I’m sure all of us have seen pictures of an empty stadium immediately after a big game and the crowds of people have dissipated.  Empty drink cups and pieces of paper are scattered and blowing everywhere.  Pieces of uneaten hotdog and popcorn blanket the floor.  Now image that you went to visit you parents house and it looked like this.  You’d be horrified.  Or what if you showed up at church on Sunday to this?

Often times when we read the story of Psalm Sunday we read about Jesus riding on the back of an unbroken colt and people spreading their cloaks and psalm branches on the road in front of him.  We read of his triumphant entry.  But what gets skipped over is the verse that follows.  It says “Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple.  He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.”. Mark 11:11

I imagine that what Jesus saw that night was a lot like what we see in an empty stadium, after a game, before it has been cleaned.  Can you imagine how it must have made him feel to see his Father’s house desecrated in such a way?  Not just with paper and garbage, but with animal dung too.  You know how sometimes you get so angry you can’t let something go?  Jesus wasn’t just the Son of God, he was the Son of Man. As such I’m sure he experienced all of the same range of very human emotions we do.  I imagine he must have spent much of that night stewing about what he saw in the temple, because the next morning he cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit (metaphor?) and then, “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.  He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  And as he taught them he said, ‘Is it not written:  My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?  But you have made it a den of robbers.’”  Mark 11:15-17

I wrote about this today because that one line stood out to me.  Jesus, the night of his triumphant entry, going to God’s house and “looking around at everything”.  This was the beginning of the end for Jesus and part of me wonders if what he was seeking was the kind of experience we get, that feeling of awe when we enter a beautiful old church and look at at the fresco’s on the ceiling, the ornate wood carvings, the beautiful stained glass windows. And how heartbroken he must have felt to get exactly the opposite experience.

And then, Jesus was angry and he wasn’t afraid to show it.  He didn’t hide his emotions behind a mask of humility.  He was honest about his feelings

I think that it is stories like this that help to make Jesus relatable…human.  Of course he performed so many amazing miracles, but he also laughed and cried and got angry, just like we do.  I love that about our God.  He lowered himself to our level to help us understand his love for us and to encourage us to seek him.  To let us know that he absolutely understands what we are going through, because he has walked in our shoes.

In my mind, this story ends the following morning, after Jesus has cleansed the temple, and they walk by the same fig tree that he had cursed the day before.  It was withered from the roots up.   When Peter remarks on this, Jesus responds with the following “Have faith in God.”  That fig tree is not only a metaphor for the Jewish community at the time of Jesus, it is a metaphor for our lives too.  While we might appear healthy and vibrant, we need faith to actually bear fruit.  Without it we will wither and die.

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”  Mark 11:23,24

As we enter into the holiday season, and the wonder of Christmas fills our lives I pray that this becomes a season of refreshment for you.  I pray that you allow Jesus to cleanse your heart and drive out all of the garbage, and I pray that you find your faith renewed and it helps you to just Believe!

God bless,

Meredith

As I’m going through chapters 8, 9 and 10 of Mark I feel as if there is so much information here to take in.  Yesterday I was reading about the transfiguration and it seemed so important to really understand what that was and what was happening that I ended up cross referencing the rest of the gospels to read each version and doing some research online about it.

Webster’s dictionary defines the word transfigure as follows:

For those of you who don’t know about or haven’t read about the transfiguration of Jesus, it comes at a point when Jesus is wrapping up his ministry in Galilee and is making ready for his journey to Jerusalem, and the death and resurrection that is waiting there for him.  Prior to this he takes three disciples, Peter, James and John with him up onto a mountain to pray.  One of the commentaries I was reading, talked about the fact that Jesus was probably praying for his disciples, knowing the challenges that they were going to soon be facing to their faith.

While they are on that mountain, these three men (I think they must have been the disciples closest to Jesus) were given a special blessing. For a moment they saw Jesus “transfigured before them  His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.  And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.  Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.  Let us put up three shelters – one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)  Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud; “This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to him!”

These three disciples were given the gift of seeing Jesus on earth, clothed in all of his heavenly glory and they were frightened.  So scared that they didn’t know what to do or say.  How many times are we like that in our own faith journeys?  How many times, when God is about to reveal himself to us, or when we are given a special blessing from God, do we pull back because it makes us scared or uncomfortable?  We want to God to stay where we are comfortable.  I think that’s what Peter was trying to do when he is suddenly confronted with the sight of these two men, who for him were pillars of his faith, and the transformed son of God.  He tried to shrink them down, to put them into a place where he felt comfortable.   And God interrupted him.  He told Peter to stop talking and start listening!

As Jesus and three disciples come down off that mountain a boy is brought to Jesus who is possessed by an evil spirit that the other disciples could not drive out.   And there are several very powerful things said here (or at least for me they were).  The father asks Jesus to take pity on them and heal his son, “But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”  Note the word “if”.  This man has come with his son to Jesus for healing, but he still isn’t sure. Jesus responds by saying “If you can?  Everything is possible for him who believes.”  Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed,  “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”  Mark 9:23,24

Haven’t we have all had this moment at points in our journeys? I certainly have.  We ask God for help with a question in our hearts; “If you can”.  Maybe that’s where Peter was at on that mountain top.  He believed and yet maybe there was a small part of him that couldn’t really believe this was actually happening and that’s why he needed to be told by God to just listen.  This sounds like something I can absolutely relate to.  There are times, even when our faith is strong, when we need help to overcome our unbelief, times when we need to stop talking and just listen.   Times when we need to stop being afraid and just let God in.

We also see this idea reflected in the question of the other disciples when they ask Jesus  why they couldn’t drive out the demon from the boy and heal him as they had been able to heal others.  Jesus responded that “This kind can come out only by prayer.”  The disciples had forgotten to let God into what they were doing.  They had forgotten the most fundamental part of faith – prayer and that all miracles (like the transfiguration of Jesus) are accomplished not because of our own greatness, but through prayer and the greatness and power of God.

So maybe today is the day you sit down and pray.  Maybe today you are asking God for a miracle (big or small).  Or maybe you are asking him to help you with your unbelief – but whatever it is in your heart to put before the Lord, take the “if you can” out of your heart when you do it, and then stop talking and allow God to speak.

God bless,

Meredith

I took a bit of a break last week from my blog because I wanted to spend some time just reflecting on my relationship with God.  I always want to be sure that the posts I’m making are honest and sincere and not an obligation.  Writing a blog every day is a lot of work.  I love doing it, but I needed to spend some time being sure within myself that what I am doing is for God and to refocus on allowing him to direct me in everything I do.

So here we are, refreshed on a Monday morning.  I was reading in Mark about the conversation the disciples had after Jesus has just finished feeding the 4,000.  “Jesus warned them, ‘Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.‘  They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”  (Mark 8:15,16)

Can you imagine how frustrated Jesus must have been at that moment?  Twice now he has feed thousands of people from a few loaves and fishes and his disciples think that he is chastising them for not bringing along enough bread.   He even has to remind them that each time he fed thousands there were always basketfuls of pieces left over.

I went from this reading to Ephesians 2:2 in which Paul states “…when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

I think the point here was pretty clear.  When you are hungry and turn to Jesus he will not only feed you with the bread of life, he will give you more than enough.  He will give you so much you will have basketfuls left over.  But, if you are looking to fill your hunger with the “ways of the world”, you will only find a kingdom of air.

God bless,

Meredith

Today I was reading Mark 7.  One particular verse stood out and I just could not let it go.  It actually made me mad.  A Greek woman begs Jesus to drive a demon out of her daughter and his response to her is “First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

Now I have read enough Bible to know that the Jewish people are the “children” Jesus is referring to and the “dogs”?  That’s the Gentiles.  That’s ME!  I’m reading this and thinking Jesus is literally calling me a dog.  So far beneath the Jews as to not even be human.  WOW!  I knew I needed to looking into this more because Jesus does in fact heal the woman’s daughter and her faith is held up as an example.  Her response to him was “Yes Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  Instead of getting offended like I was, she told Jesus that her faith and belief in him was so strong that she was willing to settle for any crumbs he had left over.  That even those crumbs would be enough to heal her daughter.

What I wouldn’t give for that kind of faith.  And as I looked into it, many of the articles I found said that Jesus was giving her a promise.  That his message of salvation would not be only for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles.  That he used the term “dog” because that was how Gentiles were often described as, or viewed by the Jewish people.  It was like Jesus had a sense of humor.  He was speaking tongue-in-cheek.  Telling her that there would be more than enough left over after the “children” of God had eaten their fill.

And in the original version the term “dog” was used to describe a household pet and not a wild animal.  Think about the people you know who own dogs.  Sometimes they are loved and cherished even more than the children of the household.  Right?

I find it interesting that this story is included in and comes after Jesus’ speech about what is really clean and “unclean”.   That is “what comes out of a man is what makes him unclean.  For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man “unclean”.   Mark 7:20-23

In Matthew’s version of this story, the hearts of Jesus’ disciples are hardened and they make repeated attempts to send this woman away.  To keep her from bothering Jesus.  But in her faith, she persists.  Who is “unclean” here?

In Mark 8:11 the Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign from heaven, they ask him to prove that he really is who he says he is.  But was there really any sign that would be good enough for them?  Jesus knew the answer.  Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign?  I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.”   (Mark 8:12)  I want to have the faith of the woman who was willing to settle for Jesus’ crumbs, but so many times I feel like the Pharisees, asking Jesus for another sign, for more proof that he is there and present in my life, in this world and that he loves me.

I think sometimes that is the nature of faith, it’s the journey.  I’m sure that there are people to whom faith comes easily, with never a doubt.  Sadly I am not one of them.  I work every day to try to grow in faith and love.  Sometimes I’m successful, lots of times I’m not.  But maybe it’s in the persistence – like the woman begging Jesus to heal her daughter – that we are healed.  Maybe it’s by constantly pushing through the road blocks, that life is throwing up in front of us, that we make our faith journey.  Maybe the rocky path isn’t rocky because you’re facing trials and tribulations, maybe the rocky path is the one on which faith doesn’t come easily, but you still persist in walking?

God bless,

Meredith

Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you.  Yes, I will help you.   – Isaiah 41:10

It’s been a while since I’ve made a new playlist of songs that inspire me.  This one features a lot of the songs I’ve posted to this blog.  Enjoy and God bless!

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/playlist/merediths-playlist-11-12-18/pl.u-pMyl1DbIBvrGZ

This morning I was reading Mark 6:1-29.  That was as far as I could get because there were three very different stories jammed into such a few verses.

The first story was about Jesus preaching in his home town.  At the end of the story he says “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”  But the part that really stood out for me came next.  “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.”  Could you imagine!  It’s said almost casually, dismissively.  He just healed a few sick people. That’s all?!!  What an amazing miracle that would be today, but in Jesus’ time, that was ALL he would do in his hometown because the people there had so little faith.

That really got me to thinking about the miracles of Jesus.   He turned water into wine, raised several people from the dead, calmed the sea, walked on water, cast out demons, made the lame to walk and the blind to see, ROSE FROM THE DEAD himself… and oh yeah, he healed sick people.  The son of Man, in whom we place our faith was truly miraculous.  If he could heal sick people who had little faith, how much more can he do, will he do for us in our own faith?

The next part of this chapter tells of Jesus sending out the disciples to minister and he “gave them authority over evil spirits.  These were his instructions.  Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts…”  Again I had to stop because that was the line that stood out.  Jesus was calling on the twelve to fully trust in God and in His ability to provide for them everything that they could possibly need on their journey…while they were doing God’s work.  I think about how these two stories are related.  A story of little faith and “small miracles” directly followed by a story calling on you to completely trust in God and as a result “They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” 

I don’t know about you, but there are times in my life when I find it easy to completely trust in God, to have faith and be healed and there are times when I don’t.  When I let the worries of the world overwhelm me and I start to lose faith.  I don’t listen to my internal messages of distress and instead listen to what world is telling me.  And this brings me to the final story in this section.  The story of the beheading of John the Baptist by King Herod.

Herod held John in prison because John condemned Herod’s marriage to his own brother’s wife, Herodias.  And because John made her feel uncomfortable, Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted him killed.  But “Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man.  When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.”    Herod knew in his heart the truth of what John was preaching but he wasn’t yet ready to bring himself to acknowledge his wrong doing.  He was puzzled.  And then, at a banquet, he made a promise to the daughter of Herodias in front of all of his friends and dinner guests (important people that he wanted to impress obviously) that he would give her anything she asked for.  And what did she ask for?  The head of John the Baptist to be brought to her, right then, on a platter.

It says in verse 26 that Herod was “greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests he did not want to refuse her.”   We all know how the story ends.  With the death of an innocent man.  Rather than do what was right, rather than face possible humiliation, Herod had John beheaded to.  How many times in our own lives have we done the wrong thing?  Gone against our own internal feelings of distress rather than face the possibility of being embarrassed or humiliated in front of other people?  Not had enough faith?

There is so much in these readings for me to think about today.  To try to understand.  Because I think it is significant that Mark puts this story about John’s death in the middle of messages about faith.  I think he is trying to say something about what happens to us when, like Herod or the people in Jesus’s hometown, our faith is weak.

We don’t have the benefit of the disciples.  We don’t get to see Jesus perform miracles in front of us, but that doesn’t mean he can’t perform miracles within us.  Today I’m feel as if God is telling me to have faith, to trust that he will give me everything I need, if I am only willing to leave behind my baggage and take “nothing for the journey”.

God bless,

Meredith

November is the month given to us to remember the sacrifices of the many men and woman who, through history, died to preserve the many freedoms we enjoy today. But I think November can also be the month we take time to remember another death, another sacrifice that gave us freedom.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS – By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915 during the second battle of Ypres, Belguim

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

Now that you know God – or rather are known by God – how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles?  Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” Galatians 4:9

This is an incredibly powerful line from Paul.  Now that you know God – or rather are known by God.   In today’s internet world, where information can be found with a few taps on a keyboard, we like to think that we are knowledgeable, smart.  We convince ourselves, that, because of science, we know almost everything there is to know and understand about our world.  Some would argue that we even know enough to know that God doesn’t exist, and that belief in God is for the weak minded, and uninformed.

Then there are those in the church who are willing to stand up and tell you that they know everything there is to know about God and Jesus, and what you need to do for your salvation (including you writing that big check so that they can buy a bigger house).

But Paul tells us that we don’t know God….rather…we are known by God.  Trying to put a being, who was capable of creating this incredibly glorious universe that we live in, into a box, that we are capable of understanding, or dissecting is either foolhardy at best or arrogance.  What we know about God is what he has given us to know.  What our human brains and hearts are capable of understanding.  That he loves us.

Remember when you were a teenager?  You wanted to show how adult you were by participating in conversations with adults.  But often, looking back, you realize how simple, how black and white your views were – because you had only lived a small portion of your life.  You had only experienced a fraction of what you have now.  How much more nuanced are your views and options today?  We are like teenagers in terms of our knowledge and understanding of God’s power and glory.  But, just as we are constantly growing in our own understanding and wisdom as we take this journey through life, we can also grow in our understanding of God.  It starts from a place of openness.  Of not trying to understand, or seek proof.  It starts with faith.  Paul says it over and over again in his letters.  By faith you are redeemed.  Not by knowledge, not by good works…by faith.  We need to get out of our own way.  Get rid of our preconceptions, and what other people have told us about who and what God is, and let him show us himself.  He knows YOU; who you really are with all of your faults and foibles, and he loves you perfectly and completely.  Don’t you think you owe it to him to at least try to do the same?  Don’t let someone else tell you who God is; find out for yourself.

I’ve included some quotes here from George MacDonald who also wrote on the topic.

“Men would understand; they do not care to obey.  They try to understand where it is impossible they should understand except by obeying.  They would search into the work of the Lord instead of doing their part in it – thus making it impossible for the Lord to go on with his work, and for themselves to become capable of seeing and understanding what he does…”

“…But the Lord is not unreasonable, he requires no perfection of motives where such could not yet exist.  He does not say, “You must be sorry for your sins, or you need not come to me.”  To be truly sorry for his sins a man must love God and man, and yet love is the very things that has to be developed in him.  It is but common sense that if a man would be delivered from the suffering upon him or the evil within him, he must himself begin to cast it out.  Equally it is common sense that a man should look for and expect the help of his Father in the endeavor.  Alone he might labor to all eternity and not succeed.  he who has not made himself cannot set himself right without him who made him.  But his Maker is in him, and is his strength.”

“The man, however, who instead of doing what he is told, speculates on the metaphysics of him who calls him to his work, stands leaning against the door by which the Lord would enter to help him!”

I’ve also included a song here by Natalie Grant.  I love the lyrics.  So perfectly said.

God bless

Meredith

It is easy to turn to God when we are experiencing times of trouble, when all hope is lost and we have no other option, when we have “lost control” of our lives.

It can be incredibly difficult to turn to God when things are going well, when we feel as if the things we have are because of our own hard work, because we deserve to be successful.  I have been told that people who “trust in God” or “give things up to God”  lackagency in their own life.  I have had conversations with family members about this very thing. They passionately believe that everything good in their lives is because they deserve it.  Because they’ve “earned” it.  Because they’ve made good choices.  But I would argue that in the grand scheme of things, none of us have “earned” anything.  We are where we are because of the accident of birth or because the stars aligned, because we only had a few choices to make, or…because we are exactly where God put us.

In his book The Problem of Pain C.S. Lewis writes on this very subject and I wanted to share that with you today.

“The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it.  Now error and sin both have this property, that the deeper they are the less their victim suspects their existence; they are masked evil.  Pain is unmasked, unmistakable evil, every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt….

…But pain insists upon being attended to, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, bu shouts in our pain:  it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

…Everyone has noticed how hard it it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us.  We “have all we want” is a terrible saying when “all” does not include God.  We find God an interruption.  As St. Augustine says somewhere, “God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full – there’s nowhere for Him to put it.”  Or as a friend of mine said, “We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it’s there for emergencies but he hopes he’ll never have to use it.”  Now God who has made us, knows what we are and that our happiness lies in Him.  Yet we will not seek it in Him as long as He leaves us any other resort where it can even plausibly be looked for.”  While what we call “our own life” remains agreeable we will not surrender it to Him.

…”The dangers of apparent self-sufficiency explain why Our Lord regards the vices of the feckless and dissipated so much more leniently that the vices that lead to worldly success.  Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God:  the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.”

If things are going well in your life, maybe today is the day you take God off the back burner.  Maybe today is the day you put something down, the day that you make sure your hands aren’t so full that God doesn’t have a place to give you another blessing.

God bless,

Meredith