Hope for Precarious Planet

A couple of great quotes from Mahatma Gandhi:

Considering the creation seems to universally lead to worship of the Creator:

"When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator."
When considering the love of neighbor, remember joy above duty:

"Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy."

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Scriptures that I quoted regarding our stewardship and dominion over the creation, a "coronation" of sorts in the words of Walter Brueggeman, and the story of the Good Samaritan:

Psalm104: God's hands on care for the creation and it's creatures

Psalm 8: the awe and wonder of our responsibility bestowed upon us by God

Luke 10:25-37: The definitive story in the gospels around the story of the Good Samaritan presenting the dual questions of "Who is my neighbor?" and "Which of those in the story was a neighbor by the side of the road?"

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A couple of Tedtalks that were instructive for me about climate change:

"Why Climate Change is a threat to Human Rights" - Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland) speaks about her change of heart when she encountered President Tong of Kiribati and Constance Okellet of Uganda and how climate change was already causing upheaval in their cultures.
http://www.ted.com/talks/mary_robinson_why_climate_change_is_a_threat_to_human_rights

Also consider Larry Brilliant's "Case for Optimism" in the midst of the environmental challenges which identifies humanity's latent ability to mobilize and face grand global threats, like small pox, and address them decisively.
http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_brilliant_makes_the_case_for_optimism

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Active Prayers for a Healthy Planet

     by Karen Speerstra

 

If this topic is a passion for you, consider purchasing or downloading this devotional that speaks of both the beauty of and the threats to the environment.

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Go take a stroll in the beautiful creation.
Praise God for its beauty.
Pray for God's wisdom to be wise stewards of the earth for all of our neighbors: the marginalized, the emerging nations, and the future generations.

Addictions and Hope

Addictions and Hope

The song I played on Sunday is by Rascal Flatts and is called "I Won't Let Go". It can be found on various video resources for free viewing, including youtube and the following on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/22825335

If you would like to consider how the 12 Steps of AA relates to biblical verses I suggest you go to this link: http://christpres.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/celebrate-recovery-12-Steps.pdf
I mentioned this on Sunday. My belief is that it is important to claim our common humanity and model for the addicted qualities utterly consistent with our Christian tradition: humility, candor, and openness about our own flaws, wide and joyous embrace of God's mercy.

Ministry to families and loved ones of the addicted:

You didn't Cause the addiction

You can't Control the addiction

You can't Cure the addict by your efforts

Recommendation for further reading of those NOT offended by explicit language, the book I quoted from by Nadia Bolz-Webber titled, Pastrix.

Prayer resources

If there is anything that struck me in preparing the message on addiction it was the incredible transformation required for the addict to go from being slammed by their addiction to a healthy and coherent lifestyle.

Addicts are often fighting on multiple fronts: 

• genetics (50% of addicts are lean genetically towards addictive behaviors)
• culture, upbringing, lack of learned life skills
• unresolved anger and resentment, vulnerability
• brutal and graceless theology embodied by the "religious" people in their lives who use scriptures to beat them up while masking their own flaws
• egocentrism masked as wisdom
• actual inability to look at their lives with honesty
• AND THE FACT THAT THEIR ADDICITON MAKES THEM INCREASINGLY LESS ABLE TO ADDRESS ANY OF THE ABOVE!

Therefore, if you are going to enter into prayer for addicts and their loved ones, you'd better know that you are signing up for long-term often excruciating process. You will need every ounce of your prayerful tenacity! Here's a good place to start:

The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-18New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.¹³ Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Other Scriptures to consider and pray through if you are facing an addiction:

Rmans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (KJV)

Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (NIV)

2 Corinthians 12:9a “But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (NIV)

Isaiah 41:10
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” (NLT)

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)

Let me know how I can be helpful in this.

Blessings

Pastor Chris

Hope in Fractured Relationships and Forgiveness

Fractured Relationships and Forgiveness
 

"forgiveness is not a feeling,

forgiveness is an act of the will"

Corrie Ten Boom

Corrie Ten Boom - Forgive your Enemies (on youtube) - https://youtu.be/p7x27AQ8gks
           This video is Corrie telling the experience of her struggle to forgive a Nazi guard from the concentration camp where she was imprisoned. It reminds us that in the most trying circumstances where forgiveness is required "the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given for us." (Romans 5:5)

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forgiveness as a skill that can be learned

Resources are available to train ourselves to be more forgiving, if we are willing. Forgiveness is less a mystical and mysterious process and more a way of living.

To learn such skills you might want to visit the forgiveness project and look at the tools in their forgiveness toolbox: http://theforgivenessproject.com/programmes/toolbox

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Forgiveness is hard in the face of grievous injuries. Here is what author David Chotka proposes as a biblical way of defining a process of forgiveness that is distinctly Christian. As I mentioned in the message, forgiveness is not just a feeling, it is a process. (Power Praying by David Chotka)

This process can be used personally or share with another.

forgiveness as a process

1. Take one of the memories of where you have been deeply hurt or injured, name the fact that the person, situation, group, etc.. truly did injure you and you have paid a dear price for that injury
2. Declare to the LORD that you will absorb their sin (this is what forgiveness does) and bear the cost of their injuring you
3. Picture the cross of Christ. Deliberately place this pain-memory on the cross of Christ and tell the Lord you will not pick it up again. (Anytime the memory returns, return to this picture of the sin against you lifeless on the cross of Christ.)
4. Choose to pray a blessing that will make the person who sinned against you more like Christ. (If she stole from you, pray that she would receive generosity. If he lied, that he becomes utterly truthful from now on. If she manipulated a situation at your expense, pray that she becomes forthright and fair.) Bless that person with this prayer every time you remember her and ask God to fill that one with His presence.
5. Close your prayer with thanksgiving that God has had mercy on us and saved us from the sheer justice of paying for our every sin by the death of Jesus on the cross.

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In his book Forgiveness, Adam Hamilton describes a simple process for acknowledging smaller fractures in relationships - RAP (from Forgiveness - Finding Peace Through Letting Go by Adam Hamilton)

• Remember your shortcomings - not one of us sails through life flawlessly, the one you are judging is someone in need of grace as much as you are, you've probably hurt others in the very way you are judging
• Assume the best of people - the slight you are experiencing, is it an actual attack on you or simply a pretty good person having a bad day?
• Pray for them - once again the Christian response to being slighted/injured always lands back into the command to pray for the other

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Scriptures to consider in places where forgiveness is a struggle - anywhere that forgiveness is commanded, you can know that Christ is there to make you strong to carry through

1.    “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive you your transgressions.” – Mark 11:25

2.       “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” - Luke 7:47

3.       “and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” – Lord’s prayer

4.      " Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive." – Luke 17:4

5.        "If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." – John 20:23

6.       "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." – Ephesians 4:3

7.       "Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. – Colossians 3:13

8.       "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven." – Luke 6:37

9.      " If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you."  – Matthew 6:14

10.     Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone^[a]who sins against me? Seven times?”  “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!Matthew 18:21-22

11.      Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you? – Matthew 18:32-33

Hope in the Midst of Death and Grief - Additional resources from April 3rd sermon

Hope in the Midst of Death and Grief

Additional resources for the April 3rd sermon

Three realities about death:

"We know by observation that death is inevitable.

We know by intuition that death has meaning.

We know by faith that death is not the end of existence."

- Rene Dionne, Michael Fitzgerald in Catalysts

A basic book about the experience of grief: Understanding your Grief (Ten Essential Touchstones) by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

A personal journey through the first year of grief: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

TedTalks mentioned in the sermon:

"Am I going to die?" - peace and acceptance as one faces imminent death

 Matthew O’Reilly is a veteran emergency medical technician on Long Island, New York. In this talk, O’Reilly describes what happens next when a gravely hurt patient asks him: “Am I going to die?”

http://www.ted.com/talks/matthew_o_reilly_am_i_dying_the_honest_answer

 

(Note: three questions that the dying want to have answered: 1) Am I forgiven? 2) Will I be remembered? 3) Did my life make a real difference?)

 

 "Let's talk about dying" - it is good to speak of death, how we will die, what plans we have made 

We can’t control if we’ll die, but we can “occupy death,” in the words of Peter Saul, an emergency and Intensive Care doctor. He asks us to think about the end of our lives -- and to question against the modern model of slow, intubated death in hospital. Two big questions can you help start this tough conversation.

http://www.ted.com/talks/peter_saul_let_s_talk_about_dying

 

"Life that doesn't end with death" - the presence of the beloved after death

In Tana Toraja, weddings and births aren’t the social gatherings that knit society together. In this part of Indonesia, big, raucous funerals form the center of social life. Anthropologist Kelli Swazey takes a look at this culture, in which the bodies of dead relatives are cared for even years after they have passed. Not a practice to emulate obviously but an approach to death that sees it in harmony with life...

http://www.ted.com/talks/kelli_swazey_life_that_doesn_t_end_with_death

 

Scriptures to reflect upon as we consider death and grieving

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Prayer practice: Choose a passage. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you in the Scriptures. Exhale as you say a phrase from the Scripture aloud or quietly to yourself. Inhale quietly. Exhale as you say the next phrase. Inhale quietly. Repeat the passage a number of times. Then grow still and let yourself be held by God's grace.

 

Matthew 5:4 - "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted," said Jesus.

 

John 14:1-6 - "Do not let your hearts be troubled... In my Father's house are many dwelling places... I go to prepare a place for you..." said Jesus.

 

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  

1 Corinthians 15:55 - Where, O death, is your sting? Where O death, is your victory? 

Ecclesiastes 8:8 - No one has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. 

 

Isaiah 57:2 -Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. 

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 

John 11:25-26 -  I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Psalm 49:15 - But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself.   

Psalm 56:13 - For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.   

Psalm 73:26 - My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  

Psalm 116:8-9 - For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living. 

 Romans 8:38-39 -  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

 

"How to be there" for others in the midst of death and grief

 

Practical things you can do - an article - "How to help a grieving friend: 11 things to do when you're not sure what else to do" - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-devine/death-and-dying_b_4329830.html

 

 Remember: every grief journey is unique and personal (timing, intensity, reaction, etc...). A blessed friend sits/walks with another friend in the midst of their loss and does not try to fix it. Pray for your friend in the midst of it, that in time, God would heal their wounds and bring them resurrection.

 

Remember: the five stages of grief suggested by Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross outlines the general contours of grief. Don't consider yourself an expert and try to figure out where your friend is and push them to the next level. Be kind, be patient, be loving, and did I mention, be patient...

 

PLEASE don't say: "God never gives you more than you can handle". That is a misquote of a passage of Scripture about temptation, not grief and loss. Consider the approach of Job's friends:

 

"Now when Job's three friends heard of all Job's adversity... they came to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they lifted up their eyes from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept... Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great."

Job 2:11-13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Broadening Perspective on the Bible and the LGBT Community

Greetings

"New insights" in the conversation between the LGBT Community, the Bible, and the Church rarely enrich my understanding. They come across as desperate: grand advertising about what amounts to very little of substance.

A few years back there was a strong push to re-work King David and Jonathan into being a Old Testament same-gender couple. "Stronger was their love than that of a man for a woman...", therefore, they were gay lovers?

More recently I've read a series of posts, and articles that declare the real problem with same-gender coupling is the following: "God made male and female as complementary partners. Marrying within the same gender is like marrying yourself, which is idolatry." Have they ever met a same-gender couple, or even watched one episode of "Modern Family"? Similar plumbing does not equal the same personality.

However, one "new insight" sheds compelling light on the Bible, Church, and LGBT conversation that is unforgettable.

David Gushee, a leading Ethics scholar within the evangelical community, released a book in 2015 called, Changing our Mind, that contains such an insight. (Or should I say, formerly a leading Ethics scholar within the evangelical movement: since the book's release the previously steady flow of invitations to speak to evangelical churches has all but dried up.)

I won't attempt to quote or paraphrase Gushee's insight here. I refer you to a YouTube video in which he presents the book's last chapter in its original format, a speech at an event sponsored by the Reformation Project. The entire speech lasts about an hour. You needn't listen to the whole thing, but the first 20 or so minutes present an insight that I believe is a "game changer" in this conversation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2o3ZGwzZvk - Dr. David Gushee: Ending the Teaching of Contempt..

I have been around long enough to bear witness to the historical/biblical/cultural shift he addresses.

Blessings
Chris

Solid Preaching Selfless Editing

Greetings!

Thank you for glancing in my direction.

I am not one who receives random brilliant thoughts on a daily basis much less a weekly one. Such events are as rare as shooting stars, sustained weight loss, and the Detroit Lions in the Super Bowl.

My thought collecting centers around the crafting of a particular sermon during a particular week for a particular audience. The synapse army in my brain trains its nearly exclusive attention on the sermon. This results in my lack of original thinking on other topics, including movies and clever facebook posts, as well as my inability to tote other important information over short distances (that is, things I am supposed to tell Carolyn when I get home from church.)

Always the sermon gathering includes an overflow of stories/insights that never make it into the message.

And in spite of the occasional encouragement to "preach as long as it takes", believe me, no one would want to suffer through every Monday-Friday insight that any preacher concocted before the final cuts Saturday night (even the preacher her/himself).

Good preaching leans upon good editing to a degree that cannot be overemphasized.

So if you do hear a message I've shared on a Sunday morning that doesn't seem particularly strong, assume that I just left out the wrong things out that week.... please. Any alternative assumption lacks Jesus-y compassion.

Blessedly, on occasion, the thoughts, information and stories left behind and unheard Sunday mornings have sufficient vigor to remain in the back of my mind with a post-it attached reading: "This would be helpful to share too."

So the overall purpose of this blog is to share a few morsels from the left-behinds of my sermon preparation process. Some morsels will be links to the works of others, other items may be images that speak more enduringly than my words, and the rest? Whatever seems right.

My next blog should be by week's end and shares a really moving message from a gifted thinker regarding the Church and the LGBT Community. If I had only one more blog to share, it would be this one coming.

Blessings
Chris