Sealed with Glitter

"Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit..." Ephesians 1:13b

Sealed with Glitter
By Rev. William Dohle

It's Christmas time, that time of year that we celebrate with items made by little hands by little children.  It's a time to celebrate the little letters that spell "I love you"...and it's a time for my least favorite part of Christmas...glitter!

Of all the inventions we have, glitter I think is my least favorite one of them all.  Even how we apply it freaks me out.  First you take some glue and smear it all over your paper.  Then you take the glitter and dump it on the glue.  And then you take the paper and dump the glitter off of it.  If you do this right, the excess glitter will go back in the container while pieces of it remain on your paper.

That's how it's suppose to work in theory.  In practice?  Well, first the glitter gets all over the place right from the start.  Then you dump a little too much on and get it on the table.  Then the excess stuff never magically lands back in its container.  In the end, even the glitter that lands on the glue itself doesn't stay for long and will soon land up somplace in your house where you don't really want it to be.

That's glitter for you.  It's not good sealing material.

And yet... our kids spend their time and energy and, most of all, their love glittering their "I love you's" to us, as if their cards and hearts are bound by glitter.  And we, loving parents that we are, see past the potential mess to see the love they have in their hearts.

Glitter may not be good binding material.  But we have something more binding than anything.  Something that, in the end, binds us to God.  It's not so glittery or even nice to look at, but it does last forever.  In the end, what binds us to God is the blood of Jesus Christ.

Blood has always been used as a sealer of covenants.  We speak of something being "written in blood" or "signed in blood" as somehow being binding regardless of circumstances.  Well... that's the way it's always been!

The first covenant to be bound this way was with Abraham who, in circumcision, wore the mark and scar of the bound covenant on him.  The second covenant to be bound by blood is this one from Exodus.

"Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls , and the other half he sprinkled on the altar.  Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people.  They responded, "We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey."(Ex. 24:6-7)

This is no glittery binding.  By the blood, the people are bound to obey the Lord and the Lord is bound to care for his people.  That's the way covenants work.  Each side promises to fulfill their part of the contract.

In Jesus, we are brought into a new covenant.  By HIS blood, we are sealed to God.  As the writer of Hebrews says:

"The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God.  FOR THIS REASON Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance."(Hebrews 9:13-15 emphasis added)

Christ's blood is stronger than glitter.  It's stronger even than the blood of the old covenant, for through him our consciences are cleansed so we can serve the living God.

This is the new covenant we Christians celebrate.  This covenant isn't dependent upon us.  We cannot seal it ourselves.  It is given to us by God.  A gift given in Jesus Christ.  By his blood, the covenant between us and God is sealed and we are God's, able now to "serve the living God" as the writer of Hebrew's declares.

This isn't a covenant that changes or falls away.  It isn't as fragile as glitter which flakes away the moment you touch it.  This covenant, given to us by God in Jesus Christ, lasts forever.

Remember that this Christmas as you open glittery gifts that will fade away.  Glitter may not seal well.  But the blood of Jesus Christ seals us to God forever.

Help me see, Lord, through this transient life, the eternal love and bond you have with us.  Help me see, through Jesus' blood, our relationship is secure.  Amen.

Doing What He Said

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  James 1:22

Doing What He Said
By Rev. William Dohle

I have a confession.  I didn't really realize what having a 12 year old meant and what this gate into the teenage years would look like. Not really...

For years I have counseled and led kids through this gate in Confirmation.  I've met kids in their tween years and walked through the gates until they were teenagers.  I've seen kids grow up and become able adults.  I've watched them change from their childish ways into the ways of being an adult.  I always saw a difference come to life within them, but I never really realized what it was.  Until now.

My oldest son, William, is in the middle of his 13th year of life(he's 12) and it's scary.  It's scary how grown up he looks...but how vulnerable he is.  It's scary how far into the future he must look...preparing in school for college and beyond.  It's scary how he hears and understands everything you say now.

But what's really scary is how he really doesn't take us, his parents, seriously.  Not anymore...

For instance... we tell him to do something.  Say... take out the garbage.  That is one of his many chores at home.  He responds: "Yes, of course..." and then goes into the other room and does something else.  We follow him in the other room to remind him and he says,"Oh you wanted me to do it now?" We respond yes... and he still doesn't do it.  Finally comes the time of consequence, where groundings occur in our home and phones get taken away.  THEN he does it(sometimes in a mad huff), storming out of the house.

Is that what all teenagers are like?  Am I going to be seriously scared when the younger ones get to be this age?

I've always dreamed my kids would be different.  They, more than anyone else, would know what gentle obedience looks like.  My dream was for them to be like the people of Israel were, back on Mount Sinai.

The people of Israel then, after they heard the law spoken and after Moses relayed what God had told them to do, had the chance to respond.  And the people of Israel responded with one voice:

"Everything the Lord has said we will do."(Exodus 24:3)

 Now that's significant in and of itself...but what's more significant is that they responded like that twice, as if to confirm what they had already said...

"We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey." (Exodus 24:7)

Wow!  What would that be like!?  To ask for something to be done and hear, not complaints or excuses or cries or even silence, but to hear: "Yes, Dad!" And to see it done!  Wouldn't that be great!

Of course the follow through isn't there for my son and wasn't there for the people of Israel.  Following this, the people of Israel strayed and disobeyed, one time after another.  The first disobedience was with a golden calf...but that we will look at later.  For now we see their heads are in the game.  Their hearts were not.
 
The same could be said of us too.  Even the most religious of us stray and fail.  We claim to be people of grace...but find judgement to be so easy.  We claim to love one another...but there's a few people we'd rather have nothing to do with.  We claim to want what God wants...but really we want God to want what we want.  Not the other way around.

We are a flawed, messed up group of people.  We are, in our hearts, just teenagers in older bodies.

Forgiveness is what we need, for our motivation is lacking and our vision blurred.  We fail to see why God would want us to do what he has commanded.  We sit on our couches, daring God to come make us change and make us grow.  We know what we should do, but we just don't do it.

For this we cry: Lord forgive us!  Motivate us to get off our rumps and follow, doing what you have commanded us to do, loving who you have commanded us to love, and following after you, not just because you say so, but because we love you!
 
I am too quick, Lord, to say I will when I really don't mean it.  Help me to bring my words and thoughts and actions in line with you.  Amen. 

Lengthening the Holy Days

"Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me."  Exodus 23:14

Lengthening the Holy Days
By Rev. William Dohle

Well, the Christmas season is upon us.

As much as I've wanted to crawl in a hole and hide from the holiday season, it's here!  Again!  And it's early this year I think.  This year I saw my first Christmas commercial at the beginning of October and already my dear wife has begun watching The Hallmark Channel's Christmas specials.  (12 specials for 6 weeks!)  Already tears have been shed over one sweet story or another.  And already(and I do mean already) the Christmas gifts have been bought for the children and all is prepared.  (Yes, you read that right).

For all the fuss we make over Christmas, it's amazing how fast the holiday truly goes.  We spend two to three months getting everything ready.  The presents get bought.  The tree comes out.  The lights go up.  The candy and cookies are bought.  All is prepared for a holiday that lasts...

Just...  One... Day.

That's right.  Just one day.  For most of us anyway.  Most of us will spend the our time on the front end of the holiday, getting everything ready for the big December 25th day.  And then, once everything is unwrapped and eaten, we'll be as quick as can be to get it all taken down and boxed away for another year.

It's sad how long our holidays last.  They usually only last a day.  No more.

Even the 4th of July lasts longer than Christmas sometimes I think, with parades in the morning, barbeque in the afternoons, and fireworks in the evening.

But where does this all come from?  Where do our holidays originate from?

The first mention of a holiday, or Holy Day if you want to parse it out, comes from the book of Exodus.  Here the people of Israel are instructed to have three festivals.

"Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me."  And how long are they to be?  Well, in the center of Exodus we only have details of one.  "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you."  This festival, known as the Passover or Seder, lasts seven days.

The Bible here doesn't go into detail of the rest, but I can say from watching my Jewish friends, that their holidays last a whole lot longer than ours.

Hanaukkah, the festival of lights coming about at the end of the month, lasts 8 days.
The Season of Rosh Hashanna lasts 8 days.
The Festival of Tabernacles lasts another 8 days.

There are others...but these are the most well known ones.

And notice how long they last!?  8 days!  These people of God do not just celebrate for a single hour or even a single day, but an entire week!  8 days is the usual time they spend in holiday dedicated to God!  That's some celebration!

The Christian church tries to extend the celebrating some.  Christmas doesn't last just one day, but twelve.  The season of lent, a time of personal reflection leading up to Holy Week, lasts 40 days.  And the celebration of Easter resurrection takes the cake at a whopping 50 day celebration!

Imagine if we actually celebrated this long.  Imagine if we paced ourselves and instead of using all of our good will on one day(or even on the days leading up to that one day) we used it instead on a whole season from that day on.  What would our lives be if the holidays weren't just one day...but many?

God invites us here to do just that.  To make the celebration last.  God invites us here to extend our festivals whenever and wherever we can, to pause before we take down our Christmas tree after the holiday and just enjoy the season for what it is, and to realize, ultimately, the only thing we have with each other is time.  That time will never come again.

This Christmas stop.  Just stop.  Treasure the moments between each of the gifts opened.  Look deeply in the eyes of your loved ones.  Cherish the smiles and the laughter and the life you see reflected back at you.  Christmas 2013 will never come again.  All you will have to remember it is your memories and the pictures you take.  So cherish it, extend it, and enjoy it, for that is what God would have you do.

May God bless your preparations for Christmas.  May God help you get all ready for the first day.  And may God help you extend your celebrations to the whole Christmas season.

God, you invite us to celebrate and party like no other god can.  Give us grace that we may relax and enjoy the season as we celebrate the birth of your Son.  Amen.

An Interlude on Faith

"These were commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised."  Hebrews 11:39

We Interrupt this life...
By Rev. William Dohle

What has interrupted your life lately?

Good or bad, interruptions come to all of us, disturbing us and challenging us, moving us in ways we never expected.

Some interruptions are good.  A newfound love where love wasn't expected.  The surprise birth of a new child.  The interruption that comes when family arrives for the holidays.

And other interruptions aren't so good.  These we wish had never come because, after the interruption happens, life is never the same.

That was my day last week...and the week before that day as well.

It all started with my son saying loudly in the narthex: "There's a tornado warning!"  And it all ended with the news that a large tornado had hit the communities of East Peoria, Pekin, and, most of all, Washington, Illinois.  As pictures appeared, the worry started.  Who was affected by this tragedy?  How might they be handling it?

That, in retrospect, wasn't the beginning of the interruption but rather the continuation of it.  It began before the tornado when we heard news that a member of the congregation lost her two infant twin girls.  It began when I heard how she and her family held their two little girls in their arms until they passed away later that evening.  The interruption began with that sad news.

And like all interruptions...it disturbed the routine.  Coming to work on Monday after the tornado seemed ridiculous.  How could I continue to work as if nothing had happened knowing that others were suffering just miles away?  Writing a sympathy card, being supportive, seemed hard for me as well.  What could I say to this family that would help?

I really struggled with the interruption.  "Why, God?" I prayed.  "Why has this happened now?  Who is affected by this tragedy?  How will they cope?  What will this do to their faith?"
Of course that does nothing but exasperate the interruption, for interruptions thrive in such questions.  Why questions fuel the interrption's power over our life and immobilize us.

Often we try to answer these questions with our own personal prosperity gospel.  If we are faithful and good enough, (and we always think we are) God will be good to us and nothing bad will happen in our lives.  I've already heard their voices and the estimation of the tragedy has just begun.  I've already heard of the family who cries to the heavens, "I can't pray or believe in a God who would do this to us!"

That's the prosperity Gospel at work there.  That's one answer to the question.  We all have a little bit of that.  It's truly a human response.  We all want some sort of resolution or answer to our problem. Someone to blame always gives us just that.

But that way doesn't lead to any resolution.  It only leads to despair.  The only way to face the interruptions in our life is, not to ask why they happened to us, but how we can get through.  And the only way to get through is through faith.  Our faith may not protect us from all of life, but our faith can carry us through.

The book of Hebrews speaks of faith this way:

"And what more shall we say?... Women received back their dead, raised to life again.  Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, while others were chained and put in prison.  They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated--the world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.  These were all commended for their faith."  (Hebrews 11:32, 35-39a)

What these verses are saying is:  Faith doesn't guarantee life.  Some were stoned and sawed in two and put to death for their faith, not because they didn't ask to be released but because, sometimes, that's where faith gets you.  Sometimes the end result of a faithful prayer is the same as it would have been had you not prayed.

Two people experience a tragedy.  One has faith.  The other does not.  Both have experienced the same thing, but each looks at it in a completely different way.  One looks beyond the tragedy.  One focuses solely on the event.  One sees the country ahead.  The other looks solely at the country they are in.  One deals with the present.  The other strives for the future.

That's faith.  Faith gives you eyes to see beyond your current situation.  Faith is the means by which you patiently hold out for something you cannot see or experience or taste or touch, but something you know is more real than the tragedy you are experiencing.

Faith is what Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego had when they responded to King Nebuchadnezzar this way: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods..."(Daniel 3:17-18)

Do you hear what they said, "...even if he does not."  That's faith right there.

Faith realizes that sometimes prayers are not answered in the way we think they should be answered.  Tragedy comes upon us all.  And yet, faith asserts that, despite the evidence at hand.  Despite God being quiet, we will still worship.  We still still hold on.  As one amazingly faithful mother said upon the death of her twins, "God is good."

May God grant us such faith that we too might, even in the face of death and destruction, might boldly say, "But still we shall live!"

Faithful God, you have surrounded us with such a cloud of witnesses who held on to you in life and death.  Give us faith that we might trust, not in what we see, but in who you are.  Amen.

Being There

"See I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way to bring you to the place I have prepared."  Exodus 23:20

Being There
By Rev. William Dohle

They say the greatest gift you can give someone is your presence...and I think they're right.  The most treasured thing we have, the one thing we must give away some each day, is time.  It is our greatest treasure.  Those we spend our time with we hold in the highest esteem.  They mean the most to us.  Those we spend less or none of our free time with don't really matter in our lives.

Sadly I believe many people forget this fact.  Especially couples.  Time is precious and what we spend that time on matters.  Of course, we must spend some time apart.  Work and other obligations must be met.  But our free time is ours to do with as we choose and sometimes even that is misused.  The time we have is precious and we must treat it as such.  In my ministry, I have seen many couples choose to spend their free time in separate places, away from each other.   One leaves for a weekend without the one here.  The other goes away for a weekend without the other there.  One decides to vacation at this place.  The other that place.  It isn't long before the two of them are living completely separate lives which, unfortunately, often leads to divorce.

The same thing goes with our children too.  As parents, we only have a short time with our children to be with them in the home.  The goal of parenting is to raise independently minded, loving, faithful adults, but the time we have to do that is so short.  It saddens me when parents too will spend so much of their free time alone or apart from their kids.  They are only here for a short time.  We need to treasure that.

Thankfully, God knows the value of time.  In fact, we are told in Scripture, that God never leaves us.  He doesn't go away from us or abandon us.  He doesn't go off and do his own thing for a weekend someplace else leaving us to our own devices.  Instead, God is here with us the whole way.

In the center of Exodus, right at the heart of God's law, comes the promises that God will be with Israel...and likewise us.  God is with them, not in some detached way, but in a real, active way.  Here's what God is going to do...

...I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way...
...I am preparing a place for you...
...I will wipe out your enemies...
...I will take away sickness from among you...
...I will give you a full life span...
...I will will make your enemies turn their backs and run...
...I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the [other nations[ out of your way.
...I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines(from Ex 23)

 These are all God's actions for God's people.  This is the result of God's being there.

We can look at that list today and marvel at what God did for the people of Israel then.  And we can look at that list and see what God does for us now.

Few of us know or can even comprehend what we are protected against.  We just don't see it.  When we claim God has left us, sometimes I think it is our perceptions that are at fault.  We just don't see what God is doing.  That's how good he is.  Like an expert magician, God hides much of what God does for us.  He just does it!

In the course of the day, God protects us from all kinds of evil.  He heats our homes and warms our hearts.  He opens our eyes to the needy and gives us the courage to reach out to those who are wanting.  God convicts us our sins and forgives us of them too.  He loves us through our friends and family and strengthens us along the way.

That's only a small list.  God does so much more too!  God is constantly at work all around us, doing what he does unseen, all because he's here.  Because God doesn't take a vacation away from us, his family, he is able to walk with us, beside us, on every step of life's journey.

God never leaves us nor forsakes us.  Maybe because God knows how precious time is to us.  After all, we are like the grass which is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the fire.  Maybe God knows this...

But I think it has something to do with how much God loves us.  God loves us so much that he sent His Son to live, die, and live again all for us.  God loves us enough to say, in effect, life isn't long enough with my people.  I want them with me forever.

May we spend our time with our families as God spends his time with us.  Lavishing what little time we have with them on them.

I am on earth but a short time.  Give me wisdom that I may count my days and invest them wisely in those around me.  Amen.

p.s.  If you are struggling with time management, particularly in your relationships, talk to someone, a pastor or a councilor.  Someone who can help.  Silence is the quiet killer of relationships.

Not So Cut and Dry

"Be careful to do everything I have said to you." Exodus 23:13

Not So Cut and Dry
By Rev. William Dohle

There's a song I just loved growing up.  It has the most familiar tune to it too and sometimes, if you've had even just a smidge of Sunday School, you'll sing right along with it.  It's words go like this...

Jesus Loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him be loved
They are weak, but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.

I love that song!  It really hits at the heart of our faith as children.  Jesus loves me...so all can be right with the world.  And I know it because the Bible (and most of the time Mommy and Daddy and that nice guy or gal who stands up front in church) tells me so.

That simple faith, based on the Bible, can be found too in a popular Fundamentalist bumper sticker too.  It reads:

"God Said it.  I believe it.  That settles it!"

Unfortunately, read through that book called the Bible, the book we claim God wrote, and we come across a number of things that we don't believe and, quite frankly, don't follow at all.

Take, for instance, some of the laws we find written in the book of Exodus.

Anyone who attacks his father or his mother must be put to death. (21:15)
Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. (21:17)
If a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death. (21:14)
Do not allow a sorceress to live. (22:18)
Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed. (22:29)

All of these have the penalty of death attached to them.  No exception.  If we are to do what the Bible says.  If God said it and we believe it and that settles it, shouldn't it also settle that we are to kill our children if they attack us or even curse us?  Shouldn't that settle most murder cases?  Take them out and kill them, according to this reading of Scripture.

Of course, even if you agree and say we should follow these statements, there are still other politically charged statements to consider like...

"Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt."(22:21...concerning immigration)
Or...
"Do not take advantage of a widow or orphan."(22:22...concerning possibly welfare?)
Or...
"Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people."(22:28...even if you disagree with them?)

The list goes on and on.  How do you handle these statements if "God said it...I believe it...that settles it?"  It's hard to reconcile an unwavering, uncritical view of Scripture with these statements that we clearly do not follow.

There is, though, another way of looking at it.  One described in the graphic above.  That way involves taking the text and interpreting it.  Here you take what is written and ask yourself, "What am I hearing in this text?  How does it speak to me?"

For example, the rabbis of old would often interpret the texts concerning capital punishment this way.  If the Torah(Bible) said it once, it was a warning.  If it said it twice, it meant that punishment should ensue if the commandment was broken.  And every(or nearly every) instance of capital punishment could be resolved with a monetary fine.

Christians often do the same by ignoring the sections of the Bible that don't speak to them.  We dismiss them as ancient laws and rules of a by-gone era.  We hold the first ten sacred, but fall off when it comes to following the rest.  Martin Luther interpreted Scripture through Christ.  A "canon within a canon" was what he called the pieces of Scripture that spoke of Christ the clearest.  The rest could be discarded if need be.

So, how do you read Scripture?  What do you do with these texts?  Instead of coming up with a iron-clad rulebook, I think it might help if we follow a process.  First we read what is written.  Not what we think has been written.  What is actually there.  Then we read before and after it to take in into context.  We look further into Scripture to see how others have interpreted this passage.  Then, with tradition and the words of the saints, you work through what you feel this passage might mean now for you.  Not for others, but for you.  You apply the words you read first to yourself and your life.  Then you turn to the community of faith, the church, to ask them what they think of your interpretation and what modifications need to be made.  And then you apply said interpretation, bring these words to life through your example.

If we're honest with ourselves and really attempt to follow what God in all of Scripture has taught us, through the Holy Spirit we may slowly become more loving, graceful, and forgiving of others.  We may work for justice for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner in particular.  We may see God's big plan for the world being, not condemnation, but benevolent salvation.  And, ironically, we may begin to look more and more like his Son, Jesus the Messiah.

Just a thought as you are reading through the best library of religious writing ever compiled.  The one and only Bible!

I am confused, Lord, most of the time I open Scripture, and yet I come to you with an open heart, asking you to speak to me through the words written so long ago.  Amen.

True Religion

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

True Religion
By Rev. William Dohle

A few weeks ago, in a conversation around "Give us this day our daily bread" I sat our Confirmation kids down to show them just how blessed they truly were.  In a video made by Bread for the World, they watched as pictures of children, all starving and suffering from malnutrition, were paraded on the screen.  Each of the pictures seemed worse than the previous one.  And I watched their faces drop and their shoulders slump.

In the end, I asked them all what they thought of what they saw.  They had a few questions, mostly about whether it was real or not.  I explained how children throughout the world suffered from starvation and gave them some of the startling statistics.

World Hunger Statistics
Total number of children that die every year from hunger	1.5 million
Percent of world population considered to be starving	33%
Time between deaths of people who die from hunger	3.6 seconds
Total number of people in the world who suffer from hunger and malnutrition	800 million
Total number of people who do not have enough to eat	936 million people
Total percentage who do not have enough to eat who live in developing countries	98%
Total percentage of world’s hungry that live in 7 countries	65%
Number of people who died of hunger today	20,864
Total number of people who will die of hunger this year	7,615,360
Total percentage of U.S. households that are at risk of hunger	11%

Sadly the video only highlighted the children and the impact hunger had on them.  Most videos go that direction, showing pictures of the children rather than the adults.  Unfortunately, hunger and poverty affect all ages.  No one goes unscathed.  Parents who are hungry raise children who are hungry.  And the cycle continues.

The Bible takes on this cycle head on.  Not only are widows and orphans, the two groups at the bottom of the biblical social scale, mentioned specifically by God to be cared for.  But their cries are the cries God hears most.

"Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan.  If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.  My anger will be aroused and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

"If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest.  If you take your neighbors cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body.  What else will he sleep in?  When he cries out to me, I will hear for I am compassionate."  (Exodus 22:22-27)

 This is not the first time, and certainly not the last time, orphans and widows are specifically mentioned in the Bible.  Care for them is absolutely important.  Commanded by God in fact.  When the poor cry out, God hears them.  God shows compassion for them.  And God acts to turn the world around to care for them.

We too are to join God in his care for the poorest among us.  According to St. James, this is what true religion is.  Caring for the orphan and widow.  That's it.  That's what it means to be a Christian.  To be "Christ-like".  We are to care for the needy, as Christ did.  As Christ fed the multitudes, so we are to join him in feeding the multitudes.  As Christ reached out and touched the untouchable, so we too are to touch those our society deems untouchable.  As Christ healed those who could not repay him, so we too are to heal those who have no power to repay us or anyone.

Is that what True Christianity is?  Caring for the orphan and widow and not allowing ourselves to being polluted by the world?  What if that's it?  It seems so easy and yet so hard.  In church circles, we pride ourselves with things like converting or church planting.  We secretly look up to those with the biggest church, the best car, the largest home, and those who invoke God's name the most.  If we are to take God seriously in Exodus and St. James seriously in his epistle...we're going to need to change our ways some.

What if every "Christian" politician was to produce a record of deeds done to the least and the little and the lost before we believed they had faith?  What if every church was measured by their acts of mercy to those around them?  What if we looked up, not to the congregations and pastors with the largest attendance, but with those who had done the most good in their communities?

We may not be saved by our good works...but we are still called to produce them.  Faith without works is dead, another kernel of wisdom from St. James.  Caring for the least and little is what it means to be a Christian.  That's what it means to have faith.  And if every person of faith in every land reached out to just one widow or orphan, the world could turn around one widow and orphan at a time.

Your eye, O God, is on the widow and the orphan, the hungry and the alien, the wanderer and the outcast.  Open our eyes that we might see them through You.  Amen.