Go in Peace

There is a tension in Christianity between on the one hand, living a holy life that abstains from sin, and on the other, participating in systems that seem necessary but give us pause. Being a part of our communities in ways that call into question the ideals of Christ. One's career is a common area this challenge surfaces.

On that topic, this passage caught my attention today.

In 2 Kings 5 the commander of the army of one of Israel's enemies, Namman, had a problem, leprosy--a disease that would surely kill him, and which alienated him from his community.

And yet, he hears about the power of God, from of all people, a young Israelite girl that had been carried away into slavery, likely by his army. Desperate, he dared to approach the people he abused, and asked for help.

The King of Israel was distraught, certain that his failure to heal Namman's disease would be a pretext for war. But then a lowly prophet stepped in.

Like all of us, Namman, an enemy of God, experienced the grace of God.

And then this is what caught my attention:

"But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”

“Go in peace,” Elisha said."

What gets preached AND what does not - From the pulpit AND in my life.

I wrote the following to a friend this mourning and thought I would share it with the rest of you. (with a few edits)  It is about me, not him, so no worries on confidentiality.  Read this as a letter to a friend.

...But to be fair, I am a bit cynical in some respects. It is something I reflect on fairly often with the Spirit in my quiet times. How does one see the world as it really is... ideally through His eye's, and not become cynical?

I was visiting a church the other day and they were preaching on God's immutability. Malachi 3:6a was referenced. “I the LORD do not change."

Clearly there was nothing wrong with what was being preached. And God's character was being made appropriately relevant to the hear and now. But like usual I briefly scanned the rest of the chapter, and a problem immediately jumped off the page.

The issue I saw was not necessarily one for any given church, or any given sermon, but rather concerns our shared Evangelical culture. The issue that leaped off the page at me was what we preach, thematically speaking, over the course of a year, and what does not get preached over the course of a year.

Malachi 3 is a perfect example of this.
(Go ahead and read it here, it won't take long.)

Things more than likely preached over the course of a year.
Mal 3:5a - sorcerers, adulterers are evil - check
Mal 3:6 - God does not change- Check
Mal 3:8-9 - Tithe - Check
Mal 3:17-18 - God's Compassion - Check

What got skipped?

The latter half of Mal 3:5 - "So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty."

When Christmas Does Not Feel Like Christmas (1)

Just over a week ago I preached a message entitled, When Christmas Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas, using the story of the Magi in Matthew chapter 2 as my primary text. Often pastors end this story with the Astrologers return to the East by another route, and leave Herod's slaughter of all children two years and under for some other time. I decided to include it, as a celebration followed by a tragedy is too often the story of Christmas for many, as it was for the Christ just a few years after he was born.

After reading the story from the Bible, I went on to simply narrate some of the conclusions.

First we talked about the journey, the question for us being, where are we at on our journey and are we putting the same kind of “effort” into ours, that the wise men put into their cross continental journey? If we are going to describe our faith as a journey, are we actually going on a journey?

Second we looked at the giving of gifts, not to ask for more for the church, but referencing Christ’s statement recorded in Mat 25:34-40, that when we give directly to those in need, we give directly to Christ. My sub point here being that if this is a tough time of year for us, part of our response should be to give our time, emotions and belonging to those in more need than we are. (and some of us may very well be in a great deal of need, but someone else is in more need.)

The third point was The Terrible Ending, in which we looked directly at the ways we hurt this time of year, in conjunction with Herod's response to being outwitted by the Magi.

I said this: One way or another we got this idea in our heads that Christmas should be a time of perfect harmony, families and the like getting along famously. But after too many years of quite the opposite happening, whether its just bickering and fighting, or worse, we start to realize that maybe Christmas just isn’t all its cracked up to be. And in fact can be an instigator of strife. Who’s family are we going to be with? How much money are we going to spend? If I act responsibly and stay within my budget, my child will have little or nothing compared to his friends, and what does that say about me as a man or woman, a provider for my family?

I then responded to those questions this way: Let me say right up front, that neither I, nor anyone else has an “answer” to the “why” question. We don’t know why bad things happen to good people. We can try and apply some logic, but that only gets us so far. However, we have a God who is able to identify personally with our suffering. We know a God who loves us and has been in our shoes. He is a God who had no place to lay his head, who lived the life of a migrant, wondering from place to place. He began life as an alien, living in a foreign land, and there can be no doubt that Jesus’ parents were more than likely discriminated against or worse while they were in Egypt. Our God is a God who joins us in our suffering, feeling what we feel, knowing our circumstances as only he can.

I then wrapped up by putting the Christmas story in it’s larger historical and theological context, the in-breaking, the beginning of the “now” of the Kingdom of God. I’ll probably say more about this part in my next post.

His Forgiveness

I had the opportunity to preach about the the "sinful" woman who anoints Jesus' feet with her tears and perfume, this past Saturday. (Luke 7:36-50)

I decided to go away from the three point format, and just narrate the story, helping us to engage the text and the story; the forgiveness offered by Christ, and our corresponding repentance. Not so much in a "your a sinner, confess" kind of way, but more in a "I think we all know were sinners, receive the forgivness of Christ" kind of way. Jesus says three times, that her sins are forgiven. I believe this woman is typical of many of us who struggle to receive the forgiveness he offers. When we come to Christ honestly and with the right attitude, that's it, were forgiven.

We then tried to make the service as experiential as possible, giving people an opportunity to write their sins on small pieces of paper, and then burn them via some candles sitting in watter we had set up. I shortened up the sermon, allowing more time for worship, reflection and the grace and forgiveness of the Holy Spirit.