Friday, July 31, 2020

Just for you


He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ And they took offence at him. (Matthew 13:54-57a)

Just for you

Our souls cry out to be known that the gifts within us might be shared. So it is not hard to imagine what Jesus felt as he walked away amid the whispers of those who thought they knew him.

Surely, he felt disappointment and frustration when he was dismissed by those in his hometown. But grief may have been the major emotion. He could not give, he could not bless, he could not share the beauty that was in him to lift their lives and ignite their hope.

His very soul was denied. The divine love that filled him could not flow out to engulf their hearts. He came to give a gift of soul and was denied by those who imagined there wasn’t much in him worth having. 

Little did they know that soul was a pearl of immense and surpassing worth. Little could they imagine that opening their hearts and minds to the depth of his being could yield a joy and hope that transcended every suffering and trouble they ever experienced.

Refusing him, they could not enter lives of knowing the immeasurable greatness of divine love.

Different as Jesus is from us, in many ways we are the same—human, born with a soul, each of us bearing unique gifts to be given away. Our daily task is to do as Jesus does—give whatever beauty and grace we find in ourselves, bearing the disappointment and moving on to try again when the gifts we would give are refused.

This is the way that leads to joy in both wonderful and terrible times.

And one more thing: Always open your heart and mind to the next person you meet. You do not know what the Holy One may have placed in their soul just for you.

Pr. David L. Miller

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Becoming human


Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks (Luke 10:38-40a).

Becoming human

Come and sit here by me. This is Jesus’ invitation. Just sit. Here. You will rediscover your lost heart and remember who you are.

Living scatters consciousness. The mind spins from one thought to a disconnected next, flying off in divergent directions, losing track of the center, the heart of who we are.

Martha is a metaphor for fractured consciousness; distracted by many things every word and action bristles with impatient energy disconnected from any depth of heart and being. Everything gets done, but is there any love in it? Does her work flow from her heart or from feverish anxiety about superficial appearances?

At Jesus feet, Mary receives gifts of love and wisdom that penetrate the heart, filling her being so that she knows a deep acceptance and love embracing and filling her.

She becomes who she is, a human being, a vessel of this love who, like all of us, requires frequent filling because the stresses of life eclipse the heart.

When this happens, we live shallow lives. Words and actions leap of the top of our minds instead of flowing from the core of who we are as beloved beings. We lose ourselves, the joy of living from the heart of love where blessing and grace flow like water from a fountain.

Some live their entire lives in this unhappy state. For the rest of us, it is easy to lose ourselves in the whirl of living and perhaps especially amid the anxiety and sadness of Covid-19. With everything that has been lost during this time, the greatest is the loss of our souls, our heart, our humanity.

But we can be restored. For our humanity is a gift received while sitting at the feet of a great and all-surpassing love, who says, ‘Come sit by me. Let everything else go for a while and just be with me. You will find your heart.’

Pr. David L. Miller

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

That voice


Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom (Matthew 13:36-38)

That voice

Listening to these words, I long for something the first disciples enjoyed every day. They could hear his voice. They could listen and ask him to explain what they did not understand. It is easy to imagine Jesus sitting among them, trying to explain mysteries they failed to grasp.

Understanding or not, they, themselves were grasped by the mystery of his presence, a presence that echoes through moments like these in stories from the gospels. Through them, his presence resonates through the centuries that, I, too, might be grasped and challenged to believe that the life I am living is ‘good seed.’

Would to God that it were always so. I’d like it to be so, but I wonder how many opportunities I’ve failed, times when attention or courage faltered, times when my words or actions might have blessed a soul or redirected a moment to something better than it was. And now more of this life lies behind than before me.

So I wonder: Is there time to become the soul God made in making me? Can this life shine with a love I have long felt but so poorly lived?

All of life is a becoming, at any age, and now I want nothing more than to hear Jesus’ voice resonating in my soul and to become what, he says, I am, good seed, destined to give the world a taste of his divine kindness.

More than his words, it is this presence, the sound of his voice speaking within, telling us we are more than we imagine, that frees us to become what we are.

Listen to that voice, the resonance of love incarnate.

Pr. David L. Miller