"No Peradventure in Thy Grace"

Isn't that an amazing thought?  No chance, no uncertainty concerning the Grace of God to us, to me?

The Lenten scripture for this day includes that incomprehensible statement of our Lord where He proclaims He is I AM.

This, the declaration given of old to the patriarchs:  I AM, the Self-Existent One "I get life from nothing for I Am Life and give life to all things".

New hope and new duty to mankind is opened up in this the fact that God has spoken to man.  He, the I AM who stooped from the throne of Heaven, again and again through the centuries to say I AM your God.

And again, when even that did not set sinful man to the right,  stooped once again from the Throne to perform that infinite deed of love - was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a woman, "very God of very God begotten"- lived and then died in the form of mortal man on the cross. 

The I AM .. the Cross .. my debt of sin .. paid in full .. Grace abounding ever and always .. in and around.

No, there is indeed 'no peradventure in Thy Grace'.

"Grace that is greater yes, Grace untold,
Points to the Refuge, the mighty cross...
Grace that is greater than all our sin."

Praise Him!

_________
Title phrase taken from Puritan Prayers:The Valley of Vision, 
Arthur Bennett, ed.
Hymn fragment: Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord, Julia H. Johnson

By Special Request

For the sprites in the family and those that love those sprites, here is the wonderful photo of the Fairy Bridge.  The setting, too, is every child's dream wood.

Again, this photo by Jon Wornham of the Isle of Man.
Used by permission.

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,

wherever He may send you.

May He guide you through the wilderness,

protect you through the storm.

May He bring you home rejoicing 

at the wonders He has shown you.

May He bring you home rejoicing 

once again into our doors.

_________

Photography copywrited by Jon Wornham, Isle of Man, 

used with his kind permission

Prayer attributed to St. Patrick, from Celtic Daily Prayer, 

From the Northumbria Community; Harper Pub.

Blessings

"Children's children are the crown of the aged."

Cousins!  And there can be no denying the family connection.  Just compare those faces!  

This could so easily become a piece on "when they were little".  So much family history, so much of joy and tears already locked up in their young faces, hearts and lives.  But more than anything, it is a piece on rejoicing.

Represented here and cause for rejoicing are the gifts and graces these cousins are bringing to, not only the family, but the separate spheres in which they live. They are young women of loving hearts and kind acts, without exception starting when they were very young.

A most remarkable reason to rejoice is in the fact that in this present confused and wayward generation, these have made wise life choices.   Granted, the end of their stories is yet to be written, still, for now there is only pride - in the best sense - in the ways in which they have lived their lives and the ways of service and grace they've chosen to ministers to those around them.

Rejoicing too, in the promise of yet a future generation being raised in righteousness.

Added to all that is serious and fine, these are some of the world's funniest, wittiest, goofiest young women.  They enjoy life, family and the world around them.  They spread joy, laughter and song on all our paths. There is no end to the fun and silliness any time they meet.

Here is balance in lives well lived.  Here is steady walking the pilgrim way - with dancing.

And in this Nana's heart there is rejoicing too, knowing that The Goodness and Mercy will follow them all of their days and bring them to their goodly reward.

Selah.

____
Photo by Julia Valovich

The Good And New Good News

Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God,

that we, which for our evil deeds are worthily punished,

by the comfort of Thy grace may be mercifully relieved;

through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So reads the collect this fourth Sunday of Lent.  This is one of the oldest collects, and truly a picture of our age old plight.. sinful folk deserving of punishment.  It calls to mind the Psalm which states "O Lord, if you should keep account of our sins, who could stand?"  This cold comfort which only seems to amplify the fact of our lost-ness.

And so the Gospel came.  In its most simple form "Christ died for our sins".  I love the simplicity of that statement.  In the midst of our brokenness and the whirl and muck of chaos we have created for ourselves in our fallen state, the fresh breeze of Truth sweeps in.  Christ died!  It is finished!  He arose! Grace abounds!

"What is both Good and New about the Good News is the wild claim that Jesus did not simply tell us that God loves us even in our wickedness and folly and wants us to love each other the same way and to love Him too, but that if we let Him, God will actually bring about this unprecedented transformation of our hearts Himself.

What is both Good and New about the Good News is that mad insistence that Jesus lives on among us not just as another haunting memory but as the outlandish, holy, and invisible power of God working not just through the sacraments but in countless hidden ways to make even slobs like us loving and whole beyond anything we could conceivably pull off by ourselves."*

"God has not only made His personal visit,

not only given us the pattern of true and happy living,

not only died to reconcile us to Himself, 

not only is risen again both to shatter the fear of death and to prove His own claims, 

but there is no barrier now between Him and us.

God in Christ is our contemporary.

If that is not Good News, it would be difficult to know what is!"+

Psalm 130.30

*Frederick Buechner

+J. B. Phillips

The Importance of Feet -Small Lenten Thoughts

Beautiful .. joyous .. dancing .. steadfast .. slipping  .. lame .. tired .. road-dusty .. wounded.

These are just some of the type of feet mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures and the records left for us by the Apostles.

Feet, functioning feet are important to a full life.  Yet in our time, what encloses the foot is given all the attention.  It is documented that our society spends billions of dollars on footwear.  Footwear goes well beyond what is needful for protection and traction.  Even here, with our warped sensibilities, feet are shod to impress others, to show status, to draw attention and seldom even for comfort.  Sad but true, the foot seems all but forgotten.

The unshod foot has been the focus of my thoughts of late, the unshod foot of the Savior.  This was the foot/feet that drew the loving attention of the Marys in scripture.  One, in loving sacrifice bathed her Lord's feet and not meanly but lavishly, giving thought and expenditure to the act.  Mary of Bethany sat at His feet in quiet submission. Both these were seen by the Lord to be acts of worship which pleased Him. 

One other Mary, his own mother, knew His feet.  Had she kissed and nibbled His baby feet in the days before He took His early steps?  Did those tiny feet, as the late Calvin Miller  suggests "each wear a curious scar of some wound as yet unopened, that had been there long before His birth"?

Truly, the time came when there was indeed a visible wound from nails which violated that precious flesh and bone.  These were the wounds, the scars that Thomas saw and so believed.  These are the feet at which, in time to come, all peoples of all nations will bow.

And these feet are those at which we can now only sit in spirit.  This, like Mary of old, we must learn to do.  We need to slow the pace of our own hurried feet in order to do just that.
Our feet take us into so many byways that we often miss out on the 'better part'.

Bless me, O my Savior bless me,

As I sit low at Thy feet;

O look down in love upon me,

Let me see Thy face so sweet;

Give me Lord the mind of Jesus,

Make me holy as He is;

May I prove I've been with Jesus,

Who is all my righteousness.

_____________

Precious photograph of baby feet by Julia Valovich

Calvin Miller quotation from The Singer

Hymn fragment anonymous

Following Our Calling

Searching for a church in which to worship and serve is hard work.  Our being in ministry so many years, being 'placed' in a church, prevented us from knowing this.
Well, we know it now and not only is it hard work, it is often disheartening.

How does one choose?  A feeling?  A sign?  Truly this effort has taken us far beyond denominational lines and comfort zones.  As we visit around, there is much concern for the spiritual condition of fellowships encountered. Much that is good can be found and much also that is foreign to us. 

Then occasionally we come across hopeful signs, Kingdom people who thrive and strive to follow the King.

Such a one blessed us yesterday.  A young man, a youth pastor looking forward to a ministry, saying a moving good-be to his present fellowship.  This is the kind of young man that gives the old heart fresh hope for future generations.  This is a young man with a heart after God and a servant's spirit..a young disciple who has a passion to  "go and make disciples" as well.

As he spoke from his heart, he also presented all in his hearing with the challenge to be the examples of Christian Truth to which we are all called.  Of a generation that takes spiritual ways and means oh so casually, this young one takes it all with seriousness and with evident joy.

All this brought to mind an inscription in Lubeck Cathedral, Lubeck, Germany. This inscription echoes the words of our Lord Christ.  And it provides conviction and reminder for each one of us at any age or point in our pilgrimage walk.

Ye call me Master, and obey me not;

Ye call me Light and see Me not;

Ye call Me Way and walk Me not;

Ye call me Life, and desire Me not;

Ye call Me Wise and follow Me not;

Ye call Me Fair, and love Me not;

Ye call Me Rich, and ask Me not;

Ye call Me Eternal, and seek Me not;

Ye call Me gracious, and trust Me not;

Ye call be Mighty and honor Me not;

Ye call Me Just and fear Me not;

If I condemn you, blame Me not.

[Godspeed, Jason and may rich blessings cover you pathway, all the days, all the way.  Thank you for enriching my day and encouraging my heart.]