From Simple Faith to Living Faith

Moses heard the people weeping and complaining. “If only we had meat to eat.” Frustrated, he complains to God: why do you treat me so badly? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give birth to them. If this is how you plan to treat me, just kill me now. 

So, the Lord said to Moses, gather for me 70 elders of Israel, and the Lord took some of the Spirit that Moses had and put on them, and they prophesied. But two of them, Eldad and Medad, remained in camp, and the spirit was on them as well, and they also prophesied. Joshua Moses’ assistant said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them! Moses said to him,” “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29) 

Jesus had a similar experience: John came to Jesus and told him, “We saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he is not following us.” Jesus, like Moses, was confronted by the fact that some of his followers seemed to believe they were part of an exclusive club, and others were not allowed to share in that blessing. So, Jesus said to John, “Do not stop him, for anyone who does a deed of power in my name will not soon say evil about me. Whoever is not against us is for us.” (Mark 9:38-50)

Jesus and Moses knew God could and would pour the Spirit upon all God’s children. 

I believe these two stories are reminders to those of us in our day who would limit the Holy Spirit. It is God, who controls the Spirit, and the Spirit goes where it will. These stories witness the work of the Spirit, and recognize the gifts possessed by other Christians and by people of other faiths. 

In 2001 while attending a Conference on Religion and Globalization I met Bishop John Shelby Spong of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, New Jersey. He was a courageous Bishop willing to be honest about the evolution of his faith, accepting that no religion has all the truth and that every religion possesses part of the truth. He became known as the priest to the “Church alumni Association,” able to speak to the thousands of people who left organized religion but still felt a yearning for the presence of God in their lives. He presented a paper entitled “Getting past your own Dogma to experience the Glory of God.” This presentation changed my life and opened my ministry to all of God’s Children. It also got me into a good bit of trouble, but it was worth it. 

All of us are on a journey with God. On my journey I was looking for a simple faith with all the answers. What I am finding with the help of many mentors: Christian, people of other faiths, and no faith, is a life-giving faith that has more questions than answers, and a joy that I want to share with others.

I leave you with the words of Vietnamese Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh from his book, “Living Budda, Living Christ.” 

“I do not think there is much difference between Christians and Buddhists. Most of the boundaries we have created between our traditions are artificial. Truth has no boundaries. Our differences may be mostly differences of emphasis. 

You are born in your tradition, and naturally you become a Buddhist or a Christian. Buddhism or Christianity is part of your culture and civilization. You are familiar with your culture and appreciate the good things in it. You may not be aware that in other cultures and civilizations that there are values that people are attached to. If you are open enough, you will understand that your tradition does not contain all truths and values…” (Page 155) 

No single tradition monopolizes the truth. We must glean the best values of all traditions and work together to remove the tensions between traditions in order to give peace a chance.” (page 113) “Understanding and love are values that transcend all dogma.” (page 198) 

Like Moses, we can proclaim, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:4-29)

             

 

 

 

 

 

Christ Church Blessings

I have been blessed to spend most of my Sundays over the past ten months at Christ Episcopal Church in Albertville, Alabama. This was definitely not my plan for the past year. As a retired Episcopal Priest and former Rector/Pastor of Christ Church, I enjoy worshiping in this faith community. But I also enjoy spending some Sundays in what I call “Megachurch,” the great outdoors, kayaking and hiking. When our current Rector’s husband had a sever heart attack, spending many months in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, before sadly dying, I knew that my calling was to lead worship at Christ Church as long as necessary. 

My time at Christ Church turned out to be a blessing to me. I was able to preach and teach and worship together with many old friends and to meet the many new people who had come to Christ Church since my retirement. I also got to know more about the amazing ministry to our community that our Rector and the congregation were carrying out in our community. Jesus told his followers that “whatever you do to one of the least of these my brothers or sisters, you did to me. (Matthew 25:40-45) 

And truly the people of Christ Church, new and old, were doing so much in the community it made me proud and joyful. They were feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, caring for orphans and widows, and standing up for those being discriminated against for any reason. 

They feed the hungry once a month through the Beans and Rice ministry, twice a month through the Food Pantry sponsored by Reclaiming our Time. Along with North Broad Street Church of Christ they provide a night out for foster parents by caring for their children once a month so they can spend some adult time together. During the winter months they partner with Iglesia Casa de Fe and Room in the Inn to provide overnight lodging and a hot dinner and breakfast to people with no other place to sleep. 

Christ Church is truly living out the message of the song, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world. 

The people of Christ Church not only believe, but live Jesus’ First and Great Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength; and love your neighbor as you love yourself. 

Now that our Rector, Mother Shari Harrison is back with us, I look forward to her inspiring sermons and being a part of the continued ministry of “loving and serving our Lord and all of God’s children. 

Thank you, Christ Episcopal Church, for blessing me as much as you bless our community. 

Ben Alford, Rector Emeritus, Christ Episcopal Church, Albertville, Alabama

Who Is My Neighbor?

 

Faith, if it has no works, is Dead. 

As all who live in Albertville and read the Sand Mountain Reporter know, we are a city of immigrants. The past month in this city that we all love, has been one of confusion, misinformation, lack of information, efforts at reconciliation as well as words of anger, hatred and hope. If all goes well, and with conversations, some easy, some difficult, that we have with friends and neighbors, employers, city officials, and all our residents, new and old, we will come out stronger and more Christ like. 

As I have reflected on our city and our current situation, and the scriptures, my thoughts went back to another situation that I hope and believe sheds some light on our current situation. I share this with you now in hopes that it may be a part of the conversation that will guide us to a stronger, happier and holier Albertville. 

In the second chapter of his letter to the churches (James 2:1-17), James the brother of Jesus, gives us some good, but difficult guidance: “If a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please,’ while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there,’ or, ‘Sit at my feet,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” 

I have been blessed over the years to serve churches that not only sing, but believe, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world: red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight…” I have seen these churches welcome God’s sons and daughters of all shapes and sizes and races and incomes and beliefs and political persuasions. I have also seen how difficult this can be to live into as we strive to do what Jesus would do. 

James continues, “God has chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him.” I believe James is reminding us that we all have something to learn from one another. He is reminding us that we are to work for justice and peace for all people, rich or poor, and to fight oppression wherever we find it. 

James is reminding us that Christianity is not a Jesus and me kind of religion, but a community joined together by Christ, called to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” 

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (James 2:1-17) 

All this sounds good, but how do we live it? I share one such experience with its challenges, failures, and blessings, and invite you to reflect on our own experiences. 

For twelve years, I was the Pastor of St. George’s Episcopal Church in the middle of New Orleans, Louisiana, a city with a tremendous diversity of people. The church is on St. Charles Avenue, a boulevard with mansions under the trees as far as one can see. Four blocks away we enter neighborhoods with much smaller homes and in some cases very poor families inhabiting them. The church is also just a streetcar ride from the French Quarter and therefore easily reached by street people, beggars, and those who dance in bars and sometimes moonlight as prostitutes. 

For several years we had a wonderful midweek book study held in the homes of various members who lived near the church. The studies were open to all, usually involved a light lunch, and were an important and enjoyable part of our life together. And then they were not. Two of our French Quarter members, a man who sold books on the street and his friend, a bar dancer and sometimes prostitute showed up for the study at the home of one of our wonderful uptown ladies. And she truly was a wonderful person. The two “new” people were also wonderful, if somewhat dirty and smelly and, to say the least, different from most of the people in attendance. This woman came to me and said that she did not want these two people in her home. I understood, so we moved the book study to church, which I believed would be an acceptable solution for all. As in so many situations in which theory and even scripture become practice, the simple solution was not as simple as we believed it would be 

The woman quit the church, she truly wanted to host the Book Study in her home, but with restrictions. She later returned, remained a friend, thanks be to God, but it was touchy and ugly for a while. This is what happens when we commit to live a Gospel without favoritism, loving one another as Christ loves us: it is not easy, but worth it. It is what I believe Jesus would do.

 

 

You are no longer Strangers and Aliens, but Members of the Household of God

 Author’s Note: I wrote this on July 15, 2021 during another stressful and challenging time in our country. This appeared in my Memories today and I believe it can be helpful to us in navigating our current situation in the United States. I pray it will be helpful to all of us a we seek God’s will for our nation and the world. Blessings and Peace. 

You are no longer Strangers and Aliens, but Members of the Household of God

 

So, Jesus came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

The title for today’s reflections comes from Ephesians 2:12-22, written by Paul or one of his followers in the 50’s or 60’s A.D. as instructions to both Jews and Gentiles, on how to live together as God’s people, and perhaps even like each other and cease being hostile to one another even though they come from different backgrounds and spiritual traditions. This letter celebrates the author’s vision for the church and how the life, death and resurrection of Jesus brought together a new and unified community. When it was written it expanded the vision of God for both Jews and Gentiles, giving to all a greater understanding of the “bigness of God and of God’s inclusive Kingdom.

I believe we today can learn from this timeless writing how we, like those in Paul’s day, continue to put God in a box, limiting, not God, but ourselves. As we open our boxes and let God be God to us, God will open our hearts to see God’s universal love for “all the Children of the World.”

The more I read the Christian and Jewish Scriptures on which I have been nourished from my youth, the more I realize I am not qualified to determine “who is in and who is out” of God’s kingdom based solely on their religion or lack thereof, or their politics and whether they agree with me or not. I do believe that our allegiance to God comes before our allegiance to country, and that being first a citizen of the Kingdom of God will give us the vision necessary to be a citizen of our country of birth or choice as well as a citizen of the world. Jesus gives us an example of how this might work in the following passage from Mark’s Gospel.

“And the Disciples and Jesus went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. As people recognized him, they rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.” (Mark 6:30-56)

My prayer for all of us today is that, like Jesus and the early disciples, wherever we go and whatever we do, that all whose lives are touched by us will be healed.

 

 

 

Jesus People and Violence in America

 Time Present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in the past.

                                                         --T.S. Eliot 

Note: This column was first published July 13, 2016, and republished on July 14, 2020. In light of our continuing struggles for Justice and Peace in America, it seems appropriate to republish. This should up on my Facebook Memories this morning, July 14, 2024, 17 hours after former President Trump was attacked at a rally in Pennsylvania. So today, July 14, 2024, I publish for the third time in eight years. I pray that I will not have to publish again on July 14, 2028. May God guide us all to show mercy to one another. 

As a Christian and a Preacher called to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel in good times and bad, the past two weeks have been a challenge. Two Black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed by police officers, one in Baton Rouge Louisiana and the other in a Minneapolis suburb. Then before we as a nation could come to grips with these tragedies, five police officers in Dallas, Texas, Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Michael Smith and Lorne Ahrens, were killed by a sniper near the end of a peaceful demonstration by the group “Black Lives Matter.” 

We also know that there were others in America who died violently last week in situations which did not make the national news and which were less politically charged. These losses of life were no less important to the loved ones of those who died. 

How do we who are followers of Jesus, “the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,” respond to these actions and the divisions they either cause or point out in our nation? 

I want to begin looking for an answer by looking at the Gospel which was read at Christ Episcopal Church in Albertville, Alabama, and many other churches this past Sunday. 

We read in Luke 10:25-37, that a lawyer stood to test Jesus, and asked him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” We know the story, Jesus asks him what is written in the law, and he responds, “you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” When the lawyer tries to justify himself by asking, “who is my neighbor,” Jesus tells him and the crowd the story of the ‘Good Samaritan.” 

He then asks the man, “who then was the neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?” To this he responds, “the one who showed him mercy.” Jesus then challenges him to “Go and do likewise.” So this is my beginning: as Jesus People, as Christians, we begin with scripture, and we open our hearts to that scripture together. This is not always the starting place for people today. Often, we begin by choosing sides. We either choose the police, or we choose “Black Lives Matter.” I believe Jesus would choose both, just like he chose Samaritans lives matter and lawyers lives matter. 

As many others are doing, I have been watching Dallas, Texas to see if there are lessons we can learn from them. I have seen police and civilians of all races embracing one another and supporting one another. I have read of Sergeant Ed Trevino, a part of the “Heroes, Cops and Kids Community Campaign,” that works to build better relationships between police and civilians by sharing concerns and listening to one another. His advice to all of us: “communicate and make sure you have all facts before deciding who is right and who is wrong.” 

Dallas has strengthened my belief that we are all in this together: police and civilians, black, white, yellow, brown, Christian, Moslem and Jew. If not, we are in deep trouble. As Sergeant Trevino says, “the vast majority of people out there are good people, and we have to band together rather than divide. 

Our world is not simple, there are competing philosophies and ideas, and it is important to hear the words of others and try to understand where they are coming from just as it is for them to hear and try to understand us. Will this be easy? No. Can we with our human wisdom and knowledge alone solve the problems of violence and division? Probably not. But if we build our foundation on the solid rock that is our God and on the foundation of the Prince of Peace, then there is truly hope that we as human beings will find the “peace that passes all understanding.” 

Addendum July 14, 2024: Today as we await more details of the incident in Pennsylvania, I see people jumping to conclusions, looking for someone to blame. I also see many others in leadership calling for patience, calling for love of country and of love of one another. Now is the time to pray for each other and for our Country, to allow law enforcement to find the facts. Now is the time to follow Jesus’ teachings and example. 

May we “love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and soul and strength, and LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS WE LOVE OURSELVES.

Today, I believe Jesus is asking us the same question and giving us the same answer he gave the lawyer: 

“Which one was neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?” “The one who showed him Mercy.” 

May we “Go and do likewise!”

Good News, Bad News, Good News

The Good News about the Episcopal Church is that there’s room for everybody. The bad news about the Episcopal Church is that there’s room for everybody. The Good News of the Gospel is that it can teach us how 2 live with everybody, even if our faith leads us to see the world differently from one another. In the Gospel of Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, we see Jesus send out the seventy disciples two by two throughout the land to invite people into a relationship with God and with one another. He sends them out with these instructions: “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, so pray that the Lord will send more laborers into the harvest.” Then Jesus admonishes them to be those laborers, and to “travel light:” “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.”

“Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, say to them, ‘the kingdom of God has come near to you.' Then go out into its streets and say to them, ‘even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.'” So, whether the people welcomed the disciples or not, the Kingdom of God had come near to them.

The following prayer from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer sums up this Gospel in one small Paragraph. “O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection. Amen.” 

How can we live out the Gospel and this prayer in a church where there is room for everybody? How do we, the Body of Christ, proclaim this good news in a country where there is so much division, even among those of us who follow Jesus? Answer: refer to the above prayer! 

This a statement not about politics, but about faith, about how the good news of the Gospel of Christ can shape our politics and our relationships. As we look at political actions and relationships, we first remember the words of Jesus that “the Kingdom of God has come very near you. 

Having said that, I want to reflect on politics and on our responses to the many decisions handed down by the Supreme Court over the past two years. Decisions affecting abortion, gun rights, carbon emissions, immigration and presidential immunity among others. The reactions by the citizens of our country and the members of our religious communities have been quick and emotional and diverse. Many people have been thrilled and excited and joyful. Others have been disappointed, angry, hurt and heart broken. Many of the people on all sides of these important issues are people of faith, who have made their decisions based on their faith and their life experiences, just as you and I have come to our decisions based on our own faith and life experiences. Many on all sides are members of your faith community.

This piece is not about who is right and who is wrong about any of these decisions, even though I have my opinions about that and I will work faithfully towards those ends. No, this piece is about how we as people of faith relate to God and to one another. So, I do not leave you with answers to difficult questions at this point, I leave with a prayer that I hope and pray will lead us into right relationship with God and one another in our churches, our country and in a world where “there is room for everybody.”

“O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection. Amen.”

Yes, “the Kingdom of God has come very near to us!”

 

           

 

 

 

“All You Need Is Love”

 Since human speech developed poets, prophets, preachers, and performers have been talking, singing, and proclaiming love. In the 1960’s: “All you need is love, Love is all you need;” “I love him, I love him & where he goes I’ll follow, I will follow him.” 

Even the Bible: Micah: “do Justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God;” Jesus: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

 About 100 A.D. a teacher from the Johannine School wrote his first letter which includes the following verses.

 “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 

God's love was revealed among us in this way. God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

 

Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us….

 

…. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do    with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

We love because he first loved us. Thos who say, "‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen

 

Th commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love

their brothers and sisters also. (John 4:7-21)

SO, who are my brothers and sisters? Who is my neighbor? The following story will help answer these questions.

 In the late 1960’s, one of my Mentors, the Rev. Bob Gilbert, a Methodist Circuit Rider in the mountains of East Tennessee, was invited to preach at a Ku Klux Klan Rally. He accepted the invitation because he believed God had called him to do this. His wife, Dot, on the other hand thought he had lost his mind.

 Bob met a group of people at the mountain church he pastored and was blindfolded and carried by car to the dirt path that led to the rally site. The blindfold was removed as the cross was lit and he was introduced as the chaplain for the evening. Bob began to tell a modified version of “the Good Samaritan Story.” In Bob’s version a Black Man was driving from Knoxville to Chattanooga when his car slid off the road breaking the front axle. A Baptist minister and a Methodist minister both passed by without stopping, on their way to win souls for Jesus. Finally, Bob said, “a Klansman on his way to this very rally stopped, bandaged the man and flagged down a tow truck.

 At this point all the Klansmen began booing and calling Bob names. Bob shouted, “Quiet, how dare you interrupt the Word of God when it is being preached!” He then completed his story, the Klansmen extinguished the fire, blindfolded Bob, and left him in the forest by himself. Bob removed the blindfold and slowly found his way to the paved road where a church member sitting in a pickup truck offered him a ride back to the church and his car.

 So, in the eyes of Jesus, who is my neighbor? Or, as Blues and Rock legend Bo Diddley wrote in his 1956 song of the same name, “WHO DO YOU LOVE!!”

 

 

 

 

That the Whole World Might be Saved through Him: But How?

In the Gospel of John 3:14-21, Jesus tells Nicodemus that like the bronze snake lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, so must the Son be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life!  This is what Grace looks like, that one person, in this case one Christians believe to be both human and divine is willing to live, and perhaps die, in such a way that the person’s relationship with God and life’s actions bring people into (or back into) a saving relationship with God and with other human beings. “This is the first and great commandment. You shall love the Lord your God with all your soul and mind and strength. The second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no Commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31) 

Grace continues as we hear the familiar words from John 3:16, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  Eternal life according to the Gospels is “to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom the true God has sent.” (John 17:3)

 

The Grace of eternal life for Christians, then, is that we will know God and Jesus Christ, and that eternal life will be nothing like anything we have ever experienced.  Being in the presence of God, wherever that may be and whatever it looks like is sufficient grace for me.  The details I leave up to God.

 

John14-21 continues to provide comfort to those of us who believe in God through Jesus: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the whole world might be saved through him.” As one who believes that God wants to save the whole world, I find this exciting and life giving, a source of Joy. My joy is short lived, however, as I move from what I consider to be one of the most comforting and inclusive passages in the Gospels, to what I consider one of the most uncomfortable and exclusive passages, without even moving to another chapter, much less another book.

 

Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. How do those of us who believe that God loves all of God’s children reconcile this statement recorded as the words of Jesus?

 

I truly believe that God wants to save the world and that the “world” in scripture refers to “all people,” thus, that God wants to save all people. But Scripture clearly says something different.  How can we remain faithful to Jesus and still believe that God can save God’s children around the world who follow different faiths, or no faith at all?

 

First, I believe that we who are Christians do, in fact, know God most fully through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and if Jesus brings Grace into the world, that perhaps, this grace is not limited only to those of us who know God in this way. If this is a possibility, then I am willing to take a chance on letting God out of the box we often place God in. After all, in his teaching, Jesus invited his fellow Jews to love the Lord their God with their entire being and to recognize their God through him, not to worship Jesus, himself. He also tells the Samaritan Woman that the “day is coming when the Jews and Samaritans will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. 

Perhaps the last section of this Gospel can help us move to an understanding that will allow God to be God: 

And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’ 

If our deeds are done in God, then I believe that the scripture has not changed, but that the Holy Spirit has led us to see the Gospel and the World in a new light. I believe that we have been able to let God out of the box and that God’s Spirit continues to lead us and guide us into all truth: a truth that all who do what is true come to the light of God. A truth based on our openness to scripture, tradition, reason, and life experience as shown to us by God’s holy, eternal, unchanging and life-giving spirit.  

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Ephesians 2:8-10)

 

 

God is Giving us a New Word for a New Age

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jewish leaders then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jewish leaders then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:13-22) 

Jesus definitely caught Peoples’ attention when he caused such a ruckus in the Temple. Remember, people came from all over the Jewish world on Passover to celebrate their freedom from slavery and oppression in Egypt. They were not always able to bring a sheep, a goat or even a dove to sacrifice for their cleansing for their sins, so the vendors provided a very important service. It may be that they took advantage of a captive audience to increase prices and thus their profits. Whatever the reason, Jesus sensed that they had converted a place of worship into a marketplace. 

So Jesus, a private citizen with no legal or religious authority, declared that he was God’s son, turned over the tables of the money changers, drove the animal vendors out of the temple and TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN 

I believe Jesus’ actions in the Temple and his statement about rebuilding the temple in three days had two important consequences: first, I believe his confronting the religious and political leaders of his day (with no earthly authority) lead to his execution. 

Second, his statement that he would raise the temple up in three days, gave hope and power to his followers and through them to us. Jesus was again claiming that he was the word and that the word was with God and that the word was God. Jesus was not appealing to any past theological consensus. HE WAS CLAIMING THE FUTURE FOR GOD. 

To proclaim that he would rebuild the Temple in three days was to give hope to God’s people, to proclaim resurrection, to proclaim God’s Kingdom on Earth NOW!!! 

Jesus is moving us from the Past to the Present to the Future: only in time to come will we see what God has in store for us. Remember, Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly.” 

GOD IS TRULY GIVING US A NEW WORD FOR A NEW AGE! 

We do not end our journey with the Bible, we begin it with the Bible! We see the saving acts of God throughout scripture, throughout history. But we do not live in the past, we live in the present and we look to the future. We learn from the Saints and the Prophets of the faith; we learn from Jesus and what he preached and what he did, including turning over tables. 

God has giving us scripture through the prophets; God has given us wisdom through philosophers and teachers, and knowledge through scientists and historians; we have learned through preachers and teachers and experience, that our faith is not simple, but that OUR FAITH IS LIFEGIVING. Lifegiving not only to us, but to others who seek God in different ways than we seek God. 

We have learned that human rights are God Given, and that God’s Wisdom is greater than our Wisdom, and that God has given us people with whom we disagree so that we can begin to understand others and see that the kingdom of God is bigger than we could ever ask or imagine. 

We have learned through the resurrection of Jesus that God is even bigger than we could ever ask or imagine. We have learned that God is using us to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth as in is in Heaven.

 

The future is God’s, the future is ours, the future is Good! AND THAT IS GOD’S GOOD NEWS FOR US TODAY!

God’s Word, Jesus Christ God’s Son

“O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son.” (Book of Common Prayer, Page 218)

Our opening prayer reminds us that our God is merciful and gracious and has given us the Word of God, Jesus Christ his son, to lead us into all truth. Note, that God’s word is not the Bible, but the Bible, a wonderful Library that records the words of God’s people as they try to explain their experience of God, Points us to The Word of God, Jesus Christ God’s Son.

In the Gospel of Mark, the writer gives us a sense of God’s truth when he writes, Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?” (Mark 8:31-38)

In following Jesus and the Gospel, the Good News, we find life. And when we find life, we want to share it, no, we must share it. The powerful poetry of Psalm 22:22-30 draws us into a way to begin to share life.

22 Praise the Lord, you that fear him; stand in awe of him, offspring of Israel; all you of Jacob's line, give glory. 23 For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them; but when they cry to him he hears them. 24 My praise is of him in the great assembly; I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him. 25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him... 26 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow before him. 27 For kingship belongs to the Lord; * he rules over the nations... 29 My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him; they shall be known as the Lord’s for ever. 30 They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that he has done.

 

Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933 and advocate for the Poor, echoes the words of Psalm 22 when she says, “We must talk about poverty, because people insulated by their own comfort lose sight of it.”

 

Often, I lose sight of poverty. I am comfortable and warm; I have many friends. But if I, venture far from my home, poverty stands right in front of me, sometimes blocking my path. Then I see it, whether I want to or not.

 

Within the past two weeks this has happened more than once: a young couple knocked on my door to see if they could do some work in my yard; a young man from India was walking down the street in the rain and asked how far it was to Guntersville where he was to meet someone. And just last Friday I went kayaking with friends on the Flint River near Huntsville, Alabama and we saw what we thought was an abandoned car under the bridge where we put into the river. We realized that the van was not abandoned but a woman and two children were inside. Four hours later we shuttled back to pick up our trucks and the family was still there, apparently living in their van and found this to be a safe place to spend the day, if not the night.

 

I was not able to give much help to any of these people, but it made me aware of our calling from Jesus to help bring about God’s Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven. The Psalmist proclaims that “God hears the call of the poor and that they shall eat and be satisfied.” My experience in the past two weeks reminds me that we who are comfortable my just be the Lord’s servants who make sure that the Poor eat and are satisfied.

 

“O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Give us strength and a steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son.”

 

The Wilderness Changes Everyone

The Wilderness Changes Us

 

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him…. (Mark 1:9-15)

My sense is that Jesus went into the wilderness to prepare for his ministry which God had sent him into the world to do. At his baptism, God had proclaimed him His Son and that he was well pleased with him. However, the human side of Jesus needed time to reflect on his life in this world, his purpose in this life, and how to approach the people God had sent him to.

The Wilderness is a place where one can be alone, away from distractions, away from noise. The wilderness gives us uninterrupted time to think about, to pray about what is important to us, about what God has called us to do.

I believe Jesus reflected on God’s words: what does it mean to me to be God’s Son? What does it mean that God is pleased with me?

And then prayed: How and where do I carry out this mission? Who will help me do this? What if people get upset with what I say or do? Who will continue this ministry after we are all dead, not matter how that happens?

I like Mark’s Gospel because he does not waste any words. He gives us the facts, just the facts, and moves on.

So, right after Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, Mark tells us, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” And immediately after that Jesus recruits the first four disciples.”

Yes, we will get more details, from Matthew and Luke, but Mark gives us what we need to know, including some answers to the questions I believe Jesus wrestled with in the wilderness. 

I truly believe Jesus’ wilderness time was not only important to him and his ministry but set an example for us to follow in our lives. Lent is our opportunity to spend wilderness time as Jesus did. Time reflecting on why God sent us here, what are our gifts and talents, what are we called to do to be Co-creators with God in helping fulfill the petition of the Lord’s Prayer for God’s” Kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven.”

As we observe Lent, we will have opportunities to be together. To worship and study and enjoy fellowship as we build up the body of Christ on Earth.

I also hope we will all have wilderness time, whether that wilderness is in the forest or on a river, on a walk in our neighborhood, or even a few minutes alone in our homes or garden or yard.

From 1990 until 1995, Psychiatrist and Writer, Gerald May found peace and the presence of God, and meaning in the wilderness. May would go into the forest, and spend days and nights, sometimes just gazing at a fire and “doing nothing.” The Wilderness experience did for May what I believe it did for Jesus. He found a connection with creation and with nature. The nature around him as well as the nature inside of him. He connected with his humanity and with humus, the soil. May rediscovered the presence of God, a presence he referred to as the Slowing.

Five years later, May was diagnosed with cancer and over the years of his treatment and ultimate death, the lessons and he gained from his wilderness time gave him the wisdom and courage to stay connected to creation and to the presence of God, the Slowing, he found.

Wilderness is a place and a time where we find peace, where we find wisdom and guidance. Wilderness is where change can take place.

Wilderness Changes Us: Wilderness changed Jesus and Gerald May and it will change you and me.

Lent leads to Wilderness, leads to Mystery, leads to Change, leads to Life. In wilderness we find our deeper, wilder, more natural selves, and we find God.