Strength through Weakness

            This weekend’s message concludes a six-part sermon series on how Christian faith can help us become strong, resilient persons.  This weekend (February 15 & 16), our focus will be the Apostle Paul, who was tough and enduring. 

            Paul spent much of his adult life as a traveling evangelist, moving from place to place, proclaiming the Good News about Jesus Christ, and establishing new churches.  As someone who was constantly on the move, Paul suffered from the many hazards and difficulties of travel.  In addition, Paul encountered many people who were not exactly thrilled with his good news that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-anticipated Messiah.  As a result, Paul frequently encountered opposition, hatred, marginalization, and physical violence.

            In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul provides a catalog of all the hardships which he has endured as a Christian evangelist.  These hardships include:

Ø  On 5 separate occasions he has received 39 lashes

Ø  On 3 separate times he has been beaten with a rod

Ø  Once he received a stoning

Ø  Three times he was shipwrecked

Ø  Multiple times he has been threatened by bandits or “false brothers and sisters”

Ø  On other occasions he has been hungry and thirsty or cold and naked

Finally, Paul concludes his catalog by noting that in addition to all of the other hardships, “I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.” 

            I suppose that none of us in the contemporary world must cope with the scope and type of hardships that Paul had to endure as a traveling evangelist.  Yet, hardships and anxiety are part of the human condition in every age.  Life is tough.  Even though we may not be able to create a catalog of hardships as dramatic as the Apostle Paul’s, each of us must cope with hardship and anxiety in our lives.  Within our own community, persons struggle with anxiety and many different types of hardships:

Ø  Parents worry about children who are struggling in school or socially

Ø  Children worry about the health and well-being of aging parents

Ø  Some within our midst struggle with a diagnosis of cancer or other illness

Ø  Business owners worry about surviving through really difficult financial conditions—or, the implications of the Affordable Healthcare Act for their business

Ø  Employees struggle to cope with exorbitant demands on their jobs, which they cannot possibly meet

Ø  Others are unemployed and would just like to have a job—any job

Ø  Some of us wonder if we will ever be able to retire, while others are making a difficult transition into retirement

Ø  Some of us grieve over the loss of a loved one

Ø  Some are struggling with a marriage that has become difficult, or they are struggling following a divorce

Ø  Students are anxious about doing well in school

As Christians, we can legitimately ask why does God allow us to suffer through all of these hardships and anxieties?  The theological term for this question is theodicy.  In other words, why does God allow good people to suffer through hardships and anxiety?  We’ve talked about theodicy before, and you know that there are no completely satisfying answers to the question of theodicy.

Paul has an intriguing response to the question of theodicy.  In an unexpected twist, Paul embraces his hardships and anxiety.  After cataloging all of his hardships and anxieties in 2 Corinthians 11, the Apostle Paul steps back and observes, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” (v. 30)

In his letter to the Romans, we find Paul once again boasting about his hardships and anxieties:  “And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).  For Paul, weakness becomes a source of strength. 

Paul believes that all of his hardships and anxieties must be seen as part of a larger story that ultimately ends with the Kingdom of God.  For Paul, the Reign of God has already been established through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Yet, God’s Kingdom has only been established provisionally; it is not yet fully completed.  As disciples of Christ, we are called to join in God’s Kingdom-building project as junior partners.  First, we are to nurture the Reign of God within our hearts and minds, and then we are work to establish God’s Reign in the world around us.

Viewed within this broader context of Kingdom-building, Paul sees his hardships and anxieties as just part of the growing process.  Paul believes that in the end he will be able to look back and see that he grew as Christian through his hardships and struggles.

 

What does this mean for us today?  How do we embrace our hardships and anxieties in a way that allows God’s Reign to grow within our hearts and minds?  Come, join us at Meriden United Methodist Church this weekend as we explore how we can become stronger, more resilient Christians by embracing our hardships and anxieties, just as Paul did. Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  We have two worship services each weekend:

Ø  Our contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Saturday evenings.

Ø  Our classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

Becoming a Strong, Visionary Leader

What are the qualities of a strong Christian leader?

            This weekend (February 8 & 9), we will explore what makes a strong Christian leader.  To focus our examination, we will look at the Apostle Peter as a case-study.  Peter offers a fascinating example of leadership.  On the one hand, there are times when Peter appears to be an awful leader.  He is sometimes confused, misguided, and cowardly.  Yet, on the other hand, there are times when Peter can appear to be a great leader.  At those times, he is strong, compassionate, and visionary.

            Consider the night in which Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane and then turned over to the authorities for crucifixion.  In the Garden, Peter draws his sword and cuts off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the High Priest.  Jesus rebukes Peter for this act of violent resistance, and it is clear that Peter is completely muddled and confused about Jesus’ understanding of what it means to be the Messiah.  Later that night, Peter shows incredible cowardice by denying Jesus three times.  During these times, Peter appears to be a weak, poor leader.

            Yet, at other times, Peter exhibits strong leadership.  For instance, he is the first disciple to recognize that Jesus is the true Messiah, and Jesus declares that he will be the “rock upon which I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).  Later, after Jesus ascends into Heaven, it is Peter who preaches the first sermon, and Peter is one of the first to be arrested and thrown into jail for his Christian faith.  Along with Paul and a few others, Peter has the vision to see that the Christian Gospel is not just a spiritual reform movement within Judaism, but rather is open to all who come to Christ through their faith.  At these times, Peter appears to be strong, courageous, compassionate, visionary leader.

            In my message this weekend, I will suggest that what we see in Peter is a human person who is learning and growing into becoming a strong, visionary leader.  Great leaders are not born.  Instead, they learn and grow into leadership.  Further, they lead not just with their thoughts and words, as important as that is.  They also lead by their actions and their example—just as Peter does when he is willing to be beaten and jailed for his faith.  Finally, I will suggest that Christ calls all of his followers to be leaders, sometimes.  The most important form of leadership is what we do and what we say and how we live our lives.

 

Come, join us at Meriden United Methodist Church this weekend as we explore what it means to be a strong, visionary Christian leader.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  We have two worship services each weekend:

Ø  Our contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Saturday evenings.

Ø  Our classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

Judgment, Love, Integrity, and Raisin Cakes

           My sermon series on “Becoming Strong” continues this weekend (February 1 & 2) with a focus on the prophet Hosea and the characteristic of integrity.  When Hosea reaches adulthood, God chooses him to be a prophet, calling the Hebrew people back to faithfulness and righteousness.

            Throughout time, God has called individual persons to serve as prophets.  Within scripture alone, there are many prophets, including Nathan, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Micah, Joel, and Amos.  In all cases, the role of the prophet was to call God’s people back to faithfulness towards God and to work towards establishing God’s Reign on Earth.  In the Hebrew tradition, prophetic work included healing the earth and establishing justice for the poor and marginalized.  

            Within the biblical prophetic tradition, God usually speaks through the words of the prophets.  However, in the case of Hosea, God speaks not so much through the words of Hosea.  Instead, God speaks through Hosea’s actions and through his life.  That is, Hosea’s life becomes a metaphor of God’s message to the Hebrew people.

            The book of Hosea begins with God instructing Hosea to choose a prostitute for his wife and to marry her.  Hosea does as God instructs him, marrying a prostitute named Gomer, and having three children with her.  Yet, even in marriage, Gomer is unfaithful to Hosea, having many adulterous relationships, until ultimately Hosea must divorce her.  After the divorce, Gomer seeks after other men, whom she thinks will provide for her.  But, she can never find anyone else.  Eventually, she sinks to the role of a house slave.   Yet, Hosea continues to love Gomer and he forgives her.  Eventually, Hosea redeems Gomer, buying her back with silver and food. 

            In the story of Hosea and Gomer, it is important to understand that Gomer was not a prostitute in the everyday sense in which we use the term today.  Instead, Gomer was most likely an ordinary Hebrew woman who turned away from her Hebrew religion and embraced another, false religion called Baal.  Baal was a fertility cult, and so it is most likely that Gomer sexually offered herself to men as part of the religious worship of Baal.  In that religious sense, Gomer was a prostitute.

            As suggested above, the relationship between Hosea and Gomer becomes a prophetic metaphor for the relationship between God and the Hebrew people.  Just like Gomer, the Hebrew people are continually denying and abandoning God.  Instead, like Gomer, they seek after the false fertility god, mistakenly imagining that Baal can provide them with riches and luxuries and freedoms beyond their wildest hopes.  Again and again, Baal fails to provide and they find themselves as indentured servants with no freedom at all.  Similarly, God, just like Hosea, continually seeks after the Hebrew people, offering them forgiveness and reconciliation, as well as true blessings beyond measure.  Again and again and again, God seeks after the unfaithful chosen people.

            Integrity grows out of the same root word as the mathematics term, “integer,” meaning a whole number.  Integrity means whole or complete.  As a human characteristic, it refers to a person who is honest and has sound moral character.  In other words, a person with integrity is whole in their actions, without deceit or dishonesty.  Similarly, a Christian with integrity is a disciple of Christ who rigorously and consistently lives their faith.  A Christian with integrity puts their faith into action; it refers to a Christian who “walks the walk, instead of simply talking the talk."  It is not easy to be a Christian with integrity; it is actually very hard.

            Hosea demonstrated great integrity in his faith because he was willing to endure public scorn and humiliation in order to create a prophetic metaphor, calling upon the Hebrew people to return to faithfulness in God.  As a devout Hebrew, Hosea was undoubtedly mortified, when God asked him to marry a prostitute, whom many of his neighbors had probably been intimate with.  One biblical scholar writes that God’s command “must have involved Hosea in a terrible spiritual turmoil.”  Yet, Hosea was willing to live his faith; that is, he was willing to “walk the walk.”

 

Just as with Hosea, God asks us to live lives of spiritual integrity.  While our challenge may not be exactly the same as Hosea’s, each of face situations where we are tempted to abandon our faith and to live lives that lack spiritual integrity.  Join us for our weekend services at Meriden UMC this week, as we explore challenges to the integrity of our faith and how we can becomes as strong as Hosea.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  We have two worship services each weekend:

Ø  Our contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Saturday evenings.

Ø  Our classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

Are We Strong Enough to Forgive Anything?

            This weekend (January 25th & 26th), I continue my sermon series on “Becoming Strong” by examining the story of Joseph, who was one of Jacob’s 12 sons.  The life of Joseph was fascinating.  Most of us know that, when Joseph was still a youth, his father gave him a very extravagant coat of many colors.  This special attention which Joseph received from his father made his brothers very jealous.  And, their jealousy was exacerbated by Joseph’s dreams, which consistently depicted them bowing down before him in submission.

            Eventually, an opportunity presented a great temptation for the brothers to put Joseph in his place and get rid of him.  The brothers were out in the field for several weeks, pasturing the family's flock of sheep.  Jacob sent Joseph out to check on his brothers, to make sure they were doing alright.  When the brothers saw Joseph approaching on the horizon, they concocted a plan to overpower him and throw him in a pit.  Later, they sold him into slavery, and he was taken to Egypt.

            As a result of miraculous interventions, as well as his own talents and tenacity, Joseph was able to eventually rise to a high government position as the second most powerful person in Egypt, after the Pharaoh.  Joseph was able to do this because he interpreted the Pharaoh’s dreams, in which God was warning the Egyptian leader of a coming famine.  Joseph explained to the Pharaoh that Egypt would experience seven years of super abundant harvests, followed by seven years of famine.  As a result, the Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of building up Egypt’s storehouses with surplus grain during the first seven years, so that there would be enough food for the seven years of famine.

            The famine was widespread, impacting countries throughout the region, including the area where Joseph’s family was living.  Eventually, Jacob was forced to send his remaining sons to Egypt, in order to purchase food from the storehouses managed by Joseph.  Ultimately, when Joseph saw his brothers, waiting in line to purchase grain, he invited them to his palace for lunch.  At the meal, Joseph revealed who he was to his brothers and then he forgave them for their terrible act of selling him into slavery years before.

            We live in a modern culture which praises and promotes vengeance, when someone has been wronged.  Acts of violent vengeance are frequently celebrated in films, television shows, and other forms of popular culture.  Yet, Jesus encourages us to reject acts of vengeance and, instead, to forgive:  “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6: 14).  And, when asked how many times we should forgive another person, he responds “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18: 21-22).  In other words, we should forgive another person as often as is necessary.

            It actually takes a lot more strength to forgive someone, rather than taking vengeance.  And, forgiveness offers a type of liberation to both the perpetrator and the victim of a wrong.  In my message this weekend, I will show that the capacity to forgive is an integral component for becoming a strong person.

 

I encourage you to attend our weekend services at Meriden UMC this week, as we explore the story of how Joseph forgave his brothers, as well as contemporary stories of heroic forgiveness.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  We have two worship services each weekend:

Ø  Our contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Saturday evenings.

Ø  Our classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

No-Holds Barred Wrestling: Jacob versus God

            This weekend (January 18th & 19th), I will continue with the second in a series of six sermons that examines how Christian faith can help us become strong persons.  This weekend we will be looking at the story of Jacob, who wrestled with God; see Genesis 32: 22-32.

            In this story, Jacob is camping all alone, beside a river.  During the night, a man wanders into his campsite and challenges Jacob to a wrestling match.  Jacob and the man wrestle for the rest of the night, with neither able to pin the other—or, even gain an advantage.  As the wrestling match progresses, Jacob realizes that he is wrestling with God.  Jacob and God continue to wrestle, and it becomes clear that neither will prevail against the other.  In frustration, God strikes Jacob on his hip socket, effectively hobbling Jacob.  Yet, even with the pain from the hip injury, Jacob continues to maintain his hold on God.

            The two wrestlers continue competing, until the first, rosy rays of sunlight begin to appear on the horizon.  At that point, God asks Jacob to let him go.  (When making this request, God is really thinking about Jacob’s well-being because God knows that if Jacob sees God face-to-face, God’s overwhelming glory will kill Jacob.)  Yet, even with the risk of death, Jacob vows to continue his hold on God, until God blesses him.  Ultimately, God blesses Jacob, and the two end their wrestling match.  As the sun continues to rise, Jacob is once again all alone.  He gathers his gear, crosses the river, and continues his journey, limping along with his injured hip.

            The story of Jacob wrestling God is a fascinating story, raising many questions.  For instance, how was Jacob able to stay in the ring with God?  Why did God take a human form, which was not able to overwhelm Jacob and pin him to the ground? 

            While this is a very rich text, with many facets, I intend to focus my message on the fact that Jacob became a stronger person through his wrestling with God.  Although most of us will never physically wrestle with God as Jacob did, many of us do wrestle with God, figuratively.  Some of us intellectually wrestle with aspects of our faith.  Some of us spiritually wrestle with life challenges and we wonder why God allows certain hardships to occur in our lives.  Some of us wrestle with certain aspects of who God is, or what God has done.  Many of us wrestle with questions about God and our faith.

            Many Christians believe that we should never wrestle with God.  Instead of wrestling with matters of Christian faith or difficult challenges in our lives, they believe that we should simply accept Church doctrine with a simple faith and trust that God knows best.  That is, we should simply trust with a blind faith and avoid having to wrestle with God.

However, the story of Jacob suggests that it is appropriate to wrestle with God.  Indeed, sometimes God may challenge us to a wrestling match because God thinks it will be good for us, as evidenced by God challenging Jacob to wrestle.  The “take home” point of this story, then, is that when he wrestled with God, Jacob emerged with a stronger faith and a special blessing from God. 

Basing my conclusions on this story of Jacob, I will affirm the goodness of wrestling with God’s challenges.  And, I will share some stories of myself and others who have wrestled with God and emerged—as Jacob did—with a stronger faith and special blessing from God.

 

I encourage you to attend our weekend services at Meriden UMC this week, in order to hear about how Jacob and others have wrestled with God, in some form, and been strengthened and blessed in the process.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  We have two worship services each weekend:

Ø  Our contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Saturday evenings.

Ø  Our classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

Speaking Truth to Power

            This weekend (January 11th & 12th), I begin a new six-week sermon series on how Christian faith can help us become strong individuals.  Of course the word, “strong,” can have multiple meanings.  If you type it into Google Images, the search engine will return with various images of physically powerful people.  Physical power is one of the core meanings of “strong.”  When we use the word in this way, it describes a physical attribute or characteristic of a particular person.  Someone is strong; another person may be fast or agile or weak.

            In contrast, my sermon series will not focus on strength as a physical attribute.  Instead, I will focus on strength as a psychological, emotional, and spiritual quality.  In this sense, strength is that quality which empowers a person to persist in spite of set-backs, failures, accidents, hardships, difficult challenges, severe threats, and disappointments.  Strength is synonymous with courage, tenacity, persistence, and endurance.  Since strength in this sense is a very abstract term, the sermons in this series will focus on strong men from the Bible. 

            This weekend we will explore the strength of the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12: 1-13.  In this passage, God sends Nathan to confront King David.  David has used his royal power to coerce a woman named Bathsheba into an illicit sexual affair.  When Bathsheba becomes pregnant, David again uses his royal power to indirectly kill her husband, Uriah, who is a soldier in the army of Israel.  At that time, Israel was at war with the Ammonites.  So, King David orders Joab, his General, to withdraw during the battle in a strategic way designed to expose Uriah to certain death.

            Even though he has been sent by God, Nathan is wary as he enters the palace to confront the King.  So, he begins by telling King David a parable, which induces David to condemn himself and his actions.  David’s self-condemnation provides the opening for Nathan to deliver God’s judgment concerning King David’s misuse of his political power to gratify his own sexual lusts.

            In the story of Nathan, we can gain a new perspective on the role of courage in becoming strong persons.  Because of his courage, Nathan was able to speak truth to power.  Each of us today must sometimes find the courage to speak the truth to power. 

There is an element of social justice in speaking truth to power.  Christ calls all of his disciples to help establish God’s Kingdom here on Earth, and certainly working for social justice is a major part of building up God’s Kingdom.  So, advocating for social justice is an integral component of being a true follower of Christ.  In my message this weekend, I will focus on human trafficking as an example of a critical social justice issue that contemporary American Christians must address.

Yet, there are other aspects of speaking truth to power.  Each of us must sometimes confront the powers in our lives and the lives of our loved ones.  For instance, we may need to confront a doctor or a supervisor or someone else with power.  Sometimes, the power that we must confront is not another person, but rather a system or an addiction/dependency in our lives.  Alternatively, we may be the person with the power, who is confronted by someone else.  Using the story of Nathan and David, I will explore how God expects us to faithfully speak truth to the powers in our lives—or, how to respond when we are the person who has power and is confronted by someone speaking the truth to us.

 

I encourage you to attend our weekend services at Meriden UMC, in order to see how I develop these elements of Christian courage for speaking the truth to power.  Our church is located at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.  We have two worship services each weekend:

Ø  Our contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Saturday evenings.

Ø  Our classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

 

 

What Christians Can Learn from the Wise Men

            This weekend (January 4th and 5th), we will celebrate, “Epiphany,” when the Wise Men visited the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.  (See Matthew 2: 1-12.)  According to the Gospel of Matthew, Wise Men from the East saw the star of Jesus and followed it to Israel.  When they first arrived in Israel, they went to Jerusalem and asked King Herod where they might find the new-born King of the Jews.  The Wise Men’s inquiry greatly troubled Herod and many others because Herod was, actually, “King of the Jews.”

            King Herod asked the biblical scholars of the day where the Messiah was to be born and they responded that he would be born in Bethlehem, citing the Hebrew book of Micah 5:2:

“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

              are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
              for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
                                                                                                        -- cited in Matthew 2:6

After learning of the prophecy from King Herod, the Wise Men set out for Bethlehem, where they found the baby Jesus.  On entering the house where Mary, Joseph, and the young child were staying, they immediately bowed down and paid him homage.  They also gave three presents:  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Then, being warned in a dream, they returned to their home, without informing Herod of where they had found the new-born Messiah.

            The Wise Men were foreigners, from Persia (contemporary Iraq) or Babylonia (contemporary Iran).  In their own country, these men would have been wealthy and powerful because they belonged to the priestly class and were experts in the occult; in other words.  Biblical scholars suggest that the wise men were highly educated in astrology.  Although it has fallen into disrepute since then, astrology was a well-respected science at the time of Jesus’ birth. 

            So, the Wise Men were wealthy, powerful foreigners, who were ‘scientists’ of their day and followed spiritual practices that were radically different from the Jewish faith.  They could not be more different from Mary and Joseph—and everyone else in Israel.  Yet, these Wise Men were “seekers” and “doers.”  They were still seeking to learn more about the Divine and spiritual truth.  When they saw the Messiah’s star in the sky, and recognized what the star signified, they dropped everything they were doing, made the necessary preparations and then set off on the long, arduous journey to see the new Messiah.  When they found Jesus in Bethlehem, they were “overwhelmed with joy.”

            By contrast, King Herod and his religious advisors were neither “seekers” nor “doers.”  Even though they knew exactly where to find the prophesied location of the Messiah’s birth in their sacred texts, they were not interested in seeking out and worshiping the promised Messiah in Bethlehem.  So, instead, the Wise Men travelled by themselves to find and worship the new Messiah in Bethlehem.  Rather than being “overwhelmed with joy” that the Messiah had finally been born, they were frightened that the Messiah might require changes in their lives.  King Herod even plotted the death of God’s promised Messiah.

            In the proclamation this weekend, I will suggest that Christians can learn a great deal from the Wise Men, as we begin a New Year.  Just like the Wise Men, we must become “seekers,” continually striving to learn more about the Divine and spiritual truth.  That is, we must strive to grow deeper spiritually.  Just as the Wise Men, we must also be “doers,” ready to follow wherever God leads us.  In my message, I will give some examples of what I think it means for twenty-first century Christians to be “seekers” and “doers” in 2014.

            The New Year is a great time to get back into church. If you already have a church, we urge you to make a New Year's Resolution to attend and support your church. However, if you don't already have a church, check us out at Meriden United Methodist Church, at the corner of Main and Dawson Streets in Meriden, Kansas.

We have two worship services each weekend:

Ø  Our contemporary service starts at 6 pm on Saturday evenings.

Ø  Our classic service starts on at 10 am on Sunday mornings.

Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.