Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Luke 1:26-38: Motherhood as an act of faith

So I realize that in order to catch up, I am going to have to post more than once a week.  I hope to be able to do that this week.  For now, I wanted to share with you some thoughts on motherhood as an act of faith.  I know it's a few weeks late in relation to Mother's Day, but perhaps that's a good thing.
I'll be honest, I struggled a lot trying to figure out what to preach on Mother's Day.  In my discussions with people who have been here a while, I learned that sometimes they had gotten a "Mother's Day" sermon, and sometimes they hadn't.  This being my first time preaching regularly, it was also the first time I had been confronted with the question; "how do we use a time like Mother's Day to reflect on faith?"
My mind went to Jesus' mother, Mary, the most famous of all mothers.  What can Mary's story teach us about faith?
As we study what is often referred to as "the Annunciation", or Mary's receiving of the news that she will give birth to Jesus, it is hard not to compare and contrast her reaction to that of Zechariah on hearing the news of John the Baptist's impending birth.  The two scenes come so close together that it's hard not to think that a comparison is called for, but while the scenes are close in proximity in Luke's narrative, they are also worlds apart when it comes to Zechariah and Mary's relative reactions.  If we had to wager a guess, we would expect Zechariah's reaction to be one of faith, especially taking into consideration his role as a priest at the Temple.  Indeed, it is in the holiest of spaces at the Temple where Zechariah receives the news that his wife, Elizabeth, will give birth to John the Baptist.  And yet, we see that his response is one of disbelief, a far cry from the faith we would expect from a priest in service to God.
Cut to Nazareth, where a very different figure receives very similar news.  While the messenger is the same,  in this instance the recipient of the news is a teenage girl rather than a Temple priest, and an unmarried teenage girl to boot.  So imagine our surprise when on hearing the news from Gabriel, including how exactly everything would happen, Mary responds with one of the simplest and yet most faithful statements ever spoken: "Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."  Despite the fact that the news would cause Mary a lot more difficulty than it would cause Zechariah, we see her much more willing to embrace her role in God's plan.  I have no doubt that she had to be thinking of the nine months that she would spend literally sharing her body with another living being.  Perhaps of greater concern would be the social repercussions when she, a teenage girl yet to be married, turned up pregnant.   
I think all of these things crossed Mary's mind, even as she uttered the words that cast her as a key player in the greatest drama in history.  It teaches us several things of great importance.  The first is that faith can be found in the most unexpected of places, even when it is found wanting in the very place we go expecting to find it.  Secondly, motherhood in and of itself is an act of faith.  At a time when women, specifically mothers, are under increasing pressure to have careers of their own, I think we can learn something about the value of intentionally entering into motherhood from Mary.  It is true that God isn't in need of any more women to give birth to the Messiah, but that doesn't diminish the potential of each child to one day make a lasting impact on the community around them.  Mary raised Jesus with the expectation that He would play an indispensable role in God's plan.  While our children might not grow up to redeem humankind, that shouldn't preclude us from expecting that each one of them will play an important role in spreading the good news of what Mary's child accomplished in His death, burial, and resurrection.  If we raise them properly, it will be a message carried not only on their lips but also in their hearts, born out in their actions for the world to see.   Finally, we learn from the example of Mary that our role in God's plan will most assuredly cost us something.  For Mary, it cost her the pain of childbirth, and the respect of her community.  It is easy to forget that Mary was probably the recipient of judgmental stares and hushed whispering for quite some time after Jesus' birth.  By saying yes to God, Mary was agreeing to endure all these things so that she would have the honor of giving birth to and nurturing the world's Savior.  Do we, with the faith of Mary, say yes when God asks us to play a part in His divine plan?  Do we, like Mary, willingly accept the cost of proclaiming the gospel, both in word and deed, to those around us?  Can we with sincerity of heart say: ""Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."?  

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The moments that make ministry...

I want to take just a moment to draw back the curtain and allow those who aren't in professional ministry to see what happens "behind the scenes".  I know that on several occasions I have heard someone remark, "I wonder what the pastor/minister/priest does all week?"  Sometimes the comments are made because the person hasn't experienced first hand how truly time-consuming it is to prepare multiple Bible studies/sermons each week, while other times they are made because the person is rightly or wrongly skeptical whether the church is truly getting their monies worth.  Much of the time I think the person is just genuinely curious as to what the typical work-day looks like for someone in ministry.  After all, by its very nature ministry is different than most of the vocations in the world today.
I won't even attempt to explain the typical "work-day", because in ministry there is no such thing.  What I will do is try to share with you in a very general sense the moments that make ministry truly rewarding.  Many of you can testify to the fact that I love to study the Bible, and that I also love to talk.  Put those two together and preaching becomes a really enjoyable task.  And yet, some of the most rewarding moments come not when I am talking in front of a crowd, but when I am listening to an individual.  Recently I have visited with a few different people, some that were members of my church, and others that were connected to my church in a less formal way.  During these visits, I have been both amazed and humbled at the way people are willing to open up, and share some of the most personal and meaningful times in their lives.  Whether its a person recalling the last moments they shared with their spouse of nearly sixty years, or someone recalling the tragic loss of a friend, my reaction continues to be one of wonder.  Wonder at how we arrived at this moment.  I've never had a person sit down and say to me, "I want to bare my soul to you."  The moments are always as unexpected as they are touching.  At those times, what begin as casual conversations about movies or the weather end with long pauses, as rushes of emotion choke off the words that come with great difficulty.  And while many times I ask myself "how did we get to this place", I more often find myself in wonder at the depths of God's grace; that he would grant me, despite all my imperfections, the privilege of sharing such a sacred moment with a brother or sister in Christ.  The trust and vulnerability of those experiences mandates that they remain hidden from the view of others, and yet its important that we know that they take place.  It's important that we know that the work of the church is not limited to a single day of the week.  Most of all, it's important that we know that the kingdom of God is truly among us when we "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)        

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Ephesians 3:1-21: the innovative church

I have been pretty slack about posting over the last week to ten days.  Truth be told, for some reason I could never find the motivation to write.  I am sure you were all just about to die of anticipation waiting for my next post, and no doubt some of you were about to wear out the refresh button on your browsers.  (If you couldn't just feel the sarcasm in that last sentence, you don't know me very well.)
But alas, now I am feeling energized and up to the task of trying to put into written words what we have been exploring at church over the past few weeks.  Indeed, it was a good exercise for me to review the last few weeks and remind myself what it is we have learned.  Believe it or not, the sermons start to run together even in the preacher's mind.  
As I was looking back at Ephesians 3, which we covered a few weeks ago, I was reminded of this whole concept of mystery that plays such a big role in Ephesians.  Specifically, the mystery as Paul reveals it to us, "that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel."  In our day of multiculturalism, where our own country is referred to as "the melting pot", I am not sure we fully grasp how ground-breaking a concept this was at the time of the early church, and even how great-breaking a concept it continues to be.  
During my long stretch of unemployment, I remember watching this show on the History Channel (shocking I know), about the space shuttle.  Specifically, it was about all the different pieces of equipment that they use to service and maintain the space shuttle.  One of those pieces of equipment is extremely unique.  In fact, it is the only vehicle of its type ever created.  You see, they prep the space shuttle for launch in a different area than where the shuttle actually lifts off.  The problem with that is, how do you move a shuttle that is standing up with huge booster rockets strapped to it from the area where it is prepared, to the area where it is launched?  That's where this unique vehicle comes into play.  This vehicle, which is actually a huge platform with wheels, drives from the prep area to the launch pad with the shuttle standing on top of it.  The one mile trek is so tedious that it actually takes around twelve hours for the shuttle to make the trip.  You may be asking, why this random digression to talk about the space shuttle and some random platform with wheels?  Well, I brought it up to prove the point that when you are doing something new (traveling to space), inevitably you are going to have to invent new things to help you along the way.  
I know this to be true because Paul and other ancient Christians do the same thing in Ephesians 3 and elsewhere when they use the Greek word syssomos, which means "members of the same body".  Interestingly enough, this is a word used only by the early Christians, as it was invented specifically to describe what happens when Gentiles enter the church.  Even the church's spiritual heritage as it is found in the people of Israel failed to offer a pattern for the merging of Jew and Gentile.  While Judaism had its proselytes, there were still a few things that only those born into the people of Israel were allowed to participate in.  Yes proselytes were Jews, but they would never be as fully a part of Israel as those who were born into Jewish families.  That's why this idea of Jew and Gentile being members of the same body was such a revolutionary concept.  Participation was no longer based on the blood coursing through your veins, but rather on a shared allegiance to and faith in Jesus Christ.  It was such a new concept that they had to create new language to describe it.  Do we ever think of the church as innovative and groundbreaking like we see it in Ephesians, or do we get wrapped up in history and tradition, finding comfort in having things the way they have always been? 
I would love to say that we as the church today fully understand what it is Paul is telling us in Ephesians 3.  However, it would be hard to argue that point given the fact that Sundays are the most segregated time of the week.  There are reasons for that rooted in history, some tragic and some understandable; but those reasons don't change the fact that our churches are anything but examples of a gospel open to all people, of all colors, nationalities, genders, and languages.  If the power of the gospel to effect reconciliation and re-creation isn't displayed in our churches, how can we ever hope for it to be displayed in our world?    

Friday, May 6, 2011

Luke 24:13-35: recognizing Jesus

I talked a little bit in part one of this post about how Jesus is hard to recognize sometimes.  His disciples, who spent three continuous years with him, failed to recognize him at first on the road to Emmaus.  Eventually though, their eyes were opened to the identity of this stranger in their midst.  What led them to recognize him?  They recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
How fitting that Jesus' disciples recognize Him as they are gathered around the table.  This happy coincidence allows us to actually participate in the story, for we to gather around a table regularly with Jesus present.  I would suggest that we can learn a few things from the disciples experience with the resurrected Christ that can inform our own efforts to discern Christ in the breaking of bread.
  • First of all, the fact that they recognized Him in the breaking of the bread implies that in some way His actions were familiar to them.  Perhaps it's the way he prayed.  Some suggest that the very actions of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving bread recalled to their minds Jesus' miraculous feeding of the 5,000.  Others suggest that it evoked in their memory a much more recent event, when the disciples had gathered together with Christ to celebrate the Passover.  Regardless of what it was that triggered their memory, it seems to me that the existence of those memories is the key.  In other words, the disciples had spent a lot of time with Jesus in the past three years and despite their failure to recognize Him at first, it was those memories of their time shared together that eventually reminded them of who he was.  It begs the question, how much time do we spend with our Lord?  At some point in our lives we will all fail to recognize our Savior.  Do we share enough time with Jesus to ensure that even in our weaker moments, eventually our eyes will be opened to who he really is?  
  • Each week when we gather at the table, we are reminded of the characteristics of Christ, of His very nature.  We are reminded that we serve a God who will give everything, who has given everything, to redeem us.  Not even His own body and blood are too steep a price for our reconciliation.  Some might argue that we diminish the power of the story if we tell if every week.  I understand their concern, but I would suggest that we don't celebrate Communion every week, rather we do it every seven days.  It may sound like six of one, half a dozen of the other, but I think how we approach our time at the table contributes to how meaningful that time is.  I like to compare the Lord's Supper and its spiritual necessity to water and its physical necessity.  Many see water as being a rather dull beverage.  Indeed, when I am just sitting around, I want something that tastes a lot better than water.  In those times, I am not looking for something to replenish me, I am looking for something that dazzles my taste-buds.  However, in those times when I am really working out (which isn't as easy as it used to be), nothing will do but water.  There were many a day in high school when all of us would gather around the water fountain after a long run or a tough track work-out.  We didn't want sweet tea (shocking I know), and we didn't want Coke.  Oh, those are good when all you want is something that tastes good, but I wanted something that would really quench my thirst, I wanted something life-giving.  If we find our time around the table dull is it because it is in fact dull, or is it because our lack of spiritual exercise has us looking for something that delights the taste-buds, and not something that replenishes the soul?  
  • Finally, I think it's appropriate to note the disciples travel itinerary.  We find them at the beginning of the story leaving Jerusalem heading towards Emmaus.  And yet, after their encounter with the resurrected Christ their plans change, and by the end of the passage they are returning to Jerusalem.  An encounter with Jesus quite literally changed the direction of the disciples lives.  Little did they know that very soon God would unleash the Spirit on Jesus' disciples gathered in Jerusalem.  It is true that our change of direction will not be physical in nature, but it should be just as real.  When we encounter the risen Lord, does it change our plans, does it completely reshape the way we live our lives?  Or, after our experience with Jesus do we continue walking down the same road, in the same direction that we were headed all along?  
It amazes me all the ways that we can relate to a simple story about Jesus' disciples and their interaction with a Messiah who transforms death into life.  It was an event that led them to Jerusalem to fulfill their calling as the first messengers of the good news of Christ and His resurrection.  Do you recognize Jesus when you see Him, and if so, where is your encounter with Him leading you?