Tag Archives: love

Love is the only way

23 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by in Humanity, Theology

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It is easy to get distracted.  It’s easy to get pulled away.  Oh so often have I fallen away, being drug back to a way of politics and partisanship – a way that doesn’t lead to life.  Rather it leads to competition, compliance, demand, division, separation, anger, fear, and so much more.  All of these things pull at me time and time again.  Oh so often have I succumbed to them.  They are a hard task master – a way that demands things from its followers.  A way that is heavy.  A way that beats down all who are not strong.

But this is not the way of Christ.  Love is the only way.

As I have struggled through this week over everything surrounding immigration, the separation of children from parents, the comments in response, the rhetoric, the stories, and more, I have wandered in what feels like a haze.  I have felt the grasp of fear and anger all around.  Anxiety has made its home in the pit of my stomach.

My heart has broken over and over again.  I have gone through a range of emotions – not all of them healthy.  I have been angry at those who seem blinded to the plight of the refugee seeking asylum.  I have wondered why people can’t see their plight.

Why do Christians, those who claim to follow Christ and all he taught, seem blind to the plight of other human beings?  To turn our backs on those who suffer?  To block out the humanity of the most vulnerable?  To turn our backs on the least of these – our brothers and sisters.

My anger is gone now.  My sorrow flows freely though.  I am sad for the refugees.  But my heart breaks even more for this nation and the people who are gripped by fear and anger.  My heart rips open for those who live by fear and anger.  Fear and anger consume so many and consume our nation.  And when words fail to settle our differences, when words fail to bring calm, then fear and anger will lead to violence.  And my heart breaks more.

My heart breaks over and over.  And I am reminded that love is the only way.  Fear leads to death.  Anger leads to death.  Love is the only way to life.

We are called to love.  Not cheap love – very costly love.  Love isn’t about being right and convincing others to follow along.  Love sees no enemies – only fellow children of God.  We are called to love our neighbors.   We are called to love our enemies.  We are called to love refugees and strangers.   We are called to love the most vulnerable.  We are called to love those that we fear the most.

Love is vulnerable.  Love is risky.  Love is uncontrollable.  Love is costly.

Jesus asks the disciples in Mark 4 “Why are you afraid?” He asks us this same question at this moment in history.  He asks us why we are afraid of refugees.  Jesus asks us, not to gain political points.  Not to get voters in a political party.  Jesus asks us why we are afraid because we have lost sight of him and his way – love.  Love is the only way.  Nothing else matters.  Nothing else will survive.  Nothing else will change the world.

Do we believe Jesus?  Do we believe Jesus’ way?  Or do think that it is just a bunch of nice ideas that can never really work?  Now is the time to show what we truly believe.  The old hymn tells us that “they will know we are Christians by our love.”  Now is the time Christian.  Now is the time to live by love.  Because love is the only way.

Force, strength, control, walls, violence, separation, rhetoric – none of these can ever conquer the world.  None of these can change the world.  None of these are the way of Christ.  None of these will last.  Love is the only way.

And so I love the refugees and my heart breaks for them.  I love the border guards who are doing their duty and my heart breaks for them.  I love the vocal defenders and those who willingly dehumanize children sent to cages and my heart breaks for them.  I love Jeff Sessions and my heart breaks for him.  I love Donald Trump and my heart breaks for him.  This is a painful love.  But it is the only way that I know to go forward.  It is the only way that has not been tried.  It is the only way to really follow Christ.

Love is the only way.

Love in truth and action

23 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by in Church, Health, Humanity, Society, Theology

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How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

(1 John 3:17-18)

This reading was part of the lectionary for this past Sunday.  It’s the portion of Scripture that I preached on.  The interesting thing about this is the my sermon significantly changed between the two services.  I realized that what I was preaching was not connecting with people.  So I scrapped the middle part of the sermon and made other changes for the second service. That’s the benefit of being someone who preaches with no notes or a manuscript.  The end result was that the second sermon was far superior to the first sermon.

As I prepared for worship this past week, this passage of Scripture caught my attention and would not let go.  When this happens, I have learned to wait and see what God has in mind.

God didn’t disappoint.  This past week I wrote about the ministry we do at Flying J.  We make sure people get showers that need them, we do laundry with people, and we make sure people are fed. Most importantly, we get to know names and start to learn people’s stories and just sit with people – remind them of their humanity and how God loves them.

This past Thursday was no different.  We had 15 people who came seeking a variety of things.  We meet all sorts of people during out time there. This past Thursday, we met someone who needed some help.  Today there was a follow-up.  This person had pretty much nothing – except their dogs.  Just a few bags with them and that’s all.  No money.  No place to go.  No food.  No nothing.

And I was drawn back to 1 John 3:17-18.  This was someone in need – how could I refuse to help?  We got the person set up in a hotel for the night, got them some gift cards for food that they could get for themselves and their dogs, gave contact information for longer term housing and other services, and offered a prayer with the person.  Also, I told this person that we, the church, weren’t interested in just throwing some material things at them and wishing them luck.  This was the start of a longer term relationship.  But for right now, let’s take this one day at a time.  It was time to stop the bleeding – get some food, get into stable housing, and then start to get their life in order.

The person was grateful for the help and saw this as an opportunity for a fresh start.  And in many ways, it is a fresh start.  In some ways, this is no different from receiving forgiveness of our sins – we get a fresh start, even when we haven’t done anything on our own to deserve it.

Last night, this person rested peacefully, in shelter, with food for both them and their dogs.  Today would be a fresh start with new challenges.  But they would not be walking alone.

Love is more than just a bunch of words meant to comfort and console.  Sometimes, comfort and consoling are exactly what is needed. Other times, like in this case, words and speech would be empty and meaningless.  In this case truth and action were needed.

At the beginning of the week I didn’t know why I was drawn to 1 John 3:17-18.  By yesterday, I knew.

“That’s what Christians are supposed to do…”

19 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by in Church, Politics, Theology

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“That’s what Christians are supposed to be doing…”

This is the phrase a non-religious friend of mine said when we were talking yesterday.  We were talking about ways to tackle homelessness and I had the opportunity to share with my friend what the good people at St. Stephen Lutheran Church were undertaking – doing ministry over at the Flying J – making sure people had access to showers, laundry, and food.  We spoke for several minutes about some other opportunities we were considering and the many possibilities that existed to make an impact in the lives of people who needed help – including getting people connected with resources and professionals that could help them.

That’s when my friend said those words that caught my attention.

And revealed something insightful to me as well.

How are we Christians known and what are we known for?  Are we known because of a sect of Christianity that seems more concerned with aligning with political power – if so, then we have our focus in the wrong place.  If this is the most important thing that we Christians do, then there is something seriously wrong with our Christianity and with our faith.

I don’t buy the notion that Jesus died for our sins so that we could align ourselves with one or the other political party in the US in the 21st century and treat our political opponents in a very non-Sermon on the Mount way.

The old hymn says that they will know we are Christians by our love.  Not by our politics.  Not by our fear.  Not by our separating people into us and them.  Not into our allegiance and loyalty to a party, politician, or nation.  By our love.

Love acted out.  Love that this lived out.

It is time for Christians to act like Christians again.  Let me alter that – there are many Christians who do live out their faith and love.  They just don’t get the attention that many other Christians do who are more interested in making stupid comments about how we shouldn’t vaccinate our kids or that God is punishing some portion of the country through disasters because we don’t hate homosexuals enough or other such nonsense.

They will know we are Christians by our love.  They will know we are Christians by the care we give and offer the poor and outcast.  They will know we are Christians by using what we have been giving to help those in need.  They will know we are Christians by how we feed people.  They will know we are Christians by how we value people – all people.  They will know.  Why?

As my friend so eloquently stated – “That’s what Christians are supposed to be doing…”

It’s just so obvious.  It’s obvious to someone who isn’t even a practicing Christian that this is what Christianity is supposed to be about.  Why isn’t it obvious to practicing Christians?

As we heard in our Gospel lesson from this past Sunday – Jesus said.  “The time has been fulfilled.  The Kingdom of God has come near.”  The time is now for us to act like Christians.  God’s Kingdom is at hand.

A simple message for today

15 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by in Theology

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I don’t feel like writing much for today.  So, I’m keeping it real simple.  Here’s what you need to know:  God loves you so much that God keeps coming and coming to each one of us over and over, again.  God doesn’t get tired or exhausted.  And there is nothing you can do to move closer to God.  God’s taking care of it all.  Just let that sink in.

Lessons in Christianity – Love

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by in Theology

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I thought it might be helpful to offer a quick lesson in Christianity.  We can call it Christianity 101.

But I’m realistic about this too.  Unfortunately, the people who should read these lessons probably won’t ever see them.  So for all you who are doing the best you can to live out the Christian calling – maybe you’ll find this as an encouragement.

Lesson #1 – Love.

This is really simple.  Love is pretty much the basis here.  I’m not talking about gushy romantic love.  I’m talking about love that knows no limits.  This is the love God has for us and empowers us to go and love others – even our enemies.  Yes, you heard that right, even our enemies.  We are called to love our enemies.  Not bomb them, kill them, insult them, swear at them, hit them, attack them, etc.  Nope, just love them.

Lesson #1.2

Saying that love is what’s it about is easy.  Actually living that out is not easy at all.  Why?  Because of the last part – loving our enemies.  It’s a great idea in theory, but then God gets all in our face and actually calls on us to do it.  Whaaaaa????  So what does this mean in a practical sense?  Well, it means we love those who would and have hurt us.  We love those that would want to kill us.  Hello, ISIS comes to mind here.  Maybe the North Koreans.  All of sudden this whole love your enemy thing gets really difficult.

How do you love someone who wants nothing more than to see you die?  I don’t know to be perfectly honest.  I do know this much – prayer for our enemies is a good place to start.  Prayer that puts our enemies in God’s hands, that asks that our enemies would experience peace and love and grace and mercy.  What comes after that?  That’s when we listen to what God is calling us to be and do.  I know this much – love doesn’t have room for killing.

Lesson #1.3

If your version of Christianity tells you that it’s ok to not love someone because they believe something different from you – well, then you aren’t grasping this whole love thing.  Time to reboot and start over.

Jesus on dealing with difficult people

11 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by in Church, Theology

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Here’s the Gospel reading from this past Sunday:

15 ‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. 18Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’

(Source – Matthew 18:15-20, NRSV)

First let me say, I’m not crazy about this translation.  When you look at the Greek, you wouldn’t translated the world adelphos as member of the church like the NRSV does.  Instead brother or sister is more accurate. The point is that this is someone close that Jesus talking about – someone with which the disciples would have had a long-term, on going interaction/relationship with.

Secondly, the term for sin needs some clarification.  The term here is translated as sin, as in missing the mark, bad action, etc.  However, it’s a bit off of what Jesus probably would have understood as sin – the same could be said for Paul and other Jewish Christians of the time.  In Hebrew, there are nine words for sin – six of which are nouns and three are verbs.  And the vast majority of the usage is with a noun.  The focus of sin is the broken relationship, the turning away from another/God, revolt, wandering, etc.  It’s about a state of being.

That’s all the foundation of what’s going on in this passage.

So what does it mean when it comes to dealing with difficult people?  First, Jesus isn’t saying put on rose-colored glasses and walk into something that is going to go bad all on your own.  Jesus is emphasizing the importance of community – close-knit community.

Secondly, taken out of context, this passage of Scripture looks like Jesus just made a check list of actions to take followed by the endorsement of casting someone out at the end if they just won’t listen.  The problem with that is this is not what Jesus is saying because that would contradict everything we know about Jesus.

How many times did Jesus eat with tax collectors?  Tough to say exactly.  We all know the story of Zacchaeus – Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house.  Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector to be one of the 12.  Jesus wasn’t taking the typical approach towards tax collectors.  Instead what Jesus is saying is that love knows no bounds.  If a person who is in a long-term tight-knit community has a broken relationship with others within that community and they won’t listen to correction, Jesus is saying continue to offer love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, just as you would a Gentile or tax collector.

In other words, the point is not to let the other person dictate how we respond to them.  Because we had a broken relationship with God, yet Jesus radically reorients us towards God again, we are called on to offer grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness to others who are close to us – even those that are close and have hurt us.  Jesus invited many into his close-knit community.  The response varied.  We invite people to be closer, but we can’t control how they respond.

In the next section of Matthew 18, we’ll hear Peter ask how many times we are to forgive someone who breaks a relationship with us – seven times Peter asks.  No Jesus says – 77 times.  In other words, we keep offering.  Always moving towards others.  That’s what love does – it brings people together and moves them in the direction of one another.

 

Love is…

08 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by in Theology

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I recently read an article that defined love as the absence of power.  The fascinating thing about this definition is that it was in relation to an article about politics. Given that information, I’m not surprised that the author defined love that way.

But I think the author was way off.  Love isn’t the absence of power at all.  In fact, love is very powerful.  Maybe part of the difference here as to do with definitions – specifically for love and for power.

I think love is the presence of power.  But it is not power that is held over someone or used to force someone into something.  That isn’t love at all, but rather coercion, or manipulation.

Love, however, is powerful.  Love is the power behind forgiveness.  Love is the power behind grace.  Love is the power behind freedom.  Love is the power behind mercy.  Love is the power behind peace.  Without love, why would we live any of these things out?

Being fed and feeding

07 Monday Aug 2017

Posted by in Sermon Prep, Theology

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Yesterday’s reading in the Revised Common Lectionary were all about feeding.  Isaiah 55 spoke of coming to the water, and asked why spend money on that which is not food.  Our Gospel story was from Matthew 14 and told of the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5000+ in a desolate place.

There is a great deal debate over this reading – did Jesus do a real miracle by multiplying the loaves and fishes, or was the real miracle that people saw Jesus sharing what little there was and they began to share.  I don’t think it matters – regardless of the how, thousands were fed – that’s a miracle.

Instead, I would rather focus on the fact that this was a desolate place – that’s the terminology we are given.  Desolate, deserted, empty – they all mean the same thing ultimately.  These terms signify that there is no life, nothing of value.  And this is where Jesus goes.

The people go to where Jesus is.  I think it’s quite fitting that the crowd would search out Jesus in a desolate place.  Desolation isn’t just a physical place – it’s a state of being for some people, maybe for many people.  So many people are empty, exhausted, and their state of being is desolate.  There is no life where they are.  Yet, if they are searching, they are hungry.  They are hungry for food, for love, for attention, for care, for mercy, for forgiveness.

But where there is desolation, Jesus shows up and amazing things happen.  Jesus shows up and people are fed.  Not just enough to kill the hunger pains, but we are told to their fill.  But it doesn’t stop there – the disciples collected the leftovers and found 12 baskets full.  That’s because when Jesus shows up, there is overflowing abundance – never to run out.

Jesus shows up and amazing things happen.  People are fed love – in overwhelming ways.  Where they had only received conditional love, Jesus gives unconditional love – to the point of death.  We are overwhelmed by God’s love and have more than enough to give to others.

Jesus shows up and we receive forgiveness.  Forgiveness that we don’t deserve and can’t possibly do enough to earn.  Yet, it is given – in overflowing abundance.  So much so that we take the extra and give it our to others who need forgiveness.

Jesus shows up and we receive mercy and grace and so much more.  And we receive these things in overwhelming abundance.  So much so that we give it away.

The miracle isn’t that God is this good.  The miracle is that we are invited to participate in handing out God’s overwhelming abundance to others.  The miracle is that it doesn’t run out – ever.  When Jesus shows up to places where there is desolation – to lives where desolation runs rampant – lives change in overwhelming and abundant ways.  Thanks be to God!

God in the movies

20 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in Society, Theology

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So recently I’ve watch a couple of movies that involve angels – you know messengers of God.  The first movie was called “Gabriel.”  Take a wild guess about which angel this is about.  The movie is described as a mix between Western and the Matrix.  Which is pretty accurate.  The other movie was called “Legion.” it’s like the end times meet zombie movie.

I’ll spare you the details of both of these movies and tell you that both movies had really bad theology.  Let’s just put it this way – when you movie makes Michael the archangel into a fallen angel or disobeying God’s command, where you get the theology around Purgatory wrong, and where God is so ticked off at humanity that God decides to use angels to destroy humanity, you’ve got some bad theology going on.

Regardless, the benefit of watching these movies is to see how God is popularly displayed for entertainment purposes.

The message that is put out is that God is angry and ready to kick butt and take names.

The message is that the forces of good will use evil means, as if those means were the only option available.

The message is that might makes right.

These of course are the messages that our culture and world live by and have for most of human history.

Last week was Holy Week, which is a big contrast with these messages.  Holy Week shows us Jesus who carries a different message.  A message of Good News, even if the message is often misunderstood or ignored.  That doesn’t matter, Jesus kept on spreading the message anyway.

It’s a message that Jesus didn’t conquer through force, but rather love – self-emptying love.  To the point of death.

Evil uses force in order to get its way.  It has to.  But here’s the thing, in the end, it is that very same use of force that destroys evil.  It is self-destructive.

Love on the other hand is different.  It’s expansive.  Which is exactly what God is.

But I don’t expect there to be a movie that focuses on God’s love.  It wouldn’t fit into a popular movie theme.  There wouldn’t be a good guy and bad guy.  There wouldn’t be fallen angels.  There wouldn’t be the use of force to win.

But that’s ok because God’s love isn’t made for a movie.  It’s made for life.  For us to experience it and for us to live it out and share it with others.