Coffeehouse Spirituality

This is a very vivid story of an event that happened in the life and ministry of Jesus.  A man that was blind since birth was given sight.  But what are we to learn from this passage?  Is it that God is powerful and can do all things? Is it that God is not punishing us through our troubles but instead is glorified when we are given the strength to endure them?  As with most scripture the lessons are many. What is God saying to us today?

I read passages like this and I see the healing. When I see Jesus healing immediately and someone receiving a new life with (in this case) a new ability to see, there is a part of me that says why couldn’t you have done that for my dad? He believed in you his whole life.  This scripture says it wasn’t because of any sin he or his parents committed that the man in the scripture was blind. I see the healing potential that Jesus has and I am hopeful and I see the suffering of faithful people all over the world and reflexively take a step back from all that hope.

I know God can heal.  I just wonder why God doesn’t always heal in the way that is apparently needed. I read a tweet recently that said, “I don’t take the good parking spaces because I don’t want to use up God’s favor.” This is to say that God’s love is limited. That God is sometimes concerned with parking spaces. Of course the person that wrote that was joking, but how do we talk about how God blesses us? How do we talk about how God interacts with us?

I used to have some great conversations about theology, philosophy, military strategy, cosmology, ethics,…Not in any college classroom, but in a coffeehouse. There used to be this place in downtown Big Rapids called Shamans Bluff. A couple of business students from the university started it and it was an instant success.  Their coffee was good but it wasn’t the coffee that they were selling.  They were selling an atmosphere. Oh, sure they offered all the pretentious stuff that places like that try like open mic nights and such but the real draw for me was a place what was comfortable and accepting.   It was a place I could go to with my friends and sit. We would sit for hours and those conversations would emerge. They sold coffee so there weren’t the fights that were happening down the street at the bar.

It is in those conversations, when the small talk is exhausted and the desire for more remains that the really good stuff emerges.

In the scripture lesson today there was that man, who was born blind and Jesus rubbed mud made from dirt and his own spit, on his eyes. He washed it off and he could see.  What does that mean for us today in 2014?  Don’t get me wrong, I praise God for the miracle and I stand in awe in His presence but what about this moves us into action?  Jesus was looking for true worshippers, this is true, but he would also so “Now go and do.”

The man received sight. His neighbors saw that he now had sight. Some didn’t believe it was him but said “I am the man.” They asked him how. He said it was Jesus. They asked him where Jesus was. 
“I don’t know.”

The Pharisees asked how it happened.  He said it was Jesus, and when they asked how, he said Jesus is a prophet.

They brought his parents to confirm that that was their son and that he was indeed blind since birth.  The Pharisees asked them how it’s possible. They said, “I don’t know. Ask him.”

The Pharisees questioned the man again.  Apparently they didn’t like the answers they were getting.  The facts didn’t fit with their theology.  The facts didn’t fit with their plan of how God was supposed to act in the world.  But the man gave a great answer. One thing I do know, that thought I was blind, now is see…I have told you already, and you would not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”… “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. WE know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships and obeys his will. Never since anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not form God, he could do nothing.”

They didn’t like his answer. They drove him out.

It didn’t matter what the man had previously learned, it didn’t matter the opinions of the Pharisees. It didn’t matter that this event was unexpected.  The man was blind and was able to see because of Jesus. The facts were all he could relate.  God acts and we witness. There will be those who do not want to hear about God’s actions in the world. But we are called to tell about then anyway.

When I sat in Shaman’s Bluff Coffeehouse in Big Rapids Michigan I didn’t know anything about theology, philosophy, military strategy, cosmology or ethics…not really. My friends didn’t really know anything earlier. But in the conversation we found inspiration, in the conversation we were drawn closer to the truth.

Jesus took some dust and mixed his own saliva and made something wonderful happen.

In the book of Genesis it says “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” We are formed from the dust of the earth.

We have been given this earthly form and we don’t always live up to our potential in fact we often fail. But Jesus comes and lifts us up from our failures. He wipes the dirt from our eyes so that we can see him clearly.

When we trust in Jesus the Holy Spirit resides in us and begins to transform us. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth in it he said,  “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.  The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly,”

Yes we are earthly creatures but when we take what is just dust and we mix in what is heavenly the mixture is something that can give new sight. 

At the end of our scripture passage Jesus tells the Pharisees that since they claim to have sight, their sin remains.  They were not physically blind but spiritually blind.  Jesus is offering spiritual sight. Just as David was to be king because God sees differently than humans, so do we can see differently when Jesus is fully part of our lives.

The man who was cured of his blindness wasn’t a theologian but he knew God when his eyes were opened. 

So how is it with you today?  What has God done in your life?  What is god doing around you that doesn’t make sense?

Brothers and sisters no matter how young or old, no matter how many times we have read the bible we still have a need to have the mud washed from our eyes.  We invite Jesus into our lives but do we let him mix all the way through it?  Part of doing that is telling each other the story of what God is doing in your life and hearing what is God is doing in other’s lives.  If you don’t regularly have those conversations outside of Sunday morning, there is more for you to discover on your spiritual journey.

May you encounter Jesus in a very personal way very soon. 

Come to the Well

John 4:5-42

How is it going on your Lenten journey?  This is the season of casting off what draws us away from God and taking on what draws us nearer to God. 

It is often difficult to see the value of a difficult circumstance when you are in the midst of it.  You are going through a divorce, you get the diagnosis you were hoping not to get, you lose your Job, you can’t find someone to spend your life with or you lost someone you have spent your life with.

It all seems like an end. 

The feelings surrounding the season of Lent has been for eve altered for me. It was Ash Wednesday 2005, my last Ash Wednesday service I would attend before becoming a pastor and leading them myself.  I prepared myself for the Journey for Lent.  I opened my heart to God and earnestly asked to God to reveal to me the brokenness in me that I did not yet see.

On Friday of that week I got a call that my father, whom I had not seen or spoken to in 7 years was taken by ambulance from the Houghton Lake Hospital to Munsen Hospital in Traverse City for emergency brain surgery. I waited at home with my two children until Diane got home from work.  It was late; I remember the sun had already gone down. I told her what was going on. Then I drove from Greenville to Traverse City. Waiting there was my sister, and my aunt whom I hadn’t seen for 25 years.  We waited together. We talked. We got caught up on each other’s lives. Then the surgeon came out. You know how they talk. They downplay the bad and they say well at least this or that and there is hope that this could happen. There was none of that.  It was a very advanced, very aggressive form of brain cancer.

It was the beginning of Lent.  He died a couple of days before Pentecost that year.

In the time between I got to know my dad again.  I spent a lot of time with him.  We talked a lot about faith. We talked about the source of our hope.  He talked about his doubts about being good enough.  I offered him forgiveness both as a son and as brother in Christ.  And he offered me his.

We all face difficult relationships. We have failed to be the best people we can be. There are those whom we have never been given a change to reconcile with or say goodbye to.  There are some that no matter how much time we could have been given it would never be enough time to say goodbye.

It all seems like an end when we are living in the midst of it.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

God is the constant that runs through all our lives. The question is how much we are willing to align ourselves with God.  It’s not a question of how good, or moral can we be but more of a matter of admitting that we do not and cannot have it all together and we have to fully rely on our heavenly parent to rescue us, pull us up from the mud and  transform us.

In today’s scripture reading I could easily spend several weeks constructing messages on a variety of subjects. I could talk about Relations with minority groups; Jesus was in a Samaritan village talking to a Samaritan woman.  It was not the norm for Jews and Samaritans to be talking and otherwise associating with each other.  I could relate this to the way our community is segregated by Anglo and Hispanics. 

This could be a message about marriage.  The woman was married several times and was currently living with a man who was not her husband.  This is an issue that some people in the church have to go home and deal with on a daily basis.

This could be a message on morality.  The usual time to collect water was in the morning before the heat of the day.  But this woman was at the well around noon when no one would be around.  We could talk about how our life choices affect more than ourselves they affect our relationships and the community we live it.

I could talk about church growth.  This woman went back and told the people about Jesus and they came to believe in Jesus for themselves because she first told them.  

I could say all of those things but I won’t today…

In the scripture today, Jesus had been traveling.  Jesus was tired and thirsty.  There was a well. There was a woman at the well.  The woman had a bucket and he did not.  He asked the woman for a drink.

Immediately the situation turns from a simple request for water into what it all implies.  Why are you talking to me? What would it mean if I gave you water? We worship differently; we believe differently.

Remember what Jesus says will happen in the end:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Jesus was asking for a drink of water to satisfy is physical thirst.

He was offering Living water to satisfy the woman’s spiritual thirst forever.

Jesus didn’t ask about her ethnicity, he didn’t bring up her marital status; he didn’t confront her about her morality or the reason for her social location. He began a very real relationship with a simple request for a drink of water.

How is it with you today?  Who can you offer a drink of water to? Where is there division where we can bring unity?   Where is there Judgment where we can bring grace? Where is there condemnation where we can demonstrate love?

You may have some feelings about what the federal courts did very recently in striking down the Michigan ban on same-sex marriages. You may be applauding it or you may be bemoaning it. Either way we need to take a Christ like approach.

No matter where someone comes from, no matter their background or history if they are thirsty give them something to drink.

If someone needs water, we should be handing out water.  If someone needs food we should be finding ways to give food.  If someone is looking for spiritual refreshment we should always be pointing toward the well where we find it. Jesus Christ is the source of living water.  Jesus Christ is the source of all spiritual refreshment and nourishment.

Jesus did not come to judge and condemn but to bring eternal life.  This is the good news that we can share with everyone regardless of culture, marital status, or social location. We are Jesus presence in the world, called to be is body, to carry on his ministry.  

Love Is a Choice

Isn’t it funny how a decision that seems to be inconsequential can have such a profound effect on your life?  In late December of 1993 I decided to go out on a date with Diane. I don’t mean to be crass but that moment didn’t seem particularly special at the time. At that moment I did not plan, I could not see, I couldn’t have even guessed what that decision and the series of decisions that came after would lead to.

As I started to see I started to be more intentional about my decisions. In July of 1995 I asked her to marry me and in April of 1996 we got married. I made a decision. I made a choice to love her for the rest of my life.

We had it figured out. And by “it” I mean EVERYTHING. We knew how to have a successful marriage, we knew how to raise children we knew how to live life right.  RIGHT.  I just wish we would have written down some of the things we said back then.  I don’t remember what they were but I remember several times since then that my assumptions about life have been up-ended;  My supposed knowledge has been overturned; The power I thought I had was an illusion; the source of my sustenance was unknown to me at that time.  I have been driven to my knees in prayer asking God to guide me because I came to the end of all of my resources and I had to fully rely on God.

The Ashes of last year's Palm Sunday celebration,
a symbol of our mortality and penance. 

During times of uncertainty in life, in marriage I go back to the intentional decisions I have made and rest in those.  I made a decision to love Diane for the rest of my life.  It wasn’t until after that that I intentionally gave my life to Christ.  But Jesus was never far from me. My parents made the intentional decision to baptize me in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Even though I was wandering for several years the grace of God was sustaining me and drawing me toward God.

This is the first Sunday in Lent.  On Wednesday a few of us gathered to worship, to consider the impermanent nature of our bodies, to turn away from sin and to recommit our love to God. Making a decision to love God is a life changing moment.

Often times when there is a discussion about our life’s spiritual journey’s, the majority of people in a church will say that they have been in the church all their lives, can’t remember a time when they weren’t and don’t necessarily have a big life changing moment when they came to know Jesus Christ. That decision to go on a date with Diane didn’t seem very big at the time, but it has certainly changed my life.

We love God. That’s why we are here.  Just this week Eli asked me why we go to church. I told him we go to tell God we love him. If you really want to get down to the basics of an idea or of anything, try explaining it so a three year old can understand it. Week after week I tell the Young Disciples that come up here, in a variety of ways, that God loves them but how well do we do at loving God back?

Love is a choice. Love is a decision. Lent is a season of spiritual reflection.  Lent is a time to recommit our love to God and be intentional about demonstrating that love.

In the Gospel lesson today Jesus was tempted by the devil.  In this story the devil is a master negotiator but not nearly talented enough to derail Jesus trek on his way to the throne of Glory. The Devil started small and kept upping the ante. Too many of us take the bait, but not Jesus.  Jesus had fasted for 40 days, a good long time, he was famished.  Jesus was at his weakest or so it would seem.  If there was a time he would break, it would be now, or so it would seem. After 40 days of fasting, surely he would jump at the chance for some food.  So the devil said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."

Our bodies have a variety of needs.  That is the nature of living a physical existence. We are spiritual beings in a physical body.  We have to tend to the needs of our physical body to be strong.  The devil saw that Jesus had not taken food for a good long time so he attempted to tempt Jesus into diverting taking his mind off the task of communing with God the father during his time of fasting. The devil was offering physical satisfaction so that Jesus mind would no longer be on divine things.

Love is a decision.  Love is a choice.  'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'

Do you think Jesus made that decision to prioritize God in that moment, the moment of temptation?  It’s more likely that the choice was made long before and was able to withstand the temptation because of it.

Appealing to physical needs didn’t work so the devil offered something more enticing. The devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

First of all Jesus doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody especially the devil. But what was being offered here is physical security. Isn’t it true that that is what we would desire next?  If we were lost and alone with no one to call on for help and no resources to draw from. The first thing we would need is food right?  And then next thing would be security, we would want to be out of harm’s way.  But again, Jesus knew who he was.  Jesus knew his source of security.  Jesus had already made the choice to come as a human and love us in a sacrificial way.  Jesus dismissed this second temptation with scripture that was part of his being, “do not put the lord God to the test.”

In the final temptation the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."

When we have all that we need and when we feel safe it seems to be human nature to crave more. The devil offered earthly power. People crave power.  The people of Ukraine were becoming powerless so they demonstrated and took back some power.  Russia’s naval power in Crimea and the Black Sea was under threat so they are moving to secure that power.

I just watched the movie The Help. It’s set in the early 1960’s in Jackson Mississippi. It demonstrated the inequity between the white and black communities. How white folk were accustomed to a lifestyle that was only possible by having a class of people below them. It must be very hard to give up comforts of life when the very system you are living under says that they are yours to be had.

We may not be offered kingdoms. But we are tempted with power. Either the prospect of more power or the perceived threat of losing the power that we do have.

Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

So how is it with you today? You don’t know what trials and temptations you will face tomorrow but if you make a choice to love God and make decisions based on that love of God, you will triumph over all your obstacles.

Worship the Lord your God and serve only him. That is a choice. That is a decision. If we decided to love and worship the Lord our God and serve only him then that choice will change our lives.  It may not be the big grandiose moment of conversion like the Apostle Paul had on the road to Damascus but it will profoundly change the course of our lives and bring glory to God.

In the midst of being tested and humbled, cling to that which is real.  Hear the moans of the weak, and the suffering of the sick. Listen to the scriptures and songs; hear God calling you though them. See the evil and injustice that surrounds us. Soften your heart to react with love. Rejoice and be filled with the goodness of the Lord. 

The Daily Transfiguration

This is one of those scriptures that bring the “wow factor.”  We can easily understand Jesus teaching, feeding and even healing, but this is so far outside anything I have ever experienced it is difficult to wrap my mind around. 

I know Jesus as my Lord. I regularly spend time with him. I seek his council and direction and he gives it. I may not understand how Jesus was resurrected on Easter morning but I know that he lives, so whatever the details are about it, I know that it happened because I experience the resurrected Jesus in real time.

The transfiguration of Jesus is different.  It was a moment for Peter, James and John.  Jesus told them not to tell anyone about it until after the resurrection.

It’s like the promised coming of Jesus when everything will be made right.  It’s a reality that we have to experience to fully understand. I desire, I long for, I pray for a closer connection with Christ.  I have asked God to reveal God’s self to me, to allow me to behold with my eyes His glory, his presence.  This is an experience I have asked God to give me.

Peter, James and John experienced it; we read about it.

They climbed the mountain, Jesus face shone like the sun! Even his cloths where different. Then Moses and Elijah where there.  This is important.  We cannot fully understand Jesus and who he is outside of the context of the story of the Israelite people. Jesus is the consummation of that story.  He is the fulfillment of the promises of God to them and now sits as king over all of creation.  I have prayed for the King, the Lord Jesus to appear to me has not been granted yet.

The reason, the answer that people have given me as to why my request of God, to see his presence, will not be granted is that to have such an experience would negate the need for faith.  Apparently seeing God is just too much proof of his existence. 

I am not looking for proof of existence, I already have that. What I long for is an ever deepening connection to the God that created me, sustains me and blesses me.

Scripture says “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.” Six days after what?  Well if you look in Matthew chapter 16 you will find that Jesus and the disciples are near the Sea of Galilee, Jesus is teaching and Peter Confesses that Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus affirms Peter’s confession.  A little later in the chapter Jesus says that he will suffer and die.  Peter reprimanded him for saying that.  He said “Get behind me Satan!” then he counted the cost of following him.  It was six days after that that the transfiguration happened.  Many think that it was on Mt. Tabor which is 11 miles west of the Sea of Galilee.  That’s a leisurely pace of 2 miles a day. They walked for nearly a week to get to this mountain so Jesus could privately take his inner circle of followers to show them his glory.

You ever wonder where Jesus is taking you? Have you ever considered that the reason that you haven’t found what you are looking for is because Jesus isn’t done taking you to the place where his glory will be revealed?

Jesus and the disciples got to the mountain and they stopped.  Jesus probably told the rest of the band to “wait here” I need to speak with Peter, James and John.  So they watch as Jesus and the other three start climbing up the mountain.  I imagine they are sitting down there at the bottom waiting and talking and then from the top of the mountain some bright light was shining and what might have been a rumble of thunder but it sounded an awful lot like words being spoken and then some time later they all come back down the side of the mountain.

Can you imagine?  They were probably like “what happened up there?” and Peter was all like, “I can’t tell you.”  I can’t decide if he was smiling from ear to ear or if he was deadly serious.  You would think with an experience like that, that they would be steadfast in their faith; that they would be so sure of God that they would never fall away.  But as we know, when the time came near for Jesus to be executed, they all fell away.

Have you ever received a blessing from God?  Have you ever failed to be 100% obedient to God? We all have.

I have asked God to show himself to me and he has done it.  Not in the way where I have seen his dazzling radiance on a mountain top but when faithful people demonstrate his grace.  I got a sympathy card from someone who thought I had a loss in the family. I didn’t (that loss happened 9 years ago) but I still was blessed by that act of love.  I see God at work when this congregation this size donates and raises $1500 for people they will never meet so that they can be free of danger of malaria.  I see it when God’s people begin to see the world through God’s eyes and know that it is by our hands that God will transform this world. There is a vision to use this building all week as a preschool to serve families who live near here; there is a vision serve Christ side by side with the Latino population that live near here; there is a vision to renovate this building to make it easier to use so that we can accomplish those ministries.  I have asked God to show himself to me and he has done it.  When people of faith act in obedience to God I stand in awe.  I sometimes don’t know whether to smile from ear to ear or in all seriousness bow to God’s majesty. Both are appropriate.

When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, he promises that the Holy Spirit will reside in us.  That his law will be written on our hearts and that the Holy Spirit will guide us into truth. When we witness people of faith acting on the prompting of the Holy Spirit we are witnessing the very presence of God. 

When Moses was in the presence of God in the burning bush what did he do?  He took off his shoes. I’m not going to ask you to take off your shoes this morning but I am going to pray for your shoes. I am going to pray for your shoes because we are on a Journey with Jesus and we will need strength for the journey. When we finish we will take off our shoes in his presence. 

God of all creation,

You have made us to be one in you,

with your love working in us and through us.

Bless these shoes and those who wear them,

That wherever they go, your grace, wisdom and self-giving will be conveyed;

May this be a reminder that we are all in this together,

meant for community, born into one family.

Empower the wearers of these shoes to love not only for self, but also for you and your beloved creation.

When we do so, send our spirits soaring that we may thrive in your presence.

In Christ’s holy Name, Amen.