Luke 11:37-54

Luke 11:37-54 NIV
Woe to the Pharisees who heap law upon law; who hold to their traditions and have no real comprehension of justice or the love of God.

I am late writing this today as I spent the night at "the shack" in the town I grew up in so that I could get flowers on the graves. This is Memorial Day weekend and "fixing" the graves is somewhat of a tradition. I did not get to the graves of all my ancestors in the area this year; only about seventeen of them. I did not even know some of them as they died decades before I was born. I am not even sure where a couple of them are in the Paynesville Cemetery; except that they are under a lilac bush. The twins are in unmarked graves. A few years ago, I noticed that no one took care of them any longer, so I started to. It is a reminder to me that we are not islands in the midst of the sea. We are attached to the people around us, as well as those who have gone before us and those will come after us. We are a part of something much greater than ourselves. It is a reminder to me that because we are connected; we should live according to the love of God doing justice; not harm to those around us.

Woe to those who cannot show love or do justice to others.

God's Peace - Pr. J

P.S. No time to not serve, love, and do justice this weekend. One graveside funeral on Friday and five burials after worship tomorrow. Memorial Day weekend provides no less opportunities to love and do justice than any other day :)

1 Chronicles 9 - Faith

..."And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith."  (9:1)

The genealogy we read today lists those who first returned to Jerusalem so that they might be returned to the presence of God at/in the temple (tent).  A wonderful reminder that although we are faithless, God is faithful.  His intent is to restore us to a relationship with Him.  I pray often that the hearts and minds of people would be opened so that they would have a better understanding of God's will - His will for us to be restored in relationship to Him.  It is all about relationship.  It is no wonder that so many have such a hard time accepting Christ, when a huge segment of the church on earth, presents that Christianity is about not having to worry about where you're going after you die.  It is presented as an alternative for those who are afraid to die.  In reality, it's not about avoiding consequences or punishment.  It's about relationship.  It is about being restored to God's presence, about living in His presence and peace - now as well as for all eternity.  God was calling the exiles back to His presence which, at the time, was present in the tabernacle. 

I did run into a little bit of difficulty as I read verse 28.  So... the people are being returned to their land after they had been exiled because of their faithlessness.  Now... they have to have guards who count the untensils, apparently, to ensure that none had been stolen... from the tent of God!  Kind of amazes me, that there was the fear and probability that people would steal the untensils from the temple!  Exactly how much faith had been restored to these people?  Sounds to me like they are already on the downward slide to faithlessness. 

I remember as a young adult returning to my home town.  We had been living in California.  I went to the church in the very rural town (Paynesville, MI) I had grown up in, to pray.  It was locked!  I was aghast!  It still bothers me that there are no sanctuaries open 24 hours a day where someone can go just to sit (or kneel) and pray.  I was told the council had decided to lock the church up so no one would be tempted to steal anything.  No one had stolen anything that I heard about.  It was a "just in case" situation.  It's all a very sad reality.  But, I'm not sure which is sadder... the fact that someone might steal from a church or that congregations in small communities trust their neighbors so little that they lock their doors, keeping everyone from entering the sanctuary, except on Sunday mornings.  In many (my guess is most)congregations, it's only a select few who are allowed to have keys to the church and there even may be a designated "keeper of the keys."  :)

God's Peace and may He help us to be more faithful to Him and to all His children.