The thing about us in America is that we miss the point of a lot of the Old Testament. After all Israel was a people that was on the short end of the stick often, escaping from slavery, but then time and time again being conquered by outside forces, but the superpowers of their day. And us. we are the superpower of our day, so we often can miss the point. Which is why the Minor Prophets should be preached all the time in America, because they were, mainly written to Israel in good times about their failings when strong. Three weeks ago we began in Hosea and talked about our unfaithfulness. Two weeks ago we talked about Joel and about the overt hate, bigotry, and prejudice in Charlottesville, and the underbelly of hate, bigotry, and prejudice that plagues our nation as a whole. This week we find ourselves in Amos, and this one will be a bit more uncomfortable for us.
I am going to start by reading an introduction to Amos from the NIV and then we are going to listen to a song.
"The northern kingdom of Israel reached its greatest heights in the first half of the 8th century BC during the forty-one-year reign of the powerful Jeroboam II. Confident in their nation's victories, their worship, and their heritage, the people adopted a motto, "God is with us!" They were anticipating the day of the Lord, when God would strike down all their enemies and establish Israel as the undisputed ruler of the region.
Into this atmosphere of overconfident nationalism steps Amos, a shepherd from the southern kingdom of Judah, He stands in the great royal temple at Bethel and announces that God is stirring up a nation to conquer Israel. The day of the Lord, he insisted, will be darkness, not light. God isn't impressed with Israel's wealth, military might, or self-indulgent way of life. [God] is looking for justice, while the rich and powerful are taking advantage of the poor. God is calling Israel to repentance as the only way to avoid destruction
The message cause an uproar. Amaziah, the high priest at Bethel, accuses Amos of treason. Amos is banished from the kingdom, but his oracles are recorded, creating one of the earliest collections we have from any Hebrew prophet. The book consists of roughly three dozen separate oracles, plus the story of his expulsion. Most of the book is loosely assembled, but it conveys one strong and consistent message: Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream."
Jon Foreman - Instead of a Show
The beauty of Amos is that it starts with this list of cities that God will be judging and it starts with the cities "out there", the ones that Israel thinks are its enemies, the ones that Israel has problems with. And it says, not for three sins, not for four sins, I will judge them. And then as it goes on one city after the next city and the next city and the next city and then Amos does a rope-a-dope. He gets people thinking that "God is going to get them, they're the bad guys, they're the ones Gods going to get" but then Amos goes, um, and Judah, not for three sins or four sins but God will judge them, and then, Israel. For the three sins, for the four sins, God will judge them.
I was driving to Half Price Books and then shoe shopping because Henry had shoes that we bought like two months ago, Sketchers, nice shoes, that have holes in the top of them already. And he's gone to school the past few days with shoes with holes in the top. So he needed new shoes, and new socks and underwear because he's growing, sometimes it seems he's already to my height some days. So, we have to go shopping for that stuff and we are driving down the road and there was a pick up truck and on the back of the truck there was an icthus, you know, the Jesus fish, and in the middle of the Jesus fish was an American flag. And sometimes its like we're saying its not Christianity, its American Christianity. It's not just God's church, its our church.
And so I'm reading Amos and I read that introduction, that "God is with us" and I turn on the news and we have arguments about whether the pledge should have "One Nation Under God" and we pull out our money and it says "In God We Trust" and I think thousands of years have passed and we are still in the same place that Israel was. Because we think that God is for us, every speech every president ends with "God Bless America." And we say God bless America and we literally mean God bless America, but in the Bible, and we've talked about this multiple times, starting with Abraham, God tells Abraham"I will bless you and through you bless all the nations of the world." But we don't talk about God bless America, bless us so we can bless everyone else. It's bless us so we can beat everyone else. It's bless us so we can raise ourselves above everyone else. It's bless us so we can feel better about ourselves. It's bless us so our politics, whoevers politics it is, is shown to be the right politics.
In Amos it goes on and talks about Israel fighting wars and winning wars and thinking that God was behind them because they were winning wars. There are wars in the Bible where it says that God is on the side of Israel and that Israel wins because God is with them and those times Israel is the weaker force and they triumph over the larger one. There's one time, ridiculously, where God tells Gideon to send away people, because if they have too many people fighting they might think they did it themselves. And he keeps sending numbers away and goes from 32,000 to 300 and that 300 win the day over a force it should not have defeated. But then there's times when Israel fights wars and they win them because they are bigger and stronger and more powerful and they assume that because they win that God is still on their side, that everything is going right for them because God wants it to go right for them. In reality they are fighting wars that they shouldn't fight, beating people they should have problems with, and not helping the people that they should. The widow. The orphan. The poor. The sick. The left out. The hopeless. The unloved.
You know, you hear that song and think "Wow, that's crazy, who came up with that."
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
That's Amos 5:22-24 [NIV], we have become a religion, a tradition, a Church [large C] that thinks that if we have more we are automatically blessed. If we have more money in the budget. If we have more butts in the seats. If we have more news clippings in the newspaper. If we have more people saying good things about us. Then God is blessing us. And sometimes, that's not true, sometimes it's just more because you have more. There is a strand of Christianity, called the Prosperity Gospel, and the concept is that if you follow God you will GET, if you pray to God you will RECEIVE, that you will become wealthy and powerful and wise. And, that's not the way it works because God makes the weak the strong, the dumb the prophet, Amos was a shepherd, a pruner of trees, and God called him.
What's interesting, in Amos is that God has tried multiple ways to get Israel to wake up. It says that 'I made food difficult to come by and yet you didn't turn to me, I brought a drought and yet you did not turn to me, I let you lose a few things and yet you did not turn to me. And because I have done these minor things and it did not wake you up, I need to do something more to make sure you understand what your true calling is. As opposed to what you want it to be.' And so, Amos tells them, here's what's coming.
If you look historically every, every, not some, not most, every, every empire sooner or later falls, every single one. There was a time where there was a saying "The sun does not set on the Roman Empire." And the Ottomans thought the same thing, and the British thought the same thing and the Russians thought the same thing and we think the same thing. Yet, sooner or later it crumbles. Maybe by our nature we make things bigger and they can't sustain. Or maybe by our nature we rebel against the bigger, sooner or later. Or we become so prideful that we think nothing can stop us until something does.
So, historically it happen all the time, all the time, so sooner or later it will happen to us as well and when it does the question will be what were we doing at the time, were we doing the right things or the wrong things. Were we making sure we had the right stockpile of weapons so that way if anyone else had a weapon we could go ahead and destroy them, interestingly enough there is one country to ever use a nuclear bomb, and we're them. Is it because we've decided that we need as much wealth as possible and so we watch the stock market every day, hour, minute, second. Or does it happen because we care how we look. Or instead do we lift up those who can't lift themselves up. Is it how we sit with those who just need someone to be there in that moment. Is it because we do something about the poor and the homeless and the 22 vets that commit suicide all the time, and its probably going to take more than just some push-ups.
It's not a matter of how much money is in the bank if no one else has anything in the bank. We can sing our songs, we can pray our prayers, we can read our Bibles, we can do all that stuff and if all we care about is where we go after we die...not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will be there. If we show up on Sunday and we put our hand over our hearts and we sing the right songs at the right times, on July 4th and Memorial Day and whenever but we only pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and who cares if anyone else even has shoes on their feet. If we only care about how much food is on our plates, even if those around us are starving...we already know how God feels about that, but we might not want to think about that. We can raise our signs and say "God hates fags." But what God hates, what God hates is people who praise him with their voices and can't care less about his children. We have been fighting about the wrong things and have been caring about the wrong things and we have been dying on the wrong hills.
Israel was rich and powerful and failed to look after those that were not. They were blessed but refused to be a blessing to others. They paid attention to how they looked, not how others lived.
The thing about the prophets, every single one of them, stand up and say "The Judgements Coming", but to a number, that's not how they end. That's not the end of the story. It doesn't have to be the end of the story, because God knows that while the vast majority is doing one thing, that not everyone is. Those that are faithful and caring. Those who know the songs and reach out their hands. Those who pray and worry about others. Those ones are never forgotten, those ones are never left out, those ones are always a remnant. And the remnant is always taken care of, and not only that the remnant grows and grows and grows and on the other side of the judgement is stronger than on this side of the judgment.
We talked about, with Hosea, that God's judgement is not about punishing, it's not about slapping you on the wrist just to smack you on the wrist. It's about smacking you on the wrist in hopes that you might wake up, in hopes that you might change, in hopes that you might come back, in hopes that you might do what you were asked to do in the first place. God's judgement isn't like our judgement, it's not just about punishing the sin, it's about waking you up to the fact that you didn't need to sin. It's about waking you up to the fact that you didn't need what you thought you needed, or thought you wanted, but that God had it all along.
It is a better world when we care about our neighbor, because if we care about our neighbor than our neighbor cares about us. It is a better world when we care about our enemies, because its a whole lot harder to smack someone in the face who has been sacrificing for you. The world is a better place when we care about the hungry and the hopeless, and the unloved, and the unloved, and the unaccepted. And yet, yet we don't do that so often. So often we worry about ourselves, ourselves and ours. Our spouses, our kids, our grandkids, our friends. It's like, I only got so much love to give, right? Except that's not the case, because the strange thing about love is that when you give love away you find you have more of it. It's when you hold it in that you find that you don't have that much.
Thousands of years ago Amos stood up in a place he had no business of being and told people who were much more powerful than him that they needed to wake up and listen. And me, I get paid to be here, and give you these wonderful pearl of wisdom, and I find it difficult to say it in this group, of people I am fairly certain won't stone me afterwards. Luckily there are only pebbles our there, so I could probably get away even if you did. But Amos and the prophets, they had courage, and that's what we need. Me saying it in this place, the worst that can happen, the worst is that you could fire me, and that would hurt the bank account, don't get me wrong, but that's the worst. I suppose that if you really wanted to take it a step further you could go on Facebook and say "This guy's a crackpot" but most of the people on Facebook already know I'm a crackpot, nothing much could happen. You might even be able to go to Indiana ministries and have try to have my credentials revoked, but whatever, no big deal, and that's the worst that could happen.
If I talk, that's the worst that could happen. But if I don't talk the worst that could happen is that your neighbor could starve to death because you didn't realize you should care. The worst that could happen is that someone you know could run away, whether that means physically, spiritually, emotionally, suicidally because you were the one person they needed in that moment and you didn't realize that you needed to be there. Because you thought that singing the song was enough. Or you thought that praying the prayer was enough. Or you thought that reading the Bible was enough.
I'm reading a book at the moment and it was talking about how a lot of people nowadays say that the thing to get into heaven is that you have to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and what's interesting is that in the Bible there is no comment about having a person relationship with Jesus Christ, its just not there. I'm not saying you don't need one, it's important, but it's not on the list of things you have to do, and yet we made it THE thing you have to do. What is on the list is to love mercy, seek justice, and walk humbly with your God. What is on the list is to treat others as you would have them treat you. The things on the list is to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. The things on the list are to love your enemy, to do good to those who persecute you, to pray for those who harm you. Those things are on the list, and those are the things that we don't do. Not generally.
We've missed the point. Its in black and white and so we shouldn't have, but we stopped paying attention to what's in black and white and instead let's add a little bit. We'll add to it because we know better. And we don't. God knows better. It's not about ISIS or North Korea or whatever the enemy is, it's not about what they do to us, it's about what we do to them. And not just to them, what we do to our allies, what we do to our friends, what we do to our coworkers, what we do to our neighbors, what we do to those we see on the street. We can either lift up or walk away. Lift up or tear down. Lift up or just sing noisy songs. I want my worship to be a sweet incense to God, I want my prayer to not just be 'get me out of this fix I'm in today' but 'God help everyone else with their fixes as well'.
I think it was Pope Francis, but it might have been the guy before him or the guy before him, I'm not Catholic so sometimes I confuse Popes, but one of them said "Pray that God will feed the hungry and then go out and give them food, that is how prayer works." That's how prayer works, because we are called to be the hands and feet of God, and if we are the hands and feet of God and we aren't doing it, who do we expect to do it? If we are the ones who are supposed to reach out and we are not reaching out, who do we expect to do it? If we are not the ones going to places where people are hurting, who do we expect to do it?
We sing our songs. We pledge our allegiance. We can do what we do. But if we do all that and we don't give a rip about all the things we need to it doesn't matter what we do.
Let's pray.
Holy God,
In this moment I would first pray that we would repent. Repent from all our selfishness, repent of all of our nationalism, repent of all the times where we've decided that might makes right, that wealth means blessing. That we would repent that we have sung the songs and prayed the prayers and left your people on the side of the road. That we would repent of all the times when our worship has just been noisy. And then Lord, after we repent I would pray that we would try to be better, that we would sing our songs and reach our our hands, that we would pray our prayers and sit with someone who needs us, love someone who feels unloved, accept someone who is unaccepted, give hope to the hopeless. That we would remember completely that we are blessed so that we can bless. And more importantly that we are blessed so that you can bless through us. That we signed up to be your hands and feet and that we may be your hands and feet. And Lord, not just us in this room, but us in every church around this country Lord, may we have open eyes to what you are telling us and may we have the strength the power the guts to move forward in your name. Loving you people, caring for your people, realizing that our neighbor is yours, the stranger is yours, the enemy is yours and we are called to love.
In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Sunday, August 13, 2017
A World Full of Prophets Joel 2:28-29
Last week when we talked about Hosea I gave you a bit of historical background about Hosea and the world that Hosea was living in. The thing I can tell you about Joel is that he is the son of Pethuel, and that's it. I can't tell you when the book was written. I can't tell you anything else about Joel. I can't tell you anything about the locust swarm itself except that it was happening then and it has happened since then, even in the last 100 years there has been a locust swarm that has decimated the land of Israel.
So, here's Joel and he is in this place where a very bad thing is happening and this very bad thing reminds Joel of the time that is coming that will be the final judgment of God. He talks about these locusts in lion and lioness terms, as cavalry, or an invading army. But then Joel goes on to say that if we return to the Lord, if we come back to being the people that we were called to be, that we were meant to be we will be immune from all that is coming. The in chapter 2, and they are verses that you might not realize are from Joel because we're Christians and Peter said them in Acts chapter 2, but he says "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." And in Acts chapter 2 Peter, in his sermon, says that this time where sons and daughters will prophesy, where old men will dream dreams and young men will have visions is happening then. And so, this day where all of God's followers are prophets, where all of God's followers know the will of God is happening right now, in our midst.
I wrote this sermon on Friday night at like 3 in the morning, because I do strange things like that, and I had a thought of what it all meant, and I had all this stuff I was going to talk about. I went to bed at like 5 in the morning, Friday night, and woke up at 7 in the morning, Saturday morning, by the grace of Henry and lived my life on Saturday and the world happened. Here's Joel, thousands of years ago, noticing a calamity around him and the calamity makes him remember the destruction that is to come. If you haven't been paying attention to the news, on one hand you may be lucky, but in Virginia there was a gathering of White Supremacists marching against, they were taking down of a statue of General Lee and they were marching partly in protest of that and partly in protest of anyone who didn't look like them or think like them or believe like them. Then there were protesters there protesting them, which is what happens, when one group gets together those who are against them get together also. Among the things that happened, there were fights, there was violence, there was screaming and there was a guy who decided to run his car into people, so far killing one and injuring 19.
I woke up this morning and Mary was telling me that the guy who drove the car lived down the street from a Church of God in Maumee Ohio, a church that I have visited, a church that Mary has preached at, a church that a friend of ours pastors. It got me thinking that sometimes we turn on the news and we talk about what is happening over there, the anger that is over there, the hatred that is over there, the prejudice that is over there, and the evil that is over there. And we think I'm here, and we're fine here, here we're ok, it's over there. Last week I was in South Bend and I was having a conversation with someone and they asked me what I did, I said that I work at a food pantry in Anderson and that I pastor a church in Elwood. And they were like, "Oh, Elwood." And I said "It's not like it used to be." I said that as a positive thing, but it got me thinking that there are probably people who say it's not like it used to be and mean it as a negative thing.
We see the progress, we see the culture changing but sometimes we see the culture changing because that's what we want to see. In Virginia there were people carrying torches walking along, not even needing hoods because nowadays believing what they believe they don't care if anyone knows who they are. At least back then they wanted it to be a secret, they didn't want anyone to know it was them, that it was the judges or the cops or the baker or the school teacher or the janitor or the whatever they were. Nowadays we just walk on down the street and proclaim whatever hate we want to proclaim.
I was watching on Facebook this morning, and there was a video by Brian McLaren and two other pastors/priests, they were there because a call went out for religious leaders to come as kind of a buffer in Virginia, to try to keep peace, to try to quell the violence, and they were saying that if you go to a church tomorrow and your pastor doesn't talk about race you may want to think about changing churches. But the problem is that I am certain that there are plenty of pastors in pulpits this morning that are not and there are plenty of people in churches who are well meaning, they are against the hate and the bigotry and the prejudice as much as me, but they are silent. And we are living in a day and age where we cannot afford to be silent anymore.
We walk around wanting God's will for this world and in some ways we don't know what that is, but there are some very clear ways that we do, There are very clear ways how the Spirit has rolled down, has given us dreams and visions and has made each one of us a prophet. Hatred is not on God's agenda. Bigotry in not on God's agenda. Prejudice is not on God's agenda. Exclusion is not on God's agenda. Deciding that I am better than anyone else, for whatever reason is not on God's agenda, not because of my skin tone, not because of my education, not because of my religion, not because of what town I live in or what country I was born in, not because of anything.
I'm not telling you anything that you don't know, because I know you, I know your hearts on matters such as this, and I know what we feel. But it's becoming, it's not enough just to feel it, it's not enough just to think it, it's not enough to sit in our little corners and think "man, they shouldn't be doing that". It is not enough because our silence has allowed the world to happen.
As I said, the guy who drove the car lives a few block away in Maumee, Ohio, it's a suburb of Toledo. And the guy who lives in a suburb of Toledo drove to Virginia, 15 16 hours away, the violence isn't somewhere far away, it's somewhere down the block. You know, it's not that you have no power about what happens in this world, because there were people around this man who just let him think whatever he wanted to think who let him believe whatever he wanted to believe, no matter how wrong it was. You know, it's difficult for us in Elwood to do anything about ISIS, in Asia or in Europe. We can pray, we can do that kind of thing, but it's difficult to do tangible things to stop that. But we are fully capable of doing tangible things to stop the anger and the hatred around us. Everytime I tell them Elwood is not like it was, which is great, but we are not where we need to be. That's not just Elwood, that's everywhere. That's Anderson, that's Indianapolis, that's every town in every corner of the globe, we are not where we need to be. But, we've gotten to the place where this progress is enough, this change is enough, that wherever we are that we are not how we used to be so that's good. But we say that it's good and we turn it into that's good enough.
And it's not good enough, doing as little as we've done is not good enough. Joel sat there thousands of years ago and saw the locusts swarm over the land, eating the vegetation, eating the trees. We spent quite a bit of time talking about trees, about the strength of trees, about the power of trees, about the welcoming of trees and all that stuff, but there are stronger powers in the world that want to destroy the trees, that want to destroy the world, that want to destroy the faith, that want to destroy whatever they can destroy. But then, there's a people that God has chosen in order to bless they world. And let me tell you, our God, is bigger, stronger, more powerful than anything else. Better than the devil, he's just a punk. Better than those carrying torches. Better than those preaching hate. Better than those who try to lift themselves up and put other people down.
The Bible has this thing, that if God is for us then who can be against us, the truth of the matter is that there can be plenty of things against us, but none of them are going to prosper. The very gates of hell will fall to our God. The anger the hatred the prejudice the bigotry the blindness will all fall before our God. But God needs our help, God has called us, God has equipped us, God has empowered us, the Spirit has rolled down the mountain so that way we could be prophets in our day. Joel called a whole nation to turn back to God, we just need to call upon our neighborhoods to do the same, we just need to call upon our friends and our family, those we encounter day in and day out. Not for our good, but so that world will be a better place. So that next month, or the month after, or the month after or the month after we don't hear on the news that someone from two blocks down is creating havoc somewhere else in the world.
That's what it comes down to, we can change things. We don't have to say this is good enough. We don't have to say that there's nothing I can do. We don't have to say that it's too big and I'm too small. We have to say, sign me up, you need hands and feet I will be them. You need a voice in this neighborhood on this street corner in this town, I will be that voice. Cause, the world is in desperate need for our voices, they are in desperate need for mercy and kindness and joy and forgiveness, hope and love. That's what's going to fix this place, that's what's going to make our corner of the world better, not a law on the books, not a larger police force, not anything like that, those are just drops in the bucket. But we have what the world needs, we have been given it, let's start sharing it. Because I am sick and tired of turning on the news and seeing one person trying to destroy another.
Let us pray.
Holy God,
Once again I want to lift up all those who were touched and anger in Virginia, and across our nation and across our world. But more than praying for those who have been hurt or for families who have been torn apart, I want to pray for each person in this room Lord, but not only that for each person that is sitting in a church this morning Lord. Each pastor, each usher, each piano player, each tech person Lord, each congregant whether they are on a board or a committee or whether they just sit in the pews Lord. May we realize the awesome responsibility that you have given us, that your Spirit is upon us that we have a responsibility to be prophets in our midsts, that we are blessed so that way we can be a blessing to others, that we are taught love and mercy and kindness and grace and hope and joy so that way we can share it with those around us. Give us the strength to do that, because all by ourselves we can't do it, we don't want to do it, but with your strength, with your guidance, with your power we can. And if we can do it in our corner and someone else can do it in their corner and someone else in their corner, then your mercy, your joy, your love can be made manifest in our day and our age Lord. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
So, here's Joel and he is in this place where a very bad thing is happening and this very bad thing reminds Joel of the time that is coming that will be the final judgment of God. He talks about these locusts in lion and lioness terms, as cavalry, or an invading army. But then Joel goes on to say that if we return to the Lord, if we come back to being the people that we were called to be, that we were meant to be we will be immune from all that is coming. The in chapter 2, and they are verses that you might not realize are from Joel because we're Christians and Peter said them in Acts chapter 2, but he says "I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days." And in Acts chapter 2 Peter, in his sermon, says that this time where sons and daughters will prophesy, where old men will dream dreams and young men will have visions is happening then. And so, this day where all of God's followers are prophets, where all of God's followers know the will of God is happening right now, in our midst.
I wrote this sermon on Friday night at like 3 in the morning, because I do strange things like that, and I had a thought of what it all meant, and I had all this stuff I was going to talk about. I went to bed at like 5 in the morning, Friday night, and woke up at 7 in the morning, Saturday morning, by the grace of Henry and lived my life on Saturday and the world happened. Here's Joel, thousands of years ago, noticing a calamity around him and the calamity makes him remember the destruction that is to come. If you haven't been paying attention to the news, on one hand you may be lucky, but in Virginia there was a gathering of White Supremacists marching against, they were taking down of a statue of General Lee and they were marching partly in protest of that and partly in protest of anyone who didn't look like them or think like them or believe like them. Then there were protesters there protesting them, which is what happens, when one group gets together those who are against them get together also. Among the things that happened, there were fights, there was violence, there was screaming and there was a guy who decided to run his car into people, so far killing one and injuring 19.
I woke up this morning and Mary was telling me that the guy who drove the car lived down the street from a Church of God in Maumee Ohio, a church that I have visited, a church that Mary has preached at, a church that a friend of ours pastors. It got me thinking that sometimes we turn on the news and we talk about what is happening over there, the anger that is over there, the hatred that is over there, the prejudice that is over there, and the evil that is over there. And we think I'm here, and we're fine here, here we're ok, it's over there. Last week I was in South Bend and I was having a conversation with someone and they asked me what I did, I said that I work at a food pantry in Anderson and that I pastor a church in Elwood. And they were like, "Oh, Elwood." And I said "It's not like it used to be." I said that as a positive thing, but it got me thinking that there are probably people who say it's not like it used to be and mean it as a negative thing.
We see the progress, we see the culture changing but sometimes we see the culture changing because that's what we want to see. In Virginia there were people carrying torches walking along, not even needing hoods because nowadays believing what they believe they don't care if anyone knows who they are. At least back then they wanted it to be a secret, they didn't want anyone to know it was them, that it was the judges or the cops or the baker or the school teacher or the janitor or the whatever they were. Nowadays we just walk on down the street and proclaim whatever hate we want to proclaim.
I was watching on Facebook this morning, and there was a video by Brian McLaren and two other pastors/priests, they were there because a call went out for religious leaders to come as kind of a buffer in Virginia, to try to keep peace, to try to quell the violence, and they were saying that if you go to a church tomorrow and your pastor doesn't talk about race you may want to think about changing churches. But the problem is that I am certain that there are plenty of pastors in pulpits this morning that are not and there are plenty of people in churches who are well meaning, they are against the hate and the bigotry and the prejudice as much as me, but they are silent. And we are living in a day and age where we cannot afford to be silent anymore.
We walk around wanting God's will for this world and in some ways we don't know what that is, but there are some very clear ways that we do, There are very clear ways how the Spirit has rolled down, has given us dreams and visions and has made each one of us a prophet. Hatred is not on God's agenda. Bigotry in not on God's agenda. Prejudice is not on God's agenda. Exclusion is not on God's agenda. Deciding that I am better than anyone else, for whatever reason is not on God's agenda, not because of my skin tone, not because of my education, not because of my religion, not because of what town I live in or what country I was born in, not because of anything.
I'm not telling you anything that you don't know, because I know you, I know your hearts on matters such as this, and I know what we feel. But it's becoming, it's not enough just to feel it, it's not enough just to think it, it's not enough to sit in our little corners and think "man, they shouldn't be doing that". It is not enough because our silence has allowed the world to happen.
As I said, the guy who drove the car lives a few block away in Maumee, Ohio, it's a suburb of Toledo. And the guy who lives in a suburb of Toledo drove to Virginia, 15 16 hours away, the violence isn't somewhere far away, it's somewhere down the block. You know, it's not that you have no power about what happens in this world, because there were people around this man who just let him think whatever he wanted to think who let him believe whatever he wanted to believe, no matter how wrong it was. You know, it's difficult for us in Elwood to do anything about ISIS, in Asia or in Europe. We can pray, we can do that kind of thing, but it's difficult to do tangible things to stop that. But we are fully capable of doing tangible things to stop the anger and the hatred around us. Everytime I tell them Elwood is not like it was, which is great, but we are not where we need to be. That's not just Elwood, that's everywhere. That's Anderson, that's Indianapolis, that's every town in every corner of the globe, we are not where we need to be. But, we've gotten to the place where this progress is enough, this change is enough, that wherever we are that we are not how we used to be so that's good. But we say that it's good and we turn it into that's good enough.
And it's not good enough, doing as little as we've done is not good enough. Joel sat there thousands of years ago and saw the locusts swarm over the land, eating the vegetation, eating the trees. We spent quite a bit of time talking about trees, about the strength of trees, about the power of trees, about the welcoming of trees and all that stuff, but there are stronger powers in the world that want to destroy the trees, that want to destroy the world, that want to destroy the faith, that want to destroy whatever they can destroy. But then, there's a people that God has chosen in order to bless they world. And let me tell you, our God, is bigger, stronger, more powerful than anything else. Better than the devil, he's just a punk. Better than those carrying torches. Better than those preaching hate. Better than those who try to lift themselves up and put other people down.
The Bible has this thing, that if God is for us then who can be against us, the truth of the matter is that there can be plenty of things against us, but none of them are going to prosper. The very gates of hell will fall to our God. The anger the hatred the prejudice the bigotry the blindness will all fall before our God. But God needs our help, God has called us, God has equipped us, God has empowered us, the Spirit has rolled down the mountain so that way we could be prophets in our day. Joel called a whole nation to turn back to God, we just need to call upon our neighborhoods to do the same, we just need to call upon our friends and our family, those we encounter day in and day out. Not for our good, but so that world will be a better place. So that next month, or the month after, or the month after or the month after we don't hear on the news that someone from two blocks down is creating havoc somewhere else in the world.
That's what it comes down to, we can change things. We don't have to say this is good enough. We don't have to say that there's nothing I can do. We don't have to say that it's too big and I'm too small. We have to say, sign me up, you need hands and feet I will be them. You need a voice in this neighborhood on this street corner in this town, I will be that voice. Cause, the world is in desperate need for our voices, they are in desperate need for mercy and kindness and joy and forgiveness, hope and love. That's what's going to fix this place, that's what's going to make our corner of the world better, not a law on the books, not a larger police force, not anything like that, those are just drops in the bucket. But we have what the world needs, we have been given it, let's start sharing it. Because I am sick and tired of turning on the news and seeing one person trying to destroy another.
Let us pray.
Holy God,
Once again I want to lift up all those who were touched and anger in Virginia, and across our nation and across our world. But more than praying for those who have been hurt or for families who have been torn apart, I want to pray for each person in this room Lord, but not only that for each person that is sitting in a church this morning Lord. Each pastor, each usher, each piano player, each tech person Lord, each congregant whether they are on a board or a committee or whether they just sit in the pews Lord. May we realize the awesome responsibility that you have given us, that your Spirit is upon us that we have a responsibility to be prophets in our midsts, that we are blessed so that way we can be a blessing to others, that we are taught love and mercy and kindness and grace and hope and joy so that way we can share it with those around us. Give us the strength to do that, because all by ourselves we can't do it, we don't want to do it, but with your strength, with your guidance, with your power we can. And if we can do it in our corner and someone else can do it in their corner and someone else in their corner, then your mercy, your joy, your love can be made manifest in our day and our age Lord. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Pastoral Misconceptions
As a pastor I find that when people learn my job title that they infer several things about who I am and I think it's time I set the record straight.
I am not a Republican.
I do not believe that there should be mandated prayer in school.
I do not believe that LGBTQ people are an unwelcome group in the church.
I do not believe that poor people are lazy and just working the system, nor do I believe that just because you are wealthy or healthy or wise that you are blessed.
I do not believe that if I don't share my love of Jesus every time you tell me to that I am denying him in front of people.
I do not believe that God helps those who help themselves.
I do not believe that people are dirty rotten sinners, though I have joked about it before in a sermon.
I do not believe that I am a better Christian or even a better person because I am a pastor.
I will not give you a dirty look if you say a curse word in front of me, unless it is one that is derogatory to someone else.
I do not believe that Muslim and terrorist are synonyms.
I do not believe that we should keep all immigrants out, nor do I believe we should kick all illegals out.
I do not believe that you should always follow the directives of those in power.
I do not believe in a whole host of things you think I do.
I do believe in hope, and when we hope instead of despair we are closer to God.
I do believe in love, and in every act of love bringing pieces of heaven to earth..
I do believe in grace, and I try to show as much as I can everyday in hopes that it may be shown to me.
I do believe in mistakes, because I make them almost every hour of every day.
I do believe in acceptance, and what I mean by that is loving people as they are, not as I would like them to be.
I do believe in coexistence, just because we believe in different things doesn't mean we have to hate each other.
I do believe in a God who loves us all so much more than we could ever understand.
I do believe that if I am to forgive 7 times 7 or 77 times or whatever the number is that God will forgive a lot more.
I do believe that the church judges people too much, has too many rules, and thinks too highly of itself.
I do believe that in order to follow Jesus we need to tell the truth, and while I do not do it enough, I am working on it.
I do believe that how I treat people is more important that what my statements of faith are.
I do believe that this life is a journey and that we are all on a different one, so we should always be kind to people who haven't gotten to the same place we have, and remember that we haven't gotten as far as we should have.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
I am not a Republican.
I do not believe that there should be mandated prayer in school.
I do not believe that LGBTQ people are an unwelcome group in the church.
I do not believe that poor people are lazy and just working the system, nor do I believe that just because you are wealthy or healthy or wise that you are blessed.
I do not believe that if I don't share my love of Jesus every time you tell me to that I am denying him in front of people.
I do not believe that God helps those who help themselves.
I do not believe that people are dirty rotten sinners, though I have joked about it before in a sermon.
I do not believe that I am a better Christian or even a better person because I am a pastor.
I will not give you a dirty look if you say a curse word in front of me, unless it is one that is derogatory to someone else.
I do not believe that Muslim and terrorist are synonyms.
I do not believe that we should keep all immigrants out, nor do I believe we should kick all illegals out.
I do not believe that you should always follow the directives of those in power.
I do not believe in a whole host of things you think I do.
I do believe in hope, and when we hope instead of despair we are closer to God.
I do believe in love, and in every act of love bringing pieces of heaven to earth..
I do believe in grace, and I try to show as much as I can everyday in hopes that it may be shown to me.
I do believe in mistakes, because I make them almost every hour of every day.
I do believe in acceptance, and what I mean by that is loving people as they are, not as I would like them to be.
I do believe in coexistence, just because we believe in different things doesn't mean we have to hate each other.
I do believe in a God who loves us all so much more than we could ever understand.
I do believe that if I am to forgive 7 times 7 or 77 times or whatever the number is that God will forgive a lot more.
I do believe that the church judges people too much, has too many rules, and thinks too highly of itself.
I do believe that in order to follow Jesus we need to tell the truth, and while I do not do it enough, I am working on it.
I do believe that how I treat people is more important that what my statements of faith are.
I do believe that this life is a journey and that we are all on a different one, so we should always be kind to people who haven't gotten to the same place we have, and remember that we haven't gotten as far as we should have.
Peace and Love,
Pastor K
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)