Patiently Waiting Ep.VI: Memories of Joy

Memories are a big part of Christmas for me. I have been fortunate enough to have wonderful memories of Christmas and one of my dearest memories takes places in 1988 and in 1990.

1988, my family had moved from Waco, TX to Lowell, AR in order for my dad to help take care of his ailing mom. My Nana was suffering from cancer, the specific type of cancer I cannot remember, and my dad took funds out of his retirement to move us to Lowell, took a crappy job as a salesman for Macintech and then eventually worked at Moore's Tires in Lowell, built an addition onto my Nana and Papaw's house, and we lived there for almost a year. When we first moved there, we spent the fall in Springdale, which is two miles from Lowell, and then we moved into the new addition of my grandparents' house.

Hmm...I forgot about that.

The Christmas of '88 is special to me because it was my last Christmas with my Nana and the last Christmas ever in their house. Cancer would take her life in the early part of '89. My dad and his siblings would move my Papaw into a retirement home, sell their house, and my family would make the move to Longview, TX. The following Christmas in 1990, my Papaw came down to visit us in what would turn out to be our last Christmas together. He too would pass away due to a blood clot in the summer of '91.

Christmas memories often bring joy and sorrow. As I think about those two Christmases, I am englufed with both joy and sorrow. I still have the last gift my Nana gave me, a G.I. Joe Phantom X-19. I still have those fresh memories of her sitting in her rocking chair as my brother and I unwrapped our presents. I still those fresh memories of sitting in my Papaw's lap as we watched Christmas shows. I still have those fresh memories, even though they are more than 20 years old. The memories bring with them both joy and sorrow. The joy of spending time with my grandparents and the sorrow that I did not spend enough time with them.

I do not know my grandparents (both living and deceased) very well. I do not know their favorite colors nor do I know who they were as people. I just know that they love me deeply. Perhaps that is the feeling this season brings. In the midst of Advent there is this desire to know God in more intimate way; to the deeper nature of God.

As Israel wandered in exile, perhaps it is the longing for God's rescue that brings them joy. Perhaps it is in their longing they find the sorrow of joy. The joy that fills one's soul with an immense pain of both happiness and sorrow. One hand you are happy to see the rescue but the pain of what you went through, of the trials you endured remains as a scar. The sorrow of joy is not a mournful or depressing joy; but it is a gentle reminder that joy comes with sorrow.

My memories remind me of this. My memories give me hope. My memories give me faith. My Memories show me I am loved. During this season, my memories are memories of joy.

Waiting Patiently Ep.V: How Do We Wait

"The rulers of this age keep a close eye on any proclamation that may disturb present arrangements" Walter Brueggemann

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. The the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of the our God will stand forever.

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him? Who did he consult for his enlightenment, who taught him the path of justice? Who taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust. Lebanon would not provide enough fuel, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? And idol? A workman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains. As a gift one chooses mulberry wood—wood that will not rot—then seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to naught, and makes rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon the them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God?” Have you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40

How long until we have peace on earth? How long will countries rage wars against others? How long will terrorism reign in the hearts of the just and unjust? How long must we wait? How long until you come, long-expected Jesus? How long must we wait?

You are not in a hurry, are you? You will take your time. You've always taken your time. Your people have been waiting for generations. You were here for a little while but then you left. You have said that you will return. Those before us thought you would return sooner than later. They waited patiently even to the point of death. They waited with great concern, afraid that they've missed it. You gave them comfort. You gave them peace. You are the peace that passes all understanding.

But we do not fully understand your peace. We do not understand why you are taking so long. We do not understand and our hearts are troubled. Our world is in chaos; yet, it has been said that you will give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Are you guiding us now? In the midst of our chaos, in our hurriedness, we need your peace. We need your light. We need your comfort.

The longer we wait, the longer we are here we are bound to make a mistake. We will take it upon ourselves to find ways to bring about peace. We will think that peace is a warm blanket or a cup of tea with an enemy. Our countries will think of peace as something that can be achieved through atomic weapons, giant walls to separate those like us from those not like us. Our churches will think of peace as something that can be accomplished through budgets and church attendance. Families will think of peace as something that keeps the problems under the rugs. Our understanding of peace is not your understanding of peace. Our definition is not your definition, so we wait and we wait.

As we wait, give us the peace that calms the storms in our lives. As we wait, give us the peace that will pass all understanding. Give us peace with one another. Give us patience to wait on you. Renew our strength.

As we wait, give us the peace to rest on your word, on your promise. Give us the peace to know that the grass withers, and the flowers fade but your faithfulness is everlasting. Give us the peace to trust that you are making all things new. Give us the peace to wait patiently.

How then do you wait with patient peace? How then do you keep your faith in a non-peaceful world? How do you find peace in the midst of the chaos and storms of life?

By waiting on the Lord.

Have you not heard? Have you not been told? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood? It is God who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes rulers of the earth as nothing. To whom then will you compare God, or who is his equal? Lift up your eyes high and see the stars, he brings them out and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

Have you not heard? Have you not been told? Even the young grow weary and tired. But those who wait upon the Lord, will renew their strength. They will run and not tire. They will walk and not faint.

How then do you wait?

Have you not heard? Have you not been told? Get you up on your roof, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Virginia, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might and peace comes with him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the us in his arms, and carry them in his embrace, and gently lead.

The day of peace is coming; the peace that passes all understanding; the peace that calms the stormy waters; the peace that resides from within. How then do you wait? Everyone waits in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the waiting to its end? From within. Jesus said, "Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me." If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you patiently wait for peace.

Have you not heard? Have you not been told? A day is coming. How then do you wait?

Waiting Patiently Ep.IV: Renewed Hope

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We didn't celebrate advent growing up. My church did not have an advent wreath or light candles. We didn't talk about preparing ourselves for Christmas day and the birth of Christ. We didn't focus on what it meant to prepare and to wait patiently. It wasn't until my senior year in college that I learned about advent. I learned about the four Sundays (hope, peace, joy, and love), each one having a specific meaning and a candle lit for each. I learned what it meant but it wasn't until Lacy was pregnant that I fully connected with advent. Since then, this time of year has become one of my favorites.

Advent is about patiently waiting for the birth of Christ. One would think that we are used to waiting; we've been waiting for a very long time. But we're not waiting in the same way or in the same hope that Israel was waiting. We've turn our waiting to be about a return and a reward. Their waiting, more pure in my opinion, was about a rescue. Israel was waiting, wishing and a hoping that a savior would rise from their streets and rescue them for exile. They hoped for a messiah to take them back to the promise land. They hoped to return home.

Isaiah 64 is a beautiful prayer before God. In it, Israel admits turning away from God because God hid. They admit there is no one who calls God's name or attempts to take hold of him. Isaiah remembers that there was once a time when God would do awesome deeds that they did not expect. God would come down and the mountains would quake at his presence. He knows from ages past that no one has heard or perceived. He asks for God to tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would once again quake in God's presence. He wishes for God to make his name known to the people.

Isaiah wonders how long until God will come to them. He wonders if and when God will rescue Israel from exile. He wonders; yet he pronounces a new hope for Israel. He knows that God is their Father; they are the clay and God is the potter. He knows they are the work of God's own hand. Isaiah has hope, but he will need patience. God is going to rescue them. God is sending the Messiah. God is taking his time.

God does not hurry. God doesn't have a delivery time of 30 minutes or less. God doesn't rush things. God takes his sweet time. We are stuck in the waiting place for people just waiting. “Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go, or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting for a Yes or No or their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.” The waiting place. The place we, you know, wait and wait and wait. The place Dr. Seuss says is the most useless place. The waiting place.

But those waiting in the waiting place are waiting “for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a better break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.” We are not. We are not in a useless place. We are sitting and waiting for better breaks, another chance, or a pot to boil. There is no hope in Dr. Seuss' waiting place. There is hope in ours. Our waiting place is the hope of Advent.

And yet, the waiting place can feel dark and lonely and absent of hope. It can feel like you are trapped in a mine shaft two miles beneath the earth's surface, waiting for the rescue team to find you. But it is not useless. This time, this season is a season to wait and prepare. A time to have our hearts and minds renewed in the hope of Christ. We are being asked to wait patiently.

We are a culture of hurry. The proof's in the pudding as they would say. Whatever that means and whoever “they” are. We have everything we could want provided to us within a second. In a hurry to eat? Stop at McDonald's and get your meal in 30 seconds! Need to get a message to someone who talks a lot but you don't have time to talk or just don't want to? Text them. Carpet dirty and you want to vacuum but don't have the time? Get a Roomba, robotic vacuum cleaner. I think you get my point.

It's counter-culture to ask you to wait patiently. We are not a patient people in a America. We do not wait well. A sign at one of my favorite BBQ joints in Richmond reads, “This is BBQ. It is slow cooked and it is a slow process. It's not fast food. It's not McDonald's. Have a sit on the bench and relax. It's worth the wait.”

We're just beginning our time of waiting. The season will fly by and soon we will gather on Christmas Eve and sing “Silent Night” while lighting candles. Soon, children will rush down the stairs and rapidly tear through their presents, passing out like Randy in A Christmas Story afterward. Soon, Christmas will be over and we will ask ourselves, “Where did it go?” With a blink of an eye it will be over.

The Son of God did not come to us in a hurry. God did not rush to save Israel. Generations after being promised, he arrived and spent nine months gestating in Mary's womb. Then he spent 30 years growing up, learning to possess a strange patience that will cause him to stop and talk to a woman who touched him on his way to heal Jairus' daughter. Even when he was here, Jesus did not hurry. It's amazing how fast we have to move. It's amazing that we know how much stress is caused because we feel rushed; yet we do nothing to alternate that lifestyle. Perhaps this season of Advent and the winter time is God's way of saying, “Slow down because you're about to miss it.

The scriptures teach us that those who wait on the Lord will have their strength renewed. Despite what we think, God doesn't help those who help themselves. When we rush, when we do not wait patiently, our hope begins to drain. We become cynical while standing in the long lines at the store. We become cynical when we see the Salvation Army ringing their bells. When we rush, when we do not slow done, we miss all that God is doing. It would seem to me to then, if God tells us to wait patiently, that if wait with patient waiting in the waiting place, our hope will be renewed, our strength renewed, our minds renewed. Our eyes given better sight, our ears better hearing, our hearts are changed in the waiting place. Knowing the initiative is in God's hands. The waiting place confirms that someone somewhere loves us enough to make all things new. Perhaps then we will finally see how God is making all things new and hear the boom-boom bands with better ears.

It is the beginning of Advent and God is saying, “Slow down. Something amazing is happening. Whether today or tomorrow, something amazing is happening. Slow down, you will not want to miss it.” In the words of Barney Stinson, “Wait for it...”

Holy Listening

130 million dollars planned
60 million dollars already raised
For a tribute to the god of themselves
3.1 million homeless; 16000 children go without food.
Shouts of get a job are heard.
As if it were so easy

Screams of anger and fear fear fill the airwaves
Racism, fascism, corruption of the faith
Sermons, articles, statuses condone the ignorance
While the cries of the hurting and the oppressed go unheard
Build it and it is bastardized

Teenager fears he caused his grandfather's illness
Somone told him it's because he sinned
Create a Hell House to intimidate
Lies debase the Gospel message
The ego delights

It is lost. It is all lost.
Tired. Tired of it all.
You tell us to listen
They cannot be ignored,
But they are far from being heard

This is Christianity in America
This wrong, this is polluted
Diluted by greed and fame coveted
All in the name of their god
This is our society

This is what society whimpers
As I attend to holy listening

Aspiring Knights

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St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the gospel at all times; use words when necessary.” For those not familiar with Francis, he was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, and he lived the high-spirited life typical of a wealthy young man. While going off to war in 1204, he had a vision that directed him back to Assisi where he began to lose his taste for his worldly life. On a pilgrimage to Rome, Francis begged with the beggars at St. Peter's. The experience moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home and began preaching on the streets.

Francis has served as an inspiration for all who serve in ministry and has been a faithful example of what carrying the work of Christ in Christ's own way means. Every minister/missionary who works with the poor has had some influence by St. Francis of Assisi. Francis called all creatures his brothers and sisters, and even preached to the birds and supposedly persuaded a wolf to stop attacking some locals if they agreed to feed the wolf. Everything and everyone was his brother, his sister. He truly believed that this life and all in it were the mirror of God. He once said, “I have done terrible things. If God can use me, God can use anyone.”

Today's scripture is about what St. Francis was about: caring for God's children. Jesus parable of the sheep and goats is probably one of his best parables. Like the Ten Bridesmaids, Jesus is able to put in a story what the kingdom of heaven truly looks like. He tells us that when the Son of Man comes, he will gather all the nations and divide the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the the sheep on his right and the goats to his left. He will say to those on his right, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison, and you visited me.” Those on his right will ask, “When did we ever do this for you?” and he will say, “Just as you did for one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

In the world I live in, there are people who exemplify this way of life. Both in the real world and the fictional world, I sometimes visit. We call them knights of faith. A knight of faith is someone who lives faithfully in community with those around them. A knight of faith, like the knights of our history and our stories, are people who duty-bound to those around them. They care for all in their midst and in their rule. But it is hard to see a knight of faith. They do not stand out like the heroes of my fictional world. Those heroes wear capes and masks, and use all sorts of wonderful gadgets and power rings. They do not wear suits of armor, in fact, some hardly wear suits of any kind. They abide in the love of Christ through their service to others.

These knights of faith are ordinary people with ordinary jobs who live ordinary lives. You may run into one, clasp your hands and say half aloud, “Good lord, is this the knight? Is it really he? Why he looks like a farmer!” You will examine his figure from head to toe to see if there might be some cape or costume or armor exposed through his overalls. No! He is solid through and through. His stride? It is vigorous, belonging entirely to the land; no smartly dressed country-girl who walks but to Walkerton on a Sunday afternoon treads the ground more firmly, she belongs entirely to the world, no Richmonder more so. She takes delight in everything, and whenever ones sees her taking part in a particular pleasure, she does it with the persistence which is the mark of the earthly human whose soul is adsorbed in such things. She tends to her work. So when one looks at her one might suppose that she was a county clerk who lost her soul in an intricate system of book-keeping, precise is she. She takes a holiday on Sunday. She goes to church.

The Reverend Paul Tillich tells a story about woman who died a few years ago and whose life was spent abiding in love, although she rarely, if ever, used the name of God, and though she would have been surprised had someone told her that she belonged to the One who judges all humankind.

Her name was Elsa Brandström, the daughter of a former Swedish ambassador to Russia. But her name in the mouths and hearts of hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war during the First World War was the Angel of Siberia. She was an irrefutable living witness to the truth that love is the ultimate power of Being, even in a century which belongs to the darkest, most destructive and cruel of all centuries since the dawn of mankind.

At the beginning of the First World War, when Elsa was twenty-four years old, she looked out of the window of the Swedish Embassy in what was then St. Petersburg and saw the German prisoners of war being driven through the streets on their way to Siberia. From that moment on she could no longer endure the splendor of the diplomatic life of which, up to then, she had been a beautiful and vigorous center. She became a nurse and began visiting the prison camps. There she saw unspeakable horrors and she, a girl of twenty-four, began, almost alone, the fight of love against cruelty, and she prevailed. She had to fight against the resistance and suspicion of the authorities and she prevailed. She had to fight against the brutality and lawlessness of the prison guards and she prevailed. She had to fight against cold, hunger, dirt and illness, against the conditions of an undeveloped country and a destructive war, and she prevailed. Love gave her wisdom with innocence, and daring with foresight. And whenever she appeared despair was conquered and sorrow healed. She visited the hungry and gave them food. She saw the thirsty and gave them to drink. She welcomed the strangers, clothed the naked and strengthened the sick. She, herself, fell ill and was imprisoned, but God was abiding in her. The irresistible power of love was with her.

And she never ceased to be driven by this power. After the war she initiated a great work for the orphans of German and Russian prisoners of war. The sight of her among these children whose sole ever-shining sun she was, must have been a decisive religious impression for many people. With the coming of the Nazis, she and her husband were forced to leave Germany and come to this country. Here she became the helper of innumerable European refugees, and for ten years, Tillich writes, I was able personally to observe the creative genius of her love. We never had a theological conversation. It was unnecessary. She made God transparent in every moment. For God, who is love, was abiding in her and she in Him. She aroused the love of millions towards her self and towards that for which she was transparent— the God who is love. On her deathbed she received a delegate from the king and people of Sweden, representing innumerable people all over Europe, assuring her that she would never be forgotten by those to whom she had given back the meaning of their lives.

The knights of faith look like a farmer, a county clerk, or in this case, a young nurse, dressing as plain as any, and carrying on with the daily grind. In my life, I have been influenced by costumed heroes. Heroes whose powers come from either a mutant gene or from the yellow sun of Earth. These heroes are heroes because they serve humanity for the greater good. Elsa Brandström was no superhero. She didn't inherit a billion dollar fortune, build a base in a cave, or have a really cool car. She wasn't sent to earth as her home planet was being destroyed. She isn't a Viking god sent to earth to learn humility. Elsa Brandström is a knight of faith because what she did, what she is remembered for, her actions that affected the here and now. Her life was about loving those in her midst and loving them completely and faithfully. A knight of faith doesn't wear a cape or a cowl. Their dress is nothing special; their deeds are routine. A knight of faith is someone who lives in the here and now, and what they do affect the here and now.

You see, superheroes are regulated to the fact that they will never ability to solve the world's problems and bring about world peace. Sure, there might be peace on earth for awhile but you can always guarantee that peace will not last long, after all, there's sequels to make and comics to sell. The justice they seek, the world they seek will never come to fruition. For the knight of faith, their peace is a present thing. Their ideal state is found in the moment because they realize that in loving and serving others they exercise the kind of fellowship that infinitely sustain humanity. For a knight of faith, peace on earth must be made with every gesture and every action. And it starts by committing ourselves to another person and by helping that person in every way that we can.

Our gospel story this morning frustrates a lot of my friends. They think it's impossible to care for everyone, to clothe everyone, to feed everyone, to visit everyone, to give everyone a drink, or welcome everyone. They're right. It is impossible. A knight of faith knows that spiritually everything is possible but in this world of ours there is much that is not possible. This impossible, however, the knight makes possible by expressing it spiritually, but he expresses it spiritually by forfeiting his claim to it. In other words, the knight of faith gives up the belief that he can be everything to everyone. I believe our passage this morning invites us to give up that belief.

I believe the parable of the sheep and goats is an impossible parable to comprehend if we continue to read it on a global scale. When we look at the passage, when we read the passage, when we hear the passage, we are not being asked to hear on a world wide scale. The task to go all over the world and feed every single soul is impossible. There are those who try, we call them missionaries. But for those of us who are not missionaries, we have the opportunity to take the impossible and make it possible by loving one another as we love ourselves. I stated last week that I believed the gospel could be summed up in three commandments: 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. 2)Love your neighbor as yourself. 3) Go and make disciples of every nation. I believe those three commandments make it possible for us to be sheep instead of goats.

It is because of our love for Christ, for God, with every once of our being that we love one another as we love ourselves. Grounded in that love, we begin to reach out and care for those right next to us, those in our immediate presence. If loved one another, if we cared for another, it begins to show in the way we treat one another. It is in the treating of one another, the caring of one another, that others begin to join. It is out the love of Christ abiding in us that we begin to make disciples of every nation. It is possible for us to change this world for the better, here and now, if become like knights of faith and care for one another in ways that become routine.

Our passage this morning calls for us to be knights of faith. We should aspire to become knights of faith. For it is in that aspiration, we begin to live our lives in the abiding power of love of Christ.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

The Trouble With Talents

Monday night I attended a pastor's conference called Fresh Expressions. The idea was a missional focus on doing church in a new way. Missional is a focus in which the church moves from it's setting, out into a new and different setting. In short, missional is church on mission for the kingdom. The issue with missional is that it comes in different shapes, sizes, and denominations. It manifests itself in both conservative, moderate, and progressive churches alike. (And yes, that book you're reading that tells you how to do church says the same thing that the book you dislike says. It just says it differently and in your polity).

The concept of missional church is not a new concept. Churches have been missional since their beginnings. Every generation has their version, their understanding of what missional means. If a church is doing a creative ministry that is reaching out or going into places they would not normally go and ministering, then they are, by definition, a missional church.

The issue I struggled with Monday night was not the issue of a missional church but was with the concept of fresh expressions of the church. These fresh expressions were not anything new: creating alternative worship services, house churches, cafe churches, ministerial expressions of church in a creative way. At one time something like Backyard Bible Clubs and Vacation Bible Schools were considered a fresh expression of church. Motorcycle ministries are a fresh expression of church. I think you understand the concept.

2 years ago this March, I participated in something called Pursuing Missional Faithfulness. It was born out of a “program” called Pursuing Ministerial Vitalness. The idea behind the concept is that a church begins a journey with God into discovering their story and their mission in their context for their church. Every church involved in the process spends 18 months meeting in prayer triplets, cottage clusters, and participating in cluster retreats with 3-4 other churches experiencing the same thing. During these 18 months, we were to spend time praying and listening to what was God was saying and showing to them. The idea being, that at the end of the 18 months, the church would have a clearer picture of their 10 year story, their 10 year vision of what God was asking them to do.

As I sat in the sanctuary with other pastors and ministers, listening to this presentation on how the church can reach others. I began to think about the parable of the talents. I'm sure you are familiar with the parable, but if not let me tell you a story:

A man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed;so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Matthew's intent with the parable of the talents is clear. He understood the parable as an exhortation for followers of Jesus to be faithful in their obedience until his return. If we were to look at Matthew's intent, the message of Jesus, and the church today, we might get a story like this:

One day, a wealthy retiring pastor took his three associates and divided among them his congregation, each to their tenure. To the first he gave 500 members of the 1000 member congregation. To the second he gave 450 members. To the third he gave the remaining 50. The first minister took his new congregation and built a church in a wealthy subdivision outside of town. He began his ministry by organizing a building fund and implementing a new program that worked for a church in California. The second took his new congregation and moved it into the heart of the city, right next to the businesses and political offices and the homeless. The second pastor began his ministry by instituting a pledge campaign and focused solely on maintaining his church's budget. The third moved her congregation out to the country and moved into an old church. She began her ministry by spending every morning in prayer with her congregation. After some time, they began to create ministries based on the needs of their community.

A few years later while at a pastors' conference, the three ministers sat down to have lunch with their old retired pastor. The retired pastor inquired about his old church, now divided into threes. The first began, “We moved outside of the city and now house the biggest church in the area. We have a $64 million main campus. We also have three campuses around the city and host a church via the internet. You can sign in and worship online. We literally have a church that spans the nation and the world. We also have gone from 500 to 100,000 on our main campus and we average about 1,000+ at our other campuses. We implemented a program that allows us to feed my picture and a hologram version of myself to the other campuses. I am able to preach at 4 different sites all at the same time.”

The retired pastor remained silent.

The second began likewise, “We moved further into the city, right next to all the downtown businesses and government buildings. Over the past three years, we have grown our budget and now have an operating budget of $10 million. We have grown in number from 450 to 1500. Of those 1500, several are prominent businessmen and prominent politicians, including the Governor and on the occasion, the President (when he's in town). Also, every one of our church members are debt free.”

Likewise the retired pastor remained silent.

The third began humbly, “We left the city and moved into the country. We have taken residence in a old church surrounded by a community in need. We spent the first year or so praying what God would have us do. During that time we learned that several in the community were in need of food, so we began to grow a garden behind the church. Every Saturday we host a free farmer's market in which those in need might have fresh veggies and fruits for their family, along with a community food pantry. We also learned that many struggled with different addictions so we began a Narcotics and Alcoholic Anonymous programs to help them. We also learned that several of the children had no place to go, so we began opening up our church for them to come in and have a safe space to play, do homework, and spend time with a lot of retired members. We have also several who cannot afford health insurance, so we host a free health clinic once a month; while several members help cover the medical costs of those in need. We average 75 in attendance on Sunday and we struggle to make our budget. However we are growing in our faith and continuing to learn to place our complete faith in God's steadfast love.” She said as tears began to fill her eyes.

The retired pastor looked at her and with a kind smile said, “Job well done my good and faithful servant. You and your community will inherit all that I have, for you have taken what I gave you and grew it a hundredfold. You have made an old pastor proud.”

As I think back to Monday night, I finally understand the purpose of the parable. Many churches and pastors try to be like the first two churches in the story. We want to go to church, we want to be a part of the Christian faith as long as it benefits us instead of changing us. If we were completely honest, we would admit that the Christian faith does not benefit us. Sure, we can focus on the salvation piece of the faith and the benefits of eternal life; but doing so would only focus on the benefits and not the point of the faith. The Christian faith asks a lot more than it gives. We are asked to live obediently and faithfully. We are asked to be self sacrificial and humble. We are asked to turn the other cheek and sell everything. The Christian faith requires us to become a part of something that is supposed to change us.

The parable of the talents is about more than being good stewards and giving to a church budget. It is a reminder for churches to live faithfully into the story God is writing. The failure of the third servant is not that he disobeyed his master. He wasn't commanded to go and double the talent he was given. He was simply entrusted with the a share of the master's property. He was expected to care for that property and watch over it. His failure is that he did not care for what was entrusted to him. The servant allowed his fear of the master to rule his life. He sought to protect what he had and not risk for fear of retribution. However, as we know, his failure is what brought on his removal from the master's sight. He did not allow himself to be changed.

I believe God expects churches to change. I do not think he expects them to change in the way we are accustomed to change. I do not think God cares about churches changing services or what type of music they worship too. I do not think God cares if budgets are met or that every church member is debt free. I do not think God cares too much about $64 million church buildings. I know God doesn't care about pastors preaching at six locations at once. I believe the change God desires for us is the type of change that completely transforms us. I believe the change God looks for, what the parable is speaking to, is a church that lives out the Gospel message.

If Jesus is our model of perfection and model of who we are supposed to be like as Hebrews indicates, then the change I believe God is looking for can be found in three simple commandments, “Love your Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Go and make disciples of every nation.” I believe when Jesus tells us the parable of the talents, he is asking us if we are going to be faithful and obedient with what he has entrusted us with. And Christ has entrusted us with all that God has given us. I believe if we begin to focus on those around us and care for those in our presence; we will see a change in our church. The worse thing a church can do is strive to be like another church. We do not need purpose driven churches or fresh expression churches that all look alike. We need churches to live faithfully with one another, care for one another, and love one another. I truly believe that if we were to live in such a way, we would begin to see a change in the community around us, and then surrounding communities, and then the world.

We have all been given a talent. What we do with that talent is up to us. We can either bury it or risk it. The parable teaches us that risking it is better than burying it. Let us be a risky church. Let us be a missional church that goes, not the extra mile, but the third mile, the fourth mile, the fifth mile, the green mile. Let us be a church that unapologetically changes its community. Let us begin our journey with God. Let us trust that God has a plan for the church. Let us be who God is creating us to be. Amen.

Who's is Who's?

In a recent Republican Presidential nominee debate, Michelle Bachmann had this to say regarding a tax question an audience member asked, “And after the debate, I talked to that young man, and I said I wish I could have answered that question, because I want to tell you what my answer is: I think you earned every dollar. You should get to keep every dollar that you earn. That's your money. That's not the government's money.” In other words, no taxes.

Taxes are a big part our society. We're taxed on just about anything from paychecks to inheritance; from food to clothes; from winnings in the lottery to winnings on Wheel of Fortune. So, it is a nice thought that we wouldn't have to pay any taxes of any kind and it seems every Republican Presidential candidate is trying to out do one another with who go can the lowest on our taxes. But did you know you do not have to pay your taxes? We have what you would call a volunteer tax system. A few years ago the son of a congressman was arrested for tax evasion. The judge showed little mercy, going as far to say, “Our tax system depends on voluntary compliance. Therefore we must send a signal to other tax cheaters.” True story. Every April 15, we render to Caesar what is Caesar's without complaint or reservations; despite what the yellow billboards on the side of the road say. But when it comes to rendering to God what is God's, that's a whole other story.

Before every offertory in every church across the country, 83% of the people who will say the offertory prayer will offer up their own stories, own words of wisdom as to why the congregation should tithe, followed by quoting Malachi 3:10; followed by an explanation that a tithe is 10% of your monthly/yearly income. The offering plates will pass and those who feel compelled will give the appropriate amount while some withhold for various reasons. We do not look for excuses to not pay our taxes. Sure, we look for tax breaks; but we know an 11 year jail sentence awaits us if we do not “voluntarily comply” with our tax system. However tithing is a volunteer compliance system in which no immediate repercussions take place. I mean, how many times have the finance chairperson showed up at your door demanding your yearly tithe?

Our passage this morning is speaking to something other than separation of church and state or why you should pay your taxes or why you should tithe. Our passage speaks to the life that is required when we choose to follow Christ. Are you familiar with the hymn, “Take My Life, and Let it Be”? I once heard a story about this hymn; one that I believe will help the “something other” I believe the passage is speaking about. The story goes like this:

Laurie liked to play hymns on the piano and sing. She always started and finished with her favorite, "Take My Life That I May Be." And while she sang, she dreamed about the future. "Take my life that I may be consecrated, Lord, to thee...." What would she do with her life? She'd be lost in hopes as she continued, "Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of your love...."

But there was one line she never quite liked. "Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold...." It seemed a little out of touch with reality, that "not a mite" part. After all, you had to live in the world, didn't you? And it takes money. She wondered about her financial responsibilities as a Christian.

When Laurie graduated from college with an elementary education major, she took a one-year position as a teacher in a little village in Mexico. She had heard about poverty in Mexico -- but nothing could have prepared her for this. The teachers' apartments were right next to the school, if you could call them apartments. The other teachers called them "huts with plumbing," but they were mansions compared to where her students lived.

When Laurie first walked through the door of her own "hut," tears stung her eyes. What was she doing here? What was she thinking? Many of her friends had already "gotten settled" into comfortable American schools, with adequate incomes and nice apartments. They wouldn't think of going without a curling iron for a whole year, much less a coffee maker! How was she going to survive, hundreds of miles from everyone she loved and everything she knew?

There was a timid knock at her door. Several school-age children crowded into the doorway to get a peek at the new teacher.

Within a few weeks, those knocks at the door became daily occurrences. Late afternoon and early evening, the children would come -- to visit, for help with schoolwork, and often just to be there. She didn't mind the extra time spent with them. She was already starting to love these kids, their families, and this little village.

Laurie's few possessions were like treasures to them. They held her unlit candles gently in their laps, memorized all the faces in her family portrait, and paged through her paperbacks as if they were able to read them. It was fun to see how her "stuff" delighted them.

Laurie surveyed her homey little apartment. She had packed light for the year, but now many of these "bare necessities" she had brought seemed unnecessary -- even extravagant. (And then there's that small mountain of boxes and bins stored in her parents' basement!).

She had given up a lot -- especially income -- to come here this year. (She began to wonder what on earth she would have done with all that income.) She asked God how to use her wealth in the middle of so much poverty. For the first time, it dawned on her that an understanding of "Take my silver and my gold ..." began with the heart.

There was one thing she never let the children see. At least once a week, late at night when she was all alone, she pulled it out of the back of her closet: her graduation dress, a gift from her parents. It was the nicest dress she'd ever owned, but it was so much more than that: it was the pride of graduation, and great college memories, and home, and her parents' love -- all in that one special dress. It somehow brought her family closer to her, and when she was lonely it reminded her how special she was to them.
One day, in early spring, Maria knocked on her door. Maria had never before come to Laurie's, although her younger brothers and sisters were there often. Maria was in her teens and worked at the clothing factory in the nearby town. Her income fed the entire family.

Maria's eyes sparkled. She was getting married, in just two months. Laurie hugged her and congratulated her. Then Maria, head bowed, quietly asked Laurie for help. She had brought over a well-worn old dress and a white shawl, and wondered if Laurie could help her sew something special from them for the wedding.

Laurie held up the old garments, and tried to think of something they could design from them. Back home, she'd packed up clothes to Salvation Army that were far nicer than these. She told Maria they'd try, and Maria should come back Saturday to work on it.

That night she felt particularly lonely. Her college roommate had gotten married the day after graduation, and here she was in Mexico alone, unattached, and no one waiting back home for her. So, of course, she reached into the back of her closet for her dress. She hugged it to herself and cried softly, so aware of her emptiness in the middle of her little "Mexican adventure."

As she gently placed it back into the closet, those nagging words popped into her head. "Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold...." She pulled the dress back out and eyed it carefully. Yes, it was the right shade. Yes, it was close to the right size. Yes, it could be temporarily hemmed. Yes, it would be a perfect dress for Maria to use on her wedding day.

Laurie thought of the Psalm that says, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it...." It started to make sense to her that, if everything is God's, then what we have is "on loan" from God, to be gratefully received and generously used. What was "on loan" to her from God could be "on loan" from her to Maria.

Letting Maria use her prized possession as a wedding dress suddenly felt like an honor to Laurie. She couldn't wait for Saturday, and the surprise she had for Maria. "Not a mite would I withhold...." It was a matter of the heart. (Mary Sue Dehmlow Dreir)

Jesus' response to the Pharisees is not a justification for paying a high/low tax. It is not a valid reason for the separation of church and state. It is something more. We live simultaneously in God's realm and the human realm, and Jesus calls us to responsibility in both. Go ahead: pay your state sales tax, license your cars, and file an honest tax return. Give to the government whatever it takes to conduct its business. But remember: our things as well as ourselves belong to God, and are here for God's purposes to be accomplished.

That is the something other, the something more I am referring too. The Lord your God is the one to whom you must do homage, him alone you must serve. Jesus asks for a single-minded commitment to God and God alone. God wants all our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul. Henri Nouwen writes, “It is this unconditional and unreserved love for God that leads to the care for one another, not as an activity that distracts us from God or competes with our attention to God, but as an expression of our love for God who reveals himself to us as the God of all people.” It is in giving everything that is God's to God we discover the ability to live life in faithfulness in the good times and bad times, in sickness and health, in wealth and poverty. It gives us the knowledge that true joy comes from giving to God everything that is God's and that includes ourselves.

It is then and only then we can say with complete joy:

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for thee; take my voice and let me sing always, only for my king. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold; take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my will, and make it thine, it shall be no longer mine; take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne.

A Gentleman Always Accepts the Invitation

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:1-14

I like weddings. I do. I think they have the opportunity to be one of the best days of anyone's life. Not just for the bride and groom but for all present: the new in-laws, the wedding party, the guests, the minister, the musician, everyone. My wedding was on a hot August night in 2003. Lacy and her mother had decided the wedding would be a classic formal wedding. The invitations we sent out included the words, “Formal Attire Required” or something to that effect. You may think it is rude to require guests to wear certain attire; but there is a time to suit down and a time to suited up, as Barney Stinson would say. A wedding at 7:00 pm is a time to suit up according to A Gentleman Gets Dressed Up.

Not only does a gentleman or a lady dress up for a wedding, they always say yes to the invitation. A gentleman/lady never turns down an invitation to a party, wedding, or banquet. Even if an excuse can be made, you are to never turn down an invitation unless you have already committed to a previous engagement. You are also to accept the first invitation you are given and not wait for a better offer. A gentleman/lady always accepts the invitation.

Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who gave a wedding banquet or feast for his son. All the who's who have been invited and when the feast is ready, the king sends his slaves out to tell them the party is ready. But the invited guests made light of the invitation; one went away to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. Enraged, the king sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he says to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited are not worthy. Go into the streets and invite everyone you find.”

The invited guests repeatedly refused the invitation to the wedding. They refused to come in for various reasons, some had work to do, some had businesses to run, others wanted to start a war. At one time they were worthy of the invitation to the wedding. Whether they were friends of the king or part of the high society that frequents the king's court does not matter. What matters is the point being made: those who were invited now find themselves unworthy because they refused the invitation; and the invitations have gone to others. Perhaps then, we could also say the church can be compared to a king who held a wedding banquet for his son.

The American church has spent a vast amount of money conjuring up programs, making numerous phone calls, sending out fliers, letters, emails, newsletters, building bigger church marques, all in the hopes that they will attract and gain members. Christian organizations and conventions spend an innate amount of time creating new specials that the church can spend ungodly amounts of money on in order to attract members. Yet, I bet if we were honest with one another, if the church was honest with itself, we would admit that these programs, fliers, events, letters, etc. are not really aimed at the lost or non-church folks. They are aimed at those who are inactive in their church membership.

Every church minister hears, “We think you should do this and this so we can have so and so back.” Or “So and so didn't like the previous minister, so hopefully they like you because we miss them.” Or “I stopped coming because so and so was a member and I didn't like them but I'm back now because they died.” True story. Every minister knows first hand when a church member talks about church membership, deep down they are talking about inactive members.

The church can be compared to a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. How often have we organize an event and send out an invitation to every church member only to find the ones who come are the ones who we know and those we hoped to see have said, “Sorry, too busy” “Sundays are our only day together as a family” “We've got baseball” “It's hunting season”? For some reason the church continues to send them an invitation, only to have that invitation rejected or made light of; yet there remains a group of people who are desperately looking for a place to belong. How long will the church continue to worry about inactive members and ignore the ones who are here? How long will the church continue to invite the so and so's while ignoring the hurting and downtrodden? How long?

The Christian community is often more concerned about the people who aren't there then the ones who are. When I was a youth minister, students or parents would show for an event or Bible study and say, “No one's here. Where is everybody?” while 15 people sat in the room. I would laugh and sarcastically reply, “Well, we're here so does that make us no one? I mean are we not people?” Taken back they would reply, “I mean...you know what I mean.” Our mentality as the church is to think, “No one's here” instead of “Yay! You're here!” How often have you looked across the pew and thought, “I'm so glad who's here is here”? How often have you looked across the pew and asked, “Where is everyone?”

I think, in an odd way, that is the point Jesus is trying to make. The church leaders have continually rejected the invitation to the wedding. They have more important things to do then to go to a wedding. They thought they didn't need to respond to the invitation. They thought they would always be included, invited to the king's court. After all, they're important people. But the kingdom of heaven does not wait for those who continually reject the king's invitation. Eventually, their invitation will go to those who want to be invited.

The church can only wait for so long for the so and so's and who's who accept the invitation to come back until the food gets cold and the party guest leave. The wedding banquet goes on with or without us. The food is prepared and ready. The music is blaring and the people are dancing. The doors are open but the party won't wait forever for us before it starts. It will begin with us or without us. That is the kingdom of heaven. It is a place that will not wait until we're ready for change. It is a way of life that gives us limitless grace while giving us limitless demands. The kingdom of heaven is given to those who accept the invitation to be a part of it and live into it.

Imagine that you are throwing a party. Guests begin to arrive but you do not see your best friends. What do you do? Do you wait until they show up or do you start the party? It doesn't mean they can't join in later. It simply means the party will start without them because those who are there, those who accepted the invitation are worthy. The kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom that waits to get started. And that's the point Jesus is trying desperately to make with the chief priests and the church elders. “The kingdom of heaven will be brought forth whether you want to be a part of it or not.” The longer a church waits for prodigal members to return, the sooner the church will discover they have ceased to exist and find those who would have accepted the invitation are no longer interested.

A few years ago, I watched a movie called, Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey. Jim plays Carl Allen who is stuck in a rut with his negative attitude. He was a “no” man; always saying no to anything. He would say no when his friends wanted to hang. He would reject every invitation because he didn't want to go. Then one day he runs into an old colleague who invites to a self help seminar. Carl reluctantly goes to the seminar where he learns about the power of yes. Carl discovers that living in the affirmative, by saying yes to the invitations life gives him, amazing and transforming experiences.

After watching the movie I decided to do a life experiment and say yes to every opportunity life gave me except when those opportunities proved to be unhealthy for me, such as doing drugs or playing chicken on tractors with Kevin Bacon. Saying yes to the invitations God presented me led me to a better a life; a life that was full, a life that finally had meaning. It is that type of life I believe saying yes to the invitation to the opportunities God gives us is what brings about a better story. A story that reflects that of a wedding: celebration with music, food, and dancing.

I need to be clear. When I refer to living life to the full and the fullness the invitation offers us, I am speaking to something more than just the invitation to eternal life. I am speaking to living the life God is providing for us here and now. The church often concerns itself with the eternal and beyond. Asking the question, “What's heaven like?” or “How do we know?” We concern ourselves with raptures and end times because it's unknown. All our imaginations are left with are vivid images described in our scriptures. But I believe the invitation Christ refers to in this parable goes past the unknown and into the known. I believe the invitation to the banquet was an invitation for the elders and chief priests right then and there. The feast was ready after all.

The kingdom of heaven is often compared to a wedding and a banquet. A dinner held in honor of those married into the kingdom. I've been told that there will be a great feast, with dancing and drinking, (the Baptist will frown at the drinking) but the feast will be epic. The wedding party will be one to remember. However, I truly believe we do not have to wait until the final days or until our death to live into this story. The wedding banquet is ready, all we have to do is show up, turn the music up and let the sounds of the party bring all those who are looking for invitation in. In other words, let us not wait on the who's who and the so and so's before we start the party. Because the food will get cold and people won't wait around. Let's celebrate the wedding that is to come and the wedding that is already here.

To Forgive is Divine But Really, Really, Really hard

In “An Essay on Criticism”, Alexander Pope writes, “Good-Nature and Good-Sense must ever join; To err is human, to forgive divine.” Forgiveness is a divine act. It is why, when instituting the Lord's prayer, Jesus includes “Forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Forgiveness is a part of the divine act of God and the parable of the Unforgiving Servant is an example of God's divine forgiveness; however, the parable to points to a difficult reality, to forgive may be divine, but it is really, really, really hard to do. The parable of the unforgiving servant creates a bracing image of the importance of forgiveness; not only in the church but in life as well. Even more, it assumes that the practice of forgiveness is part of the human response to the rule of God.

Our story this morning begins with Peter asking Jesus a basic question, “Jesus, how many times must I forgive a member of the church who sins against me? Seven times?” Jesus replies with a direct answers, “Not seven times but seventy-seven times.” In other words, Jesus says, “We do not limit our grace and forgiveness to a brother or sister of the church. We forgive and we forgive.” Jesus then says, “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to...”.

As the story begins, we encounter a ruler who decides to settle accounts with those who serve him. The story does not give the details of why the first servant owed the king, Jesus just tells us that the slave owed his master, ten thousand talents. In today's market, with interest and inflation, that amount would total somewhere around a $1,000,000,000. A near impossible number for an individual to owe another; but how the servant racked up the debt is not the point; the large amount is for us to know that this servant owed a great deal of money to the king. The servant is unable to pay the money back, so the king orders the man, along with his wife and children and all his possessions to be sold as compensation. The servant throws himself at the king, begging him to take pity on him and have patience and he will pay him back. The king, out of pity for the servant, released him and forgave his debt.

Immediately after being forgiven of his debt, the servant came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarrii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe me.” Compared to what the first servant owed the king, the debt of the second servant to him is but a drop in the bucket. In today's setting, the first servant is owed a measly $1000. Yes, it's considerable but with time, the second servant could pay him back. The first servant would have none of it and through the second servant in prison.

The other servants were distressed. So, they went to their master, the king, and reported what had happened. Then the king summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you have not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger, the king handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.

Several preachers and interpreters struggle with this parable and its attachment to Peter's question. They complain that the parable, which is about the necessity of forgiveness, is not a suitable example of vv.21-22, which rejects limits for forgiveness.

They are right. The parable is not a suitable example of limitless forgiveness; but Matthew joined the parable to Peter's question not because both teach the same thing, but because both treat the topic of forgiveness, even though with two emphases. The parable is not, and was not intended to be, an illustration of Peter's question and Jesus' answer to the question. Matthew indicates a connection rather than an example or proof. The parable picks up only part of the subject of forgiveness, the necessity to forgive.

When it comes to dealing with parables, the question we must always ask is, “What does this parable seek to do, and how does it accomplish its purpose?”

The parable seeks to create a drastic understanding of what it means to be forgiven and to forgive. The first servant owed an unpayable debt. Many of us naturally identify with the troubles of the first servant and are relieved on hearing that his predicament was solved. We know what it is like to owe a great debt and be forgiven of the debt in some form. While we may not have the bank forgive our debt, we do know what it means to have someone forgive us in some sense. If not, if we've been fortunate not to have that issue, we still know what it means to be forgiven because the first part of the parable points to the enormous, unpayable debt of sin and God's stunningly gracious forgiveness.

If the story had started with the first servant demanding that his colleague pay what he owed, for he was fully within his rights to demand to be paid. What makes his actions reprehensible and shifts our allegiance is the contrast between the treatment he received and the treatment he gave. We hear the first servant plead for the king to have mercy on him, and then after receiving the king's mercy, we hear the second servant beg the first for mercy and the first servant shows him none. The parable then addresses the point Jesus is trying to make, “You have been forgiven so you are to forgiven. Not seven times but seven times seventy. You are to forgive and forgive and forgive because you have been forgiven.”

But the parable raises a question, “Is God bound by the unlimited forgiveness of vv. 21-22?”

Asking about the limits of God's mercy is certainly legitimate, but it is not the concern of this parable. In the end we should recognize that God is the only one who ultimately can hold humanity accountable. The concern of the parable is God's forgiveness and the seriousness of failing to mirror God's mercy, not an atonement theology or a general discussion of judgment. Within Scripture a focus on the boundless mercy of God does not preclude judgment, even if mercy is given more emphasis. “God does not insist upon his pound...But God insists upon the dignity of his mercy.” We must not treat God's mercy cavalierly. God's mercy is not effectively received unless it is shown, because God's mercy transforms. Forgiveness not shown is forgiveness not known.

Perhaps another story will help:

Once there was a man of means who was old and ill. He called his only son and said, “My dearest son, I know that I was not the best father when you were growing up, but I had a poor example from my father. He was much too involved in making money when I was a boy. Before he died, he asked for my forgiveness. I, of course, gave it to him. After all, he was my father. However, I made the same mistake and spent too much time with my business and making money and not enough with you. No, I am old and ill, and as my father did, I am asking your forgiveness. Unlike my father, I do not want you to wait until I die to have everything that is mine. I can no longer run my business. You and your wife are capable. I will give you my business now. I ask only that you take care of me until I die.”

The son merely nodded, not sharing what was in his heart. He and his wife moved into his father's home, taking the finest room for themselves and moving the old man to a small, sparse room. Little by little, they took more and more away from the old man. They sold all of his fine clothes, books, and other possessions and kept the money for themselves. The old man wore rags, and because they were ashamed of him, they made him eat in the kitchen with the servants. Eventually, they moved him out to the barn, where he slept in a corner in his rags. Soon the man and wife forgot the old man was alive.

But their son did not forget his grandfather. Each day the child would sneak into the barn and spend time with the old man. The old man embraced the boy, holding and telling him stories.

Sometimes the boy played alone. The father rarely spent time with his son, but as he was rushing off to work one day, he watched as the child moved rags and blankets from one stack to another.

“What are you doing?” asked the father.

“Well,” said the son, “I take some fine blankets from the house and put them in one pile. I take dirty rags and put them in another.”

“Why do you play this game?” asked the father.

“Oh, I'm practicing for when I am a man like you. I will have these very fine, warm blankets, and I will save the dirty rags, like the ones grandfather has, for you.”

The man realized what he had been doing, and, with tears in his eyes, swept the boy into his arms. Then he went to his father to beg forgiveness for the way he treated him. The old man forgave him.

Weeping, grandfather, son, and grandson returned to the house. (Corinne Stavish)

The parable of the unforgiving servant pictures magnificent and limitless grace of God in forgiving the incalculable debt of sin; however, grace always brings with it responsibility. The forgiveness of God must be replicated in the lives of the forgiven. And the warning is clear: where forgiveness is not extended, people will be held accountable.

The parable raises one more question: What if Christians lived their lives as a people who have truly been forgiven and forgive as they have been forgiven? It's a tough question to answer on a day when across America we reflect and remember the attacks on the Pentagon, the Twin Towers, and United 93. But I believe it helps to know this: When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as a I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. There were no phone calls from people asking for their money or calls to people who owed them a debt. They were calls of love and forgiveness. For me, that tells me if we lived as a forgiven people, we might see less devastation in our world. And I think that's the point of the parable.

Ministers as Knights of Faith: The Absurdity of it All

"Faith is a miracle, and yet no person is excluded from it; for that in which all human life is unified is passion, and faith is a passion." Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling and the Sickness Unto Death, 77


(Read The Minister's Ego and The Minister: Changing the Bells and Whistles before as a recap).

Stanley Hauerwas writes (of Matthew 3:13-17), "The baptism of Jesus is foundation of Christian ethics. Here Jesus speaks his first words in the Gospel, explaining to John the Baptist the purpose of Christian ethics: "to fulfill all righteousness." Here is revealed the source of Christian ethics, which lies in the interrelationship between the members of the Trinity: the Father who opens heaven and speaks, the incarnate Son who goes down, rises, and fulfills all righteousness, the Holy Spirit who descends and rests upon."  (Stanley Hauwerwas and Samuel Wells, The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics pg 14)

The minister has all that is needed for him to change his basic desires. In the foundation of her baptism, the minister is given the necessary elements to change her id. Though it is difficult to do considering the minister functions in a church system which seeks to make "Christian" an adjective, an epithet, a style--when what God offers is particular actions--verbs--through which ministers can become and be distinctive nouns--people, disciples, witnesses. (Hauwerwas, pg. 13). The issue resides in the traditional understanding of Christian ethics which tries to make the world a better place without becoming a better person. In order for a minister to truly change the church system, they first will be challenged to change themselves.

The issue of a minister's id resides in their understanding of Christian ethics. If ethics is simply about making the world a better place without becoming a better person, i.e. doing good by giving to organizations or donating items without becoming a better person, i.e. living sacrificially, loving others as Christ loves them, then the mode of ethics that is followed is not going to change the id. One could argue that if we give enough to charities or watch info heart wrenching stories on the 700 Club, eventually our ids will change. The problem though is that the changing of our desires is not the purpose of the giving. The purpose of the giving is the ego fulfilling the id's desire to make oneself feel better or less guilty. If the ethic's purpose is only to appease a feeling of guilt or basic desire to be loved, then the ethic does not change us. It is an adjective.

In the church system the term Christian is used to qualify a noun or a person; giving more information about a person or object, i.e. the Christian Bible, or the Christian wife. The term Christian is regulated to giving more information about an object or person, instead of being who someone is. Returning to the minister's baptism, in our baptism we see all that Jesus has embodied. There are three dimensions of the baptism of Jesus that constitute the our Christian ethics. First is heaven is opened. The gospel begins with the tearing of the heavens and ends with the tearing of the temple curtain (Hauerwas, pg. 15). Second, God's Spirit descends like a dove, giving God's people his power. Third, God speaks. God tells everyone the importance the gift of Jesus is, "You are my Son, the Beloved,; with you I am well pleased." Mark 1:11. "God tells us that Jesus means everything to God, and that God makes himself fully known in Jesus. It also holds out the promise that, just as God gives everything to Jesus, everything he gives to Jesus he gives through Jesus to his people." (Hauerwas, pg. 15).

"Jesus has everything the Father has to give, and he gives us this everything in the unlikely place called baptism in the church" (Bruner, pg. 94). Through our baptism, we have been given everything Jesus has been given, and in those gifts, ministers are given a new set of basic desires in which our egos will strive to satisfy. But these new desires are no longer worldly desires, they are desires in which the kingdom becomes a reality. That reality is brought to fruition through our passion and our faith in who Christ is the direction and the purpose of the story in Scripture. The kingdom is defined and identified by and through Christ; therefore, our service in ministry is an extension of the service of Christ, making our basic desires those of Christ's basic desire to serve humanity with great humility.

Soren Kierkegaard observed that from the moment we are born, "man is not yet a self": we struggle to discover who we are and our relation to the world around us (Christopher M. Drohan, "Alfred, The Dark Knight of Faith" Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul pg. 187). Kierkegaard compares two fundamentally different ethical orders in his work Fear and Trembling: those who champion infinite justice as their ethical ideal, and those who champion personal love, devotion, and faithfulness as the moral high ground. These two ethical orders exist within the life of ministry because they are the orders that gives us meaning and purpose for each one extends from the ethical order of Christ.

The best way to look at this is through the ethical order of both Batman and his servant Alfred Pennyworth. For Batman justice is sociopolitical. "Justice is served when life and liberty are protected, namely by the laws and legal institutions founded in justice's name" (Drohan, pg. 185). Batman works with these institutions because they are the ones responsible for defending justice; however he is the first to break the law if he deems it unjust. Batman believes justice is something concrete that no legal system could ever completely capture. There are situations that exceed abstract legal codes and laws, i.e. stealing food to feed your family and jaywalking are hardly morally reprehensible; yet they are illegal and subject to the full punishment of the law (Drohan, pg. 186). Batman's ethical obligation belongs directly to the very justice that the law gets its power from.

For Alfred, justice is not so much a matter of social structure, but a personal matter of treating people with respect, kindness, and love. Alfred's actions reflect his intrinsic belief that people are duty-bound to each other, and that justice occurs when one serves another to the best of the one's ability (Drohan, pg. 186). For Alfred, justice is found in the very words of Jesus, "But whoever wishes to be great among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to server, and to give his life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:27-28. Alfred views justice as a duty, honoring his promises, cares for those he is responsible for, and values the work he has chosen. "Thus when Alfred agreed to serve the Wayne family, the commitment was a blood oath, a lifelong obligation to be broken only by dismissal or death." (Drohan, pg 186).

Where as Batman shows us justice as law, peace, and fair institutions, Alfred shows us a much higher justice, that of justice as love and devotion. Likewise, ministers may view justice as a duty and is only carried out through loving one another as Christ loved us (John 13:34). In our ordination, we bound by duty and honor to serve our fellow brothers and sisters. With the laying on of hands, we take on a lifelong obligation to be broken only in the resurrection of the body. We commit ourselves to a standard of ethics that is tattooed onto our hearts, minds, and souls; and we seek to fulfill this form of higher justice with all our strength. Yet, the ethics we abide by, the justice we seek is inherently unfair, because there's never a guarantee that one's kind deed will be reciprocated (Drohan, pg. 186). This is true of a minister; in fact it is rarely the case that our congregants will return our love and devotion with the same attentiveness. Still, we are bound by duty to them because of our ordination. Our ordination and our baptism creates a love that is unconditionally to the church and the members of the church.

In a way, it is absurd to love an institution and people unconditionally because we must willingly give ourselves and our form of justice over to the church because it is through the church that God's story is being told and God's justice is taking form. It's absurd because the church's actions are often misguided and self serving; yet the minister serves a the reminder that the church is called to a higher duty in Christ. We serve them with great love and respect, even though that same love and respect is not a given because that is our duty. Faith against all odds and faith amidst the absurd--this is the minister's existential condition (Drohan, pg. 187).

This is where Kierkegaard's observation of self is being formed in the minister's identity. We are given a perpetual state of anxiety within the church system because we try to define ourselves distinctly from our environment and from the mass of other people surrounding us. "We despair at the absurd paradox of trying to constitute a unique identity amidst places and histories that existed before us, and despite the opinions and identities that others impose upon us. And yet the moment we define ourselves for others is the moment we succumb to their histories and definitions, never really arriving at our own individuality. Thus an, "an existing individual (minister) is constantly in a process of becoming," says Kierkegaard" (Drohan, pg 188). While our ordination serves as our oath, our baptism serves as the movement of being constantly in a process of becoming. Our baptism into the Christian faith led to our ordination into the ministry of faith. Our ordination into ministry of faith leads to our duty bound lives serving God. And serving God is full of absurdity and paradoxes.

Abraham is possibly the best example of this absurdity. After years of trying to have a child, the Lord rewards them with the promise that he and Sara will conceive and have a son. Several years after the promise is fulfilled, God asks Abraham to take Issac up to the land of Moriah and "there you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you." Genesis 22:2. God was asking Abraham to sacrifice the very gift God gave him in Issac, whom he loved more than anyone else on Earth. Despite the absurdity of the commandment, Abraham does what he is asked. He submits to God's task.

Kierkegaard remarks on this moment, saying: "He believed by virtue of the absurd; for there could be no question of human calculation, and it was indeed the absurd that God who required it of him should the next instant recall the requirement. He climbed the mountain, even at the instant the knife glittered he believed...that God would not require Issac" (Drohan, pg 190). Kierkegaard means by "virtue of the absurd" that Abraham believed, he means that Abraham was able to trust God because he was being asked to do something unfathomable. That he could find no reason for God to give him such an impossible task did not dissuade him; instead, it actually made him believe in it's necessity (Drohan, pg 190).  Instead of speculating or questioning God's motives, Abraham simply trusted in God because God had never let him down or betrayed him.

The minister's id is about the absurd. Our desires are to fulfill a mandate at that is simply impossible to do: "Love one another as I have loved you" John 13:34. It is truly impossible for ministers to love those in their care as Christ loves them because we do not have the ability to do so. Yet, we know that this absurd request or requirement is possible for Christ has given us the necessary tools to see it done. Where God provided a ram for Abraham, God provided the actions and words of Christ. Our basic desires changed in our baptism, duty bound in our ordination, are absurd to carry forward but with the faith that moves a mountain, we know that we can because God has never betrayed us.

Like Abraham, Batman, too, believes by the virtue of the absurd. Externalizing and organizing his pain in the form of a bat who hovers over the city of Gotham, Bruce is able to carry himself self-assuredly inspite of the horrific images/memory of his parents' death. In the face of the absurd, he has confidence in a more infinite justice, to which he resigns himself (Drohan, pg 190). Kierkegaard tells us that resignation is the surrogate for faith," for a person resigns herself to what is infinitely just, that justice becomes the crux of her very existence, and the ground for her faith (Drohan, pg 191). The minister, like Batman, at once feels her life has meaning, and she looks beyond her own pain and suffering toward easing the pain and suffering of others. Ministers no longer focus on their selves, instead he willing sacrifices himself for others. The minister, in a very real way, becomes a prophet or as Kierkegaard says, "become more like knights. Unwavering in their mission, completely devoted to their just cause. A prophet, like Batman, is one of these "knights of infinite resignation" for he has dedicated his life toward sowing infinite justice. Their life is now but a means to an infinite end, an end that surpasses all other concerns, including self preservation (Drohan pg 191-92).

Ministers who live into this role of a prophet often find themselves on the outside of the church. There is not room in the church system for prophets. They disrupte the flow of politics. They speak truthfully into a community that is unable to handle such truths and in turn crucify them; yet, the minister is required to have a little of the prophet in him. It is a burden but those who have chosen to be the prophet live into the ethic of a knight of infinite resignation. These prophets in the form of advocates for social justice, advocates for equal rights, men and women who dedicate their lives to a meaning greater themselves are beyond magnificant with what they acheive; but they are resigned to the reality that their justice will not come in their lifetime. While they hold the title of minister, their dress and actions are not of ministers. They are something more.

In contrast, the minister in the church, is a knight of a different breed. We, like Alfred, are not devoted to some infinite and ideal virtue, but to a humble trade. We do not strive to make the infinite real, but to perserve the life of the church. As long a Batman is preserved by Alfred, so is their justice; just as the minister perserves the church, the prophet's justice is preserved. Thus we realize the same justice but we do so vicariously (Drohan, pg 192). Yet, we surpass the justice of the knight of infinite resignation by simultaneously realizing love, which is to say a justice made tangible in the instant (Drohan, pg 192). In each visit we make, each sermon we give, each funeral and wedding we officiate, with each loving embrace we give our church, we make the justice of God tangible and real in that instant. The minister sees justice in everything they do; therefore in their actions they become knights of faith. The paradox of this higher ethic is that on the surface it looks so ordinary, so banal (Drohan, pg 192).

Kierkegaard describes the typical knight of faith, saying:

The moment I set eyes on him I instantly push him from me, I myself leap backwards, I clasp my hands and say half aloud, "Good lord, is this the man? Is it really he? Why he looks like a tax collector!" I examine his figure from tip to toe to see if there might not be a cranny through which the infinite was peeping. No! She is solid through and through. Her tread? It is virgorous, belonging entirely to finiteness; no smartly dressed townsperson who walks but to Fresberg on a Sunday afternoon treads the ground more firmly , he belongs entirely to the world, no Philistine more so. One can discover nothing of that aloof and superior nature whereby one recognizes the knight of the infinite. He takes delight in everything, and whenever ones sees him taking part in a particular pleasure, he does it with the presistence which is the mark of the earthly human whose soul is absorded in such things. She tends to her work. So when one looks at her one might suppose that she was a clerk who lost her soul in an intricate system of book-keeping, precise is she. She takes a holiday on Sunday. She goes to church (Drohan, pg 193).

There is nothing fancy about the minister. The humble minister is dressed no different than a secretary or a digger. Looking at them, you might not know they are a minister. The knights of faith carry on with the daily grind; while in contrast the knights of infinite resignation are spectacular, their armor matching their self assurance, and their deeds expressing infinite flair. Yet, the meager knights of faith are nothing special and their deeds are routine.

The real difference between these two has nothing to do with the attention the receive. While the knights of infinite resignation are always waiting for some future ideal state, the knights of faith have found it, and are living it presently. Their eternity is not to come, but is found in the moment, as they realize that in loving and serving others they exercise the kind of fellowship that infinitely sustain humanity. For them, peace on earth must be made with every gesture and every action. And it starts by committing ourselves to another person and by helping that person in every way that we can (Drohan, pg 194).

In our ordination, we are committing ourselves to the service of God through the church. Each of us, in our space, serve a community with an unconditional love. We make the impossible possible by expressing it spiritually by our unwavering claim to an unconditional love of a people who are desperately seeking the God who came in Christ. We, unlike the prophets, do not seek out a justice for all, but only for the church we care for. While we serve together, we serve separately, with each their own people to love and care for. The minister commits his whole life and the entirety of his faith toward the service of his Christ through Christ's church. In remaining faithful to our congregation, the minister remains faithful to his ordination, to his baptism, and to the Christian ethic given by Christ. And this, Kierkegaard tells us, ultimately is "Love" (Drohan, pg. 195).

It is absurd to love a church with an unconditional love as a minister knowing that same love is returned to you with conditions. It is absurd to love a church unconditionally knowing that when you leave, while it may be sad for awhile and it may hurt the church, you will eventually be replaced and forgotten. It is the paradox of the absurdity of our ordination, of our baptism, and of our Christian ethic we live out the kingom of God in a real tangible form through our unconditional love: "By your love, they will know you are my disciple" (John 13:35). The minister is the dark knight of faith.