Month: August 2024

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Keeping the Sabbath by Action

Scripture Focus: Jeremiah 17.21-23
21 This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors. 23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.

Mark 3.4-5
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. 
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

Reflection: Keeping the Sabbath by Action
By John Tillman

There is more than one way to desecrate the Sabbath.

The way of “keeping the Sabbath holy” that we commonly think of is by limiting what we do. We refrain from doing work. We focus on spiritual matters. We prioritize worship. This is the kind of warning that Jeremiah was sent to cry. “Stop the clamor of commerce.” “Stop the wheels of wealth accumulation,” the prophet says. But Jesus defines a second requirement to keep the Sabbath holy. 

To Jesus, keeping the Sabbath holy meant staying in step with God’s Spirit and leaving undone nothing that the Spirit commanded. His stinging question about what is lawful on the Sabbath goes unanswered by the teachers of the law, not because they don’t know the answer, but because they don’t like the answer they would be forced to give.

Jeremiah banned commerce on the Sabbath because the day was intended to be about the worship of God and enriching the community rather than one’s self. Instead, over the centuries, the restrictions of the Sabbath had become excuses for selfish inaction. The experts of the law used their expertise to dodge responsibility rather than shoulder it and to accumulate wealth and power rather than honor God with it.

There’s more than one way to make Jesus angry. 

Inaction in the face of someone needing help is one very reliable way. Jesus burns with anger for their heartlessness, but it’s more than activism—Jesus takes action. When we get angry, we tend to cause harm. When Jesus gets angry, he heals.

Jesus was angry because these teachers were doing what the wealthy of Jerusalem were doing in Jeremiah’s day. They were tying up heavy loads for others to carry, (and on the Sabbath, no less) but would not lift a finger to help them.

Keeping the Sabbath holy, maintaining God’s justice, and establishing righteousness are not passive, actionless, states of spiritual attainment. God’s holiness moves. God’s righteousness rolls like a river. God’s justice falls on the wicked.

May our holiness surpass that of the religious leaders, as Jesus prayed it would. 
May we not live in prayerlessness during the week and expect God to show up on the weekend.
May we fulfill the Sabbath by worshiping in spirit and truth.
May we not desecrate the Sabbath with inaction in the face of need.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me, O God of Israel. — Psalm 69.7

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 17 (Listen 4:50)
1 Thessalonians 2   (Listen 2:53)

​This Weekend’s Readings
Jeremiah 18 (Listen 3:40), 1 Thessalonian 3 (Listen 1:44)
Jeremiah 19 (Listen 2:58), 1 Thessalonian 4 (Listen 2:24)

Read more about Who is the Sabbath There For?
Our rest, observed rightly, is an act of faith in God’s holiness and an act of kindness to all around us.

Who is the Sabbath There For?

Read more about Readers’ Choice
We need your suggestions for Readers’ Choice, which starts in September. Tell us your faves via email, direct message, or the linked form.

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The Fractal Church

Scripture Focus: 1 Thessalonians 1.2-10
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

John 15.5a
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches.

Reflection: The Fractal Church
By John Tillman

How does the message of the gospel reproduce despite hardship? How does good news echo in a chamber of suffering? 

Fractals occur often in our universe. They are repeating patterns that are self-similar regardless of scale. Among the many places we find these recursive patterns are the shapes of shorelines and rivers, the limbs and leaves of plants, and the bronchi and bronchioles in human lungs.

In a tree, the branches are like the trunk. Their width and shape have a mathematical relationship to the trunk’s width. The limbs are like the branches, and the stems are like the limbs. The leaves on the stems contain veins that repeat and repeat the same shapes and mathematical patterns seen in the trunk, branch, limb, and stem. In a human lung or a river system, we can see a nearly identical fractal pattern.

Within the church, a self-similar, recursive, repeating pattern should occur. The church should be a fractal that repeats the pattern of Jesus. He is the vine. We are the branches.

Regardless of scale, the pattern should be the same. Whether there are tens of thousands or only two or three, Jesus, and the pattern of his life and teaching must be present. Jesus is the trunk, and the churches and people of different eras are the branches, limbs, stems, and leaves. At each stage and in every age, we are intended to reproduce the trunk’s pattern. If it is not so, then our gatherings are deformed. They are aberrations and mutations. 

Paul lived among the Thessalonians, demonstrating the pattern of Jesus. They imitated him, reproducing the same pattern. That message and example rang out throughout their country, inspiring within other communities a self-similar group to begin repeating the pattern.

When the church becomes an imitator of Jesus and each member becomes an imitator of Jesus, the gospel’s message rings out beyond our communities to distant cities. The fruits of faith are carried to other climes where their seed is dropped.

The church cannot look like Jesus when her members fail or refuse to follow his pattern of life. Paul celebrated the Thessalonians’ faith, love, hope, and sacrifice that mimicked Jesus. May we celebrate and imitate it in our own lives and churches.

Faith produces work.
Love produces labor.
Hope produces endurance. (1 Thessalonians 1.3)
Plant these seeds in your life and your church’s life, be fruitful, and multiply.

From John: There are many ways of “doing church.” The church I am part of has a pattern of planting other churches and sending out our own members rather than only growing larger and larger. I will not disparage other churches’ strategies, however, I find this one “self-similar” to the pattern of the early church. This fall, one of the staff members I’m closest to will leave to start a church approximately an hour away. We won’t be joining the new church, but will you pray with me that not only their church plant, but many others will become self-similar imitators of Jesus within their communities? And will you pray for the church planting and evangelism efforts within your own denomination or church?


Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
The Lord lives! Blessed is my Rock! Exalted is the God of my salvation! — Psalm 18.46

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 16 (Listen 3:52)
1 Thessalonians (Listen 1:27)

Read more about The Branch and the Branches
Christ’s righteousness flows into us and we are able to create holy space, shade under the limbs of God’s tree.

The Branch and the Branches

Read more about Readers’ Choice
Tell us your faves of the past year via email, direct message, or the linked form and we will repost them during Readers’ Choice in September. 

https://forms.gle/9vyYwVxa1kZZn7AKA

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The Wall or the Wrecking Ball

Scripture Focus: Jeremiah 15:19–20
19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“If you repent, I will restore you
     that you may serve me;
 if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
     you will be my spokesman.
 Let this people turn to you,
     but you must not turn to them.
 20 I will make you a wall to this people,
     a fortified wall of bronze;
 they will fight against you
     but will not overcome you,
 for I am with you
     to rescue and save you,”
 declares the Lord.

Reflection: The Wall or the Wrecking Ball
By Erin Newton

Standing up for what you believe in conjures up images of stalwart protesters in a line. But it could be the minority vote in the church or the quivering voice that steps up to the microphone during a denominational meeting saying, “What we’ve done is wrong.”

After hearing the vivid reality of Judah’s inevitable destruction, Jeremiah interrupts. “Lord, you understand…Remember me…Care for me.” Despite the clear declaration of judgment—undoubtedly their sinfulness demanded it—Jeremiah leans into the mercy of God.

Jeremiah is our “weeping prophet” no less. But he is steadfast in his confidence that God is not only just but also merciful.

God responds through his trusted merciful and compassionate character. As long as Jeremiah seeks truth by speaking worthy words (funnily, God is clear that they are not worthless words), then God would make him a wall.

A wall?! What a strange image. God doesn’t say here he will make Jeremiah a likable hero. He isn’t making him a shade-giving tree or fruit-bearing vine. He will be a wall.

Walls keep people out of where they might want to go. To the person, walls are obstacles. They are always “in our way.” Walls tend to get graffitied and pushed on. (To be clear, walls built by humans to segregate or harm other humans are the worst of walls. But this is a divinely built, metaphorical “wall.”)

As a wall, Jeremiah would stand against his peers as they pushed against him, trying to make him crumble. They might even try to force their words, their ideas, on him in hopes he would move aside so they could carry on their sinful ways. They were headed on a path (to destruction) and Jeremiah as a wall was meant to keep them from advancing.

God doesn’t sugarcoat what it will be like for the prophet. It will be hard.

We might fantasize what it would be like to stand up for what we believe in. Will we be the unlikely superhero or star of a biography? The reality is that we are likely to be pushed against, tempted to cave in to peers, and join Jeremiah in lamenting for our world.

In a very real way, we may find ourselves not as the wall standing for God’s truth but as the wrecking ball, trying to tear down our fellow brother or sister.

Are you standing for truth or actively tearing down?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
I restrain my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word. — Psalm 119.101

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 15 (Listen 3:49)
Galatians 6 (Listen 2:18)

Read more about Readers’ Choice
Readers’ Choice starts in September, so it’s time to share your favorite posts of the year. Tell us your faves via email, direct message, or the linked form.

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Read more about Jeremiah, the Unpatriotic Prophet
Christians who see deeply into the problems of their country will often feel pressured not to speak about it for fear of being “unpatriotic” or “disrespectful.”

Jeremiah, the Unpatriotic Prophet
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Second Chances Blown

Scripture Focus: Jeremiah 14.11-14
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. 12 Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.” 13 But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ” 14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds

Reflection: Second Chances Blown
By John Tillman

How many “second chances” are we willing to give? How many do we deserve?

Judah’s second chances ran out. God wouldn’t even allow Jeremiah to pray for them anymore. They were given over to evil choices and consequences.

Judah had chance after chance to repent. They were reminded about sin but they turned back to it. They were warned about evil, but they just called evil good. Prophet after prophet proclaimed the truth, but they continually turned to lies.

With enough effort, you can always find a prophet saying what you want to hear. This was true for Judah and it is true for us today. If you don’t like the facts on the news, you can listen to different news channels with “alternate facts.” If hearing Jesus’ words at church offends your political sensibilities or convicts you of sin, you can always find a church that puts your political sensibilities in the pulpit instead of the gospel or never mentions sin. But this is deadly dangerous.

The first things God lists when describing himself to Moses are “compassionate, gracious, and slow to anger.” (Exodus 34.6) But even God reaches his limit. Our every little denial hardens our hearts a bit more. Every little rebellion opens a wider rift. Every little half-truth weakens our sight. Every little refusal to listen deafens.When we reject calls to repent, call evil good, and blaspheme the Holy Spirit speaking through his prophets we risk finding the limits of God’s patience. God is also the God who “does not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Exodus 34.6-7)

The first sign of God’s punishment is not usually fire from the sky or police at the door. It is when God stops appealing to our hard hearts and instead makes them even harder. He stops giving us light and leaves us in darkness. He stops calling out to us and leaves us in silence. He lets us become so sure of ourselves that we won’t listen to anyone. The most dreadful judgment of God is when he lets us burn in the fires of our own prideful self-confidence.

Have you blown your second chances? If you have any pricks of conscience, probably not yet. Those turned over to sin have seared consciences. Humble yourself and soften your heart.

Is there light you’ve blocked out? Truth you’ve tuned out? Sin you’ve indulged? Stirrings of the Spirit you’ve quenched? Prophets you’ve ignored? 

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Bow your heavens and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. — Psalm 144.5


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 14 (Listen 3:51)
Galatians 5 (Listen 3:22)

Read more about Readers’ Choice
We need your suggestions for Readers’ Choice in September. Tell us your favorite posts of the year via email, direct message, or the linked form.

https://forms.gle/9vyYwVxa1kZZn7AKA

Read more about Choices and Hard Hearts
Hardened hearts happen in stages. Our choices matter. Our hearts are hardened or softened day after day.

Choices and Hard Hearts—Readers’ Choice
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A Neglected Garment

Scripture Focus: Jeremiah 13.6-9
6 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

Reflection: A Neglected Garment
By John Tillman

God loves an object lesson. Some of God’s most disturbing and stomach-churning object lessons are in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

Jeremiah, at God’s direction, bought a new linen belt. It was unstained by use or mishap. Pristine. Flawless. Fine clothing was a mark of wealth and privileged status but this item of clothing would not have attracted attention and compliments. Most commentators believe it was worn as an undergarment. 

The garment was common, but God’s instructions were uncommon. God instructed Jeremiah to wear, but not wash, his new underwear. Then he instructed Jeremiah to take a long journey and bury this dirty underwear in a rocky, muddy crevice near a river. Later, when instructed to retrieve it, Jeremiah found the garment ruined and useless.

The garment was ruined by misuse, neglect, and abandonment. God says that his relationship with Judah is ruined in the same way. Judah’s issue was pride. It might seem odd to neglect or mistreat something we are proud of, but it happens often. The gifted athlete takes their talent for granted and ruins their body with drugs or alcohol. The gifted speaker fails to prepare and loses their reputation. The hare lays down to nap and is overtaken by the dutiful tortoise. The expensive car is not maintained and becomes a junker. The pricey designer clothes are improperly laundered and shrink.

Judah was privileged to have a close and intimate relationship with God. They were proud of this status, but they disregarded it. They didn’t maintain it. And they ultimately discarded and abandoned it.

What should be a source of pride became a mark of shame.
What should be functional became useless.
What should be beautiful became ruined.

Can this happen to us?

If Judah’s relationship with God was close, ours in Jesus is closer. If theirs was holy, ours in Jesus is spotless. If they had reason for pride, we have greater reasons.

Let us consider ourselves with sober judgment. Do we treat our status under Jesus with disdain? Neglect? Pride? Don’t let the gospel be a neglected garment.

Unlike Jeremiah’s ruined garment, we can be washed clean and made new again.
Jesus renews what we wreck.
What was rotted is restored to health.
What was ugly is made beautiful.
What was broken is repaired.
What was damaged is reinforced.

Let Christ dress us in the garment of the gospel and never neglect or abandon it.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe, for you are my crag and my stronghold; for the sake of your Name, lead me and guide me. — Psalm 31.3


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 13 (Listen 4:11)
Galatians 4 (Listen 4:13)

Read more about Garments of Peace
Make us a holy priesthood, in garments of peace, not holding ourselves above others, but lifting them up and carrying them to you.

Garments of Peace — Readers’ Choice

Read more about Readers’ Choice
We need to know your favorites from the past year for Readers’ Choice in September. Send them via email, direct message, or the linked form.

https://forms.gle/9vyYwVxa1kZZn7AKA