Wesley – Page 2 – Salvaged Faith

the world is my parish…

Posted on October 23, 2010Leave a comment

There is this saying sometimes about Methodists… that we’ll marry and bury anyone. And in my little town, I guess that is true.

Most of the weddings that I have officated in these past three years have not been church members.

Most of the funerals I have presided over have not been church members.

I understand and honor and respect the traditions and policies of the other churches in town. There are good reasons for asking couples to belong to the church before they get married within in. There are reasons that in lay terms we call it “Christian burial.” As pastors, we invoke… or at least name the presence of God in these sacred and holy moments and ideally, the person or couple would want God there and would hold to our beliefs about God as well.

But that is not always the case.

A couple does not always have a church home or a background in the faith. An individual or a family may have fallen away from church or may want nothing to do with the church in their final days. And yet, I get a phone call that my services are needed… and I try my best to respond.

I cringe at the idea that the church is a place where religious services are provided. I hate the consumer implications of such a statement. So, as I started typing that last paragraph and the idea of a supermarket came into my head, I started to go back and change it a bit.

But I can’t… because when I get the phone call from the funeral home or from a young (or old) couple… I hear more than a request for services. I hear an invitation to be in relationship. I hear the voice of a person who is seeking the presence of God. They might not fully understand what that means, but they are inviting me into a relationship with them and together we get to discover how God is moving in their lives.

When I talk with my congregation members about what our church is about, one of the first things that they mention is our open communion table. The fact that everyone is welcome to come and participate. And one of the second things they mention is that our church is open to the people of our community and that we will go and sit with families that are not a part of our church when their loved one has died… that we will get the ladies together and put on a funeral dinner… that we will open our doors to a couple who wants to join their lives together in marriage.

John Wesley might have meant something very different when he said, “The world is my parish.” But I understood him to mean that his minstry was not limited to a local parish. His ministry was not limited to the people who sat in the pews every Sunday. His ministry was out in the world. And my ministry belongs to the community as much as it does to my congregation.

The Gift of Gentleness

Posted on August 1, 2010Leave a comment

What is meekness? Gentleness?

The opposite of gentleness is seen in both of our readings today…

First, from the book of Kings:

1. Elisha is a man of God and yet he is human… and in a moment of frustration and embarrassment, he lashes out at a group of young boys.

2. Is that part of the scene something familiar to you? Can you remember the grumpy old man who lived down the block from you and would shout curses from the windows? Do you know of rude young people who jeer the elderly, the disabled, or anyone different from them?

3. Now, perhaps letting a slip of the tongue speak out a curse against the boys is one thing… but our young prophet Elisha doesn’t quite have the power of God firmly in his grasp yet. Aristotle once said that a person who displayed gentleness would be angry only “on the right grounds, and against the right persons, and in the right manner, and at the right moment, and for the right length of time.”

4. This is NOT what Elisha did. He may have been angry at their teasing of him, but they were only children, and rather than an eye for an eye – his curse called out bears from the woods that killed those children on the spot. We can look at this and firmly say it was ANYTHING but gentle.

Secondly, we see the opposite of gentleness in our gospel reading today from Luke.

1. Jesus sends forth the disciples at the beginning of our chapter with guidance as to what to do if people are rude and inhospitable to you: Shake the dust off your feet, turn and walk away.

2. yet by the end of the chapter… the disciples have already forgotten his example. When a town will not welcome them, James and John run back and ask Jesus if they can call fire down from heaven to destroy them…

3. Again – we have rash, arrogant, and excessive behavior… which Jesus quietly rebukes and they move on.

So, what is gentleness?

The Full Life Study Bible: restraint coupled with strength and courage.

Aristotle: halfway between excessive anger and indifference.

Paul demonstrated the kind of restraint Nathan had when he confronted David. As he writes to the Corinthians he asks them: “What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit.” (1 Cor 4:21). He could be angry. He could be harsh. As a teacher, he probably knew something about discipline… but he wanted them to repent and transform their lives not out of fear… but out of the love and gentleness that was shown to them.

In John Wesley’s writing, we see the spirit of gentleness in his command to “do no harm.”

As our former Bishop Reuben Job has reflected upon that command, he writes: “I have found that when this first simple rule was remembered, it often saved me from uttering a wrong word or considering a wrong response.”

He adds, “I have also found that this simple step, when practiced, can provide a safe place to stand while the hard and faithful work of discernment is done.”

Maybe that is the key. Responding in gentleness allows us to take a step back and to determine proper response. And I think that if we are faithful to the scriptures we will find that gentleness should be the core of OUR response to wrong in the world…

Think of our gospel reading…

The brothers recall how the power of God was unleashed on people and communities unwilling to repent and they believe they are justified in doing the same.

But “Vengeance is Mine.” Says the Lord.

These words come from Romans 12:

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord. On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

You will heap burning coals on his head… that sounds an awful lot to our modern ears like we should send people to hell. But a colleague shared with me that this injunction is actually similiar to the first too – to feed and give drink to our enemies.

You see, in ancient cultures, fire was everything. Without a fire you had no warmth, nothing to cook over, no protection. A fire meant life in your home. And if your coals went out – your family faced death.

Sometimes if someone was nearby, you could take a container and they would fill it with some of the coals out of their own fire.

This passage says – if your enemy is hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; if the fire in their home has gone out… if the light of hope has gone out… if the fires of love had gone out in their heart… HEAP burning coals on their head. Overcome evil with good. Love them. Be gentle to them. And by doing this – you will light a fire in their heart.

And in our gospel reading, when Jesus rebukes the disciples, Jesus he is not only giving us an indication to how we should respond to injustice – with gentleness… but also how God-in-flesh responds:

“Jesus’ awareness of His power enabled Him to be gentle to those in need. The broken reed He would not crush but would fully restore. The flickering wick of a lamp He would not put out but would cause it to burn brightly again.” (Stanley Horton)

That is not to say that there will not come a time when there will be judgment. God will do what he has promised and will make all things right. But that judgment is not for us to make. Our job is to point to the truth and to love with generous hearts.

But as we look at our fellow brothers and sisters, we must remember that the gentleness of Christ died for us while we were yet sinners…

The gentleness of Christ is his power… Again from Horton: “ He gently takes the sinner and makes him whole.”

levels and dimensions

Posted on April 5, 20101 Comment

Last month at our county ministerial alliance gathering, we got to chatting about the books we were reading. One pastor mentioned a book – and of course the title escapes me – but it had something to do with how we invite people into deeper discipleship. I actually think that it was “Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples” but I’m not 100% positive.

Our conversation from this point talked about the process for making these deep disciples. We talked about Saddleback Church’s Baseball Diamond metaphor… which probably comes from somewhere else first. We talked about the process at one local pastor’s church of moving from an attender to a participator to a server… well, that’s not exactly how he phrased it, but it’s moving from simply being there to going deeper in your involvement and then giving back in some way.

It was all about process and movement and how to move people, how to encourage people to not just stay at one level in their spiritual growth, but to… grow!

I left the conversation thinking about the fact our congregation hasn’t had a discussion about our discipleship process. People come to church and we try to get them to join and then… well, pray they get active. It’s kind of sad to type that out, but it’s probably the truth.

I left the meeting and picked back up the book that I had been reading, “This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God” by Rick McKinley. And the very chapter I was beginning had this to say:

When I first became a Christ follower, I was invited to a Bible study… Bring it on, I thought. I was all for it. I devoured that one and soon moved on to the next, and then the next one after that, and the next one after that… But there was no end to it. All I ever arrived at was a new level that needed reaching. Now you might recognize yourself in my spiritual striving, or you might not. But I see that kind of striving and competitiveness everywhere… churches especially. Pastors and lay leaders love to talk about advancing the kingdom, about building the kingdom. It is as if Jesus said, “My kingdom is a pile of lumber on the truck in heave, and I need you boys and girls to get a hammer and help Me nail this thing together. Could ya?”

But he didn’t… He said, “The Kingdom is…”

… What if I told you that the the world is broken and that WE are God’s answer to the world’s problems?… You yourself – and all that you can do – are crucial to the future of the planet. Just like you secretly, humbly, all along expected.

Of course, it’s not true. The kingdom is. That’s it. Jesus does not need you or me to nail it together.

Kind of throws me off. I like thinking in terms of levels of achievement… if I work hard and do the right things, I can move to the next level… Levels of spirituality are perfect for a culture that deifies the individual. Our world is focused on self; the kingdom is about the other. It demands that I notice others, love others, pray for them and serve them. “Levels spirituality” does not. It allows me to do it myself, by myself.

Jesus hates levels spirutuality. All it does is reinforce the lie that started way back in the beginning – the one that says I can be like God. (pgs 56-58)

So, I spent the morning talking about and embracing this idea of levels and growth through a process and then Rick McKinley turns the whole thing upside down and on its head and says – no.

Of course, it’s not necessarily an either/or. It’s a both/and. We are called both to just be in Christ’s kingdom and we are called to take up our cross and follow.

In spite of my Wesleyan roots, I think I tend to really hold fast to the being of discipleship. Wesley had a fanatical desire to grow in his spirituality and had all sorts of “methods” for doing so. Fasting, prayer, visiting the prisoners were all steps in the process of becoming more like Christ. There was the whole idea of sanctification… that we actually COULD by God’s grace become more and more like Christ.

But what I think that in spite of all the doing of discipleship, the early Wesleyans were also putting themselves in situations and among people where they could BE in the Kingdom. They was seeking out the poor – or they were the poor, the sick, the imprisoned. They sat with the people Jesus loved. They loved them. They did what they could for them, but the relationships were important. When they asked, “how is it with your soul?” they meant it.

Again from Rick McKinley:

…God isn’t measuring anything. He only wants us to live in a dimension that is already there. He is simply inviting us to be a part of what He is already doing… What I am realizing after a few years of leaving the levels is that our eyes begin to see differently. We notice the kingdom dimension of life, but slowly… seeing the kingdom may take a few seconds.

My hope as a pastor is not that I get someone to achieve higher levels of discipleship, but that I can love them. My hope is that I can love them and offer them the opportunity to see the world with new eyes. To see the world as Christ sees it. To see the broken and hurting things and to love them. Yes, there is a goal to be reached – a time when that hurting and suffering and pain is no more… but that is not for me to determine. I can simply be in the kingdom and let Christ’s love flow through me.

Doctrine of God… or something.

Posted on January 9, 20102 Comments

When I submitted my candidacy papers, I had just finished Constructive Theology. I was in a totally heady space, although I also had a lot of practical application involved.

In my first round of papers, here is how I talked about God:

We have come to know and trust in God primarily through scripture – which holds the accounts of faithful witnesses to God’s work in history. There we learn that the God we worship is not a passive entity, but jealous, powerful, and always seeking relationship with creation. While some theologians begin with the via positiva or via negativa to describe God, Wesleyan theology begins with the scriptures and from that place, redefines the “natural characteristics” of God. We come to know God’s nature through the covenant made with the Hebrew people and the new covenant of Jesus Christ, as well as the continuing witness of the Holy Spirit. Above all, these actions tell us that God works in ways that invite human response and gives us the power to respond in faith. This is particularly true in regards to God’s power – which Randy Maddox argues must “not be defined or defended in any way that undercuts human responsibility.” God seeks to work in co-operative ways; ways that build, rather than destroy, relationship…

In his own time, Wesley was familiar with not only the Western notions of the divine, but also explored Eastern conceptions as well, which Maddox claims influenced his theology in subtle, though profound ways. Though he never directly claimed the Eastern Orthodox understanding of perichoresis as a description of the Trinity, it is not disconsonant with other of his claims, and in fact helps us to comprehend the relational nature of God. If our sources and the ways in which God is revealed are diverse (the economic Trinity) and yet always in need of one another, it would make sense to assume that God’s internal relations (the immanent Trinity) are likewise diverse and in need of a constant dance.

I still remember one of my Board of Ministry team members saying: I was a little worried about you after I read the answers to your first question… but then you got more practical.

Note to that team member: I actually did teach perichoresis… in a children’s sermon, nonetheless… we got up and danced in a circle and it was fabulous.

The ordination papers as I understand them are meant to be more practical and experiential. So here is my answer to the question:

How has the practice of ministry affected your experience and understanding of God?

I have always firmly believed that God is relational and so it will come as no surprise that I have found and experienced God in the midst of the congregation. The lives of my parishioners carry on the story of God that was begun with the Hebrew people and we weave together our experience of God with the scriptures that have been passed on to us for future generations.

That understanding of God, however, has been most directly challenged and stretched in the practice of ministry through encountering over and over again the via positiva. So many in my congregation experience God as omnipotent, omni-present and omniscient and therefore see every minute detail of their lives as having been directly set into motion by the God of the universe. On the one hand, it gives me pause as I think about how various pieces of my own life have fallen into place by the grace of God. On the other hand, as a Wesleyan theologian, I also want to fight against determinism. I still hold firmly an understanding of God derived from scriptures – that God works in ways that invite human response and gives us the power to respond in faith, a god that allows it to rain on the just and unjust alike. I recoil when I hear a congregation member talk about how God caused something to happen in their life in order to bring them to faith. While it may be the result of such a time of tragedy that brought about their faith, I refuse to believe God causes pain and suffering in one person in order to reach another.

As I work with congregational members as their pastor and teacher, being able to talk about our Triune God, is immensely powerful. I can share with them my firm belief that in all situations, the Father of us all has always desired a relationship with each one of us. I can talk with them about the sacrificial love of Christ Jesus who died so that we might live… who died to bring us faith so that others do not have to die or suffer for that reason. I can talk about the Holy Comforter walking with each and every single one of us through the valley of the shadow of death. Our encounter with God in the scriptures is so much richer and deeper than any attribute we might postulate about our creator and redeemer and sanctifier.

Photo by: William Vermeulen

Link to a United Methodeviations post

Posted on June 16, 2009Leave a comment

Dan Dick makes a distinction between what he sees as mainline emergent and the roots of the emergent conversation and people out there who are living it

Who Would Jesus Smack Down?

Posted on January 13, 20091 Comment

This morning one of our small groups met and I started Joyce Rupp’s “The Cup of Our Lives” with them. It thought it went really well! I’m also now up to 5 youth and a male chaperone besides myself who are able to go on our youth mission trip this summer. Which is fantastic!

I ran some errands – including buying some good nutritious food to stock the fridge with, and then sat down for lunch with my computer. And came across this article:

Who Would Jesus Smack Down?
By MOLLY WORTHEN
Published: January 11, 2009
The Seattle minister Mark Driscoll is out to transform American evangelicalism with his macho conception of Christ and neo-Calvinist belief in the total depravity of man.

I know I said that I would be commenting on “The Shack” soon… and I hope to… but for some reason I stumbled across this today and just sat there with my jaw dropped staring at the screen.

I didn’t know anything about this church before I read the article and there are some things about how it is portrayed that make my blood boil and there are other things that really resonate with me. And so I’m going to talk about them in no particular order.

First of all, the Calvinist theology. It’s not me. I’m a die-hard Methodist. And while there may only be a hair’s breadth between Calvinism and Methodism, I would say that it’s a mighty thick hair. And to be fair to Calvin, this New Calvinism takes his attempt to hang on to the sovereignty of God and just runs with the unintended implications much more than Calvin ever would have. There is a determinism there that is extremely uncomfortable for me. Not because I’m a “limp-wristed liberal,” but because I want to leave room for God to do what God wants – and that includes redeeming the irredeemable.

Secondly, along with the theology comes an interpretation of the bible that is ironically more refreshing that traditional conservative literal evangelical spin… because it takes seriously the New Testament messsage that prohibitions against things like drinking and dancing just don’t jive with what Jesus tried to teach… that attempting to live righteously by the law is to live like a Pharisee. But, the interpretative framework doesn’t leave any room for the contextual explanations of Paul’s comments on the genders or leave room for the call of God to teach and preach to come to women. And I have a huge problem with that since I am a woman and have experienced that call. (Perhaps this is where I stick in a not so subtle comment about Wesleyan theology and the quadralateral of biblical interpretation: scripture, tradition, reason and experience.)

Third, and this is related to the gender discussion, Driscoll wants to basically save Jesus from the theology that has emasculated him. I want to both agree and disagree here. There is a lot within theology that does paint Jesus as the soft and gentle one who loves us. And there are some interpretations of the crucifixion that want to see pacifism as weak, as Christ’s refusal to fight back or stand up for himself as a feminine way of being (Not my interpretation). BUT, why are feminine attributes so negative in Driscoll’s eyes? Why can’t Jesus embrace both the traditionally masculine and feminine aspects of humanity? And the whole argument supposes that Christ’s form of resistance to power… his refusal to give in AND his willingness to die for sinners… is what has made Christ weak, or in the words of the article:

has transformed Jesus into “a Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ,” a “neutered and limp-wristed popular Sky Fairy of pop culture that . . . would never talk about sin or send anyone to hell.”

On the contrary, the true power of Christ in my theology is described in terms of kenosis – of emptying himself – of pouring out himself for others. In doing so, he fully took on human existence and redeemed it, once and for all. He gave up everything in order that none would have to be condemned to hell. But, there is still a choice involved. Christ, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, continues to reach out to us but it is up to us whether or not we respond. That’s not weak. That is what love and relationship look like.

Fourth, I love the way that the church meets people where they are and believe that God is found everywhere within the culture. I can totally relate to the description of the people as:

cultural activists who play in rock bands and care about the arts, living out a long Reformed tradition that asserts Christ’s mandate over every corner of creation

I have no complaint here and applaud their ability not only to reach out to those who would be uncomfortable in a mainline church, but also to challenge them to live differently. In the words of Anne Lamott (or someone else if it came before her) “God loves you just the way you are, and loves you too much to let you stay that way.”

Fifth, the idea that to question authority is to sin. OMG. seriously. That paragraph in the article about made me scream. To start off with, since Calvinism is a REFORMED tradtion… there was some questioning of authority somewhere along the way. That being said, I have no tolerance for authoritarianism. (haha, i made a joke) Questioning is what makes us human, it is the gift of the Holy Spirit that allows the body of Christ to discern what is the will of God. I must admit here that Mr. Wesley himself could be fairly authoritarian in his own day, and he made some bad choices as a result of which (see his love life in Georgia for example). But to shun elders within the church because they opposed the new organizational structure? Are you serious? I guess that’s a long way from the idea of Christian conferencing that became a part of the Wesleyan tradition… Or maybe I’m just being limp-wristed again. GAH!

those silly lutherans…

Posted on November 12, 2008Leave a comment

In my small town, there are basically five churches: Presbyterian, Nazarene, Catholic, LCMS, and my United Methodist church. Outside of town there is a UCC church and an ELCA church that participate with us.

We have a fairly good relationship among all of the churches and together have a ministerial alliance that distributes funds for gas, food, lodging, etc. for those in need in the community.

I have been amazed to discover that the LCMS pastor in town has been one of my best mentors. There is at times very little that we agree upon, but there is plenty of grace in our relationship =)

This morning we got to talking about the lectionary passage for Sunday the 23rd. Neither of us would be preaching on the text, but we thought we’d discuss it anyways. I have always loved the passage from Matthew 25 on the judgment of the sheep and the goats, because, for me it was a reminder that we are supposed to live the gospel and not just speak it with our mouths. For the most part, we talked about how the works described are like the fruits of good trees, they are the natural growth or response of a person to the faith which is alive within. We could agree on that.

We got into a lively discussion and I was amazed to hear about how difficult it was to preach this text to their congregations. In Lutheran theology, there is a very fine pathway to tread between legalism and antinomianism and there is always the danger that the message will be interpreted in a way that causes you to “fall off the cliff” in either direction.

I got to thinking about the difference between that and Wesleyan theology. And the greatest difference is that we believe that the works described in the passage from Matthew – the feeding of the hungry, and caring for the sick, etc., are in and of themselves means of grace. We don’t believe that works earn us God’s salvation, but that they can open us to the grace of God poured out into our lives. Particularly in regards to sanctifying grace.

My Lutheran brothers (they were both male) on the other hand recognize more limited means of grace: the word, the “wet” word (baptism), the “eaten” word (communion), and the “shared” word – fellowship, bible study. And so the works described had the danger of negating the power of faith to save us.

Whew. Yet another day in which I’m glad to be a methodist.

Three Simple Rules: Stay In Love With God

Posted on July 20, 2008Leave a comment

http://sermon.net/swf/mpp.swf

Sermon Text: Psalm 119: 105-112, Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Hymns for the Day: Stay in Love with God

Two weeks ago, we began exploring together the three simple rules of a Wesleyan community. These were the rules that Wesley himself taught and encouraged his classes and societies to follow – rules that would help them to grow in their faith and to become stronger disciples of Jesus Christ.

When we talked about the first rule – to do no harm – we talked about the ways we are freed from our old lives and from our old ways when we begin this walk with Jesus. We held onto the passage from Matthew, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Doing no harm is not about a list of Don’ts and rules that are impossible to follow – it is about trying our best to live our lives aware of how we hurt others (knowingly or unknowingly) – and then, with the grace of God, trying to live differently. Doing no harm is about laying down the burdens of past guilt and pain and starting a new with the yoke of Christ, who promises to lead us and to teach us.

Last week, we explored the second rule – to do good – and we did so by exploring the parable of the sower. In this parable of Jesus, the sower could really be more like a foolish farmer – because he scattered his grain everywhere – on the path, in the rocks, in the weeds and finally on good soil. While it sprouted in many of those places – only in the good soil did it bear fruit. So we talked about the importance of tending our lives, of becoming the kind of people in which the word of God could not only be planted but grow. We become good soil by taking care to pull the weeds in our lives – the worldly cares that distract us, and by carefully rooting out the rocks – those people and situations which lead us to turn our backs on God’s word. And we also remembered our call to cultivate and nurture goodness in other people’s lives as well – through loving them, caring for them, and sharing our hope and joy.

This week – we listen for the last rule. In the General Rules, this third command is to “attend upon all the ordinances of God,” but in his book Three Simple Rules, Bishop Ruben Job reframes this third command as “Stay in Love with God.”

Those may sound like two very different things – but today we are going to look at how taking time to worship with a community, to pray, to study the scriptures, to fast, and to gather around the Lord’s Table – are about love – and about sustaining a relationship with the God who first loved us. Doing each of these things on a regular basis – making them habits and practices of our lives – is how we respond to God’s love for us… they are how we uphold our end of the relationship.

Now, I wouldn’t call myself a relationship expert by any means, but in just two weeks, my husband and I will celebrate one full year of marriage. One full year of living with those promises to love, honor and cherish each other. One full year of “for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer.”

Now, we have learned many things over the years of our relationship, and this year of married life has been no exception. The thing is, when you are in a relationship with someone – you constantly have to work on it! There is always a give and a take, always the necessity to listen and to speak the truth of your heart, always the opportunity to grow.

A few months ago, Brandon and I finally settled into our routines around the house. And you know what – they become just that – routines. We each knew what was expected of us, and set about to do our business. But the thing was, distance started to grow between us because each of us was off in our own little world – doing our own thing.

One day, when Brandon had finished mowing the yard, I told him thank-you for his work. Thanked him for standing outside in the hot sun and getting that job done. I was kind of surprised at myself that I hadn’t thanked him any of the other times he had mowed. I started to wonder when the last time I HAD thanked him was.

And you know what… later that week, he thanked ME for putting the dishes away. And we sat down and talked about the fact that it really does make us feel loved and appreciated to hear those words… and promised to keep saying thank you for the little things. Instantly, we felt closer and more connected than we had in a long time. All because we took the time to share the love that was there.

And that’s true of any relationship. We too easily take our love for granted and forget about what our partner, our sibling, our children are doing and who they are, and we need to stop sometimes – no, we need to stop often – and take time to work on our relationships.

I believe Wesley has this third rule here because the same is true of our relationship with God. We need to work on it. We need to stop taking God’s love for granted and really explore and listen for what God has done for us… is doing for us, and then we need to share our own response of love.

In the scriptures this morning, we catch glimpses of what God’s love for us is like. Matthew shares with us five very short and very different parables about the kingdom of heaven… Or as Larry Patten rephrases it – the Realm of Love.

You see, the kingdom that Jesus is talking about isn’t some far off place, or even a heaven that awaits us after death – but about “the time when all of humanity will be governed by God’s love.” (John Shearman – www.seemslikegod.org). This Realm of Love, Jesus tells us, is like a very tiny, insignificant seed that is planted into the ground – but that springs up and grows as large as a tree! It is a seed that has already been carefully placed in our lives –love that is growing for us and in us.

This Realm of Love, this time of living according to God’s love, is like a small measure of yeast that is hidden inside the flour for the daily bread – yeast that will miraculously transform that loaf from a flat, lifeless lump into fluffy, fresh, abundant bread. The yeast too is like the love of God, hidden within us, growing and transforming our lives and the whole world.

Jesus goes on to say the Realm of Love, is like a man who sees something shining in the midst of the muddy field. And so he makes his way to that small glimmer of light, only to find a precious treasure buried there in the ground. And he covers that precious treasure back up and goes to sell everything that he has – all of his possessions, all that is nearest and dearest to his heart, so that he can buy that field and obtain that treasure for himself. That’s what God’s love is like…

This Realm of Love, this time when all of us will live according to God’s love, is also like a business man, a seller of fine jewels, who finds the one perfect pearl, and sells all that he has – ships, stores, buys out his employees, even sells his own house in order to have this one precious pearl.

These are just glimpses of God’s end of the relationship. The lengths that God goes to – the care with which God plants the seeds of love within us and waits patiently for them to grow.

Paul makes it all very clear in the book of Romans – “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.” And Paul says so with utmost confidence, because he knows the lengths that God has gone to in order to reach out to his children. He testifies that God the Father is so on our side, so willing to do anything for a relationship with us, that he did not even spare his own Son – gave even a part of God’s-self up, in order that we might be a part of the family of God. God sees all of us, sees each and every single one of you as a precious treasure hidden away or as that precious pearl that is without cost – and is willing to give up everything in order to show you how much you are loved.

This third rule – to stay in love with God – is about how we respond to that love. And this third rule is what really separates us as followers of Christ from the rest of the world.

Because, you know there are many good and honest, hard-working people out there who try their best to do good and who avoid the temptation to do evil. And I have known enough of these good and honest and loving people to know that they can do so without acknowledging God, without the church, and in many cases denying that either of those things are needed.

And there are many people in this room right now, and I would be the first to admit that at times I have been one of them, who are just trying their best to lead a good and faithful life, and they know what God asks of them, but can’t seem to find the time (or make the time) for all of these things God calls us to do.

Perhaps the prime example is a phrase we have all heard – and probably even said ourselves at some point in our life: I don’t need to go to church on Sunday – I can worship God in my own way. I pray, I read the Bible, what do I need the church for?

I’ll admit, I have said those words myself, and there are some things true about those statements. Yes, we can worship God outside of the church and outside of Sunday mornings. Yes, we can worship and praise God on our own. But – God also calls us to a public – a corporate – relationship with him.

In his book, “Being Methodist in the Bible Belt (A Theological Survival Guide for Youth, Parents, and other Confused Methodists),” F. Belton Joyner shares why we need to worship with others. Not only does it provide accountability in our journey of faith – helps to keep us on track… but it is how we acknowledge that we are a part of the Body of Christ – that we need others and that this journey is not just our own. Public worship reminds us that we follow a God who has called a people into being – not just individuals. Public worship is also a time to confess that we have done things that break the unity God desires for us –that we are not yet living in that time when God’s love rules all of our lives. (55-56)

Not only do we need each other to worship God fully, but, in all honesty – those times when I fell out of the habit of attending church regularly… I also tended to fall out of the habit of praying and studying the scriptures. It is hard to maintain those practices and disciplines when others aren’t there to sustain you in that journey. And when we let go of things like fasting and reading the bible, gathering together at the Lord’s Supper – they we also tend to take our relationship with God for granted.

Bishop Job reminds us about how Christ modeled how we should live, writing:

We can accuse Jesus of many things, but we cannot accuse him of neglecting his relationship with God. He must have learned early how important it was to stay close to God if he was to fulfill his mission in the world. He must have learned early that there was a power available to live the faithful, the fruitful, the good life and that this power involved staying connected, staying in touch, staying in love with his trusted Abba. He found not only his strength and guidance but his greatest joy in communion, companionship with his loving Abba.(56)

God was willing to give up everything to have a relationship with you. God has been reaching out, yearning for you to not only stay in love with him, but to deepen your relationship with him. Henri Nouwen writes “[Jesus] whose only concern had been to announce the unconditional love of God had only one question to ask, ‘Do you love me?’” (In the Name of Jesus, pg 36-37).

Do you love God? And if you do, are you willing to do what it takes to sustain the relationship? Are you ready to choose today to say yes and to faithfully open yourself up to God’s love? He is waiting with opens arms… Do you love me? Do you?