2nd Post from the Pastors Convention

Picture here is Shane Claiborne, talking about his new book, "Jesus for President."

Big Ideas

You've probably heard me mention NT Wright in some of my sermons over the last year. He's an Anglican Bishop and a prominent English theologian who has stirred no small amount of controversy because of some of his ideas and interpretations. He's been the speaker here for the last 2 sessions, mixed in with lots of music, comedy and other fun stuff. When he gets up to preach or, more accurately, lecture, he's like a fire hyrdant being opened up full throttle. He doesn't do much pleasantry stuff, but just lets loose. Last night, when the hydrant of his teaching opened, he flooded the room. I've never seen anyone preach like him. It isn't his style that's amazing, it's the speed, the force, the ideas, the sheer volume (amount, not loudness), of it. He explodes all over with thoughts and images that are new and amazing. Although there are things I don't completely agree with or maybe understand, he's very powerful and thought-provoking. Not in a charismatic way, but a very spiritual, intellectual, blow-you-into-new-territory kind of way. For any of you who are interested, I recorded his talks and you're free to listen to them when I return. I can burn them on a cd for you.
The first night I arrived in San Diego, I spotted NT Wright on Nightline (I think- or another late night thing, but I'm fairly certain it was Nightline). They have a “Faith” segment they've been doing, and maybe you saw him too. He talked about one of his “radical” ideas that says Christians have the whole idea of the afterlife wrong. Of course they tried to make him seem more edgy than he really is by highlighting Wright's belief that when we die we don't live forever in heaven. Instead he looks at passages like Revelation 21 that talk about the “New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” - and he says that's an image of heaven on earth; eternity on a newly created earth. That may seem like splitting apocalyptic hairs, but the thing that's radical about it is his view that eternity may be very different than what we've been taught in our culture/church. Instead of being a forever in heaven experience, singing God's praises for all time, NT interprets scripture to mean that eternity is about God's Kingdom coming to earth – the New Jerusalem coming out of heaven, and that perhaps it begins now as we work and live out Kingdom values. He very much believes in eternity, resurrection, resurrection bodies and eternal life, and heaven being a real place. What's different is “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven” points us to the possibility that God is starting this whole revolution of new creation now, not after some destruction of all creation and God starting over. And you and I, our church and our individual lives, are meant by God to be little glimpses of God's re-creation of all thing beginning now, not later after we die. As little chunks of a new creation, we are put together by God to be building blocks in a whole new created world. It is quite scriptural, but not exactly the way the bible has been interpreted for a long time. Christians are windows for others into God's new recreation, at our best. Our problem is that, as windows, we're quite foggy. All of this has things to say about our priorities, our resources, our vision for who we are and what we are to do - now.
Anyway, I probably risk making him sound like something he's not – but I believe he's right on target. I'd enjoy the chance to share more with you when I return.
Otherwise, I haven't been out much! Just going to seminars and buying my year's supply of books and supplies for church – everything is half price here.
In the next few days I'll be doing some planning for future worship and sermons; visiting my brother in LA; checking out Loyola University, (where Amanda has been accepted, but isn't yet sure she wants to attend) and if I get up the chutzpah, I may venture out to the surf for the closest I'll ever get to walking on water.
I'll keep you posted on my adventures if I can locate continual internet access. Grace to you this week as you seek to be little windows of God's new creation.
If you want to see or hear more about the convention I've attended, check out: http://zondervan.typepad.com/zondervan/ - this is their blog. Let me know if you spot me in any of the pictures...
- Curtis

From San Diego - February 27th

1176 Miles From Home
No, it's not a sermon I'm writing about this week, but my adventure to San Diego for the Pastors Convention. I left town Sunday afternoon and zig-zagged my way to San Diego in my blue rental Chevy Cobalt by Tuesday for the conference. I know that being able to attend is an extravagance. Our church is able to pay a chunk and Ana graciously says "you need it, go for it" - so we pay the rest and here I am. I'm sharing some of what goes on here so that you'll have some idea of what's going on for me this week.
The things they have here for the 2000+ pastors from across the country are really quite amazing. I'm referring to the speakers and ideas and resources available - 60 seminars with more than 50 different speakers. Right now I'm typing away in a room they have set aside with internet access - a big comfy room with overstuffed chairs, and a young woman playing guitar and singing for us. She's a PK, probably in her mid 20's who's voice sounds like a cool stream. I suspect she'll be better known one day - Hannah Ford. Sort of reminds me of our own gifted Britt Petrovich, who I can see doing something like this too one day.
Last night the main speaker was a Rwandan Bishop who spoke about reconciliation and his experiences growing up as a child exiled to Uganda and then coming back to his home country. He spoke of seeing murderers who hacked up children during the civil war - who were then forgiven by the victims' families. "Who but Jesus could cause people to forgive such terrible things?" he said.
This morning Chuck Colson, (Watergate convict, Prison Fellowship founder) spoke. He shared the desperate need to teach people the core truths of our faith, not just so we know head knowledge, but so that we'll have a pool of understanding with which to act upon and change the world.
A bit later I spent two hours in a seminar called "Two Way Mission Trips." It was put on by Christianity Today and used all of us attenders as sounding boards and resources for an upcoming training series for short-term missions. There were just a few of us in the seminar, but it was good. It was encouraging for me to learn that our partnership with Shekina/Shalom is very unique and that we're doing a lot of things "right." It occurred to me that, with the large group going in July to El Salvador, we are approaching almost 40-50% of our church having made the trip - and being changed in deep ways by the relationships and experiences. I was also reminded once again that the trips we do are not especially about what great things we can go go do for "those people" far away. It is even more about our desperate need to receive the gifts of their faith and the way they teach us about relationships and the Body of Christ in the world. Hopefully, along the way, we'll be able to give them some gifts as well - but they may not be the ones that we think they are.
The last seminar I attended was a 90 minute talk by Shane Claiborne. He's a rather radical guy that might remind some people of a left-over or resurrected Jesus freak from the 60's. But he's much more than that. He's challenging and faith-shaking in very good ways; he lives in a "Christian Community" with 7 other people in inner-city Philly. They do strange good work with the homeless and speak up loudly on matters of justice. His new book is called Jesus For President. Afterward, I got to chat with him for a few minutes. In one of his other books, Irresistible Revolution, I read that he knew our Salvadoran friends, Ruth and Alex, so I talked with him about them. I also mentioned how I sent Stephen a copy of Irresistible Revolution, and that he loved the book -- that it helped ignite a new understanding of his faith that he could really dig into. Shane offered to write Stephen in prison, which I think Stephen will really enjoy.
So it's been a full couple of days already. I've run into a couple of people from Oregon, including one surprisingly unfriendly pastor from Hillsboro! He was quite un-interested in talking to me when I sat next to him, and then he hogged the leg and elbow room to boot. Oh well, maybe he had a bad day.
Well, time to wrap this up since I need to grab some dinner. Kids Klub back home is sitting down to eat right now too. The singer, Hannah, just finished up and so I went up to get her CD. Maybe she won't be so famous - I was the first cd she sold all day! Turns out her dad (flashing pictures and clapping loudest), is an American Baptist pastor as well - and we share some friends in N. California. More to come tomorrow...
- Curtis

For Sunday, February 24 - Parched

Exodus 17:1-7

The pic here is from an Irish church, 10th Century - Moses is the dude on the left striking the rock (well, the whole thing looks like a rock to me)- and then the Israelites are lined up in two rows with ancient Tupperware to hold the water.
This Exodus passage is a good one - where the people once again get testy with God (who doesn’t?). They complain about God not being with them, not providing for their needs (water). God instructs Moses to strike the rock and it will gush forth. I’m not totally sure where I’ll go with this yet, but it will have to do with times when our faith runs dry and how God responds.

For Sunday, February 10 - Down But Not Forgotten

Genesis 3 (Romans 5 to a lesser extent)
So I'm super late with this week's blog. I've been reading tons of commentaries and books about the passages this week and I finally had to stop to actually write the blog and, more importantly, the sermon. I think it would be interesting to actually get people to post some comments here in response to the message tomorrow. I wonder if anyone will. What seems true is that almost everyone has some very strong ideas about what we've come to call the "Fall of Man" (forgive the paternalistic language). Most of what we think the bible says, though, is from people's interpretation of the Genesis 3 passage - not necessarily from what it does explicitly say. So here are some of my rambling thoughts below. I may mention some of this in the sermon, but I'll largely be going in a slightly different direction. Please post your thoughts and ideas too...

This serpent is strange. He's crafty, he talks. But the woman doesn't seem to think this odd. We don't know so many things here. How long Adam and Eve have been around? What do they do in the garden? Are there other talking creatures in this garden, and why does this serpent talk? We have a very small picture with which to make a big story.
What we do know is that people are intricately linked with the creation around them. Adam is made from the dirt, and his work (pre-fall) is to tend the dirt and farm it for food. Eve is made from Adam and so she's from the same “stuff” as Adam. There are some odd things that we may have been mis-taught in the past. Here are some realities from the passage as I see them:
* Adam is “master” (NLT) or "ruler" (NIV) of Eve as a result of the fall (3:16)– it wasn't evidently meant to be this way, which puts a real dent in paternalistic views of man's relationship to women. There's a better way than “lording” it over women.
* The serpent is not identified with Satan here at all. He may be Satan, but it isn't spelled out here (look to Revelation for that).
* Work, ie labor, is not part of the curse. The hardship of work is the result of God cursing the ground. Again we're more tied to the earth than we still seem to understand today (3:17-19). God says that man will scratch out a living from the ground til the day he dies, then he will return to the dust. We come from dirt, we tend the dirt, we go back to dirt. What does this tell us about how we should care for the earth? It is home.
* Eve doesn't even have a name until this whole episode is over. Why? No wonder she talked to the serpent, he was paying more attention to her than Adam, who hadn't even said "Hey baby, what's your name?"
* Here's one that I never saw before: People don't live forever (pre-Fall) and only die as a result of the sin and the curse. I always thought humans were made to live eternally except for the problem of sin. Which, in a way, is still true, but not in the way I thought. Instead, while humans are in the Garden, they have the freedom to eat of the Tree of Life. This tree, or the fruit, seems to give them eternal life. When they are booted out of the garden, they lose access to the Tree. And so they die. God doesn't want messed up, fallen, unregenerate people to go on living forever. That would let evil expand terribly. He slows down or puts a limit on the growth of evil by letting people die eventually. It doesn't seem to slow evil down much, though.
Enough for now. By the way, for a good laugh do a google search for "Adam and Eve" images. There's some pretty funny stuff out there, and bizarre stuff too.
- Curtis

For Sunday, February 3 - The Ways of the Kingdom

Matthew 5; Isaiah 53
On the surface, these two passages don't have a lot to do with each other. But I consider it a spiritual gift to be able to bend and twist disparate passages and ideas into something that will preach as one - or maybye it's heresy, who knows?
Matthew 5, what we normally call "The Sermon on the Mount" is Jesus' inaugural speech about the Kingdom of God/Heaven that he brings. Most believers, even non-Christians, stand in awe of Jesus' words here. Though he re-states many of the ideas of the prophets and sages of Jewish Old Testament history, he does so with perfect clarity, simplicity and beauty. One can't help but read through the Sermon and simply think, "Yes, if only the world and people were like this..."
Which is exactly the problem. It isn't and we aren't. Instead we find that, at our best, we consider Jesus' words impossible ideals. But we don't really think there's any way things can be as he describes.
Here's a thought: What if he really meant what he said? On both the individual level (inner me stuff), and on the social level of how we treat each other - and (gasp) - how tribes and nations treat each other? What would it mean to turn the other cheek and bless those who persecute us? How do we possibly do that? If we get ticked off when someone cuts us off in traffic, who we don't even know, then how do we ever forgive someone who has injured our soul? And yet here we are with these words about a very different kingdom.
That's where I think Isaiah 53, the passage of the Suffering Servant comes in. I don't know how far I'll get towards tying all of this together in the sermon - maybe it will be more than one. We'll see...
Your thoughts?
- Curtis

For Sunday, January 20 - No Such Thing As Pointless

Isaiah 49:1-16
The second of the "Servant Songs" in Isaiah that points to both Israel and the Messiah as the representative of the remnant of faithful Israel.
What strikes me is that, in both Jesus' thinking and Paul's, we are called to be servants of God. We take that call rather lightly, assuming it means simply to do some few acts of obedience to God, instead of seeing it for what it really is: a total, radical, overwhelming, mess-up-your-life call to completely serve God. We settle for servanthood-lite, which is not much at all, I fear. If the Servant of Isaiah is, in some way, a model for what being a servant looks like, then we should be shocked. He fails, he is discouraged, he wonders if anything that he does has any value at all. Yet he sticks with it, confident that God has a reason for it. So, are we really doing anything close to serving God like the Servant does? What would that look like today? - Curtis

For Sunday, January 13 - Beyond Limitations

Isaiah 42:1-9
This is the 2nd of the “Servant Songs” in Isaiah. It speaks of God’s mission for his servant and his people. As we study God’s purpose for the Servant, we’ll try to see how the Servant relates to us and what the mission has to do with us. How does understanding Jesus’ purpose and mission change us?
===============
The past couple of weeks, thanks to some time off and wonderful people like Peter Clay and Gavin Silaski preaching, I've had the chance to do more reading than usual and actually think of things besides, "What am I going to say in the sermon this week?"
Turns out that life/God has been pelting me from various directions with messages about direction and purpose and what God really wants me to be doing. Which is sort of where this passage seems to be pointing as well - for the Servant, who Christians believe to be Jesus. We tend to think that Jesus was born with a God-brain and perfectly clear sense of who he was, what he was supposed to do in life. But I doubt that was the case. Part of being human is growing, maturing, finding what it is we are supposed to be and do. So if Jesus was fully human (as well as fully God), he probably had to develop a sense of his mission and purpose too. The servant songs of Isaiah may have been a big part of finding his identity. How do we find our purpose?
I've been reading books (slowly, yes) that are disturbing like NT Wright's Evil and the Justice of God, and The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne. And I've recently listened to an interview with Jean Vanier, a philosopher and Catholic social innovator who created a model of community, L'Arche - a community for people with special needs due to developmental disabilities.
I think my mind is about to explode, but this is all a part of the "message pelting" that God is doing. It relates to Isaiah 42 for me because God is repeating a life-long message for each of us that our lives are meant to be about more than just getting through another day or even finding "what makes us happy." There is purpose and meaningful work that he has for each person. Finding and doing that means that we have to go beyond the limitations we put on ourselves - or that our faith can put on us. And normally that simply means we have to get out of our ruts and do some things differently each and every day.
Yes I'm rambling. That's what a blog is. Your thoughts, your ideas? Is anyone out there?
- Curt

Would You Notice?

Would you notice something wonderful happening right under your nose, or within the "banal" things of your life?
Really?
Check out this Washington Post event

Video of it on Youtube

Merry Christmas ... and keep watch for Beauty.
- Curtis

For Sunday December 23 - Put the Wonder in Your Wander

Is a miracle still a miracle if it happens all the time? For example, the sun coming up every day isn't really a miracle because, let's face it - we expect it and it's a fairly reliable thing after all these years. But if you lived in a cave your whole life and came out one day to see your first sunrise, chances are you'd think it was quite a miracle. Or if you'd been an angel who saw the very first star and the very first sunrise, you'd have thought, "Holy of holies! That's a miracle!" Our would you? Maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal if you constantly saw God doing such things.
I don't really know where I'm going with this line of thought, or if it will really have anything to do with the sermon. Let me share a dirty little secret with you blog readers: Christmas sermons are among the hardest to write for pastors, especially year after year. How many angles and stories about the angels can you find? When it comes to Christmas illustrations, we've heard them all. People send me cute Christmas stories that they got in an email, thinking I might be able to use them. And while I really appreciate the thought, an emailed story probably means everyone else has heard it. And I've probably told it already and forgotten that I did by now! So there are some challenges in this Christmas sermon thing. There's also the feeling I have that so many people are really desperately wanting something special from a Christmas Sunday or Eve service. They're tired, they're hurting, and lots of times family "crud" comes out or gets worse around Christmas. Something about Christmas and the end of the year makes us look inside ourselves a little bit more and that isn't always a pleasant thing. We see all the stuff - addictions and habits and ugliness inside - that we pledged to get rid of on Jan 1, 2007. Yet it's still there, maybe worse. All of this can come home to roost at Christmas. So people need a good dose of hope and joy - and I feel that too. I seldom feel up to the task of throwing out this lifesaver; my rope feels too small, or I wonder if there's anything on the end of it to help at all.
And then that mysterious, heart ripping truth surprises me all over again; blindsides me like a semi-truck. Last night I was watching The Nativity Story (the 2006 version with the Whale Rider teenage girl who got pregnant right about when the movie came out). Ana went to bed, Malia got bored and went up to her room, my mom fell asleep in her chair. So I was left watching this all by myself. It's a little slow in parts, but really good too. At the risk of being a spoiler for the story, I'll tell you that Mary has the baby. Even though I've seen this story, read this story, preached on and dug into this story countless times, something ripped into my heart when I saw it happen. Mary gives birth in a dirty, lonely cave-stable, alone except for Joseph and some animals. It hurts. No epidural, no meds, no help. Joseph doesn't know what he's doing. When this baby is born, though, the shepherds and wise men soon appear, and one of the wise men says, "Eternal God, wrapped in a baby." Are you kidding? How? What kind of thing is this? Who could make it up? The compassionate genius of it levels me, knocks me out. Somehow, in a way I can't explain or really grasp, it changes everything. God becoming me and you, coming into the world in such lousy conditions means that he really, really, wanted to love us, change things, know us, invade, start a different Kingdom. It's just wonderfully absurd. And it means that there's more than just some temporary joy or hope. There's God with us. - Curtis

For Sunday, December 9 - Heaven at War

Okay, so this seems like an odd passage to choose for Advent. But really it isn't. Take a closer look. It's actually a "big picture" view from heaven, perhaps, of what's going on around the event of Christmas. Time and space are interwoven all over the place in this passage. You can't really tell what happens when. And maybe that's part of the point. Some questions to ponder...
Why is this dragon appearing in heaven? The dragon is identified as "the serpent or the devil later," but why is he in heaven if he's evil? Hmm. And what do you make of the way that the struggles and battles that are transpiring on earth - also seem to have spiritual roots in heaven?
If battles here have origins in the spiritual realm, then is it possible we're using the wrong weapons or fighting the wrong battles here on earth? Could we be sometimes fighting against heaven and aiding the dragon without recognizing it? At the very least, are we fighting with inferior weapons when we focus all of our energies and resources on the weapons of the world? Lot of questions; I'll give some of my thoughts on Sunday. In the meantime, chime in! -- Curtis

For Sunday December 2 - The Final Word

Last Sunday's sharing time in worship is still swimming around in my head. There were so many big, heavy, important needs that were shared as people requested prayer. Several cancers, surgeries, grieving parents, and worn out people. I felt at a loss to know how to pray, how to talk to God about these desperate needs.
Sometimes, in my more pessimistic moments, I wonder if worship is just a big facade. A pep rally for God.
"Pray, pray, sing a song....yaaaaaayyyyyy GOD!"
But what is real? Is it that all the other stuff of life really has the last word? That, yes, we can make ourselves feel a bit better with our singing and praying and hugs . . . but in the end is there nothing we can do to impact the way things turn out?
The Hebrews 1:1-3 passage (to the right here) puts a big "stop sign" in my pessimistic thinking. It reminds me that Christ has (is) a different Final Word to the ills of the world. Looking to Jesus, studying how he lived, praying how he prayed, worshipping him, is not just a psychological pep rally. It's more because he triumphed over the heavy important things and accomplished exactly what God sent him to accomplish - in a human form just like yours and mine. He lived with the same strength and Spirit that God extends to us. He holds out for us the "radiance of God's glory" and says, "This is for you. Live with this in you." And yet I fail to take up that glorious power most of the time. How about you?
- Curtis

For Sunday November 25th - The End of a Beginning

At last we are going to wrap up our series of messages, "Ten Truths to Live By." This week we study End Times! No, we're not going to have a prophecy seminar or pass out The Late Great Planet Earth or whatever is the latest book claiming to tell us when and how things will end. What we will do is take a look at several passages that talk about "the end" (or, in another way of thinking, a "new beginning").
The whole of scripture and history is really a testament to God's completion and wholeness. I often start things and do not finish them. Spanish lessons, guitar lessons, cleaning the garage, exercise programs. I can finish a chocolate bar, but not much else at times. I seem doomed to start thousands of things and finish only a few. When you or I fail to complete something we start, it depletes us because it either means we shouldn't have started it at all, or we haven't lived up to what we were intended to do. That's not God. He doesn't forget, doesn't get bored, distracted, tired, disgusted, or decide that maybe making you and me and all of creation was a big mistake after all. He always completes what he begins. This is good news.

For Sunday October 28 - A Good Heart

Maybe the biggest, most important misunderstanding many Christians have is that we have a "bad heart." Not the physical one, though that's an important topic as well, but I'm speaking of the heart mentioned in the scriptures. There are places that the bible says the heart is "deceitful above all things" or that certain folks had "hard hearts" (a condition much worse than hardening of the arteries). But something happens to the human heart when God re-enters the picture.
Here's something amazing to do: Find all passages in the Bible that talk about the heart. There are a handful that talk about someone getting a sword plunged into their heart, but most talk about a spiritual heart. There are over 500 verses that mention heart, and they have a lot to teach us about what our heart is all about. Many of us have let our hearts grow cold or distant from God and others. It's easy to do. It doesn't take any effort at all. In fact, when we don't put effort into our relationships, that's what happens - our hearts grow cold and hard. I suspect most of us have had periods of time when that happens to us. And we just let it go on and on, and one day we no longer remember what a heart of flesh looks or feels like.
A popular Christian phrase a few years ago went something like this, "Everyone has a God-shaped hole in their heart." That says something true, but it seems to miss the point. We don't just have a gap in our hearts that needs filling with God, we need a whole new heart. Thoughts? Ideas? Post here!

For Sunday October 21 - Once Upon a Time

This week the oldest of my mom's 6 sisters died of a massive heart attack. The picture here is an old one of my mom's family - her mom in the middle at her 70th b-day in 1965, and all 7 of the girls gathered round. Aunt Mary is the farthest to the left.
Aunt Mary lived 86 years on this planet. There were great people of the Bible like Abraham and Noah who, the bible says, lived over 900 years. Some Hebrew scholars point out that the Hebrew language isn't concerned with time in exactly the way we are. To say in Hebrew that someone "lived 300 years" might mean that they packed the quality of 300 years into their life. Hebrew is more concerned with substance than with pure numbers and scientific data.
I believe that if we spoke of my aunt Mary's life in Hebrew terms, we might say that she lived 1000 years, because her life was so full and meaningful. Not "exciting" or "wild" but deep and solid and real. She was married to the same man, my uncle Fred, for 62 years. They had an amazing love; the stuff of stories. She raised a son and daughter to be good, productive people. She was a High School teacher for 37 years and was voted to the Kansas Teachers Hall of Fame in the late 1980's (an honor given to only one teacher each year). Mary was a devout follower of Jesus Christ who never wavered in her faith or her prayers. Though life brought her times of deep sadness, she was faithful and true. She lived in a little town called Baldwin Kansas for her entire adult life. In that little town, there was a Maple Leaf Festival each year. Aunt Mary would bake dozens (according to my mom) of pies each year for the festival to raise money for various charities. This year, in October, she was scheduled to ride in the lead "float" as one of the Queens of the festival - their way of honoring her for decades of faithful service. Instead, she will be buried that day. In her wake, many waves and ripples of faith, learning, strength and love will continue to move outward.
I ramble on about my Aunt because this week's passage is all about God revealing to David that he was a part of a much bigger story than he ever realized. David is humbled and shocked that he would be a part of a plan so glorious and big. He says, "Is this how you normally deal with man?" Wow.

God's revelation to him comes after he has just felt overwhelmed about living in a big palace and not doing anything for God. Maslow would have said that David has reached the top of the hierarchy of needs and that he then looks beyond himself for meaning. Whatever the reason, he looks to God and discovers something huge. Something great. I don't know that we all get such a glimpse of how we fit into God's story. But the Story is real. Our part is important, God says. Yes, he could use others if we opt out, but if we say, "count me in" he will in ways more amazing than we might be able to understand in this life.
My Aunt Mary lived her last few years under the shadow of increasing dementia. It was a sad part of her story, but one in which family saw Uncle Fred love and care for her with such tenderness that there was meaning even in that last chapter of her life. This week as I attend her funeral and talk with family I haven't seen in years, I'm looking forward to hearing about ways she fulfilled her role in God's story -ways I've never heard about. Maybe next week I'll report some of those to you. In the meantime, remember you're a part of a much bigger story. - Curtis

For Sunday October 6 - A Revealing God

How does God show himself? A central truth of our faith is that God does, in fact, reveal himself. We even have a book of the bible called Revelation! I got to thinking about all the ways God reveals who he is, what his plans are, what he's like. And, as often happens, I started to try to put some parameters around the sermon by thinking about a defined number of ways God reveals himself. For instance, "God reveals himself in these 3 ways...." Then it hit me how silly that is - as if God limits himself to certain ways of relating and showing himself to us. In fact, it appears that God enjoys popping up in a endless number of ways. He talks through a donkey, he thunders, he speaks from a burning bush and through dreams, he whispers on a mountain, he writes on a wall, he talks through prophets, he shouts through creation, he breaths fire in judgment, he shares his heart through his Laws and through his Son; he uses dozens of people to write books and letters (the Bible)....the list goes on and on.
Having said that, there do seem to be ways that God most often reveals himself. Maybe that's what the Psalmist is talking about here in Psalm 119, which is the longest of all the Psalms. The amazing reality is, God Interacts with us. In fact, an argument could be made that the central reason God even created humans was so that he could relate to a creature that he had made like himself, in his own image.
Yet God is still elusive, or seems that way. The Psalmist said,
My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
I say, "When will you comfort me?"
Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
I do not forget your decrees.
How long must your servant wait?
Though it is so very clear that God does reveal himself, an equally strong thread through scripture is that God feels far away or hidden. That's what the Psalmist feels at times. He feels farthest away when we wish him to be the closest. Why is that? Is it simply our faulty perception, or does God really draw back - and if so, why? Your thoughts are welcome - and check out the question to the right. - Curtis

For Sunday September 30 - A Redemptive God

Because of God’s redemptive character, he is constantly striving to make right what has gone wrong. "Redemption" these days creates images of recycle bins, smelly plastic milk cartons and rancid bottles. God redeems hearts, lives. Like holiness and goodness, redemption oozes from who God is. How that redemption works out in people is part of what Galatians is all about. Early Christians quickly forgot the basis of their redeemed life. We do the same thing.

In Galatians 3 I don’t think Paul is saying that Christians should no longer follow any of the Law or commandments. He’s saying that doing it on our own is pointless; thinking that we are justified before God on the basis of our inept obedience to God is doomed to failure.
The way of redemption that Jesus’ death on the cross opens up for us is life in the Spirit. -- obedience to God’s ways through life in the Spirit. Jesus’ death makes right what went wrong – our ability to live in accordance with God’s ways. The Galatians thought that they could earn their way into God’s kindness by their own efforts. Paul says, “Aint gonna work” (vs 2-3). He then stresses faith in Jesus’ life and death on the cross as the ticket to forgiveness, to being “justified” (vs 8, 11). But once “justified and redeemed” we are not excused from living as God intends. Rather, we are given the ability to do so – “so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” And what is the promise of the Spirit? It is given in places like Jeremiah 31 where God says,
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

And
Ezekiel 18:30-32
30 "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

"Life in the Spirit" is living daily in tune with God's ways.
Though there is a constant current of evil around us, God is pulling his creation back in line.

For September 23 - A Just God

I like this picture. The caption, which isn't here, is supposed to read, "Liberty loves Justice." May it be so.

The passage in Luke 18 (to the right) is almost always talked about as a story about prayer. How the poor old lady prayed her way into an answer at last. "Bug God with your prayers and he'll finally have to answer you" - that seems to the the lesson most often gleaned from the passage. Luke even tells us, at the start of the story, what we are supposed to get out of it. But wait a second...though there's a lesson about persistence here, Jesus' parable really seems to be about Justice. Four times in this short story, justice is mentioned. Jesus himself says the point of the story is that God won't put off justice for his people forever - because God is just.
The prophets are absolutely packed with teaching, challenges, and warnings about God's justice and what he expects of us (Micah 6:6-8).
Passages that speak of God's righteous judgments against injustice flow from the prophets: Amos 5:23-25; Malachi 2:17-3:5; Amos 8:1-8; Habakkuk 2:2-14, and countless others.
But in our comfortable churches and homes we care more about "just us" than Justice. I know I do most of the time. I have to get jarred out of my self focus to do much about the injustices I see.
Gavin S. took me to a great New Wine, New Wineskins dinner last night where my comfort was disturbed enough to get me off my butt and at least try to go do something this morning that I knew was the right thing to do.
My wife Ana is dealing with a situation at work right now where she has to "fight" almost daily for equal services to be provided to the ELL kids she teaches. All kids who are delayed in learning qualify for special help. But that special help doesn't go to the ELL kids because it's even more work for the school staff. So a small percentage of the delayed ELL kids get extra help while almost all of the non-ELL kids get extra. Justice calls for Ana to be a voice for those who can't cry out for themselves; to see that they are given a fair shake and equal services. But it's tiring, frustrating, and sometimes seems so very pointless. Justice isn't easy. What else is new? Your thoughts, your ideas - let 'em flow like justice!

For September 16 - A Strange God

What do we mean when we say that God is "holy?" Chances are, we have more of a gut feeling about what "holy" means than we do a firm biblical understanding of the meaning. That God is holy is a huge concept that's hard for us to get a handle on - especially since, on our own, we're not holy. It is God who makes us holy and God alone. So how can we understand something that is so foreign to us? In Hebrew thinking, "holy" is essentially a synonym for God himself (so I have read). But there are at least a few Hebrew words used to convey what holy is all about. The passage in Leviticus is an interesting one because it starts out talking about what not to eat - those bottom feeders of land. I've never had a problem staying away from bottom feeders - on land or in water. Anything that eats another animals excrement or body scraps just doesn't sound appealing to me. Kosher hot dogs, okay, but count me out for shell fish, pigs and catfish. I might try farm fed....
Anyway, the idea here seems to be not only the goodness and separateness of God, but also that being holy is at least partially about being "whole-ee." Being whole, taking care of ourselves because God is good and whole himself. Just first thoughts...more to come....
- Curtis

For September 9, 2007 - A Good God

What does it mean to say that “God is good” – what is good about God? In Genesis 18 we find this rhetorical question:
“Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Though we affirm “God is good,” it is one of the hardest truths to understand over the course of our lifetimes. Since the things that happen to us are not consistently wonderful – and may be thoroughly rotten - we have a hard time accepting that God is good.

Genesis 18 presents the story of God’s destruction of Sodom for their sin. God ponders, “Should I tell Abe what I’m about to do?” This action of revealing his plans is, in itself, striking. Letting us in on his purposes is no small thing. But what Ab does is equally surprising. He tries to talk God out of his terrifying plan on the basis of the innocent who will suffer too. Here we come across a truth that makes our cut and dried conceptions of God go limp: God often seems to be perplexed in his thoughts and actions. He turns and bends his plans – or at least it seems that way to us. Here in Genesis, he wants to wipe out the darkness he sees in Sodom, but he listens to the cry of his chosen servant, Abraham, who pleads with him to spare the city. Is Abraham’s sense of justice greater than God’s?

God is, in some ways, like us – or we like him. He agonizes over decisions. He listens to other ideas. Shockingly, he has regrets and wishes he had done things differently (Genesis 6:6). But he is good – how?
From our perspective, it is sometimes hard to see God’s goodness. Terrible things happen, judgments, troubles, hard times – and all of our Christian platitudes don’t get us very far. We quote Romans 8 saying, ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” We hang onto that as our spiritual lifeboat, but our faith can feel like it’s taking on water fast. What then? How can we trust in God’s goodness? - Curtis

For Sunday September 2 - Luke 14 - "Mind Your Manners"

Humble obedience. Knowing our place in the world.
Do what you do for God - be constantly aware of his presence. He’s the ultimate host of every table at which you sit. He’s the only one from whom you need to seek approval. Freeing advice.
This passage is, among other things, simply about living everyday life for God. Attitude, the power of a quiet life in God’s presence.
Rambling thoughts...
* "he was being carefully watched" - not sure all the reasons they were watching him. Curiosity, wondering if he was really the messiah, good reasons and bad reasons. Some felt threatened and wanted to catch him in a sin or mistake.
* Jesus' felt the temptation to do what others want or expect him to. We feel that too, but to often give into it. He never does give in.
* At first the next part (vs 6ff) of the passage seems like a huge change. But it was still at the dinner table. Jesus just got to thinking about their preoccupation with his attention to the suffering man. He felt how the man was unwelcome. He knows the thoughts of those around the table.

• Jesus is so puzzling. His lesson to the dinner party guests seems to be “How to be the most honored guest at the party.” The way to get there is through humility and taking the lesser place, but the goal is still to be the most honored! Strange. Is it that, in the process of lowering ourselves, even with ulterior motives in mind, we are changed a bit? Is it simply a matter of being changed through simple obedience?
• Then he turns to the party-giver. Vs 12ff- This lesson: Don’t invite the people you really want to come. What a drag. The goal in giving a party, according to Jesus, is the reward you get later from the Big Host. Not how we think of parties, dinners.
• So he really messes with our motivations and reasons for living the way we do each day. Every action, every needs to be considered. He’s the one who gives us the honor we need; the reward we need. Do we settle for much less than what the Big Host wants to give? - Our rewards and goals are cheap compared to God’s.