Weeping for Our Home

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.

2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,

3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill .

6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy.

Psalm 137:1-6 (New International Version)

But if I weep let be as a man that is longing for his home.
- Rich Mullins, If I Stand

This passage makes me think of how we often forget how awesome heaven is in comparison to where we are now. When we enjoy where we are - and what we're doing - we lose sight of our ultimate goal. At the same time, this verse says to me - anything you weep for, it is less than the grief of not being in heaven. It is both a comfort and a warning.

It is very easy to say, "Try your best and you will go to Heaven." It's a comforting thing to think. However that is a simplification of the concept of grace. This verse speaks poetically of the woe of those far from their homes. God's grace gives us a place in heaven and the Bible tells us what our response should be.

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A song of ascents.

© Alyssa Grabinski

A song of ascents.

¹ When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
² Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
³ The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
⁴ Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like streams in the Negev.
⁵ Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs of joy.
⁶ He who goes out weeping,
carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy,
carrying sheaves with him.
Psalm 126 (New International Version)

So if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to you
If I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs

- Rich Mullins, If I Stand

Today's verse is about how God turns our sorrow to joy. Even in the midst of our sadness, he can turn things around. Those are words of comfort when we are sad or depressed. Rich Mullins' lyrics say, "Even if I can't sing about joy in my life now Lord, I can still rejoice in the joy that brought me to you." His grace is abundant, and it is always there to catch us when we fall.

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If I Stand

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (New International Version)

In looking for another song or verse that spoke to me, I ended up going back to one of the songs that speaks to me on many levels. The song is "If I Stand" by Rich Mullins. Rich Mullins was an artist that died in a car accident, and his death affected me because as tragic as it was, he live his life for God. It was so clear to me that God called him home. I bought one of his CDs in a music store. It was stuck in the discount rack. It had "Here I Stand" and "Awesome God" on it. When I looked inside at the lyrics, I noticed that there were little scripture references throughout every song. There were 8 passages alone just for this song. So over the next week, we are going to be looking at these passages.

Today's passage was listed at the beginning of the song, and I believe it was meant as an overarching theme for the song. The song is a song of praise and a song of supplication. As you listen to the song and/or read the lyrics, what do you think about? How does it relate to the verse above? This verse is the core of the Lutheran Faith - we are saved by grace. What does that mean to you?

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The Beauty of Grace

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

2 Peter 1:2

Today's verse was inspired by music. Specifically a song by Krystal Meyers, entitled "The Beauty of Grace". Take a listen to the song. The message is pretty basic. God's grace saves us. Woo hoo! It's always good to come back to the basics and be reminded of that fact. No matter what doubts we're having, or questions we're asking, one thing remains true: We are saved by God's grace. We have eternal salvation. That's an infinity mile warranty that never expires and is non-transferable, but always shareable. His grace covers all our pain and all our sins. We are washed clean by His blood. That knowledge brings all sorts of peace.

For those who are interested, here are the lyrics, from LyricsMania.com:

Tell me why'd you run?
You say you’re so ashamed
Bruised and broken
Thought if I figured out the mess you made
Then I’d leave

But anywhere you are
Is never too far away
There’s freedom from your scars
The mistakes that you’ve made
Forgiven
The memories erased
Baby, that’s the beauty of grace

La de da, la de da da

Tell me what is love?
I’ll never hold you to
The things you may have done
You say you want new life
In My arms there’s mercy

Anywhere you are
Is never too far away
There’s freedom from your scars
The mistakes that you’ve made
Forgiven
The memories erased
Baby, that’s the beauty of grace

La de da, la de da da

So blow a kiss goodbye
To all the pain you hide

Anywhere you are
Is never too far away
There’s freedom from your scars
The mistakes that you’ve made
Forgiven
The memories erased
Baby, that’s the beauty of grace

La de da, la de da da

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Saved by What?

²⁰You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

James 2:20-24 (NIV)

Today's verse was inspired by a convergence of things. I read a conversation on Amazon about "Are Catholics saved?" It brought me to the verse James 2:24. Then I read a notes post by Pastor Kim Triplett about cheap grace and food that fills us up.

So what is James saying here? Is he conflicting with other passages like Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV).

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

The answer is no, he's not in conflict. If you take that verse in context (and I encourage you to read the rest of the passage) then what James is telling us is that we should have an active faith. God's grace brings with it not only salvation, but an interest in sharing our faith with others. He encourages us to do good deeds so that through our actions we can show our faith to those around us.

So then are we justified through God's grace or not? In Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer writes,

The only man who has the right to say he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that call is inseparable from the grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation [(special permission from God)] from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves.

Cheap grace is defined by Bonhoeffer as saying, "I'm saved through God's grace and I don't have to do anything for it." Costly grace is defined as, "I am saved through God's grace and I can do nothing for it. But His gift is so great I will give everything I have in return."

So what's your flavor? Cheap grace is the grace that causes you to not change anything in your life. Costly grace challenges you to change everything in your life. What's your pricetag?

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Never Been Unloved

¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:10-12 (NIV)

This passage was inspired by Kara Brooks' blog on the Book of Faith website. If you don't know about the Book of Faith initiative, it's something that was started last year by the ELCA and Augsburg fortress to help Christians spend time in the Word every day. If you like reading my daily verses, but are more do-it-yourself, check out what they have to offer. Note that I do not use the same verses that they do every day.

Today's passage is a multimedia experience. You can find Michael W. Smith's song, Never Been Unloved, on YouTube. He sings about the fact that for all that for all our failures, God's love never fails.

Today's verse is very powerful for me, for I do not think there is any power on earth greater than love. God's love is so great that he covers us with His grace. His son died for our sins. That's a lot of love. Our passage goes on to encourage us to love each other the same way. This kind of love, this self-sacrificing love, is referred to as agape in the Bible. How can we be that self-sacrificing? It's hard. We are selfish creatures. We aren't God. We aren't perfect. We can love one another though - and every little bit counts.

So what do we do? We try. Start with the little things. Be aware of people around you and the things that you can do for them. Hold a door for someone. Help someone carry something when it looks like they need help. Say a kind word or just smile to someone when you pass them in the hall. These little things are good habits and they can mean a lot to others. And as you get in the habit of doing little things, it will become easier to do big things. And through these things God's love will be made complete in you, and even though no one has ever seen God, people will see Christ in your life and in your deeds. And the people you meet will know that they have never been unloved.

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No Sin Is Too Big

"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses."

Acts 13:38-39 (NIV)

I was talking to my best friend Nate the other night and he asked, "What's the worst thing you've ever done? Whatever it is, it is forgiven." It brought me back to forgiveness and Grace. God's grace cleanses us from all sins - there are no exceptions. There is no sin too big that God will not forgive it. Grace is a wonderful thing.

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Saved by Grace

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:4-9 (NIV)

This is one of those Lutheran passages - it talks about grace. I found it because I thought yesterday's was mis-referenced. So I looked up this one. Then I realized this was a different passage, but I really liked it.

This passage talks about the fact that it's God's grace, not the things we do that save us. The question then is if we can't do anything, why bother doing good deeds? The answer is that he gives us a new heart - one that wants to do good things. We help others not because we need to, but because we want to.

It's also good for our egos because it says, "No matter how awesome you are, you're not awesome enough." We all fall short, and that's a reminder that's good to have, along with the knowledge that he picks us up and carries us when we do fall short.

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God's Grace is Sufficient

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

This is from the second lesson this upcoming Sunday. I've been thinking about it a lot since I'm giving a sermon on it this Sunday. The first verse is about God's grace, and the second is Paul saying that we are strong when we are weak because God gives us strength. I've been clinging to that a lot this past week.





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