Deus Misereatur

Hot Mess and Human Madness This morning I was reading Genesis 37. There in that oddly familiar story of a highly dysfunctional family – a father (Jacob) playing favorites between his sons (Joseph over the other brothers) along with the resentment that leads to the betrayal of family loyalties and brutalizing family love (Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers) – there is something going on unseen and unobserved. In this hot mess and human madness God is working. “Impossible!” someone will likely say, and they would seem to be correct. Up to our eyeballs in the hot mess and human madness, where all we see is manipulation, machinations and vengeful maneuvers, it is clearly impossible that God could actually be working. It’s not until the latter end of the story that it begins to show up. There’s the classic line from Joseph, where, in fulfillment of his two dreams, his brothers and father have bowed to him that he will say, “ Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for ...

Too Good To Be True: Christian Hope in a Hopeless Age by Ricky Jones My rating: 5 of 5 stars In my experience, Christians often struggle with a sense of assurance – whether its assurance of salvation or assurance that God loves them. Some of the reasons may be because they never felt quite loved or accepted by their parents when they were kids. At other times, it seems to be related to how those they were deeply entwined with betrayed them, as in a disastrous marriage. And still at other times it may be the result of poor biblical instruction. Or it might even be a mash up of all of these background experiences, so that as they come to God they perceive him through this messy, mangled set of lenses. Ricky Jones, Pastor of RiverOaks Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has recently penned a 125 page paperback, “Too Good to Be True: Christian Hope in a Hopeless Age,” where he tackles assurance for the Christian. Much of the book is autobiographical, showing how the author himself c...

Sunday morning: Yahweh, God of might and power, who made all things, and then lavished good things upon us and still do; thank you that you give us all things richly to enjoy, you open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. You who know all things, whose eyes run to and fro through the whole earth beholding the good and evil, from whom no creature is hidden, but all are naked and exposed to your eyes; hear the groaning of those weighed down under stress or distress…, see the grief of those who have lost loved ones…., take note of those shackled and shamed by injustice or bigotry from above or below…., give heed to the ones who are unfairly incarcerated or enslaved…. For all who are in these situations and others, we cry out to you on their behalf imploring you to raise them up, refresh them, restore their wholesome dreams, and set them free. Spirit of God who hovered over that which at the beginning was tohu v’bohu , formless and void, bringing forth ...