cairns

To be honest, in many ways I simply gave up on them.  But, most of this will be about where my hope rests.

Mathew 6:25-34 says I do not have to worry about man.  It is God who provides, and man cannot add anything by worrying about things he does not control.

Romans 8:37-39 says we are already the conquerors because nothing is capable of removing us from the love of  God.

The entire Bible confirms that God is profoundly interested in the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the helpless — all those who know they have no other hope but God.

So, I am firmly convinced that the gifts God gives are secure; and no man, government, circumstance, or terrorist can remove them.  I am also firmly convinced that what God chooses to withhold cannot be given by man.

And yet, the Word clearly calls on us to care for the widow and orphan, to love justice, and to provide for those in need.  Because the mystery of our resurrection in Christ through baptism places us as the current body of Christ on Earth, we are called to do those things that God does.  And, this brings me up short of over concern with government on another front.

When the conservatives are in power and want government to serve the interests of war and industry, I am tempted to complain that they do not do what the Biblical texts call on governments to do.  Then, I am brought up short.  It says that I am animated by the very Spirit of God and called to do those things.  I find no mention of the government as an entity experiencing the same grace or call.

When the liberals are in power and want government to step up and do the work of caring for those in need, I am tempted as much as my most conservative friends to grouse about everything the government does costing me more money while providing little to those who work for a living like my family.  Then, I am brought up short.  If I, if the Christian community — (Both Jews and Muslims also claim to believe in the same Old Testament God who compels justice for the powerless.  Native American practiced it most of the original cultures of this continent with no claim to the Gospel mandate. The list goes on.  But, my faith and hope are within the context of Christianity.) — again, if we who claim to know, love, and serve the God of mercy had taken care of the infirm and the destitute [to the measure of their need rather than the salving of our consciences] there would be no issue for the government to try to solve.  I have worked with families in these situations for most of my career, and I know they are real.  I have tried to give their children hope through education and exposure to Truth.  But, I know the issue is real.  I know my God calls us to minister to the need.  So, when my government tries its feeble best to do human engineered solutions the limit to my anger is conviction.  We were supposed to care for our neighbors and enemies as children of the same God.

I am a political cynic.  Whatever the government does will most likely cost me money and solve very few problems.  But, I am an optimist in faith that life does not come from governments.  It is by the ongoing gifts of God that we have our being, our meaning, our sustenance, and our hope.

The king is dead, long live the King.

peace

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It is time for us to pray.

Brothers and sisters are being imprisoned, tortured, and killed in many places around the globe.  Some of them go by the name of Christian.  Folks in “safe” countries of the west are being tortured through disease, faithless friends and spouses, temptation in their own lives, and the worship of money and power.

The church is constantly doing the work of its enemies by criticizing, attacking, or refusing to fellowship with any other sect that hears the Word of God in a different key.

War continues rampant around the globe, often in the name of the “good” bringing “justice” to “the evil doers” in the form of death and destruction.  Some of the attackers are us.

We remain alienated from the earth we are made from, polluting and destroying the very stuff and sustenance of our physical being  (and since I am not a dualist, I would add that in ways we do not understand, our very souls).

We have given our minds over to trivial nonsense in entertainment, violent crimes against humanity as entertainment, and simple have-no-fears-you-can-understand-everything (what we do is right, what they do is wrong) theologies.

Our churches serve the same gods as our societies.  It is time to pray; for our neighbors far away and near, for our leaders (yes even from the opposition parties), for our world including the Earth herself, and for our very souls.  It is time to pray.

Thanksgiving week in the States is a good time for prayer.  Our work week is usually reduced.  Our minds are turned somewhat in the direction of gratitude and nostalgic images of people who lived closer to the Earth and to God.  Let us also shut up and sit silent in the presence of the mystery that gives us life and hope.  Let us listen.  Let us be grateful.  Let us realize how many brothers and sisters we have among people who have been labeled our enemies both near and far.  Let us take our eyes off the food, and the rest of our selfish desires, and pray.

May God answer our prayers with strength and wisdom to continue making small moves against the darkness, small steps toward finding ourselves home together.

peace

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This morning as I read the trial of Jesus, something struck me in a new way — related to yesterday.  I have always heard descriptions of the crowd asking for Barabbas focused on the contrast between him as the murderer and Jesus, the innocent.  Usually the priests are blamed at least by implication for stirring the people to make an absurd request.  Today, the description of Barabbas as an insurrectionist gives me pause.

They wanted a revolutionary.  I have often heard that sermon theme, but not connected to this passage.  It makes me wonder.  Did their anger against Jesus  actually increase because Pilot found no fault in Him?  They wanted relief and a leader who would bring them from under the thumb of Rome.  Even the disciples struggled with  why Jesus did not assume that role.  Then here he is handed over and the ruler is saying, “I see nothing wrong with him?”  Was the request for Barabbas a slam at both Pilot and Jesus? Were they proclaiming their desire for a warrior rather than this speaker of truth who called them instead to change themselves?

Are we still proclaiming the same message as the crowd?  American revolutionary, Malcolm X was not killed while spouting hatred, only when he came home with a new message of reconciliation and changing hearts.  Why does the candidate who claims our current military aggression in the Muslim world is just, in spite of all evidence, have a strong chance of winning the presidency?

How deep is this desire for somebody who will lead us out against the oppressor?  How much of our focus on the evil other is avoidance of the mirror?  How much of our draw to go and “save” (or destroy) the world is the draw of dramatic external change rather than the hard work of internal heart change?

Just wondering….

peace

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I think it was Luther Smith’s wonderful little book on community and mission that brought me up short. He comments that churches are called to the communities in which they are located. If you are not impacting that community, you are not having your intended impact. Ouch.

It started me thinking about our church’s “call” to the urban areas of our city. The prayer meetings that have resulted have been very positive as ministers across divides of race, income, denomination, and many other barriers sit weekly in prayer together seeking God’s will. But, there just isn’t a clear answer to the question of what our suburban congregation can meaningfully do for the folks in the urban center. I applaud D for choosing a home for his family among the people he wants to work with. Not many are willing to put their investments and families on the line for what we talk so glibly about. I do not see our group pulling off a Reba Place, or even trying.

But, Luther started me thinking in a whole new direction. What if we prophetically proclaimed the gospel to our own folks in a way that truly changed lives? What if we SUV driving folks came face to face with the God who claims that our love for Him is only as real as our treatment of the”least?” In other words, what if the employer class truly encountered and accepted the Gospel of Jesus?

Would employee opportunities increase for the folks we say we want to help? Would pay? Would benefits for their families? Would access to financial and housing opportunities? Would we still tolerate a system that fails to educate, fails to graduate, and prefers to incarcerate? Would we tolerate the many forms of pollution which exist in greater frequency and intensity in the living areas of the poor?

Now I wonder. Perhaps the most important thing that our church can do for our urban neighbors is go home and confront ourselves with the call of Christ.  Or perhaps, we take as many people as will go to as many encounters with our new friends as possible — knowing that we are not saviors, but people in need of redemption.

peace

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I can’t stop laughing. Next time I take some silly turn which plants me in the middle of these folks, I think I will just start reading.

“The priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.”

I can hardly wait to hear the “currently relevant” “applied to our lives” “America is the promised people” sermon on that one! But, maybe I am just in a mean mood. Its just that after all the years, after all the theology and theory, the dogma and the arguments, the sermons and the mission trips, I am finally rereading the source material. And I am embarrassed. So much silliness for so many years with such serious results in the condemnation of others and failure to love.

Time to focus on walking in present Truth and Love as Grace chooses to reveal them today.

peace

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