There are two lies the enemy of our souls tries to foist upon us.  The first is that we don’t really matter and that nothing we do will ever significantly change things.  And the second is the certain people and situations are simply beyond redemption, beyond any hope of change or improvement.  Either way, the temptation is to ‘write-off’ people, whether ourselves or others.  But that isn’t God’s way.  He never writes off anyone, and always sees a possibility forward whether for ourselves or others.  He never gives up hope.  Thanks be to God.

David, both before and after he became king of Israel, had plenty of opportunities when he needed to call upon the Lord for help, plenty of times when he desperately needed that help.  I would suggest that we, you and I, while not having such ‘harrowing’ times, such extreme times, still have plenteous occasions when we should be calling on the Lord for help but fail to do so.  My suggestion is, then, that we become more habitual in doing this, more habitual in asking for God’s help even in the more mundane and ordinary of our circumstances.

Jesus certainly has some rather bracing and challenging commands, but perhaps the most difficult is this: “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.”  And what was the extent of His love?  In that love, He went ‘all the way’, even onto death.  While this will normally not be the extent to which we are called, it certainly does suggest far more than the half-hearted or cursory or feeble attempt is sometimes our response.  And, of course, it is far more than just loving when we ‘feel like it.’  If you’re at all like me, you need some extra divine help in this regard.  Thanks be to God that it is readily available, just there for the asking.

Today’s Scripture passage and meditation both touch on how we function together as the Church, the Body of Christ.  Here we need to realize that this impacts more than just our functioning as a congregation--though that, indeed, is very important, for if we fail to function smoothly and coordinately, things won’t go that well.  But there is another aspect of our functioning that we need to consider, and that is, how the world outside of the church sees us.  If we are at war with ourselves, or functioning poorly, that too, is something that almost invariably will be picked up on by those around us.  Those things will be noticed and certainly won’t help our reputation.  However, the opposite can also be true: in the early Church it was noticed by outsiders how they cared for each other in very practical ways.  “See how they love one another’ they said, which also attracted people to want to become part of it.  That should be something at work in our churches today as well.

Psalm 51 has to be one of the more memorable psalms, precisely because it deals with King David’s nasty business with Bathsheba and its fallout, its repercussions.  But it is also memorable because it speaks of God’s forgiveness--regardless of our deeds--and of His willingness always to forget the past and help us start all over again.  This is great news because all of us, no matter who or what we might be, flub it badly at times, and so are in need of God’s forgiveness and restoration.  Thank God that this is always possible, always available.

Here, in today’s passage and meditation we have a real stickler, a real challenge: we are to be like our Heavenly Father, or like Christ.  But, as I found out rather dramatically and sadly, that is entirely impossible for us to pull off, impossible, that is, in our own strength and ability.  Imagine: trying to be like God when we don’t have the wisdom or power of God.  Ludicrous.  But fortunately, we can have the power of God’s Holy Spirit in us and working in and through us.  We can tap into God’s own power, and so it no longer we that are doing it, but God within us.  That makes all the difference in the world.

Winston Churchill knew something that we often don’t, namely that calling people to something big and challenging (blood, sweat and tears) often reaps far better results than passing it off as something pretty simple and undemanding, which is something that we do far too often when looking for volunteers.  Jesus is in the same league as Churchill, letting us, His followers and disciples, know that the road ahead may be pretty rough and rocky at times, but that it will be okay in the end.  It means that we can count the cost and be ready for ‘the long haul’ with fewer surprises.  Thanks be to God.

Given the sadness and despair expressed in today’s psalm a quote from a recent church bulletin seems most appropriate.  A visitor attended a church service at a village church in France during World War II.  It was Easter Sunday, and though the villagers were obviously in great need and peril, their praises were real, and uplifting.  They sang with fervour, “Christ the Lord is risen today, hallelujah.”  The visitor had the sense that ‘no matter how dark the present might be or the future might become, there was still the strength of the risen Christ, that victory which overcomes the world.’  And so it is with us as well: Christ is indeed risen, and the worst that happens to us or our world, is mere nothings compared to His victory.

Some things never change: the early church had trouble keeping two things together, love for one another in the body of Christ, the Church, and adherence to the truth ‘once delivered to the saints’, and so too do we.  We have some who emphasize caring for ‘the least of these my brothers and sisters’, especially those who are marginalized in some ways, at the expense of doctrine and what the Bible is understood as plainly teaches.  And there are others who so emphasize doctrine that they are seen as uncaring for the needy.  (I say, ‘seen’, because I do not believe this to necessarily be true.)  As it is, both of these are essential, and must be held together, albeit in some tension.  That was the task of the church to which John wrote so many years ago, and it is equally the task of the church today.  May God guide us and assist us with His help in this daunting task.

Here’s a question for all of us: just what is it that gets our attention, that is, calls us to renew or strengthen our relationship, and our commitment, to our Lord Jesus Christ?  My suspicion is that it varies tremendously according to who we are and what we’ve been through.  Whatever that particular thing might be, my conviction is that God, in Christ Jesus, is always calling us to Himself--which means that our task is to hear, to listen, and to respond.

Here we see that Jesus is ‘on the job for us’.  However, I find that it’s quite refreshing that He isn’t rule bound, or demand driven.  He knows that it is vital for Him to have time apart with God, and while the Sabbath is an ideal time, it doesn’t quite work.  And so He carves out for Himself another, alternative, time.  And where some of us can be demand driven, Jesus isn’t.  There will always be far more work to be done than time allows, and far more demands than we can ever meet, but Jesus doesn’t let that worry Him.  He merely chooses to be more deliberate, and strategic, which meant consulting His Heavenly Father for what tasks to take on, and what ones to just let slide.  Here Jesus is a good role model for us: He is always ‘on the job’, but He does so only in the ways that fit in with God’s all-knowing and all-loving plan and purpose.  Thanks be to God.

Come springtime, it doesn’t hurt to carry out some spring check-ups.  For instance, we might want to ensure that our vehicles are ready in terms of tires, washer fluid and windshield wipers.  And, if we’re gardeners, we might check up on our hoses and sprinklers, clean out some hedges and flower beds, and maybe even start some bedding out plants.

Now, in terms of the church year, Lent was traditionally a time for self-examination, but maybe the Easter season would be an appropriate time as well--to look at our lives in terms of all that God in Christ Jesus has done for us, and then, to adjust our lives and behaviours accordingly.  Anyway, it’s a thought.

Oh, how great and wonderful it is that our God is so utterly dependable.  Military might and systems, while admirable and necessary at times, can never quite fit the bill, judicial systems likewise do not always mete our justice, at least, not the way that God does, and even the best, and best intended, of social welfare systems almost inevitably leave people out and fail utterly at times.  Only God can be counted upon, so it is best to go to Him in prayer, and then wait, wait patiently for Him to meet our needs, and our prayer requests, in the manner and timing that is most appropriate.  Thanks be to God that He is there for us in such a wonderful way.

Today’s meditation picks up on what I consider to be a fundamental truth, namely, that God’s purpose and will is restoration, restoring all of us to our proper relationship with Himself, to becoming His own beloved sons and daughters. And so, accordingly, He is always willing to forgive and bring us back to Himself, regardless of what we have said or done. He is always willing to give us a ‘second chance’, or maybe even a third, fourth or more. We see this with Simon Peter in today’s account, and we see something of this ’second chance’ with Barnabas’ acceptance of the rather flawed John Mark. And, as strange as this might seem, I think that Jesus would have done this even with Judas Iscariot, had he trusted in Jesus’ mercy and thrown himself upon His love. Judas was sorry, was remorseful, but put all the blame upon himself. He decided to bear all the consequences of his dastardly dead himself, rather than give them over to Jesus, where they belonged. Peter too was sorry, but it was godly sorrow than the sorrow that leads to death.

And so the amazingly good news is this: we can always come back to God. Thanks be to God. Alleluia.

Continually, day by day and moment by moment, we are faced with choices, and here it is most helpful, and encouraging, to know that Jesus also faced choices, even harder ones than we do, and faced them, albeit successfully, armed with the very same resources as we have.  How good it is to know that--and how encouraging.  Thanks be to God for such an example!

My meditation for today, taking off from Psalm 134, suggests the practice of closing each and every day with prayer of some sort.  While I am certainly aware of the resources found in our various prayer books, for Compline, for instance, I am thinking of something shorter and simpler, something that could, perhaps, even be committed to memory.  I will see what I can come up with.

Psalm 119 is rather long--176 verses in all--but fortunately, it is divided up into eight verse stanzas for easier learning and study.  And, what is more, if we were to know Hebrew, we would discover that it’s an acrostic.  That is, each verse in the stanza begins with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and does so consecutively.  Thus the verses in stanza one all begin with ‘aleph', the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, stanza two with ‘beth', the second letter, and so on.  This was meant as an aid to knowing and understanding each section, each stanza, and memorizing them.

In today’s reading, the apostle John speaks of ‘the world’ and its values and programs, and speaks of three antidotes to it, namely knowing God, knowing God’s word, and knowing God’s forgiveness.  But then, this poses something of a problem, namely, just how are we to know God’s word, especially when well-meaning, ardent Christians can get radically different things from it?  I would suggest two things, one inward and one outward.  On the inward side, we should really search our heart of hearts and try to identify what our inner biases and beliefs might be, our inner agendas, and see whether they line up with God’s.  (Far too often we can err by taking something that’s a bit iffy and sanctifying it as being from God.).  And, on the outward side, to try to respect the viewpoint of others and listen to what they have to say, to stand where they stand and experience what they have experienced.  (God may indeed be speaking through them and have something there that we need to hear.  And that, can apply to the past as well as to the present.)

Unfortunately, this is something of a journey, a journey that we need to undertake and take part in together.  And sad to say, we won’t all arrive there simultaneously--or soon.  It’s a work in progress.