Sunday, November 25, 2012

121125 Walk with Me: Overwhelmed


Storms happen.

Jesus had just finished a significant amount of ministry, and wanted to head to some other area along the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:35-41). Fishing boats in those times had low sides to make it easier to lift the haul of fish inside. Jesus was wiped out – a sign of his humanity – and was crashed in the back of the boat where they likely stored the nets. A storm picked up in that Tahoe-sized lake and, like the lake we know and love, meant potential calamity, especially in an overloaded fishing boat.

The winds and waves worsened, and the little boat started taking on water. The disciples panicked. Jesus slept. Finally, out of their desperation, they roused Jesus with unvarnished incredulity: don’t you even care that we’re all about to die?

Earlier this month, I think a lot of people were praying similar prayers as Super Storm Sandy attacked our eastern seaboard. How could God allow such a thing to happen? But we don’t reserve such prayers just for natural disasters of earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, or drought and heat. We have plenty of other occasions which seem to call forth our inner disciple, questioning whether or not God exists, gives a rip, or is able to do anything about it. Cancer. Dementia. Alzheimer's. MS. MD. HIV. PTSD. Schizophrenia. Bi-polar. Rape. Divorce. Unemployment. Domestic violence. War. Terrorism. We have plenty of storms that threaten us all throughout our lives. Just like the disciples, we tend to freak out. For many, it is at that moment that prayer is finally uttered to a God we tend to ignore until it hits the fan.

The “prayers” did rouse Jesus. He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Immediately, peace and still happened. Mark recounts this event portraying Jesus as treating the wind and sea as he did a demon-possessed person in need of exorcism. Mark offers this take to help us see that the God who handled the individual struggles is big enough to handle the biggest challenges that atmospheric conditions can throw our way.

This would not be the first time the disciples would face faith-challenging situations. Around the time Mark’s Gospel was being circulated, the disciples were facing severe persecution from Jewish leaders as well as Roman authorities. These forces would not just tell them that they were wrong – they would illustrate the fact by beating them severely to show that the disciples’ god was powerless against Roman brutality. The boat was going down…

Sometimes we wonder if God is making all this happen, as if it all is part of God’s perfect plan. I don’t prefer this way of thinking about the awful realities we face in life. It implies that God wills the good and the bad, the holy and the evil. It means that rapists rape in accordance with God’ will. It means all the “organic matter” we face is somehow exactly what God intended. This portrays God as an apparently unjust deity where the playing field is not level, and sometimes the people who honor God most get rewarded with what seems like hell. How do we make sense of this? Why doesn’t Jesus rebuke those storms?

Because of this apparent disparity, some wonder if the story is even credible. Did this actually happen? Did Jesus really rebuke the weather into submission? Does it matter if this story is to be taken literally? Does the story’s impact change if it is not taken literally? This is for you to mull over, along with hundreds and thousands who have done the same.

The point is the same regardless of your hermeneutic: peace followed prayer.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.
His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. – (Apostle Paul, Philippians 4:6-7, NLT)

“Organic matter” happens. Some of it we bring on ourselves. Some of it comes from others. All of it a reality of living in an imperfect, unpredictable, multi-variable world. Sometimes we think we simply want a miracle to give us relief from whatever we are facing. But like those in Jesus’ time who were healed, we discover there is something more important. None of the people who were healed by Jesus are still walking around today. They have all passed on. But when they drew close to their last moments, I am sure many of them did so with peace, knowing that there was a God who was bigger than cancer, the sword, their mistakes. A God who would soon welcome them into his loving embrace.

So, when you are feeling overwhelmed, pray. Pray in unvarnished ways. Worry more about being honest than about offending God with your panicky prayers that might come off offensive. Pray for the obvious problems you face. But place your hope on being in the presence of God now and forever, where true strength and peace reside. Miracles of healing and calmed storms may sometimes happen. The experience of the peace and presence of God which transcends our pain and suffering can happen regardless of our immediate prayer being answered. This is the greater answer to our prayers, that we are not alone, that we are loved, and that hope remains.

May you, as you find yourself living life with all of its storm fronts, call out to the God Jesus found himself in, and find a peace that truly does pass understanding.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

121118 Walk with Me: Miracle Grow


Has there been a particular season of your life when you felt especially close to God?  A time when your faith truly motivated your attitude and actions, when you were in the spiritual “zone” so to speak?  Think about that season for a moment.  What was happening in your life?  How were your friends supporting you on your journey?  What do you remember about what you were doing with your time?  Where was your focus?

In Mark’s Gospel (chapter 4), Jesus is referenced speaking about the kingdom of God being like a seed that, though small, grows into something quite large.  Jesus was probably referring to the broader view of the impact of the kingdom on the world – that is spreads quickly, surprisingly, and has the potential to grow very large and be very productive.  On a personal, individual level, this gives a glimpse of faith’s potential in life – God can do incredible things is and through us.  In this view, faith makes a massive impact on our life.  A person experiencing this kind of faith finds it pretty mind-blowing.

How would you rate your faith’s vitality today?  Nearly lifeless?  Brief, shallow moments of God’s presence?  Stuck in a rut – you haven’t experienced fresh wind for quite some time?  Or growing and thriving and producing more and more life for yourself and others?

There is reason why we experience faith at varying levels of vitality, and why some people take off when they hear the news of Christ while others seem indifferent.  Jesus told his disciples that it all had to do with the soil in which the kingdom seed is planted (Mark 4:1-20).  This was important for the disciples to hear.  Not just for themselves, but to give them insight as to why their message would be received or not in the coming years.  Jesus identified four types of soil.  The hard-packed path offers no chance for the seed to take root – birds come and eat it before it has a chance.  Rocky soil allows for the seed to get started, but roots can’t develop, and when the heat of the sun comes, the plant withers and dies.  Weed or thorn ridden soil allows the seed to develop, but the plant gets choked by its competition and doesn’t thrive.  Good soil allows the seed to really take root, and develops a mind-blowing harvest.

Could it be that if your faith seems pretty lifeless it is because the environment will not allow it to live?  I have counseled many people who have felt that God was quite distant – maybe nonexistent.  Upon hearing about their lives, I am usually not surprised.  Except for a casual prayer during the day, there is no though or time given their faith.  The seed is just left to sit out in the open.  Faith is dead.  I remember a time in my youth when I was so busy with everything but God that God really didn’t have a chance to break in.  Maybe you had no choice up to this point – your parents or peers didn’t allow you any other option, and you didn’t know any better.  But now you know: you have the capacity to change your soil.  Want a better faith experience?  Trade up from your hard-packed, lifeless soil to the good stuff.

If you find yourself experiencing an occasional spiritual high followed by long periods of drought, you may have rocky soil.  I personally experienced this when I discovered the power of worship in connecting me up with God.  I would get a serious spiritual buzz from worship.  Naturally, I would look for opportunities to lose myself in worship services.  But after awhile, I couldn’t get my fix any more, and I wasn’t terribly interested in hearing the teaching.  It’s like I enjoyed the buzz, but then it faded.  Jesus’ audience had folks like me in the crowd.  They came to get their fix – see a miracle or two, maybe catch and exorcism.  But when Jesus began to address how God wanted to change their lives with the Way, they walked.  Are you a user like that?  Are you only into God for the buzz?  If so, you’ll find yourself perennially on the faith roller coaster, with moments of sheer ecstasy followed by long periods of feeling lost and out of touch.  Oh, and your life won’t really be any better.  Neither will your impact on the world around you.  The good news is that you have a choice, now that you are aware, of what kind of soil you are going to provide for your faith.  Why not upgrade to some “Grade A” soil?

If you can see that you are stuck in your faith, it’s probably because something is choking out your faith.  Your passion to follow Jesus has been compromised by competing concerns.  Money often makes the top ten list here.  Work.  Relationships.  What others think.  Unexamined theology.  Politics.  Sex.  Apathy.  Indulgence.  Self-centeredness.  But enough about me – what’s on your list?  The good news is that you have a choice.  You can choose to get rid of the competing weeds and thorns which are strangling your faith.  Why not get a little dirty and give your faith room to flourish?

The goal, of course, is to provide our faith some good soil in which to take root and prosper.  With this kind of environment comes big things from that kingdom seed.  But how do you get such soil?
Miracle Gro.  Go to Home Depot and buy a bag and call it good.  You’re welcome.  We’re done here.
If only it were that easy.  The fact is that good soil doesn’t just happen.  Even if there is good dirt to begin with, you don’t just walk into a field and throw seed around.  You have to cultivate the soil, which takes time and energy: worthwhile effort.  You are also going to need some fertilizer.  Once you work the fertilizer into the soil, churning it up pretty good, you’ll be about ready to sow the seed.

Where do you get fertilizer?  Good news, here: you already have it in abundance, and you will never run out for the rest of your life.  It’s not really free, but you’re buying it with every day of your life whether you like it or not.  Life is not perfect.  We all do really stupid things on a regular basis.  Sometimes people do really stupid things pointed in our direction.  All of this creates loads and loads of “organic matter” that we are left to deal with.  I am referring, of course, to manure, poop, fecal matter, crap, etc.  “Organic matter” sounds so smart, though, doesn’t it?

What we do with our “organic matter”makes all the difference to our soil.  If we choose to ignore it, it will just lay there like a landmine in a pasture, waiting for some innocent, inattentive farmer or hiker to step in it.  When we ignore or deny our “organic matter”, it doesn’t add to our lives.  It just sits there, stinking things up around it, and stinking up those who step in it.  When we ignore the hurts of life, the disappointments, the tragedies, the let downs, the shattered dreams, the injustices, the betrayals, the aches and pains, etc., they do us no good.  They do us harm, really, because we have to walk around those areas carefully – as do others who know where our “organic matter” is – all to avoid the stink.

But if we choose, we can see the “organic matter” in our lives for what it is: fertilizer.  We can work it out and work it into our lives.  This is cultivation.  We acknowledge it.  We address it.  We process it.  We learn from it.  We gain value from it.  We make it work for us.  We help others when they find themselves dealing with similar crap.  The “organic matter”, which was once just a stinky pile of steaming mess we wanted to flush or bury (deny), is transformed into a key contributor to beauty in our lives.

I do not believe that God orchestrates “organic matter’s” entrance in our lives.  But I have found, in my own life, that when I ask God to help me understand my “organic matter” and grow from it, and when I choose to let God use my “organic matter” for the benefit of others, beauty replaces the ugliness.  This is why good soil is so good.  It represents a grand reversal.  Instead of being forever defined by our “organic matter”, the “organic matter” gets cultivated into something which allows beauty to emerge.

What kind of soil represents your life?  Want to trade up?  Your hope just may be in how you deal with your “organic matter”…

May God bless you and your “organic matter”.  Amen!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

121104 Walk with Me: Crazy Candidate Jesus


The last half of the third chapter of Mark’s gospel includes the calling of Jesus’ disciples, criticism from the religious right, serious concern from Jesus’ own family members regarding Jesus’ mental stability, and Jesus’ response to it all.

When Jesus put together his team, I find it very interesting – and refreshing – that he didn’t stack it with one type of person. He had a great mix of guys around his table: small business owners, religious and political conservatives, and religious and political progressives. He did this because he wanted to hear their perspective, and he knew that to reach many people of varied backgrounds required servants of various backgrounds. The dinner conversations must have been incredible…

While the twelve may have been gung-ho for Jesus, there were others who were less enthusiastic. His own family, for instance, wondered if he was really in control of himself. his ability to overpower demons and heal people seriously threatened the Washington elites (Jerusalem leaders), who simply wrote him off as a servant of Satan. Negative campaigning has gone on for a very long time, it seems. Jesus refused to play along, reasserted his authority, and kept doing his thing.

This Tuesday the United States will hold its next presidential election. Some pastors in pulpits across the nation have used their position to make their case for a particular candidate, often using some sort of Christian measure to make one stand out apart from the other. I think it’s right to vote – it is a privilege and responsibility. But I think it unwise to try to make a case for one candidate being more Christian than another. I think it makes the same mistake the Sadducees made in the first century – trading in their integrity for political power, and ending up with little of either.

As you live through this week, consider the following litany we read before taking communion in worship this morning, and remember where our allegiance really lies.

We remember and renew our vow with Christ as our primary leader in life.
  • We’ll remember that real power in this world — the power to save, to transform, to change — ultimately rests not in political parties or presidents or protests but in the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus.
  • We’ll remember that, through the Holy Spirit, this power dwells within otherwise ordinary people who as one body continue the mission of Jesus: preaching good news to the poor, freeing the captives, giving sight to the blind, releasing the oppressed, and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:16-21).
  • We’ll remember that freedom — true freedom — is given by God and is indeed not free. It comes with a cost and it looks like a cross.
  • We’ll remember our sin and our need to repent.
  • We’ll remember that the only Christian nation in this world is the Church, a holy nation that crosses all human-made boundaries and borders.
  • We’ll remember that our passions are best placed within the passion of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).
  • We’ll remember that we do not conform to the patterns of this world, but we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).
  • We’ll remember that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.
  • And we’ll re-member the body of Christ as the body of Christ, confessing the ways in which partisan politics has separated us from one another and from God.