Wisdom 1:16-2:11,21-24; Col. 1:1-14; Luke 6:1-11

After an extended gap for Morning Reflections, I return.  Part of the issue has been settling into a new morning routine – living in a small apartment with a dog, extended morning walks, commute to work, etc.  It is also the demands of a new job, relationships to foster, procedures to get to know.

With normal routines out the window, it is not going to surprise you that observing a Sabbath day was getting more and more difficult.  It was moving around, sometimes not happening very well, and generally my schedule was all over the map.

I had to laugh then when I turned to our passages this morning only to discover Jesus breaking the Sabbath – and quite deliberately to make a point!

Jesus cures on the Sabbath.  He teaches on the Sabbath.  He allows his disciples to pluck heads of grain and eat the grain.  All this is considered work.

Jesus ends one of the conversations with: “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus also reinterprets the entirety of the Law.  No longer is the Law meant to restrict, but to set free.  It is not that the Law is obsolete, but must always be read through the lens of love.  And so, in that respect, we are not to focus on the fact that these heads of grain are being plucked (i.e. work) and that they are most probably stolen from a field that is not theirs.  Instead we are to focus on their hunger, and God’s desire to provide for us in times of need.

It is with this spirit that Colossians begins.  “We have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord.”

In our culture of instant gratification, patience is not much of a virtue.  But the Christian life demands it.  Coming to a knowledge of God’s will and cultivating wisdom are lifelong endeavors.

More than that, we are not asked to pick up our Bibles and check our minds at the door, but to wrestle with the struggles of the Law and love.  We are meant to breathe it in deeply and come to wisdom and understanding.

This is not an easy endeavor, but one that requires patience and fortitude.  It also requires a certain counter-cultural deliberateness.  Looking through a lens of love changes things!  To lead lives worthy of the Lord means turning from what the world says is important, to what God deems important.  

I wonder how this is true in your life.  From what do you need to turn to find spiritual health?  Money?  The tyranny of the clock?  An abusive relationship?

Whatever it is, I pray that God dwells in you richly, and that your hunger is satisfied by the Bread of Life.

-Matt

Jer. 17:5-10, 14-17; Phil. 4:1-13; John 12:27-36

Notre Dame Cathedral burns.  Damaged.  But still standing.  Many of us were deeply moved as we watched, and relieved to find out the organ is intact, much of the structure, some windows, etc.

Dan Rather put it well: “Why has the burning of Notre Dame moved so many?  Because we believe in beauty, majesty, faith, art, history, and the human expressions thereof.  We recognize in this cathedral our common humanity.  A scar now emerges in our connection to our past, our future, and each other.”

And yet I grieve that the 3 burning black churches in Louisiana recently did not get nearly the news coverage.  And why?  One struck at the beauty and majesty that we know humanity can achieve.  The other highlights the hideous hate crime of one, but the racial underbelly of our culture.  We turn from images of our own destructiveness and as we bury it, it only serves to emerge as another layer to our racist past/present.

I think coming to terms with our past and God’s new future that he intends for us remains elusive.

In John’s gospel, Jesus cries out, “And what should I say – ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.”  Then later: “Now is the judgment of this world…And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  Judgment is promised.

And yet today the heart of the Good News comes.

Here we are in Holy Week, but already seeping through the cracks of the story are very powerful indicators of God’s GOOD NEWS.  Despite our shortcomings, it appears that by being washed in the blood of the lamb, we will be drawn into favor with God.  And not just us….but all people.

In today’s story we discover that hope is present.  Love will reign.  And God’s broad net of inclusive love will touch us all, and wipe away our tears.  That goes for Judas.  That goes for the white terrorist in Louisiana.  That goes for all people as we seek to move past the racial injustices of our land.

In Philippians we hear one of Paul’s famous exhortations: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice….  Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

And so here we are in Holy Week.  And we turn to the heart of the story to deeply listen for God’s Word to us again.  This week is ALL ABOUT listening to the Spirit, and trying to not listen to what society is telling us.  That is why Paul insists, “guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”  This is a battle!  Coming to know and understand God’s “Yes’s” in a world of “No’s” is not easy.

Moving in that direction is a challenge.  But with the power of God’s YES, we too can overcome hatred, heartbreak, cynicism, and injustice everywhere.  We can witness to our common humanity, and experience the power of God drawing us together into a New Body.

-Matt

When I was asked to be part of a consultation team for World Mission in the PC(USA) I didn’t know what to expect.

The Synod of the Covenant sent me as part of the US Northeast Consultation.  It was a time to focus on the strategy and communication patterns we use in World Mission, how we organize mission, and how we can be more effective at connecting into the Holy Spirit’s work.

In addition to the radical hospitality of the Stony Point Center where it was held in New York (which I talked about in yesterday’s reflection), I also engaged with so many people in our denomination who love World Mission too, and see the powerful connection we can have with the Spirit if we can deeply relate to one another around the world.

It was an extraordinary time of connection.

The first connection was with those who often work behind the scenes and get little of the credit.  They are those huge hearts and hard workers for World Mission at our denominational headquarters in Louisville.  They resource and provide their expertise to the mission co-workers around the globe and to those of us in PCUSA congregations and mid-councils.  People like Jieun Han and Tamron Keith are the life-blood of our national office, particularly for World Mission, providing essential links of communication and HR support.

Take Tamron, for instance, (pictured above to the right) who as Associate Director for World Mission works in operations management and budget development.  His kind of operational leadership is essential, for instance with international properties and assisting in navigating  international law and equipping mission co-workers in various countries with the resources they need.  He also oversees the Young Adult Volunteer program, which plants and cultivates seeds in young hearts and minds, like Sarah Chancellor-Watson, who many of my readers know not as a former YAV to Peru, but as what she did after that experience – come to First Pres in Oklahoma City as our Dir of Children and Youth Activities.  Sarah is now the Associate Pastor of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church in New Orleans.  The Young Adult Program nurtures leaders.

Another essential piece of our Mission together is Jieun, without whom our event would not have happened.  She draws hearts and minds together.  Thank you Jieun for drawing me in! (Top picture, front, right.  Second pic, right)

Our time together was an opportunity to listen deeply to one another.  We came to understand the continued need for solidarity and mutuality as we move forward together in Mission, and what deep partnerships will look like in 2020 and beyond.

In many respects I came to understand our need to practice boldness in this fearful world of ours.  I also came to see how we often are operating from FEAR – in our churches and in our US context.  It has become our model: fear of loss of members, fear of diminished resources, whatever.

So often we have embraced and rely on our culture in the US, which has led to this fear, in a way that other Christians in other countries often have not.  We as Christians say we need to be countercultural standing against powers and principalities like Paul calls us to, but I wonder when we are going to get around to it.  Rick Ufford-Chase summed it up well when he addressed our fears in the context of last week saying “We are gonna have to move to the edge of Empire and it’s gonna hurt.”

We spent many days together in prayer, calling on the Spirit to lead us in new ways to engage our communities as they seek to become Matthew 25 churches, reaching out to the poor, the lonely, the lost, and struggling against racism, poverty, and injustice of all kinds.

I love our church.  I see so many resources – so many possibilities – so much reason to hope for a better future.  And together with our mission partners churches around the world, I believe we can TOGETHER build a better future.

Mission is finding out where the Holy Spirit is at work, and joining in.  There are abundant opportunities to join with the Holy Spirit in the PC(USA) and in 2019.

Finally, I learned a new and better translation of 1 Cor. 3:9. “We are co-laborers with God’s synergy, building up the economy of God.”  From Greek straight to Spanish, this really does hit at the heart of what Paul was talking about, and as it relates to our mission engagement.

Only when we are co-laborers with God and with one another can we plug into the only economy we truly need: God’s.

May your Holy Week be a profound week of plugging into the love story of God for you.  And may the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in this week lead us to new ways to co-labor with God, and together build up God’s great kingdom of love and light.

-Matt

I had been longing for Spring to arrive.  Last week I saw signs of hope.  I saw some amazing things blossom and flourish.  But it wasn’t in the trees.  It was in the hearts of those people around me.

OK, let me back up.  Last week was an extraordinary time at Stony Point Center in New York.

I had been asked by the Synod to be part of the World Mission US Northeast Consultation.  It was a time of strategizing how we do mission and communicate that within the PC(USA).   It was also an opportunity to connect with one of our PCUSA Camps and Conference Centers.

Stony Point Center is extraordinary.

It is more than a conference center.  It is a place of welcome: welcoming across boundaries, nurturing inclusive community, and cultivating peace and justice.

Yes, I was there for a conference.  I was there to use their accommodations during the day and some simple comfortable guestrooms for my overnight stay.  But what I encountered was so much more.

I was transformed by the intentional multi-faith community that is living there: Muslims, Jews, and Christians – all dedicated to study and the practice of hospitality, nonviolence, peace, justice, and earthcare.

I visited the greenhouses, met some of the Muslim farmers that have come to live there.

I broke bread with Muslims, Jews, and Christians, in addition to some of our mission partners from around the world.  There was a palpable support and building of unity, as we lifted one another up in our individual faiths and found common ground as it related to peace, justice, and nonviolence.

I reconnected with my buddy Rick Ufford-Chase, former moderator of the General Assembly, who I first met in New Mexico at a Presbyterian Assoc of Musician Conference, and him sitting criss-cross applesauce with our youth, engaging in their stories, and drawing them into Mission at the Menaul School, showing the Holy Spirit at work in powerful ways.

I saw the Holy Spirit at work in Rick again as the co-Exec Director of the conference, and the radical hospitality that was emerging at Stony Point, and has been a part of their DNA from the beginning, well before Rick arrived.

But it was more.  It was a time of hearing stories.  There was an openness, a transformation that began within me, as I heard the powerful stories that brought some of these folks together in collaborative efforts.

I believe Stony Point is a beacon of the well-spring that we are called to drink from as Christians.  As the earth cries out for justice, we must engage one another in deeper ways, and seek healing and peace for our souls, our communities, and the world.

What I saw at Stony Point was a hopeful sign that that is already happening.  The shoots of new life are already emerging.  And by the power of the Holy Spirit, springtime will continue to emerge in the hearts and minds of those who dedicate themselves as deeply as those who live and work at Stony Point.

May justice and peace reign.

And may we find where the Spirit is at work in our communities, and join her.

-Matt

In January 2020, I will once again lead a trip to Israel/Palestine.  Every couple years I run a trip (most recently a Journeys of Paul cruise through Italy, Greece, Malta), and every fourth year or so I venture with a band of pilgrims to walk the steps of Jesus.

I would love for you to consider joining us.  It will transform your walk with God.

If you have not been to the Holy Land, prayed on the Sea of Galilee, swum in the Dead Sea, or walked the Via Dolorosa up the road to Calvary, consider this pilgrimage of a lifetime.  Bethlehem, Jerusalem, the Jordan River, Jericho, the Mount of Beatitudes, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: they all hold a special place in my heart.

When I was a student in Israel the professors would talk about the “Fifth Gospel” and I was perplexed.  Had someone canonized a book without me knowing it?  What is this heresy? “You can’t understand the first four Gospels, Matt, until you understand the fifth gospel,” I was told. 

Come to find out the Fifth Gospel was the land itself, and the story the land told.  This is something they helped me to understand, as well as the wonderful guides I have had over the years, most notably Shafik Khbeis, who despite his young age completely transformed the way I saw the Holy Land.  He was our guide when we went last time in 2017, and having been so many times I went with a chip on my shoulder thinking I knew everything.  Boy was I wrong!  Shafik helped me to understand I will always be a student of the Land, ever growing in my knowledge of the Fifth Gospel.  (He is the one kneeling above in the 2017 group pic.)

To speak simply, after arriving in the Holy Land, the scriptures opened up to me in a new way – like the difference between black & white TV and High-Definition Color.

It has forever changed the way I see those Old Testament stories and brought the Gospel to LIFE.  I pray it will transform your walk with God too.

Consider giving yourself this gift, and join us in walking in Jesus’ steps.

Click here to learn more: https://mattmeinke.com/trips/

I am particularly excited about the Optional Extensions I have planned this time around: the Wonders of Jordan/Petra/& the Dead Sea; Cairo & the Route of the Exodus; Nile Cruise Extension; Judea & Samaria Extension; or a 3 Night Jerusalem Extended Stay.  

-Matt

Deut. 9:23-10:5; Heb: 4:1-10; John 3:16-21

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

This may be one of the most misused verses in the Bible.  Often taken out of context and plastered onto banners for use in protest marches or NFL games, it has been used to beat non-believers over the head, fear tactic and all, into changing their non-belief.

This illuminates a divide that we Presbyterians (and all Reformed Christians) have with our more Pentecostal/evangelical brothers and sisters.  We come at faith believing we are all a wretched mess and without God we are nothing.  And we see God through a different lens – primarily coming at us first and foremost with love and compassion, not exclusion and judgment.  Grace alone.  Grace first.

It’s not a better way to read scripture, just a different approach.  It is not our activity that is primary, but God’s then, in this approach.

When I see JOHN 3:16 signs I am tempted to hold up a sign that says “John 3:17”.  Read on!  John 3:17 declares “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  The passage goes on to talk about judgment as if it is something for God alone, and not for us to be deciding.  Our focus in on good deeds and staying in “the light.”

It turns out that John 3 warns against the very thing that people intentionally or unintentionally do with their “3:16” signs.  If we begin by casting judgment on people, we miss the point of God’s purposes for us.

Recently at a college campus here in the Toledo area, this kind of divide of faith came into play.  Some involved in the campus ministry were coming at their faith primarily through a lens of judgment, demands from God, or worse from fear.  The leadership thankfully was coming at things with a broader, fuller understanding of Scripture, primarily that God’s LOVE comes first, and if God’s love and desires for us to discover that love predominate our lives, we need to approach the campus in that way too.

This is the radical nature of John 3:17.  We need to suspend judgment and leave that up to God alone.  We need to embrace God’s love, and love God and neighbor as ourselves.  God’s welcome must comes first.  Everything else will follow.

For John, everything seems to stem back to the premise that he laid out at the beginning: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”  Everything that follows is an explanation and expansion of that main thought.

And where does that leave us as believers?  It means that our lives’ focus have changed.  We are to revel in the wisdom that is all around us.  We are to enjoy God, celebrate God, and feast on the goodness of God, sharing that feast with others.  We are not to disrespect God by taking on the position of judgment or condemnation.  We are to seek love in everything we do – in every relationship – in every place we go.

I am thankful that our campus ministry is on firm footing, deeply rooted in Scripture and washed in the LOVE of God

-Matt

Deut. 9:4-12; Heb. 3:1-11; John 2:13-22

Change is always hard.  I am sure you have heard the joke….  How many Presbyterians does it take to change a lightbulb? …CHANGE??????  Presbyterians are notorious for not liking change.  Well, today’s scriptures deal with the demands that faith put on us and the change that is required within us.

The readings also deal with the difficulty of unbelief and stubbornness.  Both Deuteronomy and Hebrews deal with trying to keep the “hardening of hearts” in check, and a holy self-examination of motives.

In John, Jesus cleanses the Temple.  It is quite something to see Jesus driving people out of the temple and overturning the moneychangers’ tables.  “Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle.  He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned the tables.  He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here!  Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

This is indeed extraordinary.  God’s plan, it turns out, is to bring about change and renewal in people’s daily lives.  It is extraordinary because people of the time were expecting a Messiah to be something quite different.  They were expecting the Messiah to come and lead them out of the oppression of Rome, not reprimand them and demand better behavior from them.

This is the conundrum of the Lenten journey, and of our Christian faith.  It is not all about validating our behavior, but about transforming our behavior to be more Christ-like.  Change will be demanded of all of us.

For me the Lenten journey is much more basic in terms of transforming behavior.  Many of you know my new position – not as a pastor but now in executive leadership.  It requires much more driving and meetings than before….in other words more sitting on my rear!  So I have realized I have to be intentional about yoga and running and going to the gym.  So that’s the change that is required of me right now.

Jesus’ stark behavior is a warning, and a much deeper call to change.  It warns us not to become too complacent in our spiritual practices, but constantly be on the lookout for how God may want us to conform our lives anew.  The people of the time saw nothing wrong with the moneychangers.  To buy doves and other sacrifices to God at the Temple was simply how things were done.  This was the vehicle of grace!

Jesus said no.  He was reinterpreting the spiritual trajectory of things.  He was demanding we be circumspect about our walks in faith, to make sure our actions match our hearts’ beliefs.

This is quite a task.  It will require our whole lives.  Body, Mind, Spirit, and Voice.  It will require a fair dose of God’s grace as well, as we journey this road our whole lives long.

-Matt