truth – Salvaged Faith

Bible 101: Quantum Mechanics, Elephants, and JEPD

Posted on January 20, 2019Leave a comment

Text: Selections (interwoven) from Mark 1, Matthew 3, Luke 3, John 1 on John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus

In Western Christianity, we want to know the right answer.

We have been conditioned, educated, by our schools, our philosophy, our churches, to look at facts and to believe there is only one truth.

2+2=4

Washington D.C. is the capital of the United States.

This is a glass of water… well, I supposed you are taking my word for that one… but at least we would agree it is a glass.

And, this book, the Bible, is the word of God for the people of God… thanks be to God.

We open up its pages and read a single verse or passage of scripture and because this book is true, we think – “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.”

But embracing only one right answer, only one perspective is not the way other cultures around the world or throughout history have approached the truth.

Consider the Indian parable about the blind men and the elephant.

Six blind men thought they were very clever. One day, an elephant came into their town. Now these blind men did not know what an elephant looked like, but they could smell it and they could hear it. “What is this animal like?” they said. Each man reached out to touch and feel with their own hands. Without realizing it, they each grasped a different part of the elephant.

The first man touched the elephant’s body. It felt hard, big, and wide. “An elephant is like a wall!” he said.

The second man touched one of the elephant’s tusks. It felt smooth and hard and sharp. ‘An elephant is like a spear’ he said.

The third man touched the elephant’s trunk. It felt long and thin and wiggly. ‘An elephant is like a snake’ he said.

The fourth man touched on of the legs. It felt thick and rough and hard and round. ‘An elephant is like a tree’ he said.

The fifth man touched one of the elephant’s ears. It felt thin and it moved. ‘An elephant is like a fan’ he said.

The sixth man touched the elephant’s tail. It felt long and thin and strong. ‘An elephant is like a rope’ he said.

The men began to argue. But a little girl heard them and said, “Each of you is right, but you are all wrong.”

In the parable, it is only when each person’s experience and perspective is combined with that of the others that the truth is discovered. They were each right… and they were each wrong.

Or, as the Apostle Paul later put it in his letter to the Corinthians “now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Cor 13)

What I find fascinating is that we have traveled a long way from the way Paul saw the world to the way that we have been taught to see the world through a modern, Western lens.

Western thought has led us to believe that there is only one objective reality and therefore only one answer to be found for the questions we seek… but modern science is beginning to shatter those understandings and in fact take us back to ancient was of understanding reality. So… we are going to take a quick dive into the field of quantum mechanics. Now, I LOVE science. I was a physics minor in college and what I discovered with nearly every class I took on cosmology or space-time relativity is that the deeper I got into the science, the more faith questions I had. The more I discovered just how awesome and complex and mysterious the world is. The deeper I went in my understanding of God.

We all know that our body is made of cells. Those cells are in turn made of atoms. And atoms are made up of even smaller particles – neutrons, protons, and electrons. And there are also subatomic particles like photons, quarks, and neutrinos.

What we have discovered is that these quantum particles refuse to be put in a box. Sometimes they act like particles… other times they act like waves.

In fact, there is an experiment that was designed to try to figure out once and for all what these subatomic particles are. They took a photon gun and shot individual photons at a slit to determine how it interacted with the material behind it.

I’m going to use an illustration of this that I heard from Science Mike on the Liturgists podcast.… Imagine if you had a large 8’ by 8’ metal plate with a gigantic slit down the middle and shot a golf ball at it, you would expect to see an indentation the shape of a golf ball on the other side. If you shot a hundred golf balls at this plate, some might bounce off, but others would hit that slit and you would end up with an impression the same shape as the slit on your surface. That’s the way any particle behaves when it is shot at a sensor with one slit.

Now it is hard to imagine how a wave might make a different impact, but imagine this… IF however, you filled the room with water and dropped a bowling ball in the space, it would create ripples, waves, and that same slit could be used to measure the pressure of the incoming waves. You won’t see indentations… you’d see the impact of the energy from the wave instead. Same metal plate, same slit, but the measurement you get looks very different because what you are tracking is a wave.

Waves and particles act differently and create different impressions. So you can use the exact same device and determine what is being shot at the plate.

Now… imagine there were two slits.

Do the same experiments again and you would discover with the golf balls, our scaled up particles, that you would have two identical impressions left in each of the two slits from the impacts.

But… with the waves, what you would instead see is an overlap as the waves interact and interfere with one another.

So what has happened when we have done the same tests with photons, with these quantum particles, is that in a single slit experiment, it acts like a particle. It leaves an impression. But when you add a second slit, they act like waves and you see interference. When you add more sensors… they begin to act like particles again.

In fact, physicists today are running these sorts of weird quantum experiments and are now starting to wonder if what we think is reality doesn’t really exist in the way we think it does until we start to measure it. It’s like that old saying, if a tree falls in a forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? Well? Does it? And the more measurements we do, the more solid and real and identifiable any particular quantum particle becomes.

It’s the story of the blind men and the elephant all over again. The more data, the more observers, the more perspectives, the closer to reality you come.

This is actually a way of thinking about the universe and existence and truth that has been shared by Eastern cultures and philosophies for millenia…. We learn more about reality by sharing perspectives. Each person, each sensor, each perspective gives you a point of information, but it is the intersection of multiple points that gives us insight.

Or as Science Mike puts it in the Liturgists podcast, “literally, additional observers make the universe exist in Quantum mechanics.”

The cultures and peoples that were inspired by God to write this sacred text were comfortable embracing many perspectives. To be honest, the authors of scripture were not really concerned with the details what really happened. They were not seeking one singular answer to the questions they were asking but were trying to explain how God showed up in their lives and their experiences.

And, the Bible did not arrive on the planet as one pre-packaged and published manuscript. All of these stories and writings and teachings were arranged and put together by later editors and chroniclers. They recognized the limitations of human knowledge and understood that truth comes out of the wrestling that happens as we seek to find meaning in a multiplicity of perspectives.

One example of this is the composition of the first five books of scripture: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah… or the Teachings of Moses.

As biblical scholars have wrestled with how to make sense of some of the contradictions and repetitive stories within these books, there became a theory that rather than these five books being one composite teaching, all written by one person, Moses, it is likely a combination of different traditions, from different perspectives, all woven together at a later time. While we love the idea that Moses sat down with a quill and a scroll and wrote all of these words himself, what we know is that many of these stories were passed down through oral traditions. And just like different members of the family might tell a story differently… same story, same truth, but slightly different perspectives, our scriptural stories were passed down the same way.

At some point, those stories were all woven together. And while we might prefer a neat and tidy compilation where each tradition and perspective is clearly identifiable, that wasn’t important to people in the past. It was how they were woven together that made the scripture come alive.

And so there is this theory that tries to pick back apart those different strands. This is the JEPD theory… Where each letter identifies the source and the background.

The Jawist (Yahwist) story begins in Genesis 2 – and it includes much of Genesis and parts of Exodus and Numbers. God is personal and reaches out in the lives of people.

The Elohist describes God not as Yahweh, but as El or Elohim. This is like Aunt Sally’s version of the same events, but she uses a different name for God.

The Priestly tradition likely comes from around 500 years before the birth of Christ and the stories that it tells often relate to worship and order and the temple. Genesis 1 is understood to be from this tradition… as are the parts of the story from Noah and the ark that talk about not two of every animal, but seven pairs of each of the clean animals… Because you need additional animals to sacrifice!

And the Deuteronomist is responsible for the final book of the Torah. The name literally means, second law, and it was a rediscovering or a retelling of the law for a later generation of people. The stories are often told, as a result, with the knowledge of hindsight.

So… how was the earth created? It depends on if you are looking at the Priestly writer in Genesis 1… or the Jawist in Genesis 2… and what about John chapter 1 “In the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God and all things came into being through him?” … but in the Jewish understanding of scripture, that wasn’t the question they were asking. They didn’t want to know one concrete answer and objective truth… they simply wanted to know who they were and how God wanted them to live… and it is all of those stories, woven together, both a cosmic, orderly God and a deeply personal and intimate God that gets us closer to the truth of the mysterious nature of it all.

But maybe the most easily identifiable example of this, are our four gospels.

Four stories.

Four perspectives.

Each sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the world.

And yet, they tell that story in completely different ways.

The facts are different. The timeline is off. The people who are important vary.

Believe it or not, aside from the events of what we know today as Holy Week – Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, and resurrection – there are only two stories that all four gospels share in common:

The baptism of Jesus and the feeding of the five thousand.

And as we heard this morning with the four voices reading this shared narrative, each gospel writer has their own take on the events of the day.

Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience and does his best to connect everything that happens with what has come before. “It is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

Luke’s gospel is meant for people who are outside of the Jewish context and so his connection points are more personal as he invites Gentiles to change their lives in light of Jesus’ actions.

Mark is a short, fast-paced telling of the life of Jesus, probably designed to make it really easy to memorize and share.

And John? Well, John is totally different from the other three. In fact, Matthew, Mark and Luke are often called the “synoptic gospels” because they see through a common lens. But John cares less about the details of the narrative. John focuses on the divine, on miracles, on the difference Jesus makes for the world, rather than in any individual life.

One way to think of these four gospels is to imagine them as four different cable news networks. Each has a different audience. Each has a different bias. And each approaches the way they communicate the truth with those things in mind.

And there came a day when religious leaders sat down and tried to figure out which of the stories about Jesus were the ones that really captured the truth. And they had a choice to make. Do we include just one version? Do we include two? No, they included all four of these gospels… those who were inspired to put them together in this particular way into our Bible knew that it was only by holding all four of these perspectives together, in tension, looking not at the parts, but at the whole, that we would even begin to be able to grasp what is True (with a capital T).

We can’t point to a single verse and capture “the answer” to the questions we ask anymore than in the parable any one of those six blind men’s experience would have captured the fullness of what an elephant is.

Like soundbites and talking points today, on their own they will never contain the fullness of the story or the complexity of the truth. But when we read it all together, when we seek to balance out our own biases, then like the blind men in the parable, or the scientists measuring from different perspectives, we can start to recognize the bigger truths.

That is why we need to read scripture.

That is why we have to read ALLof scripture.

That is why we need to take the time to balance our perspectives and not search for quick and easy answers.

God does not fit into a box.

And the truth of God is more complicated and awesome than any verse or chapter or book.

And that is an amazing, beautiful, and holy thing.

Bible 101: Unraveling the Mystery

Posted on January 6, 2019Leave a comment

Text: Ephesians 3:1-12 and Matthew 2:1-6

A group of astrologers looked up into the night sky and saw something that caught their eye.
A new star had appeared.
A king had been born.
Preparations for a journey to the west, towards Jerusalem, began.

Today, we find ourselves on the 12th day of Christmas, the Day of Epiphany.
This day reminds us that some of the first to recognize the good news of the birth of Christ were not religious leaders or rulers, but Gentiles from far off.
That star in the sky, that manifestation of light, drew them from their homes and set them on a journey to find the truth for themselves.
As Pope Leo the Great wrote in the fifth century,
“A start with new brilliance appeared to three wise men in the East” that “was brighter and more beautiful than others” attracting the “eyes and hearts of those looking on.” The determination of the magi to “follow the lead of this heavenly light” expressed a willingness to be “led by the splendor of grace to knowledge of the truth.” (As recounted by William J. Danaher Jr. – Feasting on the Word – Epiphany C)

A star shone in the sky.
Something had changed in the world.
And these magi, these wise men, these astrologers wanted to find out what it meant.

The story that we follow in the gospel of Matthew takes them to the doorstep of Herod in Jerusalem.
He listens intently to their story and his first response is to feel threatened.
He is the King of the Jews and as far as he knows, there is no child that has been born or that is expected within his court.
But there was prophecy about God’s anointed one, the Messiah, and so he calls together the religious experts of his court, the Sanhedrin, and to ask them what this might mean.
In turn, they turn to the scrolls of their faith… to the writings and teachings of their ancestors… to make sense out of this epiphany, this revelation, this new truth in the world.
They return with a few sentences of scripture that appear to speak about the Christ, from the prophet Micah and the history of 2 Samuel.
Herod sends the magi away with this information, to seek this child, but his intent is not worship or homage or truth… rather, he seeks to stop this revelation before it makes an impact on the world… HIS world.
And he will do everything in his power to stop it.

What we know is that while Herod turned his rage and fury upon the region and massacred all of the little ones who were under the age of two, he ultimately was unsuccessful.
The magi find the child, but are warned in a dream not to return and reveal the location.
Mary and Joseph and the Christ Child become aware of the danger posed to them and flee to the land of Egypt.
Jesus is saved, he grows up, and becomes an epiphany all of us:
He is the Truth.
He is the Light.
And because the Word was made flesh among us, everything has changed.

In Christ, in the good news, in this mysterious and awesome collection of texts, something new is happening in the world.
And, Paul writes, we have access to that truth.
God’s great Epiphany was not just something that happened long ago.
No, the mystery of God’s plan, the good news of God, is being revealed right here and right now through you and me, through this household of God, through the church present in the world.
Paul believes, as is evident in this selection from Ephesians, that through the church the wisdom of God is now being made known to the world.
What was begun in the promises to Abraham,
what has been confirmed through the prophets to the people of Israel,
what is now being revealed through the life of Jesus,
is that God has a plan to bless the whole world… and you and me are now part of that blessing.

Like Paul, like the religious scholars in Herod’s temple, like the astrologers from the east, we want to know what it all means.
We want to know how to make sense of the things that are happening all around us.
We want to know what difference it should make in our lives.
We want to know when we are supposed to drop everything and follow.
We want to know what is really and truly important enough that it will turn our world upside down.

Or… maybe we are afraid of precisely those things.
After all, as Flannery O’Conner paraphrased, “You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you odd.”
Or as another put it, “you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. But first it will make you miserable.”

I think sometimes we are content with ignorance because we don’t have to change.
We don’t want to dive into the truths of scripture, because we are afraid something we have always relied upon might be inaccurate or wrong.
Or perhaps, we are ashamed after a lifetime of being a part of the church of how little we know of these holy words.
This book…
This wonderful, holy, inspired collection of texts, is itself an Epiphany.
It is a revelation.
Every time we open its pages and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, we discover new truths about who we are supposed to be and how we are supposed to live in this world.
And so as we start a new year, I want to invite you to let go of your fears.
Let go of your shame.
Let go of your hesitation.

Over the next seven weeks of this series, I want to invite us to be like those ancient astrologers.
They did not yet know what that star in the sky meant.
They were unaware of how that child would change the world… would change their world.
But they were curious.
They were interested.
And they opened themselves up to the possibility.
They didn’t stay at home and wonder, “what if?”
No!
They did the work.
They made the journey.
And they discovered something amazing.

That is what I want for each of us in this church over these next two months.
I want us to be curious.
I want us to ask lots of questions.
I want us to be open to new insights.
I want us to do the work of opening up this scripture and allowing it to be a part of our lives.

And here is what I promise you along the way…
Like Paul, who felt called to share the teachings of Christ with others, to help make plain the mystery, I promise to walk with you.
In the coming weeks, we’ll learn together about context and language and interpretation. We’ll dive into words like hermeneutic and exegesis. I’ll give you tools each week that will help you to better understand these texts and how they relate to one another.
And what I promise at the end of this journey is not that we will all be experts, but that we will know that in spite of our questions, in spite of all we have left to learn, in spite of the depths of the mystery that is before us… that God truly is with us and that God is present in these texts.
And… that God is present in this church.
And through you… and through me… God is going to change this world.
May it be so.
Amen.

The Tie that Binds

Posted on September 9, 2018Leave a comment

Text: Colossians 3: 12-17

I want to start off our message this morning by thanking all of you for the gentleness, patience, and tolerance that you have shared with one another these past few weeks. As a community, we have been exploring the larger conversation taking place in our denomination about human sexuality. There are still lots of questions and unknowns, but thank you for making the time to listen and pray and reflect. As these months continue before February, please feel free to ask questions and we’ll let you know of opportunities to have further conversation as they arise.
One of the things that these past four weeks highlighted for me, however, is that we are truly bound together in love. For the vast majority of those gathered here, our presence in this community of faith is rooted in something that goes beyond our disagreements or differences. And so I want to take some time today to explore that.
Will you pray with me?
Holy God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts and minds be holy and pleasing to you, Our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Be tolerant. Forgive. Allow peace to rule your hearts. Teach and warn each other.
Paul invites us through his letter to the Colossians to think seriously about what it means to be a community formed by Jesus Christ. A community that takes seriously its baptismal vows. A community bound together by the love of God.

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.

What unites us is not the rules we follow or our ethnicity or which team we root for, but Christ – who is in all things and in all people.
And the image of Christ should be renewing and transforming our lives and our community so that whatever we do, we do it as one coordinated body.
The truth is that this is harder than it sounds.
We have a really hard time putting into practice these things as a congregation because the demands of the world outside of this community are so heavy. Work. School. Sports. Dance. The lawn needs mowed and dinner needs made. Our lives are being pulled in a thousand different directions with every single one of them demanding that we wear a different hat or become a different person in order to be successful.
The vast majority of us spend less than 3-5 hours with our church community each week. 3-5 hours is all the time we have to look towards Christ, pray together, sing, hear the word, eat some cookies, and then we all head our separate directions once again.
You know… some of us spend more time each week in the fall in community at football games than we do at church.
I’m not saying that’s a bad thing! I know I was gathered together with friends around the television yesterday watching Iowa and Iowa State.
But it made me realize that perhaps congregations today have much more in common with football fans than with the kind of community Paul is calling us to embody in these scriptures.
We are brought together around our common love – football in one case and God in the other. We sing and cheer together. We pray together – “Please, God, let us get a first down.” And when the game is over and the refreshments are cleaned up, we head home… back to our lives.
My experience with going to football games is that for the most part I don’t know the people around me. I know that we share a common passion and for a couple of hours we are all on the same team, but I have little, if any sense of obligation to the people who are around me in the stadium. I don’t get their phone number and check in on them later in the week. I’m not going to be invited their kid’s wedding ten years down the road.
Some of you, I know, are long time season ticket holders, however, and faithfully show up at every game, week after week. And I’ve heard a few stories about the community you have formed with the people around you. Over the years, you’ve gotten to know one another – you talk about what you do and how your families are.
I imagine the same thing happens here at church. When you sit in the same pew week after week, there are others who do the same. You take that time before worship and after the postlude to ask questions about how life is going. You know the names of their kids. You ask how work or school is going. You follow-up with someone has been sick.
There is a bond of love that starts to be formed as we gather together each week.

Before our Father’s throne we pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares.

What happens, however, when there is conflict?
What happens when we disagree?
What happens when we are offended by something that another has done?
If we were simply fans in a stadium, maybe you would stop talking with that person or switch seats. There is little if any sense of obligation to one another, much less accountability for one another.
But that is not true in the church.
In our baptismal vows, we promised to proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. We promised to pray for one another. We promised to surround one another with a community of love and forgiveness so that we might all grow in our service to others.
Our congregation has 451 professing members on our rolls and has listed 87 people who have been baptized as infants or children. That means there are 538 people who are bound together under the care of this congregation. 538 people for whom we have made vows to surround with love and care.
There is a really key part of those vows that is really hard to remember.
We promised to surround one another with forgiveness… because we are not always going to get it right.
I know that when we look around, we do not see 538 faces in our midst.
Some members of our body simply live in new places, but their connection to our church continues and then come back and visit when they can.
Some members of this community can no longer be physically present with us on a Sunday morning, but we try to reach out in love and help them to remain connected through visits, cards, and calls.
But others are no longer active in this community because of something that went wrong.
Maybe an inappropriate comment was made.
Maybe they felt like they didn’t have it all together like they should.
I need to name a simple truth:
We are not saints. People in this church will let you down.
But you are not a saint either. And you will let others down at one point or another.
When we do fail one another – when we make mistakes, when we fall off the wagon, when we lash out in anger or frustration – well, that is actually when we need one another the most.
That is when we need this community of folks who are not only brought together by Christ’s love, but bound together by that love. And as Christ’s life transforms our community, then how we treat one another changes as well.

We share each other’s woes, our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.

Too often, I have seen churches allow conflicts and problems to remain hidden. We don’t share with one another the woes in our lives for fear of judgment. And out of fear of being judgmental, we aren’t willing to hold one another accountable for the promises that we have made.
But listen again to the words of Paul in his letter to the Colossians:
Put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Be tolerant with one another.
Forgive each other.
Put on love.
Friends, you are part of a community that is unlike any else in this world. We are bound together by Christ and these words, these values, this attitudes, form the core of who we are and how we treat one another.
And the Body of Christ, we are called to be honest, share the truth, but always with those attitudes at the core of what we say and how we act. In that way, no matter our conflict or struggle, we can always love one another back into community.
When was the last time that you reached out to one of your brothers or sisters in Christ and gently asked why they haven’t been in church for a while? Give someone a call and listen more than you speak.
When was the last time you texted your friend and reminded them about the great children’s activities that they’ve been missing? Pull out your phone right now… and do so with compassion for the busyness that is probably bringing a lot of stress into their life.
When was the last time you stopped to visit the older couple who used to sit right behind you? Forgive yourself for not doing so sooner… just go!
Have you ever told the person who sits next to you what it means to you to give faithfully? Or shared how much it means to you that they are present here in worship each week? Or asked them if there is anything you can pray for in their life?
For too long we have talked about people and their problems and their failings behind their back rather than reaching out and letting them know that we are here, and we want to be on this journey with them.
I have seen too many churches treat one another as strangers instead of as brothers and sisters in Christ’s love. Siblings, bound together by a love so strong that it cannot be broken.

When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.

This church knows how to love, how to serve, and how to pray. When someone lets us know that they are in need, we show up. When a loved one is dying, we bring prayers. When someone is recovering from surgery, we show up with food.
Our greater challenge is to continue pushing ourselves to love when it is difficult. When we are disappointed. When we aren’t satisfied with how things are going. How to love as family, flesh and blood of the one Body of Christ. You never cease to amaze me with your outpouring of love… so now let’s allow that love to continue to move us deeper into relationship, deeper into the tough questions, deeper into the dark and troubled places of our lives. Even there… especially there… let us be bound together in love.

Pastoral Persona

A while back, Verily put out an article: Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Post Something on Social Media

The basic three questions are these:

Is it useful?
Is it truthful?
Is it fruitful?

I had shared the article with other pastors because I thought that the three questions raised in the article are good guidelines for how we can interact with parishioners and one another online. In today’s vicious political climate and in the lead up to our own General Conference, I thought these questions would be good to revisit.

On the one hand, these questions help us to utilize social media and our web presence and be truly vulnerable. But I think they are also guidelines that allow us to be real without oversharing or crossing boundaries. These questions act as a filter for whatever content we might put forth – from our feelings on a basketball game to our opinion of a candidate to our experience of worship that morning.

Verily doesn’t have a Christian background, so I find it so interesting that fruitfulness is one of the criteria they use. And the very idea of promoting ourselves as a brand seems the very definition of inauthentic. However, we do have a persona, a public perception, that we are known by – whether as pastors or as church folk or as church bodies in general. The world sees us based on what we choose to put out there via blogs, websites, tweets, and posts. So, what are we saying?

Is it useful?

“if I think someone else will benefit intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually from my post, I’ll push it out.”

I think this could also be thought of as relevance. Is this something that my community should be aware of or are they already talking about it? I’ve long used the Barthian quote about having a bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other, and I think this usefulness question asks us to make connections with the lives of people and the gospel we proclaim. And, I think it invites us to look to the secular world and see where we can find insight that is good for the people of God, too. (like the article I’m referencing!) One of my hobbies is watching television shows and I am constantly discovering questions, insights, and realities of the human dilemma that we fail to talk about as a church. So occasionally I try to blog about where I see grace or the human condition or redemption in the media we consume in the secular world. If we aren’t paying attention to the world we live and breathe in, I think our posts will fail to be useful.

Usefulness also has to do with what we are trying to accomplish with our posts. Maybe we need to ask if the church will benefit intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually from our posts. Or, are we simply trying to stir the pot? Are we trying to build up the church or does our commentary simply serve to tear it apart? The same could be asked of our national conversations and politics.

Is it truthful?

“Is what I’m broadcasting… an accurate representation of who I am personally and professionally?”

While this item does have to do with actual facts, and we shouldn’t ever promote or share things that simply aren’t true, this point for me really is about whether something accurately represents me. I post about sports and food and family and friends because it is who I am. Yes, I am a pastor, but I am also a real, normal human being, just like others are. If my online pastoral persona is all about the church or if it is all about ministry, then I am painting a false image of what it means to serve God. I don’t create space for others to live their lives AND serve God, too.

The flip side of this is that ministry is a high calling and we commit to living according to higher standards. And as a colleague noted, perhaps as pastors we give up the right to a “private” life when we take on our calling.

Or perhaps, a different way to say it is that our lives as pastors are always under the microscope of public opinion. What we do, even in our private time, reflects our profession (whether we want it to or not). I hang out with a lot of non-churched people. They are at my house every Friday night, playing board games and ping pong. Even in that little microcosm of personal life, they don’t forget that I am also a pastor.

And so, if I can’t say it in front of colleagues or in front of the church, maybe I really shouldn’t say it… or at the very least not say it online. I find it much harder to remember this when I’m at home watching a basketball game and my team is down by 35 points.

Is it fruitful?

“Will what I’m sharing create something bigger or make an impact, whether in the form of an online debate or dollars for a charity?”

My colleague, Deborah Coble Wise, noted that this definition of fruitfulness is sometimes part of the problem: “When everything because a ’cause’ or a debate… does it lose the possibility of authentic relationship?”

How we, as the church, define fruitfulness is very different from the rest of the world. Sometimes, yes, it is about numbers and getting people on our side (if our side is the Kingdom). We could ask how this post could help make disciples of Jesus Christ and how it will help to raise money for a project we are working on.

But we also define fruitfulness in a lot of un-quantifiable ways. Will this post help us transform the world? Will it bring hope to someone? Will it spark a conversation? Will it create a deeper relationship or community? Will it impact the life of a youth?

A Spotlight and a Platform

Posted on February 6, 20161 Comment

Martin Shkreli, the man who raised prices on various life-saving drugs purely for profit, testified before Congress recently:

What really struck me in this video, was the plea of Mr. Cummings.

He lifted up the truth of the impact of Mr. Shkreli’s actions, but did not merely question or shame or condemn him. Instead, he turned the interrogation into a witness to the power of transformation. While so much of the world has written off Mr. Shkreli as a terrible, rotten person who deserves the worst the world can throw at him, Mr. Cummings spoke to his better angels.

“You have a spotlight and you have a platform.”

“I truly believe you could become a force of tremendous good.”

“There’s so many people that could use your help. May God bless you.”

And you could see, for a moment, Mr. Shkreli squirming in his seat.

How do we, as the church, speak the truth to people who have power? We do it in love.

Shouting has its moments, but sometimes truth-telling happens with a quiet voice… a persistent voice (“are you listening?”)… that requires the other to pay attention.

Sometimes, it is the vision of what could be that is just as effective as what has been.

Sometimes, we appeal to the Kingdom of God by naming the small kernel of possibility and hope we see in the humanity of another person… even if it is really, really, really tiny.

Our politics and discourse with one another these days is so vicious and dividing. It happens in elections and in our capitols and it happens in our church life as well.

What if instead we reached out to one another like Mr. Cummings?

What if instead we listened to the words of Christ in Matthew 5:43-45?

Love your enemies and pray for those who harass you.

Just as Mr. Shkreli has a platform and a spotlight, so do you, with every action you take every day. And you have a chance to stand there and speak for truth and justice and love.

truth and reconciliation

Posted on June 29, 20152 Comments

I read a post earlier today that dives into the words Bree Newsome said as she was arrested this weekend:

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

What I loved about the author’s wrestling is that she highlighted that faith isn’t always about forgiveness. It is also about speaking truth to power:

So Bree Newsome was a reminder to me that forgiveness is not the only thing faith can look like in public. Faith in public can look like a demand – for justice, for recognition, for grace.

Completely aside from what is happening in the world, those words hit me in the core of my being.

There are some relationships in my life that trouble me. They tear at my heart. I feel like a divided person because of them.

And I’ve been praying for a heart to forgive. I’ve been seeking reconciliation in my own way. And it is hard. And painful.

I keep reading about how forgiveness isn’t for the other person… it is for ourselves so that we can let go of the pain and be at peace. I think that is true, which is why it is about more than simply saying, “I forgive you.” It is about getting to the point in your soul when that is really true.

When you are on the receiving end of such a phrase, the work is done. Or rather, maybe there wasn’t any work at all. “I forgive you,” is a balm to ease a troubled mind. That’s it. End of story.

But, “I forgive you,” doesn’t change anything. It allows those who have hurt us to continue to do so.

Maybe that is why God’s forgiveness and grace always comes with the call for a different way. God’s forgiveness is so profound and complete because it forces us to truly face our transgressions before we hear the words of comfort.

And maybe that is part of what has been missing in my own quest for forgiveness. I haven’t yet told the truth of what I’m feeling. I have not yet demanded to have the pain recognized.

I’m too busy trying to be nice and kind and forgiving and it feels inauthentic.

I hesitate to make that demand to be seen, to have my pain recognized, largely out of fear. Fear of shaking the waters. Fear of making things worse. Fear that things might actually change?

Fear can cause us to want to fight. Fear can cause us to run away. Fear can paralyze us.

In one relationship in particular, I feel paralyzed. I don’t know what to do, so I do nothing.

I wonder what would happen if I began my morning prayers not with the plea that I could forgive, but by thanking God for being my light and my salvation and my strength… with the reminder that, in God, I have nothing to fear. I wonder what would happen if before I focused on reconciliation, I found the courage to speak the truth.

Spirit of Surrender

Posted on July 1, 2012Leave a comment

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

But things were not as rosy as they seemed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that “no one” includes us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spirit of the Underdog

Posted on June 24, 20121 Comment

In 1887, a new term was coined in the English speaking world – the “underdog”… as opposed to the top dog – who was the dominant person in a situation or hierarchy, the winner, the victor in a fight or contest of wills. The term likely comes from the world of dog fighting, but soon the phrase was applied to politics, games, matches, and life in general.

We have seen the term “underdog” change from describing the outcome of a contest to the expectations for the outcome…. The underdog is the one who is expected to lose. The underdog is the one facing the uphill battle. The underdog is the victim of injustice who starts off at a disadvantage. The underdog doesn’t have the power, the money, the strength, or the system on their side.

And our bible is full of underdogs… people who march into battle with nothing but slingshots to face a giant… people who head into the seats of power as prophets… people who fight with trumpets instead of swords… people who are not afraid of what might happen to their own lives if they speak the truth…

And in our journey through the book of Acts today, we find disciples who by all accounts are NOT the top dogs of society. Their leader has recently been crucified, and yet still they go around working and witnessing and worshipping in his name.

As Zoe read for us, immediately after Peter and John healed the lame man in the temple they began to talk about Jesus and his power… and the powers of this world swoop in. They are not happy, to say the least, and they throw the pair in jail for the night so that they will cease and desist.

The next day, a council comes together… the same sort of council that gathered around Jesus – questioning him and sending him off to be crucified.

Jessica Hagedorn, an American playwright and poet once said: “I’m an underdog person, so I align myself with those who seem to be not considered valuable in polite society.”

That is precisely what Peter and John have done. Not only have they aligned themselves with the name of Jesus, but they have also aligned themselves with a poor, helpless, and up until yesterday – lame and useless man.

But right there on the margins, on the edge of society, is where the Holy Spirit moves. And so even though they were standing in front of the High Priest, the elders, and the legal scribes… even though they knew the danger and the risk… even though they knew the outcome seemed grim – Peter was moved by the Holy Spirit to speak:

“Leaders of the people and elders, are we being examined today because something good was done for a sick person, a good deed that healed him? If so, then you and all the people of Israel need to know that this man stands healthy before you because of the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.”

There the man stood. The one who was lame for birth stood there – right next to Peter and John as a living witness of the power of Jesus Christ. It was not a miracle done in the privacy of a home but in the middle of the temple and half of Jerusalem had seen it. The leaders were shocked by the disciples confidence, overwhelmed by the support of the crowds that gathered for these underdogs, and couldn’t figure out how to punish them and enforce their power without making themselves look bad.

Peter and John aligned themselves with the underdog – with the man on the bottom of society’s food chain… and for once that underdog was winning… the crowd was on his side… they were on the right side of justice.

In our society today – there are many people who are pushed around and broken. Last week we talked about the power of prayer and the healing power of God, but God also calls us to simply stand with them.

We are moved by they Holy Spirit to stand with the widow and the orphan. We are moved by the Holy Spirit to not just minister to the poor, but to get to know them and find out why they are poor and work to change that. Our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ takes us to the dark and lonely corners of our community – to people who have no one – in order to reflect the light of God into their lives. We, like Peter and John, are called to pay attention to the underdogs and to stand with them…. even if it means that we put our own selves on the line.

I talked a few weeks ago about how even “the church” has been an agent of oppression and injustice in this world. For a long time, we were on the wrong side of issues of equality for African Americans, justice for native peoples, and the inclusion of women in the pulpit. But throughout our history, there have also been countless people who have said, “no,” to the church and who chose to stand with and for those people until they found a place at the table. I am utterly grateful for those who became underdogs for my sake.

And so today, even if it means that I might get myself in trouble, I cannot ignore my calling to stand with underdogs. Last week, we talked about how Peter and John were led to stop by the side of the road and heal the lame man… and in the same way, the Holy Spirit leads each of us. We all have different issues that are close to our hearts, but whatever they are – we have to act, we have to do something, we have to stand up for the underdog. Maybe it is justice for the immigrant, or support for those fighting cancer, or kids who go hungry every day. Maybe it is with single parents, our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who feel excluded from the church. Maybe it is with any parent facing the uphill battle of raising kids today. Whoever it is, wherever they are… if they Holy Spirit calls you to stand with them and for them, go… even if it means that you yourself become an underdog.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. – the author of “Life’s Little Instruction Book” once wrote: “I never expect to lose. Even when I’m the underdog, I still prepare a victory speech.”

And in the blessed hands of the Holy Spirit, you and I always have a victory speech ready, too.

In our passage from Acts, Peter and John found themselves in front of the high and mighty in the religious leadership and yet the Holy Spirit gave them the words to speak.

As I think more about it – their speech would have been the same whether they were facing commendation or condemnation. They were simply speaking the truth: This man was healed in the name of Jesus Christ who you rejected. Praise be to God!

As much as the council wanted to throw the book at these two – the crowds were not on their side. Even with all of their power, they couldn’t win.

I believe that this passage reminds us that neutrality is not an option. When we choose not to speak or stand with the underdog than we have registered our vote with the top dogs. The only reason that the council lost the power they held was because of the strength of the crowds – because they spoke the truth, because they were willing to put themselves on the line for justice.

When the Holy Spirit calls you to speak, you just might be the voice that tips the scales in the favor of the underdog.

With the crowds turning against them, the council had nothing left to do. They tried to maintain their face and they scolded Peter and John and warned them to not preach in Jesus’ name again.

And Peter and John responded: “We can’t stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

As Christians, our victory speech is the testimony of our hearts about what Jesus Christ has done in our lives. Everytime we tell it, it is good news. Whether we are on the top of the pile or the bottom, it is good news. On good days and on bad days, it is good news.

The musician behind the familiar song “Proud to Be An American,” Lee Greenwood once wrote: It bothers me to know there is the possibility that I as a Christian would be not only an underdog, but that I would be trodden upon if I claimed that I was a Christian.

I have talked a lot this morning about standing with the underdog, but the very fact that we are Christians make us underdogs in this society. We start out at a disadvantage. We will be ridiculed, misunderstood, antagonized, and trampled on. If we’re not… then we are doing something wrong 😉

I actually believe the beauty of the fact that we no longer live in a Christian nation is that we now have the freedom to truly live out our faith. Without the blanket assumption that everyone is a Christian, people can see the difference between someone who claims to follow Jesus and someone who really does it.

Too many of us are afraid to associate with the name of Jesus. We are afraid of being rejected and cast out of our families. We are afraid of offending. We are afraid of finding ourselves in a vulnerable position.

You are not alone. You are in good company. And for far too long, we as Christians have been timid of speaking the truth of our faith. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit might move among us like it did among Peter and John and the disciples and early followers of the way of Christ. My prayer is that we might be challenged to stand with the underdogs, that we might speak the good news in love, and that we might not be afraid to become underdogs ourselves.

Because you know, when the storms are raging and all the powers of this world seem to be against us – that is when Jesus’ power is seen most clearly.

Our children learned this week that with God on our side, we have nothing to be afraid of. The wind and the waters obey him… the devil doesn’t stand a chance… the hungry are fed… the lost are found… the lonely are loved… all because of Jesus Christ.

Maybe the key to this story is the realization that we are not actually underdogs at all… in the grand scheme of things – we know in whom true victory lies. Goodness is stronger than evil, life is stronger than death, light is stronger than darkness. In the big picture – the powers of this world have nothing on the power of Jesus… they are the ones who will lose. They are doomed from the start.

We can no longer despair at the pain and suffering because we know through Jesus Christ that all will be made well.

The question of Jesus keeps coming back to me… Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?

Victory is already ours…. So lets boldly start proclaming the good news.