Intentional Faith

Morning Prayer

O God, you are our blessed light,
–awaken us this new day.
By the resurrection of your Son, you have enlightened the world,
–and given us new hope.
By your Spirit you gave wisdom to the disciples of your Son,
–send your Spirit upon us and make us faithful.
Light of the nations, shine on those who dwell in darkness,
–open their eyes to know you, the only true God.

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”
― Robert Frost

Today’s Devotional

Romans 12:2

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Kenneth L. Samuel

I’m old enough to remember the thick, hardcover book of Mathematics that was once given out to 6th and 7th grade public school students. The answers to every math problem in the book were in the back of the book, upside down, in small print. When assigned math problems for homework, the easiest thing to do was to simply write down the answers found in the back of the book.

The answers were easy until the math teacher called me to the front of the class and directed me to write on the board the mathematical process by which I’d arrived at my answers. Having skipped the process, the correct answers were useless at that point.

There is no shortage of quick and easy answers for life’s perplexities. Some religions and some atheists and some everyday philosophers are armed and ready with all the right answers all the time. But it’s much easier to copy the right answers than to disengage from the cults of easy solutions and enter into processes of genuine discernment. Discernment is not about religious or secular conformity. Discernment is all about determined, discriminating, deliberate, demythologized discovery.

According to Romans, the will of God is not determined by easy recitations and catechisms. The will of God must be proven. The will of God must be tried and tested. The will of God must be examined and discussed. The will of God must be discerned.

True discernment will certainly lead to some answers. But those answers will come only as a result of a process that opens us to other possibilities, other perspectives and a deeper testing of our own values. And those answers will always be subject to the review of other discriminating minds.

Today’s Prayer

We give you thanks, Lord, for you are rich in mercy,
–for the great love with which you have loved us.
You are acting always in the world by the power of your Spirit,
–making all things new.
Open our eyes today, and those of our brothers and sisters
–that we may see your wonders.

Thoughts on Today’s Text

An important detail in this first sign, this first act of Jesus’ public ministry, is that his mother is present. In the Gospel of John, the mother of Jesus is never named, never called Mary. She is always denoted by her relationship to Jesus. Here, it is her urging that initiates Jesus’ action.

The exchange between Jesus and his mother is really quite funny and we do ourselves no favors by insisting that the Bible is void of humor. She notes that the wedding hosts have run out of wine. Jesus’ response is that they should have hired a better wedding planner. But then, she tells the servants to do whatever Jesus says. I have this image of the mother of Jesus much like encouraging your child to get on the school bus for the first time: “Come on, you can do it! I know you can!”

But, I also wonder what she saw in that moment. What had Jesus revealed to her up to that point that would cause her to believe that such a miracle was possible from him? How did she know that this was the time for revelation?

The mother of Jesus appears only twice in the Gospel of John, at the wedding at Cana and at the foot of the cross. While we are not told about here about her reoccurrence later in the Gospel, we get a hint of her return in Jesus’ reason for what seems to be a refusal of her request, “My hour has not yet come.” Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus will refer to his “hour” which signals the time of his death.

It is more than poignant that the mother of Jesus brackets his life, surrounds Jesus’ earthly ministry. She is at the beginning of his career and watches him die. She is the nurturing force when he is the Word made flesh, a shared parenthood with God, the father. Perhaps it might help us to remember Jesus in a manger in the midst of miracles

Perhaps it is a reminder that whenever Jesus reveals his divinity, he is simultaneously revealing something about his humanity. Perhaps, in the sign that it is water into wine, we might even experience something that we need to know about ourselves.

Today’s Text

John 2:1-11 (NIV)
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,
2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so,
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

Devotional

Psalm 19 (The Message)

“The revelation of God…pulls our lives together.”

William C. Green

I remember one of the Psalms saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” (103:1) “All that is within me”? I see how good traits and inclinations can bless the Lord, but what about the other ones—anger, jealousy, resentment, guilt, shame. That list is as long as the nicer list. Is all the truth it contains to bless the Lord, too?

Thomas Kelly, the Quaker writer, said we are actually many selves at once “without being integrated, without all our selves being organized by a single, mastering Life within us. Each of our selves is a rank individualist, not cooperative. We are distraught and unhappy for over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by.” (A Testament of Devotion, 1941)

Jesus never excluded even the rankest individualist, as in his story of the prodigal son. The prodigal could hide nothing. His father overlooked nothing. He was intent on pulling together what had been torn apart.

We can’t know God’s love if we overlook parts of ourselves we’d rather weren’t true. Sooner or later that trips us up. “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” (Luke 8:17) We’re a blessing to God and one another when we’re open and honest.

Today’s Prayer

Lord, our refuge and strength, listen to our praise at the beginning of this day,
–teach us to praise you without end.
In you we place our faith and hope,
–that our waiting might be rewarded.
You know our needs and come to our aid,
–without you we can do nothing.
Remember the poor and unfortunate,
–may this day not be a burden to them.

Thoughts on Today’s Text

The apostle says, “I do not want you to be uninformed” (12:1) and “I want you to understand” (12:3). Wisdom, too, is a key gift of the Spirit.

Paul earlier speaks of the mysterious wisdom of God that belongs to the event of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1:18-2,5). Although Paul in this whole section is thus implying that wisdom is needed to resolve differences, several terms in particular call attention to important insights that belong to wisdom.

“Varieties of gifts” (12:4) — The translation partially misses Paul’s point. It should be “divisions” or “distributions” or “allotments” thus calling attention to the active role of the Spirit. In any case “divisions” is a term belonging to wisdom. It is wisdom that gives the ability to make distinctions and to assess the implications of particularity and difference in practical real life situations.

Paul invites the Corinthians to join him in using that gift in assessing and living with differences in community.

“The common good” (12:7) — The allotments of the Spirit are not arbitrary or willy-nilly. They are given with particularity and with purpose “for the common good.” Of course that “common good” is not always transparent; it has to be negotiated in practice, again by the use of the gift of wisdom, in consideration of what it is that “builds up the community.” Here, of course, Paul’s list of gifts in verses 7 through 10 is doing just that. Some relative judgment is being made about what gifts are most important in community. He begins with “wisdom,” “knowledge,” and “faith,” and ends with the gift of “tongues.”

“Manifestation” (12:7) — Manifestation is also a wisdom term. It calls attention to wisdom’s ability to take things that are hidden or mystifying and bring them out into the open for consideration and understanding. It acknowledges the presence and activity of the Spirit in the particular gifts that belong to the diverse endowments of the believing community.

Today’s Text

1 Corinthians 12:1-12 (NIV)
1 Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
3 Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.