AWE FULL

⁹The Lord is good to all,
and his compassion is over all that he has made.
¹⁰All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your faithful shall bless you.

Psalm 145:9-10

Some time ago, I listened attentively as author and radio host Dennis Prager interviewed biblical scholar and MIT trained physicist, Dr. Gerald Schroeder.  After discussing arguments for the existence of God, Prager asked Dr. Schroeder:  “Assuming that God exists, what is the best argument that God is good?”

Without a pause Schroeder fired back, “Chocolate!  The best argument that God is good, is chocolate!   Chocolate didn’t have to taste so wonderful, but a good God wanted us to enjoy.”

Dr. Schroeder’s comments came to me this afternoon as Rita and I walked and we stopped to savor the beauty and fragrance of a rose in the golden glow of sunset.  I thought again of our good God as we stopped by the lake to marvel at five gaggles of geese taking to the air in orderly V formations.  “God didn’t have to make all of this so sublime and stunning,” I thought.  But he did so because he is good.  The blazing stars, the laughter of a child, a melody that fills our souls, all speak to us of God’s goodness.  It is just as the psalmist exults, “the LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.”

But as I now write, I realize that for each good work of God we had to stop – we had to stop to see, stop to savor, and stop to enjoy.  Days pass and the years vanish and we walk sightless among God’s wonders because we will not stop to see and stop to enjoy. 

Years ago I began to learn the wonder and awareness taught in ancient Judaism as an observant Jew was trained to stop three times a day to stop and to pray:

We thank Thee…

For Thy miracles which are daily with us…

For Thy continual marvels…

I notice how much richer and more joyous life is when I stop to see, stop to savor, and stop to be astounded by God’s daily miracles and marvels.  Try it the next time you see the sun coming up, or bite into an orange, or listen to a melody.  It didn’t all have to be so wondrous and dazzling.  But God wanted it to be for you and me!

The LORD is good to all!

Grace and Peace,          Tim Smith

Acts of God

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? ³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. ⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’

Luke 13:1-5 

As a hospital chaplain, I have often sat alongside sufferers as they try to make sense of their suffering?  What did she do to deserve cancer, she asks.  What did he do to deserve paralysis from an auto accident?   Sometimes their pain is compounded exponentially by the acquaintance who deigns to explain for them the “whys” of their suffering. 

I was reminded of this as I heard arm-chair theologians and “friends of Job” rushing to microphones and word processors to explain the earthquake and suffering of the Haitians.  Some said it was because of something the Haitians had done or not done; others disclosed it had to do with a compact they made with the Devil. 

It seems there is never a shortage of people who try to unscrew the inscrutable, or explain for other mortals the ways of God.  Such is the situation in today’s scripture text as people rush to Jesus with breaking news from Jerusalem.  The headlines scream:   “GALILEAN WORSHIPPERS SLAUGHTERED BY ROMAN TROOPS IN TEMPLE PRECINCT!”   

In the tragic news they bring to Jesus, he hears the suggestion that it was all because of some evil the Galileans had done.  But Jesus sets them spinning on their heels when he says:  “Were they worse sinners?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”   Jesus will not abide such legalistic parsing of God’s ways! 

Then Jesus puts forth another instance of senseless suffering.  He reminds them of eighteen men killed when the tower of Siloam fell of them.  Is it something the men had done?   “No, I tell you,” Jesus answers his own question and then warns: “but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” 

Hard words from the Savior, but needed words for any legalist who presumes to think he has a claim on God’s mercy.  It is as Jesus explained in his Sermon on the Mount: “The heavenly Father makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45).  In ways that are inscrutable to us now, tragedies befall the righteous and unrighteous, and blessings shower down on the evil and the good. 

I do not think anyone has an adequate answer as to WHY of this tragedy, but I do know WHAT the Father would have us do in response to the tragedy:

WE COMBAT NATURAL DISASTERS WITH ACTS OF GOD

 (The Salvation Army) 

Let us be doing the acts of God!

Tim Smith

Fearless Living

⁵Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ ⁶So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can anyone do to me?’ Hebrews 13:5-6 

Over the weekend I read economists’ dire predictions for 2010.  They speculated about unemployment, the decline of the dollar, rising health care costs, and other dismal possibilities.  As I read, I thought of the wag who observed that “an economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.” 

I turn from the prognostications about hard times ahead and focus on God’s word to us today. Today’s scripture text addresses Hebrew Christians of the first century who are facing hard times.  The Spirit reminds them that in the days ahead it will be a matter of where they put their trust — will they put their trust in God, or in money?

Knowing their tendency, (as well as ours), to grasp more frantically for money as times get bad, the Spirit counsels, “Keep your lives free from the love of money.”  Be careful here, the Spirit urges, for true contentment has nothing to do with how much money we have.  Rather, contentment comes in knowing that God is always with us.

God’s promise to be with his people is then emphasized with a quote from Deuteronomy 31:6, 8:  “For he,” that is God, “He has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.”  In the quote, the Lord is promising the Israelites that he will go with them and support them in their journey to the Promised Land.  And now God promises Christians to go with us and support us in our journey to glory.  The Lord says that he will “never’ leave us or forsake us.  And never is a long, long time. 

Yet knowing that our faith can waver, the Spirit adds yet another promise by quoting Psalm 118:6:  ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can anyone do to me?   Notice the psalmist says that “the Lord is my helper,” not “will be” or “has been” but he “is my helper” right now, here, today, in whatever it is I am facing!   Whatever my problem, whatever my need, right now he is my helper.  Yes, he is “my” helper.    The Lord God of the universe is in a special relationship with all who look to him.  We are special to him.  We’re part of his family and he will stand with us throughout life’s journey. 

The only sure thing in the days ahead is God’s promise to be with us and be our helper.   If we will get hold of that promise it will change our lives.  We will live fearlessly in the face of life’s uncertainties and trials. 

Grace and peace,

Tim Smith

CLASSES RESUME AT THE FRANCISCAN RENEWAL CENTER

CELEBRATING WONDER

Starting January 5, 11:00 a.m. – Noon                                                               

Garces Room in Piper Hall

The reason that people most often give to pollsters for not going to church is that they find it “boring.”  How far removed this boredom is from the awe and wonder and mystery that nourish the biblical faith.  Theology and doctrine separated from the sheer mystery of God are lifeless and dull.  In this series we will search out biblical passages and practices for restoring wonder and worship to our lives and service.   

STORIES OF THE KINGDOM

Starting January 5, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.                                                          

Garces Room in Piper Hall

Jesus loved to tell stories.  They were his favorite method of teaching.  And his stories always packed a surprise at the end!  In this series we will explore the background of Jesus’ ancient Middle Eastern world and culture to better understand his stories.  Each week we will take the role of foreigners traveling to a distant time and land to cast light on his teachings about life and the Kingdom of God.