Counting Joy

 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.   (James 1:2-4)

 

This has been my favorite bible verse since I was 13.  It has gotten me through an awful lot of difficult times.  My eight grade Youth Leader Travis taught us the book of James while we were on a 15-day trip out west to see the Grand Canyon.  I can still hear him reciting the words, “Count it all joooooy, my friends.”  I hear it every time I’m tempted to let go of joy.

 

My friends, there is joy in each and every moment of life.  You might not believe that, but I assure you it’s true.  There are obvious moments of joy - the birth of a new baby, the A on the exam you were worried about, the promotion, etc – but I assure you, there is joy in moments when joy seems impossible.  You have to intentionally seek it or it will not be found.  It won’t be found, because if you’re not looking for it, you won’t recognize it for what it is.

 

A few years ago, I was asked to leave a job I loved.  I won’t lie; I was devastated.  At my lowest point, I heard Travis say from the recesses of my memory, “count it all joooooy, my friends,”  and I was reminded to look for the joy in the moment.  It was over the next few weeks that I saw how there were people who were rallying around me.  I discovered who my real friends were because they were running toward me and not away from the trouble.  I realized that I was in a situation I had feared being in for years and it wasn’t nearly as world-ending as I had imagined it.   I could go on and on, but the long and the short of it is that when I started looking for joy in the moment, it was as if I were given special eyeglasses to see what I could not see before.

 

The other aspect of this verse that I want to point out is the first two words: “Count it. . .”  It has been helpful to me rephrase this as “Name it.”  Name it all joy.  This is to play the long game.  In the unbearable moment, to say, “I name this joy” is to submit to the truth that, with God’s help, this moment will be what I look back on at some point and say, “it was that moment” that brought this growth, or led me to meet this person, or allowed that next thing to happen that’s got me in this good and strong place now.  This moment's name shall be joy.

 

Look for it. Name it.  There is and there will be joy.

“…weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5b

 

Prayer:  O Lord, our Lord; how majestic is your name in all the earth.  Even in my misery, your name is Majestic and your joy comes in the morning. Praise be to name of the Lord!  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people struggling with depression today.

 

Song: It is Well With My Soul – Audrey Assad

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY5o9mP22V0n

Joy of a Different Kind

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  1 Peter 1:8-9

 

We move to joy today, the second fruit of the Spirit.  Let me say first that the basic assumption about ALL the fruits of the Spirit IS that they are fruits of the Spirit – they all are the result of the Spirit’s work in us.  So the joy described above is not one we produce ourselves; it comes from us inviting the Spirt to be at work in us.

It is a joy that stems from our redemption (“salvation” in the verse above).  Our messy and imperfect lives are somehow taken by God and redeemed into something deeply gratifying and joy-producing.

Examples from my own life:

·         Sorrow for loved ones lost is, over time, transformed into gratitude for the time I had with them and a different kind of connection to them as they join “the great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1)

·         Health scares with my children have given me a unique connection and compassion with others who have are going through similar scares

·         My own failings/sin had led me to teachers and resources that have helped me become a more whole disciple and God has used them to heal brokenness in me.

·         The pandemic forced me to learn new things, become even more clear about the church’s mission, and finally got me writing every day, something I’ve felt called to do for years before that.

·         The death of George Floyd and the events since then has led me to a time of intense self-examination of my white privilege and my participation in hidden systems of injustice and has called be to be better.

I could go on and on.  The point is that I look at the list above and I am connected with a joy that is hard to describe.  It is not a joy synonymous with happiness, for much of the above list does not include happiness.   It is a joy that buoys my Spirit in a way that defies logical explanation.  It is a joy that provides evidence for God is working in my life and in the world.  The word joy is a way to describe the Spirit’s fingerprints on my spirit.  I am so grateful for that joy.

And I pray right now for you to have that same “inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 

We’ll continue our talk about this joy next time.

 

Prayer:  God, we are a time that few would describe as joyous.  But we believe you have given access to a Spirit-born joy that cannot be snuffed out.  Give us that joy today and every day.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for your closest friends and family today.

 

Song:  Joy – For King and Country

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA7n7TwPDmw

What Literally Holds Us Together

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.                         Colossians 1:15-17

 

Today is the last day of talking about love, so it seems appropriate to simply lift up how Love in every way possible holds us together.  I was writing in my journal today (which I haven’t done in a while) and these thoughts came to me:

“Having people to love keeps me going even when I want to quit.  Having people who love me has lifted me out of my lowest moments.  I am caught up in a web of love that has begun to be cast at least a couple thousand years ago.  My family of origin, my current immediate family, my extended family, my church, my spiritual heroes, my teachers, my pastors, my friends, my co-workers, and a lot of perfect strangers are all part of this web that is currently drawing new people in.  This is my new favorite image of the Kingdom of God. “

All the rest of the fruits of the Spirit have as their prerequisite love. 

 

Prayer:  Thank you God for the web of love you have cast all around us.  May it heal our divisions and hold us together. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Ask God to lead you to who to focus on in your prayers today.

 

Video:  Today, a video and a song. This may be one of my favorite illustrations of all time, so you may have seen it before, but it’s worth a repeat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSR8z_0uW5E

Song: Hold Us Together (You had to know it was coming. It’s my favorite praise song!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvnVjLX_hRE

Who Taught You That?

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.                              2 Timothy 2:2

 

I often take for granted that whatever ability I have to love comes from people who showed me what love looked like – My Mom and Dad, My Mother and Father in-law, coaches, teachers, mentors, friends and so many others.  I have often wondered about people who show a complete inability to treat people with love and respect as if they should have been born with such an ability.  Too often, they are that way because they haven’t ever been shown any different.  I have to work hard to remind myself of that a lot of the time.  

In all of the communities that my family has been a part of as a result of my being an itinerant pastor, we have received a legacy of love – that is, we know what it looks like.  Those families and communities have passed on that legacy  - albeit imperfectly at times - but they have passed it on nonetheless.  This doesn’t happen automatically.  It must be done on purpose.

 

We are stewards of the legacy of love we’ve been given.  We need to pass it on to others. 

 

Question:  Other than your family, who are the people that have shown you what love looks like?

 

Prayer:  God, your love has come to us in so many ways and through so many people.  Make us instruments of your love flowing to others. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend some time thanking God for the people that have shown you what Love looks like.

 

Video:  In addition to a song today, I’m sharing this video. 

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000002925583/pass-it-on.html

 

Song: Here’s a short song with a powerful message:  Love – Pass It On (Imagine Dragons)

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2301488066528619

The Opposite of Love

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.              1 John 4:18

The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.  However the nemesis of love is fear. Fear creeps into you. Builds up walls. Traps you inside yourself. Fear strangles you slowly, subtly, until one day there’s nothing left to win or lose.                                 Bill Oakland

 

Oakland’s first sentence above is a quote of Ellie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and author of 57 books.   The actual Wiesel quote is this:

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies. To be in the window and watch people being sent to concentration camps or being attacked in the street and do nothing, that's being dead.”

The two quotes together are really powerful for me, and very convicting.  I am no stranger to fear or indifference.  I have struggled with them both all my life.  The ironic thing about being a pastor is that we are expected to be distributors of compassion, but to do that constantly can be overwhelming – to the point that I can become detached.  Detached is another word for indifferent and I have gone there too many times.  I also have, too many times, let my actions be ruled by fear – fear of what people will think, fear of being vulnerable, fear of failure, fear of rejection, etc.  

Perfect love casts out that fear and transforms indifference into compassionate action.  And you all know that by “perfect,” the Bible means “growing.”  I have literally watched this happen in myself.  Over time, I have seen my fear and indifference start to slip away as I step forward in love.  I have so much further to go than I have already come, but I do see progress.

I hope you all do too.  Oakland and Wiesel together are right. Spending your life being afraid or not caring is the same as being dead.  I wish I could say that stepping forward out of fear and indifference is easy. It is not. It is hard and sometimes painful.  Loving is like that. But it beats being dead and more than that, it also moves us toward really living.  I love you all.

 

Question:  Are there specific fears that keep you from stepping forward in love?

 

Prayer: Thank you God for your love that draws us out of fear and indifference.  Help us take a step forward today and every day. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for our Bishop Tom Berlin as he seeks to lead our conference during this difficult time and for Dr. David Allen, our District Superintendent.  

 

Song:  This one has a story.

In 1899, a young poet and school principal named James Weldon Johnson was asked to address a crowd in Jacksonville, Fla., for the coming anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Just two decades had passed since the Reconstruction era, and lynchings were on the rise in the segregated South.

Instead of preparing an ordinary speech, Johnson decided to write a poem. He began with a simple but powerful line, a call to action: “Lift ev’ry voice and sing.”

He paced back and forth on his front porch, agonizing over the lines of the poem.

After finishing each stanza, he handed over the lyrics to his classically trained brother, John Rosamond Johnson, who put the words to music, according to an account from James Weldon Johnson, recalled in the book “Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora” by Shana L. Redmond.

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As he wrote the words, evoking the struggle and resilience of his ancestors, he began to weep. “I could not keep back the tears, and made no effort to do so,” Johnson recounted.

The following year, a chorus of 500 schoolchildren performed the song at the Lincoln celebration. The song quickly took off, becoming a rallying cry for black communities in the South, or as one observer noted at the time, “a collective prayer.”  It was embraced as a hymn in churches and performed at graduation ceremonies and in school assemblies. Within 20 years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People adopted “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” as its official song. For generations to come, it would be known widely as the “black national anthem.”

 

 

Lift Every Voice and Sing – Winston-Salem State University Choir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyZkRgQ4ZnQ

Self-Care or Self Indulgence

Romans 12:10: “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."

John 3:20 “He must become greater; I must become less.” (John the Baptist)

 

One of the great paradoxes of life is that the more we make our lives about ourselves, the more miserable we will be.  To put it positively, the more we use our lives to bless others, the more joy we will have.  The sad thing about this truth is that I know it and often, I still don’t live to bless others.  There is this part of me that always wants me to focus on me. Psychologists call this part the ego. Parker Palmer calls it the “false self.”  Whatever you call it, it is insanely persistent in pursuing what it wants to the exclusion of others. 

One of the lies our ego would have us believe is that, “I’m just taking care of myself, fulfilling my needs.”  But self-care and self-love are not the same as self-indulgence.  If we are made to fulfill a purpose that blesses and helps others, and I believe that we are, then spending our lives simply trying to satisfy our appetites actually betrays our true selves.

As is often case, I know this, but I don’t do it even close to as much as I want.  I’m thankful for you all because you all help me hear the voice of my true self.  I have this deep desire to see you all be blessed and I know that is the real me.  Some of the most fulfilling times in my life have been when I was immersed in doing things for others –I want to see more of that guy.  I’m working on that.

 

Question:  Can you describe the difference in how you feel when you are blessing others vs. when you are being self-indulgent?

 

Prayer:  God, you are, by definition, love.  You delight in blessing us.  We pray that we could experience that delight in living for and loving each other.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for peace in the streets of our cities.

 

Song: Give it Away – Michael W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc55Y1KqLYw

Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23

 

You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?                                                                        Jesus, in Matthew 7:16

 

Hebrews 10:24-25: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

 

Today we begin a series on the fruits of the Spirit.  We talk at the beginning of this series about love because it is the first that Paul mentioned in his list.  Love is first for the same reason he held love up as the greatest over faith and hope. Here we go!

I love being a pastor, but I hope it is mostly evident that the favorite thing I am is a husband and a Dad.  I have always tried to make those roles my priorities.  I cringe at the many times I have let other priorities become first, but I think for the most part, my immediate family have and will always be first.  The reason for this is obvious – I love them.  But here’s something cool that I’ve realized:  making my family my priority is the best thing I can do for all the others in my life.  I know that there have been other staff members I’ve served with who have changed their priorities to put their family first because they have seen me do it,  It’s not the majority, but some.  I have seen my children’s friends take notice of how things are in our family in a good way.  I have seen the families of the babies that are cared for by my wife, and my daughters Emily and Rachel be affected by the way those children are loved.  In short, love multiplies. 

So, knowing that explains why the Apostle Paul wrote these words: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love. . .”

 

Question: Can you name an example of a time when you saw love multiply?

 

Prayer:  God, thank you for those who have modeled for us what love looks like.  Help us multiply it. Amen.

‘

Prayer Focus:  Pray for repentance, forgiveness, and healing of the racism in our country

 

Song: James Taylor – It’s Growing

This is a romantic song originally sung by The Temptations, but I thought it applies to all love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkRS5FuhFVg

Final Charge to Corinth

1 Corinthians 16:13-14, CEB - Stay awake, stand firm in your faith, be brave, be strong.  Everything should be done in love.

 

At the end of the first (recorded) letter to the church in Corinth, Paul charges his beloved community to have an active faith.  Every word above implies a faith that is at the forefront of who they are; every word implies intentional effort and resolve.  They are still good words to focus on two thousand years later.    

                “Stay awake” – A Christian cannot be on autopilot.  While it is essential to have habits (ex. spiritual disciplines) that we faithfully practice almost without having to think about it, we also need to give focused attention to all that is happening around us and be ready to adapt and respond.  Jesus warned about being asleep and unprepared for what is yet to come. Paul reinforces this charge to being actively aware of what God is doing in the present age.

                “Stand firm in your faith” – To be a follower of Jesus will naturally put one at odds with some of the values of people around us.  The temptation is to “go with the flow” and avoid “making waves.”  We are called to live our values even when it is unpopular or even in opposition to the environmental pressures by which we are confronted.  This was true in ancient Corinth and it is still true in modern-day America.

                “Be Brave” - Nelson Mandela once said: “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”  Christians are people who can be afraid, but move forward in spite of those fears, trusting that God will be with them an all circumstances.

                “Be strong” – Like its physical counterpart, developing spiritual strength does not happen automatically.  To build strong physical muscles, you must be disciplined in training those muscles on a regular basis.  Spiritual muscles are developed in the same way.  We commit to and practice regularly those spiritual disciplines that force our faith to become stronger. 

                “Everything should be done in love.” – This sounds nice and sweet, but have you ever tried to do EVERY SINGLE THING in love for just one day?  It is HIGH BAR Paul is setting here, but it should always be our aim nonetheless. 

 

Questions:  Which of these final exhortations from Paul in 1 Corinthians did you need to hear the most today?  What are you going to do about it?

 

Prayer:  Lord, we know we need to be awake, firm in our faith, brave, strong, and acting in constant love toward all, but on our own, it is impossible.  Help us as only You can this day to be the people you call us to be.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people you know who don’t have the resources of a Christian faith to face the challenges of their lives right now.

 

Song:  Be Strong and Courageous – Michael W. Smith

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCA4NqWZajE

This Has Been Baked Into Christianity From the Beginning

1 Corinthians 16:1-4, CEB - Concerning the collection of money for God’s people: You should do what I have directed the churches in Galatia to do.  On the first day of the week, each of you should set aside whatever you can afford from what you earn so that the collection won’t be delayed until I come.  Then when I get there, I’ll send whomever you approve to Jerusalem with letters of recommendation to bring your gift.  If it seems right for me to go too, they’ll travel with me.

 

                Chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians has Paul w.rapping up the letter with some “housekeeping details.”  In the passage above, he is reminding the church of what seems to be a previous agreement to take up an offering for the Jerusalem church, a fledgling congregation that has been started more recently.  This seems somewhat unimportant to us two thousand years later because it is a specific first-century matter that doesn’t really concern us.  However, this request gives us an insight into an aspect of the larger Christian movement that persists even to this day.  An essential part of Christian church DNA is non-local mission.  Healthy Christians congregations from the start have been not just encouraged, but expected to participate in the mission extending to the rest of the world. 

                Jesus’s great commission is “to make disciples of all nations.”  The largest part of the way this works is that we do all we can to reach those in our local community with the good news of Jesus.  However, the call is always larger than that.  The expectation is beyond just addition to our own flock, but multiplication of flocks “to the ends of the earth.”  As Mike Stachura has said, ““The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.”

                In the United Methodist tradition, this is a formal part of our denominational structure.  Apportionments are the way that we ask every congregation to fund the expansion of the Gospel in innumerable ways across the globe.  Sometimes, because of the mandatory nature of some of our apportionments, it feels like a tax.  I would remind us though, that the practice of asking every congregation to participate in mission beyond its locality goes back to the first century church and the work that apostles like Paul, Peter, Timothy and others were doing in far-off places.  Today the Paul’s, Peter’s, and Timothy’s are still at work in missions that would not be possible were it not for the support of established congregations.  Local and global mission is who we are.

 

Question:  How is the local church that you are a part of engaged in mission beyond the local area where it is located?

 

Prayer:  Lord, help us feel connected to the your mission across the world.  May Your mission continue to expand until “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Philippians 2:11) Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for safety of and provision for foreign missionaries in dangerous places around the world today.

 

Song:  We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations – Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, CA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1q-fDpiKng

How Important is the Resurrection?

1 Corinthians 15: 12-23, CEB - So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, “There’s no resurrection of the dead”? If there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless. We are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, when he didn’t raise him if it’s the case that the dead aren’t raised. If the dead aren’t raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins, and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest^[a] of those who have died. Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came through one too. In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ. Each event will happen in the right order: Christ, the first crop of the harvest, then those who belong to Christ at his coming,

 

                The last of the five issues Paul wants to address in 1 Corinthians is some troubling ideas he has heard are being advocated in the community regarding the resurrection of Jesus.  There were those within the Corinthian church who were saying that the resurrection of Jesus is not necessary for one to be a follower of Christ.  The idea was that following Jesus’s teachings alone could achieve the desired relationship with God.  Paul vehemently rejects this idea and even labels it as dangerous. 

                I encourage you to read all of chapter 15 in order to see Paul’s full argument here, but I will simply sum it up here.  To reduce Jesus to simply a human teacher that teaches us how to achieve a proper relationship with God is to rob the Christian faith of its divine power.  Foundational to the Christian faith is the assertion that simply knowing how God wants us to live is not enough, because having that knowledge quickly illumines the fact that human beings are not capable of living out those teachings on their own.  It is an impossible undertaking to save ourselves.  We are physically and spiritually dead without God’s power.  We need the power of God – the power of God displayed in the resurrection of Jesus.  It is this power that works in us just as it did in Jesus to spiritually bring us back to life and assure us of physical life that extends into eternity. 

                It’s sometimes tempting to believe that we don’t need help of God and others.  But to the extent that one believes that is the extent to which that belief is not Christian belief.  At the core of the Christian faith is the conviction that we are utterly dependent on the grace, love, and power of God.  And the quintessential expression of that power is the resurrection of Jesus.  The same power shall raise us as well.

 

Question:  What are the core essential beliefs of your Christian faith?

 

Prayer:  God of all that is, thank you for sending Your son to reveal to us your character of love, grace, and power.  Show us our own need for that power to be at work in us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Spend some time today praying for family members that you haven’t prayed for in a while.

 

Song:  Living Hope – Phil Wickham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f2FXxDVO6w

Wrestling With Paul

1 Corinthians 14:33b-35, CEB - Like in all the churches of God’s people,  the women should be quiet during the meeting. They are not allowed to talk. Instead, they need to get under control, just as the Law says.  If they want to learn something, they should ask their husbands at home. It is disgraceful for a woman to talk during the meeting.

 

As I said a couple of reflections ago, we would return Paul’s guidance/attitude with respect to women.  Today is the day.  Biblical interpreters tend to have two different approaches to talking about Paul’s comments concerning women. One approach is to simply label Paul as a “man of his time” who was revolutionary in some respects to his teachings on social norms, but on other issues, did not rock the boat.  They observe that Paul’s attitudes toward women seem to reflect the attitudes toward women prevalent in the cultural waters in which he swam. 

Other interpreters work to “stick up” for Paul, arguing that while Paul did often sound like his traditional contemporaries, he was in practice quite progressive in his approach to women.  He commended and encouraged women in leadership in the congregations in which he was in relationship.  They cite Paul as the author of the words, “In Christ. . .there is no male or female.” (Galatians 3:28).  These interpreters also work to contextualize his specific comments about women, pointing out that sometimes Paul sounds like he is more chauvinistic than he actually is because we don’t realize the specific situation that about which he is writing.  Take the example for today.  In the passage above, Paul was responding to a specific problem in the Corinthian church where women, who up until this time, never spoke in worship settings.  Now, they were and it was causing disorder and mixed feelings in the worship gatherings.  Paul was attempting to restore orderliness to these gatherings by restricting women from speaking publicly.  The interpreter sticking up for Paul would also point out that Paul makes a provision for women to learn and speak about spiritual issues later in the context of the home.  This is a revolutionary concept in itself for the prevailing thought in Paul’s time is that there was no need for women to be educated in anything other than running a household and raising children. 

Here’s the thing about both approaches to interpreting Paul.  They’re both appropriate and right.  We are all always products of our cultural education and norms and Paul is no exception.  Paul does indeed have chauvinistic tendencies and attitudes that can’t be completely defended by explaining specific contexts.  But it is also true that we see flashes of radical transformation taking place in Paul’s thought with respect to women.  These revolutionary statements and practices got Paul into hot water with his contemporaries.  Paul gives us a good portrait of a human being that, after making the decision to follow Christ, begins to be changed in ways that he would have never predicted.  But some of those changes are not instantaneous, but gradual over time. 

My journey has been similar as I suspect is the case for most who have decided to follow Jesus’s way of life.  I am much less racist than I used to be, but every once in a while, I am surprised by an old thought or attitude that creeps into my head and heart.  Furthermore, I’ve only over the last several years realized that my faith in Christ doesn’t just condemn any vestiges of racism within me, but it also calls me to be an actively anti-racist presence and influence in the cultural waters that I swim. 

We are always works-in-progress when it comes to Christian faith.  The theological word for this is sanctification.  Here’s the thing about sanctification though.  It’s messy.  We sometimes contradict ourselves in the midst of it.  We can even feel a bit schizophrenic at times, finding ourselves saying and doing one thing in one situation and then saying and doing the opposite in another situation. Transformation is like that.  Paul was a man in the midst of that kind of sanctification until the day he left this earth.  My prayer is that it is the same for me and you.

 

Questions:  What progress can you point to with respect to old thoughts, feelings, actions, and/or attitudes that have changed since the time you decided to take following Jesus seriously?  What might be in the process of changing in you right now?

 

Prayer:  God, we submit our wills to Your own.  Have your way with any attitude, habit, or pattern of thought that does not honor you.  Help us be aware of the ways you are sanctifying us and give us the trust to cooperate with that transformation. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for the awareness of something in yourself that God is in the process of transforming.

 

Song:  Refiner’s Fire – Brian Doerksen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG3NaUZSnFI

The Problem w/ “Always”

 

This is one of the days when the scripture itself is the bulk of the devotional.  I will make a few brief comments afterwards, but I just encourage you to read the text itself a few times slowly and prayerfully.  Ask God to speak into you as you read.

 

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13, The Message

But now I want to lay out a far better way for you. If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.

Love doesn’t strut,

Doesn’t have a swelled head,

Doesn’t force itself on others,

Isn’t always “me first,”

Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn’t revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

 

Just a couple of things: 

1) This is NOT a wedding scripture.  What Paul prescribes here is God’s prescription for ALL relationships – your spouse, your children, your parents, your crazy uncle, your neighbor, the lady in the office gunning for your job, your worst enemy.  Christ is the example and Christ forgave those who nailed Him to a cross WHILE HE WAS ON THE CROSS!   We are supposed to relate to everyone with love – no exceptions.  This is why Paul used the word “always” multiple times.

2) Until we love this way, we’re “squinting in a fog” or “peering through a midst.”  We don’t see people the way God does until we can honestly let go of resentment, greed, selfishness, rage, bitterness, grudges, jealousy, superiority, and judgement and replace all those things with love expressed as all the fruits of the Spirit (joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), we are nothing but “creaky, rusty gates” in danger of spiritual bankruptcy.  And yes, the bar is VERY HIGH. 

3) It is our relentless commitment to staying connected to God’s Spirit that makes this possible.  If you’re fortunate, you had the privilege of being around someone who practices this at a very high level.  They aren’t fazed by a lot of the foolishness that seems to trip us up.  They seem to be able to let even grave offenses just roll off their back.  They just keep loving. And when you try to commend them for it, they are incredulous because they long to love even more than they do.  They are continuously overwhelmed with how God has loved them and they are driven to love the same way.  These people are very rare, but God’s vision for humanity is that it would be commonplace. 

 

Question:  If you could love all people the way Paul describes, how would it change your life?

 

Prayer:  God, help me to connect deeply with Your perfect love for me.  May it transform my will to love the way You do.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people who are suffering from various forms of chronic pain. 

 

Song:  The Love of God – Rosemary Siemens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Als5Paml-AM

Worship Wars

1 Corinthians 12:4-14, NIV - There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.  To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

 

                The fourth issue Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians is worship (chapters 11-14).  The church at Corinth were having several specific problems with the primary worship gathering.  There was a dispute about head coverings, another about the role of women in worship (Note:  I will do another whole reflection on this specific issue later), and another about people being left out of the Lord’s Supper.  People speaking in tongues were creating confusion and there were other problems hinted out as well. 

                While Paul does address each issue specifically, he lays some teaching of larger principles that should govern community life in the church.  The three overarching principles are unity, order, and love.  In chapter 12, Paul teaches about unity and order and then in chapter 13, he teaches on love.  We’ll discuss chapter 13 next time, so lets talk now about unity and order.

                To illustrate Paul’s concept of order in the church, he uses the metaphor of the human body.  The church should function like a healthy human body does.  Every part of a human body works in orderly fashion with every other part.  The action of a body is coordinated action, all the parts working together in a unified purpose.  Paul likens each member of the church as one unique part of the body, which means each person works in coordination with all the other members in unified purpose. 

                When one or more members tries to get their own way at the expense of other parts, it is like a human body that is no longer coordinated.  The eventual result is that body becomes dysfunctional, meaning it is unable to carry out it’s work in unified purpose.  In a human body, we can see a vivid depiction of what this looks like when we witness a person that is suffering from any number of diseases that causes parts of the body to work against others.  The is what the church looks like when it does not have unity and order. 

                Next time, we’ll talk about where that unity and order comes from.  But for now, consider the following questions.

 

Questions:  Think of a time when some part of your body did not work as it was designed (disease, injury, etc)  How did that affect the function of the rest of your body?  What implications might that have for the way you are to function in your church community?

 

Prayer:  Holy Spirit, show us how we are to function in Your church.  Make us very clear on the role You have called us to contribute.  Coordinate us with others so that we will carry out Your purposes in a unified and orderly manner.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for other specific members of your church community that you haven’t prayer for in a while.

 

Song:  Many Gifts, One Spirit – Hallelujah Singers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEG1Tezz8i0

Are We Talking About Food. . . or Something Else Entirely

Read 1 Corinthians , The Message (I know it’s long, but do it anyway)

The question keeps coming up regarding meat that has been offered up to an idol: Should you attend meals where such meat is served, or not? We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all.

Some people say, quite rightly, that idols have no actual existence, that there’s nothing to them, that there is no God other than our one God, that no matter how many of these so-called gods are named and worshiped they still don’t add up to anything but a tall story. They say—again, quite rightly—that there is only one God the Father, that everything comes from him, and that he wants us to live for him. Also, they say that there is only one Master—Jesus the Messiah—and that everything is for his sake, including us. Yes. It’s true.

In strict logic, then, nothing happened to the meat when it was offered up to an idol. It’s just like any other meat. I know that, and you know that. But knowing isn’t everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn’t that insensitive.

We need to be sensitive to the fact that we’re not all at the same level of understanding in this. Some of you have spent your entire lives eating “idol meat,” and are sure that there’s something bad in the meat that then becomes something bad inside of you. An imagination and conscience shaped under those conditions isn’t going to change overnight.

But fortunately God doesn’t grade us on our diet. We’re neither commended when we clean our plate nor reprimanded when we just can’t stomach it. But God does care when you use your freedom carelessly in a way that leads a fellow believer still vulnerable to those old associations to be thrown off track.

For instance, say you flaunt your freedom by going to a banquet thrown in honor of idols, where the main course is meat sacrificed to idols. Isn’t there great danger if someone still struggling over this issue, someone who looks up to you as knowledgeable and mature, sees you go into that banquet? The danger is that he will become terribly confused—maybe even to the point of getting mixed up himself in what his conscience tells him is wrong.

Christ gave up his life for that person. Wouldn’t you at least be willing to give up going to dinner for him—because, as you say, it doesn’t really make any difference? But it does make a difference if you hurt your friend terribly, risking his eternal ruin! When you hurt your friend, you hurt Christ. A free meal here and there isn’t worth it at the cost of even one of these “weak ones.” So, never go to these idol-tainted meals if there’s any chance it will trip up one of your brothers or sisters.

 

                The third specific problem Paul wanted to address in 1 Corinthians is an issue having to do with eating food consecrated to other Gods.  Some people thought that it was not appropriate to eat such food, claiming that doing so was effectively idolatry.  According to Jewish law, this position is correct.  However, there were others who argued that since the food is not consecrated to any real God, (for the only real God is Yahweh) the food is not changed in any way.  Thus, it is fine to eat.  This is solid logic and Paul confirms that.  So the problem is that both sides of this issue can legitimately claim to be “right.”

                In mitigating this issue, Paul exercises grace by confirming that both sides have a defendable position.  He continues by saying that the food can be eaten without fear of committing any kind of desecration in the process.  However, Paul stipulates that in some circumstances, it would be better it the food offered to idols was NOT eaten.  If it is your estimation that someone who sees you eating such food will be confused by you doing so, Paul instructs that the food be avoided even though eating it would not cause any harm.   The fact that someone might be spiritually confused by you eating the spiritually “tainted” food means we should avoid causing them that confusion. 

                In navigating this issue Paul exercises at least two important practices here.  First, he allows for nuance.  Two seemingly opposing viewpoints can be held at the same time if one is willing to confirm the value of both sides and work toward a more nuanced position.  For me, this is huge because I believe our current culture is in deep need for the use of nuance in addressing so many important issues.  Instead, the prevailing practice around these issues is deep division caused by either/or type thinking.  It either this side or the other; one must be justified as right and the other discredited is the way this is conceived.    Paul says it’s not that easy in most cases.  We must see how the valuable concerns of both sides can be integrated into a stronger, more nuanced position. 

                To apply this to just a couple of modern day issues, let’s practice this nuance.  It’s possible to value concerns of both people who love traditional church music and those who think the church’s music should be more in aligned with the popular music of our day.  It is possible to simultaneously affirm aspects of both pro-life concerns and those of pro-choice.  It makes the work of policy-making and living out those seemingly opposing values more complicated, but Paul is making the case that, for the sake of loving God and people, nuanced practice is what we are called to do.

                The second practice here that Paul advocates is the need to sometimes question our tradition.  Jewish dietary laws were nuanced and stringent.  Most of them had a good original purpose.  However, the world had changed a great deal and because of that, some of those original instructions in the law needed to be reconceived to accommodate new information.  Again, modern day Jesus-followers need to willing to enter into some added difficulty and complexity for the sake of arriving loving God and people more perfectly.  “We’ve always done it that way” is not always an adequate expression of the love that God calls us to live out. 

                It may seem like Paul is making a mountain out of a mole hill by devoting so much time in this letter (3 chapters!) to talking about just one aspect of the food early Christians were eating.  However, Paul is modeling for the Corinthians and us how we are to approach even more substantial matters.  Christians don’t sacrifice love for simplicity and convenience.  We do the hard work of nuance and periodically questioning what has always been for the sake of loving more like God does.  It is not the easy way, but it our way.

 

Question:  Take an issue about which you have strong feelings one way vs. the other.  Can you identify a valuable concern that someone on the other side of that issue raises?

 

Prayer:  God, help us not to shortcut our convictions because we are uncomfortable with the complexity and or uncertainty caused by nuance and questioning tradition.  Help us to be driven by the same nuanced and affirming love You have shown to us and to those who disagree with us.  Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Today is a good day to practice praying for those you identify as your “enemies.”

 

Song:  Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOPwviOUenA

Let’s Talk About Sex (and Other Stuff too)

1 Corinthians 6:11-20, The Message - Don’t you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don’t care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don’t qualify as citizens in God’s kingdom. A number of you know from experience what I’m talking about, for not so long ago you were on that list. Since then, you’ve been cleaned up and given a fresh start by Jesus, our Master, our Messiah, and by our God present in us, the Spirit.

Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.

You know the old saying, “First you eat to live, and then you live to eat”? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that’s no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body!

God honored the Master’s body by raising it from the grave. He’ll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master’s body. You wouldn’t take the Master’s body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.

There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, “The two become one.” Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never “become one.” There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

 

                As we talked about in an earlier reflection, Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth to address specific problems that the congregation he had served for a year and a half was struggling with.  In chapters 5-7, Paul addresses the broad category of sexual immorality that evidently was prevalent in the Corinthian church.  One man was having sex with his mother-in-law (um.. ewww!).  Others continued to participate in the Temple prostitution that was prevalent in Corinth.  There were still others engaged in obviously inappropriate sexual relations.  The worst part was they all believed and stated that it all was completely fine.  “Christians are freed by God, so we can do anything we wish,” was their claim.

                At the core of Paul’s response to all of this is this; to do whatever you want isn’t freedom.  When you live that way, you have become a slave to your whims and desires.  And especially when it comes to sex, this can lead to even bigger problems.  When the covenantal, spiritual, and sacred aspects of sexual intimacy are removed from sexual acts, the results create brokenness and misery in our relationships and community.  Mistrust and anger begin to abound.  In the middle of this discussion about sex, Paul inserts a quick response about Christians taking other Christians to court.  It seems out of place in a section about sex until we think about the brokenness, mistrust, and anger created by taking sex too casually.  The community’s relationships had degenerated to the point that they were taking into secular courts. 

                Sex is a good thing when it happens in the context of two people who are in loving covenantal relationship with each other.  It is in danger of becoming an unhealthy and even harmful thing when it happens outside of that context.  It can even become another form of slavery.  We are seeing the result of this play out now with the plethora of sexual addictions on the rise in our present time.  It matters what you do with your body because your body is the spiritual property of God and your spouse. We are called to honor God and our spouse with the use of our body. 

                Even though the issue Paul is responding to is sex, Paul’s teaching has larger implications that twenty-first-century Christians should take seriously.  We live in a culture that is moving more and more into a “do whatever seems good to you and trust that God’s grace will make it okay” mentality.  Paul is trying to point out that doing whatever you want when ever you want with whoever you want works against the power of God’s grace in our lives.  Trusting in God’s grace means that we do all we know to do to live in healthy relation to God and people knowing that where we fail, grace will “fill in the gap” so to speak.  Grace is even more powerful in the life a Christian when it is a partnership. 

 

Question:  Are there areas of your life that do not honor God or people who you claim to love? 

 

Prayer:  Psalm 51:10-12 - Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Amen.

 

Prayer Focus:  Pray for people you know who are struggling with problems caused by sexual immorality and infidelity. 

 

Song:  Let’s Talk About Sex – Salt N Pepa

I couldn’t resist. No really, this song actually points to some of the same problems Paul was trying to address. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8CISk43LYg