Author: John Tillman

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Seeing the Lord

Scripture: Colossians 4.2-3
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

Reflection: Seeing the Lord
By John Tillman

Seeing the Lord—finally seeing him truly for who he is—is a huge part of the resurrection story. Perhaps seeing him truly as Lord is why so many did not, at first recognize him. He is not just a gardener. He is not merely a traveling scriptural scholar. He is so much more than a sea-side campfire chef.

May we see the Lord fully in this season of Easter. May we celebrate his mercy and take on the challenge of telling others what and who we have seen.

I Saw the Lord
By Matt Tullos

In the year of disappointment, loneliness, fear
in the year of confusion, desperation and chaos
I saw the Lord.

My eyes had been blinded by amusement, toys,
by savings and wealth
dreams and aspirations in the midst of the
sandcastles of my own self-importance.

My eyes were blinded by the temporal, until an
eternal God shook the doorposts of my soul.
He came to me. And I saw myself for who I
was outside of Him, naked, dying, cold,
starving, and helpless. He didn’t come in the sanctuary.

He didn’t come in the crowds.
He didn’t come in the ceremonies,
in the shifting dance of the day-to-day.
He came into my deepest closet of
hopelessness.

He didn’t come with four laws.
He didn’t come with three points and a poem.
He visited me at midnight when I least
expected to hear His voice. He came to me
at a time when my hopes were dashed, when
my future appeared bankrupt.

He came to me when every solid foundation
seemed to collapse. He came to me in the
wilderness of my own destitution.
He came to me in the poverty of my own
understanding.

He came to me when I laid down my toolbox
My first aid kit and my cookbook. He came to me!
Hallelujah! With a quick fix? No.

He came to me… with a list of seminars and
books to read?
No.

He came to me and there was nothing,
absolutely nothing, I could offer in my own
strength.

The masks, alibis, and diplomas faded under
the light of His passionate gaze.
He didn’t need me. He didn’t need my talents.
He didn’t need my knowledge, my money,
or my influence.

On the contrary, He came to me because for the
first time in my life, I knew that I was
utterly helpless. I didn’t have the answers.

For the first time in my life I knew that no
word, no thought, no event would change
me. Only God. Christ alone could change
my heart.

He came to me. He wrapped His arms around
me and said,

“My beloved, I’ve been waiting for you.”

(From And Now You Know the Rest of His Glory 1999)

Prayer: The Request for Presence
Show us the light of your countenance, O God, and come to us. — based on Psalm 67.1

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 21 (Listen – 3:12)
Colossians 4 (Listen – 2:21)

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Waking up to Easter

Scripture: Colossians 3.1, 17
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above,…And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Reflection: Waking up to Easter
By John Tillman

In Surprised by Hope, N.T. Wright questions how we approach and celebrate Easter.

I regard it as absurd and unjustifiable that we should spend forty days keeping Lent, pondering what it means, preaching about self-denial, being at least a little gloomy, and then bringing it all to a peak with Holy Week, which in turn climaxes in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday…and then, after a rather odd Holy Saturday, we have a single day of celebration.

… Is it any wonder people find it hard to believe in the resurrection of Jesus if we don’t throw our hats in the air? Is it any wonder we find it hard to live the resurrection if we don’t do it exuberantly in our liturgies? Is it any wonder the world doesn’t take much notice if Easter is celebrated as simply the one-day happy ending tacked on to forty days of fasting and gloom? It’s long overdue that we took a hard look at how we keep Easter in church, at home, in our personal lives, right through the system. And if it means rethinking some cherished habits, well, maybe it’s time to wake up.

“Waking up” to Easter may be a disruptor to our ordinary lives. If we are honest, we’d rather get on with the world now. We want to go back to eating whatever we surrendered to Lent. Go back to doing. Go back to achieving.

We want to go back to winning at life and move past all of this gloomy suffering and servanthood. We want to go back to Emmaus with Cleopas and his companion and back to business-as-usual fishing with Peter.

But the truth is that Easter is a season, not a day. Christ’s appearances, spread over 40 days after his resurrection were leading and preparing the disciples for Pentecost and the birth of the church.

As we move through the season of Easter, may we continue to “throw our hats in the air.”

May we find ourselves interrupted on the road to Emmaus by Christ, our unexpected guest. May we break bread with him and find our mind opened to the scriptures.

May our business-as-usual days of fishing be interrupted by unexpected advice as Christ’s voice calls from the distant shore. May we shed our business-as-usual attitude, abandoning our work to swim to shore.

Let us see what the risen Christ will say to us today.

Prayer: The Cry of the Church
Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again!

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 20 (Listen – 3:19)
Colossians 3 (Listen – 3:09)

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Fasting and Feasting

Scripture: Philippians 2.3-5
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

Reflection: Fasting and Feasting
By John Tillman

The one biblical feast most Christians know about is Passover or Pesach. This celebration is a combination of fasting and feasting. Families abstained from specific ingredients and indulged in others. Modern Jewish Seders are large, celebratory meals intended to be shared with guests and specifically the poor.

Christians have stripped this feast down to a cracker and a thimble.

This isn’t to say Christians have completely abandoned feasting. Liturgical churches designate many feasts and times of fasting throughout the year. Evangelicals have not completely abandoned feasting or fasting but have abandoned any structure or organization to their observance.

However, many Christians still don’t think of “feasting” as a holy activity. As much as we love potluck suppers and dinner-on-the-grounds, they are rarely held up as anything other than a social event. Even when meals are institutionally celebrated feasts, Christians of all denominations tend to speak of these celebratory meals with apologetic tones. Many an honored deacon or pastor has publicly prayed, “Lord, bless our bodies despite that of which we are about to partake.”

We shouldn’t flagellate ourselves much for misunderstanding and misinterpreting feasting and fasting. They have always been topics of controversy and religious struggle.

John the Baptist came fasting and Jesus came feasting, and both faced harsh critique. John was damned for doing it and Jesus was damned because he didn’t.

Many of the condemnations of the biblical prophets concern violations of the spirit of, if not the actual practice of, the festivals and feasts that God had established.

Like the Israelites’ celebrations, which went from being a trumpeted memorial before God to being something God despised, our fasting and feasting can easily become meaningless rituals that make us feel good about ourselves but are despised by God.

To prevent this we can’t allow the purpose of these observances to become obscured by the details of their practice. To do so robs them of any spiritual power.

Whenever there is a form devoid of spiritual power, law will take over because law always carries with it a sense of security and manipulative power. — Richard Foster

As we engage in feasting or fasting, during the season of Lent and beyond, may we not grow secure in legalistic, moralistic rules, but stay insecure, relying on God and seeking him more fervently than legalistic perfection.

Prayer: A Reading
Just at this time, some Pharisees come up. “Go away,” they said. “Leave this place because Herod means to kill you.” He replied, “You may go and give that fox this message: Look! Today and tomorrow and the next day I must go on since it would not be right for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem.” — Luke 13.31-33

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 15 (Listen – 3:36)
Philippians 2 (Listen – 3:45)

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Rejection

Scripture: John 19:15
But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

Reflection: Rejection
By Matt Tullos

Rejection: When walls go up, and you stand alone. Completely discarded and unwelcomed.

Away with him!

These heartless words are scattered across the landscape of a world full of religion, judgment, and bloodlust. And worst of all, the cruel apathy that pushes divine grace aside like a dead weed.

“Away with Him!” they shouted, as if this suffering Hero had the looks of last week’s garbage– vile and putrid under the haze of a bitter sun.

How often I have dismissed the precious Lamb of God from my life. I, like Pilate, have whisked Him off the throne at the slightest moment of inconvenience, seeking to please the masses by releasing the Lamb who knew no sin.

“Away with Him!” I’ve said, when life seemed unsure.
“Away with Him!” I’ve said in my exhaustion.
“Away with Him!” I’ve have said in times of pride and vainglory.

And we, the bride He so loved have said, “Away with Him!”
…from our culture,
…our schools,
…our homes,
…our values,
…our bank accounts,
…our futures.

We, like Pilate, have called out, faultless though Jesus is, “Away with Him!” We have washed our hands of this divine enigma.

Lord, Jesus Son of God, have mercy on us.

We have condemned you with our actions in exchange for the false security of our personal idols and jewels. Lord, have mercy on our country for we too have condemned innocent blood.

There was no one standing beside You that day.

You stood alone without a defender. And in this moment, I draw strength from the thought that through You, I too may stand alone in my desperate hour of need. When I am treated unfairly, help me to reflect on that moment in History when, under the greatest anguish known to man, You suffered rejection as a balm of hope on my behalf. You stood under a cascade of shame and rejection so that I may draw strength and help in my darkest hours.

Lord Jesus, Son of God, I thank Thee for the power to stand alone, defenseless.

Amen.

Rejection challenges you to discover the steadfast companionship of the One who walked through complete and utter annihilation to redeem to you.

Reflect upon a rejection you’ve experienced in your life and the effect it has had upon you.
Is there something about that experience that shapes your decision making today?
Does it still haunt your emotions?

*From a series Matt Tullos wrote called 39 Words. A few of these posts (including this one) are available in audio form via Soundcloud. — John

Prayer: The Greeting
Your statutes have been like songs to me wherever I have lived as a stranger. — Psalm 119.54

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 14 (Listen – 3:45)
Philippians 1 (Listen – 4:03)

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Purpose

Scripture: Ephesians 6.10, 13
Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power…so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. — Mark Twain

Reflection: Purpose
By Matt Tullos

Purpose: When the song of our lives synchronizes with the heartbeat of God.

Yesterday evening—Palm Sunday evening.
The road is scattered with green branches quickly turning brown, trampled by a festival of triumph.
The darkness settles in as shadows fall on the city sky.
It seems as if the shouts still echo through its gates.
His feet drenched in alabaster and tears.
He begins his walk toward the torment of a world’s curse.
Mary senses things only a mother could feel.
The week begins.
Jesus weeping alone… No one else was less deserving of Friday. But in a transcendent, eternal sense there was no one else in the history of the universe qualified for Friday.

A deep and unfathomable dichotomy of grace and truth, joy and sorrow, pain and bliss.

Soon, in the final hours of Jesus’ life, he will face the horror of the coming brutality, minutes outside the door of the Roman Governor’s court. Jesus stands before him and says, “I was born for this.” Blessed be the one who rises above the pain to apprehend His purpose.

Jesus shows us how it’s done.

What could possibly be greater than standing for Jesus just as He stood for us? If only men and women viewed their call to suffer as Christ suffered, to live as Christ lived, and to serve as Christ served. If only we would seize the helm of holy opportunity and say these same words, “I was born for this! I have come into the world for this!”

What mission and purpose gives you bliss, contentment and meaning?
How could you embrace your purpose with more passion and desire?

We each have a unique purpose, but also we all have a universal purpose. It is found at the cross and it calls out to us every day we live…

Lay down your life. Put others first. Don’t manipulate people. Swallow the tendency to whine when you aren’t the center of the universe. Give the world and the Jesus family service, second to none. Embrace your divine calling every day. Cling to what God has promised and discard the rest.

This is our purpose. Simple. True. Beautiful.

*From a series Matt Tullos wrote called 39 Words. A few of these posts are available in audio form via Soundcloud. — John

Prayer: A Reading
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant…
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered the promise of mercy… — Luke 1.46-48, 54

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 13 (Listen – 2:45)
Ephesians 6 (Listen – 3:17)