Lottery tickets for God?

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.

I am very concerned that Martha Coakley, leading candidate for United States Senate and someone I have been excited to vote for, supports casino gambling in Massachusetts. I am very concerned that this will lead to casinos in Massachusetts. Although this in no way changes my minds about the dangers and evil of state-sponsored lotteries, there are many images in the Bible that talk about God's presence in randomness and chance and they remind me of lotteries.

Take the words from Psalm 16. God "holds [our] lot" making our boundary lines fall "in pleasant places." (Last night in Bible Study we read the census report in Numbers 26 and how God wants to divide the land according to the size of the tribes and then choose what land to give "by lots.")

"O God you are my winning numbers.
The wheel spins,
The ball bounces,
And you come up a winner every time."

Hardly seems to be the stuff of Psalms.

I am a little appalled and taken aback by many of the patterns and habits of piety and revelation that the bible uses. Animal mutilation, drawing of lots, showdowns between magicians: none of these find their way into our Sunday mornings at St. Nicholas. But they were sanctioned and normal means of communicating with God in the past.

When I notice that these things change with time, somehow I doesn't seem to me that everything is arbitrary and meaninglessly relative. Instead it makes me ask what I believe in and practice now. Although my way isn't the only way and our time doesn't account for all time, we still need to know what we believe and what we do. It isn't eternal, but it is where we are now.

So, I don't like casinos and therefore I don't think I can vote for Martha Coakley. I understand there are other ways of looking at this but for now I know how I feel about this and what I believe.

Nourishing the whole body

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.

This morning I rose up early and last night I went late to rest. But I didn't have the bread of anxious toil for breakfast. I had an Odwalla "Protein Monster" chocolate shake with 33 grams of soy and dairy protein per bottle. God is good.

The point is that sometimes we can't tell who built the house by looking at it. We can't see it all from the outside. In my late night and full days lately I have felt God's presence and power. Sometimes we don't. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we can get a sense that someone is living their life close to God and sometimes we can't. It isn't about judging ourselves or anyone else. It's about the integrity that grants us sleep as the beloved.

On paper, things can be wild. But in practice, they can be centered. And sometimes quiet times are our most isolated too.

Whatever your style or schedule, whether you are tired or bored or searching or centered, may you know that your life is put together by God. And be aware of that grace in the lives of others too.

the divine hourglass...

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

We have a new database at work and it is very slow. Sometimes we have to wait up to four seconds before the next screen appears. But don't worry, I'm always able to fill those four seconds with something. I look to my phone to see if the light is blinking to tell me I have more messages. I check my phone log to see who I'm going to call back next. My eyes go to my schedule to see my next appointment.

Computers train us to look at the world with sick-ticking eyes.

So when anything is promised or described or anticipated, my first reaction is always to ask, "When?" However, waiting for God is not like waiting for the bus. There is a different sort of way that we "pass the time" when we wait for God. And it isn't always peaceful and pious either. (read one of Isaiah's time-driven temper tantrums in chapter 64)

Many of us curse when we are forced to wait, be it at a traffic light or for the cursor on the screen to turn back into the omnipotent arrow. But waiting for God is practically our life's work. And we should surely fill our days with praise and blessings.

I've been spending lots of time in the calm quiet lately... which is part of the reason why I haven't been posting as much.

I'm waiting.

faulty plumbing

[My people] have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,
and have dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
Jeremiah 1: 13

I went to Home Depot last night and used a gift card I was given as a Christmas present to get some rugs. It's getting cold.

Most of what they sell their is too complicated for me which is probably why the staff approached me about a dozen times and asked, "what are looking for?" It wasn't a "can I help you?" but more of a "why are you here?" Good for them.

Imagine that boldness and awareness in one our churches. Imagine if instead of saying, "we're glad you're here" we said "why are you here?" Honestly, I can imagine it working for some people.

"I'm here looking to replace the cistern on my toilet. I was given one that was perfect, but I'm looking to make one myself, to put one together myself because it is more important that I rely on myself than trust something that comes from beyond me. I am arrogant and confident and don't know how to accept something that I need. I'd rather have my own cracked cistern than accept one that I've been given that works better."

It would be a strange response.

Sometimes in life we think we know what we are looking for, what aisle to go done, how to "do it yourself." But we don't. We can't. It isn't as easy as the projects we are capable of doing.

Forget about your old cracked pipes and the mechanics of life that don't do what we want them to do. Instead, turn back to God and accept the gift that is truly redeeming.

The Dream of Restoration

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.


As the sayings go, "You wish!", "Keep on dreaming!", "In your prayers!" And the sayings are true. Sometimes our prayers are nothing more or less than our desires exposed.

And sometimes when God acts we "can't believe it." Indeed sometimes we "can't believe" what God has done.

Perhaps it is a bit of a pun, but it seems that there is something unbelievable about God.

I've been criticized before for quoting the Bible and Madonna too much, but it still reminds of the song "Like a prayer" when the lyrics sing "Just like a dream, you are not what you seem." God can be like a dream when the amazing acts of salvation, restoration and completion seem to be anything but real, anything but possible.

It is as if we are in dream not because reality seems fake but because it so powerfully responds to what we most desire.

Blessings at lunch

I just came back from lunch and was moved by the grace I sang in my head before eating.

Be present at our table Lord.
Be here and everywhere adored.
These mercies bless and grant that we
May feast in paradise with thee.

Would that we might approach every lunch counter and cereal bowl with the same awe and reverence that we believe is practiced by the angels in heaven.

It is a strange thing to lower your head and pause before eating a veggie wrap. Even to give yourself ten seconds... or one minute... stopped before God and mindful that the small space in front of you is a place where God might be glorified by your prayer, your mind and your heart.

Would that God could be glorified here and everywhere. Amen.

taste and see

O taste and see that the LORD is good

Like you, I get worried about how superficially people understand the concept of God's blessing.
What a blessing, it's sunny out!
I am really blessed by having such a well behaved cat.
We are blessed at this restaurant by good martinis.

All of these things are well and good, but they aren't blessings from God.

We are blessed by Grace. We are blessed by Salvation. We are blessed by God.

The psalm reminds us that we can "taste and see" these blessings. Not the sun as a sign that God is good. Not pleasant things as symbols of salvation. But we can taste and see that the Lord is good.

Of course God is hidden from us in some way. We don't live in the age of miracles and wonders like Moses did. We don't see public signs that can prove the vindication of our God. Yet, we still sees God's presence in something more than the beauty of a flower. A flower blossom opening in the morning is beautiful and lovely, but it isn't a miracle. It's an expected part of nature. It is God's doing because it is a part of creation. But it is hardly the amazing, awesome presence at Sinai.

We taste and see that the Lord is good through something more than the expected patterns of life. We know God through the spiritual mediation of our souls.