Finding the Balm in Gilead

Lectionary Reading: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Cry, and you are probably reading the book of Jeremiah. This gloomy prophecy about the conquering and exile of Israel is enough to send anyone searching for some spiritual Prozac. Jeremiah is torn between two great loves. He loves God and serves God as a prophet with great passion. He loves the people of Israel and he is terribly sorry to see what they will have to go through. Questioning God, Jeremiah asks, “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no Physician there?” – In other words: “God, aren’t you here anymore?”

It seems a good question for Jeremiah and for us as well when we look at a world at war, countries in crisis from disease, drought and oppression, religion that chooses legalism over compassion and dogma over discernment, and humanity lost in materialism and chronic self-absorption. It is not hard for us to see Iraq, AIDS, Darfur, church crisis and the latest celebrity obsession and say, “God, aren’t you here anymore?”

The Poet T.S. Eliot looked at the state of culture and society when he wrote “The Rock” in 1934 which said:

All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,
All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.
Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

T. S. Eliot seems to re-order Jeremiah’s question. The problem is not that God isn’t with us anymore – but that we are no longer near God. We have changed the life transforming power of Christianity to a set of rules and rituals. We have given up the wisdom of diplomacy and listening for a culture of war and force. We have traded having a knowing relationship with God and others for memorizing scripture, and relying on demographics.

Now, now – I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, - “wow – Kellie’s sure in a gloomy mood – she’s been reading that Jeremiah book a little too long! Maybe a nice psalm or some proverbs would cheer her up…” but have no fear. I have a great joy and hope today and so can you – because the New Testament reminds us we are blessed when we weep – for we shall be comforted. We need only look at history to see our future.

There is a Balm in Gilead

A balm is a healing ointment. Jeremiah is asking about the famous healing lotion made from the commiphora tree of Palestine, the resinous gum we know as Myrrh. (you know the Christmas story – Gold, Frankenstein and Myrrh…er…..Frankincense and myrrh…). Jeremiah is a making a spiritual reference to the healing power of God. In the New Testament, baby Jesus will be given this balm to show healing does exist with him. That’s the good news.

Before 1865, African-American spirituals and slave-songs were sung throughout the south. These songs told the gospel and conveyed scripture to people who couldn’t read, and were used for everything from teaching English and counting to new arrivals, to keeping time in a threshing house, to communicating news about the underground railroad (“The Train is Bound for Glory”, and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” were both underground railroad songs). One of the great old hymns to come out of that era was “There is a Balm in Gilead”. An oppressed people who, like Israel, had been captured, enslaved, and ill-used were answering Jeremiah’s question with the New Testament assurance that healing was here to stay. How can we find that assurance today? Let’s look at the song:

Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.

First – look to the Holy Spirit for revitalization and renewal. When we feel like the plans for peace we have offered bounced right off the clouds of heaven, or the life work we have given our talent toward has produced mediocre results at best – we need to pray for ourselves and the revival of our mission and our call. Every Christian is called of God. Whether you are called to be a mechanic, a teacher, or a listening friend working on an assembly line – you are called to be there (or to move). Don’t let the joy be leeched from you by those around you with bad attitudes or the determination to be self-absorbed pessimists. Allow God’s Holy Spirit to work in you and make the life you are living a worthy pursuit of hope and healing.

If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus and say, "He died for all."
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.

Second – People of faith need to stop relying on the messengers and start living the message. I know that sounds strange coming from a member of the clergy, but I find it a key issue for our times. Clergy have specific roles we fulfill, but it s not our call to be the community. That’s your job. We need to stop letting other people (leaders, theologians, popular authors) read for us, think for us, determine our beliefs and be the witness for us. We need to take responsibility in our relationship with God and learn to use resources as guides, not crutches. I heard at a ministry conference two years ago that the M.Div. will soon be the “minimum standard” for all clergy, but a doctorate is required for “adequate Christian leadership”. Why do you need a doctorate to live as Christ taught a bunch of fishermen, peasants and tax collectors? Christ didn’t come to make us a collection of sheep led by the educated elite. Christ came to make us a community, lead by a vibrant, personal relationship with our Creator. You don’t have to be Peter, M.Div or Dr. Paul (or even Dr. Phil – thank goodness!) – Be you, use your brain and the resources God places around you, and share the gospel where you are.

Don’t ever feel discouraged, for Jesus is your friend;
And if you lack for knowledge, He’ll never refuse to lend.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.

Third – seek God’s wisdom and will. Don’t interpret point number two as meaning Christian leaders should not be college educated. There’s nothing wrong with education – it’s a worthy pursuit. However, our trust should not be in our own intelligence, experiences or credentials. Our trust should be in God’s wisdom, and God has placed that wisdom all over creation. Many Christians have cut off a plethora of God’s knowledge because it isn’t in the Bible or sold at the Christian Bookstore. There is a whole world of God out there – in the knowledge of farmers, through the power of indigenous cultures, in the arena of mathematics and physics (how better to understand how God made the world to turn?), in the mystical algorithm of language and music, and in the instinctual habits of nature. Stop discounting the steady stream of God in the world around you and start listening and learning all that God can have you know.

We need not to succumb to the gloom and doom of Jeremiah, because we know that healing of God is here. We need not reflect the cultural despair of T.S. Eliot because we know how to be near God. We can be people of Gilead with a life witness worth shining for the entire world to see. Then, the healing can begin.

The Wrong Side of Good

Lectionary Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

For about 10 years I was the Camp Director for Chi-Rho (7th and 8th grade), CYF (Christian Youth Fellowship – High school) and College camp. I loved camp weeks – they were exhausting, emotional and amazing. The CYF camp ended their week with a dance and a “last campfire” where the kids were allowed to stand up and “give testimony” about what God had done for them. Unfortunately, amidst the heartfelt praises and prayers, some young folks felt a need to compete for the spot of “worst life/sin/trauma and by the end it seemed like a contest of who had the most hideous experience that God had redeemed them from. One year, a shy senior named Rikki changed all that.

In her three previous CYF years she had never given testimony. She was a smart and quiet girl with the gift of listening and a great sense of humor. At the AYC planning meeting she remarked dryly, “I hate testimony night. In one hour I realize all the kids I respect are needy, drug addicted psychos with bad families and it makes me think the laughter I have shared with them all year was a lie.” Thus, I was surprised when after 2 kids who had tried drugs, one who was “sexually tempted” (3 years running), 2 ugly step-parent stories and 1 suicide of a friend (whom no one had ever heard of before), that Rikki stood in the testimony box. To this day I remember what she said:

“I never gave a testimony before, because I felt like I didn’t have one and I feel guilty for my blessings. My parents love each other and they love me. I grew up in church and I did the very best I could to please my mom and dad and make them proud. I fought with my brother sometimes but I love him, and I know he loves me. I got good grades, never tried drugs, don’t care about sex, and know Jesus died to forgive the sins I have committed, even if they weren’t very big. I guess my testimony is that you don’t have to fall apart for God to be in your life.”

I was in awe of Rikki and her simple honesty, and respect her to this day for it. For the first year in my camp memory, testimony night was really about God.

Paul's Testimony

In the first epistle of Timothy Paul seems tempted to tell people of the extremes in his conversion. He begins talking about himself and his sins. The letter becomes like a TV confessional. Paul: Extreme Makeover. That fact that he refers so much to himself is what makes many bible scholars say this epistle wasn’t written by Paul, but by one of his students who is using his name and authority to keep his traditional message alive. No matter which side of the scholarly “Did he or didn’t he write this?” you fall on – there is a message here all of us.

Paul was a Pharisee, scholar, and zealot for the cause of legalistic Judaism. He wasn’t just some Rabbi on a street corner; he was a political up-and-comer with a fantastic mind, good credentials and Roman citizenship. He had “leader of the San Hedrin” written all over him. He wasn’t just holy – He was the holiest. So holy, in fact, that he was willing to kill Jews who followed Jesus, just to preserve the purity of his faith.

Then he hears God, goes blind, and opens his eyes to Jesus Christ. Suddenly, and with great shame, he realizes all he had told himself was right, was wrong. Suddenly, he discovers he was on the wrong side of good.

Imagine the guilt he must have felt. How would it feel to make a stand for traditionalism, harm the spiritual heart of people by telling them they are outside of God’s plan and condemn them to death only to discover that you were wrong? Imagine Paul’s testimony night as he stands before the campfire recounting the lives he ruined by thinking God didn’t want them.

Our first thought is to say: Well, he made up for it! He started churches all over the world. He taught Christ to countless generations and he was whipped, tortured and killed for preaching Christ. For every one person he killed, there were 50 more he helped find eternal life! But in Paul’s head – the scales weren’t balancing. In Paul’s head (human heads are always the hardest place for forgiveness to reach) -he was the worst sinner ever. What does God give Paul to help him get through the guilt and to the grace? Education, Eternity and Example.

Education:

Paul admits his error was not one of malice, but of ignorance. He thought he was doing good! He crossed the line from discernment into judgment. He sat in God’s chair by accident. “Not everything is permissible or good”, Paul himself will later tell us. However, the idea isn’t to go around judging people, but discerning God’s desire. Discern is a Greek word – (discere) – it means “to seek what is hidden”. When we are trying to discover what the right side of good is, we need to look for what is hidden –God’s will - not our opinion (our opinions are rarely hidden). God teaches Paul, and reclaims him.

Eternity:

In a moment of great grace God through Christ gives Paul eternal life and forgiveness. Those two must go together. There is not point in forgiveness if you are going to die. It is cruel to live forever if you aren’t going to be forgiven. Paul celebrates the fact that no life is so lost that Christ cannot find it, and no work is so good that you don’t need Christ. Eternal life is a gift of God, no matter what your testimony may be. We need to forgive those who harm us with their idea of “rightness” and pray they learn of God’s grace and find freedom for their future as well.

Example:

One of my favorite texts in the New Testament is First Timothy 1:16. “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” In other words – my entire life is an example of JUST how patient and forgiving God can be. It reminds me of a poster I saw recently on the Demotivation website. In it a ship is sinking into the sea. The caption reads: “It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.” That’s what Paul is saying in his humbled state. My life proves God can forgive and put up with anyone. That’s quite a change from the top Pharisee who had a reputation for being always right. We come through grace and education to Christ, not only so we can live forever, but so we can shine that example to others on the journey.

I still keep in touch with Rikki, who has a Masters and followed her dream to teach English in Russia and her current life, like her early days, is still really good. Paul’s life ended just as violently as he had lived the early part of it– with his execution. Yet, Christ secured eternity for both of them, and forgives them just the same. No matter which side of good you find yourself in, there is forgiveness, education and eternity for you through Jesus Christ. Claim it, and praise God forevermore. Get rid of your guilt, and make your life really about God.

The Bridge Made of Stones

Lectionary Reading: Luke 14:25-33

When Jesus stood with the woman caught in the act of adultery and challenged the crowd to examine themselves instead of looking at her he gave a bold statement. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. The crowd, shocked or shamed by the sin they saw inside themselves, put down their stones and walked away. But, what if they hadn’t? What if some person convinced of his or her own righteousness or deluded by rationalizations about the law tossed a rock in the woman’s direction? What if one single rock flew over the heads of the onlookers and struck her vulnerable body? I know what would happen and so do you. She would soon die under a barrage of similarly thrown stones.

In my mind’s eye I can see the disciples holding Jesus back from shielding her with his own body. After all, this was not how Jesus was to die. I can see Peter wrapping his strong fisherman’s arms around Christ to prevent him from diving to her rescue and Jesus straining against them to save her. I envision the silent cries of anguish emanating from him as he sees her life blood flow from the hard jagged surfaces of stone judgment. Her family would come and take her body away. The crowd, feeling good about their moral policing, walking away quietly when the reality of what they had done set in and the horror of the act became inescapable. Then I begin to wonder. What would Jesus do next?

I imagine he would go back to the place and slowly pick up the stained stones still lying on the ground. With his tears he would wash the blood from those stones, and clean them on his own robe. Stacking them beside him as he again sits and draws on the ground; he creates a plan. What will he do with the stones? Perhaps he will use them to build a lasting memory – something functional like a well, a table or a bridge so people could see the reclamation of these stones. Yes, I believe he would make a bridge of stones so that others may cross the waters into Grace. From his bold belief in people would come a monument to second chances for them, and for the rocks they threw. Fortunately, for that woman and that crowd, we will never know because self-righteous justification was not present on that day and the stones stayed on the ground where they belonged.

In the lectionary passage today, Jesus makes another bold statement. It is one that challenges some of the very ideas we have come to expect from Christianity. It, again, shows Jesus’ unrivaled belief in people and their ability to look inside instead of around.

Anti-Family Values?

We hear a lot about family values from Christian groups, political bodies and organizations. Whether it’s preserving the “traditional family” from external unknown assailants, reinforcing ideas about gender roles, or advocating spanking and home schooling as a way to control the behavioral development of kids, “family values” has become the buzzword for the religious right’s crusade to get Christians to reflect the kind of image that they think is Christian. In a more profound and meaningful way, different from the public image, family values is the idea of a close knit family tied together not only by blood, but by their faith and what it means to them as a source of identity. What does Jesus say about family values?

Hate your father and mother.

WHAT? That’s not right! Let’s look at it again…

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone
comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his
brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone
who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. (Luke
14:25-27).

If the entire anchor of Christianity is love, then why is Jesus saying this? It seems about as anti-family, anti-love and anti-sense as you get. This is a hate speech. He isn’t serious, is he? How could a rabbi who was taught “Honor your mother and father” from birth turn around and say this?

Break away

Jesus is not asking for you to pull away from your loved ones in some riotous teenage rebellion but he is making a bold statement to challenge you to break away from crowd mentality. It is mob mentality, family peer pressure and inherited religion without thought or mercy that Jesus is trying to eliminate. Jesus is telling the masses (and us) that following him will not give you the right to throw stones. It will commit you to a life of God’s desire to leave the rocks on the ground.

In a culture of people whose religion was handed down to them from their family for generations, change comes hard. That’s what repentance is – drastic change. For the people of that age to embrace Christianity means breaking away from what your parents, siblings, spouse and kids think is the only way to do things. Christianity will ask its followers to put the law of God’s love above the mosaic law of judgment and habit. Christianity will require people to let go of the old system of synagogue sacrifices and days of atonement, and accept one sacrifice for all people for all time. Christianity means letting go of everything you know, are, and were prophesied to be and accepting God’s version of you.

“If you are going to follow me,” Jesus warns, “make sure in advance that you can pay the price.” If your father’s idea of the perfect you is that you will be perfect, non-argumentative, take no risks that won’t pay off, and always arrive prepared and on time for every assignment – you may have to repent of that image. Life in Christ is full of the unexpected, challenging and amazing turns required to stay in the path God has placed us. You may have to think new thoughts. You may have to raise your voice. You may show up late for church because God asked you to help your neighbor. If your spouse has gotten used to you being the person you always were, life in Christ may change you into a new creation. Christ is asking us to acknowledge with both conviction and assurance that all we have to be is who God made us to be.

Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship. It isn’t meant to be inherited from others. It is meant to be forged as a daily walk of learning and hope. It changes us. It changes the world. Grace and hope for all people are family values worth having.

Free in Love

Why does Christ give us this bold challenge? To free us. We cannot choose our DNA, but we can choose what we do with it. We cannot choose our family, but we can choose Jesus Christ as Lord, and we can bring others into the family of God. We must free ourselves from duty to the past, Jesus tells us, to walk without fetters into God’s future.

In the world we inhabit now, you usually don’t have to leave your family identity to become an active believer in Jesus Christ. However, you should be prepared for God to change you in ways your family never imagined. God wants to free you to be in love with God, and share that love throughout this world. No parent, sibling or spouse will stand in between you and God. It’s a unique relationship built on Christ and no one else.

When life is brought before you – like the adulterous woman – it is a freeing thing to realize it was not your family name that put you in that crowd. It was the name of Jesus. It is not who you are married to (or if you are married at all) that gives you the ability to pick up stones or put them down; it’s the relationship you have with Christ that tells you what to do. It is not your children who are your future in heaven, but the blood of the lamb who died on the cross. Whether you damage or deliver is not about the outside influences. It’s about who is inside you.

The world kneels before you: sinful, scared and vulnerable. The stones are on the ground. You are free to decide. Will you blindly follow the rules you were taught and without listening, prayer or mercy pick up a stone to throw or will you follow Jesus and use the stones to build a bridge to God?

Take Your Place

Today's Lectionary Reading: Luke 14: 1-14

When I was a kid, school was my favorite place. I felt comfortable, confident and knew how to meet the expectations. School was my safe place. When I got old enough to go to Saturday afternoon matinees by myself or with friends, the movies became an important part of my world. For 2 hours I could sit in the dark and escape to other worlds where I had no obligations or responsibilities. The movies were my free place. When I was 17, two months before I graduated from high school, my best friend Annette took me to church (my parents finally allowed me to go after years of asking). It was the first time I had been in a church and I didn’t know how to act, what to say or any of the words of the songs. But the Holy Spirit spoke to me in a clear voice and told me God made me, and God loved me. School was where I felt safe, and the movies were where I felt free, but church was the first place I ever felt love. It has been my place every day since. Today's lectionary passage shows Jesus our Lord reflecting on the idea of placement.

Jesus was out of place

The first part of the passage shows Jesus dining at a banquet of the Pharisees. That's as unusual a picture as you get. Imagine a black tie dinner with the men looking sharp in their tuxes and the women in fine evening gowns. They invite a homeless man off the street to sit at the head table with them. He is wearing his daily clothes and when he looks down at the line of silverware set before him (who isn't intimidated at those dinners with 3 sets of silverware, a dessert spoon and a finger bowl?) he skips the whole thing and starts eating with his hands! Their jaw drops open and they shake their heads in horror. That's what this Pharisaic dinner was like.

Here were the church leaders - the super holy - inviting this itinerant, homeless rabbi with dirt on the bottom of his robe to dine. He sits with them and speaks of the Torah in a way they never imagined and before they get a chance to bring out the gourmet dessert he breaks the rules and heals on the Sabbath! Then he justifies this healing instead of acting ashamed. The Pharisees just stared in disbelief. The Bible tells us twice in the opening part “they had nothing to say”. Now there’s an awkward social situation! Nothing like stony cold silence to make the meal pass by quickly. What is Jesus doing in a place he clearly doesn’t belong?

Jesus was giving them a chance to be in his presence. He was hoping to teach them where they were most comfortable and reach to them in their own arena. People always get so excited when they remember that Jesus hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes. It makes him seem so “on the edge” – but the truth is he also hung out with wealthy judgmental church leaders – and they were probably much less fun. Jesus is where you are, no matter where you are – because he is above petty social conventions and status issues and wants people to know that every place is a place he can be found. You can laugh with Jesus, or stare at him in horrified silence – but he is there.

Jesus reminds them of their place

Since he has pretty much ruined their appetite, Jesus goes on to give seating instructions. The Pharisees were a status oriented bunch. The more rich or powerful you were, the better your seat in temple, and the better your place at the table. It got so bad people were fighting or arriving early just to take a better seat. Jesus advises them that it is not wise to take a high seat if you don’t deserve it, because you’ll just get humiliated in the long run when the host has to ask you to move. Take a lower seat, then you get to joy of being moved up by the host. It’s a good social strategy, to be sure, but why does Jesus care where they sit?

Jesus is telling them about their spiritual attitude, not just table arrangements. With their status-mindedness, they had placed themselves above other Jews. They thought they knew all the secrets, understood the Torah better than anyone and were the top of the faith. They sat in the front row of temple. Jesus was warning them. He is the host of God’s banquet and if they keep seating themselves (and thinking of themselves) too highly he will have to ask them to move down. It is better if Jesus lifts them up. I find that is Christ’s desire for all of us – not to see us glorify ourselves in our holiness, but to let him lift us up to the place he says we belong at the great feast of God’s love.

Jesus reminds them everyone has a place

If Jesus hasn’t already been the worst dinner guest in all Pharisaic history, he goes one step farther and brings up the unmentionables. No one likes to hear about the hungry when they are eating dinner. Who wants to think about the poor when it is Christmas morning and the presents have your name on them? Do the healthy want to be reminded of the lame on race day? Jesus brings up the uncomfortable truth during the finest course of the meal – there are people much different from the rich Pharisees, and they should have a place at the table too. He also reminds them you don’t invite someone to dinner just to get an invitation back. You invite them to feed them – their bodies, their heart and their soul.

We are comfort creatures who don’t always feel comfortable with people who are different from us; particularly if they insult our sense of what we find scriptural or desirable. People who have a life circumstance that is different from our own draw our avoidance or polite icy smiles. Jesus is reminding us that being above one another is not what God’s banquet is like. Jesus encourages us to have conversations instead of condemnation and to encounter instead of avoid. The reward we get, he tells us, will be in heaven – when we see the diversity of people who came to know God’s love because someone reached out of their box and invited them to dine.

There is a place in God’s world for everyone where they can feel safe, free and loved. We get there when we let Christ lift us up to it and invite others along for the journey. Hopefully, when we get to God’s banquet together, the silverware won’t be so confusing after all.