This Present Crisis

Wow... it has been several days since I last blogged... too much work and too little time... Since my last post, the current economic crisis has hit very close to home, as one of my own loved ones has become one of the 20,000 jobs lost every day in the US. These are tough times, things are going from bad to worse, and while everyone is looking to the government and the Obama administration for bailout, stimulus, and recovery miracles, it gives us Christians, who belong to an alternative kingdom and are citizens of a different city, cause to reflect...

What would our world look like if we ordered our life and society by God's politics? When Israel asked for a king (I Samuel 8) God's heart was broken. Through Samuel, God warned the people - you don't know what you are asking for. A king (human government) will only take and take - take your children and conscript them into military service, take your money and spend it on their own luxuries and protection, take your freedom and turn you into slaves of the very government you crave and believe will protect you and provide for you. (Does this sound familiar?) What God is really saying is, "Why can't I be your king? Why won't you trust me to provide for you and protect you?"

What would our world look like if we followed God's economic recovery plan? If Jubilee and the year of release (from debts) was not just an ideal, but an economic reality... If the wealth with which we were blessed was really available for others, if there really were "no needy person among us" but those who had plenty shared from their abundance with those in need... What if, during this time of economic crisis, we actually found it better to live more simply, more connected with family (perhaps even families living together under the same roof so that the generations could re-connect), becoming a society of inter-dependence and mutual support?

What would our world look like if we paid attention to  God's environmental concerns? If we entered into a season of de-accumulation, because most of us have way too much stuff that adds nothing to our lives, but actually takes us captive (we don't own our possessions, they have come to own us)... if we would dare to live more simply and more as a partner and caregiver of God's creation rather than her master, if we embraced our vocation to enjoy the abundance woven into the fabric of this universe rather than exploit it?

This present crisis calls for every believer and every church to bear witness to the world that there really is a way to live by faith rather than fear, to live into hope rather than out of despair, and to practice generosity, compassion, and hospitality in a time when most are closing their hearts (and their purse-strings) in a spirit of self-preservation. Where does our help come from? Our help comes from Yahweh, the One who made heavens and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2) Perhaps as we go through this season of testing, as God's people, we will learn to reorder our lives according to God's politics, God's economy, and yes, God's environmental policies - living more simply, more freely, more connected, more trusting (and less fearful) and more like Jesus. 

What a wonderful world that would be! 

Soli Deo gloria

The Word For Today - Daily Office

This was a tough one - so many favorite readings in the Daily Office this morning... for instance:

Isaiah 55:6-11 where we are admonished to seek God... how God's ways are higher than ours, God's thoughts are deeper than ours... and how God's word always bears fruit... a great text.

Then there was Galatians 5:1-15, where Paul shows the excellence of the way of love, it is the sum of all God's commands... that what really counts (as I remember Dr. Greathouse saying so often, is faith expressing itself in love... another great text.

But then, I also came to the gospel reading from Mark 8 (the hinge of Mark's gospel and one of my all time favorite texts as I recall the number of sermons preached from Mark 8:27-9:1) - if we would follow Christ, we must "turn from our selfish ways, take up our cross, and follow Jesus."

But it was the prayer book of Israel that spoke most powerfully today (not so much to me, as it spoke for me, as the Psalms regularly do - expressing our deepest cries of pain, praises, and hopes)... 

Psalm 71:18-22 Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the highest heavens. You have done such wonderful things. Who can compare with you, O God? You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again. Then I will praise you with music on the harp, because you are faithful to your promises, O my God. I will sing praises to you with a lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

Today, Psalm 71 became my word for the day... It confesses my deep hope, that even in life after traditional pastoral leadership, that God will use me to encourage and help a new generation of preachers to proclaim the gospel with passion and power... my hope that God will take the hardships, pains, and sufferings of my life (including those inflicted by God's own people) to give life, counsel, and hope to other pastors who are going through the fire in their churches... my hope that, though I may not use harp or lyre to do it, the praise of God will ever be on my lips - because God, who is ever worthy of praise is faithful!

Soli Deo gloria

Why Teach?

It's a great question... and Walter Brueggemann answers that question for me in his article entitled "That the World May Be Redescribed" (Interpretation, October 2002, pp. 359-367). In his words, this is the reason I teach preaching and interpretation to preachers... and why I teach the Bible to my Journey (home Bible study) group: "to enable the church to discern the world anew according to the script of the Bible with particular attentiveness to the character of the Bible, and thereby to accept the world as a place of joyous missional obedience."

WB concludes that article with this observation: The text itself is cause enough for wonder. A second wonder is that teachers (preachers) can help people find access to the text - and, given access, we find ourselves addressed and reimagined by this "strange new world" of the Bible.

Given the current crisis of our day, the unfathomable richness of the text, and the inscrutable, yet merciful Character who is revealed to us through this text, who could ask for any greater joy or vocation?

Isaiah Unplugged!

Isaiah 45:18-25 For the LORD is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. "I am the LORD," he says, "and there is no other. I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found...For there is no other God but me, a righteous God and Savior. There is none but me. Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. I have sworn by my own name; I have spoken the truth, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to me. " The people will declare, "The LORD is the source of all my righteousness and strength." 

COMMENT: I can't improve on this. What a bold and audacious act - to declare such words in a time of transition, when God's people have known nothing but absence, loss, and displacement in exile. In times like these, God's people remember and confess: "The LORD is the source of all my righteousness and strength." Today, in a failing economy... at the end of a season of personal transition, loss, and displacement... when the cries of despair would drown out the whisper of hope... these words, however audacious, still sustain - for they are the words of the living God - offering a future that is filled with hope.

Soli Deo gloria

Time for Change

2 Corinthians 3:17-18  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. 

COMMENT: Change - it has become a popular political mantra these days. We want change... all of us need change... we dare to hope for change - even in a system as resistant to change as Washington politics (or church politics, for that matter)...

But the change we need does not come from the outside. It does not come in the form of a newly elected political leader. It does not come from new policies, new programs, or new promises. Change (as Paul wrote to the Corinthians) comes from within - through the transforming work of God's Spirit (and note the passive form of the verb - we are being changed or transformed - God's action working upon and within us).

It is Spirit-change that turns consumers and hoarders (that is the American way) into givers.     It is Spirit-change that transforms people who want to be served into people who are servants.   It is Spirit-change that makes a person love someone whose skin color is different, someone who strikes out at you in malice, even someone who threatens your very sense of security.

The change the Spirit produces in us makes us more and more like Jesus - meek and lowly in spirit instead of proud and arrogant... more like Jesus, who was full of compassion that moved him to action rather than the words and talk that comes so cheap... more like Jesus, who led by hope instead of fear, calling forth the best in us rather than the worst in us.

The church should ever be the carrier of this true message of change. Yet strangely, too often we have chosen the broad road that leads to destruction. The time for arrogance is over (you would think the religious right would realize that after the failed 20 years of their reign, but already you see and hear their arrogance resurging as they lambast the current administration)... The time for cheap talk is over (again, the church, as change agent, must be on the front lines of confronting the challenges of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and care for the displaced in our society), the time for fear-mongering and pessimism is over (yes, we can and must make realistic assessments of the present crisis, but God's people also know from our history that in these times of crisis, we are not alone and God's purposes will prevail).

I want to be a change agent - but that is only possible as I open my life up to The Change Agent, and allow the transforming Spirit of God to humble me, move me out beyond my words and into action, and fill me with hope (which energizes) rather than fear (which destroys).

Change my heart, O God, make it ever true. Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.           You are the Potter, I am the clay... Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.

Soli Deo gloria

They Will Know We Are Christians By Our...

Ephesians 5:1-2 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. ² Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

He was a good minister with 9 years experience behind him, but new to this congregation. His wife and their three pre-school children had won the hearts of the congregation during the first 3 months of pastor/people honeymoon. The church embraced his children, shared their love with the pastoral family in very tangible ways, and listened with joy and receptivity to his creative "new style" of preaching. Life was good. It was heaven on earth!

But then, all hell broke loose. One of the children's workers made an unwise decision and, for a brief moment, lost track of one of the children in her charge. No one was hurt, and the children's worker, a new Christian, was deeply remorseful. The child's parents were gracious, understanding, and forgiving. Only a few people even knew what had happened. In an effort to protect the young Christian children's worker, the pastor, after putting several safeguards in place, chose to keep the children's worker in the ministry she loved.  But Sue would not let it go. She wasn't even there when it happened, but she was sure she was right and this pastor was endangering the children... so she started her campaign. Board members were called and fed misinformation. District leadership was notified and an investigative committee was created. Lines were drawn and another permanent tear occured in the body of Christ.

Several months later, the church is much smaller, but, says Sue, they are stronger in spirit. The young Christian who worked with children is no longer part of that fellowship - or any fellowship for that matter. Rather, she is looking for love in all the wrong places these days, trying to drown the memories of a broken faith. The pastor is finding new life in a new church in a new denomination.

And they'll know we are Christians by our...

Soli Deo gloria

Word for Today - Last Week's Daily Office

Mark 3:13-15 Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons. 

Somehow, I copied my readings down wrong and did this week's readings last week, so this week, I am reading last week's reading... and you thought you were confused! 

Mark writes in lightning like fashion - and yet, artistic and inspired gospel-er that he is, he is able to say a mouthful in a single phrase. These two verses that narrate the appointment of the 12 apostles, though brief, gives a rather comprehensive description of Christian discipleship and vocation. I know this sounds preacher-like, but Mark gives us three characteristics of those who would follow Jesus and share his ministry. How do we measure up in these 3 areas?

1) Disciples are those who spend time with Jesus (they were to accompany him). Strange as it seems, this is one of the weakest areas of the church's life today. When I served as pastor, I was amazed at the shallowness of the faith, prayer life, and Bible knowledge of the typical American lay person. Spending time with Jesus, learning his way, and getting to know his word seems to be low on our list of priorities in a life filled with work (of course) and entertainment. What kind of church /people / disciples would we be if we spent as much time in solitude with our Lord as we do in front of the television set?

2) Disciples are those who are sent out into the world to proclaim the gospel (he would send them out to preach). Not all of us are preachers with great oratory skills... but perhaps the words of St. Francis do apply to us all: Preach the gospel at all times...if necessary, use words. Does the life we live proclaim the gospel we profess? That may be the only gospel many people will ever encounter. What kind of church / people / disciples would we be if the focus of our ministry was outside the walls of the church, being Jesus and living faithfully for God in front of the world, rather than hiding together in the holy huddle and keeping our faith to ourselves?

3) Disciples are those who stand against the evils of this present age (giving them authority to cast out demons). Mark's gospel focuses on the clash between God's kingdom and Satan's domain (Binding the Strong Man, as Ched Myers points out). Every day we encounter the evil that has seduced and captivated us - from Madison Avenue advertising to political idolatry to economic oppression to racial divide, the powers continue to make claims upon us and do their work of destruction and division. What kind of church / people / disciples would we be if we boldly stood up to the powers, battled injustice, and spoke out against the evil that rears its ugly head in insidious ways? 

This is the Spirit's work - to create within us the hunger to spend time with Jesus and learn his ways... to have the mind of Christ. This is the Spirit's work - to anoint us in word and deed to proclaim the good news of Christ by what we say and by how we live. This is the Spirit's work - to empower us and enable us to say "no" to the world and its evil ways, to refuse to participate in the violence, oppression, and hatred that evil spawns, and to work for peace, justice, equality, and righteousness in this world that God loves and intends to redeem.

Lord, I give myself to you today. Create this hunger in me...anoint me to proclaim your ways in word and deed, and give me the courage to stand for righteousness in an unrighteous world. In the name of your Son, who taught us to pray, "Our Father..."

Soli Deo gloria

A World of Super-Abundance

For a brief period of time in college, I majored in economics (not that it ever helped me balance my checkbook!) I still remember the supply and demand graphs that we drew in mathematical economics - showing the impact that both forces have on prices. I have thought about that a lot in these days of economic crisis. When supply is limited, prices soar, until demand decreases, which brings prices back down. This has been evident in the recent rise and fall of gas prices - price responding to market demands. Everything in this world-view depends on a primal assumption - the law of scarcity. Because resources are limited, these laws hold true.

But what if that fundamental premise is wrong? What if resources are not limited? What if we do not live in a world of scarcity, but in a world of abundance - of super-abundance? That is the world given us in Scripture... from the story of creation, where this universe, spoken into existence by the word and will of the Creator God, literally teems with life... That is the world given to Israel in the desert, when, resources all spent, God miraculously feeds the people - bread and birds from heaven, water from a rock... That is the world given to a Lebanese widow in the days of the great prophet Elijah, whose meal and oil refused to give out, even in a time of severe famine...

Throughout the stories of the Bible, we are given glimpses and pictures that the real world is not the world of scarcity, but the world of abundance. Jesus, God's final and ultimate revelation lives his life in this world of God's super-abundance. He demonstrates this most powerfully in the miracle of the loaves and fish - feeding thousands with a pittance, and plenty left over. The world of the Creator God... the world of bread in the desert... the world of oil and meal that replinishes itself forever... this is the real world offered to us in the fullness of the kingdom that Jesus ushers in...

What if we really lived in a world like that? How would our lives be different? Would we quit stressing over our own appetites and desires to accumulate? Would we be empowered to be generous, outrageously generous, until "there was no needy person among us"? Would we live more simple and free, more available to God and others, more joyful and fulfilled - if we only knew that this super-abundant world of the gospel is the real world - not our presumed world of scarcity, where everyone grabs for their own piece of the pie, since there isn't that much to go around? Would we? I can only imagine!

Soli Deo gloria

The Mother-Heart of God

Isaiah 49:13-16 Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering. Yet Jerusalem says, "The LORD has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us." "Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands. Always in my mind is a picture of Jerusalem's walls in ruins.

COMMENT: Want to make a fundamentalist really mad? Just refer to God with feminine pronouns. One of my earliest introductions to this kind of God-talk was reading an Andrew Greeley novel about a Catholic priest in Chicago who loved to make his parishoners mad by referring to God as "she." It was shocking to me at first, but I really liked the devilish-ness of this priest who just wanted to stir up the nest. He certainly began to stir up my nest as I began to think about religious language. And some time later, I began to notice the Bible's ease with using feminine language and imagery when it speaks of God and God's relationship to humanity. My own personal prejudices were being exposed and transformed through the powerful medium of fictional narrative.

Nowhere is the mother-heart of God more clearly revealed than in this passage from Isaiah 49. It plumbs the depths of intimate relationship when it likens God's relation to Israel in terms of a nursing mother with her child... That is something I can not fully relate to. I have seen it and appreciated the love and tenderness that exists between mother and nursing child. There have been times when I even envied that experience (though not at 3 am feeding times). Perhaps the closest I may ever come to this experience is the utter delight that has come to my heart as I held my infant granddaughter on my chest and rocked her to sleep as she placed her head next to my heart.

So yes, God's love for us is as deep and wonderful and mysterious as a mother's love for her nursing child. There can never be any thought of abandonment on God's side. God cannot forget "her" children. God has our names inscribed on the palms of "her" hands... Give thanks to the Lord, for "she" is good..."her" love endures forever. Does that kind of language make you mad? You might just be a fundamentalist... God help you! But even if you are, God loves you and will not forget you! She really won't! And that... is good news!

Soli Deo gloria

Remember Who You Are!

Isaiah 30:21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

COMMENT: We are being reminded these days, how important the past can be. Yesterday's inaugural ceremonies regularly pointed us to the past as it aimed us into the future. The "past" came alive yesterday... from Rick Warren's opening invocation in which he declared that "history is God's story" to the oath of office taken with a hand on Lincoln's Bible, to the climactic ending of President Obama's address in which he quoted George Washington: "Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

In times of crisis, transition, and uncertainty, we need to remember who we are. Most of the crises facing the church today are crises of identity. We simply have not remembered who we are. We have forgotten the story that shapes us. We don't know which way to turn, because we have shut our ears to the voice of "history" that reminds us of who we are, who God is, and who we are to be now that we have been graciously invited to walk in covenant with the holy, loving, God.

When Jesus was tempted, the first thing called into question was his identity (If you are the Son of God, an identity just recently affirmed in his baptism...) And how did Jesus respond... by turning to the ancient texts, the trusted paths, the tested story of a God who sojourned with Israel in thier desert experience, teaching them to love and trust God and God alone. And, of course, that is the context of Isaiah 30 - as Israel is considering self-help and secular alliances rather than trusting in and following the God of the covenant. The prophet teaches a history lesson - so that God's people will not forget who they are - or forget the God who owns them, claims them, and has promised to protect and defend them.

Recently, I have spoken with several young ministers who are sensing God's call to a ministry with the poor - not following traditional paths of small church (build a building), move to medium church (build a building and hire staff), big church (build a building)... you get the drift! And when you ask them about this, one of the places they point to is the origins of our denomination in Los Angeles, with a ministry that thrived among and with the poor. These ministers are simply remembering their story, their identity, and their calling - a gift from the past.

For years I taught church membership classes that reviewed our history - an interesting story of coming together, joining forces with others, and even compromise for the sake of unity. Perhaps, in light of all the current church squabbles and splits, we need to remember our story.

Many churches and people are re-discovering the importance of small group ministry, learning in community and accountability to others. Perhaps, in light of the growing immaturity and the tragic shallowness of our discipleship, the church needs to remember our story.

Missions has always been a priority for our church - but usually at arm's length (foreign missions we used to say). Perhaps, in light of the growing need of the inner city and the suburban flight of the church, we need to remember our story.

Most of our present crises are the result of a severe identity crisis - we have forgotten who we are - what it means to be the people of this kind of God in this kind of a broken and hurting world. This God does not run away from the madness or mess of the world, but runs toward it with arms stretched wide to embrace and transform the world in holy love. Church, this is our story, this is our identity, this is our vocation. The time is urgent, church. We must remember who we are!!!

Soli Deo gloria

Power Games

Isaiah 48:17-18 This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. ¹⁸ Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.

COMMENT: In the last 10 days, I have been amazed at the number of conversations that I have had with young ministers who are absolute in their devotion to God and their commitment to authentic, holistic ministry in the name of Jesus Christ - but who have also become very suspicious of their church and its power games. Of course, the leaders who have abused power with these young ministers are blind to their abuses. You can never really understand what it's like on the other side of power (note the emotions of so many African-Americans on this inauguration day - when you have been denied access to power and been the recipients of Power's abuse for so long, today is both historic and deeply personal). These power games get played out in so many venues - credentialing boards that deny licensing, scheduling required meetings with no thought to the bivocational pastor's work schedule, awarding advisory positions based on church size... and worst of all, neglecting pastors whose ministries have not turned out well. I know of a young pastor who was driven from his church, had to seek secular employment, was in financial and emotional crisis for months, and was never contacted out of pastoral concern by any of his superiors up the leadership ladder. The maxim is just as true in the church as it is in the business world: Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!

What is amazing to me about this is that the text quoted above is God's invitation to learn the way of peace and righteousness - to learn God's way of leadership. I am reminded of Jesus' words, "Come to me... learn from me... for I am meek and humble - and you will find rest." While I love and believe in the church, I am deeply concerned for a church that testifies to the grace of God that transforms us into the character of our Lord, but who fails to exemplify that humility that lies at the heart of holiness. Moses, the great servant of the Lord - is called the most humble man who ever lived (Numbers 12:3). Jesus, God's servant, is gentle and humble at the core of his being, laying aside all claims and paths to power to come among us, not to be served, but to serve.

I see this new generation of preachers wanting authenticity, integrity, genuineness in the church they serve. One of the greatest services we who are given the responsibility of mentoring these young ministers can offer is to take Jesus' yoke upon us and learn from Jesus again - the way into the future is not the way of power games... it is the way of humble service which leads to "peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea." Perhaps the best service we can render this new generation is to lay down our titles, stop playing our power games, and sit with these brothers and sisters as just that - brothers and sisters, and laugh with them, dream with them, and love them - just like Jesus.

Soli Deo gloria

The Word for Today - Daily Office

Psalm 44:1-8 [A psalm of the descendants of Korah.] O God, we have heard it with our own ears-- our ancestors have told us of all you did in their day, in days long ago: You drove out the pagan nations by your power and gave all the land to our ancestors. You crushed their enemies and set our ancestors free. They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them. You are my King and my God. You command victories for Israel. Only by your power can we push back our enemies; only in your name can we trample our foes. I do not trust in my bow; I do not count on my sword to save me. You are the one who gives us victory over our enemies; you disgrace those who hate us. O God, we give glory to you all day long and constantly praise your name. Interlude

COMMENT: These first 8 verses of Psalm 8 are pure orthodoxy - for Israel, for us... God, it's not our power or our ability that wins the day! You are the one who gives the victory! To God all praise and glory! So far, so good, even a fundamentalist would nod in agreement and say, "Amen!"

It's the verses that follow that are problematic... a prayer that goes beyond the conventions of our theological cliches and formulas: But now, you have tossed us aside ...(vv. 9 ff.) We kept our part of the covenant, God, but you haven't done your part... you have abandoned us... or, to quote the great theological work Bruce Almighty, "the only one not doing their job around here is YOU!" This is very bold speech, yet, for Israel, for us... it is a faithful way to speak to God and about God, crying honestly from the depths of one's own soul. There is a security and intimacy in a relationship that will accuse God of such abandonment and parental neglect without the fear of God's retaliation. Perhaps it is not unlike the child (or teen) who says to the parent, "I hate you!" They are crying out in rage, but because they know of the depth of love the parent has for them, they are not afraid to say things these that may break their parents' heart! Even though it wounds the parent deeply, they don't believe it will cut them off forever.

What interests me is how this very cry of pain (the genre of lament) enables and authorizes the pray-er to move beyond the cry of pain to the cry for help: Rise up, help us, ransom us because of your unfailing love (v. 26). It is an amazing gift of the lament form - to move us beyond the pain to a new appeal for grace and mercy. To continue the analogy of parent and rebellious child, even after their teen has declared their hatred and run off in rebellion, parents often get that call in the middle of the night that says, "Mom, I need you, I can't make it on my own, I want to come home!"  And they are welcomed back! That bond between parent and child is deep, wide, and strong... so strong that it can endure the worst that rebellion can throw at it.

Not long ago, I officiated the funeral of a young woman who, as a final act of desperation, took her own life. It was tragic for her, her parents, her children, her friends... and the only appropriate text for such an occasion was a lament psalm, which I preached. However, the lament does not leave us in despair - the lament, cried out in the presence of the God whose very character is marked by unfailing love, moves us to hope. I said there what I believe with all my heart: God is never nearer to us than at our moment of deepest desperation. If the Passion of our Lord means nothing else, it means that God knows (by personal experience) our suffering, having taken our pain, our despair, our hopelessness into Christ's own body... redeeming us from the pit!

There's a wideness in God's mercy like the wideness of the sea;
there's a kindness in his justice,which is more than liberty.
There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good;
there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his blood.

There is no place where earth's sorrows are more felt than in heaven;
there is no place where earth's failings have such kind judgment given.
There is plentiful redemption in the blood that has been shed;
there is joy for all the members in the sorrows of the Head.

For the love of God is broader than the measure of man's mind;
and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more faithful, we should take him at his word;
and our life would be thanksgiving for the goodness of the Lord.

I believe it! I truly do!

Soli Deo gloria

Church Done Right

Acts 2:42  They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 

COMMENT: Something wonderful took place today. It happens every week when we gather in homes (and some days we meet at the beach), and I lead a Bible study with 15-20 friends (some of whom are biological family, all of whom are Family)! One of the great things about this gathering is that we break bread together every time we meet. Everyone brings food and we share a meal - casually, leisurely, yet intentionally - because something wonderful and amazing happens around the table... conversation, laughter, encouragement... it is family time and God chooses to be present in the midst of it all. 

After our meal (it was blueberry pancakes this morning), we open the word together - and it is a conversation around the word, not a monologue about the word. Today it was lively, as the text (the baptism of Jesus in Mark 1) probed us and opened us up, challenging our assumptions and doing its transforming work in our hearts. It is both preaching and teaching for me - and I come away from those sessions with a deep sense that we have been a community that gathers around the Word and really is listening to what God is saying. It is powerful! We share in prayer together. And today, we collected food and gift cards for a needy family that one of our group told us about - yesterday (email is a wonderful thing).

I can't help thinking that this is one of the ways God had in mind for the church to exist and grow together in love... assembling together in Jesus' name, paying attention to God's word, sharing life with one another, and reaching out in caring love to the broken and hurting world. We have no buildings, no budgets, and no boards... but it is church done right - loving God, growing in love for each other, and extending God's love to the world. Yes, there are some things that are missing from traditional church - but the preparation we make each week to encounter God in word, table fellowship, and personal interaction is focused and intentional. 

I picked up a book in Nashville last week, entitled: Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations... They are:

1. Radical hospitality

2. Passionate worship

3. Intentional faith development

4. Risk-taking mission and service

5. Extravagant generosity

I am seeing these practices lived out in a non-traditional way with this "congregation." We have much to learn as we continue to walk in the way of Jesus. But we are doing church right in one sense - our focus is relational - we love God and we love one another... I seem to remember the Lord of the church having something to say about those two qualities and their relative importance (something about the greatest commandment)... and when we gather each week in his name, attend to his words, and practice his love with each other and those in need, God does show up! And when God shows up, good things happen, blessing and grace are poured out upon us, and we are empowered by the Spirit to live as Christ's ambassadors in a world gone wild. Now that... is church done right!

Soli Deo gloria

A Prayer for the Church's Holiness

Ephesians 3:16-21 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ²⁰ Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. ²¹ Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

COMMENT: Without a doubt, this is my favorite Pauline prayer from the Bible, and perhaps falls in my top three, along with the Lord's Prayers (the Our Father and The High Priestly). Why do I love this prayer. First of all, I truly believe in the goal of this prayer - the end result, the final aim - it is the glory of God. The doxology of verses 20-21 is well known and loved, although it is typically used as a promise of blessing for us rather than a summation of the great purpose of life - to glorify God (and enjoy God forever - Westminster Shorter Catechism). As I was reading Isaiah 43 this morning in the Daily Office, God's word reaffirmed this truth: "Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will gather you and your children from east and west. ⁶ I will say to the north and south, 'Bring my sons and daughters back to Israel from the distant corners of the earth. ⁷ Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.'"… (Isaiah 43:5-7, NLT). 

True prayer must finally end in doxology, and this prayer gives God all praise and glory for the grand work of salvation. It is significant that this doxology not only concludes the prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19, it also concludes the doctrinal section of Ephesians 1-3, where Paul unfolds the entire plan of God, from the foundation of the world - to reconcile and bring together all things in Christ. God is glorified (honored, God's  presence is made known) as God's work is done in Christ Jesus in and through the church. We are created, called, redeemed, reconciled, and empowered to bring glory, honor and praise to God through the Son, Jesus Christ, in the power of God's Holy Spirit. Not only is this prayer doxological, it is, as all Christian prayer and Christian ministry must be, thoroughly trinitarian.

Another aspect of this prayer that is cause for deep reflection, is that while the end of the prayer is God's glory, the means of the prayer is God's power - power that is at work in us (verse 20, Greek is energe0 - God's power energizes us). The NLT translates verse 16: I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Traditionally, it reads: out of the riches of God's own glory, may you be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner being. Either way, we are reminded of the truth that I also read in the Daily Office this morning...Psalm 20:7 - Some trust in chariots and horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God... The power at work in us is God's power, flowing from the superabundance of God's impressive presence (the riches of God's glory) and extended graciously toward us in Jesus Christ... We have this treasure in earthen vessels (jars of clay) to show that the greatness of this power is God's not ours (2Corinthians 4:7).

Finally, what I appreciate about Paul's prayer is that the heart of the matter is love. It is impossible to read or pray this prayer reflectively and not realize that God's intention and plan for the church is to be a people whose life together and life for the world is marked by love... our roots are to be deeply embedded in the soil of God's love... love is to be the pursuit of all our knowing, both intellectually and experientially... love is the fulness of God that is our holiness - a fulness on display in God's Son (see Colossians 1:19 and 2:9) and it is this very fulness (holiness=love) that we come to share in Christ, so that God's fulness is also on display in the church when we live out of, through, and into God's holiness; that is, when we love one another.

Yet this is where the church fails miserably in her witness - in this very arena of love. When one of her members or pastors is wounded, she abandons them, bleeding and dying in the deserts or battlefields of life... when there is disagreement, in the name of all that is "right" she divides and usually devours the one with the less power... she neglects the poor and the "other" justifying herself with insidious words such as "target audience" or "homogeneity"... she cares more for broken buildings than she does for broken bodies (watch her raise money for new carpet versus opening her doors to shelter the homeless on a cold winter night) ... she is quick to tell the spiritual babe how to live, but does not patiently walk alongside that infant until the babe in Christ is strong enough to walk on her/his own... she proclaims a message of unlimited forgiveness from God, but is stingy in her offer of forgiveness to the one who has slipped up and fallen short... time and again, the church lacks the power, the resources, and the resolve to extend grace, mercy, and love to each other. 

This prayer is for the holiness of the church, and as the good Mr. Wesley emphasized again and again, the essence of holiness is love. But it is not cheap talk about love... it is love embodied, incarnate, lived out in the flesh and blood existence of our bodily lives - where life is always messy and compromised and tarnished and subject to sin... but where love always overcomes our human frailties and failures. You hear so much these days about what the church needs to survive and thrive in these days of crisis - and the answer, for me, is in this prayer - we need the power of God to love one another and the world for the glory and praise of God.

Nobody encapsulates the heart of this prayer for the church's holiness more powerfully than Charles Wesley:

Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling; All thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion, Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation; Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit, Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit; Let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its Beginning, Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver, Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return and never, Never more Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing, Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing, Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation; Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory, Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Soli Deo gloria

Blessed are the Peacemakers

Yesterday, I was verbally accosted on the phone (at work) by a very mean and unhappy person. For 30 minutes of the 45 minute conversation (when I could get a word in edgewise) this man, who was upset about a rather insignificant event, unloaded on me with argument, insult, excessive demands, and minor threats against our company (you know the ones - I'm gonna blog you into oblivion, call the Better Business Bureau, picket your store... ad infinitum)...

Now this is not the first time I have been on the receiving end of an unhappy customer in the business world. Years ago, as manager of an automotive service center, that was a weekly occurence. Nor is it the first time I have ever had anyone speak like that to me...as a pastor, I have been spoken to worse (in louder terms and fouler language) by a member of the church (which is a bit harder to take, given our common family bond and the command of our Lord to love one another deeply - but that is a whole other blog for me to reflect on). For whatever reason, this man on the phone yesterday was upset (= hurting) and he felt he needed to dump on someone - and, because I was the only manager around, he dumped on me.

The interesting thing to me is - I really didn't mind getting dumped on! There were times that the conversation turned laughable - because every one of his objections was easily overturned by a calm demeanor and pursuit of solving the problem instead of whining about it! My fellow employees were watching... they said I should put him on hold and not pick back up... or simply hang up on him as his language turned personal and abusive. But all through the conversation I was thinking, "This guy is such a jerk... but something deeper is going on in his life." And I felt compelled to sit, listen, take it, not argue and fight back, but workin a spirit of peace in behalf of this sad, hurting, mean, and unhappy man.

I got him the information he demanded... I walked him through some internet challenges... I stayed an hour and a half late and researched his requests, sending an email with more than he had requested - and an offer to continue to help. My fellow employees shook their heads. And though, I probably did nothing to turn this man or his attitude around (and I don't really look forward to talking to him again - or meeting him if he ever comes in to the store)... I took the path of peace - and in doing so, sensed the good pleasure and smile of the Father.

Peace is heavy on the heart of God these days. I believe God grieves over warring nations. I imagine that God's heart breaks when people (like my phone friend) treat each other with disrespect and abuse. I am sure that God is weary of the warring folks who claim to know the saving grace and presence of Christ but do not know how to live with one another in love. 

But, as I heard Barbara Brown Taylor say in a sermon on the Prodigal Son, peace always comes at a price - it involves a profound crisis of identity... you cannot live in peace with others and stay exactly who you are or who you want to be, sometimes you have to make huge concessions... sometimes you have to sacrifice your own honor, swallow your pride, let people walk over you... not as an act of weakness, but out of deep strength and conviction that what matters most to God is not our being right or having the upper hand, but living together in peace.

Oh that the church would learn this lesson well! The fragmentation, the backbiting, the ease with which we dismiss one another (pastors and people), the willingness to divide over issues (petty or pertinent) - all speaks to how far short we have fallen of Jesus' vision for his church. This is the church that he said he would build, and the gates of hell would not prevail. But sometimes it is not the gates of hell that are our biggest enemy...we are! But Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers. Or, as Peterson paraphrases: "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family." - Jesus to his church (Matthew 5:9, The Message)

Soli Deo gloria

What Script Are We Reading?

One of the joys of yesterday was the opportunity to eat lunch with two of my best buds from years gone by, Howard Plummer and Dave Hill. After lunch we went to Cokesbury, a stop that was icing on the cake of my Nashville trip. And of course, I saw the book by Walter Brueggemann that I have been wanting to check out for my summer class on preaching and interpretation - so I bought it. I am reading (again) a chapter in the book entitled Preaching as Reimagination and following his argument that I believe correctly assesses the state of American culture and the work that preaching the gospel must do as we offer to our listeners an alternative script (text) to the dominant script that has captured our imaginations and defines our identities, vocations, and connections with each other. In other words, preaching is the offer of a new scripting of reality. Do we know what script we are reading?

To quote WB: The dominant scripting of reality in our culture is rooted in the Enlightenment enterprise...which has issued in a notion of autonomous individualism...the individual becomes the norm for what is acceptable. The end result is a self-preoccupation that ends in self-indulgence, driving religion to narcissistic catering and consumerism, to limitless seeking after well-being and pleasure on one's own terms without regard to any other in the community... the American Dream as it is now understood has long since parted company with the claims of hte gospel. Whereas the dominant text (the American Dream) finds human initiative at the core of reality, the gospel witnesses to holiness as the core, and whereas it is the self that arises out of the hegemonic text, in the gospel it is the neighbor.

If this is an accurate assessment of the current state of affairs, and everything I see, hear, and know about the church in America testifies that this is so, then it is important, I think, to heed what WB says about the scriptural text (see the word script in there?) and preaching: The biblical text, in all its odd disjunction, is an offer of an alternative script, and preaching this text is the exploration of how the world is if it is imagined through this alternative script? As we read the stories of Scripture - stories of a God who initiates covenant, forgives sin, delivers from oppressors, designs rules for community living, pays attention and gives special care to widows, orphans, and strangers, hosts the other, redefines who is our neighbor, teaches us that in the abundance of this good creation there is more than enough for everyone, and yet instructs us to care for this good creation that teems with God's abundance - as we read and proclaim these stories and texts, God's scripting of reality, we offer the world a new script from which to get our cues of how to live in this world of gospel reality. 

We read the paper, watch the news, amuse ourselves to death (as Postman says in his book), fall captive to the empire of greed, acquisition, power games, and pettiness... we get caught up in this script of self-sufficiency and self-indulgence, and, at the end of another unsatisfying day we ask, "Could it be otherwise?" "Is there a different way of being in this world?" "Is that all there is to life?" "Is a world of shalom really possible - where nothing is missing, nothing is broken, all have enough, all are neighbors?" That is why we need preachers who are poets, storytellers, imaginers... because preachers are world-makers, offering a new script (called gospel) that re-defines the world. I am glad to be in their company!

Soli Deo gloria

The Word for Today - Daily Office

Isaiah 41:8-10 "But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from Abraham my friend, I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying, 'You are my servant.' For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

COMMENT: There are times in life when I have felt abandoned by God. Certainly, during the past 8 months of forced transition out of traditional pastoral ministry, the questions have arisen in moments of deep pain, grief, and doubt: God, where were you when I needed you? Why did you not come to my rescue? I did nothing to deserve this exile, it was inflicted on me by others... God, are you there? And if you are there, do you care? And if you are there and you do care, then why aren't you doing anything about my situation? Questions raised in the anguish of loss!

These are the kinds of questions that Israel asked in exile. The lament psalms (many of them dating from the exilic period) are filled with those probing, honest, faith-stretching questions. It is faithful speech to talk to God in this way... bold and daring... speech that emerges because of a genuine conviction that, even though God seems absent, there is no where else to turn in times of crisis - and an accompanying conviction that God will hear and answer - even out of the void! It is not easy to talk to God like this... but it beats holding on to the pain and saying nothing at all.

SIDEBAR: (I am glad I am not a fundamentalist. There seems to be no room for lament among most of the fundamentalists I know. They have God and faith all figured out. All their questions answered... all struggles reduced to formulas... all problems solved... a neat, tidy faith that knows of only one way (my way)... and no wrestling with the deep questions or dark moments. But that is no way for me - I see life filled with ambiguity... I experience life that is messy, untidy, and mysterious... I tire of platitudes, cliches, and formulas that simply do not work. Watch a fundy for a while and see that their walk does not match their talk... Rather, I need a robust God for a vibrant faith in a complex world. And that is the God who addresses us in Scripture.)

So, in the midst of exile, God speaks words of promise and hope like this to Israel. Walter Brueggemann writes, "Voices of divine presence are sounded in a context of known absence." That is the gift of God to people who feel abandoned and without a home. There is no reason for fear - even in the exile seasons of life, for we are not alone... we have not been abandoned... God is with us. God's right hand is strong enough to bring us back home.

That has certainly been my experience. These past 8 months, though painful and difficult, have been saturated with the presence of God. Dismissed into the wilderness, wondering how and why - this God has come to me and spoken to me in the presence of pastor friends who meet with me every week, hold me accountable, and encourage me in my gifts and calling. This God continues to come to me in the precious gift of family who love unconditionally and surround me with joy and blessing. This God comes to me through the friends and students who filled my life with laughter, conversation, affirmation, and encouragement as I spent time with them this week in both classroom and restaurant. I thought for a while that I had been abandoned. I was wrong!

God's promise in Isaiah 41 is true, even in the exile seasons of life: Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Soli Deo gloria

Reflections on the beauty of community at the end of a busy day of ministry

I usually blog in the morning... but today was different... after anticipating the alarm by 15 minutes, listening to God's voice through the texts of the Daily Office (Psalms 5, 6, 10, 11; Isaiah 40:25-31; Ephesians 1:15-23; and Mark 1:14-28), I hurry off to the Trevecca cafeteria for breakfast and conversation with a ministry student. The food is good and the conversation is substantive... I am given a great gift of encouragement and edification from one of God's servants who is preparing to join the company of those called to serve the church through a life of gospel proclamation. I believe in the communion of saints. 

I rush off to class, arriving just in time to experience the joys of learning in community... the students offer their creative interpretations of Scripture texts, and time and again, I am blown away with the depth of insight and the fresh revelation of truth that is poured out (by the Holy Spirit) through these unique, God-called servants. They bless me with their vision, their passion, their devotion to the ministry of the gospel. They honor me by calling me teacher, mentor, and friend. They bring me coffee and give me rides (I am still nursing this severely sprained ankle). They give much grace. They laugh with me in moments of divine hilarity... they weep with me in moments of confession that our world (and our church) is broken - and often inflicts more hurt than it heals... they challenge me to live into the demands and the promises of the gospel... they confront me with my own resistance to following God with reckless abandon and radical faithfulness... and they sit in silence with me as we are addressed by the voice of the living God. I believe in the communion of saints.

I sit down in the hub with a former student whose spirit bonded with mine the first day we met. We have only shared one class together, but there is a depth to our friendship that can only be explained as the gift of mystical communion - the shared life of people who are on a common journey. We share each others pains and testify to each other of the grace of God who turns brokenness into blessing, and enlarges our influence and capacity for ministry to others, even as we are going through the fire. I receive blessing, affirmation, and encouragement in the conversation. I thank God for friends and brothers in Christ. I believe in the communion of saints.

I go to dinner with one of my current students. We talk theology, ecclesiology, politics, and faith. We tell our stories. We seek discernment and guidance. We admit our own fears and frustrations. We express our hopes and ideals. The food is great. But what nourishes our spirit is not the food, but the conversation, the dialogue, the common journey that engages us. We are mutually encouraged by each other's faith (Romans 1:12). I believe in the communion of saints.

It takes a church to produce a saint... we are on this road together, and we really do need each other. Today, God has filled my life with a wonderful gift - the gift of community. I am weary from a full 14 hour day of interaction and dialogue with people... But I am richer and better for the time spent in the communion of saints. I believe... I really, really believe!

Soli Deo gloria

Ephesians 1:3-11 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶ So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. ⁷ He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. ⁸ He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹ God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. ¹⁰ And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ-- everything in heaven and on earth. ¹¹ Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

COMMENT: For many folks, Romans is the epitome of Pauline teaching and doctrine, but for me, it has always been the book of Ephesians. Maybe it's because my Father (who raised me in the Lutheran tradition) had a favorite verse... 2:8 - "By grace are you saved through faith". Or maybe it's because I like the rest of that passage - it is not our doing, but God's gift. We can't brag about anything at all. For we are God's creative masterpiece, an artistic expression of God's grace (my paraphrase of the beautiful Greek word poiema, from which we get our English word "poem") - and we have been recast in God's image to display God's glory through the way we live our lives - to the praise of God's glory. Or maybe it's because one of the best classes I ever took in Seminary was The Christological Epistles taught by Dr. Willard Taylor (what a scholar/saint/instructor!) who passed on his love of Ephesians to me. Or maybe it is because this opening passage climbs the summit of Pauline insight into the redemptive plan of God - that what God is about ultimately, urgently, and undeniably is the grand work of reconciling all things in and through God's own Son, Jesus Christ.

I am about to teach a class on the parables of Jesus - and we will be listening to a sermon by BBT (perhaps my favorite preacher) on the Prodigal Son. She notes that the American Church tends to interpret this parable as a repentance story... and what American Church doesn't need to repent? However, for most pastors and people in the church, what they have in view is individual "personal salvation" kind of repentance (which of course is a message for outsiders and others, not for "us")...rather than the corporate repentance that is needed by most of our churches and institutions ...characterized and  compromised as they are by greed, lust, power, and other more subtle forms of corruption.

But BBT sees this parable as a story of reconciliation, revealing to us the heart of a God whose "honor means nothing to him where his family is concerned... he will do anything to keep his whole community together" and she sees the father coming out to the elder son, not running this time, because he is worn out with these "warring, wasteful children...of how little it means to them to belong to one another, of how much more interested they are in being fulfilled and fed, or blameless and right... than they are in being reconciled with each other, as if securing their own identities were more important to them than living in peace with one another." 

Again this week, I have heard from another young minister who has been chewed up, spit out, and cast aside by a denomination that is caught up in power games that secure and establish their own honor and control - rather than taking the way of reconciliation and redemption. This young minister and his wife could very easily leave the church that they love - and yet, they, and the hundreds like them all over the US - are the hope of renewal for the North American Church - a church that needs renewal at the core of who we are. However, I am excited that, when we open up the parables of Jesus, a new world of kingdom righteousness, kingdom priorities, and kingdom peace breaks in upon our hearts - and our imaginations - so that, hopefully, we who attend to these stories will begin to see the world as God sees it, and make the reconciliation of all things to God our highest prayer and most urgent work.

Paul uses an interesting, one-of-a-kind word in Ephesians 1:10 to describe God's eternal plan. In Greek, it is too long to transliterate... but it is literally translated: "to bring all things together under one head" and is often translated "to sum up, gather, or bring together all things". The image could be likened to an excel spread sheet - different rows and columns of all different kinds of people - color, ethnicity, language, religion... and all different aspects of God's creation - animal kingdom, plants and rocks, the entire cosmos... and here God is, putting the cursor over every cell and uniting them (summing them all together) in Christ... 

God's plan is more than a personal relationship with me and you... God is about the work of reclaiming all of creation - reaching out to all people and every creature to redeem us all - in Christ. No wonder Paul breaks out in song 3 times in verses 3-14 of chapter one, closing each stanza of his poem with the refrain: "to the praise of God's glory!"

Lord, help me today to be your messenger to the church, that desperately needs to remember that our only business is to align ourselves with your business, which is the wonderful and costly work of reconciliation, reunion, and redemption of all creation - even, and most especially, the part of your creation that we call "other" and would just as soon avoid at all costs. May this vision and passion send us into the broken and fractured people and places of this world - intent on being your agents of reconciliation - to the praise of your glory!

Soli Deo gloria

The Word for Today - Daily Office

Psalm 146:3 Don't put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there…

Psalm 147:10 The LORD takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. 

Psalm 113:4-7 For the LORD is high above the nations; his glory is higher than the heavens. ⁵ Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high? He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.

Isaiah 40-10-11 Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm... He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

Hebrews 1:3 The Son radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

John 1:29-34 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

COMMENT: A STRANGE WAY TO SAVE THE WORLD - Our texts today are woven together around one of the central (and perhaps most misunderstood or misappropriated) themes in all Scripture - what Capon calls God's left-handed way of power when dealing with the world and its sinfulness. God's power and glory are finally and ultimately on display in the strangest place of all - the crosss of Jesus Christ. Hanging there in all the suffering and helplessness of convicted humanity...stripped of all dignity and honor... in absolute vulnerability, shame, and weakness - Christ crucified is the power and wisdom of God (see 1Cor 1:23-29).

The poets declare it in the psalms today - don't trust in human displays of power... powerful people, weapons, systems, technologies - and yet, so much of the church is captivated by this right-handed power (just a few examples of this are the agendas of both Christian left and right to use political muscle to enact the righteousness of God, the church's endless insistance with operating under a business organizational model rather than a relational organic one, and her reliance on technology rather than prayer). Yet, Psalm 113 declares that this high and exalted God, who inhabits eternity, stoops down to earth to pick up the poor and needy. Here is a king who bends down to lift up his subjects...one who "though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, so that we, through his poverty, might become rich!" (2Cor 8:9)

The Isaiah text is particularly instructive - Here comes the Sovereign God, announces the prophet/poet, coming to rule with a powerful arm - and the Sovereign God's powerful arm turns out to be an arm that, surprise, does not out-muscle the enemy, or slap the rebellious children until we are black and blue, but this arm of power shows itself in compassion, care, provision, and gentleness. What a strange way to save the world, not with right-handed strokes of power, but left-handed strokes of love, mercy, and tenderness. (Three Dog Night sang it years ago - Why don't you try a little tenderness? How the church needs to hear that message afresh these days!)

Hebrews continues the theme - This unique, one of a kind Son, who radiates and exudes God's glory, majesty, and power - displays God's glory by cleansing us from our sins - an indirect reference to the cross - and an image, that, much to the fundamentalist's chagrin, testifies to the maternal side of God's nature - a God who holds us close to his bosom, feeds us like a mother does her nursing infant, cleans us up when we mess up (fathers changing diapers is a more recent, not a biblical times, phenomenon). Certainly God is shown in Scripture as a mighty, dread warrior... but that picture is balanced with this picture of God's maternal nature. 

And so, John (the Baptist), the final prophetic voice to point us to God's ultimate revelation in Jesus, declares this Word become flesh (by whom and through whom and for whom the entire cosmos exists), this long-awaited Messiah (anointed King whose coming will set the world right), this representative of the God of power and might whose glory fills heaven and earth... this Jesus comes to us as a Lamb. We were looking for a Lion - King of the Beasts, whose roar sends waves of fear and trembling to the entire jungle. Instead we get a lamb, a meek and mild creature who just stands defenseless and lets himself be slaughtered. There is a powerful picture of this very event in the book, The Kite Runner, where the author describes the haunting look in that lamb's eye, just before the knife slices through its throat... What a strange way to save the world. Not by right-handed power-mongering, but by left-handed acts of love and kindness. We, God's people have much to learn of the ways of our God... of dealing with one another (and the other) the way God deals with us. Yet this is God's commandment - that we love one another as God has loved us. It is God's command... it is the church's vocation... it is the hope of the world. May it be so, O God... may it be so!

Soli Deo gloria

The Word for Today - Daily Office

Psalm 138:1-3 [A David psalm] Thank you! Everything in me says "Thank you!" Angels listen as I sing my thanks. [2] I kneel in worship facing your holy temple and say it again: "Thank you!" Thank you for your love, thank you for your faithfulness; Most holy is your name, most holy is your Word. [3] The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength. 

COMMENT: I am reading a book for work that was written by a Christian business man - it is called The Energy Bus and is a fable that conveys some steps to becoming a positive person and leader - a person who gives and exudes energy, rather than sucking it right out of the room due to negativity. One of the practices the book condones is the regular practice of giving thanks - even in the worst of times and the most difficult of circumstances.

It seems to me that the Psalmists and poets and prophets and even the apostolic leaders knew that this was an important practice of faith - the regular offering of thanksgiving to God. It proceeds from a recognition that life is a gift - sheer gift - good and gracious gift - undeserved - saturated with God's own abundance. Thanksgiving is a response to the gracious activity of God in one's behalf. I especially like the way Peterson paraphrases verse 3 of Psalm 138 - The moment I called out, you stepped in; you made my life large with strength. 

This morning, as I think about the past few months of my life - reeling from the hurt and deep disappointment inflicted by the church and finding myself adrift at mid-career in ministry - I know I had a choice to make. I could continue to wallow in the bitterness and self-pity that too often accompanies this kind of experience - I have seen it happen so often in ministry colleagues. Or I could learn (again) and practice the grace of trust and thanksgiving. 

What I am now finding is that God is enlarging my life - expanding my influence and capacity to make a difference in the lives of others. I am thankful for the job I now have! I am thankful for the friends who stick beside me! I am thankful for my Journey group whose weekly gatherings around the word and our meals together are a reflection of what the church is really supposed to be about! I am thankful for the opportunity that God has given me to teach preaching at TNU and to now serve as Ambassador of Preaching! I am thankful for my family, for they are the source of daily joy in my life (especially as I talk to Kylie each day via webcam)! There is just so much to be thankful for!

I have found it to be so - The moment I called out to God in pain, hurt, confusion, self-pity, disappointment (Why me, Lord? How long, O Lord?) God did step in - and gave me a great gift - a perspective that perhaps comes best only by going through the fire. I have learned (again) that even when things don't work out the way you had hoped - God is still there... God still cares... and when you choose the road of gratitude, God takes the brokenness of our lives, makes us whole again, and opens up even better and larger doors for our lives to become the display of God's glory...

Isaiah 61:1-3 says it better than I can: The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion-- to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory. 

I rejoice today that God's comfort (the strength that comes by means of God's abiding presence) has been extended to me - God has replaced mourning with gladness, heaviness (or faintness) with joy and praise... God is raising me up as an oak of righteousness (yes, oaks do start out as nuts, I know). I am becoming, by grace, a planting of the LORD, to display God's glory. For this, and for all the goodness that God is bringing out of a very hurtful experience, I give thanks!

Soli Deo gloria

The Word for Today - Daily Office

Psalm 122:1-4 [A pilgrim song of David] When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy. [2] And now we're here, O Jerusalem, inside Jerusalem's walls! [3] Jerusalem, well-built city, built as a place for worship! [4] The city to which the tribes ascend, all God's tribes go up to worship, To give thanks to the name of God—this is what it means to be Israel. 

COMMENT: This is what it means to be Israel... so Peterson paraphrases the end of verse 4, a phrase that is typically rendered: a statute (or ordinance, testimony, even sign or reminder) for Israel... What the Psalmist seems to be saying is simply this: God's people were constituted from the very beginning to be a people of praise... It is the worship of this particular, sometimes rascally, and always inscrutable and untame God - that constitutes the people of God.

God enters into covenant with Abraham with a call to worship - Walk (live) in my presence and be wholly mine... offer your very body (and life-force) as a sign of the covenant (Genesis 17). We are constituted as a people of worship. 

God sends Moses to deliver Israel from the clutches of Egyptian power, and Moses storms into Pharaoh's throne room with God's demand: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me." The power struggle between Egypt and Yahweh is, in essence, the competing loyalty that lies at the heart of worship...as Dylan once penned, "You gotta serve somebody..." And we do. What it means to be Israel, however, is that we stretch out our hands in thanks and praise (the literal translation of the Hebrew yadah) toward the God who names us, owns us, redeems us, leads us, provides for us, and makes absolute and radical claims upon us...

And so we respond to the God who has reached out in mercy to us, embracing us in love...   

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (Romans 12:1, The Message)

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1, NRSV)

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-- the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. (Romans 12:1, NLT)

Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love, so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all (Isaac Watts, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross)

Soli Deo gloria

The Word for Today - Daily Office

Isaiah 59:14-19 Justice is beaten back, Righteousness is banished to the sidelines, Truth staggers down the street, Honesty is nowhere to be found, [15] Good is missing in action. Anyone renouncing evil is beaten and robbed. God looked and saw evil looming on the horizon—so much evil and no sign of Justice. [16] He couldn't believe what he saw: not a soul around to correct this awful situation. So he did it himself, took on the work of Salvation, fueled by his own Righteousness. [17] He dressed in Righteousness, put it on like a suit of armor, with Salvation on his head like a helmet, Put on Judgment like an overcoat, and threw a cloak of Passion across his shoulders. [18] He'll make everyone pay for what they've done: fury for his foes, just deserts for his enemies. Even the far-off islands will get paid off in full. [19] In the west they'll fear the name of God, in the east they'll fear the glory of God, For he'll arrive like a river in flood stage, whipped to a torrent by the wind of God. (THE MESSAGE)

Rev. 2:10-11 "Fear nothing in the things you're about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear nothing! The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten days. It won't last forever. "Don't quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown sized and ready for you. [11] "Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches. Christ-conquerors are safe from Devil-death." (THE MESSAGE)

COMMENT: The joining of these two texts remind me this morning why I am a Wesleyan, that is, I interpret the Scripture through a Wesleyan lens. The Isaiah text comes as a surprising insight... I have so often interpreted the armor of God (via Ephesians 6) as the armor that God supplies the believer for the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged. But here, God is the one who wears this armor - to engage in the battle that only God can win. In fact, it is helpful for me to realize that the armor given me is God's own armor - and it speaks to me of God's wonderful "condescension" - that the armor that fits the God of heaven and earth, the Lord of all creation, the All-Sovereign One - that very armor is custom fitted for me... It is the armor that Jesus wore as he battled the world, the flesh, and the devil... and the same power, the same Spirit, the same resources that equipped Jesus for this earthly life are now available to me. They are given me in the great gift of the abiding, empowering Spirit of God! (Romans 8:11)

But I digress. The Isaiah text focuses on the divine initiative. Seeing no one else to set this world right, God takes that task upon God's self. The first step is always God's. God always takes the initiative. Without the prior movement and work of God, there would be no movement or work from us. Salvation is the work of God. And in this work of salvation, all the glory belongs to God. But we join to this text, the testimony of Revelation (and all the rest of Scripture) that reminds us that we have a role to play in this salvation scheme of setting the world right. So the Spirit says to the church: "Fear nothing in the things you're about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear nothing! The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten days. It won't last forever. Don't quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown sized and ready for you." There is a divine-human partnership at work here - a synergy if you will. The church does have a work to do - faithfully following and testifying to the Captain (author) of our salvation. As Wesley said, "Because God works, we can work... Because God works, we must work... but all of our working is a responding to the God who moves and acts first. To borrow a tennis analogy, God serves the ball, we return the serve... and the game goes on. To use a dance analogy, God takes the lead, and we, holding on to God's strong frame and feeling the signals the leader gives, simply follow the leader. 

One other insight from today's Isaiah text. As I am preparing this class on the parables, I have been re-reading Capon's trilogy on the parables (he is an Anglican priest, thus we share a common tradition and lens). He speaks so often of God's left-handed ways of saving the world and showing God's power, rather than our worldly right-handed ways, and (rightly, I believe) contending for a view of left-handed judgment that always has salvation in view. It seems to me that this is evidenced in the last verses of the Isaiah text. The note of God's judgment is sounded, but when God visits in judgment (verse 18), it will reach to the far-off islands (those places that do not know the God of Israel) so that God's name and glory will be made known from east to west. God comes to save all humanity, and God's judgment (on our sins) is the first step in God's reclamation of all who stand opposed to God's good will for the cosmos. 

Am I a universalist? Probably not... I still want to see vengeance enacted upon my enemies (who I suppose to be God's enemies as well). My struggle is... the more I hear the voice of this God who loves the world so much that there is just no limit to the steps that God will go to reclaim this hostile world, I am coming to believe that God is a universalist - at least in God's desire that none should ever perish, but that all may partake of life. 

Oh, God, expand my heart to be a copy of your heart, enlarged to love this world you so love!

Soli Deo gloria