if a house is divided

Monday, January 24, 2011
St. Francis de Sales, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (Memorial)

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 9:15, 24-28 Psalm 98:1-6 Mark 3:22-30

Mark 3:25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

There is something about the human spirit that simply will not yield to another. We must be right, we must be first, we must be best. This even shows up in religion. We convince ourselves that we are fighting the good fight and that we are battling to defend the truth and lead others to the truth, and in fact we do have to battle lies and deceptions. But do we check ourselves to make sure that we are not fighting against the truth? Do we check ourselves to make sure that we are not fighting against Christ himself?

Before we shoot our arrows for the Lord, we need to make sure that we are not shooting them at him. Remember, the church is the body of Christ, and when we shoot our arrows at the church, we are shooting them at Christ's body. Let's make sure we are fighting the lies and not the church.

Father, hep me by your Holy Spirit to discern what is true and what are lies and then to make sure that I don't attack your body the church instead of the lies.

Amen

as in the rebellion

Thursday, January 13, 2011 Weekday

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel: Hebrews 3:7-14 Psalm 95:6-11 Mark 1:40-45

Hebrews 3:7-8 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

I can almost imagine hearing the Spirit calling us today as He called in the wilderness. It is tempting today to not trust in God and to trade our faith in Him and His Word for faith in human contrived solutions.It is tempting when things do not appear to be going the way we think they should to latch on to the next new idea, to try something else, rather than turning back to God's commands and His wisdom.

It didn't go well for those that did not trust God in the wilderness and I fear it will not go well for us either if we do not turn and head The Spirit's call. Our nation faces many difficult situations today and we too easily give up on God and put our hope in men. We must turn back to God or we may be the ones that do not enter into God's rest.

Father, hep me by your Holy Spirit to always seek to do your will, even when things do not look like they are going the way I think they should.

Amen

But we see Jesus

Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Weekday

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

Hebrews 2:5-12 Psalm 8:2, 5-9 Mark 1:21-28

Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one.

I think that we often take for granted the wonders of this creation and of our God. Perhaps it is because we can't see Him directly. Yes, we can see His character and His will in nature and in our own lives, yet we still do not have that tangible piece that we can point to and say there, He is the one that is behind all that I am and all that I aspire to be. He is the one by whom and for whom all creation exists. But, we see Jesus. Jesus is the revelation of God and he is a real man and we can now point to something that is not open for debate or speculation, but is physical and documented in history. He became one of us and in that he has justified our faith. All that we know about God now has a person that we can see and know.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to see all that you are in Jesus and to share that vision and knowledge with those who are suffering and need to see Him.

Amen

they do not know

Friday, January 07, 2011
Weekday

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 5:5-13 Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20 Luke 5:12-16

Psalm 147:20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!

There are many who feel uncomfortable being too "nationalistic" about our Christian faith. We often hear that the truths are contained in other religions as well and that God deals with other nations equally. Well, while we are called to witness and minister to other nations we cannot assume that they have the same truth that we have. We cannot assume that they are even able, in their current condition, to think and reason as we do. God has revealed himself in Christ and this is exclusive. There is no other name by which we must be saved. It is belief in Christ as the son of God that is the sign that we have eternal life.

It is OK to be bold about our faith and to admit that other religions do not have the truth. Not only OK, but imperative. We must be committed to this and not waver. If we give credibility to any other religion that does not claim that Jesus is the son of God and in him alone we have life, then we make God a liar.

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to be fully committed to the truth and to not fear man but You alone.

Amen

You give them something to eat

Tuesday, January 04, 2011
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (Memorial)

First Reading: Psalm: Gospel:

1 John 4:7-10 Psalm 72:1-4, 7-8 Mark 6:34-44

Mark 6:37 But he answered them, "You give them something to eat." And they said to him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?"

I struggle a bit with today's political divide over welfare vs. freedom. In one sense I think that the government is encroaching on our freedoms and creating a class of people who are not free but dependent on the government. On the other hand I am challenged by the call of the scriptures to show mercy and compassion and to feed and care for the poor. How do I reconcile these things?

One thought is that if we fail (as a church) to take care of the poor, the government is more than happy to step in, because it gives them opportunity to take control. It occurs to me that the government, or anybody else for that matter, only takes what we are willing to give. If we fail to take care of the poor and decide to give that responsibility to the government, then we are at fault. It has been said that if all people who consider themselves Christian actually tithed, we would have so much that we could feed the poor and have plenty left over. But we would rather have the government do it. And with that we watch our freedoms being taken from us and even our own faith now is offensive to many.

It is our own hardness that has given the monster government it's power. The way we can take it back is to take responsibility back and do what the Bible calls us to do and not delegate that to others. Jesus said to the disciples when they wanted to send the people away for food "you feed them".

Do we take responsibly or do we give it way?

Father, help me by your Holy Spirit to take responsibility for what you have called me to be and to do and not rely on others to do it for me.

Amen

The Lord bless you

Saturday, January 01, 2011 Octave Day of Christmas: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

First Reading: Psalm: Second Reading: Gospel: Numbers 6:22-27 Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:16-21

Numbers 6:24 The Lord bless you and keep you:

I can't think of a better verse to start off the New Year. One of my favorite parts of the worship service is actually the end. Not because it is over, but because that is when we have the benediction. I love to hear God's blessing on us as we leave the church. In my mind, if we don't get the blessing, the worship is incomplete. Why do we come and what do we hope to receive, if not God's blessing.

Heavenly Father, please give us your Spirit and your blessing as we enter this New Year.

Amen