Jesus Christ – Page 11 – Salvaged Faith

how can we laugh at a time like this?

Posted on April 27, 20111 Comment

I’m sitting at my computer, looking out the 24th floor window of my hotel in Des Moines. I am currently attending our annual School for Ministry and learning all sorts of neat things about capital campaigns and what kinds of fonts to use on worship slides. We’ve had some good practical teaching this year… with some good theological underpinings. It usually is. I’m glad Iowa does this!

Anywho… here I sit, looking out the window at 12:26am at the quiet streets below. I’m still up because I’m trying to plan worship for Sunday so that I can send my organist the hymns. I’m exhausted. Both from Holy Week and now these days of sitting in a conference room with no windows for hours upon hours. I do not want to preach. I have two funerals ahead of me in the days to come. And someone mentions “Holy Humor Sunday.”

I’ve heard of Holy Humor Sunday… but never actually done one. It’s this tradition (a very old tradition) of laughing on the Sunday after Easter as we celebrate the cosmic joke that God plays on sin and death when Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. It is a day to laugh, to lift up our hearts, to thank God that we know already the end of the story.

I’m loving this idea. I’ve spent about an hour already looking up hymns and liturgy and of course, jokes to tell.

And then I realize that since I’ve been holed up in a conference room for the last two days that I have no idea what has been going on in the world. I check CNN, and I check weather.com… 72 dead from tornadoes in one town in Alabama… friends freaking out on facebook over tornadoes that barely clipped their own homes and the severe weather alerts that have them shaking in their boots every time the sirens go off.

I start to think about these two funerals that I have coming up this very weekend.

I start to remember the brokenness so many people in our communities are experiencing right now.

I start to look out on that quiet street before me and wonder who is sleeping in an alley tonight, instead of in a king size bed at the Marriott.

I know in my bones that God has already won. I know that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. I understand. I believe. But I find it so hard to keep that Easter joy in my heart because we haven’t reached the end of the story yet! We are inbetween times… in between the empty tomb and the new creation. It’s here, but not fully. It’s already, but not yet.

How on earth can we laugh at a time like this? How can we laugh as cities are ravaged by deadly winds and little ones go to bed hungry tonight? How can we laugh when people are staring death in the face and losing? How can we laugh when the disparity between the haves and the havenots is so stark?

Maybe the question is… how can we not laugh?

How can we not just take a deep breath and remember that God is in control… not us.

St. John Chrysostom preached in his famous Easter sermon:

If anyone is devout and loves God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If anyone is a wise servant, let him rejoice and enter into the joy of his Lord.

He gives rest to him who comes at the 11th hour, even as to him who has worked from the first hour. And He shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first.

Let all then enter into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, keep the feast. You sober and you heedless, celebrate the day.

Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast… Let all receive the riches of loving-kindness.

Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free.

O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown.

Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of the dead. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

This world is broken and imperfect and horrible things happen all around us. But if we cannot laugh in the midst of our sorrows, then the Devil has already won. If we cannot laugh and lift up one anothers spirits, then there is no hope. If we cannot laugh and rejoice, then why keep going at all?

Christ is risen. Death is overthrown. Life reigns.

We don’t have to be afraid. We don’t have to be scared. We know the end of the story and we can laugh in the face of all that tries to hurt us.

Those words are so powerful… and so hard to believe in.

But maybe… just maybe… if we get together as a community and we laugh, we will find the faith we need to trust. Maybe together we can find the strength to laugh in the face of sin and death and to really and truly mean it.

How Should We Love?

Posted on April 10, 2011Leave a comment

Last week, we talked about a little place on the southwest side of Jerusalem… does anyone remember what that ugly and awful place was called?

Ghenna!

Ghenna is a trash dump… it is a valley of garbage… it is a place for filth and waste… a place to burn and destroy the refuse of our lives…

And this smelly, disgusting, ugly, awful place is translated in our modern bibles as “hell.”

We spent all of last Sunday talking about ghenna so that we could prepare ourselves for a conversation today. Because that word – ghenna – shows up three times in our passage this morning. One third of all the times Jesus uses the world we now think of as “hell” show up right here.

So let’s dive in, shall we?

And let’s start by getting out the trusty whiteboard and doing some brainstorming…

We are going to assume… although that might be a dangerous thing… let’s assume that none of us wants to live in ghenna – in the garbage dump – in hellish conditions… is it alright if I start with that assumption?

That leads to a question… What kind of a community do you want to live in?

(whiteboard)

Photo by: Jon Wisbey

What makes this community liveable… what makes it desireable… is that love is the center of each of these relationships.

I believe that this ideal is based on what we find right here in our scriptures for this week… it’s based in the summary of the law we find in Deuteronomy and in Matthew… love God with everything that you are and love your neighbor as yourself.

We know, somewhere deep inside of us that this is what we should strive for.

We know, that this is how we were made.

And, we know, that this is where we are headed…

This is the Kingdom of God. Love. Trust. Forgiveness. Honesty. Faithfulness. No more tears, no more pain.

But the question is… how do we get there?

As Jesus walked and talked and lived among us, everything that he did pointed to this reality. As he spoke with people he told them that the Kingdom of heaven was already here… that we have glimpses of this reality… but it is not yet fully here.

And we look around us and know that to be true.

There is death and murder. There is violence and anger. There is lust and revenge and envy everywhere.

It isn’t fully here yet.

I know that.

You know that.

Jesus knew that.

But right here, in this sermon to the people, he refused to let the people off the hook. In this section, Jesus tackles some of the toughest situations we face in our relationships and in the scriptures: murder, adultery, divorce, oaths and promises, revenge…

All of those things that turn this reality into a garbage dump.

In each and every single one of these verses, Jesus challenges us.

Not once does he give us an easy out.

Not once does he justify our actions.

Not once does he say we can ignore the wisdom of earlier days.

No. In every single one of these verses, Jesus takes a simple law and makes it harder.

Don’t just restrain yourself from killing that person… Jesus says – don’t even be mad at them

You’ve been told not to commit adultery, but I say to you – don’t even look at someone who isn’t your spouse with lust.

Divorce has become as simple as writing a letter when the spark has gone – but I say to you unless your spouse has broken the fundamentals of the covenant, and committed adultery, don’t give up on your relationship… and even then give it another try.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Don’t make oaths that are more than just yes and no.

Don’t seek your own revenge but love your enemies, pray for those who seek to destroy you. Turn the other cheek.

And he ends this whole section by saying what I think are the hardest two words in all of scripture: Be perfect.

What?! Be perfect? How do we do that? How can we get there?

There are two main theories about what Jesus is trying to do here.

The first, is that Jesus takes the old testament law and turns it into SUPER law… that to be Christian really requires more morality, more legalism, more demands. To be Christian, you just have to follow all of these new laws, along with the old ones. There certainly are brothers and sisters out there who do just this… who make perfection and holiness and morality the substance of their very being and heap law upon law upon law.

The second main way of understanding these passages is that Jesus makes the law so hard that we can’t live up to it. We can’t do it. All of us have anger in our heart. All of us think our brothers and sisters and idiots sometimes, all of us break promises. This second perspective teaches us that we are utterly helpless when it comes to the law and therefore, we need Jesus to save us from our own downfall. And we all know folks out there, brothers and sisters in Christ who help us to hold our lives up against the law, see our failings, and our guilt and our shame. In this perspective, the law convicts us… but in many ways, the law ceases to matter. As long as we have Jesus to save us, it doesn’t matter if we make mistakes.

I’ve never been a black and white girl. I’m not a fan of either/or choices. So, I want to share with you today a third option… a both/and.

And so what I see happening here in the sermon on the mount is that Jesus is challenging us to be perfect.

He’s telling us we can’t do it, and telling us we need to do it all at the same time.

He’s pointing to this future Kingdom reality and he’s inviting us to live in that reality now.

He knows we are helpless to do it, but he wants us to try.

Jackie has been working with addicts as a part of his new ministry with the CMA. As we talked about these passages in Sunday School last week, he reminded us that the goal of recovery groups is to help you become clean and sober. It is a community of folks who are all seeking the same end goal. Life and life abundant. Perfection. Love.

At the start of the journey, a life of sobriety is almost unimagineable. It isn’t who they are. But they know where they are going. They know who they are seeking to be. And so they try.

Maybe the church needs to be a little bit more like a recovery group. We need to be a group of people, banded together, helping one another get over our addiction to sin and death, and trying to live into this whiteboard reality.

And in order to do so, we have to start letting go of some of the garbage in our lives. We have to throw it out… because in the end, it just won’t do in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus calls us in each of these situations to love. Not mushy gushy love – but real, genuine, difficult, honest love. Love that forgives wrong. Love that seeks peace. Love that refuses to fight back with violence and hatred. Love that is strong enough to overcome.

How do we do that? How is it possible?

Last year, a friend gave me this album and in particular this song – Forgiveness – spoke to me.

I want to share it with you today, because it speaks to the heart of what Jesus asks us to do….

(show video)

Is it easy? No.

Will we get it right on the first try? No.

Are we supposed to try anyways? Yes.

Again, and again and again.

We are supposed to try to live our lives here in the Kingdom… and not out on the garbage dump.

Live into the Kingdom of heaven… where love is our first and not our second impulse.

Where forgiveness is our first and not our second impulse.

Where relationships and not rules determine our actions.

You can go ahead and throw your past and your mistakes and the failings of yesterday on the trash heap. The question is… how do you want to live today? And are you going to let Jesus Christ help you to do it?

Salt and Light

Posted on March 20, 2011Leave a comment

This morning, we seem an awfully long ways from the Kingdom of God.

Yesterday – eight years to the day since we sent forces to Iraq, we began bombing in Libya.

Unrest in Bahrain, Yemen, and other countries in the middle east is being showed on our airwaves.

Earthquakes.

Tsunamis

Nuclear reactors having problems.

Where is the Kingdom of God?!

It doesn’t matter if they are man-made problems, or natural disasters… it is hard to look outside and not tremble a little.

So, what do we do on a morning like this?

What is the church’s role?

This morning we look at the second section of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount.

In “The Message” translation, Eugene Peterson, starts off these verses with these words:

Let me tell you why you are here…

You see, this whole sermon is full of instructions for the people of God. It reminds us of the attitudes we are supposed to carry with us into the world, like Charlotte shared with us last week. And it tells us what we are supposed to do – how we are supposed to live.

Today’s passage is all about our witness in the world.

We are here – the church is here – to season this world… to be salt.

I know that some of us here can’t always have salt, because of dietary restrictions, and perhaps you know better than all the rest of us about how useful salt is!

When you sprinkle salt on watermelon or on tomatoes – the flavor of those fruits become brighter and more crisp! When salt is added to soup, it becomes rich and deep. When we sprinkle salt onto roasted vegetables, or French fries…. Mmmm…

Salt takes what is already there and it brings out the flavors. It helps us to taste what was hidden.

That is our job as the church. We are supposed to point to the hidden work of God in this world and bring it out. We are supposed to help the world see and taste and experience God – even though they can’t always see him.

So, with all of the difficult and troubling things happening in our world today – how can we, as the church, help people to experience God?

First, we can point to the good news in each of these situations. We can lift up the stories of hope and life.

This morning, for example, two people were pulled out of the rubble in Japan. An 80 year old woman and her 16 year old grandson had been trapped under her house for nine days following the earthquake and tsunami. According to CNN, the boy had crawled through portions of the rubble and made it on to the roof where rescuers finally saw him.

Nine days they had been trapped… but they survived. That is a story of life in the midst of destruction. And remembering those stories, pointing to those stories, telling those stories to our friends and our neighbors help us to remember that there is hope even in desperate situations. And as we tell that story, we can share the source of our hope – Jesus Christ.

Second, salt only works if it is actually being used… if it makes contact with its food… and so as people of faith, we need to be out in the world, helping folks, praying with them, listening to their stories.

In Japan, United Methodists had eight missionaries, six full-time mission volunteers and several retired missionaries on the ground when the earthquake first struck. But our United Methodist Committee on Relief also was quick to the scene to provide health kits, food, shelter and other necessities. The Wesley Center, affiliated with the United Methodist Women, is housing fifty displaced people in its guest rooms and meeting rooms.

All of that on the ground work there is possible only because we take seriously our call to be out in the world.

But it doesn’t just happen half way across the world through the work of missionaries. It also happens in our backyard. Every time you attend a youth sporting event or concert… Every time you mow your neighbors lawn, every time you sit down and have coffee with someone in town, you are like salt, bringing out the God flavor in this community. You are letting people know they are important, that they matter, and that you – and God – are there.

Jesus continues on in his sermon by putting this message another way – you are here in this world to be light – to help the world see God. This faith of ours is not a secret to be kept locked up – its meant to be made public – its meant to shine out wide and far.

So the third thing we need to do is to point to God not just in our personal and private relationships, but in public as well.

We can’t keep the good news hidden away. We can’t keep the power of God’s transformative love under a basket. We have to let it shine.

Sometimes, that light shines in the darkness and we help the world to see where people are broken and hurting. When we do this, we are public prophets, reminding people of God’s intention for our lives together.

A deacon in our United Methodist Church has heard this calling and uses music to raise awareness about the realities of human trafficking and slavery in our modern times. Carl Thomas Gladstone’s Abolitionist Hymnal helps to shed light on some very dark realities in our world. Through music, the light of Christ is shining so that others might be moved to action.

Sometimes, we are bring words of hope and comfort on a much larger scale, like when people gather together in a prayer vigil – their candles lighting up the darkness.

And sometimes that happens in political advocacy as well. This week, Utah passed some rather startling immigration reform. Although Utah is a conservative state, they have passed a law that creates a new guest-worker program. Anyone who has worked in Utah and their immediate family can receive documents if they pass a background check and pay a fine for entering the country illegally. But this law would never have passed if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not speak up. There are a large number of mormons in Utah, and as they have done missions work, they believed there was another way to respond to strangers and foreigners in our midst. Another way that was biblical and based in love. As one state senator said – “If the church had been silent, the bill wouldn’t have passed.”

Protesting, bumper stickers, the clothes you wear, the places you visit, the types of people you eat with in public… all of these things tell the world something about you… AND the God who you claim to follow.

Lastly, this whole message about salt and light is a reminder that we need to stand together as people of faith and be a witness in this world.

A few Sundays ago, we had a translation lesson. I reminded all of you about how poorly the English language handles second person plural words.

Well, that same problem comes up again today in the sermon on the mount.

Jesus isn’t just talking to you… or you… or you. Jesus is talking to all of us together.

Ya’ll are the salt of the earth. Ya’ll are the light of the world.

You together, all of you, working with one another, standing with one another, Ya’ll are my witness.

Whether it is on the streets of Libya or the countrysides in Japan, the alleys in Marengo or the farmland by Kostza… we are called to be salt and light. We are called to point to God.

It doesn’t matter if everything in the world is alright or everything is falling to pieces… that is our calling.

To pray, to work, to serve, to love, to listen, to speak… out there… in the world… on behalf of God.

May we be salt. May we be light.

Amen.

born this way

Posted on March 17, 20111 Comment

A good friend helped me to find a post by Brian Kirk called “Lady Gaga, Lent, Teens, and Original Sin.” It is a good read, but there are a few tweaks that I might have made to his argument.

In his article, Kirk shows how Lady Gaga’s latest song “Born This Way,” helps teenagers to claim their own place, their identity, in a world that sometimes tells them they have no value. He connects this message with the Jesus that loves the unloveable and who reaches out to those others have deemed unworthy.

Kirk also spends a bit of time thinking about the counter for this argument, “what about sin?” Kirk responds by talking about while Lent has traditionally been a time in which we confess all that is wrong with us and look to Jesus for salvation, there are some that don’t hold that to be true. He writes:

For those of us who do not literalize the story of Adam and Eve, there is no need to literalize the Christian interpretation of Genesis in which humankind fell from a perfect creation into an imperfect one and thus had to wait, mired in sin, until a savior could come and pay our ransom. This theological perspective that sees all persons as born into sin is not persuasive for those Christians who acknowledge that we now live on this side of Darwin.

I read Kirk’s response as: “what sin?”

I may not read the story of Adam and Eve literally, but I do recognize that this world we are born into is far from perfect. The institutions we inhabit are tinged with sin. The choices we make from the very beginning lead us into temptation. While I might not ever consider an infant to be riddled with original sin that taints their very existence, sin is an ever present reality that surrounds us. If there were no sin, there would be no violence, no war, no destruction, no oppression, no bullying, no shame, no guilt, no hate…

We each have a personal role and responsibility in the systems of sin that surround us. From the things we purchase, to the food we eat, to the ways we treat one another, we participate in sin. Sometimes that sin is a conscious rebellion and turning away from God and neighbor… other times it is subtle, hidden, and ignorant.

No matter how much we might ignore sin, it has consequences in our lives. When we act recklessly, we hurt people. When we ignore the cries of the needy, they suffer. When we waste and pollute, our environment is damaged. The cup of coffee I purchased this morning has implications and consequences from people I have never met and will never see. The length of time I spend in the shower this morning has financial, social, environmental implications. Sin is real. Consequences are real. We were born this way, too.

The song calls us to remember:

I’m beautiful in my way
‘Cause God makes no mistakes
I’m on the right track baby
I was born this way
Don’t hide yourself in regret
Just love yourself and you’re set
I’m on the right track baby
I was born this way

The real question is how we hold these two things together.

How do hold together the fact that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14) with the reality that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)?

I recently began reading N.T. Wright’s After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. He talks about the process of developing virtue in our lives by the thousands of choices and decisions we make in our lifetimes. In the process of doing so, he talks not only about following the rules, but also following our hearts.

This is the same divide that I see between these passages in Psalms and Romans. If I am wonderfully made, if God loves me, then I can do what I want and follow my heart. But if I am sinful, then I need rules to tell me right from wrong and to save me.

Wright reminds us we need both. We need to form our character through the “rules” and to hold one another accountable to what is good. But we also need to let who we have been created to be shine through… not the “me” that does whatever the hell I want, but the “me” God intends me to be – loving, compassionate, serving one another, humble. The reality is, that “me” is inside of us. We were born to perfectly love God and serve our neighbors. God didn’t make any mistakes in doing this. But we get off track. We let the world tell us who we should be, instead of our creator. We turn our backs on that reality. We sin. Christ takes all of those missteps, all of the sin inherent in our structures, the reality of evil, death, destruction, greed, power… he takes it ALL onto the cross, he dies, and he takes it all down with him. In Christ, we are finally free from all that which holds us back, from all that prevents us from being who we were truly created to be.

Kirk gets so caught up in sacrifical atonement that he forgets there are other metaphors for the work of Christ on the cross. Christ liberates our true selves from all that prevents us from being Godly. Christ shows us how we were supposed to live our lives, according to Abelard. Jesus is also the Cosmic Christ who transforms all of creation.

This time of Lent reminds me that I was fearfully and wonderfully made and that I have fallen short of the glory of God that lives inside of me. It challenges me to claim the work of Christ in my life and to be better, to grow, to allow God’s grace to continue to transform me.

Lady Gaga’s lyrics say: I was born this way hey! I’m on the right track baby.

Maybe we should take that as a question. Who were you born to be? And are you on the right track? Are you living the way God intended? And if not, how do you get back there?

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. No matter how it is that you were made – black, white, outcast, bullied, gay, straight, male, female, rich, poor – you were fearfully and wonderfully made. Are you on the right track?

Come Out the Wilderness

Posted on March 10, 20116 Comments

As we started this journey of Lent yesterday with Matthew, we entered the place of wilderness and watched as Jesus wrestled verbally with the devil. It was a rich dialogue of temptation and power and scripture… with some magical teleportation thrown in there for good measure. But as Keith Mcilwain reminds us, the devil is not all pitchforks and fireworks. (For yesterday’s Lenten Blog Tour reflection click here)

Today, though, we find ourselves in the gospel of Mark. He is terse with his words. He is urgent. In less verses than sum up the verbal banter of yesterday, we get Jesus’ baptism, the wilderness and the first description of his ministry.

About that time, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. While he was coming up out of the water, Jesus saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: “ You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness. ”

At once the Spirit forced Jesus out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among the wild animals, and the angels took care of him.

After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, saying, “ Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news! ” (Mark 1:9-15, Common English Bible)

I find myself caught up in a whirlwind when I read Mark. I find him taking me places faster than I am prepared to go. I am still back in the wilderness… heck, it’s only the second day of Lent – I’m barely IN the wilderness!And here we go rushing back into the world again?My own life has been so chaotic lately, that to spend time with this hurried verion of the gospel exhausts me. And yet, here I sit, with this passage assigned.

(deep breath)

The wilderness keeps calling out to me.

And in Mark’s text, the wilderness was somewhere Jesus was forced to go.

Other translations have used words like “sent,” “impelled,” “pushed,” “drove.”

But “forced” feels different. Just because you are sent doesn’t mean you have to go. You chose to obey. To be impelled or driven gives me the sense that there is something that urges you on, be it internal or external, and your own will aligns itself with that push. But to be forced… it means I don’t want to do something but I don’t have a choice.

Did Jesus want to be in the wilderness?

Did he want to spend forty days wrestling with Satan? Sure, there were angels watching out over him, but it was also the wilderness! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

I get the sense that any rational person wouldn’t choose this situation. Jesus didn’t want to be there, but he had to do it. He had to spend this time apart. He had to get ready for what was to come. Jesus had to make sure his head and heart and body were aligned before his ministry started. It was going to be a rough journey and he was going to be working with some knuckleheads of disciples… not to mention the cross that would loom before him.

He had to be forced to take this time apart, because after the wilderness, there was a job to do.

I sometimes have to force myself into the wilderness of Lent, too.

I’m really too busy to spend any extra time in prayer and fasting and study… I’ve got a job to do. I have important ministry that takes place.

But when I force myself to stop… when I hand a piece of my life over to God for a while… I find that all those priorities re-align. I suddenly remember it’s not about me.

Maybe it is a good thing that before we can even blink Mark has led us through the wilderness and back out again into ministry.

When I stop to think about it, I am comforted by the fact that the wilderness is not forever. It is not something we do just for the sake of doing it. We don’t even spend time in the wilderness to please God… as our passage reminds us, Jesus has already done that before the time “out there” has begun.

This time apart gets us ready to come back out of the wilderness.

I have recently re-discovered that old song, “Come Out the Wilderness.” Unlike some versions that are jubilant, I prefer this rendition that is minor and plaintive.

It reminds me that I’m going to come out of this time in the wilderness.

It reminds me that sometimes the wilderness will make us want to weep… or pray… or shout.

It reminds me that most importantly… when we come out the wilderness, we do so leaning on the Lord.

My ministry is not about me. It is about proclaiming something that is far greater than I will ever be. I am only one small part of a much bigger body. Even Christ when he came out the wilderness didn’t point to himself, but to God’s kingdom that was coming our way.

We sometimes have to force ourselves to spend time in the wilderness to get our heads and hearts screwed on straight. We have to force ourselves into this time of discipline, this time of waiting, this time of dependence upon God and God’s mercy, so that when we come out the wilderness, we will remember it’s not about us.

what we are saved from matters – or – what if Rob Bell has a point?

Posted on February 28, 20114 Comments

I’m just a small voice, but I have a two cents to add to the pot on this whole “Rob Bell Universalism” controversy.

Before his book is even out, folks are making all kinds of assumptions about what it says. And there are probably enough indicators in the youtube preview of “Love Wins” that you can say a whole lot.

But I want to back the question up a little bit.

What I think Bell is pointing out is that soteriology matters. What we believe we are saved from is important. Who is saving us means something. What that process of redemption entails determines a whole lot about how we treat other people and how we live our lives.

Soteriology matters.

If God has already condemned all of us to a place called Hell because of the actions of a man and a women in a garden thousands of years ago… and then God saves us from that condemnation… we might think and act and worship a certain way.

If, however, our actions then and our continued actions now are themselves “hell-making”… if we are creating the conditions of hell each and every time we hurt one another through our action and inaction and if we dishonor our relationship with our Lord by turning towards the darkness rather than the light… then salvation looks different. Then, maybe Christ saves us from ourselves… and then the Spirit empowers and sanctifies us to live the way God intended.

There are subtle differences in those two concepts (and they are only two among many!), but the differences are important.

Historically we have at least three major ways of understanding what Christ does for us: Christus Victor, Substitutionary Atonement, and the Moral Example theories of Abelard. All three have a basis in scripture. All three say something very different about what is wrong with humanity, about what hell looks like, and about how salvation is imparted into our personal and corporate lives.

Last summer, my congregation and I explored these various understandings of atonement and found all three of them interwoven in the book of Hebrews. Christ is the priest who lays down his life as the final and perfect sacrifice. Christ is the prophet who calls us to a different way of life. Christ is the king who triumphs over the lesser kings of this world and conquers for us.

It gets complicated… but it matters. Where we end up on these questions of salvation change how we interact with our brothers and sisters in this world. It changes our relationship with the one who does the saving.

And, I might also add, our inability to fully understand and agree about salvation ultimately says more about us than it does about God.

As I read the “good book” from beginning to end… as I look at the scope and span of the scriptures… no matter how we fail and get it wrong, no matter how strong the forces for darkness are in this world – in the end, love does win.

That is the firm hope that I stand on.

If God doesn’t win… if love and life and light don’t have the final say, then all is for naught.

I have many good friends who are reformed theologians of the Calvinist flavor. And I understand their predilection towards preserving the sovereignty of God Almighty.

But what I want to know is why can’t that preservation of God’s sovereignty also leave space for the hope that God’s power is so great that it can transform and redeem everything?

Jurgen Moltmann once said in regards to claims he might be a universalist:

I’m not a Universalist because there are some people I don’t want to see again – but God created them and would certainly like to see them again. Universalism is not only to speak about all human beings, but to speak about the universe, the stars and the moon and the sun and the whole cosmos.

If I were to summarize Moltmann’s statement it would go: I’m not a Universalist, but God might be.

Moltmann reminds us that at the end of the day, this is God’s story… not ours. Who are we to tell God who can be saved and who cannot? Who are we to limit the story of salvation to humans or a sharp distinction between a place called heaven and a place called hell?

When I read Revelation and Isaiah and whole host of other scriptures… I find a story in which not only people, but the whole creation groans for salvation. I am invited into a story of recreation, of redemption, a story where a new heaven and a new earth are realized and where God dwells among us. And the way I read the story… love does win.

How we get there matters… but what really matters that the one who made us wants to redeem us… and has the power to do so.

a few bytes of inspiration

Posted on February 20, 2011Leave a comment

I took copious notes at the recent GBCS forum I attended in Washington, D.C.

And then I came home and had hoped to decipher and debrief, but ran smack into four funerals and piles of mail and pastoral visitation needs, and a husband who missed me, and family gatherings… you get the picture.

But remember, I took notes!

So here are some of my attempts at wading through the tiny print all over my folder from the event… the statements and questions that continue to linger in my mind:

Can we balance the budget without hurting the poor? This is the top advocacy issue for economic justice.
the difference between lobbyists and advocates: one works for the benefit of their organization, the other works for the benefits of others and do not raise money for legislators.
government of the people, by the people, and FOR the people
The United Methodist Building was built before the Supreme Court that is next door to it.
Your call is: one sentence, impossible, won’t let you go.
Pastors stand at the gaps to bring reconciliation between people – the pastor has to get involved… and you have to win the hearts of the people
We say, “WE BELIEVE…” but will we help usher in these things that we believe so firmly in?
Legislative priorities adopted by the GBCS are based on our Book of Resolutions and Social Principles…. but also depend on what congress is actually going to focus on that year.
Do we have FOOLISH VIGOR?
Everyone needs to be proud about what THEY bring to the table… otherwise there cannot be alliances, partnerships, solidarity
the church is never called to be partisan, but always called to be political
EKKLESIA means to be called out – called out of the world, from the world… the church is the body that is called out, and calls out.
Congregational vitality has everything to do with Justice and Mercy… we can’t feed people’s souls if they die of hunger.
A leader is someone who makes sure no one falls down (7 year old boy)
Do we really believe the UMC can change the world? Do we really believe God can work through us to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD?
In Defense of Creation talks about three systems that destroy: hunger making systems, war making systems, and desert making systems. The intersection of these destroys life.
Evangelism is absolutely connected with Mercy and Justice ministries… as long as you communicate WHY you are doing what you are doing.
you have to have some kind of personal engagement with what you do… in D.C. policy is traded without an awareness of lives that are affected. We need to know what the INCARNATIONAL IMPACT OF JUSTICE is.
The point of justice is not programs and issues but relationships…
To be Christian is going to COST something… faithful sacrifice.
Ask folks how they feel about this issue personally… how does it affect them? what is it like to read the news? where do they have fears and hopes?
the UMC is a leader on Capital Hill because we have United Methodists who passionately care about the issues.

Anything catch your eye? Anything you want to talk more about?

Narrowing our Focus

Posted on January 30, 2011Leave a comment

This week, we continue our journey with the Corinthians. As we learn together from their mistakes, we can overcome some of the roadblocks and realities we face as a church.

Last week, we talked about how mishandled conflict can divide the church and even in seasons of peace… like we are experiencing now… past conflict can still leave residue on our lives… it can make us timid to engage, it can leave us tired and worn out, and it stifles creativity within the church.

We talked about how in a culture of winners and losers, we are called to be neither – we are called to be foolish. We are called to let the Cross of Christ guide our lives.

Today – we continue with that idea of holy foolishness.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1:18)

As Paul continues to write to the Corinthians, he notes that there are a whole lot of ideas floating around in the world.

In Paul’s day, some were calling for miraculous proof for truth in the world. Some looked to philosophy and wisdom as the basis for their life.

But God doesn’t work in either of those ways, Paul writes. God turns each of them upside down and it’s God’s weakness – not his power – that saves… it’s his folly – not his wisdom – that gives life.

Let’s read between the lines a little bit in this letter.

Let’s try to imagine what was going on in Corinth that made these statements necessary.

Those who first responded to the call of God there established a little faith community for themselves.

And then they looked out upon their friends and neighbors, family and business acquaintances and they wanted to figure out how to share this message of God with them.

Now… this big group of people were not all the same. Some were men, some were women. Some were Jewish, some were Greek. Some were rich, some were poor. Some were young, some were old.

And I think what happened, is that everyone disagreed about who was most important to reach out to first.

They did not have a shared vision or understanding about what God was calling them to do…

Kind of like this church:

Those Corinthians each had their own idea about what was going to work, and so they went out into the world and started sharing this amazing Good News about God.

In many ways – each of those ideas discussed around that building committee table were good ideas… Each person had a group in mind that needed to hear the gospel and so they were planning on building this sanctuary, or gym, or coffee shop… whatever it took to reach that specific group of people.

But I think that what we have to do is stop and back up a second.

What happened when the Corinthians tried to do this? What happened when they made assumptions about their neighbors and tried to custom tailor the message for everyone? What happened when each person went their own way and they tried to do a thousand different things at once?

They thought… If the Jews want signs, maybe we’ll put on big spectacles! That will draw them in.

They thought… If the Greeks want wisdom, we’ll have long conversations and ignore the the gospel.

Everyone went off and did their own thing and the Good News became torn into pieces and watered down and no longer had any power or punch. It started to look exactly like what everyone else was doing.
Everywhere they went, the message failed.

The people were discouraged.

Someone realized that Jesus was no longer being preached… and they wrote to Paul for help.

I can imagine in this letter to Paul that we have never seen, that someone writes: We give up. We wanted to share the gospel with people, so we came up with all of these ways of reaching out and we started doing what everyone else was doing… but it’s not working. People keep turning us down and we are exhausted. We give up.
What is Paul’s response?

He reminds them that they are called to be foolish. They are called to be laughing-stocks of the community.

They aren’t called to change their message with every shifting wind that comes along.

What they are preaching doesn’t make any sense to the people of the world… but they are supposed to keep preaching it anyways.

What Paul does here is he gives them a common, unified vision. He gives them something to stand on, something to be unified with.

The world may not understand you, Paul writes, but you need to stick with the message of the gospel anyways. You need to figure out what it is that you guys really stand for and are about and let that guide you.

You see, its not just division that comes by throwing our lot in with specific people that gets us into trouble… saying, “I’m of Paul” or “I’m of Apollos”… it’s also the fact that we can’t agree on who we are supposed to reach out to and how we are supposed to do it.

Paul keeps telling them to be foolish, because he is asking them to make the cross of Christ the center of all that they do.

He is asking them to believe in their future, to believe in the direction God is pushing them, to hold fast to the vision of what awaits them.

Hold fast to the cross… because it is there at the cross that life and death meet. And it is there at the cross that life wins.

Hold fast to who God has called you to be, no matter what the outside world thinks.

Hold fast.

Paul is asking the church in Corinth, and Paul is asking us to articulate a clear and compelling vision.

Without a vision to unify us, we will always react to everything the world throws at us. We will try to build gymnasiums and coffee shops just because everyone else has one. We will buy into the latest fad and sell off Jesus just to get a few more people in our doors.

That is not our goal.

Our goal is faithful living to the gospel of Christ.

Our goal is to live the kingdom life right now – even if it isn’t fully here yet.

Our goal is to love and forgive in a world where it is popular to get revenge.

Our goal is to sacrifice for others in a world where people think only for themselves.

Our goal is to gather around a table and eat the bread of Christ and the cup of heaven and as we do so to participate in a heavenly banquet. All of that is complete foolishness to the world… but it is who we are called to be.

A colleage from an online preaching forum wrote: We are willing to believe practically anything on Sunday morning in church, but we aren’t likely to keep acting on it come Monday because it’s so foolish by the world’s standards. (Betsy)

And she is right. When we do not share a vision. When we do not let that vision guide everything that we do, we’ll change as soon as we step outside of those doors. We’ll go back to the ways of the world. We’ll change with the winds. We’ll lose who we are supposed to be.

In these next few months, our church is listening for what that vision is. We are joining together in prayer and study to hear God speaking. To hear what specifically God wants us to do.

Not what some famous author wants us to do.

Now what the culture says we should do.

But what God wants us to do. Right here. Right now.

May God speak. And May we hear.