The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. ~ Psalm 23 Today is moving day for our family. After nearly five years of parking my car in thr same space, getting mail in the same location, and walking dogs along the same route, things are about to change.
Years ago I was often referred to as someone who was "an agent of change." I think I liked being that person, who worked hard for changes in thought, practices that served as injustices, and simply pushing to move a pendulum that seemed to be often stuck. That, however, has changed as I have grown older. While now I tend to write more letters than protest publicly in demonstrations, I seem to avoid those who seem to be angry all the time, I find that now I turn to scriptures that I know that bring me comfort and resolution in my soul. Don't get me wrong, I still like a good challenge every now and then, but when the encounter will bring about change like today's move, I find that the words of the 23rd Psalm help to remind me the "The Lord is my Shepherd, and I shall not want." If I were truly honest with myself, I would quickly realize that each day is about allowing God to have control. A shepherd leads, and sometimes, pushes the flock to where it needs to be. This move has been a lot of things for myself and my family. There have been those moments where we have felt lead, and those moments, perhaps like today, where we may find that we must "push through." I'm grateful for a God who understands me enough to know what I need in each of these cases. While many of us may think of the 23rd Psalm being read at the end of life, or a funeral, it is also a reminder that it is a Psalm for daily living, with a reminder that through all circumstances God is ready to care for us when we finally surrender to that leading. Ultimately we will discover goodness and mercy through all of these days and circumstances. It is the promise of being present in a place that has not been just created for you, but because of you and the love that God has for us, that makes it all worth while. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. ~ Psalm 96:1 - 3 Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon with the husband of one of my hospice patients. He and I have enjoyed talking about our faith with one another, and the disciplines we attempt to remain faithful to in our daily walks with God.
The man, who will turn ninety-two this year, shared, "I try to stay as faithful as a child. I want every day to be filled with new joys." As he smiled, tears ran down his laugh lines on his face. "And I find that the older I get, sometimes there is a very old man that appears, and he struggles with this." It has been a difficult year for he and his wife of seventy years. Last year during Hurricane Harvey, six inches of bayou water entered the home they have lived in over the past forty years. The mold and mildew that immediately began to grow made both he and his wife sick, and then they contracted the flu while staying with friends who had small children. "I would try to wash the dishes at every meal to help out." "People from our church came and tore out our walls, and our ceilings, when they realized our roof had also leaked. It was just an overwhelming project. We could not have done this without help." "I struggled so much at that time with so many things," as he reached for a stack of index cards, he then handed to me one of them and asked me to read it. As I looked at the card, I read along the top, "Sing a new song unto the Lord," followed by a list of ten things he was thankful for that day. 1. My wife and I are alive, together, being cared for by friends. 2. God loves me. 3. A bird is singing outside my window. 4. I am still able to help others. 5. Our house is still standing. 6. I laughed already today. 7. It is not raining. 8. I have an amazing Savior. 9. I can still help my wife to talk about things. 10. I am glad. "I started writing these every day because God wants me to discover new ways to sing about my life. I started writing these years ago as a soldier away from home when I was afraid. Then as a young father while trying to complete my education. Later when I retired, and now, as an old man, waiting on the Lord, I pass my morning making sure I let God know that I am still thankful." I then saw further back in the cabinet where he pulled this small stack from, and it was filled with recipe cards of all colors, and age. "I lost most of them when we flooded. I guess it was time for them to wash away, and for me to find new cards to write on. New cards that would become my new songs." At the end of our conversation, we took time to pray, and as we have begun doing as friends, we take time to pray for one another. I told him that in so many ways I always seem to feel so much better after our time together. He said, "You know, I do too. Tomorrow you will be one of the lines that I will write as my way of giving thanks." "God doesn't require much from us, but God does want us to find happiness each day, even if it means we have to write it down on a card." I thanked him for sharing, and it has made me think this morning about what I am thankful for, and about the song I am singing unto God. What does your song sound like? Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
~ Luke 3:10 - 14 It has been a while since Jesus' cousin John has been thought about. John, this curiously different man who ate locusts and honey, and dressed in camel hair. Looking all a mess, this wanderer attracted crowds out in the country and he baptized them, including Jesus. For those surrounding the resurrected Jesus, John's message was a whole lot more easier to understand about now. Reminding everyone that the "Kingdom of God was at hand," might be a little clearer in the eyes of the Disciples who are now seeing the risen Jesus first-hand. John's message was about doing what's right. We don't think too much of John after the crucifixion. John, his head the birthday gift on a silver platter at the request of Herodias's daughter, had been gone from the scene for some time now. However, with the resurrection of Jesus and his time now with his Disciples, I'm sure that there were those who were beginning to wonder if John might be next to return. Just imagine what the people might have been thinking. "I wonder what messenger of God will rise next? What profit? Could it be John the one who was baptizing in the wilderness? What might he be wearing now, and what would his message be?" Have you ever thought what the message of John, or for that matter, Jesus might be today if they were to show up, and if so, would the world listen? Would they be two men in a new wilderness, dealing with a new generation who, like the Hebrew people who just generations earlier were freed from slavery and brought out of Egypt had forgotten the power of God? Would John's message to be satisfied in your life's work, and to not take advantage of others, be echoed once again? Would we be rushing home to empty our closets of extra clothes to ensure that others were not naked on the street corner asking for help? We are reminded it does not take supernatural encounters with God to live this life, or to do these things. Christ dwells within us. That's reason enough to sing, "It is well with my soul," while finding ways to help one another. We live in a world that is filled with opportunities to be the Kingdom of God being ushered in. It begins with us. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
~ John 17:25 - 26 Sometimes seeing the bigger picture doesn't happen until the event has occurred. It is like being part of something very special, and not realizing the impact it will have on others until years down the road. We all have these moments in our lives. A local food pantry sets a goal to fill a semi-truck load with food to take out into the community. A teacher starts a "Go Fund Me" project to buy a rug for her room that children will sit upon and listen to stories of greatness. A volunteer offers to go and sit with a hospice patient so that the patient's family can go to the grocery store. No matter how large or small the project may seem, these are the things that are done out of the love for something that is within us. Jesus is trying hard to explain just how this all works now with the Disciples before he is to leave. It's almost as if he is saying, "I'm leaving, but you've got this!" What is it that is instilled within your heart that you are so passionate about? There is a real purpose to our loving Christ, and Christ loving us, that doesn't just create a relationship. It is also recognizing that we are part of something much greater. It is that relationship which gives each of us purpose. It is that relationship that reminds us that we belong to something much greater. And finally, it is that relationship which we are called to share through the love of one another. I always find that when we truly love something, then our passion cannot help but be brought to light and it become a priority. It's when the project is complete, or after time has passed, that the fullness of that passion can be realized. Our love for one another and Christ, is complete through God. What an amazing gift this relationship has become! Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 “While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.” ~ John 17:12 - 19 One thing I realize about having a relationship with God, is that each day at some point, I realize that I am not the same person I was a year ago, or for that matter, even a week ago!
Jesus seems to be encapsulating his ministry to God, letting God know that these friends of his, who have been following him, are no longer the same. They are no longer a part of the world, but of something much different. Because they have been with Jesus, he has been able to protect them from a variety of things, except for one of them, which had a role that had to be played out, they are part of a very special group. Jesus talks of how special they are, and because they are special, he speaks of them as being sanctified. One of the things that we often forget is that we ARE different than the world, but yet, it is a fine line that each of us must walk. To balance ourselves, and to remain hopeful, especially when we just can't seem to understand why some things are the way that they are. Even Jesus asks God to protect this sanctified group from evil, noting that this would be a challenge. It's Jesus reminding each of us that we are indeed sanctified, and that being truthful, and speaking the truth, while remaining focused on what we have been called to do is what sets us apart. Years ago I served on a committee that helped with the licensing of clergy within my faith tradition. I always loved hearing about what it was that caused the person to respond to the call of ministry. I always reminded folks that our role was not to judge whether the person deserved to be licensed, or for that matter, had some particular gift for ministry. It was our opportunity to watch as God sanctified the person for ministry, while the person found his or her way, and how we, as fellow followers could serve with and help to affirm their journey. Our entire journey is about hope, while being reminded that we are God's children, sanctified and called to serve a higher purpose. I love knowing that we belong to God! Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed." ~ John 17:1 - 5 About this time in the life of the Disciples, there has to be a new sense of reality starting to creep into their lives. If there was any doubt prior to Jesus' death of who he was, that surely has been wiped away. However, humanity being humanity, is still going to have it's moments to figure things out.
John is sharing an intimate moment Jesus is having with God, and records Jesus basically reminding God, it is now YOUR time. I love that there is this type of relationship between God and Jesus. Their relationship is a reminder that there is a balance within the Trinity. That when One portion of the Trinity does something, each part of God is glorified. While we may not always understand how this works, it is okay. The glory of God seeks to reach out to us. Jesus has fulfilled one part of God's plan. Because of what Jesus has experienced, even though there was great pain and suffering, the relationship of God with us has been fulfilled and our life lived in eternity will be complete because even through our own difficult life experiences, we have remained faithful. The presence of Christ following the resurrection among the Disciples just goes to show to what great lengths God is willing to go in order to ensure our faith remains firm and that we continue to seek to have a relationship with God each day. The words, "It is finished," have been turned into a great "Amen" at the end of a life that was lived to help each of us better understand our faith. To have moments in time where we can look and proclaim that Jesus is real, and the life of Jesus was part of God's great plan for each of us! While the Disciples surely were beginning to realize that there was another change about to enter their lives, this next change would involve a presence of God they had yet to experience. This next chapter would invoke the Spirit within each of them that would take them to a new place in their faith journey. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 Jesus said, "Love the Lord, thy God, with all your heart, your soul, and your mind." ~ Matthew 22:37 I will admit that I am the last person to give advise about relationships. When I was called to serve my first senior pastoral role, someone asked me at my first year anniversary, "So what's the main difference you have discovered between being a youth pastor and the pastor of an entire church?" (I had served two churches as a youth pastor prior to my being called to this church in this new capacity.)
My response? "There really is no difference. In all honesty, the older people of the church want the same thing that the youth want. I just don't have to deal with their parents." As people grow older, their priorities may change, but the need to be accepted and to be loved remain important. For people who are seeking to join in the covenant of marriage I always try to get them to think about their relationship in the terms of "mind, body, and soul." My great grandparents were married for well over seventy years. They grew up in the same community, knew one another their entire lives, lived through the depression, watched three sons and a son-in-law go off to war and return, lived long enough to watch their oldest son die an old man, and managed to hold hands for as long as they could. Of course later in life they held hands to hold one another up, and often, you would see my great grandfather carrying my grandmother's purse in his other hand. "Mind, body and soul." As we grow old our needs change. At some point intimacy changes, but takes on new meaning. Our minds continue to learn, and finding someone who will not only challenge, but continue to pursue new conversations and interests will continue to build for a broader relationship. Of course our soul manifests itself in ways that moves beyond both mind and body, and can be the bearer of all things, when faith is all that seems to be left. The very first couple I ever married was the union of a Jewish woman to a United Methodist man. They were a young professional couple that had dated for a long period of time. I can still hear the bride's father telling me, "Now, none of that 'Jesus stuff' during the wedding." As part of their homework one week I made them complete a calendar of holidays, and how they would honor their traditions, and that they had to show it to their families and discuss how they would spend them. I think maybe this assignment may have been the reason why the bride's father was so vocal with me. They were very much in love, were always within arms reach with one another, and their faith was very important, while their professions had challenged their minds to have deep discussions. I felt like they had a good chance of making it. Yes, it's true, clergy consider many things before asking couples to say, "I do." I have told folks "No," as well. I have met couples who have only had one area in common. People change. Having only one area in common doesn't give the couple anything to "fall back onto" if there are problems. I guess the same can be shared in our relationship with God. Realizing that we are in relationship with God, mind, body and soul, helps us to recognize the importance of that relationship. Having been created by God, to do God's will, invites us into a relationship that will carry us through all eternity. God created everything about us, and only wants to know us more. Discovering that person who can touch us "mind, body, and soul' is what we all long for. That is what we all seem to long for. Relationships are a choice. Seeking to love God, "Mind, Body and Soul" is a choice as well. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ~ John 11:25-26 The remarkable thing about death is that it is not something you can ever truly "plan for." This week as I sat with one of my hospice patients, she turned to me and asked, "Can you tell me how to die?"
It took me a moment to respond. Afterall, I encounter people who are dying and witness death each week. As I looked into her eyes, I saw someone who wanted to die with dignity and great grace. I told her, "I guess that is the beauty of dying, there is not right or wrong way of doing it. It is YOUR journey." She leaned back in her chair, and said, "I figured you would say something like that." She turned and pulled out a pad of paper that contained a list. At the top of the page were these words, "What I want to do on the day I die." She has lived with the reality that she has a terminal illness for the last few months, and obviously she has had time to think. As I gazed at the page, trying to see what she had written, I noticed lines, marked out, scribbles that had been highlighted, and then a series of numbers that seemed to list her priorities. When I asked about the list she chuckled. "I used to think I wanted to make sure I had my hair brushed and my bed arranged like some scene out of a movie. I wanted to be that woman who says something filled with wisdom that when people left my death bed, they couldn't speak." "Then I thought, 'I really hope that I've brushed my teeth. I don't want people leaning over to kiss me goodbye and that I don't have fresh breath.'" She smiled really big, and rolled her eyes, while taking a look my way to see my reaction. I'm not sure of the face I made, but she sat the paper down, and looked at me. "I want to make sure I do it right." It's really amazing how we work so hard throughout our lives, trying to love one another, practice random acts of kindness, while creating some kind of legacy, and then we all must deal with the greatest, single most common thing that we all will encounter, and that is our death. Jesus tries to explain to the disciples, "I am not going to be with you always." In the garden, he pleads to let an impending cup to pass from him, realizing that he was going to die. Then dies before a crowd of onlookers who are watching and listening to his cries. It was not private, nor did it follow some list from a pad of paper. It was the realization that the creation, made from dust, will be overcomed by the need to return to that dust. "I've tried to be a good person, in hopes that God will be good to me as I die, and when I die," she said to me. If truth be told, I think the first thing that any of us hopes for on the day that we die, is that we are ready. As she picked up her pad of paper, she flipped a page, next was a list of every utility company, subscription, and even the name of her hairdresser. At the top of the page the heading, "The things to do the day after I die." She had made a list of "To Do's" for the day after she dies. The reality in all of this is that death is our complete loss of control. It is the most complete surrender that we will encounter. As we surrender our final breath, we welcome the most vulnerable spiritual experience we will have yet to encounter. As I took her hands, laying aside the pad of paper, these words came to me, "On the day I die there is only one thing to do, and that is to trust." She remained silent for a moment. I noticed a tear beginning to build, and she leaned forward a little more and said, "Yes, that is the answer." We can make lists, and we can struggle with so many things, but even Jesus trusted enough that on the day he died, he trusted in God to say, "Into Your hands I give my spirit." Just as it is with our death, so it is with our life, and that is to simply trust that God will always be present, and ready. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world — therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’” “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.” ~ John 15:18 - 27 I met a man this week who grew up in Bolivia, and at the age of eleven, was handed a gun and was forced onto the battlefield. He said, "I saw children who were afraid, and hated their fear so much that they could then point their guns and pull the trigger, shooting someone that was just as afraid. I learned at an early age that the last two words that a boy, dying on the battlefield cries out, are either, 'mother' or 'God.'"
I stood and didn't know what to say. I looked at him and felt such pain. He continued, "I never knew I could hate so much, and now that I'm old, trying to love has become my mission." For years we have studied hate and how it evolves into so many things. There are all kinds of ways to express our hate, and just as many ways to describe it. Over the years, the work I have done through social justice projects has been driven by the effects of hate towards others. Being liked is something we all like. Being hated is something none of us enjoy. Jesus' experience of hatred was real. It cost him his life. Public humiliation, being beaten, stripped of his clothing, and placed on a cross before the crowds, including his mother, was the purest example of hatred that we encounter in scripture. His appearance through all of this was something we all have encountered, either in our minds, or through the words that scripture shares. He understands that love takes work, and that hatred comes easy. He speaks to the heart of humanity when we are reminded to "turn or cheek," "forgive your neighbor," and to "love one another." He spends more time attempting to teach us about those who are different, and crossing the street to help those who have been hurt, and that whatever we have done for the poorest, or least of these, we have also done to Jesus. Both, love and hatred, are part of the struggle found in the prayer we so often share, "and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." I'm not sure if we ever will truly be able to completely abandon hatred. For some it is what drives them, and for some, it is the mantra that they breath in and exhale. It's amazing the number of people who I meet at the end of their life that talk more about their pain, rather than about what they have loved. I am also reminded that those who have been hurt, or wounded, by hatred, have the right to those scars. It is a reminder that at some point the overwhelming presence of Christ, who has known hatred, will heal all of us of these wounds, and that hate will one day be no more. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit."
~ John 14:1 - 2 There resides in each of us things that are not healthy for us. We live in an imperfect world, and because we do, we can tend to develop habits that magnify those things that can sometimes serve as a stumbling block for any of us. Oh, I think most of us have something that immediately comes to mind. If we are truly being honest with ourselves, the ability to make excuses for why we do some things outnumbers the actual things we do! Jesus continues to share with the Disciples how this new resurrected relationship is going to work after he returns just days after the empty tomb. God is this great vineyard developer, and Jesus, well, Jesus is a great vine. While you would think that Jesus would be the perfect vine, even God needs to create a more perfect vine, and so God trims off that which does not produce an abundant harvest, and tends to the areas that produce great fruit. So often this is just where some folks jump to the conclusion that those who do not produce good fruit will be cut off from the glory of God. For me, I know that I am not perfect, but like a truly good farmer, my God, like Jesus explains, is the ideal farmer. I know that I am being shaped. Not like some topiary at the front door of someone's home! No! God utilizes every gift that I have to make sure that I am always putting my best forward. God is not in the business of throwing away God's children. So often we read into this scripture as God somehow cutting off those who seem to have fallen away, or who lack something. Even among farmers, they know that even the pieces that are cut away still have a purpose. They can be used to create mulch that prevent weeds and keep the plant moist, or even fertilizer, that makes the plant healthy and stronger. Our God is always about redemption, hope and resurrection. Jesus invites us to be part of the healthy vine, that grows, blooms, and provides for the harvest. God wants the excellence of creation to flourish, and for each of us to be part of the beautiful garden being created. We shall abide in Christ, and Christ in us, who is with God our Creator! You are God's most precious of all creation! Grow and bloom! Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 One of the in patient rooms at Houston Hospice, a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 organization that is community-supported. Their mission is to provide compassionate physical, social and spiritual support to individuals with a life-limiting diagnosis, and their loved ones, irrespective of their ethnicity or beliefs. They believe no one should live in pain or in fear of being alone. Houston Hospice utilizes a team-oriented approach to medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support tailored to each unique patient. "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." ~ Exodus 3:5 Any time that I walk into one of the rooms at Houston Hospice where I serve as a chaplain, I get a sense of the words that God spoke to Moses upon the mountain that day. For any of us, our ability to recognize the "Holy" is found in many places and ways.
So often when I think of the space where people gather to care and provide support for those who are in their final days of life, I experience a type of holiness that is not found anywhere else. What is it about sacred spaces that bring us closer to God? And where are those places for you? For Moses, he found that on the top of the mountain, he was confronted by a burning bush that spoke to him. For any of us, the place where we find ourselves can become a place of sacredness. It's all in the perspective of how you view it. I know of people who have found that sacredness within the walls of amazing cathedrals, while others, under the outstretched arms of canopies within the forest. For me, that space seems to always be changing. Although there are sacred places I have visited in my life, that brought about a closeness to God that I cannot explain, except to proclaim that it was "Holy," I have to admit, that even in the confines of my car, stuck in traffic, I have sensed God's overwhelming presence. God wants us to encounter God in amazing ways, but even in the stillness, and quiet, sacredness can be found. As the psalmist reminds, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me," so does our need to encounter God. May we all discover the sacredness of space, in our seeking of God's presence. Amen. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." ~ John 20:27 Her hands were small, and still wet from having just washed them. I had spent the last thirty minutes watching her gently massaging the hands of her husband who can no longer hold his hands out. They remain contracted due to his illness.
"They used to be so strong," she said as she began to cry. "When we came to this country we worked very hard, night and day. They were so strong, and when I would get discouraged, he would wrap not just his hands, but his arms around me." Have you ever looked upon the hands of someone who has been wounded? While they may bear the scars, they also hold the battle. As I took her hands in mine, and began to pray, her tears washed over both of our hands. I imagine that there were tears as Thomas looked at the hands of Jesus. The reminder of the struggle, the pain, and the surrender. The torn flesh, and the resurrection. Two images that we rarely coincide with one another, but it is the powerful image of the risen Christ. That while we all may struggle with our own daily battles, the ressurected Christ remains alive in us. Today we serve as a reminder to one another of woundedness and the resurrection. While we my need to see the resurrected hands of Christ to believe, for many, the need to hold those hands in the hands of those who are broken hearted, leaves us wanting to reach out to one another. As I finished my prayer, and as she hugged me and cried, I understood more closely the compassion of Christ to be vulnerable enough, that even before ascending, needing to share that he understood what it meant to be wounded, and the need for others to believe! In our woundedness Christ lives! Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
~ Ephesians 2:10 Sometimes I have to pull this verse up and remind myself that my life is going to be better than I ever thought it could be. We are all created for specific purposes in this world. I can't explain why it is that some folks die before "We humans" believe that the person attained their full and complete purpose. The Kingdom of God is just simply like that. Rev. David Mills, a former pastor and friend who is now part of that great cloud of witnesses, got to the point that he would get lost traveling from the church where he had served and worshiped for decades, to his home six blocks away, but ask him to pray, and you would have thought you were at the footstool of Christ. We don't always understand why some things are the way they are. It doesn't mean that they are always missing the mark. The Kingdom of God will be full of unsuccessful business persons, children who couldn't remember the Gettysburg Address, and ballerinas that only could dream of wearing a pointe shoe, but they will be there. We forget that God created us, much like the poet creating a great work. That's just how amazingly special each of us are. The important thing to remember is that each one, in our own special way, has been created to help another human being. If we fail to recognize our need to help, love, and support one another, then I guess maybe we miss the mark when Jesus simply asks, "Can You just love one another?" "Be grateful in all circumstances," much like those who walked and followed Christ, because in all circumstances, you were especially created. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 "My son," the father said, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours." ~ Luke 15:31 Henri Nouwen in his book, "The Return of the Prodigal Son" writes, "I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found."
So often in the world today we confuse love for many other things. The Rembrandt painting of the Prodigal Son returning home found in scripture left Henri Nouwen staring at the scene for hours on end. The picture of a downtrodden, broken man, who returns to his father after spending all of his earthly wealth; the father welcoming, arms open wide, a gold ring once again on the man's hand, and who could forget the fatted calf, and his demise? The picture is about unconditional love. It's about feelings hurt. It's about truth that so many of us face today. I don't know a single soul who has not felt love, only to find it fade, or to have it taken away. I think most of us can identify with loss. Or perhaps, even having precious things taken from us. This return is not just a son coming home, but he's brought a new and painful load of luggage. One that is filled with shame, embarrassment, and heartache. And yet, the father looks beyond this and simply sees his son. Have you ever wanted someone to love you so bad that you see beyond the shadows that the person casts, which provides a bigger picture? Our ability to hide such things often is the start of a new relationship, but yet, when the shadows give way to baggage, or yet, things that any of us might find uncomfortable or too painful, then we discover we might suddenly be too busy. The truth of the matter is, that in all relationships, whether friend, lover, colleague, or even fellow bus rider, there is something in the lives of each of us that might cause others to move to a new seat! Of course this story is about a family that is reconciling themselves to the fact that they're not perfect, and in the end, we don't truly know how things turned out. But for this moment, we get a glimpse of the unconditional love that this father, and our God, has for each of us. In my life I have truly tried to love, or should I say like, most people I have met. Our ability to love one another says alot about how we love ourselves. It doesn't take a monumental turn of events to practice kindness, or for that matter, unconditional love. It does however, make each of us take a closer look at ourselves, and to strive to turn an idea such as unconditional love, into something real. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. ~ 1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26 There were no more ordinary days for Jesus and the twelve. Living in chaos, with unknowns around each turn, and a cloud of anxiety had covered the land, allowing dark shadows to crawl deeper into the light, and become known. For Jesus, there is no denying, the sense of urgency must have been felt. While the Son of God knew that he would die, it is the process I wonder if he worried about? Someone asked me once what I thought the most miraculous act of Jesus was during his lifetime, and my response was, "He died." While the death of Christ is part of the foundation of our faith, there are the hours leading up to that moment, and then the hours following. It is an identified event on the timeline of humanity, and I can't help but think that even within the heavenly realm that all eternity can point to this moment as well. Once again, I doubt that Jesus was sleeping much this week. While being fully Divine and fully dust, there would be a duality that I'm not sure if Jesus even had learned to fully understand. Being told you have a terminal diagnosis can be shocking, and yet it happens to people everywhere every day. Knowing the time you have "left" can bring about many changes. Some people create lists that they term as a "bucket list" of things they wish they had done before surrendering their lives to the next. I knew a person who was terminally ill who before she became confined to her bed, threw an amazing party. Rented a beautiful boat, flew in all of her family and friends, and went out into the Gulf to celebrate with food and wine. She said everything she wanted to say, and saw everyone for "one last time." Just three weeks later as she died, she announced that she had lived a "great life." This was not going to be the case for Jesus. Seriously, have any of us really looked at the life of Christ? He was born out of wedlock under interesting circumstances. He and his family fled to another country and became immigrants, and didn't return until we hear of him teaching back in their hometown in the Temple. His mother pretty much makes him perform his first miracle while turning water into wine and a family member's wedding. From there he hangs out with a cousin that eats locusts and honey, dresses in camel hair, and proclaims the Kingdom of God is at hand, and then baptizes Jesus before a small crowd, and the sky opens up and the voice of God declares that "This is my son." I start to think he is a loner, until he begins walking up to complete strangers and saying, "Come follow me." His "Disciples" as they become known as, then watch as he does some pretty amazing things. Blind see. The paralyzed walk. He even raises a man from the dead! At one point, Luke remembers, "We have seen great things here today." He then becomes so popular that the leaders of his community become fearful of what he could lead others to do. People are leaving the faith to follow this man, and soon there is no venue large enough to hold the crowds that want to hear how the "meek shall inherit the earth." Then we reach this time in his life, when a great celebratory homecoming seems to have taken place, unlike any seen in some time, and the thought that someone from the lineage of David might actually assume the throne again, and they are all looking to Jesus. One of his closest friends, then makes a choice between the friendship and his ability to earn some money, but first, they must eat before the events that will cause him to never experience another sunrise or sunset. And so Jesus gathers the Disciples together. Knowing he would soon die, he doesn't create a bucket list. They come together and eat. He explains that his body would become broken and that he would bleed. While this seems to be another one of "those" stories he often would tell, he is describing for them what they are about to witness. It is like the doctor describing to the patient what to expect as the disease process continues of the dying patient. They listen, and they are told to "remember." It's not the sunny days, or the times they fished together on lakes that were sometimes filled with crashing waves, and some as calm as a sleeping child. It's not the campfires that reflected in one another's eyes each night as they spoke of the events of the day, or how Jesus would lay under stars that he helped to create, as he may have spoken of the day the sun rose for the first time upon creation. He instead speaks of a body that would bleed, and how in his brokenness his presence would be felt, and that this is how he wanted to be remembered. This is our Jesus. The One we have journeyed with through this season of Lent, and who will will continue to embrace as nails pierce him and hold him until he announces that "it is finished." This is our Jesus who knew what it meant to be different, while struggling with others to make sense of why there are imperfections within the creation that was pronounced "good" by a God who loved us so much that the journey was created so that we might better understand just what that love looks like. Today we gather, and we remember, while we remain in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2018 |
AuthorRev. G. Todd Williams is the author of the book, "Remember Me When..." and is a former hospice chaplain and pastor. Archives
February 2024
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