2 October 2026 - child protection

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.

There are many ways in which we are called to become like children. Yet we know that children often seem imperfect to us in our actual experience. It isn't that children aren't occasionally competitive or that they don't want to be seen as the greatest. But even when they have such motivations the reason they want to be greatest is usually different from our own need to be first. We strive for the first place because we want to be seen as superior to others. We want our own worth and value to be unassailable and obvious, so we set it alongside that of others. We benefit when others are seen as weak or inferior. We don't always say it out loud or celebrate it but we take pleasure that we at least appear to be better than they. Children are competitive primarily to because they desire the attention and appreciation of the adults and friends in their lives. For us, competition to see who can please our heavenly Father the most is a slightly less degenerate form of competition. But it is far better when our efforts don't stem from a place of insecurity, better when we are motivated to please God, not because we think we have to in order to earn his favor, but in order to delight him. It is in this way that well adjusted children may still sometimes seek to win. They don't do so because it puts other people down, but because they assume that everyone will be thrilled and rejoice together with them. When they sometimes discover that they have hurt others along the way who didn't do as well they often go to great lengths to try to assuage their sadness. Greatness is the Kingdom is the truest version of success, one that does not require trampling over others to obtain. We can seek to be the best, not because of the anxious need to prove ourselves stemming from our self-doubt, but because we are confident in who we are as sons and daughters of the Father, confident that he delights to see us win. After all, victory in this game is his gift to us.

In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (see John 16:33).

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (see First Corinthians 15:57).

And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith (see First John 5:4).

As spiritual children we are meant to let go of our doubts and uncertainties and embrace are identity of children of the Most High. We can safely assume that because the Father loves us our success in the truest sense is all but assured. But since we are children and prone to make mistakes, even dangerous ones, he does not merely unleash us on the world without any help. He has sent angels to keep charge over each one of us, to help us to know his will and follow his way. They help to keep us safe when our good-natured confidence gets us in trouble or even when blameworthy choices or omissions put us at risk. They do this whether or not we thank them or acknowledge them. But they can do more for us if we pay attention. Rather than saving us from a near death accident on the highway imagine that they help us to avoid it in the first place. The closer we seek to be to our guardian angels the further we will be from harm. Let us celebrate these guides, these gifts of God's providential care.

For to his angels he has given command about you,
that they guard you in all your ways. 

 

 

David W Morris - Let Us Exult His Name

1 October 2026 - i know my redeemer lives

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.

When Jesus sends us out on mission the purpose of our work is to prepare the way for him to visit himself. It is not as though we look to ourselves to bring about the conversion and transformation of anyone. Rather we are sent out so that we can be used as agents of grace in the lives of people who might one day believe. This should lessen the pressure we face somewhat, but not entirely. The stakes are still high, and the possibility of ultimate refusal and rejection still exists. So what we hope to find in others is definitely not rejection, but not necessarily immediate success either. We hope to find open hearts that we can encourage to remain open.

Once we receive the call of the master of the harvest we might assume that our path would go from one success to another, and from strength to strength. But this is to ignore the warnings Jesus gave about the wolves that surround all efforts at spreading the Gospel message of light and life. It also ignores the fact that we are basically guaranteed that some towns will not receive us, that some amount of rejection is inevitable. In order to carry out our mission in a world that is hostile to our message our strategy should not be reliance on worldly resources or excessive preparation. One might think that if wolves are going to pursue us that is all the more reason we need to bring, not only money bag, sack, and sandals, but swords and shields as well. But rather than a strategy of self-reliance we are meant to learn to depend on providence, on the master of the harvest who has ordered our steps and arranged our paths. We look, not to our own stores of resources that we leave behind at home, but ahead, to the good works prepared and arranged for us in advance, that we find as we proceed in faith and obedience. 

‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.

As Christians we should not regard the gift of faith we have been given as trivial. The peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding is meant to guard our own hearts and minds (see Philippians 4:6-7). But it need not remain with us alone. It can transform that situations and circumstances into which we enter as disciples. Have we ever had the experience where we enter into a situation fraught with tension, but manage to remain peaceful and discover that, eventually, the atmosphere changes? This is the sort of thing people notice. This is what makes others ask what about us is different. It prepares the way for the one who is himself the giver of our peace, our Lord Jesus Christ. So let us remain in peace, not just for ourselves, but for the world, which is already thoroughly saturated with anxiety, anger, and outrage. Those are modern wolves that are indeed hostile to our message.  But they only have power over our peace if we let them. So let us treasure and protect this gift of peace, rooted in the reality described by Job, the message we want of which we want to convince the world:

But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives,
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see:
my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him

 

Little flower, pray for us! 

 

Vineyard Worship - My Redeemer Lives

 

30 September 2026 - wherever?

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

 

I will follow you wherever you go.

We sometimes overestimate our own commitment to follow Jesus. We sing all of these songs about how we will follow him with our whole minds and hearts. But then we discover that the accommodations and other aspects of our lives as disciples are not always as pleasing as is the case for those who remain in the world. We might otherwise choose to pursue wealth and power and thus dwell in palaces. Or at lest we might have a stable resting place like the den of a fox or the nest of a bird. But as disciples of Jesus we must realize that even the comforts of home are not absolute. Following Jesus must take precedence. We tend to tell Jesus we will follow him anywhere. But we actually seem to mean anywhere within a narrow range of distance from our driveways, during specific hours of our day. He isn't always calling us to take drastic action like moving or going on mission. But he is asking to be the criterion we use to decide where and when we will stay or go. This, rightly, makes our flesh nervous. However, following Jesus always proves out to be better in the end than insisting on our own path.

And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."

It is possible that this individual was using his obligation to his father as an excuse. He may have heard the response of Jesus to the first individual and had second thoughts about whether he really wanted to accept the invitation. This initial hesitation might have eventually become an outright refusal as he recognized all the good he could do for his family by remaining at home. Even if he were sincere, and meant to do his duty quickly, and then follow immediately, he didn't understand how the Gospel was meant to be a still more urgent priority for the followers of Jesus. Burial of the dead was a corporal work of mercy. But giving life to those who were spiritually dead was the work of the Kingdom. Respect for the body of the dead had meaning only if there was hope for the spirit. A world in which burial was truly the last and most necessary thing would be a sad world indeed. Hence the urgent importance of the call of Jesus was greater even than one's duty to bury the dead.

And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."

How many times have we said, "I will follow you Lord, but first"? What are the other priorities we put first before following him? Do we realize how easy it is to multiply such reasons endlessly and never actually move? They may all individually be good and noble goals, but if they keep us from the Kingdom they have become harmful distractions and ultimately mere excuses. They can become snares just as surely as those few good aspects of life in Egypt were distractions for those journeying toward the promised land. Looking back to our life before Jesus can be as destructive as looking back to Sodom was for the wife of Lot. Instead, the example we want to follow is that of Paul.

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 3:13-14).

What about the good aspects of the excuses these potential disciples made? If they decided to cling to them as absolutes they would learn that they couldn't cling to them forever, whether homes or families. But if they put the Kingdom first they would eventually find that they also received all else besides. They could, so to speak, have them back again, but in a new way, with Jesus now at the center on the throne. It was better to be tended in his green pastures than any den, nest, or even mansion. Burying the dead was a different experience when there was the hope of the resurrection. Saying a farewell to the family was less dire and overwhelming when there was the promise of an eventual reunion at the resurrection. Jesus was a game changer for every potential excuse, but only if they decided to put him first in their lives. So too with us. Is there an invitation from Jesus we have been recently doing our best to ignore? What excuses do we use to do so? How might we turn those things over to him, until his is truly the Lord of our lives?

Kutless - King Of My Heart

 

29 September 2026 - in the presence of the angels

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."
Nathanael answered him,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

To account for Nathanael's response we must say more than that Jesus simply happened to observe him in a human way, and thought that he seemed like a sincere individual based on appearance. Rather, his assertion, that there was in Nathanael no duplicity, was neither flattery nor assumption. Jesus could see both the surface and the depths of Nathanael's spirit. The fact that he observed him under the fig tree was not simply meant to describe the scene. Rather, Nathanael desired to be part of the messianic age in which "every man under his vine and under his fig tree" (see Micah 4:4). Jesus was not merely saying he happened to see Nathanael under any fig whatever. He was saying he saw Nathanael in the scene of that messianic age, in which Nathanael would have a place. This appears to have been the deepest desire of Nathanael's heart. There was no duplicity between his external action and his internal desire. But by saying he saw it in the way Jesus did, he meant in a way that was a divine and omniscient observation of the future. He went beyond the mere acknowledge of the desire to the confirmation that it would come to pass. It was this combination of insight and assurance that led Nathanael to confess that Jesus was not only a teacher but the Son of God and the King of Israel. Who else but the person described by those words could know what Jesus knew or promise what he had promised?

And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Jesus promised Nathanael more than he dared to hope or ask. The messianic age was going to be something far greater than he imagined, ushered in by a messiah who was more than he had dared to desire. The messiah would not merely restore the kingdom and restore the offering of right praise to Israel. He would do those things. But he would do so, not merely at a human scale, but by bridging the gap between heaven and earth, just as the ladder Jacob saw in a dream foreshadowed. Jesus himself would unleash the full blessings of heaven, which would be ministered to us by angels, doing so by removing the obstacles to those barriers, and uniting the heavenly and the earthly realms in his very person. Through Jesus the angels would bring the blessings of heaven, that had heretofore only been partial and unexpected exceptions, down to earth in a regular and reliable way. Through Jesus the angels would aid his people as they sought to lift up their lives to become worthy of life in that realm of the Spirit that was at the other end of the ladder of the incarnation.

We can see from the first option for our first reading how the same myriad of heavenly hosts that surround the throne of the Father are also servants of the great Son of Man. For our purposes this morning this includes especially Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels with particularly important roles in God's plans for our salvation. Why should we bother with them, or why care about them? Why not just focus all of our limited mental resources on Jesus himself? We should pay attention to them because God himself clearly did by the prominent role he gave them in accomplishing our salvation, a project with which he clearly didn't actually need any help. 

 

It is not the case that the victory accomplished through Michael over the Devil and his angels is merely a past event. Rather, as God chose Michael to conquer the Devil, so too does he use each of the archangels in accomplishing his will in our own lives and in our world. Saint Michael can help us achieve our own victories over the evil one. Gabriel can help connect us to God's will and teach us how to make Jesus present in our own lives. Raphael can lead us to healing and restoration of bodily ailments, relationships, and even spiritual afflictions. It is not only the psalmist, but ourselves too, especially in the mass, where heaven meets earth, who are meant to sing our praises in "the sight of the angels".

Chris Tomlin - Whom Shall I Fear (God Of Angel Armies)

 

28 September 2026 - good reception

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Whoever receives this child in my name receives me

The disciples were vying over who among them was the greatest, probably arguing amongst themselves about who of them had the greatest value for Jesus and his mission. No doubt they referred to their own achievements and accomplishments, or to their success in preaching and casting out demons with the divine authority given to them by Jesus. Jesus knew they had gotten things backwards. The talents that made them successful were entrusted to them by God. The spiritual gifts that operated through them were not functions of their individual greatness or merit. The very idea that they were could be a roadblock to the future reception of grace, since grace required ongoing openness. What truly mattered was not what they had on their resume of successes, but rather valuing what Jesus valued, as demonstrated by the figure of a child. A child did not count for much in the time and place where Jesus lived. But he explained to his disciples that accepting a lowly and weak person, such as that child, was equivalent to receiving Jesus, thus more valuable than all the disciples' previous jockeying for position. 

and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me
For the one who is least among all of you
is the one who is the greatest.

Willingness to share the heart of Jesus was key to receiving him, to truly being present to him in a way that transcended sitting at his right or his left. It was the condition necessary for mutual indwelling, in which we live in him and he in us. And because the heart of Jesus is always perfectly aligned to the heart of the Father who sent him it means that receiving the outcasts and the neglected is not only the door to receiving Jesus, but also the Father and the Spirit as well. That is not to say we earn God's presence by ensuring we perform corporate works of mercy to the right people. It is rather that when we do receive the marginalized we implicitly acknowledge that what matters is not what we have or what we accomplish, much less what society values, but rather, what matters to the heart of God is what has true value. In order to accept those who are small and childlike we must become, after a fashion, smaller still. In order to address those who are seen is the least in the world we must become lesser still. But it is precisely in this apparent nothingness of abnegation that God makes us everything he wants us to be.

Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name 
and we tried to prevent him
because he does not follow in our company.

Why did they care so much if this individual was in their company or not? Part of the reason was probably because they felt the need to be in control, which may have been motivated by a subtle desire to take credit for what the person was doing. Another reason may have been a desire to ensure that everything this person did followed the correct form and protocol. They did not want impressive miraculous deeds to allow the crowds to be led astray with false doctrine. Fair enough. But the implication of Jesus was that it was not always appropriate to try to be in control. The fact was that the person was helping to undermine the works of the evil one, and was, in that sense, on the same team. Even though the apostles would go on to positions of authority in which they would help people to know true doctrine from falsehood they would not necessarily maintain a rigid grip on everything taking place around them. In fact, too much desire for control could potentially stifle genuine works of the Spirit, which tended to spring up where he was least expected. At the very least they were to treat good things done by outsiders as good, and cross the bridge of dealing with partial or incorrect theology when and if they came to it. 

If we can let go of our own need to be in control to some extent we may find that the world is filled with more friends, more allies, and a greater amount of wonder, than we see when our desire to be in charge narrows our horizon and focus too much to see them.

Jesus said to him, 
"Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you."

Another level to being childlike and to relinquishing control is when we remain as children even in the midst of our suffering. This means not turning away from God, but turning toward him, not surrendering our trust in the Father, but doubling down, as did Job in our first reading.

Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,
and naked shall I go back again.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD!"

Newsboys - Blessed Be Your Name

 

27 September 2026 - relaxing the past tension

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed,
and does what is right and just,
he shall preserve his life;

We tend to be less willing than God to allow for the possibility that people can change. Once someone gets canceled in modern society there isn't really a mechanism to rehabilitate his public persona, even if he diligently sought to address whatever offense landed him in that situation. We prefer a more simple world where those who commit injustice are punished immediately and those who do good are rewarded. But the immediacy that we desire foregoes the depth that God seeks. He is less interested in who we are in passing moments than who we choose to become as those moments shape our lives. 

He said in reply, 'I will not,'
but afterwards changed his mind and went.

Our society prefers to see those modern outcasts, who are our tax collectors and prostitutes, punished immediately. We don't often rejoice when we see someone who overcomes such life choices becoming successful. Instead we drag their reputations through the mud until it no longer amuses us to do so, and then forget about them. But to God an initial no does not preclude the possibility of an eventual yes that matters much more. Of course this is actually good news for us, since no one has ever lived a consistent yes throughout his life, save Jesus and the blessed virgin. 

The man came to the other son and gave the same order.
He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go.

We often fail to recognize why it is such good news that God gives sinners a chance to repent. The reason for this is because we tend to believe that we are righteous and in no need of forgiveness. We believe this because we mistake saying yes for living it. We do communicate this superficial yes through various actions, like going to church, saying the creed, and other superficially religious gestures. We feel like we are 'doing the thing'.  But what we busy ourselves about is mostly the appearance of doing the thing. Like the religious leaders in the time of Jesus we have information, and opinions, and a long list of ritual obligations fulfilled. But we haven't been transformed, in the way that the presence of Jesus transformed tax collectors and prostitutes, such that they way they lived together was forever different. Their neighbors were no longer people to exploit, or potential obligations to be avoided, but brothers and sisters. From isolated bastions of ego they came to share a common life and a common purpose as described by Paul in our second reading.

complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love,
united in heart, thinking one thing.
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves

The transformation of people who were obvious offenders is not meant to make us grumble and complain. Rather, it is meant to inspire us to believe that transformation is possible, whatever the starting point. This is truly good news since it means that whatever apparently intractable attitudes and behaviors we have not yet been able to change can be overcome with the help of divine grace. If we are willing to let our minds be changed, to have in us the "same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus", God himself will give us the grace we need.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (see Romans 12:2).

Let's not take this forgiveness for granted. Doing so puts us closer to the category of the religious leaders who do not truly believe they need forgiving. It makes it more likely that we will only put on a facade of repentence rather than truly seeking to change our minds and our hearts. We are not fine and we are not OK. But as long as we are on our way, together with Jesus, we will certainly reach our destination.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice, 
and teaches the humble his way.

 

ILP Chorale - At  The Name Of Jesus

 

26 September 2026 - living with the question

Today's Readings

(Audio)

  

“Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” 

Jesus transitioned abruptly from performing miraculous deeds that amazed everyone to a prediction of his passion that alluded to Isaiah's passage about how the suffering servant "poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors" (see Isaiah 53:12). This gave the disciples a great deal of cognitive dissonance, even mental whiplash. They couldn't make the leap from the Jesus, who seemed able to surmount every obstacle and overcome every problem that came his way, and this plan for him to be handed over or poured out for others. Implicit in such thinking was an idea with which guards would later taunt him, "He saved others; he cannot save himself" (see Matthew 27:42). From either end of that statement it was nearly impossible to see the other. If, as the disciples believed, he had saving power, he must also be able to save himself. If he was unable to save himself, as the religious leaders believed, than the previously reported miracles must have been deception.  

 

We are not so different. The goodness of the world that we sometimes experience in the beauty of nature, or the wonderful tenderness of human relationships, or the ingenuity of the arts and sciences, seems utterly incongruous with realities of suffering and death. Growing as disciples means coming to see how salvific suffering is a part of the divine plan. It means accepting on faith the fact that God allowed this universe to be the way it is because from it he could draw a greater good than had he not allowed disobedience and suffering in the first place. While it is possible for us to acknowledge these things abstractly here it is more difficult to allow them to shape our lives. There is a way in which the true depths of the meaning is still hidden from us, and perhaps in a way that is not entirely our fault. Maybe we are somewhat to blame if we are "afraid to ask" and pursue the issue, fearing that it might unsettle our faith. But it may also be the case that we are meant to learn over time by living as disciples and following Jesus. Too much too soon is not always helpful or even possible. If his disciples had immediately experienced the full horror of the cross it is unlikely that any academic explanation of its importance would have helped. They all may well have fled without looking back. They may not have been able to make themselves return so that Peter could strengthen his brothers. Peter might not have been able to muster the courage to dare to hope that repentence was possible. So instead God led them gradually, with repeated predictions of the passion and hints about the dark hour that was coming. They may not have understood, but by choosing to remain with Jesus even in spite of that they were strengthened for what was to come.

The situation of the disciples was similar to that of the youths to whom Solomon addressed himself in our first reading:

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the evil days come
And the years approach of which you will say,
I have no pleasure in them;

They were being prepared to remain faithful even in a time when all was not roses in and sunshine, hugs and puppies. The risk for them and for us is that if we don't plan on trials and suffering our faith might be shaken when they inevitably come. It doesn't matter that we can't understand precisely how the pain of this life could be beneficial. What matters is that we trust in the goodness of our God who assures us that, for those who love him, "all things work together" (see Romans 8:28). When we are in the midst of suffering we think what we want most are answers. But what we really need is a hope in God so robust that we can live with our questions and remain faithful. This is how we endure the growth, the breaking of the hard outer shell of our egos, the metamorphosis to the Spirit-led disciples we are meant to become.

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.

 

 

CeCe Winans - Goodness Of God