The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for April 15, 2015

“We must both be more cheerful in the future,” said Abraham Lincoln to Mary as they took a carriage ride on April 14, 1865. That evening, Good Friday, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. At 7:22 the morning of April 15, 150 years ago today, he died. Two days later, the funeral train began the slow journey home to Springfield. A civil war veteran, Major Robert McClaughry, said of the mourners, “They knew that their greatest friend was passing to his rest, and the future seemed dark enough to their vision” (Chicago Tribune, April 12; 21).

Dark indeed. “Not least of the tragedies to befall the nation that day was the accession to power of the coarse and inept Vice President Andrew Johnson… John botched the reconstruction of the nation…. Himself a racist, Johnson was indifferent to the callous treatment of newly freed slaves. The eventual reconciliation of North and South came at the expense of civil rights for black Americans, which poisoned race relations for a century.” (Wall Street Journal, April 14; A15)

Read about King Solomon’s successor. Advisors told Rehoboam, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” But he went out and said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions” (1 Kings 12:7, 14). Civil war followed and Israel was forever divided.

From presidents to pastors, leadership affects our lives. That’s why we pray for those who lead us.  “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:43).

The Meyer Minute for April 14, 2015

“Hi! My name is Jacob. I’m a member of Opa’s writing team, number four in Cinco de Meyer.

“Easter weekend I was at Oma and Opa’s house. I am 2-years-old. I am learning how to use the bathroom. I went in and turned all the knobs on the door. I locked myself in! What did I do? I panicked. I cried out. Oma and my Mommy came. They stood outside the bathroom door and talked to me. They tried to tell me how to get out of my problem. They talked to me and talked to me. I tried and tried and tried. I knew they were there to help. Finally, I turned a knob the right way and the door opened. Do you big people ever get locked in?”

“Great question, Jake. We big people get locked into all sorts of things. Guilt. Unforgiveness. Bitterness. Fear. Anger. We don’t get locked into rooms but we get locked into unhealthy emotions.”

“Opa, how do you get out?”

“Well, Jake, in my experience we forget that we’re not God. We like to go our own way. Then we get locked into some bad feelings. Like you, words help get us out, God’s words. ‘Cast your burden on the Lord’ (Psalm 55:22).”

“Let’s go outside and throw balls.”

The Meyer Minute for April 13, 2015

Did you see the Masters? After the cold barrenness of winter, the lavish beauty of God’s creation in Augusta was still only a backdrop to mankind, yesterday to Jordan Spieth, the 21-year-old winner who captured national attention with his record-setting play. The Creator not only awes us with budding spring but with people, talented people all around us, “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). “My utmost powers can never quite declare the wonders of His might” (Lutheran Service Book, 811, 4)

Compared to God’s display in the created world, what are the little lilies we put on Easter altars? Some of us conclude that we can know God out-of-doors, out of the church doors, but the people of Fairdale, Illinois are more mature about nature.  Their small town was destroyed Thursday by a tornado that claimed two lives. Do you want to step out today in fear of a capricious God of nature? Going inside, Easter helps us make sense of it all. Easter “comes to gladden faithful hearts Which with true affection Welcome in unwearied strain Jesus’ resurrection!” (Lutheran Service Book, 487, 3)  Those little lilies on the altars of our manmade churches remind us that we work and worship in the greater Cathedral of Creation with faith and hope centered on Jesus Christ. “Come, you faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness!” Especially this Monday morning!

The Meyer Minute for April 9, 2015

Does God ever leave you disappointed with His ways?

“Mary stood weeping outside the tomb…. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ’Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher)” (John 20:11, 15-16).

Mary’s disappointment was understandable, and so are the times when you think God hasn’t been present in your life the way you thought best. After all, we are limited, confined to how we see and interpret events. Keeping Easter means trusting the One who sees more, knows more, and calls you to hope. In disappointment and not fully understanding, Jesus’ way is to be with you and call you by name. “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know full, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

“I know that my Redeemer lives, What comfort this sweet sentence gives…. He lives to hear my soul’s complaint.”

The Meyer Minute for April 8, 2015

Chaplain Erik Erkkinen shared that his grandchild went forward for the children’s message on Easter Sunday. The children were asked about the events of that first Easter morning, and one replied that the women went to the tomb but on the way they stopped at the grocery store. “Why did they stop at the store?” “To buy seasoning.”

“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him” (Mark 16:1). The child got it basically right, updating the story a bit, understanding the truth as it applies today.

“These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).

Dear Jesus, the day of Easter may be past, but enable us to keep the history of Your resurrection alive in the lives we live today. Help us to keep sharing Your life and hope with our children. Amen.

The Meyer Minute for April 7, 2015

A friend sent a cartoon. The board of a congregation is looking at a chart that shows declining attendance. One man proposes a solution. “Let’s call every Sunday Easter.”

Easter comes and Easter easily goes, unless you make an effort to keep the victory before you every day. Sunday I preached three times, and that meant singing “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” three times. What impressed me was how author Samuel Medley describes in almost every line the practical blessings of Jesus’ resurrection. For example, “He lives to plead for me above.”

That can lift your attitude as you go about today’s tasks. Jesus “is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:34-35). Jesus “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).  So, whatever is before you today can be made easier by remembering, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). Every Sunday is indeed a celebration of Easter’s victory, and every weekday, today especially, tuck this word in your attitude, “He lives to plead for me above.” 

The Meyer Minute for April 3, 2015

Jesus’ seven words from the cross…

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). But how often do we taste bitterness because we don’t forgive those who have wronged us?

“Today you will be with me in paradise,” Jesus said to the thief who confessed his sin (Luke 23:43). But do we expect heaven without personal repentance?

“Woman, behold, your son,” He said to Mary. “Behold, your mother,” He said to John (John 19:26-27). But do we let personal busy-ness stop our love for family?

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:43). God abandoned Jesus for a short time so that the full judgment against our sin would be felt. But do we trivialize sin?

“I thirst” (John 19:28). He said this to fulfill the Scripture, fulfilling all righteousness, but do we make Bible reading optional?

“It is finished” (John 19:30). No qualification. Yes, we’re sinners but the price of your sins was paid in full.  In full. You can’t work your way into heaven; you can only believe the One who opened the way through forgiveness.

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46). Do you?

“May Your life and death supply Grace to live and grace to die

Grace to reach the home on high: Hear us, holy Jesus.” Amen.

 

This Minute is taken from “Timely Reflections,” our compilation of 365 daily devotions. It is available to you from Tri-Pillar, www.tripillarpublishing.com. Diane and I wish you a solemn Good Friday and joyous celebration of the Resurrection on Easter.

The Meyer Minute for April 2, 2015

Yesterday’s chapel liturgy at Concordia Seminary used the “Reproaches,” which are based upon biblical passages where God accuses His people. For your meditation…

“Thus says the Lord: What have I done to you, O My people, and wherein have I offended you? Answer Me. For I have raised you up out of the prison house of sin and death, and you have delivered up your Redeemer to be scourged. For I have redeemed you from the house of bondage, and you have nailed your Savior to the cross. O My people.”

“Thus says the Lord: What have I done to you, O My people, and wherein have I offended you? Answer Me. For I have conquered all your foes, and you have given Me over to those who persecute Me. For I have fed you with My Word and refreshed You with living water, and you have given Me gall and vinegar to drink. O My people.”

Thus says the Lord: What have I done to you, O My people, and wherein have I offended you? Answer Me. What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? My people, is this how you thank your God? O My people.”

After each reproach, the choir sang, “Holy Lord God, holy and mighty God, holy and most merciful Redeemer, God eternal, leave us not to bitter death. O Lord, have mercy.”  

The Meyer Minute for April 1, 2015

“When they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left” (Luke 23:33). With which of the three do you identify?

“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’” (Luke 23:39). Aren’t you and I like that thief? If you’re up there, God, why don’t you help me in my need? Jesus, if You are who the Church says You are, do what I need!

Or do you fancy yourself with the other criminal. “But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong’” (Luke 23:40-41). Who of us dreads coming into judgment for the deep thoughts and desires of our hearts? Fear God? Such an old-fashioned idea, religious tyranny.

I see myself in both of those criminals. The mystery is that the One in the middle identifies us with Himself. ”We were therefore buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

“‘Jesus,” said the thief who feared God, “remember me when you come into your kingdom.’” Have you matured to be a spiritual beggar? “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling?” “And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:42-43).  “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).