Wednesday, October 31, 2007
"You should not go on this ride if you are pregnant, have a history of back or heart problems, or can't fit in the boat."
This cracked me up. It's an ever-enlarging world, after all.
Happy Hallowe'en!
[Here's a piece I wrote several years ago about Hallowe'en and its historical background. I hope you enjoy it.]
The History Channel has an interesting essay on the background of Halloween, October 31. As is true of so many of our holidays, Halloween has gone through many different permutations and was reclaimed and reshaped by Christians.
Halloween has become a huge industry. When I was a boy, it was a sleepy little holiday and it was only because of my parent's prompting that I even went out trick or treating. (I never liked candy. My sugar and fat weakness has always been baked goods.) Today though, Americans spend more on their Halloween celebrations than on any other holiday except Christmas: $6.9-billion!
Of course, some regard this as a dire and disturbing trend. But I see nothing wrong with Halloween. Most of the tales about witches and such are nothing other than classic tales of good versus evil.
The word, Hallowe'en, of course, is a contraction for the words hallowed [or holy] evening. It gets its name because it's the eve before All Saints Day, a time historically set aside by Christians to remember believers in Jesus Christ who have died. (When the New Testament uses the term saint, it doesn't have some super-spiritual person in mind. A saint is nothing other than someone who follows Jesus Christ, a person who has, on faith, received the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life offered by Jesus.)
For a Lutheran like myself, Halloween is also Reformation Day. It was on All Saints Eve, October 31, 1517, that a young monk, priest, and scholar named Martin Luther posted points for debate (his 95 Theses) on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. (Church doors were used like our bulletin boards are today.) Luther challenged the Church to re-form itself around the simple truth that a relationship with God cannot be earned or bought or bargained for. It comes as a free gift to those with faith in the God we meet through the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
Luther's theses set off a conflict of volcanic proportions. Thank God, we live with its after-effects today.
A few key passages of Scripture to consider this Reformation Sunday:
The History Channel has an interesting essay on the background of Halloween, October 31. As is true of so many of our holidays, Halloween has gone through many different permutations and was reclaimed and reshaped by Christians.
Halloween has become a huge industry. When I was a boy, it was a sleepy little holiday and it was only because of my parent's prompting that I even went out trick or treating. (I never liked candy. My sugar and fat weakness has always been baked goods.) Today though, Americans spend more on their Halloween celebrations than on any other holiday except Christmas: $6.9-billion!
Of course, some regard this as a dire and disturbing trend. But I see nothing wrong with Halloween. Most of the tales about witches and such are nothing other than classic tales of good versus evil.
The word, Hallowe'en, of course, is a contraction for the words hallowed [or holy] evening. It gets its name because it's the eve before All Saints Day, a time historically set aside by Christians to remember believers in Jesus Christ who have died. (When the New Testament uses the term saint, it doesn't have some super-spiritual person in mind. A saint is nothing other than someone who follows Jesus Christ, a person who has, on faith, received the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life offered by Jesus.)
For a Lutheran like myself, Halloween is also Reformation Day. It was on All Saints Eve, October 31, 1517, that a young monk, priest, and scholar named Martin Luther posted points for debate (his 95 Theses) on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. (Church doors were used like our bulletin boards are today.) Luther challenged the Church to re-form itself around the simple truth that a relationship with God cannot be earned or bought or bargained for. It comes as a free gift to those with faith in the God we meet through the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
Luther's theses set off a conflict of volcanic proportions. Thank God, we live with its after-effects today.A few key passages of Scripture to consider this Reformation Sunday:
16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.' [John 3:16-17]
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’ [Romans 1:16-17]
21 But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. [Romans 3:21-26]
You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. [Ephesians 2:1-10]
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. [Second Corinthians 5:16-19]
This Halloween, as you pass out the candy to the trick-or-treaters, you can also remember that God willingly gives us the greatest gift any of us could ever want: brand new life with Him forever, forgiveness of our sins, and the power to become our best selves with God living inside of us.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Thanks to Patrick Oden...
of Dualravens for linking to my Reformation Sunday post. Patrick's blog is among the most thought-provoking and interesting ones I read.
Why This is Called 'Reformation Sunday'
Romans 1:16(This message was shared with the people of Friendship Lutheran Church on Reformation Sunday, 2005. Today is Reformation Sunday, always the Sunday before Reformation Day, October 31.)
He was born in November, 1483, in the German principality of Saxony. His father was a one-time coal miner who, through hard work, had risen to middle class status, the owner of several mines. His mother, who would exert so much influence over the boy was, in the custom of those times, a full-time housewife and mother.
His name was Martin Luther. From an early age, he exhibited great intelligence and many talents. As time passed, he would become an extraordiary preacher, theologian, and musician. These pursuits were far from his father’s intentions for young Martin. Hans Luther wanted Martin to become a lawyer in order to care for him and his wife in their old age.
That, in fact, was the trajectory on which Martin’s life was moving when a shattering experience intervened.
He was heading back to the university he attended, when a ferocious thunderstorm arose. A lightning bolt knocked Luther to the ground. Understandably terrified, Martin cried out to the patron saint of miners. “Saint Ann,” he said, “save me; I will become a monk.”
I once told this story to Father Seavey Joyce, who served Saint Ann's parish in the same small town where I did my seminary internship. Seavey listened and said with an impish smile, "I guess that goes to prove that even saints make mistakes." (He was kidding because, he told me once, he was sure that one day the Roman Catholic Church would name Luther one of its saints.)1
But of course, it wasn't Saint Ann who made a mistake. It was Martin Luther. In fact, in his moment of terror in the thunderstorm, he made several mistakes. Mistake one: Calling for supernatural help from anyone other than the God we know in Jesus Christ. Mistake two: Making a deal in the hopes of placating what Luther thought was an angry God. God doesn’t make deals.
But Luther became part of a long tradition of people who did the right things for the wrong reasons.
In the Old Testament book of Genesis, for example, we find the true story of a young dreamer named Joseph. His father, Jacob, doted on the boy while virtually ignoring his ten other sons. Resentful, Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery and then took the coat their father had given to him and spattered it with blood. They showed it to Jacob. He concluded that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
The brothers had done the wrong thing. But it turned out that, unbeknownst to them, they played into God's plans for Joseph. Joseph was set down a difficult road that ultimately led him to become, in effect, the prime minister of Egypt, second in command after the Pharaoh. In that position, Joseph oversaw the storing of crops during seven bumper years in anticipation of seven years of famine, a famine that affected the entire Middle East.
Ultimately, Joseph was able to use the stored crops to save the lives of his very own family members and many others. Later, he was able to tell his brothers that when they sold him into slavery, "You meant it for evil. But God meant it for good so that many might be saved." Joseph's brothers had somehow done the right thing for the wrong reasons.
In the New Testament book of Matthew, we find the story of people who came to see the Christ Child. We call them "wise men." But they were really little more than astologers, people who made horoscopes and superstitiously believed that stars foretold occurrences on this planet. It's the sort of the practice that the Bible condemns completely. We're to depend on God and on nothing and nobody else. Yet, these wise men who followed the stars for the wrong reasons, at the end of their journey, came to the right conclusion: This baby was the Savior of the world.
Martin Luther’s entry into the monastery for the wrong reason turned out to be very right, indeed! I don’t think that his father ever forgave the young Luther for taking the vows of a monk and "abandoning" his family. When, several years later, Luther also was ordained a priest, his father, Hans, expressed the belief that Martin’s call might not have come from God, but from the devil.
Martin Luther, it turns out, was a deeply disturbed young man, probably neurotic. He felt himself utterly and completely guilty of sin. He couldn’t imagine that a morally perfect God could or would forgive him. At times, Luther hated God. He believed that God was playing a vicious game with the human race: Demanding moral perfection and when we were unable to attain it, gleefully sending us to hell.
Noting how disturbed Luther was, believing that a fully occupied life would crowd out his worries and fears, and recognizing how intelligent Luther was, his superiors decided that he would study to become a doctor of theology. He would teach at a new university scheduled to be started in the Saxon town of Wittenberg.
At first, a new regimen of work, which included administering a number of monasteries, pastoring a local church, and teaching at the new university, did nothing to assuage Luther’s loathing of God and of himself.
But then, something happened to change Luther’s life and world history. (And, over time, through the Reformation Luther began, my personal history.) Like most seminarians and priests of his day, Luther had never studied Scripture. He did so now, as he prepared for the classes he was teaching.
In the Bible, Luther found a different God than the one often preached in the Church of his day. He saw a God of grace and love Who reaches out to His children, Who charitably understands their fallen humanity, Who forgives and empowers right living, and promises eternity to all with faith in Him. He saw a God Who hates sin while loving sinners, Who calls all to repent for their sin and believe in His Son, Jesus.
He began to see this picture of God as he studied the book of Genesis in preparation for lectures to his students at Wittenberg. He met this God again in the Psalms. And, perhaps most clearly of all, Luther saw this God in the majestic New Testament book of Romans.
A key passage for him was Romans 1:16:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.With his deepening knowledge of the Scriptures and the original Hebrew and Greek in which the Old and New Testaments had been written, Luther’s understanding of God blossomed.
Up until this point in his life, Luther, like most of the people of his time, labored under the mistaken notion that righteousness was a state of moral perfection, a status God commanded of us, although none of us could ever attain it. Such a view made God a kind of contemptuous cat toying with human mice until they died.
Now, Luther saw that righteousness is having a right relationship with God and that it can’t be secured by anything we do. He saw that while God does demand moral purity from us and that our sin earns us everlasting condemnation, God Himself took on flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ so that He could die in our place on the cross and all with faith in Jesus won't be condemned. Instead, God gives all with faith in Jesus forgiveness and everlasting life. That's what Romans means when it talks about salvation and salvation as God's gift to believers in Christ. Period.
Realizing all of this now, Luther, who studied in the tower of the monastery at Wittenberg had what was later called his “tower experience.” While studying God’s Word, Luther had an overpowering sense of the depths of God’s love for all of us--including himself. Coming to know that rigteousness is God’s gift to all who turn from sin and entrust their lives to Christ, Luther said, was like having the gates of heaven thrown open to him! The faithful person would try to respond to the love of God given through Jesus Christ, of course. But, Luther knew, we can’t earn God’s love. It’s a gift called grace.
The once-neurotically ashamed Martin Luther now became a joyful champion of the new life that God gives to all with faith in Christ. As he grew in the confidence he had in Christ and in God’s love for him, Luther grew bolder in sharing what he had learned about God from the Bible.
On October 31, 1517, he posted 95 theses--or propositions--for debate on the church door in Wittenberg. In those days, a scholar who wished to engage in discussion about important issues posted points on the doors of churches. Church doors were the Power Points or bulletin boards of that time.
Luther’s theses were prompted by a common practice in the Roman Catholic Church of his day. The Church then taught that there was a place called “purgatory,” a sort of holding room that the dead supposedly went to between death and eternity. Purgatory was supposed to be a place where people were purified for entry into heaven. To raise money, the Church often authorized the mass sale of pieces of paper known as indulgences. These indulgences allowed people to buy hundreds or thousands of years out of purgatory for loved ones or even themselves.2
Luther, now certain that eternity was a free gift, was deeply offended by this practice. He would later say that if there were such a place as purgatory and that if the Pope, as head of the Church, had the capacity to free people from the place, he should do so out of simple compassion and not accept a penny for the service.3
When Luther’s preaching against indulgences began to effect the bottom line on their sale, the Church went after him. Ultimately, he came under what was known as an “imperial ban.” That meant that both the Church and the powerful Holy Roman Empire, a confederation of principalities and nations, agreed that if any one saw Martin Luther, he was to be killed on sight. Luther was labeled a heretic, a perverter of the Christian faith.
For the balance of his life, Martin Luther remained steadfast in proclaiming the God we see in Jesus Christ, the God of grace and God of glory. Among Luther’s last words were, “We are all beggars,” an acknowledgement that none of us is better or more important than others in God's eyes and that all with faith in Christ are the recipients of God’s charitable gifts: forgiveness and new life. We cannot earn them, but thank God, He loves to give them to those humble enough to surrender to Christ! Luther died in 1546.
We celebrate this day as Reformation Sunday because on All Saints Eve, Hallowed Evening or, as we call it, Halloween, in 1517, Luther’s 95 Theses began a major reformation of the Church. That reform movement goes on to this day. The members of this congregation, are part of it.
Martin Luther had learned from God’s Word that our relationship with God and our freedom from sin and death don’t come from our works or from doing proscribed acts of ritual, religious or otherwise. These things come to us freely from a God Who, in Christ, shows us that He isn’t our enemy, but our very best friend. And having said that, you know now why this Lutheran Church is called Friendship.
1Seavey was a brilliant, humble man of God. A former president of Boston College, with a doctorate in Economics, Seavey volunteered in his retirement years to pastor a parish in Alaska, where there were severe clergy shortages in the Roman Catholic Church. He was instead sent to Michigan's northwestern lower peninsula, where he served faithfully and I was privileged to meet him.
2When Luther first issued the 95 Theses, he had not yet fully concluded to side with Scripture over against the traditions of the Church of his day in repudiating the very existence of purgatory. That's reflected in a number of the theses.
3Throughout the 95 Theses, Luther really let the Pontiffs of his day "off the hook." He doesn't ascribe indulgences to the popes. Rather, he suggests that they're an abusive practice which, if the Pope knew about them, he would quickly shut down for being un-Biblical. Kathryn Kleinhans says that Luther may simply have been giving the Pope an out, a face-saving way of repudiating the indulgence practice, not to mention a way for Luther to avoid a frontal assault on Rome. In this, Luther was practicing what he would later preach in The Small Catechism. Explaining the Eighth Commandment, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor," Luther wrote, "We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, or defame our neighbor, but defend him, [think and] speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything." As Kleinhans points out, Luther didn't always take his own Biblically-founded advice, often viciously attacking those who opposed him. All of which just underscores the fact that the Church is composed of sinners in need of God's grace given in Christ!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Closing in on Halloween, Buckeyes Face Scary Challenge
Last week, I talked about how their last five regular season game would give my beloved Buckeyes the challenges that their detractors around the country are claiming they haven't yet had. Ohio State's number one-rated defense did a fantastic job against Michigan State's number one-rated offense last Saturday, allowing the Spartans' offensive squad to score only three points.
But the offense gave Buckeyes fans a fright, turning the ball over twice in fifty seconds to allow the Spartan defense to score two touchdowns, making the final score much closer than it should have been.
Nonetheless, the Buckeyes passed the first of the final five regular season tests last week, allowing them to stay atop the major polls and the BCS standings.
So far, this has been a miracle season for the Buckeyes. As I've said repeatedly, I expected this to be a rebuilding season, a share of the Big Ten championship an outside hope. The team has outperformed all my pre-season expectations, giving thrills I never anticipated.
Tomorrow night will bring the biggest challenge Ohio State has had this season. The team goes into Happy Valley to face Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions. It was a night game at Penn State two years ago that dashed Buckeye hopes of a dream season. You can be sure that Joe Pa's team will be trying to spin another nightmare scenario again this year.
If the Buckeyes do win, it should turn a lot of detractors into believers, although it might not make them people happy.
Like the kid in my neighborhood I saw after Ohio State's win last Saturday. I decided to take a walk. The air was crisp and inviting, the leaves turning colors. The kid was catching football passes from his dad. He saw that I was wearing one of my Buckeyes shirts. This kid has never spoken to me before. But for him, the shirt must have been like a red cloth flung before a bull. "Michigan State should have won that game," he declared. I laughed; I thought a friendly laugh. But my response did nothing to soften his hostility. "I hate Ohio State." Now, he did say this with a smile. But he clearly meant what he said!
And we live in Ohio! But I suppose his reaction is symbolic to the visceral enmity that many people around the country have toward Ohio State. It's not unlike the hatred that some people have for the Yankees. Although the Buckeyes don't enjoy the kind of unfair advantage that the Yankees have in Major League baseball, Ohio State is clearly among the "haves" in college football, even in this era of increasing parity and resultant Appalachian State-style upsets.
The teams that play against Ohio State aren't immune to these feelings. The number one ranking the Buckeyes now enjoy effectively paints a target on the team's backs every time it hits the field. Each of the Buckeyes' four (or five, counting a bowl game) remaining opponents would love to make my neighbor kid's day by upsetting them. To them, the Buckeyes are a juggernaut who need to be knocked down a peg or two.
I get that. But to me, the Buckeyes represent my hometown, my state, and the only college to which I ever applied, the only college I ever wanted to attend.
My sentiments in favor of the Buckeyes are, I suppose, as irrational as those who hate them.
To all of which, I have a simple response...
To read more, go here.
And here.
Also here.
Check here too.
But the offense gave Buckeyes fans a fright, turning the ball over twice in fifty seconds to allow the Spartan defense to score two touchdowns, making the final score much closer than it should have been.
Nonetheless, the Buckeyes passed the first of the final five regular season tests last week, allowing them to stay atop the major polls and the BCS standings.
So far, this has been a miracle season for the Buckeyes. As I've said repeatedly, I expected this to be a rebuilding season, a share of the Big Ten championship an outside hope. The team has outperformed all my pre-season expectations, giving thrills I never anticipated.
Tomorrow night will bring the biggest challenge Ohio State has had this season. The team goes into Happy Valley to face Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions. It was a night game at Penn State two years ago that dashed Buckeye hopes of a dream season. You can be sure that Joe Pa's team will be trying to spin another nightmare scenario again this year.
If the Buckeyes do win, it should turn a lot of detractors into believers, although it might not make them people happy.
Like the kid in my neighborhood I saw after Ohio State's win last Saturday. I decided to take a walk. The air was crisp and inviting, the leaves turning colors. The kid was catching football passes from his dad. He saw that I was wearing one of my Buckeyes shirts. This kid has never spoken to me before. But for him, the shirt must have been like a red cloth flung before a bull. "Michigan State should have won that game," he declared. I laughed; I thought a friendly laugh. But my response did nothing to soften his hostility. "I hate Ohio State." Now, he did say this with a smile. But he clearly meant what he said!
And we live in Ohio! But I suppose his reaction is symbolic to the visceral enmity that many people around the country have toward Ohio State. It's not unlike the hatred that some people have for the Yankees. Although the Buckeyes don't enjoy the kind of unfair advantage that the Yankees have in Major League baseball, Ohio State is clearly among the "haves" in college football, even in this era of increasing parity and resultant Appalachian State-style upsets.
The teams that play against Ohio State aren't immune to these feelings. The number one ranking the Buckeyes now enjoy effectively paints a target on the team's backs every time it hits the field. Each of the Buckeyes' four (or five, counting a bowl game) remaining opponents would love to make my neighbor kid's day by upsetting them. To them, the Buckeyes are a juggernaut who need to be knocked down a peg or two.
I get that. But to me, the Buckeyes represent my hometown, my state, and the only college to which I ever applied, the only college I ever wanted to attend.
My sentiments in favor of the Buckeyes are, I suppose, as irrational as those who hate them.
To all of which, I have a simple response...
Go, Buckeyes!
To read more, go here.
And here.
Also here.
Check here too.
Fourth Pass at Bible Lessons for November 4
[To see the first three passes at the lesson for November 4, All Saints Sunday, go here, here, and here. The first of those links explains what these "passes" are all about.]
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 6:20-31
(Verse-by-Verse Comments)
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
(1) Contrary to our usual thinking, Jesus says that the poor are the blessed ones. Conventional Jewish thought held that the wealthy were especially blessed by God and that poverty was a sign of God's displeasure. (We tend to think the same things today.) Jesus turns that thinking on its head.
(2) The "poor" to which Jesus refers here are the absolute poorest of the world.
(3) Jesus uses the present tense here to say that the poor are now in the kingdom of God. In the beatitudes which follow, Jesus uses the future tense. Jesus seems to be making several points:
(1) The filled here in the original Greek is related to the term chortazo. That's the same word used of the prodigal son looking longingly at the pods being eaten by the pigs after he'd left his father. The same word is used of the fictional Lazarus in Jesus' parable about a poor man who would have gladly eaten the scraps from the rich man's table. Chortazo is usually used of an animal eating its feed. So, the idea here, is of a poor person, perhaps dehumanized and ignored by the world, who is desperately hungry.
Mary uses the same term in the Magnificat, the words she speaks after being told that she will give birth to the Messiah:
(3) Notice that Jesus uses the future tense to describe the blessedness here. As long as we live in this world, the possibility of suffering is with us. We aren't guaranteed that in this life we will go without hunger or intense sadness. But we are promised that if we will follow Christ, we will be part of the Kingdom of God forever. The apostle Peter writes:
22“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.
(1) This may be topsy-turviest of the beatitudes Jesus presents here. Don't we associate popularity with being blessed? But Jesus is saying here that if people turn on us because we follow Him we are blessed. Present tense again.
23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
(1) An extension of the previous verse, Jesus moves here to describe future blessedness because we steadfastly follow Christ in spite of those who hate and revile us for our faithfulness to Christ.
24“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
(1) These woes basically reverse the blessings of the previous verses.
(2) Dictionary.com defines woe as "grievous distress, affliction, or trouble."
(3) "False prophets" are those who claim to speak in the Name of God, but overlook sins that God doesn't overlook. A prophet, whether entrusted with words of encouragement or condemnation from God, is always to deliver God's counsel to God's people. The prophet is to remind people of the consequences to their relationship with God when they are faithful and when they are unfaithful. The false prophets mentioned in the Old Testament were popular because, like pandering politicians, they always told people what they wanted to hear. The true prophets got into trouble because sometimes God tells us what we don't want to hear, such as our need to repent for our sins.
27“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
(1) Here, Jesus outlines the radical ethic that flows from a dependence on the grace of God granted through Him. These words may be even more stunning than the beatitudes that precede them.
(2) I like what Brian Stoffregen says about these verses:
This is harder than we can imagine...and I pray that under the most adverse and dire of circumstances I would heed Jesus' words and be faithful to Him!
31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
(1) Jesus' Golden Rule. It describes how I want everybody else to treat me, but I always seem to have excuses for why I can't or shouldn't always behave this way. I can only pray for forgiveness for my failure to obey Jesus' command to love God and love neighbor unstintingly.
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 6:20-31
(Verse-by-Verse Comments)
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
(1) Contrary to our usual thinking, Jesus says that the poor are the blessed ones. Conventional Jewish thought held that the wealthy were especially blessed by God and that poverty was a sign of God's displeasure. (We tend to think the same things today.) Jesus turns that thinking on its head.
(2) The "poor" to which Jesus refers here are the absolute poorest of the world.
(3) Jesus uses the present tense here to say that the poor are now in the kingdom of God. In the beatitudes which follow, Jesus uses the future tense. Jesus seems to be making several points:
- a. God's kingdom has already invaded our world. The term, kingdom of God (basileia tou theou, in the original Greek), can more accurately be called, "the reign of God." Irrespective of outward circumstances, despite intense poverty, people may live under the reign of God. There is an "already/not yet" quality to God's Kingdom. Through Jesus, God has already established His Kingdom in the hearts and lives of those who follow Christ. But we await its completion with Jesus' return at the end of history.
- b. Will the Kingdom of God be composed only of the poor? If that were the case, Abraham, the patriarch of Old Testament faith, wouldn't be in the Kingdom. Nor would Joseph of Arimethaea, who donated his tomb for Jesus' burial. Jesus is engaging here in what I would call "accurate hyperbole." As I mentioned in yesterday's pass, wealth is an impediment to faith in Christ because it can delude the wealthy person into believing themselves to be self-sufficient, in no need of God. The poor find it easier to believe that there's Someone bigger than them, Someone they need to follow.
(1) The filled here in the original Greek is related to the term chortazo. That's the same word used of the prodigal son looking longingly at the pods being eaten by the pigs after he'd left his father. The same word is used of the fictional Lazarus in Jesus' parable about a poor man who would have gladly eaten the scraps from the rich man's table. Chortazo is usually used of an animal eating its feed. So, the idea here, is of a poor person, perhaps dehumanized and ignored by the world, who is desperately hungry.
Mary uses the same term in the Magnificat, the words she speaks after being told that she will give birth to the Messiah:
...he [God] has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. [Luke 1:53](2) The word Jesus uses here for weep describes a deep, mournful, agonized wailing. The person who weeps in this way is suffering from a deep, inconsolable grief.
(3) Notice that Jesus uses the future tense to describe the blessedness here. As long as we live in this world, the possibility of suffering is with us. We aren't guaranteed that in this life we will go without hunger or intense sadness. But we are promised that if we will follow Christ, we will be part of the Kingdom of God forever. The apostle Peter writes:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.(Peter goes on to suggest that some trials may be allowed to come our way by God as a way of increasing the strength of our faith. This is a tough idea for us to accept. Tough for me to accept.)
In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials...[1 Peter 1:3-6]
22“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.
(1) This may be topsy-turviest of the beatitudes Jesus presents here. Don't we associate popularity with being blessed? But Jesus is saying here that if people turn on us because we follow Him we are blessed. Present tense again.
23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
(1) An extension of the previous verse, Jesus moves here to describe future blessedness because we steadfastly follow Christ in spite of those who hate and revile us for our faithfulness to Christ.
24“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
(1) These woes basically reverse the blessings of the previous verses.
(2) Dictionary.com defines woe as "grievous distress, affliction, or trouble."
(3) "False prophets" are those who claim to speak in the Name of God, but overlook sins that God doesn't overlook. A prophet, whether entrusted with words of encouragement or condemnation from God, is always to deliver God's counsel to God's people. The prophet is to remind people of the consequences to their relationship with God when they are faithful and when they are unfaithful. The false prophets mentioned in the Old Testament were popular because, like pandering politicians, they always told people what they wanted to hear. The true prophets got into trouble because sometimes God tells us what we don't want to hear, such as our need to repent for our sins.
27“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
(1) Here, Jesus outlines the radical ethic that flows from a dependence on the grace of God granted through Him. These words may be even more stunning than the beatitudes that precede them.
(2) I like what Brian Stoffregen says about these verses:
I think that the theme...is that we are not to let others determine our actions. As Jesus' disciples we are to love, do good, speak well of, and pray--regardless of how others treat us. [When I let bullies speak ill of me or act unkindly toward me] I am not letting them control my life...This, of course, is precisely what Jesus did when He went to the cross.
This is harder than we can imagine...and I pray that under the most adverse and dire of circumstances I would heed Jesus' words and be faithful to Him!
31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
(1) Jesus' Golden Rule. It describes how I want everybody else to treat me, but I always seem to have excuses for why I can't or shouldn't always behave this way. I can only pray for forgiveness for my failure to obey Jesus' command to love God and love neighbor unstintingly.
Two Different Takes on Baseball...That Reach the Same Conclusion
First, I read this article by long-suffering Cubs fan, John Buchanan.
My son then shared this routine of George Carlin's.
Though very different pieces, they end up at the same place...just like baseball.
By the way, before he went to Chicago and became editor of Christian Century, Buchanan was pastor of Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus. I once interviewed him in preparation for an article I wrote for Columbus Monthly magazine. Buchanan is a terrific communicator.
My son then shared this routine of George Carlin's.
Though very different pieces, they end up at the same place...just like baseball.
By the way, before he went to Chicago and became editor of Christian Century, Buchanan was pastor of Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus. I once interviewed him in preparation for an article I wrote for Columbus Monthly magazine. Buchanan is a terrific communicator.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
What is That Noise?
At first, I thought it was a sign of old age. I heard it during the Fenway Park games of Boston's ALCS series with the Cleveland Indians.
Then, during last night's World Series opener pitting the Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies, my son turned to me and asked, "What's that sound?"
I'm watching the game tonight and the noise is there again.
What is it? It sounds like chimes, a low-volume, background of incessant ringing.
Joe Buck and the ever-quick-to-educate-us Tim McCarver haven't mentioned it. I've Googled everything from "Fenway, Boston, ringing" to "Fenway, Boston, chimes" and "Fenway, Boston, noise." Nothing.
Does anybody know what that is?
[UPDATE: For the record, I love the percussing relief pitchers in the Boston bullpen!]
Then, during last night's World Series opener pitting the Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies, my son turned to me and asked, "What's that sound?"
I'm watching the game tonight and the noise is there again.
What is it? It sounds like chimes, a low-volume, background of incessant ringing.
Joe Buck and the ever-quick-to-educate-us Tim McCarver haven't mentioned it. I've Googled everything from "Fenway, Boston, ringing" to "Fenway, Boston, chimes" and "Fenway, Boston, noise." Nothing.
Does anybody know what that is?
[UPDATE: For the record, I love the percussing relief pitchers in the Boston bullpen!]
Megachurches and Their Effect on Discipleship and Smaller Churches
You simply must read this incredible and insightful post by Pastor Jeff at Conblogeration.
Third Pass at the November 4 Bible Lessons
[To learn what these "passes" are about and to read the first one, go here. To see the second pass, look here.]
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 6:20-31
General Comments:
1. Of all the Gospels, Luke is the one that most underscores the topsy-turvy, countercultural realities of the Kingdom of God. We see this early on, for example, in the Magnificat, the song of Mary, spoken after the angel tells her that she will give birth to the long-awaited King and Savior. In the Gospel lesson for November 4, Jesus tells us that the "blessed" include the poor, the hungry, the sorrowful, and those hated and rejected "because of the Son of Man." (Jesus characteristically refers to Himself as "the Son of Man.") Only those living under the reign of God would dare to see these conditions as signs of God's favor or blessing.
2. As Lutheran pastor Brian Stoffregen points out, Jesus uses the word makarios, blessed, in a completely different--and subversive--way than it had been used previously. Stoffregen traces the history of the term in the Greek language:
4. In this lesson, Jesus seems to be addressing three audiences: the apostles, the disciples, and the "multitudes," the crowd. The crowd is composed of people who haven't yet begun to follow Jesus. While followers of Jesus are committed to growing up in their faith, the message of the Gospel is the same for everyone.
5. This passage has a lot in common with the Sermon on the Mount. Some insist that this is an entirely different "sermon." (Luke never uses that term to describe it, by the way.) Others that this is essentially the same bit of teaching from Jesus, only seen through the prism of Luke.
Who knows? But the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit, sees the Word of God in both sermons from Matthew and Luke. I think that as we read both passages, we too experience them as the world-changing, subversive Word of God.
Comparing the two of them:
The Gospel Lesson: Luke 6:20-31
General Comments:
1. Of all the Gospels, Luke is the one that most underscores the topsy-turvy, countercultural realities of the Kingdom of God. We see this early on, for example, in the Magnificat, the song of Mary, spoken after the angel tells her that she will give birth to the long-awaited King and Savior. In the Gospel lesson for November 4, Jesus tells us that the "blessed" include the poor, the hungry, the sorrowful, and those hated and rejected "because of the Son of Man." (Jesus characteristically refers to Himself as "the Son of Man.") Only those living under the reign of God would dare to see these conditions as signs of God's favor or blessing.
2. As Lutheran pastor Brian Stoffregen points out, Jesus uses the word makarios, blessed, in a completely different--and subversive--way than it had been used previously. Stoffregen traces the history of the term in the Greek language:
The Greek word for "blessed" used in our text is _makarios_. In3. As I often point out in these passes, context effects content. Within the context of Luke's Gospel, this lesson comes immediately after Jesus calls the Twelve--the apostles, for their special function in His fledgling Church. It's important to realize that, as Luke tells it, "apostles" (the word means "sent ones") are disciples are with a particular function. They're called to lead the Church and to direct its efforts at fulfilling Christ's mission for the Church.
ancient Greek times, that word referred to the gods. They had achieved
a state of happiness and contentment in life that was beyond all
cares, labors, and even death. To be blessed, you had to be a god,
living in some other world.
That word took on a second meaning. It referred to the "dead". The
blessed ones were humans, who, through death, had reached the other
world of the gods. They were now beyond the cares of earthly life. To
be blessed, you had to be dead.
Finally, in Greek usage, the word came to refer to the elite, the
upper crust of society, the wealthy people. It referred to people
whose riches and power put them above the normal cares and worries of
the lesser folk -- the peons, who constantly struggle and worry and
labor in life. To be blessed, you had to be very rich and powerful.
When this word was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament,
it took on another meaning: It referred to the results of right living
or righteousness. If you lived right, you were blessed. Being blessed
meant you received earthly, material things: a good wife, many
children, abundant crops, riches, honor, wisdom, beauty, good health,
etc. A blessed person had more things and better things than an
ordinary person. To be blessed, you had to have big and beautiful
things.
In all of these meanings, the "blessed" ones existed on a higher plane
than the rest of the people. They were gods. They were humans who had
gone to that other world of the gods. They were the wealthy, upper
crust. They were those with many possessions.
Jesus uses this word in a totally different way. It is not the elite
who are blessed. It is not the rich and powerful who are blessed. It
is not the high and mighty who are blessed. It is not the people
living in huge mansions or expensive penthouses who are blessed.
Rather, Jesus pronounces God's blessings on the lowly: the poor, the
hungry, the crying, and the hated. Throughout the history of this
word, it had always been the other people who were considered blessed:
the rich, the filled up, the laughing. Jesus turns it all upside-down.
The elite in God's kingdom, the blessed ones in God's kingdom, are
those who are at the bottom of the heap of humanity.
4. In this lesson, Jesus seems to be addressing three audiences: the apostles, the disciples, and the "multitudes," the crowd. The crowd is composed of people who haven't yet begun to follow Jesus. While followers of Jesus are committed to growing up in their faith, the message of the Gospel is the same for everyone.
5. This passage has a lot in common with the Sermon on the Mount. Some insist that this is an entirely different "sermon." (Luke never uses that term to describe it, by the way.) Others that this is essentially the same bit of teaching from Jesus, only seen through the prism of Luke.
Who knows? But the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit, sees the Word of God in both sermons from Matthew and Luke. I think that as we read both passages, we too experience them as the world-changing, subversive Word of God.
Comparing the two of them:
- The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, occurs, obviously, on an elevated place. The audience is made up of the Twelve, the group Matthew means when he speaks of "the disciples." In Matthew, Jesus and the Twelve retire from the crowds.
- Guess where the Sermon on the Plain, of which our lesson in Luke is a part, happens? As Eliza Doolittle would say, "On the plain." The audience, as noted above, is composed not just of the Twelve (the apostles), but also other disciples and an interested multitude.
- In the Sermon on the Mount, the "poor" who are called blessed are those who are "poor in spirit." In our lesson from Luke, the desperately poor are described as blessed. Why? Probably because they're empty enough of the pretense of self-sufficiency to know that they need God. The rich and that includes most, if not all, who may have the access to technology to read this blog, have just enough of the stuff of this world to think that they don't need God. (See here.)
[The Luke passage] is clearly addressing the poor and the despised of the earth in the literal sense of those words, not the "poor in spirit" or "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," as in Matthew (Matt. 5:3, 6)...7. The beatitudes of this lesson are followed by what I would call an explanation or expansion of what Jesus shares in 6:20-26. I like what Stoffregen writes:
With the blessings and woes [in vv.20-26], Jesus announces the reversal of fortunes that God is going to bring about. With these verses [vv.27-31], Jesus announces a reversal that is to be part of the lives of those who are listening to him.If I get the chance, tomorrow or soon, I'll present verse-by-verse reflections on this lesson, the text on which I'll be basing my sermon at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan on November 1.
Hello, Goodbye: Links to the Entire Series
I've decided that the Hello, Goodbye series, inspired by our impending move from the Cincinnati area to Logan, Ohio and from my work as founding pastor of Friendship Lutheran Church to serving as pastor of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, is now complete. Here are links to all the installments:
[By the way, this series elicited one of the strangest links in the history of this blog. Keying in on the word "attire," a corporate blog promoting Maidenform bras, mentioned posts not once, but twice.]
The Sofa Moves
What I'll Miss
Whatever Will I Wear?
Why I Didn't Wear 'Clergy Attire' at Friendship
Why I Will Wear 'Clergy Attire' at Saint Matthew
How Do You Know?
How Do You Know? Part 2
What If I'm Wrong?
[By the way, this series elicited one of the strangest links in the history of this blog. Keying in on the word "attire," a corporate blog promoting Maidenform bras, mentioned posts not once, but twice.]
Hello, Goodbye: What If I'm Wrong?
In the previous two posts in this series, I talked about the indications we had that our impending move from Friendship Lutheran Church in Amelia, Ohio to Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, was God's will for our lives.
But what if I'm wrong?
I'm reminded of a story I've told many times. It seems that a farmer excitedly ran into the office of his pastor one day. "Pastor! Pastor!" he said, "I know what God wants me to do with my life!" He explained that he'd been out in his field when he noticed a strange cloud formation. The clouds seemed to form the letters, "GPC." The farmer said he'd wondered about the meaning of this sign, when it dawned on him. "It can only mean one thing, Pastor: GO PREACH CHRIST!" The pastor knew this farmer. He was a great guy committed to Christ. But none of his gifts seemed appropriate to pastoring. "Are you sure," the pastor asked, "the letters don't stand for, GO PLANT CORN?"
Christians undoubtedly misinterpret God's specific intentions for their lives all the time. But that doesn't mean that they have to retrace their steps or rue their choices.
Regular readers of this blog know that one of my favorite books of recent years is The Will of God as a Way of Life by pastor, historian, and author Gerald L. Sittser. As a young man in college, Sittser was certain that God had called him to be a doctor. He was sure this was God’s plan for his life. But while in college, he got turned on by theology and ministry. A new certainty supplanted the old one. Now, he was sure God was calling him to be a pastor.
This is what Sittser did and to the extent that such things can be measured, he was a successful pastor.
After several years though, he felt that God was calling him to yet another profession. He was sure that he needed to go to graduate school, earning advanced degrees in History so that he could teach at the college level. This he did. Again, he was successful.
As he looked back over his life at that juncture, Sittser was sure that God had called him to everything he had done, including his marriage to Linda and having their beautiful children. Friends told them they had the perfect life. They were convinced that in it all, they could see the sovereign hand of God.
But then, tragedy struck. One day when his mother was visiting Gerald and his family, a drunk driver struck the vehicle in which they all were riding. His wife, his mother, and one of his children were killed. Was this the will of a sovereign God for a family that had always sought to do God’s will?
Some Christians, particularly those whose lives have never been touched by tragedy or those who have never helped a friend through a tragedy, might answer with a breezy facility, “Of course.”
But such thoughtless responses hardly do credit to God, to those whose lives have been snuffed out, or to the ones left behind.
After these multiple tragedies, Sittser still believed in the goodness of God. The willingness of God to share in our sufferings on a cross and the tears cried by Jesus over His dead friend Lazarus are two clear exhibits of evidence of that.
Sittser still believed in the power of God. Jesus’ resurrection and His continuing ability to change people’s lives for the better are evidence of that.
But he also believed that he needed to look exactly at what the will of God means.
All of his life, Sittser had assumed that the will of God was about the future. If things he thought were God’s will turned out okay, he assumed this to be God’s affirmation of his having made the right guess about God’s will for his life. I suspect that most Christians adhere to a similar view. It’s certainly the view I held until a few years ago.
But as Sittser looked at the Bible’s understanding of the will of God, particularly as evidenced in the writings of Paul in the New Testament, he made a startling discovery. The phrase was never used of the future, only of the present.
In other words, the will of God is not some mystery shrouding our futures which we must, through agonizing prayer and discernment, seek out.
Instead, the will of God is about how we live in the present moment. And how we are to live in the present moment is crystal clear. As Sittser writes:
So, what exactly is the will of God for our lives in the present moments in which each of us live our lives? Even a perfunctory reading of the Bible will give us the answer or answers to that question. It would include these imperatives from Jesus:
If we haven't dialed into God's specific will for our lives, that's okay. The Bible says that God remembers that we are dust, that is, mortal and imperfect. Paraphrasing it, we could say that God remembers that we can be hard of hearing when it comes to discerning what God wants for us.
It's under these circumstances that Martin Luther said believers should "sin boldly." That means that after we've read God's Word, prayed, and talked it over with respected Christian friends, we may still not be clear on what God's will may be. But if our intent is to love God and love neighbor, we can't go wrong.
Even when we go where God sends us, it's no guarantee that we'll be "successful." God, as he saying attributed to Mother Teresa puts it, doens't call us to be successful, just faithful. But wherever we go, if we constantly submit to God, we can do the will of God, loving God, loving neighbor.
I may not know what I'm doing in going to Saint Matthew. But if I'll surrender each moment to Him, God will know exactly what to do with my time at this wonderful congregation.
[Note: My blogging friend, Mark D. Roberts, has been writing a series of blog articles about his departure from a church after serving as pastor for sixteen years. Mark, I notice, has been addressing the question of the will of God in recent posts. I deliberately avoided reading these pieces by Mark so that I can see how his reflections compare to my own. I suggest that you do what I'm going to do now, read Mark's posts on this topic.]
But what if I'm wrong?
I'm reminded of a story I've told many times. It seems that a farmer excitedly ran into the office of his pastor one day. "Pastor! Pastor!" he said, "I know what God wants me to do with my life!" He explained that he'd been out in his field when he noticed a strange cloud formation. The clouds seemed to form the letters, "GPC." The farmer said he'd wondered about the meaning of this sign, when it dawned on him. "It can only mean one thing, Pastor: GO PREACH CHRIST!" The pastor knew this farmer. He was a great guy committed to Christ. But none of his gifts seemed appropriate to pastoring. "Are you sure," the pastor asked, "the letters don't stand for, GO PLANT CORN?"
Christians undoubtedly misinterpret God's specific intentions for their lives all the time. But that doesn't mean that they have to retrace their steps or rue their choices.
Regular readers of this blog know that one of my favorite books of recent years is The Will of God as a Way of Life by pastor, historian, and author Gerald L. Sittser. As a young man in college, Sittser was certain that God had called him to be a doctor. He was sure this was God’s plan for his life. But while in college, he got turned on by theology and ministry. A new certainty supplanted the old one. Now, he was sure God was calling him to be a pastor.
This is what Sittser did and to the extent that such things can be measured, he was a successful pastor.
After several years though, he felt that God was calling him to yet another profession. He was sure that he needed to go to graduate school, earning advanced degrees in History so that he could teach at the college level. This he did. Again, he was successful.
As he looked back over his life at that juncture, Sittser was sure that God had called him to everything he had done, including his marriage to Linda and having their beautiful children. Friends told them they had the perfect life. They were convinced that in it all, they could see the sovereign hand of God.
But then, tragedy struck. One day when his mother was visiting Gerald and his family, a drunk driver struck the vehicle in which they all were riding. His wife, his mother, and one of his children were killed. Was this the will of a sovereign God for a family that had always sought to do God’s will?
Some Christians, particularly those whose lives have never been touched by tragedy or those who have never helped a friend through a tragedy, might answer with a breezy facility, “Of course.”
But such thoughtless responses hardly do credit to God, to those whose lives have been snuffed out, or to the ones left behind.
After these multiple tragedies, Sittser still believed in the goodness of God. The willingness of God to share in our sufferings on a cross and the tears cried by Jesus over His dead friend Lazarus are two clear exhibits of evidence of that.
Sittser still believed in the power of God. Jesus’ resurrection and His continuing ability to change people’s lives for the better are evidence of that.
But he also believed that he needed to look exactly at what the will of God means.
All of his life, Sittser had assumed that the will of God was about the future. If things he thought were God’s will turned out okay, he assumed this to be God’s affirmation of his having made the right guess about God’s will for his life. I suspect that most Christians adhere to a similar view. It’s certainly the view I held until a few years ago.
But as Sittser looked at the Bible’s understanding of the will of God, particularly as evidenced in the writings of Paul in the New Testament, he made a startling discovery. The phrase was never used of the future, only of the present.
In other words, the will of God is not some mystery shrouding our futures which we must, through agonizing prayer and discernment, seek out.
Instead, the will of God is about how we live in the present moment. And how we are to live in the present moment is crystal clear. As Sittser writes:
...the New Testament offers no hint that Paul agonized about the will of God as it pertained to the future. He gave himself to the present because he was eager to use what little time he had to do what he already knew God wanted him to do.The only time we have to know and do God’s will is the present moment.
If we sense any agony in the heroes of Scripture, it is not in discovering the will of God but in doing it....
So, what exactly is the will of God for our lives in the present moments in which each of us live our lives? Even a perfunctory reading of the Bible will give us the answer or answers to that question. It would include these imperatives from Jesus:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die...” [John 11:25-26]All these passages make clear what God’s will is and for any given moment of our lives. We're to love God and love our neighbor. We're to make God's Kingdom our highest priority. We're to serve our neighbor is Christs Name. Most importantly, we're to turn from sin and trust that even when we fail to do all those other things, Christ has died and risen for sinners so that we need never be afraid of today or tomorrow. God will be with us and we will be with God forever.
...”’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’...’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:37-40]
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you...” [John 15:12]
“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.” [Matthew 28:19-20]
“Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” [Mark 16:15]
“...strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness...” [Matthew 6:33]
If we haven't dialed into God's specific will for our lives, that's okay. The Bible says that God remembers that we are dust, that is, mortal and imperfect. Paraphrasing it, we could say that God remembers that we can be hard of hearing when it comes to discerning what God wants for us.
It's under these circumstances that Martin Luther said believers should "sin boldly." That means that after we've read God's Word, prayed, and talked it over with respected Christian friends, we may still not be clear on what God's will may be. But if our intent is to love God and love neighbor, we can't go wrong.
Even when we go where God sends us, it's no guarantee that we'll be "successful." God, as he saying attributed to Mother Teresa puts it, doens't call us to be successful, just faithful. But wherever we go, if we constantly submit to God, we can do the will of God, loving God, loving neighbor.
I may not know what I'm doing in going to Saint Matthew. But if I'll surrender each moment to Him, God will know exactly what to do with my time at this wonderful congregation.
[Note: My blogging friend, Mark D. Roberts, has been writing a series of blog articles about his departure from a church after serving as pastor for sixteen years. Mark, I notice, has been addressing the question of the will of God in recent posts. I deliberately avoided reading these pieces by Mark so that I can see how his reflections compare to my own. I suggest that you do what I'm going to do now, read Mark's posts on this topic.]
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Important Reminder from the Edge of 'The Flames of Hell'
Another of my favorite southern California blogging pastors, Craig Williams, writes of the flames pictured in three photographs taken from his neighbor's backyard:
We are pretty safe, though the flames are only a few miles away. We pray for those who are in greater need and suffer greater loss. We remember to be careful not to attribute our safety with being blessed by God, because it means that those who lose everything are not. This I don't believe. And if we believe we have good fortune, it is intended to be used for the good of others not simply to be self satisfied.Read and view the whole post.
Responding to a Tragic Need
Tod Bolsinger, a southern California pastor I really respect, writes:
God bless Tod's church and other churches in southern California helping the one-million people now burned out of their homes there. Stay safe as you do God's work there!
Early, early this morning 21 people showed up in our church parking lot after fleeing their homes in Fallbrook. When we were able to get them into some comfortable rooms in our church, they told us that they were members of Fallbrook Presbyterian Church. They didn't know where to go, so they headed to a Presbyterian church that is outside of the burning area, knowing they would be safe to stay there. We are so glad they did.Read the whole thing.
God bless Tod's church and other churches in southern California helping the one-million people now burned out of their homes there. Stay safe as you do God's work there!
Hello, Goodbye: How Do You Know?, Part 2
In yesterday's installment of this series, I began to deal with the question of how I knew it was God's will for me to move from the congregation I've pastored for the past seventeen years onto Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. I made the point that at one level, I don't know if it agrees with the will of God. That's where faith, trust in God, comes in.
I went on to say that one important indicator that this move may be God's will for our household right now is that, as is often true of God's calls on our lives, it takes me from a place where I've been comfortable.
But I think that there have been plenty of other indicators that this is what God wants.
Among the many solid teachings of the Lutheran movement, I think, is their insistence on the dual nature of any call. It's not enough for a man or a woman to declare that they've received a call to ministry. Jimmy Ray Bob may believe that he has a call to start a congregation. But unless others in the Church universal, led by the Holy Spirit, have reached the same conclusion, Jimmy Ray has no business becoming a pastor. And that's true whether Jimmy Ray has a doctorate in Theology or sells cumquats at the local produce stand.
The church, be it an individual congregation, a church-related organization, a synod, or a seminary, must sense that the candidate for call is the right person for it. Jesus Christ has made us part of a Body called the Church, each of us having our part to play and each accountable to one another.
The early church recognized this from the beginning. The New Testament book of Acts recounts the early history of the Church. In chapter 6, there's an account of the first church fight. The apostles, the rulers of the Church appointed by Jesus, could, I guess, have simply appointed people to make sure the distributions among the church's widows were done equitably. Instead, they got the rest of the Church involved in the process, an indication of the importance Christians have always attached to mutual accountability and the belief that the call has a dual nature. (Read Acts 6 here.)
From the moment I interviewed at Saint Matthew, honestly to my surprise, the Call Committee and eventually, the overwhelming majority of the congregation, clearly wanted me to be there. I don't believe that had anything to do with my virtues or qualifications. Instead, I believe that the Holy Spirit was sending the same signals to the congregation that He was sending to Ann and me. It comforts and encourages me to consider that this impression about God's will wasn't just Ann's and my impression.
But you know what? We could be wrong. And that's okay. I'll have more to say about that in the next installment.
I went on to say that one important indicator that this move may be God's will for our household right now is that, as is often true of God's calls on our lives, it takes me from a place where I've been comfortable.
But I think that there have been plenty of other indicators that this is what God wants.
- There's the belief that began forming in my wife and me several years ago, after we'd prayed, discussed, and reflected, that it might be best for Friendship to have a new leader to take the congregation to the next level.
- There's the way in which the green lights for going to Logan flashed after Friendship's financial condition improved, I would say miraculously, this summer. That meant that I could leave Friendship without a sense of guilt or regret.
- There's the sense of both comfort and challenge that Ann and I had when we met with the people from the Call Committee at Saint Matthew. Comfort with their faith, sincerity, and good humor. Challenge in that we would be going to a congregational setting that we hadn't had the primary hand in constructing. That appealed to us.
- There's also the sense that I had grown in ways that might be useful at Saint Matthew.
Among the many solid teachings of the Lutheran movement, I think, is their insistence on the dual nature of any call. It's not enough for a man or a woman to declare that they've received a call to ministry. Jimmy Ray Bob may believe that he has a call to start a congregation. But unless others in the Church universal, led by the Holy Spirit, have reached the same conclusion, Jimmy Ray has no business becoming a pastor. And that's true whether Jimmy Ray has a doctorate in Theology or sells cumquats at the local produce stand.
The church, be it an individual congregation, a church-related organization, a synod, or a seminary, must sense that the candidate for call is the right person for it. Jesus Christ has made us part of a Body called the Church, each of us having our part to play and each accountable to one another.
The early church recognized this from the beginning. The New Testament book of Acts recounts the early history of the Church. In chapter 6, there's an account of the first church fight. The apostles, the rulers of the Church appointed by Jesus, could, I guess, have simply appointed people to make sure the distributions among the church's widows were done equitably. Instead, they got the rest of the Church involved in the process, an indication of the importance Christians have always attached to mutual accountability and the belief that the call has a dual nature. (Read Acts 6 here.)
From the moment I interviewed at Saint Matthew, honestly to my surprise, the Call Committee and eventually, the overwhelming majority of the congregation, clearly wanted me to be there. I don't believe that had anything to do with my virtues or qualifications. Instead, I believe that the Holy Spirit was sending the same signals to the congregation that He was sending to Ann and me. It comforts and encourages me to consider that this impression about God's will wasn't just Ann's and my impression.
But you know what? We could be wrong. And that's okay. I'll have more to say about that in the next installment.
Second Pass at Bible Lessons for November 4, 2007
The first pass, which also explains what these "passes" are all about, can be found here.
Ephesians 1:11-23
1. Authorship of Ephesians is disputed. Traditionally, it has been attributed to Paul. However, the vocabulary and theological categories used in Ephesians are sufficiently different from those used in the acknowledged writings of Paul (what's called the Pauline corpus) that many scholars dispute this. Furthermore, in the ancient world it was deemed legitimate for the followers of teachers or those schooled in their ways of thinking to write as though they were that teacher.
On the other hand, many argue that distinctions in style, vocabulary, terminology, and theology between this letter and other writings of Paul can simply be attributed to his growth and maturation as a Christian.
2. A major theme of Ephesians is spiritual warfare. Christians are in the midst of it, as contestants (but only with God's help) and as objects.
3. These past messages from Ephesians help flesh out some of its themes:
Changing Your World: Through Amazing Grace
Changing Your World: By Being a Disciple
Changing Your World: Through Prayer
4. Chris Haslam, an Anglican preacher from Canada, has a good summary of our lesson from Ephesians:
Ephesians 1:11-23
1. Authorship of Ephesians is disputed. Traditionally, it has been attributed to Paul. However, the vocabulary and theological categories used in Ephesians are sufficiently different from those used in the acknowledged writings of Paul (what's called the Pauline corpus) that many scholars dispute this. Furthermore, in the ancient world it was deemed legitimate for the followers of teachers or those schooled in their ways of thinking to write as though they were that teacher.
On the other hand, many argue that distinctions in style, vocabulary, terminology, and theology between this letter and other writings of Paul can simply be attributed to his growth and maturation as a Christian.
2. A major theme of Ephesians is spiritual warfare. Christians are in the midst of it, as contestants (but only with God's help) and as objects.
3. These past messages from Ephesians help flesh out some of its themes:
Changing Your World: Through Amazing Grace
Changing Your World: By Being a Disciple
Changing Your World: Through Prayer
4. Chris Haslam, an Anglican preacher from Canada, has a good summary of our lesson from Ephesians:
Paul has written of the Father’s wisdom and insight in making known to us his will, his plan for completion of the restoration of the faithful to oneness with him, as told by Jesus (vv. 8, 9). God’s plan embraces both Jews and Gentiles, bringing them together in one Christian community. That this is happening he sees as evidence of God’s ability to break down diverse barriers, and to bring the world to unity in Christ.Tomorrow, I hope to post the third pass at the All Saints Sunday lessons, looking at the Gospel lesson,
And so, in vv. 15-16, he is delighted to hear of the successful missionary activity by people he does not know at first hand. Their “faith” (commitment to Christ) and fraternal love (love of “all the saints”, Christians both Jewish and Gentile) go hand in hand: faith involves appreciating God’s great love for humanity demonstrated in the Father’s giving of the Son. That “your” (v. 15) refers to new Christians is indicated by “as you come to know him” in v. 17: Paul prays that these (relatively) new converts may receive “a spirit of wisdom and revelation” as each progressively come to understand God more and more. It is not just digested knowledge (“wisdom”) that they will receive, but also “revelation”, what God will show of himself and his ways, his manifest character, his greatness, “glory”, and the fruit of interaction of knowledge with experience. The objective (v. 18) is that, illuminated by innermost conviction (“with the eyes of your heart”), they may attain a maturer knowledge of God in three ways:Paul’s experience speaks here: God showed him mercy when he was a persecutor of Christians. Then v. 20: this power that they now experience is what the Father used in raising Christ and having him share in the divine glory. Christ has also conquered all alien spiritual powers (“far above all rule ...”, v. 21) and pagan gods (“every name that is named”). God has made “all things” (v. 22) subject to humanity; the Father has given Christ to the church as ruler over all things spiritual. The church is one in Christ and thus is able to share in Christ’s exaltation, Christ being the complete embodiment of God, who is in the process of filling (making good) all things. It is through the church that God pervades the world with his goodness.
- in spiritual growth (“hope”) being those whom God has called;
- the “glorious inheritance” Gentile Christians now share with their Jewish brethren; and
- experience of the tremendous power of God as he works in their lives.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Hello, Goodbye: How Do You Know?
Friends wonder as they consider the end of our happy seventeen tenure at Friendship Church how I know that our move to Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio is the right thing. How, in other words, can we be sure that this move agrees with the will of God?
Short answer: At one level, I don't know if it agrees with the will of God. That's where faith, trust in God, comes in.
One strong sign that God's hand is in a thing is when it entails leaving the comfortable to enter the unknown. God often wants us to leave comfortable pursuits and surroundings so that we learn to depend on Him. When we stay in our comfortable places, we can fool ourselves into thinking that we actually know what we're doing. Moving into the unknown is one way we can follow the wisdom found in Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight." (I love that!)
Of course, Saint Matthew is a solid congregation that's been around since 1852. The people of the parish are friendly, warm, and committed to Jesus. Logan is a beautiful town set in the gorgeous Hocking Hills section of Ohio, surely among the most attractive places in the world. So, it's not as though God is telling us to go into the wilderness to a land He will show us.
But I could have stayed at Friendship for another seventeen years, retiring at age 66, when my pension will be fully vested. I could have continued to live with comfort and ease which I might have deluded myself into believing was of my making. I could be like the rich fool in Jesus' parable who told himself, "Relax, eat, drink, be merry." (Of course, like that rich fool, I would have been further deluding myself into thinking that I was guaranteed tomorrow. There's nothing to say that I'll even make it to age 66. Or age 54, for that matter.)
Christ does comfort us with the knowledge that through faith in Him, our sins are forgiven and we belong to God eternally. But Christ hasn't called us to lives of comfort and ease. Our job is to follow Christ, wherever He leads: "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people,” Jesus told His first disciples (Matthew 4:19). He tells us the same thing. He also says things like:
But we are also being taken out of what has become a comfort zone these past seventeen years, the very sort of thing you'd expect God to do in the lives of His people.
When God takes me out of my comfort zones, my first response is almost always the same: I draw closer to God. Christians, even pastors, do that with the assurance that James gives in the New Testament. "Draw near to God," we're told, "and he will draw near to you" (James 4:8).
It's funny, as I've prepared for going to Saint Mattthew, though filled with excitement and anticipation, I'm also filled with a sense of how little I really know, not just about tomorrow, but even about today. I've been drawn nearer to God and have been reading His Word and praying more and with greater dependence than I would have had we decided to stay here in our comfort zone.
So, at one level, I don't really know that God wants us to go to Saint Matthew. But at another, I'm sure that our move to Saint Matthew in Logan agrees with the will of God. More on that tomorrow.
Short answer: At one level, I don't know if it agrees with the will of God. That's where faith, trust in God, comes in.
One strong sign that God's hand is in a thing is when it entails leaving the comfortable to enter the unknown. God often wants us to leave comfortable pursuits and surroundings so that we learn to depend on Him. When we stay in our comfortable places, we can fool ourselves into thinking that we actually know what we're doing. Moving into the unknown is one way we can follow the wisdom found in Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight." (I love that!)
Of course, Saint Matthew is a solid congregation that's been around since 1852. The people of the parish are friendly, warm, and committed to Jesus. Logan is a beautiful town set in the gorgeous Hocking Hills section of Ohio, surely among the most attractive places in the world. So, it's not as though God is telling us to go into the wilderness to a land He will show us.
But I could have stayed at Friendship for another seventeen years, retiring at age 66, when my pension will be fully vested. I could have continued to live with comfort and ease which I might have deluded myself into believing was of my making. I could be like the rich fool in Jesus' parable who told himself, "Relax, eat, drink, be merry." (Of course, like that rich fool, I would have been further deluding myself into thinking that I was guaranteed tomorrow. There's nothing to say that I'll even make it to age 66. Or age 54, for that matter.)
Christ does comfort us with the knowledge that through faith in Him, our sins are forgiven and we belong to God eternally. But Christ hasn't called us to lives of comfort and ease. Our job is to follow Christ, wherever He leads: "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people,” Jesus told His first disciples (Matthew 4:19). He tells us the same thing. He also says things like:
- "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:37-39).
- “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" (Matthew 16:24-25)
But we are also being taken out of what has become a comfort zone these past seventeen years, the very sort of thing you'd expect God to do in the lives of His people.
When God takes me out of my comfort zones, my first response is almost always the same: I draw closer to God. Christians, even pastors, do that with the assurance that James gives in the New Testament. "Draw near to God," we're told, "and he will draw near to you" (James 4:8).
It's funny, as I've prepared for going to Saint Mattthew, though filled with excitement and anticipation, I'm also filled with a sense of how little I really know, not just about tomorrow, but even about today. I've been drawn nearer to God and have been reading His Word and praying more and with greater dependence than I would have had we decided to stay here in our comfort zone.
So, at one level, I don't really know that God wants us to go to Saint Matthew. But at another, I'm sure that our move to Saint Matthew in Logan agrees with the will of God. More on that tomorrow.
Please Pray for...
...the people of Southern California, where the worst wildfires since 2003 are blazing. I'm praying for
the safety of the firefighters
the safety of the residents
an end to the fires
wisdom for leaders as they decide on the direction of resources
...the people of New Orleans, being hit with huge rainfall. I'm praying that
the levees hold
all will be spared more tragedy
...the people of Darfur, the victims of daily genocide directed and abetted by a maniacal Sudanese government in Khartoum
...peace in Iraq
...peace in Afghanistan
...wisdom for world leaders and our national leaders
I'm also personally praying for wisdom for myself to know what to pray for, work for, and do as a human being, a citizen, and, through Christ, a child of God. For that, I hold onto this Biblical promise:
the safety of the firefighters
the safety of the residents
an end to the fires
wisdom for leaders as they decide on the direction of resources
...the people of New Orleans, being hit with huge rainfall. I'm praying that
the levees hold
all will be spared more tragedy
...the people of Darfur, the victims of daily genocide directed and abetted by a maniacal Sudanese government in Khartoum
...peace in Iraq
...peace in Afghanistan
...wisdom for world leaders and our national leaders
I'm also personally praying for wisdom for myself to know what to pray for, work for, and do as a human being, a citizen, and, through Christ, a child of God. For that, I hold onto this Biblical promise:
If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. (James 1:5)But even when I'm not wise, I know Who is and that I can't go wrong when I tell God, "YOUR WILL BE DONE!"
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