Hab. 3:1-10(11-15)16-18; James 3:1-12; Luke 17:1-10

Our readings today are glimpses of God’s kingdom.

Habakkuk launches into one of the most beautiful prayers in the Bible, painting a picture of the mighty acts and wrath of God, but also expressing a deep trust in God.  From the bright rays of the sun to the deadly pestilence, from the rivers and the mountains, to even the moon standing still in its exalted place at the “light of your arrows speeding by, at the gleam of your flashing spear.”  Indeed, Habakkuk trusts in God’s power.

James, as well, is filled with fiery language.  His rhetorical attack on the sins of speech personifies the tongue.  “How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!  And the tongue is a fire.”  He focuses on the power of people’s words to do harm – words that are used to slice and dice the community, poison it and destroy the Body of Christ.

Jesus speaks a number of miscellaneous sayings in Luke.  From forgiving those who have wronged you seven times a day, to explaining that “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you,” Jesus focuses on personal responsibility as well.

Sometimes I wonder why the church in America declined to where it is today.  Is it the culture of scientific inquiry?  Is it that people these days are demanding proof when faith is required?  Or is it the repercussions of a Christian Education philosophy of the 50s and 60s that cared little for personal faith and instead focused on lectures on theology and Biblical knowledge?  Is it simply God’s will that we be tested in this way?

All of our readings, in some way, focus on personal responsibility.  Habakkuk is a prophet, someone who is attempting to persuade and cajole.  James and Jesus are both directly addressing where the person fits in the community, with appropriate behaviors and actions.

And this is where I think we got off track.  So much of what I see the church focusing on is, “It’s OK to do whatever you want with your body or each other, as long as at the end of the day you know that God loves you.”

James and Jesus confront this kind of flimsy ideology you hear today head on.  They focus on the poison and destruction that words can provide, or inaction.  One cannot sit idly by and expect the kingdom to come.  It is clear that we play a part in this.

We must do our best.   And yes, we must ask for forgiveness if we fall short.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t continue doing our best.  Forgive each other along the way.  But get through the bumps in the road, and work for the coming of the kingdom of Christ.  Ready….Here we GO!

-Matt

Hab. 2:1-4,9-20; James 2:14-26; Luke 16:19-31

“Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”  Many of the Reformers, like Martin Luther, thought James should be thrown out of the canon.  They thought this because of the complex way it deals with faith as it relates to works.  On the surface it seems to stand against a central claim in the rest of Paul’s writings.  On the surface,  James seems to go against salvation by faith, not works.  But it’s not true.

James provides a richness and completeness to Paul’s argument.  There are a number of differences, or expansions of thought here.  First, we are not talking about salvation, but about the transformative nature of a life of faith.  Second, James concentrates on works of charity, not works of obedience to the Jewish law.  Third, James also includes what I consider to be a central statement of Jewish belief, “God is one” and that that statement expands the meaning here.

If we are living as members of Christ’s faithful community, would not acts of charity be a natural outcome?  In other words, works are a great marker of whether or not someone truly has faith! If we proclaimed to be Christian, and then spent all our time trampling all over the poor, others would very clearly see that we weren’t really Christian.  It reminds of the cute little tune, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love…by our love.”

Works aren’t going to save you.  James never claims that.  But what he does state is that if you aren’t backing up your faith with works, you have lost your mind!  Christianity is not a religion of lip service.  This is not something we do on Sunday morning and ditch the rest of the week.

James helps us with focus.  He helps remind us that all that we do, all that we say, all that we believe, feeds into the overarching belief that God is one.  When we take this seriously, we come to know that the brokenness of this world, the heartache of our neighbors, all feeds into honoring God.  There is no divide of God’s character, and as James spins out his theology on demons and their work as the enemy of God, we see a God that firmly stands against the tyranny of poverty, brokenness, and hopelessness.

In other words, God demands our allegiance – our belief and our power to transform.

-Matt

Joel 2:21-27; James 1:1-15; Luke 15:1-2,11-32

In Luke’s passage today, through parable God welcomes the lost.  It is a compelling metaphor of God’s extravagant love and acceptance, especially for those who are alienated or lost.

How often have you felt lost or alone?  Have you felt overwhelmed by the details of this life?  Have you lost God?  Or have you felt that God has abandoned you at any difficult chapter in your life?  If so this parable is for you.

In many ways, each of the characters in this story is lost.  The father has lost hope.  The younger son has lost his way, lost his home, lost nearly everything except one – the courage to repent.  The elder son has lost his temper, feeling cheated and betrayed and like their father owes him something.

At times in my life I have felt like and related to each of these characters.  Often I have felt akin to the elder brother, and his frustration.  How would I feel if after making wrong turn after wrong turn, my father had such extravagant love with one of my siblings?  Would I be jealous of the celebration?  Or would I be able to have the courage to join in the celebration and welcome the prodigal home?

Where has the extravagance of God’s love filled your life?  How has it come to you, but you subtlety missed it?  How can you reclaim the celebration that God offers in the midst of stressful and difficult times?

-Matt

Joel 2:12-19; Rev. 19:11-21; Luke 15:1-10

The sun rises and many of us rise from our sleep-deprived post-election night slumber. As I do, I struggle for words.  I am profoundly aware of the darkness all around me, and I don’t just mean the heavy hearts many have from an exhausting and disappointing election.  But I mean the actual darkness, and the reality of our Daylight Savings Time “fall back”.  We sat in the dark all evening, and the shortened days as winter draws near means surprising daylight and an odd sleeping schedule for many.

It is hard to move past our first reading.  My eyes got stuck on Joel’s words: “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning.”  It feels like it is too early and too dark to forge ahead.  Yes there are a lot of broken hearts.  I see that.  I have heard from many of you already.  Cries to God abound this morning.

To everyone, whether you are rejoicing or in mourning, let this day be a day of unity – a unity for the Church.  May we remember Joel’s words to return to God, and put our trust in him.  The reality is that none of these temporal leaders have windows into our souls.  We know who is still the Lord of the Cosmos.  Policies may come and go, but our God is God forever and stands over this little mess we make for ourselves daily.

The Heidelberg Catechism is one of my favorites.  It begins: What is your only comfort in life and in death?  That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful savior Jesus Christ.

As global markets tumble, as our Muslim brothers and sisters hide in fear (as my Facebook feed would indicate), and as the news of last night’s election sinks in and many of our international partners talk of us being the laughing stock of the world, these words from the prophet Joel seem most appropriate.

Let us not turn to our fear.  We cannot give in to the powers and principalities that would fling us apart as the church.  Let us turn once again to God, who holds us in the palm of his hand and will not disappoint us.

The Lord also promises at the end of this passage: “I will no more make you a mockery among the nations.”  These days of shame will pass.  Trust will be restored.  It may be too dark to tell right now from many of our perspective, but trust this – the Son will rise and God’s truth will reign.  We know this to be true, amidst the tears and heartbreak of an exhausting election cycle.

So pause with me and turn to God with all our hearts, “with fasting, with weeping, with mourning.”  And then glimpse with me the breaking light, that God reigns supreme and in his providential care will not disappoint us.

Peace.

-Matt

Joel 1:1-13; Rev. 18:15-24; Luke 14:12-24

It is that time of year….when the weather turns, the fall leave-pick-up begins, and I cozy down with my Thanksgiving recipies and try to decide what I am going to cook this year.

Interestingly enough, those thoughts followed me into the morning.  The parable of the great banquet is told today in Luke’s reading.  It is preceded by a repeated theme of Jesus: “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you….”

I immediately thought of our Thanksgiving dinners.  Often a time for friends and relatives, what would Thanksgiving look like if we all invited the poor, the crippled, and the lame?  Jesus is making a point about the poor.  He is certainly not suggesting one should never eat with friends.  He ate with his disciples all the time.  But he also ate with the poor.

But I think Jesus wants more than for us to eat with the poor.  Remember the law.  Remember the cleanliness code of the time.  For this time, Jesus is really speaking out of turn.  This is a clear violation of much of scripture to be eating with those who are unclean.  Really Jesus???  The lame?  The blind?  The crippled?  Ritually unclean! You have got to be kidding, Jesus!

Jesus is saying something radical here.  He is saying, “Go ahead and eat with them.  In fact, you must eat with these people.  And eating with these people immediately restricts you from Temple worship.  But no matter.  A banquet with the poor is more important than that.”

Yikes.  No wonder Jesus gets in trouble so quickly.  What a radical concept.  Radical love.  Radical inclusion.  The cost of discipleship seems to be a bit high.  And yet Jesus invites us into this life.  He requires it.  This is what is meant by the stewardship of our lives.

What a glorious banquet invitation this is, for he too invites us to a meal of which we are unworthy.  I’ll meet you there!

-Matt

BTW, I hope you will join us the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, 5:30 dinner.  6:30 worship.  It is always a feast!

Ecclus. 44:1-15; Rev. 16:12-21; Luke 13:18-30

Strengthening numbers and strengthening spirits are the topic of all three readings for today.  In Ecclesiasticus we find a rare tribute to the former leaders of the past, a thankfulness of the building layers of God’s grace to the people in the form of strong leaders who have built up the people in more than just wisdom, but in storytelling.  In Revelation we see the growing forces for Armageddon.  In Luke, Jesus tells two parables about growth.

I wish I could say I see a growing unity among us as Americans.  I have not seen this level of racial divide, viotriol, and hatred as I see today in the USAmerican system.  Politically and socially the divides are deeper than ever before.

It reminds me that we parents, teachers, and leaders have our work cut out for us in terms of coming together and providing our children with a vision of unity, peace, and true patriotism.

Just as President Obama endured death threats, so they come with our current election cycle, thinnly veiled as white nationalism.  What are we teaching our children when people on camera proudly declare they are striving to murder current or future leaders?  And how complacent we are as a people?  Why are we not demanding these people be arrested and put in prison for their treason and terrorism?

We have utterly failed as parents, as leaders, and people of faith.  There will be no hymns written about us, if this is what we produce.  There will be no stories of growth of the church told about our generation, if this is whom we raise.

Today we see a vision from Revelation, when the forces of good gather up against us and wipe us out.  God forbid that day.  May we learn the art of growing and spreading the gospel of Christ.  And this includes a spirit of coming together in difficult times.  It means holding hands, not killing our neighbor.  It means speaking out of love, rather than disgust.

When we come to realize that patriotism is more than just supporting the people that share our exact views, then we will come to a place of true growth as a nation.  A shift like this in our thinking will also leave us open for God to leaven our hearts, work together, and seek out a greater church where Christ’s vision of growth for our lives and the lives of those around us truly has a chance.

-Matt

Ecclus. 43:23-33; Rev. 16:1-11; Luke 13:10-17

Many of us are simply praying for a fair election and the rule of law after this is all over.   The threat of chaos is also witnessed by many of the bystanders in our Luke reading today.  Will there be chaos? Or will this be a true rest for our souls?

Jesus breaks the Fourth Commandment today in dramatic fashion.  He heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath, a clear violation of scripture.  And what does he do?  He goes on to rebuke those who try to rebuke him.  “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?  And ought not this woman… be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”

His opponents were put to shame and the crowd rejoiced at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

How on earth can this be right?  How is it that we follow a savior who is a law-breaker.  Precisely because of the reason Jesus gave!  This is a world intended for us to enjoy and celebrate, and this woman could not do that in her condition.  Is it too much for the Son of God, who is Lord of the Sabbath, to do this simple act of healing.

What is also interesting is that in this act, Jesus does not give us the green light to break the Sabbath as well.  He makes it clear that it is he who is doing this.  Elsewhere in Scripture he declares the Sabbath is made for people, not people for the Sabbath.  But that still does not mean he is throwing it out.

And yet, that is exactly what our culture has decided to do.  Most of us work seven days a week (at least as the Old Testament defines “work”).  Ministers almost always work on Saturday and Sunday.    I know very few of us who refrain from all housework, all work, and all shopping on the Sabbath.  Our day of rest has conveniently become a “day of catch-up”.  That’s what Friday day is in Jewish culture.

I believe Jesus is calling this crippled woman into a deeper call to the Sabbath.  She was preoccupied with her condition.  She was unable to rest on the Sabbath, or ever.  Jesus was providing an avenue for her to rest, and rest completely.

And so Jesus calls us.  Now, let’s go, and let us take the Sabbath seriously.  And in doing so, may we encounter the gracious acts of God in our lives, and be bathed in the richness of God’s love for us, and how he intends for us to celebrate and enjoy being in his presence.  May we come to know that God set us free from the bondage and judgment of the law, and requires us to take the love we share with God and others seriously.

-Matt