December 24, 2008
I Peter 4:1-6 (The Message)
“Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want. You’ve already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it’s time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don’t understand why you don’t join in with the old gang anymore. But you don’t have to give an account to them. They’re the ones who will be called on the carpet—and before God himself. Listen to the Message. It was preached to those believers who are now dead, and yet even though they died (just as all people must,) they will still get in on the life that God has given in Jesus.”
Advent is the season of anticipation, of expectation. We focus our expectations on the fact that Jesus, God’s Son, was born into the world more than 2000 years ago. We focus our expectations on the fact that on December 24th we’ll gather with our families in a worship service somewhere to celebrate that birth. On December 25th, we’ll expect that Santa will have dropped through the chimneys of our homes, eaten our treats left out for him, and in kind return will have left all manner of goodies for our good behavior through the year. We’ll expect to eat the best of grandma’s home cookin’. We’ll expect to watch old Christmas movies or football games if the kids will let us near the television. We’ll expect snow laden hills and the fun of sledding. We will expect so very much more!
For the people of 1 Peter, they had been expecting to get their own ways. They had striven to live life by their terms. That was all fine and good for them except that it was a recipe for suffering. Peter wanted them to understand that God is not a God of suffering but that we live in a world that invests in suffering so it’s inevitable that we’ll experience it. He wanted them to grasp that the remedy to that suffering while we are here is to resolve ourselves to let go of our own expectations and to allow God’s expectations to be what guide us. If we can let go of our planning, we can step back and marvel at what God will bring us.
Just this morning, I have been thinking back on my life and how I’ve spent it charging ahead, trying to achieve all of the things that I thought I wanted only to realize that none of them have brought me the joy I desired. It wasn’t until I let go of those goals and dreams that I was open to letting God give me things that proved to be far better than I ever could have imagined. How silly I feel now but I also recognize how difficult it was to let go of my agenda for my life and just experience being.
I’m heading home for Christmas with my family, realizing that there will be no snow or sledding . . . but that’s not what makes Christmas special for me anyway. As I have grown older I have been able to put away my expectations of Christmas and I realize that Christmas is about a Message that God has tried to bring us for 2, 000 years—a Message that because of our expectations we keep missing.
Millennia ago, the people expected a Messiah who would come as an adult King. One who would fight battles for them, conquer territories and save them in all manner of ways. Instead, they got a baby, who just lay there in a manger and cried and ate. Little did they know that the baby would grow up with wisdom beyond what they could fathom, with a courage and willingness to bear their crosses for them, with a commitment to suffering and to bringing freedom to their lives.
The Message came in a tiny form but it was a big word that God is still hoping we will choose to embrace—let go of our expectations and let God work wonders in our lives. When we can do that we witness the greatest miracles in this world! May we embrace the merriness of the Message! Amen.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Baptismal Joy
December 17, 2008
I Peter 3:18-22
“He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience. Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He’s standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.”
Charles was a minister who like most ministers during the season of Advent was caught up in the logistics of the season. How should the sanctuary be arranged? Who should light the advent candles? How will the service flow? He was so caught up in the logistics that what he witnessed in the service on the Sunday of Joy caught him so completely off guard and filled him with such joy, that tears filled his eyes. He had noticed that his daughter, Rebecca, had chosen to sit on the front pew that day, so maybe it shouldn’t have surprised him when she stood to profess her faith in Jesus Christ and request baptism. Rebecca seemed to know exactly what she was doing.
Peter’s words to his community here seem all over the place—judgment, patience of God, Noah, salvation, baptism, good conscience, Jesus as ultimate authority. How does one make sense of all of this? Why is Peter all over the place? The heart of Peter’s message here rests in the sentiment that Jesus’ suffering paved the way for the rest of us to claim holiness. There was purpose in that suffering and that purpose is made manifest when we claim the power of baptism. God waits for us to be ready for lifelong relationship and commitment to Him just as He waited for Noah to build the ark and claim his salvation. Noah’s salvation came because he was saved from the flood by floating in the ark on the waters of the flood. All of the people of Noah’s day who wouldn’t listen, were lost to death. The same is true of our salvation. There are those who will not comprehend what God wants to do for us and in us and through us. Some of those will be lost to separation from God (aka death) but there are others of us on whom God is simply waiting for us to let go and let God claim us.
Rebecca understood that God wanted to claim her. She could feel it in her heart. She knew that the waters of baptism are important waters. Her act of walking into the river to be immersed would be an act of understanding that she was making a choice to let God guide her life. She will experience days when she will want to go it alone, but her very baptism stands as a reminder that she made a commitment to God that God has made a commitment to her—a mutual pledge and intention. As long as she will remember her baptism and the call to hold tight to God, God will always hold tight to her.
It is so easy for us to treat our baptisms as if they are something we should just do to mark off of the list of our things to do before we die. But, that moment of baptism is a holy moment, one that stands as a marker that longs to be remembered, valued and held in esteem. So do we do that? Rare is the moment that I reflect on my baptism. Rarely do I stop to think about the emotions that ran through me up to and during those moments. Rarely do I allow myself to be challenged to claim them again and to live my life with the same fervor of the eight year old child in me that once claimed Jesus is Lord. I could spend a lot of time pondering why that is so. Any of us could! The fact of the matter is that we would be better served if we just did something about it—if we just chose to remember and live our lives more effectively because of the moments of our baptisms.
Charles realized that as he watched his precious daughter. His story calls us to remember our baptisms and claim intentionality in our living. In this joyous season of Advent, may we find our joy in reclaiming and deepening our relationships with the Living God! Amen.
I Peter 3:18-22
“He went and proclaimed God’s salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment because they wouldn’t listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact—saved from the water by the water. The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus’ resurrection before God with a clear conscience. Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He’s standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.”
Charles was a minister who like most ministers during the season of Advent was caught up in the logistics of the season. How should the sanctuary be arranged? Who should light the advent candles? How will the service flow? He was so caught up in the logistics that what he witnessed in the service on the Sunday of Joy caught him so completely off guard and filled him with such joy, that tears filled his eyes. He had noticed that his daughter, Rebecca, had chosen to sit on the front pew that day, so maybe it shouldn’t have surprised him when she stood to profess her faith in Jesus Christ and request baptism. Rebecca seemed to know exactly what she was doing.
Peter’s words to his community here seem all over the place—judgment, patience of God, Noah, salvation, baptism, good conscience, Jesus as ultimate authority. How does one make sense of all of this? Why is Peter all over the place? The heart of Peter’s message here rests in the sentiment that Jesus’ suffering paved the way for the rest of us to claim holiness. There was purpose in that suffering and that purpose is made manifest when we claim the power of baptism. God waits for us to be ready for lifelong relationship and commitment to Him just as He waited for Noah to build the ark and claim his salvation. Noah’s salvation came because he was saved from the flood by floating in the ark on the waters of the flood. All of the people of Noah’s day who wouldn’t listen, were lost to death. The same is true of our salvation. There are those who will not comprehend what God wants to do for us and in us and through us. Some of those will be lost to separation from God (aka death) but there are others of us on whom God is simply waiting for us to let go and let God claim us.
Rebecca understood that God wanted to claim her. She could feel it in her heart. She knew that the waters of baptism are important waters. Her act of walking into the river to be immersed would be an act of understanding that she was making a choice to let God guide her life. She will experience days when she will want to go it alone, but her very baptism stands as a reminder that she made a commitment to God that God has made a commitment to her—a mutual pledge and intention. As long as she will remember her baptism and the call to hold tight to God, God will always hold tight to her.
It is so easy for us to treat our baptisms as if they are something we should just do to mark off of the list of our things to do before we die. But, that moment of baptism is a holy moment, one that stands as a marker that longs to be remembered, valued and held in esteem. So do we do that? Rare is the moment that I reflect on my baptism. Rarely do I stop to think about the emotions that ran through me up to and during those moments. Rarely do I allow myself to be challenged to claim them again and to live my life with the same fervor of the eight year old child in me that once claimed Jesus is Lord. I could spend a lot of time pondering why that is so. Any of us could! The fact of the matter is that we would be better served if we just did something about it—if we just chose to remember and live our lives more effectively because of the moments of our baptisms.
Charles realized that as he watched his precious daughter. His story calls us to remember our baptisms and claim intentionality in our living. In this joyous season of Advent, may we find our joy in reclaiming and deepening our relationships with the Living God! Amen.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Standing Strong in Faith
December 10, 2008
I Peter 3:13-17
“If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.”
It was the summer of 1991 and I was doing student summer missions with the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. We found ourselves at Meredith College for a week long orientation before being sent out to our various sites of ministry for the summer. Each year that these orientations were held, there was a keynote preacher for the week and this particular week welcomed a woman preacher. Carole Jackson was the pastor of Olive Branch Baptist Church in Apex, NC (if I recall correctly.) Emblazoned upon my memory is a moment of standing in the chapel at Meredith while Rev. Jackson stood and listened to a young male college student regale her on the ways in which she had no business being a preacher. Knowing that trajectory to be my future, I watched with great interest as Rev. Jackson listened to him, became slightly defensive and proceeded (in my book at least) to put him in his place. In truth, neither one won the argument as the other was not going to be convinced to change his or her mind.
Had Peter been the one observing Rev. Jackson and the young man, he might have used them as a study for his own community. Peter had called this community of believers who were also foreigners to the territory in which they now resided to offer respect to those native to the area by being sure to practice a sense of humility. Even so, he called them to keep that in balance with sharing their faith and calling others to the point of conversion. He realized that they were facing suffering for their beliefs and encouraged them that even as Jesus suffered, there was purpose in his suffering and there was purpose in the suffering they endured. Had he had the example of Rev. Jackson and the young man, I imagine that he would have given her points for her humility and her compassionate knowledge of her faith but he would have docked her points for selling her point. The young man would have gotten those points but would have been docked for the anger he portrayed.
The point of this scripture comes in the lesson that I gleaned as I watched the interchange between these two: there is great value in knowing and being able to articulate what we believe about God. Whether we succeed in convincing others, the simple act of being able to stand up for what we believe is a testament to our faith.
Maybe you are like me in that wrestling with your faith and working out your salvation is a daily event that invites you toward growth. Even as we work out our faith we are called to stand up for the basic tenets that serve as our foundation and we are called to live them out. In this Advent week of peace, may we each have the courage to live what we believe and thus extend God’s peace! Amen.
I Peter 3:13-17
“If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.”
It was the summer of 1991 and I was doing student summer missions with the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. We found ourselves at Meredith College for a week long orientation before being sent out to our various sites of ministry for the summer. Each year that these orientations were held, there was a keynote preacher for the week and this particular week welcomed a woman preacher. Carole Jackson was the pastor of Olive Branch Baptist Church in Apex, NC (if I recall correctly.) Emblazoned upon my memory is a moment of standing in the chapel at Meredith while Rev. Jackson stood and listened to a young male college student regale her on the ways in which she had no business being a preacher. Knowing that trajectory to be my future, I watched with great interest as Rev. Jackson listened to him, became slightly defensive and proceeded (in my book at least) to put him in his place. In truth, neither one won the argument as the other was not going to be convinced to change his or her mind.
Had Peter been the one observing Rev. Jackson and the young man, he might have used them as a study for his own community. Peter had called this community of believers who were also foreigners to the territory in which they now resided to offer respect to those native to the area by being sure to practice a sense of humility. Even so, he called them to keep that in balance with sharing their faith and calling others to the point of conversion. He realized that they were facing suffering for their beliefs and encouraged them that even as Jesus suffered, there was purpose in his suffering and there was purpose in the suffering they endured. Had he had the example of Rev. Jackson and the young man, I imagine that he would have given her points for her humility and her compassionate knowledge of her faith but he would have docked her points for selling her point. The young man would have gotten those points but would have been docked for the anger he portrayed.
The point of this scripture comes in the lesson that I gleaned as I watched the interchange between these two: there is great value in knowing and being able to articulate what we believe about God. Whether we succeed in convincing others, the simple act of being able to stand up for what we believe is a testament to our faith.
Maybe you are like me in that wrestling with your faith and working out your salvation is a daily event that invites you toward growth. Even as we work out our faith we are called to stand up for the basic tenets that serve as our foundation and we are called to live them out. In this Advent week of peace, may we each have the courage to live what we believe and thus extend God’s peace! Amen.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Defeating Evil
December 3, 2008
I Peter 3:8-12
“Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good,
Here’s what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good;
Run after peace for all you’re worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
Listening and responding well to what he’s asked;
But he turns his back on those who do evil things.”
Maybe you were as shocked as I was to hear of the attacks in Mumbai. At some point, I heard that the terrorists even waited for the television crews to arrive before they began the bulk of their massacre. I couldn’t help but think of this as the very definition of evil. Evil is wicked and pernicious. It is that which brings sorrow and catastrophe. It is the fact of tragedy and suffering.
In the face of our world’s current reality of the terror launched in Mumbai, come these words from Peter. Peter is making a transition here from the discourse on relating to each other. He’s talked about slaves & masters. He’s talked about husbands and wives and now he turns to talk about how we relate to others and then more broadly beyond individual relationships. He is using these verses to create a transition toward discussing suffering.
His words are really lovely and they are not to suggest that as Christians that we are meant to be “doormats.” We are to stand up for what we believe. Christ did that didn’t he? We are to be people who speak truth but not people who offer retaliation for evils done to us.
It is not clear how India will react to this recent horror on their soil. Maybe from our vantage point of having been attacked in 2001, we feel that they should retaliate. Maybe from our vantage point of not having been attacked in seven years we feel they should not retaliate. No doubt we all have our different opinions. Peter is clear that we should not offer evil for evil and I believe that. Still, I wonder, in this world that knows so much suffering and catastrophe, so much retaliation and anger, when does the tide turn toward love? When will we find that moment where we no longer need to retaliate for the suffering we are caused? When will we find that moment when we can speak against the wrongs and love through them?
I don’t know when such evil will change in our world but I do hope that I live to see love defeat it. May our world and each of us know the hope of peace this week! Amen.
I Peter 3:8-12
“Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good,
Here’s what you do:
Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good;
Run after peace for all you’re worth.
God looks on all this with approval,
Listening and responding well to what he’s asked;
But he turns his back on those who do evil things.”
Maybe you were as shocked as I was to hear of the attacks in Mumbai. At some point, I heard that the terrorists even waited for the television crews to arrive before they began the bulk of their massacre. I couldn’t help but think of this as the very definition of evil. Evil is wicked and pernicious. It is that which brings sorrow and catastrophe. It is the fact of tragedy and suffering.
In the face of our world’s current reality of the terror launched in Mumbai, come these words from Peter. Peter is making a transition here from the discourse on relating to each other. He’s talked about slaves & masters. He’s talked about husbands and wives and now he turns to talk about how we relate to others and then more broadly beyond individual relationships. He is using these verses to create a transition toward discussing suffering.
His words are really lovely and they are not to suggest that as Christians that we are meant to be “doormats.” We are to stand up for what we believe. Christ did that didn’t he? We are to be people who speak truth but not people who offer retaliation for evils done to us.
It is not clear how India will react to this recent horror on their soil. Maybe from our vantage point of having been attacked in 2001, we feel that they should retaliate. Maybe from our vantage point of not having been attacked in seven years we feel they should not retaliate. No doubt we all have our different opinions. Peter is clear that we should not offer evil for evil and I believe that. Still, I wonder, in this world that knows so much suffering and catastrophe, so much retaliation and anger, when does the tide turn toward love? When will we find that moment where we no longer need to retaliate for the suffering we are caused? When will we find that moment when we can speak against the wrongs and love through them?
I don’t know when such evil will change in our world but I do hope that I live to see love defeat it. May our world and each of us know the hope of peace this week! Amen.
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