"Who Are Our Neighbors?"

            What is it about human nature that is always inducing us to draw distinctions and make boundaries between different persons?  Why is it that we feel compelled to create categories that divide people into separate groups?  We are always dividing persons into “us versus them” categories.  For instance, there is “Jayhawks vs. Wildcats;” Democrats vs. Republicans; the unchurched vs the churched; whites vs blacks; Christians vs. Muslims; conservatives vs. liberals; patriots vs. “un-Americans;” natives vs illegals; “men are from Mars” vs “women are from Venus;” etc. 

It seems as though an inherent characteristic of what it means to be human is this insatiable drive to separate and categorize.  This weekend (August 10th) in my message, we will be exploring a scripture passage that focuses on this innate human drive.  The passage begins with Jesus explaining that the requirements of faithfulness to God can be summed up in loving “‘…the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10: 27). 

 Jesus’ summary raises a boundary question:  “‘…who is my neighbor?’”  That is, where do we draw our lines?  How do we categorize?  How do we divide neighbor versus not-my-neighbor?  Jesus responds to this boundary question with a parable—the famous parable of the “Good Samaritan” (Luke 10: 29-37).

Now, at this juncture, I should note that I consider the parable of the Good Samaritan to be one of the most dangerous passages of scripture within the entire Bible.  It’s dangerous because it is so familiar, and it is so familiar because the parable itself is so powerful.  Everyone—both Christian and non-Christian alike—know the basic gist of the Good Samaritan parable.  The story is so powerful that it has become a common image in popular culture.  There are Good Samaritan hospitals, Good Samaritan businesses, Good Samaritan RV camping sites and even a Good Samaritan ointment. 

The story of the Good Samaritan is so ubiquitous in our culture that sometimes when we hear the parable we don’t pay attention.  That’s a problem because when we don’t pay attention, we may not fully grasp this parable in its full depth. 

Jesus uses this parable to answer that boundary question.  It turns out that for Jesus, our neighbor is not determined by geographical proximity or cultural similarity or religious rightness.  Instead, the boundary question is determined simply by need.  Our neighbor is simply the person or group who need our help.  It could be the neighbor across the street who has been diagnosed with cancer; or the kid in our local school whose family can’t afford school supplies; or the town across the state which is recovering from a flood; or it could be the subsistence farmer half a world away who is struggling to feed and educate his children.  For Jesus, need establishes the neighbor relationship.

Sadly, we live in a world where there is profound and massive need.  In a sense, we have many, many “neighbors” as understood by Jesus.  The very scope of neighbors in need can seem overwhelming.  It is tempting for us to throw up our hands and give up.  Since we cannot meet everyone’s needs and fix everyone’s problems, it is tempting to not even try to help.  But, that would be a misunderstanding of the parable and what Jesus calls us to do. 

In the parable, the Samaritan does not completely heal the beaten and injured man.  Instead, he bandages his wounds and offers first aid.  Then, he gets the man to an inn where he can receive further assistance.  Jesus calls upon us to do what we can to help, even if we cannot completely fix every problem.

In the Church, we sometimes use the word Mission to refer to the Good Samaritan’s ministry of love and service.  Come, join us this Sunday, August 10th, at Meriden United Methodist Church, as we explore how God may be calling us to Mission, understood as a ministry of love and service.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship service starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

 

(Note:  Next Sunday, we will welcome Pastor Bob Sutton to preach at Meriden UMC.  Consequently, I will not be posting a blog.  Watch for my next post the following week of August 18th.)

“The Man Carrying a Jar of Water”

          This Sunday (August 3rd), my community of faith will celebrate “The Lord’s Supper” (or “Eucharist”) as we do on the first weekend of every month, as well as during other special worship services throughout the year. 

But, why do we celebrate this "ritual" every month?

            The Lord’s Supper is described in all three of the synoptic Gospels (Matthew 26: 26-29, Mark 14: 22-25, and Luke 22: 13-20) as well as in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (11: 23-26).  In my message this Sunday, I will use Mark’s account to explore why we celebrate the Eucharist each month.

            All of these scriptural passages describe Jesus as instituting The Lord’s Supper (or Eucharist) as part of his celebration of the Jewish Festival of Passover with the disciples.  Mark begins his story with the disciples asking Jesus, “‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’” (Mark 16: 12).

            Jesus responds by sending two (unidentified) disciples into Jerusalem and telling them to look for a man “carrying a jar of water.”  Now, in the Jerusalem of Jesus’ time, the sight of a man carrying a jar of water would have been very startling because carrying water was usually a task fulfilled by a woman within each household.  At any rate, the disciples are to follow this man back to his house. 

 

              At the house, they are to ask the head of the household, “‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’”  Jesus reassures the two disciples that the house owner will then show them an Upper Room, which will be ready for them to make the Passover meal preparations. 

            In order to fully understand The Lord’s Supper, it is important to remember that the Jewish Passover celebrates the Israelites escape from bondage and slavery in Egypt.  The Passover celebration was a very important and meaningful religious observance for Jesus and all of his followers, who were all devout Jews.  The Passover consists of special foods and a liturgy which is followed during the meal.  According to historians, the celebration of the Passover in Jesus’ time would have taken a form similar to this:

A.    Preliminary Course  A word of declaration, with a preliminary dish (an appetizer) consisting of greens, bitter herbs, and a sauce of fruit puree.  The first cup of wine is shared.

B.     Passover Liturgy.  Here the story of the first Passover and the Israelites escape from slavery and bondage in Egypt is shared, beginning with these words:  “A wandering Aramean was my father…”  The second cup of wine is shared.

C.     Main Meal.  Grace is spoken over unleavened bread, and then a meal is shared.  The meal consists of the Passover lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, with fruit puree.  The third cup of wine is shared.

D.    Conclusion:  A fourth cup of wine is shared.

In Mark, when the two disciples go into Jerusalem, sure enough, they find a man walking through the street, carrying a jar of water.  They follow the man and find this Upper Room, just as Jesus had predicted.  There, they prepare the Passover meal.  At the time for the meal, Jesus and his disciples gather together in the Upper Room.

During the Passover meal, Jesus takes a loaf of bread, blesses it and gives it to his disciples, saying:  “‘Take; this is my body.’”  Then, he takes a cup of wine; after blessing the wine, he offers it to his disciples, telling them:  “‘This is my blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many.’” 

In The United Methodist Church we recognize The Lord’s Supper and Baptism as sacraments.  Both sacraments are established in the Bible and we are encouraged to practice them as part of our spiritual lives.  A sacrament is an outward, visible, and physical sign of an inward and spiritual gift or assistance from God. 

When we celebrate The Lord’s Supper, I frequently feel especially close to Jesus.  Usually, a warm glow fills my heart and soul, as though Jesus is embracing me in his loving arms.  I become strongly reassured that I am not alone in this dark, mysterious universe. Instead, I am always warmly embraced by the love of Jesus for me personally and I am convinced of Paul’s claim in Romans that nothing, not even death itself, can ever “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (see Romans 8)  I sometimes feel Jesus’ presence as though he is right there beside me as we celebrate The Lord’s Supper. 

This is why we celebrate The Lord’s Supper:  it allows us to be healed from all that separates us from the love of God and to re-connect with the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives.  The Lord’s Supper should not be a ritual that we periodically go through.  Instead, it is a spiritual—sometimes mystical—connection with the love and presence of Jesus which is already present in our lives, even if we sometimes turn away from it and disavow this source of flourishing and of life, itself. 

But, there is more.

The Lord’s Supper is also that spiritual moment which points us to the future and reminds us of our ultimate destiny; that moment when Jesus will keep his promise to the original disciples as well as all of his followers.  As recorded in Mark, Jesus says:  “‘Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’” (Mark 14: 25) 

 

The Lord’s Supper never ends.  Instead, it always points the way forward to the “eschaton,” the time when Jesus will come again; when God will transform us and everything else into a New Creation; and when God’s Reign will be fully established.  At that time, Jesus will join us and all of his disciples at a heavenly banquet and celebration.

 

Come, join us this Sunday, as we explore and celebrate The Lord’s Supper.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship service starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

“When God’s Justice Is Difficult to Accept”

            Quite frankly, I struggle with our scripture for this Sunday (July 27).  The scripture is Matthew 20: 1-16, which tells Jesus’ parable of “The Workers in the Vineyard”. 

            This parable is about the owner of a vineyard, who goes out early in the morning and hires workers for the day.  The owner and laborers agree upon compensation of one denarius for the day.  This was the usual daily wage rate at Jesus’ time, although this wage was barely enough to maintain a family at a subsistence level.  Several hours later—around 9 o’clock—the owner sees some other laborers idly sitting around the village marketplace.  When he discovers that no one offered to employ these workers, the vineyard owner hires them for the day and sends them out to his vineyard to join with those already working.  To this second group of workers, starting a few hours after the first group, the owner promises to pay:  “What is right.”

            As the parable continues, the vineyard owner goes out and hires additional workers at 12 noon, again at 3 pm, and finally some even at 5 pm.  When evening comes, the laborers gather up to receive their pay.  The owner first calls up those who didn’t begin working until 5 in the afternoon.  Each member of this group receives 1 denarius—the equivalent of a full day’s pay.  Seeing how much the 5 o’clock group has been paid, the workers who have been in the vineyard since sunrise assume that they will be paid significantly more than the usual day wage of 1 denarius.

            One by one, the vineyard owner calls up each group and each man gets the same compensation, 1 denarius, regardless of how long they worked in the field.  The first group, who have been laboring in the hot sun all day long, assumes that they will be paid more than the standard of 1 denarius per day.  Even though the customary wage rate is 1 denarius per day, the first group assumes that they will be paid more because they have labored all day long and the owner is already giving 1 denarius to those who worked for just one hour.

            When the first group complains to the owner, he reminds them that they had eagerly agreed to work all day in the vineyard for 1 denarius.  Then, he says:  “‘Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last [group] the same as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or are you envious because I am generous?’” 

            Now, here’s where I struggle with this passage:  I agree with the first group of workers who labored all day under the hot sun.  Even though the customary wage-rate is 1 denarius, it seems unfair that the early bird workers get paid the same amount as latter groups of workers who did not work for nearly as long.  This violates the fundamental principle of justice as fairness which states that we should always treat equals, equally.  For instance, we do not believe it is fair to pay a man a higher salary than a woman, just because he happens to be male.  There should be equal pay for equal work, but in the parable the level of work is not equal.  So, it is not just or fair that those who worked 12 hours in the vineyard get the same wage as those who worked for only 1 hour.

            Biblical scholars suggest that Jesus probably told this parable as a means for explaining and justifying his willingness to accept tax collectors, prostitutes, and others who were outsiders in the Jewish culture at the time.  So, the point of Jesus’ parable was not to offer commentary on economic justice, as important as that topic is.  Rather, Jesus intends for us to hear his parable a pointing to a greater and deeper spiritual truth. 

            The key to interpreting this parable lies in the way Jesus concludes his telling of the story.  Jesus concludes by observing:  “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”  Writing in The New Interpreter’s Bible, C. Eugene Boring observes, “The ‘first’ and ‘last’ in Matthew’s view both refer to insiders [in the Church], to Christians who have worked long and faithfully, and latecomers who have not.”[i]  In the parable, our relationship with God is based upon God’s generous, overflowing grace.  Our relationship is not based upon longevity or how hard we have labored to help build God’s Kingdom here on Earth.

            For many Christians, this is a difficult message to hear.  In my case, I was born and nurtured in the Church.  I have been a Christian all of my life—and an ordained pastor for over 30 years.  I clearly see myself as an “early bird” worker in the vineyard.  It’s just human nature to believe that I am entitled to some status and special treatment because “I have earned it.”  Yet, that’s not the way God thinks.  God’s grace extends to everyone and all of us are specially loved by God.  We do not earn God’s grace and love so much as we simply receive it.

            This is a difficult truth for me to accept, as well as many others, who have been a faithful part of a certain congregation for a long time.  Slowly, subtly, we drift from seeing it as “Jesus’ church” to thinking of it as “our church.”  We find our niche and become very comfortable. 

In vital, growing congregations, this can create unique challenges and difficulties.  As new persons become members of our community of faith, they bring new perspectives and new ways of doing things.  In short, they have new ideas.  Sometimes, we may need to step aside from positions of responsibility and power in order to make room for these newcomers who have new ideas.  We catch ourselves saying, “But, we’ve never done it like that before.” 

Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard is intended for those of us who have been long-standing “pillars” of our congregations.  This parable reminds us that the church does not belong to us, but rather to God.  It tells us that sometimes the most faithful response is to try something new and different or to step aside from a position which we have served in forever.

            As someone who would be one of the first laborers in the vineyard, this is a difficult parable to accept.  In my struggles, I have found “The Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition” to be a source of solace and perspective:

“I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Thou art mine, and I am thine.  So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.  Amen.[ii]

 

           Come, join us this Sunday, July 27^th.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship service starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

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[i] C. Eugene Boring, “Matthew,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 8.  (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 2002), Accessed on CD_ROM.

 

[ii] The United Methodist Hymnal, (Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1989), No. 607.

"Bravery of the Flawed"

         As we celebrate American Independence this weekend, our summer worship series shifts its attention to the Christian value of bravery.  Bravery is frequently portrayed as a core characteristic of American patriotism.  At the same time, it should also be included as an essential Christian virtue.  Afterall, it takes great bravery to become a martyr for one’s faith as many Christians have done from the persecution of the early Church by the Romans down through the ages until the present time.

            Over the past few weeks, we have been using popular, cartoon feature films by Disney to explore core Christian values in a series we have called, “Films, Fun, & Faith.”  To explore the Christian value of bravery, we are examining the film, Planes, this weekend.  Planes tells the story of “Dusty Crophopper,” a plane designed for agricultural crop dusting.  However, Dusty is not content being “only” a crop dusting aircraft.  Rather, he aspires to be a racing plane and to compete in the upcoming “Wings Across the Globe” air race.

            Unfortunately, Dusty suffers from a fear of heights.  So, the film, Planes, revolves around the story of Dusty overcoming his fear of heights in order to win the prestigious “Wings Across the Globe” air race.  Although well done, Planes follows a standard plot line in which bravery is depicted through a relatively young protagonist overcoming a particular fear or challenge in order to obtain a highly valued goal.  Although I recognize the validity of conceiving bravery in this way, I would like to explore a different understanding of bravery this weekend. 

I call this alternative understanding the bravery of the flawed.  To develop our thinking about bravery of the flawed, we will not focus on the character Dusty, but rather his mentor, “Skipper.”  Skipper is a broken down Navy war plane.  Although he has not flown for decades, Skipper enjoys regaling any listeners he can find with stories of his battle exploits during World War II.  Yet, at the same time, Skipper is hiding a deep, dark secret.  During the air race around the world, Dusty inadvertently discovers Skipper’s secret.

            Skipper’s dark secret is that he actually only flew one mission during the war.  Disobeying orders from his commander, Skipper led a whole squadron of trainees into an ambush by the Japanese Navy, resulting in the deaths of every single trainee, with only Skipper escaping.  In a poignant moment in the film, Skipper confesses to Dusty and then apologizes for misleading him.

            Skipper’s role in Planes does not end with his confession to Dusty.  Later in the film, Skipper must summon the bravery in order rescue Dusty from an attack by three competitor planes in the air race, who are literally trying to destroy the small crop-duster.  Once rescued from the attacking competitors, Dusty is able to overcome his fear of heights and win the race.

              I believe that there are some striking similarities between the story of Skipper in Planes and the story of Samson in the Bible.  (See the Book of Judges 13-16.)  At this point in its history, Israel is led individuals called “Judges.”  These Judges provided religious, civil, and military leadership as Israel developed as a nation-state.  From before his birth, God sets aside Samson as a Judge to lead Israel.  God blesses Samson with special gifts to lead his people, including an incredible physical strength. 

Unfortunately, Samson is unfaithful to God and the people of Israel whom he has been called to lead.  Ultimately, Samson is betrayed by his wife, who shaved his head and thus negated his superhuman strength.  Thus weakened, Samson was easily captured by the Philistines who were enemies of Israel.  The Philistines, then, gouged out Samson’s eyes and humiliated him by forcing him to perform for them during their religious festival.

At this festival, Samson prays that God will return his strength one last time.  With his strength renewed, Samson bravely collapses the pillars holding up the roof of the Philistine temple.  When the roof collapses it kills thousands of Philistines, as well as Samson himself.

Just as Skipper in the fictional film, Planes, so also Samson is a tragically flawed historical figure.  Samson has been given extraordinary gifts by God and called by God to the special roles as Judge.  Samson fritters away his gifts and is unfaithful towards God and the people of Israel.  In a moment of truth, Just as the fictional plane, Skipper, so also Samson must confess his shortcomings and repent from his sins, before finding the courage to perform the role which he was created to fulfill.

Although bravery is usually depicted as the story of Dusty the crop-duster, for most of us our reality is more akin to Skipper and to Samson.  Just like these two characters, so also we are flawed persons.  We have weaknesses; we have regrets; we have not always done as much with our talents and opportunities as we should have.  In theological terms, we are sinners.  Yet, despite our flawed characters, God offers us forgiveness, healing, and a second chance to be brave in the things that really matter.  This is the bravery of the flawed, and God calls us to develop this virtue of a “flawed bravery.”

 

Come, join us this Sunday, July 6th, as we explore what it means to be brave.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship service starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings.  We will also watch and discuss the film, Planes on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 5 pm. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

"Beyond the Safe Walls of the Church"

            Our summer worship series is “Films, Fun, & Faith.”  Each weekend, we will use a popular, Disney film as a medium for exploring core Christian values.  The film this weekend is The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  While this is a commercial film produced by the Disney company for entertainment, it also develops several important Christian values for reflection.

            The three central characters in Hunchback… are Esmeralda who is a gorgeous, yet poor and marginalized Gypsy “street dancer”; Judge Claude Frollo who is an exceedingly self-righteous secular judge; and Quasimodo, the bell-ringer at the Cathedral of Notre Dame who was born with hideous physical deformities. 

The story is driven by two conflicts.  First, Judge Frollo has an extreme prejudice against all gypsies, including Esmeralda.  Frollo believes that gypsies are impure and evil heathens who should all be exterminated. Frollo believes that gypsies should be avoided at all costs because they will tempt and contaminate the pure, faithful French nationals.  Although Quasimodo has grown up under Frollo’s tutelage, he learns to look beyond Frollo’s prejudice and come to see that gypsies—represented by Esmeralda—are also “children of God.”

            In the Bible, there is a story of Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman at a village well.  (See John 4: 7-30.)  The antagonism between Jesus, who was a Jew, and the woman from Samaria parallels the antagonism between Frollo, a French national, and Esmeralda, a Gypsy.  Although both Jews and Samaritans shared a similar faith and similar sacred texts, they disagreed bitterly over how to interpret God’s Holy Word and the implications of that interpretation for how they lived their lives.  For the Samaritans, Mt. Gerizim should be the center of worship, whereas for the Jews the center of worship was the Temple in Jerusalem.

            The animosity between Jews and Samaritans was so great that the fear of becoming ritually impure meant Jews avoided all social contact with Samaritans, even simply talking.  In the Gospel story, Jesus looks beyond the differences dividing Jews and Samaritans and sees that the Samaritan woman is also a child of God.  He asks her for a drink from the well.  The Samaritan woman is perplexed.  She does not understand why a Jewish man would contaminate himself by speaking with a Samaritan or by drinking from a vessel belonging to someone who is ritually unclean.

            So, the Samaritan woman asks Jesus, “‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’” 

            Jesus' response to her is completely unexpected.  He says, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “’Give me a drink.” You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’”  The woman from Samaria is incredulous:  How is a man who does not even possess a bucket able to give “living water”?

            Jesus elaborates:  “‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’”

            Again, the woman at the well misunderstands what Jesus is saying.  She thinks that he possesses a “living water,” which will quench her physical thirst forever.  So, she asks Jesus, “‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’”

            Of course, Jesus is not speaking of “living water” that permanently quenches humans’ physical thirst.  Instead, Jesus is speaking metaphorically of a “living water” that heals us and sustains us to eternal life as part of God’s new creation.  There is quite a difference between physical water and eternal, living water.  There is incredible irony in this story.  The Samaritan woman has her heart set on physical water that will quench her physical thirst and make her life more convenient.  Yet, Jesus is offering a “living water” that will nourish her to eternal life.  The Samaritan woman has grossly underestimated the gift that Jesus offers her.

            Yet, just as the Samaritan woman at the well, most of us contemporary Christians trivialize and undervalue the gift that Jesus offers us.  Instead of focusing on being faithful disciples of Christ and the promise of eternal life, we focus on more everyday requests that will make our current situation more convenient, but which are trivial in comparison to the promise of eternal life.

            In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Esmeralda seeks political asylum from Frollo in the Cathedral.  As she is walking through the church, she encounters the “faithful” who are saying their prayers.  With the encouragement of the Archdeacon, Esmeralda begins to pray as well.  In a song, “God Help the Outcasts,” the prayers of the faithful versus the prayers of Esmeralda are intertwined in a way that dramatically underscores how diametrically opposed they are. 

            On the one hand, the “faithful” pray for things that will make their lives more convenient:

“I ask for wealth, I ask for fame
I ask for glory to rise on my name
I ask for all I can possess
I ask for God and the angels to bless me”

 

          

  By contrast, Esmeralda does not pray for herself, but for those in need:

“I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I

God help the outcasts
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God”[i]

Esmeralda does not undervalue how powerful God is, nor what God can give to those who ask. 

            By the end of her conversation with Jesus, the woman from Samaria has finally realized that Jesus is using the metaphor of “living water” to talk about eternal life, rather than physical water.  As she realizes this, she leaves her water jar at the well and goes to invite all of the villagers to “come and see” Jesus.  The Samaritan woman is open to the possibility that Jesus may indeed be the Messiah.  For the Gospel writer, John, there is deep irony here.  Many of the Jews--who are God’s specially chosen people--have closed themselves off to Jesus and rejected his “living water.” Whereas, it is the ritually impure Samaritan woman who is open to Jesus and invites all of her friends and family to “come and see.”

            Early in the film, Hunchback…, Frollo tells Quasimodo that he should always stay within the safe walls of the church.  Isn’t that true of many church people today?  Aren’t many Christians happy to stay within the safe walls of the church, praying that God will give us a convenient life, with all of our physical needs met? 

            But, that is not what God calls us to do and be as faithful disciples of Christ.  No.  Instead, God calls us to move out beyond the safe walls of our churches.  God calls us to reach out and touch the unclean as Jesus did, when he asked the Samaritan woman for water—or, to kiss the disfigured, as Esmeralda does with Quasimodo.  Christians who have truly tasted the living water of Jesus no longer worry about “convenient lives,” but they are concerned to help the “poor and downtrod.”  Christians who have truly tasted the living water of Jesus do not have their thirst quenched.  Instead, they want to drink even more of Jesus' living water because in the drinking of that water, we grow closer to God.

 

Come, join us this Sunday, June 29th , as we explore what it means as a people of faith to live and minister beyond the safe walls of our church--and to drink the living water offered by Jesus.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship service starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings.  We will also watch and discuss The Hunchback of Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 5 pm. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

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[i] “God Help the Outcasts” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Walt Disney Pictures, released 21 June 1996.  Lyrics obtained at http://www.songlyrics.com/disney/god-help-the-outcasts-lyrics/, accessed 26 June 2014.

Love Is . . .

             Our summer worship series for the next five weeks is “Films, Fun, & Faith.”  Each weekend, we will use a popular, Disney film as a medium for exploring core Christian values.  The film this weekend is Frozen and the core Christian value is love. 

            As the foundation for our exploration of love, I will use John 15: 9-15.  This passage is part of Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse.” John 15 begins with Jesus invoking the metaphor of a grapevine.  In this metaphor, Jesus is the vine and his followers are the branches on the vine.  In verse 5a, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit…”. 

            In our passage, beginning with verse 9, Jesus explains that the way in which his disciples “bear much fruit” is through our love for God and one another.  He tells them, “‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’”  Then, foreshadowing his own crucifixion and death, Jesus adds, “‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’” (vv. 12-13)

            The film, Frozen, revolves around the relationship between two sisters, Elsa and Anna.  Even though Elsa and Anna fundamentally love each other, their relationship has become fractured and broken through estrangement.  Throughout the film, Anna seeks to heal her sister and restore their relationship.  In Frozen’s climatic scene, Anna literally lays down her life for Elsa, when she steps between her sister and the film’s villain, as he attempts to kill Elsa.  In the Disney movie, Anna’s act of supreme love ultimately heals both her sister and herself, as well as restoring their relationship.

            Most Christians are never asked to lay down our lives and die for our friends, as Anna does in Frozen.  However, in my message this weekend, I will suggest that we do not have to literally die in order to lay down our lives for our friends and loved ones.  For instance, most parents make sacrifices and sometimes defer their own life plans in order to provide critical opportunities for their children to grow and achieve.  Similarly, grown children frequently make sacrifices and sometime defer their own life plans in order to care for aging parents.  Although less dramatic than literally dying for the other, these are ways in which we can “lay down our lives” for those we love.

            Frozen fits in the musical genre and it has many powerful songs.  One of the best numbers is “Fixer-Upper.”  Part of the words go like this:

“True love brings out the best

Everyone’s a bit of a fixer upper

That’s what it’s all about

Father, sister, brother

We need each other

To raise us up and round us out

 

Everyone’s a bit of a fixer upper.”[1]

Although a secular film, intended for a non-religious audience, the lyrics to this song do capture an important assumption underlying Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse.”  From a Christian perspective, all of us are, indeed, “fixer-uppers.”  That is, we all are finite, sinful persons who stand in need of forgiveness and healing through God’s love.  The lyrics from the song continue by claiming that:

“But when push comes to shove

The only fixer upper fixer

That can fix a fixer upper is

True Love.”

From a Christian perspective, this “True Love” comes only from God whose love for each of us is awesome and beyond our mere human comprehension.  Only true love can fix the fixer upper, but ultimately only God is the source of that true love, which “fixes” each of us. 

            In his “Farewell Discourse” in John 15, Jesus asks his followers to keep his commandments. At the heart of keeping Jesus' commandments is loving as Jesus first loved us.  That is, we respond to Jesus’ supreme act of love for us by loving God and by loving the other “fixer uppers.”  We love because he first loved us.  We love in grateful response to Jesus’ love for us.

 

Come, join us this Sunday, June 22nd, as we explore what it means to love in response to God’s love for us.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship service starts at 10 am on Sunday mornings.  We will also watch and discuss Frozen Sunday afternoon, beginning at 5 pm. 

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

 

 

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[1] “Fixer-Upper” from Frozen, Walt Disney Studios, released 27 November 2013.  Lyrics obtained at http://www.disneyclips.com/lyrics/frozenlyrics9.html, accessed 20 June 2014.

Christian Resources for Coping with Stress

Stress is a significant dimension of the human condition.  Stress can be unrelenting.  To one degree or another, it affects us all.  Stress affects young and old, rich and poor, strong and weak.  Stress does not discriminate based upon race, religion, occupation, or intellect. 

What is stress?  For our purposes, stress is mental and/or emotional strain and tension created by fear and anxiety.  

            In moderation, stress can actually be good for us.  A little stress can motivate us to do our best or to get started on a difficult project.  When I was a teacher, I sometimes had students who confessed that they couldn’t seem to get started writing their papers until the deadline began to loom over their heads.  The deadline created stress, which motivated them and helped them focus on the writing assignment. Creating stress within a novel or film usually makes for a more compelling story.  So, in moderation, a little stress can be good.

            However, when stress rages out of control; when stress grows and grows until it becomes this monster in our lives, then stress becomes evil.  Unmanaged stress creates chaos and panic.  Left unattended, stress can become detrimental to mental and physical health.  Persons can develop physical illnesses due to out of control stress.  When individuals are under excessive stress, personal relationships can even begin to deteriorate. 

            We know from the work of psychologists and other researchers that our success in coping with stress depends in large part on our attitudes and the resources which we have for coping.  Obviously, each of us must learn to manage our stress if we are to flourish as human persons.  Are there special Christian resources for coping with stress?

            This weekend, I want to explore Christian resources for coping with stress.  There are several important scriptural passages about coping with stress, but, for this weekend, I would like to focus on Philippians 4: 4-7: 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

There are five points that I would like to emphasize from this pithy little passage of scripture.

1.      One of the core characteristics of living a life of faith should be joy and peace.  God does not intend for us to become so stressed-out that we are no longer flourishing and finding joy in life.

2.      An important characteristic of faithful discipleship is living a life of “gentleness.”  Of course, Paul wrote his letter to the Philippines in Greek—not English.  The Greek word that he uses is epieikes. Although it is usually translated into English as “gentleness,” Biblical scholars note that this word carries a very broad scope.  It includes a generosity towards others, such that we might also translate it as “magnanimous,” including not only generosity but also being free from vindictiveness or resentfulness.  In other words, the life of faithful discipleship involves being generous and up-lifting in all of our relationships with others. 

3.      God is near.  God is with us when we open our hearts and lives and invite God to be an integral part of us.  God wants to travel with us through the Holy Spirit, as we make this journey of life.  God intends for us to open our lives to God’s presence and love.

4.      If God is with us, then we do not need to worry.  As Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “If God is for us, then who is against us?” (Romans 8: 31b)  Thus, when we encounter stressful situations or times in our lives, then we need to turn our worry and anxiety over to God by prayer and supplication, but also with thanksgiving because God is with us. 

5.      When we turn our worries and anxieties over to God and trust that God will travel with us, then we will experience a genuine, long-lasting peace from God that passes all understanding.

Thus, the fundamental Christian resource for coping with stress is basically turning all of our worry and anxiety over to God and trusting that God will show us a way to work through the situation. 

This is harder than it sounds.  From early childhood through to maturity, our culture encourages us to take control of our lives and fix our own problems.  We depend upon ourselves alone to solve our problems and to give us peace from all the stresses of contemporary life.  It is hard to let go and trust God.  To really let go and trust God requires a deep and profound faith.

At first blush, it may appear as though there are hardly any Christian resources for coping with stress.  And, it is true that there are many Christians who have difficulty managing stress.  Yet, on the other hand, there are many other Christians who manage lives that could be extremely stressful. 

The key is to see that we must constantly work to grow in our faith so that, when we encounter times of great stress, our faith is strong and capable of sustaining us in these difficult or anxious periods.  That is, we build our faith so that it provides a strong resource for managing stress in these critical moments.  John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, believed that we build our faith and grow closer to God in two different ways.  The first approach was through helping and caring for others; or, as the Apostle Paul writes to the Philippians, when we practice “gentleness,” understood broadly as generously caring for others and building them up.  Wesley’s second approach was through worship, study, and prayer.   

Christian faith actually offers strong and significant resources for coping with stress.  But, in order to access these resources, we must work at growing closer to God spiritually.  Come, join us this Sunday, June 8th, as we explore Christian resources for coping with our stress.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  Our classic worship service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.  Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.