1 Timothy 6:17-19 We are blessed to be a blessing to others.

1 Titus 4:10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 

All good and perfect gifts come from God. He gives to the just and the unjust it is our choice to choose His way. He gives to us that we may share with those who have need. It is His perfect will that we are blessed to bless others. Carla

1 Timothy 6:17-19

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give•, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. (NKJV)

Paul has already condemned those who are attempting to become rich through the ministry (verses 6–10). The second group of people Paul addresses in regard to wealth (verse 9) are those who are already wealthy. Paul encourages Timothy to tell the rich not to be high-minded or proud and not to trust in uncertain riches. Only the living God can provide for all of our needs. Those with wealth are commanded to recognize God as the true source of their wealth and to be generous with their riches. The material blessings of God are to be enjoyed and used for the advancement of His Kingdom, not for self-centered living. Storing up may also be translated “treasuring up,” a phrase similar to Jesus’ challenge in Matthew 6:19–21 to lay up treasure in heaven. A believer’s daily obedience to God builds a good foundation for the time to come. The Scriptures teach that a believer’s works will be evaluated to see what his or her life in Christ has produced (1 Corinthians 3:10–15). The NKJV Study Bible

In this present age refers to the present time, with a negative connotation (2 Timothy 4:10; Titus 2:12). Paul reminds Timothy that material wealth is temporary and that believers must not adopt the world’s values concerning wealth. Some false teachers promoted an ascetic lifestyle, denying good things for the sake of what they claimed was holiness (or piety). Paul argues that true godliness leads to gratitude and generosity toward others, not asceticism. The rich must seek to be rich not only in wealth, but in good deeds that benefit others. Faithlife Study Bible

Acts 14:17

Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” 

Romans 11:20

Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 

Psalm 62:10

Do not trust in oppression,

Nor vainly hope in robbery;

If riches increase,

Do not set your heart on them.

Luke 12:20–21

But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Dag Hammarskjold got it right, “God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity. But we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance of wonder renewed daily, the source of which is beyond all reason.”

Grace is an unseen sound that makes you look up, even and especially when life calls for cynicism.

So. In our world of hurry, noise and restlessness, and anger and disparagement, where do we hear the voice of grace?

However (this is important), we make a mistake if we assume that we need to orchestrate grace. And an even greater mistake if we assume we must get dressed up for it. Like prom night. Or study for it, like preparing for some multiple-choice test that has right and wrong answers.
Yes, it feels good to hear the affirmation. But it’s bigger than that.

Grace is the glue for the sanctuary that mends our spirit and soul.

I want to remember that I too have a voice. And that voice is a voice of grace.
A voice of mercy and kindheartedness.
A voice for sanctuary and safety.
A voice for inclusion, there the derisive narrative does not need to carry the day.

Remembering this; whenever we interrupt, and say, “But…” Grace is diminished.

“I do not understand the mystery of grace,” Anne Lamott writes, “only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”

Grace is the soil for seeds of joy. So that our heart feels alive, even in the pain.
Grace fuels confidence inviting us to enter into our day and life with our whole heart, with no need to shut down or hide or strike out at others out of insecurity.
And joy always spills to others.

Today, let us honor places where we can speak these words—this whisper test—of welcome, “You are safe here. You are someone here. You are enough. You matter here.”

Not forgetting that theology—“Love one another, including the marginalized and even our enemies”—is not just about creed. In each case, there are faces, and names, and stories. Stories that touch this day, in its pain and uncertainty and bafflement.
This I know: today, I needed to hear the voice of Grace. Sabbath Moments

Genesis 2:2-3 God rested and so should we.

Hebrews 4:10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

God created the heavens and the earth and He loved what He had created. The creative force that He used is gifted to us in our creativity and talents. God blesses us with His rest. There is a specials rest that comes in Jesus and in Him we can rest from our works to please God and enter into His rest as sons and daughters. The truth of salvation sets us free. the love of God conquered sin and death. Carla

Genesis 2:2-3

2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day form all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His works which God had created and made. 

God did not rest because of fatigue, but because of His accomplishment. God is never weary (Isaiah 40:28, 29). The verb translated as rested is related to the word for Sabbath, which means “rest.” Many assume that the basic meaning of the Sabbath is worship, but this is not the case (Exodus 20:9–11; Deuteronomy 5:12–14). By God’s blessed inactivity on this seventh day, He showed that He was satisfied with the work He had done. The NKJV Study Bible

“On the seventh day”. Some translations render this “on the seventh day,” suggesting that God worked on the seventh day in violation of the Sabbath. However, the Hebrew text here can be translated “by the seventh day,” resulting in the verb being rendered “had finished,” expressing the completion of the act.

The Hebrew verb used here for rest , shavath, means “cease” or “rest.” The English word “Sabbath” comes from the related Hebrew noun shabbath. The word implies that God’s work of creation was completed, so He stopped. The creation week serves as the model for the six-day week and Sabbath rest noted in Exodus 20:11 and other Israelite laws. Faithlife Study Bible

Hebrew 4:4

For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 

Exodus 20:8–11

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work…

Exodus 31:17

It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ”

Deuteronomy 5:12–14

‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work…

Words matter. Rhetoric matters. And a cruel worldview diminishes us. It diminishes me.

And I will tell you that I don’t want to lose passion, resilience, faith, compassion, kindness, courage, empathy, character, creativity, generosity, pluck… or Grace.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” (J.R.R. Tolkien

But with it, is the invitation to step up, and play our part in any great transformation.

So. Where do we find the reset button?

“Many people who have suffered the most horrendous rejections and been subject to the most cruel torture have been able to choose love. By choosing love they became witnesses not only to human resiliency but also to the divine love that transcends all human loves. Those who choose, even on a small scale, to love in the midst of hatred and fear are the people who offer true hope to our world.” Thank you, (Henri Nouwen) “Sabbath Moments”

Matthew 19:23-26 With God nothing is impossible!

 Luke 1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Nothing is impossible for God…nothing. Trust Him alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to do what we cannot. The idol of money and the pursuit of it causes many to trust in themselves shutting God out. They fail to realize that He causes rain to fall on both the just and the unjust. In prayer and supplication we take our petitions to God knowing that in His will  they will be answered. We may not totally understand the outcome but we can rest assured that the Holy Trinity  will take the things meant to destroy us and turn them for our good and the good of the  Body of Christ. Carla

Matthew 19:23-26

23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter •the kingdom of God.”

25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (NKJV)

Jesus’ comment about a rich man’s salvation would have been difficult for some Jewish people in this period to accept because they held to a form of “prosperity theology.” If people prospered, it was evidence of God’s blessing on them. Whereas verse 23 says it is hard for a rich man to become saved, verse 24 implies that it is as impossible as passing a camel through the eye of a needle (Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25). The NKJV Study Bible

The challenge comes from being overly attached to earthly goods. Jesus employs this ridiculous impossibility to capture His hearers’ attention and emphasize the great sacrifice necessitated by the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:21). Jesus’ remarks in Matthew  19:23–24 reverse the conventional wisdom of His day. It was commonly believed that if someone was blessed with riches, they had God’s approval and were thereby assured of entrance into His kingdom of heaven. Faithlife Study Bible

Genesis 18:14

Is anything too hard for the LORD? 

At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Job 42:2

“I know that You can do everything,

And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

Matthew 13:22

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 

Jeremiah 32:17

‘Ah, Lord GOD! 

Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. 

There is nothing too hard for You. 

Grace is that which tumbles into our lives (when our defenses are relaxed), and we are spontaneously surprised by the goodness and beauty of living. C.S. Lewis called it “surprised by joy.”
In other words, we don’t need a primer on “how to find delight,” but the permission to pause, to experience, to give into, to give up control (our need to manage).
Lee Jaster, dear friend and minister, who found a love of gardening later in life told me, “There was a time, I went to the garden to walk and pray. But I was so enamored with it all, I couldn’t focus on prayer. The fragrance of the lilies... I felt horribly guilty, until it hit me that this infatuation was my prayer.”
Yes, a funny thing happened on the way to prayer.
He found the sacred.
He found grace.
And even better, grace found him.

I do not know where you see Grace in your life. I do know we don't cut ourselves enough slack, and I do know that when Grace appears, it's best if we don't analyze it, but just... pause, and let it seep into the core of our being. The reality of true Grace is that it does not waiver or diminish. It does not depend upon our response, performance, attitude, faith or checkered past. It just is.
So tell me, when this week have you been “surprised by joy”?

“Sabbath implies a willingness to be surprise by unexpected grace, to partake of those potent moments when creation renews itself, when what is finished inevitably recedes, and the sacred forces of healing astonish us with the unending promise of love and life.” E.L. Doctorow. ”Sabbath Moments”

Proverbs 19:17 The gifts God gives us are meant to be shared.

 Matthew 25:40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

God loves the world that He created  He gave up His life that through Him we could be saved. Whoever gives even a cup of water to a child or shares God’s blessings with others  will be given more so that there will be more to share with those in need. With gratitude receive and  cheerfully share. Carla

Proverbs 19:17

17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord,

And He will pay back•• what he has given. (NKJV)

Those who give generously to the impoverished are being generous with God. Previously, oppression of the poor has been called an insult to God, the Creator of both the rich and poor (17:5; 14:31; 22:2). Faithlife Study Bible

The proverbs call for mercy and compassion on the poor and the weak, but only contempt for the lazy. The NKJV Study Bible

Matthew 10:42

And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

Deuteronomy 15:7–10

“If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs…

Proverbs 28:27

He who gives to the poor will not lack,

But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.

This I know: if I run from my vulnerability or brokenness, it only exacerbates the problem. Like it or not, we all carry with us fault-lines.

In my early days, I assumed that “salvation” fixed all of that. You know, eliminated the broken stuff (like seeing walls when there were only lines). I figured that's what the Bible meant by being a new creation. But I believe differently now. Salvation is about wholeness, at-one-ness with our Creator, which ironically is about living with our brokenness, instead of running from it. It is about literally, being at home with the self, this self, this extraordinarily loved and often messy self.

My Sabbath is a reminder to hear the voice of Grace, “Look at me.

This same voice invited Peter (full of fear) out of the boat, onto a stormy sea, “Be not afraid. Look at me. Now take one step.”
Jesus didn't ask Peter to wait until he was “unafraid,” or had it all figured out. He invited him to risk, and embrace this life, even with the imperfections and limitations, even knowing sooner or later, he'd sink.

This goes beyond just the power of positive thinking. In the movie Kingdom of Heaven, about the battle for Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, Balian of Ibelin began knighting ordinary men, making them to understand that inside of them was a knight, something far greater than the limitations of their birth or fears or status.
The Bishop, Patriarch of Jerusalem—almost crying: “Who do you think you are? Will you alter the world? Does making a man a knight make him a better fighter?”
Balian of Ibelin: “Yes”
“Look up at me,” Balian of Ibelin was saying to each man. “See in my eyes something more and far greater than you see and know in your limitations.”

Here's the deal: When I see only scarcity, I miss the fact that every single one of us has been gifted with creativity, abundance, heart, love, passion, gentleness, helpfulness, caring, kindness, tenderness, restoration and a shoulder to lean on…
This is the paradigm of Sufficiency. And Grace.
Grace calls something—invites something beautiful—from each one of us, and grace never leaves until the invitation is heard and embraced. It may shake up our life, there's no doubt about that.
We're not used to being unconditionally loved.

I do not know where you see Grace in your life. I do know we don't cut ourselves enough slack, and I do know that when Grace appears, it's best if we don't analyze it, but just... pause, and let it seep into the core of our being. The reality of true Grace is that it does not waiver or diminish. It does not depend upon our response, performance, attitude, faith or checkered past. It just is.
Why? Because Grace heals not by taking shame away, but by removing the one thing our shame makes us fear the most: rejection.

What does it mean to live from wholehearted vulnerability, embraced by Grace?
Let us choose to eliminate the question, “What did you accomplish today?” It makes my head spin, as I'm never sure if I get the answer right. Instead, I hope that somewhere we hear the voice, “Look at my eyes. You are valued. You are held. And you are loved.” Sabbath Moments

Hebrews 12:14-17 Followers of Christ actively pursue peace with all people.

 Galatians 5:4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

The grace and mercy of God, in the person of Jesus Christ, allowed salvation to come to the world. He came with shouts of peace, peace to the people on earth. If we have been given such an invaluable gift shouldn’t we also be a people of peace and mercy? Out of His agape love God offered Himself up for our sins how can we not offer others the same. Carla

Hebrews 12:14-17

14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness •springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that •afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. (NKJV)

Believers pursuing peace and practical righteousness should watch for three dangers: (1) falling short of God’s grace—that is, refusing Christ’s gracious offer of salvation and His provision for their needs (4:16); (2) allowing a root of bitterness to grow in their assembly and (3) becoming sexually immoral or irreligious. Esau illustrates those who are irreligious. Under the Law, the eldest son would receive a double inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:17). Esau lost his inheritance, which included God’s gracious promises, by despising it and valuing the pleasure of food over it (Genesis 25:34). The NKJV Study Bible

Christ’s sacrifice made His people holy (10:10, 14). Those sanctified belong to God (2:11) and, sharing in His discipline, will experience His holiness (verse 10).

To fall short of the grace of God the author exhorts his audience to care for others and assure that none lack God’s grace. This phrase resembles 4:1, which warned of falling short of entering God’s rest.

The root of bitterness refers to someone who is idolatrous. This agricultural metaphor refers to  the description of useless land in 6:8.

Esau Refers to the brother of Jacob, son of Isaac (Genesis 25:24–26). He took foreign wives, which was viewed negatively by his parents (Genesis 26:34–35; 27:46) and in later passages Israelite men marrying foreign women is condemned because it could lead to idolatry.

The heir apparently would receive a double portion of inheritance (Genesis 43:33; Deuteronomy 21:17). In the case of Esau and Jacob, the elder son also would receive from Isaac the divine blessings that God had given to Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3; 15:18–20). The remark that Esau despised this birthright (Genesis 25:34)—which holds foundational significance for Israel—contributes to the negative assessment of him. 

Esau despised his birthright (Gen 25:34) and ultimately lost it because of the cunning of Jacob and Rebekah (Genesis 27:4–29). Faithlife Study Bible

Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart,

For they shall see God.

Tomorrow’s celebration here in the U.S. is a big one. 250 years.
And we must not avoid or ignore the mood of our country now. That would be unwise. While sixty-five percent of U.S. adults say they are still proud to be American, eighty-three percent of U.S. adults feel America has strayed from the ideals the country was founded on two-and-a-half centuries ago. It doesn’t help to pretend otherwise.
But yes. There are many more chapters yet to come. And here’s the deal: we—every single one of us—can plant those seeds, of hope. Seeds of inclusion and repair and restoration and sanctuary.
It’s been the theme—the grounding principle—of my ministry. How, and in what ways, can we—as church, community, country—create places of sanctuary and welcome and healing and renewal?

I’m not preaching on Sunday, but if I were, my theme would be, “All are welcome here.” Sabbath Moments