Tag: church

Untrashed
Malachi 1:6-9

Perhaps you’ve heard an acquaintance, a friend, a family member say, “God won’t accept me until I clean myself up.” Or perhaps, “if I enter the church, lightning will come down and/or the church will catch on fire.”

Behave, believe, belong has long been the order in the church. That’s likely where these saddening responses likely come from. Even worse, some church-type folks might have said to clean up their act so that God loves them.

It’s strange. Long after the Reformation brought us back to saved through faith, it amazes and horrifies me that people who claim “the faith” still believe and (even worse) tell others that they must behave first before belief can kick in.

The Scriptures don’t, I think, lead us that direction. God has long pursued those who left God behind and does so today. Which leads me to Malachi.

Malachi’s oracle is about people claiming to worship God, which was (per the rules, the Law) including a healthy animal and viable grain. Instead, people were giving God anything besides the “good stuff”. Set aside the whole sacrifice part (that does tend to trip up we modern folks) and recognize the intent behind the actions. The people claimed to love God and worship God, but deliberately chose not to, because the sacrifice of the good animal and good grain was too much.

It could be tempting to equate the broken animals and rotten food to the people we see in the opening paragraph, but we must not. Such a person is bringing the best to God, themselves. If they are lame, God will love them. If they are blind, God will love them. If they are diseased, God will love them.

God accepts broken people. I know this because I too am broken and was more broken still when I began my true relationship with God.

The sacrifices that are condemned in Malachi reflect the people who brought them. They were blind, lame, and diseased. Yet, they chose to neither acknowledge it nor repent of it. In fact, it seems they took pride in it.

The blind, lame, diseased person who comes to God saying, “here I am, broken and all.” God says, “welcome, beloved.”

⁜ Reflection ⁜
- How do you see yourself in this? Do you see yourself in this?
- Does this challenge or change how you view those whose life decisions (including lifestyles) and their place before God?
- How often do we see the blindness, lameness, and illnesses of others rather than our own? Why does that matter?
⁜ Prayer ⁜

Gracious God, help us to learn how to be gracious and welcoming to others, just as you have been to us, and because you have been to us. Amen.
2023-09-08
Too Busy To Live
Exodus 5:7-9; Romans 8:5-8, 12-17

Recently, there was a song going around the internet called the “Rich Men North of Richmond”. It mostly speaks to the anguish of a working man who is striving and working and is not making ends meet, and, yes, there are some digs that many are questioning, and sometimes just questioning those who are supporting the song.

There seems a lot of truth, or a lot of perception of that this is the truth, that below middle-class wage earners (and many middle-class ones, too) are working their fingers, bodies, souls, minds off to make ends meet. How many are the like the Hebrews at this point in Exodus, who are trying to make ends meet without a basic component previously supplied, and now not.

In a culture that has idolized working hard to the nth degree, why are we surprised that rest and worship are viewed as a measure of luxury and a sign of laziness. There is, of course, too much rest, but our culture, at this point, does not value rest.

COVID seemed to have reset the rest aspect, but we are now watching it fade away. Mindfulness and meditation apps were all the rage during COVID. It doesn’t seem so now. As worship, especially the type depicted in the Pentateuch of no normal work (arguments over what defines normal, aside), is not normal work (which, of course, is the point), it must be rest, and rest is not to be trusted.

As the culture turns away from organized faith, it appears to diminish and deride worship as well. We can see this among people who used to call the church a home. We know that the human body itself cannot function without rest. Neither can the human mind. Binge-watching television, youtube, or tiktok, isn’t resting, or relaxing. It is, in so many words, medicating. It is helping us bury our lack of rest.

I wonder if many people are so leery of rest and so leery of a set time of difference, that times of gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts (i.e., sermon or homily), are to be avoided. It may be that we are watching even many of whom were thought to be Christian walk away from gathered worship because it is different. And we avoid the different, and different includes worship and rest.

Whether it is the drive to make money, for person or corporation, would have fill our lives with activity without rest, we can see that we do not value rest, and that we are no different than pharaoh and looking at rest and worship it’s nothing more than laziness.

We can see it in the old (in internet age) FOMO (fear of missing out) and YOLO (you only live once). FOMO has fear in its name. YOLO is really the same, just with a positive twist. It seems we almost might fear rest.

Whether we’re looking at the world or reading the Word, fear is not always fully understood (or desired to be understood). The fear noted in Romans may seem different that the fear of FOMO and YOLK, but the fear is still fear. The paarticular type of fear of YOLO and FOMO can lead to parents, meaning well, burying their children in activities so that they don’t miss out on something. What if my child is a hidden talent? What if my child is the greatest gift to humanity in something? They must know!

However, perhaps they are missing out on what is most needed, us. What if, too, we keep them busy because we are to fearful of rest? True rest.

⁜ Reflection ⁜
- How do you view and experience rest? How does worship (gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts) fit into that?
- Who in your circle of influence do you see as needing rest? How can you encourage them to take rest?
- What activities in yourself and others do you see as attempting to be rest, but actually aren’t?
⁜ Prayer ⁜

Jesus, you didn’t call us to work to the bone. You called yourself the Lord of the Sabbath while telling your disciples that Sabbath was made for humanity. Help us to continue to recover what it means to rest as was intended for us, not for how we see it. Give us the courage to say, “no” and help us not self-condemn when we seek rest. Amen.
2023-09-03
Wise in Whose Eyes

Psalm 119:121–128, 1 Kings 4:29–34, Ephesians 6:10–18

‌We are often presented with the wisdom of Solomon. The Scriptures seem convinced that Solomon was gifted wisdom beyond normal humans by God. Yet, Solomon retained his freedom to make choices contrary to God revealed instructions.

‌We cannot know the heart of Solomon. Perhaps he believed he was doing the wise thing (and he was politically) by marrying many foreign women for the protection of the nation. However, elsewhere, the Scriptures tell us that Solomon got a bit lost later in life and would worship gods other than God with his foreign wives.

‌If you read the passage from the psalm, you can get either the mental image of a truly faithful and humble servant or the image of one who thinks they are.

‌Every time I read these verses, I ask myself if I (at the time of reading) am being the true servant or the self-deceiving one. I have learned, over time, that depending on where I am spiritually, I can be either or even both.

‌There is a temptation to automatically think one’s perspective of self is correct, and that even includes the question of being a true servant or a self-deceiving one.

‌There are many Christians who have been deceived (and self-deceive) that they are not faithful servants because they have not lived up to the archetypal perfect Christian. Thus, they are accused of, or self-accuse, being hypocrites. While the “perfect” Christian is often thought to be only a legalistic issue with Holiness denominations (such as my own, the Church of the Nazarene), I have spoken to many people who have internalized this who were raised in completely different Christian traditions.

‌The Western World, with its Christendom history, has also internalized this to both its and the Christian faith’s detriment. I have met very few Christians (only 1, I think) who believed they had become the perfect Christian. The rest, well, the more they perceive that they have been shaped by Jesus Christ, the more they realize they have further to go.

‌At least for today, read Paul’s words to the Ephesians in the context of realizing that we have allowed the world to falsely define what it means to be a Christian, and we ourselves, have created the ideal Christian in the mold of unachievable perfectionism, which is (really) legalism that destroys the spirit.

‌Freedom in Christ is not truly possible when we are held in bondage to perfectionism or legalism. The external behavior may be seen as correct, but God wants the heart.

‌※Reflection※

‌What is your reaction to the psalmist’s words? Why do you think that is?

‌How does the wisdom the world differ from the wisdom of God? How are the two similar?

‌※Prayer※

‌Lord, as we ask for wisdom, help us to be able to tell the difference between the wisdom of the world and your wisdom. Help us not be discouraged as the world tries to define for us what it means to follow you, while we diligently and humbly seek you. Amen.

2023-08-01
Enduring Soil

⁴Now while a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from every city, he said in a parable: ⁵“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, were trampled on, and birds from the sky ate them up. ⁶Others fell on stony ground, and as soon as they came up, they dried up because they had no moisture. ⁷Others fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes grew with them and choked them. ⁸But others fell on good soil, and when they came up, they produced 100 times as much as was planted.” As he said this, he called out, “Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!”

⁹Then his disciples began to ask him what this parable meant. ¹⁰So he said, “You have been given knowledge about the secrets of the kingdom of God. But to others they are given in parables, so that

‘they might look but not see,
and they might listen but not understand.’”

¹¹“Now this is what the parable means. The seed is God’s word. ¹²The ones on the path are the people who listen, but then the Devil comes and takes the word away from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³The ones on the stony ground are the people who joyfully welcome the word when they hear it. But since they don’t have any roots, they believe for a while, but in a time of testing they fall away. ¹⁴The ones that fell among the thorn bushes are the people who listen, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries, wealth, and pleasures of life, and their fruit doesn’t mature. ¹⁵But the ones on the good soil are the people who hear the word but also hold on to it with good and honest hearts, producing a crop through endurance.”
Luke 8:4–15 ISV

Reading the Scriptures (i.e., The Holy Bible) daily continues to bring my joy. It fills some of my curiosity, and often drives my researching desires. As a habit, I read a different translation each year for my daily readings (versus sermon prep). This year it is the ISV.

Part of my rationale is that I believe it helps me see the same Scriptures differently. Whether it’s phrasing or vocabulary or punctuation, something gets triggered (in a good way) in my brain.

I’ve read the Parable of the Sower many times. I’ve preached on it. Heard plenty of sermons on it. Verse 15 hit me today.

What struck me this time, in particular, was “endurance”. When you go back and re-read the parable, endurance makes sense. It may indeed be the point of the entire parable (not saying it is).

Endurance

Endurance and resiliency are the new corporate buzz words coming out of COVID lockdowns and remote work. The church has started to focus on them, too. It’s not a bad thing. Developing resilience might actually make the world a better place.

Perhaps, instead of feeling attacked or belittled, instead…we endure. The good soil is the soil that endures.

In church, we’ll often talk about the “good soil”. What is the “good” soil? We’ll talk about the Christian that overcomes adversity. We’ll talk about the one that doesn’t contain thorns and briars. We’ll about the one that doesn’t contain stones.

Even when we talk about the good soil, we don’t often focus on the endurance. It’s not the soil’s fertility that is the source. It is the endurance.

We don’t like to talk about endurance, because generally that comes along with difficulty. We see on the internet (and even, gasp, in bookstores) the latest book with the latest vital skill set that we must have today. There is the latest shortcut (with and without AI), so that we can get what ever it is done faster, and so we can minimize the time we experience difficulty.

In other words, we avoid requiring endurance.

Training

Athelete’s train. Anyone who regularly participates in physical activity trains. Training produces endurance. We seem to get that when it comes to physicality. We actually do get it mentally with our focus on education. Even that, though, is often about regurgitation and not thinking. Rote and regurgitation do not produce mental endurance.

We are truly awful about endurance when it comes to emotional, and (especially) spiritual. I’m still trying to figure out what happend with the emotional part. I don’t think that the “stiff upper lip” (British) or stoic (Germanic) tendencies and patterns were always healthy. Often they led to people burying their feelings. So, for those that claim “those were the days”…I disagree.

It’s easy to blame the internet (currently) or television (previously), but is that really true? Have we really forgotten how to healthily emotionally endure, or did we just have yet another mask we wore?

We have mental health counselors as a growing field (need far outweighs practitioners). I do think they are necessary because we have done such a poor job of being trained and training others.

This also pours over into spiritual endurance. This is not about spiritual abuse, but just the straightforward character to endure trials, perceived unanswered prayer, and the horrors of a fallen world, without one’s faith being crushed.

Just Believe

Just believe is very similar to rote and regurgitational mental learning. It does not produce endurance. We struggle with endurance. I know I do. It’s okay to acknowledge that you struggle with endurance.

The beauty of the current cultural emphasis on endurance (or resilience) is that the community of faith (i.e., the church universal) can talk about it, too. Think about it. We have the ability to faithfully talk about God and an enduring faith, while the world is also struggling with endurance. There’s the open door…will you walk through it?

Prayer

God, we know that we are called to endure. We see throughout the Scriptures you provided examples of enduring faith from flawed human beings just like us. We know through the witness of Jesus, that you understand our struggles, including our struggle to endure. Holy Spirit, please help us be the enduring soil that produces faith in ourselves and others. Amen.

2023-07-20
Movie About a Christian

Read: Luke 9:18–50

One of the reasons I love and appreciate the concept of the “church year” is that we are often confronted by the hard passages, especially those that often make no sense to our post-enlightenment (i.e., science- and data-driven) minds. This is, as you probably inferred, one of those days.

Today is Transfiguration Sunday. It is this strange day that we “witness” a strange experience that defies our everyday experience.

Luke’s “bookends” of the Transfiguration are: before, Peter’s declaration of Jesus as Messiah, Jesus’s subsequent command to be silent, and Jesus’ prophesy of his suffering road, and his prophesy of sacrifice for and by those that follow him; after, a healing and Jesus’ rhetorical question of the unbelieving character of the Jews (and, honestly, most of humanity). With what most of us believe about God (God has a plan) and the Scriptures (the Scriptures help us interpret the Scriptures), these seemingly unrelated events before and after the Transfiguration should affect how we view the Transfiguration.

If we view the Transfiguration and its bookends as a “movie” of the Christian life, it disturbingly makes sense. “Who do YOU say I am,” Jesus asks. Peter responds, “the Messiah.” Sounds like a person accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior (salvation).

Jesus then says, “deny yourself. Daily sacrifice yourself. The world will demand you deny me and be ashamed of me.” One of the first struggles of a new believer (and long-time believers, too) is the realization that accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior is only the beginning. Life-giving hardship is the Christian life.

The Transfiguration is (in the context of our “movie”), then, like the Holiness Movement concept of the Second Work of Grace (i.e., Entire Sanctification in Church of the Nazarene verbiage). We are “transfigured”—not by our will (other than a will to self-sacrifice and submission to the will of God)—by the will and work of God to be “transfigured” into the likeness of our holy God, and particularly in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

In A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, John Wesley (who “codified” the conception of Entire Sanctification) noted, we are to rarely, if ever, to speak of our experience of this “transfiguration”. This is similar to the actions of Peter, James, and John who kept silent about their experience. They shared it later, at the right time and to the right people, to reinforce the place of Jesus Christ in their experience of and with God.

After this life-changing experience, then we come back to the real world (coming down the mountain) and face demands for miracles, healings, along with the unbelief of the world, and often even our own disbelief at the miracles of God. This disbelief is often not merely about “miracles”, but our transformation by God that we didn’t “earn”. We could even go so far as to say that the “unbelieving” performers of miracles (Luke 9:49–50) are like our scientists and doctors who perform “miracles” that could not possibly be imagined in the days of Jesus.

We also have the sad, but real, argument between those who claim to follow Jesus about who is better (Luke 9:46–48). Those arguments can follow theological lines, church formation lines (ecclesiology), spiritual formation lines (holiness), political lines, gifting lines, and so on. This is the object lesson for denominations (even the earliest split resulting in Orthodox and Roman Catholic, long before Protestants), church splits, and church departures.

When we read the Scriptures and find passages that we feel conflict with other Scriptures, or our experiences and understandings, perhaps it is times like that when we can best view ourselves through the lens of God.

May God who Transfigures us poor and needy people into those that glow and reflect the glorious and holy light of Jesus Christ. Amen.

2022-02-27
How to Come Back

1 Corinthians 11:17–33

It’s almost over it seems. The time of being masked and constrained nears its end. On the other hand, already another strain of COVID is showing up, but the reality is that we, as an entire world, are at our limits.

It seems great that we’re almost there, except that we really have a lot of things that we need to work through, and many of them may be far harder than COVID, masks, inoculations, and social distancing. The wounds that have opened over the last 2 years are far deeper, far more scarred, and far more gangrenous than many of us were prepared for.

As we come back, it is far too easy and tempting to attempt to go back to old habits and practices and forget what has just happened and the mirror that we saw ourselves in. We, as Christians…we, as the church…cannot just come back.

Many of us will “come back” to church and be unwilling to be uncomfortable. The world has trained us to be exactly like the Corinthians…divided. And, even worse, we may be more divided than the culture at large, which should terrify and condemn us.

Paul was speaking on how the rich self-segregated from the poor. Instead of common Communion, it was a separate one. Instead of a “love feast” celebrating unity, Communion (the memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection!) shined the light on the division, and it was then unworthy of the grace that Jesus had bestowed upon them.

While we may not take Communion separately in the church, there is no question that the church is divided. Whether it is by culture, country, skin color, language, socio-economic class, or even denomination, the church is divided.

The community that Jesus granted the world the right to judge regarding love (John 13:35), desperately needs to love one another. As we learn to love each other, looking beyond politics, borders, skin color, language, power, weakness, honor, shame, wealth, it will be hard.

Learning to love beyond ourselves isn’t optional. For those that follow Jesus, it is an act of loving obedience.

※Reflection※

As you prepare to go/come back to normal, is the “old” normal really what Jesus wants from you?

What is one thing that you will do different as the situation settles into the new way of things?

※Prayer※

Jesus, the craziness of these last 2 years may feel like forever, and, yet, in your eyes, it was only a breath. Grant us the grace and peace and love to come together as your disciples to show that your love can truly transform the human heart, and from the human heart transform the world. Amen.

2022-02-22
Future Tensely

Psalm 126; Isaiah 40:1-11; Romans 8:22-25

Have you realized that Advent is weird? I love Advent, don’t get me wrong. However, the world has done a successful job of retraining us on what Advent is all about.

Partially, I think, this is because of the image of an unthreatening baby Jesus with lambs, other baby animals, with the inferred warm smiles of (an exhausted) Mary and Joseph. This is a fairly safe form of evangelism, and it’s easy to put out little statues in our homes and on our lawns.

We, the modern church, have become very comfortable with this form of Advent, which creates this weird situation of celebrating the Advent of the birth of Jesus, which already happened. By simple definition, advent is about an event that is coming. Except Jesus came already, and Jesus went already.

Yet, we treat this as more than a simple birthday. This is also more than the annual “discussion” of which Christmas tradition is really of pagan origin and the dispute/defense of those traditions (either way). The problem is that when we talk about the Advent of Christ, it isn’t just about the birth of Jesus. This is where it gets uncomfortable, including for the Western Church.

The Advent Season is about the event of Jesus being born. It is also about the Advent of Christ’s return. It’s that whole return thing that gets uncomfortable.

Today’s passages are about the past. They are also about the future. Psalm 126:1 talks about the past blessings of God. We can equate this to the birth of Jesus (for the sake of example, not making a theological tie-in).

Psalm 126:4 is about the restoration of those fortunes lost. And that’s important. God provided previously. The blessings were “lost”. So, the request is that the blessings be restored. We, too, are in that in between time. The time between blessings.

We look back at the blessings provided and look forward to the blessings to come (the return of Christ). Yet, contrary to the sentimental Jesus of the manger (which was not sentimental in reality), the coming of Christ is not foretold as being comfortable.

For both who have declared Christ their Lord and Savior, and for those who don’t, the Day of the Lord always comes at a cost. Some who thought they were saved may discover they are not. The pain of losing loved ones and the pangs of the world will be unpleasant. So, it makes sense that we don’t talk about it when we want to talk about baby Jesus.

Except, the true hope is that this life is not the end. The pain, misery, injustice, degradation, death, war, pestilence, poverty, slavery that is all around is proof that all is not well. The Advent of baby Jesus didn’t solve that. Only the next Advent will solve it.

Come, Lord Jesus, Come!

2021-12-06
Seeing Christ In The Lives of Others
Romans 12:16–21

As part of our college ministry many years ago, we asked our college students to come up with their mission statement. It was coached in a business/organization language; it should have been better phrased as a Rule of Life.

Mine was: Seeing Christ in the Lives of Others.

Yes, the title was my little slogan. As of late, it has come to mind regularly. Often it is part of my response to a myriad of things that I am seeing and hearing about all around, whether it be personal interactions or even Tweets (posts on the Twitter platform).

There seems to be a predilection to be wounded and hurt first (and responding that way).

Hurt people, hurt people

This saying from my time in Celebrate Recovery continues to resonate with me. God’s timing for teaching me this (right before being hugely wounded) is not lost on me.

As we watch the world around us, perhaps you need to hear this, too.

Hurt and see

You might be hurting now. I know I am. In fact, the reason I’m sharing these thoughts with you is that I, too, am hurting.

Reflecting on Paul’s words to the Romans should provide some wisdom to and a framework for us.

Too often, people take these verses and go right to Paul’s quotation of Proverbs 25:21–22. Heading there first is an indication that we are responding out of hurt and/or fear first.

Instead, perhaps we ought to focus on, “…show respect for what everyone else believes is good.” Many may respond with, “That excuses their behavior!” No, it doesn’t. It shows respect for God.

Another response I have witnessed and experienced is, “that’s not Scriptural.” Sometimes that is the choice of a style of music or a style of dress. Sometimes it truly is something called out by the Scriptures as bad.

Grace Before

In the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, we have the theological construct of prevenient grace. This is the grace that goes before the people even act. In particular, it is God’s grace that goes before we have a clue.

Perhaps the turmoil in the world, especially as the church—just as the culture—adapts to massive changes in everything, ought to be perceived with grace, “…show[ing] respect for what everyone else believes is good.” For the record, this is hard.

Much of the language being used by the world is very judgemental, of course, the church has much the same problem. We are called to be present in the world, but not to be of it. As we hold onto the things of old or embrace the new, looking for Christ in the lives of others may well be an answer.

※Reflection※
- How might Christ be present in the current social advocacy you oppose? How might God’s grace be going before in that situation?
- Why might it be important to “see” Jesus in the lives of others, especially those that do not know Jesus?
2021-11-01
A Movement: Of Priest and Temple
1 Peter 2:1–12

We, self-included, often focus on “…But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:9). This is a very Protestant focus. However, it is not solely one, as both the Roman Catholic church and Eastern Orthodox also focus on it.

Much of the focus is from the “pulpit”. In other words, the pastor/priest is talking to the believers listening that they, too, are part of the priesthood of all believers. Hence, why the second half of verse 9 is as important as the first half, “…that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”

There is a reason for the “priesthood of all believers.” It is to be the priesthood for the world. In a number of Christian traditions, the pastor/priest has a certain role, and that is to equip the priesthood of all believers to “…proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

What is helpful here is to go back a few verses to “…you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5, NKJV)

In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul tells the Corinthians that they are a temple to God. With Peter’s words, too, we come away with this strange duality. We are both temple and priest. Yes, it is symbolism.

On the other hand, for a people far more reverent and religious than ours, this is significant.

As a temple, first, we are to be clean. Unless your house, for example, is miraculous, you have to clean it regularly. We “track” the world into our physical house. Whether it’s sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing, or something more, we must clean our homes.

How much more so do we track the world into ourselves, a temple of God? So, therefore, we must clean ourselves as befitting a temple of God. There are plenty of ways that clean the temple. Personally, I have found the practice of Bible reading, prayer, and small group (in my case, 3 other guys spread across the country) to be the best cleansing (doesn’t make it easy). You may find other practices to be better. Just make sure the cleaning gets done regularly.

This isn’t just an “inside” job, either. The outside aspect of the temple is important, too. The world sees the outside of the temple. The peculiarity of being the temple is that we are very aware of the crevices that aren’t clean on the inside. If we focus too much on the inside, however, the outside is a mess. However, if we (like so many of us do) focus too much on the outside, the temple comes crumbling down, for the internal structure cannot hold up the facade (or false front) shown to the world, and we then dishonor God by our fallen temple.

This is not about tattoos, piercings, dyed hair, or something like that. This is about how we treat others, care for others, or even love others. This is about the behaviors we allow ourselves to do, and allow others to do. As the culture has made us all too aware, we have not done a particularly good job regarding the behaviors of others.

Nor can we forget about being “the priest”. You may have experienced this, too, where someone says that all they need to do is worship God in their car or online or even at church and that’s all that matters. It’s as if the priestly aspect of worshipping God with song is the “goal” of being a priest.

If we were to look at one of the tasks of priests (the ones in the temple), we could draw that conclusion. Except…they weren’t the only priests. The majority of priests (from an Old Testament point of view) didn’t work at the temple. They were among the people.

Much of the Christian view has been twisted (with significant reason) to view that the entirety of the priestly class was the leadership that as described in the New Testament that followed and harassed and challenged Jesus. Yet, while the Scribes and the Pharisees were the loud obnoxious ones we read about, we know that they weren’t the only ones out there (think of John the Baptist’s dad).

The priestly act isn’t only the roles and tasks at temple that need doing. It is the healing and guiding of the world. With even a little bit of introspection, we know that we need the power of, and to be changed by, God to do either of those well.

※Reflection※
- What does it mean for you to be a priest?
- What are some of the ways that you are a temple to and of God?
- How does you being a priest affect your understanding of also being a temple?
※Prayer※

God, grant us the lamp of love that never grows dim,
that it may shine in us and warm our hearts,
giving light to others through our love for them,
by its brightness provide a vision of the holy city where the true and inextinguishable light of Jesus Christ our Lord shines. Amen.
— a modified prayer of Columbanus
2021-10-29
Blazing a Way

Nehemiah 9:1-31

“It’s not our fault!”

That is proclaimed so much by so many about slavery, racism, poverty, etcetera…and they’re right. Yet, here we have the example of the Jews. It was the fault of their ancestors. However, their ancestors were dead.

All things new

Often, you cannot figure out the right way without figuring out the wrong way. Confessing the wrongdoing of one’s predecessors isn’t taking responsibility for it (i.e., guilt and shame for what they did). So what? Now is the time to forge a new path. Granted, the Jews of Nehemiah’s time were the descendants of those who rebelled against God. Yet, at least I can see a recognition that this confession is also a warning to themselves that this could befall them, too.

This passage in Nehemiah really causes me to pause and think about today in the US with our laser focus on our individuality. Perhaps our personal confession is too much about ourselves and not enough about others.

Ours to Confess

In the Lutheran tradition (especially during Lent), the following is spoken by the church body:

Most merciful God,
we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.
We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name.
Amen.

Our Forging

We are being forged. It sounds impressive until you recognized the forging process. Tossed in a hot furnace until you’re so hot that you almost melt. Put onto a hard surface and hit with a hammer, and maybe bent with tongs. If that’s not enough, you might be tossed back into the furnace and brought back out, and hit/bent some more. Then you’re tossed into a vat of oil or water to cool off. If you come out warped, enjoy the next trip through the furnace.

I’m not sure about you, but somehow that sounds kind of like now (and the previous couple of years).

Forging Expectations

As a white, middle-class, middle-aged male, I could be threatened by the riots, the challenges to my faith, the challenges to the church, the challenges to “my” culture. I might even feel threatened (or insulted) that people think that their understanding of each of these things actually represents who I am.

Or, I follow the example of Nehemiah and the Jews. I could confess that those who went before weren’t perfect, made mistakes, and even did things I believe are wrong. I’m not taking their guilt upon my shoulders, for that is not mine to bear.

However, leaving the wrongs things wrong just because they’re someone else’s fault is…wrong. And, because we are called to love others…it is often sin.

Sin, From a Certain Point of View

As someone from the Wesleyan theological family, the Lutheran confession of being in bondage to sin is irksome. It rubs me the wrong way. It superficially violates much of our understanding of being freed through Christ and can be seen to conflict with Entire Sanctification (aka, Christian Perfection).

We are in bondage to sin. Yes, I said it. Yet, it may not be our sin that we are in bondage to, but the sin of others. I am kind of “wrecked” (in a good way) with this. It transforms (in hopefully a Christ-like way) my thinking in regards to the concept of institutionalized racism and even the gap between wealthy and poor.

We are the church. Being free to follow and fulfill the love of Christ is our holy calling.

2021-08-25