Oh My God.

This is a video of the Jars of Clay song, "Oh My God."  It's a song that always makes me think and one I think appropriate for this day of preparation as we begin our journey to the cross with Christ.  For me, this song is a prayer that encompasses the depth of one crying out to God.  I invite you to listen and let it speak to you.  I hope it is as powerful for you as it has been for me.  (This video isn't perfect....especially all the white-guy Jesus pics at the end - sorry about that!)

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Oh, my God, look around this placeYour fingers reach around the boneYou set the break and set the toneFlights of grace and future fallsIn present pain, all fools say, "Oh, my God"

Oh, my God, why are we so afraid?We make it worse when we don't bleedThere is no cure for our diseaseTurn a phrase and rise againOr fake your death and only tellYour closest friends, oh, my God

Oh, my God, can I complain?You take away my firm beliefAnd graft my soul upon your griefWeddings, boats and alibisAll drift away and a mother cries

Liars and fools, sons and failuresThieves will always sayLost and found, ailing wanderersHealers always say

Whores and angels, men with problemsLeavers always sayBroken hearted, separatedOrphans always say

War creators, racial hatersPreachers always sayDistant fathers, fallen warriorsGivers always say

Pilgrim saints, lonely widowsUsers always sayFearful mothers, watchful doubtersSaviors always say

Sometimes I can not forgiveThese days mercy cuts so deepIf the world was how it should beMaybe I could get some sleep

While I lay, I'd dream we're betterScales were gone and faces lighterWhen we wake, we hate our brotherWe still move to hurt each other

Sometimes I can close my eyesAnd all the fear that keeps me silentFalls below my heavy breathingWhat makes me so badly bent?

We all have a chance to murderWe all have the need for wonderWe still want to be remindedThat the pain is worth the plunder

Sometimes when I lose my gripI wonder what to make of HeavenAll the times I thought to reach upAll the times I had to give up

Babies underneath their bedsHospitals that cannot treat themAll the wounds that money causesAll the comforts of cathedrals

All the cries of thirsty childrenThis is our inheritanceAll the rage of watching mothersThis is our greatest offense

Oh, my GodOh, my GodOh, my God

How will you take this journey with Christ?  Will you attend a worship service tomorrow in remembrance of the last supper of  Christ?  Might your feet be washed by another, as you recognize the vulnerability those disciples must have felt as Jesus knelt before them?

With so much going on in the world today my prayer is that we never cease to cry out to our God on behalf of those whose voices are silent.  At the same time tonight I pray that we might be reassured that God hears the cries of the oppressed, and works to set all captives free.

Prayer:
Oh my God, as we reflect on the things of the world that have a hold on us I pray you would free us.  As we come to terms with your sacrifice for us help us to realize the significance it has for all people.  Strengthen us to be like Christ in our words, thoughts, and actions.  Amen.

Not all Christians are assholes.

When I was in undergrad I learned of Pascal's Wager.  The basic premise is that is is beneficial to believe in God and be wrong than never to have believed at all.  It's all about what's at stake.  I know that living as a Christian has allowed me to experience the world in some amazing ways, and serving as a pastor has given me opportunities to be a part of some of the most wonderful sacred moments of people's lives.  I've held babies that are minutes old and the hands of the eldest as they pass from this life into the next.  My faith challenges me every single day to rise above my limitations in knowledge and ability, to trust that there is a greater purpose for much of what I cannot understand in this life.

Last week I was asked to help facilitate a small group discussion surrounding the denomination and our response (or lack of) to the changing culture of inclusivity.  In other words we finally were afforded the opportunity to really talk about the division that exists surrounding the full embrace of our homosexual brothers and sisters.  I actually dreaded the conversation because I am so tired of certain people having to prove that they are some how worthy of God's love, worthy to be in a marital relationship, worthy of a call to the ministry.  The more I am confronted by our denomination's lack of progress in this area the more I question my ability to stick it out.

The conversation was actually one of those "holy conferencing" moments.  We did our best to just listen to people.  It wasn't about fixing their thought process or changing their opinions.  People shared from their heart and for that I was grateful.  It wasn't until the last question that I really got to thinking.  It was a simple question, "What's at stake?"

What's at stake?  Think about it.  I guess that's what made me think of Pascal's Wager - for those who are so adamant that being gay is a sin, what's really at stake?  Do people really think that one day when they encounter God there will be a great big high five for "keeping people from serving God, preventing people from loving one another, or answering the call to serve the church?"  Is it not most beneficial to afford all people the freedom to be who God has created them to be?  What's really at stake?

Then Indiana comes up with this Religious Freedom Restoration Act - which ensures people freedom to exercise their religious beliefs.  I'd like to send the Christians who think this is a necessary law over to China so they can really experience what its like to be persecuted for believing in Jesus.  Not being able to make people pray in school or display the Ten Commandments at the courthouse isn't really destroying our freedom.  Anybody have to hide last week when they went to church?  Anybody risk their lives reading their Bible or praying in public?  We are pretty free, we just need to be respectful.  Won't more people come to know God's love by our actions than our words?  How does ensuring religious freedom automatically lead to people discriminating against others?  Have they actually read what Jesus did/said?

What's really at stake?  What are we so afraid of?

I ask myself, what's at stake?  I know my experience of the Holy Spirit that has called me by name to serve to the best of my ability.  I know the love of a God who created me to be as weird and stubborn and uncoordinated as anybody else.  I know a Christ who came so that ALL people would know the love of God - the guy who really broke all the rules by including the untouchables in the redemption of the world.  I want people to know God, to know Love, to know Peace, to know Eternity.  I'm just not sure how they're ever going to know it when we act like this.

I'm tired of being a Christian.  I'm tired of people who claim they are so Christlike using their beliefs as a weapon to destroy others.  I'm tired of being lumped into a group of people that can't see beyond their fears.

Tonight, I'm just tired.

Dollars and Cents.

12 1-3 Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house.4-6 Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them.

This story has always seemed so weird to me, I guess because of the intimate nature of Mary's anointing of Jesus.  It is pure adoration, giving of not only an expensive perfume but of her very self.  She loved Jesus, especially since he had raised her brother Lazarus from the dead.  And then there's the voice of Judas, one I expect came above all the other voices in the room.

"What a waste."

It seems like there is always one of those voices around.  The person who disagrees with what is being said or done, the one whose voice is louder than the rest.   The practical one who is seeing the dollars and cents rather than trusting in the powerful movement of the Spirit.  For Judas of course, it wasn't even really about what the money could have done for those in need.

Faith seems to encompass this balance between the practical and the mysterious, challenging us not to get too caught up in details at the expense of the larger movement of God.  It is certainly a delicate balance, isn't it?

As we enter into this holiest of weeks we walk this tightrope - watching and waiting as Jesus last days are remembered and celebrated.  We realize we are a lot like the Pharisees, caught up in keeping people out rather than embracing the love of God for all people.  We're like Judas, tempted by the practical things of the world, worrying more about ourselves than anyone else.  And I hope tonight that we are also a lot like Mary who sought out ways to be a friend to Jesus, to adore the one who came to save her, no matter the cost.

The challenge is to listen more to the Spirit than we do to the Judas' in our midst.  Offering ourselves to this journey rather than remaining caught up in the dollars and sense.  May God move in and through our lives this week, as we watch and wait, journeying to the cross.  Amen.

Peace.

This is what I looked like early this morning when my phone started making the Amber Alert noise.  I've never heard that noise before, let alone long before I should have been awake.  It certainly was one of those noises that makes you want to shoot straight up, not something I could just forget and go back to sleep.  I've seen some people complaining about the noise today on Facebook, but I totally recognize that if it were someone I knew that went missing I would want all the help I could get to make sure the child was found as quickly as possible.

Thankfully the situation that caused the alert this morning has been resolved and the young girl has been returned back to safety.  I know that while I tried to get back to sleep my thoughts and prayers went to the mother of this young child, and I prayed she would find peace in the midst of this scary situation.  It made me think about all the children that live in places of war where the sounds of gunfire and bombs are commonplace, and just how horrible it must be to live in fear day in and out.  It took a jolting horrible sound in the middle of the night to get my mind racing - maybe it was a good thing.

We get so comfortable in life, so used to having what we need, enough to eat, clothes to wear.  Most of us have a car to drive and are capable of keeping it fueled up.  It's easy to just rest in this comfort and lose perspective on God's call for us to take care of the orphans and widows, the poor, the oppressed.  We are called to be peace makers, but also to work for justice, to actively pursue opportunities to connect with those who have been ostracized.

Sometimes it can feel overwhelming and frustrating when we get the feeling that there is not much we can do - and it is then when I think we are called to pray.  We must pray trusting that our prayers are heard and received, that God is concerned with the people on our hearts and minds (whether we know them personally or not).

Psalm 36 says:

God’s love is meteoric,
his loyalty astronomic,
His purpose titanic,
his verdicts oceanic.
Yet in his largeness
nothing gets lost;
Not a man, not a mouse,
slips through the cracks.

How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings,
To eat our fill at the banquet you spread
as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
You’re a fountain of cascading light,
and you open our eyes to light."

For whom is God calling you to pray this day?  For what situations or people in the world do you have a deep concern? How is God calling you out of your comfort zone to pursue peace, justice and mercy on behalf of others?

Prayer:  God you have created us in your image.  Help us to see that sacred image in others, those with whom we disagree, those whom we love the most, and those that we may never meet but are in need of your presence in their lives.  Give us courage to trust in Your response to our prayers, hear us as we again cry out for peace in the world.  Amen.

Laugh!

A couple of my students sent me this video.  They promised to try these out and let me know which ones were most successful.  I cracked up when I watched this, and I hope you did too.  Sometimes it's ok to just laugh at ourselves.  

These days so much of what we do is serious.  We get up and work all day, come home and go through the evening routine we do our best to live out our faith day in and day out.  It seems like we can get so offended when someone gives Christians a hard time, we get pretty heated when we feel like we are being discriminated or picked on because of our beliefs.  I think we forget that the fathers and mothers of our faith were ostracized and truly suffered for their faith.  The crazy thing, is that most of them endured it without getting so offended.  Rather than use these incidents to fuel our desire to act in love in the world we often get pretty judgmental about what "God will do" to those who disagree with us.  When did we get so serious?  

Laughter is so good for us.  In fact there are lots of medical studies done on the healing qualities of laughter, not to mention that when we really laugh we even burn calories!  Children laugh 300-400 times each day, while on average adults only laugh 20.  

When is the last time you really  laughed?  How might you find joy in the midst of the seriousness of your responsibilities?  Are you taking yourself too seriously?

Scripture says in Psalm 126:

"When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,  we were like those who dreamed.Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

What great things has the Lord done for you?  When we celebrate the movement of God in our lives our perspectives change, being positive can truly be rooted in gratitude.  Might you find more time for joy in your life?  For what are you most grateful this day?

Amen!

9 Months

The Annunciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898

Sometimes I get surprised by things that I probably should already know.  Tonight as I was reading through the Bible texts for the day I was sidetracked by the realization that today, March 25th, is the celebration of the Annunciation (the day the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was with child).  Surprise!  9 months until Christmas.  We'd better get busy, right?

No, I'm not telling you this so you start thinking about Christmas, we are in Lent so don't get distracted.  In fact, this Sunday is Palm Sunday so we are only 10 days away from Easter!  Time flies when you're having fun, or maybe for Lent time flies when you are examining your spiritual life.  Just when this time of examination and intentional sacrifice gets to be old-hat we are confronted by the praise of Palm Sunday.  Just as we prepare to turn our eyes to the cross, we are confronted by the thought that if Mary's pregnancy lasted nine months, today is the day she was confronted with the news that would change her life (and ours too.)  

Mary had some questions for the angel.  She wondered, "how can this be?"  Yet in the end she responds with "may it be as you have said, for nothing is impossible with God."  This very woman, though older by the time, knelt at the foot of the cross as that same mysterious child of hers gave His life up by saying, "let not my will, but Yours be done, God."  I am sure that throughout the life of her son Mary had many opportunities to reflect on the mystery of this God-child, yet nothing could prepare her for his death.  

Submission is not something that comes very easily to me.  I am far too stubborn to be told what to do, though many times if I just listened I would save myself a lot of grief.  There's this rebellious spirit in me that often wants to do exactly the opposite of what someone else tells me to do.  I can learn a lot from both Jesus and Mary in this example  can you?  Trusting that God has our best interest in mind can prevent us from letting our stubbornness get in the way of what God has in store for us.  If we really believe that nothing is impossible with God we can trust in those Holy Spirit insights and dreams that sometimes feel pretty lifeless. God brings life into the most barren of places, light into the darkness of doubt.  

So my prayer this evening is that we are open to the voice of God, and that before we can call it crazy we actually take a minute to trust and obey, for nothing is impossible with God.  Thanks be to God.

Sssssshhhhhhhhh.

Then Jesus said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."

Jesus says this a couple of times in Scripture after he has shared a parable in hopes that the gathered people will not only hear but understand in their souls what he is trying to say.  As we all know there are many levels of interpretation to the things we say.  Sometimes the intentions behind our words are misconstrued and taken the wrong way.  In these days of texting and email it can be even more challenging to decipher the motive behind the print.  There is something quite valuable about taking the time to listen, really listen to someone.

Listening is hard.  It's easy for our brains to jump into "response-mode" where we get concerned about what we should say back and we forget to listen to what is being said.  Many of us want to be fixers of the problems of those we love, so rather than listen we are ready to offer advice to fix everything.  Being a good listener is a gift, speaking to someone who is really engaged and listening is an honor.

I've been a great talker ever since I learned how.  I clearly remember parent-teacher conferences year after year when my parents would come home and let me know that my teachers thought I talked too much.  Eventually I think they just gave up.  Talking too much is problematic sometimes, especially when it gets in the way of listening.  I've always heard that there is a reason God gave us two ears and one mouth - we should listen twice as much as we talk!  How are you at listening?  Do you offer the gift of a listening ear to the ones you love?  How about to the stranger?  And to God?  When is the last time you felt you were truly listened to?

I love that Jesus tries to offer guidance and care for the people by sharing in parables.  I love even more that he ends by saying "if you have ears, hear!"  Rather than getting caught up in the confusion of trying to justify or defend we are simply called to hear, to listen.  When we really listen we are changed by the gift of other's willingness to share a bit of who they are with us.

Who is God calling you to listen to?