What We Believe: The Word Became Flesh

25 August 2019

Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Romans 11:25-32; John 1:1-5, 10-18

"The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; whereof is one Christ, very God and very man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt but also for actual sins of men.”  2016 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, Article II, ¶104, pg 66

So for Christianity, Jesus is foundational.  Though He is held in high esteem in Islam as a prophet and in some quarters of Judaism as a teacher, in Christianity He is the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Son of the living God.  As Peter professed and Jesus affirmed, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15). 

As if this were not enough, there is more because it cannot be said Jesus was strictly born to die.  If that were so, there would have been no need for the angel to warn Joseph to take his wife and the Child and flee to Egypt to escape the murderous rage of Herod.  In that profound act, we are told there is much more to Jesus the Messiah than to simply anticipate and commemorate His gruesome and tortuous death. 

If He is “the Word which became flesh”, as it is written in the Scriptures and affirmed by our Articles of Religion, then we are challenged to evaluate our relationship with Him not only through His Bride, which is the Church (the congregation, not the institution); we are also required to measure the depth of our relationship with Him based on our knowledge of The Word which “became flesh”.  As it is written in the Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2).

He is, therefore, inseparable from the Eternal Word.  I have stated before, and this statement has caused some consternation with some, that we cannot claim a “personal relationship” with Someone we know virtually nothing about and will make no effort to know.  To know Jesus as “the Word which became flesh”, then, requires a knowledge of The Word itself.  Otherwise, absent a physical body to literally follow, what else is there for us to follow but The Word?

Though I do not mean to diminish the efforts of many to memorize the Scriptures, there is more to the knowledge of the Scriptures and comfortable familiarity with Jesus than mere memorization.  There is context, the setting in which Jesus taught so many lessons.  There is also the necessary context of finding our place within everything He taught. 

It is knowing where He is coming from when He challenged the religious authorities of His day and as He continues to challenge us today who have designated ourselves our own religious authority.  It is to rise from our spiritual complacency and yet remain low in our humility.  It is knowing He never dissuaded the practice of religion but, rather, sought to persuade and invite us into a much deeper relationship – through our practice of religion, which includes Christian education for all ages - with something much greater than ourselves as individuals, something which is – by its very nature and origin - everlasting.

In our Wesleyan tradition, one of the several means of grace is the “search of the Scriptures” rather than merely “reading the Bible”.  By “searching” the Scriptures, we are called to much more than to merely read the words on the pages.  Our “searching” involves not only reading but also hearing and meditating on what we’ve read.  In meditating on the Word, we not only must read it again and again and hear it again and again, we also have to have those moments of silence to reflect on and contemplate what is written and, ultimately, what is revealed.

In this, we cannot overlook the deeper meaning in St. John’s words as he expressed the blindness of the world at large as well as the willful blindness of the ones who should have seen very clearly who Jesus was … and still is.  “He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him; yet the world did not know Him.  He came to what was His own, and His own people did not accept Him” (John 1:10-11).    

The “world” did not know Him, but His “own” did not accept Him.  Given that St. James expresses an innate incompatibility between the Kingdom and the world, there is no real condemnation in that statement more than it is a simple acknowledgement that there were Jews, the people of The Lord, and there were Gentiles – those not Jewish, not familiar with Israel’s God.

However, that His own did not “accept” Him is a statement which should not escape our notice.  What does it mean to “accept” the Messiah?  To acknowledge the historical Jesus of Nazareth as a man who existed is not much of a stretch.  To accept Him as “personal Lord and Savior” is a Reformation thing and a fond notion that expresses a necessary level of intimacy, but it still falls short of what we really need to know about the Messiah and what He means not only to those of His “own” who do not “accept” Him but to the world at large that does not “know” Him but needs to.

Jesus Himself posed this very question to those who would profess Him as “Lord” but ignore what He says.  As it is written in Luke’s Gospel (6:46), “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, but do not do what I tell you?”  As He goes on to compare a house with a solid foundation that will withstand the storms of life against a house with no foundation that will certainly fall, our Shepherd says there is much more to “knowing” Him than to simply acknowledge His existence.  Even calling Him “Lord” but refusing to obey Him is of no effect.

At the core of all this, proclaiming faith in Jesus but separating Him from The Word is to strike at the very heart of Jesus’ existence and Lordship.  There is certainly the Man born of the flesh, but we confess He was crucified, dead, and buried.  The Man was killed, but The Word was raised and now sits at the Right Hand of the Father.  It is The Word which will come again “to judge the living and the dead”.   “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away”, our Shepherd declared (Matthew 24:35).

The Word which became flesh had something to say then … and has something to say now.  It is our blessing, our very Life to learn to listen and listen to learn.  To the edification of our souls and the Holy Church, and to the glory of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

What We Believe: the Second Coming

18 August 2019

Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56

The Revelation is filled with all sorts of what can best be described as incomprehensible images.  What St. John wrote is as mysterious as it is often confusing.  There are probably scads of books one can buy to “decode” the Second Coming as described in The Revelation, but at best these “decodings” are speculation based on individual interpretation. 

It has been suggested by some that if I were to draw a picture of these images according to how I understand them, it will likely look nothing like what someone else may draw according to their own understanding.  It is the same thing with sermons.  A Methodist perspective may vary greatly from a Baptist perspective on any given subject.  It isn’t about who is right or wrong.  It is entirely about approach and, perhaps, expectation.

The “Left Behind” series was popular among certain Christian groups and it was fascinating for me, but the books were the authors’ imaginations according to how they interpret The Revelation.  Whether events will unfold exactly the way they are described in the books and movies remains to be seen. 

Oh, we can argue endlessly about a particular passage and its meaning, but in the end the best we as the United Methodist Church can offer is this: “We believe all stand under the righteous judgment of Jesus Christ, both now and in the Last Day.  We believe in the resurrection of the dead; the righteous to life eternal and the wicked to endless condemnation” (2016 Book of Discipline, Article XII, ¶104, pg 76).

Very generally speaking, then, the United Methodist Church does not devote too much attention to what the Second Coming will look like; we only know it’s coming.  And though it will certainly be the Day when the “sheep are separated from the goats”, as our Shepherd has taught us (Matthew 25:31-46), the United Methodist focus is more on the here-and-now, inviting people into the flock, teaching them to trust the Good Shepherd.   This is so when that Time is upon us – and it may already be - we may navigate it faithfully and fearlessly … together.

Referred to as “practical divinity”, we believe Divine Grace can be experienced, understood, and reckoned now in the several means of grace so we may enable others to share that experience and so order their lives.  It is that experience which is truly transformative, life-changing.  It is when we learn to “die to self so we may rise in Christ” – NOW, not later.

So the United Methodist emphasis is not on what will be, just as Jesus taught that “tomorrow will have enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).  We believe the Gospel of The Lord and the grace which flows freely through Christ is what is now and which gives meaning and Divine purpose to everything we do. 

Even in the early days of the Methodist movement, the emphasis was on Christian living.  Though one could enter into a Methodist society simply by a desire to “flee from the wrath to come”, the emphasis was – and still must be – on living a life devoted to holiness, growing in faith and in love, “going on to perfection”.  Following and imitating Christ the Shepherd.  Building communities of righteousness by holding one another accountable.  Doing no harm.  Doing good.  And staying in love with God.  

This may all be part of the reason why I have a particular disdain for wanna-be-clever church marquees that express such thoughts as, “If you think it’s hot here …”, or “Stop, drop, and roll won’t work in Hades”.  Some have expressed concern that the Church does not talk about Hades enough or sin enough, that we have become too tolerant and lax to the point of giving license, or at least tacit approval, to careless and haphazard living. 

I may be inclined to agree … but only to a point.  And when that point becomes more about living in fear of the future than about living in faith in the present day, we’ve taken it too far.  Many of the so-called “nones” and “dones” have said as much; hearing very little of Promise but plenty of threats.

This leads to the Church’s perpetual dilemma.  How can we talk about the practical usefulness of a disciplined approach to Christian living through the Means of Grace (prayer, fasting, Scripture study, worship, Sacraments) without talking about consequences?  Our readings for today (Isaiah 5:1-7 & Luke 12:49-56) seem to be entirely focused on consequences, on what some have called “or else” theology; i.e., “Get right with God or else …”  The consequences of failing to heed The Lord’s Word.

Yet when reading our passage from The Letter to the Hebrews, particularly verses 35-38 with graphic illustrations, much of what this “great cloud of witnesses” had endured is not only unspeakable horror; it is also unimaginable that we should aspire to live as they did. 

Yet not only did the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” live under that dark cloud of mocking and threats of violence until the violence finally caught up with Him, our Shepherd saw through all that; and “for the sake of the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God”.

It is a quandary, to be sure.  When there are the promises of blessings in the midst of such violence, it is very hard to make sense of “present salvation” when our surroundings never change.  Jesus spoke often of the intense and often extreme challenges of following Him, yet He also invited us to trade our own self- and culture-imposed yokes for His and receive “true rest”.  What I think our Lord is inviting us into is that certain and steady Path, “the Way” to the Father which is not subject to varying interpretations.  It is an invitation to be certain that come what may, our Shepherd has already been there and done that, and is now sitting in Glory.

A lot had to happen before Jesus was compelled to make that long walk to Calvary; so it must be that a lot must happen for us AS we make our own long walk to our own Calvary.  Yet we are assured that, even lacking “perfection”, the blessing is found in the earnest effort.  For it will be that when The Lord returns to restore His Kingdom and gather His people unto Himself, even if His faithful are found face-down in the mud and being trampled by the world, He will draw us up.

The Second Coming is not a threat; it is a Promise, an assurance to those who freely choose to follow Him.  Come what may, it is our Lord’s invitation to trust that He is “with us until the end”.   Amen.

What We Believe: Sanctification (Christian Perfection)

11 August 2019

Isaiah 1:10-20; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40

Though not among the Methodist Articles of Religion in our Discipline, the following Article was adopted at the Uniting Conference of 1939.  This Conference brought back together what was once the Methodist Protestant Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Episcopal Church North – all having been born of splits in the Methodist Episcopal Church over lay representation and slavery – to become the Methodist Church.   

The Article states: “Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanses from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled – through grace - to love God with all our hearts and to walk in His holy commandments blameless” (Book of Discipline, 2016, ¶104, pg 72).

Yet from Article XI of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, which the Methodist Church merged with in 1968 to create the United Methodist Church, states in part: “We believe this experience does not delver us from the infirmities, ignorance, and mistakes common to man, nor from the possibilities of further sin.  The Christian must continue on guard against spiritual pride and seek to gain victory over every temptation to sin.  He must respond wholly to the will of God so sin will lose its power over him … thus he rules over these enemies with watchfulness through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Discipline 2016, ¶104, pg 75).

Though there will always be disagreements about some sections of our Social Principles – how we are called to interact with one another and with the world at large – there are some doctrinal principles which cannot be denied and which attest to the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the Wesleyan tradition, sanctification is our understanding of what “going on to perfection” (Hebrews 6:1) means.  As I have shared previously, it is much more useful to us as disciples to think in terms of process rather than a stop-and-start series of events.  If we think strictly of events, we come near to creating a check-list of personal achievements rather than to embrace the reality that until we breathe our last in this world, we can never settle.  We can never let our guard down. 

We are sanctified (perfected) not only by faith but with a profound sense of hope in active engagement in the life of a disciple; that hope which gives us a sense of purpose in our being, in the many means of grace, and which can even find gratitude for the trials and tribulations we endure in knowing “The Lord disciplines those whom He loves”.  As it is written, we must not “lose heart when we are punished by Him, for The Lord chastises every child whom He accepts” (Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:5-6). 

Our Holy Father does not take our spiritual growth for granted nor should we.

It isn’t always easy to take our lumps from Above or from one another, but it is always necessary for us to appreciate where those lumps come from and what purpose they are intended to serve.  Moses told the people of Israel in their journey, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of Him upon you so you do not sin” (Exodus 20:20).  So must the Spirit and the Church so plainly speak to us now: it isn’t always the devil out to get us.  It may well be The Lord testing us.

Spiritual growth is very easy to take for granted, especially in an age in which too many traditions focus on events rather than where each event is intended to lead us.  We baptize our children, but we fail to bring them to worship and Sunday school.  We confirm our children, but we neglect their Christian education.  We receive new members into the Church and the Covenant, but we refuse to hold them accountable to the tenets of discipleship for fear of risking personal friendships – nor do we allow ourselves to be held accountable.  We’ve become a mind-your-own-business kind of people, and that is not compatible with discipleship nor conducive to spiritual growth.

It stands to reason, however, that as we mature biologically, mentally, and emotionally; we must also be aware that spiritual maturity is just as necessary – and yet spiritual maturity does not happen naturally nor automatically.  It requires patience, but it also requires active engagement and participation.  Spiritual growth demands fellowship within the Body of Christ.

The Lord spoke through His prophet, “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (1:17).  This admonishment was to a people who had been thoroughly chastised, having fallen from the grace of living as The Lord’s Chosen; but because His Grace still stood in His love for His people, what would become necessary for the relationship to be properly restored would be for the people of God to live into the Covenant of God.  And that Covenant requires tangible expressions and acts of love for those who struggle.

Living into sanctifying grace is not a matter of merely existing, having once been “saved” or baptized or confirmed.  Living into sanctifying grace in “going on to perfection” is being in a constant state not only of self-discovery in the Spirit and in the Word; it is also about “being dressed for action and having your lamps lit – as those waiting for the Master to return … [for] blessed are those whom the Master finds alert when He comes” (Luke 12:35-37).

Yet because we have been “waiting” for 2000 years, we have lost sight of His Coming as well as a sense of urgency about His Coming.  Even so, St. Peter reminded his readers: “In the last days there will be scoffers … indulging their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’  And Peter’s answer is, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:3, 9).

Sanctifying Grace, however, is not strictly about our watchfulness for His return; it is as much about the watchfulness of the temptations we face constantly – to let down our guard, to become complacent in our relationship with The Lord and with one another in the Body. 

Sanctifying Grace – watchfulness - is reengaging in the life of a disciple, learning to love one another as we love ourselves, learning to overcome the power of sin, and learning to be The People of the Covenant.  It is His Gift which we must learn to receive constantly and share generously.  For it is the Way Home.  Amen.

What We Believe: Rebirth

4 August 2019

Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21

You are probably familiar with the Seven Deadly Sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath (anger, a need for vengeance), and laziness (sloth).  These are not so listed strictly because they are, in and of themselves, “deadly”, though they are.  Rather, what makes them so spiritually dangerous is they open the door to a much deeper level of depravity.  Just as “pride goes before destruction”, as it is written in the Proverbs (16:18), so do each of these sins lead us even deeper into a state of spiritual disrepair.  Unholy habits.

To counter these Deadly Sins are what are known as the Seven Virtues: humility (to counter pride), charity (to counter greed), chastity (to counter lust), gratitude (to counter gluttony), temperance (to counter wrath), and diligence (to counter laziness).  Where the Seven Deadly Sins open the door to further destruction, the Seven Virtues lead to sanctification, to perfection in faith and love.  Habits of holiness and the mark of the New Life.

More than just a point/counterpoint, however, what is also being displayed is the difference between one who is born of the flesh and continues to live according to the flesh,  and one who is reborn of the Spirit and strives to live according to the Spirit, learning to outgrow and overcome our natural impulses to make room for faithful and faith-filled responses.  This is on us because these Virtues do not come naturally or easily.  They are learned.  They are deliberate choices we must consciously make each day.

Just as St. Paul wrote to the Colossians to “get rid of all such things – anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language” (vs 8), we are reminded that in baptism and regeneration, we have “clothed ourselves with the new self, which is being renewed … according to the Image of the Creator” (vs 10).  Even as we are forgiven, we still must learn to let go of the shackles that hold us to our past, and we must continually choose to live into the Image in which we are created and justified … to become what The Lord intended when He breathed His Life into us.  It is a process rather than an event.

There are two points of Methodist doctrine that speak to rebirth and the regeneration of those who fall away.  First, of course, is the Methodist retention of a long-held practice in both the Anglican Church and the Roman Church: the baptism of infants.  Article VII of our Articles of Religion states: “Original sin (what we are born with) … is the corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil – and that continually”. 

More simply stated, we are born with near-animal instincts, impulses toward our own good, our own survival, our own pleasures.  This is what it means to be born of the flesh.  Our desires and demands inform our choices.  The first part of overcoming that impulse is, in our tradition, baptism.  The family of the child and the whole Church offer the child to The Lord in His Covenant.  As a Sacrament of the Church, we believe it is a Divine Act to which we respond and by which the one to be baptized is endowed with the Holy Spirit.  We do not have to teach our children to accept that remarkable Gift – we must teach them to live into it.

But, many say, how can it be if the child is not consciously aware?  Ah, but the parents are!  The Church is!  Above all, The Lord is!  And this is where the process begins – at the Beginning with the Mark of the New Covenant.  And because we believe baptism to be a Sacrament, a truly Sacred Moment wrought by The Father Himself, it is unnecessary to repeat.  Yet there are necessary measures to take as we continue to grow biologically, mentally, and emotionally as well as spiritually.

Article XII (Sin After Justification) states in part: “After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given and fall into sin, and [yet], by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives.  Therefore they are to be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent”.

One may ask how many times one can be “reborn”.  What does it say when Jesus teaches us we must forgive “seventy times seven”?  When it is considered that we are “born of a corrupt nature” and that nature can often overwhelm us, it is hoped – and it must be taught - that awareness plays a part; a conscious awareness of which part of our being is acting and reacting. 

For instance, one can be very religious, always aware of The Lord and one’s faith; but if we get punched, it is very, VERY likely we will punch back!  That is a part of our “corrupt nature” that impulsively reacts before we have had time to think.  It means we still have some work and some growing to do.

To pretend there is some magical moment by which we are completely transformed from flesh to Spirit without any effort on our part is to deny the reality of our base instinct to survive!  So to pretend we are no longer capable of sin after we are justified is just plain silly.  We may not want to commit sin, but heaven help us, to be perfected in faith and in love takes time.  And personal effort.  And taking personal responsibility for our actions and our words rather than to blame the devil. 

To be born again, truly born again of the Spirit, is a mystery.  Our Catholic friends embrace the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) in which one’s sins are verbalized and confronted – because the reality is still before us: we are humans; perfectly imperfect humans who do not always live up to our own expectations, let alone The Lord’s.

It does not make us “bad” and it does not condemn us for all eternity – but it does put us at risk and requires that we are first honest with ourselves before we can pretend to be honest with our Father who nevertheless “sees in secret” (Matthew 6:6).  And if we really are honest first with ourselves, we must acknowledge the impossibility of repenting of any sin we refuse to confront or even fail to name.

Our need to be “born again” is affirmed by Jesus Himself (John 3:3), and thus is an essential component of Christian doctrine; but the incomplete notion of “one and done” leaves us open to further degeneration when we fail to always “keep watch” – for as our Lord also affirmed, “The spirit is willing (this would be our good intentions), but the flesh is weak (the reality)” (Matthew 26:41).  In other words, old habits die hard.

So we must always “keep watch”.  We must always reach higher, and we must always continue to move forward; for the old self is in the past and renewal is ahead.  It is the Life in which we are created, the Life which is offered, the very Life we must lean into.  Amen.