Blog
Telling Time
Is it time to pray again?
Is it time to march again?
Is it once again time to grieve, time to rage, time to resist?
Is it ever not?
So long as we have breath, it is time.
Not because there is a cause.
Not because there is a moment.
Not because it’s never been like this, or it’s worse now, or it’s a critical tipping point.
Because we are part of all life.
Because we have this breath.
The big hand always points to kinship.
The little hand to humility, love, wonder.
Take away the hands and the face of the clock will still tell the time: mercy.
The sin is losing track of time.
The sin is forgetting we breathe.
My Deliverer Is Coming
The angel of the Lord appeared to the [wife of Manoah] and said to her, “You shall conceive and bear a son. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” – Judges 13:3-5, excerpted (NRSV)
We all long for a deliverer, at least once in a while: someone to untangle a problem we cannot resolve, someone to provide a haven when we are weary, someone to tackle a mountain that threatens our wellbeing. The longing for deliverance is common, and it permeates our stories.
Fairy tales are full of deliverers, often armed with magic or cunning or righteousness. Political discourse rallies around deliverance, whether this country is vowing to “rescue” another country or a politician is promising to “save” voters from [insert scapegoat here]. Novels and movies love a redemption story with a victorious ending. Deliverance is also the overarching narrative of scripture.
“From whence will my help come?” we ask.
The ancient Israelites cried for relief from their ongoing conflict with the Philistines. God sent an angel to Manoah’s wife to advise her of the exceptional child she would deliver for the people’s deliverance. Her son, Samson, grew up to be a folk hero of the people—fighting Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone and killing lions with his bare hands.
“Deliver us!” we cry.
“Next-day delivery,” we specify.
Ah, but God is not Amazon Prime. God’s deliverance comes at the speed of a baby growing to adulthood: simultaneously endless and fleeting. God’s deliverance comes at the pace of a folktale, repeated and renewed over generations. God’s deliverance unfolds with the tempo of a song, with the seasons of an oak tree, with the hindsight of freedom, with the slow rise of yeast and the quick breaking of bread.
Prayer: Be our deliverer, O Holy Child, through the moments that feel like an eternity and in these lifetimes of ours that fade like grass.
cross-posted with the UCC Daily Devotional
Ungodly
I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will meditate on all your work. - Psalm 77:11a & 12a (NRSV) There’s a problem with being made in the image of God: it’s easy to acquire a God complex. “I have the divine right to...” “I hold the indisputable position...
Many Miracles
The crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard [the disciples] speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ... [Yet] in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s...
Faith-in-Flesh
Evil is well worth our anger, our outrage, our fury, our deep indignation. Violence too is a worthy recipient of our defensiveness, our horror, our disquiet, even our fear. To rage against the injustices of the world is an appropriate response of Christian faith. And...
Recognition
On that same day, two disciples were going to a village called Emmaus and talking with each other about all that had happened. While they were discussing these events, Jesus came and walked with them, but they didn't recognize him. He asked what they were discussing,...
Before I Go through the Gate
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. - Psalm 118:19 (NRSV) I did not grow up in a “come forward” church. Our weekly worship did not include a routine in which people came from their seats to the front of...
The Problem with Kings
Abimelech, son of Gideon and of the enslaved woman from the Bent Place (where Joseph was buried), suggested to his mother's people that they might support his campaign to be king. His mother's people proposed this idea to the landholders of the Bent Place, and all...
Outcry
The One Who Is & Shall Be said to Abraham: "I am sending angels to the place of Violent Fire, to assess the veracity of the people's cries against it. If their cries are true, I will destroy it." Abraham pleaded: "Surely you have more integrity than those who are...
Reminders
“When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between [me] and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” - Genesis 9:16 (NRSV) The world needs more reminders. Guns need not just one safety lock but five safety...
The Breaks
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, so far from the words of my groaning? Yet you are holy … and sovereignty belongs to you, the ruler over all the earth. All families and all nations worship before you; all who sleep in the...
