November 11, 2023

Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 24: Psalm 84:1, 9-12; antiphon Psalm 84:3

Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 25:17-26:19, Matthew 17:1-13

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King | and my God. (Psalm 84:3 )

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God makes room for the worthless.  It strikes a chord with my self hate that understands the Law better than I wish it did. I understand what I break. I understand what I fail to do. The sparrow costs a penny. Sometimes I’m pretty sure the sum of my time isn’t worth that.  But the sparrow finds a home at the LORD’s altars.  Not just to visit. To live.  

Lots of people will put up with me for a time. But I’m pretty sure they’ll leave.  God calls me to live here.  And there is a promise never to cast me out. He doesn’t bicker with me about the best construction. He doesn’t weigh the pros and cons of my time here. He just forgives. Daily. Renews.  Daily.  Grants worth, not based on what I can do, but based on what was paid for me. Daily.  I’m worth the blood of Jesus. He feeds it to me here, at His altars.  I want to live here. Free from the accusations of the Law. Where there’s an answer to my self-talk as the Gospel is preached to me by my pastor, who won’t argue either. He just forgives.  I’d rather be a doorkeeper here than invited into the tents of wickedness. Not because I choose good. But because in those tents all I am is the sum of what I do.  I know what that leaves me with, even if I manage to take a little more from others.  

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts.  It is a shield against the torments of reality.  Not because it’s fake. But because it grants a new creation. A new reality. It changes what was wrong into what is forgiven. Here, there is favor and honor. I sit with brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us equal, all of us redeemed, and all of us loved.  No good thing does the LORD withhold from us.  Even in this veil of tears, when He safekeeps it for a time until the Resurrection.  We’d only ruin it if we got it before then.  He still gives us the foretaste in His supper.  We participate in the Resurrection even now. This is why I go to church. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me (LSB 878:1)

- Pastor Harrison Goodman is content executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.