Musings on the Daily Lectionary

The Daily Lectionary readings are currently visiting the Book of Revelation. Coincidentally, I am teaching a course on Revelation at Boulevard Church. I'm probably like a lot of other mainline Christians who don't very often read from this book (more of a letter actually). Like a lot of folks, I've probably let others define Revelation for me as a book of strange predictions about the future. But it really isn't, and our neglect of this work has more or less ceded it to the lunatic fringe.

Now Revelation does take some real effort to appreciate, but when you realize the dire situation of the churches to which it is sent, and when you spend some time with it, there is much there that isn't at all what you might expect. One of the things you notice when you read it all the way through - also the focus of today's reading - is how central worship is. We are repeatedly show scenes of heavenly worship, although that worship may not look exactly like what many of us are familiar with on Sundays. This worship is radically focused on God, offering up glory and praise over and over.

One of the most common complaints I hear about worship as a pastor is, "It just didn't feed me." Such complaints may indeed point to problems in a congregation's worship, but they also seem to envision worship as a place one goes to get something, rather than something one offers to God.

I've wondered this many times over the years. What would help us in congregations to see our worship directed more to God and less to those in the pews? How might we better understand ourselves to be serving God in our worship services?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

What is it that binds people together? There are lots of bonds that form people into groups. There is the "blood is thicker than water" sort of bond found in biological families. Grandview Heights, the community in which Boulevard Presbyterian is located, has a strong sense of community rooted in school, neighborhood, and a small town feel. Many of us have loyalties and connections to schools we attended and can be distraught if "our team" loses. And of course there is national identity.

Jesus addresses the issue of identity and group bonds in today's gospel verses. When it is reported that his mother and brothers want to talk with him, he asks, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" He then points to his disciples and says,"Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Now I don't think Jesus means that our family and other bonds no longer matter. But he does speak of a new bond, a new identity more crucial than family or nationality if we are to be the people God created us to be. That is to be his disciples, his Church. And clearly he is not talking simply about "believing" in him, but about emulating him and doing God's will.

When I grew up in my biological family, I learned from parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles about what it meant to be a Sledge. There were certain ways that we did things, certain things that were expected of us, and so on. Not acting as expected wouldn't get you kicked out of the family. You would still be loved and cared for, but ... And I think that our identity as Christians is not so different. God loves us and has claimed us as members of the family. But there are expectations, certain ways of doing things, ways of living in the world that go with being a Christian. These ways are about following Jesus, about doing God's will.

God's love is always there. But if we truly want to live as part of the family of Christ... well Jesus is pretty clear what that's all about.

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Nothing this Sunday

I'm returning from Parents Weekend at VA Tech, so no sermon post this week.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading speaks of Jesus as the fulfillment of words spoken by the prophet Isaiah. "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope."

The term "Gentiles" doesn't have a lot of meaning for many of us, but for the Jews of Jesus' day, it designated them, those folks, people not like us. Jesus was a Jewish Messiah, and yet he calls his Jewish followers to reach out to those folks, to the Gentiles. It was not an easy task, and one of the first big fights in the Christian movement was over how to relate to these Gentiles. Many Jewish Christians thought that for Gentiles to join them in the Church, they needed to become more like Jews, to adopt the customs and practices of Jews.

That fight was settled long ago, but we Christians still have our Gentiles. We don't call them that. We call them the unchurched, secular people, spiritual but not religious, and so on. They are our neighbors, and more often than not, we would love to have them join us in our congregations. But we do expect that they will become like us, adopting our customs and practices.

As one thoroughly vested in the institutional church, I'm wondering just what it means to hear that in Jesus' name the unchurched, the secular folks, and the spiritual nomads will hope. And I'm wondering how I'm supposed to be a part of that hope.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's gospel reading, Jesus is having problems with religious folks. That's hardly worth noting seeing how often it happened. Maybe we've just become numb to it after hearing it so much, but there is something rather odd about how much Jesus runs afoul of the religious authorities. We sometimes obscure this by viewing the Pharisees and others as some sort of corrupt monsters. But in truth, they were part of a Jewish reform movement, and they probably functioned in many towns a lot like the local Protestant pastor once functioned in small town America.

Maybe we don't pay much attention to how Jesus troubled religious authorities, and how he violated the plain reading of Old Testament laws, because pastors such as myself are also "religious authorities, working to maintain a religious apparatus, to hold together some sort of consensus about what it means to be God's people. And folks like Jesus cause a lot of trouble when they show up at the church.

What are we to do with this Jesus who shows up proclaiming news so good that religious rules and customs can't be allowed to get in the way? Especially for me, a pastor who is part of religious institution, employed by one of its congregations, what does it mean to proclaim and follow someone who so often infuriated those trying to manage the religious institutions of their day?

I don't think such questions are unique to our time. I suspect that those who work in the church, as well as many church members, have always had occasions when the call to serve God gets distorted into serving the church. And the two are not one in the same.

I've always heard and believed that the most dangerous idols -- meaning anything that becomes a substitute for God -- are those that get dressed up in religious clothing. I'm not saying that the church is an idol, but it certainly can become one.

Lord, help me serve you; help me follow Jesus, even when that means running afoul of the church.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I hear and read a lot about burnout in the church. Pastors burn out and leave their pastoral vocation. Church officers, leaders, and volunteers burn out and step back from committees or boards or programs. Yet Jesus says, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." How to reconcile burnout in the church with Jesus' promise of rest?

Now granted Jesus says in other places that following him is difficult. He often asks us to stand at odds with prevailing culture, to love our enemies, to serve God before self, to reach out and embrace people different from ourselves, and so on. But Jesus seems to think that this should not leave us frazzled and feeling as though we are saddled with an impossible task

I know that I sometimes "stress out" because I measure things by the success dominated standards of our culture. But Jesus doesn't call us to be "successful," at least not according to the world's terms. Rather, he calls us to be faithful. Sometimes faithfulness is hard work, but it is a good sort of hard work that leaves you tired yet satisfied. And I think that the key in all of this is doing what Jesus calls us to do, which is not necessarily the same thing as doing the institutional tasks that often come to dominate congregational life.

What is Jesus calling you to do? Jesus has work for each of us, but it is work that soothes and satisfies the soul. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." What gentle yoke does Jesus have for you?

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Sunday Sermon - "Who, Us?"

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's gospel reading, Jesus condemns those towns where he has done great "deeds of power," but the people have not turned to him. It's easy for me to point fingers at the failure of others who see God at work but don't respond. However, I've noticed a similar tendency in my own life of faith.

If you are like me at all, you sometimes want God to speak clearly, to make plain what God would like you to do. I've complained to God on many occasions about how I could use some clarity. Yet when I get indications from God about what I should do, those moments when events and inner feelings point to some clear direction, I often hesitate. And as time goes by, the clarity fades. Sometimes I even become convinced that my earlier clarity was a mistake, a misunderstanding on my part.

You see this on a bigger scale sometimes when people have had profound faith experiences. Out of such experiences they may commit themselves to some work, get very involved in church work or some sort of cause. But often the initial excitement wanes over time.

When I look back over my life, I can recall quite a few moments when God was vividly present, when that presence led me to do things such as leave a career and go to seminary. Yet it seems that I have real capacity to lose contact with those times and events. It seems that my faith can lapse into a "what have you done for me lately" mode that robs those moments when God spoke clearly of a continuing power in my life.

Lord, keep me connected to all those times you've come powerfully into my life.

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Sunday Sermon - "Who, Us?"

A Stewardship sermon from John 20:19-23: We sometimes imagine that it takes towering people of faith to do great things, but in this reading, Jesus sends out trembling, frightened disciples to be his representatives in the world. He sends them just as the Father sent him. They certainly don't look ready, but Jesus seems to think that, with the Spirit's help, they'll do fine.

Oct 18 sermon.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I grew up in the South where, even today, religion is more a part of the culture than in my current home of Columbus, OH. The Columbus Marathon is this Sunday, and it will cause significant difficulties for those trying to attend worship here because the route passes close by on three sides of the church. This never would have happened in Charlotte or Raleigh, NC. Such an event would have been scheduled on a Saturday so as not to get all the church folks upset.

Sometimes I find myself a bit agitated by how little the culture in Columbus acknowledges the Church. I like to run an occasional 5k race, and I am astounded how many of them are on Sunday mornings rather than Saturday. But despite this, I am convinced that the fast fading era when attending church on Sunday was expected of respectable citizens did more harm to the Church than it did good. Especially in post WWII America, church became one hallmark of good citizenship, and in the process Christianity bargained away some of its authentic identity in exchange for the culture sending us worshipers on Sunday.

This strong connection between church and social respectability that was part of my upbringing seems hard to reconcile with Jesus' words in today's gospel passage. "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword... Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." Jesus speaks in the hyperbole common to the Middle East, but still, he clearly does not understand following him to mean supporting the status quo.

It is a real challenge for me, in my personal faith journey, to put Jesus above all else. My "all elses" are likely different from yours, but we probably share a few. Financial security is fairly high on my list. And while I am willing to be a bit "out there" with regard to some social justice issues and such, I still want to be respected and well thought of by people in my congregation and in my community. When I get other people mad at me it's usually because of bad social skills or from wanting things done my way, not because I'm so intent on following Jesus.

I wonder what the Church might look like if people like me worried less about whether or not the culture made it easy for us to worship on Sunday, and focused more on living a faith where absolutely nothing would come between us and following Jesus.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In today's gospel reading Jesus says, "A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master." That's a curious phrase, "It is enough." After all, we live in a world where there never seems to be enough. And I'm not only talking about our consumerist society, so focused on acquiring things. I'm thinking of my own faith life.

I am a pastor because, at one point in my life, I became absolutely convinced that God was calling me to do this. At age 35 I disrupted my family's life, left my career, and went to seminary in order to follow Jesus. But when it comes to actually being a pastor, I'm not sure that "it is enough... to be like the master." Jesus wandered about Palestine, collecting a small cadre of followers. He never made it all that big by my standards. He didn't make much money, didn't have a nice house, and he certainly was not an influential member of his community. The movers and shakers of his day did have him executed, you may recall.

And yet I expect that my call should leave me reasonably well off financially, with a decent retirement account. I have some expectation of a "career ladder." I started in a smaller congregation and moved to a bigger one. Strange the way that when God calls a pastor to move it's almost always to a church that pays a higher salary.

"It is enough... to be like the master." Jesus says it in other ways. "Take up your cross and follow me... Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Man, following Jesus is hard sometimes. But Jesus promises that somehow, "It is enough... to be like the master." Lord, help me know and trust that it is enough.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Spirituality is all the rage these days. Go into a bookstore and you will likely find a large assortment of books on the topic. Some will be Christian, some Jewish, some Buddhist, and some with no connection to any particular religion. I think it is wonderful that many Christians are rediscovering spiritual practices such as lectio divina, fasting, meditation, and so on. However, I sometimes find that much of this modern spirituality is almost solely focused on the individual.

I thought of this while reading today's passage from 1 Corinthians. The congregation at Corinth apparently loved to excel in spiritual practices and to acquire spiritual gifts. And speaking in tongues seems to have been one of the most esteemed gifts one could receive. But Paul, while he never condemns speaking in tongues, insists that spiritual gifts should be for the building up of the community of faith. For Paul, spiritual gifts and practices that only build up the individual are not nearly so important as those that build up the church.

Clearly some spiritual practices are, by their very nature, intensely personal. Times of private devotion and prayer should be a part of every life of faith. But there is a difference between personal and individualistic. Personal spirituality is wonderful when it serves to undergird a life of faith, but personal spirituality should not be an end in itself.

Perhaps that is a good way for me to evaluate my own spiritual life. How is my personal spirituality helping me to answer God's call for my life, nurturing me so that I can do the work God gives me?

How does your spiritual life support your life as a person of faith?

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Sunday Sermon - "Links in the Chain"

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

If you have the occasion to attend weddings on a regular basis, then you probably know as well as I do that today's reading from 1 Corinthians is quite popular at marriage services. That's hardly surprising, considering Paul's soaring language on love, culminating with "And the greatest of these is love."

Many years ago when my wife and I were planning our wedding, we pulled out one of the pew Bibles in her hometown church to find Paul's words on love. I was something of a nominal Christian in those days, but I had a pretty good idea of where these verses were. Yet not matter how much I looked, I could not find them. I chalked it up to my own lack of biblical literacy, but I later discovered that I was looking in the right place. (I thought it was in 1 Corinthians but didn't know what chapter.) But the pew Bibles in that Southern Baptist Church were the old King James Version, and the word "love" never appears in 1 Corinthians 13. The chapter ends this way. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." It is charity that never ends and charity that is patient and kind. (Actually it isn't patient but rather it "suffereth long.")

Western culture is enamored with love, but we often don't mean it the way the Bible does. Charity may not be the best translation, but the love spoken of by Paul is not the love of passion or feelings that most couples mean when they choose these words for their wedding. Rather this is the love that God has for the world, the love that causes Jesus to endure the cross, the love that leads him to say, "Father forgive them" while he is on that cross.

The love of passion is a gift from God, but many marriages would probably last much longer if couples focused a bit more on the sort of love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians. But even more, a lot of the partisan division and nastiness so common in our country could be greatly reduced if we realized that Paul is speaking more about our daily life with our neighbors than he is about marital relationships.

When Paul writes the Corinthian congregation, he is worried because he has heard of divisions and factions in that church. And he is not dispensing marital advice but advice on living in community when he speaks of love as kind and patient; not envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude; not insisting on its own way; not irritable or resentful. What might happen if we all took those words to heart in our day to day encounters with others, especially with those others who drive us crazy?

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Sunday Sermon - "Links in the Chain"

A stewardship sermon from Hebrews 11:39--12:2 - Hebrews seems written to a congregation that is feeling inadequate and needs encouragement. And its author insists that we are connected to all the faith heroes of the past, that our struggles "perfect" or "complete" theirs. So too in our individual congregations, when we do our part, when we persevere, we perfect of complete the faith and work of those who went before us.

Sermon - Oct. 11.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today is the funeral of a beloved member of Boulevard Presbyterian. And as in many other funerals, we will remember her, give thanks for her life, recall funny stories, and proclaim the hope of resurrection. And rather appropriately, today's gospel reading features Jesus raising to life a young girl who has died.

Now the theological purists out there may want to point out that this event is quite distinct from resurrection. It is instead a resuscitation of some sort. And that is true. But regardless, I still find the story most appropriate for this day. First, the story insists that Jesus/God cares about our human relationships. Jesus here restores a family to wholeness, brings a lost daughter back into her family, to love and to be loved. And second, death proves to be no barrier for God's desire to restore and make whole.

And so while resurrection may be something quite distinct from what happens in this story, resurrection is cut from the same cloth. God cares not just for our "souls" but for our lives, our very human lives with their relationships and the capacity to love and be loved. And whatever resurrection looks like, it will be more than some wispy immortality of our souls. It will be nothing less than the redeeming and making new of our very humanity. Thanks be to God!

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul has scolded the people for the divisions in their congregation, for failing to put the needs of fellow members ahead of their own. One particular problem that has come to Paul's attention: when they celebrate the Lord's Supper, members who get there early and have plenty of food and wine go ahead and celebrate without waiting, leaving poorer members with nothing when they finally arrive.

As he seeks to correct this behavior, Paul pens the words many churches still use with the Lord's Supper. "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread..." Paul then goes on to remind those who eat the meal "in an unworthy manner" that they will be judged, saying, "For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves."

I have always been surprised, given how focused Paul is on divisions in the church and how he next commands the Corinthians to "wait for one another" at the Supper, that people so often understand Paul to be speaking about some mystical presence in the bread and cup. But "the body" that we are called to discern is the Church, that one body with many members. Paul is saying that any gathering for the Lord's Supper that is only concerned about self, that fails to discern the community of faith, does more harm than good.

Such words are particularly challenging for American Christians, with our individualistic focus. When I was growing up in the Presbyterian Church, I experienced the Lord's Supper more as private devotional moment than gathered community event. Even though we passed trays of bread and juice to our neighbors, we never looked them in the eye or spoke to them. We seemed to be together in a crowded space, but nonetheless still alone. It felt a bit like going to a movie theater. Lots of people might be there watching the movie at the same time, but there was no connection between us.

"For all who eat and drink without discerning the body..." How might I, how might you, do a better job of discerning the body of Christ that is the Church the next time we gather to break the bread and share the cup?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I just saw the September financial report for our congregation. It was quite disheartening. After going much of the year without seeing much negative impact from the economy, we now look to be running a significant deficit. Not what a pastor wants to see just as we head into this year's stewardship campaign.

"Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God." (from Psalm 42)

I think that one of the hardest faith pieces for me to keep in balance is striving to do my very best while, at the same time, relying on God's grace and providence. In my case, I tend to trust too much in my and other folks efforts. If things are going well it is because we are doing a good job. If they are not, it's because we aren't working hard enough or smart enough or something enough. If only we did a better job, if only we said the right things and had the right programs, people would flock here and all the members would be sacrificial in giving of their time and talents and resources. If only... and all the onlys seem to be about us.

Hope in God. That would seem to be the most natural thing for a Christian, and certainly for a Christian pastor. Yet too often, I seem to put it all on what I and others can or can't do. So where does God fit in all that? Perhaps today's tough times are calling me to trust less in self and more in God? If only I was a little better at it.

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Sunday Sermon - "Concrete Faith"

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

From today's epistle reading: "Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other." Could there be a more counter-cultural statement? After all, I want to sell my stock when it is high, which means I hope to get someone else to buy it just before it goes down. I want to buy a new suit or TV or just about anything else when it's at a rock bottom price, or when someone else is losing money on it. I want excellent government services, but I would like someone else paying the taxes to fund them.

The other day a politician was speaking against requiring companies to provide maternity leave and stated that one reason for his opposition was that he didn't need it. He was male, or course.

I wonder what Christianity - and the world - would look like if we actually took the Christian message to heart, if we really worried more about others than ourselves. What if we worried as much or more about our enemies, our political opponents, our neighbors, the age group different from our own, and so on? What sort of community and world might we build? And might we just discover that we were all a lot happier, a lot more content, and a lot richer, even if our wealth was not about money? I wonder.

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Sermon for October 4: "Concrete Faith"

A sermon from Luke 24:36-48, "Concrete Faith," kicks off this year's stewardship season. A lot of people think of faith and religion as disconnected from earthy, mundane, daily life. But Jesus comes "with skin on." Following him is about living out faith in the concrete messiness of everyday life.

Sermon for Oct. 4.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading concludes the Sermon on the Mount. But for the life of me I can't figure out why those who set the verses for the Daily Lectionary started todays reading where they did. These words, "On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers,' " make a lot more sense when you add the verse that comes before. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

As Jesus concludes his sermon he insists on the necessity of living according to God's will. No amount of pious behavior or religious grandiosity will make any difference if it is not in service to what God wants. Or as Jesus says in the verse that follows, "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock."

I'm sure I've recalled this in some previous blog, but I can't help thinking about that old saying that was popular in the 60s. "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" And based on what Jesus says today, such evidence would be found in whether we followed his teachings from the Sermon on the Mount. Those teachings include not being angry with fellow believers, not retaliating when injured or hurt, loving your enemies, realizing that you cannot serve God and wealth, not worrying about what tomorrow will bring, not judging others, and doing to others what you would like done to yourself. And Jesus concludes all these teachings by saying, "Calling me your Lord and Savior doesn't amount to a hill of beans if you don't do what I told you to do."

As a pastor, I have job that allows me to be busy with religious stuff all the time. I spend my days living out a call to follow Jesus. But am I doing God's will? Or am I just going around saying, "Lord, Lord" all the time? I suppose those are questions Jesus thinks we should all ask ourselves.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"O sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day."

It is easy for me to get caught up in trying to do faith and live the Christian life in a manner that gets things just right. I want to make sure I understand what this passage of Scripture or that one really means. I want to figure out just what it asks me to do. I want to examine my life and see where I'm getting it right and where I need to change. Certainly there is a place for this, but sometimes I need simply to cut loose and worship.

I was watching the Ken Burns film on our National Parks last night as they showed footage of the Grand Canyon. And there was one quote about how when the Creator made it, God created no sufficient word to describe it. One is simply left awed and can only marvel, and perhaps worship.

I don't necessarily mean "going to church" on Sunday. I include that, but I am talking about simply being overwhelmed by the wonder, majesty, and goodness of God to the point that all I can do is praise, sing, and say "Thank you, thank you!"

I come from generations of Presbyterians, and sometimes we worship mostly with our heads. It is good sometimes to remember the heart, to do worship that is like responding to seeing the Grand Canyon.

Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading contains some seemingly unrelated sayings of Jesus as the "Sermon on the Mount" nears its end. These instructions end with Jesus saying, "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." This line doesn't garner the attention lavished on Jesus' later statement about the "greatest commandment:" loving God with your whole being and loving neighbor as self. But the same summary about this being the essence of "the law and the prophets" is found both places.

For Jews, including the Jew named Jesus, "the law and the prophets" included the bulk of scripture and encompassed the whole of righteous living. And while Christians sometimes want to reduce faith to what someone believes, Jesus insists that he does not invalidate the law, but rather fulfills it. Jesus seems to presume that his followers will continue to embrace the law, even if it is reinterpreted through his life and teaching.

And so Jesus tells his followers, not once but twice, that treating others as we would like to be treated is a reliable guide to living as God's law demands. How wonderfully simple, and how terribly difficult. Not only do my needs often override Jesus' instruction -- if I'm in a big hurry I may not stop to help a stranded motorist even though I would want someone to stop for me -- but I also tend to cut myself a lot more slack than I do others.

As a pastor I find it easy to get frustrated with church members who don't volunteer for the wonderful projects or activities that the leadership has planned. But of course I don't do that much volunteering of my own. "I'm too busy at the church," I say. As though the busyness of my job is more important than the busy lives others lead. And it is easy to presume that the people I disagree with are motivated by greed or selfishness while my beliefs and opinions come, of course, from only the purist of motives.

I wonder if the best way to pursue the righteousness Jesus recommends might not be to focus on enemies, strangers, and those I disagree with. Maybe if I could treat them as I want to be treated, then I might come close to living as Jesus calls me to live.

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Sunday Sermon

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's psalm begins, "For God alone my soul waits in silence." And the gospel reading opens with Jesus saying, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" Focused on God alone with no worries; now that sounds like bliss.

One of the prominent schools of thought in church leadership encourages pastors to practice something called "non-anxious presence." This means that you are to be fully present or engaged in the issues that your congregation or committee or board is dealing with, but you are not supposed to let the anxieties surrounding these issues affect how you respond. In theory it is wonderful, but in practice it can be terribly difficult. I can be non-anxious fairly easily if I remain detached and unengaged. But when I begin to give myself fully to the situation, I often have a hard time keeping those anxieties at bay.

I may have gotten a tiny bit better at non-anxious presence after years of trying, but for me, this is less a proficiency issue and more a faith one. Too often I am tempted to think that "success" or "failure" as a church leader is primarily about my competency. But if it's all about my competency, or lack thereof, then what room do I allow for the Spirit to move in the congregation? If it's all about my proficiency, what is faith about?

In a success and results oriented culture, pastors, just like many others, can view their self worth as a matter or what they have accomplished rather than how faithful they are. We are called to live out our faith, and so what we do matters. But we are also called to trust in God's providence. Integrating and balancing faith and human effort may just be one of the most difficult practices of Christian living.

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No sermon but a busy day!

I didn't preach today in what has become our regular rotation here. (I'll post a video of Brett's sermon here tomorrow.) However, I did a funeral for a dear member just a bit ago. I've never done many Sunday funeral services. I suppose that funeral homes and cemetaries frown on such things. But having a funeral service on "the Day of Resurrection" seems entirely fitting. And in this time when more people are doing cremations, when services don't necessarily need to be on a "work day" for funeral homes and cemeteries, I wonder if Sunday funerals might become more frequent.

Funerals are an intriguing part of the pastor business. For some reason I've recently run across a number of articles and a new book by Tom Long on Christian funerals. To be honest, I've always wondered about some funeral traditions. Why, for instance, do so many church members opt to have a family member's funeral service at the funeral home rather than at the church sanctuary? I'm happy to be of help at either locale. I simply wonder why a church member would prefer the non-church setting.

But while I do sometimes wonder about funeral customs and the like, I should add that funerals are often places where that I most feel like I have helped or comforted someone. People often seem genuinely appreciative of a pastor's efforts at a funeral. I suppose that's why I've heard more than one pastor utter, "I'd rather do five funerals than do one wedding." But that's a different conversation.

In the sure and certain hope of the resurrection, we commend to Almighty God our sister, Betsy.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's reading from Matthew is always one of the readings for Ash Wednesday. I've always thought it a bit strange to read Jesus' words warning against "practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them" at a service where people go out with a cross clearly marked in ashes on their foreheads. (Some congregations take note of this situation by encouraging people to wash off their crosses before going out in public.)

Of course Jesus also says things such as, "Let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." It seems that the issue is motivation. What drives people to be public about their faith?

If you look at church signs, you will no doubt notice that a fair number of churches are named after someone. As a seminary student I did my internship at Howard Memorial church. That was a second name for this congregation, a change prompted by the Howard family donating the money to build a sanctuary. I even know of a William and Mary Hart Presbyterian Church. Usually you can only get your last name on the sign.

Now I have no idea if the Harts wanted the church named for them or not. Perhaps is was done posthumously to honor what had been lives of humble and dedicated service. Or perhaps they gave money on the condition of it being named for them. I'm hoping it's the former.

What motivates us to do what we do in the name of faith? Many churches, mine included, are moving into their "Stewardship Season," and this always raises questions of why people do or don't give. What lies behind our giving, our service, our worship, our private devotion, the way we act toward others, and on and on. I suppose that the answers we give say a lot about who we really are, and how we understand that our lives are lived to and in the presence of God.

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Creation & Evolution - Faith & Science

Join us this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. for the second in a three part class that examines if there really is a conflict between science and religion. Do the creation accounts in Genesis mean that Christians can't believe in evolution? What sort of book is the Bible and just where is it authoritative for people of faith? Join the discussion this Sunday and next as we continue to explore these questions.

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's gospel reading in Matthew has Jesus' famous words about turning the other cheek, which means to offer your left cheek to the person who has struck you on the right. Jesus not only commands an ethic of non-violence for his followers, but he goes on to say, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Jesus says that if we love only those who love us, we are no different from anyone else in the world. Only by loving those who hate us can we become more like Jesus, more like God.

A common biblical refrain calls for the people of God to be distinct from the world. Sometimes this has been construed as disdain and separation from the world, but mostly it is about being a light to the world, an example of another way, the Way of Jesus, the Way of the cross, the Way of God's coming dominion.

Perhaps because Americans so long thought of this as a "Christian country," we lost our appreciation for this call to be an example, a light to world, a distinct community that embodied God's Way rather that the world's way. And while I would be lying if I said the decline of the American church and of my denomination didn't bother me, I can't help but think we are being given a new opportunity to rediscover this call for Jesus.

Now if I could just find the allure of the world a little less captivating.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

You know, sometimes I think I'd be a lot happier, and being a Christian would be a lot easier, if the Bible was a pamphlet instead the voluminous work that it is. And couldn't we have just one gospel? Even better if the picture of Jesus in that gospel was perfectly consistent, with no room for questions or interpretation regarding what it means to follow him. But as it is, we have Jesus forgiving those who crucify him in Luke. But in today's reading from Matthew Jesus not only demands that people cannot fool around, but that they cannot even think about it.

The fact is that I like some of the portraits of Jesus in the Bible better than others. And I tend to hang those on the walls of my life and put the others in the basement somewhere. And from what I can tell, I'm far from alone on this. But if God's inspiration and providence were in any way responsible for the Bible that we do have (as I assume they were), then apparently we are meant to wrestle with those images of Jesus and God and faithful life that are not our favorites.

In fact, I've come to believe that the complexities of Scripture, including those passages that we find appalling or unfathomable, serve to shake any arrogance we might have about getting God all figured out. And they keep rattling and shattering those all too comfortable images of God and faith we construct for ourselves. I think it was C. S. Lewis who called God a "great iconoclast," who allows us to seize on images that draw us closer to God, but then shatters those images so that we have to keep moving closer and closer to the divine whom we can never fully comprehend.

Not the way I would have done it. But then again, it's probably just as well that I'm not God.

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Sermon for Sept. 20 - "Wisdom from Above"

Sunday Sermon - "w

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I've always loved the story of Naaman, the Syrian commander whose leprosy is healed by Elisha. The Bible has quite a few healing stories, but what fascinates me about these verses (2 Kings 5:1-19) is the "unimportant" people without whom this healing would never have occurred.

Naaman learns that he might be healed from the words of a slave girl who was captured by one of Naaman's raiding parties into Israel. But although a slave has directed him to Israel, Naaman still thinks in the ways of the rich and powerful. And so he carries all sorts of treasure, along with a letter of recommendation from the King of Aram, to the King of Israel. Anything so significant as a healing surely runs through kingly avenues of power.

But things don't go at all as Naaman had expected. Not only is Israel's king not in command of such events, but Naaman is unimpressed by the prophet Elisha's instructions for healing. And once again servants have to step in and convince Naaman to do a task he assumes is too menial to go with a healing. And even after he is actually healed, he still thinks in terms of tribute, of treasure offered in payment. But Elisha will accept none.

I'm still inclined to view things a little like Naaman. Despite the fact of Jesus, a Savior and King far from any palace, who went to the poor and the outcast, who was, according to Paul, "God's power made perfect in weakness," I still expect God to operate through proper channels.

I wonder how often I miss the healing, life-changing power of God because it comes it ways I don't expect, shows up in places I assume it wouldn't go, and is revealed through the most unexpected sorts of folks.

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Sept. 20 sermon: "Wisdom from Above"

James 3:13--4:3, 7,8 says that when Christians share in the divisions and conflicts typical of the world, we are devilish, unspiritual, and not from above. But when God is with us we have a wisdom that is from above, that "is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits..." How different that sounds from much of the partisan rancor engulfing our country. Yet often people on both sides claim to be motivated by faith.

Sermon for Sept. 20.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's verses from the "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew are some of the more well know words from Jesus. They're often called "The Beatittudes" from the Latin for "blessed," which has led to some unfortunate word plays such as "the be-happy attitudes." But this list is not a self-help guide to happiness. It is a surprising list of those whom God favors, who are aligned with the ways of the kingdom. While the list is often spiritualized (and even Matthew seems to have done this with the blessing on the "poor in spirit, see Luke 6:20), these are not "attitudes" for the most part but concrete conditions of life.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Most people don't think of mourning, being persecuted, or longing for the world to be set right (the meaning of hungering and thirsting for righteousness) as particularly blessed states. And our culture clearly doesn't think that meekness leads to anything good. Jesus' beatitudes embrace people the world views as not particularly fortunate, as not particularly blessed. And these blessing clearly set apart the ways of God's dominion from the ways of the world.

One of the perpetual problems for all religions is that they tend to get "domesticated" over time. Christianity is no different, and when it went mainstream all those centuries ago, it gradually lost a lot of its radical edge. And when it became the official religion in the West, too often it moved from challenging the ways of the world to supporting them. It may well have softened its world a bit, but it was softened as well.

From time to time we all need to take a good look at what Jesus actually said and stood for, to look at the ways we have made his hard words easy. From time to time the Church needs to be reborn in the image of God's reign, shedding the image of the world we have embraced. And I wonder if the loss of prestige and influence by mainline denominations such as my own may be something to celebrate and embrace rather than mourn. Perhaps these are an opportunity given us by God to rediscover who we are really called to be.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I am intrigued by the way Jesus' proclamation of "the good news" is linked with healing the sick. Far too many Christians relegate the "good news" to what happens when they die, but Jesus' ministry seems to say otherwise. He spends a great deal of time dealing with concrete, physical ailments. Today's gospel is a good example. "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them."

Over the years, many Christians have emulated Jesus through the work of medical missionaries and other health related ministries. There are more than a few Presbyterian hospitals in this country, along with many founded by other denominations. And all of this makes me wonder why some Christians are so outraged at talk of health care reform.

Health care is an extremely complex issue, and figuring out how best to fix our health care system is a huge challenge. Still, it is a fact that many of our fellow citizens, especially those toward the bottom of the economic ladder, receive woeful health care in a nation where the best services are available. And given that these are the very sorts of folks that Jesus ministered to, you would think that Christians would be in agreement that our faith calls us to help such folks. We might not agree on specifics of a particular plan, but any sort of "What would Jesus do?" test surely precludes the stance I've heard from some opposed to reform. Saying, "I'm happy with the insurance I've got, so leave it alone," is another way of saying, "My needs matter more than my neighbors." Hardly the message Jesus preached.

"And they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them." Jesus cured "all" of them, not just the ones who had good jobs, not just the ones who were deserving, but all of them. I don't know how to fix health care, but I'm sure Jesus weeps for all the people in this country, and in the world, who could be healed but aren't.

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

I was struck by the opening of this morning's psalm. "To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until he has mercy upon us."

I think these words grabbed me because of something I read yesterday in Barbara Brown Taylor's book, An Altar in the World. She told of meeting someone at a mosque where she takes her college religion class for a field trip of sorts. This woman shared how difficult it had been for her to adopt the prayer practice of bowing to the floor five times each day. She had struggled to "stand up for herself," and assuming this subservient pose seemed like regressing in some way.

We Presbyterians don't do much bowing, but I wonder if we wouldn't do well to try the practice, if for nothing more than to wrestle with the same issues as this Muslim woman. It might help us to put some flesh on the words of the psalm, to come before God as a servant approaches a master.

I think that much of the time I approach faith from a different viewpoint. God has something I may want and I'm looking to get it. I'm not really interested in a master, someone who tells me what to do. Trouble is, that makes if very difficult to respond when Jesus says, "Take up your cross and follow me."

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Sermon for Sept. 13 - Who Is Jesus?

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

In the opening of 1 Corinthians Paul writes, "Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters."

"For it has been reported to me...that there are quarrels among you." Wow, quarrels and division in a congregation. That's a real shocker. I can't begin to recall all the times I've heard someone say, "The worst fights are church fights." I might take some solace in the fact that faith must be very important to people in order to fight about it. But one of the others sayings I've heard frequently is, "The worst church fights are over the color of the carpet." Oh well.

The fights in the Corinthian church weren't about carpet. Some of the folks there like Apollos better than Paul and that had caused a rift. This also seems to have been a very exuberant congregation, and they apparently tried to outdo one another in developing spiritual gifts, with a special emphasis on more exotic gifts such as speaking in tongues. They thought such gifts a sign of their spiritual maturity, but Paul considers their spiritual competitions a sign of their childishness.

If you read Paul's letters, it is clear that he engages in some pretty heated arguments of his own with other Christians. So Paul probably doesn't mean, "Can't we all just get along?" Rather, Paul sees the divisions and quarrels in Corinth arising because of a self-centeredness that fails to keep the needs of one's neighbor always paramount.

I am a very competitive person by nature. I love to win, whether it's sports or a debate. Sometimes this is relatively harmless. But others times it can poison discussions about everything from how to improve worship to what color flooring to use in the chapel renovation. And as a pastor, with more theological training than most people in a congregation, it is all too easy to bludgeon people with impressive sounding rhetoric. I can employ my knowledge less to illuminate and more to win.

I would do well, as perhaps some of you might, to step back a bit when the discussion starts to get a little testy. Who's agenda am I pursuing, that of Jesus or my own? Come to think of it, sometimes I can be in the right from a biblical or theological point of view, and still tarnish the glory of God by my methods. A little help here, God?

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Sermon for September 13

"Who Is Jesus?" - from Mark 8:27-38 - Christians say that we follow Jesus, but just what that means depends on who we think Jesus is. And like Peter, we often want Jesus to conform to our wishes rather than our going where he leads.

Sermon for September 13.mp3

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Philippians 2:12-13

The opening verses of this lectionary passage may seem just a bit strange coming from Paul, that champion of salvation by faith and not by works. If we are "saved" by faith, that is by trusting in God's grace, what is all this about "working out" our own salvation?

Actually, I think that Christians sometimes create more of an either-or situation regarding faith and works than is found in Paul or the Bible. While Paul will insist over and over that no one can earn God's favor by their behavior, he nonetheless expects those who have encountered God's love in Jesus to work that out in their lives. For Paul, the right relationship with God that comes through faith inevitably leads to right behaviors. And so Paul's letters routinely move from the free gift of God in Jesus to exhortations to live holy, just, moral, and righteous lives. How can anyone who is "in Christ" not live in a manner that expresses that?

I saw some posts on Facebook yesterday recalling a sermon which said that while Jesus says to us, "Follow me," we find it easier just to worship him instead." Many of us find it easy to talk about Jesus, to claim God's love, and then to live no differently from anyone else in the world. It reminds me of the popular line often repeated in back the 1960s and 70s. "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

If Jesus is in any way really present in our lives, how can we not seek to follow where he leads us?

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Musings on the Daily Lectionary

"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness." Philippians 2:5-7

Years ago a church member came up to me after worship to complain about one of the songs we had sung. He was good sort of fellow and his complaint was gentle and intended to be helpful. It wasn't the typical complaint about the song being unfamiliar or hard to sing. Rather, he was somewhat troubled by the words. It happened so long ago that I can't recall the exact song, but the issue was a line in it addressed to God or Jesus stating something to the effect, "I want to be like you." To this person, that seemed to be going too far. His sense of reverence for God and Jesus made it difficult for him to sing these words.

I appreciated his desire to maintain appropriate reverence for God. Too often there is not a lot of that in the Church. We approach God easily, even casually, as though it were no big deal. A lot of Christians seem to have little sense of the awesome, transcendent majesty of God, that biblical "fear of the LORD" that Proverbs calls "the beginning of Wisdom."

But while we would probably all do well to heighten our reverence and "fear" of God, the Apostle Paul does seem to think we can be like Jesus. We can have "the same mind" that was in Christ, which is to say we can regard our relationship with God as something not for our own personal gain, but for doing the work of God. For Paul, this shows up concretely in the sort of behavior he recommends to the Philippian Church. "Regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others."

For Paul, having the same mind as Jesus is not about mystical communion -- not that he's opposed to that sort of thing -- but is about the way we act. That might be a pretty good way for me to evaluate my day. Did my actions seem to flow from the mind of Christ, or from something else entirely?

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Sunday Sermon - All God's Children: Risking It All for "Them"

Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Today's verses from Philippians begin, "I want you to know, beloved that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ." Despite being imprisoned, Paul can joyously claim that his hardship has furthered the cause of the gospel.

I sometimes find it very difficult to trust that God is still at work and in control when bad things are happening to me. Likewise, when the world seems to get out of kilter, I can be tempted to throw up my hands in disgust. Sometimes we humans seem to be a hopeless enterprise, and sometimes I have the hardest time feeling anything like how Paul says he feels.

As I think about these words written to the church in Philippi, I suspect that my notion of things working out for the best may not be exactly the same as Paul's. I usually evaluate how things are going based on how they are going for me. However Paul's frame of reference is not himself, but Christ and the good news about him. Paul thinks that things are going well for him when Christ is being proclaimed, as opposed to when he is comfortable, well fed, secure, etc.

In America, Christian faith has become very personalized over the years. And many people view their beliefs in terms of personal benefits associated with faith, be they salvation, heaven, happiness, wealth, or some other measure. But Paul's measure is not so personal. Paul's measure is a healthy Church, people growing in Christ, and Christ being proclaimed to the world.

Before being ordained as pastors, candidates in my Presbyterian denomination have to undergo an examination by the presbytery, a representative governing body made up of pastors and church elders. I've been told that at one time, candidates have been asked, "Would you be willing to be damned for all eternity if it would glorify God?" It many ways this seem a very odd question to me, but it does touch on this subject of where one locates success, happiness, blessedness. (By the way, I've also heard that this question was once answered, "Sir, I'd be willing for every member of this presbytery to be damned for the glory of God.")

But all jokes aside, I would like to be motivated more by the sort of thing that motivates Paul, and less by the sort of worldly things that so often drive me.

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Sermon for Sept. 6 - All God's Children: Risking It All for "Them"

Matthew 25:31-46 is Jesus' last public teaching prior to his arrest. He describes a judgment at his return in which righteous and unrighteous are separated like sheep from goats, all of them judged by what they have or haven't done to care for "the least of these." All the nations are gathered for this judgment, but "nations" seems to actually describe the non-Christian Gentiles who will be targets of the Church's evangelism efforts. Heard in this light, Jesus' words have something much more to say beyond care for those in need.

Sermon for September 6.mp3