A Clean and Faithful Heart

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
Four Weddings and a Funeral
An Unfaithful Bride

Psalm 51:6-15  The Message

^4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
    it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
    whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
    in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
    Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

^7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
    scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
    set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
    give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
    so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
    and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
    I’ll let loose with your praise.

For Reflection 

What do you do when you are down and almost out, on your last legs, taking your last breath,  hitting rock bottom, dead to hope, flat on the floor and you realize your have nowhere to go nothing to turn to?  

 

Pray for salvation.  Repent, confess your sins to God.  Ask for help as only God can give.  You know what to do.  You just haven't done it.  So, do it!  Give yourself over to God and find your way to redemption.  Trust in the Lord.  Salvation is not just a spiritual concept.

Pray

prayers of confession.  Pray so that you can embrace the Holy Spirit.  Pray for help and you will find resources to help.  Pray for redemption and you will grow into grace.

The Most Perfect Love

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
Four Weddings and a Funeral

Most Beautiful Bride

Song of Solomon 4  The Message

The Man

4 ^1-5 You’re so beautiful, my darling,
    so beautiful, and your dove eyes are veiled
By your hair as it flows and shimmers,
    like a flock of goats in the distance
    streaming down a hillside in the sunshine.
Your smile is generous and full—
    expressive and strong and clean.
Your lips are jewel red,
    your mouth elegant and inviting,
    your veiled cheeks soft and radiant.
The smooth, lithe lines of your neck
    command notice—all heads turn in awe and admiration!
Your breasts are like fawns,
    twins of a gazelle, grazing among the first spring flowers.

^6-7 The sweet, fragrant curves of your body,
    the soft, spiced contours of your flesh
Invite me, and I come. I stay
    until dawn breathes its light and night slips away.
You’re beautiful from head to toe, my dear love,
    beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless.

^8-15 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.
    Leave Lebanon behind, and come.
Leave your high mountain hideaway.
    Abandon your wilderness seclusion,
Where you keep company with lions
    and panthers guard your safety.
You’ve captured my heart, dear friend.
    You looked at me, and I fell in love.
    One look my way and I was hopelessly in love!
How beautiful your love, dear, dear friend—
    far more pleasing than a fine, rare wine,
    your fragrance more exotic than select spices.
The kisses of your lips are honey, my love,
    every syllable you speak a delicacy to savor.
Your clothes smell like the wild outdoors,
    the ozone scent of high mountains.
Dear lover and friend, you’re a secret garden,
    a private and pure fountain.
Body and soul, you are paradise,
    a whole orchard of succulent fruits—
Ripe apricots and peaches,
    oranges and pears;
Nut trees and cinnamon,
    and all scented woods;
Mint and lavender,
    and all herbs aromatic;
A garden fountain, sparkling and splashing,
    fed by spring waters from the Lebanon mountains.

The Woman

¹⁶ Wake up, North Wind,
    get moving, South Wind!
Breathe on my garden,
    fill the air with spice fragrance.

Oh, let my lover enter his garden!
    Yes, let him eat the fine, ripe fruits.

For Reflection 

Is the Song of Solomon an embarrassment or an honest depiction of one of the most powerful, wonderful and beautiful gifts from God, human sexuality?    In the 1660's Matthew Henry interpreted the passages to mean the love Christ has for his people.  The Pulpit Commentary suggests that this  "...collection of separate songs, strung together by their general erotic character, is what we cannot believe. ... There must be a deep religious meaning in such language."  Gills Exposition of the Entire Bible, suggests that Solomon was God's ghost writer expressing God's love for the church.  Are these passages allegorical as suggested by an A. R. Faussett commentary?

There is no denying these passages contain expressions of human love and sexuality.  Peterson says that the Song makes a connection between conjugal love and sex.  Some, he says, eliminate sex when they speak of love.  Others speak of sex and never think of love.  Peterson writes, "The Song proclaims an integrated wholeness that is the center of Christian teaching on committed wedded love for a world that seems to specialize in loveless sex."

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving for the gift of conjugal love.  Praise God for the joy and poetic acceptance of human sexual experience as an expression of love found in the Song of Songs.

The Eternal Shepherd

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
Four Weddings and a Funeral

Most Beautiful Bride

John 10:7-18  The Message

^6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
^11-13 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.
^14-18 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”

 For Reflection 

What does this story tell us about the nature of God?  What is God's relationship to Jesus (not just God's son)?   What is the role of Christ?  What is the meaning of the term "recognize my voice?" 

Pray

that you will hear the Voice of God.  Pray that your voice will become God's voice.  Thank God for the freedom to choose and for what that freedom signifies.  Thank God for the mystery in which our faith is clothed.

The Good Shepherd

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
Four Weddings and a Funeral

Most Beautiful Bride

John 10:7-18  The Message

^6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
^11-13 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him.
^14-18 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”

For Reflection 

What does this story tell us about the nature of God?  What is God's relationship to Jesus (not just God's son)?   What is the role of Christ?  What is the meaning of the term "recognize my voice?" 

Pray

that you will hear the Voice of God.  Pray that your voice will become God's voice.  Thank God for the freedom to choose and for what that freedom signifies.  Thank God for the mystery in which our faith is clothed.

The Perfect Shepherd

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
Four Weddings and a Funeral

Most Beautiful Bride

John 10:1-10  The Message

He Calls His Sheep by Name

10 ^1-5 “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”

^6-10 Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

For Reflection 

How well do you know the Shepherd's voice?  How often do you listen for it?  Can you tell the difference between the voice of the Shepherd and those who would mimic Him?  Pray, read and discuss scripture; share wisdom in the fellowship of the faithful and you will begin to recognize the voice of God.

Pray

Pray so that you might hear the voice of God.  Be still so that you can discern the true voice from the cacophony of false voices.

A Perfect Woman

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
Four Weddings and a Funeral

Most Beautiful Bride

Proverbs 31:10-31  The Message

Hymn to a Good Wife

^10-31 A good woman is hard to find,
    and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
    and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
    all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
    and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She’s like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
    and brings back exotic surprises.
She’s up before dawn, preparing breakfast
    for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
    then, with money she’s put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
    rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
    is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She’s skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
    diligent in homemaking.
She’s quick to assist anyone in need,
    reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn’t worry about her family when it snows;
    their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
    and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
    when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
    brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
    and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
    and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
    and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
    her husband joins in with words of praise:
“Many women have done wonderful things,
    but you’ve outclassed them all!”
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
    The woman to be admired and praised
    is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
    Festoon her life with praises!

For Reflection 

The Romance of a Good Woman.  Song title?  Book Title?  Poetry?  Flattery? If this were written in praise of men would it be less of an ideal?  Does love color our fantasies?  Super Girl Meets Mom!

Pray

prayers of thanksgiving for the power of our imagination.  Pray prayers of thanksgiving for God's gift of creativity.  Pray for the ability to see beauty in all things.  Praise God for strong women and good men.  Pray to embrace the essence of grace.

Welcome Home

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
Four Weddings and a Funeral

A Bride Worth Waiting For

Genesis 29:9-15  The Message

^9-13 While Jacob was in conversation with them, Rachel came up with her father’s sheep. She was the shepherd. The moment Jacob spotted Rachel, daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, saw her arriving with his uncle Laban’s sheep, he went and single-handedly rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban. Then he kissed Rachel and broke into tears. He told Rachel that he was related to her father, that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father. When Laban heard the news—Jacob, his sister’s son!—he ran out to meet him, embraced and kissed him and brought him home. Jacob told Laban the story of everything that had happened.
^14-15 Laban said, “You’re family! My flesh and blood!”
When Jacob had been with him for a month, Laban said, “Just because you’re my nephew, you shouldn’t work for me for nothing. Tell me what you want to be paid. What’s a fair wage?”

For Reflection 

Love at first sight!

Many stories in the Bible spread over generations.  They, at times, read like soap operas.  Plots twist and turn. Blessings turn into treachery and then again into blessings.  The stories illustrate human life with all its potential for glory and its penchant for tragedy.  And yet, God is constant.  God still abides.  God is at the core of all goodness.

Pray

At the start of this new year reflect on the past year's blessings and disappointments.  Asses your God-centeredness.  Resolve, no repent, in confession to God.  Pray often so that you strengthen your trust and commitment to God.