Sunday Sermon text - Christian Identity: What Really Matters

Mark 12:28-34

Christian Identity: What Really Matters

James Sledge                                                     March 20, 2011

Most seminaries require their students to have some sort of internship in a church congregation.  Many of you will remember that Jennifer Eastman Hinkle and Renee Coffman-Chavez did such internships with us.  When I did my seminary internship, I served full-time for three months in a congregation in a small, eastern North Carolina town.  Because it was just for the summer, Shawn and our girls stayed at our home in Richmond,  and the congregation provided me with housing. 

I’m not quite sure how this came about, but I lived in an attached mother-in-law suite, with its own kitchen and such, at the home of Reba, a widowed Jewish grandmother.  Her family owned a small department store in town, and they may well have been the only Jewish family in that  community.  She was very kind and welcoming, and I had the run of her side of the house as well as my suite.  She was thrilled when Shawn and the girls would visit, and we even exchanged Christmas cards for a number of years afterwards. 

Sometimes in the evening we would sit and chat, and I remember one occasion where she offered that the differences between faiths didn’t much matter.  All that really mattered was that we believed in God and tried to be good.

Now I suspect that in part this was just her being hospitable.  It didn’t necessarily mean she saw no distinction between Judaism, Christianity, and other faiths.  But then again lots of people do feel this way.  It is a popular answer to the question of what really matters.  Believe in God, and try to be good.

Questions about what really matters are not new.  The scribe in our gospel this morning asks such a question.  He is Jewish, and Jesus is a Jewish rabbi, so he asks a question from a Jewish point of view.  “Which commandment is the first of all?”  In other words, “What really matters?”  If I’m going to be a good Jew, what do I absolutely have to do?  The book we are studying this Lent asks a similar question from a Christian viewpoint.  What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian?

For much of American history the answer to that question has been simple: Go to church and be a good citizen.  I suppose that’s only a slightly more focused version of  my Jewish host’s “Believe in God, and try to be good.”  

Imagine that someone walked up to you and asked, “What does it mean to be a Christian? What’s non-negotiable?  What really matters?”  What would your answer be?

When Jesus is asked about what is non-negotiable, he answers by quoting verses from the Old Testament.  He starts with something from Deuteronomy known as the Shema.  “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and will all your soul (or life), and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”  Jesus was asked for the commandment that is “first of all,” but he does not stop with one.  He adds, this time from Leviticus, “You shall love our neighbor as yourself.”

Now I don’t know about you, but to my ear, loving God with all your being and loving your neighbor as yourself has a very different ring to it than “Believe in God and try to be good.”  I believe the world is round, but there’s no love involved, no relationship.  I generally obey the law and think of myself as, in some ways, good, but again that’s not necessarily about love or relationship.

Belief is a private thing that I can keep to myself.  And being good is something anyone can do regardless of their religion.  And that means that when a person who doesn’t know a lot about Christianity walks into a church where faith has turned into “Believe in God and be good,” they may not see very much evidence of what Jesus says really matters.  The may not see much love.

Now certainly worship can be an act of love in the same way that a lover authors a poem, sings a song, and brings flowers to his beloved; the way that a young child creates a work of art for her parent.  But worship can also be little more than habit, a birthday card for a spouse grabbed at Target on the way home to a marriage that is mostly routines with not much love.

In fact, the example of a marriage may be instructive.  It is all too common for marriages to become lifeless over time and not because either spouse has done anything terrible or bad.  It’s simply a matter of other things getting in the way.  Pursuing a career, raising children, keeping up with friends, working for important causes, dealing with life’s crises, and so on can push the marital relationship to the side, leaving little time for love.

Sometimes I think that the increasing disenchantment with the church among younger people parallels those same young people’s increasing distrust of marriage.  They’ve seen too many marriages and too much religion that appear to them all habit, duty, belief, and routine, without much love, without much real relationship.

A time management guru was speaking to a class at a top tier business school.  In the middle of his presentation he pulled out a one-gallon Mason-jar and carefully filled it with fist sized rocks.  Then he asked the class, “Is this jar full?” and everyone said, “Yes.”

But then he took out a bucket of gravel and began pouring it into the jar, shaking it so that the gravel worked its way in between the rocks.  Again he asked, “Is the jar full?” 

“Probably not,” a single student answered.

Next he brought out a bucket of sand and proceeded to pour sand in the jar, filling those spaces between the rocks and the gravel.  Once again he asked, “Is the jar full?” and the class shouted, “No!”

Then he took out a pitcher of water and poured it into the jar, filling it to the top.  Then he asked the class if they understood the point of this illustration.  One student offered, “No matter how full your schedule, if you try really hard, you can always fit more into it.”

“No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point.  The point is—if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”[1]

All too often, our lives and our faith are filled with gravel and sand and water.  Rarely are these really bad things, but they leave no room for the big rocks, for the really important things.  And if our lives and faith have gotten filled with sand and gravel and water, the only way to get any big rocks in, the only way to give the things that really matter their proper place, is to dump out some of that other stuff.

 If we want to restore a relationship so that it is founded on love, we have to make room for the big rocks.  We have to create the space and the time to be together, to talk to one another, to enjoy each other’s presence, to listen to each other.  We have to be willing to set aside some of the small stuff that crowds out the big rocks to do what matters to the other.  This is true for marriages and other human relationships, and it is just true for relationship with God. 

You know, congregations and denominations often seem to worry an awful lot about the sand and gravel and water.  Christians argue over the style of music in worship, whether gays can be elders and deacons and pastors, and all manner of small stuff.  I’ve heard it said that some of the nastiest church fights are over what color the carpet should be in the sanctuary.  Sand and gravel.   And to outsiders, it must look even worse.

But this is not the new life Jesus offers us, the good news that he embodies.  He calls us to new life that is about love.  It is about transformed life rooted in relationships, relationships of love with both God and neighbor.  Jesus simply will not separate the two.

When Jesus answered that question about what was most important, what really mattered, the scribe was impressed and said, “You are right, Teacher… ‘To love (God) with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’ – this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”  In our day he might add, than believing and going to church, than all sorts of sand and gravel.

And Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

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[1] From the Leader’s Guide to What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian, which can be found online at http://www.thethoughtfulchristian.com/Content/Site115/FilesSamples/44533ThielenLea_00000006628.pdf

Spiritual Hiccups - What's Really Important

I occasionally stay up too late watching old movies on TCM.  Last night I watched one I'd never heard of, the 1966 film Seconds starring Rock Hudson.  It's a rather dark and disturbing movie about a well-to-do, middle-aged businessman whose life had lost its purpose.  Through a friend he finds out about the "Company," a secretive organization that give those who can afford it a new life.  Extensive surgery is used to change people's appearance and make them more youthful.  A similar looking cadaver is used to fake clients' deaths so they can start over.

Hudson plays the former Aurthur Hamilton (played by John Randolph), now reborn as artist Tony Wilson, living in a Malibu beach house.  At first Tony seems to be adjusting to his new life, developing a relationship with the beautiful Nora Marcus.  But he soon becomes disenchanted and discovers that all his new friends are actually other "reborns" like himself.  In violation of "Company" edicts he visits his old wife, pretending to be an old friend of her "deceased" husband.  He discovers that his marriage failed because of his focus on success and material possessions, the very things others told him were important.  And he begins to realize that the "Company" is simply trying to sell he a new version of this.  He's chasing after what they tell him is important, and once again his life seems to lack any real meaning or purpose.

In case you'd like to watch the movie, I won't spoil the ending for you.  But it is a dark film that explores where our wants and desires take us, and whether those wants and desires are reliable guides.  And as I watched it, I could not help being drawn into the profound, religious/philosophical issues being explored.  Where do our pursuits lead us?  Where have we gotten our notions of what is important, of what should motivate and guide our lives?  Would a fresh start let us discover better and more meaningful lives, or would we still be captive to what the culture has taught us is important?

When Moses addresses the Israelites just prior to their entering the Land of Promise, he warns them about not wasting their fresh start.  The previous generation has done just that.  After being rescued from slavery in Egypt, they have been quick to fall back into old patterns and abandon the ways of Yahweh.  And of course the Israelites who cross the Jordan into the Land will regularly copy the ways of the local Canaanites, falling away from the peculiar way of God, the way of life.

Christians often follow this same pattern.  We "believe," but we live by the ways of the world, and trust the world's wisdom on what is important, what will make for meaningful life.  I think this is why Jesus' call, "Follow me," is so important to the life of faith. Jesus shows the way, walks the path of true life, and he invites us to join him and discover our own true life along the way.  Now if only we can trust that he knows what he is doing.

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Spiritual Hiccups - Love, Judgment, and Scripture

Who has not seen, during a sporting event broadcast on TV, a crowd shot that shows someone holding up a sign with "John 3:16" written on it? Even if people don't know that it means, it has become a part of the American cultural landscape. Of course the verse referred to is a seminal one for many Christians. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."

It is a beautiful verse in the middle of a critical section of John's gospel. But I confess that I have always struggled a bit with this passage. "For God so loved the world" is wonderful sounding, but it is followed by words of condemnation and judgment. Those who don't embrace God's love are "condemned already," and God's love coming into the world produces judgment because "people loved darkness rather than light." But what sort of love is it that shows up and condemns any who aren't immediately drawn to that love? What sort of loving parent would offer love with a sales pitch that says, "Call now! Offer expires soon?"

I suppose it helps a little to know that John writes to a Jewish-Christian community in crisis, encouraging them to hold onto their faith despite being ostracized at the local synagogue that has long been their religious home. Perhaps they need to hear that their rejection by friends and neighbors is the reverse of how things are with God. But if God truly loves the world (in John "world" is not so much a place as it is the arena that does not know God and resists God's ways), a world that God surely knows is inclined to flee the light, wouldn't God do something to get around the world's resistance to that love?

If nothing else, my questions are a warning about developing a theology from a few verses of Scripture. We simply cannot fit a meaningful faith on a bumper sticker or in a Tweet. And neither can a bumper sticker or 140 characters quote enough of the Bible event to begin speaking of God and God's work in the world. Indeed, one can't fully speak of God's work in Jesus drawing only on a single gospel. The picture of Jesus John gives us is incomplete without the other gospels and vice versa.

But still there is this issue of the light of God's love coming to the world, but people preferring darkness. Certainly love implies relationship, and relationship requires love to be both accepted and returned. To step away from love's advance has its consequences. But Jesus says something else in John's gospel just prior to his arrest and death. "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." That sounds to me like Jesus is sure that God's love will eventually triumph.

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Spiritual Hiccups - How Can This Be?

A new book came out this week by Rob Bell, mega-church pastor who has produced the very popular and quite good NOOMA video series.  Love Wins has generated a lot of interest, earned a great deal of praise, and also produced some angry attacks on Bell's "heretical" views.  What seems to be causing all the fuss is Bell's questioning whether or not there actually is a hell, along with questioning the traditional Church view that the opportunity to respond to God's love expires at the moment of death.

I have not had the chance to read the book yet (I have ordered it), but I have heard Bell speak about the book, and I know that I agree with one of his challenges to traditional Christian beliefs.  A lot of Christian thinking proclaims a "gospel of evacuation."  In essence this states, "If you believe in Jesus, you will get rescued from this earth when you die and go somewhere a lot better.  Don't fret if your life stinks now, because it will be grand then."  As accepted as such ideas are, Bell and many others point out that Jesus never talks about us going to heaven.  Instead he speaks of the Kingdom, of God's reign coming to earth.  Jesus even teaches us to pray for this day saying, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  In other words, heaven isn't a place we're suppose to escape to, earth is supposed to become like heaven.  But many in the Church find such an idea startling.

One of the big hazards for religious institutions is that we very easily presume that our religious assumptions are gospel truth.  Because we've always heard that Jesus came and died so that we could go to heaven when we die, then it has to be so, and anyone who says otherwise is obviously a troublemaker, a heretic, or worse.  And we don't even need to check the Bible on this.  We feel comfortable going with our gut.  Hey, we've always "known" this, so it must be true.

That seems to be Nicodemus' problem when he slips out in the dark of night to visit Jesus.  He's clearly enthralled by Jesus, can see that there is something special about him that cannot be explained without God at work in him in some way.  But Nicodemus cannot fit Jesus into his religious boxes and containers.   Even when Jesus tries to explain, Nicodemus can only say, "How can these things be?"  (There is a word play going here that cannot be rendered in English.  Jesus speaks a word that can mean either "again" or "from above."  Nicodemus hears Jesus say "born again" while Jesus means "born from above," i.e. by the Spirit, but we have no comparable word and so our translations remove the source of Nicodemus' confusion.)

But give Nicodemus credit. At least he goes to Jesus and tries to figure things out. Most of us prefer to hold onto our assumptions. And we have the advantage of having Jesus locked up in our largely unopened Bibles. We're free to construct an image of Jesus and of God that fits perfectly with our religious assumptions, and if someone like Rob Bell challenges them, we can always dismiss him as a heretic, a religious nut, etc.

Yesterday's daily devotion from Richard Rohr ended with this line. "Most Christians seem to have experienced just enough Christianity to forever inoculate themselves from the real power of the real thing."  I don't know if Rohr is talking about the same thing that I am, but I do think we often settle for just a little Christianity, just a little faith, enough that it solves some problem, makes us feel better, gives us hope, but not so much that it calls us to become something radically new in Jesus.

But God seems remarkably patient with us.  God keeps coming to us in Jesus.  After all, as Rob Bell says, in the end Love Wins.

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Spiritual Hiccups - Business as Usual

The story of Jesus "cleansing" the Temple, where he chased out the money changers and those selling animals, is well known to many Christians (though only in John's gospel does it happen at the beginning of Jesus' ministry).  But because the Temple operations were so different from anything modern people know, it can be difficult for us fully to understand what was going on.

The money changers were a necessity because people were not allowed to give offerings to God in Roman coins which bore the likeness of Caesar.  Pilgrims who journeyed to Jerusalem from far off needed a way to convert their coins into something acceptable.  Similarly, pilgrims who had journeyed long distances couldn't bring acceptable animals for sacrifice with them, and they needed to purchase these if they were to make the offerings prescribed by Scripture.  These "business people" in the Temple courtyard were matters of convenience/necessity, perhaps not all that different from allowing people to pay their pledges by credit card or bank draft.

But Jesus seems unimpressed by such issues.  His "zeal" for God's house demands that the focus be totally on God, that nothing distract or detract from offering worship, praise, and prayer to God.

How often do I enter into the sanctuary with almost no awareness of God's presence?  Though I am leading the people in worship and offering up prayers and a sermon, it is surprising how easy it is to do so as a matter of performance and routine, reciting my lines like an actor on the stage.

The same sort of problem can afflict worshipers.  People come into the sanctuary to see the show.  I certainly don't know what is on the hearts of individual worshipers, but I've been doing this long enough that I feel confident saying that significant number don't think much about God being there.

It is easy for religion to slip into business as usual (even if there are no money changers or animal sellers to be found).  We may even mention the need to up the pledges if we are going to keep all our current programing funded.  But where is God?

It is probably a good thing if Jesus occasionally turns over some of our tables and rattles our routines a bit.  Sometimes we need to be jostled out of business as usual if we are to turn fully to God.  It is so easy to become preoccupied with our little religious operation.  But as well intended as such operations usually are, they are not God.  Sometimes they even get in the way of God.

But God is there, just waiting for us to push aside some of the clutter.  In Jesus, God awaits us with open arms, longing for us to fall into the divine embrace.

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Sunday Sermon video - Christian Identity: What We Are Not

Spiritual Hiccups - No Answers

Like many people, I've been watching images on TV and the Internet of the devastation in northern Japan, with death tolls expected to exceed 10,000 and an ongoing emergency involving several nuclear reactors.  When I awoke this morning, I checked for the latest news from Japan, and then I read today's lectionary passages, hoping that something would speak to me from those verses, that providentially some particularly appropriate text would offer hope or solace.

But the lectionary readings seemed blissfully unaware of this tragedy.  No reading seemed to have anything helpful to say.  Of course these readings are simply from a list made long ago. Still, I was hoping.

Pastors are often with people who have just experienced some terrible loss, a child killed in an accident, a loved one struck down by some terrible illness.  Sometimes they ask the awful question, "Why?"  It's a legitimate question, but I'm not sure that they really expect much of an answer.  I certainly don't have one. My usual answer is, "I don't know."

In seminary they teach you that what people need most at such times is your presence and not your answers.  That's good advice because answers tend to fail on several fronts.  To begin with, theological explanations of suffering don't really relieve pain.  Being held tightly by someone who loves you is far more comforting than any theological rationale. 

Far more problematic, explanations and answers often invalidate peoples questions and anger.  More often than not, religious answers seek to protect God's reputation, to somehow insulate God from people's anger and pain.  But if Jesus can scream an unanswered question from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1) who am I to deflect angry questions hurled at God by those caught up in inexplicable suffering.

I think that our desire to explain can sometimes be a form of idolatry.  We imagine ourselves capable of understanding all things, but as many have said, "Any god I can fully understand is no god at all."

I follow a number of pastors and religious folks on Twitter and such, and I'm happy to say that most of them have refrained from explaining the events in Japan.  Instead they have simply kept the people of Japan in their prayers, sent donations to aid groups, and asked others to do the same. 

There will be plenty of time later to reflect theologically on the events in Japan.  But for now, the best "answer" is not unlike the best answer we can extend to a friend who has lost a loved one unexpectedly: an "I don't know" that does not try to quell people's anger, a loving embrace, and whatever practical help we can offer.

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Sunday Sermon audio - Christian Identity: What We Are Not

Sunday Sermon text - Christian Identity: What We Are Not

Matthew 4:1-11

Christian Identity: What We Are Not

James Sledge                                                          March 13, 2011

When Jesus began his ministry in First Century Palestine, he arrived into a world that was anxiously awaiting a Messiah.  For a variety of reasons, messianic expectations were high.  Some folks were even making preparations.  One group, the Essenes, had withdrawn from society and set up an alternative community in the wilderness so they would be ready.  From their writings, popularly called The Dead Sea Scrolls, we know that they expected a Messiah, or perhaps a pair of Messiahs, who looked little like Jesus.

In fact, ever since the Jews had returned from exile in Babylon some 500 years earlier, and the hoped for glorious revival of the throne of David had failed to materialize, people had been looking for the One who would change all that, who would finally fulfill the promises of all the world streaming to Jerusalem and Mount Zion.

People carefully examined the Scriptures, finding those passages that seemed to offer clues about where this Messiah would come from, how he would act, and what he would do.  But there was no single image that everyone agreed on.  Hardly surprising.  Even today, Christian have many different images of Jesus.  Christians agree that Jesus was Messiah, and yet we still have a warrior Jesus, a hippy Jesus, a blonde-haired blue-eyed Jesus, a meek and mild Jesus, a wise sage Jesus, and so on and so on.

So if we can’t agree on the exact nature of Jesus, imagine how difficult it must have been for people when all they had were some verses from the Old Testament.  And how did they know for certain which verses were about the hoped for Messiah?  How were they supposed to reconcile those verses that seemed to suggest very different sorts of Messiahs? 

But, considering that Messiah simply means “anointed one,” and that this title, along with the title “Son of God,” had long be used to speak of Israel’s kings, it is hardly surprising that many Jews expected that the Messiah would revive the days of King David and then some.  He would throw out the hated Romans and their puppet Herod.  And depending on how literally you read your Scripture, he would either bring all the land promised to Moses and Joshua under his rule, or perhaps even all the world.

When Jesus was about to embark on his ministry, surely he knew well the varied images and expectations of a Messiah.  And if Jesus is genuinely human, and Christians have long insisted that he is, he must surely have wrestled with just what it meant for him to be Messiah.  He must have prayed and meditated and struggled to discern just what sort of Anointed One God meant him to be.

I take it that this is exactly what is happening when Jesus is tempted in the wilderness.  He is tempted to become a Messiah not in keeping with God’s intentions.  I’ve mentioned before that the devil’s “If you are the Son of God” temptations do not question Jesus’ identity as Son of God.  Rather, they tempt Jesus more in the manner of, “Since you’re God’s Son, surely you will do this.”

Surely no Messiah worth his salt would ever go without or be hungry.  What is the point of being King if you can’t have everything you desire?  And what better way to frighten the Romans and get everyone’s attention than by angels carrying you down from the top of the Temple?  And why not seize political power, toss ole Herod out on his ear, and take your rightful place on the throne of David? 

Jesus’ temptations come right after his baptism, where he has heard God call him “my son, the Beloved, in whom I delight.”  This seems to be the event that has precipitated the identity crisis being worked out in these temptations.  And I think we have to undergo something similar.  In our baptisms God claims us and says that we are beloved daughters and sons.   And like Jesus, we must wrestle with just what that means.  Like Jesus, there are popular identities for sons and daughters of God that we must reject if we are to find our true identity, if we are to live as the brothers and sisters of Jesus we are called to be.

During Lent, we are going to be looking at the our Christian identity.  As part of our Lenten Wednesday night program, we will be doing a study based on the book, What’s the Least I Can Believe and Still Be a Christian? A Guide to What Matters Most.  We’re also going to pick up themes from this study during Sunday worship.  The book begins with ten short chapters on things Christians don’t need to believe.  And some of these may help us in discerning those popular identities for daughters and sons of God that we must reject.

Some of the Christian identities rejected by the book include Christians being at odds with science, Christians not doubting, Christians caring about people’s souls but not the planet, and Christians having to take the Bible literally.  All of these are images that are popular in our culture.  Some of them have come to define the faith for non-Christians in a manner that I think has greatly damaged the Church’s witness to the world. 

In the preface to the book, the author tells of meeting Danny, who said to him, “Preacher, you need to know that I’m an atheist.  I don’t believe the Bible.  I don’t like organized religion.  And I can’t stand self-righteous, judgmental Christians.”  But over time, Danny comes to realize that what he couldn’t stand was a false picture of Christianity, the Bible, and faith.  His picture of Christianity came to him from people who embodied popular stereotypes of Christian faith but had clearly not done that difficult wrestling and discerning required to hone a true Christian identity, an identity rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus.

In the waters of baptism, God has claimed you, has spoken and said, “You are my beloved daughter; you are my beloved son.”  This is wonderful news.  God loves us and claims us as God’s own.  But being loved and embraced by God is also a call to learn what it means to be a member of God’s household, to live into being God’s child.  And being a child of God looks like… well it looks like Jesus.  When Jesus says to us, “Follow me,” he is calling us to join him and learn a new identity, our true human identity in a life modeled on his.

Seeking a true, genuine identity motivates a great deal of human activity.  People wrestle with what they should do with their lives.  They pursue educations and careers.  Not infrequently, step away from careers that no longer seem to have meaning or purpose. 

People form relationships, seek that right person, and perhaps start a family.  And they sometimes question those relationships and wonder if their identity as spouse, parent, child, provider, is really who they are.

Deep within each of us is a desire to discover who we truly are, to claim an identity that really fits.  But we also have a strong need for security.  We are frightened of risk and can be paralyzed by fear, holding on to the familiar over a new that is unknown.  But faith calls us from where we are to something new.  Jesus calls us to follow him, and in so doing, to discover a new identity that is who we really are, sons and daughters of God.  And this is less about believing the right things and more about learning to live in the ways that fit our identity as God’s children.  And I hope you will join with us this Lent as we do a little identity work, trusting the promise of the Holy Spirit to help us discern what we are not, and lead us into becoming who we truly are, the children of God Jesus is calling us to become.

Spiritual Hiccups - Treasured by God

It is not at all unusual to hear laments from once large, influential congregations about how things have changed.  "Remember when we had 65 youth in the confirmation class?  Remember when you had to come early or you'd have trouble finding a seat?  Remember when we had eight women's 'circles' that were brimming over with women of all ages?" 

In America, we tend to judge things based on size and growth.  Bigger is better.  More is better.  Grow or die.  In my profession, "successful" pastors are almost always "called" to bigger churches, but we are less "marketable" if our current church is not growing, or worse, is shrinking. 

Now it is certainly true that congregations sometimes fail to grow because they are not welcoming and hospitable, because they do not understand that they are called to connect with and share God's love with others.  Sometimes congregations shrink because they stop following Jesus and turn inward.

But sometimes congregations worry too much about numbers and success as it is measured by our culture.  And sometimes we forget that we are called to be faithful, to follow Jesus, and that numbers and our culture's notion of success are not always good measure of our faithfulness.

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.  It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you -- for you were the fewest of all peoples." These words are spoken to the people of Israel as they prepare to move from their time in the wilderness into the land of Promise.  And God tells them that they are not "set apart" (the meaning of holy) because of their successes or growth.  They are set apart because God loves them.

As Christians, we say that God has claimed us in the same way.  God loves us and sets us apart not because of our successes or growth, but because God so loves the world.  We a holy people because God's love has set us apart for bold lives of faith that show God's love to the world.  This is where our faith begins.  This is where our Christian witness begins.  Our successes are not our witness.  Our witness is simply to share the good news of God's love in Jesus through our words and deeds.

Sometimes, amidst the anxieties that can emerge from a lack of growth or "success," we need to be reminded of how God loves us and calls us.  Some congregations' "successes" of the past had less to do with faithfulness and more to do with a culture that virtually required church participation.  But in a time when the culture not longer sends us members, we can rejoice that God's love for us was never rooted in our membership rolls.  God has loved us, and God loves us still.  And God's love frees us from fears and anxieties - as well as from being captive to the good old days - and calls us to be a holy people, a special people, a people marked and set apart to share God's embrace with all.

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Spiritual Hiccups - What Really Matters

So it's Ash Wednesday.  I was well into my 30s before I attended my first Ash Wednesday service, but they have become very meaningful to me.  Yet, I still find something a bit humorous about hearing Jesus tell us to practice our piety in private followed by scores of worshipers going out in public with a mark on their foreheads advertising their Christianity for all to see.  (Some churches do encourage their members to wash off the cross before going out in public.)

Despite this, I like the way Ash Wednesday and Lent call us to take stock, to examine ourselves and see whether our lives are properly aligned and oriented with regards to what is truly important.  For those who call themselves "Christian," who claim an identity in some way rooted in the person of Jesus, this self examination asks if our priorities look like his.

Jesus' critique of public piety and his call to store up treasure in heaven rather than here on earth calls us to examine our core motivations.  Are we motivated primarily by what's in it for us, or are we motivated primarily by the ways of the Kingdom, of God's will over my wants? 

It is possible to hear Jesus' words as nothing more than a longer range version of "what's in it for us?"  Don't seek short term gains on earth, but go for the long term rewards of eternal life.  But I don't think that is what Jesus means at all.  Jesus is the embodiment of what he teaches, and Jesus seems totally unmotivated by the hope of some reward.  Rather he is motivated by the ways of heaven, which, according to his model prayer, is where God's will is done.  Living a life motivated by the ways of heaven means working for the world to become a place where God's will is done as well.

"Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return."  These words remind us that all our schemes and plans are transitory, but Jesus has invited to become a part of something new and permanent, that coming day where God's will is done here on earth as it is in heaven.  Ash Wednesday asks us if we have ordered our lives around the self serving patterns of this world, patterns that are passing away, or if we have ordered our lives around what really matters.

Click to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.