If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. ~ I Corinthians 13
Between putting together a wedding liturgy planning booklet, doing my own wedding planning, and reading all the hype about Rob Bell's new book (which I really want to get my hands on), I have been thinking a lot about love.
Well, the liturgy planning booklet hasn't gotten me thinking about love that much, although I do enjoy projects like this where there is actually a visible proof that I have accomplished something.
And while I have been enjoying the ease with which wedding planning has gone so far (thanks to my fabulous family), it's not the planning that gets me thinking about love...I love my fiancee and I love the idea that, by the grace of God, we will get to spend the rest of our lives together. But I don't have to think about it that much, I just love him.
So I guess it's the Rob Bell book that's gotten me thinking about love...and not just any love, divine love.
As I mentioned, I haven't read the book yet...but the more I read about the accusations of heresy and the more my friends talk about it, the more I want to run to the book store down town and get a copy...except the bookstore downtown doesn't have it yet and it's too new to find at the used book sellers in town.
I am a fan of Rob Bell. I like the Nooma series and have found it to have more of a Lutheran spin to it than an Evangelical one...though I must admit that as open minded as I claim to be, I tend to be overly cautious about things that are labeled as Evangelical...it could have something to do with the fact that some who call themselves Evangelical would not consider my call to ministry valid, or that many televangelists who label themselves as Evangelicals have been exposed as hypocrites or have given the word Christian a bad rap by spouting hate language, blaming this group or that group (though it's usually the gays) for this or that disaster. I do know that not all Evangelicals are bad...after all, I am ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and therefore, by association, am technically Evangelical. And if you work with the traditional meaning of Evangelical, I will claim that...but I shy away from how is has been seen in the public eye lately.
But I digress.
This whole deal about whether or not Rob Bell is a heretic based off of a 2:30 minute video is kind of silly, I think. There was one blog I read where the blogger, attacked Bell's theology based off of something that the blogger misquoted. It could be that we heard the same thing, but heard it differently...I'm not here to say that this blogger is wrong. But I am perplexed that people are calling Bell a heretic for suggesting the following:
#1) Mahatma Ghandi is in heaven
#2) Heaven is full of surprises and we don't know the full extent of God's love..and most likely, it's greater than we imagine.
Where's the heresy in that?
Mahatma Ghandi is very well known for being fond of the teachings of Christ. Christ's teaching to "turn the other cheek" from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 is where Ghandi gleaned the idea of non-violent resistance. He even said "I like your Christ, I don't like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Could it be that while Ghandi was not a Christian, he was a Christ follower?
As far as the heaven being full of surprises and not knowing the full extent of God's love, isn't that Gospel good news? I don't know about you, but stories like this past week's Gospel about the Samaritan Woman at the Well from John 4, and the parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee from the Gospel of Luke, bring me to tears sometimes because they remind me of just how great God's love truly is...that God would have mercy on even a poor sinner like me (Growing up in the LCMS, I got used to referring to myself as a "poor miserable sinner" on almost a weekly basis, and I admit it, try as I might to be otherwise, that is what I am...though I will also answer to "beloved child of God"). And if you know me and my faith story, about the crisis I went through in my late teens, you know that I believe in an all loving God...one who loved the world so much that he made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be his. So if someone is suggesting that above all, Love wins, I have no problem with that.
Again, I haven't read the book, this is only what I have gleaned from the promo-video and the reviews of said video. I will report back when I have read the book. These are just my thoughts on the hype.
I welcome your thoughts as well.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Living Water
March 27, 2011
Third Sunday in Lent
John 4:5-42
Last week in our Gospel text we witnessed the famous encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus the Pharisee…you know, the one that’s quoted time and time again on posters brought by fans to sporting events. What people don’t tell you when they quote John 3:16 on their poster boards at sports arenas is the rest of the story, how it took place at night amid whispers…and how Nicodemus, a very well educated man and an authority on matters of scripture and faith, comes to Jesus and acknowledges that he is one sent from God but then cannot quite grasp the notion of how one can be born again, even if it is the spiritual birth by water and the Sprit that Jesus tells him about…and on some rational level Nicodemus’ lack of grasping is quite understandable.
Then this morning, we were just witnesses to a less famous, but equally as important, exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob in Sychar, a city of Samaria. It is an encounter that takes place during the day, probably around lunch time since the disciples had gone to get food. And the encounter Jesus has is with a nameless woman from Samaria, a group of people that Jews did not interact with…to the Jews, the Samaritans were folks “from the other side of the tracks,” outsiders. And it is during this encounter that we not only learn about the courage of this woman, for even though she knows Jews and Samaritans are not supposed to interact, she engages him in relgions debate in regards to worship and the coming of the Messiah…but we also witness the love of Jesus for a woman he did not know, a woman who was nameless, from a group of outsiders and who had led a rough life. In telling this woman about her life, he names the pain that she has experienced and offers her dignity, life and living water.
This past week, I stumbled on to some interesting information about the woman featured in our Gospel text this morning. The Samaritan woman that Jesus met at Jacob’s well in Sychar is a Saint in the Orthodox church. After consulting a source from the Russian Orthodox church, this is what I found.
The holy martyr Photina (Svetlana) ... was that Samaritan woman who had the rare fortune to speak with the Lord Christ Himself at Jacob's Well in Sychar (John. 4). Coming to faith in the Lord, she then came to belief in His Gospel, together with her two sons…and five sisters…They went to Carthage in Africa. But they were arrested and taken to Rome in the time of the Emperor Nero, and thrown into prison. By the providence of God, Domnina, Nero's daughter, came into contact with St. Photina and was brought by her to the Christian faith. After imprisonment, they all suffered for Christ. Photina, who first encountered the light of truth by a well, was thrown into a well, where she died and entered into the immortal Kingdom of Christ." (Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic, The Prolog from Ochrid / Ohridski Prolog)
The Byzantine church even wrote a hymn in honor of her saint day, which is February 28th: By the well of Jacob, O holy one, / thou didst find the Water / of eternal and blessed life; / and having partaken / thereof, O wise Photina, / thou wentest forth proclaiming Christ, the Anointed One. (Megalynarion for St. Photina, according to the Byzantine usage.)
The western church hasn’t been as kind to the Samaritan woman as the Orthodox traditions. There have been and are still many sermons preached about this woman where she is painted as a sexually immoral woman, having had 5 husbands and living in sin with a 6th. But if you look at the text itself, there is no mention of the woman’s sin or need for repentance…what is more likely is that this woman has had a hard go of it, probably having been widowed or left by husbands 1-5 with man number 6 being her care taker, possibly a brother of a former husband. Whatever the case may be, the Samaritan woman at the well needs one thing…someone to see her for who she really is and to love her for who she really is, sinner or saint or both.
And that’s what Jesus offers her. As tired as he is, he sits with this nameless woman at the well of Jacob, a Samaritan woman none the less (both the Sarmaitan part and the woman part being no-no’s, by the way) and lets her know that when he looks at her, he doesn’t just see a woman from the other side of the tracks, he sees someone who has had a rough past and is in need of healing. In the rest of her life, she was probably seen as a very unlucky woman to have lost 5 husbands and to need the help of a guardian. Or was she even seen at all, did she matter to her community?…and if she was seen, did they really know what she had been through? or was she walking through town and out to the well holding this pain inside of her, buried where no one else could see it? Regardless of how she was seen, at the well of Jacob, the Samaritan woman has an encounter with someone who truly sees her, who names her pain and who, by naming her pain, helps her to heal and frees her by letting her know that she matters.
But he doesn’t just do that, he also offers her living water…water that satisfies even the greatest thirst…and not a physical thirst, but a spiritual thirst and in receiving this water she receives wholeness…or “shalom”. And that’s not all! In this encounter at the well it is made known to the woman that she is in the presence of God. When we hear the words “I am he” in English, the Greek is skewed a bit. What it says in the original is “I AM,” the name of God as revealed to Moses through the burning bush. No wonder the woman forgets her water jar when she runs back to the town and tells those she meets about her conversation with Jesus. No wonder she urges them all to come and see, to have the experience that she has had with the Messiah.
I love this story. I love it because of the courage the woman had to challenge Jesus, I love it because of her excitement after meeting Jesus, and I love it because it is a story about us too. Put yourself in the place of the Samaritan woman standing at a well in the middle of the desert that we call life. Is there some thing you hold inside of you but don’t want to admit to anyone else? Are there any pains that you have experienced that you are hiding? or that the world knows about but pretends to ignore? Are you experiencing a thirst that no amount of water could cure? Are you experiencing a hunger that no amount of food could end? These are realities of life lived as sinners…there are pains we experience, and sometimes life leaves us dry, aching for something to quench our thirst or end the hunger that our hearts are experiencing. It is in those moments that Jesus comes and finds us and he offers us a wonderful gift. No matter how hard we try to hide these pains from the world, Jesus knows them and Jesus is ready to name the pains that plague us, name the realities that we live in and then say…it’s ok, leave those pains, those secrets with me…leave them with me and I will wash them away for you. You are mine and more than anything else you matter to me. You matter to me so much that I want to give you water that will quench the thirst of your heart and food that will end the hunger of your soul…and then I’m going to do something more...for the simple fact that you matter to me and are loved by me, I am going to die for you and release you from the sin and the pain that have tied you down so that you can be free to live your life to the fullest.
As we stand with the Samaritan woman at the well, we have this gracious invitation to take all the baggage we bring with us and leave it with Jesus, let him wash it all away with living water. It is news worthy of leaving that water jug at the well and running to our friends and neighbors exclaiming, “Come and See!”
Third Sunday in Lent
John 4:5-42
Last week in our Gospel text we witnessed the famous encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus the Pharisee…you know, the one that’s quoted time and time again on posters brought by fans to sporting events. What people don’t tell you when they quote John 3:16 on their poster boards at sports arenas is the rest of the story, how it took place at night amid whispers…and how Nicodemus, a very well educated man and an authority on matters of scripture and faith, comes to Jesus and acknowledges that he is one sent from God but then cannot quite grasp the notion of how one can be born again, even if it is the spiritual birth by water and the Sprit that Jesus tells him about…and on some rational level Nicodemus’ lack of grasping is quite understandable.
Then this morning, we were just witnesses to a less famous, but equally as important, exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob in Sychar, a city of Samaria. It is an encounter that takes place during the day, probably around lunch time since the disciples had gone to get food. And the encounter Jesus has is with a nameless woman from Samaria, a group of people that Jews did not interact with…to the Jews, the Samaritans were folks “from the other side of the tracks,” outsiders. And it is during this encounter that we not only learn about the courage of this woman, for even though she knows Jews and Samaritans are not supposed to interact, she engages him in relgions debate in regards to worship and the coming of the Messiah…but we also witness the love of Jesus for a woman he did not know, a woman who was nameless, from a group of outsiders and who had led a rough life. In telling this woman about her life, he names the pain that she has experienced and offers her dignity, life and living water.
This past week, I stumbled on to some interesting information about the woman featured in our Gospel text this morning. The Samaritan woman that Jesus met at Jacob’s well in Sychar is a Saint in the Orthodox church. After consulting a source from the Russian Orthodox church, this is what I found.
The holy martyr Photina (Svetlana) ... was that Samaritan woman who had the rare fortune to speak with the Lord Christ Himself at Jacob's Well in Sychar (John. 4). Coming to faith in the Lord, she then came to belief in His Gospel, together with her two sons…and five sisters…They went to Carthage in Africa. But they were arrested and taken to Rome in the time of the Emperor Nero, and thrown into prison. By the providence of God, Domnina, Nero's daughter, came into contact with St. Photina and was brought by her to the Christian faith. After imprisonment, they all suffered for Christ. Photina, who first encountered the light of truth by a well, was thrown into a well, where she died and entered into the immortal Kingdom of Christ." (Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic, The Prolog from Ochrid / Ohridski Prolog)
The Byzantine church even wrote a hymn in honor of her saint day, which is February 28th: By the well of Jacob, O holy one, / thou didst find the Water / of eternal and blessed life; / and having partaken / thereof, O wise Photina, / thou wentest forth proclaiming Christ, the Anointed One. (Megalynarion for St. Photina, according to the Byzantine usage.)
The western church hasn’t been as kind to the Samaritan woman as the Orthodox traditions. There have been and are still many sermons preached about this woman where she is painted as a sexually immoral woman, having had 5 husbands and living in sin with a 6th. But if you look at the text itself, there is no mention of the woman’s sin or need for repentance…what is more likely is that this woman has had a hard go of it, probably having been widowed or left by husbands 1-5 with man number 6 being her care taker, possibly a brother of a former husband. Whatever the case may be, the Samaritan woman at the well needs one thing…someone to see her for who she really is and to love her for who she really is, sinner or saint or both.
And that’s what Jesus offers her. As tired as he is, he sits with this nameless woman at the well of Jacob, a Samaritan woman none the less (both the Sarmaitan part and the woman part being no-no’s, by the way) and lets her know that when he looks at her, he doesn’t just see a woman from the other side of the tracks, he sees someone who has had a rough past and is in need of healing. In the rest of her life, she was probably seen as a very unlucky woman to have lost 5 husbands and to need the help of a guardian. Or was she even seen at all, did she matter to her community?…and if she was seen, did they really know what she had been through? or was she walking through town and out to the well holding this pain inside of her, buried where no one else could see it? Regardless of how she was seen, at the well of Jacob, the Samaritan woman has an encounter with someone who truly sees her, who names her pain and who, by naming her pain, helps her to heal and frees her by letting her know that she matters.
But he doesn’t just do that, he also offers her living water…water that satisfies even the greatest thirst…and not a physical thirst, but a spiritual thirst and in receiving this water she receives wholeness…or “shalom”. And that’s not all! In this encounter at the well it is made known to the woman that she is in the presence of God. When we hear the words “I am he” in English, the Greek is skewed a bit. What it says in the original is “I AM,” the name of God as revealed to Moses through the burning bush. No wonder the woman forgets her water jar when she runs back to the town and tells those she meets about her conversation with Jesus. No wonder she urges them all to come and see, to have the experience that she has had with the Messiah.
I love this story. I love it because of the courage the woman had to challenge Jesus, I love it because of her excitement after meeting Jesus, and I love it because it is a story about us too. Put yourself in the place of the Samaritan woman standing at a well in the middle of the desert that we call life. Is there some thing you hold inside of you but don’t want to admit to anyone else? Are there any pains that you have experienced that you are hiding? or that the world knows about but pretends to ignore? Are you experiencing a thirst that no amount of water could cure? Are you experiencing a hunger that no amount of food could end? These are realities of life lived as sinners…there are pains we experience, and sometimes life leaves us dry, aching for something to quench our thirst or end the hunger that our hearts are experiencing. It is in those moments that Jesus comes and finds us and he offers us a wonderful gift. No matter how hard we try to hide these pains from the world, Jesus knows them and Jesus is ready to name the pains that plague us, name the realities that we live in and then say…it’s ok, leave those pains, those secrets with me…leave them with me and I will wash them away for you. You are mine and more than anything else you matter to me. You matter to me so much that I want to give you water that will quench the thirst of your heart and food that will end the hunger of your soul…and then I’m going to do something more...for the simple fact that you matter to me and are loved by me, I am going to die for you and release you from the sin and the pain that have tied you down so that you can be free to live your life to the fullest.
As we stand with the Samaritan woman at the well, we have this gracious invitation to take all the baggage we bring with us and leave it with Jesus, let him wash it all away with living water. It is news worthy of leaving that water jug at the well and running to our friends and neighbors exclaiming, “Come and See!”
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
God's got the whole world in God's hands
Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Floods, Tornadoes, Nations cities and states rising up against themselves...are these just the beginning of the birth pangs?
Between all the natural disasters that our world has faced in the past couple years, the fear mongering in response to these disasters, and the politicians of our world squaring off against each other in really nasty hate speech, it's hard not to wonder if this is what Jesus was talking about in the synoptic gospels when he spoke of the end times. One of my colleagues, who is a Baptist pastor, says "yes, absolutely." The day before Ash Wednesday we were chatting about the politics of our country and how that played in with everything else that was going on in the world and he suggested that maybe the Mayan calendar really is predicting something catastrophic...not necessarily the coming of Christ, yet...but something pretty catastrophic on a world wide scale.
It's hard not to get discouraged when it seems like the world is starting to fall apart and people are trying to predict which coast of the United States is going to fall into the ocean first as the result of a massive earthquake similar to or greater than the magnitude of the earthquake in Japan a week ago, all the while the political divisions in this country are growing and politicians are trying to pull things over on the people who elected them into office.
But then we have days like today when, here in Lawrence, KS, it is 65 and sunny and the crocuses are blooming. And we have facebook, where a growing number of my friends have posted ultrasound photos of their unborn children. And we have Wednesday afternoons, when the children's choir meets and the sounds of young voices flow down from the music room, and for a little while the world doesn't seem like such a bad place. There is hope on days like this, there is hope in those ultrasounds and in the voices of little ones. And that hope helps me to trust even more fervently that God's got it all in God's hands and it's all going to work out. God is going to make good come from bad situations, he always has and will continue to do so.
Below are the lyrics to the song "Your Hands" by J.J. Heller...I hope they are as hopeful and helpful to you as they are to me.
I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crookedly lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands
When You walked upon the Earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know You hate to see me cry
One day You will set all things right
When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands
Your hands
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still
Between all the natural disasters that our world has faced in the past couple years, the fear mongering in response to these disasters, and the politicians of our world squaring off against each other in really nasty hate speech, it's hard not to wonder if this is what Jesus was talking about in the synoptic gospels when he spoke of the end times. One of my colleagues, who is a Baptist pastor, says "yes, absolutely." The day before Ash Wednesday we were chatting about the politics of our country and how that played in with everything else that was going on in the world and he suggested that maybe the Mayan calendar really is predicting something catastrophic...not necessarily the coming of Christ, yet...but something pretty catastrophic on a world wide scale.
It's hard not to get discouraged when it seems like the world is starting to fall apart and people are trying to predict which coast of the United States is going to fall into the ocean first as the result of a massive earthquake similar to or greater than the magnitude of the earthquake in Japan a week ago, all the while the political divisions in this country are growing and politicians are trying to pull things over on the people who elected them into office.
But then we have days like today when, here in Lawrence, KS, it is 65 and sunny and the crocuses are blooming. And we have facebook, where a growing number of my friends have posted ultrasound photos of their unborn children. And we have Wednesday afternoons, when the children's choir meets and the sounds of young voices flow down from the music room, and for a little while the world doesn't seem like such a bad place. There is hope on days like this, there is hope in those ultrasounds and in the voices of little ones. And that hope helps me to trust even more fervently that God's got it all in God's hands and it's all going to work out. God is going to make good come from bad situations, he always has and will continue to do so.
Below are the lyrics to the song "Your Hands" by J.J. Heller...I hope they are as hopeful and helpful to you as they are to me.
I have unanswered prayers
I have trouble I wish wasn't there
And I have asked a thousand ways
That You would take my pain away
I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crookedly lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine
When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands
When You walked upon the Earth
You healed the broken, lost, and hurt
I know You hate to see me cry
One day You will set all things right
When my world is shaking
Heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave Your hands
Your hands
Your hands that shape the world
Are holding me, they hold me still
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Temptations
Lent 1A
March 13, 2011
Matthew 4:1-11
In 1960, a novel was published that sent shockwaves throughout the world. In 1988, Martin Scorsese made this novel into a film that was equally as scandalous. Titled “The Last Temptation of Christ,” the novel is based off of the presumption that, though Jesus was without sin, throughout his life and ministry he was faced with every temptation that humans are faced with on a daily basis…doesn’t seem that bad right? But there is a twist. While hanging from the cross and being mocked, a young girl appears to Jesus, telling him he is not the son of God but that God loves him and is pleased with what he has done and now God wants him to be happy. The young girl helps Jesus down from the cross and escorts him into a happy, comfortable life…it is only, after a confrontation with Judas much later in life that Jesus realizes that this young girl is actually the devil, who has been tempting him all along…and upon this realization, Jesus goes back to a destroyed Jerusalem and begs God to be crucified so that the world would be saved. Both the novel and the film have caused outrage and both are still banned in some countries…but part of me wonders if this outrage is caused by our fear of what it means for Jesus to be truly 100% human, as we profess in the Nicene Creed…and in turn, what that means for us, who continue to be tempted day in and day out.
As we enter into this season of lent, these forty days of figuratively wandering through the wilderness on our way with Jesus to the cross, we do so having just heard Matthew’s account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Jesus had just been baptized in the Jordan by John and proclaimed God’s Son, and now the Holy Spirit has sent him into the wilderness to be tempted. Jesus is alone in this wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights before the devil, also known as the false accuser or the tempter arrives. Jesus has spent these 40 days and nights with out food and is understandably famished when the devil begins testing him. “If you are the Son of God” he says, “turn these stones into loaves of bread”… “Throw yourself down from here so the angels can catch you”…here’s your chance to know once and for all if you truly are the son of God…or, you can forget about all that and all the worries and concerns that may come with being the son of God and just worship me. If you do that, I will give all of this to you and you will have nothing to worry about for the rest of your life.
In these temptations, the devil is using Jesus’ human weakness to try and get the best of him… the attempts he makes to get Jesus to show his power, to get Jesus to bow down to him, to establish himself as a self-sufficient deity…are all tests of Jesus’ trust in God. And even after having been in the wilderness for 40 days, Jesus’ trust in God out wits the devil. In not displaying use of his power to turn stones to bread, in refusing to jump and in not worshiping the devil, Jesus passes the test, showing not only his trust in God, but also his dependence on God, having given up his Godly powers and taken human form to live among humans and see first hand what it’s like to be us.
As I’ve been watching the news this week and seeing the ongoing protests and budget battles, I’ve continued to wonder where our biggest temptations lie. We all have our temptations…some of them less harmful…like an extra piece of chocolate or an extra hour of television instead of going for a walk…some of them more harmful…like tearing someone down in front of others so we feel better about ourselves or thinking that we are totally in control and self sufficient. I’m guilty of this last one…and have been since I was a child, when my motto was “all my by self.”
Actually, I think that the illusion of self-sufficiency and being in control are two of the biggest temptations that we face in this country…and it seems to be most prevalent in the Caucasian population than anywhere else. We come from cultures that praise the protestant work ethic, we preach that if we are going to be successful in life, you have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and make it happen…we preach that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. That’s why we have become a country of over-worked, over-stressed, sleep deprived, individualistic individuals. We want to be successful, we want to live better lives than our parents lived, we want the job that will allow us to be able to have the stuff that society suggests that we need to have if we are going to look good to those around us, the newest computer or phone or car or clothes. We become ashamed to look to others when we are in need of help…even if it’s a couple bucks so we can buy milk and bread. There’s comfort in this illusion of self-sufficiency and control…when we live in this illusion, we have the power to succeed or fail…but we also have the ability to forget who we really need to trust in and rely on...the one who has our back unconditionally.
Living in the illusion of self-sufficiency and control has a tendency to be damaging, damaging to our relationships with others and damaging to our relationship with God. And that’s what we were created for, to be in relationship. God even says this in the creation account from Genesis 2 before setting out to find a suitable partner for Adam. But where Adam and Eve failed was not in their relationship with each other, but their relationship with God. The serpent tells Eve the truth about the fruit which God told Adam and Eve not to eat…and it causes her, and Adam (he’s not getting off the hook on this one) to question their trust in God. And in eating that piece of fruit, their relationship with God becomes fractured…but even though they must face the consequence of their actions by leaving the garden, God does not abandon them. In fact, God makes clothes for them before sending them on their way.
When we trust in ourselves over God, we are not allowing our relationship with God to flourish…and that leaves an empty spot in us, a spot that no car, or amount of money or collection of things can fill. And when we trust in ourselves rather than the community that surrounds and enfolds us, we are not allowing our relationships with others to flourish and we risk becoming isolated. To be in control and self-sufficient is truly a tempting thing, it gives us the illusion that we have the power to shape how things are going to happen…but this illusion can cause us to lose out…on relationships with others and ultimately on a healthy and thriving relationship with God. However, even when we give in to this temptation, God is there for us, giving us faith and, in turn, the courage to stand up when future temptations strike and triumph. This is part of the gift of God grace, a gift freely given, for God’s son knows first hand what it is like to be tempted, and what it means to trust in and depend on God. It was that trust and dependence that gave Jesus the courage to withstand the temptations of the devil, the strength to withstand pain and torture on the cross, and the love to lay down his life so that we could have life. Amen.
March 13, 2011
Matthew 4:1-11
In 1960, a novel was published that sent shockwaves throughout the world. In 1988, Martin Scorsese made this novel into a film that was equally as scandalous. Titled “The Last Temptation of Christ,” the novel is based off of the presumption that, though Jesus was without sin, throughout his life and ministry he was faced with every temptation that humans are faced with on a daily basis…doesn’t seem that bad right? But there is a twist. While hanging from the cross and being mocked, a young girl appears to Jesus, telling him he is not the son of God but that God loves him and is pleased with what he has done and now God wants him to be happy. The young girl helps Jesus down from the cross and escorts him into a happy, comfortable life…it is only, after a confrontation with Judas much later in life that Jesus realizes that this young girl is actually the devil, who has been tempting him all along…and upon this realization, Jesus goes back to a destroyed Jerusalem and begs God to be crucified so that the world would be saved. Both the novel and the film have caused outrage and both are still banned in some countries…but part of me wonders if this outrage is caused by our fear of what it means for Jesus to be truly 100% human, as we profess in the Nicene Creed…and in turn, what that means for us, who continue to be tempted day in and day out.
As we enter into this season of lent, these forty days of figuratively wandering through the wilderness on our way with Jesus to the cross, we do so having just heard Matthew’s account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Jesus had just been baptized in the Jordan by John and proclaimed God’s Son, and now the Holy Spirit has sent him into the wilderness to be tempted. Jesus is alone in this wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights before the devil, also known as the false accuser or the tempter arrives. Jesus has spent these 40 days and nights with out food and is understandably famished when the devil begins testing him. “If you are the Son of God” he says, “turn these stones into loaves of bread”… “Throw yourself down from here so the angels can catch you”…here’s your chance to know once and for all if you truly are the son of God…or, you can forget about all that and all the worries and concerns that may come with being the son of God and just worship me. If you do that, I will give all of this to you and you will have nothing to worry about for the rest of your life.
In these temptations, the devil is using Jesus’ human weakness to try and get the best of him… the attempts he makes to get Jesus to show his power, to get Jesus to bow down to him, to establish himself as a self-sufficient deity…are all tests of Jesus’ trust in God. And even after having been in the wilderness for 40 days, Jesus’ trust in God out wits the devil. In not displaying use of his power to turn stones to bread, in refusing to jump and in not worshiping the devil, Jesus passes the test, showing not only his trust in God, but also his dependence on God, having given up his Godly powers and taken human form to live among humans and see first hand what it’s like to be us.
As I’ve been watching the news this week and seeing the ongoing protests and budget battles, I’ve continued to wonder where our biggest temptations lie. We all have our temptations…some of them less harmful…like an extra piece of chocolate or an extra hour of television instead of going for a walk…some of them more harmful…like tearing someone down in front of others so we feel better about ourselves or thinking that we are totally in control and self sufficient. I’m guilty of this last one…and have been since I was a child, when my motto was “all my by self.”
Actually, I think that the illusion of self-sufficiency and being in control are two of the biggest temptations that we face in this country…and it seems to be most prevalent in the Caucasian population than anywhere else. We come from cultures that praise the protestant work ethic, we preach that if we are going to be successful in life, you have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and make it happen…we preach that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. That’s why we have become a country of over-worked, over-stressed, sleep deprived, individualistic individuals. We want to be successful, we want to live better lives than our parents lived, we want the job that will allow us to be able to have the stuff that society suggests that we need to have if we are going to look good to those around us, the newest computer or phone or car or clothes. We become ashamed to look to others when we are in need of help…even if it’s a couple bucks so we can buy milk and bread. There’s comfort in this illusion of self-sufficiency and control…when we live in this illusion, we have the power to succeed or fail…but we also have the ability to forget who we really need to trust in and rely on...the one who has our back unconditionally.
Living in the illusion of self-sufficiency and control has a tendency to be damaging, damaging to our relationships with others and damaging to our relationship with God. And that’s what we were created for, to be in relationship. God even says this in the creation account from Genesis 2 before setting out to find a suitable partner for Adam. But where Adam and Eve failed was not in their relationship with each other, but their relationship with God. The serpent tells Eve the truth about the fruit which God told Adam and Eve not to eat…and it causes her, and Adam (he’s not getting off the hook on this one) to question their trust in God. And in eating that piece of fruit, their relationship with God becomes fractured…but even though they must face the consequence of their actions by leaving the garden, God does not abandon them. In fact, God makes clothes for them before sending them on their way.
When we trust in ourselves over God, we are not allowing our relationship with God to flourish…and that leaves an empty spot in us, a spot that no car, or amount of money or collection of things can fill. And when we trust in ourselves rather than the community that surrounds and enfolds us, we are not allowing our relationships with others to flourish and we risk becoming isolated. To be in control and self-sufficient is truly a tempting thing, it gives us the illusion that we have the power to shape how things are going to happen…but this illusion can cause us to lose out…on relationships with others and ultimately on a healthy and thriving relationship with God. However, even when we give in to this temptation, God is there for us, giving us faith and, in turn, the courage to stand up when future temptations strike and triumph. This is part of the gift of God grace, a gift freely given, for God’s son knows first hand what it is like to be tempted, and what it means to trust in and depend on God. It was that trust and dependence that gave Jesus the courage to withstand the temptations of the devil, the strength to withstand pain and torture on the cross, and the love to lay down his life so that we could have life. Amen.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Remember that you are dust...
On Monday I was talking on the phone with my mom about wedding stuff. I admitted to her that I hadn't been putting much thought into it the past couple days because of the Feast of the Transfiguration and Ash Wednesday. After a brief pause, she said "You know this is my favorite time of the year. I could go with out the whole Christmas thing, but Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and Easter are three of my favorite days...they do me good."
My mom's love of Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday were passed down to me at some point. I think it was my sophomore year in college when I was in the midst of a faith crisis. I had decided that despite not wanting much to do with God, I would attend the Ash Wednesday service at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish, which was across the street from my dorm. At this point I was still officially a member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (mentally, I left the LCMS after the dismissal of a district president for attending and interfaith prayer service in honor of September 11th) and thus had never been to an Ash Wednesday liturgy that included the imposition of Ashes. That evening, the sanctuary at St. Thomas More was filled with people, old people, young people, college students from Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University...all of us received ashes and it was the first time in my life that someone had looked me in the eyes and said "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." There was something powerful in those words and the feeling of ashes being traced on my forehead. It is something that I had wanted to experience for a really long time. I remember that one of the lunch room attendants in middle school having ashes on her forehead every Ash Wednesday and wondering what that was all about. I was finally on my way to figuring out what it was all about on Ash Wednesday of 2003...but I still had (and still have) a long way to go.
8 years later there is still something powerful in those words, the power of those words grows stronger each time I hear them. Last year on Ash Wednesday, I traced ashes on the foreheads of many people but the two that stand out are the two week old baby and the young woman who was 8 months pregnant (her son turns 1 today)...in the promise and excitement of new life we were reminded of both the fragile nature of life and our dependence on God's grace to get us through the wonderful times and the difficult times. There is comfort and hope in these words...I didn't see that right away, but I see that now. I see in the crosses traced on the foreheads of the faithful a remembrance of baptism, when a cross was traced on foreheads in oil and words were spoken "child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever."
I also see remembrance of God's deliverance as we connect with our ancestors of faith. In the book of Esther, the Jews put on sackcloth and ashes when they learn that their lives are in jeopardy. Job sits in a pile of ashes after his children had been killed and Job had been afflicted with painful sores. In the writings of the prophets, the people are told to put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Daniel pleads to God for the sake of Jerusalem with prayer and fasting, dressed in sackcloth and ashes. God delivered the Jews from the schemes of Haman. God was with Job in his suffering and in the end blessed him. God delivered Daniel and the people of Jerusalem.
Having ashes traced on my forehead and hearing the words “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” is a reminder that I am sinful and and broken and it is only by the grace and love of God that I am picked up, dusted off and sent back down the path that God has laid out for us. Being reminded that we are dust, we are sinful and we are fallen and broken is not the happiest of reminders. But then again, we are beginning a journey that will transform us into witnesses of a crucifixion. It is a reminder that we need (or at least I need it), however, because it brings us back to center and reminds us that no matter who we are or how hard we try, in the end we are all the same, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Lord, bless now the journey...
My mom's love of Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday were passed down to me at some point. I think it was my sophomore year in college when I was in the midst of a faith crisis. I had decided that despite not wanting much to do with God, I would attend the Ash Wednesday service at St. Thomas More Catholic Parish, which was across the street from my dorm. At this point I was still officially a member of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (mentally, I left the LCMS after the dismissal of a district president for attending and interfaith prayer service in honor of September 11th) and thus had never been to an Ash Wednesday liturgy that included the imposition of Ashes. That evening, the sanctuary at St. Thomas More was filled with people, old people, young people, college students from Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University...all of us received ashes and it was the first time in my life that someone had looked me in the eyes and said "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." There was something powerful in those words and the feeling of ashes being traced on my forehead. It is something that I had wanted to experience for a really long time. I remember that one of the lunch room attendants in middle school having ashes on her forehead every Ash Wednesday and wondering what that was all about. I was finally on my way to figuring out what it was all about on Ash Wednesday of 2003...but I still had (and still have) a long way to go.
8 years later there is still something powerful in those words, the power of those words grows stronger each time I hear them. Last year on Ash Wednesday, I traced ashes on the foreheads of many people but the two that stand out are the two week old baby and the young woman who was 8 months pregnant (her son turns 1 today)...in the promise and excitement of new life we were reminded of both the fragile nature of life and our dependence on God's grace to get us through the wonderful times and the difficult times. There is comfort and hope in these words...I didn't see that right away, but I see that now. I see in the crosses traced on the foreheads of the faithful a remembrance of baptism, when a cross was traced on foreheads in oil and words were spoken "child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever."
I also see remembrance of God's deliverance as we connect with our ancestors of faith. In the book of Esther, the Jews put on sackcloth and ashes when they learn that their lives are in jeopardy. Job sits in a pile of ashes after his children had been killed and Job had been afflicted with painful sores. In the writings of the prophets, the people are told to put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Daniel pleads to God for the sake of Jerusalem with prayer and fasting, dressed in sackcloth and ashes. God delivered the Jews from the schemes of Haman. God was with Job in his suffering and in the end blessed him. God delivered Daniel and the people of Jerusalem.
Having ashes traced on my forehead and hearing the words “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” is a reminder that I am sinful and and broken and it is only by the grace and love of God that I am picked up, dusted off and sent back down the path that God has laid out for us. Being reminded that we are dust, we are sinful and we are fallen and broken is not the happiest of reminders. But then again, we are beginning a journey that will transform us into witnesses of a crucifixion. It is a reminder that we need (or at least I need it), however, because it brings us back to center and reminds us that no matter who we are or how hard we try, in the end we are all the same, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Lord, bless now the journey...
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Do Not Be Afraid
Sunday morning, I preached at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Valley Falls, KS. It is the oldest Lutheran congregation in Kansas, founded in 1857. The building that they worship in now was built in 1887, but the original building still stands and is located 3 blocks from the current building.
Sunday was my first time out to Valley Falls, which is about 45 miles northwest of Lawrence, 2 lane highways all the way. It was also very foggy...thick, all encompassing, pea soup fog. That foggy air, mixed with the snow on the ground, was very bright, so bright that I wished I had brought my sunglasses with me so I didn't have to squint.
That brightness of the fog and the snow as I drove through the countryside of Kansas on Sunday came to mind as I have been pondering Matthew's account of the Transfiguration of Jesus. I can imagine Peter, James and John following Jesus up the mountain and then suddenly in the presence of Elijah and Moses. I don't doubt that my reaction probably would have been similar to that of Peter if I were there that day...being in the presence of two of the most famous figures of the faith? heck yeah I want to stay here! Let's build some tents, at the very least they can be markers of where Elijah and Moses appeared to Jesus. That's what Abraham and Jacob would do!
Oh, poor Peter...he never quite gets it...but then again...do we?
But God doesn't even wait for Peter to finish what he has to say before interrupting with another idea. The cloud appears, Jesus is transfigured and his clothes become a brilliant white...and then Peter, James and John realize that not only are they in the presence of Elijah and Moses, but they are also in the presence of God...and that's what scares them. To be in the presence of Moses and Elijah is incredible, awe-some even (in the original intention of the word, not the over used version of it)...but to be in the presence of God, to see that presence in the transfigured Christ (their dear friend) and hear that presence in the voice of the heavenly father? There really are no words to describe this feeling, I imagine. Maybe to fall down on their faces was the only response they could come up with. Maybe in seeing the awe-some nature of God not with them but also and simultaneously speaking to them, they realized just how unprepared they really were to take on the task of being disciples of the Son of Man.
Just before this, in chapter 16, Peter makes his bold confession of who Jesus is "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God" but almost immediately he goes from "Peter", the rock on which Christ will build his church to "Satan" after he rebukes Jesus upon the revelation that Jesus must be handed over to the authorities and be killed and three days later rise again. He gets it, but he doesn't. And it's the same thing here on the mountain, he gets the importance of the appearance of Moses and Elijah, but he doesn't.
Tangent: Do you ever wonder if Jesus was going by the ancient tradition of giving people nicknames based off of who you knew them to truly be? If so, in giving Simon the nickname Peter, he was basically calling him a blockhead. :End Tangent
Here's what I think: I think that God covered the mountain with the cloud when he did, not only because that's how God seems to roll when it comes to mountain top experiences, but also because Peter (and possibly James and John, they don't say anything but they could have been in agreement with Peter) needed to be focused. When you drive or walk through the fog, you really need to focus on where you are going because you cannot see too much further ahead of you or behind you. You are forced to see only what is in close vicinity to you. In the same way, I imagine, this is what happened to Peter, James and John. Caught up in the excitement over seeing Moses and Elijah, they needed focus...and that focus was to be upon their leader, the friend, their savior and the voice speaking to them from heaven.
"This is my Son, the beloved, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
Listen to him...
is that necessarily an easy thing to do?
Because I do my best to listen and my friend who is a baptist pastor does his best to listen and yet we hear slightly different things. Do you suppose it was the same way among the disciples. And you know what the really scary part is? If we really take the time to listen and truly understand what Jesus is saying to us, we can't claim ignorance when the poor come to us for help or when we see government officials creating unjust laws that affect the most vulnerable in our world. If we really obey the words of God to listen to Jesus, we need to act accordingly. Maybe that's what scared Peter and James and John. For them, and sometimes for us, acting accordingly means putting your life on the line for the sake of the Gospel...and we know how Peter, James and John acted when their lives were on the line in the garden, don't we? Is that what we do? *sigh*
When it comes down to it, the end of Matthew's account of the transfiguration is my favorite part. Peter, James and John are lying on the ground trembling, frightened for one reason or another and Jesus touches them and says "Get up, do not be afraid" and then they begin their descent back down the mountain, back to the real world, back to the people that need Jesus and the disciples...and the first thing that Jesus does is heal a young boy! Here we are at the top of the mountain with Peter, James and John, Peter plotting to construct tents for Moses, Jesus and Elijah...think that maybe they should stay a while, but God has other plans for him and his colleagues.
There is work to be done at the bottom of the mountain, out in the real world.
It's the same for us, yes it's safer and more secure and less scary to stay on the mountain (whatever that may be for you). But there is work to be done at the bottom of the mountain...and there is someone accompanying us as we do this work, encouraging us and inspiring us and helping us to not be afraid, even and especially when we realize that we may not be as prepared as we would like to be, we may not have the strength of faith that we would like to have, we may not have the level of courage we would like to have. But Jesus is there, coming to us as we lay on the ground, scared and in awe, touching us on the shoulder and telling us "Get up, do not be afraid. It's time to go now, there's work to be done."
Fog is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't want to drive through it every day, but occasionally it's nice. It keeps you focused on what is immediately in front of you, cutting away the distractions can get us side tracked from the path we are being led down. Would it be contradictory to say that there is clarity in the middle of the fog?
Sunday was my first time out to Valley Falls, which is about 45 miles northwest of Lawrence, 2 lane highways all the way. It was also very foggy...thick, all encompassing, pea soup fog. That foggy air, mixed with the snow on the ground, was very bright, so bright that I wished I had brought my sunglasses with me so I didn't have to squint.
That brightness of the fog and the snow as I drove through the countryside of Kansas on Sunday came to mind as I have been pondering Matthew's account of the Transfiguration of Jesus. I can imagine Peter, James and John following Jesus up the mountain and then suddenly in the presence of Elijah and Moses. I don't doubt that my reaction probably would have been similar to that of Peter if I were there that day...being in the presence of two of the most famous figures of the faith? heck yeah I want to stay here! Let's build some tents, at the very least they can be markers of where Elijah and Moses appeared to Jesus. That's what Abraham and Jacob would do!
Oh, poor Peter...he never quite gets it...but then again...do we?
But God doesn't even wait for Peter to finish what he has to say before interrupting with another idea. The cloud appears, Jesus is transfigured and his clothes become a brilliant white...and then Peter, James and John realize that not only are they in the presence of Elijah and Moses, but they are also in the presence of God...and that's what scares them. To be in the presence of Moses and Elijah is incredible, awe-some even (in the original intention of the word, not the over used version of it)...but to be in the presence of God, to see that presence in the transfigured Christ (their dear friend) and hear that presence in the voice of the heavenly father? There really are no words to describe this feeling, I imagine. Maybe to fall down on their faces was the only response they could come up with. Maybe in seeing the awe-some nature of God not with them but also and simultaneously speaking to them, they realized just how unprepared they really were to take on the task of being disciples of the Son of Man.
Just before this, in chapter 16, Peter makes his bold confession of who Jesus is "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God" but almost immediately he goes from "Peter", the rock on which Christ will build his church to "Satan" after he rebukes Jesus upon the revelation that Jesus must be handed over to the authorities and be killed and three days later rise again. He gets it, but he doesn't. And it's the same thing here on the mountain, he gets the importance of the appearance of Moses and Elijah, but he doesn't.
Tangent: Do you ever wonder if Jesus was going by the ancient tradition of giving people nicknames based off of who you knew them to truly be? If so, in giving Simon the nickname Peter, he was basically calling him a blockhead. :End Tangent
Here's what I think: I think that God covered the mountain with the cloud when he did, not only because that's how God seems to roll when it comes to mountain top experiences, but also because Peter (and possibly James and John, they don't say anything but they could have been in agreement with Peter) needed to be focused. When you drive or walk through the fog, you really need to focus on where you are going because you cannot see too much further ahead of you or behind you. You are forced to see only what is in close vicinity to you. In the same way, I imagine, this is what happened to Peter, James and John. Caught up in the excitement over seeing Moses and Elijah, they needed focus...and that focus was to be upon their leader, the friend, their savior and the voice speaking to them from heaven.
"This is my Son, the beloved, with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
Listen to him...
is that necessarily an easy thing to do?
Because I do my best to listen and my friend who is a baptist pastor does his best to listen and yet we hear slightly different things. Do you suppose it was the same way among the disciples. And you know what the really scary part is? If we really take the time to listen and truly understand what Jesus is saying to us, we can't claim ignorance when the poor come to us for help or when we see government officials creating unjust laws that affect the most vulnerable in our world. If we really obey the words of God to listen to Jesus, we need to act accordingly. Maybe that's what scared Peter and James and John. For them, and sometimes for us, acting accordingly means putting your life on the line for the sake of the Gospel...and we know how Peter, James and John acted when their lives were on the line in the garden, don't we? Is that what we do? *sigh*
When it comes down to it, the end of Matthew's account of the transfiguration is my favorite part. Peter, James and John are lying on the ground trembling, frightened for one reason or another and Jesus touches them and says "Get up, do not be afraid" and then they begin their descent back down the mountain, back to the real world, back to the people that need Jesus and the disciples...and the first thing that Jesus does is heal a young boy! Here we are at the top of the mountain with Peter, James and John, Peter plotting to construct tents for Moses, Jesus and Elijah...think that maybe they should stay a while, but God has other plans for him and his colleagues.
There is work to be done at the bottom of the mountain, out in the real world.
It's the same for us, yes it's safer and more secure and less scary to stay on the mountain (whatever that may be for you). But there is work to be done at the bottom of the mountain...and there is someone accompanying us as we do this work, encouraging us and inspiring us and helping us to not be afraid, even and especially when we realize that we may not be as prepared as we would like to be, we may not have the strength of faith that we would like to have, we may not have the level of courage we would like to have. But Jesus is there, coming to us as we lay on the ground, scared and in awe, touching us on the shoulder and telling us "Get up, do not be afraid. It's time to go now, there's work to be done."
Fog is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't want to drive through it every day, but occasionally it's nice. It keeps you focused on what is immediately in front of you, cutting away the distractions can get us side tracked from the path we are being led down. Would it be contradictory to say that there is clarity in the middle of the fog?
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