Neh. 6:1-19; Rev. 10:1-11; Matt. 13:36-43

There is a strange and disgusting image in Revelation today – that of eating a scroll.  Having eaten a note in middle school to try to hide it from being discovered by the teacher, I know exactly what we are talking about here – disgusting!

But the image is clear.  I will put my Law within you.  It is a common image in scripture surprisingly.  There are a number of times we are eating scrolls, or hearing about how God will write God’s Word on our hearts, or we will inwardly digest them, or what have you.

I wonder when this is going to happen in this beloved country of ours…a day when we will “study war no more” and “beat our swords into plowshares.”  We are a violent culture.  And we seem to be increasingly distant from God who calls us into justice, freedom, and peace.  We seem content with guns and violence and chaos at every turn.

I invite you into a counter-cultural movement.  It is not going to be popular.  But it is going to revolutionize your life.  I want to invite you into the heart of Christ.

I have to warn you.  It will not be easy.  But it will leave you with a sense of peace and focus and joy that may be completely unimaginable to you up until now.

It will also mean your life may start to look a lot different.  For some of you, you will wake up and realize that guns have no place in your home.  You will start making choices in your family that impact your activities, your routine, your friends.  You will notice your Sundays look a lot different than they do now.

Others of us have come to see the joy of universal healthcare.  We have watched as Christ shaped our political affiliations.  Yet others of us have made vocational changes that have completely disrupted our families.  Others come to a new understanding about their bodies, seeking help with addiction that has gone untreated for way too long.  Others find their friends changing and shifting.  New relationships begin.  Old relationships go away.

I have to warn you, friends, if you start following Christ your life may feel completely disrupted for a time.  You may not feel yourself.  Not just your schedule is impacted, but every fiber of your being.

It may take months for you to get to a “new normal”.

Nevertheless, I invite you into this life.  I do so because I know what joy and peace can look and feel like.  I know that it is the best medicine for this broken world.

-Matt

Neh. 2:1-20; Rev. 6:12-7:4; Matt. 13:24-30

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat….”  The weeds are then left to grow to maturity, only to be bundled up and burned.

We are about to get to Jesus’ parables in our Wednesday Noon Bible Study one we pick up the Gospel of Matthew again after Christmas.  And I will warn you, folks.  The more I study them the less I seem to know.  I have been challenged, surprised, shamed, encouraged, humbled, confused, and utterly baffled by the parables in the past.  Today illuminates that wonderfully.

It is a fascinating parable, meant to instruct us or change our thinking on “the kingdom of heaven.”  It is unclear quite what is meant by this phrase.  As the gospel of Matthew unfolds, we come to understand it better.  The kingdom is something that is amongst us.  It is here and now.  And it is growing.

From this parable we can also surmise that the kingdom is a place where ultimately some fit in and some don’t.  The battle is not won.  The work is not over.  Something more is required of us.

This also begins a series of parables on the kingdom of heaven.  We are finding out that whatever this kingdom is, it is expansive; it is surprising; it is a challenge to keep up with.

Despite Paul’s assertion that “death has been swallowed up in victory” and that the battle for righteousness has been won by Christ, it is Christ himself who seems to demand of his followers.  The path of discipleship is narrow and difficult.  We are expected to change our lives, and watch the world change around us.  This seems like a tall order in these dark days for our country, when many have traded in news for propaganda, and when the temptation is to just check out on the daily goings on of our world.

The parable is clear: things are changing.  Along with that, as things change, the truth becomes clear.  And there are choices before us.  So we wait, and we work.  And when the fork in the road comes, we best be ready to follow.

Let us keep at the forefront of our lives the good news of the gospel, and let us pray and hope and work toward the wheat.

-Matt

Neh. 1-1:11; Rev. 5:11-6:11; Matt. 13:18-23

All Faithful Departed (All Souls’)

Nehemiah is one of those books that is so often overlooked.  In the Book of Ezra we saw the rebuilding of the temple, now in Nehemiah we see the coming together of a city. O how I pray this prayer daily!  Our country is in so much need of dialogue and coming together.

In Nehemiah, it is more than a rebuilding of the city walls, but a rebuilding of trust, and a restoring of a people.  Strike a little close to home?  In our churches and in our nation a need to rebuild trust and restore our lives together is tantamount.

In today’s reading, Nehemiah, hearing some of the recent attacks on Jerusalem, prays that he has success in rebuilding the city walls, and coming to terms with the Persian king.  Nehemiah is a Jew who has risen to a high office in the Persian administration, and there are hopes that he can pull some strings to allow for the Promised Land to be restored to peace and prosperity.

Where is our Nehemiah?  Certainly many of the current leaders in Washington have lost our trust.  I have not seen approval ratings this low for our leaders in my lifetime – and that’s a long time.

This country is hungry for the world to be a better place.  I would also argue, despite the incredible divisiveness that I see, that this country is also hungry for coming together.

Our churches are also often hotbeds of debate and fracture.

What is missing in the midst the debate?  The spirit of Nehemiah.

“Upon hearing these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.  I said, ‘O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him, and keep his commandments; let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant…, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you.  Both I and my family have sinned.”

There is humility in Nehemiah’s leadership.  This is something we MUST look for as we face a time to turn the page and chose new leaders.

For Nehemiah there is also an earnest desire to keep in touch with the God who sustains all things.  Are our churches being humble in the midst of discord?

In short, NO.  I encounter a lot of blowhards as a Mid Council Leader.  Perhaps at times I am one of those blowhards.  At every turn, as leaders, we must take time to listen to our fellow brothers and sisters?

We must have patience and trust – not in ourselves, but in God who can transform this miserable mess we have made of our world and our churches.  And that time, I sense, is now.

-Matt

Ezra 6:1-22; Rev. 5:1-10; Matt. 13:10-17

Eve of All Saints:
Psalm 34; Wisdom 3:1-9; Revelation 19:1,4-10

I love Halloween!  We had a number of trick or treaters last night, from soldiers to zombies, and of course a veritable heaven host of more Pocahontas.  We even had one bumble bee.  Precious!

I always get a laugh when people talk of Halloween as if it is a secular holiday.  No more than Christmas!  I want to ask them about truly secular holidays they “don’t celebrate”: July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving.  And what about how we dress Christmas up as if it is the chief of all secular holidays?  This is usually complete with a plastic Santa out front and Christmas trees, gifts, and parties all over.   I always want to remind folks as well, that Christmas was a pagan holiday that was later taken over by the church and given more “Christian” roots.

The truth is that Halloween, or All Hallow’s Eve, has deep Christian roots as well.  Yes it has been commercialized.  Yes, it has problems.  As I have mentioned, so does Christmas these days.  And what does an Easter Bunny and chocolate have to do with Easter?

The true origins of Halloween lie with the ancient Celtic tribes who lived in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany.  For the Celts, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before the new year, they celebrated those who had died.  During this festival, Celts believed the souls of the dead—including ghosts, goblins and witches—returned to mingle with the living.  In order to scare away the evil spirits, people would wear masks and light bonfires.

As with many of the secular holidays of Europe, like Saturnalia(now Christmas) the Church found a way to infiltrate and “Christianize” this holiday.  The Church too, had a day to celebrate those who had died, and in 835, Pope Gregory IV moved the celebration for all the martyrs (later All Saints) from May 13 to November 1. The night before became known as All Hallow’s Eve or “holy evening.” Eventually the name was shortened to the current Halloween.  It was the night before the true celebration, All Saint’s Day on Nov. 1.  (We do Christmas the same way, remember?  Christmas Eve!)

The purpose of these feasts is to remember those who have died, whether they are officially recognized by the Church as saints or not.  It is a celebration of the “communion of saints,” which reminds us that the Church is not bound by space or time.

It is also, in many ways, a time for Christians to laugh in the face of death, for death has lost its sting.  We dress up in masks.  We even dress as dead people sometimes.  We make a comedy of death.  And what did the cross do?  We, as Christians, stand as a people unafraid by death.  We rejoice in the resurrection, and in doing so we shake off our moral fears and preach Christ, the Lord of Life.

(The educator in me is always interested when children start to get hooked.  Here is our chance!  It is difficult to talk about difficult concepts like death or loss with children.  Halloween could be our way “in” to an age-appropriate conversation about grandma who is no longer here, for grief and loss are just as real for those little ones.)

And so, even though Halloween may seem like a very secular holiday, and in many ways it has become so, there is a distinctly Christian aspect to all this “ghouls and goblins”.  So laugh with me, and mock death itself, for “Death, where is your sting.  O grave, where is your victory!”

-Matt

Zech. 1:7-17; Rev. 1:4-20; Matt. 12:43-50

As we begin a new week, and a lectionary trajectory that will take us to Advent, it is fitting for Revelation to show up as a text.  Today’s lesson frames the entire book.  We know who is writing, and why, and to what end.

“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come….”  Already there is a lot going on.  We know that this crazy apocryphal letter starts like a standard letter in many ways.  Yet already we get glimpses of the earth shattering nature, and good news spilling beyond boundaries.

The description of God the writer employs is a widespread Hellenistic Jewish name for God, “the one who is, and who was, and who is to come.”  This is someone who transcends time!  So much for “God is coming.  Look busy!”

The joy of Revelation is that it is written to a people who understand they are part of God’s kingdom.  They are being reassured that God is coming.  “He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.”

Most likely it was a time of persecution.  The writer is reminding the readers that God is ultimately in charge, and nothing can overcome his “overcoming”.

Sometimes I think we need a bit more of this imagery in our daily lives and churches.  God is the “ruler of the kings of the earth.”  And God is coming.  In that sense, we become not ultimately inheritors of the kingdom, but stewards of God’s kingdom, much like the praefectus urbanus, the prefect of the city, was in charge when the king was away.

How would this change our churches, to focus on the fact that Christ is Head of the Church, and we need to leave it in a state so he could walk back anytime to pick up where he left off?  How would we structure our meetings?  Would we leave a seat open for him at the dinner table?  How would our missions focus differently?  Where would we be putting our money to good use?

Big questions.  Even bigger concepts.  God is in charge, and is coming back any minute now.

I love those bumper stickers, “Jesus is coming.  Look busy.”  It’s bad theology, but it certainly reframes things!  Jesus is coming.  So what are we waiting for?

-Matt

Ezra 1:1-11; 1 Cor. 16:1-9; Matt. 12:15-21

The Bible is full of wonderful expressions of God on the Move.  We see this in the Exodus, with a God moving through the desert with his people.  But this theme continues.  Today, in Ezra, 1 Corinthians, and in Matthew, we see the same God at work!

The Persian King Cyrus is inspired by the Spirit of the Lord, and declares the captivity over, sending home the refugees to restore the temple.  Paul is on the move, making travel plans, and hoping he can do more than pass through Corinth on his next journey.  In Matthew it is a little more obvious, declaring “When Jesus became aware of this, he departed.”

“God on the move” is somewhat different than how most religions see things.  Unlike many of the pagan gods, who resided in golden calves or other objects, our God was above and beyond ritual object, elusive and uncontainable.

In the days of the Temple, God was thought to live there, but for most of Jewish and Christian existence, there has been no temple.  And yet, God was with them during their captivity in Egypt.  God was present throughout the Wilderness journey.  God was directing things in Babylon and preparing a way back.

In the New Testament, we hear in marvelous new ways in which God is on the move.  God has come to earth, and is walking amongst us.  The Son of God travels even to the Decapolis, a place of ten Gentile cities, where greed and commerce reign supreme.  It was considered dirty places for any good Jew to go.  And yet Jesus went.

Then Jesus’ followers traveled to all parts of the world.  Paul went not only to Corinth, but to many places where no Jews or Christians lived.

The message to us is becoming clear: God is coming to you!  You do not need to seek God out anymore to have a “God experience”.  God will find you if you don’t find God.

And we are a part of that story!  We pick up where Paul left off.  And we have some of the same work as Paul, Ezra, the Twelve Disciples, or even Moses had – to lead God’s people into the joyous embrace of a Loving God who found us long before we went looking for him.

Where is God in your life today?  How do you see God walking beside you and guiding you through life’s travails?

-Matt

Lam. 2:8-15; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; Matt. 12:1-14

Today in Lamentations, we encounter a poetic and stylized description of the suffering that Jerusalem has endured.  Instead of simply hearing “Jerusalem fell” we hear “God has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe; he has killed all in whom we took pride in the tent of daughter Zion.”

Why beautify such disaster?  It certainly engages the soul, making it memorably, as poetry brings it into the realm of the human heart.  “My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns.”  There are times when we are not asking God “Why?” or spending our energy being angry with God – we are just wrapped up in our own raw emotions.

Lamentations, as a book, is letting us know that is all right.  It is all right to be with God in pain, and to endure pain and suffering along with God, who also grieves for the fallen Israel and Judah.

In Matthew, we get a similar picture of God – one who walks with us.  Jesus is walking along with the disciples and they are hungry.  He gives them something to eat.  They get in a heap of trouble for this, and arguably even more trouble when Jesus ends his defense with, “For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

We learn more than just “mercy is more important than sacrifice”.  What we learn is that God understands and knows, even though God is above and beyond the human experience.  God is Lord of all this, and despite this in not like the lord of the manor who remains far removed from the plight of the slaves.  No, our God is one who walks with us in the midst of pain and suffering, despair and want.

I am not sure what it is, but I have a number of friends who are in the midst of suffering as well.  Some are struggling with illness, others struggling financially, and others dealing with death of a loved one.  And we learn much from Lamentations and this passage in Matthew about how to respond.  We are called, not to try to talk them out of the struggle or the illness, for words like that are not meant to heal, but to simply walk along with them, like God walks with us.

It is the sense of “togetherness” that brings much power to Jesus’ ministry, and to the steadfast love and faithful presence of the Lord God throughout the Old Testament.

May we remain present and faithful and honest and true – to ourselves and to the world to which we minister.  And may we always remember God walks with us too.

-Matt