Tag Archives: Jesus

What worship is

27 Monday Aug 2018

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What is worship?  Is it just something we go to once a week, or possibly less?  Is it something that you watch, as a spectator would?  Is it something that you go to like a sporting event or a concert, looking to see how your emotions are changed, your needs are met?

My answer to that is that for some people, the answer is yes.

But I have to ask – is it worth it if that’s all worship is for you?

Why do you worship?  What impact does it have on your life?  How does it change you?  Does it create an opportunity to encounter Jesus and have your life changed?

During the conference I was at last week, I heard the following statement:

Worship is a way of life, not something you go to and leave at the door on Sunday.

I love that statement.  It sums up a theology of worship.  Worship isn’t something you go to.  It is a way of living.

St. Francis of Assisi was quoted as saying:

Pray without ceasing.  And if you have to, use words.

Francis understood that worship goes far beyond just being in a church building.

Christianity isn’t a spectator sport.  It’s a way of living.  There is no off time for it.  You don’t get to silo it or compartmentalized it to an hour-long time once a week and then go and do whatever you want to do.

Jesus wanted disciples, not spectators.  I think the church does a disservice to itself if it focuses on just getting people to worship and not doing what Jesus called us to do – make disciples.

The sooner our churches move away from spectator worship and towards discipleship, the better we will be.  Jesus wanted followers, not spectators.  Jesus wanted people’s whole lives, not just a little time here and there when the schedule worked out.

Worship is an extension of discipleship and ministry.  It also drives us out to do more ministry and discipleship.

This is what worship is to me.

The faith I want

21 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Theology

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I don’t want a comfortable Jesus.  Comfortable Jesus is the type of Jesus that puts up with a lot of stuff because, well, he’s trying to be nice.  Comfortable Jesus is about being nice above all else.  Being nice means not saying things that would raise questions or point out injustices or hang out with “those” people.  Comfortable Jesus is really just a nice guy you see at Starbucks every day on the way to work, but you really don’t know.  Comfortable Jesus is a nice neighbor from down the street who you wave to when they are walking their dog past your house.

I don’t need a comfortable Jesus.  I have all that already.

Would comfortable Jesus be willing to mix it up, get in people’s face, question things, point out injustice?  Risk death?  Of course not.

What I need is a Jesus who is willing to go through death and hell and come back.  It’s not a matter of wanting it. It’s a matter of needing it.  Because if things rely on me, then I’m screwed.  I’m going to fail and fall.  Over and over again.

I need a Jesus who is willing to act out what he claims.  I need a Jesus that is willing to stand beside me in the worst of circumstances.

Thankfully, then I read Scripture I see that Jesus.  I hear Jesus tell his disciples to follow him.  This isn’t an invitation to a BBQ.  It’s an invitation to drop everything and follow him – he is the Lord of our lives.

I hear Jesus tell those who would follow him:

‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

(Matthew 16:24-26)

Take up your cross.  That’s not something like a hang nail that is bothersome and a burden.  That’s pick up the thing that will kill you and follow Jesus.  Willingly.  Jesus is talking about death here.  Not avoiding it.  Walking right into it.  Why?  Because Jesus knows that death doesn’t have the last say.

I want a Jesus who gets in my face and asks me:

‘Why do you call me “Lord, Lord”, and do not do what I tell you?

(Luke 6:46)

Yes, a Jesus who won’t make nice and settle for me only wanting to follow him some times.

I want a Jesus who talks about gnawing his flesh and drinking his blood and then pointedly asking me:

‘Does this offend you?

(John 6:61)

and,

‘Do you also wish to go away?’

(John 6:67)

He might as well be asking me this – are you all in on me?  Or is that a bit too much for you?

Simon Peter responds to Jesus question by saying:

‘Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life’

(John 6:68)

Right on Peter.  I’m with you Peter.  Where else are we going to go?  Certainly not some politician or political party.  Certainly not to money or work.  Certainly not to patriotism or capitalism or socialism or any other ism that exists.  Certainly not to sports or health.  Nothing else offers salvation.

And what will carry me forward and give me a course of action when I see a homeless person in need, or a hungry person, or someone who is sick, or dying, or in prison, or in need of clothes, or a listening ear, or who is in a broken relationship, or anything else.

Where else can we go?

This is the faith that I need.  It’s the faith that is offered to each of us.

So many need help

20 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by in Church, Theology

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I keep hearing how great our economy is.  But I keep running into more and more people who are struggling to survive.  I hear about how people have more money in their pockets, yet I find more people who have none.

Yesterday I was able to help a mother and her daughters have shelter for a night. They needed one night as they were working on their trailer to get it ready for tomorrow.  I don’t know all the details, but I know this was a family in need.  This was a time I could do something.

I also helped serve food to the homeless and poor in the nearby city.  While there, I was approached by two individuals for help.  One, a woman, was seeking transportation to Manhattan to “go home.”  She was homeless and said that she had no money.  There was no waiting until tomorrow – she had no where else to go.  What was I to do?  That kind of ticket is beyond my means.  I gave her directions to a local shelter and prayed with her.  I felt helpless.

The other gentleman approached me while he was in line getting food.  He seemed upset.  He inquired if I was the pastor at the church where the food was being given out.   I wasn’t, I told him.  He asked if the church would help him get a tent.  He was currently sleeping under a tarp in the woods and it was starting to get a bit cold at night.  While we talked, it seemed as though the church had let him down before – not necessarily this church, just the church in general.  The snark in his voice gave it away.  Would I be just another church person who would let him down?

Yesterday when I preached I talked about the child sex abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church.  I have struggled with this story all week-long.  So many victims.  So many abusers.  So much cover up.  And for what purpose?  To protect an institution?  When the truth comes out like it has, how has the institution been protected?  And why is the institution more important that young boys and girls?  This isn’t just a Catholic Church problem either.  It’s a human problem.

So many in need.  Yet I keep hearing about the great economy.  As if that will make it all better.  It won’t.  Don’t bother telling me about how great the economy is.  The economy of the people I have been with is crappy.  It’s poor.  It’s broken their trust.  It’s let them down.  It has left them homeless.

So many in need.  And yesterday I got to participate in a different economy – the economy of salvation.  I presided at our regular worship services and offered something with great savings – Jesus, the living bread of heaven.  I also had the privilege of offering communion to the poor and homeless before the meal they would eat.  Many took the bread and ate it.  I have no idea how many understood what they were doing.  But taking communion isn’t about understanding it – as if it’s really understandable when you get to the core of it.  Instead, this bread was life-giving bread.  It was a reminder of the promise of Jesus to be with us until the end of the age.  It was a reminder of the forgiveness of sin.  It was a reminder that Jesus offers true food that fills us beyond our stomachs.  It is food for the journey for these men and women – the journey of living on the streets.

This is the economy I know.  This economy far surpasses any human economy and what it has to offer.  In the economy of salvation, there are no recessions or depressions.  There is only an abundance of the Bread of Life.  So many in need.  And more than enough of Jesus to go around.  Better than any economy this world could ever offer.

A Night at Flying J

17 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by in Church, Theology

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Last evening was a Flying J night.  There’s a core group of half a dozen or so people from our congregation who go over to Flying J truck stop twice a month to make sure people can get showers, get their laundry done, and get a meal.  We work with individuals and families who live in the parking lot, who are homeless, struggle with poverty, live in motels, and more.  Many work and are doing what they can to get from one day to the next.

Last night there was a total of 22 people.  That’s the total between people from the church and our guests who come each Thursday we are there.

We know each of these people by name.  Often, we know a portion of their stories too.  In many instances we have been working with them for a few months now – trying to assist them in ways that they want help and how we can actually help.  We aren’t the savior of these people though.  We’re not there to fix them or solve all their problems.  We can’t.

We go to Flying J for a reason.  We go because these are people we are called on to reach out to, get to know, spend time with, and offer what we can.  This is what ministry is really about.  It’s not fixing others.  It’s about being with people.  It’s about reminding people of their humanity.  We do that when we listen to people, when we hear their stories.  When we eat with people.  When we talk.  When treat people with respect.  When we can offer dignity.

In many places, the church is re-learning that ministry can be hands on.  In some places, the church has been doing this for a long time.  In some places, the church is learning this for the first time.  Regardless, ministry is messy.  Anything involving people tends to be that way.

But there are times to rejoice too.  We rejoice when we experience joy with a family whose life together changes for the better.  We rejoice when a family went from living in their vehicle months ago to securing employment and moving into an apartment.  That is a joy not just for them, but for us too.  We rejoice when we hear another one of our friends finds a job so that his family can start to look for a place to live.

Flying J has become more than a truck stop for me.  It has become a place where I see friends and catch up on their lives.  It’s a place where ministry happens.  It’s a place where joy is shared.  It’s a place Jesus shows up for both our guests and ourselves.  And we get to encounter Jesus.

Faith or politics informs our decisions?

09 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Organizational theory, Politics, Theology

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Beliefs and ideas about politics are often really no more than theological statements dressed up in secular terms.

Maybe you disagree with that statement.  But consider this, often politics offers something that theology has been about for a long time – a vision of salvation.  In theology we have terms for this – soteriology and eschatology.

Bad theology is often deadly and destructive.  It focuses on wrath, compliance, anger, and makes people suffer as a result.  Bad theology allows for abuse and violence.  Often these bad theologies find willing partners in political ideologies – a partnership of convenience.

When we hear politicians and others talk about salvation and a savior, it’s politics using theology.  Now, you may not think that politicians talk in theological terms but let me point out a couple of recent examples.  Remember when Obama was described as being like a savior?  Or how about people saying that Trump was put here by God.  How about every president invoking God’s blessing on the nation.  Or that we are a special nation ordained by God.  Those are theological terms that are hijacked for political purposes.  When we hear about being a great nation (or great again), it’s no different from what the crowds were expecting from Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  People were thinking politics, but were really doing theology.  They had an expectation of what a savior was.  But Jesus had a different definition.

Don’t tell me to have theology stop at the border of politics especially when politics tramples all over theology all the time and has for centuries.  As if theology shouldn’t have any effect on the public sphere.  It does, which is why politics is often trying to use it for its own advantages.

Which is the foundation of the other?  Is politics and ideology the foundation of life or is theology the thing that guides our decisions in both public and private life? Does politics and ideology inform our theology or does our theology inform our politics?

I would argue that most people place politics as the foundation of their lives.  We seem to invest a great deal of time on politics, ideology, party loyalties, and politicians.  Do we invest the same time, energy, emotion, and resources in to our theology?  How many times do we hear about a political leader being like a savior who is going to save the nation or make it great again?  Democrats and Republicans are both guilty of this.

How much time do we devote to opening the sacred scriptures of politics (news sites), listen to the religious authorities of politics (spin doctors on TV who tell us what to believe), give our tithes and offerins to the religion of politics (campaign contributions), listen sermons of politicians (speeches, tweets, etc)., and partake in apologetics of the faith of politics (defending the ideology from all attacks on social media, in person, or anywhere)?  Do we give that kind of investment of ourselves into our faith?  When is the last time you opened Scripture outside of church to read God’s word?  Want me to go on?

If you believe that theology and faith are only a personal matter and they have no impact on the social or community, the polity, then I have some questions for you?

How do you square that belief with the Great Commission of Jesus?  Matthew 28:18-20 states:

And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Jesus says “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”  As in all.  Not a separation between personal and the political.  “Make disciples of all nations.”  Do you think that might have an impact on policies that are implemented?

How do you square the belief of theology and politics being in separate realms, not impacting each other, with the whole idea of the kingdom/reign of God?  How do you square it away with the image of Revelation 21.  How do you square it away with the prophets of old telling kings what God’s words were?  How do you square it away with the time before kings in Israel where God was the head and they had no need of a king?

How do you square it with Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey at one end of the city in contrast to Pilot entering at the other end on his horse with his soldiers?  How do you square it away with the titles given to Jesus that had been reserved for Caesar, the Roman emperor – King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Savior of the World, Prince of Peace?

How do you hold onto the belief that theology and faith have no impact on politics and living in community when the bible shows that the idea is false through out it?

If our theology and faith don’t guide our whole life, including our politics, then what good is it?

How is that faith and theology going to bring about the kingdom of God?  And do we really want the kingdom of God to come at all?  The kingdom of God is all-encompassing, not just affecting your personal life.  Throughout the Hebrew Bible we hear about God restoring the entire world, not just individuals.  We hear about the salvation of Israel, not just individuals.  In the Gospel of John, we hear that God so loved the cosmos, that he gave his Son.  Not God so loved individuals – no, the entire cosmos, all of creation.

Which god do we lay our lives out in front of to determine how we will live – both personally and communally?  Which god invites us to participate in the unfolding of a kingdom?  God or some earthly kingdom and ideology and politician?

The book of Daniel is full of examples of politics stepping all over theology and faith. And there are consequences of this because God doesn’t care about these human made imaginary boundaries that we construct.  They are human inventions.

Jonah is sent by God with a message for the a secular city and it’s rulers to change.  Elijah flees for his life from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel because theology and faith are foundational for personal and public life and the politicians don’t like being put in their place as servants of God rather than gods over people.

The Apostle Paul, over and over again, suffers at the hand of politics and politicians, eventually being killed by politicians.  John the Baptist is jailed and beheaded by politicians because he dares to speak faith and theology into the life of politics.  Jesus suffers at the hand of politics, eventually being crucified by politicians because he is offering an alternative kingdom in contrast to the empire.

Ephesians 4:25-5:2 states:

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Hebrews 13:1-5 states:

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’

When we read Ephesians 4:25-5:2 and Hebrews 13:1-5, do we only see these as personal suggestions on how to live life?  Do we put up walls to prevent them from being carried out publicly?  Or at least have higher expectations for our elected leaders?  Why?  What is it about these passages that is so dangerous to our political system that we make excuses for behaviors, rhetoric, and policies that are in opposition to what is in Scripture?

Before you level the charge that I am suggesting or advocating a theocracy, I am not.  Theocracies often end up being abusive, dangerous, full of violence, focused on compliance of action and thought.  Theocracies are all about using absolute power over people.  That’s not what the kingdom of God is about at all.

The questions I am raising are this – What does it mean to claim to be a follower of Jesus?  Does it only affect our personal life?  Is it acceptable to put Jesus on the side when it comes to our politics?  Why is that acceptable?  Why doesn’t our theology inform our politics, our policies, and our rhetoric?  That doesn’t mean we need a theocracy.  Far from it.  It means we need to live out what we claim to believe in into all aspect of our life, whatever our political structure is.

Ordinary vs. extra ordinary

07 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Theology

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If you had to describe the Gospel, or church, or faith, how would you describe it?

Would it be described as something nice, or routine, or a given?  How about church – is it something you go to or belong to?  Is faith something you’ve learned?  Is the Gospel  just a book, or Jesus message?

These many be technically true, but they seem…lacking or ordinary.  Maybe mediocre even.

Is that what Jesus is about – ordinary, lacking, mediocre?  When you read or hear passages of Scripture, do you think of ordinary, lacking, and mediocre?  Are you actually reading Scripture?  When is the last time you cracked open the Bible on your own to read it?  I’m not talking about what you hear at church either.

If you aren’t reading scripture, why not?  Maybe Jesus, church, and faith just don’t have much impact on your life.  Maybe they are nice, but that’s where it stops.  Maybe you are afraid?  Maybe you’re afraid that it will actually deliver on what is promised – a changed life. If your life changes, then you might not be in control.  Here’s a promise – you won’t be in control.

The Gospel isn’t ordinary.  It is extra ordinary.  Anything that is life changing would be.  Do you believe that the Gospel is life changing?  Do you believe that it not only impacts your life, but changes it?  Do you want that?  Or are you too comfortable?  Maybe you’re fooling yourself into believing that everything is going well.  But I’m willing to bet a million dollars that something in your life is broken and not working.  Something in your life is mediocre at best.

This doesn’t mean that the Gospel promises carnivals and blue birds on your shoulder.  The Gospel doesn’t promise that your life will look and feel like a made for TV movie.  Not even close.

Here’s what I know – Jesus wasn’t into mediocre and average.  Jesus wasn’t into just surviving either.

He’s all about thriving.  That’s what the Gospel is – thriving life, new life, death and resurrected life.  That’s life that has changed.  Life that is no longer in our own control.

If faith is only ordinary or routine, then it’s time to dump it.  Only a faith that is extra ordinary will carry you through the difficult times that are coming for each one of us.

My encounter with April

02 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Theology

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April reached out to me by e-mail.  I was recommended to her as someone she should reach out to as someone who could help her out.  She wasn’t looking for help with paying the fee to live in the hotel, but help to get out.  She told me that she had to leave – that she needed to set free of the bondage of the place she was living in.  She was being reunited with her ex-husband who was living in Colorado.

I came and visited with her in her room just a couple of days ago.  I didn’t know what to expect.  She spent the first hour telling me her story, but with a twist.  It was a story of God’s timing and God’s plans and how they are different from ours.  She has been separated from her husband for 14 months, but that separation allowed healing to happen.  That separation gave room for April to see how God is Lord, and not anything or anyone else.

We talked and shared our faith stories, moments in our lives when we have experienced God nudging us and tapping us on the shoulder, and sometimes shouting directly at us to get our attention.

She shared with me what it has been like living in the motel – like a trap.  Things deteriorate, service is terrible, there is no kitchen or way to make food, except for a microwave, and things generally don’t work consistently.  But there aren’t a whole lot of options for people in her situation.  She described it as being in bondage – a term that is not used lightly.  And a term that seems very fitting.  It’s not just physical bondage, but bondage of the spirit, of the human will to live.  Every week, the bill comes due to cover the shelter of the room – an expense that is way beyond normal.  An expense that often times takes advantage of the poor who are sheltered there.  But then again, where else are these folks going to go?

In this country, there is a creed that we live by – individualism.  It’s the belief that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, that everyone is able to get themselves out of trouble, and that only the lazy suffer the consequences.

And in this country, we like to claim that we are a Christian nation.  Many churches proclaim the creeds of the church that were established centuries ago in far off lands.  And we claim to follow Jesus who favored the poor and proclaimed Good News to the poor.

How do these two creeds and belief systems compliment each other though?  Christianity isn’t so much about our personal salvation devoid of public implications, but as something far more greater.  Revelation 21 paints a picture of the entirety of creation being renewed and restored.  Jesus doesn’t proclaim that only the strong will survive and only those with material wealth are the ones who are blessed by God.

When I keep encountering more and more people who are struggling with the basic necessities of life, I have to compare our national operating creeds and beliefs with those of Jesus.  And frankly, I find our nation’s operating beliefs to be lacking – failing in the promise of an American Dream.  But Jesus has yet to fail to come through on his promises.  If we are a great nation, then why do so many struggle to survive?  If you think there is an easy answer for this, then you are dismissing the struggles that exist because you think they don’t affect you.  And you are wrong.

Homelessness does affect you.  When a homeless person without insurance gets sick, they go the hospital to receive treatment.  Going to a hospital for routine care is expensive.  Someone has to pay for that.  It ends up showing up in your insurance premiums and taxes.  When the poor don’t have enough food because they are being gorged with weekly payments, they become sicker and have health problems.  Guess who pays for that?  When the homeless sneak over to an abandoned hotel to find shelter and every day the local police department are sent over to kick people out – someone has to pay for the police to do this, as opposed to doing something else.  Guess who pays?  That’s right, everyone does, including the people who think that homelessness has no impact on their lives.  Apparently, we like to lie to ourselves and think that we are like islands.  Yet Christ calls us into community, to proclamation, and to service of others.

1 Peter 2:9-10 states:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

This isn’t only about individuals.  It’s much bigger than the American ideal of catering to each individual.  In the side commentary of the Lutheran Study Bible related to this passage of Scripture, it states:

What is the priesthood of all believers?  This is a key concept for Martin Luther, who insists that all Christians are priests or God’s messengers.  Proclaiming God’s mighty acts is not a job reserved for only a few people.  God calls all believers – no matter what their vocation or standing – to share the Gospel and serve their neighbors to that others come to know Christ.

(Source – Lutheran Study Bible, pg. 2002)

Did you catch the end of that – All believers are to share the Gospel and serve their neighbor.  Not make excuses.  Not judge.  Not put blinders on and ignore those around us.  The Gospel is Good News to the Poor.

At the end of my conversation with April, I got her set up with transportation.  And we spent time in prayer.

April was having a true Jesus moment that had nothing to do with me.  Her old life, the life she was living here – a life in bondage – was dying.  Today her old life will die as she gets on the bus.  Following Jesus is about dying.  It’s about trusting what Jesus tells us – that following him will lead to death – death daily, death to self, death of life, death of bondage.

But it doesn’t end there.  Death doesn’t get the final say.  Jesus does.  In order to experience resurrection, we have to go through death.  When April steps on the bus, she will also begin to experience resurrection, new life.  A life of hope.  A life where bondage has ended and there is a future. A transformed life.  This is what Jesus promises.  And it’s not just for some time in the distant future.  It’s here and now.

Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom before we are stop fighting with God and allow God to take over.  Sometimes we have to get to a point of complete loss of hope in order to let go of the chains that bind us, that hold us bound.

April is a reminder that death and resurrection are real and are what Jesus calls us to – right here and now.  April left the bondage of a motel room with a life that was hopeless and she is getting on a bus filled with hope, looking forward to the embrace of love and family, and experiencing Jesus’ mercy and grace.  This is the Good News of Jesus in our midst.

Jesus cared about the means

26 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in Theology

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I’ve been thinking about the means and the ends a lot lately.  The means are how things are done, the process.  The ends are the results, the fulfillment of an action.  There is an age-old belief that the ends justify the means.  If that is so, then it doesn’t matter what you do, or how you act, or how you treat others so long as you get what you want.  If the ends justify the means, then it is perfectly acceptable to manipulate people, to dehumanize and degrade people, to abuse people, and even to use violence.  It’s the ends that matter after all.  This is the theology of this world, of politics and certain politicians (both current and from throughout history).

But what did Jesus think about the means and the ends?  If we are to call ourselves followers of Jesus, then we probably should not only pay attention to what Jesus said, but also follow it.  Or we should just be honest and stop claiming to be a follower of Jesus.

‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.

(Matthew 7:15-20)

The tree is the thing that bears fruit.  It is the means to the end.  The end is the fruit.  And Jesus is saying that bad trees produce bad fruit while good trees produce good fruit.  Going back to the main question and applying Jesus’ logic, it might sound like this.  Good means produce good ends.  Bad means produce bad ends.

Here’s another passage that makes the case even clearer:

‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’

(Matthew 7:24-27)

If you were to build a house, would you only care about the end product – a house that is built?  Or would care about what was going into that house and how it was built, what products were used, and who the laborers were?  If the house is built well, it will be a good house.  If it’s done shoddy, the house will be shoddy.  The ends are far less important than the means of how the house came to be.

Yet, why does this idea of the ends justify the means persist when we know that it is wrong?  Why, especially does this idea carry any weight within the church, the institution that supposedly claims to follow Jesus?  I have heard self-proclaimed Christians, and even pastors speak of this belief system.  I have watched them carry it out.  And I have wondered, how is this following Jesus and his way?

It’s not.  There’s no other way around it.

Jesus concerned himself with the means.  Discipleship is about the means – a way of living.  Ministry is about the means.  Mission is about the means.  If the end was all that mattered, then God would make us as robots and get the result God wanted from all of us.  But God is love.  And love isn’t about being controlling, but rather invitation to deep relationship and community.  Love is the means.  The ends will take care of themselves.  Jesus calls us to be good trees, to build the house on a solid foundation, to follow his way of living and discipleship.  The means are important.  The means are what following Jesus is all about.

Control

19 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by in Church, Health, Organizational theory, Politics, Society, Theology

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I think there is a valid argument for saying that the biggest sin that humanity commits is control.  It’s a sin that puts the created in the place of the creator – crafting ourselves as a god.  The sin of control is the ultimate broken relationship with God.  It’s us saying to God: “We don’t like your ways.  We’ll do it our way, thank you very much.  You go sit over here for when we need you to bail us out.”

The first commandment states “You shall have no other gods before me.”  (Exodus 20:3)  This applies to how we make ourselves into a god as well – not just idols that are created and worshiped.

We do this when we try to control things by keeping them the way they are or try to re-create the past.  Except we can’t.  Change will happen, does happen, and there is no way to stop it.  We can certainly adapt to it.  We can resist it to some degree, especially if the change is not healthy and good.  We might even be able to redirect the change.  But that isn’t the same as trying to stop change and keep everything the same – forever.

Look at the effort we give to trying to stop change from happening.

The most obvious way this happens is with ourselves.  We try to stop the aging process instead of embracing it as a part of life and adapting to it.  Our bodies change – that is a fact.  Look at yourself in the mirror.  Is this what you looked like 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago?  Of course not.  Your body changed, regardless of how you wanted to stop it.  You couldn’t.  Even if we cover it up, have surgeries, exercise, and have procedures, the fact remains that your body is still changing.  Yet, we are told a lie that we can stop aging, that we can hold onto our youthful look, that we can make our bodies youthful again.  And many buy the lie that we can stop change in ourselves.  There’s a lot of money to be made with selling a nostalgic self-image.

We try to stop change in our institutions as well.  Church is a good example.  Many want it the way it was, the way we see it through an idealized lens in which the pews were full, the pastor did all the ministry, everyone in town came to worship, everyone dressed up, and the culture assisted the church with laws and mores that gave the church a privileged position in society.  We want church to be a steady rock that never changes, all the while we will voice a desire for change, mostly because it seems like the right thing to say.  That is until we actually consider how that change will impact us, not just other people.  We want change in church, but change that doesn’t require us to change, only other people.  Often the change that is voiced isn’t so much a change with progress forward, with adaptions, and new ministries to serve new peoples in our ever-changing communities.  Rather it is a change by looking backward to nostalgia.  We want the world and the church to go back to the way it was – ignoring the challenges and sins that existed in the church and in the world.  We want to make church a steady and stable rock again.  We want a sense of control over life.

Yet, when Jesus calls people to follow him, he is asking for a huge change – a personal change.  He’s saying drop everything – all the nostalgia and the desire to control and stop change – and follow me.  Die daily so that new life can take hold.  Don’t just voice it, actually do it.  Jesus said:

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do no do what I tell you?  I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.  But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.  When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of the house.”

(Luke 6:46-49)

We try to stop change politically and as a nation.  We hear it in the slogan “Make America Great Again.”  Many desire a change to some romanticized time in which all was well, that we were great, and everyone thrived.  Except this time never actually existed.  It’s a change backward, a reverse of time.  And it’s a lie.  There has never been a time in this country when all was well and where everyone thrived.  Never.  Certain groups of people certainly have, but not everyone.  And often there have been and still are groups of people who not only aren’t thriving, but are struggling to survive – pushed down by those in more privileged positions in life.  This is what the desire to control does.  There is a cost.

Things that are alive change and adapt.  Any science book will tell you that.  Things that are dead don’t move on their own and don’t adapt.  They wear away and decompose.  In that respect, even things that are dead change.  And eventually, they become unrecognizable and become dirt.  Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.

And in the end the question remains – what is the point of trying to stop change completely?  Or of turning back the clock?  Change is coming.  It is already here.  It walks with us.  Why not spend our energy adapting to it, maybe even steering it in a positive direction towards something that actually can allow for more people to thrive?  What if we took some of the good things of the past and adapted them for our present circumstances as opposed to trying to recreate the past?

What is the point of trying to change things in a backward fashion – to a time that never actually existed and certainly can’t be recreated.  Everything else has changed around us.  The environment in which we find ourselves has changed.  We can’t go back.  We can’t be any of those things again.

Change means there is newness.  There is no “again.”  No matter how much we desire it, we can’t go back in time and have those beautiful memories become reality again.  There is change.  There is life and there is death.  And out of death comes new life.  We allow the past to die so that there is new life in the present and the future.  Shackling the present and the future with the past doesn’t bring us back to the past and the way it was.  It just holds us hostage.  And in the mean time, the world continues to change, without our consent.  Because we are not in charge. And we fall further behind.  This makes adapting to changes more difficult and costly.

This is what it means to follow Jesus.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with the church.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with our nation.  We aren’t called to go backward in time with our bodies.  We are called to go forward and to let past things die, so that new life can take root.

To another [Jesus] said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

(Luke 9:59-62)

These would-be disciples wanted to go back, to hold onto the nostalgia – to bury their dead and to say farewell.  To look back.  But Jesus knows that a look back will only hold us back.  You can’t plow looking backwards.  You can’t drive a car looking in the rear view mirror.  You can’t walk forward while you keep your eye behind you.  It doesn’t work.  You can’t be the church, or you, or a nation by having a tight grip on the past, holding the present and the future hostage, with an old model that doesn’t meet current conditions and challenges and cultures.

Jesus calls us forward, not to a time of nostalgia.  The kingdom isn’t in the past.  The best days of the kingdom of God are unfolding now and are to come.  They aren’t in the past.  It’s unfolding right now.  It’s causing a change.  Will we be embraced by it, or will we resist it?  In the end, resisting it and trying to stop it will never win out.  It can’t.  Because change is always taking place.  The kingdom is always unfolding in new ways, in ways that are different from the past.

There’s nothing special about these people

13 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in Theology

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A fellow pastor and friend of mine once gave some sage advice – “When you follow Jesus, the world will break your heart over and over again.”  So true.

This coming Sunday we will hear about the beheading of John the Baptist.  I challenge you to google beheading and see the reality of this.  Look at an image.  That’s the reality of this passage of Scripture.  And it is the image of contrast of two feasts that are offered.

There is the banquet of Herod celebrating his birthday, and there is the feast that Jesus offers.  Two kings throwing a banquet in celebration, but the two banquets are far different from each other.

Herod’s feast is actually pretty lame.  It’s fake and based on lies.  Sure, the rich and powerful are there – all the celebrities of the kingdom, those that lobby for things, VIP’s, etc.  They are all there.  They say wonderful things about Herod – how great he is.  The food and entertainment are fabulous.

But it’s a lie, down to its core.  The people there don’t care about Herod, they are just like Herod.  They only care about themselves.  Sure they say wonderful things about him, but the reality is that the moment Herod dies, these same people will just jump ship and say the same lies to whoever is next in line.  Being close to the seat of power is what is important to them.

At Herod’s banquet, John, the prophet, is jailed because prophets tell the truth and say things that are uncomfortable and inconvenient to the privileged and comfortable of Herod’s court.  Prophets are inconvenient and they cause us to look at the reality that is in our face, as opposed to pushing it aside out of convenience.  Privilege and comfort have the luxury of pushing inconvenient and uncomfortable things aside so that they can continue living their lie.  They can tell themselves that the inconvenience and uncomfortableness of others doesn’t affect them.

Herod’s banquet is about cold, hard law, and compliance.  And even Herod is enslaved to that and suffers the consequences of his own law.  The man in charge is no more in charge than anyone else.  Zero tolerance law means everyone suffers harshly.  The law leads to death.

Herod, and everyone else at his banquet, is imprisoned by the lie that power sets you free.  Power entraps you and demands your life and tells you a lie.  In reality, you are a slave to it – and it is a hard task master.

Herod’s banquet leads to death.  Herod’s banquet is a fraud, just like Herod.  Herod, the king, won’t even get his hands dirty and carry out his own orders.  It might mess up his outfit.  He might get blood on his hands.  He might not be able to sleep well.  He shows how weak he really is.

The other banquet is the one Jesus holds.  It’s a feast.  All are invited.  The poor and homeless will be there.  So will the outcast, the prostitute, and more.  The rich, the powerful are also invited.  So are the people in the middle.  Jesus’ feast leads to transformed lives.  Jesus is willing to get his hands dirty – showing us over and over again his willingness to be ritually unclean by touching the impure and healing them and bringing them into community.  Jesus’ feast brings life.  And all are welcome, not just the VIPs.

Every would be Herod does the same thing, says the same things, gets the same results.  There is nothing special about Herod or any who would be Herod.  These people are all the same, the only difference is the name.

This was true of the kings in the Old Testament.  It was true of the kings in the New Testament.  It was true of the kings since the time of Scripture.  It is still true today.  There is nothing special about Herod or anyone like him.  Nothing.  At all.

There is nothing special about people who use Herod’s language, who use the law the way that Herod did, who implement Herod-like policies.

There is nothing special about people who use anger and fear and violence to get their way.

There is nothing special or unique about people who spin things that are unethical, like Herod did, in order to comfort their wrecked conscious.

There is nothing special about any of these people.  And that may be the biggest insult these people can possibly hear.  That they are not special.  They and their methods are run of the mill.

Herod sent out an invitation to his banquet.  But he rejects God’s invitation, beheading God’s messenger instead.

Herod and those like him – both before and after – are not special.  They reject an incredible gift from God.  And God honors their request for God to be out of their lives.  They live in their own version of hell and suffer the consequences that they impose on themselves.  That’s not special.

What is special is Jesus and his way.  A way far different from the way of the Herods of every age, including our own.  A way that calls on us to die daily to ourselves so that we can rise in the fullness of who God calls us to be.  A way that is risky and doesn’t come with all the answers and glitz and glamor.  A way that is uncomfortable and inconvenient. A way that opens our eyes to see things we cannot unsee.  A way that the world rejects and thinks is crazy.  A way that causes us to go and do.  A way that transforms lives, not just allows us to survive.  A way of love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and peace.  It is the way of Jesus.

It is special because it is different.  It is special because it is so often put aside.  It is special because those that follow it know something unique – that life is so much more than power, or stuff, or strength, or being right, or money, or fear, or anger, or anything else.  Life is a gift from God.  Faith is a gift from God.  And God invites us to use these gifts to participate in the unfolding of God’s Kingdom.