Sunday, June 28, 2015

The Still Small Voice?

I didn't go to Church today (bad me), but I did the penitential office this morning--because I needed to.  I believe the word/Word was speaking to me.  Let me break it down, Mr. Hood:
  • I first had the word jump out in Psalm 136.  It stated, "To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever:  And brought out Israel from among them:  for his mercy endureth for ever:  With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm:  for his mercy endureth for ever.  To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever:  And made Israel to pass through the midst of it:  for his mercy endureth for ever:  But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea:  for his mercy endureth for ever."  Was God speaking to me about the long trials of the gay community, bringing them out of the wilderness and into freedom?
  • The Gospel reading was from Mark 4.  "And Jesus continued:  'Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bowl or under the bed?  Doesn't he put it on the lamp-stand?"  Is God calling me to share the above and not keep it to myself?  Jesus goes on:  "Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be uncovered."  Could these be the ideas I have that I write in my blog?  The following parable of the man scattering seed and not knowing how the plants grow (how we witness to others and how they grow from it) has no bearing on how they grow or if they grow.  It ends with us being afraid of the storm, and Jesus ending it (the ensuing Christian persecution and attack on religion perhaps?).  It also talks about how we will all be judged by God using the rules we judge others by.
  • Then came the 51st Psalm:  "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee."  Gays have been told they're going to hell for so long, there's a huge opportunity to minister here.  "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation:  and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness."  Because, I am a great sinner myself.  Just because I call myself Christian doesn't make me good.  ONLY GOD IS GOOD.  Nobody else.  "O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise."  Lets hope I have the courage to praise God publicly, free from fear of ridicule and hopefully free from persecution and discrimination.  "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:  a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."  God wants us to be contrite, not to offer up sacrifice.
  • Matthew 5, the big one.  As all this stuff was going through my head from Psalm 136 and Mark 4, I knew what was coming (not the smallest law will be done away with).  How would what I was being shown (?) square with Matthew 5?  But, when I read it today, I noticed something different, not the warning about disregarding the law, but that the law was to be given real meaning.  "'Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.  I have not come to do away with them, but to give them real meaning."  It also spoke about being happy when we are persecuted for God. 
  • I actually laughed out loud when I got to page 614 in the BCP which asked in part that God "help us to love our enemies, and to forgive those who trespass against us, that we may receive of thee the forgiveness of our sins" and be children of God. 
Receive and comfort us, who are grieved and wearied with the burden of our sins.

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