This morning I am reflecting about the thoughts that God has of me (and you).

Psalm 92:5
How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!

Psalm 139:17
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

This morning according to St. Paul's words in Romans 8:34, Jesus and the Father had a conversation about me (and you). Think about this for a moment: if it is true that Jesus was talking to the Father about me (intercession or prayer - talking to the Father) then he was thinking about me!

Here are some more thoughts God has about me:

Isaiah 41:10

10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

I have a friend who likes to translate the last phrase this way: "God is the keeper of your wonderfulness!"

I have no idea what you are facing or will face today: but this I know God's thought about you is that you are worth thinking about!

May this thinking about God's thoughts about you become one of your habits!

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."

When we think about extending mercy, we usually think about a courtroom and what a judge might do for a person standing before her. The convicted person is facing a sentence for a crime they have been found quilty of. The judge weighs her options. Maximum sentence for this particular crime is 10 years. The judge weighs the circumstances surrounding the crime. She weighs the age of the defendant. She considers the background of the relationship between the victim and the defendant. She meditates on the letters which have been written in defense of the person standing in front of her. She determines that the defendant will be sentenced to 5 years of prison time. She has extended mercy to this individual.

One definition of mercy is 'not getting what we deserve.' The supreme example of mercy is the mercy God extends to us. We are imperfect, rebellious people who deserve the ultimate punishment. God decides to extend us mercy. He grants us not just a reduced sentence - he grants us abundant, eternal life!

Now having experienced this mercy from God, we are to practice the habit of extending mercy to others.

But there is more to this habit than simply practicing what has been given to us. If we practice mercy-giving to others, we ourselves receive mercy.

I think the story Jesus told about the manager of the vineyard who was in great debt is an example of this habit. The manager was in debt , the owner of the vineyard forgave his debt. However, after the manager was forgiven his debt - he went out and found the people who owed him money and demanded that they pay up or be put into debtor's prison. The owner of the vineyard found out what the manager was doing and he had the manager thrown into prison! Jesus said this story was about extending mercy to others the way it was extended to you - or you lose the mercy you have received!

So today we will meet people who need mercy. We are challenged to practice this habit of the church - be merciful to people around you.

Sometimes being a follower of Jesus takes us to the edge - literally to walking and sitting on the edge. It is one thing to walk along the edge; it is something else to sit on the edge. I have walked and sat along the edge of the Grand Canyon. I have to admit it is both awesome and aweful at the same time. When you practice the habit of the church of walking on the edge sometimes you find you have to stop and sit on the edge. You sit on the edge because that's where fellow followers of Jesus are sitting. And many times that's where people who have not yet decided to follow Jesus are also sitting - on the edge.

Tonight June and I did some edge sitting. We visited three men tonight. One in a hospice unit. One in a hospital. One in a care center. All three men sit on the edge of society because of the diagnosis the medical community (and society) has given them.

One of them is a modern day leper who has a family (wife and two beautiful children who attended our church this morning for the first time). He is becoming more gaunt each day as his body is unable to take in food. He is literally slowly starving to death. There is no human cure for his situation. June and I sang with him. His days are surely numbered. I wept as June and I prayed with him.

The other young man was admitted to the hospital today for a blodclot. He called us this afternoon begging us to come by and visit. He is 44 year old man trapped in a very large body with the mind of a six year old. I took him to the Diamondbacks game last evening - a ritual we try to do once a month during baseball season. I call him my 'big little brother'. He enjoyed the game. He was unhappy because his team lost. He loves Jesus. He receives messages from God and shares them with us - particularly messages about who to pray for and how to pray for them. He recently told me that he wanted to go a care center and pray for people. We went to the hospital this evening and comforted him. We prayed with him. We sat on the edge where he lays today.

The other man we visited in the nursing home was glad to see us. (I introduced you to him in an earlier blog - we celebrated his 51st birthday last week.) He sits on the edge because his mental and physical diagnosis leave him incapacitated to survive in 'normal' society. He was sad that the Yankees lost today - but it was okay - the Boston Red Sox lost too. We shared fellowship. We brought him his clean clothes which June had washed this week. His only real joy in life is soda so we brought him some soda. We talked about people in our lives - their struggles, their defeats and victories, their mistakes and mess-ups. We laughed. We prayed. We sat on the edge of his life - his only visitors from the outside world today.

As I read the Gospels one of Jesus's habits was edge sitting. I think if we are going to be imitators of Jesus we are called to join him in his habit of edge sitting - and it is both awesome and aweful at the same time.

One of the habits of Jesus was to hang out with prostitutes, sinners, thieves, societal rejects, lepers, untouchables of all sorts. I think that people who follow Jesus radically adopt his habit.

Yesterday June and I had the occasion to hang out with some of our modern day social outcasts. I was invited to lead a memorial service for the mother of a man I met many years ago when the church I was the pastor of at the time allowed various 12 step programs to use our facility. I officiated at the memorial service for his father a few years ago. Today "Hans" has a large program for people who are trying to stay clean and sober. As you can imagine the chapel at the mortuary was filled with people who share Hans' life experience. Many of them already knew us. They greeted us warmly. You don't shake hands with people 'in the fellowship.' Hugs are expected and mandatory! What love and genuine acceptance! Many people shared with us how their lives have been progressing positively through years of staying clean and sober. Many of them shared of their persoal faith in Christ. We rejoiced in their victories! The food was great, the fellowship even greater!

We handed out lots of business cards. I am sure some of these folks will show up at our home fellowship one of these days.

I think I will hang out some more at Hans' place called 'Clean House'. I think every church should be a 'clean house'. Where the "unwashed" can come and be washed in the blood of the Lamb! Where the loving act of acceptance and unconditional love can be experienced! Where you don't have to wash before you come - you can come just as you are. I think that is the habit Jesus practiced.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

A few years ago I met Pastor Jackson Senyonga of Uganda. What a powerful man of God! In our small group meeting with Pastor Senyonga, someone asked him if he felt that America was ready for revival. Here was his answer, "Look around you. All around you people are expressing their spiritual hunger. The problem is that the church doesn't know the signs." I think the Pastor is right.

Most people have a spiritual hunger. They don't know it. They think that they just need a new car, a new job, a new girlfriend, a new closet of clothes, a new community, or a new house. Or they think they need more money, more friends, more excitement in their lives. All of these 'needs' are symptoms of people's real need - they speak to the deep hunger or emptiness of soul.

This deep spiritual hunger is described by Jesus as a hunger and thirst for righteousness. What is righteousness? Many people interpret righteousness to mean 'being good'. I don't think this is what Jesus meant. The word 'righteous' in the Gospels is connected more with the concept of 'justice'. People are not hungering to be good; they are hungering to be found just or even free from wrongdoing. What our friends and neighbors want is to be able to be at peace with themselves, with their universe and even with God.

So when people are busy accumulating toys, clothes, relationships, bank accounts and stocks they are really trying to calm their inner discomfort with themselves. They instinctively know that not all is well with them and their world. They are trying to find peace.

At the end of his life, Jesus said to his disciples, "I have come to give you peace, but not as the world gives peace." All of those Madison Avenue advertisements we see on TV are aimed at speaking to this inner hunger for reconciliation and peace.

Here is the promise of Jesus: if you and I will place our lives in his hands we will be satisfied. We will find the reconcilation we need in our hearts. Jesus was good enough on the cross for us so that we could be good enough for God. We cannot add to Jesus's goodness. All we can do is humbly admit our poverty of spirit (Beatitude 1) and the brokenness of our lives (Beatitude 2). If we will do this, we will indeed find that our hunger and thirst for peace will satisfied in the one who died for us on a cross almost 2,000 years ago.