1 Samuel 25:1-22; Acts 14:1-18; Mark 4:21-34

Well “fun” is not a word that comes to mind with the Gospel of Mark.  The reading this morning is somewhat harsh – a continuation of the lambasting that Jesus is giving the disciples.  Mark has a harsh view of the parables, focusing on the hardships of discipleship, and the ignorance of those hearing them, a place where forgiveness will not occur, and that the kingdom will come to a head – when judgment or separation occurs.

Today’s parables are about the lamp under the bushel basket, the growing seed, and the mustard seed (interestingly enough the NT lectionary topic for this next Sunday).  At the end of each is a clear message that there is a fork in the road.  You either get it or you don’t.  Either you have it and receive more, or you have nothing.  You either make the harvest, or you don’t produce grain.

There is also a sense that the kingdom of God is about growth and expansion – out of control – out of our hands.  Even its understanding is out of our hands, which we are reminded of in that “Jesus did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.”  There is something hidden and mysterious about the inner workings of God’s kingdom.

There are those who get it and those who don’t.

This is all somewhat upsetting, considering we just started this gospel.  It is like walking in to see the last Harry Potter movie without having read any books or seen any previous movies.  The story is hidden and mysterious.  Good luck understanding the full picture.  Mark is similar in that much of who Jesus is is beyond our grasp anyway.  Ironically this keeps me reading!

All of this, it turns out, illuminates Mark as a brilliant storyteller.  He knows that those who are reading his work are going to be folks who have interest in the story.  They have heard bits of this GOOD NEWS and are hungry for and seeking out more.  When he talks about growth and the spreading of the kingdom like wild-fire, it is going to be easier to relate to than when the disciples initially heard it.  It is that same literary concept that makes us yell out in the middle of a mystery/suspense novel, “No, don’t go in there!”  The reader knows a little more than the characters.

What we have come to know, as followers of the risen Lord, is that growth is secondary to the good news itself.  A good harvest is a natural outcome to the news that we have heard – a news that is more than just good, it is great!  And we also know that if a final judgment is coming, there is work to be done in the interim!

-Matt

1 Samuel 24:1-22; Acts 13:44-52; Mark 4:1-20

It is easy to understand why God liked David so much.  Despite his many faults, David has a knack for leadership.  Today in 1 Samuel, we see how he is not persuaded by gossip and rumor.  He keeps his eye on the prize – his focus on God’s plan.

This is something the Church struggles with mightily on a daily basis.  Keeping focus on that which is important is difficult in our media-driven, visually bombarded culture.  Temptation is everywhere.

Sometimes gossip and rumor fills up the airwaves.  Sometimes gossip and rumor fills up our churches instead of the evangelical spirit of God’s Good News that brought us into being.

Despite having the enormous gifts of God at our hand – the fruits of the Spirit – we sometimes fail to focus on the poor and the afflicted.  Instead we have infighting and backbiting.  We spend our time moving forward then backward then forward then backward….instead of moving into the future God would have for us.  We let the media convince us that “taking care of the poor” is socialism, when it has nothing to do with politics.  It has to do with the core of our Christian being, and no matter our political affiliation, the core of who we are is a people who reach out to help neighbor.

Sometimes the same happens with gossip.  Instead of reaching out to others, we become complacent with insular chatter that amounts to nothing more than backbiting.

We have also failed as Christians in blazing a trail for a new evangelism.  How do we share GOOD news in a world full of hate and backbiting?  How do we share the Good News in a dimply lit world where our leaders want us to see the glass half full?  How do we share the Good News in the 21st Century in a positive and relevant way that will keep our neighbor engaged, not turned off?

Let’s start with that word: evangelism.  The progressive wing of the Church has allowed that term to be hijacked by nut cases that are barely Christian, when it is a term for all of us.  Think about its definition.

“Evangelism” simply means spreading the good news by personal witness or public sharing.  There is no one group that has a monopoly on sharing.  There are a lot of ways of sharing.  Pressing the SHARE or RETWEET button on this Morning Reflection could be seen as evangelical fervor.   Telling someone who is consumed by guilt and self-loathing that God loves them is a form of evangelism.  Tell a personal story of transformation and it is definitely evangelism.

Evangelism need not involve soap boxes and megaphones.  It can be as simple as inviting someone to the Wednesday Morning Bible Study or telling a story of God’s grace in the midst of crisis.

The community has been showered with grace abundant.  We must take hold of that grace, and be the leaders that David was, focused on God’s will, and not the selfish motives that can so often creep in and seduce our wills.

We must also take hold of that grace and TELL it.  Do we believe we have good news to share or not?  If so, press RETWEET now.  SHARE now.

God loves you – despite your failings.  God has a place for you, and a plan for you!  Believe it!

-Matt

1 Samuel 21:1-15, Acts 13:13-25; Mark 3:7-19a

Our gospel lesson today shows the power of God at work, and also the power of talk.  Jesus is having to escape on the Sea of Galilee by boat to avoid the crowds.  He has healed so many, they are coming in flocks.  The actions are speaking louder than words.

So often this is true in today’s society.  Many churches talk a good talk, but I don’t see much action.  I see a sleepy church during the week, and the only activity on Sunday.  This is not the life we were called to.

We are about the same thing Jesus was about – changing lives.  Throughout the week we spread the love of God.  So the question comes to each of our churches – are we hording all the money we can get their hands on, declaring it to be God’s blessing, and dismissing those in need?  Or are we reaching out to our communities and transforming lives?

There is a time for talk, and there is time for action.

I have served churches that seem to have this all mixed up.  They spend a lot of times maintaining their massive facades and little time investing in ACTION in their communities.  It is no wonder God’s Spirit has blown to other churches.  This is not what we are called to do.  We are called to lose our lives in order to gain them.

It is time for us to follow in Jesus’ steps – to get active – to lay hands on our communities and heal them – to get involved in every aspect of our communities’ lives.

That is the Gospel!

-Matt

1 Samuel 20:24-42; Acts 13:1-12; Mark 2:23-3:6

Something very strange happens at the end of Mark’s second chapter.  Jesus breaks the Law.  Right from the beginning of Mark’s Gospel we get a sense that this Messiah is not like we expected.  He does not come toting guns and overthrowing the Romans like people were wanting.  He comes teaching people a new way to interpret the Law and look at one another in love.  

As Jesus’ disciples began picking some grain out of the field, people started asking, “Why are your disciples doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”  At worst they were stealing.  At best they were breaking the Sabbath laws by working in the fields on God’s Holy Day.  And how does Jesus respond?  “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?”  

Jesus thinks the daily needs of the hungry and oppressed are of utmost importance.  He is being a good Rabbi and showing that, in his mind, a true reading of the Law means something different (that it was a greater sin to allow a poor person to go hungry).  And furthermore, this “responding to the hungry and needy” is not just something he is involved in, but he encourages his disciples to do they same, get their hands dirty, and get on with the business of loving one another.

We might do well to think about this story in our current volatile political climate.  On one hand, I have never been so happy about a “do nothing Congress.”  On the other hand, healthcare needs to be fixed.  Obamacare was supposed to be step one.  Where is step two?  Where is step three which would be a Single Payer System like the industrialized nations that have good healthcare. 

As the politicians fight and do absolutely nothing in D.C., we may want to remember that we have a completely different agenda as Christians.  We don’t dance to the tunes of the Democrats or the Republicans.  We dance to the tune of Jesus Christ, who came preaching a new way of being and doing for others.  At first it sounded like he was just breaking the Law, but under the surface was a torrent of love for others.  He draws us into the Greatest Commandment: to love God, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  

By loving others we come to understand how to love God.  That means something very different than political gain.  It means self-sacrifice and emptying of ourselves, so God can get through.

-Matt

1 Samuel 20:1-23; Acts 12:18-25; Mark 2:13-22

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”  Jesus declares this in Mark’s gospel after Levi (or Matthew) is chosen as a disciple, and after Jesus goes to his house to eat with him.  Naturally Levi’s friends are there – other tax collectors and sinners.

What is most interesting to me is that, as one of the twelve, Levi had become a central leader in the church.  Oh, we don’t hear much about him after the resurrection, but we know that each of them had deeds of power and might.  We can infer that Levi, or at least Levi’s church work, was well known by the people that first read Acts.

This is the heart of the good news.  It is not only that Jesus died and was raised, but that in doing so he came to give victory to those who least expected it.  He came and saved sinners.  He comes, not to call the righteous, but the sinners.

This is all very interesting, considering that until very recently, we in the North American churches had become obsessed with “who is in and who is out.”  We have spent far too much of the last 50 years judging other’s worth, when Jesus made it very clear that the church would be composed primarily of the sinners and the lost.  The righteous already had their place (whatever on earth that meant!!!).

And so we struggle.

The funny part is we think our petty fights of today are unique.  But it turns out the early church was plagued with the same struggle – who is in and who is out.  For the early church it was between Paul and Peter.  Peter wanted to raise the bar for becoming a Christian – requiring “Jewishness” first.  Paul had other thoughts, believing that baptism was the only mark of the new believer, and that Christ was the only thing that tied believers together, not which rules they followed.  Well, we know who won out!  It was Paul, and his proclamation of only the Rule of Love.

I find great comfort in this.  It means that those churches who refuse to spend energy on these fruitless battles, but instead are welcoming the lost and afflicted and who simply DO the work of the risen Christ are right on track.   

-Matt

1 Samuel 19:1-18; Acts 12:1-17; Mark 2:1-12

Today is the Healing of the Paralytic in Mark.  I share the story of the time a preschooler changed the way I thought about this passage:

It was Preschool Chapel.  I decided to tell the story of the Healing of the Paralytic, and let some of them help me reenact it.

I read from our Bible Story Book, showing pictures of how Jesus was crammed into this house, and the friends of the paralytic could not get close so they cut a hole in the roof and lowered him down.  Jesus gets questioned.  In frustration, he says, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’?”

Then we needed to get involved.  I choose two preschoolers to help me.  With reluctance our “Jesus” came forward.  The little boy seemed a little more intrigued, playing the part of the paralyzed man.

I had a rolled up mat as a prop.  Having heard the story once, I knew they would need little coaching.  I was right.  The little boy who was sick immediately grabbed his mat, spread it on the ground, and suddenly fell down and went rigid.

“Jesus” came over, and I whispered her the line.  As she knelt down and proclaimed him healed, the little boy sprang up, jerkingly looked around, and very quickly, with shock and amazement, grabbed his mat and took off for the narthex door as fast as he could!

A teacher bounded in quick pursuit.  “Wait!!!” she yelped.  He was off!  The teacher didn’t catch him until he was clear out of the chapel all together.

It was great!  It really couldn’t have been any better.  The exuberance.  The chaos.  The impulse.  This may have been how it actually went back then!  The “healed one” sparked the crowd, stunning and amazing us.  His excitement over being “healed” had just filled the whole room.

When we had finally corralled him, I asked for two new volunteers: a sick person and a Jesus.  Hands shot up everywhere!  Of course they did!  This was an exciting story now.  These kids understood the power and excitement of the crowd.  They were looking to be healed next.

And that is what we are looking for in the church, isn’t it?  We are looking for souls that are ready and waiting to be surprised by the risen Lord.  We are looking for those who are open and ready for that healing touch.  We are looking for “Jesus’s” too.  Are you ready to come forward and pronounce words of power or forgiveness?  Or are you looking to be healed, to put your past behind you, and with excitement take your mat and follow Jesus?

-Matt

1 Samuel 18:5-16,27b-30; Acts 11:19-30; Mark 1:29-45

Many of you may have noticed the recent break from Morning Reflections around the beginning of July.  Between family reunions in Wisconsin and deaths in the family, it has been a very busy summer.

What I realized during my time away from writing is the power of God on the move.  I did not need my office or my Bible or my alone time for God to speak powerfully to me.  I suppose I could look at the years of contemplative prayer as practice, but God is always finding ways to speak to us if we need to hear.

Our lessons for today reflect our God on the move.  In 1 Samuel, we see a shift to David in power, with Saul, the people, and God all coming to terms with David as the new leader.  In Mark, we see Jesus on the move, but the extraordinary magnetism of his power, as people are brought from near and far to be healed.  In Acts, we see the church on the move.

If you take a step back from the Bible and look for overarching themes, one you will find is that God is on the move.  God moves over the waters at Creation.  God moves out into foreign lands.  God takes the law from stone tablets and is on the move – into human hearts.  God comes to earth, and spends a good bit of time on the move, only to die and witness his church move to all the corners of the earth. 

I pray that you will find God on the move in your life today, and that God will follow you to work and to lunch and to your family time and to your alone time too.

-Matt