Tag Archives: Bible

No, love is your job *Remix*

06 Monday May 2013

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In November 2011 I wrote a reflection from the movie Hitch (read that post here).  This morning I was challenged by this idea of motivations again as I read Jane Williams’ Lectionary Reflections Year C, 7th Sunday of Easter.  The Scriptures for this 7th Sunday of Easter included Acts 16:16ff and the story of the demon-possessed, fortune-telling slave girl.  Here is a brief snippet from Williams’ reflections on this story:

But although she is acknowledging their connection with ‘the Most High God’, and their power to offer salvation, she herself is not converted, and her apparent confirmation of their task does not attract others. There is a kind of mechanical recognition of the presence of the divine, without any real willingness or ability to connect with it. This girl has been forced to use her instinct for the numinous as a commercial commodity and so, paradoxically, it has become utterly worthless.

Jane Williams, Lectionary Reflections: Year C (London: SPCK, 2003), 71.

I had never heard of the word “numinous” before so I turned to Merriam-Webster who revealed this definition, “numinous: filled with a sense of the presence of divinity : holy”

In that moment I sensed a warning: pastors/ministers/church leaders/
Kelly, do not turn your relationship with God into a product to be produced, marketed, and sold.

Yesterday my church’s new senior pastor, Jason Whalen, began a preaching series called “Passion 2013, First Things First.” That sermon will be posted online later this week here.  And the very first thing that should be first is to worship and glorify God.

Message received. Warning heeded. Lesson recalled. Life changing.

Advent, a time to sit still!

04 Tuesday Dec 2012

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This week I came across a suggestion that advent is a time to sit still and look for signs of the coming of God. Immediately I grimaced at the thought, for one thing I despise end-times discussions. It probably stems from growing up in the height of the Left Behind mania. And for another thing, it’s scary! Jane Williams in her Lectionary Reflections Year B hits it on the head for me:

“Advent is a time to start preparing to meet God, and most of the preparatory readings suggest that this is, at best, a sobering prospect and, at worst, a positively terrifying one. So it is terribly tempting to feel that we ought to be very busy, so that God will notice and be pleased.”

Sobering, yes. Terrifying, yes. Busily working to please God, yes.  When I think of preparing to meet God I think of the Parable of the Talents (Mt. 25) or the Parable of the Ten Minas (Lk. 19), where Jesus gives the ultimate praise, “Well done my good and faithful servant” and I feel compelled to think I somehow need to earn it.

So I closed Williams’ book and decided I’d think about that later. Later I did, but unexpectedly as I was reading another book. In Jesus, A Theography, Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola point out that when God communicates His approval of Jesus at His baptism, it is before Jesus has begun His ministry, before He “got to work,” as I would say.

and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 NASB)

Sweet and Viola conclude then,

“There is a message here for every adopted child of God. God’s pleasure is not based on what you do for Him. It’s based on whether you are His child. If you are in Christ, you are a child of God, and He accepts you because you are in Christ. Because the Father is pleased with His Son, He is also pleased with you.”

(Sweet, Leonard; Viola, Frank (2012-10-02). Jesus: A Theography (Kindle Locations 2702-2704). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.)

So, Williams’ conclusion about advent as a time to sit still seems apt, “So Advent is like a period of forced inactivity, where you have no choice but to sit still and look, learning to see the world as it actually is, full of signs, joyful or terrifying, of the coming of God.”

Even this morning before I more intentionally resumed this line of thought prompted by yesterday’s Lectionary reading, I read a quote from John Charles Ryle (1816—1900) referenced in The New City Catechism, “We have all talents in God’s sight…. Anything whereby we may glorify God is a talent…All that we have is a loan from God. We are God’s stewards. We are God’s debtors. Let this thought sink deeply into our hearts.”

As you might see from the random connections above, I tried and failed to avoid this idea of advent as a period of forced inactivity. So what would happen if I didn’t schedule every minute of this next month full of activity? Or even more, what if I intentionally scheduled some times to sit still and look for the signs of the coming of God, to prepare to meet God?

Sobering? Yes. Terrifying? Yes. Busily working to please God? No!

Resting in my identity as God’s child, just as Jesus was forced to rest as a helpless baby whose birth we celebrate on Christmas.  Merry Christmas!

In a ditch

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

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As I’ve been discussing in the last few posts, the parable of the Good Samaritan points us to recognize our inability to achieve eternal life through our own efforts. Eternal life, Jesus tells us, is found in loving God and loving our neighbors. But, as the Pharisee correctly observes, we all fall short of loving our neighbors unless there is a loop hole. The story shows us, however, that there is not a loop hole but rather a substitution. God sent Jesus to suffer, die, rise again, and to return to redeem and restore us.

This has caused me to consider another aspect of the story which I have never before considered: the man in the ditch. Sure, I’ve considered him generally as a “neighbor”, he is my neighbor, someone to whom I am to prove God’s love and mercy. But, through this changed perspective about my insufficiency and God’s provision through Jesus I have come to the conclusion that…

I am that man.

I find myself today lying in a ditch, bruised, bleeding, longing for death to end my suffering. I am not an innocent man who was simply attacked by robbers, my sin led me to the path where I encountered these attackers. Nevertheless I am there, in a ditch.

But Jesus is walking down that path, looking for me. He picks me up, stops the bleeding and takes me to a place of refuge. At the inn I find myself in the tender care of Holy Spirit and the family of believers called the Church.

Here I lie, being nursed to health and comforting others who also found themselves on this dangerous path and under attack.

Today may we rest in the sufficiency of Jesus’ rescue, redemption, and restoration.

To inherit eternal life: correction

21 Friday Sep 2012

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I have been in a lot of conversations recently about “what is the gospel.” In my post yesterday about being a neighbor I mentioned that the story of the Good Samaritan began with the question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25) Is this, perhaps, the definition of the Gospel, “inheriting eternal life?” Jesus’ response, I believe, sheds light on the answer, that no, this is not the Gospel, at least not the fullness of the Gospel.
First of all, the “correct” answer to inheriting eternal life is to love God and love others. From my perspective that sounds an awful lot like I have to earn it. But, like the man asking the question, I know myself well enough to know I can not succeed in loving my neighbor as myself unless I can find a loop hole. So the man, like I would, looks for a loop hole – who is my neighbor?
Here is where I believe we learn about what is the Gospel. Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan.
This story is a beautiful picture of God’s great love for us. It tells, ever so simply, the full story of our faith: The man who falls into the hands of robbers represents God’s good creation which has experienced the effect of sin. The two priests who walk by represent how God had chosen Israel to be a blessing to the nations but they chose other priorities, other gods. The Samaritan represents God sending Jesus, one who was despised, to love the man, to show him mercy, to be fully present with him, to heal him, and ultimately restore him to fullness. The innkeeper in the story represents us, followers of Jesus commissioned to go and do likewise, promising His eventual return.

Correction: I have come to see a major error in this explanation of this story, particularly about the innkeeper and the man who fell into the hands of the robber. I now see that we are the man who fell into the hands of the robber. And the Innkeeper, well, that role is better ascribed to God through Holy Spirit. I believe we play a part in offering healing to our neighbors, but it is simply an extension of the mercy we have received as fellow sufferers. See my post, “In a Ditch” for more on this conversation.

The conclusion of the story gives evidence to the fact that the original question,”what must I do to inherit eternal life” is short-sighted. There is life to be lived now, in the presence of God as well as the promise of eternal life with God. Jesus’ story offers that fullness of life, both now and eternally. Jesus asks, “which man proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”. The man answered, “the one who had mercy on him.” And Jesus replied,”go and do likewise.”

This is the Gospel. Jesus proved to be a neighbor to us! Now, go and do likewise!

Being a neighbor

20 Thursday Sep 2012

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In Luke 10 where Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan it is in response to the initial question, what must I do to inherit eternal life.
Jesus says the correct answer is given:
““ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “
(http://ref.ly/Lk10.27 via the Logos iPad Bible app. http://www.logos.com/mobile)

But when justification is sought about loving your neighbor, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan and asks, which one of these proved to be a neighbor to the man? (see yesterday’s post)
The question remains then, how do you prove to be a neighbor?

I find it interesting that Jesus neither titled the story “The Good Samaritan” nor asked which one was a “good” neighbor. Over the years we have added that qualifier to the story and to the Samaritan. Jesus simply asked which one proved to be a neighbor.

In the response to that question we learn a little bit about how to prove to be a neighbor, by showing mercy. (Luke 10:36-37)

But being a neighbor has more humble beginnings than showing mercy. Being a neighbor requires presence. The dictionary defines neighbor as a person who is near another person. I I believe this story that Jesus tells illustrates the importance of being fully present with those around you.
Jesus’ own incarnation further illustrates the importance of presence. He was born, Immanuel, which means God with us. (Matthew 1:23) Not only did God see presence as of utmost importance enough to send His Son to live as a human among us, but then God saw fit to take the resurrected Jesus away from us to send Holy Spirit to be with us. God with us becomes God within us through the indwelling of Holy Spirit. This is the Gospel, where true eternal life is discovered!

Back to the original question, how do you prove to be a neighbor? By walking as Jesus walked, living as Jesus lived.

“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

1 John 2:6 (http://ref.ly/1J2.6 via the Logos iPad Bible app. http://www.logos.com/mobile)

Being a neighbor is taking seriously the presence of God in us and loving others enough to get involved and show them God’s loving mercy.

Who is my neighbor?

18 Tuesday Sep 2012

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The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) is a very popular story. Here in Phoenix we have both a “Good Samaritan” law about helping people in need and a “Good Samaritan” hospital that takes care of people in medical need.
The story comes as a response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” (verse 29). Jesus, being God and knowing all things, even being human and knowing human nature, saw through the question that the man was actually trying to justify his behavior to receive approval as having obeyed the great commandment to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. (verses 25-29). So, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. And, well, you know the answer to the question, who is my neighbor…people in need…the hurt, hungry, homeless, helpless, the marginalized, my enemies.
BUT WAIT! That is not exactly how the story goes!

See, Jesus changes the question. Instead of telling the man that everyone is his neighbor, including his enemies the Samaritans, Jesus turns the question around back to the man and asks, “which of these three men proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robber?”

Who proved to be a neighbor?

The question about loving God and loving our neighbors is not about defining the people we are supposed to love (though we do also learn about that from this story). The question about loving God and loving our neighbors is about defining ourselves as someone who loves enough to get involved and prove God’s love!

Who proved to be a neighbor in Phoenix this week? Who proved to be a neighbor in your office complex or at your school or in your house this week?

Can it be said of you that you proved to be a neighbor today?

God loves the world, let’s prove it!

Genre

29 Sunday Jan 2012

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I’ve been reading these books that my grandmother has read for decades, the adventures of the dragonriders of Pern.  I wanted to see what has enthralled her for all these years to the point of collecting dragon figurines of all shapes and sizes.  I must admit, Anne McCaffrey wrote a good series. My grandmother first started reading them because she liked the science fiction genre of literature. But she told me as I got started that these books don’t fit the genre exactly as she expected. I’ve been enjoying observing the science fiction develop in these otherwise fantasy stories.

In Christian circles I have been hearing more and more the analogy of our lives as stories.  They challenge us to write a bigger story, not a prettier one, with our lives. They talk about re-writing our stories through the transforming power of Christ.  They talk about choosing adventure over safety.

It’s this last one that caught my attention during my Bible reading recently.  In Acts chapter four we read the history of the apostles’ first imprisonment for speaking the gospel. When they were released here’s their request, after praising the sovereignty of God, verses 29-31:

And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”

They ask for confidence.  They ask for God to work.  They don’t beg for safety. They don’t ask for power and authority in their own positions in society. They ask for the courage for God to continue to speak through and use them as His servants.

That is the prayer of a great story. An epic adventure.

What kind of story are you writing through your conversations with God?

Where are you being challenged, invited, called into a grander Story? What do you need to do to accept the challenge, to go on the adventure?

Immanuel, God with us, Conclusion

26 Monday Sep 2011

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The good news is that we are not engaging this battle alone, God is present with us. The conclusion of the passage about the armor of God reveals that as we apply these elements (truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation) we are partnering with God. We join God in the battle, which He is already waging, through God’s Word and prayer. “God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.” (Eph. 6:17c-18a) God’s Word and prayer are the way that we stay connected to God and live in the Spirit. As I talk to God I also listen to Him. When I pray to apply the armor of God, I recognize that these things, truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation, must begin in me. So I ask God to reveal to me the ways that I resist these elements in my own life and I ask for help to abide in Him.

In the end, I confess, I find myself doubting the effectiveness of this prayer warrior business. Then I read the conclusion of this passage in Ephesians: “Prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.” (Eph. 6:18) So I conclude by praying again that I would be a good watchman and I ask God to help my fellow co-laborers in ministry to keep our spirits up so that we “will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws our way.” (Eph 6:11b)

Shield(s) of faith

25 Sunday Sep 2011

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Can you picture an ancient Roman battle?  Specifically a scene where the enemy is lobbing fiery arrows at the Roman soldiers?  If you can, I imagine that you are picturing the Roman soldiers standing side by side with their body-sized shields interlocked, even some holding their shields up over the group’s heads.  Full protection.  Those fiery arrows aren’t penetrating that system.

I don’t know if I conjure this image from the many references in church to “putting on the armor of God” and Sunday School posters of a Roman soldier’s uniform or from the latest Hollywood movie.

As I’ve been talking to God about the armor of God, specifically engaging the fight against the injustice of child-sex slavery in our world, this image of the Roman shields continues to come to mind.  As I work through all of the elements of the armor of God (Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faith and Salvation) it is only this reference to the shield of faith that brings to my mind a full army.  All of the rest I picture, from the Sunday School posters, the singular Roman soldier in his uniform.  But for the shield I picture many shields, linked together forming an impenetrable force.

It is this picture that gives me courage in the battle, the spiritual war that rages around me.  I know that the evil one is regularly lobbing fiery arrows at me.  Showering me with lies, deception that has the power to destroy me.  I also know that some of those arrows are more likely than others to go over or around my shield of faith.  I find in regards to certain lies that my faith is weak.

As I talked to God about the armor of God this past Friday on my Streetlight security shift it occurred to me that I am not in this battle alone.  Though I patrol the campus on my own, I do not engage this spiritual battle alone.  I’m not talking about “alone” without God, but “alone” without other people.  In fact, I always begin my security rounds thanking God for going before me, going with me, and going ahead of me in fighting this injustice.

But in regards to our faith the Scriptures are repeatedly clear, we are a body, a community, not individuals in this world.  I recognize that I desperately need the shield of faith held by my friends, family, and brothers and sisters in the family of God to link with mine and extinguish those fiery arrows that threaten to get past my shield.

Faith is believing in what we cannot see because of what we can see.  Sometimes I can see the arrows of deception and I can move my shield into place.  When I cannot see it clearly enough I need to speak up and tell my friends what I am sensing so that they can tell and show me the truth and move their shield of faith in place to help protect me.

It takes courage to admit weakness.  Weakness of faith.  To say out loud, “I think this is a lie of satan, but I just can’t tell.”  To tell a friend about the destructive voices in my head.  And to huddle under their shield until the volley passes.

To listen to a friend.  To move your shield into place.  To let them rest and recover while you carry the faith for them.

Wrong Shoes

23 Friday Sep 2011

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Wearing the Wrong Shoes
Until recently, I haven’t been fashionable when it comes to shoes.  As a teen, I wore socks with sandals despite the better advice from my sisters. I did eventually wise up and eliminated that style from my wardrobe. Still, today I wear “toe shoes.”  And not just for running, though I did buy them for running.  I wear them with business slacks … to work.  Despite this tendency towards poor choices in footwear, recently I bought a pair of red TOMS wedges that are actually fashionable.  And, to the best of my poor judgement, I think I am matching them appropriately with my clothes.  (It is convenient that these being red shoes, the ‘rules’ for matching are loose.)

A few months ago I began volunteering for Streetlight Phx on the security team.  On my second shift it became clear to me that the security needed was against spiritual powers. (Eph. 6:12)  I began talking to God about the elements of the armor of God, listed in Ephesians 6:10-20, as I walked the campus.  Eugene Peterson translates that passage with this summary, “Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long.”

So I took my five hour shift and prayed one hour each for Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faith, and Salvation.  Often praying other scriptures from God’s Word as they came to mind. In June, at Kids Camp, I memorized the Ephesians 6:10-20 passage which was their “Challenge Verse” for the week.  So from time to time I think about the metaphor of “putting on armor” as I talk to God about these five elements.  For example: Asking God to help us remember the importance of Truth as a belt holding up all of the other elements.  Asking that the breastplate righteousness of Christ covers our hearts, emotions, and relationships with God and each other.  etc.

The piece of armor related to peace has tripped me up each week as I’ve talked to God on my security rounds. The NIV says “and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”  It’s a complicated little phrase with a lot of words.  So, I ignored the shoes part and I prayed for peace. One of the fruit of the Spirit – that peace.  A virtue.  A characteristic of our lives, our demeanor.  I asked God to give us peace that comes from trusting Him with the things that are out of our control.

Today I realized I have been wearing the wrong shoes!  I’ve been trying to put on red wedges, trying to feel fashionable, comfortable, confident.  But this is a battle, a fight against injustice.  Now, I don’t actually wear my wedges for my security rounds.  That’s absurd.  I wear my toe shoes, naturally.  The ones that are comfortable to stand in for 5 hours.  The shoes that I could run 26.2 miles in if I needed to (and have!).  But here I was week in and week out putting on the wrong shoes in this spiritual battle.

“feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
What is the gospel of peace?  Gospel – Good News.  Peace – Shalom.  The good news that our Creator has been and is now bringing peace.  The good news that the Kingdom of God is near, it is at hand.  The good news that we can establish God’s kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.  The good news that Jesus is coming back to fully establish God’s Kingdom.  To bring complete peace – shalom – with creation and God.  The good news that in this battle, God wins!

I attended a Central High School volleyball game (go Bobcats!) this week and was watching the form of the players; remembering back to my high school experience playing volleyball.  I thought about the “ready position” and how your feet had to be moving, ready to act.  When I tried to learn tennis a few years ago I was instructed to show “ready feet” by being on my toes.

In this spiritual battle, our readiness comes from the gospel of peace.  In a volleyball game or tennis or even a battle, the motivation for being ready is the unknown and striving to win.  Yet in this simple phrase we are told the outcome – God wins.  We engage this battle because of the hope we have.  As I’ve been telling our Crash Kids for the last few weeks, hope is believing that something good can come even though you can’t see it right now.

In this spiritual battle, our readiness, our willingness to fight, our motivation to fight hard, is the Gospel of peace, hope that God’s Kingdom will be fully established. We can’t see it fully yet but we can be confident in it.

So though we know God wins the battle let there be no casualties of war because of putting on the wrong shoes. No despair. No idols of false hope.

And peace. Well may God grow that fruit of the Spirit abundantly in us but may we know the difference between the Gospel of Peace and the virtue or character of peace in our lives. May our sense of peace grow as we abide in God.  May we engage the battle (opposite of peace?!) motivated by hope in the Gospel of Peace.  Shalom.

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