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Don't Bury Tomorrow

Genesis 45:25-28 “Don’t get your hopes up.” That’s something you’ve probably heard before. Maybe it’s advice you’ve given to someone. Usually, we mean well when we say that, because we don’t want someone to be disappointed by how things will most likely turn out. But if you hear it enough, “don’t get your hopes up” can become a way of life. Don’t expect too much. Don’t get too excited. Don’t believe things can change. That way, if things do fall apart, at least it won’t hurt as much. Like many of us, Jacob knew that kind of hurt. For years, he believed his son Joseph was dead. He had grieved him, mourned him, and learned to live with a hole in his life. So, years later, when his sons returned from Egypt, saying, “Joseph is still alive!” Jacob couldn’t believe them. Some translations of the Genesis text say that his heart became numb. He was stunned. Of course, that was something hard to believe, but I also wonder if Jacob had also been hurt too deeply to risk even hoping again. Then he...
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Temporary Candidates

  Isaiah 43:10-13 Cell phones are great. Except during election season. I've lost count of how many calls and text messages I've received from potential candidates. Each one is sure that this is the most important election in our history. Theirs is the most important. And, apparently, my opinion is extremely valuable. They want my vote. They want to know what issues matter to me. They want to convince me that they're the right person for the job. And choosing the right people matters. Still, I can't help but laugh at the thought that somewhere, someone is staring at a poll, trying to figure out what the rest of us want to hear. In Isaiah 43, God doesn't work that way. God isn't running for reelection. Through the prophet, God says, “Indeed, since that day I am he; there is no one who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can hinder it?” It's not arrogance when you're God. That should be our reassurance. Isaiah is talking to people whose circumstances...
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Don't Make it Harder

  Acts 15:6-11 In my denomination, being ordained involves a process. Truthfully, it can be long and grueling. There are meetings, evaluations, papers, interviews, projects, and plenty of waiting. My process went pretty smoothly, but there are many stories. One criticism I've heard about the process, one I agree with, isn't really about the requirements. It's about an attitude. Apparently, parts of the process used to be even more difficult. And sometimes people who endured the old system want to ensure the next person has an equally difficult experience. You've probably encountered that attitude. Nobody gave me a break, so why should I give you one? Acts 15 describes a different form of this problem. Some Jewish Christians believed that Gentile believers should take on the requirements and customs that had defined their own religious lives. They essentially said, "If you're going to follow Jesus, you need to carry what we've carried." Peter didn't...
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A Holy Mess

  Psalm 133 A bearded friend welcomed me to the beard club. There are organizations, special events, and an entire culture around having beards. That was also my introduction to beard oil, and I learned it can be a little messy. It's funny to me that Psalm 133 uses oil on a beard as an image of unity for God's people. As much as we all want unity, we aren't always sure how to make it. But we will affirm that it is "very good and pleasant" when we have it. According to the psalm, unity is like oil. Now, not just any oil you might find me using. It is the precious oil poured over Aaron’s head at his anointing. It runs down his beard, down his clothing, all the way to the collar of his robes. Beautiful and messy, if you ask me. Aaron’s priestly garments carried two onyx stones on the shoulders, engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, “as a reminder.” In other words, Aaron didn’t come before God alone. He carried everybody with him. And that’s where Go...
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Unmistakable Worship

  Revelation 15:1-4 Look for "Unmistakable Worship" on Another John Dot Com My music app suggested a brand-new song for me. I didn’t recognize the artist, and I didn't know what kind of music he usually made. The song was good, but I couldn’t tell whether it was worship directed toward God or a love song directed toward a sweetheart. It could have gone either way. Revelation 15 doesn't have that confusion. John sees the faithful standing beside “a sea of glass mixed with fire.” They have endured the beast’s violence without surrendering their allegiance. When they begin to sing, there is no mistaking who the song is about: “Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God the Almighty!” Technically, these singers aren’t angels. They are the saints who have “conquered” the beast, not by overpowering it, but by refusing to become like it. Revelation worship redefines winning. In the empire, victory belongs to whoever has the strongest army. In the Lamb’s kingdom, victory belo...
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So Much for Smooth Sailing

  Matthew 8:23-27 Unfortunately, you don't know how much you trust Jesus until you really have to. That’s because it’s easy to sing about trusting Jesus when the boat isn’t sinking. In Matthew 8, the disciples follow Jesus into a boat, and along the way, the weather gets bad. Matthew calls it a “great storm" as waves are crashing over the boat. The disciples are panicking. And not-so-little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. Now, some of these disciples were fishermen. They knew how bad storms could get. So, the surprise may not have been the storm itself. What frightened them was that Jesus didn’t seem nearly as concerned about it as they were. “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” I wonder how many of our prayers are some version of that. Jesus, don’t you see what’s happening? Don’t you care? Why aren’t you doing something? And Jesus responds with his own question: “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Of course, Jesus doesn’t suggest there is no storm. Because of wh...
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A Lot of Lingering

  Genesis 19: 15-23 Three little words may tell us more about Lot than a whole biography could, and maybe even something about ourselves. “But he lingered.” God had told Lot to leave Sodom. The warning was simple: Get your family. Get out. And don't look back. But Lot lingered. A common interpretation of that is that Lot got a lot more comfortable. So, maybe he lingered because he thought about the house he'd worked for. He thought about the possessions he'd accumulated. There were familiar streets and familiar faces. Come to think of it, Sodom was a mess, but it was his mess. The Bible doesn't tell us why Lot lingered. Maybe that's an invitation for us to fill in the blank with our own answer. But not about Lot. What makes you linger? You see, we tend to think that only bad things have hold of us. But can't good things also be something we're not so willing to let go of? Comfortable things can keep you from being faithful to God's calling, too. That...
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