October 28, 2014

Today’s text

Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Seeing

Beatific vision tradition calls

the seeing of the One who

sees in love, so different

from our seeing, obsessed eyes

compulsive, fixed on warts

and wounds, busy tongues

seeking every sore spot.

With delight the Seer sees

every curve and contour

of body and soul, eyes

lingering, caressing,

slowly moving, savoring

even the smallest the quiver

of lips upturned into the smile

that echoes the Divine Heart’s

joy, who sees and says, “mine,

mine, mine,” bursting with Love

at the sight of life filled

and revealing the Life who is.

Just so we are seen by

the Beauty who seeks

and savors Beauty

in all, inviting us to see

self and all so well, and

seeing to know in all we

see the One who always is …

and Who always is Love.

Seeing that we are seen

in love, vision is pure, and

we see with love through

eyes longing for the One

Love present in all that is, waiting

the day we see Beauty

and nothing more.

Pr. David L. Miller

October 27, 2014

Today’s text
 

1 John 3:1-2

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

As you see …

I am glad I was born in a rural place where fields roll among hills carved by ancient glaciers, where golden trees follow valleys, crowding near rivulets that run when the rains come, seeking the water of life … just like me.

The trees, I see, are my brothers and sisters, teaching me what I tend to forget.

Autumn colors are all around, not only in rural landscapes. But seeing the hills roll before your eyes from the top of a ridge, hazy mounds purple in far distance, awakens the awareness of beauty in a young child, or at least in the child that I was … and in many ways still am.

But as the years pass a blessed awareness appeared: Somehow, mysteriously, the beauty you see resides also within you, or you wouldn’t be able to see it at all.

The hills whisper that the beauty you see is the beauty you are.

We become … more and more what we see, more of the beauty … or, sadly, the ugliness or distractions or whatever it is on which our eyes most linger.  

You are the Great Beauty shining in the hills of childhood memory and in the eyes and hearts of so many, in so many places where I sat and listened--and looked into the glow of eyes and hearts where shined your Love and Beauty … and was made more alive than I had ever been.

I saw you then … and now, and you continue to make me feel truly alive, moving me to hunger for more … of  You. Whatever goodness and beauty lies within this soul was brought to life by seeing you where you appeared, or at wherever I had eyes to see and know you.

As we see, so we become, so let me see you that as you are so I may be.

Pr.  David L. Miller

October 24, 2013

Today’s text
 

Philippians 4:4-5

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

Holy joy

Some days are so holy.

Yes, I know all days are holy,

gift and grace.

But today it is all ‘round,

golden leaves fall, covering

the yard, a blanket of color,

the bounty of summer,

giving themselves to the earth

and me, the gift of life for whatever

life will come when earth warms

again to delight my soul

in the new season

Fedora pulled low, shielding

my eyes from the sun still warm

penetrating the soul’s

inner room, painting the patio

cloister gold and blue, as tears

from hidden Source clear the soul’s

vision awakening thanks

for this moment, for the holiness

that surrounds and fills everything

and me.

Thank you for the gold and blue,

but more for eyes and heart awakened

to feel and know … the Love in all things

and me, too. Love that opens eyes

and heart to see and know the Mystery 

of what is right there, present 

every moment,beauty of Love untold, 

grace of the Grace beyond knowing, 

heart awakened by the Love within, 

warming me even more 

than autumn sun.

Pr. David L. Miller

October 23, 2013

Today’s text

Psalm 90 (paraphrase)

You gather those who love You as friends returning from a long journey, giving rest to their souls. You anoint them with the balm of understanding, healing wounds of the past. … Increase the Light within us--O Beloved, hear our prayer.

Home once more

Long we wander, wondering,

doubting if ever we come

to the place Love filled

us, once more to know the

home we do not choose

but which chooses us.

Lost, our souls convinced

moments of heart-full

knowing forever gone

never to be known

once more in sweetness

of tears and faces

glowing, lit within by

Light uncreated

by human hands.

Sun rises, a new day

surprises birthing hope,

You the Lighthouse piercing

dark clouds once more

finding our lostness amid

waves that sicken

the soul, drawing us

home again to know

the Love thought lost amid

the living we must do.

Light finds and shines in

not only on souls once

lost amid the waves,

found and filled; prayer

answered once more, wounds

once bleeding find healing, no,

Healing Light, again finds

them, once more home in

the Love who is this

world’s Heart.

Pr. David L. Miller

October 20, 2013

Today’s text

Psalm 90:1-2

Eternal and Immortal One, You have been our refuge in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, before You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, You are the Alpha and the Omega.

Morning praise

Before star light

startled the ancient

darkness, before light

awakened hope that life

could be, that beauty

should blossom,

Love lived,

Present, unknown

abiding and birthing

all that is that all

that is may know

the Presence of Love

Present always.

Awakened

we know You,

Love who lives

in every love

we know.

Morning comes again

with Mystery within,

Presence of Love

abiding, undeniable,

Spirit beyond my own.

You abide every where,

in all, but known only

by those who love,

known … dearly

as they know

the curve of their

beloved’s cheek.

They … I know

this … Something

Who is no thing but

Thou, Someone

Who is Ever More

than a person, Beyond all

the searching eye can

see, More real

than life’s breath, giving

life beyond breath, eternal

life, the Presence

of Love Immeasurable

simply there, abiding …

within the heart’s

secret room.

Sense? Can this be

sense at all? Can any

words speak what the

morning heart simply

knows as the gift

of the Giver?

No one can name

You; Alpha and Omega,

not nearly enough.

You are no thing; You

are Love Abiding every

time and place, beyond

all that is, yet held here,

in this soul privileged

to know …

You.

Thank you for this

joy above all others.

Pr. David L. Miller

October 16, 2013

Today’s text

Luke 10:29-37

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

Beyond reason

I remember days of wandering and reporting from out of the way, forgotten and never-known villages, finding and recording the drama of difficult lives.

I went to places the Western world never really knew--Bor, Aswa, Atepi, Ame and dozens of others in southern Sudan caught in the maelstrom of civil war, as if any war was ever civil … especially to the poor.

I recall entering devastated towns to discover aid agencies had pulled out their people because it was too dangerous. The Red Cross, United Nations organizations like UNICEF, Save the Children, church relief organizations … all had left, leaving only the most intrepid who stayed, trying to keep the starving survivors alive long enough to plant seeds of hope in a new season.

After everyone else left, two organizations often stayed--medical staff from Doctors without Borders and nuns from Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity. They remained in war zones and instability where they were as likely to get killed or sick as those they served.

The stayed beyond any reasonable expectation of what they should do risking their lives for those at risk.

I loved them for that. I could kiss the dirt at their feet. Some of them were a gnarly crowd, hardened by the lives they lived, the deaths they witnessed and the risks they took.

No one needed (or would dare) to tell them ofthe story of the Good Samaritan. They lived it every day in conditions that reasonable people avoid or flee at all costs.

As I watched them I muttered to myself, “Where do you get such people? How do you make people like this?”

You don’t.

These are the awakened hearts of the world. These are those whose hearts have been roused by an inner love that moves them beyond limits, beyond reason, beyond expectation.

Only the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ makes hearts like these, stirring them to feel and become the love God wants us all to be.

Such people can make us nervous. They are often criticized or judged as being foolish or strange. They may scare or unsettle us because they love so freely, giving totally while we hold back protecting ourselves, our safety, our personal boundaries.

However these hearts were awakened--by beauty or suffering, by being loved or abused, by being helped or neglected--however the Spirit awakened them, they are a lighthouse shining in the darkness showing us who God is, how we are to live … and the beauty that lies deep within ourselves … awaiting its awakening.

Pr. David L. Miller

October 15, 2013

Today’s text

Luke 10:29-37

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

The awakened heart

Why do some stop and others not? What is in the heart of the man who reached out to help? What makes him more … human?

I keep coming back these days to a single phrase, the awakened heart.

I look at the wonder of a harvest moon and my soul spills over with gratitude, my heart awakened from sleep.

I listen to the heart of another, to souls who privilege me with their secret hurts and deepest loves, and my heart fills and flies from my chest to bless as fully as I am able.

I am awakened and know myself, the beauty within, the grace that hides or sleeps or gets lost and hidden beneath layers of living.

What is the secret of holding the tender self within where love lives?

So easily it gets lost beneath the judgments of others, the hurts we suffer, the losses we endure. We lose ourselves, too, amid the details of what must be done.

Some have never known the warm grace of the awakened heart, filled with generosity and gratitude, love and joy. They do not know that this … not whatever they are pursuing or distracting themselves with …this is the height of their humanity

But I don’t think the tender self, the soul of love we each are ever dies. It is still there, deep within, no matter how many layers of pain or confusion or busyness or simple shallowness hide it.

It waits its awakening, sometimes needing time and voices to coax it out, reminders that when all is said and done who we really are is this beauty and grace that appear when the heart is awakened.

Sometimes it happens in an instant as when moon and stars fill us with wonder at the glory of being a human being amid the magnificence of our universe.

Or we look into the eyes of another and want nothing more than to bless and lift them from their sorrows. Then, too, the heart awakens to itself, knowing who it is and the Mystery who lives within

Ultimately, this is a mystery I do not begin to understand but only notice and try to describe with inadequate words and concepts that are not up to the task.

But I know … when the heart awakens love flows like water from an inexhaustible Source within the soul.

It happens sometime in prayer, or when we remember one loved and lost, or maybe when the right song penetrates the shell around our heart and awakens hope. It even happens amid the most common of conversations, or when, like the Good Samaritan, we see someone who truly needs what we have to give.

There is no way to list all the ways or circumstances in which the heart awakens, but it does help to take time to pray, to listen in silence to what your heart most needs and where it is most blest, and to spend time in the presence of those who love you most. This all helps.

But we do not make it happen. The awakened heart of the Samaritan … or your awakened heart on a moonlit night … is a gift from the One who is the Heart of the Universe.

Pr. David L. Miller

October 11, 2013

Today’s text

Colossians 1:26-29

The mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me. 

Autumn night mystery

I wake up after a short night’s sleep hungry for healing. I want to see what no eyes can reveal and feel what no one can give but this Mystery who haunts my heart and all time.

I want to know the Love who is, who was and always will be, the Love who wants and treasures me, the inescapable Love who envelops all life and time, all places and people, the Love who destroys every doubt and evaporates every fear.

I want to know you this day, Loving Mystery. There is no life for me without you.

Years ago a reader paid me the highest compliment a writer (at least this one) can ever receive. “I want to see what you see,” she said. She wanted to see a world infused with love and mystery, beauty and holiness, and grace and humanity.

She wanted to see a world lit up from within by the Loving Mystery of God, shining with the Eternal Love and know the Love reaching out to her, drawing her home and all things home.

Moments come when we see, when mystery reveals its lovely self to our blinkered eyes, blinded by busy routine and the illusion that God is somewhere else, not here and now, in the depth of our souls and at work in the intricate web of all matter throughout this staggering universe.

Mystery is not a puzzle to be solved, a problem our science has not yet explained or crime detectives have yet to crack. It is the reality that cannot be fathomed or explained even when Spirit-kissed moments reveal its beauty. And moments come when you see… and know.

I leave the church and turn left on Ogden Avenue on an autumn evening. The road bends and a harvest moon, glorious, yellow and huge hangs among the tree branches. I pull my car to the side of the street and bask in the glow.

The glow is less from the moon than from some place within my soul. I am aware only of love, love for this crazy, troubled, insane and often bloody planet, love for my life, love for the people I see and work with each day, love for life itself and its mysterious Source.

Moments before sadness filled me from struggles of the day, depression over disappointments, and then appears this light, this moon, this awakened heart bearing a mystery greater than any mind can know.

Everything changes in an instant. Illumined, I am on my phone telling friends to go outside, look at the moon and let the healing light work on their souls. I want to share the moment … and the awareness of a Love mysteriously present in all things.

The mystery is the wonder of Christ, the Love who is God, deep in my flesh, suddenly appearing, totally unbidden, filling and moving me to reach out in glorious gratitude, telling me once more what is always true and real about who God is and freeing me to be who I am as I feel and know the hope of God for all that is.

Mystery is not a word much used in Lutheran circles, but I have come to love it because it captures the experience of knowing … through experiencing … something profoundly real for which words are inadequate, something that can never be explained or understood but which changes your entire outlook.

It captures the wonder of the Love who is God, filling one’s being and laboring in all of life so that Spirit and matter are joined in glorious harmony.

The mystery is Christ in you (Colossians 1:26).

My moment in the moonlight awakened my heart … one more time … to this mystery, awakening life in my soul and filling my heart with inexplicable love and gratitude. In a moment I knew: All that I am, all that has been and will be is encompassed and held by the Love who holds all of life and is drawing all things into the One Love who is God.

In an instant, I was saved from myself, released from sadness over personal failings and the depressing state of the world, released from prison walls of anxiety and doubt that shut up the heart.

I was alive again, brimming with love from a source within but so far beyond me.

There was no separation between God and me, or between God and the far-flung corners of the universe. There was only this Mysterious Love infusing all that is, making all that is a sacrament waiting to be seen and received, loved as the holy gift of the Divine Lover, hungry to meet us wherever we are … and everywhere we go.

Pr. David L. Miller.

October 9, 2013

Today’s text
 

Colossians 1:26-27

The mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Losing and finding

We lose our lives in the midst

 of living, needing to find

again the self that life

and troubles take, the soul

that judging steals,

leaving only a shell.

I am me, we are ourselves

Only in you, when we know

ourselves in the Love you are,

the Love that is always and

holds everywhere.

We need go looking, not for

ourselves, but for places

and people where Loving Mystery

is most real, speaking heart-to-

heart the life that living steals,

CPR for lost and dieing souls.

There, in that Love, we find

again the who we have lost; the

face truly ours, our joy and beauty

hidden in the Love that is and

is always.

You are Love who awakens

us to ourselves, giving us

back to ourselves when we get

lost and find no place where we

can be we, what we are.

But you are never lost, always

near, always within, deepest

core of our self, unfading beauty

hidden within, waiting to be

awakened by the kiss of

Mystery from your Loving

Nearness speaking and singing

through voices and hearts, tree

leaves and red moons, each a

verse in the great song of Love

you are.

Awaken again, Loving Mystery,

the self we are that your beauty

and joy might stain our cheeks

and lift our praise for you who

are Love and … ever here.

Pr. David L. Miller

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Today’s text

Psalm 23:1-3

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
   He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
   he restores my soul.

Stillness

Stillness without quiets

the inner heart awakening

the soul to need and oneness

with the One needed.

Water draws the soul to

its banks to sit and watch

light play, shadow and blue

upon the face of depths the

eye cannot see.

Blind to what lies beneath,

the soul waits for waters
to part revealing

sacred place where soul

and Soul are one

and hearts know

peace.

But first is the wanting, the

ache of aloneness, yearning

to hear the Voice within

one's own, to feel the One

within hidden depths of self

inseparately one, united

in One Love that is

Source and Home.

In stillness the soul waits,

led into the quiet by

One who waits for us to come

home to the waters, entering

there another stillness 

that is not ache

but the bliss of knowing.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, October 6, 2014

Today’s text

Psalm 23:1-2

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
   He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
   he restores my soul.

Restoration

Everyday I come here,

steam rising from tan

cup, breathing a promise

to awaken my mind

and bring me back

to myself.

Heady fragrance fills

my head, hope awakens,

my chest warm with gentle

flame no science measures

or begins to explain.

Hope, yes, but already

real, not far away,

awakened by something

deeper than the morning cup.

It is you, again, known, in

this mysterious knowing I

shall never understand,

warm within, touching

eyes with gentle tears to

see clearly and feel life 

awakened by something

more than rich brew.

Restoring souls is your

business, awakening again

the life that is lost in living that

living we may be, and not me

alone but we, the we, in which

so much of you … lives.

Pr.  David L. Miller

Friday, October 3, 2014

Today’s text

Romans 3:21-24

 But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus … .

Knowing … grace

Who blesses you? What blesses you? I asked this of a friend yesterday.

By blessed I mean that anxiety leaves you. It flies away. Doubts … about yourself, about what you have done or need to do … disappear. They are gone.

You know you can say anything, be utterly and totally honest about your fears or failures, what you have done or not done. You know you are accepted. You are free and know you are loved, accepted, treasured and beautiful … despite whatever confusion or confliction or troubles you have or will face.

The blessed have no need to prove themselves, to win approval or justify their words or actions as having been the right, proper or smart thing to do. There is just freedom of soul deep within.

Who … what … lifts you into this state of blessing?

There are moments we know blessing; in these moments we truly know … God.

Early this week I took my tired, confused and conflicted self to the back patio. I was hungry for a little peace and quiet. I wanted every other voice to fade away so I could hear the voice of my own depths, catch up with myself … and make sense of the thoughts and feelings stirred up by experiences of the day.

Drink in hand, I retreated to the back patio and sat in the sun, now gentle, having lost the harsh glare of summer. Bricks warm beneath my bare feet, a breeze released a rain of leaves from the birch tree, golden and brown, blanketing the earth.

I had thought to read, carrying a book, but reading was not on my soul’s agenda.

I simply sat, enveloped and encompassed by rays of the autumn sun that did not ask me for anything. Nor did I have to ask them to come and warm me, to surround and fill me. The sunlight just came, free and full, filling me with a gentle awareness that there was no need for me to do anything but to be there and to let the sun do its healing work on my soul, telling me again what blessing is … and what God is like.

God speaks to the listening heart: “All you need do is to sit in the sun and know … the Love I am comes to you not because you ask for it or deserve it, not because you have done something to prove yourself, but because I , the Lord, am who I am.

“I am the Love who reaches out to accept and justify sinners. I am Jesus Christ who touches and heals, welcomes and makes whole … not the well but the sick and the broken, the confused and the needy, the imperfect and those who lose themselves amid the conflicting demands on their lives.

“There is no need to justify yourself to me. No need to prove your worth. Just take your tired and wounded heart and sit in the places … and with the people … where you know my love freely given. I will do the rest.”

Pr. David L. Miller

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Today’s text

Psalm 80:7

Restore us, O God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved. 

Light

Too much time is spent

in darkness, not knowing,

not feeling, not overwhelmed

by this love that never turns away.

I know … you are always

turned toward us, never

looking away, but the

weight of earth’s sadness

clouds the heart and shadows

the eyes so they cannot see

and do not glisten with tears

Knowing …

You.

I savor those tears; they

are gift in my soul, light

in my eyes and heart, death

of every sadness, love

of every moment, blessing

everything and everyone

who happens by; alive,

in the circle of  Your vision,

at the center of your sight,

alive, alive, alive, finally,

born anew, saved.

Autumn sun on patio bricks,

warm under foot, the heat

of summer gone, leaves

raining from the river birch

blanketing the earth in the

wealth of summer, a carpet

of gold and brown, a world

alive and golden, kissed

by light from the Source

of every light, inviting the

heart to sit in quiet warm,

held in the Light that never

turns away  …and know.

Light is everywhere, it

seems, rays of life present

inviting our presence that

we might sit for a moment

and let it do its saving work.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, September 29, 2014

Today’s text

Psalm 80:7, 14-15

Restore us, O God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved. …
Turn again, O God of hosts;
   look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
   the stock that your right hand planted.

Soil

I can never move home again.

The ground where

You planted me is home

no longer.

It formed me. I lived

close to the soil and to

those who labored on

it, struggling

with winds and weather,

rain and its lack, who went

to their rest with  

soil-stained hands,

laid, finally, beneath the soil

which had pained and pleased

them, the soil where they,

like me, had been planted.

I knew this ground,

the country roads and

town streets I walked,

every rough spot in the asphalt,

soft places where the asphalt

cracked and sank, where

potholes appeared and were

filled again each spring.

.

I walked them a thousand

times, kicking rocks up the street

to salve adolescent wounds,

releasing anger at the

confines of this world,

hoping for a world beyond

my teachers and tormentors

where someone would see

me, beyond their image

of what I was, even though

I didn’t know myself. I knew

Only that this piece of soil

in which I was planted

was not home

and could never be.

You meant me to grow

like the fields of corn, no,

more like the hay

and sweet clover that

doesn’t march in neat rows.

You planted me in that

particular soil,

Holy One, a peculiar plant

that needed that place

to fill my senses

with the fragrance of

growing things, stirring hope

to know a world beyond

the soil which grew me.

Look at this soul planted

in the soil of this earth, now

far from the fields of hay

and sweet clover and the

soil-stained dignity of the

hands who worked it.

Tend the growing of this

peculiar plant that is yet

to be that the seed you

planted may bring its harvest

of grace and the beauty

of the fields that still stir

my heart.

I would be as they.

Pr. David L. Miller

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Today’s text

Psalm 25: 5-6

Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
   for you are the God of my salvation;
   for you I wait all day long.
Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,
   for they have been from of old. 

Morning praise

A long way I have traveled,

not only in miles and years

but in emotion and truth.

Love and fear,

hope and despair,

ecstasy and bitter

disappointment. I

have known them all,

sometimes on the same day.

I have breathed rare air

of giddy joy, beyond

any my younger soul

imagined.

I thought this was life

in truest form,

hoping for more,

thinking something was

wrong with the world

or me when, disappointed,

I fell from the heights.

Moments, wondrous moments,

Which I savor and to which

memory and heart cling,

thankful for what I

have known, learned, felt,

filling me with the beauty

and gratitude.

Each ascent to heights of

of human joy occasions

its own unique fall. Each

fall is more gracious still;

an awful grace it is, never

without pain, but grace

it is still … because

I fall into you,

the Mystery who is Love,

steadfast and sure.

Every road, every mile,

every height and fall,

every hope that fails,

finally, takes me back

to you where I find myself

and know

that no matter my emotion

I was never really lost

and never will be.

Nothing is lost to your love;

everything finds it's place.

Pr.  David L. Miller

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Today’s text

Luke 7:41-50

A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’

Don’t forget the truth

Tears are always telling. They reveal the heart. Look at the woman weeping at Jesus feet, washing them with her tears, kissing and anointing him with oil.

These are not tears of sorrow or a shower of shame. They are the tears of one who tastes the height of human fulfillment and joy. Passionate love that cannot be contained flows from her heart as from a lake into which a great rain has fallen.

She feels the Great Love who is God filling and flowing through her. Dissolving all shame and fear, it busts the narrow confines of her heart and spills from her eyes, her hands and feet. She becomes a truly human soul for the first time.

The woman is a portrait of the ecstasy and loving freedom God intends for every human being. In Jesus, she experiences forgiveness and the Love who is beyond (and within) all loves, welcoming her home. She enters a world of grace where she is held and encompassed by the Love who labors in all things, in every time and place, every moment and speck of matter.

Those like Simon, the Pharisee, cannot enter this world. They cannot ascend to the heights of fulfillment known by the woman weeping at Jesus feet. They will never be as alive, wondrous and beautiful as she. Comfortable in their respectability, they do not ache for forgiveness and the welcome of God.

She hungers, welcomes and believes that Jesus’ grace is the truth of her life, the ultimate truth of all life. Surely, she did always believe this. Until she met Jesus, she likely believed she was what others said she was—tainted, sinful, unacceptable, an outcast. She knew she didn’t belong among those invited to the party of life’s better things.

There are many who believed this about her. She internalized this identity, believing the lie that she was something less than beautiful, a soul of infinite worth, the apple of God’s eye, beloved for all time.

So many believe this lie, internalizing the identity and value projected upon them by others … or by their own internal demons, and this is who they become, acting out a part they were never meant to play.

But not this woman. Forgiven, she is given back … herself … and becomes the beauty and love, the grace and gratitude the Loving Mystery created her to be. She becomes a vessel of the Love who has neither beginning nor end.

She believes Jesus’ forgiveness—not Simon’s rejection-- is the ultimate truth of her life—and ours. Refusing the life-killing lie, she enters the joy of those who know they are beloved of God. Her faith saves her, sets her in right relationship with God, and opens a world of grace.

So it is with us. With needy hearts and eyes opened by Jesus’ forgiveness, we see and recognize the grace that finds us even in odd and unexpected moments. Late one recent afternoon, I sat in a café, glass of red wine in hand, looking up Washington Street near my office. Cars worked their way up and down the rain-washed asphalt on their way home.

I’d just had another birthday, and my mind wandered across decades of a startling life in which I have seen and felt things I never thought I’d know. My musing moved me to love and gratitude—and eagerness to bless my waiter or anyone else who happened by.

I knew what the woman at Jesus’ feet knew. All that I am, all that has been and will be is encompassed by God, held by the Love who forgives and lifts me, the Love who saves me from myself and my sadness over the failures and frustrations that too often imprison my heart.

No one needs to tell me to love or to pray in such moments. Love and prayer flow like tears from the weeping woman: “I give you thanks, O God, that you come to again and again to me with the grace of forgiveness, welcoming me home.”

This Love is the ultimate truth of our life … of all life. Knowing this Love, we become truly human souls. This is the way it is: The Loved … love.

Pr. David L. Miller

Friday September 26, 2014

Today’s text

Psalm, 25, 1,6-7

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust; …

Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love,
   for they have been from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
   according to your steadfast love remember me,
   for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!

A morning prayer

I cry to you in the morning, O Lord,

like billions before me and

untold numbers

who will take my place

when I am gone.

But that is not now.

Now, I am here, needing

the peace of your presence,

the magic of the Love that melts

every sorrow and trouble,

lifting my eyes,

telling my heart that this soul of mine

is loved and wanted,

that this heart is yet beautiful

as the symphony

that fills this basement room

and me.

Tell me

what my heart needs to know.

Fill me

with the Love you are.

Send sacraments

of your nearness

to save me from myself.

Deliver me

from demons

that wake me on lonely nights,

and I shall be free to praise you.

Knowing you is life.

So this day let me feel

the sun on my face,

the autumn air on my skin and

flowing lightly through my lungs.

Let me see

the smiles of your beloved,

and I will know joy again,

praising you for the goodness

you are.

I live to know

your Love.

Your love is life and wonder,

beauty and freedom,

and I believe against all doubt

in the Love

that never lets us go.

So let me know

in all the ways you speak

the Love that is life

and my heart shall fly free.

Pr.  David L. Miller

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Today’s text
Luke 7:41-50

A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’

Truth that sets free

She believed. She trusted that what Jesus said was true, no, that it is the ultimate truth of her soiled and broken life. More: She believed the grace she felt flowing from Jesus is the ultimate truth of life.

She could have believed otherwise and likely did … until she met Jesus.

She believed that she was what others said she was--rejected, tainted, sinful, unacceptable, an outcast. She doesn’t belong among those invited to the party to enjoy life’s better things.

There are many who believed this about her, and she no doubt internalized this identity. She knew who she was … this rejected, unwelcome thing. She believed the lie that she was not beautiful, a soul of infinite worth, the apple of God’s eye, beloved for all time.  (So many of us believe this lie!)

The rejected often internalize the identity and value others project on them, and this is who they become, acting out a part they were never meant to play, internalizing their oppression.

Forgiven, the woman is given back … herself. She is free to become what the Loving Mystery created to her be, bearing the grace and beauty, dignity and honor. Jesus restores her to herself, setting her free for a fresh future.

And she believes. She has faith. She grasps his words as her reality, the ultimate truth of her life, in the process rejecting the rejection that had rained down on her … as a lie.

Faith grabs hold of ultimate truth. It grasps what your heart accepts as the truth about the world, yourself, the lives of others … about God’s presence or absence, about whether the world is graced or forsaken

Are Jesus words true or are the opinions of those who reject me the real truth of my life? Do I live in a world where grace is real and seeks me very moment of my day, or is this illusion?

The woman believes Jesus … and is saved.

Freedom, a fresh future, the joy of belovedness … this is all hers the moment she believes that Jesus … not Simon … speaks the truth of her life … and ours.

Pr. David L. Miller