We were having a picnic in the back yard and my friend casually mentioned that he had been approached about a position in New Jersey, and he was turning it down, and 'would I be interested?' I didn't think much of it but thought I had nothing to lose, so I said, 'Sure, tell the man to call me."
That was in 1962, in Ohio, in Atwater, a tiny little town where we had live five years while pastoring a growing, healthy church. My friend was Bill Parks, no longer in the ministry, but at the time the district youth organization's president. "The man" was Bob Goslaw, superintendent of the New York (metro) district of the Church of the Nazarene. It is now 45 years later, and all those years since that summer picnic have been spent in the pastorates of the far eastern distriucts of metro New York and New England.
Thew culture shock was instant and real. The people in New Jersey sounded like gangsters to my midwestern ears. The pace of life was different. The mind set of the people seemed somehow different. Although the church where we were called paid for a deluxe move, and welcomed us warmly, I was so homesick that I would have gone back if I had only had $1,000 to rent a truck and get started again in Ohio.
But I didn't.. and for 15 years a learned to pastor and preach all over again. To say I was unhappy would be wrong. But there were periods of serious depression. There were times of near despair for the trajectories my children were taking.
In 1977 I was taking courses at Eastern Nazarene College in the master's program, and after class Dr. Cecil Paul asked me to stay for a moment. He asked if I would consider meeting with the Wollaston board to interview for pastor there. Another 'casual' contact.
For the next 22 years I was learning again and again that God's ways of leading are not always obvious, but they are effective. 1977 to 1999 were some of the happiest years of my life, along with some of the deeply challenging.
I haven't time to tell of how I came, these last 6 years to be associated with John Wesley United Methodist church here in Falmouth, Mass. But I know God had his hand in 'casual' contacts. That association will probably be ending before too many more months. I'm not being fired... but it is becoming apparent that God has something else in mind.
But I'm not done yet-- I'm only 76 and have a good inning or two ot three left in me! I'm just trying not to miss the next signal. I'm looking forward to the most significant and important productive time of my life for Godf and his kingdom!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Cherry Bomb
When you were in second or third grade did you ever-- do youremember-- did you ever have your teacher say, "I have to go down to Mr. Benson's office for two minutes. I'm going to leave the door open and Mrs. Hagen across the hall will be listening. You be good and quiet and do your work. I'll be right back!"
I remember.
I hated it when they made some teacher's pet the tattle-tale. Still, sometimes we were reasonably quiet. Sometimes maybe we weren't.
In high school it was a little different. It could be that when a teacher left the room it would get noisy, or things might be thrown around the room, maybe someone's lunch or a pretty girl's books.
Usually when classes changed and students filed into a class room the teacher would be there waiting, because the class would be in her home room.
But sometimes we would have to wait for the teacher to come. It could get very interesting if the teacher's coming was delayed more than a minute or two. We would think, "Maybe she isn'tcoming at all!"
For a little while when I was a junior in Akron North High, way back in the late 1940s, we had a substitute English teacher, and she was almost always late for our class, which met on the fourth floor. She usually arrived with her arms full of books and papers, out of breath, scolding us, good-naturedly for the most part, into silence.
One awful day she was later than usual, and the class was noisier than usual. Erasers were flying, books were sailing. It probably doesn't do any good to tell you that, truthfully, I usually did not take part in the chaos, although I can't say I didn't enjoy it. Anyway, on this fateful day one boy-- Stanley M__-- produced a cherry bomb from his pocket. It was big enough that it would have been reason the call the bomb squad today. Even then it commanded great respect. The room got very quiet.
Stanley lit a match and we held our breaths. The windows were open-- they were the kind that had three panes, and the middle pane swung out from the top. Stanley evidently intended to light the bomb in the classroom and throw it out the window toward the athletic field three stories below. We couldn't believe it-- but Stanley lit the bomb-- and threw it-- and it hit the window pane above the open window and bounced back into the middle ofthe room, under the desks, hissing.
Just at that very moment our teacher came breathlessly into the quiet room-- quiet except for the hissing-- with her arms full of books. But before she had a chance to worry about why we were quiet,or what the hissing sound was
---KA- BOOM!--
the cherry bomb exploded,and instantly the room was full of smoke, and then there was total silence again.
Our teacher did not drop her armload of books. She did not miss a step. She simply went over to the desk and sat down and put her face on the books and papers she had been carrying. I think it may have been a full five minutes that no one said a word, no one made a sound.
I imagine today the police would be called and someone would be expelled from school, and there certainly would be a lawsuit. But her awful silence, and the fact that we were all shocked and stunned was punishment for us all, even Stanley the bomb-thrower. All these many years later I still feel that little woman's pain and disappointment at the chaos that greeted her coming. But there is still enough dirty rotten teenager in my old bones that I cannot help laughing when I think of strange Stanley and the hissing cherry bomb and the totally speechless kids when that door opened and in walked . . .
I remember.
I hated it when they made some teacher's pet the tattle-tale. Still, sometimes we were reasonably quiet. Sometimes maybe we weren't.
In high school it was a little different. It could be that when a teacher left the room it would get noisy, or things might be thrown around the room, maybe someone's lunch or a pretty girl's books.
Usually when classes changed and students filed into a class room the teacher would be there waiting, because the class would be in her home room.
But sometimes we would have to wait for the teacher to come. It could get very interesting if the teacher's coming was delayed more than a minute or two. We would think, "Maybe she isn'tcoming at all!"
For a little while when I was a junior in Akron North High, way back in the late 1940s, we had a substitute English teacher, and she was almost always late for our class, which met on the fourth floor. She usually arrived with her arms full of books and papers, out of breath, scolding us, good-naturedly for the most part, into silence.
One awful day she was later than usual, and the class was noisier than usual. Erasers were flying, books were sailing. It probably doesn't do any good to tell you that, truthfully, I usually did not take part in the chaos, although I can't say I didn't enjoy it. Anyway, on this fateful day one boy-- Stanley M__-- produced a cherry bomb from his pocket. It was big enough that it would have been reason the call the bomb squad today. Even then it commanded great respect. The room got very quiet.
Stanley lit a match and we held our breaths. The windows were open-- they were the kind that had three panes, and the middle pane swung out from the top. Stanley evidently intended to light the bomb in the classroom and throw it out the window toward the athletic field three stories below. We couldn't believe it-- but Stanley lit the bomb-- and threw it-- and it hit the window pane above the open window and bounced back into the middle ofthe room, under the desks, hissing.
Just at that very moment our teacher came breathlessly into the quiet room-- quiet except for the hissing-- with her arms full of books. But before she had a chance to worry about why we were quiet,or what the hissing sound was
---KA- BOOM!--
the cherry bomb exploded,and instantly the room was full of smoke, and then there was total silence again.
Our teacher did not drop her armload of books. She did not miss a step. She simply went over to the desk and sat down and put her face on the books and papers she had been carrying. I think it may have been a full five minutes that no one said a word, no one made a sound.
I imagine today the police would be called and someone would be expelled from school, and there certainly would be a lawsuit. But her awful silence, and the fact that we were all shocked and stunned was punishment for us all, even Stanley the bomb-thrower. All these many years later I still feel that little woman's pain and disappointment at the chaos that greeted her coming. But there is still enough dirty rotten teenager in my old bones that I cannot help laughing when I think of strange Stanley and the hissing cherry bomb and the totally speechless kids when that door opened and in walked . . .
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Thoughts on Dancing in Worship . . .
In the 6th chapter of 2 Samuel is a scene right out of a Shakespeare drama: David has been successful beyond his dreams; God has blessed him. He goes to the house of Obed-Edom with proper preparation and brings the Ark of the Covenant to the center of the capital city as a symbol of the fact that Israel shall be centered in God.
As the ark moves toward the city David is overcome with joyous emotion and begins to dance before the ark with all his might. He gets right down with the slave girls and the street people in a genuine expression of his delight.
But in an upper window, standing half-hidden behind the curtains, stands David's wife, Michal, Saul's daughter, intently watching. She is a princess, and not used to seeing the king mingle with the help. She is disgusted in her heart, and when David finally comes in she tells him as much. "You really distinguished yourself today, King David! It wasn't your finest hour!" David's reply was, "It wasn't for your benefit! It was before the Lord! And I will give to God whatever I believe I should give to Him!"
And the account goes on: (v 23) And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death. She was barren from that time forward!
When we read that scripture about dancing and shouting as a form of worship we may think about the ‘worship wars’ that have dogged churches across the whole spectrum, from Pentecostal to Catholic, and thinking—thank God it hasn’t come to that in our church yet!
But to tell the truth, the way you and I are apply scriptural accounts of worship and me more about ourselves than we want to know: No doubt you are vindicating the way YOU love to worship, or the way that YOU believe is true worship. We are made that way-- truth at first seems to reinforce our own position.
However ideal you consider the way you worship- good for you- yet there are those who truly worship in Spirit and in truth who on the surface of it would be uncomfortable with your style; and there are those who know God and worship in truth whose ways of approaching God would not be comfortable to you.
The most unattractive attitudes I know about have been (1) religious fundamentalists; and to a lesser extent, because I have had lesser exposure, (2) snobbish "High Church"-types, which I have usually written off as "liberals."
Please see that each one of us can be both the discriminator and the discriminated against; and it is imperative that we do not go the route of barrenness and despise those who are worshiping God in truth, even though in their humanness they may seem culturally out of it.
Please pray that the expression of your worship and mine, and of those where you and I congregate will be the sincere expression of who we are in total love and obedience before the great God we love.
Pray that the evolution of our worship will enable the tasks of the church,
EVANGELISM and
EDUCATION and
FELLOWSHIP and
SERVICE to flourish in powerful ways, for
WORSHIP IS THE HEART OF THE LIFE
THE LIFE OF CHRIST'S BODY, THECHURCH!
As the ark moves toward the city David is overcome with joyous emotion and begins to dance before the ark with all his might. He gets right down with the slave girls and the street people in a genuine expression of his delight.
But in an upper window, standing half-hidden behind the curtains, stands David's wife, Michal, Saul's daughter, intently watching. She is a princess, and not used to seeing the king mingle with the help. She is disgusted in her heart, and when David finally comes in she tells him as much. "You really distinguished yourself today, King David! It wasn't your finest hour!" David's reply was, "It wasn't for your benefit! It was before the Lord! And I will give to God whatever I believe I should give to Him!"
And the account goes on: (v 23) And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death. She was barren from that time forward!
When we read that scripture about dancing and shouting as a form of worship we may think about the ‘worship wars’ that have dogged churches across the whole spectrum, from Pentecostal to Catholic, and thinking—thank God it hasn’t come to that in our church yet!
But to tell the truth, the way you and I are apply scriptural accounts of worship and me more about ourselves than we want to know: No doubt you are vindicating the way YOU love to worship, or the way that YOU believe is true worship. We are made that way-- truth at first seems to reinforce our own position.
However ideal you consider the way you worship- good for you- yet there are those who truly worship in Spirit and in truth who on the surface of it would be uncomfortable with your style; and there are those who know God and worship in truth whose ways of approaching God would not be comfortable to you.
The most unattractive attitudes I know about have been (1) religious fundamentalists; and to a lesser extent, because I have had lesser exposure, (2) snobbish "High Church"-types, which I have usually written off as "liberals."
Please see that each one of us can be both the discriminator and the discriminated against; and it is imperative that we do not go the route of barrenness and despise those who are worshiping God in truth, even though in their humanness they may seem culturally out of it.
Please pray that the expression of your worship and mine, and of those where you and I congregate will be the sincere expression of who we are in total love and obedience before the great God we love.
Pray that the evolution of our worship will enable the tasks of the church,
EVANGELISM and
EDUCATION and
FELLOWSHIP and
SERVICE to flourish in powerful ways, for
WORSHIP IS THE HEART OF THE LIFE
THE LIFE OF CHRIST'S BODY, THECHURCH!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Jesus: I WILL GIVE YOU REST!
For background, if you will, read Luke 6:20-26
THE CALL OF JESUS TO REST
Matthew 11:28
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus had a way of turning things 'upside down' when Hespoke. He said things like "Blessed are the poor" and "It is goodsometimes to mourn." His words are...
I. A CHALLENGE TO OUR VALUES
['Things' do not truly satisfy.]
Just think what He said:
A. "Blessed poor" "Happy hungry" "Hopeful mourners" ... we arefamiliar with the Beatitudes-- but when we look at them again andagain we wonder again, "What could this mean?" Jesus certainly was not glorifying poverty. But somehow we getthe message that life is bigger and richer and more holy than thethings we often fill our days and nights with. And, too, Jesus was not your run-of-the-mill 'power-of-positive-thinking-type guru. Jesus never taught "All things worktogether for good!"
B. There is a negative side to truth, as well as a positive.There is death as well as life. There is blessing, yes. But there isalso woe. Jesus taught that it is vitally important how we choose toorder our lives, and what or whom we place at the center of our lives.
The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the fact that through God's love and grace we have...
II. A CHOICE OF LIFE CENTERS
...and a choice between blessing and cursing,
...and a choice between rest and turmoil of spirit.
A. The first word Jesus taught His disciples to PREACH was"Repent!" "Turn!" "Change course!" Why? "Because the kingdom heavenis near at hand!"
B. The kingdom of heaven is a mystery! It IS here already!Jesus is in charge! And yet it IS COMING! Jesus is NOT in charge inthe same way that one day- perhaps sooner than any of us think- HeSHALL be!
C. This kingdom is what Jesus is talking about when He says:"Blessed!" His kingdom is for people! His kingdom is LOVE! ("Loveyour enemies! Pray for them that despitefully use you!") But this kingdom is also militantly against SIN! That is whyJesus also said: "WOE!"
D. Much of the religious community that passes for theChristian church is spread over a spectrum that goes from a damnable complacency with a legal, literal, mental conversion on one end of the scale to a militant worship of purely human values and wisdom at the other end.
Both the extreme fundamentalist and the Christians who rejectthe authority of the Bible share one common thing: they demand to bein control of their own religion or lack of it. They lack the povertyof spirit, the mourning for sins, the purity of heart that Jesus tellsus is necessary to truly see God.
It is to these people-- people with all the answers-- that Jesus pronounces His woes:
The militants who would re-write the Bible are shocking:
The militant feminists have spoken of traditional worship ofJesus as "christofascism." The respected scholar Richard John Newhausquotes a teacher at a divinity school here in Massachusetts as statingthat the doctrine of the atonement, the cross, represents "the sadomasochism of Christian teaching at its most transparent." And a further quote: "Is it any wonder that there is so much abuse in modern society when the predominant image or theology of the culture is of'divine child abuse'- God the Father demanding and carrying out thesuffering and death of His own son?"
The militant free-sex people, who tell us that Bible values are out-dated, are attacking the authority of the Catholic church, probably because many bishops are bold to denounce adultery, abortion, as well as homosexual promiscuity, and not too long ago interrupted a mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, a violation of guaranteed civil rights as well as everything sacred.
But the complacent fundamentalists are in danger, too: It is true that we are not saved by what we DO. But it is also true that Jesus said over and again that we shall give an account of how we live this life. And if our faith in God, and our commitment to Jesus doesn't go deep enough to have any effect on the way we live, we are in danger of the same eternal damnation that waits for the out-and-out Christ rejecters!
Whatever "brand" we give ourselves as Christians, we must learn that we cannot EVER separate the kingdom of God from the Present, Living, Reigning KING! That is why Jesus taught as no one else ever taught. He didn't merely teach "lessons." He taught HIMSELF! Instead of talking about rest, Jesus said "Come to Me-- and I will give yourest!"
[Jesus still extends to all who will hear!]
III. A CALL TO PERSONAL TRUST IN HIM
A. We are so "intellectually" or "scientifically" biased that we think that the most important thing about faith is to get our"facts straight," to be theologically correct. And I certainly wantto be correct; to be orthodox.
But there is a different measuring stick that Jesus will use in the Day when He divides the nations! THAT SELECTION WILL BE ON THE BASIS OF WHETHER OR NOT HE KNOWS US! OF WHETHER OR NOT WE KNOW HIM!
There will be people there on that Day who are as orthodox asthe King James Version, who will be absolutely out of touch with what is going on; and there will no doubt be people WE would consider flaming liberals who have lived under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. There is no substitute for that PERSONAL relationship with Jesus! The word is: "COME UNTO ME! I will give you REST!"
B. "Rest" does not come through ignoring the stress of the day,and it certainly does not come through trying to compromise with it.
The only finally unbearable and intolerable burden is sin. Theonly inescapable tyrant is the unsublimated, undisciplined self.
C. Jesus spoke these words in troublesome times. The commonpeople who heard Jesus preach were mostly poor people in a middle-eastern country occupied by a foreign power. It is hard for us toimagine the bleakness of their outlook, or the extent of theirphysical poverty. Still, Jesus promised them rest unto their souls.
D. Jesus spoke these words in the framework of choice. You come, and I will. You choose not to come, and I will not. Rest isconnected with deliberately coming to Jesus. Just because you hear me say these words does not necessarily mean that you hear Jesus calling you. Your hearing has to be mixed with faith. But if there is any kind of spiritual desire for rest, and if there is a willingness to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, you have the possibility of making that choice!
PRAY WITH ME:Lord Jesus, We press into Your promise for the Rest You have promised!We seek to draw near to YOU! Help us, each one, to know how to approach You, from where WE are, to where YOU are - in Jesus'name. Amen.
THE CALL OF JESUS TO REST
Matthew 11:28
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus had a way of turning things 'upside down' when Hespoke. He said things like "Blessed are the poor" and "It is goodsometimes to mourn." His words are...
I. A CHALLENGE TO OUR VALUES
['Things' do not truly satisfy.]
Just think what He said:
A. "Blessed poor" "Happy hungry" "Hopeful mourners" ... we arefamiliar with the Beatitudes-- but when we look at them again andagain we wonder again, "What could this mean?" Jesus certainly was not glorifying poverty. But somehow we getthe message that life is bigger and richer and more holy than thethings we often fill our days and nights with. And, too, Jesus was not your run-of-the-mill 'power-of-positive-thinking-type guru. Jesus never taught "All things worktogether for good!"
B. There is a negative side to truth, as well as a positive.There is death as well as life. There is blessing, yes. But there isalso woe. Jesus taught that it is vitally important how we choose toorder our lives, and what or whom we place at the center of our lives.
The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the fact that through God's love and grace we have...
II. A CHOICE OF LIFE CENTERS
...and a choice between blessing and cursing,
...and a choice between rest and turmoil of spirit.
A. The first word Jesus taught His disciples to PREACH was"Repent!" "Turn!" "Change course!" Why? "Because the kingdom heavenis near at hand!"
B. The kingdom of heaven is a mystery! It IS here already!Jesus is in charge! And yet it IS COMING! Jesus is NOT in charge inthe same way that one day- perhaps sooner than any of us think- HeSHALL be!
C. This kingdom is what Jesus is talking about when He says:"Blessed!" His kingdom is for people! His kingdom is LOVE! ("Loveyour enemies! Pray for them that despitefully use you!") But this kingdom is also militantly against SIN! That is whyJesus also said: "WOE!"
D. Much of the religious community that passes for theChristian church is spread over a spectrum that goes from a damnable complacency with a legal, literal, mental conversion on one end of the scale to a militant worship of purely human values and wisdom at the other end.
Both the extreme fundamentalist and the Christians who rejectthe authority of the Bible share one common thing: they demand to bein control of their own religion or lack of it. They lack the povertyof spirit, the mourning for sins, the purity of heart that Jesus tellsus is necessary to truly see God.
It is to these people-- people with all the answers-- that Jesus pronounces His woes:
The militants who would re-write the Bible are shocking:
The militant feminists have spoken of traditional worship ofJesus as "christofascism." The respected scholar Richard John Newhausquotes a teacher at a divinity school here in Massachusetts as statingthat the doctrine of the atonement, the cross, represents "the sadomasochism of Christian teaching at its most transparent." And a further quote: "Is it any wonder that there is so much abuse in modern society when the predominant image or theology of the culture is of'divine child abuse'- God the Father demanding and carrying out thesuffering and death of His own son?"
The militant free-sex people, who tell us that Bible values are out-dated, are attacking the authority of the Catholic church, probably because many bishops are bold to denounce adultery, abortion, as well as homosexual promiscuity, and not too long ago interrupted a mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, a violation of guaranteed civil rights as well as everything sacred.
But the complacent fundamentalists are in danger, too: It is true that we are not saved by what we DO. But it is also true that Jesus said over and again that we shall give an account of how we live this life. And if our faith in God, and our commitment to Jesus doesn't go deep enough to have any effect on the way we live, we are in danger of the same eternal damnation that waits for the out-and-out Christ rejecters!
Whatever "brand" we give ourselves as Christians, we must learn that we cannot EVER separate the kingdom of God from the Present, Living, Reigning KING! That is why Jesus taught as no one else ever taught. He didn't merely teach "lessons." He taught HIMSELF! Instead of talking about rest, Jesus said "Come to Me-- and I will give yourest!"
[Jesus still extends to all who will hear!]
III. A CALL TO PERSONAL TRUST IN HIM
A. We are so "intellectually" or "scientifically" biased that we think that the most important thing about faith is to get our"facts straight," to be theologically correct. And I certainly wantto be correct; to be orthodox.
But there is a different measuring stick that Jesus will use in the Day when He divides the nations! THAT SELECTION WILL BE ON THE BASIS OF WHETHER OR NOT HE KNOWS US! OF WHETHER OR NOT WE KNOW HIM!
There will be people there on that Day who are as orthodox asthe King James Version, who will be absolutely out of touch with what is going on; and there will no doubt be people WE would consider flaming liberals who have lived under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. There is no substitute for that PERSONAL relationship with Jesus! The word is: "COME UNTO ME! I will give you REST!"
B. "Rest" does not come through ignoring the stress of the day,and it certainly does not come through trying to compromise with it.
The only finally unbearable and intolerable burden is sin. Theonly inescapable tyrant is the unsublimated, undisciplined self.
C. Jesus spoke these words in troublesome times. The commonpeople who heard Jesus preach were mostly poor people in a middle-eastern country occupied by a foreign power. It is hard for us toimagine the bleakness of their outlook, or the extent of theirphysical poverty. Still, Jesus promised them rest unto their souls.
D. Jesus spoke these words in the framework of choice. You come, and I will. You choose not to come, and I will not. Rest isconnected with deliberately coming to Jesus. Just because you hear me say these words does not necessarily mean that you hear Jesus calling you. Your hearing has to be mixed with faith. But if there is any kind of spiritual desire for rest, and if there is a willingness to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, you have the possibility of making that choice!
PRAY WITH ME:Lord Jesus, We press into Your promise for the Rest You have promised!We seek to draw near to YOU! Help us, each one, to know how to approach You, from where WE are, to where YOU are - in Jesus'name. Amen.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Obedience the Heart of Faith
Luke 17: 11 - 19
HEALTH AND WHOLENESS
A Story of Healing
A story in Luke's Gospel- an incident that happened 2,000years ago- may seem pretty disconnected to life as we live it here inthe 21st century. But there are windows in this particular story that let light shine on the pathways we all must walk. The story of the healing of ten lepers is not as remote as you might think.
I. WHEN THEY CALLED OUT, JESUS RESPONDED
Hopeless, isolated by law, absorbed by their own troubles a small band of lepers skulked around the borders of Galilee and Samariain the northern regions of the Holy Land. They were not only sickwith an incurable disease, they were marked as untouchables, kickedout of fellowship with anyone except other lepers. They foraged forfood. They begged at a distance for anything and everything theyneeded. But the one thing they really needed, the one thing thatmakes life worth living-- hope-- was already lost.
Until Jesus came along, that is. A tiny spark of hopeprompted the ten lepers to approach as near as they could and make along distance shout for help.
"Jesus, master, have mercy on us!"
It may have been just a tiny spark of hope. It may have beenjust a long distance prayer. But that cry was heard.
The response from Jesus was not as spectacular as they mighthave hoped. But it was a response. Jesus heard. And Jesus told themwhat to do. It was a "next step." It had to do with getting legalpermission to re-enter society.
"Go show yourselves to the priests!"This window in the story lets the light in that reveals this truth:Wherever you are God's Word can reach you. You don't need to be lostone more day.
II. AS THEY WENT THEY WERE MADE CLEAN
The story next tells us that as they went, they were cleansed.They had called. Jesus had responded with a brief command. After he spoke they may have looked at their leper sores. Just after Jesusspoke they were exactly the same as they were before he spoke. Theywere still unclean lepers.
But Jesus had told them what to do. They decided they had nothing to lose. They started out to find a priest.And as they went . . . as they walked along . . . they sensedsomething wonderful was taking place. They were changing.
The shaft of sunlight through this window shows us that:
Obedience is faith in action; we cannot obey God and stay in bondage.
The healing of the lepers is remarkably like one of our Old Testament favorites, the story of Naaman and Elijah. Naaman was not poor and socially outcast like these ten lepers. He was a wealthySyrian warrior. But the fact remains he was a leper and knew he wasgoing to die. You remember the story: when Naaman finally found the prophetof God, or rather, found where he lived, the prophet, Elijah, sent hisservant out to tell this wealthy leper to go and dip himself seventimes in the Jordan River.
No dramatics. No incantations. Just a word to obey. Itseemed too easy: simply wash and be clean. Naaman struggled with thesimplicity of it. But it was God's Word. And as he obeyed, Naamanwas made clean of his leprosy.
It seems so simple to call out to God and be saved. It seemstoo easy just to confess our sins and trust that God is as good as hisword and will forgive and cleanse us. Do you remember the lines fromthat old gospel song?:
Chiefest of sinners Jesus will save
All He has promised that will he do.
Wash in the fountain opened for sin
"And I will pass, will pass over you."
III. ONE CLEANSED LEPER RETURNED TO GIVE PRAISE TO GOD
There is one more window open in this narrative: Theimportance of worship.
Sickness has a way of turning us in on ourselves. We becomeabsorbed with our symptoms. We tell about our hospitalprocedures. Sickness is often very self-centered. (I plead guiltyfrom time to time.) Wellness is more than an absence of illness. Itis the quality of being vibrantly alive. God's goal for you and me ismore than being free from sin. More than not suffering for our sins.It is wholeness.
The goal of God's grace is not simply to save us from the damage of sin, but to set us free from our own selfish ego. We arenot just saved so we can pursue our own selfish agenda, but so that wecan discover God, and take our place in the circle of His family.
God does not save us just to make us clean or good. He sharesHis life so that we can come into his home and be part of his family.He takes away our sin so we can be happy in his Presence. The end ofsalvation is more than forgiveness and cleansing, it is fellowshipwith God and the whole family of God.
"If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgiveus our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (Then,) "Ifwe walk in the light, as (Christ) is in the light we have fellowshipone with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us(**continually keeps us clean**) from all sin." (1 John 1:7,9)
This Samaritan outcast leper closed the circle of grace thatday of his cleansing. He actually got out of his own way! The centerof his existence was changed. Instead of orbiting around his illness,and his very considerable pain, now he worshiped the God who had sethim free. And that gratitude completed his healing for the moment.As he worshiped he was made whole.
In the Old Testament story Naaman passed the gratitude test aswell. He had been really reluctant to obey the simple command to washand be clean. But then as he obeyed he was cleansed; and to hiseverlasting credit he did not simply rush back to Syria shouting andcelebrating. Instead he returned to the home of Elijah to givethanks.This last window lets in the light that:Worship, thanks, gratitude bring us near to our God.
If this seems too very simple, well maybe it is. Butsometimes I need to remember the very most simple of lessons:
When I call Jesus hears me! (He will hear you, too, whereveryou are!)
As I do what he shows me to do, I will be set free! (Are youwalking in all the light you know?)
When I tell Him "Thank You!" I am made whole!
Prayer: Lord, Help us to give You thanks from our hearts! Amen
HEALTH AND WHOLENESS
A Story of Healing
A story in Luke's Gospel- an incident that happened 2,000years ago- may seem pretty disconnected to life as we live it here inthe 21st century. But there are windows in this particular story that let light shine on the pathways we all must walk. The story of the healing of ten lepers is not as remote as you might think.
I. WHEN THEY CALLED OUT, JESUS RESPONDED
Hopeless, isolated by law, absorbed by their own troubles a small band of lepers skulked around the borders of Galilee and Samariain the northern regions of the Holy Land. They were not only sickwith an incurable disease, they were marked as untouchables, kickedout of fellowship with anyone except other lepers. They foraged forfood. They begged at a distance for anything and everything theyneeded. But the one thing they really needed, the one thing thatmakes life worth living-- hope-- was already lost.
Until Jesus came along, that is. A tiny spark of hopeprompted the ten lepers to approach as near as they could and make along distance shout for help.
"Jesus, master, have mercy on us!"
It may have been just a tiny spark of hope. It may have beenjust a long distance prayer. But that cry was heard.
The response from Jesus was not as spectacular as they mighthave hoped. But it was a response. Jesus heard. And Jesus told themwhat to do. It was a "next step." It had to do with getting legalpermission to re-enter society.
"Go show yourselves to the priests!"This window in the story lets the light in that reveals this truth:Wherever you are God's Word can reach you. You don't need to be lostone more day.
II. AS THEY WENT THEY WERE MADE CLEAN
The story next tells us that as they went, they were cleansed.They had called. Jesus had responded with a brief command. After he spoke they may have looked at their leper sores. Just after Jesusspoke they were exactly the same as they were before he spoke. Theywere still unclean lepers.
But Jesus had told them what to do. They decided they had nothing to lose. They started out to find a priest.And as they went . . . as they walked along . . . they sensedsomething wonderful was taking place. They were changing.
The shaft of sunlight through this window shows us that:
Obedience is faith in action; we cannot obey God and stay in bondage.
The healing of the lepers is remarkably like one of our Old Testament favorites, the story of Naaman and Elijah. Naaman was not poor and socially outcast like these ten lepers. He was a wealthySyrian warrior. But the fact remains he was a leper and knew he wasgoing to die. You remember the story: when Naaman finally found the prophetof God, or rather, found where he lived, the prophet, Elijah, sent hisservant out to tell this wealthy leper to go and dip himself seventimes in the Jordan River.
No dramatics. No incantations. Just a word to obey. Itseemed too easy: simply wash and be clean. Naaman struggled with thesimplicity of it. But it was God's Word. And as he obeyed, Naamanwas made clean of his leprosy.
It seems so simple to call out to God and be saved. It seemstoo easy just to confess our sins and trust that God is as good as hisword and will forgive and cleanse us. Do you remember the lines fromthat old gospel song?:
Chiefest of sinners Jesus will save
All He has promised that will he do.
Wash in the fountain opened for sin
"And I will pass, will pass over you."
III. ONE CLEANSED LEPER RETURNED TO GIVE PRAISE TO GOD
There is one more window open in this narrative: Theimportance of worship.
Sickness has a way of turning us in on ourselves. We becomeabsorbed with our symptoms. We tell about our hospitalprocedures. Sickness is often very self-centered. (I plead guiltyfrom time to time.) Wellness is more than an absence of illness. Itis the quality of being vibrantly alive. God's goal for you and me ismore than being free from sin. More than not suffering for our sins.It is wholeness.
The goal of God's grace is not simply to save us from the damage of sin, but to set us free from our own selfish ego. We arenot just saved so we can pursue our own selfish agenda, but so that wecan discover God, and take our place in the circle of His family.
God does not save us just to make us clean or good. He sharesHis life so that we can come into his home and be part of his family.He takes away our sin so we can be happy in his Presence. The end ofsalvation is more than forgiveness and cleansing, it is fellowshipwith God and the whole family of God.
"If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgiveus our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (Then,) "Ifwe walk in the light, as (Christ) is in the light we have fellowshipone with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us(**continually keeps us clean**) from all sin." (1 John 1:7,9)
This Samaritan outcast leper closed the circle of grace thatday of his cleansing. He actually got out of his own way! The centerof his existence was changed. Instead of orbiting around his illness,and his very considerable pain, now he worshiped the God who had sethim free. And that gratitude completed his healing for the moment.As he worshiped he was made whole.
In the Old Testament story Naaman passed the gratitude test aswell. He had been really reluctant to obey the simple command to washand be clean. But then as he obeyed he was cleansed; and to hiseverlasting credit he did not simply rush back to Syria shouting andcelebrating. Instead he returned to the home of Elijah to givethanks.This last window lets in the light that:Worship, thanks, gratitude bring us near to our God.
If this seems too very simple, well maybe it is. Butsometimes I need to remember the very most simple of lessons:
When I call Jesus hears me! (He will hear you, too, whereveryou are!)
As I do what he shows me to do, I will be set free! (Are youwalking in all the light you know?)
When I tell Him "Thank You!" I am made whole!
Prayer: Lord, Help us to give You thanks from our hearts! Amen
Monday, October 8, 2007
The Jesus Prayer
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. "
One thing I remember about Edward Lawlor, the Canadian-born General Superintendent, who was known as an e3loquent preacher was not any sermon or lesswon, but just this: at a ministers' retreat in New York thirty-plus years ago he said that his constant prayer for himself was: "Jesus, be Thyself to me a living, bright Reality!"
I don 't feel Jesus today . . . don't feel His guidance and Presence. But I believe He nis with me, and that He is guiding me. I don't know where he wants us to go tomorrow, but I believe that we are exactlky where we ought to be today. I will serve Hium here the best I know how...
One thing I remember about Edward Lawlor, the Canadian-born General Superintendent, who was known as an e3loquent preacher was not any sermon or lesswon, but just this: at a ministers' retreat in New York thirty-plus years ago he said that his constant prayer for himself was: "Jesus, be Thyself to me a living, bright Reality!"
I don 't feel Jesus today . . . don't feel His guidance and Presence. But I believe He nis with me, and that He is guiding me. I don't know where he wants us to go tomorrow, but I believe that we are exactlky where we ought to be today. I will serve Hium here the best I know how...
Friday, October 5, 2007
Enemies of the Church?
In the book -Resident Aliens- William Willimon and StanleyHauerwas listed some rather unconventional "enemies of the church" which may even be present as we come together to worship, or even partake at the Lord's Table. They are worth thinking through:
1. One such enemy is SENTIMENTALITY.
Commenting that "exciting services" and "good feeling" have become ends in themselves in theministry they write; "When that happens the church and ministry cannot avoid sentimentality, which we believe is the most detrimental corruption of the church today.
Sentimentality, after all, is but the way our UNBELIEF is lived out. SENTIMENTALITY, THAT ATTITUDE OF BEING ALWAYS READY TO UNDERSTAND BUT NOT TO JUDGE, CORRUPTS US AND THE MINISTRY. This is as true of the conservative churches as it is of the liberal. Sentimentality is the subjecting of the church year to "Mother's Day" and "Thanksgiving."
Sentimentality is the necessity of the church to side with the (..politically correct...causes-my substitution for Sananistas vs.Contras.)
Sentimentality is "the family that prays together stays together." Without God, without the One whose death on the cross challenges all our "good feelings," who stands beyond and over against our human anxieties, all we have left is sentiment, the saccharine residue of theism is demise."
2. A second enemy is LETTING THE WORLD DEFINE THE CHURCH; or accepting conventional definitions of the church.
If the church accepts thevalues of our rotten culture, then (and I quote again:)
"(The) church will be a source of conventional, socially acceptable answers, a place to reiterate what everybody already knows, even without the church. We shall die, not from crucifixion, but from boredom. (We- especially pastors are conditioned) "to think in terms of what the church can do to help people- but within parameters set by a society that does not know God. In that myopic world view, solutions to what ails us will be petty. WHAT SORT OF COMMUNITY WOULD WE HAVE TO BE TO BE THE SORT OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE BY OUR CONVICTIONS?"
3. A third enemy of the church named by Hauerwas and Willimon isUNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS:
We try to make the church whatever WE thinkit ought to be, or what we think the WORLD wants it to be to meet their perceived needs. Hauerwas and Willimon are speaking especially of pastors, but this truth applies to us all. We must focus in onwhat GOD wants us to do, and then we find we have peace with Him, andwith ourselves! Listen to what they say about pastors, and see if there is an application for you in this enemy of "UnrealisticExpectations":
"Pastors come to despise what they are and hate the community that made them that way. Because the church is not a place to worship God, but rather a therapeutic center for the meeting of one another's unchecked, unexamined needs, the pastor is exhausted. Only a few months into his or her first pastorate the new pastor realizes that people's needs are virtually limitless, particularly in an affluent society in which there is an ever-rising threshold of desire (which we define as "need." There is no job description, no clear sense of purpose other than the meeting of people's needs, so there is no possible way for the pastor to limit what people ask of the pastor. Not knowing what they should do pastors try to do everything and be everything for everybody. The most conscientious among them become exhausted and empty. The laziest of them merely withdraw into disinterested detachment. Not knowing why their pastor is there, the congregation expects the pastor to be and do everything. They become unrealistic critics of the clergy rather than co-workers, fellow truth tellers." Self hatred is inevitable in someone who feels abused, prostituted, unfairly criticized. The burden of being a generally good person, open and available to people of unbounded need is too great for anybody to bear. Self-hate and loneliness result. "
The quotes are from the book-- Resident Aliens, now probably ancient history - but still very relevent. Willimon is now a United Methodist bishop....
1. One such enemy is SENTIMENTALITY.
Commenting that "exciting services" and "good feeling" have become ends in themselves in theministry they write; "When that happens the church and ministry cannot avoid sentimentality, which we believe is the most detrimental corruption of the church today.
Sentimentality, after all, is but the way our UNBELIEF is lived out. SENTIMENTALITY, THAT ATTITUDE OF BEING ALWAYS READY TO UNDERSTAND BUT NOT TO JUDGE, CORRUPTS US AND THE MINISTRY. This is as true of the conservative churches as it is of the liberal. Sentimentality is the subjecting of the church year to "Mother's Day" and "Thanksgiving."
Sentimentality is the necessity of the church to side with the (..politically correct...causes-my substitution for Sananistas vs.Contras.)
Sentimentality is "the family that prays together stays together." Without God, without the One whose death on the cross challenges all our "good feelings," who stands beyond and over against our human anxieties, all we have left is sentiment, the saccharine residue of theism is demise."
2. A second enemy is LETTING THE WORLD DEFINE THE CHURCH; or accepting conventional definitions of the church.
If the church accepts thevalues of our rotten culture, then (and I quote again:)
"(The) church will be a source of conventional, socially acceptable answers, a place to reiterate what everybody already knows, even without the church. We shall die, not from crucifixion, but from boredom. (We- especially pastors are conditioned) "to think in terms of what the church can do to help people- but within parameters set by a society that does not know God. In that myopic world view, solutions to what ails us will be petty. WHAT SORT OF COMMUNITY WOULD WE HAVE TO BE TO BE THE SORT OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE BY OUR CONVICTIONS?"
3. A third enemy of the church named by Hauerwas and Willimon isUNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS:
We try to make the church whatever WE thinkit ought to be, or what we think the WORLD wants it to be to meet their perceived needs. Hauerwas and Willimon are speaking especially of pastors, but this truth applies to us all. We must focus in onwhat GOD wants us to do, and then we find we have peace with Him, andwith ourselves! Listen to what they say about pastors, and see if there is an application for you in this enemy of "UnrealisticExpectations":
"Pastors come to despise what they are and hate the community that made them that way. Because the church is not a place to worship God, but rather a therapeutic center for the meeting of one another's unchecked, unexamined needs, the pastor is exhausted. Only a few months into his or her first pastorate the new pastor realizes that people's needs are virtually limitless, particularly in an affluent society in which there is an ever-rising threshold of desire (which we define as "need." There is no job description, no clear sense of purpose other than the meeting of people's needs, so there is no possible way for the pastor to limit what people ask of the pastor. Not knowing what they should do pastors try to do everything and be everything for everybody. The most conscientious among them become exhausted and empty. The laziest of them merely withdraw into disinterested detachment. Not knowing why their pastor is there, the congregation expects the pastor to be and do everything. They become unrealistic critics of the clergy rather than co-workers, fellow truth tellers." Self hatred is inevitable in someone who feels abused, prostituted, unfairly criticized. The burden of being a generally good person, open and available to people of unbounded need is too great for anybody to bear. Self-hate and loneliness result. "
The quotes are from the book-- Resident Aliens, now probably ancient history - but still very relevent. Willimon is now a United Methodist bishop....
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
A Birthright Nazarene's Concern...
I have a deep concern- a heartache that at times is almost physical- for the future of my birthright denomination, the Church of the Nazarene. Call it the ravings and whining of an old man if you like, but what I feel is what I feel—I feel sometimes that my church has changed and left me somewhere.
There is no way we could roll back the clock to a simpler time, with clear-cut lines of demarcation between the way Christians lived and believed and the “worldly people” who were as yet unsaved. Those lines in many instances were also culturally drawn, until the motivation for lifestyles could be blurred. All too often in the evangelical Christian community we looked at appearances: to be Christian was to do this and not to do that.
Our understanding of holiness as an experience may have been at times naïve, or poorly presented. But there was at the heart of that experience a reality that called us to give up our center to God; to make unreserved covenant with a loving, holy Father. We were told something was ‘eradicated’ or that the body of sin, which was like a corpse tied to a criminal, was now removed, or that we needed to ‘die like a dog under the back porch.’ But in the sometimes crude descriptions or ‘holiness or hell’ sermons somehow we got the message that there was more to being fully saved than living in bondage to sin; we got the message that not only the guilt and penalty of sin was removed at Calvary, but provision has been made for the power of sin to be broken, and a life of commitment to God is possible.
It is that commitment- that covenant that stands at the heart of what our denomination desperately needs. In all the celebration, and excitement and cultural awareness and ‘seeker sensitivity’ there is a note that needs to be sounded: we are being called to die to self, to forever abandon the selfish way, to respond to a proposition from a Lover who asks us to trust Him to be our all in all. The narrow way is not a celebration at first, but it is the only way.
In our Nazarene hymnals (remember hymnals??) on page 484 is a modern-but-accurate ‘translation’ of a prayer John Wesley used . It begins “I am not my own but Yours…” It is very like vows we might use in a wedding ceremony-- a once for all promise to be true and faithful, mutually exchanged—a covenant! That is what holiness is- a mutual covenant with a loving God. When we are in covenant with God the battle becomes His battle- the work is His work- the praise is His.
More later—maybe…
There is no way we could roll back the clock to a simpler time, with clear-cut lines of demarcation between the way Christians lived and believed and the “worldly people” who were as yet unsaved. Those lines in many instances were also culturally drawn, until the motivation for lifestyles could be blurred. All too often in the evangelical Christian community we looked at appearances: to be Christian was to do this and not to do that.
Our understanding of holiness as an experience may have been at times naïve, or poorly presented. But there was at the heart of that experience a reality that called us to give up our center to God; to make unreserved covenant with a loving, holy Father. We were told something was ‘eradicated’ or that the body of sin, which was like a corpse tied to a criminal, was now removed, or that we needed to ‘die like a dog under the back porch.’ But in the sometimes crude descriptions or ‘holiness or hell’ sermons somehow we got the message that there was more to being fully saved than living in bondage to sin; we got the message that not only the guilt and penalty of sin was removed at Calvary, but provision has been made for the power of sin to be broken, and a life of commitment to God is possible.
It is that commitment- that covenant that stands at the heart of what our denomination desperately needs. In all the celebration, and excitement and cultural awareness and ‘seeker sensitivity’ there is a note that needs to be sounded: we are being called to die to self, to forever abandon the selfish way, to respond to a proposition from a Lover who asks us to trust Him to be our all in all. The narrow way is not a celebration at first, but it is the only way.
In our Nazarene hymnals (remember hymnals??) on page 484 is a modern-but-accurate ‘translation’ of a prayer John Wesley used . It begins “I am not my own but Yours…” It is very like vows we might use in a wedding ceremony-- a once for all promise to be true and faithful, mutually exchanged—a covenant! That is what holiness is- a mutual covenant with a loving God. When we are in covenant with God the battle becomes His battle- the work is His work- the praise is His.
More later—maybe…
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