Too little too late?

With the Olympics starting in just a few days, China has been under the microscope. It seems like every day there is a new complaint about China in the news. There has been controversy over the apparent lack of human rights within china. Reports have surfaced of people being arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced without a trial. China denied these allegations.

A few days ago the controversy was about China allowing protests of the Olympics to happen in designated areas. Some were happy with this compromise. Others were still unhappy because protesters has to apply in advance to even be allowed in the protest areas. On top of that, many of the designated protest areas are miles away from where the Olympic events are taking place. One of the designated areas is a park that has large scale models of international buildings like the White House and the Eiffel tower. Critics claim these backdrops will allow the protesters to appear to be in a different location.

Then it came out in the news that the Chinese government has required the hotels to implement specific hardware and software that will allow the government to track the internet usage of hotel guests. Many advisers, fearing that sensitive information on personal computers may be compromised, are recommending that tourists to the Olympics leave their computers at home.

But one of the most recurrent issues has been environmental concerns. When China was granted the privilege of hosting the Olympic games, China promised to address the environmental concerns. I don't know what measures China has taken over the last seven years between now and when the Olympics were announced to be held in China. But recently, China has mandated that in Beijing and the surrounding area cars with license plates that end in even numbers are only permitted to drive on certain days and cars with license plates that end in odd numbers are only permitted to drive on the opposite days. All outdoor construction sites have been shut down and some of the factories have been temporarily closed. China even announced an emergency plan, saying that if the air quality was bad, or if there was supposed to be stagnant weather, they would close down over two hundred more factories in the area.

But some athletes aren't impressed with China's efforts. Some athletes have already pulled out of endurance events or are planning on wearing masks.

I am glad that China is working at address the air quality issues. But in all honesty, many of the steps China has taken seem temporary. I have a hard time imagining that the factories will remain shut down permanently, as well as all outdoor construction sites. Perhaps with car restrictions will become permanent but it's hard to say. Like I said, I don't know what kinds of things China has done in the last several years to address these concerns. I only know what has recently been in the news. Perhaps because of the lack on information on past efforts, it feels as though China has waited till the last minute to address a major problem.

In many ways I am glad that this is happening on a "world stage" so to speak where people from nations across the world are watching and following what happens. China is perhaps on the extreme end of the pollution that is effecting the environment in sever ways. But nonetheless, we are all impacting the environment through our daily pollutants. As we watch China work to lower the pollution in a short amount of time, we are getting a small glimpse of what will happen across the world if we fail to act now. The United States consumes a huge amount of the world's resources, an amount that is entirely disproportionate to our geographic area and our population size. And the US is a huge contributor to the pollution that is affecting our environment.

It's a huge problem, and many times it feels like "I'm just one person, what effect can I have?" but we can all help. We can all be a part of the solution in little simple ways. Recycling is a perfect example. So are simple things like turning off the lights when you're not in a room, or changing your light bulbs to energy efficient bulbs. We can also raise our voices together to ask our policy makers to emphasize the importance of finding alternative, renewable energy sources that don't pollute the environment.

As Christians we have been called to a life of stewardship. Often we talk about stewardship in reference to money, which is appropriate but stewardship refers to so much more. A life of stewardship recognizes that all we have is a gift from God. A Life of Stewardship inludes all the resources we have, not just money. It includes our time, our energy, our abilities, our material stuff, our money, even the natural resources we consume on a daily basis. When we talk about stewardship we remind ourselves that all that we have is a gift from God that has been entrusted to us.

Our natural resources are a perfect example of what we mean when we say that all that we have is a gift from God that has been entrusted to us, not given to us for us to use and keep as we so please, but entrusted to us, that we might be a blessing to others. This world, and all of creation, truly is a gift from God. It's something that none of us own. We're really just borrowing it from our future generations. It is our children and our grandchildren and our great grandchildren that we borrow all these resources from. These resources are not here for us to squander away, using as we wish with no regard for how it will affect the future health of the planet.

God calls us to a life of stewardship. It's time that we start being good stewards of our environment too.

If you have additional suggestions of things people can do in their own lives to be better stewards please feel free to post those in the comments section.

The power of words

I haven't done much of my regular blogging this past month in part because I have been out of the office a fair bit. Part of that was because I was on vacation.

Scott and I spent a week at the Grand Canyon. Neither of us had been before and the first time the trees clear and you get a clear view of the canyon, you are struck by the awesomeness of it's size and beauty. The Grand Canyon is more massive than any picture could truly convey to you. It is over 270 miles long, at it's widest point it is 18 miles wide, and it is about a mile deep. It's intricate carving of countless valleys weaved together with peaks and plateaus is simply breathtaking. It truly is indescribable.

As we spent the week hiking in the canyon, being surprised at the different view and new discovery waiting around every corner, I could not help but think about the opening passages of Genesis. In the beginning God created. And each phase of the creation account in Genesis begins with the phrase "and God said." In Genesis, all of creation results from the word of God spoken. According to Genesis, all of creation is the result of God speaking. And it occurred to me that all of what I was looking at was the result of the awesome and creative power of God's word. Oh sure, rivers and wind, and all sorts of things contributed to the existence of the Grand Canyon as we now know it. But at the heart of all that, is the active, creating, grace-filled, relational word of God.

God spoke. Creation was formed. God spoke. Life came into existence. God spoke. Relationships were begun. Relationships between living things, between the earth, plants, trees, animals, people. Relationships between God and all of creation, even us. God spoke.

But the most amazing thing isn't that God spoke, it is that God speaks. The really amazing thing is that the life-giving, ordering, transforming, redeeming word of God is still active in our midst. As I sat, taking in the incredible view that is the Grand Canyon, I began to wonder, have we acknowledged that God speaks? Have we acknowledged that the same God who spoke creation into existence has not abandoned that creation but wants to continually be in relationship with it? Have we acknowledged that the God whose words created life, is still speaking in our own lives?

God speaks. It's an incredible thing to think that the creator of all this, cares about each one of us. We are not just a speck in this universe, floating along absently. I know that, because I know that God speaks. God speaks in each of our lives, wanting to bring us ever closer in our relationship with God. God speaks, wanting to shape us more fully into the image of God. As i looked at the land before me that had been so intricately molded and shaped by the word of God, I began to wonder how are we allowing the word of God to mold and shape us? How are we allowing the word of God to transform our lives?

God speaks, what are our lives saying back?

It was just a dream.

The following is a sermon I preach today on Genesis 28:10-19a. Click here to read the scripture passage.

Please read the scripture before reading the sermon!

Just a Dream

It was just a dream, wasn’t it? … That night in the desert, alone and running for his life, Jacob dreamed of angels and stairways, of sanctuary and safe space, of beautiful warm light, and the fringes of heaven itself. Jacob dreamed of God standing beside him, he dreamed of promises of descendants too numerous to comprehend, of being a blessing to others, and of the steadfast presence of God.

But the next morning Jacob never says anything about a dream, not even about angels or stairways. Instead Jacob speaks of an encounter with God and the promises God has made. Jacob speaks and acts as if the things in the dream actually took place. Could it be that Jacob is unable to differentiate between dreams and reality? Could it be that Jacob was so scared and tired that he had actually become delusional? Didn’t Jacob know that dreams are just the subconscious working out stress and anxiety? Didn’t Jacob know dreams can’t be counted as fact or real life experiences? Didn’t Jacob know dreams are simply things we make up? It was just a dream! Wasn’t it?

Could it be that Jacob had it right? and we overlook divine encounters in our own lives? Could it be that each night as we lay down in bed God is waiting to speak to us?

In this world of multi-tasking, high-tech time saving convenience we are constantly bombarded by noise, lights, text messages, clutter, phone calls, images, emails, and advertisements. In the midst of all that stimulus, I often find it hard to find myself in the mix, let alone God. And the more I thought about it the more I began to think that maybe Jacob had gotten right. Maybe God does encounter us in our dreams. Perhaps it is precisely as we surrender to sleep that we are able to take off our anxieties, lay down our own agendas, and surrender our burdens. It would seem that this is the time in our day that we are the least consumed with ourselves and the most open to something other, the most open to God.

But Jacob wasn’t particularly open to God. It’s not as if he was feeling relaxed and unburdened. That night Jacob was on the run for his life. With the help of his mother Rebekah, he had tricked his father Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau. The already tense relationship between Jacob and Esau had now exploded as Jacob succeeded in acquiring both Esau’s birthright, and now Esau’s blessing too. Esau was so angry he literally wanted to kill Jacob.

But, lucky for Jacob, Rebekah catches wind of Esau’s plan and she sends Jacob to her brother’s house until Esau’s temper subsides. Jacob hurries off and only stops when the sun goes down. Jacob is now in the land in-between. He’s between his home where he’s no longer welcome, and a land where he has never been. He’s completely alone, and alienated from most of his family. Worn-out, he lays down to sleep with only a stone for a pillow.

His thoughts must have been racing. Would Esau come after him? Would he catch up and attack him in the night? How would he find his uncle? How would his uncle receive him? How long would he need to stay away? Would he ever see his family again?

Amid all the thoughts and uncertainties running through his mind, Jacob manages to fall asleep. One would imagine that he would have a difficult time falling asleep. Or that if he did manage to fall asleep it would be one of those restless kinds of sleep, where you toss and turn, where all your fears and insecurities work themselves out in your mind. We’d expect Jacob to have one of those sleeps where he wakes up feeling even more exhausted than when he laid down.

But Jacob’s situation seems to have little effect on his sleep. At least not the type of effect we would expect it to have. Jacob dreams a dream that God is standing beside him, bestowing on Jacob the promises first made to Abraham. Jacob dreams this incredibly powerful image of God standing in our midst, active in our lives, and pouring out abundant unconditional blessings.

It’s a dream most of us wouldn’t have believe. We would have convinced ourselves it was simply an over active imagination. Or at best, it’s a dream most of us would have chalked up to wishful thinking. But Jacob doesn’t do that. When he wakes up, he takes the stone he was using as a pillow and sets it up as a pillar. The pillar is used to symbolize the presence of God in this place and Jacob anoints the pillar as a sign to all those who pass by that this is a holy place. Then he names the place as a reminder of what has happened here. All of this, is Jacob’s very first recorded act of worship.

When Jacob wakes up he treats his dream as reality. Everything Jacob does when he wakes up is based on the dream he had, and the assumption that what happened in his dream has indeed actually happened. But it was just a dream, wasn’t it? Could it be that Jacob actually had it right? Could it be that this dream was really much more than just a dream?

At least for the moment, Jacob did have it right. It wasn’t just a dream. It wasn’t just his subconscious working out his fears and anxieties. It wasn’t just wishful thinking or something he made up. This really was a divine encounter. And contrary to all appearances, Jacob is not alone in this land in-between. The very presence of God is with him.

But this divine appearance to Jacob in his dreams, doesn’t happen because Jacob is particularly open to God’s presence in his life. Jacob is probably more consumed than ever with thoughts of securing his own future, wondering how he’s going to get out of this mess. There’s absolutely no sign that Jacob, the trickster and grabber we know, is making an intentional effort to be more aware of God in his life. Jacob isn’t looking for God, and Jacob certainly doesn’t invite God to be a part of the story. Instead, God just barges into Jacob’s dreams and Jacob’s life completely uninvited.

God barges in, utterly uninvited, and pours out this lavish unconditional promise on someone utterly undeserving. God unilaterally and unconditionally promises that the promises God made to Abraham will be fulfilled through Jacob. God promises that one day the land Jacob’s currently sleeping on as a fugitive will belong to Jacob. God promises to make Jacob into a great nation, with descendants too numerous to count. God promises that Jacob, the swindler and trickster, will actually be a blessing to others. And if that weren’t enough, God promises that God will always be present in Jacob’s life. It’s an incredibly extravagant blessing, especially considering Jacob didn’t even ask for God’s help.

But this isn’t the first time that God has barged into a story uninvited. God, who has interrupted Jacob’s story completely uninvited, did the same thing to Abraham and Isaac. Both Abraham and Isaac are going about their normal lives when God interrupts the story and blesses them with God’s promises. Granted Abraham and Isaac were both more upstanding characters than Jacob, and they seemed to deserve God’s blessing more than Jacob did. But neither of them seemed to be looking for God. Neither of them seemed to be making an intentional effort to be more aware of God’s activity in their midst. Instead, God suddenly and unexpectedly interrupts the story with a word of instruction and a blessing.

This isn’t the last time God will enter into a story uninvited either. We see God’s unexpected activity in the human story over and over again in the biblical account. There are countless times where God interrupts without ever being asked to. There are countless times where God unprovoked steps in with a word of blessing and hope to an undeserving people.

And God acts much the same way in our own lives. God just barges in, without waiting to be invited. As we go about our lives, trying to secure our own futures, God jumps right into the story. We too have all had experiences in life where God barges into our lives completely uninvited. God has been actively at work in all of our lives long before we were aware of God’s presence, and long before we invited God to be a part of our lives. Even if we didn’t recognize it at the time, many of us can at least look back on experiences we have had and see how God was present and actively at work in those situations.

Maybe our divine encounters weren’t as grand as Jacob’s dream. Maybe our divine blessings seem considerably less lavish than the blessing given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But we have all have divine encounters. Maybe it was simply a calming presence that overcame you in the midst of a chaotic situation. Maybe it was a dream you had that resolved a particular question or sticky situation you found yourself in. Maybe it was during an average Sunday, during a particularly boring sermon that you felt God speaking to you. Maybe it was the unusual clarity of mind that made you realize the destructive cycle you were in. God speaks to all of us, and is active in all of our lives in different ways.

Regardless of the ways that God has been at work in your life, or made God’s presence known in your life, God has indeed been at work in your life long before you ever invited God to be part of the story. God enters into our stories and our lives uninvited, because God knows what we need before we do. Long before we ever realize we need forgiveness, God offers us grace. It is this grace of God that helps us realize we need God’s grace and forgivness. Long before we ever know we are lovable, God loves us. It is this love of God that helps us learn how to be loved. Long before we ever realize we were made to be in relationship with God, God adopts us into the family. And it is the family of God that helps us uncover our identity as Children of God.

God knows what we need long before we do. And God loves us enough, not to wait to be invited into the story. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t invite God to be a part of our lives or that we shouldn’t try to be more aware of God’s activity in our midst. We could all be better about that. And there are certainly times when we can actively try to dim the clutter and noise in our lives so we can focus more on God. There are certainly moments where we can and should ask God to enter into our lives and be present in our midst. But what I am saying is that God doesn’t wait for us to come to our senses and recognize our need for God. God enters into our lives long before we are ever aware that God is there. God enters into our lives long before we ever recognize that we need God.

God doesn’t wait for an invitation. God just butts right into our lives, actively working to bring about good in our lives. And it is because God is active and involved in our lives that we are able to worship God. Like Jacob, our worship of God, even our awareness of God, stems from God’s activity in our midst long before we ever recognize it as God. As we come to realize, even in retrospect, that God has been present in our lives, worship is a natural response. When we like Jacob realize that the Lord is in this place, that God has been active in our lives, we look for ways of marking those occasions. We find ways to remind ourselves and others of what God has done for us.

Through these acts of worship we can invite God to be an even more active part of the story. Through worship we can actively engage a relationship with God. Through these acts of worship we can become even more aware of the presence of God in our lives. But we should remember that worship is our response to what God has already done. Worship is our response to God who loves us enough not to wait for an invitation.

Surely the Lord is in this place! Thanks be to God that God doesn’t wait for an invitation!

what would you do for a klondike bar?

Do you remember those old commercials where announcer would ask a random person on the streets what they would do for a klondike bar? all of the sudden the person would be swinging from a chandelier, dancing on a table, belting a song out in the middle of a construction site, or something equally as embarrassing, all for the sake of a taste ice cream treat. I must admit, on a humid 90 degree summer day like today, a bar of creamy vanilla ice cream dipped in that smooth chocolate shell sounds really tempting!

I think many of us would be willing to do something silly do a free frozen treat like that! But in a matter of moments, that tasty treat would be gone and all we would be left with was that little foil wrapper and sticky hands.

If we're willing to stretch ourselves, even risk embarrassing ourselves in some cases for such a small reward shouldn't we be willing to stretch ourselves for something as important as our children's Christian education? So I have a different question for us to ponder today.

What would you do to see your pastors slimed???
That's right. Slimed. Would would you be willing to do to see Rev Dennis and Rev Jen completely covered from head to toe in ooie, gooy, slime? As the pastors here, Dennis and I wanted to show our support for children's Christian education and how important we think it is. SO we have agreed to be slimed.

What does slime and children's Christian education have to do with each other? I'm so glad you asked. We have a rotating children's sunday school program called TREK. It is a wonderful program in which the children basically learn the same bible story in five different ways through a variety of senses. They have a cooking station, s science station, an art station, a story telling station, and a game station. At the end of each unit, the children really know that particular bible story because they've learned it and experienced it in 5 different ways! This program takes a lot of volunteers to run. But the commitment is only five weeks.

So Rev. Dennis, myself, Vicki (who is in charge of children's education), and Pat (the youth director) have all agreed to be slimed if all of the volunteer slots are filled for TREK for the whole year by our church wide picnic in September. And those who volunteer to help with TREK will be entered into a drawing to be one of the lucky few who get to help with the actual sliming!

We need 84 more volunteers in the next 8 weeks. That's a big goal. That means just over 10 people each week need to volunteer to help with a unit of trek if we are going to fill all the slots in time. But it's also a pretty cool pay off at the end! Who wouldn't want to see us get slimed?

So what would you do to see your pastors slimed? Will you sign up to help with TREK for just one unit? It's only 5 sundays. We provide excellent training to teach you exactly what you need to do. There's other people in the room with you to help you so you won't have to do it alone. And at the end of it all, you know you've helped to build important faith foundations for the children in our congregation. It's a reward that lasts way longer than a frozen ice cream treat. It's just 5 hours of your time. What would you do to see your pastors slimed?

Birthrights

The following is a sermon I preach this morning on Genesis 25:19-34. Click Here to read the scripture.

Please read the scripture before reading the sermon below.

Birthrights

Birthrights are a somewhat archaic thing in our society. When we think of birthrights, many of us equate them to a modern day will. While they do have some similarities, there are some key differences. For instance, in ancient Hebrew culture, it was only the eldest son who had a birthright.

It was through the eldest son that the family name, honor, and lineage were carried through. The eldest son became the head of the family when the father passed away. In essence, the birthright gave the eldest son a position of leadership in the family and as a result, he became the family’s connection to the future. He would be the son through whom the lineage would pass. To be born the eldest son was indeed a position of honor. Not only was it a position of honor, the eldest son also received a double share of the family inheritance. This meant of all the land, and wealth of the family, the eldest son received twice as much as any of his brothers. All of this was considered the birthright of the eldest son.

Unlike modern wills, the eldest son didn’t have to do anything to earn or deserve this birthright. Birthrights aren’t like modern wills in the sense that you can easily be written in and out of them, always worrying about if you were doing enough, or if the person loved you enough. Deuteronomy even includes laws about the birthright of the first born sons, stating that the father could not give the birthright of the eldest son to a son he favored more. Not exactly like our modern wills that can easily be changed if someone doesn’t like something you’ve done. All that was required for the birthright was that the son be born first. That’s it! Birthrights were given to the son who happened to be lucky enough to be born first.

In that regard, the birthright was really a free, unmerited gift to the eldest son. After all, none of us had any control over whether or not we were born, let alone when or in what order we were born! There was nothing no way to being the first born son in a family. The birthright really was a free, unearned gift! Who wouldn’t want a birthright? This practice of giving a birthright to the eldest son was in part because parents tended to regard the eldest son as the most precious. After all, there could be no guarantee that there would be any more children, let alone any more sons. The birthright was a way of showing the value of the eldest son. What a stroke of luck it was to be born the eldest son! You would be the most valued of the children, and you received the birthright.

If you were lucky enough to be the first born son, you really should count your blessings. And yet the genesis passage today tells us that Esau despised his birthright. In this story we’re told that Esau and Jacob were twins. Esau happens to be born first, but just barely. They were born so close together that Jacob was born grasping the heel of Esau. But it doesn’t matter if Esau was born first by a matter of seconds, or a matter of years. Either way, Esau is the first born son and so Esau is the one who is to inherit the birthright. There’s no special dispensation for twins, the birthright still only goes to the first born.

But Esau didn’t put much value in the birthright that was to be given to him. It seems like he took it for granted that it would always be there. Even his twin, who he had wrestled with in the womb, who had seemingly tried to wiggle his way into being born first, couldn’t possibly take away his birthright could he? But In a moment of hunger and rash thinking, Esau sells his birthright for a bowl of soup.

A bowl of soup! Even to me, someone who really likes food, that bargain seems quite ludicrous. And perhaps that’s what Esau thought. Jacob couldn’t possibly be serious about trading the birthright for a bowl of soup could he? And Esau responds with what seems like a sarcastic and equally exaggerated remark. “I am about to die, of what use is a birthright to me?”

Sound familiar? How many of us have ever said, “I’m starving to death!” But Jacob doesn’t settle for this ambiguous remark, one that Esau could have talk his way out of later, saying he wasn’t really serious. So Jacob makes him swear an oath, that he will trade his birthright for a bowl of soup. And Esau does! He actually trades his birthright for a bowl of soup! That’s an awfully expensive bowl of soup!

When Esau swears the oath to Jacob, Esau makes a clear and deliberate choice. He chooses to fulfill his immediate desire rather than looking at long term consequences. He places more value on his instant gratification than on the future wellbeing of his family. Esau chooses present comfort over building a strong foundation for the future. Not only that, but in selling his birthright for something as small as a bowl of soup, Esau reveals how little understanding of self-worth he has. His birthright was a sign of how precious he was to the family, how much the family values him. Esau rejects his own worth, he rejects the value his family sees in him by selling his birthright for something of such insignificant value.

The text says that Esau despised his birthright. And he does indeed, devalue it and reject it by selling it to Jacob. It’s quite easy for us to despise Esau for despising his birthright. Yet we have much in common with Esau.

Like Esau each of us has a birthright. But rather than coming from an earthly father, our birthright comes from our divine Creator. Our birthright comes from our Creator who claims each one of us as a child of God, who declares each one of us is of sacred worth simply because God created us and loves us. God gives each of us a birthright. God gives each of us, a free, unmerited gift, of God’s love and grace towards us. God gives us this gift simply because we are God’s precious and beloved children. God values each one of us and shows that to us by the way God continually offers us abundant and transforming love.

Just like Esau’s birthright, there is nothing that we need to do to earn this birthright. There’s nothing that we need to do to earn God’s love for us. We don’t need to worry about God taking back God’s love for us. God loves us, simply because we are God’s children.

But just like Esau, we can despise our birthright. We can reject the love and grace that God so abundantly pours out on us. We are often guilt of selling our birthright for a bowl of soup. We all do it in a variety of ways. We sell our birthright for a bowl of soup when we like Esau choose instant gratification over the well-being of the family. Isn’t that what we do when we value fulfilling our immediate desires more than we value God’s love for us? Isn’t that what we do when we devalue God’s love for us by devaluing our self-worth? Isn’t that what we do when we devalue our self-worth by abusing things like tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs? Isn’t that what we do when we value excessive amount of work to attain money power and status more than we value the human relationships in our midst?

The list goes on and on. Our consumeristic society is continually coming up with more and more ways for us to sell our birthright. But as Christians, we’re called to resist those temptations and to honor the birthright that God has graciously given each of us. As Christians we are called to honor the birthright that God has given us by leaning into the transforming love of God.

We honor our birthright when we recognize the precious un-earnable gift that God’s love and grace really is. We recognize what a precious gift it is when we place our relationship with God as the most important thing in our life. And when we allow our relationship with God overflow into our entire lives and all our other relationships. We honor our birthright as a child of God, when we treat others as children of God. We honor our birthright when we speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. We honor our birthright when we value ourselves enough to ask for help when we need it, when we recognize that we are all still being molded and perfected by God.

It is easy to despise Esau for despising his birthright. But in many ways it is really difficult for us to avoid falling into the same trap that Esau did. Despising one’s birthright is an easy thing to do these days, it is definitely the path of least resistance, and requires much less effort on our part. But that is not what God intends for any of us. God intends to use our birthrights, to use the love that God freely and abundantly pours out on us to transform us. But not just us, God intends to transform the whole world! The whole world!

God invites us to be a part of that transformation by honoring our birthright from God. God continually gives us the opportunity to claim and to honor our birthright. Each day we are given the opportunity to recognize that we are children of God and to live in a way that honors that identity. Each day we are given the opportunity to despise our birthright, or honor our birthright. Each day we are given the opportunity to choose the love and grace of God. God continually offers us our birthrights, it’s up to us to accept them and honor them.

Amen.