Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

Micah 6:6-8 Mark 12:28-34 So, what’s in your wallet? If you’re like me, there a number of those reward cards.  I’ve got Alco, Staples, Ace Hardware, Pizza Ranch and half a dozen cards for coffee shops within a 35-mile radius. I know that these are supposed to build customer bases and customer loyalty, but I also understand it appeals to self-gratification.  For the audience God was speaking to in Micah, going to worship was about getting their spiritual rewards cards swiped.  They went to temple, prayed the prayers, offered the required burnt sacrifices, threw some coins in the offering box and left expected God to bless them and ignore their behavior once they left the temple. I don’t like to admit this, but I’ve down the same thing.  I’ve shown up for church on Sunday mainly to enjoy the company of my friends there and have God to make me feel good.  Sure, I did the churchy things – I prayed the prayers, threw a buck or two into the of...

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I got up this morning filled with disappointment.  It is my day off -- the pastor's sabbath -- and I had a list of household chores and piles of boxes to be unpacked and clutter to be organized.  And, I had a sermon to write. Crap.  That's right.  The pastor said crap, and just as a side note, I know how to say it in New Testament Greek.  See, that's one of the benefits of a seminary education. Crap, because for the last month, it's all been about doing.  Packing for the move, changing over the utilities, there and here, putting things in order for the new pastor coming in, and preparing my people for the transition from one pastor to another.  Then it was unpacking around parsonage renovations here (which I appreciate, I really do!), getting my office organized, and trying to figure out what's going on. This morning, I just couldn't "do" any more. So I opened the deck door to enjoy the sound of rain and bird songs and curled up in my favorite ov...

Psalm 84:1-4 Luke 5:25-30 It was the first time I visited a church on the northeast side of Cedar Rapids.  We had just moved from Des Moines, and my prayer had been that I find a church where it didn't take six months for me to feel like I belonged. Oh, the greeters were friendly enough that morning, but when I went into the sanctuary and sat down, no one seemed interested in talking to me.  I tried to start a conversation with the woman next to me, but she ignored me.  I don't think I smelled or looked any different than I usually did.  Needless to say, I didn't go back for a second visit.  A couple of years later at meeting, their associate pastor bragged about what a friendly church they were. Many church members are friendly with each other, really friendly, but not so much with visitors and outsiders. What I experienced that Sunday morning was a taste of the day-to-day reality for Levi the tax collector and his friends.  The folks who thought ...

Isaiah 43:18-21 Jeremiah 29:4-7, 11-14b "Look, be alert, be present," [says the Lord], " I'm about to do something brand-new.  It's bursting out!  Don't you see it?"  (Isaiah 43:19, The Message ) Wait a minute, Lord.  I like the old way.  Oh, I know it's not perfect, but I've gotten use to it.  I've finally gotten it broken in so it's just the way I like it.  I'm comfortable.  I'm in the zone -- I'm in my comfort zone. That's a natural, human response when we find ourselves leaving the comfort of what we know and love and entering the Discomfort Zone.  Sometimes, the discomfort level is so high, we may want to withdraw from the situation, circle our wagons and hunker down until things go back to the way they were. That certainly was true for the people of Israel.  God was speaking through Jeremiah and Isaiah to God's people at a time when they were living in exile in Babylon.  It was the practice of the time f...