Red Letters/Black Letters: The State of the Blog: An Interlude

Well friends, as you know by now we are nearing the end of this little adventure that we began 6 months ago. There are now only 11 entries left in my Sayings of Jesus devotional.

As you also know this blog started off being every day of the week and then after some months of that and a month of nothing we moved to five days a week, giving both you and myself the weekend off.

Now, we are coming to the end.

But we are not at the end yet, because I am taking a Holiday break from the blog. I have no desire to write entries on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, so we are going on a two week hiatus, with the last 11 entries beginning on January 5, or 4 depending on the exact moment I post.

As I say, we are coming to the end.

To that end I have been giving this blog some thought. Will it just languish somewhere between my fingers and your eyes? Will anyone randomly find this blog and start the whole 135 day journey some other day? What if anything do I want to do in connection with this blog? Will I miss the journey? Is there another journey to take?

Hence I have decided that I am not quite ready to give up my examination of the things Jesus has to say. I am, though, ready to give up such a strict schedule of 7 or 5 days a week. So...our 135 day journey will begin again on January 5 and end on January 19, at that point this blog will go dark again for two weeks.

Beginning the first week of February, exact day to still be determined, this blog will go weekly as we begin a new journey looking at one parable of Jesus's each week. This new journey will be more in depth than the first 135 entries, hence the weekly schedule as opposed to daily. That journey should last us around 30 weeks, we'll see where we go from there.

I hope these entries have been worthwhile for you, they have been for me.

I hope the parable journey excites you and you join me for the ride.

Until January 5, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 124: To be more than human

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

In the previous sentence Jesus talks about how his disciples are about to abandon him and then here he tells them to have peace. I don't know about you,, but I'm pretty sure if I knew my closest friends were about to betray and abandon me wishing them peace would not be high on my list of priorities. Yet here is Jesus wishing them peace. Then Jesus goes on to tell them that this world is full of tribulations but that they can be joyous because Jesus has overcome the world. 

There are so many ways that Jesus has overcome the world, but for this moment I want to talk about only one way it is true, and it has everything to do with his ability to wish his friends/betrayers peace.

It is very natural to not wish them peace, our world carries tribulations and among those tribulations is our inane attachment to anger and vengeance. We react in anger to anger. We react toward violence with violence. We shun those who have shunned us. We hate those who have hurt us. We do this because we are, after all, merely human. Jesus on the other hand calls us to be a little more than human. Jesus calls us to attach the divine to our humanity, to allow access of our hearts and minds and souls to the very one who crafted our hearts and minds and souls. 

Jesus calls us to salvation. At base salvation is a redirecting of our being from an inward thrust to an outward thrust. Salvation is changing our eyesight and changing our heart-sight. With this new sight we can look at those who act in anger or vengeance and see them as God sees them, and we can look at those who shun and hurt and see them as God sees them. It does not take away their actions or the repercussions of those actions, but it bends how we see them. If we let God begin to remold us we will no longer react as we are acted upon, beginning reconciliation at the point of destruction. 

It is not easy to care for those who hurt us. It is not easy to show grace to those who show violence. It is not easy to accept those who have shunned us. It is not easy, nor will it be popular. Those who show grace are often referred to as cowards. Those who choose peace over violence are often called weak. Those who turn the other cheek are criticized. But, we can once again react in caring, graceful ways to this group of people as well, repopulating the world with more love instead of more hate.

+ How have you reacted with love and grace in the face of anger/violence/pain/being shunned?

+ How has God worked on your heart, mind, soul since you began to follow Jesus? 

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 123: God the Sustainer

"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; 

for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; 

and He will tell you things to come." John 16:13

I believe in God the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer. I was going to say that I understand the Creator and the Redeemer but that the Sustainer is still a mystery to me, which in truth is only one third true, all three aspects of God are a mystery to me. I like to think that isn't true, I like to think that I have a firm grasp of God the Creator and God the Redeemer, i.e. Jesus, but in reality I do not. There is a story of St. Augustine that speaks of trying to understand the trinity as likely as moving the ocean into a small hole, the truth being that God is so much bigger than our human minds can take in. So while I like to think I grasp two aspects of the trinity, I really grasp none. I can only tell you what I believe.

When it comes to God the Sustainer, i.e. the Holy Spirit, i.e. the Holy Ghost, I believe that God speaks to us still. God speaks to our hearts, our souls, our dreams, our churches. God speaks in new ways to new people in new times and new places, enhancing our knowledge of God and ourselves and our world. God speaks in subtle ways, only perceptible for those with "ears to hear." God speaks into our situations and into our communities, and usually we only realize it in hindsight. I also believe that God the Sustainer works in the world still. God helps to guide us if we want to be guided. God works things out in our lives that we allow God to work out. I believe that God the Sustainer sustains us. When we are weak God gives us strength to carry on. When we are in cast about God gives us peace. When we are helpless God provides the help. Again, God work in us is only perceptible for those with "eyes to see"

+ What is your understanding of God the Sustainer?

+ When in your life can you point to as a time when God spoke, worked, or sustained you?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 122: The Chicken or the Egg

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you." John 15:16

I grew up in a hymnal church, I don't think the church ever sang a "modern" worship song until I was in college. I grew up in a hymnal church and I loved hymns, still do for that matter. I grew up in a hymnal church and I hated the song O, How I Love Jesus. I had no problem with the verses, but I could not stand the chorus, it bothered me to no end that the reason we loved Jesus was because he first loved us. I thought, and still think for that matter, that it is not a good enough reason to love Jesus, it might be a good enough reason to think about loving Jesus, maybe even a good enough reason to begin loving Jesus, but it is not a good enough reason to still love Jesus. 

You see, my big problem was the word "because," to me it implies that it is the main, or perhaps only reason. And that drove [drives] me crazy. Do we love our parents because they first loved us? Do we choose our spouse because they loved us first? If not, and I am pretty sure the answer is no, then why is it all right to love Jesus because he first loved us? 

Now, all of that still bugs me, but I have begun to look at the song a little differently. Perhaps the author thought of the above verse when thinking about the song. Perhaps they thought of "because" meaning that since Jesus first loved us it opened the door to us loving him. Perhaps they thought, 'Well Jesus chose us, and because of that we can choose him,' that I may be able to get behind. It makes sense to me that the only way that we can love Jesus is because he chose to love us first, but that doesn't make it our reason for loving him. 

I may be quibbling over insignificant definitions, but to me it makes a difference. Because we don't have to love Jesus. We can choose, and many do, to not love Jesus. To me this says that while Jesus's love for us did indeed open the door to the possibility of us loving him, it doesn't compel us to, nor is it the reason for when we do.

+ Did that make any sense? ;)

+ Why do you love Jesus?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 121: Lord and/or Friend

"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." John 15:15

Everything that Jesus heard from God he told the disciples, and we have a lot of it in the Gospels, so why do we not listen to it? Sunday morning I talked a little bit about how we often forget the cross in the midst of the manger, but even more often we forget the time in between all the time. I am roughly 14 posts away from being done with this blog, at least as far as daily posts go, and one of the things I will miss is the daily wrestling with what Jesus taught. It has reminded me over and over again how far we, as individuals and as a corporate church, still have to go. It has been almost 2000 years since the cross and we still tend to mess things up more than we fix them up.

I say we above because it is all of us. Even the best of us need to step it up, and I am by no means the best of us, I have as much to work on as anybody [not that I really need to tell any of you that actually know me].

One of the things I think we need to work on is realizing how we relate to God. In John 15 Jesus attempts to get it through the thick heads of the disciples that they are not servants, but friends, it is a lesson that we would be well advised to learn as well. I am pretty sure that we haven't covered it in these entries [121 is hard to keep track of] but in Matthew 7:21 & 23 Jesus says "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord.' shall enter the kingdom of heaven...And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you...'" Among other things, I wonder if part of it is Jesus saying that we never knew him, that we never understood his purpose, his teaching, his love, his friendship. We so often call him Lord with no understanding of what our relationship to him is. Jesus is our Lord but he is also our friend, and if we fail to understand that, then we don't really know him at all.

+ Who is Jesus to you?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 120: Sacrifice without ceasing

"Greater love has no one than this, then to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15:13

You may have visions of heroic sacrifice, dying in the place of another, honor and glory, let me stop you right there. While Jesus's words may lead to that place ultimately there are a million small steps between living a life of selfish desires and literally giving your life for another, yet we take the easy way out and only think about this verse in very large, ultimate, terms. As followers of Jesus we are to lay our lives down for the people in our lives, usually without shedding a drop of blood. Laying your life down is a lot more complicated than dying.

To lay down your life is to consider the other more important than the self.

To lay down your life is to believe that the well-being of the other promotes the well-being of all.

To lay down your life is to walk in the other's shoes so that you can understand their decisions without condemning their actions.

To lay down your life is to bite your tongue when the words that you would speak would lower the other.

To lay down your life is to stand between the other and danger, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual.

To lay down your life is to take a smaller portion of what is yours (time, money, space, etc.) so that the other may have more than the world give them.

To lay down your life is to put aside personal preference for the good of the other.

If we can lay down our lives in every moment, whether or not we can in the big moment will not be a question.

+ Fill in the blank: To lay down your life is to _________________________

+ In what ways do you need to work on laying down your life?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 119: Love as Loved

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12

In my opinion the churches main stumbling block is our inability to answer what at first glance seems like a very simple question but is in fact a very complicated one.

What does it mean to love?

Part of the problem stems from the fact that we have taken four words from the Ancient Greek language (agape, eros, philia, storge) that mean different forms of love and have often times translated them as love.

Another part of the problem is that we often try to relate the Love of God to the Justice of God, as opposed to the Justice of God to the Love of God. It is a matter of some debate which point we should start with, but whichever side we fall on changes things drastically.

A third part of the problem is we add different words to love to define how our love looks: tough love, sacrificial love, foolish love, etc.

A fourth part of the problem is that the world also defines love in a myriad of ways, often in stark contrast to how the church defines it.

A fifth part of the problem is that when the world and the church differ in their definitions the church often uses unloving ways of correction, or more drastically perhaps there are times the world loves better than the church does.

The solution? We are not meant to define love, we are meant to love like Jesus loved.

How did Jesus love? Every moment of every day Jesus gave himself to everyone who was in need of him. What if we did the same?

+ How well do you love like Jesus?

+ Is that even something you try to do?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 118: The end of the vine trilogy

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples." John 15:8

A recap: Jesus is the vine and we are branches. By being connected to Jesus we can have life, at the same time if we are not connected we will die, though we will mostly keep breathing. We can choose to be connected or choose to not be connected. If we choose connection our lives will be better because we will bear fruit, Jesus's words will change our hearts and our relationships, and our prayers will be answered because of a shift from selfish to unselfish natures.

Today we will look a little closer at something that we have already said, "We will bear fruit: people will be reached and loved and learn to love in return. Through our connection the whole world can be impacted, not to fill up church pews but to increase the quotient of love in the world and to decrease the quotient of hate."

Long, long ago in a land far, far away God made a promise to a guy named Abram, telling Abram that he would be a blessing to the entire world. As Christians we believe that this promise was finally fulfilled in the person of Jesus, but I don't think that is the final word on the matter. If you have been following these posts you will know that I have mentioned that we are called to be Jesus's hands and feet, we are supposed to be his body in the here and now. If that is the case, then God's promise to Abram continues on in our lives, we continue Jesus's blessing to the world, or at least we should be.

Jesus walked a very small portion of this planet; whereas his followers have walked every corner of the globe. Jesus spoke to a very small portion of the population, even in his day, and all of those people spoke the same language that he did and had a background very similar to his own; whereas his followers have the power to speak to people in every language to people of backgrounds and nationalities vastly different than their own. Through our connection the whole world can be impacted. Let's rephrase that, we will impact the whole world, the question is will we be living the connection when we impact them?

+ How have you impacted the world around you, for yourself or for God?

+ Do you believe that you are a part of something greater than yourself?

p.s. if I had looked ahead I would have realized that this was going to be a trilogy, as opposed to three entries on roughly the same topic, which is not really a trilogy at all

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 117: To flower is to bloom is to reach beyond

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, 

bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

an aside: there is a difference in talking about what you believe in a positive light as opposed to talking about what you believe in the negative light of what someone else believes

Here Jesus lets us know that we have a choice, we can choose to abide in him or to not abide in him. As we looked at yesterday to not abide means to be cut off, to be a dead stick on the ground. We die as in we lose life and purpose, but we do not lose breath. I think that is an important point in conjunction with the end of this verse where Jesus says that without him we can do nothing. In strict language that is not true, we can accomplish quite a lot without Jesus, to deny that is to deny our eyes and experiences. There are a whole host of people who accomplish great things while never believing in Jesus or in God at all. We have been created to be amazing, and we can be with or without God. We can be the best dead stick on the ground.

On the other hand, if we choose to remain in Jesus we can be something more. By being connected to that which is greater than ourselves we thus become greater ourselves. In the next couple verses we are told that if we remain in Jesus 3 things will happen to us: we will bear fruit, Jesus's words will remain in us, and our prayers will be answered. These three things are the something that we can only do completely being connected.

1) We will bear fruit: people will be reached and loved and learn to love in return. Through our connection the whole world can be impacted, not to fill up church pews but to increase the quotient of love in the world and to decrease the quotient of hate.

2) His words will remain in us: we will constantly be made better. We will be better friends, better siblings, better parents, better children, and ultimately better disciples. With or without belief we can be improved, but we will never reach the true potential of what a human can be.

3) Our prayers will be answered: if we are in the vine then the things we ask will be for the betterment of the Kingdom of God and the people around us. By aligning ourselves to Jesus we lose our selfish desires, lose our selfish attitudes, and lose our selfish prayers our desires then become Kingdom desires, our attitudes, Kingdom attitudes, and our prayers, Kingdom prayers.

+ Do you agree that you have been improved since you began to believe in Jesus?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 116: To Flower or to Die

"I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." John 15:1-2

Let's break this beast down, shall we?

The first thing to understand is that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, duh. What that means though is that since Jesus is the vine he is both our reason for life and our ability to have life. A branch on its own is a dead stick on the ground, in order for that branch to fulfill its purpose it must be connected to the vine and when it is connected to the vine it can not only live but be a conduit for more life.

That last bit is rather important, while we are connected to the vine we reach out from the life that is given to us in order to bring life to others. By being connected to Jesus we can blossom and bring beauty. Apart from Jesus we can not. Apart from Jesus we will still breath in and out and still live our lives but we will never truly be alive and we will not be able to give life to others.

By being disconnected from the vine we are disconnected from our true potential and our true purpose and our true power. From the moment of disconnection we are only capable of what we are capable of on our own, we are a stick on the ground and we can be the best stick on the ground that we can be but we will never be anything but a stick on the ground. You may well be okay being a really good dead stick, but I want a little more.

If we continue to be connected and we share the life given to us with others we will move into a period of being pruned. To prune means to cut back a little bit of the growing portion to make way for new and better growth, we are pruned to produce more. No matter how long we are connected to the vine God understands that we are not yet perfected and that there are aspects of our lives that need removed so that we can produce even more for life and love for others.

Jesus gives us the secret ingredient to what we can truly be, connection. If we stay connected we can be a part of something bigger than ourselves as opposed to just being a really good dead stick.

+ How do you keep connected to Jesus?

+ What examples can you point to in your life of how your purpose and potential has grown by being connected?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 115: Change us that you may change the world

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. 

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

This week the Advent candle was the candle of peace, now here we find ourselves with a verse on peace. In a way it's ironic, because the world, while in the midst of the holiday season, is decidedly non peaceful. Us Christians are about to celebrate that pivotal moment in world history where we believe God stepped out of the beyond and into the world in the form of a little baby, yet we are as divided right now as we possibly ever have been, at least here in America. We are divided among racial line. We are divided among sexual lines. We are divided politically. We are divided socially. We are divided by our various interpretation of scriptures. We are divided by our preferences inside the walls of our sanctuaries. We are divided and in this time of waiting and preparation we are incapable of seeing beyond our differences to the spot that connects us all, or rather the one that connects us all, Jesus. We can't seem to agree on that point of connection because we seem to each believe in a different Jesus. How messed up is that?

This Advent season I hope to remake the place Jesus has in my heart and in my life, to widen his space and shrink mine a little in order that he may live more in me and more in this world. The world needs the peace that Jesus offers and I need that same peace because I am a part of this world.

There are no questions today, but if you agree that the world needs more of what Jesus offers then I would ask you to pray the following prayer, and in the chorus of our voices the Lord may hear our prayer and begin to work anew in our lives and in this world.

A Prayer: Jesus, the one and only, We beseech you in this moment to shine again on us poor beggars at your door. We beseech you to open our eyes and our ears and our minds and our hearts and our souls to the love that you commanded us to show so that others would know whom we serve. We beseech you to once again pour out your peace among us, that our hearts may be not troubled and that we might not be afraid. We ask these things not for our own good, but for the good of your people and your world that lives may be changed by the touch of your peace and your presence. Make your dwelling place among the people and help us to spread your love to every corner of darkness. Amen and amen.

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 114: To pray as if you were Christ

"And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 
If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." John 14:13-14

Derek Webb has this song titled The Spirit Vs. The Kick Drum which contains the lyric "I don't want the Father, I want a vending machine." That, all too often, is where we find ourselves, wanting God to be a vending machine, or perhaps more seasonally appropriate, Santa Claus. It is my belief that we often get there because we misinterpret passages like this one, reading it for face value and thinking "If I just add 'In Jesus's name' I will get what I pray for." Unfortunately this mindset is at times exasperated by the local Christian ghetto, I mean bookstore, take the wildly popular book The Prayer of Jabez from a while back. Here was a book that posited that the reason this one verse was in the Bible was due to the fact that if you prayed a prayer from the Book of Chronicles, of all places, you would get what you want in life.

Our rational brain tells us this isn't true, I am sure that you, like me, have prayed more prayers that weren't answered the way you wanted them to be than you have prayed that were answered the way you wanted, but inevitably we often just go back hoping that this time God will do exactly what we want. As I said, the problem is interpretation, isn't it always? The question we need to ask in conjunction with this particular verse is, what does it mean to 'ask anything in My name'? [Spoiler alert: it is not adding 'In Jesus's name' to the end of prayers] I believe that it means that we need to pray like we are attempting to live, 

The apostle Paul says that it is no longer he who lives but it is rather Christ who lives in him, the same is true for those of us who attempt to follow Jesus. If Christ is living in us then our lives need to reflect his life, our actions reflect his actions, our words reflect his words, and...our prayers reflect his prayers. If Jesus is our example then our prayers should be aimed at wanting God's will to breakthrough to this place. If Jesus is our example then our prayers should be about the needs of others as opposed to our wants. If Jesus is our example then even when we ask for things that we would like to see happen we should always surround them with, 'not my will but thine.'

+ Do you pray like Jesus?

+ What gets you in the vending machine, Santa Claus mindset?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 113: Are we loving the rules or following the rule of love?

"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and my Father will love him, 

and We will come to him and make Our home with him." John 14:23

It's interesting, isn't it, that how well we follow Jesus, in his mind, depends on how well we love Jesus. It's interesting, but as I sit here it makes total sense to me. Are you married or dating? If you are this should make sense to you. Are you a devoted child or parent? If you are this should make sense to you. Are you a really good friend? If you are this should make sense to you. Are you a total loner without connections? You may be a bit foggy right now.

When you love someone it does things to you, it changes your views, or in the words of Rob and Kristen Bell, it changes your center of gravity. In their book The Zimzum of Love they discuss how when you begin to care for someone else your whole world begins to shift towards them, no longer do you just care about yourself but you are beginning to be concerned about their well being as much as, or more than, your own. It's a simple, yet profound truth, when you love someone what they want matters to you. They are speaking of marital love, but the same is true in any love relationship, and it is especially true when we are talking about love of Jesus.

Loving Jesus causes us to begin to see the world as Jesus sees it. Loving Jesus causes us to begin to interact with the world the way Jesus wants us to. Loving Jesus causes us to begin to live in the world the way Jesus lived in it. We can love God and neighbor and enemy well only when we love Jesus well, and by loving more and loving well we keep Jesus's word better.

Too often we in the church seem to shift the focus away from 'loves Me' and onto the 'keeping My word' part; we give out a list of rules and tell people if you really want to be a part of our group this is how you should and should not act. In reality we should be telling people this is how you should and should not love. Their is a huge gulf between looking out for your own interests and compassion, between the holy huddle and inclusion, between hatred and equality, between following the rules and loving the savior.

+ How is your love for Jesus connected to living and loving like him?

+ Where have you traditionally focused, on the love or the rules?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 112: Putting the Bible back together again

"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

Sometimes I hate verse delineations. In fact, there are times when I wish I could travel back in time and have a little chat with Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who decided that the Bible should be broken into verses and if not punch him, at least flick him in the ear or stick my tongue out at him. I can understand his reasoning, it is easier to find a chapter and verse than a random sentence in the 1000 plus pages of the Bible, but still... there are times when I feel we lose things by dividing the Bible into verses. I usually point to John 3:16 & 17 which in essence is one compete thought broken up into two. I find the same problem here in John 14, we take verse 6 and quote it a lot more than verse 7, which explains what Jesus means by 'no one comes to the Father except through me.'

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; 

and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." John 14:7

Jesus's point is that we can now gain access to God because we now know what God is like, if you see Jesus you see God. If you see love, there is love. If you see healing, there is healing. If you see forgiveness, there is forgiveness. If you see compassion, there is compassion. If you see grace, there is grace. Before the manger and the cross and the time in between we had to rely on second hand accounts, long ago stories, history written by the winners. Since the manger and the cross and the time in between we have the words and actions of Jesus to remind us of who God is.

Through the lens of Jesus we can interpret everything that we have traditionally believed about God, does it match up to the example that Jesus showed? Through the lens of Jesus we can interpret our thoughts on God, do they match up with what Jesus spoke? Through the lens of Jesus we can interpret everything we experience about God, does it match up with how Jesus lived? Through the lens of Jesus we can interpret the whole of scripture, is there anything that goes in direct conflict with Jesus? [A fourfold look for my Wesleyan Quadrilateral peeps.]

+ What chapter/verse delineations do you have trouble with?

+ How has reading the Gospels changed your view on God, scripturally, traditionally, experientially, rationally?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 111: The End is Hopeful

"In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. 

I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, 

I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." John 14:2-3

There are people who talk of heaven as if it will be this exclusive country club for the limited few. There are people who read Revelation and can give you an exact number, never mind that it is a symbolic one. There are people who want heaven to be limited, only people like them will be there, only the ones who went to the church with the same sign over the door that they went to. There are people who only want people of their political persuasion there. There are people who only want people of their own skin color there. There are people who only want people who speak their language there. There are a multitude of people who hope that there is not a multitude of people there.

The truth, all of those people couldn't be more wrong. There is no church with a monopoly on heaven. No skin color that is better than another. No country that gets special treatment. Heaven will be purple, not red, not blue. Heaven will be a place of diversity, which is how it should be.

There are people who talk about Jesus's second coming as if the purpose of it is to draw a line in the sand between the worthy and the unworthy. There are people who see Jesus's return as a time for judgment. There are people who think of hell with a glint in their eye. There is a multitude of people who hope that Jesus wipes out a multitude of people.

The truth, once again, couldn't be more wrong. Jesus isn't coming back for a horror movie sequence. Jesus isn't coming back to kick the nonbelievers down a notch. Jesus says why he is coming back in these two verses, he's coming back to take us where he already is. Jesus is coming back to gather people to him, to reform his family. To take those who are rightfully his to the place that is rightfully theirs. Will there be judgement, yes. What form will that judgement take? I don't know, but I believe that God's judgment is for the good of us, not the destruction of us.

+ Do you believe that Jesus is preparing a place for you?

+ Do you believe that Jesus will return to gather his flock back to himself?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 110: An Untroubled Heart?

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me." John 14:1

It has been a bit since my last entry, because life has taken a few turns, some expected (Thanksgiving) and some not (hospital stay for my mother-in-law and a hospital visit for myself.) Needless to say it has been a little difficult to sit down and think about this verse in any sense of depth. My heart has been anything but 'not troubled'. Thanks to my hospital stay and the medicine associated with its recovery my sleeping has been erratic which when combined with a 2 year old has made me for an unhappy camper the past four days or so. Luckily I only have one more day of pills and then maybe, hopefully, prayerfully, please dear baby Jesus I will get back to my normal sleep (which in itself is not the greatest).

As I say, my heart has not been untroubled, and I'm sure you have been there, perhaps you are there now, and I don't know about you, but Jesus commands to be untroubled or unworried are the commands I have the hardest time with. I was not always like this, there was a time when I would have said that I had a 'no worries' kind of life, those days are further and further in the rearview. Nowadays I find that I believe in Jesus, I believe in his teachings, I believe in his mission, but I find it hard to believe that I need not worry, that my heart can actually be untroubled. And I think that, that is all right.

Jesus is not a simple guy to follow, many of his commands the best of us [and I am not including myself in that plural] have a hard time following. We are commanded to love our neighbors and our enemies and we don't want to. We are told to love God with all of our being and we stretch our love thin over a wide area. We are told to care for widows and orphans yet we don't want to fund the government programs that would do it, nor do we want the church to actively participate in their troubles. We are told to lift up our cross and lay down our life daily and we lay down the cross and lift up our lives instead. We are not perfect, and I think that, that is all right.

Have you ever realized that we are called to follow Jesus, not actually be Jesus? Over and over again Jesus called for people to follow him, and following does not equal being, because frankly we have a hard enough time following. Advent is upon us, a time of preparation, a time when we wait for the coming of Jesus into our world and into our hearts. This advent may you prepare a new place for Jesus to enter, it won't be a perfect place, but I think that, that is all right.

+ How is your heart, troubled or untroubled?

+ How can you move it to the untroubled side of the equation?

+ How will you prepare a place for Jesus this advent season?

On their loss

I have slept.

And am now awoken to the same world that I fell asleep in, and it makes me sad. A young man has lost his life. Was it criminal? I don't know. Was it a crime? Yes, as it always is when anyone's life is taken. There are voices that scream, "Justice!' while others are screaming, 'Injustice!' while still others are screaming, 'Just another day in paradise!' And it makes me wonder why anyone would risk life and jail to come into our world. And it makes me wonder why so many want so many others out of our world.

Michael Brown is gone. Trayvon Martin is gone. Thousands upon thousands of our children are gone. Black. White. Gay. Straight. Nothing will change that, not convictions, not indictments, not sentences, not electric chairs. But that doesn't need to be the last word. And it hardly ever is, instead the next word is the previous word and the word before that...VIOLENCE.

Another young man of color has lost his life and that is tragic. Another child of our world is gone and that is tragic enough. It was by the hand of law enforcement and that is tragic. But however the violence claimed another life is tragic enough. There has to be a point where all those of sound mind and sound body start screaming, 'ENOUGH!' doesn't there? Enough violence. Enough hatred. Enough mistrust. Enough pain. Enough!

It's not now, but it could've been. Maybe it will be the next life lost, or the next, or the next, or...

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Ghandi

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Jesus

There are too many voices that are silent today. Voices that have spoken their last and it is up to those of us who remain to raise our voices for them. I pray for the family of Michael Brown and I pray for the families of all those who have lost their sons and their daughters, their brothers and their sisters, their husbands and their wives to violence.

On their loss I swear that I will not add to the lost voices.

On their loss I swear that I will do my best to raise my child to love all and have malice toward none.

On their loss I swear that I will raise my voice in the places where theirs cannot be heard.

On their loss I swear that I will preach love from my mouth and my fingers.

On their loss I swear that I will love a little more each day in hopes that love may be maximized and hate may be minimized.

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

God Doesn't Care

As I was writing my sermon tonight I needed a quote I wrote down a long time ago in a songbook of mine. As occasionally happens from time to time I got caught up in a wave of nostalgia and started looking through my book, spanning from 2000-2005 a time where I was prolifically writing song lyrics. As I perused them I came to one I wrote in May of 2000 that I thought I would share with you.

God Doesn't Care

He takes the weak
and makes them strong
He takes the sad
and brings them joy
He gives sorrowful people a smile

God doesn't care
if you have a million bucks
he doesn't even care
if you don't have one

He takes the meek
and gives them a voice
He takes the blind
and lets them see
He gives hearing to the deaf

God doesn't care
if you're a supermodel
he doesn't care
if you're a garbage pail kid

He takes the filthy
and makes them clean
He takes the ugly
and gives them beauty
He gives fortunes to the poor

God doesn't care
if you're black, red, or blue
he doesn't care
if you've got no color at all

He loves those
who have no love
He gives to those
who have nothing
and to those who have no voice, we sing

Peace and Love,
Pastor K

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 109: Love Part 2 - Service Love

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; 

as I have loved you, that you also love one another." John 13:34

We are supposed to love each other, this we know, but here Jesus takes it, if not another step at least a different one, here Jesus commands the disciples to love one another as Jesus has loved them. This is not an abstract statement, because just a few paragraphs earlier in John 13 Jesus loved the disciples in a very particular way, he washed their feet.

I don't know what Christian faith tradition you come from, but by and large I come from the Church of God (Anderson, IN) and in CHOG we [mostly] practice foot washing yearly. We do this partly to remember what Jesus did for his disciples, but also to humble ourselves, to remind ourselves that no one of us is more or less important than any other of us. All of that is great, and while I appreciate the foot washing services I have been a part of I don't think that is all Jesus is commanding his disciples to do.

If you pay attention to the titles of these posts you probably know where I am heading, but for those of you who don't and still didn't even though I just pointed it out [you know who you are] I believe that this particular type of love that Jesus is commanding of his disciples is a love that is shown through service. Jesus told his disciples multiple times that he did not come to be served but to serve, this is something that we in the 21st C. church, especially in America need to remember. Too often we come at the world with a sense of entitlement, and while we do that for many reasons one of the worst is when we do it because of our status as Christian. For some reason we believe that because we have chosen Jesus we are somehow better than those who have not. Or, we believe that because we have asked forgiveness for our sins those who still sin are worse than us.

The fact of the matter is that  whether you've been a Christian since the womb or been one for five minutes. or never been one you are no better and no worse than anyone else. And so, Jesus commands to serve one another in love. To wash the feet of those who come to us. To help those who need us. To speak for those without a voice. To see those that society overlooks. To hold those who are shunned.

+ Do you serve in love or out of obligation?

+ In what ways do you love well? In what ways do you need to improve?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 107: I wanna be in the light

"While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light." John 12:36

In the beginning God said, "Let there be light," and there was light, and if that light was merely a shiny yellow ball in the sky we wouldn't have much to talk about. But, then John comes along and says, "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness. and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:4-5 Our light was never a yellow ball in the sky during the day, and it was never a bunch of white dots in the sky at night, our light was life and it had a name, Jesus. In a strange twist of devotional days in Day 108: Love, I spoke about what we should be getting from Jesus if we follow him as closely as a disciple should, love. The reason this is possible for us is that we are following the one who is life and light and love.

Jesus, the Son of God, walked this planet for 30 some odd years. He experienced the vastness of human experience, from the mountain top to the valley low and every stop in between. Why? So that we could know that he knows what this life is like. He knows the moments of pleasure we get from the smile of a child or the warmth of a friend's embrace. He also knows the hell of betrayal and death. He walked in our shoes and bled in our shoes, so that we could understand, if only minutely, how far God was willing to go to show us love.

We, the children of God, have walked this blue ball for thousands of years. We experience the mountain top and valley low and every stop in between, which we can do one of two ways. We can live this life separated from God, believing that this existence, with its heavens and its hells is all that there is. We can also live this life connected to God, believing that this existence is merely the first stop on a journey that continues. Past the flesh and the blood. Past the science and the Book. Past the heavens and hells of this place into a place where only the former exist. All this second way requires is that we understand, of only minutely, how far God was willing to go to show us love.

We follow Jesus closely and we are infected by his love. We follow Jesus closely and we are infected by his light, which is the light of all men. Light does not shine for its own good, Jesus's didn't and ours shouldn't either. We must share out light and love so that others may know how far God was willing to go to show us all love.

+ Which path have you chosen to walk? Why?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 108: Love

"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35

Here in Indiana it has become the rallying cry of the Church of God to 'Make More and Better Disciples.' I sometimes wonder what that really means. Throughout the churches history it has meant different things to different people. Sometimes being a disciple has meant that you need to blindly follow the church leaders. Sometimes being a disciple has meant something akin to legalism, knowing the rules and enforcing them. Sometimes being a disciple has meant nothing, the only important thing being getting people to an altar to a baptismal and to a tithing envelope. [and really only that last step is really important]

In Jesus's day a disciple was said to have the dust of the rabbi's feet upon them. In other words they followed so close that they wouldn't miss a thing that the rabbi said or did. It is this proximity to the rabbi that we need to relearn as a people who claim Jesus. It is not about learning the rules. It is not about following leaders blindly. It is not about a prayer or water or money. It is about following Jesus as closely as possible. If we follow Jesus that closely we should pick up certain things that Jesus was spreading around. 

Jesus does us the favor of letting know exactly what we are supposed to pick up. Look at the top of this post and you'll get it. Love. Not rules. Not memorization of scripture. Not gatekeeping. Not membership drives. Not propaganda. Not blind faith, blind eyes, blind hearts. Love. The one thing that should set Jesus's disciples apart from all other disciples should be their love. How is that going for us? 

In order to make more and better disciples in our churches in Indiana and around the globe we must do one thing and one thing only, love. Teach it. Preach it. Share it. Live it. And the people who come to our churches will get it on them, like the dust from the rabbi's feet. They'll get it on them and it will spread like a wildfire or an infectious disease. And we will be a church of love, because of who we are following.

+ Do you consider yourself a disciple? Is it something you are striving to be?

+ How closely do you follow Jesus? What is rubbing off on you? What are you spreading around?

+ How do you define love? How do you show it and share it?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 106: The Gospel of Commentary

"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." John 12:32

Part of me would like to just go ahead and focus on the truth of this statement. Part of me would like to just talk about how when Jesus is lifted high people from every tribe and tongue and color and persuasion will recognize the savior of their souls. Unfortunately I find that I can not, because this time, unlike a lot of times, I decided to read a little more of the surrounding passage and found something a tad peculiar, something that in the words of the great Dr. Walter Frouse pricked me. What pricked me was the very next verse.

"This He said, signifying by what death He would die." John 12:33

I have mentioned that I have a less high view of the Gospel of John as opposed to the synoptic gospels, I think of it as a Bible approved super sermon, and this verse is one reason I feel that way. While the other gospels contain clarifying statements they are usually inputted for the original audience's benefit, i.e. explaining Jewish customs to non-Jewish hearers. Here, though, we find commentary, the author of the Gospel of John wants to explain what Jesus means by something he says. 

I feel the author feels the need comment this way because of his need to show a Jesus that is aware of every step along the path. Of course then the question becomes did Jesus know every step along the path? Did Jesus know he was going to die upon a cross? For the latter question, at the very least I think that Jesus would have a pretty good guess how the Roman Empire executed people, and being the great judge of human responses could have probably surmised that the Sanhedrin wouldn't want to kill him themselves. Add those two things together and it is quite possible that Jesus would have had a pretty good guess on how he would go out. 

The former question, the one about foreknowledge... I don't think that Jesus did know every step. Why? 1) Paul in Philippians 2:7 suggests that Jesus let go of some of the power he had before he became human. 2) If Jesus knows every step why does he go to the garden and pray for the cup to pass him by? Because if it was a done deal from the manger, Jesus is just playing to the crowd hundreds and thousands of years later. 3) In Matthew 24 Jesus talks about the fact that he does not know when he will return.

+ How do you view passages like this? Do they drive you crazy? Or do you think I'm crazy for fixating on them?

+ Do you believe that human Jesus was all knowing?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 105: Life from Death part 2

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, 

it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." John 12:24

Each and every day we are given a choice. It is a simple choice. It is a profound choice. Do we live for ourselves or do we live for God? Our choice determines whether we stay alive, alone or whether we die among a community. It is my belief that the first sin was deciding to commune with that which was not God. We were created for community with the Creator and yet we decided to chose the created instead. 

So for thousands upon thousands of years we who believe have been attempting to get that original community back. We worked hard, we prayed hard, we sacrificed hard, for nought. Because it wasn't within our power to reestablish it, it was within God's, and God did. Through a baby in a manger to a man on a cross and off it God did what we could not, reestablish the original community. What is left now is for us to allow it to happen. And so, each and every day we are given a choice.

A grain of wheat, or any other seed for that matter, must die in order for new life to begin, the same is true of us. The problem, and I'm sure you know it already, is that we don't really want to die to live. So, we argue about the choice, we rationalize why we don't have to choose, we bargain, we cajole, we fester, and we do it all alone. A man or woman who chooses to live for themselves is alone, even in the midst of a crowded room. A man or woman who chooses to live for God is never alone, even in the dungeon.

Each and every day we are given a choice. It is a simple choice. It is a profound choice. Do we live for ourselves or do we live for God?

+ What choice do you make? Why?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 104: Life from Death

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 

And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." John 11:25-26

There are times that I read verses like this one quite literally and think that none of us must believe in Jesus, since we all die. Unless, of course, that the base meaning of the words Jesus used was not his actual intention. Isn't that bothersome? At the same time thought Jesus is speaking quite literally in the first half of this section, he is talking about raising Lazarus from the dead. So, in the same paragraph Jesus uses literal and metaphorical language.

I am reminded of a conversation I had not too long ago with someone who told me that the Bible was easy to understand. It took almost every fiber of my being not to laugh in their face. Instead I told them, that I disagree, that I have a Master's degree and still have trouble understanding the Bible. They somewhat politely told me what does a Master's degree have to do with anything. Nothing, I replied, except to point out that the Bible is not easy to understand, and if you think it is, you are mistaken.

Jesus speaks in metaphor and hyperbole and parable. The Bible is full of poetry and erotica and apocalyptic writing that most if not all people completely misunderstand all the time. It is so easy to misunderstand the Bible that there are 30,000 different denominations that all consider themselves Christian. The Bible has been used on both sides of most arguments for the last 1500 years, give or take. And there are some people who still think its easy to understand.

I didn't set out to write about that, I was going to speak about Life after Death, but maybe I did already. After all we who follow Jesus are alive, and before we were dead. Jesus raised us from the dead, and so we can read the Bible and argue about the Bible and try to understand the Bible and try to make it make sense of our lives. Reading these words is life after death.

+ How do you tackle passages like this that use mixed mediums of communication?

+ In what ways do you struggle with what you read in the Bible?

+ How has your understanding of your life been expanded by reading the Bible?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 103: Knowledge is Love

"I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know my Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." John 10:14-15

Time and time again Jesus compares his relationship with his followers as being like his relationship with his Father. As connected as Jesus is to the Father is as connected as he is to us. As much as Jesus loves the Father is as much as he loves us. And here as much as Jesus knows and is known by the Father is as much as he knows and is known by us. That, my friends, is heady stuff if you sit back and think about it. In essence what Jesus is saying to us is that we who choose him here below are not followers, not friends, not family, but one and the same as Jesus, one and the same as God. Obviously this does not make us gods, but it makes us as connected to our creator as we can possibly be this side of breathing.

Now, let's once again think about what we talked about yesterday, a pastor/volunteer and the church he/she serves. Jesus is a good shepherd and lays down his life for his sheep, because he knows them as well as he knows himself. If we desire to be shepherds instead of hirelings we will lay our lives down for our sheep as well, in addition we should work to know them as well as we know ourselves. Their dreams. Their fears. Their successes. Their failures. The way they see the world. The way they interact with the world. We should be walking with them in every moment, from the mountaintop to the shadow of death. If we are not getting to know our sheep, laying down our lives will be irrelevant. 

Laying down our lives for the sheep will also be irrelevant if we are not sharing ourselves with the community. The good shepherd not only knows his sheep, but is known by them as well. This requires a deep honesty between a pastor/volunteer and the people they serve. Honesty in conversations, honesty in Bible Studies and Sunday School classes, honesty in small groups, and honesty from the pulpit. If we carry ourselves to be one way in our public settings, but are another way in reality, we are not known, we are fakes.

+ How do you feel/think about your connectedness with God?

+ If you are a pastor/volunteer how do you get to know the people you are serving? Do you? Do you also let them know you?

+ If you are not, how does the pastor/volunteer get to know you? Do they? Are you open to them? Are they open to you?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 102: Becoming a Good Shepherd

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep." John 10:11

When I read this passage I want to think of it in its own context, I want to focus on the fact that Jesus is saying it about himself, about his willingness to lay down his life for those he cares about. At the same time I can not forget the next two verses.

"But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep." John 10:12-13

I read the three verses as a whole and I begin to think about myself and others like me, who work [or volunteer] in the church. I think of myself and those like me and I begin to wonder, am I [are we] a shepherd or a hireling? Are the sheep entrusted to me, or are they mine. It may seem like splitting hairs, but it is an extremely important delineation. Because if I am [we are] hirelings, what stops us from running away when the wolf comes, i.e. when things get difficult? But if I am [we are] a shepherd, then we will stick in the hard times because we are willing to lay down our lives if necessary for our sheep.

I don't want to think about this, I really don't. I would rather just think of Jesus's sacrifice without having to weigh whether or not I am willing to make the same one. Yet, at the same time I am quite willing to talk about taking up ones cross and carrying it daily, as long as it is just carrying the cross, not actually hanging from it. But, and this is the rub, the only reason to carry a cross is to reach the destination where you are then placed on it. Am I willing to hang where my savior hung? Are you?

+ If you are a pastor or church volunteer do you believe it is necessary to lay down your life for your church? Have you had to do it already? If so, what was the outcome?

+ If you are not, do you believe your pastor would? Are they a shepherd? Or a hireling?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 101: The crux of the issue

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10

I sometimes wonder if many Christians have actually read the Bible, particularly the Gospels, particularly the red letter passages. I say this because there are so many factions within the faith that seem to boil Jesus's core message down to things that make no sense to me. 

Some boil it down to fire insurance. These people seem to think that the main purpose of Jesus's teachings is all about getting out of this life and into another life after you die that takes place somewhere other than a fire and brimstone, eternal punishment hell.

Some boil it down to a definitive list of rights and wrongs. These people seem to suggest that the main reason Jesus came was so that we, his followers, can decide exactly what Jesus feels about a give topic. These topics are usually THE topics of the current day, and they usually fade away given enough time. When the topic becomes less sexy, these people move on to the new "in" sin.

I could probably go on and on and on, as I said there are so many factions that boil the message down to things that make no sense to me.

For instance, if Jesus's main goal was to get us out of this life and into another more praise chorus filled one, why did he talk so much about this life? And if Jesus's main goal was to create a list of right and wrong why does he seem to harp on the way we judge being tied to the way we will be judged?

There are quite a few verses that, I believe, point to Jesus's real main goal, but this verse fits the bill nicely. Jesus says that he has come that they (we) may have life, but not just any life, an abundant life. Now, an abundant life does not mean that we live in abundance, i.e. Jesus is not saying that he came so we would have earthly treasures or wide acclaim. I believe what Jesus hoped to accomplish was to convince us to live lives filled we grace and hope and love, because a life filled with those things reaps more of the same.

Being shown grace comes from being graceful. Being trusted comes from having hope. Being loved comes from loving. 

+ Do you live abundantly?

+ Do you believe Jesus wants you to?

+ What do you think the main thrust of Jesus's message was?

Red Letters/Black Letters: day 99: We're all the same

"Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death." John 8:51

A word before we begin to clear up any questions: when Jesus says 'My word' he means his teachings, so if we keep his teachings we will never see death.

What??

If we keep his teachings we will never see death? But we all die. 

Exactly!!

Why am I so excited about that? Well, excitement may not be the best word, but I do think that it is a rather important thing to remember. Because whether people follow Jesus for a moment or a lifetime we are missing the mark somewhere because we all die. The criminal on his deathbed dies. The soldier in his foxhole dies. The senior who gave their heart to Jesus at 5 dies. The church secretary dies. The pastor dies. The pope dies. Do you begin to see a pattern?

Whenever I write a sermon I usually end it with a 'so what?' point, sometimes I verbally call it that, sometimes I do not, but whether or not I expressly mention it it's there. If everything I said beforehand is true, so what?

So what? So what if we all die? Why is that important? Why should we focus on that? Well, because as the title says, we are all the same. And, if we are all the same, there is no one who is holier, no one who is perfect, no church that gives out automatic tickets to heaven bypassing death. If we're all the same there is no reason for a forgiven person to hold there forgiven-ness over another person. If we're all the same then your life is no more important than my life, and my life is no more important than anyone else's. At the same time your life is no less important than mine and my life is no less important than anyone else's.

There is freedom in that, freedom from having to be better, freedom from having it all together, freedom from being excluded, because in Jesus life and death and life we are all included, because we are all the same.

+ Have you ever acted 'holier than thou'?

+ Have you ever been excluded from the holy club?

+ How does equality with all others make you feel?

Red Letters/Black Letters: day 100: I AM

"Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." John 8:58

Notice how the 'I AM' is all capitalized? Go all the way back to the book of Exodus and you will notice in 3:14 'I AM who I AM'. God is known to the Hebrew people as I AM. Here in John, over and over again Jesus refers to himself as I AM. The author of John specifically wrote their gospel in order that people may believe that Jesus was in fact God. You probably already knew that, didn't you?

For a moment though, let's pretend that you didn't. Let us pretend that you are hearing Jesus say one of his I AM statements for the first time. As a Hebrew, you would want to stone Jesus. As a Hebrew there is no worse thing that a person can do or say. You shall have no other gods before me, the law starts right there. NO OTHER GODS. And here Jesus comes walking around saying that he is God.

There are, in fact, only two options when it comes to Jesus in the Gospel of John, he either is one with God or he is a madman. If I'm honest with you, this is why John is my least favorite Gospel, and why I consider to really be an extended sermon as opposed to a Gospel. A Gospel tells the good news whereas John writes in order to convince. Mark, Matthew and Luke tell you the story, John shoves it down your throat. Which goes to show you that it takes all kinds to share the Gospel, some of us tell you and let you make your own decision, some of us crash Jesus into you and hope you are left standing at the end.

I believe that Jesus was I Am, which would get me stoned back in Jesus's time or killed today in some countries, by God's grace I live somewhere where it most likely won't. Praise be to God.

+ Do you believe Jesus was God?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 98: Freedom Questions

"Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." John 8:36

What is freedom? Is it being able to say what you want? Do what you want? Go where you want?

Is freedom being able to worship whatever god you want?

Is it being able to own whatever gun you want?

Is freedom being able to drink? Being able to peacefully protest?

Is freedom tied to a piece of yellowing paper? Is it tied to what politicians in local,state, and federal governments decide?

Is it something that is given by the blood of soldiers?

Is that the freedom that Jesus is talking about?

Or is the freedom Jesus mentions, freedom from expectations?

Is it freedom from guilt? Freedom from lies?

Is it also freedom to things? Freedom to love, to live at peace, to give?

Is it freedom that is given?

Is it freedom to community? Freedom to belong? Freedom from loneliness?



+ What differences do you see in the freedom Jesus gives us and the freedoms we speak about in the US?

+ How has Jesus given you freedom?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 97: Seeking Truth

"If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." John 8:31-32

Sometimes the truth stares us right in the face and we look the other direction. You know what I mean? Jesus is right, the truth will set us free, but so often the truth also convicts us. The truth opens our doors, but sometimes only after we've suffered a bit for it. And that is often hard for us to deal with and so, we turn our face from the truth, living in the falseness instead.

We like our relationship just as it is thank you very much.

We like our job and its paycheck.

We like the way our church is running right now, no need to change it.

We are comfortable in our surroundings, no need to muck it all up and look with new eyes at old situations. Unfortunately that is exactly what Jesus call us to do, have eyes to see and ears to hear. I seem to be using that statement a fair amount of times over the course of these entries. I think that the reason I am is twofold, on the one hand I think it has become fairly obvious to me that I need to start having those new eyes and ears, and on the other side I think that if I have to learn it there are most likely other people who need to learn it as well.

And so...we need to open ourselves up to seeing and learning the truth, no matter what road that takes us down. It will be hard, certain things may be broken, but Jesus is able to make something beautiful from broken things.

+ What aspects of your life have you been looking away from truth in? why?

+ Are you willing to seek out the truth in your life no matter the consequences?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 96: He who sent me is with me

"And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, 

for I always do those things that please Him." John 8:29

A Note to all people who feel called by God:

Did God call you? If the answer is yes God will never leave you. That may seem like an obvious reminder, after all we speak about God never leaving anyone all the time. Yet, it is my contention, and I know this partly from personal experience, that those called by God often forget the fact that God does not leave them. I believe this is true because we often feel alone behind a pulpit. Alone in the staff meeting or board meeting. Alone in the narthex. Alone in the study. Alone in the crowd. Yet, Jesus said "he who sent me is with me" and the God who sent us is with us as well.

Believe me, I know that the presence of God is often like a whisper barely heard or a breath of wind that you only notice as it moves past you. Believe me, I know that sometimes the only thing you may be hearing from God is silence. Believe me, I know that in those times you feel alone often you just want to run away, chuck it all, and be free. But, I also know that the calling we have received is one of immense purpose and joy at times. I also know that sometimes we hear silence not because God is not talking but because we are not listening. I also know that a whisper can be extremely loud and a breath of wind can knock a person over.

Am I talking to pastors? Yes. But I am also talking to anyone in any career that believes they are there because God wants them to be, from Presidents to Garbage Collectors, and all in between. It is my belief that God's call is not limited to people standing behind the pulpit, but can include the people sitting in the pews as well.

What has God called you to? Whatever it is, remember that God does not leave and God does not forsake.

+ What has God called you to?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 95: And now for a little bit of Buddha

Today is a not a devotion. Well, at least not what you've come to understand as one from my fingers at least. You may recall that back when I started this little endeavor I mentioned that I was working through a journal titled The Sayings of Jesus that I purchased at Half Price Books, for a couple bucks. I came across a copy of this same journal at Barnes and Nobel a couple weeks ago and decided to thumb through the copy. I had a theory as to why my copy was at HPB and wanted to see if I was correct. Now, while I will never absolutely know its the reason, I am fairly certain it is because of 10 pages in my copy that did not appear in the copy found in B & N. You see, in my copy the ten pages following the one with yesterday's verse from the gospel of John contain sayings not from Jesus, but from Buddha.

Now, it is my belief, much like the Apostle Paul, that all truth that exists in this lump of rock we call home comes from God. As such I have decided that for today I will share the twenty sayings of Buddha that are found in my journal. Perhaps they will cause a stirring in you, perhaps not. If they do, let them, there is nothing wrong with that. If they do not, just chuckle at the fact that some guy [or gal] got away with a little religious humor by placing them in some copies. Here we go...

Beware of the anger of the body. Master the body. Let it serve truth. -- Buddha

The wind cannot overturn a mountain. Temptation cannot touch the man who is awake. strong, 

and humble, who masters himself and minds the law. -- Buddha

The greatest impurity is ignorance. Free yourself from it. Be Pure. -- Buddha

For a while the fool's mischief tastes sweet, sweet as honey. But in the end it turns bitter. 

And how bitterly he suffers! -- Buddha

Beware of the anger of the mouth. Master your words. Let them serve truth. -- Buddha

One is not low because of birth nor does birth make one holy. 

Deeds alone make one low, deeds alone make one holy. -- Buddha

Happiness or sorrow - whatever befalls you, walk on untouched, unattached. -- Buddha

A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, 

so he escapes the suffering. -- Buddha

Beware of the anger of the mind. Master your thoughts. Let them serve truth. -- Buddha

Be quick to do good. If you are slow, the mind, delighting in mischief, will catch you. -- Buddha

Does the spoon taste the soup? A fool may live all his life in the company of a master 

and still miss the way. -- Buddha

Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures 

that the final victory comes. -- Buddha

Live joyfully, without desire. -- Buddha

The rain could turn to gold and still your thirst would not be slaked.

Desire is unquenchable or it ends in tears, even in heaven. -- Buddha

If the traveler cannot find a master or friend to go with him, 

let him travel alone rather than with a fool for company. -- Buddha

Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully through this world and beyond. -- Buddha

Now, I am no Buddhist, so I cannot say that I resonate with each one of them, but some of them speak into my heart and my mind. The three "beware of the anger of" statements I think are very powerful reminders of things that Jesus also taught. In addition Buddha's saying on the greatest impurity being ignorance is probably my favorite, I am a guy who believe in education in its many forms and when I think of negating ignorance I automatically think of education.

I have another book, a book about the parallel sayings of Buddha and Jesus, and if you look at a lot of the leaders of various world religions you start to see a lot of overlap. I believe this harkens back to my previous statement of belief in all truth being God's truth. God works in mysterious ways, through people as messed up as I am, and some worse. Because of that it makes complete sense in my mind that the people who most look for the truth will find the same one.

+ What saying, if any, resonated with you?

+ How does it make you feel that sayings of other religious people may line up with what Jesus said?

Now, there was a body of writing, and it was followed by a couple of questions, I guess this may well have been a devotion after all. Blessings.

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 94: How long dear Lord? How long?

"For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does;

and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel." John 5:20

Every good thing that Jesus was came from the fact that God showed him. God showed him so that he could show us. He showed us so that we might show others, becoming a city on a hill. My, how much we screwed that up. 

What a way to begin a devotional.

Jesus sat at the proverbial feet of God and watched attentively seeing the movements of God. Movements of action and reaction. Movements of creation and recreation. Movements of justice and love. Movements of grace and reconciliation. He learned all that he could because he had eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart that took it in to pour it all back out again.

We sat at the feet of Jesus, first literal, then proverbial. We sat there as fishermen and tax collectors, and then we sat there as disciples and followers. We sat there lost and alone and were found. We sat there in fear and the fear dissipated. We sat there in bodies that appeared alive but were dead and we became souls risen in new life, born afresh to the altogether different same world.

Later we sat all over, at Jesus's proverbial feet. First we did it in Jerusalem and then later in Rome and then only in Rome, then separately in Rome and Germany and England. We sat in Greece and Russia. We sat in the ends of the earth and we listened and we learned and we grew and we messed it up. 

Because we sat separately when Jesus and God sat together. We sat separately where Jesus and the disciples sat together. We sat separately where as the first century church sat completely in common, giving where there was need, taking where things were given. Pride wasn't there. Fear wasn't there. But it came, it came in the form of disagreements and dissolutions and theses and translations and heresies. It came in the forms of wars, of words, of ideas, of man to man combat. It came because of our need "to be like the cool kids, because all the cool kids, they seem to get in."

But it wasn't supposed to be this way. We were supposed to find the path together. We were supposed to change and adapt along with the will and work of God. We were supposed to emulate the example shown to us because he emulated the example shown to him.

+ How has denominational difference helped the church move forward? How has it hindered?

+ Do you have real friends [not Facebook, not acquaintances] that go to different churches? How can/do your differences affect your beliefs?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 93: More than Protein

""My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." John 4:34

Here is another prime example of Jesus's point potentially getting lost on us first world people. After all, the vast majority of people who go without meat in our neck of the world do so by choice. Do you realize the privilege we have to choose not to eat something?

In Jesus's time meat was not easily accessible at Kroger or Wal-Mart. In most cases the meat you ate was from the animals you raised. And if you didn't raise it, eating meat was a luxury item. The thing you had once in a while, not every day, certainly not at every meal.

We read this and get the idea that Jesus was saying he gets his meat, his sustenance, from doing God's will. While that is true, Jesus is saying something more as well. Jesus's sustenance comes from doing God's will and work, but in addition, Jesus's joy comes from doing God's will and work. Jesus's reward comes from doing God's will and work.

We in the church often talk about 'being fed' when we go to church; while it may be true, how much more so do you think someone who has known true hunger would mean if they said it?  In the same way the man who doesn't get meat 3 times a day means a lot more than just protein when he mentions it.

+ What do you mean when you use the term 'being fed'? How do you interpret it when others say it?

+ How has understanding the context Jesus operated in helped you to understand his teachings? Do you think you need such an understanding?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 92: If one, then the other

"Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; 

for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner." John 5:19

The sins of the father are the sins of the son.

If you have been abused, you are more likely to abuse. If your parents drank, you are more likely to drink. If you grew up in a house of lies, you are more likely to lie. If your parents were divorced, you are more likely to divorce.

But, if the negatives are true, shouldn't the positives be true as well?

We are a people who live by example. Jesus understood this and so when he explained how he was able to do certain things and act certain ways I think he had a second motive. If the son does what he has been shown by the father, does it not mean that what the son does the father does as well?

So, if the Son heals, what does the Father do?

If the Son gives vision, what does the Father do?

If the Son raises the dead, what does the Father do?

If the Son sets the captives free, what does the Father do?

If the Son forgives what does the Father do?

If the Son loves, what does the Father do?

+ If we take our example from Jesus, what should we do?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 91: The God of all and no gender

"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:24

I never understand why people get so up in arms about the gender of God. Yes, Jesus refers to God as Father and Abba, but the Bible also refers to God as being like a mother hen. The fact of the matter is that God is not flesh and blood. God is spirit and as such neither pees standing up nor sitting down.

So, why father language or mother language? I believe that it is our human need to understand both the attributes of God as well as an understanding of the relationship between God and us. We are God's children and God is the ultimate parent.

Unfortunately we encounter quite a few problems when we decide to assign gender to the Almighty. First, is the ever changing roles of fathers and mothers in our world. Attaching ourselves to father or mother limits our understanding of God. Saying God has attributes that are found in males and females is a lot different than saying God is a male or female, we need to remember which came first. Second, we have left behind and at times cast out those people who have been incapable of assigning the same gender that we have. These people have often been physically or sexually abused and carry massive pain, which we have at times added to with our immovability. Third, we also need to remember that the Bible was written and lived in a male dominated society, to this end it is really amazing that God as mother language got through at all.

By letting go of our need for gender specific language we can widen our understanding, accept people, and interact truthfully with the scriptures.

+ How have you used gender language in connection with God?

+ Is there room in your theology for people who see it differently?

Red Letters/Black Letters: Day 90: In Truth and In Spirit

"But the hour is coming, and now is, 

when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; 

for the Father is seeking such to worship him." John 4:23

How did people worship God prior to Jesus? In truth but not in spirit? In spirit but not in truth? In neither truth nor spirit? Those are rhetorical questions, Mainly because I don't necessarily think they have an answer. What we can talk about is what does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth, so that we can accomplish the task now.

Truth:
I believe that to worship God in truth has a lot to do with coming before God as you really are. We are not to come as we hope we were. We are not to come as what people think we are. We are not to come as anything other than what we are, warts attached. So often we attempt to come to church as someone else, and while we may in fact convince other people that it is the true us, we cannot convince God, because God knows us better than we know ourselves. We can trick a lot of people, perhaps ourselves included, but we cannot trick God, so it is better if we don't try.

Spirit:
I mentioned in another post that we have dual realities that make us us, the earthly and the heavenly, the physical and the spiritual. Coming to God only as physical beings is coming as one half of a whole person. In much the same way as truth, worshipping in spirit forces us to face reality. We must come to God as a complete person, one who walks and talks but also feels and transcends.

If we come to God in these two ways we will bring true worship to the throne. True worship is what God hopes and expects from us.

+ How do you come before God, in truth and spirit, or elsewise?

+ How have you come as someone other than yourself?

+ How have you come as only a half person?