Devotional 4-10-16

A prayer for Easter Spring

Gracious, loving God we raise 
hearts and voices to adore
You who gave us springtime days 
and your mercy evermore. 
Thanks and praise we bring to you, 
Lord, for making all things new.

Crucifixion horrified 
those who shared the bread and wine.
Christ our Lord now glorified: 
resurrected gift divine.
Lord of all to you we raise
this our prayer of grateful praise.

Easter bears your promised word. 
Everlasting life you give.
One day we will see you, Lord. 
In your blessed arms we’ll live.
Thanks and praise to you again. 
In his name we pray.  Amen. 


Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 7-17-15

“ ‘With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal one, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God.” – Micah 6:6-8

As I write this, it has been a week since I had the blessing of attending the Wednesday evening Bible Study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.  We had planned a family vacation in Charleston to visit and hold two new month-old babies:  a great granddaughter (our third) born June 1 and a grandson (our 17th) born June 2.  Since we would be there, I determined that I would attend the Wednesday Bible Study at Mother Emanuel AME Church, called “Mother Emanuel” because it was the first AME congregation in the south from which others were born.  The Johnson Memorial congregation sent with me nine prayer shawls into which people wove their own prayers as the shawls draped from the prayer rail during the Eucharist the Sunday we left.

The United Methodist Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church are siblings in the broader Methodist family.  That makes JM and Emanuel first cousins.  It was a holy joy to meet my cousins.

The group was studying the prophet Micah.  Chapters 5 and 6 are full of God’s judgment against those who refuse to live in the ways of God.  The conversation often turned to events three weeks earlier when 9 members were gunned down and a 10th wounded.  The memory of the event was still fresh and raw, though the Emanuel folk exhibited remarkable grace and hope.  At one point, a woman stood and very quietly but directly said, “Our church is getting a lot of credit in the media and across the country for how we have handled this tragedy.  But we don’t deserve the credit; God did that.”  She sat down, and there was a moment of palpable stillness.  I know that in my feebled attempt to write this, I cannot capture the deep and wide spirit of that moment. But her comment, and the grace of the Emanuel congregation, are bringing redemption to a sacred space that had been fouled by violence and hatefulness.  Perhaps the lesson beyond that evening’s study is that wherever we are, there is the opportunity to sense the fresh blowing of the spirit’s wind, cleansing what humans have soiled.  Further, there is the lesson that we are all called to be redeemers in a troubled world.

“Breathe on me, breath of God.  Fill me with life anew,
That I would love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.” – Edwin Hatch, 1878
     
Rev.. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 3-6-15

The Theology of Desi Arnaz
John 2:13-22

In the Gospel according to John, the story of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple of those who corrupted the sacred space with profiteering and cheating comes early, partially laying groundwork for what follows as John unfolds the story of who Jesus is.  In Mark, Matthew, and Luke, the story appears near the end of Jesus’ life and is part of the emotional escalator that leads religious authorities to want to be rid of him.  In either case, Jesus is shown with the emotion of anger at what he saw instead of what should be holiness and righteousness.

Rev. Peter Wallace, a son of Johnson Memorial, has written a book titled The Passionate Jesus:  What We Can Learn from Love, Fear, Grief, Joy, and Living Authentically.  He describes the various emotions experienced and displayed by Jesus.

In the text prescribed for the third Sunday of Lent, it is Jesus’ anger that dominates the emotionally charged story.

Many will remember with smiles the “I Love Lucy” series.   While the program had old culturally traditional male-female portrayals, the episodes always ended with a loving emotion between Lucy and Desi.  In most shows, Lucy got into some predicament, and the emotions of everyone in the program ran the gamut.  Desi would often be angry and could be heard saying, “Lucy, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do.”

This holy season of the year offers a time of self-examination and reflection.  If Jesus were to enter our lives today, as he entered the temple centuries ago, what would he find?  What emotion would Jesus have as he observes and experiences our minds and hearts?  When Jesus says to us, “You’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do,” what is our response?  Are there parts of our lives that give us pause at the thought of needing to explain to God?  Does the thought cross your mind:  “How am I going to explain this one to God?”  Perhaps it is a way of thinking, a behavior, a bias or prejudice, a hardness of heart, a failure to forgive.

Take some time as we prepare for the great festival of Easter and the promise of resurrection to engage in some self-examination.  Be honest with yourself and God.  Offer to God those things that might rightly draw the Lord’s wrath.  Don’t make that offering with fear of God’s reprisal but, instead, make it in response to a loving God who seeks a relationship with us that is marked by wholeness and righteousness.  Desi would display anger with Lucy, but he always embraced her with love.  We might expect God to be angry with us, but God’s mercy and love always trump what we might rightly deserve.  Thanks be to God for unending love.

Holy God:  give us the will to be honest with ourselves and you.  Let us name those things that separate us from your ways.  In naming our sin, we place our wrongs before you with a desire to turn toward your desires for us.  Restore us to the paths of righteousness.  Thank you for your merciful love.  We pray in the name of Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 4-25-14

Risen, He Lives Again
 

Come, all ye faith-ful, joy-ful and tri-um-phant.
Fold-ed the grave clothes; an-gels stand ex-ul-tant.
Come and a-dore him!   Christ the Lord is ri-sen!
Ri-sen, he lives a-gain.

Ba-nish the doubts, di-spel the cloud of ter-ror.
They, dis-il-lu-sioned, now con-fess the er-ror
of dis-ap-point-ment and their fear-ful hi-ding.
Ri-sen, he lives a-gain.

Sing choirs of an-gels, sing in ex-ul-ta-tion.
Run with the wo-men's glad ex-hil-a-ra-tion.
Run with th' a-pos-tles' new ex-hu-be-ra-tion.
Ri-sen, he lives a-gain.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee, ris'n this hap-py mor-ning.
Death can-not hold him!  Come, be-hold his glo-ry.
Come and a-dore him!  Christ The Lord is ri-sen!
Ri-sen, he lives a-gain.

jwl 2014
quoting John F. Wade "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (1743),
            translated by Frederick Oakeley (1841)
tune:  SHADES MOUNTAIN, K. Lee Scott (1987)

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 1-19-14

I Corinthians 1:1-9

In the lectionary for this week is this introduction of Paul to what is called his first letter to the church at Corinth.  Paul, and those who mimicked his style, open their letters with gracious remembrances of people in the churches and express thanksgiving for them and the work they are doing to advance the causes of Christ where they are.  Later in First Corinthians comes the "love chapter" (I Cor. 13), known and loved by many.

I close my eyes and imagine the congregation, gathered, perhaps in someone's home, to hear someone read aloud Paul's letter.  In my mind's eye, I see those gathered sitting up straighter -- perhaps standing more erectly -- as the graceful compliments and good wishes from Paul are read.   "I give thanks to God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge even as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you  so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ," wrote Paul.

John Wesley commented on the last verse of this section that Paul is assuring the folk at Corinth that God is faithful to all his promises.  Wesley's commentary says that God's promise is that through Christ, they (and we) will be found guiltless before God, "a pledge," says Wesley, "of his willingness to save you unto the uttermost."

Is it arrogant of me to say that I love to stand with Paul in giving thanks for the people of my congregation and in thanking God for the grace which God has given us all in Jesus Christ?  Can you say that you give thanks to God for the folk that make up the congregation of which you are a part?  Are you a vital part of the body of Christ that has the task of bearing witness to him in a crazy world?  When was the last time you offered God thanks for the gift of Jesus Christ who erases our sin and presents us faultless before God? Pray for your congregation today.  Pray for your pastors and other leaders across the Church.  Pray -- and work -- for God's mercy and hospitality in a hostile world.  Pray that we all would be evidence to the world of the grace of God offered through our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Holy Lord, thank you for my church.  Thank you for those who labor with me in the fields of your kingdom. Thank you for your promises of eternal life with you.  In Christ I pray.  Amen.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 11-15-13

           A Conversation With A Fav’rite Psalm:
           The Twenty-seventh One, To Be Precise

My light and my salvation is the Lord.
With God beside me, there are none to fear.
I have no cause to shrink or be afraid
Because my stronghold guardian is the Lord.

          Is God’s protective care for me alone?
          Or does the Lord look after others, too?
          While others fear, is that for me to care?
          Is God’s protection from the likes of me?

Though hosts of armies camp against my wall,
I have no fear; my heart in safety rests.
When evil ones and adversaries rise,
They stumble, fall; and I am safe, secure.

          But what if I the adversary be?
          Against the Lord am I an enemy?
          Are they my words and deeds that proffer harm
          To God’s own people?  Is it I that sin?

I seek to live within the house of God
For all the days of my eternal life.
I dream the beauties of the Lord’s abode.
I long to learn within the courts of God.

          But wait!  I learn what God reveals to me:
          That those whom I distrust are also there
          Within the house I thought was saved for me
          Alone!  What dreadful comedy is this?

I feel the hand of God who raises me
Above my enemies who wish me harm.
I sing the song of triumph!  Hear me, Lord?
Be gracious unto me and answer me.

          But there, in other hands of God, I see
          The ones who cause me great distress and fear.
          Is this some kind of joke?  Malevolence?
          That others in the hands of God sing praise?

When I the sinner am, forgive me, Lord.
Allay my fear and use my strength to serve
You all my days while waiting patiently
To see the fullness of your love and grace.

Devotional 11-1-13

St. Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, was one of the most influential church figures in the 4th century. He was a strong advocate of faithful church doctrine and worked hard to repel heresies that arose. His hymn which follows has been translated with several variations though it is a beautifully reflective poem that contemplates the presence of God in the arrival of the dawn. I've kept his hymn handy for morning prayer. I cobbled together some text from varying sources into a hymn which we will use to open our "All Saints Sunday" service of worship this week. May I offer the thought that you read this as a prayer. And come sing it with us on Sunday!

Dawn Sprinkles All the East with Light

Dawn sprinkles all the east with light
Day o’er the earth is gli-ding bright;
Morn’s shi-ning rays their course be-gin;
Fare-well to dark-ness and to sin.

May phan-toms of the night, we pray,
And trace of guilt be cleansed away.
What-e-ver weighs u-pon the heart
Let it with dark-ness now de-part.

Then, when that fi-nal morn ar-rives,
With hum-ble faith we hope our lives
May see, il-lu-mined by new sight,
What we now sing by ear-ly light:

Praise God from whom all bles-sings flow,
Praise God, all crea-tures here be-low.
Praise God a-bove ye heav’n-ly host.
Praise Fa-ther, Son, and Ho-ly Ghost.

“Aurora Jam Spargit Polum”
St. Ambrose, 4th c.
Text ed. jwl 2013
Tune:  Tallis’ Canon; Thomas Tallis 1505-1585

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 9-13-13

Milestones

September this year brings the milestone of the 65th anniversary of my birth.  In a letter accompanying a birthday card from my 96-year-old mother, she said she remembers the day like yesterday and gushed some about how she could have held me forever.  She cannot believe it has been 65 years.  O’course, neither can I!

A couple weeks ago in a sermon, I contemplated the characteristics of time.  When looking forward, time seems endless – to the next Christmas, to graduation, to a significant birthday.  When looking back, time has flown so swiftly.

Milestones can be millstones, depressing anchors holding us back, drowning us in the stream of life, weighing us down along the journey.  Or they can be opportunities of gratitude to God or to others with whom we share the journey.

Milestones give me pause for reflection, and may I be so bold as to offer this suggestion as a devotional moment.  Take the time, at milestone events, to give some prayerful thought to your journey through time.  Take time to be aware of the world around – both the beauties of the world and the horrors that plague the evening news – appreciate the beauties, and take an active and prayerful part with other followers of Jesus who grapple with war and hunger and discrimination and homelessness.  Take time to be fully human – to recognize that you are a child of God which makes all of us, that is, ALL of us, sisters and brothers of one another.  And take time to be holy.  Not smoke and magic, not that mysteriously unknown quality we attribute to God, but different.  Holy simply means different.  Be different from the ways of the world which can be self-absorbed and greedy, belligerent and hateful, distrustful and unwelcoming.  Take time to reflect upon being the image of God that others will see.

Take time to “BE”.  Be aware.  Be human.  Be holy.

“Take time to be holy, the world rushes on.
Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like him you might be;
Your friends in your conduct his likeness shall see.”

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 6-23-13

A Prophet Loses His Nerve

I Kings, chapter 18 and 19

The lectionary texts in recent weeks have followed the life of Isaiah.  In one story, Elijah quite boldly, and derisively, challenged the prophets of Ba’al to a contest on Mount Carmel.  Let the true God send fire to consume a sacrifice.  The prophets of Ba’al cried out to their idol to no avail.  “Call him louder!” Isaiah mocked.  When their prayers failed, Isaiah modestly called to the one true God to send fire for the sacrifice.  Fire came; and it consumed not only the bull offered for sacrifice but also the wood and stones of the altar as well as the moat Isaiah placed around the altar to flood the sacrifice.  Isaiah then supervised a general slaughter of the prophets of Ba’al.

King Ahab learned of this and told his wife, Queen Jezebel.  Jezebel, quite displeased with this news, threatened Isaiah with a painful, torturous death which, frankly, frightened the bejezebel out of Isaiah.

Isaiah discerned the voice of God telling him to go to God’s mountain, Mt. Horeb.  He went, but rather than standing boldly on the mountain, Elijah hid in a cave.  He listened for the voice of God which he did not find in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire. Rather, the voice of God spoke through a still, small voice.  While God can choose however God wants to speak, in this case, it was in a “sheer silence” as some translations put it.  “What are you doing here?” God asked him.  Twice.

Eventually, Elijah emerged from the cave to stand on the mountain and receive his next marching orders from God.

Many readers of this text focus on the “still small voice” that spoke to Elijah.  While it is important to listen for God to speak in whatever form God chooses, from the dramatic to the subtle, this text is more about God pursuing a prophet who had become frightened and who lost his prophetic courage.

Pastors and laity alike are called to serve God and to be in ministry.  There are times when we can stand boldly with Elijah and speak for God.  There are other times when peer pressure, criticism, desire to get along, or social fear get in the way and we feel weak or timid, perhaps embarrassed, to speak the word from God to an unreceptive audience or to a hostile world.  Battle scars can make us weary for the work of God. 

Even so, this text reminds us that God still pursues us, as the Lord pursued Isaiah into the cave, with a claim on us and an embrace that can give us the nerve – the courage – the guts, if you will – to be bold in our faith.

In the church, we draw strength to serve God in the world outside.  And in the church, others look to us for strength for their daily ministries.  Let us faithfully and boldly emerge from Isaiah’s cave; and let us also be the support others need to stand firmly for the Lord.

Dear God, you gave your prophets difficult tasks and you gave them strength.  When they faltered in sin, you chided them.  When they stumbled with fear, you gave them new courage.  Forgive us when we fail you and one another, and strengthen us for our daily walk with you.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 5-10-13

This week, our congregation said "pick up your heavenly tennis racket" to a beloved member who died after a lengthy wrestling match with back and leg pain. She was the mother of two daughters, one a church member and the other a retired pastor colleague and long-time good friend. "Rest in peace" would not be an appropriate farewell: "swing that racket, swing that golf club" would be more the good wishes for one who had been so very active and in recent years was nearly homebound from the pain. At the funeral home during a lull in the visiting, one of her daughters and I were standing at the casket talking to and about her mother. Her daughter said after a few moments: "Mom's in heaven looking down here and asking 'what are you doing?' -- you're talking to my body and I'm not there." After Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, some women and disciples went to the tomb expecting to attend to Jesus’ lifeless body and to do those things that custom and ritual required. But they were met by figures who proclaimed, “He is not here”. While they were perplexed at first, they soon discovered the joy of resurrection and the promise of life eternal.

The Easter season in the church is leading quickly toward Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. The birth of the church was born of the promises of God of eternal life and blessed peace. Death has its mystery for us. But death no longer has any ultimate claim on us. "O grave, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Christ The Lord is Risen -- and we sing our faithful "Alleluia!"

Holy Lord, loving God, creator of the universe:
You call us to be holy, which is to say "other" than the ways of the world.
Thank you for the gift of your son Jesus Christ.
And thank you for your promises of eternal love, everlasting peace, endless joy.
We pray in his sacred name. Amen.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 10-5-12

In this mid-Pentecost season, a number of the lectionary readings have said some pretty powerful things about what we do with our lives if we are to be true disciples of Jesus.  As one example, the reading in Mark about Peter’s confession at Caesarea Phillippi asks some harsh questions.  Mark is the earliest of the gospel accounts written and is most direct and terse.  Matthew and Luke tame this story.  In Mark, Peter is rebuked for his understanding of who Messiah is.  In Matthew, Peter is praised for acknowledgment of Messiah and told that he is the rock on which Jesus would build his church.  Luke says nothing of what Matthew says, but he softens the exchange between Jesus and Peter, saying nothing about any harsh words between them as found in Mark.

 

Read this exchange between Peter and Jesus in Mark 8:27-38.

 

As the passage proceeds, Jesus says some scandalous things about who he is.   Peter believed that the Messiah is the one they had been expecting for centuries whom God would anoint to lead the revolt and overthrow their dictators and oppressors.  “You’re the one!”, Peter thought.  “We’re ready to pick up the sword and to be your captains to stir the people up to follow your lead.”  But Jesus in turn rebuked Peter in front of the other disciples:  called him a name – Satan.  “Shame on you, Peter!  I’m talking about the ways of God and your mind is trapped by your own expectations.  I am NOT going to be a worldly liberator who will free the people from tyranny.  You have your mind set on your own earthly expectations and not the ways of God.” 

More scandalous, Jesus told them that Messiah must suffer and be rejected by their own religious leaders – must be killed and rise again.

Still more scandalous, Jesus told the listening crowd that if they wanted to save their lives, they were to take up their crosses and follow Jesus.  “You who try to save your lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for my sake and the gospel will save them.”

At first reading, we are not really threatened by this.  What are the chances that something will force us to make a discipleship choice that could cause us to lose our lives?  Actually and physically to suffer and die for Jesus?   For most of us, this is pretty remote, really.  But read the text again with the understanding of “trying to save our lives” meaning saving the way of life that is known, comfortable, prosperous, and safe when discipleship calls us to relinquish that comfort or prosperity or safety in behalf of the compassionate and merciful and peaceful ways of Jesus.   That’s different.  Threatening.  Hard.   Discipleship has its ultimate reward of blessing with God.  In the meantime, discipleship may be costly – costing us a way of life that is contrary to our Christlike calling.

O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my Guide.

O let me see thy footprints, and in them plant my own,

My cross to carry fully, to trust your strength alone.
Let me deny my lifestyle when varied from your ways.
Receive me then in Heaven at the ending of my days.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt