Thursday Meditation - A Second Gift

Acts 4:5-12
 
God often gives us gifts that will benefit us individually and collectively.  The problem with some gifts we get, we don’t appreciate it even if we prayed to God for it.  We will complain that the package isn’t right, the style is all wrong or it’s not our kind.  Some gifts are given to compliment, challenge or change us.  We can complain to God but God knows what is best for us.  Let us be kind to the gift given because the gift was given out of love.  When the gift is not what we expect, don’t abuse, mistreat or discard it as worthless. 

If you feel it’s not what you need individually or collectively, re-gift it to others who need what you have rejected.  What is happening in life today, we have discarded or trashed the gift God has given us that another individual or group sees the treasure in it.  Once the treasure is nurtured, loved and affirmed it will flourish and grow.  When we see it again we may not recognize the gift at first but when we do we want to get it back.  Then we are reminded it is too late, it is gone. 

However, the story doesn’t end there.  God will give us another chance with another gift.  Humanity was given the gift of Jesus Christ and they crucified him.  Therefore, God has given humanity another gift called salvation through the resurrected life of Jesus Christ.  So what will you do with this second gift today?
 

Thursday Meditation - Reflection on 9/11

Reflection on 9/11

This morning as I thought about what to write for the Thursday Meditation, I thought about the 10^th Anniversary of 9/11.  Like many of you I remember where I was when this happened.  This was a time when I was sitting in my office at work.  Not in a home office or on a client site but in my actual office at work getting my day started.  I was eating breakfast at my desk and a friend working at the Research Triangle Park, NC location ping me on IM.  That ping with a link to CNN changed my day and my perspective on human mortality.  As I was in disbelief, I headed to the crash pad to watch the news on the television and the reality of seeing the first tower fall and then the second I sprang quickly into action.  I was immediately on the phone calling my sister in Hawaii to let her know what was going on.  I write all this to say this was the start of my seminary journey.

Ten years ago during the week of 9/11, I started seminary.  We, the class of 2004, did not know what to expect.  We were all excited about this journey and connecting with people we had met just a week earlier during orientation.  Now this and why now God?  This has been the question that shaped us for ministry in a major way.  The class of 2004 has been a witness to 9/11, the DC snipers and the start of the war in Iraq.  Now we are people living in a state of fear, we are terrified when we see Muslim brother and sisters get on planes or in places we frequent.  We judge them based on their name and their appearance.  We target them because our country and others are fighting a war on terrorism.  The fighting continues but it doesn’t bring back those lives that have been lost.  As ministers of the Gospel we must wrestle with this and more. 

Today’s meditation is a reflection and a few questions for each of you to answer truthfully. 

Are you ready to start the healing process in the community so we can openly discuss what keeps us apart as a community?  9/11? Racism? Homosexuality?

How do we help heal a community that is fearful of people who don’t look, talk or act like us?

What will it take for us to be honest with ourselves for the wrongs we’ve done as a nation to all people?

How can we love our neighbors when our neighbor is a reminder of tragedy in our lives?

When we are really honest with ourselves God can start the healing process in us, the community, the land and the world.  We can not blame God for all that has happened in life.  No we can not blame the devil either.  There are consequences in the decisions we make in life.  It is up to us to make this life better for the next generation to come.

Thursday Meditation - A Bethel Moment

A Bethel Moment

Genesis 28:10-19a

In society today, we hear the phrase, “a senior moment.”  This usually means we’ve forgotten something or someone as we get older year by year.  However, this is one type of moment in lie.  We’ve experience the “Ahha moments”, a sacred moment and regret moments.  Today we will look at Jacob’s Bethel Moment.

His moment is like ours; unplanned and unexpected in the places we’ve journeyed too.  We find ourselves going to a certain place to get away from daily life.  For Jacob he was on the run from his brother Esau, Genesis 27.  That’s a story for another day.  However, when we go to a certain place it is usually a place of rest and peace.  While there we experience glimpse, images and emotions we rarely experience during the hustle and bustle of our days.

Jacob’s Bethel Moment came in a dream.  For this to happen he was lying down, resting and unplugging his mind because he felt safe.  Although the rock with his pillow, he drifted into what we call REM (Rapid Eye Moment) sleep where he could dream 5 to 20 minutes.  He needed the rest and this may have been a familiar place for him. 

As Jacob slept he had vivid dreams and he remembered his dream.  So many times when we dream we barely remember them but there are those we remember and say to ourselves, “God are you for real?!”  Some dreams are so real that we will wake up in a cold sweat and panicking because some of our dreams are tragic.  As we stay on the happy path of dreams, Jacob woke up and was afraid because he may have never dreamed about an encounter with God like this.  He saw a vision and then God revealed his future.  Just as God has spoken to Jacob, God speaks to us and reveal to us our future. 

Jacobs dream gave him hope and peace.  He may have thought the place Luz was the reason he dreamed about the ladder to heaven and his conversation with God.  I would say it was the rest his body needed in order for God to speak with him and remember his Bethel moment.  We may not change the name of a place to have a Bethel Moment, but we can allow God to move us from rapid busy place to a place where we can say this is the House of God and this is the gate to heaven.

Prayer:  Dear God, as we sleep and even nap help us to dream of your images, give us ideas to help those who need help and stir our emotions so w hen we awake we will say this is the Lord’s doing. Amen.

Thursday Meditation - A Checklist Lifestyle

A Checklist Lifestyle
Luke 19:16-22

In life we've created a list for everything. We have a to do list, a bucket list, a wedding list, a list of traits and characteristics for our future spouse, a list of A or B schools and so forth to keep track of what we've accomplished in life.  These checklists can be soooo legalistic that if  we do not accomplish what is set out on the list many of us are devastated.  Often times my friends joke about my educational accomplishments and wanted to know if I was working on an educational checklist.  To be honest I had no intention obtaining the number of degrees I have because the school I wanted to go to didn't accept me.  At that point in life I dropped my checklist and recognized the value of education.

While preparing this meditation, I had to re-read the parable of the young rich ruler.  In the re-reading I recognized he was living a checklist lifestyle.  He told Jesus about all the laws he kept since his youth.  I wonder if he had a scroll to show Jesus what he had done over the years and what he did daily.  This young man was like most of us excited and joyful about his accomplishments.  Then the unthinkable happened, Jesus challenged his checklist life and asked him to give up all he had, what he has done and follow him. He was heartbroken.  Like this young man, we want to keep holding on to our checklist lifestyle so we can say look at what I've accomplished in life. He worked hard to follow the rules and wanted Jesus to be proud of him.

However, there are times in life when our checklist gets pushed to the side in order for the Holy Spirit to guide us and for us to do what God has called us to do.  We need to move away from checking off a list and running through life as a big to do list.  Life is more than a list of accomplishments.  Yes it is wonderful to have our names among the Who's Who's in life but wouldn't it be better to be unique instead of routine. Many of us want the routine things of life power, prestige and position at any cost.  This young ruler couldn't trade his routine life for one that was not on his checklist.  Let us be careful not to follow in this young man's footsteps.  He grieved because he was asked to give up all he had accomplished.  What have you accomplished in life to cause you to walk away from Jesus instead of following Him?

Prayer: God help us to move away from this checklist life and embrace the things we haven't imagined because it wasn't on our list of accomplishments.  Amen.

Thursday Meditation - Here I Am

Here I Am

Genesis 22:1-14

In the society we live in today, when we are called by our name that expresses some type of strong feeling our response may be, “yea, what, huh, yep or yes ma’am/sir”.  Here in this Genesis text we see a consistency in Abraham’s discussion with God, his son and the Angel of the Lord.  We notice when Abraham was called by all three his response was always the same, “Here I Am”.

When we are called we usually do not respond immediately even if we are sitting or standing feet from each other.  In our mind we are trying to decide and figure out the vocal expression of the call.  Just like when our parents called us as children and teens we knew what to expect. When we were called by our full name including our middle name, we were either in trouble or there was something important our parents wanted us to do. Each of us has this similar story and it was the same with Abraham.

As we know Abraham spent time in God’s presence and commune with God so much that when God called his name he knew it was something God wanted him to do.  This expression is found 30 times in the Bible including the Apocrypha.  In this chapter it is said three times compared to the five times Samuel answered when he thought the Priest Eli called him 1 Samuel 3:4-16.  When God called Abraham he was not like Adam trying to hide, he just responded, Here I Am.

The second call was from his son Isaac who may have had a puzzling, perplex, inquisitive and questioning reason to call him, but Abraham’s response was still, “Here I Am”.  Isaac questioning was more to do with the sacrifice and worship without having a burnt offering with them.

The third call was from the Angel of the Lord who called him with great urgency.  The angel called him by his name twice to denote how urgent it was to get his attention.  This will be the same call a parent will do when a child may be in danger and need their attention immediately.

No matter how Abraham was called his response was still the same, “Here I Am”.  Too often we allow our reaction to the tone of voice to dictate how we will respond to someone calling our name.  So let us control our actions and use an expression that was just as consistent as Abraham.  So instead of using the typical language of the day, try responding in a respectful way and see how many people will catch on and do the same.

Prayer:  God help us to be consistent in our response when we are called by you, family, friends or an angel. Let the words be respectful and not just another slang of the day. Amen.