New creation

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD—and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD. (Isaiah 65:17-25, NRSV)

Do a search of Isaiah 65:17-25 and look at images. When I did one on a search engine that isn’t Google one of the first images I saw was of a lion lying with a lamb, but the text does not say that. It actually doesn’t say that the lamb will lie down with any of its predators. Isaiah 65 says the lamb shall feed with the wolf. But even a Google search shows a lion with a lamb early on in the search. And this is an image we know. But I searched the NRSV for the phrase “The lion lie down with the lamb” and the one verse it found was Isaiah 11:6 “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” Nowhere in the NRSV Bible does the lion lie with the lamb.

But this is the image we have and people tell sus when there is peace, in the new creation, the lion will lie with the lamb. We need not be worried about the details of how God will create peace and the new creation, having a lion with a lamb or a wolf with a lamb, but we need to trust in the promise of the new creation and all of it existing in harmony.

So talk about His promise, not our understanding of it.

I have seen…

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:1-18, NRSV)

Mary Magdalene was going to the tomb and saw that the stone was rolled away and assumed that someone had taken Jesus’ body. She went to tell the disciples that his body had been taken. But she didn’t know that.

Then when they all went back and his body was not there and Mary saw what she assumed was the gardener she asked where they took his body.

But when He calls her by name, she sees Him!

Isn’t it funny how we can see something and not actually see it?

Have you seen the Lord? I see Him every day in those whom He has created and in all of the glory of His creation!

Have you seen Him?

Living among the dead?

160327But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened. (Luke 24:1-12, NRSV)

The women got to the tomb to do what they couldn’t do for Jesus when He died because of the Sabbath. And the stone was rolled back and they went into the tomb, but didn’t see Him. The angels then asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Are we looking for Jesus in the wrong places?

Where Did He tell you He would be?

Why do the disciples consider the words of the women to be an idle tale? Have we ever thought what someone told us was an idle tale?

And Peter, heard their words and went to the tomb. He went in and saw the scene, and went home amazed, but didn’t go and tell the good news? Really?

How has Christ changed your life? And have you told people about Him?

Are you still looking for the living among the dead?

cracked pot

160326In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.  Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me. You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,  take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my refuge.  Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God. You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.  I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have taken heed of my adversities,  and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place. Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.  For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away. I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.  I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.  For I hear the whispering of many—terror all around!—as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”  My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.  Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love. (Psalm 31:1-6, NRSV)

I have become like a broken vessel. But in you my God is my trust.

There is a story of a woman who carried 2 pots down a path to get water every day. Of those pots was cracked and others told her to stop using it, or repair it. But she kept using it, getting only one pot of water back to her home. Finally, family and friends could take no more and told her to fix the pot, and she took them out and showed them the path she walks, and the beautiful flowers down the side of the path that the broken pot was on. The woman told those concerned, that while the pot is not giving me water, it is being used by God to create beauty for me to enjoy.

So even when you are a little cracked, God can still use you to create beauty in the world!

Truly

160325Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”  The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. (Luke 23:32-49, NRSV)

If you are the messiah save yourself and us! Why would the messiah die? The one who has come to save the world can’t even save himself?

Which thief are we? The one who wants the superman for a messiah, that wouldn’t dare to die, or the one who humbly asks Christ to remember us.

And the response is great! “Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise!” The thief is remembered. Jesus will be with him, that this death is not the end.

So do we want a savior who is superman and doesn’t die, or one that will defeat even that which we see as the end?

Truly, I want a savior who makes death a door, and will be satisfied however God decides to do that!

called

Earlier this month I turned 44, and in May I will celebrate the 10th anniversary of my graduation from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. I didn’t figure out God was calling me to be a pastor until I was in my thirties. And still today I learn new things about my walk and calling with God. And that is one of the things I love helping people see is their calling, and how God is calling them.

Martin Luther said, “How is it possible that you are not called? You have always been in some state or situation; you have always been a husband or wife, or boy, or girl, or servant. Picture before you the humblest estate…Yea, if you had five heads and ten hands, even then you would be too weak for your tasks, so that you would never dare think of making a pilgrimage or doing any saintly work.” Each and every one of us is called and given a part in God’s Mission and Ministry. We are gifted, and made stewards of that gift, and all God asks is we use that gift for Him. We were all set apart at our baptisms, and made a member of the priesthood of all believers.

This is why I love camp and have been involved in camp in central PA, Ohio, Southwestern Texas, and here in East Central Wisconsin. All of our camps are different, but the same in that they are a place set apart, like each of us, there to help us live into our faith. So we go to the mountain top of camp, and find out place with God, it is only to send us back, filled with the Holy Spirit to be His hands and feet in a world that so desperately needs to see His love.

So live out your calling, child of God, and hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.”