Fortress of Solitude

Day 16--Mark 15-16

2012-01-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

Day 15--Mark 12-14

2012-01-22T18:51:00.000-08:00

It's astounding sometimes how well we are able to keep our attention away from what we don't want to know or think about. No matter how many times it is told to us or how many times we encounter the news, we are very good about denying its existence. Time and again Jesus tells his disciples about how they will go to Jerusalem, that he will be arrested and crucified, and rise from the dead. And it is not only that the disciples have difficulty understanding what Jesus is saying, but even what they do understand, they refuse to attend. Even when they enter Jerusalem, they are still not focused on what is about to happen to their teacher, despite what Jesus continues to say to them.

One day they are leaving the temple, after Jesus has shared some stories and teachings, and one of the disciple’s comments on the beautiful structure of the temple. Have you had that experience when you pour your heart out, or talk very passionately about an important point, and your listeners' response is to comment on something--anything--other than what you've just said. It's as though the disciples will focus on anything else but the inevitable. It's no big surprise to most that right now the church--like a lot of member based institutions--is facing bigger and bigger decline, so much so that the next 10 years will show a true insight on the future of the church. Some are working to deal with possible changes, while others are content to pretend as though no change is needed. It's easier to focus on the niceties rather than the realities. These circumstances however do not stop Jesus' mission.

During the Festival of the Passover, Jesus shares communion with his disciples, taking bread and wine, telling them it represents his body and blood, and in the giving of the bread and wine to his disciples, Jesus shows the giving of himself to the world. In his predictions, Jesus tells them that they will all desert him in his arrest, to which Peter responds that he will never abandon him. And yet after Jesus' arrest, as he stands trial, Peter waits outside in the courtyard, and someone recognizes him as one of Jesus' followers. Peter says he doesn't know Jesus and walks away, but someone else asks him if he's with Jesus, and Peter answers that he's not. Encountering a third person, they call him a disciple of Jesus, to which Peter answers loudly in anger that he does not know Jesus. And in hearing the rooster crow, he remembers Jesus telling him that before he heard it, he would deny him three times. Peter runs away weeping.

We can only be in denial for so long, whether it's a few hours or a few decades, eventually what we turn away from comes back. And one of the most terrifying feelings can be when we no longer have the ability to deny what's in front of us.

The old cliché is true, it can be easier to believe in Jesus when things are going well; and yet at times when we are at our lowest, our faith in Jesus can be the strongest. Perhaps it depends on what we are willing to embrace instead of denying. It could be argued that right now is not the greatest time to be a Christian, a proclaiming follower of Jesus. The church can often be seen as hypocritical, judgmental, out of touch, and why be a part of that? And yet, it could also be argued that in the midst of fear, confusion, hopelessness, sharing the story of Christ is needed as much as it ever has been. One of my favorite illustrations about this comes from the movie Superman Returns. Superman comes back to Earth after being gone for five years. When he returns, he’s found that times have changed, and perhaps society has forgotten about him. It’s kind of an interesting commentary on our society because in reality it’s been 20 years since we’ve seen Superman in the theaters, and a lot has changed. Our idea of a hero has changed, and perhaps Superman has become obsolete. In the movie, Lois Lane has written an award winning article entitled: “Why The World Doesn’t Need Superman.” When Superman asks her why she wrote it, she tells him, “The world doesn’t need a savior.” Superman then tells her he wants to show her something, and takes her up into the night sky. As they look down on the lights of Metropolis he asks her what she hears. She says she doesn’t hear anything. Superman says: “I hear everything. You wrote that the world doesn’t need a savior. But every day I hear people crying for one.”

While it may be possible for us to deny what is going on around us presently, it does not make reality any less real for those whom we are ignoring, whether it’s Jesus, or the lost, those whom Jesus came to be a savior to.

God of salvation, who came in the midst of the brokenness, fear, and hopelessness of the world, you are the light to our darkness. Help us to not be afraid, to not run away and deny you, but to embrace you and you embrace us and lead us back to you, so that we may passionately share your love with a world crying to be rescued. Through Christ our Savior. AMEN

Day 14--Mark 9-11

2012-01-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

After Jesus tells his disciples of his death, Peter took Jesus aside and said that it must not be true. I often imagine Peter at this point--after Jesus has told them the most startling, powerful news he had so far--taking Jesus aside, almost like those self-imposed father figures, y'know the ones who have taken it upon themselves to be your advisor/mentor. I can imagine Peter doing with Jesus and saying, "Ok, level with me. This is a new parable or something, right? You can be straight with me, one on one, just the two of us. You don't really mean what you said, right?" Have you had this kind of experience, where someone tries to "set you straight?" Don't you just feel like you need a shower. And I love Jesus' response: "Get behind me, Satan!" That shut Peter up and put him in his place. So right after that, Jesus takes Peter and a couple other disciples out to a mountain, where the Transfiguration happens; a moment in which Jesus is transformed into blinding white light and is lifted into the air. The story goes that the disciples saw Elijah and Moses on either side of him (these were two people who did not physically die, but were taken up into heaven). When Jesus comes back down, the disciples are astonished, and Peter is true to form. "Jesus," he proclaims, "this is great! I know exactly what to do! We'll build altars and shrines to commemorate this spectacular event! We'll build one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah...," and right then the skies darken and the voice of God comes forth, telling them that Jesus is his son and to listen to him. You really can't get put in your place any more than that.

What's Peter's deal? Chapter 9 reads that Peter says this to Jesus because he didn't know what else to say. That's certainly understandable, we've all been in situations where we're speechless, and we have that uncomfortable feeling where we have to fill the silence with something, so we say whatever we can think, which oftentimes turns out to be not good. Because we hate silence, we hate the awkwardness of not doing anything. Perhaps like Peter, we do not allow ourselves to embrace the wonder of what is happening around us, and it is too much, so we have to dial it down with speech. Peter can't seem to simply take what Jesus says and embrace, he has to put his own spin on it. Not only does this reflect the human reality that we often can't seem to simply let the powerful mystery of silence at the present time be what it's supposed to be, but perhaps more importantly Peter is doing something else with his response to Jesus' transfiguration.

In Peter's time, when someone had a holy experience, they would build a monument or some physical structure commemorating that this spot of land was now holy, so that others would know what had happened. So on one hand Peter was just doing what was commonly known among his people to honor God. But on the other hand, Peter is arguably doing something here that we are also guilty of at times. In saying that a monument, an enclosure should be built in what this experience was--much like Peter taking Jesus aside and telling him that his proclamation of his death and resurrection can't be true--Peter is trying to domesticate Jesus, trying to enclose and confine, and define him by the standards of culture, tradition, and humanity. And Jesus won't have it.

We can do this often with our rituals, traditions, mission statements, condemnation of others...we can't put Jesus in a box, our box. And we walk all over the beautiful mystery of what Jesus is revealing to us. We try to rationalize or explain or domesticate the power of what Jesus is doing rather than simply receiving and being a part of it.

Later on people begin bringing children to Jesus to be blessed, and the disciples scold them for doing this, but Jesus tells them not to stop children from coming to him. In this time children were not really seen as people because they had not fully developed, they couldn't help with the family work or contribute to the family survival, so they weren't seen as people. But Jesus saw them. The Gospel of Mark writes that Jesus hugged these children and blessed them, saying "Whoever doesn't welcome God's kingdom like a child will never enter it." Having a son for a year now, one of the things I love about Ben is his lack of restraint when it comes to embracing things and people. Sure it gets him in trouble, or dirty, but his enthusiasm to want to love things and people, without any fear or embarrassment, to me is what Jesus means by welcoming the kingdom of God like a child. My guess is if and when Jesus were to appear to the world today, the first to be able to not only recognize him but also go to him would be children. If we as adults can learn and remember what that is like, I believe we would embrace the mystery of Christ more fully and not want to fill that sacred silence with our dumbfounded words.

In the everyday work of ministry, I am no better at this. It's not that difficult to overlook the mystery of the sacred and holy even while being in a church all day. Sometimes it's because of being inside a church all day, and not out with God's people, that I can overlook that sacred and holy of Christ. One of my intentions is to be better about that, and to be out in the community which I serve, interacting with God's people.

God of Great Mystery and Holiness, who reveals such wonder and beauty and truth for which we can be healed and brought back to you, helps us to drop the need to always define who you are and what you do and to simply be a part of it as you would intend us, that we might take what you reveal and not contain it, but spread it to the world, as Jesus did. AMEN

Day 12 (&13)--Mark 4-8

2012-01-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

In these four chapters, Jesus is continually teaching and healing amongst his disciples, they see him performing these miraculous acts, they even receive power from Jesus to do this themselves, and yet they still struggle understanding who he is.

Jesus tells them the parable of the farmer sowing seeds, how some of the seeds were eaten by birds, some landed on rock so that they grew quick but weren't rooted and dried up, some fell on thorny plants and were choked out, and some fell on good soil and bore fruit. Jesus ended by saying that anyone who had ears to hear should listen. The disciples ask Jesus what this parable means, and it seems and though they continually ask him in one way or another in these following chapters. Not long after Jesus encounters a man possessed by a demon named Legion, who instantly recognizes Jesus as the Son of God, he heals the man and tells him to go back to his home and tell everyone what has happened, which he does vigorously.

Time and again we see Jesus encountering people who either meet him for the first time, or have heard about him, such as the woman who had been suffering physically for over a decade, saw Jesus, and touched his robe and was healed. Time and again after Jesus healed others, he would tell them not to say anything, but they would because of what they had experienced. And though these people were transformed after only a few hours with him--or even a few seconds--those who were spending their life with Jesus did not seem to catch on as quickly. Jesus even commissions these disciples to go to other communities and do exactly what he's doing--which they do--and still they don't seem to understand. They are present when Jesus is able to feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. He gives the food to the disciples personally to hand out to the people, and still they do not understand. When they are in a boat at sea, and a strong wind stopped them from reaching land, Jesus walked on water to them; when they saw him they screamed because they thought he was a ghost. When he entered the boat the wind stopped, and they were baffled, they didn't understand. Even after all they had experienced.

Can it be that sometimes when we are in the midst of following Jesus we can forget why, or who it even it we are truly following? How could we be amongst people who Jesus heals and not see the powerful transformation which takes place? How could the disciples watch Jesus place his hands on the eyes of a blind man, and then take them away so that he was now able to see, and still not understand? Wherever Jesus went, people would place the sick, the blind, the dying to him so that they would be healed, and the disciples continue to ask who Jesus is?

Even after a lifetime of attending church, we can still ask that question. The whole tree/forest imagery, or the baby/bathwater--name your metaphor; sometimes the people who understand Jesus the least are those who seemed to have followed him the longest. But have their lives been transformed by him?

In chapter 8, Jesus and the disciples are in their boat, and they only have one loaf of bread for all of them, to which Jesus advises them to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and of King Herod. The disciples talk amongst themselves thinking that Jesus made this comment because they had no bread, but Jesus ask them why they still don't understand. "Are your hearts so resistant to what God is doing? Don't you have eyes? Why can't you see? Don't you have ears? Why can't you hear? Don't you remember?" He reminds them of the feeding of the 5,000, and then later when he feed 4,000, and how they had food to spare. "And you still don't understand?"

Humanity is a curious lot, that we can claim we are waiting for something which has passed us so many times already, or we hold ourselves back from the very thing we claim to want. Why? Why do we talk about wanting to change the world, but are afraid to look a person in the eye who's sitting on the cold concrete? Why do we say the way we do things needs to change, but then implement the same methods with new titles? Why do we struggle to know Jesus, or think of how our lives have been changed because of him?

Do we still not understand?

I admit that I have not had a "drop my net and follow Jesus" moment, a defining event in my life in which I could say "Yesterday I was not a follower of Jesus, and today I am." It has been a gradual process over my life that is so intermixed with me that it is a journey I am still on. But one example I often come back to is when my younger brother was a church mime. I don't know what the correct title is, but remember back in the early 2000s when doing mime performances in youth groups were popular? One Easter sunrise service at my hometown church, our youth group enacted the Easter story in mime; all the youth wore mime makeup and the black and white striped clothes, and my brother played Jesus. He looked like all the other mimes, but he had a cross with him. And as he came up the aisle, re-enacting the journey up to Golgotha to be crucified, right as he passed me, he fell to his knees holding the cross on this shoulders. I don't think he noticed I was sitting there, I don't think he planned it, but as part of the performance he portrayed the weight of that cross on his weakened, beaten body. It was at that moment, seeing my brother fall with that cross over his shoulders, watching the way he made that cross look so heavy, that I personally felt Jesus giving himself for the world....for me.

I don't often preach the idea of "When Jesus died he was thinking of you," the idea that when Jesus was crucified, he did it for Andy Whitaker Smith, because I think a lot of times that's more of an ego boost for us than a proclamation to Christ, but I do believe that when Jesus died, he died for God's people, and I am one of them. So Jesus did die for me.

And sometimes I forget, and I still don't fully understand it, but I continue to live my life in the faith of it, of Christ, and doing what I can to share that story with the world.

How will we live so that we understand who Jesus is as we follow him?

Gracious God, sometimes we think we are following Jesus so closely that we can forget why. Help to live not just in his teachings, but that we see the transformation he has had on us. AMEN

Day 11--Mark 1-3

2012-01-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

On Sunday Jan. 8, our senior pastor invited the church to read the entire New Testament in 90 days. He also invited everyone to use a method of reflecting and applying each day's reading, nick-named S.O.A.P (Scripture, Observe, Apply, Pray). In deciding to this, I also decided as a way to hold myself to it better, I would keep each day's thoughts here, and hopefully spark some conversation. So each day, I'll share a few thoughts on each aspect of S.O.A.P., and we'll see where it goes...And I'll be reading from the new Common English Bible...

NOTE: Ok, since I'm starting a new book, I think I'm going to take a new approach, cuz posting Matthew like that really felt more like homework, and didn't flow well...so I'd like to take a different approach. Instead of summarizing the passages, I'll share with you what they are, hopefully you'll read them yourself, but these posts will deal more with the "OAP" of "SOAP..."

The Gospel of Mark is arguably by most the first of the four gospels. It's much shorter than the other three and more concise. Jesus arrives, and starts his ministry. It begins with his teaching and healing people, and doing it with an authority the people had never heard before from religious leaders.

In chapter 1, Jesus and his disciples have been healing people all night, and early the next morning the disciples find Jesus praying alone. One of the disciples tells him that everyone is looking for him, implying that they are expecting Jesus to continue his healings. I always imagined the disciples at this point like excited little kids ready to go back on the Tilt-O-Whirl. It could even be equated with churches who think they have finally found the magic solution to the problem of membership decline. Neither of which is bad, hearts are in the right places, but then Jesus stands and says something very eye-opening: "Let's head in the other direction, to the nearby villages, so that I can preach there, too. That's why I've come."

This week I attended an event with pastors of United Methodist churches from Kansas and Nebraska, as we are nearing a time to vote on all churches in both states becoming one Annual Conference overseen by one Bishop. Think of one person in charge of each and every church in both states, how to create new budgets, new support systems, new ways of doing ministry in a connectional way; there's a lot of energy going on, both positive and anxious. The theme of this event was "Hope in the Face of Change;" listening to speakers, conversing with one another, and just having opportunities to be able to discuss where things are going. At the end of the even this morning, Bishop Scott Jones of Kansas East and West Conferences illustrated in his sermon about walking through life--and ministry--with a giant load on one's back, so much so that all one can see is the ground and the trash upon it. He went on to talk about how we need to stand up straight and look up toward God.

Oftentimes when we are in the midst of things which are either positive or anxious, we can still find ourselves looking at the smaller picture. Sometimes it's because things have become so overwhelming, or we are in a situation that we really, really like and think that it can't possibly be any better. And then Jesus says, "It's time to leave." Now to my fellow United Methodist clergy, this isn't about itinerancy, that when we are in the midst of great ministry we are suddenly forced to move; but I think when the disciples are all excited and expecting to pick up right where Jesus left off the night before, they're thinking that that is the point of Jesus' ministry, to simply heal and teach on that level that they took part of. But Jesus reminds them that he is here for a bigger purpose, which we see unfold throughout the story, and something that the disciples have to re-learn and re-experience over and over again, just like us.

Jesus never loses sight of his mission. He is also focused on God, whether his ministry is going really well, or his life is in danger, Jesus is always looking up toward God and God's purposes, ready to say "Let's head in the other direction."

In chapter 2 we have the famous story of Jesus healing the paralytic; not only healing him but telling him his sins are forgiven, which the people believe only God can do. But Jesus unfolds another aspect of his true ministry, as he does with beginning to eat with sinners and tax collectors: "Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn't come to call righteous people, but sinners." As the beginning of the gospel story reveals John and Jesus calling people to change their hearts and minds, we see that Jesus in his healing and teaching is causing people to do that, to see the love of God in a new way that calls those who are in need of transformation, repentance, and renewal.

In ministry it can be incredibly easy to remain facing downward and only see the ground. After events like I went to this week, I feel myself standing up straight again and looking toward God and the transforming power that God is giving. It causes me wipe my eyes clean and energized to be a part of the transformation.

Day 10--Matthew 27-28

2012-01-18T20:24:00.000-08:00

As Jesus is brought before the council of elders and chief priests, Judas regrets betraying Jesus, gives back his silver, and hangs himself.
Governor Pilate asks the crowd what should be done with Jesus, to which they answer that he should be crucified. Pilate asks what wrong Jesus has committed, but the crowd only answers for him to be crucified. Pilate says he washes his hands of this matter, sentences Jesus to crucifixion, and has him beaten.
Soldiers make a bystander carry Jesus' cross up to the place of crucifixion where Jesus is crucified next to two others; people who passed him spat on him and shouted insults.
Near the end, Jesus cried out, asking God why he had been forsaken, and died shortly after. The earth shook and rocks split, and a centurion approached Jesus and said "Truly this was the Son of God."
Two women come to tend to Jesus' tomb, meeting an angel in white, telling them that he isn't here, but has been raised from the dead, and to go and tell his disciples. On the way they actually meet Jesus, who tells them that he will meet his disciples in Galilee.
When the disciples meet in Jesus in Galilee, he tells them "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I will be with you everyday until the end of this present age."

OBSERVE: What we think is the end is not. Jesus brings a new beginning, fulfilling all he said he would. It is only at the end of this story that we not only see the beginning, but that when Jesus tells his disciples to make other disciples, it is through their sharing the experience Jesus shared with them.

APPLY: The acting of "making disciples" is not about conversion, but about sharing who Christ is. I share the story of Christ and how Christ has changed me, how who he is has impacted me, as a way of making disciples.

PRAYER: God of Resurrection, of new life and new beginnings, show us that the story never ends, that in Jesus we have been transformed. Help us to see past the drudgery and into your guidance for us. Help us to experience that new life and to share that new life with others, and Christ shares it with us. AMEN

Day 9--Matthew 25-26

2012-01-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

On Sunday Jan. 8, our senior pastor invited the church to read the entire New Testament in 90 days. He also invited everyone to use a method of reflecting and applying each day's reading, nick-named S.O.A.P (Scripture, Observe, Apply, Pray). In deciding to this, I also decided as a way to hold myself to it better, I would keep each day's thoughts here, and hopefully spark some conversation. So each day, I'll share a few thoughts on each aspect of S.O.A.P., and we'll see where it goes...And I'll be reading from the new Common English Bible...

SCRIPTURE: Jesus tells a parable about the kingdom of heaven being like 10 bridesmaids with lamps going to meet the groom. 5 of the bridesmaids didn't bring enough oil. The groom was late, and all the bridesmaids fell asleep waiting. One of the them suddenly cried out he was coming and they ran to meet him. The 5 who ran out of oil asked the others for more, but were advised to go to a nearby shop to buy some. By the time they got back the room with the groom and bridesmaids was shut and locked. The other bridesmaids cried out to be let in, to which the groom replied that he didn't know them. Jesus ends by saying to keep alert, because no one knows when this time will come. He tells another parable of a wealthy man leaving his estate in the hands of his servants, giving one servant 10 valuable coins, another 2, and another 1. When he returned the first two servants invested the coins and made even more, to which the master was very happy with his servants. But to the one who only had one, he told his master that he was afraid he might lose it, so he buried it, to which the master was angry, telling his servant that he could have at least put it in the bank and something would have come of it.

He then tells his disciples about when he will come back in his majesty and glory with his angels, and will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. To the sheep he will tell them to come with him, for when he was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, in prison, they cared for him. The servants will asked when they did it for Jesus, and Jesus will tell them that when they did so to the least and lost, they also did it to Jesus. Likewise he will tell the goats that they rejected Jesus because they rejected the least and the lost.

As the chief priests continue to plan how to arrest Jesus, Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples, tells them that he will point Jesus out to them and help arrest him for thirty pieces of silver. During the Passover festival, while Jesus was with his disciples, he took a loaf of bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying "Take and eat. This is my body." Then he took a cup of wine, blessed and gave thanks for it, and gave it to the disciples, saying "Drink from this, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many so that their sins may be forgiven." As Jesus and his disciples left, he told them that they would soon abandon him, to which Peter promised that he would never leave Jesus. Jesus told him that before the rooster crowed, Peter will forsake him three times. Jesus and a few of the disciples go to a garden where Jesus tells them to wait while he prays alone. As he's praying, he tells God to take him away from his mission if it is possible; but if it truly is his mission, he will carry it out. He comes back to find his disciples asleep. Judas arrives with a large crowd and points Jesus out. As Jesus is arrested his disciples run away.

Jesus is brought before the council of high priests who attempt to make him confess that he's the son of God, but Jesus is silent. They then tear his clothes and begin to beat him. Outside in the courtyard, people begin to recognize Peter as a disciple, which he denies. The more people recognize him, the louder he shouts he's not with Jesus. He then hears the rooster crow and begins to weep, remembering what Jesus told him.

OBSERVE: We are given a unique glimpse into a prayer of Jesus, one of the few times we know what he's praying about, and in the midst of all things, he prays that if it is possible, God will take this mission away from him. Jesus is honest in that he would choose not to do what he's about to if he could, but also holds true to his purpose. At the same time, we see the disciples who have proclaimed to never leave Jesus run away once the authorities arrest. We see that strength comes not from being fearless, but in faith being stronger than fear. Once Peter is confronted with his fear, all he can do is run away.

APPLY: It can be easier to act as though faith means no fear or doubt, but the reality is living a life of faith can sometimes be even more terrifying. Where will this faith take us? What will it ask of us? What if we're wrong? There is nothing wrong with being afraid, which is where faith can give strength and be able to overcome fear. In looking at my own life and ministry, I do not have to live as though there is nothing for me to fear, but to live in my faith that I am not alone.

PRAYER: God of strength and refuge, who is with us even in our darkest and most fearful moments, we can often forget you are with us, especially in our most fearful times. But you assure us that no matter what, you are with us and can bring greatness out of anything. Help us to remember that while we may be afraid, we are never alone. AMEN

Day 8--Matthew 22-24

2012-01-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ok, I punked out tonight and didn't make a blog post, but I assure you I did the reading....

Day 7--Matthew 19-21

2012-01-14T19:16:00.000-08:00

Jesus is asked by religious leaders about divorce, if it's unlawful to divorce why did Moses command to certify divorce when it happened. Jesus responds that Moses knew the hearts of some to be unyielding as to what the true idea of marriage was in God's eyes, but that anyone who divorces for anything but sexual unfaithfulness and marries another is committing adultery.
People came with children for Jesus to bless and were turned away by the disciples, but Jesus tells them to let the children come to him to be blessed.
A rich young man asks Jesus what must do to gain eternal life, and Jesus answers to follow God's commandments. The man says he is already doing this, to which Jesus adds that the man should sell all his possessions, give his money to the poor, and follow him. But the rich man leaves Jesus saddened because he had many possessions.
Jesus tells a parable of vineyard workers who were paid the same wages, no matter if they had worked all day or only an hour, to which a worker who had been there all day protested. The owner of the vineyard responded that it was fair because the worker was still paid what was promised and he could do what he wanted with what was his. Thus the first will be last and the last will be first.
Two disciples argue about who will sit next to Jesus in the kingdom, but Jesus says that is not for him to decide. Jesus says that those who are a part of the kingdom will not think about themselves, but about serving others, as Jesus himself does.
Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. A crowd lowers cloaks for him to pass on, shouting "Hosanna," which means "Savior." Jesus arrives at the temple to see financial transactions taking place, and drives the merchants and customers out, saying that this is a house of prayer.
Jesus tells a parable of two sons whose father told to go work in the vineyard. One refused, but later changed his mind; the other agreed, but then didn't go. Jesus asks the religious leaders which son did the father's will, to which they answered the first son. Jesus told them that tax collectors and prostitutes would enter the kingdom of heaven before them because they are the ones whose hearts have been changed.
The religious leaders begin discussing Jesus' arrest, but are afraid because of the crowds' reactions.

OBSERVE: We often try to put words in Jesus' mouth, or dwell on what we would like Jesus to say rather than focusing on what his true message is. Yet Jesus also reminds us that we are able to change our hearts, and will be welcomed when we do.

APPLY: It is certainly easy for me to think more about what I would like Jesus' message to be rather than the truth at times. A daily reading of scripture helps me to stay involved in what Jesus was saying or doing, rather than holding to what I think Jesus' message is on my own. A true application in this circumstance is to continue be involved in scripture reading daily.

PRAYER: Gracious God, even the best followers can so quickly lose track and focus if we veer off just slightly. We can so easily forget the truth of your message, no matter how powerful it is. Help us to keep the desire to always be encountering you and your message. AMEN

Day 6--Matthew 16-18

2012-01-13T20:02:00.000-08:00

Jesus continues to warn his disciples not to pay attention to outside forces and influences such as the religious leaders.
At a visit to a district marketplace, Jesus asks his disciples "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answers that he is the Messiah, the Son God, to which Jesus says on that faith he will build a new church.
Jesus begins to tell his disciples about the suffering and death he soon must go through. Peter takes Jesus aside and says that it won't truly happen, to which Jesus calls Peter "Satan," and that he will be a stumbling block to him; that those who want to save their lives will lose them, and those who want to lose their lives to find new ones in Jesus will have them.
6 days later Jesus takes three of his disciples to a high mountain, where he is transformed into dazzling light, and Moses and Elijah appear at his sides. Afterwards Peter suggests making three shrines for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. They hear God proclaiming that Jesus is God's Son, with whom he's well pleased.
A man tells Jesus that his son is possessed and none of the disciples could drive the demon out, which angers Jesus. He heals the boy, to which all are amazed, and once again Jesus tells them of how he is to die, that they should be not amazed about what's happening now, but about what will happen.
Jesus speaks of children, that those who try to keep them from him is like falling into sin. Finding lost children is like finding lost sheep, it is a happy occasion to leave the 99 who are fine to find the one who needs to be found.

OBSERVE: Jesus begins to reveal the fullness of his mission, but his disciples don't want to hear it. It is often the case that we tend to avoid the truth of what God is revealing to us.

APPLY: To hold to true to the vision Christ puts before us involves constantly being open to that truth and not sidelined by other things. For myself, a daily reminder and vigilance of keeping focused on what God's true calling is is a discipline I am still working toward.

PRAYER: God, sometimes the truth is more than we can bear, or more than we want to deal with. Help us to see what Jesus is fulfilling in us, and that though the path may involve struggle, it leads us to you. AMEN

Day 5--Matthew 13-15

2012-01-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Day 4--Matthew 10-12

2012-01-11T19:11:00.000-08:00

Day 3--Matthew 7-9

2012-01-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

SCRIPTURE: Jesus continues his message to the crowds who have gathered, talking now about not passing judgement; that we cannot declare what it wrong with others until we first acknowledge and deal with what is wrong with ourselves. In continuing the theme of not worrying, he assures the crowd that if they seek God, they will find God. In focusing on this instead of worrying or what's to be done with others, we will be able to love others and treat them as we would want to be treated. Jesus goes on to say that this type of lifestyle is hard and unpopular, like a narrow road that is hardly traveled; not everyone will choose to take this path. There will be people who claim that another path is true, but this is false, and can be discovered by observing the kind of life they live and whether or not it is devoted to God. Not everyone to calls upon the Lord will gain access to God simply because they want it. Those who do not live the life Jesus is describing is not truly building a relationship with God, and thus God's response will be: "I never knew you." Jesus describes this like building a house on a poor foundation, which can be easily toppled over. The crowds are amazed at his teachings and even more start to follow him. Jesus then heals a leper and tells him not to reveal who he is, but to go back and reveal himself to the priest which will be a testimony to who God is. Some people tell Jesus they wish to follow him, but only under certain conditions, to which Jesus tells them that following God is about dedicating all of one's life and living under God's conditions. During a storm with Jesus and the disciples in a boat, the disciples cry out in fear to be saved, to which Jesus stops the storm, and asks them why they are so scared and lacking faith in him. When Jesus come across the tax collector Matthew--despised by others as a sinner--he tells Matthew to follow him and has dinner at his house to which other tax collectors and sinners join. Legal experts discuss why Jesus would associate with them, to which Jesus responds that he did not come for those who think they are well off, but for those who wish to be changed. Jesus travels to a ruler's house to heal his daughter who has died, and while on the way a woman touches his clothing to be healed, which he allows. When he arrives at the ruler's house, Jesus touches the girl's hand and she revives. The crowd spreads the news of what has happened. As Jesus continues to heal and teach, he tells his disciples of the reality that the need of the world is bigger than they can imagine, like a large harvest with few workers.

OBSERVE: Jesus continues to show the fullness of life by both teaching and action, and just doing one or the other. These actions do not just serve one purpose (healing) but to show what is possible in following Christ. In trying to live life, following Jesus does not just solve problems, but opens up our understanding of who God is based on who Jesus is.

APPLY: It is easy to simply react to what happens in life, or who we come across, which can take us off that narrow road of following Jesus. What keeps us on that narrow road is remembering that that road is Jesus' road. To focus on Jesus and who he is can help to not just simply react, but see the bigger picture of how we are living life. In the times when I could simply react to who or what is going on around me, I can instead continue my focus on following Christ, which can help me determine how to respond to what is happening rather than simply reacting to it.

PRAYER: God, it is so easy to veer off-course, especially in a time which we want to make new, good, lasting resolutions that improve our life; and after only a few days the glimmer and motivation seems to slip away. Help us to keep our focus on you, and not be distracted or fall into apathy. Help us to see and continue to see the importance of sticking on that narrow path, so that we are led toward what we are seeking. AMEN

Day 2--Matthew 4-6

2012-01-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

OBSERVE: Jesus goes through a human trial in this part of the story and comes out overcoming a possible obstacle to his ministry, i.e. Satan tempting him on another path. This reveals the human reality of how easy it can be to tread away from who we are supposed to be and what we are supposed to do. Once Jesus overcomes this temptation, his ministry begins. Not only does he physically heal people, but he changes their perceptions of God and how one truly follows God. The rules and commandments are more than just words to follow, but a life to be lived; and not so that others might see and be impressed, but so that a true relationship with God can become alive.

APPLY: It is very easy to dwell on what people think, or how we think people perceive me, and whether or not it's true. We can dwell on it so much that we lose our focus on the only one it really matters about how we are living. I have often found myself more concerned on how others' see how I am or am not living my life for God that I often forget about what God thinks. In looking at these chapters, I will focus on listening for how God is revealing to me how I am living my life devoted to him.

PRAY: God of all things, we can waste so much time on so much that is outside that we can lose focus on you. In our limitation we can dwell so easily on only what we see with our eyes that we close up everything else that can help us know you. Help us to hear Jesus' words that we can be the light of the world, and that past our worries is your guidance. AMEN

Day 1--Matthew 1-3

2012-01-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

SCRIPTURE: These first three chapters describe the lineage of Jesus, where he comes from, and his parents. Joseph learns that his wife-to-be, Mary, is already pregnant. While he thinks about not marrying her, an angel reveals to him that she was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and she will give birth to Jesus, the savior of the world, thus fulfilling the prophesy of the coming of Emmanuel ("God with us") aka Jesus. After Jesus is born Magi/Wise Men arrive, having followed a star. When they see the baby, they kneel and present him gifts. King Herod learns of this and as a way to overthrow the prophecy, orders every male child under 2 to be killed. An angel warns Joseph of this in a dream and they flee to Egypt. When an angel tells Joseph it is safe to come back, they settle in the town of Nazareth. Once Jesus becomes an adult, he approaches the man John who is baptizing people in the Jordan River. Jesus speaks for the first time in the story, saying "This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness." As Jesus is baptized, a voice from heaven says: "This is my son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him."

OBSERVE: Like a lot of epic stories, more attention is given to secondary characters centered around the main character, so we discover more about people in Jesus' life than Jesus himself. There's no mention that Jesus is the Son of God, such as a title, or really any kind of announcement of who Jesus is at the beginning; it's revealed as the story progresses. In fact, Jesus doesn't even speak until chapter 3, and presumably the better part of 27-28 years later from chapter 2. But whether people were drawn to him with feelings of love and amazement, or fear and hatred, the birth of Jesus made a dramatic impact on the world around him, no matter if they were high or low as far as the world's view. Jesus' desire to be baptized himself amongst sinners shows that though he may not be a sinner himself, there is an importance of his being baptized, showing that Jesus partakes in actions we ourselves can be a part of. And it is at this time, that the title of 'Son of God' is given to him, by God; and at this particular time when Jesus is baptized. God finds happiness in Jesus; and is it general happiness, or does it come from baptism, which we can be a part of, too?

APPLY: In these first three chapters, Jesus has already affected many people's lives, simply by being himself. In doing what he was called to do and be, there were people who showed him great love and praise, as well people who wanted him dead. Being who we are supposed to be is not about making everyone like us, but about being true to our purpose in life, God's purpose for us. Jesus knew his purpose and began fulfilling from the day he was born, a large beginning of that also being his decision to be baptized. I continue to base my actions on how I discern and believe God is calling me to fulfill the purposes God means for my life. It doesn't always work and I find myself questioning a lot whether I'm doing what I'm supposed to, but continual focus on God's presence and what God is calling me to versus everything else is how I strive to make those decisions.

PRAY: God of all that is, as all that we are is defined by you, and we continue to discover what that means, help us know your presence and see your direction, and know that our being here as one of your children gives you happiness, which is what you want us to have for our lives in knowing you. AMEN

Extravagant Generosity

2011-12-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

This is Part 5 of a 5 part series of blogs based on Robert Schnase's book Five Practices of Fruitful Living, which our church (First United Methodist Church: Topeka, KS) is studying. Our church was able to be graced with Bishop Schnase's presence both in worship and two workshops in mid-October, in which he delved into how these practices can be lived out. As our church continues to learn and discuss what that means, I share with you some of what has been on my mind regarding these practices...

"Living fruitfully is not merely a matter of having something to live on, but something to live for." --Bishop Schnase

It might have been laziness on my part that it's taken me till now to complete this series, but it's not hard to see how an idea like "Extravagant Generosity" can fit in the Christmas season.

It's important to think about how "Extravagant" does not have to mean "Big," or "Complicated," or "Outlandish." "Extravagant" in this situation means "Powerful," "Life changing," and it doesn't have to take much to change a life. In fact sometimes the smallest act can change everything.

See what I mean...

http://www.flickspire.com/m/Share_This/changeforadollar?lsid=161f9da9b7692b6854ca64548e80ab61

Risk-Taking Mission and Service

2011-11-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

This is Part 4 of a 5 part series of blogs based on Robert Schnase's book Five Practices of Fruitful Living, which our church (First United Methodist Church: Topeka, KS) is studying. Our church was able to be graced with Bishop Schnase's presence both in worship and two workshops in mid-October, in which he delved into how these practices can be lived out. As our church continues to learn and discuss what that means, I share with you some of what has been on my mind regarding these practices...

At a church I attended when I was a kid, our fairly new pastor--during the Passing of the Peace/Greeting One Another time--told the congregation to have a genuine greeting in Christ's name. "Don't talk about the football game," he said, "don't talk what a good rain we had last night. Tell someone 'God Bless You.' Greet someone in the name of Christ." As I heard people greeting one another, one guy I noticed shook the hand of another guy and said "Well, we did have a good rain," and smiling that awkward smile of awkwardness. I have to admit, I only said "God Bless You" to one person myself, but I remembered thinking with these people who had been going to church longer than I had been alive, why was it so hard to genuinely talk about God?

We live in a time in the church where the Mission is very popular. That's what'll get the kids in, right? It seems as though service is the new gimmick to attract people into the church. But it seems as though Bishop Schnase is writing about a different type of mission and service: Risk-taking.

The stories of Jesus' serving experiences were always about his reaching out to those who no one else would reach; those who were either socially despised or made people too nervous. And yet Jesus would interact with them. In the restoring of paralytics, touching the blind, healing the diseased, perhaps the miracle was not that he used divine power for them, but that he simply treated them like human beings, like children of God. Maybe that's the miracle because it's something we can do, but are deathly afraid to. When Bishop Schnase spoke at our church he talked about how most churches' idea of "Risk-Taking Mission & Service" is giving a couple of soup cans to a food drive; but when was the last time we made an intentional effort to touch someone's life, someone who perhaps the world has written off? I'll admit that as a pastor, I'm just as bad about this as anyone. I find myself more days sitting in my office when I could be out in the community getting more in touch with people. What is it that keeps us away? We all have our reasons, but like commenting on rain rather than the spirit of Christ's presence during a greeting, I think there is something more under our surfaces. Schnase puts it this way:

"If we move toward suffering rather than running from it, we experience uncomfortable moments and awkward incidents. We risk feeling helpless, or worse, we risk sharing the pain of the person who suffers. Opening ourselves is listening to someone share their loss without changing the subject; walking into a nursing home full of elderly patients and remaining there long enough to show that someone still cares; listening to people of different races tell us we will never be able to understand them; standing along-side people in the struggles to overcome, rebuild, and heal. It leaves us vulnerable."

It leaves us vulnerable.

And when we drop the illusion of our invulnerability, we begin to connect with others; others whom we never thought we would ever share anything with. And in the midst of that, we see the presence of Christ.

Intentional Faith Development

2011-10-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

This is Part 3 of a 5 part series of blogs based on Robert Schnase's book Five Practices of Fruitful Living, which our church (First United Methodist Church: Topeka, KS) is studying. Our church was able to be graced with Bishop Schnase's presence both in worship and two workshops in mid-October, in which he delved into how these practices can be lived out. As our church continues to learn and discuss what that means, I share with you some of what has been on my mind regarding these practices...

Church language often uses phrases like "being moved by the Spirit," which can truly happen, but often the implicit message is that the Holy Spirit is the only who does the moving, so that whatever happens or doesn't happen is because of the Spirit--or lack of Spirit. So if something doesn't go the way it's supposed to, or it fizzles and dies, is it because the Spirit was as moving as it could be, or not there at all? Things like research, planning, practicing, rehearsing, there are all things that everywhere we understand is a necessary in preparing for anything we wish to be better at or when we get involved in something; and yet for some reason, we seemed surprise when this is also necessary in one's relationship with God and in the church.

Bishop Schnase illustrates that when John Wesley was beginning what became the Methodist movement, he invited people into a series of practices and disciplines such as daily prayer, fasting, Communion, and being in small groups of people who could come together, keep in touch with, gain support, and remembering that one was not alone in trying to be closer to God. Hundreds of years later and we are still trying to get this right. In these practices, we gain a better insight into what the Holy Spirit is nudging us to. As Bishop Schnase writes, "We cooperate by placing ourselves in the most advantageous situations for learning God's heart, for walking in Jesus' way, and for remaining faithful in our practice of the spiritual life."

Because God creates us with the ability to make our own choices, what we choose is extremely important; and like anything else, we must make the decision to do what we can to be in closer relationship with God. We must intentional.

In a time when there is so much we can do, so much we can be a part of, so much that is demanding our time, it's more important than ever to decide what our priorities, what it is we want out of life, and what we need to do to gain that. And at times it may not seem very spiritual, it may seem like a chore; and it may come to a point where you realize that practice is not gaining you any new exposure to who God is, which is why there are many practices, because everyone is different.

For example, Lectio Divina (Holy Reading) is an old, old practice of reading a piece of scripture--doesn't have to be very long--as a way of hearing and experiencing God's presence. In this practice, you read the same passage four times, with the first time just reading it through, the second time watching/listening for a word or phrase that speaks to you, the third time letting that word or phrase take you into deeper thinking/praying about how that is connected to something about you or your life, and the last time just letting the piece of scripture take you to the end of the practice. This can be done either alone or in a group, but it is incredible how this meditative reading can open you up to what God might be saying.

There are many practices we can do, many types of worship services we can attend, many groups we can be a part of. Like everything else, there are many options; but will we intentional about making time to find what works for us and making it a part of our life? We cannot assume the Holy Spirit is going to do all the work for us. God has given us a part to play, as well.

Will we take it?

Passionate Worship

2011-10-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

This is Part 2 of a 5 part series of blogs based on Robert Schnase's book Five Practices of Fruitful Living, which our church (First United Methodist Church: Topeka, KS) is studying. Our church was able to be graced with Bishop Schnase's presence both in worship and two workshops in mid-October, in which he delved into how these practices can be lived out. As our church continues to learn and discuss what that means, I share with you some of what has been on my mind regarding these practices...

We’ve all been there when we are sitting in our pew, in a moment of silent prayer, or listening to the organ or soloist, or the sermon is really speaking to us, and like being awoken from a great dream, we are pulled out by a mic going out, or the light flickering right above us, or someone sniffing in the row behind us. Some distraction like a fly whose only apparent purpose in life is to buzz annoyingly around our head, always out of reach; and we go home empty of the Holy Spirit and full of frustration.

As we look to the second practice of Fruitful Congregations—Passionate Worship—how does this happen amidst our human fumbles and foibles? In his book, Bishop Schnase writes: “Understanding the meaning of worship requires looking beyond what people do to see with eyes of faith what God does.”

He goes further: “The purpose of worship does not begin and end with what human beings do; worship is the means God uses to accomplish God’s purposes in the human heart and in the community of Christ. God is active in worship even when we are not. God speaks to us. God accomplishes the continuing reconciliation of the world through worship.”

In an environment when most church sanctuaries are designed like theaters--where we sit frontward to see something presented and the altar area where the reading and speaking and singing and music happen--it can be easy to view worship instead of participating in worship, and so how can it be passionate? And yet this does not limit what God can do or reveal. For in the midst of that clicking sound, or that flickering light, we can look to see that we are in a place, and/or surrounded by a community in which the sole purpose is to know God more fully. Even if we lose sight of that, God does not lose sight of us, and therefore will always provide the opportunity to experience the mystery of that relationship, even if the preacher's mic goes out.

Radical Hospitality

2011-10-25T19:13:00.001-07:00

This is Part 1 of a 5 part series of blogs based on Robert Schnase's book Five Practices of Fruitful Living, which our church (First United Methodist Church: Topeka, KS) is studying. Our church was able to be graced with Bishop Schnase's presence both in worship and two workshops in mid-October, in which he delved into how these practices can be lived out. As our church continues to learn and discuss what that means, I share with you some of what has been on my mind regarding these practices...

In an interview with Walter Isaacson, the author of the new Steve Jobs biography, Issacson was asked about Jobs being adopted, and related a story in which Steve as a kid told a girl about being adopted, to which she responded that his real parents must not have wanted him, which had never really occurred to little Steve and sent him crying to his adopted parents, asking if that meant he had been abandoned. His parents told him: "Oh, no, Steve. You weren't abandoned. You were chosen."

As I have been reading Bishop Schnase's words on Radical Hospitality, one of the main impressions that sticks with me is the idea that Radical Hospitality is not just about the practice of being welcoming to others. It's easy for most churches to be welcoming, especially if paths just happen to cross. It is when we are approached to not only be intentionally welcoming--but proactively welcoming--that begins to itch at our comfort levels. More than that still, it is not just about being welcoming, but about intentionally and procactively seeking those who may feel lost. Bishop Schnase preached about this in reference to Jesus' parable of the shepherd going out to fine the lost sheep and bringing it home. Radical Hospitality is about not only showing a friendly smile to a stranger, but taking the step toward the other so that we are not strangers anymore. It's about living out the statement: "I see you." This is more importantly an extension which goes beyond us to what we really mean, which is "God sees you."

How do we do this, because for many it is an uncomfortable thing and it's not everyone's gift. But whether we are part of an official "welcoming ministry," or we are part of the greater faith community, we are all called to Radical Hospitality; and not just because we are all called to ministry in some way, but because we are all called to give back what it is God has first given us.

In his chapter on this, Schnase references theologian Paul Tillich about the grace that comes to us, a grace that is so powerful and beyond our understanding, to acknowledge it means opening a door we don't feel we deserve to; and because we don't feel we deserve to, we remain at an arm's distance from that grace penetrating our hearts and being able to change us to the kind of people who can live out Radical Hospitality.

"We don't have to promise anything at the time, for in that moment we are fundamentally the recipients of a promise. We don't have to give anything, only to receive what is given. Our only and singular task is to accept that we are accepted.

You are loved. You are loved. You are loved.

Can you accept that?

God's love for us is not something we have to strive for, earn, work on, or fear. It is freely given. That is the key: that we are loved, first, finally, and forever by God, a love so deep and profound and significant that God offers his Son to signify and solidify this love forever so that we get it."

Can you accept that?

What Would Captain America Do?

2011-07-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

The other day I went with some friends to see Captain America, which was awesome. I knew it would be, although when I first heard about it I had reservations about the actor who would be Cap, Chris Evans. After doing stuff like playing the stereotypical good-looking hot shot, I didn't know if he'd be able to be the kind of person Captain America needed to be; not just the noble hero, but also a guy who lived during the 1940s. The story takes place during WWII, so think The Rocketeer, if you've seen that; incidentally, both movies are by the same director, and one can tell. So I had reservations that Evans could convince me that he was a 40s guy, but here was the other part, and for this is a SPOILER ALERT, but not really if you know anything about Captain America. The other thing Evans had to convince me was that he could believably be someone from the 40s who is now living in present day. In other words, Captain America is now 100ish years old in a still super soldier 30ish year old body. But after seeing the movie, I think he'll pull it off.

This isn't a review of the movie, although it was great, so go see it. But what I really liked was the classic theme that "old" does not always mean "out of date." Several movies have taught this: Rocky Balboa, Gran Torino, Crazy Heart are some of the recent; they teach us that perhaps we don't know everything, yet, and the greatest teachers are often those who have been around the block a few times.

The significance of the old and the young seems to be a constant battle or at least scene of awareness in the life of the church, and even the working alongside of clergy people. Go to any bookstore, especially christian-themed, and a large part of the sections will be the difference of young people and old people, laity and clergy, who's in and who's out, who knows best and who should stay out of the way. As one who is in the midst of this on a frequent basis as a clergyperson, no pun intended, but it can get real old real quick.

In a time when the Church as a whole is more often than not anxious about the present and near future state of the Church's existence because of the dramatic and continuing drop of younger adults, the constant question is what must the Church do to attract the younger community. Like a business that did really well decades ago, rode on the tails of its success and didn't really do much to keep that fiery edge that got them there in the first place and stay on top of things, and now wonders how the world changed without them and running around frantically trying to get its customers back, the Church seems to be trying anything and everything to become more attractive to the younger community.

In the United Methodist Church, as most churches, this has gone for decades, as we have seen the continuing decline of church membership as a whole, not just young adults. And the anxiety is advertised that the Church doesn't know how to reach young people anymore. We try "contemporary" services that fail. We invite or more often hire bands we think will be "cool," or throw events we think will be "happenin'," and then we sit around with our party hats on to a party no one shows up to, and wonder: Why aren't they coming?

In a context of the Church when we're always asking What Would Jesus Do, I'd like to ask a different question, since we don't really seem to seriously think about what the true answer to that question would be:

What Would Captain America Do?

I think Cap would tell us to stop running scared. Stop being so afraid that what the Church has to offer is no longer irrelevant or not worth sharing. Now this means that we have to really know and believe in what it is the Church is really in the business of sharing. And Cap would remind us that it's not attractive concerts or really cool events, or graphic tees and cool eye glasses our pastor wears. Cap would remind that we need to remember what's important, believe in the heart of who we are and what we are doing, and stand behind that. And that is the message of Christ.

I don't know of Cap is a Christian, or a believer of any religion/faith system; but the thing about Steve Rogers (Cap's real name) that makes him Captain America whether he's a Super Soldier or not, is that he's a dreamer and a believer in Hope. He believes in the good in people, that strength comes not from physical muscle, but from one's heart. He believes that everyone deserves to live a life of freedom from oppression and tyranny. He believes in standing up to the bully, no matter where they're from or how big they are. And he believes these are ideals that are the rock of the country he represents, the country he chose to defend and fight for. And as the years have gone by and we have made things more complicated and anxious, and we struggle how to fix a mess we don't take time to think about how we made in the first place, Cap reminds us to keep true to what's important. Keep true to what we believe in, and keep true to share that message.

Why are youth and young adults keeping away from the church? Aside from the image that Christianity is all about being anti-everything, we've forgotten who we are for, namely Jesus. It will no longer work, if it ever did, to try to wrap Jesus up in an ice cream social or rock concert and think that people of any age will become a disciple of Christ.

Here's the catch: youth and young adults want AUTHENTICITY. If we want people to be in our church, we first have to be able to honestly articulate why we're here ourselves. Why do we come to church every week, how is it changing our lives, why do we follow Christ? Is the message of Christ something we believe is so powerful, so incredible, so life-changing, that we WANT other people to know have that same feeling, whether they are a part of our church--or any church--or not? I think Cap would tell us if we can't say why we believe for ourselves first, we shouldn't expect that anything we do will help others begin to believe, either.

So churches, before you go building a coffee shop in your sanctuary, or hire a rock band, or start making movies about how cool and relevant your church is, first ask the question of how Christ has not only changed your life, but is changing your life. Know for yourself first who Christ is for you, and why you want to share that with others. Because if we truly believe that Christ is the incarnation of God come to humanity to teach how we can be who God truly created us to be, that is a message that will attract many more people, regardless of age, than trying and spending to make your church "cool."

And if you see a great movie like Captain America, and you leave the theater wanting to tell all your friends to go see it, ask yourself why. And if you're a church attender, ask yourself what the difference is from telling someone to see a great movie and telling someone to come to your church.

To Belong...

2011-06-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

I spent this last half week at the United Methodist Church Kansas East Annual Conference, a time in which all the United Methodist churches in the east Kansas area come together to hear news, events, discuss topics and procedures which affect our churches as a whole in our area. We attend this event every June, and like many people involved, when it approaches, there is often a feeling of dread, knowing that this will take us away from everything we're doing and our lives for half a week. While it's good looking forward to meeting friends and colleagues, most who have to attend a conference involving their work know that it's not all fun and fellowship.

And we spend a lot of time talking and debating about topics and trying to change policies, with everyone talking about how it's good and bad, and that youth and young adults are never included. It can get old fast.

And then there are times, when the business stuff is out of the way, and we focus on a night of worship in which people are recognized as becoming ordained clergy. All the pastors start off in the back of the church, robed, complaining about how hot it is, but we also come into a state of togetherness; and we formed in lines to enter the sanctuary, the true idea of why we come together comes clear. As we entered, we were singing All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name; now almost any song sounds great when sung by an entire crowd, but when we entered and started singing along with everyone else, wearing our robes, one can't help but feel being a part of something, something bigger, which is what the song is all about.

This Friday the movie Green Lantern opens. It's based on the comic book of the same name, about a guy who becomes part of an intergalactic peace-keeping team, calling themselves the Green Lantern Corps. Part of the story is this human learning what it means to be a Green Lantern, to be devoted to an ideal that is bigger than himself, bigger than any one person, but that every individual comes together for a common purpose, so that no matter how different we are personally/individually, we know we are together in the sharing of that ideal

Check this out....http://youtu.be/0MYvM-gGDBw

We all want to be part of something, to connect with something, even those who have introverted personalities, which include many pastors. And it can be easy to get caught up in what separates us as far as policies and what should happen and what shouldn't; but in the end, a conference, a time like that is devoted to the ideal that we are all there for one purpose, to discern where God is leading us, and taking part in that. There are new ways we need to be doing this, but as one of our speakers said: "The sacredness is not in our norms, the sacredness is in our message." We still come together for the same purpose: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. How we do that is changing, and it can be frustrating at times trying to learn and share what those new ways can be, as frustrating as it can be to show how some of the old ways don't need changing; because the message still is the same, and it's great to be a part of that.

During the ordination service, the sermon was given by Bishop T. Larry Kirkland, Bishop of the “Favored Fifth” District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. One of the images he preached about was the need of having an encounter with God, referencing the Isaiah 6:1-8 passage, in which the writer encounters God in the Temple, an experience so incredible that the writer realizes the absolute need for God's presence, that to not have that, to be so enfolded in it, we realize that we are undone without. And as the writer professes this, an angel puts a burning hot coal on the writer's lips, symbolizing the experience of cleansing with God's holiness. After this transformation of grace has happened, God says:"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" To which the writer replies: "Here I am; send me."

This is the encounter we can be a part of. Something so big and so incredible, it not only makes recognize how small we are when we are alone, but more importantly that we don't have to stay that way. God welcomes us to be a part of something so much bigger than anything we could ever dream or hope for, and offers it freely. And when we take that gift, when we have that encounter, it changes us forever. We see what it is we are a part of, who we are a part of.

This isn't about membership. It's about devoting our lives to the one who first gave us life and showing us what the purpose of that life is, and helping us to see our purpose....what it is to be truly human, and a child of God. And knowing that we have a purpose in sharing that encounter with others, that that is why we come together....

That's something I want to be a part of.

One of the Reasons My Wife Is Awesome...

2011-05-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

I was looking through my wife Morgan's church website and came across her latest blog. She has a great gift on saying what's important and not being long-winded about it, like me. I wanted to share with you her post:

The news is on and I’m watching the commercials in between clips about Lindsay Lohan’s latest escapade and the next report of an air traffic controller sleeping through his post. By my count, this is the fifth commercial in a row advertising something to help save me time. Allergy medication that starts working in 30 minutes! Paper towels that can clean an entire house in 10 minutes! Get out of debt in just two months! Lose weight in 90 days! You’d think from watching the news that the advertisers thought we were just a bunch of mindless saps rushing through life at a breakneck pace to cram as much as we possibly can into as little time as possible. Who needs sleep when we have so much to do! How can I squeeze a little more time for one more thing out of the same 24 hours in a day?

Except that, um, the advertisers might be sort of right. I take shortcuts on pretty much anything that I possibly can. Microwave instead of the stove? Definitely! All of my errands at one big box store rather than stopping eight times so I can patronize the little guys? If it will save me some time, I’ll squelch my guilt and promise to do better next time. Every day is a battle to do 30 hours worth of “stuff” in the 24 I have available.

You know where this is going, right? Some clichéd message about how we should slow down and smell the roses because Jesus did. Take time for the holy, listen for the voice of God, and all that jazz. Nope, not today. My life is busy just like yours, and I know how utterly impractical a message like that is. The vast majority of the “stuff” I try to get done is stuff I really need to do. Not doing them in favor of quiet time just isn’t practical.

Instead, I want to propose a compromise. Remember how Jesus was always telling parables about things like mustard seeds? He was a master of seeing the holy in the midst of the ordinary. He could look around at people cooking and running errands and see how God was at work in their lives. What if instead of trying to “make time for God” (which, let’s face it, is never going to happen), we seek out what God is already doing? God is there, speaking to us through ordinary life, if we are willing to open our eyes to his presence. Will you seek out where God is at work in your life today?

Because you know, God can find a way to work in your life in just 30 seconds a day! Really! Guaranteed satisfaction every single time. The best investment you can make of your time, hands down. I promise. Happy rushing!

Shalom,
Pastor Morgan

Judging Judgment

2011-05-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

So, as Saturday approaches, some beleive that the end of the world and the second coming of Christ is upon us. I was scheduled to preach on the portion of the Apostles' Creed that states of Christ's return and "judg[ing] the quick and the dead," long before this hit the news; so, perhaps for a timely matter, here's a perspective...

24 "But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 Then they will see "the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. 28 "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 32 "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
--Mark 13

Many of us probably remember when Japan was hit with the devastating earthquake and tsunami that resulted in the death of thousands, the governor of Tokyo gave this opinion: “I think (the disaster) is tembatsu,” which roughly means “divine punishment;” specifically—he indicated—Japan being punished for its egoism. We may remember last year when Haiti was stuck by a massive earthquake, that the thousands of people who died and everyone else who were struggling to piece together what little they had to begin with were in that situation because some believed it was God punishing them. And, not surprisingly, we don’t have to look very far to see statements that the 300+ people who died in the south recently from the tornados and others who have lost loved ones and everything else, are the recipients of God’s actions. Add to that the recent killing of Osama Bin Laden, and it seems as though what we call God’s Judgment is everywhere we look.

When I think of judgment being talked about in church, specifically as the sermon topic, I imagine two reactions people often go through: either squirming from the awkwardness or chins pressed to the pew in front of them, leaning forward to hear every word about God’s judgment and those it will come upon. It’s a fascinating and terrifying aspect of our faith. If God is a God of judgment, is this a God we truly want to follow and worship? A question that many ask, many from outside the church; and if we’re honest with ourselves, many inside the church, as well. And as the followers of God we profess to be, it’s very important we know the answer for ourselves.

Is God a God of judgment? The first statement of the Apostles’ Creed is: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. We believe God is the creator of our world. Everything we are, that we see, and then some, is created by God and out of God’s image. This is what we state we believe in reading the Creed….but then what? What happens after God creates?

Luke Timothy Johnson—who is a professor at Candler School of Theology—wrote a book on the Apostles’ Creed, taking it piece by piece, and wrote this concerning judgment: “That God is judge of the world follows logically from the fact that God is creator. That God judges the world also shows that creation is not a casual affair for God but rather a passionate commitment.” So God does not create the world and leave it to itself, as some believe, but is continually active in the world and not only guides but responds to the actions of creation, such as all of us. And to this we have attached the word: Judgment.

The problem of this, of course, is that when we start attaching our human words to the way God exists and acts, we also start attaching our human definitions and perceptions as to what these words mean, such as Judgment. It’s hard, if not impossible, to NOT do this; how else are we going to define things? But what happens when something challenges how we view things, such as God’s judgment? Why do we want judgment to be a certain way?

And what about when we hear the certainty that events like the tragedies in Haiti, Japan, and in our own country are acts of God’s judgment? Why is God’s judgment always about punishment? Can’t God also judge creation as good? How do we deal with all this? Months ago I lead a study of the book When Christians Get It Wrong, which deals with the reality of so many people—particularly young adults—rejecting the church because its members seem to be—among other things—judgmental in enforcing their faith of who God is on other people.
One of the conclusions we came to is that perhaps our fault as disciples of Christ is not necessarily being these negative images, but also not giving much of a voice to change or heal these images people have of Christians. With all these loud voices shouting who God is, have we given our voice, or have we remained asleep?

So how do we get over this fear? How do we wake up the world to the possibility that though God is a God of judgment, it doesn’t have to mean in the way judgment has been portrayed so often in our human language? This is part of why we breathe life into our faith again, to remember who we are, why we are here, and who it is we belong to.

We proclaim that we believe—as the Creed states—that Jesus “ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; and from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” So since we believe that Christ has been revealed as the Son of God in his resurrection, we believe that he sits with God, has equal status with God, is God incarnate, as he showed during his ministry; so the judgment that God embodies is also the same judgment that Christ embodies, and Christ will carry this out. Notice I said “will carry out.”

Not that God’s judgment can’t be present, but right now what we are looking at in the Apostles’ Creed is not about present judgment that is happening, but that Christ will judge the living and the dead.…but when? When? That’s what we want to know, that’s what will settle our fears, or at least soothe our curiosities; so desperate are we to know that we continue to see that those who offer the answer to this question are actually still listened to, from Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth to the guy in Oakland, CA who claims that the return of Christ will happen on May 21, just two weeks away.

Of course the question that comes by the scripture we heard is how can that sit beside the very words of Jesus himself? Jesus is talking to his disciples about how all things will pass away, their temples, their livelihoods, everything that they cling to so intently to find substance and satisfaction…it will all be gone one day. The only thing that will not pass away is the truth of who Jesus truly is. But in order to live a life devoted to that truth, there may come hardship, and even suffering.

But with this will also be "the Son of Man coming in clouds,” Jesus Christ. And all of creation will meet its Creator and thus the Judge of creation. And of course the question is: when will this happen? Do you want to know the answer? Here it is:

I don’t know.

I don’t know. No one knows, no one can know. Christ himself says so: "But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Even Jesus doesn’t know when this is going to happen, and he’s the one who’s going to do it. We don’t know. Is that such a horrible truth to admit?

Can we still continue to be children of God, disciples of Christ, the ministers of the church, and admit that we don’t have all the answers? And even with the answers that we do have, how well do we know them? How many answers do we really have to the questions people might ask us about our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and how comfortable are we giving those answers? Or do we perhaps have just as many, if not more questions than the people who have never come into our sanctuary?

One of the problems is that when these questions are asked, they’re often not heard very well, and are met with cold statements rather than personal faith. Rob Bell, who is a pastor at a mega church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently wrote a book called Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

If you’ve seen anything of this book, you know that it’s stirred up a lot of controversy in regards to things like God’s judgment. Many people who criticize what Bell writes say that he goes against the doctrines of Christian faith; and whether he does or not, if you take just a few seconds to flip through the book, what you’ll find is that on almost every page, more sentences end with question marks than periods. Not that you can’t make a statement by asking a question, but Bell’s approach is like a lot of pastors in being more about asking questions than providing answers, because if we’re truly honest with ourself…a lot of times….we just don’t know. So how comfortable are we with that, and how strong is our faith in Christ when we have more questions than answers?

See, the Creed does not state how the judgment of Christ is going to happen, it simply states that it’s going to happen. The writers knew what they were doing in not providing information that they did not receive themselves from the revelation of scripture. Christ told his disciples: “No one knows.”

So if we can’t know of this impending judgment that results in Christ returning to us, why does it seem to be so important? Why are we so focused on a future we can’t control and walk with Christ so anxiously that so much of our faith in Christ is wrapped up in that future rather than what we have right now?

Obviously one of the things that comes down in this idea of judgment is Heaven and Hell: who’s going where, what must I do to get my reward and avoid punishment? While these are important questions, if this is what is driving us to be Christians, driving us to be followers of God and disciples of Christ, then what kind of faith can we truly have if it’s only about what we get or avoid at the end of this life? And what does that say about who God is and about the life God has given us? If we’re only focused on how and where we want to be living later on in the future, what kind of present can we be alive in now?

In Johnson’s book of the Creed, he writes that if God is not Creator, then God is not Judge; and he continues that most people do not live as though God is Creator, but only part of the process. In other words, we tend to live as though God is only part of what makes us a good person or our life a good life. It’s like those old Trivial Pursuit game pieces, the black ones with the little holes that you put the different color pies in.

It’s as though God is one of those little pies that fits into just one hole of a much larger game piece that’s also filled with other stuff that makes a “good person,” with a fulfilling life that ends with us getting to heaven some day. So are we in this only for what it can do for us, or for fear of the future? If that’s the case, how do we ever serve others in the name of Christ or show the love of Christ? How do we remain awake to the presence of Christ that is here now, that can be shown through us as those who believe in Christ now? If all we’re concerned about is the future, then what are we doing in the present?

Now we should be mindful and watchful of the future; that’s what this whole passage is about, that we are to “keep awake” for when that future does happen. Christ tells us to keep awake, that only by keeping a watchful eye will we see our Lord coming as he promised. But Christ also tells us that the Kingdom of God is near to us, as in the present, and Christ calls us to live as such.

There is so much we can be a part of right here and now; we don’t simply have to wait for it, hoping that we’ve followed all the rules, paid all our dues, and that it has been enough. Christ gives us the opportunity, the gift, to live now, in the belief that his presence is already with us, and comes alive as we share the story of who he is with others; through fellowship, through acts of service to one another, through study, through prayer, through coming together.

How many of us were at the Tenebrae service at Good Friday? About 20 minutes before the service was supposed to start, a transformer blew and knocked out all the lights in the sanctuary; so after some quick decisions we decided to move the service into the Celebration Room. And as people saw what was happening, everyone started pitching in, bringing in stacks of chairs and hymnals, moving furniture and handing out bulletins; and after only ten minutes, we were ready to go and had an incredible service where we were able to watch the sun set as we read through the Passion of Christ.

And it didn’t take long range planning, it didn’t take a committee, we didn’t rely only on the staff to make it happen. We all made it happen, because we wanted to experience the presence of Christ, even though it was his death, because we knew that was not the end. And so we made it happen, because we wanted to remember and experience the presence of Christ.
This is what we can know. Not the certainty of calling the tragedies in people’s lives acts of God’s judgment, or the ultimate destination of anyone, but what Jesus said: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” And he says this when he tells his disciples, after his resurrection: “Go, make disciples.”

We have questions, many questions; I know we do because I’ve heard them from you, many on this subject. And you know what, I have them, too. But we should not let these questions hinder us from doing what we’ve been called to do as disciples, particularly here at First United Methodist in making God’s love known. If we have these questions, let’s start asking with one another, and know that in this sanctuary, we may not find all the answers….but we will find Christ, if we keep awake.

It's OK To Be A Doubting Thomas

2011-05-14T15:21:00.000-07:00

So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
--The Gospel of John 20:25

What a party pooper Thomas must have been!

Think about it, this is the Easter season. The day itself is over but we still have the decorations up to remind us. We have the warm weather (maybe not right now, but soon…) We have been put in the mood to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, and we can’t wait to tell people about it.

Well, maybe that’s not quite true. We often think it more of a chore to share Jesus with people, at least in literally talking about Jesus. But there are times we have experienced something. Something so profound, so incredible, so mysterious, that it’s not necessarily Jesus we want to share, but that experience we have had. This experience that has dramatically changed something about us, given us new insight, and see life in a different way. That’s what we want to share with people.
Then we run into someone we are excited to share the news with, someone we know will get it and understand, and they just fizzle the moment.

Have you had the situation, when you’re trying to explain to someone about an incredible event, and you’re trying to put it into words, and they just kind of look at you like you’ve got lobsters crawling out of your ears? Or, they smile and nod but you know well and good they have no idea what you’re talking about, and they’re just humoring you?

Or they flat out tell you that what you’re saying doesn’t matter, because there is no proof of what you’re saying?

And we can’t say what we feel in our hearts with enough clarification to convince someone else, stranger or friend, what we ourselves have experienced in knowing Jesus Christ. We want so badly for others to know what it is that we have experienced, especially now in the season of Easter, the season of resurrection, of celebration and hope.

And yet there is no way to really put it in words.

There was no way the disciples could adequately tell the experience of seeing their risen Lord in front of them with Thomas. There is no way they could have adequately told him in human words what they had seen and felt standing there in front of Jesus Christ.

But let’s take it from Thomas’ point of view.

Thomas is out, probably getting water or food, or doing some other errand, comes back to wherever they were hiding out, no doubt exhausted, and walks in to find 10 guys running up to him, all shouting at once about something.

Think about coming home dead tired, all you want to do is sit, and not even after two steps, everyone in the house runs up to you and starts yelling in your face. My parents can testify to this when my siblings and I were kids. Right after school we’ve spent the day fighting and bickering and arguing about the most important stuff known to the world, and finally our parents get home, doing whatever unimportant thing they had been doing, like work, and now can finally hear about what’s been going on with us, because nothing could be any more important than what we’ve been doing.

Can we really blame Thomas for his attitude?

So they tell him what they saw, only he doesn’t believe them. Now, we don’t know how the disciples reacted, but I can imagine that Thomas’ words just killed whatever party they were throwing. These disciples, these fellow travelers, these friends, all waited to share this Good News with their companion, their friend, expecting him to be happy and excited as they, and instead, he demands proof.

Now is usually the part where we get into how Jesus appears before the nonbeliever, and either Thomas is portrayed as someone with no faith, and we’re supposed to learn about how to have blind faith, or Jesus accepts Thomas, as we are to accept all people, yet Jesus says “blessed are those who have not yet seen and yet come to believe,” i.e. all are blessed, but those who really believe and have no doubts, even though they haven’t “seen” anything, THOSE are the really blessed. We others, we’re only KINDA blessed.

What is so wrong with Thomas’ response?

Why is it so shocking that one of the disciples doubts in the truth of what he has heard?

All throughout these scriptures, the disciples have time and time again doubted the very words of Jesus himself. Peter doubted—and had no qualms about letting Jesus know it—the most dramatic happening during Holy Week. They continually questioned Jesus’ teachings, they continually failed his tasks, and then when he needed them, they abandon him.

Yet Jesus comes back to them after his resurrection.

Now one would think that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, risen and glorified, in all his majesty and wonder, could have maybe come at a time when all the disciples were together. It’s very unlikely that Jesus was unaware that not everyone was at home that day. We don’t see in John that Jesus knocks on their door, unexpected and unannounced, learns that not everyone is there, and says, “Oh, I’ll just come back later with my news.” Jesus always did everything with a purpose. So what was the purpose for revealing himself to his disciples when one was missing?

Thomas is usually portrayed as a pessimist or even a non-believer, but would we be any different? How many times have we heard, read, or seen on the news that someone has seen Jesus? How many times have we seen it and believed it? If the person most close to us, the one person we trust and believe more than anyone else on this earth, told us that they had seen the risen Lord Jesus Christ, would we believe them?

Though there is not much in the gospels about Thomas, he was a disciple of Jesus Christ. He was one of the 12 men who traveled with Jesus, who worked alongside him, who witnessed his miracles, who heard his teachings. More importantly, he was one who ate with him, who talked with him, who knew him personally; he was one of the 12 who made the choice to follow him, to go where he led, and to have a relationship with him. Most of these disciples are unheard of during Jesus’ crucifixion. We always hear about where Peter was, and Mary, and even Judas, but where was Thomas?
We have no way to know….but what if Thomas was there during the whole thing? What if he was there during the crucifixion?

What would he have been feeling as he watched his fellow traveler, his companion, his friend, his Lord, raised up, nailed to a giant cross? It was Thomas, who earlier in John 11 encouraged everyone to go to Judea, where Lazarus had died, even though it may have meant their deaths, in which Thomas said, “Let us go and die with him.” What if those words were going through his mind as he watched Jesus, perhaps covered in a cloak so no one would recognize him, trying not let himself be overcome with remorse and sadness, trembling at he witnessed his Lord on a cross. We always picture the disciples having fled at this time, but what if some had stayed, and witnessed the whole thing?

After all of that, can we really blame Thomas for doubting that Jesus was alive?
What if Thomas didn’t want the news to be true? What if he didn’t want Jesus to be alive?

If the only thing that was going to convince Thomas of Jesus’ resurrection were the wounds he received during the last time Thomas saw him, perhaps he needed something more than just others telling him of the experience they had had. And is that really too much to accept? Perhaps that is what people are telling us when they don’t immediately accept what we share with them about our faith. Perhaps they need that experience themselves, to experience Christ for themselves, rather than through our words.

Or perhaps they, as Thomas, need something more.

Perhaps Thomas had to experience the risen Christ for himself, and not through the words of others, because only the risen Christ could offer Thomas what he truly needed. Not only faith, not only salvation.

But forgiveness.

The gospel reads that a week passed after Thomas made this statement; a week we can imagine may have involved awkward silences whenever Thomas was around.
A week of the disciples continuing to talk about what they had seen, yet careful not to say any of it around Thomas; perhaps a week of Thomas secretly hearing what they talked about, and continually seeing in his mind the events of Jesus’ death. Perhaps, though Thomas doubted, as we sometimes doubt, as those who seem so reluctant to believe, or so determined to not believe, perhaps we all secretly wish that what has been heard, is the truth. Perhaps it’s for different reasons, perhaps it’s for the same reason. Perhaps it’s for the reason Thomas had.

One day, as unexpectedly as the last time, Jesus appeared again, saying the same words, “Peace be with you.” Again, we don’t know how it happened, but with the words we read, but perhaps…perhaps, Jesus specifically turned, and looked over to Thomas, and reaching out his hands, exposing his human wounds, said to Thomas:
“Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt…but believe.”

And when Thomas approached Jesus, putting his hands on Jesus’ wounds, feeling the holes of the nails he watched driven into his companion’s, his friend’s, his Lord’s hands, he fell to his knees crying: “My Lord and my God!”

And perhaps Jesus took those wounded and resurrected hands, and put them around his friend, and said, as he has said to us at times:

“It’s ok that you doubted, it’s ok that you did not believe, it’s ok that you were there that day. It’s ok.”

“I forgive you.”

Perhaps it’s hard for us to believe, because we know we need to hear those words.
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Perhaps he was saying more than we usually think about in this passage. What is Jesus truly saying about us in these words?
What is it we are to truly share in our faith of the resurrected Christ? What are we called to pass on?

Perhaps when the disciples were taken aback by Thomas’ words of needing to see the wounds to believe, they forgot what had just happened to them, as we sometimes forget in hearing this story.

“After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”

Perhaps what God reveals to all of us, is really not all that different.

THE JOY OF RECOGNITION

2011-04-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

Aristotle once wrote that “recognition is, as its name indicates, a change from ignorance to knowledge; it determines in the direction of good or ill fortune the fates of those involved.” Now, there are many times we recognize or remember things that are unfortunate, but for the sake of my sermon, I want to focus on the things that are good.

A few years ago I was at my parents’ house, doing some kind of chore for them, the way it’s been ever since I left. I was down in the basement going through some old boxes, and I came across this music box that I had had since before I could remember. It was rectangular with a colorful display of a clown inside. On the bottom was a little droor you could keep things in, and when you opened the door, it triggered the box to play a song, and the clown inside would dance.

This box and I go back so long that there are markings on the top of it from when I was teething. I had not thought of this music box in years. And as I held it in my hands, the recognition of this box at that moment to me was that it was only my old music box. But when I opened it, and heard the music, everything that this box had meant to me, came flooding back. I had not thought of that song in so long, it was almost as though I had never heard it. But then when I did, it was as though I had just heard it yesterday. And instantly memories of sitting in my grandmother’s dining room, with the afternoon sunlight coming through her hanging crystals and casting rainbow colors all over her green fuzzy carpet came back. I didn’t want to close it.

Though at times memories can be hard to bear, there are other times when it is an absolutely wonderful thing. To have something create a spark of recognition and remembrance to our minds, so much so that we are instantly transported back to that time, and sounds and smells long forgotten are re-awoken in us.

Sometimes these recognitions are random and from nowhere and it’s just a nice thing that happens; sometimes it can come to us at exactly the right time.

The two travelers on the Emmaus road have enough memories to deal with. It is never learned why the writer of Luke chose this story to happen in Emmaus. It’s a little town with no real significance, and there’s no detail in Luke as to why they are going there specifically, but perhaps the generalness is the reason. Perhaps Emmaus, a small town with no significance, is exactly where they want to be, perhaps to hide, perhaps to forget. Emmaus is described this way by a biblical scholar:
“The place we go in order to escape, wherever it is we throw up our hands and say: ‘Let the whole thing go hang. It makes no difference, anyway. Emmaus may be buying a new suit, or smoking more cigarettes than you really want, or reading a second rate novel, or writing one. Emmaus is whatever we do or wherever we go to make ourselves forget that the world holds nothing sacred: that even the wisest and bravest and loveliest decay and die; that even the nobles ideas that men have had have always in time been twisted out of shape by selfish men for selfish ends.”

How utterly bleak, but do we have our own Emmaus that we either do, or we go, in order to forget? Perhaps that is the very thing these travelers wanted.
In fact all they could do is feel drowned in the memories of what had happened three days before with the death of Christ. Memories so harsh and defeating, that it was almost as if it was happening to them over and over.

Often we can see this passage and call these two travelers selfish for not seeing the big picture, or seeing what is right in front of them. Yet there are those of us who the kind of pain we see in this story. A pain of loss so great, of a tragedy so high, a hurt so deep, how can we truly be expected to look past it? Can it be so unexpected that we forget all else?

But in the great majesty that is God, somewhere, in the midst of pain, in the darkness of forgetting, of not seeing, there is that light, that helps us to see, and to remember.

It is hardly, if ever, as easy for us, the readers, as it is in real life. The irony, of course, is that we know the whole time that this third traveler with them is Jesus. It is always easier for us as outsiders, and never for ourselves. Yet what is it that finally opens their eyes to Jesus’ presence? I take that back. I think they are always aware of Jesus’ presence. The text even suggests that with their burning hearts. What is it that finally helps them to recognize Jesus?
Earlier I wrote of my old music box. There are certainly times when it is a physical thing, some thing we are attached to that can open our minds to a memory, yet it was not until I opened the box and heard the music that really made me remember the significance of what I had found.

These two travelers spend the rest of the journey telling this stranger how crushed they are at the death of their Lord, how these past events have destroyed everything they have hoped for, but, notice, they are saying all this, they are pouring their hearts out to this stranger. This person they’ve never met, a person they call Stranger themselves, and yet by the end of the journey, they have shared so much, that whether it was a custom or not, they invite this stranger into their house and share a meal with him. Even if this was a custom, this was the very thing Jesus was teaching the people when he was alive.

Whether they realize what they are doing or not is not told in the text, but perhaps, again, they are recognizing the value of life Jesus had taught them. What we also see here, is that this invitation of Jesus into their home is the reality that Jesus never forces himself into anyone’s life. Though faith is always given to us by God, it is responded to us voluntarily, by our choice.
It could be so that even as they were preparing the meal, the travelers were doing so purely as a motion to go through.

We have all likely been through this, life does not stop because of how we feel. We still have responsibilities, and things still have to get done, whether we want to do them, or not. Yet, at some point, this third traveler, this stranger, takes charge of the meal. It could be that the other two were busy preparing, going through the motions, as the stranger sat quietly watching them. And as they finished everything, sighing as they finally sat down, this stranger, very quietly, reached for the bread.

It was an unusual action as the guest, but instead of the travelers questioning, they watched him, as if suddenly something began to look familiar, as if they were recognizing something.

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them.”

I will not attempt to describe the feelings these two travelers must have experienced when they looked upon the one they knew as their Lord.
Nor will I attempt to put words in to what we all feel when we hear those words, and recognize, and remember their importance. How can anyone faithfully describe the feeling of remembering something so forgotten, and yet so wonderful; something that seems like it has been gone so long and yet when that one action makes us remember, how alive it is to us, as if it had never gone away.

That is the presence of Jesus Christ.

And while Christ is alive, while the presence of the lord is surely amongst us, it is not the things of a church’s sanctuary; it is not the decorations, or the paraments, or even the cross that makes it a holy place. It is the actions that are taken, the actions of being a community of believers, the actions of an attitude of worship, the actions of following the words of Christ and making them a part of our lives, the actions of breaking and sharing bread together. Not only with each other, but with the stranger. For in that stranger is also the presence of Christ.

What's New?

2011-04-20T12:45:00.001-07:00

This may or may not be a revelation, but in some ways Christmas and Easter are two of the worst days for pastors. Not only are they usually week long marathons (if not longer) of celebrations and services, but how is it at all possible to say anything new about events that have been talked/shared/preached/experienced for over 2,000 years? How is it possible to take something so central, so grounded in our faith and so amazing…and turn it into something new and creative that has not already been done? It’s almost as though pastors turn into party coordinators, and there is all this pressure to pull off a better, more exciting party than the one that was thrown last year.

And yet, do we look forward to these events because we necessarily want something new and different? Is the point of observing something like Easter to make sure that we do not celebrate the same way this year as we did last year? We are celebrating a story, a story the was told and re-told, and re-told, and re-told again, until someone decided to put into words that which had been shared by so many for so long. Though the central, divinely inspired grounding of the story may have remained, the little pieces change from teller to hearer, from one who likes this part more rather than that part more, and as we hear the whole story so much that we know it by heart, these little pieces become as important as the whole of the story. Think of the stories we are familiar hearing growing up. My grandmother always takes the opportunity when my wife and I visit to tell us how my grandfather either met my grandmother or proposed. As she tells it, he never technically proposed at all; sometimes that part is really important and emphasized, sometimes it’s never mentioned. But that’s why it’s so important to hear stories over and over. A truly great story is one that cannot be heard only once. We must hear it again and again, especially when we know how it ends, because it’s in going back that we are able to savor those little pieces that take us through the whole of the story.

We know that the Easter story is about the resurrection of Christ, but how meaningful is this story unless we take the opportunity to go through it (and grow through it) once more, to see what are the little things that make this story so powerful? Jesus predicting his death? Entering into Jerusalem? Washing his disciples’ feet? Being arrested? Being beaten? Being crucified? Being resurrected?

What about the little difference in Mark, that there isn’t the same kind of resurrection like the other gospels, as in the only sign of resurrection is that the tomb is empty? What about the walk to Emmaus, where the two disciples meet a stranger, and only after a very familiar action/ritual of breaking bread do they realize it is the resurrected Jesus? What are the stories we are familiar with, that we have heard so many times, that we now go back again to experience the little steps that take us to the end we know we’ll be taken to? Maybe one of those little familiar pieces will take us to a new end.

If we need something new for Easter, maybe it’s not the story that needs to change, but how we hear it, how we absorb it. Spring is upon us (I think…), and we will be seeing resurrection everywhere. What if we look at the things all around us, what we see everyday, and let ourselves be open to the possibility that maybe we’ll see something new?

Individual Worth Also Means Communal Worth

2011-03-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

In reading a blog post from a clergy friend of mine, I was going to just leave a comment, but it turned into something longer. If you'd like a bit of back story you may read her post here: http://loveandlivethequestions.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/what-are-we-teaching/#comment-17

This is regarding the news story about the elementary school in Florida that has one set of parents wanting to make sure that their daughter is kept safe from exposure to her severe food allergies, mostly peanut, and the parents of other schoolchildren who are saying that the school is going too far to accommodate this one child.

I saw a report on this on The Today Show this morning, and I had a similar reaction to my clergy friend: "Really? Are you kidding me? You're having protests around this?"

I think there is a genuine reality shift that has to take place in a major way, perhaps because to many someone with a severe food allergy requires everyone around that person to make changes, whereas most other conditions people have, it's more about the person themself making changes around everyone else and the environment. I think my experiences in seminary helped us to see the importance of how people need to change their habits, as we had students to had similar conditions, some of them being life-threatening at times; and sure, I had to smack myself on the head when I forgot about the nut-free zones as I held my just-purchased Snickers and be reminded of what I was doing...but that split-second inconvenience has absolutely no comparison to the implications that that means to the person who could suffer from that.

The report I saw this morning showed parents opposed to the accommodations arguing that the biggest hindrances on their own kids were the inability to bring snacks with nuts and washing their hands twice a day. Washing hands twice a day? Shouldn't the kids be doing that, anyway? One of the parents' arguments is that this took away from time spent on education. I mean, if you wanted to take an intellectual response, it's positive education to teach the kids good hygiene practices; and secondly, practically speaking....SERIOUSLY? It's twice a day! I can remember in the early elementary grades that was a ritual we practiced, everyone had to wash their hands after bathroom time.

When I saw the footage of the kids holding signs, I couldn't help but think of the Phelps kids from Westboro Baptist holding their signs condemning others for who they are. Do these children even understand what they're protesting? Do they know for themselves what it going on? The Today Show report kept talking about the parents' reactions to all this, and nothing about what the kids were thinking or feeling about all this. Do they see this as an inconvenience? What about the kids who are friends with this girl?

Sure, it's hard for children that age to articulate their thoughts and feelings sometimes, but not often. Especially when they are able to do more than repeat what it is the grownups around them are saying and speak from their own heart, we could all do a lot better in listening to kids instead of just talking at them.

There is a scene in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, when Jesus is teaching, and children are being brought to him, and the disciples try to push them away. In the culture of this time, children were not seen as acceptable because they could not yet contribute. Until they could independently care for themselves and be productive, they were kept away from the rest of society and its functions. People didn't want children getting in the way.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:13-15)

Jesus saw their worth and loved them as he would love everyone, as he told his followers: "Love one another as I have loved you."

Do we have to change our habits for the needs of others at times? Of course. We have a clergyperson in our Conference who has a severe nut and pork allergy, and we have to remember at meetings that go into lunchtime to not bring food products that would set those allergies off. It requires us to do a bit of changing, of remembering, of realizing that we must always be aware of people...as a person; and a person of worth. The way that Jesus sees them.

It can be done.

The Curse of the Ordinary

2011-03-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

Why is Charlie Sheen so fascinating?

Why is it nationally important that we know how OctoMom is doing, while so many other mothers are struggling with their children, whether it's 1, 4, or 14?

Why have we gotten to the point where we will actually sit down and watch a 45 minute episode about the thrilling adventures of baking cakes? Don't get me wrong, the one where the lady made The Simpsons cake was impressive, but do we really get fulfillment in watching other people's lives? Wasn't this called "peeping" at one point?

It doesn't take much to draw us into someone else's life if it's on TV, does it? No matter what's going on, or not going on, if it's on TV, we'll watch it. And if we think we can imitate that or make it come alive in our own life, it will somehow make our lives finally interesting or worthwhile.

I started thinking about this when I was re-reading the scene in The Gospel of Mark when Jesus goes out into the desert alone (a popular passage around this time of Lent):

"And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts."

The part that struck me this time was the image of Jesus being in the wilderness and with the wild beasts. Some research suggests that what the author of Mark is doing here is presenting Jesus with the stark reality of the mission he is faced with in redeeming the world. If we think back to the Genesis story of God first bringing the world into creation, with the Garden of Eden and all its lushness, beauty, and its life, all of which Eve & Adam had access to (with, of course, one small exception), we see that what humanity had at the beginning was truly extraordinary. All life lived in harmony with one another and with God, love was known, peace was communicated...and with the decision to pursue more, to pursue independently from the Creator, the extraordinary went away. Work was now needed to obtain the food that was before so lush and easily attainable. Relationships that were before purely of love and care now involved arguing and hostility. Because we had to labor to survive, we became worried, paranoid, greedy. The lush vegetation began to wither away, until there was only sand. The animals that once lived in harmony now killed one another for survival.

This is what Jesus faced as he began his ministry.

And for us, what we see is that perhaps the curse that came out of that pursuit of independence was not just the separation from God, but also how ordinary everything had become.

And now, thousands of years later, as we go to work, go to school, pay the bills, change the diapers, shovel the snow, buy the groceries, scold the children, ignore the parents, and all the 10 million other everday, ordinary things we do for our survival, in between the midst of all that, we struggle and yearn to get back the extraordinary-ness that we once had access to; and we'll try to devour it any way we can. Maybe that's why movies and TV draw us in so well...even really awful movies and TV. Our thirst for the extraordinary world is so dry that it never takes much to buy into whatever is presented in front of us with the promise that this is it, this is what will relieve us from the curse of feeling ordinary.

During Jesus' ministry, he and his disciples are walking through Caesarea Philippi, which was a large market place that the surrounding communities would all come to for commerce (think ancient Wal-Mart...) and as they are walking past all the people, doing their everyday, ordinary things, Jesus asks his disciples: "Who do these people say that I am?" And the disciples tell them different answers:“Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

And then Jesus asks: "And what about you? Who do you say that I am?"

At this point, Jesus had done much with them and showed them many miracles. They had fed the 5,000, Jesus had walked on water, healed people, and changed their way of thinking. Jesus had revealed to them that the extraordinary still existed; and perhaps it had never left us. Perhaps we had left it.

Many people are always wondering how to pray, that they don't know how to pray correctly. "I try to pray, to talk to God, but my mind just wanders, and I end up thinking about everything, or nothing," and it becomes frustrating, and we're right back where we started. The thing about prayer, is that it's not just about communication. Sometimes prayer can truly be silent, not just a title that's in a church bulletin. Prayer is about realizing that we are not alone, that the way we see the world may not necessarily be what the world truly is, that the extraordinary does still exist, but we just can't see it, yet. And prayer can help with that. Prayer can help us take a step back and see things in a way we've never seen before; because prayer is not just momentary, it doesn't have to stop once we've said "Amen," or made our request, and prayer doesn't always have to be about asking God for something. Prayer can help us refocus our perception and our souls back to the relationship with God that existed way back in the story of creation; and the extraordinary can be revealed to us in the midst of what has been in front of us all along.

What's Important...

2011-02-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it has certainly been a while since I've posted anything. Most who know me personally know that's due to receiving a son 7 weeks ago. His name is Benjamin, and yes, he's the cutest thing ever. But I prefer to save my gushing for public conversation and not for my blog. But of course, if blogging is about observing life and all its forms, it's impossible to do that and not observe how life changes in becoming a parent. One statement that everyone kept telling me was that life was going to change; over and over and over. It was pretty obvious to me that life was going to be different with a baby, but the one thing I didn't really think about changing is how I saw life, and what became important, and what no longer was. It takes those dramatic changes in one's life, whatever that change is, to cause one to step back and re-examine, and more importantly, re-prioritize.

Things that once seemed so monumental are now out the window. Ideas, philosophies, matters of faith, it all changed in the sense that they had to become more solidified. The thing about seminary is that it trains you to just sit around and ponder, and wonder, and dream, and theologize...which is great; all of us, whether we're clergy or not, need to take time to do all that. The thing is that it's easy to get in the habit of that being the sum total. And being met with a new person that exists entirely in your care really wakes you up to the reality to actually do something about all this pondering.

And that can be a frightening thing, to know that what you do--or don't do--now has dramatic effects on someone who can't necessarily just go about their own life, because their life is entirely entrusted to you. And so now absolutely EVERYTHING matters. Because everything matters, we can't waste time on the stuff that doesn't matter. This was a paradox that Jesus tried to get the people to see. People who thought it was more important to publicly pray about how much better they were than others for fasting and religiously observing, rather than reaching out to the poor and sick. In a time when ritual, practice, and status ruled above faith, love, and community, Jesus reached out people and brought them together, and did it in the name of the God whose love and mercy helped us to see past what we think is so important and gives us new focus.

It is freeing in a way, when life puts you in a position where you realize there so much that you can throw, that no longer seems important; but the weight we must also carry, is the reality that there is a lot that does depend on us focusing on what's truly important and doing something about it.

Ok, ok, one picture...

Stave V--Afterward...

2011-01-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

"Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in!"

Now that Christmas and New Year's have passed, we all know it is stereotypically easy for all the celebration and joy that has been flowing through December to suddenly drop off the face of the earth now that the holidays are over and now we are just left with the cold weather.

The end of A Christmas Carol has always been my favorite part because of the joy and celebration that occurs in Scrooge, not simply because it's Christmas, but because Christmas for Scrooge means new life and a chance to start over.

Have you ever had a really bad dream, one so horrible and so real that you physically react to it? And when we wake and realize you are safe in your own bed, that it wasn't real, that can be one of the greatest feelings in the world. To know you have escaped the dreaded hell you were just in a moment ago. Now imagine that that really happens to you. Some have argued that the entire experience Scrooge has is just a dream; of course to that I always wonder how the ghost of Jacob Marley is accounted for....did the dream begin for Scrooge walking up to his house and the knocker? But at any rate, whether the experience really happened or he only dreamt it, Scrooge nevertheless is transformed when he finds himself in his own bed. And the experience was real enough for Scrooge to leave his house a new man.

Scrooge walks the streets on Christmas morning for the first time in a long time--perhaps ever--amongst the people.

"The people were by this time pouring forth, as he had seen them with the Ghost of Christmas Present; and walking with his hands behind him, Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile."

Scrooge even comes across the gentlemen who were faising funds for the poor, and after whispering to them an amount that he wanted to give them for many previous years past, he tells them: ``Come and see me. Will you come and see me?'' Scrooge is not only happy to be getting on with his life, to be alive, but to live alongside the world that he used to fear and hate so much:

"He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the windows: and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk -- that anything -- could give him so much happiness. In the afternoon he turned his steps towards his nephew's house."

When Scrooge attempts to reconcile with his nephew, it is important for us to remember what Scrooge was like at the beginning of the story, and his encounter with his past. As the ice of forgetfulness melted away from Scrooge, we see that part of redemption is nothing of what we do, but others allowing us in. There is a risk we take, a chance, that we might not be forgiven by those we have hurt or shunned. And so Scrooge does the only thing he can when his nephew sees him in his house, Scrooge asks simply: "Will you let me in, Fred?"

Some films have done a great service in adding the element of Scrooge also asking forgiveness of Fred's wife. When Scrooge and Fred first dialogue at the beginning of the story, we see that one of the reasons Scrooge shuns his nephew is he married, something Scrooge never did--as we see because he shunned the only woman who loved him--and because despite all Scrooge's wealth, his nephew has something he has never had, something so inexpensive and yet so rich. Some films show Scrooge meeting Fred's wife, perhaps for the first time; but in doing so, I beleive Scrooge is not only seeking redemption from her, but in a way from the chance he had to be with the love of his life. The Alastair Sim version is a great example of this. When we see Scrooge's fiancee during his past, the music in the background is of Barbara Allen, a great melody. In this film, when Scrooge meets Fred's wife, the same music plays:

Finally, to the most important people in his life (as far as the story goes) Scrooge reconciles with Bob Cratchit and his family. The Alastair Sim film does do a great job of this, as well as the Patrick Stewart version, but I'd to show Mickey's Christmas Carol, because it helps us to see what it is the Scrooge receives as well as gives. Now, the only version I could find that wasn't longer was this one that also has a bit of Scrooge's encounter with the Spirit of Christmas Future, and if you haven't seen this version I defy you to get through it with a dry eye...

Dickens' goal in this story was to re-introduce Christmas--and even Christianity--as something to be celebrated, not mourned, and that this happens with other people as much as with Christ. We cannot be who we are truly meant to be without the relationships of other people, just like our relationship with God. And Dickens does this in the best way by not being overtly evident that this redemption is about Scrooge coming to Christ and seeing God at work in his life and in the world, but he writes Scrooge living the rest of his life at the end of the story the way many who find Christ in their life--perhaps all of us who do--can and should live, even after Christmas Day has left us:

"Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!"

Stave IV--Truly Dead

2010-12-22T12:09:00.000-08:00

What many of the Christmas Carol films hardly do by the time the Spirit of Christmas Future arrives is show how changed Scrooge is by this point. While in the movies he often meets the spirit with fear, the book illustrates that Scrooge feels as though he has learned the lesson of the three spirits already; and even though Scrooge admits he fears this spirit more than the others, he also admits that he is ready for it:

"But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart."

As Scrooge is taken into the future, he meets some of his business associates talking about someone's death, and whether they should attend the funeral. One says he wouldn't mind going as long as lunch was provided, while the others don't really seem interested at all. While Scrooge wonders who they talk about, he feels as though it must have something to do with his redemption: "It gave him little surprise, however; for he had been revolving in his mind a change of life, and thought and hoped he saw his new-born resolutions carried out in this."

At this point, if I spoil the story by saying Scrooge discovers that he is dead in the future, I apologize. But I doubt many who read this will not be familiar enough with the story to be shocked by this. Was Scrooge really that blind not to realize that all the people he encountered were talking about his death? At one point, he notices he's not in a spot he usually is, and merely thinks that because he has changed, maybe his routine has changed. I used to think this was simple denial, for how easy it is for most of us to deny what is right in front of us if we don't want to face it. But I think Scrooge is going through something more important, something Dickens is trying to tell anyone who reads this story.

Not too long ago, our senior pastor preached a sermon series called "Big Picture Living in a Thumbnail Age," which centered around the idea of thumbnail images one can access and download online, how when their sizes are reduced to a thumbnail, they are easier to access and use; but in shrinking them for this purpose, it becomes harder to see its entire scope and thus the original purpose. In our faith journeys--and most journeys of life, for that matter--it is easier to get the thumbnail than focusing on the big picture. "Just tell me what I need to do!" I'm really about this not only in life, but also in math. Where one needs to know formulas and theories, my reply was always: "What EXACTLY do I need to do to solve THIS problem?" The problem I came across was that there were too many problems one test to remember how to solve all of them individually. Had I known the formula, I would have been able to use that to solve multiple problems in various ways. But it's not always about problem solving. Often, and more importantly, it's about living, and being involved in life. The life which God has given us.

Scrooge travels with this Spirit of the Future, thinking that he is seeing how he has changed and how his life has become so much better for it. But as he goes from place to place and person to person, he keeps hearing about this man who has died, that no one seems to care about, and some actually being glad about it. As he watches people pawning possessions of this one who has died--including the very shirt the man was to be buried in--Scrooge thinks he understands: ``I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way, now. " Scrooge understands the possibility of what is happening to someone else as his own fate, but the spirit urges him onward. They appear in a dark room with a corpse lying on a bed, a simple sheet covering the body. The Spirit motions for him to remove the cloth.

``I understand you,'' Scrooge returned, ``and I would do it, if I could. But I have not the power, Spirit. I have not the power.''

What is Scrooge afraid of? If he feels as though he is looking at someone else's life, is he afraid that the uncovered sheet will reveal someone he knows, or cares about? How would that be? Scrooge holds no relationship with anyone. What would it matter to him to find dead one of his business associates, or even his nephew? Every person who would even drift through his life he has shunned away. Is he then fearful that perhaps this is himself, and he just can't bring himself to confirm it? Scrooge asks that he be shown some tenderness associated with this man's death, and the spirit shows him a young couple who owed a debt and can now celebrate because of their debtor's passing. When Scrooge begs to see some kind of tenderness anywhere that death is involved, he is taken to the Cratchit house, where Tiny Tim has died. While there is sadness, there is tenderness, there is love. There is even happiness. As the whole family sits together, in a house someone like Scrooge would previously never spare the energy to look at, Scrooge witnesses something he has never had, and had never sought after:

``And I know,'' said Bob, ``I know, my dears, that when we recollect how patient and how mild he was; although he was a little, little child; we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves, and forget poor Tiny Tim in doing it.''
``No, never, father!'' they all cried again.
``I am very happy,'' said little Bob, ``I am very happy!''
Mrs Cratchit kissed him, his daughters kissed him, the two young Cratchits kissed him, and Peter and himself shook hands.

Spirit of Tiny Tim, thy childish essence was from God!

What it is to be truly rich, and to be truly alive.

Christmas can be a time when we focus on scrambling around, killing ourselves to make the perfect Christmas happen, to make our lives perfect; to try and create the illusion that realities like Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love come thumbnails rather than moving toward the big picture. Who are the people in our lives we can look toward, what are the ways we can see God leading us and be able to say: "I am very happy?"

Finally Scrooge is taken to a cemetery, where the spirit silently points toward a gravestone. In times such as ones that we approach a fate that our actions have put together, we do not feel much unlike Scrooge must have, knowing that what we have done has led to this point, hoping that something might still be able to save us. ``Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,'' said Scrooge. ``But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!''

EBENEZER SCROOGE is what he sees on the grave.

Obviously the fact that he's dead is not really a surprise, but more so what it means that Scrooge is dead in this circumstance. We all face death, this is a reality; but to do so after a life of fearing and rejecting the world, pushing away those in one's life and condemning those in need to be locked away rather than reaching out...what kind of life is this? For Scrooge, who has spent most of his life alone, shut up in empty rooms, surrounded by ledgers and dust, dining alone, sitting by meager fires night after night, and have no one to show for it....this is what it is to be truly dead.

And so Scrooge, like many of us who are faced with such horrible, harsh realities out of our control, does the only thing left that is possible--prays.

``Spirit!'' he cried, tight clutching at its robe, ``hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all hope? Good Spirit,'' he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: ``Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life! I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!''

Is it possible to be restored to life, to change one's life in such a way? We have been shown that through the grace of God and the resurrection of Christ, all things are possible, and this grace extends to us all. And as we focus more on this grace, the images that drag us down begins to look less bleak, and even change.

"Holding up his hands in a last prayer to have his fate reversed, [Scrooge] saw an alteration in the Phantom's hood and dress. It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost."

Stave III--The Surplus Population

2010-12-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

The more I read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the more I think Stave 3 with the Spirit of Christmas Present is my favorite experience Scrooge has amongst the spirits, because I believe it is here that Dickens takes not only Scrooge, but all of us who engage in this story into the reality of why Christmas is celebrated.

Before Scrooge's adventure began, he was first visited by the ghost of his old friend and business partner Jacob Marley. Marley tells him what has resulted in his death, what has become of him these last seven years:

``It is required of every man,'' the Ghost returned, ``that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world -- oh, woe is me! -- and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!''

In Dickens' time, England was a place in which the majority of those in poverty, a large majority of England's population, was being overlooked and ignored, including from the church. In fact, Christmas as an example was not typically a time of rejoicing and remembering the salvific event of the birth of Christ, but had been turned into a time of continued mourning in such a strong observance of the atoning sacrifice Christ made in his crucifixion for the sins of the world. This observance was so strong that nothing else seemed to be remembered. Dickens sought to change that, to help people remember the joy that also comes from the reality of who Christ is and what he has done, and a large part of that involved for Dickens reaching out to others.

Scrooge, like Marley, has cut himself off from the world and see no reason to help anyone, especially the poor. When he speaks that the poor should rather go to prison or a workhouse, others tell him they would rather die. ``If they would rather die,'' said Scrooge, ``they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

These words come back to haunt Scrooge as the Spirit of Christmas takes him from his home to the homes, streets, sea ships, coal mines, and prisons of those who truly know how to keep Christmas in their hearts, those whom Scrooge has refused to know or pay attention to.

One place in particular they visit is the home and family of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's clerk. As miserly old Scrooge looks in through the window, he finds himself looking in on a most happy family, enjoying each other's company, a great feast of simple mashed potatoes and a small goose. "Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon."

Do you have Christmas traditions or special meals? Things that happen only on Christmas, that you wait all year to be able to do or eat? For my family our meal was/is vegetable soup; not your standard Christmas meal by most, but it was a great tradition that we always looked forward to, and while we had soup on other occasions, it wasn't too often that it still seemed special for Christmas. In the Patrick Stewart movie of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge watches the Cratchit family sit down at their table, slamming their utensils in great anticipation of the Christmas Goose, clapping as they see it for the first time, and of course afterwards was the pudding. Dickens takes us into the this family, sharing their feelings about how spectacular something as a small goose and pudding is so celebratory to such a large family. And as they clear away the table and toast to one another on the celebration of this day, Tiny Tim gives his family the famous words: "God Bless Us, Everyone."

Scrooge notices that there is something special about this boy. When Bob first arrived in the house with Tim on his shoulder, he told his wife how the boy behaved during their time in church: ``As good as gold,'' said Bob, ``and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.''

Scrooge asks the Spirit if the boy will live, to which the Spirit replies that if things do not change, the boy will die. Scrooge is saddened by this, to which the Spirit says: "What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.''

It is easier, isn't it, casting our opinions and judgment to situations and people we are not truly connected, nor have any desire to truly be connected to? Easier to stay out of affairs and decree, even to ourselves, how the world should be. One person who definitely agree with us would be Scrooge, as when he gives his doctrine of the business of others: ``It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's." But as the Spirit, one who is involved in the lives of every person everywhere in the world throws this doctrine back at Scrooge, it is a message we can take to heart as well in the time and effort we take to recognize the other:

``Man,'' said the Ghost, ``if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is. Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be, that in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!''

What a harsh reality to take us out of our celebrating of this time...but then what is Christmas? Was Christ born amongst those who could already save themselves from poverty and injustice? Did the angels appear to those who were accepted by society? Did Jesus in his ministry heal only those who could afford to heal themselves? The people and places Dickens takes Scrooge through in his story are not merely imaginings, but the places of London he has experienced firsthand. Until we are aware in our hearts the truth of the surplus population that lives all around us, what kind of Christmas do we truly celebrate?

This past Sunday our senior pastor preached on the gentle power of God, as written in Isaiah 40:1-11, that often we want more of an "action hero" God to burst in and take care of the bad guys...until we realize we are the bad guys, too. What of the "action hero" God, then? In the 1984 film of Dickens' story with George C. Scott, Scrooge is taken to one place in particular that causes him to re-think his definition of the "surplus population" and where he fits....

Stave II--The Reclamation

2010-12-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

In Stave Two of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge encounters the first of the three spirits. The ghost of Jacob Marley--his old partner who died seven years previous--tells him that it is only by encountering these spirits that he will escape an eternal fate of remorse: wanting to help those in need, but powerless to do so in death because he did nothing about it in life.

The first of the three is the Ghost of Christmas Past. When it first appears, Scrooge perceives it as:

"...a strange figure -- like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man, viewed through some supernatural medium, which gave him the appearance of having receded from the view, and being diminished to a child's proportions. Its hair, which hung about its neck and down its back, was white as if with age; and yet the face had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom was on the skin."

Give the many Christian tones of this story, I've come to equate this as an encounter with the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as what it would be like to try to see the unseeable. It seems as though the more Scrooge tries to focus in on what this spirit is, the more it changes on his sight so that he's never really sure what he's seeing. When Scrooge asks the spirit what it is here for, it tells him: "Your reclamation."

This is an interesting statement the spirit makes. Wikipedia defines "reclamation" this way: "the process of reclaiming something from loss or from a less useful condition." It can certainly be argued this is where we find Scrooge. As we see into Scrooge's past, we find that he has led a very lonely life. We discover Scrooge had a sister, who died, giving birth to her son, Scrooge's nephew, who he shuns in the beginning of the story. The Alastair Sim film version depicts this really well and uses this as the tipping point in Scrooge becoming so cold and heartless. The older he becomes, the more he shuns people away, building for himself a fortress of financial security, arguably for nothing else but the purpose of creating some kind of invisible solution to the world around him. As his fiancee tells him before the separate: "You fear the world too much."

As Scrooge witnesses these shadows of the past, he relives each and every moment, moments he has tried the rest of his life to shut out; and with this reliving, Scrooge discovers what it is to feel happiness as well as sorrow. In the Patrick Stewart 1999 film, Scrooge watches his younger self let his fiancee end their relationship. He tells his former self: "Go after her." And the young Scrooge motions as if he will, but then stops himself. "Don't be afraid!" the old Scrooge pleads with himself. "Go after her!" But Young Scrooge can't hear himself, or doesn't listen; and Old Scrooge again has to watch the woman he loves walk out of his life forever.

All of us live with regret. For many of us, it can be so strong that we spend the majority of our waking energy doing all we can to shut ourselves off from it, or shutting the world out, so that we don't have to remember, or risk more hurt. But for Scrooge, in order to be reclaimed back to where he belongs, he first had to remember what he was being reclaimed from, a life of loss and uselessness, walled up by a financial fortress that did nothing but keep from everyone else. But Scrooge will discover is that he is not alone; and that is not just for his sake, but for the lives he will soon discover he has the power to touch...

Letter From Jesus...

2010-12-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

So, I don't normally participate in the forwarding of emails--as I'm sure most people who forward emails don't necessarily do it all the time, just with those particular that really touch them, which really makes you think about how many people there really are, but I digest...--but I recently received one my wife forwarded to me, which I knew was something special, because she normally does not do it, either. Anyway, with my being on a "A Christmas Carol" focus this month in my blogging (Stave II is coming soon; I just found my copy of the book that has all my notes in it...), I thought this was a good comment to all of us who have our "Scrooge" moments. So to those of us who tend to be all about making sure that everyone observes Christmas only by proclaiming that Jesus is Lord...just read it. And to those of us who tend to give in to watering down our expression of what it means that Jesus is Lord...just read it:

Letter from Jesus about Christmas --

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and Snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing the President complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year.

Then follow up... It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you couldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember:

I LOVE YOU,
JESUS

STAVE I--The Loneliness of Evil

2010-11-29T07:24:00.000-08:00

For my money, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is one of the richest stories to be printed. There is so much that could be written/said about this story, and with it being told/retold/reinterpreted/re-presented so many times, everyone takes a different perspective on it. With each stave (chapter) of this story comes the journey of Ebenezer Scrooge, from the man he is, the man he was, and finally who he becomes.

It is in following along this journey that we as the reader discover Scrooge is not truly an evil man. He could certainly be portrayed as such, especially to the characters in the story who know him as an employer, a lender, even a business associate. But as it often is in participating in the kind of judgment that leads to labeling others, it comes with not knowing the full story. This is not to defend Scrooge in any way, but "evil," like many words, gets tossed around a lot until we forget the meaning and intent.

Stave I of A Christmas Carol introduces us to who Scrooge is at the present time:

"Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind- stone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dogdays; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas."

That sums him up pretty well, and certainly how he is portrayed, with his "Bah, Humbug!" outlook on life. But a couple paragraphs later, Dickens writes this:

"Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, 'My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?'

Scrooge was in the personal business of keeping to himself and making sure everyone knew of it. In this first stave Scrooge encounters many people, despite his opposition. In one instance, a couple of men visit his office to ask a donation from his business for a fund they are raising for the poor during the Christmas season. When they ask him how much he wishes to give and he replies, "Nothing," they are confused, asking if he means he wishes to remain anonymous. If you've ever seen the film version in which Patrick Stewart plays Scrooges, I think he does it best in the response, because it is as if for a moment Scrooge, in all his proper manner and established order, reveals a bit of his personal side:

"I wish to be left alone."

He continues about the welfare of others, "It's not my business. It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's."

The best version of a film adaptation of this story, in my humble opinion, is the 1951 British version starring Alistair Sim. One of the many great pieces of this version encapsulates for me the idea of the loneliness of evil, a life that results in the rejection of that which is opposite, or put better, absent of good. And this image derives from just one sentence of Dickens:

"Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern..."

In this film version, Scrooge is seen eating in a restaurant/tavern, surrounded by people sitting, talking, and eating together. Scrooge sits in an arrangement that has a small wall separating him from everyone else. As a waiter comes by he says he wants more bread, to which the waiter tells him it will cost extra. Scrooge thinks about it for a second and declines the bread.

The Gospel of John's first chapter describes Jesus Christ as the light of the world, coming into the darkness of the world, but the world not realizing who or what this light is. A result of this darkness in Scrooge's life is that he is separated as who he is from he could be; and in his separation from that light he lives a life of opposition towards what the light of Christ has come to show the world it can have and be.

Perhaps that is why the Spirit of Christmas Past visits him in such a way....

Movie Moment--There You Are!

2010-11-18T08:59:00.000-08:00

A lot of times it can be hard to understand what is going on in the Bible. How do we follow what's going on, what is anyone talking about, why can't I stick with it? These are all valid questions and ones that all of us experience when we attempt to try to read scripture. A result is that many of us who attend church and try to strengthen our relationshipship with Christ, miss out on such a rich resource that is really much more than a resource. If we believe the Bible to be the word of God, a living document, we need to come to it with that kind of perspective and realize it is not a simple book.

But, again, how do we do that? The answer will be different for everyone. But one thing that has always helped me is something I would like to share.

I love movies, and it's always come natural for me to compare life, etc. to different scenes of films, which, arguably, is what a good film does in the reverse. In studying the narrative of scripture, the culture/history of the people who wrote it and were writing it to, the Bible has become much more alive to me the more I do this. And in this process, many movie illustrations have come to mind that have helped enliven the scriptures to my mind and heart. Case in point....

Luke 24:13-35--The Road to Emmaus story

What's happening: Followers of Jesus, who have either personally seen or heard stories of his ministry of healing, teaching, and challenging, have travelled from all over to Jerusalem to observe Passover. This part of the story focuses on two individuals who are returning to their homes in Emmaus, which is a debatable length from Jerusalem, especially to walk it. As they are walking, a stranger appears and asks them what they are discussing. And so they proceed to tell this stranger what has been told to them: that Jesus, whom they had beleived to be "a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all people" was crucified. That they had believed he "was the one to redeem Israel," to save them. They had been told that 3 days after his death, women discovered his tomb to be empty, and angels had told them that Jesus had risen. What these travellers do not realize or see is that this stranger they are talking with is the resurrected Jesus, and this is where the clip comes in...

In the movie Hook (1991), Peter Banning's children are kidnapped by someone who reveals himself as Captain Hook, calling Banning to come back to Neverland to face him. Banning is soon visited by Tinkerbell, telling him that he's the legendary Peter Pan. He finds himself in Neverland, surrounded by the Lost Boys, Pan's pals. But when they meet Pan as a now grown up with glasses and a bad back, they don't beleive it. And as they all form a line of protest, one little boy walks around Banning. He pokes him, motions him to kneel down to his level, takes off Peter's glasses, and begins poking and stretching his face. As the Lost Boys watch this kid pull and smooth Banning's wrinkles, the little boy pushes back the adult's face into the a huge smile. And the little boy smiles back and says, "Oh, there you are, Peter!"

Back in Luke's Gospel, as the two travellers continued to walk and talk with this stranger, they arrived back at Emmaus and invited the stranger to have dinner with them. The story immediately cuts to the table, but just imagine these two travellers, who had expected this guy Jesus to fix everything and save everyone, have now come back home to defeat, to life as usual, and nothing has changed. These two who had either heard or seen for themselves the miraculous things Jesus had done, including feeding over 5,000 people by taking what little bread was offered, giving thanks for and blessing it, and giving it out so that all were fed; these two who had perhaps heard of Jesus' last meal with his disciples, telling them that he would sustain their souls the way bread and wine sustains their bodies. After all that, they have come home with nothing. And so perhaps these two travellers were thinking about this when they see this stranger they have invited into their home, a guest, reach over towards the bread.

Imagine if a stranger you just invited to your house to dinner (which, how often does that happen today?) just started reaching for the food right off the bat? Well, it was an even bigger social no-no in these times. But this stranger does just that, and before anyone can say anything, the story reads that this stranger: "took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him."(Luke 24:30-31)

There you are, Jesus!

Despair can make us see as though all hope is lost, that nothing will ever change for the better, and this hoplessness can blind us from the reality that hope does exist, that the end has not yet been written. If we look for this hope with the spirit of invitation in our heart and in our actions toward others, the simplest things can help us recognize where hope lives, and remember we're not alone.

After the two recognized Jesus, he immediately vanished, and they made their way back to Jerusalem, telling people Jesus "had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread."(24:35)

If you are experiencing confusion or indirection in your attempts to read and understand scripture, I invite you try again with this passage. It's kind of like that old slogan for Kellog's Corn Flakes: "Taste them again for the first time." See what the story shares with you for the first time, or in a way you've forgotten. Read with the spirit of invitation in your heart.

If you'd like to watch the clip of Hook, you can find it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezx3fXBYdUI

When Christians Get It Wrong part 3.....and 4....

2010-10-24T12:57:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I've been bad the last couple months about posting. This month has been crazy, and I'm sure not only for myself. So, to recap the last couple of gatherings our class has had the last weeks:

Chapter 3--Other World Religions
This topic took an interesting path, as it was discussed not so much about other religions and what it is that is confusing/disagreeable about beliefs and practices, but the question of why does the focus always seem to head to the life destination of individuals of different faiths? Why do we seem to be so concerned about determining/arguing about who is right going to heaven and who is wrong going to hell? Why does it always come down to that? Are we saying that the only reason we believe what we believe is because of the end gaining of a reward, or avoidance of punishment? What kind of a faith is this, no matter what system, that has us only looking at this one, unknown moment in the future, while possible as a result missing everything else our faith system has to teach us about how to live now, in the present. From the Christian perspective, this is the very thing Jesus addresses in his ministry by saying many times: "The kingdom of God is near to you." Jesus told his followers this as he warned of their going out to continue his ministries might result in ridicule, resentment, or worse; but as they approached those who were starving and ill, they were to tell them: "The kingdom of God is near to you."(Luke 10:1-12) If our focus is only on waiting for this reward for us or punishment for others, we definitely get it wrong--not only putting this on ourselves and others--but in also looking past the gifts we are given right now in the faith we have.

Chapter 4 looked to the never-ending question: Why Do Bad Things Happen?
One comment was very provoking in the idea that in sharing our faith with others--whether it is in good times or bad--we often are not very honest about our own unsureness. A lot of times, in sometimes moment of pain, especially in the unexplainable, we have this incredible itch to provide some kind of solution/explanation/FIX. We wish to fix this, not just to make this person feel better, but because the alternative is unacceptable...to just be. It's too uncomfortable, it's too awkward, and most importantly...it's too vulnerable. I mean, we can't just say nothing, right? This person has opened up to us, and we have to give them something; plus, if we don't have an explanation, something to say, what does that say about us? We're not good enough, smart enough? And so when we can't come up with an answer, and we absolutely HAVE to, it's ok to make God responsible. So we say God has a plan for all things, or God's in charge, everything happens for a reason. But as many of us know, this almost always turns a bad thing worse, because now it's simply God's fault. But what else can we do?

So the comment from this that was very eye-opening was one saying that in our church/faith life as Christians, we attend church and read scripture, we believe it, may even memorize it, but--here it is....we don't really understand it. Now this may not be a big revelation to some; in fact, I would argue this should be something we are very adamant about. How can this be a holy mystery of God, or even part of our faith, if we fully understand it? And what does that say about God, if God can be fully understood? So, that's not necessarily big news, BUT, when Christians can get it wrong, is when we proclaim God or the Bible as though we do fully/absolutely understand, when we know in our heart we don't. So that when we pull out a verse (especially just one verse) to console/defend/attack another, and we don't know or can't say for ourselves what it means--that it just is, aka "God's word"--we get it wrong. As horrible as Star Wars Episodes I-III were, there were a couple good lines, one of them being in Episode III, right when Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vadar) says to Kenobi: "If you are not with me, then you are my enemy!" to which Kenobi answers: "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." When we pass off scripture or the Word of God as an absolute we know completely to those who especially are in times of pain, we are not just damaging that person, but we are causing damage to God.

Perhaps we get it right when we realize we do not have to "fix" anything, and simple BE with our loved one. Perhaps we get it right when we admit we are struggling with our faith ourselves, and instead of trying to explain our faith, we share it.

"But how do you share something if you don't explain it?"

Have you ever tried to explain a life changing book, song, or movie to someone who hasn't read, heard, or seen it? How far do you get before you say: "You need to read/hear/see this..." Jesus wasn't in the business of simply talking about God via quoting scripture and explaining as the absolute way. He told parables--stories that made little sense, he performed miracles of healing and feed, he provided a new way of EXPERIENCING God. Experiences can't be memorized or quoted. They have to be lived.

We get it right when we LIVE our faith.

Fall For All

2010-09-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

Since our When Christians Get It Wrong class is not meeting this week, I'm going to cheat and post the article I posted for our church's newsletter. Commence your judgment...

I would just like to say, I love Fall. I love it, love it, love it. I think the best thing about the fall season-aside from the beautiful leaves, the crisp, cooling air, the coming of Halloween (my FAVORITE holiday!)-is the nostalgia of memories as a kid. Autumn always makes me remember times when I was about 6-9 years old. Playing in leaves, running around in sweaters, the first time I read and saw To Kill a Mockingbird (I had a big crush on Scout), and being at school. I was one of those kids who loved school. I wasn't smart enough to be considered a nerd, but I loved hanging out with my friends, the teachers were nice (most of them....); it was an overall great experience. One of my greatest joys as a pastor is seeing how the fall season enlivens so many kids and parents, and hearing about what everyone is up to. There just seems to be a great life that springs up around this time, and it's such a blessing to be a part of that!

Looking back and presently, I think a lot of this has to do with the culture kids grow up in. What is it we surround kids with, what is it we want to surround our kids with, and what are we able to surround kids with? I was talking with a teacher just yesterday about all the focus that is going on right now about the necessity for the improvement of education, and how most of the focus seems to be mostly on funding, programming, and logistics; and she commented that she hasn't really seen or heard anyone talking about the necessity for the culture to be changed, as well. The majority of the culture a lot of us are a part of is often very separated, individualized, and consumeristic, where we are striving just to make it to the end of the week without going crazy or broke, and in the spare moments we do have, we would like to think about nothing at all, rather than think about the majority of the population who are going through hardships we can't imagine.

It is easy to focus on the easy things, like the weather cooling, and the leaves changing, and all the hayrack rides and fall festivals we can take the kids to; but there are kids out there, kids we may even know, who don't have the option to enjoy these things, because they're too busy living in a culture that is forcing them to miss school, find employment, be abused, or go another day without food. These are the people Jesus calls us as followers, as disciples, to reach out to.

Let us enjoy the Fall, and let us do what we can, as Christ leads us and equips us, to make sure that all of God's children can enjoy it, too.

When Christians Get It Wrong part 2

2010-09-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last night in our gathering, we discussed chapter 2 of Rev. Adam Hamilton's book When Christians Get It Wrong, which covered the idea of Faith, Science, & Politics, and why it seems that young adults find that when it comes to Christians, there can't be a relationship. Why? What is it about faith and science, for example, that are so opposing to one another? Why is it that the Christians young adults who do not attend seem to hear the most are claiming that science and Christianity do no share anything in common?

In watching parts of Rev. Hamilton's sermon on this subject, he made reference to the example that is often used in the big argument of evolution, that Christians who argue against evolution proclaim that Genesis 1 tells us how God created the world. So then is Genesis 1 given to us as a scientific explanation of how God created the world? Here's part of the text, and I encourage you to read this aloud to yourself, and really hear the words:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Rev. Hamilton said after reading this passage: "When I read these words, I hear music. This is poetry. And when you try to turn this poetry into a scientific explanation, the music stops."

But where does the opposition and outrage come from when it is suggested that this is ancient hebraic poetry of God in the world and not literal, factual, truth? One of the images we talked about last night was how Psychology and Counseling (including and especially at times Pastoral Counseling) will teach that oftentimes the subject one comes to you with requiring counseling is not really the subject one is really needing to address. A father angry that his church is allowing the youth group to go to Haiti in all its danger and shouts at the pastor could likely really be showing emotion over the fact that his youth aged child is growing up and going out into the world and he is having to come to terms with that.

In the same way, is there an underlying subject here other than Christianity is right and Science is wrong?

Is there a fear that in order for one to be right, the other has to be wrong? That, in a sense, in order for one to live, the other must die?

Hamilton writes in this chapter: "Christians are afriad Science will disprove or debunk what they believe." Fear can be a very real and very dangerous emotion; and it seems that the outcry of this fear, projected as other emotions, is what young adults not familiar with the church in any other way are perceiving as the reality of Christianity. I think Yoda got it right: "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."

So if that's how we get it wrong, how do we get it right? In the study we came across a quote that said: "The more you grow in your faith and the more profoundly you know God, the more you know that you do not know." In other words, the more we learn, the more we experience, the more we discover, the more we see that there's so much more out there to learn, experience, and discover. The journey is never over. The young adults who are rejecting church and its Christians seem to have gotten the message from the outspoken church-goers that we as Christians have learned all we need to, and now have to make sure everyone else learns this, too.

Rev. Hamilton ended his sermon saying that Christians get it wrong when we show ourselves to be close-minded, but we get it right when we show ourselves to be teachable.

When Christians Get It Wrong part 1

2010-09-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

So, this should have come out last week, as it was last week that this class started. Apologies.

A small group is gathering weekly to discuss Rev. Adam Hamilton's latest book When Christians Get It Wrong, which looks at modern Christianity and how it is lived--or, rather, not lived--by modern proclaiming Christians, from the perspectives of young adults, ages 16-20. The book tries to examine what it is about Christianity and the Church that seems so off-putting to young adults, and using a study that was done in 2007 (published in the book unChristian) Hamilton brings to light what/how it is that young adults (outside the Church) view Christianity:

70% Consider Christians to be insensitive
75% Consider Christians to be too political
85% Consider Christians to be hypocritical
87% Consider Christians to be judgmental
And 91% of young adults who do not attend church say that Christans are anti-homosexual

And so in our group we discussed: What do we think about this information, what do we do with this information? Where is this perception coming from? Is this the way we see Christianity? Is this the way we are living Christianity?

If this is how we are getting it wrong, how do we get it right?

The purpose of the gathering was/is not to debate beliefs or opinions, but to try to understand where these perceptions are coming from and what needs to change. During the conversation we watched portions of Rev. Hamilton's sermon of this series which focused on the subject of Hypocrisy, something that we are all guilty of (Rev. Hamilton, too, he admits) and something that those who look negatively at the church admit themselves:

"I don't mind that you Christians don't live up to your ideals," one person he talked to told him. "I don't live up to all of my ideals, either. In the end, I guess we're all hypocrites, it's just that...it seems that my Christians haven't figured this out, yet."

So how do we get it right? How do we show the church to be more/other than judgmental and hypocritical, pointing out others' faults and ignoring our own? How do we do this with a generation who has not grown up in the church and wants nothing to do with it because of the church-goers they have encountered?

Hamilton revealed this in his first chapter: "When I ask non-Christians what they think Jesus stood for, most say 'Love.'" It doesn't seem to be Jesus they have a problem with, but those to claim they believe in him and follow him. As Gandhi famously said: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

How do we get it right? Hamilton suggests it involves looking more towards who Christ was, and what he did for others, which was loving them. One of the scripture passages we discussed last week was Matthew 5:43-45 which reads:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.'"

None of us are where we should be or need to be. Perhaps proclaiming that, and moving toward loving one another, can help us move closer to Christ, and to getting it right.

Among the Shouts...

2010-09-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

There are always lots of opinions. The beauty--or curse, depending on how one looks at it--of all the media access that exists now is that so many are able to give all their opinions all the time. Lately many opinions have arisen as to whether or not certain things should be created, and whether certain things should be destroyed. While the majority of outspeakers did not agree it was right for a church in Florida to burn copies of a sacred text, many outspeakers have disagreed as to whether the creation of new Islamic centers should be rising the way that they are. It seems as though the loudest cries come from those who feel this is at the least insensitive, and at the most, desecrating. And many who do not take an extreme side, one way or the other, try to ignore the shouting and the blame, and the name-calling, and the thirst for vengeance. Though there are many churches who are very outspoken about their disagreement and anger about these current events, many other congregations who are more moderate react to the situation with quiet tolerance, fearing that these outbursts will only cause the public view of Christianity to plummet more than it already has with so many people.

I was very proud of our senior pastor this morning in what he preached. Among the stories that he shared, one involved a United Methodist Church in the suburbs of Memphis that an Islamic center was being built next door. The reaction? One article I found put it this way:

"They erected a 6-foot sign that read: 'Welcome to the Neighborhood.' Then they invited their new neighbors to use their facilities for evening prayers during Ramadan. 'What would Jesus do if He were us?' Stone explained to Lindsay Melvin of The Commercial Appeal. 'He would welcome the neighbor.'"

In the midst of all the arguing back and forth that seems to be the most popular bits of news, the stories of building bridges and creating something new seems to get lost. But maybe in the midst of all the arguing, the shouting, the accusing, we can do a better job of not just being tolerantly quiet and polite, but to speak out in where we see God working in restoration and reconciliation.

Another illustration the senior pastor used this morning was a review of Heartsong UMC, which was written by someone in New Hampshire, of all places:

"This Church Family, lead by their Pastor, Steve Stone, are a light to the nations. They have taken on the ministry of Jesus with no holds barred. They have welcomed their Muslim neighbors, offering them a hand by opening their doors to them on the Lord's word. In a time when the people of this world are increasingly cautious in mingling with the stranger, these beautiful people have offered what they have. This congregation is an example for all people to behold. Heartsong Church, of Memphis, I honor you and I Pray for you. May your light shine ever brighter, in Jesus name, Amen." --Michael Joseph Manchester, NH‎

Can we not do more of the same?

What About Now?

2010-08-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

Rueben P. Job wrote in his short but very significant book Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of Living:

"The path we are on has become so well worn that only a radical change can jar us out of the deep ruts of our dilemma.....Continuing on as we are is no longer a viable option."

Very true. And as clergy are becoming more active in sharing this vision, and churches are continuing to realize this reality, the dilemma can turn into "We know we need to change, but we don't know how." This dilemma can turn into apprehension, which becomes panic, and can cause our attention, time, and energy to be so focused on grasping at everything we can that might work that we can forget God's presence. This itching, this gnawing feeling we have that we should be doing something--but we don't know what--is not new; most people, whether they attend church, or practice a faith, or not, recognize the reality of need in the world and that something must be done about it. But what? And if this "what" is not examined, discussed, i.e. confronted, we might experience just trying whatever we can, be met with frustration and failure, until we finally give up; and when the subject is brought up again, we meet it with the memory of how we tried and put ourselves out there, and were hurt by failure, and never want to experience that again, while the people are still in need....and we failed to help them. And so we push away any attempt to try again, and we find ourselves back in the dilemma.

It is very easy for this to happen when we forget we are not alone in this. Teams and communities of any kind form because we need each other; we need each other's ideas, skills, perspectives, experiences, etc. We need each other's support. For those who follow Christ we need to remember that there is something much bigger with us. Paul's letter of Romans in the New Testament addresses a community who is trying to be what they believe God is calling them to be, but in so doing, forgetting much of what they have heard or experienced about Jesus--as Paul shared with them in his time with them--and in their grasping, they end up creating more dilemmas or simply going back to old ways. When Paul learns of this he writes to them to help them remember why they are making this radical change in following Christ, and that it involves more than simply whatever is possible:

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

But we're tired of waiting, aren't we? We want something to happen now! There is too much that needs attention, that needs something to be done! The more we wait, the worse it will get. This radical change has to involve us getting off our seats and going out into the world and helping people. But what happens when there are more people than help? What happens when the action we decided to jump on no longer works? What happens when we realize we can no longer do it on our own?

Paul continues: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

We are not in this alone. And if we remember we are not in this alone, that we are working for--we are working with--a God who knows our heart, not just knowing it matter-of-factly, but knows it because God is alive in it, always searching it, we will have within us that hope, to hope for what we may not be able to see right away, but will be able to see with our sights turned toward God and how God is guiding each of us, so that our paths intersect with the needs of the world. And seeing the world through God's eyes as faithfully as we can, the radical change can happen.

What Really Happened?

2010-08-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

The other day on NPR Radiolab, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine was talking about the theory of the human brain being able to perceive time slowing down in moments of mortal danger. He described his experience of falling off a roof as a boy, and remembering everything from the detail of the house, passing the roof, even thinking about how this must be exactly like Alice in Wonderland when Alice fell down the rabbit hole. He said the whole event took only 0.86 seconds, to fall 12 feet (after he did the calculations), but it felt much longer than that. I'm sure many of us have had this experience, when something catches us off-guard, we're in a moment of panic, and everything seems to slow to a crawl.

I can remember a time in high school when I was riding in the back seat of my best friend's car, and he was driving down a dirt road that had these series of dips, and the kid in the passenger's seat convinced him to to floor as we took each of them, and we'd go flying. The last one was a bit steeper, the ground was a bit more dirt, and he lost control of the car at 70 mph, and served into a ditch, causing the car to roll. It only rolled once, but I remember that being the longest roll ever. I remember the dirt blowing in the wind, the sound of metal crushing, the grass peeking into the window, thinking my head had cracked open when I hit the ceiling of the interior, my feet on top of me, and a clear image of being on a rollercoaster when it takes you upside down. In the midst of the panic, I actually remember thinking: "Huh, this is just like a rollercoaster." Time did seem to slow to a crawl.

So this scientist used to wonder that perhaps our brains were able to perceive faster than usual--being hypersensitive to everything--to the point that we can see things moving slower than they really are, like the movement of a hummingbird's wings, or individual raindrops. One experiment he tried was getting people to go SCAD diving, where you're taken up about 150 feet, face up on a cable, so that all you're looking at is the sky, and then they let go of the cable, and you fall 150 feet onto a net. Participants were given a watch that had giant digital numbers to time the event, going faster than the human eye could perceive, and the experiment was to see if they could see the numbers move as they are falling.

The result was that they could not see the numbers move any slower than normal, and that the fall must have lasted at least ten seconds. It only lasted 3. The result: we see in super time, we just actually remember everything, and we're not used to it, so we think it lasts longer than it really does. Here's what the scientist had to say:

"Normally, our memories are like sieves," he says. "We're not writing down most of what's passing through our system." Think about walking down a crowded street: You see a lot of faces, street signs, all kinds of stimuli. Most of this, though, never becomes a part of your memory. But if a car suddenly swerves and heads straight for you, your memory shifts gears. Now it's writing down everything — every cloud, every piece of dirt, every little fleeting thought, anything that might be useful.

Because of this, David believes, you accumulate a tremendous amount of memory in an unusually short amount of time. The slow-motion effect may be your brain's way of making sense of all this extra information. "When you read that back out," David says, "the experience feels like it must have taken a very long time." (www.npr.org/story/story.php?storyId=129112147)

It should be no surprise that our memory is very selective, especially now when there's more to filter than ever. We have access to so much more, we are inoculated with everyone's opinions all the time, everyone taking pieces and nuggets of what others have said and arguing against them. Plus there's always the old tradition of simply just remembering things the way we like to remember them, and forgetting what we want to forget, until we are faced with a life threatening event that forces us to take in every horrible second, but even then it can be easy to select only pieces, especially when we are sharing it outwardly to someone else. We like to share how things used to be, good and bad, but were they really like that? Was it really as we remember? A response I receive many times in ministry when proposing an idea is--no surprise to those acquainted: "We've tried that before, and it didn't work." What is really being remembered from that? The specific mechanics of how said project was attempted and failed, the circumstances involved (people, environment, method)? Is it a focused diagram of the consecutive collection of individual pieces, or is it more of an overarching feeling, that has our own personal, emotional attachments to it?

I am reminded of the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, where they were enslaved, and wandering through the desert, so tired, and worried, and confused, not trusting in their leader, or even the God they worshiped, to the point where they thought being slaves wasn't all that bad. They began to remember how great they had it, that they were fed and cared for, and the work wasn't really all that gruelling, it wasn't that big a deal that wives were separated from husbands, children from parents....

The panic of the present, and the uncertainty of the future can often make a past we know was horrible seem a little bit better. And we choose to remember reality as we would like, and forget certain pieces of it, because it is often easier than believing in a future that is uncertain.

There's part in the early part of Luke's Gospel in which Jesus comes back to Nazareth after being away from some time, and takes in the worship service, in which he is asked to read scripture, a very high honor. Jesus reads from Isaiah:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." The story goes on to read that Jesus rolled the scroll back up and sat back down, and with everyone still watching him, he tells them: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." I immediately imagine Jesus bursting out of the temple, running for his life, with all the villagers chasing him with scythes and pitchforks. That's not what happens in the story, Jesus keeps his composure and authority, but they do try to chase him down and kill him. I think about how these people he grew up with might have felt like their brains started suddenly absorbing everything, every detail; but then in their personal offense to Jesus' accusation that he was fulfilling what they considered holy, immediately going back to our way of "filtering" what we see and what we remember. And as they told the story to others, it got diluted a little more each time.

There is no doubt that Christians are just as susceptible to filtering what we perceive and choosing what to remember--sometimes more than others because it can be very fearful to consider that we might be wrong. Our faith being tested--or to put it a better way--events or circumstances that cause us to question our faith--does not have to mean that it is being destroyed. In fact, what kind of faith can it be that never causes us to wonder, to question, to feel, and to share this with the God we profess to believe to be so personal and all-knowing? If we can work toward proactively opening ourselves to God's presence around us and in curious study of scripture, maybe we don't need and life or death situation to open our brains to the point where everything seems more real and easier to remember. Maybe a deep desire to experience more is a better step to take.

Here & There...

2010-08-09T13:59:00.001-07:00

I recently attended the Global Leadership Summit at Willow Creek—actually it was via satellite at a church in Topeka, but I watched it live as it happened. The first speaker was the founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, Bill Hybels, and throughout the many speakers, as they talked about their own different subjects and perspectives, they all touched on this one point that Hybels made in his beginning lecture, which is that leaders are constantly moving people from whatever “HERE” is to wherever “THERE” is; that we as a population are not to simply remain HERE, but that we should always be striving to go THERE. And he brought up the argument that we often like to make when given such a challenge:

“But we like it HERE. HERE is safe, it’s familiar, we know it. Even if we don’t necessarily like it, at least we have come to know what to expect.”

Have you had this experience? Where you hate your situation, and you know it’s going nowhere, but rather than do what it takes to get it out, you stay, because no matter how horrible the present situation is, it beats the fear of the unknown. It’s like the statistic that says people would rather die than speak in public; it’s like we would rather stay in the circumstances that are killing us, rather than face the unknown.

And the truth is that in a lot of our churches, our circumstances are killing us. The HERE that we are in, that might be safe and comfortable to us—at the expense of those who may not feel safe and comfortable, who may feel excluded, or who may be on the outside and want nothing to do with us because we are seen as too focused on keeping ourselves comfortable—is slowly dying.

Last year Adam Hamilton, founder and senior pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, spoke at the Kansas East’s United Methodist Annual Conference, giving some statistics that the General Council on Finance and Administration had on the decline of the United Methodist Church from 2001 to 2007, starting with the decline of worship attendance by 4.4 percent, and the decline of those attending United Methodist Women by 17 percent. Here are some more stats he brought up:

“Professions of faith declined by 18 percent, and confirmations declined by 21 percent. There’s an even steeper decline in the number of young people in local congregations.

Because our average age is 58, we’re not making any more babies in our churches,” Hamilton said. “Our attendance is declining twice as fast as membership.”

As a denomination, worship attendance is declining by 73,000 per weekend. In 2007, worship attendance in the Kansas East Conference was 31,000 and 35,000 in the Kansas West Conference.

We lost the equivalent of the worship attendance of the Kansas East and Kansas West conferences combined and another Church of the Resurrection.”

But we like it HERE.

This reminds me of the saga of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, taking them to a new land God was guiding them to, a land where they would be fed, nourished, cared for, a place they could call their own, and in all the time it was taking them to get THERE, they would complain and reminisce about how maybe it wasn’t so bad back where HERE was. One of the more famous instances of this takes place in the 14^th chapter of the Book of Numbers, where the people cry out: “"Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!....would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?....Let us choose a captain, and go back to Egypt."

Why do we get so comfortable in what makes us so miserable?

But even if HERE is not making us miserable, chances are that the comfort and security we strive to hold on to is often at the expense of another’s misery; and as Hybels said it regarding when we stay HERE: “We break the heart of God.” Our staying where we are when God is calling us forward comes at the expense of what God is calling us to do and become and connect with others, and our desire to simply stay where we are expresses our undesire to listen to God.

I believe there are many things God is calling us to be involved in, and one of the many is the willingness to not stand in the way of how God is taking us from HERE to THERE. In a time when society is no longer obligated to be part of church life, we are seeing an ever crescendoing momentum of decay spread throughout the church that simply is not going to stop unless we realize that what has been safe and comfortable in the past, what has been working, is not going to work anymore.

But the bright side of this—at least I see it as a bright side—is that the THERE does not seem so incredibly far away from our HERE; and in fact most of it is HERE, already. In one way or another, the majority of people would probably admit—and I would argue that everyone feels this way—that they are looking for a place to belong, a place they will be accepted. In an article recently posted in The Alban Institute, Rabbi Emeritus Niles Elliot Goldstein wrote of his observance of how the world is looking a new THERE:

“One thing that has become crystal clear to me is that men and women are looking for communities, not congregations. Most people care very little about denominational labels or theology. Some don’t even care about the institution of religion itself (I know some individuals who actually belong to two or more different congregations of different faiths and move with ease between their respective worship services and programs).

The icons, symbols, and images of the past no longer hold power for this new generation of Americans. Some of the largest and most dynamic megachurches, for example, do not even have crosses in their facilities, let alone fixed pews or pulpits. What people seem to crave is a sense of community, a feeling of being wanted and known.

Ultimately, we want to be loved, and to find protection through that love.”

One piece that I would add to this is that people also want to be challenged, that a vision will be expressed of where the THERE continually is and how we are getting THERE, and what we can do personally to contribute to that vision God is calling us into. But when those who are crying out for community, a place to belong and be loved, and want to make a difference in the world, come into our HEREs, will we be willing to make a place for them, to offer a place next to ourselves, and perhaps even let them take us from HERE to THERE?

If not, we may not have our HEREs much longer….

When Walking...

2010-08-09T10:27:00.001-07:00

Last week NPR did a story on Summer Pretorius, a PhD student at Oregon State University, who has a knack for finding four-leaf clovers. She said in an interview that she used to pick them as a child, but then lost interest. Visiting her father’s grave—who had died a year earlier—she realized she had not brought any flowers, and remembering a dream she had had recently about finding a four leaf clover and it blossoming into an entire bouquet, she decided to see if she could still find them, which she did and placed on her father’s grave. When asked how she was so gifted in finding the kind of clovers most consider to be myth, her answer struck me as profound in its simplicity:

“I think most people don’t look.”

When was the last time we stopped the routine of our lives, the everyday tasks that occupy so much of our attention, and just went out into the world we live in everyday to see and be reminded what wonders exist out there? Granted, it’s really, really hot right now, and we’ve got responsibilities and people to take care of, and things have to get done; but it is incredibly easy, as we all know, to let all these things take us over, so that they can control us, and we start to forget the importance of why we do what we do. We turn from a human being, into a human doing, and from that—as Bart Simpsons put it—“a human going,” which is very true, until we look back at it all and wonder what we’re left with or what was the point. And perhaps along the way, we those who seem to be so much more care-free and happy, and ironically more productive, and we wonder: “What is it about them? How did they figure it out?” Pretorius seems to have thoughts on that, too:

“If you see someone who’s lucky, or it seems as though luck is this random thing that just streams through and some people intercept and some don’t, but I think it’s more….the people themselves are intercepting and engaging that luck.”

To the Christian community, this could perhaps sound like romantic nonsense, because we worship a God who tells us all we need to know, and all we need to do is obey. But how actively do we as Christians try to intercept and engage the presence of God in our lives. We may pray for it, we may read about it, we may listen to other people on a weekly basis talk about it at us, but how often do we try to find it for ourselves?

“But with the worries/responsibilities/pressures (insert your own) that I have, I don’t have time for that.”

Don’t we?

Were we really created to scurry be so focused on these demands, so much so that we don’t have time to see the wonder of God’s creation all around—even something as small but wonderful as a four leaf clover? Or God’s people?

The letter of James that is included in the New Testament is famous for the argument that faith and action can never be exclusive from one another, that both must be embodied at all times. As the beginning of the letter argues what good is it to do works if the doer does not believe in anything, or asks without faith (James 1), the second chapter goes further in that the reverse is also true:

If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:15-17)

How many of us have thought this when in the midst of our busyness, someone approaches us with a problem or a need, and as we stand there politely, we are in our minds cursing that we have lost these precious seconds in which our goal is slipping away. And so we wait for that time in which the person draws a breath and we say to them: “I’ll pray for you,” and then go separate ways. I know I am guilty of this is. Now there is no doubt that there is nothing wrong in praying faithfully to God for God to do everything we are incapable of doing, but this does not also let us off the hook for what we can do, even if it’s as simple as truly listening to the other. For if we do not believe in the restoration that Christ taught, if we do not believe we are a part of that, what is the point in choosing to follow Christ?

I would like to believe that if Jesus began his earthly ministry today rather than 2,500 years ago, he still would have chosen to walk with his disciples, rather than drive or fly. I think one of the reasons Jesus and the disciples walked, besides the obvious, was so that they would encounter every aspect of God’s creation they had access to. And in this walking, Jesus pointed out revelations to the disciples they would have otherwise ignored, like the lilies of the field, or the birds of the air, or a blind beggar, or a widow who gave all she had at the temple, or a woman being stoned by a town full of hypocrites. Jesus always took the time to look for and embrace the wonders of God’s creation, including and especially God’s people.

If we choose to follow Christ, are we not called to look, as well?

To Be Loved...

2010-08-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

Many will often say that they do not care for the Old Testament because it is too violent, too judgmental, or too “wrathy;” God is all about the wrath and the anger and the smiting, and it’s all too archaic to deal with. Plus a lot of Christianity is seen as rejected because its image is so intertwined with the judgmental wrath that is perceived in the Old Testament that it accounts for a large reason members of congregations are wondering why their churches are so empty, and many will answer similar to how Mohandas Gandhi said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." And so we are left with confused or offended church-goers, and spurned or jaded turn-awayers of the church, because of this image of a wrathful, hate-filled God that comes out of this Old Testament.

And yet, if we look at the Hebrew Bible in a new way (and perhaps referring to it as the Hebrew Bible instead of the Old Testament can help some of us do that) with more of an attitude of exploration and searching rather than conclusive finality of who we already know God to be, we can begin to see the fantastic poetry that exists in these texts the incredible vastness of images that the writers display God as they have experienced God. The Hebrew Bible arguably casts God in more diverse imagery than anywhere else in scripture. Yes, God is depicted as judging and wrathful, but God is also written as forgiving, merciful, and even pained by being rejected by the people God created.

The book of Hosea comes from one of the 12 minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible—amidst Amos, Micah, Jonah, etc.—and addresses to the people of Israel how they have spiritually cheated on God, as a married couple would cheat on each other. In fact at the beginning of this book, we see God’s anger and judgment as God tells Hosea to marry an adulterous woman by the name of Gomer (anybody else wanna say “SHAZAM!”?) to symbolize Israel’s turning away from to find fulfillment in other things, including Egypt, the very place that enslaved them in the first place! And as we see in places like chapter 4, God seems to act according to the common perception, with Hosea saying things about God’s anger like: “You shall stumble by day; the prophet also shall stumble with you by night, and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Not surprising, right? Angry God, wants to destroy everything, not my cup of tea.

But what about later on—chapter 11, for instance—when Hosea tells the people that he has experienced God in this way:

I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them. They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.

Can we see God is expressing love to the people; and not only in a paternal way like God is so often depicted, but here is one of the many instances in which the Hebrew Bible gives a maternal image to how God shows love to the people….as one who picks up a baby, and touches it cheek to cheek. That’s how intimately God loved Israel.

Have you experienced what it’s like to confront someone you love so deeply and intimately when you’ve been rejected by them? Do you know what it’s like to have so many different emotions going through you—emotions of deep love and care, but also deep rage and shatteredness—and feeling them all so intensely, all at once, and wanting so desperately to vomit it all out, all at the same time, not caring if any of it makes any sense, not rationally thinking about the logistics of what you’re saying, but being so completely consumed with reality that the one you have loved so deeply and so intimately, that you would allow yourself the vulnerability to get close enough to them to touch cheeks—has now walked away from you and left you naked and alone.

“The more I called them, the more they went from me.” (11:2)

That’s what Hosea is telling the people of Israel that they have done to God.

God’s wrath and anger does not come out in the book of Hosea because God is simply angry and wrathful, and that’s all that God is, and God is judging people because they are not moving around like the chess pieces God wants them to. God’s anger is coming out of a deep pain that the people God has so attentatively loved and cared for no longer want to have anything to do with God. And so God is torn between demands of judgment and wrath, but also grace and mercy.

Several years ago there was a comic series by the name of Preacher. If you are familiar with this comic at all you will understand that it is R rated enough not to go into a whole bunch of detail here, but the basic storyline is that a Texas preacher who is not doing much with his faith or church is suddenly possessed by a supernatural force that sends him on a quest to find God, who has abandoned heaven and all responsibility to the world and people. The series lasted for several years and ended in the summer of 2000, when God was finally confronted by a character known as the Saint of Killers. To put it mildly, this guy killed everything in his path and didn’t think God should be any exception, and so became attached to this quest in his own way, finally reaching God after killing every angel in heaven.

It was in heaven that God had decided to return, to go back to the way things used to be and resume being lord of creation, only to find all angels dead, and the Saint pointing a gun (that can kill anything/anyone) at God’s face, demanding God answer for the world and all that has transpired. And in a burst of rage, God bellows: “THIS WORLD IS MY CREATION TO DO WITH AS I PLEASE! AND IT IS GIVEN UNTO NONE TO JUDGE, ME, TO STAND AGAINST ME!” As the Saint cocks the gun, God shrinks back down and begs him not to shoot.

“You do not understand. You cannot know what it was like to be the creator in the time before creation. There had to be a world. It had to be the way it was. Men had to choose to love me.

I was alone. I wanted to be loved.”

I can still remember, so vividly, reading this in my dorm room at KU and feeling….let down. What if this is true? What if this is how God is?

As much as we like to think that we are not easily succumbed or impressioned to believe everything that is put in front of us, we often seem preach this more than we practice it…pun definitely intended. We develop thicker skin as we get older and more experienced in life, but there will also be that next thing—a book we read, something on TV we see, a statement someone makes—that will cause us to think: Have I been wrong? And if we are not careful, we can leave it dangling like that, and never do anything to find the answer, spending the rest of our life wandering away. And it took me a while to realize that I had not asked myself: What if this isn’t true? What if God didn’t create so that God could be loved, but so that creation could be loved by God? 1 John writes of this in reference to God sending Christ into the world, “not that we loved God, but that God loved us.” (4:9-10)

Hosea tells the people that though God is angry at them that they have taken this love and rejected, God will not retaliate in anger. But this is the God we have come to know and fear/hate/be bored with/find no relevance in. But what we see here is when justice and grace are weighted together in God’s heart, grace wins. God says, “I will not execute my fierce anger.” And according to many people’s standards, God should. They should be punished, they should be judged! But the reality is that as time goes by, fewer and fewer are listening to shouts of condemnation and are searching to find a better way. What Hosea shows is not a God who is simply ruled by emotions and acts purely on them, but a God whose emotions consists of more than just anger, and whose actions consists more than just wrath; that the God of the Old Testament, of the Hebrew Bible, is as loving and revealing of that love as in the New Testament.

We are not created to simply love God, but we are created to be loved by God. Let us not be afraid to be loved.

Amidst the Markets....

2010-07-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Morgan and I go to the Farmers' Market as often as we can, and for many of the reasons most do; not just for the great food, but for seeing and interact with all the diverse people a Farmers' Market brings. You have people walking amongst one another who in most other aspects of life would never cross paths. And often we'll meet our own friends, or acquaintences that we get to know just a litte bit better by meeting them in this environment that just exudes the coolness of coming together.

Of course, only food would be able to let people do that.

Often when I'm walking throught the Market, I think of the story of Jesus taking his disciples through the district of Caesarea Philippi, which in a way could be seen similar to today's Farmers' Market, or mall, or large outdoor shopping area. Essentially this was a center place where people from all neighboring tribes and communities would come to shop or sell. Communities at war with one another, communities at peace, communities that considered others to be vulgar...they all came to this one place. And so day Jesus takes the disciples to this place, and in the midst of everyone going about their business, buying and selling, he turns to his friends and asks:

"Who do people say that I am?"

The disciples gave many answers, like "John the Baptist," "Elijah," "Jeremiah," "one of the prophets..."

And then Jesus looks at them, and he says: "But who do you say that I am?"

I think it is just as relevant for us today that we read of this story as it could have been 2,500 years ago when it was experienced. Jesus takes his disciples to a place filled with all these different people, all their various views, opinions, perspectives, experiences, everything that makes them different from one another, yet able to come to this central location. And Jesus, in the midst of all the goings-on, asks a deeply profound question. Think of being in a Wal-Mart, or an airport, or even Facebook; these "worlds" we enter where we are surrounded by so many people, some we like, some we may not like, some we don't want anywhere near us, and hear this question in your mind: "Who do people say that I am?" Think of all the responses:

"Savior"

"Lord"

"Revolutionary"

"Misfit"

"Dead"

"Nobody"

And then hear the second question: "But what about you? Who do you say that I am?"

We now live in a time where it no longer works to drive home a point by simply saying: "That's the way it is." And honestly, I don't think that's the way Jesus worked, either. Jesus was never about demanding to be followed because that's the way it was. He explained his mission and his belief so that people would understand; and he did not always explain in words. If the message of Jesus was the embodiment and living out of God's love to the world, then that's exactly how he carried out that message. Not simply by saying: "Because God says so." The reality is, that's way too easy, and it's been used for way too long. Jesus never took the easy way. Sometimes what he had to share was incredibly difficult and confusing...at least for us to understand. For Christ, is there a way we can ever understand what it was like for him to fully give of himself, not just in death, but in his life, giving of himself to all people he came across. And even in his resurrection, this was to give to the world the reality of the fullness of God's love.

We can indeed take the easy way, and let others tell us who Jesus is, or even be the ones to tell others who Jesus is for them without any guidace or support for them to find out for themselves. But that's not the beauty of the mareketplace. The beauty of the marketplace is that when we come to the path of others, we know who we are, and we remain open to who others are, so that we learn from one another. How can we share Christ to others if we don't know who he is for ourselves?

It's not going to work anymore to simply say "Jesus is my Lord and Savior;" not if we want to reach those who have no idea what that means. That language does not work for most who do not have a community to worship with or have much faith or knowledge in Christ; in fact, for the most part, language like that just stirs up old memories of the Church bearing down with the mentality of "That's the way it is." But people will respond to other people, willing to reach out and share their own story of how Christ truly impacted them and changed them, and listen to who Christ is to them, a real person.

Someone once said that Heaven is just an enormous airport, full of the people you'll spend eternity with, and now have all the time in the world to get to know. Jesus said himself, "What you hold true on earth, I'll hold true in heaven." If aren't able to connect with people now in the marketplaces we go to, what will make it any different any other time?

Who do you say Jesus is?

A Villain's Vision...

2010-07-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

Last week Morgan and I saw Despicable Me. Awesome. Funny. Touching. If you don't know anything about it, the hero of the movie is a villain. A supervillain, actually; one of the bent on world domination by way of freeze rays and melodramatic evil laughing kind of villains.

FREEZE RAY! FREEZE RAY! FREEZE RAY!

Sorry.

There has been a bit of a surge of making the villains more of the main character lately. One of the next big supervillains to make movies will be DreamWorks' MEGAMIND, with Will Ferrell as the voice of the title villain. But it's not really a new thing; in fact, check out the series Profit starring Adrian Pasdar on DVD sometime. Now there’s a villain. But most people like fictive villains, or at least enjoy them fairly often more than the hero. They’re more fun, less restrained, not bound by anything; they have their own desires with no qualms about them and let no one stand in their way. The most interesting villains aren’t ones who necessarily want to “be” or “do” evil, they just have a goal and the will to do anything to get it, including acts most of us would deem “evil.”

The Daily Beast recently wrote an article about Despicable Me titled “Why Supervillains Beat Superheroes” discussing many of these topics, but also interestingly that another possibly intangible reality about supervillains is that it is more than being unlawful, but realizing a vision that doesn’t yet exist, rather than the hero who fights for normality. One paragraph observes:

“In The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture, published last year, Randy Duncan and Matthew J. Smith note that ‘superheroes are largely conservative figures, usually content with the status quo… [while] supervillains, on the other hand, are out to change the world. Supervillains are active; superheroes are reactive.’”

Maybe the reason the church has had so much trouble changing is that it is stuck being reactive like superheroes, and not proactive like supervillains.

Whoa.

Because changing the world can seem like villainy…..to those who like things they way they are; but the reality is for a lot of people, the world is not all that great. And rather than fighting to keep things static for the few, perhaps efforts should be better directed for all those who need change to occur.

When one thinks of a conservative hero, it’s pretty easy to think of Superman. That phrase “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” still stands out to most. For a long time Superman was a strong embodiment of that phrase, of preserving a way of life that was good and right. Know when that was? Around the 50s, back when the church was doing great, too. Right after America’s victory of WWII, and all the celebration that came after, and thousands of churches being filled by families who wanted to be surrounded by their own, and life was good, and anyone who wanted to change that was treated like a villain.

The interesting thing about Superman is that when he first came out in 1938, he was a fighter and defender of the marginalized. Created by two Jewish men, Superman embodied the savior many didn’t have. Often called “Champion of the Oppressed,” he would fight dirty landlords, wife beaters, and corrupt politicians; and he fought them pretty aggressively. Then the end of the war shifted his image to more of a good mannered, polite boy scout who was out to preserve a way of life, stopping evildoers who threatened to harm The American Way.

I think it’s kind of interesting to see that the decline of the church and the decline of Superman’s popularity/image are kinda neck and neck.

Now take Superman’s most famous nemesis, Lex Luthor. When talking about how villains want to create more than destroy, I instantly think of Gene Hackman’s performance of Luthor in the 1978 Superman film. His Luthor was great because there was a maniacal creativity to his villainy, and he had a vision. He wanted to create a new California and had this grand vision and mission to actually pull it off. He had a vision and a mission to carry that out; something most churches are lacking right now.

Now, of course, the fall of this—and where it becomes villainy—is that this, too, comes at the expense of others. Luthor’s plan of a new California was to destroy the prime land that already existed of the west coast and be in control of the rest of the state. Luthor knows the consequence of this vision being realized, but clearly has no qualms about it. More villainous than that, he finds it enjoyable.

“Is that how a warped brain like yours gets its kicks?” Superman asks. “By planning the death of innocent people?”

“No,” Luthor answers, “by causing the death of innocent people.”

Obviously the answer is not to be like villains, but there is arguable reality in the observation that villains want to change things, and heroes want to keep them as they are. Only a hero shouldn’t be merely reactive, and in fact should not want things to remain the way they are. It’s been said that a hero doesn’t accept the world as it is, but fights to make it better. Is this not what Christ did?

Christ came into a world filled with poverty, starvation, oppression, injustice, and offered a way to change it by offering a new way of life. A life that offered hope, reconciliation, and restoration; and this life was offered through grace, forgiveness, and love. The love of giving oneself for others.

This is the vision of changing the world from how it is—like many villains try to do—but doing it as a hero. The other separating factor is that this was not just Jesus’ vision, he was not just doing this for himself, but for the world, and more importantly, for God.

Our vision to change the world should not be done out of our own desires or ambitions, or it might not take long until we are not different than the villains. As followers of Christ, our vision to change the world comes from participating in a hope of reality that is bigger than us that we try to share with others in many different ways—a reality in which everyone can know they are loved by God and can be given a way to live in God’s love fully.

The Long Drive Home...

2010-07-14T14:33:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Morgan and I were driving through western Kansas, coming home from Camp Lakeside near Scott City after spending some time there as camp counselors. If you’ve never been a camp counselor and like to hang out with kids, I highly recommend it. It is extremely fun. Morgan and I usually try to sign up for the 3-5 graders because we find them so incredibly funny and bright. The things they connect with and the ideas they have and what they share in discussions are just amazing. Plus they always have a decent bed time at camp.

I had never been to Camp Lakeside before, and it was very refreshing to see how the camp and its programs were run. It was very laid back and had a great emphasis on allowing the kids to be exploratory (to a fault, of course) and the set up allowed for getting to know one another happen through interaction and conversation. Another nice thing about it being in western Kansas meant that Morgan and I had a chance to visit both our parents, going first to Great Bend and then to Sublette. But of course, for us, as well as many who I know who have experienced western Kansas, a little bit goes a long way; and by the end we were definitely ready to be back home.

As I was driving through the long, long, long stretch of I-70, I began looking at flatlands of Kansas, and taking some time to really appreciate the beauty of it for what it is. It’s easy to always criticize and complain how unattractive and boring the land is, and to equate that with the views and ways of life. It’s no stretch to imagine many of my views of theology, religious practice, life in general, are more liberal/progressive than that of western Kansas, a lot of it being of the millennial generation that is famous for its open-mindedness, relativity, diversity, and inclusion….until, of course, we disagree. In listening to my parents or other older adults from my hometown area, sometimes when we converse about whatever topic, there are invariably moments when I am physically incapable of not rolling my eyes (mentally, of course; I’ve succeeded that much) and just dismissing their points as “conservative old people talk,” and going about my life frustrated that no one listens to my views or takes me seriously, because I’m so marginalized and viewed as unimportant.

Yep, big on diversity and inclusion.

There is a push that is growing more and more of the realization that the younger adults of society should be viewed as capable, productive people with their own ideas and thoughts and contributions, and maybe they should be seen as the age they are instead of being treated like they’re perpetually in Kindergarten until they turn 50. Voices of support and young adults themselves have been slowly gaining success in this endeavor, particularly in the church and professional ministry. The flipside of this, however, is that we as young adults in the church and in ministry can overlook the power we already have and can easily—and sometimes dangerously—overplay our hand. The reality is that a time is soon coming when our voices will become a lot louder because there won’t be many left to listen besides us; and so what will we do with the increase of power we are given? We’ve already seen instances in which that power has not been used well, and like the man said: “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.”

It is easy for us as young adults and young clergy to get focused on being ignored, set aside, and to have the confrontational tension of always trying to fight for our voice, and then shouting as loud and as far as we can once we get (or take it…) but as much as we preach in whatever capacity about the need for diversity and acceptance of others, how much of that inclusivity are we giving back? I wonder if Jesus’ interaction with the people was not only his ministry with others, but to also keep himself in the worlds of as many people as he could, always listening to their thoughts and ideas, always attentive, and always listening, rather than those who remained in their own opinions and ways of life, looking down on others who were not like them.

Make no mistake, I have absolutely no desire to live in western Kansas; but a four hour drive through it does help me to remember that there are ways other than mine, and to not immediately cast them off, but to remain open.

And with 8 hours of it, there’s no way I could, anyway.

A 'G' Rated Church in an 'R' Rated World

2010-06-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

At the Senior Chapel service of my seminary this last May, we participated in the annual tradition of graduating students worshiping together for the last time. It was a great way of wrapping up, going out into the world, and receiving a warm sense of sharing together. At the end of the service, a fellow student offered the Benediction by starting out this way: “May you be blessed by a God of anger…”

And I thought to myself: “Oh great…you’re gonna take this nice ceremony we’ve had and sermonize it.” His theology differs from mine, so I found myself jumping to conclusions about where this was going; but this was his prayer: “May you be blessed by a God of anger, so that you are always angered when you see injustice in the world. May you be blessed by a God of frustration, so that you are frustrated when the church hides in the walls and does not reach out to the people. May you be blessed by a God of sadness, so that the sadness of others touches your heart.”

At first I was kind of offended that this was what we were left with at the end. That after the warm ceremony, and the rejoicing with my fellow graduates, we had to go out on something like this. But I have to admit, it is a prayer that has and probably will stick with me for the rest of my life, and it is a prayer that reminds me of what we are sent out to. It is a prayer that reminds me of what we are to face; and as much as I would have liked it to be something that let me go feeling good and ‘G’ rated, it forced me to remember that the world and the situation we are going into is ‘R’ rated. I finished a book not too long ago called “The Hole in Our Gospel,” by Richard Stearns who is President of World Vision, a very large outreach organization. Near the end he talks about a church he worked with in Africa treating patients with AIDS. He said they referred to it as “a ‘G’ rated church taking on an ‘R’ rated problem.” You know how movies have ratings depending on their content so that the audience knows what is considered ‘suitable’ for children to see. So it’s all about sheltering; determining what we can and can’t see, or what we can’t or can’t be a part of.

The church is often like this, too.

We want to make sure things are nice, and polite, and inviting and welcoming, that we greet one another with a smile, and share pleasantries, and that’s all great. The church should be a place where we feel safe and comforted and treated warmly. But we all know that when the service ends and we leave these walls, we do not always go back into that kind of world. And it is also not always the case that is the kind of world going on with us inside. But as we know, we have this strong urgency to show that everything is fine and ‘G’ rated with us while we are at church, all the while suppressing all the ‘R’ rated things going on in our lives, not to mention all the ‘R’ rated suffering that’s going on with the rest of the world. But Jesus doesn’t hide from this, nor does he try to hide from those who are following him or who will listen to him. Part of Jesus’ ministry was pointing out the ‘R’ rated world the people lived in, and that this should be the focus of the disciples: to see the people who are not being seen.

In Matthew 5:1-17—the famous Sermon on the Mount—Jesus tells the people: “Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who are persecuted.” These are ‘R’ rated subjects that seem hard to talk about in our ‘G’ rated churches; but this helps us to see that we don’t come to church to escape our problems or the realities of life, but to learn how, through the spirit of God’s grace, we are able to take them on. Christ was never about covering up an ‘R’ rated world with ‘G’ rated kindness, but about being involved in this world to free the people from it. But the other ‘R’ rated reality that we try to ignore is that it is much easier to talk and preach about Jesus, rather than what Jesus talked and preached about.

In another portion of Stearns book, he paraphrases Jesus telling his people that they are reaching out to him when they reach out to the lowly ‘R’ rated people and their problems. Our reaction to this oftentimes today is that everyone has a choice, and those who “need” charity often are just lazy and taking advantage of the system; and to this Stearns offers a modernized version of Jesus’ response:

“For I was hungry, and you were supersizing your value meals. I was thirsty, and you drank bottled water and big gulps. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to...my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved.”

And, of course, the other argument is that we should not be taking care or attention to “the others our there,” because there is still so many problems going on “right here.” So let’s take our own ‘R’ rated problems for a moment. Are we being reached out to? Are people getting involved in our lives? Are we being shown the grace of God by those who proclaim to be followers of Christ? Maybe it’s true, maybe we should start here, if all we’re getting at church is ‘G’ rated politeness when we are wanting to share the ‘R’ rated pains that are going on in our lives.

Have you heard about the Interview with God? I just saw this the other day; a question is asked of God: “What surprises you most about humanity?” And God replies:

“That they get bored with childhood. They rush to grow up and then long to be children again.”

“That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health.”

“That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future.”

“That they live as if they will never die, and die as if they had never lived.”

Maybe we do need to take a look at ourselves before we can take another look at the world. But when Jesus is talking about the poor and the hungry being blessed, he’s not just talking about those on the outside, but the reason scripture is holy and timeless is that it speaks to all of us. The Message Bible gives us a more contemporary view of Jesus’ words:

"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought. "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat. "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for. "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family."

And after this reassurance, Jesus reminds us and calls us to be the light and the salt of the world, to offer others a way out of their darkness and to taste what God has to give; to use who and what we are to show others that they matter and are loved. We are to shine, not just in our church, but in our lives as we go out of our ‘G’ rated church and into our ‘R’ rated worlds.

Acceptance

2010-06-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I was asked when I "accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior." Not an unfamiliar question for most people, and usually one a lot of us will mentally groan at and feel as though a searing spotlight has been projected on us for everyone to see. I answered that I could not give any one exact instance in which I "accepted" Christ, but that for me it has been a life long experience and process that is not so much about "acceptance," but about understanding and following. This answer did not seem to satisfactory, so then I was asked how are others then to know that I am a Christian, to which I answered that my hope was the way I love others is a reflection on how I believe Christ loves me and the world, that the way I live and interact with others embodies a following of one who taught "love one another as I have loved you." We then discussed the differences that exist between merely saying that we have "accepted Christ," and living a way that actually expresses that.

Chapter 7 of Luke's gospel writes of Jesus being invited to the house of a Pharisee known as Simon. Pharisees were among the religious leaders of the time, educated, and literate in religious studies--particularly the Mosaic Law or the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Many were considered wealthy, especially given the circumstances of the majority of the population who were not. In this particular passage of Luke (7:36-50) the Pharisee Simon invites Jesus to his home, and while they are eating a woman who is described only as "a sinner" enters the house and begins washing Jesus' feet with oil and her own tears, drying his feet with her own hair and kissing them.

Witnessing this, the Pharisee says under his breath, ""If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner." Jesus hears this and the story is written that Jesus spoke up:

"A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." (7:41-47)

The Pharisee looked down at the "sinful woman" the way we often look down on those whom we feel "don't belong," or "should not be..." as these "others" come into our worlds and ways of life without invitation. Perhaps like the way we might have invited Jesus. Jesus is ok, because he's our Lord. And he's clean, and well spoken, educated and mannered. Look at all those Warner Sallman paintings most churches have. The song is true: "Jesus is just all right with me."

But the invitation seems to end when it comes to the people Jesus came to help, to save. People like this woman who came uninvited and while folks were dining began cleaning and kissing Jesus' feet. It doesn't seem so far fetched that if we saw this happening at a formal dining event, we might have something to say under our breath that something like this just isn't done.

But Jesus doesn't talk under his breath, and he has the nerve to call people out on it when they do. It is exactly for people like her that Jesus came into the world and walked throughout the world, interacting with people and being involved in their lives; and the people he interacted with the most were those who were considered "the lowly." The poor, the uneducated, the ignored, the oppressed. It is the lowly who love Jesus enough to enter a formal dining hall and wash his feet with their own tears because it is the lowly to whom Jesus reached out to when no one else would.

Often when it is talked about the Jesus came to the poor, it can come off as though Jesus pays no attention to the wealthy. I can remember being in a study group that was examining Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in which he says "Blessed are the poor," and many in the class--who were affluent--saying with genuine anxiety: "Does that mean I have become poor to become blessed," and what was discussed was the idea of what do we recognize that we need in our lives? And not need as in a better/more stable job, lifestyle, etc., but is needed in life to keep us going? What do we strive for that's bigger than ourselves, that gives us purpose. What are we searching for and longing for? What is it we need from life? If we attend church, do we do so actually seeking something....and expecting to find it?

Theodore Runyon, in his book "The New Creation: John Wesley's Theology Today," writes of Wesley's view on repentance--another word that is often loaded today so much that most outside the church--as well as many inside--really don't know what that means anymore when it's thrown around. Runyon argues that Wesley's view of the purpose of repentance is "the prompting of the Spirit to come to terms with our real situation before God." In other words repentance is not just something we do as human beings once we "accept Christ," but like prevenient grace--also attached to Wesley--it is something that is stirred within us by God, often before our awareness. Wesley spoke of repentance in his sermon "The Lord on Righteousness" in this way:

"We must be cut off from dependence upon ourselves before we can truly depend upon Christ. Till we are delivered from trusting in anything that we do, we cannot thoroughly trust in what he has done and suffered."

In this we realize that what we are searching for cannot end or be fulfilled simply by ourselves. We need more. And when we realize that this yearning comes from something bigger than ourselves, something that is given to us rather than what we can acquire for ourselves, we have come to repentance. In discovering this in Christ, we become as the sinful woman, as the lowly, as the poor who are blessed, as the ones for whom Christ came. And in this we experience more than just the proclamation that we have "accepted Christ," but we experience grace, forgiveness, and restoration. When we experience this for ourselves, it is easier for us to see that the grace of God is given to everyone.

The Pharisee may have invited Christ into his home--accepting him--but he also did nothing about it. If/when we accept Christ, does our life show it? Do we reach out to others as Christ has reached out to us, including those who everyone thinks are undeserving? Do we show to others that in discovering what we have been searching for, our lives have changed? Perhaps this is what we should be talking about instead of acceptance. When did Christ change your life?

I remember when I went with a mission group to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi right after it was hit by the hurricanes in '06. We were there for a week, moving debris, helping people pull our their life's possessions onto the streets to be piled, listening to their stories of heartbreak, and being surrounded by 6o foot tall trees completely bare of leaves and just absolute destruction. All the complexities of life seem to disappear and it came down to simple connection from one human being to another, and the hope that Christ was going to bring restoration to these people's spirits, as well as our own. Exhausted each night, we would share with one another our experiences with the people of this town, struggling to find the means to survive, and share how we saw God in the midst. Sometimes it was as simple as another offering their remains of their shelter with another. But is this not what Christ would have done? It was not long after I came back to Kansas that I began the process of entering professional ministry.

When did you start living life as the woman and loving others as Christ loved her; loving others as you know God loves you? If you have proclaimed that you have "accepted Christ," how have you been changed by it, and how is it continuing to change you? Does your life show your love of Christ like the woman, or the Pharisee?