Holy Spirit – Page 5 – Salvaged Faith

The Spirit of Debate

Posted on August 22, 2012Leave a comment

I love to have a good argument!

One of my favorite memories from college was debating with my good friend, Brian Johnson. We argued about anything and everything… politics, religion, who could marry, why you shouldn’t marry, our favorite philosophers, the best movie, you get the picture. There was something about a debate with Mr. Johnson that made your heart beat faster and sharpened your intellect. You were thinking deeply. You were listening for flaws and places to make counterpoints. You were learning what rhetorical strategies worked and which didn’t.

Most of mine, didn’t work.

I lost a lot of debates with my good friend – probably because he was on course to become a professor of philosophy – but through it all, we remained good friends. Even when we got flustered after a good fight, we could turn around and the next moment go eat dinner together.

Debating and politicking can be exciting… to a point. But sometimes a vigorous debate turns into a personal attack. Sometimes fighting just for the sake of fighting reveals hidden anxieties and anger. And sometimes, when parties impose their ideas on others, reality clashes with ideals and people are hurt in the process.

It is a reality we see all the time in Washington, D.C. as political parties refuse to compromise their platforms to deal with the lived reality of the people they are called to serve. But it is also a reality in our churches. A good natured debate, a serious conversation about what we should do sometimes turns ugly and hurts our Body of Christ far more than we could imagine.

In Acts 15, we find one of the first recorded official church council meetings. In the history books and in the headings of our bibles, we know this as the Council of Jerusalem. It was the first time the church leaders gathered together to make an important decision about what should be done… and about who could be included.

Conflict is normal and expected in the life of a church. In fact, as Rev. Dr. Jill Sanders reminds me often, conflict is simply two different ideas occupying the same space. How we handle that conflict, and what kind of debate we have, is what can make or break relationships and groups.

As the Holy Spirit moved through this early church argument, we can learn about how we, too, in the 21st century can handle the conflict that arises.

First – when the question or problem arises, you address it directly.

The issue in this instance was a debate about whether or not Gentiles had to be circumcised before they could be saved. That is, did they have to become Jewish before they could accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Paul and Barnabas were out working among the people and gentiles were converting to the Jesus left and right. All along, all they had ever taught was that Jesus was the way and the truth and the life. No prerequisites. No admission exams. Christ and Christ alone was the source of salvation.

But a group of folks comes along teaching something different. Paul and Barnabas could have had a number of options here.

They could have ignored this new teaching and continued to do what they were doing… with both ideas growing up alongside of one another in the community. But that only delays the debate until a time when people are more entrenched in one position or another.

They could have driven the newcomers out of town violently… which was what sometimes happened to them when their teachings were not well received by a community.

But Barnabas and Paul had the wherewith all to directly address the problem. They confronted the teachers and argued against them. They spoke their piece. They defended their position. And most assuredly, the other side made their arguments as well. A healthy conflict allows room for disagreement and conversation. It allows for people to stand in one place or another. They talked and argued until they were finished.

What our scriptures don’t tell us is how this conflict was resolved. There is no tale of winners and losers in the debate. What we next hear is that Paul and Barnabas are being sent from Antioch – the community they were serving – to go up to Jerusalem to get an official ruling on the issue.

Which leads me to point two: some arguments and debates are bigger than us as individuals. A sign of maturity and health in any conflict is calling in other voices when the debate has reached a stalemate.

In the world of business, this might be a mediator. In a marriage, this might involve seeing a counselor. In a church, its when you place a call to your district superintendent. Sometimes we need neutral third parties to help us to see the bigger picture and to resolve our differences.

But sometimes, we also need to have a larger conversation because the impact of our decisions involve more than simply us.

The church in Antioch realized that the debate they were having would merely be repeated time and time again across the world… it was not a question only for them, but for the whole Body of Christ. The power of a group speaking together – of a group deciding to live one way or another – would define that body one way or another. They could either be a church who welcomed Gentiles as they were or a church who demanded circumcision, but they couldn’t be both. They made a mature decision and sent the question to a higher authority.

That is not to say that all arguments require calling in the big guns. If a church can’t agree about what color of carpet to install, the bishop doesn’t need to be informed. The carpet isn’t a life or death matter of identity.

But when we have fundamental disagreements about who to welcome, or how to interact with a particular social issue like immigration, then we might find we are having conversations that are bigger than us.

That doesn’t mean they are conversation we shouldn’t participate in or have a voice in… it simply means that we also need to include others.

So the Council of Jerusalem meets and the apostles and the elders all gather together to hear about what they problem is and to make an official decision.

The third thing that we can learn is what the nature of these discussions should be. As Acts 15 describes this debate, it plays out much like a courtroom scene. Parties stand and argue their case. People listen and wait their turn. The gathering is respectful and honest with one another.

One of the more powerful realities of this testimony of scripture is that names are not tossed back and forth. No party is painted to be the bad guy. There is no negative campaigning or slander. Each group simply speaks the truth about who they are, what they have experienced, and what they believe.

Those who believed in circumcision stood and made their case from the perspective of tradition and then others began to speak as well.

Peter stood and talked about his vision of the gospel for the Gentiles and the conversion of Cornelius. He lifted up the revelation of God he had received and his calling to carry that message back to the church.

Barnabas and Paul stood and spoke about their ministry among the gentiles and the signs and wonders they saw.

And in each case, the people were allowed to tell their whole story. They weren’t questioned or cross-examined. They simply shared their experience and others listened. They listened completely – not with the intent of finding flaws in the argument or ways to defeat them… they simply listened.

When one party was done speaking, they waited in silence until the next voice was ready to speak. It was a respectful, holy debate.

And when all had spoken, James felt moved to respond on behalf of the assembly. He lifted up the scriptures and the precedent for ministry to Gentiles even in the Old Testament. He made a statement, and it was affirmed by the whole body. Gentiles would be welcomed, as they were… no additional burden would be placed upon them.

A letter was written and sent out to all the churches – a letter that would clarify the church teaching, a letter to provide stability and unity among the people of God. This letter assured the people that the Holy Spirit had led them to a decision… no burden would be placed upon them but these essentials: to refuse food offered to idols and refrain from sexual immorality.

John Wesley was often fond of saying: In essentials, unity; in unessentials, liberty; in all things – charity (that is to say, love).

In the course of their debate, the early church argued about the essentials – about how we are saved and who we should be as the people of God. And sometimes their positions on those essentials would change – as would later happen with the prohibition against eating food that had been sacrificed to idols. But there were also many questions they didn’t address and left unanswered. There were questions that were not important and were practiced differently depending on what city or village you were in at the time.

But perhaps most important is that these conversations happened with grace and love and respect.

With my friend, Brian Johnson, our friendship was always prioritized above all else. The questions we were asking of one another did not ultimately matter. Brian might disagree with me of course =) , but I guess I mean that even if there was a right answer, our friendship was more important than the debate we were having. Sure, the questions were important and someday we might be in positions and places where the decisions we made and the answers we arrived at really would matter. But what was truly important was the fact that we could argue and disagree and still love one another.

The same is not always the case with the church. The same is certainly not the case in our nation. We yell and demonize and refuse to listen to one another. We line up for chicken sandwiches or stay home and choose to boycott. We get so caught up in the little things, the unessentials that don’t matter, that we have no energy left to talk about what is really important.

May we let go of our fears and our pride. May we open our hearts and minds to truly listen to one another. And may we have a different sort of argument… an argument filled with the spirit of love.

Amen and Amen.

Spirit of Household Salvation

Posted on August 22, 2012Leave a comment

Religion is social. Religion is corporate. Religion is political.

As Christianity spread in the time of the apostles and beyond, it was often not the work of one-on-one conversations and personal confessions of faith, but of corporate conversions… of whole nations turning from one religion to another.

I did some reading this week about the reformation in Norway in the 16th century. Up to this point, Norway had been a Catholic country… being converted in the 9th century through the faith of Olav II, their beloved king who was later sainted.

But with political allegiances changing, suddenly a union between Denmark and Norway was on the horizon. And Christian III, king of Denmark was lining up to take his place on the Norwegian throne.

The problem… Christian was a Lutheran. He had been taught by Lutherans. He had even traveled as a young man and heard Martin Luther speak in person. And so his goal was to establish his kingdom as a protestant haven.

The first step, of course, is to get rid of the Catholic leadership. In 1536, the Catholic bishops were kicked out and replaced with Lutheran bishops appointed by the new king. Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson tried to resist these reforms and keep Norway from being united with Denmark. There was even talk about establishing Christian’s younger brother John as king… since he remained favorable to the Catholic faith. The Archbishop tried to do everything he could to resist the change, even helping to plan the assassination of an earl who was traveling to Norway to discuss the union. Engelbrektsson ended his days in exile.

While all of this was going on in the realms of bishops and earls and kings… What do you think the everyday person was thinking. Overnight they were transformed from Catholics to Lutherans. They didn’t have a say in the matter, they may not have even noticed a real difference. They were converted, wholesale, as a group.

In our world today, this makes no sense to us. Faith is so private and individualized. We make our confessions and trust in a personal Lord and savior.

But historically, this is the exception and not the norm. For much of history, faith has been a corporate… A communal experience. Your religion was based upon the faith of your father or master or lord or king. Your flavor of Christianity was not based upon the nuances that you chose, but the political affiliations and personal whims of someone higher up the food chain.

We could argue for days about whether it is better for faith to be personalized as it is today in our nation, or a corporate experience as it still is in some places today.

We certainly have known the advantages of being able to have our own say about our faith. You can know our God personally… you can turn to the scriptures and can find out for yourself what they contain. You get to decide whether or not you join the church or go to church

But I believe this isn’t an either/or question. There are some things about having a communal expression of faith that we have lost. As we dive into this chapter of Acts, we might be able to figure out how not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

David Matson argues that we could see the entire book of Acts as a story about houses…. We start out the narrative with the disciples gathered together in a house and the story ends with Paul under house arrest on an island, telling the stories of faith to those who will come and visit.

Then, throughout the journey of the disciples, they travel from house to house, sharing the faith they have received. We have heard of Peter and Cornelius, Paul and Ananias… and here in this chapter Paul and Silas meet up with two different families in the city of Philippi.

One of these households is led by a woman named Lydia. The bible tells us she is a dealer of purple cloth – a wealthy woman trading a rare luxury commodity. We know nothing of her husband, but she does well enough for herself that either he isn’t around or isn’t relevant to the story. She is the head of the household. And when she hears the story of salvation in her place of prayer by the river, she invites Paul and Silas back to her home and her whole household is baptized.

The second household conversion happens after a Roman jailer experiences a miracle. He had locked Paul and Silas up in jail under strict orders to keep them secure. When an earthquake shakes their bars loose in the middle of the night – he is convinced his life is over. With the prisoners escape, he will be punished and killed. Just as he is about to end his life – Paul calls out from the cell… they had not left, even though they could have.

The jailer is so overwhelmed that he wants to know about the faith that has sustained them in difficult times, the faith that has allowed them to be so calm in the midst of distress. He takes the two back to his home and he and his entire household are saved.

What can we learn from these two tales?

First: Lydia and the soldier both experienced conversion outside of their homes…. but took their faith back home with them. And not only that… they took people back with them.

Now, it would be important here to mention what we mean by a household. In the Greco-Roman world, the household was the place of residence of a family, but also of all the slaves and grown children under the master of that household’s authority. The household could be rather large and encompassed all of a person’s business, social, and familial relationships. The pater familias had unilateral authority over his wife, his children and his servants.

This thing that they had witnessed – the story they had heard – it was too important to keep to themselves. As the heads of their households, they knew that this faith was not something that only belonged to them but it was meant to be shared. They opened up not only their hearts, but their whole lives to the power of God. They made sure that this new conversion in their lives extended to EVERY part of their life – their children, their wives, their servants.

When we experience faith and conversion, do we run home and tell our families? Do we share that faith with our employees? Do we allow God into every part of our life? Do we make room for him in our homes, in our work, in the places we go to socialize?

One way that we could reclaim this idea of household salvation is to simply open up our whole selves to his power…

Secondly, the scriptures tell us that their whole households were baptized. The act of baptism is personal. More than a blanket statement that a whole nation is now Lutheran instead of Catholic, to baptize a whole household means that each person would have come before Paul and Silas to recieve the water. Young and old. Rich and poor. Slave and free. The head of the household would have lined them all up and said – you are going to do this.

It sounds a lot like mom and dad getting the kids dressed up for church and dragging them kicking and screaming to the family pew.

But it was important in that time and place for the whole household to believe the same things. In the Greco-Roman world, your household worshipped one god among many. To bring in idols or religious artifacts related to another deity would have caused your primary god to be jealous. A master of a household would have had strict control over the faith of those under their authority.

That sounds harsh to us today, until we realize that every day we make choices about what our family stands for and what we consume.

We make choices about what food we eat, what television shows are allowed to be watched in our houses, what activities we will or will not participate in. For a family that is trying to eat healthy, McDonald’s french fries are strictly forbidden. For a family trying to instil good values in their children, much of MTV might be off the list. We set rules and boundaries every day and each of those decisions says something about who we are and what we believe.

We also practice in our tradition infant baptism. And when we baptize children, we are making promises on their behalf. We are holding their faith for them. We are making decisions about their relationship with God even though they are not even aware of God’s presence yet.

When we do so, we promise to raise them in the church, to hold that faith for them and to teach them until the day comes when they can accept or reject that faith for themselves.

Until that day comes, our job is to feed them properly (so to speak). If we believe it, we should live it, and live it in our whole lives.

If we think back to the tale of the Norwegian Reformation, the short version of the story goes: The King appointed a new Lutheran bishop. The old Catholic bishop appointed a new king… and as we all know from the Ollie and Lena jokes that we sometimes tell, the Lutherans won.

Someone, somewhere up the food chain made a decision about the faith of the people. And at the time, they had no say. At the time, they may not have imagined what it meant. But as time has gone one, Norwegians by and large identify themselves as Lutherans. They lived into the faith that was handed to them. They have claimed it as their own.

In the same way, our children and grandchildren might live into the faith that we hold if we continue to bring them to this place… if we nurture them in the traditions that have sustained us… if we lead them to the Christ we have come to know and love.

Your faith extends far beyond your life. It extends to all of your relationships. It extends to your family and friends and into every part of your life. Let Christ in. Let Christ change you. And let Christ have your relationships also.

The Spirit of the Damascus Road

Posted on July 30, 2012Leave a comment

If one is going to preach through the book of Acts, you can’t leave out the story of the transformation and conversation of Saul/Paul. It is a chapter I have heard many times, from many different angles, and recently heard powerfully preached by Bishop Palmer at our Iowa annual conference.

Sometimes, having an overwhelming number of angles going into a sermon is more of a burden than a gift. There are so many things that you want to say that you aren’t quite sure where to start. I opened up my bible on Monday, prayed for some focus, and picked out some hymns to send to my organist. But my prep time was shorter than usual because that evening I got on a plane and flew to Akron, Ohio for our North Central Jurisdictional Conference.

The conference itself was fine. Time with friends and colleagues, conversations about the life of our church and where God was leading us, and worship were the main highlights. The food was surprisingly good. But in the back of my mind, I still was thinking about this sermon I had to write.

Just down the street from our hotel was a little cafe called The Damascus Road Cafe. That’s funny, I thought. That’s exactly what I’m preaching about! I secretly hoped that maybe I’d find some clever little story about this restaurant that would give me a parable for my sermon. Little did I know that I’d throw out my entire sermon to tell the tale of this cafe and the people who ran it.

Every morning, my roommate and I stopped by for breakfast. The prices were fantastic and the food was delicious. The muffins were huge and moist and dense. The fruit was fresh. The staff was friendly. What’s not to like? Every day, those of us attending the conference walked right by this little cafe from our hotel half a block away. We bought sandwiches and coffee, soup and cookies. The place was full of nice United Methodist folks with our huge name badges and conference bags.

And then on the last full day of conference, I started to hear the stories. The story about how this little cafe had been struggling. A story about the mom and dad and their five children who ran the shop. A story about how the week before they looked at the bills piling up and began to pray for help. The story about how they were only a week or two away from closing their doors. The story about how the United Methodists showed up and they made more money in three days than they had in the three years before. I’m not sure of the truth of all of those stories… but what I do know is that this family and business needed help and we showed up just in time.

On the last day, conference had ended and we had a few hours to wait until our flight. So my roommate and I grabbed some coffee and cookies from the Damascus Road Cafe. We sat in the sun and talked through the week and couldn’t wait to get back home. And then about 3pm, just before our rides were supposed to arrive, we walked back over to the cafe to grab a few sandwiches to go. The two of us stood there at the counter while they began to close up shop and we started to talk.

They shared with us their gratitude that we had been in town that week. They asked questions about my friend who was using a cane (Jessica was the one hit by the truck in Tampa two months before). And then the guy behind the counter told the story of his own injury and healing. He had a job that required a lot of walking and time on his feet and bone spurs had developed in his heel. They were so debilitating that he was put on light duty and his job was on the line. One day, he was doing laundry and his wife was in another room watching Pat Robertson and the 700 club. He heard in the distance Robertson talking about a man who was being healed… a man who had bone spurs… pain in exactly the spot where HE had pain… and he ran into the main room. “Honey, he’s talking about me!!!” As he said the words, he felt warmth travel through his leg. He felt the pain leave his body. His bone spurs were healed, right then and there.

Now, those of you who know me also know that I don’t usually pay too much attention to Pat Robertson. I’ve never watched the 700 Club. And I’m sometimes skeptical of these kinds of healing stories. But I was moved by his sharing, and even more moved when he and his family asked if they could lay hands on my friend, Jessica, and pray for healing for her foot. They knelt down beside us and placed their hands on her ankle and foot. We joined together in prayer, right there in the middle of the cafe.

The Damascus Road symbolizes for me a place of transformation. A place where the past doesn’t continue to be the future. A place where the pain and anger of previous times are replaced by light and grace and love. That was why Saul couldn’t continue to carry his name around and had to change it. It is why he left behind persecution and embraced the testimony of Christ. And at the Damascus Road Cafe, we saw a little bit of hope sneak into a dark situation. We felt healing and grace. We saw community formed and relationships built.

That is the story I told on Sunday morning. Not a tale of a guy on a road, but of people gathered in a cafe for prayer, fellowship, food, and grace.

Jurisdictional Conference Day 4

Posted on July 20, 2012Leave a comment

Yes, I realize I went from Day 0 to Day 4… so much transpiring with not a whole lot of time to really sit and reflect.

This being my first Jurisdictional conference, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. We had some amazing preaching, reports of shared jurisdictional ministries, elections to General Agencies and jurisdictional committees and in between a whole lot of conversation and community.

My plate just got a little bit fuller as I accepted the nomination to be our conference representative on the General Commission on Communications and I’m on our jurisdictional Rules of Order committee (which might only meet once in the next four years).

I resisted my urges for making snarky comments by keeping a twitter play-by-play of the speeches and sermons. I was so relieved to hear us refocus ourselves around what we can do together and the awesome power of God to renew and recreate instead of threats of “death tsunamis.” God is active and we have nothing to fear. With boldness we are going to radically risk and live into the Kingdom of God… at least, I’m going to!

I got to hang out with my friend Jessica again and I’m glad she is recovering and healing from Tampa.

I connected with other young adults from the jurisdiction and without official funding or organization we are going to plan a NCJ gathering for fellowship and reconnection.

But perhaps the thing I’m taking from jurisdictional conference is the reminder that my plans are not God’s plans and that the connection we serve (and the God we serve) might take us places we do not expect. Our bishops move, our ministries belong to all of us rather than any individual, and what we do together is awesome.

Spirit of Singing Along

Posted on July 8, 2012Leave a comment

The sorcerer and the eunuch.

As we continue to follow the Holy Spirit through the lives of the apostles, we come upon two men who have very different attitudes towards the work of God.

In the course of his ministry, the deacon Philip will encounter many people who hear and believe the good news about Jesus Christ… what is it about the sorcerer and the eunuch that make their stories so special?

I believe it is the contrast between their responses that is so telling.

One arrogant and brash, the other humble and full of questions.

For one, the power of the Holy Spirit is a commodity to be bought and sold, possessed and tamed.

For the other, that power is precious, mysterious, and a gift to be treated delicately.

Like with the story of Mary and Martha, we are given a chance to examine our lives, find where our tendencies lie, and invited to choose a better way.

The first major difference in these two stories is how each of them is introduced to the Holy Spirit.

In the case of the sorcerer, familiar with magic and illusion, the Holy Spirit is seen from a far. Here is a man who has heard the good news of God and joined the fellowship of believers. He has in some ways left behind his old ways, but he still desires to be the center of attention. He still wants to draw a crowd. And so when he sees the apostles laying hands on people so that they could receive the Holy Spirit, he suddenly wants their job.

So he runs over to them and throws down a bag of coins… “I want to do that, too!” he begs. “Give me that authority.”

The sorcerer believes the Holy Spirit is something to be possessed. The sorcerer wants a new bag of tricks for his show.

On the other hand, the eunuch has the Holy Spirit brought to him. We can see how she is working behind the scenes… leading Philip to take a certain road, telling him to walk alongside the cart. She has already been present in the life of this eunuch who is reading the scriptures, hoping to understand them. And so, when he hears the good news, and an oasis of water suddenly appears alongside their desert road, he asks – what would stop me from being baptised too? It is not a demand, it is a humble question of faith.

In our journeys of faith, sometimes we get jealous of what other people have – faith that seems so strong, a prayer life that seems so powerful. We often struggle with what we don’t have.

Maybe you have uttered the phrase, “I wish I could pray like so and so” or “if only we had a choir or a praise band” or “I wish I could read the scriptures like that person.”

There is nothing wrong with wanting to grow in our faith. There is nothing wrong with seeing what other people are doing and seeking God’s guidance about the ways we can live out our faith.

But in the stories of the sorcerer and the eunuch, we are invited to see that it is not what we don’t have that matters…. what matters is what the Holy Spirit has already brought into our lives. We can be so busy looking at what others have and what we desire that we can’t see the gifts right in front of us. One of the things that we will explore later this morning in our workshop is the idea that we don’t have to have a fancy choir in order to be faithful to God… we each have a voice that we can use, we each have a part to play in our time of worship. Just because we don’t have robes and lights and big voices does not mean that there isn’t a song to be sung.

The other major difference between these two characters is what they are hoping to gain through the Holy Spirit.

While the sorcerer had once been the center of attention, he finds that notoriety fading as a new player, the deacon Philip, comes on the scene. Suddenly, it is someone else doing the healing… someone else drawing the crowds… and the sorcerer himself is astonished by the power that the followers of Christ possess.

But as soon as he perceives the source of this power, he wants it for himself. He wants to again be someone that others flock around. He wants to have the magical ability so that he can carry it to some far off place and again be on the stage with people at his feet. Our sorcerer is a performer and faith is a tool, a prop, to get him what he wants. Or maybe its not even quite a cynical as that… Faith is now a part of his life – but he can’t quite give up his old ways and he transforms the faith rather than allowing it to transform him.

Notice, no where did I talk about a community, or a group… faith for the sorcerer was all about himself and what he could use it for.

On the other hand, our eunuch wanted to be included. He wanted to belong. He wanted to be a part of a community that understood.

Our text tells us that this African man was coming from Jerusalem where he had probably spent time in the temple worshipping. And yet, as a eunuch, the fullness of worship would have been closed off to him. He would only have been allowed into the Court of the Gentiles. Gary DeLashmutt writes that because of his social standing as a “sexually altered black man from a pagan country” doors were automatically closed for him. Who knows what his experiences had been in Jerusalem… how many times he had been turned away…

In spite of his standing in the court of the queen of Ethiopia… in spite of his wealth… in spite of all the power he could and did possess, the eunuch knew that he could not buy a place in the family of God. He knew that there were countless barriers in his way, but all he wanted to do was to belong.

In spite of the threat of further rejection, the eunuch persists and when he and Philip come to that small oasis of water by the side of the road, he asks a heartbreaking question: “What would prevent me from being baptized?”

He wants to belong. He wants to join in the fellowship. And he found in Philip a person who, according to DeLashmutt, “understood that his standing with God was based not on his ethnic identity, moral record, religious heritage, etc.—but through Jesus’ death alone… He understood that Jesus loved this eunuch and was able to give him new life just as he did Philip.” So he leads him down to the water and our eunuch is baptized.

Although our story says that he went on his way rejoicing, we do not know the end of his story. We don’t know where he goes or how his life and his faith continue in the story of God. But we know that want he wanted was to belong… and when someone finds true welcome, they in turn want to pass it on.

In the stories of the sorcerer and the eunuch, we find a performer desiring a stage and a person seeking a home. In their contrast, we are reminded that faith through the Holy Spirit is not about me or you, but about us.

Diedrich Bonhoeffer once wrote: “It is not you that sings, it is the church that is singing, and you, as a member… may share in its song. Thus all singing together that is right must serve to widen our spiritual horizon, make us see our little company as a member of the great Christian church on earth, and help us willingly and gladly to join our singing, be it feeble or good, to the song of the church”

Many of you are here because you have already found a spiritual home… you have found a community of people to join your voice to. But at some point in your life, perhaps you, like the eunuch, were searching for a place to belong and a song to sing…

There might not be anything in our text this morning about music, but we have talked about stories and bodies and hopes and dreams and who is welcome and what we want and all of those things have everything to do with singing.

As Colleen will share with us later this morning, music is powerful. It calls us into being as a community. It gives us a common language. Singing takes our whole selves – mind, body, and soul.

Don Saliers, a United Methodist pastor and the Director of Sacred Music at Candler School of theology writes: “through the practice of singing, the dispositions and beliefs expressed in the words of the hymns – gratitude, trust, sadness, joy, hope – had become knit into their bodies, as integral parts of the theology by which they lived.”

When we sing together, we are reminded that faith is about US not about me. When we sing together, we are taught again and again about the faith in our music. When we join our voices together in song, we are telling the world that we belong to God and telling God about this world that we care so deeply about. When we sing together, we are passing on the theology of our mothers and fathers to our children and our grandchildren.

Let us not be sorcerers who want to control and possess the power of God, singing by ourselves – or even worse, letting someone else sing for us while we sit back and watch.. but like the eunuch, let us humbly seek to join our voice with the song of faith that has been sung for so long. Let us celebrate the faith we have found, and like Philip, not be afraid to pass it on.

Spirit of Surrender

Posted on July 1, 2012Leave a comment

In today’s scripture from the book of Acts, we are told of the precarious balance upon which the body of Christ rests. Twice now, we have heard passages that tell us the believers sold everything they had and made sure there were no needs in their community. Twice now, we have been told of their love and faithfulness and how everyone who joined this community of Christ was full of prayer and devotion. We look through rose-colored glasses at the life of the early Christian community and wonder why we can’t have that kind of church, too.

But things were not as rosy as they seemed.

Living in community is dangerous business. A community that cares for the needs of others is a community where people can share their needs without being embarrassed with them. A community that heals the sick is a community where people are not afraid to speak the truth about their own disease. A community that prophetically stands with the underdog is a community where people sacrificially put their own lives on the line for the lives of others.

When we hesitate, when we pull back, we do so because there are great risks involved in being vulnerable, open and honest in community. We might have to take off our fake plastered on smiles and tell the truth about the problems in our lives. We are afraid of our own tears, afraid of our own weakness, afraid that the community around us will turn their backs if they really knew what was going on.

Earlier this spring, we were just starting worship, when my grandmother walked in the door and sat down right over there. The grandmother I no longer visit. The grandmother who my parents are engaged in a legal struggle with. And I couldn’t look her in the eye during worship. I knew if I looked over at her, I would start to cry. I knew I would lose it. I avoided that third of the room the entire service, until it came to the time when in this particular service, because of my planning and God’s sense of humor, people came forward for a time of prayer. There she was, standing right in front of me. The tears started to roll, and for a minute I was a blubbering mess, but thankfully was able to pull myself together so that we could keep going and finish our service.

I share that because I know how hard it is to bring our full selves into community. I know what it means to hold back and not tell the full story. I know how scary it is to be vulnerable in front of other Christians. I know what it means to have the heart of Ananias and Sapphira.

In Acts chapter 5, we find the story of this couple who just couldn’t surrender it all to God. They were inspired by the acts of sacrificial love and community we have been talking about for weeks… a community that shared everything in common without worrying about what belonged to whom – AND inspired by a man named Barnabas who sold a plot of land and laid the proceeds at the feet of the disciples.

Our verses this morning are a continuation of that story, because immediately following his sacrificial act, Ananias and Sapphira decide to do the same… sort of. They, too, sell a plot of land and bring the proceeds from the sale to the disciples… except they lie about how much they sold it for and keep some of it back for themselves.

In the midst of a community where all are of one heart and mind… in the midst of a community where everyone cares for everyone else and no one has need… in the midst of a community – united by the Holy Spirit – where no one says “that’s mine, you can’t have it,” Ananias and Sapphira hold back. They embezzle money from the sale and hide it for themselves. They in essence, reject the community, reject the Holy Spirit, and seek to provide for their own welfare.

Ananias and Sapphira were telling the church – it’s nice what ya’ll are doing, and we want to help, but we’re not going to become beholden to you. We’re going to stand over here on the sidelines and get praise for our giving but we sure as hell are not going to let you take care of us. We can take care of ourselves just fine, thank you very much.

The body of Christ requires every person… every member… to fully participate. None of us is more important than another. Each of us has something someone else needs and each of us has something that we need to receive from this body. An eye can’t see without a brain to process the information. A hand can’t reach out to help without an arm to support and extend. A stomach is pretty worthless without a mouth to bring it food.

For our physical bodies to work, we need to have interdependent systems. Each one giving and receiving. Each one playing its part in the whole.

And for this body of Christ to work, we, too, require interdependence. We can’t hold back. We need to not only do our part and give, but also allow others to do theirs. If we are sick, we need to say something so that those with the gift of healing can pray for us. If we are in need, we need to bring that to the body so that those with the gift of generosity can support us. The Holy Spirit has formed this unique body of Christ so that among us we might not only be of one heart and mind, but through us no one has to be alone or in need.

And that “no one” includes us.

I used to think that the greatest sin of Ananias and Sapphira was the fact that they lied to God and the community about how much money they had sold their land for.

But the more I put this story into the context of this community of believers who relied upon a spirit of trust and vulnerability and risk in order to be united, I realized that their sin wasn’t so much that they lied, or stole the money, but that they held back.

We are asked to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are to become “living sacrifices.” Jesus Christ died for us and he wants our whole selves in return.

And here come two people who want to be a part of the community and want to walk with Jesus, but who don’t want to dive all the way in. They pretend that they do – they want the prestige, they want to be a part of this awesome new movement, but they just are not ready to commit ALL THE WAY.

And you know what is really sad – they don’t have to. They could simply have said that. They could have been up front with Peter and said “Hey, we want to support the church and see what you guys are doing and maybe someday we’ll be at the point where we can do what Barnabas has done and really place ourselves in community.”

Peter even reminds Ananias that the land was his to do with as he pleased and he didn’t have to sell it and he didn’t have to give it to the church… but when they did so, and when they lied and pretended to really surrender themselves, when they hid who they were, they were actually putting the whole community in danger. They were acting directly against the Holy Spirit and the unity it brought to the church.

Living just a few miles away from the Amana Colonies, we are aware that communal living is tough. To really trust and rely upon one another, to throw in your lot with others, is not easy. Those kinds of communities do not last for a long time precisely because the temptation to hold back, the temptation to disrupt the tenuous balance of community is so strong.

In their act of holding back, of refusing to fully give in, in their lack of surrender… Ananias and Sapphira let a Spirit of Discord into the body of Christ. They denied the unity and power of the Holy Spirit. They said with their actions, “it’s okay God, I’ll take care of myself.”

And God’s response… well – this is the difficult part of the story. First, Ananias and the Sapphira fall dead.

I find this so troubling because I sometimes hold back, too.

We don’t always let God have our hearts and minds and soul. We are timid with our faith. We surrender some… but not all.

This passage makes me uncomfortable, because I realize that I’m really no different than Ananias and Sapphira… what on earth prevents God for striking me dead, right here and right now for holding back, myself?

Rev. Mark Vergruggen asks the question: ” So why aren’t we punished with a death sentence? The short answer is the grace of God. Psalm 103:10 says that the Lord “does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.” That’s grace. Grace is not something we can demand from the Lord. It’s not something we can earn.

What we learn in the story of Ananias and Sapphira is that we still worship a holy, awesome, and fearful Lord. In a world full of grace, we do not simply have a free pass to act however we want. God is still righteous and just and has every right to punish sinners by death or other means.

We are tempted to simply believe that grace covers all and to run through this life as if our actions do not matter. We are tempted to rest in the love of God and not consider what the consequences of our sin might be. And yet those consequences are real. Other people are really hurt in the process… communities and families can be destroyed… and when we deliberately sin, we are saying to God – I don’t want you or need you… I can do this myself.

Sin is turning our backs to God. Christ demands all and we give some. We hold back and don’t fully let the Holy Spirit build up this Body of Christ. We refuse to surrender and therefore we deny the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts, this church, and the world around us.

We might not be struck dead here in this place at this moment, but what do we stop from growing and living and thriving by our blatant denial of the Holy Spirit?

This path of Christian faith is not easy. While the book of Acts has begun with all sorts of joyous accounts of healing and transformation and triumph over the powers of evil, these passages remind us that discipleship is hard. It is a warning to those who are considering this faith: think twice. Think about the price you are being called to pay. Think about what is being demanded of you. But also think about the joy and the possibility and the abundant life that awaits if you are willing to let go of what you think you need to embrace what God knows you need.

Christ wants to build a church in our midst… a community of people who depend on one another but most importantly who depend on God. Are you willing to let go? Are you willing to dive in? Are you willing to let the Holy Spirit transform us into the body of Christ? Or are you going to hold back?

Out of the Mouths of Babes – or – What I learned from VBS

Posted on June 26, 2012Leave a comment

We all know that kids say the darndest things… but they also speak deep truths and absolutely astound me with their questions. They are unafraid to wonder, not shy with their uncertainties, and will ask until they get a satisfactory answer.

Although I have been a pastor for five years, I have not spent very much time at all teaching little ones. My church has some dedicated Sunday School teachers and I have been blessed by their work. I do make the time and effort to lead the children’s sermon each week – in part because it is important for the little ones to know me and for me to spend some time talking on their level. But two-five minutes a week is nothing compared to the opportunities I had last week to teach students at Vacation Bible School.

Our community Presbyterian, Catholic and United Methodist churches sponsor a community wide VBS each year. The program was up and running long before I showed up and it is absolutely wonderful. Working together, we can do so much more than we could apart. And this year we had 65 students ages three through fifth grade. For the past two years, I participated as a shepherd for the 3 and 4 year olds. I moved them from station to station (crafts, music, snack, lesson, games), watched over potty breaks, wiped away tears, had little ones sitting on my lap and we played LOTS of “duck, duck, goose.” It was fascinating to watch them think, to get to know each of them better, and to love on them.

But for each of those years, I didn’t have to teach. I didn’t have to answer questions. I was hands and feet and eyes and ears and didn’t have to say a whole lot. Which was kind of nice.

This year, I was recruited to lead the lesson time for all of the students. In 20 minute blocks, students came to me in my basement forest campground and we told stories around my “campfire.”

Let me tell you, 20 minutes is NOT enough time to tell a story. Especially with the questions and insights these kids have.

Our very first lesson: Jesus calming the wind and the waves. I have my script in hand courtesy of the prepared and purchased VBS kit and launch into the story about how Jesus, God’s Son, had fallen asleep on the boat. A hand shoots up among from amongs the first and second grade class.

“But, I thought Jesus was God…”

I get my bearings… “Yes, Jesus is God.”

“But you said Jesus was God’s Son.”

“Yes, I did. And Yes, he is.”

“But…”

“I know… It’s confusing. I’m confused, too!”

These kids don’t miss a beat. And they are asking the exact same question their parents and grandparents are often afraid to ask. Questions that simply can’t be answered in twenty minutes when we need to tell a story, pray, memorize a bible verse, and hit home the point of the theme for the night.

“How do we pray?”

“How does God answer my prayers… will God talk to me? How long will it take? Do I just wait until I hear him?”

“What is the Holy Spirit?”

“How did Jesus die?” (as I’m holding up the empty wooden cross… try explaining capital punishment to a three year old in thirty seconds!)

“If Jesus is God, then did God die on the cross, too?”

“If Jesus forgives me, why do I still have to sit in time-out?”

“Are angels real?”

Those kids kept me on my toes! They wracked my brain, theologically speaking. Especially one little girl who had lots and lots of questions about prayer. We talk a lot about praying to God and praying to Jesus, and she had just reached this stage in her development where saying a wrote prayer wasn’t enough. She wanted to know how prayer worked – how it could change her life – how it could really and truly make her feel better when she was scared. We talked about how prayer is a conversation, how we can close our eyes and clasp our hands to pray or stand outside and shout to the skies. But then she wanted to know about how God answers… what does God do to make us feel better? Does he talk to us? Does he fix things? Does he send people? I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and thank her for all of her amazing questions and sit and talk with her for hours…

I learned from Vacation Bible School that we have some amazing little kids in our community.

I learned that the simplest questions are the hardest.

I learned that I felt very uncomfortable trying to use substitutionary atonement (the predominant theology of the materials) to explain why Jesus died for us to the little ones and did much better with the “Christ as King” metaphors… although it took me two classes to get to that point.

I learned that with a few sheets and some plants and ceramic animals, a basement can transform from a lake to a field to a desert… and that the kids will go right along with you.

I learned that telling stories is a lot of work and exhausting for my body and my voice.

I learned that there have got to be better ways of teaching prayer to kids than having them close their eyes and clasp their hands and repeat after us.

I learned that I have a lot to learn about teaching children.

I learned that dried allium makes excellent tumbleweeds and a card table with some pillows and a blanket makes a very convincing bear/lion cave.

I learned that kids would much rather be sheep and lions and camels than kids.

I learned that the allure of a “bear cave” or an open tent flap is just too much for some little ones to take 😉

I learned that even at four and five, we have a hard time admitting that we are sometimes bad and make mistakes and get into trouble.

I learned to be grateful for all of those people, everywhere, but especially in Marengo last week, who teach our little ones.

What Could Happen?

Posted on June 26, 2012Leave a comment

This summer, my church began a series exploring the work of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. One Sunday, I asked them to begin imagining what could happen in our community and in our church if we truly let the Holy Spirit guide us and transform us. Here are their responses:

We would be a church on fire… people couldn’t help but join in the infectious joy!
our church would “glow” with love – unbelievable!
The “church” (people of the church) would be more committeed to each other, the church, the community and the world.
a wonderful and peaceful world
the church and community would be stronger
community outreach and invitation to visit so we have a growing church
I believe the spirit exists in all of us – we need the key to unlock the heart, enjoy the treasures above.
more peace and good will towards all peoples.
love and compassion
everyone would come to every worship, bible study, help at VBS, nursing home, MOW. No one in the church or community would go hungry, be cold. Everyone would feel blessed, and loved.
we would be able to do any thing there would be nothing we couldn’t do as God’s disciples and as a church
we would all live in love – all anger, hate, jealousy and evil thoughts would be gone. We all would be brothers and sisters in love – true disciples of Christ
we would be a united church in discipleship
we would be more connected when we were not confined to the walls of the church alone once a week
miracles could happen within our church and beyond
we would have more personal reflection and accountability
anything and everything
move us closer in knowing and doing His will for each other
People would truly care for one another
Prayer
we would be one – working for the glory of God
community coming together, working with everyone
spread the love and compassion among all – Pass It On
become true Christians
we may get along better
be more tolerant
tithe could fund people who are hungry, homeless, ill, etc.
The word of the Lord would be better understood by all of us.
Our lives would truly be in the service of the Lord.
peace & satisfaction
joy and comfort
It would set the church on fire to go out and serve others – we would be Christ’s disciples in word and action!

That is a beautiful list…. I want to be a part of this church!!! I want to be a part of a group of people who are dedicated to truly letting the Spirit into their lives and living out their discipleship and I’m so grateful that I am among people who are ready and excited to take this journey seriously.