Welcome to Pastor Jack Buckley's weekly blog and podcast.
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Monday, November 27, 2006
Who's In Charge Here?
Exodus 19:1-6; Revelation 1:4-8
On Thanksgiving we pause before the feast to count our many blessings and say "Thank You" to God who gives them to us. In the next morning's paper we read more headlines about all kinds of crimes, wars and rumors of war, famines and epidemics, and relentless global warming. (All of which reveals that whether the 49ers and A's will stay in town is way low on God's priority list!) But -- if God is really in charge of world affairs, what the heck is going on here?!
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posted by Jack Buckley at
1:21 PM
Monday, November 20, 2006
Much More Than Pennies From Heaven
Malachi 3:8-12; Luke 6:32-38
Too easily, fear drives us to pinch every penny in hopes of not going broke in this expensive world. But today's scripture readings call us to do just the opposite -- to open our hands and our hearts in generous confidence. The bottom line: It's absolutely impossible to out-give God!
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GRATEFULNESS
As Thanksgiving approaches, I remember an article years ago in the magazine section of the Sunday newspaper. It was a woman's story of her automobile accident on another Sunday morning a year or so before.
She was driving alone through a rainstorm, heading up the coast on Highway 1. On a curve the car went tumbling down a steep embankment towards the surging ocean. Then it hit a mass of thick bushes and came to a jarring halt.
The woman was bruised and shaken, but alive. This was before cell phones, so she was all on her own down there, hidden from view in the falling rain, invisible to anyone driving by on that stormy deserted highway. Her story ended well with her climbing back up to the roadside, flagging down a ride, and finally returning home safely.
I remember all this now because she closed with a testimony of serene thankfulness for simply being alive. But she was unable to identify anyone to whom she could say her fervent "Thank You!" for that priceless gift.
It must be terrible to well up with such strong emotion, whether gratefulness or joy or wonder, and not know where to aim it. It's enough to make a body burst.
Many people say they especially like Thanksgiving because it's one holiday that has no ties to religious traditions. Try telling that to the Pilgrims, who came here for religious freedom and celebrated God's protecting care as they survived and settled in.
You and I, pilgrims too, are blessed to know the One to thank for every blessing big or small. In Jesus' story (see Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) we see the flesh and blood embodiment of God's generous loving care. He's our example, too, for generously sharing all the good we've received.
I'm convinced the surest evidence that you have received good gifts gratefully is when you're able in turn to give good gifts generously. Maybe the very first of those generous gifts is a heartfelt "Thank You!" to the Giver of every good and perfect gift!
According to the 14th century mystic Meister Eckhart, "If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice."
Happy Thanksgiving!
posted by Jack Buckley at
3:32 PM
Monday, November 13, 2006
God's Guide to Gracious Giving
Proverbs 28:20-27; 1 Timothy 6:17-21
It's a graceful cluster of words: Grace, Gratitude, Generosity. God's free gifts of everything we need first elicit our grateful praise, then lead us to share those gifts freely with others. That sequence forms a circle of grace, God's great antidote to worry, envy, and greed.
Some lucky souls may not need a refresher on all this. The rest of us would do well to...
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At the Treasury opening night reception, a $20 bill struck up a conversation with a $1 bill.
Comparing notes on their travels, the Twenty said, "I've had lots of fun in many nice places. Las Vegas, L.A., some luxury cruises, a few four star restaurants. Life's been good."
The Single said, "Well, I haven't traveled far like that. But I've been in some nice churches."
The Twenty asked, "Excuse me, what's a church?"
Badda-bing.
Yes. It's stewardship season again. So this week's message is about "gracious giving."
Grace is that religious word for free and generous giving that's done regardless of whether it's deserved, despite the fact it can never be earned. Giving for its own sake. Just because.
And that's why the popular song calls it amazing grace!
I'm convinced that gratefulness for what we've been given is the one true motive to drive generous giving. That sequence creates the divine circle dance that leads us away from the besetting sins of worry, envy, and greed.
It's a tragic irony that greed is not only the deadly risk of wealthy people, but of the poor as well. Jesus warned not only against love of wealth and ease (Matthew 6:24), but also against letting the cares of this life -- sufficient food, clothing, and a safe place to lay your head -- overwhelm trust in God who feeds the smallest birds and clothes the flowers in glory (Matthew 6:25-32).
You can see the connection between "grace" and "gratitude" in English. It's even clearer in Spanish, where you thank someone by saying gracias.
That connection works much better to motivate generosity than the suggestions of a stewardship drive chairman, reported by his pastor John Buchanan in a recent Christian Century editorial.
"He wanted me to arrange to have 'Amazing Grace' played by a bagpiper on Stewardship Sunday. 'Presbyterians can't resist it,' he assured me. One time he suggested that we reconsider the sale of indulgences -- 'the best stewardship program ever.' 'Couldn't you just imply that they're going to hell if they don't raise their pledge?' he asked."
[FYI: It was indulgences, payments of money to the church in exchange for discounts on punishment in the afterlife, that got Martin Luther started on that Reformation thing.]
1 Timothy 6:18 says we live life to its fullest when we learn to "be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share."
The good work of stewardship can be outlined succinctly in the letters of the word "give":
Give money to support God's work
Invite others to share our blessings
Volunteer in helpful service
Everyone together
All of that simply because we're so grateful for what we've received that we could never keep it just for ourselves.
posted by Jack Buckley at
12:06 PM
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
What Love's Got To Do With It
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
God's kind of love is life's most realistic ingredient, anything but romantic.
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When a couple ask me to officiate at their wedding, I meet with them at least three times before the rehearsal for conversations about marriage. So far so good.
But inevitably, while I'm talking about marriage they're thinking about the wedding.
We usually cover the map of relationship issues. Family ties, family planning. Money, sex, food. Career choices, relocation. Fighting fair, forgiving, getting to Yes. Spiritual values. And more.
Even so, they're thinking mostly about the wedding.
And hardly a wedding happens that I'm not asked to include a reading of The Love Chapter. 1 Corinthians 13. One of God's greatest hits!
Rightly so.
But that lovely poem about love proves my point about wedding vs. marriage.
Weddings are romantic in nature. The Greek word for romantic love is eros. Erotic love is love with an appetite, love that thrives on pleasure and gratification. That might come from a beautiful painting or a crystal clear day on Lake Tahoe, as much as from sexual stimulation. Romantic love is all about feelings.
The kind of love 1 Corinthians 13 talks about is agape, love with no strings attached. This love is all about choices.
It's about the promises a bride and groom make at the heart of their wedding ceremony. To honor and care for and serve each other, in good times and in bad times, as long as they both shall live. Amen.
Love, it says, is patient, kind, generous. Love holds no grudges, isn't greedy. It's strong, courageous, full of trust. Tenacious. Unconditional.
Wow.
Every one of those modifiers implies this kind of lover is constantly choosing to do the loving thing. Just because she loves you. Even if you're not behaving very lovably right now. Maybe you'll appreciate the gesture. Maybe you'll resent it. That's not the point, really. He's simply loving you, choosing to do the loving thing. Just because.
Think of that other greatest hit from God, John 3:16. God loves the world so much that he gave up his one and only Son, so nobody needs to perish but everybody can live forever in God's loving presence.
Or the eighth chapter of Romans. Absolutely nothing in the whole wide world can separate us from the love of God, whom we see embodied in Christ Jesus.
There you have it. Substitute for "love" in 1 Corinthians 13 the name "Jesus," and you get a personality profile of Jesus as the Gospels portray him. Time and time again, he decided to do the loving thing, with no strings attached. Just because.
Brides and grooms tend to catch on after they've been husbands and wives a while.
Romance runs hot and cold, beyond their control. But God's kind of love lasts forever -- always ready to honor and serve, to do the loving thing, just when it's needed most.
Just because.
posted by Jack Buckley at
6:51 PM
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