Sunday, July 31, 2011

110731 Hope for Creation: Water

We are mostly made up of water.  Fleshy water bags.  Why hasn’t that made it into a Hallmark card yet?

We can go weeks without food – we just get really grumpy and definitely tired.  But we can only go a period of days without water.

Everybody relates to water, which is undoubtedly why God used it as a metaphor for and even as evidence of His presence.  Pharaoh was demanding signs that the God of the Israelites was powerful.  One early sign?  The water turned to blood.  As Israel fled the army of the Egyptians, they came to the sea – trapped – but at God’s word the water parted and the people were saved.  When Israel was in the wilderness en route to the Promised Land and ran out of water, God instructed Moses to strike a rock at God’s command.  When he did, water came gushing out – the people were saved from certain, imminent death.  God had power over water, and with it, our capacity to live.

Before Jesus made the radar, John the Baptist preached powerful sermons that moved many people to repent – turn away – from their sinful patterns and choose to live in relationship with God.  Jesus began his public ministry with baptism – the immersion marked a new beginning.  When Jesus broke tradition conversing with a woman drawing water at noonday in Samaria, he piqued her interest by referring to himself as living water that satisfies forever – never running dry.  Jesus encouraged a man blind from birth to go wash his face in the pool of Siloam – known for its occasional healing powers.  He did, and could see.  Jesus was identifying himself with God as he moved around this metaphor.

Just like the Samaritan woman, we are invited to drink of this living water that will satisfy and sustain us forever.  If you haven’t yet, come and drink!  Enter into intentional relationship with God and allow his graceful presence refresh you like a hot summer’s dip in Lake Tahoe.  You don’t realize how refreshing life with God is until you enter into it.  Take a drink!  Better yet, take the plunge!

But we’re not simply invited to be water-snobs, having found our favorite spring in Jesus.  We are called to express our love of the source of our sustenance by offering it lavishly, unselfishly to any and all who are thirsty.

In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus finds himself have dinner at the home of a Pharisee.  Somehow, an immoral woman slipped through the front door and began anointing Jesus with extremely expensive perfume, and washing his feet with tears – water from her eyes.  The Pharisees, of course, only saw an immoral woman intruding on their fancy dinner.  But Jesus saw an act of worship.  He railed on the Pharisees for not showing basic hospitality in offering Jesus water to wash his feet.  He identified the source of the woman’s generosity: she had received grace from God and could not help but express her gratitude through service.

Jesus makes a marvelous statement: our loving service is an indicator of our understanding of just how wonderfully and fully God has loved us.  It’s like the more in touch we are with the love of God in our lives, the more likely we are to give ourselves away.

Right now in Somalia, people are dying of famine.  There’s no food because they are in a drought.  The drought exacts an unbearable toll because their country doesn’t have the infrastructure to provide water from great distances when needed.  We just find a water fountain somewhere.  They walk miles to get dirty water that carries more than they bargained for.

Matt Damon realized his fame wasn’t simply meant for his own enjoyment, but that he could do something about it (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/157/can-this-man-save-this-girl).  He has partnered with other to create www.water.org – an incredibly strategic initiative to help “dry” communities enjoy sustainable wells.  You can hear him speak about his efforts at the Clinton Global Initiative here: http://youtu.be/ZX7DmZNbVhQ.  The point is this: he realized that he could do something with the resources he has – his fame, his money, his influence.

What can you do?  Why would you?

It seems to me that if we spent time walking around with Jesus back in the day, we would have found ourselves serving thousands of people from the inexhaustible well of God’s love.  We would be helping in practical ways, not just telling people the God loves them.  For some, it would be helping them just get water.  When we walk with Jesus today, it’s no different.

So the question is, in light of God’s giving you an endless supply of living water, how will you express your joyful gratitude?  By helping fund projects that help others get water?  By conserving water in your home so there’s enough to go around?  By opting not to buy bottled water which increases the use of petroleum, and choosing instead to filter your own water (for us water snobs) at your home or carrying around a filtered water bottle that can be used over and over again?

May every sip of clean, delicious water cause you to rejoice that we have such a luxury.  And may every sip cause you to remember the much more profound water we have been given by God in Jesus Christ – the living water.  May that cause you to give generously and with gratitude in a multitude of ways that spreads life wherever you go.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

110724 Light

As a pastor of a church rooted in the Baptist tradition, I find myself in a lot of awkward conversations.  Much of the time, when people find out my church tradition, they immediately assume the wrong thing.  Every awful experience they’ve had or heard about involving some ultra conservative, judgmental, funeral-picketing Baptist gets painted on me.  They don’t know to ask which flavor of Baptist I am.  American Baptists have been historically mainline and even progressive.  There’s a big difference between what we believe and how we behave compared to other Baptist traditions.
                I try to spend more time with people who are curious about God than folks from other churches who are more caricature Baptist than me.  But sometimes I run into someone who assumes, based on my title, that I am as fundamental as they are.  No less awkward…

                Especially with my more conservative friends, things get weird when anything to do with the environment comes up.  “Environmentalists” is a derogatory term for these folks.  I get an earful of how awful policies are that are ruining business while promoting various tree hugging measures.

                I get uneasy in these conversations because in the back of my mind I’m remembering that God charged Adam with caring for the world with thoughtful stewardship.  I also remember that God apparently commanded the people of Israel to practice wise farming methods that protected the long-term fertility of the soil.  I think of Hezekiah who, when he learned he was going to live his days in luxury even though his grandkids wouldn’t, lived the rest of his life happy.  Happy that his grandkids would suffer when he could have done something about it?

                And then there’s that other obvious reality…  My family camps a lot for vacation.  We live in what has to be the most beauty-dense state in the Union, with incredible variety.  Want mountains?  Want massive beaches?  Want rocky beaches?  Want cliffs instead of beaches?  Want vineyards?  Want dormant volcanoes to climb?  Want deltas?  Want pristine mountain lakes?  Want rivers and streams teeming with trout?  Want waterfalls, inland or on a beach?  Want massive granite domes?  Every time our family becomes immersed in the creation that surrounds us, we are awestruck.  We need no convincing that this creation is very, very good.

                To not take care of it is to slap God in the face.

                The environment is such a politicized issue that for me to bring it up is a risk.  But to not bring it up is a bigger risk.

                Who or what is your primary source for determining your responsibility when it comes to caring for the globe?  Your political party?  How ‘bout we raise our eyes a bit and let our gaze be fixed on the Creator, and what God calls us to do.

                Wouldn’t it be refreshing if we, as the body of Christ, could lead the charge on caring for creation, transcending the political mire than uses it for votes on both sides of the aisle?

                It can happen.  We can rise above the politics.  Let’s show our love for God, at least in part, by caring for the place God has given us to live.

What does it mean for us to be people who have seen the light, who are guided by the light, who are illumined by the light, who are headed toward the light?

How does our “enlightenment” impact our steps?

How bright are we when it comes to our stewardship of our lives and the world we live in together?
 
When it comes to personal and global stewardship, who or what lightens your path?

Sunday, July 17, 2011

When the Bride is Ready

When Lynne and I found ourselves on our honeymoon on a beach in Cancun, Mexico, the day after we were married, we sat there in silence.  For quite a while.  For the last nine months, it felt like the only thing we had talked about with each other were wedding preparations.  An enormous amount of details to cover, with little family help.  Setting a date.  Securing the church.  Making sure everyone could make it.  Settling on invitations.  Choosing the wedding party.  Finding a dress.  And finding a dress for her, too.  Just kidding.  Registering.  Premarital counseling which we discovered was basically a waste of time (as it is for most soon-to-be-marrieds).
                Honestly, guys generally get off the hook pretty easy compared to their brides.  Even though we pretend to have a say in things, we know better.  She gets the final say.  Her vote is worth ten times ours.  There’s a lot more on the bride’s plate than on the groom’s.  There is much preparation to be made, and mostly by the bride.
                Most people who become familiar with the love story between God and people as experienced and recorded by ancient Jewish communities come across a strong metaphor in the prophetic writings of Ezekiel and others.  The prophet Ezekiel senses God giving him an image and a message to convey to the people of Israel who have suffered exile: God views his people as a woman he nurtured from infancy who, at the proper time, was as a bride to God himself, adorned in beauty and purity.
                This theme is picked up again in various places in the New Testament, and at the very end of the Christian Bible.  The Apostle John wrote a letter called Revelation while exiled on a penal colony/island called Patmos (think Alcatraz without cells).  The book was written with very familiar imagery for people who lived under Roman rule.  Some of the book reads like a weird, tripped-out science fiction novel that Lewis Carroll could have written with a few more hits…  But to the ancient reader, it made perfect sense.
                One of the images that shows up toward the very end of the letter is that of a bride.  Specifically, the bride of Christ.  She is the Church, the community of those who love and serve God by loving the Groom, Christ.
                Within the last 50 years or so, as we’ve become more aware of the state of our world and her people, there has been a steady interest in the Book of Revelation, because from an apocalyptic perspective, it tells how God is going to wrap this story of ours up.  Maybe the strong interest is there because it feels like the world has gone to hell, and we’re waiting to be rescued.  That’s the tone of much of the interpretation: we wait for the groom to come and sweep us off our feet and make it all better.
                But that’s not the only way to read it.  Toward the climax of the story, in Revelation 19:7 we read that the bride has prepared herself for the groom.  She has been given the clothes to wear, but she has put them on.  She has a role to play in order for the wedding ceremony to commence.  Sure, the whole thing has been bankrolled by the Father of the Groom, but there’s still much to be done by the bride if she ever wants the marriage to happen.
                What if that’s the whole point?  What if, all this time, we were supposed to be working toward bringing more and more of the Way, Truth, and Life of Christ into the world?  What if we have been given the wardrobe, but it is up to us to get dressed: Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12).  Maybe the reason this brings about the arrival of the groom is because it brings about everything that is the groom into being.  Our role as the Bride is to prepare ourselves and our world for the Groom.  We do that by bringing more and more of the Way, Truth and Life into the world.
                In an everyday human marriage, both partners have to do their best to love and serve the other toward their wholeness, completeness, and best in order for the relationship to really reach it’s potential (see Ephesians 5:21).  Disaster strikes when one person waits for the other to carry the full load while they just sit there.  It doesn’t work in life, and it doesn’t work in faith.  As James aptly phrased it, faith without works is dead (James 2:20).
                As you consider your faith, may you begin to see yourself as part of the Bride of Christ.  How are you doing on the preparations that will bring about his coming?  How well are you holding up your end of the covenant?
                For further reading and a potent slap in the face, read Ezekiel 16, asking God to reveal any similarities between yourself and the indictment leveled again ancient Israel.  Where have you been faithful?  Where have you prostituted yourself?  What’s your next move?

Sunday, July 10, 2011

110710 Let's Go Steady

When I do premarital counseling, one of my goals is to scare some reality into the couple.  Most of the time, it’s in vain.  Couples looking to get married are so in love with each other that they cannot fathom life being any other way.  It would be helpful if somebody out there could come up with a crystal ball to help people see into the future.  There could be legal issues, of course – people checking it for lottery numbers and Super Bowl outcomes, but these issues can be overcome.  So if you’ve got some blueprints on one of those, I’d be interested – just for the sake of ministry, of course.
                How would a couple enter their nuptials differently if they knew some of the major challenges they would face in their future together?  We always imagine the good stuff, but what about some of the inevitable bad stuff that many couples face?
·         You’re going to have huge college debt upon graduation, and be welcomed by a lousy job market, or…
·         You’re going to get pregnant years sooner than you planned, or…
·         You’re going to try and get pregnant and won’t be able to, or…
·         Your child is going to be special needs which will require exponentially more from you, or…
·         You’re going to struggle with depression, which will seriously impact your marriage, or…
·         Your spouse will be diagnosed with stage IV cancer, and happily ever after might not be possible, or…
·         You and your spouse will both get pink slipped and wonder how you’re going to make your mortgage, or…
·         You and your spouse are going to approach marriage roles very differently, and it will cause major conflict and even despair in your life, or…
·         You will be committed but your spouse will not, and you’ll feel more alone than ever, or…
·         You fill in the blank.
If couples could be so sober as they approach marriage, they’d ask different questions.  They’d actually ask questions instead of assuming they’ve got it figured out.
Jesus did as good a job as anybody could to sober up his disciples leading up to his death.  In John 14, Jesus referenced his leaving them – he knew he was going to die.  Laced within his warning, however, he offered words of comfort.  Why did he offer words of comfort?
                The disciples were starting to get the idea.  Their Master was going to die at the hands of an angry Jewish and/or Roman authority.  What was going to be their fate?  Should they expect the same treatment once Jesus is gone?  The fairy tale they may have been holding onto was quickly fading into reality.  Following this Jesus – being bound to him – was going to bring with it serious challenges.
                Jesus did not pat them on the head and suggest that everything was going to be peachy.  What he did was offer them words of hope that would help them prevail under the worst circumstances they could imagine.
                I am going to prepare a place for you – in my Father’s house – where there’s plenty of room for you – where you’ll be welcome and with me and the Father and Us and God.  There’s a future worth hoping for when those around you threaten to take it all away.
                Jesus stated that they knew their way “home.”  Thomas challenged his assumption: We don’t know where you’re going, so how can we know how to get there?
                I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  Jesus was saying to his disciples that remaining in step with him, staying in relationship with him would cultivate their relationship with God that would see them through the tough times here while assuring them of their peace and place to come.  The place to come was the full presence of God, the source of life and peace and all that is holy and good.  That same presence can be increasingly experienced here and now.  Intimacy with God.
                In my humble opinion, our culture doesn’t help us walk through the fire with and for each other very well.  It feels like there is a lot of cultural support to cut your losses when the relationship loses its luster.  You just don’t love each other anymore.  You’ve grown apart.  Sometimes couples don’t heal from their wounds – I get that – I’m not minimizing the painful reality faced by millions of people in difficult relationships.
                What I am saying is that there is a level of loving and being loved, of knowing and being known that can only be experienced by choosing to with someone when you’re going through hell.  When I struggle personally and my wife chooses to come alongside, I experience being loved at a profoundly deeper level than when I’m easy to love.  When my wife geos through what life throws at her and I choose to stand with her, by her side, instead of bolting or suggesting she go it alone, we both experience love deeper.  The relationship becomes something that it couldn’t have apart from the commitment when it counts.
                Jesus is making a similar point.  The metaphor he uses borrows from that of a groom preparing a place for his bride.  He is telling his beloved that there are going to be really tough times ahead.  For sure.  But don’t run, even if you’re tempted to.  Rather, choose, in the heat of the moment, to draw closer to God, walking with Jesus.  Because he is the way, the truth, and the life.  Walking with Jesus is walking with God.
                I wonder how your relationship with God is going right now?  I wonder if we, collectively and individually, have succumbed to the cultural norm of keeping relationships at arm’s length even in terms of our faith?  When our faith seems dead, or we lack hope, or we struggle, are we moving closer and closer to God by walking more closely in the way, the truth, and the life?
                How are you cultivating your walk with God?  If you have no idea, you’ve just answered the question.  If you were in a marriage and had no idea how you were cultivating your relationship, I’d say you were headed for trouble.  I’d advise a serious investment of thought and time and activity focused on rebuilding your relationship.  The advice is no different if the scope is Christ.
                So, how is your marriage to Christ?