A Rare and Precious Gift

Scripture: Luke 6:20-26

“Don't throw the past away
You might need it some rainy day
Dreams can come true again
When everything old is new again”

Peter Allen wrote that song in 1979 for the musical “All the Jazz”. The further time goes by the more true it has become. Movies are more likely to be re-makes or re-hashes of familiar themes than original stories. Songs are re-done or “sampled” (the horrible practice of playing part of an established song into your song then claiming you made a “new” thing). Political scandals, public romances and private divorces – all go round and round.

It’s not all bad, though. Sometimes more than bad films or obnoxious songs come back from history. Sometimes a beautiful idea is re-captured and presented to a whole new generation. One such idea is the Lachrymatory. Glass blowers from all over the globe have discovered the ancient tradition of the lachrymatory – a tear bottle – and have begun making them again. There are many places where you can buy modern versions of these tiny tear holders all created as a “blast from the past”.

A Roman Lachrymatory - circa 100 AD (CE).

A modern Lachrymatory, from Timeless Traditions, 2008

A lachrymatory is a tiny glass or pottery bottle people would use to catch their tears in when someone died. After the bottle had been cried into, it would be placed on the crypt, burial place or memory stone of the loved one as a testament to how much that person (usually a child) meant. It started as an ancient practice, and many Hebrew scholars feel Psalm 56:8 “Put my tears in your wineskin” is an allusion to the idea. By the first century the Roman Empire and its conquered lands used lachrymatories as a culture rite of passage. In fact, rich people even hired mourners to cry into a lachrymatory so the deceased would be honored by a bottle filled with tears. For the poor, who did not usually have the luxury of a “tear-for-hire” service, friends and neighbors would gather their tears to place inside the bottle. After gathering tears in a bottle, they would present it to the widow or parent and say formally and compassionately, “Condolesco adactus” –“ I suffer with you.” (that’s where we get the word “condolences” from).

Imagine that – after a tragedy giving your neighbor the gift of tears. Certainly not something the good folks at Hallmark or flowers.com would encourage. Yet what a powerful thing it would be indeed - To grieve with someone - to mourn with someone.

We don’t value tears in our culture as much as we should. The weekend after the Virginia Tech Tragedy I saw a large banner at a concert I attended where people were encouraged to sign it in support. There were a lot of hopes, and “I’m praying for you” kind of sentiments – however I don’t recall seeing one note that said “I am crying for you” – although crying was what many of us did – and knowledge of that was a great healing gift to those who mourned and lost a loved one. Anyone can laugh with you, or pray for you. But it is a true brother or sister of spirit who can cry for you.

Even when we cry for ourselves and our own sorrows we tend to hide that fact. We don’t tell people about the times we cry over mean words, long silences, or serious betrayals. We don’t let on that we cry in the car on the way home from a bad day at work, and we rarely even admit the times we are so grateful for someone’s mercy or forgiveness that we cry then too. We are a family made of hiding criers.

The New Testament, particularly the stories of Christ, show how important tears are to the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and would encourage us not to hide them. Think of the many narratives about crying.

Jesus weeps over the sins of Jerusalem
A woman’s weeping softens his heart to her plight and he heals her daughter
Jesus weeps tears like blood the night before his passion
A woman washes Jesus’ feet with her tears

And in the list of blessings in Luke (a synoptic version of the Sermon on the Mount) we are told:

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21 NIV).

Even Paul talks frequently about the tears he cries for the churches he loves and nurtures. Want to see how much he cries? Go to the http://www.biblegateway.com/ and type the word “tears” and choose “New Testament” – a whole list of Paul’s teardrops appears.

There is no worse feeling in the world that helplessness. When our friends or loved ones endure something we can’t fix, or experience something we can’t change that creeping awful helplessness crawls into our hearts and buries its deep fruitless longing. In those times its good to remember – if you can’t fix it, and you can’t change it – you can pray about it, you can support through it, and you can cry over it. Its not a bad thing – it’s a gift. The anger of helplessness is a natural reaction. Crying for someone is a spiritual action. Which do you think most befits the people of God?

So the next time someone tells you of a past event that’s harmed them, instead of wishing you could go back in time, find the person who caused the harm and pop them in the nose (a natural reaction) – cry for them, or cry with them, and pray for their healing and be inspired by their strength. The next time someone you love faces an illness, a job loss, a loneliness your care can’t seem to permeate –instead of slogans and suggestions designed to “fix” them (a natural reaction)– cry with them, cry for them, and pray at their side –holding their hand.

You don’t need to save your tears in a small glass jar for them to be of value – but when you recognize the value in tears you will be a part of Christ’s family, bringing the care of heaven to the children on earth. Tears are a rare and precious gift.

What Does It Mean To Believe?

Reading: John 6:28-29

I attended a workshop on treating teenagers with HIV and AIDS this last week and heard a sad and stunning story from a pediatric AIDS nurse from New York. She told us the story of “Ben” – a 14 year old who died from AIDS.

His CD4 count cascaded dramatically downward and medical intervention seemed helpless to stop it. After his death, his grandmother who had raised him searched his room. She found two very telling objects: a diary of sorts, and pills. She found pills under his mattress, stuffed in his dresser drawers, hidden in books, and behind bookshelves. She found pills everywhere. Why had he died so young? The answer became clear. He hadn’t taken any of his medicine. But why? The diary held that answer.

“They keep telling me to take my medicine. They say I will die if I don’t take my medicine, but I don’t think I’m really going to die. The only time I even feel sick is when I take the medicine.”

The nurse then spoke of the challenges faced getting teenagers with HIV to take their medicines and follow a very complicated medical regimen. It’s very hard when your disease as no symptoms (until its too late to stop it) to convince teenagers they need the pills to keep from getting sick – particularly when the pills have side effects that make them feel sick.

Ben died, in part, because he didn’t believe:
* - He didn’t believe he was sick. His disease had no symptom of its own.
* - He didn’t believe he would die. He was still in the “immortal age” teenagers go through that tells them they will live forever.
* - He didn’t believe the medicine was helping. The medicine made him feel worse, not better.
* - He didn’t believe there was anyone he could talk to who would understand. So he stopped taking the pills in private.

In John 6:28-29 the disciples ask Jesus for work and he tells them, “believe in the One he has sent.”

For the disciples – it wasn’t too hard at that moment to believe in Jesus. He was standing there with them. He had just feed 5,000 out of a loaf and fish kid’s meal. He had just walked on water in front of them. They were already amazed, and in awe. They already believed.

But soon belief in Jesus would require work for the disciples.

* - They believed he was invincible – and he would get tricked like a common thug and arrested.
* - They believed he was immortal - the messiah – and he died right before their eyes.
* - They believed he was going to change the world – and soon they were hiding from both Romans and Pharisees.

Their easy beliefs became hard for at time – but they held together and kept working at the belief in the One whom God had sent.

To believe is not to have an idea. We sit and talk about what we believe all the time. And while we are having enlightened conversations – the poor starve, the oppressed are beaten, the widows mourn, and the children suffer. We can talk ourselves blue about what we think about God, faith and the bible – but if that’s all we do – we don’t really believe.

To believe is not to close the doors to change. Too often once we decide what we believe – we don’t want to hear anything to the contrary or even consider it for a minute. We shut off literature and lessons from other cultures. We scoff at the faith stories of people not like us. We know what we believe and don’t want to be influenced. But just as people grow and change from the moment of conception to the day they die – our beliefs must also grow and change.

To believe is to live. Believe is not an adjective – it’s an action verb. To believe means you step out on a truth and know it will hold you up. To believe is to get new ideas and test them with your life and discover their change and merit. To believe is to love with the love of Christ – not in our talk, but in our actions.

Recently the state of North Carolina commissioned a “Christian” license plate. It has a stained glass window and a cross. At the bottom of the plate it says I BELIEVE. Some say that’s a violation of church and state – other are worried about the hypocrisy that drives people from faith when they see an “I believe” car cutting them off on the highway or speeding through an intersection. When I was asked my comment was, “I think our world would be better off if we had less Christian stuff, and more Christian people.”

Believing in the One who was sent – means living like the fact Jesus is alive makes a difference – and makes you different. Believing means working to see God even in the dark times when God isn’t so evident. Believing means going out of your comfort zone and into God’s world. Believing means you accept the fact that death occurs and after life exists.

Believing is the hardest work, for the best reward, you will ever do.

So when you are concerned, confused, or resentful – don’t let your disbelief make you isolate yourself and make decisions that affect your relationship with God and your life on earth. Talk to others, seek God’s wisdom, and believe in the One he has sent.

Walk This Way

Reading: 2 John 4-6


Everyone has mysteries in their life. For some people, its how they can bend a finger all the way to their wrist, or remember every phone number they have ever heard. With others it’s an unexplained gift in math, or the ability to know a sibling is in trouble even when you aren’t with him or her. For me – one of the major mysteries of my life has been speed – or at least, my lack of it. When I was a small child my mother called me “Moses” (as in “as slow as Moses”) so much one of the Marshallese ladies we knew in the Marshall Islands thought it was my name and called me that for months. School friends were always waiting on me sighing “any day, Kellie…” as I plodded toward them, and a friend from college would just shake her head as she turned around to see how far behind her I was. She would then pat her chin and ask, “How? How? How? Can someone who is 6 feet tall with at least 3 feet of leg possibly be SO SLOW?”. The truth is: I don’t know.

I do almost everything slow. I eat slow (mostly I push my food around the plate and pretend to eat – I hate eating. But not liking to eat is a different mystery), I react to things slowly, I plan slow, I clean slow, and yes – I walk slow. In fact, last week when my friend Lea was saying she needed to walk for exercise I offered to let her walk with me. She laughed out loud! I said, “WHAT?” and she said, “You don’t walk, you Stttrooollllll.” But I have found some solace in our passage today. It seems walking (maybe even strolling) is what God wants from us all along.

“It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.” 2 John 4-6

Notice something about that verse – it says the word WALK three times. It’s clear the writer of the Second Letter of John (a small New Testament epistle about rejecting false prophets) has no problem with Christians being in the slow lane. In fact if you look a little farther down at verse 9 – you’ll see running is outright scorned.

“9Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” 2 John 9.

Of course the Bible is talking about theology and living, not actually physical movement – but there’s a neat lesson here. In calorie burning, all experts will tell you running is better than walking. But in Christian theology – it’s the attributes of walking that make the difference.

The Way of Simplicity

The first benefit to walking over running is its simplicity. Walking is easy. We do it from the time we are young children. (and yes, I learned to walk slowly too – my mother claims to have worried she would end up carrying me to kindergarten). So some of us take a while – but as small kids we all learn that song, “Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you’ll be across the floor…” Walking is easy. Running is harder.

Christianity isn’t meant to be a sprint where you learn everything in a big hurry then rush off to the next fountain of knowledge. Nor is a marathon where you push your endurance to its limits just to get God’s attention or approval. Christianity in its finest witness to a lost world is the every day act of putting one foot in front of the other. It’s the steps of faith, courage, forgiveness, grace, hope, and love every day that change our lives, change our world and reflect our faith. We don’t need a doctorate in theology, a Strong’s Greek Concordance, and a labyrinth drawn on the church parking lot to live and share our faith. We just need the simple act of taking every day as it comes and walking with God.

Less Pain, More Gain

One of the things that inevitably rears its head in the debate between walking and running is the fact that running burns many more calories than walking. However, the reason that is true is because walking is simply a more energy efficient form of motion. From a physics standpoint – walking requires less energy because it absorbs less impact to the joints and converts forward energy more economically. One website said this about running:

“Running is generally considered to be a fairly high impact exercise with a great deal of repetitive pounding.” www.therunnersguide.com

A great deal of repetitive pounding? I don’t know about you – but that sounds like some preachers I know of – pounding their doctrine over and over – bringing out the same old tired rhetoric and non-biblical traditions to involve faith in politics, culture wars, business models and pyramid schemes.

But 2 John is clear that our walk is to be the efficient gliding of love – not the pounding of rules and judgment. Our faith is a walk – a connective stroll between ourselves and our creator God which is slow and easy enough to bring anyone from the smallest child to the oldest dowager on the journey with us. As a faith body Christians have been too busy running their mouths – instead of measuring their steps of bringing Christ into the world around us day by day by day.

Be Grounded

The final reason running burns more calories than walking, but creates the risk of injury was said best in an article by “Therunningplanet.com”

“The mechanics of running and walking are very different. When walking we always have one foot on the ground. Our body weight is always supported. Each stride results in a force equaling our body weight being applied to our leg muscles. When running you are completely airborne between foot plants. When your lead foot comes down, it is absorbing more than your body weight due to the effects of gravity.”

Did you see that? When walking we always have one foot on the ground! Now that’s the best advice for living the Christian life I’ve heard in a while. Stay grounded in scripture, stay grounded, 2 John says, in love. Have at least one foot rooted and supported by the holy spirit. The “gravity” of our humanity, of our culture’s materialism, esteem-driven satisfaction, and self seeking makes our faith have to absorb so much more than it should. We get a ticket and cry out in anguish, “Why does this happen to ME?” although we hear about a Chinese earthquake that kills 80,000 people and say mildly, “that’s sad. But what can I do?...” We are held down by gravity at every turn.

A Christian who is grounded in Christ knows that God is in all things, and will support us through the tickets, and the greater traumas – as long as we keep grounded in the Holy Spirit of the living God and know who we are, and how God expects us to live.

There’s a place in faith for us slow types. We don’t need to run, and we don’t need to fly over the world around us. We need to keep bearing witness to the God who walks us step by step through the healing process, the faith process, and the grace process.

I’ll close with a camp song (seeing how summer is starting and all…) – see if you can see 2 John’s words of walking in love shine through.

“Oh God, you are my God and I will every praise you
I will seek you in the morning, and learn to walk in your ways
And step by step you’ll lead me and I will follow you all of my days.”

Keep walking, my brothers and sisters, keep walking….

Crossing the Rubicon

Crossing the Rubicon

1 Peter 3:13-22

The Rubicon River separated the North called Gaul from Italy proper in the century before and after Christ. It formed a border line to what was considered actually being in “Rome”. Because of the concern that Rome could be defeated not by the armies of other countries (whom Rome had always defeated in battle) but by a general taking the Roman army against the city, a law was created that made it illegal (treason) to cross the Rubicon with an army. In 49 BCE Julius Caesar did just that. Taking his full army to Rome, he knew the act of crossing the river was an act of treason and war. In legend the moment he crossed the river he reportedly said, “ālea iacta est - "the die is cast”. Once you cross the Rubicon, there is no turning back.

In popular culture the phrase “Crossing the Rubicon” means the same as taking a risky and irrevocable action or starting a revolution that cannot be turned back from. In our passage today Peter is telling Christians to “cross the rubicon” – not with an army of might but with a force of peace. How do we create revolution? Courage, Conversation, and Conscience.

It Takes Courage to Create Change

The first thing Peter tells us is “do not be frightened”. Christianity is not a faith walk for people who lack conviction or courage. It requires making stands so radical in their nature that people are tempted to think us quite mad. Christianity is designed to be so embracing that the very people other shy away from – the homeless, the immigrants, the lepers, the prisoner and the outcasts – are the very ones we take in, create community with and consider our equals. Instead of the old way of thinking ourselves “religious” and them “cursed” – Christianity is the courage to say “These are my brothers and sisters I am them – they are me.”

Don’t be afraid of the world around you. Create change by your willingness to be equal – not just when it gives you rights, but when it keeps you humble. Learn from everyone God puts in your path and teach them through your courage to side-step the norm of achievement, busy-ness and social status. The Rubicon was a boundary. Be willing to break the boundaries of class and stature and cross into the true Christian life.

Conversation, not Condemnation

Peter then challenges us to do something modern Christians struggle with more than anything – be ready to talk about Christ. Not only be ready to talk about Jesus – but be ready to do it gently and respectfully!

15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…
Now there’s a groundbreaking thought. Instead of condemning people for their belief, practices or non-practices and walking around with a list of mental does and don’ts – be ready to be gentle, respectful and talk with them. Peter knows what we should notice in the gospels – Never does Jesus point out someone and say “Well, they are just going to hell” and walk away. He chides the Pharisees (church folks!) and talks about the woe they face if they don’t learn to embrace the spirit of the Lord other than the letter of the law. But mostly he listens, he teaches and he loves.

Lets not just bring “respect” into our churches – lets create a revolution of change by taking respect out into the world – and when people notice our gentle nature and respect then they can say “What is it about you that’s different?” and you can be prepared to talk about Jesus Christ.

Have Conscience on your side.

Americans like to be “right” – no matter if we are right or wrong – or even if right or wrong really isn’t the point – we like to be “right”. Having a conscience means you don’t enforce your “rightness” but God’s goodness, God’s holiness and God’s love. Notice Peter expect Christians to live such good behavior that anytime someone says something bad about them – its slander – because Christians don’t act badly. That’s what it means to live with conscience.

Instead of worrying about creating theological arguments about our beliefs and how right we are to follow Jesus, lets channel that desire to be right into our lives – be right about how we act, be right about what we give, and be right before God in our hearts. Not only will that make an irrevocable difference our lives, but it will cross the Rubicon of faith and show they world a revolution of hope.

Crossing the Rubicon was how Julius Caesar started the revolution that took Rome from a corrupt Republic to the age of the Emperors – some like Caesar were tyrants, some the Augustus brought the peace of Rome (pax romana), roads and culture to the world. No matter what historians decide about that act – one thing is for cure – not being able to go back – took the whole world forward.

Make a change in your relationship of faith that makes an unchangeable mark on the world around you.

Don't Be Driven

Lectionay Reading: 1 Peter 2:2-10

Five years ago a phenomenon in Christian publishing changed the way many people see faith and life. That phenomenon was “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. Published in 2002, it became an international best seller for people looking for some meaning and purpose in their existing by teaching that God has a purpose for each person and the things that happen. However, the book has garnered as much criticism as acclaim. From its lack of the gospel message, to its “new age-like” feel for devotional but not missional understanding the book has some folks wondering what people are really seeking that drives them to this work.

Although I find some parts of the book quite helpful, I am one of the critics in general, not because of the main idea – but of the way that idea is presented. (I am also not too happy with the mass merchandising of faith – but I’ll write that in the “Purpose Driven Journal” with my “Purpose Driven Pen” after I drink from my “Purpose Driven coffee cup”). My concern is expressed in the very title of the book – the word “Driven”.

According to the dictionary, driven means, “being propelled or pushed forward. Having a compulsive or urgent nature”. Mature Christianity isn’t about God pushing us along or a compulsive need requiring us to participate. Christianity is about our willingness to go, because of our love for and relationship with our creator. People who are “driven” are often singularly visioned, inflexible, and uninvolved with the people or places around them. Think of a work addict – someone so consumed or driven by work that they take work on vacation, ignore their family and soon lose perspective of the rest of the world. We are not created to be driven – even by an idea like our divine purpose – we as God’s children are instructed to be called.

We are to be called, not driven.

The lectionary scripture in FirstPeter reveals a treatise on what we are called to be – living stones building the body of faith as temple of the Christ by our actions and behaviors. But in that treatise is a list of who we are called to be.

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Identity - A Chosen People

One of the things that the converts from Judaism to Christianity were missing was their status as “chosen”. As the Hebrew people they had been raised for generations with the fact they were God’s own people – chosen and called to proclaim the name of God. When they converted to Christianity, there was a sense of confusion and loss in some early communities. They asked, “we were once God’s chosen people. Now who are we?” This book goes to remind them that they are still chosen of God and still were a people proclaiming the name of God.
It is a humbling and beautiful thing to realize we are not Christians because we chose God, or were driven to God. We are Christians because God chose us – humanity – to create, relate to and reveal the relationship to. We are a chosen people called to relationship.

Service - A Royal Priesthood

There are two services offered to God in the Old Testament: those done by prophets, and those done by priests. A prophet is someone who brings the message of God to the people. A priest is someone who brings the people to God. That’s our role – we are part of a royal priesthood – we are not called to speak for God. We are called to bring the people to God. Imagine how embracing and powerful the church would be if we remembered that we are a priesthood – called to serve and to connect.

Community – A Holy Nation

A nation is a collective of people, with different traits, backgrounds and gifts, who live within the some territory and hold a common bond. We as Christians are called to be God’s nation – not defined by our country – but by our citizenship is heaven. A nation is not made of people who are the same, but by people with the same foundational contract. To the age old question “well, can’t I just worship God at home alone?” the answer is Yes – but the call is for us to be together – to be a nation of Christ on earth.

So that’s who we are – living stones. We are not people meant to be driven by internal goals or external faith precepts. We are people meant to be called by the clear voice of God, forgiven by the grace of Christ and gathered into one people.

Our Brother James

Who was James in relation to Jesus?

Who is James in relation to us?

There’s a lot of scholarly argument about who James is. Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox faiths claim James is not related to Jesus in any way, because their dogma tells them Mary never had sex and was a perpetual virgin. Many Protestants believe James was indeed the son of Joseph and Mary making him the younger half brother of Jesus. Other protestants use ancient traditions to make the case that after Jesus was born Joseph died young, and Mary married a man named Clopas who had children of his own – making James the older stepbrother of Jesus. And still more suggest James was actually a cousin because neither Hebrew nor Aramaic have a word for “cousin” and used the term “brother” interchangeably.

So: non-brother, younger half-brother, older step-brother or cousin – we don’t know. But what we do know is that he was Jesus’ spiritual brother – just as the Bible calls us all “joint heirs with Jesus” – we are all God’s children and related to Christ through that. And it’s that spiritual brother role that I find the book of James brings to me. James is our spiritual big brother.

Everyone needs an older sibling (even if they aren’t born with one). That role of someone who has a little more experience, a little more wisdom to give, and is someone that you can talk to about the really sticky things you might not otherwise bring up in conversations with your peers is a need we all have to fulfill. An older sibling who has been through what you have experienced or endured, and can support you through your joys and encourage you is a great gift of heaven. Throughout my life I have been blessed with mentors and “big sisters” who have taught, nurtured, laughed frequently and shared experiences with me. As I got a little older I have been blessed to be a “big sister” to some younger men and women who have allowed me that joy and help them by sharing my experiences, encouragements, thoughts and know-how. It’s the larger circle of life in God’s family on earth and we are always blessed when we get the rare chance to participate in it.

Spiritually, James is our big brother. His 5 chapter book deals with the real-life issues other writings skirt right by. His speech is plain. His message is unmistakable. While other biblical books challenge us with the truth of resurrection and the beauty of being saved by God’s grace – James comes along as says “Yes, grace is a gift of God, but don’t just sit on your can while receiving it. Do something! Don’t just take the gift – USE IT.” The book of James is a treatise on Christian maturity. It’s a book that says “it is time to grow up little sister/little brother – here’s how”. Let’s take a quick look at the 5 chapters of this amazing letter and see the message our bro has for us.

Chapter 1: Be Positive Under Pressure

Whether you are suffering from lack of wisdom and don’t know what to do (ask for it!), or are being tempted, James tell us in chapter 1 to persevere. The ability to see the hand of God in all things, and endure the whirlwind of life on earth is a great sign of spiritual maturity. How do we learn to be positive under the pressures of our jobs, ideas, expectations and regrets? By hearing and doing. Those are the bookends of the Christian faith. Hearing helps us understand God’s relationship with us and the world around us. Doing helps us live in and take it into our being. Christians don’t always have to be happy – but they should be hopeful (and reach out with hope to one another).

James 1:12 “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

Chapter 2: Be Merciful to Others

Maturity in Christianity means realizing there are more people in God’s world than you, and embracing them with equality and grace. Christianity is not selfish, or self-seeking. It does not seek to make someone think like you, act like you or be like you. It seeks to open a door to God for all people so that in relationship with their creator they can be who God made them, not who God made you. Playing favorites – rewarding the rich, desirable or similar, while punishing the poor, needy or different is not the act of a mature Christian, but of a slave to ego, our big brother reminds us.

Mercy, we are reminded, is not just in thinking – its found by doing. Faith without deeds is dead, James says. It isn’t saying we can “work our way to heaven” – but it is saying if we produce no fruit, we might be the prettiest most useless tree on the planet. Mercy isn’t a feeling, its an action.

James 2:12, 13 “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!”

Chapter 3: Master Your Mouth!

A recurrent theme is this small book is to watch what you say. Its not just the fact that words can tear down or build up that has James concerned. It’s the idea that people speak without thinking, or let their emotions take over the communication center and do a lot of damage. Things like belittling people, gossip, name calling, or discouraging words don’t transmit the love of Christ or desire of God. They simply hurt. There are times that people have to be told “No” or instructed that they are doing something incorrectly or unwisely. However James reminds us with his talk about wisdom there is a big difference between “instruction” and “destruction” – Use the wisdom that comes from Heaven – it’s positive, controlled, God-centered. That way your words can create, and not destroy.

James 3:2 “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”

Chapter 4: Be a Peacemaker, not a Troublemaker

Stop fighting. Stop fighting with each other over stuff like baptism, communion, and what hymnal to purchase. Stop fighting with other Christians over worship styles, who can serve God, and what prayer style is best. Stop fighting with people in the world about the things of the world. Stop suing each other at the drop of a hat, and stop blaming other people for your problems. It’s that clear. We are to show the power of Christ through our peacemaking, not how much controversy we can bring to the table. Like any good big brother, James says in a timely way “forget about your petty drama and get over it! Grow up and follow God.”

James 4:1 “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?”

Chapter 5: Be Patient not Panicked

Don’t run around grumbling, blaming and acting badly. Just as God is willing to wait an eternity for us to grow into the people God wants us to be, we should reflect that likeness in our patience. Remember when you endure a trial that God is a healer who gives good gifts. Sometimes those gifts require our work, our patience, our learning, our seeking, or our forgiveness. Sometimes we simply have to wait. Everyone goes through times at the top of the circle, and everybody goes through times at the bottom. Instead of deciding that God has withdrawn from you during those darker times or events, remember that God uses time, wisdom, prayer and faith as healing/helping/guiding elements. Don’t panic. Be patient. God is still God.

James 5:7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.

James didn’t help us with the other older sibling stuff – like how to tie our shoes, or what to say to our parents when we come home with a bad report card, but he does help us with the questions that plague us in our walk to maturity in Christ. The book of James gives us 5 lessons from our big brother as a blueprint about who we should be and how we should act. No matter who he was to Jesus, he has certainly been a godsend to us.

What is up with That?

Lectionary Reading: Luke 24:13-35

"'Do you want to honor Christ?'
'Then do not glorify him here in the church with silken garments
while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked'
Archbishop of Constantinople - John Chrysostom (347-407 CE).

The story of Jesus and the walk with the men to Emmaus is a frequent passage for preachers to pull and discuss during Eastertide. We tend to focus on how they didn’t know it was him until he broke the bread (emulating communion, or just a meal), and how they seemed to have lost hope, only to rediscover it once they encountered Christ is his new form. But at some point its time to be truthful and ask the honest question we have been dying to ask since Easter Sunday. The question is:

What is up with that?

Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene and she thinks he’s the gardener. She followed and loved him for years, yet she doesn’t recognize him until he says her name.

What’s up with that?

Jesus appears to the men on the road to Emmaus, but they do not recognize them because the Bible says, “they were kept from recognizing him” (v16).

What’s up with that?

Jesus appears the next morning while they are fishing. He calls to them, but they do not know it is him until a large haul of fish comes in the net.

What’s up with that?

Why is it, exactly, that the people who were closest to him, who loved him, and who followed him had no ability to recognize him when he returned to earth? He is capable of revealing himself – in time his voice, his habits (breaking bread), his scars all reveal his true self to his community. Why is he so mysterious to begin with?

To reveal the nature of the truth

There is a famous scene in the novel “Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain where Tom and Huck, fresh from their adventures, sneak back into town just in time to attend their own funeral. Crouching out of visual range, Tom is shocked to see the tears of weeping and wailing that occur on his behalf. Even Aunt Polly has kind words to say about him. Tom is stunned to learn what the people really think.

I think the time after the resurrection allows Jesus to do that same thing. With his beloved community believing he is dead, Jesus can hear what they really think. Jesus always had a little trouble getting people to tell him the truth. “Who do they say that I am?” he asked the disciples once, just to learn what was going on behind his back.

Thinking he is the gardener, Mary of Magdala cries “They have taken my Lord away,” and Jesus learns he is still the Lord of Mary and she still walks his way and wears his yoke. Walking with the men from Emmaus, Jesus gets to hear what they truly think of who he was. He hears how they thought he was a prophet, and would be the one who redeemed Israel, but he was killed and they are disappointed. I doubt they are the only ones.

Imagine how disappointed Jesus must be to hear these travelers and realize that after three years of teaching, they are still getting it all wrong! He’s not a prophet, he’s a savior! He’s not a military leader who cares about government, he’s the son of God who takes away the sin of the world! I sometimes wonder how he feels listening to us when we neglect, reject, and misuse his mission and words. Does he think – 2000 years of teaching, and they are still getting it all wrong!

To experience the joy of revelation

Any teacher will tell you that wading through tons of paperwork, administrative issues, unsupportive parents, uncaring students, and lunch duty are not what they love about teaching. What they love about teaching is the moment – that amazing moment – when the light goes on, and the lesson makes sense, and the student learns. The moment a human learns (hence changes) is so beautiful its worth all the work to get to it. That's when the angels rejoice.

I always sense a certain joy in Jesus when he reveals himself. He sees Mary’s tears change from sorrow to relief to joy. He sees the disciples turn from fear to purpose. He bursts on the scene usually saying “Peace Be With You” – just loving the reaction he gets. There is a little mischief in the post-resurrection Jesus. He disappears on a moment’s notice, and appears without warning through locked doors. In short, he’s loving it. And, after the pain of separation and death, what’s not to love about new life?

Someone asked me once how I knew people would be better and more understanding in heaven. My answer was, “Because the experience of physical death is a life change that won’t leave you the same. If surviving a car accident or fighting cancer can change you – imagine what death does.” Jesus is alive, and his joy in not diminished by the work he has left to do.

Jesus reveals himself to us daily – in the wisdom of a morning devotional reading, in the kind word of a mentor, or a note of encouragement from a friend. Jesus reveals his truth to us when we are lost in the lies of the world, and Jesus reveals the light of God when a dark day threatens to overcome us. Jesus heals us, talks to us, sings with us, laughs with us, breaks bread in our groups, brings us lots of love and calls us by our name. Like his followers in those strange days after Calvary – we get a chance to have the joy of seeing Jesus again and again. Don’t take those for granted. Enjoy them, and praise God for them.

To help us see Jesus in the world

Mary sees a gardener. But he’s really Jesus. The men walking to Emmaus see a traveler whom they ask to stay for dinner so he won’t have to walk at night. But he’s really Jesus. The disciples see some know-it-all man on the shore shouting out fishing tips. But he’s really Jesus.

It could have gone differently. Mary could have thought the gardener was beneath her – a common laborer and ignored him or brushed him off without thought. The men walking to Emmaus could have though the traveler wasn’t informed enough to talk to or a “stranger” who probably didn’t speak their language, best avoided and passed him without out word. The disciples could have dismissed the fishing advice of the ravings of a fool. After all, if he were really a fisherman wouldn’t he have a boat?

But Jesus is training them, and us to see him in the people of the world. Remember this:
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' (Matthew 25).

Jesus is out there in our homes, in our city, and in our world. Jesus wants us to seem him in the hungry lined up at food shelters, and the homeless sleeping in our gardens. Jesus wants us to see him in the “strangers” who speak a different language and need hope, help and compassion. Jesus wants us to see him in the elderly who need a listener, the disabled who need medicine, transportation, and companionship, the victims who need healing and protection, the survivors who need to speak and to help others, the lonely who need love, and the overwhelmed who need peace. Jesus is out there on our roads to Emmaus, work, play, Walmart and the drive we make to church.

So, that’s what’s up. Jesus is waiting to see how we really feel, to reveal himself to us again, and let us see him and serve him in this world.

"'Do you want to honor Christ?'
'Then do not glorify him here in the church with silken garments
while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked’.”

Locking Jesus Out

Lectionary Reading: John 20:19-31

One of the things I’ve liked most in ministry is it allows you to encounter people in the full cycle of life. Each person is at a different place in the circle but its amazing to see the cylinders of life go round and round

You are there to bless, praise and celebrate on their very best days:
The day they born
The day they a baptized
The day they graduate from high school, college, grad school…
The day they marry
The day they tell you they are having a baby
The day they retire and tell you their grandchildren are born
The day you hold their hand as they pass from this life into God’s heaven

You are there to hold, pray and comfort on their very worst days:
The day a miscarriage occurs
The day a disappointment happens
The day a crash occurs or an Emergency Room visit is needed
The day a job is lost or a dream goes up in flames
The day a divorce splits a couple in two
The day a family becomes estranged
The day a loved one makes that journey into God’s heaven

The thing I like about counseling is that it puts me in the lives of people in all the other days:
Days after a great event is forgotten and hope needs to come back
Days after a sorrow has occurred
The long never-ending days of bickering that threaten a relationship
Sheets of dark, depressing days of grief
The years of days after a trauma – where resolutions and solutions are finally found
Days of light and inspiration where guidance is a pathway
Days of laughter breaking through rain
Days of being whole again

Pretty much between ministry and counseling – you’re busy every day! What’s even more amazing than that? The presence and power of God. God is present every second of every day of every life span – including the seconds before and the eternity after. There is not a second God is not a part of. There is no way to shield yourself from that presence. As Carl Jung said so well “Bidden or not bidden, God is present”. In other words – there is simply no way to lock God out. Jesus is the same way.

Locking Jesus Out in Fear

Our scripture takes place after the resurrection when Mary of Magdala and the others return to tell the disciples Jesus is alive. News and whispers are everywhere. Of course – no one quite has a handle on that truth yet. Some say his body was simply stolen. Others think the women are mad with grief. Romans don’t like all this disorder in their neatly ordered world. Pharisees don’t like the scrutiny this affair has shined onto their laws and behavior – including some backdoor deal that ended in the arrest of a rabbi and the suicide of his disciple. In all the rumor and ideas floating around – the group closest to Jesus knew one thing: as disciples of the Christ - it is not safe for them to be anywhere.

So they do what any sane person would do when they are being pursued by forces known and unknown, they hide away behind a locked door. For whatever reason, Thomas is not with them. Perhaps they sent him out to learn what’s going on or maybe he was just doing a run for some daily bread. Either way, they send him on a dangerous mission carefully locking the door behind them. When suddenly, they will see not just the news – but the truth standing before them. Jesus is there.

You know as they looked to their messiah it was like walking into bright afternoon sun after being in a small dark room. They squinted and blinked, their eyes now unaccustomed to the sight of him – but there he stood. What’s the next thing they do? Look over at the door. It was LOCKED. But here stands Jesus. And they learn the most wonderful way – no matter how afraid you are, you can’t lock Jesus out.

We build walls in our fears too. We keep people at arm’s length or simply don’t tell them how we feel. We decide not to reach out for a dream because we are afraid of failure. We don’t seek out folks who could help us because we are afraid to appear vulnerable. We pray about what we want, not who we are – because deep down we aren’t so sure we want to be that honest with God. Yet through all the walls from our all fears, Jesus walks right into the room of our lives. Never let yourself be fooled. You can keep people at bay for a while, but Jesus Christ who saves you and loves you is going to walk right in. Count on it.

Locking Jesus Out in Anger

So Thomas comes back with the latest edict or a couple of loaves of bread and finds everyone stirring with light and joy. You know he is going through an energy rush of his own. He just risked everything to run this errand and now he’s back but instead of being thankful or listening to him – they are all blathering about seeing Jesus who came through a locked door. Thomas figures 1 of three things has happened:

1. They have gone as mad with grief as the women and the people on the street saying Jesus is alive. He is now the only sane one left.

2. They are playing some kind of mean joke on him. They have all made up this wild story to make him look like a sucker.

3. Jesus really is alive and did see them. Everyone got to be with their beloved Lord but Thomas. Even his twin brother got to see Jesus. Imagine how that could come between two so close in everything else. Thomas feels left out in the cold.

If its door number one: He’s all alone
If its door number two: He’s a laughing stock
If its door number three: He has been purposefully left out. He is “less than”

No matter which it is, he feels angry – and lets face it, we would too. No one wants to be left outside the circle, or laughed out, or alone. So in anger Thomas does what we do – he closes all the doors. Not just to the room – but the door to his heart, the door to his mind and the door to his faith also. “I don’t care what you say – unless I see his hands and I see touch his side with my own two little hands – I will not believe this.” In other words – Thomas is CLOSED.

A week later, Jesus appears again. This time Thomas is there. Jesus repeats the words Thomas uses and allows him to see his hands and touch his side. Most people think Jesus did that to chide Thomas for his hasty words, but I don’t. I think Jesus did it for one reason alone. To show Thomas that even though he couldn’t see Jesus in the room when he spoke his angry monologue, Jesus was there and heard every word. Jesus words and actions were saying:

“I’m not just around when you see my wounds or speak to me. I’m around even when you can't see me at all. I’m always here. Blessed are you when you realize you don’t have to see me, but you know I’m there anyway.”

In our anger, hurt and distress we sometimes lock Jesus out too. We get caught up in a situation, sorrow or feeling of helplessness that we decide that we just can’t see God in this. We react instead of act. We strike out instead of let in. We suffer alone at night because we won’t risk reaching to anyone anymore. We might even say we know Jesus is with us – but the truth is – we aren’t always so sure what good that does.

Yet Jesus is not kept out by our locked minds, strong wills or stone hearts. Jesus is in, and Jesus will keep speaking, appearing, helping (and sending helpers), until you touch his hands and touch his side and KNOW that the fact he is alive makes all the difference in your world.

This Eastertide, make a commitment to unlock the doors of your heart (since you aren’t keeping Jesus out anyway) and be open to seeing Christ in working, walking, healing ways all around you. Hear for yourself the words Jesus says when he comes through every locked door - Peace be with you.

Three phrases I hate in the Christian Community

I got a question today that I answered with too many words to fit in the side-bar. (Me give a wordy answer to a short question? Impossible! :-) So I thought I'd put in here. For the Easter sermon go down to next post. Your Shepnerd.

Question: I've always heard the old saying "God does not give usmore than we can handle" and sometimes I want to think its true, but it got me to thinking. If He doesn't give us more than we can handle how are things like terminal illnesses and violent crimes that result in murder figured into this? Seems like if God didn't give us more than wecould handle then these things wouldn't happen.

Long Answer: I have three pet peeves that people say in Christian Communities all the time.

1. "The church is God's House" - No. God doesn't need a house. God doesn't need shelter. God IS shelter.

2. "God helps those who help themselves" - No. Ben Franklin said this (not the bible), and if God just wanted us to help ourselves then we wouldn't need God, Prayer or Jesus. Throw this phrase out with last year's almanac.

3. "God doesn't give us more than we can handle." No. That's not in the bible; its a greeting card phrase people say to each other when we don't know what to say to help them in their grief and want to brush off the issue. It's not helpful, and damaging to people who encounter life issues they are having trouble with. Suddenly, not only do you feel victimized, you feel like you lack faith too.

First, God doesn't GIVE us these things. Imagine you have been sent to teach someone about God. You say, "Knowing the God who made you and loves you will change your life. The relationship can provide you with insight, support, salvation, balance and joy. God will also give you cancer, make you the victim of a crime, cause a hurricane to wipe out your house, take away your job, give your son a drug habit, put your daughter in an abusive marriage, and just when you are ready for your golden years take away your spouse's mind so they no longer remember who you are. Now, don't you want to know God better?" Ludicrous! Yes, and so is the phrase that supports it.

Cancer happens because God designed us to be in a sustained natural world. Some genes, some bodies reacting that create great things like musical talent and pretty blue eyes. Some genes, some bodies react in ways that create cancer, or contract or spread viruses. God doesn't give us illness, illness happens to natural bodies in a natural world.

Hurricanes happen because the water in the ocean gets too hot and the natural balance of the system is to correct it through having the heat rise, which works with the natural turning of the earth to become circular energy (short and easy explanation for a complex phenominon). Crime happens because empty and hurt people tend to hurt other people. Drugs happen because there is pain. War happens because there is evil.

It's always been funny to me that we can accept Jesus teaching "If you ask for bread will God give you a stone? No, God will give good gifts..." but then turn around and suggest God gives you abusive lovers, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease.

Second, not all things can be "handled". Some things must be accepted. Some things must be endured. Some things should be challenged. Some events can be healed by a scalpel. Some events can require a healing process several years long. Some houses are lost. Some lives need rebuilt. "Handling" implies we have some kind of control. Usually, in the situation where people say this terrible phrase - we don't.

God is not powerless but all powerful. And when God designed this natural system of life, death, rebirth - for the earth and for us -God promised to go through these things with us. God carries us. God cries with us. God heals us.

A better alternative to this phrase is Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love God and who have been called according to God's purpose." That doesn't mean that all things that happen are good. God doesn't want drunk drivers to kill children, God doesn't want divorce, drugs or homelessness. God doesn't think those things are good. What it does mean is that out of the situations we encounter - those we make, and those made for us by the other people on the planet and the planet itself -- God can work with us to bring good things into our life and our world.

People with diseases raise awareness, research money and hope. Susan G Komen died of cancer (not good), her family created her foundation that has saved the lives of millions of women through mammograms, drugs, and research (a great good). Women who have been victimized become survivors and learn how to stand up with and heal other women. Tornados that wreck someone's life create a whole community of effort to repair and rebuild. Does God need a tornado to create community? No. But since one is going to happen - God wants to be there too and use it for what good can come.

So my best thought is ditch the easy phrases and hold on to God's truth.

Easter: Defying the Cult of Order

Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-14

The Cult of Order

In the year 203 CE, a 22 year old Roman woman named Vivia Perpetua and her slave known as Felicitas were arrested along with 3 other people for the crime of practicing Christianity. Roman Emperor Severus was desperately trying to align all the many religions of Rome into one ordered system. In his mind a Roman could worship any god he or she wanted, as long as they were willing to show honor to other gods as well. Two religions opposed this practice: Judaism and Christianity. Jews were not new to Roman experience and seemed to be an unconquerable people when it came to changing their faith. Christianity was still a new faith, quiet and law abiding, and it wasn’t really a religion a lot of people understood. It grew during the persecution of Christians under Nero in the year 68 CE, but had settled into the host of other religious entities until Severus started persecuting the sect and outlawed the converting of people to Christianity.

Vivia Perpetua and Felicitas were given the same choice all arrested Christians were: You could curse the name of Jesus and be set free, or you would be executed in the Coliseum with the rest of the criminals at noon. Even though they seemed to have everything to live for – Vivia Perpetua was a new mother and Felicitas gave birth while in prison - both women refused to turn their back on Christ or curse him. They were both taken into the Coliseum to be killed.

Perpetua was a Roman Citizen, which meant she couldn’t be crucified or ill-treated by guards. She was chained to a post to be killed by the wild beasts of the day. Although she was mauled, her wounds were not fatal. A guard was sent to kill her in front of the gathered crowd (executions were at noon, gladiators were before sunset – so the lunch time crowd was the rough and angry mob of the streets there to watch the bloodletting). He stabbed her, but his sword did not do enough damage and the wound was not fatal either. Claiming the power of Christ over the powers of death in this world, she grabbed the soldier’s sword and slit her own throat – defying Roman justice by taking her own life. The crowd was stunned in horrified, confused silence. They could not understand why a young mother would stick to her religion with such surety when the rest of them felt such doubt about it all.

Felicitas was a slave and condemned to be crucified. She suffered mightily at the hands of the guards prior to her crucifixion and was tortured both prior to and after being nailed to the cross. Her singing and prayer during her suffering began to dampen the spirit of the crowd. They could not understand the strength a mere slave girl had to withstand such torture. The Roman Historian Eutropilius reported the crowd left the arena as she suffered – their desire to watch a ugly death stunted, the games were cancelled for the evening. She was found alive in the morning and killed by the arena master.

(Note: There are many different stories of Perpetua and Felicity, including Roman Catholic Dogma that names them as Saints and adds miracles to their tales, however this account is from Roman records and verified from scholars at Oxford as the most accurate account we have).

The Age of Doubt

Perpetua and Felicitas are credited with bringing Rome into the age of doubt. They defied the cult of order Romans lived by. In the Roman world, everything was neat, even, orderly and went entirely to plan. If things didn’t go as planned, the Emperor simply changed that plan so it did. Nothing was left to change. Nothing unexpected should happen. Romans - the folks who gave us the calendar, the aqueduct system, and paved roads – knew everything would be okay as long as it was orderly.

Then these Christian women died in front of them claiming death was not final, life was eternal and the son of God had rose from the grave to live again. That was certainly not an orderly thought. Christianity was downright disorderly! And powerful. They began to look around. Would they die for their gods? Certainly not! There were hundreds of gods that governed daily life – how would you even know which one to die for? Did they even believe in the gods anymore, or was it just the orderly thing to do? Why was Severus determined to fit all the religions into one system and why was the Christian God too big, too powerful, and too amazing to fall into line with the others? Suddenly common Romans, Centurions, plebeians and politicians all begin to wonder if there wasn’t something more. There was something those women had gotten from their faith in a resurrected Jewish Rabbi who preached love and life.

Doubt is not always a bad thing. It led Rome to question its orderly system of gods and policies and accept a change. In 313 the Emperor Constantine declared tolerance for Christianity, and later sought the make the Roman Empire a Christian nation. The Roman’s ability to accept and embrace Christianity is often credited to the age of doubt they went through as a result of the witness of the martyrs.

The Life of Christ

Easter Sunday is a day we celebrate Christ’s resurrection. It’s the day we as God’s sons and daughters defy the cult of order around us. Believing someone rose from the dead is not orderly, reasonable, or scientifically verifiable. It doesn’t fit into a “system” of thought at all (which is why I find “systemic theology” to be such a funny term). In a world where people are still governed by many gods – media, status, money, greed, work, achievement, vanity, etc – Easter Sunday stands proudly as a day to say “none of those things will add one day to your life but Jesus Christ is eternal and his love makes you eternal too”. Instead of scholars at the Jesus Seminar doubting whether or not the resurrection really happened, it is the people of the world who look to us with the eyes of doubt. They doubt their petty gods of rationalization and emotions are real or lasting at all. That doubt can open the door to their freedom from the tyranny of order into the flowing, pulsing, healing, eternal life in Christ.

Easter sermons are oh-so-easy to write. You can talk about life out of death, the women who found him and thought he was a gardener, Peter who ran to the tomb and was forgiven for his cowardice, the walk to Emmaus, the empty tomb, the rolled away stone, the angel…but this Easter I want to do something different. I was us to remember that the resurrection is a fact – an order defying, logic upturning, fact. And because it is a fact – the world will change. Carry Easter in your heart this year not as an empty tomb, a lily and some chocolate eggs. Carry it as a light shining out of a terrible darkness that Jesus is alive and because of that truth the world and its petty little gods will never be the same.

This Easter remember: We may not be called to die for Christ like Vivia Perpetua or suffer the pains of Felicitas. But we are called to live for Jesus and spread the light of peace, hope, and strength to overcome the pains of this world in all that we do and all that we are.

Christ is risen from the dead! Go and be among the living. Go and live among the dying. Go.

Pieces of Palm Sunday

Pieces of Palm Sunday

Lectionary Reading: John 12:12-16 (also in Matt, and Mark)

Its Palm Sunday again – time for kids to march down church aisles waving freshly cut palm branches and managing to whack a senior citizen or two in the head during the processional. Time for songs about Hosanna! And tales of donkeys and crowds. We know the story by heart – but what we rarely do is look at it as a narrative – as a collection of major symbols and images. When we do, we see more about who Christ really is – to them and to us.

The Palms

The first thing we think about Palm Sunday is the Palms – the branches and leaves waved by the crowd as Jesus entered Jerusalem for the Passover. Preachers have a tendency to over-simplify this act and say – “they did this kind of thing to welcome a king” or “they were so excited they just grabbed whatever was available”. But both of those are not very accurate ideas. Kings were given various greetings, but rarely with this much fanfare (they hadn’t had a king that wasn’t an occupier or oppressor in generations), and desert dwellers realize all plant life is precious. They don’t just rip palm branches off trees for the first rabbi on a donkey who comes along! So, what’s the deal with the Palms?

In 167 BCE, a Hebrew Priest refused to make an offering to a Greek idol, and killed another Jewish priest who compromised and gave in. This killing and the war that followed it freed Israel from the oppression of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty. The Macabees, who led the revolt, created a “mini-army” that also let Israel have their own nation for almost a hundred years (from 164 BCE to 63 BCE). The small Macabbean army didn’t have a flag for the nation of Israel and no time to bring together a council to make one – so they used the palm branches of the Middle-eastern desert to be their flag. They would be waved in battle as a sign of the “nation” of the Jews who were going to war against religious and political oppression. Using palm branches as a flag was a banner of hope brought by the power of might.

So, when the crowds are waving Palms at Jesus’ entry and putting them on the ground for his donkey to walk upon (the idea being he was “uplifted” by the nation over the dirt of commonness) – they are remembering the Macabees and showing their faith that Jesus will deliver the people from Rome, just as the Macabees had delivered them from Greece. They wanted Jesus to bring about their hope to be a free nation yet again.

But Jesus isn’t about politics or nations. Its something we forget in American culture. God is not American. And to be American is not to naturally be godly. The palms they waved as a flag of nationalism at the beginning of the week, would be dead and trodden under the feet of the angry mob by Friday. Jesus is not subject to our nationalistic ideas or needs, and we should remember that when we turn him into a political tool or argument, we are subverting the true justice; meaning and power of the gospel which was give for all people, of all nations for all time.

Hosanna

The other thing the church has done wrong historically is the use of the word “Hosanna”. We tend to see it as a word of “praise” and is ‘Loud Hosanna’s Ring” or “Hosanna in the Highest”. But the more we decorate bulletins and liturgy with this pretty Hebrew word, the less we really get its meaning. Hosanna is not the same as “hallelujah” and is not a specifically a praise of joy. “Hosanna” is a cry for help. In Hebrew the word literally means “Save Me”.

So we have crowd of people waving a political flag shouting and crying out to Jesus “Save us” – “Save us first” (in the highest is a translator’s way of making sense of the praise “first priority”.). They are calling out to Jesus as oppressed people wanting justice. Roman occupation had led to the oppression of religious thought, the theft of their homes, livestock or farm products, the abuse of their women, and the humiliation of their men by Roman citizens and soldiers alike. As Jesus enters the city they cry out to him, "SAVE US. SAVE US FIRST. Hosanna to the Son of David! (The Son of David can Save!). "

Palm Sunday isn’t a time for our victorious entry parade with trumpets and clarion calls. Palm Sunday is a time of humility. It’s a time to cry out to Jesus in our need – Save Me. Save me from injustice. Save me from oppression. Save me from my sins. Save me from the sins of others. Save me first. You can save me! So the next time you hear that word in a worship setting – lift up your heart as it truly is, and call out to be saved – first and foremost.

The Donkey

Jesus comes through the open gate to Jerusalem like a king entering the city, that’s true. His people are ready for his to raise an army. “When he fights,” they say with confidence, “I’ll fight with him.” But almost as soon as he shows up they begin to notice something different, and the palms get tossed to the floor pretty early in the week. Jesus is isn’t entering the gate riding a horse (a symbol of victory in battle), he is riding a donkey (a symbol of a time of peace). Donkeys are slower, sturdier and more sure-footed than a high spirited horse on the trails and hills around Jerusalem. A kin or commander riding a donkey is sending the message that things are so peaceful and secure there is no need for war or rampage.

Remember, Jesus didn’t get a donkey by accident. Its not like the Rental Transportation Dealer was out of stallions so they gave him the only donkey on the lot. Jesus set this up before hand and sent his disciples to fetch the donkey from the man who was to give it to him. Jesus rides into a crowd of people waving the palm flags of Jewish war – on top of a symbol of peace.

It tells a few things to remember:
1. Peace must be planned for. It doesn’t just happen.
2. Peace is slower, but less likely to falter off the rocky cliffs of humanity. It’s the better way.
3. The Jesus movement was first and foremost a peace movement. He is not interested or willing to plunge the country in war. His goal, even surrounded by flag waving potential soldiers, is the goal of peace.
4. The best way to create peace is to come through the door with it already in your heart.
So there we have a few new windows on the old story of Palms and crowds, dirty coats and cheering crowds.

This Easter I pray you will begin to see Jesus as the maker of peace in your heart, and in your world. Let go of your agenda, and cry to him to save you from whatever keeps you down. Then expect him to enter or re-enter your life riding the donkey of peace.

Out of the Depths: Dealing with Guilt

Lectionary Reading: Psalm 130

For centuries in the season of Lent, early Christians recited the “7 Penitential Psalms” – each Psalm picked by ancient monks because of the display of guilt, the call for hope, and the expectation of rescue from sins, enemies, and situations. The 7 Penitential Psalms are:

Psalm 6 – A prayer in times of sorrow
Psalm 32 – A prayer to celebrate forgiveness
Psalm 38 – A prayer to recognize God’s anger
Psalm 51 – A prayer of confession
Psalm 102 – A prayer in the presence of enemies
Psalm 130 – A prayer in time of trouble
Psalm 143 – A prayer for rescue

Of these seven, the one that the lectionary picks for this Sunday in Lent is Psalm 130 – This psalm not only resonates with the Psalmist’s deep faith in God, but shows a map to deal with that hobgoblin of spirit and truth – Guilt

What HIV is to the blood, guilt is to the Spirit of God within us. Guilt eats away at us, sometimes invisible on the surface, and other times creating reactions that show through all of our attempts to conceal them, creating havoc and destruction in its wake. It comes into our life through various ways – the well meaning, accidental lessons of parents to children they want to behave, the lines drawn across our life paths from teachers, preachers, mentors and friends, and the internalized “shoulds” we get from myths, media and messages around us.

It’s not very hard to know how we get it. The question is, how do we get rid of it? Lent isn’t just about recognizing and repenting – it’s also about recovering and relationship.

Rabbi Naomi Levy (one of the first female Conservative Rabbi’s in the US) wrote a book of prayers to help people deal with the real life recovery and relational situations titled “Talking to God”. There are prayers for young parents worried about the future, young women looking for love, and blessings for weddings, funerals and coming of age. There are also prayers you won’t find anywhere else – a prayer for a woman who has had an abortion, a prayer for a man going through divorce, a prayer for parents of children with special needs, a prayer for a survivor of personal trauma, and a prayer for a spouse who has had an affair, a prayer for someone dealing with vanity. I have used these prayers and many more countless times in ministry and care and witnessed their power.

Her prayer about guilt resonates with everything that is wrong about guilt. Guilt usually isn’t based on what we have done or what we are responsible for doing. More often than not guilt eats away at us for things we imagine we should have done differently, better, or impossibly. Guilt isn’t based on our sinful realities (that’s consequence). Guilt is based on our imagined deficiencies. Yet even as we read her prayer, we know it’s a cry from deep within our souls.

A Prayer to Subdue Guilt

“I’ve been blaming myself, God, for the tragedy that has befallen me. The thoughts keep running through my mind. I could have done more. I should have done more. But none of my self doubt is helping to erase the past. Teach me, God, to believe I do not deserve to be punished forever. Help me to forgive myself. Help me to love myself as you see me, despite my weakness. Show me your love, today and always. Amen.”

Talking to God, page 154.

Much in the same way as the liberating prayer helps us identify and reckon with the guilt in our life – Psalm 130 shows the three tools we can use to get through it and heal from it.

Call Out

“Out of the depths, I cry to you O Lord” – The psalmist calls out to God from that place where guilt has taken him. The bible is full of people who call out to God from the depths: Jeremiah from the depths of a dungeon, Daniel from the depths of a lion’s den, Paul from the depths of prison, and Christ from the depths of agony on the cross. It is the first step to release and repentance. Calling out to God about the things we hold deep within us.

We all carry the secret self in our hearts. Counselors typically call it the “If persona” as in: “Oh sure, they like me – but IF they only knew what I was really like – they’d turn away” or “My boss keeps promoting me, but IF he only knew how little I know, he’d fire me” or “People say I’m strong, but IF they only knew what I did (or didn’t do) they would see how weak I really am.”

The way to begin to work with God to heal is to admit to God (and sometimes to others – after all, a psalm isn’t a diary – people heard these songs out loud!) that “If person” is in us, and needs to be set free. Call out from your depths, and examine the ideas churning guilt like an underground spring in your soul.

Perspective

“If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand?” – The psalmist begins to recognize the problem isn’t that God doesn’t forgive him. God keeps no records of our atoned wrongs. Like a loving parent who remembers our childhood from a collection of refrigerator pictures and mother’s day gifts, instead of every misspoken word or disobedient rally we had as teens, God remembers us not by the list of sins we’ve committed but the love and reconciliation we have made together.

This perspective helps us let go of useless guilt – the “I should have known”, “I could have done things differently”, “I would have given…” phrases that keep us up at night. When we surrender to God’s forgiveness, we can be free to forgive ourselves too. Because, if God forgives us – who are we to hold on?

Expectation

“My soul waits for the Lord and in his word I put my hope” – the psalmist recognizes healing and deliverance take time. He doesn’t just cry out, feel forgiven and go on with his day blessed and happy. Although our guilt has been relieved immediately by God’s love repairing the damage already done will take more than a minute. Yet, even as he waits not just “feel better” but to “be better” the psalmist knows it is going to happen. Want to know the best tool in your box for releasing needless guilt? Hope.

When we cry out and understand that our God is the God of hope not the impossible “should haves”, we may have to review and release a few times before our minds, bodies, souls and circumstances are actually willing to let go. Yet even then – when regrets threaten to mount – we have the hope that knows God’s love, God’s future, God’s power will get us through this and we will be free.

Never give up calling out. Never give up tools, and perspectives. Never, never, never give up on God.

A Prayer When We Are Too Hard On Ourselves

“Teach me how to love, God. I am so critical of myself. I set such high standards for myself. I accept shortcomings in others, but I am so unforgiving of myself. Help me, God. Teach me how to enjoy my life. Remind me to be kind to myself. Show me how to embrace the person that I am. Soften my heart, God; open my eyes. Fill me with the capacity to treasure my life. Thank you, God, for creating me. Amen.”

Talking to God, p 235.

Amen, and Amen.

Chiaroscuro: The Clear Dark

Chiaroscuro: The Clear Dark

Lectionary Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14

Anybody who enjoys language inevitably picks out words they love to say or hear. When I was in middle school I fell in love with the word “Lugubrious”(mournful and brooding) after a teacher said a 500 word essay should not be written lugubriously. By high school I picked up “Isomorphism” (a mathematic concept in linear algebra of one-to-one correspondence of sets) as my word love affair. I frequently stated my chess club and math club were isomorphic (yea, that’s the nerd in “Shepnerd”). My favorite Hebrew word is “Tzedakah” (to give charity justly) and my favorite Greek word is Ekkletos which literally means “gathered in from different sources” and became the biblical word for “church”. My favorite Spanish word (out of the 7 or 8 I actually know correctly) is “Esperanza” (hope). But of all the words in all the languages in all the world – my favorite word is “Chiaroscuro”.

Chiaroscuro is a word used to describe the interplay between darkness and light. It’s used in art, in photography and interior design. It comes from a combination of two Latin words: Ciarus (Clear) and Obscurus (Dark). The clear dark. Shadow and light. Darkness and dawn. What a perfect metaphor for my life, and my faith. What a perfect way to describe what God is trying to do in our world through us – to make the night clear, and overcome the darkness with light. Paul certainly thought a lot of this symbolism. He uses darkness and light as one of the major analogies in his letters and the lectionary scripture for this week in Ephesians is a great example.

Reminding the Ephesians, and all of us, that we are children of light – even in the darkest of situations – Paul draws contrast to the differences between darkness and light. Let’s look at the Chiaroscuro.

The Surrounding Dark – The Comforting Light

There is darkness in our world and each of us encounters it sometime. Some go through long periods of their life journey when God seems far, or hope seems lost. They tend to call that the “dark time” of their life. Others can point to a singular event of blinding intensity that enshrouds them. Some folks have “dark people” who draw them into avenues or habits that nearly choke the light from their soul. Others have dark thoughts of emptiness or depression – described by Catholic mystic St. John of the Cross as the “dark night of the soul”. The surrounding darkness is pervasive in our world.

Everyone has things they do, eat or run to when looking for comfort and light. Some people take walks when they are hurting and clear their head that way. Others write journals, go fishing, watch movies or drown their sorrows in a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream. For me, anytime I am about to be overcome by a surrounding darkness I resort to a technique I have used since I was a kid – listening to music in the dark, with the stereo lights on. When I still lived with parents, it was a huge all-in-one record, tape, and radio set with headphones (waking my parents up while listening to Van Halen at midnight would have definitely increased the darkness in my life!). As time went by the media changed – car radio, clock radio, boom box, centrally wired home theater system, modem shining in my office – but the comfort remains.

Not long ago, I sat in my office in the dark one night – praying and thinking – when I heard Kate Voegele’s “Its Only Life” sing…

"Tears are forming in your eyes
A storm is warning in the sky
The end of the world it seems
You bend down and you fall on your knees

Don't look away
Don't run away
Hey baby it's only life
Don't lose your faith
Don't run away
Hey baby its only life"

While it’s not the most theologically profound piece of secular music ever written (that would be Madonna’s “Crazy for You”), it touched me with the right message at the right time – encouraging me to face the issue and find perspective. That’s what the comforting light does. That’s why I love to hear music by the stereo lights.

It doesn’t seem a fair contest – A tiny green LED light or small blue modem flickering against the surrounding darkness – and yet the light always perseveres. Paul describes us as CHILDREN of light. Not warriors. Not lighthouses. Not supersonic lasers. Children: the smallest of people, the most vulnerable, the most fragile. Yet even when we feel so small and overpowered by the dark things we encounter – that tiny light of us – powered by the inextinguishable Spirit of God is enough to keep the darkness at bay.

The Initial Darkness – The Natural Light

Genesis tells us the world was in darkness until God said “Let there be light”. So darkness was first. It goes that way with us too. Each of us is born into a world with a certain amount of spiritual darkness. We are born knowing need, knowing hunger, needing touch and our parents provide that for us. Before too long our little baby brains figure out a great spiritual truth – we need a provider. But, once we start toddling along and learn to feed ourselves we buy into the idea that we have all we need. Even in Christian homes where prayer happens before every meal and Sunday school is the norm – the darkness of self-providence and ego comes upon us. As Paul tell us in this passage (approximately quoting Isaiah 60:1) – its time to wake up. Arise. Shine. (give God the glory, glory…).

There are 2 ways for people to wake up. First there is the sudden glaring beam of light way. In this method – the person pulls down the shades – covering all windows and closing all doors. At some point the alarm will ring and the shades will be raised or the light turned on all at once. After squinting in the painful reality of morning, the person becomes ready to embrace the day. While the method is fast, it is also quite jarring and visually painful. The other way is to leave the shades up and the door open. As the sun rises, so does the light – slowly, naturally – waking the person in small degrees. It can take a lot longer, but the pain is vastly lower.

Those are the two ways we wake up to God. Some people meet God through their every day life – through parents and school, through friends, church and mentors. Slowly they add to their faith and relationship with their creator. Others have a life crisis – a moment of loss or a moment of change or clarity profound in its ability to stun and blind. Then they see God and realize the light has come.

Peter and Paul are two good examples of this awakening. Peter saw the life of Jesus shine every day. He saw healing, heard sermons, engaged in prayer and conversation. Slowly with every footstep at Christ’s side (and through that dark night where his feet led him away from the savior) Peter saw the light. Paul didn’t get a couple years of lessons, tutoring, astounding forgiveness and commissioning. Paul was riding along when WHAM! Darkness in the form of blindness and three days later WHAM! Amazing, beautiful light.

Is it any wonder Paul tells us so much about chiaroscuro? Paul knows all about darkness and light.

We as people of God, as children of light, need to understand what Paul is saying - there are those unspeakable things that happen in the darkness that surrounds our world. But more than that – we need to know – like Paul – with no uncertainty that the light overcomes the darkness. Whether it comes shining in all at once from the Spirit, or slowly rises on a path of healing that takes time and wisdom– the light will shine on you, in you, and through you. The light will cleanse you of your sins, and heal you from your sorrows.

No one is so small that God cannot shine a light that drives even the greatest darkness from around them. Even now we live with hope and assurance that God will create for us a clear dark.

Spiritual Hearsay

Lectionary Reading: John 4:5-26

Hearsay – (def) –1: talk or opinion widely disseminated with no discernible source 2: a statement or report current without known authority for its truth. (Miriam-Webster Online).

As Christian people we are taught to avoid “heresy” (ideas or opinions contrary to the position of the official “church”). However our faith and our world would be much better if we were taught to avoid “hearsay” as well. Spiritual hearsay are the things we are told or believe about the Bible with almost no real evidence, scholarship or reason. Sometimes we repeat things other pastors have told us (repeating what they heard from someone else most likely) or we just hear something that “sounds right”. Either way, Spiritual hearsay is all around us. Think of the things we hear from pillar, pulpit and post:

“Well, the Bible says ‘God helps those who help themselves’.”
No, it doesn’t. Benjamin Franklin said it (and it was an Athenian Proverb from Ancient Greece before Ben published it).

“Mary Magdalene was a prostitute”
No, she wasn’t. There is no biblical evidence to support that view – just popular (and papal) gossip.

“The Samaritan Woman whom Jesus met at the well was a shameful woman who drew water in the middle of the day when the other women weren’t there because she didn’t want to face society.”

Not necessarily. She could be there at the time for any number of reasons including she was drawing water to feed livestock back from droving (like women in the OT), or she just wanted a drink in the middle of the day or the Holy Spirit brought her to the well to prepare her for an encounter with the Messiah. For centuries, this poor woman has carried a mantle of “shame” that is nothing but unnecessary gossip preached from the pulpit.

Dr. Frances Gench called this kind of church sanctioned character assassination “interpretive litter” in a lecture I attended last fall. To paraphrase her, “I often go to Wal-mart in the middle of the afternoon to accommodate my schedule or sometimes can’t sleep and shop at 2:00 AM. I would hate for people to announce from the pulpit I am a woman of loose morals, simply because I shop at odd hours.”

Yet year and after year, sermon after sermon – the poor Samaritan Woman is relegated to the “bad girls” of the bible on nothing but circumstantial evidence at best. In fact, clergy get so excited about talking bad about her and the fact that even though she must be a terrible sinner – Jesus talked to her – they miss so much of what this story really could teach us. Let’s look at a few of the real lessons in this wondrous tale.

A life of racism

We know she has lived a life separated from Jews, and has felt the sting of prejudice. She’s shocked when Jesus – a Jewish male - talks to her – a woman, and a Samaritan. She has been used to being treated “less than” because of her race, and her gender. She is astounded and taken aback by the equality represented in this conversation.

In our xenophobic country, where the immigration debate sometimes hinges on the fact laborers from Mexico don’t readily assimilate into American culture (because we are egocentric enough to think they should turn their back on their beautiful language, their rich heritage, and their family-centered lives), we need this woman’s experience to ring in our hearts more than ever. We need to remember Jesus encountered people on his life journey every day who had been separated and stung by racism and cultural ignorance and what he did was treat them with respect, guidance, generosity and hope. He didn’t suggest she should stop being a Samaritan (as if she could. As if any of us can truly stop being the person God made us to be) nor did he withhold the good news from her because she wasn’t a “citizen” of the temple. He explained that the day was coming when all people would have a chance to access the Messiah equally and worship in spirit and truth.

A life of loss

Of course, a lot of the “shame” people have dumped on her shoulders is due to the fact she tells Jesus she has no husband, and he rightfully assesses she has had 5 husbands and the man she is living with now is not her husband. Does that mean she’s a prostitute or loose woman? Certainly not.

She could have been legally divorced (“put away”) because she was barren, and the law allowed for that to happen so a man could have children by a wife. She could have lost her husbands to death – life expectancy was very low and disease, hunger, Roman occupation or farm accidents could easily take her men away. We don’t even know how old she is. We don’t know about the man she has now – is he a lover, a neighbor who has taken her in as a servant (to fetch his water in the middle of the day), a lame or blind man who requires her help but can’t marry her in the temple? In short – we simply don’t know.

What we do know is that this woman has had a life of loss. For whatever reason her marriages were ruined, lost or taken. She was involved with vows and promises 5 times and each time something disappointed her. How heart breaking her life must have been. Jesus rightfully tells her story to prove to her he is a prophet. He also rightfully understands that what this woman needs is not our judgment and scorn, but our empathy and our hope for her future. In meeting Jesus her life will change. She has found the one whom, in spirit, she will never lose.

In a world of divorce, multiple divorce, blended families and all kinds of family units – let us not be so quick to condemn, but be swift with mercy, hope and love. We don’t need to know someone’s “story” to know that the story of Jesus says we are to love first, foremost and always.

A life of thirst

The woman has lived a life of racism, sexism, injustice, disappointment and change. She, like any who have been denied justice, security and constancy – has developed a thirst. A thirst for a God who will never forsake her or take her loved one, a thirst for equality and spiritual freedom, and a thirst for hope and peace.

I’ve had that thirst. Maybe you too? I have had a thirst for a family who would love me without harm, and a community which would accept me without expecting to me fulfill their expectations of my personhood. I have had a thirst for justice for the poor and poorly educated, so that opportunities are given to them to know real peace, real hope and real escape from hunger and disease. I have a thirst to see people in community, and worship filled with diversity. I have a thirst to know the Messiah has come and because he has come, our world will be different, better and whole.

Perhaps I find myself frequently defending the Samaritan Woman because we have the same thirsts, and because we have the same experience. We have both met the Messiah, and he has told us both the truth about our lives. He gave us living water that will never run dry, and he sent us both into our community to tell the others the light of life has come. Once we dispel the need to cast her as a villain – we see her as she could truly be: as our sister, our mother, our daughter, our friend – certainly our neighbor.

Perhaps if we all stop with the spiritual hearsay, and look at spiritual truth – that we are all God’s children and all able to encounter the sacred (no matter what time we go to the well) – we would know a stronger forgiveness in our own lives, and feel a more sincere welcome in our churches, hearts, and homes.

Let us pray for that day, now and ever more. Amen.

Is It A Sin?

Lectionary Reading: Romans 4:1-8;13-17

One of the questions I hear a lot starts with, “Is it a sin to….” The end of the question varies – “to commit suicide”, “to get angry”, “to divorce an abusive husband”, “to use birth control”… depending on the issue at hand. The sad thing is, I hear a lot more talk about sin than salvation and a lot more consternation about being slaves to sin than celebration about being free in love.

Paul seems to have been hearing the same stuff from the Roman church. In Chapter 4 he launches into a tirade about Abraham, reminding the people that Abraham didn’t inherit the blessings of God because he was sinless (in fact, in you know anything about Abraham you know he had quite a few recorded sins) but because he was loved by God, and God forgave his sins. Paul stresses the important thing is not the law of interpretation, but the love of God. It’s a funny soapbox for a man who spent most of his life as a Pharisee – a teacher of the law. Yet his speech points out some neat things for us too.

Not Every Bad Thing Is A Sin!

I think one of the reason sin is so prevalent in our world is that we talk so much about it and have trivialized it to the point that everything seems like a sin. When we do that the real destruction caused by actual sin goes unnoticed amidst all the judgment over petty issues and personal ideals. There is a difference between casual acts of humanity that may not be in our best interest and sin. In Romans 4 Paul points out a scripture from the old testament that says, “Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered.”

Transgressions and sins are different things. It reminds me of the old preacher’s joke. A woman walks up to her Pastor one day after church and says “You have to forgive me pastor, I am subject to a terrible sin. The sin of pride has gotten me.” The concerned pastor frowned and asked her, “what do you mean?”. “Well,” she began. “Every Sunday I look at all the women in church and realize I am the prettiest of them all. The whole time you are preaching I become aware of my beauty and how much better looking I am than the rest of your congregants.” The pastor laughed and said, “Oh Mrs. Jones – that’s not a sin. That’s a mistake!”

There is a difference in the two! Transgression means literally “To step across” (American Heritage Dictionary). It means to walk across a boundary. When we step outside of God’s will for us, we are transgressing. Its not hard to do – particularly when some parts of God’s will (where we should work, how we should vote or think about things like abortion, suicide, divorce or war) are not very clear. Still when we step over the boundaries, we are transgressing.

Sin is a conscious betrayal of God’s will by our action or inaction. Sin is when we know exactly what God wants, and deliberately do the other. Sin strikes as the very heart of God and God’s desire for who we are. I think its a mistake (but not a sin) to call every thing that someone does we find to be unacceptable a “sin”. What it does is surround us with sin – and overwhelm us with a sense of spiritual helplessness. By labeling everything sin, nothing gets examined – we just chalk it up to our “fallen nature”, ask forgiveness and move forward. But a transgression – that we could heal, learn from, or discover with – if only we did more than slap a skull and crossbones label on it and surrender to it. A sin reflects a betrayal of a deity. We may transgress against each other – but we do not sin against each other.

More clearly – there are differences between transgressions (forgiven) and sins (covered).

Transgression
Stepping over the boundaries
Sometimes we know where the boundaries are
Sometimes we don’t
We can transgress and not mean to do that
We can learn from transgressions
We can transgress against one another
We can be forgiven
We can forgive others

Sin
Deliberately betraying God
We know what God’s laws are
We know when we are stepping over them
We intentionally are choosing to disobey God – you can’t accidentally sin.
We can learn from the consequences of sin
We cannot sin against one another - a sin is a betrayal of deity
We can be forgiven by God
We cannot forgive the sins of another (only God can forgive)

By keeping a clear view of what we are doing – we are more spiritually prepared to learn from, seek forgiveness and allow God to change our behavior.

Its about Grace!

Further Paul goes on to remind the Romans once again that you cannot “work” out your salvation and you can’t work to get forgiveness. It is the Grace of God that frees you from your transgressions and covers your sins. When we spend so much time obsessed with what is a sin and what are the consequences – we miss the whole point of Christianity which is that Jesus Christ died and rose again to take this matter off our hands (and off our minds). Christ wants a glorifying body that reflects his love, power, change and peace to the world. But just going over again and again our sinful natures – we aren’t bringing anyone closer to God – we are simply hamsters on the wheel of guilt.

Its important people study the bible and know the absolute will of God. Its also important for people to study the bible so they know where the boundaries are and are less likely to transgress against God. But it is critical Paul reminds us – to dwell and celebrate the Grace of God that saves us, and embraced Abraham.

So in your life, instead of always asking the backwards question “Is it a sin….” Start by asking the frontwards question – “What does God want me to do or say” or “Is it the gospel?” –The Bible says every morning God’s mercy is new for us. It’s a new day. Don’t dwell on the failure. Live your life on the faith.