Devotional 12-17-10

I must be dreaming!

Matthew 1:18-25

1:23 "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." 1:24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,

When I look at the world in which we live I wonder what has happen to the dream. What dream is the focus of my attention? It is the dream of Joseph. The dream that told Joseph that God would be with us. The dream that became the reality of Jesus. The dream that offered us Christ.

We live in a world of dissention, denial, competition and hate. We worship a God of community, truth, intimacy, and love.
We live in a world where one group is right and the other group is wrong. We worship a God who does not see male/female, Muslim/Christian, black/white, gay/straight.
We live in a world where we want to exclude and create “the other.” We worship a God who sees us as God’s creation, and we are one.
We live in a world where money is king, and we are betrayed by its princes of power. We worship a God who tells us we cannot have two masters.

We live in a world where someone who deals drugs is thrown into the dungeons of hell but the one who embezzles millions is sent to camp. We worship a God who was beat and dragged through the streets of Jerusalem for the thief beside him.

We live in a world that believes the biggest bomb makes right. We worship the prince of peace.

We live in a world where greed is honored. We worship a God who had no possessions.
I was taught by Mrs. Erwin in the third grade that God loves everybody regardless of whom they are and where they are from. She told that as a Christian I am to be like God and do the same even when I do not want to and even when it cost me something. That is the way I live my life even today.
What did you say?

Yeah, I must be dreaming.

Rev. David Johnson
Charlotte, NC

Devotional 1-2-10

A Different New Year’s Resolution

Psalm 72: 12 – 13

For He will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy….

My New Year’s resolution will focus on my selfishness. It is a selfishness that I think many of us share. I think many of us need to confess that we are tired of the poor. We ask ourselves, “Why don’t they just get a job?”, “Why do they spend what little money they have on junk?”, or “Why are they satisfied living like they do?” These are wonderful questions from those of us who ask them from our position of privilege.

Many who read these words will be offended by my thoughts about selfishness and defend themselves against such a claim. We will read the words of the Psalmist and agreed with the words from the 72nd Psalm. God loves us all! I mean who can disagree with that statement? Yes I agree with the Psalmist but I think we are all tired of the poor.

The debate on a national universal healthcare system is the latest indicator to me. In a country that is awashed with affluence, we who have insurance are debating whether we should give those who are without such a benefit a place at our table of full coverage healthcare. As we worship the God whom we are told “will deliver the needy when he cries…”. While we claim to be God’s agents in this world, we want to deny the same access to the healthcare that we enjoy to those who God reaches out to because those without are “him who has no helper”.

So this year I am not pledging to lose 10 lbs as I have for the last 20 years. I am praying to lose my selfishness. I am praying because I know that if the poor get the same healthcare as me, I am going to have to pay for it. It is a lot easier to be generous when it does not cost me anything.

Prayer: Gracious God, I pray this day and everyday in 2010 that I will be freed from the bondage of affluence and the chains of selfishness.

Rev. David Johnson
Carolinas Medical Center
Charlotte, NC

Devotional 12-13-09

This poem was written while flying over Huntington from Cleveland, OH to Charlotte, NC. It is an attempt to use an art form that expresses a thought of the season. I decided to access my childlike skill at this medium and offer it as a gift to the Christ child.

God Is Great

God is Great,
Jesus is too,
What would the Holy Spirit do?
If we gave him our souls,
Instead of trying to be cool.

God is Great,
Jesus is also,
A baby is born,
A world has been warned.
Whoever thought?
It would take so long,
For his Kingdom to Come.

God is Great,
Jesus is too,
Advent is near,
The meaning is clear,
Christ enters this world,
With a message so dear.
We are loved by Him
And the Holy Spirit is near.

God is Great,
Jesus is too.
I have been blessed,
And so have you.
It is not to late,
For the us to state,
To those who have less,
To those who hate,
That God is Great and
Jesus is too.

Rev. David Johnson

Devotional 12-19-08

Acting in Ignorance
Acts 3:17
I was assigned Acts 3: 17 – 4:4 as my reading for this advent devotional. It is October, and we are sitting in the midst of the worst financial crisis that we have experienced since the Great Depression that started eighty years ago. Does history repeat itself? Yes, it does, and if you read the assigned reading you will see that it was just as true 2000 years ago as it is today.

I must admit that I am always amazed by the psychological defense mechanism know as “denial” and the sin of “greed”. For the last 50 years we have been living in denial of what our sins are costing us. We have hidden behind a Pollyanna attitude and a distrust of those who warn us of what our lifestyles will cost us. I include myself in our culture’s “making of a self-centered bed” that we now have to lie in.

We want to blame this economic crisis on the sub prime borrower. This is part of our “denial” and the sin of “greed”. Is it because we do not believe poor people should have a home? Is it because we would rather blame poor people than the lenders who were getting rich off of origination fees and repackaging the loans? Is it because we have a cultural bias against the poor? Is it because a disproportionate number of the sub prime borrowers were black? The reality is that many of us have been living beyond our means. The saving rate in the United States was in the minus column, which meant that for every dollar everyone was earning they were spending $1.01.

We also hear a lot about the polar ice cap melting and global warming. Some say that it is true and others say it is a lie. What does it matter whether it is true or a lie? Would our planet be better off if we practiced being more ecologically efficient? Our self-centered greed says we want it the way we want it. Our denial says it will never happen. Our world continues to slide toward not only economic implosion but an environmental one too.

Jesus was born into this world to show the world a better way. He was born to a poor couple in a stable. He was not born rich, well known, or with a lot of fanfare. He lived a simple life and took up for the poor, dispossessed, and outcast. In the end he was killed because he did not fit the mold or play the role. Peter was telling his fellow Jews in Jerusalem that they had acted in ignorance, even though the story had been laid out in history and scripture.

In terms of the last 50 years our rulers and we have been acting in ignorance. We have to wake up and begin to live a simpler and efficient life in peace with one another and our world. Jesus came into this world to teach us a different and better way. I wonder if our denial and greed will let us listen.

Rev. David Johnson

Devotional 12-16-07

Be Patient!!

“Be patient, therefore beloved until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.” James 5:7

I come from a farming community. Many of my friends in high school were sons and daughter of corn and tobacco farmers. Jim, one of my best friends in ministry today grew up on a farm in southern Illinois, and before he went into the ministry ran a huge corn and soybean farm in his hometown. My mother grew up on a farm and tells stories of picking cotton as a child. My cousins still own the farm but no longer raise crops; rather they have chosen to use the land for beef cattle and hay. I feel connected to the earth through my friends and my cousins, but I must admit that I am a city slicker. I may have lived in the county and attended the county schools, but I was a suburbanite. I mowed and raked yards instead of picking cotton or tobacco. Because of my background like many of you this verse alludes me.

Jim and I have been friends for 25 years. We met during our chaplaincy training in Columbia, SC. He was a Yankee from southern Illinois, and I was a redneck from South Georgia. We are opposites in disposition. I am impatient and want to get things done now. He is easy going and allows issues to develop. In training we were an excellent pair and found that we balanced one another well.

My friend Jim has told me stories of farming that give me a clue to this verse. He tells of waiting for rain as he watches his corn and soybean shrivel. He discusses the feelings of powerlessness as he waits upon the rain and fears losing his crops and his farm. We in Huntington worry about our grass turning brown. We have to decide whether to turn on the spigot for water. Jim talks about waiting: waiting for the rain, waiting for the life saving water, waiting for the Lord.

So here we are again. Advent is upon us, and we find ourselves waiting. Waiting for the arrival of the Christ child, waiting for Santa Claus, waiting for the big family get together, waiting for there to be peace in a world that is prone to violence, waiting for the rich to care for the poor, waiting for the “haves” to no longer be angry that there will always be “have nots”, waiting for people to stop hating others who are different.

This scripture calls for us to be patient in our wait. We are called to be patient in a society that has found itself disconnected from the earth, which teaches us about being patient. We have our email, voice mail, cell phones, PDAs, ipods, and DVD players. We have sales people apologizing when their computer is “slow”. Daily we are taught to have things our way and NOW!!!

I am thankful for my friend Jim teaching me about waiting. The image of him standing on his porch looking out over his crops as they shrivel in the dryness of the summer heat has been a powerful one for me to remember when I get impatient. Today more than ever we need to heed the words of James: “Be patient the Lord is coming.” (My paraphrase)

Rev. David Johnson

Devotional 12-12-04

ARE YOU THE ONE?

Matthew 11: 2 – 11

John the Baptist is in jail. Jesus is out and about teaching, preaching, and healing. John sends his disciples out to ask Jesus this question: Are you the ONE?

There you have it. A question asked at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry that continues to be asked today. Are you the ONE?

Are you the ONE who can take my suffering away?

Are you the ONE that helps us win this football championship?

Are you the ONE who brought the hurricanes and caused the destruction?

Are you the ONE who wants this particular man to be president?

Are you the ONE who will help me find a parking spot?

Are you the ONE who will assist me in being financially independent?

Are you the ONE who let my mama die?

Are you the ONE who will keep me from being pregnant?

Are you the ONE who will help me get pregnant?

Jesus did not answer that question rather he responded by saying, “the poor are hearing the Good News” and “happy is the person that does not find me a stumbling block.”

I wonder about that statement. As a person who is obviously not poor, can I hear the Good News? Are my ears clogged or my mind clouded in such a way that I cannot hear the Good News? Are all the possessions that I worry about someone taking keeping my attention from spiritual realms? Was Jesus saying that a person of means does not need the Good News or that they think that the Good News is only for them?

Jesus is a stumbling block for me. I want to ignore him. I want to embrace all the stereotypes that make life simple. I want to hug my personal bias and narrow assumptions. Yet he keeps calling me to love my enemy and to turn the other cheek. He reminds me of my first fruits and asks what I am going to return to Him.

My prayer for us during this advent season is that we can move these questions to a statement of faith: Jesus, you are the one, who gives me the strength and courage to follow your example each day.

Rev. David Johnson