Incomplete Projects Part 1

I was working through Luke 14:25-30 for Sunday when I came across this statement, "This fellow is a great hand at starting things, but he can't carry through on them." (Luke 14:30 Cotton Patch Gospel). I read those words in Jesus' parable and since I take my call very seriously, I began to ponder how often I have left something unfinished.

Sadly there is a lot.

There are four attempts at this blog, this one being the longest one maintained. There are projects here and there around the house that I started but didn't finish. There are projects around the church that I started but didn't finish. I have a plethora of books that I started but didn't finish. The same can be said of the books I said I was going to write, which is a total of about ten. It appears that I start a lot stuff and never finish it.

As I fight that little voice in my head that tells me I am a complete failure, I focus on what Jesus was actually saying and things become clearer.

When I die, Connor will sit down at my desk and begin shifting through my things. He will find incomplete journals, incomplete books, incomplete websites, incomplete lists of goals and things to do, all of which would say to him that his father was an incomplete man. Yet when that voice enters his head he will most likely have memories of why those things are incomplete. An interruption for a funeral here, a wedding there, a hospital visit here, and a "Daddy, come play with me!" there. What I think he will discover is not an incomplete life but an interrupted one filled holy interruptions of games, dinners, and laughter.

At least that is what I hope he discovers.

Because it is what I am discovering.

Jesus' parable of the man building a building is not about finishing your do-it-yourself projects or your honey-do list. It is not a parable about finishing your books on preaching or ministry (There's enough of those out there). It is not about anything except starting and finishing following Jesus and being an active participant in the kingdom of heaven no matter the cost.

And that is something I know I am not incomplete in rather I am following with every fiber of my being.

It reminds me of my ordination gift the deacons at Hatcher gave me. It reads, "This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished but it going on, this not the end but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified."

Suddenly that little voice disappears and I get back to work.

Luke 14:1,7-14 (Jesus' Challenge)

The one consistent in Luke’s gospel is that Jesus likes to eat (obviously he was a Baptist) and several of the doings of Jesus take place in the middle of eating. Luke is not shy about with who Jesus visits and eats with, from eating with the who who’s, Simon the Pharisee, Zacheaus, or with other tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners. Jesus eats with anyone who invites to him to dinner. Of course inviting Jesus to dinner, especially after church, is an invitation to danger and trouble as we are see here:

“Now it so happened one Sunday that he went to home to dinner with one of the denominational leaders, who were keeping a close eye on him. Noting the scramble for the places of honor at the table, he gave some advice to the church leaders who invited him. “When you are invited by someone to a banquet, don’t go immediately to the head of the table. It might be that some big shot with a higher title than yours has been invited, too, and the person in charge of seating arrangements will have to say to you, “Please let this gentleman have your seat.” Then with embarrassment you’ll begin to step down to the lower seat. But when you’re invited, take the most inconspicuous seat, and if the emcee comes in and says to you, “Hello, my friend. Come on up here,” then you’ll feel honored before all the guests. For anyone who promotes himself will be humiliated, and he who humbles himself will be promoted.” (Luke 14:1, 7-11 Cotton Patch Gospel).

This is one the most self-explanatory “parables” Jesus gives, next to the parable of the sower sowing seeds one day; and we would be justified to end our service here with the simple challenge: When you’re invited to dinner, take the inconspicuous seat so that you may be moved up instead taking the important seat and being asked to give up your seat. It is an easy challenge and perhaps on the simplest level that is all Jesus is saying to us, but I doubt this is just about which seat we have chosen. I think though this more than about taking our seats at the banquet table.

Jesus, after making his parable observation, turns his attention to his host, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, don’t invite your close friends or your family or relatives or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you to theirs or repay you in some honoring form, and you’ll break even. But when you give any kind of a party, invite the poor, the disabled, the crippled, and the blind. It will make you very happy, because they don’t have anything with which to pay you back. Yet you’ll be amply ‘repaid’ when the truly good are made to live.”

Again, Jesus’ instructions are very self-explanatory and each of you are old enough to understand what Jesus is saying. He speaks very plainly and I am not one to attempt to out-teach Jesus so I will simply skip the brouhaha and go to my conclusion.

School starts Tuesday for most of our students and children and our teachers. We all know what that first day of school is like: a mix of emotions of excitement and dread. Parents are excited to get the kids out of the house. The kids are dreading the end of summer vacation. Teachers, depending on their length of experience, are also mixed with emotions of joy, excitement, worry, and dread. The school year always carries with it the potential to change lives and provide a new start for many. It is also a time when teachers and students can change a system built on bullying and status.

So here is where Jesus’ words apply to us today: Teachers, pray every day for your students. Do not just pray for your favorite ones or the ones with money or with the good parents. Pray for them all. Pray for the child whose mother is dying from cancer. Pray the teenager whose parents are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Pray and lift up the student who is wearing clothes too small or too big because their parents could not afford new clothes that fit just right. Pray for the teenager who feels she must give herself away in order to be loved. Pray for the boys who feel the pressure to man up by belittling and bullying the social outcast. Pray for your fellow teachers and administrators and lift them up, knowing they, like their students, are going through struggles of their own.

St. Francis of Assai once said, “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words when necessary.” Teachers, let your actions speak louder than your words. Let your students know that you believe in them and that love them because they are a beloved child of God. Have the patience of one who knows the patience of God. Remember Jesus did not say, “They will know you are my disciples by your bumper-sticker.” He said, “By your love they will know you are my disciple.” Let his parable today challenge you to be his disciple through your actions and not your words.

Love your students and show them how much they are valued even when they push your patience to the end of the earth.

Students, (what did you think you’d be exempt?) remember the words of Jesus when you take your seat at the lunch table. Remember the words of Jesus when you see the quiet one sitting by themselves. Remember Jesus’ words when you send invitations out for you parties and gatherings. Remember Jesus’ words when you invite others to the movies or to your church events. Remember to not just invite your friends but those who are looking for a friend, those who are in need of a friend who will love them for themselves. Remember Jesus’ words before you get on Facebook, Twitter, Snapshot, Tumbler, Instagram, or when you text, or whatever new social media app there is, remember his words and do not let your faith just be something you have on Sunday. Be kind to everyone, love everyone because Christ loved you.

Remember to pray for your teachers as well. They are human and bound to make mistakes. They are human with lives outside the school and those lives, like yours, can become hectic, stressful, and painful. Pray for them and love them, even when you think they don’t like you. Remember the words of Jesus about humility and loving those who are outsiders and know the outsiders are not just the “uncool” kids but may be your teacher as well.

Students, take a risk this year and befriend the unfriendly and care for the outcast. Do not be afraid to stand up for those being bullied or picked on. Do not be afraid to change the social order in your school. Remember these challenging questions:

1)      What would it be like to invite a kid who seems to be alone to sit with your group?

2)      What would it be like to reach out to someone who is very different from you? (BTW, my best friend in high school was/is extremely different than me and has been my friend for 17 years).

3)      What would it be like to give up your seat on the bus to someone who got on late?

4)      What would it be like to stop someone from bullying someone else?

5)      What would it be like to post on Facebook something kind about someone who rarely gets noticed?

6)      What would it be like to invite someone that doesn’t often get invited to a party or an outing?

7)      What would it be like to tweet a quotation—maybe even verse 13 from today’s reading?

8)      What would it be like, if someone asks you why you’re doing this, to say, it’s because it’s what you think God wants?

Students and Teachers, I not only dare you or double dog dare you, no I triple dog dare you to defy the social convention of our schools and stand up for justice as Christ commands us to do. Things won’t change overnight, they rarely ever do, and you will experience setbacks and frustrations but you are not on your own.

Right, church? (What, did you think the rest of us were getting exempt?”)

Our challenge is to commit to praying and lifting up our youth and children and our teachers that they may maintain courage, patience, and love as they work and struggle through the school year. Our challenge is commit ourselves to being the church for the churchless, for the broken, for the students who feel alone and lost, for the students who are absent fathers or mothers, for the students who feel they will never amount to anything. Our challenge is commit ourselves to praying for them and for our teachers. We are being challenged to pray they live out their call and that they love each student as if they carried them for nine months.

Jesus is challenging us to give up our seats to those students who looking to be loved and to feed them with the love of Christ not in word but in our deeds. Our challenge is to make lots of room at the table for the students who are hungry and thirsty, lost and alone, tired and weary, angry and addicted. Our challenge is to accept them, feed them, and love them.

Are we up for this challenge?

You Came to Get Healed on a Sunday?

Weeks before his death from suffering with tuberculosis, Henry Lite wrote: Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; the darkness deepens; Lord with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Abide with me.

In his final months, his plea was for the Lord to not abandon him in his darkest hour but to stay near and abide. A beautiful hymn with a beautiful story that enhances a beautiful gospel story.

One Sunday Jesus was teaching in one of the churches. And woman there who for eighteen years had had a weak spirit and was so bent down she couldn’t look up. When Jesus saw her, he called out and said to her, “Lady, you have been freed from your weakness.” He put his hands on her and right away she was straightened up, and started praising God.

But the pastor of the church, indignant that Jesus had healed her on a Sunday, on a Sunday! The pastor said to the people, “There are six days in which it is all right to work. Come on one of them and get yourselves healed, but not on a Sunday!”

Jesus replied, “You bunch of hypocrites! Doesn’t every one of you on Sunday turn his cow or horse out of the stall so it can go drink? All right, now take this lady, who had been spiritually locked up for eighteen years; don’t you think she should have been released from her bondage on Sunday?”

This kind of argument surely did shake up his enemies, but most of the people were overjoyed at the wonderful things he was doing. (Luke 13:10-17 Cotton Patch Gospel).

I have seen a preacher stop a service for many a reasons. I once watched a preacher stop in the middle of his sermon to chastise the entire youth group for passing notes. I heard of a preacher who stopped the service to berate the congregation beginning with the person who fell asleep and ending with calling one member “the sorriest church member he ever had.” I watched as a little girl interrupted the pastor’s sermon to give him a drawing. I also watched that pastor stop his sermon and gleefully accept the girl’s gift. I have even experienced a pastor stop in midstride to yell at the choir for talking during the sermon. However, never have I experienced a pastor stop the service to heal someone or pray with someone.

Jesus sees this woman whose spirit is so broken that it had weighed her down for 18 years of her life. Luke doesn’t tell us exactly what was weighing her spirit and it doesn’t seem to matter in this story, what matters is her and her burden, her struggle, and the presence of Jesus. Jesus sees this woman as he is teaching and stops, calls out to her, and heals her. If Jesus is our pioneer of faith, as the writer of Hebrews indicates, then it is necessary for us to see how connected, how in focus, and how present Jesus was to his surroundings.

It would have been easy for Jesus to get caught up in the strictness of the Sabbath law. Once a week the Sabbath was intended to be a day of complete rest for the people, both rich and poor, free and slave, as well as for the ground and the livestock. It was a justice law enforced to allow time for rest and a day with God so everything does not become overburdened or abused. Jesus knows this law very well but something inside him causes him to break the law.

The woman is not seeking healing or any specific comfort, Jesus breaks the law not of request but of compassion for God’s movement. God’s movement transforms us to be active doers of the word and to understand the law through eyes and minds that are not our own. “The woman is broken, worn, abused, burdened, in need of rest,” Jesus explains, “Why shouldn’t she be healed on a Sunday?” Why shouldn’t she be healed on a Sunday? Many of us are here in hope of some renewal, some life-giving refreshing and reassurance of God’s hope and God’s love. We desire to know that God still cares for us, still loves us even when our own spirit is weighed down. Should you leave and come back on Monday to be refreshed? Should you leave and only come back when you’ve been made right? Why shouldn’t you be healed on a day that belongs to God? Why shouldn’t she be healed on a day that belongs to God?

The leader of the synagogue may have had good intentions and wanted to enforce the law because if you make one exception for one, you’ll end up making another exception for another. It is the belief that if you make an exception to bend the rules for one person, soon you’ll have to make exceptions for others and it is a slippery slope. The pastor believed Jesus should have told her to come back on a Monday instead of healing her then, even though she never asked to be healed. The pastor didn’t want his church to become a church law breakers and radicals. He wanted to keep Sunday safe and he wanted his congregation to be safe believers of God. He wanted his congregation to be good citizens of the law and instead of radical citizens of God’s kingdom.

Last week we read Jesus’ own words, “I have come not to bring peace but conflict.” and in today’s story we see Jesus inject the God fueled conflict into a local church. Jesus’ “conflict” sure did shake up his enemies but the people were overjoyed.

The people were overjoyed.

When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide with me.

People long to know there is someone out there who cares for them and loves them. It one of the consistent reasons teenagers join gangs or fall into drugs and alcoholism because they are longing to know someone cares for them and loves them. They give up on life or believe they cannot amount to anything because of an emptiness, a void seeking to be fulfilled by someone’s love.

I am not one for trends and surveys. I tend to think they are heavily bias and do not speak for every given context; yet there is a consistent statement in the surveys on church and why people are not coming as they once did. It is the statement that we preach about God’s unconditional love but practice judgment and hate. In some form that statement, that observation, that thought appears in nearly every survey on why people, specifically my generation, has stopped coming to church.

Whether we think they are misunderstanding or making general assumptions about Christians and church, we must not turn a blind eye to this thought. We cannot allow for voices that speak only to the law and to power and to wealth to be the voice of the Christian church. Those voices are the voice of the pastor who believes himself/herself to be the most important person in the room. Those voices are the voices of the pastors who tell the broken, the poor, the oppressed, the lonely, the hurting, the mourning, and the lost, to get lost on Sunday because they are dirtying up the place, and to come back when they’ve taken care of their personal problems. We cannot allow room, anymore, for those voices.

Our voice must rise above the others, shouting of the healing love of Christ and acceptance of all sinners in his church. Our voice must represent the voice of Jesus, who willing stops his own sermon, not to preach some hopeful word, but to lay his healing hands on the broken spirit, on the burden that has weighed this woman down for so many years. Our voice must rise out over the crowd as Martin Luther King Jr.’s did 50 years ago this Wednesday when his Baptist preacher side took over:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all people are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.” (King, Jr. Martin Luther. “I Have a Dream” August 28, 1963).

Let our voices speak of the one who has freed us from our prejudices, from our reliance on wealth and power; the one who freed us from our hatred, self-loathing, and self-indulging, selfish attitudes. Let our voices roll out over the crowds giving new life and transforming us all into followers of God’s holy movement.  

Not Peace But Conflict

The scripture interpretations have been taken from Clarence Jordan’s Cotton Patch Gospel.

Jesus is recorded to have spoken some very controversial words and sayings throughout the gospels. We have him on record saying, after reading the writings of Isaiah, “The Lord’s spirit is on me; He has ordained me to break the good news to the poor people. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the oppressed, and sight for the blind. To help those who have been grievously insulted to find dignity; to proclaim the Lord’s new era”, as saying “This very day this scripture has become a reality in your presence.” Everyone amened and were amazed but Jesus didn’t stop there, “Surely some of you will cite to me the old proverb, “Doctor, take your own medicine. Let us see you do right here in your hometown all the things we heard you did over yonder.”  Well to tell you the truth, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. And I’m telling you straight, there were a lot of white widows during the time of Elijah, when the skies were locked up for three years and six months, and there was a great drought everywhere, but Elijah didn’t stay with any of them. Instead he stayed with a Negro widow over the next county. And there were a lot sick white people during the time of the great preacher Elisha, but he didn’t heal any of them—only Naamen the African.”

Jesus should have stopped when they were amening, the collection plates were ready to overflow, now though, after he finished they ran him out of town with the intention of pushing him off a cliff. Jesus says a lot harsh words and his commands, even his parables, are hard to swallow. He told the passersby to sell their belongings and give the money to the poor. He told them when someone strikes you on the left cheek you offer them the right or when they wanted your jacket you should give them your shoes also. He told them the first will be last and the last will be first. He told them that the poor are blessed because theirs is the kingdom of heaven, the hungry are God’s people because their bellies will be filled, the weeping are God’s people because they will laugh.

Jesus has said a many controversial words in his day. Every hour on the hour CNN would have a headline that read, “Jesus says: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Billy O’Reilly and Rachel Maddow clarify that he doesn’t mean everyone in the next hour.”

I believe, out of all that is recorded, the harshest words Jesus has spoken comes from our scripture passage this morning: “I came to kindle a fire on the earth, and what wouldn’t I give if it were already roaring! I have an ordeal to go through, and how pressed I am until it comes to a head! Do you all think that I came to give the world peace? No, I tell you, not peace but conflict. From now on, if a house has five people in it, they shall be fighting—three against two and two against three. A father will be against his son, and the son against his father; a mother against her daughter, and the daughter against her mother; a mother-in-law against the bride, and the bride against the mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:49-53 Cotton Patch Gospel).

Indeed time as shown, as it often does, Jesus has brought more conflict than peace. He seems intent on dividing families: he divided James and John from their father; he divided himself from his mother and brothers, saying, “those who do the will of my father are my mother and my brother”; at the age of 12, he disappears for three days in Jerusalem, and when his parents finally find him in the Temple and scold him, he retorts, “You should have known that I would be here.” Later on in Luke, Jesus says, “If anyone is considering joining me, and does not hate his father or mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, indeed for his own life—he simply cannot belong to my fellowship.” Jesus seems intent on dividing and on creating conflict and that is what he does.

Following Jesus is not all rainbows and sunshine, joining and becoming a part of the Christian community is not going to guarantee you a life of happiness. The only guarantee we have as Christians is this: the cross. That is our guarantee. It is a guarantee that we will have to pick up and carry our own cross with the knowledge that we will be nailed to it. The Jesus we follow is not some tame and nice Jesus, he is the one who over turns the money lenders in the temple. He is the one who, unapologetically, calls the Pharisees hypocrites. He is Jesus, the fulfiller of the law, the one who has come not to bring peace but a sword, not campfires and songs of kumbaya but hard messages of abandoning our families, our wealth to follow him.

Sometimes I think we wish Jesus was a little more tamed. One that preferred our praises and hymns instead of one who demanded our lives.

Clarence Jordan tells this story: He was invited to speak at a church in a suburb and he had it is mind what he was going to preach until he showed up to the church that Sunday. He had thought the church he was going to was a big white Southern Baptist Church (keep in my mind this story takes place in 1950 something). When he arrived at the church he discovered it wasn’t a big swanky white church. It was a mill-town church at the edge of the city and the city grew up and engulfed it. The sanctuary sat about 300 but there were close to 600 there. But the surprising thing, the thing that amazed him the most was the people were both white and black, just sitting anywhere they wanted to sit. And behind him sat the choir filled with both white and black voices singing together. He was amazed!

After the service the preacher got up and told everybody they were going to have dinner out on the grounds, and not behind the church but out in the front of the church, where the entire city could see them! As they gathered out in the front yard to eat lunch, Clarence went over to the preacher and said, “You know, this is rather amazing thing to me. Were you integrated before the Supreme Court decision?” The preacher looked at his and said, “What decision?”

The preacher explained: “Well, back in the depression, I was a worker here in this little mill. I didn’t have any education. I couldn’t even read and write. I got somebody to read the Bible to me, and I was moved and I gave my heart to the Lord, and later, I felt the call of the Lord to preach. This little church here was too poor to have a preacher and I just volunteered. They accepted me and I started preaching. Someone read to me in there where God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), and I preached that.”

Clarence looked at him and asked, “Yeah. How did that get along?”

“Well,” the preacher said, “the deacons came around to me after that sermon and said, “Now, brother pastor, we not only don’t let a Negro spend the night in this town, we don’t even let him pass through. Now, we don’t want that kind of preaching you’re giving us.”

“What did you do?” Clarence asked.

“I fired them deacons.” He answered.

“Why didn’t they fire you?”

“Well,” the preacher said, “they never had hired me. I just volunteered.”

“Did you have any more trouble with them?”

“Yeah,” the preacher said, “they came back at me again.”

“What did you do with them this time?”

“I turned them out. I told them anybody that didn’t know any more about the gospel of jesus than that not only shouldn’t be an officer in the church, he shouldn’t be a member of it. I had to put them out.”

“Did you put anybody else out?” Clarence asked.

“Well, I preached awfully hard, and I finally preached them down to two. But,” the preacher said, “those two were committed. I made sure that any time after that, anybody who came into my church understood that they were giving their life to Jesus and they were going to have to be serious about it. What you see here is a result of that.” (Jordan, Clarence. “The Substance of Faith” The Substance of Faith and Other Cotton Patch Gospels. pg 44-45).

Jesus preaches a hard message of love and change that brings conflict and divides families into 3 against 2 or 2 against 3. A message that divides churches into 3/4ths of a vote. It is not a message of acceptance. Acceptance is no different than toleration. I can accept and tolerate without ever loving someone. It is a message of unconditional love for our neighbor, the love that sends a follower of Christ to the cross for his/her neighbor. If we wish to be serious Christians in a serious time then we need the untamed words of Christ to pierce our souls because these words make us whole. We need to be willing to grab our cross and sing, “Come thou fount of every blessing, tune thy heart sing thy grace; Streams of mercy never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise: Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above; Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of thy redeeming love!”

The message of Christ is not a message that brings peace, instead it is a message that brings wholeness. It is a message that confronts us with the difficult truths of the sins of our wealth and the difficult truth that there is no Christian state if it is ruled by power and control instead of servanthood and sacrifice. Jesus wishes to make us whole and in order to do that, in order to fully make us his disciples, his words must burn our souls like the refiner’s fire so that we may be purified and become full followers of his movement, his kingdom.

Are we willing to be made whole by being cut into pieces? Are we willing to bring the peace of Christ to a world who believes peace to be an avoidance of conflict and conflict to be at war with our neighbor? The peace of Christ is a peace that brings conflict to world that believes the first shall be first and the last should get a job. The message of Christ transforms us into a people who sees their neighbors not as their enemies but as a child of God. It burns away everything that holds to worldviews and transforms our eyes, our hearts, and our ears to a Godview of creation, of this world.

Are we willing to allow the life changing, soul piercing, and fire burning words of Jesus to burn our old self away so that the new self, the self in Christ can pick up our cross and join fully in God’s movement? Our cross is waiting.

An Open Letter to Church Critics: "Is There No One Else?!"

After quickly dispensing of a foe in the underrated Troy (my opinion), Achilles turns to the crowd yelling, "Is there no one else?!" Of late that is how I felt when I read an article written on the cultural trends of the church, or the reason millennialists are leaving the church, or how to attract "young" people, etc. and etc. After reading each post I feel like screaming, "Is there no one else!" Is there no other challenge? Is this the only challenge church "critics" like to talk about?

These articles do not make me squirm in my seat or challenge me as a leader in the church. They do not challenge me in the ways the prophets do. They do not force me to stand in the pulpit and say, "I have been convicted!" They do make me want to change a structure here or there but it's a reactive change to protect my paid profession. I'd be happy to hire a praise band so that I could bring more "young" folks in but they need to be wealthyish so I can continue to sit behind my computer at Starbucks and read articles. These millenialist and attraction church articles do nothing to challenge my call, my faith, or my role as pastor.

"Church critics", I dare you to challenge me!

I dare you to speak as Amos does of summer fruit baskets and plumb lines. I dare you to speak as Hosea does of Israel's "whoreness". I dare you to challenge as Isaiah challenges, "And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress" (Isaiah 5:7b). I dare you to challenge me as Jesus does in every shape and being to love my neighbor, to love my enemy, to pray for those who persecute me, to rely on God's grace and not place trust in my wealth, or to go and make disciples. I wish you to challenge me, to call me a fool as Jesus does, and to force me to reevaluate my role as pastor.

That is what I need.

I am daring you to speak bravely and challenge my role as pastor because your articles on millennialism do nothing but create an anxiety to protect what is mine. They do not challenge me to go and sit beside the sick. Your articles and research do not cause me to give rides to the hitchhikers. Your articles speak nothing into the fatherless and parentless homes around me or call me to defend the voiceless children facing emotional and abusive turmoil. Your articles speak nothing into the empty, hungry bellies seeking food in our food pantries. You are speaking nothing into my call except how I should protect my job. You are speaking nothing into a world in need of the gospel.

My dear "Church Critic", I think you have misunderstood what I need from you. I do not need your observations on the cultural trends that are affecting church budgets or church attendance. While the observation is helpful to know, I need more from you. You see, I am not concerned with my job. Whether I am a full-time pastor or part-time pastor, I will always be a pastor even if my "real" job is digging a hole. I am not concerned about my wealth because I have seen God's faithfulness so I know my family and I will be okay.

You see, what I am concerned with are the families in my community who are struggling to make it day to day for various reasons. I am concerned with those in my community who are longing for a place to belong, a place and people to love them unconditionally, to know God's unconditional love is greater than any prosperity gospel. I am concerned with the teenagers in my community who believe they are not capable of doing anything with their lives so they quit before they are half done with high school. I am concerned with a political system that does not allow poverty stricken families an opportunity to get off food stamps because the amount they are to make to not qualify is not enough to receive the basic necessities of life: food, clothing, and shelter.

"Church Critic", I do have concerns as a pastor but my concerns are not about the future of the church or the future of my job. My concerns are of the kingdom, of God's Movement, and if you wish to continue to speak of trends, then I will continue to shout, "Is there no one else?!" until someone answers.

Then when one finally has the courage to speak up and challenge as Clarence Jordan does, as Martin Luther King Jr. does, as Tony Campolo does, as Dietrich Bonheoffer does, as Amos does, as Isaiah, as Hosea, as Jesus, the Son of God does, they will have my undivided attention, my willing heart, my closed mouth, and my open ears.

However, if you wish to stay behind your comfortable computer screen and profit off your book sales or tally your blog visits, then I am done; for you see, I have a certain Movement to be about and I have wasted enough time not being challenged.

Why, Oh Why, Do You Worry So?

It is a worrisome age we are in. We are worried about the government, the future, terror threats, retirement, our wealth, our legacy, our families, our homes, or whatever else causes us to grind our teeth and turn our hair grey. Sadly our worrisome age is encouraged, or rather fueled by the news media, politicians, Wall Street capitals, television preachers, and social media. The more you and I worry the more money they make and the more exposure they receive. If we didn’t worry about living the best life now we wouldn’t be buying books that tell us how.

Indeed it is a difficult time to be a Christian perhaps though not for the reasons we might think or nod our amening heads at. It is difficult in terms of how the church is challenged in opposing thought by her leaders. On one hand you have a group which encourages us to buy into anything their 24 hour news stations tell us to be fact while on the other another group encourages us to buy into anything their political party tell us to be fact. And as if our hands are not full enough we have a little book in which the words of the Messiah are recorded which tell us to buy into everything he is telling us to be fact.

Choices, choices, choices, with so many it is indeed difficult to know which voice is the right voice. Each one claim to be speaking for the voice recorded in today’s scripture, yet each one is speaking only a half truth or a half interpretation of the voice. So many voices to listen to, it is hard to hear the voice of Jesus speak even when he speaks so clearly. Who do we listen to?

Let’s give Jesus a try, it is Sunday after all.

“He said to his student, “That’s why I’m telling you not to worry about your physical life—what you’ll eat—or for your body—what you’ll wear. For life is much more than eating, and the body is more than clothing. Take a look at the birds. They don’t plant, they don’t harvest, they don’t store things away in cribs or barns. Yet God cares for them. You are considerably more valuable than birds. Besides, which one of you, by fretting and fuming, can make himself one inch taller? Well, if your worrying can’t change a little thing like that, why wear yourself out over anything else?

Now take a look at the lilies, how they do no knitting or sewing; yet I’m telling you that not even Solomon, in all his finest, was ever dressed as beautifully like one of them. Well then, if God so outfits a plant that one day is growing in the field and the next is used for fuel, he’ll do even more for you, you spiritual runts. The people of the world go tearing around after all these things. But your Father knows you need them. So set your heart on his Movement, and such things will be fully supplied.

Stop being so scared, my little flock. Your Father has decided to make you responsible for the Movement. Sell what you own and give it with no strings attached. Make yourselves wallets that don’t wear out, an unsurpassed spiritual treasure which thieves do not plunder, nor do worms consume. For your treasure and your heart are wrapped up together.” (Luke 12:22-38 Cotton Patch Gospel)

This passage follows a very direct parable in which a rich man is called a fool and “dies” the very night after building more barns to store his belongings as he retired to his lawn chair. Do you recall the story?

“There was a certain rich fellow whose farm produced well. And he had a meeting with himself and he said, “What shall I do? I don’t have room enough to store my crops.” Then he said, “Here’s what I’ll do: I’ll tear down my old barns and build some bigger one in which I’ll store all my wheat and produce. And I will say to myself, “Self, you’ve got enough stuff stashed away to do you a long time. Recline, dine, wine, and shine!” But God said to him, “You fool! At this very moment your life is being demanded of you. All these things you’ve grubbed for, to whom shall they belong?” That’s the way it is with a man who piles up stuff for himself without giving God a thought.” (Luke 12:16:-21 CPG).

It needs to be said that Jesus is not making a sweeping declaration against wealth, he is making a sweeping declaration of what happens when wealth, security for the future become our god, our focus, our treasure. The man is a fool because he is concerned with his house, his bank account, and his retirement pension. He is a fool for allowing the security of his wealth to become his sole concern. So Jesus tells the young man who has concerned about his brother splitting his inheritance with him to not place his heart in such treasures of the earth. We are not to concern ourselves with making sure we can retire in style because such thoughts, such desires will overcome our Christian call to live faithfully, sacrificially, and in generosity.

I would be a fool if I believed this to be a passage urging us to not concern ourselves with another’s economic situation. Jesus speaks to this when he follows his parable with the observation of the birds and the lilies, saying that God knows we need the basic necessities of life: food, clothing, shelter. He urges us to look at the Rich Man as an example of what happens when we allow our wealth, our possessions to become our treasures, become the matters and concerns of our hearts. When our wealth, our possessions, our desire to obtain more is our sole focus then our hearts become cold, our eyes become blind, and our ears become deaf to the voice of God speaking from the voiceless in our community. Poverty may not be a virtue (remember Jesus said the poor are blessed because theirs is the kingdom of heaven) but neither is wealth a virtue (remember Jesus said, “It will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a wealthy person to enter the kingdom of God). When our sole focus it to obtain a secure future we become servants of that future and servants to the wealth it calls for.

Notice the man in the parable only speaks in first person, “I”, “Me”, and “Mine”. What he worked hard for was all his and his alone; yet it is the ground that produced the goods in which he profited, others helped gather in the goods in which he profited, everything he had obtained came from the work of another. His thoughts became only for himself and not for his neighbor. He became the rich man ignoring the poor Lazarus begging for food while he gladly feeds scraps to the dogs. 

In our worrisome age we are willing to do whatever it takes to protect what is ours. During our most recent election season the following amounts were spent: The presidential candidates spent nearly $1 billion on television ads and other campaign advertisements. The men who ran for our district's congressional seat raised close to $1 million for their advertisements to be elected. Several Christian organizations gave close $600 million for advertisements to try and get someone elected. Let us ask ourselves this serious question: Could that 1.7 billion dollars have been given to a better use? Could that amount of money gone to organizations like Habitat for Humanity or countless other organizations who work to ease the worries for the homeless, the hungry, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned? Could that amount of money gone to something that is more important than an election? That’s a lot of money to maintain the status quo.

If Jesus is right and where we store our treasures is where our heart is also, then we must admit we have become fools whose hearts are not set on God’s movement, for we no longer look to the birds or to the tiger lilies to see how God provides. We have placed our faith in the power of men and in the power of wealth in hopes they will provide for us a lush home on the golf course with a balcony to put our feet up and relax as others tee off. We are striving for things of the nation, things of this world, and not for things of the kingdom.

Why do we worry so?

When I was a child my Sunday school teachers taught me a very simple song to remind me of who is really in control, whose hands this world is really in. You might know this song too: He’s go the whole world in his hands; he’s got the whole world in his hands; he’s got the whole world in his hand; he’s got the whole wide world in his hands. Now it is true when I was child I thought and acted like a child but as I grew up I began to think and act like an adult. I miss one little connection on a flight to San Francisco and suddenly I am terrified of missing my flight. I doubt that is exactly what Paul was referring to in his letter but there is something to be said how we worry as adults about things we rarely worried for when we were children.

What I mean is this:

One morning Connor really wanted to go play on the playground. He dressed up in his costume, grabbed his Thor hammer and headed outside. He stood in the driveway as large dark ominous clouds began to roll in over the church. At the sound of thunder Connor raised his hammer to the sky yelling, “NO! I command you to move!” In his little mind he believed with everything he had he could convince the rain not to come. Sure enough, the clouds rolled on past and the sun returned.

When was the last time we adults had such faith?

Mark Yaconelli writes, “Anxiety is the inability to be present. It’s a state of agitation in which we lose our ability to emphasize, to love, to respond to the needs of others. When we’re anxious (worried) we become squirrel-like—nervous and wary, teeth chattering, eyes scanning for danger, muscles spring-loaded, waiting to scamper up the nearest tree at every sound. Anxiety comes from words that denote “to choke”. When we’re anxious we can’t breathe. We feel life closing in, leaving fewer and fewer choices. We find ourselves unable to discern real fears from reactive worry. We lose patience, and we’re unable to trust. We get suspicious, distancing ourselves from others, ourselves, and even God. We become lost in our heads, caught up in fearful thoughts and calculations. Our minds oscillate between the future and the past. We worry about what should have happened or fear what might take place. In anxiety we lose touch with what’s driving us. Our actions become self-protective, reactive, and compulsive” (Yaconelli, Mark. Contemplative Youth Ministry pg 35).

On my right there is a number that is posted every week that inadvertently causes anxiety and worry within the church. This morning that number is pretty high and most likely the anxiety level is down and perhaps we should just have a guest preacher every Sunday if giving goes up. There’s not a guarantee next Sunday that the number will be as high and when it comes to church budgets, anxiety and worry reign supreme.

A couple of months ago a dear friend lost his job at a church because they were behind on their giving and they were not sure they’d meet their budget. Similarly there are hundreds of other ministers, mainly associates, who will lose their jobs due to budget issues and they are not the only “items” cut from the budget. When our anxiety over the budget rises we begin to tighten our belts and the first “items” to go are staff, missions, youth, children, and any other “item” deemed of lesser importance. When a church’s highest line items are its pastor’s salary, building, and cemetery funds it says something about the church. It says the church is in danger of becoming like the rich fool, placing our faith, our hope, and value in the seen and tangible instead of placing it all in the hands of the intangible God. They become in danger of being unable to see how much more they are worth than the lilies of the valleys clothed in gold and the birds flying to and fro.

It is dangerous to concern ourselves with the question, “Will we be here in 30, 40, 50, 100, 200, 225 years from now?” for if we do we allow our worries to exasperate our fears and become believers that wealth and power will solve our problems. Jesus is wanting our hearts and minds to be set on things of the kingdom so that we can hear the tears of the teenager down the road as she cries in her room because her alcoholic father told her she was nothing. Our hearts and minds are to be set on things of the kingdom so that we can hear the laughter of the children as rustle about in the pews. Our hearts and minds are to be set on things of the kingdom so that we will show compassion to one needing food, clothing, or help with a bill. If our minds and hearts are not set to the kingdom, if we are constantly worried about what the future holds, or thinking if we just throw enough money at the problem it will be solved, we will miss the voice of Jesus.

Perhaps what we need now is not more money but more people willing to place their hope and faith in God’s movement. Perhaps what we need is to be reminded of the truth of the old spiritual we were taught as children, “He’s got the whole world in his hands. He’s got the whole world in his hands. He’s got the whole world in his hands. He’s got the whole wide world in his hands.” Perhaps what we need is to see we have enough and it is time to commit ourselves to the work of Christ for it is better to be a church flooded with loud voices and generous spirits than a beautiful building with an empty inside.

Let us listen to Jesus, the Son of God, once more:

“He said to his student, “That’s why I’m telling you not to worry about your physical life—what you’ll eat—or for your body—what you’ll wear. For life is much more than eating, and the body is more than clothing. Take a look at the birds. They don’t plant, they don’t harvest, they don’t store things away in cribs or barns. Yet God cares for them. You are considerably more valuable than birds. Besides, which one of you, by fretting and fuming, can make himself one inch taller? Well, if your worrying can’t change a little thing like that, why wear yourself out over anything else?

Now take a look at the lilies, how they do no knitting or sewing; yet I’m telling you that not even Solomon, in all his finest, was ever dressed as beautifully like one of them. Well then, if God so outfits a plant that one day is growing in the field and the next is used for fuel, he’ll do even more for you, you spiritual runts. The people of the world go tearing around after all these things. But your Father knows you need them. So set your heart on his Movement, and such things will be fully supplied.

Stop being so scared, my little flock. Your Father has decided to make you responsible for the Movement. Sell what you own and give it with no strings attached. Make yourselves wallets that don’t wear out, an unsurpassed spiritual treasure which thieves do not plunder, nor do worms consume. For your treasure and your heart are wrapped up together.”

A Seafarer Lost In the Deep

Looking over the horizon, lost among the vastness of this earth.
In the middle, floating, the shoreline off in the far distant
Wondering if what lies past where the water meets the sky
There is truly what has been promised

The sun reflects off the blue sea

As the albatross tempts starboard
Loneliness, emptiness abounds when you discover
You are but a drop in the infinite

Strands of life lay hidden beneath
Never to be fully known
Stories of existence going untold
Creation a constant renewal as the wave breaks

The stars and moon shine

Lost in the skyline

Simply a drop in the bucket

A seafarer lost in the deep