Compassion Art

How can we use our gifts and talents in the service of God? It's one of those questions that many of us find ourselves asking. Being a pastor is one of the first things that pops into people's heads in response to that question. And while we need more pastors, the reality is that not everyone is called to be a pastor. So how is it that we can use the gifts that we do have in the service to God?

Now if you are sitting there thinking that you don't have any gifts, you're wrong. The psalms tells us that we are knitted together in the womb by God and God tells the prophet Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." Each one of us is a masterpiece dreamed up by God and skillfully formed by God as unique and valuable individuals. To say that we don't have any gifts is not being humble or putting ourselves down, it's putting God down. It's basically saying, "God you screwed up when you made me. You forgot to give me something of value that I can offer." That simply isn't true. Each one of us has been gifted by God.

So how can you offer those gifts in service to God? The answer to that question is going to be different for everyone but I can give you a few awesome examples. Some lawyers choose to volunteer their time to work advocate for people who are systematically oppressed or overlooked. Some doctors choose to start ministries like Mission of Mercy to provide health care for those who can not afford the high cost of medical care. Countless volunteers routinely offer their time to help check people in, take appointments, and make sure the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Recently a group of Christian musicians who are already using their gifts to help people worship God, decided they could go a step further and use their gifts to help address the issue of poverty. They formed a group called compassion art. Together they wrote a bunch of songs and got all the producers, record companies, and musicians to agree to give up all the proceeds from the sale of the CD. SO all the money you spend on the CD goes directly to supporting 16 different initiatives they have started to combat poverty. What an awesome and creative way to use their gifts in the service of God! If you want to find out more about compassion art or order the CD, their website is http://www.compassionart.tv/

How can you use your gifts in service to God? We all have gifts, how are you using yours?

Maintain Integrity

The following is a sermon I preached today based on Matthew 5:33-37. Please click here to read the scripture before reading the sermon.

Maintain Integrity

In January when Dennis and I sat down to figure out what we were going to preach about, the inauguration of President Obama was just a few weeks away. We decided to preach a sermon series based on the biblical advice we would want to give the president, our leaders, and all of us. Dennis started by encouraging us to pursue peace with as much energy and vigor as we do war. The following week I preached about concern for the poor and how those of us who have been blessed with so much, need to live simple so that others may simply live. Last week Dennis reminded us of the importance of valuing our differences and building unity in the midst of diversity. This week I want to talk about maintaining integrity.

Integrity is a hot button word these days, especially in politics. Many politicians run on the platform of being a person of integrity, only to have skeletons in their closets revealed at a later date. In fact it’s so common that for many people politics is a dirty word. Most of us just assume that if you’re in politics then you’re corrupt on some level. A lot of this sense of corruption and lack of integrity stems from politicians saying one thing and doing another.

Our scripture passage today talks about this very thing. In this passage Jesus tells his followers not to swear an oath. In Jewish culture, swearing an oath was a way of saying that these words I’m about to say are especially true. An oath was typically sworn in the name of a deity. Both gentiles and Jews believed that an oath invoked the deity to guarantee that the words spoken in the oath were true. If they were untrue, the deity was responsible for punishing the one who made the oath.

Oaths were agreements made between two parties with the name of God invoked as a guarantee. Vows were promises made directly to God. Anything sworn as an oath had to be true, and any vow taken had to be completed.

It’s sort of the equivalent of testifying under oath in our courts. Lying in general may be considered morally wrong but it’s not considered a crime. However, lying under oath is a criminal offense. Having people who testify in court swear an oath before testifying is an attempt by the courts to guarantee that the words spoken will be true.

But Jesus says that for followers of Christ, an oath shouldn’t be necessary. Instead we should simply let our yes be yes and our no be no. In other words, everything we say should be true. If we promise to do something we should follow through on it. As Christians we should be so honest in all that we do, that swearing an oath would be redundant and unnecessary. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

In his book “People of Integrity” William Morgan Jr. defines integrity as “the God given strength to respond to life in relationship to God, instead of reacting on our own.” (pg 21) “Integrity is the God given strength to respond to life in relationship to God instead of reacting on our own.”

That’s probably the best definition I’ve ever heard of integrity. It certainly encompasses all the different aspects of integrity. That definition encompasses the idea of say what you mean and mean what you say. It would include things like maintaining financial integrity, academic integrity, sexual integrity, and professional integrity. Every aspect of our life is included in this definition. There is not a single area of life that is left out or exempt.

If we are responding to life in relationship to God instead of acting on our own, then we won’t do things like embezzle money, cheat on our spouses, cheat on a test in school, or go back on our word. Instead we would return a lost wallet with all the money still in it, we’d be attentive to our marriages actively working to build up our spouse and to encourage them, we’d be diligent in our studies and truthful about how much we actually know. We’d say what we mean and follow through on the promises we make.

I think most of us would pretty readily agree that maintaining integrity is something everyone should do, but something Christians in particular should be concerned about. A life of integrity is hard work. It takes a lot more thought and effort than a life lacking in integrity. So how exactly do we go about maintaining our integrity?

It may seem really basic, but I think a good starting place is to be intentional about our relationship with God. If integrity is responding to life in relationship to God instead of reacting on our own, then it seems to me that our relationship with God is a real crucial part of that. If we are not developing and deepening our relationship with God, it is difficult for us to respond to life out of that relationship with God. On the other hand, if we are relationship with God is a priority in our life and we are continually growing in faith, then responding to life in relationship to God is a very natural response.

Lent is a perfect time to be intentional about nurturing our relationship with God. Lent is a period of 40 days that last from Ash Wednesday, which is this coming Wednesday, until Easter. Lent is a time of reflection where we reflect on our relationship with God and what things God may be calling us to change.

In your bulletin there is a list of Lenten studies that are being offered. Taking one of these short six week classes during lent is a great way to be more intentional about your relationship with God. Or maybe for these six weeks of lent you commit to do a short devotional every day. Another great option is to commit to coming to the holy week services as an act of love and waiting with Jesus. Coming to the services during Holy week makes the Easter Sunday service that much more powerful!

Many people during lent give something up. Often it’s something like chocolate or desserts, something relatively small that has little or nothing to do with our relationship with God. But I would encourage you, if you give up something during lent try to make it something meaningful, something that is preventing you from following Jesus more closely. Maybe that would be spending 15 less minutes a day watching TV so you can use that time to focus on your family or use that time to do a short devotion or to just sit and listen to God.

There are many different ways that we can focus on and be intentional about nurturing our relationship with God. Staying grounded in our faith is an essential part of living a life of integrity and Lent is the perfect time to take a few small steps in that direction.

Another thing that is important in maintaining our integrity is to know yourself. An important part of maintaining integrity is not putting yourself in unnecessarily compromising situations. If you know things are not going well in your marriage, don’t work late hours alone with someone of the opposite sex, or have lunches just the two of you. That just sets yourself up for giving into temptation. If you are tempted to cheat on a test, sit next to the person in class who knows less than you do. If you know that you have trouble budgeting your money then unsubscribe to all of those email advertisements from various stores that will make you tempted to send money you don’t have. If you have an addiction to alcohol, don’t go to a bar. We could do a lot to maintain our integrity if we acknowledge the areas we struggle in and avoid unnecessary temptation.

A third thing we can do to maintain integrity is to have an accountability partner. This would be someone that we would call BEFORE we give into temptation. An accountability partner should be someone you trust and respect. It should be someone you will be able to be honest with when you are struggling. Then when you are feeling tempted in a particular area you can call your accountability partner. They can pray with you and for you. They can help remind you of all the reasons why that course of action is not a good one and they can help give you suggestions to resist the temptation you are facing.

We don’t have to live a life of integrity alone. In fact that’s the whole point. Integrity is responding to life in relationship to God not simply on our own. We don’t have to do it alone. We are supposed to rely on God, and to support one another. A life of integrity is important, it’s one of those things that should set Christians apart from others in our society. Yet one of the number one complaints about Christians by non-Christians is that Christians are hypocrites. Our corporate lack of integrity not only causes people to think less of us, but it tarnishes the image of Jesus, it makes people less likely to accept the love and grace offered by Jesus because of how we act. We as a community of faith need to focus on maintaining our integrity, and to remember that we are to respond to life in relationship to God instead of reacting and depending on our own strength. Integrity is important, it’s not only our reputation on the line, but Jesus’ reputation as well. This year, let’s use Lent as a time to be intentional about how we can maintain our integrity.

Amen.

The cost of following Jesus

In Matthew 8:18-22 says:

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Let the dead bury their own dead. Wow, that seems so harsh! Not exactly the picture of Jesus as loving and welcoming that so many us imagine. But with Lent just around the corner (it starts Feb 25th), I think it's a helpful passage for us to ponder.

Often as we move deeper in our faith and relationship with God, we focus on the things we need to add or start doing. There are some obvious things that we should take on like being a part of a faith community, growing in our knowledge and understanding of God's word and God's activity in our midst.

But one of the things this passage reminds us, is that sometimes as disciples of Christ, we are called to give up certain things in order to be able to follow Jesus more closely. That may be something personal in your own live. It may be something that we as the community of faith need to stop doing so we have more time, energy, and resources, to devote to the new things God is calling us to do.

During Lent, many people decide to give something up. Often it's something like chocolate or candy, something relatively small that has little or nothing to do with our relationship with God. This year I would encourage you to ponder what God might be calling you to give up so that you may follow God more closely. Maybe it's watching one less hour of t.v. a week so you have time to spend volunteering somewhere, helping out a neighbor, or having quality time with your family. What is it that God is asking you to give up so that you may follow Jesus more closely?

Guilt vs Conviction

The sermon that I preached this past Sunday had a huge response of people signing up to be sponsors of children at the Children of Zion Village in Namibia. We had 30 people sign up to be sponsors and all but one or two of the kids have sponsors. It has been awesome to witness the response people have when called to share the love of God in tangible ways.

But signing up to be sponsors is not the only response I have received about this sermon. Some have shared with me that they do not think people should be guilted into things, that something like sponsoring a child should come from the heart of the person. While I'm not here to debate my sermon and whether or not it was in fact guilting people into action, I will say that guilt was not my intent. However, I do think that as Christians, we are called to speak out in love when other Christians are not acting as God would have us act.

But that reaction has brought a few questions to my mind. As Christians, what should be our motivation for the things we do in life? Is guilt an acceptable motivator? Is it ok to be motivated by guilt if the guilt stems from a realization that our actions are not in line with God's values? Is guilt different from conviction?

I do think there is a difference between guilt and conviction. Guilt is simply feeling bad about something that was said or done or something we didn't do.

But conviction is different. At least I think it is. Conviction often feels a lot like guilt. We feel bad or ashamed of the things we have done or chosen not to do. But conviction also has a very different component to it. Conviction means being so convinced that our current lives are not what God intends for us that we seek to change our lives to make them more in line with God. When we are convicted of something there's a change the occurs inside of us and as a result, our actions change.

What do you think? Is there a difference between guilt and conviction? Is either one of those an acceptable form of motivation?

Love is a verb

Below is a sermon I preached today. Please click here to read the scripture 1 John 3:11-18.

Love is a Verb

“This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” Sometimes I wonder if God ever gets tired of telling us the same things over and over again. As I read this passage, I kept hearing the tone of an exhausted parent saying, “I’ve told you over and over again. Be nice to your brother.” Or saying, “I’ve told you a hundred times not to hit your sister.” This week’s scripture passage starts out, with the writer of 1^st John reminding us that this message we’re about to hear isn’t anything new. It’s the same message we’ve been told before. We should love one another.

Yet that’s not the only message this passage has to tell us that we have heard before. Close to 2,000 times the bible tells us to care for the poor, the orphan, the widow. We’re told to defend the cause of the weak and powerless, and to seek justice and freedom for the oppressed. Verse after verse tells us that God is on the side of the poor. In fact, these verses are so commonly overlooked that the bible society has just put out a new bible called the poverty and justice bible. This bible literally highlights over 2,000 verses dealing with poverty and justice.

These two messages, love one another and care for the poor, are not to separate messages but are inter-related.

In 1 John 3:16 we are told, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” We know that God loves us by the way Jesus acts on our behalf. We know that God loves us, not simply from the many times God has told us over and over that we are loved, not from the many times that God has claimed us as God’s own children. We know that God loves us because of the way Jesus, God incarnate, God made flesh, willing gives up his own life so that we may live. We know that God loves us because of the way God and Jesus act on our behalf.

But what really strikes me about this passage is that it doesn’t say, “This is how you know that God loves you.” Instead it says, “This is how you know what love is.” This is how you know what love is. Not only does Jesus laying down his life for us demonstrate God’s love for us, but it has become our definition of love. This one act of Jesus, becomes the measuring line, the definition for all other love. If that’s the case, if Jesus dying on the cross for us is the definition of love then there are several things we can know about love.

First, Love is costly. It cost Jesus his life and it calls us into risky places. The verse goes on to say that we ought to lay down our lives for one another. In other words love calls us to be willing to give up everything, even the most precious thing we have, life itself. Love costs us something. It means we have to be willing to give up certain things for the wellbeing of others. It’s love that motivates the men on the Kairos team to give up their vacation time to go into a prison and minister to the prisoners. It’s love that motivates people to sponsor others going on mission trips. It’s love that compels people to risk their own life to save another. Love is costly.

Secondly, Love is self-giving. We have a lot of examples of selfish behavior by CEOs of big companies. CEOs who knew the company was in trouble and that thousands of people would lose their jobs yet they still took multi-million dollar bonus and severance packages. When those stories hit the news most of the public was outraged that the CEOs would behave that way, that they would be that selfish. That type of behavior is not love. Those CEOs acted out of callousness and indifference. They didn’t care what happened to others as a result of their actions. They didn’t care that their greed meant others would have to go without.

Love is self-giving. It means doing things that are in the best interest of the whole, even if it means that’s not what’s best for you. It means putting other people’s needs before our own wants. Love is self-giving.

But perhaps most importantly, this definition of love tells us that love is a Verb. Love is a verb. Love is known and experienced through actions. We can’t say one thing and act a different way. You can’t tell your spouse that you love them and then turn around and beat them or constantly put them down. That’s not real love. Love is known through action.

We know God loves us because of the way God acts on our behalf. A parent’s love is shown in the way they constantly care for their children, feeding them, clothing them, teaching them. Love is standing by your spouse through years of physical illness. Love is a verb and is made known through the way we treat one another.

No longer can we say, we love someone and then act in a way that serves only our best interests or even just the best interest of our family. No longer can we say we love and care about the poor or are concerned about the homeless and yet do nothing about it. No longer can we say we love God and continue to ignore the people God is concerned about.

This scripture tell us, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” How can the love of God be in him? The passage doesn’t say that if we ignore those in need then we aren’t loving our neighbor. It tells us that if we have the ability to help those in need and we choose not to then we are not loving God. It’s a lot like the verse from Matthew 25 where Jesus says whatever you have done to the least of these, you do to me. We cannot say that we are faithful Christians, that we love God, and ignore the needs of those around us. We love God by loving our neighbor.

As if that weren’t clear enough the passage goes on to say, “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” Just in case we missed the point, we’re told very directly that we are to love through action.

With this economy it’s really easy for us to get very self-centered and self-focused. And yet even in this economy we are still some of the wealthiest people in the world. More than 1 billion people who live on less than $1 a day. That’s extreme poverty, where they often go hungry, don’t have access to clean water and die of treatable and preventable disease because medicines aren’t available or can’t be afforded. With all the technology and resources that we have today, there’s no reason that people should have to continue to live in such extreme poverty.

That type of poverty can be changed, can be eradicated but it takes those of us who consume the vast majority of the world’s resources to love with our actions. It will take those of us who have way more than we need being willing to share with those who need way more than they have.

The problem seems so overwhelming sometimes it just immobilizes us, we become stuck, not doing anything because we don’t know where to start. Or we think the problem is too big that we can’t make a difference. But you can make a difference. Each one of us can make a difference.

A few months ago Carol Pennington told us about the opportunity to sponsor a child from the children of Zion Village. For those of you who don’t know, The Children of Zion Village in Namibia Africa is home to 58 children who are orphaned or at risk because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. All of these kids have been affected by HIV/AIDS in one way or another. Some of them have had both parents die from AIDS, some have HIV themselves. Rebecca and Gary Mink run Children of Zion Village and care for the children like they are their own. But their care is costly. The care for each child costs about $250 a month.

So Rebecca and Gary are looking for volunteers to help sponsor the children. Now if you’re sitting there thinking $250 a month is a lot. Don’t worry. You can do a partial scholarship of just 25 dollars a month. It may not seem like much, but those partial scholarships add up.

And when we are honest with ourselves, just about all of us can afford 25 dollars a month. That’s basically buying one less CD a month. If you bought one less starbucks coffee a week, the total would be close to $25 a month. If you bring your lunch to work, one more day each week, you’d save close to $25 a month. With a congregation this size, there’s no reason that we can’t get each of those 58 children at least a partial scholarship. Today I’m challenging us as a congregation to show our love for God by getting at least a partial scholarship for each of these 58 children.

After the service there will be a table set up in the narthex where you can find out more information about sponsoring a child. There will be someone at the table to answer any questions you have. They have little information cards where you can pick a specific child to sponsor. You’ll be able to send letters to and receive letters from your sponsored child. They also have written on each card the specific prayer requests for each child.

I know it’s a tough economic time. But God doesn’t tell us to love others just when it’s convenient or easy. God doesn’t tell us to love just out of our excess. Instead we are told that we know what love is by the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. Love is costly. Love requires us to give something of ourselves. And Love is what we do, not just what we say or think.

We as a congregation, as a community can wrap huge arms of love around the 58 children that live at the Children of Zion Village. It’s love that will be known by what we do, how we choose to act. “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

Amen.