Thankfulness and Opportunity

I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. (Ephesians 1:16-19)

As I was reading that quote from Ephesians, I kept trying to stop sooner. But it just goes on and on saying important words to us as we continue this journey together. As we approach this month of Thanksgiving, I offer sincere thanks to all of you who are part of our community. Together we continue to seek God’s direction for how we will be faithful to our faithful God.

Remaining faithful to God doesn’t mean we remain static. As the world changes around us, we have to change to meet new challenges and opportunities (emphasis on opportunities). The greatness of God’s power will be at work as together we seek a way forward. And I will continue to give thanks for you as you join the conversation about how we do that.

In other words, change is coming. I’m not saying we’re going to become completely different from what we have been, but we have to adapt so we can continue to serve and witness to God’s love. The hardest part of change is not the change itself, but the anxiety over understanding the what and why. I would encourage you to ask when you don’t understand something that is happening.

I have no interest in upsetting the apple cart just for the chaos that it can cause. But there are some ways we can do better to fulfill God’s mission in this place - or even understanding what that mission is. So we will continue to embrace what God is doing to make things new in our work. Like...a different schedule for Advent.

Together we’ll enjoy the riches of God’s glorious inheritance and experience God’s power.

Continuing what I've learned

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

This part of 2 Timothy is filled with admonishment and exhortation. The author is encouraging a young disciple (whose actual identity is probably less important than the words being shared) in life with God. It is a message that bears no small amount of law as it speaks to create right behavior and good works.

Notable in this section is where this encouragement begins. "But as for you" he begins. In contrast to those who are wicked (who are described previously in the letter, the receiver is given direction. And it's important to see where that encouragement starts. "But as for you..." keep on keepin' on. Continue in what you already know. Keep doing what you have learned since you were a child. And remember who taught you to do it. You have a heritage of faith on which to draw and depend, you simply have to do it.

It makes me think of those who have been a part of my journey of faith - and there are many:

• My grandfather, who sat with us every Sunday in church and was an example of quiet but steady faith.
• My mother, who taught me to recognize the brokenness that we live through and continue to seek God anyway.
• My father, who shows me how we can continue to grow at any point in our lives.
• My wife, who makes me remember that God is God, and I am not. And my kids who reinforce the point. :-) 
• My seminary professors, mentors, colleagues...

The list goes on and on. So many people have shared their faith with me in countless variations and styles. I can put all their words and actions up on a ledger against my own and see where I have failed to live up to what they expected of me. And I can see the ways we have all failed to live up to what God expects of us.

And then I remember the heart of what they've shared with me all these years isn't that I'm being judged for how I have failed. I have been, and always will be, offered the gift of unconditional grace. No matter how many times I mess it up and don't do it the right way, I can turn back to God and hear words of forgiveness - for me. Over and over again. Which is good. I need that.

Who is it that has taught you? Feel free to comment below, or simply use that question as a devotional theme this week. Give thanks to God for those teachers. Give thanks to God for what you have learned. Give thanks to God for the opportunity we are given to rise daily from the waters of baptism feeling clean and forgiven. 

Maybe it's time to take those words and promises we know, and tell them to a new generation. So they too can know the love that God has for us...always.

Thankful hearts and voices raise...

Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation. Great are your works, O Lord, pondered by all who delight in them. (Psalm 111:1-2)

 Sometimes it's really hard to be thankful, and sometimes you can't help but sing and shout words of thanks for all that God has done. Life has a way of pushing us one way or the other. That's a rhythm we learn to accept. 

This week I am thankful for the Wednesday morning conversations we have been having about the Psalms and how they connect with our lives today. This ancient collection of poems and liturgical songs provides a window into our relationship with God as they express the ups and downs of life in ancient Israel, which really isn't that different than our own. The enemies and challenges carried different names and levels of complexity, but life has always been challenging on this side of Eden. 

The psalms describe God's work. They describe our need for God's care and concern to be present in our day to day struggles. They describe our anger when we feel abandoned and betrayed. They give voice to our feelings of brokenness and pain as we struggle to find a way through a world of hate and anger.

It's easy to get bogged down in the abandonment and betrayal; the anger and hate. It's easy to become jaded and perpetually focused on the negative realities we encounter so often. Psalm 111, quoted above, gives us another choice. We can come together in an "assembly of the upright." We can join our voices together in a song from our heart that expresses what we sometimes forget to keep in the center of our lives: that the works of God are great. 

Even if we don't know exactly how God is going to act or if God is going to work to change a current reality, we have the ability to fall back on the grace-filled reality that we are loved - unconditionally, without question, forever and always - loved by God. If for no other reason than that (and there are times when there might seem like no other reason), we can give thanks to God for that promise. 

Today I'll choose to say, "Hallelujah. Thank you." And the mere act of voicing it will move me beyond whatever I'm facing. Thanks be to God.

JESUS MAFA. Healing of the ten lepers, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48295 [retrieved October 5, 2016].

Power and Cowardice

"For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:6-7 NRSV)

What does a "spirit of power" mean for a Christian in today's world? As a world community we don't hold to a common understanding of power. Depending on your personal experiences and worldview, you may find comfort in the status quo of our current state of affairs...especially if you're a politician. For those who have been excluded from the benefits of a First World economy and cultural system, you may wish for a radically different way of seeing power exercised.

And no one wants to be a coward. It can lead to a court martial in the military. It can lead to disdain from co-workers and friends. No one likes someone who is cowardly. But who decides what is cowardly and what is powerful? Martin Luther King, Jr. is widely believed to have been a powerful influence on this country; an influence and ideal we are still trying to understand and enact. Some might call him cowardly for his belief in peaceful civil disobedience. 

Some of the seemingly most powerful people in the world are acting out of cowardice, afraid that if they were honest or vulnerable they would lose everything that mattered to them. They act the part of power, but are truly afraid. Their fear keeps us continuously in conflict and keeps peace in the realm of wish and hope. 

The Darkness at the Crucifixion, Gustave Doré

What does a "spirit of power" look like for us who are faithful Christians in today's world? It looks, metaphorically, the same as it did in the first century. It looks like a supremely powerful individual giving up that power to hang on a cross. The power that comes through love and self-discipline is one that gives away that power for someone else. 

I can think of nothing more cowardly than being a blustering bully looking only to gain more and more power, or someone who routinely lies and deceives for personal gain. And nothing less cowardly than becoming weak and powerless for the sake of the world. 

Holding on for the Plunge

Take a look at this picture. What do you see? You might focus on the intent stare on Owen's face as he tries to figure out what is happening and why his head is wet. You might see a hand ready to go back into the water to continue to enact the promise of God. You might see the witness of a sponsor - who remains in the background as we only see his shirt and arm.

You might see that, and indeed those are all elements of this occasion. I see two little, balled, baby fists; holding on for dear life. 

This was my first baptism as the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. It happened outside of our ordinary worship services out of necessity, but God was still very present. It was a holy moment, as all baptisms are, and it is always a moment of great joy for me as a pastor to be a part of these moments of profound unqualified grace.

But the more I look at this picture, the more I am entranced by Owen's hands. He was a bit squirmy, not really comfortable with me holding him. Or maybe he just wanted to see what was happening. I didn't realize at the time that he was holding onto my sleeve so tightly. I knew his father's arm was nearby, but I couldn't see that he was also holding onto an extended finger.

What an incredibly important image for us to remember. God is acting in the water through the promise of the Word. God is present in the witness of the community. And God is present, in the support that comes from both the community (which I represent) and a parent. As Owen holds on to these two realities, he's ready for the plunge. He's ready for the cleansing water of God; as much as any of us are ready.

He held on. He was washed. He continues to hold on. And now our job is to keep him plunging daily into and out of the washing water of God's promise. 

Journeying with Jesus

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources. (Luke 8:1-3 NRSV)

This is the end of the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday. It follows the story of a woman expressing her love and thankfulness to Jesus by washing and anointing his feet. The story it follows is one of forgiveness, a story that expresses how deeply God’s forgiveness can be part of our lives. That forgiveness is connected, through the first part of this passage, to what Jesus was all about. Jesus was preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God; and that kingdom is one of forgiveness.

This passage goes on to clarify that Jesus didn’t do this proclamation on his own. It wasn’t “him against the world” as he proclaimed God’s kingdom. True, it was all about him – in that he is the Son of God who creates the kingdom by his existence in the world. But the proclamation of the kingdom is never done alone. It is never done outside of a community. The disciples were with him, and some women were with him. Mary Magdalene (free of demons and not explicitly the woman just identified as a prostitute), Joanna, Susanna, and many others (many other women or maybe just many others which probably would have included other women) are traveling with Jesus, providing the resources necessary for the proclamation.

I didn’t start out thinking this was a stewardship message, but it turns out it is. And I’m not talking just about money. We have incredible resources among and within us to share in the proclamation of the kingdom. Each of us has gifts that we can bring to ministry. They may not feel like the right gifts, but they are God-given and God can use them for the good of the kingdom. Think about what your gifts are. Think about how you can provide for the proclamation as did those who followed Jesus. Think about what God is calling you to do to proclaim the kingdom today.

Paul's Authority in Galatians

It seems like periodically I'm going to try to start blogging regularly. Maybe it will stick this time. The context of my posts now will be similar to my deployment a few years ago. I write each week for the congregation I serve (Trinity Evangelical Lutheran, Taneytown, MD) and so I will share them here as well. They are meant to be reflective commentary on one of the upcoming Revised Common Lectionary Readings. I hope they are helpful for you in some way.

¹¹ For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; ¹² for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11-12)

Saul's Conversion by Gustave Dore (http://www.gutenberg.org/
files/8710/8710-h/8710-h.htm#link095)

That’s quite a claim Paul makes! His words – the “gospel” he preaches – are not his own. They come from the revelation of Jesus Christ. Would that we all had that kind of revelation to help us know the mind of God. Would that we all clearly hear the gospel given to us with some authority and love.

Tangent: By the way, “gospel” means good news. “Gospel” refers to one of the accounts written to tell us the story of Jesus Christ, which contain (and are) the gospel: the good news of God’s love revealed for the world. It’s a fun word with a multi-layered meaning.

The challenge to hearing the gospel in its full, authoritative power – in my humble opinion – is that we too often hear the other gospel (“not that there is another gospel” - Gal 1:7). Too often, we hear our own understandings and ideas of what we’re supposed to do with the good news that God gives to us. The good news is that Christ “gave himself for our sins to set us free” (Gal 1:4). It’s good to be free, but we don’t always know what to do with our freedom. We’re stuck in our old ways that convince us that we have to earn our way into God’s love. We’re stuck in our old ways that speak a gospel that isn’t really a gospel as it makes us forget that God’s love is a gift – an act of grace that is free and without condition.

In a world that seems to live with the axiom that whoever yells loudest is right, I hope you find a way to hear the voice of God. It sometimes comes in the faintest of whispers in the most unexpected time. It is a voice that says you are loved. It’s a voice that says the good news is that Jesus Christ broke the bonds of sin and death for you. That’s what Paul wanted us to know. That’s good news for this week, and always.