Blog
Praise
Praise the Lord! Praise God, sun and moon; praise God, all you shining stars! Praise God from the earth, you sea monsters and creatures of the depths, you fire and hail, snow and frost!
(Psalm 148:1-2 & 7-8, NRSV adapted)
What makes the T-Rex dinosaur a scientific fact and the Loch Ness monster an ancient myth?
It’s a rhetorical question, mainly. To a large extent, I believe the distinction doesn’t matter. It’s certainly not worth fighting over. It doesn’t make much difference in the daily lives of millions of people.
But the question of science vs. myth points my spirit toward something important: faith needs fiction, perhaps far more than it needs facts.
By which I mean: faith needs imagination. Wild and wondering and expansive imagination. Faith needs the unimaginable and the improbable. Faith needs awe. It needs questions that cannot be answered; it needs stories that reach beyond the limits of knowledge.
While faith might long to claim certainty, it does its best work when it claims surrender. When it gives in to hope. When it opts for unearned trust. When it lives in dreams and aspirations beyond what can be proven. When it tells stories.
Madeleine L’Engle wrote in Glimpses of Grace: “Myth is the closest approximation to truth available to the finite human being.”
Somewhere in the chasms of the oceans, there are sea monsters praising God. The Bible tells us so, although we may never know whether the psalmist was writing about a cousin of Loch Ness, a descendent of T-Rex, or a creature of the psalmist’s own imagination. The provability of the monster isn’t the point.
The point is creation’s praise for God, which is beyond imagining. In fact, creation’s praise of God is so vast and wild that it can only be told in fiction.
Prayer: Praise to you, O God, for the praises too mystical and magical for me to perceive!
cross-posted with the Daily Devotional
Bad News
The spirit of the Holy One is upon me, because the One has anointed me and sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of divine favor, and the day of God’s vengeance.
(Isaiah 61:1-2, NRSV adapted)
On that holy day when the prisoners are set free, a whole lot of people will be out of a job.
Also, a whole lot of public services will be halted. Some wildfires will rage without resistance. Some streams and parks and highways will not be cleaned of litter. Some sandbags will be unfilled and unavailable for the next hurricane. All un- and under-paid tasks currently assigned to the incarcerated in our prison system.
When Isaiah’s vision is realized, what some experience as a year of God’s favor will be experienced by others as an endless day of God’s vengeance:
The oppressor will no longer be propped up by power over the discounted. The captor will lose their chains of control over the imprisoned. The mercenary will no longer be insulated by selfishness against the outcries of the brokenhearted.
That holy day of divine release will make many people very uncomfortable. Probably you, too. Probably me, too. Because even if we don’t consider ourselves to be capital “o” Oppressors, even if we have been on the heartbroken side more often than the heartbreaker side, even if we agree that the prison system is unjust, we still live and breathe and carve out comfort zones within systems of oppression.
We might not recognize the day of God’s good news. We might even, heaven forbid, lament the day as bad news in rejection of our comfort zones being transgressed.
Let the good news come mightily nonetheless.
Prayer: Teach my comfortable heart to love others’ good news, to break for others’ pain, to cry with joy at others’ release—even as much as I would do for my own.
cross-posted with the Daily Devotional
Sensual
How beautiful you are, my love, how very beautiful! Your hair is like goats along the hills; your teeth are like shorn ewes that have been washed; your lips are like a crimson thread—so lovely; your cheeks are like pomegranate halves. (Song of Songs 4:1-3, abridged)...
Bootstraps
God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. God determines the number of the stars, and gives to all of them their names. The Holy One lifts up the downtrodden, and casts the wicked to the ground. God covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the...
Delicious Desserts
Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion. [Therefore] if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. Power belongs to God, and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. - Psalm 62:9-12 abridged (NRSV) Popularity is the sweet dessert...
Preaching in Lent: Mark My Words
If you're prepping to preach in Lent, I've outlined a variety of ideas for sermon series, including: Journey to the Cross, loosely modeled on Stations of the Cross; A Word for "You" sermon series on the Year B Gospel readings; a sermon series on #solidarity, using the...
Preaching in Lent: Journey to the Cross
With the turn of the civic calendar to a new year, the appearance of Lent is quickly on the horizon of the liturgical year—beginning with Ash Wednesday on February 14th. I've outlined a variety of Lenten sermon series in past years, including: A Word for "You" sermon...
Advent IV: Air
a breath: love a rising current: love an invisible stirring: love breathe, in and out to exhale is to live, to live is to change, to change is to learn, to learn is to release, to release is to soar, to soar is to love breathe, in and out until the last breath: love...
Advent III: Fire
Light the lamp of gladness. Burn the fire of freedom. Bring candles aplenty so that no one in despair lacks comfort. Fuel thanksgiving like a beacon for praise. Spark goodness for warmth when the night runs too long and cold. Testify to joy, now and always, until...
Advent II: Earth
"Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain." Isaiah 40:4, NRSV Peace to the valley, the cradle of death. Peace to the mountain, the beacon of change. Peace to the...
Advent I: Water
Walk on the water, O Sister; leave behind the weight of fears that anchor you to a battered and sinking boat. Walk on the water, O Sibling; step onto the miraculous expanse by which life is nurtured, eroded, and renewed. Walk on the water, O Brother; dare to trust the...
