Habakkuk had a complaint against God. If I’d been given a name like Habakkuk, I would complain, too. Actually, in his native tongue, Habakkuk is a beautiful name that means embracer, or one who embraces. It suggests the picture of a father whose son has been injured by some passing bully and he gathers up the hurt child and comforts him while bitterness enters his own heart, crying in perplexity, “Why doesn’t God do something? How can a just God permit such wrong?”
Prayer is a vital part of bringing God’s will on earth to fruition, or as Jesus taught us: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). That would indicate that our prayers are a part of God’s workings in the world. That God would involve us in this way in His presence and purposes in the world is nothing short of amazing. Would God’s will be done if we didn’t pray for it? I’m not sure I want to find out. It may be that in praying for His will to be done, God gets us in line with it ourselves. If you’re going to constantly be praying for God’s purposes to be done on earth, then you will of necessity become a part of those purposes yourself. You’re not going to pray for something you don’t care about, or don’t plan to participate in.
I commission you all today as ambassadors of the Gospel of Welcome — Grace Turned Outward. What that means is that you are representatives of a message of good news about God. This is important because most people have an impression of God as bringing bad news to us all in the form of judgment. This is unfortunate because God has been improperly represented for quite some time. But that is precisely why you are so important. You are changing that.
Please give me a drink. John 4:7
I am thirsty. John 19:28
We worship a God who became a vulnerable human being. Superman had his kryptonite. Samson lost his hair. Jack Frost relinquished his wintry powers to become the town tailor. Jesus got thirsty. It’s a story that is played out not only in history, but in fantasy, legend and mythology — someone with supernatural powers gives up those powers to become human, and it is always done for one reason: love. That was certainly God’s reason. “But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8)
Nehemiah ended his official duties as builder of the wall around Jerusalem by calling for a dedication ceremony during which they purified the priests, the people and the wall. He then led a celebration that consisted of two choirs of singers and musicians playing cymbals, harps and lyres marching around the whole city on top of the wall — one choir going one direction, the other going the other until they met up at the other side of town — singing and rejoicing as they went. One wonders if they were able to hear each other and perhaps even sing antiphonally. At any rate there was great joy, and one can’t help but think of Tobias mocking them back when they started to build that this dilapidated wall and these silly people couldn’t build a wall that would support a fox.
by Marti Fischer
[The “Wild Goose” is the name in Celtic Christianity for the Holy Spirit, the person of the Trinity which is the indwelling Spirit, the immanence of the divine in the real world. The Wild Goose is the balance and compliment to the transcendent God-the-Father. The Holy Spirit is the fire of inspiration, the creative power of love, the source and sustainer of community, the untamable wildness of hope. When we go on a “wild goose chase,” we can feel that we’re going in circles, spiraling silly around that which is elusive and mysterious. To follow the Holy Spirit alone we might experience great loneliness. To give chase with another as different from you as you are from me, is the greatest Love that I believe we will ever know on this earth.]
Perhaps we should consider adopting the image of the Wild Goose when we recognize that in the current climate of religious, social and political cynicism, embracing the creative and open nature of the Holy Spirit is perhaps our greatest asset for rebuilding and strengthening our relationships with each other and with our enemies.
There were times, during Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, when the people got discouraged and came close to giving up. Whenever we attempt to address some weakness in our lives – be it an addiction, a sinful attitude, an unwillingness to change – opposition will come. In the case of the men and women of Israel, that opposition came in the form of the grandiose nature of the task before them and the taunts and negative propaganda of those neighboring nations who did not want to see Israel strong again.
I grew up in a home of well-intentioned people who were anxious because there was never enough: never enough money for what we wanted to do, never enough time to be spontaneous, never enough forgiveness for when we did something wrong, and never enough love so that it overshadowed everything else. My family’s default setting was on scarcity.
A member of the Catch Ministry’s Vanguard may be momentarily down, but her resilience shines through while the four other members of the Vanguard continue to lead an army of believers in support of the vision, demonstrating their unwavering strength.
Our recent focus on the story of Nehemiah is not a mere historical study, but a reflection of our current journey. Just as Nehemiah was tasked with rebuilding, we too are in a phase of significant growth, aligning our vision with the expanding needs of our community and beyond.
John Fischer The Catch 