Look and Listen: A Reflection on Mark 9:2-9

          The experience, I don’t know what else to call it, that we read about today in the gospel of Mark is called the transfiguration. It is an experience that is difficult to comprehend. Jesus and the three men in his inner circle, go up a high mountain, of which we don’t know the name. He is transfigured before them, which means his appearance morphed. That’s the Greek there, metamorphosis. Is this what Jesus actually looked like, that a sort of veil was removed for a second? Or maybe it was like when Moses came down from the mountain after getting the Ten Commandments, his face was glowing which was a distraction to the people, so he started wearing a veil until the glow went away. Does Jesus naturally glow and the disciples got to see what he really looks like? Was it a glimpse of what our resurrected bodies look like? And then Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, are having a conversation with Jesus. How did they know it was Moses and Elijah? Were they wearing name tags? Did Jesus address them by their names? Aren’t they dead? Well, maybe not Elijah because he was carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot so he never actually died. Then there’s a cloud, they were terrified, they hear a voice. Then it’s all over. Jesus looks like he did before it all started, and they go back down the mountain with Jesus telling them not to say anything about what they just experienced. I doubt if anyone would believe them, but can you imagine what Peter, James, and John were like for a few days after that? They would be sitting around the dinner table that evening looking at each other with that look of, “What just happened? Who is this Jesus?” It is just a crazy experience on the top of this mountain.

            It’s also interesting where this experience is placed in Mark’s telling of the gospel. The transfiguration experience is at the half way point. It’s also the second of three times when we hear Jesus identified as the Son of God. The first time is at the baptism, when God says to Jesus, “You are my Son.” Then there is this experience, when God says to the disciples, “This is my Son.” And the last time is when Jesus dies, and a Roman centurion says to no one in particular, “Surely this is a son of a god.” So there is a lot to take in and ponder about this amazing experience on the mountain top.
            One way to get a handle on what is happening is to see what happened six days earlier. Jesus and the disciples were together. They were on their way to the Roman town of Caesarea Philippi. And Jesus asked them who people said they thought he was. Some were saying he was John the Baptist, others Elijah, or one of the prophets. And then Jesus asked who the disciples think he is. Peter said, “You are the Messiah.” Then Jesus started talking about how the son of Man will undergo great suffering, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and then come back to life three days later. The disciples, as was often the case, were befuddled about what Jesus was saying. But Peter had something to say. So the one he just called their Messiah, he starts to rebuke. Not just a gentle, “Jesus, you sure about that?” but a real rebuke. Jesus, who is not meek or mild, yelled right back at Peter, calling him Satan. I bet it was getting pretty warm right about then. After that exchange, Jesus calls a crowd together, and then he tells everyone, “If you want to be one of my followers, you are going to have to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. It’s going to cost you, maybe even your life.” And then Jesus said, “Truly, I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
            And so, six days later, some who were standing there got to see for themselves the kingdom of God with power. They got a glimpse of what is really going on. The Jesus they would later see getting beaten up and nailed to a cross, the one whose last words are actually a loud cry, whose body is then taken to a tomb, is actually full of power. It may not seem like it when he gets crucified, but there’s more to Jesus than what meets the eye. There’s more to his being the messiah than what meets the eye. The kingdom of God was with them, but it was hidden.
            But then there’s something else. As the transfiguration experience unfolds, Peter does what he does best, open his mouth and say the first thing that he can think of. He suggests building three shrines would be a good idea. Does he mean like the shrines others build dedicated to all the different gods and goddesses? I mean, that’s what everyone else does when they experience the divine somewhere. So, why not do that? He didn’t know what else to say, so he fell back to conventional wisdom. Everyone knows if you experience the divine, you build a shrine there so people can go back there and burn some incense, offer a sacrifice, say some prayers, whatever. Yeah, Peter didn’t really think that comment through.
            Then they are overcome with a heavy cloud. I wonder if it was like the white out I witnessed when working on this sermon yesterday. And then they hear this voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, listen to Him!” Now that’s interesting. In spite of all the mind-blowing, even terrifying sights of this experience, they are not told to look at Jesus, or to see Jesus for who he really is, to make a big deal out of the light show they just experienced. No, they are to listen. That’s probably aimed more at Peter than anyone else. Stop talking, start listening. And Jesus follows it up as they come back down the mountain, telling them not to tell anybody what they just saw until after the son of Man rises from the dead. Don’t say anything, just listen to me.
            So this is very interesting. This experience that later was told after Jesus rose from the dead, may have been helpful in giving the apostles some credibility in what they were saying. The author of 2 Peter says as much, where we read in 1:16-18, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.” So, this experience gave Peter, James, and John authority to talk about Jesus because they got to see and hear things no one else got to hear and see. For those who thought those kinds of stories prove you are an authority, that works.
            But does this story mean anything for us? I don’t think any of us would buy it if someone came to you and said, “Believe everything I tell you because I had this amazing experience on the top of a mountain.” Our first question might be, “So did you use mushrooms, or, what did you do to have this hallucination?” We may need some other way to grant someone authority than them telling a story about something they experienced that no one else saw. We would be skeptical. So, this transfiguration experience perhaps is not useful for us to help us believe that Peter, James, and John have authority because they are the only ones who can attest it happened. So does this amazing story have anything else to offer for us?
            That’s a hard question to answer. Maybe one point we can take away is that the flash, the presentation, the glitz, is less important than what is said. It’s the substance of what Jesus teaches that matters more than the promises or visions of glory. Or maybe what we can get from this experience is that Jesus didn’t stay on the mountain. He put the veil back on and came back down the mountain to continue his mission. He had a job to do. We have jobs to do also. No shrines were built on that mountain top. The challenges, the suffering, the struggles of life had to be faced. By no means did Jesus or the disciples keep running back to the mountain when things got tough. They moved on, they pressed ahead, knowing that they would be heading into tough times. So that could be a lesson for us. Or maybe we can get from this that in good times and bad, during mountain top experiences, the depths of the valley, or the broad plain of daily life, Jesus is walking with us through all of it. Jesus brought the disciples up the mountain and he brought them down. Whatever we go through, Jesus is right there with us, which can be a comforting thought. It’s an affirmation that even if no one else knows what you’re going through, Jesus is with you, that you are never really alone.
            Easter is about two months away. It’s always a glorious time that we anticipate every year. These barren trees will be budding, our lawns will be green and relatively weed free, flowers and the smell of warming earth scenting the air. We’ll see people wearing their Easter best, children running around hunting Easter eggs, churches filled with lilies and hyacinths. But before we get to the sights and smells of Easter, we have to go through Lent, a time of introspection, of an increased emphasis on spiritual disciplines, a time of listening.
            My challenge for us is that as we walk through this season of Lent, as we confront our sin and our mortality, perhaps take on greater discipline and abstinence, that we proceed through these next seven weeks keeping the vision of the beauty of Easter and perhaps the vision of our own resurrection experience, to keep that vision in our minds, even as we live out our lives in the here and now, listening for what life might say to us, especially in our suffering and struggle, assured that Jesus is walking with us through it all, now and for eternity.

Love over knowledge: A reflection on 1 Corinthians 8

               Have you ever been around a smart aleck? I’m not talking about people who are a little cheeky and are just joking around, but people who know they know more than you and make sure you know it too? I’m thinking of people who carry their knowledge on their sleeve, and project a know-it-all attitude. I have been around people like that. I’ve sometimes felt intimidated around them, felt stupid around them, because of their arrogance, believing themselves to be the smartest person in the room. Do you know what kind of person I’m talking about?

                Well, Paul found himself having to deal with some smart alecks in Corinth. To understand the situation in Corinth, I need to fill you in on a few things. An issue that the Corinthians had brought to the attention of Paul was a matter concerning the eating of meat that had been part of an animal sacrifice to some god or goddess. Corinth, like every city throughout the Roman Empire, was filled with temples and shrines dedicated to various deities. You couldn’t hardly turn around without seeing a statue or image dedicated to a god or a goddess. All kinds of sacrifices were offered to these gods, including animal sacrifices. The meat left over would be sold in the meat market of every town. For Jews, this was no problem. They only ate meat sacrificed to God, and which had been appropriately butchered. They didn’t buy meat from the meat market. But for Gentiles, they were accustomed to buying meat from the meat market, and the odds were that the meat they bought came from an animal that had been a sacrificial offering, although one could never be sure. So one of the issues was whether it was o.k. for Christians to buy and consume meat they got at the meat market.

                But there was another issue not directly addressed in this portion of 1 Corinthians but is discussed later in chapter 10. It was the issue of eating meat in a temple, more precisely, in the social hall connected to the temple. You see, just like how churches have social halls that you can rent for banquets and formal dinners, there were temples in Corinth where people could rent space to have social events, parties, and the like. If you went into these social halls, it would be obvious which god or goddess that temple was dedicated to. You would be eating your steak in the shadows of a pagan statue. Was that o.k. for Christians?

                This was a source of contention in the church in Corinth. Paul needed to weigh in on this subject. Chapter 8 begins with the argument that some Christians were making, whom Paul refers to as the “strong” Christians. These are the ones who say, “All of us possess knowledge. We know that there’s only one true God, and food doesn’t bring us closer to God, it’s just meat. So, what’s the big deal?” These are the smart alecks that Paul had to deal with. There were a couple things going on here that Paul had to work with.

                First of all, what these strong Christians were actually doing was trying to get away with something. Like I said, Jews didn’t have to worry about where to hold formal dinners and banquets. They had the ghetto, their enclosed community where they could celebrate weddings and other special occasions. For Gentiles, it was the temple banquet halls. Well-to-do Gentiles needed to have those banquets in order to invite their friends and scratch each other’s backs in order to maintain social status, which was critical in the culture of the time. When these well-to-do Gentiles became Christians, they found themselves in a bit of a bind. If they didn’t go to parties or hold parties, they would slip down the social status rung. This didn’t just affect how people felt about them. This had real economic implications. It was a big deal. So these Christians needed to justify holding parties in the banquet halls of temples. They believed their justification was that they knew what was really true. They had the knowledge that there is only one God and these other gods don’t have any meaning. These temples were just shells, had no purpose other than being a nice place to gather for parties. The strong Christians were certainly willing to utilize the knowledge they had gained in order to justify eating meat sacrificed to idols and to eat that meat in temples. In doing so, they wouldn’t have to sacrifice their social standing.

                The other thing Paul had to deal with was that these strong Christians had an attitude toward fellow Christians who were squeamish about eating this meat in temples. Their attitude was that these Christians needed to wise up. They needed to get over this hang up and not be so uptight. They need to become more sophisticated about the faith, rather than allow their old superstitions to prevent them from living as Christians in society.

                As far as Paul was concerned, these strong Christians didn’t know what they thought they knew. They claimed that they possessed knowledge. That much is true. But something I have come to understand about the gaining of knowledge: the more educated one becomes, the more one realizes how little he or she actually knows about any given subject. There is always more to learn. A new discovery gives birth to ten more questions. Education ought to make a person a bit more humble, recognizing how much is yet to be known, rather than becoming too self-assured. But even more to the heart of the matter, these strong Christians seemed to lack knowing what love is. It appeared to Paul that they lacked knowing how to love God well and how to love others well. They didn’t know enough about what matters most of all.

                We, of course, don’t have to worry about offending someone for eating meat sacrificed to an idol in a temple. But the general principle still holds: love for God and others matters more than knowledge about God and others. We have to be on guard that we don’t allow our knowledge to confuse us or block us from loving God and others fully. We also have to be careful not to use our knowledge in ways to justify actions that otherwise may be unloving. We don’t want our sophisticated knowledge to be an excuse for failing to love.

                I wonder if sometimes we make things too complicated. For example, a few days ago I was listening to Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, who identifies as an independent but is really a pretty liberal democrat. Anyway, he was talking about how to grow America’s economy, and how trickle-down economics over the past 30 years hasn’t worked. He said that to grow the economy really is simple: sell stuff. After all, the personal consumer makes up 70% of the economy. But if these consumers don’t have a lot of disposable income, they aren’t able to buy products and services. The answer is to give them more disposable income so that they can spend it. Then, the job creators will have to expand and hire more workers because of the increased demand. Sounds simple. But then you listen to the economists and the policy wonks and then it becomes confusing. All that economic data and policies seem to prevent what seems to be a pretty straightforward and simple thing: give people more money so they can spend it.

                So there’s that. Knowledge can sometimes make complicated what doesn’t need to be so complicated. Sometimes knowledge prevents us from actually doing what needs to be done. Sometimes knowledge is about knowing peripheral things but lacking knowledge of what matters most, which for Christians is to love God and love others.

                Then there is how Paul put it, “Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.” That term translated “puffed up” is an interesting one. The term is related to the image of a bellows, or of using a bellows to blow out air. It’s metaphorical. “Puffed up” may be too polite an expression. Paul may have been going for the image of someone being full of hot air, or being a gas bag. It reminds me of the old joke that Ph.D. stands for piled higher and deeper.

                Obviously there is nothing wrong with gaining knowledge. Paul himself was a scholar of the Torah. He studied at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the best known and highly regarded rabbis of the day. There is nothing wrong with loving to learn, to be curious, to explore, to be a life-long student. Paul is certainly not an anti-intellectual. It’s just that for Paul it matters less what you know and more that you are known. Did you catch that? Paul said, “Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.” It’s less what you know but who knows you. Relationships matter more than knowledge.

                This past week, a man who is deeply loved by many in Ohio, particularly among the clergy, passed away; Bill Croy, who suffered from ALS for many years. When the word got out, several of my friends on Facebook, who had the privilege of knowing him, posted incredibly moving eulogies. They wrote of how generous he was with his time, how caring. They wrote of how he was a mentor. They wrote of his deep spirituality and his unwavering integrity. They wrote of how he gave so much of his time to help and encourage, yes, to build up others, even when it took so much of his energy to do so. As I read these eulogies, I didn’t see anyone write about his knowledge. It was all about his love. Because that is what it’s all about.

                Sometimes, people get too smart for their own britches. Knowledge is power. But sometimes that power can go to your head. Ultimately, it’s about living a life of love. We love God by following God’s commandments, not trying to rationalize avoidance of them by means of sophisticated argumentation. We love others by building them up, which includes teaching, sharing what we have learned, but doing so in ways that build up, not cause someone to feel inadequate or stupid. Paul is encouraging us to take care, that we live our lives in ways that lift others up. Let’s all try to focus more of our energies on loving well. Love God, love others, love learning, love this amazing world that we are privileged to live in. Let love, not knowledge, be our north star as we make our way through life.

 

What Does Not Change: A Reflection Based on 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

            Michael Hutchence was the lead singer of an incredibly popular band back in the 1980s called INXS. They sold millions of records, filled arenas. You heard their songs on the radio all the time. A supergroup. But as the 80s moved into the 90s, INXS couldn’t keep up with the changes in popular music. Their record sales declined. Fewer and fewer people would go to their shows. INXS fell apart. But for Michael Hutchence, the fall was much harder.

            There’s another supergroup that has managed, in spite of themselves, to keep selling their records and filling the arenas. They go by the name of U2. Their lead singer, Bono, was friends with Michael Hutchence. Michael could not handle his fall from fame well. He was stuck in the past glory and could not adjust to his present reality. He took his own life. And his suicide inspired Bono to write a song called “Stuck In A Moment.” Part of the lyric is: “You’ve got to get yourself together, you got stuck in a moment, and you can’t get out of it. Don’t say that later will be better, you’ve got stuck in a moment, and you can’t get out of it.” Bono goes on to write about how much he was inspired by Hutchence’s music. But then he writes, “You are such a fool to worry like you do. I know that it’s tough, and you can never get enough of what you don’t even need now.” Hutchence wanted more fame, more fortune, he just couldn’t get enough of it even though he didn’t need that. He had made a name for himself. He had achieved great fortune. He was so wrapped up in the need for that fame that when he lost it, he lost his meaning for living.

            Anyone who has been paying attention lately in the football world has been hearing all about deflated footballs. But there’s another story. What will Payton Manning do? Will he play one more season or will he retire? He’s non-committal. It appeared as this past season wound down that he wasn’t his best, that he couldn’t throw with as much accuracy and speed as we are used to seeing. Is it time for him to call it quits? This conversation about what Payton might do reminds me of the drama of Brett Farve who took forever to finally get to the point where he could say that he needed to stop playing professionally. I feel for those guys. From the outside looking in, it appears their whole identity is wrapped up in football, and playing football on the biggest of stages. To just let that go and walk away, something that is so central to your identity. That’s got to be tough. Will life have any meaning for them outside of playing football in the NFL? Of course, there is a life outside of the game. But I imagine for them that’s a hard thing to accept.

            Life is always changing. Things happen to us we didn’t expect. Chance brings us Alzheimer’s or cancer, a freak accident or a financial catastrophe. What used to work well for us doesn’t work as well any more. New challenges are confronted and it’s not always clear what to do or how to make it through these challenges. Life has a lot of ups and downs, bends and curves, and we have to try to make our way through the world as best we can.

            Paul, like the rest of us, had to figure out how to make it through this crazy thing we call life. But for Paul, everything changed when Jesus rose from the dead. When Jesus did that, a whole new order began. Jesus, according to Paul, is the first fruits of a new creation that God has initiated. It’s a new order in that death no longer has the last word. In this new order, life is persistent, life conquers death, life has the last word. This present age of decay, diminishment, and death, for Paul, is passing away. God’s new creation has already begun.

            This being the case, a central question for Paul was this: “How do Christians, who are already part of this new order, live in this old world order that is passing away?” One option is to completely separate ourselves from the world. Just gather all the believers together, run off into the wilderness, build a Christian commune and have nothing to do with outsiders. That’s been tried. That’s not going to work for Paul. Another option would be to just live in the world like any non-believer, as if the death and resurrection of Jesus didn’t make any difference. That didn’t seem right to Paul either. No, the answer must be that Christians have to live in the world but not be of the world. Or, as Vincent Wimbush puts it, Paul understood  that the world is the sphere in which Christians live their lives. But Paul rejects the world as a source for the values and identity of Christians.

            For Paul, the single, highest priority in life is not fame or fortune, not even to have a family, or be successful, or comfortable in your retirement. The single highest priority is to be devoted to God and give glory to God as a child of God. That’s what life is all about, to give glory to God. Sometimes you hear the word orthodox and it is often used to mean “right beliefs.” But no, orthodox means “right glory.” That’s what life is about, to give the right glory to God. The big question then becomes, how do you do that? How do we manage to give glory to God when we live in a world that has values, social norms, regulations and laws, institutions, economic systems, culture, that are not designed for the purpose of giving glory to God? That’s a tough question to answer. We are trying to live a certain way of life in a world that is not designed for that kind of life to be lived out.

            Paul’s suggestion is to live your life “as if not.” If you are married, live as if you are not married. If you are sad, live as if you are not sad. If you are happy, live as if you are not happy. If you are buying something, live as if you don’t own it. If you have dealings with the world, live as if you don’t. Please note, Paul didn’t say you should live “as not” but “as if not” and that makes all the difference. Obviously, when Paul says married people should live as if they are not married, that doesn’t mean get separated or divorced or ignore your spouse. Of course you stay married. He’s not saying that if you’re sad just suck it up and don’t cry. He’s not being a killjoy, saying if you are happy then you need to snap out of it. Christian’s aren’t supposed to be happy. Come on. He’s not saying Christians shouldn’t buy things or make business deals. Of course not. We have to live in this world. But we don’t have to be controlled or ultimately defined by the world, by who we are in relationship with, by our feelings.

            For example, let’s look at what Paul is saying about marriage. 1 Corinthians 7 is all about marriage. Basically, Paul is not a big fan of marriage or having kids. He wasn’t opposed to marriage. He understood it’s a divinely sanctioned institution. He understood that if everyone was celibate then the human race would come to an end, and I’m sure that’s not something he would want to see. Paul’s concern was that if the main thing in life is to give glory to God, to be totally devoted to serving God, then having a spouse and a family can be a source of problems. Those of us who have families know what it’s like to be pulled in several different directions. Marriage and family life forces us to juggle all kinds of demands. Family life can create all kinds of distractions and interruption. And also, family life can sometimes be used as an excuse to avoid devoting your energies toward serving God. I know this from personal experience. Divided energies and distraction. That’s what Paul would wish that we could avoid. That’s why he says that although there is nothing wrong with being married, it’s better not to be married. It’s one less source of aggravation.

            But it doesn’t have to be just that. I remember a parable Jesus taught about the king who had a banquet and invited his friends, but each one had an excuse for not attending. One had just bought some land and needed to check on it. Another had just got an ox and he needed to check on it. One had just got married, and they were heading out on their honeymoon, so he couldn’t attend. All these excuses because people had put other things or other relationships as a priority over devotion to God. It’s a constant struggle over competing priorities, isn’t it?

            So the trick is, in every moment of life, whatever the situation might be or whoever you find yourself relating to in that moment, to figure out how to give honor, glory, devotion to God in that present moment. How can your marriage give glory to God? How can you give glory to God by the way you raise, guide, and spend time with your kids? How might you give glory to God with the things you own and the work you do? That’s the heart of the matter. When Paul says to married people to live as if they aren’t married, he is saying that marriage is not the number one priority. The number one priority is to be devoted to God and marriage is the context in which to do that.

            Giving glory to God, for Paul, is the number one priority because of Jesus, who defeated death and rose again. God has begun to make all things new and Christians are a part of that new thing that God is doing. The things of this world aren’t permanent. Nostalgia, longing for past glory, is nothing but devotion to the past. That’s not devotion to God, that’s devotion to what once was. Anxiety about how it seems the world is falling apart, that’s not devotion to God. That’s devotion to the need to keep things the same, the way it’s always been, to be in control. No, to be devoted to God, to give glory to God, requires being in the present moment and asking how you can give glory to God in that moment.

            Life is constantly changing. There’s ups and downs, successes and failures, joy and sorrows. People come into our lives and leave our lives. But in every moment of life, God is always there. God is everlasting. God never changes in that God is always present and God always loves you and me. God’s love endures forever. Our challenge, as we make our way through life, is not to forget that. Our challenge is to remember this, and stay devoted to the One who is the very source of life, the One who is always about making all things new.

 

Body Care: A reflection on 1 Cor. 6:12-20

                When I first read this passage, the first thought that came to me was that this passage is about sex and food. My next thought was, “Hmm, how am I going to talk about this?” Talking about food may not be too hard, but sex? That’s a bit more difficult to say the least. But what is there to say? It’s wrong to have sex with a prostitute. Don’t think there’s anything surprising or controversial about that. Not much there to build a sermon around.

                But what Paul is writing about has to do with more than just eating food and having sex with prostitutes. Much more fundamentally, Paul is thinking about the body and the soul. The two go together. Our selves include our souls and our bodies. And when we relate to one another, we connect both with our souls and our bodies. Our connection with God includes our souls and our bodies. And this understanding of a body-soul connection is the foundation for how we behave, how we treat others, how we care for our own bodies. That’s what we’re going to think about for the next few minutes.

                You know, sometimes religion becomes only about right behavior or right beliefs. Religion becomes a list of do’s and don’ts. It’s about rules. Don’t swear or smoke. Read your Bible and go to church. Or it’s about believing the right things. Religion requires you to believe that Jesus is your savior, hell is real, because of Jesus we can go to heaven, God is known as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, etc. Or sometimes religion just gets boiled down to making sure your soul is secure so that when you die you will make it to heaven and avoid an eternity in hell. As long as you have that straight, there’s really not much left to worry about. It’s religion as soul insurance. When religion is just a matter of right behavior, or believing the right things, or avoidance of hell, what about your body? Does the care of your body have any relevance to religion?

                That’s the thing. Religion doesn’t often have much to say about your body except things like don’t smoke or drink or do drugs, don’t have sex outside of marriage, and that’s about it. The body really is irrelevant in matters of religion. After all, our bodies are going to decay anyway. It’s our souls that are eternal. So in the end, does it really matter how we care for our bodies?

                For Paul, the body does matter. For him, Christianity is essentially about unity, the unity of body and soul, the unity of people with each other and with God. And this unity with God is a real, embodied unity. It’s not just thinking about God or talking with God through prayer, but a body connection in some spiritual sense. I know it doesn’t make much sense. How are our bodies united with God if God is a spirit, doesn’t have a body? All I can say is that Paul insists salvation includes our souls and our bodies.

                So in this passage from 1 Corinthians, and all through Paul’s letters, he is insisting that our bodies, and what we do with our bodies, does matter. Our bodies are not mere tubes that carry around our souls until we finally die so that our souls can escape from this material world and go to heaven. God saves our bodies too, not just our souls. Our bodies matter to God.

                Just look at all the different ways the body is referred to in these eight verses. The body is not meant for fornication, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. God raised the Lord with a body and God will raise you and me with a body by His power. Our bodies are members of Christ. A person that has sex with a prostitute is united with that prostitute, just like when God said that when a man leaves his father and mother he is united with his wife and the two become one flesh. Sins are committed outside the body, but fornication is sin against the body itself. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies don’t belong to ourselves but belong to God. God bought our bodies. We are to glorify God with our bodies. All of this in eight verses! I think Paul is trying to make the point that when it comes to salvation, our bodies matter.

                This is the heart of the matter. Last week we remembered our baptism. It’s not just a spiritual thing. Our bodies get wet. Real water is involved. And part of what baptism means is that our bodies are incorporated into the body of Christ. In some mystical sense, we are the body of Christ in the world. And at our baptism, the Holy Spirit comes down upon us and dwells inside of us. The Spirit of God lives in you. And finally, because of our baptism, we now belong to God, both body and soul. Our bodies, not just our souls, belong to God. Baptism is that significant. How this works, no one knows. But this is what we understand about how our bodies matter to God.

                So, because we are, in a real way, connected with God and with one another as Christians, both body and soul, connecting with a prostitute for Paul is unthinkable. It’s not just a bad or immoral thing to do, it just doesn’t make sense. How could members of the body of Christ be united with prostitutes? That’s just not going to work.

                Because we are connected with God and with each other, body and soul, we now have a reason to take care of our bodies. If our bodies matter to God, if our bodies are members of the body of Christ, then we ought to take care of these bodies that we have. We ought to take care of our bodies, not only because our bodies belong to God, but so that we can be the best we can be. See, we are family. God is our heavenly father, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, so why not be the best persons we can be?

                There has been a lot of buzz this past week in the state of Ohio as we celebrate Ohio State winning the first national championship college football game. It’s especially sweet because of all the adversity the team faced, losing their first and second quarterback to injuries, losing a player to suicide, losing to Virginia Tech, lots of doubters and nay-sayers. Yet, the team persevered, overcame the obstacles, played so well individually and as a team, and did the improbable. I was listening to Urban Meyer talking about how the team played for each other. Others who have been close to the team talk about how there is something intangible but palpable about that team, mutual respect for one another, truly playing for each other. These guys clearly won as a team. And Coach Meyer mentioned something that the great Bill Parcells told him. After a team wins a championship, a blood transfusion takes place. From that point on, everyone on that team will forever be blood brothers, coaches, players, everyone. That stuck with me. This can be true for us. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We can have mutual respect for each other. We can live our lives together. We can contribute the best we have for the good of the whole.

                But it doesn’t have to just be for us. We don’t have to consider ourselves connected only with God and each other. We can see ourselves connected, body and soul, with all human beings in one human family. That’s the message that Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed. He once said, “We are woven into a seamless garment of destiny.” He also said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” He said, “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” We don’t have to be on a national championship football team to understand that we are all connected to each other. We don’t have to just be baptized Christians to understand that we are all connected to each other. We can believe and live out our lives that we are connected, body and soul, with God and with all human beings.

                So here is the question: what is it about you, your body and soul, that causes God to want to claim you? Why do you matter so much to God? Maybe it’s because of your good looks. Maybe it’s because of your talents and skills. God sees something in you, that you can do lots of great things for God. Maybe it’s because you are so smart, clever, confident. Maybe because you are better than average.

                That all may be true for you. But maybe God connects with you because you are relatable. You have the ability to give and receive love. You are lovable. And that is why God claims you and connects with you. That’s why God has made it so that we are connected with one another, even with all people as one human family. God created us to be relational, body and soul. God is relational. God intends that we all be connected to one another and to God, body and soul.

                I came across this quote from Robert Giannini that puts it so well, what I’m trying to say. “So desire is of God. Desire is the stuff of the universe. Desire and longing and yearning and appetite are what make the whole universe stay together. The universe holds together because of attractiveness. The law of gravity is a law of attraction. Love makes the world go 'round, but this love is not a love of having and possessing and owning; rather, it's a love that is embracing, sharing, celebrating, and entering into union. It is love as respect and honor and trust.”

                God desires you, longs and yearns for you, is attracted to you because God loves you and you are lovable. You and I have this same desire and longing, to love and to be loved. So this is the potential that we all have, especially as Christians who are part of the body of Christ, who have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. It is the potential to love God and love one another, body and soul. Let us take up Paul’s challenge and glorify God with our bodies. Let us live our lives with the understanding that we are one with God and one with each other, being the best people we can be, for the glory of the One who created us and claims us.

 

The foundation of baptism: a talk based on Mark 1:4-11

            Last week was our first worship service of 2015. We heard the story of the wise men, their journey of discovery, and how they offered their gifts as an act of worship to a king who wasn’t going to be their king, at least in a worldly sense, for we believe that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We reflected on their experience which led to the asking of those five questions. [see previous post for the questions] I hope you took up my invitation to sit with those questions. I don’t know about you but those were some hard questions I came up with. I sat with them for awhile and I couldn’t think of anything to write. I’m going to have to keep those questions in front of me. Hope you are too.

            Another aspect of taking stock and looking ahead is to remember where you came from. What is your foundation? What do you stand on? Here I think about the family name I carry. Even though I was adopted, I am an Orr. I am partly the product of my parents who raised me. It’s the same for you. The family in which you were raised serves as a foundation for who you are. Of course, there are a lot of other people that have influenced you to help make you who you are, but it begins with the family.
            However, as Christians we have another foundation. This foundation is our baptism. On this second Sunday of the year, we are going to reflect on the meaning and significance of our baptism, the foundation on which we all stand.
            According to the gospel of Mark, Jesus’ baptism marked the beginning of his earthly ministry. Immediately after he came up out of the water, the skies ripped open, the Spirit came down upon him in the form of a dove, and the Father said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” And then Jesus is immediately driven by the Spirit into the wilderness for a time of testing. Having gone through that test, Jesus then begins his ministry of proclaiming the gospel, he selects his disciples, and off they go.
            In the same way, we consider baptism to mark the beginning of our ministry, facing times of testing, proclaiming the gospel, gathering with fellow disciples, and being on our way. But what is it about baptism that starts us on our journey of Christian discipleship? What happens when we are baptized?
            Baptism is a source of discussion, even contention, among us Christians. There are different views on what baptism is for and what it does. Eric Folkerth breaks down the different views into two main views: baptism is something you do or baptism is something done to you. That first view is common among Baptists and many independent churches. This is the view that baptism is something that you do as a public sign of your commitment to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. It’s often called believers baptism. We in the United Methodist church and most other churches don’t have any problem with that. But we hold the second view, that baptism is something done to us. For us, baptism is a public act that recognizes what God is doing in the life of the one being baptized. It’s not so much about what you are doing, but what God has already started doing in your life. This is why we baptize babies. We understand that even before someone is aware of God’s love, or who God is, that God is already at work, wooing this child, drawing the child toward His love. In other words, God claims us before we claim God, as an act of sheer grace. And we acknowledge this grace by baptizing infants, acknowledging that God has already claimed them as his own children.
            The introduction of our baptismal covenant goes like this: “Through the Sacrament of Baptism we are initiated into Christ’s holy church, we are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation and given new birth through water and the Spirit. All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.” This statement hits on our initiation into the church. Just as Jewish boys are circumcised on the eighth day of their life, marking them as a part of the Jewish people, so we are marked as members of the people of God through baptism. We are incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation, meaning that we are included in the saving grace that comes from God’s eternal love. And we are given new birth, we are born again through water and we receive the Holy Spirit. But the main point is that last line. “All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.” Baptism is God’s gift to us, his beloved children. If baptism means anything, it means that God loves you and God claims you.
            In my home church, when there was a baptism, we used to sing this song. “Daniel, Daniel, God claims you. God helps you, protects you, and loves you too. We this day do all agree a child of God you’ll always be. Daniel, Daniel, God claims you. God helps you, protects you, and loves you too.” That little song captures what we hold to be true about baptism. Whether you receive it as an adult or as a child, by your own decision or by the decision of your parents, baptism is an occasion to affirm that God claims you as one of his children.
            Many of us were baptized as infants or little children, so we don’t remember our baptism. As a consequence, many wish they could get re-baptized so that there can be a memory of this special experience. I’ve wondered what it would be like to experience a full immersion baptism, fully embracing all the symbolism of that. Perhaps it would seem more real, more true, if we could go through the baptismal experience and remember what it was like so that we can go back to that memory as a source of encouragement. Or when we are asked to remember our baptism, we actually can remember it. There is something to be said to wait and be baptized when you have some awareness of what is happening.
            However, if we don’t remember our baptism, it doesn’t make it any less real. It still happened. It still took. After all, baptism is simply acknowledging what God is already doing. We don’t have to remember things that still shape us, make us who we are. None of us remember being born, but that doesn’t make it any less real!
            Whether we remember that day we were baptized or we don’t, it doesn’t change the fact that God has claimed you as one of his children. Just after Jesus rose out of the water, God said, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Just so, after you were baptized, God said, “This is my daughter, this is my son, with whom I am well pleased.” And that’s the foundation that we all stand on as Christians entering into 2015. It is the foundation that you are claimed by God. God claims you. God helps you, protects you, and loves you too. God always has and God always will.
            So as we continue, now into our second full week of the new year, let us remember that we are baptized, and be thankful.

 

 

Questions for the new year

Here are five questions I am using to begin this new year. I shared these with my church family yesterday, with the sermon included. I offer them for your considered use.

1. What do you want to learn more about this year?

2. How am I applying what I am learning to my life?

3. Whose voices or perspectives on God or the world do I need to start paying attention to?

4. Am I giving my time and treasure to God and others with no expectations of receiving anything in return? Is the giving itself enough reward?

5. Where in my life do I need to surrender my control over so that God can use me?


This sermon is based on Matthew 2:1-12

            The first of the year is a good time to assess where you are in your life and to set goals for the next year. We set resolutions, we write down goals, we commit ourselves to stop doing some things and start doing other things. We make plans. Now is a great time to look ahead to what the next year will bring.

            This morning, we are going to look at the actions of the wise men, as they made their way from far away Babylon to Bethlehem, following the star that led them to the new born king of the Jews. There are things they did that can guide us as we enter into this new year. You have with you a piece of paper that has on one side a prayer that was written by John Wesley to be used for an annual covenant renewal service. And on the other side is a list of questions. I invite you to begin thinking about how you would answer those questions as I lead you through this reflection on the wise men. And then take this home with you and sit with those questions for awhile. Write out your answers. This can be a helpful resource for you as we enter into this new year.

            The wise men began their journey after noticing something they had not seen before. It was a star. And this star appeared in a way that they interpreted as a sign that the king of the Jews had been born. See, they were astrologers. They studied the stars and looked for signs. And they saw this one, so they went to Jerusalem to find out more information. One thing we learn from the wise men is that they were always looking to the stars searching for signs. And when they saw something, they went on a journey in order to find out more about it. They saw the sign of a new born king, so they went to discover who this king was. They were curious. They wanted to know more, to go on journeys of discovery.

            So that is the first question I invite you to consider. What are you curious about? What have you noticed that you want to know more about? There is always something more to learn, more discoveries to be had. Consider exploring something new to you that strikes your interest. Do some research, read some books or magazine articles. See if a class is being offered somewhere. Think about something you would like to learn more about this year.

            When the wise men got the information from Herod, that the king is to be born in Bethlehem, they quickly went on their way, continuing to follow the star which led them to the place where Jesus was. Once they had the information they needed, they acted on it. They applied this new information so that they could continue their journey of discovery.

            It’s one thing to learn something new. But you can’t stop there. You have to then take what you have learned and apply it to your life. You have to act on this new knowledge that you have obtained. I’ll admit to you, this isn’t always easy. We are all creatures of habit. We have our ways of doing things that we pick up as we go along. When we are exposed to new ways of doing things, it is not a given that we will adapt this new knowledge into how we live. Instead, if you are like me, we think about what we are learning, it satisfies our curiosity, and then we move on to something else. If we don’t do the necessary work of discerning how to apply new knowledge to our understanding of the world and of ourselves, or of God, then it is like looking in the mirror, seeing what you need to change, and then walking away and forgetting what you just saw.

            There is a great teacher I know named George. I was at a workshop he was leading on church development. We covered all kinds of material on how to help churches become vital. At the end of the sessions, George asked us to take some time and write down three things that we learned that day that we will apply in our ministry setting. He knew how easy it is for us to be exposed to new learnings and get all excited about these new insights, but then not do anything, not allow those insights to impact our lives. It’s so much easier to just do things as we have always done them. It’s hard to change. But if we don’t apply what we are learning then we are falling short. We aren’t growing.

            That’s the second question I invite you to consider. Ask yourself, “How am I applying what I am learning to my life?” As you learn new things, are you asking of yourself how you might apply what you are learning so you can improve yourself, be a more faithful Christian, a more engaged citizen, a better person, whatever? Commit yourself to apply what you learn so that it becomes more than information in your head, but something that you incorporate into how you live your life or how you understand the world or how you understand God.

            The wise men followed the star to Bethlehem, which led them to the house where Jesus was. Where Jesus was did not bother them. They had no preconceived notions of where a king would be born. Because Jesus was not in a palace or in a large city made no difference to them. That he was born in poverty in a little village was no obstacle for them. They followed the star wherever it led them.

            We all have biases. We have our sources of information that we go to and we close ourselves off to other perspectives. Let’s say you identify yourself as politically conservative. You want to learn more about the issue of immigration. You could certainly read up on what people are saying from your own perspective. But what about exposing yourself to the perspectives of others who are on the liberal side of things, and to do this leaving open the possibility that you might learn something?

            Or consider where God may be at work in the world. The world is a lot different from what it was even a few decades ago. We live in different times. No longer do people look to the church when it comes to finding meaning in life. The joys and sorrows of life are experienced by many outside of a church community. But that doesn’t mean that people don’t have community. Their community may be co-workers, friends they hang out with, whatever. God is there too. The question is, are you open to the possibility that God is present among people who don’t go to church? Are you open to learning something from those who have a different perspective than yours?

            Once the wise men arrived, they presented to Jesus their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They left empty handed. This was not a quid pro quo situation. They weren’t looking to get anything from Jesus. No, they were giving something precious to him in order to honor him. He wasn’t going to be their king. There wasn’t anything Jesus could do for them. They simply gave these gifts as an act of honor and left with empty hands, but with joy filled hearts. Amazing, that they would be so generous with no clear benefit to themselves!

            How not like us. How much do we wonder what someone can do for us rather than ask what we can do for that person, no strings attached? We live in a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” kind of world. We think that if we don’t get any benefit from helping someone out that maybe they are taking advantage of us. And what about our relationship with God? Do we only turn to God when we need something?

            Gifts should not have any strings attached. They should be given as an act of love or appreciation with no expectation that you will get a gift in return. If you expect a gift in return, it’s no longer a gift you are giving, but a bribe. This next question asks about your relationship with God. Are you offering what you have to God freely, as an act of love, with no expectation that God will bless you in return? I’ll admit, it can be discouraging when you give of yourself to help others and you are dedicating your life to serve God, and it seems like life keeps throwing obstacles at you instead of blessing. Life can be discouraging at times. We can get discouraged in our relationship with God sometimes. The hard question I’m asking you to wrestle with is, do you give your time and treasure to God and others with no expectation of getting anything in return? Is the giving itself enough of a reward?

            The wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, but to go home by another way. That’s because Herod was not ready to surrender to the reality that his time in power was coming to an end. He liked being in charge. He would not surrender his position of power and authority easily. He was willing to kill every male child in Judea if that’s what it took to be rid of the new born king, so that he could stay in power. The corrupting influence of power is so real. We see so many examples of it all around us. For those of us who have enjoyed some power and authority, anyone who would challenge or try to usurp that authority becomes a threat. It is amazing what people are capable of doing to keep their power.

            The Christian life, however, is not one of amassing power and influence. It’s not a life of ambition, of climbing to the top of the heap. It’s not a life of clinging to what little power and influence you have over others. The Christian life is a life of surrender, of humbling yourself, of not seeking wealth, fame, influence, or any of that. The Christian life is one that calls us to surrender our will to God’s will. It is a call to live a life of service, even if that creates inconveniences or requires sacrifice on our part. It is a life, not of grasping, but of letting go, of surrendering to Jesus Christ as our Lord. That’s the last question I’m asking you to consider. What area of your life do you need to surrender so that you can be a more faithful servant of God? Maybe it is your finances. Perhaps it is an attitude that you have to always get your way. Take some time and ask yourself, “Where in my life do I need to surrender my control over so that God can use me?” It can be hard to let go sometimes. But if our hands are clinched fists, we can’t hold on to the hand of God and be led where God wants to take us.

            I hope you will take these questions home with you. Pray and reflect on them. Write something down. Say the prayer on the other side as an act of commitment. And keep these questions somewhere so that you can review them throughout the year. It is my hope that by doing this we will experience 2015 as a year full of blessing, richness, and significance, all to the glory of God.

Having a bigger picture

"But I said, 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity'...[God] says, 'It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribe of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.'"

- Isaiah 49:4a,6

When I first started professional ministry, I was the director of a Wesley Foundation at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Those few months were frustrating. I felt like I had "spent my strength for nothing and vanity." I organized Bible Studies, open houses, parties, and hardly anyone came. Have you ever tried to lead a Bible study when it is you and one college student? Awkward.

So I left town for the weekend and went on retreat to have some heart to heart time with God. During that time away, it dawned on me what I was doing wrong. My picture was too small. All I was focusing on was getting students into the Wesley House so we could do things I had planned. What if instead of staying in the House and luring students over, I got out of the House and walked the campus? What if I claimed the campus as my "House"? I would do ministry by walking around.

I am grateful today for Martin Luther King, Jr., who had a picture that went beyond the confines of Ebenezer Baptist Church, or his side of Atlanta. I am grateful that he grasped the vision that his call was to not just be with "the tribe of Jacob", that his life mission was not to comfort "the survivors of Israel" located in Atlanta. He got out of the church and walked the streets. And he didn't just walk the streets of Atlanta. He walked the streets of a lot of cities. He walked the streets of towns and villages. He walked through the country side. He saw his mission to be "a light to the nations." Thank God he didn't confine himself to Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Do we ever limit our impact in the world by focusing our efforts in too small a spot? Could it be that if we are trying to make a difference somewhere, but things aren't working, that we haven't cast a big enough net? John Wesley famously said, "The world is my parish." This is the picture I'm trying to live in to, that wherever I am, and with whoever I'm with, these are my people, and this is my opportunity, to do good, to offer a word of hope or encouragement, to let in a little light.