Tag: sin

Our Evaluations

Read

Psalm 90; Isaiah 1:24–31; Luke 11:29-32

Focus

Psalm 90:14 “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

Luke 11:29 “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”

Devotion

What does it mean to be an evil generation? The reality is that it seems that every generation is evil, of one sort or another.

Some of the evil is ignorance. Some of the evil is selfishness. Some of the evil is…just evil.

The long-held tradition in Western Christianity is that pride (or selfishness) is the root of sin (and thus evil). Perhaps the current understanding of what pride and selfishness is wrong. It could be that, for me at least, pride (nor selfishness) really seems to fit.

What if it is solely not being satisfied with the steadfast love of God?

All of us have experienced the brokenness of the world in some form or another. The majority of our experiences involve other people. Those experiences are generally about how those people didn’t love us as we needed to be loved in the moment.

Does that mean they didn’t love us? No. Does it mean they did love us? No.

Too often we evaluate love, even God’s perfect love, by measure how we perceive the love of others. As a consequence, the need we have for love is often unfulfilled and we often look at expressions of love with a perspective that falls far short of God’s love.

Reflection

Think about the people in your life. How do you love people? How does that come out, or is expressed? Do you think they understand the way you love them as loving?

Act

As you go about the day, think of how people love you by their words and actions. If you conclude that they don’t love you, what about what they did (rather than their position or role) that caused you to feel unloved. Evaluate how you express your love toward others with the same measure that you just used.

Prayer

God, as we ponder what it means for us to express our love towards others, help us to love others as you do. As we measure our acts of love or the acts of others, help us to look to you as the true measure of love. Amen.

2025-08-26
Hallowed and Halos

‌???? Read

‌Matthew 10:32–39; Matthew 28:16–20; Hebrews 11:33–12:2

Focus

“Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”
‌Matthew 10:32–33 NRSVue

‌

“I believe in…the communion of saints”
The Apostle’s Creed

‌

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,”
Hebrews 12:1

Devotion

‌In my tradition, we may speak the Apostle’s Creed every so often, but we don’t really process the communion of saints. Part of that (if not almost all of that) is an ignorance and disregard for traditions because too much is tied (in our minds) to the Roman Catholic Church.

‌Another significant part is the way that life after death is considered. Many traditions and thinking have a clear divide between life on earth and life beyond this one.

‌Both of these lead us to conclude a more philosophical understanding of the communion of saints than the writers of the Apostle’s Creed understood. Many (if not most) don’t really see, understand, or even believe that the saints are among us. There is no question that some traditions invoke the saints as if they are gods, but the general disregard of the saints is throwing away everything because of a flaw.

‌Some traditions hold that when we (especially as a church body) worship in the power of the Holy Spirit that we are indeed worshiping with the saints who have died before, because they are with and in Christ. There are some traditions that believe that we are worshiping with the saints to come, as well, for the same reason.

‌This is not some call to fully transform or change your thinking in regard to saints, but to understand how often saints are not part of our thinking. I’m sure there are one or two churches in my tradition that have a name such as Saint Matthew’s, but generally that is left to the Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and the Anglicans.

‌Rather than think of a church (for example) named after a saint as something weird, perhaps think of it as a statue of a person. We all know that the statue is not the actual person, but that the statue represents a particular life of impact. So, too, are the saints. Lives of impact.

‌We often do not see the impact our lives have, from the smile at a stranger, to a laugh with a friend. Yet, there is no person on earth who does not have impact upon the life of another.

‌When we read some of the stories of saints, we can become overwhelmed by their story, thinking we could never be that way. Yet, saints never called themselves saints and were also overwhelmed by the lives of the saints before them.

‌Some of the stories seem mystical or magical or even miraculous. Yet, none of these people saw themselves as great, they saw themselves living in the grace of Jesus Christ.

Reflection

‌Do you believe that you are living in the grace of Jesus Christ? Why or why not? If so, how? If not, how might your thinking change?

‌What makes a person a saint to you? How might you develop one or more of those traits in your life?

Act

‌Take some time and search for info on the life of a saint. As many saints have “feast days”, look up the saint for your birthday, or the day you gave your heart to Jesus.

Prayer

‌Jesus, through your example and life, you inspired saints to follow you. Holy Spirit, thank you for emboldening the saints of the past, today, and the future. Father God, thank you for your loving embrace of all who are broken in this world, including ourselves. Amen.

2024-11-01
Hearts and Ashes

???? Read

‌Psalm 32; Isaiah 58:1-12; Hebrews 12:1-14

Focus

‌Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psalm 32:1

‌The LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parched places and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58:11

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.‌
Hebrews 12:4

Devotion

‌Saint Valentine’s trust was in Jesus Christ. He is reported to have said that Jesus Christ brought the only true hope and promise of a better world. That didn’t earn him any friends with the Roman rulers. It seems that converting others to Christianity led to his death. Saint Valentine was martyred on 14 February.‌

Today is also Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. This is a season of repentance and reflection. It would seem to not mesh with the dominant view of Valentine’s Day with its romantic (almost saccharine and vapid) view of love. Love, especially as lived out by Jesus, often doesn’t match the secular view of it, but our measure is Jesus, not the world.‌

While you might not be called to be a martyr, the author of Hebrews points out that we often give up in our fight against sin, even though we have not gotten to the point that our blood was shed. And, yet there is a dominant trend in post-Christendom to throw our hands up, because Christendom has fallen.‌

In many respects, it seems that we are more inclined to anger and defensiveness, rather than resting in the fact that our transgressions are forgiven, our sins covered; as a result of such, we ought to be happy. Can you imagine how we could change the world not just with love, but with the happiness of that love.‌

We are talking about the love of Jesus Christ for us, and ours of him. We are not talking about the love of the world, its stuff, its powers, its parties, and so on.‌

When we remember this and also remember that God’s water of love and life never fail, you would think that the world would not shake us. We are human, so it does.‌

There is a lot for us to reflect on: historical issues, our politics, our lifestyles, the wars, the sicknesses. There is so much in the world that causes us not to reflect, but to react. We react out of our humanness.‌

We are called to reflect upon ourselves and the world through the lens of Christ’s love, then we are better equipped to react in Christ’s love toward a world that desperately needs it.

Reflection

‌What are current areas discussed in life (politics, lifestyles, war, immigration, and the like) that you have strong feelings about? Do you default to the comfortable and/or your community? When was the last time you measured your reactions to Christ? Do you ever ask yourself, what would Jesus do?

Act

‌As you reflected, what came to mind? All of us have earthly perspectives that are not Jesus-like, and likely need work and repentance. Think about the issues that you respond the most strongly about (good or bad). Look in the Bible for some possible perspectives that will bring you more in mind like Jesus.

Prayer

‌Jesus, help me understand how you view the world and me. Holy Spirit, please guide my transformation from a person of this world to a person of the Kingdom. Amen.

2024-02-14
Greater or Lesser Than Evils

Read: Psalm 119:41–48, Deuteronomy 10:10–22, James 2:14–26

Focus

‌No one ever accomplishes good by means of evil, because they are themselves conquered by the evil. On the contrary, evil is corrected by good.
St. Barsanuphius the Great

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.
James 2:19 (NRSVue)

It is a good exercise to ask, what is evil? Why do we categorize certain perspectives, actions, or even people as evil? Often, what we judge as evil is really about what we view as normative, as if normal was automatically good (or evil, for that matter).

Devotion

‌In the US, today is Halloween. It is a combination of many traditions, and always comes with a plethora of arguments as to whether Christians should observe it, participate in any type of recognition of it (Truck ‘n’ Treat, Harvest Party, and the like), or stay in a holy huddle.

‌In Christian circles, 31 October has some Western Christian specific applications. In a few traditions, this (though really beginning at sunset) is the beginning of The Allhallowtide season, which is a time set aside in the church year for first, observation of the Saints (known & unknown, martyred and not) who have gone before us to their Heavenly Reward. It concludes with All Souls Day, which is an observation of all Christians who have gone before (and we won’t talk about Saints and saints).

‌For those of us of the Protestant traditions (in other words, not Roman Catholic or a myriad of Orthodox), 31 October is also Reformation Day, the general agreement that the Reformation began with Martin Luther starting an argument about the sufficiency of Christ by nailing his proposals (theses) to the gate of churches in the German city of Wittenberg. To be clear, the undercurrents of the Reformation were already moving (from an historical viewpoint) in Europe (with martyrs, too). Luther’s dramatic postings (though in course with cultural expectations) created a great story.

‌The secular and non-Christian aspects that we are experiencing for Halloween are, truly, a perversion and syncreticism of pre-Christian, Christian, and post-Christian belief structures. Just a side not, perhaps instead of assaulting Halloween, we do something different (and I’m not talking about Harvest Parties and Trunk ‘n’ Treats). Not that I necessarily have an idea, but much of the angst and outrage borders on evil, which St. Barsanuphius was warning us about.

‌As we watch functionally innocent children walk around asking for candy—who are dressed up as ghosts, stereotypical witches, super heroes, and what have you—we need to ask ourselves why we perceive a particular costume as good or evil. It’s not that I, for example, don’t have opinions, but I have had to spend time pondering why a particular costume is “evil” versus “good”. This is not about relativism. This is about my perspective of normal masked with what is “good”.

‌If there were two kids, one dressed up like a vampire and one dressed up as Knight Templar (a knight order during the Crusades in the Near East), my automatic emotional response would be vampire=bad, and Templar=good. However, if I were born and raised from the Near East (regardless of faith tradition), I might be very hard pressed to figure out which is evil, because the Templars were not good from a Near East perspective, because they came in conquest (motives aside) for generations.

‌If I, as a parent, knew that my neighbor was from the Near East, and dressed my child up as a Knight Templar (assuming my child wanted that), am I doing evil to my neighbor? Am I loving my neighbor?

‌This is not about incidental errors, but actions performed despite knowledge. Which brings us to the words of James. The demons James refers to know who God is. They know God’s holiness. It is arguable that they might even be more aware of who God is than any of the Saints or saints that have gone before us.

‌Yet, they shudder. I’ve heard many people ask, how could one know God (not bad or evil people, that’s different) and be against God? James doesn’t answer that question, but the implication is bigger than we think. Demons, who likely know God on a divine level beyond us, still oppose God. If the demons, who know God in ways beyond us, can oppose God, why not humans?

‌We can conclude that evil is opposing God. The implication with James, though, is that (perhaps) true evil is knowing God and opposing God anyway.

Reflection

‌What recently has evoked “that is evil” from you? Did you spend time evaluating why it was evil? When you declare something evil, do you ever check against the Scriptures to see what the Scriptures say?

Act

‌As you observe (and maybe even give candy to) children as they walk your neighborhood tonight, look at their costumes. Ask yourself why that child chose that costume, and why they thought it was “good”? Then ask yourself why you thought it was good or evil and why?

‌???? Prayer

‌God, as we look about the world, we often conclude what is evil and what is good without asking you. Help us to look to you to define these terms, rather than how the world and our personal relationships tell us to. Help us to as filled with grace toward others in our perception of their wrong-ness, as you were while we were in our sin. Amen.

2023-10-31
Reconciling Fruit

Psalm 144; Isaiah 27:1–6; 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (ISV)

In times to come, Jacob will take root,
and Israel will blossom, sprout shoots,
and fill the whole world with fruit.
Isaiah 27:6 ISV

All of this comes from God, who has reconciled us to himself through the Messiah and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
2 Corinthians 5:18 ISV

Reconciliation: the action of reconciling and/or the state of being reconciled.

‌Reconcile/reconciled/reconciling
‌1a) to restore to friendship or harmony
‌1b) settle or resolve (differences)
‌2) to make consistent or congruous
‌3) to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant.
‌4a) to check (a financial record) against another for accuracy
‌4b) to account for
Merriam-Webster.com

⁜Focus⁜

‌The (or God’s) fruit of reconciliation should fill the whole world, and we are to be the fruit.

⁜Devotion⁜

‌Depending how many sermons you’ve listened to, it is likely that you have heard at least one sermon about the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. This list comes from Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Galatians 5:22-23). Depending on the preacher or author, it could be an unordered list, or an ordered list. These fruit, though, are supposed to be increasing in each Christian day-by-day.

‌Isaiah’s words are, in particular, about the people of Israel (God’s first chosen people). The concept was that despite their trials, exiles, and spiritual (and physical) wandering, that God would cause them to be plentiful and to fill the earth. Over the years, many Christians have believed (and even preached) that Christians completely replaced the descendants of Israel as the new chosen. Today, most Christians don’t believe that. On the other hand, Christians are spiritual descendants of Israel (through Jesus), so should be accounted for as fruit of the promise in Isaiah.

‌Yet, if we look around, we can see that Christians are as likely to be reconciling as anyone else. In other words, we Christians appear to be just as unloving and unreconciling as those who do not believe in Jesus. Paul notes that Christians are particularly called to the ministry of reconciliation. While, yes, much of that does have to do with being in a reconciled (or “right”) relationship with God, this does not exclude or diminish the call on the Christian to be a reconciling force in their family, community, and the world.

‌Re-examine the definitions of reconciling. Except for definition 4a, one could actually apply each definition to the life a Christian is to exemplify. 4a would occupy a special place that is that of the price of sin paid, and thus has a place in (or origin for) the conversation of reconciling.

‌In the Greek language, there is an imperfect tense, which doesn’t (sadly) exist in English, though reconciling comes close per the Merriam-Webster definition, especially when we say reconciliation is the action of reconciling (the mission or ministry) and being reconciled, which was done through Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death on the cross, and resurrection. It is done, and yet there is more work to be done.

⁜Reflection⁜

‌Of the five (1a, 1b, 2, 3, 4b) definitions, which do you see as the strongest in your life? How do you see each of these working through your life?

⁜Act⁜‌

What is an act (or series of acts) of reconciliation that you can do in your family and community?

⁜Prayer⁜

‌Father God, you have given us the ministry of reconciliation. Help us not to forget that by giving it to us, you have given us responsibility. Help us to remember that through this responsibility you have given us the honor of working alongside you, the Creator, in the world. Jesus, help us to continually examine your life as conveyed in the Scriptures to understand what it means to live a life of reconciliation. Holy Spirit, just as you provide each of us “fruit of the Spirit”, so, too, do you provide the ability to be aware of where the world needs reconciliation. Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), guide us more deeply into your truth to be the light of reconciliation and the people of love to the world. Amen.

2023-10-10
Know Yourself. Know Your Idol.

The two latest tragedies that are in front of me are the school shooting in Texas, and the abuse scandal unraveling in another Christian denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. Both are incredibly painful. They should be. They are another example of how humanity has fallen and how determined, it seems, humanity is to stay mired there.

Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.
1 John 5:21, New Living Translation

It was this verse, however, that strikes me as the core issue…idols. Whether one is a Christian, in a Christian community, or not a Christian at all, we each have idols or, more importantly, something that is so close to being an idol that it may not be one spiritually (though that may be debatable), but functionally is.

I speak from ignorance regarding the shooter at the school tragedy, and deliberately so. Reading what pundits and talking heads have to say, even first-person testimonies aren’t particularly helpful and may be more damaging in regard to a solution. From a shepherd’s standpoint, I see pain. Whether it is generational pain, cultural pain, and/or personal pain, it seems to me that someone was in such spiritual and emotional pain that they reacted in a seemingly inhumane way.

He responded inhumanely, but he responded far too humanly.

One of the words I’ve seen applied to him, the accused SBC abusers, and the abuse enablers (in the cases of both shooter and abusers) is inhumane. That can be a misleading term. Humane is a moral stance that is, in the US at least, based upon cultural and supposedly Judeo-Christian frameworks. Humane from a Christian standpoint can best be framed by using Charles Sheldon’s words (culturally popularized in the ’90s), What Would Jesus Do?

On the other hand, human (i.e., less the “e”) is different. Frankly, both tragedies are emblematic of human-ness. Yes, both were inhumane, as are we. I bring this forward, as we often respond to inhumane as if it were the same as being inhuman, or not human. This is a grave danger for us, as when we remove the “e”, we tend to make others out to be less than we are. This leads to tirades against others and the hardening of hearts.

I’m convinced that the Gospel has not lost its power. I’m equally convinced that we have lost the power of the Gospel. We are agents, it seems, of becoming more human and less humane.

In What’s Wrong with the World, G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” I might amend Chesterton and say, “it was found difficult and abandoned.”

Each of us has an issue that ignites us. Each of us has a pain that motivates or chains us. These can be our idols. Pray with me that God frees us from them all and that we become more like Jesus (humane) and less a sinner (human).

2022-05-30
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
Laying The Bread Down
Psalm 145:10–18; 2 Kings 4:42–44; Ephesians 3:14–21; John 6:1–21

It is tempting to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We can look at society and even many churches (in particular, their leaders), and just give up. There is such a struggle against the darkness and against sin, that it can be overwhelming.

At the time of Elisha, Israel had a God-worshipping heritage, but it was set up for failure at the beginning with golden calves being placed as the place of worship. Israel had been the stronghold of Baal and Asherah. God worship had struggled to be strong in the face of royal opposition. It could have been given up. The light doesn’t die.

An unnamed man brings his offering to the prophets of God. There is no place of God to worship in Israel, so the man brought it to the prophets. While it was not “at the Temple” (a no-go place for the Israelites), it was still a matter of the heart. The man couldn’t bring it to the temple, so he brought it to the next best place.

Then, there wasn’t enough to feed them. That should cause us to conclude that they were not doing particularly well. If there was such great concern that there wasn’t enough bread, bread was probably an issue, showing that faithful giving was an issue.

Their situation was much like the people who were following Jesus. There was not nearly enough food to feed all those people. While we might question Andrew’s faith, there does seem to be something behind that. Andrew apparently knew Jesus well enough to go search the crowd for food. Then, bringing what was found, he concluded that there wasn’t enough for the crowd.

In both the stories of Elisha and Jesus, logically there wasn’t enough food. God still did something. God did so much that there were leftovers.

※Reflection※
- What does the bread-making miracle of Elisha have to do with Jesus’? Does it matter about Elisha’s when it comes to Jesus’?
- What situations can you think of that are similar to the man who doesn’t bring his offering to the “right” place, but to the “best” place for him? Do you think God honors that?
※Prayer※

Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20, CEB)
2021-07-25
Let ‘Em Fight
Psalm 145:10–18; 2 Kings 3:4–20; Colossians 3:12–17

It can be hard to be rid of wounds. Many physical ones heal with scars, though the deeper body ones may not heal well. For most of us, the emotional and spiritual wounds are the ones with deep and lasting effects. These are the ones that can hold us back; they can also be the ones that drive us forward. When our loved ones are wounded, often our response is heightened due to our desire to protect them and our subsequent failure to do so. We, then, may react toward them in ways that may seem unwise or over the top.

Elisha’s response to Joram (or Jehoram) may have been a bit harsh. Elisha was the spiritual son of Elijah as the inheritor of the prophetic position. Joram was the son of Ahab. Elijah and Ahab had a poor relationship. Horrible relationship might be more appropriate. Elijah lived much of his life in fear of Ahab. That likely deeply affected Elisha’s response to Joram. Even prophetic people are human.

Although it often seems impossible to live beyond our pains or the pains of our loved ones, we are still called to do it. Will we fail? More often than not. Yet, often it is only through the striving to move beyond the pain that we can begin to heal and gain new perspectives.

We bring our hurts with us everywhere we go, including church. In fact, one of the biggest reasons people leave a church (or the church or the faith) is because people at church hurt them. The reality is that the church proportionally contains as many hurt people as the world…100%. How we deal with the hurts should be what separates Christian behavior from the world’s behavior.

We should be honest…Christian behavior in this regard is often worse than the world’s. The world has put systems into place to mitigate some of it. It still misses a lot of it. Across the denominational landscape (i.e., in no way limited to a single tradition or denomination), the church has done a horrible job. Whether it is the burying and hiding of failures or the annihilation of the failed, the church has left a large body count in its wake.

Paul’s words to the Colossians aren’t just to a “church”, it is to individuals. One of the biggest mistakes we in/of the church make is thinking in institutional terms, rather than individual terms. This is very peculiar as the primary Western expression of Christianity is all about individual salvation, individual sin (for repentance and salvation). Yet, we are quick to move to an institutional framework when it (even just) might require us to deal with the failures of another.

There is a huge piece of personal responsibility. There is a huge piece of institutional responsibility. Institutions are made of individuals, so it still comes down to individuals. How we are formed by each other and the Scriptures will play a significant part of how we deal with things. Though, the hardest part is not running away every time, and yet—after doing the hard work—there is a time to leave.

The peace of one body is hard to achieve. Paul commends sing psalms and worship songs to one another. That “to” is interesting. Our worship songs are “to” God (as they should be as reflections of praise, adoration, and thanksgiving). It would be nice to know which songs and psalms Paul meant. It does mean though that we are to work on one another in the love of Christ. It also means, that we are to allow ourselves to be worked on, which often means our pains and hurts come out. What we do with ours and those of others may well reflect how much we really let the Holy Spirit renovate our hearts.

※Reflection※
- What worship songs (of any era) or psalms would you think of to sing to others to help form them in the image of Christ?
- When it comes to conflict how do you deal with it at home, at work, extended family, socially, at church? How do you respond when you witness conflict at each of these places?
- How do Paul’s words affect your responses, or your future responses, to conflict?
※Prayer※

Lord, we wrestle with one another, often out of pain. Blessed Healer, heal our hearts so that we do not hurt the hearts of others.
2021-07-23
Burning Call
Psalm 145:10–18; 1 Kings 19:19–21; Colossians 1:9–14

One of the issues that has come up in the last year in church-ish circles is the ordination of women. Saddleback took a bold step and ordained women which went against the predominant grain of their partner body (SBC). There was an unexpected explosion in certain circles against Beth Moore. Along with misogynistic proclamations and male misconduct issues in the SBC, Moore left that body that she had grown up in.

One of the claims against women being ordained are some contextually misused verses and the traditions of the Israelites. The Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its founding, but over the years has struggled to fulfill that promise. It’s on the right track, but there is work to be done, still.

There is often a wringing of hands in Christian Complementarianism (where only men can be leaders/pastors/elders) circles that there aren’t enough faithful men to fulfill empty roles. The Roman Catholic church, on top of its complementarian issues also requires celibacy, is also experiencing this problem. Some churches in both groups are finding creative ways around their limitations, but the reality is that there aren’t the faithful men needed.

For me, there were two transformative experiences in this regard. The first was experiencing the preaching of Dr. Nina Gunter. Any person with any spiritual sense and without theological blinders could experience her spirit-led preaching. The second was during my “Discovery” weekend of my pastoral journey, where I had to preach to my peers, senior pastor, and District Superintendent. I preached from Luke 19:38–40, where Jesus was told to rebuke his disciples. He responded, then the rocks will cry out. When I was praying over the words to preach, it came to me; God will not wait for us to proclaim God’s glory.

In other words, in the tradition of the Church of the Nazarene (and our sibling Holiness denominations) already assumed there were faithful women (and, yes, there are deeper theological reasons). I came to realize that complementarianism may actually already have its answer. If the men won’t rise, perhaps the women will (see Judges 4:4–9). Not the most Nazarene answer, at the time, but it resonated with my heart (and its implications went far beyond the ordination of women).

Faithfully responding to God has long been an issue. It goes beyond gender. It goes beyond status. It goes beyond wealth. It is a reflection of sin.

To understand, Elisha was, at minimum, plowing in a community, where people worked fields together (theirs and each others’). Some commentators believe that Elisha owned (or was the son of the owner of) all the oxen. That would be 24 oxen, so that would have been a lot of wealth (kind of like having 24 Jaguar cars). Elisha (and/or his family) owning 2 seems much more likely. That would still put him (in modern terms) in a very comfortable middle class.

Then some famous guy comes and puts his mantle (Elijah’s symbol of the prophetic office) on Elisha’s shoulders. Elisha understands that Elijah is declaring him the heir of the prophetic office, which was an unusual example in the Scriptures. Elisha’s response was (basically), “let me show respect and love to my parents.” Done. Then Elisha burns the equipment required for a yoke of oxen, then kills same oxen for a celebration.

Elisha opening, publically, severs himself from his old life. That is a lot of money to just be burning. It’s a great party, but there is no financial way of coming back from it easily. It’s similar to “burning the ships”. Hernán Cortés was famously said to have done this (he really just sank them) to keep his men from trying to return home or mutiny (there is a lot more to the story, and much of it not so positive). Elisha did it for himself.

One of the challenges that the Western Church faces is trying to return. This isn’t just buildings (So, let’s not burn them or just sell them). Actually, it’s more of a way of thinking. Looking back for guidance and encouragement? Yes. Looking back for the plan to navigate this new world? No.

You, too, have a call on your life. You, too, have oxen to burn and ships to sink.

※Reflection※
- What items/events/fears of your past or present are keeping you from living an on fire life for God? (Yes, that is a question worth asking daily)
- If there was one “thing” in your life that would indicate that your are moving on, what would it be?
- Why are we so attracted to stories like that of Cortés or Elisaha, but don’t put it into practice? What other cultural icons (generic or specific) are similar to Cortés and Elisha?
※Prayer※

Lord, there is no question that we are called to live for you. Let our lives be the bonfires that bring people into your light. Amen.
2021-07-22