January 12, 2020, 1 Kings 8:14-21 – ISSL Reflection

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I.
We turn this week to Solomon’s words to the people after the Temple is dedicated. As you read Solomon’s words pay attention to how he recounts the history of what brings them to this moment.

II.
1 Kings 8:14-21 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Then the king turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David, saying, ‘Since the day that I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any of the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.’ My father David had it in mind to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to consider building a house for my name; nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’ Now the Lord has upheld the promise that he made; for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

III.
Do you recall other places in Hebrew scripture were the history of their journey with God is brought to mind, to remembrance?

Do you think that kind of remembering of a spiritual history is important?

One thing you could do right now is to slow down and recall your journey with God over time. What events on that journey stand to you? Do you recall high points and low points? How might recalling both help you as you journey from this day?

IV.
Solomon could speak of what, “… God … has fulfilled …” and “… the Lord has upheld the promise he made …”

How does that strike you? Do you have any sense of that in your journey?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

January 5, 2020, 1 Kings 8:1-13 – Post 3 – ISSL Reflections

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VII.
What are we building for God?

How are we contributing to making a place for God to inhibit?

What part of that “temple” are we working on today?

VIII.
I know we don’t work on building the kind of Temple Solomon did, but surely we are called to build something for God, something for God’s Kingdom, for God’s people.

How do we do that?

How do we accept the work without becoming arrogant or self-satisfied about what we do?

How do we work on the task without seeking to control it?

And how do we let go, and let God take it where he wills?

IX.
So, should be co-workers with God in these days to come, or …. Do we think we know best and invite God to join us in our work?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

January 5, 2020, 1 Kings 8:1-13 – Post 2 – ISSL Reflections

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IV.

This passage closes with, 

And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
Then Solomon said,

“The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

I have built you an exalted house,

    a place for you to dwell in forever.”

Let’s go back a little earlier in 1 Kings and notice this – 

Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon,  “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you, which I made to your father David.  I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. So Solomon built the house, and finished it. (1 Kings 6:11-14)

V.

When I first hear Solomon say, “I have built you an exalted house …”  it comes across to me as arrogant. I hear Solomon bragging about his accomplishment, what he has done for God.

Do you think I hear him rightly or wrongly?

After I read those words in 1 Kings 6, I think I have to give a second thought to my assessment of Solomon.  Is he just acknowledging that he has finished the task God gave him?

VI.

How does it go for you and me?

When you have a sense of God calling you to some work and you approach the completion of some significant part of the work or maybe the entire work, what do you say or do?  What is in your spirit?

Is it thanksgiving?  Is it confession that God was with you in the work?  Is it relief that it is done? Maybe all of these.

How can words sum up or describe this?

Charles

{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

January 5, 2020, 1 Kings 8:1-13 – ISSL Reflections

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I.

This coming Sunday’s readings begin 4 weeks we will spend in 1 Kings 8 with Solomon.  Solomon has set about to build the Temple that his father, David, was turned aside from building.  In this chapter we find the building of the Temple completed and hear from Solomon.

We will start our journey with Solomon by reading the first 13 verses of the chapter.  As I have encouraged you to do a number of times during our previous weeks together, read over these verses several times, linger with them, and pause over what captures your attention and focus.

II.

1 Kings 8:1-13 (New Revised Standard Version)

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. All the people of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.  And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. So they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.  Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day.  There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Then Solomon said,

“The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

I have built you an exalted house,

    a place for you to dwell in forever.”

III.

Our reading starts with the Temple having been completed, the people assembled by Solomon to celebrate its completion, the sacrifices associated with its dedication, and the bringing of the Ark into the Temple.

Shall I say that Solomon and the priests went “all out” in the sacrifices offered?  In your mind, how big do you think this was for Solomon and people? How long had they waited for such an event?  How important was it for the Ark to be “at home” in a place created especially for it?

Have you been part of event that seemed to have so much importance for a group of people?

Give that some thought, and we’ll get back together later.

charles

{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

December 29, 2019, 1 Chronicles 17:16-27 – Post 2 – ISSL Reflections

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V.
How are you hearing David pray?

We are told, “he went in and set before Lord.”

Then we hear him pray, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And even this was a small thing in your sight, O God … “

And as he prays he recounts some of the ways God has brought him to this particular moment and the place Israel has come to.

VI.
Of the many things that can catch our attention in David’s words, one that stands out to me is his saying, “… your servant has found it possible to pray before you.”

I invite you to review David’s words and see what you notice that makes it possible for David to pray.

But, don’t stop there. What makes it possible for you to pray? Do you have a “place” (maybe it’s a physical “place” or even an inward “place”) that helps make prayer possible for you? Or, maybe it’s you reviewing where God has brought you? Maybe you can look over your personal history and notice God’s presence?

VII.
As we close our reflections on David’s prayer (and our prayers), allow me to share a few words from Richard Foster,

“In the beginning we are indeed the subject and the center of our prayers. But in God’s time and in God’s way a Copernican revolution takes place in our heart. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, there is a shift in our center of gravity. We pass from thinking of God as part of our life to the realization that we are part of his life. Wondrously and mysteriously God moves from the periphery of our prayer experience to the center.”

(From: Richard Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, p. 15).

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

… where will he appear …

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Allow me a moment the Christmas Day to share a few words from the sermon “The Face in the Sky” by Frederick Buechner. You can find the full text of the sermon at https://www.frederickbuechner.com/blog/2019/12/24/weekly-sermon-illustration-the-face-in-the-sky

Those who believe in God can never in a way be sure of him again. Once they have seen him in a stable, they can never be sure where he will appear or to what lengths he will go or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation he will descend in his wild pursuit of humankind. If holiness and the awful power and majesty of God were present in this least auspicious of all events, this birth of a peasant’s child, then there is no place or time so lowly and earthbound but that holiness can be present there too. And this means that we are never safe, that there is no place where we can hide from God, no place where we are safe from his power to break in two and recreate the human heart, because it is just where he seems most helpless that he is most strong, and just where we least expect him that he comes most fully.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

December 29, 2019, 1 Chronicles 17:16-27 – ISSL Reflection

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I.
Two weeks ago we looked at 1 Chronicles 17 noticing David’s plans, Nathan’s initial agreement with David, followed by Nathan’s encounter with the word of God, Nathan conveying those words to David and David’s response.

We return to a portion of that same Scripture passage paying attention specifically to David’s prayer. We looked at the prayer some two weeks ago, but as we return to his prayer let’s give attention to not only David’s words but as best we can the spirit with which he enters prayer.

II.
1 Chronicles 17:16-27 (New Revised Standard Version)

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And even this was a small thing in your sight, O God; you have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come. You regard me as someone of high rank, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you for honoring your servant? You know your servant. For your servant’s sake, O Lord, and according to your own heart, you have done all these great deeds, making known all these great things. There is no one like you, O Lord, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Who is like your people Israel, one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making for yourself a name for great and terrible things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt? And you made your people Israel to be your people forever; and you, O Lord, became their God.

“And now, O Lord, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, let it be established forever, and do as you have promised. Thus your name will be established and magnified forever in the saying, ‘The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God’; and the house of your servant David will be established in your presence. For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him; therefore your servant has found it possible to pray before you. And now, O Lord, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant; therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord, have blessed and are blessed forever.”

III.
What do you notice David doing first? Where do you see David physically putting himself?

What do you judge his spirit to be as he begins praying?

Would you say he starts from a place of humility or a place of Kingship?

In the translation we read here, there are about 330 words in the prayer. In that span of words how often does he address God as, “God,” “Lord,” or even “you”?

Does that indicate anything to you regarding the spiritual place David places himself as he draws near to God?

IV.
As we pay attention to how David prays, how might he offer us guidance as to how we approach prayer?

During this Christmas season as our attention is called to how God comes to us, let’s think some about how we come to God.

We’ll get back together later, this week ….

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

December 22, 2019, Luke 1:38-56 – Post 3 – ISSL Reflections

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IX.
I have asked several times this week that we pay attention to Mary’s song, and I ask that again of us today.

What draws you?

Here is her song once again,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

X.
Do you hear her words applying only to herself? Do you hear a hope she offers us?

I needed her words this week to awaken in me a level of hope that I had been lacking. I have begun to sense a hope that I much needed.

How is you hope working for you?

Please let me end this week’s reflections by going back to the words of the Psalmist I shared the other day –

Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.
This is my comfort in my distress,
that your promise gives me life.
(Psalm 119:49-50)

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

December 22, 2019, Luke 1:38-56 – Post 2 – ISSL Reflections

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VI.

Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.
This is my comfort in my distress,
that your promise gives me life.
(Psalm 119:49-50)

VII.
I asked you the other day to spend time with Mary’s song and pay attention to what draws you, what speaks to you, what claims your attention.

In her song we can hear echoes of the Hebrew prophets. We can hear in her voice, the words we will hear later in her son’s as he walks with his disciples, speaks to crowds and spends time with individuals he encounters.

Is there a word, a phrase, a sentence, a sentiment that captures you by a shout or maybe even a whisper that demands your investment.

VIII.
The Psalmist reported that “your word’ makes “me hope … gives me life.”

Whatever word of Mary gives you hope, gives you life, take that word with you into this day, these next days and this season.

Find hope, find life ….

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

December 22, 2019, Luke 1:38-56 – ISSL Reflection

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I.
This coming Sunday is the Fourth Sunday of Advent and the last Sunday before Christmas Day and we will depart from our consideration of the building of the Temple this week.

Of course, maybe this is not too much of a departure for we are still considering how God elects to invade this world and how his servants are part of that invasion.

The Scripture passage scheduled for reflection this week is “suppose” to be Luke 1:39-56. It seems to me what we need to include Luke 1:38, since without that yieldedness the rest cannot follow.

Please read over the passage and open your heart and mind to the praises and blessings that both Elizabeth and Mary voice.

II.

Luke 1:38-56 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

III.
Mary says, “Let it be with me according to your word.”

Elizabeth says, “… blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

Does this speak to you of how God’s love, guidance, and sustaining work break into this world? It does for me.

There is God’s call … a yieldedness to that call and work … and then, there can follow a recognition by others of what is happening and about to happen.

IV.
Are you thinking about “gifts” during these last days before Christmas Day. What you can gift to others and what gifts you might receive. Will you get “everything” on your wish list?

Maybe we could join with Mary and consider what gift of ourselves we can give to God. Not some coins in an offering plate, not some coins in a red kettle in front of the stores we visit, but the yielding our souls to God’s call. Granted the offering of coins is much easier but I suspect we see more is called for.

V.
Take some time over the next days to read over Mary’s words and pay attention to what draws you to share her spirit.

We’ll take later,

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}