Treasures, Reflection on Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Another repeat from last year:

....Jesus is warning his followers against hypocrisy.

Give charity because someone needs help not to show off.
Remember that your prayers are directed to God, not to impress somebody.
Fast in secret rather than in public.

Notice that Jesus assumes that they are going to contribute to charitable causes, to pray often, and to fast.

What Jesus is cautioning them about is confusion of goals. You're doing the things that you ought to be doing, and remember why you are doing them. You will be rewarded, but not necessarily in an immediate, public way.

Rend Your Hearts, Reflection on Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Here's a repeat from last year:

As we begin Lent, we read this message (warning?) from Joel: Sound the alarm. The day of the Lord is coming, a day of darkness and gloom. (Read Joel 1:1-2:11).

Yet, even in the face of our deserved judgment, the Lord continues to beckon, "Return to me."

As Christians travel through Lent, let us heed Joel's reminder: Rend your hearts and not your clothing. What do we need to give up (or to take up) that is our way of fasting, weeping, and mourning?

Keep reading.

In verse 13, we see the familiar doxology of God's mercy (Exodus 34:5-7).

Again, Joel says, "Sound the alarm," and adds:
Sanctify a fast.
Call a solemn assembly.
Gather the whole congregation including the old people and the very young.


In verse 17, he reminds us that our lives demonstrate what we really believe about God. There's an old cliche' that your life is a sermon that you are preaching everyday. What if it is true?

On the UMC Worship, site, Daniel Benedict has suggested several excellent Lenten Practices. For example:
___Spend time in solitude each day.

___ Read a book for inner growth.

___ Read twice through the Gospel of the lectionary cycle you are in. (Mark in 2009).

___ Begin to keep a journal of prayer concerns, questions, reading.

___ Focus on thanksgiving, rather than on asking, in prayer.

___ Give myself a gift of three hours to do something you always say you don't have time to do.

___ Give up a grudge or a rehearsal of a past event.

___ Forgive someone who has hurt me.

___ Plan to visit a "shut-in" neighbor or church member weekly.

___ Write a letter of affirmation once a week to a person who has touched my life.


Go to his list to see other suggestions that may fit your life.

Lectio Divina: Joel 2:12-13.

Suggestions for Lenten Practices

The Upper Room Ministries has posted several websites about Lent. For example, Penny Ford has written an article, Lent One, that explains the origin and practice of Lent including Suggestions for things to do during Lent:

Skip one meal a day and give the money to the poor.
Start a prayer "rhythm." Say a prayer every time you brush your teeth, see a commercial, or check your e-mail.
Read a chapter in the Bible a day. (Matthew is a good book to start with).
Forgive someone who doesn't deserve it (maybe even yourself).
Give up beer or sodas. Give the money you save to the Red Cross.
Spend thirty minutes a day in silence.
Write someone a thank you letter.
Say one nice thing to someone each day.
Pray for others on your way to work or school.
Volunteer one afternoon a week at a local shelter, tutoring program or Habitat for Humanity.

Three Tests, a Reflection on Luke 4:1-13

The gospel reading for Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent this year is a retelling of the temptation narrative in Luke. I'm reading Sharon Ringe's commentary on Luke and recommend it.

A new insight I got today is the image that Jesus is on trial and the devil is the prosecuting attorney. (This metaphor may work for me because of my predilection to watching a certain kind of TV show). As Ringe puts it, the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the situation in which the devil questions him. The questions and Jesus' answers are "all drawn from biblical models and responses."

More from Ringe:

What could be wrong with turning stones into bread? Nothing really is wrong with it, Jesus rejects the challenge not because it is wrong, but because it is inadequate: "One does not live by bread alone."....

and

Why not accept political authority? The tradition links political compromise with betrayal of the commandment to worship only God.

Allen & Williamson, on the other hand, see the devil not as a prosecuting attorney but as the embodiment of temptation to resistance to God, that is, the temptation to give up on God's being able to restore things. They interpret Jesus' response to the first test as resisting the temptation to turn to things necessary for life rather than to God.

Strategy, a Reflection on 2 Corinthians 4:1-2

Although Paul is very irritated by the inroads that the super apostles have made into the congregation at Corinth, he is not disheartened nor is he going to imitate their methods. "We're going to rely on the truth," he tells them.

Veils that Hide, a Reflection on 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Since Paul's understanding of the purpose of Moses' veil differs from that of the version in Exodus, we are prompted to wonder why. Boring & Craddock, in their New Testament Commentary, suggest that Paul thought that the veil like other components of Jewish religious faith were not necessary for Christians.

For Paul, none of us need to be protected from a view of the glory of the Lord. The New Interpreter's Study Bible suggests that Paul may be referring to the new covenant as described by Jeremiah, "No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, 'Know the Lord.' for they shall all know me...." (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

When we try to get a modern meaning from an ancient text, we really ought to spend some effort on thinking about what the text meant when it was written--in this case: what was the underlying problem that Paul was addressing.

Allen & Williamson, in Preaching the Letters are helpful. Paul is trying to overcome the problems he believes that the super apostles have caused in Corinth. He is rebutting claims that they have made about him:

....The other missionaries have incorrectly used Exodus 34:29-34. Paul speaks with great boldness, that is, not viewed but frankly and publicly. The super apostles imitate Moses, but not in the way they think they do. According to Paul, they speak from behind a veil, preventing the community "from gazing at the end of the glory." In other words, they prevent the congregation from seeing clearly the nature of the coming realm of God beside which the glory so prized by the super apostles will fail. Therefore, the super apostles and those who follow the re "hardened against the purposes of God in the same way as Pharaoh."

Unemployment in USA

See the unemployment rates by county in this graphic, Geography of a Recession.

Bishop Ward sent this link to UM clergy in Mississippi asking us to view it and added this suggestion: Having watched this map change, pause to pray for all who are impacted by job loss in Mississippi. Pray that darkness will be shattered by God's strong light through God's people, the church.

I'm positive that she would want you and us to pray for all involved, as well.

Praising God, a Reflection on Psalm 99

As we prepare this week for Transfiguration Sunday, we read Luke's account which includes images of mountain, cloud, voice, changed appearance, and Moses is there. We see these themes in the reading from Exodus (although the cloud is missing and the people do not hear the voice directly).

The lectionary response to the reading from Exodus is Psalm 99. This psalm puts into words for us what it is like to be in the presence of the Lord. (Note that the psalm includes Moses, cloud, and mountain).

And it describes for us what the Lord is like.

It begins by stating that the Lord is king. Now, as an American I have trouble thinking of king as a good word. But, I haven't been able to come up with a contemporary parallel that fits the essence of what the word king meant at the time the psalms were first sung.

That is although I am unwilling to accept the notion that any human is exalted over all people, I am ready to proclaim that, certainly, the Lord is.

The God we worship loves justice, has established equity and righteousness. A reminder that we should favor equity and righteousness ourselves.

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and Samuel from a pillar of cloud, and they did what the Lord wanted them to do.

And when they didn't, the Lord our God forgave them.

John Hayes, in Preaching through the Christian Year C, points out that the phrase translated in the NRSV as "but an avenger of their wrongdoing" appears as "forgave all their misdeeds and held them innocent" in the NEB, and as "exacted retribution for their misdeeds" in the NJPSV.

Shining Face, a Reflection on Exodus 34:29-35

While Israel was camped at the foot of the mountain, God called to Moses and Moses went up to hear what God had to say to him (Exodus 19:1-6). There God spoke to Moses giving him instruction for the journey through the wilderness, including the Ten Commandments.

Back to the ground, while Moses was away, the people misbehaved.

Moses came down from the mountain. His time with God had changed his very appearance. People looking at him could see that he was different from before. Moses continued to go in before the Lord to hear what he was commanded to do.

Moses could speak with God, could understand what God wanted. The experience changed him. But, he couldn't stay on the mountain. In order to carry out God's instructions, Moses had to go back down to the ground and once again mingle with the people.

For other references to the light that changes a prophet's appearance, see Ezekiel 1:27-28; Habakkuk 3:4; Psalm 104:2 (The Jewish Study Bible.)

Questions that arose for me, a Reflection on Luke 9:37-43a

Which disciples had been unable to heal the child? Were they ones who had not been to the mountaintop to witness the transfiguration and see the cloud and hear the voice? Or, even after all those experiences, were Peter and John and James unable to cast out spirits? Who is Jesus calling faithless and perverse? Does he mean the crowd or does he mean the disciples who were not able to perform the miracle?

If the crowd didn't know who Jesus was, or all of the disciples, how did the father know that Jesus could heal his son? How did the demon know that Jesus was the one it had to obey?

In verse 36, we are told that they kept silent and told no one what they had seen on the mountain. But, in verse 43, everybody who saw what happened recognized the power of God acting in this man Jesus. If everybody knew it, why did Peter and John and James have to maintain silence?