Christmas Presents for Christmas Presence

(The following is adapted from the sermon I preached for St. Peter’s Church, Purcellville, VA, on Dec 30, 2012)

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I always used to enjoy without question all the facets of Christmas: the giving and receiving of gifts, decorating the house, the special church service with all the great carols, gathering with family for a special meal, and doing all the other things that we only did at Christmas.  And did I mention getting presents?  I have always been particularly fond of getting presents....

But in the last five years or so, after I finally found and embraced a saving faith in Jesus and had some time to really think about all the things we do at Christmas, I've become rather conflicted over most of the traditional Christmas festivities we engage in. Faith made me feel rather Grinch-y: looking down from the great height of Mount Crumpet at those foolish Whos, engaging in the sound and fury of their pointless Christmas revels (Jing Tinglers and Pan Tookahs, indeed!).  As a Grinch who already knows and understands that the “Spirit of Christmas” isn't tied to the stuff, the “stuff” seems pointless!  So why not just let Christmas come WITHOUT boxes or ribbons or tags?  Why bother? 

After all, the presents I love are just consumerism and greed, encouraged in our hearts by marketers and advertisers, right?  Decorations and lights and travel and family gatherings and parties and presents are just reasons to spend money we wouldn't spend otherwise, and all to benefit the bottom line of stores and other businesses.  Have you ever felt this way about Christmas?  Have you ever considered going to that extra worship service at Christmas and skipping all the rest?

As I struggled to make peace with our typical Christmas observances, especially the gift giving part, I finally reached an uneasy truce: at Christmas God gave us the gift of Jesus, so we give gifts to each other;  it’s Jesus’ birthday, so we give gifts to each other because we can’t give them to him;  the Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus, so we give gifts…  Those seem rather trite and flimsy reasons (or should I say “excuses”?) for our American-style Christmas Extravaganza, but it’s the best I could come up with… 

Then earlier this week I read an interesting article called “Putting Mary Back in Christmas” by Robin Philips.  The article was primarily about finding an appropriate middle ground between what many consider the Catholic extreme of an all-but-deified Mary on the one hand versus a common Protestant attitude that is so very careful to keep Mary a mere ordinary human being as to make her (Mary) even less important than any other ordinary Christian. 

In his article Mr. Philips says this: “Mary is the supreme example of God’s grace reaching us through the stuff of the created world. By saying “yes” to God, Mary’s womb became the means by which the God-man could come to earth and rescue us from the curse of sin and death.”  What that statement is saying is that God works through “means” (of stuff) to convey his grace to us; He uses the world to act for Him; He uses creation to bless His people.  And God’s use of creation is not simply a matter of miraculously manipulating inanimate objects, but also of using the actions of people. 

Of course, it shouldn't surprise us that God uses creation to bless.  In our reading from John, we heard this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”  (John 1:1-3)
God MADE all the “stuff” and substance that we call the world.  The Earth, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, all of these things from the very beginning of creation are “stuff” and that stuff is God’s. 

We fell because of stuff (that whole unfortunate incident with the apple that we heard about), but we are also blessed through stuff.  Israel was a nation made of stuff – people, land, houses, possessions.  And from Israel came King David, and from David’s progeny came Mary, and from Mary came Jesus – who is both God AND “stuff”, and the ultimate blessing upon humankind. 

God blesses through stuff – not mere ideas or thoughts or words.  God acts by means of stuff, for example plaguing Pharaoh with actual frogs and locusts, feeding Israel in the wilderness with real food, giving Israel actual land as a home, and being born into this world of stuff as a baby to act here for the benefit of his people. 

God created the stuff, and then created himself within that stuff through the cooperative womb of Mary.  And from that life as stuff came our salvation!  Now salvation itself is certainly an intangible “idea” - a “concept” - but it was got for us by means of stuff… a human body born from a woman, living in the world, then dying on a wooden cross, pierced by iron, and wrapped with linen and spices in death and placed in a rocky tomb.  And that’s all stuff, stuff, and more stuff!  (and all this talk of stuff reminds me of the comedy routine by George Carlin on “stuff”….)

So how can all this “stuff” make sense of our Christmas celebrations?  It goes back to Mary, who is not merely to be remembered as the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, but who also serves as the supreme example of God’s grace entering the world by means of His people, who are stuff he created.    And we also are means God uses to bless others.  None of us is likely to bless the world so richly and universally as Mary did when she obediently allowed God’s Son to enter creation through her.  But we – both individually and as The Church - are just as important for conveying the Good News of God’s saving grace, and serving as a conduit of His Blessings. 

Because think about it: when is the last time you felt richly and compellingly blessed by a mere thought or idea?  I couldn't come up with anything for myself….  But when have you felt richly and compellingly blessed by someone’s actions or gifts or presence – by those things that rely on actions within the “stuff” of the world? 

Now there is fertile ground where I can think of all sorts of examples in my own life:  unexpected gifts large and small, acts of service, kind words, a smile, an acknowledgement, and just the warm presence of another person beside me.  All of these things rely on the activities of another person to convey blessings from God.  Because you know that ultimately, all those blessings are from God, no matter what person may physically provide them to you.

And that, I think, is our basis for all we do at Christmas.  Of course, we remember and honor God and Jesus and what has been done for us.  But that’s history and ideas – intangible concepts.  It gets real when it becomes flesh and dwells among us; when our thoughts and feelings become actions and gifts and service to one another; when we make it real by representing it in the stuff of creation, here and now.

Our Christmas Presents become a way of demonstrating and paying forward God’s Christmas Presence.  The gifts we give one another – whether wrapped in paper and bows, or consisting of the acts of love we perform for others - are a way of making Christ known.  And that is a perfectly wonderful reason to continue to keep Christmas well.

Our Christmas “Presents” show forth Christ’s Christmas “Presence,” and in that way God blesses us, every one.  Merry Christmas!

Viral Compassion

You can always tell it's been a slow news day when all the media outlets are reduced to reporting on the latest thing that's gone viral on the internet!  Of course, that's the only reason I heard about the NYC police officer who got his 15 minutes of fame by being "caught" giving a new pair of boots and socks to a barefoot homeless man a couple weeks ago.  A photo of the incident went viral, becoming so popular the news media felt compelled to jump into the fray, reporting the "story" and asking people's opinion on what the officer did, how to help the homeless, and so on.

Now the man is shoeless again!  When people noticed the man some days later, barefoot again, he said he didn't feel safe wearing such expensive boots, and hid them so they wouldn't be stolen.  Further investigation revealed that the man was not homeless, and has an apartment paid for by various benefits he receives.  He just has a history of refusing help.

Where does this sort of story leave us when we are  asked - especially at this time of year - to help the needy?  The Pollyanna optimists believe they can give a shoeless man a pair of boots (or put a dollar in the red kettle or give a tot a toy...) and change his life.  The Scrooge-like cynics see just another person unwilling to take care of themselves and expecting a handout in the name of Christmas.  The story of this shoeless man shows that neither end of this spectrum is true in this case; neither Pollyanna nor Scrooge have got it right.

Where, then, does the middle ground lay?  How should we orient our hearts to those in need?   Helping others in order to feel good about your own charity will most often lead to disappointment when your gift does not yield the anticipated transformation and/or gratitude from the recipient.  Refusing to help others so that they must learn to help themselves will most often lead to being cut off from humanity and with a withered capacity for compassion.

We can't expect to permanently "fix" poverty.  Jesus himself states that the poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11).  But neither can we ignore the poor.  Jesus expects us to help them (James 1:27).


The solution is to keep our eyes on Jesus when we serve others.  Give chiefly because compassion for humanity demands it, and with no expectation of any reward  (whether in the form of gratitude from the recipient or the form of satisfaction at doing a good deed).  That, after all, is what Jesus would do!  God's compassion for Humanity is, after all, the reason for the season.

An epidemic of "viral compassion" is what I want for Christmas!  Can you help?

Get Some Help!

The image that comes to my mind when I'm feeling over-worked is that of a busy waiter working a crowded, noisy dining room, bringing orders to the diners from the kitchen.  This server is carrying a large tray, heavily laden with plates of food, hoisted high and carefully balanced.  When another waiter approaches and says "let me help," the answer is always "Thanks, but I've got it."  Why?  because it is more effort to lower the tray and try to balance it on one hand to pass some of the load to another, than it is to just press on and finish the job yourself.  At least, that's how I often feel!  The things I most need help with are the very things that seem to require MORE effort to hand off than to just complete on my own.

And then there are all those other reasons for not taking help: pride (can't let others think I can't do this myself!), perfectionism (no way can someone else do this the way I want it done!), distrust (she's only helping so she can try to take my place!), and so on and so on....  We are some seriously broken people, aren't we?

But we don't have to be!  I heard a very striking sermon last month reminding us that Jesus wants to help us. In all things.  At all times.  Jesus is a helper and his desire is to help us.  He watches us in our self-imposed struggles, trying to catch our attention so he can say "I will HELP you!"  The help he offers is not help that we have to direct, either.  Unlike the well-meaning waiter trying to offer help but needing action on my part for the help to be effective, all we have to do to receive Jesus' help is to ask for it.  He is God, after all, an he can do anything.

Right now, take a moment to close your eyes, and bring to mind an area of your life in which you need help. Now imagine Jesus has entered into the room.  He is looking intently at you, his desire to ease your burden is clearly written on his face.  He speaks, saying "let me help you."  Say yes, my friend, say yes!

And you don't have to figure out HOW to "let" Jesus help you.  My waiter may find that the restaurant has gotten less crowded so the trays are lighter and easier to manage.  Maybe the management has hired more waiters.  Or bought lighter plates!  Perhaps the next diner he serves will offer him a job somewhere else that doesn't involve balancing heavy trays.  Or perhaps the same trays with the same plates for the same diners just doesn't feel like such a difficult load any more....

Just say "Jesus, help me" and watch with confident expectation for something to change.

I look up to the mountains—
    does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!
     (Psalm 121:1-2)

Just say yes and Jesus will do the rest.

Plates

I've noticed lately that my everyday dinner plates are looking kind of rough: several are chipped, and the paint is looking worn and faded.  As I've started considering an upgrade, I remembered a study I'd heard about relating the size of your plate to the amount you eat.  This is a link to a fascinating article on the topic.

The bottom line is that the same amount of food looks smaller when served on a larger plate.  Especially telling is that even when people were specifically tasked with serving the same amount into different sized dishes, they consistently over-served when using the larger dishes, showing how strong and unconscious this bias is.  Combined with the fact that American-made dinner plates have grown some 23 percent since the 1950s, it's little wonder that we're all getting heavier!  I'll definitely be looking for some smaller plates when the time comes.

All this musing about plates naturally turned my mind to offering plates and from there to church pledge campaigns, since many churches (my own included!) have their pledge in-gatherings in the Fall.  So what bearing might this plate-size business have on our perceptions of generosity when we are giving to God through our local church?

At first thought, it might seem that we all would recognize how abundantly God has blessed us and thus see ourselves as having "plates" filled to overflowing with God's generous provisions.  From that sense of abundance we would then readily and joyfully give a heaping helping to the church, confident we'd still be left with more than enough for ourselves.  The truth, however, is that  the rich communities in which so many of us live comprise a vast enormous plate on which our individual blessings often seem tiny and small....

Seeing our portion on such an unrealistically large plate makes it harder to give.  The total of what we have feels small on the "big plate" of the lifestyles around us: a mere pea on a platter.  It makes us less inclined to give generously, because we feel poor by comparison even in our extraordinary wealth!

The answer then is to get yourself a new "plate" on which serve up your blessings.  Like the more-than adequate servings that fit on a smaller dinner plate, we need to evaluate the abundance of God's provision against a more appropriate backdrop.  We need to see the circumstances of our lives on a smaller plate, in order to more readily and easily share what's on that plate with others.

Rather than comparing ourselves to the rich and famous as shown in news and entertainment and to observations of our neighbors, instead we need to consider the whole range of the human condition - around the world and throughout time.  And instead of focusing only on the "stuff" we have, we also need to remember all the intangibles - family, friends, church community, health, faith, well-being, the beauty of creation, the wonder that God made you and loves you!  All the money in the world won't fill a plate the way these things can.

With the confidence of knowing our plate is full, our generosity is more easily released.  We just need to know how to look at things.  What aspects of your life do you need to look at differently in order to recognize how abundantly God has provided for you?  Can you share more of that abundance with your church?

The King-Sized Bed Effect

My husband and I recently took a lovely vacation on Ocracoke Island, NC.  We rented a tiny but adorable little house, and its one and only bed happens to be a king-sized bed.  Hubby and I have spent the last 24 years sleeping in a queen-sized bed, so I was looking forward to the spacious treat of a really big bed, even in a tiny house.

What I discovered though, was that that large bed felt rather TOO large.  We naturally spread farther apart when we laid down, and I found that when I reached my hand out to tuck it under hubby's torso as I often do, he was no longer in easy reach!  It really was more like sleeping alone than with someone, what with all that real estate between us and the wider sheets and blankets, too.

Thinking about our experience with the big bed got me to thinking about other things that come with so much space.  First and foremost, we don't have to put up with each other!  Blanket hogging, tossing and turning, snoring, coughing, one reading in bed when the other is trying to sleep - these are all things hubby and I have learned to tolerate (and even love and appreciate) in one another.  But we've only learned to do so by staying close; as the bed gets wider, the amount of tolerance needed decreases.

Similarly with living in large houses: how does one learn to tolerate the irritating habits of those with whom they live, if they are so far apart that they don't HAVE to learn to tolerate?  According to US Census data, the average square footage of single family homes in the northeastern US increased from about 1,600 to about 2,600 square feet since the 1970s.  That's a 1,000 square foot increase, or about two-thirds larger!  Ironically, average household size has been decreasing during that time!

What we found in the big bed is surely also true of the big house: when more space is available, people will naturally spread apart.  The farther apart we are, the less we use our "tolerance-muscles."  Our character gets weak and flabby, and we lose both tolerance AND intimacy with others.

Is it any wonder, then, that Christianity in the US seems to be waning in many places?  We who want our personal space and have limited tolerance for others being "too close" would naturally also find it difficult to embrace a Lord who lives WITHIN us, as close as our very breath.  Or to live closely in a tight knit Christian community as the body of Christ - not just occupying the same room on a Sunday morning, but knit together into a single community.

Galatians 4:1-7

I say it's time to down-size!  Where in your relationships do you have "too much space"?  Is it between you and your spouse?  Or perhaps a sibling?  Maybe it's with a friend or someone in your church fellowship.  Find some small way to begin drawing that person closer.

Or maybe...  maybe... it's between you and God that there is too much space.  God may seem a world away, but God is always as close as your breath - just a prayer away from your heart.  Pray now for God to grant you the tolerance to let Him live closer to your heart.

What Makes a Weed?

I've always loved when the violets start blooming in the spring.  As a child I used to love when I found myself somewhere with enough of them to pick for a little posy. When we built our house some years ago, I was delighted to find that there were many violets in the lawn.  It seems, however, that the violets are flourishing more than the grass is, and our flower beds quickly become overrun with large violet plants when weeding gets overlooked - as it frequently does!

In fact, I pulled pounds and pounds of violet plants recently from around the base of our above-ground pool.    On the one hand, I was sad as I pulled up the roots and rhizomes and saw all the buds the plants were preparing for later. On the other hand, it felt so good to clear out the overwhelming mass of unwanted vegetation.

cleistogamus "flowers"

That bit of weeding got me thinking about how my beloved violets had become such unwanted pests.  I discovered as I was doing a bit of research that what I thought were next season's flower buds were actually this season's cleistogamous [hidden] flowers.  These hidden flowers produce seeds with no other violet plant needed, and the seed pods are sort of "spring-loaded", so they get flung away from the parent plant when they drop.  And that's what makes the little blighters so good at spreading!  

It's that same sort of unexpected ability to reproduce itself that makes some our habits so troublesome.  Reading, for example, is a good thing.  But getting hooked on reading novels, newspapers, magazines, blogs and so forth, day in and day out to the detriment of other responsibilities, IS a big problem.  And the same thing can happen with any and all of the  good things God has given us in this world.  It's not the thing itself that is a problem, but its ability to take root in our lives and overwhelm all the other things in the garden.  

To be an effective disciple of Jesus, one must root out everything that gets in the way of  taking up the cross and following him.  The difficulty is that so many of the things that get in our way are not bad things by their own merit, but only because of their ability to crowd out discipleship.  Violet flowers are, after all, quite charming and lovely.  It is only when they have the chance to take over the garden or the lawn or the flower beds that they become a problem.

"Then [Jesus] said to the crowd, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.'"  (Luke 9:23)

What weeds are crowding out your discipleship efforts?  What keeps you from prayer, Bible reading, worship, service, giving?  Weeds can be hard to identify and heart-breaking to dig out when they seem as harmless as a little violet flower.  Ruthlessly "weeding" our lives is the only thing, though, that will allow us space to develop fully into disciples of Jesus Christ.  So get out your gardening gloves, and start pulling!

Choose your Satisfaction

I have a little swimming pool in my backyard.  It's an above-ground-model that was given to us by friends, and they weren't the first owners.  We've had to replace parts of the side that rusted out, the bottom is lumpy because our install wasn't the best.  The liner has at least a dozen patches that are starting to come off, and I can't seem to keep ahead of the algae...

But despite all that, I do love it!  I like to float in it and just watch the sky, or enjoy the feel of hot dry sunshine on top and cool wet water below.  One day recently I was reveling in the glory of the world as I floated in that pool, and it occurred to me that a lot of people in the wealthy part of the world where I live probably think I'm foolish to find such satisfaction in something that by any standards (even my own!) is quite dilapidated and second-rate.

And sometimes I might agree that I'm too easily satisfied: choosing the easier path, deciding to settle for less, passively accepting what's available rather than pursuing something else, something that represents "better" or "more."  The world says that I am not living up to my full potential when I leave these possibilities on the table, un-striven-for.  After all, if I'd spent more effort advancing in my job, I might have a beautiful in-ground pool now, and wouldn't that be better?

But I think we all have to choose our satisfaction.  To choose satisfaction means to acknowledge that what you have RIGHT NOW is enough - to look into the depths of your soul and say not only "this is good enough," but "this is good and more than I deserve." It's not a matter of "settling" for something that is less than your heart's desire.  Rather, it is a matter of allowing yourself to be satisfied with what's available in the here and now.

In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray this: "Give us the bread we need for today." (Matthew 6:11, Common English Bible)  To choose satisfaction is to acknowledge that whatever we have now, today, is what God has provided to us - for today.  "More" or "better" may be coming our way later, but to disparage what we have now is to disparage the Giver.  To not find a full measure of joy in our current circumstances is to judge God's provision as inadequate...

So, my friends, choose to be satisfied!  What unlikely or overlooked circumstance can you find RIGHT NOW that satisfies your soul?

When Lose-Lose Feels Like Win-Win

I admit it: I spend more time than I should watching TV and movies.  To make matters worse, much of what I watch has little or no lasting value.  But every now and then, I come across something that is just extraordinary!  I stumbled upon one of those little prizes earlier this week, when I watched the movie "Win Win," starring Paul Giamatti. (Watch the trailer here.)

What inspired me to even put it on my Blockbuster queue, I couldn't tell you, because the movie doesn't sound like much.  "A struggling lawyer and volunteer wrestling coach's chicanery comes back to haunt him when the teenage grandson of the client he's double-crossed comes into his life." (IMDb)

Often, this sort of dramatic offering is so dull and boring that I can't bear to watch to the end.  But this movie is just so REAL.  What makes it real, you ask?  Well, none of the main characters are "beautiful people" who look unbelievably perfect.  The main character, Mike, is a lawyer, yet he's struggling financially.  The sport we're following is high school wrestling of all things - nothing glamorous there!  The "chicanery" Mike attempts is small change for a movie plot - involving a mere $1,500 a month.  Everything in this movie is just so ordinary, I feel like this guy and his family could be my neighbor or someone who goes to my church.  

But that's where the ordinary ends.  What is extraordinary is how our hero Mike reacts when the circumstances turn against him.  Like anyone might, he starts out trying to hide his financial troubles and the deception he pulls to gain his family a little extra income.  When Kyle, a teenage boy and former wrestler, shows up, Mike's first thoughts are about finally coaching a winning team.  

But ultimately, Mike has to choose between his ill-gotten money and keeping Kyle as part of his family.  There is no magical last minute lottery ticket or unexpected twist of the plot to save him - he MUST make the hard choice.  And he does, happily!

I suppose what this movie really shows is the power of repentance and redemption and  reconciliation and relationship to bring joy to life.  These things have more power than money to make life worth living, even after making a terrible mistake.  And while this movie is not explicitly Christian, it certainly does a great job of conveying these themes that lie at the heart of the Christian message.  Jesus Christ came to save sinners and reconcile them with God.  With reconciliation comes renewed relationship, and with strong, wholesome relationship comes joy!

The world would judge that Mike wound up in a lose-lose scenario: he lost the extra income he tried to get, and his wrestling team didn't get to go to the state championships.  But in the more important realm of relationships, he gained a relationship with Kyle and restored the relationship with his wife.  And that makes him a winner all the way around!

Are there relationships in your life in need of reconciliation?  Perhaps it is even God with whom you need to reconcile?  Fear not, for Jesus has made reconciliation possible.  Don't be afraid to choose relationships over worldly success, for they are a source of great joy!

Wildebeest - Seeing Is Believing

I found this cute little animated cartoon about a couple of wildebeest at the watering hole.
It's only 1 minute long, so you should watch it now, before reading on....



Silly Wildebeest!  Won't believe the truth until they see it for themselves!  That really is the hard way to learn a lesson, but isn't it just how we people often operate, too?

Like Beest 1 and Beest 2, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors and look at the world around us.  Christians look at the world and see the marvelous creation of a loving God.  Atheists look at the very same world and see a product of chance, happenstance, and luck.  We moo at one another with our differing opinions, but until one or the other can somehow SHOW that their answer is the correct one, it remains just a mooing match.

And that's because it's had to believe difficult things, unbelievable things, contradictory things, without seeing them for yourself.  The Christian scripture gives us the example of St. Thomas, to reassure the doubters that it IS hard to believe unbelievable things, and it's okay to question hard things.

Thomas was absent when Jesus first appeared to his disciples after his resurrection.  Doubting Thomas refused to believe such an impossible thing unless he could see and touch for himself.  Lucky for him, he does have a chance to see (and touch!) the resurrected Lord, and he believes.  Jesus closes his interview with Thomas by saying,

"You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me." (John 20:29)

But it is the rare person indeed who believes without seeing SOMETHING to convince them!  Followers of Jesus after his ascension can no longer point out direct evidence that he rose, because Jesus himself is no longer available to touch.  But I'm sure every believer has seen or heard some indirect testimony to the living Christ that has convinced them, whether it was a moving moment in worship, the suddenly powerful truth of a word of scripture, or the tangible evidence of another believer's changed life.

What convinced you to believe?

How can you show "the truth" so others might believe?

Find Your Greatness

I've been trained to expect ads from companies like Nike to feature toned athletic bodies, sweating and achieving athletic greatness of one sort or another.  The message is "buy our stuff if you want to become great like these beautiful, successful people."  So I was very pleasantly surprised by this Nike ad, which I've now seen a couple of times during the Olympics:



This 12-year-old boy from London, Ohio is neither toned nor displaying athletic greatness.  But the narrator tells us that greatness is not reserved for the chosen few with special gifts.  Greatness isn't rare or precious, or unique. His final words as we watch this boy doggedly jogging on are these: "We're all capable of it. All of us."

And the ordinariness of this boy - in such stark contrast to the feats of the Olympic athletes - reminded me that we really are not just capable of greatness, but we are from the moment of birth already great.

Our greatness begins in our identities as creatures made by God, and made in God's own image:

So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. 
(Genesis 1:27)

And God assured us that he sees something compelling in us, his creatures, when he sent Jesus for our sake, to redeem us from our sins:

For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16)

And God used the words of his servant, the apostle Paul, to remind us that as his beloved creatures, redeemed by Jesus' blood, we have a purpose and task to live into:

So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
(I Corinthians 9:26)

Yes, the only question of our greatness lies in whether we live into it fully, or merely leave it as an unfulfilled  potential for so very much more.  How will you live into your greatness today?

Hunger Games

I recently had the chance to read "The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins.  The basic premise of the story is that North America has become a country called Panem, which consists of  the Capital and 13 outlying Districts.  The Capital rules the Districts, but 75 years ago the Districts rebelled and District 13 was obliterated; the remaining Districts now function in virtual slavery.  As punishment and perpetual reminder of their failed rebellion, the Capital created The Hunger Games.  Each District must send a boy and a girl  aged  12 to 18 (called Tributes), to compete in a kill-or-be-killed death match for the entertainment of the Capital, and required viewing for the people in the Districts.  The winning Tribute earns a life of relative wealth and ease for the rest of their life, and earns favor and special rations of food and supplies for their entire District until the next Games.

The story, then, tells the tale of Katniss Everdeen, who winds up as the girl Tribute from District 12.  The book is a  fast-paced read, well written and engaging.  Even though it is labeled as a book for young people (in the bookstore you'll find it with things like "Twilight", and my local library has it in their Young Peoples Fiction collection), I found it an enjoyable and worthwhile read and recommend it for adult reading, too.  But, my main purpose today wan't just a book review...

What I find rolling around in my mind today from this story is the perpetual reminder, the perpetual sacrifice inflicted on the Districts by the Capital.  That is why the Capital holds the Games: to remind the Districts that resistance is futile, and to assert their dominance.

Thankfully, our gracious God does not treat us the way the Capital treats the Districts!  Can you imagine life with a reminder of ever sin, every shortcoming, every bad decision being perpetually waved before your eyes?  With the price for that sin being perpetually demanded?  With forgiveness not an option?

Thankfully our gracious God made a sacrifice of his Son, once for all, to pay for our sins.  And our gracious God chooses to forget our forgiven sins, so that we can live life in hope and thanksgiving.  All that's required is to acknowledge our sins, confess them to God, repent and ask forgiveness, and do our best to live a renewed life.

You might consider whether there is anyone you perpetually remind and punish for their past sins against you.  Is there a relative, friend, acquaintance, or co-worker who's past bad behavior you just can't let go of?  Or maybe that person is yourself?  I invite you to consider how God will so graciously forgive us, and where you might need to try to do the same.

Look Where You're Going

Wow - nearly a year since my last post here - which was also a sermon text!  Well, I have another sermon text to post, this time a message I shared with my folks at St. Peter's Church in Purcellville.  We've been using the OT reading this summer, and have been following the life and times of King David.  Lucky me, I got the first half of the story of David and Bathsheba! (2 Samuel 11:1-15)

I hope that it not only feeds your soul, but keeps you on the road... :)
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This morning we’re continuing to consider the life of King David – one of Israel’s heroes: a great king, a great warrior, a man who loved God so much that he is called a man after God’s own heart.

But today, we get to take a look at David’s dark days and bad behavior.  It’s a sorry circumstance that’s as much at home in a modern newspaper as in this 3,000 year old story:  A political leader starts from humble roots, operating with a sense of purpose and morality and “what’s right”.  He does things the way they should rightly be done, wins success after success, and gains power and fame.  But eventually, he starts to think a bit too highly of himself and his desires, and before you know it, power leads to corruption, and the tawdry story of a pregnant mistress and a murder plot hits the tabloids.

When we dig into this story, we notice that David’s been king of all Israel for a while now.  He’s got the powerful Ark of God residing in his capital city.  He’s defeated his enemies.  He da man!  Powerful, well-loved, and surrounded by servants just waiting to do his bidding so they might bask in David’s reflected glory.  It’s good to be king, and I think David is finding himself just a little too wonderful in his own mind…. 

Because you see, it’s spring, the scripture points out, the time when kings go out to battle, but David has chosen to stay home.  Why?  Maybe he was trying to give his general Joab some space to make a name for himself, or maybe David was feeling a bit run-down, a little sickly and thought it best to stay home and rest.  But the way this story is told, it sounds like David doesn’t think he needs to go, he’d rather stay in his comfortable palace than go and sleep rough on a battlefield -  he’s important enough, blessed enough, that he doesn’t need to go himself and be inconvenienced…

So here is David, pampering himself in his pleasant palace, looking out over his city, when he catches a glimpse of a lovely lady, the beautiful Bathsheba.  And he might have appreciated that little look and then gone back to his duties.  But David is a great king, so why not find out who this lovely creature is and enjoy her in his bedroom? 

That she’s a married woman doesn’t even seem to register to him – he just sends for her and has his way with her, and sends her back home.  When she finds she’s pregnant, they have a big problem, because her husband Uriah has been away with the army so that the child could not be his.  David calls him back to report on the war, but the honorable Uriah won’t go sleep with his wife– he doesn’t feel right having that sort of comfort while his fellow soldiers are at war.

David then arranges to send Uriah back into battle to a position where he will surely be killed, and that is where our reading for today ends.  It turns out that Uriah is indeed killed in battle, and David is now able to marry Bathsheba to hide his adulterous secret.   

What a sorry situation!  Israel’s great and honorable king David has descended into adultery, lies, and murder.  Oh how the mighty have fallen!  But – how did this happen?  How did David wind up like this after such a great start, and what can we learn to avoid this sort of thing ourselves?

It all comes down to this: You look where you’re going and you go where you’re looking.  It’s driving 101 – when you’re behind the wheel, you need to be looking where you want to go, because that’s where you’ll tend to steer to.  If you want to drive straight down the road but you’re staring off to the right at something along the side of the road, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself in the ditch instead!   And when you have to do emergency maneuvers, its even more important to look where you want to go – you need to look at the gap you want to steer through and NOT at the tree you want to avoid! 

As in driving, so in life – your life tends to steer toward the things that you allow to engage your attention, whether that’s where you say you want to go or not.  And that’s where David went wrong.  Instead of brief glance at Bathsheba and then turning his eyes back to the road, he let her become an obsession, focusing his thoughts on having her, and then on covering up his little indiscretion, until he wound up in a flaming wreck in the ditch. 

Fortunately for us, we have a God who can make all things new, and even a fiery wreck like David’s smash-up with Bathsheba can be forgiven and restored and set back on the road if the driver can just realize their error and repent.  We’ll see how this happens for David in next week’s readings, so I’m not going to delve into repentance this morning.  I’m going to stick with accident avoidance. 

So – if we tend to go where we’re looking, what sort of distractions are likely to take our main attention off of following God and striving to be like our Lord Jesus, and send us off the road into the ditch or worse?  It’s all the same old things that have always distracted people from God: power, sex, wealth, with all their combinations and variations, from the mild and subtle to the wild and outrageous.  The distractions range from anything to everything!

And with such a vast array of things to lead us off of the road to Godly living, how can we possibly hope to stay on track?  Well, God in his wisdom has given us some tools, and there are three in particular that I’ll share with you.

First off, our weekly worship is a very overt and intentional directing of our hearts and minds toward God.  Scripture and preaching and hymns and prayers not only connect us with God, but may show us places where our attention has been inappropriately wandering.  Have you ever had the experience of hearing something that seemed to be illuminated with a sort of Holy Hiliter, pointing out some sinful thing you need to change but have perhaps been ignoring?  I know I’ve felt that sort of conviction!

So weekly worship is essential, but that leaves an awful lot of the week without guidance.  You can get WAYYYYY off the road if you only look to God for an hour or so on Sundays!  We need guidance during the week, and the surest way to get it is with God’s own roadmap, Holy Scripture.  Daily scripture reading makes it easier to keep our attention on God – and to hear Him calling out for our attention when we’re heading off into some ditch that we haven’t noticed.  Add daily prayer and you’ve got the second great tool to keep you turning back to God.

But weekly worship and daily prayer and scripture may still not be enough to keep us straight – after all, I bet David himself did those things, but still he got off-course.  What David didn’t have was friends and advisors who might actually confront him if they knew he was doing something wrong.  David sent his army off to war – who was left to advise him?  No one but servants…  So the third tool we have is fellowship and accountability through others. 

We all need spiritual friends with whom we share our lives – people who have our permission to tell it like it is when they see us heading for a ditch.  Friends who will speak the truth to us in love and help keep us on the road to life in Christ.  If David had had someone to poke him in the arm and say “what do you think you’re doing?” when he sent for a married woman to sleep with, maybe this whole incident may have been avoided.  God himself said it when Adam was created – “it is not good for the man to be alone.”  We all need companions on this way.

You see, we live in an age that prizes “following your nose.”  If it feels good, do it.  Whatever captures your fancy should be pursued, and there is no notion that there is even a road that should be followed.  So it’s imperative that we use the tools God has given us if we want to follow His ways and have eternal life.  Worship.  Study and pray.  Let yourself be accountable.  Do everything in your power to keep your attention on God. 

 

Look where you want to be going, or you may go where you find you’ve been looking.

Again I say, Look where you want to be going, or you may go where you find you’ve been looking.

Drifting...

It's hard to get where you want to go by drifting.

Sit in a canoe on a lake and you'll either go nowhere, or you'll drift in whatever direction the wind happens to carry you.

Sit in a canoe on a river, and you'll get carried along in the direction of the current.  If you're lucky, you might get a gentle trip like the lazy river at a waterpark.  But maybe you'll get a harrowing trip through rocks and rapids, and there is no telling whether the current will carry you safely through, flip your boat, dash you to bits on a rock, or throw you over a waterfall.

Unless your destination is "wherever I happen to end up," you'll never get there by merely drifting.

As followers of Lord Jesus, we have a destination - to grow into his image, to become the women and men God intends us to be.  Jesus never said to people, "Believe in me, then just kick back and let the current of life  take you where it will."  No, he never said that at all.  Jesus calls us to action - on-going action.  Believe, take on his yoke, deny yourself, pick up your cross, follow...

Sometimes, a season of drifting is necessary and good - when you've been navigating difficult waters and finally find yourself out of the rapids for awhile, it's good to rest and take stock, repair you boat, get ready for what may be around the next bend.  That is purposeful, intentional drifting, and we all need some.

But continual mindless drifting - consciously choosing to make no choice about one's direction - does nothing but waste time.  The longer one drifts, the more difficult it can become to find the motivation to sit up, check out the surroundings, choose a course, and start doing something - anything - to start moving in that direction.

If you've been just drifting along in your walk with Jesus, maybe today is your day to get back on course.  If you need help setting a direction, here's a link to "Forward Day By Day," a daily devotional that follows the lectionary readings used by The Episcopal Church.  You can find more resources there as well, to help you chart a course.  Good Sailing!