Letters from Paul Pt. 4

Letters from Paul—Fruits of Spirit: Jer. 17: 5-8; Gal. 5: 16-26

         A friend of mine should have been a contestant on “Kids Say the Darndest Things” as a child. One Sunday he went to church as a sweet, innocent 5-year-old and asked for a prayer request for his family because his mom was trying to kill them. The shocked Sunday School teacher asked what he could mean. He said, “Well…Daddy said mom put enough garlic in the mashed potatoes to kill us! Pray for my family.” The next week, he came back and say pray for his dad. When asked why, he said an animal was hurting him. When pressed a little more, he said, “Mom said daddy’s hairpiece looks like a dead ferret. Pray for my daddy.” My friend’s parents were filled with the fruit of the spirit known as patience.

         One of the biggest struggles with this list to the Galatians is looking at it as a grand checklist. I remember my grandfather liked to watch Rev. John Hagee. At one point he did a sermon with this giant billboard. On one side was Satan and Hell on the other side was Jesus and Heaven. It had the sins listed on the Satan side and the fruits of the Spirit on the Jesus side. Then he proceeded to go through and define each of these sins so that you felt guilty of it no matter what. Then he went through the fruits of the Spirit in such a way that you felt like you had generally failed them regardless.

         Friends, this isn’t a checklist or a sliding scale assessment. Paul starts this portion of his letter with the most important words of this scripture, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives.” Too often we get caught up in all of these details. Am I selfishly ambitious? Did I cause dissension? Am I envious or jealous? Did I quarrel? Wait, I did, and oh no, I’m going to fail the holiness test because of this! These sins and fruits of the Spirit are meant to be examples. They are not your grocery list for Heaven’s gate.

         What Paul is getting at a bit more is how do we orient our lives? A pastor friend of mine said, “You can tell the nature of a person by what piques their interest the most in life.” If a person wrestles with addiction, they will bend all of their time towards fulfilling the desires of that addiction. If they wrestle with doubt, they will spend all of their time bending their behavior and doings towards filling the emptiness that an unhealthy doubt brings. But as people of faith, we are to be consumed by the goodness and the love of God.

         I remember a powerful demonstration during the closing arguments of a trial. The defense attorney put three cups of water in front of the jury. They were crystal clear, perfect cups of cold water. Then he talked about holes in the evidence and places where the witnesses and physical proof was lacking. To each cup he added some dark coffee until that crystal clear water was a dirty brown mess.  

         Paul doesn’t give us a checklist, but he does give us a call to ponder what fills our lives and consumes our time, and whether it is something filled with the goodness of God. That’s why he talks over and over about this competition between “sinful nature” and “God’s Spirit.” Paul was a very bright line kind of guy. There was nothing which allowed for a partial following of God. Paul was clear to say either you fill your life with God’s love and goodness, the Spirit, or you muddy the water, if you will.

         That’s why Paul wraps up with this: “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.” The examples from our lives that we are living by the Spirit are shown in how we practice love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. As an attorney, I’m required to present evidence in court to prove my case. If we think of our claim to following Jesus as a case to be proven to the world, Paul tells us that these are the examples, the evidence and testimony, which show our faith.

         Here’s why we cannot live these as a checklist. We are too human to get them all right all the time. Faith is about living into grace and not aimlessly seeking perfection. There are times we may not be so loving and gentle, and our sarcastic snark wins the day. There are times we lose our patience. We can be robbed of our peace. And if you put anything with chocolate in front of me, I will lose all semblance of self-control. As the writer Oscar Wilde famously said, “I can resist anything but temptation.”

         Instead of a checklist, we have a directional guide. I spent a lot of time the past two days at the Regional Assembly pointing directions. Bathrooms are down the hall. Parlor is over there. Fellowship hall requires your walking shoes. This is what Paul says the Spirit does for us. As we seek to follow Jesus in this world, we orient ourselves to the direction where God’s wisdom and the Holy Spirit lead us.

         In a way, the fruits of the Spirit are both evidence and gifts. They are evidence in that they are the final product of what we claim to believe, the living testimony of our desire to follow Jesus. But they’re also gifts. It is a gift to follow peace and not hostility. It is a gift to follow gentleness instead of anger and selfishness. It is a gift to seek real, true, and abiding love instead of temporary affection and pleasure. It is a gift to live with self-control and not all the wildness of one’s youthful partying. As we go day by day, we learn how to walk in faith, following Jesus, where the Spirit of God directs us to go.

         As you know, we had the Regional Assembly here this weekend. There were close to 200 people here on Saturday. Between the week-long merciless training for the legal work and the assembly starting right on top of it, I’m ever thankful for the miracles of Ibuprofen and coffee. But there was also something powerful in hearing stories of faith, of folks who lived experiences where the fruits of the Spirit truly became the evidence of God moving in and through other people.

         There were points when a toilet needed to be plunged, part of the barbecue was late, the business meeting went a bit…well…somewhat…long. It would be easy to expect irritation, outbursts of anger, quarrelling, hostility. I’ll stop there because I am pretty certain there was no impurity, immorality, idolatry, or sorcery. But instead of grouching, there were people filled with goodness, patience, gentleness, love, peace, joy, and all these things. This is how you live in fellowship as God’s people.

         There may be times of testing. My friend, as a child, had a mouth that could test any parent’s deepest patience. If you said it in front of him, it was going to be repeated elsewhere. But thanks be to God we don’t measure our faith on the fearfulness of a checklist for perfection. We live in grace, and we live to proclaim in and through our faith and our lives the evidence of God’s Spirit within us. So may you go from here today to live the fruits of the Spirit in your family, in your community, and in this world.  

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1133988251130685

Letters from Paul Pt. 3

Letters from Paul: Maturity—Genesis 3: 1-19; Philippians 3: 8-16

            Not long after I moved to Macon for law school, a friend invited me to the early morning Ash Wednesday service at St. Joseph’s downtown. I was enraptured by the beauty and splendor of this church, the moving liturgy of repentance and confession for Ash Wednesday, and just the newness to this kid who grew up in a Baptist country church. I went through my day with the ashen cross still marked on my forehead.

            There was a Middle Eastern guy in my class at law school, whom I was friends with. My name ends in J, his in K, so we found ourselves near each other a lot in seating assignments. He looked at me in the library and said, “Hey, hey dude, why do so many of you all Jesus-y people have dirt rubbed on your face today?” I explained the meaning of Ash Wednesday the belief that without God’s hope we are nothing more than the dust we are created from, and we remind ourselves of that hope and love as we repent each year of our lack of love and faithfulness.

            He said that was really cool. Then he added, “I just thought you all got together and ate friend chicken each week.” I would have been offended, but I realized he was serious and that was his impression. So instead of a huffy reply, I just said, “No, my friend, sometimes it’s meatloaf too.” Spiritual maturity is a hard topic. It takes years of development and for many is a short-lived endeavor. Paul and Genesis speak to us about three aspects of spiritual maturity. First, don’t listen to every snake in your life. Second, we must press on. And last, we should work to find agreement, hard as that can be.

            First, don’t listen to every snake. I love this part of the creation story in Genesis. All of us who understand the hints and connotations of someone being a snake in the grass know exactly what’s coming when Eve listens to the sneaky advice of a snake. Yet, how often do we listen to the snakes in our lives as well? How many times do we listen to people around us who are toxic and ill-adjusted in life? How many times do we listen to our own intrusive thoughts that call and pull us away from the love and beauty that God intended for our lives.

            Paul writes to the Philippians, “Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Paul goes on to tell them that they need to filter out the garbage. I’ll give you an example from the opening story. When my friend asked about the “dirt” on people’s foreheads, the society we live in would have gone ballistic: “How dare he ask that? What kind of disrespect is this? He should know better! This brown-skinned guy needs to stay out of my business anyway!” From an innocent question, too many people move from being the voice of reason and wisdom to being the snake.

            A mature Christian speaks with the same gentleness, wisdom, and truth which Jesus spoke with. A wise friend once said to me, “The loudest, most absurd, most offended, and most overwhelming voices never come from the heart of Jesus, for who can imagine the man on the cross shouting like a maniac over every little thing in life?” Growing, maturing faith finds us ready to speak with wisdom, gentleness, instruction, and hope in every situation, just like the Jesus we follow.

            Second, we must press on. Paul writes to the Philippians, “I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. I have not achieved it, but I focus on this…: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” One of the sneakiest ways maturity eludes us is when we get trapped in the past. Those who don’t mature at all shout and holler. But many of us do mature and grow, then stagnate. It happens when we get too trapped in the past to continue moving forward.

            A couple of years ago, I was helping a friend house hunt. One “as-is” home had a pool that had stopped and stagnated for years. There was still water in it, but there was enough thick, green algae on top that you could bounce a quarter on it. It was gross, stagnant, and (frankly) stinky. That cannot be the example of our spiritual life. You were meant to grow, to mature, to put away the past and press on to the call which God has given you and for which God has equipped you. Paul tells the Philippians that he…and by extension they…press on to reach the end of the race in this life journey on earth.

            Just like it’s easy to live on the defensive, it’s comfortable to live in the past. Nostalgia is a sweet, sweet trap. But God calls us to press on into what is sometimes a scary and uncertain future. Yet God is with us, Christ never leaves us, and in every trial and future struggle, God and our friends in faith walk with us. And as we mature, we realize that’s a point of trust with God and with the faithful around us. But in the end, we must press on and look toward the future God leads us into day by day.

            Lastly, we must learn to agree on the basics and let go of the pointless quarrels. Paul writes, “Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.” Here’s where things get a little troublesome for us. What are we to agree on? Paul starts that answer right in verse 8: “Everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus.” That is the foundation on which we agree and find common ground.

            So, then we ask ourselves a few questions: if we worship with guitar or organ or a mix, does that affect whether we know Jesus or not? If a person dresses differently, looks differently, has a few piercings or tattoos, does that change whether we know Christ or not? If a person, who claims to be Christian, votes Democrat or Republican, does it change whether we know Christ or not? If a person lives with a disability, mental health disorder, physical illness, sings off key, raises a hand in a rousing hymn, or heaven forbid laughs at the preacher’s joke, does any of this affect whether you can know Christ or not?

            At the end of the day, what we must agree on is following Jesus, for, as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. Too many of our worries and concerns come from listening to snakes or being stuck where God has been not where God is going. My Nana often says, “I don’t recognize the world I live in anymore, and I’m not sure I like it.” But the truth is, you don’t particularly have to recognize or like the world to continue telling of God’s love and believing that the love and grace of Jesus can still make a difference.

            I was recently told that a new friend was at the Allman Brothers museum and was asking about a church. The folks there had some high praise for how kind and nice this church is. Now, I doubt there is a whole lot of overlap between the Allman Brothers and a fairly traditional looking Christian church beyond the shared parking lot, but I daresay we’ve done something right if the Southern Rock museum and concert venue are willing to vouch for us as “good Christians.”

            At the end of the day, the true test of our maturity is how strong our foundation is. I’m going to say that Christians who have a meltdown over everything and get offended by anything have some growing up to do. Instead of listening to snakes, getting lost in the past, or bickering like children, may we instead come back to the foundation of our faith. We live in faith to proclaim the love of Christ that brings peace and hope in a broken world. May we never get distracted from that God-given calling. 

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1240678353559214

Letters from Paul Part 2.

Letters from Paul: We Must Grow—Psa.92: 8-15; I Cor.3: 1-11

            They say confession is good for the soul. However, I will not be confessing today. Instead, I will tell you a story of “If I had done that…” (wink, wink, nod, nod) if you get my drift? Almost twenty-two years ago, I was in a high school summer program which trended on the far side of boredom. The only thing I retained from that summer was 23 pounds of extra weight. Now, my roommate in the dorm for that program was one of the most obnoxious, pretentious, rude human beings I have ever met in my life.

            He smarted off in a way that really cut me hard one day. And here’s where we go to the hypothetical part of this story. IF and I say IF I were somewhat childish about it and wanted to get revenge, I would have put some of the saline solution for my contacts in his large bottle of Hawaiian punch he kept in the room to cause him to need the restroom quickly and often for the next day and a half. Now, I’m not admitting to this at all. I plead the fifth, if you will. And it’s a total coincidence that he got an upset stomach from the cafeteria food.

            As we continue our series on Paul’s letters to the churches, and what we can learn from them today, we see Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians about their need to grow and find maturity in life. We will have two weeks on growth and maturity. Paul spent a lot of time on the topic. What does it mean to grow? How do we grow? There are three things Paul tells us: Growth means moving our souls towards God’s spirit; Growth means seeking a place of commonality together; and growth takes work, sometimes hard work.

First, growth means moving our souls towards God’s spirit. Paul identifies the problem with the Corinthians very quickly. They’re childish. He says to them that he has laid the foundation for them of Jesus—the person, the teachings, and the grace, but apparently the Corinthian church stopped there. Paul identifies a few of the issues here, namely they argue and complain bitterly with one another, and have no desire to be God’s people. Now, there were actually more than a few issues in Corinth. Paul goes on to discuss violent divisions, sexual immorality as a religious practice, weaponizing the Lord’s Supper, claiming status from spiritual gifts, worshipping temptation, lying about the Gospel, and abusing love.

What it all came down to was that they loved their selfishness and childishness more than they loved God. And because of that they failed to grow in any conceivable way in their faith. A growing faith seeks an answer of grace and love in every situation. And for a very opinionated society, that’s hard. But a growing faith seeks to offer grace first, then everything else that might needed second, including accountability. Remember when you first went to church and believed in God it was because you hoped in a love bigger than yourself and what humanity could imagine. Offer the same to others.

In doing so, the bitterness, division, childishness, and selfishness that can harbor up within us will melt out of us into the love and grace that is supposed to be the foundation of our faith. When our souls move closer to God’s spirit, there we find grace and love from the start.

Second, growth means seeking commonality together. I realize that in saying we must work together in harmony for the sake of God’s kingdom might get me labeled all sorts of fun names in today’s society. But isn’t this the exact indictment Paul gives the Corinthian church? He writes, “You still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other.” Paul makes clear in multiple letters that contention, discord, bickering, confusion, and anything that is not peace and fellowship is not of God. You may draw your own conclusions about “Christian” politicians who revel in such things.

The problem for Corinth was they chose people who seemed strong and raised them up as their own godly leaders when they selfish not Godly. It was the childish following the selfish. Some claimed they came in Paul’s name, others in Apollos, others claimed power by their gifts and abilities. Growth cannot take place in the midst of fighting and chaos. If you need an example, look at the churches that constantly have fights. They don’t grow. They don’t minister. They don’t become mission-minded in their communities. They die. People leave, and they die.

Faith seeks a common ministry, common mission, and a like-minded fellowship to do the work of God’s kingdom. A fractured and quarrelling church can offer no real help and no real hope because it looks just as ugly as the world we need some kind of saving from. Growth means we work for peace, purpose, and wholeness in a broken world. Our denomination says those very words as our opening sentences, “We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a [broken and] fragmented world.”

Lastly, growth takes work. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” There are two parts to this. First, we are all part of one ministry. But second, a bit of work is required to grow: planting, watering, weeding, nurturing.

Paul knew that the Corinthians had not put much effort into following God. Paul knew that they liked being petty, childish, and selfish. Growing is not easy in life, and they chose not to. Paul encourages them with these words, “And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.” Engaging in the work of growing closer to God and growing in faith brings a reward and peace in life.

If you learn how to work together and engage in mutual commonality, your life will be filled with people who help and work together. It’s a reward. If you sacrifice arguing, bickering, grudges, and so on, you will be free from the burden of that spiritual ickiness. Growing in faith can teach us a healthy and peaceful response to much of the rest of society’s messiness. Plutarch once said, “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Too many of our churches and church goers have the Corinthian struggle. They are comfortable living at the foundation, and they do not want to do any work towards growing. Some even enjoy the drama of being the quarrelers, trouble causing, and problem-makers instead of problem-solvers. Faith is meant to be a place of growth with watering, pruning, and nurturing till our lives match the love and gentleness of Jesus and not the profoundly sick society around us.

We all have times where we act in a childish way. No matter how old we get, from time to time, a temper tantrum will creep up. I understand this. I for one cannot condone any hypothetical situation of revenge that involves giving someone intestinal distress now that I’m a mature and growing Christian. As we continue through life, may we never become stuck like the Corinthian church. Faith works when we grow into each day drawing closer to God’s spirit, finding a mutual sense of mission and ministry here on earth, and doing the hard work.

The Corinthian church lived in a childish and selfish place. And if we were honest, we would have to say too many churches share that same struggle. They argue instead of talking, they seek to support themselves instead of all humanity for whom Jesus offered grace, and they seek complacency over disciplined growth. May we never follow that same dead-end pathway. God has done and will continue to do great things in our lives and in our world if we remain committed.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1775839089561085

Letters from Paul, What the Church Needs to Know Pt. 1

Letters from Paul: Believe and Share—Romans 10: 1-15; John 20: 19-31

            This week we begin a new series through the Easter Season. We will be looking at the letters from Paul and what they are saying to the church today. Today we start in Paul’s strongest work on what it means to believe in Jesus. Let’s start with a story. A 7-year-old kid was at the fair with his parents back in October, and the whole family decided to get some ice cream…well really it was his dad who was a great lover of all things ice cream. Now his dad subscribed to the Nike brand theory of accomplishing things in life, so his favorite thing to say was, “Just do it!” He hands the kid his ice cream cone, and the kid just looks at it. He takes a couple of licks and looks at it again.

            Somewhat annoyed that his kid won’t just dive into the ice cream like he did, the dad looks at him and says, “Just eat it. Just do it.” But the little boy’s teeth hurt like crazy every time the ice cream touches them. And the milk in it hurt his tummy, and he doesn’t know why or how to say this to his parents. So, in pain, and knowing a bathroom trip will soon be on the horizon, he starts eating the ice cream just like he was told.

            For years, the church has proclaimed, “Just believe!” and has insisted that faith is so very simple because you simply believe in Jesus, and you’re done. In fact, Paul himself writes, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” And yet I think Paul appreciates the simplicity of SAYING “just believe” while still accounting for the complexity of actually DOING it. If belief were so very simple in life, Romans would start with, “Greetings, from Paul to the church at Rome. Chapter One: Just believe. Yours Truly, Paul.”

But instead, Chapter 10 is 21 verses and Romans contains 16 very long chapters devoted to an entire legal-theological dissertation on what, exactly, it means to just believe. These struggles, though, are not new to the modern era. People in Jesus’s days were just as skeptical as the Tesla driver of today. Doubting Thomas’s story is a clear example of that. We always go from the high point of Easter and immediately wrestle with Thomas and his doubts the very next week. Thomas is a story for the skeptic’s mind.

Thomas was not present when Jesus first appeared and saw the other disciples. And because of his absence of body, Thomas had an absence of belief. We give Thomas a lot of grief. Thomas lacked faith, had no ability to believe, was a bad disciple, should have known better. In some instances, he’s bashed almost as low as Judas for betraying Jesus. His words are often portrayed as a second betrayal. But that’s not what he said or intended. He wanted to believe. He wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to experience the risen Christ, see the wounds, and have the same exact experience the other disciples already had. Maybe we should call him “Seeking Thomas” because he sought to see and experience Christ for himself.

How do we do the same today? What Paul writes over and over is this need to share the stories of faith and belief…to share stories of experiencing Christ. Evangelism is not a grand mystery. It’s simply telling a story of faith. John’s Gospel lays the groundwork: Blessed are those who believe without actually seeing Jesus like Thomas did. But John goes a step further when he addresses the disciples seeing Jesus do miraculous things. He adds, “But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.” For him, these stories are evidence of Jesus’s work.

Paul took that idea and ran with it to the ends of the earth. Paul calls it a message in verse 8 and adds, “And that message is the very message about faith that we preach.” Note that is a collective “we.” But then he adds this little step by step analysis: “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?” I’m going to end this the way Paul wanted…Consider yourselves sent.

The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary says it thusly, “The resurrection story provides a fresh vantage point from which the church can preach and teach the story of its own beginning…to celebrate the resurrection…is also to celebrate the beginnings of the church’s mission in the world,” according to John’s Gospel.[1] That begs the question of us—who have you told? The way the world experiences Christ, understands how to believe, and finds the peace, hope, and love in a life devoted to following Christ is through our own stories of faith and hope. Whom have you told?

Do you tell the hurting friend that Christ loves them no matter what? Do you tell lonely that they’re never alone because you’ve felt God’s power and presence with you in life? Do you tell the broken and the outcast that when you felt left in the dark and cold, Jesus brought you into the light just like the Samaritans who were hated in olden times? Do you tell of when you were suffering how you sang an old hymn and the words, “Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee, how great thou art!” reminded you that God can handle anything in life.

Whom have you told a story of your faith to? That’s how faith and belief were designed to grow. Every time folks found themselves a bit faithless, there was a narrative of “do you remember when God” and a reminder of what God had done for them. For those whose faith is struggling, those memories of God’s provision, guidance, and deliverance serve to shore up and strengthen our faith and reliance when times are hard. For those who are still seeking, our stories of faith can create the evidence for belief.

I believe at some point or another we all go through a time when we want to change the world, and we have these grandiose ideas that we will do just exactly this. Then by 35 you realize that getting up at 6 AM when the alarm goes off is hard enough, let alone changing the world. But we can actually make a difference just like Jesus did in the world in which he lived.

Stand up and tell your story of faith, hope, and love. Don’t be afraid to be present with someone who is hurting. Don’t be worried to challenge and encourage someone who feels lost. Don’t be too shy to confront someone filled with hatred to tell a story of love. Changing the world, or at least the world around us, begins with telling a story of how God can make all things new, then engaging in the work to make that story of faith a reality of God’s kingdom.

Sometimes faith and belief will be hard. It might hurt like when ice cream touches very sensitive teeth. It may be a slow process like when dairy hits the tummy. Or we may just have the ability to jump in and be filled with the Spirit of God at times. Just do it. But at the heart of faith and especially keeping the faith, and at the heart of belief for those who are seeking like Thomas is telling the story.

When we hear of the times that Christ was the solid rock in our lives, when we tell how we have also been at our wits end of trust and hope, but found a strong friend in Christ, we can stand firm. But we can inspire others to a faith which does change the world for love, for hope, and for the wide welcome found in Christ.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1336978186972120

[1] O’Day, Gail R., “The Gospel of John,” NIB 2015 rev.

Easter 2024

But What Has God Done Lately? Isaiah 25: 6-9; Mark 16: 1-7

            While in high school, I had the opportunity to attend a speaking course as part of a summer program. Most of the courses were taught by college professors who came to do this summer program with rising juniors. One of the first things we learned about in speaking is that your presentation must have a WIIFM (spelled out). And that stands for, “What’s in it for me?” Any time you have an audience sitting and listening, they want to know why they are there and what’s supposed to benefit them from this speech.

            Unfortunately, one kid was out that day, and nobody realized it. The teacher asked him what his “WIIFM” was, and he looked confused. He quietly replied, “Nothing that I can tell.” At this we were all lost. She asked him again, “What’s your WIIFM?” And he said, “I’m not getting a whiff of anything…what am I supposed to smell?” And at that, the class was done.

            We seem to apply that same practice to all of life. It’s a clear theme in throughout the Bible. How many times did the Israelites receive the lecture, “Have you forgotten what I the Lord have done for you…” wherever they were in the struggle. We have become a people of immediate satisfaction and gratification. If you don’t believe me, watch someone who waits too long in the Chik-fil-a drive through. It’s not just the chicken that gets spicy.

            But that creates another problem somewhat specific to Easter and Christmas. Jesus comes out of the tomb the exact same way, in the exact same story every single year. There is no surprise ending to this. And after some time, we let ourselves get far less enthusiastic about this than we should be. That’s why this year I wanted you to write what God has done for you lately, so I could share them. Jesus is risen, Hallelujah! But what’s in it for us as the saying goes:

·      As we all know, God is always present. However, lately, God has sent me answers to questions about dealing with issues with a family member who cannot speak for themselves. God listens and shows me the way. God always listens, and if you take the time, you will hear what God wants you to do; even if it is not what you wanted to do. Prayers are powerful.

·      God is still keeping me afloat.

·      God is giving me the strength to not grow weary in trying to do good as it says in Galatians 6:9.

·      God has taken me out of my comfort zone and taught me it’s okay to ask for and accept help in life.

·      God has allowed me to move to a more affordable place, and to meet more people willing to help the homeless and persons less fortunate than themselves.

·      God has made it possible for me to be at church, and God has given me a new heating and a/c unit.

·      God gives me new insights DAILY into his love and how to let God lead me through all that life puts on me.

·      God has healed me of Covid, protects me every day when driving and traveling. God keeps me healthy and kept me from having a heart attack this past year. God blesses me with good friends. God has done so much for me, and I talk to God and praise God every day, every single day. God is good.

·      God has grown my faith as my earthy body ages. I do not worry as worry is a lack of faith. God is in charge, and I am ready and willing to follow his plan for me. I no longer fear death and look forward to spending eternity with God when he is ready for me.

·      What has God done for me lately? This is dangerous territory. I’m afraid I will leave something out. God sprinkles us every day with blessings, and my best response is to pay attention and try to keep up. Here are examples: continued good health despite years of long, unrelenting work days, a lovely safe place to live, friends old and new, work with so many opportunities including photography and at an unexpected but perfect time, family which God blesses and keeps them safe. Yes. God has done an amazing quantity of things for me lately.

Over and over you shared stories of God at work in your lives. And I know, I know for some of you the past year or few years have been hard, but these words speak to the work of faith to create hope and love in often dark situations. That is what the work of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection did. It brought us hope and the chance to be close enough to God that we can celebrate what good things God has done in our lives.

            Too often we look at Easter Sunday as the end of this story. Or sometimes it’s the only story we hear given how often we go to church. I remember a comic where one couple leaving the church shakes hands with the pastor and says, “You’re stuck in a rut. Every time we come you preach on the resurrection. Same scripture and everything!” For us, the truth is that the story doesn’t end at the empty tomb. That’s where it begins. That work of hope and life starts with a Savior who lives, loves, and gives us eternal hope, and then we go from this place to carry on Christ’s mission of healing, teaching hope, showing love, and sharing with those in need.

            The empty tomb is not the check-in plan for Heaven, it’s an invitation to a way of life that follows in Christ’s love. Early on, before the name “Christian” had become common, followers of Christ were called “The Way.” That speaks to how we are to live in this world. If we are not agents of healing and love, then who will be? Faith is not a political movement, a system of government, the general social values for proper living. Instead, it is our life and our way of living in this world. And we must always take care to remember that faith is not that thing we do, but the way that we live.

            Isaiah speaks words that offer this life of hope to us. The prophet writes, “There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears.” That’s the hope, then Isaiah gives the call: “In that day the people will proclaim, ‘This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!’” It’s a pretty simple call, really. Go and proclaim. When the women encountered the angel at the tomb, the angel’s first words were, “Go and tell.”

            I was working in the office the other day, and the wind picked up a bit as the sun was shining down. The cherry tree out front caught the wind, and all the blossoms started blowing around like some kind of dance. And for a few moments, I sat back from the laptop and watched it.

            Remember that in this life, the empty tomb, that hope of life is the starting point. We will have ups and downs for sure. We are promised Christ with us, not that we won’t face trouble like everybody else. But every time life gets a bit hard, go back and look at the empty tomb. Go back to the beginning and remember that faith is a story of hope, and not just hope for a little here and there, hope for eternity. I think if you come back and ask what the WIIFM of our faith is, one could say it is twofold. Our belief and faith give us hope in this life and beyond life. But we also have the opportunity and invitation to change the world with the unconditional, all-expansive, never-ending love of Christ. And that, my friends, is what God has done for us lately. May we continue to carry that story of love and hope.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/389103550628217

Palm Sunday 2024

Faithful Answers: Bad Things Coming—Isaiah 50: 4-9; Mark 11: 1-11

            Several years ago, while I was still working as a lawyer in Macon, I was headed into the Municipal Courtroom with my co-counsel. It was raining hard that day, and the morning had been awful. It was like all the evil portents were lining up to warn me at once. As I stepped down the stairs and into that historic courtroom and hallway, my shoe slid on the old tile like I was on smooth ice. I slid into a full front to back split, ripping my pants in the process. I was, thankfully, not injured. But all I remember was my co-counsel covering her face and yelling, “Bad things are happening; bad things are happening!”

            It does not always take a fortune teller or signs in the sky to tell us when bad things may be coming our way. Every student in school knows what’s coming when he or she wakes up the morning of the test and hasn’t studied. Every adult knows what’s going to happen if they’re going for blood work at the doctor and ate 2 pieces of tres leches cake and a block of cheese the day before. Some troubles are a bit predictable. Others really aren’t. But the faithful answer to both surprise and predictable trouble is always looking beyond the bad thing happening.

            The Triumphant Entry is always one of the hardest parts of the gospel narrative for me. There are so many aspects of it which are intriguing. Why did they love Jesus in Bethany and Bethphage but turn on him in Jerusalem? How did all this happen with taking the donkey, and why were folks so okay with it basically being stolen? Who were these people that cheered for Jesus then called for him to die? What can we learn from the fact that Jesus’s entry challenged and mimicked the Roman pageantry and seemed like an actual protest to the leaders? The nuances of this gospel story are indeed many.

            But it’s the personal aspect that hits home the most. Jesus looked at a crowd of people who praised him, and said, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in the highest heaven!” Jesus processes all they to the Temple among this adoring throng of people. And yet, in his heart, he knew they would turn on him in a few short days. They would call for him to be executed by the state as an innocent man. And one of those closest to him, Judas, would be the betrayer, selling Jesus out for a paltry sum of money. For Jesus, this wasn’t a celebration, it was a funeral march.

            The sitting and knowing that such things were coming had to be overwhelming for Jesus. At the end of the day, he turns and goes back to Bethany. The celebration ends, and he goes back to where he is staying. The excitement, the thrill, whatever bit of magic this should have held for Jesus along with his disciples and followers, it was all hollow and empty. Jesus knew that behind it all, bad things were coming and lurking in the shadows. It was like being haunted by the future.

            As people of God, we live too much in that space of shadows, haunting, and fear about the bad things which may come. I remember this older woman at a church I worked at. She always had this look of worry and dread on her face. Finally, I asked her one day what she was so worried about. She replied, “I don’t know…it’s not happened yet, but it’s coming…I just know it.” What a miserable and unfaithful place that is to stay our whole lives!

            I heard an old preacher who was very anti-seminary once say that sometimes we educate our “young-uns” (as he called them) right out of their salvation. Now I don’t believe that, but I think we can talk ourselves out of hope. I believe we can overthink ourselves out of joy. And I believe we can find ourselves too self-conscious to love. In Isaiah we are told, “Morning by morning [God] awakens me to understand [God’s] will…Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.” Bad things may come our way, but God’s Word is steadfast in peace, in love, and in “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,” as the hymn says.

            So, what is the faithful answer? We must look through the bad things which happen. Jesus rode into Jerusalem with the shadow of a cross looming on the horizon for him. He came to town knowing that pain, abandonment, and suffering awaited him. He was fully aware and awake to how bad this journey would be. And yet he knew there was a purpose. For in death, there is life. Suffering gives way to mercy. The dark night gives way to tomorrow’s bright hope. And all that Jesus endured was a way to love and redemption for us. A friend of mine used to say, “Don’t look for meaning or purpose in your struggles and rough places. You have to make meaning and purpose in the midst of it, and cling to God to help you and carry you through.”

            I think sometimes, when we hear God’s strength will bear us through, we think that God is going to float us past the struggle on a little cloud, like Bob Ross might have painted years ago. But the truth is God’s strength is more like the rope, the boots, and ax pick used to climb the sheer side of a mountain. We still have to summon up our strength and fortitude to do it, but God’s strength gives us the tools we need to make it through the fight.

            One of the more traumatic areas of my life was when my long-time mentor and organ teacher, Vickie passed away in 2020. She had been diagnosed with cancer, but she did not fully reveal the truth to her friends and family, choosing instead to say home and not seek treatment. She told us she had been sick with some issues, but the whole truth was never revealed. At over 75 years of age, that was her right as hard a pill as it was to swallow.

            But in not telling anyone, she did not get the help she needed to support herself, and she was removed from a truly horrible situation of self-neglect at her house to go to the hospital. And I mean a truly horrible. We could all see bad things were coming as she casually mentioned that she was a bit sick or that the house was in need of a good cleaning, but we didn’t realize the magnitude at all.

            When she died, there was no shortage of anger…at her, at God, and probably at some point or another at one another who all failed to realize what was going on, or who were convinced to keep it secret that she “wasn’t feeling well.” And in those moments of asking why to God, asking how God could get this so wrong, asking how this could happen in a world where one of her closest friends is an expert in elder law, there came a moment of clarity.

            Jesus looked down the road of praise and hosannas to the lurking shadows of Golgotha’s hill. I am sure those same questions entered the minds of those with him. How could those praises become calls for death? How could they yell for the release of Barabbas—a rioter and murderer—instead of Jesus? How could they crucify Jesus, who was by Pilate’s own words, innocent? How could this travesty of death, suffering, and brutality occur? Honestly, there’s sometimes no way around.

            You cannot understand the hope of resurrection without knowing the tragedy of death. You cannot have Easter without the cross. You cannot have the cross without the deceit and betrayal of Palm Sunday. But we also cannot stop at the cross. Too often in faith, we turn all our focus to the death and suffering and misery of the crucifixion. But that’s not the point of the Gospel story. The whole point, meaning, and purpose is the resurrection—life, hope, redemption, and love for humankind.

            In death there is resurrection, in the end is a beginning. We are not called to sit and dwell forever on Jesus’s suffering, on the bad things that come our way, on the fear of every struggle and disappointment the immediate future might bring. The whole of the Gospels, and that is all four of them, is a story of hope for humanity. And we are called to respond exactly how our next hymn finishes up, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Are bad things going to happen to us? Probably. But in the end, the pen dipped in Christ’s love writes a story of hope on every one of our lives. Period. The End. Amen.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/771461578287159

Lent 5: Faithful Answers to Difficult Questions

“Faithful Answers—I Feel Lost:” Jeremiah 15:15-21; Matt.18: 12-14

            In the 1980s, parents became acutely aware of a new struggle in the world of parenting—stranger danger. It was the idea that basically any stranger, and particularly male strangers, were a threat to kids. The fear was that these men or women would snatch or kidnap a child, harm them, abuse them, and so on. As the years have gone on, we’ve realized there’s more an equal balance of threat between known individuals and strangers to a child’s safety. I grew up in the height of the stranger danger fear, so when someone asks if my mother ever lost me in a crowded area, I can say absolutely not.

            “Why is this?” you might ask. There was an absolutely terrible device invented to help parents keep track of their children. And it was, in essence, putting your children on a leash…like a pet. And I remember vividly having the Velcro wrist band around my wrist that attached by a cord to my mother’s wrist. With that level of attachment, there was no way I was going to get gone. You heard it here folks…I was one of the children on a leash.

            We all have these moments where we feel lost and like we need a leash or more like a lifeline. This isn’t lost in the sense of missing out on salvation lost, but just a little too alone in life. Some of us find ourselves starting over. Some of us find ourselves figuring out how to live life in our seventies and eighties. Some of us have school finishing up and new things looming on the horizon. And some of us may have wandered down roads that have taken us places which bother us deep in our souls. But at one time or another, we have all felt a bit lost in life.

            Today’s Gospel lesson comes in the long discourse where Jesus teaches folks how to live together with one another. Other topics in Matthew 18 include the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, correcting another believer, and the unforgiving debtor. All of these are tough lessons on life and living in a world that often presents challenging times to us. Growing up, I was always taught this short lesson on the lost sheep meant Jesus would leave all the saved sheep and go find the unsaved one to bring it home to the holy fold, then rejoice.

            I don’t think that’s the right interpretation. The sheep is not lost in that he doesn’t have faith. The sheep was already part of the fold and belongs to the shepherd. He just found himself wandering around and suddenly lost away from the others. It’s like every parent’s dreaded nightmare—their child lost at Wal-Mart. This parable not a question of where your faith ultimately is; it’s a question of direction. The shepherd hunts for this sheep both because he loves this sheep and because the shepherd fears for the safety of a sheep who is left alone.

            This tells us two things—first, love continually reaches out. I am sure that on the way back to the other 99, the shepherd grumbled under his breath fussing at that sheep for wandering off. But it was from a place of love. The shepherd could have said, “It’s just one sheep,” and not cared about the fate of the missing one. But in loving all of the herd, and in a practical sense, needing them, the shepherd hunted diligently for that sheep. We do the same. Love keeps us grounded in caring, reaching out, and connected, even when our loved on is wandering off and getting into trouble by being a hot mess.

            Love keeps us engaged in a world that needs to know God’s unconditional, but still accountable love and grace as shown from us. But it’s also a reminder that we need faith connections. That one sheep—off and alone and by himself—is much more vulnerable and dangerous than if he is with the other 99 and protected by a strong shepherd. You show me a church member or a whole church that has left their place of worship or denominational home, and I will offer to you where that connection was lost, the community was severed, and isolation (usually self-isolation) became the norm. These are the two things we must remember when we feel lost that love continually seeks us and community or connection is a place of safety because being isolated from the fold of God is not safe.

            The words in Jeremiah echo a strong sense of what it feels like to be alone and lost in life. The pleadings are hard to hear: help me, don’t let me die young, I am suffering, I am alone, and God you seem to not care—where are you? I am sure at some time or another we have all prayed these cries for help. When we are alone and have wandered off and we become isolated, life gets more fearful. A friend of mine used to say, “I can face anything in life, so long as I don’t have to face it alone.” Having this family of faith where the flock is held together and strong with one another keeps us strong, keeps us safe, and keeps us thriving as God’s people.

            In those times we feel the same, and our voice cries out from the lostness within, we hear the same comforting words that God spoke in Jeremiah’s lesson: speak good words rather than worthless ones, God is with you to protect and rescue you, and God will keep you safe and secure. Jeremiah often felt lost and abandoned between the harsh prophecies God was sending and the scorn of the people to whom he was prophet. But always, God was with him, and when he felt most alone, God reminded him both of his mission and the holy presence that went with him. The trouble with Jeremiah’s writing is in the first little bit of reassurance. We know what being safe and secure means. We know God will protect. From the moment we set foot in church, we’ve heard that preached. But that first part, “If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman,” is a bit more complicated and challenging.

            One of the biggest ways we avoid becoming lost is by guarding the words we say. Too often we get “mouthy” as I heard it described growing up. As people of God we are called to speak life, speak hope, speak redemption. In some ways the church has become lost because it has substituted its own words and thoughts for the words God has given us. How often do God’s people grumble and complain instead of speaking words of hope and grace? How often do we prophesy our own negativity whether it’s true or not? How often do we follow along with every single sparkly idea instead of following the path and will that God has given us. In the Hebrew scriptures, a common theme is that when the people turned their hearts, their minds, and their words from the truth of God’s word and direction God gave, they wandered away and became lost.

            A friend of mine is a pastor in a rather difficult church and difficult town. The church folks are perfectly fine, but he’s watching the church slowly fade away. The town is a nice town and it’s over-saturated with several churches from the denomination my mother calls “the church of what’s happening now.” Over the past year, his will to minister, to preach, and to lead has all but left him. For a brief time, his words and conversations were dismal on a good day and painful on a bad day. His mind had wandered and there was nothing, seemingly, left for him to carry on with this ministry work. His mind and ability were still there, but his fire and his desire were gone. I think that’s a lasting symptom for the church post-Covid, unfortunately.

            But one day the conversation changed. He said, “I read these words in Jeremiah over and over…’If you return to me, I will restore you. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman.’” It was a reminder for him. His heart was still there, even if his mind had wandered off. And the same God who was with him all the way, was waiting, seeking, and searching for him to come back home.

            In our walk of faith, it’s sometimes easy to get sidetracked and wander off. God doesn’t exactly keep us on a leash like the parents of the 90s did. But this short, two-verse parable is in the Gospel to remind us that when we feel the most lost and lonely, God is still there seeking us, calling us back, and ready to receive us with wide open, welcoming arms. The safest and best place for us to be is near to the heart of God.

 Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/759468552572842

Lent 4: Video Only

https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/411929134667073

Lent 3--Faithful Answers to Difficult Questions

Faithful Answers: When Everything Is a Struggle—Psalm 130; John 10: 1-11

            My friend told me this story of an old widow he met years ago. Now, spoiler alert, I learned later he was pulling my leg. But I was totally enraptured believing this gripping story he was telling me. He explains that in his work as a nurse, he met this very elderly widow, who was clearly very well off financially. She started talking about having been widowed four times…FOUR TIMES! She said she married at 18 to her first husband, who was an investment banker. He died in a car accident and left her very well off. Her next husband was an actor she met while trying to console herself with going to the theater. They were married only briefly before he left her for an actress he worked with.

            Her third husband was the minister who had helped her through the struggles of her first husband’s death and her loneliness. He was a kind, older man who died after a few years of marriage. Her fourth and final husband was the funeral director who handled her third husband’s funeral. And they were married for many years. She had known struggle—three dead husbands and a divorce—a banker, an actor, a minister, and a funeral director. You could say she married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go. I spent 5 minutes of that story feeling so sorry for her unending struggle in life, only to find the whole thing was a joke and there was no such suffering at all.

            But what do we do when we struggle in life? Because if we are honest, life here on earth can be very hard at times both physically and mentally. Everyone is affected whether globally or personally. There are three things we can learn from today’s scripture: first, we must recognize the thief’s purpose; second, we should allow ourselves the time to grieve and process; finally, we must remember to guard our hearts against being consumed by the struggles of this life.

            First, the thief comes to do bad things to our peace and strength in life. Verse 10 of the Gospel says, “The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. My purpose is to give…a rich and satisfying life.” And some days, when we’ve truly had a bad day or week, I am sure we all will feel stolen, killed out, and destroyed. The illustration of Jesus as the gate or the Good Shepherd is one of the starkest descriptions of the difference between the purpose Christ gives us and the struggles on earth we must endure.

            As you may have learned, sheep are not the brightest in the animal kingdom, and they really have no sense of self-protection. If one sheep runs off a cliff, they will almost all follow. It’s no surprise that sheep are the most common illustration for us in the Bible. Sheep will find danger easily, they need to be led to good pastures, and they are easily harmed by intruders. Here we are told that as sheep we need the Good Shepherd to lead and guide us so that we can find a way through the thievery on earth, if you will.

            Now this doesn’t mean the Good Shepherd keeps us from all trouble and danger. I remember this little video someone sent me of a sheep in what I think is New Zealand. It has gotten itself stuck in a small water drainage area. It takes three people with a big rope to pull it out. The sheep jumps up and starts running away only to land directly in the drain again 5 feet away, and if that isn’t exactly how life is every day, then I don’t know what is. The shepherd is there to help us, to lead us, and to pull us back out of the dangers we find ourselves in…or guide us through the dangers to a place of safety.

            A pastor friend once said that God’s promises do not speak of constant comfort and safety. Instead, we are given constant guidance and strength. We are left, then, with a world that needs more of God in it and a life that needs us to rely on God more. The more God in us, the more we can show the message of God’s grace to the world.

            Now, here is a little comforting secret for when life is hard and feels like it has beaten you up. Psalm 30 tells us we can get a little upset, and it’s okay. This is one of those perfect Lenten psalms because it so adequately speaks to the distress we may feel in life. We read the words, “From depths of despair, O Lord, I will call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord.” I think sometimes we are either trained to think we shouldn’t feel sadness, or we lean into that belief that it shows weakness.

            And yet we read that we can cry and cry out in our depths of despair, and frustration, and tiredness, and irritation, and confusion. Even in the Gospels we read that Jesus wept. One of the reasons that struggles overwhelm us is that we don’t take the time to feel, to grieve, and to address those struggles. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve sat and talked with someone—men and women—and they started crying. And almost every single time, they say, “I’m sorry I’m crying. I can’t help it,” embarrassed by the fact that their particular struggle or trauma made them cry in front of me.

            But that’s normal! You can’t help it because you’ve addressed it. Society has a strong inclination to put on a smile and carry on or fake it till you make it. While that might make life a little easier for a time, it will leave you filled with unresolved pain and trauma. A friend of mine had a pretty sever accident falling from a balcony, and it left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair as just her legs were affected. I asked her about this struggle.

She said, “I grieved and suffered for a long time. It was unbearably hard for so long. But then I decided that just because I couldn’t walk doesn’t mean I can’t do a lot of useful things.” And so, she created a whole foundation to support people who had the same struggle as her. Grief is okay, but eventually we have to find ourselves back seeking a purpose. Even when all of life is a struggle, God never stops calling us, being with us, and loving us.

So, then, how do we deal with life’s overwhelming struggles? The Book of Proverbs can often be very difficult and assertive, but in this instance, it is also insightful. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” We need to switch from a mindset of stopping all the struggles of life to a mindset of guarding our hearts from the struggles of life.

We hear this same theme in the Gospel. Jesus says, “I am the gate.” But Jesus is more than just the gateway to God’s grace. Jesus is also the gatekeeper for what comes in and affects our lives. As things come my way which I cannot fix or handle, as struggles and sadness hit me, I always try to remember that even if I cannot fix the things in my life, Jesus can help fix them, or Jesus can walk with me in the trial.

A friend of mine had her marriage fall apart a few years ago. She was faithful, devoted, and had no idea there were issues. One day her husband came in and just flat said, “It’s over, and you have to move out,” as he owned the house. For a couple of years she was devastated, defensive, and broken. But after she met someone new, fell in love, got married again and started a family, she continues to work on her peace and her ability to be in a relationship. Guarding your heart doesn’t mean shutting everyone out or being so kind-hearted you get exploited. God calls us to a sense of balance.

Be broken and vulnerable to God’s wisdom, leadership, and calling. But be strong enough to withstand what may come your way in the world. Guard your heart from becoming too hardened and bitter, but also from being overwhelmed by struggles and pain. When you feel like you’re beaten down and sinking, remember that Jesus is the gate and the Good Shepherd. He will keep you safe from what comes your way, and he will lead you with peace and strength in your most difficult times of life.

Every time we sing this closing hymn, I’m reminded of the story behind it. Horatio Spafford, was a Presbyterian minister and lawyer, (just noting I’m not the only lawyer/preacher). He wrote this hymn after the ship carrying his wife and four daughters sank killing all four of his daughters. His wife was saved alone. The music to it was named Villa du Havre after the ship which carried Spafford’s wife and children across the Atlantic.

He was a man beset by suffering and struggle. The voyage came shortly after the Great Fire of Chicago destroyed all his investments in real estate. He and his wife were left with nothing in life except their faith and the hope that they could start over. I am sure they felt overwhelmed by the pain they endured. I am sure there was an untold amount of grief. But they both knew how to guard their hearts from being overwhelmed by the trauma.

In the end, Spafford transformed his suffering into a masterpiece of music which tells the story of guarding your heart and overcoming: “When peace, like a river, attends my way, or when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.” Friends, you may not be able to control the insanity that life throws at you, but you can control who walks with you through it. And God will be there each and every step. When life becomes overwhelming, guard your hearts, and reach deep into your soul. God is with you, and you will find that, with any trial, it is well with your soul. Amen.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/805697644792884

Lent 2: Faithful Answers for Difficult Questions

Faithful Answers—No Labels, No Accusations: Daniel 9: 4-9; John 8: 1-11

            A few years ago, my good friend decided to give up caffeine for Lent. Given the tremendous amount she drank, I was nervous how this would go. Day one, she was all smiles and said she felt better than ever. Day two, she said there was some anxiety and jitters, but it was probably normal. Day three I went to check on her. She was sitting in a dark office. I cautiously asked if she was alright. She was sitting there with a tremendous headache, hands jittering, a clear lack of sleep. She said, “I love Jesus with all my heart, but if I don’t get a cup of coffee immediately, I’m going to need more help than the Holy Spirit to hold me back!”

            For some, the discipline of fasting in Lent is a bit more complicated by years of coffee addiction. She began to cry saying that she had failed, this meant she was a sinner, that she couldn’t do anything right faith-wise. I’m pretty sure it was the un-caffeinated insanity talking, so I told her that living with struggles and shortcomings does not indicate failure. The whole ordeal is a reminder—we are a society that likes to accuse and label both others and ourselves.

            If you live with Alzheimer’s or dementia, society acts as if you are helpless. If you have a disability, society tends to infantilize you or treat you like a child. If you have mental health struggles, there’s a sense of repulsion in society. We have labels and associations for everything: race, age, ability, gender, sexuality, employment, social status. One could say that our society is very judgy. It makes things easy to label, compartmentalize, and follow whatever associations we may have with those labels and accusations.

            The problem is that all of them tend to operate in a place of condemnation or they summon up the idea of something bad. And we all know this. If you say someone is an older adult, there are associations of slow driving, being fussy, going to S&S Cafeteria. If you say someone is really young, we think inexperience, emotional immaturity, and so on. Think how many of our labels carry a weight of negativity with them. When we label someone based on what we see, it almost always carries some measure of condemnation for that person.

            We see that in the Gospel. A woman is brought to Jesus with a label, an accusation—adulterer, caught in the act, a sinner. And I’m sure that for someone caught in adultery there were much worse words that could be said. The crowd has two devious plans going at the same time: to get this woman punished by death and to trap Jesus into saying something they could turn around and label or accuse him of in return. It was a double whammy both to bring condemnation to the woman and a plot to entrap Jesus.

            But I’ll give you a more recent example of such negative language. My good friend is working on a new business venture. He and a buddy are doing a mobile pet grooming business. We were talking about getting the corporation set up, advertising, and such like that. He said to me, “Don’t get me wrong…I’m scared of failing.” As I was writing this sermon, I decided to go full on pastor mode. I responded, “It’s never failing It’s finding new ways to do something, and I’ve got your back in this.” To those who gleefully wanted to have this woman stoned to death for her sin, Jesus said that the one without any sin can cast the first stone. Society’s problem is there’s a lot of stones being cast, but not a lot of self-examination to see if the caster of stones is blameless enough to pick up that stone in the first place.

            There are ample places where Jesus does not condemn folks. Romans 8 says there is no condemnation in Christ. Romans 3 reiterates the same. And here, Jesus asks the woman where her accusers are, and did not one of them condemn her. Jesus then says, “Neither do I.” But it’s not so simple as just that. There is still one issue remaining here.

            This woman was caught in the act of adultery. And adultery is still wrong, no matter how you much love and forgiveness is found in the story. It still breaks the sacred promise of the covenant between two who are married. There’s no way around the fact that she did, in fact, do something wrong. Jesus’s words of forgiveness and restoration for this woman are still followed by, “Go and sin no more.” We also read the power of a humble repentance in Daniel.

            Daniel confesses, on behalf of the people, their rebelliousness, their selfish ways, their bad behavior before God. But just as badly as the people had behaved, God’s forgiveness and grace is equally as expansive. Daniel says, “But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against [God].” I believe it’s implied in the Gospel that Jesus knew the woman was sorry and repentant. And the whole purpose of Jesus’s ministry was not to stone people to death when they were truly sorry, but to offer forgiveness.

            The faithful answer to any shortcoming, sin, or perceived failure is repentance and restoration. The words “I’m sorry” may not fix every bad thing we have ever done, but they get us on the road to realigning ourselves with faith and love in this world. But for those who seem unable to see the harm they’ve caused or don’t ever care to apologize or repent, remember to move on. They will never find a place of repentance and apology until God has dealt with them. The people Daniel prayed for were in slavery and conquered because of their bad behavior. The woman in the Gospel was brought literally to the brink before Jesus intervened. God will deal with hearts and minds. Just let it go and let God work.

            Lastly, many folks struggle with this idea of no condemnation. Surely, we have to call out what is wrong, right? Surely, we must stand against people’s wrongdoing, sin, the things we collectively know as evil, right? Consider the perspective The problem is not that we are letting people go free in their wrongdoing, nor is it an issue with holding others accountable. The question is this…are we the ones without sin who can cast the first stone? If we are guilty, then we cannot condemn. We must work out our own repentance and restoration. It’s Jesus’s polite way of saying, “Mind your own business.”

            Lent is the season of fasting. We tend to give up something as a spiritual discipline to remove that particular distraction and focus on our relationship with God more. My friend tried this. She was bound and determined to give up coffee. I think where she lost her way was only going half the distance. Lent is not just about giving something up. It’s purposeful. It’s about giving something up to work on our relationship with God. Now, if she had given up coffee to focus more on health or to add in more communion, or to use the coffee-making/drinking time for prayer, it would have been more purposeful.

            Pope Francis said a few years ago that there is a better way to fast for Lent. Fast from hurting words and say kind words. Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude. Fast from anger and be filled with patience. Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope. Fast from worries and trust in God. Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity. Fast from pressures and be prayerful. Fast from bitterness and focus on life’s joy. Fast from selfishness and be compassionate towards others. Fast from grudges and find healing. Fast from words and be silent enough to listen.

            Let me add to that for you. Fast from condemning, labelling, stereotyping, and seek to make disciples for God’s kingdom. Fast from self-harm, self-hate, and personal negativity, and seek gentleness. The entire work of Jesus’s ministry was to take a world of suffering and condemnation and offer a way to forgiveness and love. I pray we find ourselves doing this same work as we seek to follow Jesus.

             Worship video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/368707449383634