I've officially decided the dumbest thing the church as a whole can do is take a stand on sin, other than sin (the general) is bad. Allow me to explain.
We read the Bible, many of us read it a lot. We are familiar with the narrative, the stories, the people, and yes, we consider ourselves familiar with the law. We study it. We meditate upon it. We search it in times of trouble for help, we rejoice in it in times of joy. We meet together in large and small groups multiple times in a week to be taught more about it. We gather in stadiums and convention centers to hold pep rallies around it. We read the Bible. But, it would be dangerous for us to claim to understand it completely.
In John 9, we have the story of Jesus healing a man born blind. The bulk of this chapter is about how the community and Pharisees responded to this particular miracle. I feel like sometimes the Pharisees get a bad rap. These were the men committed to knowing and applying the law. I've no doubt a portion of that group did so out of a thirst for control and power. That's true of any group of leaders. It is also true that any group of leaders has people who genuinely are trying to do the best they can. These were the experts on the law. Their lives were committed to law in a way that most of us will never understand, much less experience. I hear and read Christians say, "God clearly says," or, "the Bible is clear about." It makes me simultaneously cringe and giggle. John chapter 9 is why.
It just so happens that this miracle was worked on the Sabbath, the day that the law clearly says no work should happen. The law was very clear. Everyone who knew anything about the law understood this one. Well, everyone apparently, except that Son of God guy. Not only did Jesus do the work of a miracle on the holy day, he sent a blind man off walking to a pool. Not only did the man go, but he came back. Now, the man going may not have been a problem, we don't know how far he went. See, the Pharisees wanted to help people avoid sin so much (I'm sure it was because they loved the people to much to leave them to their sin, sound familiar?) that they broke down the law to it's simplest, although not necessarily intended, forms. So, the man would have had a decent idea if he was walking too much on the Sabbath. Either way, Jesus did some pretty major work on a day meant clearly by God for no work.
If you haven't caught on to where I'm headed with this, take a breath. If the law was clear, as the people were absolutely CONVINCED it was, then Jesus clearly broke the law. So, how do we read this? Did Jesus clearly break the law clearly defined in scripture, or, is there a freaking chance that maybe the law wasn't (and still isn't) as clear as we think it is?
Here is where this gets fun. After the community chases the family of the healed man, and get no answers to satisfy their desire to uphold the law, and then chase down the man himself and put him out of the temple (again, sound familiar?), Jesus comes back to the man. The man acknowledges who Jesus is and worships him. Then, Jesus says something interesting, "For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." The Pharisees overhear, and respond by asking if they are blind, too. Then, the verse that makes me think we have got to stop taking a stand on sin. Jesus responds, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
Somewhere along the way, we forgot that the original sin was disobedience in the form of taking the knowledge of good and evil for ourselves. We didn't know about the law, we didn't need it. We took that knowledge that we were never supposed to have. Isn't it possible that maybe we weren't supposed to have it because we couldn't understand it? I can still remember all kinds of math formulas from high school and college, I can even apply them. But don't waste your time trying to get me to explain them. I never understand why they worked (or, in my case, often didn't). I'm starting to think the law is the same way. I can absolutely apply it, I can even understand the most basic of it (love God, love your neighbor). But I could never understand it enough to take a stand on it, I could never understand it enough to force someone else into my misunderstanding of it. I think this is why the Pharisees have become the great villains. We see what happens and react very negatively against anyone trying to be an expert of the ways of God. We hurt and break at the damage caused by (good intentioned) people trying to enforce something that is beyond them to understand, so much beyond them that they can't even realize how much they don't understand it.
John 9:41 scares me. "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." What if our insistence that we clearly understand the law is the very thing that condemns us? The first sin was claiming the knowledge of good and evil, are we just committing that over and over again every time we say we understand what Paul was writing enough to keep women out of the pulpit, or homosexuals out of not only our churches but the lives they choose completely separate from our churches?
What if, we are so small compared to the glory of God, that we can't even understand the law enough to know what sin really is? I know it is bigger than just our actions and inactions, it is a brokenness that permeates everything in this world. And, the church should absolute acknowledge that brokenness and move towards what is whole. What is whole? Reconciliation. That is what the New Testament teaches is our ministry (2 Cor 5). Not to make a valiant last stand against the sin of the times. How could we? We don't understand sin enough to avoid ourselves.
But, we do know one thing. If you keep reading in John, into chapter 10, Jesus identifies himself as the Good Shepherd. He says that we know one thing, we know his voice. Not his law. Not his miracles. We know his voice. We know that there is a good shepherd, a good god, we know him and we know he cares for us. This was a divisive teaching. Many believed, many said Jesus was crazy. I think this is why the church hesitates to just teach that we know Jesus, and we know he loves us. It is easy to rally big numbers around a cause. It is easy to keep attendance up by preaching how we saved unlike those sinners. It really is, it is scary how easy it easy to rally people around a rule that they have no trouble keeping.
It is much, much harder to say we don't get it. We don't understand this big book that we have committed ourselves to learning. That kind of honestly, while appreciated, doesn't tend to instill confidence. Then, to start teaching that the important thing, the only thing we can really know, is to know the Shepherd is not nearly as emotionally rousing as teaching how you too can be strong and important enough to beat this particular sin. The difference here is teaching people to just know Jesus and trusting that Jesus will do the work of dealing with sin vs teaching people that they can be good enough to be one of us, too.
The foundation of the Gospel is that we couldn't be good enough and it didn't matter because God was going to be good enough for us. The moment we start teaching anything else, when we start claiming the we aren't blind and understand it, we name ourselves guilty. It is a false gospel.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Everyone Needs a Job
Despite my move to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) many years ago, I've always considered myself evangelical. Not politically of course, as I don't see what the church has to do in politics. But, other than 2 key issues, I've always identified as evangelical. Sadly, those 2 issues apparently keep evangelicals from identifying with me. So, consider this a desperate plea from one who misses you. Also, if you aren't in that group, be aware that I'm speaking to a particular audience, with particular views I may or may not agree with. Sometimes, we have to meet each other where we are, and this is not a defense of or a condemnation of anyone's sexuality.
I sometimes feel like I inhabit multiple worlds between being a minister and a single woman and a runner and a weight lifter and a (soon to be) Spartan and a never Mudder but Roc race looks fun-er....you get the idea. Many of those independent worlds have blown up with scandal this week. I'm going to start with my fit women world, specifically my Spartan Chicks.
I love being a Spartan Chick. For those of you not lucky enough to be in the know, this is a group of women who train for and run obstacle course races (OCRs), specifically the Spartan series of races. The facebook group is amazing. We swap workouts, run maps, recipes, gym stories, plan travel and lodging for races, and shower encouragement on each other. Occasionally things get a little testy, but we always come back. A common interest that everyone is committed in will do that. The best part? The only requirements to join are be a woman, and be interested in OCR. I've not even run one of the major ones yet (either May or November!!!!!), and I'm welcomed and respected.
As much of our interaction happens on Facebook, we are sometimes united in a cause, especially if it pertains to fitness or sports and women. We are more than a little passionate about women being healthy and athletically competitive. So when this came across the feed, we got more than a little bothered. If you don't read the link, it is very simply a women's fitness magazine, Self, making fun of women for running in tutus. I'm not going to waste much time defending tutus or not. I wear them for running races because running sucks and sometimes that joyful silliness of a tutu makes it better. I really don't care who does or doesn't wear them. I do care that a magazine that exists for women's fitness would dare insult or mock women doing what comes with being fit. Apparently, I'm not the only Spartan Chick who feels this way. A wave of support from our little corner of women's athletics has risen for Glam Runner (http://glam-runner.com/). Many are very upset that anyone, especially a woman, would put down another woman for how she dared to dress while running.
Here's the deal, I'm very disappointed in Self Magazine.To mock a woman for running in a tutu is ridiculous. Sadly, it is exactly what I expect. All of us are trying to justify our existence and prove we have inherent value. The easiest and most efficient way to do that is to put someone else down. If you can show that you are above someone else in any way, you prove your value. So, Self can show it is a legit fitness magazine by showing that the Self woman is somehow better than the many other fit women who would dain to run in a tutu. I know that sounds like a silly example, but we all do it. It is how the world works. Show that you are somehow better or above someone similar, and you show that you have value and justify your existence.
Now, this is the point where my worlds collide and I get angry. The church has no business behaving this way. Ever. The basis of the Gospel is that God has already told you that you are valuable. God has said you are "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Let's just go ahead and get a few things settled out of that verse, 1 Peter 1:9. If you are a person, especially one that belongs to Jesus (although I personally believe that it applies much more liberally than that, but that is for another post), you have already been found valuable. God himself chose you, named you royal and important, your existence is justified. You have nothing to prove, you couldn't prove a better identity if you tried. Not only that, but none of this is because of anything you have done. God did that declaring, of his own choice and wisdom. So, you didn't do it, and the response you should have is to declare his praises. Not put down others. Not demand others meet some standard that God did not require you to meet. Just declare his praises.
Here is where I'm getting frustrated and even angry. It feels like the evangelical movement in America is much more concerned with pointing out who is out, who is not meeting some standard, who is less than them...basically we sound like the world. Instead of declaring the praises of the one who called us out of darkness, we are behaving exactly like those most evangelicals consider to be still in the darkness. From the exiled evangelical's view over here, I can't tell much of a difference between between how Self behaved towards to tutu wearing cancer survivor and how American Evangelicals behaved towards World Vision this week. ( Here, for that info) Actually, that isn't true. The difference is that threatening to not provide financial support for children you committed to provide financial support to over a political issue that said children have nothing to do with is significantly more disgusting than making fun of a tutu.
You were not called out of darkness to bully people you think are still there. You weren't called out of darkness to demand that someone else meet some standard to get called to light that you did not have to meet. Grace was never about not sinning. The cross was never about behavior modification. God chose to come to this life in the person of Jesus and defeat death long before it occurred to any of us to behave a certain way. If you don't support same sex marriage, ok. What does that have to with treating people with dignity? You will never change your mind on homosexuality? Ok, that doesn't mean you get to decide how anyone else, person or God, treats someone who identifies differently than you. God calls everyone, and doesn't wait until they behave a certain way to do so.
And the more you behave that way, the more you show that God's grace toward you, the identity he gave you, is not enough for you. Which means one of two things. 1) God's grace isn't enough, or 2) we don't really get God's grace enough to be destroying the lives and hearts of those around us over our ignorance. Maybe it is time we get out of the spotlight, off the tv, out of the blogs, and back on our knees in prayer. Maybe it is time we go back to the cross, back to the empty tomb, back to the Gospel and re-introduce ourselves to the people God has called us to be. I am honestly becoming scared that we've lost that. We've gotten so wrapped up in our fear of sin (which has been defeated) that we can't even see the victory already given us.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Revelation 2:1-5
I sometimes feel like I inhabit multiple worlds between being a minister and a single woman and a runner and a weight lifter and a (soon to be) Spartan and a never Mudder but Roc race looks fun-er....you get the idea. Many of those independent worlds have blown up with scandal this week. I'm going to start with my fit women world, specifically my Spartan Chicks.
I love being a Spartan Chick. For those of you not lucky enough to be in the know, this is a group of women who train for and run obstacle course races (OCRs), specifically the Spartan series of races. The facebook group is amazing. We swap workouts, run maps, recipes, gym stories, plan travel and lodging for races, and shower encouragement on each other. Occasionally things get a little testy, but we always come back. A common interest that everyone is committed in will do that. The best part? The only requirements to join are be a woman, and be interested in OCR. I've not even run one of the major ones yet (either May or November!!!!!), and I'm welcomed and respected.
As much of our interaction happens on Facebook, we are sometimes united in a cause, especially if it pertains to fitness or sports and women. We are more than a little passionate about women being healthy and athletically competitive. So when this came across the feed, we got more than a little bothered. If you don't read the link, it is very simply a women's fitness magazine, Self, making fun of women for running in tutus. I'm not going to waste much time defending tutus or not. I wear them for running races because running sucks and sometimes that joyful silliness of a tutu makes it better. I really don't care who does or doesn't wear them. I do care that a magazine that exists for women's fitness would dare insult or mock women doing what comes with being fit. Apparently, I'm not the only Spartan Chick who feels this way. A wave of support from our little corner of women's athletics has risen for Glam Runner (http://glam-runner.com/). Many are very upset that anyone, especially a woman, would put down another woman for how she dared to dress while running.
Here's the deal, I'm very disappointed in Self Magazine.To mock a woman for running in a tutu is ridiculous. Sadly, it is exactly what I expect. All of us are trying to justify our existence and prove we have inherent value. The easiest and most efficient way to do that is to put someone else down. If you can show that you are above someone else in any way, you prove your value. So, Self can show it is a legit fitness magazine by showing that the Self woman is somehow better than the many other fit women who would dain to run in a tutu. I know that sounds like a silly example, but we all do it. It is how the world works. Show that you are somehow better or above someone similar, and you show that you have value and justify your existence.
Now, this is the point where my worlds collide and I get angry. The church has no business behaving this way. Ever. The basis of the Gospel is that God has already told you that you are valuable. God has said you are "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Let's just go ahead and get a few things settled out of that verse, 1 Peter 1:9. If you are a person, especially one that belongs to Jesus (although I personally believe that it applies much more liberally than that, but that is for another post), you have already been found valuable. God himself chose you, named you royal and important, your existence is justified. You have nothing to prove, you couldn't prove a better identity if you tried. Not only that, but none of this is because of anything you have done. God did that declaring, of his own choice and wisdom. So, you didn't do it, and the response you should have is to declare his praises. Not put down others. Not demand others meet some standard that God did not require you to meet. Just declare his praises.
Here is where I'm getting frustrated and even angry. It feels like the evangelical movement in America is much more concerned with pointing out who is out, who is not meeting some standard, who is less than them...basically we sound like the world. Instead of declaring the praises of the one who called us out of darkness, we are behaving exactly like those most evangelicals consider to be still in the darkness. From the exiled evangelical's view over here, I can't tell much of a difference between between how Self behaved towards to tutu wearing cancer survivor and how American Evangelicals behaved towards World Vision this week. ( Here, for that info) Actually, that isn't true. The difference is that threatening to not provide financial support for children you committed to provide financial support to over a political issue that said children have nothing to do with is significantly more disgusting than making fun of a tutu.
You were not called out of darkness to bully people you think are still there. You weren't called out of darkness to demand that someone else meet some standard to get called to light that you did not have to meet. Grace was never about not sinning. The cross was never about behavior modification. God chose to come to this life in the person of Jesus and defeat death long before it occurred to any of us to behave a certain way. If you don't support same sex marriage, ok. What does that have to with treating people with dignity? You will never change your mind on homosexuality? Ok, that doesn't mean you get to decide how anyone else, person or God, treats someone who identifies differently than you. God calls everyone, and doesn't wait until they behave a certain way to do so.
And the more you behave that way, the more you show that God's grace toward you, the identity he gave you, is not enough for you. Which means one of two things. 1) God's grace isn't enough, or 2) we don't really get God's grace enough to be destroying the lives and hearts of those around us over our ignorance. Maybe it is time we get out of the spotlight, off the tv, out of the blogs, and back on our knees in prayer. Maybe it is time we go back to the cross, back to the empty tomb, back to the Gospel and re-introduce ourselves to the people God has called us to be. I am honestly becoming scared that we've lost that. We've gotten so wrapped up in our fear of sin (which has been defeated) that we can't even see the victory already given us.
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Revelation 2:1-5
Thursday, January 3, 2013
December 30 Sermon @ Brook Hollow Christian Church
I will stop the excessive use of exclamation points, sign off. Peace to you and yours.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Getting out of my own head
We currently have a group of airmen and officers training for Special Forces at the pool. They swim, and work, and swim, and work for 1-2 hours at a time. It is pretty impressive. I'm actually a little proud that they are working at our pool and asking for our help in technique. All of us have our fingers crossed for them. There is one in particular who is pouring his everything into reaching his goal. Seriously, I've never seen anyone work so hard to accomplish something. It is almost overwhelming to watch some-days.
He does have one major roadblock. He is working so hard, putting so much in that he starts to over think and stress the things he is more than capable of doing. That stress starts to affect his performance, when if he could just relax, he'd out perform everyone. He can't get out of his own head. He starts to worry so much about the small parts that he messes up what he gets right instinctively.
It made me think about those of us who are very...academic...about our faith. I love studying theology. I love dealing with the really hard and intellectual side of Christianity. And I don't think that is a bad thing. I do think it can become a stumbling block though. Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to figure the hardest mystery or solve the biggest problem that we get trapped in our own intellectualism. It keeps us from doing the basic tenants of our faith, of maintaining the relationships with God and each other. We sometimes have to step back and get out of own heads. Not because we stop wanting to learn or grow, but because sometimes that is the only way to learn and grow. We have let everything we know turn into instinct, and that happens by doing what we learned, not by learning more.
So get out of your head today, and go love someone. Or swim a few laps. Whichever will help.
He does have one major roadblock. He is working so hard, putting so much in that he starts to over think and stress the things he is more than capable of doing. That stress starts to affect his performance, when if he could just relax, he'd out perform everyone. He can't get out of his own head. He starts to worry so much about the small parts that he messes up what he gets right instinctively.
It made me think about those of us who are very...academic...about our faith. I love studying theology. I love dealing with the really hard and intellectual side of Christianity. And I don't think that is a bad thing. I do think it can become a stumbling block though. Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to figure the hardest mystery or solve the biggest problem that we get trapped in our own intellectualism. It keeps us from doing the basic tenants of our faith, of maintaining the relationships with God and each other. We sometimes have to step back and get out of own heads. Not because we stop wanting to learn or grow, but because sometimes that is the only way to learn and grow. We have let everything we know turn into instinct, and that happens by doing what we learned, not by learning more.
So get out of your head today, and go love someone. Or swim a few laps. Whichever will help.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Safe and Sound
I had a hard time focusing during my time of the Prayer Vigil at BHCC. My mind kind of meandered through a rather random path that I'm going to try to recreate here.
Did anyone else grow up with the Care Bears? I loved them! I still own both movies on VHS. My favorite was always Cheer Bear:
Followed closely by Share Bear:
Until they changed her symbol to be more "health conscious," aka, lame.
But, all that rambling aside, the Bear first in my mind this morning was Grumpy Bear.
Every Bear's personality and symbol was supposed to be some kind of lesson or virtue worth learning. As a kid, I had a hard time with Grumpy Bear, what was I supposed to learn from him? With the advent of Google, it became widely known that Grumpy Bear teaches us that it is ok to be grumpy sometimes. When life is hard, or things hurt, or disappointment reigns, or promises are broken, or rejection is too common, or any of the million of things that hurt in this life happen, Grump Bear shows us it is ok to cross our arms and acknowledge the pain.
I think that is part of what Good Friday can be about as well. Jesus suffered horribly, but not just physically. In the span of just a few days, his closest friends betrayed and abandoned him. His own people turned him over to the conquering government, demanding his blood in a way forbidden by their own heritage. Jesus hurt. There is comfort in that. We need to know we are not alone. Knowing that Jesus suffered the psychological and emotional devastation this life can level at us gives us hope in a God that has experienced this mess we call life.
I guess because I'm doing a monologue from Mary, mother of Jesus' perspective, I was kind of in her head space this morning. I kept thinking of her at the cross, letting Jesus go. I wonder if she gave him permission to be weak, to be broken, and to let go. I wonder if she was the mother who loved her child through his pain, looking on his brokenness, promising him that it would someday be better. Did she see enough to remember there is something past death, and have the strength to tell he son that he would be safe and sound soon? I think if any woman had the strength to do so, it was her, a highly favored woman of valor.
I don't know how the hurt ends. I don't know when the pain stops. I don't know when things getter better. But I do know, that joy comes after mourning. Victory will follow at some point. So, here's my current favorite song, and know that you will be safe and sound soon.
Did anyone else grow up with the Care Bears? I loved them! I still own both movies on VHS. My favorite was always Cheer Bear:
Followed closely by Share Bear:
Until they changed her symbol to be more "health conscious," aka, lame.
But, all that rambling aside, the Bear first in my mind this morning was Grumpy Bear.
Every Bear's personality and symbol was supposed to be some kind of lesson or virtue worth learning. As a kid, I had a hard time with Grumpy Bear, what was I supposed to learn from him? With the advent of Google, it became widely known that Grumpy Bear teaches us that it is ok to be grumpy sometimes. When life is hard, or things hurt, or disappointment reigns, or promises are broken, or rejection is too common, or any of the million of things that hurt in this life happen, Grump Bear shows us it is ok to cross our arms and acknowledge the pain.
I think that is part of what Good Friday can be about as well. Jesus suffered horribly, but not just physically. In the span of just a few days, his closest friends betrayed and abandoned him. His own people turned him over to the conquering government, demanding his blood in a way forbidden by their own heritage. Jesus hurt. There is comfort in that. We need to know we are not alone. Knowing that Jesus suffered the psychological and emotional devastation this life can level at us gives us hope in a God that has experienced this mess we call life.
I guess because I'm doing a monologue from Mary, mother of Jesus' perspective, I was kind of in her head space this morning. I kept thinking of her at the cross, letting Jesus go. I wonder if she gave him permission to be weak, to be broken, and to let go. I wonder if she was the mother who loved her child through his pain, looking on his brokenness, promising him that it would someday be better. Did she see enough to remember there is something past death, and have the strength to tell he son that he would be safe and sound soon? I think if any woman had the strength to do so, it was her, a highly favored woman of valor.
I don't know how the hurt ends. I don't know when the pain stops. I don't know when things getter better. But I do know, that joy comes after mourning. Victory will follow at some point. So, here's my current favorite song, and know that you will be safe and sound soon.
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