the opportunity to study Jeremiah 18:1-11. How comfortable--or uncomfortable--are you with the idea that God's mind can be changed, that human response can affect God?

From the belly of the beast, Reflection on Jonah 2

In the first chapter of the book of Jonah, we are not given any hint about why the Lord had picked Jonah for the assignment. We are not given any hint that Jonah had ever sought out the Lord's attention for help or to give thanks.

Now, that Jonah's life is in danger, he finally does pray, "I called to you when I was in distress, and you answered. When I was dying, I remembered you; I prayed to you."

He appends to his prayer of gratitude a slam against false worshipers: "They forsake their true loyalty, but I will know and remember and announce by word and action that deliverance belongs to the Lord."

After his prayer, the Lord delivers Jonah from his plight. We're not sure whether Jonah's prayer was in response to things that God had done for him over and over in the past, or whether Jonah is anticipating this particular rescue, or whether the editors of the book were worried about chronology.

Running Away, Reflection on Jonah 1

Things are not going well in Nineveh, but Nineveh is a long way away. And foreigners live there. Foreigners who do not worship the Lord our God.

As far way as Nineveh is, God cares anyway.

The Lord calls Jonah: Go right now to Nineveh. Tell them how wicked they are.

Jonah responds immediately to God's call--by jumping on a ship traveling in the opposite direction.

The Lord does not give up. The ship is caught in a big storm. Everybody on b0ard is praying--to many different gods. They have not had the opportunity to know about the Lord our God.

Jonah sleeps through the disturbance until the captain wakes him up. He demands of Jonah, "Start praying to your God. It might work." The crew has a different solution, "One of us on board must be to blame. Let's cast lots to see who is the cause of this storm."

The lot falls on Jonah. In response to their query, Jonah tells them about the God of heaven, sea, and dry land. And he tells them that he, Jonah, has been fleeing from the Lord.

After some deliberation, they finally consent to sacrifice Jonah in hopes that this act will pacify the Lord. They throw Jonah overboard, but God is not ready to give up on this reluctant prophet.

Questions to consider:

Have you slept through challenges?

Are there groups to whom you are unwilling to approach?

How far are you willing to go--literally or figuratively--to avoid answering the call of the Lord?

Considering how ready the sailors were to believe Jonah, why did it take a disaster for him to speak out? Would they have been ready to believe him without the emergency?

The First Disciples, Reflection on Mark 1:16-20

They were going about their daily routine when Jesus saw them. When he said to them, "Come after me," they dropped what they were doing (note: their means of earning a living), and followed him.

Questions to consider: Had they heard of him before he showed up at work that day?
Was he looking for them specifically, or would anybody he chose have been able to be his disciple, merely because he chose them?
What does "come after" mean--do you interpret the term literally, metaphorically, or both?
Same question about "followed."
Does discipleship have to mean leaving what we're doing, or can we be disciples in place?
Why did Jesus not mention any rewards?
Mark says that they left their father behind--is that implied in discipleship?

Race and Religion

Here in the United States, today is a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Tomorrow, Barack Obama will be inaugurated a our president.

How have our lives changed? For example, how have our places of worship changed? The New York Times has a front-page story, 2 Washington Churches Try to Cross an Old Racial Divide.

The Good News, Reflection on Mark 1:14-15

John has been preaching and baptizing. Now, Jesus is proclaiming the good news from God.

Points to ponder:

John preached baptism and repentance (1:4). Is this message part of, precedent to, or included in "good news:?

The word translated as time is "kairos," meaning not just time, but a particular, significant moment in time.

Repent--don't just be sorry about what you used to do; rather, change the way you live your life.

As you read through Mark's gospel, you will find other references to the kingdom of God. He's not talking just about some place we go after we die. God king-dom is beginning here and now.

Those of you familar with her work can see that I have referred closely to Morna D. Hooker's The Gospel according to Saint Mark

Member-ship, Reflection on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

"Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?" Paul asks the Corinthians (rhetorically, I think). "Therefore, as a member of Christ, don't do any unChrist-like things."

The specific topic here is association with prostitutes, but the advice should not be restricted to this alone. Paul is urging Christians to take seriously, very seriously, their membership in Christ's body.

"Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?"

Lectio Divina: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

Being Set Apart and Knowing It, Reflection on Psalm 139

My first appointment as a pastor was to a three-point charge in rural Scott and Smith Counties in central Mississippi. Each of the three churches had its own cemetery, and I was called to preside at many funerals.

Not uncommon was the situation that the deceased was not a church-goer but the mourners were.

I often relied on this psalm for the core of the funeral homily.

Read again verses 1-6: God knows where we are. God is paying attention. God is caring for us.

Although verses 7-12 are not included in this week's reading, they were important to the message I needed to convey to the family and friends. "No matter where we go, God knows where we are. No matter where we are, God is with us there."

Not everyone comes to realize the presence of God. But, the Psalmist does and offers words that we can use to express the knowledge and gratitude for God's presence.

Verses 13-18 emphasize the intimacy we have with God. And the response that is appropriate:
I acclaim You. I may not be able to figure out what you are thinking, but I know that I am with you.