Live in peace

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. (2 Corinthians 13:11-13, NRSV)

Easier said than done right?

Live in peace, agree with one another…

Not always easy, but it is what Christ calls us to.

And He will be with us to help us do that.

So let His peace overflow your life so the world might live in peace.

you give life

Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.” And Ezra said: “You are the Lord, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you. (Nehemiah 9:5-6, NRSV)

God created all and gave life to all.

We think that our life is something we can make for ourselves, but we actually don’t start to live until we realize that everything we have has been given to us by God, and in that, we are freed to give as God gave to us. And in that freedom and giving, you will find life beyond imagination.

So don’t confuse a living with a life!

All can speak your praise!

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8, NRSV)

The name of the Lord is majestic and something to use with respect, but many come to know who God is through the comments that come out of the mouths of babes and infants.

Many have been silenced by the profound statements of those whose faith shows us all the way to the Father.

Even Jesus Himself said unless you become as a child you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. We must listen to all as they praise the name of God!

Where were you?

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?— when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’? “Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and it is dyed like a garment. Light is withheld from the wicked, and their uplifted arm is broken. “Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. “Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness, that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the paths to its home? Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? “Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain, and a way for the thunderbolt, to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on the desert, which is empty of human life, to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the ground put forth grass? “Has the rain a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season, or can you guide the Bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together? (Job 38:1-38, NRSV)

Where were you?

And really what can we do without the help of God? Nothing really good…

God has done so much for us, that doesn’t mean we will always understand the circumstances we or our loved ones go through, but God has it all under control.

And this passage reminded me of this song:

I thought up all the questions that my human mind could bring
And laid them out before the Lord and demanded a reason for these things
I asked about inequality and the success of evil men
But what was I to say to Him, when He answered with this question

Where were you when I split the sky and the sea
Where were you when I taught the lion to roar
Where were you when I made electricity
Fall from the sky in the middle of a thunderstorm
Where were you

And I had no response, I had no reply
‘Cause the One who spoke and is the truth opened up my eyes
And I laid my time of doubt at the feet of the infinite
But what was left for me to say when He answered with this question

Where were you when I split the sky and the sea
Where were you when I taught the lion to roar
Where were you when I made electricity
Fall from the sky in the middle of a thunderstorm

Where were you when I put stars in the sky
Where were you when I taught the eagle to fly
Where were you when I made that little child
Look just like her mom but she had her Daddy’s eyes
Where were you

Where were you
Where were you

Where were you when I split the sky and the sea
Where were you when I taught the lion to roar
Where were you when I made electricity
Fall from the sky in the middle of a thunderstorm

Where were you when I put stars in the sky
Where were you when I taught the eagle to fly
Where were you when I made that little child
Look just like her mom but she had her Daddy’s eyes
Where were you

Songwriters
TONY REFLEX / RIKK AGNEW

doubted…

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20, NRSV)

This is the passage of text most of us know as the great commission. This is where Jesus sends the disciples into the world to make more disciples.

Jesus sends the 11 into the world to share what they have learned. And through the sending of the 11, He also sends us into the world.

And many of us doubt that we are called to go and be a part of God’s plan in the world. We would say we were part of the some who doubted here on the mountain with Jesus. But what if I told you that the part of the verse “but some doubted.” maybe a bad translation? The Greek here is οἱ δὲ ἐδίστασαν.

οἱ is a masculine plural article or they.

δὲ is a conjunction meaning but or and.

ἐδίστασαν is the third person plural aorist active indicative for to doubt.

So the part of the sentence all together is but they doubted. Of course, some say that the οἱ is redundant and unneeded because the they is implied in the form of the word for doubt and therefore should be translated some. But the other side of this is this is not done in any other part of the New Testament. This is the only time this particular construction is found. And we have to explain why the 11 disciples would have walked with Jesus and witnessed everything He did and when they finally see Him resurrected they doubt what they are seeing.

So how is it possible they worshiped and they doubted? Well, we have to get beyond that doubt is the opposite of faith. Doubt is the opposite of certainty. And wouldn’t you be uncertain about what was going on in front of you at that moment on the mountain? It doesn’t mean you don’t believe, it doesn’t mean you can’t worship, it just means you don’t get it and you have questions. Questions are not bad, they lead us to discover and to investigate.

So don’t fall away from doubting and questioning, lean into the call God has on your life, knowing you are in good company when you wonder about it and question it.

 

Here is a wonderful cartoon about this:

 

Trinity Sunday….

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.   And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”  So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.  These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. (Genesis 1:1-2:4a, NRSV)

Here is a wonderful skit for this day found at stjamesgettysburg.wordpress.com:

God:  In the beginning, I…

Jesus:  You, what?

God:  I created… you know, the heavens and the earth.

Holy Spirit:  Don’t you mean “we”?

God:  That’s what I hate about Trinity Sunday – it’s so confusing!  One God, three persons.  Of course, you were there too – both of you.  But when we talk about God the Creator, we’re talking about me – that part of me – that part of us –  which created once a long time ago and which still creates.

Jesus:  I have a question for you…why in the world did you create mosquitoes?

God:  (laughs)  I have my reasons!

Holy Spirit:  How about the platypus?  Or the great sea creature the Leviathan?

God:  Don’t you remember the psalm?  I created the Leviathan for the sport of it!  It makes me laugh!  Everything I created, I created good.  Very good.

Jesus:  Even mosquitoes I guess…  But there are people in the world who don’t seem very good.  How do we make sense of the fact that you created them good?

God:  I made them good.  But I also gave them free will – and people with free will turn away from the good sometimes – actually all of the time!

Holy Spirit:  Isn’t that the truth!  I am that part of the Trinity which guides and gives humanity its conscience.  Yet, all of the time, people listen to others rather than me.  Or they listen to themselves and their own thoughts and desires rather than trying to work for the good of others and our world.

God:  (laughs)  Yep!  That’s how I made them!  I made people good and then let them make choices!  And they always choose themselves.  Every time! Gotta love them! (laughs some more)

Jesus:  It doesn’t seem to bother you very much!

God:  It’s all part of being human.  I love them all just the way they are – bad choices and everything.

Jesus:  And yet that’s why I came down to earth – to show people that we love them just as they are, but that’s not how we want them to stay!

Holy Spirit:  We want them to be changed, to be transformed.  To live life really like they’re loved!

Jesus:  Freedom!  That’s what it’s all about!

Holy Spirit:  Freedom to stop worrying about whether or not they’re accepted!

God:  Freedom to trust that I will always be there for them!

Jesus:  Freedom to offer healing and forgiveness like I give them!

Holy Spirit:  Freedom to know that even when bad things happen, I will never give up on them.

God:  Freedom to be generous – even extravagant – in sharing with others.

Jesus:  Isn’t it funny that we love humanity so much, but people still live like they’re all bound up – like they need to work harder to make us love them more, or that they need to get all they can for themselves now, or they won’t have enough later on?

God:  (laugh)  People haven’t really changed much at all over the years!  Remember Adam and Eve – I gave them everything – everything – they could ever want, but it wasn’t enough – they needed the fruit of that tree!

Holy Spirit:  And when I guided Moses and the people out of slavery through the wilderness – they didn’t trust that I would give them manna to eat.  They grumbled all the way!

Jesus:  My generosity got the Jewish and Roman leaders angry with me – angry enough to have me put to death!  They couldn’t understand a king who reigned on a platform of love and service rather than law and order.  (turns to the Holy Spirit: ) Did you ever see that show, “Law and Order”? It’s not bad!

God:  (laugh) People, people, people!  Gotta love them!

Holy Spirit: It’s a big mystery of life to me why people don’t live out their freedom!  I call people to faith.  I call people live out their faith every day.

Jesus:  I tried to show them how to live out their life of faith every day.

God:  I let them know that I expect them to live out their life of faith every day.  I created them to live out their life of faith.

Jesus:  I redeemed them with my own life so that they could live out their life of faith.

Holy Spirit:  I made them my holy ones so that they could live out their life of faith – live out what they were made to be.

God, Jesus, Holy Spirit:  One God; three persons.

Jesus:  It’s still hard for people to understand isn’t it?

Holy Spirit:  What is?

Jesus:  How we could be one God and yet three persons.

Holy Spirit:  Yes – but let’s not try to help them understand it.  Let’s just help them live it.

God (to congregation):  God has created you together with all that exists.

Jesus and Holy Spirit:  We respond with thankful hearts.

Jesus (to congregation):  Jesus Christ, true God and also true human is your Lord.  He has redeemed you.

God and Holy Spirit:  We respond by loving and forgiving others as we are loved and forgiven.

Holy Spirit (to congregation):  The Holy Spirit has called you, enlightened you, made you holy, and kept you in the true faith.

God and Jesus:  We respond with humble obedience.

God:  How has this happened – one God, three persons?

Jesus and Holy Spirit:  It is the mystery of faith.

God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit:  This is most certainly true.  Amen.

God cares for His creation

O LORD, how manifold are your works!O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works—who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke. I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD. (Psalm 104:24-34, NRSV)

This psalm is great because as we read this section we hear of all the wonderful things God does for all of his creation.

All creatures wait on the Lord for what they need and in due time he gives them what they need.

The other reason this particular passage of this psalm is wonderful is because it says that God created Leviathan for the sport of the sea. God has a wonderful sense of amusement and yet cares deeply for all of what he has created. Which means he will give us what we need.

Make known

I will display my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God, from that day forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt treacherously with me. So I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have displayed my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind; and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 29:21-29, NRSV)

God will show all nations who he is.

He will make himself known to all nations.

And as he does this his Spirit will be poured out upon the house of Israel, and through that, all will see His glory.

So allow him to use you to make himself known to all the nations around you.

Full

Then the LORD became jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. In response to his people the LORD said: I am sending you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a mockery among the nations. I will remove the northern army far from you, and drive it into a parched and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its rear into the western sea; its stench and foul smell will rise up. Surely he has done great things! Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things! Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield. O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.  You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame. Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. (Joel 2:18-29, NRSV)

God satisfied His people. He sent grain, wine, and oil in plenty. The threshing floor was full of grain!

God did all of this to show His people they could trust and believe the promises that were given.

And He did pour our His Spirit, just as He said, on all peoples! regardless of class, status or anything, God gave the Spirit! The ways we use to divide, God took away and made His people full of the spirit! Live in His light and take away divisions.

Be full of His Spirit!

cornerstone

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, “What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it. But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old. After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant: ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’ For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:5-31, NRSV)

Peter tells those gathered that all of this has happened because of Jesus Christ the cornerstone, the foundation of our faith.

The person whom the elders and people of God arrested and tried and crucified, He has become the foundation for the faith. And through Him, many things are done, and God receives glory!

So the leaders pondered because they knew that Peter and John were not educated men, but they spoke with great wisdom and power.  And when the leaders advised them not to teach or preach about Jesus, they said they had to, because that is what God had told them to do.

Do we base our life on that cornerstone and share with that kind of veracity?

Jesus gave us that faith, let us base our lives on him!