Chained for Good: John the B

It's been awhile since there's been time to write here, but we're in the middle of a 7 part sermon series about biblical characters who were imprisoned.   I have to mention, before I write anything else, that I absolutely KNOW you're going to love the video intro to this week's message.  If you've been in worship, you know that each message in this series starts with a story about an unusual prison.  This week's is one of the best - really fun (which isn't the way you might normally describe prison stuff).  But I don't want to spoil it for you, so you'll have to show up if you want to see the prison story I'm going to share this week.  It's great!

Anyway, this is week three in the Chained for Good series, and we're taking a look at John the Baptist who is an interesting guy.  (Matthew 11:1-19)

[Part I and II of Chained for Good can be downloaded here]

John's ministry is fairly short-lived and yet Jesus describes him as the greatest of all the prophets.  He has an amazing ministry of proclaiming the coming of the Messiah and getting people to look at their lives.  But soon after Jesus comes on the scene, John gets tossed in jail for daring to tell Herod that he was an adulterer.  Instead of being rescued as some of Jesus' disciples were later, he comes to a grisly end when his head is lopped off to please a bratty dancer (makes a nice painting though, doesn't it?).  

If you've ever believed that a radically faithful life lived for God will lead to success and comfort, this guy torpedos that idea.  What does John have to teach us then?  That's what we'll discover Sunday.

- Curtis

Making a Way

Isaiah 40:1-11
It's supposed to be easy for me. I'm a pastor, after all. It's what we do, right - talk to people about God; help people to discover that God is real and present for them. And sometimes it is easier.
I remember a Christmas party many years ago, that we attended for Ana's work in San Francisco. One of Ana's co-workers came up to me and said, "You're in the ministry right?" "Yes," I replied. "Well, I have a lot of questions about Jeremiah. I've never read the bible before, but I started reading Jeremiah, and I don't get it. Explain it to me." And so, right there in the middle of Christmas cheer, we had an hour long discussion about Jeremiah - not one of the simplest books to begin with, but that's where she was. If it were a scene from a movie, this story would end with a group of people gathering around while I waxed eloquently with deep wisdom from the scriptures and charming humor. No movie ending here. She asked lots of questions, some of which stumped me, and anyone that happened to listen in for a few minutes would wander quietly off. But this woman was truly hungry for God.
It doesn't often happen like that, especially at events where people don't know what I do. Normally it goes something like this...
(New acquaintance): "What do you do for a living?"
(Me): "I'm the pastor of a church."
(NA): "Oh."
Sudden awkward silence as the new acquaintance works through confusion about what "pastor" means, fear of impending spiritual attack, and sudden self-consciousness of the drink they are holding.
Such interactions used to bother me. I felt like a spiritual leper. But now I see them as an enjoyable challenge. What can I do to break through the pastor's stereotype and strike up a conversation? What I've found is that most people will bring the talk back to something about God if they find that I'm not going to pounce on them. They really do want to know about godly things, they just don't want to be assaulted.
Perhaps you experience the same sort of thing when people find out you are a Christian, or that you go to church. This week's passage in Isaiah 40 was the one that Luke interpreted as talking about John the Baptist's work to prepare people for Jesus' arrival. John the B was sent to "prepare the way" for the Messiah. This Sunday we'll look at how these old words might apply to our relationships with others - how we can level things out for people to know God. We'll talk about what Isaiah says, what John the B did, and how that might look in our lives today.
- Curtis