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

An Outloud Question to Myself

A disturbing question entered into my mind the other day I was wrestling with the severity of Amos' prophecy of the summer fruit basket and it is this: Why do so many white ministers leave seminary called to serve the poor only to abandon that call to be paid by the wealthy?

I posted my question to twitter and had two wonderful and very different conversations, of course neither really were able to fully answer the question. It is a hard question for me because I am deeply a part of this question. When I was exploring my call in seminary I constantly heard people say, "Invoke change but make sure you get paid." Over the past 7 years since beginning and ending seminary I have watched others I went to school with proclaim a very challenging gospel that railed against the wealthy and remembered the poor. Several went on to be missionaries for a few years advocating for the end of abusive power structures and an end to modern-day slavery. Several also went out and began working directly with the poor in real meaningful ways. As time went on and funding disappeared things changed.

When the funding disappeared for several missionaries they cried foul (rightfully so) and tearfully packed their bags and left a place they believed whole heartedly called to serve. Eventually they found their way back to America, accepted a position at an upper-middle class church, bought home, a car, a motorcycle, kayaks, and a whole host of other "American" ideals while still railing against the power structures.

Why didn't they stay?

I know there is are numerous reasons and I understand those reasons while understanding those reasons to be complicated; however the question comes to mind, "Why not stay? Why not become just like the people who you were helping, to live as they do, to work as they do, to really be a part of their lives? Why come back embracing the lifestyle you once called immoral? Why not stay?"

I do not believe having money or belongings is a crime or damns a soul to hell, yet the scriptures speak very honestly and harshly to those who have and those who have attained by unjust means. The hard truth is we are all participants in an unjust system. Sometimes we practice the justice of the kingdom of heaven but we, especially us white ministers, are all guilty of buying into the dreams and aspirations of the promises in an unjust system.

I write this as I prepare to go on vacation and participate in the unjust system of cruise travel and my heart is heavy and my soul is searching. Is it better to just not go or is better to go and extend every mercy and grace and hospitality I can to those who working?

I am deeply a part of the question I am asking. And I am asking it on my brand new Surface RT from my comfortable chair in my comfortable office.

Amos and Jesus are preaching right at me.

In response to my question someone asked, "Are we to abandon the wealthy? Are we all called to be poor" I honestly do not know. The scriptures, specifically Jesus, speaks to the selling of our possessions and giving the money to the poor because our wealth will prohibit us from fully following him. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle than it is for the rich to enter the kingdom. Are we called to be poor?

During my trip to Argentina several years ago we made a visit to the really wealthy side of Buenos Aires and visited with a local church start. The church start was done by a group of people from the poor side of town where we were staying. When the Argentine economy collapsed these people did not rejoice in the suffering of the rich, instead they saw a hurting people. In their vision, in their eyes, these were people who longed placed their treasures on earth and needed to know of a better way, a better place to store their treasures, and needed to know there were better treasures. The poor went to the wealthy and cared for them in the midst of economic turmoil. When the economy went into recession in America we cut jobs and funding to protect what was ours. There is a deep theological difference between churches in Argentina and churches in America.

In the church in America I read article after article from wealthy pastors and professors urging for young ministers to abandon their paying jobs in order to plant more churches and embrace a life of poverty and the possibility of being unemployed in a year or two, yet I do not see those wealthy pastors or professors giving up theirs to do the same. I have read post after post from white ministers clamoring for justice yet we proclaim such ideals from the security and power of our wealth. I have read post after post urging me to focus on my future and plan for my eventual retirement. These readings and suggestions have begun to not sit will within me and my question tears at my heart because of the encouraging to fill up my cup with as much as I can so I can lay back like the man with the good crop, eat, drink, and be merry.

I know not all ministers are called in the same way or to the same specifics but we are called to wrestle with what the scriptures say and with how our participation and comfortable acceptance of the benefits of the system which creates unjust laws and unjust markets. We are called to wrestle with the idea that Amos may just be preaching to us and not our congregation. Even then I am aware of how we can turn that inward search for humility into an outward expression of self-righteousness.

Henri Nouwen writes:

"Once we have become poor, we can be a good host. It is indeed the paradox of hospitality that poverty makes a good host. Poverty is the inner disposition that allows us to take away our defenses and converts our enemies into friends. We can perceive the stranger as an enemy only as long as we have something to defend. But when we say, "Please enter--my house is your house, my joy is your joy, my sadness is your sadness, and my life is your life," we have nothing to defend, since we have nothing to lose but all to give.

Turning the other cheek means showing our enemies that they can be our enemies only while supposing that we are anxiously clinging to our private property, whatever it is: our knowledge, our good name, our land, our money, or the many objects we have collected around us. But who will be our robbers when everything they want to steal from us becomes our gift to them? Who can lie to us when only the truth will serve them well? Who wants to sneak into our back door when our front door is wide open?" (Nouwen, Henri. Show Me the Way: Daily Lenten Readings pg. 31-32).

I believe Nouwen explores Jesus words, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth" in a deep meaning, along with Clarence Jordan who suggests Jesus was poor because he didn't want wealth. They are expressing how Jesus saw the utter futility of striving for something that was nothing, in the final analysis, but worm food. (Jordan, Clarence. "Was Jesus Really Poor?" The Substance of Faith and Other Cotton Patch Sermons pg. 85-86). It is indeed the exploration of the role of the minister as one who is a servant.

Maybe this is the long way of answering my question to myself.

I know I have asked this question before and have struggled with the answer. I believe Amos and Jesus are teaching us something, teaching me something specific and until I actually ever come to understand what that is, I guess the three of us will stay engaged in a very opinionated, heated conversation. They will stay the teacher and I the student.

Are We Wholy Present to the Unholy Unjust

The story of Mary and Martha is a story which on the surface is easy to preach from in many ways. We hear the story of two sisters whom are visited by Jesus. They are dear friends of his, as we will come to see in John’s gospel, and they are two very different women, as sisters often are. Martha behaves as an older sister would, she cares for the house, making sure everything and everyone is in order. She opens her home to a guest and extends a warm greeting, providing food and wonderful service to the guest. Mary, like her sister, is kind and welcoming, but she also has the ability to be fully present with her guest.

Martha is distracted by all she must do to see that her houseguests are well taken care of; she extends the warmest welcome and shows us the appropriate behavior in how we are to extend hospitality to our guests. In her distraction, in her busyness she sees Mary seating at the feet of Jesus and misinterprets what her sister is doing. Mary is listening to the words, stories, or simply talking with Jesus, and Martha becomes upset when she misinterprets this behavior. She asks Jesus to tell her sister to get up and help her. In fact it could almost be heard as an older sibling saying to the parent, “Mom/Dad, Mary’s not helping clean our room. She keeps playing with the toys before putting them away. Make her help me!”

Naturally we expect Jesus to say, “Mary get up and go help your sister,” followed by a parable about laziness or helpfulness, instead he says, “Martha, my dear Martha, you are so upset and distracted by all the details of our dinner. There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it and I will not take it away from her.”

In his response Jesus shifts our understanding of hospitality to become aware that we are not always the ones hosting. He urges Martha, not stop being a good host, but to become a complete host, one who is fully present with their guests, one who is able to not only give a blessing but to receive the blessing a guest may have to give.

The scriptures not only urge us to be a hospitable people (as an obligation of being a part of God’s people and following Christ) by opening our homes to strangers, they also tell us that guests are carrying precious gifts with them, which they are eager to reveal to their receptive hosts. In Genesis 18 Abraham receives the three visitors, offering them water, bread, and food, the visitors reveal themselves as the Lord announcing that Sarah is to give birth to a son. In 1 Kings 17, the widow opens her home to Elijah, he reveals himself to be a prophet of God offering her an abundance of oil (remember she gives her last bit to him) and meal and raises her son from the dead. In Luke after the death of Jesus, two travelers to Emmaus invite the stranger who had travelled with them to stay with them for the night, he made himself known when breaking the bread as the risen Jesus (Nouwen, Henri J.M. Show Me the Way pg 30).

Hospitality is a wonderful virtue, an important one, but even more than that as the stories show, the guest and the host can reveal their precious gifts to one another and bring new life to one another (Nouwen, pg 31). Jesus is urging Martha to allow Jesus to reveal to her the gifts that Mary is already receiving. He is urging Martha, not to be focused, but not to be too focused as to miss the important gift of her guest in her house. He wants Martha to give of her whole self by being wholly present, as Mary has discovered.

Are we wholly present to the needs of our neighbors? Have we become distracted by our “chores” to hear God say, “Bruington, my dear Bruington, you are so upset and distracted by all the details of your programs and buildings. There is really only one thing worth being concerned about.” As we think on our answer I invite us to hear from the prophet Amos.

“This was the Lord God showed me—a basket of summer fruit. The Lord said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” says the Lord God; “the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!” Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the Sabbath be over so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and the practice of deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only child, and the end of it like a bitter day. The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.” Amos 8:1-2

Wow.

It would appear our story becomes a little more complicated when we compare it to the prophecy of Amos. In Amos’ context, Israel has become more concerned with their wealth by creating unjust, untrustworthy markets in order to cheat others. God is not, does not condemn markets, which will create prosperity for everyone and to be a fair means of exchange: You shall have only full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure” (Deuteronomy 25:15). In Amos’ world, units of weights and measure had not been standardized, so a measure (ephah) used in the markets of Jerusalem might be different than those employed in the markets of Samaria, or Damascus, or Tyre. Thus a merchant might need to have different sets of weights in order to trade in different markets. The merchants and people of Israel had taken to cheating the weights in order to make someone pay an unfair price. The markets had become untrustworthy and were contributing to an unjust system.

Amos is condemning those who long for the Sabbath (the first day) to end so they may go about deceiving and cheating their neighbors. We must remember that the Sabbath was not originally first and foremost about worship. It was a justice law designed to give rest to all of society—not just the property owner but to the livestock and the resident aliens in the town as dictated by Deuteronomy 5:14. If we were to trace these laws throughout the scriptures we would discover, what Patrick D. Miller calls “the Sabbatical principle” in which we see how these laws are creating a society in which more life can thrive. In these sabbatical laws, the poor and wild animals are provide with food (Exodus 23:10-11), slave are given release to freedom after six years (Deuteronomy 15:12-18, something our God fearing founders forget to include in the constitution), those in deep debt are forgiven their debts after seven years (Deuteronomy 15:1-11, again something our God fearing founders forgot to include), and there is a lot, lot more (Jacobson, Rolf ”Commentary on Amos 8:4-7” http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=752).

This sense of justice, of God commands, and been lost (are they lost today?). The people longed for the Sabbath to be over so they could return to their exploitation. Amos writes, “buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals refers to enslaving those who are in debt, even those who owed only a pair of sandals; as they were selling the “sweepings of the wheat” which was prohibited because they were to be left to the poor ([1] Jocobson, Rolf). Amos is crying foul on how far the people are from creating a just society.

Frederick Buechner tells it better:

“When the prophet Amos walked down the main drag, it was like a shoot-out in the Old West. Everybody ran for cover. His special target was The Beautiful People, and shooting from the hip, he never missed his mark. He pictures them sleek and tanned at Palm Beach, Acapulco, and St. Tropez. They glisten with Bain de Soleil. The stereo is piped out over the marble terrace. Another tray of Bloody Mary’s is on the way. A vacationing Baptist preacher plunges into the heated pool.
With one eye cocked on them, he has his other cocked on the Unbeautiful People-the varicose veins of the old waiter, the pasty face of the starch-fed child, the Indian winos passed out on the railroad siding, the ragged woman fumbling for food stamps at the check-out counter. When justice is finally done, Amos says, there will be Hell to pay. The Happy Hour will be postponed indefinitely because the sun will never make it over the yard-arm. The Pucci blouses, the tangerine colored slacks, the flowered Lillys, will all fade like grass. Nothing but a few chicken bones will mark the place where once the cold buffet was spread out under the royal palms. But according to Amos, it won't be the shortage of food and fun that will hurt. It will be the shortage "of hearing the words of the Lord" (Amos 8:11). Towards the end, God will make himself so scarce that the world won't even know what it's starving to death for (Buechner, Frederick. Peculiar Treasures pg 11-12).

The people of Israel had become distracted and concerned with their unjust system, they forgot about the just laws God established through Moses and God’s judgment is not a famine or drought, it is the loss of God. It is the loss of God’s voice that will be scarce and the people will be unable to hear it or perhaps unable to recognize it.

Are we wholly present to the needs of our neighbors? Have we become distracted by our “chores” to hear God say, “Bruington, my dear Bruington, you are so upset and distracted by all the details of your programs and buildings. There is really only one thing worth being concerned about.”

I wish to close with a story that has changed my life:

One Christmas, a group of developmentally disabled folks, accompanied by two assistants from “The Redwoods Group Home” entered the mall food courts. In the midst of hurried shoppers, these men and women lumbered through the crowd, smiling, clapping and yelling with genuine pleasure at the sights and sounds of the mall. The assistants helped, carefully, each person decide what food they wanted, stand in line with them, order a meal, pay, and carry the food back to the table. There was one man with Down Syndrome, who shook off every offer of aid by the assistants, made his gleeful way to McDonald’s line. When he reached the front of the line, he handed the cashier a coupon, spoke loudly, and gestured toward the cups and the coffee machine. A few moments later the young man returned to his friends holding a giant 32 ounce cup of coffee, his face beaming with pride.

The group eventually headed out the door, and standing under the awning as the rain poured down, the young man bent over his hard-earned brew, sheltering it from the down pour. One of the assistants brought the van around, and without any apparent direction from the other assistant, the young man took off from the side of the building, bolting for the warmth and security of the van. Startled by the heavy rain he stopped mid-run, and turned to return to the cover of the mall eaves. One of the assistants saw him turn back and yelled to him to continue his route toward the van. Increasingly shocked and confused, he twisted his body toward the voice of the assistant with a quick jerk that caused the 32-ounce coffee cup to slip from his hands and break open against the wet concrete. Across the gray sidewalk, the caffeine flowed like a mud slide. The young man froze, took in the sight of his lost purchase, and began to cry. Soon his body gave way, and he slumped down into the steaming puddle. He sat there, wailing mournfully, in a growing puddle of coffee, the rain soaking his clothes.

The Christmas crowd looked on helplessly when one of the assistants, a 20 something woman, stepped out of the van. She ran over to the young man, sat down in the cold wet coffee, wrapped her arm around him, placed his head on her shoulder, and let him cry. For several minutes she sat there with the patience of God, just holding the young man while the rain poured down. When he had calmed, the young assistant took his hand, lifted him from the concrete, and led him to the front passage seat of the van. She helped him with his seat, gave him a kiss, and shut the door. Her clothes slung with water, her jeans stained brown, she stepped in the van, slid the door shut, and then squeezed her body into the backseat (Yaconelli, Mark. Contemplative Youth Ministry, pg 117-1190).

Have we become so distracted by our chores of church that we have become blind to those who sit, mourning in the pouring rain? Have we become so distracted by our church chores that we have become deaf to the voice of Christ cry out beneath the injustice of us in power? Have we become so distracted by our church chores that we are mute on how God’s eye is on the sparrow? Then let us cast aside our distractions and become wholly present so that we too may sit in the rain with those who mourn, with the poor, the broken, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned.