Wednesday, September 28, 2022
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Let my prayer come before you, Lord
Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
Jesus made his way through Galilee and Judea, and I wonder, would I have followed him, given up my work and family to be with Jesus? Even with his followers, Jesus was often alone. He found his way into God’s embrace every day. He listened to him and watched the world around him, learning all the time. I can imagine Jesus might have written this poem:
Autumn Goodness
Today, the Immense Goodness spewed from the depths
like juice from a fully ripe piece of fruit
on the tip of God’s tongue
so close I can touch it
see it, smell it
experience its transition
as another leaf falls and
others deepen their hue before my eyes
if dying can be so beautiful
then let me die also
perfect imperfection of individuality
I too yearn to be an instrument of love
past and future converge in the present
never stopping, but pausing to notice
that God is here among us   – by Clarence Heller
Where do we go from here? A tree sits quietly in its home and does not move as its leaves fall dead to the ground, year after year. It can easily be abused by those of us who move about. Shel Silverstein called his “the giving tree.” He knew how selfish and unknowing he could be, taking advantage. The Messiah? Moving about? Can he bring healing and wisdom instead of struggle and strife? His Franciscan and Jesuit messengers centuries later brought contagion and plague upon those they hoped to help. Surely Jesus did much better than that.
Daily I call upon you, O Lord, to you I stretch out my hands. Will you work wonders for the dead? Will the shades arise to give you thanks? Are your wonders made known in the darkness, or your justice in the hand of oblivion. With my morning prayer I wait upon you. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
The psalmist was sarcastic, baiting God. Jesus did much better than that, he asked the same questions but in hope and not despair. When he asked his Abba to light the darkness and bring justice “in the land of oblivion,” Abba listened and filled Jesus with the power to heal.
In Jesus’ wake I need not hesitate, as Job did. His respect for God bordered on intimidation, to my New Testament ear.
How can a man be justified before God? Should I wish to contend with him, I could not answer him once in a thousand times. Who has withstood God and remained unscathed?
My friend suggested that in the death and resurrection of Jesus, God “used up all his wrath.” What a wonderful way to describe the change Jesus brought, the gift of the Spirit he shared with us all.
God alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea. He does great things past finding out, marvelous things beyond reckoning. I shall not choose out arguments against him. Even though I were right, I could not answer him, but should rather beg for what was due me.
On Sunday our pastor Matt Cassidy quoted Martin Luther when he said, “All of life is repentance.” And so, Matt pointed out, the other side of the coin is that “all of life is forgiveness.” These days after Jesus, God is safe to listen and love me, always ready to forgive and receive me, in all my deepest fault.
So when is the last time you repented? One always comes before two.
 (Job 9, Psalm 88, Philippians 3, Luke 9)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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