Thursday, April 30, 2009

Swine Flu

I have to admit I have very mixed feeling about this whole swine flu outbreak. On the one hand I understand people's uneasiness with a new virus that spreads so easily and has such unknown health implications. Certainly it spreads easily, as does the regular flu. Certainly the swine flu can cause serious health issues in people who already have compromised immune systems, as does the regular flu. Some people have even died from the swine flu, and yet I heard on the morning news that 35,000 people die every year in the US from the regular flu. I'm not saying the swine flue should be ignored or that we shouldn't pay attention to it. But I don't think we ought to panic either.

And I must admit that I find it really interested that we are so stressed out about this when there are other known viruses, that are still spreading and are known to be deadly.

In July I will be going to Namibia, Africa on a mission trip. We are going to a children's home called Children of Zion Village. It's home to 58 children who have been affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in some way. Many of the kids are orphans because their parents died of AIDS. Some of the kids are wards of the state because their parents are unable to care for them because they have HIV/AIDS. A few of the kids have HIV themselves. We'll be going to help care for these children, to help give even a tiny break to the full-time missionaries who have devoted their lives to caring for these children. But mostly we go, to let these children know that God loves them and cares for them.

But these are far from the only children who are affect by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The virus continues to spread at alarming rates, not only over seas but here in the US as well. It's not a new virus. It doesn't have a fancy name. We know some ways to prevent the spread of the virus, and we know some ways to help people who have the virus to live longer healthier lives. Talking about HIV/AIDS won't sell alot of newspapers or bring tons of hits to my blog. But the fight against the spread of this virus is long from over.

We need to keep educating people. We need to find more ways to help prevent the spread of this virus. Maybe that's helping people get tested, maybe that's helping people understand behaviors that put them at risk. maybe it's handing out clean needles, maybe it's handing out condoms. maybe it's building relationships with people, treating them like a person instead of a disease. maybe it's something that no one has ever thought of or tried before.

God calls us to care for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the sick, the prisoner, and all those other people who make us really uncomfortable. It doesn't matter what they've done. It doesn't matter if they brought this virus upon themselves by acting carelessly (which by the way, many people have been infected with HIV/AIDS through no fault of their own). But it doesn't matter. God calls us to care for them, to let them know that they are still valuable in the eyes of God, to let them know that their sickness doesn't define them, that they are children of God.

So whether it's someone with the swine flu, the regular flu, HIV/AIDS, cancer, or whatever else, don't panic if they come near you. Take care of yourself to be sure, but also care for them. Find a way to show them the love of God. Afterall, the way we love our neighbors is the way we love God.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Forgetfulness

I have not been particularly good at blogging lately. In fact I haven't blog much at all. That's in part due to the chaos of preparations that preceeds holy week and Easter Sunday. It's also in part because of the busyness that buying a house and moving into the house has added to my schedule. But it is also in part due to my simply forgetting to do it. But it would seem that I'm not the only forgetful one.

I have been skimming the articles on cnn.com about the recent United Nations anti-racist conference. It certainly weighs heavy on my heart that we have such a capacity within us to wound our brothers and sisters. We have this keen ability to spot the differences in one another and yet seem blind when it comes to the vast percentage of things we have in common. Maybe it's because we all want to be unique and special. Maybe it's because we've been trained since we were young kids to "choose the item that doesn't belong" or "find the six differences in these two picture." I don't really know.

At the UN conference, the president of Iran made a controversial speach about how Israel is a racist country with racist policies and even accused Israel of committing genocide. I admit that I don't know all the issues involved in the very complicate situation between Israel and Palestine. I don't know all about the president of Iran either. In fact the only other thing I really remember about him is that not too long ago he said the holocaust never happened and that it was made up by the Jews.

I think what's most ironic to me about all of this is that the day after Iran's president called Israel racist, Israel observed their holocaust memorial day. It's a day that is set aside to remember the more than 6 million Jews that the Nazis killed. It's an act of being intentional about remembering and honoring those who were killed. It's an act of forcing ourselves to remember the atrocities that were committed against so many so that we will be compelled to prevent those types of things from happening again.

Which is precisely why God commands the Israelites to keep the passover feast. In Exodus 12:14 God says "This is the day you are to commemorate; for generation to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord - a lasting ordinance." The passage goes on to talk about appropriate preparation for the passover and then in verse 17 God says, "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come."

God knows that we are a forgettful people and so God provides us with ways to remember certain events. In the case of passover we are to remember that God freeded God's people from slavery and worked many miracles in the process. In the case of the Last Supper, Jesus tells his disciples to eat this meal in remembrance of him. We're to remember the many works Jesus did in our midst. We are to remember that through Jesus, God, just like in the passover, freeded God's people. Only this time it was from slavery to sin rather than slavery to Egypt.

We are a forgetful people. We forget that God created us all and loves us all. We forget that we were made in the image of God and to share God's love with everyone. We forget that we are no longer slaves. We forget that we don't have to hate. We forget that we don't have to hold ourselves up by holding others down. We forget that we are called to be a community. We forget that God freed us in part to bring freedom to others. We are a forgetful people and this week I find myself mourning our forgetfulness. Perhaps we ought to be more intentional about remembering.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Thomas

Below is the sermon I preached this morning on John 20:19-30. Click here to read the scripture before reading the sermon.

Stewardship: All we do after we believe

I personally think Thomas has gotten a bad rep. This story is almost universally known as the story of Doubting Thomas. Thomas has gotten that name because he didn’t believe the disciples when they told him that Jesus was resurrected and they had seen him for themselves. But if we remember a little further back in the story, Thomas really isn’t much different than the other disciples.

At the end of the passage we read last week, Mary goes to the disciples and with great joy she tells them, “I have seen the Lord!” And then she tells them all about her encounter with the resurrected Jesus in the garden and everything he said to her. In spite of all that, the gospel of John doesn’t say anything about the disciples believing the testimony of Mary.

In fact we can assume based on the rest of the story that they probably didn’t believe Mary. Where the story picks up today, we find the disciples hiding in a room, with the doors locked for fear of what the Jews might do to them. So in other words, the disciples have already been told by Mary that Jesus has risen, that he’s concurred death and is alive. But in spite of all of that, the disciples are still fearful that what happened to Jesus might happen to them.

And honestly, who can really blame them? Who could have seen that coming? Oh sure, Jesus told the disciples in advance that he would be killed and raised from the dead. But Jesus also told a lot of parables and used a lot of metaphors. The disciples could have easily thought he was speaking metaphorically. Besides, it’s not like anyone had ever been resurrected before. It’s not like this was a common thing that happened. Even though Jesus told them this was going to happen, the news that it had happened seemed far-fetched at best.

But it had happened! Jesus had concurred death, and he certainly wasn’t going to let a little thing like a locked door stand in his way. Jesus stands among the disciples, who still didn’t believe he had been resurrected, and shows them his hands and side. After seeing the risen Jesus for themselves, the disciples are overjoyed and believe.

Thomas, for whatever reason wasn’t present. He doesn’t get to hear and see the risen Jesus himself. And when the disciples tell him they’ve seen him, he reacts no differently than they did when they heard Mary’s testimony. He doesn’t believe them and responds with the famous words, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails, and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Certainly, he puts a heavy emphasis on the tangible evidence and he words his stipulations for believe quite vividly, but essentially, what Thomas asks for is the same thing Jesus himself offers the other disciples in verse 20.

I personally think Thomas has gotten a bad rep. He’s called Doubting Thomas but his reaction really isn’t much different than the other disciples, and it’s a completely understandable reaction. After all the disciples have been through, I don’t blame any of them for not believing. The disciples had given up everything, left behind their family, friends, homes, and jobs to follow Jesus. Not only that but they were so emotionally invested. They thought Jesus was the one who would change everything, who would bring about the kingdom of God here and now, maybe even free them from the political oppression of Rome.

No one thought Jesus would allow himself to be killed. And now that he had died, in the disciples’ minds everything was over. They were devastated. In their minds, all those years they had spent following him around were wasted. All that time and energy, and effort they had put into becoming like Jesus was down the drain with nothing to show for it.

It’s completely understandable that they wouldn’t want to risk getting emotionally reinvested in such a farfetched thing when they had been so badly wounded the first time. So even though the other disciples had told Thomas that Jesus was risen and they had seen him, Thomas still didn’t believe. It’s not the Thomas thinks the disciples would lie to him, but he just can’t risk it. He can’t risk being wrong again, he can’t risk being hurt that badly again. So he didn’t believe. That is, Thomas didn’t believe in the resurrection until he had experienced it himself, just like the other disciples had. Once he experiences the resurrection he does believe. He even proclaims Jesus as his Lord and his God. What an awesome climax to a story that’s supposedly about someone who doubts.

It’s not the Thomas was any more of a doubter than anyone else. Thomas just had to experience it for himself. And I think so many things in our Christian life are that way. There are many things in a Christian life that we have to experience in order to truly understand the power of them. And living a life of stewardship is definitely one of those things.

Dennis has often said, “Stewardship is all we do after we believe.” And I think there’s a lot of truth in that statement. For starters it helps us to think outside of stewardship as simply what we do with our money. Stewardship is about our whole lives. It involves what we do with our time, our God given abilities, our passion, and our energy. But it also includes things like how do we care for the environment and the rest of creation. It includes things like how we care for our physical health, or even what T.V. shows we watch. There is not a single area of our life that is not covered under stewardship. Stewardship really is ALL that we do.

But that statement is also true in the sense that Stewardship is all that we DO, all that we participate in after we believe. Stewardship, like the resurrection, is experiential. Thomas’ life was changed not when the disciples told him about the resurrection but when he experienced it for himself. I think the same is true of stewardship. Stewardship changes our lives not simply when other people tell us about how it has changed their lives, but when we risk living a life of stewardship ourselves, when we risk experiencing it ourselves.

I could tell you that tithing has made a difference in my spiritual life, which it has. I could tell you that tithing has helped me to view the rest of our money in a different light, I could even tell you that it’s helped me to trust and depend on God more. But until you’ve tithed, until you’ve experienced those things, you won’t truly understand what I mean by that.

It’s the same thing with using our spiritual gifts. I could tell you that serving God with my spiritual gifts has helped me see God in the most unusual places, and the most common, everyday places. I could tell you that it’s helped me to experience the power of God’s redeeming grace at work in my own life, and given me the opportunity to witness it at work in the lives of others. But until you use your spiritual gifts, and serve God in whatever ways God has uniquely gifted you to serve, you won’t really know what I mean by that.

The other disciples told Thomas about the resurrection. But it didn’t matter, it didn’t make a difference in his life until he experienced it himself. A life of stewardship, in every sense, is like that. I could talk to you about stewardship until I’m blue in the face. I could line up testimony after testimony of disciples who have experienced the power of a life of stewardship. But the most powerful change happens when you experience it for yourself.

That’s difficult for some of us to do because a life of stewardship is risky. And we have all been burned before. Maybe we gave to an organization we believed in, only to find out later that they had mismanaged our money. Maybe someone told us they really wanted our help and our service, and then when we helped out we were told our help wasn’t good enough. Maybe we earnestly prayed for something and didn’t see any change happen. We’ve been burned before, and some of us, like Thomas are wondering if it’s really worth the risk. If it’s really could be true that a life of stewardship is life-giving not just for us, but for the community as well or if it’s just some farfetched story not to be trusted.

But just like the resurrection, a life of stewardship sounds farfetched but it really is grounded firmly in the reality of God. There are plenty of people whose lives are a testimony to that. As part of our efforts to be good stewards of the resources we have, Calvary supports many different missionaries around the world. The Cravens who are serving in Kazakhstan recently sent us an update on the ministry they are doing and the ways God has been moving in the community. I want to read a short part of their message to you.

They write, “About two months ago, the core group of believers started praying together every week night. We are beginning to see a renewed hunger to do God's will within the group. The financial crisis has also hit our national friends especially hard. The value of the tenge dropped and the price of food increased. Plus, there are fewer jobs available. We realize that this is the case in America too. Our small group of believers are praying for you too--that you will seek His face in all you do and that you will learn to rely on Him to provide all that you need!”

These are people who truly understand whole life stewardship. The Cravens gave up all the comforts and security of life in America, moved away from family and friends, and are serving God in Kazakhstan. They’ve learned to trust and to rely on God to provide for their needs and they spend their time ministering to people who live in poverty and many of whom struggle with addictions that are rampant in the area. And these people are praying for us!

That just boggles my mind. Many of these people don’t know where their next meal will come from. They have a lot of their own problems to worry about, and they are praying for us, for people who live in the wealthiest country in the world. They pray because they have experienced the power of a life of stewardship. They know that prayer changes things, they’ve personally experienced that. They know that all they have belongs to God, because they have had to rely on God for all their needs. They know that we are called to serve one another because they have witness the way that changes lives.

Not all us of are called to be international missionaries. Not all of us are called to make such dramatic changes. But we are all called to a life of stewardship. A life of stewardship is experiential. I can give you all the examples in the world, but you won’t truly understand the power of a life of stewardship until you risk living it and experiencing it yourself.

So give it a try. If you have never volunteered for anything in the church then sign up for something. Maybe you could try reading scripture or baking cookies, maybe you want to help with the youth or help update the website. As you look down that list sign up for something that excites you. If you aren’t tithing then trying stepping up your giving by 1%. If you don’t pray then consider praying just 2 minutes a day.

Like Thomas, you won’t truly understand the power of a life of stewardship until you risk living it and experiencing it yourself. Give it a try and your life will never be the same.

Amen.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Garbage Parade

This is the sermon I preached this morning on Mark 11:1-11. Click here to read the scripture passage first.

The Garbage Parade

We LOVE parades! At least I know, I do. And if the prevalence of parades in our country is any indicator, there are many others who feel the same way. We have parades for just about every holiday. There’s the Thanksgiving Day parade, St. Patrick’s Day parade, Fourth of July Parade, Christmas parade. There’s Halloween parades, Mardi Gras parades and New Year’s parades. We have political parades like the inaugural parade. We have parades for sporting events like the winner of the world series parade and the Rose Bowl parade. We have special occasion parades like the cherry blossom tree parade and homecoming parades. There are even some places that just make up reasons to have a parade.

In Ocean City, NJ there is a parade called the Do-Dah parade. It’s basically a made up parade that exists for no other reason than to simply have a parade. Apparently it consists of a lot of really random participants. For instance, this parade has a wind chime band. If you have a wind chime and can walk the parade route, you can be in the wind chime band. There’s even a dog show in this parade that rides along on one of the floats. We are a society that loves parades. Parades are fun and celebratory. They bring the community together.

Maybe that’s part of why this passage is so popular and well known. It’s the Jesus parade! It’s a day when we get to put ourselves in the place of the disciples. We get to reenact together the triumphal entry of Jesus parading into Jerusalem while we wave palms and joyfully shout our loud hosanna’s . Today is a day where the excitement and enthusiasm of the scripture is contagious. We want to be there. We want to be the ones to lay our coats on the donkey or to lay our palms out for Jesus. We want to be a part of the energy and excitement that builds in a crowd like that. We want to be the ones shouting “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” We love parades, and we want to be a part of the Jesus Parade.

Reading this passage over and over again this week must have left parades on my mind. As I was driving to visit a parishioner, I passed by three or four trucks in a row driving the opposite direction that I was. Each of these trucks were carrying about 8 port-a-potties a piece. And as I drove by I chuckled to myself and thought, “It’s a port-a-potty parade.” I drove a little farther and it wasn’t long until I came across a line of men, all in orange vests, walking along the narrow road picking up trash. And I laughed even harder as I thought to myself, “It’s a garbage parade.” As I was chuckling to myself about these two very unusual parades I had just witnessed, I couldn’t help but think, “Neither of those are parades I’d want to be in!” I would MUCH rather be in the Jesus parade than the garbage parade.

I know I’m not alone in that. Most Christians I know would rather be in the Jesus parade than the garbage parade. Often as Christians we think our whole life is going to be one big Jesus parade, one big triumphal entry into the promised land. Or at least that life OUGHT to be like that. We sometimes think that because we believe in Jesus and have a relationship with God, that we should be exempt from the messiness of life. It shouldn’t be our family member that’s diagnosed with cancer, or our child that wrestles with addiction. It shouldn’t be us who gets laid off, it shouldn’t be us that’s in danger of having our house foreclosed on.

But we know from our own life experience that it doesn’t work that way. A lot of times life feels like we’re in the garbage parade where we’re forced to lug around other people’s sewage. Many people who are facing foreclosure right now didn’t do anything wrong, but rather were victims of predatory lending or were simply laid off. Anyone who’s had a love one who struggles with addiction knows the garbage that gets thrown into their own lives as a result. Lots of people have been laid off because of mismanagement or corruption of CEOs. Even youth applying to colleges are having a harder time being accepted because the colleges have to make budget cuts. A lot of times, even as Christians, life feels like we’re forced to clean up the garbage that others have thrown into our lives.

But just because sometimes life feels like we somehow ended up in the garbage parade, doesn’t mean that we aren’t actually still in the Jesus parade. Peter Marty, a Lutheran Pastor, says if we expect our spiritual life to be one euphoric experience after another then we would probably never come back. He says instead it’s more like a verdant garden we are going to feast on. It’s full of sweet corn and manure. It’s holiness and a holy mess.

Even Jesus himself never promises that being Christian will be easy. We’re never told that we won’t have to experience pain or suffering in life. In fact Jesus tells us just the opposite, that there will be trying times. Jesus tells us that if we choose to follow him there will be times when we will be persecuted. Jesus tells us that following him will lead us to the cross.

For those of us who have read this story before, we know that’s exactly where Jesus is headed. Before the week is out, Jesus will be in his own garbage parade as he’s led to the cross. The loud hosannas of today will turn to curses and jeers. In this garbage parade, Jesus willing carries all our sewage, and all the garbage that’s been thrown into our lives. He takes it all. I’m so thankful Jesus knew that the garbage parade had to happen, he knew he had to go through all that. Jesus knew he had to go to the cross to get to the resurrection.

In this economy, with unemployment at a 25 year high, foreclosures all around us, major industries in danger of bankruptcy and the world’s leaders struggling to figure out what to do about it, it’s easy to feel like we’re in the garbage parade. It feels like everywhere we turn, something else is going wrong and we are forced to pay the consequences for other people’s mistakes. And we know that things will probably get worse before they get better. We know we still have to go through Friday before we can get to Sunday.

We know there will probably be more job lay-offs before things get better. The stock market will probably continue to vacillate back and forth. We’ll still have family members that get sick. We’ll still know people who suffer from addictions. There will still be times we’re looked down up for being Christian. There will still be people who persecute us. There will still be times when following the Christian path feels more like the garbage parade than the Jesus parade. We still have to go through Friday before we can get to Sunday.

But Sunday is coming, and with it the resurrection. There will be a time when more jobs are available. There will be a time when the housing market will go back up. There will be a time when all are freed from their addictions. There will be a day when there will be no more sickness or death. There will be a day.

This week as a community, we remember the whole Jesus parade. We celebrate together the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and we journey in solitude with Jesus as we remember the garbage parade he endured on our behalf. We’ll stand at the foot of the cross this week, and then we’ll walk along side Mary as she discovers the empty tomb. Sunday is coming and with it the resurrection.

Life in the Jesus parade is full of triumphal highs and garbage parade lows. It’s holiness and a holy mess. If you’re feeling weighed down and like you’re in the garbage parade, take heart. Jesus has walked this parade route before you. As we endure the garbage parade, sometimes all we can do is lean into the side of the one who has walked this way before us. Sometimes all we can do is put our trust in the one who has already made it through. The garbage parade is not the end and does not have the final say. We have to go through Friday to get to Sunday. But Sunday is coming, and with it, the resurrection.

Amen.