The Plumbline

And me? I’m singing your prowess, shouting at dawn your largesse, for you’ve been a safe place for me, a good place to hide. Strong God, I’m watching you do it, I can always count on you— God, my dependable love. (Psalm 59:16) A safe place - do you have one? I have a safe place where I can be me, unwind in the way I enjoy, and just get downright comfy in my space. It is called home. I also have a safe place spiritually where I can be myself, unwind in the way I enjoy, while being quite comfortable in that 'space' - it is called God's presence. I am privileged to have two 'sanctuaries' of sorts - one quite physical, the other spiritual. Both bring evenness or balance to my emotions, rest to my body, and peace to my mind. Although both can give me a certain sense of 'sanctuary', the only place of true sanctuary is in Christ Jesus - in the presence of God.  While some view a place of sanctuary as a place of communion with God, others see it as a place of 'p

 Franz Kafka reminds us to "start with what is right rather than what is acceptable". These are indeed wise words as so many today just 'accept' things along the way in life and don't really 'fact check' them to see if they are 'right' or just 'acceptable'. To follow blindly is indeed dangerous territory - we may just find ourselves doing things we might not really want to do, repeating things best not repeated, and believing things not really all that trustworthy. We have an obligation to each other as members of God's family to 'fact check' the things we believe, act upon, and repeat to others. If we don't, we can lead others into some pretty confusing places in their lives! So here’s what I want you to do. When you gather for worship, each one of you be prepared with something that will be useful for all: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight. When we worship the right way, God doesn

God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love. (Ephesians 4:15) Oh...grow up! Have you ever heard that said to someone? Perhaps it was said to you a time or two in the course of 'growing up'. What does it mean to 'grow up'? I am aware of individuals who 'grow up' in size, but not necessarily in intellect, emotion, or even spirituality. Sometimes our bodies grow faster than the rest of us - we look like we are all 'grown up', but we have limited experiences, untested theories of how life works, and are kind of 'green' around the edges. There seems to be various areas of our lives that can be 'stunted' in growth - not all grow equally, nor ever developing in some areas as well

Pure lives - those lives which are unhindered by things which contaminate - either from external force or internal pressure.  Most of us struggle with one or the other of these, but most likely it is both.  We recognize the pull of things external to our lives which easily get us muddled up and kind of leave us feeling a little "dirty" or "contaminated".  It might be the not so "clean" joke at the lunch table, or the flashes of inappropriate images and language which enter in through our eyes during the viewing of a TV show. The sources are many - the influence is greater than we might think. To this we add our own internal "pressures" to conform to this or that image of what we think we are meant to me - either because we imagine it is what we are supposed to be, or someone has somehow convinced us it is the right way for us to act.  Either one of these produces enough internal pressure to get us thinking and acting in ways which aren't alw