Reunion

 

Reunion

 

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

Joseph forgives his brothers 

 

45:3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

 

45:4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come closer to me." And they came closer. He said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

 

45:5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

 

45:6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

 

45:7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors.

 

45:8 So it was not you who sent me here but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

 

45:9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me; do not delay.

 

45:10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

 

45:11 I will provide for you there, since there are five more years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have will not come to poverty.'

 

45:15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that his brothers talked with him.

 

This is NOT a reunion Joseph’s brothers were either expecting nor desiring. As we know from the story, their jealousy of Joseph and his special treatment by their father led to their selling him into slavery in Egypt, and faking his death to lie to their father, Jacob. Now, here they were, hoping to garner some food from the stores of Egypt because of famine in their land, and who do they meet, but their old “bro.” I’m guessing that once they recognized who this was, they were ready for the stockades themselves. In the vernacular, “We’re screwed!”

 

That Jacob, the father, had played favorites never helped the situation, back in the day. Jacob—one not known as having much discretion—had pulled the wool over so many peoples’ eyes in his life that it took an actual “wrestling match” with God to get serious. Unfortunately, when it came to child-rearing, he hadn’t learned much. Joseph was a gifted lad, indeed, but to shower him with gifts and praise in front of his siblings certainly helped percolate the eventual bad deed, on their part. The “coat of many colors” of the story’s fame, is more symbolic, than anything else. It’s a convenient story element or “shortcut” communicating dad’s favoritism, AND standing for how public Jacob was with it. Every loving parent has played the “favorite” card as a technique in parenting as a means of encouraging a child, but never overtly, and certainly never in front of any siblings, as this would be both stupid and cruel. Telling a child privately that there is something about them that you particularly are proud of can be quite uplifting, especially to a child who may be waning in self-confidence. Using the old “Why can’t you be more like your brother (or sister)?” is moving in the wrong direction, though. Jacob goes way beyond that. Sure, as a “man of God,” Jacob may have detected that Joseph had the “Prophet’s gift” on him, especially in the way he could interpret dreams and such, but rubbing Joseph’s brothers’ noses in it set the stage for Joseph’s exile to Egypt. Jacob, by the way, was one of those “Godly scoundrels” in the Bible, like David. While I like that God demonstrates time and time again that God can use anybody to advance the cause of the Divine Commonwealth, I do sort of question why so many of the “heroes” of the Bible have such a checkered past. We should remember that this history was largely written by men, and for whatever reason, many members of my gender LIKE the “scoundrels” and get excited when they “do good.” Note that even the Bible history is soft on the repercussions of their sin, to some degree. David sends Uriah the Hittite to his death on the battlefield so he can claim Bathsheba, and we don’t really hear much about how much pain that must have caused Uriah’s family, or even how it affected Bathsheba, because the story is all about David. 

 

Joseph was no paragon of humility, either. He parades his “coat of many colors” around his brothers, which includes bragging about the self-aggrandizing dreams he is having. In this, Joseph sounds much like the proverbial “chip off the old block,” as humility was never one of Jacob’s traits, either. (After all, he WRESTLES WITH GOD and complains that God CHEATED!) 

 

All good biblical stories are about redemption, aren’t they? I’m not one that gets excited about stories centering on judgment or retribution, as these don’t build community, though certain acts of law and enforcement may be necessary to maintain it. Some people like the apocalyptic stories we find smattered throughout the scriptures, but usually for the wrong reasons. Their original intent was to offer a persecuted, down-trodden peoples hope that God IS in charge, ultimately. Modern “fans” of it, though, often find fascination in the “fulfilment of prophecy” or see “justice” in the Second Coming, believing that Jesus will return to judge and “get even” with bad actors. I am not convinced that this is at all what is going to happen, as we believe in a forgiving, redeeming God, not one that “exists” to slam those whose path has taken them away from the divine will. Thankfully, the Joseph story in this text is truly one of forgiveness and redemption!

 

The brothers experience these values when they find themselves before the brother they sold into slavery over their jealousy. Joseph offers them redemption as a kind of “Christ” figure, acting out what Jesus would someday exclaim from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Joseph’s version was, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good,” meaning that Joseph’s ultimate “salvation” of Egypt, using his prophetic gift during the time of drought, also led to his reunion with his brothers, where he saved them and his father, too. 

 

I referred to Joseph as a “Christ figure,” meaning that he is the key redemptive element in this story. However, Joseph finds his own redemption here, too. Think of it—he could have decided to lock up his brothers and punish them for what they did to him, when they presented themselves unexpectedly before him in Egypt. The same people who get off on the “Second Coming” stuff might have liked it, had Joseph used his power and position to get even. But Joseph takes the high ground, forgiving his brothers, rejoicing in his reunion with them, offering the “What you meant for evil…” theological lesson, and literally saving them from starvation. Joseph chooses the better way. And while he does take a bit of a brief ego trip—referring to himself as the “Lord of Egypt”—he survives as a humble servant of the Most High God, and a loving sibling to his brothers.

 

The story may also serve as our own “reunion” with the values Jesus taught us, namely the aforementioned forgiveness and redemption. We are called to the “ministry of reconciliation,” in the words of the Apostle Paul, not as “enforcers” of God’s anger over the stumbling of our neighbors. Remember the parable Jesus told about the guy who owes his master a huge sum of money? During a jubilee year, the master forgives the man the great debt. However, rather than paying it forward, the forgiven man goes out and finds a poor schlepp who owes him a few dollars and DEMANDS that he repay it immediately, under the threat of being thrown into debtor’s prison. When the master hears of this, he has the man brought before him again, and he revokes his own pardon of him, telling his servants to “throw him into the outer darkness.” We have been warned about carrying grudges and relishing in retribution. 

 

We are also reminded yet again that God forgives and redeems us in Jesus Christ, and we must now choose how to pay it forward in our own lives. The story of Joseph and his brothers is yet another reminder of just who God is, and how the genuine people of God are to respond to our own redemption. Our final “reunion” is with our own conscience. May we, like Joseph, choose the better way to behave! Amen.

The God Bless Its

The God Bless-Its

 

Luke 6:17-26

Blessings on the poor, woes on the rich 

6:17 He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

6:18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.

6:19 And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

6:20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

6:21 "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

6:22 "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.

6:23 Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

6:24 "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

6:25 "Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. "Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

6:26 "Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets."

Today’s text is the Lukan version of what are classically called the “Beatitudes” teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Note that the crowd came for healings and supernatural deliverance from demons, seeking “the power that came out from him.” They got some of that, for sure, but they also got an earful. Jesus mixed morals with pleasure, something that has never been popular with “the crowd.” We like our pleasure sans morality, generally, as somewhere along the way, we’ve adopted the idea that pleasure must be edgy, lustful, even “evil,” if it is to be any fun. I suppose this is really nothing new, as otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have felt the need to offer his corrective words over two thousand years ago. His assessment of what was good and right runs smack into the face of temporal, carnal, self-indulgent pleasure.

I had a guy in my first church, many years ago, who used to challenge me on something. He was a really good guy whom I quite liked, but he had a hangup over “deathbed” or “jail cell” conversions. He would say, “You mean to tell me that these people can enjoy carousing around, drinking to excess, chasing women (remember, this was a guy born in the 30s and it was 1985), and mocking God, then make a commitment to Christ at the last minute and go to heaven? That doesn’t sound RIGHT to me.” I would answer back, “Listen to yourself! You make it sound like those things are the only ‘fun’ things in life, and that somehow you don’t enjoy life because you don’t DO those things! You are a good, God-fearing man who loves his wife and family, had a great career, loves hitting the links, and are a dynamite Sunday School teacher.” I reminded him of the parable of the Prodigal Son, and how the elder son was angry with “the father” because he forgave the carousing, wasteful, younger son. He pretty much repented right in front of me. However, his “sin” here is more the norm than it is the exception. Don’t many of us think life might be more exciting if we could get away with a few things? I guess it’s just the “human nature” in us, or what theologians have classically called the “original sin” in us? Rather than beat us up with it, Jesus just tried to reframe our understanding of our setting in life, and how we honor God and others by behaving admirably in it.

I like to call these first statements the “God-Bless Its.” Maybe it goes back to my childhood, nightly prayer time, when I’d say the “Now I lay me down to sleep…” part and then finish with a bunch of “God bless” so-and-so, and just add names to the list. Late TV preacher Robert Schuller, of “Crystal Cathedral” fame, wrote a book about the Beatitudes in which he dubbed them the “Be-Attitudes.” He was panned for it by “serious” theologians and critics, but honestly, I kind of liked his idea. Its central theme was that these were not just “rules” for living, but a way of “being.” Paul Tillich wasn’t around by then, but I’ll bet he might have liked Schuller’s idea. And I like the way Jesus stated them: “Blessed are…”. It’s almost like, “You can do what you want, but if you do THIS, you will be blessed by God.” It doesn’t condemn, just offers a kind of loving “reward” for doing the right thing. Another story from many years ago…I had a friend who had a bit of a lead foot while driving, and yet he was a very committed Christian man. One day, as he was really romping on it because he was late for something, he told the story of how he said a little prayer for “protection” as he was speeding. He said that he heard a little voice in his head that told him, “Hey, I have sent a guardian angel to watch over you and protect you…but he’s back there doing the speed limit, so…” My friend said the experience slowed him down, permanently. I think about his story when I’m punching the MINI Cooper a little hard, but I confess it doesn’t always get me to let up, as it should!

So, back to what Jesus says in these “God Bless Its.” Let’s look at them:

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Is Jesus trying to make poverty a virtue? Or is he just saying that there are poor people in the world, and that God’s blessing and “welcome” into the Beloved Community is always extended to them? I think the latter. And maybe even stronger, Jesus may have signaled that if God has a bias for any group, it is probably the poor and the oppressed, for their lot in life may not totally be a moral choice—or any choice, for that matter—of their own. 

"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” This is both a promise from God AND a moral statement about patience. The listener might be tempted to steal food, or engage in some kind of contraband to fill one’s stomach, but patience and the willingness to suffer for a season may be a pathway to God’s provision.

"Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” It would be many centuries before psychologists like Elizabeth Kubler-Ross would teach us about the healthy stages of grief. Jesus knew then that working through our pain would lead to healing in the soul, and even possibly being able to laugh about times past that brought us so much anxiety.

"Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.” Jesus well understood this truth, as he was experiencing this brand of revulsion and exclusion from the religious leaders of his day, eventually leading to his fatal victimization on the cross. As he shared knowledge of what was to be with God, he knew his disciples would also be persecuted unto death, as would countless saints down through the ages, for so had they persecuted the other prophets God sent to warn and guide God’s people. For them, Heaven would be a place absent these life-stealing treatments, and a place of honor for their discipleship and dedication in this life. “Rewards in heaven” were typical carrots on a stick in Mid-Eastern philosophy and theology. If we were to bring this into our modern age, we might say that our “reward” was eventually seeing the truth win out over serial lies, false promises, and manipulating rhetoric. We can certainly use a dose of this now, can’t we?

Luke’s version of the “God-Bless-Its” includes a list of countering, intriguing “woes”: 

"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.”  Jesus would say something similar about those who bragged in public about their good works, saying they “have their reward,” as opposed to those who carried out their benevolence toward others in secret, who would receive their reward directly from God. In this case, as a counterpoint to the “God-Bless-It” addressing the poor, the rich have “negotiated” their own reward, begging the question if by being rich and hoarding their wealth, they have cut themselves off from God’s greater blessings that far exceed a big bank account or a large investment portfolio. 

Jesus has other “woes” addressing those who are full or those who laugh, especially in the presence of many of their sisters and brothers who are suffering, and his allusion is that they may be hoarding these “resources,” also. The final “woe” in this passage is the one that should add caution to any of us who profess to speak for God:

"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." The danger of the preacher or teacher is that we may fall prey to the temptation to speak in such a way that our audience’s ears are “tickled” by what we say, rather than encouraged, challenged, or moved by it to continue the transformation the Spirit of God wants us to experience by our faith in Christ. If we just say what people “enjoy” or are entertained by, we risk entering the domain of the “false prophets” who preceded Jesus. Personally, I love to preach and teach, as these have been two of my best gifts in ministry. I can honestly say I have worked hard to NEVER be guilty of “false propheting,” studying long hours in my two seminary degrees to facilitate well-resourced biblical interpretation as the “raw material” for sermons and Bible studies, praying unceasingly for guidance in being able to accurately and aggressively communicate God’s truth to the people I have served, and asking God for the courage to speak the “hard word” to folk when led by the Holy Spirit—or mandated by the scriptures—to do so. On the other hand, I’ve never forgotten what the president of our seminary, Dr. Carnegie Samuel Calian, told us in our Intro. to Ministry class: “There’s a fine line between being prophetic and being a jerk.” I know I’ve crossed that line more than a few times, but in purposing NOT to, I quickly retreated, in most cases, and this often required an apology to the one, or to the many. “Speaking for God” from the pulpit or the classroom lectern has been a stressful enterprise for me. In 36 years of ministry, I couldn’t even eat breakfast on Sunday mornings, as my stomach churned constantly until the preaching was completed for the day. I GET what Jesus meant by this “woe,” as, for a “natural” communicator/public speaker like me, it would have been so easy to perfect a delivery and message that would have cultivated popular appeal and garnered accolades from the “audience.” Responsible preaching is never “fun,” even when it contains “easier” or welcome content. A solid message about love and grace may bless the soul, but it also challenges its listeners to be accountable to the source of these virtues and to apply them equally to all of God’s children and not just to the ones who are “easy to love.” The same wonderful Christian man I mentioned earlier who struggled with the efficacy of “deathbed” conversions used to say to people who showed appreciation for his kindnesses, “It’s easy to be nice to nice people.” While he always meant it as an affirming compliment, it could also serve as a reminder that being nice to NOT so nice people was also a Christian virtue, and once that wasn’t so easy.

One final word on this passage of scripture beyond the “God-Bless-its”: It may be a good thing to regularly ask yourself why you are coming to Jesus. The crowd came wanting to benefit from the “power that came from out of him,” while Jesus had a different agenda in mind when they gathered. So it may be with us and with the church, if we are not careful. And in our service, it may prompt us to offer a WORD of witness and grace, even when folk come for our benevolence outreach. The message of God’s “Bless-Its” is ever important. Amen. 

We're Just Leaving

We’re Just Leaving

 

Luke 5:1-11

Jesus calls the disciples to fish for people 

5:1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God,

5:2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

5:3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

5:4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."

5:5 Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."

5:6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst.

5:7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

5:9 For he and all who were with him were astounded at the catch of fish that they had taken,

5:10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."

5:11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

 

This is a wonderful Bible story, and one that has a humorous reprise. In this telling, Peter, James and John are the fishermen Jesus calls to be his disciples. At first, they are plying their trade, and aren’t catching anything. Jesus gets himself invited into Peter’s boat, and has him row it near enough the shore that the gathering crowd could hear his teaching. When he finishes the lesson, he tells Peter to row out to the deeper water and let down his nets. Peter is skeptical, in that he and his buds have been fishing all night, fruitlessly. But he does what Jesus says, gets such a haul of fish he is concerned the nets will burst. They get so many fish into the boats that they begin to swamp. The “miracle of fish” causes Peter to bare his soul before Jesus, but Jesus doesn’t condemn him, instead issuing him a calling to join him in “catching people.” Later, after the chaos surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the fishermen disciples decide to go back to what they knew best, so they put out in their boats, once again. Of course, they caught nothing, until “some guy” on the beach starts yelling at them to “throw your nets on the other side of the boat,” which surely sounded like some dumb “bass master” who had no idea. Still, having experienced one miracle of the sea, they did what the stranger suggested. Again, the nets were blooming with fish. John—“the disciple whom Jesus loved”—brilliantly observed, “It is the Lord.” This “call story” of the fishermen/disciples ends with the phrase, “…they left everything and followed [Jesus],” which may be a fairytale ending like, “And they all lived happily ever after.” Have YOU ever tried leaving “everything” to do anything?

 

Years ago, I knew two young pastors who were serving an unusual new church called Hot Metal Bridge in Pittsburgh. Their sermons were dramas based on scripture which they wrote and acted out. Quite clever, actually, and extremely well done, given that they both were drama majors in college. One of my favorites they “acted out” at one of our Annual Conference sessions in Grove City, and it was based on this “fishers of men” call story. In their skit, they play fishermen—the brothers Peter and Andrew, as I recall—and their struggle with “leaving everything” to follow Jesus. While they were moved by Jesus, his words, and his “fishing miracles,” but in the skit, they debated what it would mean to “leave everything,” and both of them held tightly on to a fishing net, as they weighed with words how hard it would be to leave their tried and true profession to join an unusual “spirit man” who promised they would be “catching people,” whatever that meant. In the pastors’ skit, after a long dialogue about this challenging dilemma, they finally drop the net onto the floor and leave the stage in silence. What an impressive image. Made me think about the “nets” I dropped to head off to seminary. In my own telling, I report that my wife and I—two small-town people who loved the small town—left our cozy little home in Rock Grove for a third-floor apartment in East Liberty, with our two small children, ages 2 and four-weeks, to learn how to “fish for people.” Not only was it not easy to do, but I confess to thinking, from time to time, about that little wood house in a town where you never even had to lock your doors, and wonder what life would have been like there. Maybe this is why I chuckle at the fishermen/disciples who, in the confusing aftermath of Jesus’ death and resurrection, go fishing again. The temptation is always there, I guess.

 

What about you? Do you have a “call story” wherein you were beckoned by God, career, or a need within your family to leave a secure, beloved place in life to pursue a new dream? Your story may be something huge from your past when you “took leave” to chart a new course in your life, or it may be from yesterday, when some nudge took you to a new place to do something novel. I happen to believe that these “nudges” or prompts to leave something behind and move in a new direction or to THINK in a different way about something, are among the most meaningful things God does in our lives. As one who tends to espouse “Process Theology,” I believe God is always trying to lure us toward new experiences/ministries/horizons (pick your favorite word here), and it is in this “call forward” we see the most meaningful “call language” being employed. Gone are the days when to be “called” of God meant that you were off to seminary to train to be a pulpit pastor, or sent to a faraway land as a missionary. God’s call has never been limited to these traditional fields of ministerial endeavor, but WE have tended to discount the myriad other “calls,” or unfortunately, to ignore them. One of the things I’ve tried to emphasize in my many years as a pastor—especially among the youth I was privileged to work with—was that God calls EVERYONE to a “calling” in life, be that as a teacher, a doctor, an accountant, a librarian, or as a “homemaker.” Ministry, while an important pursuit in the religious career life, is but one of the alternatives. People of faith should never put themselves or their life’s calling down, if they believe they are doing what God called them to do, regardless. On the other hand, neither should any of us stop listening for a fresh or a refreshed call to enhance what we do, or do something else God may call us to do. If we believe in the Holy Spirit of God as working in our lives and in the world today, then we dishonor God if we: discount our activities or career when we believe we are using our best gifts with them; shut our ears and hearts to new opportunities God may be nudging us toward; or believe that what we are currently about is ALL that we ever need be about. If we believe God is a co-creating God of compassion, progress, and novelty, then God may never be finished with us. As a retired pastor now back serving a church, and as one who never closes my ears to the next “nudge,” I can attest to the power of the call! And I’m seventy years of age! I DO believe my best, even my most creative years may be yet to come! How about you?

 

And today’s scripture again begs the question, what must you leave behind to pursue the divine nudge? As an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, which operates an itinerant ministry (meaning they move us pastors around from church to church, as some bishop sees fit), I can say that God’s next call literally meant leaving! We left new friends with whom we had become quite comfortable. Our kids left friends and schools behind. Sometimes we left a spacious parsonage for a “crackerbox,” or a locale rife with shopping plazas and restaurants for a more remote venue that required a car to go for a good coffee or a roll. But new opportunities always beckoned. We left with warm, rich memories of where we had been, and ready—sometimes reluctantly—to make new ones with a whole new group of folk. Some “leaving” involves sacrifice, doesn’t it? I will never forget the response my two children had to leaving a large, North Hills school district (Shaler) to move into the third smallest district in the State of PA (Cornell, in Coraopolis). They could have panicked, but instead they thrived, making the choice to make the most of a new situation. I am convinced that it was in this willful, yet reluctant transition, they learned the most valuable lesson of their education. The later adjustment to university—often a crisis time for many—was easy-peasy for Shelah and Evan. 

 

Peter, Andrew, James and John left a very successful fishing business to become “fishers of people,” in the words of Jesus. They must have thought that quite crazy, “fishers of people.” Using a net to fish made sense; using words and deeds to lure people to ascribe to a faith? Yeah, crazy. Fish you ate; people required much more attention to their needs, a vital religious community in which to commiserate, fellowship, and worship, and new ways to discover and use their spiritual gifts. It was a tall order for an organization that did not yet exist. Today, with a cultural shift happening around “going to church,” when less and less folk are being reared with a weekly trip to worship as a standard practice, and where Sunday School is often relegated to a single class filled with people over 70, carving out a place in the church for people to serve has been made harder. Maybe this is why the Holy Spirit is working to place the Christian witness in our everyday affairs and in innovative new “mission fields” like Volunteers in Mission teams or Summer youth work camps? Still, to engage in these, one must leave something behind to free up the time. 

 

Often, what we must “leave” is an outdated attitude or an archaic view of reality, in order to pursue God’s creative novelty. I’m sure we’ve all heard it said that the final epitaph on the tombstone of the church will be: “We’ve never done it that way before!” And we’ve probably also heard that uttered in a church board meeting, too. We all have “comfort levels” or “happy places” we like to hold on to like gold bullion, but my experience is that God rarely considers our comfort levels when nudging us to newness. God’s not a bully, though, and we almost always have the option of saying “no,” or at least, “not yet” to something. And a willingness to leave behind our complacency might even prompt us to proactively volunteer for stuff! I was always grateful for persons who said “yes” to a call from myself or a member of our lay leadership committee asking them to serve. It was thrilling to have a person come to ME, saying, “Pastor, I’d like to do thus-and so…” I found it much harder to deal with those who volunteered for little, always said “no” to the nudge from nominations, or just criticized those who were the helpers and the doers. They were much harder to love. 

 

It's always hard to leave things and people we love, or surroundings in which we are comfortable. But rarely do great stories come from the “Norman Rockwell” paintings such as these. No, testimonies and transformational narratives emanate from the uncomfortable new things we take on when nudged to do so, or from the sudden change of venue God or life or both may cause for us. Can you find it in your heart to embrace such novelty? And what are you willing to leave to do so? Jesus talked about “putting our hand to the plow and not looking back” as a metaphor for this kind of thing. I’ve never actually used a plow, but I’m guessing that if you keep looking back to see where you’ve been, your rows get crooked. Many of our churches are hurting and dying because of crooked rows, I’m thinking. When our children were little, rather than criticize them for “not doing something right,” or saying, “Here, let me show you how to do that,” we learned to encourage them by simply saying, “Try another way,” when they were struggling with an effort. It’s time for us to say to the church, “Try another way,” without judgment on the “old ways” or condemning them for their comfortable “stuckness,” I suppose. 

 

“Stuckness,” by the way, is the “sin” of the Process Theology model I follow. Stuckness is putting down an anchor where God sees a rest period on the journey. The opposite of the sin of stuckness in the Process model? Yep—“novelty,” and the “call forward.” Or as I like to say, “the nudge.” 

 

This story invites us to examine two important questions about our faith and our calling(s) in life: what are we LEAVING, and what are we CATCHING. What we’re catching may be a sermon for another day. Thinking about what we’re leaving may be a very important question for you today, though. Are you open to God’s novelty, which may mean leaving something “beloved” behind? Or are you succumbing to stuckness, holding on white-knuckled to a talisman that has become an anchor to a fading past?

 

“Leaving everything to follow Jesus” surely means different things to different people. For some of us, it meant a whole change of careers. For others, it means allying with a whole new group of people. For ALL of us, following Jesus means actually opening our hearts, minds, and journeys to follow JESUS, and not just baptizing our comfort or complacency. Rarely does God call us to do things that are WAY out of our comfort zones or that aren’t matched up with our best gifts, but almost always, God’s “nudge” means leaving something behind so we have hands free to pick up something else. Peter, Andrew, James and John knew this full well when they finally dropped those nets. Watch for the “nudge,” Beloved. Amen. 

Have You No Shame?

 

Have You No Shame?

 

Psalm 71:1-6

You have been my strength 

71:1 In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.

71:2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.

71:3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

71:4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

71:5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

71:6 From my birth I have leaned upon you, my protector since my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.

If you are looking to take your deepest emotions on a walk through the Bible, steer clear of places like Numbers, Revelation, or even Genesis, unless creation stories trip your trigger. No, if your feelings need some soothing—or seething, in some cases—put your “Psalms” shoes on, and come on in! The Psalms ARE songs, and like the songs we sing and/or listen to, they are meant to bow the strings (or slap strum the Eddie Balls on your Stratocaster) of our innermost selves. Happy? There’s a song for that. Sad? There are LOTS of songs for that, particularly in the Country Music genre. Needing peace? Get out the symphonic stuff. Love a parade? Grab a recording of a Susa march. There pretty much is a song for any need, and one whose composer was prompted by her or his feelings, at the moment. The Book of Psalms is just the same, in this regard.

 

Years ago, I had a good friend whose dad was a strong man of faith. He was an ordained Presbyterian minister who got filled with the “fullness” of the Holy Spirit during the Christian charismatic revival period, and after a long stint with his family as missionaries in Japan, he brought them back to the good ol’ USA. That’s when his son and I became friends. “Brother Earl,” as well knew him was one of the most driven, Spirit-filled, inspirational Christian leaders I have ever known, AND could be one of the most stubborn and difficult ones, as well. (Sound like any of us? Of course it does!) Anyway, Brother Earl had a long-suffering wife who cared for their several children, did all of the cooking for numerous, weekly groups that visited “Christ’s Castle,” their home base and retreat center, and was just as expected as everyone else was to keep up on her daily Bible reading. She also had to love and temper Brother Earl, and I’m guessing that was NOT an easy assignment. Brother Earl once told us that every time he asked his wife WHERE in the Bible she was reading currently, she would say, “In the Psalms…” It always made me laugh, for I can imagine that life with Brother Earl—while blessed in many ways—was also quite a challenge for her, and where else but “In the Psalms” would she find refuge? This story has a rough ending, in that one day, Brother Earl began having a heart attack, and his wife got him into a car and they headed for the hospital, knowing that with their remote “Castle” location, she could get him there faster. Unfortunately, he died on the way, but not before looking at his dear wife and saying, “I’ll see you in the morning,” which was Brother Earl’s euphemism for a future reunion in Heaven. I share this story both because my life was forever altered by the witness of Brother Earl, and by his patient wife, but also because I’m sure she found her solace and comfort “In the Psalms.” 

 

The phrase, “Have you no shame?” came to mind when I first looked at today’s lectionary passage from Psalm 71, for it begins, “In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. None of us like to be “shamed,” do we? Shaming is a nasty business. Not only does it “call out” someone for some negative behavior, but it doubles down by putting them down or belittling them for it. “Shame” differs from “guilt” in a number of ways. As one of my colleagues who does a lot of counseling defines it: Guilt says, “You’ve done a bad thing;” Shame says, “You are a bad PERSON.” All of us do “bad things,” which is what we call “sin” in religious jargon. But these activities don’t have to mean we are a bad person. We are forgiven of our sins by God and compassionate others. However, getting labeled as a “bad person” is much harder an accusation to escape. None of us like to be “shamed” in this way. Guilt can be a helpful thing, as it holds us accountable for our sin; shame just beats us up and doesn’t “fix” anything, including the temptations that may have fueled our behavior.

 

One of the most interesting stories in the Gospels is the one where the Pharisees bring a woman whom they “caught in adultery” to Jesus, reminding him that the law requires she be stoned to death. Every preacher has “nuanced” this story by asking the obvious questions such as: How did they KNOW where to find this woman so they could “catch her in the act?” Was this a setup? Where is the man, for he, too, was guilty of adultery? Some commentators have speculated that her “partner” in crime WAS one of the Pharisees, and that when Jesus stoops down to begin writing in the dirt, he was writing the names of the girlfriends of the accusing Pharisees! Maybe so, as they all began to walk away quietly, as Jesus wrote. When they had all departed, Jesus turned to the woman and said, “Woman, who are your accusers?” to which she replied, “No one, sir.” Jesus answered, “Neither do I accuse you. Go and sin no more.” Not only did he refrain from shaming her, but he offers her a better way for her future, going forward. 

 

If you are suffering from shame, dear friend, either being heaped on you by others or the self-imposed variety, keep reading this “anti-shaming” Psalm! While many believers have questioned why the God of the Old Testament seems to differ from the loving, forgiving, “Son-sending” God of the New Testament, actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Clearly, the psalmist writing today’s passage trusts mightily in the Lord, sees God as “protector,” as one who will not only “protect” us from the shaming attempts of others, but will never shame us from heaven, either. The God spoken of here is one who desires to lift up God’s people, and give them hope from the moment they entered the world. What I like about the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) is that it gives us more of the stories of human struggles, with enemies, with each other, and even with God and God’s law. It seems so “authentic” to me, given my experience as a human in the human community, and my own struggles with all of the above. 

 

The model I have defaulted to in understanding humanity’s relationship with the divine has typically been that of parent-child. Apart from the dysfunction that can occur in the experience of human parenting, a normal relationship between parent and child is one of love, nurturing, and “pleasing.” A parent develops a unique love and desire to protect one’s child pretty much as soon as the child is born. In my work with teenagers throughout my ministry, I told them that the moment I held my firstborn in my arms for the first time, I suddenly understood all of the rules my parents made for me, and that they probably won’t have this understanding until they do the same thing, if they are so privileged. The nexus between parental responsibility and the on-rush of a unique parental love for the newborn child is an amazing thing. There is nothing like it, in my experience, and it never goes away. Our two children are 42 and 40 years of age now, and are successful, responsible adults, and our daughter has children of her own. Yet, we have never gotten over our parental love for them, and our never-ending desire to want the best for them, and for them to be safe. (Grandchildren DO mediate some of this, as the parental love gets transferred—and some might say even “turbocharged”—toward them, when they come along!) Children grow up wanting to BE loved by the parent(s) and desiring to please the parent(s), often hiding their “sins” or mistakes, for fear the parent(s) may no longer love them, if their misdeeds are found out. Sound familiar. THIS is why I think the love between God and us is very much like the love between a parent and a child. John 3:16’s “For God so loved the world” line stretches from the first verse of Genesis to this very moment as you read this sermon, and God’s love for YOU, like a parent’s love, will never wane. And when we experience the acceptance of God’s love and forgiveness (which Jesus labeled being “born again” in John chapter 3—makes sense, doesn’t it?), we enter into that “child” relationship wherein we desire to “please” our Parent God. Unfortunately, we also tend to try to hid our mistakes and “sins,” just like a kid does, which brings “shame” back into the picture, doesn’t it?

 

This is why the psalmist prays that God will never let us be put to shame, as shame is one of the most hurtful feelings we can experience, and as we said earlier, it is not productive. When we sin and feel guilty about it, the guilt provokes us to not want to keep committing the same sin again and again, and guilt well responded to, results in a positive behavior modification on our part. Shame just beats us down, and the last thing any loving parent wants to see is their child being bullied or defeated. As we want the best for our children, so God wants the best for us, including that we be safe, as this psalmist writes. 

 

One of the old hymns of the church says, “Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms…” I’ll bet the hymn writer, Elisha Hoffman, got his verse from this Psalm! And the truth is, all of us must “lean,” from time to time. As children, we daily leaned on our parents’ provision, protection, and love. As teens and young adults, we strived for independence, but when times got rough, we were happy we had those “everlasting arms” of the home front to fall into. Having just laid the last of our four parents to eternal rest, I know how it feels to experience both the forever love of a parent AND the caring, custodial love the other direction, from me to my mom, as I managed her care in her last few years on earth. Being loved and “loving back” was such a wonderful and rich experience, and it well-modeled the kind of love between the divine and me, and that which the psalmist experienced, as well. 

 

So, Dear Ones, I hope this Psalm finds you experiencing this kind of love relationship with the divine. AND, I hope that leaning on God’s everlasting arms allows you to confidently state, “I HAVE NO SHAME.” Being “born again” into a relationship with Jesus Christ certainly has its perks, and being able to live a “shame free” life is one of them. And remember, don’t let “guilt” get you down, but instead motivate you to “get up” and fix stuff. After all, our call to “fix the world” begins with getting our own act together. And if you need a respite along the way, remember, you HAVE a “rock” and a “fortress,” and the eternal hope of a loving, Parent God! Amen.

 

 

The Fix is In

The Fix Is In

 

Luke 4:14-21

Jesus reads the prophet Isaiah 

4:14 Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding region.

4:15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

4:16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,

4:17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,

4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

4:20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

4:21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

 

The phrase “the fix is in” may be applied to any contest, from sports to politics, and usually means that what is intended to be a “fair” competition has been tampered with by one or the other party, assuring their “side” wins. In this regard, the sports world has been rife with accusations of a “fix” being “in,” most recently accusations made during NFL playoffs. Some have accused the NFL officials of having a bias in the direction of the Kansas City Chiefs, the current “darlings” of the Super Bowl winning set. It has been said by some that their quarterback, the talented and crafty Patrick Mahomes, “manipulates” the referees into throwing the penalty flag for “roughing the passer” by creatively landing, making it look like he was abused by potential tacklers. Frankly, I don’t see this as any kind of a “fix” or a cheating strategy; if he’s good enough to make it LOOK like he was roughed, and if a tackler came close enough to fouling him on the play such that a ruse like this might work, then more power to him. If there is a “fix” going on in the sports world, I’d look to college football.

 

I have enjoyed watching college football for most of my adult life. However, now it has fully made the transition into a “farm system” for the NFL by allowing college athletes to rather freely transfer between college teams, AND get paid for their “service” to the sport. This comes close to being a “fix,” in my mind. Teams with more prestige, a name-brand coach, and a serious chance at the college playoffs have FAR more leverage to garner players via the “transfer portal” than lesser teams. It’s certainly not the varsity contest it once was, as money—and betting lines—talk. 

 

If there’s a sport that is hard to fix, I’d say it’s fishing. When one goes out to fish, no matter of skill—or specialized equipment, unless it’s a big net—will guarantee catching a fish if they just aren’t biting. Here’s a fish story for you…When my son, Evan, was a little guy, one day he said to me—in the presence of his Mom—“Hey, daddy, could we go FISHING?” I love my son dearly, and while fishing was not something I’d done since my own childhood, I couldn’t say no. Of course, his mother made sure to rub this in so his “bookish” dad wouldn’t back down at this invitation to join the “Bass Masters” beside some pond somewhere. Out we went to buy some fishing tackle, and of course DAD would need a fishing license, so after a hundred and a half well-spent dollars, we went fishing at the small lake at Two Mile Run County Park, where my father was the Assistant Superintendent. 

 

One beautiful, Summer night, we were fishing beside the lake together, and the sun was just starting to dip toward the horizon. Evan was both little and now a little bored, as I don’t think we had caught anything at all, at that point. He asked if he could go play on the playground equipment at the campsite just behind our fishing spot, and I gave assent. While he enjoyed the monkey bars and swings, I put a lure of some kind on my line and continued casting peacefully out onto the still waters, enjoying both the increasingly golden rays of the waning Sun and the smooth, gurgling sounds of the lure, as I reeled it back in after each cast. Then something hit the line, and all hell broke loose! Turns out, it was a something large and rather powerful, and with my lack of fishing prowess, I basically panicked, tugging at the line and attempting to reel in whatever it was. Just offshore, a small boat with two real fishermen was coasting into view, and they, having witnessed the “strike,” began yelling instructions to me as to what to do, quickly noticing my panic. With no better counsel, I kept doing what they suggested, and eventually got a rather large beast—worn out from the struggle with a clueless fisherman—to the edge of the shore. “What is it?” the men in the boat inquired. “It’s a FISH!” shouted a useful idiot from the shore. “Where is the mouth on it?” came the next inquiry. “At the FRONT,” I reported. “No, does it go back under the EYE of the fish?” one boatman asked. “YES” I expertly answered. “It’s a Large Mouth BASS,” came the final response. I thanked the men for schooling me, and then had to figure out how to get this thing off my line, a process that involved a rag (I’m not touching a slimy, live fish), a set of needle-nosed pliers, and my sneaker, to kick the tired old boy back to his freedom. Nope there is no “fix” in the fishing world, just a lot of luck, and some bragging, which came later. If golf is “a good walk, spoiled,” fishing at a placid lake is a serene evening, interrupted. My son soon abandoned his interest in fishing, for which I was grateful, as I found it to have too much risk of actually catching something.

 

How does this relate to our Lukan text involving Jesus reading a text from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue? I wish it were some clever tie-in to his “I will make you fishers of people” statement, but no, not to be. Instead, we’re looking at the “fix” that is “in” because of his boast that HE is the fulfillment of what the prophet had said some centuries earlier. Jesus IS the “fix that is in” for the ills humanity faces.

 

And we ARE in need of numerous fixes, aren’t we, and I’m talking fixes NOT of a cheating nature, but of a HEALING nature. I confess to having many concerns and fears after this most recent election:

 

It may be a very dark time for those of us who have a bent for social justice, diversity, and inclusion. We need a fix.

 

It seems like it may be a dark time for those of us who believe that immigrants have been the historical lifeblood for this nation, fueling not only come of its most difficult work and fields of labor, but also some of its “fields” needing creative and brilliant minds.

 

Dara and I have been involved with a Working for Justice group that is supporting an Afghan refugee family that arrived in America just after the Christmas holiday. They have joined an adult daughter here, who came for her education, and has a job. They have a number of children, including a younger daughter, who has enrolled in school for the first time, as the Taliban did not permit her to attend school in Afghanistan. We’re excited to be helping them get established in our country, which they hope to make their new home. The President has cut off all travel for refugees from Afghanistan, now.

 

It is certainly a dark time for those of us who have worked for more strict environmental protection laws and less-polluting practices such as green energy production and electric vehicle adoption. We own an electric vehicle, mostly because we want to help heal the environment, and the new administration is already signaling they will withdraw government support of EVs and cut back on funding for new charging stations. This, while our American auto manufacturers have geared up to produce EVs, have designed some of the best of them (we own a Chevy Bolt EUV), and have been quite successful at selling them. Why is this President opposing them? Because he has “adopted” this as one of his political positions, logic not needing to apply.

 

It may well be the beginning of the new “dark ages” for those of us who have always believed the United States is a land of law and order. Presidential “pardons” strike at the center of fair and equal judicial prosecution of persons accused of serious crimes. 

 

And it is a dark time for those of us whose faith beckons us to work for justice and remedies for our nation’s poor, and especially those in need of healthcare. These people need advocates, not abandonment.

 

The Good News is that Jesus will not abandon us in our quest to partner with him in providing a “fix” for these problems. This is clear from today’s scripture passage.  However, we must counter one of the assertions of ultra-conservatives who say that “the church” should take care of the poor and the oppressed, and that it is not a “government problem.” In fact, according to our own Declaration of Independence AND the U.S. Constitution, these ARE within the purview of our government, and while “the church” must do its part to help alleviate such suffering on the part of “the least of these,” it is incapable of meeting the great universe of their needs. It’s a question of the economies of scale.

 

“Economies of scale?” you might ask. Well, it goes like this: if EVERY dime collected in EVERY offering plate of EVERY church, synagogue, or mosque in America were to be dedicated to “feeding the poor,” this total could barely cover the SNAP (food stamp) program. The need is far greater than the religious community—no matter how compassionate and willing it is—can possibly meet. The Declaration of Independence speaks of our “inalienable rights” and of a path to the “pursuit of happiness” for ALL Americans, and the Constitution spells out rights and privileges for “WE the people,” not just “SOME people.” Government cannot abdicate its responsibility to be part of “the fix,” too.

 

Jesus’ fulfillment of the Isaiah passage, “[God] has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed…” is both a promise to and a vision statement for the people of God. Jesus came to BE the fix by participating IN the fix, and by calling his own people to OWN the fix for all who are in need. Coupled with the great Jewish code of hospitality to the immigrants—“strangers in our land”—the Christian may NOT turn her or his back on any of these people. And while responsible immigration laws and application of them is not counter to the goal of making a way for refugees and immigrants to find hope and a home here, they are not meant to slam the door in their face. Neither does any President have the right to do so, as a much “higher authority” is proclaiming what “the fix” is that is “in.” 

 

I know that there are well-meaning people—even many people of faith—who are supporters of this President and many of his policies. This is their right, but this text from Luke DOES urge people of faith in Christ to refrain from advocating against programs and national efforts that address the needs of the poor, the oppressed, and even the “strangers in our land,” if we want to align ourselves with Jesus. We may also disagree about HOW to do this, and what is the most EFFECTIVE way to help, but Jesus just doesn’t allow us to say we don’t have to care. I believe we Christians should do more to explore what “proclaiming the year of God’s favor” might look like! It sounds celebratory to me, and if the poor are fed, the oppressed freed, and the downtrodden lifted up, it would seem like “God’s favor” might just be forthcoming! In the name of the Jesus who IS the fulfillment of these promises, and who calls us to be a partner in the effort—“the fix”—Amen! 

Presents Presents, and Presence

 

Presents Presents, and Presence

 

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

A variety of gifts but one Spirit 

12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant.

12:2 You know that when you were gentiles, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.

12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.

12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit,

12:5 and there are varieties of services but the same Lord,

12:6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

12:8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,

12:10 to another the working of power deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

12:11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

“Gifts” of the Spirit have messed up the church for millennia. I don’t think that was God’s intent. The gifts of the Holy Spirit that Paul addresses several times in his writings, and here in today’s passage from First Corinthians, are meant for “the common good.” Why, then, have they often so divided us? The whole Charismatic/Pentecostal side of the church revel in the “sign” gifts such as speaking in tongues and healing, while less “spirited” branches of the church crave wisdom, knowledge, faith, and discernment of Spirits, all of which seem to have more practical applications than “ecstatic” tongues and Oral Roberts-like “laying on of hands.” 

 

As one who passed through the “Charismatic” movement while having my young-adult “Aldersgate” renewal experience, I am sympathetic to those who venerate and practice the “sign” gifts. I suppose I should explain the Aldersgate reference, first. I grew up in a vital, large United Methodist Church that was blessed with a series of solid clergy leaders, courtesy of the itinerant system practiced by our denomination. And while I was an every week church attender with my family, and even an officer in the youth group while in high school, my Christian faith was pretty pedestrian. I certainly believed in God, and thanks to sitting under good preaching and the witness of faithful lay leaders, I understood the salvific work of Jesus Christ, the importance of his teachings for the world, and his “membership” as part of the godhead. In the denominational church, the role of the Holy Spirit was mostly that of a loving Mom—supportive, soothing, guiding, and protecting. There were no supernatural manifestations of the Spirit’s presence, other than a warm, inner feeling if an anthem was exceptional and “struck a chord” in our psyche, or a particularly poignant sermon hit home. Then, I went off to college to study journalism.

 

One night, while gloating in my college dorm room that my life was unfolding just as I wanted it to, and feeling pretty good about myself, I had a very personal encounter with the Living God. I can’t explain it, really, except to say that I had a “conversation” with God, who seemed to be saying that I was at an important juncture in my life, and that I had been making plans with little consultation with my Creator. This experience, which for me is best understood as my own personal “Aldersgate” moment, set me on a new plane of faith in Christ, one that I am still exploring and growing into, even as a retired pastor at age 70. For Wesley, his experience at a Bible study with a group in a house on London’s Aldersgate Street changed the direction of his life and gave birth to Methodism. For me, my “Aldersgate” experience led me to a sojourn through the “Jesus revolution” happening in the early 1970s, the Charismatic movement paralleling it, and eventually to discern a call into ordained ministry, several years later.

 

During this journey, I fellowshipped with a group of Christians in my home town who were involved with the Charismatic renewal movement, and most especially what we now call the “sign” gifts. At prayer meetings, Bible studies, and even worship services with these folks, it was not unusual to hear some of them “speaking in tongues,” and from time to time, one person might speak out loud in this ecstatic, “heavenly tongue,” followed by another who had the spiritual gift of “interpretation of tongues.” As a late-teen young adult, this was all quite stimulating, as well as quite a fuel for my curiosity. It seemed like a very personal “sideling up” to God, and led many of us normally carnal teenagers into a much deeper relationship WITH God, focused on Jesus. Unfortunately, this fascination with the charismatic gifts also led to disputes over what gifts were still “operative” in the Body of Christ, and which ones should be eschewed or abandoned, due to their schismatic tendencies. This experience has led me to accept the legitimacy of the “sign” gifts, and not to disparage them, when they are properly employed, but to also understand that they may be optional in their incorporation in one’s spiritual practice. As a mainline pastor, I chose to not promote the “sign” gifts, but instead focused on the many other manifestations of the Holy Spirit that truly “built up” or edified the church, such as wisdom, knowledge, faith, and healing.

 

This brings me to what I believe to be the core of this message on the gifts of the Spirit the apostle profiles here. God presents these PRESENTS, as a means of being PRESENT to the church and to its Christ followers, in order to empower their witness and promote the work of the gospel. The goal is not to glorify the gifts themselves, or the people to whom they are gifted. Spiritual gifts are tools, not trophies, or jewelry to be worn as a sign of the intensity of one’s faith. Again, as Paul writes, they are for the COMMON good. With this in mind, maybe a redefining of these gifts, what they “do,” and their application for Christians and the church in 2024 may be in order. Obviously, I’m not God, so this preacher can’t actually “re-order” these gifts, but since each of us IS given much freedom by God as to how and when to “use” them, I am free to make a few suggestions. Here we go.

 

The gift of “knowledge” I have observed is active when laity or clergy manifest a far above normal ability to assimilate, analyze, and act on complicated information or circumstances. Whether planning strategically for a church’s (or a denomination’s) ministry, or addressing the kinds of crises they—or their communities—may face, the Holy Spirit may impart this gift to focus, coordinate, and combine the thoughts of otherwise widely differing persons and their experience fields. This imparted “knowledge” leads to effective collaboration, and builds a community spirit of cooperation, all to advance the cause of the gospel. 

 

“Wisdom” is a gift that may be learned over time, as most of us on the far side of 39 know. However, the Holy Spirit may also offer this gift of knowing HOW to apply knowledge to problems or opportunities, and to make wise decisions, to those without those years of experience. I have seen this gift working in teenagers who otherwise might manifest the typical foibles of the teen years, which get in the way of such “wise” choices. Believe me, when a teenager comes up with a brilliant idea far beyond their years or expertise, the whole room knows the Spirit is afoot! Or when anyone in a meeting called to deal with a presenting issue leans forward and says, “Here’s what I think we should do,” before sharing a game-changer of a strategy, the same applies. Not that people can’t have their own, smart ideas, but there is a witness in the room that more is happening than is humanly possible—it’s the gift of wisdom at work. 

 

The same can be said of such gifts as “working of power deeds,” which may be akin to a supernatural/intellectual “adrenalin boost.” When a team of teenagers and its semi-skilled adult leaders accomplish a Habitat for Humanity blitz-build of an entire house in a week, you had better believe the Holy Spirit had a “power boost” in the mix. The “gift” of faith may be a similar, sudden “turbocharging” of a person’s or a group’s trust in God that gets them through a crisis or leads them to accomplish an audacious goal. The gift of faith may also be viewed as a faith that arises when someone is mired in deep doubt, lifting them out of their spiritual despair. I’ve seen this “gift” granted to a person in the midst of crippling grief or in the face of a life-threatening diagnosis. 

 

While “sign gift” folk see prophecy as God speaking a message directly to humans, I suggest that it is more often granted as a clear, sober view of current reality, which in turn leads to an effective plan or a solution to a difficult problem. A “prophetic” view is the ability to see things from God’s angle, which probably can’t happen, apart from the Spirit’s agency. This accurate, love-centered “picture” is most helpful in the work of social justice. It counters the WAY too often “image” of reality built upon our human self-centeredness.

 

While not wanting to insult my Pentecostal friends by saying anything negative about the gift of “speaking in tongues” or “interpretation of tongues,” I will say that these ARE gifts that the Apostle Paul warns about how they are used. While he admits to speaking in tongues “more than any of you,” and saying it can be a positive gift, he does say that they may not be understood by “unbelievers,” and can be divisive in a public worship service. I see this gift as mostly something other than the “prayer language” or “messages from God” that Pentecostals may employ. In my experience, I have seen these gifts played out most effectively in the mission field where languages other than English are used. People with these gifts have shown an unusual propensity for learning and employing languages other than their native tongue. Colleagues I’ve been on international mission trips with have demonstrated a unique ability to quickly learn and use the languages of the people among whom they are serving, including the occasional very unusual tribal languages of native peoples. While those of us without these spiritual gifts CAN learn other languages, it requires great labor and much practice to do so, and rarely becomes as “natural” to us as it does to those so gifted. When Paul talks of “seeking the better gifts,” this latter understanding of speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues is what he may have been talking about, as it serves a greater purpose in the ministry of the Gospel message.

 

If you were to ask me which of these gifts stands out the most, I would say “discernment of spirits.” Again, while we all may “learn” to separate legitimate or genuine truth from deception, for example, people with the gift of discernment of spirits have what I would describe as a supernatural ability to detect deception or evil motives at work, and likewise may also discern when GOD is acting or leading, versus merely human agency. The former is an extremely valuable gift to have available in the Body of Christ, for the church—or any fellowship of well-meaning Christian people, for that matter—is too often “ripe” for being exploited by persons seeking to capitalize on our “good intentions” and desire to “love our neighbor.” Interestingly, in several of the churches I served, it was the custodian who manifested this gift! Many times a person would stop by the office with a sob story for the pastor, hoping to use my sympathy/empathy as a path to tapping the “Pastor’s Fund” for aid, and Gary, Dave, or Bob would pull me aside and say something like “Be careful there; something doesn’t ring true about that guy.” I learned to take these “discerned” warnings seriously, and upon a little further conversation with the “client,” found the holes in their story, or caught them in an outright lie about their actual circumstances. I tried not to “judge” these individuals, but these experiences caused me to enter into a pact with my ministerial colleagues in these communities that we would reach out to each other when encountering a person seeking monetary aid. So often when we compared notes, we found these persons to be taking undue advantage of our “assistance.” Again, discerning individuals had the “gift” of being able to detect the error or deception afoot. These same, discerning persons would also often be the ones affirming that they “felt the Spirit’s presence” during the worship service, or “knew” that God was touching a certain person in some way. Discernment of Spirits is an easy gift to recognize. It is the opposite of “paranoia” or skepticism, instead manifesting itself as a kind of “spider sense” in the gifted individual. I would definitely put this one on Paul’s list of “greater gifts”!

 

Two important things stand out in our understanding of this passage about Spiritual gifts: they are “activated by the Holy Spirit,” as the author says; and they manifest the presence of God in the midst of God’s people. As I stated earlier, the spiritual gifts are given for the “edification (building up) of the Body of Christ,” and to be used as tools for ministry and mission. They are NOT jewelry or medals “worn” as a sign of heightened or superior spirituality. As the title of the sermon says, they are PRESENTED by God as PRESENTS to the Body, and they demonstrate God’s PRESENCE in our midst! It just doesn’t get better than that! Oh, and lest I forget, I urge each of you to SEEK these gifts of the Spirit. Don’t shy away from them, as they are essential for accomplishing any church’s vision and carrying out the ministry to which God has called us. Amen!