Third Sunday In Lent
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Isaiah 55:1-9 (C)
We'll resist the temptation to preach on the RSV version of verse 2b: "Delight yourselves in fatness." The whole passage first uses the analogy that the ingredients of a spiritually nourished life are free to all who wish to partake. Isaiah hears God promising that a new covenant is offered to the people, one in which the people may have a satisfying new life with all their sins forgiven. Even the "wicked" and the "unrighteous man" may be recipients of this grand promise. Even of the worst, Isaiah is saying: "Let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." While these words were specifically addressed to the Jewish community of the time, we certainly read them with a far wider application, extending to anyone who, having drifted away for one reason or another, decides to "return to the Lord." There's the sermon, it seems to me. God will forgive us whatever it is we may have said or done if we will return. If there's a catch to all of this, it lies in the definition of that word "return." I believe it implies repentance, and a desire to change our ways, to live in faithfulness henceforth, to the ways of the Lord.
Lesson 1: Exodus 3:1-8 (RC); Exodus 3:1-15 (E)
This familiar and much loved story of Moses and the "burning bush" tells us a great deal about the ancient Hebrew concept of the nature and ways of God -- and a great deal about God in the present as well. Bernhard Anderson writes that "The story of Moses' encounter with the 'God of the fathers' and of the mighty struggle that this strange meeting precipitated within him is one of the masterpieces of the Old Testament. It should be read with religious imagination and empathy, as one would read a piece of poetry, for it communicates a dimension of meaning that cannot be cramped into the limits of precise prose."
We are shortsighted if we worry about whether there was, in fact, a burning bush. Moses undoubtedly saw with a higher, inner vision, not with mere visual sight. Any place is holy ground if we perceive God's presence. Moses was in a time of personal crisis, on the run from his home, a man guilty of a crime in the eyes of the authorities. No doubt deeply troubled within, he has suddenly realized God has come to him with a mission. Initially frightened, he receives reassurance that his important mission will not be a lonely one. God will go with Moses. He is to lead the Hebrew people out of their miserable mistreatment, out of their captivity, into a new world of freedom and hopes fulfilled.
Regarding the interesting matter of the "name" for God, Anderson offers this explanation: "In Hebraic thought ... it was believed that the name is filled with mysterious power and significance, for the name represents the innermost self or identity of a person ... Moses' question, then, represented an attempt to know the mystery of the divine nature -- that is, the name of God." Anderson then explains the "name" this way. "In Hebrew I AM is the first person singular of the verb h-w-h (to be, or to happen); YHWH is the third person singular of the same verb -- that is, 'He will be,' or better, 'He causes to be ...' In other words, the question 'Who is God?' would be answered in events that would take place in the future."
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (C, E); 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12 (RC)
Paul resorts here to some very intimidating analogies to make his point. Read literally, he would seem to be saying that God will kill a person, one way or another, if that person isn't rigidly obedient. Being an orthodox believer is no excuse. Those folks who turned from strict obedience to God were strewn across the desert, dead, regardless of their religious fidelity. In one day, 23,000 fell dead, many by snakes. Also, Paul threw in the fact that God doesn't much like complainers either. All those unfortunate folks were killed by the Angel of Death as a warning to the present generation.
This reminds me of the story about the woman who sent her little boy, we'll call him Harold, off to school in the first grade. Harold, it seems, was rather spoiled at home. Mother sent a letter to the teacher which read like this: "Dear Mrs. Smith: Harold is usually a good little boy. But sometimes, he gets a little bit naughty. Harold is very sensitive, so when he is naughty, if you will just slap the child sitting next to him, Harold will immediately straighten up." It doesn't seem quite fair that God would have killed all those people as a warning to those who would come later. My own theology leads me to believe that those deaths were the result of a variety of causes, including natural causes, as well as the unpredictable dangers of the desert, and no doubt, some of the riotous life styles of some. Since the Corinthians were well known for that sort of thing, it appears that Paul was resorting to some very dire warnings in an effort to convince those folks of the seriousness of their misdeeds.
What this does say to us is that we must understand that the mere fact one is a "Christian," by which we mean one has touched all the bases of church membership, as it were, has said all the right things, signed on the dotted line as old Leslie Weatherhead used to say, does not comply with the wishes of God. Of course Paul seemed to think that history was about to end which we know isn't and wasn't true. But nonetheless, Paul would urge that we always monitor our conduct, our life styles, so as to be sure that we are obedient to God's will as much as in us lies. There will be temptations. But there will be no temptation beyond our individual abilities to resist.
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 (C, RC, E)
After first reminding his listeners that there are severe consequences for sinful conduct, Jesus then uses as a parable the analogy of a fig tree. The ground in this area was shallow, barely rich enough and deep enough to permit the raising of trees such as this. Not all trees produced their expected fruit, and when one was clearly unproductive it was the custom to cut it down. In the parable, Jesus supposes a man to have such a tree, and the tree having been unproductive for three years, the man orders his gardener to cut it down. But the gardener believes in that old tree. He asks permission to try for one more season to enrich the soil in an effort to save the tree. Were he to succeed, the tree would be saved. If it did not prove fruitful then, well, cut it down.
Jesus was using that fig tree as a symbol for you and me. The gardener was Jesus I presume, and the owner was probably God. That's something of a stretch since Jesus and God are inseparable. Anyway, the point seems to be that we are here on this earth to be productive. If we are not, if we think to treat ourselves to all the riches of the earth, and of this life in general without giving back, we're in for an unpleasant surprise. However, God will not act impulsively. The owner of the tree had given that tree three chances. And when asked, had agreed to yet another. My mind jumps to Jesus' reply to Peter when Peter asked how many times he must forgive. Jesus had said, not seven times, but seventy times seven. I think this parable must be held in light of that other promise.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Coming Home"
Text: Isaiah 55:1-9
Theme: I have always loved William Wordsworth's poetry, especially some of the lines from his Intimations Of Immortality. "Trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home ..." he wrote. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy" and "our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting." Is it possible that every one of us in some deep recess of our souls, yearns for something we can't quite remember, yet can't quite forget? Do you have fleeting moments when you can almost recall a beauty from a distant past. J. B. Priestly once wrote "There is something within me which will not rest until it sees paradise." Could that something be a universal human yearning, one which, all too often, send us off in all sorts of wrong directions, seeking to find what may, we hope, lie just beyond our vision?
Wordsworth also wrote this:
There was a time when meadow, grove and stream,
The earth, and every common sight, to me did seem
Appareled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
But the years go by. We immerse ourselves in the competitive demands of chosen vocations, of schools, of down-sizing corporations, of demanding professions, of sweat-stained labor, until the time comes when we no longer see the beauty of the simple world:
It is not now, as it hath been of yore; --
Turn whereso'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
The true fulfillment of our many earthly yearnings is not to be found in the things around us, but in our closeness to God. But we have lost a sense of where to turn. We go here and there in an effort to make our way home. And now Isaiah beckons us, assuring us that if we wish, we may find our way there. Jesus would show us the way.
1. There are consequences to our conduct -- and our misconduct. While we no longer believe that God hands out punishment in proportion to our wrongs in this life, we do suspect we aren't going to get away scot free either, unless we do certain things. Perhaps we inflict our own punishment in some ways. One recent survey reported that though there are twice as many material things to buy as in 1985, and though our incomes and spending habits reflect this increase, yet the number of people reporting that they are happy is exactly what it was then. We're looking in the wrong place. Newsweek reported the terrible situation faced by the people of Plano, Texas, where seventeen high school students there have died of heroin overdoses in the past couple of years. Every action has a reaction. Every wrongful word or deed has a consequence, and we can only blame God in the sense that God created a world in which this is true.
2. God will forgive our wrongs, even the terrible ones, and welcomes us to return. But there are worldly consequences to our sins.
3. To "return" involves repentance. This in turn involves sorrow for wrongs and for the pain we may have caused, self-admission of our responsibility, and a willingness to turn in a new direction, the one God would have us go. Just saying the right words in church is not the answer. To "return" requires that I make the effort, even though I frequently fall short, to be what God wants me to be, and am willing to go to God in genuine remorse when I do fall short.
Title: "The Promise Of God"
Text: 1 Corinthians10:13
Theme: We will all face a variety of temptations in this life. That's part of being human. And there will be disappointments of many kinds as well. It goes with the territory, as my former colleagues in the selling field used to say. In truth, we'd be namby-pamby little people if by some mysterious turn of fortune we did make it through without troubles. However, there are troubles and then there are troubles. There are those we can't avoid even with the best of intentions. But there are many, maybe even most of them, which we could have avoided. Either way, though, God seems to understand us with all our foibles and hangups, and loves us anyway. But having said that, we do well to remind ourselves that however much we may pull the wool over other people's eyes, God knows exactly what we're thinking. God knows how serious we are about doing what's right. As long as we are doing a sincere job of that, God will help us. Paul assured us of that and Paul should know.
1. We all face problems, some of them serious. "Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people."
2. God will help us -- if we call on God. Paul didn't quite say that, but it is in faithfulness to God that we have the relationship by which God can help us. No matter how much you may love someone, you can't help that person if he refuses your help -- as every parent soon learns.
3. How ever severe the test, God won't let you be lost. Furthermore, in due time, you will be enabled to find "a way out."
Title: "Each Of Us Has A Life's Mission"
Text: Luke 13:6-9
Theme: The parable of the fig tree contains both assurance and warning. It was surely meant to warn us against living selfishly, making no real contribution with our lives. We may have many different theories about the ultimate meaning of human existence -- we'll leave that for the theologian-philosophers. But of one thing we can be sure: each of us is here to contribute to the common good, and to contribute to the good of those individuals who are part of our daily lives.
1. Each of us has a mission of one sort or another. We know that Jesus indicated that God measures us according to the gifts we have been given and the opportunities before us. We may be all created equal in the sense that God loves each one of us, but we are far from equal in human terms. The previous chapter quotes Jesus with these words: "Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given" (Luke 12:48). In Matthew 25f we read the story of the three servants and their gold coins.
2. God is patient with us in this. It takes many people a long time to find their place in life. One recent study revealed that many of the world's greatest people were into their thirties, or even later, before they found their niche. That's okay. But somehow, we are to give back. God isn't interested in how "successful" we are, certainly not in our material prosperity. What does matter is that we use what we have been given as individuals for others.
3. The unproductive life, the life of the person who goes along taking, thinking only of self, wanting to consume without caring about the consequences of such a life will regret that. That's essentially what Jesus was saying: if you eventually find a way to contribute to your world and to those whom life has placed in your way, then fine -- "if not, then you can have it cut down," Jesus quoted the gardener.
4. The result of a productive life will be, among other things, personal fulfillment. If we are sincere in our work we will find that elusive sense of worth and satisfaction with self which so many people never really know.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
"Ultimate concern with 'success' and with social standing and economic power ... is the god of many people in the highly competitive Western culture and it does what every ultimate concern must do; it demands unconditional surrender to its laws even if the price is the sacrifice of genuine human relations, personal conviction, and creative Eros."
-- Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith
____________
A young man named Martin played basketball at Purdue where he led the team to two Big Ten championships. He became their tenth highest scorer before going on to play professional basketball. Then he began to lose weight. Feeling unaccountably weak, he went to a doctor and learned that he has lymphoma -- cancer. Recently, the 26-year-old Martin was interviewed by a reporter from The Indianapolis Star at his home where he lives with his wife and four-month-old son. The interviewer quoted Martin: "A lot of people ask, 'Why me?' I say, 'Why not me?' I'm visible, I'm a Christian man, and maybe I can reach out to people in how I deal with this thing."
Isn't that how a Christian is supposed to face life's difficulties? Martin shows courage, determination, and most of all, faith.
____________
In the final scene of a play, a man is to be seen center stage, his room in darkness except for the spotlight on his face. His family has left him. He has no friends. His life is over, he's alone. And his final words are these as the light grows dim: "At least I have the satisfaction of knowing I was right."
____________
There was a play on Broadway titled Merrily We Roll Along, which told the story of the life of Richard Miles, a successful playwright. It reports his life in reverse, opening with a scene which shows him as successful though greatly disliked for his shameful, degrading life style. Succeeding scenes showed Miles as a younger, more admirable man. Finally, the closing scene shows his college commencement ceremony at which he was valedictorian. His closing line was this: "Lastly, this I have learned. I have learned to value ideals above all else. Let them be our heritage, our guiding force." How subtly we can give in, bit by bit, to the temptations of life until, hardly realizing what is happening, we could become like that playwright.
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 63:1-8 -- "O God, thou art my God."
Prayer Of The Day
Deliver us we pray from the emptiness of the unproductive life. Reveal to us the direction you would have us go, the way in which we are to serve. Grant us fulfillment in our chosen work, O God, as we try to honor you in what we do. In Jesus' name we pray.
Lesson 1: Isaiah 55:1-9 (C)
We'll resist the temptation to preach on the RSV version of verse 2b: "Delight yourselves in fatness." The whole passage first uses the analogy that the ingredients of a spiritually nourished life are free to all who wish to partake. Isaiah hears God promising that a new covenant is offered to the people, one in which the people may have a satisfying new life with all their sins forgiven. Even the "wicked" and the "unrighteous man" may be recipients of this grand promise. Even of the worst, Isaiah is saying: "Let him return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." While these words were specifically addressed to the Jewish community of the time, we certainly read them with a far wider application, extending to anyone who, having drifted away for one reason or another, decides to "return to the Lord." There's the sermon, it seems to me. God will forgive us whatever it is we may have said or done if we will return. If there's a catch to all of this, it lies in the definition of that word "return." I believe it implies repentance, and a desire to change our ways, to live in faithfulness henceforth, to the ways of the Lord.
Lesson 1: Exodus 3:1-8 (RC); Exodus 3:1-15 (E)
This familiar and much loved story of Moses and the "burning bush" tells us a great deal about the ancient Hebrew concept of the nature and ways of God -- and a great deal about God in the present as well. Bernhard Anderson writes that "The story of Moses' encounter with the 'God of the fathers' and of the mighty struggle that this strange meeting precipitated within him is one of the masterpieces of the Old Testament. It should be read with religious imagination and empathy, as one would read a piece of poetry, for it communicates a dimension of meaning that cannot be cramped into the limits of precise prose."
We are shortsighted if we worry about whether there was, in fact, a burning bush. Moses undoubtedly saw with a higher, inner vision, not with mere visual sight. Any place is holy ground if we perceive God's presence. Moses was in a time of personal crisis, on the run from his home, a man guilty of a crime in the eyes of the authorities. No doubt deeply troubled within, he has suddenly realized God has come to him with a mission. Initially frightened, he receives reassurance that his important mission will not be a lonely one. God will go with Moses. He is to lead the Hebrew people out of their miserable mistreatment, out of their captivity, into a new world of freedom and hopes fulfilled.
Regarding the interesting matter of the "name" for God, Anderson offers this explanation: "In Hebraic thought ... it was believed that the name is filled with mysterious power and significance, for the name represents the innermost self or identity of a person ... Moses' question, then, represented an attempt to know the mystery of the divine nature -- that is, the name of God." Anderson then explains the "name" this way. "In Hebrew I AM is the first person singular of the verb h-w-h (to be, or to happen); YHWH is the third person singular of the same verb -- that is, 'He will be,' or better, 'He causes to be ...' In other words, the question 'Who is God?' would be answered in events that would take place in the future."
Lesson 2: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (C, E); 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12 (RC)
Paul resorts here to some very intimidating analogies to make his point. Read literally, he would seem to be saying that God will kill a person, one way or another, if that person isn't rigidly obedient. Being an orthodox believer is no excuse. Those folks who turned from strict obedience to God were strewn across the desert, dead, regardless of their religious fidelity. In one day, 23,000 fell dead, many by snakes. Also, Paul threw in the fact that God doesn't much like complainers either. All those unfortunate folks were killed by the Angel of Death as a warning to the present generation.
This reminds me of the story about the woman who sent her little boy, we'll call him Harold, off to school in the first grade. Harold, it seems, was rather spoiled at home. Mother sent a letter to the teacher which read like this: "Dear Mrs. Smith: Harold is usually a good little boy. But sometimes, he gets a little bit naughty. Harold is very sensitive, so when he is naughty, if you will just slap the child sitting next to him, Harold will immediately straighten up." It doesn't seem quite fair that God would have killed all those people as a warning to those who would come later. My own theology leads me to believe that those deaths were the result of a variety of causes, including natural causes, as well as the unpredictable dangers of the desert, and no doubt, some of the riotous life styles of some. Since the Corinthians were well known for that sort of thing, it appears that Paul was resorting to some very dire warnings in an effort to convince those folks of the seriousness of their misdeeds.
What this does say to us is that we must understand that the mere fact one is a "Christian," by which we mean one has touched all the bases of church membership, as it were, has said all the right things, signed on the dotted line as old Leslie Weatherhead used to say, does not comply with the wishes of God. Of course Paul seemed to think that history was about to end which we know isn't and wasn't true. But nonetheless, Paul would urge that we always monitor our conduct, our life styles, so as to be sure that we are obedient to God's will as much as in us lies. There will be temptations. But there will be no temptation beyond our individual abilities to resist.
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 (C, RC, E)
After first reminding his listeners that there are severe consequences for sinful conduct, Jesus then uses as a parable the analogy of a fig tree. The ground in this area was shallow, barely rich enough and deep enough to permit the raising of trees such as this. Not all trees produced their expected fruit, and when one was clearly unproductive it was the custom to cut it down. In the parable, Jesus supposes a man to have such a tree, and the tree having been unproductive for three years, the man orders his gardener to cut it down. But the gardener believes in that old tree. He asks permission to try for one more season to enrich the soil in an effort to save the tree. Were he to succeed, the tree would be saved. If it did not prove fruitful then, well, cut it down.
Jesus was using that fig tree as a symbol for you and me. The gardener was Jesus I presume, and the owner was probably God. That's something of a stretch since Jesus and God are inseparable. Anyway, the point seems to be that we are here on this earth to be productive. If we are not, if we think to treat ourselves to all the riches of the earth, and of this life in general without giving back, we're in for an unpleasant surprise. However, God will not act impulsively. The owner of the tree had given that tree three chances. And when asked, had agreed to yet another. My mind jumps to Jesus' reply to Peter when Peter asked how many times he must forgive. Jesus had said, not seven times, but seventy times seven. I think this parable must be held in light of that other promise.
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "Coming Home"
Text: Isaiah 55:1-9
Theme: I have always loved William Wordsworth's poetry, especially some of the lines from his Intimations Of Immortality. "Trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home ..." he wrote. "Heaven lies about us in our infancy" and "our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting." Is it possible that every one of us in some deep recess of our souls, yearns for something we can't quite remember, yet can't quite forget? Do you have fleeting moments when you can almost recall a beauty from a distant past. J. B. Priestly once wrote "There is something within me which will not rest until it sees paradise." Could that something be a universal human yearning, one which, all too often, send us off in all sorts of wrong directions, seeking to find what may, we hope, lie just beyond our vision?
Wordsworth also wrote this:
There was a time when meadow, grove and stream,
The earth, and every common sight, to me did seem
Appareled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
But the years go by. We immerse ourselves in the competitive demands of chosen vocations, of schools, of down-sizing corporations, of demanding professions, of sweat-stained labor, until the time comes when we no longer see the beauty of the simple world:
It is not now, as it hath been of yore; --
Turn whereso'er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
The true fulfillment of our many earthly yearnings is not to be found in the things around us, but in our closeness to God. But we have lost a sense of where to turn. We go here and there in an effort to make our way home. And now Isaiah beckons us, assuring us that if we wish, we may find our way there. Jesus would show us the way.
1. There are consequences to our conduct -- and our misconduct. While we no longer believe that God hands out punishment in proportion to our wrongs in this life, we do suspect we aren't going to get away scot free either, unless we do certain things. Perhaps we inflict our own punishment in some ways. One recent survey reported that though there are twice as many material things to buy as in 1985, and though our incomes and spending habits reflect this increase, yet the number of people reporting that they are happy is exactly what it was then. We're looking in the wrong place. Newsweek reported the terrible situation faced by the people of Plano, Texas, where seventeen high school students there have died of heroin overdoses in the past couple of years. Every action has a reaction. Every wrongful word or deed has a consequence, and we can only blame God in the sense that God created a world in which this is true.
2. God will forgive our wrongs, even the terrible ones, and welcomes us to return. But there are worldly consequences to our sins.
3. To "return" involves repentance. This in turn involves sorrow for wrongs and for the pain we may have caused, self-admission of our responsibility, and a willingness to turn in a new direction, the one God would have us go. Just saying the right words in church is not the answer. To "return" requires that I make the effort, even though I frequently fall short, to be what God wants me to be, and am willing to go to God in genuine remorse when I do fall short.
Title: "The Promise Of God"
Text: 1 Corinthians10:13
Theme: We will all face a variety of temptations in this life. That's part of being human. And there will be disappointments of many kinds as well. It goes with the territory, as my former colleagues in the selling field used to say. In truth, we'd be namby-pamby little people if by some mysterious turn of fortune we did make it through without troubles. However, there are troubles and then there are troubles. There are those we can't avoid even with the best of intentions. But there are many, maybe even most of them, which we could have avoided. Either way, though, God seems to understand us with all our foibles and hangups, and loves us anyway. But having said that, we do well to remind ourselves that however much we may pull the wool over other people's eyes, God knows exactly what we're thinking. God knows how serious we are about doing what's right. As long as we are doing a sincere job of that, God will help us. Paul assured us of that and Paul should know.
1. We all face problems, some of them serious. "Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people."
2. God will help us -- if we call on God. Paul didn't quite say that, but it is in faithfulness to God that we have the relationship by which God can help us. No matter how much you may love someone, you can't help that person if he refuses your help -- as every parent soon learns.
3. How ever severe the test, God won't let you be lost. Furthermore, in due time, you will be enabled to find "a way out."
Title: "Each Of Us Has A Life's Mission"
Text: Luke 13:6-9
Theme: The parable of the fig tree contains both assurance and warning. It was surely meant to warn us against living selfishly, making no real contribution with our lives. We may have many different theories about the ultimate meaning of human existence -- we'll leave that for the theologian-philosophers. But of one thing we can be sure: each of us is here to contribute to the common good, and to contribute to the good of those individuals who are part of our daily lives.
1. Each of us has a mission of one sort or another. We know that Jesus indicated that God measures us according to the gifts we have been given and the opportunities before us. We may be all created equal in the sense that God loves each one of us, but we are far from equal in human terms. The previous chapter quotes Jesus with these words: "Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given" (Luke 12:48). In Matthew 25f we read the story of the three servants and their gold coins.
2. God is patient with us in this. It takes many people a long time to find their place in life. One recent study revealed that many of the world's greatest people were into their thirties, or even later, before they found their niche. That's okay. But somehow, we are to give back. God isn't interested in how "successful" we are, certainly not in our material prosperity. What does matter is that we use what we have been given as individuals for others.
3. The unproductive life, the life of the person who goes along taking, thinking only of self, wanting to consume without caring about the consequences of such a life will regret that. That's essentially what Jesus was saying: if you eventually find a way to contribute to your world and to those whom life has placed in your way, then fine -- "if not, then you can have it cut down," Jesus quoted the gardener.
4. The result of a productive life will be, among other things, personal fulfillment. If we are sincere in our work we will find that elusive sense of worth and satisfaction with self which so many people never really know.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
"Ultimate concern with 'success' and with social standing and economic power ... is the god of many people in the highly competitive Western culture and it does what every ultimate concern must do; it demands unconditional surrender to its laws even if the price is the sacrifice of genuine human relations, personal conviction, and creative Eros."
-- Paul Tillich, Dynamics of Faith
____________
A young man named Martin played basketball at Purdue where he led the team to two Big Ten championships. He became their tenth highest scorer before going on to play professional basketball. Then he began to lose weight. Feeling unaccountably weak, he went to a doctor and learned that he has lymphoma -- cancer. Recently, the 26-year-old Martin was interviewed by a reporter from The Indianapolis Star at his home where he lives with his wife and four-month-old son. The interviewer quoted Martin: "A lot of people ask, 'Why me?' I say, 'Why not me?' I'm visible, I'm a Christian man, and maybe I can reach out to people in how I deal with this thing."
Isn't that how a Christian is supposed to face life's difficulties? Martin shows courage, determination, and most of all, faith.
____________
In the final scene of a play, a man is to be seen center stage, his room in darkness except for the spotlight on his face. His family has left him. He has no friends. His life is over, he's alone. And his final words are these as the light grows dim: "At least I have the satisfaction of knowing I was right."
____________
There was a play on Broadway titled Merrily We Roll Along, which told the story of the life of Richard Miles, a successful playwright. It reports his life in reverse, opening with a scene which shows him as successful though greatly disliked for his shameful, degrading life style. Succeeding scenes showed Miles as a younger, more admirable man. Finally, the closing scene shows his college commencement ceremony at which he was valedictorian. His closing line was this: "Lastly, this I have learned. I have learned to value ideals above all else. Let them be our heritage, our guiding force." How subtly we can give in, bit by bit, to the temptations of life until, hardly realizing what is happening, we could become like that playwright.
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 63:1-8 -- "O God, thou art my God."
Prayer Of The Day
Deliver us we pray from the emptiness of the unproductive life. Reveal to us the direction you would have us go, the way in which we are to serve. Grant us fulfillment in our chosen work, O God, as we try to honor you in what we do. In Jesus' name we pray.
