The Allure of Being Positive: John 14: 15-31

Dear Folks,

A new fad that seems to be sweeping the world, thanks to Internet and GPS, is called geocaching. The game involves teams that get longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates to a hidden 'treasure' and teams race to find these buried troves of riches. Usually the prize is not really of value, but something that one signs one's team's name and then moves on to the next. Or some times new coordinates will be on the prize, inviting the team to go into the adventure some more. It seems to be the never-ending game of discovery.

And all the people have are numbers and a guidance system that helps them find their way.

Even if they never 'finish' the game, they continue to play and discover. We believe that a game must have a conclusion and there must be a clearly defined winner, but what if that robs the game of what it means to play? What if the joy comes in the pleasure of the adventure itself, and there is never a 'conclusion' just a never ending process? I believe that is what makes geocaching so exciting. It is never-ending, and it is like life itself, it is the journey that matters, not the destination.

And like geocaching, life has a guidance system that aids in the expedition: the Holy Spirit.

Geocachers don't fear the unknown, as they often find themselves in sketchy and mysterious environments, but they trust their teammates, they trust the head of the game, and they trust their GPS, so they simply enjoy the ride. But for some reason church folks do not approach life the same way.

We want all the facts now, before we dive into the murky unknown. We defend our hesitation and suggest that we are approaching life realistically, and those persons who seem overly optimistic and idealistic have their heads in the clouds. But why is that? Why do we, and i am guilty of this, why do we accuse optimists of not being realistic, when perhaps, just perhaps, they are truly the realists, but their faith, their hope, their trust, and their being rests in their creator, their sisters and brothers, and the Holy Spirit?

What would happen if all of us, who called ourselves Christian, approached life through the lens of deep faith, deep hope, and deep trust in God? How would we deal with the hurdles in life? Might we see them as part of the journey that adds to the experience instead of road blocks? Trying times build character, if we see them as opportunities to become more faithful in our walks with God.

And God loves to build character, i think.

So the next time a hurdle appears to impede our path, let's look at it as a chance to prove our hope and our faith in Jesus by enjoying the journey over, through, or around the hurdle. And when we look at life through the lens of what is good and whole and not what is lacking or bad, we will do more than enjoy life more ourselves, we will draw in a world wanting and needing what is good. Amen.

Shalom,

jerry

What Consumes Us? Luke 10: 25-37

Dear Family,

At the core of who we are, through the heartbeat of what it means to follow Jesus, and at the center of believing in God and honoring God is one simple word: Love. This four letter verb or noun, depending on the definition used, embodies so much and yet remains an enigma to what it means to truly follow Jesus. What is love? Does love ever say no? Does love exclude? Does love enable? How do love and justice mix? All of these questions swirl around in my mind as i try to unpack what it means to love. If i were to add another layer, i think it becomes that much more complex.

Like: What does it mean to love God wholy? Love our neighbors as ourselves/ our children?

This question has haunted me for years, and it serves as the foundation for our Lenten series this year. I have wondered, out loud at times, what it would take to renew and recreate our church community in a way that lives souled out for God, and continuing idea reemerges. We need to be consumed by God.

We are, by our very nature, a people who consume. We eat to stay alive, fit, or to fill emptiness. We watch tv to pass time, raise our kids, or zone out. We work to pay bills, find value, or stay away from problems. And we buy stuff to meet needs, satiate our greed, or to serve a compulsion that we can't seem to stop. We will, by our nature as creatures who consume, consume stuff to fill what is lacking. At times this is necessary: eating and drinking water, buying clothes to protect us from the elements, or working to meet the needs of our families. Consumption isn't a bad thing, and we all do it.

What seems to be out of whack, though, is the level of our consumption and what we spend an inordinate amount of our time consuming. Realizing that our culture feeds on 'stuff,' the worship team designed a series, for Lent, around CONSUME. We are going to spend our time somehow, we are going to devour something, and we are going to use our resources in someway, so why not use our resources, our time, and our hunger to CONSUME God?

Over the next seven weeks, we hope to take you all on a journey deeper into the shalom of God, with the intent and purpose of freeing all of us from the chains of this consumer culture that seems to steal life instead of give life. When we allow God to become our primary focus, we discover that all that other 'stuff' is just stuff, and we don't really need as much as we think we do. More than that, we discover a peace that emboldens us to be better sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, disciples of Jesus, and sisters and brothers. Consume the world, and the world consumes you.

Consume God, and God liberates, heals, annoints, and empowers you.

One invites abundant life.

The other leads to Zombieland.

Amen,
jerry

Where do we Fall? Matthew 25: 31-46

Dear Family,
I grew up in McPherson, and i loved and love my hometown, but as a kid, my good friend and i wrestled for a team from a town north of McPherson. We wrestled for Salina Kids Club, and a lot was expected of those who wrestled for Bobby Stein. Our coach was the loudest in the gym. We were supposed to be in the best shape. And we were disciplined, hard working, and we never quit. When we showed up, on Saturdays, for the tournaments, with that maroon and gold singlet and warm up, we were expected to honor the Salina on the uniform. We did our best to fulfill the expectation, and we did our best to represent our team well.

We all know certain coaches, at the college level, who demand excellence from their players and their fans. To jeopardize the name, the team, well that could cause the coach to withdraw one's right to cheer for that team or play for that team. We find ourselves wanting to make sure we keep the standard that is expected. We would do all we could to protect the larger name.

And yet, when it comes to our faith, as Christians, i wonder if we have the same committment? Dedication? Matthew 25: 31-46 involves a parable about the separating of sheep and goats. Why? Because the animals, who know the master's voice and demands, fail to live up to the name they represent. They do not embody the ethics of their master. What does he require? "Whatever you have done to one of the least of these, my sisters or brothers, you have done to me." Put another way, if you feed the hungry, you have fed me. If you clothe the naked, you have clothed me. And if you visit the sick, you have visited me.

Why does this become the standard by which the master divides his followers? Because his followers should know, already, what it means to follow and honor the master. We all should know what it means to honor Jesus. If we would do all we could to honor our workplace, our sports teams, our hometown, or our family lineage, then why wouldn't we also do whatever we could to honor the author of our faith?

There is no name greater than Jesus, and there should be no greater call then for His followers to honor Him. We wouldn't want to dishonor the name on our hearts, right? Amen.

Shalom,
jerry

Are we Hiding? Matthew 25: 14-30

Fellow Pilgrims,

One of my favorite movies is Good Will Hunting, as i have shared before. The main character, Will, comes from a broken home. In fact he is an orphan who was raised in foster homes, and his foster dad was a monster, a true monster. His childhood was terrible at best, and he lived with the scars of the abuse.

His life revealed those scars. He got into a lot of trouble. He had been arrested a few times. And he did not stay in a romantic relationship long enough for any true feelings to develop. He was scared and alone and angry. The movie opens in the hallowed halls of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most prestigious colleges, period. It is a math class, and the professor has given his class this amazing math problem, and the professor expected the class to work on it semester long. The class leaves and night falls on the hallways.

The camera pans in on our main character, who is cleaning the floors, but Will finds himself before the board with the math problem, and unlike the students in the class, Will solves the problem in hours, not days, weeks, or months. Will might be an angry, scared soul, but he has this amazing gift, he is brilliant.

But he hides in his fear and anxiety and does not use his gift until help comes. It was not until help came and Will realized that true life only comes from living within his giftedness that Will was able to leave his dungeon of fear and embrace life, true life, holistic life.

I share this story, because all too often we hide in our own fears and anxieties, and we refuse to live within our created purpose. Each of us, as the parable of the gold bags/talents reveals, have been given gifts to use for God's Kingdom. We have a choice. Use those gifts and risk everything, trusting that God gave us those gifts and God will bear fruit. Or we can be like Will and the third servant.

We can hide the gifts in the sand hoping that our apathy and 'safety' will be rewarded.

But what happens to the third servant? God takes his gift and gives it to the one who risked it all and bore amazing fruit. What happened to Will? He was in a prison, one he did not realize, until he broke free and let life enter. If we choose to use our gifts, no matter how small or large, God will reward us with life, abundant life, holistic life.

However if we cower in fear, we remain in our self-created prison, and God will give what we have to those who will use them for His glory. To paraphrase Shakespeare: To use or not to use, that is the question. And the answer is that one brings life and one brings death. Which do we want? Amen.

Shalom,

jerry

Failure to Plan... Matthew 25: 1-13

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

It has been two weeks, well nearly three, since i have posted a blog. Vertigo sidelined me one week, and i drove a young man to Florida so he could serve a year in Brethren Volunteer Service last week. But i am back and in the words of my favorite morning sports talk show, "Mike and Mike in the Morning," and "better than ever." Well as for being better than ever, you all will have to play judge and jury. But i am back.

Two weeks away gave me time to reflect about where we are now and where God might be taking us, and though the path remains a mystery, i do think God gave me some tools to assist in illuminating the road before us. What do we need to be doing? In a word: praying. If there is nothing else we can do, whether economically or socially or otherwise, we, as the body of Christ, can and must pray. We must go to God and request His ear and His wisdom as we discern where we are to go.

If we get lost on a journey, we depend on GPS, maps, or even in the unlikely scenario, stopping and asking for directions. So why do we relegate God, the author of all that is good and holy and just, to the margins when we need to know where we are going as a community of faith? I do not understand why prayer seems so absurd to a church but business models and logic and reason take center stage. I would rather put my faith and trust in the author of reason and logic than some business model or ideology that might have worked a decade ago but has become obsolete.

Prayer will always be a viable option, if we seek His face. And in light of our text for this week, prayer seems to be the answer to that challenge as well. What must we be doing, while we wait on God? Pray. Pray for God's wisdom. Pray for God's assistance. Pray for God to fill our pews. Pray for God to direct and multiply our ministries. Pray for God to fund our ministries. Pray for God to illuminate how we can grow in size, in faith, and in holistic community. And in the end, as the five women who had extra oil knew, failure to plan, is planning to fail.

We do not need an amazing model of success to inspire us and lead us into a new day as a community of faith, we need the oldest model of all: prayer. Our strategic planning must begin with prayer. Our visioning must be immersed in prayer. And our mission and ministries must be saturated in prayer. Our planning starts with us getting on our knees and seeking, waiting, and listening to the still small voice of God. Only that can ensure we are ready when God comes. Yes we must do work, but we begin with prayer.

I do have one little yeah but to add to the call to prayer. While we wait on God, we must also do what He already has commanded us to do, and if we do not know what that is, i invite us all to read Matthew 5-7 and Matthew 25: 31-46. Everything flows from those core values of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Amen.

Shalom,
jerry

Being True: Matthew 23: 1-12

Dear Family,

Im a hypocrite. I am. The other night we were eating dinner, and i was doing my best to get Daniel to eat all of his vegetables, and i pushed, pushed, and pushed until all of his veggies were gone. He, Daniel, would not get any ice cream until all of his vegetables were gone. He ate all of them, and he earned the right to eat his ice cream. I was proud of him, very proud of him. One big problem--i didn't eat mine.

I had no issue with telling my son he had to eat the veggies, but when it came time for me to eat, i enjoyed the wonderfully decadent food of chili-cheese nachos. I am a hypocrite.

How many of us embody an ethic of do as i say, not as i do? When it comes to the church, it seems there are way too many of us, way too many of us.

When it comes to religion, it always seems to be this way. How many pastors/priests talk about 'sin' but then are found with their proverbial 'hand in the cookie jar?' And i am not innocent. I dont dare point my finger at other pastors/priests/church leaders, because when faced with a stressful situation, do i always act peacefully? Am i always loving? Can i be accused of being forgiving, in every situation? We, religious leaders, preach difficult sermons, claiming to have the keys to the gates, only to fail to live up to what we preach.

Jesus dealt with it too, but Jesus had little empathy for the religious folks who wanted to look good, who made sure the masses met the 'requirements' for getting in, and who held all the answers to Kingdom living, but then failed to truly embody the ethics of godly life. One of the biggest impediments to the church, today, is not expecting people to live up to the "standards" of Christ, but having church folks not live up to whey expect others. Or another challenge to the church comes when church going persons fail to treat others the way Jesus taught. All of these point to one painful reality.

The church is still, as it was in Jesus' day, full of hypocrites. And hypocrites are blocking the growth of the church.

We will always be hypcrites, but when we embrace that and live as broken vessels ourselves, instead of pushing higher standards onto others, we will experience the Divine in amazing ways. We have done it the way of religious uppity practice, lets try Christ centered humility, what do we have to lose? It seems we are primsed to restore the integrity of the church and the name of Jesus, and i can't wait to experience the God of the living, in a world overwhelmed in brokenness and sadness. Amen.

Shalom,
jerry

Whose Son is He? Matthew 22: 41-46

Dear Followers of Jesus...

I am Daniel Bowen's son. (It is a long journey and story to get there, because of name changing, adoption, etc,) but Dan Bowen is my dad. Ask other people and they will tell you that he is my dad. One could add a footnote by suggesting that i had two dads, but that just complicates things. Dan is my dad. I am his son. And there is a deep respect and recognition of the hierarchy that accompanies that distinction. It is, as earthly father/son relationships go, as it should be.

He would never call me LORD.

So why does David call Jesus LORD? When asked whose son is Jesus, the religious folks said: David. But then Jesus turns their answer around on them. He expects this answer, and he is ready to add his rebuttal. If David is Jesus' father, how does David call Jesus LORD? It doesn't work. Fathers do not call their sons LORD, unless there is some weird Jerry Springer dynamics happening. It just doesn't work.

But according to Jesus that is just what happens. David calls Jesus LORD. We all know this reality, because we stand on this side of 2000 years of history. We know the true geneology of Jesus, and we recongnize that though Jesus came from the line of David, through Joseph, Jesus' true Father, well that Father was in the beginning and will be in the end. So David is not Jesus' father, and in fact David recognizes this truth and honors the role that Jesus plays in the Kingdom of God. And this raises a challenge to us, doesn't it?

Is Jesus our LORD? What does it mean to invite and embrace the LORDship of Jesus over our lives? Does it mean that we accept salvation as a one time gift, and then we ignore all the other stuff Jesus cares about: justice, peace, love, mercy, authentic worship, choosing God over money, caring for orphans, widows, and aliens? If we embrace the LORDship of Jesus, shouldn't our churches and our lives reveal our submission to Jesus?

In the case of honoring my dad, Dan, it means i will do my best to live in a manner that makes him proud of me. Dad doesn't lord over me, but i do want to honor him because i love him. And it should be this way if we love and want to honor Jesus. We must live in a manner that honors Jesus, period. We must live in a way that pushes back against the world as is, and it invites us to live otherworldly, so that the world will know that we are His disciples. Not by our purity. Not by our dogmatic rhetoric. Not even by our salvation principles. But by our love. Amen.

Shalom,
jerry