Finding Our Way:
|
|
|
The well known theologian, Karl Barth was known for saying,
“We must hold the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” All of life is a complicated series of events and navigating our way toward faithful living can be helped by looking at how our biblical ancestors dealt with the events in their lifetimes. The words of prophets, apostles, and particularly Jesus, are a guide that can guide us. They gave us timeless messages that speak today with truth and power. This week in the Revised Common Lectionary, from which I regularly preach, the texts couldn't have been more relevant. "How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of life, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh." James 3:1-12 At the same time pastors around the nation were preparing their sermons on this text, lies about a legal immigrant community began to escalate tension and put innocent children and adults at risk. The reason? Political gain. At best, it was an attempt to call attention to the challenges of illegal immigration that continue to strain resources. At worst, it was blatant racism directed at a group of people who didn't cross the southern border, didn't arrive illegally, and doesn't eat their neighbors cats and dogs. Now, residents of this community are unable to attend school, city meetings have had to be canceled because of bomb threats and shooting threats. The community is in a spotlight they don't deserve. Tongues of fire created an escalation of fear and division that is already underlying the United States. As James said, "My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so." Sitting side by side, the Bible and the news of this week invite us think before we speak. We have seen exactly what the author of James described when he spoke of the tongue as a fire that can set a great forest ablaze. James reminds us that lies and misinformation are evil, not the way of God. Words can divide people against each other and incite violence. It was words that resulted in Jesus being crucified on a cross, wasn't it? In the letter of James, we are told that when we do these things, we do them against God. God's desire is for us to live together in peace, recognizing that each of us is a child of God. Anything that seeks to separate us from God and from one another is sin. The coming weeks are not likely to see the tension in our nation decrease, but it is possible that if each of us do our part to uphold the truth, love and unity of God's kin-dom, we could do a lot better. May we all do our part.
0 Comments
9/10/2024 0 Comments What is a Christian? I wander around the internet from time to time and enjoy reading articles and comments about a variety of topics. Recently I found a page designed for those who have left the Church and/or Christianity. I read many stories of hurt and anger as people shared their experiences of being misled, forced to believe outdated beliefs, and an overall sense that Christianity is an irrelevant faith. One of the things that caught my attention was that many of the shared experiences were things that indicate some branches of Christianity, but don't represent all Christians. Yet it became clear that among these comments was the belief that all Christians are perceived as the same.
It makes me sad, and angry, to know that the Church has become something that is perceived as manipulative, forcing people to believe specific things and behave in ways that can be hurtful. For example, those who believe that the creation stories of Genesis are literally true are viewed as trying to force those who believe in science to reject scientific evidence. There are plenty of Christians who see the creation stories of the Bible, yes there are two, as poetic writing rather than historical documents. For these less literal Christians, Scripture was written as a tool to help us encounter and understand God by looking for what a story shows us about God, inviting us to contemplate new thoughts, rather than as an operating manual that tells us what we have to believe. Some have left the church because they see the beliefs of Christians as false mythology. They would likely be surprised to know that there are Christians who agree that there is plenty of mythology in Christianity. But that doesn't mean that it is all falsehood. Mythology has been a literary means of wrestling with the world we live in and discerning truth. Creation stories, flood stories, and others can draw people into conversation with historic voices helping them discern the nature and relationship we have with God, helping them discern truth. At it's very core, the Bible is the telling of how human beings have understood God and a guide to understanding God's covenant relationship with creation. Depending on the time and place of a biblical text, it is possible to find images of an angry, wrathful God who fights injustice and liberates his/her people. But throughout the Bible there are images of a God who loves us and helps us live together in peace and love. This is the heart of Jesus' life and teachings. Too often, Christians have placed emphasis on believing in the virgin birth and the exclusive nature of Jesus, resulting in those on the outside seeing Christians as exclusionary, self-righteous, and even cruel. I don't think this is what Jesus intended when he founded his community. But the voice of some has been drowning out the voices of Christians who believe that faith is more than a dogmatic code, but rather a pathway to living with God in a community of peace. As a result, people are missing out on the opportunity to know a God of unconditional welcome and love that desires to dwell in community with us. They miss the opportunity to work together for good with others. They miss the opportunity to bring their questions and doubts and lay them on the table for fair and open conversation. There are some basic expectations of Christianity that are important to Christian faith, but they don't necessarily look the same in every Christian community. Christianity is not a black and white organization. It is my prayer that God will continue to speak through the Church, but more importantly, I pray that the work Jesus began will continue to thrive. Jesus said that all who believe in him are to seek to live lives of justice, mercy, peace and above all, love. May we find our way to the community Jesus intended rather than the faith community humanity has fabricated. May those who have been hurt by the Church find their way to a community that heals and nurtures them. 9/3/2024 0 Comments Letting Words Fly On the whole, I am a patient person. I will put up with quite a bit before my patience is used up and words fly. As a pastor, I have to work to make sure that I am long on patience and not short tempered. That can really be a challenge, especially in a culture where letting words fly is the norm. This last weekend I saw a corner prophet out on the street letting angry, powerful words fly about all of the sinners walking by. He was calling them to repent for the end of the world is near. He asked how they were living their lives? He accused them of behavior he had not seen and then proceeded to call them sinners and hypocrites. He shouted Gods' judgement upon everyone. Repent or burn in hell!
As a pastor, I was tempted to go speak with him and ask him where in the Bible he found his teachings. Jesus didn't say the end was near at all. According to the gospel of Matthew 24: 35-37, Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." As a Reformed Christian, these words are important because they direct our focus, not to worry about what is to come, but to be doers of the word, caring for others in the here and now. I wanted to ask the gentleman why he wanted to scare people into faith rather than loving them as Jesus does? My son did a great job of persuading me to let the man be. He rightly was concerned that a confrontation would only result in words flying or worse. Sure enough, a couple hours later as we walked back by, the man was deep in conversation with a pastor. He was shouting into his megaphone calling the pastor a hypocrite because he was part of the religious institution. The pastor was calmly responding with questions. "Where is God's love in your message? Why are you judging others?" The corner prophet lost his cool and began shouting, "Shame on you, pastor! Shame on you! You are not a servant of God, you are a hypocrite!" At first the pastor walked away, but then he turned back and confronted the man again asking, "How dare you stand in judgement of me! You don't even know me. How can you condemn me when you have not heard the Word from me?" I really wanted to go stand up for the pastor, but it was clear that no good would come from it. The very things the corner prophet had been shouting about when we first walked by were the things he, himself, was doing. Now he was the hypocrite, shaming a man of God who was asking him to explain his message, a message contrary to what Jesus said. At best, it was a present day example of religious leaders disagreeing. At worst, it was a dismal demonstration of the power of words to destroy, even among people who profess the same savior. The corner prophet was not all wrong. We are sinful people who need to repent of our harmful behavior. We should be living our lives as if the end is near, but not out of fear. Standing on a street corner condemning everyone who walks by is not the way Jesus modeled for us. Jesus didn't bulldoze people into believing. I suspect he would not have liked the confrontation between the pastor and the man with the megaphone. It garnered attention from others walking by, but not in a positive way. If anything, it just made people more inclined to want nothing to do with religious people. The pastor was not wrong, he raised a valuable question when he asked the man to explain how he came to understand Jesus's message as one of judgment and condemnation rather than love. I understood the desire to stand up for Jesus the redeemer, not Jesus the condemner. As I walked by the heated conversation, I remembered the words from the book of James that I had read in worship the day before, "be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger." Our culture is inclined to do just the opposite. We are slow to listen, quick to anger, and quick to speak." The result is that we create conflict by letting hurtful words fly, words that can incite violent acts. I didn't stop to see the end of the confrontation between the pastor and the megaphone prophet. I left wanting to understand the passion that motivates one to stand on a street corner proclaiming the end of the world and the need to repent. I wanted to listen to the pastor to hear what it was that motivated him to stop and ask questions of the man. But I also needed to listen to the anger the corner prophet was raising in me. I needed a moment to pause, catch my breath, and remember the teachings from James 1: 19-26. 19 You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, 20 for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. 26 If any think they are religious and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. |
ArchivesCategories |
RSS Feed
