The Little Things

Last night a few of us met at Wildflower Bread Company to continue in a journey through Luke and Acts.  We were ruminating on Luke Chapter 7, and the conversation had turned to the encounter between Jesus and John's disciples.  John was in prison, and as he had plenty of time to think, it appears he was wondering if he had fulfilled his calling…

7.18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

Jesus responds to the disciples of John by reiterating what he proclaimed to his neighbors in Nazareth when he had his coming out party.  You might remember that they handed him the scroll from Isaiah and he began to read the text.

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 

    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

While his neighbors were impressed with his proclamation, they didn't like that he went on to say that God would not be limited to working amongst the Jews.  They kicked him out and sent him on his way.

Now Jesus is reiterating his mission statement to John's disciples.

21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[a] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

And here is where God began to open us up.  The question was asked, 'What does it mean to stumble on account of me?'  

Lots of things were shared, but what got my juices going is when we realized that Jesus might be saying that we are blessed (God is within us) when we can see God in the places where we might imagine God is not.  We are blessed (God is working on our hearts) when we see God in the brokenness of the world, and the shattered lives of humanity.  We are blessed (God is helping us to see how God sees) when we see God amongst the poor, wounded, and oppressed of the world.

In just that one little phrase and the discussion that followed, it seems we were blessed.  How about you?

Peace,

Pal

Peace be With You!

'Peace be with you.'

These are the words of Jesus as he meets the disciples behind closed doors.  He had promised them a special peace as they had gathered to share the Passover Meal, and now he keeps his promise.

That word 'peace' has a special place in the hearts of this community.  We are the disciples of peace.  We are followers of the Prince of Peace.  Our courtyard is festooned with banners proclaiming, 'May Peace Prevail on all the Earth' in some 30 languages.  For us peace is not the absence of war, but a sense of wholeness and holiness within that allows us to navigate the difficulties of this world.

Recently, I came across a study from Duke University that speaks to this issue.  How do we discover peace for ourselves?  Here is their analysis...

They listed eight keys to emotional and mental stability. 

•  The first key is, “Get rid of suspicion and resentment.” Nursing a grudge is a major factor in unhappiness. 
•  The second is, “Don’t live in the past.” An unwholesome preoccupation with old mistakes and failures leads to depression. 
• The third key is, “Don’t waste time and energy fighting conditions you cannot change.” Cooperate with life, instead of trying to run away from it. 
•  The fourth is, “Force yourself to stay involved with the living world.” Resist the temptation to withdraw and become reclusive during periods of emotional stress. 
• The fifth is, “Refuse to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal.” Accept the fact that nobody gets through life without some sorrow and misfortune. 
• The sixth is, “Cultivate the old-fashioned virtues love, humor, compassion and loyalty.”
• The seventh is, “Do not expect too much of yourself.” When there is too wide a gap between self-expectation and your ability to meet the goals you have set, feelings of inadequacy are inevitable. 
• And finally, number eight is “Find something bigger than yourself to believe in.” Self-centered egotistical people score lowest in any test for measuring happiness.

Easter gives us something bigger to believe in.  Easter calls us into a preferred future today.  The gospels remind us that Easter is more than the resurrection of Jesus, but it is the invitation for us to live a resurrected life as Jesus sends us out to be the instruments of his peace.

Peace,

Pal

Isn't there more?

We are on the other side of Easter.  Does it surprise you that the gospel writers spend so much effort on detailing the accounts of Jesus' crucifixion, yet very little is made of his post-resurrection encounters?  Most scholars would say that the original Gospel of Mark ends with the woman running from the tomb afraid to say anything.   Are we surprised later readers decided to add something more?

What can we make of this?  I am reminded that Charlie Brown once was having a conversation with Linus, and he said something to the effect that we have two ears and only one mouth because listening is more important than speaking.  Applying the same logic, it would seem that to the authors of the Gospels, the crucifixion is more important than Jesus' appearances following the resurrection.  How is it then that we want to skip over the crucifixion and get right to the good stuff.

Maybe that's the point.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer would accuse us of desiring cheap grace.  Love without cost.  Glory without sacrifice.  Community in Christ without commitment.  In other words, cheap grace is another way we try to place ourselves at the center of the narrative while God simply serves us our whims and desires on a cross shaped platter.

This last week I got an email from someone who attended one of our Holy Week services, and he put it this way;

I came to [worship] for some morsels, really expecting only the appetizer before the main course.  I came away filled up, stuffed to the gills!  Great message last evening, you were filled with a passion and a desire that can only be from God.

When a pastor gets an email like this, you don't readily forget it.   Upon further reflection, however, I realize that as a pastor and as a people of faith, we often see the passion simply as the prelim prior to the promise of Easter.  The passion is the thing we have to get through to get to the main course.  

I do not wish to soft peddle what transpired that first Easter morning, or the significance Easter has on the way I look at life, but I believe the Gospel writers spend so much papyrus on the passion because the church that will be proclaiming this Good News will likely suffer the same fate as did Jesus.  Even as the disciples and their followers boldly proclaim Christ's resurrection, they are paying for this privilege with their lives.  The cross stands before them as much as it does behind them.

In the Gospels death and life are tied together far too tightly for our modern taste.  Yes, there is life after death, but the Gospels will not deny that to follow Christ is the pathway toward death first!  Or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote some 70 years ago, 'The call to follow Christ is the call to come and die.'  On that note, Happy Easter!

Peace,
Pastor Al

HOLY WEEK (Batman)!

Yes, it is that week we call Holy.  It is the week we remember Christ's passion.  It is the week of endless services.  It is the week we have got to go through to get to Easter.

Now it can feel like this is the week we have got to get through, kind of like a last form of penance before we can enjoy the celebration of Easter.  If you have seen The Passion of Christ  then this is a week when you might feel really bad for what we humans are capable of doing, but you are nonetheless anticipating that it soon will be over.  No matter whether we are liturgical or not, it is easy to want to skip over the multiple services this week and save up all our church-going for Sunday.

Having been a pastor for over 25 years now, I know that the combined worship attendance throughout this week will not even come close to what we see on Easter morning.  Nonetheless, I would not give up these markers along the road for all the tea in China.  I cannot jump so easily into the resurrection without first experiencing the horror of our humanity.  The older I get, the more I am aware that this life will have an end (it usually sneaks up on me when I'm thinking about some of the moments of my 30's and 40's), and while I do not fear death, I must say I have a deep and abiding respect for it.

Rather than focusing upon the blood and the brutality of the passion week, I believe it is enough for me to drawn into the reality of the grave this week.  That is painful enough.  Yet, without wrestling with that reality the promise of Easter seems almost superficial to me.  Maybe it a Ying and Yang kind of thing, but without all those services remembering the Last Supper and the march to Golgotha, Easter seems just too antiseptic for the realities of my life.  I need the grave in order to know the grace.

Yes, there are a lot of services this week.  Yes, I am glad that I get to be a part of them because its exactly what I need to get ready for Easter.  How about you?

Peace,
Pal