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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion February 16, 2006 SUNROOF |
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Frontline Devotion for Thursday, February 16, 2006 by Penny Risen
Some winters, clouds crowd out the sun day after day after day. Makes it tough to keep a bright attitude, doesn’t it? Trudging our way to the car to drive to work or school or that gym workout we’ve promised ourselves, we step carefully through the “snirt” – that crusted, icky combination of snow and dirt as Minnesota natives call it. Slipping into traffic with our equally glum neighbors, we ponder, “There’s got to be some relief! How can I pull out of this slump?”
Actually, the best invention in the past 45 years of automotive history is ready to rescue us: The sunroof! Sliding that baby open above the driver’s seat and taking in a speck of sunshine, we can open our world and brighten our outlook. Although trees may be bare, we can look skyward to ponder those beautiful cloud patterns crafted by God or trace soaring jet contrails crisscrossing above us. When life serves us humdrum and “same old, same old” days, we can choose to look up through our own “spiritual sunroof.”
“Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes -- God takes pleasure in your pleasure! Dress festively every morning. Don't skimp on colors and scarves. Relish life with the spouse you love each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God's gift. It's all you get in exchange for the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! “ --- Ecclesiastes 9, verses 7-9 in The Message Bible
In Ecclesiastes, the reader can open this sunroof to God, to attempt to understand the bigger picture of life’s joy and treasured moments. Life played solo can be dark and confusing, some of its passages say with skepticism. But life lived unselfishly in the Spirit holds so much more promise, it advises poetically. Days observed and lived in appreciation of life, not in criticism and competition with it, can be rich in hope and love.
Parked between Proverbs and Song of Songs, this Old Testament book is said to have been written by a man with the Greek name of Ben Sira in the second century BC. But its enduringly fresh words of wisdom and meditation offer much to direct our life’s journeys toward the sunlight and away from the darkness of each day. If we seek a spiritual sunroof in Bible study, or simply in our Bible browsing, Ecclesiastes is a fine choice to challenge our minds and make our hearts sing.
“Every day is a bank account and time is our currency. So nobody's rich, nobody's poor --- we get 24 hours each. So how are you gonna spend: Will you invest, or squander? Try to get ahead or help someone who's under.” --- Writer Chris Rice from his song “Life Means So Much,” 2000
Sampling the work of songwriter and Contemporary Christian artist Rice, we find an honest voice much like the one in Ecclesiastes --- labeled by some Biblical scholars as “the Quester” or “the Preacher.” In his CD notes about the song “Life Means So Much,” Rice explains: “The value of any object is determined by the price someone is willing to pay for it. The highest price has been paid for your soul and mine (by Christ’s sacrifice), which makes us the most valuable things in the universe.”
Face it: Modern preachers in song like Rice are a blessing because they can and do open “spiritual sunroofs” for many folks who may not attend church or study groups, and those who seldom crack open their Bible. His thoughtful compositions heard on radio or downloaded to Ipods stand apart in the world of Contemporary Christian music as more than simply praise songs that intone “God is great” and “count your blessings.” Like the work of artists Nichole Nordeman and Mark Hall of the group Casting Crowns, the songs of Chris Rice offer melodic beauty as well as scriptural poetry and real-life context. Wit and irony play parts alongside the lessons, the way our lives work too.
Perhaps this is how those Bible scholars compiling the sacred books felt centuries ago: Sure, put in Ecclesiastes! “Let’s challenge the faithful,” they may have told each other, “This work can inspire their humdrum lives to live out Our Lord’s wise words; fill them with wonder and hope that everyday is indeed a gift and gratefulness should define our moments.”
A Prayer for the Day is the refrain from “Life Means So Much”: Teach us to count the days. Teach us to make the days count. Lead us in better ways that somehow our souls forgot. Life means so much! Life means so much! Amen.
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