At Peace

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Don Merritt

A heart at peace gives life to the body,
    but envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 14:30

A heart at peace… is that common these days?  I’m not sure about that. There’s so much hustle and bustle, there’s so much stress and conflict in modern life, and of course times are tough.  Some days it seems like everybody’s arguing about something or other… and it’s an election year so people are criticizing every one and every thing… and I find myself joining in from time to time.

Still, even though our world is churning and tossing us to and fro in some ways, we can still have a heart at peace if we maintain our focus on the things that are really important.  Family, friends, faith and our relationship with our Lord; these are the important things, these are things that make a difference.

Envy?  Things?  Position? Do any of these make a difference when we consider the importance of relationships with our loved ones and with God?

No, not really.

Are arguments, bickering and conflict what life is about?  No.  Life is about serving others and serving God not bickering or being jealous about stuff.. I thank God for how He has blessed me with family, friends and His love; the rest is a waste of time. Peace is the result.

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Prayer

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Don Merritt

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:5-8

For us to properly understand these verses, and the ones to follow, we need to be reminded of what Jesus was talking about in this entire section; He set the context in 6:1:

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

If we remember this context, and that prayer is His second illustration for this point (after giving to the needy) then the significance of these verses becomes quite stark, even convicting for many of us.

Prayer, talking with God, the very core of our relationship with God, is not intended to be a public spectacle. It is not something you do to impress your family and friends with how righteousness you are; it is never to be a “look at me” kind of thing in whatever form the “look at me” might take. In fact, there really is no part of our relationship with God that is “public” except that others will see the results of our closeness as He works through us to accomplish His purpose.

I hope that doesn’t sound too harsh; but to be fair, I’m being more diplomatic than Jesus was!

With all of that said, there is of course, an important role to be played by corporate prayer and worship, but clearly that isn’t what Jesus is referring to here.

 Let’s be honest, when these verses are considered in context, they really don’t need much explanation, but I would like to add a note on prayer and relationship with God. God created each one of us, He knows each of us better than we know ourselves, and He comes to us where we are, relating to us in the way that He knows is most likely to be meaningful and significant. As a consequence, He relates to each one of us a little differently; there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to our relationships with Him, and anyone who tries to tell you that your relationship with Him must be like such and such is making a mistake, for our God is much bigger than that. In hearing people describe their relational experiences with God, I am often amazed by what I hear, they are so different from my own rather matter-of-fact “conversations” with Him, yet they are precious to the one describing them, just as mine are to me… and this is perfectly fine, perfectly normal, right and proper.

Yet God’s relational method is never just to make us look impressive to other people; that is the point Jesus is making here.

Next time we will continue in this passage, and in doing so, we will arrive at what is often called “The Lord’s Prayer”. I hope we will all keep this context in mind as we look at it, for in context, it is even more amazing than we might have thought… see you then!

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Giving to the Needy

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Don Merritt

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:2-4

There is a natural quality within most human beings to read an injunction like that in the verses above, and make a sort of legal check-list, so let’s be very clear about Jesus’ intentions in this teaching: He is not making a set of rules, procedures or protocols about how to give to those in need. Instead, He is speaking directly to our inner motivation for giving. Notice that whether or not to help those in need is not even mentioned; it is assumed.

The ones He has dubbed “hypocrites” are helping with a motivation for self aggrandizement, they want the praise and respect of their peers, to bolster their social positions, which might well impress “society” but it doesn’t have quite the same impact on the Lord. These folks wanted to impress their peers, and evidently they have their wish; and that’s all they will get.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, God wants His people to help those in need because they love God and their fellow Men, not for any worldly ulterior motive. Consider this: Has your relationship with God ever grown closer because you were praised by men? Everyone likes a little praise now and then, and a little recognition can go a long way to encourage people along the right path, but simply doing things to become popular never quite seems to bring anyone closer to God, for God doesn’t operate that way.

Quiet sacrifice for His Kingdom’s sake, on the other hand, will bring us closer to Him if we desire nothing in return for our sacrifice. The Kingdom is a place of love, community and healing precisely because the human motivation for self advancement is not present. Where this has not largely taken hold, there is little healing to be had, and love is merely discussed in academic terms.

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Relationship With God

Posted on September 2, 2024 by Don Merritt

Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Matthew 6:1

Thus far in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been showing the people how to have a better form of righteousness in their relationships and dealings with others, now He shifts the focus to show them a better relationship with God. The people of His day were used to a form of righteousness that was centered upon showing others how righteous you are, and maybe that is still the case; I’ll leave that to others to debate. It is Jesus’ clear purpose to teach something quite revolutionary and different.

The first sentence of this verse tells the story: “be careful” tells us right off that we are to be intentional in this, intentional not to practice acts of righteousness or “piety” in front of an audience. Why is that? Because it does not matter what other people think of your level of righteousness, for they have nothing to say on the subject; even when they talk quite a lot. It is only important that God knows where you are, and He knows what we do in private. That first sentence continues to the point: “…in front of others to be seen by them” tells us that if the whole reason we are doing something is to impress people, then we have a problem.

Years ago I worked in a place where everyone was made aware that on Christmas Day the boss served meals in a homeless shelter. It was common knowledge that one way to get ahead in the organization was to do the same; there was a fair amount of not so subtle pressure to be there on Christmas when the boss was there… To be sure, what the boss was doing at the shelter was a good thing, but then quite a few “movers and shakers” were there making a point on Christmas, but who was there the day after and the day after that? Christmas isn’t the only day of the year on which a person must eat. No, the gesture was merely a political one; I didn’t participate in it.

The second sentence of this verse tells the story about what Jesus is trying to impress upon His listeners: If we perform acts of righteousness simply to impress other people, then we will not receive a reward from our Father, for we have received our due from the people we have impressed with our “goodness”. Again, many people do good deeds for the wrong reasons, and let’s be honest, the guy in the homeless shelter is just happy to have a warm meal. Yes, that may be “good” but it isn’t righteousness in God’s sight. Rather, it is the same thing as trying to attain righteousness by our own ability to keep the Law instead of having faith in God.

God wants a people who do the right things when nobody else is looking, who do the right things not for worldly advantage, but because they love God and they love others: Radical indeed!

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Surrounded by His Glory

Posted on September 2, 2024 by Don Merritt
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Yet another work week: O what fun!

While we might have preferred to take another day off, we are once again grinding away, but that isn’t so bad, is it?  Consider the opportunities to share our faith, and the opportunities to show the example of Christ’s love to those around us.  Consider the chance we’ll have to bring Christ to others, and to walk side-by-side with Jesus through our days.

When we stop to notice, His glory is all around us.  If we are in the country, maybe we can see His awesome creation; the mountains, the trees, the pastures and forests.  If we are in the city, maybe we will notice His glory through vegetation, planters and trees; we might even see His work in the sky overhead.  If we are near the shore, we might see and hear His majesty in the breaking surf or the rolling thunder of a storm.  No matter where the week might take us, God’s glory is all around.

In the workplace, though, there is an even better chance to see His glory, for in shining His light to others in the way we speak, the way we behave and the manner in which we approach problems, we can become part of His reflected glory when others see Christ in us.

Let’s all have a blessed week!

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A Special Place

Posted on September 1, 2024 by Don Merritt
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St. John’s Episcopal Church is located on Lafayette Square, Washington, DC. It has stood on this site since 1816, and every president from James Madison to Joe Biden has attended services here, thus it is sometimes called “Church of the Presidents.” Not all have been regular attenders, some were regular in different churches, while others seldom attended anywhere, but through the years they have all come here.  When you look at it today, it is difficult to think of it as being the first building on the block as the newer buildings seem to crowd it out and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs looms behind it, but it was not only first on this block, but second only to the White House on the Square.

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More important than simply having been frequented by the high and mighty of the Republic, is the fact that the faithful have worshipped our Lord here for more than 200 years.  While this isn’t much in European terms, here in America there are few churches where people have worshipped longer than this.  I might go so far as to say that they have left us all with a legacy of hope, faith and light, and I sure hope that our generation will continue that legacy.

It is for all of us, wherever we may be, and whatever style of worship we might engage in, to ensure that the faith goes beyond our time on the earth.  It is for each of us to live as Christ would have us to live, and to pass His love on to the next generation.  May each of us be up to that challenge as we go forth today and in the years to follow!

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Lord of All Creation

Posted on August 31, 2024 by Don Merritt

There are times when my heart is filled with pity for those who will not believe in God!

How can we look upon the awesome creation around us and not be filled with awe at what an amazing God we have?  When we see the changing of the seasons, how can we not be impressed by the work of His hand?  When we hear the roar of thunder, how can we not be impressed with His power?  When we gaze upon the vastness of the sea, or the limitless wonder of the heavens, how can we not be breathless at His magnificence?

At times such as these, how can we not be filled with praise for Him? What a glorious sensation!

And then, to contemplate the fact that the God who created all of this and so more, that very God who holds it all together with His Word, and who reigns on high as King of kings and Lord of lords has actually taken the effort to know my name, to love me, to want to save me from my sin, and who desires a relationship with me…!  This might be the most incredible and amazing thing of all.

Yes, these are times when I pity those who will not believe, those who will deny Him even when completely surrounded with evidence, so sure are they of their own great intellect…  To miss all of this, to miss His hand at work, His awesome love and relationship with Him.  How truly pitiful are such as these.

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Love… all of ‘em

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Don Merritt

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:43-48

This is one of the most often quoted passages of the New Testament, and for good reason. So much has been written, and no doubt many who read this have written on it at some point, so rather than commenting on it and trying to explain this or that, maybe defining a Greek word or trying to sound wise, I’ll just give you some reflections of my own. Maybe they will include something worthwhile, and if that is the case for you, then that’s great. If not, then by all means toss my wanderings out… or have a good laugh!

What kind of people does God love?

“Well certainly not the kind of people you’re hanging around with; you’ve fallen in with the wrong crowd young man!”

Maybe I was hanging around the wrong crowd, and maybe that wasn’t a good idea for me, but don’t ever think, not even for one minute, that God doesn’t love them too. God loves… all of ‘em, even the naughty boys and girls. OK fine, you caught me, I never said anything like that to my mother; do you think I’m crazy?

That would be more like something my sister would have done.

Yet it doesn’t take away the fact that God really does love everybody, the good, the not so good, the sinner and the saint, the black and the white, the rich and the poor, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Muslim; even the Democrats and the Republicans.

It pains me to say so, but it also means that God loves my enemies, and expects me to do the same.

I’m not going to lie to you and say that this is always easy, because it isn’t. Yet, it is always the right thing to do anyway, and we can do it if we decide to.

This is what it means to live in the Kingdom, for the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed was a community of love, where all are equal in the eyes of God. Of course in this evil age, not all people have chosen to enter into His Kingdom just yet, and we have been appointed to seek them out, even if they don’t seem lovable at first, just as Jesus did. They may say yes and they may say no, they might even call us names and throw rocks at us, but it isn’t for us to condemn them for their response or shun them for their ways and manners; it is enough for us to invite and welcome, God has the rest.

Sometimes Christians like to talk together about how wonderfully blessed we are to have entered relationship with the Lord, we talk about how great His mercy is, and all that He did to save us, and then we wonder at those who don’t see it. What is the matter with them? Yet once upon a time, someone reached out to me with an invitation to join together with the followers of Jesus, and much to my amazement I said yes to that invitation.

Who would have ever expected that?

So now here I am, so many years later; the torch is now in my hand, as it is in yours; will we deny some poor naughty child of God the chance to say yes to our invitation?

May it never be so.

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Love in Action

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Don Merritt

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1John 3:18

It’s all well and good for us to talk about love, after all everybody feels better when the conversation is over. Please forgive me if I’m too blunt here but, talk can be a bit too cheap: Love, real true Godly love, requires action.

To be completely clear, I’m not talking about romance.

The example John used in this passage is found in verse 16:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

It’s unlikely we’ll be called upon to die on a cross or anything like that, but if our brother or sister is hurting in some way, we should set our own wants aside and give them a hand, don’t you think? If someone is hungry, we give them food, if they are hurting emotionally, we stand beside them, if they need a shoulder to lean on we stand fast with them, and if they need a hand to pull them up, we pull them up.

In short, we put their interests and needs ahead of our own: That is Godly love.

Remember, Jesus didn’t go to the cross because He wanted to get His name in the news, He did it so that we might have life eternal; I’m sure He could have found something more pleasant to do that day, but no, He put us first instead.

I wonder: How can I put love into action today- how can I let His love in me work in someone else’s life today?

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An Eye for an Eye…

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Don Merritt

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 5:38-42

I have pointed out many times here in the past that to the ancient Hebrew mind, God’s most notable attribute was restraint. In order for a person to follow Jesus Christ, the attribute he or she must have is restraint. That this is the key ingredient to our relationship with Him is no coincidence. In this paragraph, Jesus is making the same point as He runs through four illustrations of a self-denying restraint that seems radical by worldly standards.

The old Law had provisions for retribution, and the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth principle was intended to ensure that a person’s rights were protected, and that punishment fit the crime. However, history shows that this principle was not always followed in an evenhanded way, and by the time of Jesus, punishments for damaging other people were usually found in the form of monetary fines. From Jesus’ point of view, in the Kingdom these things were not really necessary, for our reliance should be upon God alone for justice.

The first example deals with insults, as a slap to the face would have been considered, as opposed to being a violent attack. Jesus did not respond to the insults hurled at Him; neither should we respond. If an evil person uses a court to take your property; let him have it. If you are compelled into labor, give extra, and always be ready to help those who need it. Far from announcing a series of specific commands or new rules and regulations for us to be legalistic about, Jesus is simply seeking to shift our focus from the physical things of this world, to a deeper and more significant focus on that which is above, and letting God be the judge who will bring about true justice to those who cause harm to others.

Some might suggest that this is a recipe for Christians to be doormats, but I see this as something quite different. I see this as Christians being called to great strength, for through all of this, we are called to rely not on our own ability to strike back, but upon the inner strength of God to overcome evil with good.

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