Shooting the Messenger

26 August 2018 – 14^th Sunday of Pentecost

Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:52-69

“Lord, to whom can we go?  You have the words of eternal life”.  John 6:68

These “words of eternal life” are the True Treasury of the Holy Church; not the bank accounts.  And it is not only the priests and the pastors who have been entrusted with this Treasury; it is the whole congregation, every baptized soul; those who claim to be “saved” as well as those struggling to find their place.  We must still be responsible stewards of those material things entrusted to - and for - the care of the Church and its mission, but we must always be aware of the everlasting Treasury, the real “treasure” Jesus spoke of; that “treasure which moth cannot destroy, and thieves cannot steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

I might also add, that which is incorruptible even by corrupted hands.

I am compelled to share with you the heartache I am experiencing with this latest round of clergy abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church.  The Church of Rome must still be reeling from the same scandal that rocked the Church in the early 90’s and left many Catholics – including myself – not only disgusted but somewhat disoriented. 

We attended Mass at a church in Albuquerque one Sunday, and it was so familiar and so comforting to me that I began to wonder why I ever fell away.  It was a beautiful church, the homily was (as best I can recall) decent, and the Mass itself was as familiar as “home”.  I know my Southern Baptist wife did not share my feelings, but I think she would have been so willing if it would help to awaken my soul.

All was well in that moment … until the priest announced that this church’s portion of the scandal settlement had been assessed at $10,000.00.  He was announcing that they would have to raise the money somehow to pay their portion of what the archdiocese offered to some of the victims who had sued.  As if the congregation were somehow part of the problem.

Many would share my grief, and many more still do.  And while there have been bishops and cardinals – including the pope – expressing grief and dismay, one particular cardinal seemed more concerned with the loss of credibility than with the damage actually done.  Turn that thought inside-out as I did, and the article read like he is more concerned with the potential loss of revenue than with the damage done to so many souls.  To be clear, this is not what the good cardinal said.  It only shows how easily we can twist words when our minds are already made up.  The cardinal was right; credibility has been damaged, if not destroyed.

To be sure, the whole Church – Catholic and Protestant alike – is facing a crisis of credibility.  From the Church of Rome, to the non-denominational mega-churches and the mainline Protestant denominations, to the TV evangelists who live like nothing short of royalty, people see what is going on.  And it isn’t exclusively the Roman Catholic Church facing scandals of this nature.  Yet while these clergy and/or the institutions they serve have certainly given the Church as a whole a black eye, the very worst – THE VERY WORST – of it all is that the Gospel of The Lord and the historic doctrines of the Church are suddenly without merit.

The reality is that the messenger, rather than the message itself, is given far more weight and influence than any individual clergy person is entitled to.  The Gospel is still the Gospel.  The Truth, however “difficult to accept” it may be, is still the Truth.  And we are compelled to “seek”, to “ask”, to “knock”.  In the minds of mere mortal humans, however, the worth and credibility of the message are gauged by the perceived worth and credibility of the messenger.

So as Jesus began teaching about His flesh and blood as “real food” and “real drink” (John 6:55), it is little wonder many walked away!  The “messenger” seemed suddenly … unstable.  Jesus had been preaching and teaching Good News, hope, and redemption.  Up to this point, it was all good … until they thought they heard “cannibalism”.  Suddenly all He had taught and all He had shown up to that point?  Forgotten.  Now He was just a very strange messenger who no longer had a message.

Understand Jesus was talking to Jews.  The consumption of blood – any blood, but certainly human blood – is prohibited; “It is the life of the flesh” (Leviticus 17:11).  It would stand to reason, then, that the consumption of human flesh would be equally prohibited.  So of course, what Jesus is teaching is “difficult”!  And who indeed “can accept it”??  The answer, of course, would be whomever would stick around and ask more questions.  How many times have we rejected an idea out of hand only because it did not mesh with what we already think or believe?  Especially if it is a religious principle we were raised with and were told it must not be questioned?

This is what was happening with the dwindling crowd.  They took what Jesus said literally rather than metaphorically.  As that happens, as with us, any teaching that does not match a literal interpretation or an already-developed concept will always be “difficult to accept”.

Like muscles to the physical body, faith to the spiritual self must be stretched and strengthened, and there are no short-cuts to sanctification, spiritual “perfection”.  It will be hard, but I think that was Jesus’ whole point.  I don’t think He was deliberately trying to thin the herd, but He was also not going to simply tell them what they wanted to hear; He was telling them – AND US – what we need to know so that we may fully LIVE the Life to which we are called!

As St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, there are “mysteries of the Gospel” (6:19).  And these “mysteries” require engagement.  They require effort.  And they demand our attention; for only when we finally arrive at The Truth will we finally be set Free from our doubts, our false assertions, and our hollow beliefs that do not benefit the whole Church.  We are now, and will always be, looking for the “Words of Eternal Life”.  For there truly is nowhere else to go.

Christ our Shepherd is showing us The Way.  His language and His parables are not “easy”, but those who draw closer to understand will find Life.  And in abundance.  Thanks be to The Lord.  Amen.

The Virtue of Wisdom

19 August 2018 – 13^th Sunday of Pentecost

1 Kings 3:3-14; Luke 21:8-19 

“The fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.  His praise endures forever.”  Psalm 111:10

The late Christian author (and former atheist), C.S. Lewis, once wrote, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point”.   St. Augustine held that “Humility is the foundation of all other virtues; in the soul in which this virtue does not exist, there can be no other virtue except in mere appearance”.

What each is saying is it would be difficult to measure one virtue against another because it would come near to suggesting if we think we possess one virtue in its fullness, we would probably not only be wrong but we might falsely believe we have no need of the others, failing to appreciate the wisdom of knowing each virtue is necessarily and intimately connected to the others toward the complete and whole person.  When we pick and choose, we miss what it means to become truly “holy”.  And “without holiness, one will not see God” (Hebrews 12:14).

Traditionally, the seven Christian virtues combine the four classical cardinal virtues of prudence (caution, discernment), justice (with mercy), temperance (abstinence from harmful things), and courage – with the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. 

Yet even the virtues cannot have meaning if we lack the greatest virtue of all: wisdom.  It is wisdom by which we use these virtues to bring glory to our Father.  Wisdom should not be confused with “common sense” – since what is “common” is often unique only to a specific culture.  By wisdom, I mean God-given wisdom by which we may think and act against the cultural tide; for it is this wisdom – and no other - which not only brings glory to The Father but also guides the faithful to Glory.

King Solomon was smart enough – perhaps wise enough in worldly wisdom – to know he was in over his head as king of The Lord’s Chosen.  But rather than to surrender himself to what might have been construed as “common sense” in his day – as sacrificing in the high places rather than only in the Temple (1 Kings 3:3) – he chose to pursue and to use what The Lord would entrust to him.  

This request so pleased The Lord, He granted not only an overabundance of wisdom to Solomon, He also granted to Solomon “riches and honor” beyond wisdom (1 Kings 3:13) as well as long life – IF – he would honor The Lord’s commandments as his father, King David, did (1 Kings 3:14).  It must also be noted, as it is written, that our willingness and desire to walk humbly with our God is indeed the measure of our love for Him (1 Kings 3:3; Micah 6:8).

A desire to serve The Lord – an earnest and ongoing desire – is what feeds us, enlightens us, sustains us, gives lasting meaning to all we do, and will ultimately save us – as the “wise one” who built his house on rock (Matthew 7:24-27) or the “wise one” who will know what to say only when The Lord grants it is time to say it (Luke 21:8-19).   Only Divine Wisdom can give us that measure of discernment.

Even this desire to serve and please The Lord, however, does not seem to be innate to every human soul nor will it always come easily to even the most devoted disciple because there is an ongoing conflict between the spirit of a person that seeks The Lord and the flesh of a person that seeks only its own gratification. 

If we try to pretend this conflict does not exist only because we think ourselves “saved”, it may also be said we are profoundly lacking in wisdom and are at extreme spiritual risk because in our humanness, we will always default to our most basic setting – the sustenance and pleasure of self.  It is a part of who we are and is the measure of what we must overcome to be fully connected to our Lord and to one another; fully sanctified, perfected in our faith in, and devotion to, Him.

It is written in the Psalms (111:10), in the Proverbs (9:10), and in the Apocrypha (Ecclesiasticus 1:14) that “fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.  It cannot be overstated, however, that “fear” in the biblical context does not mean to be “afraid” as we understand the word “fear”.  It is rather THE measure of respect, a profound sense of humility (Augustine) in knowing it ain’t about ‘me’, and the courage (Lewis) to trust that if we give ourselves fully to The Lord and withhold no part of ourselves, He will grant what we must earnestly learn to “seek” (Matthew 7:7). 

There is a caveat, though: we must learn – and we must teach - to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” … THEN “all these things will be added to [us]” (Matthew 6:33); “these things” we had previously wasted a lot of time worrying about.  It may well come to be “these things” we once worried about lacking will suddenly seem less important … when we get our priorities right.

What Solomon sought and earnestly desired above all things is affirmed by Jesus’ several lessons.  Before anything else – including perhaps faith itself – can begin to have any meaning, there must be wisdom; for as it is written in the Proverbs: “I [wisdom] walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, endowing with wealth those who love me, and filling their treasuries.  The Lord created Me at the beginning of His work, the first of His acts of long ago” (8:20-22) … “for whoever finds Me finds life and obtains favor from The Lord” (8:35) – just as the young king Solomon did.

We might be inclined to ask how wisdom affects salvation or whether we should be more concerned with getting saved than with acquiring wisdom, but I think reducing life in Christ to a mere either/or ultimatum misses the point and robs us of the full life we are created for and called into as we are freed from the old life that robbed us of everlasting meaning.  Only with wisdom can we even know what to do with salvation!

In the end, it is not only about being justified before The Lord; it is about “going on to perfection” (Hebrews 6:1), being holy, perfected, complete as He is (Leviticus 20:26; Matthew 5:48).  It is about being not only a disciple of Christ Jesus; it is about becoming an accurate reflection of Him.  This should always be our daily task and life’s ambition – “for whoever finds Me finds life and obtains favor from The Lord”.  Amen.

The Irony of the Free Press

The First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees to the people, among other things, a free press unencumbered and uncensored by government.  It is the ideal expressed by Thomas Jefferson that a self-governed people have a duty to be informed by independent sources, and these sources have a duty to Truth.  The trick today, however, seems to be finding reliable sources and discerning “fact” from “opinion”.

This perpetual battle between President Trump and the media may seem disturbing to some, perceived as an effort by the government to suppress or infringe upon a free press.  So I find profound irony in the idea that a free press calls government to account and yet balks at being called to account not only by the president but by the people as well.

News used to be restricted only to a daily newspaper and the six o’clock television news.  There was a clear distinction between “fact” and “opinion”.  The so-called “fourth estate”, once held in high regard, maintained a high and necessary standard of responsible journalism, keeping the public informed, and protecting its reputation as reliable.

Today, in the age of unfettered opinion and an Internet that has made “journalists” of most everyone with an opinion (including myself), there is not only no longer a clear distinction between “fact” and “opinion”; there seems also lacking any measure of accountability.  The government is held to account by a free press, but who can call a free press to account?

It is impossible not to have some measure of bias, whether in politics, philosophy, or religion.  Those who believe themselves to be completely free of bias only kid themselves.  Bias is part of our human nature, but this bias can serve us well when we understand and learn to appreciate its usefulness.  What “I” may feel strongly about is tempered by “your” own passions and beliefs.  It is the acknowledgment that “I” alone cannot know all things but must have “your” perspective to draw a reasonable conclusion.  Sometimes (perhaps often) our biases can run away with us, and this is the foundation of the ongoing conflict.

The president seems to be at war with the media, and the media seem slanted against this president (depending on the source).  A recent effort was proposed by the Boston Globe to get all news outlets to write editorials defending a free press against a perceived effort by the president to suppress.  As was written in The Globe’s editorial, “The whole project is not anti-Trump; it is really pro-press” (https://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2018/08/freepress/).

I will agree, at least in part, with some of the editorials insisting the press is not “the enemy; it is the people”.  What I do not agree with is the press’s seeming insistence that it cannot – or should not - be held accountable by some other than itself.  The president and many of his supporters (yes, including Fox News as well as others) have called out certain news sources as not only unreliable but just this side of libelous, reporting “facts” not clearly established.  There are suspicions, there are opinions, there are perceptions, but “facts” seem to be mere speculation of what could be rather than what actually is.

I think of so many cases in which those accused of crimes, whose names and faces are splashed across front pages around the country pretty much seal the doom of the accused.  Not only are these determined to be guilty before they’ve had the benefit of a trial, but often their lives are completely upended and ultimately ruined.  If they are exonerated and vindicated, the damage has already been done.  The passion of a people is stirred to the point of irrationality, and the guaranteed right of a fair trial is rendered impossible.  In some cases, a perverted sense of vigilante justice puts not only the accused but those charged to protect them in very real danger.

The public has a right to know, and a free press is a necessary instrument of that right.  Yet any “right” exercised without a profound sense of duty and social responsibility can only become anarchy, the evidence of such found all around us today. 

What drives so much of the cynicism, suspicions, and frustrations of the masses is the reality that the press (and independent “journalists”) have collectively muddied the waters and blurred the line between “fact” and “opinion”, especially citing “sources not authorized to speak”.  It seems a clever way to insert an “opinion” without accountability because we can never know the true source.

It is little wonder the press is struggling for its character.  It is not solely because of President Trump’s accusations.  He has only said what so many have suspected for so long: a free press is necessary to a free people, but an unencumbered press not held to account by an independent source is as dangerous and as volatile as an armed mob.

Yet just as surely as Thomas Jefferson defended the necessity of a free press, he also maintained the responsibility of a public to read and to discern.  For if it can truly be said that if “the press is the people”, given the uncertainty of reliable sources, it does not speak well of what we have become.

The Broken Heart of Grace

12 August 2018 – 12^th Sunday of Pentecost

2 Samuel 18:5-9,15,31-33; Psalm 130; Ephesians 4:25-5:2 

“Be angry, but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”  Ephesian 4:26

In 2^nd Samuel 18, King David had been forced to flee because his son, Absalom, had risen up against him and would try to overthrow him.  David chose to flee rather than to fight because he wanted no harm to come to his son.  He had even ordered his commanders to “deal gently, for my sake, with the young man Absalom” (2 Sam 18:5).

David’s army would still face Absalom’s army in battle, however, because there was too much at stake.  It wasn’t that David refused to fight at all; he only wanted no harm to come to his beloved son.  Yet even as David had given his commanders a “hands off” order regarding Absalom, Absalom had come face-to-face with David’s army and was killed rather than merely captured. 

When David was told of his son’s death, the king mourned, wishing it could have been him who had died instead of his beloved son.  Rather than understand or share his grief, David’s commanders got a little bent out of shape.  Because of his death, Absalom’s army had been hobbled and the rebellion put down.  Yet the king was not relieved; he was deeply grieved.  Though Absalom had tried to overthrow his father and would have surely resulted in the death of the king, there was still one important and immutable factor that cannot be overlooked: the depth of a father’s love.  Rebellion did not change that, but that love did not mean there would not be consequences for that rebellion.

Though the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are largely considered historical accounts, this particular passage in 2^nd Samuel is a profound analogy of The Holy Father’s unwavering love for His own.  Despite our almost constant rebellion – sometimes hidden, at other times in plain sight – the enduring Love of The Father is even more constant than our rebellion.  As St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “While we were still sinners (rebels), Christ died for us” (5:8).

It is always easy to imagine The Lord’s wrath and fury; the First Testament is filled with such images.  Yet even Jesus speaks of the Day of Judgment when the wrath of the Eternal Judge will “separate the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-46), when true disciples will be separated from Christians “in name only”.  It will be that time when the disobedient will be “cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).

Yet before even all this, there is The Eternal Heart of Grace that is quite capable of being broken.  It is The Heart of the Almighty and Eternal Creator who made us in His Image and gave us the capacity – though not necessarily the will - to love (that we must do on our own, but we can IF we use what is given to us).  It is this Eternal One who has determined that we, even at our worst, are worth redeeming, worth saving.  This manifest Love, revealed and perfected in Christ Jesus, exists as surely as you and I will more often be found in rebellion than in grace.  It must be noted that grace does not excuse rebellion.

The very worst thing to have happened that has robbed the contemporary Church of its vitality, its sense of gratitude, faithfulness, and duty to one another, is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer termed “cheap grace” – expecting something for nothing; i.e., forgiveness without repentance.  It is conveyed in “bumper sticker” and social media theology that lacks engagement, depth, and wisdom, and is often reduced to a “meme”.  It is expressed in such a careless way that active membership and participation in the life of the Church is cast aside as inconsequential since, as so many try to claim, their salvation has already been “assured”.

Salvation itself, rather than to be understood as the Divine Gift which must be received AND lived into, has become an “entitlement” we think we are owed; taking advantage, as we often do, of that which is given seemingly without cost.  The vitality of the United Methodist Church is at risk not because of what may or may not happen in St. Louis next year but because of what has already happened at “home” for generations.   We have stopped “making disciples”, we have stopped “equipping disciples to make disciples”, we do not hold one another accountable to discipleship, choosing popularity over faithfulness, and we are no longer concerned with the “transformation of our communities”.  We do not care, nor are we concerned, about the cost of rebellion.

To be sure, Absalom was very intentional about his open rebellion against his father.  What he did to undermine the king, he meant to do; and because of his false sense of pride and personal entitlement, he did not care about the kingdom as a whole; he cared only about himself.  In the end, it cost him his very life.  Yet though he lived as his father’s enemy, he nevertheless died as his father’s son.  And a father’s heart was broken.

Unlike Absalom, we are more often not so intentional in our rebellion as we are neglectful of the relationship of the congregation we are invited into; and rather than to “love our neighbors as ourselves”, we selectively offer our love only to those whom we deem worthy.  And the very worst of it all is that, like Absalom, we are so blinded by our own desires, our own ambitions, our own pride that we cannot see – nor do we seem to care about – what we are doing to the Heart of the One who gave of Himself so completely that His death was unavoidable.  But the strength of that Love made the Resurrection imminent because, as much as humankind has tried to silence and “bury” or ignore the Living Word, The Word cannot be silenced.  “Though heaven and earth will pass away, My Words will never pass away” (Luke 21:33).

This is the reality of Divine Love.  This kind of love is so completely vulnerable that if it is not respected, if it is not embraced, if it is not reciprocated, the Broken Heart is inevitable.  It is the only measure of True Love and must be received and shared as freely as it is given.  For this is The Way that is Christ, and it is the True and Full Heart of a Father’s Love.  Amen.

The True (and only) Bread from Heaven

5 August 2018 – 11^th Sunday of Pentecost 

Numbers 21:1-9; John 6:26-35

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”  John 3:14

The incident recorded in Numbers 21 was not the first time the Israelites complained about the manna, but it does seem to be the first point at which they spoke so aggressively against it.  In Numbers 11 the complaint was, “There is nothing but manna”; but in Numbers 21 they finally crossed the line: “We HATE this horrible manna!”

There is nothing quite like having a basic need met but then deciding that’s no longer good enough, huh?

Years ago I worked for a trucking company in Little Rock; and though I was making a very good salary, the work days were long and often miserable because the environment was downright toxic.  In 1999 I had also begun my first appointment as a lay speaker to a small church outside of Conway.  

I would sometimes take the long way home from Little Rock to Conway via Wye Mountain and come out in Bigelow where this little church was.  One evening I was driving home the back way and decided to stop at the church for a little quiet time.  It had been an especially challenging day at work, and I needed to figure out how to clear my head.

In the quiet of the church with only the hissing of the gas heater, I opened my Bible randomly and found myself reading from Numbers 11.  I got stuck on vss 4-6: “The Israelites wept and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat!  We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at’.”

Moses had overheard the complaints and then went to The Lord, effectively saying to The Lord, “Just kill me now!  These people are more than I can handle!”  But The Lord told Moses to gather the elders so they could all hear The Lord at the same time when He declared they would get their precious meat – so much so that they will nearly choke on it to the point of it becoming “loathsome” to them (vs 20) … because they had all they needed – but – their personal preferences were not being met.  And they were ready to give up and go back.

The Lord was sustaining them on their wilderness journey with the manna; but they were deciding for themselves not only that this True Gift was no longer good enough for them, they also were falsely and selectively remembering the “good ol’ days” in Egypt when they were fed like livestock.  They had forgotten how they had cried out to The Lord under the burden of their cruel servitude.  They only remembered the food.

What struck me in my own bitter moment was my paycheck, my manna.  It was sustaining my family, but the journey (the work week) was sometimes more than I could bear to the point that I was not even grateful for the paycheck.  I was being given all I needed, but it was no longer good enough.  I felt like I was “choking” on it all.

Though I certainly experienced a profound moment of clarity that evening in that quiet church, it was not long before I had forgotten that moment.  I had been given clarity in being reminded I had all I needed.  I knew what I needed to do, and I knew I should not look a gift horse in the mouth; and yet, like the Israelites, I had moved from the disgust of chapter 11 to the utter disdain of chapter 21 in only a few short years.  Soon what I had held in such contempt disappeared completely.  I got laid off a few months before the company went under. 

Even then, I was luckier than many of my former co-workers.  I got severance because I had been with that company nearly twenty years, but those who got caught up in the final moments were lucky to have gotten their final paycheck.

It was ugly, and I was in touch with several co-workers who were scrambling at the end – right before Christmas!  And the funny thing?  The really funny thing??  I was still angry and bitter for having gotten laid off even while serving a full-time appointment in Magnolia (more manna)!  I had invested so much with this company and had often gone way “above and beyond” because of my personal ambition.  I could not – would not – see that The Lord was sustaining me, had sustained me, had led me.  All I had to do was connect the dots.

Sometimes we don’t get our preference and, thus, cannot see our basic needs are met.  Griping and complaining do not help.  Trying to reach into the past with false or incomplete memories does not help.  In fact, as we learned from the Israelites, it only angers The Lord because He has seen to our most basic needs, but what we’ve been given in abundance is somehow no longer good enough.  

We seem happy – HAPPY – to complain when, though we have plenty of bread, we are unsatisfied with the kind of bread.  We may sometimes even feel cheated and less-than-filled only because the bread, though plentiful, is not to our liking.  We lose sight of what is important.

The True Bread of Life is The Eternal Word which became flesh.  He is our our ONLY sustenance who feeds us not only in this life, but will in the Life to Come.  We often cannot see that because we have filled our heads with false hopes and misleading personal desires because we are too focused on ourselves and not at all on Him.   Sometimes even in worship!

Those who focus always on Him and His Way will always have enough; but if we focus too much on the kind of bread we’re being given and forget why we’re being fed in the first place, we will lose our way.  And we will never be satisfied.

We must be learn to be grateful for every moment we are being sustained, and we must never forget that He alone is the True Bread from Heaven sent to sustain us for however long the journey may last.  Lift Him up, and He will raise us up!  Amen.

The True Temple

22 July 2018 – 9^th Sunday of Pentecost

2 Samuel 7:1-14a; Psalm 89:20-37; Mark 6:30-34

“You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” (“Ethics of the Fathers”, 2:21)

As I was reading the portion of 2^nd Samuel, something occurred to me that forced me to do a double-take; The Lord never seemed to tell David directly that Solomon would be commissioned to build the Great Temple; we’re only told “descendants” or “offspring”.  In 1^st Chronicles 28, King David reports that The Lord had told him Solomon would build the Temple, but the portion from 2^nd Samuel in which The Lord speaks to David through the prophet Nathan does not mention Solomon by name.  A quick search through Kings describes the construction of the Temple and The Lord descending upon the completed work – which strongly suggests His blessing – but there still seems to be no direct, recorded conversation between The Lord and David regarding Solomon about the Temple.

What began to bother me about this is that the Temple – believed to have been the very residence of The Lord among His people – has been destroyed not once but twice.  To top it off, the Ark of the Covenant, which is said to contain the stone tablets, is still missing.  Yet The Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah to the exiles; “I will put My Law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (31:33).   

Now you may ask why any of this matters.  It may only be splitting hairs.  The first Temple was built during Solomon’s reign, The Lord seemed to approve; and with the Ark of the Covenant safely in place, all was set according to Divine plan.

However, might it also be suggested that the Temple itself eventually became the object of Israel’s devotion rather than The One who was said to reside within that physical structure?  And that the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Holy Word, was soon forgotten except as a unique possession of Israel?  Not the Word contained within the Ark but the “container” itself?  The eventual downfall and exile of what became a divided kingdom would suggest so because The Lord had withdrawn Himself and His favor from a kingdom which had turned its back on Him.   

King David wanted so badly to hasten the building of the Temple (his grateful heart seemed to be in the right place), but his mind and good will got ahead of the Divine Promise that The Lord would build David a house and that his line would “continue forever” (Psalm 89:36).  Come to think of it, Abraham and Sarah had been assured they would bear a son, but Sarah’s impatience (perhaps because of her advanced age?) drove her to offer her much younger (and presumably more fertile) servant Hagar to Abraham to hurry up the Promise – which turned soon to a curse.

Like most of us, David was unable to think beyond himself and his direct descendants.  It likely never occurred to him that several generations later, a Child who would be called “Jesus” – one of his “descendants” - would become the established kingdom (the Living Word) which would herald a new age in the fulfillment of the Enduring and Everlasting Promise of the Eternal Kingdom from “the house of David”.

The Temple, even destroyed, still stands today.

St. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth (1 Cor 3:16); “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” 

To clarify for we who speak “Southern”, Paul’s words are best understood as “Do y’all not know that y’all are God’s temple?”  All of us together, many members, many parts with many different gifts but One Body make up the whole and Holy Body of the Living Word!  The quite literal and spiritual Holy Presence in the world today through the Holy Church attests to the reality that our God cannot – and will not – be contained; not in a box, not in a physical structure regardless of how grand and ornate the structure may be, and certainly not within only a single person (lest we get a little too full of ourselves)!

But together - The Living Temple of the Living God doing amazing things.

The apostles returned to Jesus (Mark 6:30-34) “and told Him all they had done and taught”.  They were surely excited to discover for themselves that working together and faithfully in the Holy Name, they were enabled to “cast out many demons, and anoint with oil many who were sick and cure them” (Mark 6:13).

They had to be more than a little excited about their success, but it may also be said they were more than a little amazed at what can happen when they act faithfully and do according to our Shepherd’s instructions.  Not quite “perplexed” as Herod was, but surely the apostles went forth with more than a little apprehension (as you or I would) but, by faith, acted according to all Jesus had instructed them!  And remarkable things happened!

If the Temple of The Lord is restricted only to a box or a building, this would suggest The Lord never really needed to come to us but that we must go to Him – and only to a single, particular,  physical place.  The more I think about it, the more I understand our Father’s prohibition against idols; physical, lifeless structures that become the objects of our worship and devotion, that limit our thinking, that restrict our capacity to act beyond ourselves and our own desires, and that hinder our ability to step out in faith. 

The Temple of the Living God is wherever His Word is heard, joyfully embraced, and acted upon.  We may not always see the outcome of our efforts – and I think that is why it is so easy for us to lose heart and give up, believing we’re having no positive impact in spite of our best efforts – but we can always be sure that when we act faithfully and step out of our comfort zones in faith and in the Holy Name, going and doing as Jesus instructed us, we will be amazed at what the Living Temple of the Living God can actually do!

King David, for his posterity and his own personal satisfaction, perhaps needed to get the ball rolling before his days would come to an end, but this may also be what Sarah had in mind when she gave her servant girl to Abraham, when the immutable Word coming directly from the mouth of the Most High was modified to accommodate and justify a cultural practice and fulfill a personal desire. 

Human efforts to realize and hasten the Divine Promise will always fall short in our own lifetimes and will never measure up to our human expectations; but acting faithfully and living as though we really believe we together are the Temple of the Living God will produce fruit long after our days have come to an end.  And we are reminded, as it is written in Jewish wisdom, “We are not required to complete the work, but we are also not free to stop doing the work”.  For the Promise is not ours to keep, but it is ours to live and to continue for as long as we draw a breath.  For we are the living Temple of the Living God.

To the Glory of The Holy Name.  Amen.

What Should I Ask For?

15 July 2018

Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29

“The earth is The Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.”  Psalm 24:1

Prayer is the single most challenging, and often the most difficult, of the many means of grace needed to keep us connected to The Lord and to one another.  And by “prayer”, I don’t mean the kind of thinking we often do while we’re preoccupied with something else that requires more of our attention – like driving.  

When I say “prayer”, I mean the kind of mind-, body-, and soul-encompassing effort by which we not only voice our concerns but devote unrestricted and unencumbered time to listen for what may more often be the “still, small voice” experienced by the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19:11-13).  That is, the “Voice” which can be heard only when we ourselves are “stilled” and humbled – and, as Jesus taught, when the “door is closed” to the outside world (Matthew 6:6).

Absent that “Voice” and the stillness and humility required to hear, it can more often be that our prayers are “answered” only according to our own consciences and deepest desires.  That is, if there is something we really want, our minds can trick us into believing The Lord has granted our request when, in fact, The Lord may have had nothing to do with it.  We have only convinced ourselves.  And that conviction may have more to do with external voices (the dominant culture, friends, or family) than with an internal “Voice” of reason and Truth.

We are compelled to face up to the hard truth that our consciences only really begin to enter into the equation when we get caught up in the struggle between our minds and our souls which are not always on the same page.

King Herod had a struggle within himself, and his conscience played a significant role in this struggle between what external voices were telling him and what his internal voice knew.  People were wondering who this Jesus character was, and the guesses of Elijah or other “prophets of old” were pretty close to the mark in that Jesus, as “the Word which became flesh”, taught consistently from The Word since He Himself IS The Word.

Herod, on the other hand, seemed to reject these guesses perhaps because of a guilty conscience in knowing the Baptizer was dead only because he commanded it.  John was a thorn in Herod’s flesh because John spoke only the Truth, but Herod’s mind was more in tune with his own flesh – that is, his own desires.  Yet with all the unchecked power at Herod’s disposal, he would not likely have deliberately had John executed.  Thorn in the flesh or not, Herod seemed to know deep within himself who John really was. 

Yet it was an external voice which compelled him to act against his own conscience, and even that external voice (Herodias) was not sure what to ask for.  So that external voice of Herod went to yet another external voice for counsel.  And because of an intensely personal and internal desire for … what?  Peace of mind?  That voice overwhelmed Herod’s own conscience and demanded a personal desire to be fulfilled.

We’re talking about murder, of course, and I doubt many of us have such a dark side; but we cannot discount our Shepherd’s very words that a curse against another soul is just this side of murder.  In fact, outright murder would be more merciful than the thousand deaths the victims of our scorn, our ridicule, our slander, our gossip suffer – not by our hands but by our tongues.  We “murder” – or worse, torture – the soul of another who was also created in the Divine Image.

And even though our consciences should tell us otherwise, our minds demand more because the desire of our flesh, our being, is more determined to please itself, regardless of the Internal Voice.  We may know what we should be asking for, what we should be seeking, but the external voices which feed and satisfy the flesh of our inmost desires drive us to demand and to seek something else.  

It is written in the Proverbs (NRSV), “The human spirit is the lamp of The Lord, searching every inmost part” (20:27).  The Good News Translation renders this passage: “The Lord gave us mind and conscience; we cannot hide from ourselves”.

We must also not try to kid ourselves.  Our greatest struggle is always within ourselves, and that struggle is always between flesh and spirit.  We know what we want, but we only think we know what we truly need.  We can try to assuage a guilty conscience, but in the end the flesh will more likely win out because our personal desires overwhelm our spiritual senses.  And even though we may still feel guilty afterward, we appease the conscience by remembering a merciful God who is more likely – and willing - to bless than to curse.

And this happens, more often than not, when we create for ourselves a “personal” God who does our bidding rather than submit to the Lord and Shepherd of the Church who is more likely leading us in an entirely different direction.

This is why prayer is the most challenging and most difficult of the means of grace.  And because it is so difficult and so challenging, it is the most neglected.  We may convince ourselves we are praying while we’re doing something else, but the truth is we’re only thinking.  We’re distracted from the essence of what it means to pray – the willingness to listen even if it is not what we wish to hear.  And because we don’t fully commit ourselves to prayer, we allow our flesh to determine what it is we want.

But a full commitment to prayer can often mean something else is going to happen.  A full commitment to putting ourselves in a position not only to listen but to hear that “still, small voice” means what we will hear is not likely what we desire most – though it will be what we truly need.  It means we will not get our own way.  It means we will be asked to do more for The Lord and His Church than we have ever been willing to do before.  It may mean giving up more of ourselves than we are comfortable with.  It may mean not having our own desires met.

Most of us have an informed conscience.  Having been raised in the Church and hearing the sermons and the Bible lessons, a Christian ethic begins to take shape.  Only when we are fully engaged, however, will that Christian ethic take its truest form.  Herod had only a sense of a Jewish ethic – why else would he have any sort of “fear” of John? – but his desire to please and to protect his reputation overruled what he knew to be true and right.  And he went to his grave with the blood of a true prophet on his hands.

We cannot always trust our own conscience when the ethic is formed independent of the Internal Voice of reason and Truth, but we can always trust The Good Shepherd to show us The Way since He is Himself “The Way, The Truth, and The [only] Life” we must pursue.  And genuine, time-consuming, contemplative prayer (I am convinced) is the only way to get – and remain – so intimately connected. 

What must we always ask for in our prayers?  “Show me The Way”.  We are assured that when we earnestly “seek, we will find”.  And when we “find”, we will be filled.  Amen.

Walking in Circles

The United Methodist Church continues to struggle with human sexuality issues (actually only one sexuality issue), and I am not sure if we are being completely honest with one another or ourselves in thinking this one component of sexuality is the issue.  My own questions have not been fully answered, but I am also not sure if my questions are being fair.  This I am sure of, however: we are not working out our differences; each side is digging in.

Accountability is everything in the life of the Church; it is about a community living in covenant with one another within the greater Body.  It is the biblical measure of care and concern for the spiritual well-being of one’s fellow disciples.  As a community held to a higher (biblical) standard than the common human culture, it is necessary to sometimes take our fellows to task when we know they are living outside the covenant standards and are perhaps “in danger of the judgment”.  Even in the common human culture, one who continually refuses to live according to a community’s lawful standards can expect to be forcibly “cast out” (i.e., locked up).  Only when they can prove their willingness to live according to the community’s common standards can they be allowed to return – and sometimes not even then!

Our level of accountability will be virtually non-existent if our doctrine pertaining to human sexuality, marriage, and ordination are reduced to individual conscience – which is the essential doctrine of the common human culture.  As long as one’s “rights” are protected by law, there is no harm and, thus, no penalty.

Except the Church is not – and should never seek to become – assimilated into the common human culture.  The Church should know and be aware of the culture, to be sure, but for the sake of engaging members of that culture in a meaningful way.  In doing so, however, the Church must not compromise its integrity and moral authority in a vain attempt to fit in.  Our task is to invite people out of the mud.  Sometimes it is necessary to go into the mud to help pull them out, but it is not okay to stay in the puddle just to be “relevant”.

Let’s also bear in mind the idea that since we seem to give a pass to heterosexual divorce and serial remarriage – that one thing Jesus does specifically mention – then perhaps we should not be so readily critical of homosexual relationships, since we are engaged in or are endorsing sinful conduct while projecting “real” sin upon others (the “plank” vs. the “splinter” in one’s eye).  How do we reconcile an attempt to be culturally fair but biblically faithful?

I’m not sure we can.  If we give a pass on one sin but hold the line on another, we may convince ourselves we are being “fair” but we can hardly believe we are being “faithful” to our God or our fellows.  Can we?  If we honestly believe there is to be a day of judgment when we will all be “judged according to our works/deeds” (Romans 2:6; 1 Peter 1:17; Revelation 20:12)?

Like many, I continue to struggle on a personal level.  I am the very last person in a position to judge anyone, and there is much I do not fully understand.  Yet I am also aware of the many who have left the United Methodist Church in search of … what?  Integrity?  A consistent Truth not subject to “conscience”?  To be sure, we can all use a good purging of “conscience”.  There are too many sins to list, too many culturally acceptable practices that are “incompatible with Scriptures” we give a pass to with a wink and a nod, sometimes even with congratulations!

I would suggest this.  First take note of Jesus’ admonishment of those who wanted to stone the female “adultress” but not the male “adulterer” (John 8:1-11): “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone”.  Though the Law of Moses required the death penalty – “I came to perfect the Law and the Prophets, not to do away with them” (Matthew 5:17), Jesus suggests there is something more at play in this case. 

The Law required both parties face the death penalty (“You must purge the evil from among you”, Dt 17:7), but the crowd chose to target the “weaker” one.  In that single act, the integrity of the Law is called into question – when the Law was being applied arbitrarily or even culturally rather than uniformly and fairly.  Would Jesus have done the same if both parties had been present?  We can speculate, but the simple fact is the man (the adulterer) was not there.  What others may also have been missing are actual witnesses who would be compelled by the same Law to “cast the first stone” (again, Dt 17:7).

Then there is the ol’ “splinter” in the eye of the observed vs. the “plank” in the eye of the observer.  What Jesus is saying is very simple: first purge yourself of sin.  Only then can you see clearly to help purge the sins of others.  And we must not – MUST NOT – attempt to justify ourselves by settling for, “Well, at least I’m not gay”.  That doctrinal dog will not hunt.

Jesus is not excusing sin, not by any means, nor is He redefining the nature of sin.  He did tell the adulterous woman to “sin no more”, but that same theme can be applied to those who were challenged to first look within themselves before they could dare cast a stone at this woman.  Can any one of us think we are, on any level, “without sin”?

The more I delve into this “issue”, the more I feel compelled to look more carefully at myself.  Every denomination has some component that does not seem fair or compassionate, that may even be considered “judgmental” when we don’t get what we desire or demand for ourselves.  There is, indeed, a compelling theme throughout “The Shack” that stirred my own core: we judge only according to what we can see with our eyes.  Even though we may eagerly lay a burden on a “sinner”, we cannot possibly know how much of a burden that “sinner” has already been saddled with.  There is very likely already more spiritual or emotional damage done than we can begin to imagine; and in the end, we hurt only ourselves and the Church, and we help no one by declaring their sin(s) more dire than our own.

I can make all kinds of rational, doctrinal, and even “legal” arguments against gay marriage or ordination; but the more I wade into this mess, the more “stuck” I become myself.  I may be biblically (technically) correct, but what am I trying to accomplish?  Am I really concerned for the well-being of the soul of another, or am I only culturally offended?  Am I really concerned about the judgment they may face, or am I hoping The Lord will be so busy with them that He won’t notice me??

A friend asked recently, “Are you turning into a liberal?”  The answer is no, not as he understands the term.  Yet growing as a disciple, “going on to perfection and leaving behind the basic teachings” (Hebrews 6), compels me to look more carefully first at myself rather than to be too fixated on the sins of others.  I will continue to preach “The Truth” to the best of my ability, but I will also continue to depend on the accountability of my fellow disciples to keep me honest.  Only when I am first honest with myself may I hope to be fully honest with the congregation I serve as pastor. 

I’m not sure what the answer to our dilemma is, but I do know there are no easy answers I will find alone.  I also know that “individual conscience” will not serve The Lord or His Church.  Only when we are willing to walk together and talk together will we be able to move on to the next problem … and the next.  God willing, we will be continually “tested” (Dt 13:1-3) until we breathe our last, being constantly renewed and revitalized!  Let that be enough for now.

Knowing the Difference - a sermon for 10 June 2018

10 June 2018 – 3^rd Sunday after Pentecost

1 Samuel 8:4-20; Psalm 138; 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 12:13-17

Samuel may have suffered the same malady suffered by many preachers the world over and throughout the ages; taking personal the things said by the people in his charge.  How could he not?  He was fully vested with the people.  His office was not a thing he did; it is who he was.  Samuel was the prophet of The Lord; when The Lord spoke, He spoke through Samuel.  The people had to trust that Samuel would be diligent, faithful, and forthright with what The Lord had spoken.  By all accounts, he was.

So when the elders demanded a king, Samuel may have felt as though his own integrity had been called into question.  After all, the reason they gave Samuel had to do with their lack of confidence in Samuel’s sons to carry their father’s tradition and calling faithfully.  They were looking to the future, and they were afraid of what may happen under Samuel’s sons, given that Samuel was “old” and his days numbered.  This is the mortal reality, so their concerns were valid.

Part of the problem in this quest to be “like other nations” (1 Sam 8:5) is that Israel could not see the danger of losing its sense of self and the reason for their very existence: to make known to “other nations” the One True God.  This cannot possibly be done if their desire is now to be “like other nations”.  They will no longer be distinguishable from the “other nations”.  In being like the “other nations”, they will no longer be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto The Lord” (Exodus 19:6).

But, The Lord said to Samuel, Don’t take it personal.  It isn’t you they’re rejecting; it’s Me.  So I’m gonna give them exactly what they asked for – BUT – you must warn them so they cannot come back later and say, ‘We didn’t know’!

After Samuel had spelled out for them that what they once owned would no longer be theirs, including their sons and daughters, their produce, their livelihood, they said, SO?  Even after Samuel had shared with them The Lord’s own warning – “In the day you realize you are that king’s slaves, you will cry out to Me, but I’m gonna say, ‘Talk to the Hand’ …” (1 Sam 8:18) – the elders still had the audacity to say, ‘We are determined to have a king over us …”

Though it has the appearance, I don’t think we are looking at a total revolt of the people against The Lord or against Samuel but, rather, a manifestation of their worst fears.  The Philistines are a legitimate threat to Israel, a military power which must be checked.  It may be the “elders” who came to Samuel had taken this into account, the political and military issues they certainly faced in being outnumbered, outgunned, and possibly overpowered. 

Yet the problem is not necessarily that they were looking for a king to rule them and defend the nation against this apparent threat; it was that they had made this determination without first consulting The Lord’s prophet, but had made this decision according to their fears.  They had not considered their primary status as a “holy nation of priests” ruled by, and under the protection of, The Eternal King.

This context makes Jesus’ challenge to the Herodians and the Pharisees in Mark’s Gospel – and to us today! – very problematic because what is being inferred in Jesus’ teaching is not a simple “yes or no” answer to whether paying taxes is the right thing to do.  It may be said that paying taxes is the result of demands made long ago, decisions made perhaps in fear.  Over the course of time we have given over to the government more and more control of our lives because we wanted tangible safety and security more than we valued our God-given liberty. 

Now, as one of my political science professors once posed to us, name one component of your life that is not, in some way, affected by the government, that very government, that “king”, we demanded.  “[That king] will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots … and to plow his ground and reap his harvest … [that king] will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  [That king] will take the best of what you have and give it to his own advisers and companions.  [That king] will take the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work.  [That king] will take a tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.”

What does it say to us that this “king” takes far more than a tenth today??

This parallel between ancient Israel and the contemporary Church is staggering, to say the least, and yet it is everything we have asked for and demanded over the course of time – because we chose to be Americans first and Christians incidentally.  So when we are challenged by Jesus to “give to the emperor what is the emperor’s and give to God what belongs to God”, it is hard for us to know the difference.  It is the worst reality of the adage, “Be careful what you wish for”.

Though we still enjoy a certain measure of freedom in this country and still have the capacity to turn things around, we do not often realize how much control over our lives the “emperor” really has … especially when we depend on the “emperor” to protect our religious liberties.  That one component of our lives given and guaranteed by The Lord Himself, and we have become convinced we cannot have even this unless it is granted – and protected - by the “emperor”!

This is the very disturbing aspect of what is commonly referred to as “nationalism”, especially when such “nationalism” informs religion and even faith.  Not to be political, but the so-called “evangelicals” who endorsed the current president did so for all the wrong reasons.  The inference was an endorsement of the Church for a “king” to protect us from … whom?  Name your terror, and fill in the blank.

As with almost every election, we are made to be afraid of the boogy-man, and the people of The Lord often fall for it without realizing what we’re really afraid of, what we need most.  We are manipulated and misled on so many fronts and the line has become so blurred that we really do not know what belongs to the “emperor” and what belongs to The Lord.

This is how the Holy Scriptures speak to real life, to real living.  This thing between Samuel and the elders was not just some thing which took place so long ago; it set the stage for what would follow.  The degradation we continue to witness came into being a very, very long time ago, perhaps in ancient Israel.  What we witness today is the culmination of some very bad decisions, some very bad choices made long ago.  Just how far this degradation may go before we awaken to its reality and check its power over us, only The Lord can know.

Yet it is also The Lord who continues to call out to His people.  We have to live with the consequences of our choices – that is the harsh reality – but it does not mean we are forever condemned.  “Seek Me while I may be found”, our Lord cried out to His people Israel.  “Seek and you will find”, our Lord calls out to His Church.  “And when you seek Me with your whole heart, you will find Me”. 

But we have to actively “seek” it if we really wish to find it; it will not fall into our laps.  It is that Promise we must learn to live for.  It is that Promise we must seek.  It is that Assurance we need above all else.  And when we find it, we will know there is nothing – NOTHING – that does not belong to our God and Father for our well-being.  Then will we have peace of heart, mind, and soul. Amen.