“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

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Red-letter New Testaments used to be very popular. They’re still around. Maybe you have one or know someone who does. They highlight what Jesus said. I’ve never seen a New Testament that highlights  what  Jesus did or who He was. Is what Jesus said more important that what He did? Are His parables and stories more important than His miracles? Why all the red ink for His words when He was at least as famous for what He did and who he was? Should publishing houses print Bibles with what he did in red? How would they highlight who He was?

The words of the Church and the actions of the Church are not one. That is who we are. Those who are caught in all sorts of discontinuity highlight words in red. Words are more manageable. Theologians pre-occupy themselves with Jesus’ words like beetle-browed engineers working out complex problems. We resolve the wholism of Christ into a collection of wisdom sayings, accessible to and subject to our reason. We make Him into some kind of sage who dispenses proverbial tips for living, points to mull over as we stumble along, disassociated from ourselves, so far beyond the wholism of innocence that we can hardly bear it. In fact, we cannot.

Faith restores us to the trust that takes in everything at once, that receives God all at once. There is, after all, only one, Living Word. In water and promise, bread and wine, in the gift of creation, we know Him like a child knows its’ mother’s milk before speech, before abstraction, because faith restores the capacity to receive without dissembling, without dividing down. 

Therefore, Jesus words and works are one. For in their sum you may see Him for who He is – God’s indivisible word of grace and forgiveness given for you.

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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“…do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ wasraised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

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Have you ever noticed that the Bible has storm stories, wind and water stories? They appear at crucial moments. The image of the storm represents the powers that are too much for us. Each of these stories also carries a word of promise. Seen in one way, they are a catechism of baptism.

Noah, his family and their cargo, huddle together as the wind and water pounded the ark.

What does this mean for us? God promises to be our sanctuary.

Moses and the people, fleeing before the terrible vengeance of pharaoh, watched as the wind held back the water and God made a way for them.

What does this mean for us? God’s promises to be our deliverance.

Jesus, asleep in a boat, was awakened by the panic of his followers. All it took was a word from The Word and the wind and water obeyed.

What does this mean for us? God promises to meet our fear with the solid assurance of His Word.

In baptism the wind of the Spirit combines with the water to take hold of us in such a way that we are continually brought out of death to life. In every storm, God promises to be our sanctuary, our deliverance, and to keep us, through faith, in the strong grip of His Word, “…so that we, too, might walk in newness of life.”

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself…”

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Paul writes here of reconciliation, a new relationship bringing together God and man in Jesus Christ. We do not earn this reconciliation. The will cannot will it. We do not prove we are worthy of it nor can we keep it by our own strength. This new relationship with God is built upon a foundation far more enduring than anything we can offer.

Being reconciled we are not only summoned to be different people. We are recreated. We are new creatures. God has added something new which is at work in us to conquer the powers of sin, death and evil. The center of this wonderful, reconciling miracle is God Himself.

In baptism God claims us, adopts us, makes us His own. The reconciliation is God’s gift, given out of His great love. We are saved by His grace. In Christ, God came to us, died for us, was raised for us. He gives us the Holy Spirit, drawing us to Himself through Word and Sacrament. He clears away the debris of our past continually opening for us a reconciled future. One day, He will complete the work of salvation and usher us in to the eternal kingdom.

“All this is from God”, for which we are duty bound to “thank, praise, serve and obey Him.”

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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“God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”

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A man sat in an up-scale restaurant behind a table dressed in linen and the finest tableware. He ordered an exceptional wine from an extensive list and a la carte from a carefully crafted menu. The kitchen was staffed by a world-reknown chef and his team. When the wine came the man criticized its’ bouquet. When the food came he nit-picked each course, all the while fussing about the service.

A woman returned from visiting her missionary brother who served in a poverty-stricken country. Whe asked about the people there one of her comments was, “They praise God joyfully for things I could never eat.”

Among the casualties of our materialistic culture are joy and gratitude. These are predictable consequences when we devote ourselves to aquisition and the preening of our appetites. Our expectations run away with themselves. Look around you. Even if you live in a somewhat diminished scale, chances are your home is filled with more than you need. Under such circumstances you would think that your joy and gratitude would be epidemic, contagious. Are they?

I knew a man once who had reached great heights on the corporate ladder. According to the common wisdom he “had it all”. Over time, he lost his edge in business then his job. He was forced to downsize. His wife, who had become accustomed to the perks of affluence, left him, taking everything she could in the divorce. Eventually he found his way to the church door. He was living in a small apartment and working in a job well under his qualifications. As we sat having coffee after worship one Sunday he expressed gratitude for his new life. “I never thought I’d be saying this”, he told me, “but I’m actually glad everything fell apart. I see the little things now and I’m thankful for every day.”

Feeding the unrequited appetites of the self and living with a profound sense of gratitude tend to be mutually exclusive. There is nothing complicated about this. If you sow unto yourself and your wants, you will reap the weeds of ingratitude and insatiable desire. if you invest the day with the currency of gratitude, even the smallest thing can provide the occasion to praise God joyfully.

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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…”the younger son got together all he had, and set off for a far country.”

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Two young men became police officers. After a time a friend of the one of the families inquired after their son. “Oh he is doing very well”, his father reported.  “He has received two promotions and is making good money. His hours are good and everyone seems to like him” . 

At about the same time, the other young man was fired from the department. He had received no raises and no promotions. When his parents heard the news they were quite upset until they learned that he had lost his job because he would not participate in the corruption that was the standard in the department.

The first young man ‘succeeded’ according to the standards he was willing to abide by. The second young man  ‘failed’ for the same reason.

In a real sense it would not have mattered if the Prodigal Son had failed or succeeded in the far country. Either way, his life was measured by the shabby standards of that place. Success would have been just as damning as was his groveling with the whores and pigs.

You and I were created for the standards of the Father’s house. No matter how high we may fly by any others, they are not sufficient measures by which can claim success. 

In Jesus Christ God calls us all, His sons and daughters, to return from the far country to the Father’s house. The shape of our shabbiness, whether rich or poor, is immaterial. What matters is that we know we are His. The Church has been given the Gospel for just this purpose. For it is through its’ gracious message that we are awakened to the standards of the Kingdom and drawn into the loving arms of the Father.

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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 ^“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

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After thirty five years in the pastoral ministry I have reasons enough to walk away from the church. I have seen dishonesty, meaness and duplicity. People have feigned support while privately working to undermine the work of others, including my own. I have seen people driven by the storms of life into the church only to be driven out by the pettiness and indifference of others. At times the Church can seem to be nothing more than a random gathering of touchy, self-interests. So, when I hear from time to time that someone has no time for the church, I can understand. Believe me. 

At the same time congregational life has shown me some of the best of what people can be. I have seen selflessness, sacracfice and compassion. I have witnessed the greatest generosity expressed by those who, at least materially, could least afford it. There are those who have wholeheartedly and without expectations, committed their talents and abilities toward the managment of the church’s resources and the good of others. The list of these things could go on as well.

But as good as people can be, they are not why I believe in the Church or remain in the Church. Neither do I walk out because of all the nonsense. For the picture above is an inconsistent one. The characteristics I have described point to a pattern of unreliability that encompasses both pastors and people.

When the people’s expectations were no longer in line with Jesus and His mission, they began to leave Him. He asked those few around Him if they were also set to bail out. Peter’s reply? “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

That’s why I stay in the church.

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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“Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

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One of the biograhies in my library was given to me by a friend many years ago. She was a retired member of the foreign service and had lived in the Middle East, prior to and during the second world war. We shared a common interest in Egypt and one day while visiting with her she gave me a book memorializing the exploits of James Bruce of Kinnaird. James Bruce was an eighteenth century Scottish explorer of the Nile and one of the great figures in the history of European exploration. Ever heard of him? 

Biographies of the famous, or the not-so-famous, are the principal way we keep their lives before us. As an ancient history major in college I was required to read numerous texts and biographies of ancient lives. There is simply no other way to access the dead but to read their own works or the works of those who have memorialized them.

Jesus of Nazareth lived two thousand years ago. Many, many books have been written memorializing and analyzing the lives of his famous contemporaries such as the emperor Augustus. But the legacy of the New Testament books do not fall into the category of memorial. In fact, there is not one line in the New Testament written on the assumption that Jesus is dead. Every line assumes just the opposite: Jesus lives.

The ancient believers who penned the early works of the faith were proclaiming the Risen Christ and His life among them. Their efforts were not designed to garner appreciation for a dead Jesus, as if he were some great teacher who had gone to the dust. Then, as now, the faithful tell the story of Jesus and His love because that love is a real, and present reality. We tell the story because the Living God uses the story not to memorialize His Beloved Son, but to make Him known.

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

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Young people today are preoccupied with death. It’s on their minds far more than most of us imagine. On the extremeties of this preoccupation are entire youth subcultures who dwell in a kind of death fantasy world of Gothic images and violent games. I don’t pretend to understand the complexities of all this. At the same time I do believe there is something to be said here about death and our wider society.

Up to the middle of the twentieth century many young people had the experience of seeing someone die, usually a grandmother or grandfather, perhaps an aunt or uncle. It was not uncommon for the body to lay in state in the home. Family and friends came by to pay their respects. As a very young boy I can recall at least one occasion when we did this. I can still see the old fellow lying there in the middle of the living room surrounded by the quiet mourners, young and old. 

In the small Minnesota town where I served as pastor, an informal family service was held on the eve of every funeral. In a small chapel managed by the local funeral home, the family gathered in the presence of the open casket. Children, grandchildren, young and old stood around the body. Tears were shed, stories were told, the children asked questions.

Today we have marooned ourselves from death. When illness strikes we are whisked off to the hospital. If the illness is critical enough, the patient is put under guard by a long list of rules and regulations that limit access. If the person is too ill to return home, we warehouse them in those minimum security prisons called nursing homes. When death comes the body is sequestered and secreted off to the mortuary where it can be made presentable. Or, the remains are simply cremated. Under these circumstances, when we do everything we can to insulate our young from death, it should not be surprising that unhealthy preoccupations emerge. 

After many years of experience visiting the dying within the context of the medical establishment I would have to observe that with all our technical sophistication in the medical field we have, I believe, become clumsy and inept in dealing with death. But there is more. The strenuous, competitive efforts of the medical establishment and our own denial of death may mask an even deeper illness – the idolatry of life. 

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. “

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One of the biggest fans of the Olympics I ever knew was a self-avowed couch potato. His home was filled with Olympic memorabilia.  Some of the items he had purchased himself at the L.A and Atlanta games. Others came from auctions, flea markets and garage sales. He loved the games. He had never been athletic. All he would ever be was a spectator.

Where sports are concerned, the vast majority of us are spectators. Personally, I like soccer. My son and I have been to a few L.A. Galaxy games and I watch the sport on television when I can. But I have no illusions about ever getting in the game. 

The Christian life is different. St. Paul, who must have been a fan of the athletes of his day, encouraged the Christian to engage the life of faith as an athlete who trains for competition. There are no spectators in the life of faith. This does not mean that salvation is earned or that faith is calculating. What it does mean is that a living faith leads to loving service as naturally as the rising sun spreads it’s light. 

The Christian life is lived out through regular worship, witness, learning and service. In these ways we exercise faith, get off the couch, and get in the game.

“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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