The Heart's Cry: Psalm 57

Psalm 57

It does my heart good to come across Psalms such as this one, Psalms that are written when David is in trouble but still in a good headspace. As you have no doubt noticed, if you have been following this blog and are literate, I wrestle with a David who is as bloodthirsty as he is worshipful. If I'm honest one of the reasons I wrestle with it is that I myself have a gargantuan temper that I fight with to keep under control at times. If you have never thought about it we often find ourselves at odds with people who are most like us, and while I am unwilling to say that I am a man after God's own heart, though I do long to be, I find that I too often see myself in David's words and actions. I try to tell myself that I am better than David because I attempt to keep my demons at bay, but that is highly judgmental of David, how do I know that he didn't fight that same fight against himself.

Now that I have shared that particular confession let me get to a more general devotional thought...

My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and make melody.
Awake, my soul!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn.

How powerful is your worship? Is it a worship that can potentially wake the dawn? Or is it more like mine? A worship that borders on causing yourself and others to fall asleep? Sure there are times when my worship is more awakeful [not a word, but you know what I mean] but that is too often due to how I feel about the lyrics of the song I'm singing than it is due to the God I'm praising. I try to do better when I am leading others in worship, but sometimes my throat gets dry or I have a headache and I let my personal circumstances trump my worshipful stance.

I guess that today is as much about my struggles as it is about the Psalm, but isn't that part of the point of the Psalms? We can find ourselves reflected in the words and thoughts of others, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a less than way.

+ Do you have a worship that is awake or asleep?

+ How can you become a worshipper that trumps their personal circumstances?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 56

Psalm 56

Be Yours

slipping feet
it seems I have
always going
where I shouldn't go

slipping tongue
it seems I have
always saying
what I shouldn't say

slipping hands
it seems I have
always punching
what I shouldn't hit

Chorus:
and this I pray
each and every day
keep my feet from slipping
keep my tongue in check
keep my hand at my side
and let my life, lord let my life
be yours

slipping feet
it seems I have
always moving
whom I should help

slipping tongue
it seems I have
always cutting
whom I should love

slipping hands
it seems I have
always hurting
whom I should hold

Chorus:

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 55

Psalm 55

According to the title of this Psalm it is a focus on a friend who betrays, then in verse 12 David gets to the point himself, he is not talking about an enemy but someone who was a friend. I would prefer to sit here and tell you that I have no idea what being betrayed by a friend is like, that it's never happened to me, but I can't, much like you probably couldn't.

There was that one time when...

Or that other time when they...

And perhaps the most painful one is the one that happened just a few months ago when...

And they were friends that I worshipped with and prayed with and studied with, friends that I told intimate details to and listened to them when they needed someone, but that entanglement didn't stop the betrayal, if anything it just exasperated the pain I felt. Like most people the first thing I asked was 'How could they do that to me?' I raged, first internally, then externally, than to others. I swore I'd never speak to them again. But then, after a time, I calmed down and asked myself a more important question, 'Was there anything that I did to cause this to happen?'

Sometimes there was nothing I could point to that caused my friends to react the way they did, but sometimes there was. I realized that sometimes I had acted in a "less than" type of way before they did, that I may have caused a feeling of betrayal in them way before they did in me. That is a place we don't really like to get to, realizing that we may be at fault for the damage done to us, but it is very important to ask that second question, for individuals, for families, for corporations, for governments.

+ Have you been betrayed by a friend? Were you able to rescue the friendship or did it end?

+ Were you able to ask both questions ['How could they?' and 'Did I cause it?']?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 54

Psalm 54

Considering David's actions and words it is not that surprising that the world didn't comprehend Jesus as Messiah at first. Messiah was to be the heir of David, the conquering hero, the shepherd boy who outwitted his enemies, the slayer of Goliath, the defeater of Saul, the one who beat his tens of thousands. In light of who David was its not too surprising that Herod wanted to wipe out a generation to make sure that type of king didn't come on the scene. In light of who David was its not too surprising that Judas thought Jesus was going to be something other than he was. In light of who David was its not too surprising that many of his followers expected a violent overthrow of Rome. Violence, bloodshed, retribution, revenge, this is what the people expected, and instead they got a baby born in the middle of nowhere, who fled to egypt, was raised by a carpenter, and for his grand entrance turned water into wine.

Yeah, its not too surprising that the world had blinders on when it came to the son of Mary. Take a moment and read Luke 4:14-21 and then read Isaiah 61:1-2. Do you notice anything missing in Luke that Isaiah contains? You'll find it right at the end if you missed it the first time. Isaiah 2 includes "and the day of vengeance of our God" whereas Jesus does not, he unrolls the scroll to this particular passage and leaves out the part about God's vengeance. If you keep reading in Luke, the crowd is at first amazed at Jesus, but then he tells them that a prophet is never accepted in his hometown and they run him out and try to kill him. I wonder if part of the reason they did this is because they realized what Jesus left out. Jesus was here to speak good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for prisoners, to give sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, and to declare the year of the Lord's favor, but he did not come to announce the day of vengeance, that wasn't part of his mission, and the people had hoped that it would be.

+ In what other ways did Jesus surprise the Israelites?

+ In what ways does he continue to surprise you?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 53

Psalm 53

I know a few atheists who do good, I know some Christians who don't.

I know some atheists who hate Christianity, I know some Christians who hate atheists.

I know the atheists that I do because they are my friends. We are friends because we have things in common, our belief in God is not one of them, but that is alright. Some people may have just read that previous sentence and gasped. They have obviously not been moved by the amazon commercial with the priest and the imam buying each other kneepads. What the priest and the imam understand and many others do not is that you do not need to agree on everything in order to love and care for another person, in fact it is the only way to love and care for another person. I say that because you do not agree with anyone completely, and no one agrees with you completely either. To that end, we should allow ourselves to be open to people of different ideologies than our own.

Telling an atheist, or anyone else for that matter, that they are a fool is not the best way to get them to go for coffee or a coke. Stating that there is no one in this world that does any good on their own is being blind to all the good that is done in this world by people who do not believe the way you believe. I have atheist friends because we started in a common place and then spoke about our differences. I have atheist friends because I do not hang my belief like an anvil over their heads. I have atheist friends because my Jesus tells me to love my neighbor as myself. It's the same reason I have straight and gay friends, the same reason I have democrat and republican friends, the same reason I have DC and Marvel friends, the same reason I have friends who do and do not like oatmeal raisin cookies.

+ Do you have friends who have a different ideology than you do? Why or why not?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 52

Psalm 52

7 “See the one who would not take
    refuge in God,
but trusted in abundant riches,
    and sought refuge in wealth!”
8 But I am like a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.

Here are our options, we can either grow like a fruitful tree resting in God's garden or we can decide to not take refuge in God, we can either trust in the love that God gives us or we can trust in our wealth, our strength, ourselves. Be fruitful and safe or go it alone, trust in God or ourselves, it really is as simple as that.

So why do we often choose verse 7 instead of verse 8? Maybe it is because it is simpler to trust in ourselves than it is to trust in someone else, anyone else, even God. Maybe it is because our society tells us that we are on our own and we shouldn't expect help from anyone. Maybe it is because "we stamp our god in God we trust." Maybe it is because of our sinful nature. Maybe it isn't any one of these options but some other reason or perhaps a combination of several. In truth it doesn't matter why we choose what we do, what matters is that we do in the first place, what matters is that we do a better job of choosing.

+ Which do you find yourself naturally choosing? If it is yourself instead of God how do you overcome that?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 51

Psalm 51

It's been almost 12 years since I wrote what you're about to read. Almost 12 years since I got tired of wiping out on the slopes and decided to hang up my snowboard and get warmth and rest in the ski lodge. Almost 12 years since I sat down next to my friend Chris and listened as he played guitar, some songs that previously existed and some that did not. It was during one of those songs that didn't previously exist that I took out a pen and notepad and wrote the lyrics to Renewal, a song based on Psalm 51.

Psalm 51 is the Psalm of understanding and repentance, a Psalm where David's eyes are finally opened up to the disaster that he has orchestrated. David's men were at war but the king was at home. He called a woman to him, and no woman can say no to the king and live. He bed this woman, though she was married to another, and impregnated her. Then in order to cover up his sin he summoned her husband who was off fighting a war that David told him to fight. David hoped that the soldier would bed his wife and that his sin would be assumed to be the man's offspring, but Uriah, being a man of higher moral fiber than David was, could not sleep with his wife while his friends were dying in a far off place. David then decided that the only course of action to cover his sin was to kill Uriah so he sent him to the front and told his commander to pull everyone else back. The prophet Nathan then comes and shows David how awful his deeds were and Psalm 51 is what proceeds from that understanding.

I have never done what David did, but I understand that I am not a man without sin, so I also understand the need of repentance, of renewal, and so I added my own words to David's.

Renewal

I've been down for oh so long
didn't know what to say
or even what to do
I've been fighting, fighting you for so long
and I'm so tired of trying on my own

Chorus:
clean me, wash me, purify me
clean me, wash me, restore me
to you

When I walked away, when I climbed to you
didn't know what to say
or even what to do
I've been fighting, fighting me for so long
and I'm sick and tired of trying it on my own

Chorus:

Bridge:
bring back the joy
renew my spirit
unseal my lips
and let me shine
Lord, let me shine

Chorus:

+ How do you need to be honest about your own failings?

+ In what areas of your life do you need renewal?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 50

Can you believe it, we have come 1/3 of the way through Psalms? A quick note before we begin, the week between Christmas and New Years, specifically Dec 26-30, there will be no posts, we will be visiting family and doing fun family things so consider that week a vacation week. But that still leaves two more weeks of posts until then, so stick around and come back after on January 2 2017 to roll right on through to 150.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled devotion.

Psalm 50

I like you, I really do. And this year for Christmas I wanted to get you something really special, something I knew you'd like and appreciate. I thought long and hard about it and decided to get you, your car. I know you love it, you drive it everywhere, I hope you like it. What? You don't? Well, okay then, I'll get you your house, that's even better, I sure am thoughtful. What? While you like your house you think that it's not mine to give? Ok, I guess I see your point, but come on, I tried really hard, shouldn't you be appreciative?

That previous paragraph is rather ridiculous, I know, but think about it for a second and you'll understand that it is a pretty good example of how people who sacrifice things to God act. We are very generous with our sacrifice as long as it's things that aren't really ours to give in the first place. You see, we have this illusion of ownership, this illusion that possession is nine-tenths of the law, but in a very real way It. Is. All. God's. To. Begin. With.

The land doesn't become ours because of the piece of paper. We are not owners of the air or water. We don't even truly own our bodies, we were molded, formed, created by another. But, what we can give to God is ourselves, our attitudes, our actions. Of course, the only way we can do that is because God gives us a the freewill to go our own way, and what God desires above all else is that with that freewill we would choose God. Here, in Psalm 50, God requires a sacrifice of thanksgiving, in Micah it is one of mercy justice and humility, but it is not about giving to God by way of the woodpile and fire, it is giving to God by way of our lives, in the words of Paul, as living sacrifices.

+ In what ways have you attempted to sacrifice to God what was already God's?

+ How  can you live your life in such a way as to become a living sacrifice?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 49

Psalm 49

I could wrap this Psalm up in one very familiar sentence, "He who dies with the most toys still dies."

But, I suppose you click on the link for a little more than that, so let me give it a whirl.

First, a simple question: What do you think of when you hear "He who dies with the most toys still dies"? Does it make you think of people with a lot of things and how they sometimes act like their things make them more important? Does it make you think that you have too much stuff and you need to get rid of some of the clutter? Does it make you think that it would still be nice to have a lot of toys now?

While I am sure that there are more answers, those are the three that pop into my mind, because those are the three that I have thought from time to time. Truthfully I don't think any of them are the right answer. If I first think of stuck up people I am being judgmental. If I first think of decluttering I am simply wanting to make my life simpler. If I think about wanting more things I am being selfish.

How do I think we should answer the question you ask? I think that we need to come to a simple realization that the toys don't matter. Having a lot of them doesn't matter. Having fewer of them doesn't matter. Having none of them doesn't matter. They may cause momentary joy or distress, but in the end they don't matter. They are physical and physical doesn't last, not in ourselves, not in relationships, not in anything. What matters is that everyone will die and it is highly important what we do with our lives while our lungs are moving.

So...a second question: What are you going to do with the time you have left?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 48

Psalm 48

Time for a little history lesson to get to a deeper point.

There was a man named Abram whom God told to go, and he went.
This man became Abraham and God promised him offspring.
Abraham begat Isaac after quite some time and a bit of laughter.
Isaac followed the Lord and begat Esau and Jacob.
Jacob grew up and tricked Isaac, but that's not really a part of this story.
Esau was cheated out of a birthright but begat, among others, Korah.
Korah begat others whom became the Korahites, who sang and wrote songs, particularly Psalms 42, 44 - 49, 84, 85, 87, and 88.
In some English translations Korah is spelled Core, so these Sons of Korah, who sing and write songs, could also be considered Sons of the Core.

All of that leads me to think that maybe most English translations really get the spelling wrong. What if these Sons of the Core are trying to get across something deeper in their Psalms? What if they want us to understand that praise should be something that exists at the core of each one of us, not at the periphery, or worse? If worship should be so intrinsically a part of us we probably all need to work on that aspect of our faiths.

Lin Manuel Miranda, who wrote the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights, has a character Abuelita Claudia in In the Heights who [spoiler alert] passes away and Lin's character Usnavi says the following about her, "Abuela Claudia had simple pleasures. She sang the praises of things we ignore. Glass Coke bottles, bread crumbs, a sky full of stars. She cherished these things, she’d say; Alabanza. Alabanza means to raise this thing to God’s face And to sing, quite literally, praise to this." I wonder if we need to be more like Abuelita Claudia in how we look at the world around us, praising God for all the small wonders of this life, that seems to me like what worship at the core could look like.

+ What role does worship play in your life? How could it become a core aspect of you?

+ What might it look like for you to praise God for "glass coke bottles, bread crumbs, a sky full of stars"?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 47

Psalm 47

There are times when I begin to think that having a king was the worst thing that ever happened to Israel.

You see on one hand we believe that God is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and on the other hand we put a lot of stock in who is the ruler of our particular parcel of land. Here in America we see this especially in focus during our election cycle. It begins over a year before the actual election when candidates begin to pop up. We hitch ourselves to whichever particular candidate says the right thing or believes the right thing or gives us hope or instills in us enough fear and as the process moves on stage by stage we become more and more galvanized that only our particular candidate can lead our country into a bright future, while the candidate on the other side is only interested in riding us on a chariot to hell. Then election day comes and we are either exuberant or a complete mess. For the next 4 or 8 years it is a constant battle against those who are against us, whether we be on the winning or losing side.

We wrap so much into this one person, or against that one person, that we forget that whoever sits in an oval office, or wherever your particular ruler sits, is not quite at the level of the one who sits on a throne in heaven. Those of us who believe need to often remind ourselves of that fact, that God supercedes the person we declare as 'the most powerful man [or one day, woman] in the world'. We need to begin again, remembering God's power and might and justice and love and mercy and peace. If we fail to make that jump back to how we once believed we will miss out on the opportunities that God is granting us in the here and now to transcend our momentary concerns by focusing on things of eternal importance.

+ In what ways has your culture focused more on your earthly leader than on your heavenly king? How have you?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 46

Psalm 46

The earth is changing.
The mountains shake.
The waters roar and foam.
The mountains tremble.
The nations uproar.
The kingdoms totter.
The earth melts.
War is made.
Bows break.
Spears shatter
and shields burn.

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know, not in the calm, not in peacefulness, not in serenity, but in destruction, wilderness, turmoil. Be still and know in the raging storm. Be still and know in the hospital room. Be still and know while the house burns down. Be still and know in the midst of wailing. Be still and know in the midst of fear. Be still and know when everything else is moving and when everybody else is unsure.

That is what we are called to, but it isn't what we would prefer. We would prefer to be still in the silence. We would prefer to be still in solitude. We would prefer to be still when everything is calm and peaceful. We would prefer to know after we have learned what we need to know. We would prefer to know when there is no opposition to our knowledge. We would prefer to know when no one is screaming false words when we are whispering truth.

Yet, the Bible claims that the peace of God is a peace that passes all understanding, and it definitely does mainly because it is a peace that is available when no other peace is. In silence and solitude there is a plethora of peace available. On good days with good weather surrounded by good friends peace is plentiful. But God offers us peace in the midst, peace in the battle, peace in the pain.

+ How has God given you peace and knowledge in times of turmoil?

+ In what way can you better seek to be still and know in your daily life?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 45

Psalm 45

11 years ago I worked my way through the Psalms during Lent, writing songs based on these poems and lyrics. Today's Psalm is a song of love for a wedding and rather than share a normal devotional with you here is my lyric from February 27 2005.

Fair Daughter, how do you do?

Fair daughter, how do you do?
where are you going,
this bright sunshiny day?
have you been down by the water's edge?
have you sniffed the flowers on the air?
and where have you been hiding, my fair?

Fair daughter, how do you do?
where have you been,
in these slow moments?
have you been walking by the evergreens?
have you heard birds sing new songs?
and where have you been sleeping, my fair?

Fair daughter, how do you do?
where have you gone,
this warm dark night?
have you been sleeping under the stars?
have you been washing under the waterfalls?
and where have you been dreaming, my fair?

Because I've been looking for you
what begins to seem like forever
and I've been dreaming of you
since my very first dream
Yes, I've been dreaming of you
since my very first dream

Fair daughter, how do you do?
where have you been hiding?
where have you been sleeping?
and where have you been dreaming, my fair?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 44

Psalm 44

I think that God got out of the war business.

While I can't deny that there are passages of scripture that declare that God told the people of Israel to go to war with group X or Y, there are also passages like this Psalm that talks about God not being with the people in battle. Then, of course, once we get to the 2nd Testament the focus has shifted to battles of the heart, mind, and soul. But, following biblical times there were, and are, those who claimed that God was on their side, that their side was righteous and the other was evil. Constantine became a Christian, by truth or for opportunity we won't know this side of the grave, and believed that no army that was led by a cross could be defeated, until it was of course. Still today there are those, think the KKK or ISIS, who claim that God is on their side of whatever moral crusade they declare against people unlike themselves. But, I think that God got out of the war business.

I think this because a) we stopped caring what God wanted in our lives b) we stopped fighting wars only when we had to c) we got way to good at killing people.

a) You have to begin at the beginning, there's no other choice and it starts at us deciding that we knew the way forward better than God did. You see this in the story of the Adam and Eve, you see this in Abraham, and Moses, and David, and the disciples, and so on and so forth. Over and over again we tell God that we should be in control, that we should get what we want, that we trust ourselves more than we trust God.

b) The people of Israel only began making war in the 1st Testament when God told them to, but it wasn't too long before the Bible speaks about David being at home during the time when kings were supposed to be out with their armies. Do you realize what that at base means? There began to be a time when what we did was war, as if it was right to decide that we needed this land or we didn't like this people. It was no longer a need, but a desire and when we desire war, God calls for peace.

c)  The first death was by bare hands, or perhaps a rock. Through the ages we used sticks and swords and bows and cannons and guns and missiles and atomic bombs. We used to have to look someone in the eye before we ended their lives, now we can do it on a computer screen from the other side of the world. War has become to easy to wage, we can have our troops anywhere on the planet in a matter of hours and we do.

Those are the main, but not only, reasons that I believe that God got out of the war business.

+ How do you read the First Testament accounts of war?

+ Do you believe that God is still in the war business?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 43

Psalm 43

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my help and my God.

Yesterday I wrote about the second half of this stanza that is repeated twice in Psalm 42 and shows up again here at the end of Psalm 43, which leads me to believe that the two were once one, but is quite beside the point of the moment. Today I would like to point out the importance of the whole.

In these two Psalms the author writes from a place of being in the midst of the storm. They are far from where they want to be: physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally. They point out various things that are arrayed against them: distance, feeling forgotten by God, betrayal by people once close. But then they keep coming back to the above stanza, asking why their soul is cast down, and instead of answering that particular question the answer they give is about the need to hope, remember, and reflect. If only we could do the same in times such as those.

Our, or at least my, usual response to the darkness is to focus on the darkness. In the midst of regret I focus on the failing. In the midst of sorrow I focus on the loss. In the midst of being lost I focus on how I got there. Keeping the focus on the negative, on how I got myself in the current mess, or how others got me in the current mess, or how even God may have gotten me in the current mess is not the way out of the current mess. The way out is to shift the focus from what caused it to how I can get out of it. How can I change my attitude? How can I change my action? How can I change my vision? How can I once again rely on God? The author while commenting on how they got in the mess quickly moves to how they can get out, and there way is our way, hope, remember, and reflect.

+ When you are in the middle of a mess how can you begin to hope in God and in yourself again?

+ When you are in the middle of a mess how can you best remember what God has already brought you through?

+ When you are in the middle of a mess how can you best reflect on who God is?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 42

Psalm 42

There is a phrase that is twice repeated over the course of this Psalm, the first we have come to that is not attributed to David. This phrase is where I would like to spend our time together today.

Hope in God

Hope is something that can be in short supply in our world today, too often we stay focused on the negative aspects of the world around us and we fail to cling to the hope that we have as followers of Jesus. But it is that hope that we have from Jesus that the world so desperately needs.

for I shall again praise him

What's interesting is that the author seems to be in a place where he is clinging to hope while he is also somehow separated from a place of praise. That's sometimes how we can find ourselves, hoping even when we've been cast off or wandered off. The thing about hope is that it is not reliant upon our current circumstances, it rises above them.

my help

Especially in our western society we have been sold a bill of goods that tells us that we have to accomplish things on our own or we are unworthy of what we have. In contrast the Bible tells us that only those who rely on God will fully find the purpose that we are in search of. There is a very real need for dependence upon God, for God to be our help, for God to be the one who pulls up our bootstraps.

and my God

As we begin with hoping in God, we end with remembering who we are talking about and to in the first place. This is not just a friend, not just a help, not just a savior, but the one true God who is all those things and so much more. God who provides the sacrifice that is required. God who does the work for us to cross the finish line. God who reaches down into our darkness to pull us into God's light.

+ In what ways can you cling to hope in whatever circumstances you are currently facing?

+ Take this moment to remind yourself that your hope is in God and that God is your hope.

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 41

Psalm 41

Today I would like to start with the question, 'Why do we want our prayers to be answered?'

I believe that how we answer that question is a pretty good indicator on whether or not our prayers will be answered. In Psalm 41 David lays ill before God and he prays that his illness might be lifted off of him, and while he seems to start in a good place, I don't believe that he ends in one. In the end David says that the reason he wants this illness lifted off of him is so that he can repay his enemies and friends words and deeds. In essence David says, bless me Lord so I can lord it over another.

Give me a bigger house so that way people will know I'm better than them.

Give me the promotion so that way I can put my co-workers in their place.

Give me the girl/boy so that way the class bully will be jealous.

We pray prayers like this all too often and we wonder why our prayers never seem to be answered, but our prayers aren't this exaggerated so we don't seem to realize the absurdity of them. It would be so much better if they were this exaggerated, so that way we wouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that we have pure motives when we do not.

Asking for healing is not the problem for David, or for us, but what we, and David, need to pray is for healing so that we can accomplish what God has for us to accomplish. We need to pray to be blessed so that God will get the glory for our blessings. We need to pray for opportunities so that way God may use us in new ways. We need to pray for relationships in order to spread the love of God to those who are in need of it. Changing the attitude of request changes the altitude of response, because we may get our way when we are selfish, but it is not God answering our prayers.

+ What type of prayers do you pray?

+ Why do you want your prayers answered?


p.s. don't get me wrong, having the right attitude does not guarantee that our prayers will be answered, if it guarantees anything it is that we will begin voicing the right prayers in the first place

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 40

Psalm 40

40:6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

When I read Psalm 40 I was immediately reminded of Jesus's quote from Hosea, but since I am a pastor in the year 2016 I had to look up the scripture online, when I did I came across a link of someone asking for a simple explanation of what "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" means. I didn't click the link, so I am unsure of why the person needs a simple explanation or what the simple explanation was, but I do think that I can answer the question, both in a simple way and a more complex way.

In simplest terms it means that God desires mercy not sacrifice.

In more complex terms it means that while sacrifice is something that should flow out of following God, what God considers of more importance than what we give up is how we treat others. Sacrifice has the potential to be a selfish act, we give up something so we feel good about giving it up, but when we show mercy [in other words not do unto others as they deserve] it is always directed toward the other, and God is very concerned about the other.

Unfortunately in the past 2000 years or so we have created a Christianity that is very I focused instead of other focused. If you need proof of that just pay attention to the songs you sing in church or hear on a Christian radio station, most of them will use I and me language. It's why we have conversations about how a person can get to heaven and not go to church, as if the only point of believing in and following God was your own personal salvation, when in truth it is not, following God has always been about the other, from the point where God told Abram that God would bless the whole world through him.

How have you noticed Christianity being I focused? Have you fallen into the trap of thinking its just about you and your salvation?

How have you noticed Christianity being other focused? How have you participated in being other focused?

p.s. So friends, as we sit here on Black Friday may we remember that God desires mercy not sacrifice, which is not call to stop giving Christmas gifts but is a call to treat the people you encounter as if they are real human beings and not just things in your way of the perfect gift.

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 39

Psalm 39

FYI: today's heart's cry is going to be a tad different, Happy Thanksgiving.

In Psalm 39 David seems to be at a Thanksgiving meal this year surrounded by family members who have different political views than he does and he is straining to keep his mouth shut so he doesn't put them in the place they so richly deserve. In response to this dilemma David wants God to remind him that he isn't going to live very long because that seems to be the only way that he might not get into the fight that he wants to get into.

In the next stanza, shortly after saying that his hope is in God, David seems to be greatly disturbed by something that God has done, one might be able to assume that David is angry with God because God did not do an adequate job of convincing him that a short life means he doesn't need to argue about so many things. Since God did not come through David is now convinced that the conversations that are happening around him are not just the thoughts of his aunts, uncles, and distant cousins but are rather direct blows from the Almighty.

David then takes a moment to remind himself that God smites those who sin, either because his cousin has finally went around the bend in her thinking about some issue or another, or because he needs reminding that murdering your family is not the correct course of action if no one brought whipped cream for the pumpkin pie.

David, coming to the end of the Psalm. and possibly his sanity, is now in tears and is so distressed that he believes that the only way for him to be happy again is for God to turn away from him. This may be because he thinks that if God turns away he can finally let forth the multitude of curses that he has for his various family members, after which he may either slap them or just drop the mic and walk away.

+ Praying that your family get togethers this year look nothing like the one I envision for David.

The Heart's Cry:Psalm 38

Psalm 38

Right around the middle of this Psalm, in verse 9, David talks about how his longing/pain is known to God. It reminds me of a song, God Weeps Too by Eli

This is for the man, who never learned to read or write
He worked two jobs instead of going to school
I know it hurt you as a child, please remember all the while
That God weeps too

This is for the widow, who now must sleep alone
When the memory of a kiss will have to do
Every night when she lays down, you can almost hear the sound
When God weeps too

Chorus:
God weeps too, God weeps too
Though we question Him for all that we go through
Still it helps me believe and my pain it does relieve
When I think that, God weeps too

And for every survivor of the wickedness of man
Whether you're a black man or a Jew
Some people kill in Jesus' name, He is not the one to blame
'Cause even God weeps too

Chorus x2

And I never really thought about it
Not that much about it, but God weeps too
And I never really thought about it
Not that much about it, but God weeps too

We sing this song sometimes at church and I am constantly reminded of all those who lay the blame for the evil in this world at God's feet. David himself is sometimes guilty of this, to some extent you can see this at the beginning of the Psalm when he speaks of God sinking arrows into David. I don't believe that God is the cause of the evil in the world, that lays squarely at our feet. It is our choices, our decisions, our sins, our mistakes that allow evil to hang out here on Earth. Jesus taught us to pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and instead of bringing heaven to earth we too often bring hell.

Where we find God in the midst of evil is in our pain and suffering, because God is there alongside us suffering with us. I firmly believe that God weeps when we weep, God mourns when we mourn and on the other side of the coin God rejoices when we rejoice and God laughs when we laugh. We need to let go of the idea of a angry God who just wants to smite somebody, we need to let go of the idea of a God who is nothing but a kid with a magnifying glass. God is not angry, God is love. God is not distant, God is near. God does not hold a magnifying glass because God is too busy holding God's arms wide open in hopes that we might coming running for a hug.

+ Do you believe that God is with you in the midst of your pain?

+ How do you understand the evil that exists in this world?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 37

Psalm 37

Psalm 37 has a bit of length to it and David spends a great deal of time on the concept that the wicked will soon be gone and that we need to have patience for their destruction, but in light of yesterday's post I would prefer to focus on two verse that I am for.

4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart

In Matthew 6 when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray he adds a portion that says 'Thy will be done' and in the garden when Jesus prays for deliverance he says 'Not my will, but thine' this lead me to believe that if we are concerned about God's will we will not be praying for things that are outside of what we think God wants for us and those around us. Here in verse 4 David says that God will give us the desires of our heart if we delight in the Lord. The thing is if we delight in the Lord our heart's desire will be for more of God, which God will freely give us.

+ Do you voice the desire for God's will to be done in your prayers? If so, how has that changed your prayers? If not, do you think that it would bring a change if you started?

7a Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him

Too often we want God to do X but then we never give God the space to do anything, because in order for God to move in our lives we must let God move in our lives. Or we want God to speak to us but then we never give God the space to speak to us, because in order to hear God sometimes we need to stop listening to everything else. Or we want Jesus to free us from our guilt but we never let go of our guilt. We too often don't stop moving, or stop listening to the noise, or stop holding on to those things we should let go of and because of that we hinder God's movement. We are like Jesus's hometown, we know him so well that we only let him be what he has already been, we never give Jesus the freedom to be something new to us.

+ How can you let go of & stop listening to those things that get in the way of your relationship with God?

+ How can you give God the space to move in your life?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 36

Psalm 36

I feel like this Psalm is a microcosm for one of the great ailments of our current society. David feels the need to first talk about what he is against [human wickedness] before he can talk about what he is for [divine goodness]. I see the same thing happening in my cultural context over and over again, it seems like we can't talk about what we are for without shouting down what we are against. This is true about my wider culture, but it is also true about the church culture as well. I'd like to blame our current political landscape for infecting our discourse, but I'm not sure its their fault. The problem with laying the blame at their feet is that they have been acting this way for a long time and it seems that only recently have we jumped into the deep end and drank the koolaid of division.

Maybe its our own fault then, maybe we have decided that the best way to get our point across is to shout out those things that we are against. But I think we fail to see the logical conclusion of this abrasive way of communicating, which is that we will begin to be known by those things that we are against so much more than those things that we are for. You see this at work in poll after poll of how people view the church. Jesus tells his disciples that the world will know that they are his disciples because of their love, and yet 2000 odd years later love is not in the top ten of what people think of when they think of the church.

Paul shares the fruit of the spirit in Galatians: love, joy, peace, generosity, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and those fruit are very much not on display in the thoughts of those who think about the church. How have we come so far away from being for those good and right things? We need to refocus on what we are to be about as opposed to what we are against because we need to be having a better impact in our world then we currently have.

How have you seen the church be known for what it is against instead of what it is for?

How can we change the narrative back to how Jesus envisioned it?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 35

Psalm 35

When I begin to read Psalm 35 I think I am in a place where I have been before, reading another Psalm about David wanting his enemies destroyed, and while this is true there is a shift in verse 11 that I have not seen thus far in my Psalm journey. For about 4 verses David talks about how he has fasted and prayed for those who now are attempting to do him harm. He writes about how he is being repaid evil for the good that he has done, he talks about sackcloth and mourning, he in essence talks about love. He has given and given and now he is finding nothing but malice in those that he gave to.

The same thing can at times happen to us if we are to follow the example that Christ compels us to. You see the problem is that Jesus doesn't say 'forgive them their sins if they are extremely repentant'. Jesus doesn't say 'walk two miles with them if they are grateful.' He doesn't mention anything about us laying down our lives for someone who is very deserving of such a sacrifice. And he doesn't say 'pray for those who persecute you after they have sought reconciliation with you.' He doesn't come to give sight to the blind who ask nicely nor to set the prisoners free who are sorry for what they have done nor to proclaim the year of the Lord to those in debt who really want to pay it back with interest. And since Jesus doesn't add any of those caveats, we shouldn't either.

To that end there may be times when we give and are not thanked. There may be times when we sacrifice and then people just expect more. There may be times when we show love and are shown hatred in return. There may be times when we accept and are not tolerated. And in those times we are expected to give, sacrifice, love, and accept again and again and again. David called down the fire and the thunder, but we are to call down the grace and the mercy.

+ Have you ever been repaid evil for the good you have done? How did you respond?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 34

Psalm 34

"seek peace and pursue it"

It's difficult to think that there are another 5 words that are more relevant to our day than these 5. All around us it seems that things are spiraling out of control, socially, economically, politically, rhetorically, religiously, etc, etc. A day doesn't go by without one negative story after another on the news and dominating our Twitter and Facebook feeds. And sure, there are the occasional 'good' news stories out there, but they are quickly forgotten with the next bombing or shooting or accident or... No one seems to have an answer to it all, and those who could possibly be of help put their heads in the sands and say if only _______ would happen it would all be okay, or if only _________ got elected, or if only _________ would be quiet, if only __________ would move on.

The thing though is that some of us do have an answer and it is very much wrapped up in Good News. Jesus came to this earth to show us God's great love, but he also came to this earth to show us how to live rightly while on earth.

Jesus didn't spend much time on bad news, nor did he spend much time on laying waste to those ideas or people which he disagreed with. Jesus spoke about the life giving ways that he knew, not the life taking ways that others upheld. We need to spend time speaking about the Good News and not waste our time speaking about the bad news.

Jesus hung out with those that the world had either thrown to the curb or simply forgotten about. We cannot shun them.

Jesus reached out his hands. We must reach out our hands.

Jesus lifted up his voice. We must lift up our voices.

Jesus poured out his heart. We must pour out our hearts.

Jesus gave grace. We must give grace.

Jesus gave hope. We must give hope.

Jesus showed love. We must show love.

Jesus lived a life of peace. We must live a life of peace.

Jesus wasn't passive. We must not be passive.

We must seek peace, and pursue it, because only by keeping an eye out for peace and running after it can we ever hope to embody it, like Jesus did.

+ How can you begin to focus on the Good News instead of the bad news?

+ What tangible way can you seek peace and pursue it in your context?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 33

Psalm 33

Sing to him a new song

I don't know if you realize this, but in order to sing a new song you must find or write a new song. In order to sing a new song you must not sing the old song. In order to sing a new song you must be open to what God is telling you to sing. In order to sing a new song you cannot hold the old songs with hands that are too tightly gripping them. In order to sing a new song you must open your mouth and sing it with pride.

"God is not afraid of new things." Pope Benedict

A little over a year ago we found ourselves in Philadelphia about a week before the Pope was coming to the US to visit. Because of that upcoming visit there was already souvenirs available at some of the shops around Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Ben Franklin's home. While browsing for something to take and remember the trip I came across a coffee cup that was adorned with the above quote, and that quote sums up in 7 words what I have come to believe over the past 15 years or so. You see about 15 years ago I began to pivot on some of my long held beliefs due to my reading of the gospels, Jesus was speaking to me and I was [finally] choosing to listen.

You see, those Red Letters are still speaking to us 2000 years after they were spoken, to our current day and age and to the ages yet to come, it's just that we too often fail to listen to them. Worse still, we think that they have told us everything they ever will. We decided years or decades or lifetimes ago that the Bible had spoken all that it could ever speak to us and our job was to make sure that our children and grandchildren and great great great great great grandchildren believed the same way we believed about anything and everything.

But the thing is, I don't want Henry to believe everything I believe, I want him to believe everything God wants him to believe. That's what we should hope for our future generations because some of the things my ancestors believed were not very Godly and perhaps there are things I believe that are not very Godly. I do believe that God is ahead of us, pulling us into a new and better future, and that will be true for the next generation and the next and the next.

+ Do you believe in the same things that your parents and grandparents believed in?

+ How do you see God pulling us into a new and better future?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 32

Psalm 32

Finally a Psalm about forgiveness!!

I needed that.

There is nothing like forgiveness, but the way we get to forgiveness is through confession. While I would never want to be a Catholic priest, hearing confessions all day I wouldn't mind if there was a protestant outlet that was very much like what Catholics have. Luckily we can confess straight to God [not saying that Catholics can't] but I think there is just something about the idea of confessing our sins to someone who will respond out loud. Because while I believe that God hears my confession and that God does indeed forgive, after all the Bible says that God will not only forgive, but forget, sometimes it would be nice to physically hear 'I absolve you of your sins.' It is for purely selfish reasons that I long for such a moment, because while I believe God forgives me, sometimes getting forgiveness from myself is much more difficult.

The fact that I withhold forgiveness from myself is highly disappointing. Because while I believe God will forget I just can't seem to, I remember my misdeeds and I hold onto them, much like the couple in the Garth Brooks' song I bury the hatchet and leave the handle sticking out. And from time to time I pull that hatchet out and bury it in me again and again and again. I believe in forgiveness, I believe, as I have heard, that when we forgive someone we set someone free and find out it's ourselves. I believe that when I do not forgive another I am the one who is encased in chains, chains of anger and regret, and so I try to free myself from that burden. But, again, forgiving myself is so much harder, the leniency I freely give to others I cannot/will not give to the man I see in the mirror. And so, when I pray for forgiveness I also pray for the strength to forgive myself, sometimes God helps me and sometimes God doesn't but I still believe God consistently forgives, and maybe one day I will forgive myself more consistently also.

+ When was the last time you asked God for forgiveness? Do you believe God forgave you?

+ Do you find it easy or hard to forgive yourself? Do you have any advice on how I can do it better?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 31

Psalm 31

It's interesting to me sometimes that we call David a man after God's own heart. I know that in 1 Samuel 13:14 Samuel tells Saul that God has found a man after God's heart, which is David, but that is a very young David and one could well argue that the man that David does become is one very much less after God's own heart. After all David becomes a man who first watches a naked woman from afar and then takes [read rapes] her. He gets her pregnant and then to try to hide his sin he calls her husband, one of his soldier's, from the lines to come and bed her. Uriah is a man of conviction and so he cannot sleep with his wife while his friends are still in battle, so David has him sent to the front to die. That is not the workings of a man after God's own heart.

So, there are times when David has no glimmer of God's heart. Then again there are times through David's story and through his Psalms where we see God's heart shining through. Which leads me to the realization that David was just a man, just a human. He had successes and failures, like I and you do, and while we should not attempt to follow his example completely, we should try to follow the positive aspects of his character. For instance in this Psalm David says that God is his rock and fortress, that what keeps him safe is not armor, not soldiers, not weapons, but God. Now David often relied on those other things and lost sight of the protection of God, but we should focus on the fact that God will protect us if we trust God to.

The Psalm ends with a statement about how God preserves the faithful but "repays the one who acts haughtily." This is a statement that we in the church really need to remember, because all too often we can become haughty, acting holier than thou, acting like the grace that God has shown us makes us better than others, this could not be further from the truth. Way way back in Genesis God told Abram that God would bless him so that others would be blessed. All these years later that is still the case, we in the church are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others, not a hinderance, not a stumbling block, a blessing. We must reclaim our humility and grace and show the world that there is another way to walk on this floating blue ball.

+ How is David a man after God's own heart? How is he not?

+ In what ways can you rely on God for your daily protection?

+ What one thing can you begin doing to be a blessing to others?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 30

Psalm 30

Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.


It sure looks like we'll be on the same topic this time as last.

In Psalm 30 David seems to be at the end of a negative road, about to take a turn for the better and he is very much looking forward to the morning. But even though David says weeping may linger FOR THE NIGHT but joy comes WITH THE MORNING he is not speaking of a literal day and night. I would argue that we all too often take Biblical language to be literal when it should not be taken that way but this goes double for the Psalms. The Psalms are poetry and song lyrics, and as such have deeper and different meaning that the mere words. What David is doing is creating art and art is not always [if ever] meant to be taken only literally.

So David has gone through dangers, toils and snares and has had a very hard time while he was in the midst, but a new morning is finally on the horizon. You've been there, haven't you? [You, and I, may very well be there right now.] Where the sun comes up and goes down again and again and you go through the daily/nightly motions, but you don't really move forward. The calendar pages keep moving but the storm stays put. The clock keeps ticking but your hopelessness lingers. It is not a matter of having to get over it by sun-up, it is about taking the time to process what needs to be processed.

So take your time, there is no particular rush, whatever else you have to concern yourself with can wait. But know this, that God is not done with you or us, and soon, like David, we will be able to say...

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

I beg your pardon, but, I think I will end this post with another prayer instead of questions.

Lord, as I read the words of the King who was a shepherd I am reminded of the pains of the moment and the pains of the past. And while this current pain seems so large I know you have alleviated the previous pains and will also alleviate this one as well. I pray for all those who feel like I do, those who need peace and comfort and above all else hope. So Lord bring us your peace. Lord bring us your comfort. Lord bring us your hope. Amen. 

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 29

Psalm 29

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.
May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Today is a new day, and if I'm honest it is not the day I thought I would be waking up to, but the sun is still in the midst of rising. Today will be roughly the same as it was last week and the week before. Henry will go to Preschool and then on to Daycare. Mary and I will go to work. For me it's the busiest day of my week. And so even though the world looks a lot different in some ways, in the ways that count it is the same. How is this so?

How? Because in the ways that count this world has absolutely nothing to do with who is in charge of a country, it has to do with who is in charge of our hearts. Today some are overjoyed and some are fearful, but that's what happens everyday. I am hurting another is rejoicing, pick a day, any day and you will experience some side of that coin. And what gets me through is not who sits in an oval office, but who sits on the throne.

This morning I am hoping for God's strength. This morning I am hoping for God's peace. This morning I am attempting to look on the brightside, which is what I all too often don't do. This morning I will lift a prayer to heaven. This morning I will recall the words of Jesus, the words which call me to love my neighbor and my enemy, and to possibly think of my enemy as my neighbor. This morning I recall unknown writings in the sand. This morning I recall stories of lost coins, lost sheep, lost sons. This morning I am recalling a golden rule. This morning I recall that I must lose my life to save it. This morning I recall that laying down my life for another is the highest form of love. So this morning I will attempt to live that more than I did yesterday.

Peace and love to you all and to all of us.

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 28

Psalm 28

Have you ever met someone who speaks about people going to hell with a large smile on their face? Have you ever heard a sermon where someone speaks of people being punished for their sins with a note of glee in their voice? Have you ever followed someone who was about to throw someone else into the fiery furnace with a sparkle in their eye?

God Hates ____!

Let's picket their funeral!

Bomb an abortion clinic!

Put a cross in their yard!

Way too often there are people who claim Jesus and then also claim that when people are damned God smiles.

Do they actually believe that the God who rejoices over just one sheep who is found also rejoices when that sheep stays lost?

Do they actually believe that the God who commands us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us requires much less of Godself?

Do they still overlook their plank and only see another's speck?

Here we find David calling to God to be his rock and to both hear and answer him. And then in the next second he calls on God to repay those who do evil with evil. It's important to read Psalms like this one because it shows us that anger is allowed in our prayers and our songs, but we must also remember that though we enter God's presence in anger we are called to leave our anger there and go out with a different yoke and a lighter burden. We are meant to be set free of our anger, not to be engulfed in it.

+ How has your anger been destructive to yourself and to others?

+ What work have you/can you do to shift the focus from another's speck to your plank?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 27

Psalm 27

David begins this Psalm with calling God both his light and his salvation. In other words God is both the way that we see and the way we are saved.

The way we see:
Many times throughout the Gospels and Revelation Jesus calls to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. I think this is because at base we have a listening issue and a vision issue. What God does is open our eyes and allows us to see ourselves for who we are and to see the world for what it is. Along with sight God also gives us insight into what we need to change and how we need to journey along our path. Martin Luther King Jr said "Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase." We can only have that faith when we believe that there is a staircase there in the first place, and that vision comes to us directly from God

The way we are saved:
I am not the biggest fan of calling people who do not yet follow God lost, but to some degree we all are lost at some point in our lives. The problem is that we in the church often have a very narrow view of salvation. We talk about being saved 'from' a great deal, but we often leave out being saved 'for'. God saves us from a great many things, but God also saves us for a purpose, for a work to be done in this world. We are saved from pain and guilt and anger and fear, but we are also saved to love God and ourselves and our neighbors, to work to bring a little bit of heaven to the here and now.

Through both the sight and the saving we are made more than we could have ever been without God in our lives.

+ In what ways has God helped you to see?

+ In what ways has God saved you from and saved you for?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 26

Psalm 26

"I do not sit with the worthless,
nor do I consort with hypocrites;
I hate the company of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked."

I wonder what David would have thought about Jesus, a man who hung out with "the worthless" "hypocrites" "evildoers" and "the wicked" according to the cultural and religious thought of his day.

What would David have thought about Jesus hanging out with said people so often that people claimed that Jesus was a glutton and a drunkard?

What would David have thought about Jesus speaking to non-Jewish women?

What would he have thought about Jesus touching the lame, the blind, the bleeding?

What would he have thought about Jesus allowing the little children to come to him?

I wonder how the beatitudes would have played in David's ears?

I wonder how loving your enemy, doing good to those who harm you, and praying for those who persecute you would have reverberated?

How would that have changed the tenor of the Psalms? Would it have?

I guess the better question is does it change the tenor of our prayers and songs? Does it change the way we treat those around us? Are the hurting taken care of, or left on the margins? Are the widows and orphans housed? Are the outcasts embraced? Are the people who need Jesus the most shown Jesus's love through Jesus's followers?

That's probably enough questions for one day, so I'm not going to ask you one at the end. Instead I will say a little prayer.

Holy God, forgive us for saying we follow you and forgetting everything you had to say. Forgive us for leaving out those you called us to include. Forgive us for letting down our responsibilities and picking up our trivialities. And above all forgive us for being blessed and keeping the blessing to ourselves. Amen and amen.

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 25

Psalm 25

Here we find a Psalm that is yearning for grace and mercy. David reminds God of God's attributes, mercy and steadfast love. David pleads that the sins of his youth and his transgressions might be forgotten. David wants God's steadfast love to blot out his mistakes. Here God is a God who instructs sinners, who leads the humble, who pardons guilt.

On one hand this God doesn't seem like the same God that David has been calling to time and time again to wipe out his enemies. The same guy who asked for his enemies to be blotted out now asks for his own misdeeds to be blotted out instead. And while David mentions his enemies at the end it is his own failings that mainly concern him.

There has been a wave of Christians who call on karma to fall upon people. Karma, an idea of bad being visited upon those who do bad and good being visited upon those who do good. The problem with this is that karma is not a Christian concept, and should not be a Christian belief. We Christians hold to mercy and grace, not karma.

We hold to a God who forgives and forgets, not visits what has been done onto those who have done it. Jesus is quite clear when he teaches us to pray using these words 'forgive us our debts/sins/transgressions, as we forgive those who debt/sin/transgress against us.' We are forgiven because we forgive. Not we are forgiven when we wish harm to befall our enemies. Not we are forgiven when we hope people will get what's coming to them. We are forgiven because we forgive. Hence we are people of forgiveness, people of mercy, people of grace.

+ Have you wished ill on people, but now give forgiveness?

+ How does the grace and mercy you have been shown lead you to act?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 24

Psalm 24

The Earth is the Lord's and all that is in it

One of the recurring themes of the Book of Psalms is a recognition of God as creator. There is an overwhelming number of constant reminders that God created the world around us. Along with those reminders is the connection between us and the created order, we are both a part of and above the rest of that order. In Genesis we are created in part to take care of the creation, to make sure that both it and us are fruitful and multiply. Unfortunately we are much more concerned about our fruitfulness and our multiplication than we are about creations need for the same.

This may seem to you to be a bit 'tree-hugish' and I will admit to that, but the fact of the matter is that we are meant to be gardeners of the divine creation. We may till the earth, plant the seed, cover it and water it, but God created the earth and the seed and the water and the sun and the growth. We must play our role, or else it is a role that will be taken away from us. The scriptures speak about rocks crying out should we withhold our worship, how much of a loss that would be should the rocks take our job! The years pass and we too often neglect the roles we were made to inhabit, to the chagrin of the human race and to the chagrin of the whole created order.

Pick up your shovel, get your hands dirty, and play in the creation that God gave us, before it is no longer there for our nourishment and our enjoyment.

+ How can you encounter God through the work of creation?

+ How can you work in the creation to better inhabit the role that God has given you?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 23

Psalm 23

Have you ever noticed the pronoun shifts in Psalm 23?

Have you ever noticed that God leads us into places that make us come alive [green pastures], places that give us peace and rest [still waters], and places that restore our soul, yet we are the ones that walk into the valley of the shadow of death?

Have you noticed that God prepares the table, but it's our enemies?

And have you ever noticed that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death and that they are our enemies we are shown that we do not need to fear either circumstance?

And if we don't have to fear the valley and if we don't have to fear being surrounded by our enemies then we simply do not need to fear. God is with us in the beautiful places, God is with us in the peaceful places, God is with us in the valley, God is with us among our enemies, God is with us at all times.

Fear leads us into the valley, but subtracting fear brings us goodness and mercy. Fear creates enemies, but subtracting fear leads us to the house of the Lord.

Our culture all too often tries to convince us that we need to fear, need to fear this people or this religion or this sub-culture. But God tells us that we need not fear.

+ How have you walked into the valley but been saved by the savior?

+ How can you let go of the fear that the world tries to convince you that you need?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 22

Psalm 22

Jesus hangs from a cross and cries "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" And here David cries "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" For a long time I have used Jesus's quote to talk about how we are allowed to doubt because here we see even Jesus doubting. While I still think that is true, as I read Psalm 22 yet again I begin to think that Jesus was doing a lot more from the cross than voicing a doubt.

As we read the Psalm we immediately go from doubt to belief. Then we move from our unworthiness to our chosen-ness. Next we go from being broken and surrounded to our help still being found in God and the willingness to still proclaim God's goodness. So while I still think Jesus had some doubts while covered only in blood sweat and tears I believe that he was also saying, 'this is as bad as it gets but I will still cling to who God is and who God has been and who God will be.'

I have never hung from a cross [obviously] but I have been in some dire straits before and all too often I question God's presence and action without the strength of belief that God is good and will attend to my needs. David here, and Jesus later, reminds us that we can question and doubt but also reminds us that those questions and doubts need to be couched in language that speaks of God's goodness and how God has saved us before and will save us again, in whatever manner God has and whatever manner God will.

+ How do you understand the connections between faith and doubt? Do you allow yourself to doubt?

+ Is there a right/wrong way to doubt?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 21

Psalm 21

At the beginning of almost every corporate prayer I give I say something along the lines of "Holy God we come before you today and the first thing we always want to say is thank you..." I do this for several reasons.

1) Dr. Gilbert Stafford suggested it in a class I took in seminary

2) to say thank you to God, something we all too often forget to do in life

3) so that we first focus on all that we have before we begin to focus on what we do not

It is this last one that concerns me at the moment, and it seems to have concerned David as well. While I am no fan of the context that David uses in Psalm 21 I believe that thanking God before you ask God to do things for you is essential.

The other day I saw a short video on Facebook. It was a story [real or not matters little] about a professor, a class full of students, and a test comprised of a white piece of paper and a solitary black dot in the middle of the paper. The professor asks his students to write about what they see and every one of them write about the black dot. The professor says that there is no grade for the test but notes how they all focused on the black dot on their paper as they focus on the negativity of their lives. Like the students we are given so much more good in our lives but we allow the negativity, no matter what it is, to too often consume us.

The thing we quickly forget is that we are still a child of God when we are going through a divorce. We are still blessed when we receive whatever bad news the doctor has for us. We still have those who care for us and take care of us when we are in the midst of the struggle. When the storms come we focus on the storm, as opposed to focusing on all that we have that will be with us through the storm and will be there should we make it out the other side of the storm.

+ How can you begin to focus on what God has done in your life instead of the storms that come?

+ Who and what are you most thankful for right now? Take a moment to let God know your thankfulness.

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 20

Psalm 20

Many times through the First Testament God is referenced as 'The God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob." I think this occurs for two reasons. First, it immediately recalls who God has already been to the people. Secondly, it reminds us that God is not some far off god but is a rather a God that exists in close relationship to humanity, and not just humanity in general but specific humans along the way.

Who God has already been: God is a God of action, stepping into the fray of the daily struggles of God's people and lifting them out and up. I believe that God is a God ahead of us, pulling us forward into a new day. I believe that expressly because that is how God has been both in my life and in the life of history. We progress, we evolve, we expand. What was once commonplace is now unthinkable, and what was once unthinkable is now commonplace. This is only possible through the gifting of God, allowing both our skills and our knowledge to grow. Soren Kierkegaard once said, "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." The same is true for God, we can only understand the myriad of ways that God works in our lives by looking back.

A God who exists in close relationship: God does all of that because God enters into relationship with both the individual and the community that desires such. God called Abraham to go because God understood that Abraham would go, much like God calls people to go now. God calls us to be pastors, missionaries, teachers, whether we do that in a church, a foreign country, or in our 'mundane' daily lives, the call remains the same no matter the profession, no matter the situation, no matter the employer. In the case of Isaac God both calls for and then provides the sacrifice, as God does each day for us, God requires and God provides that which God requires. Finally, in the case of Jacob, God wrestles and then renames, we all have that point where we either fish or cut bait and God waits for us to recognize and react in that moment. Should we continue the fight we become a new creation, no longer do we live, but Christ lives in us.

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 19

Psalm 19

I could very easily write two completely different devotions this evening. The first one would be on the wonder of the sun, moon, and stars and the second would be on what we will actually concern ourselves with.

 The law of the Lord is perfect...
it revives the soul
it gives wisdom to the simple
it gladdens the heart
it gives light to the eyes

It revives the soul...when we are on the edge of depression and desperation it raises us up again so that we may become 'entangled'* again with God.

It gives wisdom to the simple...when we are at our wits end with no where else to turn we are given insight we shouldn't have that we may find the path forward.

It gladdens the heart...when we are in the doldrums of the struggle it lightens our load because Jesus's yolk really is easy and his burden is light.

It gives light to the eyes...when we cannot see beyond the horizon of our circumstances it gives us vision to see the possibilities of a brand new day in a brand new way.

In short the law of the Lord is both what sets us free and lets us be free. Before we understood God's law we roamed, we survived, but through God's law we have the possibility of living, of thriving. Because this law is not a set of rules that must be followed, but rather it is a way to see ourselves and the world around us, through the lens of grace and mercy, through the lens of kindness and empathy, through the lens of love. Jesus shows us how to be and how to live by showing us how to exist in right relationship with our God, with our self, and with our neighbors [i.e. everyone else].


* a word which I stole from my friend PC Walker, go buy his book, Beneath Broken Machines, from your preferred retailer, the digital copy is only $5.99

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 18

Psalm 18

From the Abbey Psalter v.28-29

"You O Lord are my lamp
my God who lightens my darkness
With you I can break through any barrier
with my God I can scale any wall"

This past Sunday I preached about Ecclesiastes and Revelation, about surviving and living, about a song by Derek Webb [This too shall be made right], about a book by PC Walker [Beneath Broken Machines], about a song that my wife taught the kids in Sunday School a few weeks ago and somewhere in the midst of all of that I talked about how the way of Jesus is most helpful in the darkness, that what Jesus teaches is important at all times but it's how we make it through the pains and struggles of life. The Hope that Jesus gives us is what sustains us. The Peace that passes all understanding is a peace for times of trouble. The Grace that we are shown is never felt more than after we have failed and failed hard. Jesus lived, breathed, pooped, and died so that we would know that he lived, breathed, pooped and died just like we do so we wouldn't lose sight of him in the storm.

Jesus lights our way through the darkness, and he strengthens us to accomplish what he has set for us to accomplish. Among all of the red letters there is a moment where Jesus says that those who come after him [i.e. us] would do greater things than he did. The only way we can do greater things is by asking for and receiving his help. If you read enough biographies you will begin to see a pattern emerge throughout the human experience, most of the people who do great things only accomplish those things after great failure, great pain, great sacrifice and while there are many people who do all of that on their own, we do not need to, because we have a savior who is willing to join us if we are willing to join him. Jesus lightens our darkness so that we may accomplish great things, breaking barriers, climbing walls, impacting the world through Hope and Peace and Grace.

How has Jesus been your lamp in the darkness?

Do you agree that Jesus's teachings are never more helpful than when we are in the midst of pain, struggle, darkness?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 17

Psalm 17

I read the beginning of Psalm 17 where David talks about how no deceit is on his lips and how God finds no wrong in him and I immediately think of Isaiah 6:5 where Isaiah is in the presence of God and says that he is a man of unclean lips and comes from a people of unclean lips, and here is David with clean lips and I begin to wonder if David is seeing himself clearly. The beautiful thing about it is that whether or not David actually has clean lips is of little importance to being accepted by God. God accepts us in whatever manner we come to God as long as we come to God, the actually arrival is the important part.

God literally knows all of our failings, all of our sins, all of the times you and I stooped down low in the much and mire and hung out there for a long time, and yet God still accepts us the moment you or I come. I am the prodigal son who wanted my inheritance and then wasted it and God is the father that comes running. I am the son who stayed and lifted my attendance as overriding the repentance of another and God is still the father who tells me that all he has is mine, I must but ask. You are each of those sons as well, and God is the pursuing and giving father to you as well. So, maybe your lips are clean or maybe they are dirty, whatever state they are in they are welcome.

Have you tried to convince others [God] that you are better than you really are? How did that make you feel?

How have you been the two sons in Jesus's parable from Luke 15?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 16

Psalm 16

The Abbey Psalter translates verse 3 in this way, "He has put into my heart a marvelous love for the faithful ones who dwell in his land."

The chorus of the song The Church by Derek Webb is:

Cause I haven't come for only you

But for my people to pursue

You cannot care for me with no regard for her

If you love me, you will love the church

This is a truth that we all too often overlook, because we claim Jesus yet want nothing to do with the church. The funny [sad] thing about that is that we can't help but be a part of the church independent of whether or not we actually go into a church building. The church is not a building, it does not have a mappable location, it does not have an old nor a catchy name. The church is those people whom God has chosen and in turn have chosen him. Thus, at the moment of turning, we are part of the church.

Unfortunately this in no way prohibits us from attempting to do the whole Jesus follower thing on our own, which was in no way what Jesus hoped for us to do. We are not meant to live in isolation, our culture may suggest this but Jesus does not. We are commanded to love one another, which we can only do when we actually have an other in our lives. We are told that people will know we are Jesus's because of our love, a love that is sacrificial, that is selfless, that is aimed toward the other, a love that is shown through the individual and the community. God called a people in the First Testament and God called a people in the Second Testament, people not persons, ya'll not you.

We are called to this love. We are called to this community. We are called to love this community. Only by loving God, self and neighbor can we fulfill our calling, and only by loving Jesus's bride can we love and be loved by Jesus.

+ What are your views on churches and the church?

+ How do you need to improve your love, your community, and your love of your community?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 15

Psalm 15

David ends this Psalm with some variation of 'those who act this way will never be moved,' which shows you that his understanding of humanity was occasionally lacking. Both the blameless and the wicked sway from time to time, and most people who may now be blameless one day weren't. The whole concept of repentance is based on the 'turning' of a person, from one who did not recognize their sins to being one who both recognizes and regrets their former deeds. If we did not move from how we were we would never be found in God's tent.

Speaking of God's tent, have you ever noticed God's road-trip mentality? The Israelites were a people on the move, until they were forced to stay in one place and then became a people on the move until they entered a promised land but then became a people on the move again and again until David asked for and Solomon built a temple, placing God in a place and restricting who could enter into God's area and who could not. We also restrict God to a place, we just call it a church instead of a temple, but much like God showed in the tearing of the veil, God is not restricted, no matter how much we may prefer God to be.

+ Take a moment to reflect on how you were before you 'turned' toward God just so you can adequately praise God for all he has done in your life.

+ How have you restricted God? How has God revealed God's own freedom to you?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 14

So as not to infringe copyright I will be posting a link to the Psalm. I will be posting the NRSV link since it comes pretty close to what the Abbey Psalter uses, but feel free to change it to whatever version you prefer, after all it is not the exact words I am trying to get at but rather the purpose behind those words.

Psalm 14

I think that we often have the same problem that David does, we speak way too often in generalities. He starts this Psalm off by calling those who say 'that there is no god' fools, and some of you [or most] may agree with him, but the fact of the matter is that those who have chosen against our beliefs often do so for very logical reasons. One of the authors I read often talks about being in conversation with atheists and asks them about the God they don't believe in, he relays that often by the end of the conversation he will say, 'I don't believe in that God either.' Then he goes into the God he does believe in, by listening to them, by giving them space he is in turn given space, given the right to share his thoughts. Unfortunately many of us are never given that space, that chance, because we never give the space, that chance to anyone else.

I have, for lack of a better word, a tagline that I hold that encompasses what I believe the church should be about, it is Real Faith, Real People, Real Love. Real Faith allows space for questions to be asked, for people to struggle, it is in no means a blind faith, This is because too often what we preach and what we require is blindness, whereas Jesus claimed that he came to give sight to the blind. We decide where God can speak and how God can speak and what God can speak about, when we need to realize that God speaks wherever, however, whenever God chooses to speak and we must have 'ears to hear.' It is this blind faith that people often rebel against, and we call them fools for it, perhaps we are the fools who are too scared that God cannot handle X and they are the smart ones who call us out on it. Our God is big enough for any subject, any conversation, any disagreement.

+ How do you view atheists and those who follow other religions? Is it a view that is congruent with Jesus's call for us to love our neighbor as ourselves?

+ In what way(s) do you have a blind faith? In what way(s) do you have a Real Faith?

+ Do you think that it is your job to protect God? If so how can you begin to let God be God instead?

The Heart's Cry: Psalm 13

Psalm 13

How long O Lord will you forget me
How long will you hid your face
How long must I bear grief in my soul
this sorrow in my heart day and night
How long shall my enemy prevail

Look at me answer me Lord my God
Give light to my eyes lest I fall asleep in death
Lest my enemy say I have overcome him
lest my foes rejoice to see my fall

As for me I trust in your merciful love
Let my heart rejoice in your saving help
Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me
singing psalms to the name of the Lord the Most High

There isn't much in life that is more disheartening than the silence of God. Those moments when you reach out in faith and in hope and are meet with a deafening nothing. Those moments deeply hurt, but what if there is something more behind the silence?

What if we hear nothing because we don't listen in the first place?

What if there is silence because we are not asking the right questions?

What if there is no response because we aren't willing to follow the response if it was given?

What if we simply don't want the answer to the questions we are asking?

There are plenty of times in my life when someone gives me the answer and it makes me mad. There are times when I ask the wrong question from the wrong perspective to the wrong person. There are times when I seek God's intervention when God is waiting on mine. There are times when I am only willing to hear the response I demand, and if there are responses outside of whatever criteria I have at the moment I simply discard the response. And so, sometimes, there is silence and it hurts.

Then the question becomes, what do we do next? David heard the silence and wondered how long the silence would continue, but he still ends the Psalm trusting in God's love, rejoicing in God's help, singing for God's goodness, singing for God's mightiness. When I was in speech class in high school I was given a paper that had a quote by Charles Swindoll, which talked about 10% of life being what happens to you and 90% of life being about your reaction to it. If that is the case the silence is only 10% but what we do in response is the game changer.

+ How do you view the silence of God?

+ How do you respond to the silence of God?