Good News to Bad Christians

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10 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

 –1 Corinthians 1:10-17

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

 –1 Corinthians 1:1-5

It seems that our country is divided over everything.  I mean, we can’t even have a little fun when IHOP changes its name to IHOb just to draw attention to itself.  We all want to claim the moral high ground based on the values that are important to us.  For some, obeying law and respecting authority is the highest value.  For others, justice and mercy are the highest values.  And then there are many others who find themselves on a spectrum between multiple other values that include the two I listed already.  We don’t think the same way.  But we must acknowledge that we are influenced by powerful values and the leaders who embody those values.

I find it fascinating how the Apostle Paul dealt with a church that struggled with many divisions.  The church in Corinth was his most diverse community and most divided church.  There were many social, political, and economic divisions within the church alone (Pauline scholar Douglas Campbell points to 15 divisions Paul addresses in his letters).  How did the people of Corinth deal with their problems?  They separated into “factions” based on partisan issues (partisan means strong supporter of a party, cause, or person).  Each of these factions claimed their own ‘leaders’ – they co-opted Paul, Apollos, Cephas (Peter) and even Jesus!  Christians were slandering and quarrelling.  Paul addressed this by sending good news to bad Christians in 1 Corinthians.  Paul starts his letter by writing, “let there be no divisions among you, but be united in the same mind and the same purpose…it has been reported there are quarrels among you…some say “I belong to Paul” or “I belong to Apollos” or “I belong to Cephas” or “I belong to Christ””.

I love how Paul does this.  He starts with himself as the lowest “claimed faction” leader and moves up to Christ.  After all, if your are in a faction that claims Cephas (Peter) or Christ you have way more authority than Paul or Apollos!  But Paul calls this for what it is: if you think you have the moral high ground just because you claim Christ and turn him into a leader of your faction, you are sadly mistaken.  You think that makes you right?  Christ can not be divided.  Christ is “faction-less”.

If we want to follow Christ, we must follow Christ.  You can’t follow another faction leader or even their ideals.  You can’t divide Christ and claim him for your faction.  You can’t slander the leaders of other factions.  You can’t slander or quarrel with members of a different faction.  If you are followers of Christ, you must love one another in the midst of your differences and you must stop tearing each other down.  This is Paul’s central lesson in 1 Corinthians.  “You have divisions…okay; but what are those divisions rooted in?  Your faction’s belief system?  That is not what I taught you.”  Christ is not a faction and he is our primary leader.  Christ gets the highest allegiance over every other leader.  No one gets more loyalty than Christ…not Paul, not Apollos, not Cephas, and not any other earthly leader.  Only Christ…and we don’t get to divide Christ’s teachings into what we like and the what we don’t like.  We must follow his teachings and embody his actions.  We must remind ourselves of the greatest commandment he gave us and lay the rest down at his feet.

  • First reflection: How much of our quarrel, slander, emotional frustration, division, etc. is rooted in one of our factions?  Can we acknowledge that we are part of a faction that influences us more than Jesus’ teachings? (nationalism, political party, ideology, denominational, etc.). These are questions we can only answer for ourselves if we hope to be transformed by Christ.  It starts with me.

The second thought has to do with HOW we deal with our divisions.  Have you noticed how frustrating it becomes engaging in discussions trying to outdo one another with facts, resources, words, definitions, history, and laws?  You say something, I counter with another fact, you counter back, I counter back…it escalates and escalates and all we are left with is bitterness and frustration.  We try to out enlighten one another…as if some report or study or quote will convert the person we disagree with.  We post a new article from our favorite faction-news-outlet and…BOOM!  (Mic drop…walk off stage).  It doesn’t work that way.  Why?  Because as long as we have loyalty to a faction, whatever that faction is, we will remain loyal.  Our worldview will not be changed by any human argument against it as long as our allegiance is locked in.  Albert Einstein once wrote, “…a new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”  His quote evolved into, “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”  Use all the articles and news reports you want from your faction outlets.  Those who disagree with you will discount them before they even read them.  There will be no boom.  There will be no mic drop.  Just more frustration and anger.

This is what Paul addresses to the Corinthians.  He doesn’t use “words” to argue divisions or try to solve the problem.  Words won’t work.  Paul knows the same words that created the problems can’t solve the problems.  Paul wrote, “when I came to you, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom…I decided to know nothing but Christ and him crucified…my speech and proclamation were not in plausible words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on the power of God.”  Paul realized he had to shine a light on the demonstration of the Spirit, not words.  He reminds them that he didn’t proclaim Christ with words but with the power of God.  Corinthians were brilliant, cosmopolitan people…words alone would not convert them.  Paul did not depend upon the wisdom of the “rulers of the age” (whether philosophical or political), instead he pointed to the things taught to by the Spirit…spiritual things modeled in loving action…things embodied by the life and teachings of Christ, revealed by the power of God.

  • Second reflection:  In what ways do we depend on words, teachings, eloquent rebuttals, news stories, research data, etc. to try to convince other factions they are wrong?  Are we willing to admit that we look for information and listen to the voices of our own “factions”?  Can we see the fallacy of depending on the wisdom of the rulers of the world to try to change other peoples views?  How do Paul’s words challenge those of us struggling with divisions in our own country and our churches?  What would it look like to discuss our differences in a new ways that could reveal the power of God and build unity?

Let me close with some honest admission paraphrasing Paul.  Here is a trustworthy saying: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.  When I am a bad Christian, my struggle is being a part of the Christ faction.  I have to constantly test my loyalties to make sure I haven’t made Christ the co-opted, claimed leader of my own faction.  All Christians, good and bad, should wrestle with this.  Paul wrote these words to me…but I thought I’d share them with you:

“Do not deceive yourselves.  If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.  For the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God…so let no one boast of human leaders…all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”  

— 1 Corinthians 3:18-23

Are FaceBook Friends Really Friends?

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“After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.”

– Luke 10:1

Robin Dunbar was a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Oxford University.  In 1990, he came up with what we know today as “Dunbar’s Number”.  His theory was that humans are only capable of managing a certain number of relationships well.  (He defines ‘well’ as staying in contact at least once per year and knowing how those friends are relating to one another.)  His magic number?  150.

There is interesting history to how he came to this number and you can find that story on wikipedia.  What I find fascinating is that Dunbar’s work was done before the arrival of social media, particularly FaceBook.

I hate to admit it, but I have 1,848 friends on FaceBook.  Granted that may seem like a lot to some people, but a lot of my friends have way more than I do!  I know every one of my friends.  I have a relationship with them now or I did in the past. It is pretty amazing that we can keep up with each other this way.  The problem is FaceBook doesn’t show me all the posts of all my friends.  They have some fancy algorithms that filter all the posts and it shows me what it thinks I want to see.  (Let’s not go there in this post.)image.png

Now, here is the rub.  Robin Dunbar revisted his theory in 2011 in light of social media.  You can find it written up online.  It was a massive study.  Of the 3,375 FaceBook users between 18-65 years in the U.K., he found they had an average of 150 friends of which 4.1 were dependable and 13.6 expressed sympathy during emotional crises.  Astonishingly, the numbers aligned with his previous finding from the early 1990s.  He did find that younger users and users who were “online savvy” actually had a greater number of “friends”, but the number of real “touches”, what he defines as “dependable friends”, and “crisis responses” still showed that the 150 number may be pretty accurate.  (There was also an amazing story of Tanja Hollander who decided to visit every one of her 626 FaceBook in their homes to answer the question, “Are You Really My Friend?”  Her TED talk is really awakening.)

All this leads me to the final thought in Dunbar’s study and the passage from Luke 10.  Dunbar does admit that social media connects us in ways that “help keep friendships from decaying over time” – which is a very good thing.  But he also stuck to his original findings and said, “face-to-face interactions are necessary to prevent real friendships from sliding into a category he defines as ‘acquaintances'” – people we know, but never touch.

When Jesus sent out his followers ahead of him, I love that he sent them out in pairs.  Groups of two people who could build personal connections with the people they would meet.  They didn’t send all seventy together, but split them into pairs.  When it is all said and done, discipleship is about relationships.  Love is about relationships.  Transforming lives and embodying grace is about touching lives around you in personal ways.

The next time you are “stalking” on FaceBook to see what your “friends” are doing, why don’t you send them a message and let them know you are thinking about them.  Say a prayer for them and let them know they matter to you.  That is the only way they truly remain our “friends
“.

My Brother Says A Conservative Methodist Is An Oxymoron

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After seminary, I realized that people read the Bible differently than I do.  In my first year of seminary, I affectionately called these people ‘heathens’. Someone obviously didn’t teach them to appreciate this book the way I was taught.  It took some time and some life experience to begin to see that I was “appropriating” (that is the fancy theological word for defining the scripture the way I wanted to base on my belief and my circumstances) the Bible in ways that fit my worldview.

My brother, Matt, is a Southern Baptist pastor. Actually, he is now a ‘non-denominational’ pastor and I give him relentless grief because Non-Denominational is actually a denomination.  Anyway, I digress.  My brother once said, “You know… a conservative Methodist is an oxymoron.” My feelings were hurt.  He explained this to me by ending, “And Baptists are right”.  He pointed to some of our Methodist beliefs like: infant baptism, prevenient grace (that’s a Methodist thing where we believe God’s grace is available to everyone), free will, and women in ministry.

We read the same book, yet we disagree on some of the details.  What we don’t disagree on are the essentials.  What are those?  Well, to begin with there is something called the Apostle’s Creed.  It’s been around for almost 2,000 years! (Okay, since the 4th century).  In it, we find the essentials of our “orthodoxy” (this word means “right belief” and don’t let people tell you it’s only what they choose to believe).  Here is the Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Funny thing.  There is nothing in there about the way one is baptized, the different ways we understand grace, whether we have free will or not, or whether women can be in ministry.

This is why when my brother and I share dinner at Christmas time, we laugh, eat, drink (he is only allowed tea), and share life together. We don’t argue theology. Why?  Because on the main things we agree.  They are listed here in the Apostle’s Creed.  And they all come from the Bible that we both love so much.

Willing to Pay the Price?

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Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.  Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.  So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.
– 1 Corinthians 9:24–27

There is an old Hasidic, rabbinical parable about a prince who dreams of his kingdom being a place where people live in perfect community.  He dreams of a place where all the people of the kingdom give, love, serve, and mentor one another.  As he shared the vision with those in the kingdom, they all agreed with great excitement! To seal the covenant of the new community, the prince called for a great ceremonial bowl to be placed in the center of the town and for each person to bring their finest vintage bottle of wine. They would seal their covenant by all pouring their best wine in the ceremonial bowl together, and then they would all drink from the gifts they shared.  One of the elders went home and looked at the vintage wine and decided to empty into a decanter and fill the bottle with water.  As the elder poured the wine into the great ceremonial bowl, he prepared to drink with all of the others.  The cups were handed out, they were all filled from the great bowl and they all drank together…but to their utter surprise it wasn’t wine at all but water. Everyone did the same thing as the elder.  No one was willing to pay the price for true community.

Paul says we are to run the race of faith in such a way as to win it.  Verse 24 holds a lot of irony.  For many of us today, the aim is not victory but simply the way we run the race.  We live in a culture where participation is all that matters.  Paul indicates there must be passionate effort and dedication to achieve victory.  We are to run the race of faith with great self-control and purpose.  We train our bodies and minds.  We never run aimlessly.  Paul continues by saying we should “punish my body and enslave it”.  The earliest Christians spent a lot of time thinking about the passions that had power of all of us.  They believed those passions must be overcome through dedicated lives and regular prayer.  Are Christians today willing to commit the effort it takes to devote everything in life for the sake of the Gospel?  I would have to be the first to admit I’m not always ready to give that much.  I need to commit myself to something more.  I also need help in my training and as I run the race.  If I am going to bring my best wine to the ceremonial bowl, I am going to need some help along the way.

One of the things we have dedicated ourselves to at Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas is a renewed commitment to discipleship.  We have done well in our history with clear and appropriate discipleship pathways for children and youth.  We haven’t done so well with adults.  How do we recommit ourselves to our basic call?  How can we help adults grow as followers of Jesus?

Ascending Leaders has helped us frame some priorities in this renewed focus.

Get People Moving – We must have a clear mission and a clear pathway for how we make disciples. Followers of Christ must be in movement (even when we stop to pray and rest, we are active in faith).  The verbs are clear in Paul’s letters.  We are to “press” on.  How we create movement in the life of a disciple is key.

Make Scripture the Heart of Everything – We focus on God’s Word, but do we make engagement with the Bible easy and meaningful?  What about for people at different stages of their faith journey?  How do we take what we preach and teach on Sundays and extend it into the other 6 days of the week?

Everyone Owns the Vision – I love the question Ascending Leaders asks: Do we see ourselves as more than people who GO to church and begin to believe we ARE the church?  How do we build this culture change in the church? Our mission of making followers of Christ is to enable followers to make more followers.

Minister to the Local Community – I truly believe that a local church has to see their community as their mission field.  Our whole world is our mission field, but we must start locally.  If a local church is not working to improve the lives of those we serve by tackling real, local issues and concerns, then it won’t really matter if we go away.  I want the church I serve to make a difference in the neighborhoods we live in.

Christ Centered Leadership – As Evagrius Ponticus said, “Love is the way of the Christian life; humility is the way we achieve it.”  In John 13, Jesus washed his disciples feet and said, “I have set an example for you…love one another as I have loved you.”  Followers of Christ model the same surrender to power Christ did.

We are making a renewed commitment to discipleship at Chapelwood.  I think Christians everywhere should do the same.  If there ever was a time we needed effective followers of Christ influencing the world, it is now!

Unity

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“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.  I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  – Messiah Jesus, John 17:17-23

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My daughter Maddie’s picture under The Cloud Gate Sculpture in Chicago – surrounded by people from across the globe.

Unity.  What does it even mean? The dictionary says, “the quality or state of not being multiple; a condition of harmony; the quality or state of being made one.” But for United Methodist Christians the word is laden with different meanings.  As the United Methodist Church struggles with actual unity, the word ‘unity’ has been co-opted.  Some refer to it as a ‘totem’, a ‘code word for mushy moderates’, ‘an idol’, ‘selling out full justice’, and ‘a holy-sounding argument for those who want to avoid the issue altogether’.

I have a different perspective on unity.  It is rooted in my understanding of scripture and the experience in the context I serve.  Chapelwood United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas is unique.  It is actually a collection of diverse worship communities (churches) who live out their faith as ONE church.  The Sanctuary, Mercy Street, Contemplative, Upper Room, The Branch, Fair Haven, and Holy Family are each very different.  Most people who spend a weekend with us and visit our differing services realize this is not their parent’s church.  Different lead pastors, different contexts, and really diverse people.

Our worship community pastors, the lead pastors of each community, are a tight-knit group.  We really love each other, we spend a lot of time together, and we are very different:  Male, female, white, black, hispanic, asian, young, old, married, and single.  We come from different parts of the country and we’ve been educated in different schools.  We have all been formed by different experiences.  There is very little ‘uniformity’.  But there is a deep unity.

Last week, we met to discuss how we want the Holy Spirit to help us lead Chapelwood through the next few years as the UMC struggles with the issues before us.  We started with our own stories.  We shared our personal beliefs on the issues surrounding scripture, the life of Christ, marriage, sexuality, gender, and many other issues.  We’ve had these conversations before, but we were very intentional this time to press each other to go as deep as possible with our struggles, beliefs, and dreams for our church.  When we finished, a few things were clear to me:

  • We do not all see the issues the same way and we do not all long for the same outcomes…
  • We are currently wrestling with many of the issues…
  • We love the people we serve and we grieve knowing there are people on all sides of these issues in our communities – some who may find staying in the UMC difficult…

And, with all the differences we shared, we left our time together with more commitment and love toward each other than when we started.  The power of the Holy Spirit actually pulled us together – not apart – as we shared our different stories and our different dreams for the church.  I left more focused on Christ.  Jesus was glorified in our sharing.

And this is just one reason why I wholeheartedly disagree with people who say unity is some type of totem, excuse to avoid conflict, or excuse to exclude others.  Unity is not the end…the glory of Christ is the end…unity is the means by which we get there.  Unity is very challenging.  People who claim unity is an excuse to avoid conflict have never actually contended for honest unity in a diverse community.  It is far easier to draw bold lines in the sand, state what you believe, and then stand far removed on one side of the issue.

I do not fear schism and separation in our denomination.  Why?  Because it’s easy.  It is intellectually and spiritually lazy.  And it relieves the tension of the day (until the next issue arises).  Schism is definitely messy, but it’s not horrifying.

You want to know what I fear?  Unity.  I fear, revere, dread, cherish, dismay, exalt, and esteem unity.  Why?  Because unity means I have to give and take, live and die, learn and be taught.  It requires deep humility, love, and grace – things I don’t always do well with.  I am blessed to live in a community that seeks to live into the prayer Jesus prayed.  And my prayer is that ‘we also may be sanctified in truth…that we may all be one…so that the world may believe that God sent Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.’

The Shepherd ‘Keeper’

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Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

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James Rebank is Twitter’s most popular shepherd.  He lives in the Lake District of England in Matterdale.  His story is fascinating.  Oxford educated and now an accomplished author, Rebank gives insight in the life of a real shepherd in a modern world.  Helen MacDonald writes about Rebank’s book The Shepherd’s Life, “It’s not a romantic retreat to a blurred, vague, green, imagined nature.  Working with livestock is real and unsparing and beautiful and hard. It’s a book full of mud and blood and groundedness and community.”

I have no idea what it meansto be a shepherd, but Rebank gives me some insight I never would have imagined.  No longer is the shepherd this type of artificial, nostalgic carved wooden figure in my nativity or some awe-struck, wage earner of the first century staring in the sky as angels sing.  The are real and gritty…and teach some lessons we all should learn.

Shepherds are KEEPERS.  They keep watch over their flock.  They keep the flock fed.  The keep the flock from danger.  They keep them bound together.  Psalm 121 says, “The Lord is your keeper.”  In Hebrew, the word can mean “to have charge of, to guard, or to protect.”

On Thanksgiving, all I could think of were the shepherd “keepers” of my life.  In addition to God the Shepherd Keeper, I thought of my “mema”, my mother in law, and other people in my life who have ‘kept’ me connected to my family, my faith, my friendships, and my responsibilities.  They have had ‘charge over me’.  They ‘guarded’ me.  They ‘protected’ me.

I am not one who naturally longs to be ‘kept’ by anyone, but I find that this characteristic of God is vital in our spiritual lives.  With all the “mud and blood and groundedness and community”, I find that havinga ‘keeper’ in my life is vitally important to my well-being.

Sutherland Springs and Springs of the Water of Life

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“for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” -Revelation 7:17

Little did I know as we worshiped on November 5 that a tragedy was befalling fellow saints of God in Sutherland Springs, Texas.  At Chapelwood UMC in Houston, we were gathering to worship God and to remember the saints who died this past year.  First Baptist in Sutherland Springs was worshiping as well.  This should have been a Sunday where the saints – living and dead – are united with one song of praise to the Lamb on the throne.  Methodists and Baptists, Protestants and Catholics – the untold number of saints gathered around the throne singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7:12)

I have no words to speak or write that can help make sense of this awful tragedy.  Watching the news doesn’t help at all.  “It is a gun issue.”  “It is a mental health issue.”  “It is a sin issue.”  My friends, evil never limits the places and spaces where it works.  Evil will do anything it can to destroy life – to kill, steal, and destroy.  The devil is at work and will always seek to introduce fear and doubt into the lives of people of faith.  Evil will even work after the tragedy as we try to find some easy solution or explanation.  It’s not easy.  It never has been.

I have received quite a few emails asking ‘why’?  I don’t have the answer.  I took theology, psychology, and ethics in seminary and can articulate evil, sin, pain and suffering.  But the theology doesn’t do much for me in this moment.  I am more connected to the laments in the Psalms and the hoped for future in Revelation.  It’s not that I am avoiding anything.  It’s just that this seems to happen every week and words begin to echo into meaninglessness.  I need words to help me name the pain.

Like in Psalm 6, “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.  My eyes waste away because of grief; they grow weak because of all my foes.  Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.  The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer.  All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror; they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.”

And Psalm 13, “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?  How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?  Consider and answer me, O Lord!  Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.  But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me.”

So, right now and am in sackcloth and ashes.  I am weeping inside and out.

But there is something we can do.  Christians will need to be ready to step up our discipleship if we want to see our world changed.  We must lament…and they we must step forward.  We must give up time to disciple and be discipled.  We must give time to teach our teens and children.  We must open the pathways of the Holy Spirit to work not just in us, but to expand the influence of Christ in the world.

Join me as we weep and cry out.  Then join me as we step forward in faith to change the world.

 

Four Great Commissions Notes

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This past Sunday, I led us through the four great commissions in the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  I thought I would share my word study notes for those who are interested.

Matthew 28:18-20

18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

  • Authority – Greek,Gk. exousia, (Latin,Lt. auctor) – Matt: 7:29 – Jesus taught as one having authority – root of the word author – it means originator or one who has the capacity to speak on the subject with direct insight
  • Disciples – metheteuo – to become a pupil, learner: the focus on “becoming” is vital
  • All nations – ethnos – people, not geographic boundaries, but all peoples of ages, nations, and races
  • Baptizing them – baptizo – Christian baptism, immersion,initiation, and incorporation; different meaning than bapto which also means immersion and used in NT.  (Usage explained: Nicander 200 AD, in his recipe for pickles – “bapto” is to immerse quickly in hot water and bring back up, nature unchanged; “baptizo” is to immerse in the vinegar brine that leads to permanent, substantive change in the cucumber – it becomes immersed and nature is different)
  • Teaching them – didasko – causative, prolonged of learn – process long term… impart, instill, discourse – emphasis on long term process, not a single moment of single learning
  • To observe, obey – tereo – military term to guard from loss to prevent from escaping, hold fast

Mark 16:15

15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.

  • Go – poreuomai – to traverse, travel, lead over toward
  • Proclaim – kerysso – to herald as a public crier, preach, proclaim – carries with it authority and formality which must be listened to and obeyed, proclamation is major theme of Mark
    • Mark 1:4, 7, John the Baptist proclaiming in the wilderness as a herald,
    • Jesus in Mark 1:14 – Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
    • Mark 1:38 – Jesus says, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also for that is why I came out. And he went throughout Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
    • Mark 1:45 – the leper was told to say nothing by Jesus, but he went out and began to talk freely about it and spread the news – “talking” in v.45 is the word “kerysso” – proclaim, the leper is a herald and proclaimer in his talking about the intervention of Jesus.
    • Mark 6:12 – went out and proclaimed repentance
    • Many other examples of “kerysso” in Mark as a focus for Jesus

Luke 24:46-47

46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

  • Repentance – metanoia – a change of mind, a turning to a new direction (baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins was John’s baptism Luke 3:3)
    • Luke 3:8 – bear fruits in keeping with repentance
    • Luke 5:32 – not come to call righteous, but sinners to repentance
  • Forgiveness – aphesis – pardon, freedom, deliverance, liberty – cancellation of a debt – but not only limited to justification status before God…much more implied in Luke’s gospel (see Luke 4 below)
  • Proclaimed – kerysso – herald the message
  • To all nations – ethnos – every tribe, pagans, Gentiles ALL

Luke 4:18-21

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

  • Anointed me – chrio – consecrating one for the office with the powers necessary to accomplish the job – lit. smearing with oil
  • Proclaim – kerysso
  • Poor – ptochos – one who crouches, beggar, poor – hopeless and powerless to accomplish an end, not “spiritually poor” but literally without the proper resources needed
  • Sent me – apostello – set apart and sent out for a specific purpose (proclaim the kingdom of God, teaching, repentence, forgiveness, proclamation, and presence)
  • Release is same word as Forgiveness – aphesis – forgiveness, pardon, deliverance, remission, release from bondage
  • Captives – aichmalotos – a captive of war – from the tip of the spear
  • Blind – typlhos – cloudy, smoky, looking through a fog – blind both literal and figurative
  • Oppressed – thrauo – to crush, bruise, break, shatter
  • Free – aphesis – again, the same word from chapter 24 for “forgiveness”.  In Luke’s gospel, aphesis means forgiveness, liberty, freedom not JUST from spiritual sin, but also from powers of captivity and oppression that affect the real world people live in.
  • Favor – dektos – acceptable by God – this fullness and wholeness of “aphesis” is what is acceptable to the Lord.

John 20:21

21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

  • Peace – eirene – the root “to join”, to become one literally and figuratively, set at one again.  Look at John 17 and Jesus’ prayer of unity.  Not just that the disciples be one (v.11 “that they may be one, as we are one”), but that they also be one with Jesus as Jesus is one with the Father (v.21-23, “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, [some ancient texts say “one in us”] so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me
  • Sent me – apostello – (same phrase in John 17:18) not just “to send” but to send out properly on a mission specified, this means we are not just “sent out” as Jesus was “sent”, we are sent out in the same way Jesus was sent out into the world. As the Father sends Jesus to be he presence in the world, we are sent to be the presence of Christ in the world, the substance of Christ in the world, the Body of Christ and each members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
  • I send you – pempo – different word…to send something with someone, to thrust something forward through someone – to transmit and to bestow.  The usage here means we are not simply sent with a mission, but sent loaded with something transmitted through us – something thrusting through us.

Each of the four gospels has a unique commission that all fit together to form our one, Great Commission to invite and incorporate, to teach a lifelong process of learning, to proclaim and herald the Good News, to reconcile and set free those who are oppressed the fullness of forgiveness, and to be sent into the world to be the Body of Christ transmitting the presence of Christ to the world!

Hope this word study is edifying to you as we seek to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!

Our Heritage as Methodists, Part 1

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I’ve discovered many amazing Christians in my life who love the Lord and seek to serve Him daily.  As a Methodist pastor, many of those Christians have lived out their faith in the United Methodist Church.  One of the things I’ve learned is that many Methodists are not that familiar with what it means to be a Methodist Christian.  I thought I would share a few posts to outline some of the key doctrines and the significant ways we live out our faith in the world…

  • We profess the historic Christian faith in God, incarnate in Jesus Christ for our salvation and always at work in human history in the Holy Spirit.
  • We believe in both the sovereignty of God and in God’s love and grace poured out to all of us.
  • We believe that the historic Christian message is applied anew in our current circumstances.
  • We believe out teachings are grounded in Scripture, informed by Christian tradition, enlivened by experience, and tested by reason.
  • Just as today, we believe the early Christian leaders were faced with diverse interpretations of God’s Word and even had severe disagreements over those differences (Acts 15, Galatians 2).  The Church came up with many creeds and catechisms to try and point to agreements and while they are all helpful in our faith, we believe that no formal creed or doctrinal standard can be the exhaustive authoritative Christian teaching.  No sets of words can express the fullness and completion of God’s Word.
  • We believe in the Trinity – the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This embraces the biblical witness.
  • We believe the created order is designed for the well-being of all creatures.
  • We believe that humans, as sinful creatures, have broken the covenant and become estranged from God.  We regularly wound ourselves and one another and we wreak havoc on God’s creation.
  • We believe we all need redemption.
  • We believe that we hold in common with all Christians that a faith in the mystery of salvation in and through Jesus Christ is central to our faith.  God truly loves us all in spite of our sin, God judges us, summons us to repentance, pardons us, receives us by that grace given in Jesus Christ, and gives us hope of life eternal.

I will continue in the days and weeks ahead to help us focus on our doctrines and our identity as Methodist Christians.  It is my hope that we will stand firm on the essentials of our faith!

Peace,

John

Sarah Mac’s Baccalaureate Sermon

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Proverbs 1:1-7:

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: For learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young — Let the wise also hear and gain in learning…The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 I have an 18 year old daughter who graduates this year.  Sharing at her baccalaureate service was very special.

I am convinced that wisdom is what all of us need in life as we live in a state of continual graduation to what God has us next. Wisdom is knowledge, understanding, experience, discretion, and intuitive understanding, along with a capacity to apply these qualities well in life. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Some people call it common sense, others “discernment”. My grandmother called it “walking around sense.”

To some extent the terms wisdom and intelligence have similar and overlapping meanings. Wisdom, unlike intelligence, is a universal virtue recognized in almost every culture as having philosophical and religious connections – it’s not what you know, but how you use what you know. That’s wisdom and that’s what you need to make it from here on. I want my daughter to understand that high school graduation is only one in a series of graduations in life.  It’s like what Arie Pencovici once said, “Graduation is only a concept.  In real life every day you graduate.  Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life.  If you can grasp that, you’ll make a difference.”

In the hope that she (and all of us) will graduate every day, I want to share seven practical nuggets of wisdom that come from a variety of sources: shared experience, philosophy, psychology, and religion. Listen to these wisdom reflections – use them well.

  1. Take Risks: The difference between mediocrity and greatness is in your willingness to take a chance and act.
    1. Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.  So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.”
    2. Since the day you were born, you have learned that there is a way over, around or through the obstacles you have faced. It is not the obstacles that inhibit your progress but your lack of confidence and will. That’s what breaks through the doubt…faith in yourself, in others around you, and in God.
    3. Take action. Every story of accomplishment, every leader you’ve ever admired, amazing ‘aha’ moment are the results of someone taking action. Remember, you have a choice: You can either be a passive victim of circumstance or you can be the active hero of your own life.
    4. Cultivate good judgment and discernment, and then trust your gut (there is actually some great science behind trusting your gut! Read Gut Feelings, by Gerd Gigerenzer). Act on the impulses cultivated in you. If you are going to fail, let it be on your terms.
  2. Stop Blame-Shifting Right Now
    1. If you want to resign yourself to failure forever, then keep blaming everyone else for you problems and your shortcomings. In psychology, there is a concept called “external locus of control”. It is the belief that events in one’s life, whether good or bad, are caused by uncontrollable factors such as the environment, other people, or a higher power.  Example: Whenever he fails a test, the boy always has an excuse ready: the room was too hot, he wasn’t feeling well, and the test was unfair. He never seems to feel culpable, even if he simply hasn’t studied enough.
    2. I can promise you this – if you don’t dig deep and learn to accept responsibility for your life and where you want to go, you won’t ever amount to anything worth being.
    3. Have the courage to accept that you’re not perfect, nothing is, and no one is — and that’s OK. Remember to look at yourself first when you are reflecting on failure. This requires a keen sense of self-awareness.
    4. “On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” ― Michel de Montaigne
  3. Be a Ruthlessly Compassionate Truth Teller
    • Peter Senge, in his book The Fifth Discipline, says that the only way to cultivate creative tension and break through organizational learning barriers (I would argue this is true in personal relationship barriers as well) is to become a “ruthlessly compassionate truthteller” or allow one to come alongside of you to speak truth in your situation. The key is that they are ruthlessly compassionate…not just ruthlessly honest.
    • First, you must be an assertive truth teller.  Be assertive.  Assertiveness is defined as your ability to express your wishes, your wants, your desires, your hopes and your dreams. You have to learn to develop this ability if you want to communicate well or be in healthy relationships with others. To be successful in life, you are going to have to be able to tell people what you want to see happen, what you wish to see happen, or express your feelings in a healthy way. If you are unable to find your voice and be assertive, then you will always be acted UPON in life.  So, be an assertive truth teller…but always do it compassionately.
    • Second, be ruthlessly compassionate.  Without love, a ruthless truth teller is just an aggressive and bossy person and people will only hang out with you for what you do for them, not for who you are. Assertiveness is the ability to express your wants, wishes and desires in a healthy way. Aggressiveness just makes you a jerk.
    • A compassionate person is an active listener…one who actually listens to others. They repeat back to the person what they hear to confirm shared understanding. When you do this, you “behold” people – which is a capacity that will draw people to you like moths to a flame. Some of the greatest, most charismatic leaders in the world would effectively “behold” people.  In order to be an effective active listener, you must place others in a place of prominence. Remember, you are not the center of creation; the cosmos does not revolve around you! As the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2:3-4 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Listen more than you speak. That’s always good advice.
  4. Extend the Grace to Others That You Would Like Extended to You
    1. When people make mistakes, or drop the ball, or let you down – will you be willing to forgive them?  We tend to judge others by their actions, while we judge ourselves by our intentions.  Don’t fall into that trap.
    2. There is an ancient story of the desert monk Abba Moses. Some monks were going to discipline another brother who was guilty of sin. The assembled the brothers and sent a message to Abba Moses telling him to come, but Abba Moses would not come. They sent for him again telling him they were waiting for him to discipline this other brother. Moses got up and went. He took an old basket, which he filled with sand and carried it on his back. He put a little sand in his hand and carried it in front of him. When Abba Moses arrived, the brothers asked, “What does this mean Abba Moses?” Abba Moses said, “The basket on my back are my sins; they are many so I put them on my back and I shall not give notice or weep for them. The sand in the palm of my hand is the sin of our brother and they are in front of me. I see them and I judge them. This is not right, I ought to have my own sins in front of me and think on them and ask God to forgive me.” When the other monks heard this, they forgive their brother monk and said, “This is the true way of salvation.”
  5. Be Wise as Snakes, But Gentle as Doves (Matthew 10, Words of Jesus)
    1. You have to be wise in this world. You can make a lot of mistakes in life, and you will, but there are times when we make the wrong mistake at the wrong time in front of the wrong people – we don’t know when or where this will happen (that’s the problem with mistakes, we don’t control them).
    2. One DUI underage, one fight, one plagiarized paper, one brief moment in time, one mistake can cost you more than you know…we don’t control the consequences of our mistakes, but we can control the mistakes.
    3. This should not cause you to fear, but to be proactive and smart. You must think a few steps ahead of every action to put in place safety nets to be ready when you judgment is limited. To be wise as a snake means we must see that life is not easy and often is tries to trip us up…we must be proactive and make good decisions ahead of time.
    4. That’s why Jesus said, I want you to love and be gentle as doves, but be wise like a snake – watch out.
  6. Don’t Be Afraid of Hard Work
    1. Remember Aesop’s Fable of The Ants and the Grasshopper – The ants were spending a fine winter’s day drying grain collected in the summertime. A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food. The Ants inquired of him, “Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?’ He replied, “I spend my days in leisure enjoying the find spring and summer weather. I passed the days in singing.” Then the ants said in derision: “If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supper-less to bed in the winter.”
    2. You have to work hard to accomplish something worthwhile. Don’t look at your parents have right now…ask them to share their story with you of what they had to do to get here. You may learn a lot about life and work if you do.
    3. We expect to graduate college and start off with a life where our parents are now. That’s because we don’t realize the 20+ years of hard work that led them to this time and place.
    4. “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins:  cash and experience.  Take the experience first; the cash will come later.”  ~Harold Geneen
  7. Finally, Always Be Yourself
    1. You can Google for an answer. You can Google for a mate. You can Google for a career. But you can’t Google to find what’s in your heart, the passion that lifts you skyward.  Ask Siri what your purpose is in life.  She can’t give you an answer.
    2. “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”  ~e.e. cummings, 1955
    3. The world will try to dismantle you every day and make you into something you do not want to be. Don’t sell out. Hold fast. Be who God created you to be. If you try to be someone you are not, you are nothing by an imposter.
    4. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple said, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

Be wise! Heed the wisdom that is given to you from your elders, your parents, your teachers, your mentors, and the teachings of your faith tradition. It’s a tough world out there, but you are well equipped. Don’t be afraid of the future. Embrace the chaos! Love deeply! Walk with humility!

“I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.”  ― Lao Tzu