Faith in Action Begins at Home

Years ago when my girls were very little I read them the book: “Love you Forever”, written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw.  It is the journey of a loving mother and her son with a repeating refrain:

I’ll love you forever

I’ll like you for always,

As long as I’m living

My baby you’ll be.

As the saying goes: “What goes around comes around,” the boy now a young man returns the gift caring for an aging mother with the words:

I’ll love you forever

I’ll like you for always,

As long as I’m living

My mommy you’ll be.

He then passes on the gift to his own daughter.  This is faith in action and it begins in our home.

Like that mother-son relationship, God has made a habit of loving you.  In many ways just as that son modeled his own mother’s action of loving and created his own habit—God calls us to do the same.  Fr. Thomas Merton, a gifted mystic once said that “Grace uses faltering beginnings to achieve its own unforeseeable ends!”   Humbly reminding us that God’s action is at the center of this habitual gift of loving the world!  I simply pray that I may model such a habit as a son, husband, father, future grandfather, friend or pastor.  I have so much to learn!

All Jazzed Up!

We celebrate worship this next Sunday with a jazz liturgy and one of my favorite jazz artists was just interviewed on 60 Minutes.  Wynton Marsalis is considered part of the royal family in the world of jazz.  With a pen and pad in hand I quickly scribbled multiple quotes to remember.   The finest quote was: “To live Jazz with passion and integrity and to affirm in the Spirit of swing the ultimate ascendance of our humanity.”  The 60 Minutes crew traveled with him to Cuba where he lives out a belief that: “Jazz touches the soul which crosses all boundaries…”  What captured my attention was multiple generations jamming together producing this rich gift of joy.

Blues and jazz are rooted in some basics — common chords, recurring rhythms — that improvise in such a way that music is constantly innovative, fresh in each performance. It may be a way that all of us who gather for worship can discover anew that “holy living,” when it is most faithful, is as diverse in its expression as the needs of the neighbor and as fresh and new as a loving jam session.

I’m all jazzed up over Romans 8:1 - "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" Did you hear that? No condemnation. None. Nada. Maybe this is the most potent verse in all of Romans!  Another reminder that ultimately God loves us enough to forgive us, to restore us, to welcome us home!

For you lovers of jazz this is like sitting in the front row listening to a talented musician bend the “blue note.”  Blue notes (also “worried” note) are notes sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes.  God can take even the “worry” notes of our lives and make music to sooth the soul not only for the individual but for others listening and observing.  “No Condemnation” – is Paul’s blue note claiming that this is the reason Jesus came; to show us through his cross just how much God already loves us.  And to show us through his resurrection that his love is more powerful than anything—than death, our sin, our confusion, and even our sense of being condemned.

The very last blue note in Romans 8 comes at the very last verse which says: “…nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!”  We call this living on the wild side of God’s love.  It ought to jazz all of us up and assist us in bending the worry notes of our lives around the promise we need to hear, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!"  God is not angry with us.  God on the other hand has our back!  Are you ready to bend the blue note?  Let’s give it a try!  Thanks be to God!