Where is God?

Photo source: http://www.wiseblooding.com

I have a guilty pleasure. A few weeks ago I started watching the television show Preacher on Hulu. I made it through two seasons and am waiting on the third to come to Hulu soon. The show is taken from the comic book of the same name. Currently the show is following Jess (Preacher) and company as they search for God who has left heaven and is hiding out on earth.

I have to admit lately I can kind of identify with the plot of Preacher and I’m probably not alone. I think a lot of us are looking around at our world and are maybe wondering the same thing, “Where is a God?”. There’s just so much evil in our world right now that it seems to be everywhere. Tune in or log on and there it is. Some of it isn’t new but much of it is. White supremacy, mass shootings, children in cages, corruption in politics. Okay, so that last one isn’t new but we seem to be so okay with it these days that it happens in plain day and we’re unfazed.

I think the frustration is we feel like God has just given up on us. It constantly feels like the bad guys are winning and keep on winning. It just seems like everyone is existing in their own little sphere and don’t care about anyone outside of it. We’ve lost all sympathy for anyone else and only care about ourselves.

Sorry if this feels totally negative. I guess I’m just venting some of my own frustrations with what I see in our world and how it makes me feel. It probably doesn’t help that I’m dealing with some personal stuff right now and there’s a lot of bickering in the church circles I’m a part of.

Unlike Preacher I’m well aware God hasn’t gone anywhere. James 1:17 actually tells us that God “does not change like shifting shadows”. In truth, if we feel like God is far away it’s because we have shifted, not God. I hearken back to Peter when he was walking to Jesus on the waves. Peter took his eyes off Jesus, became aware of the storm around him, and began to sink.

I think the takeaway is this: we need to keep our eyes on Jesus in the midst of this storm of a world we find ourselves in. It’s ugly. It’s brutal. It’s scary. But God is still God and God is still there. So please join me in keeping our eyes on Jesus and doing our best to being God’s Kingdom here to earth by loving others.

What Now?

As many of you know by now I’m a United Methodist pastor. I’m actually a Licensed Local Pastor which means my connection is a little different than ordained clergy (elders) but for the most part, it is the same responsibility. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you probably know what is going on in our denomination right now. A big meeting was held to try and determine our church’s stance on the issue of ordaining LGBTQ clergy and allowing current clergy to perform same-sex weddings. If you’re here to find out what my stance is, you’re going to be disappointed. For the most part, I’m trying to keep my overall opinion off of social media, but I’d be happy to indulge in a personal discussion.

The reason I write though is this has been weighing very heavily on me. It’s weighing heavily because I have friends who are hurt and affected by all of this. Not just the decision that came down, but all of the stuff that happened before, during and after this conference. This got ugly. I actually saw posts in both a United Methodist clergy group and a Worship Leaders’ group I’m involved in on Facebook, that were so very unbecoming of people who are supposed to be following Jesus. To make matters worse, these are people who are called to ministry as pastors and leaders. The hatred, vitriol, namecalling, finger pointing, foul language and other behaviors that I saw were uncalled for, unnecessary, unChristlike and unworthy of the calling we have.

The question we must ask ourselves is, “Where do we go from here?”. I’ve heard a lot of talk about people doing their own thing or bailing on the denomination altogether. I’ve heard others say they’ll stay and fight for what they believe in. The talk around my own church is to recognize that people are hurting and to understand that the bigger picture is nothing has really changed for us and that we must continue to be the Church. It’s actually pretty good advice.

The question that comes out of all of this is, when did anyone get an inside track on the truth? People who are biblical literalists still ignore some things. People on the other side do the same thing. Everyone agrees that there are things in the Bible that are culturally relevant to that specific time period and not today. The question comes, where do we draw that line? Over history, we’ve seen many churches and denominations change their stance on certain societal issues. We’ve also seen some stick to their beliefs and choose not to change. So who is right or wrong?

What we have to ask is does it matter? Does it matter who is right and who is wrong? Is someone right and someone wrong and can we really know? When Jesus was pressed about what the greatest of the 10 Commandments was (remember, it was a trap) he answered: ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40

What we have to ask ourselves is this, is it important to be right? Should we be worried about being wrong? Or should we just do what Jesus said and love God and love our neighbors? I think this is where we are ALL messing up on this. We’re not treating the people we disagree with as Jesus would have us treat them. Jesus admonishes us in Matthew 5:43-48 to love our enemies because it’s easy to love people who are just like us. That means people who look like us, dress like us, talk like us, think like us, believe like us, love like us. See where I’m going with this?

In the midst of all of this, not just this issue in the United Methodist Church but even in American politics, we’ve forgotten to love our enemies. Can you imagine how all of this would be different if we allowed this to happen? If we actually, and I mean actually, engaged in dialogue, not to make sure our point is heard, but to hear the point of the other? To actually work, and I do mean work, towards peace and understanding?

I’m not sure where we’ll go from here. A lot of damage has been done. People have been hurt and continue to be hurt by post-conference rhetoric. I’m not sure what’s going to happen but I do know one thing: God is still God. God can and will work in the midst of this. My prayer today is that the church can continue its mission to make disciples, to love all people (even our enemies) the way Jesus did and does, and that we would listen to God’s Spirit, wherever it may lead…even if it’s across the aisle.

Worthless

I struggle with self worth. Apparently it’s a HUGE issue for me. I’m not sure why. I don’t know where it came from or what may have caused it, but I put a lot of weight into what other people think of me. I also require constant validation. So when things are not good with someone, when a person is upset with me, short with me or when I know I’ve let them down and disappointed them, it eats away at me. All I want to do is make it right, to fix it, so that all is right again in my world.

The unfortunate thing is that this creates a great deal of stress for me. It causes me to be a people pleaser. Sometimes it evens causes me to sacrifice more than I should, just to make or keep someone happy with me. The thing is, it doesn’t matter. I mean, it does to a certain extent, I should try to be a decent person, treat others fairly and such. The problem is, I’m human and so are they. We’re always going to disappoint people and guess what, people are always going to disappoint us. That’s how life works when human, fallible, messed up people are in relationship.

Lately I’ve become aware that this self worth issue has affected my relationship with God. That I’ve ascribed the same limitations on God that I have on my human relationships. Believing that I have to earn God’s approval or that if things in my life are not going according to plan that I’ve somehow let God down and he’s punishing me or absent. This is pretty crappy theology. God doesn’t change, God doesn’t ebb and flow like the tide. He doesn’t have up and down days like we do. He doesn’t get stressed out and take it out on the people around Him. God doesn’t punish us when we mess up.

I think a lot of this has to do with my conservative upbringing. I remember times when the pastor would talk about God punishing us or bad things happening for a reason. I grew up knowing a very jealous, angry and vengeful God. A God just waiting for you to screw up so He could let you have it. Just waiting with his giant leather belt in the sky to lay one across your backside.

What I’ve come to realize is that this doesn’t reconcile with the God who loves so much that He gives us second chance after second chance. A God who realized the original plans of salvation weren’t working so He rewrote the book and created a new way…yet again. A God who came to earth and walked among us in the form of Jesus, who spent time with the least of us, treating them with compassion and love. The author of Psalm 139:14 even goes so far as to say that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”.

God loves me…unconditionally. There is nothing in my present or my past that makes me unworthy of his love. God never changes, it’s just my self perception and ascribing human characteristics to God that creates this.

If you’re reading his please know that you are enough. Please know that you are loved just the way you are. But…because God loves us so much He doesn’t want to leave us the way He finds us. He wants so much more for us. More than we could even want for ourselves.

Woulda’, Shoulda’, Coulda’

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or you’re Ashton Kutcher, you’ve heard about the recent scandal at Penn State University. It was a topic of interest all over the media and social networks with nearly everyone weighing in. There were various opinions about what happened, what should’ve happened, what was going to happen. However, at the heart of the scandal is the very reason our society finds itself in the shape it is in: people seem to only do what they have to do.

If you’ve ever watched television or listened to the radio, you’ve seen or heard the car insurance commercials for Safe Auto. The idea behind the commercial is that in order to save money you can take out the absolute minimum amount of insurance coverage on your car that is allowed by law. This pretty much sums it up. We’ve become a selfish and lazy society only doing what we must do in order to make it through life.

It is most unfortunate that this sort of thinking has infiltrated Christian culture as well.

Matthew 5:40-42 says: “And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

This attitude of self-sacrifice no longer exists in the church. Instead of doing what’s right or what God would have us to do, we do that which will take us the least amount of effort on our part. This is why we see few churches doing much outside of their church walls. The attitude of service has been replaced with that of self-perservation. We now maintain the status quo instead of pushing the limits. This is why many churches find themselves in decline.

I recently had an experience in such a church. I won’t go into detail here, but it’s a church in self-preservation mode. They don’t care much for anyone outside of themselves. They do what is best for those inside the church walls instead of those on the outside. It was a difficult place to fit in and feel welcome unless you were on the inside. As the church continues to decline they continue to refuse to change.

It’s time for all of us as individuals and churches to stop doing what’s necessary or required and start doing what’s right. If we want to learn anything about “going the extra mile” all we have to do is look to the example of Jesus, His extra mile led him straight to a cross.

Go

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in ministry is how vital it is to network within the community you’re in. I’m not just talking about with other churches or Christian leaders, I mean within the actual community at large. In his book “They Love Jesus but Not the Church” Brian McLaren talks about how he came to the realization a few years ago that he spent almost 100% of his time with Christians. He goes on to talk about how upon that realization he began to intentionally spend time working in coffee shops and out in the community getting to know the people he frequently came in contact with.

The problem is many churches require that their staff spend most of their time in the church building. It’s almost as if they’re saying they don’t trust their staff to get work done outside of the office (with the only exceptions being hospital calls and denominational meetings). In all actuality, what they are saying is that they want their needs met and that their staff is there only for them, not the community. This is very selfish thinking and contrary to everything Jesus taught us about ministry.

Can you imagine if Jesus would have set up shop and expected people to come to Him? I realize how ridiculous this sounds because that’s not how Jesus operated. He went to where the people were. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, actually stood outside the mines and preached in order to reach the people who worked there.

The problem is that the church has lost sight of The Great Commission. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus tells the disciples to: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” The key word here is “Go” and this is where the church is missing the mark.

We’ll go into other countries, but very rarely do we go into our own communities. We set up shop and expect the people to come to us. I liken the image the church has in many communities as that creepy house that all the kids are afraid to go near. Too often the problem is when the community does get brave enough to venture in, they’re treated like outsiders and don’t really feel like they belong.  They also find inside outdated worship styles and programs that lost cultural relevancy sometime back in 1980.

I think the key to know how we’re doing in reaching out to the community is to think about what would happen if our church were to cease to exist. Would it be missed by anyone outside of the church itself and the local Christian community? Would the local schools, business owners, church neighbors or anyone else who was not a member of the church miss it? If the answer is no, then maybe it’s time to reevaluate where our churches spend their time. Maybe it’s time to buy our pastor and staff a laptop and cell phone giving them permission to be outside the office and out in the community. After all with most of our congregations working during the day, what’s the point of sitting around the office?

To a student’s question about whether the heathen who have not heard the Gospel can be saved, Charles Spurgeon is said to have answered “It is more a question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved.”

Witness

On Monday I had to go to the local magistrates office to deal with a personal issue. It wasn’t something I was particularly looking forward to, but nevertheless needed to be done as I continue on with my self-improvement project.  Luckily in my life I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid having to spend much time in court so the prospect of having to go scared me to death.

The days leading up to my hearing I was a nervous wreck. I rehearsed over and over in my head what I would say. My mind immediately began to create unrealistic scenarios with which I was prepared to react too. In hindsight it was all pretty foolish, but alas this is what our minds do to us.

The day of the hearing came and needless to say I didn’t sleep at all that night. I tossed and turned, waking up pretty groggy and feeling absolutely horrible. I woke up early and continued to prepare myself trying to say little prayers all morning long while rehearsing things over and over again in my mind.

As I got in the car to head to the magistrate I said a final prayer and as I did began imagining myself standing before the judge. I imagined myself standing there all alone praying that God would stand with me. Then I started to wonder if this is how it will feel approaching judgment day. If I was this frightened and scared to stand before another man, how would I feel preparing to stand before God Almighty?

Then in hit me…on judgment day I won’t stand alone. There beside me will be Jesus, testifying on my behalf. As I relive the mistakes I’ve made on this earth, Jesus will be there telling God that although I was guilty, that I’m now innocent because of my faith in Him. That the price for my freedom was already paid by Jesus on the cross.

1 John 5:11-12 says “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Although I hope that I never have to go back into a court room here on earth, I do know that one day I will have to stand in judgment in the highest court there is…but I won’t stand alone!

Rapture

So apparently the world is coming to an end on Saturday. In case you haven’t heard Christian radio host, Harold Camping, has predicted that the rapture will take place on May 21st, 2011 at 6 PM local time. You can click here for the Wikipedia entry about the prediction, but to sum it up Camping believes violent earthquakes will coincide with the rapture of believers at 6 PM in each time zone around the world. Then after the earthquakes there will be a five month period until God completely destroys the earth on October 21, 2011. Camping and his small band of believers have been traveling the country spreading this message on billboards and in RVs.

The issue for me in all of this is how everyone tries to predict the end of the world. This isn’t the first time we’ve been told that the world is coming to an end. It’s happened over and over again with each date passing and the false prophet fading into obscurity while their followers go back to their day jobs.

The Bible tells us in Matthew 24:36, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Reading this passage begs the question, if the angels and Jesus don’t even know when the world is going to end how in the world does Harold Camping?

The point in all of this is that doomsday predictions like this one are only meant to scare the hell out of people…literally. They are meant to scare people into believing in Jesus so as not to be “left behind”. The problem is I believe they do much more harm than good by making Christians out to be a bunch of crazy zealots and cause even more people to not believe.

The truth is we won’t know the day and the hour that Christ returns. I mean if I was God I wouldn’t tell everyone just because you know there would be people who would wait until the eleventh hour to believe (and you wouldn’t even want to know what they’d be doing at hour ten!)

Instead we must always keep watch like Jesus describes in the parable he tells in Mark 13:35-36:  “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.”

Always keeping watch means that we must live each day as if it were our last, making the most of every moment we’re given. Living this way means we’ll never look back at wasted time or missed opportunities. We’ll have fewer regrets and feel like we’ve accomplished much more with our lives.

“If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.” – Mercedes Lackey.

Flaws

I was driving in the car alone today and I soon found myself thinking about my new family. I will be the first to admit we’re an odd bunch, we really are. We each have our own personalities and quirks. We have our own strengths and weaknesses. We’re definitely a flawed bunch, but we fit together well. We laugh…a lot. We cry sometimes too. We’ll argue one minute and hug the next.

What makes this all so amazing is that we’ve all come through life with  a variety of experiences. Some good, some bad. Each of these experiences has shaped who we are as individuals and brought us to where we now find ourselves. Yet, regardless of where we all came from and have gone through, we all agree that we’re now a family.

The thing that amazes me the most in all of this is how such a flawed bunch can fit together so well. What I mean by flaws are imperfections, things that others have used to judge us by (and trust me we’ve all been judged a great deal). It’s almost as if each of us were designed to overcome the flaws in the other.

All of this reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4:7 that says “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Much like my new family helps overcome the flaws in each other, God puts His “treasure” in us so that his power can overcome the flaws in us. Many of the people that God chose to use in the Bible and throughout history have been flawed individuals. This is by design. God knows that when ordinary people do extraordinary things people will begin to wonder how it happened. When this takes place then people on the outside will begin to look for where their help comes from and see that God was there.

God also knows that when ordinary people do extraordinary things, others who consider themselves to be ordinary will begin to see that they too can accomplish great things with His help. This offers hope to those who feel like they can never overcome the obstacles before them. Those people who would give up trying and just give in to the world around them.

The truth is we can accomplish whatever we put our minds to if we allow God to help lead and guide us. When we do this the obstacles become opportunities and the roadblocks become challenges. They don’t have to big things either. It could be something as simple as overcoming your current situation and turning your life around.

Jesus says in Matthew 17:20 “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Got faith? If you think it’s not enough, apparently you’ve never seen a mustard seed!

Jesus

I remember a few years ago when there was a huge controversy in the media over the book, and subsequent movie, “The DaVinci Code”. In the book author Dan Brown claimed that Jesus was actually married and had a child. Now numerous works of fiction have been written with biblical themes that were somewhat controversial. The problem with Brown’s work was that he made it seem as if everything in his book was entirely true simply because a few things in the book were fact (such as organizations that existed, etc.).

When the controversy was taking place I was working at a church outside of Philly and teaching a Sunday school class. During one class I brought up the book and one of the students said that she believed that Jesus was married. We talked about this for a little bit and then I remembered something that one of my college professors at CTS in Indianapolis had once said when we were discussing a recent archeological find.She said that every time she hears of a new discovery that is supposed to shake her faith she asks herself “How does this (discovery) change who Jesus was or what he did?” (Let me just point out that most every “new” archeological discovery that is supposed to upset the Christian faith always seems to either be debunked or not quite the big deal it’s made out to be.)

I write all of this because I was thinking about my most recent posts talking about perfection. Many in the church believe that Jesus was perfect, and I tend to agree. But the question we must ask is what is perfection? There were times when Jesus acted in a way that would not go over well in church. His reaction to the money changers in the temple or his initial reaction to the Greek woman whose daughter was possessed. The fact of the matter was Jesus sometimes lost his temper and was pretty confrontational with people at times. This is not saying they didn’t deserve it, but this is not the picture of a quiet, timid Jesus that the church often paints.

So back to that question my professor asked. Who was Jesus and what did he do? In talking about our attitude towards others Philippians 2:5-11 tells us that: “…Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

I believe that Jesus came to earth in human form. I believe he experienced what it means to be human both physically and emotionally. While I do believe he was without sin, I also believe there were times he lost his temper or maybe replied in a way that Christians might frown on. But I also believe that Jesus was “one of the guys” while hanging with the disciples. I can see them sitting around a fire telling jokes and Jesus laughing along. Or maybe teasing each other a little and playing pranks. I even see a burping contest or two taking place. I don’t see a quiet, timid little Jesus. I see a Jesus who was all-powerful but yet very human, all-knowing but yet approachable.

The picture of Jesus from Philippians, the one who denied himself in order to come and die for me, gives me something to aspire to but also makes me realize how far I have to go to get there. But my picture of Jesus, the one who I see as human makes his “sandals” a little easier to fill and gives me hope that one day I just might get there.