Spiritual Hiccups - "Come On, Let's Go"

Jesus jumbles his metaphors in today's gospel.  He's the shepherd.  Then he's the gate.  Then he's the good shepherd.  And when Jesus says, "I am the..." he uses a grammatical structure that can't be reproduced in English, one that echoes the "I AM" God speaks to Moses at the burning bush. 

But there is a gentleness to Jesus' good shepherd metaphor that I think is easy to miss.  When I think of a shepherd and a herd of sheep, I envision large group of animals that need to be driven from place to place.  Perhaps a sheepdog is employed to keep them in line, to march them from place to place.  But that is not the image Jesus evokes.

In seminary I had the chance to visit the Middle East, and once while riding on a bus in the countryside not far from Bethlehem, I looked out the window to see a young, Palestinian boy, perhaps 10 or 12, walking down a path without about a dozen sheep following along behind him in a single file line.  I can only assume that this procession began when the boy called to the sheep, "Come on, let's go."  Maybe he whistled or made some sounds like I might make to call the dog.  And they moved toward him, following him as he turned and walked.  They knew him.  They trusted him, and they went when he called.

Jesus speaks of the sheep following him because "they know his voice."  Jesus pictures faith a bit like that scene I saw from a tour bus window.  But I have been told that sheep are not the brightest creatures.  It's not hard to imagine one getting distracted by something along the way and wandering off, or thinking the grass is just fine where they are and munching happily as the herd walks away.  Surely for dumb sheep, it would be easy to ignore the shepherd. 

Jesus calls to us, "Come on, let's go."  The good shepherd knows the way.  But I can be pretty stubborn and pretty stupid sometimes.  Fortunately we learn in a different gospel that this shepherd comes back to find the stubborn, foolish, and disobedient sheep.  Thanks be to God!

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Spiritual Hiccups - Who Do You Think You Are?

The gospel reading today continues the story of Jesus' healing of a man born blind.  The religious authorities are trying to figure our just what has happened.  More to the point, they are trying to prove that nothing happened.  I can't be too hard on them, though.  If I heard that a preacher had just miraculously healed a blind person, I would assume that someone was pulling a fast one.  It was a trick.  The person was probably never blind to begin with.  It was all an act, something Earnest Angley would do.

The religious authorities think the same.  They find the man's parents, hoping they will say the man is not really their son, but to no avail.  Frustrated, they bring the blind man back before them.  Surely there is some explanation for this without it being that Jesus wields divine power.

But the formerly blind man won't cooperate with them.  He not only won't change his story, but he points out the obvious problem with their logic.  How can they insist that Jesus is a sinner when God clearly has granted him the power to heal the blind?  But authorities rarely take well to having their errors pointed out to them, especially be those of lesser stature than themselves.  And in a huff, they throw out the ex-blind man.

When you've worked hard at being good at your religion; when you've studied and gone to school so that you get a good grasp of your faith's teachings and doctrines, it is easy to dismiss the thoughts of those who don't take the faith as seriously as you do.  And if they are so bold as to try to correct you, your insulted ego may not want to take that sitting down.

I've said before, and I'll say it again, I don't for a moment want to get rid of or even to belittle theology and doctrine.  I do not think it possible to be a follower of Jesus without some particular way of following Jesus.  And theology and doctrine have the distinct advantage of having been debated and discussed for many centuries, of being the product of a religious community's best, faithful attempts to define what it means to live a life in Christ.  Nevertheless, we do not worship a doctrine or theology, nor do we serve them.  They are helpful only insomuch as they assist us in faithfully living together as disciples.

So how do I know where my theology -- whether it is finely crafted Church doctrine honed over the centuries or a personal understanding of God that I just happen to have -- helps me live faithfully, and where it gets in the way?  I don't have an easy answer, but I have realized over the years that whenever my ego gets involved, and especially if my ego starts to take offense, I had best be on my guard.

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John Rutter's Requiem - Pt. 1

During worship on April 10, 2011, the Chancel Choir at Boulevard Presbyterian presented Rutter's Requiem under the direction of Jeremy Roberts, accompanied by Mary Ann Stephens and instrumentalists from the OSU School of Music.

Better quality videos can be found on YouTube. 

John Rutter's Requiem - Pt. 2

During worship on April 10, 2011, the Chancel Choir at Boulevard Presbyterian presented Rutter's Requiem under the direction of Jeremy Roberts, accompanied by Mary Ann Stephens and instrumentalists from the OSU School of Music.

Better quality videos can be found on YouTube.

Spiritual Hiccups - Proper Credentials

How do you know when someone is "from God," that what she is doing represents or embodies God in some way?  What are the hallmarks one would expect to see, and what would reveal that the person is actually a fraud? 

Those questions arise when Jesus heals a man blind from birth.  Jesus complicates matters for himself by not simply healing the man.  He also "spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes," and he did all this on the Sabbath.  Now healing someone's blindness is a pretty impressive feat which leads some to conclude that God is clearly at work in Jesus.  And yet, Jesus works on the Sabbath, in violation of God's law, which leads others to conclude that Jesus cannot be from God.

It's pretty hard for most modern day folk to get worked up about whether or not making mud on the Sabbath disqualifies Jesus as a viable candidate for Messiah.  We decided centuries ago that Jesus' opponents misunderstood or misapplied the Law.  They ignored the clear evidence of God at work in Jesus because there seemed to some problem with his paperwork.

My denomination has been fighting over religious credentials for quite some time now.  I've been a Presbyterian pastor for just over 15 years now, and I have never known a time when we weren't debating, arguing, or fighting about whether or not we can ordain people who are in gay/lesbian relationships.  As with Jesus healing on the Sabbath, the issue is often framed in terms of what disqualifies someone from representing God.  Some Presbyterians see the biblical injunctions that speak against homosexual behaviors as clearly disqualifying those who don't abide be such injunctions (though it should be pointed out that such injunctions are scarcely detectible compared to biblical commands to keep the Sabbath).

I wonder how our denomination would react if some gay candidate for ordination starting healing people.  Would we still say that regardless of such miracles, violating God's standards clearly disqualified anyone from being ordained?  I realize that is a rather remarkable, and perhaps unlikely, scenario.  But what about simply seeing clear gifts of the Spirit that empowered someone to proclaim the gospel in ways that drew people to the faith and revitalized a dying congregation? 

How do we know when someone is or isn't from God?

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Sunday Sermon video - Christian Identity: Serving Others

On a Sunday when the choir performed Rutter's Requiem during the 11:15 service, our early, informal service featured a more off-the-cuff sermon.  Based on the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, it is a call to follow Jesus' example of finding deep spiritual meaning in being a servant to others.

Better quality videos available on YouTube.

Spiritual Hiccups - One Wish

Everyone knows what happens if you find a lamp that contains a genie.  You get three wishes.  And I suspect that lots of people have speculated about what they would ask for if they were given those three wishes.  But what if it were simply one wish?  That thought came to me as I read this morning from Psalm 27. 

  One thing I asked of the LORD,  

          that will I seek after:  

     to live in the house of the LORD  

          all the days of my life,  

     to behold the beauty of the LORD,  

          and to inquire in his temple.

One thing, a single thing.  Me, I have a laundry list of things for God.  When Jesus teaches his disciples to prayer, that prayer has a number of petitions: for God's kingdom to arrive on earth, daily bread, and forgiveness.  And so I don't suppose I am restricted to one request.  But if I were, what would it be?

In Jesus' own prayer life, he asks for a number of things himself, but in the end, I think that all of them fit within a single one, that God's will be done.  That prayer encompasses all his others.  I like to think that the same could be said of my prayers, but I know better.  I'm not always willing to trust myself so fully to God. I'd much rather bend God to my way of thinking.  I'd like to convince God to want what I want.

Some of the most difficult times in my faith life come when I think I have done what I should do, what God calls me to do, and things don't turn out the way I had envisioned.  I see the same thing happen in congregations.  They implement some new program or activity because they genuinely feel led to do so.  They, quite naturally, assume that their faithfulness will result in a growth, a more vital congregation, a more vigorous ministry to the community.  But that does not always happen.  Then what?

We live in a world that is success and outcome oriented, and certainly there are times when a lack of congregational vitality or individual achievement is because of our failures to do as we should do.  But faithfulness does not always lead to what our culture tells us is success, which may be why Paul says to us today that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us."  Jesus faithfulness led to the cross, not a success by any earthly measure.

I have no plans to stop praying to God for particular things or outcomes.  My laundry list remains long and includes myself, my family, my congregation, the Church, the needy, the world, and so on.  But I am trying to discover how to be taught and shaped and even blessed by those frequent occasions when my prayers and my attempts at faithfulness do not lead where I had expected.  Who knows, I may learn far more about that "one thing" that I truly need, that is God's deepest desire for me, from "failures" and unexpected outcomes that I ever do when life goes as I want and expect.

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Spiritual Hiccups - Christ Within

I think it is easy for modern people to read Paul and surmise that he wishes we did not have to deal with physical bodies.  To those of us used to thinking of the spirit/soul and the body as totally separate things, Paul's "spirit" - "flesh" contrast can sound like "spirit good, body bad."  But I don't think Paul shares our spirit-body duality.  After all, he insists that resurrection is a bodily thing, and in today's reading he speaks of the Spirit giving "life to (our) mortal bodies."

Paul seems to use "flesh" as a kind of shorthand for life that is animated by sin.  Certain sorts of bodily cravings may be a part of this, but the body itself is not the problem.  That is why those who are "in Christ Jesus" can still live a normal, bodily existence but be not be captive to sin.  As Paul writes to very fleshy humans, "But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you." 

The change Paul is talking about isn't something apart from our bodily lives.  Rather it is an inward transformation that reorients our lives, including our day-to-day, fleshy ones, so that they in tune with God.  

I think that the true goal of spirituality - and religion when properly understood - is to become aware of and attentive to this inward presence of Jesus, the Spirit dwelling in us.  That is why spirituality must first go inward.  Yet true spirituality cannot simply stay there.  A life animated by the Spirit, that is "in Christ," issues forth in a life pleasing to God, a life that is modeled after Jesus.  Surely Jesus is the most deeply spiritual person ever to walk this earth, yet his life was one of vital action on God's and humanity's behalf.  Surely Jesus is the ideal embodiment of what Paul is talking about: bodily life that is "in the Spirit."


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Spiritual Hiccups - Prophets and Spiritual Ruts

For a number of days now I've been reading from the book of Jeremiah.  And while there are some very uplifting passages in the book, so far its mostly been gloom and doom from the prophet.  "You folks have gone your own way and abandoned God's ways; now you're gonna get it."

I wonder if anyone was ever glad to see a prophet like Jeremiah.  Such folks become revered only after the fact, once it become obvious that people should have listened.  No one listened to the few folks who suggested that the world economy was headed toward disaster because of all the fancy investment vehicles that banks and Wall Street had devised, not until it was too late.  But bankers and investors aren't really all that different from anyone else.  None of us like to be told, "The way you are doing things is wrong.  Change or pay the consequences."

And therein lies a real spiritual/religious quandary.  The vast majority of humans seem to have some sort of spiritual impulse, a deep seated sense that there is much more to life that what comes to us via culture, economics, politics, technology, etc.  We want more meaningful lives and better answers to our questions, but, and this is a very big but, we would like all this without challenging the way we already think and act.  We want our lives to have meaning, to really matter, but we're not sure we want to change very much.

I wonder what assumptions that I hold dear get in the way of me hearing what God wants me to do, what will bring my life meaning and balance and wholeness.  How often am I like the person Paul describes in today's reading from Romans, doing the very things that lead to the opposite of what I desire? 

But the solution to this problem is not to try harder, to strain against my own resistance to change, or to expend more effort separating myself from treasured assumptions.  What very small steps toward spiritual maturity that I have taken convince me that first I must go deeper into God.  What I need most of all is heart change, a transformation deep inside that happens as I fall deeper and deeper into God's love.  For it is this inward journey of transformation that can free me from the fears and anxieties and  certainties that so often bind me in ways of thinking and living that do not lead where I really want to go.

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Sunday Sermon video - Christian Identity: God's Touch

Sermon of higher video quality can be found on YouTube.

Spiritual Hiccups - All We Need

The gospel of John does not mention "the Last Supper" where Jesus breaks bread and gives it to his disciples just prior to his arrest.  John seems to have Passover on Saturday rather than the Friday reported in the other gospels, and so there is no Passover meal on Maundy Thursday in John.  But there are certainly echoes of the Lord's Supper in John's account of the feeding of the 5000.  "Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated."

On a number of different occasions, I have heard the biblical accounts of Jesus miraculously feeding the crowds referred to as "miracles of sharing."  All those people in the crowd had a little food tucked away under their clothing, but they were keeping it hidden because there really wasn't enough extra to go very far.  But when Jesus takes the meager lunch of one boy and begins to share it, others join in the sharing, and lo and behold, there is more than enough for everyone.


Now this interpretation certainly makes a certain amount of sense.  It provides a rational explanation for what seemed to be a miracle.  It may even make Jesus a bit more palatable for those who aren't sure what to do with miracles.  Unfortunately, I think it also misses the main point of the story.  The story insists that Jesus is more than able to provide all that is needed for those who follow him.  Just as God once fed the Israelites with manna in the wilderness, Jesus will provide and care for his own.  

Insomuch as John means for us to see a connection to the Lord's Supper, we are also assured that Jesus continues to feed his flock.  The community John originally writes to is under tremendous pressure.  It is a Jewish Christian group that grew up in the synagogue and considers that its spiritual home.  But the synagogue leaders are threatening to expel them if they keep insisting that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is Lord.  John is encouraging these folks to hold fast and trust that Jesus can provide for them, even if they find themselves cast out into, what seems to them, a spiritual wilderness.


And here there I think is a helpful message for us in today's church.  Mainline Christians have seen their numbers dwindle remarkably over the last few decades.  There are a variety of forces behind this, but at least one way that we contribute to this decline is by making Church primarily about belief and neglecting the issue of spiritual sustenance.  Often we are much better at talking about Jesus than we are at helping people be nurtured by Jesus for a life of deep faith.  Somewhere along the way we've forgotten the promise that Jesus can indeed feed us, strengthen us, and nurture us.  God's Spirit can come to us and give us all that we need to be and to share the living presence of God in the world.


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Sunday Sermon audio - Christian Identity: God's Touch