Frustration vs Formation

Out of frustration, have you ever prayed to God requesting more patience and then found yourself thrown even further into an arduous and challenging predicament that you must struggle through? 

Many of the experiences of our lives can have meaning and purpose if we desire for them to be so. For our experience is just that: Ours. It shapes and influences each of us in unique ways quite like nothing else. 

It is something we might refer to as formation. 

Our frustrations act out our base desires and expectations regarding how we believe things ought to be.This is as true for us as for the apostles when they asked Jesus to give them more faith. They must have been frustrated with where they were. And as we see, this request bred a Jesus who expressed loudly his own frustration with the apostles as well. 

How was Jesus' answer an answer regarding their formation?

Luke 17:5-10
17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"


17:6 The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.


17:7 "Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'?


17:8 Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'?


17:9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?


17:10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"



Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

Today we're all in the same boat...

The lectionary passages today remind of a story about faith and how it should be acted out.
During the months of early Spring a flash food comes to a small Texas farming community. Livestock, houses, and barns are loosened from their foundations and washed away by the over-bounding currents of furious water. Farm folk are caught upon their roofs as waters suddenly rise and flow. One farmer trapped atop his shed flowing down the current prays to God saying, "I believe in miracles and I know you will save me."

Before the next hour is finished the farmer experiences three incidents. The first, a man on the shore offers to throw him a rope, second, a rescue boat passes by the floating shed and offers help, third, a helicopter flies over and lowers a rescue harness. But each time the farmer refuses. "God will rescue me, I have faith" he states.

But the deluge overcomes him and suddenly he finds himself before his maker. Bewildered, he asks God why he let him perish. God angrily replies that he sent him the rope, the boat and the copter! Didn't the farmer recognize the miracles of this present world?  Dr. Luther Martin King once said about the African-American struggle that "once we all came in separate boats to America, but now here, we are all in the same boat. That very same lifeboat.


Our lesson today is the importance of providing the everyday miracles of that lifeboat today to those who need them.

What could Jesus mean when he said? 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

Luke 16:19-31
16:19 "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.

16:20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,

16:21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

16:22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.

16:23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.

16:24 He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.'

16:25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.

16:26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.'

16:27 He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house--

16:28 for I have five brothers--that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.'

16:29 Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.'

16:30 He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

16:31 He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?

Fire in the Eye

Similar to our verses today is a sermon by the colonial Puritan preacher. Jonathan Edwards, from our country's early days.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, 1741                                                                                        

For better or worse, the sermon for which Edwards is probably most famous—or infamous—is the one preached to the congregation of Enfield, Massachusetts (later Connecticut) in July 1741. Anthologized in high school and college textbooks, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God represents in many persons’ minds the bleak, cruel, and hell-bent outlook of Edwards and his Puritan predecessors. But of course such a representation is only a caricature, for Sinners, if it represents anything, stands for only a small part of Edwards’s view of the relationship between humankind and God. As a specially crafted awakening sermon, Sinners was aimed at a particularly hard-hearted congregation. But, at the same time, the awakening sermon and all it expressed—the awful weight of sin, the wrath of an infinitely holy God, and the unexpectedness of the moment when God will execute justice—were integral to Edwards’s theology.(Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University) http://edwards.yale.edu/research/major-works/sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god    

Does God change his mind? 

In the Lectionary session we have today from the book of Exodus 32: 7-14 we see God's angered reaction to the stiff-necked people he has brought out from Egypt. We also see Moses' response to God and how he regards the people of Israel as his responsibility. 

Who are we responsible for? 

Are we ready to speak for them when the need arises?

Exodus 32:7-14
32:7 The LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely;


32:8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"


32:9 The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are.


32:10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation."


32:11 But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?


32:12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people.


32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"


32:14 And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.           

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

What is the image of Jesus?

Jesus the Jew

Jesus the Christ

Jesus the Conformist

Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever. What is the image of Jesus? How has Jesus been seen differently at different times in our history, both as a Christian people and in your own personal history?

How do the passages from Hebrews speak to the image of Jesus today?

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
13:1 Let mutual love continue.

13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

13:3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.

13:4 Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."

13:6 So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"

13:7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

13:15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

What does it mean to find one's voice?

The Prophet Jeremiah
by Andrew Mabanji
"The word is a fire in my heart...I could not keep it in."
Jeremiah 20:9 

In this Sunday’s lectionary lesson, we look at the call of Jeremiah as prophet to his people. Jeremiah had something to say, but it was not always popular, in fact it hardly ever was. Jeremiah suffered injury and was imprisoned by his own because of his pronouncements about impending captivity by the Babylonians.

God’s call to Jeremiah: (from Wikipedia, for more from this article,click here.
“God appointed Jeremiah to confront Judah and Jerusalem for the worship of idols and other violations of the covenant described in Deuteronomy. According to Jeremiah, the LORD declared that the covenant was broken and that God would bring upon Israel and Judah the curses of the covenant. Jeremiah’s job was to explain the reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and captivity), “And when your people say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours…In return for his adherence to God’s disciplines and speaking God’s words, Jeremiah was attacked by his own brothers, beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet, imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, thrown into a cistern by Judah’s officials, and opposed by a false prophet.Yet God was faithful to rescue Jeremiah from his enemies. For example, when his prophecies regarding the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem were fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar’s army in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar ordered that Jeremiah be freed from prison and treated well.”


Jeremiah 1:4-10

1:4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

1:6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy."

1:7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you,

1:8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."

1:9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth.

1:10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."


How do we find our own voice in this day and age?

Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

The Present Times...

Cityscape of Manhattan

How do we discern our present times?  
And having once discerned these times, how as individuals can we contribute to the needs of the day? 

In the picture of the cityscape, how is our present time different than when Jesus walked the earth?  What makes it the same? How does each view speak to our call to participate in the world?

In the Lectionary lesson for today, August 15, we look at passages from the book of Luke 12:49-56. Here Jesus speaks of fire and division coming to the people of Israel. What could he be referring to when he speaks of recognizing"the times."

Luke 12:49-56
12:49 "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

12:50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

12:51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!

12:52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;

12:53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

12:54 He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens.

12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens.

12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?


Walter Morton for Journey Across the Line

What is the essence of our faith action?

 What happens when God burns away what we have always thought was important to us?  How do we allow God to purge from us that which no longer speaks the love of God to others in our world?
Today we look at verses from the book of Isaiah and see how well they speak to our situation today.



Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
1:1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.


1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!


1:11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.


1:12 When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more;


1:13 bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation-- I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.


1:14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.


1:15 When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.


1:16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,


1:17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.


1:18 Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.


1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;


1:20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.