Where Justice Reigns 3 April 2008

1 Peter 2:11-25
Thursday, 3 April 2008

As a true idealist, I long for and look for the world to be just and fair. I vehemently resent the tendency among people to discriminate against others merely because they are different. In the world and in the church, I observe the ravages of sexism, racism, classism, and countless other insanities, which dishonor some of God's children on the basis of accidents of nature and status without regard to gifts, character, competency, or even call. When I see these things, I just want to scream.

Because of my disposition regarding justice among humans, I was tempted to skip today's text in favor of something more egalitarian and justice-minded than the injunction for slaves to obey their masters. But upon closer reflection I came to regard the text as a critique of rather than an apology for the injustices and distortions that are inherent in human government. The writer recognized that the Roman persecution of Christians was evil, but reminded the reader to follow in the steps of Christ who confronted the powers of this world with love unto the death while trusting that his vindication was in the hands of God "who judges justly." What matters most in the life of the believer is not the sometimes evil and unjust circumstances that confront us, but rather the faithful and consistent witness for good and God that we maintain in the midst of that injustice. When we do what is right anyway, we proclaim that Christ reigns and that in Christ justice prevails.

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, I want to state clearly that the Bible does not require us to relinquish our human rights, to be compliant and complaisant in the face of evil. Indeed, I believe that its teachings provide a mandate to do all within our power to effect just and righteous rule in human government. Still it is good to remember, as our forbears most assuredly knew, that in the midst of injustice here, we can appeal our case to a God whose very name means justice. Martin King understood well the principle that as believers we must always behave honorably so that the message of Christ can be proclaimed in our talk and in our walk. Defeat only comes when we forget who we are.

I won't ask you to sing the hymn, "Once to Every Man and Nation," adapted from a poem by James Russell Lowell. I will simply quote the final stanza, in honor of Dr. King and of all the other great preachers who have quoted over the last 160 years.

Though the cause of evil prosper,
yet the truth alone is strong;
though her portion be the scaffold,
and upon the throne be wrong;
yet that scaffold sways the future,
and behind the dim unknown,
standeth God within the shadow,
keeping watch above his own.

Let us pray:
Grant, O Lord, that we may embody in our relations with others the justice that we seek from others for ourselves. Amen

Fashion Sense 2 April 2008

1 Peter 2:1-10
Wednesday, 2 April 2008

For the fashion conscious,the changing of seasons signals the change of attire. But even those of us who cannot distinguish high fashion from a hand grenade still change our clothes to accommodate the temperature. Indeed, one of the ways that we can tell when a person's mental faculties are diminished is that they wear a winter coat in 95-degree weather or a sleeveless sun dress in the dead of winter. Safety, comfort, taste, and, yes, conformity to culture all dictate to us what to wear and what not to wear.

Continuing the description of the transition from nonbeliever to believer, 1 Peter 2 outlines the attitudes that clash with the life of holiness to which we are called. Funny, isn't it, that the writer's top five list of holiness fashion "don'ts" is not the list most often cited by church people? But even if we don't know it, the truth is that harboring a bad attitude is at least as likely to cause a person to miss the kingdom of God as any other failure or sin. It keeps us from the nourishment of God's word and inhibits our progress in growing closer to Christ. And I haven't even mentioned the havoc it wreaks in our relationship with the other saints.

Beloved, hear God telling us that while we are doing our spiritual spring cleaning, we need to take malice, guile, insincerity, envy and slander out of our closets and discard them. We are chosen as God's own people, holy and royal, and we have to dress the part, so that the world will see our light and praise our God. When we were in the world, our bad attitudes fit right in with the ways of the world. But now our spiritual safety, comfort, style, and culture in the kingdom of God make the attire of the world not only out of fashion but downright crazy.

Sing, "Close to Thee"

Let us pray:
God our Rock, attune our thoughts and dispositions to your perfect will. You have called us by your name and invested us with an excellent purpose. Expose and excise those aspects of our inward character and attitude that would block our growth and impede our intimacy with you. Help us to conform to the culture of your kingdom, to embody your style, to reflect your taste and in so doing keep us safe from the ways of the world and the wiles of the devil, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Spring Cleaning 1 April 2008

1 Peter 1:13-25
Tuesday, 1 April 2008

Today is the first day that actually feels like spring to me. The breeze is gentle and warm. Even though the weather is overcast, it only reminds that April is known for its showers. The buds on the trees are turning to blossoms. The flowers in my yard that only bloom once per year are in bloom. Something about this season bespeaks new opportunities. It makes me want to get my house in order. I feel like I should be getting ready.

Yesterday's text discussed the trials and struggles that are a part of the human sojourn in a barren season. Today's text reminds us that winter does not last forever. And since the Lord's kingdom is at hand, there are some actions that are critical for believers to engage. Get ready! Prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Remember that the Lord requires much more than a half-hearted attempt at service. The standard is holiness in all your conduct.

I usually find the call to holiness intimidating. But this time as I read the text, I realized that God was not saying "Make yourself holy." God certainly knows that we don't have that capacity. Really what God is giving us is a promise of holiness: "You shall be holy because I am holy." We're supposed to let God's holiness rub off on us, just as child inherits the traits of a parent. Getting our minds ready, bringing discipline to our character, and living faithful lives simply makes room for God to show off the beauty of God's Spirit in us. And remember that unlike the beauty of the blossoms and flowers of spring, God's offer is for a beauty that will not fade.

Sing, "Lord I want to Be a Christian"

Let us pray:
Holy God, quite apart from the signs of the changing of seasons in nature, we are grateful for the changing of seasons in our lives. How wonderful it is for us to see the buds and blossoms emerging in our spirits. We long to be like you, Lord, to have your character and disposition formed in us. Make us holy. Make us faithful. Make us Christians, in Jesus' name.

What's the Point? 31 March 2008

1 Peter 1:1-12
Monday, 31 March 2008

Some people like to hear all of the details and then the punchline of a story. I'm not one of those people. Tell me the diagnosis, the outcome, the bottomline, and then I can ask for the details I find most relevant. This doesn't mean I'm not interested in the story or in the telling of it. On the contrary, I am both engaged by and concerned about it, so much so that I can't wait to hear the point. I'm anxious to know how it turns out.

Today, we transition out of the Gospels and into the Epistle of Peter. This represents a movement from simply telling the story of Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection to understanding how that story is to be lived out in those of us who call ourselves believers. The introduction to the epistle succinctly documents God's intention for us. God has given us birth into a living hope through Christ's resurrection and has laid up an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance for us. In contemporary terms, God has brought us into the family and set up a trust fund for us. When we see our lives in these terms, we recognize that just as Jesus' suffering had a purpose, the Christian's trials also lead to a larger point : a saved life of unfettered, unspeakable joy here and glory ahead.

To be sure, suffering and trial meant something different for the earliest Christians than it does for us today. Most of us do not face the constant threat of execution because of our testimony and witness. But even while the circumstances differ from age to age, and even from individual to individual, everyone who seeks to do what's right faces tribulation and trial sometimes. Yet believers also share the common experience of being kept by God's power, a power the keeps us secure in our trial and inspires and emboldens our praise. The details may have changed but the point has not. In Christ, Christians of all ages are ultimate overcomers and more than conquerors.

Sing "Joy Unspeakable"

Let us pray:
Generous God, we ourselves sometimes wonder how we can experience such fullness of joy in a world so confused and tumultuous. Then we are reminded that the joy you have given did not come from the world or its circumstances; it came with the love and the life we know in Christ. Thank you for the salvation of our souls, the transformation of our minds, the uplifting of our spirits, and even the regulation of our emotions. Grant us the grace to endure these temporary trials, even as we look forward to our imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance, in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Whatever It Takes 30 March 2008

John 20:19-31Easter 2
Sunday, 30 March 2008

This is the season known as March Madness, when 64 college basketball teams vie for the honor of meeting in the Final Four and then in the national championship game. The excitement of this part of the season exists in the fact that everything is on the line in each game. If you lose, you're out. And nobody wants to be out. Consequently, the players play with exceptional heart and energy, bringing everything they can muster during each individual game,putting their bodies on the line, and doing whatever it takes to bring home the victory.

By now, we know that Jesus' commitment to providing eternal life for humans is limitless. In his Crucifixion he demonstrated that there was nothing he would not do to secure our victory. Having vanquished death by his Resurrection, Jesus appeared his disciples, showed himself alive, and imparted victorious living to them by breathing on them. There was just one problem; Thomas was not in the building. It is unclear where Thomas was, but in his absence he had missed the main event. When told about the time of rejoicing that the disciples had when they saw the Lord, Thomas was unconvinced. He needed to see and experience for himself. The amazing thing is not that Thomas wanted to see for himself, but that Jesus appeared again so that Thomas could get what he needed. It was as if Jesus was saying "Whatever it takes."

Jesus knows us all well enough to know what it takes to bring us to faith and faithfulness in our walk with Christ. Just as he did with Thomas, sometimes Jesus makes return appearances even though we were the absent and/or negligent ones who missed his first performance. How many times has Jesus had to show us again, speak to us again, touch us again, heal us again, deliver us again? From A to Z, Jesus has done and continues to do whatever it takes to bring home our victory. Thanks be to God!

Sing "Victory in Jesus"

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we are amazed at the grace you constantly extend to us. Even when we should have long since been convinced to be believers, you continue to honor our request to show us again, to teach us again. We thank you that just as you did not banish Thomas or give up on him, you do not banish us or give up on us. As you have given your all for us, may we be equally committed to do whatever it takes to live in the reality of the victory that you purchased for us, through Jesus Christ our Risen Savior. Amen

He Moved 28 March 2008

Luke 24:1-12
Friday, 28 March 2008

If you've known me for any length of time, you know that while housekeeping is not my greatest gift, I usually know where I put things. And I have lived alone for so long - since 1993 - that I am used to things remaining where I put them. So when a friend lived with me in Philly for a semester, my hardest adjustment came when I went to the shared areas of the house and discovered that things I had left in a particular place had moved.

Once again in this Easter week, we are considering the first response of Jesus' disciples upon their arrival at the sepulcher. Luke's account resembles Matthew and Mark in focusing on the multiple women who remained at the cross until Jesus died and then followed his body on Friday to its burial site. These same women returned at dawn on Sunday only to discover that the tomb was empty. Luke's Gospel, however, is the only one that makes an issue of their looking for Jesus in the tomb in the first place. "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" the angel asked. Although the women did not answer, mostly because the announcement that Jesus had risen recalled their memory of his promise before his crucifixion, their reasoning for looking for Jesus at the cemetery was that that was where they last had seen him. Usually when you leave the dead if you happen to be looking for their bodies again, you know precisely where to find them - where you left them. But Jesus obviously was no regular corpse. He moved! Note that Peter too felt the need to check out the tomb; it was still empty.

When you are dealing with God, you are always dealing with a moving target. From the very first mention of God in Genesis 1, we see a God who creates and whose Spirit moves. And even in Christ's Passion, God's movement continues. By the time the women get to the tomb, Jesus is already on his way to Galilee. By the time we head back to where we left Jesus, to review the last thing God did or lament what God didn't do, Jesus has already moved ahead of us to set up the next space. So stop looking for where Jesus was (especially a dead Jesus) and look for where Jesus is (alive and at work).

Sing, "He is Lord" (He is Lord 2x, He is risen from the dead and he is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.)

Let us pray:
Lord, the example of the first witnesses continues to give us new insights concerning what you require of us. We thank you for the way in which you have allowed us to follow along through this season of suffering and resurrection, to observe the crucifixion and the burial, and now finally to rediscover that you are still moving. Help us to discern where you are, rather than to be frustrated or frightened that we do not see you where you were before. Amen.

Worship and Doubt

Matthew 28:16-20
Thursday, 27 March 2008

I continue to be struck, in my reading of the Gospels, by the human capacity for ambivalence. Perhaps this reflects my own preoccupation of late with my own tendency to vacillate. I am in the midst of several transitions in my life, and I admit that the way I feel changes so quickly that sometimes even I have a hard time keeping up. It's good to know that I'm not the only one whose feelings are in flux.

The women pass along the message to the disciples to meet Jesus in the previously appointed place, the place where he had instructed them. For Matthew, this meeting represents the other disciples' first recorded encounter with the risen Christ. When the women met Jesus, they had fear and great joy, along with their worship. When the 11 remaining close followers saw Jesus, they worshipped but some doubted. More important, whatever uncertainty was in them - and Jesus surely knows what's in them -Jesus still called them and commissioned them to replicate their discipleship in others.

I, for one, rejoice that Jesus sees my fear and my faith, my conviction and my uncertainty, but still calls me close and sends me forth. Last week, I heard a preacher quoting C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. In Lewis's work, Screwtape and Wormwood work for the devil and consider God their Enemy. Here's what Screwtape tells Wormwood, "

Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.

What I am trying to say to you, sisters and brothers, is that the most important thing that the disciples did was to obey and to worship, in spite of their doubts. And the most important thing for us to do is to obey and worship the Living Christ no matter how we are feeling at a particular moment.

Sing, "Lead Me Guide Me"

Let us pray:
In a world that is in transition and with lives that are in flux, we are thankful to know that in you there is stability. While we wait as you fix our hearts and regulate our minds and emotions, we seek the grace simply to do your will, to obey your word, and to worship you. Make us instruments on the Lord's side in the cosmic battle. Keep us faithful until the end, in Jesus' name.