Congregated

"In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise," Hebrews 2:12.

Who's singing? Jesus. Who's he singing to? God. Where's he singing from? From the middle of the congregation. What congregation? Ah, well, that's today's subject. Congregation translates this Greek word: ekklesia. Most everywhere else in our English New Testaments ekklesia comes like this: church. And this word, church, loads so much misinformation that we must unteach. Church doesn't mean building. Church doesn't mean religion. Church doesn't mean organizational hierarchy. (Whatever that means.) Church doesn't mean religious leaders with unusual clothes and jewelry. The Bible word means, well, like it says up there, congregation. Assembly. Gathering. Group. Of people. And in Jesus' case it's that group of persons who listen to him singing. From their midst. To God.

With a brother or sister today, we gather to hear Jesus sing to God. That he is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. And, congregated (even if by phone or internet), we give thanks.

Pastoral

"We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture," Psalm 100:3.

Whose people? The Lord God Jehovah's people! Don't you forget whose you are. Now, sometimes folks will interpret like this: God is God, God made us to be sheep, so we're nothing more than just a bunch of old sheep. I get the value to warn against human arrogance, but here it misses whole thing big time. A pastoral society defines wealth in terms of its stock of cattle or sheep. So here's what it says: God created us, we are his, we are his people, we're his stock market. When God shows off his wealth to whatever in the world (and out of the world) there is to show it to, you're what he shows. So don't harden your heart. Don't you forget your value to whose you are!

With a brother or sister today we remind each other that God is good, his steadfast love endures forever. And, together, we say, Thank you God, we bless your name!

Unshakable

"The kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matthew 4:17.

At hand means real soon now. So where is Jesus' heavenly kingdom? Well, some folks say it's still not here yet. It's so common to think of the kingdom as a future reality. It's so common to think that Jesus' church, a present reality, is a sloppy placeholder until God finally gets the act all together. It's so common to think that maybe someday, if we're good enough, we'll get to be part of heaven's kingdom. But all that is not Bible. Rather, the kingdom Jesus said was coming soon, got here already in the lifetime of some standing there when Jesus said it. And it's still here, among us. Behold, God qualified his people, God already transferred these from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son. Already. Redeemed. Forgiven. Sky kingdom.

No fear with a brother or sister today! It's the father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom. We share with any and all in need of stuff and of salvation. And, having received an unshakable kingdom, together we give thanks.

Gratitude

"To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen." Romans 16:27.

Thank you, God, for your wisdom. Thank you, God, for your steadfast love. Thank you, God, for your merciful kindness. Thank you, God, for your forgiveness. Thank you, Father, for your son, Jesus. Thank you, Father, for adopting us all, your children, brothers and sisters to Jesus. Thank you, God, for your congregation. Thank you, God, for family. Thank you, God, for our earthly parents. Thank you, God, for our friends. Thank you, God, for supplying the necessities of life. Thank you, God, for sharing your wealth. Thank you, God, for letting us join your work. Thank you, God, for the rock-solid hope of forever life with you in the sky kingdom.

Today we join in with a brother or sister and together in one voice we say Thank you God! Hear our gratitude, forever.

Foreigners

"It is a faithful thing you do for the brothers - foreigners/strangers as they are," 3 John 5.

Who's talking? Old man John, the last living apostle of Jesus' twelve. Who's he talking to? A man walking in the truth, named Gaius. What's Gaius doing to show John his faithfulness to Jesus? He supports fellow Christians who have gone out for sake of Jesus' name (sounds like missionaries, doesn't it?), even though these brothers are foreigners, strangers to Gaius. John says that when God's people support these folks, they become workers together in the truth. How cool is that? (Note, it's not just anybody, willy-nilly, Gaius supports - these are clearly brothers; just not of Gaius' own worldly cultural people.) Yes, the old apostle says they don't depend on unbelievers - believers must support these brothers. Sky kingdom.

Today, with a brother or sister, we join with workers in the truth of Jesus to put the name of Jesus before a lost world. And, together, we offer thanks that God received us, strangers, into his kingdom.

Real

"Whoever continues to follow the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son," 2 John 9.

What's the teaching of Christ? It's this command (command? does he command? yes, he does): Love one another. Do it, and you have access to God. Pretty straightforward, isn't it? Don't do it, you don't have God. Pretty sobering, isn't it? But wait a minute! Does the phrase "follow the teaching of Christ" refer to something Jesus taught, or does it refer to some teachings about Jesus? Yes, indeed. Got that right. It does. What he taught: Love one another. What is taught about him: Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Anyone who advances teaching beyond this is the antichrist. Is a worker of wicked works. Whoa! that's pretty harsh, isn't it? But that's what it says.

We find a brother or sister today and serve them in the love of Christ. Jesus, the very real man, helped very real people in this very real world, and we do, too. And, together, we give thanks to the one who loved us, for real.

Trailblazer

"Whoever dwells in the support of the Most High, will spend the night in the shelter of the God of skies," Psalm 91:1.

You, O God, are my shelter, my fortress! I trust you to cover me with your wings. Spending the night with your presence, I will fear no night terrors, no pandemic. And no dangers at noon. A thousand harms may fall all around me, but your watchful eyes keep me secure. You are the highest of all: your refuge the safest anywhere. I marvel that at your command your mighty angels guard me! At your command they lift me up! I hold fast to you in love; I know your name, O God. I call to you alone. And you deliver me.

With a brother or sister, today, we urge each other to hang on more tightly in love to the Most High God. And, together, we give thanks for Jesus, the trailblazer of our faith.

Millennium

"You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear'," Lamentations 3:57.

God had promised a forever kingdom to the house of David. That earthly throne held David's direct descendants in Jerusalem for about half a millennium. Now, the weeping prophet heralds and witnesses its horrific end: Jerusalem, throne, and temple turned to dust. And its people ... slaughtered. The left-overs, taken into slavery. But even now, a descendant of David, King Jehoiachin, lives, deported to Babylon. Seventy years later, another descendant of David, Zerubbabel, captive born, returns to rebuild the temple. A descendant of his, born about half a millennium later, finds a manger as his crib. A thousand years from David to Jesus. No earthly kingdom. Forever kingdom of the skies.

With a brother or sister today, we do not fear. God has transferred us from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And, together, we give thanks. Sky kingdom.

Hand

"We should love one another," 1 John 3:11.

Yes. We've heard that from the very start of it all. Why should we love one another? because that's what children of God do. They're lovers, like God. Compared to what? compared to children of the devil who do not love. They hate. And whoever hates his brother is a murderer. That's what it says. (Wait - I don't hate anybody! just some folks I don't like a whole lot.) So, instead, we love one another. And what does that look like? Like Jesus. He laid down his life for us. So that's what we do for each other. To a brother in need, we give a hand up. We love for real. Like Jesus. Not just endless debates about who the brother worthy of our help might really be. We love like that Samaritan over there.

We visit with a brother or sister today, transformed once again by God's powerful love demonstration in Jesus. And together we determine to love like him. And we give thanks.

Parcels

"His mercies never come to an end," Lamentations 3:22.

Whose mercies? God's mercies. Jehovah God's mercies. What about them? They never end. His compassions do not fail. They do not exhaust. The Lord's steadfast love never ends. Never? Never. Does God's love, do his mercies, wear out, lose the oomph? No, never - in fact, renewed in the morning, every single morning. It's just like God's faithfulness. Which is great. Really great! (God is faithful though every man be false.) What if we're in the middle of bad stuff brought on by God? The bad stuff he parcels out, well, then he's the very one who can change it. And he does: The Lord is our portion. He is our inheritance! O soul bowed down with sorrow, hope against hope! Soul, you'll be vindicated in hope. Believe it!

As we visit with a brother or sister today, we remind of God's never ending mercies. We strengthen trust in the power of Jesus' goodness. And we give thanks, together.

Lament

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases," Lamentations 3:22.

Lamentations is a very hard read for me. Five chapters. The prophet's broken heart details the crushing of a naked people meeting raw justice. And he, the prophet, over and again, blames God. Not for the people's choosing to do evil. Agrees justice in the consequences. Blames God for the terror, the unrelenting horror of an unstoppable holocaust. That song we love to sing, in the first line above, sits right smack dab in the middle of the account of God's raging armies. Atrocities sit to one side of the song, despair on the other. And in the middle of lament: Hope. Unimaginable. Hope. Beyond the pale. Hope. Where? Hope that God will change rage to compassion. God did it, where else to find another outcome? Hope! that mercy triumph over judgment.

With a brother or sister today, we hope and wait confidently for God's salvation. In the middle of this world's despair, we trust God to have received Jesus, and us with him, into the sky kingdom. And, together, we give thanks for Jesus' love victory!

None

"The evil of Israel shall be sought, and there shall be none," Jeremiah 50:20.

Really? Jeremiah's prophecies fill page after page detailing sin, wickedness of Judah's and Israel's heinous evils, and the just destruction due them. And, now, they come out squeaky clean? Says who? Well, Jehovah God says so. So, here a few nobodies, captives, bedraggled left-overs from the once mighty people of Israel, thrashed soundly by the great, definitely unrighteous, powers of the day (aka, armies of the Lord). How, now, pray tell, do these scraps get righteous? Here's how, now: God forgives. Nobody rots for ever in their just deserts with God. I mean, nobody. (Unless that's what they really want - their choice.) This Lover forgives anybody who wants to change. That's what he does.

With a brother or sister today, we retell the happy news of this God who wiped our slates clean as a whistle. So, in this sky kingdom, for him who loved us so, we too extend total pardon to others. And we, together, give thanks.

Up-lifter

"To you, O Lord, do I lift up my life," Psalm 86:4.

O Lord, my God, you are so good, ready to forgive, you overflow with mercy to anybody who calls on you. I'm calling on you in the day of my trouble because no one does what you do. No one is like you. You're not hot-tempered, but soft-hearted. You are great, you alone are God, you are full of compassion, you're gracious, you overflow with truth. Teach me your way, Jehovah God! I want to walk in your truth! Please, I need your strength. And, yes!, thank you, God! I thank you with my whole heart: you saved me from sure despair! I will glorify your name for ever. You have comforted me. I worship you, you alone. Your grace has overwhelmed me.

We connect with a brother or sister today to tell of God's wonder. And, together, we give thanks for his son Jesus, the up-lifter our lives.

Awe-ful

"Leave the orphans, and I will take care of them. Your widows also can trust in me," Jeremiah 49:11.

Who speaks? Jehovah God, Lord of armies! Finally! God's justice prevails! Against all the inhumanities of varied peoples it marches forth! Northern aggressors from Babylon would sweep throughout Canaan land. (This they did in the early 6th century before Jesus.) God details specific nations, individual cities, to bear the rage of his destroyers. So, what's with the quote above? Two things. Thing One: a lot of fathers and husbands died. The wrongs and inequities they visited upon each other ended in the terror of God's justice. Thing Two: But don't worry about the orphans and the widows. The Mighty Warrior, God himself, would nurture them gently.

Sobered, we join a brother or sister today in respectful worship of our just God. And we marvel at Jesus, who fully received the justice due us. And, together, we give awe-ful thanks for God's grace, greater than all our sin.

Quiet

"Fear not, for I will save you," Jeremiah 46:27.

If God spoke earlier to a small, left-over, remainder people, he now speaks to an even smaller, left-over-er, remainder-er people. These are those scattered abroad after the Babylonian holocaust of their land and cities. And why should God save such obstinate people? Why does God promise a return home? Why does God pledge quiet, ease for them and their children? Why should God be with them at all? Why will God not make a full end of them? Because, the prophets must continually remind, God is God, and not human. God's plans and purposes, except that he should reveal them, fly higher in the skies than human reckoning. So, why? because God is the Lover of contrite human hearts lately turned from arrogance. But, Why?! Because. God. Is. Holy.

Stunned once again by this unimaginable God, we join with a brother or sister in a quiet moment of reflection. Together, humbled, we give thanks for his grace. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God All Powerful, who was and is and is to come.

Guaranteed

"I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up," Jeremiah 42:10.

Jehovah God speaks. Again. But to whom? To a small, left-over, remainder people. They must decide whether to trust God, and obey, or to follow their fears. God's promise, as always, remains conditional. Conditional on living faith. God, this God, Creator of the universe and all in it, Lover of all peoples great and small, this God says, trust me. Follow my love for you. If you do, I'll take good care of you. Guaranteed! But if you don't trust me, and obey your fear, you'll be destroyed by that fear, torn down, plucked up (trust me in this, guaranteed). So these beloved people have a choice to make. What did they choose? Spoiler alert: It ended badly.

Today, we renew trust in Jesus, lover of our souls, worthy king of heaven's kingdom, to obey him. Together, with a brother or sister, we affirm God, great king of the ages, worthy of living trust. And we give deep thanks for security of his sky kingdom.

Cup

"I will save you ... you will find your life because you trusted in me," Jeremiah 39:18.

Jehovah God speaks to Ebed-melech, that famous Bible hero of yore. Well, not so famous, I suppose, among humans. But known very well to God. Who was this guy? He was Ethiopian. He was a eunuch. He lived in the royal palace. Sounds like the fellow that deacon Philip met up with in a chariot, doesn't it? (except that was six centuries later - not even a descendant.) What demonstrates his trust in God? At great risk to himself, against powerful authorities, he saves Jeremiah from the depths of a muddy pit. So, what shall we, ourselves, do to live out faith? The sky kingdom is big. Really. Big. God's paying attention to every lost detail.

Expressing kindness in small and in big ways, we touch bases today with a brother or sister. We check in with each other. We share faith in Jesus who rescued us. And we give thanks to God who rewards even a cup of water.

New

"So says Jehovah God creating the earth, Jehovah God, working to keep it right-side-up, Jehovah God, his name," Jeremiah 33:2.

Just in case we missed it, God's name, Jehovah (YHWH), arises three times in the one verse. The Creator of all things, this same God spoke to the prophet. And where was the prophet? in jail. Not to despair, says this God. This God (he takes complete and utter responsibility for its ruin), destroyer of Jerusalem for its evil, will heal it. He will rebuild the lost people. He will forgive their guilt. He will forgive their sheer rebellion against him. The place will become a name of joy, place of praise, a brilliance to all other peoples hearing about this God's rich work. The wind-swept ruins become a place where people will say, Jehovah is good, his steadfast love endures forever! Sky kingdom.

We find a brother or sister today, and we speak of God's riches in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus our Lord. And, together, we give thanks to the God who makes all things new.

Pantheon

"I said, 'You are gods,'" Psalm 82:6.

Who said? God said. To whom said? To those set up as god(s): Greek, Roman, Teutonic, whatever, pantheon; (even, one's own self) judges all. God, the Most Holy God, the only eternal God, in whom alone rests immortality, Creator of the cosmos, this God judges any other so-called god. And God, this God, blessed be he for ever, says to the divine council gathered before him: How long will you (O, gods!) show partiality to the wicked? You should rescue the weak and needy, instead! Therefore, you gods shall die and fall like mortals! ...Jesus, whom mortals accused of blasphemy for claim as son of God, quotes the above scripture (which cannot be broken). God (to whom alone all glory and honor and power and dominion!) designates Jesus as his son by resurrecting the slain Lamb from the dead. Now Jesus sits at the right hand of Majesty in the sky!

With a brother or sister today, we marvel of things beyond our ken, in awe of this God who receives One of us in his holiness. And, receiving One of us, receives us. Together, with all creation, we bow and worship: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and power for ever!

Stony

"I will be their God, and they shall be my people," Jeremiah 31:33.

God promises a new covenant with his people: but it sounds like the former covenant, doesn't it? What's new? The people had already covenanted to be true to God and he to be their true protection, the terms written on stone tablets. But then they betrayed. Sought protection in kings after their own likeness. In other gods. In their own might. Own technologies. Own skill. Own wisdom. Own alliances. Own revolutions. Own stony hearts. So. What's new? Covenant terms are now written on human hearts. (No stone hearts or tablets.) They shall all know me, says Jehovah: I will remember their sins no more.

We contact a brother or sister today and remind that Jesus paid it all. All to him we owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. And we, God's own people, give heart-moved thanks to our Lord.

Displaced

"I know the plans I have for you, declares Jehovah, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope," Jeremiah 29:11.

Context: Jeremiah writes a letter from God to a broken, beaten, displaced people, captives in a foreign land. God gives hope in the promise to restore their homeland, to bring prosperity. God says to live out their lives with sure expectation of that return. He says restoration will happen in 70 years. (And, of course, it did. God said, and God did!) Think: Twenty-year olds newly married in captivity, become liberated ninety-year olds. Their seventy-year old children, yes, their 20-year old great-grandchildren (!), of whom they did not then dream became the included inheritors of the promise. God's ever at work creating better than we imagined. Kingdom of heaven.

We stop looking at current affairs for hope; with a brother or sister, today, we live out God's sure promise of wholeness. And, in this present hopeless world, we testify hopefully, together, to the real love of Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we give thanks.

Uprooted

"I will build them up. I will not pull them down. I will plant them. I will not uproot them," Jeremiah 24:6.

Says Jehovah, the God of Israel, promises spoken to a people whose culture has been uprooted. To a people now enslaved in a foreign land. To a people whose country still smolders from the devastation. To a people who will not see the promises come true for yet another lifetime. Faith, hope, and love all balance against time, don't they? The longer a promise seems stalled the more challenging keeping faith, holding hope, loving annoyers becomes. Yet, to trust God means exactly that: to press on even when the call to abandon hope shouts loudest. God holds promises unfilled as he works unseen on something better for you (yes, better for you!). Sky kingdom.

We seek out a brother or sister today and we remind each other of heaven. Jesus is coming soon. We invite any and all to enter the gate to the sky kingdom. And, together, we give thanks to the One planting seeds now.

Fixed

"Jehovah says, I will raise up a good descendant in David's family...he will be called: Jehovah Our Righteousness," Jeremiah 23:5-6.

Jeremiah sees nothing but destruction ahead for his people. Through their multiplied injustices, they betrayed the trust God placed in them. Armies have devastated the land; armies now surround the city for its end. No stay of execution. It's over. Suddenly, in the midst of hopeless disaster, God speaks again. Hope for a secure future in a descendant of the king after God's own heart. Now, hope that is seen is hope no longer. So, in the present, a fixed disaster awaits. Yet hope remains where God's work cannot be seen: Sky kingdom.

Today, we remind each other, brothers and sisters all, of hope that does not disappoint as God's love has been poured into our hearts through his Holy Spirit. We trust Jesus, our righteousness, will appear glorious, in the skies. And we give thanks in the now, ahead of time.

Pots

"So the potter reworked the clay into another vessel, as seemed good to him to make it," Jeremiah 18:4.

Have thine own way, Lord, thou art the potter, I am the clay; mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still. Words from the hymn point to Jeremiah's experience watching a potter forming clay pots. Jehovah God spoke to the prophet through the potter's hands. The potter molds the clay according to the potter's desire, not the clay's. But if the clay doesn't shape to the potter's design, then the potter reworks the clay per a new potter design. Honorable use or dishonorable use. Potter's choice. Not clay's. Yielding to the Potter does not always bring ease. Consider Jesus, Not my will but thine be done.

With a brother or sister today, we encourage each other to conform to the Potter's hands. Honorable use or dishonorable use, we trust God's judgment. And, together, we give thanks for Jesus' yielding to whatever God deemed good to make.