A Great Father's Day Card from My Favorite Boy

I got a great Father's Day card from my 2-year-old boy today. It was hand-made, with excellent sticker selection and placement. (The front is pictured above, and the back is covered with Diego stickers.) The inside of the card is my favorite, though, because it has his answers to questions about me.

  • What is Daddy's full name? Daniel Daddy.
  • What color is Daddy's hair? Black.
  • What color are Daddy's eyes? Brown.
  • How old is Daddy? 4.
  • How tall is Daddy? Tall like me.
  • What do you like to do with Daddy? Play Ring the Gack, watch the triangle while it's on.
  • What is Daddy's favorite sports team? Me.
  • What else do you like to do with Daddy? Do my shaving cream.
  • What do you want to say to Daddy on Father's Day? I love you, Daniel. You like to play Ring the Gack with me, Daniel.

The first thought that comes to my mind as I look at this card again is that I love being Daniel Daddy. We all have words attached to us in our different roles in life to describe what we do, and among the roles I have in life, there are none that come close to bringing me the enjoyment as much as those I have here in my own house. I love being a daddy.

So, who's up for a round of Ring the Gack?

Wesley's Sermon 23: Upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse 3

[This is a post on one of John Wesley's Sermons as part of the Getting to Know John series. See the other posts here.] This is the third of Wesley’s thirteen sermons on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7). In this sermon, he continues working his way through the Beatitudes and focuses on Matthew 5:8-12: “Blessed are the pure in heart… Blessed are peacemakers… Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake…”

Also, as in the previous sermon, Wesley believed that Jesus used the remainder of chapter 5 to provide illustrations of the life he describes in these verses. So to further explore the meaning of Matthew 5:8-12, Wesley also explores Matthew 5:33-48.

Wesley continues his approach to the Beatitudes as both being characteristics that are in some degree true of all of God's children all of the time, and also a process that we go through as we mature spiritually. This sermon begins right where the last one left off, describing those who have learned to love their neighbors as themselves. To begin this sermon he says we must examine the foundation of that love, and explores the meaning of "Blessed are the pure in heart..."

He explains that purity of heart is emphasized by Jesus throughout his teaching, rather than only outward acts. He also provides an interesting explanation of how it is that the pure in heart "see God," saying that by faith we will see him through our deep fellowship with him, his presence in our world, his provision of our needs, and most fully through his ordinances (prayer, searching the Scriptures, the Lord's Supper, etc.). He then uses Matthew 5:33-37 as an illustration of those who are not pure in heart and felt the need to depend on oaths versus those who are pure in heart and could let their speech be trusted and had a deep sense of God's presence everywhere (heaven is God's throne and earth is God's footstool).

According to Wesley, with "Blessed are the Peacemakers..." Jesus' teaching shifts from what we kind of people we are to be to focusing on what kinds of things we should do and say. He says that peacemakers are not only those who work to end and avoid strife and conflict, but in a more general sense, they are those who do good to others at every opportunity they are given by meeting physical needs, and when the opportunities arise, spiritual needs as well.

He then moves into an examination of Jesus' statements on persecution, stating that although we would hope and think that people who live lives such as he has described to this point in the Beatitudes would be well loved by everyone, that is certainly not the case. The world's ways will always be violently opposed to the ways of God, and this results in persecution of the righteous. Wesley describes different forms that persecution can take, some major (such as losing our lives), and others more minor (such as losing relationships), but he says that regardless of whatever kind of persecution we face, it should never cause us to lose our meekness, love, and kindness toward others.

Again turning to another passage of Matthew 5 to illustrate, Wesley uses Jesus' statements on turning the other cheek, refusing to return evil for evil but rather returning good for evil, and then gives a very valuable paragraph on some practical ways to think about this. Much harm has been done by those who have taken Jesus' statement to mean things that he never said here, and Wesley provides a valuable corrective, which applies to in broader senses in this context beyond just material possessions:

Although Jesus said that we should always be ready to give to whomever asks of us without expecting anything in return, he never said that we should give things that do not belong to us. Wesley explains with three short points:

  • We need to take much care to avoid all kinds of debt. If we give to others while we have debts, we are actually giving someone else's things away, not our own. (For our day, Dave Ramsey offers great advice. We should give while we are working to get out of debt, but set a limit on the giving during that time, such as 10%. In other words, if you're making your tithe to your church on your credit card and running your debt up higher, stop it. Still tithe, but on money you actually have.)In another sense which Wesley doesn't mention here, Jesus does offer the illustration of offering our other cheek to someone who hits us. He never says that we should offer the cheeks of other people to be injured.
  • We should provide for our own household the things that are necessary to sustain them in life and godliness. If we give to such a point that we cannot do this, it is certainly not being done in the spirit of Jesus' teaching.
  • Then, we should give away everything that's left over. (Certainly there are wise ways to do this, so that we're actually helping the recipients rather than harming them.) He says if we don't have enough to give to everyone, we should begin by remembering the "household of faith," then give to others as we are able.

Wesley finishes with a concluding paragraph about the Beatitudes, calling them "a picture drawn by God's own hand" of the life intended for us. His interpretation of the Beatitudes is valuable and inspiring. (As I've mentioned before, I've come to view the Beatitudes in a different way, thanks to Dallas Willard. I'll post a summary of Wesley's understanding compared to Willard's soon.)

If you would like to dig in further to this sermon:

A Prayer for Trinity Sunday (Year A)

[This is one of a series of Prayers for the Christian Year. To see the other posts, click here.]

Living, loving Father,

Your name is majestic in all the earth. When we look around us, we are amazed that You, who have such magnificent power that You can create by speaking, still care for us so much.

From before the beginning of time until now, You have been alive and loving. By Your Word and Your Spirit, You created us and our world. You said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness," which culminated Your work of creation, which You saw as very good.

Later, the Word by which You created came and lived a marvelous life among us, He died a horrible death because of our sin, He rose again to life, conquering death and sin, and then ascended to reign with You.

It was He who assured us that it would be better for us if He went away, because then Your Spirit could come and give all of us the chance to live in fellowship with You.

You have given Him authority over everything, so enable us to go to every group of people in our world, and help them to become His apprentices as we are, being immersed in the reality of a world pervaded by You, Your Spirit, and Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

May His abundant grace, Your unfailing love, and Your Spirit's enlivening communion be with each of us and all of Your children, as we continue to pray the prayer that Jesus, our Savior and Master, taught us, saying,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Amen

Notes:

This Sunday, the first Sunday after Pentecost, is Trinity Sunday. Having now remembered Jesus' suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit in power at Pentecost, during this week each year, we consider God's nature as three-in-one before moving into Ordinary Time until Advent begins. The readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

  • Genesis 1:1-2:4a: The Genesis account of God's creation of the heavens, earth, plant and animal life, and humanity. This reading is included on Trinity Sunday because of hints of each member of the Trinity's activity in creation. God the Father sees things, speaks things, says "let us create humankind in our image, and when creation was finished, called it very good. God the Son's activity is intimated by the Father's speaking, since Christ is described later as the Word who was with God, was God, without whom nothing was made, and who became flesh and dwelt among us. God the Spirit was active in creation even before light and darkness came about, as "the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters."
  • Psalm 8: David echoes the Genesis creation story and celebrates God's presence and power in the world, marveling at the things created in the world and the place among all of them that has been given to humanity. (This is also the psalm for Trinity Sunday in Year C).
  • 2 Corinthians 13:11-13: Paul's concluding greetings in this letter to the Corinthians, which includes his prayer of blessing for them in the Trinity, which has come to be known as the Apostolic blessing.
  • Matthew 28:16-20: Jesus' "great commission" to his disciples after his resurrection, when he charged his followers to make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Trinity, teach them to obey everything he commanded, and promised that he would always be with them.

A Prayer for Pentecost Sunday (Year A)

[This is one of a series of Prayers for the Christian Year. To see the other posts, click here.]

Living, loving Father,

The work of Your hands is evident all around us. Regardless of whether we are looking at land or sea, at large creatures or small ones, everywhere we look, we see Your work, and we bless You.

We, and all creation, are satisfied when You open Your hands to us, for You fill us with the things we need to live fully in You.

Even when we, along with all of creation, feel like we are desperate for things to be made right, we also know- because we have experienced it ourselves- that when Your Spirit comes, Your life is renewed in us and in our world.

So many kinds of works are done among us through Your Spirit, yet even in the great variety of the works, we see unity. You unify us with one another; You use the gifts that You have given us to achieve Your loving purpose; You make our character more like Yours; and we see the deep love that has been exchanged for all eternity between You, Your Spirit, and Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

It was He who invited us to quench our thirst by coming and drinking rivers of living water through Your Spirit. So, to His honor and Your glory, we pray that Your Spirit would soon be poured out upon every person, young and old, free and enslaved, so that everyone may call upon Your name and fully experience the life You have intended for us all.

It was Your Son who promised us this Spirit, who has sent Him to us, and it is as His students that we pray the prayer He taught us, saying,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Amen

Notes:

Pentecost Sunday is the final Sunday of the season of Easter, and it is on this day that we remember and celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit with power upon Jesus' disciples fifty days after his resurrection. The readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

  • Acts 2:1-21: This is the final of eight consecutive weeks (from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday) when our reading that would normally come from the Old Testament comes instead from the Book of Acts. This passage recounts the story of the disciples being together in one place on the day of Pentecost, when Jews from "every country" were making pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Suddenly, a sound like a violent wind came, tongues of fire rested on each of the disciples, and they had the ability to speak in the native languages of all who could hear them. (This is a Pentecost reading for years A, B, and C.)
  • Psalm 104:24-34, 35b: A psalm of praise to God for his handiwork displayed in every part of creation, and a recognition that although dismaying sights are present, "when [God sends] forth [his] spirit, they are created; and [he] will renew the face of the ground." (This is a Pentecost reading for years A, B, and C.)
  • 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13: Paul's teaching that although there are a variety of gifts, services, and activities, they are given and activated by one and the same Spirit, so that we may function together as many members within one body.
  • John 7:37-39: Jesus' public invitation on the last day of the Festival of Booths, which drew on imagery of water, for anyone who was thirsty to come to him and receive rivers of living water, which John explains was said in reference to the Spirit.

Wesley's Sermon 22: Upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourse 2

[This is a post on one of John Wesley's Sermons as part of the Getting to Know John series. See the other posts here.]

This is the second of Wesley's thirteen sermons on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7). In this sermon, he continues working his way through the Beatitudes and focuses on Matthew 5:5-7: "Blessed are the meek... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness... [and] Blessed are the merciful..."

Also, in exploring the meaning of these verses, Wesley incorporates very interesting interpretations of Matthew 5:21-26 ("You have heard it said, 'Do not murder,' but I say to you, anyone who is angry with another is subject to judgment...") and 1 Corinthians 13 ("Love is patient, love is kind...").

Continuing the interpretation of the Beatitudes Wesley began in Sermon 21, presenting them as a process that we go through in our lives with God, he begins this sermon without missing a beat from the ending of the previous one, which concluded with "Blessed are those who mourn..." This sermon then begins with explaining that once the mourning passes, and the believer again is comforted by the Holy Spirit, then they will have entered into meekness and will be able to bear witness of its goodness. Wesley characterizes meekness not as being apathetic or without a passion, but as someone who all of their emotions ("affections" or "passions") in check because of their overriding love for God and others.

Wesley says that Jesus illustrates meekness further down in Matthew 5, in verses 21-26, and so he provides an interpretation of this famous passage of the Sermon on the Mount here, rather than in a later discourse in this series. He provides a compelling argument against allowing anger into our hearts, claiming that it is allowable to be angry at sin, but to be angry at sinners can only cause damage to us and to the others.

With anger's antidote (meekness) now being in place, Wesley says that we can begin to truly hunger and thirst for righteousness, which he defines as the image of God in us and our having the mind of Christ. This hunger and thirst is from God, for God, and can only be satisfied by God. Just as physical hunger and thirst will continue to grow until the need is fully met, our hunger and thirst for righteousness will continue to grow, even to the point of our begging God that they never be taken away so that we may continually be filled with more and more of his life.

Wesley continues and claims that as God's life grows in us, so will our concern for others and we will become merciful toward them. He says that the main characteristic of the merciful is that they love their neighbors as themselves, and this leads him to work through part of St. Paul's famous "love chapter," 1 Corinthians 13. Wesley describes the merciful/loving person by examining the characteristics of love that Paul lists in verses 4-7 of that famous chapter: love is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not arrogant, not rude, does not insist on its own way, not irritable, not resentful, does not rejoice in wrongdoing, rejoices in the truth, and covers, believes and hopes all things.

Even if the rest of this sermon were not as valuable as it is, this exploration of what it means to love others is well our time. His explanation of what it means that love "covers all things" is something we should be taught from our first experiences in church. (It provides good, practical guidelines of how to live out my Dad's practice of never speaking badly of others.)

Wesley concludes the sermon with a powerful paragraph which is worth reading even if you don't read any of the rest of the sermon. In it, he concedes that we have ample reason to cry "Woe is me" when we consider what it means to love one another and compare it to what we see in the world around us- particularly the severe lack of love among Christians. But rather than give in to despair, he says that we should continue in hope, because God's work in history is being accomplished and we are currently being given the opportunity to be among the first fruits of God's mission of creating people who have learned how to love.

Options for digging in further to this sermon:

A Prayer for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year A)

Image compliments of Vanderbilt Divinity Library

[This is one of a series of Prayers for the Christian Year. To see the other posts, click here.]

Living, loving Father,

We sing praise to Your name, and we lift up our songs to You, for You are both the one who is right here with us just as much as You  are the one who rides upon the clouds.

You are the one who cares for those who find themselves all alone, becoming the Father of orphans, the protector of widows, and creating a home for those who have none.

Teach us to open ourselves to the power of Your Holy Spirit in our lives, so that we may join You in this amazing work of Your love all around our world, bringing Your life to those across the earth, to those here in our community, and to those with whom we live and share our lives every day.

Although we know of Your unfailing love toward us, many of us are praying today with much anxiety in our hearts. We pause now for a moment and entrust to You the weight of these things that have been burdens to us, knowing that You care for us, You are able to provide all that we need, and You are with us.

Lord, keep us alert and aware of the ways that our enemy is seeking to destroy us, and may whatever trials we face today serve to remind us of the suffering of so many around the world, many of whom are suffering precisely because of their love of You. May Your grace be abundant toward them, and may they be confident in knowing that Your own Son will restore, support, strengthen, and establish them.

Unite us with them as we pray, so that we may be devoted to one another as we each continue to find our life in You through this gift of prayer.

You have given us more gifts than we are aware of, above all, the gift of the opportunity to know You and Your Son, Jesus Christ, whom You sent to give us the life that never ends.

Just as He did, as long as we are in this world, we will know ourselves by Your name, as Your people, and we will seek to destroy all of the things that divide us and live with one another in peace, just as we have seen in His life among us.

Until He comes back to us in the same way that He went up to sit at Your right hand, we, as His students, will continue to earnestly pray the prayer that He taught us, saying,

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours now and for ever. Amen

Notes:

A Prayer for Ascension Day is also appropriate for use this week. The readings for this week, on which this prayer is based, are:

  • Acts 1:6-14: This is the seventh of eight consecutive weeks (from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday) when our reading that would normally come from the Old Testament comes instead from the Book of Acts. This passage, part of which was also in the reading for Ascension Day earlier this week, recounts the story of Jesus' last instructions to the disciples before being lifted up and taken out of their sight. The disciples then return to Jerusalem, and together with others, devote themselves to prayer.
  • Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35: David praises God for his great power and faithfulness.
  • 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11: This is the final of six consecutive readings from 1 Peter, which heavily emphasizes the life we are to live in light of Jesus’ resurrection. In this passage, Peter continues to encourage his readers to endure the hardships and persecution they were facing, in light of Jesus' own persecution and the hope that they had in him.
  • John 17:1-11: This is the final of four gospel readings from John during the Easter season. (Most of this year’s gospel readings come from Matthew.) It is also the final of three that come from John’s account of Jesus’ last night with his disciples, after washing their feet and prior to his arrest. This week's passage is the first part of Jesus' famous prayer which concludes his lengthy conversation with his friends on that night (John 14-17), in which he prays for unity among his disciples as they remain in the world while he prepares to leave it.

(Ecumenical version of The Lord’s Prayer from The United Methodist Hymnal)