Devotional 12-14-15

Luke 1:39-55

This account in Luke is dominated by Mary’s song, known in liturgese as “The Magnificat” which was borrowed with theological as well as literary meaning from the Song of Hannah (I Samuel 2:1-10).  It is the mainstay of the social doctrine of the universal church which makes clear that God favors the poor and lowly.  The “mighty” and the “rich” are sent away.  That’s a sermon for another time.

In reading this passage this year, I’ve been moved by the opening verses regarding Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth who was six-months ahead of Mary in her pregnancy.  As Luke writes the story, Mary, without being told by the angel to do so, visits her cousin, perhaps because they share the experience of unexpected pregnancies.  However, there is a dramatic contrast in their experiences.  Elizabeth is aged and had been married a long, long time.  Mary was very young.  unmarried.  and pregnant.  in a culture that would stigmatize her severely with judgmental rejection because of her status as an unwed mother.

Would Mary have expected Elizabeth to greet her with harsh judgment?  Without knowing the rest of the story, the first century reader of Luke might expect so.  But Elizabeth’s loving and happy reaction is a wondrous and lovely point that is key to Luke’s telling the story.  She feels the stirring in her own womb that she interprets as these two second-cousin yet-unborn babies greeting one another.  These are not just two more false prophets.

In our families, in our friendships, and in our churches, there are countless opportunities for judgmental exclusion or rejection.  How quickly can good and righteous Christians turn into unrighteous judges when someone – or some group – does not live up to our standards.  Mary’s visit with Elizabeth calls us to a different attitude.  Elizabeth, Luke reports, was filled with the Holy Spirit and was able to see the work of God despite human standards and culture that would call for criticism, rejection, judgment.  What can Luke’s story teach us?

Loving God, holy one:  fill us also with the Holy Spirit that we would see you more clearly through the fog of human standards and culture that are not of you.  Jesus is Lord, in whom we pray.  Amen.

Rev. Jack Lipphart

Devotional 11/30/14

Mark 13:24-37

O Come, Thou Blessed Hope

O come, thou blessed Hope of God,
The Hope of being whole.
In fear or exile, grief or pain
We call to you again and again
To free the troubled soul,
To free the captive soul.

O come, thou blessed Love of God,
The Love from Mary born:
Thou child who drew a mother’s face
And grew in wisdom, full of grace
To love us with each morn,
To love us each new morn.

O come, thou blessed Joy of God,
The Joy of dawning rays.
Come Jesus, now, the word made flesh;
Be born within our hearts, our créche.
Receive our gift of praise,
Receive our joyful praise.

O come thou blessed Peace of God,
The Peace of Christ be giv’n:
That calls the world to end all strife
With promise of abundant life
On earth as now in heav’n,
On earth as known in heav’n.

O come, thou Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace,
O come from heav’n above.
Emmanuel, now come and bless
The earth with your divine caress
And fill us with your love.
Fill us with heav’nly love.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 12-8-13

Matthew 3:1-12

This text is rather confrontational between John the Baptizer and those whom he called a brood of vipers.  Yet, within his venom are words that call for people to prepare for one who comes.  “Prepare the way of The Lord; make his paths straight.”  Following is a hymn composed for Advent, following the pattern of the Advent wreath’s succession of Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace.  If you like to sing, look up the Repton hymn tune on Youtube.  This second Sunday of Advent finds many in the throes and anxieties of preparing for the secular celebrations of Christmas.  Instead, let the hymn help prepare us for Christ’s birth.

O Come, Thou Blessed Hope

O come, thou blessed Hope of God,

The Hope of being whole.

In fear or exile, grief or pain

We call to you again and again

To free the troubled, captive soul,

To free the restless soul.

O come, thou blessed Love of God,

The Love from Mary born:

Thou child who drew a mother’s face

And grew in wisdom, full of grace

To love us with each passing morn,

To love us each new morn.

O come, thou blessed Joy of God,

The Joy of dawning rays.

Come Jesus, now, the word made flesh;

Be born within our hearts, our créche.

Receive our joyful gifts of praise,

Receive our joyful praise.

O come thou blessed Peace of God,

The Peace of Christ be giv’n:

That calls the world to end all strife

With promise of abundant life

On earth as now it is in heav’n,

On earth as known in heav’n.

O come, thou Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace,

O come from heav’n above.

Emmanuel, now come and bless

The earth with your divine caress

And fill us with your heav’nly love.

Fill us with heav’nly love.

Jack Lipphardt, 2013

Tune setting:  Repton

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 12-2-12

Luke 21:25-36

One of the delights of having children and grandchildren is the observation of discovery.  New to the world, toddlers do not have a tally of experiences that teach them what to expect from behaviors or interactions with the world.  The older they – and we – get, the more predictable the world becomes.  If we do “this”, we know “that” will be a result.  We can predict future events based on our knowledge and experience in the world.  For infants and toddlers, the “future” comes as “Advent”, breaking news from the future not based on knowledge or experience.

Luke’s text for today is stressful.  Signs.  Distress.  Confusion.  Fainting.  Fear.  Dissipation.  Drunkenness.  Worries.

“Heavens to Murgatroid,” Snagglepuss would say.  Is there not a better gospel text for the first Sunday of Advent?  I want to look for a beautifully worded bit of biblical poetry to invite me to contemplate the coming Christ child.  Yet every year, whether reading from Luke or Mark or Matthew, an anxiety laden apocalyptic passage leads us into Advent. 

The meaning of “Advent”, however, is precisely apocalyptic – something from beyond us is breaking into our present time and pointing us to the end of time when all things will come together to worship and praise God for eternity.  What comes is not something that we can anticipate from our knowledge and experience.  It is totally new – beyond us – FROM beyond us. We can easily look around our world and find distress, confusion, fear, worries.  Turned in on ourselves, we can quickly become depressed by hungers and hurts, sin, natural disaster, emptiness, loss of purpose. 

The good news, from the gospel writers’ points of view, is that from all things that distress us, God brings redemption.  The text feels like anxiety; but it brings the promise of peace.

We have plenty of work to do.  The gospel’s promise of peace does not absolve us of responsibility for the shape of the world around us.  To the contrary, the infant we worship demands strong commitment to his purposes of love and peace – the gospel compels us to love our neighbors, and it gives a really broad description of who our neighbors are.  With our engagement with the world, walking with Jesus, we will be prepared, as Luke invites us, to stand before the Son of Man.

 
"Blessed by the God of Israel, who comes to set us free,
Who visits and redeems us, and grants us liberty.
The prophets spoke of mercy, of freedom and release;
God shall fulfill the promise to bring our people peace.”

                                  -- Michael Perry, 1973

Gracious God, who sent the prophets to be messengers of repentance to prepare the way for our salvation:  open our eyes and hearts to see and receive the cautions of the prophets to forsake our sin and to turn to the light that puts the darkness behind.  May we celebrate righteously the remembrance of holy nativity so that through righteous living, we may wait with joy the coming in glory of Jesus who invites us to live with him and with you and with the Holy Spirit forever.  Amen.

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 12-24-11

Please read Luke 2:1-7

“When Christmas morn is dawning, I wish that I could be
There by the manger cradle, God’s son, newborn, to see.
There by the manger cradle, God’s Son, newborn, to see.”

Christmas Eve. Does Christmas Eve mean relief that the season is drawing to an end? As I write this, a local radio station has already been playing Christmas music for two weeks. Christmas displays are out before Halloween! True, Christians stole secular traditions such as winter solstice lighting of trees, but we have allowed the secular world to steal the truth of Advent anticipation from us. Let me rephrase that: it’s one thing for the secular world to do what it does; it is not so fine that we allow the meaning of our faith to be steamrollered by the secular and commercial world. Christmas Eve becomes the “last minute” for attending to secular desires and holiday preparations instead of searching for the manger cradle, “God’s Son, newborn, to see.”

“How kind of you, our Savior, for us to come to earth.
O may we not by sinning, despise your lowly birth.
O may we not by sinning, despise your lowly birth.”

Through the birth of the human child Jesus, we receive the revelation of God to us. In a prayer, Professor Laurence Hull Stookey petitions: “Grant that, being born in our hearts, he may save us from all our sins, and restore within us the image and likeness of our Creator.” Jesus Christ, born into this world, is the gift of our salvation from sin and death. What does it say about us to receive the gift of salvation if we then willfully displease to God? “O may we not by sinning despise your lowly birth.”

On this Christmas Eve, let your mind and heart feel the emotion of God’s tender love for this world. Focus away from secular concerns toward the love radiating from a cow’s feed bin. Heaven knows, this hurting, struggling world needs God’s love! In the experiences of our lives, WE need God’s love! More importantly, don’t we have some tender love to share?

Let this be our prayer:

“We need you, O Lord Jesus, to be our dearest friend.
Your love will guard and guide us and keep us to life’s end.
Your love will guard and guide us and keep us to life’s end.”

The poetry is attributed to Elisabeth Ehrenborg-Posse, translated by Joel Lundeen. It is set to a German folk tune in our United Methodist hymnal and reflects the reading from Luke. May God’s full blessings be yours this Christmas Eve. See you this evening, Christmas Eve at Johnson Memorial! Merry Christmas! Love, Jack Lipphardt

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 1-2-11

“Hope of the world, thou Christ of great compassion,
Speak to our fearful hearts by conflict rent.
Save us, thy people, from consuming passion,
Who by our own false hopes and aims are spent.”

The poetry of Georgia Harkness offers a word of grace for us at the start of a new year. If the message of Christmas brings nothing else to us, it offers the hope that was wrapped in THE Christmas gift, the one from God, wrapped in swaddling cloths, wrapped in the life of Jesus.

“Hope of the world, God’s gift from highest heaven,
Bringing to hungry souls the bread of life,
Still let thy spirit unto us be given
To heal earth’s wounds and end her bitter strife.”

In many corners of the world, people would be hard pressed to find a word of hope – to believe the promise of peace – to see past their physical starving to find nourishment for a hungry soul.

“Hope of the world, afoot on dusty highways,
Showing to wandering souls the path of light;
Walk thou beside us lest the tempting byways
Lure us away from thee to endless night.”

Howzat for a new year’s resolution: to seek and to find the son of God walking beside us wherever our life-journeys take us.

"Hope of the world, who by thy cross didst save us
From death and dark despair, from sin and guilt;
We render back the love thy mercy gave us;
Take thou our lives, and use them as thou wilt.”

When we are troubled by the world, we know that God offers us strength and hope. When we see others who are troubled, God expects OUR active compassion. Let us be faithful.

When we wander away from the ways of God, our task is to find Christ walking with us, leading us to the better path. When we see others wandering aimlessly, God expects US to provide a better roadmap by the example of our own faithful lives. Let us be faithful.

When we are burdened by guilt, we need to seek forgiveness from those we may have offended and to remember our redemption offered from the cross. When others have offended us, God calls on us to “forgive those who trespass against us.” Let us be faithful.

Christ is the hope of the world. As this new year unfolds, let us be faithful to our Lord, offering active compassion and hope for the world.

Let our prayer be:

"Hope of the world, O Christ, o’er death victorious,
Who by this sign didst conquer grief and pain,
We would be faithful to the gospel glorious:
Thou art our Lord! Thou dost forever reign.”

Happy and blessed new year.
Rev Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 12-25-09

"Rock-a-bye, my dear little boy, dear little boy,
wonder of wonders, my blessing and joy;
slumber as I gently hold you,
let my tender love enfold you;
gift of God to me and the world,
here in my arms lies so peacefully curled.”

The poetry is from a Christmas lullaby from Czech tradition. Any of us could sing the song as we hold our own child – or grandchild. Nancy and I could sing it now to a great granddaughter. “Rock-a-bye my dear little girl, love-gift of God in my arms safely curl.”

But the lullaby is the song of Mary – singing to her baby boy on the first Christmas morning. “Slumber as I gently hold you, let my tender love enfold you.” I confess that I cannot sing this carol without a tear breaking free from my eyelid and escaping down my cheek. I know the tender and overwhelming love of a new Daddy holding a minute-old baby boy. While the carol is about Jesus, my mind cannot help but race to the images of our children and grandchildren. The lesson of the carol for me is that God chose this very human and very, very ordinary way of revealing God’s personality and nature to the world. The carol draws me to an identity with Mary and Joseph; and it traces a remembrance that I was once someone’s newborn love. Such is the way of God: to draw on our experience in life to speak to us and to reveal to us the depths and wonders of love.

On this Christmas day, let your mind and heart feel the emotion of God’s tender love for this world. Heaven knows, this hurting, struggling world needs some tender lovin’! In the experiences of our lives, WE need some tender lovin’! More importantly, don’t we have some tender love to share?

“Little Jesus, Infant Divine, Infant Divine,
one with the Father, yet born to be mine;
as I rock you calmly sleeping,
angel guards their watch are keeping;
precious child, one day we shall see
what love has destined for you and for me.”

Merry Christmas!
Love,

Rev. Jack Lipphardt

Devotional 12-25-08

Not So Silent Night

Please read Luke 2:1-20

Last night, in countless churches, people sang the beautiful poetry of Joseph Mohr to the music of Franz Gruber: “Silent Night, Holy Night.” In the beauty and holiness of a place of worship, lit with the soft, warm glow of candlelight, the rush of the Christmas season came to a stop – perhaps a brief respite – with a beautiful hymn, reflecting on the birth of a baby in a feed bin in a barn.

I am willing to give Joseph Mohr some poetic license for this beloved carol, but I am sure it was anything but a silent night. The town of Bethlehem was overrun with travelers making their way to their hometown for Caesar’s census and taxation. The streets were bustling – the hotels full to overflowing. The stable at the inn would be full of the travelers’ pack animals and other critters which paid no mind to the “quiet after lights out” sign and which most likely ‘brayed’ and ‘mooed’ their protest at being squeezed by the arrival of two poor humans, soon to be three. If that were not noisy enough, a baby was born, not likely a quiet event. To top it off, shepherds arrived at the barn that night; shepherds – not known for respectful, quiet graces.

Surely, one might reasonably expect, the Son of God would be born in royal comfort – not amid noise and confusion, in an animal barn, in an impoverished small town. While the people of first century Palestine likely had become used to God’s surprises, this one was the pièce de resistánce!

Our lives can be chaotic in a hundred different ways. We might well expect that God would find a more peaceful and calm place to reveal the incarnation. We might wonder how we could deserve God’s graceful gift to us. Yet as God chose the most unlikely people in the most unlikely place for the birth of Jesus, so God reveals the fullness of love and peace to us, even in our most unlikely or even unlovely moments.
Before anyone else knew of Jesus’ birth, the angel declared to those pathetic shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy for all the people. To you is born this day a Savior who is Christ, the Lord.” To us, and to all the world, God reveals the love and saving grace of our Lord. Good news: yes?

Christmas Peace be with you. “With the angels, let us sing, Alleluia to our King; Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born!” Grace and Peace! Love, Jack

Rev. Jack Lipphardt