Scripture for Sunday -- John 13:31-35 (NIV)

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Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

 ³¹ When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.    ³³ “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
   ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Ministering in Community: Loving When You're Not Loved Back

Image via WikipediaThis is my 11th year in Girdwood.  We've loved it here.  The church has been challenging and fun.  The construction project has been long and a valuable learning experience.  I think I've grown a lot here…as a person and a pastor.  We know this is the place that our kids (at least the three older ones) have grown up.  I often say that, as persons grow older, I think there's always some place that they think of as "home" to themselves…even if they may have lived in several different towns or states.  I may have been born in Massachusetts, I may have graduated high school in Indiana, I may have gone to seminary in North Carolina, and I may have lived in Alaska for the last 13 years, but I'm always clear that I "grew up in New York."  That's where I had my formative childhood years, from age 5-15,  Well, my kids will, maybe forever, say they grew up in Girdwood, Alaska.  How awesome is that?

Plus, Girdwood is just strikingly beautiful.  The mountains creep right in on you.  You can ski and watch the tide roll in.  And while we get a lot of rain, being that we're in the most northern temperate rain forest in the world, the beautiful days make up for it.  I still remember the first visit my parents made to Girdwood after our three years in Kenai.  I stood with my dad on the porch of our new home we were renting and he said, "You know, Jim, don't take this for granted.  You may never live in a more beautiful place than this."  And he's right.  There are a lot of beautiful places in the world and I've seen several of them.  But, I may never live in a more beautiful place than this.

I know that faith up in Alaska, in the realm of "rugged individualism," can be a difficult thing.  Persons here tend not to be "joiners" and many of them have been burned by churches in the Lower-48 where they used to live and are really hoping to stay as far away from church as they can.  Therefore, I have worked very hard to carry myself in such a way that I'd be seen as non-threatening in the community.  I've participated in the life of the community.  I've served on boards and attended meetings.  I've raised my kids, fully engaging the activities of the community for them.  And our congregation has worked very hard at being seen as a source of good in the community…we've painted and cleaned and shoveled and given and helped etc.  We want to be seen as a place that emanates the love of God, but in a way that works alongside those not in the church to bring about change for the common good.  The difference, we hope, between us and the non-Christians, is that we do it all out of a response to the justification by faith offered by Christ.  We live out out faith by being a people working on behalf of others in the community.  And it's made a difference.  It is easier to be me…a pastor…today than it was ten years ago.  I've been around long enough that persons, I don't think, feel like they have to be on their guard when they see me.

However…

I've been surprised, along the way, by the level of animosity expressed by some (not all) members of the community.  And sometimes I have to catch myself, recognizing that it's not about me but about the church.  And it's really probably not about Jesus, but about the experiences some have had of the church.

My first, sort of, tangible expression of the "us/them" mentality was early on as our congregation's event flyers were taken down from the post office.  Girdwood is a community that communicates through posted notices at the Post Office.  If you want to find out what band is playing where, who has skis for sale, who's hiring, and what meeting is coming up, that's the place to look.  It's also the place you'd look to find out what the times of Christmas worship services are.  However, more frequently in my early years here, it was the Girdwood Chapel posters that kept getting taken down.  I'd put up a flyer.  The next day it was gone.  I'd keep extra flyers in my car just so I could keep replacing the ones that had been removed.  At one point I had congregational members with flyers so they could put them up as well…just to keep up with those who were removing the flyers.

Another expression of this animosity really hit me on on a spiritual level.  One day as I showed up to our new construction, probably in 2007 and opened up the construction door only to find feces…yes, poop…on the handle.  Someone had deliberately put poop on the door so that a person going in would grab on to it.  There was also garbage and beer bottles left at the front door that day as well.  I remember, looking back, the feelings of anger…I'll go so far to say "righteous anger"…welling up inside of me.  I felt violated.  I felt that the Holy Ground of our church had been violated, that there was a spiritual offense launched against it.  I didn't know what to do and I ran off to the home of one of our members to pray.  I needed someone to pray for me.   I wanted to pray for the community…perhaps for "the horrible sinners who did this"...even if the prayer ended up being mostly for me.

There have been others. But the latest comes just a couple of weeks ago as we're getting ready for our big Building Consecration.   Every week we have about 70-100 persons come to the church to pick up boxes of organic vegetables.  We've been doing this for a few years, providing space and leaving the church unlocked for 2.5 days a week.  Plus, we're left to work around the vegetables every once in a while and donate unclaimed boxes after a couple days.  This has been a service to the community…just because we love the community and believe that, even if we don't agree on many spiritual issues, we can agree that eating organic, more locally-produced, food is a good thing for the world and for the world's peoples.  I wanted to make sure that all these good folks who picked up vegetable boxes knew about our Consecration and I wanted to let them know that, as we've been helping them for a couple years with the vegetable pick-up, it would be helpful to our church if they came to our Consecration.  It would help us celebrate and would help the conversation we were planning to have about ways our new building could be used in the future.  It might be a little crass to call it a "quid pro quo" arrangement, but I was hoping that the gift of presence and space that we had been offering could come back to us a gift of their presence at our Consecration.   That was my hope.  So, to encourage this, I put what I thought was a very non-threatening and non-religious note on the vegetable boxes, inviting those who picked them up to attend our Consecration.

Perhaps my note wasn't non-threatening enough.  A couple days later I got a call from the distributor of the boxes saying that they had receive a call from on of the recipients who was extremely upset at the note from the church and I received a verbal hand-slap for trying to mix anything remotely churchy with the boxes.  My emotions were already running high because of the build up to the dedication.  Here I was trying to do something that would further our participation in the life of the community and I had someone from the community who was "extremely upset" with the church.  I don't do well when I have people extremely upset we me.

My emotions welled up inside of me again and what I wanted to say to the person on the phone is that…OK, I wouldn't put anything on the boxes anymore but they need to realize the gift that I/We have been giving their company over these past years and put that into perspective.  And I wanted to get the name of the person who complained and tell him or her that they can certainly make arrangements to pick up their box in Anchorage at one of the non-church sites.

I didn't do either of these.

I kept my mouth shut.

And I realized that this was just one person in the grand scheme of things and the majority of the community around us, I think, appreciates how we try to love them…whether or not they appreciate that we try to love them with the love of God.

It can be hard to love when you're not loved back.  That's just the way it is.  I think the animosity has subsided some over the last several years as we've tried to embrace our role as a Good Samaritan in the community.  But the answer when faced with this is never to withhold your love, to lessen your grace, to stop doing good works…no matter how little love you are shown in return.

All you can do is keep on loving with the love of Jesus.

After all, that's what Jesus did.

And it got far worse for him.

"Who Delivered Up Jesus To Die?" -- Quote by Octavius Winslow

Image via WikipediaWho delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy; but the Father, for love! —Octavius Winslow

Loving the Congregation

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Jared C. Wilson's posts feed my soul.  I love his words on "gospel wakefulness" and, frankly, sometimes I feel as if I'm so asleep to what God--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Jesus, and Mary, and Peter, and Paul--is saying to me. 

And, I must also confess that sometimes this whole pastoring thing is a lonely job.  I can feel like I have all of the answers and I have the one true vision for the church, and we'd get to God's preferred future for us if everyone would just get their own opinions out of the way and listen to me.  It can be easy to get frustrated with congregations.  After all, why won't more people step up to teach or to lead or to even attend?  Where is the help when you need it?  Why won't persons give more than a measly 2% or their income or 3% or whatever it is?  In my own head, I can hold myself up as a an example of a saint that my congregation should aspire to become more like in their own lives--occasionally forgetting just how sinful this fallen pastor has been and remains.

But, I must also confess that the above is somewhat of an exaggeration right now.  I have found more support among the people of Girdwood Chapel than I have at other places in my life.  God oftentimes moves more slowly than I wish he would, but it has seemed like we've been moving forward.  That "preferred reality" is still a long ways off, but step by step we're getting there.  Perhaps some of this is not what God is doing through the congregation, but what God is doing through me.  Perhaps, more than at the two other stops along my ministry journey, I am loving my people more fully, more completely, in a more godly way.  Perhaps.

Jared Wilson writes about what it means to love a congregation, taking words from Ray Ortlund in The Gospel Coalition's Themelios Journal:

When the risen Lord of the church sends you to a people as their pastor, he is not sending you to them as their critic but as their friend. They may be immature. They may be bogged down in tradition or dazzled by neomania. But they are yours by the gracious appointment of Christ, and you will know them forever. If you hope for the gospel to work in their hearts with power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, as of course you do, then don’t just preach to them; desire them. Desire not what they can do for you but what you can do for them. Love them, enjoy them, delight in them, honor them. When other pastors gripe about their churches, you set another tone. Lift your people up. Be their champion and defender. They are your glory and joy at the Second Coming.

I will continue, at Girdwood Chapel, to "love them, enjoy them, delight in them, honor them."  I am and will continue to be "their champion and defender."

The Rabbi's Gift -- A Lesson for All Christian Churches

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The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a great order, but because of persecution, all its branch houses were lost and there were only five monks left in the decaying house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi occasionally used for a hermitage. The old monks had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods" they would whisper. It occurred to the abbot that a visit the rabbi might result in some advice to save his monastery.

The rabbi welcomed the abbot to his hut. But when the abbot explained his visit, the rabbi could say, "I know how it is" . "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and spoke of deep things. When the abbot had to leave, they embraced each other. "It has been a wonderful that we should meet after all these years," the abbot said, "but I have failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me that would help me save my dying order?"

"No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. But, I can tell you that the Messiah is one of you."

When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well what did the rabbi say?"

“The rabbi said something very mysterious, it was something cryptic. He said that the Messiah is one of us. I don't know what he meant?"

In the time that followed, the old monks wondered whether the significance to the rabbi's words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks? If so, which one?

Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for always being there when you need him. He just magically appears. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.

Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for You, could I?

As they contemplated, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

People still occasionally came to visit the monastery in its beautiful forest to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even to meditate in the dilapidated chapel. As they did so, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery to picnic, to play, to pray. They brought their friends to this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

Then some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another, and another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm.

This story came from The Different Drum, by Dr. M. Scott Peck, M.D.


See the original story here.
  * The Different Drum was written by Scott Peck. He did not write this story. The author is unknown.

"When Christians Attack" -- On YouTube

Here's a video of Todd Friel ripping into Adam Hamilton and his work "When Christians Get it Wrong."   Take it with a large grain of salt.



Please note a couple of things about this attack on Hamilton:

• The video he uses is taken completely out of context.
• Adam Hamilton is a believer in the saving grace of God, but as a good Methodist in the Spirit of John Wesley, believes that after being "Justified" by the saving grace of Christ, one is "Sanctified," again through the saving grace of Christ.  After the heart is "strangely warmed" comes the holy living of the life of faith.
• According to the gentleman in the video, loving God and loving others is works righteousness even though Hamilton never says that Christians are "saved" by those.

I believe it's Mr. Friel who "gets it wrong" here.  Isn't there some irony here?

When a Mugger is Confronted by the Gospel

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It's interesting when you see Scripture so beautifully put into practice in this world.

From the "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew:

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
—Matthew 5:38-42, NIV

From the "Sermon on the Plain" in Luke:

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
—Luke 6:27-31. NIV

Julio Diaz is a social worker in New York and each night as he took the hour long subway ride back home to the Bronx he would get off one stop early to eat at his favorite diner.  However, one night in 2008 something happened.  The subway platform was just about empty and, as he made his way to the staris, Julio was approached by a teenager with a knife.

Here's how it happened according to the NPR story Morning Edition:

"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"

Diaz replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome.

"You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help," Diaz says.
Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth. 

Over the course of the meal, Diaz and the mugger talked.  The young man could see that everyone in the diner knew Diaz and that Diaz was nice to everyone there...including the dishwasher.   This behavior...nice behavior, treating people well...was foreign to the boy.  At the end of the meal the mugger gave the wallet back but took $20 that was offered by Diaz.  All Diaz asked for was the knife.  And the mugger gave that up...perhaps a changed man after being confronted with someone really putting that whole "turn the other cheek" scripture into practice.

Said Diaz, 

"I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."

I'm not sure it's that "simple" really.   "Simple" is handing over your money and trying to save your life.  "Simple" is trying to fight back.  It's harder to invest yourself so much in someone who, by all appearances, wishes to do you harm.  It's harder to follow in the footsteps of the Gospel.

"When Love Comes to Town" -- Sermon for 8 August 2010

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Note:  This sermon was inspired by my time away from my congregation.  It seems whenever I return from my various trips, my sermons always start with something that says how much I missed the people here.  This holds true to form.  The last illustration, personifying Christ as "Love," is inspired by a keynote address by Pastor Rudy Rasmus of St. John UMC in Downtown Houston, TX.  I got to hear Pastor Rudy a couple of times on Monday, August 2nd and thought his ministry and perspective were awesome.

Text:  1 Corinthians 13 & John 1:1-18
Title:  “When Love Comes to Town”

I’ve been gone for three weeks, in case you noticed I was gone.  Two of the weeks were spent in Indiana, visiting Julie’s family—or families.  Then I spent five days in Nashville at a conference, along with Sheila ______ from our church.  This time around I had trouble finding a guest preacher for one of the Sundays and our Superintendent Dave _____ said he would do it.  But, when Dave got the offer of going to his high school reunion, he hooked us up with Drew ______ who is working at Turnagain United Methodist Church for the summer.

I had never met Drew and he had never met any of you.  So, when he asked a bunch of questions, I sent him an e-mail trying to describe this congregation.  While it doesn’t really pertain to the sermon at all, I thought I’d let you know what it is that I told him.

Drew, thanks for preaching.  Dave ________ had been the 9th person I had checked.  You're #10 (but first in my heart for being able!).
 
The Congregation:  Small, informal feel, very forgiving, able to roll with punches.  You can check out our website for things that are important to us or my blog to get a sense of their pastor.  This is a church that Superintendent Dennis _____ "barked" during a sermon several years ago because it's the first church he felt comfortable enough in which to do so.  He thought we could handle it.

It's a congregation that has some very liberal and very conservative folks.  It's a congregation that ASKED for communion to be held every week 12 years ago and it is done with joy...people smiling, people laughing, and kids asking for "a big piece" of bread.  They allow me to be very colloquial and I've been able to tackle some difficult issues with, I hope, love.  We use a traditional format but it feels very laid back...really it does.   Honest!

We have focused a lot on ministry in the community but confess that our building process has sapped a lot of energy from us over the last 6 years.  It's been a long road and we celebrate every step that gets us closer to the new building being occupied.

We have an 8:30 AM service (which averages about 5 in attendance and I love them) and a 10 AM which averages about 60-70 (but will be smaller with the 7 Doepkens out of town).
 

I want to reiterate that this is a congregation that will go with whatever.  They laugh at jokes.  They'll respond to your questions if you want them to be thinking about points.  They are game for video (although probably not what you want as a guest preacher).  If you have a fun youth song you'd like to do for children's time or a song you'd like to teach them, great.  If you want to bear your soul, they'll listen.  They appreciate heartfelt prayer and they know how to both praise God and offer up some difficult questions.  It's a good place to lead worship.

I just thought you might like to know that.

But, as we get to the sermon I want to tell you that, while Drew was preaching here, I was learning a lot in Nashville.  I heard a lot.  I experienced a lot.  Great stories.  Great preaching.  A lot of African American worship leaders and a whole lot of “Amens.”  And all along I got to hear how it is that communities of faith, across the nation and, indeed, around the world, are trying to live out God’s love with those they come into contact with on a daily basis.

I wish this wasn’t a novel idea.  (Amen?)  I wish this wasn’t something we need to be reminded of.  (Amen?)   I wish this was something that was just second nature to us.  (Amen?)

But it’s not.  (Congregation, on their own, responded with "AMEN!")  We need to be reminded.  We need to be reminded to love.

That scripture passage from 1 Corinthians which we read this morning.  It’s a pretty passage.  It’s a “nice” passage.  For those of us who have had it read at our weddings (which is a whole lot of us) when we hear “and the greatest of these is love” we can turn to that special someone in our lives and go… “Ahh…”  And for the married folk, we can think to our own little selves, “He’s talkin’ about us, darlin’.”

And that’s what we often think of as love in this world.

But the “love” that Paul talks about here is not some ooey, gooey, puddle of self-satisfied love.  No, it’s hard-hittin’ revolutionary stuff.  (Amen?  Amen!)

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.

Got that?

This is love WAY beyond a dozen roses.  This is the kind of love that changes people…that changes situations…that changes the world.

And it’s hard.

The last night in Nashville, all that love discussion under my belt and hearing about leadership in the small church and schmoozing with church leaders and getting’ ready to hear Tony Campolo speak, I went out to dinner with Sheila and Leila _____ from our conference.  That afternoon Sheila and I had gone to a ministry in a poor section of Nashville where a church from the suburbs had sent in a pastor to live in that poor section and be in ministry with the underprivileged, forgotten, hurt people and work for economic justice and social justice...putting feet on their love in a difficult neighborhood.  

But before we went into the city, we went to the suburbs for worship at the parent church.  They were huge…about eight-thousand members.  Something like that.  I don't know.  And their contemporary service had a band that was awesome.  On the way to dinner that night, I was trying to describe the band to Leila and I said it was “tight” and “crazy good” and “sick.”

The only problem was there was a gentleman in front of us who overheard part of this conversation.  I assume was homeless and I assume had some emotional issues going on.  I think he thought my mention of “sick” was referring to him.  And he turned and he yelled.  And he was angry.  And I was nervous.  And I was trying to find a way just to get around him and get to the restaurant without really having to look him in the eyes.   And I did.

There was no “patient and kind” from me at that time.  My love didn’t “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things.”  My love only endured to the point that I started to feel uncomfortable.

After dinner, I was first out of the restaurant.  There was a beggar on the street.  The beggar looked at me, wearing my $14 straw hat I picked up on the trip, and said, “Nice hat.  Are you a minister?”  I don’t know if he had seen a lot of ministers over those few days or I was looking particularly clerical that evening.  Maybe it was the hat.  But, since he now knew I was a Christian…and more…a MINISTER…I felt like I should show what love I could at that time.  I couldn’t address the underlying reasons for his presence on the street that night.  I don't know what job he may have had and lost.  I don't know what ailment had him fall on hard times.  I don't know what REALLY was going on.  But I could give him some money…in the hopes that it went toward some food.

Love is hard.

Girdwood is not Nashville.  And, thank God, Girdwood doesn’t have Nashville’s heat right now.  It was 90 degrees and humid the whole time I was gone.  But we do have among us those who are challenging to love at times.  And, if we’re truly honest with ourselves, we will be among those who are “challenging to love at times.”  (Amen?  Amen.)

Each of us has our circles…our friends and relationships…our comfort zones.  They are the people who may work where we work or who have kids the same age as our kids or who have lived in the community about the same amount of time as we have.  They may be the people we serve on committees with (Lions Club has their Humpy Fest next week!)  They may be the people we run with or party with or look like or vote like or think like or live with.

And, getting outside of that safe area can be a challenge.  How do we reach out to them?   What would love look like?

We say, in this place, that we want to be followers of Jesus.  That’s nice.  

We are those who believe in a God of love.  That’s nice.  

We think service is a good idea and that we are the ones who benefit, really, when we act like Jesus…love like Jesus…to those around us.  That’s nice.  

We have a church that has a mission statement of “Love God.  Love others.  Change the world.” And we say that we want love to come to town…to this town through the presence and action of this church in this place.  And that we want to see a change because of this.  That’s...nice.

But we can be pretty lousy with love…not just with those who look different or think different or talk different or smell different or who act different.  Sometimes we’re pretty lousy with love in our own families…in how we treat our spouses…in how we treat our kids…in what we say behind people’s back.  And we can be pretty lousy with it in our love for God.  We, very rarely, are the people God would like us to be.  We’re lousy lovers.

And we have good company.  We, collectively, have a history here.

From the moment Adam and Eve ate some fruit, the story was set in motion that we’d have issues with love.  Then Cain kills Abel out of Jealousy.  Josephs brothers sell him into slavery.  David kills a man for the affections of his wife.

And even though our God would say about himself in Exodus 34:6:  "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” almost all of our story is about how unloving we have been.  Jeremiah notes how we loved foreign gods.  Isaiah talks of how we loved bribes and treated the poor poorly.  Micah even needed to remind us to love mercy.

We lied about our love.  We twisted our love.  Our love was self-serving.  It wasn’t love at all.  How could we learn about love?  How could we see it in action?  How could we experience it anew?  What could God do with us or for us or...even more...IN US.

John’s gospel includes that famous television-ready Bible verse, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Earlier it says this (John 1:14-18):

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.  (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’)  From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

I love how Peterson’s The Message translation puts it here:

The Word became flesh and blood,
      and moved into the neighborhood.
   We saw the glory with our own eyes,
      the one-of-a-kind glory,
      like Father, like Son,
   Generous inside and out,
      true from start to finish.

Like the hymn that says, “Love Came Down at Christmas,” it’s here that “Love Comes to Town.”   Love moves into the neighborhood.   Love puts on flesh and walks among us.  Love was born of a poor woman in an obscure Middle Eastern town.   Love was tempted not to love.  Love turned water into wine to save a wedding feast.  Love healed a crippled man who was lowered through a roof.  Love walked on water.  Love reached out to a woman, an unclean woman who had been bleeding for years.  Love challenged Nicodemus at night to be born again and Love reached out to a despised Samaritan woman at the well and offered her “living water.”

Love made lunch with just a few fishes and loaves.  Love spoke from a Mountain to say that it’s peacemakers who are blessed and those who are poor and hungry and weeping…and you know these are hard words to hear when you are rich and full and happy.  Love took bread and broke it and a cup and blessed it.  It was given to the whole world.  Love in action.  Love in the flesh.  Love in word and deed.

Love came to town and the town rose up against Love.  We put Love on trial.  We convicted Love.  We whipped and beat love.  We abused Love.  We mocked Love.  We marched Love up to Calvary and we nailed Love to the cross for all the world to see…to see just what it is that we do to Love

And Love died.

We had been killing Love for thousands of years…through action and inaction.  And now that God’s love was made manifest in God’s very own Son, we killed it off.  Didn’t want any of it.  Didn’t want the challenge.  We had other things we sure liked a whole lot better than love.  Easier things.

We buried Love and Love stayed in the grave for three days…just long enough to let everyone know that Love was dead…that we had given it our best...and our best was the absolute worst you can imagine............

But...Love...doesn’t...die.  

Three days later Love gets up.  Love walks around.  Love teaches again.  Love preaches again.  Love breaks bread again.  Love pulls together.  Love builds up.  And Love says, I am going to live in each and every one of you.  YOU will have my love.  You will be my Love.  YOU be the Love that comes to your town.  YOU will be the Love that comes to THIS town.  Amen?  Amen.

Look, I want us to love this town and the people here.   I want us to love our spouses more fully.  I want us to love our kids and try to teach them and raise them in such a way that they learn about Love and learn to Love…maybe not how we do…but how Jesus did himself.  I'm a long way from that myself. 

Can we love like that?

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

1 Corinthians 13 (another text for this Sunday morning)

Image via Wikipedia

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Another Good Cartoon by David Hayward

Go check out his work and thoughts at NakedPastor.  I've highlighted many of his cartoons over here...because they're so good over there.

What the World Needs is Lovers

"And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about."

— Shane Claiborne (The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical)

How true is this?  As I prepare for a sermon on immigration for this week, I'm struck that many persons in this conversation never look at the issue as one of love and of understanding the names, faces, realities behind the talking points.  Then again, that's probably the way it is with most issues in the world, come to think of it.

Posted via email from The Prodigal Blog