Daily Devotion for Lent 2021 - Day 14

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 3 (NRSV)

Raising up leadership is never easy and sometimes frustrating.  But it is also the source of great joy!

Paul is experiencing this through the church at Corinth.  He's bringing them along slowly and understands that they are still experiencing jealousy and quarreling.  I hate to break it to Paul but we still deal with these today and it's been almost 2000 years!

So while most leadership would try to dispel these traits, Christian leadership lifts up the opposite values of trust and peace as things we actively pursue.

Paul is trying to remind his new church that grace need not be territorial.  We each have our part to play and if we see God as active within our lives, we find that glory and accolades don't matter as much.  God is the one we ultimately praise for our successes.

His example of planting, watering and growth reminds us that we are never the sole authors of our own achievements.  The question becomes can I become a big enough person to admit the help I've received along the way or am I so insecure that I must claim it all for myself?

And as I see God helping me, it reminds me that I should be a vehicle of God's help for others.  This is the beauty of Christian leadership.  We understand fundamentally that we are never left to our own devices.  God walks the road with us.

I like how Paul ends the chapter with a kind of Zen approach:

For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

This allows us to step out of the rat race in a way.  As Christ is in all and we are in Christ, we are connected to the planting and the watering and the growth.  So the territorialism doesn't matter because God transcends territory.

And in the 21st century, can we still see leadership functioning in the same way?  In a flattened world, where hierarchies don't function with the same authority, does this decrease or increase our sense of territory?

We all influence each other and we are influenced by lots of voices.

So ultimately, if we look for how God is present in the surrounding voices, this may help us to decide  which voices more clearly articulate God for us.  Maybe this is the discernment we need to remind us that we are in Christ and Christ is in us.

Like Paul indicates - you are a holy vessel.

Prayer for the day:

Ever-present God, we find that your presence surrounds us through even the mundane.  We may recognize you in the blessing and we may find courage and strength to battle difficulties.  But it is in the daily routine that we often forget to look for you.  Help us to not only see you in the small things but to allow our small actions and words to bring great joy.  We pray these things in Christ who is in all.  Amen.

Photo by It's No Game via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Helping God Out

Sometimes the weeds are so obvious!

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

Lectionary Reading: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (NRSV)

The parable of the weeds and the wheat causes us to stumble sometimes.  We want a clean field.  We don't want weeds taking any precious moisture needed by the growing wheat.  If things are orderly in the field, the rest of our universe becomes more orderly.  It is easier to deal with.

Yet, Jesus tells us to leave the weeds alone.

Don't bother them.

Well, why not?  We can easily identify them at an early stage - when they are easy to root out!

Jesus says to leave them.  We might uproot the wheat in our zeal to take out the weeds.

I think what it really means is that when we find an eye for the weeds in life, we may become more interested in pulling weeds than in nurturing wheat.  And the more we look for weeds, the more weeds we seem to see.  

Is that wheat or a weed?  It could be wheat.  Hmm.  Better not take a chance.  Pull it up.

Of course, Jesus is talking about people.  We don't really know the hearts and minds of people.  We don't know what God thinks about them.  But we think we do.  We're just helping God out a little.  God, we'll pull these weeds now and you won't have to worry about them later.  Oh, don't bother thanking us, we're glad to do it!

This also assumes that people are fixed - that they can never change.  Once they head down the wrong path, they are lost forever.  This kind of thinking would take out most of the disciples of Jesus!

How can we apply this parable of Jesus to our lives together today?  I'm sure you've never written anyone off as hopeless, have you?  No, of course I haven't either.  Maybe if we nurture a weed, it will begin to look like the wheat.  Of course, that's foolish thinking.  Weeds can't become wheat.  That would take a miracle.

Hmm.

Join us as we continue to explore this parable in worship on Sunday!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by alh1 via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Failing the Test

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

Lectionary Reading: Genesis 22:1-14 (NRSV)

The story of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son Isaac is a story that elicits a lot of feelings from a modern reader.  It sounds different if you read it while empathizing with Abraham over if you read it from Isaac's perspective.  Did they ever talk about this experience again together?

How would that conversation go?  Um, Dad, do you remember that time you tied me up and placed me on that pyre?  When you raised the knife, were you really going to do it?

If you were raised a Christian, you may not have thought about how this story sounds to people outside the faith.  It raises an important question, "Does God really test us in the faith where life and death hangs in the balance?"  What if Abraham had refused?

In today's society, what would happen to a father who tied his son to an altar over a stack of wood prepared for a fire and then raised a knife as if to kill him?  At the least, any children would likely be removed from the home.  Does this mean that God no longer tests us in this way?  Or does it mean that Abraham was misinterpreting the test to begin with?

If we explore the idea of tests of faith, could the Coronavirus be a test of faith?  I don't mean that God has sent it to kill nearly half a million people around the world so that we might be tested.  But with the circumstances being what they are, is our faith tested by crisis?

Do we grow closer to God or find our relationship more distant?

If it's a test of survival, such as in Abraham's case, survival of his lineage, how are we faring?

Testing is not so bad if you know the
material but curve balls can be brutal.

Am I adequately feeding myself, clothing myself, and finding medical care for myself during this pandemic?  Most people would include their immediate family in gauging how successful they've been.  What about more distant family?  As a Christian, how do we define family?  We take baptismal vows to help each other within the Body of Christ.  Does this mean our immediate congregation, those of our denomination or the much wider group calling themselves Christian?

As a Wesleyan, I believe in Prevenient Grace and so understand that God loves all people and is reaching out to them whether they believe it or know it, regardless of their response.  Does this make them in some sense my brothers and sisters?

If this is a test of faith, how have I responded to the least of these?  And who would be the least in this scenario?  If I am not among the least, do I have greater privilege than they do?  Should I be examining my life?  How am I spending my time?  

If Jesus commands me to love my neighbor, have I done things to protect them within my means?  Have I worn the mask to prevent possible illness in others?  Have I distanced carefully?  Have I avoided large groups so as to limit the possible contagion?

  

Have I spent enough time in prayer?  Have I asked God for release from this illness?  Not for myself but for all those afflicted?  Today?

I could add more questions.  The point in my asking questions is that one could always do more.  One could always be more faithful.  If you haven’t failed the test, we can always ask more questions until you do.

This is how some people honestly see God.  God is waiting for them to make a mistake.  To slip up.  To commit a sin.  Then they hear God saying, “I knew you were a screw up.  Look at you.  Pitiful.”

This week’s scripture from Genesis gives an early understanding of how people of faith understood God testing them.  What can we learn from it?  What does it teach us about God?  What does it teach us about second chances?  What does it teach us about our commitment to God?

I'll be preaching on this scripture passage on Sunday and exploring some of these questions.  You can join us at our campus in the Christian Activity Center at 8:30 or 11:00 am and we ask that you register your attendance in advance so that we'll have enough space.  We'll also continue to offer worship online and hope that you'll join us there if that is a better option for you right now!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by Paul Townsend via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Enduring Beyond this Present Age

Pentecost Sunday, Year A

Lectionary reading: Psalm 104:24-35 (NRSV)

Pentecost is of course, the celebration of when the church began as recorded in the Book of Acts by Luke.  We have seen almost 2,000 years of history since that day and the church has undergone lots of changes due to cultural shifts.  We may be in the midst of another.  We often speak of the current isolation effecting the world's economy but if we drill down a bit, we can see that it will also effect the church.

There is an economic impact that individual churches are facing.  Most churches already operate without a lot of cushion to their budgets and this will be difficult - especially for the smaller congregations.  While the coronavirus has touched church members around the world, we have also experienced higher than average death rate for other causes as well.  This may be from the heightened stress breaking down immune responses.

Some congregations have a season of faithfulness
and later close.  This is a normal cycle of life.

If you take churches in the United States, they are more likely to be made up of membership that would be considered vulnerable due to the average age of congregants.  This would mean that many individual members may stay home as churches begin to open their sanctuaries again.  I would guess that it would be worse in urban areas than in rural areas where counties may not have any cases.

As we offer online worship, it seems that our participation may, for some churches, be higher than when they were meeting in the building.  Of course, gauging a good number for this is difficult and the standards seem to vary depending on who's doing the counting.  But there is a possibility that Christianity will reach more people through this health crisis.  What may be hard to determine is how many of the larger churches are reaching viewers from smaller churches that aren't able to access their own church.  Even though modern technology makes it possible for all churches to broadcast worship, the training or expertise for such endeavors is not equally distributed.

When churches begin to meet again in their buildings, we will likely see less people present physically which will hopefully be offset by people continuing to worship online.  One possibility would be that some people won't come back after the hiatus.  Lots of things cause people to fall away but with this pause, it may be that more people than usual will decide they won't be returning.  As we see American society move away from regular worship as a whole, will this accelerate the decline?

The Psalm reading for Pentecost doesn't mention anything really about the church (of course any Old Testament nod to the church is Christian extrapolation) or even corporate worship.  It is more individually spiritual as the human spirit witnesses to the Creator among all the outdoor observance.  There is a sense of gratitude that comes when we experience the mystery of God's creation.

Even with the ebb and flow of church participation through the ages, people feel a sense of the sacred through a variety of experiences.  As the psalmist declares, "I will sing praise to God while I have being," we can recognize that we often have a desire to gather with others to share the mystery we find in the whole of the created order.  As Paul writes to us through Romans 1:20, we are reminded,

"Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made."

This reminds us that God touches people all around the world.  God can be experienced simply by walking in the woods.  The church will undergo changes as it always has but it will come through this coronavirus.  Some individual places will close but as a whole, the expression will continue.  Some churches will grow after we begin to meet in person again.  And the church will continue after we're gone.  But how we respond today will make a difference to future generations. 

It's exciting to be on the cusp of something new.  What will God do with us as we celebrate this latest birthday of Christ's church?  Join us online as we continue to explore our future together!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by Forsaken Fotos via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2020 - Day 25

Scripture Reading: Acts 18:1-28 (NRSV)

This quilt hangs in the entryway of the
National Council of Churches USA office in NYC.

We see Paul on the move again and strengthening the church throughout the Mediterranean.  He founds the church at Corinth and we get to see several names of people that Paul mentions in his letters such as Aquila and Priscilla, Crispus who Paul mentions that he baptized, Sosthenes and Apollos.

We see Paul's standard movement to engage Jews in the synagogue to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah.  He also gets fed up as he states in verse six, "Your blood be on your own heads!  I am innocent.  From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

We see Sosthenes beaten for the faith - he must have left at some point with Paul because Paul includes him as writing to the church at Corinth at the beginning of 1 Corinthians.

We also see how there was not necessarily one doctrine of following Jesus in that time period.  It was so new and communication would be so limited that various movements could pop up without the knowledge or consent of the apostles.  Apollos knows of Jesus but had only received the baptism of John which was for repentance but did not include receiving the Holy Spirit.  Luke mentions as much:

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.                   Luke 3:15-16

This will become more apparent in the next chapter of Acts.  Division over who had the proper teaching would happen soon enough across the church.  When you think about how many different denominations (or non-denominations as if you could somehow move yourself outside of Christian history) there are today, you can see how easily it comes to humanity.  Paul seeks to curb this in the Corinthians when he writes in 1 Corinthians 3:3-4:

For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?

This begs the question that if the Holy Spirit unifies rather than divides, is it a lack of the Holy Spirit within the church or are we merely not paying attention to its witness among us?  When we are divided physically and unable to meet with one another (as has been the case recently), there is often a longing to gather regardless of our differences.  Can arguments or disagreements be put in proper perspective of the greater work of the Holy Spirit?  Does this move us to greater love for our brothers and sisters even when they occupy a different place on a particular interpretation of scripture?

Prayer for the day:

From the cowardice
   that does not face new truths,
from the laziness
   that is content with half-truths,
from the arrogance
   that thinks it knows all the truth,
deliver us today, good Lord.
Amen.

Prayer from the church in Kenya

Photo by Scott Lenger via Fickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Daily Devotion for Lent 2020 - Day 24

Scripture Reading: Acts 17:1-34 (NRSV)

Paul's stay in Thessalonica doesn't seem to have been very fruitful from Luke's description but we know that a church was indeed planted there as we have two of Paul's letters to them.

The fact that Luke states that "the Jews became jealous" give us an idea that by Luke's time, we have seen a clear separation from Judaism.  Paul argues in the synagogue for three weeks over the scriptures.  He was giving them his Christian interpretation of how the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) point toward Jesus as the Messiah.  So we see that the first seeds Paul and his companions attempt to plant in new cities were among people holding to the Jewish faith.  It is not surprising that some would embrace this understanding while others would be more conservative in their thinking and reject this new way of understanding God's work in the world.

While Paul and Silas leave the conflict behind, there were believers that stayed behind and likely had a lot of persecution for maintaining in this new faith.  Paul says as much in 1 Thessalonians 1:6-8:

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it.

We see that in spite of persecution, the new believers have not only embraced the faith but have become witnesses to it.

The Porch of the Maidens in Athens shows
some of the artistic expression devoted
to religion in Paul's day.

Paul eventually ends up in Athens.  We see Christian "philosophy" on stage with Epicureanism and Stoicism.  We can see how these views would conflict while they also might share some commonalities.  Epicurus did not believe in life after death and so the resurrection would have seemed to be babbling as verse 18 states.  Stoicism looked for moral and intellectual achievement rather than emotional passions for happiness and may have appreciated some of the teachings of Jesus that Paul would have passed along.

Paul begins to intertwine his understanding of God within their current culture as he defines for them the "unknown god" that they are worshiping.  Rather than cast this down as pagan worship, he re-imagines that this is God whom they are already worshiping.  Later Wesleyans would identify this as Prevenient or Preceding Grace - where God is already present in the world prior to Paul's arrival or their knowledge of Christianity.

As we think about how we relate our faith to the world around us, it may be helpful for us to see where God is already at work in "secular" culture.  Adopting Paul's graciousness, "I see how extremely religious you are in every way," would be helpful.  When we point out the virtues of the people we see, we are more likely to create good-will than if we start off with judgments of where they are failing.

If you are to look at news of events in the world today, where do you see God's presence?  As we see the difficulties the coronavirus is causing, where do you see places where people are being selfless?  Finally, how can we allow God to work through our lives during all the changes going on?  Sometimes it may be as simple as choosing to be positive rather than let our fears shape our reactions toward the negative.  In this way, we might be like those Thessalonians who not only endured persecution but witnessed to all the world while doing so.

Prayer for the day:

O Lord my God,
   teach my heart where and how to seek you,
   where and how to find you.
   Lord, if you are not here but absent,
      where shall I seek you?
   But you are everywhere, so you must be here,
   why then do I not seek you?
Lord, I am not trying to make my way to your height,
for my understanding is in no way equal to that,
but I do desire to understand a little of your truth
   which my heart already believes and loves.
I do not seek to understand so that I may believe,
   but I believe so that I may understand;
      and what is more,
I believe that unless I do believe I shall not understand.
Amen.

Prayer by Anselm of Canterbury, 11th-12th century

Photo by Alex DROP via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.