In Keeping With Repentance

So it has been a while since I have written. Perhaps I have been too busy, too lazy or simply had little or nothing of value to write. It could be all or any of these things. No matter. This morning I was struck by a particular passage. You know one of those all stop moments when you were not really expecting it. I was reading through Matthew chapter 3 and thinking I knew what it was saying. Then it happened, I read verse eight and it was like the world stopped for a moment. The NIV shares Matthew 3:8 like this, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance." Two words that change this passage greatly are in keeping. John the Baptist is being quoted as speaking these words to the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders, or better understood the church people. As a base understanding of John is repentance has taken place. Almost as if John is giving them the benefit of the doubt in regards to their relationship to God. Then this admonishment of verse eight comes. In keeping with repentance. Live a life that is consistent with the life change you have claimed.

The reason this passage stopped me was the challenge it stirred in me. Is my life producing fruit in keeping with the repentance I claim in Jesus Christ? My life is nothing like it was before my encounter with Jesus where I found life after death. Yet, the process of change continues. Over the last few years I have had an increased interest in Gardening. I love the idea of putting in the effort and producing our own food. Not to mention the taste of the food is much better than the mass produced mess from the grocery store. One of the things I have learned is in order to produce what I intend from the garden it takes time and effort and each year the work produces better fruit.

Producing fruit in keeping with repentance means the need to constantly and consistently anchor our lives with Christ. Reading the rest of the chapter John says, please allow a loose translation, being a part of the church will not really produce the fruit alone What matters is living a life that had been transformed for the sake of Jesus Christ. Imagine the horror of finding out you have been religious and faithful as a church member only to find out come cutting time you end up in the fire. This is not about church membership, it is about thinking church membership alone will produce the fruit in keeping with repentance. We are called to live our lives in such a way that the work of repentance made possible through Jesus Christ is evident. That our actions, thoughts and simply our way of being are producing fruit that is a result of having an ever-deepening, head-over-heels in love relationship with Jesus Christ.

Friends in our world to day the church does not have a membership problem, it does not have financial problems. It, we, have a Jesus problem. We talk about Jesus, but we do not live lives that produce fruit in keeping with repentance. It starts with repentance, turning our lives from our own understanding to a life that follows after Jesus Christ with reckless abandon. I believe all the smokescreen challenges we produce in the church would be cleared up if we would humble ourselves, repent and live lives that produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

If you are still reading you might be wondering what gives me the right to say these things. Nothing. I write these words out of being personally convicted by the Holy Spirit. I know I have so much growing to do if my live is going to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. I guess I was hoping I am not alone and could find others who might feel the same way.

The Show

After a long break, I thought I would post something today.

““Why this frenzy of sacrifices?” God’s asking. “Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of burnt sacrifices,  rams and plump grain-fed calves? Don’t you think I’ve had my fill of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats? When you come before me, whoever gave you the idea of acting like this, Running here and there, doing this and that—all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship? “Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray, I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody. Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless. “Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.” This is God’s Message: “If your sins are blood-red, they’ll be snow-white. If they’re red like crimson, they’ll be like wool. If you’ll willingly obey, you’ll feast like kings. But if you’re willful and stubborn, you’ll die like dogs.” That’s right. God says so.”  --Isaiah 1:11-20 (The Message)

Have you ever gone through all the right motions, done all the right things, and still not gotten the results you were hoping for? My guess is this happens to many of us on a regular basis. Whether it is at work, school, with family, at church or with God, we do all the things we think to be right and it seems we continue to come up short. In our relationship with God this is very easy to have happen. We invest our time in making sure we read our Bible. We make sure to be at church almost every Sunday. We make sure we do the right things in the worship service. We might even rearrange our schedules once in a while to do something that seems like something God would appreciate. We do almost anything hoping that it will please God, and make God happy with us.

            Israel in the days of Isaiah was very active in fulfilling all the regulations of God. They brought their sacrifices, observed all the religious holidays and festivals. They were good church folks. Yet as we read from Isaiah 1, God does not seem very pleased with them. They are doing all the right things but there seems to be a problem. The issue restated later in Isaiah a little differently, “The Lord says, “These people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote.” (Isaiah 29:13) In his ministry Jesus would quote this passage when referring to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day. The issue is the people were doing all the external things of worshiping God without any impact on their hearts.

            This has made me wonder how God views worship as it takes places in churches today. Do we put on all the trappings of the show without having our hearts available to God? Do we simply put on a good show hoping that it will please God? The troubling words of Isaiah 1 should haunt us in appropriate ways. God does not desire a good show on Sunday morning where we make sure all the pieces are perfectly in place. God desires that our hearts would be available and stirred to the point where we live as people who have been infected by the grace and love of God. That we would be known as followers of Jesus because we work for justice, help the down-and-out, stand up for the homeless and go to bat for the defenseless. With all respect to Altar Guilds everywhere, I am not sure the importance is on whether the right colored paraments are presented.

            It seems that our relationship with God is not seen best in the ceremony and celebration, the observance of the festivals and Holy Days. To understand the relationship someone has with God through Jesus Christ the best place to look is their heart, and the ways in which a person lives their life. Do we seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God as Micah calls us to, or do we simply want to make sure we have a good show?

Acceptable Idols?

It says more about me than anything else the amount of time I spend thinking and praying about the state of the church in the United States today. Sad as it may be, a good amount of my time is spent consulting with God through prayer and thought about how the Body of Christ can once again get focused on the making of disciples once again. Along the way I have had more conversations than I can count with clergy, lay persons, and those outside of the church to try and find some direction. Through the conversations I have heard all kinds of reasons for the situation of the church today, economy, hypocrisy, theological liberalism, theological fundamentalism, not to mention the changes of our culture and values of the world around us.

Does it seem strange to anyone else that we in the church are very good at looking outward to find answers  to our problems but we try to function intensely in turned?

The long list of reasons given for the state of many churches, let's remember one blogger could never represent all of anything, matter, however none of them and all of them are the root of the issue. All kinds of spit and polish can be put to it, however the core of our issue is we place other things ahead of Jesus Christ in our communities. There is this wonderful Old Testament word for placing things ahead of God in our lives, idolatry. No matter what it is, no matter how good it is for our lives, whenever we place something in higher value than God in our lives we are in an idolatrous relationship.

Now in most cases we are not talking about idolatry like in the hard core biblical examples. There is not collection of gold for the creation of a calf to worship. In many cases the idol is more of what we consider an acceptable idol, or shall we call it a tolerated idol. Funny thing, idolatry is a lot like being pregnant, there is no such thing as being kind of pregnant. There is not such thing as a little idolatry. Much less things that are acceptable idols.

Take a few moments and think about the things that are more important to you than the relationship you have with God through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Is your financial security more important? Is your personal comfort? The new car, job or house? How about the things and stuff of faith like the Bible, the church building, the way of doing church? It is especially dangerous when  our idols are so draped in God that we can get confused. We cannot have a full relationship with God without the Holy Scriptures, however we must not elevate the scriptures above God. It is extremely useful for the people that make up the church to have a space for worship, mission and ministry but is the physical space more important than the God who calls and loves us? Are we so tied to our ways of doing things that we miss what God is doing in our midst?

No one is exempt from idolatry. It seems that we all have things in our lives that become acceptable idols. At the same time we all have the same Good News available, we can lay down our false gods and return the One True God to the rightful place in our lives. When the people of the church begin to do this, to return the focus, direction and hopes of their lives to God above all things, all the reasons given for the struggles of the church will melt away. As a people we have been called to order our lives in certain ways. Jesus Christ is the first and foremost. This includes the call of Christ to go and make disciples. This includes the idea that to gain we must lose everything.

Friends, the time has come to refocus our lives, and put away all the idols, including and especially the acceptable ones.

The Collision of Theology and Ideology

One of the great joys I have in my journey with God is to be a part of this things called the United Methodist Church. While there are others out there who see it as the most troubling of denominations, thanks Tony Jones, I find the amazing complexity and diversity that can gather under the banner of United Methodist. It is true this complex diversity comes with some challenges and some downright ugly times in the life of the church. Reality check, whenever human beings are entangled with the works of a Holy God, things are going to get messy.

Nonetheless, here I find myself in a denomination where many are focused on making sure the way they see God will be the dominate view.This has caused me to wonder if the tension at hand is about theology as has been put forward, or if it has more to do with ideology. At first blush contrasting the two might seem like an exercise in splitting hairs. There is much in common between the two, however I think there is a vast difference.

Over the past few years I have decided to go from being vocal about any of the positions available to spending more time listening to all. Through this process I have found some things that might be helpful to highlight. The following are the common points I have heard from many in the conversations:

• God of love. No matter what angle is being taken to which discussion point I have heard people talking about how loving God is. Further I hear in the conversation that God has unending love for humanity.
• God of grace. Through it all I hear folks not only taking about the grace of God but they are excited about the access we as humanity we have to the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Like with the love of God, I find across the board the grace of God is available to all humanity.
• Celebration of community. Another common thread to in the conversation is the importance of the community of God, the church. In the complex diversity I have not found voices ready to abandon the community, rather voices longing for the community to be whole.
• Justice. In all the listening I have yet to find a voice claiming God's support of injustice. It seems apparent to those I have listened to the Scriptures call for the people of God to be Holy and walking in justice.
• Christ Centered. The pursuit of a Christlike life is what I have heard in all the narratives as I have slowed down enough to listen. There is an earnest effort underway to embody the way of Jesus by all. 

There were other common points, however these were the ones that were the most prevalent. It is important to get clear each of these common points were carried out differently by different people. Yet at the heart of the different actions there is a common quest at the center. This difference in action and core is the place where theology and ideology meet. Contrary to what I have heard many suggest there is actually a very small theological difference in this glorious mystery called the United Methodist Church. There is however, a significant difference in ideology. This is not new to the Church, not just the UMC. Since the day Christ empowered humanity to carry out the community of God, there has been a clash of ideology. Whether it was when Peter had the vision in Acts 10, or the debate about circumcision in Acts 15. We find over and over in the Scriptures people who remain focused on God, and the ways God is at work in the lives of humanity, yet they embody this in different ways. Still here in 2012 there is a prevailing thought in the UMC that we need to all think, act and believe exactly the same way. As I am fond of telling my congregation, when a group of people think, act and believe exactly the same claiming God at the center and on their side it is called a cult not the church of Jesus Christ. Even the people Jesus called around him during his earthly pilgrimage were very different people. Jesus called together a vast diversity that thought differently, acted differently and even believed differently. Yet at the center was not getting one ideology to win over the others, it was the pursuit of embodying the community of God here on earth as we ready for the return of Christ setting all things are God designed. 

So church, UMC and others, the time for repentance has come. For far too long we have chased ideology more than we have chased God. For far too long we have tried to get the rest of the world to see things the way we see them instead of seeking the face of God above all other things. Many of  the things that divide us   are things that are not of the highest level of importance. Is there injustice in the world, you bet, just remember yours is not the only way to address it. Is the Church of Jesus Christ broken, absolutely, again remember there is more than one way to get us back to focusing on Jesus. Anytime we think our way is the only way of following God we have lost sight of our theology and settled for ideology. May we be a people who focus more on God and the ways God is in relationship with all creation, than on how we think this ought to look.

Sex, Money and Power in The Church

Last week mercifully the General Conference on the United Methodist Church finished its two week meeting. For those who are not familiar with General Conference it is a gathering held every four years for the United Methodist Church. The design is to be a time of worship and community where the delegates define the parameters by which we will live together as Followers of Jesus in the United Methodist tradition. What actually happens, well that is a different story all together.

In my short time with the United Methodist I have followed a handful of General Conference sessions. Each time I have heard with great passion that the world is watching. First, I am not sure that much of society really cares about what we as Methodists decide, could be due to our irrelevance for too long. Second I wonder if the people making the passionate claim of the world watching have processed that in light of the words they are speaking. As I have reflected and prayed about the happenings of General Conference, I wondered what is it the world would see as the people gathered?

My thoughts are tragic in some ways. The casual observer could think the church is all about sex, money and power. Hours were spend in formal and informal settings on the battle around these three things. I do mean battle, as there were sides chosen, a game plan put forward, and a hope there would be winners and losers. There were impassioned speeches saying that unless the church changes the way it relates to people living a homosexual lifestyle we are not being faithful to Jesus. At the same time there are those who say if we change the way the church relates to homosexuals we are not being faithful. What if neither side of the issue is being faithful? Jesus never directly addresses homosexuality, however Jesus does address matters of sex. He has a call for purity, never fully defining what that means. The focus for Jesus is not the sexual relationships, rather it is the purity in our relationship with God and letting that guide all of our earthly relationships.

Nonetheless, from the outside looking in, it might be seen that winning the battle about sex is more important than letting Jesus lead our lives. I wonder what it would be like for the watching world to see Jesus before they see the argument about sexuality? I wonder what would happen if the watching world could see a people who were madly in love with Jesus Christ and still did not agree how that gets lived out?

Sex was not the only hotly debated issue of General Conference. There was a whole lot of discussion about money. Where it comes from and who gets to spend it on what. Just like any other multi-national business the church was seen to be arguing over money that is not theirs, it all belongs to God, while the people of most need are ignored. I wonder about all the money spend on the battle mentioned above regarding sexuality. There were millions of dollars spent to print material, have  people present at the write times and to make sure people knew the right way to vote. More of God's money spent on a church squabble. What would happen if the same people who spent all the propaganda money matched it dollar for dollar with fighting malaria? Or taking on the challenges of indigenous people around the world being displaced for economic gain of a few? No, the question is which agency of an inward turned institution would get the money.

So we have covered sex and money, now we move to the root of it all, power. As I tuned in the the slow motion train wreck called General Conference what I witnessed was the battle for power. Who would be the ones who controlled what happened in the church. There were the voting blocks where people we demanded to vote the same, not because it was best for the Church of Jesus Christ, but so those who hold the power could maintain that power. No matter how many times it was proclaimed to the contrary, it was a two week turf war with the extremes looking to claim more ground from the other. Again the losers were not the people present at the meeting, rather the people in the churches across the world and more importantly, the people who desperately need the church to be about the work and mission that is Jesus Christ while we are busy claiming power.

So as the world is watching I think they could see how broken the church is. They could see the focus on sex, money and power. However, this is not what the church really looks like. There are extremes on either end of the spectrum. As is often the case the extremes get the most press and air time. Also no surprise the two extremes tend to talk passed each other in an effort to win the debate. If I had to put a percentage on this I would say each end of the spectrum is 10-15 percent of the church. That means there is 70-80 percent of the church that lives somewhere in the middle trying to keep the focus on being the church of Jesus Christ.

So how do we move past the extremes being the voice of the church? How do we get passed the issues of sex, money and power no longer controlling the efforts of the church? Where is the middle ground? Here is an idea that may seem radical or undesirable to some. What if the extreme ends of the church simple went their own way to have their own denominations? I have become convinced there is no middle ground where the two extremes will sit together in harmony and unity. If the extremes would go do their thing, server God as best they feel they can around their special interests, the rest of us could be about the work of Jesus free of all the rhetoric and propaganda. It is hard enough to journey together as the community of the church, but it might be a little more possible if the extremes allowed for a middle majority to have room to move. This is not about power to the majority or any of that. Simply, I think most people are more interested in following Jesus above the issues of sex, money and power. There are a majority of people who look to live in the state of grace that keeps in proper alignment personal holiness and social holiness. There are a majority of people who want to see scriptural holiness lead to more than arguments about who loves Jesus more.

There is no doubt the world is watching. Further the watching world is only seeing a church that fights over its own self interest. I wonder what might happen if a watching world looked at the church and saw the very face of Jesus? What would  happen if the watching world looked at the church and saw the followers of Jesus focus on life more than being right or winning the battle?

So, perhaps it is time for some to go their way and follow Jesus as best they can in other expressions. Perhaps the path of most integrity is to stop trying to get the other extreme to follow Jesus the way we want them to, and get about the business of following Jesus as best we can where God has placed us. I hope, pray and dream of a church that is not so focused on sex, money and power. I hope and dream of a church that is focused on connecting people with Jesus Christ, even when that means we sacrifice ourselves. I believe this dream and hope can be a reality and I invite others to join the prayer and journey.

Reflections On Marriage (13 Years Later)

Today marks 13 years of the marriage journey with Sarah. Along the way we have made our way through a lot. Some challenging times like the death of my dad, and many joy filled times like the birth of our children. As I look back over the years there are a few things I have found to be key to our marriage. On this anniversary day I thought I would share them with you all.

The Most Important Earthly Relationship
Our lives are filled with relationships of various forms and intensity. The family relationships we have we are born into. The work relationships we share we do not always choose. Many other relationships are outside of our control. The relationship with our spouse is a relationship we choose, unless you are in a culture of arranged marriage. This choice is not simply about who we will share life with, This is not a choice about our sex life. This is a choice which shows who is our most important earthly relationship. There should be no other relationship of earth more important than the relationship to our spouse. This includes, our parents, our children, our friends, etc.. A  key to marriage is not only remembering this to be true but having all your practice of life reflect this truth.

Forgiveness Required
I cannot tell you the number of boneheaded things I have done during the course of our marriage. The joy is, neither can Sarah. There is not a scorecard being kept of boneheaded actions. However when I mess up I know there needs to be a seeking of forgiveness, and when our spouses mess up we must be ready to offer forgiveness. Some actions are more difficult to forgive than others, still the must be forgiveness for a marriage to flourish. Part of forgiveness is not keeping a record of the times each other has messed up.

Marrying Up
People far smarter than I am have studied marriages over the long haul. One of the most common thoughts among long-term marriages is the idea that people had married up. Not only the thought of marrying up, but conducted their lives and treated their spouses accordingly. I am so blessed that God placed Sarah and I together, and I have to acknowledge that I do not deserve such a blessing as being married to her. The times when I forget this are the times we have rough patches in our marriage. When we view and treat our spouse as an undeserved gift from God it changes our relationship for the better.

God Fusion
Marriage is not always easy. I do not know how people who do have God at the center of their lives and marriage pull it off. I am not talking about merely having God as companion in a life and marriage, I am talking about having a life and marriage that is fused with God. Fusion is the process of two things coming together to make one. Our lives must be fused with God to experience all that God has for us. To find comfort, joy, and love we must have our lives become one with God. The same is true of our marriages. We must take our fused lives and and fuse them with God. Once fusion takes place something new is created that is greater than the sum of the parts. Marriages often struggle because we refuse to lose ourselves in God and the other person for fear of losing who we are. A key to a deep and fulfilling marriage is allowing ourselves to be fused to our spouse and with God.

Having Fun
Not much explanation needed. For any relationship to thrive we need to have fun with those we are in relationship with.

Diligence
Great marriages do not just happen, they take effort. The effort is not always difficult, still there needs to be effort put in to develop a marriage of great value. This is more than the occasional trip away, or attending a conference here and there. Those things are important and should be done. It is the daily work which is most important and bears the most fruit. We must be willing to put in the effort.

Enjoy Time Together
Last, enjoy time together on a regular basis. Call it date night or what every you want. Relationships take regular time invested.

There is so much more that goes into a great marriage but these are some keys I have learned over the 13 years I have journeyed with Sarah and have been blessed. May they be a blessing to you.

Hope Becomes Reality

The journey is complete, from the entry to the city, to the cross and now the resurrection. No longer is death the final answer. For centuries people waited for the Messiah to come and bring about redemption. In that time people had many designs and hopes of what the Messiah would be and how the redemption would come. Jesus was clear how it would work, the would arrest him, beat him, crucify him. He would be dead and buried and on the third day he would be raised from the dead. Great News friends it is the third day, Jesus is alive!!!

God has done the work of bringing the promise to reality. Now we must do our part and realize that which we have hoped for is at our finger tips. We hope for many things, yet all that is hoped for can be found in the same place, the empty tomb. Whatever we think is lacking in our lives can be found in the resurrected Jesus. The hope we have becomes reality in Jesus. It is important to remember a relationship with Jesus will change what we hope for in life. Because of the resurrection things once thought important will not seem so important now. Grudges long held can be washed away. The past which binds us is broken and freedom is found.

A simple prayer for you the reader today, May you know the love God has for you. May you know God has set us free through Jesus. May you know God is for real because the tomb is empty. My your hope become reality as you hand your life over to Jesus Christ.