Against All Hope

Romans 4:18 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall you offspring be.””

Somehow, this is what it is all about.

When Abraham was 100 years old and his wife, Sarah, was well past menopause and no longer fertile, against all hope Abraham believed God would give them a son. And God did what he said he would do.

A week ago this morning we learned about the death of a young man, a friend of our son-in-law and daughter. He was 22 years old. He was a wonderful son and brother, a loyal friend to those who knew and loved him. He was too young to die.

Standing in front of the casket on Monday evening, seeing his lifeless body, my faith faltered, as it sometimes does. I wondered to myself whether everything I profess is true. After all, how incredible is it too believe not only that Justin still lives, but that this lifeless body will one day rise as well? It seems crazy to think this is true.

But it must have seemed equally crazy to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son. And their faith was not perfect. They faltered and wondered how this could be even to the extent of recruiting Hagar the maidservant to bear a son for them. But ultimately, Abraham did believe and it was credited to him as righteousness. And God fulfilled his promise and gave them a son, Isaac.

Part of the package of Christianity is believing that God’s promised future will come to pass. And since God has fulfilled his promises of unbelievable things in the past, including raising Jesus from the dead, he can be trusted to bring about the future he has promised.

“I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”

I look forward to that day in faith and hope.

In memory of Justin Zimmerman.

 

Weariness

Have you ever read a text that you have read a thousand times and suddenly heard it like it was brand new? That was my experience today. Isaiah 40 is both familiar to many people and one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. In particular, the end of that chapter where God reminds his people that even though they might grow weary, “He will not grow tired or weary.” (v. 28)

Lately, I have found myself weary. It’s not that I am tired, although I am. I feel weary – that internal heaviness that weighs one down like trying to walk with 50 pound weights strapped to both feet. I think most people feel weary at some point or other but I do wonder if those who serve the church in one way or another are prone to a particular sort of weariness.

For me, at least, that weariness is a combination of feeling like I just can’t do one more thing and guilt for not wanting to do whatever that one more thing is. It is a catch 22 of sorts. If I do it, I will likely not bring to the task an attitude that blesses those who are working with me. If I don’t do it, I will feel like I have let all sorts of people down, and maybe God too. And I feel like a whiner – to God, to those around me, etc. – and I don’t like whiners, they make me even more tired and I don’t want to be one.

It struck me that it is very easy to predicate of God what is true of me. I assume he gets tired of my complaints, maybe especially my complaints about his people and the work he has called me to do. It’s not a stretch for me to think that God gets annoyed with me and my whining just as I can get annoyed with other people and their whining.

Enter Isaiah.

God does not grow tired or weary with his people. His patience with my weakness  and weariness is infinite. His love for me will not grow thin. I grow tired but he does not. But the story is even better than that.

Not only does the “Creator of the ends of the earth” not grow tired or weary caring for his people, but he gives them strength! He gives strength to me when I can’t find any more strength. He gives the strength to soar.

And when I can’t soar, he gives me the strength to run.

And when he knows that I can’t even run any more, he gives me what I need to keep doing his work, even if it is only at the pace of walking.

Maybe my problem, is that I tend to forget where my strength is found.

Faith

Classically defined, faith includes both assent to some set of propositions and trust. While at times I have struggled with both aspects of faith, I think I have consistently struggled more with trust. But as I thought about it this morning, it seems that at the heart of distrust is pride or arrogance.

For example, when I don’t trust someone to do something I asked her to do, I stand around, looking over her shoulder, making sure she does it exactly the way I wanted her to do whatever the task is. In other words, I micromanage the situation not believing that she can accomplish the task just fine and not trusting that her way to accomplish this task might not only be just as good as mine, but better.

I have a friend who is generally convinced that if she is not involved in some project, be that coaching her kid’s sports team, sitting on some committee or other, or any number of other activities that touch her world, the task will be done poorly (‘poorly’ = ‘not the way she would do it’). And she wonders why she is so busy.

I think that lack of trust in God runs pretty much the same way. Ultimately, we think we are better at running our lives than God is. After all, if we ran our lives we would have prevented the various hurtful and difficult situations we have faced. In short, we can’t trust that God’s plan is the best plan. We want things our way. Submission to God’s plan means letting go of our own.

But ultimately, that is what we must do. The more we choose our own plan and resist God’s plan, the further we will be from the true joy we experience in communion with God. To be like Christ, our ultimate good, includes not only sharing in his glory, but sharing in his suffering, as Paul makes clear (e.g., Phil. 3:10; Rom. 8:17). The more we insist on our own way, the less like Christ we will be.

Passing the Peace

In the many traditions, passing the peace is an established element of worship. Despite my congregation’s attention to liturgy, this particular part of the liturgy is not yet something that has been included in our worship services.

I don’t know the actual background for this practice, but today’s gospel reading was from Matthew 5:21-24. Here Jesus is giving instruction about murder. It is one of the “antithesis” statements of Jesus. You know, those statements where Jesus says “you have heard it said…..but I say…” Generally, Jesus broadens the law he is dealing with in ways that can make nearly anyone uncomfortable.

In this particular antithesis, Jesus broadens the prohibition against murder to include anger against another person. Anger against a brother or sister leaves one “subject to judgment.”

Note that Jesus does not say “anger against a brother or sister for no good reason but if you have a good reason – e.g., that person has wronged you in some way – go ahead and be angry.” Nope. Jesus simply says anger against your brother or sister.

Just after explaining this prohibition Jesus says, “Therefore…” – which is always a word we should pay attention to – “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to that person; then come and offer your gift.”

Part of worship is offering our gifts (praise, offerings, etc.) in response to God’s gift of salvation. It seems like Jesus is saying, if you are not reconciled to your brother or sister, get that taken care of first or your gift doesn’t mean much. Or another way to put it might be ‘don’t bring your gifts to me until you have taken the gift of reconciliation that I have offered to you, and offered that gift to your brother or sister.’

So what does passing the peace have to do with this? When we offer those around us the peace of Christ, we are giving them the gift Christ has given us – peace. And that is probably a good enough reason to do it.

But let me tell a story. Some years ago, I happened to be sitting near someone who had done a great wrong to a close family member who I loved very much. This wrong was fresh, only a week or so old. When asked to pass the peace, I turned around only to see this person. I didn’t want to offer him Christ’s peace. I wanted to slap him. What I found, however, was that as I looked him in the eye and reached out my hand to him and said, “the peace of Christ be with you,” something inside me started to melt.

I realized that whatever wrong he had done, he was no less deserving of Christ’s peace than I was. He was God’s child the same as me. And that little tiny gesture, allowed healing to begin in my heart.

When we offer someone the peace of Christ, we are offering them life. And isn’t that exactly the right thing to do in every worship service?

Free Diving, Extreme Sports, and the Sixth Commandment

I don’t watch much TV but this past week I happened to tune in to the weekly news and interest show, 60 Minutes. One of the stories was on a sport called “free diving.” I had not heard of it before and watched with interest, then dismay, and then disgust.

For some time, I have been concerned by the growth in popularity of what are known as extreme sports. The name of this category really says it all. These sports are all about pushing the limits: of the human body, of the environment, of physics – whatever. And the purpose appears to be nothing more than the thrill of a momentary adrenalin rush.

Culturally, I think that these sorts of things are related to the increasing narcissism in North America. In extreme forms narcissism is a psychological disorder. Note the following definition: “a mental disorder characterized by extreme self-absorption, an exaggerated sense of self-importance, and a need for attention and admiration from others.” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/narcissism)

According to many cultural analysts, narcissistic behavior characterizes an ever increasing segment of North Americans. In educational circles, dealing with this trend among students is receiving more and more attention.  If you think that this is not a problem among Christians, think again.

So where does free diving fit into all of this?

I think it exemplifies the most extreme of the extreme sports and as such, helps identify the inherent problems, from a Christian perspective, with these sports.

Free diving is the practice of learning to hold one’s breath for an extremely long time (upwards of 4 minutes) while diving to depths of more than 350 feet. There are controls. Most of the professional divers have a team with them to help them if they black out, resuscitate them if necessary, etc. But the bottom line is, this so-called sport can – and does – kill, regularly.

The 60 Minutes piece opened with scenes of a young man who was attempting to beat a previous U.S. record. He made it up but soon after lost consciousness. About an hour later, he was pronounced dead. About two months ago, the wife of a husband-wife diving team also died while attempting a potentially record-setting dive.

The divers shown demonstrating free-diving on the Sunday episode were interesting. The young man did complete his dive, but said that every time he dives he “hears a voice” telling him he is going to die. The young man’s mother is shown crying on the shore while she waits for him to re-surface.

The young woman on the show who also successfully completed her dive is shown kissing her young daughter good-bye before she goes out. Her reason for diving? The feeling she gets when she is down there.

Neither of these people seem to care about anyone’s feelings but their own, however. The young man is apparently oblivious to the stress this causes for the people around him, and the young woman does not seem to recognize that her temporary self-gratification, should it go horribly wrong, will leave her young daughter motherless. The purpose is to break the next record until, apparently, no more records can be broken.

For a non-Christian, perhaps we can excuse this sort of reckless disregard for not only the people around us, but also for the life they have been given. But for a Christian, this is nothing short of a violation of the sixth commandment: you shall not kill, a commandment that the church has always recognized includes the killing of oneself.

If we are to be salt and light in the world, how should the Christian community respond to the growing popularity of extreme sports, sports designed to put one’s life in peril? That’s a tough question to some degree. But blindly accepting what is trendy is not the call of Christian discipleship. Christian discipleship is the polar opposite of the self-gratification we see reflected in the extreme in these sports. Christian discipleship is self-denial for the sake of others and the glory of God.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/death-defying-free-dives-push-boundaries/

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125625

A Deadly Book

This week I, along with many others, read with horror the story of North Korean people who were executed by firing squad for possessing a Bible. It turns out that the Kim regime thinks this book is dangerous, that it could displace Kim-worship with something else and could eventually lead to rebellion.

So, as it was reported, Christians were publicly executed along with other enemies of the Kim regime. More than 10,000 spectators were forced to watch this gruesome event.

Of course, there are many areas of the world where Christians suffer because of their faith. But when I hear a report like this one, I can't help but wonder about our own, rather complacent form of North American Christianity. And I also get just a little more than irate when I hear North American Christians speak about "persecution" as being mocked in the workplace or some other public arena because of their faith.

The fact is, most of us don't have a clue what persecution is. Worse yet, I doubt many in our congregations could bear up under the sort of severe persecution suffered in many parts of the world. 

We don't think twice about owning a Bible. My own family probably has more than 10 Bibles in the house.  And we rarely think about this book, this Word, as subversive. Perhaps because we have so domesticated the stories of God's work in the world that we barely even notice that the call to discipleship is, as Karl Barth wrote, a call to die. But look at the folks we think of as heroes: Abraham, David, Mary, Ruth, Paul, to name a few. Not exactly easy lives. 

Perhaps in the coming weeks as we read our Bibles, let's acknowledge the fact that in many areas of the world, these "wonderful words of life," are also deadly words. And then follow that recognition by praying for the safety and religious freedom of our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.

Seek the Peace of the City

"Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile." Jer. 29:7

This was part of my morning reading today. So often this verse is used as a call to minister in an urban area. And that may be a fine application. But it seems to me that the command is much broader than that. The "city" in which we exiles is the whole world, not just some particular urban area.

The bible frequently portrays God's people as aliens, wanderers. Peter calls us "strangers and aliens" in this world, a world that Paul tells us we are to be in but not of. God's people are not primarily citizens of this kingdom, but of the heavenly kingdom. We wait not all that patiently for the full manifestation of that kingdom.

But in the meantime, while in exile, we must pray for the peace and prosperity of the world we inhabit, a world groaning under the weight of sin. We must seek the shalom - the well-being - of the world. That means not just our little corner of that world, but the world we never see except in pictures and news broadcasts, a world 1/2 way around the globe.

So what might seeking the shalom of the world look like?

I suppose there a numerous answers to that question, but I will offer just a few possibilities. It means caring for creation. Issues like climate change and our role in it affects not just us, but the whole planet. If our use of fossil fuels contributes, even in a small way, to climate change that causes parts of our world to suffer more drought, storms, and other problems that make crop production and life itself difficult, shouldn't we at least try to figure out what we can do to help?

Seeking the shalom of the world might mean addressing issues of justice and mercy. Ministering to those on the margins - the weak, poor, mentally ill, children, and elderly, to name a few. One does not need to go far to find these people. One need only go to our schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and streets to find folks who have been all but abandoned by their families, and society as a whole.

But most importantly, we need to be passionate about witnessing to the love of God in Jesus Christ. Shalom will never be found through social programs, self-help, or any other human means, regardless of the good these things might do. Shalom can and will only be found in Christ.

p.s.
For those of my regular readers, I am sorry for the long delay since I wrote last. I have taken on some new responsibilities in the past few months and have not had much time to write. Thanks for hanging in there with me.