Posted in Devotions, Lent

2020 Lenten devotion #2: The blood of Abel

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by geralt on paxabay.com

Photo by geralt on paxabay.com
“Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.”

“When they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.’” (Genesis 4:2-5,8-10)

Like a glass of red wine spilled on a light-colored carpet, a scratch along the side of a car or a welt across a slapped face, some sins cannot be hidden. There is no hiding Cain’s murder of his brother Abel in a field where no one sees. Heaven can hear the screams. 

How does God respond? He simply asks, “What happened?” Of course he knows. But he wants Cain to say it. To speak the words. To confess. Why? Because “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us” (1 John 1:9). God has always been that way. Drops of blood from his own son’s whipped back, thorn-crowned head, nail-pierced hands and feet and spear-pierced side have also splattered on the ground. With the assurance of forgiveness, his blood drowns out the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24) and the stains, scratches and scars of all my sins, too. 

There may not be a chalk outline on the ground for each one of my sins. But God knows. So do I. Amazingly, he always listens when I tell him what I’ve done. Even more amazingly, he forgives. 

Thank you, Lord, for drowning out the voice of my guilt with your words of grace and forgiveness. Amen. 

Posted in Stuff

More relics

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A few weeks ago I wrote about the few things I still have from before I was married. Today, another older relic on my office bookshelf caught my eye: my penny collection.

I’m not sure when I started collecting pennies. There is a note written in the folder from January 1, 1972 indicating that I had eighty-four coins in my collection. I would have been fourteen at the time. The pennies range in date from 1916 through 1975 in this folder, and go on through 1992 in another. There is also a folder containing nickels from 1940 – 1959.

I know I never actually purchased any of these coins for the collection. I found them all in circulation and in cans of coins my parents had. I thought I had some steel cents from 1943, but I don’t seen them in the folder.

Anyway, these are by far the oldest things I still own from my childhood. I’m sure my parents got us started to keep us busy on a rainy day when we couldn’t go outside to play. This is what we did when there was no internet and only three channels on the TV. The whole collection is probably worth about $2.00 (a hundred pennies and twenty nickels!)

Posted in Ministry

2020 Lenten devotion #1: Garments of skin

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A quick concordance search shows the word blood appearing nearly four hundred times in scripture. Blood is part of life and death in God’s creation. It is part of God’s covenants. It is spilled, sprinkled, poured out, and consumed. It justifies, redeems, reconciles, purifies and conquers. This year’s Lenten devotions focus on the drops of blood we find on the pages of our bibles, leading us to the cross of Christ and beyond. 

Photo by Adrian Ordonez on Unsplash

When “the eyes of [the man and the woman] were opened…they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7). “And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). 

While the word blood does not appear in these verses, God is the first to take the life of some animal to use the skins to cover up the naked first couple. That’s right, God draws first blood. 

Adam and his wife have listened to the serpent, have responded to their own desires and have eaten from the tree forbidden to them. Now they must try and cover up their nakedness, shame and guilt with a few leaves. Mercifully, God provides a better covering, but it will require the shedding of blood. It is the first hint of many that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). It is the first indication that we will hear much about blood in the story of God’s people about to unfold in the ages to come. 

Why do we wear clothes? Sometimes for protection from the elements. To stay warm or cool. They may be a uniform that identifies our profession or company. We may wear them because we like to look good and impress others. Or to fit in with the people around us. 

Whatever the reason, clothes serve as a reminder of our sin and shame and also our Savior. As hard as we try, we can’t cover up all our faults. But our Savior’s love, sacrifice and blood can. “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1). 

Gracious Lord, thank your for covering my sin with the holy precious blood of Christ. Amen. 

Posted in worship

The peace of the Lord be with you always.

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Erika Giraud on Unsplash

In our congregation, we celebrate Holy Communion at just about every worship service. Following the words of institution, I say, “The peace of the Lord be with you always,” and then encourage the congregation to share our Lord’s peace with those around them.

In addition to the traditional, “Peace be with you…” “…and also with you,” I’ll witness worshipers embracing, exchanging a kiss, shaking hands, waving and other assorted greetings. Some folks are a little uncomfortable with the moment, unwilling to share germs or give up valuable personal space. Many, I am sure, are not even aware of why we do this. So a member encouraged me to write about this part of the liturgy.

The sharing of the peace is intended to be a powerful reminder of the evening on the first day of the week when the disciples were hiding behind locked doors. Some had seen the empty tomb. Some had seen the risen Christ himself. Suddenly, Jesus is standing there among them and says, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). Powerful words. Through Christ, God has reconciled us to himself. Our sins are forgiven, the relationship has been healed, and we have peace with God.

The real presence of our Lord in the sacrament also brings the peace of the Lord to us, which means we have also received the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). We bring the salt and light of a new relationship with God into our world. God also enables us to pursue and be at peace with one another before we approach his altar (Matthew 5:23,24).

Conflict is inevitable. Relationships are fragile. Feelings are easily hurt. But forgiveness is real. Reconciliation overcomes separation. Love covers a multitude of sins. And as we participate in the body and blood of Christ, we have a lot in common. We are all members of one another. We are his church!

Keep that in mind each time we share our Lord’s peace with one another.

Posted in church, Lent, Ministry

It’s time for purple

Posted on by William Douthwaite

In liturgical churches like ours, the altar will look different this week. As the season of Lent begins on Wednesday, the paraments will be purple.

Purple was an expensive dye at the time of Jesus. It was made from the secretions of a certain snail. Thousands of those snails were needed even for a small amount of the dye. Only the rich, which usually meant royalty, could afford purple garments.

Jesus wore a purple robe just once, along with a crown of thorns, as soldiers mocked him for being a king (Mark 15:17). This color is a powerful reminder of that Jesus was despised and rejected, a path of suffering that culminated with his crucifixion.

Reminded of the sacrifice he made for us, we enter the season of Lent with repentance. Turning from our sin to our Savior, we will find forgiveness from our king, who came to suffer and die for us.

Posted in construction

Just a little off?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I’m not a builder. I’ve never built a house. I know little about construction. But I have a question. Does that doorway look right to you? Does that right column look vertical?

Hey I was just walking down the street with my dog Samson, when I saw this. Is that going to pass inspection? Is the homeowner going to be OK with that? Personally, I’d be pretty disappointed. I am sure someone is paying $200k+ for the house!

The demand for housing is high. Houses are popping up on lots in days. This does not look good.

Posted in Ministry, pastor

What does a pastor do on a Saturday?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I had a colleague who had a very hard time sleeping on Saturday nights. He always lay awake, worrying about Sunday. So he decided to not even try. Sleeping, that is. He would stay up all night from Saturday into Sunday preparing his sermon, and then preach the following morning.

Good for him. I could never do that. I’d be dozing off during my own sermon! That never goes over well. I’ve got my sermon mostly done by Wednesday and go over it a few times sometime on Saturday. Some pastors have a Saturday night service. For me, that would be a drag. My Saturdays could involve any number of things.

Today I worked in the yard, visited a family mourning a death, ran a few errands and got a few chores done around the house. Other Saturdays I have gone to a movie with my wife, performed a funeral, painted a room in my house, played with grandchildren, had some extended family over for supper and built a play fort in the back yard.

My day off is Friday. If you suggest, “How about Friday?” I will typically answer, “No, that doesn’t work for me.” Saturdays however are flexible. Sometimes I had nothing going on. Sometimes my plate is full.

The one thing I never do is discuss the question, “Do you want to go to church tomorrow?” That’s pretty funny. With retirement on the horizon, maybe we’ll have that discussion. But for now, Saturday means I set my alarm for 4:30. Sunday’s coming!

Posted in God

Mr. Nice Guy?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

As I read Psalm 92 the other day from An American Translation of the bible, I paused at verse 2, where the psalmist mentions God’s faithfulness and kindness. The ESV uses the term “steadfast love.” The lexicon uses the longer term “lovingkindness.” God is also described as “kind” when Paul writes, “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 ESV). So I started thinking, “What does it mean that God is kind?”

In my mind, a kind person is nice. Not mean, rude, abrasive or irritable. In my mind God isn’t like that either. But it just doesn’t seem right to simply describe the Almighty as a nice guy. When you head down that path, you end up with everyone in heaven, because after all, God is kind. There’s got to be more to it than that.

Other New Testament passages (Eph. 2:7 and Titus 3:4) link God’s kindness with Jesus and his saving work. That makes God actively kind, similar to activity associated with agape love. His kindness is an aspect of his grace. When you don’t get what you deserve and your sins are forgiven for the sake of Christ, you’re experiencing God’s kindness. It’s a kindness meant to lead you to repent and get your act together.

I wonder if Israel camped at the base of cloud-covered Mt. Sinai, the ground trembling beneath their feet, thought of God as kind. Powerful? Yes. Holy? Check. Frightening? Yep. Nice? Not to their enemies, that’s for sure. But for the moment God was providing and protecting them. That’s pretty nice of him. And I wouldn’t ever want to take that for granted!

Posted in heaven

Furniture in heaven?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Grant Durr on Unsplash

Today I was reading Psalm 99 and came across verse 5

Exalt the Lord our God;
    worship at his footstool!

It’s not unusual for my mind to wander to some interesting places in the predawn hours of the day. That verse first made me exclaim, “God has an ottoman?” Actually, that sounds really cool. Creation is finished. God’s ready to put his feet up and rest. Why not? Then I wondered, “Does God have any other furniture? Jesus spoke of his father’s house and its many rooms. Is it furnished? If so, how?

I know it’s not important, but just off the top of my head I recall some heavenly furniture mentioned in scripture: a throne, a banquet table, lampstands (floor lamps?). That might be it. And that’s OK with me.

Update: A friend of mine told me her parents always said not to be afraid of thunder. It was just God rearranging his furniture!