"But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded." ~ Genesis 8:1 This morning as I was waking up and thinking about my day, I was caught off guard by a question that was asked of me this last week. You know how conversations can sometimes linger, and then reappear? I don't know if it is a sign of old age, or just a slow response.
Someone asked me last week, "Where am I supposed to find hope?" The person shared this after having gone through two years of treatment for cancer and was now on hospice. "For two years I hoped for a miracle. I prayed nearly every day and had all kinds of people praying for me," he shared. "What should I hope for now that I know that there will be no miracle. That I'm going to die. That my hope for getting better is gone?" I have learned over the years that I don't need to defend God when answers don't seem to come. While I will always believe that God remains faithful to each of us, the idea of hope is something that is filtered by faith, and encouraged by God's love. I sometimes wonder what Noah must have been thinking after the rains had stopped and the sun returned, but yet, they remained afloat. The restlessness of both humanity and the beasts that remained on an unknown course in the ark must have been filled with many hopeless moments. What were the expectations and what was life going to look like? If we are truthful, I believe that we all have encountered moments at some point in our life when we have looked into the sky and wondered, "What shall I hope for?" A church is shattered by gunfire. Communities across our country are being rocked by an opioid crisis. White supremacists march in our streets. A war with words causes each of us to rethink nuclear weapons. Of course we are all finding moments when we are wondering, "Where is the hope?" It's not confined to someone who is facing the final weeks of life after a long struggle to fight an illness. It's what each of us are looking for with each new day. While the writer of Corinthians will say that among the things we seek are faith, hope and love, with love being the most important. Our need for faith and hope are part of what we need. Where is the hope? Our hope will always remain in God. Whether it is our last day, or darkest day. While the outcome we seek may not always be the results we receive, the love of God transcends all, and remains constant. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2017
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But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
~ 2 Corinthians 12:9 We live in a world where weakness is seen as something bad. Even in a job interview, candidates are often asked about "strengths and weaknesses." Admitting we are weak is not the admission of surrender. Sometimes it is about accepting. One of the most difficult conversations I often have with the hospice patients I meet is about the things they can no longer do, and miss. Even mundane things we take for granted. Getting the mail. Answering the front door. Being able to stand. I won't forget a wonderful saint I met years ago. "You see an old woman laying in bed, overcome by age and illness. I am a warrior when it comes to praying for others," she shared with me. Her words were the realization for me, "When I am weak, YOU are strong!" Instead of hiding the weaknesses we all have, embracing them and allowing God changes us and our understanding of that weakness. God's grace is sufficient in those moments and will help you to overcome! Stay in God's grip! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Grace of God How may I praise You Lord or serve You as You deserve? Your grace moves quicker than the changes of technology; Your mercy is greater than the galaxy. Within the global community Your grace has no boundaries. Your grace intrudes in our history, and completely fills each second of time. No community can deny Your grace Nor is the smallest child outside it. The projects and the suburbs are the same; Grace penetrates even the homeless. Your grace reaches down to the tired, In all corners of the world, not even one person is overlooked. You meet our sins, and Your grace is persistent. In the vessel of Christ we have found completeness. And though it is thrown against concrete steps, God’s grace shall never be destroyed. Your words, "My grace is sufficient" greets me with each breath. May I become Your words. G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these? “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep." ~ John 21:15 - 17 When I was in high school, we did the musical "Fiddler on the Roof." I played the old rabbi in town (perhaps some future typecasting?)
There is a scene in the play that I still love to this day. The two main characters Golde and Tevye, have been married for several years and are raising five daughters. They have worked very hard for the very little that they have. At one point Tevye asks God how bad would it be if "I were a rich man?" While that is a highly spirited song that most people remember, the song that gets me every time is when Tevye asks Golde, "Do you love me?" Within their tradition, and time period, the two had been brought together by a matchmaker and they met on their wedding day. The song details how they were frightened, and filled with unknowns. They have had children together, and have suffered many things, and have worked hard, but throughout their life together, they had never asked one another the question, "Do you love me?" At the end Golde responds, "I suppose I do," followed by Tevye sharing, "And I suppose I love you, too." The reassurance that we are loved is something that we all long for. Saying "I love you," are among three of the most important words that we can share with one another. While Peter and Jesus are sitting after dinner, Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?" He doesn't just ask once. He asks in a series numbering three times. Each time Peter responds, "Yes, of course I do." Jesus then doesn't respond, "I love you, too," like so many of us do when we hear someone tell us these words. Instead he tells Peter, "Then feed my sheep." For each of us, the definition of love can take many forms. The expression of love can as well. Jesus asks Peter to demonstrate his love by caring for those that Jesus cares deeply about. Jesus himself was wounded and killed for our sake. Because he loved each of us as only the Creator can. Each day we are challenged to take that love to others. John reminds us as well that we are to love each other with the love of God, because God first loved us. Words that can sometimes be challenging, as well as, overwhelmed by the conditions of this world that keep us from being able to be the bearers of that love to one another. Each of us are part of that wounded and broken love experienced when Christ was crucified, but even in our own woundedness we are asked, "Do you love me?" In that loving, God created each one of us, knitting us in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13) and in doing so, made us capable to love one another. "Do you love me?" "Yes, I do." Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
~ Matthew 14: 30, 31 "Why did you doubt?" I think it's a question that we all have been asked at some point of our lives. It's more common I think than we realize. The ability to walk on water is surely not something we see everyday. Just because we dont, doesn't mean that we aren't exercising or experiencing, some kind of faith. Just because I don't see the air I breathe all the time, doesn't mean that I don't recognize that it exists. Faith is not something that one measures. It's knowing that there is a God. It's realizing that God knows me. Most of all, it's believing in greater things! Don't feel like a failure if you struggle at times in your relationship with God. The real step out on faith is when you know that even if you fail, God will still be there. For me, that is when we are truly walking on water. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.” He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ~ Luke 24:18 - 30 It's been another day of fighting traffic, visiting patients, and meetings. I will often listen to the BBC for news around the world as I make my way home. Often, finding that I am feeling overwhelmed, not so much by the traffic, but often by the news that I hear. Depending upon the day, I may or may not already be experiencing a heavy heart, or at least one that has said "good bye" to another person that I had recently met through my ministry as a hospice chaplain.
It's times like these that I totally can identify with the two men walking on the road to Emmaus that day. The news was difficult. It's a sense of oppression that we begin to understand when our spirit seems to be overwhelmed by the events of the day. You can become weary. Oppression is something that means different things to different people. I can most often identify the feeling when I suddenly realize that I seem to be consumed by the news, experiences of the day, or the onslaught of another night of traffic (and now in the dark because of the recent time change). I think if I were truthful with myself, I would like to find myself feeling a little more free. The men walking that day to Emmaus are feeling just that. They are thinking about what they have just encountered. The disruption that occurred throughout the city. The image of Christ being paraded, bleeding, through the streets. Thrust upon a wooden cross and raised upon a hill, held by nails. The image very well paralyzed those who watched, and wondered how this could be happening. As they walk, Jesus joins the two men, but they do not recognize him. What does he do as he walks with them? He begins by listening to their tragic story. It is very personal. He finds that as they share, he is entering into their sense of grief, and their feeling of being overwhelmed. So much disappointment with each step, and he continues to walk with them as the words retell all that has happened and what they have seen and heard. He shares their feelings, and soon is not just on any journey, he is on THEIR journey. So often when we think of Jesus' death, we immediately are drawn to the resurrection, but we must not forget that he had to be taken down from the cross and was buried. It's not just about a man dying and being buried, but being buried for days and that like all things created, began to decay once the breath had left his body. When I realize what they must have been thinking, I also am reminded of how people warned of the stench when Lazarus was about to be called out of the tomb. So often at the bedside of someone who has died, I am reminded that death is the final surrender, and that death is the telling sign of human desperation. It is a reminder to me that this world can at times cause us to step back and to feel pain, or fell oppressed when we encounter setbacks and pain. The men walking that day did not recognize him. It wasn't until that they began to break bread with Christ that Jesus' existence was known. For me, it is a reminder that while I often fail to recognize Christ with me, this reflection reminds us that Christ has overcome not just oppression of the things of this world, but death itself. They share, "Didn't our hearts burn?" We need to remember that there is always something more to our outlook on things. More than the things of this world that prevent us often from recognizing Christ walking with, and sometimes even carrying us. Each day so much happens around us. We can be caught up in the news of the day as we drive. In the meetings we have at work. Or the errands we run to keep our household running smoothly. Jesus walks with us to remind us that we have a need for hope. To stir something within each of us that provides not just a burning of our hearts, but the need to not just walk with God, but to be the living instrument of Christ's existence in the world today. While I'm tired at the end of the day, I must admit, I am feeling something within that is reminding me that I have been walking with Christ all day. Do you feel it too? Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 "God heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds." ~ Psalm 147:3 One of the biggest discussions I have with persons who are dying is, "Will I suffer pain?"
Over the years there have been many conversations about pain. As we read scripture, we are reminded time and time again stories of people who have suffered, including Christ, as he was put to death. I once had a nurse share with me about a woman as she was dying, "She is giving birth to death, just as she did as she delivered children." I wish that I could answer why it is that people suffer. This morning I learned that someone I meet with regularly for prayer lost her grandson in a wreck over the weekend. She just is "trying to make sense of why it is that these things happen." While we do suffer, experience loss, and encounter pain, God is still present. It doesn't mean that it won't happen, even when we all raise our voices together to God in prayer. The human condition is both filled with mystery and unknowns. Of reasons for things that we all struggle at times to understanding. The peace that passes all understanding shared in Philippians is simply what we all seek when we encounter these things. We are reminded not to be anxious, and worry. Easier said than done, but knowing that God understands does help to ease our thoughts when we are unable to overcome the power these thoughts have over us. Praying that we all may encounter this understanding, now and always. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~ Jeremiah 29:11 Today seems to be "one of those days."
While it is Monday, and the time changed yesterday, and my body seems to still believe it to be one time, as well as my dog who suddenly doesn't realize that the time to go on the morning walk has suddenly changed by an hour. I am reminded that God always has a plan. Now let me say this now, "I don't believe that God has a plan for when bad things happen." You see, we still battle with this thing called, "choice." Some would say it is an amazing gift. Over the years I have thought about just how much heart ache this has caused the One who created us, and this world that we seem to be set on making a mess of. (Okay, enough cynicism this morning!) Somewhere in the midst of the choices that some have made to do harm to others, or to themselves, I have to hope that God has a plan for "what next." You see, I learned a long time ago that God doesn't sit back and wait for us to mess up. It is a given. However, every decision that we make is often filled with options. What we decide to do with a situation depends on our decision. I sure wish that I heard more people proclaiming that they are doing something because they felt "called by God to do this." I can see how this might create some moments of feeling uncomfortable for some, but imagine how different the world would be if people actually listened to that still small voice calling to us, and loud voice that often invades our brains! Perhaps today's reflection isn't filled with emotional convictions and illustrations that cause us to stop and think, instead it is simply this... God has a plan for each of us, and have we taken the time to consider what that plan looks like? While the times have literally changed, and perhaps we have too, but God is still patiently present waiting on us. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 Blessedness
Today I saw Christ weeping with migrant mothers around wooden shacks and burrows where children learn little except how to fight or from their fathers the way of despair and lethal numbing toxins - weeping Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The glory of the One is real and lives in us all. I saw Christ gasping for His breath in those churches where superficial worshipers provide lip-service justice to the hungry, then drive home to an overwhelming feast and gaze at overpriced athletes - gasping. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The glory of the One is real and lives in us all. I saw Christ hoping in the corridors of our schools, where the question Why is raised and seeds of truth worth living for and dying - hoping. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The glory of the One is real and lives in us all. I saw Christ struggling in the home of older America, where the choice between medicine and food leaves them poor and malnourished - struggling. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The glory of the One is real and lives in us all. I saw Christ enraged in the face of doctrines that churches promote that separates God from the creation, leaving God’s children in the streets - enraged. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The glory of the One is real and lives in us all. I saw Christ dying for the stranger whom society has deemed unworthy, homeless and huddled in a makeshift D.C. park shanty - dying. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The glory of the One is real and lives in us all. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy upon us. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Have mercy upon us. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Grant us Your peace. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men built. And the Lord said, “Behold, the people are one and they have all one language, and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be withheld from them which they have imagined to do. Come, let Us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off building the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel [that is, Confusion], because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. ~ Genesis 11:1-9 The Tower of Babel. It might as well be called the human condition. Not being able to communicate well is nothing new. Somewhere between the "LOL", "ROFL", "BFF" and whatever abbreviation we happen to create, our ability to communicate clearly has been lost. What used to be as simple as letting our fingers do the walking, and dialing the phone, we now instead allow texting, tweets and snaps to control our speech. No one seems to talk to each other anymore, and if they do, it seems that there is always some kind of technology attached to it! My grandmother wrote beautiful letters. Her penmanship was artistic, and her words concise. She would call and speak to those she was concerned about, or would go and visit. Thank God for birthdays and holidays, otherwise I'm unsure if I would ever get any real personal mail. I have to admit most mail that I receive is some offer for credit cards or value sale flyers. It seems also that our ability to discern truth has vanished as well. I remember someone once telling me, "If it is on the internet, it must be true!" Fake news and investigations has caused us all yo become a little suspicious. Clearly, our need to communicate with one another has always been something that humanity has had to deal with, I guess that some things just never change. While over the centuries theologians have debated scripture and what is being said. I am glad that when we get right down to the stories of God, and what God has done, there is this... God simply loves us. Oh, I have read where God has been angry, while also realizing how God has also suffered for us through Christ. The times that humanity has turned away from the Creator, only to realize that our need for God is greater than any options available to humanity. Imagine if God only shared with us as we share with one another? What would the world really be like then? Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me."
~ Matthew 25: 40 I was once asked what scripture from the Bible has impacted my life most. I responded, "Whatever you did for the one of the least of these, you did for me." I have to admit, it probably has caused me less peace, and has made me feel guilty at stop lights when a woman stands holding a sign, letting everyone who passes know that she is hungry. Over the last few days, there has been a lot of coverage concerning the World Series, but tucked between the wins and celebrations, there has also been a focus on a tent city that has sprung up under an overpass near a group of busy intersection in Houston. The "tent city" has become more than an eyesore for neighbors. Some claim that it is a "dangerous place." The other part of the scripture from today also reminds those who "Saw and did nothing," that there will be consequences. I'm unsure what the answer is to how to help in these situations. All I know is that for any of us, it could be, and often is, overwhelming. The need in the world can be paralyzing. Storms, fires, earthquakes and other disasters leave us without words. We can become exhausted. But then there are these words, "Whatever you do for the least of these..." It is a reminder that no matter how small or great the effort, we become the living instrument of Christ in the world. Jesus reminds us that the poor will be with us always. While God is everywhere at all times, it is up to us to be that incarnate presence to and for others. It is important that while we are going about our normal business, that there is always someone near who may be in need. May we not be afraid to live our lives with our eyes open, and are hands ready to help someone. Stay in God's grip! G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. ~ Matthew 5:4 Today is "All Saints Day." A day when we remember those who have gone before us, and who have made the Kingdom of God a reality. For me, today is often focused on those who have died, that loved me unconditionally, and are those that I hope to keep their memory alive. Even if that means they remain only within my heart. The church my grandfather served as it's pastor in Indiana, is a place for me where a day like today would provide for not just the memory, but so much more. The church has changed a lot since these photos. Additions to the building have been made, and the old stove in the sanctuary that my grandfather would fire up early on Sunday morning has been replaced by modern conveniences. In those days, my father along with with four brothers, were just young children. My grandmother would manage to get them ready before leaving the house, then she and my grandfather would get into the car and begin the drive to where the church was located, while she finished getting herself ready. I can't imagine the chaos that must have occurred on some of those Sundays. The boys would have often practiced a song during the week, and my grandmother would then serve as their director. While they are all entering what we would consider the "golden years" of life, they still remember those songs, and on special occasions will join their voices together and remind us of those times, now long ago. Among the photos I look over from those days, I see my grandparents and others who have become part of the greater cloud of witnesses that we remember on this day of saints. Perhaps saints are sinners that found Jesus one Sunday through the words spoken by a pastor. Perhaps a saint was born because they loved others and lived their life helping to make the lives of others better. On this day designated to remember the dead, and to acknowledge the great cloud of witnesses that encircle us all, I am acutely aware that the Kingdom of God includes us all as saints. For me there is a spark of the Divine within each of us that separates us from all of creation. I have often wondered what it is about my life that will be remembered when I die and join those in that cloud. I think all of us hope that eternity also means that a part of us will continue on here when we do die. For myself, I'm unsure that I will ever see myself as a saint, but I do hope that the life that I live will make a difference in the life of someone else, because that is ultimately what a saint is to me. Remember and give thanks for all those saints who have made a difference in your life while we all remain "In God's grip!" G. Todd Williams (c) 2017 |
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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