Stumbling Peter

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." -Matthew 16:22-23 (NRSV)

The words spoken in the verses from Matthew are part of a larger conversation happening between Jesus and his disciples. As is often the case the disciples simply don’t understand what is going on - the greater picture of what God intends to do in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

When questions arise for the disciples it is usually Peter who gives those questions voice. Peter is the one who puts himself out there for good or ill. He was the one who stepped out of the boat. He was the one who tried to interpret the transfiguration. And in this passage, he is the one who doubts - who questions Jesus’ pronouncement that his journey is one that leads to the cross.

Peter is so helpful for us because he provides a way for us to enter into the story of Christ and the cross. His voice is so often the one that raises the same questions we may be afraid to ask. His response to what is happening is so often the way we respond - often exactly the way we respond. He fights. He flees. He denies. He questions. Sometimes he gets it right.

In the passage at left his question comes in the form of a denial that Christ might be something other than he (Peter) expects him to be. All that Jesus says about what will happen challenges what Peter thinks so he responds with denial, saying that “shall never happen.”

We often respond the same way. We expect God to do what we expect and what we think we need. Jesus’ response to Peter teaches us what we have to remember about God. God doesn't think the same way we do. We always come to God with our own perceptions and concerns. They aren't the same as God’s. Our concerns don’t set the path God takes, but instead are sometimes a stumbling block for us.

When we try to fit God onto our path - into our plan and expectations - we stumble. We don’t leave room for what God is really going to do. Thankfully, God does it anyway and the power of Satan and death is broken. That’s good news. That’s what God does despite our failure and doubt.

Community in Christ

 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. (Rom 12:4-5 NRSV)

Perhaps more than any other expression of God’s church, a military chapel community represents the diversity of faith contained in unity with Christ. Each week we come together for worship as Christians from a diverse background, with a diverse set of experiences. 

There are several challenges that come with this diversity. We don’t all understand the gospel in the same way. In each of our faith journeys God has spoken to us in different ways, calling us to understand specific passages differently. 

In our specific community here at CLDJ, we have the added element of constant change. Some of us are here for four months or less, others are here for almost a year, and still others have been here for multiple years. 

In reality, this level of diversity is both a challenge and a blessing. Sometimes we are challenged by understandings of faith that run counter to how we have personally experienced God and God’s Word. These challenges to our own faith can make us nervous and uncertain. They can make us question parts of our faith that we never thought we would question.

But those questions can be a blessing. Those questions can be the way that God chooses to move us along our faith journey toward a deeper understanding of how God is acting in our lives. Anselm, an 11th century monk, coined the phrase, “faith seeking understanding” as a way to describe the journey that we are travelling. We support one another on that journey as we bring new perspectives together into a community that can explore deep questions. We live and work in a desert that can seem harsh and lacking life. But it does not have to be a lifeless time in your faith journey. You can use this time to seek a new kind of nourishment for your faith as you experience and grow through the diversity we bring to one another. Through that diversity, we remember that we are one body gathered around the cross.

Where is Justice?

Note: After a break for my R&R, I return to Djibouti and my weekly reflections. 

This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my  salvation is close at hand and my  righteousness will soon be revealed.-Isaiah 56:1

Isaiah’s words at the left offer a really straightforward command to us. “Maintain justice and do what is right…” The challenge is finding a way to do that when all around you seems to conflict with these words of encouragement.

They are words of hope and promise as we remember that maintaining justice and doing what is right is possible because of God’s salvation - a salvation that is very close to us. But that promise can be forgotten when all we see is so much injustice and wrongness.

I admit that I don’t follow the news really closely. Sometimes it’s hard to follow when there seems to be no sign of any good news. Often the problem is finding a reliable news source that I trust. All the news outlets are accused of having one bias or another and it becomes difficult to find the truth in what is being reported.

Even when you only pay attention to the headlines (you can usually find at least a hint of unbiased truth by just reading that much), there is more than enough injustice to go around:

• Ethnic violence in Africa
• Violent extremism in all parts of the Middle East and elsewhere
• Religion based persecution in Iraq
• Race based conflict in the heart of the US

The list can go on and on. We live in a world that struggles to find justice. In the midst of that reality we, as Christians, are called to maintain justice and do what is right. We are told not to be conformed “to the pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2)  so we can’t be sucked into the injustice we face every day.

Whatever your news source, look for the injustice in what you read and figure out how you are personally going to stand against it. Look around you in your daily work and find ways to seek the justice that the world can’t seem to find.

God’s righteousness will be revealed as we do what is right. The world needs us to do it.

An Undivided Heart

Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name. I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify your name forevermore. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the pit of death. -Psalm 86:11-14

The psalmist’s prayer at left is a powerful prayer of hope and thanksgiving, with just a touch of desperation mixed in. Whenever you need the words to pray - when your own words simply don’t seem like enough (although God doesn't need special language to hear our prayers) - the psalms are always a good place to turn. 

These few verses accomplish a lot and give us a grounding for our faith. It begins with a request. God, teach me how to follow. Help me worship you. There’s an acknowledgment in these words that we don’t know how to love or follow God without being shown what it means to do so. We can’t find our way to God, we need God to find us and teach us the way we are to go. 

The response to being shown the way is praise and thanksgiving. "With all [our] heart" we give God thanks for what has been done for us and for what God has shown to us. It seems like a simple response, but it asks much of us. It’s not easy for us to give all of our heart to anything or anyone. Think about all the ways we make other things more important than God; and I’m not just talking about coming to worship on Sunday. We have the opportunity to glorify God with every waking breath but we struggle to do that. Sometimes we struggle to find even one breath to worship and give God thanks.

And that’s when what God has done becomes so central to who we are. In the final verse, we are reminded that it is not through our own efforts that we accomplish anything that we are asked to do. It is because of God’s great love (other translations use steadfast) that we are delivered from the pit of death; from the consequences of our actions and in-actions. 

God always acts to draw us into God’s way and God’s truth. God’s constant, unchanging love is always working in our hearts to make us into what God has called us to be. That is a blessing to lives that often feel divided and difficult. God’s love is steadfast. God is faithful to us, even when we fail. For that we give God thanks.

Effective Word(s)

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11 NRSV)

God speaks and things happen. That’s the way it has always been. From the beginning of the story, God makes things happen simply by saying a word.

Through the prophet Isaiah God reminds the people of Israel that the purposes of God will be accomplished. People are changed; the world is changed when God speaks to and through God’s people. Are we taking time to listen?

We live in a world where words have a lot of power. Truth is sometimes irrelevant. Compassion is often non-existent. People use words to change the world into what they want it to be. They use words filled with hate and anger with little thought of the consequences of what they are saying. “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me” is a myth. Words have power. Our words can be used to dominate and  intimidate. Far too often our words are used to break down individuals and groups.

What if we used words full of compassion and empathy instead? What if we spoke to our brothers and sisters with words of love and hope and peace? What if we spoke to people with the Word of God in our hearts and on our minds as we try to exert a different kind of influence?

The message God gives us through Isaiah is clear. God’s Word accomplishes what God wants it to do. God’s Word goes forth and nourishes the one who speaks and the one who hears. We are good at accomplishing our purposes when we speak. If we speak words of hate, we create hate. If we speak words of anger, we make people angry. If we speak words of mistrust, we create mistrust. If we speak words of love, on the other hand, well I think you get the point.

God spoke and the world was created. God spoke and the people of Israel were freed from slavery. God proclaimed “It is finished” on a cross and we were made free from sin and death so we could be Children of God and could be God’s voice in a world filled with desperate need. Are you listening?

Freedom and Righteousness

But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18 NRSV)

Paul’s passage to the Romans above includes a couple of tough words for us to deal with. Cultural context for the concept of slavery means we have a hard time using it in any constructive ways. Slavery is something to be opposed according to our understanding of history (and rightly so).

Except, in this passage, Paul reminds us that we are slaves. We might not be slaves to sin, but we are slaves to righteousness. And that probably doesn't sound right to you. We don’t want to be slaves. We want to be free. We celebrate the fact that we are free from sin, but we have to acknowledge the other side of that equation. If/when we are set free from sin, it is only so we can be free for righteousness. Nothing that we are or have is for our own enjoyment or purpose. It is always for God’s purpose and for the bringing of God’s Kingdom. So we are still slaves - but it is a slavery to joy and righteousness.

Then there’s that word, “righteous.” The only way it seems to be used today is with “self-” on the front of it. Far too many people are focused on their own righteousness at the expense of others. Instead, perhaps we can remember that Paul also said we are all convicted and in need of God’s grace. That “righteousness” we claim is not from anything we have accomplished or for our own benefit. It is God’s gift of right relationship so we can bring the world back to God.

Martin Luther described our life of righteousness this way, “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all.” (Freedom of a Christian) Perhaps you can better relate to the word servant. Perhaps not. But it is an appropriate description of our life of righteousness. We are free from sin so that we are able to serve the world. We are free from our sin so that we can be a slave to God. I don’t like the word slave, but if it means I’m in right relationship with God, I’ll take it.

Running and Losing

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;  and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:37-39 NRSV)

Well at least it’s not what Luke says. Luke says we have to hate our family to follow Christ. In Matthew’s passage above we only have to love all of them less than we love God. That makes sense doesn't it? We are supposed to put God first. We are supposed to lose our life in favor of what God has in store for us. That’s easier said than done.

As some of you know (but only a very few), my reflections written here come from my time during Running Faith on Thursday evening. For those of you who don’t know, I’ll offer a commercial: The invitation stands for you to join me at the entrance to the running trail at 1900 on Thursdays. I share a passage (almost always one of the lectionary passages read at the 0800 service on Sunday) and then you can run (or walk) for 30-40 minutes and consider what God is saying to you in the passage. At the end of the appointed time, we gather for a few minutes of reflection and prayer before going on with our evening.

It’s a quick way to spend some time refreshing your soul while exercising your body. I have found it to be a great way to return from the business (the busy-ness) of the daily grind to the Word of God and the promises that God makes to us. And then I read passages like this. The whole time I ran and considered this passage I couldn't help but think about all the ways I wasn't doing it. All the ways I was putting other things – my life – ahead of God.

Some of my occasional running companions.

I wasn't feeling refreshed and renewed at all (and it wasn't just the heat).The question convicts and challenges me. What am I supposed to lose? What does it mean for me to give up my life for God’s sake? I honestly don’t know.

Thankfully I know I will not be lost as long as I continue to seek God at the foot of the cross. Join me next week (Thursday 1900) to reflect on finding life with God.

PS To those of you who may be reading this on my blog, if you'd like to reflect and run "with" me, drop me an email or send me a FB message and I'll send you our passage each week. Feel free to respond with what reflections you might have while you're running.