Fellow Pilgrims...
Growing up we lived next door to a widow. Her husband had been gone for awhile, and she lived all alone. But for some reason she really enjoyed spending time with my sister and me, and my parents would often encourage us to go to her house, just to sit with her. Though she could be a bit testy, as a whole, my sense is that she was a lonely woman who loved having someone to talk to, spend time with, or just listen as she told incredible stories. So we did. And i wonder, reflecting back on my experiences with her...
Were we good neighbors?
I like to think we were, but who knows? Would we have bandaged her wounds if she had fallen and seriously hurt herself? Would we have paid for a doctor to come and care for her; if she needed the medical assistance? Would we have run over there and protected her from harm? We visited when it was easy, what if she needed more? Would we have been as diligent and as faithful? I dont know. I just dont know.
And yet if i take Jesus' teaching in Luke 10: 25-37, i have to believe that to follow Jesus, to walk in the light of Christ, and to embody an ethic of godly living, i must be a good neighbor, to any and all who are suffering. Perhaps more than that, i have to be a good neighbor to the "other." We all know who the other is, right? That person we don't like. They don't look like us. They don't listen to our brand of music. Maybe they even cheer for the rival of our favorite sports team. Either way, we know who that person is, and if Jesus' teaching is true, these are the people we must go out of our way to minister to.
But why?
Why can't we resemble the religious leader who walked on other side of the road when he saw the suffering man lying there, in a pool of blood? The religious leader was following the rules. He couldn't be near anything that might defile him. Maybe the leader/priest was on his way to the temple for offerings/sacrifices to the LORD, and to defile himself with this man's blood, would be akin to removing God's blessings, at least as far as the priest understood it. Why can't we be like him? Or maybe the question is, are we already like the priest?
Do we worry so much about getting dirty, tainting our purity, ruining our set in stone dogmatics? Are we so sure of our theologies and faith and understanding of truth, God, Jesus, etc that we know God/Jesus/Spirit would want us to stay away from our neighbors? And why stay away from them?
Maybe they are so different, so full of questionable stories that we worry they could dirty us if we get near them, so we ignore them, walk on the other side of the road, leaving them in their own filth and broken narratives. But if Jesus says we are to be neighbors to these people, no matter how different they are, what does that mean? What does that look like?
Does it mean our tables will be open to "those" persons. You know the ones. The people the community talks about, gossips about, points fingers at? Are our tables to be open to them?
If we want to honor Jesus: YES!
What about the person who comes from a different race or religion?
If we want to honor Jesus: YES!
What about the gay, lesbian, transgendered, or bisexual person?
If we want to honor Jesus: YES!
If we are Republicans, we must invite Democrats. If we are farmers, make room for the city folks. If we are liberals make room for the conservatives. And so on.
God's table, which should be our practice and table as well, should, no must be open to all, no matter where their stories come from and no matter what they might be into. Invite them. Feed them. Love them. And in so doing we will do more than discover the beauty of Jesus in a very real, authentic, and transformative way. We will do something that we haven't done in a very long time: We will find ourselves, finally. Amen.
Shalom, Salaam, Peace,
jerry
PS this is late because the powercord to my laptop died, and i didnt have access to a computer until today...
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Its Good to be a Kid: Matthew 19: 13-15
Dear Family,
The other night, after doing our prayers, and i finished giving Daniel his blessing, he asked the one question i have been expecting but also dreading that i wouldn't have an adequate answer to. You see, brothers and sisters, whether its true or not, i feel, when Daniel asks me a question, it is necessary i give him an answer, even if the answer is simply, "you know what, son, i just dont know."
Anyway. After his blessing, Daniel looked at me and asked, "Daddy, where is God?" I took a deep breath and replied, "God is everywhere. God is in you. God is in me." Daniel thought about that for a second and then answered, "But i can't see Him." I was done. I had nothing to respond to that. Then, i think he sensed my cluelessness, Daniel looked at me again and said, "I love God!" My heart melted. Daniel didn't have to see God, and yet, without even questioning God's presence or existence, Daniel says, "I love God." Oh to have that faith, that trust, that love. Oh to be a child again.
But how many times have we been told that children should be seen and not heard? How often do we silence our children, because they make a loud noise or appear to be annoying the sensitivities of someone next to us? And though we claim to love our children, unconditionally, why does it feel like they still classify as second class, at best, citizens in most situations? Sure we abhor abuse. We hold a strong disdain for those persons who hurt children, but do we really consider them equal? Do we seek their wisdom when struggling with questions of finances, family, or faith? No. Well not often anyway. We simply put up with them and if they interrupt our 'adult conversation,' we tell them, "Not now Daniel, we are having an adult conversation." As if they have nothing to add to our discussion.
If that is how we treat or view our children, why does Jesus tell the disciples that unless they live in such a manor that their lives and their faith mirrors that of a child, God wants nothing to do with them? If children are second class, at best, why does Jesus insist that we must demonstrate a faith that is childlike?
Could it be that like Daniel who doesn't need to see God to love God, a childlike faith is simple, beautiful, authentic. Daniel's faith is not predicated on what God can do for Daniel. It simply is. Daniel believes because as a child; he doesn't know any different. For Daniel life is immersed in God; it is we adults who ruin it. Our doubts and our fears take priority over a faith that trusts in the God of Creation to care for us, just as He cares for the sparrows or grass of the fields. But we can't do that. We can't.
We have bills to pay. Schedules to keep. Jobs to go to. All of these take priority over a faith that calls us to rest in the arms of our Creator. That call, to sit and spend time with God, is above and beyond what is sane. A child would never relegate God to the margins, but we adults cant wait to put God there. Perhaps a childlike faith returns the balance to creation that God intended all along? So why not invite God to move from the margins of our lives to the center of our being, once again? What do we have to lose? Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
The other night, after doing our prayers, and i finished giving Daniel his blessing, he asked the one question i have been expecting but also dreading that i wouldn't have an adequate answer to. You see, brothers and sisters, whether its true or not, i feel, when Daniel asks me a question, it is necessary i give him an answer, even if the answer is simply, "you know what, son, i just dont know."
Anyway. After his blessing, Daniel looked at me and asked, "Daddy, where is God?" I took a deep breath and replied, "God is everywhere. God is in you. God is in me." Daniel thought about that for a second and then answered, "But i can't see Him." I was done. I had nothing to respond to that. Then, i think he sensed my cluelessness, Daniel looked at me again and said, "I love God!" My heart melted. Daniel didn't have to see God, and yet, without even questioning God's presence or existence, Daniel says, "I love God." Oh to have that faith, that trust, that love. Oh to be a child again.
But how many times have we been told that children should be seen and not heard? How often do we silence our children, because they make a loud noise or appear to be annoying the sensitivities of someone next to us? And though we claim to love our children, unconditionally, why does it feel like they still classify as second class, at best, citizens in most situations? Sure we abhor abuse. We hold a strong disdain for those persons who hurt children, but do we really consider them equal? Do we seek their wisdom when struggling with questions of finances, family, or faith? No. Well not often anyway. We simply put up with them and if they interrupt our 'adult conversation,' we tell them, "Not now Daniel, we are having an adult conversation." As if they have nothing to add to our discussion.
If that is how we treat or view our children, why does Jesus tell the disciples that unless they live in such a manor that their lives and their faith mirrors that of a child, God wants nothing to do with them? If children are second class, at best, why does Jesus insist that we must demonstrate a faith that is childlike?
Could it be that like Daniel who doesn't need to see God to love God, a childlike faith is simple, beautiful, authentic. Daniel's faith is not predicated on what God can do for Daniel. It simply is. Daniel believes because as a child; he doesn't know any different. For Daniel life is immersed in God; it is we adults who ruin it. Our doubts and our fears take priority over a faith that trusts in the God of Creation to care for us, just as He cares for the sparrows or grass of the fields. But we can't do that. We can't.
We have bills to pay. Schedules to keep. Jobs to go to. All of these take priority over a faith that calls us to rest in the arms of our Creator. That call, to sit and spend time with God, is above and beyond what is sane. A child would never relegate God to the margins, but we adults cant wait to put God there. Perhaps a childlike faith returns the balance to creation that God intended all along? So why not invite God to move from the margins of our lives to the center of our being, once again? What do we have to lose? Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
Thursday, August 11, 2011
I do? Mathew 19: 1-12
Dear Family,
I remember when my parents split and eventually divorced. I was three, and the next few years were turbulent at best. Going back and forth between mom and dad, until mom moved, permanently, to McPherson. Then my sister and i moved in with her, full time, and the times i got to see my dad grew further and further, until my 'biological' dad seemed to have just gotten a new life.
Sure i had a good life in McPherson. My mom remarried. My new dad adopted my sister and me. Things were good. But there is always a missing piece in a child's life when what we think should be 'normal' isn't. When so many of our friends don't understand divorce or why i have two dads or why i rarely got to see my 'biological' dad; it can and did make me insecure, wishing i could just be "normal." Whatever that is.
Today it is not as rare to find divorced families, in fact some argue one in two marriages end in divorce. Some have lamented that this trend illustrates how the United States has lost its core, Christian traditional family values. I still wonder what 'traditional' family values are? But i digress.
Anyway. It seems that divorces happen daily and more often than we want to admit. Sure it might seem that it is almost expected and accepted that couples go their separate ways, but what really happens when a wife and husband find themselves wondering what to do? What feelings are they having? What guilt do they carry? Do they feel shamed, especially if they go to church? Does the church family add guilt/shame? Many questions, and i imagine, just as i did as a child of divorce, there are many more that seemingly cant be named.
So what should the church community do about divorce? Well we can take Jesus literal, which i sense is a dangerous thing, and assume that God hates divorce and anyone who divorces steps further into an abyss of darkness. Many church leaders, even some within the Church of the Brethren, hold this ideology. We could lean this way. But what good would it do?
What happens if we don't look at Matthew 19: 1-12 literally, but more of a contextual teaching opportunity? What happens if it seems Jesus is trying recreate a narrative where women are not property, which they were viewed as in first century Palestine, but women are equal, deserve recognition of their person, and should be treated as equal? What happens when we take Jesus' teaching and try to frame his words in the model of making sure that all people, regardless of gender, are seen as equal in the eyes of God. No one, according to this view, can be thrown aside, away, or divorced, on a whim.
Seeing each persons value does change the meaning, a little at least. I do believe that God never wants a marriage to end in divorce. It is not God's will that this happen. But all of the people i have talked to, who are going through divorce, who have been through divorce, or are children of divorce, they say the same things. They didn't say their vows thinking they would fail. They meant their words. They meant to see it through. They believed they would be together until, "death do us part." But circumstances change. People change. Lives change.
So what does it mean? Well it means that God still, like any loving parent, wants His children to seek Him and be made whole. Divorce creates victims on so many levels, and God, i feel, views this as a chance for His children to jump into the muck and help walk with those persons struggling through divorce, so that all the victims can experience healing, discover wholeness, and realize that no matter what has happened love, God's love, the church's love, will always reign.
That being stated, we want to invite all persons struggling through the pain of divorce or separation to join us in worship this Sunday. We will begin the process of healing, letting God invade our space and touch our woundedness and restore our beings, so that the chains that hold us down will be cast aside, and we, once again, might feel the joy of life, love, and hope. The journey is long. It can and will be painful, even as healing breaks into the pain. But if we walk this path together, we can and will be stronger because of it. Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
PS THE HEALING HAS BEGUN!
I remember when my parents split and eventually divorced. I was three, and the next few years were turbulent at best. Going back and forth between mom and dad, until mom moved, permanently, to McPherson. Then my sister and i moved in with her, full time, and the times i got to see my dad grew further and further, until my 'biological' dad seemed to have just gotten a new life.
Sure i had a good life in McPherson. My mom remarried. My new dad adopted my sister and me. Things were good. But there is always a missing piece in a child's life when what we think should be 'normal' isn't. When so many of our friends don't understand divorce or why i have two dads or why i rarely got to see my 'biological' dad; it can and did make me insecure, wishing i could just be "normal." Whatever that is.
Today it is not as rare to find divorced families, in fact some argue one in two marriages end in divorce. Some have lamented that this trend illustrates how the United States has lost its core, Christian traditional family values. I still wonder what 'traditional' family values are? But i digress.
Anyway. It seems that divorces happen daily and more often than we want to admit. Sure it might seem that it is almost expected and accepted that couples go their separate ways, but what really happens when a wife and husband find themselves wondering what to do? What feelings are they having? What guilt do they carry? Do they feel shamed, especially if they go to church? Does the church family add guilt/shame? Many questions, and i imagine, just as i did as a child of divorce, there are many more that seemingly cant be named.
So what should the church community do about divorce? Well we can take Jesus literal, which i sense is a dangerous thing, and assume that God hates divorce and anyone who divorces steps further into an abyss of darkness. Many church leaders, even some within the Church of the Brethren, hold this ideology. We could lean this way. But what good would it do?
What happens if we don't look at Matthew 19: 1-12 literally, but more of a contextual teaching opportunity? What happens if it seems Jesus is trying recreate a narrative where women are not property, which they were viewed as in first century Palestine, but women are equal, deserve recognition of their person, and should be treated as equal? What happens when we take Jesus' teaching and try to frame his words in the model of making sure that all people, regardless of gender, are seen as equal in the eyes of God. No one, according to this view, can be thrown aside, away, or divorced, on a whim.
Seeing each persons value does change the meaning, a little at least. I do believe that God never wants a marriage to end in divorce. It is not God's will that this happen. But all of the people i have talked to, who are going through divorce, who have been through divorce, or are children of divorce, they say the same things. They didn't say their vows thinking they would fail. They meant their words. They meant to see it through. They believed they would be together until, "death do us part." But circumstances change. People change. Lives change.
So what does it mean? Well it means that God still, like any loving parent, wants His children to seek Him and be made whole. Divorce creates victims on so many levels, and God, i feel, views this as a chance for His children to jump into the muck and help walk with those persons struggling through divorce, so that all the victims can experience healing, discover wholeness, and realize that no matter what has happened love, God's love, the church's love, will always reign.
That being stated, we want to invite all persons struggling through the pain of divorce or separation to join us in worship this Sunday. We will begin the process of healing, letting God invade our space and touch our woundedness and restore our beings, so that the chains that hold us down will be cast aside, and we, once again, might feel the joy of life, love, and hope. The journey is long. It can and will be painful, even as healing breaks into the pain. But if we walk this path together, we can and will be stronger because of it. Amen.
Shalom,
jerry
PS THE HEALING HAS BEGUN!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Matthew 18: 21-35 Seventy Seven Time?
Dear Family,
Im not proud of what i am about to share, but my sense is that it fits with what Jesus is teaching those who would actually listen. In college, and in reality even now, i was and am terrible with money. I can't balance my checkbook. I am impulsive. Money burns a hole in my pocket, and it has caused a lot of problems in my life. But in college i hit a wall and almost paid a hefty price.
I hit rock bottom during my senior year, and it led downward, quickly, after that. I got my first checkbook, without knowing what it meant to balance it. I quickly began writing checks, thinking i had the money in the account, only to get a few letters telling me i was overdrawn, and the checks bounced. Worse part about the whole thing is that it spirals, quickly, into a dark place. One check bounced, and then i had to pay a bunch of fees, and the total bill, of what had been only a fifty dollar check, turned out to be about 200 dollars.
But i didnt pay it.
I tried to ignore it, because i didnt have that much extra cash sitting around. The letters began to show up warning me about impending litigation. I ignored them. I just threw them away. Then i got a notice about a certified letter, and i had to go to the post office to sign. I still ignored it. Then the summons came to my job, and right in front of the entire workplace, i got served by a sheriff. I was humiliated.
The debt had grown from 50 to 200 to about 450, and i had no money.
And no matter how much i hoped and wished the debt would just be cancelled; it wasn't. I would have to face the seriousness of my choices and the consequences. I did. It took another year, plus, to get out from under the shadow of my choices and irresponsibility, but i did.
As i read the text, i wonder if it is even possible to truly forgive such a huge debt?
We, all too often, resemble the unmerciful servant. We hold grudges against people who have done, truly, very little to us. Sure their wrong feels mountainous, unforgivable, disasterous. But in truth it is more like the dollar wage debt the servant had for the unmerciful servant. Easy to forgive. A mole hill of debt. Paling in comparison to the mountain of debt that he owed the King. We, like the unmerciful servant, have been forgiven eggregious debts/sins by God, and yet we hesitate to offer, show, live in grace.
We would rather hold grudges. Demand repayment or justice. The thought of cancelling any debt, no matter how miniscule, seems unjust and unfair. But that is just what we are called to do. Not just once. Not twice. Not even three times. But seventy seven times, and in other texts, seventy times seven. Thats a lot of minor debts to forgive, but if we dont, well it seems we have a future of darkness waiting for us.
Besides when we cancel the debt of someone, it really frees us both. We no longer have to worry about the debt, and they are free to write a new narrative. What could be more Godly?
Amen..
Shalom,
jerry
Im not proud of what i am about to share, but my sense is that it fits with what Jesus is teaching those who would actually listen. In college, and in reality even now, i was and am terrible with money. I can't balance my checkbook. I am impulsive. Money burns a hole in my pocket, and it has caused a lot of problems in my life. But in college i hit a wall and almost paid a hefty price.
I hit rock bottom during my senior year, and it led downward, quickly, after that. I got my first checkbook, without knowing what it meant to balance it. I quickly began writing checks, thinking i had the money in the account, only to get a few letters telling me i was overdrawn, and the checks bounced. Worse part about the whole thing is that it spirals, quickly, into a dark place. One check bounced, and then i had to pay a bunch of fees, and the total bill, of what had been only a fifty dollar check, turned out to be about 200 dollars.
But i didnt pay it.
I tried to ignore it, because i didnt have that much extra cash sitting around. The letters began to show up warning me about impending litigation. I ignored them. I just threw them away. Then i got a notice about a certified letter, and i had to go to the post office to sign. I still ignored it. Then the summons came to my job, and right in front of the entire workplace, i got served by a sheriff. I was humiliated.
The debt had grown from 50 to 200 to about 450, and i had no money.
And no matter how much i hoped and wished the debt would just be cancelled; it wasn't. I would have to face the seriousness of my choices and the consequences. I did. It took another year, plus, to get out from under the shadow of my choices and irresponsibility, but i did.
As i read the text, i wonder if it is even possible to truly forgive such a huge debt?
We, all too often, resemble the unmerciful servant. We hold grudges against people who have done, truly, very little to us. Sure their wrong feels mountainous, unforgivable, disasterous. But in truth it is more like the dollar wage debt the servant had for the unmerciful servant. Easy to forgive. A mole hill of debt. Paling in comparison to the mountain of debt that he owed the King. We, like the unmerciful servant, have been forgiven eggregious debts/sins by God, and yet we hesitate to offer, show, live in grace.
We would rather hold grudges. Demand repayment or justice. The thought of cancelling any debt, no matter how miniscule, seems unjust and unfair. But that is just what we are called to do. Not just once. Not twice. Not even three times. But seventy seven times, and in other texts, seventy times seven. Thats a lot of minor debts to forgive, but if we dont, well it seems we have a future of darkness waiting for us.
Besides when we cancel the debt of someone, it really frees us both. We no longer have to worry about the debt, and they are free to write a new narrative. What could be more Godly?
Amen..
Shalom,
jerry
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