Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Sermon: Jealousy and Injustice
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Romans 10:5-15
As human beings we like to think that we will always do the right thing. We
like to think that we have values, that we know what is good, and that we would
never commit an awful act of injustice. I mean, I’m a good person right? But .
. . as human beings one of the challenges is that we don’t always act according
to our principles, sometimes we act out of raw emotion. The story of Joseph and
his brothers is one of those. The brothers know how you are supposed to treat
family, and yet they get caught up in a cycle of jealousy that leaves them
acting in horrific ways towards one of their own.
Joseph is their father’s favorite, and Joseph himself isn’t the easiest to
live with. So when one day the brothers are fed up, even though they are from a
religious family, and even though they know what is right and wrong, their
anger gets the best of them. At first they are going to kill him, but at least
a little bit of their moral values intervene and they don’t do that. Instead
they choose to sell him into slavery, and fake his death. This is slightly
better, but only slightly. Slavery has no guarantees for Joseph’s safety. He
could be put to work in a deadly job, he could be beaten and abused. Plus,
imagine the emotional pain they are putting their father through! They are
telling him that his favorite son has been killed, and he is going to grieve
him, and it is all a lie.
Few of us like to think that we would be capable of such things. We are certain
that we would treat our family members better than that. Oh, sure there are
days we think about selling our brothers and sisters, there are days we want to
murder our kids, but would we ever do it? No, of course not! Or would we? Could
we? The suggestion of the passage is that unless we are very diligent, unless
we work on what is in the very depths of our hearts, we are capable of exactly
those kinds of things.
Jealousy, grief, anger: these are emotions which can take over our lives
and tear us from our normal day to day lives with such force that we lose track
of what is right and wrong and we do things we never should. At other times we
go with the crowd, and allow ourselves to be pulled into a mob mentality, not
realizing that mobs don’t have a moral compass. So we do what others are doing,
trying to fit in, or even believing that what others are doing can’t be wrong,
until suddenly we have crossed a line so horrendous we are startled awake by
what we have done. Perhaps that’s what happened with Joseph’s brothers.
Individually they would never have done what they did, but together they fed
off one another’s anger and frustration. It can happen far too easily.
I see it most clearly when a violent act happens. Good people, nice people
suddenly start wanting revenge. The emotion of anger grows out of control. Particularly
lately when there is an act of terrorism. What happens? People are so angry at
the person who committed this act of evil, that they lose sense of their own
values. Although they say that they love their neighbor, although they know
that killing is wrong, and yet they want to vengeance. An eye for an eye.
And so well-meaning people, good people, talk about putting people who are
of the same nationality or race or religion as the perpetrators into internment
camps, kicking them out of the country, doing things that they know are just
plain wrong. So recently there has been a strong anti-Muslim sentiment in our
country even though the vast majority of Muslims are also good people who would
never commit an act of terrorism. But the emotions that we feel have clouded our
moral judgment, and we don’t act out of our moral principles. We start doing
things that we know Christ would not have us do. Instead of loving our neighbors,
instead of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us, we do the
equivalent of selling our brothers and sisters into slavery.
Likewise with racism. If we simply treated everyone as Christ would treat
them. If we simply lived out the value that all people are created in the image
of God, then there would be no problem, but instead we treat people
differently. And in the end innocent people end up dying in Virginia and
elsewhere because bigotry and hatred rear their heads in unacceptable acts of
jealousy and injustice. When we lose track of our primary Christian values it
is as though we have thrown our brothers and sisters in a pit and left them to
die.
It is vital that we work on our ability to calm our emotions, to center
ourselves on the teachings of Christ, and to resist the emotional appeal of
acting unjustly. We must strengthen within ourselves the love of righteousness
to such a point that our inner guide is not shaken by the ups and downs of
life.
In Romans Paul references Mosaic law reminding us what it means to be
righteous. The word he uses for righteousness, means literally equity of
character and action, and it implies the approval of God.
Moses writes about the righteousness
that comes from the Law: The person who does these things will live by them. But
the righteousness that comes from faith talks like this: Don’t say in your
heart, “Who will go up into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who
will go down into the region below?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the
dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your
heart (that is, the message of faith that we preach). Trusting with the heart
leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation.
Like I said, a couple of weeks ago, Paul can be difficult to understand,
but it is worth it when you start reading what he is saying. As I see it, Paul
is saying that there are a couple of types of righteousness.
The first is the righteousness of the law, it is the righteousness of
action: I quote: “The person who does these things will live by them” (they
won’t just be ideals we never use). It isn’t just a bunch of principles, and
ideas, but it is a law to be lived out, to be obeyed and heeded. But we all
know that the nature of human beings when it comes to law – we obey it as long
as it is convenient. So we honestly need more than just the righteousness that
comes from the law.
I think he is reminding us that at some point wanting to do what is good
and right moves beyond being law, to being something that is deeply imbedded in
our heart and mind. We long to do what God wants. We love what is good, so that
the righteousness of God is not just what we say, and in fact is not just what
we do, but affects how we respond emotionally, it is the very desire of our
hearts to do what God wants. For Paul faith is intimately connected with not
only being forgiven and accepted by God, but also with doing what is right.
Faith should inspire us to live and be what we believe.
Thus Paul concludes: Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness and
confessing with the mouth leads to salvation. Allowing our hearts to be
consumed with the will of God leads us to actually do and say the right thing.
I think that this shift from a righteousness of the law to one of faith is
accomplished by the continual seeking of our hearts after the will of God. As we
call on God, God helps us, guides us, and fills our spirit with the strength to
do what we know is right, to allow ourselves to overcome emotions which might
sidetrack us into acts of injustice. God helps us to overcome our humanness and
helps us to do what is right.
Not that we wouldn’t make mistakes, or that we wouldn’t fail at things, but
that we could really have a righteousness of faith that inspired our every
action. That God’s Spirit filled us with such love, that it guided our ways and
our words and as such those mistakes were not really sins because they were
motivated by love.
If we want to avoid those the pitfalls that Joseph’s brothers fell in, if
we want to be able to overcome our emotions and truly always do what is right, if
we want to overcome racism, hatred and violence we must open ourselves to God’s
Spirit of love and seek a deeper righteousness. We must live striving to be
perfected in love. So that it really is absolutely impossible for us to do that
which is intentionally evil. But getting there is a lifelong journey. It takes
living and loving God and our neighbors every day. Step by step, inch by inch.
Growing in righteousness.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Sermon: Ultimate Fighting With God
Genesis 32:22-31
[Opening] For a moment, let me review the Jacob story. Jacob is the twin
who tricked his brother out of his birthright, and then cheated his brother out
of his father’s blessing. His relationship with his brother became strained
enough that Jacob left home to seek his fortune elsewhere.
But after many years, Jacob is returning home, hoping that bygones will be
bygones. It is one of those stories that is humorous if you aren’t the one
living it. Knowing that his reception might not be ideal, Jacob sends
messengers ahead of him to tell his brother Esau that he is coming home. He
says, “I have sent these messengers to tell my lord (notice the submissive
tone) in order that I may find favor in your sight.”
When the messengers return, they tell him that his brother is coming home
to meet him with 400 men. This is not the homecoming Jacob wanted. It sounds
like his brother is bringing an army to kill him. So Jacob divides all his
flocks in half, sending them different directions, so that if one is destroyed
the other will survive. Then Jacob begins to pray to be saved from his
brother’s hand.
After praying Jacob takes 220 goats and he sends them ahead of his company
with the servants instructed to tell Esau that these are a gift from his
brother Jacob. Then he sends 220 sheep in another group with the same message.
And then 30 camels, and then 40 cows and 10 bulls, and then 30 donkeys. So that
by the time Esau would get to him he had received 5 gifts from Jacob, and would
hopefully be in a better mood.
Which brings us to our scripture for the day.
[Scripture is read]
So earlier in the service I gave you the background of Jacob, and we read
about the night a man appeared to Jacob and they wrestled until dawn. They were
evenly matched, neither was able to get the better of the other. Near the end
of their wrestling the other man struck Jacob on his hip socket and knocked it
out of joint, but Jacob still would not let go. He asked the man for a
blessing.
The blessing that the man gave was to rename Jacob as Israel, a name which means
one who struggles with God. Through the name change the story implies that
Jacob has been wrestling with God – not just a man. Jacob himself reflected
that he has seen God face to face and his life was preserved.
There are several things going on symbolically in this story. For example, clearly Jacob is seen as struggling with his faith as he returns home and finds his brother about to kill him.
Although Jacob is unhappy with his situation he never lets go of his faith.
He prays for help, and struggles through the difficulties. He is probably
questioning God, wondering why this is happening. If God loves him, why isn’t
his life easier, why does everything have to go the hard way? He is doing his
best, but he is afraid. So he hangs on to his faith, like he hangs onto the one
he is wrestling with and refuses to let go – until he earns a blessing.
But that does not mean he emerges unscathed -- in their wrestling Jacob is
both injured and blessed. Consider that for a moment – he is both injured and
blessed.
Part of what makes us like the story in Genesis of Jacob wrestling with God
is the fact that many of us can relate to the idea of struggling with God. We
spiritually wrestle with God. So we showed the video of Raj and Howard, where
two opponents jaw at each other a lot but not much really happens, and we asked
you – is this you and God? Are you going in circles arguing with God but
getting nowhere? Because we may feel like we are in a wrestling match, or a
boxing match, or perhaps a mixed martial arts fight with God. Sometimes we may
feel like we are getting beat up by life, other times we are simply running in
circles. We want desperately to have an explanation, and even more we want God
to bring us something good for once. Right? So we hang onto our faith through
all the trials, and we hope to win some prize for doing so. This is such a
common experience that people really relate to this story of Jacob wrestling
with God.
As I was preparing for this sermon, I read the following story: Nikos Kazantzakis, one of the most famous Greek writers of the 20th century, was famous for his books Zorba the Greek, and The Last Temptation of Christ, was constantly haunted by God.
He “once wrote of an experience he had when he went to visit a monk at Mt.
Athos. "Father Macarius," he said to the old monk, "I remember
that in your younger days you wrestled with the devil. Do you still do
that?"
"No," Father Macarius replied, "the devil has grown old, and
so have I. I no longer struggle with the devil. Now I wrestle with God."
"You wrestle with God?" said Kazantzakis. "You wrestle with
God, and hope to win?"
"No," said Father Macarius. "I wrestle with God, and I hope
to lose."[1]
When I read that story, it struck me as one of the most profound
reflections that I have ever heard on life. It has been the subject of my
meditation and thought for many days.
You see, when we are young we wrestle with the devil because we are
striving to do what is right, we are fighting against evil, and in our minds we
think, that if I can just defeat the devil then life will go well for me. But
what we learn in life is that we must rely on God for that. We must accept
God’s grace, and remember that in Christ, the devil is already defeated. Sin
and death are done, and the victory is already earned in Christ. We don’t
really defeat evil by ourselves, nor do we really need to.
So, if that is the case, if all we have to do is accept God’s help to
overcome sin and evil, then our real struggle is not with the devil, but with
God. Our problem is our unwillingness to follow God’s directions for our new
life. That’s what we struggle with as our faith matures. Will we accept
God’s help to overcome, or not? So often we simply want to argue with God, to
tell God what is best, we want to wrest control of our lives from the divine,
even to the point of trying to control God, as if we can outlast God. We
tenaciously hold onto our faith, yet at the same time we fight with the one we
have faith in. Like Jacob this wrestling can leave us injured.
But just as we learned that we need not defeat the devil alone, the wisdom
that comes wrestling with God over the course of a lifetime is that we cannot
defeat God – we no longer hope that God comes over to our way of thinking and
does things our way – no, the wisdom is that we will be blessed to come to
God’s way of thinking, that God will bring us to a point where we humbly admit
defeat at the hands of a stronger and far more experienced being. And that’s what
the monk was telling Kazantzakis. We wrestle hoping to lose. That God will win.
We know that in the process that we have been closer to God than ever before, that we have seen God fact to face, and it wasn’t the entirely pleasant experience we expected.
We realize that we were foolish to think we could win, and so we are
forever changed. Wisdom suggests that when we finally lose our stubbornness,
when we finally stop resisting what God is doing, that is when we will really
be blessed. It is in allowing ourselves to argue with God, but be convinced
that God is right, and that we were wrong – that real wisdom comes.
Perhaps we can learn like Father Macarius to hope to lose – to hope that
God will change us, bless us even when we fight it.
What I love in all of this is the image of God that comes from all of this.
God accepts our wrestling and our spiritual struggle. God doesn’t mind that we
try to put God in a headlock, or a bear-hug. But God patiently lets us put up
all the struggle that we can, until we come to our senses. God even uses all of
that wrestling to bless us. God seems infinitely patient with us. Willing to be
engaged with us as we fight against what is best and what is right, until
slowly and persuasively we come to see God’s way. It is as though God is teaching
us in every moment (even when we are fighting against God the hardest).
And I love that image of God. It suggests strength and resolve that knows
what is best, but is willing to let us discover it for ourselves. It suggests
lovingly allowing us to have our own opinions, until one day we look back and
say, like children often do as they get older, my mother was right, my father
was right. God allows us freedom and space, but always is pressing us and
encouraging us to listen and obey.
So we are the people who wrestle with God – we who look to Jacob as one of
the founders of our faith – and the wisdom we have to offer to the world is that
when one wrestles God it is best to lose – for that is where the true blessing
lies.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
The Kayak Adventure
A week ago, our family hauled four kayaks to the Dowagiac
River and went for a three hour get-away. We took two cars and parked one our
ending point and took the other with the kayaks to our starting point. That way
we had a vehicle available as soon as we finished.
We got on the river in the early evening. The day had been
hot, but the water was cool. Donovan hung his feet over the side and relaxed.
The water was not too fast, but not too slow. Monty (our dog) rode along with
Kristi. At several points, trees nearly blocked the river, and we could only
get over them by paddling as fast as we could and shooting over them! At one of
these, we actually had to have Logan zip over the log and pass Monty to him so
Kristi could get up the speed needed to cross without tipping over.
Because of these types of situations, the trip took a little
longer than we expected, and we were racing sunset to finish. We were so
relieved when we finally saw the bridge where we were getting out. After we
hauled the four kayaks out of the river, Kristi beckoned to me for the car
keys. I thought she had a set of them with her, but she didn’t (after all I had
driven this car) she had the keys for the car at the other end of the trip –
and I realized that I had left the keys for this car in the vehicle that was
parked 3 hours up river, about a 8 to 10 mile walk. None of us had brought our
phones – it was supposed to be a time of relaxing. So there we were with no
keys, no phones, and it getting dark fast and the mosquitos were coming out in
force.
Several things could have happened at that time. We could
have started yelling at each other and playing the blame game. I could have
blamed her for not having her keys, even though I knew I was responsible for
it. She could have yelled at me and pointed the blame at me that I certainly
deserved. The boys could have yelled at both of us. But what good would that
have done? Instead, I immediately accepted responsibility and apologized for my
mistake, and we simply went to work on solving the problem.
Our first thought was to knock on the doors of homes in the
area and ask for a ride or to use their phone to call for help. But none of
them would answer their doors. (I suspect that they get a lot of lost kayakers
and simply have decided to ignore us).
Kristi then pointed out that the Crystal Springs United
Methodist Camp was only about a mile walk from where we were, and we could see
if there was anyone there that could help. So she and I started walking, and
left Logan and Donovan at the locked car with the kayaks. By the time we
reached the camp it was very nearly dark. We knocked on the door of the camp
director’s home and were greeted by Dan Stuglik’s welcoming face. He
immediately understood our situation, got his car keys and hauled us to our
car. From there we were on our way, and after apologizing again to everyone,
all was forgiven (except the mosquitos).
The lessons of this adventure are many. They include the
importance of staying calm, of not blaming each other, of accepting
responsibility, of having good connections with friendly United Methodists, and
remembering my keys!
Sermon: Forgiven By the Lord
Romans 8:26-39
I know that for some people reading the bible is difficult. Perhaps you
aren’t a great reader, or perhaps you just feel out of your element when you
strive to read it. Believe it or not, there was a time when I went to bible
studies feeling totally inadequate, like I was the person that knew the least
there. What I can tell you is to dive in, read it even if it is hard. Take is
slow, keep learning, and over time the book will start to make more sense to
you.
But even as you do that, some books will be easier and other books harder.
For example, the book of Genesis and the book of Mark are relatively easy
reading because they are stories. They are about people and their lives and how
God is at work in their lives. So they hold our attention and are easier reads.
Other books are more difficult, like Leviticus which is primarily a list of
Jewish laws, and Revelation because it is a book of obscure symbolism.
Today’s reading is from the book of Romans. Reading Romans is always a
challenge. This book is one of the most intellectually challenging books in the
bible. Law schools have used it for studying how to win an argument and
construct a convincing debate. So you have to think and use your logic circuits
as you read it. Plus Paul tends to use long sentences and big words in his
arguments, so he isn’t easy to understand. Yet this letter of his also has
moments that connect to our lives in such deep ways, that we sometimes must
trudge through the difficult language to receive the riches blessings that God
can give.
Today is about forgiveness. And here is the thing. Romans is talking about all the things that we do wrong, the things that we know make God angry, the things we know aren’t good and right.
The things we are ashamed of. The things none of us like to admit that we
do, but most of us have hanging around in the backs of our minds and still
bother us 5 years, 10 years, even 50 years after we have done them.
For example, there are many things that I have said over the years that
from time to time swim through my mind and fill me with guilt and shame again.
Things I never should have said. Things I regret.
Sometimes these things seem rather trivial, and at other times they seem so
huge, as if they could never be forgiven. In the movie Rachel Getting Married, one of the main characters, Kym is speaking
at a twelve-step meeting, and she shares her story.
“When I was sixteen, I was babysitting my little brother. And I was, um...
I had taken all these Percocet. And I was unbelievably high and I... we had
driven over to the park on Lakeshore. And he was in his red socks just running
around in these piles of leaves. And, um, he would bury me and I would bury him
in the leaves. And he was pretending that he was a train. And so he was
charging through the leaves, making tracks, and I was the caboose, and I was,
um... so he kept saying, coal, caboose! Coal, caboose! And, um, we were... it
was time to go and I was driving home... and... I lost control of the car. And
drove off the bridge. And the car went into the lake. And I couldn't get him
out of his car seat. And he drowned. And I struggle with God so much, because I
can't forgive myself. And I don't really want to right now. I can live with it,
but I can't forgive myself. And sometimes I don't want to believe in a God that
could forgive me. But I do want to be sober. I'm alive and I'm present and
there's nothing controlling me. If I hurt someone, I hurt someone. I can
apologize, and they can forgive me... or not. But I can change. And I just
wanted to share that and say congratulations that God makes you look up, I'm so
happy for you, but if he doesn't, come here. That's all. Thank you.”
Into this very heartfelt guilt and shame, the book of Romans, at least as I read it says, if you follow Christ, if you allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit, if you come to God, you are forgiven
And not with a little forgiveness, but you are forgiven from the tips of
your toes to the very deepest darkest corners of your heart and mind. Even if
you don’t want to believe it. Think about it this way: God is bigger than us,
right? So much more than we are. So of course God’s forgiveness is always
bigger than any sin we could commit. If it were possible for us to commit a sin
that God couldn’t forgive, that would make us bigger than God, and that just
can’t happen. God will always be greater than us, and God’s forgiveness will
always be greater than our sin. The passage says, Jesus made us righteous. In
other words, he took our sin away, and made it as though we were without sin. He
has made everything right again.
It is like this. When the books of a certain Scottish doctor were examined
after his death, it was found that a number of accounts were crossed through
with a note: "Forgiven too poor to pay." But the physician's wife later
decided that these accounts must be paid in full and she proceeded to sue for
money. When the case came to court the judge asked but one question. Is this
your husband's handwriting? When she replied that it was he responded:
"There is no court in the land that can obtain a debt once the word
forgiven has been written."[1]
You might say, that Jesus came and across all of our sins, across all of
our guilt and shame wrote in his own hand, “Forgiven too poor to pay.” So who
can bring a charge against us? If God has acquitted us, who is going to convict
us? It really doesn’t matter what we have done. It doesn’t matter if it is on
Pastor Rob’s list of the 10 worst things a human being can do. It doesn’t
matter if we feel so bad about it we will never forgive ourselves. God forgives
us and will not allow anyone to press charges. If from the very cross, Jesus
can ask for humanity to be forgiven for this offense against God, if Christ’s
forgiveness is capable of the great an act, then what possibly could God not forgive?
So when Jesus forgives us, that forgiveness is complete. There is no court in
heaven that is going to hold that sin against us.
Even for Kym in the movie. If she takes her guilt to God it is forgiven.
Even if she isn’t sure that she wants to believe in a God that could forgive
that. God is bigger than her sin. God’s love is stronger than her brokenness.
I don’t know if you have every really allowed yourself to feel that level of forgiveness before. There are days I don’t let myself feel that level of forgiveness – but for just a moment consider it.
God can forgive anything. Anything. There is nothing that can separate us
from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels
or rules, not present things or future things, not powers or height or depth,
or any other thing that is created. For just one moment, accept it. Believe it.
Let it rush through your soul, until your heart is uplifted and set-free.
These are the kinds of teachings and realizations that make reading the bible
worth it. Even the tough and difficult to read books. Oh, yes, Romans can be
tough to wade through, but this is stuff we need to know and hear! We need to
be told that God’s forgiveness is complete and real. We need to hear that those
things that we hold against ourselves, those things we feel guilt and shame
for, are washed away by God and they are not held against us in the books of
heaven. We need to be assured that there is nothing greater than the love of
God. And that it is a power beyond our understanding. We need to be reminded of
that on those nights when we cannot let go of our past and it haunts us. We
need it so that we can live again. So that we can have joy again. So that we
can pursue the goodness that we know God has planned for our lives.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Sermon: Meeting Your Maker
Genesis 28:10-19a
Jacob comes from a religious family. His grandfather is Abraham, the one
who makes the first covenant with God. Abraham is often recognized as the
father of Judaism and Islam. His grandmother is Sarah, who is visited by angels
and told that she will give birth to a miracle baby at age 90. So Jacob’s grandparents
are pretty well respected by a lot of religious people.
But that isn’t all. Jacob’s father, Isaac, is the miracle baby who was promised
by the angels, and then he is nearly sacrificed to God as a child, but is saved
by a timely appearance of a ram. Isaac is very careful to go out of his way to
find a wife that also follows God. He doesn’t want to marry one of the women in
the area where he lives that worship a different god. So he travels a long way
to find and marry Rebekah, a holy and God-loving woman. So religion is
important to Jacob’s family.
But Jacob has always been a problem child. He steals from his brother,
cheats his way through relationships, sneakily obtains his father’s blessing,
and uses people for his own gain. So religion, whatever it may have meant to
his family, doesn’t seem to mean a lot to him. He was like the boy who when
asked by the Sunday School teacher why he believed in God said, “I don’t know,
unless it is something that runs in the family.”[1]
If he believes in God, he certainly doesn’t act like that belief should change
his behavior. The impression that we get is that religion for Jacob is
something that is a tool for getting what he wants, that he doesn’t really care
if God is real or not, but if he can find gain from this religion thing, then
he will milk it for all it is worth.
And then one night God comes to Jacob in a dream. Now, what would you expect God to do when meeting with a person like Jacob?
Yell at him about his past? Tell him to get in line or he will be punished?
Strike him with an illness or have him kidnapped and enslaved by foreigners?
Something like that perhaps? Certainly we would expect some words from God that
tell him to clean up his act.
Amazingly as God meets with him, God doesn’t do any of that. There is no
yelling, or threats, or punishment. Instead God promises to be with him in the
future and bless him and his descendants. God says every family of earth will
be blessed because of him and his descendants. Those are pretty big promises
and kind words for a liar and a cheat.
But here is the funny thing -- Jacob’s reaction to this meeting is being terrified. The words God uses aren’t terrifying, they are quite comforting.
So why is Jacob terrified? Probably because he realizes for the first time
that God is very real. Not just abstractly real, not just a nice idea, but
really real – able to touch you real. He says in verse 16 “The Lord is
definitely in this place, but I didn’t know it.” That disturbs him, because he
now knows that God is standing beside him, and the life he has been living
isn’t really the one he wants to live with God looking over his shoulder. God
has seen what he has been doing, and although God didn’t yell at him, the
thought that God saw his actions terrifies him.
Such a change of thinking can happen to any of us. We may have come from a
religious family, we may be able to name the people who are pastors, or church
leaders in our ancestry, but we may have never quite taken it seriously.
Perhaps we have even been the problem children, the ones who acted out, who did
everything that our family hated. But I have news for you. God still wants very
much to meet with you, to be part of your dreams and visions for the future.
God won’t dwell on your past, but will forgive it and move on, because what God
really wants is to be with you in the future and bless you and your
descendants.
For example: Soon after Bill admitted himself to the Towns Hospital for what would be the last time, he cried out: “If there be a God, let Him show Himself!”
His hospital room was filled with a white light. He was seized with an
“ecstasy beyond description.” In his mind’s eye, he stood on the summit of a
mountain, where a great wind of spirit blew right threw him. “Then came the
blazing thought: ‘You are a free man.’” He became aware of a Presence, like a
sea of living spirit. “This,” he thought, “must be the Great Reality. The God
of the preachers.” Bill Wilson never took another drink. He had started down
the path to become one of the cofounders of Alcoholic Anonymous.
When God becomes very real to us, as opposed to just a nice idea, when we
become convinced that God is present, as opposed to far away in heaven, it
changes our attitudes and the very way we approach our everyday lives. That
change in how we live can become the basis for blessing not just for ourselves
but for people all around us, people who will never directly meet us.
Yet that meeting, that moment of deeply real connection with God may end up terrifying you, as you realize that God is standing beside you when you are at your best and when you are at your worst.
Even though we know that God loves us. Even though the words that God
speaks are comforting and calming. We end up being terrified, because (I think)
that simply is the reality of meeting the one that is much more powerful than
we are. I don’t think that God is trying to scare us, I just think that when we
as humans stand before the greatness of God, we are so awed that it can be
frightening.
I certainly have had my share of experiences of this. There are times and
places where I know that I have been in the presence of the Holy, like a sea of
living spirit, and in that moment God is very real. And even though the message
that God has given me is one of comfort, yet the actual meeting with God can be
disconcerting and even terrifying. It has changed how I think about those
places where I have met with God. Like Jacob, they become places that I
remember as sacred and especially spiritual. I almost desire to build a little
shrine there, a reminder of what has happened as God emerged into our world so
vibrantly for me. And perhaps you have had experiences like this as well. Where
God is near and it is both comforting and terrifying, where you stand in awe,
and feel the sea of living spirit around you.
The good news is that despite our feelings of terror, God works with us lovingly and patiently to craft us into a new creation. God wants us to be that blessing to the world.
God wants us to live into our full potential. So if it takes God erupting
into our world, disturbing our dreams at night, or suddenly bursting through to
us while we are in the hospital, God will do it. All so that the world can
receive the blessings that God wants to pour upon it through us. Yes, you are
an agent of God’s blessings. Maybe that thought terrifies you a little, because
you have a great responsibility. But through it all God reminds you, I will be
with you always, I am with you now, I will protect you everywhere you go, and I
will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised you.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Sermon: Which Pastor Do You Want?
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
In case you haven’t figured it out, you are stuck with me for another year
as your pastor. That means you are stuck with my limitations and my strengths
for another year. Some of you are probably happy with that, others would like a
person with different strengths and weaknesses. That’s okay. People have
different needs, different wants, and different ideas of what religious
leadership should look like.
Actually, today’s bible passage is exactly a discussion of that. Imagine
that Jesus is sitting down with a group of people and talking about what they
expect the Messiah to be like. And the fact is that some people preferred the
serious style of John the Baptist – they liked that he didn’t eat much, that he
didn’t drink alcohol. He approached life like a funeral, expecting people to be
solemn and respectful. Some people thought the Messiah should be like that. But
others thought there had to be something wrong with him to act like that – some
even said he had a demon.
Other people liked the style of Jesus who ate with sinners, drank with tax
collectors and socialized with all sorts of people. He approached life like a
dance, and invited others to dance along. Some people thought the Messiah
should reach out the outcasts. But others saw his actions as irreligious, not
serious enough, too much like the sinners themselves. So they called him a
drunk and a glutton.
So here is Jesus having this discussion with people and they are giving
their feedback about what the Messiah should be like, as Jesus reminds them,
that some people would complain about the Messiah no matter what he was like –
they would point out all the flaws and never be happy. If invited to the
funeral, they wouldn’t be serious and respectful; and when invited to dance,
they would sit there like lumps on a log. Jesus is trying to challenge them to
open their minds and see that he really is the one sent from God.
As I was reading it, I began to reflect upon pastoral leadership and honestly about the kinds of people we put into other leadership positions like lay leader and Ad Board chair.
What if we take Jesus’ discussion here as the beginning of a discussion
about all of the leadership in church?
For example, you have two choices in a pastor. One is a pastor who is like
John the Baptist, strict in his religious observances – fasts, never laughs,
doesn’t dance, and comes at life and religion with a very serious approach. The
other is one who is like the Human One who eats and drinks with sinners, who
visits the bars, who dances to music, and likes to laugh. Life and religion are
a source of joy to be shared with everyone.
Which would you pick? What would you complain about with each? Turn to your
neighbor and tell them which one you would pick! [wait]
Of course all of know that that really isn’t enough information is it?
Could you really pick a pastor just based on that? Well, you could but it might
not work out very well.
When Jesus tells this story he is really inviting us to a discussion about
what really matters. Is it the outward signs or is it something different? Is
it something deeper?
So a couple of months ago I went to two training seminars that talked about
demographics and one of the things that people study is what different types of
people look for in their religious leaders. In fact, the studies are so
detailed that they can tell based upon what block you live in what you probably
look for in a pastor and in other church leaders. I know, that is a little
frightening – in the information age, people know so much about us. But my goal
isn’t to scare you. Actually I want to look at the top six major demographic
groups in Buchanan and tell you what they are looking for in church leadership.
So for example, I can tell you that the largest demographic group in Buchanan likes pastors who graduated from a well-established school of theology and from the “School of hard knocks”.
They want a person who has expertise and commonsense. They want someone who
works closely with the church board but does not take over. They want a pastor
who listens carefully to all points of view, and seeks advice of the lay
leaders. They expect the pastor to be on call 24/7 and to be a good caregiver
of the people.
Similarly, our third largest demographic group in Buchanan likes pastors who are ordained by an established denomination and are primarily approachable and friendly.
They want a pastor who not only visits in homes and hospitals, but is also
an excellent administrator, who is more like a CEO and can run a business or a
non-profit agency.
Our fifth largest demographic group has a little different perspective. They are pretty open to different kinds of leadership styles.
They prefer a pastor who preserves harmony, who is sensitive to different
generations and acts as friend, counselor and facilitator. They are capable
preachers and administrators but don’t have to be the best.
Do you hear the differences start to emerge? This group doesn’t care so
much about the CEO approach, of even how they work with the board. This group
wants the pastor to be their friend.
Where things really get different is our six largest group. This group wants a pastor who has a live and let live attitude and has let go of all the sacred cows of churchy institutions.
The pastor has to be laser focused on servant evangelism and helping
disciple young adults. The pastor works with the people individually and in small
groups to help people shape a do-able and portable spiritual life for
themselves and their families.[1]
So this last group really doesn’t care about administration at all, they
want a person who disciples them and teaches them how to live a spiritual life.
And all the traditions respected by the first few groups can go out the window.
Turn to your neighbor and tell them which of these groups you most agree
with. [wait]
As you can see, no one person can be all of these things. So what has to
happen is that churches either will never attract certain types of people, no
matter how hard they try, because they leadership style just isn’t right, Or –
the church lay people, you all, fill in the leadership gaps and become the bridgebuilders
who reach to those other groups.
So we need lay people who meet the needs of the first group that have
expertise and common sense, who listen carefully to everyone’s point of view.
We need lay people who are approachable and friendly, who are excellent
visitors in homes and could run a company. We need people who are concerned
about the church’s harmony and are sensitive to different generations, who can
be a person’s friend and counselor. We need people who question tradition and
are willing to toss it aside, and we need people who are willing to meet with
people individually and in small groups and help them figure out a spirituality
that fits their busy lifestyle.
So the next time you complain about your pastor, or about one of the other
church leaders, think about that. While you might not like it, it may be
exactly what another person is looking for in a leader.
Also, before you complain remember that all of that is outward stuff. Kind of like Jesus says, all of that is about the personality of the leader. Are they more like a funeral or a dance?
But what we really need in our church leadership is people who first and
foremost love God. People who look to Jesus as their ultimate leader, as their
messiah. You can have the right personality all day long, but if you don’t have
that, then there is a problem.
Of course since I am not perfect, I will fail you. Since our other church
leaders are not perfect, they will fail you too. The delight here is that Jesus
is ultimately our leader – and he tells us some very specific things about his
style of leadership. “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying
heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Put on my yoke, and learn from me (he doesn’t
say we won’t have work to do). I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest
for yourselves. My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.”
So when I fail, when the church leadership fails, look to Jesus. After all
our religion really is about following him, not following me, or our board, or
anyone else.
[1]
All Demographic Summaries are from Mission Impact Guides, V2.0 From
MissionInsite, LLC available through www.missioninsite.com
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Sermon: A Cup of Hot Coffee
Matthew 10:40-42
The scripture from Matthew is all about how we give and receive
hospitality. It is about welcoming the stranger, and being welcomed when we are
strangers. Obviously, in Jesus’ day, especially in the desert, it was vital
that you offer strangers water when they were travelling. To not do so might be
condemning them to death. They might literally collapse from dehydration if you
refused them. So one of primary values of that area at that time was
hospitality to strangers, especially in the provision of water.
Jesus knows that as he sends the disciples out, they will be dependent upon
the hospitality of others for survival. It simply is a reality of their being
travelers in a harsh environment. Perhaps he is reminding them of that, or
perhaps he means for his teaching to be a reminder to those who will be
receiving the disciples that they have a duty to treat his followers well. To
provide them with what they need.
As you read the passage, you may have a bit of déjà vu, when Jesus says those who receive you are also receiving me.
The language here parallels what Jesus says at another time in his ministry
(a probably more famous passage later in Matthew where Jesus describes
separating the sheep and the goats, and the goats complain, when did we see you
hungry, when did we see you thirsty, and Jesus says whenever you did not do it
for the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did not do it for me.) In
today’s passage, Jesus says that when we receive a stranger we have received
him, and when we receive him, we receive the one who sent him. The two passages
are very similar. I think it is helpful to see that Jesus shares this teaching
more than once – he repeats it because it is important that we know that how we
treat the least of these is vitally important.
But the thing is, we live in different times and a different climate than
Jesus, with different needs and fears. Travelers can get water from the store,
or a large coke from McDonalds. There are inns and hotels. It is a lot less
likely that we are going to have someone come to our door whose very life is
dependent upon whether we give them a cup of cold water or not.
So how does this scripture connect with our lives today? I would extend
Jesus’ teaching, and say that the hospitality that Jesus is suggesting is
anything that gives life, that helps the person to survive.
Today that might still be water, especially in situations around the world
where water is scarce, or unclean. But more often it is in helping them with
the very things they need to survive the day.
It could be food, like we do through RAM. It could be heat like we do through RAM. Like in this video: Show [Take Care of Each Other]
What is interesting is that such generosity not only helps the other
person, but it also helps us. Studies have shown that being generous with
others actually increases our happiness. In the 2015 World Happiness Report,
Richard “Davidson and Brianna Schuyler explained that one of the strongest
predictors of well-being worldwide is the quality of our relationships. Generous,
pro-social behavior seems to strengthen these relationships across cultures.
Generosity is even associated with better health and longer life expectancy.
Generosity seems to be so powerful that, according to researchers David
McClelland and Carol Kirshnit, just thinking about it “significantly increases
the protective antibody salivary immunoglobulin A, a protein used by the immune
system.” So it seems that money can buy happiness, if we spend it on other
people.”[1]
Archbishop Desmond Tutu says, ““I’ve sometimes joked and said God doesn’t
know very much math, because when you give to others, it should be that you are
subtracting from yourself. But in this incredible kind of way— I’ve certainly
found that to be the case so many times— you gave and it then seems like in
fact you are making space for more to be given to you. “And there is a very
physical example. The Dead Sea in the Middle East receives fresh water, but it
has no outlet, so it doesn’t pass the water out. It receives beautiful water
from the rivers, and the water goes dank. I mean, it just goes bad. And that’s
why it is the Dead Sea. It receives and does not give. And we are made much
that way, too. I mean, we receive and we must give. In the end generosity is
the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful.”[2]
But you may say to yourself. I have no money, I can’t afford to give away much. It could be something simpler than money. Anne Weems has a brief poem:
Sometimes that cup of cold water,
Turns out to be a cup of hot coffee,
And what we’re asked to do is to pour
it . . . and to listen.[3]
What I think she is saying is that a deep conversation, an opportunity to
connect and share, a chance to shed one’s guilt and shame or talk about the
things that one fears, to really talk, over a cup of coffee might be the most
life giving thing we could do for a stranger.
I confess, it is something I don’t do as well as I should, I often don’t
really take the time to listen to everyone’s story – there are so many people
and so little time, and I suspect that may be true for many of you. And yet
Jesus suggests when we do such a life-giving thing, we are doing it for him.
Wouldn’t you like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with Jesus this week?
Jesus says that everyone who does this will certainly be rewarded. He
doesn’t say what the reward is, but let’s be honest, who doesn’t want a reward
from God. Share a few cups of coffee with strangers, listen and talk with them,
and in return get an invitation to a banquet in heaven. Sounds good to me!
But if even that is too much for you, consider walking around with a smile on your face. Look people in the eye and smile at them.
That may be the cup of cold water that sustains them on a difficult day. Perhaps
that day they have heard nothing but complaints, perhaps that day no one has
said “I love you” to them, perhaps that day there has been nothing that has
brought them joy, and you bring a smile that says – I am happy to see you.
Sarah Stevenson in Psychology today tells the following story, “It’s a
rough morning. First, my alarm doesn’t go off. Then I’m late getting my son to
school because another driver decides to roll into me. It doesn’t damage my
car, but it completely wrecks my mood. Then I get to my doctor’s appointment
only to realize I’m an hour early. Just great. It must be a case of the
Mondays!”
“I decide to pop into little French cafe around the corner to grab a cup of
tea while I’m waiting. As I sit under my little gray cloud, my pretty, young
server Colette flashes me a dazzling smile that sticks there for the entire
interaction. I can’t help but smile back. In fact, I even catch myself smiling
while washing my hands in the bathroom. Suddenly my day doesn’t seem so bad. I
finish my tea and head to my appointment equipped with a grin on my face, feeling
as though I’ve slipped on a pair of rose-colored glasses. Today’s lesson? It
turns out that when I smile, the world smiles back.”
Later in the article Sarah explains, “Did you know that your smile is
actually contagious? The part of your brain that is responsible for your facial
expression of smiling when happy or mimicking another’s smile resides in the
cingulate cortex, an unconscious automatic response area. In a Swedish study,
subjects were shown pictures of several emotions: joy, anger, fear and
surprise. When the picture of someone smiling was presented, the researchers
asked the subjects to frown. Instead, they found that the facial expressions
went directly to imitation of what subjects saw. It took conscious effort to
turn that smile upside down. So if you’re smiling at someone, it’s likely they
can’t help but smile back. If they don’t, they’re making a conscious effort not
to.”[4]
So smiling can be a cup of cold water given to another as a lifeline, and
it actually will help you feel better as well.
Whether it is literally a cup of cold water, a cup of coffee and a
conversation, or a smile, make sure that you are practicing generosity. As you
do it, you are doing it for your own health, for others, and as Jesus says,
even for him.
[1] Lama,
Dalai; Tutu, Desmond; Abrams, Douglas Carlton. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness
in a Changing World (p. 265). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
[2] Lama,
Dalai; Tutu, Desmond; Abrams, Douglas Carlton. The Book of Joy: Lasting
Happiness in a Changing World (pp. 263-264). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle
Edition.
[3]
Seasons of the Spirit
[4] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201206/there-s-magic-in-your-smile
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