Renovate or Die

I am changing the focus of this blog from the weekly sermon discussion to the more general theme of the vision, mission and ministry at Georgetown United Methodist Church.  I hope this facilitates discussion which moves our church forward in 2012.

Legend has it that as the Titanic was going down the orchestra assembled on deck and played “Nearer My God to Thee.”  Undoubtedly the musicians felt very near to God as the ship went to the bottom of the sea. They probably felt near to God all the way to the bottom.  Feeling that nearness to God didn’t stop the Titanic from going to the bottom of the sea, though.

Bob Farr is the Director of Congregational Excellence for the Missouri Conference, United Methodist Church.  He recently published a book titled, “Renovate or Die.”  The title comes from his experience with houses.  When he was younger and had time, Farr would buy a home and renovate it.  He relates a story about a friend who asked him over to see the renovation he had done on his house.  Farr recounts how the friend showed him new carpet, new window treatments and new paint.  His friend had not actually renovated his home.  The home had only been redecorated.  Farr knew from his experience that real renovation means going much deeper into the house.  Renovation means taking up floors and sub floors to repair deeper problems.  It also means completely rewiring the house, taking plaster off walls to verify their internal integrity, taking out old pipes and installing new plumbing.  Renovation involves making the house more energy efficient, too.  Redecorating looks nice.  A fresh coat of paint and new carpet can do wonders.  Redecorating is only surface work, though.  Renovation involves a lot more work and can be messier.  Renovation may reveal a job that is bigger than anticipated once it is begun.

Farr uses the metaphor to say that most churches periodically redecorate.  They make small changes at the surface level while ignoring deeper concerns that slowly lead the church down a path of decline.  Decline in churches happens so slowly that it often goes unnoticed.  People get used to it and so it becomes the normal state of affairs.  Farr suggests that most churches need to renovate rather than redecorate if they are to be vital congregations.

I have spent the month of January doing research on our church.  I have also looked at other churches like ours in the West Michigan Conference.  I have met with several people for consultations.  I have considered our past several years and I have contemplated the future of our church.  I am convinced that our present model for ministry is not sustainable beyond the next 12-18 months.  If we continue according to our present habits we will reach a point of dramatic change being thrust upon us.  I believe there is an ice berg on our horizon.  Therefore I think it is imperative that we begin a process of renovation for our church.  We can engage a process of planned renovation now rather than waiting for our collision with the ice berg later.  I will begin to lay out what I think that process should look like in February.  One of the first steps will be for as many people as possible to read “Renovate or Die” and participate in discussion groups.  That will begin to provide us with focus and direction for visioning.  I also want us to go through the “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations” program this spring.  Beyond that, I recommend that we participate in The Vital Church Initiative.  This is a fairly lengthy and thorough process of training leaders in the church and evaluating all aspects of our programming and ministry.

All of this represents what I consider a thorough renovation project.  I will be scheduling a number of groups at various times to look at “Renovate or Die” and discuss our churches future.  I also plan to ask our education groups and small groups to spend some time with the book.  If you are willing to facilitate a group go to the church web site and send me an email saying so.  You don’t need to be an expert on anything to facilitate a group.  You need to be willing to get involved in the renovation project and get a little bit dirty.

Gone for awhile….

The blog is on hiatus until February.  Have a great Christmas.  See you in 2012!

“Declaring Your Heart” John 3.16 and 2 Corinthians 8.24

Most Christians are familiar with John 3.16.  In some respects that has become the bane of mainline Christianity.  “… whoever believes in him will have everlasting life…” has become the watering down of the gospel.  Many have seized upon that verse, or verses like it, and turned the gospel into nothing but belief.  Just believe and you get a free trip to heaven.  Or so it seems.  Personally, I think belief is easy.  Besides that, people can believe all kinds of crazy things and it has absolutely no impact on their life.  Nor does their belief do anything to change anyone or anything else.  For example, one may believe that the moon landing in 1969 was a hoax, that Castro and the Soviets had JFK assassinated and that two plus two is equal to five.  One may really believe all of that is true and never change what they do on a daily basis.  One may believe all of that is true and talk about it a lot but never do anything because of it.  One may believe all of those things are true and never try to set the world right because those things are true.  Beliefs that are not acted on have no impact on anyone, even the believer.  Christianity can become that empty if it is just about belief.

The antithesis of John 3.16 for us this week is 2 Corinthians 8.24.  Here Paul says, in effect, put your money where your mouth is.  Better still, he may be saying, put your money where your heart is.  Certainly he is saying, prove that your beliefs make a difference to someone.

In American culture where we value independence, individualism, privacy and rights above responsibility, we are taught that faith is a private matter.  Nobody should tell anyone else what to believe or how to believe.  We believe we are free to believe whatever we want.  Most of us would be upset if someone asked us to put our money where our mouth is.  But that is just what Paul does.  In 2 COR 8.24 he comes right out and says to the Corinthian congregation, “You say you are saved, you say you are believers in Jesus Christ, you say you are bound for the glory of resurrection, now prove it.”  Paul wants them to prove it with their wallets.

The church had gotten its start in Jerusalem.  The first Christians were primarily Jews who proclaimed Jesus as the Jewish messiah.  As Christianity spread to the gentiles outside of Jerusalem it was received with more enthusiasm and took hold among the non-Jews of the empire.  Jewish Christians in Jerusalem became marginalized and then ostracized, both by Jews and by the Romans.  Thus, the Jerusalem church fell on very hard times.  So as he went about planting gentile churches throughout the empire, Paul was receiving a collection from each new congregation so that they could help the struggling Christians in Jerusalem.  The Corinthians were claiming to be exceptionally spirit-filled Christians.  So when it came to the collection for the Jerusalem Christians, Paul calls them out.  “Show proof of your love… in such a way that the churches can see it.”

That is really something we are not accustomed to.  We don’t like anyone asking us how much we give to the church.  We actually work pretty hard at keeping all that confidential.  Very few people have access to such privileged information in this office.  Volunteers who prepare annual giving statements for tax purposes are trained to stuff envelopes while blindfolded!  But Paul says to the Corinthians that they should prove their love for God, their love for Jesus Christ and their love for others by declaring their hearts.  They are to declare their hearts by opening their wallets.  I don’t think many of us would take too kindly to our pastor (or anyone else) challenging us to “prove” our faith by being generous with our money.

Many people don’t like the Epistle of James.  There, the brother of Jesus writes, “Faith without works is dead.”  That is somewhat reminiscent of the conclusion to the sermon on the mount where Jesus says, “Not everyone who calls out, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of God…”  We like to think that religion is only a matter of the heart.  Yet there are times when we must declare our hearts.  John Wesley was clear on this.  There is no personal holiness apart from social holiness.  Simple faith, mere belief, is insufficient in most cases.  Faith must make a difference, not only in our lives, but in the lives of others.  Rarely does personal belief make a difference.  It may sometimes make a difference in the believer’s life but the only way one would ever know that is by judging the actions and behaviors of said believer.  The believer has to declare their heart in some tangible way that can be observed and somehow measured in order for others to be able see what is really in their heart.

The Bible is often contrary to what we think and believe.  We are taught that Christians are humble and that faith is deeply personal and private.  We are also taught that our finances are our own business and nobody has any right at all to tell us what to do with our money.  Paul, on the other hand, challenges Christians to be bold.  Paul probably couldn’t get a job in a United Methodist church today!  Imagine him telling some congregation, “Oh, you say you believe!  Oh, you say you are bound for glory because you have given your life to Jesus!  But are you willing to show proof of your love in such a way that others can see it?  Will you prove your faith is real by being generous?”  (Many Christians would respond by saying, “That is none of your business, Paul.  It is personal, between God and me.”)

My hunch is that if Paul were appointed to just about any United Methodist congregation in this country that church’s Staff-Parish Relations Committee would quickly be contacting the District Superintendent and asking for a new pastor!

“Becoming Unstuck”

I will read three different texts this week for the sermon.  They are Joel 2.28, Matthew 6.33 and Colossians 3.1.  I won’t comment at length on any of the three but I do encourage you to meditate and pray about them this week as we think in terms of the future vision for our church.

In that regard I want to remind you of the letter that you should have received from Jeff Allen for this week.  It begins with a discussion of the Peanuts comic where Lucy is explaining to Charlie Brown that life is like a deck chair on a cruise ship.  One must decide whether they want their chair to face forward so they can see where they are going, or one can have their chair face backwards so they can look at where they have been.  I believe we are supposed to decide that we should want to face forward and thus see where we are headed.  My thoughts, as they often do, are running against the grain, as I think about this.  I think that initially, we need to look back and reconsider the original purposes behind the establishment of this congregation in this community.  Additionally, I think we have become somewhat like Charlie Brown who responds to her two choices by saying that he can’t even get his deck chair unfolded.  He seems to be helplessly stuck.

I think we need to take a long look backwards before we look forward because we have become stuck.  We are not helplessly stuck.  Nobody is ever truly helpless.  But we have become stuck.  Looking back is the key, in my mind, to becoming unstuck.

Two married couples have recently describe that as charter members of this church 35 years ago they hoped to establish a congregation that would welcome everyone.  In this community, most churches expected that they would simply perpetuate the Reformed tradition as that is lived out within the Dutch heritage that is predominant here.  These two couples, and others, no doubt, wanted a church that would be open and welcoming to all people, not just to those who shared a similar heritage and theological tradition.  They have said that they also envisioned a church that was focused on spiritual growth rather than the preservation of past traditions.

I have often wondered to myself, what is it that makes this church any different from the others in Georgetown Township?  By that I mean, why should anyone come here rather than just go to any other church around here?  I think there is an implicit assumption in this community that all the churches are basically the same.  Of course, that assumption is wrong.  As a congregation in the Wesleyan tradition, we are about as different from those in the Reformed tradition as one can get.  For example, Calvin subscribed the notion of predestination (everything that happens is a part of God’s plan).  Wesley taught that we have freewill, God has hopes for us but we are free to choose our own course in life.  The Reformed tradition values creeds and doctrines.  The Wesleyan tradition favors freedom of thought and pragmatic theology.  The Reformed tradition values conformity while the Wesleyan tradition values diversity.  The Reformed tradition values tradition and orthodoxy while the Wesleyan tradition values reason and experience.  The Reformed tradition stresses judgment and individual salvation.  The Wesleyan tradition stresses grace and social holiness (justice).

Does all of this mean that one is better than the other?  Not necessarily.  The Reformed tradition dominates North America in terms not only of the CRC and the RCA but also within denominations such as Presbyterianism and the many varieties of Baptist churches.  Thus, it does work for many people.  On the other hand, Wesley lived after the Reformation.  He was an Anglican who had roots in the Roman Catholic Church.  Thus, he often sought a practical, middle ground in Christianity that was practical, encouraged personal spiritual growth and social reform and was grounded as much in experience and reason as it was in scripture or tradition.  That means the Methodist tradition is deliberately different from the reformed tradition and the Roman Catholic tradition.  It isn’t a matter of one being better than the other.  It is clearly a matter of theological and practical distinctiveness, though.

So, as we consider a new vision for our future as a church, I think we can first get our deck chairs unstuck by looking backward.  My hope is that we can reclaim the original vision put forth by the charter members of this church.  I am certain that our future lies in claiming our distinctiveness.  We are not Reformed, Catholic or anything else.  We are Methodists.  As such, we are to be radically welcoming to all, we are to focus both on personal spiritual transformation and social transformation.  As Methodists we are not called to perpetuate tradition as much as we are called to use both tradition and experience, along with reason and scripture, to find new ways to reach new people.  We can also celebrate the diversity in our midst, even when that gets a little bit messy, because God never intended to make “cookie cutter Christians”!  I am ready to claim my place in this community as the pastor of the church down on the corner that is different from the rest.

John 13.34-35 “Love Each Other”

Some of you had the opportunity to meet Jerry Toshalis when he spoke here on Saturday afternoon here a few weeks ago at our forum on Same Sex Relationships and the church.  For those who didn’t see the presentation, Jerry spent a couple of hours on how Christians can and should engage one another when they disagree strongly about important issues.  I am not sure if I told anyone this when Jerry was asked to come here, but he is my spiritual director.  That means I actually pay him a small fee and go to his office every month so he can hassle me!

Jerry talked some that day about “binary thinking”.  He brings that up with me every now and then, too.  Binary thinking is meant to be analogous to how computers work.  Binary language for computers is predicated on everything in the computer code being written as ones and zeroes.  Binary thinking means the door is either open or it is closed.  Binary thinking means that the answer is either on or off, yes or no.  Binary thinking also leads us sometimes to the point of saying it must be this, but not that; something must be right or wrong but it can’t be both.  Jerry tried at the workshop, and pushes me at times also, to not think in terms of either A or B but instead, what is the relationship between A and B.  If I feel one way about A and another way about B how do I relate to my feelings about A and B?

That may sound esoteric, or goofy, but it is very important.  We see evidence of binary thinking all around us.  We see it especially in political discourse and the lack of civility that accompanies it.  We see it in religious life and discourse where the emphasis is often placed on being right, whose right, and then in turn being wrong and who is wrong.  Binary thinking doesn’t really tolerate ambiguity or gray areas well at all.  Binary thinking works for computers.  Binary thinking becomes a huge stumbling when applied to people, though.  For example, is someone good or bad or are there shades of both in everyone?  Will you vote for your chosen candidate because they stand with you on one particular issue?

It would be wonderful if life were that simple.  Life isn’t that simple, though.  People we love sometimes disagree with us.  People we love sometimes disappoint us.  Sometimes we disappoint the people who love us.  When those things happen some people can simply “flip a switch” and stop loving the other person.  Most of us have a hard time with that, though.  Most of us will say, “Even though you have done something against me I still want to be able to love you. I want to be reconciled.  I want to continue in relationship with you.”

Love isn’t as simple as binary language.  Jesus said to his disciples:  “This is my commandment, that you love one another.”  Can anyone be commanded to love another?  I don’t think Jesus would issue a commandment lightly so I think we have to take him seriously on this.  He has pretty high expectations of us.  He issued the commandment to people he knew would betray him.  I imagine he knew their potential, both for failure and for success, pretty well.  We don’t love anyone by simply flipping a switch.  We don’t love anyone just because Jesus said to do it.  We love one another as he loved us because we work at living the way he lived and we work at loving the way he loved.

In Luke 6.32 and following, Jesus says, “If you love only those who love you, why should you be commended?  Even sinners do that…”  In Romans 5.1 and following, Paul says, “… at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly….”  It is hard enough to love the people I like!  Then Jesus adds that I need to love people who may not love me back!  It is hard enough to love good people and then Paul brings up this stuff about Jesus dying for “ungodly people”  (meaning us).  If I am considered “ungodly” yet worthy of love, then how should I treat someone I may consider ungodly?  All of this is simply to say that the commandment of Jesus that his disciples love one another is not an easy thing to buy into.  But, again, he calls this a commandment, not a hope or a suggestion.  We are commanded to love one another the same way he loves us.  That can be challenging.

This week I will talk about people in our congregation that have influenced us in some way.  Life in Christian community can sometimes be messy.  It is also worthwhile.  It is supposed to help shape us and mold us into more Christ-like human beings.  A large part of our Christian formation comes through observing and learning from other Christians.  Take some time and think about people in this church who have loved you.  Think about people in this church who have influenced you.  Who loved you when it seemed like nobody else did?  Who was there for you when you really needed them?  Who did you disagree with and still choose to remain close to?

I have a friend who is a pastor.  He has hereditary kidney disease.  His mother, sister, brother and children have had kidney transplants.  When he needed a transplant nobody in his family could donate.  He was on a list for a long time with no luck.  Then one day the lay leader from his church decided to be tested.  He wasn’t a great match but by that time my friend had to take what he could get or die.  So the pastor received a kidney from the lay leader.  Is there someone in our church that you would do that for?  Or, flip that and ask yourself, who in my church would love me that much?

In churches, relationships are more important than individuals.  How we treat each other matters.  For Jesus there is a right way and a wrong way.  Often we will disagree.  Binary thinking tells us one party must be right and the other must be wrong.  Life in Christian community is more complex than that.  How is it that we can maintain Christ-like relationships with one another even when we disagree?  That ultimately becomes significant for judging Christian character.  As you prepare to worship this week, think about who it is in this congregation that you look to as an example of Christian love.  In this church, who for you really does work at living out that commandment:  “Love one another as I have loved you.”?

“Be Rich in Doing Good” 1 Timothy 6.17-19

I am reading our text in the Common English Bible.  There it says, “Tell the people who are rich at this time to not become egotistical and not to place their hope in their finances, which are uncertain.” (v. 17a)  I find it kind of interesting to wonder whether Paul is addressing “those who are rich at this time”, meaning that they are rich now but may not be always or forever.  Does he see their present state of being rich as a temporary one?  Or, is Paul address, at this time, those who are rich?  In this case, those who are rich are the ones being addressed at this time.  It is a subtle difference.  But he does say that finances are uncertain.  Perhaps maybe he is referring to “those who happen to be rich right now but might not be rich in the future.”  If that is the case then Paul is something of a prophet for us now.  If the last few years in the United States has taught us anything it is that finances are definitely uncertain!

Wealth may be uncertain.  An older man from my previous church told me once that he retired a very wealthy man.  He said that he retired early because he had so much money.  That was thirty years ago, he said.  Since that time, he and his wife had both suffered strokes.  She was in and out of the hospital many times.  His stroke was not as severe as hers so he ended up taking care of her.  Between medicine, medical bills and hospital bills, he was now a poor man.  But he wasn’t bitter or angry.  He simply realized that the money he thought gave him so much security before was really uncertain.  His circumstances changed and is finances became uncertain.  Generosity is eternal.  Even those who have little can give a lot if they give out of a spirit of generosity.  This man was generous when he had a lot of money and he was generous when he had no money.  He was one of the most faithful, kind, caring and good-humored men I have ever met.  In some respects, I think he may have been a better man without the money.  Life was harder but it didn’t harden him.

Paul here speaks about doing good and being rich in good deeds.  He speaks about being generous and being willing to share.  That was one of the most compelling aspects of the early church.  People would look at the church and say, “See how they love one another!”  In the early church, people cared for one another.  That was done in very simple ways such as just sharing food.  In the first century Roman empire, infanticide was not uncommon.  If a family had a baby they didn’t want (usually a girl) then the father could legally take the baby outside the town and simply abandon it.  This is sometimes called “exposure” as the baby died from exposure to the elements with nobody to care for it.  Christians confronted this practice by collecting up babies that were “exposed” and brought them into the community and raised them.  Widows, orphans and the poor were also intentionally cared for in the early church.  Those who had nobody to care for them often turned to the church.  The church cared for them because the church was rich in doing good.

Paul says that those who are rich in doing good things have a more secure future than those who are rich because they possess good things.  It is in doing good for others that we demonstrate our true wealth.  Generosity is eternal while finances are uncertain.

People talk today about the viability of the American Dream.  I am not sure exactly what the American Dream is supposed to be.  One of my sociology professors said that the American Dream has to do with each generation expecting a better standard of living than the one before it.  I think for many the American Dream is as simple as becoming rich.  For many that used to come through hard work.  Now it may come through inheritance, a good night at the local casino or picking the right lottery numbers.  In any event, the American Dream is typically tied to wealth and possessions.  It is tied to having good things.  According to Paul, God’s dream for us is to become rich in doing good things.

As you prepare for worship this week, think about our church.  How are we rich in doing good things?  What good do we do?  Do we do that good for ourselves?  Do we do good for others in our congregation?  In what ways are we rich in doing good for people outside of our community?

Last week at our leadership summit, I told our church leaders that I don’t think anyone gets too motivated about funding the church budget.  What they do get motivated about is making a positive difference in the lives of others.  I think people give in order to do good, whether that means giving money, time or talents.  What good does our church really do?  Please post your responses!

“Extravagant Generosity” Mark 14.3-9

This is an outrageous story.  Women didn’t dine with men as a rule the culture of Jesus.  The men would gather for the meal and the women would eat in the kitchen.  Besides that, Jesus was an important teacher.  This would likely have been a special event.  But that didn’t stop this particular woman.  She broke into the dinner party, uninvited, to pay her respects to Jesus.  Her unannounced entry into a room full of men was outrageous.  To make matters worse, she next broke open a very expensive bottle of oil (perhaps some kind of perfume or lotion), and lavished all of it upon Jesus.  Besides the fact that she broke into this “men only” dinner and went right up to Jesus and touched him, she wasted a lot of money!  That is what really seems to have gotten people’s attention, the waste of money!

We read that the oil she used to anoint Jesus cost about one year’s worth of wages.  That may not translate easily for us so just think in terms of an average person, not a wealthy person, and what they make in a year.  The reason I say that is it probably makes the act more outrageous.  Someone like Donald Trump can blow through one year’s wages for someone special.  Trump could blow an entire year’s wages and while we would think that outrageous, Trump would never miss the money because he has so much.  On the other hand, normal working class people are really going to miss one full year’s worth of wages, even if it is given for a worthy cause.  But if it is just dumped on someone’s head, well, that is outrageous.  The good people present remark that the oil could have been sold for the equivalent of on one year’s wages and used to feed the poor.  Instead, this party crashing woman just dumps a year’s worth of wages all over Jesus.

Of course, we do read later, in verse 8 that she is anointing Jesus for his burial.  In spite of that, people are critical of her for being so extravagantly generous!  They criticize her for doing something meaningful for Jesus!  The extravagance of her action toward Jesus is alarming to those who witness it.  Apparently she has seen something in Jesus that she feels compelled to respond to in a very dramatic way.

Perhaps she sees in Jesus the extravagant grace of God being lived out.  Perhaps she sees in Jesus radical extravagance that ultimately leads him to give his entire self away for others (see Philippians 2.5-11).  She obviously wants to do something in return for Jesus so she blows an entire year’s wages on this one symbolic act, anointing him for his burial, in advance.  She wants to respond to him and what he is doing and she doesn’t care what others think of her for doing so.  Her generosity is outrageous.  It is called wasteful.

When people questioned her judgment they said that the oil should have been sold and the money used to feed the poor.  Jesus responds by saying that they will always have the poor with them but they won’t have him around much longer.  This statement has caused some trouble for the church because it seems to indicate that we will never eliminate poverty, according to Jesus.  That may be one way to look at the matter.  Another way may be to read the statement as Jesus saying that we will always have ample opportunity to be generous toward others in the future!

Can you imagine being so generous as to have people question your judgment?  Can you imagine being so generous that people question whether or not you are acting in your right mind?  While I do know very many very generous people, I don’t know anyone who has been so generous at any one time as to be considered lacking in judgement.  I don’t run around with the types of people who can just give away one entire year’s salary in one act of generosity!

Could anything or any one inspire you to give away that much money at one time?  Think about it.  Is there anything or anyone that could possibly inspire you to be that generous?  I am not even sure that Jesus inspires that kind of generosity from people today.

Some people do give large sums of money to churches or other religious and charitable organizations.  But those are not “average” people.  Those are people who can give away that much money precisely because they don’t miss it.

Christians sometimes lean too heavily on the understanding that “Jesus paid it all”, and so all we have to do is believe.  Does that mean, though, that Jesus paid it all so we don’t have to do anything?  We are taught that grace is free.  There is nothing we can do to merit grace.  We certainly cannot purchase it.  It does come through faith in God through Jesus.  Jesus gave his life for the sake of others.  That isn’t something we can repay.  But, does that mean we don’t respond?  How do you respond to God’s generosity toward you?

Think of generosity not as repayment to God or Jesus for what they have done for you.  Think instead about generosity as response rather than repayment.  None of us can ever repay God for the gift of life and all its blessings.  We can though respond to God’s generosity by acting in similarly, though. God was so generous with Jesus as to change the course of world history.  Surely then there must be some way that we can be generous that would startle our friends and neighbors.  I am not saying that you need to do something foolish like give away a full year’s salary.  But how many of us ever think about cultivating an attitude of generosity that is so bold it makes people sit up and notice that living our faith as response to God really matters?

Stealing From God Malachi 3.6-12 CEB

I probably shouldn’t write too much this week because I want people to come to church Sunday.  If too many read this, or if they actually read the Bible text for this week, they may not want to come to church.  They will probably think the sermon has something to do with money, or the lack thereof.  While it might seem that way, that really isn’t the issue at all.  What is really at issue is learning how to live with God.

The text from Malachi speaks of a call by God to God’s people to return to God.  There is a really nice affirmation that says, “I don’t change, I don’t deviate, and therefore, you haven’t perished.”  This is a very nice reminder of God’s commitment to us.  In the next instant, though, God is telling the people how they have changed, how they seem less than committed, how they have deviated from the laws of God.  The people are then portrayed as asking God, “How shall we return to you?”  God’s answer:  Stop deceiving me!  It continues to go downhill from there.  God goes on to say that the people are robbing God, stealing from God by refusing to tithe.  They are skimming, not bringing a full tithe.  God says that God is all the time opening the heavens and pouring out blessings upon people and the people, in turn, are skimming.  They are skimming off their tithe, trying to deceive God.  God says in verse 9 that they are robbing God.

I find that quite interesting, having been the victim of a robbery.  I was working in a grocery store during my senior year in high school and a man hid out in the store until after closing time.  He emerged from the bath room with a stocking mask, rubber gloves on and a .38 caliber pistol in his hand.  I happened to be standing by the door when he came out of the bath room.  I distinctly remember that .38 resting on the bridge of my nose.  I could see the bullets on either side of the cylinder.  He told me if I moved or talked he would shoot me.  I was led around to all the cash registers as the hostage while the manager emptied out all the cash.  I laid on the floor in front of the safe, face down, gun barrel on the back of my head as the manager emptied the safe.  Being robbed was pretty intimidating.  For some time afterward I felt quite vulnerable.

Could God feel that way? We don’t think of God as vulnerable.  We think of God as powerful.  Yet God doesn’t force us to do anything.  God enters into covenant with us.  It is very much an unequal relationship.  God is clearly the superior party in the covenant. God becomes vulnerable in making covenant with us, though.  Verse 6, remember, says that God doesn’t change.  God is always faithful.  We are the ones who change.  We are the ones who are unreliable.  We are the ones who break the covenant.  We are the ones who deviate from the agreement.  We only get away with it because God chooses to become vulnerable (Philippians 2.1-8).  Imagine, though, sticking up God!  Would you ever put a gun to God’s head and try to take something from God?  We say no.  God says we try to deceive God.  We skim off the top of the tithe.  We think we can get away with it.  We deceive ourselves!

Some people tried to tell me when I was a young minister that the church needs to be run like a business.  I quickly learned that meant two things.  One, you can’t spend more than you receive.  Two, the pastor needs to make sure to raise enough money to pay the bills or there will be hell to pay.  For a long time I bought into that notion.  Then it dawned on me that the church isn’t run like a business at all.

When people are late we don’t reprimand them.  Businesses do that.  When people don’t show up we don’t fire them.  Businesses do that.  When people fail to make it to an important meeting  we don’t note that in their performance review.  But businesses do.  When people don’t give (I won’t say tithe because the average United Methodist only gives about 2% so we aren’t even in that ball park right now) we don’t send late notices.  I cannot remember a single time in the last 24 years ever turning a church member over to collections.  What kind of collection agency would a church use?  What kind of bill collector would God send out?  Would they break my knee caps?  My thumbs?  If you don’t give a tithe it does absolutely nothing to your credit rating.  Of course, God canceled your biggest debt already so that is taken care of.  No, we don’t run the church like a business.  But somehow I still have to make sure there is enough money in the check book to pay the bills every month.

Religion is a private matter.  So are your finances.  I am not going to meddle.  Do I have a responsibility to tell you what the good book says, though?  If I just bring it up is that more like a reminder or a warning or is that meddling?  Anyway, your religion is a private matter, between you and God.  Your finances are a private matter, too.  I wonder, though… If God knows how many hairs are on my head, does God know how much money I have in the bank?  According to Malachi, God does know when we are trying to rob god.

So if God expects a tithe, and God is the giver of all things, that could mean that I am giving back to God what belonged to God in the first place.  It also means that I am getting to keep 90% of what God has given me.  Am I getting greedy if I try to keep more than the 90%.  If God and I are living in covenant, and part of that agreement is the tithe, how do I justify exempting myself from the tithe?  I have all kinds of good reasons for keeping more than 90%.  God must not understand if God is going to call that robbery!

I think many of us want new life.  We want to be blessed.  Shoot, most of us expect to be blessed!  Jesus did say, “Ask and you shall receive.”  Give me more, Jesus! More! More! More! We want the conversion experience.  We want the release of our burdens and we want freedom from guilt, shame and sin.  We want that good feeling we call conversion.  We want to be saved! But we don’t want to be sanctified.  Conversion happens in an instant.  It happens the moment we understand that God loves us, that we are forgiven, loved and free.  That feels good.  Just thinking about it feels good!  Sanctification, though, is the work of a life time.  Sanctification is that process of becoming holy.  It is the process of learning how to live in covenant with God, day by day.  Conversion is so much easier, and it feels so much better.  Sanctification is hard work, though.  Sanctification means living in covenant with God.  It means holding up our end of he bargain.  Learning to live faithfully with God really is the work of a life time.  God is up for it though.  Even if we deceive God and ourselves.  Even if we keep more than the 90%.  God is vulnerable.  Most of us don’t think about God that way but God must be vulnerable.  How else could we keep getting away robbing God?

 

Speaking Christian: “Heaven” Mark 12.18-27

Sorry the sermon blog is late this week!  Seems like the hurrier I go, the behinder I get!

Before waxing eloquent about heaven I want to bring us down to earth for a minute or two by recommending two challenging and worthwhile books.  The first is “The Denial of Death” by Ernest Becker.  The book was published in 1973 and remains a classic.  Becker was awarded the Pulitzer Prize posthumously for “The Denial of Death.”  It is an incredibly insightful book about our cultural attitudes toward death and how we work to avoid dealing with the ultimate reality!  The second book is called “How We Die” by Sherwin B. Nuland.  Nuland teaches the history of medicine at Yale.  He is a doctor and his book approaches death from a practical, medical stand point.  A word of caution: neither book is for the faint of heart.  Both should be read by anyone who thinks they might die someday.

So why am I bringing that kind of stuff up when the topic this week is supposed to be “heaven”?  Well, how on earth is it that anyone gets to heaven in the first place?  That’s right, we have to die if we are serious at all about getting to heaven.  I think it is precisely that, death, that makes us so preoccupied with heaven!  The reality that death is imminent and our unwillingness to concede our own mortality causes us to consider heaven pretty important in the grand scheme of things.  Consider this:  I recently had a man in the church tell me that he and his wife are getting old and they are both in failing health.  Therefore, he would appreciate it if I would preach more on heaven for a while.  He does appreciate my sermons, he says, but they have a lot to do with how we are supposed to live here and now.  At this stage in their life, they would like to hear more about heaven.  I think this is pretty normal, especially for older people who are in failing health.  One thing that Ernest Becker points out, though, is that once we reach a certain age we become aware that people don’t live forever.  If people don’t live forever that means I won’t live forever.  I and everyone else I know and love will die.  Today I am one day closer to that reality than I was yesterday.  I am in pretty good health and only 52 years old.  In spite of that, I am always one breath, one heartbeat away from death.  At 82 or 92 I will be even much closer to death!  All of this is simply to say that heaven is so important because death is so real.

Two weeks ago I spoke about The Rapture and The Second Coming.  For many people that has to do with escapism.  It has to do with escaping life in this world in the hope of entering something better.  Last week I spoke about Salvation.  That is a term that many equate to “after-life” and the avoidance of an eternal hell.  Like heaven, these terms imply that this life isn’t something to cling to and that we expect to get out of this life and enter into something different.  Heaven is the epitome of this type of thinking.  We know deep down that we are all terminally ill with a good case of life that won’t last forever.  We want to affirm life in spite of its obvious limits of birth and death.  Therefore, some people will spend more and more time contemplating the notion of life after death.  As Paul said, death is the last enemy we all face.    (1 COR 15.26)

This week’s sermon text is basically just about an encounter with some who have a great deal of skepticism about life after death.  In the end, Jesus says to them, “[God] isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.  You are seriously mistaken.”  (MK 12.27)  I take this to mean that their speculations about afterlife is quite different from Jesus’ own thinking.  The problem is, Jesus doesn’t really explain anything about heaven.  He just tells them they are seriously mistaken in their speculations.  I also wonder what he means in saying that God is the God of the living, not the dead.  Is God only God now, while I am alive?  Once I die, I will be dead!  (I know, Duh!!!)  Does that mean God won’t be God to me after I am no longer alive?  Jesus tells them they are wrong in their speculation.  Beyond that he doesn’t offer much help or much hope, other than possibly to say, your speculations about the afterlife are baseless, mere mistaken speculation!

In scripture, this word, heaven, most literally means the sky. Often, what we receive in English as “heaven” is literally “the heavens” in Greek and “the heavens” is the dwelling place of God.  Beyond that, “heaven” also means simply, “sky.”  (See REV 21.1)  Additionally, when Jesus preached about “The Kingdom of God” he meant the reign of God on Earth.  We have become terribly confused because Matthew, a pious Jew, wouldn’t write “The Kingdom of God” because he couldn’t write or say the name of God.  Matthew was so pious that he wouldn’t even write “G-d”.  So he wrote “The kingdom of the heavens.” (Greek)  Once we realize that quirky little feature about Matthew’s Jewish piety the number of references to heaven in the NT go way down!  Those who want to argue for keeping those references have to contend with the fact that Matthew, like the other gospel writers, is speaking about “The kingdom of the heavens” as that will be played out on the Earth, though!  (Hence the prayer:  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth…  This prayer isn’t about heaven at all.  This is a prayer for this life on this Earth!)
Heaven as the hope for after-life, or heaven as the hope for avoiding hell, has a long-term standing in Christian tradition.  But by long-term we really only mean 1,000 years.  For the first 1,000 years this wasn’t an idea that occupied a lot of time when it came to preaching and writing.  Incidentally, the early patristic theologian and preacher, Origen, subscribed to the idea of life after death pretty much in terms that we know today as reincarnation.  Reincarnation wasn’t officially declared a heresy until the time of Pope Gregory the Great in the late sixth century.  Heaven seems to be a chief preoccupation of many Christians today, though.  I think that is actually detrimental to Christian discipleship and the devotion to heaven has been bad for Christian witness.

Personally, I think that Christianity has more to do with living ethically and compassionately than it does with life after death.  But ethics and compassion don’t scare the hell out of us the way death does.  So rather than focus on living faithfully as Christians in the present many take to speculating about heaven in the future.  We end up longing for heaven as the world goes to hell around us.  The more the world goes to hell then, the greater our longing for heaven.  Were we to spend less time speculation about heaven and more time living as faithful followers of Jesus, the places we live now might begin to look more like heaven!

We can speculate ad nauseum about heaven.  The truth is, we don’t know much about it, if anything, really.  We won’t really know for sure until we are dead.  From that stand point, heaven can wait.  We spend too much time speculating about something we just have to wait to find out about.  We don’t spend enough time making this life in this world more like the heavenly life we hope for.  That is our mistake regarding the message of Jesus!

I can spend all kinds of time speculating about heaven:  Will I get to be young in heaven instead of old?  Will my moustache be gray or brown?  Will there be people there that I don’t like?  If there are people there that I just couldn’t stand in this life, am I free to leave heaven?  I couldn’t get along with them on Earth.  Surely God won’t expect me to get along with them in heaven.  I have been married twice on this Earth?  In heave will I be married to my first wife or my second wife?  Will that depend on which one dies first?

In our funeral liturgy there is a prayer that says, “… and when our days here are finished, let us go forth to live. So that in living or in dying, nothing will separate us from your love.”  Maybe that is what heaven means, trusting that nothing can separate me from God’s love, not even death.  Maybe heaven means that God is with me in death and will never forsake me.  I think that may be more important than, dare I say it, wondering if I can ride motorcycles in heaven!

At the most basic level I think that heaven is so important because we are afraid to die.  But dying is just as natural as being born!  Do you ever speculate about what things were like in the spiritual realm (wherever that was) that you existed in before you were born?  Why are you so preoccupied then with what the spiritual realm will be like after you are dead?  I think it is more important to live life every day as a gift, because it is.  Spend time living this life well, and making the place you live now more like the heaven you hope to go to and there will be no doubt that heave, wherever it is and whatever it is, will be taken care of for those whose trust is in the God of the living.

Speaking Christian: Salvation Philippians 2.12c-13

I am including the text here this week because sometimes people are thrown off by a letter citation along with a verse number.  Basically, all that means is that the quotation begins further along in the verse with the second, third, fourth clause of the verse, etc.

“… carry out your own salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³ God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes.”

In “Speaking Christian” Marcus Borg has written a book that asks us to consider what it is we mean when we use particular Christian words.  He also does a very nice and helpful job in explaining these terms in their original meaning.  Often today we ascribe a meaning to Christian terms that was never intended to accompany those terms as they were written in the Bible.  I appreciate very much Borg’s attempt to help us clarify the terms we use.  This is especially the case with the word “salvation”.  We all know it is important to Christianity.  We may have our particular understanding of the word.  We probably don’t have a good handle, though, on how it is used in scripture.

In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible “salvation” appears 127 times.  Related words such as “save” and “savior” boost the total number to about 500 occurrences.  Obviously the word is important.  But when someone asks you, “Are you saved?”, what is your first response?  If you are at all like me you may think, “Oh no, not another one of those people….” Or you may fumble around a bit for words, knowing that the answer is yes but wondering what to say if the questioner pushes you to “prove it.”

Many associate “salvation” with guilt and forgiveness and thus it has come to carry a lot of emotional baggage for some Christians.  Some people think that the word refers only to the likelihood of life after death, and in heaven, of course (whatever that is supposed to mean).  Some think in larger terms and see salvation as healing and wholeness.  Within Greek Orthodox Christianity there is some sense of salvation as therapeutic, or as a process of restoration, healing or becoming whole.  Borg contends that most people have a distorted sense of the word’s meaning.  He also notes that in one adult learning experience he was leading 80% of the group had negative associations with the word “salvation”.  This he said occurred in a group that spanned a very wide age range. Many, he said, associated the word with guilt and punishment because salvation was always coupled with sin and the fear of hell.  Salvation for many is simply the means whereby one escapes eternal suffering and damnation.  That association causes the word to actually take on negative meaning for many people!  To put the matter briefly, for many “salvation” two things:  1) Going to heaven after you are dead, 2) But only if you have been good enough to be considered worthy of Jesus’ death on the cross for your sins.  Hence, “salvation” can be a source for great anxiety for many Christians.

In the Bible, “salvation” rarely, if ever, means “after life”.  Instead, it refers to a number of other fairly particular things.

In the Hebrew scriptures, for example, “salvation” often refers to liberation from slavery or bondage.  In Exodus God “saves” Israel from bondage and slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt.  Exodus 14.30 expressly notes that Israel is “saved” by being led through the Red Sea.  This freedom is also described as the story goes on as “salvation” (liberation) from economic slavery, political slavery and religious slavery.  “Salvation” here clearly refers to liberation from oppression.

Salvation can also mean coming back home (return from exile).  Israel had lived for about 50 years in exile in Babylon.  The release from captivity and return home from exile is described as “salvation”.  In these stories, “salvation” is also the divine presence that leads the people back home.

In the Psalms (particularly) as well as other places in the Hebrew Bible, “salvation” means to be rescued from danger.  Particularly in this case, “salvation” implies protection from people who threaten, protection from ourselves when we make dumb mistakes, protection from illness, and at times protection from “the pit” or the place where the dead go.

In the Christian scriptures “salvation” takes on yet other meanings.  Chief among these is change or transformation.  For example, “salvation” specifically means moving from a perspective of spiritual blindness to “seeing” (John chapter 9).  Salvation explicitly means a transformed life in the present (rather than life after death) for Zacchaeus in Luke 19.  Zacchaeus agrees to make four-fold restitution to any he has cheated in his tax collecting business.  He moves from an unethical person to an ethical person and Jesus says to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.”  “Salvation” often refers to the move from sickness to health, from emotional trouble to emotional well-being and especially, “salvation” in the Christian scriptures refers to the movement from a life of fear to a life of trust in God.  Thus, “salvation” often refers to spiritual transformation in a person’s present life rather than the promise of life after death.

Finally, “salvation” often has political and social overtones.  In the Hebrew prophets in particular, but also with Jesus, salvation can refer to communities, nations, social groups, etc, that move injustice to justice, from warfare to peace, from disregard for the poor and the oppressed to lifting up the poor and oppressed and finally “salvation” can be used to describe the movement from discrimination to inclusiveness.  When applied to the political arena, “salvation” is typically used in the Bible to describe the from economic injustice to fairness and justice for all.  It is also used to describe the movement from violence to peace.  “Salvation” is typically accompanied by peace.

The above mentioned text points out that “salvation” is something that we are responsible for working out.  Many think in terms of salvation as forgiveness of sins and the promise of an after-life in exchange for proper belief.  Paul, though, describes “salvation” as something we work out as we seek to live our lives in the present according to the purposes which God has called us to live.