In covenant love

But God’s Spirit warns us

Nehemiah 9:29-30 [A prayer rehearsing the history of Israel] You warned your people to return to your Law, but they became proud and obstinate and disobeyed your commands. They did not follow your regulations, by which people will find life if only they obey. They stubbornly turned their backs on you and refused to listen. In your love, you were patient with them for many years. You sent your Spirit, who warned them through the prophets. But still they wouldn’t listen! So once again you allowed the peoples of the land to conquer them.

1 Timothy 4:1 Warnings against False TeachersNow the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.

Hebrews 3:6-7, 12-13 We are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ [some manuscripts add, “faithful to the end”]. That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness.” … Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.

I’m posting this in Maryland, at a wonderful place called Caboose Farm (Caboosefarm.net) where the extended Elliott family is having a once-every-three-years reunion. I probably won’t post this Thursday.

In the remarkable prayer of praise recorded in Nehemiah 9, the word “but” appears six times in reference to the people of Israel. God was faithful in myriad ways, but his covenant people turned away from him again and again and again.

The author of Hebrews draws a straight line from his time back to the people of Israel in the desert, 1500 years before. If he (or she) could see our hard hearts, two thousand years later, would he (or she) draw a line to us as well? Don’t we need the Spirit’s warning as much as the Hebrews did?

Reflecting on this, I recall that in the last few days I’ve heard or read the following:

“I don’t think God exists, because if he does, he would have healed my beloved sister. I can’t trust him anymore.”
“I was too badly hurt by the church to ever go back. I still believe in God in my heart, but I can’t stand the people who claim to know him yet behave in unkind and cruel ways in his name and say such demeaning things about people different from them.”
“I’m an ex. Ex-Catholic, ex-protestant, ex-atheist, ex-everything. Bottom line: I believe in myself.”
“God is too busy holding this fractured world together to care about me, and people have been cruel. My life has been one disappointment after another. So, I’m considering ending it.”

The good news from the prayer in Nehemiah 9? An entirely different “but.”

“But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. You did not abandon your people” (v. 17).

“And now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love, do not let all the hardships we have suffered seem insignificant to you” (v. 32).

Forgiveness. Grace. Mercy. Patience. Unfailing love. God, who keeps his promises, offers them all. Take what you need.

Too heavy

But the Spirit shares the burden June 23, 2025

Numbers 11:1, 11, 14-18 Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said. … And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? … I can’t carry the burden of all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! … Then the Lord to Moses, “Gather before me seventy men … I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.”

As we picked raspberries in her father’s garden a few days ago, my granddaughter Juliana, 2 ½, said, “Grammy, I mulch. But sometimes it’s too heavy, so my Daddy helps me.”

Juliana (right) “camping” with her sister and cousins in Grammy and PopPop’s back yard Friday.

I’ve been smiling over that ever since. How many two-year-olds do you know who say with pride, “I mulch”? How many have tried to carry a 40-pound bag of wood chips?

But Juju’s statement went deep into my soul. I, too, try to carry burdens too heavy for me. And my Father helps me. Thank you, Father.

In your life, what is too heavy for you to carry by yourself?

My friend Rhonda and her husband Jim have carried gardening burdens for me this spring, a responsibility too heavy for me as I have faced other challenges. I am so deeply grateful.

Moses found himself desperate for help with dealing with the complaints of the people he shepherded for forty years in the desert, a burden too heavy for him alone.

God, who called us through Jesus to live “freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:30 in The Message), promises not to give us more than we can bear. He calls us to share the weight of our burdens with other people.

If life feels overwhelming right now, I invite you to think about these Scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit who can share your load. I’m doing this exercise myself today.

Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

1 Corinthians 10:13 The temptations (peirasmos, testings) in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Galatians 6:2 Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

I will give you rest Sing through the Bible

Rabbits in the garden

But God’s authority builds up; it doesn’t tear down July 1, 2024

2 Corinthians 10:8, 17, 11:3 Our authority builds you up; it doesn’t tear you down. … As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.” … I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted.

I am grieving today. After a devastating aneurysm and stroke last week, our dear friend Donna left us yesterday. We will miss her so much.

At the same time, we KNOW where Donna is now, and that we’ll see her again (1 Thessalonians 4:13). God’s Spirit hovered over her and her family in precious ways these last sacred days. I hope, as I always do, that Karis was there to meet her and help orient her to the wonders of her new Home, face to face with her beloved Savior.

Another thing happened yesterday, before we knew it would be Donna’s Homegoing day. I was chatting with a friend in the hallway after the early service when she noticed a bunny in the church’s meditation garden. SOOO cute!

As we watched, the wee rabbit attacked one of the flowers. Suddenly it didn’t look quite as cute, even though it was simply acting according to its nature. My mind flipped to the morning I looked outside to see two rabbits devouring my flowers, and my grandson saying, “We should have looked for rabbit-resistant, not just deer-resistant.”

How did that bunny get into the completely enclosed “courtyard” garden at church? No idea.

Sooo cute — until it started attacking the flowers

I kept thinking about the bunny while participating in a discussion of a book by Michael Wear called The Spirit of Our Politics, in which the author calls us back to loyalty to God in first place, rather than allowing politics to usurp our Lord’s place in our hearts. Politics, Wear says, while important for the betterment of our society, is penultimate, not ultimate. It is prudential and conditional, not absolute. He calls us to daily growth in character, so we can become the people who faithfully live out the way of Jesus in every area of our lives, including politics. The fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—will be evident as we seek to serve our communities.

So, I wondered, how did the rabbit of self-interest get into the enclosed garden of our hearts, trampling and consuming the beautiful fruit the Spirit wants to grow there? How is it possible that we look to politics to meet our heart-needs? How can we justify allowing the precious, holy name of Christ to be associated with a political “brand,” while behaving nothing like him? How do othering, aversion, and misplaced moralism advance the Gospel (Wear’s terms—you’ll have to read the book)?

I’m grateful for the shining life of our friend Donna, who showed us so consistently the beautiful fruit of the Spirit.

Almighty God, your truth endures from age to age. Direct in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may speak your truth to make the heart of this people wise, its mind discerning, and its will righteous, to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. BCP 51

What does this mean to you today?

But God cares about us

1 Peter 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

My dad was a Bible translator for the Nebaj Maya-Ixil people in Guatemala. He told us the story of translating this verse, 1 Peter 5:7, with the help of an Ixil assistant. Dad read to him his initial attempt and his assistant said, “No, no, you can’t say that.” So, Dad tried again. And again. Until he had exhausted all his vocabulary.

On the way to Nebaj, which is over the farthest mountain in this photo.

Then Dad had an inspiration. He went back to his original wording and asked his assistant, “If we were to say this, what would it mean to you?”

His assistant said, “Why, it would mean what matters to me, matters to God. That’s not possible!”

The god he knew was self-centered, cruel, and vindictive. He had no categories in his mind for a God of love. Eventually, he came to believe in a different God, one who knew him and thought about him with affection, who cared about him.

Dad speaking at the dedication of the Ixil translation of the New Testament in August, 2008. All of his children and 17 of his grandchildren were in attendance–you can see some of them in the photo to the left. In November, God took Dad Home.

Today, I’m asking myself and you Dad’s question: If we were to say God cares about you, what would that mean to you?

I’m entering this day with worries and cares. You too? God invites us to give our burdens to him. He’s the only one strong, wise, and caring enough to carry them.