Pentecost Sunday

Hello everyone. I hope you were inspired and challenged yesterday. I know I was. The thought might have been new for many of you. Nonetheless, it is an important one to grasp. I stated yesterday, to the best of my ability, that Pentecost Sunday is part of a much larger story—the story of a missionary God. He is a fountain of sending love. This belief reveals some of the more fundamental aspects of our faith. Why is there creation? Why Israel? Why Jesus? Why the church? Because God wants to share his light and love. God has a centrifugal force (a movement away from center) as well as a centripetal force (movement toward center). Through his Spirit, God is reaching out and drawing all of creation back into his liberating light and love. God through the ascended Christ sends his Spirit . . . to send (form and empower) the church to witness to God’s grace and truth. I like the way David Bosch states it in his classic book, Transforming Mission: “In the new image mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. God is a missionary God. ‘It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church’ (Moltmann 1977:64). Mission is thereby seen as a movement from God to the world; the church is viewed as an instrument for that mission. There is church because there is mission, not vice versa. To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God’s love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love” (391, emphasis mine). I would encourage you to read that one more time, slowly. You see, the church doesn’t create a mission per se; its reason to be is mission. To be a church is to be sent out into God's creation. Likewise, to be a Spirit-filled disciple is to be sent. We're a part of God's dream to bring healing and restoration to the world.

But what does this mean? Does this mean we’re all called to be evangelists? Does this mean we have fight for our rights or for our country? Does this mean we have to start knocking on doors? Does this mean we need to leave for another country in order to be a missionary? No, it doesn't mean any of those things. It's deeper and more dynamic than anything those questions represent. We are to be witnesses to God’s salvation in Christ (Acts 1.8), not just do some witnessing whenever we feel the desire to prove something. And for Luke, salvation is multifaceted. Quoting Bosch again: “One could say that, for Luke, salvation actually has six dimensions: economic, social, political, physical, psychological, and spiritual” (117). To witness to such a dynamic salvation will require the entire community moving outward toward the world, responding to the Spirit’s direction and empowering presence, loving the world with words and deeds. In other words, we need to be shaped and fashioned by God’s movement of love so that we can actually embody the good news. What a great adventure! No doubt, we’re not up the task on our own. We need the empowering presence of the Christ. And so maybe we need to wait like the early disciples (cf. Luke 24.36-53), seeking God's transforming grace so that our hearts will be stretched and enlarged to make room for the new life in Christ. Peace!

Empowered to Obey

I hope yesterday’s sermon was a challenging one. Speaking from John 14.15-23, I stated that we are called to obey the empowering presence of the resurrected and ascended Christ. The challenge is simple: Jesus speaks as if obedience to his commands is a possibility. John Wesley would agree. He states, in so many words, that we sin not because we have to but because we do not take advantage of the transforming grace of God. This is a revolutionary thought. Many Christians function from the belief that we will always sin, that is, we will always live in disobedience to Christ. But many of us agreed yesterday that sin (disobedience) is forgivable but not excusable, especially in light of what God has done for us in Christ (cf. Romans 6, 7, 8; 1 John 3, 4). In other words, Christ can really transform us so that we actually want to obey him. This does not mean we’ll get it right; our witness to Christ will fall short of his perfect life. We will make mistakes and misjudgments. Our unique personalities and perspectives will get in the way of fully representing Christ’s love. We will always be frail humans, which means we will be tired, gloomy, grumpy, hungry, and sad on occasion (which is not sin per se). Furthermore, our journeys will consist of failures and setbacks, ups and downs. We won’t live flawlessly. We will be tempted, and we might even glance longer than we should at a particular sin. But all of this does not mean that we have to oppose the purposes of God for our lives. Christ can do great things in us and through us. So instead of embracing a gospel of sin-management (Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven), we must assume that God can really transform us (Christians are not only forgiven but empowered to believe and love). What a challenge! What an opportunity: to live and believe that what God commands he also wills to accomplish in our life. Through the empowering presence of Christ—the Holy Spirit, God is working for our transformation. The only question remaining: Will we work with him? Peace.

Question: Is this expecting too much or too little? If the bar is set too high, we will end up being fakes, too low, and we'll set ourselves up for failure. Any thoughts?

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Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. I’m always conflicted on what to do or say on this day. For starters, it isn’t a Christian holiday. Not that it’s wrong to honor our mothers and our fathers, it’s just that Mother’s Day isn’t something that everyone can celebrate, unlike other Christian holidays (Advent, Christmas, Pentecost, etc.) which speaks to every human and his/her most pressing need. What do you mean? Well, for many, Mother’s Day is a painful day—some don’t have fond memories, others weren’t able to have children for some reason or another, still others might feel guilty for how they actually mothered their children. So yesterday I talked briefly about some of the more motherly aspects of God. In scripture God is described as having maternal instincts, which should not surprise us since both men and women have been created in the image of God (Genesis 1.27). For example, the Hebrew word for compassion/mercy in Isaiah 63.7 is the same word used for womb in Isaiah 46.3 and 49.14. What a remarkable reference: God’s compassion is womb-like; it's safe, warm, and something the mother treasures. Also we are reminded in Isaiah 66.13 that as a mother comforts her child, so God will comfort Israel. Similarly, God’s faithful love is compared to that of a mother’s for her child: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49.15-16). After all, it’s God who has conceived and given birth to Israel in the first place (Numbers 11.12). The point to all of this is simple: God is not only like a father, but he is also like a mother. I’m not suggesting that we call God a mother; scripture never goes that far. Nonetheless, when wrestling with what God is like, motherly images are extremely helpful. So I hope that for all those who are reminded of what they don’t have on Mother’s Day, we (the church) can point them to God and to a community (a new family) that gives them the comfort they need. Peace.

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Living the Abundant Life--John 10.10

Well, here I am again, writing another reflection on yesterday’s message. Remember, I spoke on the counterfeit ways of living that leave us empty (the impostors that climb over the fence). Because we are insecure, perhaps by nature, we’re vulnerable to other storylines that offer some sort of salvation but never really deliver anything of substance. So often, we’re looking for love--validation or security--in all the wrong places. Henri Nouwen articulates it well: “Success, popularity and power can, indeed, present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions” (Life of the Beloved, 27). This is the problem. Out of insecurity, we look for answers--for validation--that ultimately leave us empty. We're tempted to turn to body-image, success, popularity, false forms of intimacy, legalistic forms of religion, desperately searching for love, security and personal well-being. But these things never bring us what we thought they would. They're counterfeits that leave us empty at best, ruin us at worst.

The answer is the security of knowing God’s love. Jesus came to give us life (John 10.10); he came to reconnect us to God, so that we might know God and have eternal life (John 17.3). What is that life? It is God’s life, his love. It is knowing his love—really knowing his love!—that sets us free to live. I’m saying something very radical here, for those who have ears to hear: we’re not fully alive, fully human, until we’re resting secure in the Father’s love, until we’re living in that love, growing in that love, and living out that love. This is what it means to be human. In short, we come home, because from love you came and to love you shall return. Our hearts, indeed our lives, are insecure until they find their rest in God and his faithful love. I pray this truth will sink deep into your heart. Peace!

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The Suffering King

“The message about the cross is foolishness” proclaims Paul (1 Corinthians 1.18, NRSV) . Today, 4-22, we looked at the travelers making their trek away from Jerusalem toward Emmaus (Luke 24.13-35). They’d seen enough. Even though there were reports that Jesus is alive, they’re leaving, not so sure they want a crucified Lord. (Remember, the resurrection doesn’t erase the suffering of Christ; instead it validates it.) One interpretive clue that I failed to mention is the journey motif. Did you notice all the references to a journey—they’re traveling, they’re on the way, as they’re going along (24.13, 15, 17, 32, 35)? This is an important metaphor for Luke. In Luke 9.51, Jesus begins his journey to the cross. Then over the next several chapters, Jesus makes frequent references to where he’s going (10.38, 13.22, 33; 14.25; 17.11; 18.31, 35; 19.11). You get the point: Jesus is taking the disciples to the cross. Now these two disciples are walking away from the cross. They’re not ready to embrace the message of the cross. Why? I offered two guesses. First, the cross tells us we have a need. Make no mistake, the cross speaks grace; it yells grace, announcing that we’re accepted and loved. But it also says, there’s a problem, and the problem is not all the other people in the world, the problem is sin, the sin in my heart. The cross reminds us that we need a savior. You can’t look at the cross and conclude, “I’m okay, you’re okay.” No, look at the great lengths God had to go to deal with sin. We have a need. We can’t find our way to God on our own merits. God had to make a way; and make a way he did, not with reluctance but with great love. Secondly, the cross for Jesus is a symbol for sacrificial love. Jesus’ entire life could be described as one of sacrificial love. And he calls us to embrace the way of the cross. He came to establish a unique kingdom with a very odd king (odd too many, at least). He calls us to love enemies, to forgive, to be quick in reconciling with others. It is a kingdom shaped by the cross. Even Paul calls us to embrace the cross as a way of life (Philippians 2.5-11). We’re called to be agents of God’s sacrificial love. That’s a hard pill to swallow at times. We all resist it, I’m sure. So, like these two travelers, we need to be shaped by the word, and we need to partake of communion to be reminded how beautiful the cross really is (Luke 24.24, 30). Any thoughts? Peace.

P.S. The cross is one of our core values. As a church, we value primarily these three things: community, cross, new-creation (Richard Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament).

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Doubting Thomas

Last Sunday (4-15) I preached on unbelieving Thomas (John 20.24-30). Many preachers (and believers) extol the virtues of Thomas, stating he's a hero, a true pragmatist, a man of our times. I suggested that Thomas' approach to the faith is not praiseworthy but blameworthy. I know, I was out on a limb with that statement. But the way John tells the story seems to suggest that's the point. First, Thomas isn't open to the testimony of his friends. He's very demanding in what he wants. He needs proof and not just any proof, specific proof. Isn't it strange that he doesn't pause and say something like, "I don't know if I can swallow that pill, give me some more time to think about it"? This response is more appropriate, I feel. Instead, Thomas refuses to believe in the testimony of his fellow companions until he sees it for himself. Second, Thomas' statement of "Unless . . . I will never see" is similar to a criticism Jesus makes in John 4:48, "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe." Last but not least, Jesus gently rebukes Thomas. In Greek, the word play is not between doubt and belief but between belief and unbelief. NASB gets it right: "Don't be unbelieving but believing" (vs. 27). Jesus then looks over Thomas' shoulder and says to the listener who has never seen, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

So what do we do with all this? I suggested that Thomas' approach to faith reveals a stubbornness that can get us into trouble. If we demand a revelation on our own terms, we might miss the life that God has for us. If we don't respond to the faith that God has planted in our hearts, we might harden ourselves against it. Too often we shut the door of our hearts and refuse to respond to the light that is being revealed. We can easily end up like children at a party refusing to play, refusing to believe in the testimony of the laughter, saying it's not that great. It's a prove-it-to-me-attitude. We want proof without commitment. We're on the outside looking in. But like so many things in life, one has to believe, commit, and then see and understand. Refusing to move forward until all the evidence is in might get us into trouble.

The good news, as this text reveals, is that Jesus still works. He doesn't give up on Thomas, but instead he meets Thomas where he is. He comes to him anyway, revealing himself to an unbelieving and demanding man. We can only hope and pray he does the same for us when we close the door of our hearts to his liberating truth. His grace is greater. Thanks be to God.

Peace.