An 8 year old skipping rope after church, where she experienced communion served only to those of "an age of discretion":

Went to communion and what do I see?
See the mean elder staring at me,
Sneaking that crumb from my father’s hand,
Joining these folks in the promise land,
Sneaking that sip from my father’s cup,
Taking my part of this holy Sup.

Buyers remorse





Once a month I get a fry craving.
When I succumb, I'll employ a trick that gets me the max cholesterol fix.
I plead:  "Can you just put them directly into a bag, without that little cardboard holder thingy?"
Often they'll forgo measuring with that holder and just dump in a full scoop.
Or two.
Double play!

Peering down that well-greased paper well, I immediately start the fight.
Me: "It'd be a real waste of money to just throw this junk out now."
Then Me goes:  "Yeah, but worse would be eating it!"

But I always win the argument.

Keeping Watch

It's hard to find a shepherd these days who keeps any watch over his flock at all, let alone when things get dark and confusing.
Well, that's nothing new.
Jesus bashed the professional clerics for not shepherding.
But they hadn't from the beginning.
Most still don't.
But I should take the log out of my own eye.
Not attending faithfully to my own duties is my priority problem.

When the angels graced those men with stellar songs, they were honoring faithful, hopeful examples of patient diligence.
That's a story we've read before:

• Moses tends the sheep when the angel's flaming light bursts in front of him.
• David is keeping the family flock safe when he is surprised by the prophet's blessing and promise.

The particular theme is how God faithfully comes to good shepherds.
He reassures them with His promise to fulfill their hearts' desire.
What do they long for?
To know and feel and live surrounded by God's being and glory in heaven and earth.
And He repeats the sounding joy that promises just that.

And He has not stopped visiting and comforting and promising us peace as we keep faithful to this hope.

Limboland

"Peter, feed my sheep." "You betcha, Lord.  But I'll be limiting that to those who agree here on this document I made up."

Lots of pastors, mostly presbyterian or congregational, might eventually admit they either can't or won't or don't want to give you discipline (refuse communion, voting privileges, etc) unless you first stipulate agreement to their right thereto.  Their "membership agreement" usually has clauses to this effect tucked away in there somewhere, so this becomes the contract they think covers their butts should you think to sue if you later get disgruntled with said discipline.


Wimps!


That discipline is a biblical obligation on a pastor, whether or not the sheep agree ahead or no.


And what of those who haven't officially signed up?  Are they in some sort of fellowship limboland where they're missing some of the privileges that accompany the obligations they haven't yet taken?  Oddly, most pastors often comfort themselves with the idea that those gentle folk "have been coming for years" without becoming members. What they really mean is that all have enjoyed the important benefits of the arrangement, and the pastor hasn't taken on the risk.


But what, then, were nonmembers missing out on?  What do they get when they become members?  I bet if you ask them after they sign up, you'll hear that they feel really committed now, and fully accepted.


How sad.  Like all the members of Christ's body, the Church, these people have been some of pillars holding up the place.  Yet the local pastor has subtly engendered doubt and insecurity in them because of his own insecurity in taking on his obligations.

Fearful music

I didn't know there was anything in the player when I hit the button.  But soon poured out the best Chopin I've ever heard.  He's so immediately emotional, yet not raw.  Disciplined, controlled, but totally there and true to feelings most of which are out of my grasp.  Chopin and Mozart give for me close to a divine take on music.  It makes me think that

• Mozart swung on God's rib cage, with it's structure and architecture
• Chopin swam in God's veins, in its turbulence and changing pulse

I wonder how Mozart would have felt if he had heard Chopin.  I wonder what all of us will feel when Jesus sits down at the keyboard.

Unharmonizing the Gospels

Have you seen those books "harmonizing" Matthew, Mark & Luke?  Beware the trap.


Think of all the Gospels as movements of a symphony.  God laid them out so that we would hear each section individually and serially (though maybe not sequentially, since we don't know of a given order).  Layering them on top of each other would add noise.  You'd miss much detail -- for example, the powerful drumbeat coming from the repetition of themes.

I'm not saying we can't benefit by occasionally checking out a side-by-side reading.  Maybe we could fill in some historically curious gaps -- especially helpful for budding historians.  But this probably isn't the main way to extract more of the intended Truth.  He is a capable enough write to have given more detail, if He'd been intending a history lesson.


Here's an example which our family came across as we read Luke 7 -- that place just after Jesus had raised from death the only son of the forlorn widow.

14And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 15And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. 16And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. 17And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.  18And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things. 19And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 20When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 21And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.

Preachers often tell us about the drama going on here in John's psyche:  "Is He really the one? -- Maybe I've had it all wrong!"  So when when we read these verses, we asked each other:  "Wait, why didn't John go check this out himself?  Why send two followers to investigate the most important person in your life?  Maybe John is stuck in jail?"
 
But if you don't "import" these concerns from the harmonizing mistake, then you're not distracted with the idea that John is wondering what kind of revolution Jesus was bringing afterall, or when Jesus was going to get off the pot and start getting real change done.  Some other quiet little theme can now tap on you.


It may feel like God is portraying John as a kind of Holy Spirit himself in type and antitype.  So about this "looking for another" -- this is exactly what the Spirit does NOT have us do or need.  And the need of confirm and reaffirm Him in our minds (who IS this Jesus, really) is exactly what the Spirit satisfies.  We're supposed to recognize that John (and we) really need to feel the peace that Jesus is the answer to all our pressing needs.  And the Holy Spirit is the mechanism of comfort Jesus gives us to see Himself.  So John is like a foretaste of what we get from the Spirit.


We risk deafness to snippet of these sweet sounds if we stack all the scores on top of each other.

Preachers playing hide and seek

Don't get me wrong, I love parsing the Word's words.  Detailed exposition has it's place -- just not so much in, or as, preaching.

Take the Bible.  There's some decent preaching, amen?  But how many expository "sermons" do you find in the context of all those biographies and poems and personal letters?

If God finds historical tales and personal thoughts as a suitable (even preferred) means to deliver His Word, maybe our preachers ought to give that method a go.

Trouble is, you'd have to really know your subject -- and by that I mean the Bible and yourself and us.  You'd need to do the heavy lifting of expositing the Word, yourself and the rest of us in your head and heart, ahead of time.

Then you could stand there like some kind of prophet -- because that's what we need to hear.  You could tell us what the Word's words mean to our lives.  You'd lead us through the forest of the Word, rather than having us watch you hide behind the syntax of a tree or two.