Extreme

"Their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity," 2 Corinthians 8:2.

And so has it ever been with the people of Christ. Despite severe tests of affliction, his church abounds in joy! And dipping into that wellspring of abundant joy his congregation continues to overflow with generosity. Despite hard times his people continue to share beyond their means in order to help other brothers and sisters in even worse shape. And how do they do this? That is, how do they continue to share what little they may have? Well, first off, they give themselves - their very heart, soul, mind, strength - to the Lord. That's how they do this. And then, by God's will, they give themselves to others. Acts of grace. A different way to live. Not of this world. Sky kingdom.

Celebrating God's grace with a brother or sister today we share in the joy of Jesus' salvation. And, leaning in together, beyond this moment's severe affliction, joy wells up to praise God for the hope of Christ.

Morning

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning," Psalm 30:5.

That's because God's grace is greater than his judgment. Nowhere does the Good Book say God will fail to discipline his children. To the contrary, he loves them. So, he brings real judgment to bear. So, his discipline shapes his children away from their arrogance toward mercy. So, when his children find their security in their own prosperity, he hides his face from us. So, this discipline draws us to recognize strength rests in his heights and not in our stuff. But his discipline lasts only through the night. No, he does not delight in dusty, grave-dry bones. Death cannot praise God. It cannot speak God's reality. So God empties our graves into his healing clinic. Turns sad hearts into happiness. So he turns our mourning into dancing. So that joy turns into glory singing praises to our God. Who loves us forever.

With a brother or sister today, we speak of eternal hope coming early tomorrow morning after tonight's mourning. And, together, we praise our God through tomorrow's infinity.

Muddy

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end," Lamentations 3:22.

Oh, sure. Anybody can talk about God's goodness, anybody can give thanks to God when they've got every privilege! But the rest of us get stuck holding the bag. Wait a minute: You know who said those words above? A man ridiculed most of his life for his faith. Chased down, beaten, imprisoned unjustly, thrown into a muddy pit to die. A man at life's end looking at the smoldering embers left of his beloved country. A weeping man who four lines earlier had said: God has filled me with bitterness ... my hope from the Lord has died. So how does he turn around and talk about God's love in the middle of devastation?! Here's how. He remembered who his God was. I call this to mind, I do have hope: God's love never ceases.

As we visit with a brother or sister today, we call to each other's minds who our God is. We re-mind of his Christ's gift to us. And, together, his children, we offer praise for God's promises of unending mercies.

Delighted

"I was happy when they said to me, Let's go to the Lord's house," Psalm 122:1.

Dear God, we stand inside the gates of your city - the home where friends can come together. We're here from every tribe - every tribe belongs to you, O God! We're here just as purposed to give thanks to your Name - to give You thanksgivings. Thrones for your wisdom's decrees sit here - prophetic thrones from ancient days. We pray for the peace of your city - we who love you rest secure in it. Peace lives within your city's walls, O God - security abides within its watchtowers. We crave for the peace of our friends and families living within it - because of your home's safety, O Jehovah God, we pursue your good.

As we plan to visit with a brother or sister today, we're delighted to meet together safely within God's community. We're God's family. And, together, we give thanks through our Father's son, Jesus, who made us so.

Confide

"We may have confidence for the day of judgment," 1 John 4:17.

Confidence. Boldness. Liberty. Freedom. Openness. Confidence for the day. And what renders this confidence when God judges all secrets? Belief. Not generic belief. Not irrational belief in nothing in particular. No. We have come to believe the love that God has for us. Fear concerns punishment. God's love casts out all fear. Confidence. We believe that God is love. We believe that whoever abides in love abides in God. And God in them. We believe there is no fear in love. Confidence. We believe that God's love is perfected in us through Christ. We believe that as God is, so are we in this world through Christ. Whence this fearlessness? God abides in persons who confess Jesus to be the Son of God. Perfected love. Confidence for the day.

We confide in a brother or sister today asserting Jesus and believing in his sacrifice for all sin. We affirm God's love. And, beloved together, we give thanks.

Perfect

"A huge windstorm came and waves were crashing over the boat and it was already filling," Mark 4:37.

Ever been in stormy seas, boat low in a trough, and you lifting eyes up (up! looking up!) to waves cresting over? Perfect storm. Nothing quite like it. Not every trough's out on the water, though, is it? Not every hurricane blasts through the atmosphere, does it? When beloved one dies. When market crashes. When spouse abandons. When deadly pestilence slashes. When war devastates. When congregation falls apart. When pain outstrips meds. When debts overwhelm wallet. When dire need empties every cupboard. But children still hungry. When the waterline marks both sides of the freeboard. But where is Jesus? He sleeps astern. Awakening, he commands calm. And peace reigns. Then he asks: Why are you afraid?

We remind each other, brothers or sisters, of the faithful one in our midst, in Whom we believe. And, together, we give thanks for hope even in a perfect storm.

Favorable

"In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you," 2 Corinthians 6:2.

Thus sayeth the Lord: Do not receive the grace of God in vain. What did this favorable time look like to God's servants? They presented his grace to us through: Great endurance. Afflictions. Hardships. Calamities. Beatings. Imprisonments. Riots. Labors. Sleepless nights. Hunger. They presented with: Purity. Knowledge. Patience. Kindness. The Holy Spirit. Genuine love. They pursued through: Truthful speech. Power of God. Honor. Dishonor. Slander. Praise. Treated as posers (while yet true). Unknown (while well known). Dying (while yet living). Punished (while not killed). Sorrowful (while yet rejoicing). Poor (while enriching us). Having nothing (while owning everything). The free message of God's grace did not come to us cheaply.

With a brother or sister today we receive God's grace freely. And we yield deliberately to God's peaceful reign in our hearts. And liberated, together, we give thanks. Sky kingdom.

Escaped

"They had swallowed us up alive ... the torrent had drowned us ... the waters had overwhelmed our soul," Psalm 124:2, 3, 4, 5.

That's what we would say. If Jehovah God had not. If the Lord had not delivered. That's what we would say - was there was anything left to say with? If God had not helped. Nothing else to say: drowned in the raging flood. If God had not been our stay. But God was. God did. So, instead, we say: Bless you, Jehovah! You delivered us! You did not leave us a prey for their teeth! We flew off like birds out a cage! We escaped. Because you. You, O God. Because you assisted, you delivered, you redeemed. You, Creator of sky and earth! You, O Helper of the helpless! O Hope of the hopeless!

We join a brother or sister today and we remember God's love that overwhelms our soul. We remember God who raises us securely to life. And, together, we commune with thanksgiving.

Gird

"Gird up your loins like a man: I will question you and you let me know," Job 38:3.

That's God's opening line to human suffering. To bewildered man with an utterly upended life, God continued with questions: Where were you when I laid earth's foundation? Who gave the cosmos its measurements? Who determined its plumb line? What secures the earth, the universe? What's the core hold for it all? The first time the morning stars all sang together, when all creation shouted for joy, who set it all in place? Where were you, O Man? Where. Were. You? And then. And then, God's closing line to human suffering: A new sky and a new earth where God wipes away every tear. No more death. No mourning. No crying. Nor pain. Ever again. Secured by the passion of God's wounded son. Sky kingdom.

With a brother or sister today we kneel humbly giving thanks for the One whose chastisement makes us whole. Whose scars heal us. Thank you, God, for knowing better than we what we need to make us whole. And for doing it.

Reverence

"You people who fear Jehovah God, trust him! He is your helper and your protection," Psalm 115:11.

Not to us, O God - not to us be glory, but to you. To your name glory! because of your mercy, your truth. You're in the skies. You do whatever you want to do. Mass produced idols have mouths, eyes, ears, noses, hands, feet. And they're mute, blind, deaf, impotent to smell, to handle, to walk, or to speech. They have no soul just as their makers. But you, dear God, you have been mindful of us! You ever bless any people who reverence you, no matter whether they're unimportant or important. You've given us children, and children to our children! You made sky and earth. The skies are yours! You've given us the whole earth. Glory to you forever, God! Hallelujah!

Joining a brother or sister today we affirm God, maker of heaven and earth, as the God of all gods, as the only God. Our helper and protection. And, together, we give thanks into eternity.

Ripeness

"When the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come," Mark 4:29.

The farmer's proof's in the tasting, in the harvest. Just like the sprig grew into a huge, fruitful tree. Like a watered tree yielded its fruit. Like human lives gave themselves to do good. Suddenly, the grain is ready. The harvest is come. The farmer checked its growth nightly, daily. But who knew how it grows? (Not talking here about the science - everybody can know that stuff.) Talking about how is it that planet earth should produce anything at all? Nothing grows on the moon. Or Mars. Or Mercury. Or, get this: anywhere else in the known universe (so far, anyway). How is it that everything's just right here? Nobody knows. But it is. And ripeness comes, knowing or not knowing. Sky kingdom's just like that. Harvest comes. Just like that.

We prep each other, brother or sister, that Jesus is coming. When? Soon. Ready, alert, eager, anticipating, looking forward: the Lord comes to harvest the earth. And, together, we give thanks to God for Jesus, our firstfruits - he will bring many children to glory.

Preparing

"We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ," 2 Corinthians 5:10.

Whoa! That gives one pause ... sounds like all kinds of serious. Why is he saying this? Mainly because we're looking ahead to what we can't see. To when dying gets swallowed up by life. Right now God's preparing us for that yet unseen moment. Walking by faith not by sight. And as we walk by faith we aim to please God. We aspire to that. We strive eagerly to that. To live pleasing to God. So in that yet unseen moment, we shall appear before Christ's judgment seat. Before Jesus, whose blood covered the mercy seat. And we shall receive our due. Our due for what we did in this world while God was preparing us for the next. Whether we did good or did evil. Good news: God has given us the Spirit, the earnest, the first installment of (unseen) life yet to come.

We meet today with a brother or sister in a sense of sobriety moderated by joy. Our hearts' desire draws us to please the God who has loved us so dearly. And, together, we give thanks.

Rooted

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season," Psalm 1:3.

Who's that? who's like that prospering tree? Ah, helpful question! That's the person on whom God pronounces blessing. And is that person just kind of an arbitrary thing? You know, like, some get it and some don't, through no fault of their own? Not exactly. The psalm asserts fairly clearly that the blessing comes specifically to certain people. Well, what people? Using explicit language here: Who don't listen to wicked people. Who don't go where sinners go. Who don't do what bad people do. So, is that it, that they keep their noses clean? Wait, there's more: Blessed people also love the Lord's teachings. Day and night they ponder carefully about God's Word. That's who.

Today, as we contact a brother or sister, we mention a good thing God has done lately. Rooted in the Word, we share a thought we've been thinking about. And, together, we give thanks for The Blessing, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Nest

"And all the trees of the field shall know that I am Jehovah God," Ezekiel 17:24.

And what event drew the trees to recognize God? Well, here's what God did. He broke off a tiny sprig, a cedar tip from the top of the tree - you know, that springtime, tender, new growth at the end of a branch? - and he planted it way up high on a mountain. That shoot grew into a large, fruitful tree with all sorts of birds nesting in its branches. That's the event that caused the trees to know who God is. God himself observes that he has power to take down lofty trees or to grow shoots into majestic trunks; he can wither green trees or sprout new from shriveled stems. Therefore. God can raise the dead from the dust of the earth. And he can take down the mighty. And he did. The Sadducees are gone. The Roman Empire is a dusty memory. Jesus, covenant maker, a shoot from the stump of Jesse, lives forevermore.

With a brother or sister today, we recognize God as the one and only God, the God who raised Jesus from the dead, our atoning sacrifice. And, together, we give thanks to nest in his branches.

Big

"Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, he was buried, he was raised on the third day," 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

Ever wonder what the big idea of the Bible is? What centers centuries of lots and lots of writing? Hebrew. Aramaic. Greek. There's a lot there, isn't there? I mean, what's the gospel truth about it all? What's the Word? Ok. That line above is it. First importance. That's the message. That's the saving truth. That's what a person's got to hang on to after everything else burns away. Yep. Everything got created through the Word. Then the Word got begotten into a woman. And got birthed and grown, a man. And got killed. And got resurrected. And got designated Son of God. Got made Lord and Christ. Got to be our atoning sacrifice, and of the whole world. The whole world gots to be judged by that Word. Nobody else. Nobody else's got eternal life words. Word. That's the big idea.

We join a brother or sister today under the redemption of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection: we make no other claim for life. And, together, we give thanks for God's forgiveness of all our sin.

Reverent

"Hallelujah! I will give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart in the meeting, in the congregation, of righteous people," Psalm 111:1.

Your works are great, O Jehovah God! Everybody delighting in you studies them. Your work is full of splendor, of majesty. Your righteousness goes on and on. You're gracious and full of mercy. You provide for reverent people. You sustain your covenant into eternity. You have given every inheritance of the world for your people. Your works founded in faithfulness and justice yield your reliable rules. Yes, founded forever in the right stuff. You've redeemed us with an eternal covenant. Your holy name fills us with awe. Wisdom starts with awesome - fearful - respect for you, Jehovah God! People who practice respect for you, get understanding. They get it. Praises to you forever!

We join together, brothers and sisters, made righteous by redemption through Jesus' blood covenant. And, together, in concert we give praise to our awesome God.

Time-bound

"Our inner nature is being renewed day by day," 2 Corinthians 4:16.

Consequently. Even if our outer nature wastes away we don't lose heart ... Oh yeah? Wait a minute! Heavy stuff happens now! True, it makes us suffer right now - and when we've waited that minute, having exhausted our outer nature, it passes. Temporary: passing in time. Time-bound trouble readies us for an immeasurably massive weight yet ahead. An infinite mass of glory. The tough stuff we see now, feel now, sense now does not begin to compare. Well, compared to the colossal brilliance ahead, the present trouble ... feather-weight. The knowledge of home buoys up our inner nature. Going back to the future. To home. To what we don't see right now. But to where God embraces his own in delight. Sky kingdom.

We remind each other today, a brother or a sister, that we're headed home, and where we are right now isn't it. And, together, we give thanks to God for renewing daily hope.

Sound

"And they heard the sound of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day," Genesis 3:8.

That day was the last time anybody heard that sound. The fellowship, the communion, the mutual trust implied by that stroll through the garden ended that day. It was over. Why? because the man and the woman preferred their ambition. Preferred to hide from the Lord's presence. Preferred to hide behind the garden's trees. And since that day humans have been hiding out. Looking over their shoulders, afraid of things that go bump in the night. Of each other. Of each other's culture. Of each other's language. Yes, that day ended trust. Well, until Jesus came. Jesus walked with God through that garden into our sullied world. He, Jesus, trusted to him, God, to the end. And offered to us communion. In the cool of the day through the garden with. Sky kingdom.

With a brother or sister today, we hide no longer, we hear the trustworthy sound of our God's fellowship. Through Jesus' cross we hear the sound of home. And, together, seeing God's glory transparently through Jesus, we give thanks.

Mother

"Your mother and brothers outside are looking for you," Mark 3:32.

So reported the people crowded inside the house. How did they know? mainly because his mother and brothers were outside calling for him. For Jesus. But, instead of going outside, Jesus asks the folks inside: Who is my mother and my brothers? He gazes intensely around the room at the men and women encircled - he says: See? My mother and my brothers! Whoever, any person, anybody at all, whosoever does the will of God - this one, this person, this whosoever, this is my brother, this is my sister, this is my mother. And with that line, he declared whatever our language, whatever our nationality, whatever our race, whatever our gender, whatever our culture, whatever our clan, whatever our family, whatever our whatever ... he declared us his brothers and sisters and mothers. Who do the will of God. Sky kingdom.

Today we call each other brother, or, sister. Not as a religious title; as family. And, as Jesus' brothers and sisters, together, welcomed into his house, our home, we give thanks to his Father, and ours, God.

Power

"He is possessed by Beelzebul and by the prince of demons he casts out demons," Mark 3:22.

Says who? The scribes from Jerusalem. The keepers of the scriptures. Who's Beelzebul? A demon, prince of demons. Who do they say has this demon? Jesus - that Jesus' power to heal arises from demonic power. Here's what Jesus asks to that: Why would Satan wreak evil havoc and then undo it for good? Why would a kingdom want civil war against itself? Why would a strong family try to splinter itself? If Satan fights himself, he's sealing his end. It's just senseless to make such stupid assertions. Then Jesus announces: Here is truth: Every sin, every insult, will be forgiven people. Except for. But not for. Unless. Insult the Holy Spirit and there's no forgiveness. Ever. No forgiveness. Into infinity. The Holy Spirit powers Jesus. Do not ascribe the power of the Holy Spirit to demons. Ever.

Grateful that the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus, thankful that the one Spirit has baptized us into the one body of Christ, we contact a brother or sister today and, together, praise God with whole hearts. Forgiven for ever through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Mind

"He's out of his mind," Mark 3:21.

Who's saying this? his own family. Whose family? Jesus' own. What family did Jesus have? Mark's gospel says he had brothers and sisters, among them were James, Joses, Judas, Simon. And his mother, Mary, of course. So what're they saying? That Jesus is out of his mind. That he's beside himself. Goodness! What happened to draw them to this conclusion? Well, he had been preaching, healing people. He had chosen 12 fellows to train in his teachings. Crowds crushed around him so that he didn't even have time to eat. And Bible scholars had begun saying Jesus was possessed by the devil. So his family came to take him away. Jesus, embarrassment to them all.

With a brother or sister today, not embarrassed by Jesus, we will confess him whatever the world may say. And, together, we thank God that, in his right mind, Jesus chose to call us his own. Yes, even us.

Tenderness

"My whole being, praise Jehovah God! All my being praise his holy name!" Psalm 103:1.

Dear God, you forgive all my sin. You heal my diseases. You redeem my life from the pit. You surround me with mercy. You make me young again. You work justice for oppressed people. You're full of compassion. You overflow with tenderness. Your anger ebbs away. You do not execute your full rage against our sin. As high as the skies are above the earth - that's how great your mercy is toward people who respect you. You throw away our sin as far away as east from west. You know our frailty. You know we are dust. But we're like kids to you, our dad, your compassion is like a good, good father to us. All you angels! All you sky armies! All creation - praise Jehovah God. And all that is within me - praise the Lord!

As we visit today with a brother or a sister, we remind each other of God's compassion. We remind each other to keep faithfulness to his covenant. And, together, we praise our God!

Lifted

"Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," John 3:14.

You know that medical icon, that badge that shows a snake winding around a pole? They say it comes from Greek mythology, some god of healing or other, from a few centuries before Jesus was born. Turns out that the earliest icon was a thousand years even earlier than that. During Israel's wilderness wanderings, venomous snakes were killing off the people. Moses made a bronze snake lifted up on a pole and anybody bitten by a snake could look at the image and be healed. Mildly entertaining story so far. But this is where it gets weird. Jesus told Nicodemus that just like that, the Son of man would be lifted up and anybody that believed in him could have eternal life.

Brothers or sisters, we point each other to our Lord lifted up, nailed to a cross. That's where he took our sin, where we find his healing, where we receive eternal life. And, together, believing in him, we lift him up in praise forever.

Returned

"No one has risen up into the sky except the one who came down from the sky, the son of man," John 3:13.

A thousand years earlier than this conversation, Agur asked, Who's gone up into the sky and come down? He was overwhelmed by the challenge of getting wisdom. Wisdom is about living a good life. (Wisdom is about living, right? Not about dying. Living a good life or dying? what kind of choice is that?) Jesus told Nicodemus spiritual wisdom is like that: Eternal life comes from the sky. And Jesus, make no mistake about this, Jesus claims to have been there and back. Uniquely. There where? Heaven. The sky. Up high, where spiritual things take place. Where God lives. So he, Jesus, the son of man, knows about spiritual stuff. About eternal life. That's what spiritual things are about: how to live, really live a good life, forever. So Jesus knows how to get wise like that. Hear ye him.

With a brother or sister today, we look up into the sky where Jesus is, returned to the right hand of God. We set our minds on the things above, not on things of earth below. And, together, we give thanks for new birth into God's realm.

Earthly

"Nicodemus said to him: How can these things be?" John 3:9.

But first: What's Nicodemus asking - what things? Ah, well, he's asking about being born again. He's not asking the mechanism for new birth, like, how do you do it? Jesus said it's a spiritual birth - water and Spirit. Born of the Spirit is to be free to blow from here to there and back again and earth-bound persons don't get it. But Nicodemus is asking: Why is it that a new birth is required? Jesus says: You're the teacher, you should have gotten this a long time ago. Jesus says, You still hear me talking about earthly things, the easy stuff, and you don't get it - how are you going to get it if I talk about the sky things? The hard stuff. In order to get the spiritual stuff, the things of God's kingdom, the sky kingdom, you've got to start over, be born again, born spiritually, to get spiritual stuff. That's why.

With a brother or sister today we humbly recognize our own new start, newbies in Christ. Like newborn babies we drink spiritual milk to grow up to salvation. And, together, we give thanks to God.

Rebirthed

"You must be born again," John 3:7.

Says who? Jesus. Born again, to what end? to see the kingdom of God. Says who? Jesus. Born again, through what means? born of water and Spirit. Says who? Jesus. How? do you enter your mother's womb a second time to be born again? How? born of water and Spirit. Says who? Jesus. Born of water and Spirit, to what end? To enter the kingdom of God. Says who? Jesus. So. What means this? Born again means, like, born anew; means very much, like, born from above. From above? like from where every good gift, every perfect gift comes from. From the Father of lights with whom there is no change, no shadow. Being birthed by the Word of truth. Do you got to be born again? I mean: Got to? Just if you want to get into the kingdom above. Sky kingdom.

We remind brother or sister, today, of the day we went down to the river to pray, bathed by water in the Word. And arose rebirthed, baptized by the Spirit into the one body of Christ. Born again, together, we give thanks.