My hope for the Church

Christianity Today has posted a question and invited ALL to respond. Check it out at 

http://www.christianitytoday.org/hope

Meanwhile, here is my entry:

I know it's a strange analogy, but I hope the church can become more like a bar. Now hear me out, a bar is perceived as a place where people, for whatever reason, can go to be refreshed, be able to "let their hair down" and be real, and a place where there seems to be no judgment. You can be honest about your problems and still be accepted in that place of business.

On the other hand, so many report their distancing themselves from the church because they feel judged, unlistened to, and a sense that you have to have everything in your life cleaned up before you can be a part of the church. And the perception is that the church is the last place where you would go to be free of your burdens, your problems, or your hope.

So what if the church really was more like a bar? What if it was the church where everyone new your name and really welcomed you. What if it was the church where you could go and not have to wear a false mask? Where you could open up about your problems and concerns? What if the church were the place where people didn't feel they were being judged?

My hope for the church is that WE, rather than some bar, become that place of honesty, of welcome, of acceptance, of listening, of freedom, and of hope!

Do You Want To Get Well?

This morning I picked up the Freedom in Christ Bible as I sat down to spend some quiet time with the Lord. When I went to open it, I stumbled upon Jesus' question to the disabled man at the pool of Bethesda: "Do you want to get well?"

That verse comes from the passage in John's gospel where Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for a Jewish feast and Jesus saw this man lying there and learned that he had been lying there for the past 38 years. (John 5:1-15) In response to Jesus' question, he never did say "yes" or "no." Rather, he gave an excuse why he could not get to the healing pool in those rare moments when it had been "stirred" by an angel, and thus be healed.

In the devotional on the next page, titled: "Do you want to get well?" the author says:
"People who cannot be helped fall into three categories."

1. "people who will not acknowledge they have a problem..."
2. "people who know they are in trouble but their pride won't let them ask for the help they need."
3. "people who really don't want to get well."

The first group reminds me of passages throughout the Bible which refer to forgiveness starting with a confession of sin... and then God can forgive. Even Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 step programs, have long taught that step one of recovery is to admit you have a problem. To not do so, is to live in denial. 

Much of the weight I carry continues to be with me, because I, through many years, have denied I really had a weight problem. Until I acknowledged (and confessed) that I had a weight problem, I could not be helped.

The second group reminds me of Scriptural passages like "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov. 16:18) A lot of people (especially us men), who are obviously suffering with an ailment or injury are like that. They know they're sick or injured, and yet cannot bring themselves to go see a doctor. there's a heart attitude there that says 'I can take care of this all by myself... I am all sufficient to meet my own needs.' In truth, however, we can never meet all of our own needs. To refuse to look to others for help, we essentially make ourselves into a substitute god. After all, only God is "all sufficient." 

When I was 11, I lived this out as well. I decided to go sled riding on a late Saturday morning after cartoons at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Walking up the hill across the road from their place, I walked up beside the tractor path that we all rode on coming down the hill. I crunched my way up the hill. At the top of the hill you slid down and turned into the field off to the right of the tractor path.

It had been icy and snowy the night before and, unbeknownst to me, the tractor path was a sheet of ice with a little bit of snow cover over the ice. On to the sled I went and raced toward the turn off below. I turned the sled at the appropriate time and at the appropriate place, but the sled just kept going... the ice prevented the sled from being able to turn off the path.

Now, my grandparents lived one farm short of being at the top of a hollow on a dirt road in Potter County. I quickly looked ahead and to the sides and saw there were no cars coming. There seldom were any cars. So, in my 11 year old thinking I thought: 'oh well, the road is cindered, that will stop me.' It didn't.

So I found myself in the yard plunging forward rapidly. So, in my 11 year old thinking, I thought: 'OK, I'll just turn the sled to the left and have all of that big yard to slide to a stop in.' The sled (for the same reasons noted above) would not turn and I slammed into the cement porch of their house.  My grandfather, upstairs in the house and not the side near the porch, heard the thud and came to investigate. what he found was me unable to catch my breath, bleeding profusely from where my front teeth had been sheered off and cutting through my lower lip, and me holding my back because of the pain. (Years later, I would have to have surgery on my lip where teeth fragments had been lodged and eventually blocked off a salivary gland. Likewise, my back continues to hurt often decades later.) 

Looking back, I recognize that while I could have easily rolled off the sled long before the proch, I didn't because i was convinced that I was actually in control. I could turn that sled, get stopped by the road, or turn the sled into the yard. I thought I was completely able and sufficient to care for myself. I was not. I continue to pay for my 11 year old pride. I wish I could say I don't find myself in similar situations any more, but that would not be honest.

That third group, those who really do not want to get better, is where this paralyzed man is. All he has in response to Jesus' question about wanting to get well is an excuse. And I think it's pretty significant that the gospel clarifies that he had been in this situation for 38 years! Just lying there and begging for food or money or clothing is natural now. That was this man's source of income and way of life.

Despite this, Jesus decides to heal the man. "To show his gratitude, the man turned Jesus in to the authorities for healing him on the Sabbath."

The devotional goes on with a challenge for all of us who find ourselves in a place where we need healing or another chance in life. "If we really want to get well, we will make whatever commitment is necessary to overcome our infirmities or live productive lives through them. We won't get mad at God or blame anybody else. We will choose to believe that we are overcomers in Christ and that we can do all things through Him who gives us strength."

"We will do whatever it takes to become the person God created us to be because Jesus did what it took for us to be alive and free in Him."

Denial, pride, or an attitude of not wanting to change a way of life; these are all signs of one who cannot be helped except by a Sovereign God.

O God, I personally have had times in all three of these categories. Times when I couldn't believe I had a problem and so denied it. Times when I knew something was amiss, yet thought I could "take care of things" on my own. Times when i was so comfortable with the way things were in the status quo, that I couldn't bring myself to face the uncertainty that change might bring and so opted to stay longer in whatever situation I found myself. Forgive me. Clarify my thinking. Help me to see my own life as you do. And when I need your healing in my mind, in my heart, in my body, help me to quickly recognize when I'm in denial, feeling self-sufficient, or becoming too comfortable in the status quo. AMEN!

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The Freedom in Christ Bible, Neil T. Anderson, general editor (Zondervan: 2001) pp. 1204-1205.

How To Spot A Christian

These were my sermon notes from Sunday morning. I don't guarantee spelling, grammar, etc. are used correctly since these were only my speaking notes.

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Gospel Reading:        John 13:31-35

Scripture Text:           1 Corinthians 13

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On June 13, 2003, I was ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church.

A lot had to happen in order to get that far, but one of the tougher ones was the series of theological questions I had to give written answers for.

One of the questions:

“What are the marks of the Christian life?”

How will you know if someone else is an authentic, real Christian and not just faking it?

How will someone else know if YOU are an authentic, real Christian and not just faking it?

Scripture speaks of a multitude of “marks” signifying the authentic Christian life.

James 1:27...   keeping oneself ‘unpolluted’ is one mark of the Christian life that I see throughout Scripture… the idea of holiness.

“Do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance,” Peter explains in I Peter 1:14-16, and then calls us all to “be holy.”

For me, holiness boils down to Christians making personal choices about their personal behaviors based on the choices God would make as described in the Scriptural record.

One mark of a Christian when they obey the principles of the Bible. I John 5:3  reads: “This is love for God: to obey his commands.” Jesus said “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).  

We also read that in Matthew 7:22 where Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord.’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.”

As a United Methodist, I believe other marks of the Christian life include meeting together in worship (Hebrews 10:25), active participation in worship by singing, praying, listening, giving, and such (I Cor. 14:26-27), baptism (Matt. 28:19), sharing Holy Communion (I Cor. 11:17-33), hearing the “instruction of the apostles” (Acts 2:42), studying the Scriptures (II Tim. 2:15),  discipleship (Matt. 28:19), and being witnesses of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8).

But let’s take it a step further, shall we? 

Paul spoke of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5: 22-23) that would be natural by-products of a Christian life:

·      love,

·      joy,

·      peace,

·      patience,

·      kindness,

·      goodness,

·      faithfulness,

·      gentleness, and

·      self-control.

Ultimately though, I think it boils down to what Jesus says in John 13:35, when he clarifies that love is the determining mark of who is or isn’t Christian… “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Years later, his disciples would reiterate that delineating mark of a Christian in passages like First John 4:7-8: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

And the love that marks a Christian life is evidenced by our willingness “to lay down our lives for our brothers…” including sharing our material possessions.

HOW DO WE DO THIS?

HOW DO WE KNOW IF WE HAVE THIS KIND OF LOVE THAT SHOWS THAT WE ARE TRULY CHRISTIANS?

John cautioned the church to “not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth” (I John 3:18).

James explained that this action- and truth-based form of love would be seen by believers caring for those in distress… even orphans and widows…. (James 1:27).

Peter encouraged the believers to “Live such good lives…” that “they may see your good deeds and glorify God…” (I Peter 2:12).

Jesus Himself spoke of the importance of action-based love when he explained that reward and punishment for those who claimed to be his followers would be based on what people had done “to the least of these” because that was the same as doing (or not doing) for him.

Therefore, If I am TRULY a Christian, then I “love my neighbor” (Matt. 19:19) in such a way that I reach out and help with what I have as much as possible to the hungry, thirsty, sick, imprisoned, orphaned, widowed, and needy… physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.

HOW DO I LOVE MY NEIGHBOR?

I Cor. 13:4-8   Love is…

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.

Not that any of us does this perfectly, but we know it's what we are to strive for.

O God, help us to love those you've put in our path... that we have the "mark" that shows others that we are YOUR disciples!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mother, Virginia Milne, was born on this day 68 years ago. She died on August 8, 2008. 

In honor of Mom, and my step-father, Norm Milne, I share this picture from one of the weddings our family has celebrated through the years. (Of course, Mom has her eyes closed!)

Hidden Face of God

This article from back in 2008 was what I used for my Pastor's page of The Flame, the newsletter of Clarks Mills United Methodist Church this month.

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     In the introduction of Michael Card’s book The Hidden Face of God, there is a revealing story of Vincent van Gogh, the famous artist of the 19th Century.

     Van Gogh had once felt called to the ministry, but had never been able to pass the theological entrance exams. Instead, van Gogh opted for a more incarnational ministry… among the coal miners in a small town in Belgium. Bit by bit, over a three-month period, Card writes, van Gogh served God by reaching out to these poorest of the poor. In fact, he followed Jesus’ admonition to the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. Paycheck by paycheck, as van Gogh saw more and more need, he gave away just about everything.

     Card then writes “So completely did he reflect the sacrificial simplicity of Jesus that he became known as ‘the Christ of the coal mines.’”

      “But those in the church who had authority over him did not feel this extravagance was appropriate, and he was eventually dismissed. It was a failure that hounded him for the rest of his life,” Card writes.

     Throughout the rest of his life, even as he discovered a ‘ministry’ of expressing himself through art, van Gogh struggled with a sense of failure… even though we now recognize he was a genius! He felt like a reject… and felt the church was the one who had rejected him. He no longer felt he could turn to the church for strength or support… and became estranged from the Lord of the Church as well… Jesus Himself becomes a stranger to this one who had once emulated him so completely.

     Card then draws attention to the last church painting van Gogh ever made, not long before his death: the Church at Auvers. Card writes:

“What many art critics have commented on is not the swimming colors but the ominous lack of a doorway leading into the church. Vincent painted a church that no one could get into. Having tried all his life to work hard enough to ‘get in,’ it appears that he could not imagine, in this last image of the church, a door that might allow him, with his enormous load of pain, to enter in…. Together with the scarcity of references to Jesus in his last letters, the absence of the door in the painting reveals his most fundamental fear: that there is no way into the church and, even more agonizing, that there is no One waiting on the other side of the missing door.” (pp. 12-13)

     Vincent van Gogh died on July 27, 1890, as a result of self-inflicted gunshot wounds from a suicide attempt two days earlier. His brother, Theo, was with him when he died, and reported Vincent’s last words were, translated: “the sadness will last forever.”

     How many times do we, today’s church, share our opinions and our thoughts about the way someone else is doing their job in serving Christ? How many of those times are we alienating those very ones who love Christ and are trying to serve him? How many end up like Vincent van Gogh... carrying an overwhelming load of pain and feeling abandoned by Christ and the Church?

     No small wonder that the author of Hebrews writes: “...encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13, NIV)

     Not everyone will agree with the way everyone else does stuff… not even in the church. But we can make sure that we constantly show God’s love and compassion by encouraging one another… so that no one ever sees us as a church without a door.

     Who can you encourage today?