James – Salvaged Faith

Getting Off the Mountain

Posted on February 23, 2020Leave a comment

Text: Exodus 24:12-18, Matthew 17:1-9

There are a number of places in scripture where the divine is revealed in those thin places where heaven and earth meet.

I think about Elijah hiding on the side of the mountain.

Or when Moses heads up the mountain and receives the word of God for the people.

Or our reading from the gospel today when Peter, James, and John travel up to the mountain top with Jesus.

You know… I was thinking about Moses’ time up on the mountain and this renewal leave that I just finished.

Moses took this time to head up the mountain and spend some time with God.

This is actually a story that we’ve looked at this past fall with our Bible study groups on Wednesday’s and one of the things we discover if we read ahead a few chapters is that the people started to get worried that maybe he wasn’t coming back!

Forty days and nights go by and for all they knew, Moses had been engulfed by the cloud and the darkness on the top of the mountain and they were on their own!

In fact, Moses only comes back in chapter 32 after they discover that the people down below have begun to rebel – forming a golden calf and offering sacrifices.

Well, good news friends… I’m not back because I’ve heard you were misbehaving!

But these mountain top experiences were all surrounded by something really hard.

They came in the midst of stressful and difficult times of ministry.

Persecution.

Exodus.

The first prediction of Jesus death and suffering.

They are transition moments that remind each of these people who God is… and who they are.

They remind them that God is there.

They remind them they still have a job to do.

And in many ways, that is what my renewal leave has been about.

In the midst of the mounting pressure and stress of our denominational life…

In the midst of staffing transitions…

In the midst of some personal relationship struggles that I needed to focus on…

This set-apart time to breathe, and sleep, and focus on God and finding a new balance and rhythm in my life has been so important.

So many of you have been asking already, and so that I don’t repeat myself a hundred more times… my work on renewal leave was pretty simple.

I completely disconnected from email and the constant call of social media.

I spent time every morning reading – scripture, books, resources to help ground myself in God.

I spent hours talking and cuddling with my spouse.

I hiked in the snow.

I didn’t set an alarm for an entire month.

I laughed a lot with friends.

I listened to the birds.

I made some really good homemade bread.

I had the opportunity to really drink deep from the living water and to fill my cup back up for the season ahead.

And I am so grateful that you have been supportive of this time away.

But in some ways, I also have a new insight into how Peter, James, and John felt at the top of that mountain.

They had been following their teacher for quite some time now and they had witnessed some pretty amazing things.

But they also had just learned how difficult the journey was going to be.

They were starting to experience push-back.

And Jesus had just shared with him for the first time that he expected to be executed.

He was calling them to lose their lives, too.

This trip up the mountain must have seemed like a welcome respite from the stress and strain of this work.

As they get to the top of the mountain, Jesus changes before their eyes!

His whole body radiates with glory and even his clothes shine… brighter than the sun!

And as their eyes adjust to this brilliance, two others appear… Moses and Elijah.

Our text says that Peter reacted in this moment.

He reacted by wanting to bottle it up and capture it right there, just like that forever.

He interrupts Jesus and Moses and Elijah and offers to build some shrines where they can sit down and get comfortable and just stay right there.

None of this talk about losing your life.

None of the persecution that was happening back down in the valley.

None of the stress.

Just this perfect presence of the divine.

Light. Life. Glory.

If you encountered it… you wouldn’t want to leave either.

When you have a chance to catch your breath and rest in God’s presence it’s awfully hard to not want to just stay right there forever.

Trust me… I’ve just had four weeks to dwell in this beautiful space.

And while I’m excited to be back, it was also really, really hard to let go of that precious time away.

I’d be fibbing if I didn’t admit that a part of me imagined what it would be like to just leave it all behind and stay in that place forever.

During Lent this year, as a church, I’m challenging you to participate in one of our small groups focused around the book, “Unbinding Your Heart.”

I think this particular study is so important right now, because in some ways, I think we have got a little comfortable.

We’ve taken rest in the familiar and the holy and everything we know about God and the church.

We get into our patterns and routines and sit in the same seats on Sunday mornings and like Peter and James and John have built a little beautiful shrine around everything we believe about God and church.

This holy place is amazing and we want to stay right here in our comfort zones.

But on the mountain top, the voice of God quickly sets things straight. Out of the clouds, the glory of God rumbles: This is my Son, This is my Beloved! Listen to him!!!!!!

Just as quickly as it appeared, the clouds and fog dissipated and three bewildered and terrified disciples opened their eyes to find their teacher Jesus, standing before them alone.

It was time to head back down the mountain.

It was time to get back to work.

You see, the mountain top is not a destination.

It is more like a rest stop.

It is a place to fill up your tank, to pick up some snacks for the road, to take a nap if you need to…

But it is not the be all and end all of the journey.

This mountaintop transfiguration comes at a key transitional moment in the gospel.

It is framed in Matthew’s gospel by these two predictions of his suffering, death, and resurrection.

Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem.

The disciples were being called to leave behind the healing and teaching and instead to head straight for the seat of power.

They were being called not to violence or revolution, but a display of righteous love that would “refuse to play the world’s power game of domination, exploitation, greed, and deception.”[1]

In the church year, it is also a moment of transition.

We, too, are setting our faces towards Jerusalem as we enter the season of Lent.

This Wednesday, we will remember our mortality when a cross of ashes is placed on our foreheads.

We, too, will live together the last week of Christ’s life.

We, too, are called to live out God’s righteous love in a world that doesn’t always accept or understand it.

As people of faith, we were never called to build tents and tabernacles to enshrine these moments forever.

We can’t say – oh, well, we accomplished that, look how great we were, and be done.

We can’t neatly wrap up our faith with a bow and put it on a shelf.

We have to set it free.

We have to keep working.

We have to keep seeing what changes need to be made.

We have to keep following the guidance of the spirit.

And that means getting off of the mountain top, rolling up our sleeves, and getting to work.

We do it all, because Christ has already gone before us.

He is the one we are following down the mountainside.

Jesus showed us you can take a moment for affirmation and to rest in the glory of God, but then we have to be on the move.

We have to let the good news out.

That light that overcame Jesus on the mountaintop – the glory that transformed him into a dazzling visage – wasn’t meant for him alone.

Christ is the light of the world and he knew that in order for that light to dwell within each of us, he was going to have to shine even in the darkest places of the world.

He was going to have to confront evil powers.

He was going to have to withstand betrayal and abuse.

He was going to have to carry his cross and enter the grave of death.

And we can’t stay on the mountaintop either.

We can’t rest for a moment longer.

We have to come down and let that light of Christ shine through our hearts.

If you haven’t already signed up for one of our Lenten groups, I urge you to do so today.

They will be starting this week and next and the discussions we will have as part of them will help us learn what it means to get out of church… to get out of these shrines and tabernacles we have built… and go out there to where people are waiting and hungry for the good news of God.

It is a chance to spend some time listening to God, listening to Christ, listening to the cries of our neighbors.

It is a chance to push ourselves out of complacency and into the harder and more beautiful realm of real ministry.

It is a chance to unbind the gospel… to set it free from those quiet mountaintop moments so that every moment can be filled with the good news of God.

Friends, it’s time to listen to Jesus.

It’s time to let God’s light shine through us.

It’s time to plant the seeds of the Kingdom of God everywhere we go.

It’s time to get off the mountain.

[1] Rodney Hunter, Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol 1, page 454.

J&MES: Blessing & Cursing

Posted on September 27, 2015Leave a comment

Our tongues are muscles – and the strongest muscle in our body at that. In fact – a man once lifted a 24 lb. 3oz weight using ONLY his tongue. But for being such a strong muscle, it is also extremely flexible.

And, the tongues is the only muscle in our entire human body that is not connected on both sides. Think about it… our biceps connect at the shoulder and elbow, our calves do work through tendons connected to the bones in our legs. In fact, the work of a muscle is to contract or release and thereby move our bodies.

But the tongue is only connected at one end. With the other, it is free to roam. Free to do great good or fantastic harm. Capable of blessing and capable of cursing.

Our tongue is the only muscle that can get into trouble all by itself. Like a flame of fire it is wild and unpredictable and can easily get out of control.

As The Message translates James: you can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue.

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As James writes in his letter to the people of God: A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything – or destroy it! Our words matter because they reveal who we are.

All of the carelessness of our speech, James embodies in our tongues. He compares it to the rudder on a ship or the bit in a horses mouth. Our tongues guide our futures, direct our paths, and lead us… whether we want them to or not!

If you don’t believe our tongues are important – talk to a politician. They know, perhaps better than anyone, how every single word you utter can be taken out of context… or how the off-hand remarks you make can come back to haunt you.

But really, when you think about it… just like the rudder of the ship is controlled by the captain and the bit in a horses’s mouth is directed by the hands of the rider, our tongues are not autonomous creatures… they are a part of us. They are directed by us. And because of this, whenever the tongue moves, it is merely revealing the state of our hearts and minds.

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It is precisely the condition of our hearts and minds that gets Lady Wisdom so upset in the first chapter of Proverbs. She is the Spirit of God personified and stands in the streets calling out to the people.

No one is listening to the voice of God. The people are full of mocking and curses, on one another and on the wisdom of the Lord.

Does that at all resemble our modern culture? Does it resemble how we treat one another? I can’t turn on the television or scroll through my facebook feed without seeing an attack ad, mocking, and political vitriol.

Lady Wisdom sees it too, and simply being nice hasn’t helped…

“So she changes tactics, from calling people to wisdom and the fear of the Lord to making sure everyone knows the ruin they are heading for if they do not start paying attention.” (GBOD Preaching Helps)

“You ignored all of my advice, and you didn’t want me to correct you, so I’ll laugh at your disaster; I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you, when terror hits you like a hurricane…” (1:25-27)

As parents or aunts or big brothers – certainly you have tried that tactic yourself. When the children don’t answer when they are nicely asked, you pull out the big guns: You had better do it right now OR ELSE!

We like to be people of encouragement and blessing and support, but there are times in our lives when we need to call out the warnings and troubles that wait if we remain on the paths we tread.

As Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us:

There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens…

a time for tearing down and a time for building up.

A time for crying and a time for laughing…

a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,

a time for loving and a time for hating…

Sometimes, we need to speak the truth and call to task those who oppressive.

The question that faces us is how do we know when to bless and when to curse?

How do we get our hearts and minds in the right place so that our tongues can do God’s will?

Proverbs 1: 32 and 33 tell us:

Waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them.

Our Lord doesn’t want us to be wayward and complacent, going this way and that, controlled by nothing but the whims of the world and our hearts desires.

God wants to guide our thoughts and actions.

Like the rudder of the ship needs a strong captain, like the bit of a horse needs a discerning jockey, so our tongue… and the brain connect to it… needs some wise direction.

The problem is, that tongue isn’t going to tame itself.

As we think about what it means to be people of blessing or people of cursing, there are three traps we can avoid as we put God in control of our tongue.

First, the trap of ignorance.

Too many of us are wandering about aimlessly flapping our tongues because we never stopped to pay attention and see if God was guiding us or not.

We never stopped to look at a roadmap of faith. We haven’t opened our bibles and spent time with God’s word. And because we don’t know the Word… we can’t do anything with it.

This is one of the most biblically illiterate times in the history of the United States. In many cases, we can’t fault people for not doing God’s will – or for not knowing how to listen to God – because they have never been taught.

To use another sort of metaphor of the tongue – they are like children who are starving. They do not have good food set in front of them, if any food at all.

The best remedy for the trap of ignorance is to seek out God’s word and to share it.

Once we realize how hungry we are… how much we have been missing… then we realize just how much abundance of knowledge and wisdom is at our fingertips… and we find the source that can truly direct our tongues and our lives.

The second trap we fall into is cynicism.

Some of us curse for cursings sake. We complain about everything. When our cynical sides come out, we doubt that God’s word will have any impact on our lives. Sometimes, we even begin to be skeptical about God.

If the ignorant were starving children, then the cynic is a picky eater. They move around the items on their plate, but only eat a small amount. They complain about what they get and want something else.

And so our faith is cold and stale, picked apart and unbalanced. We do not delight in the law of the Lord, but look upon it as a burden that is getting us nowhere. We let the pain of the past dictate our future.

Katherine Kehler wrote: the only cure for cynicism is to cultivate a habit of thankfulness.

In an article about Thoreau, Wen Stephenson says that the remedy for cynicism is action, engagement, awareness of this moment that is around us.

In many ways – thankfulness and engagement are two sides of the same coin. We need to open our eyes and see the gift we have been given. We need to live into this moment and cherish it with our whole lives. And when we do so, our innate cursing turns to blessing.

The final trap we fall into is pride and the refusal to learn.

Our pride tells us that we can do it on our own. Our pride makes us believe that we don’t need anyone to guide us. We turn away from advice, scoff at help, and stubbornly stand still. We bless ourselves and curse the world around us.

In fact, this is one of the primary things James writes about. We cannot see our own faults because we are so focused on who we think we are. We let the desires of our own heart rule the day and shut the door on anything that is contrary to those desires.

We may not be starving children or picky eaters, the prideful are the ones who have a plate of good and delicious food set before them and stubbornly refuse to eat. They don’t need it. They aren’t hungry. They are just fine on their own.

But without the word of God to nourish us and give us strength, our own devices quickly fail. We stumble and fall.

Humility is the only thing that will tame a prideful tongue. Our boasting brings us low when reality sets in. We get to decide whether that humility is on our own terms or if we are destroyed by our own smugness.

Humility means that we ask for help. Humility means we admit that we need to grow. Humility means recognizing that we were not meant to go it alone and finding a group to study with, friends to lean on, and a God to depend upon.

James tells us that the wisdom from above is pure. It is gentle and reasonable. God overflows with mercy and blessings. And in a community that is healthy and robust and depends upon God for direction, your tongue will be anchored in the life-giving Word.

The good news is that Lady Wisdom is ready to pour out her spirit upon us. If we let go of our ignorance… if we shed our cynicism… if we abandon our pride… we will find direction in God….

J&MES: Mercy & Judgment

Posted on September 20, 2015Leave a comment

I love to play games. Board games, video games, card games…

One of my favorite ways to spend time with family is to grab a deck of cards and play all evening long.

Pinochle and 500 in particular. In both, there is some luck involved in the hand you are dealt, but also a lot of strategy during the card play. The games involve bidding, communication with your partner, and risk taking. Because you never know when your cards might get trumped.

You see, in both games, there is a trump suit. And that means that whoever wins the bid gets to pick the suit… whether diamonds, hearts, clubs, or spades… that will automatically win anytime they are played.

No matter how high of a card you play… a trump card can beat it.

In our life of faith, there are a lot of trump cards we can play. Actions we take or words we say that stop a conversation in its tracks or change the trajectory of a person’s action.

As James writes to the people of God, he is basically telling them that they have two kinds of trump cards to choose from: Mercy & Judgment.

The question is… which is more faithful? And which are YOU going to play?

Each of us were handed a card as we walked in this morning. For the purposes of our message this morning, I want you to ignore whatever the number or suit is of the card you were handed and instead I want you to pick your own ranking.

I want you to think about the worst thing you have ever done in your life. The biggest sin you have committed. That one that stays with you. Maybe, it is the one others keep reminding you about. Maybe, the one no one else even knows about.

How would you rank that sin?

Is it a four of stealing?

Is it a jack of adultery?

Is it an ace of lies?

No matter how we have ranked our sin, no matter what suit it is, God has a word for us today.

Because no matter how high of a card you have or you play… a trump card can beat it.

And in our life of faith, we can choose between two suits of trump: Mercy & Judgment.

First, let’s look at what it would mean to play the trump card of judgment.

When you choose judgment as your trump card, then when you see sin in the world, you choose to name it. You choose to treat others based upon their obedience to the Law of God, because you are playing by the rule of Law.

And that means that every one of the Ten Commandments Moses chiseled into the stone tables, every one of the 613 laws of the Old Testament, every single rule of the scriptures applies.

Not just for other people, who you are judging…. But for yourself, too!

This is the same message Paul shares with the Roman community. In chapter 2 of his letter to the Romans, he speaks about the difference between living under the law and living under grace… and specifically is speaking to a Jewish community. “Those who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law… If you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law…. Then why don’t you who are teaching others teach yourself.” (Romans 2: 12, 17, 21)

If you choose to judge others by the Law, you are choosing to live under the Law. And that means all the Law applies to you.

One of the big problems that James sees with this is that Judgment is often arbitrary.

We pick and choose which laws we are going to judge by.

As The Message translation of James 2:1 puts it: “My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith.”

The laws we tend to judge by ARE influenced by the changing tides of culture. We can see how the important sins of the day have changed through time… whether we are focusing on slavery, prohibition, child labor, sexuality, abortion… some sins get elevated to the top and are THE standard by which we judge other people.

If we go back to the game of cards… they are the ones that we think are the Aces, Kings and Queens of sin.

But as James writes, “you can’t pick and choose in these things.”

If you are going to live under the law, you have to live under the ENTIRE law. And Paul says it is impossible: “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.” (Romans 2:23)

But we keep trying to play the trump cards of judgment, and we point out to others the exact rank and suit of their cards.

The problem is, we tend to use our life as the measuring stick, rather than the law. We pick out their suits by the Laws we choose to follow and rank them based on our own obedience, success, and failures. Who is rich and who is poor… who is deserving and undeserving… all of these distinctions depend on where we stand and what we believe about ourselves…. Not how God sees them or us.

And God sees all sin equally. It doesn’t matter if you are a serial killer or committed adultery or if you stole a candy bar when you were seven… we are all sinners.

Every single sin, no matter how we rank them… whether it is an ace or a three… they are equal. They all get trumped by judgment.

The other option is to choose mercy as your trump card. When you do so, it is grace that sets the rules of the game.

A very simple definition of mercy is to give someone something they do not deserve.

And as we just heard, none of us deserve grace. “All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory,” Paul writes… and then continues, “but all are treated as righteous freely by his grace.” (Romans 3:23-24)

The Law of God helps us to see how far away from God’s intentions we have fallen, but it is only the Grace of God that gives us the freedom to get back up and reclaim who we were truly meant to be.

On Tuesday of this week, Pastor Todd and I were in Ames to hear a presentation from Bishop Ken Carter who presides over the Florida Annual Conference.

First and foremost, Bishop Carter reminded us that we were all made in the image of God. Before the fall, before sin entered the world, we were made in God’s image.

And in our tradition, we believe that no sin, no matter how big, can ever take that image of God away from us. It is there… deep within our lives.

Every person has it… whether they are aces by the world’s standards or fours and fives.

And God’s grace enters our lives while we are still sinners and sets us free.

In our tradition, we talk about the justifying grace that saves us, but again, grace has nothing to do with anything we have done, with our gifts or our merits…. It is simply our acceptance of the fact that God has already accepted us.

It is our decision to stop playing by the rules of Law and to start living by the rule of grace.

Or as James puts it, “talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free.” (2:12)

When we live by the rules of grace and play the trump card of mercy, then again, we have to treat every person in this world the same. No kings or threes here, either.

And the trump of mercy allows us to see others not as the worst thing they have ever done, but instead to see the image of God in their lives.

Bishop Carter also shared with us this past week a really concrete picture of the difference between playing the trump of judgment and playing the trump of mercy.

He pointed to two well-know, important people of faith: Pope Benedict and Pope Francis.

Both of them are holy men. They have both dedicated their lives to God’s word.

Yet, their words of response to one of the big “sin questions” of our time are striking.

In regards to homosexuality, Pope Benedict said: “although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil.”

Pope Francis: “Who am I to judge?”

The world saw Pope Benedict as a continuation of a church that was declining in relevancy, pointing out the sins of the world and judging without paying attention to its own sins.

But we have seen the world respond in a different way to Pope Francis, and his focus on mercy has everything to do with it.

He washed the feet of prisoners on Good Friday. He lives a life of humility. He has declared a season of mercy and forgiveness of those who have had abortions. He is calling the church to treat every single person with mercy, love, and grace.

He has not abandoned the churches official positions on any of these controversial subjects, but he has let go of the trump card of judgment. He refuses to play it.

Bishop Carter pointed out that the more we approach holiness, the more humility we should have and the more we leave judgment in the hands of Jesus.

And what we see is that others’ lives are transformed not by playing a trump card of judgment and pointing out their sins.

No, transformation happens in the presence of holiness and grace and love… when the trump card of mercy wipes away whatever suit or rank has defined us and allows us to remember the image of God that is in our lives.

Mercy or Judgment?

James is pretty clear… Mercy trumps everything…. Even Judgment.

J&MES: Preparation & Opportunity

Posted on September 13, 2015Leave a comment

We talk about preparation all the time.

Am I prepared for retirement?

Are we ready for school to start?

Are the teams ready for the rivalry game?

Or, the conversation around here lately… Are we prepared for Rally Day?

We want to be like those who seem to be the most prepared and we try to be part of that crowd by going to the best schools, practicing our hearts out with an instrument or a sport, working extra hours to get the big project done at work…

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. (Seneca, ancient Roman philosopher)

LUCK is where PREPARATION meets OPPORTUNITY.

What kinds of opportunities are you preparing yourself for?

Are you seeking opportunities to serve God or yourself?

Are you seeking opportunities to be like Jesus, or the Joneses?

We might cry out that we will not forget God, that we will worship and honor Jesus, that all of our hearts yearn for God’s plans…

Yet what are we doing on a daily basis to prepare ourselves for God’s opportunities?

James writes his letter to the people of God because they have been so focused on:

what they want

and what they think

and what they believe that James no longer sees the word of God in their midst.

They have deceived themselves into thinking they were following God, when all of their preparations were merely distorting God’s word into something to suit their own needs.

And then… when God’s opportunities came along, they were not prepared.

Instead, they argued.

They argued about who was more important and who was right, rather than listening.

They argued about who was included and who could be forgotten, rather than reaching out.

They argued about how much time they had to put in and why it wasn’t their turn, rather than get their hands dirty.

And in doing so, they exchanged the gifts of peace and love for the desires and sin of this world.

You know what? We have, too.

We teach our children they deserve to have everything regardless of the cost.

We are quick to judge when we encounter someone with different political viewpoint (ahem, or different sports team) and make assumptions about their intellect.

We walk right by the neediest around us and put a check in the mail to make ourselves feel better.

We spend our days working hard so we can have the finer things in life and then are too tired to enjoy them.

We use and abuse one another so we can get ahead.

We ask the question, “how will this help me?” more than “how can I help others?”

Those words do not describe a people, a church, a nation that is allowing the word of God to prepare them for opportunities to be like Jesus.

God doesn’t want us to strive to get ahead of each other… God wants us to sit down and fellowship with our neighbors.

God doesn’t want us to be first… God wants us to be servants.

So the question is… what kind of preparations should we make in order to be more like Jesus on a regular basis?

What can we do so that we are lucky enough to be prepared when opportunities come along?

In James 2: 1-6, and 3:13, we reminded to be humble. We are called to stop showing favoritism to the rich, and instead to honor the poor among us.

A spirit of humility helps us to recognize we are not God’s gift to this earth – but imperfect vessels that the word of God can transform.

Humility means that we treat the love of God as a gift, not something we deserve.

Humility means that we make ourselves low so others might be raised up.

Humility means that we put another before ourselves.

Humility means that we are quick to truly listen to what another person has to say before we butt in with our own thoughts and feelings.

And when we are humble, then we are also lucky enough to be prepared when someone in need crosses our path and we can help them with compassion and dignity.

James writes in chapter 4:1 that the source of our conflict is our cravings. He writes that we waste our energy and gifts on things that aren’t good for ourselves or others.

I keep thinking about all of the bad habits in our lives that are wasteful. The things that merely satisfy a craving and aren’t preparing us to be obedient and merciful and genuine.

What if (and this is one I’m guilty of) instead of wasting our time following celebrities on social media, we sought out role models who are making a difference in the world?

What if on Monday mornings we spent less time trash talking about who won the big game, and instead we shared an act of kindness with our “enemy”?

What if the gossip at lunch on Thursday afternoons was replaced with brainstorming ways to help out with a community problem?

What if we spent a few less hours watching television and spent a few more hours volunteering?

All of these daily habits can cause a subtle shift in our lives, so that we are lucky enough to be prepared… and have the time and energy to respond when God’s opportunities fall in our laps.

We also can prepare ourselves by changing where we store our treasures.

James 5:1 cautions the wealthy that misery is coming upon them… the more we have, the more we have to lose.

And in striving to be financially prepared for our future, we are hesitant to respond when we see genuine needs around us. We close off our hearts and homes and lives.

We often cling so tightly to our stuff, our issues, and our solutions that we can’t open our hands to receive the amazing and beautiful gifts of God.

Let go. Open your hearts and your hands to welcome the word of God. And then live it out in every moment of your days to everyone you meet.

And when you do so, you will be able to embrace the riches of compassion and forgiveness, patience and joy, kindness and peace.

And we will also be in luck… because those treasures are exactly what we need when opportunities to be like Jesus come around.

This is a church full of doers and I know that so many of you work your tails off to be prepared, so that when the opportunities come around, and they do… you are prepared to take advantage of them.

We work so hard to get ahead.

But I want us to remind what James has to tell us about our preparations, in chapter 4:

“Pay attention, you who say, ‘today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a town. We will stay there a year, buying and selling, and make a profit.’ You don’t really know about tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for only a short while before it vanishes… Pay attention, you wealthy people! Weep and moan over the miseries coming upon you. Your riches have rotted. Moths have destroyed your clothes. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you.”

James is warning us to stop putting so much stock in our preparations.

He reminds us that when we seek our own opportunities, we tend to forget what God wants for us.

Every day, God gives us opportunities to be like Jesus, to be God’s hands and feet in the world.

Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

Are we prepared for what God has in store for us?

J&MES: Faith & Action

Posted on September 6, 2015Leave a comment

This month in worship, we are going to be focusing on the book of James in the New Testament.

It is all the way in the back of our bibles… just after Hebrews and right before a couple of shorter letters that lead into Revelation.

This book is actually a letter written by James to many churches.

And while I encourage you to read the whole letter… it’s only five chapters… we are going to be focusing on a just a few of James’s main points.

Sometimes, we are asked to embrace the both/ands of life… like faith & action.

Sometimes, James will show us how the &’s in our life… like blessing & cursing… are keeping us from being faithful.

Will you pray with me:

Gracious God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts and minds be holy and pleasing to you, O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

You must be doers of the word and not only hearers.

You must study the word and then put it into practice in your life.

Sometimes, James gets a bad rap. In fact, Martin Luther… the same guy that nailed up his demands on the door of the church and started the reformation… wanted to leave this letter out of his bible precisely because of this theme of faith & action.

We talk a lot about faith. We talk about how the only thing we have to do to receive God’s love is to believe. To trust. That faith alone matters. There is nothing we can DO to earn salvation.

The problem is not that James disagrees.

It is that James defines faith a little bit differently.

He doesn’t see it as an either/or. It’s not that we choose between faith and action to get to salvation.

It’s not even that it’s a two-step process. First, faith…. Then, works.

No, in James’s understanding they are the same thing. You simply can’t have one without the other.

Faith, when it is alive, can be seen in the works we do and in the ways we treat one another.

Put another way… actions are the fruit that grow on a healthy and living tree of faith.

I had a whole sermon in the works that basically took that point and ran with it…

But I realized yesterday that it was just me, saying a whole lot more than I needed to say on the topic.

James is pretty clear (and this is the Message translation):

Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

I was going to stand up here today and give you a whole lot of God-talk.

But we need some God-acts today.

We need to see where we have simply been looking on and praying and wishing people well without living out our faith.

And I’m thinking specifically about those who are naked and hungry and hurting today.

I’m thinking about the images of children being washed up on shore we saw this week.

I’m thinking about the millions of families who are fleeing from the violence in Syria.

According to Mercy Corps, more than 11 million people are displaced.

More than half of those who have been forced to flee their homes are under the age of 18.

4 million Syrians have registered or are awaiting registration with the United Nations High Commission of Refugees.

(Read more from Mercy Corps here)

And hundreds of thousands of them are risking a dangerous and costly trip across the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe. One man, Abu Jana, told the Guardian, “Right now Syrians consider themselves dead. Maybe not physically, but psychologically and socially [a Syrian] is a destroyed human being, he’s reached the point of death. So I don’t think that even if they decided to bomb migrant boats it would change people’s decision to go.”

We have seen how our own ancestors in faith, like Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were refugees themselves… fleeing from persecution, famine, violence, and war.

And because of their experiences, we have been told over and over again in our scriptures about our call to care for immigrants and refugees.

Exodus 22: You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien; for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”

Leviticus 19: You shall not strip your vineyards bare… leave them for the poor and the alien.

Leviticus 24: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Psalm 146: The Lord watches over the strangers…

Isaiah 16: Be a refuge to the outcasts of Moab.

Malachi 3: The messenger will bear witness against those who thrust aside the alien.

Each of these passages uses the Hebrew word nokri (nok-ree’), which can be foreigner, alien, or stranger…

And when we get to the New testament, we hear over and over again the call to reach out to the strangers among us.

Matthew 25: I was a stranger and you welcomed me

Romans 12: The Mark of the true Christian…. Extend hospitality to strangers…

Will we simply hear the words? Or will we live out our faith?

Yesterday, I read a blog post from a woman named Ann Voskamp and I decided to rewrite most of this sermon.

Because she reminded me that this is not a new problem… and that I have been sitting back and not doing much for a while now.

And I felt after reading her words like the person James was talking about in his letter… who hears the word of God but doesn’t do it. Who listens and then forgets.

And what I love about her post is I felt like I have something I could do.

Like there are things WE can do.

Ways for the church to be the church and live out our faith.

The first thing we can do is simply understand the problem and let it move you. Maybe some of the facts I have shared today, or the stories you have seen and heard this week are part of that for you.

Second, while we may not be able to physically make a journey to Syria or the Mediterranean to make a difference, we can advocate for our government to open the doors to more refugees who are seeking a life for themselves and their families.

You can write a letter to one of our congressional leaders.

You can sign a petition at whitehouse.gov for our country to resettle Syrian refugees here.

And after worship today, you can take a picture of yourself with this sign (#refugeeswelcome), post it on social media, and encourage others to share the word with our government as well. In fact, I encourage everyone who wants to do so, to come back up to the front after worship so we can take some pictures together.

Third, you can support the organizations that are on the front lines making a difference.

Doctors without Borders.

The Migrant Offshore Aid Station, which is a family foundation that has launched a private ship to rescue people at sea.

World Vision.

Our very own United Methodist Committee on Relief.

The list goes on and on and a number of different organizations are included in Ann’s blog. If you are so moved, choose one that inspires you and give financially to support their efforts.

The last thing that we can think about doing…. is to consider sponsoring a refugee family yourself.

I was amazed last winter as we celebrated the life of Evie Surface to learn about her efforts to help settle refugees from Vietnam here in the United States.

She was just one person, but she believed that Jesus meant it when he said that we were to love the widow and orphan and stranger among us.

Here in Des Moines, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants helps to resettle refugees and they have a wide range of opportunities for you to give of your time and energy to help folks who have sought home here in our community.

Hearing and Doing.

Faith and Action.

“It is the seamless unity of believing and doing” the Message translation of James tells us. (2:25-26)

We have heard the word this morning. A word of calling to reach out in love to the last and the lost and the least in this world.

And as that seed is planted in our hearts, may it bear fruit in the world.

Amen.

Willing to Yield

Posted on September 23, 2012Leave a comment

I want to start out this morning with a testimony… and I think it is very important that you understand this is not me preaching about what you should go out tomorrow and do… I am simply sharing what my experience of God was this past year.

That is an important qualification, because I’m going to be talking about money. And talking about money makes a whole lot of us uncomfortable… but it is a part of our daily lives and it is an important part our words from James this morning.

And my testimony is this: For the first time in my life, this year I tithed to the church.

Now, I have always given to the church. But for a long time, I made excuses about how much I should give.

When I was a teenager and had only part time jobs, I might have stuck a dollar or two in the offering plate – whatever pocket change I might have had that day. It was the last of my money… not the best.

When I was in college, I did not attend a church regularly on Sundays, but worshipped on campus Wednesday nights – and no one asked for a financial contribution. No one asked me to give, much less give sacrificially.

As a seminary student and an intern at a church, I was spending more money on school and travel than I was making and piling up debt. I gave my time to the church and occasionally a few bucks as well.

And then I came here. I came to be a pastor and I knew that I could not ask you, in good faith, to give faithfully to the church and to God, if I was not also giving. Having a steady paycheck for the first time in my life, I should have immediately started tithing. But I didn’t. I held back. I looked at my student loans and a bit of debt from college… I looked at how much our cable bill was going to be… I thought about how we wanted to travel a bit… I knew that taxes would take a chunk of my wages… And so I started out small. I gave to the church – but only a small portion.

And then, I became comfortable with that level of financial giving. I knew I was doing God’s ministry in other ways and so I didn’t worry about it.

But one day a year or two ago, I was having a conversation with a friend, a fellow pastor, about the things that we cling to… the things we hold close and refuse to give to God.

I realized in the midst of that conversation that I had never willingly yielded my money to God. There had been times when I had given out of guilt. I have given because it was what I was supposed to do. I have given out of habit as the offering place went around and each person in the pew pulled out a buck and dropped it in. Sound familiar?

But never had I prayerfully thought about what God wanted me to give. Never had I searched my heart to ask what I was willing to yield, what I was willing to joyfully give up in my life for the sake of our Lord and our church.

I started out last year by giving a much larger percentage on a regular basis… and this year, my heart led me to give a full 10% of my income to the church.

I joyfully give that money to God… and I have to tell you – I haven’t missed one cent. I now give to the church first… the money comes out of my paycheck before it ever comes home with me. I give God my first and my best, instead of the change in my pocket – instead of the leftovers from my own spending and desires.

I have been blessed through my giving. No, I don’t have more money in the bank than when I started… but now I am reminded that the things that money buys – cable t.v. and new clothes and name-brand cereal don’t last. What lasts is the kingdom of God. What lasts is the word of God. What lasts is the joy that I have found through letting go… through being willing to yield.

Now… I’m going to put my preacher hat back on.

Because we all have different places in our life where we have been unwilling to yield. It might be money, like me, but it might be an addiction. For others the thing they grasp is their pride. Some of us are unwilling to let go of our schedules or our desires.

Throughout the book of James, we get some harsh truths about what it means to live in Christian community. On Labor Day weekend, we heard about the source of our conflict – pride and a lack of humility. The next week we were reminded that rich and poor are all the same and we need to stop judging and stop loving. Last week, we were dished up some truth about wisdom and speech… and our tendency to ignorance and cynicism.

In each message – we have been asked to let something go. Our pride and the need to “be important”, our status and the desire to “be better”, our knowledge and the need to “be right”, and today we are asked to let go of the material things we cling to and the stuff we seek out. We need to let go of our desire to “be the joneses.”

As we read James… even though I have experienced the joy of willingly yielding and letting God have control of my money – I have to admit that each one of these admonitions still hits close to home for me also. Each of these realities is something that I continue to struggle with, even as I know I am being faithful in some ways.

1) Keeping up with the Joneses kills our souls

James is quite clear in chapter four that our desire to keep up with the ways of the world means that our heart has gone astray from God. Familiar verse from the gospels reminds us– you cannot serve both God and money. And so every time that we choose the things we want over the things of God, we have cheated on our Lord and Savior – we have been unfaithful.

It is hard to accept sometimes, but God cares about what you do and what you have. If our gracious Lord and Savior makes sure that the birds of the air and the flowers of the field are taken care of… then he’s also working to make sure that you have enough – that you have abundant life. But so often, we turn our backs on the life God has given us and want to be someone else and have other things. Verse 5 reads: Doesn’t God long for our faithfulness in the life he has given us?

This life might not be perfect. We might not have everything. But Mother Theresa once said, “grow where you are planted.” Don’t look over the fence at your neighbors and want what they have… gratefully give thanks every day for the gift of life and the wonderful things that are a part of yours. When we humble ourselves before the Lord and give thanks for who we were created to be, God is right there, ready to lift us up.

2) Keeping up with the Joneses is killing other people

James chapter 4 starts with the hard truth that war and conflict comes from our desire to have what we don’t have and our desire to keep what is already ours. As he says in verse two: “You long for something you don’t have, so you commit murder. You are jealous for something you can’t get, so you struggle and fight.”

That reality is lived out on our newspapers and television programs every single day. Bank robberies and drug related shootings. Civil wars in far off countries about the precious resources of those places. Jealous acts of violence enacted towards someone for cheating or stealing a person you loved from your life.

But there is a quiet hidden reality to these verses that we are not always ready to admit to – a truth that needs to be confessed about ourselves. The things that we have in this world – everyday, ordinary things that we buy and use and dispose of… our desire to have those things is killing people, too.

Take my cell phone, for example. This summer, I dropped my phone and cracked the screen. So I upgraded to something new. My husband upgraded at the same time, even though his old phone was just fine. But within these simple devices are resources and minerals that you can’t find everywhere. In fact, the tin inside of these devices that are used to solder the metal parts together is mined mostly in Indonesia and China. I read recently about one province in Indonesia, two little islands where nearly half of the tin for cell phones comes from.

The tin mining industry has devastated these two little islands. The mining is done in shallow pits and these pits cover the island – thousands and thousands of pits dotting the ground. Most of this mining is done by hand, rather than machine and it is not a regulated industry. Small groups of men, often boys, work in these pits and scrape the walls by hand.

The reporter who visited the sites had this to say: “these dangerous pits – the walls literally just collapse and bury people alive. In one week, while I was on BangkaIsland, there were six men and actually a boy, a 15-year-old, who were buried alive in these pit collapses…”

My heart broke when I heard that story… how our demand for smart-phones and tablets has caused an industry to explode without regulation or safety and that people are dying so that I can have 3G. Our relationship with God and our command to love our neighbor means that we need to think carefully about the purchases we make in this world. We need to pray before we buy something. And we need to be informed about the far reaching impact of the things we want.

3) Keeping up with the Joneses doesn’t get us anything but fat and dead

We are often so focused on the things that we want today, that we do not stop to think about the far reaching implications of the stuff we accumulate.

As Brandon and I start to pack up our house, we have tons of things that we do not need and will never use. We are busting at the seams with cheap trinkets and clothes that no longer fit and craft supplies we don’t have time to use. It has been a reminder that we have abundantly blessed… and so we are taking this opportunity to share and donate and repurpose some of what we have been given.

The reality is that the stuff we have will not last forever. And we won’t be alive to enjoy it forever.

As James continues in chapter five, the wealthy get one final harsh warning. In this translation from The Message, I want to invite you to hear these words… remembering that we are each wealthier than 75% of this world:

Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you’ve piled up is judgment.

^4-6All the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You’ve looted the earth and lived it up. But all you’ll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse

All you’ll to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse.

The old adage says, you can’t take it with you… and its true. Our time here on earth is short and piling on pleasures and wants and desires doesn’t get us anything but a house full of stuff that someone else is going to have to sort through.

James’s advice for us: remember that you are nothing but a mist that vanishes with the sunlight. Remember that you are nothing but grass that withers and a flower that fades. What good is all of the wealth in the world when tomorrow you are gone?

Let’s take a deep breath. Because we can hear these harsh words and they cut straight to our core. We might want to give everything away when we go home because we feel so guilty.

But I need you to hear this.

God does not want your money, if he doesn’t have your heart.

God doesn’t have any use for your stuff, if he can’t have your soul.

God doesn’t care about the things that you own… even if they could be used to help other people… unless you are willing to give him your life.

Let us prayerfully ask about what God wants us to yield. Let us joyfully and freely give – not because we have to, but because we want to. And let us join with Christ in the world along paths “the Joneses” don’t often travel

Ships, Horses and Tongues

Posted on September 16, 2012Leave a comment

Jesus and the disciples were traveling along the road when he asked them a question: Who do you say that I am?

We heard how Peter spoke out, “You are the Christ!” … but we also heard how merely moments later, Peter began to speak again. He was wavering in his faith, resisting the reality that was setting in, unwilling to believe what Jesus was saying about the work of the son of Man. With the slip of his tongue in protest, Peter went from being the man with the answers to being stumbling block sent straight from the devil.

Our words matter. They reveal who we are. They can be used for healing or chaos. As James writes in his letter to the people of God: A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything – or destroy it!

If you don’t belie

ve our tongues are important – ask Ben Bernanke. In coded terms and subtle turns of phrase, the entire global market reacts to the words that roll off of his tongue.

But one interesting fact I learned about tongues is that out of all the muscles in our human body – the tongue is the only muscle not connected on both sides. Think about it… our biceps connect at the shoulder and elbow, our calves do work through tendons connected to the bones in our legs. In fact, the work of a muscle is to contract or release and thereby move our bodies.

But the tongue is only connected at one end. With the other, it is free to roam. Free to do great good or fantastic harm. In fact, our tongue is the only muscle that can get into trouble all by itself. Like a flame of fire it is wild and unpredictable and can easily get out of control.

: photo by S. Braswell

As The Message translates the passage: you can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue.

But really, when you think about it… just like the rudder of the ship is controlled by the captain and the bit in a horses’s mouth is directed by the hands of the rider, our tongues are not autonomous creatures… they are a part of us. They are directed by us. And it is our minds and our hearts that the words of our tongues reveal.

We heard this morning a rather challenging passage of scripture from the book of Proverbs. Lady Wisdom, the Spirit of God personified, is standing in the middle of the street calling out to the people. Unlike last week’s verses from Proverbs – which are the familiar short and pity sayings, today we hear a rather dramatic warning to those who will not listen.

Lady Wisdom seems to be distressed. No one is listening to the voice of God and she is just about ready to give up all together. In our General Board of Discipleship helps for this week, they write: “So she changes tactics, from calling people to wisdom and the fear of the Lord to making sure everyone knows the ruin they are heading for if they do not start paying attention.”

We could read this whole passage from Proverbs 1 as a great big “OR ELSE” from God…

But what are we being warned about? What have we done so wrong?

As the last two verses tell us:

Waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
But those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster. (NRSV)

Our Lord doesn’t want us to be wayward and complacent, going this way and that, controlled by nothing but the whims of the world and our hearts desires.

God wants us to listen to the Word, listen to the Spirit that speaks in our hearts. God wants to guide our thoughts and actions. Our meandering and wandering to and fro is dangerous to our souls.

Like the rudder of the ship needs a strong captain, like the bit of a horse needs a discerning jockey, so our tongue… and the brain connect to it… needs some wise direction.

The problem is, on our own we are wayward and complacent and that tongue isn’t going to tame itself.

As Lady Wisdom stands in the intersection, crying out, there are three particular groups she calls upon to respond and repent and receive the wisdom and the grace of God. I think that these are three traps that we all have fallen into from time to time… but if we see them and understand them, perhaps we can also avoid them and turn back to our Lord and Savior.

The first of these traps is ignorance and naïveté.

Too many of us are wandering about aimlessly because we have never stopped to look at the map. We haven’t opened our bibles. We don’t spend time every day in the word of God. And because we don’t know the Word… we haven’t passed on that saving Word to our friends and family and neighbors and children.

To use another sort of metaphor of the tongue – they are like children who are starving. They do not have good food set in front of them, if any food at all.

What goes into our bodies past our tongues is not healthy and so why are we surprised when it does not lead us in good directions?

The best remedy for the trap of ignorance is to seek out knowledge and to share it. Once we realize how hungry we are… how much we have been missing… and how much abundance of knowledge and wisdom is at our fingertips… we will realize that we never need to starve our souls again.

Sometimes, it is difficult to find a place to start when you didn’t realize how much you didn’t know. This year, on Wednesday nights, there is a bible study that is doing an overview of the entire bible. Each week they will cover the story of one book of the bible. This is an excellent place to start for those of you who are looking for your first taste of bible study!

The second trap we fall into is cynicism.

When our cynical sides come out, we doubt that God’s word will have any impact on our lives. We look out on all the problems of the human race and we have little hope that things will change. Sometimes, we even begin to be skeptical about God.

We read the scriptures that are before us and laugh – yeah, right, like anyone is actually going to live that out… like someone could actually choose to abide by the rules and regulations and lifestyle the bible proscribes. It’s just good poetry, words to make us feel better, nothing more.

And so our faith is cold and stale, picked apart and unbalanced. We do not delight in the law of the Lord, but look upon it as a burden that is getting us no where. We let the pain of the past dictate our future.

Katherine Kehler wrote: the only cure for cynicism is to cultivate a habit of thankfulness. Thoreau wrote about reviving his senses by walking. In fact, as Wen Stephenson writes about Thoreau in his article “A Walk and a Talk” he says that the remedy for cynicism is action, engagement, awareness of this moment that is around us.

Whether you walk through nature, or feast with friends around a table, or spend time in God’s word – look upon each moment as a chance to encounter our Lord and Savior and give thanks for what you find there.

The final trap we fall into is pride and the refusal to learn.

Our pride tells us that we can do it on our own. Our pride makes us believe that we don’t need anyone or anything and we are fine just the way we are. We turn away from advice, scoff at help, and stubbornly stand still.

In fact, this is one of the primary things James writes about. We cannot see our own faults because we are so focused on who we think we are and where we want to be. We let the desires of our own heart rule the day and shut the door on anything that is contrary to those desires.

But without the word of God to nourish us and give us strength, our own devices quickly fail. We stumble and fall.

Pay attention to me FIRST, Lady Wisdom calls from the streets…. Then relax – you are in good hands.

Good hands indeed. James tells us that the wisdom from above is pure. It is gentle and reasonable. God overflows with mercy and blessings. And in a community that is healthy and robust and depends upon God for direction, your tongue will be anchored in the life-giving Word.

After all, our friend Peter found. As much as he stumbled and faltered with his words… as much as he let his own pride and doubts get in the way of God’s work… he was not abandoned by God. And when the Holy Spirit poured into his life, the Apostle Peter found the right words to say every time.

The good news is that Lady Wisdom is ready to pour out her spirit upon us. If we let go of our ignorance… if we shed our cynicism… if we abandon our pride… we will find direction in God.

Amen and Amen.

Mercy Trumps Judgment

Posted on September 9, 2012Leave a comment

The UnitedMethodistChurch has a mission.

We have been called by God to make disciples of Jesus Christ FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD.

That last piece… for the transformation of the world… is a recent addition to our mission, but it speaks volumes about who we believe God has called us to be.

We believe that a church which shuts its doors to the outside world is a church that is dead and lifeless. We believe a church that is not actively engaged in mission and service is no church at all.

And we believe as United Methodists that God wants us to focus on four particular areas: to help combat the diseases of poverty, to engage in ministry with the poor, to create new places for new people in our churches and to help develop Christian leaders for the church and the world.

This is who we are as the UnitedMethodistChurch. We believe God uses everyday ordinary people to join in his work across the globe to bring the Kingdom of God into its fullness right here.

Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer together, we are asking for God’s kingdom to become a reality right here on earth AS IT IS in heaven. You are the hands and feet of Jesus for this broken world. Are you ready to get started?!

But before we dive in and get to work, I think that our scripture lessons for today offer a cautionary tale. In James and in Proverbs, we find that there are problems with simply looking down on those who are hurting and trying to give them a hand out. We can get so busy doing good things that we forget about our faith…. But more often, we get so focused on our faith that we forget about doing good things.

James finally whittles this distinction down to two words: Mercy and Judgment. And no matter what translation we decide to read James 2:13 in – the message is the same… Mercy trumps judgment.

1) What is judgment and why should we avoid it.

a) Judgement is our arbitrary assessment of other people… who is rich and who is poor, who is deserving and undeserving, what is important and deserves our time and what doesn’t… it all depends on where we stand and what we believe about ourselves. Even while we might look at our wealth compared to others in this nation and feel poor… we could look at all that we have in relation to most of the population of this world and realize just how rich we are. Who is rich and who is poor depends on where you are standing. Our job is not to judge another person based upon how we see them or based upon their relationship to us… but to see them through the eyes of Jesus.

b) when we place ourselves in the seat of judgment, we have elevated ourselves to God’s level and we can no longer see the fault and sin in our own lives. These verses from proverbs are warnings to the rich who have grown comfortable in their blessedness. They believe they are where they are because God is rewarding them for all the good they have done and can no longer see that they are agents of oppression and subsumed in their own temptations and sin.

c) this does not mean that we do not need to account for our sins. this does not mean that every wrong thing a person does is okay. What it means is that it is not for US to judge the lives of others. Our job is not to wave around signs and point out another person’s failings… our job is to walk with one another and let the Word of God transform each of our lives. God’s word alone can convict our hearts.

2) why mercy is better

a) to show someone mercy is to give them something they do not deserve. When we show mercy to the rich and poor, black and white, righteous and unrighteous, what we are doing is living out a simple truth – we are all the same. We are all sinners saved by the grace of God. None of us “deserve” it…

b) mercy is the work God calls us to. At worship this Wednesday we heard from Latin theologian Rene Padilla. He made a simple but profound statement. We are not saved by good works – we are saved FOR good works. Jesus Christ has saved us and freed us from our self-centered sin SO THAT we can be his hands and feet to care for this world. The Law of God helped us to see how far away from God’s intentions we had fallen… but the Grace of God gave us the freedom to get back up and to reclaim who we truly were meant to be.

c) over and over in the scriptures, we are called upon to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and in prison, proclaim the good news. This is our job… this is why we have been saved. This is the fruit of our faith, the evidence of our salvation, this is who we were created to be and what we have been gifted to do.

3) So I want to ask you a question: are you living a life of judgment? or a life of mercy? This is a very personal question… and once that I cannot answer for you. It is something that you must discover through prayer, through reading the scriptures and reflecting on the word of God in sermons and bible study.

But we can ask a larger question… Are we a church of judgment? Or a church of mercy?

James writes that faith without works is dead. In Matthew chapter 25 the sheep and the goats are separated by what they have done to the least among us. Proverbs tells us that those who are generous are blessed.

So, lets do a little inventory of our fruits.

1) PET Project – What about the story of Ventura? We helped raise funds to purchase seven of these personal energy transportation vehicles and he recieved one that year. Ventura lost the use of his legs after being shot twice in the spine. He has four daughters. With his physical challenges, he has been rejected by his family. His only income comes from selling gum on the street and charity. His P.E.T. has provided him transportation for the dirt roads of his community so that he can get to more places and he is thankful to be alive.

2) Women at the Well – Not only have we sent three carloads of clothes, toiletries, and luggage to Mitchelville for the Stepping Out clothes closet, but we have also built relationships. We spent time getting to know Outside Council chairperson Rev. Marlene Janssen. And this fall, we sent a group of ten people to worship with our sisters in Christ inside the walls. We want to continue this relationship by becoming a partner church and supporting the ministry with our dollars and cents as well. Our buckets on the table in the middle of the sanctuary are a fun way to begin this challenge.

3) Matthew 25 – Our church has been an active supporter of the Matthew 25 Ministry Center in Cedar Rapids. We have collected tools and games, school supplies and flower pots. But we have also travelled in person to serve lunches during the summer and we have welcomed Rev. Clint here as he shared the story of their ministry.

4) Youth and Mission Trips – Every week, this church opens its doors to youth in our community. They sometimes make messes and leave holes in the walls – but they need a place to call home and you have provided it. You have also helped to send them to three different states to be in service and to encounter Jesus. Their lives are full, rich, and blessed because of you and they have in turn been a blessing to others.

5) Community Food Bank and Clothing Closet – we regularly collect items for the food bank, the clothing closet in Williamsburg, and have helped to make sure that the shelves are full.

6) Meals on Wheels – We take our turn entering the lives of those in our community who need help by driving meals and checking in on the folks who recieve them.

7) Volunteerism – you serve at the hospital, with the library, you sing at the nursing home and read stories to children at school. You are involved with the Legion and the Lions club and all across this town and county, state and world, you are leaders – you are active – you are doing good works.

As a church, we have heard God calling us to reflect his light into this community. And we have responded. That huge list of good fruits tell the story of your faithfulness, your commitment, your generosity, your patience, your spirit of hospitality and grace.

And here is what I think is the most important part. You have not simply given money for people in need… you have spent time with these people. You have walked beside them. You have visited them and gotten to know them. You have built relationships.

I sat down for lunch last week with Pastor Dieudonne. As we all know, earlier this year the African Methodist Ministry at St. Mark’s came and joined us for worship. Pastor Deiudonne led us in the word and members of their church led us in song. This summer, we returned the visit and took a group from our church there to join them in worship.

Did you know that we are the ONLY congregation that has done that? We are the only church that has been willing to join them where they are and to put ourselves in their shoes for an afternoon as the guests, the ones who were outside of our cultural comfort zone.

I believe the biggest thing that separates an act of mercy from an act of judgment is a willingness to see someone as an equal. An awareness that you are not so different. The ability to move past a person’s race or class or status and to love them and to work alongside them to accomplish God’s work.

As Pastor Dieudonne and I talked, I learned that he has contracted malaria three times. He told me that every single person who is a part of their ministry has been affected by malaria. Every one of them has had a family member die from this completely preventable disease.

In fact, every 60 seconds, a child dies from malaria.

As United Methodists, we believe that mercy is our work to do. We believe that God has called us to serve him in our backyard and across the world. And as a global church, we believe that we can do something about that statistic.

When we started this effort a few years ago, it was called, “Nothing But Nets.” We partnered with the Gates Foundation and the National Basketball Association and and for $10 we encouraged people to buy a net for Africa and save a child’s life. You know what… it works. We have cut the death rate IN HALF….

And so now we are moving on to phase two: Imagine NO Malaria…. We believe that by the year 2015 – just three short years from now, we can completely end deaths from malaria. Our goal as a denomination is to raise $75 million dollars to fund mosquito nets, to create clean water supplies, to have on the ground training and to fund research for medications and disease prevention.

This effort is a part of our calling to combat the diseases of poverty across the world. You see, United Methodists don’t sit back and wait… we act. We stand up against injustice. We care for the least of these. We build hospitals and schools. We are the first on the scene when there is a disaster and the last to leave. We believe that we can not only do some good… but that we can actually make a difference.

And we do all of this because we believe that God wants to use us to truly change lives. God wants us to care and minister to all of our brothers and sisters in our backyards and around the world so that this planet will be better tomorrow than it was today.

God wants your time and your money and your energy… but most of all, God wants your heart. He wants you to accept the gracious gift of love that he offers and he wants you to pass it on to others… without judgment and without pity.

Amen and amen.