Advent 4 -- Lost in Wonder

We had an ice storm where I live this Thursday night. So did a lot of other people this week, and last. Such things FORCE us to slow down, literally. Perhaps they also serve to remind us that we are not as in control of things as we think we are, or like to be. They humble us. And perhaps even, they force us to pay attention a bit more, to stay "awake", and keep our lamps lit, and try to discern that murky
path in the desert, and to watch...

Lord of Advent, of Time, of Space, of Life, Death, and our own lives,
we commit ourselves in this final week of Advent to let You work
on us, to work in us, to "build Your house" through us, and with us.
Make us into those "living stones" that we might stand against
everything in creation that seeks to ruin and defame Your Realm.
We commit to wonder, awe, joy, love, peace, and hope, as we prepare
yet again to kneel at the manger, to behold Power and Might, Love
and Peace, made alive, made new, made real for us, and made
unassailable by darkness. Amen.

What Belongs to God

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's..." If you're like me, you've long been fascinated by this text (Matthew 22.15-22). It's fascinating to me for several reasons. The first of these, and the most impressive, is the way Jesus defeats yet again a verbal trap laid by those who seek, at the very least, to discredit him...to dig up some dirt to use against him. In this current frenzied election season, we're all too familiar with that! Jesus sees their intent, and plainly tells them so, and His reply to their patronizing trickery leaves them baffled and speechless. Jesus is so cool! And so much craftier than they, in a Divine and not worldly/political way, of course.

Another reason this text fascinates me is the way it is often so quickly used to justify one's political views, and perspectives on faith's place in politics. It seems that regardless of one's worldview, this text has been used to justify it. If you are part of the "Religious Right," you see Jesus paving the way for whatever tactics advance a Kingdom (of God) agenda...and since that Kingdom is not of this world, and this world is hopelesly fallen, it is imperative to replace ungodly leaders with Godly ones, who will more faithfully seek to whip the world (and its laws) into Kingdom shape.

And if you are on the "Religious Left", you see Jesus distinctly separating religious faith from politics...and never the twain should meet. Unless you are an advocate for righting some social injustice, and then it is imperative to lobby and pursue activism in the name of larger social good.

Of course, these are gross generalizations :-)

Does it fascinate you, that when you get down to brass tacks, both "ends of the spectrum" find it OK to be involved in shaping society, via faith-influenced political means, and even mandate it, while claiming that the "other side" is wrong for doing so...or at least, wrong in their intent and their tactics? Hmm....

What if Jesus was not talking about civil politics or worldly power at all, as He addressed those religious leaders of His day who were trying to trap him? What if the issues involved were much LARGER...?

Matthew Henry makes some keen observations about this text, which I find, like the text itself, fascinating. Basically, he notes that amongst this group who go to question Jesus in order to discredit him (or worse) are both Pharisees and Herodians--two groups from the same culture and country, but with almost-diametrically opposed worldviews and tactics on dealing with unwanted Roman authority. Sort of like the religious right and left of their time...sort of. Though to get the full flavor of the political climate, you'd need to toss in some Sadducees and Essenes, and a few Zealots as well. At any rate, what is most intersting is that BOTH SIDES are baffled, frustrated, and left speechless by Jesus. Hmm....

Then, Henry goes on to say: "Christ did not interpose as a judge in matters of this nature, for his kingdom is not of this world, but he enjoins peaceable subjection to the powers that be. His adversaries were reproved, and his disciples were taught that the Christian religion is no enemy to civil government. Christ is, and will be, the wonder, not only of his friends, but of his enemies. They admire his wisdom, but will not be guided by it; his power, but will not submit to it."

I wonder what our political process--indeed, our society at large--would really look like, if more of us (including political candidates and leaders of all stripes) were true disciples of Jesus, and not just "friends" of His. Not just admiring, but faithfully following; not just quoting, but....submitting.

Hmm...

But then, that means making a choice, to put GOD first, above all else, including one's own ambition; and at the very least, always seeking to submit that ambition to Christ and His power, rather than...oh, say worldly powers...like lobbyists...parties...big campaign donors...old friends...corporations...political hacks...public opinion polls....focus groups...what have you.

I wonder...for we human beings...is that even possible? Ever? Really?

I think Jesus was articulating a truth about human nature in this text, which if we accept at face value, will humble all of us. And that truth is this: we can render all we want to "Caesar", but it will never be enough for Caesar, because Caesar's power is ultimately incomplete...corruptible...bankrupt...soul-less, if you will (no matter who, or what party, is in charge); and is therefore never enough to change the world into God's vision of what it should be.

So...as we go to the polls in a few weeks or otherwise cast our ballots, I think we do well to remember that whomever we vote for, and whomever wins...well....don't expect more than what Caesar usually offers. For change we can really believe in...well, that is NOT of this world; and hope that truly makes a transformational difference (in personal lives and entire empires)...that is only found in the One who baffles and silences all opposition, and points to the true Great Society.

Hmm....can I write JESUS OF NAZARETH in on my ballot?? LOL


A Prayer for Worship (based on Psalm 99, and Gene Peterson's "The Message")

God rules. On your toes, everybody! He towers in splendor over all the big names.
Great and terrible Your beauty, O Lord: let everyone praise You!
YOU are Holy. Yes, holy. And perfect, like no one, and nothing else.

Strong King, lover of justice, You laid things out fair and square;
Foundation stones of just and right ways. Holy. Yes, holy.

King of the Universe, only Your wisdom lasts, only Your love saves.

Only YOU are Holy. Yes, holy. And perfect, like no one, and nothing else.

Let Your Spirit of Truth embrace us today, and in the days to come, O Lord,

And me we never be afraid or cease to learn from You.

May Your Holiness touch our lives and burn away our falsehoods and biases, O Lord,

And may we never substitute our version of “good” for Yours.

Come to us, O Lord, in our worship, and in our Lives, in the living presence of Jesus;

Enliven us with true hope; teach us with real authority, equip us with holy power; and never, Lord, never leave us or our leaders only to ourselves!

Happiness Versus Joy

OK, I'm confused. He was thrown in jail...frequently run out of town with a mob chasing him, tar and feathers in hand...he was publicly stripped, humiliated and beaten, numerous times...shipwrecked... mocked...cursed at...arrested and put in jail again...and then again...and again...until ultimately he was executed (tradition has it he was beheaded near Rome)--all for his faith. It seems that almost everywhere the apostle Paul went, he was given a rough time, and made to suffer for his faith and his proclamation about Jesus--which never wavered in the midst of it all, by the way. Indeed, that proclamation seemed somehow to be intimately connected to the source of Paul's unwavering joy.

Still it all makes me wonder, what on EARTH did Paul have to be joyful about??

JOY is a theme that frequently appears in Paul's writing, and nowhere more so than in his letter to the Philippians...some fifteen or sixteen times. He mentions in one place about being joyful in every circumstance, no matter what.

No matter what? Even when my annuity fund is down by...geesh, I don't even want to look! Even when I get bad news from the doctor? Even when a loved one is giving me--consistently and irrationally--a hard time, and tons of grief? Even when my job looks shaky? Even when I cave in--yet again--to temptations I want to be rid of? Even when my team is 0-5? Even when all of that happens in the same week?

Even when my world seems to be falling apart???

Yep...even then. Perhaps, oddly enough, especially then. But it's one of those things that, if it is not experienced, cannot be remotely understood. And if not sought, will never be found.

If I look to Paul as a model, I learn something about the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is temporary, and fleeting. It is also conditional, based more on emotion and circumstance than anything else. At the end of a fairy tale, when it says "they lived happily ever after"...well, that's why we call them fairy tales! We know it just ain't so in "real life."

But joy...true joy, lasting joy...it is not to be found in earth. Or should I say, from earth, from any worldly or material or emotional source. All those will fail us, sooner or later, all of 'em (and probably sooner). I asked above what on earth did Paul have to be joyful about; and the answer is...nothing. Nothing on earth, from the world. He says it quite clearly in Philippians, where he counts everything that the world has to offer, ultimately (including all the education, successes, and kudos from his own past), as nothing but garbage. Mere rubbish. Instead, he looks to Christ as the only source of JOY, of ultimate validation, and eternal meaning.

I think, in our search for happiness in life, we ought to be looking instead for joy. Not that a little happiness now and then wouldn't hurt, mind you! But so often the things we seek after to be happy...well, they just don't last. And too often they are just downright deceptive, unhealthy, or even destructive. And they certainly don't give us the DEEP JOY that can help us--move us, motivate us--to rejoice and praise God, even when the stuff has hit the fan, or the market had dropped another 600 points. That deep joy to me is like that "peace that passes all understanding." And why shouldn't? It comes from God, who is far beyond our combined comprehension and ability to understand. So, instead of trying to understand why I am unhappy, and confused about why happiness does not last, I will instead try to draw closer to the source of incomprehensible (even nonsensical, by worldly measures) Love. Draw close to unmerited Grace. Pray for and wish for and seek after the One who never stops seeking me, and who died, rose, and lives still, to LOVE ME. To help me have true, lasting JOY.

Call to Worship

Lord of all Creation, Source of Eternal Peace, Provider of Lasting Joy,
Hear our prayers today, as You always do,
And help us learn to trust more in You.
From the first breath of a new day, to the closing of our eyes at night in sleep,
You stand ready to bless us with Your joy and Your peace,
Stand willing to embrace us with arms of Holy Love.
May Your Spirit indwell our worship, our praise, our singing;
And may He indwell our very lives, so that me rejoice again, and again.
And again; and again; and again!
Accept the praise we bring, O Lord, and bless us with joy and peace!
We lift our hearts to You with gladness, our eyes with hope,
Our arms in gratitude, and our praises with JOY!

Joy Complete

I amaze myself sometimes, and am amazed at others, too. What amazes me is that I--we--want a "spiritual life", to be close to God, to know how to live in ways that are holistically healthy, productive, and good...and yet we don't do it. At least, I don't do it, not often enough!

What's truly amazing is that we KNOW what it takes. It's not that hard, is pretty simple in fact. If we want a solid, ongoing, consistent spiritual life, then we have to, um, act spiritually!--in an ongoing and consistent way. We need to do spiritual things...the most basic of which are prayer and scripture study. We have to read the Word, reflect on it, pray about it some, and LISTEN to God. If you are like me, you KNOW that this works, that the Holy Spirit will teach you, guide you, edify you, comfort you, and give you "peace that passes understanding," whenever you are willing to give God the time of day...or at least, a little of your time every day. It works. Duh. And we do not need to be Biblical scholars, lettered theologians, or certified prayer warriors; we just need to spend time with God, on God's terms. But we don't, even though we know it works. Are we just plain stubborn?

Part of the lesson from Exodus 17 would seem to be that we ARE just plain stubborn, if we accept that the text speaks about human nature in general (and I think it does, like most scripture), as well as a specific historic circumstance. Those desert wanderers had experienced God's DIRECT intervention and salvation, in the most earthly and immediate ways, but they...forgot. And they kept forgetting. And whining, and complaining. It seemed God could never do enough.

In Philippians 2.3-4, Paul lays out pretty clearly the core of solid, ongoing spiritual life...or at least, describes what it looks like: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." The people of the Exodus weren't doing that; but lest we judge them too harshly, neither do we, not very often...and we aren't faced with the harsh realities and momentous upheavals in our lives which they were living through.

In the Matthew text for this week, we find that even religious "experts" have a hard time living out that core of spiritual life, even when the living incarnation of that life is standing before them and teaching them. They question Jesus' authority, and in what is really an ironically funny confrontation, Jesus tosses the ball back into their court, and they cannot respond, caught up as they are in their own brand of stubbornness and forgetfulness.

An old-fashioned word applies: REPENT. To escape my own stubbornness and forgetfulness, the only thing that will work is repentance. I have to "turn away" from my own pride, my own will, my own problems...and give God some time. And control. And I have to KEEP doing this...while a one-time repentance from sin may be absolutely necessary for Christian conversion and salvation, I find that I have to keep on repenting of my essentially selfish tendencies (and all that flows from them which mess up my life and others' lives too). I may be a "new creation" in Christ, but that new creature is stuck in this same old busted, selfish world, and is prone to relentless attacks from the Adversary, who would rather you and I not have a consistent, ongoing spiritual relationship with our Creator.

So...we gotta pray, and read the Word, and do spiritual things, if we are ever going to consistently "consider others better than ourselves," and "look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." To find that complete joy Paul speaks of, we need to get out of selfishness, and into selfless-ness. In that liberation we find not just joy, but God's blessing on our lives as well. But then, maybe those are one and the same.

Speaking for myself, I cannot do this on my own; God has to help me. He's just waiting to do that, too...if only I will ask!

Invocation for Proper 21A/Ordinary 26A

Lord God, send Your Spirit upon us today with specific intent to teach us, and may we learn most of all to seek Your guidance above all other sources. You're smarter than the smartest of us, purer than the holiest of us, more faithful than the most ardent of us, and better at loving than most compassionate of us. Send the Spirit to teach us to LEARN from You, first, to seek You, first, and to gently guide us into everyday spiritual growth. Help us understand that it matters not how long we have strayed, or wandered, or just plain ignored You. You stand ready to redeem, make new, and grant us the fullness of joy. Only you can help us get past ourselves, so come, Holy Lord, and help us get started...again. Amen.

A Prayer of Confession for Proper 21A/Ordinary 26A

Forgive our groaning and complaining, O God, most of it caused by our selfishness and lack of compassion. Forgive our forgetfulness, O God, most of it caused by our stubborn insistence upon getting our own way, and imposing our own will on the world around us. Forgive our faith put in all the wrong sources and in all the wrong places. Forgive our blind following of so many gurus and teachers and "wise" people, when the most true and ultimate source of wisdom is You...and only You. Heal us of the pain caused by our pride and stubbornness, and redeem the mess we often make of things because we thought our way was better than Yours. Reach into our deepest places, and there pour out Your balm of healing love, so that we cannot help but respond with renewed love of our own, wherever we see others in sin or in pain. Help us accept Your authority...and believe it, and live by it, and graciously use it, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Transformed

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I've been preaching a series of late about hospitality, in all its nuances. The very first scripture that always comes to mind, whenever I hear that word hospitality, is Romans 12, especially verse 13.

It seems to me that in order for us to come even close to living a Christian lifestyle like that which St. Paul so clearly spells out in these verses, then we must be transformed (see vv. 1-2). I.e., utterly changed...become something entirely different than what we are now. This is something which, in my experience, we cannot accomplish on our own, no matter how much we like to think we can, or how many personal empowerment seminars we attend, or how many New Age gurus we listen to telling we are essentially gods ourselves and have all the power to change the world. A couple of synonyms for transformation illustrate the point: conversion, transmutation, transfiguration.

To practice radical Biblical hospitality is no small thing!

Here's a prayer for transformation, based (very) loosely and adapted (significantly) from a prayer I found on some website in Australia...it was a strange, New-Agey type church, seeming to focus on the Self as some type of deity. Which really is the problem, no? :-)

Prayer for Transformation

God of my heart, help me to enter into the presence of my own self,
into the deep places within me, where You are waiting, dwelling,
where Your Spirit lives and breathes life into me.

Help me not to look to the right or to the left, above or below,
but to have a perception of reality, of all life, that is shaped by You.
Help me see he world as You see the world.
And help me see myself as You see me.
Show me the things You want to change in me, and help me submit.

Take away from me all the shields I have built over the years.
Tear away from me that which is false, that which is error, that which is not truth.
Give me an inkling of the greatness You will call forth from me,
and help me to bow down before You, in all things;
especially Lord, help me submit to Your love for others, and use me.

Use me, Lord, as a living sacrifice; help be conformed to Your will,
Transformed by Your love and power.
Help me love sincerely, cling to the good, welcome the stranger,
and freely, generously, offer all I can to everyone I can.

This I pray in the name Jesus, who saves me, loves me, calls me, teaches me.

Amen.

Dog Days

Well, it has been over a month (almost two, actually) since a post. NOT GOOD for someone aspiring to throw WEEKLY liturgy stuff out there! Oh well...it's SUMMER. Is it just me, or is there not as much "slowing down" in the summer anymore? I find it to be one of the busiest times of the year, actually, especially July and August, as the church prepares for new ministries and initiatives in the fall.

I have not been preaching from the lectionary of late...I don't feel that tied to it anyway. It is difficult to be contextual, especially in seeking to revitalize/grow a church, and be tied to the lectionary. I have been engaged in a series about HOSPITALITY in recent weeks, trying to urge the usual crowd into more of it...and a MUCH deeper appreciation of "philonexia" -- love of the stranger. This week is Romans 12 (for my money the best concise manifesto on Christian living in the New Testament). I'm trying to lift up hospitality as more than just an "add on," or even something vitally important for evangelism...which of course, it is. But, it is more...it is CENTRAL to the whole Gospel message, to the core of who and what Jesus was all about. His whole ministry was "practicing hospitality"....the love of the "stranger". I'll post some of the liturgy I've been using (and borrowing) when I get around to it. Stay cool. And TAKE SOME TIME OFF. A colleague of mine and mentor of sorts, Jeff Patton (http://www.jhpconsulting.com/) recommends that those in full time ministry take at least THREE weeks off in a row....I'm working on that, Jeff, lol. For now, a few days at a time!

Pentecost 4, Proper 5 -- Jesus the Lawbreaker

Ever notice how Jesus was always in trouble with the law?

Usually it was because he was upholding a different standard--a higher standard--than the religious lawgivers and officials in 1st century Judea; it's just that they couldn't see it. They were trying essentially to "be good enough" to earn God's favor, to earn their way into heaven, and looked down on anyone who was a moral failure. Jesus understood that we are all moral failures, when you get right down to it, and all stand in need of God's grace and mercy...so he set about always and everywhere practicing that mercy and forgiveness, and reconciling people with God.

Therefore, he was often found hanging out with "bad" people, unacceptable people, dirty people, socially-suspect people, powerless people, sick people, wounded people, hopeless people. Jesus hung out with people who KNEW they were broken, and FELT their need, and often came to him seeking grace and acceptance when they couldn't find it anywhere else.

And the earn-your-way-to-heaven crowd didn't like that one bit.

Where are we in this picture? What do we believe about ourselves, our innate goodness, or badness, our need? Who do we look down upon , and judge? Who do we show mercy to? Do we accept our own undeniable need for grace? Do we resent it when others receive grace....cuz they "don't deserve it"? If you are like me, these are tough questions to answer...because the truth hurts, when we really examine our prejudices!

Prayer of Confession for Pentecost 4

Father in Heaven, like Matthew, we have sought security through money, and have at time been selfish and greedy. Forgive our lack of trust in Your power. Like the Pharisees, we have acted “holier-than thou” sometimes, seeing the speck in other's eyes and not the log in our own. Forgive our self-righteousness and help us depend upon Your mercy. Like the sick woman and Jairus, we have found ourselves in need of healing, but been short of faith in Your power. Forgive our faithless ways, and stir our souls with greater and more fervent trust. Forgive our unbelief, and help us follow You like Abraham all our days. Amen.