Book Review

I have recently joined a website which allows me to read books on Christianity with a postmodern twist for free, with the catch that within 30 days of receiving the book, I must write a 50+ word review of it. 

The first book I received was Spirituality by Carl McColman and the following is the review I wrote.

The idea that more and more people are open to spirituality which does not come directly from the Christian church seems to be the purpose behind the 10 year reprint of Carl McColman’s book Spirituality: A Postmodern and Interfaith Approach to Cultivating a Relationship with God.

As I began reading, I must say that I found the introduction as well as the first three chapters to be rather circular. Instead of saying anything with deep interest, McColman would dance around topics like Breathing, Tillage, and Wonder by providing the etymology (the study of the origins of a word) in order to broaden the readers definition. This is helpful, but too often I found the author talking about all the different sides and angles which spirituality can take, which leads me to wonder if there is a proper path in seeking spirituality. I would guess that McColman believes any path of spirituality is a positive one.

The most interesting parts of the book are when the author writes out of his personal experience. Unfortunately these stories are too few and lead me to wonder if his spiritual experiences connect in any particular way, or if they are simply a string of experiences which lead him to act in new ways.  Instead of allowing the reader to drink deeply of his own spiritual journey, we are stuck with snippets of a journey which is probably much more interesting than said or has not been reflected upon long enough to be of meaning to others.

As McColman has written other books in the “An Idiots Guide” series, I am left feeling that a better title would have been “An Idiots Guide to Spirituality”. For that is truly what this book is. The subtitle is misleading, as postmodern and interfaith are mere buzz words to catch a particular audience. Purchase this book only if you feel your knowledge of the spiritual is very low or very narrow.

An Easter Meditation

Love wins.

Say it with me…

“Love wins!”

We are about to go outside to watch the sun rise on this Easter morning. This is not a victory of good over evil, or life over sin. When we go outside and feel the sun on our face this morning, we are witness to the fact that love wins.

I’m going to read some short passages of scripture and when I prompt you, I’m going to ask that we end each reading with the phrase; LOVE WINS.

Matthew 5:43-44

             "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But Jesus says to us, Love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” From this we know: LOVE WINS

Matthew 22:36-39

            Someone asked: "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"  Jesus said to him, " "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' From these commandments, we know that: “LOVE WINS”

John 13:35

            By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." This morning we declare that: LOVE WINS

John 15:9-17

 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.  "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.  I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. We are your friends and will continue to abide in the fact that: LOVE WINS

 

 

Romans 5:8

            But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. This morning as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, we are witness to the fact that: LOVE WINS

 

Romans 8:35-39

                What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Even though these things will try to separate us from Christ’s love, we know that: LOVE WINS

1^st Corinthians 13

             If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,  but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.  For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part;  but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have seen face to face that: LOVE WINS

Let us now go outside to finish the Easter Morning Liturgy and proclaim with every fiber of our being that LOVE WINS.

No Turning Back

          Have you all seen the latest Geico commercial? The one where the CEO of the company is chatting with the gecko mascot about how when people hear the name of the company, they associate it with the term “trust” and then he gets out from behind his desk and decides to try one of those “trust falls” where he expected the little gecko to catch him safely. The obvious joke is that a tiny lizard is incapable of catching a human being, no matter how much trust there is in their relationship.

            I really like this commercial, mainly because in my own life, I have a difficult time trusting others in activities like these. During my many years at Camp Hope, I participated in many of these trust falls… and being a heavier guy, when I knew this was going to take place, I always did my best to pair up with someone I knew who could catch me. The only way I could place my trust in being caught was if I first placed my trust in the fact that the catcher had the right amount of strength. I always picked the right partner to catch me, and thus never ended up falling on my backside.

            When I went to college, I ended up joining a fraternity, and part of being in my particular fraternity meant quite a lot of time being blindfolded as we awaited our fraternity rituals. I could never tell if the fraternity just had cheap blindfolds of if I had a really big nose, but there was always a slight gap between the blindfold and my face, allowing me to see a small amount of the ground in front of me. I remember just before the ritual which made us pledges in the fraternity, as I was being led in a blindfold, the brother stopped us and whispered into my ear: “Do you trust the brotherhood?” Of course I answered yes. Now, perhaps it was because I could see, even if it was the smallest of slivers, but I’m not sure what I would have said if I had been in complete darkness.

            I share these things with you because I think it makes sense to look at the second half of today’s lesson before we look at the first. Here we have Jesus talking about being the light and that the apostles would have the light with them for only a little while longer. This isn’t exactly a statement which the apostles want to hear. If you believe the Messiah is with you, the last thing you expect him to say is that he’s leaving. Then Jesus speaks these words which we find in verse 35 and 36… “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness over takes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become children of light.” (NIV)

            “Put your trust in the light while you have it.” Now that’s a statement which makes a lot of sense to me, given my own experiences, and I hope it does for you as well. We all know that it is easier to trust when we can see what’s going on and this reminder that Jesus gives comes directly after Jesus talks about the death of a seed. Now, obviously we understand the concept that a seed must “die” and be buried in order to grow and produce fruit. This is the essence of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. The light of the world is now telling his apostles that he is going to die in order to be glorified…and that those who will follow him will do likewise so that they too may glorify Jesus.

When Philip and Andrew go to speak with Jesus on behalf of their Greek friends, I’m not so sure they were expecting the reply they got. One scholar[1] calls this passage the point of no return for the apostles, and I’m just guessing here, but I think when the apostles heard what Jesus said, their throat tightened a bit and there was a knot in their stomach. They wanted to follow Jesus, but for the first time, they now realized their lives were on the line… they had crossed the point of no return.

This whole concept of crossing the point of no return is one which defines all of our lives and we have all had these moments. Maybe it was a moment of putting a large amount of your financial savings into a somewhat risky investment. Maybe it was taking a new job. Maybe it was when you said your wedding vows… It’s similar to riding a roller coaster… Initially you strap yourself in and then the coaster begins to move up the big hill… as you slowly make your way to the top, there are these stairs along the side which might give you some thought that if you did something crazy enough, you could get the roller coaster to stop and then walk down those stairs to the safety of the ground below. The point of no return comes when you are no longer being pulled up to the top, but the first cart has made it over the top of the hill and you are no longer in control of your own destiny.

This roller coaster which Jesus and the apostles were riding has just come to the pinnacle of the tallest drop. Even Jesus points out that he is a bit nervous and yet is doing this completely for the glory of God. God even recognizes this fact and tells them that God has glorified it and will do so again.

The season of Lent is full of drama… we are descending in Holy Week, a time of defeat, destruction, and betrayal. It is by no means for the faint of heart. Just as roller coasters come with a warning for those with heart conditions, Lent should have a similar warning for the followers of Jesus. That warning reads: “Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their lives in this world will keep it for eternity.”

This is a scary warning and I must admit that, continuing with the roller coaster metaphor, I have not yet gotten on the ride. Yet, I feel as if I am standing in the line, watching others get ahead of me. I smile politely as I let others get in front of me. I’m not fully ready to give up my own life to God’s glory and I think God knows that about me right now. God knows where we each are standing in line. I think God knows that some of us might never take the ride and that’s ok. I think God is excited because God knows that soon some of us are going to strap ourselves in for the ride of our lifetime. It all gets back to the issue of trust, which is ultimately a means for reconciliation.  We get on that roller coaster because we long to take the same path which Jesus took.  We long to see him after our ride is completed. We long to see our loved ones who have already completed their trip. In the end, we long to go home to a God who is so glad that we took a risk and rode the scariest ride at the amusement park.

---

[1] "The Point of No Return," Rev. Bethany Hull Somers, Preacher's Magazine, 2009.

A poem.

This poem was given to me by two very good friends...

Old Clothes

Do you mind me approaching You in old clothes, Master?

They are so comfortable and easy.

Baggy where they need to be

they give when I move.

They are so much part of me that

I don't need to think about them.

New clothes make me self-conscious and so very careful about stains and creases.

When I go out in my new outfit

my thoughts revolve around myself.

How I look and feel,

how others think I look,

what impression I am giving. 

But when I'm in my old clothes my thoughts are free,

they fly in all directions

often winging their way to You, Lord.

So You won't mind if I don't dress up to talk to You?

It's no sign of disrespect

but rather of my belief in Your understanding

heart,

Your generous acceptance of me

Just As I Am

without frills or fancies.

Thank you, Lord, for that freedom.

Grace... Its How We Live.

I don't know about you, but when I hear the word grace, the first thing which comes to mind is the short prayer my brother and I are asked to say prior to every meal when we eat as a family at home. My brother and I to this day still say the same grace we were taught as children, although my favourite one comes from the one time my grandfather was asked to say grace. If I remember correctly, it was "Through the lips, past the gums, watch out stomach, here it comes, yay God!" I later learned from him that it was the "yay God" part which made it an official prayer.

 

Other than meal times, the word grace isn't used all that often in our every day lives. Sometimes we use the words gracious, which can mean pleasantly kind, benevolent, and courteous, merciful or compassionate[1] and we usually reserve this word for someone who does something nice for us which we didn't expect. To be gracious, or to extend grace, really means to do something which the unexpecting person does not anticipate.

 

The only other time I can really remember hearing the word grace on a regular basis is in our communion liturgies where we hear the words "Grace, Mercy, and Peace, from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ..." If you're anything like me, perhaps you have not really given much thought to the word grace and what it means to us as everyday followers of Jesus.

 

Of course, then again there's Amazing Grace, which is the theme for today and is the focal point of the message to be shared by the middle school students here in a bit. We're going to learn about John Newton, the author of the song we all know and love. Grace was something very real to him in a way which we may or may not understand. Not all of us have the same life and death situations in which grace is bestowed upon us in such a magnificent way. Not all of us go around the world as a part of our job stealing other human beings from their towns, live on a boat for long periods of time, subject to the waves of the sea. Not all of us make decisions which directly effect whether another human being will live or die. John Newton made such decisions on a regular basis as a young man and was amazed that God would extend grace to a person like himself. The grace which God extends isn't amazing in and of itself, the amazing part is that we figure it out that it has been ours the whole time.

 

There's one more way which the church uses the word grace, and its normally used by those of us who consider ourselves well versed in theology. It comes from one of the great theologians of our time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, makes a distinction between cheap grace and costly grace.

           

            "Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before."[2]

 

In a nutshell, it means that means when we ask for God's forgiveness and do not believe we need to repent from what we are doing, then we live our lives expecting God's grace to be cheap.

            "Costly grace on the other hand is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a person their life, and it is grace because it gives a person the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner."[3]

 

That last quote about costly grace isn't exactly an easy one to understand, and if you did understand after hearing it only once, I must say I'm impressed. I wrote that sentence as I was working an overnight at St. Luke’s hospital and after I wrote it, I stood up to take a break as to how I could explain such a complex concept in more understandable terms. As I was walking around the pastoral care office, looking at people's pictures on their desks, I came across a pin in the shape of a ribbon which said: "It's the way you live!"

 

I want you to repeat that after me "It's the way you live!" Real grace transforms the way we live our lives. Cheap grace merely pays lip service to change. This costly grace is the first step in what I like to call the grace chain. You see, I believe, and I hope that you do too, that bestowing grace is just a part of God’s nature. When we accept that grace, we chose not only to accept it, but to live in a state of grace, which means that we are transformed from the way we used to live and show the rest of the world that we no longer live the way we used to.  Hopefully the grace chain does not only end there, but that as we live transformed lives, others take notice and become curious as to why we live and act the way we do. Then we get to share the story of the grace we accepted from Jesus Christ.

 

Now, I realize that we are all in different stages of our walk with Christ. But I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity in worship this morning for us each to have the chance to lay something on the communion table later on during the time to pray. While the offering is collected, I’d like you to think of something you’d like to accept God’s grace on… something that you’d like to offer…something that you’d no longer like to live with. If there’s something in your life that you have already offered to God, and you’d like to write it down as a reminder that you’ve already given it over to God, feel free to do that too. There is a blank index card in each of your bulletins. If you so desire, I'd like you to write that thing on your card which you desire to place on the alter. You will be invited to come forward during our time of prayer. 

Let us now not only offer our financial offering, but let us also contemplate that in our lives which we would like to give over to God as we seek to accept God’s grace. 

 Let us pray… God of grace, so often we forget how amazing you are and so often we are afraid of what our lives will be like in the freedom which can only be found in you. Thank you for all you have given us and thank you for everything you will continue to give. Give us strength to continue to show that same grace to our neighbors and to our enemies. It is that grace which will change the world from one of hate into one of love. From despair to one of reconciliation. From a world of laws to a world of peace and justice. Now let us spend time in silence, and for those of us who desire, let us come and bring up our cards with that which we desire to place in your hands, giving it up for you to bear for us.

Harmonious to Dwell

Today was a long time coming... About a year ago, Brother David Melby-Gibbons and I were talking out in the hallway about Moravian music and how important it is to our worship. As we are both interested in church planting, we were dreaming up ways to take our wonderful Moravian theology, which comes mainly from our hymns, and looking for new ways to play them in worship settings which would not normally have an organ as the main instrument. 

After a lot of prayer and thought, an event/group which David named "Harmonious to Dwell" was formed. With the wonderful gifts of David and his wife Christie, Shanti Pradhan, Nola Reed Knause, and Gwyn Michaels, the event was amazing... when God leads, amazing things happen.

We began with worship in which we looked at a number of our favourite Moravian hymns and listened to them in new ways. Then at our prayer time, we each took a coloured balloon according to our musical gifts, filled it with our breath and prayers, and broke into small groups based on the many gifts we each brought to the table. Then we spent 30 minutes or so taking a beloved Moravian hymn and re-imagined it with new words, tune, and or music. It was amazing to hear. (Hopefully I'll be able to load the video of each song)

Then we had a presentation on how to write hymns and a session on the importance of copyright laws and resources. Then we stopped for a quick pizza lunch, and broke out again into small groups, this time with the intention of writing a completely new hymn. Our theme was Faith, Love and Hope and the tune we chose to help guide us was that of 538 (For the Beauty of the Earth). 

Here is the hymn which was written by the group! We hope you enjoy it. And we hope you feel free to use it in your own congregational setting. 

~ New Creation to Behold ~ (this hymn is sung to the tune of 538 of the Moravian Book of Worship)

Long ago, hearts filled with praise; fathers, mothers were ablaze.
As we travel on today, in faith trusting for the Way.
This blest gift now soothes the soul, heals, forgives and makes all whole.

Wand'ring daily, place to place, hoping we might glimpse God's face.
Love for others lives in us, as we follow Christ Jesus.
God is love that casts out fear, love that brings the kin(g)dom* near.

God's law: love to free us all, from our own despair and shame.
Loving God but harming kin, we repent in Jesus' name.
Through Your love, empower all, to fulfill this sacred call.

Humble Presence, spirit-known, with the love of God's grace shown.
Hope propels us to the day when the old has passed away.
As Your story we unfold, new creation to behold.

* We have written "kingdom" this way to emphasize "kin"

The hopes and fears of all the years...

I found it very difficult to get "in the Christmas spirit" this year. Perhaps it was the stress of writing my most important paper of my seminary career, or perhaps it was learning a new language I will rarely use, or maybe it was the fact that it seems that the Christmas season started so early that I automatically turned myself off from wanting to be in the good and cheerful Christmas mood. Perhaps you had similar feelings this season. Maybe you had to run around getting everything ready so your family would have the perfect holiday that you were unable to experience it the way you wanted. Perhaps a loved one was brought to the more immediate presence of our Savior, and that made the season especially difficult. There are many reasons we all have for not experiencing Advent and Christmas the way we hope to. I'm not going to pretend to have any answers to why this season is sometimes the most difficult. I don't think there is an easy answer for everyone, but I must say that I took comfort in reading the scripture passages for today.

 

            I took comfort because I have come to realize that the words of prophets while seemingly daunting and perhaps even scary, have a strange comfort for me. The prophet Isaiah was the voice of some of the most prophetic visions of the coming Christ and those visions were not exactly what we would consider warm and mushy visions of God. Between the 50^th and 53^rd chapters of Isaiah, we get the following prophecies. Isaiah saw visions of the Savior who would be beaten, mocked and spit on, (50:6) One who would be rejected and despised by people (53:1-3) One who would die for our sins (53:4-6) and be "numbered with the transgressors" (53:12). While these visions might seem to be dark and sad, we still have Isaiah who greatly rejoices in the Lord…his whole being shall exult in God. For someone who has seen such terrible visions and has dreamed terrible dreams, we learn that the prophet still has this amazing hope because in the end, he knows the purpose behind it all.

 

            That brings us to the Gospel of Luke, which is filled with prophecy from the time of Moses to the very moment Jesus was blessed. The author of the text wants to make an important point to show us that Simeon was "Guided by the Spirit". This is crucial to understanding the text because it means to tell us that the next words are not his words, but are words which are far greater than he could ever come up with on his own.

 

            To understand Simeon's context, I want you to imagine the baptism of a small child or the confirmation of a young adult in our own church. This would be the part where the pastor lays their hands on the child and gives a word of blessing. Only we pastors today try to speak only positive words in order to bless. Rarely, if ever, do we hear a pastor say negative words in a blessing, which I'm guessing is because we as pastors are scared that they might come true and therefore we only stick to the good, positive blessings. The Holy Spirit doesn't allow him to do that. That is the sense of humor of God. It had been revealed to Simeon that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. I'm pretty sure that he might have worked on what words he would say for a long, long time. I know I wouldn't leave those important words to chance. I'd be stuttering the whole time. So imagine Simeon, a very old man who knew that he would be dying soon, once he saw this child, wanting to say the words he had been rehearsing for years…perhaps even decades, and the Holy Spirit giving him new words to say right then and there.

 

            When we think of the most famous words which the Spirit has spoken, we think of "This is My Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased".(Matthew 3:17) But we rarely think of this sentence which comes from Simeon… "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too." 

 

            These aren't easy words to swallow and its my guess that we rarely think of them concerning our Lord and Savior, yet here they are, confronting us this morning. These words are quite scary if you think about them. The words speak of the rising and falling of many…about our inner thoughts being revealed…and a sword will pierce our own souls…

 

            I want everyone to open up their hymnal and turn to page 282…we're going to sing only the first verse of this hymn.

 

"O Little Town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie;

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light;

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight."

 

The last line of this verse of one of our favourite Christmas hymns sums up well the words which Simeon speaks. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Christ. They will cause the rise and fall of many…our inner thoughts will be revealed… and a sword will pierce our souls. Until this spring, I would have told you that these thoughts scared me too. The idea that Christ is the sign who will reveal our inner thoughts really and truly scared me. No one knew my sins. I had gone my whole life thinking that God knew my sins and that was ok…no one else needed to know…and on some level, no one ever asked me to confront my own sins. This April, I spent a few days with Brother Jim Hicks, the president of the western district. We went out into the woods of Wisconsin for one afternoon and there my brother confronted me with the fact that I am a sinful man and I tell you it was difficult. It wasn't much of a two sided conversation…mostly because I sat there realizing that if I wasn't going to allow my sin to be revealed, I was not going to be effective as a pastor, as a leader, or even as a Christian. We spent a few hours outside in the cold of the Wisconsin spring…most of the time we just sat in the silence…I think we were both thinking of our sins and how we need to be revealing them to one of our fellow sisters or brothers in Christ.

 

"A parent who loves their child knows there are times when the child will be angry at them for being corrected. A mature parent takes no comfort in rebuke. A mature Christian takes no pleasure in preaching repentance or challenging Christian infants that they are stagnant in their faith. Yet, the mature parent or Christian is willing to operate if necessary—even if the razor is double-sided; even when the pain is deep."[1] Brother Hicks did that for me earlier this year…and I am eternally grateful to him for it.

            As this year ends, I hope that you have someone who will help you confront your sins. Perhaps you have already had someone do that in your life…if you've had someone do that with you, I'd love to hear your story. If you haven't. I hope you can look around this room and realize that there are people who will love you no matter what your sins are. As this year comes to an end and a new one begins, we must realize that while our fears are realized in Christ, so is our hope. When the sword pierces our own soul, we become part of the many who will rise in Israel. This is an amazing blessing which has come to the world…In our own dark streets, shines the everlasting light of Christ. A few days ago when you held up that bees wax candle, you signaled to the world that you wanted to be confronted by the light of Christ. That you wanted you sins to be seen by Christ so that they can be forgiven. It is my hope that you will all continue to shine that light into the world…confronting and being confronted in this new year. Amen.

---

[1] One Family Outreach Jerry Goebel. http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bible/Luke/lk_02_22-40.html

Christ the King 2008

Does anyone here know the name Carl Gustav? No?  Let me tell you some of his titles, perhaps it will help you figure out who he is. Carl Gustav is the Lord and Master of the Order of the Seraphim.  He is Lord and Master of the Order of the Sword. He is the Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose.  He is the Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer. Did that help any of you? Well, Carl Gustav is more commonly known as the King of Sweden and during my senior year of high school, I lived in his kingdom. Have any of you lived in a kingdom?

Fortunately for me, Carl Gustav isn’t a king with any real powers. Most of his duties are ceremonial, but for the most part, people still admire and respect him. Because of this, I don’t really know what living under the authority of a king with actual power is like. I don’t know what it would be like to live in a kingdom where the last and final word was that of the King. In fact, as Americans, on some level, we are taught that to disagree with our leaders is a positive attribute. I’m going to go ahead and assume that most of us have disagreed with our out going president at some point in the last 8 years.

Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to ponder what it would be like to live under another person’s kingship. What came to mind was the fact that whether or not we actually know the king on a personal level, we would undoubtedly know what the King expects of us. Whether out of love or fear, we would most likely do things which would please the King in order to gain his favour. We would know which laws were in place for the good of the public, and which laws were considered treasonous and going against the good will of the monarchy. All of these things would help to keep us in line, doing the things which would please our ruler.

This sounds well and good if our King is good. If our King isn’t so good, it might be rather unpleasant. Now, at this point, after hearing the gospel lesson for today, as well as listening to my sermon so far, it might be fairly safe to assume that you know where my sermon is going to go from here. Perhaps you’re thinking that I’m going to talk about feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and taking care of and visiting the sick.  These things are the heart of the good news, and after spending just a few months here in this congregation, I can honestly say that you are doing your best to live it out. Through the new Angel Food ministry program, you are seeking ways to provide food to the hungry. I’ve witnessed how you all have welcomed Christie, previously a stranger, into the life of this congregation. It is evident that you all care about orphans in Africa who cannot clothe themselves, and you are raising money to do that. And every week since I’ve been here, in the announcements, I hear about the concentrated effort the church is making in order to reach out to those who have not been here in a while, and while that’s not being sick in the traditional sense, it is certainly sick in the spiritual sense. Congratulations. You are all doing things which are at the heart of God’s kingdom.

Now I’d like everyone to open their bulletin and pull out the nametag and either slip it into the nametag you’re currently wearing or stick it somewhere on your shirt. Each one of you is now wearing the name Jesus. I ask you to wear it now to remind you of two things. First is to remind you that you as a part of this congregation are doing your best to live in a way which Jesus, our King, desires. The second thing is to remind you that when someone outside these walls, who doesn’t know what Jesus’ Kingdom is all about, realizes that you are a member of this Kingdom, they do not see the same thing as you.

The question I hope you are asking yourself is: “What do they see when they come to realize that I am living in God’s kingdom?” Unfortunately sisters and brothers, the answer is not nearly as positive as the way we see ourselves.

There’s a book out by two authors entitled “unchristian: What a new generation really thinks about Christianity… and why it matters.”

The authors identify six different areas which non-Christians use as reasons for not becoming a part of the body of the church. They say that the church is hypocritical, too focused on getting people saved, that we are anti-homosexual, we are too sheltered, that we are too political, and that we are too judgmental.

These are the six main perceptions of Christians from those who are not Christians. Some of them are true, some are not, but whether or now we think they are true, it is how we, followers of Christ, are perceived.

The first is that we are Hypocritical, which is the perception that Christians say one thing but live something entirely different. To be fair, we are all, at some point, hypocrites, but as people living in God’s kingdom, we are held to a higher standard by those outside the faith. There’s a story about a 24 year old single mother who went into a church, and she found that lots of advice and thoughts were shared with her, but the church members kept reminding her that she had no husband, and that she ought to have one…unfortunately, some of them were divorced and the young mother took those giving her advice to be hypocrites. This perception needs to be changed. We as people living in God’s kingdom need to work at being transparent about our flaws and act first, talk second. (pg 41)

The second perception is that we are insincere about loving people and concerned with only converting others. As Moravians, I’m going to guess that most of you feel that we’re really low on the “Christians who try to convert others” scale. This is probably a safe thing to say, but we are called to make others disciples of Christ. The question is not if we should be doing it, but how we go about doing it. Our new perception must be that we are people who cultivate relationships and environments where others can be deeply transformed by God. (pg 67)

The third perception is that we Christians show contempt for gay’s and lesbians. As I’m sure anyone who watches the news, this is a center issue, known as proposition 8, in California. It is church members who have funded the opposition to this bill, and now the homosexual population are especially hostile towards people of faith. As people in Christ’s kingdom, we are to show compassion and love to all people, regardless of their lifestyle. We don’t have to agree with them, but we must love them. (91)

The fourth perception is that we are very sheltered. Non Christians consider us boring, unintelligent, old-fashioned, and out of touch with reality. They consider Christians to be caught in a Christian “Bubble”. Raise your hands if you think you have more non-Christian friends than Christian friends? This is one of the toughest battles we face as we grow in faith. The longer we are Christians, the fewer non Christian friends one has. The new perception we must cultivate is that we as Christians are engaged, informed, and offer sophisticated responses to the issues people face in their every day life. (121).

The fifth perception is that we are too political. This definitely comes from what we now know as the “religious right”. Currently, there is a movement of the religious left which is trying to gain momentum as a response to the conservative movement. If you’re a part of my Sunday School class, you would know that we’re looking at different ways which Jesus was political but how we might not be a member of a particular political party. We must be characterized by respecting people, thinking biblically, and finding solutions to complex issues. (153)

The sixth and finally perception is that we are too judgmental. We are seen as prideful and quick to find fault in others. It is unfortunate that we do this. The truth is that we are all judgmental. The Children’s Chat today was a thinly veiled attempt to point out how we are judgmental about things like clothing, lifestyle, anything which makes a difference between “us and them”. The new perception we must show the world is that we show grace to the world by finding the good in others and see their potential to be Christ followers. (181)

 

Perhaps you are now wondering, after all these things have been identified, why I think they are important. After all, I have already mentioned what is at the heart of the Gospel. If we’re doing the work of Jesus, what does it matter what others may think? It matters because if we cannot begin to overcome our image, we will have trouble fulfilling another commandment Jesus gave us, which is to make more disciples. If the negative perceptions and realities of the citizens of God’s kingdom (that’s code for you and me) are mainly what people see when they know we belong to Christ, then we cannot begin to make them disciples, and therefore, cannot have them join us in doing the work of the kingdom.

As I come to an end of this sermon, we are going to rise and sing a hymn, and then, once it is over, we are going to greet one another. But this time, we will be greeting one another, hopefully with a new view for two reasons. The first is that when you put it on, I want you to remember that Christ’s kingdom is within you. The second reason is that I hope that we all begin to change the perception that non Christians have of us by us doing a better job of seeing Jesus in others. When we combine the feeding of the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick with an attempt to change the way we as Christ followers are perceived, is when I think we will see the kingdom of Jesus become alive in ways we have yet to imagine.

The question is, can we do this? Can we continue to do the things God calls us to do in today’s scripture while trying to be transparent about our flaws so as not to be viewed as hypocrites? Can we be truly interested in other people, inviting them into not only a relationship with God, but with ourselves as well? Can we show more compassion and love to people with whom we disagree? Can we offer sophisticated responses to the issues people face in their every day life? Can we show that we are biblically literate and share it in a meaningful, transformative way? Can we show grace to the world by finding the good in others and see their potential to be Christ followers? I think we can, and I hope you will all join with me in taking a step on the right path, by standing and greeting everyone around you, not by viewing their name, but by trying to see Christ in them, for that is how we best see Christ’s kingdom. Amen.

A New Map

One of my favourite TV shows was the West Wing. It is no longer on the air, but one episode featured a cartographer trying to get those with political power to accept a map which basically puts the "south" on the top of the map and the "north" on the bottom. This is the map that is shown above. This is all well and good for getting us to think about how we can equate North with good and south with bad...among other things...but today I came across a website which has hundreds of maps according to hundreds of different statistics. 

http://www.worldmapper.org/index.html 

Check it out. Play around with the different maps...they are amazing to view. Especially try looking at the maps which track Disease. Africa becomes the biggest continent while others shrink...very interesting stuff.

Today's Sermon on Baptism/Stewardship

Any Sunday which a congregation has the opportunity to celebrate baptism is certainly a day to rejoice. The fact that baptism is something to be celebrated is by far one of the strangest things we do as followers of Jesus Christ. The words which are spoken in the baptismal liturgy are not ones to be taken lightly. We say that in the sacrament of baptism, “through grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are united with Christ, cleansed by his saving work, enter into the fellowship of the church, and are called to a life of faith and willing obedience.” This is a statement which if lived out, means that we are not called to live the life or an ordinary person. We are called to be different from those who seek lives of wealth, lives of place and power. Instead, we are called to lives of sacrifice, lives of service, lives of stewardship.

If this is the case, then you might be wondering why we’re using a gospel text which is traditionally used to talk about taxes. Countless sermons have been preached on “Render unto Caesar’s what is Caesar’s.” Now of course we don’t have a Caesar today, but we can easily substitute the word government or president. When these sermons are preached, we tend to applaud Jesus’ wisdom in a moment of confrontation. Unfortunately, this is where the bulk of sermons seem to end, on feeling ok about giving what we need to the powers that be.

I wish we had a recording of Jesus answering those who were trying to trap him. Because I think Jesus paused for dramatic effect when he said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” I think he paused so that the full force of the conclusion of his words would be felt by everyone listening. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s… and to God what is God’s.” “While there is a strict parallelism between the two halves of this statement, they are by no means of equal significance, because Caesar’s role is so vastly inferior to God’s. That is, Jesus is not saying, ‘There is a secular realm and there is a religious realm, and equal respect must be paid to each.’ The second half of Jesus’ statement practically annuls the first by preempting it.”[1] Yet rarely do we focus on giving to God what is God’s.

Why is this so? Why is it difficult to focus on giving God what is God’s? I mean, I’m pretty sure everyone in this room can give the answer of what belongs to God. It’s taught to us in Sunday school. EVERYTHING belongs to God. Because our answer as Christians is engrained into the way we already think, we sometimes lose the fact that the concept of giving to God what belongs to God is a call for total commitment unlike anything the rest of the world has ever known.[2]

The fact that we have the word God on our money has done us a great disservice in our stewardship of the things that are God’s. Somehow we assume that because God’s name is printed on it, that money is really all we need to give. But, my brothers and sisters, money is not what it is that is stamped with God’s image. It’s us! It’s You and it’s me! When we say everything is God’s, it is not something we can do in part. We cannot give our minds but not our hearts. We cannot give God our muscle but not come to worship or education classes. We can’t simply give God an hour or two a week. God longs for us to give everything. All 168 hours per week. While many of us give only 2% of our income, others 10% of it, God desires 100%.[3]

For me, the most interesting part of this Gospel text today is not the fact that Jesus is so clever as to avoid the trappings of those who would cause him harm, but that Jesus isn’t taking part in the whole financial system that Rome would have everyone be in. Neither Jesus nor his followers pulled out a Roman coin to help make the point Jesus was trying to make. When Jesus and the disciples practiced stewardship (giving everything to God and not partaking in the prevalent economy), they had to sacrifice (disciples leaving their families and friends); they had to serve others, even when they didn’t want to (Jesus had them serve the 5000 when the disciples wanted to send them away).

This type of stewardship, this type of sacrifice, this type of service begins during our Baptism. A few minutes ago, all of you proclaimed that you were baptized into the death of Jesus. Your old selves were buried with him in your baptism, when you repented of your sins, so that we might be raised to live a new life. Not only that, but you were reminded that through your baptism, you were placed in a covenant relationship, not only with God, but with the rest of the people who have made the same commitment. Every Sunday I have the privilege of leading worship and I get to look out into the pews and see the worshipping faces of a hundred people who are connected by the baptismal covenant. That connection is stronger than death because that baptismal covenant is life! It is Love! And every day we get to show love to the world around us through our stewardship of everything God has entrusted to us. In the multitude of ways in which we serve one another, in how we sacrifice ourselves for our neighbor because Christ did everything for us already.

---

[1] Douglas R.A. Hare. “Matthew: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching.” John Knox Press, Louisville. 1993. Pg 254.

[2] Ibid pg 255.

[3] Brian Stoffregen. Exegetical Notes. (Available online) http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/matt22x15.htm

Pictures of Meza's kids and some of their friends

Hospitality Sermon

As surely as god lives, I must tell you that we in our Western culture fail at hospitality. It isn't because we don't try, but it seems is mostly due to convenience. One of the things this congregation is currently working on is the gift of hospitality, but until I went to Tanzania, hospitality was really more of a concept rather than something I had ever fully experienced or even offered.

As you may recall, a few months ago I invited myself into your homes for a meal as I challenged you to do something Christ did in order to help you experience what it means to have Christ live in you more fully than you already knew. Truthfully, I have no idea who took up that challenge, but for the people who took me into their homes, one of the byproducts it produced was hospitality. Now, the next time you are a guest in someone else's home, take notice of all the things your host does for you.

Usually a good meal is the center of such hospitality. If you are staying the night, fresh linens and clean towels are usually also a crucial ingredient in being a good host. I say these things to you because while I spent the month of July in Tanzania, two things happened which opened my eyes to the meaning of hospitality. The first thing which happened was that on my first night there, I opened my Bible to the first page and began to read. Normally I prefer to read the Gospels because I love reading the parables, but because the friend I was staying with had told me to prepare for a lot of dust, a little free association reminded me that God created Adam from dust, and so I began reading from Genesis.

Reading the Hebrew Scriptures from Africa gave these words new life for me. Stories about flocks of animals were no longer stories when you're walking down the dusty road and have to wait to pass because a young boy is shepherding 30 goats past you. Or in the city where I was staying, Mbeya, which is in a valley between two mountains, every morning when I would go for a walk, I would look at the mountains in amazement, not just because of their beauty, but because the top third was covered in a thick cloud. When you look at it, you cannot help but think this is what Mt. Sinai looked like when Moses went up to meet with God.

Then when I came to Genesis 18, my eyes were opened again to something we might normally overlook. The parts of Genesis 18 which we didn't read today deals with the three visitors telling Abraham that his Wife would have a son within a year, and Sarah, who is hiding and listening in on the conversation, laughs.

So many sermons focus on the faith, or lack there of, of Sarah. They go on and on and on about how she laughed about conceiving a child due to the fact that she was 80 years old. But today, we did not listen to that part of the story because we need to focus on the hospitality which Abraham and Sarah displayed in their old age.

In our culture of convenience, we tend to show hospitality of food by sharing where we obtained our food from. You might say, "I got these steaks from Wegmans" to show your generosity. Of if you really like the person, you might say "I got this cake from L&M" (a famous local bakery). But in the time of Abraham and Sarah, and still to a large degree in Tanzania, hospitality is shown in a different way.

For example, instead of buying Prime Rib, you would buy a live chicken, carry it home, and then prepare it for your guest that night. Not only would you give your guest a room to sleep in, but that usually means kicking someone out of their room while you are there, so that they might sleep on the floor so you can rest. If you're staying for a longer amount of time, you might offer to put your guest's clothes in the laundry, but in Tanzania, it means an hour of scrubbing dirty clothes in a bucket of dirty water on your hands and knees and then hanging them up to dry. Here we might offer a shower with our fluffiest towels, and there it means boiling a pot of water so that you can get all the dust off your body with warm water. I'm not sharing these things with you in order to make you feel bad about how we do hospitality in our own culture, but to let you know the magnitude of the hospitality found in Scripture.

When Abraham saw the three strangers, he and his family went above and beyond what was required. Just a quick side note. In Swahili, the word they have for stranger, mgeni (m●gay●nee) is the exact same word as guest.

Abraham brought water to his guests so that they might wash their hands and feet, (remind you of Jesus?) had Sarah bake bread using 6 gallons of flour. He also had a calf prepared for the 3 strangers and brought them milk and curds. This is truly a feast! Just to get a bit of perspective, this is approximately the amount of bread that Sarah baked for just one of the guests (at this point, I revealed 12 loaves of bread and passed them around the congregation. Everyone took a chunk and passed it around. There was pleanty left over from the 65+ people there). If you wanted to make the equivalent amount of pancakes, that would be about 192 pancakes per person.

For anyone wondering why Sarah and the servants did most of the work, while Abraham merely got the water, let me tell you a quick story. The first week I was with my friend and host, he took me around the dusty city and we visited some of his friends and other pastors. A pastor's salary is about $175 a month, which boils down to about $5 per day. When we would go visiting someone else's house, after we exchanged greetings, the women of the house would leave and go and buy the guests and the men of the house a soda as well as prepare a small snack, of which the cost was well over 10% of a day's wages. During that time the man of house would engage us in conversation, and when the food was prepared, he would pour water over our hands to cleanse them both before and after the meal. It amazed me that the same traditions which can be found in the earliest parts of the Bible are still carried out today, even if we replace milk and curds with Coke. These small feasts of hospitality are amazing events which lead us to showing grace, love and humility to our guests.

Listen again to the words from 1 Peter 4:7-11."The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sin. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift they have received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in various forms. If one speaks, they should do so as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God should be praised through Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I do not know if I will ever have the privilege of preaching to you again, so please take what I say now to you to heart… If you are to help transform the world into that which Jesus Christ calls us, you must love each other deeply. You must offer hospitality to one another not out of duty but out of joy. Use the gifts which you have been blessed with to serve others. And in all these things, praise and glorify our Lord. When you do these things, God will take care of the rest. Amen.