Being a Conservative Radical

 Jesus has some harsh words about those who would criticize his followers for not following their traditions. The traditions themselves are not bad. The traditions likely started from a good and right practice. Washing hands and washing food, aside from being a good idea from a cleanliness and health standpoint, can be a powerful reminder, a symbolic act of awareness that there is a need to be cleansed not only physically but spiritually as well. But if the reminder becomes the rule and it no longer reminds us of anything, then it is useless.

We well celebrate Holy Communion in a few minutes. If it were a rule that in order to be a part of this church that once a month you had to eat a little square of bread dipped in grape juice and we never let it remind us of Jesus' sacrifice and the new covenant that he made then it would have no value.

Traditions are good. They connect us not only to the past but help to put us in a right frame of mind to have an unobstructed unique experience because we don't have to worry about extraneous details. We follow the tradition and anything new that happens is easily recognized and appreciated. Sometimes traditions get challenged and changed.

What if you grew up in a house that has always supported one political party and you find yourself after much critical investigation supporting the other?

Do you compromise what you to believe to be absolutely true in order to maintain a civil relationship with family, friends, and acquaintances, r do you stand in what you believe, risking that you may be wrong and risking the resentment and alienation from those that you love most. If we are honest, another consequence of being steadfast is that you may start to resent those who stand against what you believe. Is this really the choice? We live in a world where there are is a wide variety of ways of living, ways of thinking ways of being and believing. This is post-modern culture. No one group is given a free pass on claiming that they have the corner on the market when it comes to the “right way” of living. No longer is the Christian message received as normative throughout our culture.

Does this mean we shrink back and blend in with our neighbors? Do we round the sharp corners of our faith? Do we deny the more difficult teachings of Holy scripture?

I was raised by parents who's ideals were formed during the collapse of the “Modern” world view that said that there was one best-way of living. I was taught tolerance. I was taught open mindedness. To me that means that you can disagree with someone without belittling them. You and disagree with out someone and still respect them. You can disagree with someone and still be in relationship with them. Disagreements on political issues can divide a family; they can end friendships. Why does this have to be? This says that your political philosophy is more important than the relationships you are willing to sacrifice.

My grandfather died in 1996. I remember that he was closely associated with one of the political parities I don't remember which. I do remember that he took great offense when someone suggested that he supports the other party. That's all I remember of his politics. What I really remember is my grandpa loved his family. I remember his strength. He was both physically strong and steadfast in his beliefs. I remember that near the end of his life he saw an advertisement for a nice study bible and he ordered it so that my grandmother would have it when he was gone. Was my grandfather a dedicated Republican or a loyal Democrat? I don't know. I don't want to know. I don't really care. His political affiliation was NOT the defining characteristic of my grandpa and its not my defining characteristic.

I want to be defined by my life in Christ and Christ that lives in me. We are between times. Yes we are between the resurrection of Jesus and His second coming but but this week we are between the end of the RNC convention and the DNC convention and there is an awful lot of tribulation out there. If your are on Twitter or Facebook you know that many people are campaigning for the candidates they support and often times it gets kind of ugly. I hear less about Republicans and Democrats then I do about Conservatives and Liberals. I have friends who are both. I know faithful pastors who are both. My good friend and fellow pastor Mike is the most conservative guy I know pastors a church in rural Michigan. He loves Jesus, takes the bible seriously and genuinely cares for people. My good friend Dwayne is the most liberal or has he describes himself “radical” guy I know, served several years on the south side of Chicago and is doing a church plant in Bellwood, IL. He loves Jesus, takes the bible seriously and genuinely cares for people.

Both my friends celebrate Christmas and Easter. Both lead inspiring worship services. Both my friends have family that they love very much. But I can say with a strong degree of confidence that come November they will not be voting the same way as each other. So how can a self proclaimed Conservative and self proclaimed radical be so similar?

Because we follow a God who first transcends all human divisions. And second uses our differences to speak a wider truth than we can see from our limited points of view.

We are called to be both conservative and Radical. The danger of being just conservative is that we may get lost in our traditions. The danger of being just radical is that we wont have any guiding principles for our zeal.

We are called to be both conservative and Radical.

Be conservative in holding on to your faith. But be radical in sharing it with those whom you wouldn't normally expect to talk to.

Be conservative in keeping God's commandments but be radical in forgiving those who do not.

Be conservative in using resources on yourself but be radial in your generosity to others.

Be conservative in keeping the scriptures close at hand but be radical in living them out.

It is the paradox of God that these two ideas are linked. If you want to be mature in the faith you must have the faith of a child. The first will be last and the last will be first if anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position; he has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty.

We come to this table hungry. Whatever our political persuasion, whatever our place in community, whatever our station in life. Around this table we stand as equals. We are all children of God, accepting the invitation to gather for a family dinner.

So, how is it with you today? Be prepared to be challenged, to be ridiculed and even ostracized for what you stand for. But count it as a blessing and an opportunity. A blessing to grow in love for people who offer you difficulty and an opportunity to grow and to see the bigger picture.   

Time to Be Brave

     Have you seen the commercial?  I don't really remember what they were trying to sell me; probably some sort of electronic thing. It was about "Annie who wanted to fly." A girl did some video editing to make some special effects to make it appear that she could fly.  Aside from the fact that I love flying, dream of flying and am sure that in when I enter into the eternal presence of God and I leave this body behind I will be granted the ability to fly, aside from all that I really like the song in the advertisement.  It's "Be Brave" by the Strange Boys. 

Oh, I had to be brave

*You gotta be brave

Oh, I had to be brave

*You gotta be brave

Oh, I had to be brave

*You gotta be brave

Don't seem like no choice to me.

Not normally visible
this is one of many labels
Pastors hide behind for
fear of success.

     Turning 40 last year and then 41 recently got me to thinking...(mid life crisis?) What am I doing?  I am in a great position to really do good things, great things even.  Jesus made this promise to his disciples that we would do greater things than he did when he was here in the flesh.  So why haven't I done these great things.  Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 when he was assassinated. Look at what he was able to accomplish before he was 40.  It may seem ludicrous of me to compare myself to MLK and really I am not.  However, he realized more of the potential that Jesus said we all have.  I am not saying that I am as good as MLK, I am saying that he has raised the bar that we should all strive to exceed.  Sure adopting four children and forever changing the course of their life will have an immeasurable impact for generations to come, but I could have done that if I were still a pizza guy.  We all rise to the challenges that are before us.  With that said, however, the challenges we face are largely our own choosing. 

      Dr. King could have been complacent; Rachel Corrie could have remained silent; I could have happily raised my two children and been a good maintenance pastor of what ever church the bishop sent me.  So here I am in Ludington, Michigan. I've been here for over a year.  It is time to submit reports and describe, in numbers, what we have been doing as a congregation for the past year.  Did our membership go up or down?  What is our average attendance?  As long as the numbers look good, I look good.  As long as I don't damage the congregation, everything will be okay.  Is this the greatness that Jesus called me/us to? I think not.  

Time to drop our excuses at the foot of the cross.

     There is a hunger for something more.  I want to be a part of something that has meaning.  God has called me to this place at this time.  My task is to figure out what my purpose is.  That purpose will not be discovered by dutifully filling out forms and maintaining the institution.  Our purpose is discovered when we are interacting with as many people as we can; loving them; serving them.   So what is holing me back?  The fact that I haven't been given authority to administer the sacraments outside of my ministry setting? The fact that, because of my particular clergy status, I have no official membership in any church or spiritual community? I tire of my colleagues making excuses for not being faithful servants of Jesus.  I tire of hearing about non-cooperative administrative boards.  I tire of hearing about a lack of resources and a lack of willingness to reach the unwanted and the marginalized.  You are pastors, my brothers and sisters, I am a pastor.  The bishop may have laid hands on you and said, "take thou authority" but authority does not come from the bishop or any other human.  We have been called by God to do God's will.  

     "Okay Jon. What would you have me do?"  Sorry, I am trying to figure that out for myself right now.  I know that time spent in the parsonage, in my study or making the rounds of the shut-ins will not yield anything new.  The thing that needs to be done has to be sought after. It has to be tracked down.  We have to stand in its path and risk being crushed by it if we want to really make a difference.  We have to put ourselves in a position where being brave is the only choice we have. Just like Jesus.  

Julian's baptism

Juliana's baptism

    

Nowhere to Hide

John 6:56-

I cannot do anything on my own! There is not one thing. The life I live is possible because of the community around me. The health of the economy depends on people actively participating in it. The food I buy is purchased with a paycheck given me because I fulfill a function. Food that is grown and produced that provides a paycheck for those who grow it; purchased at a store who earn a paycheck for providing their services. I stand in this pulpit, in this Church, on this piece of land because people before me prepared the way.

I preach from the Bible of which the newest parts were written 2000 years ago. Preacher's have been standing in this place <Or in Similar places> trying to be faithful to the faith that has been handed down to them.

All that comes down to this moment, in this, place, right now. The present moment is the only one we really have and God is asking us to be faithful to Him. To cultivate the seed that others have planted before us and to plant seed that will grow the tree, that will bear fruit that we will never eat in this lifetime.

Do I feel adequate to the task? Usually not! Do I trust God bring out the best in whatever we do? Absolutely!

Oh Lord, you examine me and know. You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; you are aware of everything I do. Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it. You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me. Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; It is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. Where can I go to escape your spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence?

This is from Psalm 139. Nowhere to run no where to hide usually implies trouble and fear and danger. But here, 'nowhere to run and no where to hide is a wonderful thing.' It means we cannot pretend to be anything but who we really are with God. God knows your strengths and your weaknesses. He knows your victories and your failures. God loves you more than you can possibly love yourself, which may not be a very high bar to clear sometimes.

We all fail. We all fall. When we do we can either trust in God's love to pick us up, build us up and start again or we can let the failure define us and we can stay in the ditch that we fell in. In the story of Adam and Eve in the first part of the Bible, God gave them full access to the tree of life. They could eat freely of its fruit and live forever. They were innocent and unaware. Then came the other part of the story. They were enticed to eat of another kind of fruit which God had said they were not to eat. This was from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. When they ate it they became aware of their own nakedness. They became focused on themselves rather than focused on God. Rather than living in their innocence they hid from God in their guilt.

This story is so beautiful because it describes our human condition so well. We are given so much but through our own desire to be at the center of the universe we miss out on the abundant life.

With Jesus at the center of our lives and at the center of our Community. The fruit of the tree of life is again available to us. This is food that sustains us for eternal life. Life in Christ is something to celebrate. Life in Christ is something to share. But as we have seen in God's word sometimes there needs to be planting, there needs to be pruning, there needs to be constant attention and care given.

Over the next several months a team of people from this congregation in including John, Betty, Erin, Gary and Peg, Deann and my self will be studying and learning and being trained on some fundamental aspects of church health. This 9 month process is the beginning of the Vital Church Initiative. We want to be vital.. we want to be full of life as the body of Christ. In September we will be reading and learning about the 5 practices of fruitful congregations. Next month it will be something else. We will share what we learn and we will hopefully integrate it in the way we do ministry and share the love of Christ.

Chalk art by Rod Snow.  The cross and the empty tomb
are difficult teachings to accept to (post) modern minded people.
Yet, the truth remains that in Jesus we find life. 

This will be an intentional way of moving in the direction God is calling us. But no matter how we tweak things, no matter how many structural changes we make. None of will make any difference we our central focus is not clearly on our Lord Jesus Christ.

What Scripture says about the Lord s life affirming and life giving. Some of what scripture says is challenging but we cannot shy away from or ignore the difficult parts. What does the bible say about the idea of “once saved, always saved?” This week I got a call about the Lord's prayer. That line about forgiveness. Forgive us AS we forgive others? The question was, “does that mean that if we don't forgive others we will not be forgiven? What about all who believe in Jesus will be saved?” This is a good question. What about all the things about judgment that Jesus said? Tough stuff. What about Ananias and Sapphira? Do you remember this story from scripture? It's in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 5. It's difficult story to accept but it's there.

Peter's confession shows that even he found the Lords teaching difficult to accept, yet acknowledges that there is no place else to turn for what Jesus offers.

Jesus offers the word of life. Not just good philosophy. Not just good advise. But the Word that is the spirit of God that will live in you when you submit to Jesus Christ as Lord will give you life that will never end. Human effort is useless. Our will to save ourselves is futile. The live that Jesus gives will never wither away.

The fruit of the tree of life is still fresh and crisp. Jesus is the perfect revelation of Almighty God. In Jesus we find our salvation. Not in learning about him but about taking his life into us. But that doesn't mean that we cannot do things better as his disciples.

There are seven of us who have committed to leaning and training, but we don't go thinking that we are only seven. We go knowing that you all will be praying for the church. We go knowing that we are inextricably connected to this community and that we go only to strengthen and serve the body of Christ.

So how is it with you today on your walk with God outside of the Garden? Do you feel up to the task of cultivating God's orchard? Yes we are aware of good and evil. We do feel shame for our failures. We do work by the sweat of our brow but thank God that Jesus has offered us to eat again of the fruit of the tree of life. Where else would we want to be? Where else could we go?