Day 155: Living Waters

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  John 7:37-38

I feel like these days there are people who are walking around with earplugs when they go to church or listen to the Gospel.

While we are in the midst of praising God and proclaiming God's name, Jesus invites us to come and drink.  The next part of the invitation is key, though.  Those who come to Jesus to drink will themselves become fountains of living water.

Of course, when we read this statement, we need a definition.  What are living waters?  John gives us a good answer, saying that this is the Holy Spirit.  But even then, we can have issues with understanding this because of the fact that we might not know what the Holy Spirit is.

When we think of the Spirit, we should always remember the breath of life, for spirit and breath are one and the same word in Greek and Hebrew.  And the Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of life.  And what is life?  Life can be anything that we make of it, but Jesus has been clear from the beginning that eternal life comes from our faith in him.  Therefore, life is following Jesus.

So, if we are coming to Jesus for a drink, should our fountain of living water look like an outpouring of judgment based on the law of Moses?  Certainly not!  As Paul has said, the law reveals death.  Jesus, on the other hand, shows us life.  Jesus, the preacher and manifestation of love, is life.  We cannot forget that fact.  Jesus is the fulfillment of everything we do.  All of our worship, all our prayers, our reading, our preaching, our listening, our learning, our understanding points to Jesus.  Everything points to God's unconditional love for us.

When we go to Jesus for a drink of water, we will begin our transformation, much like a detox diet.  We will start to drink of this life giving water which will cleanse us both inside and out.  Then, through our transformation, we will start to become a fountain of love.  We will know that we are drinking of this fountain, for that will be when we are showing our love forth throughout all of the pain and suffering that exists in the world.  As Christians, we can only claim to be followers of Jesus Christ if we are becoming fountains of Jesus' love.  Otherwise, we are just pedants, proclaiming and sealing ourselves in hatred that closes in on us until we die both in body and spirit.  We need the Holy Spirit.  We need life.  We need love. 

Day 130: True Faith

"If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."  James 2:15-17

Here is a sharp way of putting this message.  Unfortunately, this same issue still applies today.

With the rise of social media becoming platforms for people to project all their feelings, including support and denunciations, there have been some ideas that have become quite popular.  One of these that has been getting lots of backlash from secularists is the notion of stating, "Pray for ___", where the blank is usually a country/city in the West.  I must admit, I agree with the secularist argument.  In fact, James even agrees, as he has written above.

For many, church has become something more of a habit rather than an act of devotion.  There's nothing ever planned on Sunday mornings, and there are many places that don't even open on Sunday, so what better to do than to go to church?  And that's all that happens.  Crowds fill up the pews in churches all over the world on Sundays, but that's all that happens.  So many people will show up on Sundays, but when it comes to volunteering for charities or giving time for other things, nobody shows up.  You can wear the cross around your neck, but are you ready to pick up the cross that is still lying in your room?

The truth of the matter is that our faith should be producing works.  Our faith is not something that just stays stagnant.  I mean, there are countless examples that remind us that our faith is not dead.  Jesus never says, "Say you believe in me, but stay seated."  No, in fact, Jesus says, "Follow me."  We have the Holy Spirit guiding us to do many great things in our lives.  The word Spirit comes from a word meaning breath/wind.  If it's still, it's no longer a breath or wind.  In this same way, we should be looking at all of our aspects of our lives in faith.

Why do we read the bible?  We should be reading for answers and for a strengthening relationship with God.  Why do we pray?  It should be so that we can keep up our communication and have a moment to breathe in between living our tough life and continuing with more works.  It should also be a chance for us to receive strength to continue.

So, when it comes to praying, it shouldn't just be a post on Facebook.  It should be a true meditation, one that gives us strength to do all that we can to help out those around us.  Our prayers should be our calls to action.  God calls us to action during our prayers.  Our faith calls us to action.  Our faith calls us to lead, to follow, to act, to love.

Day 127: Giving Peace

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  John 14:27

Happy Pentecost!  Come Holy Spirit!

Today is the day that is usually identified as being the founding of the Church.  It is the day of yet another promise fulfilled.  It is a day we remember Jesus bringing all of us together under one accord.  It's also a day where we celebrate the diversity of languages, which is something that I hold very dear.

For the past few days, I'd been thinking about what the language trope meant in the story of Pentecost.  Sure, it was a way for the people to show that they were fully equipped to preach in every place.  It was also a concrete sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  But, when I went through the readings in the Lectionary Page, I saw that the Tower of Babel was in the readings as well, which gives a different perspective on language diversity.

I found that a major theme in Pentecost is the idea of redemption.  God scattered the people from the Tower of Babel and confused their language.  God then starts to unite people through a gift of the Holy Spirit - that of language.  Language diversity comes about because of sin, and then it comes back as a blessing.  These are two almost opposing views on language diversity, but they are important for our growth.

There are so many different things happening in our lives right now.  There are things that keep us going, and there are things that keep us back.  However, God is the one who can show us how to manage everything.  We have the Holy Spirit as a guide in our turbulent lives.  The Holy Spirit is a breath of fresh air when we are trapped inside an office, a basement, a hospital.

In the language learning communities I am a part of, I see many people who want to see language diversity to go away.  They see the diversity as a barrier, and, in reality, they have quite a point.  Imagine if we could get all our ideas across without any challenge in terms of language.  There are others, though, who want to learn more languages so that they can gain more perspectives on life.  I like to see languages as a gift from God.  Yes, I wish I knew how to speak all of them, but the fact that I don't and probably won't is beautiful, because it means that there are people who will always have stories to tell me.

Jesus has also shown us how to look at things in a very good way.  Throughout his earthly ministry, he guided his disciples very closely.  He made sure that they understood everything with his teaching.  However, he also had to depart from them and head to heaven.  In the end, they were left with peace.  Jesus offers peace to all of us.  We can concern ourselves over all the challenges in our lives, but at the end of the day, we can relax on the peace that Jesus leaves us.  Unlike the gifts that we can give, ones that can only be used for a certain amount of time before fading, the peace and the Holy Spirit are gifts that guide us throughout our entire lives.

So, when you look at the big picture of your life: all the struggles that lie behind and ahead of you, the problems that face you, the difficult things that might scare you; remember that we have a way to get through the trouble.  It involves an open heart to receive the peace that Jesus has given us.  It's knowing that the hills are there so we can have something beautiful to look at on our journey.  It's knowing that we have no reason to be afraid.  It's knowing that no challenge is too big for us.  It's knowing that God is gathering all of those who have wandered off with comfort.

Day 107: God's Gift

"If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"  Luke 11:11-13

This is one of my favorite passages from the bible because it explains the grace of God so well.

We know how to carry out transactions so well that it just becomes second nature to us.  Yet, that by itself is a display of courtesy towards our neighbors.  We are prone to give whatever anybody requests.  Now, that doesn't go without acknowledging that there can be an entirely different context surrounding these occasions.  We can give things over with an attitude.  We could even give things that are of poor quality.  But in general, we will give when we are asked.

Imagine being in a classroom and somebody asks for a pencil.  Unless it's during an important test or competition, there is always someone there to give over a pencil, even if it's short, chewed up, and without an eraser.  These are the kinds of things Jesus is referring us to.

Paul has taken many opportunities throughout his letters to explain what the Holy Spirit is.  It's kind of like a gift basket for us, with everything being useful (unlike a basket with a few things we could just do away with).  The Holy Spirit is something that guides us in our living.  It's a mode of communication from the Holy Trinity to us.  It's also something that drives us to pursue godly things in our lives.

So, if we can ask our friends and (occasionally) our enemies for things and receive what we'd asked for, how much better would be the things that come straight from God?  God, who is all loving, all caring, all forgiving, has shown us a gift.  We are receiving a gift that comes out of all things that are good in the universe.  The Holy Spirit is good.  God's gift is perfect.

Day 064: A Spiritual Gift

Then Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake?  Would that all the Lord's people might be prophets, when the Lord would put His Spirit upon them."  Numbers 11:29

I found this to be a pretty interesting remark in the midst of the otherwise mundane Book of Numbers.  I feel like it's a strong wish from God for each one of us.

A prophet can seem quite foreign at a first glance.  Sometimes, when you read the bible, you might think that prophets were just like oracles in Ancient Greek culture: they could see into the future and talked about it in mysterious ways.  However, prophets did more than just that.  Prophets proclaimed.  They proclaimed their sadness for the calamities that might befall their community.  They proclaimed the grace and mercy of God when it was to arrive.  They prepared the way for Jesus.  When I think of prophesying in that way, I say to myself, would that I might be a prophet, when the Lord would put His Spirit upon me.

When Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, he gave us a great encouragement to preach.  He sent us out into the world in order to bring more people to God.  What can we do to become better prophets?  First, we can do what all the prophets did, which was become completely familiar with the Word.  When we become so familiar with the word of God in its entirety, it starts to grow within us.  It takes over us in such a way that it begins to drive our every action.  The next step is to make sure to be in constant communication with God.  A prophet brings words from heaven to earth, and the only way we can be sure we have words to bring down is by making sure we are keeping the avenue to receive words open.  Then, we need to be sure, on top of these two traits, to live the Word.  We need to make sure that every deed we do is what we pray for.

This Lent, think more about how you can let the Holy Spirit guide you to proclaim the Gospel to everybody around you.  Allow for the Word to live in you and you to live in it.

Day 031: Fulfillment

"The lips of righteous men understand lofty things, but men without discernment die in want." Proverbs 10:22

This proverb seems to be straightforward, but I end up asking, "Why would somebody want to go without discernment, then?"  We already have the facts that righteousness leaves us without want, but the proverb states that a lack of discernment is something that is real and possible.

Spiritual discernment is something that we all need to be aware about, because it can guide us in life.  I feel that spiritual discernment comes from a willingness to allow for the Holy Spirit to work in us and guide us in our lives.  But how do we make this work for us?

The answer comes from the first part, for the righteous understand lofty, high things.  It means that we need to be preparing our minds to start building up our understanding and knowledge.  It means that we need to devote ourselves more to the Holy Spirit.  And, of course, we are in a time when we have so many resources available to us, the chief of which is our bible.

I love the book of Proverbs because it makes me think about things.  Starting in Chapter 10, each verse brings me to think about an entirely new concept.  The catch, though, is to allow the proverb to live in me and through me.  I need to let the Holy Spirit guide me by the means of the words that I read.

When we prepare ourselves with reading, praying, meditating, and thinking, we can begin to comprehend the lofty things, the things that exist way past us.  We can start to understand the love of God, or the sacrifice of Jesus.  That preparation also allows us to invite the Holy Spirit to become a major driver of our lives.  And, when we let the Holy Spirit take control, we will be so fulfilled that we will not want anything else.

 

Day 026: Facing the Facts

From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day.  Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" Matthew 16:21-22

The disciples followed Jesus around and made valiant attempts at understanding all that he had to teach.  However, in a passage like this one, we learn that they were fine with following Jesus, just so long as the mission lined up with their own views.

In the same way, we haven't changed much, nearly two thousand years after the fact.  We treat Jesus as if he is our chauffeur, our butler, our servant.  Instead, we should be treating Jesus with reverence, remembering that we are here to serve him.  Jesus, through his mission, taught us that we are going to have to go through some difficult times in order to achieve all that needs to be done here on earth.

In the Bible, we see that the apostles didn't really get the ball rolling until they had witnessed the Pentecost.  They had to wait until they openly received the Holy Spirit in order to start their missionary work.

The lesson is that we don't have to wait to start.  We just need to be willing.  We need to join each other with one accord so that we can listen to the voice of God, so that we can understand what our mission is, so we can receive the Holy Spirit.  God will always provide for the way, but we just need to be willing to stop at the doorway so that God can give us our lunchbox on our way out the door.

Day 002: Communion

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."  Acts 2:1

"Now all who believed were together and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need."  Acts 2:44-45

The account of the early church shows a business model that was quite successful, with numbers growing in the hundreds and thousands in the first years.  To me, what seems to be at the heart of it all is the communion between one another, sharing the Holy Spirit with one another.

To start, the early Christians, burning with the Spirit, spoke in the different languages of many different cultures of the time, and there were people coming from all over, hearing their languages, feeling the hospitality that comes from a love for God.  In addition to that, as some scholars point out, they divided their possessions among each other out of necessity, since there were many who were coming to them from afar.
This is the embodiment of Jesus' command in John's Gospel, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." (John 7:37)

When I think about how the larger Church today works, I appreciate my own, the Episcopal Church, because of our communion table, which is open to all.  Just as Jesus commanded us to come to Him for fulfillment, we continue that invitation to this very day.  Unfortunately, though, the difference is that we extend this invitation reluctantly.  We only want a certain gender, a certain sexual orientation, a certain color, a certain race, a certain ethnicity, a certain culture, a certain language, a certain doctrine,  a certain credence.  We add terms and conditions to what Jesus explained simply and the apostles executed simply.

I am certain that each and every one of us has some need.  Some needs are material, and others are spiritual, but the important thing to remember is that we all have them and need to respect those of others.  How about making the church a place for those needs to be fulfilled?  How about coming together in the church with one accord?  How about bringing the Holy Spirit to our neighbors without that terms and conditions box?

 

The Fire

"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" (Luke 12:49)
These are the words of Jesus himself.  I just read an article where the author desired for the reader to know that Jesus was indeed a radical.  Jesus calls us to action against all that is wrong in our society.  However, the real kick is made once He introduces the very poignant "judge not, lest you be judged."  So what is this fire?
This fire is the Holy Spirit, which lives in each one of us.  The Holy Spirit guides us in all facets of our lives.  If we allow the Holy Spirit to work though us, we will be able to accomplish all that is going on in our lives.  Indeed, Jesus reminds us that we have a hard life ahead.  We will face persecution from our best friends and even from our families.  So long as we have the Spirit, the fire, within us, we will have nothing that will take us away from the will of God.
So, let us remember to live as Jesus did, forever being guided by the Holy Spirit and forever in contact with our Father through prayer and meditation.

The Lord is Good

"Taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are they who trust in Him." (Psalm 34:8)
This message is simple.  God is all around us.  God is there when we run away.  God is there when we retreat to our closet of deceiving ourselves, our closet of our own arrogance.  Open the door.  Reach out your hands for God.  Know that God is ready to take all of our issues into God's arms.
Today, we commemorate all of the angels.  I like to remember that God has us covered in all sorts of ways.  God sends us the Holy Spirit to move in us. God sends us the angels to speak to us.  God sends out the prophets to teach us.  God sends us Jesus so that we can be one with Him.  God is ready for you.  Are you ready for God?