What Really Matters

 

This week’s scriptures talk a lot about money and about where our ultimate care and safety lie. 1 Timothy 6 reminds us that what matters is to have our basic needs met. Wealth is not a basic need and can deceive us into thinking it is what the “Good Life” is really about. As verse 10 warns: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.”

Jesus takes it further in the Gospel reading, telling the story of a poor man named Lazarus who sat outside the doors of a rich man’s home. Lazarus begged for even scraps of food but received none. When he died, the angels carried Lazarus to heaven. When the rich man died he…well, he wound up in a whole other place. Seeing Lazarus by Abraham’s side, he called up and asked Abraham to send Lazarus down to give him a sip of water because he was tormented by flames. Abraham said that the chasm between the two was now too great. The rich man asked if Abraham would send Lazarus to warn his brothers of the fate that might await them. Abraham responded, “They already have Moses and the prophets, what more do they need?”

I believe we are given all we need to live a good and faithful life through the scriptures. Jesus lays out a teaching to show us a way to live more deeply in love with God and others. There are those in our life who live in such a way that the truth of the Gospel’s claims is confirmed. Are we willing to be faithful to Jesus’ teaching? Are we willing to order our lives so that—no matter our wealth or poverty, health or disease—we will make Love our highest aim and our greatest commitment? Are we willing to order our lives so that this Love will connect us to others in profound ways?

Love compels us to share all we have with others. Love sees those the world overlooks. Love responds to the needs around us. Love is active. Love creates connections, bridges, and relationships that build beloved community.

May you allow Love to open your eyes, your heart, and your hands so that you can see those around you, listen to their voices, and share the love of Christ in tangible, life-changing ways. In this way, may you find your life enriched in ways money alone cannot provide.

SOCIAL HOLINESS, SPIRITUALITY, AND SHOOTINGS

In the midst of the noise of our day, listening is a deeply spiritual practice. Listening to another person is a spiritual act. Listening to sighs too deep for words is a spiritual act. Listening to the wind blow through the trees is a spiritual act. All this is to assist us as we listen with open hearts for the voice of God.

Saturdays are a day of spiritual listening for me. After reading scripture in the morning, I strain the ears of my heart to hear God’s whisper. Today, I heard bird calls, a child laugh, waves lapping the shore. But where was God’s voice?

This evening, as I looked at my phone to catch up on the day’s news, I heard it: God was weeping. El Paso became the latest community to experience a mass shooting, with 20 shot dead in a Walmart, many buying school supplies. As of today, there have been 248 mass shootings in the United States in 2019. 246 people have been killed, 979 wounded, thousands have experienced trauma.

Tonight, I hear God weeping.

“Thoughts and prayers” ring hollow in the face of these numbers and mock the fact that the life to which Jesus calls us is one of engaged faith. The apostle Paul said, “Faith without works is dead.” John Wesley said, “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness. Faith working by love, is the length and breath and depth and height of Christian perfection.”

When we bow our heads and pray for those whose lives have been irrevocably impacted by the El Paso shooting, what will we do when we rise from our pews? How will the holy practice we engaged in during worship be embodied social holiness in our daily living?

God weeps tonight. What will you do tomorrow, so that your “faith is working by love”?

We can stop the killings. We can ease the deep pain of those who weep. We can create beloved communities that draw the outcast in. We can work for better mental health access in our communities. We can let our elected officials know that it is past time that this nation passed sensible gun control laws.

We can do all this through Christ, who expects nothing less of us.

A Faith on Fire

It was a jarring thing to pull into my mother’s hometown of Springhill, Nova Scotia to see the big “Ross Refrigeration” sign in front of the Presbyterian Church. My cousin attended that church and my sisters and I have, on more than one occasion, sung in the choir. 

The congregation had shrunk so that they could no longer sustain ministry. The only option was to close their doors and sell their building. How many churches that are still open have lost the fire of faith and are now chilly communities, just one breath away from closure?

When someone walks into your sanctuary tomorrow, will they feel the fire of a passionate faith? Will they be warmly welcomed? Or will they need to guard their heart against the coldness they will experience?

Psalm 15 reminds us that we are to come before God bringing our most authentic and best selves to worship:

“Here is the answer: The one who lives with integrity, does what is right, and speaks honestly with truth from the heart.

The one who doesn’t speak evil against others or wrong their neighbor, or slander friends.”

When you step into worship, do you bring the best of you you can? Even more importantly, do you allow worship to transform you in ways that will inform how you live the rest of the week?

Our nation, world, and church are all experiencing a crisis of civility and trust that are fracturing communities with chilling consequences. Our churches—meaning all clergy and laity—need to be a blazing beacon of hope in these troubled times. We need to bring love into a world that has forgotten what love feels like and how it changes how we see one another. We need to bring hope into a world that has resigned itself to despair. We need to bring God’s generous grace into a world that defaults to judgement and division. 

May your church be on fire with the Holy Spirit tomorrow. And may you leave worship forever changed. May Love guide your every step, every action, every word. 

What In God's Name Are You Doing?

Praying for the laity and clergy of the Mountain Sky Conference as we prepare for Sunday worship.

When I was young, the most dreaded seven words were, “What in God’s name are you doing?” Whenever I heard those words, I froze! Even if I didn’t think of it as I was doing it, as soon as I heard those words, I knew I was doing something very, very wrong.

I have been thinking a lot about that phrase lately. There is much talk about the role of faith in politics. Yet, looking at the great divisions in our nation, I am left to wonder, “What in God’s name are we doing?” How does our faith inform our public witness? How does it impact the way we move in the world? How does it shape our relationships, not only with those we call family and friends, but those whose names we may never know?

What in God’s name are we doing?

Jesus makes it very plain what those who are his disciples are to do:

“I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to me.” (Matthew 25)

Jesus makes it clear that to act in the name of Jesus means to look towards those who have been pushed down and pushed out to the margins. It means opening our eyes and hearts to those others are ignoring and acting in ways that bring healing, hope and justice. It means being disturbed by the mistreatment of others and doing something to challenge and change the systems that promote oppression and injustice.

Henri Nouwen said:

“Ministry is acting in the Name of Jesus. When all our actions are in the Name, they will bear fruit for eternal life. To act in the Name of Jesus, however, doesn’t mean to act as a representative of Jesus or his spokesperson. It means to act in an intimate communion with him. The Name is like a house, a tent, a dwelling. To act in the Name of Jesus, therefore, means to act from the place where we are united with Jesus in love. To the question “Where are you?” we should be able to answer, “I am in the Name.” Then, whatever we do cannot be other than ministry because it will always be Jesus himself who acts in and through us. The final question for all who minister is ‘Are you in the Name of Jesus?’ When we can say yes to that, all of our lives will be ministry.”

What in God’s name are you going? May your time in church strengthen you to live so fully connected to Jesus that everything you do will be grounded in God’s love, so that your whole life may be ministry.

"Follow Me"

Mark 1:14-20 is about Jesus calling the fisherman—Andrew, Simon, James and John—to drop their nets and follow him. I have known professional fisherman and have seen the deep commitment they have for their work: leaving early in the morning, no matter what the weather and sea conditions, to haul their nets, fill their boat, and return.

What was it about Jesus that made these four—and millions since—drop what they were doing, walk out of their old life, and step into faith’s unknown future? What did they see, what did they hear, that convinced them that Jesus promised a far better life, a more meaningful way to move in the world, than what they were currently experiencing? 

When did you hear Jesus beckon to you with the words, “Follow me”? Have you been willing to drop all that is predictable, all that is safe, all that makes sense, to fully enter into the life that Jesus invites you to? What keeps you from entering completely into the ways of Jesus?

I invite you to sit in prayer, listen for the voice of Jesus saying, “Follow me.” What is it Jesus wants of you, from you? What part of God’s plan cannot be fulfilled unless you step out in faith? Are you willing to let go of whatever nets you cling to, to step out of the life you know for one that leads you more fully into the Way of Love?