Unity

Psalm 133 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

A Song of Ascents.

How very good and pleasant it is
    when kindred live together in unity!

I was in a study this week for pastors (and other rostered leaders like me who also preach) and one of the group said: "How about verse one of Psalm 133. We could just preach on that."

Psalm 133 itself is very short. Only three verses, yet it packs enough of a punch in one verse alone that someone knew (rightly I think) that it could carry a whole sermon.

I'm not preaching this week, but I do think it is worth looking at this verse. What makes it so able to bear the weight of a whole sermon? That we don't seem able to do it? In our homes, in our churches, in our schools, in our committees?

Or is it the questions that it raises: who are our kindred? And, just what IS unity?

Is unity universal agreement? If so, then we do know that not only do we not do it, it is also unlikely we will do it even with the best intentions.

Or is unity something else?

Coincidentally, I read an interview today with an author (Scot McKnight), who has written a book called A Fellowship of Differents.  In the book, he demonstrates that church is not meant to be a place where we come every week with people who are exactly like us.

Instead, we are meant to come together and grow together and flourish together not simply despite our differences but because of them. 

Whether we disagree on the Trinity or the color of the sanctuary carpet or abortion or gay marriage or worship styles, we are still meant for unity.

Not unity of thought or belief, but unity of purpose and love.

It is when we brush up against those we disagree with - and when we serve next to them - that we grow. It is then that we see that we are kindred even when we don't agree or aren't alike. 

That unity is good and pleasant even when we aren't the same.

That love transcends every line in the sand that we can draw.

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord! Amen

Acts 2 Church

Acts 2:42-47New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

This passage often gets lifted up as an example of what we call an Acts 2 Church.

There are some who might grouse a bit about it (is that socialism? communism...all those people holding all things in common??).  

And others who think, Yes!  This is how it should be! THIS is what church is meant to be!

And finally others who just feel shame and downtrodden that here is yet another expectation they feel unable to attain.

It's easy to get lost in the details of this passage - whether positively or negatively - and miss the general sense that here was a group of people who liked being together.  

Who LOVED being together!

And because of that they were happy.

And generous.

And cared for.

And fed, both physically and spiritually.

And God just continued to grow their number.

There are all kinds of churches, and all kinds of people in churches, but whether you hold all things in common, or whether you each have your own homes in gated communities, what is your sense of each other when you come together?

In my experience, when people love being together, things happen! Awesome things happen!

LIFE happens!

And when people don't, doors shutter and life peters out.

So, what do you do when you don't love the people in your church?

Well...

Love them anyway!

God of love: remind us that love is a verb for you more than it is an emotion! Amen!

Go and tell!

Mark 16:1-8New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Read that again.

"So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

Of all the gospels, for my money, Mark has always had the most interesting structure.  It moves in and out of itself, and begins but doesn't end.

Doesn't end?

Way back at the beginning of the gospel of Mark, verse one states: "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." 

Meaning, not that the first line is the beginning, but that the entire gospel is the beginning.

So when the women run from the tomb in fear, we are to run after them with the same directions they've been given: that Jesus is going ahead of us and that we are to go and tell.

Go and tell.

Tell what?

The good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

God of good news, give me words to tell of your good news, and feet swift enough to carry it everywhere I go! Amen.

The Triduum

Holy Week comes to an end with the Paschal Triduum - the three days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and then ending on Easter Sunday.  Included is Easter Vigil, which is not observed in most of the Lutheran churches I have been a part of.

But for more on this holy time of year, here are the good people of Busted Halo with some background:  The Triduum

In addition, here's some music I always listen to this time of year.  Not perhaps for everyone.  For classical music loves there is always Bach's St. Matthew Passion or Handel's Messiah.

But sometimes I just need a little U2 to get me feeling the full emotional weight of this week:  

(Link to video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejJdfkFjKCA)

Lyrics:

Haven't seen you in quite a while
I was down the hold just passing time
Last time we met was a low-lit room
We were as close together as a bride and groom
We ate the food, we drank the wine
Everybody having a good time
Except you
You were talking about the end of the world

I took the money
I spiked your drink
You miss too much these days if you stop to think
You lead me on with those innocent eyes
You know I love the element of surprise
In the garden I was playing the tart
I kissed your lips and broke your heart
You...you were acting like it was 
The end of the world

(Love...love...)

In my dream I was drowning my sorrows
But my sorrows, they learned to swim
Surrounding me, going down on me
Spilling over the brim
Waves of regret and waves of joy
I reached out for the one I tried to destroy
You...you said you'd wait 
'til the end of the world

Writer(s): Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Dave Evans, Paul David Hewson

                                                  Copyright: Polygram Int. Music Publishing B.V.

May this Easter Season be one of blessing and promise and hope for you!

Lord of all creation, thank you for your sacrifice and for your unfathomable love for us! Amen

Easter is Coming

Psalm 70:1 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
    O Lord, make haste to help me!

What is it that makes these words from the Psalm so poignant this week?

Is it imagining the words coming out of Jesus' lips as he prays in the garden of Gethsemene that the cup might pass him? (well, at least in Matthew, Mark, and Luke!)

Or is it imagining these words coming out of our lips as we realize that the events of this week will end up showing God's powerful and inordinate love for a rebellious and stiff-necked people like us?

Is it the fact that the crucifixion has been for many of us so hard to wrap our minds around that we've spent endless words and thoughts trying to understand it rather than just falling into the prayer of living out of it?

This video captures I think the tangle and the wonder of Easter, of how death does not have the last word.

Of how deliverance comes in the most unlikely of places.

(link here: Easter is Coming)

God of mystery, death does not have the last word. Deliverance is coming.  Make ready our hearts for it! Amen.

The Foolishness of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:18 NRSV

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 


"How foolish is the cross?

I read this quote recently by a Christian writer/podcaster I admire, Mike McHargue. (AKA Science Mike).  He said this:

"The cross was not God's invention. It was ours. In all our need for an eye for an eye, I have to wonder sometimes if God listened to our cry for blood, and offered his own son - if Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was not to sate God's wrath, but to show God's response to ours."

How much is revenge a part of our system?

How much is blood and war and death a part of how we seek retribution?

It wasn't different in the first century, when human beings made the cross an instrument of horrific death.

And the foolishness is that God turned that very item of horrific death into a means of salvation and hope and even new life.

It does sound foolish when you try to explain it rationally to someone who doesn't believe.

And yet it is the thing I - we - cling to for hope and a promise that is bigger than ourselves and even our world.

We said "Here is our instrument of death."

God said, "OK. Fine. But wait til you see what happens next!"

Lord, we wait for what happens next. But in the meantime, help us to walk alongside Jesus this week in hope and humility. Amen.

Fear and Trembling

Philippians 2:12-13  - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

A final thought as we enter Holy Week about Philippians Chapter 2. 

These two verses may seem perplexing.  I mean, I'm guessing you probably get the fear and trembling part!

But the working out your own salvation part?

Perhaps a clue about what this means is that following it is the line "for it is God who is at work in you."

So working out your own salvation means, I believe, living out with honesty, humility, and integrity the salvation that has already been given to you through Christ.  God saves.  We don't save ourselves.

And who doesn't get a bit quivery at the thought of such a momentous gift?

I remember the first time I was given a large amount of cash as a gift from someone in my family.  I didn't earn it. Didn't deserve it. 

And I felt nervous and unsure about what to do with it!  There was fear and trembling a plenty as I tried to work out the best way to put such a gift to use. Did I buy myself something I always wanted? Did I save it? Did I give some of it to charity?

That often is how I feel with the gift of life I've been given. Am I using this gift with humility? With honesty? With integrity?

Am I taking this completely unearned gift - a life I never asked for, but was given freely - and make the most out of it that I can?

This segment of chapter 2 of Philippians comes after the passages we have already read: where we see how Christ as servant king willingly emptied himself and with humility became obedient even unto death.  

As Holy Week begins, we move from Jesus on the humble donkey riding into Jerusalem to Christ resurrected, redeeming the cosmos.  

And that is worthy of some fear and trembling!

Lord of the cosmos, help me to live into this gift of life you have given me with fear and trembling and integrity!  Amen